#then this very disturbing part of two little girls i somehow knew who climbed into the bottom part of a fridge and were beginning to freeze

[cloudenthusiast2]

To be a human - Scaramouche x reader - Part 7 (Final)

You knew committing to a relationship with Scaramouche would be no easy task but you loved him dearly and unlike others, you believed he wasn't evil. But as a mortal and the devoted protector of your village you were too much of a good person, too much of a human compared to him and your differences slowly start to show.

Previous: Part 6

Length: 4000 words

Trigger warnings: blood, mentions of loss

A. note: Scaramouche is my favourite character in the game and I really love him. But I couldn't help and feel awful when he said those words in Inazuma. Look, I don't think that Mihoyo is gonna let the huge opportunity slip and not make him playable (for which we need to have at least a tiny bit of friendship with him and well, right now mc straight up hates him) but in case that does happen, in case he doesn't get a redemption arc, I made one myself. I wrote this to redeem him in my own, and hopefully your eyes as well. I hope you enjoyed reading this story of that little bastard as much as I enjoyed writing it.

It was fair to say that Scaramouche was stunned by the sight of the local people.

Certainly not because he suddenly grew fond of them. It was rather because the way they appeared out of blue when little Yu gave them a sign. She let out three short whistles and the forest came to life in front of the harbinger.

Old men and woman, little children and whole families walked towards them. It was clear even for Scaramouche that they looked uneasy and hostile. They surely wouldn’t have appeared in front of the fatui if it wasn’t for Yu.

The sixth harbinger was astonished.

Because they would trust someone, especially a child so much.

Because there were so many of them.

He counted the people walking towards Yu. Way more than he’d thought there would be.

These people were injured, dirty and exhausted. But they were alive. And all because of one person.

‘Impressive’ he thought to himself.

Yu talked to them, explaining why the fatui was there and promising that they’re not in danger any more. The people seemed less at ease in his presence now but the harbinger still felt the piercing gazes. If looks could’ve killed he would have been dead in an instant.

He knew they all blamed him for the things that had happened. Maybe they even thought he was the one who made the abbys attack their village.

But Scaramouche got used to these types of glances during the years and he did not care about them any more. All that mattered was that they were able to help.

He stood behind little Yu who was still clinging onto her doll. Scaramouche stared at the bloodstains on the toy as she asked the people of Qingce to help find you.

The thought to promise them money crossed his mind but the instantly threw it away. He just somehow felt that it would be very wrong.

These people won’t help him because he can pay them. They won’t help because Yu asked them to either. They will help because you had been guarding them for years.

Mentioning your name caused them to stir up, to get loud and the all of a sudden the whole crowd was ready to go and search in the mountains.

It was obvious how much they loved and respected you. Maybe even more than Scaramouche used to, he realized.

Yu turned to him and nodded.

‘I think we can go now.’

‘How are you going to search everything?’ the harbinger asked as he crouched down to the child. It wasn’t needed since he wasn’t much taller than her but it felt like the right thing to do.

Yu’s eyes wandered to the hat. She reached out and gently touched it.

Scaramouche normally would’ve ended the person who messed with his hat but when the child did it, he somehow felt no urge to do so.

‘It’s because so many people are watching’ he explained to himself. But it still felt a bit weird not being annoyed.

He cleared his throat so Yu would focus on him again.

‘We know this place well’ she answered, letting her arms fall back to her side. ‘We will split up and warn each other if we find something.’

‘My people are out too.’

‘Then call them back.’

The harbinger glared at the child. She really was fearless, wasn’t she, huh. First touching his hat and now disrespecting the fatui.

‘You know…’ he crossed his brows as he began to speak but Yu quickly cut him off.

‘Everyone is afraid of them. And they’ll just be in the way. They don’t know the mountains, do they?’

Scaramouche clenched his teeth together. But he had to admit that the girl was right.

He stood up and walked towards the agents standing by a nearby bridge. They were there since the people appeared to make sure they don’t try to do anything to their harbinger.

He gestured to bring them closer then stood and crossed his arms.

‘First, I want to know how a big group of fatui agents were unable to find anyone when there was a whole village hiding in the forest’ he questioned them with a glare.

The agents were bowing already but now they bowed even deeper.

‘F-forgive us, our lord!’ a pyro agent answered. ‘They’re locals and we…’

‘Spare your apologies, I don’t care.’

Scaramouche closed his eyes for a moment and let out a sigh. He really didn’t care, he only snapped at them to let out a little frustration.

‘Call back everyone from the mountains. And let these people do what they want. Anyone who disturbs them in any way shall be punished.’

‘But my lord…’

‘Do as I say!’

Scaramouche turned his back to them and the agents hurried away. He watched as the people of Qingce split up and began their search in the forest, around the destroyed village.

He looked up to the mountains. Clouds hid the most of them, they were so huge, so high. And there were so many places you could be.

Was is it even possible that you were alive?

Scaramouche never lied to himself and this was the first time he wanted to. He simply just didn’t want to accept the small chances of finding you. He wanted to feel hope.

‘You better be alive, Y/n’ he muttered to himself. ‘For your own sake.’

For his sake.

*

‘Have you taken a look around in that cave too?’

‘I haven’t but I can go if…’

‘Stay.’

Scaramouche climbed to the cave and looked into the hole. It was smaller than it seemed from below and inside it there was absolutely nothing.

He quietly let himself down. He jumped on a bigger stone on the path under him, the bells violently jingling on his hat.

Little Yu asked nothing. It was obvious from the harbinger’s expression that he found nothing.

The air began to feel a little chilly in the mountains. The sun was getting ready to go down and let the moon take its place.

They’ve spent their whole day with searching. They’ve found absolutely nothing so far.

There were a lot of traces left behind the abbys order and the monsters. It was also clear that the fight continued outside of the village as well. Corpses of dead monsters bordered the narrow paths.

But your body was nowhere to be find.

Scaramouche looked up to the sky. The first star had already appeared. And with that, their last piece of hope started to slip away.

‘We haven’t looked there yet.’

The harbinger snapped out of his dark thoughts and glanced at the child in front of him. She pointed at a smaller mountain nearby.

‘That’s very far away from the village’ Scaramouche claimed. ‘We’d be just wasting our time.’

‘Then where do you want me to go?’ Yu asked.

The man let out a sigh. She was right, they’ve already looked through every bush and searched every rock on this mountain.

He started walking towards the other one without saying anything, and Yu silently followed him.

In the valley below them, lots of figures were moving and changing places. The locals still haven’t given up even though it was getting colder and darker with every passing moment.

A red dot appeared. Then another. They started lighting torches.

Scaramouche felt like choking. He touched his throat and fastened his steps.

He tried to banish the horrifying thoughts from his head but his desperate tries were unsuccessful.

You’re dead. They’re only going to find a cold body and not you. You’re dead and it is his fault.

He shook his head to quiet the voices and to get back into focusing on his search.

This made him realize that he hadn’t seen little Yu in a while. Scaramouche stopped and turned his head to check on the girl.

She was behind him a few meters away. Her movements were too slow to keep up with the harbinger’s.

‘Are you coming or not?’ The man growled at her. ‘Hurry up.’

‘Sorry…’ She was out of breath, quietly panting. ‘You can leave me behind. I know I’m just slowing you down.’

Scaramouche rose his brows at the young child who was not even tall enough to reach the ground from a bigger rock. Was she really that aware? What should he do now? Just leave her here? He was willing to do that, to be honest. The sun was about to completely disappear.

Yu grabbed the side of the rock. She let her feet down, trying to get down safely but she was too tired – the little girl stumbled and fell.

Scaramouche didn’t even realize he was reaching out – but a moment later he found himself holding the child in his own arms.

They stared at each other, the sixth Fatui Harbinger and the kid from Liyue. It was impossible to tell who was more surprised, the one holding or the one being held.

But it was the man who found his voice first.

‘Don’t think I’m gonna carry you like this to the other mountain.’

‘I didn’t think that’ she answered quietly.

Scaramouche cleared his throat and opened his lips. But before any other words could’ve come out of his mouth, a sharp whistle cut through the air.

They both jerked their heads up.

The sound was coming from below, south to the village.

The whistle was repeated – two short, two long ones.

‘They’ve found her’ Yu said.

*

Scaramouche had no memories of how he got down from the top of the mountain.

All he remembered was the crazy pace of his heartbeat. The darkness invading his head. That terrific feeling clenching his heart, incredible, deep fear he’s never experienced before.

There were many people standing in his way in front of a big cave. He pushed them away as he rushed to get closer.

It was dark. Everyone stood with a torch in their hands. He heard the whispers but the words were incomprehensiblenext to the loud beating of his own heart. There were figures but they were blurry, everything was blurry…

Until he saw you.

You were laying on the ground. Your body completely still, your chest not rising nor sinking. Your clothes torn, bloody.

There was so much blood.

He stumbled and fell on his knees in front of you. A local turned to him and spoke but he understood nothing. His hand was shaking as he reached out to touch you.

You were… cold.

He forgot how to breathe and just stared down at your body. Your messy hair hid your face and that just didn’t feel right.

Why was this happening?!

Everything was supposed to become alright after they’ve found you!

How dare you be dead, how dare you not wake up to his touch, to his wishes, to all wishes around you…!

‘Balladeer!’

He snapped out of the blurriness when someone grabbed his arm. An old lady with a serious look tried to pull him back.

‘Let go of me!’ he hissed, pushing her away. He groaned when the grip became stronger instead on his arm. Pain in his heart and body blinded him as he shouted. ‘I said, let go of me or else…’

‘Please stay out of the way of my people’ the lady asked in a calm tone. ‘She needs serious help.’

‘What help can you provide when she’s dead?!’ he screamed at her in a hoarse voice. ‘You stay away from her!’

‘Please calm down. Y/n is not dead… yet.’

Scaramouche slowly closed his eyes. The words echoed in his head.

She’s not dead. She’s not dead. She’s not dead. Yet.

He took a deep, shaking breath. The cold air in his lungs cooled him off a little.

You were alive. But also, only barely. He finally understood what that meant. But he couldn’t let himself feel any relief nor fear…

He was a harbinger, he was part of the Fatui under the rule of the almighty Tsaritsa. He was Scaramouche, the Balladeer who simply could not allow himself to show any vulnerability in front of mere mortals.

Even if it was about you.

Even if he wasn’t the same person any more.

‘Bring a healer’ he said in a lower tone.

‘We don’t have any vision bearers among us’ the lady answered. ‘But we’ll do everything to keep her alive.’

Scaramouche nodded and stood up. It took a lot of strength to tear his eyes from you but he forced himself to do it and turned around.

‘Alert my people and tell them to give you all that you need’ he told the locals as he fixed his hat. ‘Tents, medicine, food, everything.’

The people stood there in silence for a few seconds, not knowing whether to obey him. They only moved when the old lady from before thanked him. Then they finally set off towards the village.

Scaramouche wanted to turn back and take a glance at you one more time to make sure you’re really there and not just a hallucination. But suddenly little Yu appeared in his sight and that made him stay.

‘She’s alive’ the girl whispered. The mask she had worn so far finally broke and her expression was an expression of a little child. She seemed tired, sad and a little happy. ‘I’m so glad… Scara.’

The harbinger nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. His heart was still beating fast with fear but those heavy weights on his shoulders finally started getting lighter.

He felt something touching his hand and he opened his eyes to the sight of Yu holding onto him.

This type of physical connection was very far away from what Scaramouche would tolerate coming from a human but he felt way too tired to resist. He just let the little girl clench his pinkie and they both watched silently as some helpers grabbed your body and moved it to a safer place.

*

You felt like something that had been sitting on your chest for a while finally moved. Something even bigger, a huge, scary type of darkness slowly left your body.

It left you with the first breath you were aware of taking in a long time.

You let out a small sigh. And opened your eyes.

There was a fabric cover above you.

You were in a tent, safe and sound. Alive.

The first thing you noticed was the temperature. It was warm, welcoming and comforting. Lot of soft blankets covered your body which hurt badly but the pain was dim.

You tried to look around but your head was too heavy. You could barely tip your head to the side.

But the sight was worth it.

Your breath was taken away one more time. You just stared in silence and you could feel your eyes widen in shock.

‘You’re awake.’

Scaramouche closed the book he was reading and looked at you with a straight face.

‘Finally.’

He put the book down with a slow movement.

Mixed emotions invaded you. You fell from relief to happiness to fright in a span of a few seconds. You were alive and Scaramouche was here with you, but – why did he seem so distant? Was he still angry at you even after everything that had happened?

You almost let fear overrun you. Almost.

But your gaze fell on his hands and he couldn’t hide his true feelings from you any more. His hands were visibly trembling as he still held onto his book.

Little did you know he could have not read a single word written in the last couple of hours. He just sat there and watched over your sleep, not dozing off for even a second himself.

The shaking of his hands became even more obvious and he couldn’t hold himself back any more.

He moved closer and placed his trembling palms next to the sides of your body. He looked down on you from above and as you stared back at him, you could clearly see something that wasn’t there before.

The usual cold, emotionless blur was nowhere to be found in his dark eyes. Instead, there was pain. And a lot of it.

‘How dare you do this to me?’

During the years of your relationship, he’s grown to be comfortable in your presence but he never ever showed any signs of vulnerability in front of you and you just accepted that it’s probably never going to happen.

It was shocking, almost scary seeing him like this.

The desperate expression on his face softened and he let his head plop on your shoulders.

‘Scara’ you whispered. Your voice was hoarse and dry but it was your voice. You were able to speak.

The realization of how unlikely your survival was suddenly hit you and your eyes teared up.

‘Scara, I… I really thought I was gonna die…’

‘Then you’re stupid’ he answered, speaking into the blankets covering your shoulder. ‘You should know that you can’t die without my permission.’

You laughed through your tears. They streamed down on your face, straight into your ears. But even that felt so good. Crying was a sign of being alive from the very beginning of life and you never understood that so much than at that time.

‘Don’t… leave me ever again.’

You didn’t event think, the words just left your mouth.

‘Don’t worry.’ Scaramouche finally got himself together enough to sit up and at least pretend that he was alright. ‘You have successfully proved you’re not capable of taking after yourself so now I’m definitely stuck babysitting you till the rest of our lives.’

His movements said otherwise though. The way he caressed your cheek to dry the tears up showed that he’s not just stuck. He wantsto stay.

Just what kind of thinks did he go through in the past days? – the question occurred to you.

To think about it… why did he even come back? How did he hear what happened? And your people?! Were they safe?

So many questions echoed in your head and you couldn’t even put most of them into words that made sense. So opened your mouth and quietly asked:

‘What happened?’

‘I want to know the same’ he said. ‘What happened? How did you get so far away from the village? How are you alive in the first place?’

You thought back to the night. Pain stabbed you instantly and you had to close your eyes for a moment to calm it.

‘I don’t remember much. But I think the abbys wanted to take me with them. Is that… possible?’

‘I heard all kinds of things about them’ Scaramouche nodded. ‘It is very possible. Continue.’

‘There isn’t much to say… Obviously I tried to resist but there were too many of them. They probably realized I would be just a burden. I remember a mage knocking me out. But they didn’t kill me…’

‘Well, given your injuries, they must’ve thought there’s not a lot of time left for you. It really is a miracle that you’re alive.’ Scara stated. ‘And you were in that wet cave for an entire day too. You were nearly dead when we found you.’

‘We?’

You stared at him and your heartbeat dropped.

‘You mean…’

‘Yes’ he sighed. ‘That people of yours.’

He went silent for a moment then rolled his eyes.

‘They helped me out… I guess.’

‘So they’re all alive and safe?’ you asked and couldn’t help but laugh in relief. ‘That is so amazing! Thank you, Scara!’

‘Thank yourself, idiot’ he snorted. ‘You were the one who kept a whole abbys army away from them after all.’

The harbinger shook his head.

‘I hate that you were so reckless to do that… but I have to say I’m impressed. We should spar again sometimes.’

‘Aren’t you afraid you’re getting your ass kicked?’ you grinned.

‘I compliment you one time and you get this cocky?’ he crossed his eyebrows. ‘I have to put you back into your place, I see.’

You laughed and as you were finally strong enough to move a little, you grabbed his hand. He had to oppress his smile with force.

‘And how did you know… we were going to be attacked?’

The question made his task much easier. The harbinger’s face turned back to being serious once again.

‘I have my connections’ he answered briefly. ‘But you don’t have to worry, the fatui had nothing to do with the attack.’

‘I would never think that’ you rushed to make your words clear. ‘I just… hope that my people feel the same.’

Scara shrugged. Then averted his eyes as he thought of someone.

‘I don’t know about the others but there’s one person who clearly does.’

‘Who?’

‘That girl… Yu or whatever her name is.’

You stared at him in surprise. You’d never thought the day would come where he mentions a child and doesn’t frown. And to think that it’s Yu as well! Yu who was normally wary of strangers and such a gentle child…

Just what happened to him? – you asked yourself again.

You searched for answers in his eyes but it seemed like there were things that even this new type of Scaramouche, this more vulnerable and open one wouldn’t tell.

But it was alright. Maybe you didn’t need to know. You were just happy to be there and experience it yourself.

‘How is Yu?’ you asked.

‘Alright’ Scara muttered.

‘Her mother?’

‘Oh, her… Well…’

He hesitated for a moment and that was enough. Every good and warm feeling was instantly replaced by cold ones and you found yourself sitting up in dread.

‘Please tell me… She’s not…’

‘Hey, don’t sit up! Lie back right now!’

When you didn’t obey, Scaramouche pushed you back with his own hands. He was right, your body started aching terribly from moving and the physical pain almost outgrew the pain in your heart.

‘Is she…’

‘Yu’s fine. Don’t worry.’

‘No! I need to talk to her!’

‘You won’t.’

You clenched your teeth together in despair and Scara flinched. He saw himself in you when you did that. Earlier this day his expression was still this full of pain.

‘Scaramouche!’ you said, calling him by his first name which he suddenly realized, he hated more than that stupid nickname. ‘I will go and talk to her and you can’t stop me!’

‘I…’

‘Just think about everything you felt while I was missing! I know you don’t want me to go away again but you need to understand.’

‘All I’m trying…’

‘Maybe I really am cocky to think that it was painful to you but if I’m not and it really was, then just imagine that Yu feels like that too right now. And on top of that, she has no hope whatsoever. She knows that her mother is dead and there’s no…’

‘Oh, to Celestia, can you shut up for a moment?’ Scara interrupted you harshly. Then he frowned and quickly continued. ‘What I was about to say is that under no circumstances should you get up with these injuries. But you can talk to Yu.’

‘I can…?’

‘Yes, idiot. I’ll call her over.’

You stared at him in silence.

‘You’d… do that?’

‘Yes.’

‘So… you won’t mind if she stays with us?’

‘I guess not?’

‘Not even for a long time?’

‘I said no, stop asking these stupid questions.’

You were speechless and just gazed at him without saying anything for a long time.

You had mixed feelings about the Scara you woke up to so far. But this had finally convinced you that he really has changed into something better.

A slow smile formed on your lips. It grew bigger and bigger and it completely lit your face up.

‘You’re grinning like an idiot’ Scara claimed but nothing, not even his salty remarks could take away your happiness any more.

‘Scara, I really love you.’

‘You better do.’

He stood up and turned away as quickly as he could to try and hide the blush on his face. He knew if you saw that, you’d be teasing him about it till the rest of your lives together.

You were still grinning “like an idiot” as he was rushing to leave the tent. But even though he was in hurry, before he’d stepped out, he made sure to turn back and say:

‘I’ll be back.’

[yandearest]

May The Odds Be Ever in Your Favor (Hoseok x Reader Hunger Games AU) Chapter 7: Natural Born Killers

Summary - Living in District 4 you never thought you would  have to worry about being selected for the Hunger Games. With a training  centre right near the dock of the houseboat you lived and fished from,  your district was known for volunteers who trained their whole lives for  a shot at glory and riches. But at age 18, your name is called and no  girls volunteer to take your place. Your devastation is answered when  Kim Namjoon volunteers for the males shortly after. Tall, muscular,  highly intelligent and charming, the years of diligent preparation have  bestowed Namjoon with the expectation of being the next District 4  champion after Finnick Odair last won 3 years ago.

Fishing for a  living has granted you skills with a knife but, as your mentor Finnick  is quick to describe, your beautiful face may well be your best asset.

Upon arrival in the Capitol you are quickly faced with the reality that  Namjoon may not even be the biggest danger inside the Arena. Especially  when you capture the obsessive attention of District 2′s own volunteer,  and killing machine, Jung Hoseok. Hope soon fades from ‘survival’ to  ‘the mercy of a painless death’ but Hoseok certainly has other plans.

Pairing - Hoseok x (fem)Reader

Genre - thriller, angst, yandere

Word Count 9.5K

Warning: This chapter is very heavy with multiple deaths described in detail.

PLEASE AVOID READING IF YOU CONSIDER THIS CONTENT UPSETTING

The following is a dark fic featuring a yandere character, violence, obsession, and coercion. By no means does  writing about this in a fictional setting condone any of those  behaviours, much like Stephen King writing horror doesn’t mean he  approves of psychotic killers in reality. Please avoid reading if any of  these warnings makes you uncomfortable.

Previous Chapter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6

Cross posted on A03 so people can subscribe for updates/notifications

You had remained with the girl’s body after her canon sounded. The momentary adrenaline rush from killing her attacker had faded and you were filled with despair at the sight of her lifeless eyes. It was strange how little guilt you were feeling, you had just killed someone – something you never thought you could actually do. Even though what he was about to do to the girl was disgusting, you were expecting to feel some sense of remorse over taking another life, but yet there was none. You remembered Hoseok’s vicious attack on seven from yesterday and shuddered, did you have more in common with him than you wanted to admit?

‘No.’ You shook your head, arguing with yourself. ‘He’s a monster, he took pleasure in his kill. I killed to protect someone else… But didn’t Hoseok kill to protect you?’

Disturbed by your conflicting emotions you hit your head against trunk of the tree, begging for the thoughts to leave your head. It was too much to try and process right now, especially with the girl’s body lying on the ground next to you. The impact on your skull and the rough bark grazing against your forehead provided a welcome distraction from your inner monologue.

For a moment, you thought that a whirring noise was coming from the ringing in your head, until you felt a blustering wind, along with surrounding leaves and twigs beginning to lift from the ground. Confused, you scrambled away from the girl and over to your bag. Shouldering the straps, you whipped your head around trying to see what the cause could possibly be, as the wind and whirring sound only grew stronger.

With nothing abnormal around you, you turned your gaze upwards to see an airship hovering just above the trees. A door along the bottom opened, and a large metal claw slowly began to lower through the leaves, knocking several branches out of the way. You stumbled backwards, not wanting to get in its way, and watched with sick fascination as the claw reached the boy. It hovered for a few seconds, getting its bearings, before the metallic arms began to retract. The gears whirred as they clasped around the body, some digging into the dirt below him, before they formed a tight grip with a sealed clunk. And then the claw was moving upwards, the thick cord retracting until it disappeared into the ship above.

It was such an odd sight, such an inhumane way to treat a dead child (‘the dead child you had just killed’). You just stood there staring, until the claw reappeared at the door, once again empty. You looked over to the girl’s body, regretfully knowing she would be taken next. But there was nothing you could do for her. You didn’t know if the airship could be giving away your location, or whether the other tributes would think to run in the opposite direction, but you didn’t want to stay and find out. Securing your bag, you turned your back and ran.

 *

 Two hours later it was difficult to see the sun through the leaves above, which made it hard to try and navigate. You were starting to run low on water and you had an idea to try and get to the edge of the pool behind the cornucopia, closer to the waterfall. Your idea was basically that people who wanted supplies would go to the cornucopia itself and those trying to run away would have gone in the opposite direction. If you could sneak along the edge of the forest, maybe you could reach the fall and stay hidden. Your plan had worked well, after finding where the edge of the forest neared the river, you had stayed hidden in the trees and made your way in the direction of the waterfall. When the cornucopia came into sight, you took a longer detour back inland through the trees, not wanting to risk coming into contact with any tributes who might be hiding so close to supplies.

You knew you were getting close when the sound of crashing water began to get louder, and more rocks started appearing in your path. A canon sounding very close by caused you to jump and momentarily forget your plan. Looking around you had to be at the cliff that would take you up towards the top of the fall. Remembering the careers from yesterday, you knew you definitely didn’t want to keep going in that direction. The noise of the canon seemed to have come from further inside the forest, close to where you had been walking through only moments ago. Climbing up the cliff wasn’t an option, and neither was staying in this part of the woods, so the waterfall remained your target. You let the noise of the water guide you and continued to made your way over – the surface becoming increasingly rockier the closer that you got.

The cornucopia came into view, in all of its temptation. It was across the other side of the rocks that you were traversing. It was less filled than yesterday; however, you could still spot an array of supplies scattered around. For the first time you felt your stomach rumble and you longed to run across and raid it for some of the fruit that you could see. But it was far too out in the open to be worth the risk. So, you continued towards the fall.

The closer you came, the more you were left in awe by the design of its structure. The rocks became harder to climb over, but you realized that they went behind the pounding curtain of water, into a cave. You were apprehensive. It was such a brilliant hiding spot, but being so close to the cornucopia you felt like another tribute had to have found it by now. However, someone could only have seen it if they had chosen to come closer to the fall, rather than the cornucopia, which wasn’t necessarily an expected move.

You didn’t want to take any chances, and pulled your knife out from your pocket, just to be extra careful. Doing your best to balance, and stay hidden between the large rocks, you slowly made your way closer to the water’s edge. Once there you crouched down, repeatedly checking behind your back to make sure no one was trying to sneak up on you, and filled up your container. Once full, you put the cap on and then began to try and scrub off the lingering traces of blood that were staining your hands.

It was as you were finishing up that you spotted a moving figure through a crack between the rocks, in the direction of the woods. You sprung to your feet and quickly hid behind the closest rock. Making sure to check behind your shoulder first (in case anyone was trying to sneak up on you whilst you were distracted), you peered out from behind the boulder to see your worst fear – Hoseok and Namjoon working together.

You spun back around, your back hitting the rock, as you pressed yourself against surface. They definitely hadn’t seen you yet as they were moving towards the cornucopia and neither of them had been looking over in your area. You recalled the canon from before and instantly knew it had to be their work. Your heart was racing and a tightness was beginning to seize across your chest making it harder to breathe. You wished you could somehow melt into the rock and hide inside until these games were over, but you knew it wasn’t a realistic option. Staying outside here would be far too risky with them so close by. The forest wasn’t safe as they would very likely see you if you tried to run back now. Your best option was the cave behind the fall, as it was surrounded with large rocks for cover, and neither of them seemed to know of its existence. The possibility of another tribute being inside no longer scared you when the two worst tributes in the arena were so close by.

Using the rocks as a shield, you scrambled the last remaining meters to the fall. Once safe behind the curtain of raging water you stood in awe of the size of the cave within. The boulders from outside seemed to morph into smoother steps that lead upwards and further inside the cliff structure. There was still no sign of any other life inside, but you kept a firm grip on your knife in case of any hidden attacks. The higher you climbed, the drier the rock below your boots became. With the waterfall keeping you hidden from the outside, you deliberately allowed your footsteps to echo throughout the cave in order to alert anyone inside. You weren’t here to fight.

When you reached the top of the rock steps you found a smooth plateau and the first sign of life. There was a makeshift camp of a few supplies – a sleeping bag, a pot, and flint – set up around the ashes of an extinguished fire. The coals still had a faint tinge of orange, so someone still had to be close by.

“Hello… Is anyone here?”

You called out, but were only met with the sound of your voice bouncing back off the walls.

The sleeping bag looked like it had some sort of shape underneath it, so you slowly walked over, wondering if anyone was still inside. You didn’t want to come off as threatening, but you also weren’t stupid enough to approach someone without a weapon, so you hid your knife behind your back.

“I’m [Y/N] from Four, I ran away from the careers. Two and Four are at the cornucopia now.”

The closer you moved towards the bag, the darker the cave became, but you could still faintly make out some sort of shape. You frowned, why wasn’t the person responding to you?

“Please, I’m just want to hide,” you lowered your voice as you reached the bag.

“I promise I don’t want to hurt you.”

You tapped at the bag with your foot but were met with a hard feeling beneath your toe.

Rocks?

 A trap

 Leaping away from the sleeping bag, you narrowly dodged the swing of a machete from a figure hiding in the shadows by less than an inch.

“But I want to hurt you”

The voice of your attacker was feminine, but you had no idea who the person is.

“Are you fucking crazy, I’m trying to offer you an alliance against the careers,” you swore as you shuffled backwards, trying to put some distance between yourself and your opponent.

“No thanks. I had one until your boyfriend killed him…” The girl continued to follow you, and as she steps further into the light, you recognize her from District 7

“…And I’d like to return the favor.”

She swung the machete again, and you narrowly ducked with a shriek, rolling towards the edge of the plateau. You just managed to catch yourself from rolling off the edge, but before you could get to your feet, Seven charged at you with another swing of her blade.

You brought your knife up to block it, which she clearly didn’t expect. She’s too stunned by the fact you stopped her attack to block your leg that kicked up and into her stomach. She hunched over and gasped, barely keeping her grip on her weapon after having the wind knocked out of her. You didn’t give her the opportunity to catch her breath. There was no time for guilt or doubt as you thrust your knife upwards. It sunk in between her ribs with a broken scream, causing her to finally release her grip on the machete. It clattered to the ground beside you as you pulled your knife out.

She was still alive, her hands pressing against the bleeding wound as she stood above you. The previous sight of your would-be-killer is gone, replaced by a scared girl who knows she’s going to die. You can’t exactly blame her for trying to kill you – after all your alliance tortured her district member – but there’s no point in feeling sorry for her now. The best you could do is give her a faster death than her partner. Getting to your feet, you stabbed her again, this time in the stomach. She made a strangled gurgle, coughing up blood as you ripped your knife back out. She moved to try and grab for the machete, but stumbled over her feet and instead slipped off the edge of the plateau.

You looked over the side with morbid curiosity, to see her body had landed amongst the rocky water at the bottom. The pool below is a violent mess of currents created from the waterfall and you watched as her body was quickly pulled under to the sound of a canon.

 *

 “I’m almost disappointed by how easy this has been,” Namjoon commented as he picked up a small sack of rice and tossed it into the water. Since disposing of Krystal, the duo hadn’t so much as seen a trace from another tribute on their way to the cornucopia. They had arrived with ease and quickly finished stocking both their backpacks with food items. It was when they discovered there would still be plenty left for other tributes that Hoseok had come up with the idea of throwing whatever they couldn’t take with them into the river.

“If only [Y/N] was that easy to find,” Hoseok muttered in response. Between tossing away any food he came across, he was also searching for more arrows.

“Nothing good is ever easy, she can’t hide forever.”

*boom* 

The noise of a canon stopped them both in their place, it had sounded very close by. Namjoon looked around in a circle to see if there was any sign of an airship, whilst Hoseok suspiciously eyed the waterfall. The canon had definitely come from that direction. It was too high to see their camp up the top, but in his mind the noise had sounded closer. For a few minutes there was an uneasy silence, until he spotted something in the water.

“Over there”

Hoseok tapped Namjoon on the arm and pointed towards a figure that was emerging from the raging waters. Forgetting about throwing away food, the two moved towards the edge of the cornucopia’s rock to try and see the body. The water near the fall was a violent mess of waves, before it smoothed out into an eerily placid pool by the cornucopia rock’s edge. They watched as the body was tossed around, pulled underneath the currents, until it eventually drifted further way from the fall and resurfaced closer in their direction.

“It’s a girl,” Namjoon commented as they watched the body float closer.

It was difficult to see any details, but they could both tell the body was too big to be one of the younger tributes. There were no male tributes with hair long enough to tie into a ponytail, which gave away the fact it was a girl. With Athena having short hair, Krystal being killed earlier, and four known female tributes having died yesterday, they both mentally ran through which older females were still left in the games.

“You don’t think it could be…”

“No.”

They were both thinking the same thing, but there was no way Hoseok would allow Namjoon to say your name out loud.

It wasn’t you; it couldn’t be you. There was no way that you could have been taken from Hoseok without him feeling it inside. You were tied together and the second you left this world he would be able to feel it like a tether had snapped, right? He had no idea what he would do if you died before he was able to reach you in these games. It was a given that he would kill whoever was responsible in the most excruciating manner possible, but afterwards? Probably a rage induced rampage until he was the only person left, before killing himself. If you weren’t together with him at the end, then no one could win.

Hoseok followed the body along the rock as it drifted, until it was close enough for him to be able to reach. He could hear the sound of an approaching airship, but he had to see who it was with his own eyes first. Leaning over, he grabbed the body by its jacket and pulled it close enough for him to flip over. His sigh of relief upon seeing some insignificant nobody was audible.

“Not her,” he called to Namjoon, who had followed behind him.

“Stab wounds…” Namjoon acknowledged, nodding at the two bleeding cuts in the body. A solid incision between the ribs and a deeper wound in the stomach.

“From someone who knows how to handle a knife…"

Hoseok’s words trailed off at the end as he recalled your training in the arena. Particularly, your skill with throwing knives. The boys looked at each other, both knowing what the other was thinking. You were very close by. Looking at the waterfall where the body had appeared, there was nothing to suggest that you were around. If it weren’t for the fact that you were trying to stay away from him, Hoseok would have been proud that his girl was so good at keeping herself hidden.

“Look over there”

Hoseok’s head snapped over to the direction Namjoon was pointing at, but couldn’t see anything.

“What am I looking for?”

“The rocks. I didn’t notice before, but look how they trail behind the waterfall. I think there’s something back there… more importantly, someone.”

In an instant Hoseok was at his feet, the body below him forgotten about entirely. His bow and quiver of arrows were already on his shoulder.

“Leave the supplies here, we can come back for them when we have YN,” Hoseok instructed as he walked over to pick up some rope from the cornucopia. He doesn’t want to have to restrain you, but given you ran away it’s not like you’ve left him much choice.

Eying the rope in Hoseok’s hands and the knife in his own, a dangerous smile flashed across Namjoon’s face.

“Let’s go get our girl.”

 *

 The guilt you were wondering why you didn’t feel earlier, seemed to crash down upon you all at once. With a horrified gasp you, were hyperventilating over the reality you had now killed two people in one day. You didn’t want to, you didn’t mean to, you knew that you had to otherwise it would have been you that was dead. But it didn’t make the reality any less awful. You wondered what your father would be thinking if he was watching. He had been the one to train you with a knife in case that your name was ever called, but could he handle the reality of actually seeing you kill other kids? What about your mother? She was already dead, what if she was waiting for you to join her in peace, but you were sending other children to her instead?

You felt sick, but there wasn’t any food in your system to throw up. Instead, all you could do was dry reach and cough as you backed away from the ledge of the plateau. Maybe you should throw yourself over into the rocks to drown. You didn’t deserve to live as a killer. But then wouldn’t that make those deaths meaningless? And as selfish as it sounded, you didn’t want to die a painful death. You were scared. Scared to die, scared to suffer, scared to survive and have to live with yourself if you made it.

You crawled backwards until you felt your hand touch something soft. You flinched in surprise, looking down to see the sleeping bag from seven’s camp. It felt wrong to even consider, but you couldn’t help but think it would be a nice spot to hide out for a while. There was shelter and more importantly, warmth. You weren't exactly in the mood to return to the woods again and have to climb another tree. You shrugged your backpack off your shoulders and tried to distract your racing thoughts with the task of pulling the rocks out of the sleeping bag that seven had stuffed inside.

As you worked, you could hear the sound of rocks crunching. At first you thought it was just the sounds of the ones inside the bag as you moved them, but then you paused, and you could still hear the noise. It was hard to hear anything over the sound of the waterfall, but you had a bad feeling. You fumbled for your backpack and began to slide further backwards into the darkness of the cave.

“[Y/N]”

You feel as if your blood has turned to ice at the sound of Hoseok calling your name. How the hell could he possibly know that you were here?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…

You shuffled backwards until you hit a rock. You couldn’t see anything in the darkness around you, and you could only pray that darkness would keep you hidden from him. You curled your knees into your chest and tried to shrink yourself as small as possible, clutching onto your knife, which would be your only hope of escape if he found you up here.

“Son of a bitch!”

You flinched at the sound of Namjoon’s cursing, and felt yourself panicking. Hoseok on his own was bad enough but Namjoon with him was too much. You doubted you could take one of them in a fight, but you knew that both of them would be impossible. You didn’t know what Hoseok’s plans with you were, but you swore you would rather die on your own than find out. You might not be able to fight them both, but you still had your knife, maybe you could take yourself out on your own terms.

“What?” Hoseok barked, his voice getting closer as he began to climb the rock steps.

“Some little shit is stealing our bag.”

That caused him to pause. Whilst the careers did have some basic supplies back at their camp, because they had thrown away a lot of the other food at the cornucopia, they needed those bags.

“Go stop the prick then, I’ll meet you out there with [Y/N].”

Namjoon nodded with a pissed off frown, turning around and heading back out of the fall the same way that he came. He hated when his plans were interrupted and he was going to make whatever moron thought they could steal from him pay.

You had no idea what bags they were talking about, but felt a sliver a of relief over Namjoon leaving. At least you had a fighting chance now if Hoseok found you. You could hear the sound of Hoseok’s footsteps coming closer, as he continued to climb.

“[Y/N]~” Hoseok’s voice echoed throughout the cave as he sung out your name in a sickeningly sweet call.

“Why are you hiding from me, angel? You should know that I would never hurt you.”

His steps continued to get closer and you clasped one hand over your nose and mouth to try and muffle the sound of your breathing. You tried to breathe as slowly and quietly as humanly possible.

“If it’s over how I tortured that boy from seven, I only did that because he tried to hurt you. But if you want, I’ll make all my other kills quick and painless. I’d do anything for you.”

The sound of his footsteps reaching the plateau kept you paralyzed in fear. He was here, there was no escape anymore. You clenched your eyes shut and prayed that the darkness could keep you covered.

Hoseok’s brows furrowed as he reached the top level and saw the abandoned camp. There were visible signs of a struggle from the earlier fight, but he couldn’t see anything else. The sleeping bag was barely visible in the darkness, but he could vaguely tell there were rocks nearby and some still inside of the bag. So that dead girl had tried to set a trap, but you were too clever. Again, he felt a combination of pride and frustration. If only you weren’t so afraid of him, you would be unstoppable together.

If his vision was to go by, you weren’t here. There weren’t any rocks to hide behind and it was possible you could have run in the opposite direction than where Namjoon and himself had approached from. But why did you feel so close? He narrowed his eyes and tried to squint further into the darkness, how deep did that cave go? Could you possibly be hiding in plain sight?

He pursed his lips, preparing to walk closer before the sound of a canon stopped him in his tracks.

 *

 Yoongi was in a bad mood.

After his argument with Krystal, he had been left alone to fish up the stream, but he had a lingering sense of unease. Why didn’t she understand that he was only looking out for her best interest? He didn’t sign up for these games to protect her just to watch her get killed for some stranger. It’s not that he hated you, or wanted you to die. He felt sorry for you and the way that Hoseok had singled you out, but it was better you than Krystal.

His luck with fishing had been mediocre. He had been apprehensive to use their food supplies for bait in case there weren’t actually any fish in the river. On the plus side it turned out there were indeed fish, but on the negative, the ones he had managed to catch were tiny. He lost track of how long he had been fishing for, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face after such a freezing night, when he was snapped out of his peace by the sound of a canon.

Something was wrong.

He couldn’t put his instincts into words, it didn’t make any logical sense, but he had a very, very bad feeling. It was like a part of him had collapsed inside of his chest.

‘Where’s Krystal?’

Surely, she would be back at camp, just like she was supposed to be?

He tried to shake off the feeling, canons were a normal part of the games, if Krystal was smart then she would still be with Athena. On her own Krystal was a formidable opponent, and Athena was a powerhouse. The only real threat that could take those two were the other careers, but they were all back down the cliff. She should be fine… so why didn’t it feel like she was?

With a huff, Yoongi wheeled in his wire and tossed the coil into the bucket. He would try fishing again later, using the smaller fish as bait. But first he had to go and find Krystal to put his mind at ease. He dipped the bucket into the river to fill it up with a little water, in order to keep the bait fresh in the meantime, then began his walk back to the campsite.

When he rounded the corner of the river that led to the waterfall, he felt his stomach drop upon seeing Athena alone at the campsite.

“Athena! Where’s Krystal” He yelled.

Her head jerked up from picking through a pile of different sticks, organizing them into different firewood. She seemed surprised, but Yoongi just thought that was from how loudly he had yelled at her.

“YOONGI, LOOK OUT!” Athena screamed back at him.

‘Look out for what? We need to look for Krystal?’

But his confused thought was interrupt by a searing pain running through his thigh. Gasping in agony, he was in so much pain he couldn’t even scream. Looking down he saw the long blade of a machete protruding out of his leg. Before Yoongi could even react, he was struck across the back of the head, whilst someone else landed a kick to his speared leg. Disorientated from the pain, the two attackers were easily able to manhandle him face down into the river.

Athena leapt up to help, but was met with a rope being wrapped around her neck from behind. The pressure instantly cut off her air, causing her to choke as she desperately clawed for the rope. But whoever had attacked her had miscalculated their strength. Once she was able to get a grip on the rope around her neck, Athena didn’t waste time trying to pull it away. Instead, she used her hold for leverage and rolled her body forward, causing the girl behind her to come flying over her shoulder.

Laying sprawled out on her back District 8 realized she had made a terrible mistake, but it was too late for her. Athena snatched a nearby spear from the weapons pile and drove it straight down into the girl’s stomach. After ripping the point out, Athena kicked her sharply in the side, sending her rolling into the rushing waters. Whether it was from the stab wound, drowning, or falling onto the rocks below, all Athena cared about was the sound of the canon that followed.

Spear in hand, she raced up the bank to save Yoongi.

One down, two to go.

 *

 Hoseok was quick to dismiss the sound of the canon as Namjoon taking care of the boy trying to steal from them, but his head turning towards the direction he thought the sound came from caused him to see a falling silhouette through the waterfall.

“What the fuck?”

He didn’t care for his allies atop the waterfall, but the odds for his plans in the games were better if they could stay alive until the outlier tributes were taken care of. He cast a quick scan around the cave for any sign that you were there, but seeing nothing he huffed and started climbing back down.

You couldn’t believe your luck.

After everything that had gone wrong so far in the arena, the moment you were seconds away from being found by your worst nightmare, something managed to distract him.

You should have felt guilty that the distraction came in the form of another person dying, but you were to high strung to properly register that. Listening to the sound of Hoseok’s footsteps, you waited until he was at the bottom of the steps before slowly moving forwards. Not wanting to risk being seen or heard, you slowly crawled your way to the edge to see Hoseok disappearing back out the side of the waterfall that he had come in from.

There was no way you were going to remain in the same place and risk being caught if he came back. Making sure your backpack was still secure, you climbed your way back down the same steps. But when you reached the bottom, you hurried along the rocks under the fall in the opposite direction that Hoseok had left.

 *

 Namjoon and the boy from 10 on the cornucopia had been trapped in a stalemate ever since Namjoon had returned from the waterfall. The boy had been distracted with filling up a bag as quickly as possible that he initially didn’t notice Namjoon sneaking up on him, but a movement in his peripheral version alerted him to the career’s presence. His head snapped up, as he saw him coming back to the cornucopia. Namjoon held the boy’s eyes with a dangerous stare that screamed one thing; ‘you’re dead, kid’.

There were barely any supplies left, the rock was sparse and the last remaining good items were now in the bag slung over his shoulder. Clearly Namjoon had to want what was in the bag if he was coming back for it.

“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll drop it!”

The break in his voice severely reduced the impact of his words, but the boy dangled the bag over the side of the water to show that he was serious.

Namjoon rolled his eyes, clearly not taking the threat seriously as he continued to walk, forwards, only to stop when the boy released the bag entirely. The boy caught the bag by the handle, but held it back up over the side of the edge once more.

‘So, he’s quick,’ Namjoon internally assessed as he held up his hands in a mock surrender.

“You have something of mine that I want back,” Namjoon nodded to the bag.

“If it was yours you would have taken it with you,” the kid snapped back.

“Everything in this arena is mine, including your life. Drop the bag on the rock and your death won’t be a painful one,” Namjoon threatened as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to showcase his muscular triceps that were probably three times the width of the scrawny teenage boy’s.

“Come any closer and your bag will be thrown to the bottom of your river”

Namjoon longed to rush the boy and slam his head against the rock to teach him some respect, but the bag of supplies kept him rooted to the spot. Meanwhile the boy was tossing up his options. The boy from 10 knew that he was fast, but the weight of the bag would slow him down, and it was possible Namjoon could catch him. But if he dropped the bag his odds of outrunning him into the forest were much higher. But the boy wanted the bag just as much as the careers did. He hadn’t eaten since the start of the games. He had scarfed down a protein bar whilst cramming supplies into the bag, but he didn’t think he was going to last long in the forest without anything.

And so, the two stood eyeing each other down, neither willing to cut the loss of the bag, not even a body flying over the edge of the waterfall to the sound of a canon could distract them. However, Namjoon could still see Hoseok resurfacing out the side of the fall.

Hoseok could be brash but he wasn’t an idiot. Seeing the boy holding the bag over the water and Namjoon with his hands up, he could tell that there was some sort of bargain happening. With the boy’s arm over the water, it wasn’t like he could just shoot him with an arrow, without the bag falling in. Being within Namjoon’s line of sight, and with the boy having his back to him, Hoseok sent Namjoon a signal to let him know he would approach quietly.

Keeping his hands raised, Namjoon began to walk around the boy. He maintained the same distance, moving clockwise around the rock with lazy steps.

“You’re not getting off this rock with that bag,” he taunted as he walked, deliberately keeping the boy’s attention away from Hoseok, who was moving closer towards their direction.

“As a matter of fact, you won’t be getting off this rock alive at all”

“Then there wouldn’t be much sense in me keeping a hold of this bag then,” ten sneered.

“The second you drop the bag, is the second you die and you know it,” Namjoon replied coolly as he continued to pace.

“Not unless I make a trade”

Namjoon barked out a laugh.

“For you to make a trade you would need to have something I want. The only thing I want is that bag.”

“Oh really?” Ten asked with a knowing grin starting to crawl across his face.

Namjoon rolled his eyes at the audacity of the kid to think he could possibly strike a bargain, but he had to admit it was somewhat amusing.

“And what else could you possibly have?”

“I saw you and two earlier, I know you’re looking for your district partner. I also saw where she went”

There was a hint of glee in ten’s voice, like he was aware of a hilarious inside joke and Namjoon didn’t like it one bit.

“Bullshit,” he called.

At this reaction, ten outright giggled.

“I know you were tracking her, and that you killed that other career. But I also saw where she was going, and you were both so close.”

“And what makes you think that I believe you?”

Whether Namjoon believed him or not, having the boy keep talking was an excellent way to stall for time as Hoseok continued to get closer. With Namjoon now on the other side of the rock, it was only a matter of time before they had the kid trapped between them.

“She’s a pretty thing, isn’t she?”

Namjoon let out an exasperated sigh.

“No shit, we’ve all seen her at training and the interviews. Hardly proves you saw her today.”

Ten fumbled the bag slightly, his arm starting to burn with lactic acid from holding it over the water for so long. Bringing it down to the ground, he placed a foot on top, easily able to kick it into the river if he wanted. It was in the process of doing this that he caught sight of Hoseok approaching from his peripheral vision.

“Tell him to stop right now, or I kick the bag,” he immediately threatened.

“Hoseok!” Namjoon yelled, before making a cutting gesture across his throat, to get him to pause.

Hoseok reluctantly listened, coming to a stop just slightly further away from the boy than where Namjoon was on the other side of the cornucopia.

“So now what? I drop the bag and I die, or I give you the bag and I die” Ten deadpanned as he looked between the careers on either side of him, not exactly liking his options.

“Sounds about right to me,” Hoseok grinned, sliding the bow off his shoulder and preparing to load an arrow from his quiver.

“If you shoot me now then I can’t tell you where your girl is.”

Hoseok paused his hand right as it touched upon an arrow.

“Where is she,” he demanded.

Namjoon mentally slammed his palm against his forehead, of course Hoseok would be too blinded by his obsession with you, and buy into this bargain.

“I’m not just going to tell you so you can kill me. Look I can see there’s no situation here where I leave alive with the bag, so I’ll drop it. Here,” Ten paused to toss the bag a few feet in front of himself.

“Walk towards me and let me walk past you” Ten gestured towards Hoseok “and I’ll tell you where she is.”

Hoseok nodded curtly whilst Namjoon just rolled his eyes. He thought Hoseok was a lovesick fool, but was satisfied with the fact they at least had the bag back again.

The walk across the rocks began, ten deliberately tried to walk in a path that would create a gap in width between his body and Hoseok’s when they met. Hoseok read this and navigated himself in a way to lessen that distance, in case Ten tried to run without giving him the information that he wanted.

Meanwhile Namjoon walked towards the direction of the bag to retrieve it, but spotted something from the corner of his eye. There was some sort of shape in the rocks near the waterfall. He knew he should probably be paying attention in case Ten thought it was a good idea to jump his teammate, but Hoseok was strong enough to take care of himself, and this weird shape was bothering him. It was hard to see over the mist that sprayed up from the crashing impact, and when he squinted his eyes to look, it was like it was never there at all. For a moment he dismissed it as a bird until it moved again. A blur ducking up and then disappearing behind the closest rock. And then suddenly it clicked – why Ten had been laughing when talking about how close they apparently were to you before. The boy had seen you…

“HOSEOK!” He bellowed right before the two boys were about to pass each other “SHE WAS INSIDE THE CAVE. SHE’S MAKING A BREAK OUT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FALL”

 *

 Whatever luck you had acquired for Hoseok to leave inside the cave, seemed to have vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. You couldn’t hear the words that Namjoon had yelled over the rumbling noise of water crashing nearby, but you could see him pointing in your direction.

For a split second you all froze. You were caught like a deer in headlights, Namjoon was pointing at you, Hoseok looked livid and the boy from ten was scared to death. There was barely any distance between Ten and Hoseok. They were less than six feet apart, with Hoseok blocking the way to the forest, and Ten had just lost his only bargaining chip seconds away from managing to escape. With no weapon on his body, and no way to get around the armed career in front of him, he made a split-second decision to turn back around. If he was going to die, then he wasn’t going to let those careers get that bag, He’d kick it into the river if it was the last thing he did.

Immediately, chaos erupted.

You took off into a sprint across the rocks. You no longer had to worry about remaining hidden and put all your focus on speed. There was no point in prioritizing your safety on the dangerous surface either – it was either get away, or die. You’d risk slipping and breaking your neck than winding up caught between Hoseok and Namjoon any day. Using every ounce of instinct built from years living on the coast, climbing your boat, and scaling rocks near the sea, you made a break for the forest.

Being the closest, Namjoon would have pursued you, if wasn’t for ten turning around. Reading his move for the bag Namjoon had to race him for it, which was in the opposite direction that you were running. Hoseok and ten were both the same speed, so it was down to him being closer to save their supplies.

“No! Get her! GET HER!” Hoseok yelled to Namjoon as he watched you slipping through his fingers, whilst you ran closer to the forest’s edge.

But Namjoon ignored the demand, leaping onto the bag just seconds before Ten’s foot could make contact with a kick. Instead, Namjoon took the hit to his side and rolled, causing ten to go flying over the top of him.

Ten landed with a sickening crunch. He had thrown his arms out to break the fall, only to break his wrist on impact with the rock. Despite the agony, he used the momentum to keep rolling and fell off the side, into the water below. Namjoon sat up with a grunt, with his water experience, swimming the boy down wouldn’t be a problem, except Hoseok was about to beat him to it.

With his bow loaded, Hoseok shot an arrow straight into the shoulder of ten. The boy let out a muffled scream as he fell underneath the surface, no longer able to swim. With ten no longer a threat, Hoseok looked up to try and find where you were, to see you were right at the border between the rocks and the forest edge.

You had made it to the trees and stopped to look behind to see if you were being chased, when you witnessed Hoseok shoot the boy from ten. You thought that would be it, that he would be left to drown now that he could no longer swim, or that Hoseok would fire a second arrow to be certain. Instead, you found yourself rooted to the spot as Namjoon reached into the water and pulled ten back up to the surface by the arrow stuck inside of his body. As Namjoon continued to drag a screaming ten out of the water, and back up onto the cornucopia rock, Hoseok stood at his side, pointedly staring at you.

Your eyes were locked onto his, trying to read what he was going to do next. You leaned against the closest tree as you tried to suck in deep breaths. Your lungs burned from sprinting over the rocks, but you had to be ready to run again into the forest at any moment. In return Hoseok was eerily still. He watched the rise and fall of your chest with every breath you took, studied the flush of red across your cheeks and beads of sweat trickling from your forehead, and thought of the ways in which he would love to elicit such a response from your body. He ached to run and take you into his arms so he could feel the warmth of your body pressed against his, but knew that you would disappear into the forest the second he tried to. So, instead he chose to drag those seconds out as long as possible, just watching you breathe from a distance to find comfort in knowing you were still alive.

  *

 The sound of the canon had distracted the two boys that were holding Yoongi under the water. Turning their heads over towards the sound they were hoping to see Athena dead and the other girl from eight returning to help them take care of the last person at camp, but were met with the sight of an enraged Athena running in their direction.

“Shit! What the fuck do we do?” The boy from district 8 hissed, as he maintained his pressure on Yoongi’s neck to keep him face down under the water.

“How the fuck should I know?” the boy from district 9 snapped back, “You’re the genius who said your partner could take care of her”

“I thought she could! How hard is it to sneak up and kill someone from behind?”

“Too hard apparently”

“WATCH OUT!”

The two boys’ bickering was cut short by eight shoving nine to the side and narrowly avoiding the spear that Athena had thrown.

“That was clos-”

Eight’s sigh of relief was cut short by a second spear landing in his throat.

Nine released a horrified scream at the gruesome vision. The canon hadn’t sounded yet as eight was barely clinging to life, choking out gargled breaths as blood spilled profusely down his neck and into the water below. Nine was so preoccupied by the sight that he didn’t even notice that Yoongi had surfaced from the water. With an agonized grunt, Yoongi pulled the blade of the machete out of his leg and swung it straight into the kid’s head.

Two canons sounded one after the other as the boys died simultaneously.

With the surge of adrenaline fading as quickly as it had appeared, Yoongi collapsed on the shore, vomiting up the water he had been forced to swallow whilst being held under. His injured leg was throbbing, he had a splitting headache and his chest felt like someone had been sitting on it. He was barely conscious when Athena caught up to him and dragged him further out of the water, to make sure he didn’t get caught in the stream and sent over the waterfall.

Pulling her button up shirt from her body (leaving just a tank top underneath), Athena set to work on creating a makeshift tourniquet by tying the sleeves tightly above the wound.

“You know, I could easily just kill you now,” Athena mused.

Yoongi’s response was a laugh in the form of a sharp huff. It was true, he was defenseless. The machete had been lodged into nine’s skull and taken away with his body. He now had no weapon and a major injury in his leg, whilst Athena was a skilled hand to hand combat fighter. She could also easily run back to the weapons at their camp before he could even struggle to his feet.

“So why don’t you?” he grunted, closing his eyes and letting his head fall onto the ground below.

Yoongi knew his shot at the games was practically over with such a severe injury. His bad feeling over Krystal was only made worse by the surprise attack from the three tributes. What if they had killed her when she went off to have a bathroom break earlier? She hadn’t been seen in hours and there were far too many canons that had sounded today. If Krystal was dead then there was no purpose for him to be here anymore, though he hoped to at least wait to see the tribute display in the evening and confirm Krystal was gone before entirely giving up.

“Hoseok and Namjoon,” Athena sighed in response.

Though his eyes were closed, Yoongi raised an eyebrow, indicating for her to elaborate.

“What do you think those two would think if they came back and saw you dead in camp and your sister missing too? They’d probably act like I did it and kill me on the spot for betraying the alliance.”

“That sucks,” Yoongi grumbled.

“Yeah, it does,” Athena laughed. Nothing about the situation was actually funny, but it was such a surreal experience it was all she could do.

“But you know what else sucks?” She continued, earning a questioning grunt from Yoongi.

“That this wouldn’t have even happened if Hoseok and Namjoon didn’t go off on their stupid search for YN. The weird obsession with her, it’s literally insane.”

“I don’t get it either,” Yoongi sighed.

“I’m sick of it. They left us here to die, maybe Krystal already has…”

Yoongi flinched.

“Sorry. But for what? A stupid crush they’re going to have to kill in the end anyway. I didn’t get my name pulled out of that bowl just so I could die as a side character in some weird love story.”

“So, what are you going to do about it? Jump them when they come back to camp?”

Athena scoffed at the suggestion.

“Tempting but I think we both know they’re stronger than I am. I might take down one of them with me but I couldn’t get both. And it’s not like you’d be much help there either.”

“I offer you my complete moral support” Yoongi deadpanned.

Athena barked out another laugh.

“I’ve got nothing,” she sighed. “Maybe we have that in common, and maybe we should at least watch each other’s backs.”

Yoongi opened his eyes and looked up to see Athena staring down at him.

The pain of potentially losing Krystal was still too raw for him to properly process, especially without any closure of knowing that it had really happened (though every instinct in his gut told him she was gone). But he had been so focused on his goal of protecting his sister he hadn’t given much thought to any of his other teammates.

Athena looked tough and intimidating, she scored high in trials and interviewed well. By all standards she was just another typical career, but the reality was she was also human. Yet another sacrifice to the capitol, just like his sister and just like himself. With Krystal, he had someone he loved with him, but Athena had no one. Her closest thing to a partner, in her district mate, had abandoned her for a prettier girl like a child distracted by a shinier new toy. If they were both doomed to die here, then the least he could do was make sure she wasn’t entirely alone.

“Yeah, I think we should”.

 *

 The sound of two back-to-back canons cut short whatever moment you were having with Hoseok. It was a slap across the face reminder that this was a game to kill until the last person standing, and the man standing across the rocks from you would ultimately have to try and kill you, no matter what sweet promises he made.

“YN wait, please!” you heard him beg as you broke eye contact, but you didn’t look back again as you turned and vanished into the forest.

“FUCK!” Hoseok screamed in frustration, launching a kick into the ten’s shoulder, the same one he had shot the arrow into. If he couldn’t have you now then he was going to make the little shit who ruined his plans pay.

Namjoon took a step back, and picked up the bag of supplies. He then walked over to a nearby rock and set the bag down in front of him, perfectly secured between his legs. Unzipping the top, he reached inside and dug out an apple, biting in as Hoseok ripped the arrow completely out of ten’s shoulder. Namjoon watched nonchalantly as Hoseok reloaded the arrow and shot it into ten’s other shoulder, the younger boy writhing in agony below.

The torture continued as Namjoon ate his snack. Hoseok would pull the arrow out of ten’s body by twisting it painfully, before reloading and shooting it again into another non-lethal area. His arms and legs were more like a bloody human pin cushion by the time Namjoon had finished a second apple and decided he was bored.

“We should get back to camp,” he declared, shouldering the bag.

Hoseok turned his attention to Namjoon with a raised brow.

“Those two canons earlier, and the one before that, we should check on Athena and Yoongi.”

Hoseok opened his mouth to argue before Namjoon cut him off.

“I don’t care about them either, however it would benefit us to know if they are still alive and who attacked them if they’re not. If there are other tributes working together, we need to take care of them before they go after YN next.”

Hoseok rolled his neck to stare up at the sky with an exhausted sigh. He knew Namjoon was right, and self-indulgent torture sessions weren’t going to get you back.

“Good,” Namjoon confirmed with a smile, before leaning down and snapping ten’s neck with his bare hands.

 Another canon.

 *

 It took slightly longer than an hour for Namjoon and Hoseok to climb the cliff and return to the campsite, where they were met with the sight of Athena wrapping a bandage around Yoongi’s thigh. The duo was informed the first aid kit was a gift from a sponsor and that the Yoongi and Athena were ambushed by three tributes, all now dead. When Yoongi asked if they had seen Krystal, Namjoon denied anything and asked if they heard any canons before they were attacked. Athena confirmed there had been, and Yoongi had broken down crying.

Hoseok left the other boy to grieve, knowing his sister was dead long before the nightly display confirmed it. Laying down in the tent, he longed to run into the forest and find you right at this second. However, he knew he needed to rest, and that tomorrow when he left camp, there was no way he would return without you. For now, he settled on mentally calculating how many people had to be left in the games. Krystal was gone leaving only himself, Namjoon, Athena and an injured Yoongi in the careers, and of course, there was still you. Eight tributes had died on opening day, two had died over the night, there were two earlier canons that morning, and with the short-lived alliance of three, the person you had killed, and the boy from ten, then that only left one other tribute who was still alive…

  *

 You sat high up in a tree, tied to a branch, as you heard the Panem music blast throughout the arena. Shivering under your blanket, you listened as the game maker praised the blood bath of the day, and commented that you were on track for the fastest games in history. When Krystal’s face appeared in the sky as the first tribute, you lost it. You bundled the top of the blanket into a ball and openly sobbed into the fabric, mourning the loss of the only person in the arena who you would have called a friend. You cried far longer than it took for the capitol to display all of the people who had died, and so you honestly had no idea who was left, or exactly how many people there even were now.

You knew Hoseok and Namjoon were still alive as only one more canon had sounded after you ran into the forest, and there was no doubt in your mind it was for the boy that had been shot with the arrow. You felt physically sick from crying; your sinuses were clogged and you had a nasty headache. You were also dizzy from not eating anything in hours and downright drained from how physically and emotionally taxing everything was. You had zero plan for survival in the arena, and no idea what you were going to do the next time Hoseok came close to finding you. In your exhausted state, you decided that would have to be a problem for tomorrow. Letting your head fall back against the trunk, you closed your eyes and quickly succumbed to your body’s need for rest.

Little did you know that someone very close by had been tracking you since earlier that afternoon, and was waiting for this exact moment.

  Note: Ten’s idea was to grab the bag and run, he didn’t stop to search what was inside, and obviously regretted the fact he didn’t check for a weapon when he had the chance

So close to 10K but I didn’t want to fill it with garbage for the sake of trying to boost the word count, so 9.5 it is.

[harryspet]

wrapped in red | p.parker & b.barnes

[Warnings] dark? peter parker x reader, dark bucky barnes x reader, peter is still pretty sweet and bucky is evil, aged up peter, mafia/gang au, gang boss!bucky, waitress!reader, noncon/dubcon sex, light bondage, kidnapping, bucky likes to watch 

A/N: idk its 7 am and I still haven’t slept and now I’m posting this. THIS IS ADULT & TRIGGERING CONTENT READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

In which Peter likes you and Bucky makes you both regret that. 

main masterlist

word count: 2.9k

“Can I get you anything else, sir?” You asked the blue-eyed man sitting at table eighteen. Your coworker had an emergency call so you found yourself tasked with tending to the table of two men. You didn’t recognize the man at first but as your eyes connected with his left arm … your breathing hitched in your throat. You smiled through your worry though, trying not to be too obvious about the fact that you knew exactly who he was. 

Bucky Barnes ran this neighborhood, but since you had never run into him, it was easy to believe he was just a myth. 

“No, doll. Just the check please,” He spoke simply and you might not have been intimidated if you hadn’t noted the many expensive rings on his right hand. The man sitting across from him was younger, his eyes were nervous too as he looked you over. His face was familiar and you thought you might have seen him in one of your classes. 

There were several empty beers on the table as well 

You nodded your head before turning away, “I’ll be right back.”

Peter’s eyes lingered on you as you walked away from the table. For a moment, he forgot that he was supposed to be counting. His pen roamed over the sheet and over all the numbers. 

“See, you’re only making a hundred grand from this guy's shipments. He’s using all your resources to make sure the product is clean but you could easily just do that for yourself. You cut out in the middle man and I think you could triple your profit,” Peter turned the paper so Bucky could look over all the numbers he was running. Peter folded his hands, trying to read the man’s expressions. 

As you returned to the table with the check, Peter was once again caught in the trance you put in. He recognized you from his anatomy class. He arrived at class five minutes early every day just to make sure that he could watch you come in. Part of him was unsure of what you’d think of him now, knowing who he was sitting with. 

Money didn’t grow on trees and Peter was the man of the house. College was expensive and the rent was even more expensive so he had to do what he could to get by. You were working minimum wage at a rundown restaurant, Peter didn’t doubt that you could understand that. Still, what you did was honest work and Peter couldn’t say the same for himself. 

“Thank you, doll,” Bucky thanked you, resting his arms against the table as he smirked up at you, “You doing something tonight? What time do you get off?”

Your lips parted as you stared in shock. Could you just answer a simple no? “I actually have to close up today … so I … uhm-”

“I-It’s okay,” Peter rushed out nervously, seeing the way that Bucky was eyeing you, “That’s it, thank you.”

Your smile was thin and awkward before you walked away. 

Peter’s eyes widened with frustration as he stared across the table at the older man, “What are you doing?” Bucky chuckled as he grabbed the check, clicking his pin in order to sign it. Peter didn’t know it but the man was leaving you a hefty tip, “Were you trying to scare her?”

“I was trying to get you a date!” Bucky retorted, “Your good with numbers, kid, and I appreciate you helping me out. I really do but your game with women is a little laughable.”

Peter shook his head in disbelief, “Why does it matter?” Peter lowered his voice as the realization set in that Bucky was right, “Why does it matter what kind of game I have? I’m just here to count your money, right?”

The look in Bucky’s eyes was almost sympathetic, “You count money for now but you’re strong, I can tell. You could become a very valuable person to me if you work at it. And part of being in my little family is having some fucking confidence. You were drooling over that girl instead of manning up and asking her out.”

Peter crossed his arms, “What if she said no?”

Bucky smirked at the younger boy, “She wouldn’t if you had some fucking balls,” Peter rolled his eyes, “But if she did said no … then you chase her. That’s the best part.”

There was something evil in the man's glare but Peter brushed it out. The man was a professional, drug dealing murderer. “You want to ask her to prom or something?”

Peter shook his head, annoyed, “I’m not in high school, Mr. Barnes. I just like her, okay? And it doesn’t matter that I like her because it’s not like we can date. I’m sure we both have bigger things to focus on. Now ... can we go back to talking about the deal that’s going on tomorrow?”

Bucky seemed amused by the kid’s awkwardness, “I like your idea. I hate that Brock guy anyways. He’s overcharging me because I used to mess with his sister. You know … maybe if he’s out of the picture then his sister is free territory.”

“Out of the picture how?” Bucky sensed Peter’s worry and grinned. 

“That’s right, you’ve never been on one of my infamous boat rides. You should come,” Peter knew exactly what he meant. If Bucky didn’t like you, you did not want to go on a “boat ride” with him. That was a quick and easy way for your body to end up chained to a brick at the bottom of the Hudson. 

“I have a biology project to work on,” Peter said.

“It wasn’t a question, Queens.”

+

Your heart skipped a beat as a black Escalade pulled up beside you while you were walking home. You didn’t look over as you heard the window roll down. You winced as you continued to walk. You only turned to look as you heard a whistle. 

You thought he’d give up after the weird encounter at the restaurant but here he was in all his handsome and dangerous glory, “You need a ride, doll?”

“Uhm, no. But thank you!”

What was it with kids your age? Perhaps Bucky was losing some of his edginess with the younger crowd, “Get in,” Bucky said, much more forward this time, “I just want to talk.”

You took a deep breath as you clutched your purse tightly. You found your feet moving before your mind could catch up. Your body thought you’d be safer going with him rather than arguing with the famous criminal. You heard the rumors about people that went missing because they pissed him off. Every time they seemed to arrest him, he was back on the streets weeks later. The cops, ones who he didn’t pay off, could never pin him to any of the murders. 

If you went missing because of Bucky Barnes, you and your legacy were effectively wiped away. 

He opened the back door for you and you climbed into the leather seat as he slid over. Shaking, you grabbed your seat belt and buckled yourself in. Bucky was used to the lack of eye contact and shaky fingers. It usually annoyed him but, for you, he found it endearing. 

As the door closed, the man in the front seat drove off, “What exactly do you want to talk to me about?” You asked, still confused about the entire situation. 

“My friend that sat at the table with me. Peter Parker,” Bucky spoke vaguely. 

“We don’t really know each other,” You explained, hoping that guy wasn’t somehow in trouble with Bucky, “We just go to the same college.”

“No, I know,” Bucky continued, “I just know that he’s interested in getting to know you better. And Peter’s a good friend of mine, you know?”

You nodded slowly. That meant Peter was dangerous, “Right. He’s … he’s never talked to me.”

Bucky chuckled, “He’s the shy type. You’re a pretty girl, he probably doesn’t think he’s good enough. That’s why I’m here talking to you.”

“What do you want me to do?” You asked hesitantly.

“That’s a good response,” Bucky gave you a smug look, “You’ll find out soon, doll. Sit tight.”

Your eyes widened as you looked out the tinted window, watching your apartment building pass by. Bucky’s driver gazed at you through the rearview mirror before focusing back on the road. 

+

Peter thought he wouldn’t be able to stomach. Watching a grown man cry and beg for his life before being tossed over the edge. You watched him sink and the bubbles slowly start to disappear as he went deeper, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Bucky had said to him.

Peter hated to say that it wasn’t as bad as he believed it would be. Perhaps the years of struggling had blackened his heart. After the murder, Bucky proceeded to drag you back to his million-dollar apartment, wanting to share a drink or to. 

Peter almost opened his mouth to say that he wasn’t twenty-one yet but knew the exact reaction he would get from Bucky. Bucky had his arm wrapped around Peter’s shoulder as he showed him to the kitchen, “One day, you’re going to have a place just like this,” He said, hinting at your luxurious surroundings, “You stick with me and you won’t need that piece of shit degree.”

Peter only nodded, accepting a beer from the man. Bucky watched as the boy chugged the content of his glass. Peter hoped it would get him through the rest of the night and help give him some liquid courage, “You’re a weird kid, Queens,” Bucky laughed, “I like it. C’mere, I want to show you something.”

You followed Bucky down the hallway, hoping it wasn’t another disturbing thing that the man found amusing, “What is it?”

“A present,” Bucky grinned, guiding Peter to the door at the end of the hallway. Peter would’ve preferred to be wowed by a million other things. Instead, his mouth was agape because he saw you. 

Whatever drugs he had given you to keep you relaxed had completely worn off. It kept you from fighting them when your clothes were cut off from your body. Your vision was blurry and your muscles were weak as they restrained your body. Now, clear as day you could see your captor … and his friend Peter. 

You were laid out on the bed, your hands handcuffed behind your back and your ankles tied together by a red ribbon. A red thong barely covered your lower region and a red ribbon wrapped around your front barely covered your nipples. Right in the middle of your chest was a red bow to compliment the red ball gag in your mouth. 

Peter flashed Bucky a mortified look. Bucky only sipped at his glass of beer, “Happy fucking birthday, kid,” Bucky beamed, “Aren’t you going to say thank you?”

It wasn’t Peter’s birthday and he was definitely not feeling thankful. Peter watched as you struggled in your bondage, frightened tears staining your cheeks. “What the hell are you doing?” Peter asked, his teeth gritted in anger, “I-I didn’t ask you to do this.”

“What?” Bucky sounded offended, “It’s creative! Think of it as a welcoming gift. I know you want to fuck her so here’s your chance. Fuck her and get rid of her-”

Get rid of you?

Bucky was interrupted by a muffled scream which only caused him to roll his eyes, “Or fuck her and keep her, I don’t care.”

“No, no, I’m letting her go-” Before Peter could take a step forward, Bucky’s metal arm gripped his shoulder. 

You felt relieved only for a moment.  Bucky stepped in front of him, “I’ll fuck her then, no point in letting the opportunity go to waste.”

Peter’s heart stopped, “Mr. Barnes, please.”

“You do it or I will,” Bucky said firmly, “You’re smart and I want to keep you around but if you can’t … take a few fun risks then maybe you’re not the type of person that should work for me.” Bucky’s words settled over him. Peter thought about losing this opportunity and all the money that would come along with it. Looking into your teary eyes, Peter thought about how rough Bucky would be with you. Maybe he could explain that … Peter mentally cursed. 

Peter didn’t answer verbally, only pushed past Bucky, walking towards the bed. Peter felt a sudden rush of adrenaline as he stalked towards the bed, “That’s my boy,” Bucky spoke excitedly. He moved towards a lounge chair in the corner of the room, still taking swigs of his drink, “There’s no point in asking. If you want it, take it. Now put on a good show for your dear boss.”

Peter knew there was no going back now. He reached out to touch your arm, only to have you flinch away from his touch. Peter had imagined touching you for the first time and it was nothing like this. Peter turned that sadness to anger in order to fuel his adrenaline. 

Peter undid the ribbon around your ankles first. As soon as they were free, you were struggling against him. Peter was much stronger than you assumed and held you in place easily. Next, he moved to your gag, “Pl-Please don’t hurt me,” You begged, your voice hoarse. 

You saw something in his eyes similar to regret. Regret for the inevitable. As you shook your head, he said, “I won’t. Just … just don’t struggle,” He tried to assure you but as he moved your body over the edge of the bed, parting your legs and settling between them, you panicked again.

“Peter, please don’t.” He perked up at the sound of his name on your lips and you thought for a moment that you had gotten to him. He paused for a moment, only for a moment, before lifting his shirt above his head. He leaned his body over yours, his mouth brushing over your ear.

“Trust me, you don’t want him touching you. Just relax,” A shiver ran down your spine and you turned your head. Your scared eyes connected with Bucky’s and he smirked. It seemed the two of you were his sick entertainment for tonight. Your breathing was heavy but you tried to keep your muscles calm. 

You tried to convince yourself that Peter was the better option. He was your age and he didn’t have that evil look in his eyes. You hated that you preferred him. You hated that you were preferring this. 

Peter placed soft kisses along your collarbone and up the side of your neck. It baffled you that you got the feeling that he wanted to be gentle with you. You were ready to jump out of your skin when you felt your panties being moved to the side but you were interrupted by Peter’s lips crashing onto yours. 

Soon, you felt him at your entrance, teasing your opening. You gasped against his lips as he slowly sheathed himself inside of you. You wanted him away but you still found that your legs wrapped around him for support. 

Peter moved his lips against yours and you felt his own body shudder as your warmness wrapped around his length. He started to move in and out of you and it took you time to get used to the invading feeling. As Peter kissed your tear-stained cheeks, you bit down on your bottom lip. His pace quickened and wished desperately that your hands weren’t handcuffed behind you. 

“Y/N,” He grunted into your ear as he made long, deep strokes inside of you, “Fuck, I’m sorry… y-you feel so good.”

As he pushed deep inside of you, your head tilted back and a frustrated moan escaped from your throat. You hated that he was making you feel good too. You felt his hand running up your thigh  and then it was between your leg, slowly rubbing that sensitive bulb between your legs. That was enough to have you moving your hips against him. 

Bucky watched intently, the blood rushing to that area between his legs. He’d keep you in mind when he was deep inside Brock’s sister. 

“Ah, ah,” Peter kissed you, swallowing your moans as you both climaxed together. 

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Peter was supposed to finally gather the courage to ask for your number towards the end of the semester. You were supposed to text back and forth for a few weeks and then go on a few dates. You were supposed to fall for each other the natural way. 

Bucky had stolen all that. 

As Peter pulled up his pants, zipping them up, Bucky stood from his chair, “That was moving. Very romantic,” By his tone, Peter could tell the man was hoping for something for brutal. Peter scowled at his boss, “I knew deep down you were a ladies man-”

Peter interrupted, venom in his tone, “What do you want me to do now?”

Bucky only chuckled, “Nothing like some emotional trauma to toughen someone up,” He patted Peter’s shoulder as he made his way to the door, “Why don’t you buy her dinner and then take her home? You can take my car.”

“That’s fucking it? After all that?”

Bucky turned his head as his hand grabbed a hold of the doorknob, “She knows what’ll happen if she runs to the cops. Welcome to the team, Parker.”

+

hope you enjoyed!!

[janetbrown711]

“   it’s  okay ,   i’m  here .   i’ll  always  be  here .   ” Wakko yakko dot

Wakko wasn’t sure how much longer he could take this. 

He was barely holding on as it was, always trying to keep on a happy face for his sibs, make them believe everything was okay. Dot was a lot easier to trick than Yakko, but even he could be swayed with very little effort. After all, it was very clear that their parents were never going to come back...

It had been almost a year. Wakko still missed them every day. He missed their protection... Yakko was trying, that was true, but even he could get distracted. Sometimes he’d be studying off in the library when Wakko needed food, so he’d have to figure it out on his own because God knows he couldn’t ask his grandmother for anything. Wakko figured it out for the most part, but it was easy to say he missed quite a few meals over the years because of fear of disturbing Her. 

Wakko knew she placed his room by hers for the specific purpose of making his life a living hell without his sibs. After all, she hated him. The only reason she’d want to be near is if she wanted to keep an eye out, or if she wanted to hurt him somehow. Well- she succeeded on that end anyway, though perhaps the better word was torture. 

Sure, sometimes Wakko could manage to sneak past if he crawled on his hands and knees and put socks on his feet and hands, but he was filled with anxiety that simply wouldn’t leave him the whole time. He was terrified of getting his sibs in danger- a trait he knew he shared with both of them. 

They were all putting on a happy face, he supposed. 

He couldn’t say it was all bad... he was getting better at reading. Dot read easy stuff which helped him boost his confidence, while Yakko read more difficult stuff to make sure he was actually learning, which- while Wakko kinda hated it- he couldn’t deny worked. He was getting better- he was actually learning things, which felt nice. 

Though they had had a few close calls here and there...

Wakko wasn’t sure what would happen if they got caught, but he was pretty sure they’d get into serious trouble. For whatever reason, Angelina really hated the fact Wakko was stupid but hated him trying to better himself even more. It was like she wanted a bug under her shoe to squish just for fun... the thought made Wakko shudder. 

So... the year had its good moments, but... a year had really taken it’s tole. The only major good part was that Angelina stopped wearing that stupid veil and pretended to be grieving. Now you knew what she was thinking and saying, which... well... good and bad. 

Good and bad. 

“What’s this word, Wakko?” Yakko asked, pointing to a particularly long one on the page in front of Wakko. He frowned at it. 

“I dunno,” he shrugged. 

“You’re a smart kid, sound it out,” Yakko said. Wakko winced a little and looked at the page. 

In truth, he sometimes debated with himself whether it was better to be stupid or to be smart. He wanted to know things, but at the same time knowledge seemed like a burden more than anything. At least- that’s what he got from observing Yakko. Yakko always had something on his mind, something big, while Wakko hardly ever thought about things other than food or some imaginary story he likes playing on repeat to keep himself busy while his sibs were gone. 

“in... for...ma...ti..own?” He looked at his elder brother. 

“Close. Information. Tion sounds like shun,” Yakko pointed out. 

“Right, that’s information,” he nodded. He knew the words, he was nine after all, but reading just make them look unfamiliar. 

Yakko was then going to make him read the full sentence again, but a familiar shout was heard right outside, and the boys froze as the door swung open. 

“Yakko- calm this child down,” Angelina shoved Dot, who was crying, towards Yakko, when her eyes feel upon them. 

“What on earth is going on here?” She glared at Wakko, and he felt his heart beat faster. 

“W-well I-i was just-” Yakko tried to think of what to say as Dot went to him, but Angelina yanked Dot back, before going to Yakko herself and slapping him across the face and he slammed into a bookshelf, books spilling out onto him.

“What did I tell you?! You are not to educate that bastard creature, lest you and him face serious consequences,” She fumed. 

“No!!! Don’t hurt him!!!” Dot continued to cry. Wakko growled and just about lept out of the chair, but Angelina grabbed him by the ears. 

“This is on you,” She spat, and began to drag Wakko out of the room. 

“No! It’s my fault! I forgot the dress type! Please! Punish me instead!” Dot insisted, stepping out in front of Angelina. 

“Oh Angelina,” The queen shook her head, placing a soft hand against Dot’s face. Dot froze.

“If you get in my way again I assure you his punishment will be increased ten fold.” She whispered harshly. 

“Now be a good girl Angelina, and run along now. You have much to study,” She smiled sweetly. 

“My name is Dot,” She muttered to herself, bearing her teeth.

“Dot, no,” Wakko pleaded with her. Angelina tightened her pull on his ears. 

“It’d be wise for you to listen to him for once,” She smiled more. Dot growled again, but stepped backward, and looked back at Wakko. 

“Angelina. Move,” She ordered. Dot looked at the arm holding Wakko, a very obvious thought popping into her head. Angelina growled. 

“I expected more from you,” She said, before kicking Dot to the ground and moving on, giving Wakko’s ears a massive tug before continuing on. 

Wakko heard Dot get up from behind, trying to keep her distance, but her tears made her noticeable. 

Quickly and painfully, they turned around halls and owners of the castle, before Wakko realized she wasn’t going to be putting him in his room, and he was filled his dread and terror. 

“Wh-where are you taking him?!” Dot shouted at her, once she had the same thought. 

“That is none of your concern, Yakko.” She said coldly. “I’m teaching you three a lesson.”

“Let go of him!” Dot shouted again as Angelina started to go up the enormous stairwell. The queen ignored her, climbing higher and higher. 

“I said let him go!” Dot shouted, pulling on her dress like she had a year ago. Angelina froze, before turning around, dangling Wakko off of the stairs above the at least 20 foot drop below, only holding him by his neck.

“Shout at me again young lady, and I will,” She threatened. Dot gasped, covering her mouth. 

“Wait- please! Don’t hurt him-!” She begged, and Wakko did his best not to be terrified for his life but uh- 20 ft drop. 

“Go back downstairs, Angelina. You’ve done enough today,” She spat in her face. Dot wanted to protest, but the queen lifted Wakko higher and Dot backed down, lowering her head in shame as more tears streamed down. 

“Good girl,” The queen smiled, and patted her head, before turning around and continuing to drag Wakko up, Dot’s sobs echoing as they went all the way to the top. At this point, Wakko was pounding and kicking against her best he could, but she proved herself to have gotten wiser about that, as her long silk gloves prevented scratches or bites to her skin, and her pure gold bracelets also didn’t help. 

Eventually, she reached the top of the familiar tower, and she tossed him in like an animal. She closed and locked the heavy iron door and the sound made Wakko’s head hurt. 

“How long do you plan to leave me here, huh?!” He demanded, running to the door. However, to his horror, she left without a word to him. He listened closely to the door, still hearing Dot’s cries when he heard her yelp in pain. Wakko pounded on the door, but since it was no longer wood, all that ended up doing was hurting his hand. Wakko cringed in the pain, but knew there was nothing he could do. 

He was locked in here... for who knows how long. Could be days, weeks... months...

If she even bothered to keep him alive, which was something she was clearly starting to debate more and more as time passed. Wakko didn’t want to die-

At least... not yet. 

Perhaps it was foolish, but he did still have a shred of hope for his future, though it only got cloudier and cloudier as days passed. He tried to remember the advice and optimism of his dad, but that only brought up the painful feeling of him being gone. The same thing happened when he tried to imagine his mom comforting him too. 

After awhile of him just sitting on the cold and filthy floor in shock and pain, he heard pounding on the door. 

“Wakko? Wakko? Are you in there?” Yakko called from outside. 

“Y-yeah!” he replied, wiping his eyes. 

“We-we’re gonna get you out Wakko. I promise,” he declared. 

“Yakko, you can’t promise that,” Wakko frowned. 

“Yes I can Wakko. We’re going to get you out,” He asserted. 

“She’ll kill you- she’ll kill me if you try,” Wakko pleaded. 

“I know... but... w-we’ll escape. Run away to a far off town where no one will find you two. We’ll be safe,” Yakko said, becoming more and more desperate.

“You’ve said it yourself: a place like that doesn’t exist,” Wakko crossed his arms, leaning against the cold door.  He heard Yakko do the same. 

“We... we could...” Yakko tried to think. 

“Yakko... you should just forget about me. You and Dot would be fine without me, I hold you two down. I should just- stay up here and- and die,” Wakko pulled his knees to his chest. 

“Wakko!” he gasped. “Don’t say that!” he said, much softer. 

“Grandma will never care about me, a-and mum and d-daddoo are gone s-so... it would just be easier for me to stay here... away from you two... just like she wants,” He suppressed tears best he could, but choken on the lump in his throat. 

“Wakko, no.” Wakko heard him turn around to face the door again. 

“No matter what happens, we are not going to give up on you. I’m here- I’m always gonna be here, Wak,” He spoke softly. 

“Mum and Dad said they’d be here too...”

A painful silence hummed through the air. It hurt to even breathe after he spoke. Wakko gave in and cried. 

“Wak... I-i... I don’t know what to say...” Yakko said. 

“Just go away- before you get locked away too,” He sobbed. 

Yakko didn’t respond, staying there for a long, long time. 

Wakko didn’t say anything either. 

“We will rescue you Wak... I promise,” Yakko repeated, before standing up and going. 

Wakko stayed on the floor the rest of the day. 

.o0o.

Angelina hadn’t been sending servants to give him food, only water. 

Wakko had been up there for three days and it was easily the most miserable he had ever been in his life. 

He knew his mother had been sent up there at least once. He could see her carvings in the wall, and scratches on the floor, which he traced over his finger and slowly read. 

“Yakko? Slacky? Wacky?” and “Harold the 9th” were written beside the bed. There was a tally for what he assumed were days next to the broken mirror. Other random words he couldn’t quite read were sprawled all around. 

Yakko came up to talk every now and then, but he never could stay long. Wakko kept meaning to ask him for food, but he knew Angelina was strict on eating hours, so it was unlikely he could sneak into the kitchen to grab anything anymore. It just... wasn’t that simple any more. 

He also promised he was thinking of an escape. Wakko thanked him for the effort, but his hope wasn’t high.

Dot came at one point too. She cried and apologized and explained how it was her fault their grandmother got mad, saying how she hadn’t read the page she was supposed to the night before and didn’t know the types of dresses and she got mad, which made her cry, which made her take her to Yakko, which caused everything else. Wakko told her not to blame herself, but he knew that wasn’t going to resinate. Just another way their grandmother tightened her grip around them. 

But for the most part, he was alone. Utterly and perfectly alone...

He had his little imaginary games in his mind, but even those ran out eventually, mostly due to the cold. Stupid early winters...

One particularly cold night, Wakko said “screw it” and went to the window an looked out at the stars. 

They shined a lot better all the way up here, at least that was nice...

As he looked up, a chill ran through him and he was reminded of just how hungry he was. He cringed in the pain, and looked up at the stars, having run out of tears days ago. 

“I... I wish mum and dad were still here... If they were alive everything would go back to being okay...” he whispered weakly to the brightest star he could see. The stars twinkled back. 

Wakko sighed, lowering his head, continuing to look when he noticed that the star appeared to be growing larger- that wasn’t normal, right? And if it’s not, was it actually happening, or was he just seeing things because he was hungry?

It also appeared to be growing closer- that wasn’t good. Too close and it’d probably destroy the whole castle. Wakko scrambled back from the window and pounded on the door for help, but nobody heard or came. Wakko braced himself as the light got brighter and brighter and eventually filled the dark tower. 

However, nothing crashed or burned or turned him into goop, so Wakko slowly turned around and opened his eyes, and he saw a glowing figure in a really poor looking rope, cheap wand, and wings. 

Well- that was interesting. 

“Uh- who are you?” Wakko asked, really uncomfortable with the idea of a stranger popping into his prison out of nowhere. 

“I’m your desire fulfillment facilitator, Pip,” the desire fulfillment facilitator said dryly. Wakko blinked. 

“Uh- hi, Pip,” he said. 

“Congradulations Wakko, you did it. Out of all of the stars in the night sky, you made your wish up the wishing star,” He said, so monotone Wakko wanted to tears his ears off despite the fact that he was saying good news. 

“The Wishing Star? I’ve never heard of a Wishing Star,” He frowned. 

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you stories?” He asked. Wakko shook his head. 

“Hm... doesn’t matter. You did it anyway. It was your request for a wish that brought me here,” he said. 

“Wait- so- you can bring my parents back?” Wakko realized. He nodded, and Wakko almost passed out. 

“You’ve decided on your wish?” He asked. 

“I just said-”

“Right, right. Welp- here it goes,” Pip snapped his fingers, and ball of green light shot across the sky, and crashed far, far away- behind the mountains in the horizon. Wakko frowned. 

“Hey, what gives? It couldn’t be any closer than that?” He frowned. 

“Oh whoops, too late to fix now,” Pip scratched the back of his neck. Wakko gave him a look. “Looks like you have quite the trek ahead of you.”

“Yeah... I guess so,” Wakko couldn’t be sour for long, now entranced by the bright light. 

“And you better be going if you don’t want competition to build up,” Pip added. 

“What?! How am I supposed to reach it if I’m stuck in this tower! These rules are completely unfair,” Wakko crossed his arms. 

“Don’t worry Wakko, your siblings will be coming to get you soon, you’ll just have to tell them where to go,” Pip explained. 

“Huh?” He tilted his head when he heard footsteps not far away from the door. 

“I must go now- just remember this: the one who touches the fallen star first gets their wish. If you aren’t first, you don’t get it,” He said.

“What’s the point of me wishing on the star then, if it’s just up for grabs? that’s lame,” He crossed his arms. 

“Whoops- I gotta go, bye,” He waved and turned to star dust before disappearing completely, right before he heard a knock at the door. 

So much for that guys help. 

“Wakko?” It was Yakko. 

“Yakko? What’re you doing here?” Wakko asked. 

“We’ve come to break you out,” Dot chimed in, and a very, very, very long rope made of several sheets was pushed through his “meal slot”. 

Wakko didn’t know what to say. 

“Tie one end to the hook by the window and climb down- my advice is to not look down and pretend like it’s just training with Dad. Plus, me and Dot will be waiting for you at the bottom,” Yakko explained. 

“Wait- I have to tell you,” Wakko interrupted. 

“What?” Yakko asked, surprised Wakko wasn’t protesting. 

“I-i made a wish at a star tonight and well- apparently it was the wishing star so now we have to go- like... really actually go so I can make my wish and then everything will be okay and happy just like it used to be,” Wakko said. 

“The... wishing star? I thought that was just some kiddy bedtime story...” Yakko said, mostly to himself. 

“Well- apparently not,” Wakko said, taking one end and tying it to the hook like Yakko said. Yakko sighed. 

“We’ll talk about this once you’re down. Me and Dot are gonna wait at the bottom,” He said. 

“Okay... see you on the other side,” Wakko said, making the mistake at looking at how far away down was, but was surprised the rope actually went all the way down. 

That was a lot of sheets. 

“You got this Wakko!” Dot encouraged, before he heard the two of them go. 

Right. He had this. 

He may not have been very smart, but he was a good climber. He could do this...

At least, he hoped anyway. 

He promised right then and there that if he was going to make it out of this alive, he was definitely going to go to the Wishing Star- it couldn’t be more dangerous than climbing down a 50 foot rope made of tied sheets, 

...Could it?

.o0o. 

Lena despised being in recovery more than anything. She had been rendered practically immobile because of her broken leg, and her weakened muscles took months of physical therapy to rest and recover. 

Every day she thought of her children, and missed them dearly. She knew when all of their birthdays were and was overcome with grief as each passed. 

She was supposed to be there, with them. Celebrating, laughing, protecting.

Instead?

Now she was in William’s hometown, mooching off of their generosity because of her title, feeling utterly and totally useless. 

After months and months of healing and resting and physical therapy she was finally back to semi-functionality. Sure, she could now go for strolls at night with William (it was part of her physical therapy- stupid leg injuries), but she knew she still couldn’t actually do anything- she still couldn’t go back to the castle and put an end to her mother’s reign. They’d be caught- called imposters and possibly be killed. 

Lena couldn’t imagine making her children go through them dying twice. 

“Lena..? What are you thinking about this night?” William asked softly, and Lena remembered where she was. 

“Just... everything,” she sighed. William kissed her hand. 

“We’ll figure it out, I promise,” He said. Lena closed her eyes and tried to believe it. 

“A year William... My mother must’ve done numerous unspeakable things to them by now...” She looked away at the plaza. He squeezed her hand. 

“I was thinking of the same thing...” he said. Lena put her head on his shoulder. 

“I miss Wakko’s jokes... I miss Yakko’s wit... I miss Dot’s smile,” Lena said, smiling a little at the memory. 

“We’ll figure it out soon, i promise,” he kissed her head and closed his eyes as they sat on a bench outside the hospital.

“Soon...” she echoed. 

Soon her ass. 

Soon was a ridiculous unit of time. No matter how much time had passed, everything seemed to be “soon”. The word drove her mad. 

She was going to say something about this, when suddenly a bright green shooting star suddenly soared through the sky, grabbing her attention as it went all the way down before suddenly crashing down behind the Acme Mountains. 

“William- did you see that?” Lena tugged on his arm. 

“See what?” He tilted his head. 

“That star- it crashed just behind Acme Moutains,” She shook him so he opened his eyes and he quickly saw it. 

“That’s- no... that couldn’t be..? Could it?” He squinted at it. 

“I think it is...” Lena said. 

“You think the Wishing Star could actually be real?” He asked. 

“My father taught me about it when I was a little girl, the books are still in the library. My mother never approved of fictional books- it has to be true,” Lena quickly stood up. 

“Careful Lena, you’re still-”

“Oh hush William. Don’t you know what this means?” She asked. “This is our chance- we reach the wishing star we can reunite with the kids- and take down my mother for good.” 

“And everything would be perfect again...” William couldn’t help but smile. He stood and kissed her. 

“C’mon- we haven’t a moment to waste,” Lena said. 

“Woah, woah, woah. Lena, it’s very late. We need to go to sleep,” He said. 

“But- William- it’s right there,” She frowned. 

“Yes, but we’ll have to get a horse or two to share and it’ll be a long and treacherous journey- those mountains aren’t exactly easy to get through,” William warned. Lena sighed. 

“But... it’s right there... Our kids...” She looked at it. 

“I know... but I promise Lena, it’ll still be there in the morning. Wishing Stars aren’t common knowledge, and we’ll have the distance advantage,” William said. “So please... let’s get some rest before we go out, alright?” 

Lena sighed. “I hate when you’re right.”

“You love me,” He teased. 

“I know,” She rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek. “But.. tomorrow?”

He nodded. “Tomorrow. We’ll head out first thing in the morning.”

“To the Wishing Star...” She smiled. 

They were going to see their kids again after all. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14

[dellyduck]

A Pirate’s Life For Me

@rip-in-pieces-my-last-braincell It took me a day and a bit but I DID IT! 2.145 words, I hope you like it!

Just so you know, it has been ages since I’ve watched the movies, and this is not an official version, I just wanted to use as many characters as possible. The only characters that are mean to be in place are Kit, Della and Wildcat.

-

At some point of their long travel, even Della’s endless energy had come to an end. Donald felt relief for that at first, enjoying the rare peace and quiet in his life. However, as time passed by, the minutes being dragged at the same pace their ship calmly, quietly sailed through the fog, Donald almost wished his sister would still be running and climbing and screaming around.

The small twins were sitting side by side on a crate, eyes on the fog and ocean ahead without really paying attention to it. Donald didn’t know why or exactly when, but Della suddenly broke the silence by humming a not so unfamiliar melody. His fingers moved almost like an involuntary reflex and before the boy noticed, he was carefully playing the melody on his guitar. That was the moment Della chose to turn her humming into words.

“Drink up, me harties, yo-ho. Yo-ho, yo-ho... A pirate’s life for me. We extort, we pilfer, we filch, we sack, drink up-”

Della’s voice and Donald’s fingers where abruptly stopped when each twin had an adult hand grabbing their shoulders.

“Hush now, kids,” said the adult, in a tone of warning and looking around in agitation. “Real pirates travel in these waters, and the legends say that singing their songs is basically calling for them.”

“Wildcat!” shouted the voice with a tick Scottish accent that the kids knew very well. Their Uncle Scrooge didn’t look pleased as he approached them with his cane. “Ah would appreciate it if ye could not fill ma nephew and niece’s heads with untrue legends of the sea.”

“But they are true, Mr. McDee,” Wildcat insisted. “It’s bad luck to sing about pirates, everyone knows that.”

Donald gulped at these words, dropping his guitar at once; as if he needed more bad luck. Della, by other hand, didn’t look frightened in the slightest as the talk continued, captain Baloo breaking in to add his two cents.

“Wildcat’s not lying, Mr. McDuck, it’s common knowledge between us mans of the sea. And specially with us in the middle of this weird fog, I dunno ya but I’m not here to take risks.”

“Bah, fine,” Scrooge dismissed the topic with a hand. “If ye two are so bothered, they will stop singing.”

For Donald, his uncle didn’t need to say twice, looking forward for when the adults decided to change topics.

But Della didn’t seem ready to let go of this talk yet, “I think it’d be exciting to meet a real pirate,” she declared with her usual, innocent cheer.

Scrooge chuckled humorless, “Think again, lass.” He narrowed his eyes at the fog, as if daring the pirates who could be hiding behind it.

“Vile and dissolute creatures, all of them. Stealing without a care from those who earned their belongs fair and square.” Scrooge felt very much like spitting on the floor, but that was a habit from his old life and not a proper reaction from a governor. “If ye ask me, any person who dares to answer by the name pirate deserves the same fate: A short drop and a sudden stop.”

While Donald’s confused eyes didn’t move from their uncle’s face, Della turned her head to Baloo in search for answers. The captain hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he dropped a hand from the rudder, using it to grab the kerchief around his neck. By the way he stretched the tissue, dropping his head and letting his tongue roll off his mouth, Della quickly caught the message.

With a now frightened gasp, the girl snapped her head back forward, her wide eyes staring at the ship’s floor.

It was her reaction that made Scrooge notice his wee niblings’ faces to his last commentary. He then dropped his vexed expression for a concerned one. Oh marvelous, Hortense was going to kill him.

“Erh, but enough of pirate talks, aye? Ye kids enjoy the rest of the trip, with no singing,” he added before walking away to another part of the ship.

The twins just exchanged a look between each other, as if asking “what now?”. After a moment with no answer, Donald simply decided to jump off the crate and walk towards Baloo. Donald loved ships, boats, and the sea itself, and he was always eager to learn more about them, so it wasn’t hard for Della to imagine her brother’s plans.

Because of that, she stayed behind, looking around for something that would be of her interest. She found it when her eyes once again fell over the nets that leaded to the crow’s nest. Della had climbed it not even two hours ago, but the current boredom and the memory of the way she felt being up there were enough to make up her mind.

Della was lucky. Her parents were less strict than her friends’ about how a young lady should behave (although dresses and good manners were still a must) and her uncle didn’t give a feather if his ten-year-old niece acted boyish during their expeditions. That was how the girl got so good on activities like climbing.

Firmly grabbing the ropes, Della climbed up every step with patience, but no hesitation until she hit the middle of the net. There, she stopped. Dropping her right hand from the net, Della turned around on a complete 180°. She was facing the ocean now.

The fog turned the view way less appealing than it was a couple hours ago, but the duckling didn’t really mind. Just being up there, with wind in her hair, felling so free that it was almost like she could fly, was everything the young girl could wish for.

Della closed her eyes to breathe in deeply. But when she opened them again, her smile was quickly dropped when something through the fog caught her attention.

There was something on the water, floating.

Della needed to narrow her eyes to recognize a large wooden board. And laid on it, there was…

“A boy!” she exclaimed, starting to climb down the fastest she could, while still shouting. “Uncle Scrooge!! Baloo, Wildcat, look!”

The three men rushed to her, Scrooge grabbing her shoulders and checking his niece up and down after any wound in the instant Della was back on the ground.

“Lass, what’s the meaning-”

“A boy!” Della didn’t wait her uncle to finish, this time pointing a finger to where the floating board was. “Look, there’s a boy on the water!”

In the meantime that it took Della to climb down, the board had floated to even closer to the ship. Which allowed the three men to easily catch sight of the young, unconscious, brown-furred bear on it. Baloo’s eyes went wide, and he shouted,

“MAN OVERBOARD!”

Five more men from the crew came running to help, and with all of them working fast and together, it was a matter of seconds before the boy was out of the water and in Baloo’s arms. Della could just watch all the commotion from some steps behind, trying to get a better look, but the men were too tall and crowded to allow her any sight. She was able, however, to hear when Baloo declared,

“He’s still breathing.”

“For all the seven seas!” Della almost yelped at that sudden scream. When had Donald stopped by her side??

Nonetheless, her brother was looking even more frightened. Turning around and following his gaze, the girl could easily see why: hundreds of different types of merch floating on the water, them all coming from a ship, not so different from the one they were, crashing and burning in the middle of the ocean.

Scrooge, Baloo and Wildcat rushed to approach them and see it too, every man around trying to understand what could’ve happened there. Baloo wanted to believe in the easiest option, that merchant ships carry a lot of weaponry and somehow, accidentally, the powder was lit. But a tiny, distant voice in his mind wouldn’t let another, more scary option rest.

“P-p-pirates?” Donald gulped.

“Ah donnae know, lad, but we better be prepared for everything. Captain!” Scrooge started to command, and quickly everyone on the boat had a new role to play. Except for the little ones. “Donald, I want you to stay with me. Della-”

Scrooge cut himself off when he saw his niece wasn’t standing by her brother’s side anymore. Luckily, he just needed a quick look around to find the white duckling in a gray dress. It shouldn’t have surprised him that she was standing near their new crewmember. Scrooge walked to them, arriving just as a sailor took the boy from the ground, to take him away from the ship’s side edge.

“Della,” he called again, this time getting her attention. “I want you to accompany the boy. He will be in your charge. Take care of him.”

“Yes, Uncle Scrooge,” Della nodded, before following the sailor.

The brown cub was put to rest over the same crate the Duck twins had been sitting just some minutes ago. As she approached, Della knew she had a better chance to observe the boy now. He looked her age, maybe older for one or two years, if that much. His worn, patched up green sweater was completely soaked, and so was his fur, causing some of hair to fall over his eyes.

Gingerly as her housekeeper had taught her, Della touched his locks, gently moving them away. But no matter how gently, that disturbance alone was enough to wake the boy up with a chocked scream, grabbing her wrist with a shaking, yet strong hand.

Della sighed, trying to calm down her heart from the scare, before meeting his eyes. Petrified browns against calming light blues.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe now,” she guaranteed. “My name’s Della. Della Duck.”

“Kit,” he sounded breathless, scared, and tired. “Kit Cloudkicker.”

At that new piece of information, Della smiled.

“I’ll be watching over you, Kit.”

It’s like that was all the boy needed to hear, his grasp on her wrist loosening as his body fell unconscious once again.

Della kept her promise and stayed by his side, glad that now Kit looked more asleep than dead. It was while watching him that she noticed something loose around his neck. Touching it, Della easily recognized a red kerchief. Chances were high that it was just a piece of tissue, a cheap, meaningless adornment… But what if it was something his parents gave him? A memory of his family who, if traveling on that now burning ship, were probably no long in this world?

Biting her cheek, Della carefully took the kerchief within her hands, planning to keep it safe, maybe even wash it, before giving it back to Kit when he woke up-

Any thought was frozen, her heart leaping in surprise when she saw the drawing printed on Kit’s kerchief. She had never seen it before herself, but by the stories, Della knew exactly what the drawing of the white skull meant.

“You’re a… pirate?”

“Vile and dissolute creatures, all of them,” Uncle Scrooge’s words echoed in her head, alongside everything Della had heard about the bandits of the sea. But as she looked up to the boy again, she couldn’t see it. Kit didn’t look vile; he didn’t sound vile. He was just a kid, like her and Donald.

“Did he say anything?”

Della jumped, quickly crumpling the tissue in her hand, and hiding it behind her back as she turned around to face Baloo. He was accompanied by some other men of the crew, and not so distantly, the girl could see her uncle as well. Before she could even notice there was a choice to be made, Della was already executing her decision.

“His name’s Kit Cloudkicker. That’s all I found out.”

Baloo simply nodded, not looking suspicious of anything. After the last events, it was normal that such a young girl would be a little jumpy.

“We’re gonna take him bellow, alright missy? Our doctor can treat him better there.” The captain explained.

It was Della’s turn to nod, stepping behind so Baloo could take Kit in his arms again. The girl watched as they left, knowing she should be following them, but first and foremost, she needed a better place than her closed fist to hide that kerchief.

Confirming there was no one around her, Della opened her hand and the tissue again. Her eyes meticulously scanning the red fabric as her fingers caressed the skull figure.

At this point, this day was clearly one to be remembered by Della. But when she raised her head to catch sight of another ship on the distance, the same skull figure flapping on a black flag at the mast… Those few seconds were marked in her memory like a burn.

[raiseyourcups]

Cabur

Chapter Twenty-Four

Pairing: Din Djarin x OFC (Aili Verdella) Warnings: SMUT 18+ (unsafe sex (pls wrap it up), oral (female receiving), fingering, multiple orgasms, teasing, little bit of orgasm denial, a little bit of a breeding kink) Word Count: 4.7k Also on AO3

Masterlist//Main Masterlist

Summary:  Aili and Mando now have to deal with the aftermath of the siege on Nevarro but can they do that without also having to admit their obvious growing feelings for each other? Of course nothing is simple when it comes to these two.

Note: Sorry it took so long to post this tonight, I was having trouble with the smut scene and I’m still not 100% happy with it but it’s the best I could do at the moment. 

It took a while for Aili to feel as clean as she could using the ‘fresher on the Crest, which wasn’t saying much. It was barely enough for her to get the smell of smoke out of her hair let alone scrub away at the blood that had dried on her hands. She had cringed knowing that Mando was going to have more blood in his own hair and then she shoved the thought out of her mind. She didn’t have the time to focus on that. If she had spent extra time almost scrubbing her hands raw, no one needed to know. 

When she climbed into the cockpit, her hair was still damp and drying into a mess of wavy curls that she didn’t have the energy to tame before it was completely dry. She noticed that Mando hadn’t set a course for anywhere just yet so they were just drifting in space. Normally the thought of staying in one place surrounded by distant stars and empty space would give her anxiety but she didn’t have any to spare and after the events of the day they had had? Drifting in the silence of space without needing to worry about other hunters was almost comforting. 

“Switch?” Aili said quietly, after glancing over at Little Green who was clearly fighting the urge to fall asleep. His eyes kept partially closing before he would open them wide, his fingers clutched around the pendant that Mando had shoved in Aili’s hands in the cantina. She had placed it over Little Green’s head when they got to the tunnels and everything else had happened making her forget what she had done with it. 

Mando turned his chair around to look at her and she brought herself out of her thoughts. Aili realized that he must have said something that she hadn’t responded to. “What?”

“I said you can set a course for Oshriya if you want,” Mando said, tilting his helmet to the side a little. He had expected Aili to be angry or at the very least annoyed with him once she was out of the ‘fresher. But he hadn’t expected her to be out of it like she had been after her concussion and if he didn’t know better, he would think she did have one again. But he had kept an eye on her the entire time on Nevarro and he knew she didn’t have any physical injuries. 

“Oh, no we can wait until you get out of the ‘fresher,” Aili replied. She wasn’t in a huge rush to get to Oshriya if only to give herself more time to process everything that had just gone down on Nevarro. If the girls were still planetside then she didn’t want to see them again while emotionally unstable, not knowing that Madsin wouldn’t let her get away without answering questions. Questions with answers that Aili didn’t have just yet. 

Mando stared at her for another long moment before he nodded and got up from his chair. He started to walk past her, pausing for half a second like he wanted to say something before he decided against it much to Aili’s relief. When he was finally out of the room Aili let out a sigh and looked over at Little Green when he let out a coo, giving her a look. 

“Don’t give me that look,” Aili said with pursed lips before she picked him up from his seat. He was clearly tired and she was just going to focus on trying to get him to sleep before Mando got back to the cockpit. She could do that without having to think about it or anything else. It didn’t take long for Little Green to fall asleep in her arms, he was clearly exhausted from the day and Aili even took advantage of the empty cockpit to hum some song she had heard once. It had always worked on Shaeli and Jaesa and she quickly discovered that it worked on Little Green as well. 

Once she was sure that he was out and once she convinced herself to do so, she placed him back down on his seat. They didn’t have his new cradle anymore, the one that...Kuiil had made for him, it was still back on Nevarro in the burnt out cantina now. As Aili sat down in her own seat she made a mental note to tell Mando that they’d have to head back and see if they could get it back. She didn’t want Kuiil’s hard work to get left behind, not when he had died helping them. 

Now that it was just her in the cockpit, it left her alone with her thoughts and she found herself wringing her hands together. She caught herself when the door to the cockpit opened again and Mando came back in. He didn’t say anything as he took his seat again but Aili noticed the side glance he gave the sleeping child. Just like she noticed that he had apparently opted to not put any of his armor back on other than the helmet and his one vambrace. 

She wondered if it was because he was still feeling his injuries despite the bacta spray he had gotten. He probably needed a patch or two for whatever bruises he had to have because she had seen how hard he had hit the ground. It was honestly a miracle of some kind that he had only gotten a head injury.

“To Oshriya?” Mando asked, voice low to not disturb the sleeping kid. Sometimes it didn’t take much to wake him up but somehow Aili didn’t think that would be a problem this time. Little Green had used up a lot of energy the past two days plus all of the frantic chaos would have done nothing to help. It usually took much longer to get him to fall asleep.

“Yeah,” Aili replied, keeping her voice low as well as she told him the coordinates for the planet. She watched silently as Mando entered them without question. There were no more words exchanged between them, silence taking over the cockpit for once. 

Aili was staring at her hands again as they entered hyperspace, her thoughts swirling around like a sand storm in her head. All she could see was the man she had been travelling with for months lying against a piece of rubble, dying, his blood covering her hands. She hadn’t known how much the concept of that would scare her until it was in front of her. She hadn’t known it was even possible for her to care that much. To care about someone other than her girls that she had quite literally rescued from hell.

Kuiil had...even the thought of the Ugnaught upset her, but even he could see past her slowly crumbling barriers somehow. He had pushed her in the right direction but she still had no idea how to proceed. For all that she was good with words, they weren’t coming easily to her this time around. 

“I’m not…” she had to pause for a long moment before continuing. Mando was nice enough to wait for her to gather her words. That or he had finally passed out from the pain he must still be feeling from getting his head rattled. With Little Green asleep, exhausted from using his powers to save them earlier, it felt like only Aili was still wired from the fight to survive an Imp ambush led by Moff Gideon. 

She tried again, still unsure what she was going to come out of her mouth, “I’m not good with...feelings or words about feelings, obviously. You know it took me a whole year before I would let any of the girls so much as hug me when I had to leave for a bounty and-”

“Aili.” Mando interrupted much to her relief. 

“Yeah?”

“What are you trying to say?” Mando asked, turning his chair so he could look at Aili head on. She kind of wished that he hadn’t done that because now she felt like she was in a spotlight. Now she was glad that Cara had decided to stay back on Nevarro because this would have been so much worse if the Shock Trooper was on the ship. 

“I’m...glad you’re not dead, that’s all.” That wasn't what she really wanted to say but she still couldn't bring herself to actually say it out loud. And so she took the easy way out. Like always. It was easier without attachments.

“Aili…” Mando trailed off, unsure what to say now. He wasn’t sure if he had caught the correct meaning behind her words or if it was just wishful thinking on his part. 

“Yeah?”

"Nothing." Mando shook his head, not wanting to take the risk just like Aili. It would be easier to not say anything even if he could feel the words burning a hole in the middle of his chest. It was clear that Aili wasn’t ready to say or hear them and he didn’t want to hear a rejection. Not after the very long day they had had which had almost led to him dying. 

"No, say whatever it is you want to say so I’m not the only one feeling awkward here, please?" Aili said, her voice taking on a slightly anxious tone near the end. It was actually surprising for Mando to hear since she almost never sounded like that, not even when she was telling him about the Program after the prison break. The closest she had come was on Tatooine when she first woke up with the concussion and didn’t know where Little Green was. 

“I’m glad you’re not dead either.” There was something about the way Mando said it that made Aili's cheeks begin to burn. Like he knew what she had been trying to say with her own words and she didn't know if she liked that or not. 

“Oh, um,,” she stuttered before standing up from her seat. “I’m going to go lay down or something.”

She rushed out of the cockpit before Mando could say anything to stop her. Mando let out a deep sigh before he looked over at Little Green who was deep asleep followed by checking how long they would be in hyperspace. If he didn’t do this now, he never would and he didn’t know if he could continue being on the same ship as Aili if he didn’t. With his mind made up, he pushed himself up from his own seat and followed after Aili before he could second guess himself. 

Aili didn’t hear Mando follow after her until she was already by the cot and she once again wondered how he could be so quiet wearing all that armor. She let out a small gasp when she turned around and he was right there. He came closer to her, almost crowding her against the wall but still leaving enough room for her to move away from him if she wanted to. 

“Do you trust me?”

“What?” That wasn’t what she had expected him to say. Honestly she wasn’t sure what she was expecting, didn’t want to really think about it. 

“I trust you,” Mando continued despite Aili’s growing confusion. 

“Um...thanks?” Aili wasn’t sure if she was supposed to feel insulted or complimented. She hadn’t even known that was still a question between the two of them. She had assumed that she had already proven that Mando could trust her so she wasn’t sure why he had to say it out loud. 

“Do you trust me?” He asked again, still keeping the distance he had given her. 

Aili swallowed hard before she looked up at Mando with a furrowed brow, “That’s a very loaded question, I trust you to protect us but I don’t really trust you to not die trying and honestly? That kind of scares me and-”

“Aili.” 

“What?” She was actually getting a little annoyed with him interrupting her now but thankful at the same time because it stopped her from rambling. She hadn’t even known that she could be the type of person who rambled. 

“Close your eyes?” Mando suddenly asked without preamble. 

Aili hadn’t been expecting the request but she still found herself doing so but not without questioning it at the same time. “Why am I closing my eyes?”

There was a pause before Mando spoke again. “Keep them closed, please.” His voice sounded different but Aili couldn’t put her finger on why even though in the back of her head it was familiar. But she kept her eyes closed like he asked, still unsure why he had asked her to do so. 

“Is there a reason I’m standing here like an idiot with my eyes closed?”

“Yes.” Mando said quietly. 

Aili went to say something about not being an idiot like him when there was suddenly a familiar pair of lips against her own. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter than before knowing that she really shouldn’t open them now. He moved away from her, placing his bare forehead against hers. 

“I’m sorry, I should have asked. I just thought--”

“Get back here, stupid.” Aili said, bringing her arms up to place her hands on his shoulders. She wanted to move them higher but she obviously couldn't see anything. Mando let out a chuckle, a sound that Aili would not get used to anytime soon, but he did as she asked. 

They met in the middle and Aili took the chance to move her hands up, fingers curling in Mando’s hair and enjoying the way he shivered under her touch. The fact that the last time she had her hands there they had come away bloodied was shoved to the back of Aili's mind quickly.

“You might want to turn off the lights,” AIli said when they parted again. 

“Or you could wear a blindfold,” Mando suggested knowing that Aili would shoot the idea down as soon as the words left his mouth. Sure enough, she made a face at him all while keeping her eyes closed. 

“Lights.” Aili said with finality in her tone. “If I don’t get to see you, you don’t get to see me.”

Mando quickly shut off all of the lights in the area, making sure to also cut off power to the ones in the still closed cot. He didn’t want to take any risks, didn’t want to screw this up before it even had a chance to really start. “They’re off.”

“Good,” Aili said before she opened her eyes only long enough to blink away the pain from squeezing them shut for too long. Then she pulled Mando back into another searing kiss, shuddering when Mando gently grabbed the back of her neck to somehow bring her in closer. “Too many clothes.”

After that it was a rush to get rid of their clothes as fast as they could without accidentally hitting each other in the face with a shirt or pants. And then they were grabbing at each other again which sent them to the floor, Mando letting out a small grunt of pain when his shoulder hit the metal but it quickly went away at the sound of Aili letting out a snort of laughter. 

With one quick move, he wrapped an arm around her and flipped them so he was hovering over her. Even in the dark he could tell that she hadn’t been quite expecting it, a noise of surprise escaping her when her back touched the cold ground beneath them. Another burning kiss as Mando moved one of his hands down Aili’s side, laughing a little against her mouth at the way she twitched a little. 

Aili let out a quiet moan against his lips when she felt Mando’s fingers at her core before she hooked one of her legs around his waist to make it easier for him. He took the invitation and ran one of his fingers down her already wet slit before slowly pushing it inside. They both let out groans at the feeling for two very different but similar reasons. 

Mando had somehow forgotten just how warm Aili was and he wasn’t sure how he had let himself forget. Aili would probably never admit it out loud but she had remembered just how big Mando’s hands were. Neither of them had expected to experience this again after the last time. 

As he started to slowly thrust his finger in and out, Mando moved his mouth down Aili’s jaw line to her throat leaving a mark at the junction where he felt her pulse before he continued his way down trailing kisses along her body as he did. Aili let out a cross between a sigh and a moan at the differing sensations Mando was putting her through at the moment. 

Aili didn’t know what to do with her hands, unsure if Mando’s head injury was even fully healed enough for her to even grab at his head. But then Mando finally wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked hard while pushing a second finger in and she couldn’t stop one hand from gripping at his hair. He let out a moan, the sound making her shudder hard from the vibrations. 

“I want to hear you say my name when you come,” Mando said, pulling away only long enough to speak before he started to go down on Aili with a new fervor. The combination of his fingers thrusting deep inside of her, curling to hit that one spot, and his tongue on her clit brought Aili to her high embarrassingly fast. 

“Fuck, fuck, I’m gonna…” Aili’s hips started to move of their own volition, making it even easier for him to get her off. She saw stars when she finally snapped, barely remembering what he had just told her, “Din!”

Din worked her through her orgasm, gently suckling at her clit as he kept slowly thrusting his fingers in and out. He hardly gave her time to fully come down from her high before he was working her back up towards a second one, adding a third finger to fully stretch her out. Aili let out an almost embarrassingly loud whine when he did so. Din moved his lips away from her clit only to replace it with his thumb, rubbing circles around the sensitive nub as he traced kisses along her thighs. 

Aili’s breath started to come out in little pants, her cunt clenching around Din’s fingers. He grinned against her thighs knowing she was getting close again. “Are you gonna come for me again?”

“Oh fuck you,” Aili replied, though there was no heat behind her words. In retaliation Din replaced his thumb with his mouth again, speeding her second orgasm along. This time it crashed into her like an unexpected wave, pushing her underwater for a few seconds before she resurfaced gasping to catch her breath again. 

When Aili was finally able to catch her breath she brought her hands down to Din’s face and gently pulled him back up towards her face to pull him into another searing kiss, the taste of herself on his lips. She wrapped her legs around his waist and rolled their bodies over so she was on top now. 

“Your turn.”

Aili ran her slit over Din’s cock, enjoying the moan he let out at the feeling of all his hard work coating his hard cock. She lifted herself up just enough to guide him to her cunt and they both let out loud moans as she slowly lowered herself down. She had definitely forgotten just how full his cock had made her feel the last time and this position made her take even more.

“Fuck,” Din hissed out, his hands grabbing at Aili’s waist as she started to move her hips. Despite her still lingering sensitivity from two orgasms, Aili set a fast pace wanting to make Din fall apart in the same way he had just made her do so. She used his shoulders as leverage, alternating between bouncing on his cock and slowly circling her hips when her thighs started to shake a little. 

Din let out a moan, needing release but everytime he got close Aili would slow down until she was hardly moving at all. “Tease,” he groaned out when she did it again.

“Says you,” Aili replied and he could just tell that she was looking down at him with a raised eyebrow. He was about to reply when Aili bent forward, her lips beside his ear as she slowly started to ride his cock again. “You wanna come inside me again, don’t you?”

Din’s answering groan was all Aili needed to hear for a smirk to cross her face. She sped up her pace, knowing she had struck a nerve. She remembered how quickly he had come last time when she gave him permission to come inside and even though she hadn’t planned on sleeping with him a second time, she had still filed the information away. 

“Can I... ?” Din tried to ask, his brain already going into overdrive. He had started to meet Aili’s thrusts with his own but it wasn’t easy with his current position. 

“Yes,” Aili had barely breathed out before Din suddenly sat up, wrapping an arm around her and flipping them over again. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he started to thrust into her at a brutal pace. Aili let out a moan when Din brought a hand between them, rubbing circles around her still sensitive clit. It didn’t take long for him to bring her to another orgasm, pulling her into a harsh kiss before his own hips started to stutter in their pace. 

“Come for me, Din,” Aili said when they broke apart. She bit at her bottom lip for a moment before she spoke again to help push him over the edge. “Fill me up, do it.”

Din let out a loud groan, thrusting it deeply once more and then he was coming inside of her. His head dropped down to rest in the crook of Aili’s neck, his breath coming out harshly as he slowly kept fucking into her working through his own orgasm. Aili brought a hand up, running her fingers through his hair. 

“Keep doing that cyar’ika and we’ll be here for hours,” Din said, his voice muffled against her shoulder. Aili let out a huff of laughter knowing that any other day he’d probably be telling the truth but it had been a long day and she doubted either of them had much more in them. They stayed like that for a few more moments even as Din softened while still inside of her. 

Eventually he was able to pull himself away and out of Aili but only enough to open the cot and pull out the blankets that were in there. He laid one of the ground beside them before he nudged Aili forward until she got the hint and laid down on top of the blanket and then Din was laying behind her, draping the second blanket over them both. 

“I was scared, back on Nevarro,” Aili said once they had both caught their breath, her back to Din as she held onto the arm he had wrapped around her. 

“You didn’t seem scared,” Din replied, although he knew he was lying to both himself and Aili. He had seen it in her eyes when he was laying in the cantina, sure that he was going to die. It had been hidden beneath her more obvious anger but he had still seen it. 

“I was today, I was scared of...losing you. Scared when I saw--in the Covert…” Aili trailed off. It still wasn’t easy for her to talk about her feelings, she didn’t think it ever would be with the way she had been raised to think of attachments as weaknesses. But here she was, attached to four girls she had saved from the same hell she was from, a small green alien child, and a man whose face she couldn’t (and probably never would) see. 

“We’re heading to Oshriya. We’ll see if they know where the Covert went after they sold your ship,” Din said, placing a gentle kiss to Aili’s shoulder. 

“Thank you for reminding me about that.” 

“It’s just a ship.”

“You lose the Crest and tell me how you feel afterwards.” As much as she liked to tell Din that the Crest was a piece of crap, she had come to see it almost like her home away from home. Although now that her ship had apparently been sold, she supposed it was now her only sort of home. She knew that was how Din saw it with how he defended it and made sure it was in, mostly, working order. 

Din thought about the idea for about half a second before deciding that Aili had a point. “Okay, you’re right.”

“I know I am,” Aili said, voice a little sleepier than before. She felt her eyes start to close and she felt a moment of brief panic before she willed it away. She had meant it when she had told Din that she knew he would protect her and Little Green. That included when she was asleep. 

They laid there for a little while longer, an easy silence falling over them for once rather than the usual tense ones. Din could tell when Aili fell asleep, her breaths coming out slow and even and it took everything in him to not react in surprise. Knowing that she apparently felt comfortable enough to even fall asleep in his arms and while still in the pitch darkness of the cargo hold was almost too much for him. He laid there, just enjoying the moment for a few more minutes before he decided that they couldn’t sleep on the floor all night. 

He slowly pulled himself away from Aili, wincing a little when the arm he had used to hang onto Moff Gideon’s TIE almost gave out under his weight. Now that he had taken a moment to rest he realized how much his shoulder ached. He took a moment before he tried again, this time making it up off of the floor without a problem. In the darkness of the cargo hold, he quickly pulled out a pair of pants for himself and a clean shirt that would be long enough to cover Aili up since he didn't feel like attempting to go through her things. 

He felt bad for waking Aili up even if she was barely awake but it was easier having her help to slip the shirt over her head before he helped her lay back down. He knew she'd be pissed if she woke up to find out he'd left Little Green in the cockpit alone so he put his helmet back on and went up the ladder to go get the child. By the time he made it back down to the cargo hold, the thought of moving Aili to the cot and making room for the kid as well was more work than Din felt like dealing with.

With a deep sigh, he placed Little Green beside Aili before he took his earlier spot behind her again. It wasn't the most comfortable thing ever but Din had slept in worse conditions. Aili had unconsciously pulled Little Green to her chest and once she sensed Din behind her again, she moved backwards towards his warmth. Din let out a small chuckle before he wrapped an arm around Aili, his hand resting on top of her hands where she was holding Little Green. 

He didn’t know what would be waiting for them on Oshriya but they would face it together. Din made a silent promise to himself and Aili before he fell asleep that he wouldn’t let Aili go another moment without knowing where her girls were. She deserved to know that they were safe and he wanted to properly meet them, if only to apologize for taking Aili away from them for so long.

Ending Note:  Thank you so much for reading this little story of mine, if you've been here from the beginning or even just binge read the whole thing in one go.

But now the announcement I had for everyone, I do plan to write a sequel for Season 2 but I do not plan to post it on Tumblr. Rather I will only post it to my AO3 because I’m about to be honest. Cross-posting is not easy for me and I’ve learned is that this site is not very OC-friendly.

I appreciate every single one of you who read this story and liked it and reblogged it. I hope you'll stick with me into the sequel after the Interlude because Aili and Din's story is definitely not done. 

I’ll still post anything that is x Reader but...for my mental health, I will not be posting anything past the Interlude for Cabur onto Tumblr. I’m very sorry if that disappoints anyone and if you have questions, I will answer them as best as I can. 

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: A Fight in the Shadows (3/16)

Summary: After her grandfather Grumman’s death in mysterious circumstances, private detective Riza Hawkeye receives a letter from him, instructed to be delivered to her after his demise. She is floored to discover he was the head of the Amestrian Intelligence Network, and the secrets he’s found out are deep and dangerous. He mentions a conspiracy within the military, and instructs her to gather together a group of individuals he trusts to assist her in continuing his work.

To say that they’re a rag-tag bunch is putting it kindly, but when they finally get their act together and delve into the mystery, they uncover something that will shake the very foundations of Amestris…

An espionage AU with some core canon elements.

Rated: T

==

A Fight in the Shadows

[One] [Two] [AO3]

Three

The Armstrongs

The next thing to do will be to get trustworthy insiders into the military and the state alchemists. Adding them in from the outside will be nigh on impossible given the lengths that people have to go to in order to be part of the ranks and Roy is too well-known outside the military to be able to infiltrate the state alchemists as an outsider. 

Riza had to snort at that line of Grumman’s letter. For all his protests and for all the good reasons he had given her yesterday, there was still a part of her that thought he was definitely the worst secret agent in the world. 

What will be best is to find someone already in position who will be sympathetic to our cause. I have already begun the process of sounding out potential candidates, and I believe that the Armstrong family will be able to help. They have been a career military family for generations, going back much further than Bradley’s Fuhrership, and I know that General Armstrong in particular is one of the maverick types who does not care much for following orders she does not agree with, and that she values ingenuity and independence in the soldiers under her command. Her brother, Major Armstrong, the Strongarm Alchemist (I know, I know, I don’t pick the names), is a highly impassioned individual whom I know to be uneasy about the situation in Ishval, and he will give you a link into the state alchemists. 

Riza sighed. She hoped that Grumman would be right about the Armstrongs, otherwise her investigation could be over before it began and three minutes after walking out of the Armstrong residence, she and Roy would be thrown in a maximum security military prison never to be seen again. 

She opened her blinds, and it took her a moment to recognise Breda hanging out on the corner opposite her apartment block. He looked completely casual, but she knew that he was watching out for anything untoward that might try to make its way in. Although she wasn’t sure how she felt about having a twenty-four hour bodyguard detail, she was comforted that Roy had thought of it and that he was concerned enough for her protection to ask Breda and Havoc to step in like that. 

Roy was due to meet her at the Armstrong family home in a couple of hours, and Riza grabbed Hayate’s lead, only half-hearing the excited barks and enthusiastic tail-wagging that resulted. After second-guessing herself several times, she strapped on her gun. Whilst she liked to think that no-one, human or not, would be stupid enough to try and attack her in broad daylight on crowded streets, the incident the previous evening had unnerved her enough to want that extra protection. Something was going on. She wondered if Grumman had got that far in his own investigation or if their enemies had now ramped things up. One thing was certain – whoever they were, they definitely knew that Riza and Roy were involved now. 

She didn’t see Breda again after she left the apartment, but she knew that he was there, sticking to Roy’s school of ‘never let them see you’ following. She wasn’t too worried – she was more worried about there being other people she wasn’t aware of following her. Still, Hayate’s walk went off without a hitch, and soon she found herself standing outside the gates of the Armstrong home waiting for Roy. 

Home was a bit of an understatement, she felt. She’d walked past this absolutely palatial estate with Hayate several times and had never given a thought to who owned it, assuming from its sheer ostentatiousness when compared with Central Command that it was owned by the military for some purpose or another, maybe housing one of the laboratories that the alchemists frequented. She’d never entertained the notion that people actually lived in it. And had done for generations, apparently. 

Riza was so distracted by awe at the ridiculous building that she didn’t notice Roy come up next to her until he spoke and made her jump out of her skin, so she reluctantly gave him a point in favour of not being the world’s worst secret agent. 

“Shall we go in?”

“I guess.” Riza looked at the locked gates. “I assume that you have some super-secret way of getting in that’s not just climbing the railings?”

“Of course. We secret agents are always equipped with the latest in gadgetry for cutting through wires and picking locks.”

Riza raised an eyebrow. “You’re making fun of me.”

“Maybe a little. It’s not your fault. The literary world has definitely glamorised the whole espionage thing. Honestly, the thing we do most is paperwork.”

He pressed the buzzer on the wall beside the gate, and Riza took a step back when she heard the sound of what seemed to be a full-on fight to the death going on in the background. Roy was unperturbed. 

“Mustang and Hawkeye to see General Armstrong.”

The gate buzzed open without a word and they entered the grounds. As they made their way up the driveway, the sound of the fight to the death that had come through the intercom made itself known in person, complete with smashed furniture, grunting and war cries, and someone begging someone else for mercy.

Riza was beginning to think that Grumman had made a terrible mistake, or that someone else had got to the Armstrongs before she and Roy could. 

“Do you think we ought to…” She trailed off as Roy shook his head and continued his leisurely pace up the drive. To be fair, none of the gardeners working in the grounds seemed to be at all concerned by the noise, so Riza accepted that this was an Armstrong thing and she probably shouldn’t worry. Old families had the reputation of being strange, after all. 

Both she and Roy were very much disturbed, however, when a grand piano flew out of some French doors and skidded to a stop in the driveway in front of them. 

“Oh good heavens, people!” 

Riza looked up from where she had thrown herself out of the piano’s path to find a girl of about fourteen or fifteen looking out of the French doors with a shocked expression on her face. She turned and waved back into the house frantically. “Alex! Olivier! There are people outside!”

The sounds of the fighting stopped, and the girl rushed out of the doors and down the drive towards them. 

“I do apologise about that,” she said, picking up one corner of the piano as if it weighed nothing and beginning to drag it back towards the house. “I had no idea that we were expecting visitors.”

Riza looked at Roy, who shrugged, and they both followed the girl and her piano up the drive towards the French doors, entering to find the person who could only have been General Olivier Armstrong straightening her uniform and giving no indication whatsoever of what had been going on in the room before a couple of strangers had joined them. Although, from the way her expression darkened when she saw Roy, Riza didn’t think that they were strangers after all. 

“Mustang,” the general muttered. “What do you want?”

“Alas, I’m here on strictly professional business, General.”

Riza looked from Roy to Olivier and back again. “Do you two know each other?”

Roy replied ‘yes’ at the same time Olivier replied ‘unfortunately’, and Riza sighed. Definitely the worst secret agent in the world. 

“And you are?” Olivier asked Riza. Riza had been on the receiving end of death glares before, but she thought that this one had to top them all.

“Riza Hawkeye, private investigator. I’m looking into the death of Charles Grumman. Roy is assisting me.”

“Ah, your spymaster, Mustang.” 

Absolutely the worst secret agent in the world.

Olivier shook her head. “I always thought that death was unnatural. I’m not sure how my brother and I can help with that. Alex will be along shortly. He’s putting a shirt on.”

Riza decided not to ask and followed Olivier out of the room, leaving her younger sister (at least, Riza assumed she was a younger sister) happily rearranging all of the antique furniture without a care in the world. They went into a large dining room, where a maid was setting out tea for four. 

“I take it from the fact that you’re here that you believe the military was involved somehow?” Olivier took a seat at the head of the table and gestured for Roy and Riza to join her. 

“It’s possible.” Riza wasn’t sure how much to trust this formidable woman. Roy seemed to trust her, although the feeling decidedly did not go both ways. She couldn’t help but think that getting anyone in the military, no matter how maverick they might be, involved was a good idea especially at this early stage when they didn’t even know what they were dealing with, but as her conscience had told her several times before, time was ticking. 

The dining room doors burst open and Major Alex Armstrong appeared. Riza would have been startled by him had she not been privy to so many other happenings during the course of her career and especially during the last few days, and she accepted his appearance with a nod. 

“Mr Mustang, the flame alchemist! It’s good to see you again!”

There was a moment of awkwardness as Riza glared at Roy and Olivier glared at Alex, until the major coughed awkwardly and took a seat beside his sister, looking down at the table abashed. 

“Well, like I said, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to assist,” Olivier said. “I’ve been stationed at Briggs Fortress for the last fifteen years and we keep ourselves to ourselves up there. As long as we keep Drachma out, the top brass of the military doesn’t tend to annoy us too much and leaves us to our own devices.”

“And that didn’t change after Bradley took charge?” Roy asked. His face was sharp and focussed now, and whatever feelings that Olivier might have held towards him, she seemed to acknowledge that. 

“No,” she said. “The Northern border policy hasn’t changed, but I know that the policies on all our other borders became offensive again, and of course the Ishval annexation started.” Her brow furrowed, lost in thought, and she turned to Alex. “I know there was talk of the state alchemists being mobilised to intervene in the Ishval rebellion. I assume nothing’s been done yet, but then sometimes news travels slowly in the snow.”

Alex shook his head. “Nothing yet, but the tension is there. We all know what we signed up for when we became state alchemists, but when rumours of extermination are running free, it does make one uneasy.”

“Hm.” Olivier turned back to Riza and Roy. “Do you suspect that Bradley is behind Grumman’s death, then?”

“Perhaps not directly, but we know that Grumman was looking into the top tiers of the military.”

“And you were hoping that, as a general, I would be able to weasel my way into whatever they’re planning?” Olivier scowled. “Spies are rats, Mustang. I’ve always held that view, and you know how we deal with Drachman spies in Briggs.”

“Yes. I’m well aware of your interrogation methods. They’re legendary in our world.”

There was a stalemate then, Roy and Olivier both looking at each other with equal steel. 

Roy was the first one to speak. 

“All your information on active Drachma agents to look out for comes from the Amestrian Intelligence Network,” he said levelly. “I’ll be the first to admit that there’s absolutely nothing honourable or worthy in what we do. We’re deceitful and underhanded, and we all have blood on our hands. It’s a filthy job, but it’s got to be done. The military would be nothing without the intelligence network.”

Olivier held his gaze.

“And now the intelligence network is turning against the military?”

“If the military is turning in the wrong direction, then we’re happy to course correct.”

The dining room fell into tense, heavy silence, and Riza wished that she was anywhere else but here. Moreover she wished that she knew what to say to fill the silence and bring everyone to an understanding. She met Alex’s eyes across the table and it was clear that he felt exactly the same way. 

Finally, Olivier spoke. 

“Two days after Grumman’s death was reported I was yanked out of Briggs and ordered back to Central,” she said. “Since then, although no-one has said anything, it does feel like I’ve been held hostage in a way.” She smiled, a grim smile with very little humour behind it. “If they’re hoping that Briggs will fall into disarray in my absence, they’ll be extremely disappointed.” There was a long pause. “Something’s definitely going on. Something that they want to keep a close eye on me for.”

“Who gave the order for you to come back?” Riza asked. 

“That would be General Raven. In fact he came up to Briggs personally to escort me back.” She snorted. “I’ve never liked him.”

“You’ve never liked anyone,” Alex retorted. “Ever.”

Olivier rolled her eyes. “I do not respect General Raven.” She gave a little sigh, and for the first time, Riza saw something human and emotional in her eyes, but only for a split second before the hard mask of years of determination in the bitter environment of Briggs fell back into place. 

“I suppose that if there’s one thing that the Intelligence network and I agree on, it’s that we will do anything to keep Amestris safe. If the danger is coming from within rather than the borders, then that’s the danger we must defend it against.” She turned to Alex. “I trust you know which of your fellow alchemists can be trusted?”

Alex nodded. “Of those that are still around, yes. We lost several good ones in the exodus. Crystal, Freezing, Whirlwind...” 

Olivier snorted again, making her opinion of those who had abandoned the military very clear and Alex tailed off with a small cough. 

“Yes. I can certainly make discreet enquiries.”

“And I’ll sound out the generals as to why I’m here and not in Briggs, since they haven’t seen fit to give my command to anyone else yet. I’m not concerned, the fortress can run itself without me. If it can’t then they don’t deserve to be there.”

If Riza found this bald statement alarming then she tried not to show it. Olivier Armstrong was definitely not a person to be messed with and she was very glad that she appeared to be on their side. Well, not exactly their side, but at least not the on the side of the military top brass who were potentially causing all the trouble. Riza had a lot more faith in Alex. For all he was twice the size of his sister in all directions, he was clearly cowed by her ferocity and Riza couldn’t blame him for it in the slightest. 

The talk turned to practical aspects then, and Riza was glad of Roy being able to seamlessly pick things up with his expertise. He’d brought along some listening bugs that he’d picked up from Fuery first thing, giving simple instructions on how to plant and activate them. Olivier didn’t look entirely comfortable with the idea of bugging the top brass – she might have agreed to listen in herself but this was entirely too much like the seedier side of espionage for her liking. 

Still, to her credit she said nothing even if her expression spoke volumes. Alex was far more at ease with the entire concept. From the comments he was making it felt like he definitely knew a few people who’d be more than happy to help him out and even go further than Roy needed them to. 

Whilst Roy plied his trade, Riza fell to thinking about the dissent in the ranks that had begun with the annexation of Ishval, and for the first time, she began to feel a tiny bit more confidence in what she and Roy were trying to do. As dangerous as the situation they were getting into was, the more they looked into it and the more they began to recruit others to their cause, it did seem like the military were on the back foot. That was a dangerous view in and of itself to take in a country that was a military dictatorship under any other name, but Riza had to wonder if Grumman had forced their hand and made them expose themselves before they were ready. If they were already dealing with the tricky situation in Ishval and everything that had happened as a result, and now Grumman had found out their secret agenda, whatever that might be, they might be racing to perform damage limitation. 

If she and Roy could stay one step ahead, then maybe they’d be able to get to the bottom of everything. The only trouble was that she didn’t know what they were trying to stay one step ahead of. Was the entire military involved or was it just a small breakaway cohort that included General Raven? The fact that everything seemed to start tying in neatly with Bradley’s Fuhrership seemed to point towards it being a much wider conspiracy that went all the way to the top, and that worried her. Although the common troops would have absolutely no knowledge of what was going on above them and were just following orders, the military was absolutely massive when it came down to it, and if she ended up as public enemy number one, then she didn’t stand a chance against the sheer force that could be thrown at her. 

“Riza?”

She startled out of her thoughts to find Roy rising to leave, Alex by the door ready to show them out. 

“Sorry. I was thinking.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a lot to think about, that’s for sure.”

They left the way they came in, through the open French doors, the youngest Armstrong giving them a cheerful wave, and Riza kept looking back over her shoulder at the imposing house as they made their way down the drive. 

“Are you sure that this is ok, and they’re trustworthy?” she asked. “I feel like we just stepped into the lion’s den and asked if we could clean its teeth.”

“Yes, Olivier has that effect on people.”

“Roy, I’m being serious.”

“I know. I have reservations myself. Olivier’s motto has always been survival of the fittest and I’m not sure how that’s going to affect her viewpoint down here in Central where the conditions are far less extreme than in Briggs. Up in the fortress they have to be tough as nails to survive and those that aren’t simply get left behind as they can’t afford to carry them. That kind of mentality doesn’t necessarily work in the middle of a city with a temperate climate. She rubs people up the wrong way; I think that’s the reason she was sent up to Briggs in the first place. I’m more concerned that the generals will think she’s too much trouble and send her back to be out of the way.”

Riza shook her head. “No, that’s the opposite of what I’m worried about. I think something’s going on in Briggs and they want her out of the way down here, and I’m not quite as confident as she is about the fortress being able to hold its own.”

“Something will go down, that’s for sure. But whether the casualties will be on the Briggs side or…”

Roy stopped dead in his tracks. 

“Roy?”

“I’ve had a horrible thought,” he said. “I need to go and see Falman. I’ll meet you at the embassy at three, don’t be late or they’ll scrap our appointment!”

He took off at a run towards the gates, leaving a dumbstruck Riza in the Armstrong driveway, wondering what on earth the horrible thought could have been.

[flightfoot]

The Role of an Alpha

AO3 @adrichatnovember2020

Adrien hid in his room, breathing deeply.

Earlier that day he’d presented as an Alpha.

His father, of course, was thrilled. 

“So you are an Alpha.”

That was the first thing he’d said to Adrien as he walked through the door, having been sent home early by the school nurse. 

Adrien took in his father’s scent. 

Strong.

Musky.

Very clearly Alpha.

Not that he needed to smell him to know that. Gabriel exuded Alphaness in everything he did, from the way he brushed over other’s concerns to the way he asserted his will, expected everyone to submit to his needs and wishes.

“Alphas are in charge, as nature intends,” he’d told Adrien before, tightly gripping his shoulder. “Omegas simply exist to follow orders, betas little better.”

Looking into Adrien’s eyes, he’d asked him softly, “You’re going to be an Alpha, aren’t you?”

Adrien had wanted to respond. To tell him that he had no idea, it wasn’t exactly something he was in control of. And deeper down, that if THIS was what it meant to be an Alpha - if being an Alpha just meant stepping over everyone else - then he’d rather be anything else.

Ultimately, he’d said nothing.

But now that he’d presented?

The part of him that’d balked then, that’d wanted to protest, to chew him out, was too strong to ignore.

“That’s all you care about, isn’t it?” Adrien snapped bitterly. “That I’m on top. That I’m above everyone else. That I don’t somehow reflect badly on you.”

His father’s eyes widened. “Mind your tongue!” he snarled, a small growl emerging. “I am still your father. You may be an Alpha, but you’re still just a pup. And I am YOUR Alpha.”

“Is that all being an Alpha means to you? Yelling at everyone else, punishing them if they step out of line - out of YOUR line?!”

Gabriel’s eyes hardened. He stepped down the stairs, each footfall a prognostication of doom. 

He grabbed Adrien’s wrist. “I do not think you will need these anymore,” he’d told Adrien, throwing away the suppression pills the nurse had given him to help him ride through his first rut. “You will get through it like an Alpha should, not debasing yourself with suppressants,” he said in disgust.

And that was how Adrien had ended up here, desperately trying to ignore his body’s anguished cries.

He grit his teeth. Most of the Alphas in class had Omega friends to calm their hormones, to keep them comfortable, and vice versa. Chloe had Sabrina for instance, while Alya had Marinette.

He hadn’t been around for Alya’s presentation, sadly. But Marinette had recounted it with great gusto during one of the few opportunities they had to hang out.

Chloe’d been tearing into Marinette on the first day of the new school year, trying to get her to move seats. She’d just presented as an Alpha a couple months ago and had been thoroughly enjoying the added intimidation boost it provided her.

She hadn’t expected some random new girl to stand up to her.

Nor for that girl to suddenly start leaking a musky scent.

Since then Alya’d taken a lead in protecting the class - though protecting HERSELF? Not so much. 

Not that she was the only one. Marinette had been inspired by Alya’s display, had gotten some confidence herself, to the point she ran for - and won! - the class rep position, with Alya as.  her deputy. 

Her subsequent reveal as an omega had come as a shock. Everyone had assumed she’d be an Alpha, or a Beta at least.

But Omega?

She’d seemed nervous, scared even, when she first presented.

Afraid that her friends would treat her differently.

But well… she was still Marinette. Her being an Omega didn’t change that.

She was still their friend, still their class rep. 

Omegas had grown more common in leadership positions - something Paris became acutely aware of when Ladybug herself presented.

It had been assumed by most of Paris’s population that the suits masked the two heroes’ scent glands. That Ladybug was almost certainly an Alpha, POSSIBLY a Beta, and that Chat Noir was probably an Omega, possibly a Beta.

Until Ladybug had arrived at a fight, feverish and smelling sweet.

They’d still defeated the akuma, but Chat Noir had had to do more heavy lifting than normal - there was a reason Omegas were often given reduced workloads during their heats, especially anything requiring physical exertion.

Whispers emerged throughout Paris. ‘Can Ladybug really protect us if she’s vulnerable to an Omega’s heats?’ ‘An Omega, even one with superpowers, shouldn’t expect others to follow their orders. It isn’t the way of things.’ and worst of all ‘Ladybug should give her Miraculous to an Alpha. They’ll make better use of it than she ever has.’

People began looking to Chat Noir more, addressing him as the leader instead of Ladybug, who they’d deferred to before. Something that clearly made both Ladybug and Chat Noir uncomfortable, with Ladybug looking downcast and Chat Noir being more snappish with the press.

Until finally they’d given a news conference, Ladybug and Chat Noir taking the stage, addressing the preconceptions and discrimination Ladybug had been put through by the city because of her being an Omega. 

Not that she was the only one.

Many other prominent Omegas emerged to tell their story. Even some less prominent, more ordinary citizens, pushing back against the idea that being an Omega made someone somehow less worthy of respect, less worth listening to.

The Ladyblog featured all of this in great detail of course, with follow-up interviews with everyone who’d spoken. As Alya and Marinette excitedly told the class afterwards, they’d helped arrange it, researching activists in their area as well as asking for people to message the Ladyblog with their thoughts and experiences being an Omega.

A lot of the grumbling had died down after that - at least where the rest of Paris could hear it.

Adrien grimaced. Unfortunately, Father had been one of the ones who HADN’T been cowed.

Not that he’d expected him to be, with his… traditional attitude towards Alpha’s, Beta’s, and Omega’s roles in society.

Fumbling around, Adrien reached out from underneath the covers, grabbing the remote that opened up his window. Much too high to climb out of unfortunately (he’d tried), but at least it let in the cool air from outside. Right now, that sounded good.

Ahhh.

He was right, this did feel good. And something about the air smelled exceptional today...

As if in a trance, he left his blanket fort, coming closer to the window.

Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath.

It smelled so NICE, so sweet, almost like-

His eyes blew open.

Just in time to get a face-full of superhero.

“OOPH!”

Adrien blinked. 

Green, slitted cat eyes blinked back.

And drooped as Chat Noir turned into a pile of mush in his arms, purring up a storm as he cuddled close.

Careful not to disturb him, Adrien leaned in near his neck, getting a good whiff of his scent glands.

Omega.

Very, very clearly Omega.

He examined Chat Noir more closely; his flushed cheeks, his twitching tail, his glazed eyes.

“Chat Noir?” he asked carefully. “Are you alright?”

He kicked himself. Of COURSE he wasn’t alright, he was in the midst of his first heat - a pretty intense one too, from the looks of things.

“Mmmmphhhhhrrrrrrrr?” Chat Noir asked.

Well. ‘Asked’ may have been overselling it a bit. ‘Mewled with a questioning tone’ more like.

“Do you know where you are?” He clarified.

Chat Noir just purred and nuzzled his neck, getting a good whiff of his own scent glands.

WOW he was out of it.

“I’m gonna move you, alright?” he told Chat Noir softly, picking him up as gently as he could.

He’d seen how Alya’d helped Marinette through her own heats, though none of them had been as bad as this. 

First, a nest.

At least that was easy - good thing, since he had zero notice to prepare one.

Lowering Chat Noir into the mess of blankets he’d just vacated (Chat giving a confused-sounding “mew?” as he did so), he got up to find what else he needed.

A couple minutes later he was back at Chat Noir’s side, coaxing him to drink sips of some nice, cold water, as well as bringing him the few stuffed animals he’d managed to save from his father’s purges.

As Chat Noir sipped the water (Adrien holding onto the cup; right now Chat didn’t seem confident in his ability to hold it steady), the red gradually started fading a little. 

Adrien put his hand on Chat Noir’s forehead. He definitely felt cooler than he had when he first landed on him.

“Chat Noir?” he tried again, making sure to keep his voice low and soft. “Do you know where you are?”

Chat Noir blinked up at him, still looking a little hazy, but like he was at least attempting to focus. “You’re… that model boy… right?” he asked hesitantly. His voice sounded a little slurred, but at least he was speaking words.

Inwardly Adrien winced. Of course that’d be what he was known for; how ELSE would Chat Noir have heard of him? It’s not like he knew either of the Parisian heroes very well. They’d run across each other during akuma attacks of course, especially with how often their class ended up targeted in one way or another, but they didn’t exactly have time to chat.

Outwardly he made sure to not change his expression. “Yeah, that’s me. You crashed into my house a few minutes ago.”

Chat Noir vaguely looked around. Adrien suspected he’d just become aware of his surroundings.

A tinge of panic colored Chat’s expression. “I- I’m sorry,” he burst out, shrinking in on himself. “I- I didn’t mean to- if you want me to go, I’ll go.”

Adrien shook his head, kneeling down so his head was level with Chat’s. “If you want to leave, then you can. I don’t want you to stay any longer than you’re comfortable with.”

Chat’s eyes widened, then relaxed a bit, looking downcast. He began shuffling around with the blankets, attempting to stand.

Omega unhappy needs reassurance needs support

Adrien sucked in a breath. That surge of protectiveness, of the need to defend, to make sure Chat Noir was okay - he’d never felt anything quite like it before.

This… this was what being an Alpha meant to him. Not trampling over others, exerting will and dominance over them.

But being there for them if they needed it, helping to make sure every member of the pack knew how much they were wanted, needed, cared for. To lift them up, not tear them down.

Sometimes that might mean giving them space.

Sometimes that might mean staying put, letting them know you’ll be by their side.

“But just because I’m okay with you leaving, doesn’t mean I want you to,” he told Chat Noir, trying to possess every ounce of sincerity he could muster, to reach out and let him know on a fundamental level how much he cared for him. “I don’t want to keep you here or coerce you to stay. I don’t want to force you into anything, or feel like you need to do anything to please me or because you feel like you need to pay me back for something. I just want you to do what you feel most comfortable, what you feel safest doing.

Chat Noir, what do you want?” 

Chat Noir looked momentarily stunned.

He swallowed thickly. “I- I want to stay here for a little bit. If that’s okay with you!” he added hastily. “I don’t think I can get back home right now and… and I don’t really want to.” His ears turned backwards, flattening against his head.

“Are you okay with me touching you?” Adrien asked.

Chat Noir nodded.

Adrien sat down on the bed. Chat Noir leaned into him, Adrien stroking his head, like his mom used to do with him when he was little.

His mom couldn’t scratch him behind his cat ears though, on account of not having them.

...most of the time.

(He’d always had a thing about cats.)

They stayed there for the next several hours, Adrien checking up on Chat Noir regularly, making sure he was okay with the close proximity, asking whether he’d like food or drink, just… taking care of him, while making it as clear as he possibly could that Chat could ask for things, that Adrien WANTED him to ask for things, and that he wouldn’t force his will on Chat Noir. 

At last, the heat dissipated to the point that Chat Noir could get up. Could walk around.

Chat Noir looked out the window longingly, then back at Adrien. 

Adrien smiled at him. “It’s time for you to go, I’m guessing?” 

Chat Noir hesitated, then gave a short, sharp nod.

“Then go.”

Chat turned around to leave, but hesitated, looking back at him, an unspoken question in his eyes.

“If you ever need to come by again, for cuddles or support or just… just because you want to? Please, please come,” Adrien told Chat. “Just check to make sure my father isn’t around first, alright?”

Chat Noir laughed, pole-vaulting into the night.

[thdorkmagnet]

Marco’s Birthday Blowup Blast

Hey everyone! Today I’m bringing to you all something a little different. This was just a fun idea I’ve been working on for a while now thanks to a request I received from an anonymous source and I knew I had to make this when they gave it to me. I don’t normally take requests but this idea was too good to pass up!

So today is Marco’s 16th birthday and Star is determined to make it the best birthday Earthni has ever seen! Haha, I hope you all enjoy, especially my awesome requester who helped me out with a bunch of the ideas for this story! 

Disclaimer: Star vs and all it's characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

Marco's soft snores echoed around his dark room, the boy's curtains closed tight to prevent any horrid light from flooding in and disturbing his peaceful dreams. The boy mumbled incoherently in his sleep, clutching the stuffed rabbit he slept with closer, a line of drool beginning to slowly spread on its cotton face, as he settled down deeper into the welcoming warmth of his pillow. At his feet, his litter of laser puppies were all curled up into balls as they snoozed, even the normally hyper dogs not wanting to be disturbed so early in the morning.

The door to Marco's room creaked softly open, a blond head slowly appeared in the doorway a second after, a bright grin on her face as she took in the adorable form of her boyfriend. She held in the coo she felt rising at the back of her throat, her Marco just too cute for words when he was asleep. She silently tiptoed closer, being careful not to jolt around the tray of his freshly made breakfast and accidentally alert him to her presence. She set the tray down as quietly as she could on his desk, before creeping closer to the teen so she was now standing over him. Her eyes shimmered as she just took a few minutes to watch him sleep, sighing softly to herself. Even though it had been months since the Cleaving, Star still couldn't believe sometimes that Marco and her were finally together. It felt like just yesterday they had confessed their love and yet at the same time, it was as if the two had already spent a lifetime together. These last few months had been the best of her life and she was determined to show her boyfriend just how special and important he was to her by throwing the best birthday party possible! He was sixteen now, after all. She had to make sure everything went perfectly.

Speaking of perfect, what was the perfect way to wake Marco up? Star frowned as she tried to think of the best way for her Marco to start his day. Finally, an idea came to her and a bright smile lit up her face once again. She slowly reached out a hand, placing it lightly on his shoulder, before giving him a small shake. "Marco," she whispered. "Would you like me to kiss you awake?"

The only reply she received was a groggy yawn, but that seemed to be the right answer as Star slowly began leaning closer to him, loose strands of her hair falling onto his face. As she got closer to her target, she closed her eyes, her lips puckering as she prepared to plant a loving kiss on his cheek.

Marco giggled softly as Star's blond locks tickled his skin, his heavy eyelids lifting slightly as he checked to see what could possibly be disturbing his dreams. But the moment he saw the form hovering over him and moving steadily closer by the second, he panicked. His groggy brain was unable to decipher what who or what it was that was so near to him, his instincts quickly taking over as he was jolted awake by the scare.

So he did what any rational person would do when in a similar situation... he screamed. He tried to scramble away from the stranger, his body flailing wildly as he tried to get out from his tangle of sheets (nearly sending the startled laser puppies flying), before he reached the end of his bed where he fell to the floor, letting out a loud oof when he hit the ground.

"Marco!" Star cried in distress, quickly climbing onto the bed so she could peer over and see the state of her bestie. The boy just blinked up at her, the startled look clear in his brown gaze, panting heavily after the scare. "Star?" he groggily squeaked out, his still tired brain struggling to understand what was happening.

"Hey," Star said sheepishly, waving hesitantly down to him.

"Wh-What happened?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows as he stared up at her with uncertainty, the blond almost able to see the gears turning in his head as he made sense of it all.

"Sorry, I was trying to give you a kiss to wake you up," she explained while shooting him an apologetic smile.

"Oh," the boy said, letting out a steady breath as everything finally clicked into place.

"Guess maybe I should have just let you wake up on your own," Star admitted, tapping her index fingers together guiltily.

But Marco only laughed, though that was most likely in part by the dozen or so ticklish puppy tongues that were licking his face as he did his best to push them away. "Well, I appreciate the thought anyway, Star," the hooded boy said sweetly, shooting her a loving smile. "Besides I've definitely had way worse wake up calls. I mean, these little guys used to laser blast me awake basically every morning," the hooded teen continued, picking one of the puppies up to show Star exactly who he was talking about. His voice switched to an overly-sweet coo as he said to the little dog, "Didn't you, Barko Diaz? You and your brothers and sisters used to be a big handful, didn't you?"

Star giggled at her boyfriend's actions, especially as the little pups' barks grew louder in reaction to the change in their owner's tone and they began licking him more furiously than before causing Marco to laugh. He did his best to hold them off, but it was a losing battle as for every puppy he managed to move away, another took its place. Finally, he gave his girlfriend a pleading look, squeaking out, "Help."

Star came to his rescue, grabbing hold of Marco's outstretched hands before helping him back up on the bed, the boy letting out a relieved sigh. "Thanks," he said, shooting her a grin, which she returned with one of her own.

"No problem," she replied. She looked back down to see the puppies had begun wrestling with each other without their owner to keep them entertained. Since the Cleaving, the laser puppies no longer shot laser beams anymore (they should really think of a different name for them now) which was honestly, a huge relief for the Diaz's furniture since singed and burnt couches and tables were not very appealing to look at.

"So what's up, Star? You usually don't wake me up this early without a good reason," Marco asked, giving his bestie a questioning look.

"Uhh did you seriously forget," Star said, playing jabbing his side with her elbow. "It's your birthday, silly."

Marco's eyes lit up as the memory returned, saying thoughtfully, "Oh yeah, that's right. That is today."

"Yep, you're officially sixteen now, Marco!" Star squealed, pulling him into a tight hug. "Aren't you excited!?"

A giant smile flooded Marco's face as he just clung onto his eager girlfriend. "Yeah, it is pretty great."

Star quickly pulled out of the hug, holding his shoulders at arm's length as she told him with shimmering vision, "And as your girlfriend, I am going to make sure you have the best possible birthday in the history of birthdays!" She giddily clapped her hands together as she added, "Just wait until you see what I have planned, you're gonna love it!"

Marco laughed, finding his girlfriend beyond adorable as he said in a flirty tone, "I'm sure I will. You always know just what to do for me, Star."

"Aww, Marco, you are too sweet," the girl cooed, cupping his cheeks in her hands. Marco started to lean in for a kiss but the girl suddenly let go of his face and jumped off the bed, causing him to fall forward with a short yell and face-plant directly into his soft sheets. Star didn't notice this though, as she went over to the tray of food she had brought in, lifting it slowly, careful to not spill anything as she turned back around to face her boyfriend. "Speaking of which," she began with a hinting edge to her tone, Marco watching her quizzically as she walked over to him. "I made you breakfast!" the blond exclaimed, before setting the tray down in his lap.

The boy looked down at his breakfast in surprise, staring at the plate of fresh bacon, purple eggs (okay that was a bit alarming), and pancakes, as well as a glass of orange juice, and his gaze softened, touched that his girlfriend would be nice enough to make him breakfast. But then a thought occurred to him and he quickly turned back to Star, asking, "You made this?"

Star nodded. "Yep, only the best for my favorite bestie slash boyfriend!" she said, shooting him a wink.

The boy gave her a thin smile, eying his meal cautiously as he tried to indiscreetly check and make sure it was safe to eat. After all, he loved Star but her cooking skills were... well, she didn't really have any to speak of. Somehow, beyond Marco's comprehension, the blond managed to burn or ruin even the simplest of meals and he would rather not have to deal with food poisoning on his birthday. He gulped, trying to stall for as long as he could as he asked her hesitantly, "So did you, uh, make this yourself?"

"Nope," Star replied, sitting on the edge of the bed, as she gauged her boyfriend's reaction closely. "Eclipsa helped me out, since I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to cooking and I wanted to make sure your breakfast was perfect."

"Wait, Eclipsa knows how to cook?" Marco asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Apparently," Star shrugged, sounding equally as shocked. "And she's pretty good at it, too. Try a bite."

The boy now satisfied that he wouldn't get sick from eating his meal, grabbed his fork and picked up one of the eggs, stuffing the whole thing directly into his mouth. Star held her breath as she just waited for his reaction. He chewed on it thoughtfully for a second, before humming in approval, his taste buds going wild with every bite. "Oh man, Star you were right, this is delicious!"

Star sighed in relief, glad to know her boyfriend was satisfied with his breakfast and her eyes shimmered like her name-sake as she watched him quickly devouring his meal hungrily. "You really think so?" the blond asked, her heart swelling with pride.

"Oh yeah, this stuff is incredible," the boy said with his mouth still stuffed with food, not even bothering to swallow as he spoke. "Especially these eggs! I've never tasted anything like them before."

He picked up a piece, ready to take a bite of it, before Star said, "Oh yeah, that was Eclipsa's idea, she said dragon eggs were full of nutrients and flavors you can't get anywhere else."

The boy froze, stopping mid-bite, the fork inches from his mouth as he turned to Star with a worried expression. "Did you say dragon's eggs?"

Star nodded in confusion. "Uh, yeah, why?"

"Because I have a dragon cycle and Nachos would hate me if she knew I was eating her own kind!" Marco exclaimed.

Star scoffed, waving an arm in the air. "Dragons are a totally different thing than dragon cycles, Marco," she matter-of-factly explained. "Everyone knows that."

"Well, I didn't," Marco admitted sheepishly, poking at his half-eaten plate with his fork.

The blond just giggled, cupping his cheek in her hand once again as she told him, "You still have so much to learn, Marco."

The boy gave her a loving grin, his cheeks heating up slightly as he locked gaze with her startling blue, his heart thumping away in his chest like crazy. "Thanks for the breakfast, by the way, this was really nice of you."

"You think this is good, just wait till you see what other surprises I have cooked up for you," Star told him, shooting him a sly grin. "I'm going all-out for your birthday!"

Marco's eyes lit up with intrigue at that, but it quickly vanished, replaced instead with a determined expression. "So, uh, Star, speaking of surprises" he coyly began, setting his tray aside as he leaned closer to her. "I know you're whole plan to wake me up didn't really work out... so how would you like to make it up now, instead?"

Star's eyebrows raised as she playfully asked, "Oh ho ho, are you asking me to kiss you, Diaz?"

"Maybe," he said mischievously, purposely not meeting her eye.

The blond leaned even closer to him, till their foreheads were practically touching before saying, "Well, y'know, I would love to, but..."

Marco gave her a confused frown. "But what?" he asked, unable to keep the disappointment out his voice.

"But..." she continued, the smirk on her lips causing several of Marco's brain cells to fry. She whispered gently into his ear, "...your face is coated in dog drool."

The boy froze, his eyes wide with shock as his cheeks lit up red in embarrassment, while Star burst out into laughter at the cute look of surprise on her Marco's face. Finally, the boy shot the litter of puppies a dirty look as he grumbled to them, "Thanks a lot."

…

After Marco cleaned up his face and changed into his typical attire of hoodie and jeans he made his way downstairs, where he was greeted by the smiling faces of his parents, who wasted no time running over and wrapping him up into a super tight hug. "Happy Birthday Marco!" they said in unison and the boy just laughed and hugged them back. "We can't believe you're already sixteen!" Angela exclaimed.

"Thanks mom, thanks dad," the boy said sweetly.

"It seems like just yesterday you were still in diapers and trying to stuff nacho chips up your nose when we weren't looking," Rafael cried with glee, his eyes welling up with tears.

Marco blushed and immediately whispered to them, "Dad, not in front of Star." He inclined his head over to the staircase where Star was watching the display with a silent grin.

"Oh, don't mind me," the blond said, maneuvering around the Diaz's and slowly backing away toward the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. "Keep having your family moment, I'll just be outside if you need me," she continued, plastering on the most innocent and trustworthy smile she had. "And uh, maybe don't come outside for the next like thirty minutes or so, give or take." Once she was at the door, she reached behind her and slid it open, never once breaking eye contact with her boyfriend and his parents. She took a single step back and started to close the door back but not before pausing to give Marco a warning glare, quickly adding, "I mean it Marco, no peeking."

"No peeking, I promise," the boy said, with a short nod.

The smile returned on Star's face as she said in her typical Star cheer, "Okay!"

She finished closing the door, before a large sheet was hung up over it, preventing Marco from even trying to look outside. But it didn't keep him from hearing his girlfriend's very loud shout of, "Okay people, hurry up! We only have half an hour to make the best dang birthday party Earthni has ever seen!"

"But um, Star, Earthni has only been around for a couple of months," came the hesitant voice of Alfonso.

"Which is why we are gonna make this one so great that no birthday in the future will ever compare, got it?!" the girl practically screamed, followed by an immediate, "Yes ma'am."

The boy just chuckled shaking his head at his girlfriend's antics before turning to his mom and dad and asking, "So uh, where's Mariposa?"

Just as he said that he felt a tug on his pant leg and he looked down to see his one-year-old sister staring up at him, her arms stretched out, fingers trying desperately to reach her big brother despite the obvious height difference, saying in her little baby coo, "Biii Bwover, upie, upie," which Marco knew translated to "Big Brother, up, up."

He laughed, not even hesitating as he reached down and scooped the little girl up and into his arms, saying to her, "Okay, Mariposa, okay, if that's what you really want." Once she was safe and settled in her big brother's arms, the boy tickled her underneath the chin in the exact place he knew would get a giggle out of her, as he cooed, "Guess what, Mari. Your big bro is 16 years old today, isn't that awesome?"

His baby sister just laughed and clapped her hands together, still finding talking difficult and so mostly relayed her emotions by either clapping when she was happy, crying when she was sad, or scowling death glares at whoever dared to make her angry.

Angela sighed, putting her hands on his shoulders as she told him, "Oh Marco, you are such a good big brother."

"Thanks mom," the hooded teen replied, not taking his eyes off his sister as she grabbed his finger in both tiny hands, staring up at him with shimmering eyes.

"And we have no doubt you're going to be an even greater dad," Rafael quickly added.

"Thanks dad," Marco replied instantly, not really thinking too much about what his parents were saying, his focus more on Mariposa than anything else.

"And Star is gonna make a great mom, as well," Angela said cheerfully and the hooded teen made a noise somewhere between a groan and a squeak, whipping his head over to face his parents, exclaiming with flushed cheeks, "Where did that come from?"

"Just stating a fact," his mom said nonchalantly.

Marco's eyebrow slowly raised as he asked suspiciously, "Have you and Mr. and Mrs. Butterfly been talking again?"

Both of his parents laughing nervously as they clearly tried to cover up their secret intentions. "No, of course not, Marco," his mom said, in a very fake tone. "We just think you and Star are very cute together and if you ever did end up having kids, we'd be happy for you."

"Uh-huh," the boy said doubtfully. But his voice retained its regular cheer, as he added, "Well when we end up having kids than I'm sure Star will be a great mom. After all, there's nothing that girl can't do."

There was a loud boom outside, one that caused the whole house to shake, the Diaz's looking around with concern, fearful of their home being damaged, while Marco just stared ahead calmly (he had grown numb to this sort of thing in the several years he had known Star), but making sure to hold Mari just a little closer to him than before. Once their home has stopped shaking, the family turned to the back door with worried looks. "Star, you okay?" Marco called out to his girlfriend, shifting his hold on his baby sister as she laughed and clapped her hands at the funny house shivering.

"Yep, everything's great! Nothing to worry about!" came Star's muffled response.

Marco sighed in relief, thankful his girlfriend wasn't hurt, he couldn't help but still worry over her at times. She was the most important thing in his world, after all. He didn't know what he would ever do without her. The hooded teen quickly shifted his attention to his parents, who both still looked a little startled by what happened. "Um, sorry guys. You... know how Star is," Marco said giving them a nervous grin. Although Star's antics never bothered him in slightest, he didn't know if his parents felt the same and he didn't want to ruin their shining opinion of her. He wanted his family to approve of the woman he loved, see her for the incredible, mature individual she was and had become and not just the wild, explosion-happy blond that had lived under their roof back in the day. There was much more to Star than that, he just hoped his parents could see that too.

But to his surprise, the two burst out into laughter, Marco looking between them like they had lost their minds. Finally, their sudden laughing fit ceased and Angela very calmly told him, "Oh Marco, you don't have to apologize. You know we've always loved Star's energy."

"Even if it did sometimes result in destroying our house," Rafael added as chipper as ever.

"So wait, it really doesn't bother you?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course not," Angela replied. "Do you know how many times we've had stuff explode in the backyard? At this point, we're used to it." She smiled reaching over and cupping his cheek in her hand, as she added, "Besides, if it means seeing you this happy, then it's worth it."

Marco smiled over at his mom, telling her, "Thanks mom. That means a lot to me."

"I know it does," Angela said. "And I have a feeling we'll have a lot more craziness to expect in the future, won't we?" She winked over at him and Marco laughed and nodded.

"Yep and I wouldn't have it any other way," he said, feeling a relief fill his chest. It didn't matter to them whether she was a mature adult or just a crazy teenager, they accepted his Star either way and that was the best gift he could have asked from them, especially as his dad added, "Neither would we."

…

"Okay Marco, just keep walking forward," Tom instructed him since the boy was currently blind with his friend's purple hands pressed tightly over his eyes.

"Is this really necessary?" Marco asked as he allowed himself to be led through his house, his parents following behind them, Rafael now holding Mariposa.

"Hey, Star gave me specific instructions on what to do, okay?" Tom told him, continuing to guide his friend outside.

"Yeah but I already know about the party, it's not exactly a surprise," Marco pointed out.

Tom shrugged. "Tell that to your girlfriend, not me," the demon boy said and Marco just sighed.

"Okay fine but why didn't Star come do this, then?" the hooded teen asked.

But instead of receiving an answer, Tom just moved his hands away, leaving Marco blinking in the sudden sunlight, as a crowd of people began all shouting to him, "Surprise Marco!" and "Happy Birthday!" and one voice even loudly proclaiming, "Surprise Turd!! You're most favorite person in the universe is here, so y'know you can be happy now!"

Marco resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Pony Head's undeflated ego, turning his attention instead on the rest of the party and party-goers, saying brightly, "Thanks everyone!" while taking everything in. When Star said she was going to going all-out for his party, she wasn't kidding! The backyard had been transformed into a massive fiesta (complete with a mariachi band) all forms of decorations coated the area: balloons, streamers, banners, the works. Marco even spotted a box of fireworks set off to the side, which gave him an uneasy feeling as he worried Mariposa or Meteora might find it and Mewni knew those girls and dangerous explosions didn't mix. The hooded teen also spotted a huge object hidden under a tarp and Marco felt his interest peak again, curious what other surprises Star possibly had in store for him.

Finally, his eyes landed on a table set up in the grass with more presents than Marco thought he had ever seen before in his life, especially at one of his birthday parties. Until right then, Marco hadn't realized just how many friends he had made the last couple of years and seeing the sheer amount of gifts brought a tear to his eye, touched that so he had so many people caring about him now. The hooded boy felt deep gratitude fill his chest as he knew it was Star he had to thank for this, without her, he never would have met half the people standing here before him and the others he probably never would have had the courage to talk to if it weren't for his wonderful, amazing girlfriend.

Speaking of which... the boy did a quick scan of the smiling faces that surrounded him, looking for a flash of golden hair or shimmering blue eyes but spotted neither, Star completely absent it seemed from his sight. Marco frowned, turning to Tom and asking, "Uh, where's Star?"

Before the purple-skinned boy could get out a word, Jackie spoke up, telling Marco helpfully, "She said she left something at her house and needed to go get it."

"But she told us to go ahead and start celebrating without her," Janna pitched in.

"Oh," Marco said, unable to keep the disappointment from leaking into his voice. He had been hoping Star would be there so he could thank her for the party. Plus, it just felt weird celebrating without her there, everything a little less bright without her beautiful smile to help brighten his spirits. He and Star had been practically attached at the hip since they had started dating. Not that he was complaining, every second he spent with Star felt like a fairytale and filled him with a warmth that only his bestie could provide. He truly did love her.

"Don't worry, dearie, I'm certain she'll be back soon," Eclipsa reassured him as her and her husband moved to where they were standing next to him, Globgore's beefy arm draped around her shoulder as he gave the boy a sympathetic smile, while their daughter squirmed, trying to get to her best friend who she had spotted in Rafael's arms.

The boy gave the ancient queen and Monster a thin smile, before confessing, "Thanks it's just weird not having her around." He rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, as he hesitantly added, "I know it's stupid, but ever since I thought I lost her forever it's been hard... being apart, y'know?"

Eclipsa and Globglore shared a knowing look, momentary sadness flooding their features, before they turned back to the hooded teen, Globgore telling him softly, "Probably better than anyone else, Marco." The queen laid her head on his shoulder and the Monster quickly returned the affection by tightening his embrace, bringing the love of his life closer to his side.

Meteora, though, had finally had enough, letting out a loud cry to gain their attention and the three looked down at the baby with surprise. "What is it, Meteora?"

The half-Monster child began fighting in her mother's arms, her small hands reaching out toward the Diaz's. Eclipsa, quickly picking up on her daughter's needs, set the child down on the grass, where she immediately began crawling away, her little devil's tail waving back and forth like crazy. Rafael, seeing the child approaching put Mariposa down as well, the girl able to walk the few steps over to Meteora before falling, but she wrapped her arms around her best friend as she did, pulling her into an adorable hug that had both families and most the crowd awwing at the adorable display.

Tom, seeing his friend successfully distracted and no longer thinking about Star, turned to Ferguson and Alfonso and gave them a short nod, signaling them it was time to begin. The two gave a quick salute before running off to go grab Marco's next surprise, while Tom just came up behind Marco and put a hand on his back. "So Marco, I hope you're ready," he began and the hooded teen raised a worried eyebrow at his friend.

"Why? What's happening?" he asked, knowing that any sentence that started like that couldn't be good. He knew from personal experience.

"Oh, nothing..." Tom continued, trying to act nonchalant but Marco could easily see he was just trying to stall for something. "Just a little surprise Star cooked up."

"In this case literally," Janna suddenly spoke, appearing beside him out of nowhere and causing both boys to let out a cry of surprise.

"Janna, don't sneak up on people like that," Marco scolded her.

"Yeah, you might end up giving someone a heart attack," Tom added, busy panting while he clutching a hand over his racing heartbeat.

The creepy girl didn't look even slightly sorry as she simply shrugged the whole thing off, only responding with an emotionless, "Eh, whatever."

Marco frowned but rather than engage in a pointless argument with Janna, he instead decided to focus on Janna's earlier line. "Wait, what did you mean by 'literally'?" the hooded teen asked, raising a curious eyebrow at the girl.

The beanie-wearing teen immediately pointing somewhere behind the two boys, telling Marco, "See for yourself."

And as Marco did just that, his jaw almost hit the floor as he spotted the giant, multi-layered chocolate cake coated in small little pieces of candy, it seemed, which all glittered in the sunlight and was decorated with 16 identical candles which were not lit with flames but were instead shooting off miniature fireworks. The boy's eyes shimmered as he stared starry-eyed at the delicious looking dessert being slowly and meticulously carried in by Ferguson, Alfonso, Oscar, and Sensai. "Is that... for me?" Marco asked, his eyes never once leaving the cake as he watched the four guys straining to carry the heavy treat another step.

"Yep, only the best for you, buddy," Tom said with a smile, wrapping an arm around his friend's shoulder.

"What's that stuff all over it?" the hooded teen questioned.

"Star insisted we cover it with bits of Captain Blanches Sugar Seeds since it's your favorite cereal," Janna explained.

"So wait, you mean she made this herself?" Marco gasped out. Since when did Star become such a good cook?

"We all pitched in, but Star was in charge of making sure you'd like it," Tom explained. "She said it was more personal if your friends made it, instead of someone else."

At those words, Marco felt his eyes well up with tears, unable to stop the goofy grin from invading his face as he was once again left amazed by something his girlfriend had done. Star was just too good to him sometimes. Just when he thought she couldn't get any sweeter or more incredible she managed to outdo herself and the boy felt a deep, tender warmth spread through him as he once again wondered to himself how he had gotten so lucky as to meet a girl like Star. "It's perfect," the boy whispered, his voice cracking against his will.

"Marco, are you crying?" Tom asked in concern.

The boy sniffed and wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "Maybe just a little." Tom and Janna shared a knowing grin before both patted their friend gently on the back. After that, the group just watched in silence as Globgore stepped over to help the struggling humans, taking mercy on them as he lent his strength to the effort. The Monster grew some in size so he was able to easily lift the massive cake from the weak human's arms, before single-handedly moving it over to the large table without breaking a sweat, Eclipsa fawning over him every step of the way. The others could only gawk in surprise and awe, Sensai even muttering under his breath, "Whoa, I think I just met my new hero."

Marco, Tom, and Janna went over to the Monster king once he was done, the hooded teen telling him gratefully, "Thanks Globgore, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, Marco," the Monster said, shrinking down to his normal size, before stepping back and allowing the boy to get a closer look at his cake. It was even more enormous up close, towering over Marco and for a moment the Latino worried there was more there than even a whole crowd of people could finish. As he looked closer at the cake he noticed the inscription written in frosting, lining a few of the layers, reading, "Happy Birthday, Marco! Blow out the candles for an extra special surprise."

Marco's eyebrow slowly raised at that, wondering what that could possibly mean. These were clearly magical candles (hence why fireworks were bursting out of them every two seconds) which meant he had no clue what blowing them out could possibly result in. Really it could be anything, heck the cake could even explode for all Marco knew.

"So hey, Marco, you should hurry up and blow out those candles, don't you think?" Tom asked awkwardly, poorly trying to act nonchalant and cool but he failed miserably, only confirming to Marco that they were definitely up to something.

The boy shot his friend a suspicious look but was stopped from saying anything as a hand was suddenly on his arm and he turned to Jackie giving him a smooth smile, as she told him, "Yeah dude, do it. I wanna get me some of that cake."

Marco couldn't help but chuckle as the girl raised a clenched fist dramatically. Jackie was still just as cool and awesome to hang out with as ever, one of the few things he was glad had stayed the same since Earthni's creation. He was thankful that the two of them had been able to stay friends.

The birthday boy's thoughts were interrupted as an arm wrapped around his shoulders, Janna saying in a warning tone, "But seriously you should really hurry up and blow out those candles."

"Why?" Marco asked, even knowing he wasn't going to get an answer. It was a surprise, after all.

"Just trust us, dude," Tom spoke up, while the hooded teen was gently pushed forward so he was now in primary position for blowing out the candles. The boy let out a sigh, knowing there was no getting around this, he had to blow out the candles... whatever the consequences. So, Marco just sucked in a deep breath, preparing his lungs for what he needed to do, before blowing as hard as he could in the direction of the sparkling candles. The magical flames went out in less than a second and the boy couldn't help but smile to himself at his accomplishment. But then out of nowhere the cake suddenly exploded, coating Marco head to toe in cake frosting, as well as the rest of the crowd, all except Janna and Tom who pulled out matching umbrellas holding them up in front of them to block the messy explosion.

To say Marco was caught off-guard by this was an understatement, the boy was paralyzed with surprise, his eyes wide as he just stood there dumbfounded. But to his greater shock (if that was even possible) what was once a mega-sized cake now stood his one and only girlfriend, Star Butterfly, Marco watched mesmerized as the top layer of cake landed perfectly on her head, somehow staying balanced up there.

"Wha-Wha-Whaaa," was all Marco was able to stutter out, before Star suddenly shouted, "Surprise!" She threw her arms wide, doing a little jazz hand flourish as her shimmering gaze studied his face. "Bet you weren't expecting that, were you?"

The hooded teen only dumbly shook his head. The girl did a little fist pump, whispering in celebration, "Yes, nailed it!" But as the girl stopped and looked around at her family and friends coated head to toe in cake mix she cringed, a guilty look on her face. She turned to Tom and Janna, chuckling nervously as she said with a sheepish grin, "Oops, guess I put in a little too many exploding berries into the mixture."

"You think?" Tom said sarcastically.

Marco was still just paralyzed in shock, staring wide-eyed at his girlfriend taking in her new appearance. She had apparently changed outfits while she was away, her hair now tied up into pigtails with twin buns on either side of her head both of which seemed to have unlit sparklers in them. Her devil horns had been replaced with a yellow headband that had stars rather than horns.

She wore a short sleeve dress with a pink top and a red and blue striped skirt. The side of the skirt had a yellow firework design. Around her neck hung a red heart necklace that seemed to gleam in the sunlight and her left arm had a star bracelet that matched her headband. Her leggings were now pure white and she had on dark blue boots with butterfly patterns on the front of them.

But the strangest sight of all though (and that was saying something) was the giant purple cigar in the girl's mouth, which had sparkles, magic dust, popcorn and all manners of things shooting out of it and the boy couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the weird-looking object.

"Star, what's going on?" the boy asked, his head still spinning with questions. "Why were you inside my cake?"

"Oh I saw it in a movie once and I wanted to try it out," the girl said nonchalantly, her voice slightly muffled by the cigar. She took the cake off her head and set it down on a plate next to her, before turning back to the boy with her hands on her hips, trying to judge his shocked reaction. Marco, meanwhile, just asked the next of many questions he now had, "Well, what's with the cigar?"

"Well, first of all, this isn't just any cigar," she began, pointing to it with a bright grin still on her face.

"Think he gathered that," Tom whispered to Janna, the two sharing a small chuckle.

Star ignored them, though, explaining, "This is a mystical razzle-dazzle cigar! It's a tradition on Mewni for boys to have one on their sixteenth birthday. They say the light that comes from it helps them to bring good fortune for the rest of their lives."

"Wait, then why do you have it?" the boy asked.

"I'm just testing it out to make sure it works," the girl explained. "Plus, it makes me look super cool!" Star struck a dramatic pose, while Marco laughed at his adorable bestie, finally recovering from his shock as he just enjoyed being near his girlfriend. "Well that's not entirely true since you look cool all the time, Star," Marco told her with a flirty look and the girl seemed to melt.

"Aww Marco," she gushed, before leaping off the table and wrapping her arms around Marco's neck, holding him in one of her signature tight hugs. The boy froze up for only a second, afraid one of the bright sparkles would set him on fire or something. But nothing happened, Star careful to turn her head in a direction so that the stream of magic that seemed to be coming from the cigar wouldn't hit him.

"So what did you think?!" she asked him, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Did you like your surprise?" The hooded teen couldn't help but laugh as he gave the girl a gentle squeeze around her small frame, burying his head into her shoulder. "I loved it," he replied softly, kissing her softly on the cheek.

"Aww, Marco I'm so glad!" she squealed in delight. She pulled out of the hug, before plucking the cigar out of her mouth and sticking it into his, causing the boy to blush bright red, as he became distinctly aware that his had been inside Star's mouth not a moment before. "Oops, almost forgot to give this to you."

"Um, thanks Star but I-" the boy began, having trouble speaking around the massive cigar but was interrupted as the girl gave him another tight hug, her head now leaning against his chest, nearly causing him to lose all the air in his lungs as he let out a strangled cough. Star didn't notice this though as she just started rambling to him, "Oh wow, Marco, you look awesome! I was so worried I wouldn't be able to find one of those for your birthday after the whole... y'know magical dimension getting destroyed. But luckily, it looks like only the spells and stuff like that were destroyed, while a lot of the magical objects and things are still around and work just fine. Which is great, since those aren't really all that dangerous. So anyways, what do you think of it? Isn't it sooo pretty?"

Seeing the twinkle in Star's eye, made Marco pause, as he looked down at the stream of glitter and bright lights coming from the thing sticking out of his mouth. It was really pretty he had to admit. And Star did seem to trust it? Maybe he should just relax. Earth and Mewni were permanently linked now, he should probably get used to stuff like this. Even without magic being provided from the magical dimension, it was still a pretty crazy and hectic place to live. "It does look pretty cool," Marco told her, giving her a small smile, well as best he could, his eyes having to do most of the conveying. His eyes were quickly drawn back to the cigar, though, as he just watched the colorful display. "What's all in this, anyways?"

"Oh y'know, just a bunch of magical stuff," Star told him waving her hand nonchalantly in front of her.

"So, uh, what's with the popcorn, then?" Marco asked, raising an eyebrow as he pointed to the small fluffy kernels that repeatedly fell out of the cigar along with the magic stream with a noisy pop.

"Oh, what that," the girl said, before explaining to him matter-of-factly, "That's because the whole thing is just a corn on the cob wrapped in corn husks and magic and other stuff."

"Huh, neat," the boy said. That didn't surprise him too much... what with Mewmans bizarre and slightly unhealthy obsession with the vegetable.

"So the cigar is really cool and all and not that I don't appreciate it but well... you think maybe you could put it out for now so I can maybe actually eat my cake instead of getting covered in it," he asked, the slight teasing in his tone causing Star to giggle sheepishly as she looked around at the damage to the crowd and even her own now chocolate-covered dress.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Guess my baking skills still aren't what I want them to be," she told him with a hesitant smile. This quickly turned back into a grin, though as she added, "But hey, look on the bright side, now you smell great!" She leaned closer, gently sniffing his hoodie before giving him a satisfying grin. "Mmm, chocolate, the perfect fragrance!" Marco just rolled his eyes, shaking his head at his wonderful girlfriend's antics, a twinkle in his eye as he was just happy to have her near.

The girl did oblige his request, taking the cigar out of his mouth and expertly putting it out, before slipping it into the pocket of his hood to wait to be used later, her mind already scheming how to re-lit the cigar later, since she had to be sure to keep Marco impressed. She was still hoping to make this the best birthday imaginable... which meant it was crucial everything was as cool and over-the-top as possible.

After that, towels were quickly passed around to everyone so they could all clean up before the cake was sliced and handed out to the group of friends and family, who all settled down on the grass to enjoy their meal, even if they had been covered in it a moment before. For most, it was far from the strangest birthday party they had ever been to since both Star and Marco combined always made for some sort of odd, unexpected experience. Besides being covered in cake was far from the worst thing that could have gone wrong where lit candles were involved.

Marco sat on the grass next to Star, their hands remaining constantly intertwined, the two talking and chatting like usual as they enjoyed bites of the delicious birthday treat (who knew cereal and chocolate went so well together) the blond overzealous as she went on and on about how much Marco was going to love his present since it was quote: "Super incredibly awesome" and Marco just laughed and told her he was sure he would since it was coming from, quote again: "The coolest girl in the universe". As they spoke his gaze slowly moved to his baby sister, Mariposa busy smearing her hands with cake frosting before slapping them together and creating a giant mess, mimicking her friend Meteora's example as the young half-Monster was doing the same thing... only somehow messier. The boy smiled as he watched his mom beginning to fuss over cleaning up her daughter with a wet towel, before turning his attention back on Star, taking a second to admire her unbelievably cute face as she stuffed way too much cake in her mouth at once, before asking, "Hey Star, so what exactly is that thing you have hidden under the sheet?"

"Wha-" the girl mumbled around her bite of food, her chipmunk cheeks causing Marco to once again chuckle at his girlfriend. Could she seriously get any more adorable?

"Y'know that massive thing you have just sitting over there," he explained, pointing it out to her.

Star followed his gesture, swallowing down her dessert before telling him, "Oh that thing? That's your extra super secret surprise. It's for the grand finale!" She gave him a wink that made his heart leap into his throat for a second.

Now Marco seemed even more curious, leaning closer to the girl, laying his elbow against his knee before resting his head on his hand, staring at her with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh really? Soo then you maybe want to give me a tiny hint or anything?" the boy asked, flashing her a hopeful smile.

But his girlfriend just shook her head, shooting him a playful look as she replied, "Nope. You're just gonna have to wait and see, Diaz." She gently booped his nose, which only seemed to encourage Marco as he moved in to plant a kiss on her soft lips and the blond closed her eyes to do the same.

But the boy halted, upon feeling a small hand reach into his hoodie pocket and his eyes flew open in panic as he jerked his head around to see his baby sister now holding the giant cigar in her tiny fists, shaking it around with an infectious giggle. "Ahh, no Mariposa that is not for playing with?!" he screamed, diving for the girl, intent on taking the dangerous item away from her but she was quick to crawl away, leaving the boy crashing to the ground with a loud oof. He could only watch in horror as the one-year-old reached her friend, settling down next to her as she and Meteora took turns hitting it against the ground, laughing all the while.

Marco now looked on the brink of hysteria, his face turning pale as he imagined every possible worst-case scenario in his head, only to feel Star's hands on his shoulders. He turned around to see Star smiling down at him, the simple expression enough to draw him back to reality and calm him down some. "Relax, Marco, it's totally harmless," she told him, reassuringly. She paused, for a moment rubbing thoughtfully at her chin, before adding, "Wellll, so long as you don't touch it when it's lit. Or have it near anything that might explode. Orrrr put it in the wrong way, trust me swallowing that much magic dust can't be good for you."

The boy gulped, now looking even more worried as he just held up a finger and told her in a small voice, "Be right back." The boy raced over to his sister, coaxing her to give it back to him, before sighing in relief and walking back over to join his girlfriend. As he did, he overheard River saying to his dad approvingly, "Ahh, I remember my first magical cigar! I nearly set the entire castle on fire."

"Oh my, well that's nothing compared to the time Angela and I came home to find the house completely destroyed by Star and Marco after your daughter created a hurricane above the house," Rafael replied in his typical cheerful tone. "It took us all weekend to clean up the mess." There was a pause before the two dads shared a hearty laugh, while Marco resisted the urge to roll his eyes. How could they seriously joke about stuff like that?

When the boy finally got back to where Star was his mouth dropped open to see Janna now sitting in his spot, Tom's arm draped around her shoulder, giving him a sheepish expression as his girlfriend was finishing the last bite of Marco's cake. "JANNA!" the boy screamed furiously, his hands clenched and shaking at his sides as he glared at the beanie-wearing girl.

"What? You weren't finishing it," Janna said with an uncaring shrug of her shoulders.

"I was going to," Marco said with an exasperated sigh.

"Sorry, dude, I tried to stop her," Tom told him nervously. "But y'know how Janna can be sometimes?"

The hooded teen just pinched the bridge of his nose, before saying, "Yes Tom, I'm well aware of just what Janna is capable of."

"Don't worry Marco, you can have the last bite of mine, okay?" Star told him, offering him her plate of half-eaten cake. The boy smiled taking the plate before sitting down next to Star, picking up a bite with his fork before offering it to her instead. "Okay, but only if you let me share it with you," he told her sweetly.

Star blushed but eagerly took the bite of cake off his fork, Marco doing the same thing for himself. The two just enjoyed chewing their dessert while leaning their heads against one another as they cuddled lovingly for a few minutes.

Tom and Janna simultaneously gagged at the sight, the former saying, "Man, am I glad we aren't that kind of couple."

"Yeah, me too," his girlfriend agreed. "Sappy stuff just isn't my style."

"Really," Tom asked in a teasing tone, wagging a knowing eyebrow at her. "Cause you were pretty sappy back when you first asked me out or did you forget that you started crying when I said yes?" The boy had a proud smile on his lips at the memory that was until Janna reminded him with an emotionless deadpan, "Actually Tom, you were the one who started crying."

The boy's whole body seemed to deflate at the memory. "Oh," he said in a tiny voice.

"And then you started blushing like crazy when I kissed you," Janna continued, every word causing Tom's face to grow a brighter and brighter shade of purple. "And you cried at that movie we watched-"

"Yeah okay!" Tom whispered harshly, slapping a hand over his girlfriend's mouth to keep her from embarrassing him any further, looking around in a panic to make sure nobody overheard. Realizing it was safe, though he let out a sigh of relief and removed his hands, before shooting Janna a scolding glare. "Let's not talk about that where everyone can hear us, please?"

"Suit yourself," the girl said with a shrug, but the smirk on her lips was unmistakable proof that she had been enjoying messing with him... as usual.

…

A short while later, Marco found himself with a mountain of presents to open, making his way slowly but diligently through the stack, box after box ripped apart as he gushed and fawned over each and every one of the special gifts his friends had all gotten him. Star the whole time hovered around him, seemingly trying to make sure he was enjoying himself at all times. The moment things started to lag, usually when Marco was taking the time to thank someone for his gift, the blond would immediately fling the next present into this hand, wanting to as she put it, "Keep things as exciting as possible!" Marco had his suspicions though, that it had more to do with the fact that Star had insisted she go last and her impatience was getting the best of her, wanting to hurry things along so she could give him her gift.

Still, Marco wasn't too fazed by this, enjoying unwrapping every single gift he was given. Jackie and Chloe had given him a cool looking beret that the skater said would make him look 'cooler than ever', which Star had agreed while instantly gushing the moment he put it on. River had given the boy a giant leg of meat which Marco wasn't sure he wanted to know what creature he had hunted down to get that for him. Moon had given him a much more practical gift of a wallet, but to the boy's surprise, it was colored plum, which turned out to be because Star had explained to her mom the whole incident in Quest Buy. Eclipsa and Globgore got the boy a beautiful looking badge that was inscribed with the symbol of the Mewman's most elite knights, proof of the hard work he had put in. Pony, being Pony gave him an autographed picture of herself and had been sure to make sure the whole thing was being recorded for the next episode of 'The Pony Head Show'. Oscar had given him a card, Alfonso and Ferguson had given him a new die for their favorite game, and Sensai gave him his entire collection of the "How to Karate" VHS series since he had been insistent Marco go for his black belt now that he was back on Earthni, even though he probably knew more about combat than anything those tapes could provide him. His parents got him a new fanny pack with the words "Best Big Brother Ever" sewed onto it which had made Marco tear up and give both of his parents a hug over.

Finally, that just left two more gifts on the table, one from Tom and one from Star. The hooded teen carefully picked up the first one, not taking too much time to pause and study it (seeing Star's eager grin out of the corner of his eye) before he tore through the thin wrapping paper and found himself gawking at the gift hidden underneath the layers. The boy gasped, his eyes shimmering as he said in a voice shaking with excitement, "The Mackie Hand limited edition, complete collector's box set including the original Swedish versions and with additional never-before-seen deleted scenes!" The boy clutched the present close to his chest, before exclaiming, "I love it! It's just what I wanted!"

"I knew you'd say that," Tom said with a wink, looking quite proud of his purchase.

"Thank you so much, Tom!" the boy shouted gratefully, hugging his friend tightly.

"Hey, what about me?" Janna pointed out, crossing her arms in front of her chest in annoyance.

"Uhh, what do you mean?" Marco asked in confusion.

"Duh, this gift if from Tom and me," the creepy teen explained as if the answer should be obvious.

"Yeah, we decided it would be best if we went on a joint gift for you," Tom added, shooting his girlfriend a loving smile.

"Oh really, why's that?" the hooded teen inquired, looking between his two friends for an answer.

"Well for starters Tom knows you better than I do, so I figured he was guaranteed to get you something you'd like," Janna admitted honestly, lightly elbowing her boyfriend's arm and shooting him a wink.

"Aw, come on Janna don't say that," Marco began, not wanting his friend to be so harsh on herself. "I'm sure I would have loved whatever you would have-"

Tom loudly cleared his throat from next to him, interrupting the boy and he turned to see his friend violently shaking his head and mouthing the word 'no'. The teen then stared back over at Janna and seeing the creepy grin slowly spreading across her face, suddenly remembered who was dealing with, swallowing loudly. "Actually, y'know, I think I'm good with just the... Mackie Hand stuff. Thanks," he awkwardly squeaked out, his eyes shifting hesitantly between the couple.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Janna said with a quick shrug. "My gift probably would have given you a heart attack or something."

Tom leaned closer to Marco so he could whisper dramatically into his ear, "She's not lying, dude. I saw her present myself and trust me... you dodged a bullet there."

"Okay, time for my present!" Star screamed hyperly, literally appearing between the two and shoving the present into her boyfriend's hands. Marco, struggling to process what had just happened, stood their dumbfounded for a second while Star practically bounced on the balls of her feet, waiting impatiently for him to unwrap her gift. "Open it, open it, open it!" the blond began chanting, losing any and all semblances of restraint/sanity as she continued to move closer and closer to the boy, until she was squeezing his cheeks between her hands, her eyes shimmering like her namesake. Marco couldn't help but laugh at his girlfriend, this was probably the craziest he had seen her in a long while, he hadn't realized just how much more reserved she had become in the couple of years he had known her. Now though, it was like the old hyper Star had returned full force and he was glad to see his bestie could let loose sometimes and still be the wild, amazing girl he had first fallen for.

"Okay, okay Star, you can stop now, I'm opening it," Marco said, still laughing at his girlfriend's antics, while gently pushing her hands away so he could concentrate on his present. Star did as Marco asked, lowering her hands back to her sides, but her goofy grin persisted as she watched her boyfriend's every move with intense but shimmering eyes, not daring to blink in case she missed a second of her bestie's reaction. Marco looked down at the present in his hands and couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend's wrapping attempt, although it was no doubt sealed in layer upon layer of tape and paper, he could still clearly see from the size and shape that it was a sword. He began to steadily unwrap the gift, moving slowly and delicately despite Star's intense watch on him, not wanting to accidentally cut his hand open on the sharp blade, while thinking to himself how thoughtful it was for Star to get him a new sword. He had been sadly without one since giving up El Choppo for Nachos and he had badly been wanting a new one. And of course, his awesome bestie would know exactly what to get him, at this point she probably knew him better than he knew himself.

But somehow Star had still managed to surprise Marco with her gift. The hooded teen discovering this the moment he ripped off the last of the paper and stared open-mouthed at the sword held in his hands. The blade was made of a thin piece of metal perfectly shaped to more closely resemble the blade of a scissor, while the handle was made of a smooth, turquoise blue material that Marco would recognize anywhere, the now black crystal embedded in the center of a circular base along with the bat wings protruding out of either side, giving it away in an instant. It was Marco's wand, converted to act as both guard and grip for his new weapon and the boy had to blink a few times just to make sure he was seeing it right. "I-Is this..." Marco began softly but found he was at a loss for words due to the lump in his throat.

But he didn't need to finish for Star to understand, nodding her head vigorously as she squealed, "Yep! I've been saving it ever since the Cleaving, I wanted to make it into something special for you and this just made sense to me. Figured this way we could actually get some use out of that thing after all the trouble it caused." She frowned for a second before the smile returned as bright as ever. "And now whenever you use this sword, you'll remember when we first got together."

Marco laughed, pulling his girlfriend into a tight hug as he told her sweetly, "I don't think I could ever forget that, but I love the sword, Star. Thanks! You're the best bestie a guy could ever have!"

"Aww, Marco," Star cooed, squeezing the boy tightly back. "You're the best, too!" For a moment the two just clung tightly onto each other, neither wanting to break their hold as they just silently enjoyed being this close to one another. Finally, though, Star broke the silence as she asked the boy in a whisper, "You know what would make this even better?"

"What?" Marco asked in a blissful sigh. He felt like he was in heaven being able to hug Star like this and he couldn't imagine anything making this moment any better. But suddenly, Star pulled out of the hug, flashing him a loving smile that caused several of the Latino's brain cells to fry. The blond leaned in close and he could feel his cheeks growing hot as he realized there was a kiss heading his way. He closed his eyes and puckered his lips as he waited for Star's lips to meet his. Only to rear back in surprise when something was instead shoved into his mouth and his eyes flew open to see Star grinning ear to ear and the magical cigar now trapped between his lips. "Give you back your super awesome cigar!" Star shouted, her enthusiasm and energy now reaching an all-time high.

Marco, however, could only stare down in shock at the object, wondering how his girlfriend had managed to catch him off-guard with this, especially since he hadn't even felt Star pull it out of his pocket in the first place. But the blond took advantage of his momentary distraction as she suddenly pulled out a brightly lit sparkler from seemingly nowhere, while shouting, "Now hold still while I light this baby up!"

This managed to snap Marco back to reality as he shouted out (or more like mumbled out since the cigar was really hard to talk around), "Wait, what?!" But he didn't dare move as his girlfriend dramatically flung the sparkler outward, holding it up to the end of the cigar. After a couple of seconds, the cigar came to life as the same array of sparkles, dust and popcorn began shooting out of it and Star smiled proudly at her accomplishment, putting her hands to her hips as she admired her work. "Yes, now that's more like it!"

Marco gazed thoughtfully down at the cigar, before asking, "And you're sure it's not too... showy?"

"Of course not," Star loudly exclaimed, giving the boy a loving smile. "It's your birthday, Marco. You deserve to show off a little!"

Tom seemed to look over to them at that exact moment and he gave his best friend an approving nod, shouting encouragingly, "Looking good, Marco!"

"Yeah, pretty cool, dude!" Jackie added via yell, giving the boy a wink and thumbs up. And Marco couldn't help but blush at the praise.

"See, Marco? You look awesome," Star said, gesturing over to the two with a confident smile.

Marco didn't respond, his cheeks turning red with a blush but a smile now spread across his face (not that it could be seen past the massive cigar). He really appreciated the effort Star was putting in for him, still finding his girlfriend's antics as enduring as ever. She really was going above and beyond to give him a perfect party and he couldn't imagine what he had done to deserve someone as special as Star in his life. Sure her methods were a bit extreme and over the top but that was just one of the many, many things he loved about her.

Still, he was a little disappointed he hadn't gotten a kiss from her after all, but there was still plenty of time for that. Something told him the party was far from over yet.

And this hunch was correct, as Star suddenly shouted to the other party-goers, "Alright, guys, who's ready for some fireworks!" to which everyone loudly cheered.

Marco smiled as he watched his girlfriend happily bounce over to where she had the fireworks stashed, scooping up a bunch from the pile and bringing them over to Marco. She plopped them down on the ground, before looking up at her boyfriend with an eager grin, saying, "Alright, Marco are you ready?"

The birthday boy froze, not quite sure what Star meant by that. "Ready for what?" he asked in confusion.

But he got his answer a second later as Star suddenly held up one of the fireworks, where a quick spark from the cigar lit up the end of the fuse and the blond released the rocket, sending it streaking up into the air. This was soon followed by a loud bang and an explosion of beautiful colors, causing everyone around to ooh and aww at the sight, some even clapping at the display. "Wait, are we using the cigar to light these?!" Marco shouted in surprise, pointing down at the pile of highly dangerous, explosive devices.

"Of course," Star replied as if the answer was obvious. "What else would we use?"

"Uhh, how about the demon boy who can literally light himself on fire?" Marco reminded the girl.

Star shook her head, saying, "Nah, Tom gets to do this kind of stuff all the time, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Marco! Come on, don't you want to live a little dangerously?!" The girl clenched her hand into a dramatic fist, flashing the boy an excited smile that melted the boy's heartstrings in an instant.

The hooded teen let out a sigh. It was hard to argue with Star, especially when she was so enthusiastic and eager about something, Marco wanting nothing more than to keep that look of joy on her face. Plus, he had been missing some danger lately, without real magic existing things had just been kinda mediocre, something he hadn't experienced a day of since the moment Star walked into his life and it was jarring and weird. Sure, it was never a dull moment with Star but things felt unnaturally slow and mild in comparison to the life he and Star had been living on Mewni. A part of him kinda missed the chaos and he would be lying if he said he didn't find the prospect of danger exciting.

"Okay, you win, let's do this!" Marco exclaimed and Star clapped in joy.

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Star cheered.

The two spent the next several minutes lighting the fireworks together, the sky soon filled with the steady bursting of bright colors and lights, the crowd all enjoying the show as they watched the brilliant display. Marco and Star took turns setting each firework off, Marco either maneuvering his cigar over them or Star holding a fuse up for him to light. The two were having a fantastic time setting rocket after rocket off, laughing and just having a great time together and for a moment it felt like the good old days when it was just the two of them fighting Monsters and goofing off as best friends, almost as if no time had passed at all, days, weeks and years melting away until it was just Star and Marco, besties against the world.

"Heeeyyy Marco, bet you can't light one off in mid-air!" Star challenged the boy, tossing a rocket up and down in the air in a show-offy way and the boy smiled and dropped into a ready stance.

"Bring it on, Butterfly!" he replied playfully. Star grinned before throwing the firework his way and Marco watched it closely as it descended. He took a step back, letting the rocket fall directly in front of him and kicked a leg out, catching it on the end of his foot and sending it flying upward. The boy wasted no time as he quickly grabbed onto the cigar still in his mouth, allowing him to aim it right at the firework, a sudden burst of magic hitting the fuse at just the right angle and setting it ablaze. Star watched in wide-eyed wonder and amazement as the now-lit firework zipped away into the sky, going off in a beautiful explosion of blues and purples.

"Top that," Marco said smugly, shooting his girlfriend a victorious grin and Star gave him a teasing glare back.

"Alright fine," Star retorted, suddenly pulling out duel rocket, both attached to a ridiculously long fuse, from behind her back and saying, "Hit me up, Diaz!"

The boy obeyed, stepping over and lighting the end of the fuse with his cigar. Star waited a few seconds as the fuse grew shorter and shorter until finally she held both out directly in front of her and screamed, "Duel Rocket Blast!" letting both go at the last second before they shot forward sailing over the heads of the memorized crowd before exploding into a barrage of pinks and reds, all of them in the shape of a heart.

Marco nodded approvingly. "Pretty cool, pretty cool," he commented and Star bowed over and over again in front of him.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all day," the girl said dramatically and her boyfriend giggled. "And now for my next trick..." Star began and Marco gave her a confused look as she carefully placed a stick of dynamite in between her lips.

"Uh, Star, what are you-" the boy began to question only to cut himself short as Star out of nowhere leaned closer, causing Marco to freeze and his cheeks to flush bright red from the close contact. He didn't dare move or even breath as his girlfriend leaned in more and more, until the tip of her firework touched the end of his cigar, effectively making the two objects "kiss". There was a second of silence, Marco just shockingly staring into Star's mischievous blue. Then the dynamite's fuse suddenly sparked to life, a small trail of fire quickly burning away at the explosive. Marco was about to shout something to Star, when the girl simply leaned her head back and spat the firework out, letting it sail over their heads before exploding with a small pop.

"There, now I'm done," Star said, proudly puffing out her chest.

"You know that was incredibly dangerous, don't you?" Marco asked in a near scolding tone, an eyebrow slowly rising.

Star just scoffed, waving her arm as if dismissing the accusation altogether. "Oh, please, I used to be magic, remember?

"Emphasis on the 'used to be'," Marco pointed out and Star gave him a tiny frown.

"The point is, I can handle a few minor explosives," Star continued, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She gave Marco a flirting smile as she added playfully, "Besides, this coming from the guy who was stabbed by a unicorn and just walked it off like it was nothing."

Marco flushed, coughing once into his hand as he muttered under his breath, "Well that was different."

"Sure it was," the blond said with a knowing wink.

The hooded teen began looking around for a way to change the subject, stopping a small pile of fireworks all marked, "Warning: Extremely loud". A mischievous grin spread across his face, rubbing his hands together in anticipation as he said, "Alright, now it's my turn." He quickly set them all up, sticking each one into the ground, before tying their fuses together, he then moved both him and Star far enough back so that he didn't have to risk himself or his girlfriend being blown up. He then set the fuse on fire, covering his ears and Star quickly following his example as they watched the fuse slowly maneuver over to the waiting rockets. Each of them were then sent streaking up into the sky, where they all went off in a fantastic cascade of explosions and the crowd let out a cheer of joy. Star's eyes shimmered as she just grinned up at the beautiful flash of colors, Marco watching her reaction closely and feeling his heart race over how adorable she looked right then. There really was no one quite like Star and the birthday boy felt perfectly content just being able to sit next to her.

Finally, though the last of the fireworks went off in a burst of spiraling blues, leaving the sky empty and eerily silent. A cheer rang out from the crowd of party-goers, all of them clapping for the entertaining display (well all except Pony Head, who had no hands). "Wow, that was awesome, Marco!" Star cried, giving the boy a quick hug around the waist.

"Thanks," Marco said while standing, before offering his girlfriend a hand up as well, which Star eagerly took. Once the two were both on their feet, they both found themselves just staring into the other's eyes, Marco not yet releasing his bestie's hand. The moment seemed to last a lifetime (as their moments together often did), Marco trying to memorize every detail of Star's face, until finally, the blond asked in a loving coo, "So now what are we gonna do?"

Marco shrugged, his eyes still not leaving Star's as he responded in a similar flirting tone, "I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Hmmm, well I think I have an idea," Star said, tapping a finger to her chin in pretend thought.

"And what's that?" Marco asked, leaning an inch closer to the girl.

"Welll, how about..." Star began softly, only to scream at the top of her lungs, "You light this rocket I have strapped to my back!!"

"What?!" Marco exclaimed, finally breaking off eye contact as he realized that Star was telling the truth, she really did have a massive firework half the size of her attached to her back. How had Marco not noticed her putting that on? Had he really been so preoccupied staring at Star he had somehow missed that gigantic thing?

"Come on, Marco! Light me up I'm ready to head for the stars!!" Star shouted, poising with a fist dramatically in the air as if she were flying.

"Ooohh no, not happening!" Marco said, shooting the idea down in a heartbeat. The two had already been pushing his safety instincts with their game, but not in a million years would Marco ever willingly set off a rocket attached to his girlfriend. There was just no way that was ever going to end well.

"Oh come on, Marco, I'll be fine, I'm a Mewman, remember? I can handle my explosions," the blond pressed, the look on her face telling the birthday boy that she was not taking no for an answer.

"Yeah, except you don't have magic now, remember?" Marco argued, putting his foot down on this idea.

Star deflated a little at that, pouting as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Okay, fine," she mumbled, her cheeks puffing up in such a cute way that Marco was sure he felt a few brain cells fry just from looking at it.

"Well in that case," a voice said, appearing behind Marco, causing the sixteen-year-old to scream. He looked over his shoulder only to see the smug face of Janna, who snatched the cigar out of his mouth before he could even blink. "Mind if I have a go?"

"Hey, Janna! What are you doing?!" Marco shouted angrily over at the girl who quickly stuck the cigar into her own mouth without a second thought.

"Aw, relax, Marco," the creepy teen said, giving him a reassuring grin that did nothing to reassure Marco in the slightest. "I'm just testing this out is all."

"Oh cool," Star said, her eyes filling with hope again. "Hey Janna Banana, think you can give me a light?" The blond turned to display the rocket a little better.

"Sure thing, Star," Janna said, taking one step forward, before Marco held up a hand, blocking her from taking another step.

"For the last time, nobody is setting off any rockets that are attached to my girlfriend!" the hooded teen said in a warning tone.

Janna held up her hands in surrender taking a few steps away from him. "Suit yourself, Diaz. It's your party, after all," she said, her voice hiding a cryptic layer to it as she inched closer and closer to the remaining pile of fireworks. "I'll just have to do something even more memorable," the girl added, her evil grin now obvious.

"Janna, what are you doing?" Marco asked suspiciously.

"Just this," she said with a casual shrug, before turning and letting out a big puff of the magic cigar, the resulting burst of magic landing right in the middle of the fireworks, several of the fuses already lit and depleting fast.

"Ahhhh, Janna no, get away from there," Marco screamed, running at the girl but it was too late as a huge explosion of bangs and flashes and colors were set off at once. The entire backyard soon bombarded by streaking rockets as party guests dove for cover, trying to avoid being caught up in the inevitable detonation of the air-born bombs. All except for Tom, who just sat calmly in his spot, sipping at his punch, Eclipsa and Globgore doing the same next to him. Mari and Meteora just laughed and clapped at the bright and noisy display, while Angela and Rafael did their best to shield the babies from any possible dangers.

One of the fireworks headed right for Star, who was busy gawking at the explosions open-mouthed, not noticing until it was too late as one went right into her mouth, making her swallow it in confusion. There was a short pause before Star's stomach imploded, her belly expanding and then returning to its normal size the girl standing there with a dazed look on her face.

"Star!" Marco screamed in concern, ignoring the danger as he raced over to check on his girlfriend. He grabbed her by the arms, gently shaking her as he asked in a panic, "Are you okay?! Do you have internal bleeding? Do I need to call the hospital?!"

"Marco, I'm fine," Star reassured him, gently peeling his hands off of her. "Like I said before, I'm a Mewman I can handle my explosions." Then, out of nowhere, the girl hiccuped, a puff of smoke exiting out of her mouth, before she covered it, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

Marco stared at his girlfriend in shock for a second, before turning and glaring over at Janna. "And see, this is why I didn't want you messing with fireworks," he told the beanie-wearing girl.

Janna just shrugged. "Aww, come on Marco, she's fine, Star's way tougher than you're giving her credit for."

Marco sighed, massaging his forehead with his fingertips. "That's not the point, Janna," he said tiredly.

"Then what is your point?" Janna asked, raising an eyebrow. "Cause as far as I can tell I just made your party unforgettable."

"Yeah, but not for the right reasons," Star pointed out, frowning at the girl now too, putting her hands on her hips. "You could have hurt someone."

"But I didn't," Janna corrected them.

The young couple just let out a simultaneous sigh, Marco face-palming, before turning over his shoulder and shouting, "Tom, please explain to your girlfriend why doing that was stupid and dangerous."

"Um, right," Tom said, standing and approaching Janna. He stopped a few inches in front of her, ignoring the smile on her lips as he cleared his throat and said scoldingly, "Jan, that was a really risky thing you did back there, even if it did look cool."

"Tom!" Marco shouted and the boy quickly corrected himself, "I mean, what were you thinking Janna?" he wagged a disapproving finger in her direction for emphasis, but Janna seemed unfazed by any of this.

"Well to be perfectly honest I just wanted to show off for my awesome boyfriend," Janna admitted, giving the boy a flirty look.

"Awww, babe," Tom said, his cheeks flushing a dark purple as he gave his girlfriend a goofy grin, causing Star and Marco to facepalm.

"Besides, that puny thing was nothing compared to what I can really do. You should have seen the explosion me and Eclipsa set off to try and blow up Mina," Janna explained, Tom staring at the girl with a shimmering gaze.

"I love you so much right now," he whispered, putting a hand gently and lovingly on her back.

Star and Marco both sighed in defeat, before a smile spread slowly between the two, unable to stay mad at Janna when she and Tom looked so cute together. Besides, Janna was Janna, there was nothing anyone could say or do that would change that girl. "Soooo what now?" Marco asked, turning to his girlfriend in anticipation.

Star grinned mischievously, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "Well, I think it's about time to reveal the grand finale."

"Wait, seriously?!" Marco squealed in excitement. "It's happening now!"

"Yep!" Star replied brightly. She put both hands on either side of the boy's face, moving till her face was inches from his own as she said, "So, Marco Diaz, are you ready for your big surprise!"

"Uh, heck yeah, I am!" the boy shouted, pumping his fists into the air.

"Okay then..." Star began suspensefully, before suddenly pulling out a massive, colorful foam mallet from nowhere. "Then heads up, Marco!" she screamed, before full-on smacking him with the object, the thing releasing a small squeaky sound as she did, Marco screaming as he was sent sailing harmlessly through the air. The hooded teen tried not to panic as the ground beneath him grew farther and farther away, until they vanished beneath a layer of clouds. He had just barely crested the top of one of the fluffy clouds when gravity took hold, his stomach lurching as he began his rapid descent.

Star, meanwhile, watched with pride at her skyward boyfriend, the hammer propped on her shoulder. She noticed the boy beginning his fall and quickly shouted over to where Ferguson and Alfonso stood, awaiting her orders, "Okay guys, uncover the surprise!"

The two teens grabbed the large sheet and pulled it off, revealing the giant blue cannon underneath. "Move it a little to the left!" Star shouted and the boys obeyed, pushing it into its new position.

"I don't know Star, I'd say a little to the right would be best," Tom commented and the two teens obeyed.

"Nah don't listen to him girl, it's fine where it is," Pony declared, Ferguson and Alfonso moving it back.

"Perhaps you should move it more toward the fence," Eclipsa helpfully suggested.

"No left!"

"It should be more right!"

"I'm telling you, girl, it was fine where it was in the first place."

Ferguson and Alfonso were beginning to grow weary and annoyed at all the constant directions from the bickering group, the two sending them all glares. All the while, Marco's girlish screams grew louder and ever closer.

"Would one of you make up your mind?!" Ferguson shouted.

Star looked up, quickly judging the distance before racing forward and hitting the cannon with the hammer as she yelled out, "Super Hammer Swing!" pushing it back a few inches, just before Marco landed inside. The boy took a few deep breaths (clearly out of breath), his eyes wide and his hair messier than usual.

"Surprise!!" Star screamed in excitement, her smile incapable of growing any wider, dropping the hammer and throwing a small bit of confetti into the air.

The birthday boy just blinked once in disbelief, before he asked nervously, "Uhh, Star, no offense but why am I inside a cannon? And what was with the whole hammer thing?"

"Well, first of all, I know that ever since we destroyed the magic you've been really missing going on adventures and doing quests in the Neverzone and stuff like that," Star began, the pride in her voice still as clear as day as she leaned back against the cannon, looking completely calm despite the precarious situation the love of her life was in. "So I figured why not let you re-experience the thrill of adventure again with this baby." She patted the cannon lovingly.

"And the hammer?"

"Uhh, dramatic effect," the girl replied as if the answer were obvious.

Marco sighed. Should have known. "Don't you think this is a little unsafe?" Marco asked, his safety instincts resurfacing once more.

"Ohhh no you're right, Marco," the blond agreed, her face flashing with doubt as she walked slowly over to him. "I mean what was I thinking?" she scoffed, smacking a hand against her head. Once she was in front of him, she pulled out a helmet, quickly shoving it onto his head, before saying in a sing-song voice, "There, now you're all ready to go!"

Marco looked up at the helmet once, before fixing his girlfriend with a curious stare. "Where did you get a cannon, anyways?" Marco asked, slowly raising an eyebrow.

"Mom made it," Star replied immediately.

"What?!" the hooded teen exclaimed in disbelief.

"Oh yes, she's been making the neighbors jealous with her skills, haven't you, Moonpie?" River asked, pulling his wife a bit closer.

The woman blushed, modestly replying, "Oh it's nothing more than a hobby, really."

"Aw come on, mom, this is like the coolest thing you've ever done," Star told her, before turning back to her boyfriend. "Sooo Marco, are you ready to blast off to who-knows-where?" The blond asked dramatically, her eyes glittering with joy and affection as she waited for her bestie to answer, the boy biting the inside of his lip at the adorable look on his girlfriend's face. To be honest, he wasn't all too sure about this idea (even though the thought of an adrenaline rush had his body tingling with anticipation) but he also knew that there was no way he could say no to that cute face staring back at him. So he swallowed whatever safety instincts were telling him this was a terrible idea as he simply replied, "Yes."

"Great!" Star exclaimed before skipping over to the long fuse, picking up the end and handing it over to Janna, who still had the magic cigar in her mouth. "Okay then Janna, would you do the honors?"

"Sure, why not?" the beanie-wearing teen replied with a small shrug.

"Great!" Star exclaimed. Janna took in a deep breath, filling her lungs up as much as she possibly could, leaning in closer and closer to the waiting fuse, before stopping just short of it. She gave a small little puff into the cigar, causing only a single spark of magic to spring out, which landed precisely on its target, instantly igniting it. The small flame began to eat away at the long cord, the cannon growing and expanding to almost cartoonish levels as it made ready to spit out its unwanted occupant. As the fuse continued to burn away, Star watched it with curious interest, keeping her hands pressed tightly against her ears, but the smile still never straying from her lips.

Suddenly, though, Star remembered something, shouting over to her boyfriend, "Oh, yeah and remember, Marco, the best way to avoid losing a limb is to-"

But before the girl could finish her warning there was a loud bang as the cannon fired, sending an unprepared Marco streaking through the air. The entire group gathered in the backyard all watched as the boy grew farther and farther away, hands cupped over their eyes to try and spot him better. Soon Marco was nothing but a speck in the distance, vanishing from sight with a twinkle.

"Aww and there he goes," Star muttered softly to herself, putting her hands on her hips, her body covered head to toe in soot but she didn't seem to notice.

"Um, Star," Jackie suddenly spoke up. "Don't you think Marco went up a little high?"

"Nope, he's fine. It's all going according to plan," Star replied in a heartbeat.

"Well, what about your rocket?" Jackie pointed out. "Is shooting yourself off into space also part of your plan?"

Star laughed, waving a hand in the hair as she said, "Silly Jackie, the rocket isn't even lit, so it can't possibly-" But the words died on Star's tongue as she turned and saw the rocket was indeed close to igniting, the small flame inches away from reaching the main part of the explosive. "Oh," was all the girl had time to say before flames began shooting out of the bottom of the firework and she was launched into the sky. "AHHHHH!!!" came a distant shout, before the shooting Star disappeared into the night sky with a twinkle and a flash.

Jackie watched in disbelief as her friend vanished from sight before turning to stare at Janna who had a proud smirk on her face, holding the cigar dramatically between two fingers. "Pretty sure that wasn't part of the plan," Jackie commented in a warning tone.

Janna shrugged, before quipping, "It was part of mine." The girl brought the cigar back up to her lips, adding confidently, "She can thank me later." She started to take a deep puff when the cigar suddenly exploded, a colorful burst of magic dust and burnt popcorn filling the air around the teen, Jackie taking a step back and shielding herself from the blast with a raise of her arms. Once the dust cleared, Janna was left standing, covered head to toe in soot, the tip of her beanie on fire as she just stared blankly forward, seemingly unaffected by the explosion that just went off in her face.

"Uhhh, are you okay?" Jackie asked, concerned for her friend's safety.

"Oh please, you think I haven't had things explode in my face before?" Janna asked with a scoff. "I mean, I'm dating Tom for crying out loud, I deal with stuff like this on a daily basis."

"Actually, I'd say it's more the other way around," Tom corrected her with slight annoyance.

Janna smiled mischievously, telling her boyfriend in a voice thick with flirtation, "You know you love it."

Marco, meanwhile, was floating somewhere in space, his eyes wide as he looked around in shock, his brain struggling to understand how he was breathing all the way up here. But then again, this was Earthni, it was better not to question anything, he should just be happy he hadn't suffocated. Still, as he stared down at the long drop waiting below, his keen eyes unable to even spot his house (or his entire town for that matter) from this height. He let out a long sigh, as he realized he was now faced with a serious conundrum. Sure being fired out of a cannon had been thrilling and fun (if not slightly terrifying) but once the initial adrenaline rush wore down he realized he was stuck here, hovering in the atmosphere with no way to get down. He reached slowly for his phone, intent on calling one of his friends to come and pick him up with Nachos when he heard a loud shout echoing through the stratosphere.

He recognized the voice in a heartbeat, knowing Star's sweet tone anywhere since it had permanently engraved itself into his mind, just like anything having to do with his amazing bestie. Marco smiled, listening as his girlfriend's initial cry of fear turned to one of exhilaration and delight. Looks like he wouldn't have to make that call after all. Of course Star would come and get him, his girlfriend would never leave him hanging like that and his heart pounded in his chest in anticipation for her appearance. But his heart came to a sudden stop as he did finally spot the girl and realized that she was being blasted into space via giant rocket... and she was headed right for him.

Marco screamed, flapping his arms in an awkward attempt to avoid getting hit, but it was futile as the two lovebirds collided, the rocket exploding into a giant array of colors.

Down below on Marco's backyard, Oscar noticed a flash in the sky, saying nonchalantly, "Whoa, cool. Nice explosion."

Everyone all turned to see what the boy was talking about, only to gasp in shock as they too spotted the explosion, which soon formed into a giant pink heart made of light and fire, followed by another of different shape and size and then another and then another. The crowd all gaped at the sight, before clapping and cheering at what was surely meant to be the grand finale for the event. Mariposa and Meteora both giggled and cooed at the pretty display, while their parents all hugged their respective partners close. Ferguson and Alfonso pulled out their phones, snapping pictures of the sight. River was busy stuffing down as much food at the snack table as possible while nobody was looking, while Moon just sighed in annoyance. Pony was giving over-exaggerated expressions with Seahorse's camera posed on her. Jackie and Tom both looked up with concern at the colorful display, the skater asking, "Do you think they're okay?"

"I'm sure their fine, those two have handled way worse," Tom pointed out and Jackie nodded in agreement, a smile finally spreading across her face. Next to them Janna was nodding in satisfaction, seeming pleased with the results from her efforts, "And see, this is exactly why you guys should trust me with stuff more often. I just did Star a huge favor!"

"How is almost blowing her and her boyfriend up a favor?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow.

Janna rolled her eyes before explaining, "She wanted this party to be as memorable and over-the-top as possible, right? Well, what's more memorable than that." The girl jabbed a finger in the direction of the quickly fading explosion. She crossed her arms smugly in front of her chest before adding, "Plus, those two even get some alone time together. So I'd call this a win-win."

Jackie and Tom shared a look as they realized that Janna was actually right. And neither were quite sure how to process this. Suddenly, Janna appeared between them, putting her arms around their shoulders as she led them over to the snack table, saying, "Now come on, guys. Let's grab some of Mr. Diaz's food before Star's dad eats it all."

…

Star and Marco said nothing for a moment, as they just floated gently next to each other, both forms now fully coated in soot and ash. Their eyes were wide as they stared blankly ahead, not even aware of their weightlessness, as they just hovered there. They were so out of it that neither saw a small laser puppy float by them, yapping happily or an open and empty chip bag sail past. Finally, the young couple's eyes met and they burst out into laughter a second later.

The two stayed like that for a few minutes, their chuckles growing louder and more rambunctious with every passing second until tears were falling from their eyes and Star was clutching her stomach, making her spin around in a lazy circle. Their giggles filled the void, causing their own voices to echo back at them, which only made them laugh harder, finding their partner's chuckles infectious.

Finally, the two were able to get a hold of themselves, their laughter slowly dying down into nothing more than breathless gasps as they struggled to breathe normally again. "Oh man, that was so exciting!" Star screamed, pumping her fists into the air.

Marco chuckled again, finding his girlfriend's enthusiasm as enduring as ever, "Yeah, I gotta admit that was pretty fun, even if it did get a little scary back there when you came at me with that rocket."

"Aw, come on, Marco. Did you really think I would attach something that dangerous to my back? You know me better than that at this point," Star told him and the hooded teen smiled, reaching out a hand to her.

"Yeah, guess I do," Marco replied, his cheeks tinged pink.

Star grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her in close until they were in a tight hug, their bodies wrapped warmly and snugly around each other, slowly rotating in the lack of gravity though neither of them noticed nor cared. Marco couldn't remember the last time he was this happy, it felt so right having Star in his arms and it made his whole body tingle with a warmth only his Star could provide him.

"So did you like your surprise, Marco?" Star asked and Marco chuckled, squeezing her just a little bit tighter.

"Yeah, I did," the boy whispered, his voice soft but filled with love. "Thanks for throwing me such an awesome party, Star. I'll never forget it."

"Sure thing, Marco," Star said, thrilled to hear that Marco had enjoyed himself. Her party was an all-around success. Sure there were problems here or there, but so long as Marco was happy then she had done her job perfectly. "Anything for you."

Marco went silent, letting the wonderful moment wash over him. He knew that soon he would have to call Jackie and tell her to bring Nachos to pick them up, but right now he just wanted to stay here with his girlfriend, his bestie, his Star just a little longer. He did, however, pull out of the hug, Star giving him a curious look as their eyes met. "But there is one other thing I'd like for my birthday."

"What?" Star asked, her eyebrows scrunching together in the cutest way that Marco had to fight the urge to swoon at the sight.

"This," he whispered softly, before closing their distance between them. His lips met Star's and it was like another firework had just gone off, the spark the two felt real and perfect and so, so right that it left both of them breathless. Star gasped lightly against his lips before closing her eyes and deepening the kiss, her lips moving in perfect sync against his. For a long time, the two just floated there like that, their forms hanging high over the world they had created together, Marco enjoying the greatest gift he could have ever received. Star's love.

[mamabearcatfanfics]

More Than Words - Five

Sorry for the delay - this is the chapter I wanted to complete for Inuyasha White Day. I’d always planned to finish writing here for the moment. But I’m willing to keep going if everyone wants more of this AU - it will just be a little slower. Might do a poll to see what fic I should work on next!

Read Part One | Read Part Two | Read Part Three | Read Part Four

Inuyasha rubbed his eyes in frustration, leaning his elbow on his desk and pushing the laptop closed. Time for a break. English had to be the most irritating language on earth – as soon as he learnt a spelling or grammatical rule, he’d come across something that seemed to state the exact opposite. At least Japanese sentence structure was logical.

He moved over to his sink to get a glass of water, and spied the muffin left over from this morning that he’d saved to be a study snack. Sango had let him have hers, not being the biggest fan of sticky red bean filling.

It still amazed him how stable his life seemed now, compared to how it had been not that long ago in Japan. He was living in one place, he owned a business for fucks sake, and had an employee – can’t get more stable than that. The orphanage and everything that had come after it was beginning to seem like a distant memory, only troubling him now and then in his dreams.

He took a big bite of the muffin, savouring both the sweet filling, and the sweeter memory of the woman who’d made it for him. He knew that they still had a lot to learn about each other, but he was eager and willing – very eager. Even though the words they spoke to each other were still limited, Kagome was the sort of girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, and every emotion she felt was reflected on her face. Already she had him wrapped around her little finger; he’d do anything to see her smile. He still wasn’t sure what to tell her about his past, and the reason why he’d left Japan, but he’d work that out later. Right now, he just wanted to get to know her better.

He grinned, remembering her excitement when she’d handed over the brown paper bag of treats  this morning. It was now his favourite part of the day, not only because she was an excellent cook, but because no one had ever gone to that kind of trouble for him before, and the emotions that played across her delicate features were as enjoyable as the baked treats she brought him. He could tell before he even looked in the bag this morning that she’d baked something special for him, wanting to make him happy, and he was surprised and delighted when he’d seen the familiar matcha green. He’d wrapped her up in a tight hug without even thinking about it, earning him one of those adorable giggles. He’d almost kissed her as he swung her around, but had caught himself just in time.

A sudden sharp pain in his ankle snapped him out of his reverie and he glanced down to see a small ball of orange fluff attached to his leg – Shippou had snuck up on him again. He put down his half finished muffin and picked Shippou up by the scruff of his neck, cupping his other hand under his little back legs so he was supported, and gave the tiny kitten a hard stare.

“Little shit…”

Shippou gave him a slow blink, and Inuyasha sighed, tucking the kitten into the crook of his arm while he went to check on the little food and water bowls on the floor. He’d eaten all his biscuits, so Inuyasha reached into the back of his small bar fridge to find the raw chicken wings he’d bought, snapping off a small section and putting it into Shippou’s bowl. The kitten nearly levitated out of his arms in his eagerness to get down, and Inuyasha plonked him on the floor in front of the chicken before Shippou’s needle sharp claws came into play – damn cat ate better than he did.

He washed his hands at the sink, snorting at how noisily Shippou was enjoying his chicken dinner. He wandered back over to his desk with the rest of his muffin, ready to get back to work, when he heard a repeated clanging noise down in the street below. He stuck his head out the window, ready to yell at whoever was disturbing his study time, when he saw someone huddled against the metal roller door covering the front of the shop.

“Hey!”, he called out, assuming it was just some Friday night drunk who’d decided his doorstep was a good place to sleep it off, when the head tilted backwards to reveal a face he knew very well. He grabbed his keys and shot down the steep stairs, unlocking the door and sliding up the metal security shutter to find Kagome curled up against the door frame, a running shoe in her hand that she’d obviously been using to bang on the metal to get his attention.

“Kagome?” He squatted down next to her, trying to work out what was going on, because there was obviously something very wrong. She was wearing her running gear, knees drawn up under her chin with her arms wrapped tight around her legs, and when he reached out to gently squeeze her knee  she flinched in fear. It was only when she lifted her head properly that he saw the bloody scratches and reddened mark around her neck.

“Fuck”, he muttered, moving his hand to tilt her head slightly, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

The brown eyes that looked into his seemed even larger than usual, magnified by the sudden tears that filled them.

“I’m sorry”, she whispered. “I was scared. I was so scared.” And then she burst into tears.

Inuyasha bundled her gently into his arms, and when she didn’t protest, but buried her face into his chest and wound her fingers into the soft fabric of his t-shirt, he lifted her up, ducking under the door and nudging it back down with his foot, unwilling to put down his precious cargo. He climbed the stairs to his apartment carefully, cradling her against his chest.

He was having difficulty sorting out his emotions at the moment – he wanted to comfort her, but at the same time he find out what had happened and go out and find whoever had done this and pummel them – one punch is all it would take; he’d never lost a fight. But comforting her was what he needed to concentrate on right now - she was upset and frightened – he could feel her whole body shaking against his, and she felt so small in his arms.

“Daijobu Kagome”, he repeated over and over, keeping his voice low and steady. Walking through his open front door, he carried her over to the bed, the only place to sit in his small apartment apart from his hard wooden desk chair. Seating her gently on the mattress, he squatted on the floor next to her, keeping one hand on her upper back, stroking gently. She was still crying, but her sobs were calming now, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Watching her cry uncontrollably was making him feel frantic, like he was failing her somehow – he didn’t know what to do, and he didn’t have enough words to ask.

He watched her take deep breaths, trying to calm herself as she looked down at him, managing a small smile through her tears. Silently he reached a long arm over to his desk and managed to grab a box of tissues, holding them out to her. She took one, blowing her nose noisily.

“Kagome?”

She shrugged, still sniffing a little. “I’m okay Inuyasha. I was frightened more than anything else. He had a knife, and there was no one else around.”

Inuyasha made an irritated noise borne of frustration, then suddenly moved over to his desk to grab his laptop. She watched as he opened a translation app and handed it to her. “Please. Kagome.”

Her hands still shaking a little, she typed out a brief description of what had happened, and he snarled as he read over her shoulder, taking the laptop back for a moment to type. When Kagome read it, she shook her head.

“I’m okay, I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

Inuyasha glared at her, then gently tilted her chin up to look at her neck again. Neck injuries could  be dangerous, especially if there was internal swelling. She’d said she didn’t lose consciousness, but still. He disappeared into the bathroom for a moment and came back with a cool wet cloth which he used to carefully wipe away the blood, his expression clearing a little when he realised the scratches and bruising weren’t too bad.

“Where?” he asked, tapping his own head. Kagome reached for his fingers and guided his hand to the back of her skull. He gingerly felt the sizable lump on the back of her head, grimacing as she hissed in pain, then went to his small fridge, retrieving a bag of frozen peas and an unused dish cloth from under the sink.

He sat down next to her on the bed and carefully held the wrapped peas over the bump, tilting her head backwards and forwards as he peered into her eyes, trying to make sure they were both evenly dilated. They seemed fine. “Ten minutes”, he said, checking the time on his laptop. Kagome winced, but smiled at him gratefully.

“How do you know what to do?” she asked. “What, are you secretly a doctor or something?” He chuckled.

“No.”

He didn’t have the words to explain how many times he’d received a blow to the head on the underground fight circuit, and had to hold a bag of ice to his own injuries. Just because he’d never lost a fight, didn’t mean he was never injured. And he still wasn’t sure what to tell her about his past. It definitely wasn’t a conversation for right now anyway.

Kagome relaxed against his shoulder as the coolness helped the throbbing in her head, then yelped in sudden surprise. “My foot! Something bit me!”

Inuyasha made an irritated grumbling noise, then dropped to the floor, his arm reaching around under the bed. He pulled out a hissing ball of orange and white fluff and shook him slightly.

“Shippou! Dame!”

Kagome was instantly all smiles.

“Oh my goodness, you have a kitten! And he’s so fluffy! Kawaiiii!” She reached out her hands in a grabbing motion, obviously wanting a cuddle.

Inuyasha snorted and rolled his eyes as he handed Shippou over. She’d said the word ‘cute’ in the exact same high pitched tone that a Japanese girl would have said it. He watched her as she stroked Shippou with a pleased smile on her face, her fear and injury forgotten for the moment. Shippou immediately began kneading her leg with his little paws, then turned a circle and cuddled into her lap, purring up a storm. Kagome turned her brilliant brown eyes up to his, and he couldn’t help it, he had to say it.

“Anata wa kawaī Kagome.” She blinked at him.

“Did… did you just call me cute?!” He nodded, grinning, reaching forward to push a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She smiled at him shyly. “How do you say ‘I like you’ in Japanese”, she said softly, looking up at him hopefully.

He kneeled in front of her and leaned forward, so he could almost whisper in her ear, feeling her shiver a little as he breathed against her neck, his voice deep, bordering on a purr. “Anatagasuki Kagome.”

She leaned her cheek against his, rubbing against his face. “Anatagasuki Inuyasha. Very much!”

He moved his head slightly to place a soft kiss against her cheek, then drew back a little to judge her expression – he very much wanted to kiss her properly, press his lips against hers and find out if her sweet mouth tasted as good as he thought it would, but she’d just been through something terrifying. He sighed, leaning back a little. Maybe he should back off for now. But she didn’t let him move away, closing the gap herself and placing her lips against his own. He hardly noticed Shippou leaping off Kagome’s lap in disgust.

One small soft kiss - a taste that wasn’t nearly enough. And then another. And then he lost count, abandoning himself to feeling the softness of her lips, the warmth of her breath, relishing the wet heat of her tongue against his. His hand moved into her hair, to adjust the angle of her head to pull her closer and she whined as he unthinkingly pressed his fingers against the bump on her head.

“Sorry, sorry, Kagome, gomen'nasai”, he murmured, his forehead against hers, drifting featherlight touches to soothe over where he’d accidentally hurt, reaching for the bag of peas again. He held it there gently as he stroked her cheek with his other hand, then leaned back a little so he could look at her face again, smiling.

“What?” she said. She was still panting a little from their kisses, her lips now stained a slightly darker pink from his attentions.

He rubbed his thumb against her lips. “Word?”

“Do you mean what is the word for this?” she said, tapping her fore finger against his mouth, then giggling a little as he kissed it gently. “You could say mouth, or lips.”

“Soft lips”, he murmured, stroking hers again, then grinning as she gently nipped the meat of his thumb with her little white teeth. He moved his hand upwards and stroked near her eye. “Word?”

“Eyes”, she whispered, unable to take her own off his.

“Pretty eyes.”

“That’s not fair, I don’t know enough Japanese to tell you anything”, she pouted, placing her palm against his cheek. “But I’m going to learn Inuyasha. I want to be able to tell you what an amazing, thoughtful, sexy man you are.” Inuyasha snorted. He’d definitely understood at least one word she’d said.

“Sexy, huh?” he grinned toothily, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh yes”, she purred, stroking her fingers down his cheek. “Very sexy.” And then she yawned, blinking at him blearily. “I’m sorry. It’s been a very long day.”

“Tired?” he asked. She nodded. It was obvious she’d reached her limit. He still wanted to know more about why she’d been out so late at night, but she seemed exhausted. It could wait until tomorrow. He wasn’t going to let her go anywhere else tonight. She would be safe here with him - he just had to convince her of that.

Inuyasha turned on the little lamp next to his bed, and moved over to the main light switch near the door, turning it off. He sat down on the bed, propping up against the pillows so he was sitting up a little, then patted his chest. “Here.”

Kagome gave him a pleased smile. “You want me to stay?”

He nodded. “Stay.” He crooked his finger and beckoned her forward, then patted his chest again. “Here, Kagome.”

He watched as she kicked off her remaining shoe, then crawled up the bed, snuggling into his side and resting her head on his chest. “Thank you so much Inuyasha. I didn’t want to go home by myself.” She closed her eyes, smiling as he gently pulled out the hairband that held her ponytail, then carded his fingers through the loosened curls. He reached out his arm to switch off the light.

“Goodnight Inuyasha”, she whispered. He curled his arm around her shoulders, dropping a kiss to the top of her head, and settled himself down against the pillows.

“Goodnight Kagome.”

[theflashdriver]

Rapunzel’s Tower (Silvaze)

The clatter and jangle of heavy bangles boomed above the sound of fast footsteps on cobblestone streets as a young knight rushed towards the tower. Blaze the cat, age seven, was not her usual self today; the young feline had taken on a guise, a façade to fit a role she was currently playing. While she was wearing her usual tattered robe and tights, a cape from a centuries abandoned costume store was flitting and fluttering behind her while the visor of and old plastic helmet obscured her vision of the cracked and burning streets around her. Those old trinkets, coupled with the rusted pipe that was her sword, might have given the illusion that she was a more pitiful and crude knight, but this was not the case.

Blaze was playing the role of a young knight who had set off to save a fair maiden from a distant castle in which she'd been sealed, battling her way over all manner of obstacles and destroying all kinds of beasts in search of her true love. Of course, despite the make-believe nature of this game, those obstacles and monsters were oh so very real. The flaming beasts that prowled this city had got in her way more than once, only to be seen off by either a thwack from her supposed sword or a burst of flame from her free hand. Every time she had to dispose of a monster or hurl herself across a lava filled gorge, she would question whether this game of theirs was the best idea but soon she'd fall back into her knightly persona.

This had all come about as a result of two ancient but very different sources. The first was the books they'd been reading or, well, more specifically; the books that the tower's maiden had rather fallen in love with. Since the destruction of their prior home, they'd taken up residence in a library on the edge of the city and rather fallen in love with the various books housed within it. They'd started by reading informative pieces, introducing themselves to the wonders of the past, before gradually stumbling upon the more fanciful tales of both regular and not so regular lives. Her partner, Silver, had rather fallen in love with tales of pirates and knights and kings and queens, often reading them to her and bordering on enacting them to her. His excitement had come to a head recently though, after they'd discovered a most peculiar shop. It seemed to have gone mostly untouched by time, no one had breached its windows or broken down its door, but both inside were countless treasures. Rings, bangles, tiaras, necklaces and other trinkets had just been left in glass display cases for no clear reason. Why someone would choose to buy those shiny objects rather than food or water, neither of them really knew but they did know that the objects belonged in treasure chests and adorning princesses.

Now, taking from long abandoned shops was nothing new for them (it was the only way to survive in their long-destroyed world) but, usually, they stole for either comfort or survival. All of these objects, despite how pretty they were, looked to be entirely pointless; they could gain no sustenance from them and they offered no comfort or protection. However, the naïve pleading of her partner, and a certain red gem that fit so well on her forehead, had convinced Blaze to fill a bag with those sparkling trinkets. On the way home he had proposed using them in a re-enactment; more specifically, that they re-enacted a scene from one of the shorter stories that he'd read to her. It'd taken some convincing, but she had agreed to play his little game under only one condition: that she got to be the knight while he played the part of the princess.

He'd immediately agreed, simply excited to play and not seeming to particularly care what role he took. While that had embarrassed her at first, she'd stood helpless as he scrambled to find some shining armour and when he had brought her a cape from his bedroom, Blaze had felt an excitement brewing in her stomach. A childish, foolish, excitement but excitement none the less. Her armour was adorned from most of their plundered goods, broaches and pins had been stuck through her robe to create small shining patches. Rings and bangles had covered her hands to take the form of makeshift gauntlets, but many had been shed as she ran. Admittedly, even with all they'd taken and dressed her in, she didn't look much like the knights they'd read about in history books or plays, but she did feel… different.

She dashed and leapt across another jagged chasm, using her sword as leverage to vault over an especially wide gap and land safely on the other side. Her eyes locked on a pair of prowling magma hounds, their maws snapped open as they caught sight of the small girl's form. She threw her left hand in one's direction, unleashing a blast of flame that threw it backwards. The second rushed towards her, arriving just in time for its face to meet with her rusted pipe. Without so much as looking back, she kept running; the castle now in sight.

The tower, in actuality, was a skyscraper that had broken and collapsed long before either of them were born. Though the majority of it now lay shattered over the shops and houses that were behind it, its stump still stood tall and proud over the majority of the surrounding buildings. Though Blaze could see it, she knew that the site was especially difficult to reach; that was why they'd chosen it as the stranded princess' keep, after all.

Focusing again on her role, becoming the knight, Blaze charged around the final corner and locked her eyes upon the tower's decrepit plaza. There was a lot on her way; several lava rivers had carved channels through this part of the city and earthquakes had displaced much of the land, segmenting the streets and pavement alike. She threw a glance to the top of the tower; she swore that she could see the flickering of cyan light but, from this distance and at this angle, she couldn't make out Silver.

She resumed her sprint, tracing along the angular central crack that ran along the street, but soon she had shifted to jumping and bouncing. Every third or fourth step was followed by more cracking, the ground had been made brittle by years of constant heat and pressure. She found herself more and more using her pipe to vault and ground herself, very almost losing it to the flames time and time again only to catch and swing it at the very last second. Fleet of foot and elegant, but perhaps not steadfast like the knight in the tale, Blaze soon found herself in the plaza beneath the broken structure.

It took her a moment to find a spot that would fully support her, it seemed as though her every step disturbed the ground somehow, but, eventually, she settled near the spire's base. In its working life, the building had provided homes to hundreds of people. Now it was but a jagged piece of the skyline, too rickety and impractical for anyone to really live in. Positioned closer and frowning upward, the kitten could see a psychic glow plainly emanating above her. After a bit more squinting, Blaze determined that Silver wasn't in view yet; he was hiding until she called out to him, just as the princess had in the story. The moment she spoke up, he'd make his appearance and recite his lines.

Blaze thought for a moment, trying to remember what the knight had said. She must have taken a while because, before she could hazard a guess, the very book that she was supposed to be enacting tumbled down from the skyscraper on a beam of cyan light. The young feline managed to snatch it from the air, finding it already open at the perfect page.

Upon reading no more than the first few words, the knight automatically recalled her lines. Holding the book behind her back, she pointed her sword to the heavens, "Rapunzel, my dearest Rapunzel, I've come for you!"

Now, finally, the princess showed herself. Silver, currently known as Rapunzel, had borrowed one of Blaze's hair ties and pulled back his usually over the top quills. In an attempt to further transform his appearance, the hedgehog had wrapped himself in a thick beige shawl and various silk scarves to give the outfit more colour. From down there it was difficult to see, but she knew that his fingers were covered in rings too.

"Who is it? Who has come to see me?" He called down, leaning precariously over what remained of a wall.

"It is I, your handsome knight!" She shouted back, unable to keep herself from thinking that the so-called knight in the story thought just a little too highly of himself. After all, his only name in this entire book was the handsome knight, "I've come to save you!"

"But how will you join me up here? My father broke the stairs when he locked me away in this tower, I'm trapped!" He exposited, "I've been alone up here for so many years, I'm oh so lonely!"

"But it is being alone for so many years that will bring me to you!" She replied, pointing her sword even harder, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

There was a beat of silence, a mutual realisation surely dawned upon both of them. In the story, the princess Rapunzel was supposed to let down her hair for the knight to climb up. While it was unclear how the happy pair had got down afterwards and left to live happily ever after, the story could not continue without the scaling of the princess' tower and the actual first meeting of the knight and their love. Silver's quills were long, but they weren't multiple stories long, there was no way-

"Dear knight! Do you trust me?" That wasn't in the book, "My hair may not yet be long enough, but I can bring us together another way!"

Blaze saw cyan light begin to pulse and flicker around her frame and creep into her vision, not imprisoning her or grasping her so much as it was making clear his intent. She bit her lip, both her fists tightened around the respectively grasped book and pipe. She was frightened, terrified of heights, but she knew the answer to what he'd asked. They were alone in this destroyed world, they worked and fought and lived and played together.

"Of course, I trust you, d-dear princess! More than I trust anyone else!" She called out, shutting her eyes tight, "J-Just promise that you'll get me up there safely!"

Aura began to tickle at her sides, "I promise, my knight! I'll get you up here as quickly as I can!"

"M-Maybe not quickly!" She felt his psychic touch hesitate, "But not too slowly either…" She grumbled, probably too quietly for him to hear, "Just safely! J-Just get me up there safely!"

The kitten felt a gentle touch, like some kind of hug, wrap around her shoulders before gradually spreading to encase her entire torso. Mere moments after she'd managed to get comfortable with that, her feet seemed to slip from the ground and a light wind began to whistle through her ears. Her toes curled and her teeth grit, she didn't dare to open her eyes even if she knew what was happening. She trusted him not to drop her, that much was true, but she didn't trust her fear not to stoke her powers and tear her from his grasp; sending her plummeting to the concrete below. Eventually though, she felt the air brush her muzzle directly rather than from above; she'd reached the correct elevation, she was being pulled towards him. The moment of truth arrived not with a sound, but something brushing past her shoulder and a hand taking hold of her book wielding wrist.

Her eyes opened, blue energy still tinted her vision, but Silver was the centre of all she saw. The small hedgehog was close, almost nose to nose with her, as he leaned out over the edge of the tower to manually pull her onto its top. She let her sword drop before she landed, it clattered onto the roof as she grabbed at his shoulder with her newly freed hand. Her fear of heights had gotten better since she'd met him, he'd offered to help her with it much too often, but there was still a way to go until she'd be comfortable jumping from building to building or even standing atop this one. They'd been up here before, she knew the floor was stable, but this rooftop was never meant to be a rooftop; it wasn't designed to endure rain, let alone the landing and spittle of lava monsters, and she swore it'd gained more holes since their last visit.

As if noticing her worry, as she made contact with the ground, Silver brought both his arms to tightly wrap around her. It was a comfort and contact that she immediately returned, dropping the book too as she took hold of him. It only took a minute or so for her to relax, feeling her heart slow to match his, but the moment that her features softened and she caught his eye, a smile broke onto his face.

"My knight, you have saved me from my isolation!" He continued the story, continuing to beam, "How can I repay you?"

"Just stay by my side forever, that will be more than enough," She recited from memory, attempting to regain the knight's cool air, "I've searched for you for so long, I don't want to lose you again."

"Then it will be done, I'll stay by your side forevermore!" He insisted, completing the scene by pulling her into an even tighter hug.

His fluffy quills brushed and ticked at her. Though she turned her head in an attempt to hide it, Blaze couldn't help but grin. It'd been very silly, they probably should've spent this time searching for food or reinforcing their home, but Blaze couldn't deny that she'd thoroughly enjoyed this pseudo performance. There was something almost regular about it all, almost as if it suited them better than doing what they had to. She supposed that made sense, they were kids after all and, according to the books at least, kids were supposed to imagine and play games. There was a whole section in the library meant for children and very little of its literature was particularly practical, even if those stories were far more fun to read.

She would never admit that, of course. She always insisted that silly games like this were the result of his sole machinations. But then, he displayed more than enough joy for the both of them.

"You did great Blaze, you really fit the part!" He was practically bouncing, beaming brighter and brighter with each passing second, "But… can I be the knight next time? That all looked really fun and I'll be able to fly up to you; you won't have to worry about getting scared if I do that, right?"

"We can take turns," She conceded but, as she through a small glance towards the ground, her grip on him redoubled in tightness, "But… I don't want to be up this high without you."

"Alright! We can find somewhere lower," He offered, grinning so widely that she thought his cheeks might break, "We could even just do it in the library if you prefer, there are plenty of fairy tales about princesses in dungeons too!"

--- --- ---

The memories of that time were a lifetime away and yet they were still so fresh in her mind. Blaze the cat, age eighteen, was stood on her bedroom balcony. The structure overlooked the royal gardens. Though the grounds were currently devoid of workers, the rose bushes, sunflowers and plants from far afield had been tended for generations and bloomed today with the same vigour they had a century prior. The sun had set almost an hour ago, the last trickles of pink and orange were slowly fading from the sky, and yet she was still wide awake. In a rather uncouth fashion, she'd brought her dinner to her bedroom with the promise to eat while she worked.

But she had done neither. Instead, she'd spent what little time she'd had pacing back and forth across the royal bedchamber; her mind had latched onto those old memories she'd so recently discovered. Memories of a life in which she played the part of a princess rather than lived as one.

They'd thought jewellery no more than interesting rocks stuck to shiny metals, their concept of value had been so jaded that the plate of cold paella on her desk would be worth all the rings and diamonds in the world. They'd been famished, they were delusional children clinging to each other against the odds. Any rational person wouldn't dare think back to those memories or, if they did, would consider them no better than tragic, the most difficult and dangerous time of their lives. So why did she feel like this, what were these bizarre thoughts that cluttered her mind and pushed out every other thought?

Why was she so nostalgic for that terrible place, what possible reason was there?

She'd left that world wishing it better, she'd given her life without so much as hesitating. She could remember looking down at him as her ethereal form drifted up and split the clouds as she passed from one life into the next. Blaze had essentially reincarnated, not only had she forgotten that life, but its pain and strain had been entirely removed from her mind and body. She'd been reborn, this new dimension had granted her an entire refresh of both mind and body, but yesterday had seen her regain half of that. Her mind was spinning, filled to burst with tumultuous memories that so heavily contradicted the life she'd just lived. The current mismatched form of her memory was already having impacts on her mind and body.

The sunset she'd just spent the past hour watching had occurred outside her bedroom window every night for the past eighteen years. Every night, she'd had the option to watch or even simply glance as the sun descended before slipping beneath the horizon. She never had though, or, at least, she hadn't since she was young. The glory and wonder of that sight had been entirely lost on her, she'd become desensitised to it. It'd been made mundane by its perpetuity, made a commodity by their daily occurrence, but now it wasn't so daily. Now she could remember fourteen years spent in a city where the clouds never parted, and it was as if this was the first sunset she'd ever actually seen.

Until her departure, the skies of that future had been overwhelmed by black sulphurous clouds that light refused to penetrate. She'd gone without seeing a sunrise or sunset for fourteen whole years, she'd seen nothing but the most dower of grey skies. This life hadn't been so different though, the sky had been there, but she'd never seen its value. It was all thanks to him; his returning of her memories had saved her from more than a dull castle view, he had unlocked the version of her that'd been hidden away in the shambling tower that was her newly unharmed body.

Unlike that once forgotten day, the first of many times they'd embodied those childish roles and played that silly game, she'd actually saved him. She'd given herself up for him and the world; she'd revealed the sky by leaving rather than arriving. It was painful to think how pointless it had all been though, that their loss of one another had only pealed back one of many layers of disaster that stood between them and the good future they desired. The peaceful world that he fought for was still sealed behind a two-hundred-year barrier of crisis that would surely take decades of work to unlock.

It was with that thought that a speck of cyan light fluttered up and found its way into Blaze's vision, soon being followed by a handful of larger glowing globules before, finally, a grey-white figure masked by that that same energy floated up to enter her vision. Despite his arrival and their reuniting just yesterday, she hadn't been able to see him all day. Her work as both guardian and princess had taken up far too much of her time and refused to halt regardless of her headspace. Silver the hedgehog, age eighteen, was floating just outside her grasp. His body was bound in bandages she'd set just yesterday,

He hung before her in the air, smiling as he reached out to her, just as he had in days long past when he had played the role of knight and she had been princess. Without so much as blinking, she took his hand and lead him to stand on the balcony beside her. The contact seemed to stun him just a little, it took a moment for him to round from his position to land beside her.

He'd quickly gone from grinning to looking sheepish, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, I know you said to get here before sundown but I got a little lost and distracted," Before he could even fully apologise, his eyes were flickering back to the outside world, "This place is just so pretty, even the garden down there, it's…"

"It's beautiful," She finished his sentence before continuing, "The sun sets every evening only to rise the next morning without fail and, in the time between the two, the stars come out to dance so wonderfully."

"It's a very different sight from the one I've been seeing," He admitted, plainly scanning the sky for the twinkling of the first star, "Well… not very different, but different enough to notice."

"Oh?" She hummed, briefly managing to tear her gaze from his softer smile.

"Yeah, I don't recognise any constellations, your moon's just a little different too. In the past of my world a lot of it got destroyed. This one looks perfect," She couldn't see it now, but she had last night so she understood him perfectly. Alike the sunset, the moon had stolen a place in her heart, it was undeniably beautiful.

Still, her eyes returned to his frame and the feeling of his hand in hers sapped all of her thoughts. For as overwhelmed as she felt, struggling to rise after that rush of old memories, he was struggling more, even if it wasn't showing so plainly. He'd arrived in a world that perhaps embodied his perfect future only to receive a clear reminder of how long he'd been working at his task, all that it'd already cost him and the future trials ahead of him. Even if he hadn't considered such things yet, those thoughts would surely materialise and bring him to worry; he could be so insecure when he was on his own, so she didn't plan to leave his side.

Blaze tugged his hand, turning him to look away from the sky and to her. He stumbled a little, almost colliding with her as he was made to align with her and the entryway to the royal bedchambers. The hedgehog was framed by the descending sun, even without looking, she could see the stars flickering into visibility behind him. He'd never quite looked real to her, always just a little otherworldly; a figure of bright colours that stood in stark contrast to the burning city that had surrounded them. Here though, flanked by the cosmos beyond this world, he looked more at home than he ever had before. It was almost as if he belonged in this tower rather than her, she couldn't imagine that she looked so stunning with that vista behind her.

Despite how he'd arrived, despite him hovering up to meet her, Blaze knew the role she wanted to play. Fortunately, it was the one she most often took She knew that she wanted to look after him before even considering letting him look after her.

"You know…" She couldn't help but primitively roll her eyes at what she was about to say, a small grin had surely snuck its way onto her lips, but she spoke in her usual dry tone, "I think I liked things better when you were the princess."

Tensions were still so high, these feelings and memories were just so raw, but she couldn't hold a straight face for long and, naturally, neither could he. Their frames reunited, her hands found his shoulders while he came to hug her and their heads heavily pressed against one another. Laughing, even if neither of them were quite sure why they were, they found themselves slowly shifting deeper into her room.

Once they were beyond the threshold, Blaze managed to shift her head from his and take the hedgehog in again. Silver was still laughing, eyes shut as he so casually leant against her. He was quite the mess, his quills still thoroughly overgrown and his fur made mismatched lengths by the injuries he had sustained across this second life, but the warmth behind his smile still shined through. Though his form was slightly different to the Silver she'd known, that smile told her that the naïve hedgehog she'd once known lived on in this new shell. As his eyes finally reopened, she recognised the flash of excitement in them.

"W-Well then, my knight," He was struggling to keep a straight face as he continued her joke, "I made a promise to you once, I don't intend to let it break again," He was playing his role from way back then, perfectly falling back into it, "Now that I've arrived in your tower, I would ask no more than the same from you."

"If that is truly all you wish, my dear princess, then of course, I agree to your terms," At this distance, though she'd been distracted, the scent of salt, smoke and sweat was deeply rooted in his person. Where her soft fur met with his coarser fluff, she could feel the bizarre friction; she'd given him some care yesterday, but it hadn't been enough. No matter how nice he looked with that skyline behind him, there was no denying the truth, "Come on, I'll draw you a bath. You're filthy."

"I jumped in the sea this morning though," He earnestly responded, looking down at himself, "I thought that would be good enough… it took ages to dry off."

"You're still so naïve," He still had so much to learn about living normally, let alone this world, "Just as it's a knight's job to protect the princess, it's my job to look after you. You're dirty, hurt, overgrown…" She noticed that his gaze had drifted past her, his nose was wrinkling. A glance over her shoulder revealed her cold dish of rice and fish, "And clearly famished. Let's get you more comfortable. I won't let you struggle alone for another moment."

All it took was another tug at his wrist to pull his stupefied frame after her. Though this wasn't the role she'd been reborn into, she knew it was the one she suited far better. That and, as the innocently perplexed look on his face proved, he did make for a rather adorable damsel, even if he didn't much need the guardian's more literal protecting.

[sethrine-writes]

Devil-sitter May Cry, Ch. 4

Pairing: Dante x F!Reader, Vergil x F!Reader (Undecided)

Words:  1844

Warning:  Cuteness, Defensive/protective Nero, Demon attack

Story Summary: Low on cash and desperate for a job, you reply to a flyer for a babysitting position. Little did you know that the opportunity to watch over two special boys would bring your life so much mayhem and adventure…and, perhaps, a chance at a family of your own.

A/N: First day continues, and with some unexpected excitement at the end!

------

Chapter 4 - First Day Surprises

The rest of the morning went by rather smoothly.

After cleaning up breakfast, you made your way upstairs and found the boys' shared bedroom where a fully dressed V was helping a flailing Nero fix his inside-out shirt. V was laughing the whole time and telling his cousin to be still as he attempted to pull the shirt over his head, of which somehow had gotten stuck in a way only an unsupervised child could manage.

As soon as Nero's head breached the opening, he sucked in an exaggerated breath as if he had been suffocating the whole time and fell over dramatically, forcing V into another fit of giggles that also had him on the floor.

The following games the boys played using their imaginations had very similar effects, with Nero playing eager dramatics that would lead V into either laughter or equally as dramatic monologues. There were pirates and space stations, a dragon on the moon, six-eyed skeletons belonging to a race of demons who went extinct "a bajillion years ago" trying to become cowboy outlaws, and so on.

The imagination of a child was endless, it seemed, and their playing made for quite the entertaining morning.

Lunch was an easy fix of pb&j sandwiches and a side of grapes. Much to your relief, V ate rather well, nearly finishing his half-sandwich and all but three grapes, of which Nero was happy to finish off for him.

When asked, yet again, if you were going to eat, too, you had to assure a very concerned looking V that you had something in your bag that you would eat later. Granted, it was just a protein bar, and after your quick and meager breakfast that morning, it definitely wouldn't be enough to fully curb your hunger. It felt impolite to partake in whatever they had in the fridge, however, so it would have to do.

Playtime resumed outside with chalk drawings for all of an hour before you began to notice V's sluggishness, despite his best efforts to keep up with Nero's near ceaseless energy. You suggested some quiet time in the main room -living room, or maybe it was considered an office?- and had no trouble getting V to climb up next to you on the worn leather sofa with a pillow.

Two minutes of stillness, and V was out like a light.

Keeping Nero entertained while his cousin napped was surprisingly easy, though you had a feeling this was a normal enough routine that he knew how to play quietly on his own so as not to disturb his cousin. Giving him a snack and asking him all sorts of imaginative questions while he nibbled on more grapes and cheese crackers occupied the next half hour.

When V joined you both in the kitchen with bleary eyes and the cutest little pout, you offered him a snack, as well, though all he was interested in was a small cup of juice.

Nero was more than eager to get back to their play, though with a little prompting from you, he was a bit more patient and waited for V to wake up fully. It didn't take too long for him to perk back up and ease into their make-believe world yet again, and you were subjected once more to their antics for a while longer.

At one point, the phone on the desk began to ring. You shushed the boys down just a bit as you answered with the business' name, just as Dante had instructed you to, and jotted down some details that seemed important from the possible client on the other end. When you finished, you turned back around to find a peculiar sight.

"A cat?"

The boys were both cooing at and petting a sleek black cat that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, its tail swaying in an inviting way as it sashayed back and forth between them. There had been no mention of a pet, no signs of treats or toys or a litter box of any sort - no signs of a cat in the shop at all, and yet, there it was.

Your mind immediately wandered to V and his allergies, suddenly concerned that he would have a flair-up. Vergil hadn't mentioned any allergies to animals, but it was still something you were wary of.

"Where did this little guy come from?" you questioned lightly as you came closer, though mindful in not scaring off the feline, lest it was hard to catch.

"She's a girl," Nero corrected quickly with a little glare and a miffed tone.

"Be nice, she didn't know," V scolded with a gentle tone, earning a puffy-cheeked pout from his cousin.

"Thank you for telling me," you told Nero, anyway, before turning your attention back to V as you crouched down. "I didn't know you guys had a cat. I haven't seen her around all day, and your dads didn't mention her at all."

"Shadow's special," V semi-whispered behind his cupped hand as if guarding his words like a secret.

"She likes to go off and play other places," Nero supplied, reaching for the cat's tail and giving a gentle tug that had Shadow swishing the sleek appendage about just a tad faster, not aggravated, just acknowledging.

"But she always comes back to us," V affirmed, immediately cooing at Shadow as she rubbed her head against his arm. "Papa says he found her one day on a mission, and they have a bond, now."

"Oh, that's very sweet," you crooned, smiling as you continued to watch the boys pet over the cat.

You paid especially close attention to V and his breathing, though even after a solid five minutes within constant contact of the feline, he seemed to be doing just fine. It gave you some relief, especially knowing that even Nero would have said something if V were to have had some sort of ill reaction. If you had learned one thing already, it was that Nero was highly protective of V in any and all aspects.

"Miss, I'm thirsty," V spoke up suddenly, those vibrant green eyes of his looking to you imploringly. "Can I have some water, please?"

You smiled and asked if Nero wanted something, too, before standing and making your way into the kitchen. The fridge didn't have one of those ice makers in it, though you remembered there being a filtered pitcher of water on the top shelf beside the milk, of which you made full use of.

Returning from the kitchen, your smile fell instantly as a look of absolute horror settled across your features and seeped into your very being. The cup of water slipped right through your fingers, clattering to the floor and garnering the attention of the creature that was hovering over Nero's prone form, its teeth bared.

"D-Don't move," you spoke out firmly to the boys, trying to will your voice from shaking as your mind caught up to the unexpected turn of events.

Were the boys hurt? How did that thing get in?

The large creature, almost resembling that of a black panther, must have taken your talking as invitation to continue whatever it was doing beforehand, a low rumble of a growl coming from its throat as it turned back to a struggling Nero.

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey, no!” you shouted, taking a few hurried steps closer in panic.

A hefty growl left the creature as it finally turned its full attention to you, the noise vibrating the air and causing your stomach to drop. It stepped away from Nero as it began to prowl its way toward you with purpose, fur shifting and lighting up with flashes of red runes within the pitch blackness as it advanced.

A demon, then? 

Your instincts were telling you to get out of there, that you were in immediate, and rather obvious, danger. You were also highly aware of the two little boys whose lives were infinitely more important, and despite the fear that had your knees damn near collapsing in on themselves as you slowly backed up, you had to at least try and lead the creature away with the hope that the boys’ fathers would be home soon to save them, should you perish.

"That's it, come pick on me, you big, sharp furball," you muttered beneath your breath, eyes darting to the boys for a quick second.

Nero was sitting up, thankfully, looking rather confused but otherwise unmarred, and V was-

"V, no, stay back!" you shouted while throwing your hand up, stopping the boy from advancing any closer, those bright green eyes of his big and concerned.

Everything happened so fast, after that.

There was growling, a short, clipped roar, a scream leaving your lips as the creature leapt towards you. You met the floor rather hard, though it was to be expected when a demonic feline was two seconds away from tearing out your jugular.

Your eyes closed tightly, hands and fingers tangled in impossibly dark fur out of instinct to protect yourself. The creature loomed closer, a large paw pressing into your shoulder, hot breaths washing over your cheek as it leaned in-

And gave a warm, rough pass of its tongue over your cheek.

The sound that left your lips was most decidedly a whimper, though your body was still in the fight-or-flight mode when another lick was given to your face, the pass much longer and even going into your hair.

The panic slowly ebbed into confused wonder as a low rumbling sound started up from the creature, not a growl, but more akin to a purr that was so deep it nearly vibrated your bones.

And then the demon made itself comfortable and laid upon you, forcing a rush of air from your lungs you hadn't realized you were holding. You struggled to gasp a breath in at the sheer heft of the creature doing its very best at crushing your lungs as well as all your other body parts, absentmindedly letting out a very confused, very distressed noise at yet another turn of events you hadn’t seen coming.

What in the actual hell was going on?

"-dow! Shadow, that was very rude!"

At the sound of V’s angry little voice, you opened your eyes, blinking several times as you hesitantly looked up.

Several pairs of eyes were looking down at you, and it took a moment for you to register that Nero and V both were being held by their respective fathers. They must have just gotten home, perhaps right as the creature attacked you.

"Looks like you met the cat," Dante spoke suddenly, grin wide on his face.

Vergil's eyes cut to his brother with a glare, much more heated than the one V was giving to the demon feline that had made you its bed. Nero was pouting again, looking more put-upon than he had earlier, and Dante was every bit amused at your predicament.

You met the cat...

Wait.

Wait!

The cat was the demon the whole time?!

------

Tag List:  @v-vic, @astridstark13

[spacebookettes]

Unstable Lady

Retirement homes are better now. Now the robots assist. Endless Gaga dancing queens, the robots keep the people young.

Unstable Lady had trouble getting about, the Walky Walky electronic leg braces kept her independent. Though hers had little bells on. Tinkling little sounds could be heard slowly moving around the Home. The tinkling little sound meant you had to be alert, if you didn’t want to succumb. In the office the assistants heard the familiar tinkling and all looked around. The tinkling stopped and someone had not come into view. The faces looked at each other and sighed a little. An assistant went to look. Nothing. No one in the corridor. The air ducting above them creaked. The assistant got the ladders, popped the vent door in the ducting and had a look. Nothing. Their head torch only saw emptiness. They heard a little tinkling below them. The assistant climbed down. Nothing.

At lunch the robots brought around the various delights. The assistants kept looking over to Unstable Lady. She ate alone, with her back to everyone. An occasional tinkling took attentions away from their food.

As the Unstable Lady walked away from the luncheon. She glanced at the little dents, burn marks and splatterings that littered the bright hallways and corridors. Each a little shrine to past ‘achievements’. They had taken Unstable Lady's possessions, her little toolbox and assortment of gizmos, bits of string, old tubing that sort of thing. Younger she had collected all kinds of useful objects. Only a few left hidden.

A piece of funneled plastic was one of them. She liked to use it to project little tinklings around corners. Unstable Lady kept fruit stalks she could still expertly curve through the air. Some of the people believed the home was infested. Only some of the people. No longer any salt pots or little sachets. Balls weren’t allowed anymore, POP. The robots had been replaced with more robust ones... these still had some ‘achievements.'

Unstable Lady was miserable. She snapped a giant glow stick and shoved it up her nose. A robot hand retrieved it and patted Unstable Lady on the head.

Unstable Lady had a few regrets in her cruelty.. even for her she felt she had gone too far on occasion. The pangs of regret stayed with her.

Unstable Lady had resisted all taming medication. They’d tried the lot as well. “is she psychotic”

Someone played Rammstein in their room. Wild tinkling.

The End

By Peter Stringer

Rasputin

 

Rasputin is still alive they say. He is and he lives in Cheshire, for the cheese.

He seems to have made himself immortal somehow accidentally.

“You’re intolerant to dairy"

‘MILK, I made myself invulnerable to all toxins’

“yes, but, I’m afraid your bowel can’t tolerate dairy anymore... you’ll  be fine if you switch to soya milk... organic soya milk, no horrible GMOs... massive amounts of gmo pollen, humanity had no business introducing into an already strained earthly eco system.”

The doctor started to leave, she looked back... “at least the native people’s investment in green technology saved the day, the fidget droids and such. No need for chemicals now.”

She looked back a second time... “of course they’ve got the nukes now.”

 

By Peter Stringer

 

Space girls

A mission to Pluto. A mission that goes missing some where around the orbit of Jupiter.

“Where are we” all the shuttles systems were black, no light anywhere. “Is everyone ok" the five space girls all checked in. The lights and flashing buttons of the shuttle all came back to life. The space girls all looked out of the command module windows. Total blackness. No stars.

A globule of liquid moved slowly across the windows. The Space Girls all got close to the window to watch. They were reflected in the liquid ball. The reflections winked back. The Space Girls all drew backwards shocked inhaling. They all watched the liquid disappear beyond the window. “check all the instruments for position and orientation” one of them checked and rechecked their control panel. Nothing. No readings. “try the thrusters". one of them flipped the relevant switches. No inertia. The thrusters worked, there was just no apparent movement. The command module stopped shaking as the Space Girl flipped back the switches. One of the Space Girls dropped to the floor, dead.

The four Space Girls had checked the whole shuttle craft. They tried every piece of scientific equipment on board to see if they could learn just anything. Nothing. They ate some of the nourishing space goo packets. It was tasteless. They had enough food and water for months.

The four Space Girls sat for hours losing track of all space and time. The command module was silent. Someone was keeping an eye on the windows for signs of anything. A space walk, all that was left.

The short straw suited up. They glanced and stared at the logo of the Space Girl Missions; it’s looping white rings and central flashing green star. The symbol she had been so proud to be representing. Next to it a sponsor advertisement for Red Space Dew. Had it always been the sponsor; an anti deja vu came over her. The trivial advertisment seemed alien to her, new. Had it always been there.

The hatch doors silently opened. The Space Girl looked out into the blackness. A gloved hand reached out beyond the hatch doors. Nothing. Nothing changed. She shifted her body closer to the void. A space boot stepped out onto the hull of the space shuttle. She wasn’t floating, there was gravity. It felt like Earth gravity. Space Girl slipped falling along around the hull of the shuttle. Falling around it’s gravity. The only gravity in existence was the ship. She kept falling. External equipment broke off of the hull and joined Space Girl falling around and around. She looked desperately for the hatch opening. It’s central to the science module next to the spectrum sensors; they had broken off and were clattering somewhere near her. “ok" she shuffled her suited body to a central pathway on the module. Wildly trying for anything that felt like a gap. Something hooked around space girls arm. An antenna or some broken attachment and she jolted to a stop. Half a leg inside the hatchway.

Back on the ship Short Straw told them there was nothing in existence out there. Only them and the shuttle. Someone inhaled quickly and pointed toward the hatch window. A globule of liquid slowly floated across. They dare not look too closely.

The clattering equipment falling around the outside of the space shuttle was constant. The four Space Girls all had noise cancelling headsets on.

The solar interweb was offline. No connection to Earth. No SpaceTube. No SpaceGram. No SpaceTweet. Everything on the solar cloud, so no music. No pics. No video. Through the weeks the Space Girls got to know each other over the microphones of the headsets. Each sentence spoken with an obnoxious background clattering. Short Straw, they decided was the luckiest, even with her outside encounter.

Weeks later. They had tried the thrusters in all directions, full thrust. Full thrust for days. Random thruster directions. Spinning thrusters. Sudden reverse thrusters. Nothing. All signals had been sent out into the void.

They were putting on a play. Each Space Girl had to create her own comedy show. Once a week. One of them was impersonating some future celebrity to roaring laughter, at the front of the command module. The laughter stopped, a massive sphere of liquid undulated across the windows. The back of the impersonator reflected. The reflection dropped to the floor. The impersonator didn’t; she dare not move looking behind her at the three other faces and no reflection of herself. The liquid disappeared beyond the window.

Two days later the void was full of liquid globules. Giant and small. All manner of winkings and death scenes was being reflected back at the four Space Girls. They moved to a part of the shuttle with no windows.

The Space Girls didn’t want to put on anymore stand-up. The things they’d seen reflected back from the void would finish most people. They had rationed the food so far over the weeks. The Space Girls had a feast. Full bellies the ship started to shake. Short Straw got to the piloting controls first. Beyond the windows the liquid was swirling and merging, streaming in all directions. The shuttle had thrust. Short Straw could control the direction. The liquid was flying apart in all directions. A bright light was in front of them, growing bigger. Noise came from the cabin speakers. They took off their headsets to listen. ‘Girl look at that body, girl look at that body, girl look at that body, I work out, girl look at that body, girl look at that body, girl look at that body...I'm sexy and i know it'

Jupiter came into view. The liquid disappeared into the star studded space-scape. They all danced and sang with smiles and laughter. ‘wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle, yeah.

The End

By Peter Stringer

The Other Woman

“we should work on other projects”

The man’s words echoed around Wednesday.

They had been partners, co-workers. A small business of stories. The man had been emotionally disturbed at the beginning of both of their relationships. A man who made no sense, whirling away from functional adulthood. Bonsai trees helped. The Other Woman helped more.

The man loved his Significant Other. But perhaps two more, secret, partnerships and he knew the Other Woman would wait; very patiently... Almost.

He loved the nakedness, with both: he felt free. He only felt free clothed... with his Significant Other. He felt massive colleague respect for the Other Woman. Their first partnership had been cyber trees. The meeting of two non-professional minds. She good at the branches, he good at the leaves. They both knew they wanted nakedness. The first time next to the mulch. He knew the Other Woman would fall. He knew he could keep her... and he knew that made him rotten.

He thought the Other Woman was a thinker, she wanted to save the world and believed her little piece of it might. He too believed in her. But he was one of the monsters, he knew, she feared. If life were a film he would have slowly fallen in love with the Other Woman.

The man wanted to be king and felt a spark of it when he met the Other Woman. They were massively successful. She did the coding, he did the wiring. The Other Woman saved him, he knew she knew it.

He was in charge of the money, she was in charge of the lasers. That was his mistake.

He wasn't so rotten that he’d fiddle the money in his favour. In fact he did fiddle the money, fiddled himself in her favour. It helped with the knowledge that he’d always love the Significant Other. The man and the Other Woman worked hard, long into the night... there was so much to do. She came up with the bigger concepts, he ordered the equipment.

The Other Woman, he knew, her patience was running out.

He was the thinker, she was becoming a monster.

He had fiddled the finances, she had fiddled the equipment.

The End

By Peter Stringer

[kevintor]

I Watch a Movie I Should Have Seen: Hocus Pocus

I miss doing these entries. Mostly I miss adding movies to my watched list. Obviously, I’ve never seen Hocus Pocus. That’s why we’re here.

What did I know about Hocus Pocus? I knew there were witches and I knew Bette Midler had fun teeth. And she certainly did!

My thoughts:

We open on Salem in the 1600s following the shadow of a flying witch. The music was straight out of the Danny Elfman playbook but I guess they couldn’t get him so they found an equivalent Ray Parker, Jr. to Elfman’s Huey Lewis. (If you don’t know)

Pink smoke comes out of the chimney of the witch house which means someone’s gender reveal party resulted in a girl! Unfortunately they had to sacrifice a different little girl to find out.

The old-timey boy we meet is wearing a shirt that can only be described as billowy. He should take off like a kite when he runs. Yet somehow when he violently tumbles down a forest hill, none of that very excessive fabric gets caught on anything. Is the fabric even there or are we imagining it?

The witches (Sanderson Sisters) use a book made of human skin and a functioning eyeball. I shall call this book “Columbo.”

It’s very nice of them to put a mill wheel next to the witch house for the boy to climb.

Okay, so Bette Midler has lightning fingers like Emperor Palpatine.

I honestly thought the witches were going to be misunderstood and everyone would win at the end but killing a little girl for her youth and turning the boy into an immortal cat really puts a big wrench in the redemption arc chances.

The townspeople stage a hanging. The witches curse the town that they will return much like Pennywise only scarier.

We fast forward to find out that the opening is a story that is told in a Salem high school class where the kids apparently range in age from 14-28.

A new-to-town California boy (Max) doesn’t buy into all the witch lore. No mention on why his first day of school is Halloween. Parents did not plan that move well.

Max is into Allison, the pretty girl in school that leads with her teeth in every conversation. Did Rami Malek pull some his Freddy Mercury from her?

Max rides his bike home from school at super speed. He is either an exceptional mountain biking improviser or he practiced it the day before to be really ready for school. Probably the latter.

On his shortcut through the cemetery, he runs into two kids, Jay and Ice. Jay seems to be all the bad parts of Bill and Ted combined and Ice seems to be 40.

Jay and Ice take Max’s sneakers because that’s what bullies in the early 90s did. It makes pedaling home slower which may be for the best. He rode his bike too quickly.

Max does not like being here in Salem anymore. We learn this as he angrily takes off his hat, backpack, and jacket.

Max comforts himself by awkwardly hugging and cooing to his pillow pretending it’s Allison. His little sister, Dani, catches the awkwardness, gets on the bed, and simulates being Allison which is normal.

The house appears to have an unlimited number of stairs to climb up to get away in frustration.

Max reluctantly takes his sister trick-or-treating. He has the appropriate level of older brother standoffishness.

Jay and Ice stop the sister asking for her candy. Max gives the candy to the bullies and she tells him he should have been a man and fought them. Again one of them is like 40.

Max makes up with her using a pouty face. Like! A! Man!

They find a rich house that they assume will make them bob for apples. This is a bad idea even in non-pandemic times. Never bob for apples at a stranger’s house. No matter how rich they are. That’s how rich people fatten you up to make you easier to hunt.

Max and Dani let themselves inside and start robbing the place of their Raisinets and O Henry bars. Rich people give out terrible candy.

Turns out the rich house belongs to Allison. They are having a party and everyone there is authentically dressed like royals. They did not get any of these costumes at Spirit Halloween.

Dani tells Allison that she can’t wear Allison’s royal dress because she doesn’t have yabbos and proceeds to tell her that Max loves her yabbos. This girl is outrageous. Or rude. It was a fine line in 1993.

Max asks Allison to take them to the Sanderson Sisters’ house. She tells him she’s going to quickly change out of a dress that must have taken her 45 minutes to get into.

The house is no different than it used to be. The spell book is still there. How have Jay and Ice not stolen anything from it?

Immortal Cat attacks Max when he wants to light the “virgin candle” that will bring back the Sanderson sisters. It’s a great sequence where he says the name of the movie (always important), then pulls a Zippo out of his pocket (which all kids who don’t smoke have), and lights the candle.

It starts things. Hair blows a lot. This is why they had Max be a surfer boy from California. For this hair effect.

This movie cares a lot about someone being a virgin. Even Dani knows what a virgin is. Are they covering this in her second grade class? Do the parents know? What does the PTA think?

The candle makes the Sisters return and they try to keep Dani. Bette Midler uses more of her Star Wars lightning fingers but Allison saves the day.

The cat can talk and the chances of me liking this movie just took a huge hit.

Max steals Columbo, the spell book.

The writers of the movie do the right thing by having the Sisters be scared of everything modern like roads and fire trucks. Nice touch.

The Sisters only have tonight, which adds the right amount of stakes, to get the spell book back. I don’t think I could make it if they had a week or so.

The Sisters raise the dead causing a very reluctant zombie (RZ) to chase after the kids. Most zombies love what they do so this is a fun choice.

Immortal Cat gets run over by a bus but lives because he’s immortal. We needed proof because the 300 years of being a cat was not enough.

Garry Marshall plays a guy dressed as the devil which they play for fun as the Sisters worship him but we can’t gloss over that fact that Fake Devil’s wife is played by his real-life sister, Penny Marshall. It’s not disturbing. They’re acting!

Children steal the Sisters’ brooms which probably won’t matter later.

They find a Halloween party that Max’s parents went to. When Max’s dad meets Allison, he kisses her hand. I am going to do the same to whoever my kid brings home one day. “It’s from Hocus Pocus. That movie’s fun. It’s not weird.”

Bette Midler gets to sing a song. That should satisfy the requirements from her contract. The song puts a spell on the partygoers forcing them to dance until they die. Somehow the kids are immune to it. Can they shut off their ears? Are they also magical?

The kids lure the Sisters into the school incinerator and burn them alive. It’s a strong play. The kids celebrate as if there is not 30 minutes left in the movie.

Immortal Cat, in a time of reflection, brings up his sister and Max says “You really miss her, huh?” He has been trapped as a cat after failing to save his sister’s life 300 years earlier. He misses her. Why not “Hey, do you ever wonder what might have happened if you saved her life?”

Without any explanation, the Sisters are fine. They run into Jay and Ice who insult them. The Sisters cage Jay and Ice and make them hang from the witch house ceiling. The bullies are crying. Maybe they aren’t so tough after all. <High Fives No One>

Allison decides to find a spell to uncat Immortal Cat. She opens Columbo causing it to glow. The glow lures Bette Midler and the Sisters to her. Allison fails to notice the glow but learns that salt can keep them safe.

The Sisters steal the book and Dani when Allison only uses the salt to protect herself. She really took care of number one here.

Now Sarah Jessica Parker gets to sing a real creepy song that summons all the children from the town. It really shows you the power of song. Again, Max and Allison must have turned off their hearing for this.

Max and Allison trick the Sisters into thinking sun is coming early by using a car headlight. It works but I don’t understand why. They had the sun 300 years ago. They know what it looks like. “Is that a person in a brown sweat suit and green hat or a tree?”

While the Sisters are scared of the car headlight, Max steals back his sneakers but doesn’t save the bullies. How does he know he won’t need the bullies to be on his side in the future? Has he not seen every other high school movie?

They drive away and Bette Midler brooms after them. We know how fast Max likes to go so it is impressive Bette Midler can keep up.

Reluctant Zombie shows up and Max pulls a knife on him. So Max has a knife and a zippo. He might be a problem.

They take the final showdown to a cemetery which is an odd choice. Why not a miniature golf course or a TCBY. Were they still around in 1993?

Max brings a bat to a magic fight. Allison still has her salt. “Bats and salt: Working together to inconvenience witches since 1881!”

Max sacrifices himself to save Dani. The sun comes up as Bette Midler is sucking the life out of Max. Just when you think it might be a better sun-impersonating headlight, Bette Midler turns into a statue and explodes. Definitely the sun.

Immortal Cat dies so he can be with his sister. Billowy shirt ghost appears to say thanks with a kiss on Dani’s cheek (so normal) before he runs off with his ghost sister for eternity.

They did it! They saved Salem! Quite a first day for Max..

The movie was fine. I hate talking animals unless they are cartoons so that didn’t help. And why did they care so much about virgins? A friend told me that “virgin” meant “pure of heart.” Well then they should have said “pure of heart.” And if I can suggest, between Max’s predilection for weapons and Allison’s selfishness with the salt, I don’t think they should stop being “pure of heart” with each other. They aren’t a good couple. Going through a traumatic thing like killing summoned witches from the Pilgrim days causes feelings that can’t last.

[missmarrypotter]

Please .. move that out of my sight 🍺

Don't ask me how i got that idea i don't even know ..sorry if i disturb some of you 😅

This takes places before Hannah, Jess and Alex came to the school.

Warning: Bryce and Monty are mentioned, cursing, peein?

Field Trips. Fun time.The whole Class together. In this case Liberty high’s students. More specific, the students who failed to play sick. Getting to know each other. Bounding. Discovering the team spirit while learning existential life lessons by spending time at a greek museum. That's what it is. Or at least that's what teachers wish it would be. Actually it's more Like some sweaty Old Lady explaining history to bored, tired and grumpy Teenagers. Not the Best Day to be a teacher.

Especially with a train breakdown on the way back Home. On a Bridge. Right above some wild river. In a rather antique train. What a lucky Day. Sounds Like a Bad movie huh?!

A whole Day full of cursing, screaming, disrespectful teens and now this. Poor Mrs. Carter. She was New at Liberty. And actually she looked Like a Student herself.

Coach Rick sure knew why he got the flu today. Smart guy.

At this point everyone seemed to be relatively relaxed. Some were talking, others played or watched stuff on their phones. Praise modern technology. 

Penelopee and Monty shared a seat next to a sweet Old Lady. She smelled Like some weird Baby cream but she was really nice.

“Are You two a couple?! “ The baby cream Lady asked After they showed her some pictures of their Trip to asia. She told them she’ve never been out of the USA so both of Them decided to Show her some nice places in Thailand,Vietnam and Hawaii.

“Uhm no Miss, we are just friends. More Like brother and sister actually”, Montgomery cleared the Situation, scratching the back of his head.

Phee nodded. 

“We are very close” she added, showing the woman a picture of her, Jeff and Monty.”We three are Best friends since a long time”, she smiled. “Our other Friend - Jeff managed to stay at Home today. Lucky Bast…  Bear.”

“Oh what a lovely Group”, she giggled. “You are such lovely young people. It's nice to meet that well behaved Teenagers These days. That's really rare.” she admitted.

“Aw, that's really friendly M’am, Thank You” Phee chuckled, squeezing Monty's Hand. Somehow people always assumed Jeff or Monty were her boyfriends. One time a girl thought Monty and Jeff were a couple. They played along the whole night. Funny night out for everyone. 

Ok yeah sometimes it really looked that way. The Hand Holding. The cuddling. The hugs. Forehead Kisses. Cheek Kisses. Sleepovers. All those sweet little affections seemed Strange or even misplaced for some people. But that's just how friendship worked in their Group. Not just those three, also Zach and the rest of her friends. Even the boys held hands and kissed each others cheeks sometimes. They loved each other.  As friends. Not more. For none of Them. Besides Justin and Penelopee hooking up sometimes but that's another Story. 

“Yo, guys join us!” Justin screamed from across the train. Somehow he and Zach found an empty seat for four because the people who sat there before went to get food in another Part of the train.

“Well Miss, it was really nice to meet You, i Hope You get Home Safe”, Monty said, smiling at her. Phee stood up from Monty’s lap and waved at the elderly Lady. “Bye M’am. It was a pleasure” 

The Lady wished them luck and waved as well. What a cutie.

As they joined their friends a woman's voice came out of the speakers.

“Dear passengers. Unfortunately our journey will take another 45 minutes to continue since we are waiting for the engineer to fix our technical Problem. We are very sorry for your trouble. “

Everyone sighed. What a drag.

The train hasn’t moved since 25 minutes by now. And it was really hot in this train. Sweating people everywhere. 

“Honestly. I think i'm sweating all the way through my pants. The seat sure is soaked by now” Bryce whined from the neighbors seat.

“Thank You, no one wanted to hear that”, Mrs. Carter mumbled, rolling her eyes slightly. She was right that nobody needed this Informationen but everybody could actually relate with him at this point. The young teacher looked really stressed. She was so done with her students by now. Every third one had asked her questions about what happened and how long it would take them to get Home. How would she know?! She obviously was no sidekick otherwise she probably would have gotten the flu as well.

Everyone was fed up really bad. 

“This can't get any worse guys..” Justin sighed, using some piece of paper as Fan.

“Oh it actually can... “ Penelopee interrupted him.

Sheri and her just came back from the Toilet. Both looked Kind of tensed, clenching their jaws. 

“It's broken” Sheri explained.

“Are You shitting me!?” 

“No Justin. Why would we joke about anything Like this!?” Phee asked with a Look that could have easily killed him.

She squeezed her tights together. 

“Fucks sake, i shouldn't have drank your Coke ” she mumbled, taking back her seat next to Monty.

“That’s it guys. We are cursed” Zach said.

“Don’t say that..” Sheri begged while squeezing in between justin and Zach. She believed in things Like that.

When they were in 5th grade Sheri, Jeff, Bryce and Phee played with a ouija board once. Sheri saw spookie things that night. Probably just the neighbors cat, 20 years Old and already looking dead. But since that night she had been a little superstitious. This had happened exactly 6 years ago. What a coincident.

Justin patted her shoulder, Holding back his laughter. 

“Dear passengers. Please know that we are very sorry but the technical Problem can't be repaired right now. We need to wait for another train to drag us Home. Please take into consideration that the doors to other train compartments are out of Order as well and please stay away from the Windows,  Thank You”.

“See!?” Sheri growled.

“Fuck ..” Mrs. Carter sighed.

“Did she just …say the F word!?” Zach asked in disbelief.

“Guess she's one of us now” Bryce laughed.

Sheri and Phee would normally have laughed about something like this but their bladders threatening to explode kept them from moving any muscle.

“ Did you check the other Toilettes!?” Justin suggested.

“ Oh no we did not. How could we forget the obvious solution, idiot .. of course we did!! ” Phee scoffed sarcastically and slightly annoyed.

"Sorry .."

"Yeah so am .. because i'm going to pee all over that fucking seat any minute " she whined trying to squeeze her tights even more together. Which was almost Impossible. And this heat. Nerve wracking.

Sheri bounced her feed nervously. She looked almost as if she would cry.

Sheri and Penelopee by now sat next to each other. Not saying a word. Both just staring out of the window, holding hands as tight as they could.

Out of the sudden the train jerked forward without any warning. Half of the passengers that were standing in the halls fell over. The wagon was full of cursing, angry people. Yay.

"Dear Passengers. We are glad to inform you that our rescue train arrived and that we are now able to continue our journey." You don't say.

".. i don't know if i just pissed myself or if my panties are just soaked with sweat .." Phee noted a little annoyed. She stood up to check her seat. Just sweat. The poor seat was clean. At least as clean as those train seats are.

"No one would have noticed anyway, look at all that sweat stains everywhere and that smell .. smells like Bryce's feet after training .." mumbled a now shirtless Zach.

"Talking about him.. where did he go?" asked Sheri.

"Huh, good question .. BRYCE?!" Justin shouted through the whole train , earning a seriously fed up look from Mrs. Carter. 

"I'm here don't panic man" Bryce laughed. He looked strangely satisfied. He placed a bottle with some yellowish liquit in front of the girls.

"Little early for a beer, isn't it?" Phee asked him in disbelief.

He laughed. He almost cried from laughing. 

"Alcoholism is not that funny, honey.." 

"Uhm yes, no it's not but actually .. i peed in it. The toilets still don't flush and are quite flooded so .. yeah, here you go" he explained.

The guys were rather impressed, debating why they had not thought of it. Sheri and Phee on the other hand just stared at him with. Kind of confused, kind of disgusted.

"Uhm … no!" They both said slowly.

"Please .. move that out of my sight" Phee added.

Bryce just pulled up his shoulders as he put his Bottle of Joy away. Meanwhile the other boys all fetched themselves some bottles and rushed to the toilets.

"God i'm so glad the train is moving by now .. i'm not doing that" Sheri sighed.

The train jerked again, but not forward. The train was standing still again.

"Oh no, no no no … i told you, we are cursed" Sheri panicked. Damn Ouija board. That thing is going to burn tonight.

"Dear Passengers, we are really sorry to inform you that the train tracks ahead of us are blocked. Please stay seated until the tracks are cleaned, thank you"

"Uhrg i wish we could just climb though thode windows, there are some bushes we could use as toilets.." sheri cried out.

They looked at each other, then they looked at Mrs. Carter.

"I'm not telling if you girls don't" she said. She was so done.

The girls did not wait another second, they both squeezed themselves out of that window in the speed of light, running behind some bushes.

God that had to be the best feeling ever.

As their bladders were empty they went back to the train. 

"Huh .. how are we going to get back in now?!" Sheri asked the question of all questions.

The boys looked around.

"Well the doors still don't work.." Zach informed.

"Wait, i'm coming out there to lift you guys up .." Justin said, making his way on the outside. Good that he was there. The other boys wouldn't have fit through that very small window. 

Unfortunately things went not as planned. He did not completely fit, so the boys shoved him through. He ended up falling right on the girls who thought pulling his arms was a good idea. Turned out not.

As they managed to get off the floor they heard a sharp squeaking. The trains breaks. It was moving forward.

The boys inside looked rather helpless. They couldn't do anything.

"Don't worry, we will figure something out .." Justin Yelled as loud as he could.

Shit.

"Ok, we are going to call Jeff to pick us up and then we are going to burn this fucking witchy piece of wood" Phee said as calm as she could, watching the train vanishing behind a Mountain. Sheri seemed pleased by that.

"Sure .. but where are we ..? " Justin pointed out a not completely irrelevant matter of fact.

"Uhg .. there are some Houses let's go ask .." Sheri suggested. Such a smart girl.

Turned out they were just half an hour away from Home. Good news. Who would have thought.

As Jeff was done laughing after the Situation was explained to him, he made his way to pick his friends up. Good thing it was Friday.

Back home they had a "Ouija Board Bonfire party". Monty even handcrafted a banner. Going to school next week almost seemed relaxing after a day like that. Maybe that's what field trips are for. Making school seem like the smaller evil. Yeah, that must be it. 

I don't know if trains in America are the same as in Germany, but here you can actually climb through the windows 😂😂

[dragon-kazansky]

A rose in London - Sherlock Holmes

I’m struggling to find some pics and gifs for certain scenes

Chapter 14 - Everyone together again

Sherlock sat in a chair with his violin, plucking it mindlessly. The room you were in was shabby, but it would do. No one knew where either of you were and at least you had a roof over your heads. You were staying in the room above a tavern, the one where Sherlock came for a boxing match. You were sitting across from Sherlock as he let his mind go over the facts of the case. The wall behind him was scribbled in notes. Names, dates, places.

You watched him quietly.

Suddenly he dropped the violin and pinched the bridge of his nose. You got up and hurried to his side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and placing the other firmly on his arm. You watched as he picked up his pipe and lit it. Sherlock welcomed your embrace as he sat back and let his mind focus once more.

You had no idea what was running through his mind, but you knew he would tell you once he figured things out.

His eyes shot open when he remembered something.

Sherlock shot up out of his chair and began to collect things in the room. You watched him rush around and grab items. You took to sitting in his chair as he did his thing, not once saying anything to you.

He drew on the floorboards, opened up the little black book he had taken from when you went to investigate Rotheram's death, took out some chunks of bone he had also taken from that little room. He lit candles within the diagram he had drawn and sat in the centre of it, taking is dagger.

"Sherlock?" You asked softly.

"Blow out the other candles." He told you.

Trusting him, despite how weird this was becoming, you did as he said and walked around the room, blowing out the other lights. All that could be seen was Sherlock sitting on the floor with his candle and dagger. The blade glinted amongst the light the flame provided. You took to crouching beside the diagram, not taking your eyes off of him.

Sherlock took a big swig from the bottle he had beside him. He was sweating profusely.

The detective cut his hand and let his blood drip over the melted wax on the floor. He then placed his hand face down on the book.

Whatever this ritual was for it was making you uncomfortable.

You had no idea was going through his mind. You dared not disturb him, but your concern was growing by the minute. It became too much when he passed out.

You gasped and hurried over, cradling him in your arms. You used all your strength to pull him onto the bed before seeing to the wound on his hand. You dared not look at the symbols on the floor as you soaked a cloth and dabbed his head with it. Sherlock could be too much sometimes and you worried for his health, even if answers did come to him doing such a thing.

When you were happy with Sherlock's condition, you relaxed on the bed beside him, running a hand through your messy hair. You looked at the man beside you and let his features settle in your mind.

By God you loved this man.

You never thought you could become so attached to someone in a matter of days, but it seemed to be true. Sherlock had made an impression on you and you couldn't rid yourself of this feeling.

Eventually you passed out, a knock on the door disturbing your slumber. Daylight filled the room now, meaning you managed to sleep a few hours last night.  You groaned in annoyance, but also confusion. No one knew you were here and you couldn't think of who would come looking.

Unless...

You were quiet as you approached the door and grabbed the dagger Sherlock used last night. You took a hold of the door knob and counted to three under your breath. You pulled the door open and almost screamed when you saw John and Irene standing there. You pulled them into the room and dropped the dagger.

"What are you doing here? You should be resting!" You scolded, whispering loudly. You took note of his arm in a sling. Joh nwas relying much more on his cane now than he did before.

"What are you going to do? Send me back?" He asked, amused.

"This is not funny. You could have died."

"As could have you." He warned.

John grabbed a chair and moved it to the centre of the room, sitting down and looking at Sherlock who remained passed out. You gave a sigh and turned around to make tea.

Irene moved over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. She looked concerned as she checked him over, but seemed happy when she didn't sense a fever.

"I'm glad to see you're alright, Miss Adler." You said, watching he fuss over Sherlock a little.

"As am I about you." She turned to smile over at you. Sherlock would be glad to know she was safe, but you don't know how he would feel about the fact she hadn't left London.

"You look like you've been busy." John said, looking at all chalk on the floor and notes on the wall.

"Sherlock's doing."

As if hearing his name, the man in question woke up, startled. You both turned to face him.

"Good morning." Irene said softly. "Now, we need to work." She got up off the bed.

"Familiar artwork." John pointed out to him. "You look gorgeous." John teased Sherlock as the latter sat up, feeling rather stiff.

Irene came and stood beside you, taking the cup you offered to her.

"Somehow I knew you wouldn't leave." Sherlock said, smiling at Irene.

Irene didn't answer to that. but knelt down and picked up a paper instead. She held it up so Sherlock could read the headline.

SHERLOCK HOLMES WANTED

"You made the front page." She said seriously.

"Only a name and no picture."

"So, it looks like you'll be needing to work outside the law now and that#s my expertise."

"I feel safer already."

John got up slowly from his chair.

"You seem to be making a rapid recovery." Sherlock turned to him.

"Yes. Took the shrapnel out myself." John went to sit with Sherlock on the bed. "Mary said I had a lousy doctor." The pair of them looked at each other and then Sherlock looked at you. You shrugged with a smile making John chuckle softly.

"Well I'm... so very glad... that you're, um... well... with us." Sherlock said, pausing between words as if that sentence hadn't come to him immediately.

You and Irene shared a look of amusement.

Sherlock got up and organised himself, you all took a seat and waited for him. You caught the other two up on the events that happened from the hospital and last night while you waited.

"Now you're sitting comfortably." Sherlock, wearing only his undershirt, trousers and braces, and his shoes, turned to the three of you. "I shall begin." He clapped his hands once. "My initial approach was far too narrow. When Blackwood invited me to Pentonville prison he suggested I widened my gaze and at minimum I have done just that. In fact I may have reconciled thousands of years of theory logical disparity, but that's for another time. Blackwood's method is based on a mystic logical system that's been employed by the Temple of the Four Orders for centuries. To fully understand the system to get inside it, I reenacted the ceremony we interrupted. With a few enhances of my own."

He was referring to when he first caught Blackwood with John.

"My journey took me somewhat further down the rabbit hole than I intended, and though I dirtied my fluffy white tail, I have emerged. Enlightened." He circled around the three of you. "The fraternity silently controlling empire share a leaf with the pharaohs, kings and emperors of old: that the sphinx was a door to another dimension. A gateway to unimaginable power. It's made up of four parts: the foot of a lion, the tail of an ox, the wings of an eagle and the head of a man." Sherlock pointed to each part with his cane on a diagram he had drawn. "In Sir Thomas' secret chamber I found the bone of an ox, tooth of a lion, feather of an eagle and the hair of a man."

You remembered him picking up items of the table before Clark came back with jasmine bath salt.

"Map." Sherlock pointed to the one by John's feet. John picked it up and opened it on the floor. "The points of the star represent the five murdered girls, but the cross is what we're now interested in." You, along with Irene and John, knelt down to look at the map, placing candles on it to keep it open. "It's a widely held belief that within the architecture of the great cities are coded references to the system." Sherlock knelt down opposite you all.

"Since he rose from the grave, Blackwood has killed three men. Each murder was located in a location that has a direct connection to the temple, therefore, the system. Reordon, ginger midget, represents man. Found his body here." He pointed to where the graveyard was located.

"Sir Thomas, master of the temple, wore the ox ring. He died here." He pointed to the headquarters where he lived.

"Standish, Ambassador to America, where the eagle has been the national emblem for over a hundred years. Headquarters of the Four Orders, where he died is here. He pointed to it on the map, further proving the design of the diagram on the map.

"The correspondent of the stardom will show us the location of Blackwood's final act on the map."

"So we have man, the ox, eagle.... Only the lion remaining." John pointed out.

"Right here." Sherlock pointed to it on the map.

"Parliament." You looked at him.

The sounds of shouting came from downstairs. You all got to your feet and followed Sherlock. He opened a hatch in the corner of the room, the footsteps outside getting louder.

"Ladies first."

Irene went first, you followed. John climbed in, Sherlock gave him a page before he climbed all the way down.

"Follow these instructions." He told John. "And look after Y/N for me." John tried to ask why he wasn't coming too, but Sherlock pushed his head down and closed the hatch.

Lestrade came in with his men.

Sherlock turned around and let himself be arrested.

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