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kaylinalexanderbooks · 7 months

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Find the word tag

Thanks @ceph-the-ghost-writer for the tag!

My words: borrow, beg, steal, manage

Your words: tool, personal, appear, sour

Tagging @gracehosborn @thepeculiarbird @gothamxwattpad @blind-the-winds @jezifster @little-peril-stories @stesierra @sleepywriter00 @loopyhoopywrites @captain-kraken @herrmannhalsteadproduction @theharpywrites @buffythevampirelover @little-mouse-gardens @hippiewrites or anyone else who wants to play!

Keep reading for:

Halloween party snippet but Carla and George just learned what Halloween was last week

A traumatic event from Jedi's childhood (CW: child and spousal abuse; done through fantasy violence: attacking via electromagnetic fields)

Jack and the Beanstalk parody

Robbie & Akash dynamic

Borrow - from The Secret Portal Part One

“You’re dressed as Dr. David Pinchên.” Carla looked down at her sweater vest and khakis. “Wait, isn’t that the telepathic theory guy?” Ash asked. Carla nodded. “Hey, can I borrow some of his books?” “Sure,” said Carla. “Thanks,” said Ash. George turned to his sister. “Well, that’s everyone. Let’s go down to the break room.” Ash, Rose, George, and Carla went through the kitchen toward the elevators. Carla and George got off at the breakroom, while Ash and Rose stayed to change in the dorms. “Whoa,” George said, gazing around. There were black and orange streamers and fake cobwebs everywhere and what appeared to be spiderpig webs on every other surface. The lights were dim and the sources of flickering light came from inside pumpkins with faces carved out of them. A couple tables were pushed against the wall with candy and punch. Spooky music played in the background, and George and Carla weren’t sure they liked how it made them feel, but it certainly fit the mood. Tyler walked up to them, his black hair slicked back and wearing fake pointy teeth. Red paint dripped down his chin. “Velcome to the party.” “Why are you talking like that?” Carla asked. “Because… Dracula’s Romanian?” “Romania?” “It’s a country on Ceteri.” Tyler looked back over his shoulder for a second. “Hey, Carla, you want to get some punch? It’s directly from Ceteri.” “Um, sure,” said Carla, glancing back at George, who gave her an encouraging smile. “I like your outfit, by the way,” said Tyler. “Sweater vest, khakis. You even have fake stubble. You look like my seventh grade science teacher.” Carla blinked. “Is that a good thing?” “If that’s the look you were going for,” said Tyler. “But I don’t think you’re my seventh grade science teacher.”

Beg - from The Secret Portal Part One (Jedi POV)

“You bitch,” Dadaidh snarled. “Using your telepathy against me?” “You used your powers against me; you gave me no choice.” I could tell Eomma was crying. “I’m sorry, Tayler.” Dadaidh’s eyes grew darker. “You will be.” His eyes were on me, and a hot pain was in my head like nothing I’d ever felt. I placed my hands against my temple, gritting my teeth together and trying not to scream. “Tayler, no!” Eomma screamed, but Dadaidh held her back, causing her to curl to the floor. The world around me spotted as I dropped to my knees, bending over. My teeth soon couldn’t push against each other any more, and my voice ran out of my body in a cry that I didn’t know it was capable of making. “Tayler, I beg of you, stop!” I fell to the ground, relieved from the pain as my cheek fell against the cold tile. I choked as I sobbed. Eomma had sat herself up, staring my dadaidh in the eyes. “Jedi,” Eomma said weakly. “Go to your room. Stay there. Your father and I need to talk.” I slowly pushed myself to a seated position before rising to my feet. As soon as I was standing, I ran up the lift, climbing up to the second floor as soon as I could reach it and scrambled to my room as if my life depended on it. I slammed my hand against the frame to close the door before sliding my back down it so I could sit against it on the floor. I didn’t know what Eomma wanted to talk to Dadaidh for. I wasn't sure that I wanted to. I glanced up at the metal frame on my wall, a holoimage of myself, Eomma, Dadaidh, and Kirstie. All of us were smiling. I couldn’t remember what day it was; I had only been about five at the time. But we were happy; and that was all that mattered. The metal frame began to shake. I pressed my ear against the door, expecting to hear my eomma scream, but I heard nothing. I knew something was wrong, but I stayed where I was. I didn’t want to go back out there again.

Steal - from School of the Legends Year One

Beau knelt down beside a crate with holes poked in the top. He peered through one of the slits in the crate. “Merde, there’s a chicken in here.” “A what?” Jack and Jill chorused. All three of them whipped their heads toward the giants. Neither appeared to hear anything--maybe their smell was the only sense that was enhanced. They turned back to the crate, joining Beau in peering through the crate. Sure enough, there was a chicken. “That’s weird,” Jack stated the obvious as he stood straight again. His eyes rested on a harp leaning against the clock. He carefully set it upright, studying the instrument close. There was something about it that was inherently mesmerizing. “I think we need to take these things.” “Steal?” Jill asked. “It’s not like these belong to them,” Jack said. “But they don’t belong to us, either.” “We have chickens on our farm,” said Jack. “We could bring this one! What are they going to do with it?” Jill looked at the bag of coins in her hand. “Hm.” “It’s not theirs,” Jack repeated. Jack could sense how badly Jill wanted to say it wasn't theirs, either. “If we take this, we’re donating most of it.” She paused. “A good chunk of it.” She shook her head. “No, most.” “If it’s real,” Beau said. They turned to him. “Come on, those coins are way too shiny to be real. And not nearly heavy enough.” Jill exhaled. “Well, that makes me feel loads better.” “I’ve always wanted to play the harp,” said Jack, admiring it. “Since when?” “You don’t know everything about me.”

Manage - from The Secret Portal Part One (Robbie POV)

“Well, Jason slammed me into a locker and Ms. Bradley let me off with a warning.” I slowed my pace to sync with Ariel. “Well, Ms. Bradley likes you, and she probably saw Jason pressing you against the locker.” “Actually, she didn’t. Jason was already off me.” “How’d you manage that?” “Um,” I allowed my hesitation to carry through my opening of the exterior door and holding it open for Akash. “Something?” “Something?” Akash repeated, revolving Ariel to face me with a skeptical look. I stayed leaning against the door. “I dunno. This is gonna sound really, really weird, but when Jason slammed me against the locker, I felt… alive.” Akash smirked. “Kinky.” “Dude!” “Joking!” Akash protested, holding his hands in a surrender pose. I stepped away from the door, allowing it to close. I tucked my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “There was a red light. Just kinda… glowing.” Akash raised an eyebrow. “Glowing…? From where?” I shrugged. “I dunno, man. But then the lights flickered. And Jason freaked out, loosened his grip, and I pushed him off.” “And then Ms. Bradley came out?” “And then Jason went flying across the hall.” Akash opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. “Dude, I’m telling the truth.” “And I believe you.” “Wait, what?” Akash scoffed. “Why would you make it up? That’s weird, I agree with you.”

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plethomacademia · 9 months

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wip wednesday why not both edition

I really thought everyone was going to pick Maevetash and then it was just split enough I am doing both.

First is Maevetash having a fight after the heist because Maeve kind of uses the slayer form without ever telling Enver about it (even though he knows it from rumor, etc, but he's never seen it and she drops it on him when Meph sends out his fake "oh no not my croooown" fight to make them think he isn't letting them get away with it (he is)). Warning this is first draft no edit.

jump with Z'rell under the jump you fucking monsters

Maeve dropped her focus, causing the portal on the floor to close. She took in deep breaths of non-metallic air, shivered at the comparably cold air of the material plane. Then she realized that Enver was shouting. “What in the hells was that stunt you pulled?” He was in her face now and she pulled back, blinking up at him. Then she realized he was talking about the Slayer. “I believe I saved our lives--” she started to say, but he was shouting over her. “I don’t even want to know how long you have been hiding that little trick, Maeve, but —” She shouted over him in turn. “I do not owe you any explanations of anything I — ” “— I will not tolerate you changing a plan on a whim to suit your —” “— am able to do or when I choose to do it, Enver, if you didn’t notice there were a dozen —” “— tastes and terrible decision making whenever you let your emotions compromise — ” She grabbed him by the shirt front and whirled him around, slammed him against the wall. He fell silent as the breath was knocked out of him and she kept him silent but putting her forearm against his chest, pressed on him to make sure he could only breathe enought o keep himself alive. “You will not question me. I give you information as I see fit and you will be happy when I do so,” she snarled at him. “You are losing control,” he finally said. She pressed even more. “I assure you, I am perfectly in control of myself, Enver. Now, do you have the crown or do you not?”

OK and the Z'rell is a what if my big half orc dyke Tav got caught while they were freeing the tieflings/dark gnomes in the basement and maybe Z'rell takes a special interest in her:

When she is sure that the woman’s dark eyes are focused on her and not just pointing forward, Z’rell smiles. “A true soul for a true soul,” she says. “But you aren't just any true soul, are you? You’re something different if you can fool me like you did before.” The woman does not reply. “You are a prize, to be sure. What is your name?” The woman starts to speak, then she coughs. The sound of it is wet, suggesting internal bleeding of some kind. Z’rell waits her out, waits for her to beg, and then the cough turns into a laugh. “You can’t even get my fucking name out of my head, can you?” the woman says in the voice Z’rell remembers from earlier, a deep rumbling sound that matches the woman better than a voice ought to. Blood runs down her chin and she begins to laugh anew. She sounds almost delirious, quite likely is after all her injuries, and after a moment she is back to coughing. Z’rell waits again, makes sure that it is quiet enough for the woman to hear what she has to say. “I haven’t even begun with you yet. Why don’t you spend the night in that chair and we will see how you feel about things tomorrow?” The woman smiles, white tusks against pink lips against coated-red teeth. “It’s a date then.” On her way out of the prisons, Z’rell pulls a guard aside and makes it clear that the woman is not to be out of anyone’s sight. As she climbs the stairs, she thinks to herself that is a shame that the Chosen will likely have the woman killed by morning. She looks like an awful lot of fun.

#wip #maeve #drogga #YEAH BOTH #I REALLY TRULY THOUGHT NO ONE WOULD PICK Z'RELL

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paige-penguin · 2 years

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I think my favourite type of headcannons are the ones which are entirely too specific, its an image in your brain that when shared others can picture it too.

Tommy

Wanted to learn how to fight with a sword like techno so forced techno to teach him but got so excited they had to force him down to a broom so he couldn't hurt anyone

Used to sit on a field in L'Manburg and make flower crown for everyone, the details of it correlated to how much he liked you

As a child he had an affinity for climbing; trees, walls, people. As the only avian in the house who couldn't fly he learnt any way to try and get on the same level as others

He and Tubbo gave each other braids when they where 15 as a way so solidify their friendship and commect them as brothers

Phil

Has a crow watching each one of his kids at all times to keep an eye on them

As angel of death he is fully aware of how long people have spent in limbo, when Wilbur died he kept track of every year and lit a candle to remember him on his death anniversary

Kristen lives in the void beneath bedrock and can't spend much time in the overworld so Phil spends alot of time in strongholds talking into the one way portal to let Kristen know how well her sons are doing

Similar to some cultures braids are really important to avains, Phil has braids from the day he married and one for each of his kids, from either the day they where born or the day they where adopted

After killing Wilbur he cut the second longest braid off and placed it in a box of items from Wills childhood. A pair of tiny socks, a yellow bandana and a folder of sheet music

Techno

Being a conduit for the blood god caused a lot of mental damage as a kid, often resulting in a mute Techno, so the whole sbi family learnt sign language for these moments

Apart from his family the only other person who has braided his hair was Ranboo, he got really attached to that kid and they used to absentmindedly play with Techno's hair during Syndicate meetings

Loves reading all kinds of book, surprisingly to most his favourite genre is romance, the beauty of true love and loving someone wholely spoke to his soul

All of his jewellery is gold, some parts of his piglin culture always stayed with him

Tubbo

Scars from the festival also included becoming partially deaf and blind on that side, but he handled it well due to his early leaning of sign language

Forced Wilbur to teach him how to play piano and it became a way the two bonded, just playing songs in Wilbur's bedroom

Once tried to bonk someone as a greeting with his horns like rams do and gave Tommy a concusion

The compass Ghostbur gave him had lengths of a red bandana he used to wear in the early days of L'Manburg, Ghostbur had found the red and green bandana in the ruins of a blown up city

#philza minecraft #dsmp au #headcanon #tommyinnit #tubbo #technoblade #dsmp

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hannahstarshade · 1 year

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The Abyss is Calling

Portal 2 drabble set between GLaDOS waking and Wheatley's jailbreak. Based on my own curiosity and pull towards the void. I always wondered if Chell would have felt it too as she stole glimpses of the facility that lay beyond the testing tracks. [AO3]

It wasn't difficult to get in between the panels. Using portals to redirect the light bridge, Chell was able to bring herself closer to the opening she'd spotted from the ground level of the testing track. She just managed to slip through, doing so quickly in case the panel was on a timer, set to move back into place. Chell had to shake the original thought from her head: that the panel may move on its own, because it felt like it. That would imply the facility was alive. Chell knew better. Nothing in this place that moved or spoke was by accident. Everything was controlled, calculated, dreamed up by mathematicians and engineers and scientists long dead by now.

Chell allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkened back room. There was metal grating all around. Heavy boxes were scattered here and there. She surveyed the bare walls in the cramped space. No remnants of empty cans or dirtied office mugs either. Clearly the wayward artist who had been scurrying around the facility before her had not found this place. She felt some comfort in that. A place seemingly untouched by anyone, human or not.

Chell aimed the portal device at the off-white wall, and fired. Almost instantly, a blue ring formed a pathway back into the test chamber she'd just escaped from, casting a cool familiar glow. She figured she might need it later to return. Or, if she allowed herself to hope, she could use it to find a way out of here. She strode along the uneven floors, along the metal grating that kept her here. She peered out into the abyss that was Aperture Laboratories, allowing her device to hang from her dominant hand at her side.

Light seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. She saw room after room, like abandoned storage units, stacked on top of each other. Some had collapsed in on themselves after being deserted for years. Steel beams and metal pipes protruded out from unnatural angles. Foliage hung from above and twisted upwards from the endless pit below. Even when it was unclear if the elevators were taking her up or down after each test chamber, Chell had the distinct feeling she was underground. Looking out from her newest hiding spot, she thought of how unusual it was that something could survive down here. But that wasn't completely true. She was still alive, after all.

She looked up, down, all around, and could not see an end to it all. Chell strained her eyes, but couldn’t make out any indication that the facility wasn't impossibly infinite. The thought of an endless supply of testing tracks and chambers made Chell reel. For the first time in a short while, she felt small and insignificant.

And yet, there was another feeling that was beginning to claw its way out of her stomach. It burrowed its way into her chest, unfamiliar but not unwelcome.

Chell was curious. How many test chambers were there really? How far underground was she? How far underground did Aperture Science really go? Would she be able to see it all in her lifetime? Could any human, for that matter, if given the time to explore this place in peace? Were GLaDOS and the little blue sphere the only sentient robots here? There were so many questions that if left unchecked would cause her to fall over the edge into insanity.

She felt drawn back to the metal grate, and forced herself to stare out into the abyss. It was calling her.

Chell could picture herself walking along those catwalks. She could see herself climbing over the wreckage of long-forgotten halls and rooms and digging through all those rooms. Maybe she could find clues left behind by the scientists, or even the previous test subjects. Something to explain where she was and why she was here and why this had all happened in the first place. She didn't want to be here, forced to test again and again without rest. She desperately wanted to see what else was out there.

The portal gun was immediately held in both hands once again, back in position. Chell scanned the vicinity, looking for any light-colored surfaces. She fired, but was met with an unsatisfactory phttz. She'd mistaken a refraction, a trick of the light, for a portalable surface. She looked around and fired again, only to be met with the same resulting fizzle. Again and again, she fired and hit nothing that could sustain a portal. Her shots became more and more erratic, until they were completely blind.

Overwhelmed, she stopped herself. Chell backed away from the metal grating. When her back hit the cool white panel, she slid down towards the floor. The sense of curiosity and the need to explore had morphed into an ugly feeling of hopelessness that sank to the pit of her stomach. Taking deep breaths, she allowed her head to lull back, intending to stretch her neck.

She gasped at what she way.

Above her was an opening, broken metal pipes panels bent out of shape. The walls reached up high above her, at least four stories high. Beyond the encroaching darkness and signs of brutal architecture was a canvas of stars. The sky glowed, freckled with white dots large and small, clumped in an array of clusters. The placement of these stars had not been calculated or designed by a machine. This kind of chaos could not be manufactured. There was an outside, and Chell could nearly touch it.

It took every ounce of self-control Chell had to tear her eyes away from the cosmos. She used the wall behind her to balance herself as she got back on her feet. With new resolve, she faced the glowing blue portal she'd made, staring back into the test chamber she had yet to finish.

She had been dragged back into the abyss. She would not allow it to swallow her whole. Chell would make it out alive.

-----

Feedback is always appreciated. Thank you for reading!

#portal #portal 2 #fanfic #portal fanfic #chell #hannah writes

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katielovably · 1 year

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I made a AU... I think.

Tommy glared at he's foe of almost three years on he's knees, cornered.

Threw the eye holes of the mask, Tommy could see Dream looked at the axe at neck then him, Tubbo standing behind Tommy. He's eyes then went to the group of people he's only companion brought threw the portal.

You don't have to do this, Tommy. We're friends. Dream said.

No we're not, Dream. We never were. You used friendship as a tool. I'm not falling for it ever again. Tommy said bitterly.

Tommy brought up the the Axe.

I have the revive book! I can bring anyone back from the death! Dream said to slip out of the situation but Tommy brought the axe down already. Dream man to lean back enough for the axe to splitting the mask.

"Dream" managed to hide his face with his arm.

Tommy froze staring at brown hair and the familiar facial features.

He wasn't kidding.

Wilbur?! You... for how long were you? Tommy didn't know what to say he stepped back to Tubbo's side as he lowered his arm. Showing the cut on the brim of he's noise from the axe impacted the mask.

He's eyes usal brown eyes had a green around them.

Sam laid a hand on the two boys before walking up and taking him away.

So if Wilbur was under the mask then.... Tubbo's voice faded as Tommy looked back at Sapnap who watched Wilbur get taken away his face showed how confused he felt. Watching a man's brain shatter. Sapnap slowly back against the wall hugging himself.

Tubbo watched. I'll talk to him. Tubbo said but Tommy took his arm and brought him back.

Sapnap? You ok? Punz said they looked at him.

As fine as finding out one of your friends who you thought were alive but actually died by getting stabbed by Philiza. I'm just peachy, Punz. Sapnap said hugging himself.

Want to go back? Puffy said.

Very much so... but nobody tells Karl or George. Ok. I want to do it when I can actually figure it out and answer questions. He said softly.

Awe. She and Niki said and hugged him slowly causing everyone to get in a group hug around him.

Hey... ssh! Tubbo said to Tommy and hugged him.

Well, it wasn't the same but Tommy sighed and hugged him back.

Come on you two. Punz said said leading everyone back.

Tommy and Tubbo hurried to catch up to the group threw the portal they had entered moments before.

Tommy could see Sapnap walking with Puffy, head hanging, her hand rubbing his back as they walked.

Do you think he's ok? Tubbo said.

Why is everyone concerned for him when I have the same feelings? I been fighting my brother. Wilbur was blowing up my stuff. Wilbur made my life hell meanwhile Dream was at my side. How didn't I notice! I mean Wilbur looks nothing like Dream! Tommy said holding himself.

Tubbo gave him a look I mean he was kind of hiding his face with he's scarf. He said.

But they don't sound anything like the other! Ooo! My head hurts. Tommy said.

I don't know... wasn't his eyes glowing. What's that about? Tubbo said.

Who cares, Tubbo. He's where he belongs now I guess. Tommy said as they entered the portal home.

Um, thank you again, everyone. You did amazing work back there. Tommy said trying to smile.

He was soon in a group hug as Sapnap snuck away to look for a ghost.

There has to be a reasonable reason for this.

If I were a ghost Dream where would I be?

Sapnap trtrying to think like Dream. Trying everything to figure out where to go.

He walked down the prime path pausing looking at the community house.

No, it can't be that easy. The first building we ever built. He said walking to it.

Dream? He said looking around going up stairs.

Dream? Sapnap said looking around before sighing looking at the large tank Bekerson once called home. He climbed the steps looking over side.

Where are you, Dream? I just want to know why you two even thought about this. When you did switched places with Wilbur? Why? He said softly looking down into the tank.

It just makes no sense but I know what we saw. He said. Hello? He heard and jumped looking up at the ghost of his best friend in his green hoodie with the stab where he was killed visible but he smiled holding out blue dye to him.

You look like you... you idiot. Sapnap said trying to hug him but being a ghost it was like trying to hold a project image but he didn't care.

Sapnap? Dream said.

Yes, I'm Sapnap buddy. Why?Just why to all of this. Sapnap said whipping tears away.

The server? Dream said tilting his head.

No, did you want to die? He said.

I'm sorry, Sapnap. I don't have much memory on what you're looking for. I remember all the fun we had. Have some blue.The ghost said as placed the blue dye in his hand holding his hand around it.

I know I wasn't going down a good path besides I'm happy now. I have friend my blue sheep to keep me company and i make people happy now, Sapnap. When I see them happy it makes me happy. I

Rather be this the villain of my own server, Sapnap. I know your hurt confused and you have every right to be but I'm ok. Dream said holding his friend's face.

Tears trickled down Sapnap face.

You could have just said you weren't happy. He said softly.

I know. But this was the only way I could be free from the

path I was heading. Sapnap, you knew I was becoming a bad person and got George away. He said stroking thetears away.

I know. I have no memories of anything I did. I am free from all the bad I apparently done to the server. He said.

So you knew Wilbur would die and switched with him. Sapnap said softly.

I don't know. Dream said.

Sapnap wanted to get mad. WHO DOES?! Who could give him the answers he was looking for.

Sapnap knew yelling at a ghost wouldn't help.

Is the blue not helping? Dream said softly almost concerned.

I just want answers. Because if I told George this he would be like I am now... probably hunt you down. You know how impatient george is. Because I want to yell at you. But I won't. Sapnap said. Drem looked down. I don't want my friends to be mad. I wish I had the answer for you both but I don't. Sorry. Dream said softly.

I know. Sapnap said as his friend held him close.

Tears trickled down theghosts face making a sizzling sound making him scared

I shouldn't be crying. Phil says I'll melt if I touch rain or cry. I don't want to melt, Sapnap! The ghost said trying to stop the tears with everything he could think.

Then don't cry, idiot. Sapnap said trying to help he's friend. Making the ghost laugh making him smile.

Why didn't you come find me or George? Sapnap said.

Why do you think I'm here? This is the only place I know you were. We made this place so why wouldn't you be here? Dream said still sniffing. We left. We made our own kingdom if you wanted to see it and call it home. Sapnap said trying (terribly) to comfort his best friend by stroke his back but his hand would go threw the ghost making him laugh.

Stop that tickles! Dream said laughing.

Laughing, Dream's laugh always was sorta a part of his character no one can laugh like Dream but it's always from the stupidest and funniest things George, Bad and him says. There was nothing like it exspesally after so long. It sounded so pure and genuine. It was like old times.

Wilbur is in jail. Sapnap said leaning against the wall.

What? Why? The ghost said.

He went to this bunker with Tubbo and Tommy. Punz rounded alot of us up to help them and Tommy broke the mask revealing ... my mind spiraled after that because all I thought was true isn't. I wmean I'm glad your not in prison but still it felt like a soccer punch to the gut to find out you have been dead this whole time yet your name is better off being a curse or... Sapnap said growled holding himself on the floor where he slid down the wall.

The ghost watched his friend before sitting beside.

It's ok to be mad, Sapnap. It's ok to want to go back to defend me but you didn't know. Nobody did. It may feel like you're getting laying in lava burning but the rain will come to put you out but until then you're feelings are valid, Pandas. He giving a smirk and a nudge to his friend making Sapnap smile.

Your saying makes no sense. I was born in fire, in the neither remember. He said.

Uck, I'm trying to comfort you. The ghost groaned making Sapnap laugh. He wanted time to freeze at this moment.

Oh- no, Phil and Techno is probably worried about me. I should return to them. Um, I'll think about joining you and George. I'll see if I can bring friend with me because he's all I got right now. , what else... take a few days to rest you look like you might need.

Anyway bye, I love you and George. The ghost said before disappearing.

Sapnap couldn't process what happened, it was to fast.

W...wait! Come back! Please come back! Sapnap pleaded feeling tears reappearing in his eyes.

I... I need you to tell me if I should tell George or not. He said.

He waited just in case he returned but the ghost didn't.

Sapnap return to Kinoko Kingdom.

Hey, Sap... you ok. It's late. Karl said looking up from where he was reading.

Sapnap looked up at his fiancé .... could he even tell his own partner what he witnessed?

Sapnap? Karl said closing the book to give his fiancé his full attention.

You can't tell George. Sapnap said after a long silence.

Karl crossed his heart.

Wilbur and Dream switched places before the dead of "Wilbur" and the appearance of "Ghostbur". I don't know and he doesn't know. He seems happy... but that feels wrong. He should be with George and I. Sapnap said whipping tears away.

Karl stood, sat on Sapnap's lap and held him and comfort him.

Sapnap cracked and cried into Kara's neck. Tears shaking the shoulder of Karl's hoodie.

I know it's ok. Karl said holding his partner close.

"Take a few days to rest you look like you might need."

Sapnap feel asleep, his head resting on Karl's shoulder.

Karl held him until he realized that he was asleep and carefully laid down Sapnap after managing to slid himself away.

After covering Sapnap in a blanket, Karl laid beside him and snuggled against his protector.

It was almost like a treat to see that side of his partner.

Sapnap was the guy that acted tough but he really was soft at times. Both of those reasons are why Karl has the black ring with "Sapnap" with engraved in it on the ring was a small stone that looks like it houses lava or fire with in it. The other was Quackity's ring, a gold ring with a blue diamond with a duck on it.

Karl managed to find Sapnap's hand and held it before forced his hand to hold him before going to sleep, his head under Sapnap's chin.

#dream smp #dream smp au #tommy innit #tubbo #wilbur soot #sapnap #ghost dream

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five-rivers · 3 years

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Home

The building that housed Fentonworks had never been normal, no matter what neighbors and real estate agents might profess.

Things had happened there. Deaths. Wild twists of fate and shocking coincidences. People who lived there heard noises, saw things, felt things. Experienced sicknesses with no cause. Were cured of sicknesses without cause. Survived things that should have killed them.

It was a thin spot between worlds. Reality was a rippling membrane, frayed enough for things to shine through.

The construction of the neighborhood itself had been… strange. It happened much faster than it should have, as if there was a whole extra shift of workers on the project.

The townhouse that would one day become Fentonworks had stood out even in that mystery. Extra rooms, a basement deep enough to cause a nasty fight with regulators, features not approved by the architect.

It was a wonder they hadn’t hit any of the water lines or the sewage systems. A wonder- and an impossibility. So, the matter was ignored and dropped.

Then the next owners expanded that impossible basement, building another, secret basement and putting things in the walls- They were criminals, of course. It was expected for them to do illegal things. (Although exactly what they had done was… oddly uncertain.)

(Drugs, perhaps.)

Then, the lunatics. Then, the tiny cult that collapsed in on itself. Then the empty years, dozens of transient ghosts trying and failing to pass through, and the ghost hunters. So many ghost hunters, none of them particularly successful.

Then, the Fentons.

Then, little Jazz.

Then, little Danny.

Danny with wide eyes that saw too much.

And all the horrors that the Fentons could dream up, from living hotdogs to weapons that burned like stars and doors to places that should not be visited.

And this was Danny Fenton’s home.

The Manson estate was an odd case, even for Amity Park. Save for the basement, the entire building they lived in had been transplanted, brick and beam, from Germany.

Rich people were bizarre.

Even the Mansons couldn’t explain it. The man who had done it hadn’t been a Manson. The Mansons, who were relatively new money, all things considered, had purchased it from one of the man’s children. Anything to boost their prestige.

It was fancy, and it was old, a gothic and statuesque mansion worthy of its name. Still, it wasn’t quite fancy or old enough to merit the kind of expenditure moving it had to take.

Hence the rumors, squelched by the Mansons, that the place was haunted.

It wasn’t.

The rumors, however, were enough to get one Samantha Manson interested in the occult. Especially given how hard she saw her parents working to hide the rumors from her.

No. The mansion wasn’t haunted. For all it’s oddities and quirks – which only multiplied as the Mansons added more and more features to it – the building itself was mundane.

(The land it was built on might have been another story.)

And this was Sam Manson’s home.

The Foleys didn’t want to know what Tucker got up to in the attic, but liked to think that, with that one exception, their home was a nice one. It was on a nice street, in a nice neighborhood, just far enough away from Fentonworks to keep both sightings of the Ghost Assault Vehicle and resultant property damage and property taxes to a minimum. Within walking distance of the high school, a supermarket, and a park.

They kept the fridge and pantry stocked. Their food might not have always been healthy – red meat was an element of almost every meal – but it was always available and filling. They made an effort for the dietary restrictions of Tucker’s friends of course.

All the rooms were kept clean and neat. Even Tucker’s, by way of bribes. Everything was organized, everything had its place. Except, perhaps, for the stray shoe or piece of schoolwork.

But that attic.

It really hadn’t been anything, before Tucker asked if he could move his computer stuff up there. Just a storage space, one too difficult for either Angela or Maurice to climb up there often. They didn’t consider themselves old, but they couldn’t call themselves young either. Not with a son Tucker’s age.

Once Tucker had realized the attic was there, he had been fascinated. And, well, once he was old enough for them to not worry about him falling off the ladder, they let him go up.

Some days, it seemed, he didn’t come down.

Better than his faintly disturbing Ancient Egypt phase, where he kept bringing pictures of mummified corpses to the table. Or, worse, the werewolf phase.

And this was Tucker Foley’s home.

Amity Park had claimed the distinction of ‘most haunted town in America’ long before the Fentons opened their portal. In fact, that was the reason the Fentons had set up shop there, in the first place.

No haunted town was complete without at least one haunted house. Amity Park had several. Not to mention a haunted hospital, a selection of haunted schools, a haunted museum, a haunted pool, a haunted crosswalk, a haunted mall, a haunted football field… The list went on, essentially ad nauseum.

Of course, that list mostly consisted of places that became haunted after the Fentons built their portal. But even before then, some places offered their dubious charms to tourists.

Mostly gullible ones. More than half of the claims of hauntings before the portal opened were fraudulent in their entirety. These places quickly went broke and got abandoned when real ghosts started showing up.

One of these was the ominously named Raven House, which stood in the hills on the west edge of town.

The story the tourists of years gone by had been told was that a widower had lived out here, all by himself and that one day, he stopped coming to town, or paying his bills, or even getting his mail. When the mailbox at the end of the long driveway was full, the mailman decided to go check on the widower. What he found was a flock of ravens and a skeleton, entirely picked clean of flesh.

No such death had occurred there, nor in any part of Amity. No such person had ever lived in the house, either. The last owners, before the company that decided to market the house as haunted, were a couple with two children.

It wasn’t until months after the portal started up that it became haunted in truth.

“This place isn’t haunted,” said Danny, panning his flashlight over cobwebbed corners on the ceiling. “I don’t think it ever was.”

“That’s what, strike five?” asked Sam.

Danny shrugged. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Four, actually,” said Tucker. “We counted the hospital as inconclusive, since we don’t know if anyone was there before Spectra.”

Danny nodded. “It’s weird, though, isn’t it? That no one lives here, I mean. It looks like a perfectly nice house.”

“Décor’s a bit… eh. Trying to hard to be haunted,” said Tucker, poking a raven decal on the wallpaper.

“I like it,” said Sam. “Needs cleaning, though.”

“Hey,” said Tucker, “you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you? Because I’m pretty sure that’d be illegal.”

“It isn’t as if anyone else is using the place,” argued Sam. “It could be a great backup hideout, if we ever had to… you know.” She glanced at Danny. “Plus, we’d be doing them a favor, really, keeping things clean and lived in.”

“I think it’s an okay idea,” said Danny.

“Yeah, but you think lots of dumb things are good ideas. Like showing up at a party hosted by people who publicly humiliate you on a regular basis.”

Danny grumbled something about trauma responses that sounded like a direct quote from Jazz and something else about that incident being ages (aka weeks) ago. Then, he brightened.

“We could get one of the little ectoplasm generators to power everything,” he said. “Remember all that stuff we lifted from Skulker and Technus? We could actually use it. Study and test things without worrying about whether our parents will walk in. I mean, your attic is great, but still.”

“Plus, we can have actual lab safety protocols. No offense, Danny.”

“I am the one that half-died in a lab accident, so… None taken.”

Tucker rubbed his chin. “Alright. I suppose I can see the appeal… But if we have stuff that can trace back to us, we could get in serious trouble."

“We’ll be careful, then,” said Sam.

“Anything I take from Mom and Dad has plausible deniability. They’ll assume ghosts stole it.”

“We also need to clean if we’re being serious about this. And get a fridge. And figure out the pluming situation.”

“Fridge is on the list. We have to be careful about the outside, too. If this place is suddenly well maintained, people will notice.”

“Sure, but that isn’t something they’d call the cops over,” said Danny. “They’ll just assume new people are moving in. If anyone sees it at all. We’re pretty far away from anything. But pluming won’t be too hard. We just need to bring our own water. Like, toilets flush using physics. If you dump more water in, they’ll go, no electricity required.”

“How do you know that?”

“I can’t even tell you how many time Mom and Dad blew out all our breakers with stuff in the lab,” said Danny. “You pick up a few things.”

“Well,” said Tucker, swinging his flashlight over to examine a discolored spot on the ceiling. “Then… Home sweet home, I suppose.”

There was a house in the hills in the west hills of Amity Park.

And this was the home of two and a half humans and half a ghost.

#danny phantom #dannymay2021 #dannymay 2021 #dannymay #dannymay day 2: home

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thecheesiestcheese23 · 3 years

Text

the will to live ( was only a whisper before i went )

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR TECHNO'S PHIL'S QUACKITY'S AND SAM'S LORE STREAM

Rumors were hard to ignore.

They spread around, scattered in the wind as more and more people started to believe its faulty truth.

Rumors were hard to ignore, especially when the truth started to leak out. Technoblade had been gone for three months. Three months too long, in Phil’s opinion, but there was nothing he could do now. All he would do was wait and hope that Techno would be able to survive in the prison.

However, Phil would not worry so much if he didn’t know one key factor.

Techno was at one life. He had foolishly lost two of them in hypixel when he was a kid, too cocky and too confident for his own good. One misstep and one swing later, he rested at two lives. One faulty move and one arrow later, he was on his last life. He had learned enough from his mistakes, he told Phil one day, and he made sure to never make them again. He hid it from the rest of the world, joking around and acting as if he was still at three lives, rushing into battle at a moment’s notice.

Phil knew the possibilities of Techno coming back to him alive, and he knew that Techno knew that too. He had seen it in his eyes and in the way he moved, had seen right through him as if he were looking through ice. But he had let him go with a forced smile and a promise that they would see each other again, no matter how long that may be.

A will was placed in his hands with a promise to not open it for three months, but those three months had come and gone, and now the will rested in Phil’s hand, waiting to be opened and read.

Dear Philza Minecraft, the will began with.

I am going to the prison to visit Dream and make sure he’s alright. If I do not return within a few days, activate the pearl I left in our book club’s meeting room.

Of course, their pearl stasis chamber, how could Phil have forgotten? A laugh bubbled up and out of his throat, relief flooding through his body. There was hope after all, and a chance of getting Techno safely back to the Arctic. Not wasting a second more, Phil threw on his coat and ran outside, his wings taking flight.

His wings beat against the harsh winds, snow entangling itself between his feathers and his hair, clutching on for dear life at the speed he flew. Not soon enough, he was at the entrance of the stronghold. He barreled down the lava and landed in the water that rested below. He skidded on the ice, sliding through the corridors as he made his way through all the twists and turns.

He finally made his way to the portal room, hope coursing through his veins as he made his way to where Techno’s seat was and-

Oh.

The pearl was gone.

And with that, Philza broke, collapsing on the stone floor. Cries of anguish echoed throughout the empty room, never to be full again. At least then no one was there to witness him break. Techno was gone- gone for good this time.

And Phil had a strange feeling that even if the pearl was there, it would only teleport back Techno’s remains.

If the pearl is gone, well, it was nice knowing you. Look after the others for me when I’m gone.

____________________

I left my valuables in a barrel hidden in the top floor’s ceiling and a chest under the stone in a corner of that one weird room under the house with the potions. Distribute them as you see fit. Please keep Steve and the foxes well-fed, the wolves can be released into the wilderness.

Steve was curled up on his owner's bed, the bed creaking against his weight. He whined, nose burying itself between his paws.

The foxes pulled at their leads, searching for the one with pink hair and kind words, but to no avail.

Yipping sounded throughout the forest, the once blood-hounds exploring the forest. They searched all around, but could not find the one they had gone to war with.

Tell Ranboo and Niki that they’re stronger than they know.

A knock sounded throughout the near-empty mansion, causing Ranboo to jump. He recognized the pattern of the knocks, a grin forming on his face.

“Phil! You startled me-” Ranboo smiled at the other as he opened the door, but it slipped off of his face as his gaze landed on Phil.

Phil’s hair was ruffled and dried tear tracks covered his face. He avoided eye contact as he spoke, voice wavering.

“Techno’s gone.”

____________________

Niki was working away at her city, beads of sweat forming on her face as she moved objects around. Her city was coming together nicely, and she just needed to put some finishing touches to complete it.

However, she was interrupted by a knock at the entrance. She looked up in curiosity, recognizing the pattern as Phil’s.

“Phil! How nice of you to visit-” She said as she climbed up the staircase, coming face-to-face with Phil. She paused as she took his appearance in. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head wordlessly, “Techno’s gone.”

Tell Tommy that I hope he finds what he’s looking for, whatever that is.

The day was calm with a slight breeze rustling through the trees, a perfect day for Tommy to bring Shroud out.

“Remember what I taught you, big man, stay close to me, don’t wander off, if you see anyone, anyone at all, you alert me, and if I get into trouble, you run all the way back home and hide, okay?”

“Okay!” Shroud happily chirped from where they sat. “Can we go now?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Tommy clutched Shroud’s hand, opening the door to reveal Philza, hand raised like he was about to knock.

“Philza Minecraft.” Tommy said, voice cold. He gestured at Shroud to leave the room, which they reluctantly did. “What do you want?”

“It’s about Techno.” Phil looked defeated as he spoke.

Tommy’s heart started to hammer in his chest as a pit started to form in his gut. If Phil was coming to him about Techno- then something was horribly wrong.

“What’s wrong with Techno?” He demanded.

“He’s gone.”

Phil, I’m glad I met you in this life.

“Where is he?”

The Warden looked up from where he sat, not surprised to see Phil’s face.

“Philza, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you here to the prison?”

“You know full well why I’m here, and I’m only going to ask once more. Where is Technoblade?” Phil spat out, rage coursing through his veins.

The Warden remained silent, the only sound filling the room being keys typing away.

“Listen, if you don’t give him to me, I’ll destroy this prison bit by bit until all that’s left of it is its charred remains.”

“You want him so bad? Fine.” With that, The Warden typed some words into the computer, and a circular tube similar to a coffin appeared out of the wall.

His heart dropped as he saw the tube, mind screaming as he dared to look at what was inside. He didn’t want to confirm his suspicions- but something urged his body to peer into the tube.

It was Techno’s body, scarred and burnt but still recognizable. He knew that Techno was dead, but confirming it just hurt so much more. “Who.” His voice was quiet, almost muted.

“Quackity.” The Warden simply said, eyes focused on the computer. “He’s in Las Nevadas.”

Phil wordlessly nodded, carefully picking up his body and cradling him in his arms. “Thank you,” with that, Philza walked outside and took off, tears slipping down his face.

For you, the world.

Techno’s grave was placed atop of the mountain.

The gravestone was carved with care, with the prettiest flowers blooming above it.

Five people came to his grave.

Ranboo mourned the loss of his mentor, and at the missed chance of showing Techno his family. He was sure that Michal would have loved Techno, even if the other was cold towards children. Techno’s axe was clenched tightly in his hand, his tears and the snow burning his skin, but he found that he didn’t have the energy to care.

Tubbo stood from afar when he visited, fists at his side as he felt both anger and sadness at the one six feet below. His mind screamed at the other for hurting him, for taking his childhood away so soon, but yet his body stood still as if he was made of stone.

Niki visited when she was sure no one was there, and she cried. She screamed at Techno for leaving and screamed at the world for taking her friend away too soon. She cried and yelled for what seemed like ages until her throat was sore and it felt like she swallowed shards of glass.

Tommy visited when it was still day out, allumins clutched tightly in his hand. He wordlessly planted them in the ground, dirt and tears staining his shirt. When he left, the Axe of Peace rested next to Techno’s grave.

Philza visited last, his feet dragging in the snow. He sat there in front of the grave, mind numb. He didn’t know how long he sat there but he knew that when he got up, it was day once more. Phil didn’t want the world if Techno wasn’t going to be in it, but he knew that Techno would want him to move on.

But there was something he had to do first.

____________________

Clouds of smoke filled the air as a fire raged on Las Nevadas. Three people stood in front of the fire, gazing at the sight before them. Quackity laid dead beneath their feet.

“For Techno.” Phil said.

“For Techno.” They echoed.

I love you.

#technoblade angst #technoblade #philza minecraft #ranboo #niki nihachu #nihachu #tubbo #tommyinnit #quackity #awesamdude #mcyt #angst #dream smp

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andydona-chan · 3 years

Text

The missing plaques of the memorial

Read at AO3!

This one here is the last entry for Ectober as a fanfic since for ectober week I made fanart, it combines the last prompts theft/ruins, it's a bit darker than I expected, I used to the song Bad Dream from Keane when picturing the Danny that became Dan in TUE, if you can hear it either while or after reading this it would be a great way to compliment this fic. Hope you like it!

*-*-*

The leftover ruins and the statue that had been placed in that street were very recent, after all, the local business that had already been closed due to an explosion, exploded again killing 5 people, this time the problem had been caused by a ghost and it was ironic and sad that the very ghost hunters of the city had been killed in the act. The memorial had been requested by Vlad Masters who had also paid for it to remain unmoved, something that the Major had accepted so long as the amount helped cover some of the damages caused by the explosion on the nearby buildings, once that was agreed on, the fence that was placed around the ruins of the Nasty Burger and the statues adorned with the metal plaques with the names and information there, were installed.

People of Amity Park had never imagined that one day they will mourn the Fenton family, almost all of its members had died on that day along with two other teenagers, the only survivor, Danny Fenton, had been affected by the loss, returning to his home that night accompanied by the police and waiting for Vlad Masters to arrive to take his custody as his godfather with an expressionless face, the boy had lost everything but somehow, he wasn't crying.

Days later they had held a funeral for all the victims, Danny's pale face and red eyes along with his automatic motions talked about how much this hurt him. His aunt Alicia had tried to comfort him, even the Manson and the Foley had tried to reach out to him and help him, but he could only look at them with sorrowful eyes unable to say or do much more than a short apology that felt like heavy regret, after a quick hug and encouragement words, the three families affected had given their relatives the final goodbye.

A week later Danny Fenton had moved out of Fenton Works to go live with Vlad Masters in Wisconsin, the students in his class the ones waving him goodbye even if Danny didn't take his eyes from the ground, he didn't even look back to the house. He climbed into the limousine sent for him with his purple school bag and closed the door, seemingly to never come back to Amity Park.

Of course, Vlad had done more than just take Danny with him, the stuff belonging to the household, were either sold or moved to a warehouse containing only what Danny had selected. The lab had been dismantled and the portal had been shut down and closed during the only week they stayed at Amity Park, however, Vlad made sure to take with him the inventions that could be useful for him and Danny in the future, not that the boy knew about everything.

Though they had found out that the portal couldn't be 'closed', it could only have the doors closed and the joints melted to keep any ghost from entering, so that's what they had done, building an additional wall in front of it as if to hide the doorway to the Ghost Zone only.

Most people wondered what would happen with Danny Fenton after that, will he just forget about his life in Amity Park? How long will the memory or the story of what happened to haunt him? It was something no one could wonder for more than a month, it had been just a couple of weeks since the incident, the memorial was built and the neighbors of the area had even had a short event to remember and reflect on what had happened. The Red Huntress had been invited to talk about ghost safety, she took it upon herself to protect them from any ghosts from now on.

Val had never told anyone how her father had been at Fenton Works helping with the lab, making sure to get copies of some papers and blueprints to develop weapons to help his daughter. They hadn't even mentioned that he had a copy of the key to Fenton Works, given by Vlad Masters in person who asked him to keep visiting and making sure the portal remained undisturbed.

Then one morning, unexpectedly, the news talked about how Vlad Master's mansion had been attacked, the place looked like if something had exploded there too, however, if you looked into it more, the pattern of focused attacks would show, and the trail of ectoplasm let the investigators know what kind of culprit they would be looking for, neither Danny Fenton nor Vlad Masters were seen again.

However, it didn't take long for the criminal to be back to the crime scene, as the saying goes, only, not many knew how much the place represented the reason why this ghost existed. Fusing with Vlad's ghost side had been difficult, Dan had managed to keep control of his new firm but from time to time one of the original personalities would take over.

Right now Danny was in control, invisible while moving through the fence and into the ruins. He sat down on one of the partially destroyed booths of the Nasty Burger, the usual red color dirty and darker with dust and damaged by the fire. Using also the fragile support of a broken table he crossed his arms over it and cried, he didn't care if someone heard him, they didn't matter, he was finally letting out all of the pain this situation had brought into his life… death… it didn't matter, nobody else mattered anymore.

The place that had held so many good memories about his friends and family, hanging out with them and eating with them was now blurry and painful reminders of something he would have loved to appreciate more, so he cried, loud and ugly as many people called it, cause he was alone, sad and with nothing and no one to turn to… he couldn't go to his aunt, she will never understand what he was now…

A loud thunder made the already damaged structure shake, followed by a heavy downpour that immediately started to drench the place, creating puddles and mud, not even the parts where the ceiling was still holding up avoided the water as it fell diagonally into the place, soaking everything up, the corrupted ghost allowed himself to turn visible and tangible, feeling the rain falling over him, he wished that it would somehow turn off the flames that used to be his hair, he had become a monster, who cared if he was a bald ugly one?

Feeling the pain as a physical wound, pulsing inside him with each sob he couldn't hold back he floated above the ruins and cried, his wail was still weak, but he could feel the energy it was taking out of him, he wasn't going to last long like this. He tensed himself, pulling at his muscles until he had bent into a fetal position, holding himself hard until it hurt, he wanted to turn into a rock and be cold and lifeless and feelingless just like the frozen figures that someone had sculpted with the face of his family and friends down below…

After a couple of minutes, tired of the position he allowed gravity to pull him down, he stood there, still feeling the rain over him, the dark gray sky roaring with thunder as if angry with him, he was angry too, thank you very much! He looked at the statues this time, feeling how his personality started to shift slowly.

Taking that as his signal to leave, he used the last couple of minutes to use his powers and remove the metallic plaques on the statues and hide them, then he became invisible again and left, he couldn't stay here, he didn't want to stay here least his newer personality would want to destroy everything completely, their original intention was to find a way back into the Ghost Zone even if he had to blow up that wall and the doors, and it was just a matter of time before he felt compelled to do so.

He knew in the long run that his fusion with Vlad's ghost half would be complete, he won't be able to be just him again and he couldn't count on his new self of now destroying anything else, so he needed that, there was a small safe place where he could keep them that will prevent their memories from being forgotten or more damaged, even if he lost himself, or the statues, or their graves, at least the plaques would be safe, he would go all the way to aunt Alicia's house to hide them, not today, not with the monster looming on his consciousness right now, but tomorrow, he would borrow a couple of hours to make sure there was still some sort of life connected to his past, it was the least he could do.

The theft was reported early in the morning, and the major made sure to have the names and dates sculpted into the stone instead of in case of any future attempt, they blamed this again on ghosts because of the attacks that had started the very next day, Val and her father never reported the issue with the portal, with the damaged doors that couldn't be fixed or the damage caused to Fenton Works building structure, the statues and the ruins of the Nasty Burger remained untouched after that, people visited the place from time to time, wondering about the original metallic plaques of the statues and remembering the reason behind the sad old ruins of the fast-food restaurant.

They would never know exactly what and how much these ruins and statues really represented, at least not to the one person that lost himself because of it.

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years

Text

Out Of Time ~ 116

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 3,710ish

Summary: The team continues to try and stop Hive as Y/N is still struggling with everything.

The base’s alarms began blaring, which caused Y/N to wonder what was going on. She hadn’t been left alone fore too long, but she’d noticed, in that time, that the base had been completely locked down. The team was either trying to keep someone out, or in. Slowly getting out her tablet, Y/N accessed the security feed. There was an explosion in the hanger, and Fitz was stuck in there with a few others while a gas was slowly filling the hanger. She watched as the gas was turning the other agents into some sort of monsters.

Knowing that she could do something, Y/N opened a portal in front of Fitz and the other agents that hadn’t been harmed. They fell through and into the room, panting. Y/N’s monitors began to go crazy from the amount of energy she had just used.

“Y/N!” Fitz exclaimed, straightening up and rushing to her side. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he scolded. “You don’t have enough energy.”

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Simmons rushed in, having watched the footage with the team in Coulson’s office. “That was too dangerous, the both of you!”

Y/N’s breathing was labored. “I… had to… save… someone…” she stated.

“You need to eat something. Let me have—“

“No… I don’t want… anything… not hungry…”

“Y/N…” Fitz whispered. “You have to eat something. You can’t keep going like this.”

“Try me.” You glanced around. “Why are the alarm lights still going off?”

“Because those creatures let out Hive,” Simmons answered.

“And Hive is….?”

“I forgot you haven’t been here in awhile.”

The base suddenly started shaking. The three of them glanced at each other.

“Daisy,” Fitz-Simmons said.

“I know it’s probably a bad idea, but…” Y/N started. “I could probably get through to Daisy…. I don’t know what’s going on. But… let me try.”

“You’re too weak,” Simmons stated. “Bedrest. Fitz come on.”

Y/N could see the team gathered at the entrance of the lab. They were discussing the situation. But Y/N knew, the longer they discussed the more time they wasted. So, she looked around the room. Seeing a shot of pain medication, she injected it into her IV. Taking a deep breath, she formed a portal into the cell Daisy should have been in. Y/N stumbled through it, falling onto her hands and knees. Observing the room, it was obvious that Daisy had hijacked the containment module and put it on the Zephyr. So that meant she was in the hanger. The door to the cell slide open as Y/N sat back against the bed.

“Y/N?” May questioned.

“Y/N!” Fitz exclaimed. “You’re on bedrest.”

“Daisy took the… module… into the… plane,” Y/N panted, ignoring their worries.

“To stop Hive,” May stated.

“You think she can do it?” Fitz asked.

“Get us some rope in case she can’t.”

“I’m going into the hanger,” Y/N stated, pushing herself up to stand with the help of the bed.

“No,” May quickly shot down. “You either stay here, laying on that bed, or you go back to the med bay. Your choice.”

“I can’t lose another, May.” Tears formed in Y/N’s eyes. “I can’t.” She opened a portal. “I’m sorry.”

Y/N stumbled into the hanger, but didn’t fall this time. Her ears quickly were filled with grunts and the sound of Wards voice. She looked over to see Daisy repeatedly stabbing what looked to be Ward.

“—pieces solving a puzzle,” he continued.

Daisy threw the knife down, holding him up against the wall with her abilities. Y/N slipped into the man’s mind, realizing that Ward was dead and Hive had control of his body, as well as his memories.

“Daisy!” Y/N called, coming towards her.

She looked over, not stopping what she was doing. “Y/N… you shouldn’t be out here.”

Daisy continued as Hive’s bones broke and he slowly crumbled down. When she stopped, Hive looked at Y/N.

“Y/N…” Hive said. “You… I’ve been waiting to meet you.”

“Yeah…? Well I haven’t…” Y/N responded, weakly.

Hive slowly stood up, bones fixing themselves. “Bones don’t hold me up. I’m held up by all the parts working as one.”

Suddenly, a jet was heard, descending into the hanger bay. Both Y/N and Daisy turned towards it, mistakingly taking their eyes off Hive. He snuck up behind them and grabbed both their heads. He hit them together, knocking the two of them out. Hive had his minions carry them onto the module in the Zeyphr.

~~~

“Y/N,” Daisy whispered, shaking her gently. “Y/N, come on… wake up…”

Y/N groaned. “Fitz-Simmons was right…” she croaked. “I should have stayed in bed…”

“Do you think you can get us out of here?”

Y/N shook her head. “I’m sorry… I’m too weak… I barely got to you.”

Daisy helped Y/N up, laying her on the bed, before looking out the window of the module.

“What happened to you?” Daisy asked, quietly.

“I could ask you… the same thing…” Y/N responded.

“You shouldn’t have come to stop me.”

“I can’t lose anyone else.”

“Who did you lose?”

Tears filled Y/N’s eyes as she took a deep breath. “I lost—“

Suddenly, familiar grunts were heard, coming from outside the containment module. Daisy looked out to see May and Fitz crawling up from a hole in the floor.

“What are you doing here?” Daisy asked as they walked over.

“Grabbing you and Y/N,” May responded. “Then taking back the Zephyr.” Fitz went to the control panel of the module.

“No, Fitz. Don’t open that.”

“What?” Fitz questioned.

“I should be in here. I’m a liability.”

May glanced at Fitz, nodded.

“Okay, well, I think there’s some weapons in the back,” he said before leaving.

May sighed, looking at her two friends in the module.

Daisy sighed, leaning up against the window. “It’s like he scraped me out of my own skull,” she said. “Even when I tried killing him, he beat me. My powers are nothing compared to Hive.”

“I don’t give a damn about your powers,” May retorted. “They’re not what made you an agent. I did. Y/N did.”

“May, you… you have no idea what I did. I have nothing left.”

“You have nothing left?” Y/N scoffed. “I killed my child… you wanted to know what happened, Daisy? I didn’t tell the truth and I thought I could fix it all. But I couldn’t. And because of that, I lost my child.”

“Y/N… I-I…”

“Yeah, you did a lot of bad, or whatever. But we all do.”

“All you can do now is balance the scales, do some good,” May added. “You want to give up, live in a box? Go ahead. But that hurt stays in there with you. Believe me. Listen, I may not always shot it, but I—“

Something quickly came flying at May, hitting her in the back of the head. She fell down, knocked out.

“May!” Daisy exclaimed.

A male inhuman took the gun out of Fitz’ hold from across the room. Fitz held up his hands. In the module, Y/N pushed herself to stand at the window beside Daisy.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” Fitz shouted, cringing. “If you kill me, you’ll die. I swear. I swear. I have a weapon in place on this plane that’s designed to kill you. So if you shoot me, I can’t tell you what that is.” Fitz’ breathes were shaky. “But you won’t see it coming.”

“Leave him alone!” Daisy cried. “Giyera, listen to me. Look at me.” The man did. “You and I have a connection, right?”

“Not anymore,” the man, Giyera, replied. “I swept the plane. Didn’t see anything.”

“I’m telling the truth, I swear,” Fitz said, breathing heavily.

Giyera took some steps towards Fitz. “Show me.”

“Okay. Okay. Okay, just let me put this down.” He slowly crouched down to set what was in his hand on the ground. “Remember, we don’t want to hurt you if we don’t have to. People that are under sway… they’re not in control of their actions. They’re not bad people. Well… except you. You were a murderous want before all this.”

Fitz shot at Giyera, killing him with his cloaked gun. Both Daisy and Y/N breathed a sigh of relief.

“I did tell you,” Fitz panted. “A few times.” He set down the gun and opened the containment module. “Well?”

Daisy looked at Y/N and nodded. Daisy helped Y/N out while Fitz helped May. They quickly made their way to the planes lab.

“I’m okay,” May said, pushing herself away from Fitz to lean against the table.

“We disabled the containment module,” Fitz stated.

“Hive can't escape,” Daisy said.

“So you’re with us?” May asked. Daisy nodded. “You okay? You’re shaking.”

“She’s going through withdrawals,” Fitz answered. “Plus, the Zephyr can handle high altitude, but it’s not designed for it. It’s subfreezing outside, which also means—“

“The air’s getting thin in here,” Y/N interrupted. She was leaning against the counter, trying to not act as weak as she felt.

“So we should limit our movements and try and keep warm.” Fitz took off his jacket, putting it around Daisy’s shoulders.

“So what do we do next?” Daisy asked.

“This is as far as we got,” May replied.

~~~

In the base, the monsters that Hive had created were still after them. They had tried to shoot at Mack, but Yo-Yo got in the way. With no access to the med bay, the burned the wounds closed. But Yo-Yo was getting an infection. Coulson, Lincoln, Yo-Yo, Mack, and Dr. Radcliffe, who had unwillingly helped Hive make the monsters, finally made their way to Coulson’s office. Where they met Simmons.

“Is she okay?” Simmons asked as Yo-Yo was set down in a chair.

“She’s stable for now,” Lincoln answered.

“Have you seen the others?” Mack asked.

“I checked the containment room,” Simmons replied. “By the looks of it, Fitz and May climbed up into the Zephyr.”

“Then there’s hope they’ll stop them.”

“Or be blown to bits. Sir, there’s something else. I went to go get Y/N and bring her here for safety, but she’s gone.”

“Just great,” Coulson muttered. “How gone?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know. She couldn’t have gone very far with her weakened state, so—“

“Do you think she’s trying to help?”

“I think she might be.”

~~~

“Y/N,” May called, “how are you feeling?”

“I’ve felt better,” she replied quietly, not making eye contact. “All the way around…”

“If you need to talk—“

“Right now’s really not the place to be doing that though. Don’t you think?”

“Y/N.” The plane shook slightly. “The quinjet… it’s here.”

“Yeah, the quintets fly themselves,” Fitz stated. “Director Coulson must’ve called one to him.”

“They’re ducks in a barrel until they deplane, though. We need to get to the docking station.”

“Let’s just hope whoever’s on the quinjet has an idea about what happens next.”

“I know exactly what happens next,” Daisy stated.

Everyone eyed her suspiciously as she glanced down at the necklace she was gripping in her hand. Using some of the energy she had, Y/N read Daisy’s mind. Daisy had ran into an inhuman that could see the future. She saw a quinjet blowing up, inside was an agent where a SHIELD jacket, just like the one she was wearing, with the necklace she was holding floating in the air. But the agent on the quinjet was unidentifiable. Y/N stumbled slightly, quickly gripping onto the table in front of her.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Fitz said, quickly helping to steady her. He looked up at May. “We need to get her back to a med bay.”

Fitz held Y/N up as the four of them headed for the docking station. As they turned one of the corners, they saw one of Hive’s sways inhumans hit the ground. May quickly finished knocking him out as Lincoln appeared in the doorway.

“Lincoln!” Daisy shouted when she noticed an explosive attached.

Lincoln fell back as the small explosion was set off, leaving his side and hand bloody. Y/N quickly, without thinking, portaled those with her into the cargo bay. Fitz and May dragged Lincoln towards the wall, to lean against, as he groaned in pain.

“I’ll get the med kit!” Simmons shouted, immediately noticing the problem once they had appeared.

“Lincoln!” Daisy exclaimed as she kneeled beside him. “Is he okay?”

“Lincoln! Stay with us.”

“Tell me he’s gonna be okay.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Simmons was checking the wound. “He’ll live, um, if there’s no internal hemorrhage.”

Y/N had fallen against the containment module and slipped down to the ground. Beads of sweat formed at her hairline from the amount of energy she had used. Simmons and Fitz were frantically working on Lincoln, that Y/N was almost forgotten about.

“Y/N!” May called, upon seeing the state the other woman was in. She quickly came to her side. “Why did you do that?”

“No more… deaths… no one else… should die…” Y/N panted.

“You keep speaking like someone else died,” Coulson stated, showing up on her other side. “Who died besides your child?”

“Peggy…. And… and… Bucky killed Howard…. He killed Tony’s parents…”

Coulson and May shared a look that didn’t go unnoticed by Y/N, she was just too exhausted to bring it up. After Simmons and Fitz got Lincoln stable, they left him and Daisy to talk, quickly rushing to help Y/N.

“We need to get her to a safe place,” Simmons stated. “Lay her down over there.”

Coulson picked her up and moved her more into the cargo bay. Setting her down, he placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving her side.

“Hive and his worker bees will be down here any second,” Coulson stated.

“And then?” Simmons wondered.

“Even if we could steal the warhead, it’s probably on a timer by now,” Fitz said. “Timed with their ascent.”

“I don’t suppose you came with any concrete ideas,” May said.

“I have one,” Coulson offered. “The quintets fly here remotely. So, we put the warhead on the quinjet. We’re going to set new coordinates for outer space. The quinjet will disconnect from the Zephyr and then fly straight up until it leaves the atmosphere. It will then blow up in the vacuum of space, and the pathogen will disperse harmlessly… Now all we have to do is decide who goes and who stays to hold off a wave of Primates and Hive the Terrible.”

“Well, I’d like to be in a fight,” Mack said. He held up his gun, with an axe on the end of it. “Built this damn thing for a reason.”

Simmons turned to check on Lincoln and Daisy, having to do a double take. “Where’s Daisy?” She asked.

“I couldn’t stop her,” Lincoln responded.

Suddenly, Hive’s minions came down from the ceiling, forcing the fight upon them. Mack, Coulson, May, and Fitz-Simmons began defending the team from the attack. Hive appeared from the upper level.

“He’s here!” Coulson shouted. “It’s time to finish these guys off!”

Y/N took a deep breath, readying herself to help her team. But instead of being able to sit up, she passed out. Her vision was black for only a moment before she awoke. She was standing in the Mirror Dimension, the Ancient One waiting for her.

“Now’s really not a great time for this,” Y/N said.

“Now’s actually the perfect time,” the Ancient One responded. “At least that’s what the Reality Stone feels.”

~~~

The fight was still continuing in the outside world. The team working together to try to defeat the creatures. None of the noticed that Y/N had passed out or was even awake again. She stood up, feeling a new strength within her. Holding up her hands, she willed the creatures to go back to what they were before. Human SHIELD agents. The team stopped fighting, watching in confusion as the creatures faces morphed into what they were before. All of the former creatures fell to the floor, unconscious. The team’s eyes landed on Y/N.

“That was… new,” Coulson stated, a bit nervous.

“You’re telling me,” Y/N responded.

Coulson looked up to where Hive used to be. “No.”

“He went for Daisy!” Mack stated.

Y/N portaled herself to the quinjet, showing up just as Daisy was shot out of the quinjet by Lincoln.

“Daisy!” She cried, coming to kneel by her side as the quinjet dismounted.

“No!” Daisy screamed, getting up and running to the Zephyr’s control center with Y/N following. Daisy picked up the speaker for communications. “Lincoln, come in… Damn it, Lincoln! Do you copy? Lincoln. Lincoln.”

“I’m here,” Lincoln groaned from the other end of the line.

“What are you doing? This is crazy.”

“This is my purpose. I know that now.”

“W-why… why would you…”

“I was the only one who could fry the manual controls to make sure this worked and to make sure… you didn’t try to do this yourself.”

“No. No. It’s supposed to be me… I saw the future. This is my destiny…” She stopped when she realized the necklace wasn’t around her neck anymore.

“Yeah, sorry. I stole it from you.”

Daisy fell to her knees as the rest of the team entered. She looked up at Y/N, pleading with her. “Do something.”

“Daisy, I—“

“No, Y/N,” Lincoln interrupted. “This is what I was meant for. Do not come get me.”

“This is not how it’s supposed to be,” Daisy continued, voice breaking, as Coulson ordered the team around. “It should be me to fix the damage to my friends, to you. You can’t just die for me like this. It’s… it’s wrong.”

“I don’t know. Saving the girl that I love and the world at the same time? Feels pretty right to me… The jet’s shaking pretty good. I hope it… together…”

“Lincoln, you’re breaking up,” Daisy cried.

“The communication system’s dying. I must’ve fried that, too.”

“Lincoln, I can’t take it if you… you… you can’t do this.”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, either, but here I am.”

“No, you ca—you can— you can’t do this. Not like this. I can’t just… I can’t just say goodbye. I-I have too much I want to say.”

“Me, too… Come to think of it, I just did. I mean, I tried, and we didn’t even realize it.”

“Realize what?”

“A moment ago. The first time I said I love—“

The comms was filled with static. Daisy called Lincoln’s name over and over through her sobs.

“Turn it back,” Daisy cried, standing up. “Turn it back. Turn it back.”

“Can’t. Remote access is offline,” Coulson responded.

“You have to. You have to. Help me, Coulson.”

“Even then, the Quinjet’s not designed to maneuver in space, Daisy,” Fitz said.

“No! We have to at least try.” She turned back to Y/N. “Go, get him. Please!”

“He didn’t want me to,” Y/N responded, tears in her eyes. She knew what Daisy was feeling. She had lived through it before, lucky for her though Tony and Bucky always found a way back. “I’m so sorry.”

“He’s paying for my mistake.”

“No,” Coulson shook his head. “He’s paying for all our mistakes.”

Daisy turned back to the screen, watching the quinjet go higher and higher, until it was gone. The team bowed their heads as Daisy fell to the floor, sobbing.

“So, what now?” Simmons asked.

~~~

“Daisy, stop,” Y/N called out, chasing after Daisy once they had landed back at the base. “Please listen to me.”

“You could have saved him!” Daisy shouted. “You could have done something!”

“But he didn’t want me to. He had accepted that saving you, saving the Earth, was what he was here for… I couldn’t go against his wishes like that.” Tears were slipping down both women’s cheeks. “Please turn around and look at me… I know that I haven’t been there for you for months. But I’m here now, and I need you as much as you need me.”

“I can’t. Not anymore.” Focusing her powers, Daisy shot off the ground and into the sky.

“Daisy!” Y/N shouted, Coulson and the others running up behind her. “Daisy!”

“Where did she go?” Coulson asked.

“I don’t…” Black spots filled Y/N’s vision. “I don’t know… Coulson, I…” She reached out to him. “Something’s…” then she fainted.

“Quick, get her to the med bay!” Simmons ordered.

~~~

SIX MONTHS LATER…

Coulson was in a hotel room, littered with newspaper articles about earthquakes being caused by a mysterious person. He was using binoculars to look out the window when Mack entered the room.

“Hey, I got us some sandwiches,” he said. “You should—“

“They’re here,” Coulson stated, still looking out the window. “Early today.”

“Well, you should eat.”

“I will… After the meet.”

“I don’t know why you’re so sure today’s the day. I mean, you said the same thing a week ago… About this, and about Y/N waking up.”

“Just got a feeling... And Y/N will wake up. She always does.”

“Okay.” Mack set down the sandwich on the windowsill. “Well, I’m gonna eat.”

Coulson watched as a mother-daughter duo sat on a bench. A woman with long black hair came up to them. Crouching down in front of the little girl, the woman handed her a wooden robin.

“She’s here!” Coulson exclaimed. He picked up his walkie talkie, speaking into it, “All units move in. Go, go, go!”

Mack and Coulson rushed out of the hotel. Black cars rushed the scene as the woman walked into an alley. When Coulson and Mack arrived with the teams, the woman was gone.

“Seal the perimeter!” Coulson ordered. “But you won’t find her. Call the Director. We struck out again.”

“That’ll take us off her trail,” Mack stated.

“And call in the National Guard, yeah.”

“Where will we be assigned?”

“Guess we’ll have to wait and see."

next chapter >

NOTES: from now on the taglist when be added by a reblog. I will reblog it using my second account, @just-dreaming-marvel-2. Just so that my main page doesn’t get too cluttered.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask.

#agents of shield x reader #aos x reader #Phil Coulson x Reader #the avengers x reader #avengers x reader #agents of shield #Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.#marvel imagine #marvel imagines

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

Text

Alright, another chapter for my fic with Jrum. Just so you know, we’ve got a hels hermit and uh... his personality is Horny(TM). nothing to get it out of a teen rating, but there is some non consensual touching at one point so i’m giving a warning.

Rustic House Club

Jrum was set down on a counter before NPG left again, saving there was something to grab. The younger bot waited there for a little bit before getting bored and jumping down from the counter to explore the place. Jrum was pretty sure this was NPG’s base. It seemed to be a giant rustic house or mansion or something. The wood and stone were unfamiliar, but that being said, the world outside was also strange, covered with mint green grass and dirt that was a grayish blue. The sky looked mostly normal, though it was littered with multicolored clouds.

Back inside, in the center of the room was a giant campfire surrounded by some reddish brown stone. There was also an enchanting table setup with bookshelves around it, but some of the shelves were made with a dull colored wood, and some were made with the stone like what made up the walls.

A sound just behind Jrum made him jump and whirl around, only to see what looked like a very fluffy bunny hopping around. It was a nice powder blue color, and whenever it jumped, what looked like a small puff of smoke was left behind before fading.

“H-Hi. You’re n-not a bad bunny, a-are you?” Jrum nervously asked the hopping creature. “B-Because my dad d-doesn’t like bad b-bunnies.” The bunny responded by hopping and landing on top of Jrum’s head and flopping down there to rest. “H-Hey! That tickles!”

Jrum carefully grabbed the animal to put it back on the ground. He smiled as he felt that it was indeed extremely fluff as well as feeling rather soft. Once the bunny was back on the ground, it went hopping about the room again, letting Jrum explore the house more. There were a number of shulker boxes strewn about which seemed to be filled with items, but for the most part the items weren’t ones that Jrum recognized. Like what was a moa? Or an ambrosium shard?

Jrum shook his head as he stopped looking in the boxes before turning his head to some armor stands nearby. One had an elytra resting on it, while the other didn’t have an elytra or chestplate. Other than that, the first stand had some sort of purple armor while the other was a pinkish color.

The last thing Jrum really noticed was a ladder going up to the next floor, but he didn’t get the chance to go upstairs before NPG returned, carrying what sort of resembled his charger. “I’m back!”

Jrum scrambled his way back to the counter and sat on it, hoping NPG hadn’t seen he wasn’t there. “Sorry for the wait. This thing is just hard to carry and Sense wouldn’t come here to build it because he thinks it’s crazy to live in a dangerous place like the aether.”

The bunny from before hopped over and onto NPG’s head. “Oh! Hi Rusty! Did you meet our guest? He’s my brother.”

“Your bunny’s name is Rusty?”

“Yup!” NPG set the charger down near where Jrum was sitting. “Hmm, I’m sure you’ll want somewhere to sleep, so I’ll have to make you a bed later. Because trying to get that thing up a ladder would be no fun.”

Jrum looked at the pinkish armor that NPG was wearing. “What’s that?”

“Hmm?” NPG looked where Jrum was pointing. “Oh! This is some aetherite armor. It’s like netherite, but for here!”

Jrum nodded, then just sat quietly, swinging his legs. NPG was also quiet, just sort of smiling and swinging his arms about before there was a buzz. The older robot reached for his pocket and pulled out what looked like a communicator, though it was a different style, and read a message on it.

“Oh good! Prof says we can meet with him!”

Jrum tilted his head. “Who’s that?”

“That’s right! I haven’t explained things yet!” NPG exclaimed before putting his comm away again. “Okay, so we’re in Helscraft! It’s like where you’re from, but opposite. Our overworld is more like the nether, but not entirely. More like… hmm… if instead of dirt, mycelium and nylium were normal, and then instead of normal trees we get those giant mushroom things that still can be used for wood. The aether is like an opposite nether in that it’s cold here and there’s no bedrock at either edge of the world. And then finally the end in our world is probably the closest to being normal, but there’s no ender dragon. Instead there’s this thing called the warden and it’s really dangerous.”

“Oh… but who’s Proff?”

“Oh right! So here instead of hermits there are helsmits! And just about everyone in Hermitcraft has a sort of… not really opposite, but at the very least alternative version of themselves down here! Prof is one of them. He’s our version of Doc.”

“Who was the person that looked like daddy?” Jrum asked. He knew NPG had said something, but he hadn’t fully been paying attention.

“Oh! That was Perfect Sense. Most people just call him Sense.”

“Who else is there?”

NPG’s eyes lit up, happy to explain for his brother. “Okay, so there’s Xannes who’s our admin. Most people don’t use his name though, which is rude. Instead they say stuff like Evil Xisuma, Evil X or just EX. There’s True Symmetry who’s the current emperor, or I guess empress, of the server. Her running mate was Waltzware, who everyone calls Whiskey. Fun story about that, I can tell you it another time. Uh, he’s in a rivalry with DelayVS and Phedaz. There’s BadtimeswithScar, or just Badtimes. He has a place on the overworld with a big magic crystal in it which is where I go to hang out with you. It’s a little hard to get to sometimes with Peanut guarding the place. Helsknight has been around the longest and-”

“Um, so are you the opposite of my dad?” Jrum asked, cutting his brother off.

“Nope! Not really! That’s Grifter. See, I showed up sort of near the end of season three and he appeared when we moved to season four. I’m pretty sure he was a Listener or something, but anyway he didn’t like me since he thought I was taking his place. When Prof made Base Iridium, it was so he could lock up Grifter because he was like... the worst person. And so he’s been stuck there ever since and I get to stay because they all like me better!”

Jrum nodded. “Okay, and then do Grum and I have copies here?”

NPG stopped smiling at the question. “Well… no. Glodhet made Sense run for emperor, but Since Glodhet was LaxSprite’s running mate, Sense didn’t have anyone as his running mate. I tried, but he said no. Because of that, we never built any versions of you.”

Jrum looked down at the floor sadly. Sure NPG was a great friend, but he and his brother were really the only kids on the server, so it was pretty lonely a lot of the time.

“Um, well, do you want to go and see Prof?”

Jrum nodded and NPG picked him up before going to the portal he had outside. Jrum shivered when they walked outside, the air extremely cold. That definitely was opposite to the nether. It also didn’t help that it seemed to be night out, which made it even colder. “Isn’t the neth- uh, aether faster?”

“Yeah, but with its day and night cycles, it’s really dangerous at night and you don’t really have any gear I don’t think. Besides, Prof isn’t that far away from the other side of my portal.”

“O-Okay.”

Grian and Mumbo spawned in Helscraft right next to each other. They spawned on a small island that was half made of mycelium, half on fire. Grian was a little worried about the fact that Xisuma didn’t seem to be with them, but that was probably fine? Maybe he had been there before and when spawning in, he appeared there instead.

There seemed to be some sort of water around the island, but it didn’t quite look right as it was a bright red color. Grian carefully plucked a wing and dipped it into the water. It didn’t get burnt or damaged or anything, so that was a good sign.

Mumbo looked in a chest on the island and found it filled with boats. The wood seemed to be slightly pink, like a slightly more colorful jungle boat. He placed it into the water and got in, Grian climbing in behind him. “Well, while everything looks different in color, that island seems to be like the spawn island back home, and that out there looks like the shopping district.”

Grian looked into the distance. “Yeah, though it doesn’t look quite as populated as the one on Hermitcraft. I-Is that a giant blackstone castle?”

Mumbo squinted his eyes, looking back towards the larger island. It was a little hard to tell because it was against a black sky with few stars in sight, but Mumbo could make out what seemed to be the outline of a castle. “I’m guessing they have the same sort of starting seed, but they build whatever they want and it doesn’t match what we do.”

Grian agreed, and then Mumbo paddled them to the island. When they reached the shore, Mumbo got out first and then held a hand out to help Grian.

“Since I can fly, I’ll look at this place from above. You check on foot. Does that sound good?” Grian asked, getting a nod from Mumbo. “Great, let’s go.”

True groaned as the sunlight was blocked for a moment. Even with her sunglasses on and her eyes closed, she could tell when the light didn’t reach her closed eyes for a moment. Her best guess was someone decided to try and annoy her again by building something to fly in just the right place to annoy her, something that had happened more than once before. She moved her glasses to her forehead and set down the glass of wine she had been sipping from before walking to the edge of her sunbathing balcony and looking below to see who exactly was messing with her.

She groaned when she was Sense walking in the paths below. Of course it would be the resident evil genius causing trouble. And then as the light was blocked again, she turned her gaze skyward to see what exactly he had made this time. True expected some sort of redstone machine to be moving around up there, Sense trying to control it from below and put it in the right place. What she didn’t expect was for the thing in the air to be a person, specifically one with wings, not elytra, on their back.

Immediately True was rushing back into the castle. This was not happening. “WHISKEY!” She shouted at the top of her lungs. “STOP WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU’RE DOING AND CALL PROF! SENSE FINALLY FUCKING DID IT!” She heard some sort of response but didn’t really pay attention as she grabbed the armor and weapons she left inside. As soon as it was all re-equipped, she went back onto the balcony and scoured the skies.

It was easy to spot the avian in the sky, having gotten closer if anything. True drew her bow and aimed at the moving target, trying to follow his path. Then when she was sure her aim was right, she fired the arrow, watching it sail in the air.

Mumbo had been looking in every building he had come across, which had been harder than it sounded since the land of the island was damaged beyond belief. Rubble was everywhere and creeper holes littered the terrain. He kept looking up at Grian, hoping he would find something so that he wouldn’t need to bother with the buildings.

The redstoner was just climbing out of another building through the mostly blocked up door when he looked up in the sky. Grian was still flying, but he watched as one moment an arrow hit the avian and the next he was covered in fire and falling to the ground. Immediately Mumbo started running in Grian’s direction.

A few minutes before, Grian had finished looking at yet another section of the island from overhead and turned around to view the next one. He was so focused on the ground below, he wasn’t paying attention to the airspace around him until suddenly an arrow struck his wing. Fire from the arrow spread to his wings and the rest of his body, making it feel even worse.

Grian tried to flap his wings and move towards the water. He wasn’t sure what that stuff was, but he hoped it would put him out. The problem was that the arrow had hit his wing in just the right place that even twitching it slightly felt like agony. And since he only had use of one of his wings, the avian started plummeting to the ground. He at the very least managed to twist his body so that way his wings were below him so that the feathers helped soften his fall.

“Don’t worry. I got you Gri.” Grian heard Mumbo say and a moment later he could hear a bucket of water get spilled out, dousing the fire that was covering his body.

“Th-Thanks. Ow that hurt.” Grian thanked Mumbo and stood up to brush himself off. “I didn’t even notice that- mmph!” Grian was cut off as suddenly Mumbo’s lips met his in a kiss. His eyes widened in shock, especially as Mumbo tried to deepen the kiss. At that point Grian pushed him away. “Wh-What?!”

“Sorry. Just been a while. And with that just happened…” Mumbo gave a half smile. Grian sort of knew where he was coming from, but this hardly seemed like something to warrant a kiss like that. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks for the water. Won’t be able to fly for a bit though. I got shot right in the wing and even potions are going to have trouble with that.”

“Well I can help you with that later. That arrow came from the castle, so we should be careful about any more from there.”

Grian nodded, but then paused. If anyone was going to be shooting at him, it might be because they didn’t want him getting to Jrum. And if that were the case, then Jrum was in the castle. “Well then we should be going to the castle, right?”

Mumbo smiled. “Of course. Lead the way.” Mumbo gestured towards the castle and Grian rushed off, not hearing the words that were added on at the end. “My dear.”

Mumbo followed along behind Grian, heading towards the castle. He didn’t bother picking up the water that had been placed down. Who would care about that? In fact, he even threw the bucket behind him, not watching where it landed.

The bucket sailed through the air before finally landing with a thunk. Mumbo rubbed his head, glad that the item had been empty. “Who would throw an empty bucket?” He asked no one in particular before finally getting to the top of the hill. Sitting there was a water source, likely from the bucket. This should have been where Grian landed, but the avian was nowhere in sight. “I didn’t realize he had a bucket of water on him.” He then realized it was red instead. “Wait, this is water from here… Who placed this?”

Mumbo continued to look at the surrounding terrain and noticed the water had made the surrounding mycelium a bit muddy. There seemed to be two sets of footprints, and in one print, a feather had been stepped on. Said feather was a bright red, which could only belong to one person. Mumbo’s eyes followed the prints, watching as they went towards the castle. If Grian was anywhere, he would be there, so he started walking in that direction.

Grian raised an eyebrow as Mumbo held his hand, but he supposed it made sense with what just happened and them going into a dangerous area. They carefully walked through the halls of the castle, checking every room. So far there was no sign of Jrum, but there weren’t even signs of anyone. But then they were turning down one hallway and ran into someone who looked like Tango, except his skin was a lavender color, his hair even darker than Mumbo’s and his eyes glowing purple rather than red.

“It was easier to find you two than I thought.” The not Tango spoke, pulling out an axe of some sort of pink colored metal. He ran towards Grian and Mumbo, ready to attack, but then Mumbo pulled out a piece of TNT. Immediately not Tango stopped in his tracks, and then Mumbo was pulling Grian another direction, placing the TNT down and causing not Tango to scream.

“How’d you know that would work?” Grian asked as they ran.

“Didn’t, just had a slight hunch.” Mumbo replied. “Let’s go up those stairs.” And Grian looked over where Mumbo pointed, the two of them then turning to go that way.

Behind them, the not Tango tried to find another path. He didn’t get far though before running into Mumbo. In an instant the axe was out in front of him, ready to attack. “Gah! Don’t take a step closer or-” Not Tango looked around, surprised to not see Grian. “Where’d the bird go?”

“You saw him? Which way did he go?”

“You two already got separated? That’s so unlike you.” Not Tango answered. Mumbo looked away from the helsmit, who took the opportunity to attack. The redstoner noticed just in time and was able to dodge the attack, running to dive behind the block of TNT nearby. It obviously wasn’t the safest place, but it was still cover. One that happened to repel the not Tango, who freaked out at the block.

When Grian reached the top of the stairs with Mumbo, the redstoner pulled the two of them into a nearby room. It was thankfully empty, and Grian watched as Mumbo locked the door behind them. “Well, they know we’re here now. It would probably be good to deal with your wing, hmm?”

Grian nodded. “Yeah, it would be good to do that so I’m not hindered at all. We’ll probably need all the help we can get with this.”

Mumbo came over to Grian as he was busy climbing onto the table in the room so that Mumbo had a better platform to treat him on. Just as he was settling down, ready to shift his wings back into existence, Mumbo grabbed him from behind, the redstoner’s mouth suddenly on his neck. Grian gasped, not sure how to react, and before he could do anything, Mumbo was off him again, leaving a purplish-red mark on Grian’s neck.

Grian turned to face Mumbo, only to be kissed again. Grian wanted to complain, but Mumbo’s hand found the sweet spot on his back, right between his shoulder blades, and Grian couldn’t help but melt into the redstoner’s arms.

Mumbo panted as he reached the top of the stairs, having been chased by someone that almost looked like Zedaph. He had been cornered and nearly killed, but then the not Tango showed up and the two of them started fighting each other instead. Mumbo used the opening to run, getting up to the next floor. At the top of the steps, he thought about just standing there a bit longer to catch his breath, but then he heard what sounded like Grian behind a nearby door.

It sounded like he might have been hurt, so the redstoner rushed to the door and tried to open it, only to find it locked. Another noise from inside worried Mumbo, and he immediately had a pickaxe in his hand and broke down the metal door. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t this. In front of him was himself and Grian. The avian was sitting on a table as he kissed him, hands working on pulling the red sweater off. “What in the world?!”

Grian opened his eyes when Mumbo spoke, looking to see what the problem was. They then widened to the point they were practically bulging out of his skull as he saw Mumbo in the doorway as Mumbo was also currently kissing him.

Grian pushed Mumbo, the one kissing him, away so he could say something. “Mumbo?!”

The Mumbo who had been kissing Grian turned around to see the second version of him in the doorway before looking back at Grian. “Wait. You’re not Grifter.”

“Uh, no. I’m Grian? W-Which one of you is Mumbo?”

“I am!” Mumbo spoke up, attempting to go to Grian’s side, but his hels counterpart stopped him.

“And I’m Sense. Are you sure you’re Grian though? Because your body is just the same as I remember Grifter having~. The same soft lips and strong muscles. And I’m sure you have the same-”

Grian felt Sense’s hand start to move down his back as he spoke, so the avian shoved him away. “Nope! We are not doing this! Absolutely not!”

Sense pouted and gave a huff. “Fine, then what are you doing here?”

“We’re here looking for our son.” Mumbo replied. “I’m guessing since you didn’t realize this was Grian, you haven’t seen him.”

“What would that have to do with it?” Sense replied. “Though didn’t realize he was your son too. Anyway, of course I’ve seen him.” When Grian opened his mouth, Sense stopped him by continuing. “Oh, but I won’t be telling you anything just like that. I need something out of it.”

“Oh ew no!” Grian replied, moving behind Mumbo.

“Oh please, I wouldn’t want that. Okay maybe if you were offering… but no, if you can get here from your little Hermitcraft world, you might be able to get to the last season of Helscraft.”

“And why would you want that?” Mumbo asked.

“Grifter got left behind, and none of us can go back there ourselves. I mean, there are a few here who can, but no one who’s willing to actually free Grifter.”

“I’m afraid we can’t either. Xisuma’s the one who brought Grian and I here. And I doubt he would want to send us anywhere else.”

Sense scoffed in irritation. “Fine, then I have one other option, but you’ll need to help me out Grian.”

Grian winced, clinging tighter to Mumbo. “Wh-What do you want?”

“I’m really a fan at how True is running this place. I would have loved to be emperor, but without Grifter, I didn’t have a chance. However, if you’re with me, I can make a bluff for the throne.”

Grian hesitated, weighing his options. Finally, he sighed. “Okay. Fine.”

“Grian, you don’t have to say yes.”

“If it’ll help us find him, I’m going to do it.” Grian stopped hiding behind Mumbo. “I’m in. Just as long as any contact from you stays above the waist!”

Sense frowned at that. “Really? Because-”

“Touch anything below that, and you won’t have hands to try again with.”

“Alright, alright. I won’t!” Sense replied, actually smiling slightly. “In fact and attitude like that should help sell it. Now let’s go find True. I’d stay in here if I were you Mumbo. Wouldn’t want you ruining things and not be able to get that information.”

Mumbo wanted to argue, but Sense was already out of the room dragging Grian behind, leaving the hermit to find a place to sit and wait.

“There you go. Th-Those wings should work fine for you.” A pig hybrid spoke, putting down a clipboard.

NPG helped Jrum down from the examination table he had been sitting on. “Thanks Prof! Let’s go test them out Jrum!”

“O-Oh, by the way, you two should be careful out there.” Prof stopped the brothers before they could leave. “I g-got a message from True. A-Apparently she saw Grifter. I would th-think she mistook you for him again… e-except you’ve obviously here.”

“Oh! Then I suppose we will need to be very careful as we attempt to fly.” NPG replied, starting to leave again, but this time Jrum stopped him.

“Um, NPG? How long have I been here exactly?”

“Hmmm… Maybe half a day? Not too long.”

“But I was out for a while trying to get to that place in the nether… So I’ve been gone longer than that. Maybe that’s not the Grifter person, but maybe that’s my dad looking for me?”

“Oh! That’s probably it! Even more of a reason to try flying! So we can go over to the castle and see if that’s him!”

“Well i-if you’re going to do that, stay safe.” Prof smiled and waved goodbye to the two robots before going back to his other work. “Hmm… l-looks like Xannes is trying some new scheme. G-Guess I’ll have to go over there now to stop him.”

Xisuma woke up with a literal jolt as something shocked his arm. He tried to move to see what it was, only to find himself unable to move anything, being tied down to a chair. “Mind telling me why you brought Grifter here?” A deep voice spoke, one X was very familiar with.

“Evil X? Where am I?” Xisuma tried to turn his head around even a little to see where his brother was.

“You happen to be in my base. I coded in something so that you would be brought here if you ever came to Helscraft. I never expected it would actually be used. But right now I’m very grateful for it.” Now Evil X walked into Xisuma’s line of sight. He was surprised to see that his brother wasn’t wearing a helmet, then noticing that he himself wasn’t wearing one either. “Where’s my helmet?”

“Oh you don’t need that. I know it helps you access all your fun little admin powers like mine gives me my hacks. The air here is breathable so you don’t need to worry about that and we can have a nice little chat. Now. Why did you bring Grifter here?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Evil X smacked Xisuma with a shovel. “Wrong answer, try again.”

“No, I’m serious. I don’t know what you mean. I came here with two of my Hermits, that’s all!”

“You? Bringing hermits with you? Why?”

“Someone from here kidnapped one of their sons.”

Evil X cursed. “You brought Grian and Mumbo. That’s not going to end well. NPG’s got the kid so I have a clue of where he might be. The question is how fast we can find them.”

“Who’s NPG? And you still haven’t explained about ‘Grifter’.”

“NPG is the closest thing we have to Grian here. Technically, that title would go to Grifter, but none of us can deal with him. We locked him up and left him behind in our old world. Look me in the eyes brother.” Evil X stared at Xisuma, waiting until the hermit was looking back. “I want to destroy your server. I want it to burn to the ground. I wouldn’t mind if all your hermits died and couldn’t… well okay, maybe just had trouble respawning. We grief and steal and have actual wars here. But I would never, not in a million years, ever want you to deal with Grifter. That’s how bad he is. And right now, it seems like the others here think Grian is.”

Xisuma immediately tried to stand up, only finding himself struggling in his bindings. “Then we need to stop that.”

“No, we don’t need to do anything. This is my server, I’m dealing with it.” Evil X started to walk away, but Xisuma heard him stop walking for a moment. “Plus, I wouldn’t mind having you own me in the long run.”

#hermitcraft #jrumbot #npg #npc grian #helscraft #grian #avian!Grian #mumbo jumbo #Hels hermits #helsmits #hels!Mumbo #hels!False #hels!Tango #hels!Doc #evil xisuma #xisumavoid #My writing

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ashwolffe · 3 years

Text

Hello, I finished Chapter 2 for my Legend centric fic!

Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning with slightly puffy eyes. I sighed at my reflection and ran my fingers through my pink hair. No one would notice unless they looked closely at my freckled face. I rubbed my eyes before exiting the bathroom.

I went back to my room to grab my boots and I passed Hyrule in the hallway. I ruffled his hair as he passed by me. He yawned and didn't even bother to fix his hair. He meandered downstairs. I slipped in and pulled my boots on before going downstairs. I could smell bacon and eggs frying.

I went straight into the kitchen/dining room, and sat down next to a sleepy Hyrule. He had a mug of coffee in his hands. Wind was chatting away with Warriors as per usual. Sky was surprisingly awake and was munching on some toast. Four was reading a book, Wild was helping Malon cook. I heard a door open and close, I turned to see Time carrying a small bucket filled with apples.

Apples… I haven't had one in a long time. They're honey crisp too, hmmm. I think I'll take one later. Time had noticed my eyeing the fruit and decided to toss me one. I leaned back in my chair in surprise before catching it. I rubbed the apple on my shirt before munching on it. It tastes as good as I remember...

~~~~

I gathered up my gear and made sure everything was ready to go. I accidentally knocked over my box of rings and they scattered all over the floor.

"Oh, for the love of Hylia!' I swore, before getting down on my knees to pick up the scattered rings. I heard the creak and Wind poked his head in.

"Can I help you?" He questioned and I nodded my head. He immediately got down on his knees and helped me pick up the scattered rings. Working together we picked up all the rings and I tied the box shut.

"Good idea! Now the rings won't spill next time it falls. Do you need help packing?

I already finished 'cuz Hyrule helped me."

He grinned up at me. I smiled back briefly.

"Nah, I'm pretty much finished now. I just need to get my gear then I'm ready to go." I smiled and got him in a headlock and rubbed my knuckles on his head.

"Hey! Legend! Leggo!" Wind squawked while he thrashed about, trying to break free of my grip.

"What's going on here?!" Warriors poked his head through the doorway and I immediately released the fuming teen.

"Nothing," I grinned at him before stuffing my ring box into my satchel. I picked up my gear and turned around to see Wind holding a pillow threatenly towards Wars.

"If you tell anyone about this, I'll smother you with my pillow!" He threatened, swinging it around. I cleared my throat loudly. Wind threw the pillow into Wars' face and sprinted past him. Wars threw the pillow on the bed.

"I'll get him back for that. Not now, but later. By the way, it was about him spilling ink all over Twilight's tunic." He snickered loudly and walked out of the room. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

I exited the room, making sure to shut the door.

~~~~

Everyone was packed up and ready to go. Malon and Time were talking, the early morning sun glinting off his armor. The sun caught Malon's hair just right and her hair glowed a gentle red. Why does it remind me of…. I shook my head to clear it. Malon hugged Time and he kissed her forehead.It won't hurt to give Epona an apple about now. I hurried over to the mare, who was laden with everyone's spare bags and satchels. I plucked an apple out of Wild's bag and offered it to Epona. She took it from my hand and quietly munched until it was all gone.

“Hey Legend, ready to go?” Hyrule questioned, brushing his long locks out of the way.

“Yeah… You need a haircut.” I chuckled when he blushed embarrassed.

“I know, but I kinda like it long. I like braiding it.” I hummed in agreement before handing him one of my spare hair ties.

“Here, this should help keep your hair up.” He blushed again before taking it and proceeded to tie his hair up.

~~~~

I was in the back of the group when the portal opened up underneath my feet. I gave a startled cry and Wind grabbed my arm. Wind strained desperately trying to pull me up but he wasn’t strong enough.

“Let go, Wind. I’ll be okay.” I promised the young teen. Tears sprung up in his eyes.

“Legend!” He cried, tears dripped down onto my face. My wrist was slipping out of his grip.

“Wind! Let go, or you’ll fall with me!” I gave him a pleading look. He choked audibly before I forced him to let go.

I fell for what felt like an eternity before slamming onto sand. It was in the evening so the sand was nice and cool. I laid there for a moment before climbing to my feet. I’ve never been here, but it looks familiar to me. What a minute…

“I’m in Wild’s hyrule! And I’m in the desert… Just lovely.” I grumbled the last bit, surveying the land. That looks like the hotel Wild mentioned staying in before he figured out how to get into Gerudo Town.

I groaned and trudged over to the hotel. keeping an eye out for monsters, I pulled out my lantern. It's getting dark quickly, I need to get to the hotel soon. I can use my boots but that means I need to put up my lantern….

"Screw this," I growled and put my lantern back and used my pegasus boots. My feet pounded into the sand, it felt like the sands of Koholint… I shook my head furiously, clearing my thoughts. Speeding across the sand caused bits to fly up into my face but I ignored it.

A rumbling sound caused me to pause mid run. Skidding to a stop, I stared up at the sky. Dark thunder clouds were covering the once clear sky. Oh nonononono. Immediately, I began running again. I'm not getting caught in another storm!

Panic rose up within me like a tidal wave as thunder shook the sands. Choking, I staggered and tripped over a lizalfos' tail. I face planted in the sand. I spat out sand and flipped back onto my feet. The monster paid no attention to me and burrowed under the sand. Oh nonononono! How bad is this storm?

Lightning flashed and the ground shook, thunder rumbling from the skies above. My whole body began shaking violently as I started running again. Not another storm, please! Don't make me go through this again! Please, someone help me. I kept going but Koholint kept flashing before my eyes.

"Link, where are you going?"

"Stop it, she's gone!" I cried. The rain hit me like a brick wall. I fell to damp sand and mud splashed everywhere. I forced myself to my feet and stared in horror as a raft flashed before my eyes. The crudely made raft was being tossed around like a toy.

I was on the raft and I was scrambling to pull the sail down so it wouldn't rip. My hackles raised up, sparks gathering around my rings and the mast.

"Legend run!" Wild screamed, I bolted forward snapping out of my dazed state but it was too late.

"Grahhhhhh!" I screamed in agony as a blinding hot fire exploded across my back. Then, it all went black.

"Legend, is he okay?!"

"Legend!!!"

"Everybody move!"

~~~

I opened my eyes just a crack. The ceiling above is a light blue and I can hear crickets chirping. Opening my eyes fully, Hyrule's worried green eyes looked straight into mine.

"Legend, you're awake." His voice was cracking as he gently hugged me.

"I thought I lost my brother." I moved my arms to hug him but to my dismay only one of my arms could move.

"It's alright, Hyrule." My left arm is in a sling, I think it's fried.

"What happened while I was out?" I asked him after he let me go. He sat down on the bed.

"You were hurt real bad, so Wild teleported us to Zora's domain. They were able to heal you, but you will need bed rest for a while. Your body is utterly spent." He ran his fingers through his long hair. I hummed softly.

"Go to sleep, Hyrule."

"I'll try. I just-"

"Stay, and rest here. The bed is big enough for the both of us." I drummed my fingers thoughtfully on the bed.

"... okay." He got up to get what I assume to be his blankets while I struggled to keep my eyes open. My eyes fluttered half shut by the time Hyrule came back. I felt the bed dip as he crawled across the gigantic mattress.

His hand gently brushed the hair out of my eyes before he laid down next to me. His radiated heat, it was warm and inviting. He's like a little grizzly cub. I smiled before yawning loudly.

"Night, Legend." he murmured.

"Night, 'Rule." I sighed softly before falling into a deep sleep.

#lu legend #emotional whump #whump writing #linked universe fanfic angst #lu fanfic #loz au #major injury #big brother legend #koholint island

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specterchasing-a · 3 years

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Let The Words Fall Out || Alfie & Eddie

TIMING: Current

PARTIES: @yikesimonfire & @specterchasing

SUMMARY: Eddie heads over to Alfie’s apartment during a time when they could both use the company. One thing leads to another, and Eddie decides to be honest for both of their sakes.

CONTENT: Internalized homophobia tw

There was no reason for Eddie to risk climbing from one balcony to another. Alfie agreed to let him come over, and would likely answer the door for him if he knocked. But his legs were already dangling on either side of the conjoined railing by the time he realized his options. At any rate, the balcony route felt more familiar to Eddie, something he appreciated now more than ever. He preferred things this way. It almost felt normal.

“Hey,” he greeted his neighbor as he slid the glass door open. Usually, his arrivals came with more panache, but recent events watered down his usual flair. Eddie considered Alfie for a moment, a sad smile pursing his lips. As expected, the atmosphere between them felt different now. He didn’t want it to, but when had he ever gotten a say in that sort of thing, anyway?

“So, we’re clear to be total bummers today, right?” Eddie questioned as he plopped down beside Alfie on the couch. “‘Cause, I gotta admit, I’m gonna have trouble if we’re supposed to play happy.”

“Hey,” Alfie croaked in response. After he told Eddie to come over, he’d taken up his usual spot on the couch. Waiting. His palms were sweaty by the time the other man sauntered in; fists clenched hard enough that his short nails bit into his skin. There was no denying that Alfie had a tendency to be rigid — standoffish, even — but the way he held himself now was something Eddie very rarely experienced. Halloween 2017, to be precise, not that Alfie was even remotely thinking about that now. No, he was too busy wondering if he was making too much (or too little?) eye-contact to be worried about how tense the rest of his body was.

As Eddie joined him on the couch, Alfie forced a laugh and slackened his shoulders a considerable amount. The tension was still present, but with any luck it wasn’t noticeable. “Total bummers,” he agreed. “I couldn’t fake something like that right now, anyway. Not going to ask you to do it.”

Alfie’s lips pressed into a tight line as he glanced at Eddie. The sad look in his eyes reminded him of the last time they were alone together. Since then, Alfie’s jealousy had shed its skin to reveal tatters of guilt and sadness beneath. Did it show?

“This whole Nell thing, it — it’s been rough.” Far worse than it would have been if things were normal between him and Eddie.

Eddie noticed as tension faded from Alfie’s frame, same as he noticed some of it remained. So, this was the new normal: fake laughs, forced eye contact, and regret. He felt the familiar itch to reach out and touch him in a way he hoped would be soothing, but he couldn’t do that anymore. It meant something different now, something less harmless. Eddie felt an awful surge of jealousy for the man he used to be, the one who could place a hand on Alfie’s arm and feel warmth instead of guilt. Now, he had to settle for busying his hands by twiddling his thumbs in his lap.

“Yeah, I bet,” Eddie said with a nod. He couldn’t look at Alfie for too long, not when every glance felt like prodding at open wounds. “I think I’m still in shock.” His mind was filled to the brim with rapidly swimming thoughts that picked at his peace of mind like underfed piranhas. It was all too much, too much to keep to himself.

“You can still talk to me about anything,” Alfie told him earlier in the day via text. Eddie desperately wanted to believe him, so he took a leap of faith.

“Bex is missing too,” Eddie blurted. “I think she is, anyway. Either that, or ignoring me.” He resented himself for not knowing which option he preferred. “And… something else happened too.” His eyes closed tightly for a moment as he recalled his conversation with Morgan. When they opened, his gaze turned to Alfie. He ignored how badly it hurt.

“I think I’m making a mistake, Alfie,” he confessed, his voice barely above a whisper.

Alfie bobbed his head in agreement. These days, he was all too familiar with the feeling of ‘shock’. Eddie and Bex. Eddie in his office. Nell’s strange behavior. Nell’s disappearance. Just because he could count it on one hand didn’t make any of it less disconcerting. “Bex is missing too.” Five fingers now.

“Oh,” Alfie very nearly whispered. Of course. Everything was always about Bex. It shouldn’t have come as any surprise. If he wanted to maintain a friendship with Eddie, he would have to get over hearing about her. Eddie needed him to; that’s what friends were for.

A sixth metaphorical finger was raised when the words “I think I’m making a mistake” fell from Eddie’s lips. Alfie’s brow raised, his head turning slightly towards Eddie with a look of confusion — and concern — etched into his features. “I don’t think they’re related,” he began slowly, careful of the words he chose. As far as Alfie was aware, Bex wasn’t part of Nell’s search-and-rescue mission. “But, with all of these portals opening and closing, I—” A soft sigh escaped him before his knees turned inward to Eddie’s own. “I can’t imagine she’s ignoring you, Eddie.” He wanted to tell him that he wouldn’t if he were Bex — if Eddie was his boyfriend. “Why would she?” he murmured instead.

Alfie didn’t understand, but Eddie couldn’t blame him. Vague confessions rarely led to clarity, and the amount of information he dumped in his lap only made things murkier. He needed to choose his words more carefully to make sure he didn’t do more harm than he already had. Eddie nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he fell back against the couch.

“No,” he said unhelpfully, shaking his head lightly as he recalibrated. “I mean, plenty of reasons, actually.” Morgan supplied him with a thorough explanation as to why Bex might cut ties with him. Bex didn’t seem to agree with her, but she didn’t have a view of the full picture, and Eddie trusted Morgan enough not to divulge a secret like his. Not yet, he hoped. If he was lucky, he still had time to prove he wasn’t as bad as she thought.

“But that’s…. I think something else is going on, something worse.” With Bex, the safe bet was always on the worst case scenario. “And that should be all I’m worried about. She’s my girlfriend, I should be consumed with concern, and—and I am.” He nodded as he spoke, relieved that the words felt true. “But there’s more to what I’m worried about than a few missed messages.” Eddie’s appreciation for his own honesty already started to wane.

“Last time I saw you in person, you said I owed it to myself to try being with her.” Eddie’s gaze fell onto Alfie again. “Let’s be honest, you only said that because it’s what you thought I wanted to hear, and you weren’t… wrong, but…” He trailed off, scanning Alfie’s face as silence overtook the conversation for the time being. Eddie found comfort in the familiar lines and curves he observed. He let out a breath. “This isn’t right,” he said. “I’m being selfish by making her play a part in the lies I tell myself.” Fear rooted itself in his eyes as he realized there was no coming back from what he was about to say. “Alfie, I’m gay.”

It was physically impossible, but Alfie was certain that his heart leapt out of his throat at Eddie’s confession. The words preceding it were a rollercoaster of emotions; sadness, jealousy, empathy, and a hint of regret. Of course Eddie was worried about Bex. After all, they were friends when Alfie first met her and he knew firsthand what it was like to be concerned for someone’s well being that he cared for platonically. In one fell swoop, whatever jealousy he felt towards Bex and Eddie’s relationship dissipated. Of course. Everything Eddie said weeks ago suddenly clicked. He shouldn’t have been so relieved. It was selfish to think that this changed anything, though. At the end of the day, Eddie was still just his friend and he needed to support him now more than ever.

Shifting slightly in his seat, Alfie offered a small smile. “Me too,” he blurted, a gentle laugh trailing behind. “You… already knew that.” His eyes searched Eddie’s for a moment as he wracked his mind for something more substantial. But words never came easy for Alfie — something Eddie was well aware of by now. Desperate to fill the silence, Alfie reached out and tentatively squeezed Eddie’s upper arm, never breaking their shared gaze.

“I’m proud of you, Ed,” he dared to say. “I— I know that doesn’t make anything less terrifying for you, but I am, if that counts for anything.”

The fear in Eddie’s eyes shifted into relief upon hearing Alfie’s response. He let out a soft laugh that mixed with a restrained sob in the back of his throat. He didn’t expect to be met with rejection or scorn, not from Alfie, but he didn’t think comfort would be possible so soon. His gaze fell to their laps momentarily as his body relaxed. He was safe, he was okay, if only within the walls that surrounded him. That was enough, for now. His eyes quickly reclaimed their connection with Alfie’s, exuding voiceless gratitude as silence reintroduced itself. Eddie didn’t mind the quiet, for once.

His gaze flickered to Alfie’s hand as it reached for his arm before he leaned into the contact as much as he comfortably could, as if pleading for it to not end.

To say Alfie’s next words caught him off-guard would be an understatement. Eddie couldn’t remember the last time someone told him they were proud of him. Surely, this wasn’t the first time some expressed pride in him, but it felt an awful lot like a first. Tears bloomed in his eyes, two or three adventurous drops spilling down his cheeks, as he stared at Alfie with unbridled admiration.

“You have no idea, do you?” he asked quietly. Eddie understood Alfie underestimating how important he was, but he wouldn’t abide by it. “Out of everyone I know, there isn’t anyone else I would rather hear say that to me.” Alfie ranked higher than Eddie’s parents when it came to people he wanted to impress; higher than anyone else he’d ever met. “You are the most important person in my life, Alfie, hands down. If it wasn’t for you, I might not even know this part of me existed.” Eddie realized he might be getting a little ahead of himself and took a moment to recover. “Not saying that I think you’re the reason I’m gay, pretty sure that would’ve been a thing either way, but… the way I feel about you, have felt about you, makes it a little less terrifying. With you, it just feels so natural, y’know? Like taking a breath, or checking the weather. How I feel about you shows me that I’m not broken, because who in their right mind could get to know you the way I do and not feel this way?”

“I am still scared, and I don’t know what’s next, but I do know that I’m an idiot for ever thinking this is something I could run from, or that I wanted to run from it in the first place.” Eddie’s voice shook as he spoke, exposing his lack of confidence, but he persisted in spite of doubt. “Being with Bex showed me how rare whatever it is that’s between us is, and it’s also shown me how much it hurts to live without it. I don’t wanna trade you in for something the world expects from me, not when I have a chance at being happy with someone who makes me feel like there’s a future worth sticking around for.”

The tears in Eddie’s eyes warned Alfie that he said something wrong, but his facial expression told a completely different story. His first instinct was to brush the tears away, although he questioned whether or not it was appropriate. Before he had a chance to decide what was proper, Eddie began showering him with compliments that rendered him speechless. Alfie’s brow knit together and his eyes searched Eddie’s face, as if he’d find more truth there than the words being spoken. As much as he wanted to believe each syllable that spilled from Eddie’s painfully beautiful lips, his mind was clouded with disbelief.

“How?” Alfie finally uttered with a small shake of his head. “After the way I’ve treated you, Eddie? I— How?” A knot formed in his throat as Eddie spoke and it kept his own thoughts from bubbling to the surface. “After that?” After the conversation in Eddie’s apartment. After he dodged straightforward answers with someone he considered his best friend? After years of playing hot and cold, all because he didn’t know how to cope with his feelings for Eddie?

The hand against Eddie’s arm was quickly displaced to brush his hair back as remorse replaced the look of bewilderment on Alfie’s face. “You don’t deserve that— you didn’t— you never did,” he warbled. Soon after, his fingers moved away from Eddie’s face and reclaimed its position against his arm. “You’re right. I told you to try it with Bex because I thought that’s what you wanted to hear — because you were upset, and I’d already made it so much worse by not being supportive. Because you deserve something — someone good. Someone that makes you happy, and I…” Tears stung at his own eyes as he choked over his words. “I made everything worse, so how…? How?”

Considering the man he just confessed his love to was Alfie Ramirez, Eddie should have seen disbelief on the horizon. Even under the guise of friendship, getting Alfie to accept a compliment felt more like pulling teeth than telling someone they looked nice. It broke Eddie’s heart, the way he never saw himself as a person worthy of being told how phenomenal he was. And, he really was phenomenal. Despite their past and the way Alfie made Eddie question his significance, he kept hanging onto their friendship because the moments he knew Alfie valued him made uncertainty worth it when it reappeared.

“Do you have any idea how much hell I would raise if you pulled the same stunt I did?” Eddie asked with a shake of his head. His hand raised with a thumb extended and ready to wipe away Alfie’s tears. He sometimes forgot how priceless the small beads of liquid were, but that could be blamed on Alfie’s emotional state outweighing all else in his mind. If he could, Eddie would forge a future where Alfie never felt the need to cry again. “The whole town would burn.”

“You earned that reaction,” Eddie insisted. After a moment of nervous hesitation, his hand gently repositioned to cup Alfie’s cheek. “Don’t worry, I’m not saying I deserved how it made me feel or anything, but I think both of us were justified in how we acted, don’t you? So, maybe we weren’t graceful about it. Oh, well, this is life, not The Nutcracker.” He shrugged softly as his thumb gingerly brushed back-and-forth against Alfie’s skin. His heart raced faster than usual, the anxiety of his confession still present, but he willed himself to remain in the moment he currently shared with Alfie. There would be time to worry later. Now, he needed to play his part in making sure they landed on their feet after weeks of free-falling.

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re perfect. Stubborn, self-deprecating, reclusive, and you have the worst diet I’ve ever seen, but still perfect.” It felt freeing to admit to Alfie how he felt about him without worrying his secret might be discovered. Without the burden of stealth, Eddie felt more like himself than he had in a very long time. “All you’ve ever done is given me something to look forward to, whether it was feeling you close to me or hearing you say my name like you wanted to strangle me. I’ve never cared much either way because, deep down, I know what our foundation is built on.” And that was love. Now that he was free to be himself, it seemed like he couldn’t stop from overflowing with all the words that had been left unsaid over the years. It made him feel both excited and uneasy at the same time.

The notion that all of White Crest would be reduced to ash if Alfie got into a relationship elicited a chuckle from him. No matter how emotionally-charged the conversation was, Eddie still managed to make him laugh. The bastard. His eyes closed at the sensation of Eddie’s thumb against his cheek and he let out a content hum. It felt surreal.

Naturally, Eddie wasn’t finished with his typical comic relief; something Alfie was more than happy to oblige. “For the record, Doritos are cholesterol free and have two whole grams of protein.” His lashes fluttered open as he shot Eddie an impish grin. But even in the midst of their banter, Eddie found a way to keep them on topic.

Alfie wasn’t keen on believing everything the other man said about him, expertly deflecting each compliment with humor instead. That had always been their normal, after all. Even in high school, well before their friendship blossomed beyond acquaintanceship, passing comments from Eddie were brushed off with nervous laughter and self-deprecating jokes. During their more recent years as neighbors, Eddie came to know him better than most; arguably, better than anyone else in his life. But no matter how much more sincere the compliments became, Alfie could never fully accept them. He’d run the risk of falling for Eddie if he did, not that he was at all successful at delaying the process.

For the first time, Alfie allowed himself to lean in to Eddie’s touch, turning his cheek towards the hand pressed against it. His breath quivered as a cocktail of emotions coursed through him; excitement, nervousness, relief. “Can we just… stay like this?” he said finally, still reluctant to accept Eddie’s songs of praise. He wanted to relish the moment without worrying about Nell or his curse — or worse yet, Bex. Right. Bex. Savoring the moment was a fool’s errand so long as she was still technically in the picture. This was fleeting — even if only for the time being.

Eddie tittered at Alfie’s Dorito-inspired interjection. “In that case, I take it back, your diet is clearly the best it can be,” he said with a matching grin. If he wasn’t mistaken, things were beginning to feel like they did before the night at the bar. Better, actually, when he thought about it. Now, nothing stood between them except for his unfortunate relationship status. Eddie felt queasy at the idea of explaining to Bex why he couldn’t be with her, but he knew it needed to happen sooner rather than later. When he heard from her next (he couldn’t cope with thinking in terms of ‘if’), he would set the record straight. And he knew someone who could help him do exactly that, if that bridge hadn’t been reduced to ashes, at least.

When Alfie asked if they could stay the way they were with his cheek pressing into the palm of Eddie’s hand, the urge to kiss him was undeniably strong. He managed to refrain by promising himself to make up for lost time in the future.

“Of course, we can,” Eddie said as if it were obvious. “Just not yet.” His hand parted with Alfie’s cheek as he moved forward to wrap his arms around him. Clinging to him on the couch made for a mildly awkward position, but it was worth it to feel him close. “I know I’ve already kept you waiting for too long, but I need a little more time to clean up the mess I made. I don’t want anything I’ve done to take away from good this is.” His face nestled into the crook of Alfie’s neck. “I know exactly what I have to do.”

#c: alfie #wickedswriting #let the words fall out #// oh it's GAY #internalized homophobia tw

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shinygoldstar · 3 years

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Snowflake part 11 (DannyMay Alone)

Part 1 | Part 10 | AO3 | Part 12

The metal staircase clinked as light footsteps trod down to the basement lab. The siblings paused and turned towards the stairs.

"Hey Jazz. Oh! Danny you're awake! How are you feeling sweetie?" Maddie greeted, walking down the stairs.

Danny shifted in his blankets, "Mhmmnm, better than this morning. Jazz said you found an old acquaintance?"

"Yes,” Maddie walked over to her children, “our acquaintance, the professor was an honorary member of our paranormal club back in the college days. He's an expert on radioactive substances; we're hoping he could lend us his experience to help us diagnose your case. If we can isolate the root cause of the ectoplasm's unusual adherence to your body then it should be easier for us to expel it from your system. The roads outside are frozen solid right now so we’ll be using the four-wheel RV to drive over to pick him up in Springfield. Hopefully we’ll be back before nightfall. Will you two be okay alone?"

The siblings nodded, "We'll be fine Mom, I'll take care of things here." Jazz answered with a small smile.

Maddie hugged Jazz then pressed her hands against the glass wall that separated her son from the world. From his side, Danny placed his two hands against hers. So close yet so far. "I'll be back soon" Maddie promised her children, "Call me if you have any problems."

Jazz nodded, "Travel safe Mom."

The two siblings sat together leaning against the glass in comfortable silence. Jazz had pulled a chair over to sit closer to Danny. The hole in the wall where the portal was once affixed to is now boarded up, its metallic components dismantled to study the effects of ectoplasmic energy in hopes of understanding how it affects living organisms. Without the portal, the lab had felt lighter somehow, easier to breathe, like an unknown weight have been lifted from the atmosphere. But on its off days, usually on stormy days like today, the heavy oppressing weight returns. She wasn't sure if it's just the low air pressure tricking her senses but on days like these, the shadows around the table corners seemed to expand, making the room darker under the lab’s artificial lights.

“Hey Jazz,” Danny called, staring up at the ceiling, “do you think I would get better?”

Jazz turned to face him, “Of-of course!” she piped up with a bit of forced optimism, “Mom and Dad said the professor could help. You’ll be better soon!”

Danny looked down at his left hand, “I- I didn’t quite tell the whole story to Mom. The accident I mean. I-” Danny shivered, mist leaving his mouth in steaks of pale blue.

“Could you turn up the heat a bit more please?” Jazz increased the temperature.

“Thanks Jazz. I-” Danny forged on, “I- it was more than just a small shock. It- it was-” Danny choked up, shaking. Jazz quickly stood up to comfort him but was stopped by the glass. She pressed her hands against the glass, it felt hot under her hands. “Take deep breaths Danny, you’re here with me, your sister Jazz. Breathe in, breathe out. You’re safe here Danny.” Jazz stood next to the glass wall with her hands pressed against the glass, continuously repeating calm words to Danny. Eventually Danny’s breathing slowed down from its rapid ragged pace.

“Danny, you’re safe here. It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me what it is right now.” Jazz looked at Danny, giving him a small watery smile.

Danny didn’t say anything but his eyes showed gratitude as he tried to calm down his breath. They continue to remain in the same position, the sauna room’s engine running a small white noise hum in the background.

Eventually Jazz’s legs tire from standing still too long. Shifting on her legs, Jazz broke the silence, “Hey Danny, are you hungry? I’m going to heat up some soup. Do you want some?”

Danny blearily blinked his eyes open waking up from the comfortable haze he’s in, “Sure, thanks Jazz.” Jazz smiled softly, heading towards the stairs. “You’re the best.” Danny continued half-whispering with a sleepy smile, not entirely fully conscious.

The door to the kitchen opened and closed, leaving a small gap letting light into the dim lab. Danny yawned. He’s getting sleepy again.

Danny hiccupped. And again. And again. By the third time he hiccupped Danny frowned, opening his eyes. He hiccupped again, this time he can see the blue mist wafting out from his mouth. Annoyed, he tried to hold the hiccups in. It didn’t abate. Instead of coming out of his mouth, he sneezed instead. Chocking coughing from the cool prickly sneeze, Danny quickly stood up before woozily falling back onto the blankets. He shifted his body to sit in better position but found blankets clinging to his hands and back. He pulled the blanket off his left hand with a dry scratchy sound. He did the same for the right hand and his back. Readjusting the blankets, Danny huddled under the blanket waiting for the hiccup to stop, hiccupping every once in a while.

In the dimly lit lab, the sauna room generator’s hum gently lulled him back to sleep.

Several minutes passed in a quiet hum. The lights flickered then went out. The soft hum quietened. The temperature in the room started dropping. The blankets grew stiff under Danny’s fingers.

“Danny?” Jazz’s voice echoed from the kitchen, “the storm just took out the lights. I’ll go take a quick look at the backup generator in the Ops Center. Please hold on for a few minutes. I’ll get the heat back soon!”

The lab was dark and silent.

Unnoticed by anyone, faint crystals of ice formed around the condensation that clung onto Danny when the temperature started dropping. Gathering in clumps of tiny white stars, the ice rapidly gained speed as the temperature fell further, gradually forming thin film around Danny. Water vapor in the air condensed and fell onto Danny, speeding up the ice.

A spark of bright light emerged from the center of Danny’s chest, flaring out freely unimpeded into rings of blinding white light, lighting up the lab in blinding white light.

The Ops Center was mostly barren, most of the ghost hunting equipment that once made the room a hazard to walk in was packed into boxes in the corner of the room. Jazz turned on her flashlight, looking for the emergency backup generator. Being a backup generator in an explosion prone house, said generator was kept in the furthest place from the source of explosions, that is, the Ops Center. A good decision under normal circumstances but right now, Jazz just finds it very inconvenient that it is placed so high up when she should be watching over her brother.

“There!” She flipped the manual switch. The engine hummed slowly, then faster as it warmed up its engines. Checking the engine to ensure it is working properly, Jazz stood up, brushing off the stale dust on her pants.

“Now back to Danny.” Jazz affirms to herself.

Jazz quickly climbed down the ladder stair that bridged the Ops Center and the main house. Walking down the second-floor stairs to the ground floor, Jazz noticed the railings looked oddly bumpy. Cautiously tapping it lightly with her forefinger, her fingers slid over the icy slippery surface, her fingers slightly melting the ice. ‘Ice?’ She thought. The shimmering melted part quickly lose its shine as it refroze. The translucent ice grew thicker under her careful eyes. “Danny!” she cried in alarm, rapidly walking down the stairs, mindful of the crunching of stiff carpet breaking under her shoes.

The kitchen floor was covered in frozen droplets of ice. “Danny!” Jazz cried, half walking half running towards the basement door. She tried to push the door open but it did not budge.

Pulling the door handle towards her the door yielded, swinging open with a stiff crunch. The doorway was entirely covered up in ice.

Ice that continues to expand at rapid pace outwards from the door now that it is no longer blocked.

Snow gently falls from the sky.

#snowflake au #danny phantom #dannymay2021 #one more to go #goldpost #DP

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beclynn-herondale · 4 years

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In Another Universe Chapter: 11 - Retrieving the Mortal Cup

It was still slightly raining when Simone pulled up at the corner and honked at them twice. Clar's heart took a leap, a part of him was worried she wouldn't come. Jayce squinted through the rain and said something about how the van looked like a rotting banana, which wasn't wrong.

Simone honked again. Clar saw her through the blurry wet windows. with a sigh he pulled his hood up over his head. "Come on, let's go."

They splashed through the filthy puddles on the pavement.

Simone crawled into the back to open the door for them, revealing the torn and beaten up seats, that had springs sticking out.

Isidore's nose wrinkled. "Are these safe to sit on?" "It's safer than riding on the roof," said Simone in a pleasant tone. "Which is your other option." She nodded a greeting at Jayce and Alec, ignoring Clar entirely. "Hi." "Hi indeed," said Jayce, and lifted a bag that held their weapons. "Where can we put these?" Simone pointed to the back, where the girls usually kept their instruments, while Alec and Isidore climbed into the van and sat on the seats.

"Shotgun!" Clar announced as Jayce made her back around the side of the van. Alec grabbed for her bow strapped across her back. "Where?" "He means he wants to sit in the front seat," said Jayce, pushing wet hair behind her ear. "It's something mundanes say."

"That's a very nice bow," said Simone, with a nod towards Alec. Alec blinked water off her eyelashes. "Do you know anything about archery?" she asked, in a tone of doubt. "I did archery camp," said Simone. "Six years of it." The response for this was three blank stares and Clar giving a supportive smile, which Simone ignored as well. She looked up at the sky.

"We should get going before it starts raining again." The front seat was covered in chip wrappers and food crumbs. Clar brushed as much as he could off. Simone put her foot to the pedal before he'd finished, and flung him back against the seat. "Ow," he said. "Sorry." She still didn't look at him.

Clar heard the soft talking of the others in the back, probably discussing battle plans and the best way to cut off a demons head with getting ichor on your new leather boots. There was nothing separating the others from the front of the van, Clar still felt the awkwardness between him and Simone.

"So what's up with the 'hi' thing?" he asked as Simone turned the car. "What 'hi' thing?" she replied. "The 'hi' thing that people do. How when you saw Jayce and Alec, you said 'hi' and they replied 'hi' back. Why not 'hello'?" "Hello is not badass," she informed him. "Real badasses are laconic."

"So you're saying the more badass you are, the less you say?" "Exactly." She nodded past him, he could see the east river. "That's why in the movies the badasses don't say a word, just nod. The nod means 'i am a badass, and I recognize that you are a badass as well,' but they don't say anything cause they are Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain it."

"I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about," said Jayce, from the back.

"Good," Clary said, and Simone gave him a small smile.

——————

When they got to Clar's house, the rain had stopped. Jayce, Alec, and Isidore, went to check the "demon activity levels" while they had Clar and Simone wait by the van.

Simone watched them as they went around the house. "Demon activity levels? Do demons like do workouts inside the house or something?" "No," Clar said and pushed his hood back. "The sensor tells them how powerful the demons are and if there are any demons around." Simone had an impressed look. "That's actually very helpful."

He looked at her. "About last night—" She held her hand up. "Don't. We don't need to talk about it. In fact I don't want to talk about it." "Let me say one thing," he spoke quickly. "I know when you said you loved me, my reply was not what you wanted." "True. I had always thought when I finally told someone 'I love you' they'd say 'I know' back, like in Starwars." "You're so geeky," said Clar, not able to help himself.

She gave him a glare. "Sorry," he said. "Look, Simone i—" "No," she said. "You look, Clar. Really look at me. Do you think you can do that?"

He looked at her. Looked at her brown eyes, her uneven eyebrows, her dark brown hair and shy smile and her hands graceful like a musician's that was all part of Simone, who was part of him. If he told the truth, could he really say that he'd never known she had loved him? Or that he had just never thought what he'd do about it if she did?

He sighed. "Seeing through glamour is easy. It's people that are difficult." "We see what we want to see," she said quietly. "Not Jayce," he said, thinking about those clear and emotionless eyes of her's. "Her more than anyone."

He gave a frown. "What—" "Okay," called Jayce's voice, interrupting their conversation. He turned to her. "We have checked it all, nothing. Very low activity. Most likely just Forsaken, and they probably won't bother us unless we bother them." "And if they do bother us," said Isidore, with a grin. "We'll take them down."

Alec pulled the bag out of the back of the van, dropping it onto the sidewalk. "You ready to kick some demon butt!" she announced. Jayce gave her a odd look. "Alec, are you ok?" "Fine." Not looking at her, Alec put her bow and arrows down in the back seat of the van and grabbed a wooden staff with two blades on the end. "This is much better." Isidore gave his sister a look of concern. "But your bow. . ." Alec cut him off. "I know what I am doing, Isidore."

The bow kay in the backseat, Simone reached a hand out to touch it, then drew back when she saw a group of young women pushing strollers down the street. They didn't notice the armed the three teenagers, standing by the van. "Why can I see you guys?" asked Simone. "What happened to your invincibility glamour?" "You can see us," said Jayce. "Because you know the truth of what you are looking at now." "Yeh," said Simone. "I suppose I do."

She fought a little when they insisted she stay back and wait with the van, Jayce told her the importance of needing getaway car by the curb and ready. "The sunlight is fatal for demons, but not to Forsaken. What if they come after us? What if the car were to get towed?"

The last Clar saw of Simone was her feet on the dash and going through Erica's CDs.

The moment they walked into the house the smell hit Clar, he couldn't quite describe it. it smelled like rotten eggs, bad meat and seaweed rotting in the hot sun. Isidore's nose wrinkled and Alec looked sick, but Jayce looked as if they were in a field of flowers and smelling the perfume of them. "There were demons here recently," she announced with a cold delight.

Clar with an anxious look, asked. "They aren't still here—" "Nope," she shook her head. "We would have picked it up on the sensor. Still." She jerked her chin towards Dorothea's door. "She may have questions to answer if the Clave finds out she has been dealing with demons." "I doubt the Clave will be happy to hear any of this," said Isidore. "Although, she'll probably fair better than us with this." "If we get the Cup they won't care," said Alec, looking around, her blue eyes taking in the foyer. "Especially if we take down a few Forsaken while we're at it." Jayce shook her head. "They are in the upper apartment. I guess that unless we try to get into the upper apartment, they won't bother us."

Isidore blew a strand of hair out of his face and frowned at Clar. "What you waiting for?" Involuntarily Clar glanced at Jayce, who gave him a sideways grin. Go on, her eyes said.

He walked across the foyer to Dorothea's door, gently stepping. The skylight was blackened with dirt and the entryway lightbulb was out, the only light came from Jayce's witchlight. He reached the door and knocked lightly, and then again with more force.

The door swung open, light spilling out into the foyer. There stood Dorothea.

"Clar!" she exclaimed, and swept him into a hug. "Good God, boy," she said, shaking her head. "The last I saw of you, you disappeared through my portal. Where did you end up?" "Williamsburg," he said. Her eyebrows went up. "And yet they say there is no convenient pubic transportation here in Brooklyn."

She swung the door open all the way and gestured them inside. The place looked to be unchanged, everything the same as it was when Clar was here last: The same tarot cards and crystal ball on the table. He had the urge to grab the cards. Dorothea sat down in a armchair and stared at the Shadowhunters with Beady eyes. Scented candles burned on the table, which didn't do much for the smell that was in the entire house.

"I am assuming you still haven't found your mother and sister?" she asked Clar. He shook his head. "No. But I know who took them, now."

Dorothea darted her eyes towards Alec and Isidore, who were looking closely at the Hand of Fate on the wall. Jayce, looking unconcerned in the slightest in her role as bodyguard was lounging against a chair arm.

Satisfied that the none of her stuff was being destroyed, Dorothea looked back to Clar. "Was it by chance—" "Valentine," Clar confirmed. "Yes." She sighed. "I feared that," she sat back in her chair. "Do you know what he wants from her?" "I know that she was married to him—" "Love gone terribly wrong. The worst."

Jayce made a soft, almost inaudible noise at that—a chuckle. Dorothea pricked her ears at that. "What is so funny, girl?" "What do you know about it?" she said. "Love, I mean." "More than you may think," she said. "I read your tea leaves, little Shadowhunter, remember? Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?"

Clar thought back to that day, when Jayce seemed to not be paying much attention to Dorothea reading their tea leaves and him drawing the ace of cups, in fact he was almost sure Jayce was probably only half there until the name Valentine came up. But he remembered Madame Dorothea saying something about her falling in love with the wrong person, and he wondered if she even cared.

Jayce said. "Unfortunately, my one and only true love remains to be myself." Dorothea roared. "Well, at least," she said. "You don't need to worry about rejection, Jayce Wayland." "Not necessarily, I do turn myself down occasionally, to keep things interesting."

Dorothea roared again. Clar interrupted her. "You are probably wondering why we are here, Madame Dorothea." "I figured," said Dorothea, "That you enjoyed the pleasure of my company. Am I wrong?" "I don't have time for the pleasure of someone's company. I need to help my mom and sister, and to do that there is something I need."

"And that is?". "It is something called the Mortal Cup," Clar said. "Valentine thought that my mother had it. That is why he took her." Dorothea looked astonished. "The Cup of the Angel?" she said in disbelief. "Raziel's Cup, in which he mixed the blood of angels and of men and gave it to man to drink, and created the first Nephilim?" "That's the one," said Jayce with dryness in her voice.

"Why would he think she had it?" Dorothea demanded. "Why Jocelyn, of all people?" Realization started to dawn on he before Clar could say anything. "Because she was not Jocelyn Fray at all, yes of course," she said. "Back then she was Jocelyn Fairchild, his wife. Who everyone thought was dead. She took the Cup and fled, didn't she?"

Clar thought he saw something flick in her eyes but it was gone so fast that he thought he Imagined it.

"So," said Dorothea, "have you any idea what you're going to do now? Wherever she has hidden it, t can't be easy to find—that is if you even want to find it. Valentine could do horrible things with it." "I want to find it," said Clar. "We want—" Smoothly Jayce cut him off. "We know where it is," she said. "It is simply a matter of retrieving it."

Dorothea widened her eyes. "Then where is it?". "It's here," said Jayce, in such a smug tone that Alec and Isidore came over from the bookcase they were looking at to see what was happening. "Here? As in you have it on you?"

"Not exactly," said Jayce, who, Clar felt was enjoying herself in an appalling manner. "I mean you have it." "That isn't funny in the least," she said with such a sharp tone that Clar was worried everything had gone terribly wrong. Why does Jayce always have to antagonize everyone? "You do have it," said Clar quickly. "But you—"

Dorothea sat up from her chair to her full height and Looked down at them angrily. "You are mistaken," she said with ice in her voice. "In Imagining I have the Cup and in daring coming here and call me a liar."

Alec put her hand to the staff. "Uh, oh," she said under her breath.

Bafflely, Clar shook his head. "No," he said very quickly, "I am not saying you're a liar, I swear. What I am saying is the Cup is here, just you never realized it." Madame Dorothea still looking at him coldly. "Explain," she said. "What I am saying is my mother hid it here," said Clar. "Years ago. But she never told you because it had nothing to do with you." "she gave it to you disguised," Jayce explained, "In the form of a gift."

Blanky Dorothea looked at her. Doesn't she realize? Clar thought, he was puzzled. "The tarot cards," he said. "The card deck she painted for you."

Dorothea's gaze went to the cards on the table. "The cards?" Clar walked to the table and picked the deck up. He found the Ace of Cups and pulled it out, setting the rest of the cards back down. "Here," he said.

They all were looking at him, perfectly still. He slowly turned the card over and looked at his mother's artwork: the hand wrapped around the golden stem of the Mortal Cup.

"Jayce," he said. "I need your stele." She pressed it into his palm. He turned the card over and traced the runes that were painted on it— a twist there and line here, they meant something entirely different. When he turned the card back over, the picture had changed:;the fingers had released their grasp on the Cup, the hand seemed to be almost offering it to Clar as if saying, take it. He slid the stele into his pocket. And reached into the small square of the card. His hand wrapped around it and he pulled it out, and thought he heard small sighs before, the card that was now blank disappeared into ashes.

Tag list: @khaleesiofalicante @chibi-tsukiko @spotsandclawsthings @megs-readstoomuch @magnus-the-maqnificent @replayfootsteps @simply-ellas-stuff @bookfast-at-tiffanys @my-archerboy @jazzkaurtheglorious

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heyheydidjaknow · 3 years

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It is 6 am. I know that it reads like I’ve never heard of pacing. Trust me, I’m aware. Quite frankly, I am entirely too tired to care. It might not even be as bad as I think it is. It’s possible, I guess, but not likely, I don’t think. I don’t have proofreaders, and it’s probably too edgy or too soon for more edge but you’re along for my ride and I’m sorry. I’ll probably rewrite it at some point, but right now I’m happy I’m even awake right now to post it. My eyes hurt and I'm a little queasy but we are powering through. Having said that, let's torture some fucking teenagers.

Chapter 12

Donatello stares at the small knife intensely.

It is an incredibly boring-looking one. Knowing as little as he does about culinary arts, he does not know the exact use of it, its size and shape giving him very little insight into its use in that environment. He is willing to make an educated guess and assume the blade itself is made of carbon steel, which is not exactly a strange choice for a knife in his opinion. It is not a combat or survival knife. It is hardly sturdy enough to last long in a combat setting. He is tempted to call Mikey to ask him to identify it for a second but thinks better of it.

After all, it fell out of your pocket. Questions would be asked.

He picks it up off the floor, weighing it in his hand. ‘This is a kitchen knife, right?’ He picks your jacket off the floor, folding it neatly and placing it on the back of a chair. ‘Why would she carry around a kitchen knife?’ He rests his head on his arms, holding the offending tool in front of his eyes, continuing to analyze it. ‘To fight? She knows carrying around a knife like this with no combat experience is a bad idea, right? Don’t people usually use pepper spray or something when they want to defend themselves?’

An image flashes into his head. You, standing alone in an alley, pointing this poor excuse of a weapon at a member of The Foot or the Purple Dragon. You, falling back and hitting your head and bleeding out with a knife sticking in your side because you fell on it wrong—‘It’s not even in a sheathe’—and trying to crawl back out into the street, begging to god not to—

He blinks, noticing his knuckles going pale around the handle, mouth weirdly dry.

He swallows. He forces his grip to loosen. ‘That’s dramatic.’ He gets up, slipping the knife back into the pocket of your jacket, hoping he put it in the right one. ‘She’s fine. She’s probably just scared after everything that’s happened. It won’t come to that.’

He sets back down, picking the last gas mask up and turning it over in his hands to give him something to do. He will not have time to properly test whether it works exactly as planned, but he is fairly certain that it and its brothers should allow them to breathe with little difficulty when they need to go into the TCRI building through the elevator shaft. If that is the plan they go with, anyways-- he had elected to stay out of the planning party, seeing as creating explosives strong enough to destroy the portal is enough of a challenge on its own, and he has faith in you and his eldest brother to come up with a good course of action. You guys always did. Bradford was dead after all, a fact that he had been informed made their lives considerably easier. In your words, “Mousers are the fucking worst, and if Bradford had gone off and recruited Stockman, we would have to deal with all of that way sooner.” You had quickly admitted that you did not know how long the peace would last, but you seemed pretty satisfied by the way things were happening overall, despite his accidentally causing the power cell to be stolen—“We’ll have the whole thing under control after this mission, don’t you worry.”

You had also claimed that you had the staking out of Shredder’s lair under control, but that is neither here nor there.

The door to his lab slides open. “Donnie,” you call, “we need to go over the game plan. How’re the explosives coming?”

‘Why is there a knife in your pocket instead of a taser?’ “Theoretically? Well.” He shrugs, getting to his feet. “I can’t really test if they work, but they’re good to go, probably.”

You smile teasingly. “They’re not gonna go off randomly?”

“Probably not.”

“Probably?” Your smile widens.

“No promises.”

“Well,” you grin, “I sure hope they’re good explosives in that case; wouldn’t wanna almost bleed out again.”

His stomach churns. “For sure,” he agrees, crossing the room as you start to “walk” back to the war room/kitchen. “Have you guys decided on anything?”

“Well,” you sigh, “Leo’s bein’ Leo if that’s what you mean. I don’t mind their plan, mind, but it seems a bit silly.” You hold the door open for him. “After you.”

“Dude, totally.” Mikey nods eagerly in agreement to something someone said. “I can get him on board, on prob.”

“Good.” Leonardo taps his finger against the blueprint splayed across the counter. “Now all we need is a big enough box.”

“There should be crates down by the docks.” Raphael looks over at you. “Any stores up top sell ‘em that big?”

“Probably.” You lean against the doorway as Donnie steps past you. “You guys know we don’t know what they’re breathing, right?”

“Yeah. So?” The green-eyed brother gestures to him. “He can figure out letting us breathe.”

“Can and did, but I’m not sure that’s what she’s talking about.” The tall boy crosses his arms across his chest absentmindedly. “If the gases they’re breathing are highly flammable—which, knowing the absurd biology of the Kraang, isn’t out of the question—” You stifle a laugh, covering your mouth, “using explosives in there might blow the roof off the place.”

“That’s good, ain’t it?”

“Not If you don’t want to be pressure cooked, no.”

“Is there some other way to destroy the portal?” Leonardo laced his fingers together, leaning his elbows on the worn island.

“Without knowing the metal they’re using?” He shakes his head. “Even if we did, I’m not sure if I could safely create hydrochloric or nitric acid, especially on such short notice, let alone transport it.”

“Then we’re screwed.” Raph looks off. “Perfect.”

“Unless you feel confident in busting out of that building on a time crunch, we’d need someone to be close enough to the bomb to actually use the detonator. Seeing as we need all hands on deck, we really don’t have anyone that could fit the bill.” Even with his back to you, you notice his tension. “Unless you guys just want to crack a window or something, but that would kinda negate the point of doing the whole stealth thing, setting off an obvious alarm.”

“That’s not true.” Mikey points out the obvious. “Y/N could do it.”

“I’m down,” you shrug, moving your hands to slide in your nonexistent pockets. “You’d need to let me know when to do it so I don’t fry you guys, but I might as well add domestic terrorism to my non-existent rap sheet.” You smile wryly at that.

You think you hear Donnie mutter something before speaking up. “I’m not sure there are any buildings high enough up or close enough to be an effective--”

“Sure there is.” Mikey, again. “There’s that apartment building across that alley. It’s plenty tall.”

“Oh yeah, huh?” Raph smiles sharply. “Even has a fire escape to climb.”

The idea of climbing anything anywhere makes you want to vomit, but the idea of having to deal with whatever goes on with the saving of Leatherhead later is enough to ignore it. ‘Stop being a pussy,’ you reprimand yourself, feeling vertigo already. ‘It’s a fucking ladder. A twenty-story high ladder, yeah, but it's still just a ladder.’

“She can’t use a ladder,” the tallest brother protests. “She can’t use one of her legs.”

“Then she can take the stairs, or we can carry her there before we go.” You take slow, deep, quiet breaths. “It’s no big deal. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind doing it, right?”

You are suddenly incredibly grateful that you are leaning against a doorframe. The idea of being carried over buildings, twenty stories into the air, makes the ground sway underneath you. You subtly dig your fingernails into the walls on impulse, trying to slowly relieve the pressure.

“It’s not about—What are you even talking about?” You barely register his bashful embarrassment, swallowing thickly. “I’m just saying…”

You can barely hear them, shutting your eyes as you feel sticky, warm blood on your fingertips, dripping down in between your digits. You wipe the phantom liquid off on your jeans quickly, thoroughly, opening your eyes to see what you register as the other three ragging on Donnie about something you do not catch. You lock your knees to keep them from shaking as bad as your hands, ignoring the nausea and staring straight ahead. ‘Your folks didn’t raise a wuss. Your hands aren’t wet. Snap out of it.’

You force yourself to focus on counting threads in your sleeves. You get to thirty-five before you feel someone shaking your shoulder.

“Dude, you alright?” Mikey was waving a hand in front of your face, having apparently crossed the room from his seat on the counter. “Hello?”

Your eyes snap up from your wrist to look at him. “Hm? Yeah, totally.” You nod. “Just zoned out is all.”

He put the back of his hand to your forehead as if he knew what he was looking for. “You sure? You look sick.”

You nod again. “Just didn’t sleep well last night. I’m fine.”

“Do you plan on zoning out during the mission?” Raphael smirked. “Don—”

“No,” you cut him off sharply. “I’ll be fine. When are you guys going?”

“A couple of hours.” Donnie is staring holes into you. “The hours listed online say actual people work until then, but the actual building is open for another few hours, so by the time we get far enough down to hopefully not feel the effects of the blast, we won’t have to worry about witnesses or people getting caught up in it.”

“Awesome.” You start out the door, using the walls to limp back to the lab. “Meetcha back here in an hour.”

He runs after you. “Need me to come with you? I can help pick a crate out.” The way his words spill out is not lost on you. “O-or I could drive you there if you want—it’s bad to walk around so much on your leg, especially at night.”

“If you don’t mind vomit in your party-wagon, sure.” You slip through the gap in the door, grabbing your jacket and pulling it on. “Honestly, Donnie, I’m fine.”

“But—”

“I walk home all the time.” You use the chair to roll over to your walker, snapping it open and getting to your feet. “I’m just going to go to a hardware store, buy a couple of the largest boxes they have, grab some dinner, and come back. Besides, you have to worry about getting in, right? I’ll be fine, really.”

He wants to argue. He does not.

“Text me if you need anything while I’m out.” You maneuver past him with a bit of difficulty. “Want me to pick up some pizza while I’m out?”

“… yeah.” He nods, shaking off the feeling sinking into his gut with a bit of difficulty. “If you want some, you’ll have to eat it on your own, though.”

You smile back at him. “I’ll get something else to eat,” you roll your eyes, voice oozing with honey seemingly unintentionally. “Don’t you worry too hard about me, now; your brothers give you a hard enough time as is.”

“Don’t get yourself killed and I’ll think about it,” he jokes, mostly serious.

You laugh. “I’ll try, Dad.”

He has never noticed how loud you walk until today. Maybe it is just that it is unusually loud in comparison to him and his brothers, or maybe it is the sound of it knocking around the concrete walls of the lair bouncing the sound off the walls, but he cannot help but notice it, how easily he can identify where you are just by listening. How has he never noticed that? ‘You could hear her down the street, walking past. Anyone with ears could tell where she is, no problem.’

He feels himself grip onto the door to keep himself from running after you and insisting he come with you. ‘If someone can hear her walking down the street, someone can hear her scream. They’ll call someone. Who would leave a teenage girl to get attacked?’ He does not answer his question.

He shuts the door. ‘And she has a point. I still need to figure out how to get us into TCRI without the cameras catching us.’ He sits back at his workstation to think. ‘It doesn’t have to be too advanced. A remote-controlled dolly wouldn’t take much time to build, and I have the code already.’

It is not an effective distraction, but it is enough to preoccupy him for a solid half an hour.

You are back at the time you say you are going to be back. The trip did not take you long, although carrying the boxes and food was an unforeseen challenge, and you bought yourself a burrito and soda, so all is well. You and the guys eat in the kitchen, you do not have another episode and, all in all, you almost forget about the fact you will have to be carried up a twenty-story building.

Standing and staring up at the building they had ended up next to is an easy reminder.

You swallow your dinner back, mouth dry. ‘Commit.’ You fold your walker up, hiding it behind a dumpster and hooking your arms around Donnie’s neck before you can chicken out, shutting your eyes tight, the humming of their van—you had walked—doing nothing to ease your nerves. You hear the others say something before the engine roars back to life, the tires squealing against the asphalt as they drive off.

“I’m not going to drop you,” he promises, barely noticing the extra weight as he hooks one of his arms under your thigh to pull your body flush against his. Your legs immediately tighten into a vice-like grip around his middle, pulling him even closer.

“Fucking better not.” He starts to scale the building with a bit of difficulty, with one arm otherwise preoccupied. “I’ll haunt your ass.”

He smiles at that. He jumps up, grabbing onto the railing of a fire escape and earning a squeak of terror and a quiet string of obscenities from you. He takes longer than usual out of necessity but finds a quiet joy in how hard you cling to him, swallowing laughs drawn out by your swears—his personal favorite is, “Oh fuck me Mother Mary!” which is a result of him overshooting the railing, resulting in both of you violently swinging back and forth for a time.

“Are we on solid ground?” Your voice is pleading.

“We’re on the roof, yeah.”

You let go, sliding down to your knees and lacing your fingers together behind your neck, breathing for the first time in the eternity—two minutes—it had taken to get there. You want to cry, your heart pounding out of your chest as you try to catch your breath.

“Are you okay?”

You nod once, shifting back and putting your head between your knees to regain your head.

‘Did I do something wrong?’ He crouched down in front of you, concerned. “You sure?”

You nod again.

“Are you being honest?”

“I will be in a sec,” you snap shakily.

He backs off, staying in that position.

You give yourself a count of fifteen before looking back up at him. “I’m good.” You take a deep breath, pulling yourself into him again. “Let’s do this shit before I’m not.”

The journey over is painfully silent, other than your guys’ breathing. Balance is the only real problem throughout. Holding you and making sure not to crush you makes the normal measures he would normally use to soften his falls impossible, meaning his jumps cannot be as high or far as normal—the last thing you need on top of everything else is a concussion. The trip might have been rendered shorter had it not been for the need for the Kraang to know nothing of their whereabouts, but he does not think it is too long until he moves to let go of you.

You do not let go of him.

“Y/N?”

Nothing.

“Y/N,” he says again, “we’re here.”

You do not move to let go of you, your heartbeat thundering against his chest.

“I’m going to set you down.” He unhooks your legs, lowering himself and setting you on the floor. “See?” He unlatches your arms, gently pulling you away from him.

Your face is white as a sheet, mind only barely registering the fact you were on solid ground. He would be concerned you were dead had it not been your incredibly fast pulse. You stared straight ahead, eyes unfocused.

You blink, pushing the hair out of your face as you get to your feet. “Sorry,” you mumble. “Zoned out. Tired.”

He hesitantly gives you the detonator. “Alright,” he relents. “You know the plan, right? You remember it still?”

“I’m scared, not dumb.” Your face flushes. “Sorry. That was mean.”

He blinks, confused. “It’s fine,” he shrugs. “Lack of sleep can cause irritability, especially in teenagers.” His voice is soft despite his own anxiety about the whole plan. He hands you your phone. “I’ll come back to pick you up. If I don’t in two hours, text me. If I don’t respond…” he trails off.

Your stomach drops. “You will,” you assure him firmly. “I know you will.”

“If I don’t,” he nods in agreement, if only for your sake, “hell will’ve frozen over anyway.”

You chuckle nervously at that. You reach over, cupping his face in your hands. “Seriously, though,” you make him look at you properly, “kick their asses for me.”

He smiles, his face heating up under your hands. “You got it.” He gets up. “See ya, then.” He smiles tipsily, waves, and runs off.

You watch him bound rooftops, grateful he had seemingly not noticed the violent shaking of your hands as you set the electronics down. You swallow again, dragging yourself and leaning your back against the ledge, crossing your legs in front of you. You lean over, placing the detonator down next to you carefully and picking your phone up. You shakily input the passcode, turn the volume as low as it would go, and press the speaker to your ear, sinking into a song with a slow exhale of breath. While you had refused yourself any illicit substances for the same reason you had gotten rid of your sleeping pills, you saw no issue with relying on music for some stress relief, the familiarity of the slower song letting your heartbeat match its rhythm.

You reach down, pulling your pant leg up and carefully peeling the tape from your good leg, wrapping your fingers around the handle of the paring knife and holding it at your side. Sure, you know, logically, it would do little but hinder you in a fight, but you felt as though you needed something, anything to make you feel less weak. You already feel the embarrassment from clinging onto him so tightly, tears pricking at your eyes. “You’re the literal definition of a damsel in distress,” you mumble, scoffing at yourself. “A young, unmarried woman who is in distress. A crazy damsel in distress at that.” You blink them away. “God, you’re really fucking pathetic, huh?” You chuckle, swallowing again and pressing the phone closer to your ear. “You’re almost a fucking adult and you’re scared of a little height and a little blood. Perspective, Y/N.”

It feels like an hour of sitting, knees now at your chest as you listen to music to take the edge off—‘Like taking ibuprofen for an amputation.’ Regardless of how effective it is, it does something, at least, and that is all you can ask for right now.

You jump out of your skin when your phone buzzes with a text. You fumble with it, pulling it to your face to read Casey asking if you were still free next Tuesday for his stupid fucking game. You text him back that, yes, you are, and hope he stubs his toe for the false alarm.

The text comes at eleven-o-three.

You almost drop the phone, the message “NOW” crossing your screen. You pick the device up carefully, craning your neck back to glance at the building across the street, feeling as though you missed something incredibly important despite knowing the contrary. You swallow one more time and slam your hand down on the button.

The sound of the explosion roars in your ears, your eyes widening at the light now illuminating the roof, images of that night burning in your head and squeezing your throat. You drop the detonator, covering your ears as the ground in front of you is seemingly set alight. It barely registers to you that it is a cold autumn night. Why would you care when all you can hear is screaming? Why bother when your heart is begging to be let out of your chest, when your blood is pooling under you and all your scars are open? All you can see as you shudder, shutting your eyes tightly, is that man’s sides slashed with glass, warm red dripping out of him and onto the dashboard.

You look up, choking on your fear.

You remember what you forgot.

The walls of the top three floors of TCRI?

They are made entirely of the glass now showering down on you.

Table of Contents

Chapter 11

Chapter 13

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