#those markings on his legs glow when hes using his sister powers!

[eggfeather]

tree

[zazasthingsfoundcoolornice]

ALICE the secert she finds

The sunlight streamed in through the tall, arched windows of the old, dusty study, bathing everything in a warm, golden glow. A small, curious figure sat on the floor, nestled among towering stacks of ancient tomes and forgotten scrolls, peering intently at a tiny, intricately carved wooden box. It was a magical box, filled with mysterious and powerful relics, each one imbued with a unique spell or enchantment. The child's name was Alice, and she was the best friend of the wizard who owned the study. Though Alice was not a wizard herself, she had a special gift for noticing things that others often missed.

 

As Alice carefully turned over a small, polished stone in her tiny hands, her eyes caught sight of something written on the page of an old, tattered tome that lay open nearby. The runes etched into the parchment were unfamiliar to her, but she recognized them immediately. She called out to the wizard, who was busily mixing potions at his cluttered desk. "Wizard, come here quick! I think I found something important!" she exclaimed, her voice full of excitement.

 

The wizard, intrigued by her tone, hurried over to where she sat. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the runes on the page. "How did you know what those meant, Alice?" he asked, his voice tinged with wonder. "I've never seen them before."

 

"I've seen them before, in a book my older sister Eliza got me," she explained. "Her friend Luke was here a lot and he always smiled knowingly when he saw them." The wizard's expression turned thoughtful as he considered this information. "Luke, you say?

The wizard crossed the room and retrieved a large, leather-bound tome from a high shelf. He carefully blew off the dust and carried it back to where they sat. "This is an ancient grimoire," he said, "filled with spells and incantations that were once thought lost to time. Luke must have borrowed it from me without my knowledge." He opened the book and turned to a marked page, revealing the same runes etched into the parchment. "Ah, here they are," he muttered. "It appears that you, my dear Alice, have stumbled upon a long-forgotten secret."

He sat down cross-legged on the floor beside her, his face alight with curiosity. "These runes," he began, "are the mark of a powerful healing spell. They were used by an ancient order of druids to mend injuries and cure diseases. The spell can only be activated by someone who knows its secret, and it requires a great deal of concentration and focus."

Alice nodded, her eyes shining with excitement. "So, you think I can do it?" she asked tentatively.

The wizard considered her for a moment before answering. "I believe that you, my dear Alice, have the unique ability to see beyond the surface of things. It is a gift that not many possess. And it is a gift that could be put to good use here, in this very study." He paused, looking into her hopeful eyes. "Yes, I think you can do it. With practice and patience, you could become one of the most skilled healers this world has ever known."

 

Time passed, and Alice spent every spare moment in the wizard's study, poring over ancient texts and practicing the healing arts. She grew older, but her curiosity and eagerness to learn never waned. The wizard, impressed by her dedication, became her mentor, teaching her everything he knew about the intricacies of magic and healing.

 

Years later, Alice had earned herself a place among the ranks of the kingdom's most esteemed healers. Her skills were second only to those of her sister Eliza, who had inherited the wizard's grimoire after his passing. It was Alice who the wizard would call upon when he found himself faced with injuries that no one else could mend. She was the one who could see the smallest detail, the tiniest rune etched into a scroll, and decipher its meaning with ease.

 

On this particular day, the wizard found himself tending to an injured knight who had been brought to the castle's infirmary. The knight's wounds were grave, and it seemed that he would not survive the night. In a last-ditch effort to save his life, the wizard summoned Alice to his side.

 

"I have tried everything I can think of," he said, his voice strained with exhaustion. "But I fear that it is not enough. I need you, Alice. I need your gift."

 

Alice nodded, her heart racing with fear and determination. Taking the wizard's hand in hers, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the runes etched into the wizard's grimoire. She could feel the power of the ancient healing spell coursing through her veins as she whispered the incantation. Slowly, but surely, the knight's wounds began to close, the color returning to his pale face. When she finally opened her eyes, Alice saw that the knight was breathing easier, his chest rising and falling with each labored breath.

 

The wizard looked at her, his eyes filled with gratitude and awe. "You did it," he whispered. "You brought him back from the brink of death." And it was true. Alice had done it. She had become the second best healer after her sister Eliza, and she had saved a life with the power of her gift.

 

As the years passed, Alice continued to practice her craft, using her unique abilities to heal and comfort those in need. Her fame spread far and wide, and she became known throughout the kingdom as the one who could see what others could not. And in her heart, she knew that it was all because of the day she had found the magic box, and the day she had met the wizard who had become her friend.

But there was always something that nagged at the back of her mind, something that refused to let her forget. It was the memory of the letter she had received so many years ago, the one that had urged her to meet its mysterious author in the secluded grove of the forest. She had never been able to shake off the feeling that there was more to her story, more to her gift, than she had ever been told.

 

So, on a cool autumn evening, Alice found herself making her way through the dense woodlands, her heart pounding with equal parts anticipation and fear. As she neared the clearing, she could feel the weight of the secret she had kept buried deep within her for so long. It was as if the very air around her had grown thick with anticipation, as if the trees themselves were watching her, waiting for her to unravel the truth.

 

Finally, she emerged into the secluded grove, her breath catching in her throat at the sight before her. There, standing beneath the ancient oak tree, was a woman she had never seen before. She was tall and regal, her silver hair flowing freely down her back, and her eyes held the wisdom of ages. As Alice approached, she could feel the woman's piercing gaze boring into her very soul.

 

"You must be Alice," the woman said, her voice like the rustle of leaves in the autumn breeze. "I am Eliza, your mother." At these words, Alice felt as if the world had stopped spinning. She had always known that she was different, but she had never dreamed that her mother could be alive.

 

Eliza took a step closer, her gaze never leaving Alice's face. "I see that you've found your way to me, just as I knew you would. It was always meant to be this way." She reached out and gently brushed a lock of silver hair from Alice's forehead, revealing a tiny rune etched there, identical to the one on her own forehead. "This is the mark of our bloodline, the mark of the Ancient Ones. You are not just my daughter, Alice, you are the last of the Ancient Ones, the last in a long line of powerful healers."

 

Alice felt a chill run down her spine as she took in this information. Her heart raced with a mixture of awe and fear. "But why did you leave me with the wizard?" she asked, her voice barely audible. "Why didn't you raise me yourself?"

 

Eliza's expression softened, and she took Alice's hands in her own. "My dear, I could not have raised you as I wished," she explained. "The power that flows through your veins is great and must be handled with care. The wizard, your brother, understood this. He knew that he could keep you safe from those who would seek to use your gift for their own gain."

 

Alice felt tears welling up in her eyes as she listened to her mother speak. "But why did you leave me that letter?" she asked, gesturing to the folded parchment still clutched in her hand. "Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

 

Eliza sighed, her gaze turning distant as she remembered the day she had penned those words. "I could not tell you then," she said softly. "I had hoped that one day, when you were ready, I would be able to reveal the truth to you. But I knew that I had to keep you safe until then."

 

Alice nodded, understanding dawning in her eyes. "So, what now?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "What do we do?"

 

Eliza smiled warmly, taking Alice's hands in hers. "Together, we will find our way," she said, her voice steady and reassuring. "We will discover what it means to be Ancient Ones, and we will learn how to use our gift for the greater good. You are not alone, my daughter. You never have been. I will be by your side every step of the way."

[mythicamagic]

Fangs of Silver: Sesskag oneshot

Summary: Kagome Higurashi has her work cut out for her, hunting one of the most elusive and powerful werewolves known to man: the Killing Perfection. Sesskag smut oneshot. Werewolf Sesshoumaru/monster hunter Kagome. 

Rated M

Words: 4,700

Read on Ao3 and Dokuga

AN: for @cookieasylum​ for an art trade. Thanks bud! Hope you like it

Fangs of Silver

Warning: werewolf x human smut, knotting, menstrual sex

---

Two fingers unfurled to touch the moonlit forest floor, tracing the outline of a large paw-print stamped into dirt. Even splaying her palm wide with four fingers and thumb outstretched, Kagome couldn't hope to meet its size, dwarfed in comparison.

"Looks like I've found you again," she muttered, straightening from her crouch. Walking onwards and listening out for any hint of movement within the imposing woods- tall anorexic trees completely still with sharp looking branches- blue eyes remained alert, watchful.

She'd been tracking this one for God knew how long now. Months. Had it been a year yet? Though even the smallest victory of finding his tracks left no time for celebration.

Kagome frowned to herself. This particular beast wasn't usually so careless. He evaded her during daylight hours by wading through streams or keeping to rocky terrain, never giving the same name when mingling with villagers. Even when the Full Moon hit- he managed to be elusive and surprisingly clever. The smartest one she'd been sent to hunt. This time he'd either been sloppy or…

Kagome glimpsed something through a gap in the lower trees, located further down the hill. Smoke?

Surely he wasn't trying to trap her with something so obvious.

Frowning, Kagome set down her weapon and snuffed out the flames of her torch, checking her supplies. Enough silver bullets. Enough jewel shards. Her guns were in good shape, but she was out of herbal supplements to repress a certain annoyance that also occurred every month. Wincing, she put a hand to her lower abdomen, feeling it cramp.

Crap, not now.

She'd have to ignore it. She couldn't afford to lose this guy due to Mother Nature kicking her continually in the gut.

This beast had committed countless acts of violence- leaving behind a trail of bodies in their respective towns and villages. Unlike usual werewolves who sloppily left bitten survivors to run amok, this beast made no mistakes. He seemed to kill specific people and left them firmly for dead. He never inflicted the curse upon anyone. Surprisingly his victims were usually reported to be less than innocent citizens.

Due to the killings- a bounty had been placed on what the authorities referred to as 'the Killing Perfection.'

Creeping down a steep incline, Kagome stepped as lightly as possible within the relative darkness of the trees -autumn leaves crunching beneath her boots.

A lonesome house in the woods stood like a mourner in a graveyard under the light of the Full Moon, dark wood faintly eroded by time. Vines held the chimney in a stranglehold, but smoke puffing out of the top revealed it to be in working order despite the dilapidated state of the house.

Slipping around the side of the building and ducking out of sight from any windows, Kagome stopped with her back to the wall, loading her rifle while stooped into a crouch.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Kagome wasted no time. She pushed off and rounded the corner, kicking open the front door with the barrel of her gun trained inside.

Empty?

Kagome didn't let her guard down, slowly inching inside and glancing around.

The fireplace was lit with healthy flames- a kettle sat off to the side, an empty mug not too far away. Everything else in the room had a layer of dust costing it, but the armchair lay newly cleaned. Footprints trailed around the ashen floor, some human, some wolf prints.

Kagome searched the lower floor that comprised of mostly empty rooms, before pointing her gun up towards the stairs, setting foot on the first step.

It groaned loudly beneath her weight.

Wincing, blue eyes snapped to the top of the dark stairs for any tell-tale signs of movement.

Wandering up to the second floor cautiously and looking around revealed nothing more than dust bunnies.

Kagome frowned, eyeing the open window. Had he jumped down and escaped?

Sighing with disappointment, she shouldered her gun and trailed downstairs.

I suppose I can sweep the outside to pick up his trail again, but I bet he's long gone. He probably lit the chimney to distract me before making his escape and transforming for the night.

Wandering over to the kettle, she touched its side.

Still lukewarm. He'd literally just been there.

And I was too late.

Kagome groaned.

"What a disappointed noise. Were you aching to see me that badly?"

Stiffening, her heart jumped. The silky sounding words had come from behind her.

Pivoting on one heel, Kagome turned her weapon on the man lounging in the armchair.

His image blurred, snatching up her gun to lurch the barrel upwards just as she fired, the blast piercing the ceiling- some debris raining down.

Golden eyes sparked, snapping the barrel in two before throwing her to the floor with impressive strength.

Kagome gasped, back colliding hard with the wooden floors, winded. She quickly grabbed one of her pistols and trained it on the man- who had disappeared again.

"W-what?" she panted. "It's a Full Moon. Why haven't you transformed?"

"Ah, you wish for me to change? Very well," his voice rumbled from outside.

Fur blocked out the moonlight pouring in from the shutters, brushing along the side of the house. Quiet, hungry panting filled her ears.

Kagome quickly fired at the windows, but the shadows melted away, causing her to wonder if it had been a trick of the light.

"I heard tell of a woman who subdues my kind before using shards of a blessed jewel to revert them back into humans…"

Paws padded around the house, nails dragging- scraping the forest floor. "You have pursued me for some time. Did you hope to transform me into a mortal like those you have hunted before me? Break my curse?" the male uttered.

"I knew you were strong, so I didn't have much hope of using them. Taking you back alive to stand trial for all the things you've done is a tall order," Kagome grunted, lower stomach clenching. She quietly hissed. Cycle blood likely marred her trousers now.

"Indeed. Even if you shot me with one of your infamous jewels though, it would not work."

A figure bent down, twisting through the front door with the ease of a feline through bars. Sleek silver fur gleamed with a fiery hue, bathed in the hearth's orange light.

Saliva dripped from exposed canines, muzzle pulled back.

The werewolf towered over her in size. He had the look of a distorted wolf- pale torso resembling a man due to broad shoulders and defined abdomen. He shifted to stand upright, hind legs strong, capable of supporting his weight. Thick hackles rose, paws more akin to hands tipped with killer claws.

Unlike the other beasts she'd faced, this one had peculiar red markings slashing over his cheeks, lower legs and flank. Glowing red eyes burned with the heat of the sun.

"You unknowingly came in search of a Pure Blood. I cannot be 'fixed' little hunter. This is how I was born," he purred, mouth unmoving, whispering honeyed words in her mind.

Those eyes strayed down to her legs, nostrils flaring. "And you are in heat, no less. A fine time to go hunting for a predator."

Kagome shivered, raising her pistol and aiming it between his eyes.

The werewolf gazed at her calmly, completely different from the wild, almost rabid beasts she'd fought with before.

A Pure Blood…

She'd never come across a creature so ancient. He looked at her with intelligence, as she'd suspected from tracking him.

"I-I'm not in heat," she muttered, finger grazing the trigger without pulling it. Why wasn't he attacking?

"You hurt those townspeople. Why?"

"I walk among men in my other form. Occasionally I find those deserving of death. Those who harm their cubs and mates. Those who leech of their pack and drink themselves into violent stupors. Sometimes they simply get in my way."

Kagome grit her teeth, "so you dispense justice alone? I don't disagree with cruel people deserving some kind of consequences but you don't get to decide who lives and dies. That's playing God."

He chuckled inside her mind, mouth pulling back from sharp teeth in an imitation of a smile. "Is what you do so different, little hunter?"

"I follow the orders of my superiors- unless I think someone can be saved with the jewels I bless."

Interest brightened his gaze, tail swishing once behind him.

Her only warning.

The beast knocked her arms to one side, striking her down with a headbutt to her chest. The action sent her gun skittering away over dusty floorboards, disappearing into harsh shadows. One human-like forepaw pressed down on Kagome's stomach, making her breath wheeze free from frozen lungs- his other holding her right arm down to keep her pinned. He then leaned in close, white ears perked atop his head.

A white maw drifted over her startled face, nostrils flaring, inhaling her scent greedily.

"Holy powers…" he uttered thoughtfully.

Kagome's left hand fumbled with the hem of her shirt, eyes narrowing. "I'm a former sister of the church. It comes in handy when dealing with creatures that go bump in the night."

She abruptly thrust her formally concealed dagger up, aiming it straight for his heart.

Powerful jaws snapped down, locking around her arm- the beast hissing as her blade ran off course but scraped down his neck and shoulder.

Kagome yelped, dagger freezing. Her hand remained free outside of the cage of teeth but she dared not move. Teeth mouthed her arm without breaking the skin, until a particularly sharp canine made a trail of crimson leak down the inside of her wrist.

A large, wet tongue roved, licking and sliding over the length of her elbow and wrist while they lay trapped within the hot cavern of his mouth.

"Now we have both shed blood tonight, little hunter. Are you satisfied?"

Kagome panted, gritting blunt teeth. She glared hotly into large red eyes fixed on her, looming close. From the new proximity, she could now see his seafoam green irises and slit pupils from within the sea of crimson. They dilated the longer she looked.

"You are quite the woman," he rumbled appreciatively. "What name do you go by?"

"K-kagome."

"Hn, I am Sesshoumaru. I thank you for your relentless pursuit of me over these past few months. It was quite flattering."

Kagome opened her mouth to reply before a hiss broke her off. The clenching of her abdomen took up attention for a moment, twisting like a knife in her gut.

"Heat can be painful to go through alone," he acknowledged, teeth slowly easing from her arm, eyes trained on her warningly not to try anything. His slick tongue unwrapped itself from her arm with a trail of saliva. He licked his maw hungrily.

Kagome gripped her sticky arm, glaring from her position on the floor. No bite. Just a nick from his tooth. It wouldn't be enough to curse her. She warily lowered her dagger.

"It's just my monthly cycle. I'm fine...gn…"

"You seem it," he mocked, wolf expression unchanging, though his eyes danced.

His great head lowered, hovering over her groin. His nose drew closer, inhaling over the red patch. His long pink tongue slid out, drawing over it with a lingering lick.

Kagome yelped, forgetting her guns and blades- grasping the dense white fur of his neck. "W-what are you doing?!"

He managed to look suggestive without human features, tipping his head slightly. "As a hunter, it must be difficult to find relief. You are always working, are you not? Chasing evil…" his voice resounded with the finest baritone in her mind, coaxing and soothing, completely at odds with his monstrous appearance. He almost sounded aristocratic. "Fortunately...you happen to lie beneath a beast tonight."

Saliva, warm and dewy, dropped onto her leg in small puddles. Sesshoumaru gazed at her while snaking his tongue out once more, prying it harder between her legs.

Kagome gasped, back-arching, a rush spilling up from her cunt to twist sweet arousal at her core. She viciously clamped down on such a reaction, growling.

"No one gave you permission to take liberties with me, pal!" she drew her knee up, attempting to kick him away.

Sesshoumaru released her arm in favour of grasping her thigh, chuckling while forcing it down. "Why protest?"

Kagome snatched up her dagger again, pressing the hilt against her chest and keeping the point raised outwards.

"Why agree?! Y-you're a…" wide blue eyes flicked over his strange, inhuman body. "I've never- n-not with a werewolf. I'm pretty sure that's breaking some sort of rule. Or law."

"I will not tell a soul."

Her gaze turned flat, fingers shifting over the hilt. "I'm supposed to be killing you. We just tried to kill each other!"

"Hn, keep your friends close and enemies closer, as they say. Allowing them into your bed does not seem like such an extreme, and I find there is always a slight thrill in fighting, is there not?"

It was a night of firsts. Kagome had never experienced anything like it in her five years of hunting. None of her superiors had ever mentioned an intelligent werewolf who could control their transformation and shapeshift at will. The only whisper of it had come from dusty old books stashed away in catacombs. The air in the lonely house felt cold, tickling her skin like a living thing, but the space between Hunter and Werewolf crackled with intensity.

Kagome swallowed, feeling squirmy. She tensed when a wet nose came back up to sniff at her neck. Warm breath fanned over flushed skin as his snout travelled up and down, scenting. It soon buried itself within dark hair, making her gasp. The suggestion of teeth scraped the crown of her head, joined by a pleased, rumbling noise. Goosebumps rose on her exposed skin, blood burning, alight with confused but obvious need.

His alien, paw-like hand ran over her hip and breast, cupping the side of her jaw. The shock of thin fur and monstrous, long fingers tipped with claws should've terrified her. Kagome had fought against such hands for years. Her body held traces of scars where such nails had hooked and dragged into supple flesh.

As it was, when his second stroked her inner thigh, Kagome shuddered. He smelled faintly of clove and damp earth. His movements were deliberate. The inferno of his eyes when they locked with hers shone with hunger- but also curiosity. That mindfulness and clarity of his thoughts was what allowed her to hesitantly touch the hand on her thigh.

It felt too large and gangly to be a human, fur and heat brushing the calloused skin of her palm.

"You can't bite me," she warned, laying the flat of her blade against his neck. "I'll kill you if you do- and that'll instantly free me from the curse."

Sesshoumaru smiled with his eyes.

He forced her down again, claws making quick work of her pants, tearing a sizable hole at the crotch.

The wiry fur of his muzzle immediately dived down, fervently taking in her scent with hearty, eager inhales. It sent a rush of arousal straight through her, hips jolting.

Nose, teeth and tongue soon brushed her sex, before the latter thrust inside, heedless of the blood.

Kagome cried out, toes curling, going completely still. The invasive probing between her legs filled her entrance, sinking deeper. It then flicked outside, allowing her to feel the velvet rough texture. It swirled experimentally over her clit.

Shakily tightening her now slippery grip on the dagger, Kagome gasped and shuddered.

"I-I thought you were going to transform into a man-!"

Sesshoumaru gave a rumbling noise in response. He gripped the front of her blouse, yanking to rip it open and fondle her breast.

"You do not wish to see the creature you've hunted feasting on you?" the rumbling purr lifted into something darkly amused, tail flicking behind him.

He grabbed her hips, swivelling them to flip her over. Kagome yelped and snarled, about to protest when his palms kneaded her ass, raising it and tearing off the remainder of her pants- the pads of his thumbs dragging to her sex, spreading slick folds and delving a warm, thick tongue inside her all the deeper.

Kagome kept a needless grip on the dagger, a strangled noise caught in her throat. His muzzle nudged and pried, urging her to rock against his tongue. Feeling warm, she clumsily grasped at her coat, yanking her arms free and tossing it aside.

Full breasts were squashed to the floor under the weight of the werewolf as he pressed her down, but her nipples- stiff and hardened with pleasure- received friction from the steady rhythm. The pleasure came in small, electric bursts.

"Fuck," she groaned, biting her lip. This was wrong. She shouldn't allow this.

A clawed thumb rubbing at the sensitive bundle of nerves between her thighs silenced that weak protest. It felt good. So deliciously good. Men scarcely put their mouth on her down there, deeming it 'dirty' or beneath them.

Kagome shivered, pushing back against the roving tongue continually thrusting inside her core, flexibly twisting, rubbing against her inner walls and licking with heinous, grunting noises like she slaked his thirst. They found a kind of rhythm without communicating through words, and an incredible rush built in her stomach- delighted to rock against his mouth.

Bowing her head and trying to concentrate on breathing, Kagome jolted and shamelessly moaned as his movements became more relentless, hungrily collecting evidence of her arousal and cycle onto his tongue.

"W-why-?" she managed out, straining to look at him over her shoulder- the tongue plunging faster in quick delves like he were mining for gold- sharp teeth scraping her entrance, adding rapidly to the throbbing feeling building up in her lower stomach.

Why was he pleasuring her? It didn't align with a wild beasts actions.

Blue eyes glimpsed glowing crimson behind her. With a sudden push of his humanoid paw on her back, trapping her in place- Kagome squealed loudly as Sesshoumaru pried so deep he wore her like a puppet with his tongue, grunting with savage satisfaction when she came from the action.

"Agh!" Kagome cried out, body igniting, juices immediately flowing into his mouth, which he collected enthusiastically with broad strokes. Somewhere between all this, she lost grip on her weapon. The blade clanked against the floors loudly.

After pulling away, the werewolf paid no heed to the red staining his lips, licking at his jaw in a decadent, gluttonous manner.

"Why what?" Sesshoumaru sat back on his haunches, ears perking, haughtily eyeing her with an air of pride. He probably took great pleasure in reducing a hunter to such a vulnerable mess.

Kagome felt like she'd received her answer. "Never mind," she caught her breath, forehead dotted with sweat. Her muscles burned despite the lack of physical exertion, body feverishly warm.

She sat up slowly, wincing at the slick feeling of her cunt. It fluttered and clenched, demanding more- wanting to be filled.

"I feel better now. We can end things there and-"

Kagome caught an eyeful of his crotch, entranced by the hard evidence of his arousal.

Oh.

She swallowed, reading the look in his eye easily. They wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. From the look of his long, thick cock, they'd be spending a while easing it in if he were committed to pleasuring her.

Somehow she felt alright with that. The fever in her veins wasn't satisfied yet, though she had reservations about allowing a literal werewolf to take her. However something undeniable had come to life in the pit of her gut, something raw and hot that left her wet between her legs and wordlessly begging.

Sesshoumaru's claws closed around her ankle, dragging her towards him- her ass coming to meet his twitching cock.

"I do not think you have unwound nearly enough. You must expel all pent up frustrations if you are to continue hunting me. I worry you will fall behind if not- your tracking has become sloppy lately."

Kagome whipped her head up and growled- just as the head of his cock nestled at her entrance, cutting off the noise and sending it choking. Blushing, she reached behind her, spreading herself for him- holding herself open while Sesshoumaru gave that jagged flash of teeth in response, slipping his thick length inside her inch by inch.

Whimpering and dropping her hands, Kagome bowed forward, trying to adjust. He sank even deeper. The sheer slickness between her thighs helped but didn't assuage the terrible stretch that threatened to overwhelm her. He was too big, his large and hairy body towering over hers, encasing her back with the furnace heat of his body.

"Ease yourself back against me- slowly," panting breath fanned over her damp neck. She felt him run an almost affectionate feeling lick up the sensitive shell of her ear. "Relax. This body was built to withstand many things," his palm stroked a path over her navel, circling up her hip where a scar lay. "You will not allow me to dominate you so easily, will you, Kagome?"

Panting, Kagome tried to get used to feeling every inch of him inside her, filling her clenching walls to the brim.

His hands were three times the size of hers, one settling beside her on the floor. The way he loomed over her made the formally fearless woman feel small, crushable.

"H-ha! As if," she shakily replied. Not one to give in, Kagome did as instructed, slowly rocking back against him just like before. She winced. The sensation was much fuller and tighter, uncomfortable.

Sesshoumaru hissed and groaned, rubbing at her clit again to shoot tiny bursts of fireworks through her system. It helped coax some pleasure back into things. Kagome gave a shaky moan.

Sensing her change in enjoyment, the wolf began moving.

She cried out, wincing a little at his slight withdraw- before groaning as he eased back in, creating a slow, building pace.

The thick, soft fur that covered him from crown to foot gleamed in the light of the room. Kagome could feel it hot against her back, tickling her skin. The strands began to stick to flushed flesh. Sweat began to bead, rolling down her shoulder blades.

"You take me very well, for a human," Sesshoumaru nosed at her hair.

"I can't say 'taking a cock' nicely is the highest compliment ever, but- thanks," Kagome panted. He gave an amused huff, giving a hard thrust in response that knocked her forward.

Yelping, she grabbed onto the first available thing. Her breath caught when her fingers met soft, warm fur. His arm.

It felt sturdy amidst the sea of sensations. Kagome held tighter onto it, bracing herself. She could sense the control beginning to slip from her new bedmate.

Sesshoumaru growled ferally, fanning hot, sticky breath over her shoulders. He then slammed inside her- ramming his hard cock completely within.

Letting out a loud, startled cry that bordered on a scream, Kagome bit down on his arm. He set a brutal pace, thrusting his cock with a quickness that blinded her. She squeezed her eyes shut so tight stars burst behind her eyelids.

Strands of dark hair stuck to her forehead, the rest bouncing and swaying with the werewolf's chosen pace: hard and merciless.

She sank her teeth harder into Sesshoumaru's arm, but he was completely silent inside her mind now. Whatever debonair and lofty charm he possessed had been shoved far back into the recesses of his consciousness, replaced with raw primal need and heavy grunts. He sought to fuck, and Kagome found herself mewling receptively, weakly rocking back against him.

With a snarl, he yanked his arm free from her teeth- rearing back onto his haunches and dragging Kagome with him, holding her hips while continually rutting into her.

Kagome went completely speechless in both pain and pleasure. The new angle nestled onto his lap with the steel band of his arms wrapped around her waist allowed him to reach new depths.

Letting out mindless moans, she rested her head back against his furry shoulder, body ablaze, cunt squeezing him deliciously. The arms holding her prisoner forced her to meet each thrust, creating an intense friction inside that brought her into a state of begging. "P-please- more. Fuck-! More, I'm so close, please!"

Sesshoumaru gave guttural snarls and rumbles in response. But there was something strange happening with his cock. She could feel it even while held under the haze of pleasure. Nudging up against her entrance, something thicker than his length and more rounded threatened to push inside. His knot.

Kagome couldn't react- distracted by another orgasm ripping through her at the most inopportune time.

The knot swelled and stretched her sex farther than she'd anticipated. With a jolt of his hips, Sesshoumaru followed her into orgasm, throwing his head back in a deafening snarl. A torrent of cum flooded her, painting her inner walls- all locked in by the werewolf's knot.

Kagome jolted and strained, mouth opening in a wordless scream. Full. She felt too full. Her sex strained, still squeezing him like a vice.

Slowly, his voice drifted back into her head. "Very good...worthy female...powerful. Should claim..."

"S-sesshoumaru?" she croaked weakly, limp in his arms.

A silver muzzle nuzzled the side of her head in response, crooning lowly. "Hn?"

"You uh..." Kagome panted, giving a weak gesture of her wrist, trying to rise and finding it impossible. He was quite literally locked inside her. "You knotted me- shouldn't you have pulled out?"

She wasn't concerned about being pupped- she'd handled dodging pregnancy with herbal aid before. However, like this, it made moving away impossible.

"Why would this one do that?"

Blue eyes blinked, shifting up to him. His fur plastering against her skin felt like a feathery bed cushioning her spine. "Because now we're stuck, for who knows how long. A few minutes to 30. I figured you'd..."

Want to get away. Re-establish our roles as enemies.

He acted the same as always. She couldn't anticipate his movements or read him.

A sinuous tongue she'd now become intimately acquainted with slid up her cheek. The fur receded at her back, and Kagome stiffened with alarm.

When she turned slightly, she found herself gazing at the pale, handsome features of a man. His markings remained, branding him as something inhuman despite the skin, pretty fall of hair and stern sweep of his brow.

"I intend to have you many times," Sesshoumaru uttered out loud, sounding much crisper in the quiet room. "In a multitude of ways."

Kagome opened her mouth to reply, gasping when a tongue thrust inside her mouth. Grunting, she managed to return the dominating press of tongue and teeth, biting his lip for good measure and feeling him shiver.

When he began moving again while locked inside her, she fell into the murky waters of arousal once more.

-----

The morning sunlight peeking through the broken blinds brought many aches and pains with it. Kagome heard the front door shut, footsteps drawing away before falling silent.

Sitting up quickly, a fur throw fell from her shoulders. It pooled in her lap, revealing the full extent of fresh scratches and claw marks littering her nude body, along with bruises.

She winced at the stickiness between her legs. The smell of sex overwhelmed the stuffy room. So it wasn't a dream.

Noticing a steaming mug of green tea sitting before the lit fireplace loaded with newly chopped wood, Kagome tentatively reached out to touch it. Still warm.

He must've just left.

Running her hands up and down her flesh, she found no bite marks. He'd stayed true to his word.

Feeling a little complicated, Kagome blinked upon noticing a letter sitting atop a fresh change of clothes on the armchair. Her weapons were also neatly arranged nearby.

Picking up the parchment, blue eyes flitted over the message.

'Pursue me once more, my hunter. I enjoyed feasting on you.'

Kagome pressed her lips together. She shook herself a little. This was still the enemy, nothing had changed despite a thoroughly pleasurable night. In the privacy of the room however, she allowed herself a small smile.

After eating, washing and dressing for the day, Kagome stepped outside.

Securing her weapons, she gave chase.

End

[dazed--xx]

Sold Your Soul

Request: Ooh could I request Yandere!Sugar Daddy! Seokjin¿

Member: HARD Yandere!sadist Jin x Reader

Genre: angst, yandere, (implied smut)

Word Count: 1,590

Trigger Warning: Yandere, Abuse, manipulation, pressured sex, handcuffed to a bed, hair pulling, name calling, whatever else I forgot to put sorry guys  

A/N:  MY FIRST JIN FIC thank you to the beautifully dark and non-descriptive soul for sending in this request, I hope you enjoy it and this finds you, I DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS BEHAVIOR IF YOU ARE BEING ABUSED GET HELP, PLEASE. And with that being said send in more requests  

Summary: Kim Seokjin, V.P. of Kim industries, powerful, wealthy, and charming. The sweetest heir to the Kim enterprise according to the public. You believed it, his overwhelming charm and confidence the mask for the demon within. Jīn has gotten whatever he wanted, and he wants you. With your contract only days from ending, Jin declares you’ve violated the contract and now you belong to him. Permanently.  

(not my gif)

Month 5 day 22 10:42 pm

If anyone was to ask you how the past 5 months 22 days have been you’d say a secret nightmare, your provider was a ruthless and spoiled man. The onlookers would say you were lucky, the heir to Kim Enterprises was spoiling you with riches, paying your tuition, etc... The soft glow on his skin, his plump lips, his soft fragile image of the perfect son in the perfect family had shattered within 2 months. The abuse of his power and wealth over you, use of your safe word during sexual punishment would result in financial punishment. If you would have read the fine print in your contract with him you wouldn’t be handcuffed to his headboard as he released his anger, at his words “your betrayal”. Only hours ago, he was losing himself inside you, holding you in his arms fingers lightly tracing circles on your arms. How did you end up here?

*flashback*

Your hands curled around the bottom seam of your skirt griping it tightly. Your entire body shaking as the driver pulled to a stop in front of the large office building. Your mouth completely dries itself up. “Miss y/l/n Mr. Kim has requested you inform his assistant you have arrived from the front desk give them your name, then proceed to the 16th floor Mr. Kim's assistant will meet you right off the elevator she will give you further instructions. Have a nice day” his driver speaks soft and swiftly.  

You shakily eye the building. Taking a soft nervous step your breath hitches in your throat. As you step into the building you look around everything seems to happen in the blink of an eye and soon you were rushed into his office. You turned to close the door behind you and you stared at the closed door in front of you and your hand stayed frozen on the handle.  

“You can leave if you'd like but from what I know so far Miss Y/l/n you need me more than I need you” His velvety voice rang through your ears. “Come. Sit.” he said with a more commanding tone. As your eyes trailed over the luxurious office, I do not belong here you thought. Your legs acting on your own as you find your way in the chair placed in front of his desk eyes never once leaving the floor. “you're nervous” he states softly. You nod softly, a blush creeping on your face.  

You hear him lift himself off his chair and soon you can feel his hand on your shoulder, he lowers his body kneeling in front of you. “Do I make you uncomfortable y/n” his hand lifting my head to face him I shake my head “n-no sir” my meek voice barely over a whisper. “Have you read over the contract miss y/l/n?” you nod taking in his handsome features. The curve of his lips, the playful innocence in his voice. “All of it?” you nod lying to him, you dozed off reading the contract around the termination clauses. “And you're............experienced?”  

“yes, sir I'm here to please” you reached into your bag and handed him the contract. “Well miss y/l/n consider your student loans and your sisters medical expenses paid for, now that business is taken care of on your knees beautiful let's see how eager you are to please” He stated standing straight up unzipping his pants. You stared at him in shock, how did he know about your sister.

*present* -Month 5 day 22 10:23 pm

You weren't sure what you had said to set Jin off but he was livid. Your terrified state only encouraged his anger. He got off on your misery, he was enamored by the beauty of your face as tears streamed down it. The way you would shake like a chihuahua if he so much as looked at you a certain way. You had fallen into your submissive role the second you handed him the contract. He knew he loved you the moment he saw you that day walking home from work. A man in Jins position had wealth and anyone at his disposal to keep an eye on you and report back. He knew everything about you before he even presented you with the 6-month contract. Even though he had paid off all your expenses before you even knew he existed.  

He praised you when you did well, punished you when you acted out. He loved you and you loved him well he thought you loved him. As the days got closer to the 6-month mark Jin heard you making arraignments to leave his side and find another place to live. He thought it was just cold feet you were scared of your love and maybe he just needed to remind you who you belonged to and everything would be alright. Until you came to him with an apartment you had put a down payment on, wishing you could begin slowly moving your things in to adjust from the past 6 months as you put it.  

His anger only grew as you continued about the life you wished to lead after you leave him. He could only see red as his hand strikes you. He continuously shoves you back until your pressed against the wall. His hand finding its way to your throat, “who the fuck told you that you could use my own money to pay for some silly thing like an apartment, you aren't leaving y/n” he growled forcing his lips on yours “who put that stupid idea in your weak mind? Your sister? Your mother? Or are you a fucking whore y/n?” you wince as he adds pressure to your throat “that's it isn't it! Who is he? Ill fucking kill him” you look at him terrified words fighting their way out  

“NO-ONE! P-please get off me, I-I s-swear there's been no one b-but yo---’LYING BITCH WHY ELSE WOULD YOU BE SO DESPARATE TO GET AWAY FROM ME Y/N I LOVE YOU; YOU FUCKING KNOW THAT YOURE NOT LEAVING ME Y/N” He yanked your arm roughly, dragging you to your room. He grabs the handcuffs he keeps in the night stand beside the bed. Wrapping one of the cold cuffs around your wrist, he yanks it pulling you across the room. “N-no Jin please! I can be good I-I can b-be go-od p-please!” you scream as you grab onto the door.  

The pain in your wrist growing stronger. Jins face is now red “what did you call me” his voice is low the burning sensation in your wrist turning to throbbing as Jin stares at you. Your eyes widen as you force the door open, as your small figure makes it past the frame you can feel his hand in your hair, the burning sensation scratching its way through your head.  

The tears burning your eyes as you scream in pain “PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE PLEASE!”

You fight back but its utterly useless and he handcuffs you to your headboard “I fucking help you, you piece of trash. I give you everything! Everything I have y/n, you want me you have that you want my money I’ll transfer it all to you every last cent. I've bought you clothes food trips for you and your waste of space sister, I've given you freedom and respect and all I get in return for my love and kindness is disrespect, infidelity, and used. You want to know why your other Doms got rid of you y/n?” your eyes travel from the ceiling to his face.

 The hurt evident, “it's because you’re a gold-digging whore y/n you want money and that’s it you don’t care about how people feel you don’t care about love or anything you fuck anyone that will give you a bigger pay check and leave a trail of broken hearts. But I'm not one of those men y/n I'd rather kill you than live without you” he states standing frozen in the middle of the room his hand pulling a gun out from behind his back, pointing it right at you. “so, y/n do you want to die?”  

Your heart raced as you shook your head rapidly the tears rapidly flowing down your cheeks. “N-no p-please s-sir, I-ill d-do anything” his small huffs turning into a hearty laugh as he points the gun to his head, slowly rubbing it against his temple  

“It doesn’t matter if you want to leave it doesn’t matter if you want your own apartment. You violated your part of the NDA, Y/n by exposing our relationship and arrangement to your pathetic little sister you CAN’T leave, I mean I could sue you but I already know you don’t have that kind of money. Didn’t know when to bring it up but I felt now was a good a time as any. So, you see Babygirl you belong to me and the only way you're leaving me is death either by my hand or your own” he places his body on top of yours “and I hope for your sake its by your own, you know how I like to see you cry and bleed baby” his lips capture yours as your tears mix with the taste of his tongue.  

You closed your eyes as his hard long member enters your core, erasing the misery from your mind as you breathlessly moan “sir”  

you’ve sold your soul to the devil and He’s here to collect.  

[genshin-pals]

Corruption......part TWO!!!

Part one is here!! 

At this rate we’ll just do all the genshin characters because GOD I love this trope and y’all apparently do as well.

Characters: Venti, Lisa, Razor, Hu Tao, Qiqi, Rosaria

He hates Dragonspine. The snowy mountain only brings him sadness and pain. It serves as a reminder of a horrific battle that would end with his dear friend in pain and susceptible to suggestions of the abyss.

Anxiety consumed him when you told him you were off to the mountain, but he smiled and waved you off anyway. He regrets that.

There was a pain in his chest, fingers hovering above the strings of his harp as he stops in the middle of a song. 

Without another word he started running, running to the mountain he hated. 

It was up at the top of the mountain he found you. Kneeled down in the snow, clutching your head as something dark pulsed through your body. Tears fell. You were hurting.

Without his Gnosis, Venti’s power is limited. But he’ll be damned to leave you in this state. Taking a step forward, you turn at the crunch in the snow. Frantic like a cornered animal.

Kneeling before you, hands raise to gently cup your cheeks. He sees the pain on your expression. You’re frightened, much like Dvalin was when you first arrived in Monstadt.

“With the last of my divine strength, let me share in this curse...” 

The tips of his braids started glowing, and the boy’s form changed. Wings grew, and he was now dressed in white. However, all of that soon vanished, crumbling away as the darkness that haunted you moved over to the former archon.

Thoughts started becoming clearer, and recognition returned to your eyes. Venti...what was he doing?

Winds dying down, you stared at the other as he breathed heavily, still holding your face so gently as he panted.

“You, who have traveled the stars, also have your limits...” He forced out. Lifting his head, he smiled, despite the purple crack crawling across his face. “...but perhaps in a smaller dose, this hatred can be healed by your spirit...”

With the cursed blood split between the two of you, Venti helped you down the mountain. Windrise would help cleanse the last bits of corruption from you both.

How curious Lisa was. She wanted to know the truth of this world, but once she saw the madness that quest for knowledge cursed those around her, she gave up.

If the price of knowledge is the well being of others, it is best to remain ignorant.

Now, she’d use all her knowledge and power to save you. The witch was quite knowledgeable of legends of Monstadt, and the curse of Durin was no different.

That hatred radiating off of you was familiar. When you brought that corrupted tear drop crystal, that felt the same as you do now.

“Looks like I’ll have to play rough...”

Spell circles appeared at both her and your feet. The snowy clouds turned dark and pitch black. Lightning flashed, crashing down where you stood.

Identifying the woman as the source, you charged towards her.

But you couldn’t even get close. Thunder roared, and the air itself seemed to be filled with electro. 

This type of powers was almost unimaginable. Lisa may have forsaken the title of “grand mage”, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still qualified for it.

With all of her magic, a bolt of lightning finally struck it’s might upon your form.

The scream you let out pained the woman’s heart, but the fight was over. Rushing to your side, she kneeled down, lifting your head to rest on her lap. Gently, her hand stroked your hair.

Lisa hated work, but she’ll work as hard as she needs to in order to heal you.

He doesn’t understand what’s happening.

Razor followed you to the mountain, met a mysterious blond boy, and you got some weird sword. The more you battled, the more you changed. 

He was scared, but couldn’t find the words to express his concern. You assured him you were alright, but he never believed it.

One night, a blizzard raged across the mountain. The two of you rushed into a cave for shelter. Strangely, the cave seemed to radiate warmth. Razor looked at the white hail outside, calling your name. When you didn’t answer, he turned around.

You started at a large red...thing, in the back of the cave. Razor didn’t like it. If it wasn’t for the blizzard he would suggest leaving. But then something else happened.

You lunged at the wolf boy, slashing the cursed sword towards him. He gasped, quickly dodging.

“Please, calm!” He shouts. “Why attack?!” 

You weren’t listening, charging once again.

This was so bad. Survival came first, that’s what his head told him. But you were his lupical, and you were in pain... He could see it in your eyes, and the unnatural cracks in your skin.

Razor wanted to protect his lupical. So he had to think. This started when you entered the cave. No...before that. When you got the sword.

Static pricked on his skin, his sword clashing against your own. With a growl, electro burst forth from his blade. 

You were slammed into the wall of the cave. Razor was fast, roaring as he drove his weapon into Festering Desire. The piercing gaze of the gem cracked, and you let out a gasp.

Slumping down, you were out cold. Nothing Razor did would wake you up.

Positioning you on his back, he would run down to the city. Through the storm and over the hills, he needed you to be okay.

Dragonspine was a good source of business for Hu Tao. Foolish adventurers who believed they could conquer nature often lead to their own downfall.

Sometimes, she goes out there herself, knowing that there are bound to be bodies and spirits that have been lost for years. The pyro spirit that followed her kept her warm as well as helped to locate the corpses. But this time, it found something else.

Something else caught her attention. A disgusting energy. But it was you.

You rushed to slash at the girl, and Hu Tao dodged. This was unlike you and she knew it.

“Trying to send me off, hm?” She called to no response. Any sense of teasing was lost. This was serious. “I see...” Eyes drifted down to the weapon you held.

Twirling her spear, Hu Tao prepared herself for a fight. “Sorry, y/n. No discounts today.” She would take you back alive.

As the fight went on, the cold was starting to get to her. How long have you both been out on the mountain? This needed to end, and soon.

Summoning her blazing spirit, she swung it around and hit you. It burned, and you stumbled backwards. 

Hu Tao was running at you, before vanishing for a moment. In that single moment, the blazing spirit appeared from nowhere, screeching into your face. 

Something grabbed your wrist, turning, you saw the girl you were fighting.

“Boo~” She said with a grin, knocking the sword from your hand and holding you down.

Vision began to blur, and all you remember is a calm, forgiving warmth...

Someone who made Qiqi not mind the warmth was now so cold.

The energy created from the sword you were given wasn’t good. She didn’t like it, and yet Qiqi was unable to tell you.

You were hurt, attacking everything in sight. Somehow, that felt familiar, as if sparking a memory.

Qiqi didn’t want you to be sealed. So she would help you now.

With her orders received, she jumped into action. 

Even when you were marked with her talisman, the battle was difficult. The strength radiating off of you was almost overwhelming. But Qiqi felt if she didn’t save you now, you would be destroyed.

It was dangerous, but Qiqi unleashed the adeptal powers within her. Snow and ice raged around you two, and the small child rushed forward once again. She slashed at your hand, the evil sword sent flying.

You gasped, turning to retrieve your weapon when someone stopped you.

Small arms wrapped around your legs. They were cold, but shockingly strong.

“Qiqi loves you the most.” The girl spoke quietly. Those were the words used to cancel her orders. Typically spoken by Baizhu with no sincerity. But now? Qiqi means those words with all of her heart.

The adepti power helped to clear your mind, and soon your eyes fell heavy, along with your body. Now passed out, Qiqi would drag you down the mountain. 

Qiqi doesn’t ask for much, but she would demand Baizhu help you once returning to Liyue harbor. She would stay by your side until you woke.

Albedo is a dead man. She doesn’t know how, but she knew this was his fault.

It can wait, though. But for now, she focused on you and you alone. If you became a threat to Monstadt, she would end you. That is what she told herself. And yet, looking at you now, she wishes to save you instead.

Rosaria was making more work for herself, it seemed.

With a tired sigh, the sister darted forward. Blades clashed against one another, and Rosaria wasn’t above underhanded tactics.

Kicking up snow into your eyes, Rosaria moved to your back, slashing hard and fast. Blood dripped onto the white snow. You were injured, so that should slow you down.

It should have, but the power possessing you didn’t care what your physical state was. You fought regardless of the blood loss. Swearing under her breath, Rosaria noted how the darkness seemed to originate from your sword.

You ran to pierce her chest, but Rosaria’s spear parried your attack, sending Festering Desire into the air. Before anything else could happen, the woman tackles you to the ground, holding the handle of her spear to your throat.

You couldn’t get up with her sitting on top of you, and the bar above your neck made it hard to breath. Senses returning, your eyes fluttered close.

With a sigh, Rosaria stood, pulling you up and onto her back.

She would head back to the city, hoping Barbra would be able to heal you properly...

[onceupona-chaos]

Feathers and dawn

Day 15 of Elriel month/ Explosion of power

The half-wraith gave her friend a feral grin, white teeth flashing against her dark skin, and said quietly in her midnight voice, “Stealthy as a doe.”

Elain matched Nuala’s smile, sending a thrill down Azriel’s spine. “Fierce as a wolf.”

Word count:  3838

Warnings: Language

Disclaimer: This was a huge challenge for me, because English isn't my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes. Part II is coming out on day 18 (I think). Be kind!

“ELAIN!”

Azriel was kneeling on the ground, panting through gritted teeth as he tried not to succumb to that invisible force covering him like a heavy blanket. Whatever spells and wards casted upon that place were draining his magic little by little as if he had been hit by several ash arrows - only ten times worse. 

Even with the cold rain soaking him, the raindrops like ice needles against his skin and wings, he managed to fix his eyes on the cave, scanning and scanning through the dark dots that were beginning to form, trying to see something, anything. 

But the cave was as dark as the sky above him. A never ending darkness that seemed to swallow any blue light from his almost drained Siphons.

His shadows detected nothing. Not a whisper, not a move, no sign of her. 

After Elain had disappeared inside the Cave and his shadows couldn't get a reading, he had immediately sent Nuala to get Rhysand whilst he tried to find a way in. But he couldn't pass the wards just like his shadows couldn't sense her.

When a female scream echoed from inside the cave, Azriel couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Pure, clear panic was all he knew.

When he had been summoned to the river house in the morning, not in his five hundred years he’d expected it to turn out like this. 

 Shit. Shit.

________________

Azriel hadn't been able to sleep for more than a few hours, and even so dreams and nightmares made him roll in his bed the entire time. He’d  been awake for hours, staring at the two Solstice gifts he’d got from her when dawn came. And with it, Rhys’ orders. 

He made a point not to arrive earlier than he needed, so he wouldn’t be - couldn't be -  in the same place as her longer than necessary. Keeping his distance when he wasn't at the river house was torture enough, but being in the same house and still feel as if they were at opposite edges of the same abyss…  

And yet when Azriel landed outside the river house, his shadows quickly whispered in his ear that Rhysand wasn't alone in his studio. 

The warning did nothing to stop his body from stiffen when he stepped through the door, the illusion of a meeting only between him and his brother quickly dissipating, and his eyes shot straight to the window - and there she was.

He didn't know if it was the lilac dress or the sunlight casting through the window, but her eyes were almost the color of pure honey. But something was off, her usually open expression was stark and hard, and then he noticed the pallidness on that beautiful face and the faint black bruises under her eyes. Even though he knew his face was the portrait of boredom, his shadows swarmed him, sensing his unease.

Azriel made his eyes move to where Amren was sitting crossed-legged, her petite body almost hidden beneath a white fur coat. Feyre cradling Nyx in her arms was sitting next to Rhysand, the baby soundly asleep, warm against his mother's chest. 

Azriel looked back to where Elain was, her shoulders tensing a bit as if she could sense his gaze on her even when she was peering through  the window, and he knew she was deliberately avoiding looking at him. It was only a stolen glimpse from his part - Azriel was well aware of Rhysand's violet eyes on him, almost daring him to disobey his orders. 

Azriel made the boiling rage cool down, kept his face carefully blank, his mask of cool boredom still in place whilst he faced his brother, lifting an eyebrow in question. 

Amren, on the other hand, didn’t bother to mask her impatience. “We’re waiting, Rhysand.”

The High Lord of The Night Court nodded to Elain, and Azriel felt his body stiffened once again. Rhysand announced, "It looks like we have another Made object to worry about.”

Silence.

Azriel’s blood went cold in his veins. He asked quietly, "How would you know?"

Elain didn't give many details. But she emphasized it was more of a sense than a normal vision, as if she could smell a storm coming but the skies remained clear. As if she could hear an ancient whisper in the wind. She wasn't sure what it was until last night - when  something long forgotten had presented itself in a dream. Azriel was well aware of what kind of objects could call for someone like that.

“What is this object?” Feyre asked.

Elain replied, “I… I can’t See what it is.” Azriel tracked the way she swallowed. “It’s veiled in shadows. Hidden among the silence itself."

Nodding more to herself, Amren said, "Whatever this is, it wants to be found at last.” She narrowed her eyes at Elain’s direction. "It's calling for you, girl."

Azriel's shadows gathered even closer, sensing his concern. He remembered of Oorid, how Nesta’s body shook after she retrieved The Mask. For Elain to be exposed to the same danger…

And yet, he couldn’t - wouldn’t interfere. He knew how much each choice Elain got to make was precious to her. She’d told him that herself on one of those nights in front of the fireplace. Her eyes had been filled with a mix of sadness and hope as if she still could feel her own choices slipping through her fingers as if they were grains of sand. 

He had only stared at her back then, imagining how it had been like for her going into the Cauldron - and then spending months trapped in her own visions to the point she couldn't tell dreams and reality apart. So he'd kept silent, let his understanding rise to the surface so she could see it and watched as her body relaxed under his gaze.

So different from now when she looked in every direction except his as she watched the harsh argument, Amren insisting vigorously that Elain should go look for the object. 

That explained why Nesta wasn't there, why Rhysand hadn't asked him to fly her down.

Whilst Cassian was in Illyria for an inspection of the aerial legions, the priestesses had recently received another female. Nesta didn't so much hesitate in wanting to help her the way she could and have been spending more time than usual at the library. But not to tell her, to keep this away from her… 

"Does Nesta know about this?", Azriel cut in.

"She would take this task for herself." Rhysand didn't even bother to look guilty. "And if it's calling for Elain, we can't risk sending anyone else, even if she chooses not to go. It could end very badly."  

"Maybe Nesta would be right to hesitate to send Elain,"  Azriel argued back, violet eyes narrowing. "Either way, that doesn't justify not telling her."

Feyre was glaring at her mate, undoubtedly saying something in his head, as if they had that discussion before. Many times. 

But before she could say anything out loud, Amren cut in, "It's not calling for Nesta, boy."

Azriel's voice was cold as ice. "Do not forget that we already kept information from her before." 

Amren didn’t even have time to open her mouth - to disagree or snarl, Azriel didn't know - before Elain stood up from her seat at the window, "That’s enough."

They all twisted toward her, brows raised. The only sound in the room now was the soft rustle of Nyx delicate wings.

Elain looked at Rhys, eyes sharp but voice even. "You of all people should know what it is like to want to protect those who you love and that is no excuse for keeping things from Nesta." Sadness coated her expression. “Not again, Rhys.” 

This time, Rhys had the decency to look at least guilty. Ferey intervened, "I'll tell her this afternoon. I want Cassian there, too."

Elain nodded. "I'm not a child for anyone to decide for me. If it's calling for me, I won’t run away.” She said squaring her shoulders, never looking away from her older sister, who was just about to say something. "And I am not asking for permission." 

And her posture, her words, her tone were so fierce, those large caramel-brown eyes flickering while she studied them all and Azriel knew that she’d do whatever was necessary to help this court. 

A  reminder that the Archeron sisters were forged by the same fire.

Azriel's chest ached with pride - and terror. Terror for her. But he pushed aside those instincts that were screaming to keep her safe, to not let her near any danger, and asked at last, "Then how do we find it?"

_________________

In a matter of minutes, Elain was sitting before a map, her eyes shifting beneath her lids as if she could See the entire world. Everyone was watching her as she searched for the right place, the one that appeared in her dreams - so Azriel used the moment to admire her.

Beautiful. She was so beautiful, he could admire her for the rest of his days in the same way he looked at the rising sun.

Elain’s hand hovered over that map, the creamy, soft skin marked by small scars, her delicate fingers were calloused, no doubt from her gardening. She cocked her head, as if listening to those whispering to find the right path. Azriel could’ve sworn the room was getting warmer.

She let a finger down and opened her eyes. For a second it looked like a faint golden glow shone behind the familiar brown, just like one could see the faelights behind a piece of glass, but then Elain blinked a few times -  and it faded away.

 "Here," she said.

Feyre sighted deeply as she cupped Nyx’s head as if she could protect him from her very words. "Of course it's in the Middle."

______________________

Nuala didn't ask any questions. She'd only showed up in the afternoon as they had agreed, passing right through the wall. Elain appeared a second later, opening the door and almost scrambling Azriel's brain cells to the point of uselessness. 

Her hair was braided behind her head, a blue surcoat, similar to the one she wore in the war, reached the middle of her thighs. It wasn’t Illyrian leathers, but the slits in the lower part of the surcoat  combined with her leather pants did absolutely nothing to hide her curves and the color made her skin look almost golden.

His shadows brightened as if to let him see all of her more clearly. He knew he was staring, that he should say something about them going somewhere, but he couldn't even remember his words. When Feyre had suggested he accompany Elain, he’d made his best to not look at Rhys, to just naturally nod in agreement. 

Rhysand wouldn't say a word about Solstice. Not in front of Feyre, that is.

But that didn't stop his High Lord to make Nuala play chaperone with a bullshit excuse that her gifts might end up being useful in the place they were heading to and her friendship with Elain could help. 

The message was crystal clear.

Azriel's eyes dropped without his acknowledgement to her lips, those sweet lips he had been so close to taste. He heard someone coughing, but his mind didn’t register the sound.

When he finally realized he was staring, he quickly snapped his eyes to hold her gaze. Despite the faint pink coloring her cheeks, a flicker of amusement sparkled in Elain’s expression.

Behind him, someone cleared their throat. 

Azriel ignored the smirk curving Feyre’s lips just like he ignored Nuala’s amusement, trying his best to contain the heat spreading across his cheeks at the thought of them watching the staring contest between the two of them.

Finally Nuala decided to put him out of his misery and asked, "Shall we?".

________________

By the time the swirl of shadows disappeared, Azriel was half distracted by the feeling of Elain's small hand in his. But the moment Azriel was able to have a good look at the place before them, he felt the hair on his arms rose. 

A deep forest was revealed, huge, gigantic trees side by side, making him feel the same size as Amren. Nuala let go of his other hand and almost unconsciously he tightened his grip on Elain's as she looked wild-eyed at the view before them.

As if one could call it that.

Where the forest should be rejoicing with life, there was none. Not a single leaf remained in those trees, the naked branches curling above the small, meandering trail like black claws. There wasn't a single animal or insect anywhere beneath the dark gray sky, making the atmosphere grievously melancholic. 

No light, no life. A place of utter sadness, as silent as Death.

"I've seen worse." Nuala's midnight voice was almost a whisper, but still reverberated like a thunder in that deadly silence, her attempt of being playful covered by the tenseness in her tone.

Azriel studied Elain, who swallowed before saying, "Me too." Her face was cautious, tight. She cocked her head as if heading some inner voice.

He asked, "Can you See where it is?"

She gently let go of his hand, blushing a little as if she had just realized they were still touching. "No, not See it" She said, scanning the forest. "But I can hear it."

"The shadows don't hear anything," Nuala said, moving to be at Elain’s side. “Do you remember what we discussed?”

Elain nodded.

“Once we enter the forest, watch your steps and try to walk toe to heels most of the time. Listen carefully to our breathing,” Nuala said, gesturing to her and then Azriel, who was watching the scene with raised brows. “And match yours with it always. Be as quiet as you can.” 

To his surprise, Elain just lifted a brow at the command in Nuala’s tone, who gave her a Look. “I’m serious, if you can help it, do not make a sound in this place.” The half-wraith gave her friend a feral grin, white teeths flashing against her dark skin and said quietly in her midnight voice, “Stealthy as a doe.”

Elain matched Nuala’s smile, sending a thrill down Azriel’s spine. “Fierce as a wolf.”

And then they walk right into The Silent Forest, living an almost dumbfounded Azriel behind.

_________________

They had been walking for what it felt like hours now. 

Even with his five hundred years worth of daily training, Azriel could feel his strength being drained slowly as if a heavy hand was pushing them back. With every step he took, it was like the forest itself, every single inch of that damn forest, didn’t want them there.

He kept his wings tucked in tight while eyeing their surroundings, once or twice he saw what seemed a glimpse of eyes watching them. The children of The Silent Forest. He could only pray for them to get the hell out of that place before sunset. 

Nuala seemed just as uncomfortable. Shadows gathered around her like a veil of darkness as if they could shield her from that invisible force, even though she was holding Elain’s hand now. 

Elain, who did not balk. She just kept walking, stopping sometimes along the way, her head cocked as if she could hear an inner voice luring her into the right direction until, at some point, Elain left the small forest trail to venture in an invisible path between the trees. 

More than once Nuala looked at Elain and smirked, causing a blush to spread across Elain’s pale cheeks.  

Despite the circumstances why Nuala was there, Azriel was grateful for the female attempts to distract Elain from her visible, growing tension. So he kept a few steps behind, offering the two females some privacy.  And when the temptation of using his shadows to know the cause of that blush crossed his mind, which was every five minutes, he pushed it aside and tried to focus on the surroundings or on the infinity, dark sky above them. With the sun almost down, the charged clouds waltzing through it in a promise of desolation.

They kept walking against that invisible force, almost unbearable now until… there. Azriel stiffened.

Deep in the forest, where the darkness seemed to unfold out of it, the entrance into a cave opened as if it was a path to another world, one made of Darkness and nothing more.  

Azriel’s shadows whispered to not go further. 

Nuala seemed to sense the same thing. "It feels… so wrong.” Her voice was quiet, but it seemed to be swallowed by the cave as if it was greedy to devour any sound, any light. 

“Strange,” Elain whispered back, brows furrowing. “It doesn’t feel like that to me.”

Azriel looked once again at the sky. They didn’t have much more time before night - and the beasts - came. He was almost suggesting to turn around, maybe they could convince Rhysand to come along. 

"I’ll be right back."

It took a moment to her words sink in, to Azriel make sense of what had just come out of Elain’s mouth. Elain, who was already moving. Elain, who was already walking towards the cave, getting closer with each step. 

Azriel moved out of sheer instinct, rushing forward to grab her hand, but again that damn force was pushing him back now. He flared his wings, trying to find some balance to keep going. "Elain," he snarled. 

She paused right before the entrance and looked back at him,  "I can hear its calling, it won't hurt me.”

Azriel was breathing hard, so lost on his mind that he didn’t realize the rain soaking him. He didn't like that one bit. He wanted to reach her, put his arms around her and shot to the skies. But he only unsheathed Truth-Teller and offered it to her. Elain bit her lip and walked back.  

He pressed his dagger to her hands, their eyes meeting - just like he had done once. Elain didn't hesitate this time. “Just…” He took his hand, trying to find the words. And there were so many words. “Come back," he said at last. A request and a prayer.

Elain squeezed his fingers and looked at Nuala before turning around. Azriel tracked every breath, every movement she made. His shadows speared toward the cave, watching over Elain, until darkness swallowed her. 

He was still monitoring her through his shadows, Nuala by his side. None of them dared to speak - not that he wanted to. Nuala worked as his spy long enough to know he kept to himself. His shadows were still curling around his neck to whisper in his ear.

Then, they became silent. As silent as they could be as they lost Elain’s track.

The screams came not long after she disappeared. 

______________________

"ELAIN!"

The female scream was still echoing in Azriel’s ears, his own panic was a fog he couldn't see through. He tried to use his Shiphons, but whatever twisted magic ruling that place, it could not be affected. 

And Elain was there somewhere. 

So Azriel lunged forward  - to be pushed back by that invisible form. He felt a tentacle of darkness grab him, sinking its talons deep in his very bones, sucking on his killing power.

He turned to Nuala, who was trying to summon her own shadows, to see beyond the darkness. “Go back, right now and bring Rhysand.” Her face drained of color. “Now, Nuala.”

“I won’t leave her.”

“That’s an order," he snarled.  

She looked back at the cave, before assuming her shadowy form and ran back, passing directly through the trees in her way. 

Fuck. Seven Shiphons never felt so powerless. He could only imagine what the hell was happening, ancient spells and wards, casted by god knows what kind of creatures and now Elain - Elain - was there and -

Think. He needed to try to calm the hell down and think. He was always planning, always calculating, that was his fucking job.

But he couldn’t think. Those talons thigned, more and more. He felt his magic leaving him slowly.

And then everything stopped.

When he  looked through the raindrops once more to the cave, - 

Elain’s head broke the darkness first. A solemn expression printed on her beautiful face and her eyes... they glowed. Nothing like Nesta’s silver fire, nothing like Amren’s once were, but gone was the familiar chocolate brown that Azriel had lost himself in it more times he could count, replaced by a light of white and golden. As if the sun itself was behind her skull and, just like that, the air in the forest grew hotter, wave after wave of heat crashing through him, his own strength being restored. He was only half-conscious about the dark forms of beasts older than Darkness who lived there in absolute silence, that now ran from that promise of light.

And in her hands… a small golden orb.

Any trace of that unholy darkness was gone as Elain stepped closer and on her back... the hair on Azriel arms rose, pure awe ran though his body. A pair of beautiful, strong, powerful wings, covered in feathers, each one white as snow, gleaming and glowing as if they have been sewed with golden thread, perfectly matching her otherworldly eyes. They seemed impermeable despite the water running down, like they were covered by a protection layer where drops glittered under starlight, similar to pearls. 

Azriel only stood there, drinking her image and memorizing it as she walked toward him. For she was something from dreams, from tales as old as the forest around them. 

Sweat began to run down his back, between his wings, in great rivers and in that moment she was the sun itself. Her face was sheer power, so luminous that radiated from her, warming the world, and he knew that despite the heavenly glow, she could release hell upon them all with nothing but a blink - no kindness, no mercy whatsoever.

Despite the heat, he did not flinch, did not so much as move. This was different from the fire that gave him his scars, a constant reminder of hate and fear. Whatever that fire was made of, this was something else entirely. 

It was the warmth of firelights on Solstice nights with his family, of spring days when he would sunny his wings. The warmth of Nyx’s laughter, of Elain’s smile. He wanted her closer, wanted to slide his arms around her and let her light cast through him until the darkness of his very soul faded away. For she was light, always have been. And for someone who is lost in the dark, light is salvation. 

Slowly Elain stepped out of the cave. The moment she crossed the dorway, after a few steps, that light dimmed, her wings dropped as if she couldn't sustain its weight any longer. Azriel saw when her hands tightened around the orb, bringing it to her chest. She blinked and every trace of light disappeared, her beautiful face was now mortal - and pale. 

Caramel-brown eyes met hazel ones before rolling back into her head. Azriel only had time to catch Elain in his arms before she could collapse on hard rock.   

[yikesharringrove]

(( Soooo Pokemon AU? Idk if you’re a fan of Pokemon but given all the cool snippets and stuff you’ve written I figured I’d return the favour in a way and write this and submit it to you! I included some notes at the end! ))

– Unstable Genes –

Billy knew Steve would have a preppy, rich boy Pokemon. He just knew it. Granted he expected it to be something more powerful and less, cute.

The Eevee was always at Harrington’s side, matching brown doe-eyes observing the school. It didn’t shy from the larger Pokemon that approached it, nor did it act sickeningly sweet. It stood it’s ground, head held high, matching Steve’s general disinterest in the bustle of the school or the gossip around it. It was so weird to see such a small ball of fluff regard bigger, tougher Pokemon with such little concern. Billy didn’t know a lot about Eevees but he knew Steves was… off. For one thing, the aloofness. For another, it was (apparently) strong as fuck according to Tommy and half the school. Tommy in particular wouldn’t shut up about the battles the little Eevee had won, helping to secure old King Steve’s crown before he lost it. The other thing was that it hadn’t evolved, despite Steve apparently having it since he was ten.

Billy knew an Eevee’s DNA was extremely fucked. They evolved if you so much as looked at them funny. Buy some expensive stone and shove it in your Eevee’s face? it’ll evolve. Take them aboard to some fancy place and rub it on a stone in a specific place? It’ll evolve. Give it a ton of cake and pet it a bunch? It’ll evolve. It’s not hard to get those things if you can afford the Eevee in the first place. There were no wild Eevee’s anywhere; they were all from breeders and cost far more than anyone should pay for a Pokemon, so if you could afford the Eevee, you’d evolve it. If you weren’t keeping it for a pet.

It just made Billy all the more curious. Curious about the once King Steve and his un-evolved Eevee. And Klaus - his Luxio, the only Pokemon he had managed to keep from Cali - was equally curious. It wanted a decent fight. It saw the little Eevee, heard the stories, and licked it’s teeth, eyes gleaming. Klaus always looked for that Eevee, always trying to catch it’s gaze, caught between growling for it’s attention and purring, letting eelctricity crackle in it’s fur with every step. Billy couldn’t blame Klaus. He saw Steve and ached for the fight. To see his eyes focus on them and them alone, take charge of the battle, hear him issue commands to that Eevee. To get Steve’s skin under his fists, under his hands, to scratch, to grip, to grapple. To feel him sweat and bleed. To press him down with his body.

Then came the Night. Billy got to face King Steve, staring him down after being sent on a bullshit mission to find Max. He’d wanted this for so long but not like this. Not when it was backed up with the shit from his old man. Not when he saw Max peered from the window. Not when Steve fucking lied to his face about his sister being there with a bunch of weird boys. Klaus snarled, and Steve’s little Eevee puffed up, digging kitten claws into the earth.

It was criminal Billy couldn’t remember the fight that followed, thanks to the drugs Max had shot into him (that shit was crystal clear - the rest of the tape, the good shit, was covered in static and fuzz). He remembered throwing a punch. He remembered getting punched back. He remembered smashing a plate. He remembered feeling a pair of canines sink into his ankle as the little furball bit him, evading his attempts to kick it off. He remembered Klaus lunging, electricity crackling in his teeth as he lunged at the Eevee. And then, jackshit. But he saw the results of it the next day.

Steve was bruised, deep purple splotches darkening as his body worked to recover. On his pale skin they were beautiful, vivid proof that Billy had gotten his hands on King Steve and left a mark. Steve glanced over and for a moment, their eyes met. Billy didn’t look away. Steve didn’t either. Billy resisted the urge to lick his teeth. To make it another challenge. It was when his Luxio gave a deep, rumbling noise beside him, caught between a growl and a purr, that Billy turned, following his Luxio’s gaze to the Pokemon at Steve’s side. Billy wanted to punch something. Steve’s Eevee was no longer an Eevee. Steve’s Eevee had evolved, during or just after their fight, and he couldn’t remember it.

Billy didn’t know a lot about Eevee’s aside from them evolving at the drop of a hat. He didn’t know what it was, but it was not a preppy little furball anymore. It’s fur was sleek and black, with yellow rings on it’s legs and forehead, matched by bands around it’s ears and tail. The doe-like, black eyes were gone, replaced by knowing, red eyes. It looked directly at Billy. For an eternity, Billy stared at it as it watched him. The yellow rings glowed and dimmed in a hypnotic pulse rhythm. Yellow on black, like every caution and warning sign Billy had seen. Finally, it turned, following Steve down the hallway.

It didn’t take long to find a book on Eevees in the library, to find out what the hell Harrington’s Eevee had become. He found the page with a picture of the Pokemon, reading through it and freezing, ignoring the dirty look from the libraian as Klaus stood on his hind legs to look at the book, as if he could fucking read (Really, he was just staring at the picture).

“Umbreon, the Moonlight Pokemon. A well trained Eevee with a strong bond to it’s trainer can evolve into an Umbreon under the influence of the Moon.

A nocturnal hunter, it blends in with darkness by dimming the markings on it’s body. When excited and ready to strike, the markings shine brightly, startling it’s prey. It’s possible that it uses the glow of it’s markings to communicate with others… Not much is known about this Pokemon; Umbreons (and Espeons; see page 196) are unknown in the wild, and few trainers evolve their Eevees this way. Most cite that it is easier to evolve their Eevees through other means and train them appropriately according to how they evolve, rather than spend the time to attain these forms and then hone their training. Fewer still are willing donate their Pokemon for research on this elusive species…”

Billy looked down at Klaus, snapping the book shut. He knew Max had told him to stay away from her little weirdo friends. Which apparently included Steve. Which was still extremely fucking weird. But he wanted to know. He wanted to know what the fuck happened that night. Why Steve was there. What the fuck Max and those kids were doing. How Steve’s Eevee had evolved from some little bundle of fluff into a literal Pokemon of the night. “Klaus. We got some training to do.”

—

(( Steve’s Pokemon is an Eevee! It’s a rare Pokemon; in earlier games it couldn’t be found in the wild at all, and you’d only get one given to you. They can evolve into a total of eight different Pokemon, depending on what method you use, and each evolved Pokemon is a different type with different stats and abilities. So it’s very popular! It feels like the kind of thing Steve’s parents would give him and think “yep, we’re good parents, back to work/never being at home”. And given how listless Steve generally is, he wouldn’t have decided how to evolve it. Until it evolves in response to…well, the everything happening! Steve’s evolved into an Umbreon, a dark type, which has high defensive stats. Eevee evolves into Umbreon when it had a strong bond with it’s trainer and levels up at night-time - I feel like the events of Stranger Things would cause Steve to develop a very real bond with it and cause the evolution. And I can’t decide what he would name it or if it would be a boy or a girl (girls are much rarer than males - it’s like a 1/8 chance of obtaining a female Eevee).

>>>

Billy’s Pokemon is a Luxio! It’s essentially a teenage lion, and an electric type. They’re not super rare but they look extremely rad and channel electricity into their claws/fangs when they attack! They also develop the ability to see through walls when their eyes gleam a golden colour, which they use to trakc prey or lost cubs of theirs… It evolves from a Shinx (a cub basically) and then evolves into a Luxray (the adult lion). It feels very Billy to me! I imagine he had another pokemon that was a water type/fish, so he had to leave them in the sea when he ended up going to Hawkins. I also took the name Klaus from the lead singer of the Scorpions cos I am not that good at coming up with names.

God this ended up being massive, I completely understand if you don’t post this. I don’t really know how to sign this off cos this is literally my first contribution to the Harringrove fandom despite lurking for a while. But again, thank you for all the stuff you write! I hope that even if you don’t like Pokemon, this makes ya smile. I guess I should leave a name or something, URM

- that guy who made the stupidly long Pokemon AU submission

-

I LOVE pokemon this is so fucking good. I’ve definitely thought about Steve having an Eevee before, and I love it evolving That Night, especially into Umbreon, that’s so GOOD and POWERFUL. I also love the idea of Steve with Mimikyu for,,,, angst reasons. And I love Billy with Luxio. I totally see him with electric or fire types because he would really like the strength and energy those types bring. I’ve thought about him with Cubone (also for angst reasons), or even Growlithe/Arcanine mostly bc I’m more familiar with gen 1 and 2. Seriously, I love this SO MUCH and if you ever wanna write more 👀👀 I would LOVE to read it.

[sushiburritonoms]

DinLuke #38 if you're still doing these prompts! :D Been really enjoying reading these, haha

Look my darling @lulollymint, I tried so so so hard to write a normal cop story, but I kept getting stuck. So I hope you don't mind that this goes incredibly off prompt and probably isn't what you were expecting. I don't even know what genre or motif I was working with, its just mashing things together for the lols. I hope its ok!

Also warning, there was a lot of F-bombs in this one, to fit the AU Din I was going for. Sorry?

AU Fic List

38.cop/person getting a speeding ticket au

The moment Din saw the familiar white GT-86 fly by him, not even trying to slow down this time, he groaned and flipped on his lights with more force than necessary. “Damnit, not again.”

Was there even a point to this? Everytime he handed this driver a ticket, it mysteriously disappeared in the system, thanks to his all powerful Mother.  Christ, Din hated this guy.  He was tempted to just turn around and find another place to patrol. But no. One day the driver could kill someone at those speeds and anyways it was the principal of the thing, even if this rich asshole would never face consequences of his actions. It was an unjust world but Din was forced to live in it, for Grogu’s sake.

Usually when they did this song and dance, the GT obediently pulled over to the side of the road as soon as it caught sight of him.  This time it took several minutes, until Din was close to calling for backup. At least they were on a rural road and there wasn’t any other traffic heading out of town at this time of day. After several tense minutes the GT finally swung to the side of the road in a sharp, sudden movement. It wasn’t the most graceful stop he’d seen from the man, but Din was too pissed to care.

“Fuck.” Din growled as he slammed his driver side door shut. Maybe he should drag him to jail this time, let him stew in a cell for a few hours before his mommy came and got him this time.

“Again, Skywalker?!”” he hissed as he made it to the GT’s front window. It was already rolled down and waiting for him.  “Third time this...month…”

The words died in his mouth the moment he caught sight of the bane of his existence.  Skywalker looked up at him, one eye almost completely black and swollen shut, his face covered in scratches that were still slowly oozing blood.  He had his left hand on his wheel but his right hand was just gone--his arm ending at the wrist.  How was he even changing gears in that car?!

“Hey Officer Djarin,” Skywalker rasped. “This really isn’t a good time, can we--” he gave a wet cough, “--do this, l-later?”

“Jesus Christ!” Din put his hand through the open window and popped the door. “What the hell happened to you!”  He pulled it open and immediately reached over to shut the engine off. Skywalker tried to bat his hand away from the ignition but Din easily dodged him.

“‘No don’t,” Skywalker groaned. “Please don’t--I have--have to keep going--”

“The only place you’re going is a hospital,” Din said grimly as he caught sight of Skywalker’s bloody blue checkered shirt.  Had the pretty boy been in a bar fight? At...2pm on a thursday? Din sighed as he reached for his radio. “Darjin. I have a 105, requesting a rig to South Socorro, next to Mumble’s Turnaround.”

“No hospital!” Skywalker gasped, shouting over dispatch’s reply. “No, please, you don’t understand, this is the only way. I have to leave town--”

Fuck. It had finally happened.  The pretty boy must have done a hit and run.  Din craned his neck to look at the front of the car. “Who did you hit, Luke?”

“Nobody,” Luke rasped.  “Please, you have to let me go.  You will let me go.”  The young idiot tried to raise his only hand and wave it at Din’s face and the moron was lucky that Din wasn’t as trigger happy as the rest of his hillbilly squad.  Din grabbed his hand and frowned.

“Christ you’re on some sort of drug aren’t you? What did you take? Spice?”  Jesus, where was his ambulance?  He used his free hand to hit his radio. “Dispatch, confirm?”  He waited to hear from Omera, but instead of an answer his radio made a high pitched electronic wail that was piercing. “The hell?”

“No no no noooo,” Luke gasped. He was staring at Din’s radio with a sheet white face.  “Please not now!” He tried to pull his hand away from Din’s grasp.

“Luke! Calm down before you hyperventilate.” That’s it, Din was putting him in his squad car, where he could lock him in if he started to violently hallucinate.  He reached over to unbuckle Luke’s seatbelt only to realize the moron wasn’t wearing one.  So instead he just raged silently as he dragged the other man out.

Luke’s legs buckled the moment he stepped out of the car. “You have to leave,” the boy mumbled. “Before...too late.”

“Whatever, your highness,” Din sighed, using Fett’s most innocent name for Skywalker.  He started to drag the other man to his car, noticing at the same time that it was a lot darker outside than it had been two minutes ago. He looked up and saw clouds suddenly  blocking the summer sun. That was odd. It had been a clear cloudless summer day earlier. “Fucking climate change.”

It was while he was trying to maneuver Skywalker into his back seat that he finally noticed the strange tattoos the man had on his left and right forearms.  They were thick green lines that swirled in weird sharp geometric shapes and angles, almost looking like words in an alien language or something.  The right arm tattoo ended with Luke’s wrist. The left spilled into his hands and even down his fingers. They looked expensive and very new, with ink that was so bright it almost looked like it was glowing.  Din didn’t remember Skywalker having any tattoos the last time he’d pulled him over. But then again, he was also sure the last time they’d met Luke also had a real fucking hand.

“Nice ink,” he said finally, unable to bring himself to ask the other man if he’d always had a really amazing prosthetic hand and multiple massive tattoos. He was losing his touch--what was he thinking, letting Cara talk him into transferring into this hellhole state? As he chastised himself, his right thumb moved to caress the closest line on the other man’s arm without thinking. But the moment he touched it, a painful sensation almost like electricity shot through his hand and down his spine. “Fuck!” What the hell was that?!

Luke also jerked. “Don’t touch me!” His voice sounded low and full of pain.  He looked down at his arms with his one good eye in horror. “Oh God! It’s too late.”

“What hell are you on?” Din said, just as he felt a sudden icy wind blast past them both. It was strong, dragging leaves and other debris over their car and pelting Din’s unprotected back with small pebbles. “Ow! Damn it!” The sun had disappeared, and the world around them had taken a sinister grey color.  He instinctively pushed Luke back, into the protective shelter of his car.

Then he heard a terrible, low laugh, so close it felt like there was someone inches next to his near. He flinched and turned...and saw no one. The back hair on Din’s neck stood straight up and he found himself reaching for his gun. All his instincts were screaming and when he looked back at Skywalker he yelped because now Luke really was glowing bright green.

“Din.” The sudden use of his first name jerked his attention from the glowing green marks on Luke’s arms to his face.  His unbruised blue eye was clear and full of determination. “Move.”

Din found himself scrambling to let Luke drag himself out of his car before he could even blink.  It was like he was possessed.  He watched as Luke took several unsteady steps until he was in front of Din and facing the empty road. He stood in a wide ready stance, with both glowing arms held out at his sides.  His left hand was open, palm forward and his right stump was a bright ball of green fire.

The unnatural wind blew again, making Din flinch against dust kicked up in their faces.

“Drive away,” Luke commanded, as he continued to face the road.  “Leave.”

Din’s body started to move towards his front seat, but he stopped it just as his hand touched the door. “No!” He rasped.  Instead he made his hand pull his gun and he found himself pointing it at the empty road in front of them instead of at Skywalker like he should have done.

Luke sighed. “You’re too honorable for your own good.” Gone was the cheerful yet annoying voice Din had become used to hearing. Skywalker sounded like a stranger, an unnatural being. “Stay behind me and whatever you do, don’t turn your back to him.”

“What--”

Between one breath and the next, the devil himself arrived. Without a flash of light or possessed gale force winds, it suddenly just appeared. It had a red and black demonic face, a head covered in horns and had glowing yellow eyes. It was dressed in all black robes and had a glowing black sword in it’s right hand.

“Maul,” said Luke. His right stump twitched and suddenly his hand was back and it was holding a glowing green sword. Except it wasn’t his hand, not really. It looked like it was made of light instead of flesh.

“Chosen One,” said the devil.

“Oh fuck off,” said Din.  Chosen one? This guy?!

Maul smiled, all sharp teeth. “I’ll kill the human and eat his soul.”

“As happy as that would make my mother, I can’t let you do that,” Luke replied.

“Then I’ll use his corpse to kill her too,” Maul hissed. “Then your sister and her unborn babe.”

“HEY!” Din shouted. “Nobody is using my corpse for anything.” Also he was pretty sure Governor Padme Naberrie would be fully capable of killing the devil herself.

The devil laughed and before Din could let loose one of his bullets into him, he disappeared. Then he reappeared inches from Luke’s face, his black sword swinging for his neck. Din shouted but Luke was already moving like he was a character from the Matrix. He brought his green hand and sword up and there was an explosion of energy.

Then the fight was on. Somehow tiny Luke pushed Maul away from him, but the devil stopped in mid air and swung towards him like he was launched from an unseen hand. Luke parried and ducked, more agile than his appearance would suggest. He slid underneath the demon and leapt to his feet. Maul landed on the ground and launched another attack, swinging the black sword up over his head. It hit Luke’s glowing hand sword with a crackle of energy. They swung, parried, swung and parried again, moving in a blur too fast to Din to see them clearly. He kept his gun out, pointed vaguely in Maul’s direction but he knew he was more than useless here.

Luke was beginning to tire. Din could see it in the way he was swinging his hand and the way his legs were shaking.  When Luke had launched Maul several feet away from them, Din turned to see if he could reach his rifle in the back of his car without the two noticing. But as he did that he heard Maul hiss in triumph and suddenly he felt an intense burning in his back, like a hot poker being buried into the middle of his spine. He couldn’t even let out a cry as he dropped his gun.

“NO!” Luke screamed.

“Didn’t the boy tell you,” he heard Maul hiss in his ear. “Never turn your back on a Sith!”  Din gasped, unable to form words as the world dimmed and he fell to his knees. He felt like he was being slowly dragged backwards, out of his own damn body.

Just as he started to see black spots in his vision, he heard an inhuman roar.  The pulling sensation stopped and he felt himself slam face first into the ground. There was the sound of growling and he heard Maul shriek. Bright lights flashed over his head.

Then he felt himself being lifted up into someone’s arms. There was air rushing past his face. He struggled to open his eyes and the first thing he saw was his squad car rapidly disappearing as they left the ground in a rush. He also saw shimmery white scales, like the kind you would see on a snake, and impossibly, a white leathery wing flapped in and out of his vision. He heard the wings pushing through the air and another loud roar.

“The fuck!” He gasped.  The arms around him tightened. Din’s head was pressed against Luke’s shoulder, his arms wrapped around him and holding him against the back of some sort of living, breathing FLYING thing.

“Hold on!” Luke said grimly and they flew through the air.

“ARE WE ON A FUCKING DRAGON?!” Din shouted.

“Technically it’s my GT!” Luke yelled back.

“WHY THE FUCK IS YOUR CAR A DRAGON?!”

“That’s what you’re gonna fixate on?” Luke said incredulously. “Fine, yes! It’s magic, now shut up and let me concentrate!!”

“Your arms are still glowing!” Din said, his brain completely broken. He could feel energy pulsing through Luke’s bare arms, their heat licking at his skin. It felt good, because he was freezing, so cold he felt like he could barely move.  “What--what is that? What are you?!”

He felt Luke sigh and suddenly there were lips firmly pressed against his, swallowing the torrent of panicked words that were trying to spill out of him. He also felt the freezing cold that had its grip in him ease, replaced by warmth. It felt like Luke was pouring fire and light into him and when he pulled away a moment later, Din saw that Luke’s face was pale and full of worry.

“Better?” He asked, words barely audible over the flapping of dragon wings.

Din nodded wordlessly.

“Right, ok. Everything is under control,” Luke said, more to himself than Din. “We’re alive and you have most of your soul left, so everything is going to be fine, just fine. Ok? Right, calm down.”

“I am calm now,” Din said. Well mostly.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Luke replied. He tightened his grip on Din and sighed. “Not gonna lie Officer Din Djarin, we’re pretty screwed right now. But I’m gonna get us somewhere safe, I promise.”

“How do you even know my first name,” Din exclaimed.

“My mom’s the Governor, you don’t think I wouldn’t have her lookup Navarro City’s best and brightest police officer?”

Din frowned. “You just did that to erase your speeding tickets.”

“Maybe,” Luke chuckled. “You gonna arrest me now?”

“Yes,” Din moaned. “So very yes.”

He heard Luke laugh and tug him closer to his GT/Dragon as they glided together through the bright summer sky.

---

Obviously the dragon was inspired by Lulolly's X-Wing dragons! I know nothing about cars, I just picked a GT-86 because I like the way they look and they're not that crazy expensive. I think Luke might drive one.

Previous Responses

30: tourist/knowledgeable local au (Din/Luke)

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au (Din/Luke)

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au (Din/Luke/Boba)

40: Soul destroying exes meeting again after not speaking for years au (Din/Luke)

25: Library/Avid Reader AU Part I (Din/Luke, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon)

Library AU part II (same)

[tanakavox]

Look into the multiverse

This is being crossposted from fanfiction.net. my react fic. This chapter reacts where done by @hasbrobear (sorry for tagging you two times in a row dude.) Enjoy. The rest will be up here soon.

Are you sure this is the right place?" Mercury asked as he, Cinder and Emerald were walking into a theater. In front of them Salem lead the group.

"Yes, it is. The coordinates are correct from Watts machine." She said as they entered and was met with another group. And a rather large one.

"RUBY!" Cinder said as she raised her bow and pulled her arm back and Emerald and Mercury got ready to fight as Salem sighed.

The other group consisted of Ozpin, Oscar, team RWBY and JNR. Who got in front of the two and pulled their weapons out. Then suddenly all their weapons vanished out of thin air.

"What the!?"

"My Weapons!"

"MY BABY!" Ruby yelled looking for Crescent Rose.

"My legs!" Mercury fell and Emerald started to laugh and covered her mouth while Cinder ran at Ruby who then raised her arms up to fight her. Then before they could reach each other, a light barrier comes between them. "What the!?" Cinder yelled as she roared and punched it. It just glowed.

Then the large screen begins to start, and the groups look at it. Both in confusion and curiosity. Salem decided to tell them. "Look, we have been all brought here o watch these…. Images of ourselves, why and how? I do not know, so unless you want to be forced out, you'll sit down and watch." She said as Ozpin said the same thing and they all sat to watch the large screen.

The scene starts start with Cinder Fall in a library, reading a book. A voice speaks out to her, but she doesn't turn to look, continuing to read the book.

"Cinder its you." Emerald said as Cinder merely looked at her other version, momentarily cursing herself as she looked better there than she did now.

Though the other side were more concerned about why Cinder was there, she could possibly be somewhere that can give her more power, and cinder with more power leads to more concerns.

"So, you're looking for the book of ancient Legends. The tale of the Dark knight warrior known as Ozma?"

"Ozma." Ruby said recalling the story that Jinn had told them about, she looked back at Salem who then looked at her their eyes connected, and she gave ruby a seething glare that made her yelp.

'Ozma as a dark knight huh? Rather flattering title.' Salem thought, just imagining her once love becoming an agent of evil, she shivered a little inside before looking at the screen more.

While Ozpin was more than intrigued about his other self, he had to keep a close eye for any key details in the screen that could help him better understand it.

The speaker steps into the light revealing Raven Branwen, her face having odd look marking on the side.

Cinder still does not turn to look at Raven and closes the book.

"Mom…" Yang said as she lightly glared at the woman, still mad about what happened at the camp, and at Haven. But she was wondering what those markings were as she narrowed her eyes.

"Hmmph, so this was the woman who supposedly slew you." Salem said checking if there were any key things on Raven, so far those markings were the only concern.

Cinder seethed looking at the branwen, wanting nothing more than to kill her.

"That's not what I'm looking for" She replied, placing the book back on the self. "Leave me."

'What is she looking for then.' Ozpin wondered as he was a bit curious about why Raven was there, and what Cinder could possibly want.

"Then what are you looking?" Raven asked, paying Cinder request no mind. The older woman frowns a bit.

"A Demon, that impregnates a woman, who then bears twins. A boy and girl. That is the story isn't it?

Cinder pulls her Kanata from its sheath and points it at Raven, still not having turn her gaze at the older woman.

"Ew…" Nora said a little grossed out about a demon actually doing it with a woman. Though in her mind she imagined it to be some sort of freaky Grimm creature.

Seeing her reaction Cinder raised a brow and so did Salem, it brought some suspicion to her character in the screen. They both had the same thought that this Cinder could be the twin daughter.

"Hmm not bad." Ruby said seeing Cinders Katana, She didn't like the woman, and seeing her weapon didn't like her much more, it was basic in her eyes.

"Leave me." She speaks softly. "I won't tell you a third time."

Some of them were getting a bit pumped and excited for a fight, like Nora and Mercury, though the others wondered what would happen between the two, they were both strong and in their last match Raven came out on top, could she do it again though.

There is a bit of silence as Raven look at the blade, seemly not affected by Cinder's actions. She grabs the blade with two of her fingers.

"People inherently fear evil. However," Raven began as she walked toward the young woman, not caring that the blade sliced her finger. Blood began to drip on the floor.

"Occasionally, a Person may become seduced by evil."

After Raven finished speaking, Cinder finally turns and looks at her, the amber eyed woman , her expression unreadable.

"Uhhh That's… Creepy." Nora commented as she saw how Raven was unfazed by cutting her finger on a long blade. Especially when she saw the blood drip down.

"That's… that's not what your moms like, right?" Blake asked a little frightened by the woman on the screen.

"No, but now I kind of glad she's like how she is." Yang replied while Cinder narrowed her eyes a bit, the raven on the screen must've been like her in a way. Wanting more power.

"What are you getting at?" She inquires, placing her blade back in its sheath.

"What!? No fight scene, no slicing or any action!?" Nora yelled as she wanted to see two enemies fight each other and hoped that Cinder on the screen would fall.

"Calm your beast Ozpin, some of us are trying to watch." Salem said smirking as she saw Nora's glare. She was easy to anger in this situation.

"Its alright Nora just ignore her." Ren said as Jaune nodded and calmed Nora down by patting her shoulder. The Valkyrie sighed and pouted as she sat in her chair.

Raven smiles a bit before responding.

"First… You must share with me the story of Ozma."

"Is anyone else confused, or is it just me?" Oscar asked as he had no idea what was happening in the screen, the others thought the same thing and were utterly confused, even Salem, and Ozpin didn't know what was going on, and one of them didn't like it.

The scene cuts and transitions to a shot of the moon. The sound of blade clashing against each other and as the scene continues there are two figures fighting on top of a large roofless building. As they fight Yang's voice is heard.

"You heard of it haven't you? The legend of Spadra. My father used to tell the story to my sister and I when I was young..."

Ruby and her group were surprised to heard Yang's voice come out and apparently it turns out that Ruby herself was also involved in the story as well.

As she speaks, the two figures continue to fight as it rains.

"Long ago in ancient times, a demon rebel against his own kind for the sake of the human race."

One of the figure's attempts to jab the other with their greatsword, the other parry and attack with a downward slice aimed for the shoulder with their blade. They jump out of the way.

"With his sword, he shut the portal to the demonic realm and sealed the evil entities off from our human world. But since he was a demon himself, his power was also trapped on the other side."

Yang's voice chuckles before she continued.

"I never believed it. I thought it was a child's fairy tale."

"Yeah. We thought fairy tales weren't real too." Jaune said as team RWBY and his team agreed. Ever since the Maidens, and other stories were actually real, they didn't know what to believe now.

The two opponents slice and swipe and each other landing the blows. Blood spills to the ground and is washed away by the rain as the two keep going despite this.

"But I discovered that this so-called legend wasn't a myth. Ozma existed."

Yang's voice wavered as she said it, as if she still couldn't believe that it was true.

"How do I know? Well…" She trailed off.

The two were lock in an exchange, sparks flying as the sound of blade clashing once again appeared. The one of their face's where finally shown and one was Jaune Arc.

"Hey look jaune, its you!" Nora said as she looked at her leader who was mostly confused about this,

"I met the children of Ozma… Both of them."

The second figure face was also shown. It was Cinder Fall from earlier.

"Though the blood the same blood of their father flowed through their veins, the two battle each other fiercely like arch enemies.

Cinder and Jaune's clash of blades became faster and fiercer to the point where their blades could not be seen as anymore but blurs. The two of them move fast enough that it seem like the rain had come to a standstill. They smacked their blade into each other and the shockwave from it made a small slash from the water on the ground. They were lock against each other, staring each other dead in the eyes.

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw and heard what Yang was talking about. "No way." Nora said as she realized that Jaune, and Cinder were siblings in this.

"Your kidding me." Cinder said as she looked at Jaune who just looked more annoyed and confused about the ordeal.

"It seemed as if they derived some sort of twisted pleasure from this sibling rivalry."

And true to Yang's words, we see that Jaune and Cinder are enjoying the fight as they both has smirked at each other. But then with a flick of her wrist, Cinder sends Jaune's sword flying away. And in that moment take her chance to impale her brother with her blade, driving into his abdomen a bit before yanking it out. Jaune begins to fall to his back.

"But in the end…"

Jaune lay on the ground of his back and Cinder runs her fingers through her hair, trying to dry it off.

"Only one was left standing"

"What!?" Ruby said as she saw that Jaune had apparently died. She like her other friends were pissed and gave cinders glares, while the fall maiden was passive about it.

Cinder goes to pick up Jaune's sword and walks away. As her brother tries to get up, she turns around. The scene cuts once again and is on a black screen. The only noise that can be heard is the sound of a telephone ringing. It then shows a room. There a drum set in one corner, a pool table in one, a jukebox in near a door that leads out outside. In the middle of the room was a desk and it had the ringing phone as well as a box of pizza. A shirtless Jaune shows up drying his hair as he walks toward the desk, he kicks the chair up to its legs, and as he sits down place his feet on the desk hard enough for the phone to launch up. He catches answering the call.

"Hey, look guys he's alive! Jaune your alive!" Nora said excitingly as she shook her leader and made him yell out as she and the others were glad their friend hadn't died. Meanwhile Cinder let out a groan seeing that he wasn't dead.

Though as they were relieved one girl among them had her cheeks dusted red when she saw Jaune's toned body on the screen and looked at the original before blushing more and turning to see what else would happen.

"Sorry, not open for business yet." Jaune throw the phone back on the stand, ending the call. He sighs and grabs a slice of pizza

"I haven't even picked a name for this joint and I'm already getting calls."

Raven enter the shop to see Jaune eating his pizza. The blonde stops eating to look at the red eyed woman.

"You a customer too?" He asked, looking annoyed. "Well, if you wanna use the bathroom help yourself. The toilet's in the back."

"I don't think she there for that." Nora pointed out while Yang focused on what she would do.

Raven pay him no mind and walk around the room, almost like she was a vulture waiting to strike.

"Is your name Jaune? Son of Ozma?"

Jaune turns and glare at the woman.

"Where did you hear that?" He questioned.

"Guessing he's still pissed about the stab."

Raven smirks and walk up to the desk with her arms behind her back.

"From your sister." She looks down and see the neckless Jaune was wearing. Raven look at it for a few seconds before continuing.

'Why was she look at the necklace so much.' Salem and Ozpin thought as they focused on her and the item of interest.

"She sent this invitation for you." She said. "Please accept it."

After saying that she flips the desk over, Jaune jumping as soon as she does. He lands on his feet and pulls out a pistol to shoot her, but she had all but disappear. The son of Ozma places his gun away, walking forward and catching the pizza box in his hand.

Yang groaned and crossed her arms annoyed. "She ran away of course."

"This jaune is very acrobatic" Blake noticed and said while Ruby drools over the guns, and more than just one.

"Invitation huh?" He mutters to himself. The demon hybrid goes to take a bite out of a slice of pizza but suddenly, several creature's wielding scythe appear and impaled the young man on them. Blood spilled on the floor.

"GAAAHHHH!/JAUNE!" Nora and Ruby screamed thinking jaune had died while the others on their side looked in shock.

Jaune then thrusted his palm forward, smacking the creature away from him killing it. The creatures look up to see the Son of Ozma twirling the mask that their ally wore on his fingertips. Jaune walks forward, with blades in his arms and legs, dragging along one of the creatures for a ride. Seemly not bothered by the implement. He goes over to the to his jukebox, kicking the demon he dragged along and grabbling a slice of Pizza. The Blonde rip a blade out of his chest and toss it up at one of his celling fans, causing it to fall on top of a few demon.

Everyone was shocked that Jaune is still alive and kicking. While Ozpin and Salem think that Jaune might be immortal like the grimm queen herself.

"This party's getting crazy! Let's rock!" He cheers and goes to turn on his jukebox, but it's doesn't work. He tries a few more time before slamming his fist into the jukebox hard enough to dent it and music starts to play, tapping his foot in tone with the music. Jaune goes on to take down the demon with ease, using the blades on his arms and legs to kill the demons. Using his guns Evory and Ivory to shoot them to bit, using one of the demons as a skateboard as he shoots the others while pass by. Grabbing his sword and flipping his pool table to shoot one pool ball and having it collide with all the other to smack the demons it the face. In no time the demons were defeated. Jaune look over his office with a frown.

They laugh at Jaune's attempts to turn on his jukebox. Jaune slumped a bit while yang smirked and patted his shoulder.

Then everyone Expressed their surprise that that how well he's able to fight while Ruby drools a bit over his gun skills and his sword.

"Damnit. Already wreck the place up and I haven't even named it yet. Cinder better pay up."

He smiles however and grabs his jacket.

"Well Cindy. I can tell this is gonna be one hell of a party!" He shouts kicking down his door.

Then as he moved the screen turned off. "'WHAT!? It can't end there!" Nora said as Ruby let out her own groan at the action being stopped.

The viewers in the theatre do take notice to the screen turns back on and a song plays. It seems like another is going to play.

[merctrovert]

Ragnvindr || Chapter 1

“I am not much but I am all I have.” ~ Phillip K.D

Four years ago.

The end of Diluc Ragnvindr's life was on a happy day.

It was his coming of age and he was celebrating at Angel's Share alongside his father, Master Crepus, to whom he worked hard to impress. You were sat in the corner, wedged between your two brothers as you watched the young man approach the table, a large smile on his face.

But he only ever looked at his father.

"Let me introduce you to my friend's sons! I know you're on duty, but this should be fine. Always hardworking, you are."

"Don't forget my daughter!" Your father had chuckled, raising a jug to clash against Master Crepus's.

"And his daughter! Diluc, this is ..."

He had looked at you then indifferently, raising a gloved hand to shake your hand. "Hello."

"Happy birthday." You had smiled and he had smiled back, red hair gleaming in the sunlight that beamed down into the room.

When you sat back down, you had to still your heart which had started thudding slightly faster.

"Did you drink something? You're still not allowed to you know, so why do you look so flushed?"

Annoyed, you hit your brother on the head with an empty cup. Your other brother slung a hand over your shoulder, nudging his twin.

"I think it's because of..." All three of them looked to the red-haired boy sitting in front of them.

You wanted to kill your brothers then, all three of them, although your third brother seemed to be enjoying the food in front of him instead.

Master Crepus and your father were good friends and being the only daughter, you had often overheard jokes of a future between you and Diluc shared between them hopefully.

You clenched your dress, looking down and away from Diluc's straight gaze.

The rest of the evening had gone in that way. Avoiding his stares consistently, all the while trying to avoid your father's attempts to get you to interact with them all more.

Eventually, you had sidled up against your oldest brother's wife, exhausted from the interaction.

"I am slightly fortunate your brother dragged me here," She quipped, sipping on some wine. "Being the only girl in this ruckus would be... difficult."

You couldn't help but laugh, looking across the table.

Indeed, everyone was happy and the joyous laughter coming from within the tavern could be heard throughout the winery.

Diluc had become a Knight and had come of age. It was a celebration and you would never forget the light in his eyes, even as he stayed quiet, smiling gently.

It had all gone so well, until the way back home.

"I remember when you were both tiny children," Your father spoke as you all headed for the door of the tavern. You mumbled a thank you to Diluc who held the door open for you last, hiding behind your brothers.

"Yeah, you were really cute as my baby sister. Now you're just as horrible as us."

You stepped on your brother's foot, letting him hop away in pain.

"You two were inseparable." Master Crepus commented, nodding in agreement as you all walked up to the carriages. "Diluc wouldn't let his hair down when you braided it that one time."

Though it was all blurred memory, you still flushed and looked away from the boy who did the same thing, turning to the side, hiding his face with his vibrant hair.

"It seems to have gotten darker quicker. We should head back. Crepus, here are the last boxes."

Helping your father load the rest of the carts onto the carriages, you hopped onto the carriage behind Diluc's, unable to restrain yourself from sticking your head out and take a peep at the boy in front of you.

However you only glimpsed his hair and you fell back, biting your lip.

"Try harder."

You scowled at your oldest brother's words as his wife laughed, patting his shoulder.

"Remember when we were still children? You couldn't even look at my face." She teased.

Still, you sighed, it was better being stuck with him and his wife whom you were fond of rather than your two other brothers who were closer in age to you.

Shivering with the sudden gusts of wind, you watched your father clamber onto the front of the carriage. You didn't even need to worry about your other two brothers— you could hear them from the carriage behind.

"It's surprisingly dark already." Your brother muttered, letting you glance out of the carriage, at the darkening sky and the trees which had started shaking violently.

"I hope everything is okay."

"It will be."

But unbeknownst to you, that was the last time you ever saw your brother smile.  And the last time Diluc ever held his father.

The carriage at the front toppled first, out of the four that had left the tavern. You had heard screams, but they were cut off quickly, just as the carriage suddenly halted, the horse neighing in restraint.

"Why won't this horse go..." Both you and your brother peered out as your father struggled to control the reigns, unable to control the horse as it restlessly shook.

"Father..."

Your brother was the one that saw it first. The giant darkness falling over you all, taking the form of a creature with wings and glowing, amber eyes peering down in the darkness.

"Duck!" Your brother wrapped his hand around his wife as the darkness came down.

You barely registered your brother's yell as both you and your father were toppled to the ground, the carriage blown away.

You were thrown to the side, wincing in pain, but you were okay. Your eyes searched the area for your father, who had landed several metres away, but he too seemed alright.

The loud shouts of your two brothers alerted you to them as you ran towards them, despite your father yelling for you to stay back.

"Are you okay?"

They were shaking but nodded as you supported them to the trees, searching for your eldest brother and his wife.

Even his name was muted in the roaring winds and you couldn't shout any longer, your throat hoarse.

Fear clutched your chest as you headed towards the carriages at the front, body trembling as you passed scattered crates and strewn bodies.

"Brother?"

There was a groan from under crates and you ran towards them, knocking them off.

"Brother!"

But it wasn't him.

Wide red eyes looked into your teary eyes and Diluc forced himself up, holding your shoulders gently.

"Are you okay?"

"My brother is... your father..."

His eyes widened and he was gone in the blink of an eye, also shouting for his father.

You were about to turn back until you watched the boy freeze in position.

It was then you saw it too.

A large, dark creature with scales that glistened purple and dark magic. You had heard of them before but never seen such a creature made of some kind of dark magic.

Its firey amber stare made your knees tremble and body collapse as Diluc too fell to the ground, his hand clutching at his stomach.

"Diluc!"

You watched his father clamber out of the carriage with difficulty, throwing away an empty box, his hand covered in a black glove.

Your eyes widened.

You had overheard your father's conversation once. It was a Delusion. Dangerous, mimicking the abilities of a vision.

"Wh-"

"Wait!"

It was Diluc that shouted first, your lips parted but voice never emerging. Your hand was outstretched as you watched Master Crepus yell in a loud voice, summoning something darker than you had ever seen before.

Black chains emerged from the ground, winding around his body, but it was all in his control.

You were terrified as the chains slid towards the dragon-like creature that roared in equal fury as the black chains tightened around its body. Abyssal power radiated it off it in black flames as its eyes turned into a crimson colour.

You saw Master Crepus's fist shaking as the purple marks around his arm tightened, his knees staggering.

The creature bellowed and roared, slashing its claws at the chains until they came undone and winded back into Master Crepus, who finally fell to the floor, clutching his chest.

Diluc had crawled to his father, arms wiping away his tears that came so quickly as he took in his father's weakened state.

You could only watch as the monster growled, seemingly pleased before leaving, with a sharp gust of wind, sending you back onto the rough ground with your arm shielding your face.

"Father!"

You weren't sure if he replied, as Diluc shook his father's body, his own trembling. His hands trembled as he clutched his father's wound, the gash from the claw of that creature bleeding severely.  

His own skin had turned black, corrupted and becoming consumed by the Delusion on his glove. The black flames had sunk into his body, the chains around his neck and Diluc could only watch, helpless, as his father weakened in his hands.

He couldn't even utter a single word as his father's hand dropped in midair, unable to even reach his own son's face. It fell limp onto the ground. His father's lips moved and shifted into the curve of a bitter smile. But he never heard what his father said.

Your hand came onto his stiff shoulder gently, as both of you stared down at the dead body of Crepus.

You never saw the light you saw in the tavern shining within his eyes after that day.

Diluc only stayed silent as you watched Kaeya and the other knights run onto the scene, checking for injuries across those who were injured.

He stayed silent as his father's body was taken away, head drooped, staring down at his empty blood-stained hands.

He stayed silent, even as you were all escorted away by the knights, never once moving from his position in the ground.

And you stayed and watched, shrugging off all attempts to move you.

You stayed and watched as he stood up on shaking legs and lifted his eyes up to the starless sky.

Alone, in the rain, in the silence, enveloped by the darkness. Lightning illuminated his trembling body, his fist clenched as he faced the storm.

But no tears fell from his face, not once. They never did.

The rain fell as his tears instead.

The sky, weeping its cold tears, the wind singing its grieving song as Diluc Ragnvindr surrendered himself to the storm, the blood on his hands never washing away.

And that was the last time you ever saw him again.

next 

Good day :)

I hope you all enjoyed reading the very first chapter of Ragnvindr. I sure am enjoying writing it hehehe. For this chapter, I read the manga like 100 times and the fansite 100 times more just to make sure everything was accurate enough... even then, I hope I wrote it well.

See you next time ~ merc

word count : 1.8K

[grabthemhorns-old]

Obey Me! fic - Lucifer/MC NSFW

Hierarchy

Sub/Dom Restraint Lucifer/female MC Warnings: Blood Part One - Command

Lucifer and Ivy have had a quaint afternoon in the greenhouse planting roses, but in truth, Lucifer has been having a Bad Day, and craves the touch - and command - of his lover.

------------------------------------------------

“How old are you?” asked Ivy, pushing down the soil of her pot, careful of the delicate rosebud at its centre.

Lucifer paused, watching the dead leaf of his clipped rose, fall. “I stopped counting when I fell to Devildom.”

The words were simple, level, contained within the foliage of the greenhouse they’d spent the most of the afternoon in. It was warm here, and he’d shed his coats down to his black shirt, rolled to the elbows. They were hung up on a decorated peg by the door next to Ivy’s gold threaded scarf - a gift from Mammon.

Ivy lifted the pot onto the shelf with the others. All that was left was the rose bush in his hands. “I find that hard to believe,” said Ivy as she pulled off her gloves and leant against the counter, hip to wood. “Diligent, poised, perfect Lucifer doesn’t remember when he fell to hell?”

He plucked a leaf clean off its stem, casting its life aside. “The transition was...complicated.” He leaned forward on the table, claws pricking the wood top harder than he wished. “The war lasted years - years that merged into each other, that we don’t all remember individually - or want to. And the years down here haven’t all been...smooth.”

Nails gnawed at wood as he talked, picking deep, dark trenches to bury his words.

Ivy reached out, tentative, hand poised above Lucifer’s, before she touched lightly, the dim blue of the garden lights washing over the golden mark of her pact with Mammon.

They hadn’t told her about that part. That a mark would manifest on her skin upon creating a pact. It hadn’t been painful, just...odd. A tether to her demon, a brand of their bargain. Why didn’t they get one, she’d asked. “Because in the end, we offer more ,” Lucifer had said, simply. Proudly.

Sometimes she touched Lucifer’s when she was lonely, afraid...aroused.

Did he know? She never asked. He never told.

“You never talk about the war, the years that followed.” Her hand trailed up his exposed arm, indented with two large scars.

“I doomed my brothers, my sister, because of my pride, which became my definition .” Claws shredded the wood beneath his hand. Ivy held steady, held firm, feeling the demon beneath desperate for release.

“You don’t really believe that,” she said softly. “You stood against tyranny, and for what you believe in. It just-” It was hot where his wings spread out from at his back, Ivy could feel the heat burn through his shirt as she ran her fingers up, and down, braving the impending yawn of black feathers, sharp enough to cut. “It just...failed.” But they never came.

“I, failed.” His claws retracted, leaving behind shreds of wood at their tips.

Ivy said nothing. She touched one of his scars.

Lucifer flinched, a hazy memory yanked like a too long embedded thorn.

It’s not her fault.

He swallowed.

It’s not her fault you remember.

“I failed and what am I now?” Lucifer smirked. “Satan had it right, a glorified lap dog , with no mind of my own. All I do, I do for Diavolo.”

Ivy’s hand hovered above his arm. She’d felt that flinch, and she suspected. She was afraid to touch, afraid to unravel memories that weren’t hers to be unpacked. Lightly, she brushed his stomach, and looked up. “Is all you do, just for him?”

A growl, low and feral rumbled from his chest, a chest that pushed Ivy against the worktop, the wood biting at her lower back. She looked up, the red of his eyes a slit against the monochrome of his beauty. “Let me see my brand,” he demanded, fingers clawing down the front of her chest, already unhooking a button, and another. He didn’t wait for an answer.

Of all seven brands, Lucifer’s was the most elaborate. And it had hurt, unlike the others, when it was etched onto her skin with an invisible hand. Lucifer had watched, plucking apart her shirt - just like now - as the delicate lines formed, it felt like the times she’d gotten a tattoo in the human realm.

And as he watched, she wondered how much control they had in their brands. Enough that the symbolism represented each brother individually, but beyond that, they simply appeared on her skin with the unseen magic that held their bonds together.

Until Lucifer.

It was as if he guided the lines himself, by eye, as if searing the skin himself with just a look. Ivy had been too afraid to touch it until she felt the pain settle, afraid it might cut away her finger. But she’d watched, curiously, as his wings were branded onto her skin - one set black, the other white. The bottom wings spread across the top of her breasts, moving as she breathed.

Just like now.

Lucifer traced the brand with a painted nail, glowing red beneath its demon’s touch. “You never use your...gift.” He paused at his last word, catching her eyes as he spoke, making sure she knew that it was exactly that. A gift, he’d given.

Ivy tilted her head, spreading her hand on his stomach, pushing.

He pushed back, claws extending against her bare chest. “Why?”

“I know you enjoy being in control,” said Ivy, delicately, watching the quiver in his touch. “So why take that away?”

There was little warning before Lucifer hoisted Ivy onto the worktop, knocking an empty pot to the floor with a gentle thud. But after, he just, stopped.

“Use it.” The words licked against her ear, low and longing as he clawed a hand through her ruby rose hair, the restraint in his touch a whisper against her neck. “Take it away.” A claw, two, pressed against the nape of her neck. “Before I lose it.”

Ivy could barely breathe.

She turned, their faces so close his eyelashes kissed her cheek, as he waited. And waited. The tremor of his composure, waning, as their eyes met.

Her voice cracked, shaken with desire and power , as she spoke. “I command you, Lucifer, to fall to your knees.”

And he did.

Dust and compost smeared his pristine trousers as the brand glowed at her words, pulling on the tether in their bond, and executing her command.

Lucifer looked up, arms tightly held at his side, awaiting her command. A shock of hair stuck to the edge of his lips, parted, the desperation of an order tucked behind, wanting.

Watching, waiting, Ivy unhooked the buttons of her shirt. Lucifer’s arms twitched against his invisible restraints. Again. Again.

Click. The last button of her shirt, and it slid open, the soft cotton catching on the peak of her nipples as she leaned forward, a wash of red hair her veil, as she gazed down from above. “Can you speak?”

“Yes.” Simple, weak. The single word almost lost behind his lips, shadowed by the fury in his eyes. Ivy knew each of the brothers reacted differently to their seals commands - a reflection of their power, she assumed. And with pride, something like this must be a struggle, despite the circumstance. And she hadn’t yet begun to consider the impact of their emotional bond either.

Lucifer was inches away from the edge of the worktop, and her spread legs. His eyes followed her every movement as she leaned forward more, an arm reaching out to pluck the lock of hair from his lips.

He bared a fang. Ivy touched, rolling a thumb along the sharp tip.

Hiss.

He tried to bite down, but he couldn’t.

Slip. One finger, two, tugged at his bottom lip, pulling away.

A sharp gust of wind almost knocked Ivy back against the glass wall as Lucifer’s wings snapped out loud and wide, as his horns curved to a dangerously delicate point, as he trembled, weighted by the power of his demonic visage, succumbed to its knees.

Breathless, Ivy touched a horn, clicking a nail along the deep ridges, indented by the moonlight. “How long can it restrain your power,” she asked, a quiver of fear coiling around her trepidation.

Lucifer simply stared. Crimson tipped eyes, fearless, cloying. “Why don’t you try and see?”

A challenge. A goad. She dragged her nail deeper against his horn, remembering from their first night together how sensitive they were. And from the way his bound body quivered, the touch did not disappoint.

“Take off my trousers,” she said, watching his deft fingers slipping open the decorated buttons. “And careful of those claws.” Ivy chided, pushing back a falling lock of his hair.

“These?” Slowly, achingly, he rolled down her trousers as commanded, dragging the tips of his claws along her thighs, just enough to mark, to let her remember their true hierarchy.

It was enough to make her forget his leash, for her to relinquish a thread of control as she quivered beneath the claws, revelling in the spike of pain that he knew she loved.

But just, a moment. A moment he’d pay for.

Naked, but for her shirt, she snapped to his gaze, watching the red flare in his eyes as she gave her command. “Hands behind your back until I say you can move them.”

She watched him test the restraint at once. Unyielding, but for the quake of his wings, curling around his body, seeking hers like a maw. The tip of a feather touched her arm. Ivy moaned, pressing her thighs against the worktop, the wooden ledge biting into her thick flesh.

“You won’t last,” whispered Lucifer, shaded by the canopy of his wings, the moonlight broken through the stipple of ruffled feathers.

Ivy smirked. “I don’t need your hands.”

Lucifer licked his fang.

“I command you,” she whispered, brushing her fingers against his cheek-

“Careful with your choice of words, Ivy,” lulled Lucifer as he felt her touch his lip, so close to a fang. It whispered for the lick of blood. “Demons make a meal of humans, in more ways than one.”

Ivy bit her lip at his teasing, but she knew the seal would understand her command. This, is where their emotional bond worked . It understood on a level more primal than words. Shuffling to the edge of the worktop, Ivy leaned down, close, tilting her lover’s head up with a pinch.

He was ravenous, the ruby in his eyes eclipsing the white. It painted his lashes, singed with the power of hell. She wondered what colour they’d been in heaven.

“I command you,” she drawled against his ear, silky strands catching her curled lips, “to eat me.”

All Ivy heard was a low, raw growl, before her legs were spread, sharply. She braced herself, looking twice as the ebony feathers of his wings wrapped around her thighs and held her steady, as Lucifer leant forward, looked up, and bared a fang. Before the flash of his eyes closed, and he drew his tongue along her damp slit, achingly slow.

Snap. Her hands clamped onto his horns, fingers slip, sliding across the rough ridges, bitten by battle, and worn by war, she touched their memories as she head his head, a loose guidance met by a growl of resistance, resistance that tightened the feathers at her thighs, turning the skin around the ebony, ivory.

Ivy, sang. Her moans kissing his ears with every stroke of his tongue, with every brush of his lips across flesh he knew; he knew just where to touch to pluck the melody of her song, timed  to the beat of her heart, thrumming against the tips of his feathers.

Doing this beneath the seals command was...different. It was like a noose around his neck that would tighten in struggle with his power and pull him back down, down, if he stopped, and somehow, that made it better.

Lucifer paused, pulling back to simply watch. For a moment.

She was always so breathless. Loud. Void of shame. Her hands wrung with desperation as they twisted through his hair, his horns.

He shivered as he smelled blood drip, drip from her finger. She’d nicked it on the tip of his horn again. Lucifer licked his fang as he felt the noose tighten.

“You’re resisting it,” breathed Ivy, her staggered words delicious against Lucifer’s ears. She drew her hand along his horn. Lucifer could almost taste the blood as she smeared it across his horn, trickling over the moonlit ridges.

“You’d rather I comply?” he said against her thigh.

Ivy laughed, pushing him back down by the horns. He spread her thighs, more.

The floor bit into his knees, the cold forgotten from the heat of her flesh, of her thighs against his face, drowned in decadence. The earthy smell of the shifted compost was so distinct against Ivy’s familiar, heavy scent. Sweet, but tart - like blood.

Insatiable.

She moved, relentlessly. And the closer she got, the more his wings struggled to pin her in place, the sleek feathers imprinting her thick flesh. He felt his claws unsheathe on instinct the more she moved. Often, he’d latch on to her with a biting hand to keep her exactly where he wanted her. Her body was marked with his permanence, endlessly.

“Lucifer.”

A single whisper of his name slipped past her lips.

He curled his tongue, slowly, feeling every quiver of her body from lips, to lips. She tasted hot. Sweet. Decadent. There wasn’t enough time left to devour her whole.

Lucifer could feel her tremble, he could feel her thighs struggle against his wings, pinned to the wood, dimpled from the pressure. ‘Stay’ he mouthed against her slit. But what position was he in to demand?

She tugged on his horns once more, and he obeyed, feeling the breathlessness of the noose.

His tongue spoke his desire, locked away, untouched, and pressed tightly against his trousers  - begging.

Crack.

The noose frayed against a surge of his power. Ivy felt it too, felt it radiate from the brand on her chest, glowing a soft red. She trembled, with more than pleasure.

Another moan, another cry, another twist of his hair through fingers, stained with blood. Lips pursed around her bud, he pulled, feeling the surge in pleasure. She was almost there. Nails scratching - “ Lucifer! -

And with one last touch, she was there, a silent cacophony of bliss spread through her body, curling her toes, arching her back in a paint of opulence, as if she spread her wings like the angel she was, beside the angel he used to be.

“Release me,” he demanded against her trembling thighs, the ends of his wings pricking the skin.

Ivy, breathless, looked down through her veil of ruby hair, met with an unwavering gaze. “I-I release you, Lucifer-”

She hadn’t even finished saying his name when Lucifer flipped Ivy around and pinned her against the worktop, cradling her bare back against his chest. He lifted her bloodied finger to his lips, and licked, drawing a fang along the broken skin. A moan touched his throat, hungry, raw.

His wings spread wide, blocking out the moonlight to a trickle, before wrapping around Ivy like a claw, the tips grazing her arms, her hands and tangling with her ruby hair.

Lucifer stretched a hand along her spine, up, up. “Time to put you in your place.”

[fanfictrashdump]

Universe in a Jar, 7 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Mentions of sexual encounters, sarcasm, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

WARNINGS: Language, terrible circumstances, and a–

XX

Physically cleaning up the farmhouse after the fight had taken no more than a half-hearted wave of Loki's hands. Mentally cleaning up whatever had annoyed Wanda into snapping and subsequently opening the door without checking who was outside was another matter, altogether. Persephone quietly warned a steely-eyed Stephen to take a break before having a chat with the witch. Wanda could honestly destroy him in a heartbeat and if he burst into her room, guns blazing, like he was poised to do, there would be another tragedy happening.

Stephen had left Seph with Loki, in the living room. The millenia plus-old god had snuck in under her and was idly scratching at her scalp while minimally disturbing her glorious abundance of curls. He couldn't help but smirk at the extremely careful circles Loki was making on her head, evidence that he had once tried to card his fingers through her tresses and she, most likely, nearly eviscerated him. A song-song Be Nice from Loki was the last he had heard before a tense, overdrawn, and long-time coming conversation with Wanda. Now, several hours later, the only thing that remained of the pair was the book that Loki had been paging through while he doted on Persephone.

He moved himself outside through the kitchen door, walking around the side of the house towards the tell-tale creak of the banquet seat swing on the wraparound porch.

"Over here."

Seph's voice called out just as the door slammed shut in his wake, his foot just shy of stomping onto the first step to climb the porch. He smiled to himself, dandelion fluff blowing across his face on the light afternoon breeze while his brain pulled him back to days where they would sit on this very porch, talking for hours until one of them was ultimately called home. Most of all, he felt the old disappointment of reluctantly dragging himself away and the tingly expectation of what may happen tomorrow.

He found her rocking gently to-and-fro on the swing, alone.

"Where's Loki?"

Seph tilted her head curiously. "Greenhouse. Need to do damage control?"

"No. I just had questions for him," he retorted, sinking into the seat she patted in invitation. "Are you alright? Light-headed? Sluggish?"

"Nah. I think Loki did something to help the exhaustion along." They swung in silence for a long while before Seph found her voice again. "Who were those people, Stephen?"

"Time Variance Authority," he said, simply, before adding. "Time police."

The little notch of worry between her brows deepened. "I thought you were the time police."

"I protect reality–"

"But you manipulate time for it. You literally wear an all-powerful stone called the Time Stone."

Stephen started his response several times over before groaning. "OK, you're not wrong."

"How'd Loki get stuck with them? They don't seem his style."

"That's a long story that maybe you should get straight from the source, Peep. It wasn't an easy trip for him and… well, we're seeing the aftershocks."

Unsatisfied with that answer, she pushed further, ever the inquisitive mind. "Is he OK? Why were they fighting him if they had worked with him?"

He sighed, leaning his head back against the backrest, eyes closing as the soft movement lulled him into a sense of calm. "These weren't the exact people he worked with. Multiple Universes are now stacked onto each other in parallel, even if they weren't supposed to exist. They sometimes bleed into each other."

"Multiverse convergence."

Stephen straightened, turning his head to look at Seph curiously, just now noticing the daisies pinned behind her ear. "Yeah." He raised an eyebrow. "You've actually been reading what Wong gave you."

"Some of us actually did the homework. Not just popped into ghost mode to do it," she teased, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. She was rewarded with a generous roll of his eyes.

"I've told you, it's called–"

She interrupted him again, holding her hand up to quiet him. "Don't care, bud. Ghost mode."

He resorted to laughing quietly and leaning into her side, letting out a soft sigh when her fingers sunk into the hair at the back of his head and twisted the strands between her fingers. "I could teach you."

Persephone giggled, turning her head to press a kiss to his forehead. "That would require me listening to you, and I don't think that is a realistic expectation," she teased, voice soft. "But I'll give it a little thought."

"Thank you." He stopped to peck her cheek on his way to straightening up. "Check on Wanda for me?"

Seph nodded. "Going to see Loki?"

Stephen gave her a nod of his own before hopping off the swing with a groan. He held it steady long enough for Seph to climb down after him. After a squeeze of her hand in his, he retraced his steps back off the porch and dove into the endless rows of corn as a shortcut to the greenhouse. Any person who did not grow up in this kind of life would immediately get claustrophobic swimming in the emerald stalks, waiting for a glimpse of light to signal an exit. As a kid, he had gotten lost in the cornfields as often as he breathed, but as he grew, he developed a sixth sense, and it became harder to lose his way. Not unless he was intending on it.

Adjusting to the sudden sunlight after the trek through the dappled green glow made him pause, but it was the punch to the gut that really threw him for a loop. Instinct kicked in, immediately. He drew the sling ring out of his pocket, jumping into position to defend himself. His eyes, still swimming in the bright light, barely caught a glimpse of the world before it went black.

When he came to, the smell of damp and the ringing in his ears made him want to double over and throw up. Of course, it was hard to do that while also tied to a chair, but he hadn't paid any  mind to that part. He never did like going down to his parents' basement.

Wait.

His parents' basement.

"Stephen! Stephen!"

Through the fog in his head, the Sorcerer could barely make out Loki's voice hissing at him through the darkness. With a strangled groan and a painfully drawn breath, he shifted his head to look beside him. Loki was similarly tied down, a collar with a red light wrapped around his neck that looked just shy of choking him. The god of mischief gave a sigh of relief to see the other's eyes opened and seemingly focused on him.

"Thank the Norns. Stephen, are you alright?"

"I think so. Someone attacked me in the corn field–"

Loki was quick to cut in. "Yes, it was a TVA agent. I guess they fell back during the attack, but Strange, listen to me. I managed to slip your ring into your back pocket while she was struggling with you. You need to get it on and get us out of here. She collared me, but you can still do magic." His face turned serious, and something in his eyes that seemed to Stephen very close to regret–or pity–overtook him. There was a sadness permeating Loki now, and his voice was quiet and soft when he spoke next. "Stephen, the agent that attacked you–you cannot let your emotions get the best of you, alright?" His eyes darted back towards the stairs, though Stephen's head was protesting any movement and did not follow. "Regardless of what you think, she–"

Stephen gasped as the room tilted. One second he was staring at Loki, the next his eyes were fixed on a shiny black boot that had canted his chair back onto two legs. He followed the regulation TVA uniform up, up, up towards whoever had assaulted him, only for his breath to catch in his throat and his jaw slacken.

"Donna…?"

The face of his precious younger sister, his shadow growing up, the person he had most adored and who had been dead for most of his life, stared down her nose at him. In one hand, a bully stick remained poised to strike. Even though it was inactivated it could still pack a wallop, if the pain in his ribs was any indication. Her mouth was twisted into a scowl and her other hand held a fistful of his shirt, which she used to shake him when he became lost in thought. Though her shoulder was marked as Hunter D-17, there was no doubt in Stephen's mind, from the freckle on her left temple to the multicolored eyes that matched his own, that this was his sister.

"You." Her voice snarled much the same as when she caught him reading her diary. "You're going to tell me who the fuck you are and why my face is all over this house. Understood?"

[skywalkerqueen42]

Sitting beneath the glaring full moon, a young woman held a book in her lap. The rustle of the pages, coupled with her ebony-furred cat’s rumbling purr, offered the only sound in the night. The woman turned the page with her free hand – the other was busy with stroking the feline.

             Yawning, she blinked. The moon hung high in the sky, and she knew she should be getting home. She could almost hear her sister scolding her now. “Sya, you have school and studying! You can’t stay out in that field all day, every day.”

             To which she would always respond, “Well, why not?”

             She laughed at the memory. The town was just visible beyond the hill, most lights turned out for the night.

             Leaves from the nearby forest rustled, a quiet whisper. Leaping up, her cat knocked into her chin, clacking her teeth together. Sighing, the woman turned to look. Fur bristling, the feline stared unblinkingly into the woods, its eyes a glowing yellow.

“You’re seeing things, Luna,” she said, but when she looked down, the cat was gone. She glanced around, searching for the small beast.

Spotting a blur darting through the woods, she sighed, peering in the direction the feline had run.

She crept towards the woods, calling the cat’s name. Receiving no answer, she shook her head and continued onward slowly. She moved lightly, not wanting to attract unwanted attention.

“Luna?” Her fingers rapped against her leg as an owl’s haunting call rang in the distance. “Luna, come here!”

No answer.

Cold sweat ran down her back. Exhaling, she turned to return to the hill. The cat had disappeared before and come back.

She hesitated, not wanting to leave without her pet. In the silence, a caress of air moved by her ear, leaves blowing in the sudden draft.

Shaking her head, she took another step. As she stopped, the same breeze echoed her movement, this time escorted by a succinct shadow.

Standing impeccably still, heart roaring in her ears, she watched an elongated hand cover the rift in the trees – her only illumination source. She silently cursed herself, wishing she had brought a flashlight.

A vaguely humanoid figure, its body as colorless as the empty space around it, visible only by its outline - a slight rim of light surrounding it was all she could see – all else was an empty void. It was almost beautiful, in a horrifying way.

As she watched it, a new light appeared. A thin white line across what would be its face, stretching into a gruesome smile. It stretched out a thin, hand-like shadow, as if welcoming her. Stumbling away, she batted at the outstretched limb weakly.

The wide grin flipped, the horrifying smile now an even worse scowl. It shook, the outline blurring and blurring and blurring.

…

And then it was gone.

…

The darkness trickled away, the familiar but now frightening scene of the forest enveloping her once again.

Her sight flickered, her lashes drifting closed. She fought it, afraid to close her eyes. Afraid the thing would return.

Failing, her vision distorted and died away.

The sun was blazing in the sky by the time she awoke. She still felt cold, the night’s events a blur. Remembering her absent cat, she glanced around. Sure enough, the cat had returned, staring at her with suspicious eyes.

“Hey, Luna,” the woman said, calming. The feline yowled, shrinking away. Its fur stood on end – something terrified it.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she called the cat’s name again.

“That won’t do any good,” an amused voice answered. “Those beasts won’t come anywhere near anything remotely supernatural.”

She yelped, swiveling around. Hovering above her was a figure dressed in all black, a hood covering his face.

Deciding to follow her cat’s example, she recoiled.

“Relax, Sya. It’s only me,” the figure said, taking off his hood. He wasn’t all too bad looking, with a strong jaw and warm blue eyes.

She gave him a puzzled look, though he did seem distantly familiar. “And who are you? How do you know my name?”

“Sorry.” The man sat next to her, setting a large scythe beside him. “I always forget. My name is Tyr. King Death has requested your presence. You are still alive, though.”

She nodded, though she didn’t understand at all. “And why does Death want to meet me?”

Shrugging, he offered his hand. She took it and stood. He grabbed his scythe, wrapping his free arm around her. The forest dissolved into ink. For a moment, she thought the shadow thing was back, but them beams of light broke through the dark, images – memories – dancing across her vision. A large black owl, dancing on a beam of white, flew past her head.

Her reaper looked at the animal. “It’s your spirit animal,” he explained.

She nodded, too breathless to respond. They floated there, motionless, but the perfect moment faded away. Faded into a riverscape, the gentle lava waves lapping against the shore. Across a bridge stood a castle made of black stone, lit by a soft red glow.

She gasped, clinging to her reaper’s arm.

He reached over and carefully pried her hand off. “Ow, Sya.”

Wincing, she looked back towards him. Apologizing, she bit her lip.

“It’s fine. Everyone gets emotional the first time.” He smiled. “Let’s not keep the king waiting, shall we?”

She rested her hand gently on his arm and followed him across the bridge. A tall, handsome man, a crown of bone resting atop his head, met them at the door.

Tyr sunk into a bow. Sya looked around, eyes wide, before sinking into a hesitant curtsy. She hovered like that for a short while before the man’s gaze caught on her.

Death looked her over, curiosity flashing in his dark eyes. “Thank you for bringing her, reaper.”

“Hi?” Sya asked. “Tyr said… Tyr said you wanted to speak with me?”

“You’ve interacted with something out of my control. I do not know what it was, or why it attacked you. However, you are not the first.” He led them to the balcony, gesturing at a grassy valley.

There were at least three dozen people, milling about, talking in hushed voices. Their discussions abruptly halted when they noticed the king’s presence.

“All of these people came into contact with this thing,” Death said. “All of them died. You, however – you didn’t.”

“Why?”

He flicked a hand, a seat appearing behind her. She sat gratefully.

“All of these people have similar spirit guides in one way – they are all prey animals. It makes sense. This thing is obviously a predator, so it goes after prey. Tell me what you saw. All of it.”

Sya hastily recounted how it had stolen the light, smiled, offered a hand – all of it.

The king hummed quietly. “Anything else?”

She shook her head.

Nodding, he sighed. “Do you have pets? What spirit guide did you see?”

“I have a pet – a black cat. There was an owl–”

“It was massive,” Tyr inserted. “I’ve seen large ones before, but it was huge. And pure black.”

Death smiled for the first time since Sya’s arrival. “Call it,” he said. “You know how.”

“Sure,” she whispered. “Sounds great.”

Sitting cross-legged and closing her eyes, she imagined white scenery. Her forest came to mind, coated in snow during a particularly chilly winter. A shadow, much like the one she had seen before, when the creature came, flitted by her. This time, though, she was not afraid. She knew that it was not evil spirits following her, but good ones. Instinctively, she went to the tree on the hill.

A book rested there, a light dusting of snow across its cover. She sat beneath the full moon, taking the book in her lap. The rustle of the pages offered the only sound in this world of spirits. She turned to a randomly selected page.

It was blank. She went to flip to a new page, but dark ink began to spread across the sheet – as though an invisible writer had spilled their inkwell across the snowy white pages.

She stopped to see what would happen. The ink flowed, forming into an elegant cursive script.

Sya read it aloud seamlessly, despite the foreign language. A dark shadow appeared on the ground before her, the massive guide perching on a branch beside her. Standing, she looked into the owl’s great, round eyes.

Bowing its head, it let out an echoing call. The spirit world disappeared, Death’s castle reforming in her vision.

             Instinctively, she stood, extending an arm. A beam of white light cut a jagged mark into the wall, the powerful bird soaring out to perch on her limb.

             Its distinctive call echoed from the walls, filling the castle with sound.

“Fascinating…” A peculiar look came across Death’s face, almost – but not quite – awe. “Nebulosa.”

He bowed slightly, a respectful act from one deity to another. The owl responded in turn, spreading its wings in a silent movement.

Sya shifted closer to the king. “You – you know her?”

The king nodded. “She is a great deity from our past. I can tell you her story if you wish.”

Smiling, she shook her head. “Perhaps another time, your majesty. We should focus on finding out how to defeat this thing that attacked me. What is it?”

His face fell. “We don’t know.”

Sighing, he stood from his throne, stepping towards her and Tyr. “My sister agreed to allow us in her palace to discuss it. Nebulosa can access realm-shifting. Tyr and I will meet you there.”

With that, he disappeared in a cloud of inky smoke. With an exasperated sigh, she nodded to her guide. The iridescent blackness seeped into her vision. Nebulosa hooted softly in her ear, soaring away. In her wake she left a trail of white, a road to lead her way.

Sya took a hesitant step, her foot hitting the white path solidly. She looked out at the blackness.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she waved her foot slightly off the path. It hovered in empty space briefly before she yanked it back. A disapproving hoot scolded her, beckoning her on. She followed, chastised. As she walked, she came across a door – perched above it was none other than Nebulosa.

She hesitated – a sense of danger seemed to come from the silver archway. But her friends were in there.

Friends. She had known them such a brief time. Were they really her friends?

Yes. And technically, she had known Tyr for a long time. For all her life. Lives. She took a deep breath.

Do they think of you as a friend?

She froze. Confused, she wondered why she would have such a negative thought.

You did not. I did.

She turned around. Umbra – where had the name come from? She had never heard it before – stood there, the gruesomely wide smile once again taking up its features.

“You.” Her voice shook, betraying her fear. Cursing herself, she took a deep breath and tried again.

“What do you want, Umbra?” she asked. Her voice didn’t shake this time.

Come with me. You owe nothing to these people. What have they done for you? If you came with me, you could live forever.

It was tempting. Of course it was – immortality; the dream of Earth.

You want it. I know you do. I know everything about you. The spirit world disappeared. Sya’s home, the apartment she shared with her sister, took its place. She spun around, eyes wide.

“Sissy! Thank gods.” It was her sister, plowing down the stairs to embrace her.

Bewildered, Sya wrapped her arms around her. “Aura? What?”

“That filthy cat of yours came home without you. It may be a mangy beast, but its fiercely loyal. We were so worried!”

“We?” Sya couldn’t think of anyone else who might worry.

Had she stumbled through a portal? How else would she be back home? Back home. Aura had seemed frantic. How long had she been gone?

She repeated the question aloud.

“Only a day.”

But you already knew that, didn’t you? You doubted it – doubted that you’d be home. But the doubt that I knew how she hated that pet of yours. That was stronger. But you forget, my dear Sya.

Aura disappeared, her ruby hair flattening into a black, faceless figure. Umbra’s smile had changed. Where it had had some semblance of warmth, now it held only anger. I know you. I know every thought, every memory, every doubt. I can give you that life back for real.

“You know,” Sya started, the tremble back in her voice. “Humans usually have eyes.”

Umbra let out a wet cough. It reminded Sya of when her grandmother died, the rattling breaths terrifying the five-year-old. Umbra’s coughs lasted longer, dragging on and on and on.

Sya finally realized that he was laughing. At her. Her house disappeared, the spirit world’s inky surroundings enveloping her. It was comforting, now.

See, now that’s why I like you, little witch.

“Why do you call me that?” she asked, slowly backing towards the portal.

Its smile was warmer now, as though remembering something fondly. When I saw you with your cat, I assumed it was your guide. A witch usually has a black cat, and I thought you’d be willing to join me. You still are, though you fear me. My offer tempts you; I can see it.

She took another slow step backwards. Expecting to find solid ground, or perhaps the wall of the portal, instead her foot met only empty space. She whirled around, stumbling back onto the path.

Shaking its ‘head,’ Umbra tutted disapprovingly. Its illusions had swapped where she thought the portal was with where she thought Umbra was.

Fooled. Again.

Now, now. Where do you think you’re going, little witch? Certainly not through there. It won’t take you anywhere you want to go.

“Yes, it will,” Sya said, clenching her jaw. “It will take me to my friends.”

So, you cling to the notion that these people care about you. Its form shifted, the blackness changing into a truly humanoid form.

Blue eyes, sandy blond hair. Tyr’s strong jaw. Umbra smiled unnaturally.

Is this more visually pleasing? Do you prefer me in this form?

His tongue flicked, snakelike. It was black and forked, foreign in Tyr’s mouth. Shuddering, Sya stumbled away, forgetting that she was on a narrow path. As she nearly fell, Tyr’s hand – Umbra’s hand – grasped her arm, pulling her close to him.

Clearly not. Fine. We can ask them ourselves. The portal lit up with swirling patterns of white.

He led her through.

The first thing she noticed was the aroma. The air smelled welcoming, warm. Then she noticed the walls; light fractured into perfect rainbows, making the crystal walls alight with a million colors – more than Sya had ever imagined.

But then Umbra – still disguised as Tyr – dropped the illusion.

The immaculate walls shattered. The warm smell spoiled with smoke.

But most prominently the white-winged angel crumpled on the ground.

“No.” The word was almost inaudible, gone as soon as it came.

“Umbra. What did you do!” Shaking her head frantically, Sya ran forward.

He didn’t stop her. I didn’t do anything. Merely disguised the truth.

Collapsed on her side in a pool of blood lay the angel. She had one wing twisted beneath her, the other sprawled to the side.

Umbra stood beside her, looking down at the angel.

“Umbra.” He didn’t respond, preferring to examine a shattered piece of crystal. He fingered it, flipping it across his long fingers.

“Umbra!” she snapped. Startled, he cut himself with the fragment. He glared at her, the blue eyes a hundred times colder than Tyr’s ever were.

What is it, Sya? What do you want me to do? Sya noted that he used her name – he hadn’t done that before.

Looking up at him with zero fear, she snarled back her response. “Where are my friends?”

He waved his hand – a completely unnecessary gesture – and after a few seconds Tyr and Death barged through the door at the end of the hall.

             “Are there any more illusions?” she asked harshly.

             No.

             She gave him a disapproving look, as he was still in Tyr’s form.

             You’ve become very demanding, little witch.

             She deigned not to respond, and with a sigh he shifted back into his natural form, reverting to the horrific grin. He very obviously still wanted to intimidate her into accepting his offer.

             Death noticed as Umbra shifted, grabbing Tyr by the back of his hood before he could get any closer.

             “Nebulosa!” She swooped through the same area Sya had arrived from. But before she could reach the king, Umbra reached up, snatching the bird out of the sky.

             Nebulosa. I remember you, my dear. Do you remember me? he growled.

             “Let her go.” Sya stood from her position next to the fallen angel.

             Turning to set his terrible smile on her, he stepped forward. As he did so, he drew up another illusion.

             This is your last chance to turn against them, little witch.

             “Release the owl, Umbra.” Her voice stayed steady, though she felt her hands shake.

             You are afraid of me, Sya. You cannot harm me, and you certainly cannot hold your ground in a fight.

             Standing firm, she held her head high. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.” She was bluffing, she knew it, he knew it.

             She looked around herself – it was a stunning deception. She looked out at the clouds from the top of the grassy mountain.

             “It is an impressive illusion,” she said, willing herself to stay strong.

             His smile widened. I can teach you how. It isn’t so hard as it seems.

             Swallowing, she offered him a slight smile. “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

             He changed his appearance again, but this time it wasn’t Tyr. He was handsome. He had black eyes – no whites, just pure darkness – and pale skin. Pale, thin lips stretched in a wide grin that seemed perfectly natural on this face.

             She hated to admit it, even to herself, but he was handsome.

             “Who is this? This body, I mean,” she asked, tilting her head.

             Me. Me before I lost this form. Before she –

             He froze, his illusion shattering. His large black form lost all appearance – only a black mass floating before her. Turning around, Sya glimpsed Death kneeling beside the angel, Tyr standing guard above him.

             Nebulosa flew back to her arm, perching gracefully.

             Umbra, glaring, drew up another illusion. Though conscious of the illusion and how it looked, Sya had double vision – with Nebulosa’s help, she saw through the deception.

             She called his name, called for him to stop.

             Little witch. Why can’t you just give up on them?

             Shaking her head, she smiled gently. “They wouldn’t give up on me. Why should I give up on them?”

             He didn’t answer.

             “Someone hurt you. You recognized Nebulosa, didn’t you. You called her ‘my dear.’ That wasn’t coincidence.”

              No. The word was almost inaudible, gone as soon as it came. It wasn’t.

              “Umbra. Cruelty to others won’t make up for cruelty to you.”

             Death stood from the angel’s side. “We can make you a guide. You can help others, not harm them. I’d say you’re a panther, correct?”

             Why would I want that? Why shouldn’t I destroy you all, now? I could do it. I have the power to kill Death. I’d be worshipped by the humans. They’d all be immortal.

             “Would that make you happy?” Sya asked him, her voice soft as could be.

             I’d be powerful! I’d – I’d be a god!

             “You?” Death shook his head. “You’d be miserable.”

             A light caught their eyes, the light of a portal opening. Nebulosa flew through it, her movements as silent as ever.

             I will follow her. Death smiled at the shadow-beast, extending a hand. Umbra took it, changing into a great black panther. Not an illusion, this time. Bowing, it turned, leaping through its lover’s portal.

             Letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, Sya watched the swirling light emitting from the portal.

             Slow clapping echoed through the room. “Wonderful. Just wonderful. I suppose I’ll have to kill you myself, then.”

             A powerful figure rammed into Sya’s side, sending her flying through the gateway. She landed, hard, on the white road. Tyr’s face hovered above her, his arms holding her down.

             He stood with a growl, pulling her close to him. His striking blue eyes glared into hers, paralyzing her with fear.

             Silently, he twisted an arm behind her back. The movement involuntarily spun her around. She tensed, her back to him, as she faced out at the void.

             He nudged her forwards…

             And forwards…

             And forwards…

             Until she was right on the edge, her toes hanging out into the abyss. The thought to call for Nebulosa flashed through her head. He covered her mouth with his hand.

             “Sya.” He offered her a disappointed sigh. “What do you think you’re doing?”

             She bit him with all her strength, tasting blood as she sunk her teeth into flesh. His hand tensed but didn’t release her. The sticky feel of blood ran down her chin. The thought that her shirt would be ruined flashed briefly through her head, and she wondered sardonically if that was important when she was standing on the edge of the void.

             “Why, Tyr?” she whispered against his bloody hand. “I trusted you. How could you do this?”

             “Quite easily, really,” he replied, releasing his grip on her.

             She stumbled, caught off balance by the sudden lack of his steadying hands.

             Flapping her arms in a frantic bid for safety, she managed to regain her balance, teetering on the edge.

             A heavy sigh met her ears, disappearing with nothing to echo off.

             Her hair moved – just the slightest bit, but enough. It brushed against her cheek. Involuntarily, her muscles twitched, her head jerking to the side.

             Her balance lost, she slipped. Losing all sense of direction as she fell, all she knew was the rush of air against her face. Her locks of hair whipped against her forehead.

              The only sound – a short ‘tut, tut,’ met her ears briefly, then the soft foot falls to let her know of Tyr’s departure.

             Abruptly, the sickening sense of falling - that pit in the center of her stomach – stopped. So did her air supply. She had heard stories from astronauts, the feeling of weightlessness, the sense of drifting through the empty blackness.

             Only, the had helmets to provide them with air. They had stars, to show them the way, to fill the darkness. They always had something to keep them tethered, someone who could pull them free.

She had none of that, only blackness and empty space. Nothing to guide her, nothing to free her from her prison.

Or did she?

With the last inkling of oxygen left in her starving lungs, she croaked out a name.

“Umbra.”

She couldn’t tell if she was losing consciousness or not. Her head felt fuzzy, but she couldn’t see anything, eyes open or closed.

Then a flicker of light.

It might have been her imagination, looking for something to focus on in its last few seconds before she blacked out.

She woke with no feeling in her limbs. No, that wasn’t true. She had feeling, only she didn’t understand it. The feeling seemed different, alien. Her eyes flickered open, finding herself in the woods. Familiar woods, with tall pines, though her vantage point seemed odd. It appeared to be that she was sitting on a branch, though she couldn’t think of any that could hold her weight.

The details of the grass, the ants strolling along the bark of a neighboring tree, all of it was visible in clear, precise detail.

It unnerved her, as did the ruckus of chirping birds and buzzing insects, more than she had ever heard even in mating season.

That sort of sound level usually gave her a headache within seconds. Oddly enough, to her ears it was perfectly normal. She stretched.

And that’s when she realized why everything was so uncanny.

“Odd, isn’t it?” The voice was in the hoot of an owl, yet the words made perfect sense.

She looked at the large, gray wing connected to her back. The one that had taken the place of her right arm.

“Very,” she said, intrigued but not surprised when it came out as an owl’s call.

She hesitated, opening her mouth – beak – to ask the other owl a question. Before she could get the words out, a different voice stopped her.

Leaping up onto her branch, a panther licked its paw. “You are welcome.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Panthers aren’t usually in this area, you know.”

He purred. “Humans don’t come in this part of the woods, not since a young woman went missing. Besides, they cannot see us.”

Preening her wing, she hooted softly.

“Yes. There was no other way, not with Life gone. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she replied.

“I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

 (Hey guys. I wrote this “short” story as a school assignment, and it was what inspired me to write my current novel, bloodless.)

[fenheart87]

Healing the Magic

For @bloody-no-kissu happy belated birthday!

-start-

“Well hello there, sniffer’s no good upwind.” Luka kept his relaxed posture, no need to scare the young woman, especially when he had no way of knowing what she was capable of. "Rest easy lass, just a wee break for the legs before finishing my journey. Beautiful women are welcome to the river beside me, I don't bite."

Marinette snorted and moved closer, much more at ease with the werewolf as he was coherent. Carefully she scooped some water from the flow of the river with a chipped bowl and carefully filled her canteen. Silently she thanked the river spirits that this one was untainted by the illness that was flooding the capital. Once her canteen was full, she filled a few vials and other potion bottles. She would need moon water but that was harder to come by, unless…

"Pray tell furry friend," she smiled at the eye roll and continued, "if I were to say leave a basin to be touched by Sister Moon would you place a watchful eye and help me to gather pure water from a full and a new moon?"

"Moon water aye?" Blue eyes narrowed in consideration and a healthy dose of wariness. "And what would a young lass such as yourself need any type of moon water for?"

"I come from the Agreste ranch, rescued as a healer for the ailing late Madame Emilie Agreste. Since her passing and resting of her soul, I have been helping to use my skills for those in the nearby town, most wounds heal best under a full moon. Other times I must raise defense for myself against those who wish to harm a skilled healer such as myself. I understand if you cannot help." Marinette simply returned to drinking fresh water from the river and making sure she had collected enough for her next round of potions.

"Lilly wheat grows yonder the hill to the west, right along the tree line. It can be tricking to navigate, I swear to watch yer things should you need to gather it."

Surprise covered her features, it was exactly what she was looking for and made her rethink this werewolf and wonder, how did he recognize the potion? "Many thanks, should you need flea repellent, there is thistle burn about two miles east of here."

"Ah the smell would be unmistakable." Nodding his shaggy head in thanks and reclined on the other bank, he seemed to be done with conversation.

"I'll take you up on your kind offer stranger, I'll be swift." Marinette heard the snort but paid it no mind as she gathered her dagger, amulet and her bag for the herbs she had collected. Swapping the jars of water for a few empty ones, she made her way to the west. Humming some disguised spells, Marinette committed the path to memory and found a few alternate routes for future trips. Sure enough she spotted lilly wheat from its lavender and pale blue coloring, it was a hybrid lookalike of wheat and blue bell flowers. Gathering as much as she could to fill the jars to the max and even stuffed her apron pockets to the brim. Making her way back, she heard a few twigs snap and the trees across the river had a slight sway, signalling the werewolf just left.

"Thank you kind wolf!" Upon reaching the middle of the clearing, she noticed both collection jars were missing. Smiling, she made a note to return in a month's time.

________________________________________

The walk helped clear her senses, too much magic and illness in the capitol had clouded Marinette's magical innate ability to sense other beings. Nature was usually at a neutral point unless tainted by those who lived in the area. Out here so far away from anything or even the manor of vampires she cohabitated with was still pure and loved to trade her negative things with a positive rush of natural magic. It was quite a boost and usually she stored it in her crystals, sometimes bringing them with her to recharge if she was able to stay for a long period.

The tree line broke and the sounds of the river filled her ears and the birds sounded louder than before. Marinette basked in the cheer floating in the air and made her way to the natural alter that she frequently used as her desk. Noticing a note hidden under a rock with a gem tied to it. Carefully she pulled the letter free, not wanting to touch the gem in case it was rigged with a spell.

'Hello Witchling,

I trust your fortnight has been fruitful and as you asked, I was indeed able to get both water from the new moon and the full moon. Untouched completely by every element but the collected water and the air itself. The gem is a family heirloom, there is a hidden cave and it shall lead you to it with just a drop of water from the river.

The Big Friendly Wolf'

Giggling to herself, she did as the note bade and with a touch of cursory magic, determined it was harmless. Dipping a finger in the river for a drop of water, Marinette followed the glowing red light to the cave where her collection jars waited for her, completely untouched. Taking care, she poured the water into the marked pots and carefully sealed them for transportation. This would be plenty for what she needed and Marinette made a note to make something for the helpful Were. Leaving the crystal with the note in the cave, she set off to gather the few missing herbs left. It took only a few minutes of scouting when her senses sparked in alarm, there was another magical signature drawing closer and it was unfamiliar. Deciding the risk was worth it, Marinette touched her amulet and teleported back into the agreste stronghold. 

Dizziness filled her vision for a moment and she steadied herself with a few deep breaths. Looking around her room, she noticed nothing out of order and apart from the usual lingering traces of her magic and of Adrien's, everything was still. Grabbing a couple cookies to help her nausea, Marinette teleported back out of the castle and to the nearby wood. It would make it seem as if she skipped over the mountain and river instead of jumping right through every defense that Gabriel had set. Normally the elder vampire had no qualms with her use of magic but he disapproved of it greatly and even forbade Marinette to teach his son. The magic had chosen the young heir and there was not a thing she could do to stop it but that was a long time before they needed to discuss anything if her luck had anything to do with it, she dearly hoped she would be released from their service before then.

The guard, a quiet man whom Adrien called Gorilla, nodded in greeting and let her pass unharmed. Not many could come and go as they pleased, it was a hard earned honor to be rarely granted. Resuming her humming, her magic reached out and brushed against Adrien's, giving her a clear path to follow. Turning left instead of her normal right, the torches illuminated her way. The only thing King Gabriel requested to be enchanted at all times and now only let Marinette or Felix boost them when the stored magic was running low.

"Oh posh, you know as well as I do your father is hardly that." A foreign voice could be heard as she approached the heir's chambers. 

"I'm not having this argument again, either you can shut up or I'll have your tongue." Adrien rarely snapped and it caused the witch's curiosity to peak even more. The moment of silence was her best bet, knocking in a familiar pattern and humming a containment spell, Marinette opened the door and slipped inside quickly.

"Oi! You never told me Tikki was here!" The blurry black form was hissing and thrashing in anger, the spell working like a charm.

"Oh you must be Plagg! I thought Mullo said you were a cute cat with a bad attitude?" Marinette wondered aloud, smiling in greeting to the frozen vampire.

"Mullo?! Wait wait wait! You're Marinette!"

Plagg settles into his hybrid form, acid green eyes and fluffy black ears being the first clear features to show. He stepped out of the transformation smoke and his body clad in black robes became solid, a slender tail flicking in excitement behind him.

"Oh no, you talk about me?!" Marinette shrieked in alarm, dropping the bag she had forgotten.

"Hold on, what in the Hell's Fires is going on here?" Adrien cut in, looking at the Demigod and his healer in anger and confusion.

"Oh Adrien, you know my true talents are not in healing so I know the Demigods when I see them. I've always known you're magic kissed like your mother." She smiled guiltily as the shock filled his face.

"Of course we talk about you, there's only one of you even century if we're lucky. A Destined is something to be proud of and you are definitely a very special one too. I'd love to see what kind of chaos we could create." His smile was full of fangs and a mischievous gleam shone from his eyes.

"Maybe one day, especially since I was forbade from teaching any magic and now you're contracted to Adrien." Marinette surmised, it was the only explanation as to why the demigod would actually be there in person.

"Father will never learn to trust me will he?" The blonde sighed deeply, defeat easy to read in his hunched form. 

"He fears the illness that took your mother will take you as well…" Marinette hesitated, looking to Plagg for permission to disclose the truth; a move that Adrien noticed and pounced on.

"What are you hiding from me?" He rose from the chair, brow furrowed in anger and stalked towards the shorter woman.

"I cannot say, the King has his ways of forbidding even the most noble of truths." She turned her gaze to the floor in preservation, a vampire's thrall wasn't effective enough to hold her for long but it did cause severe damage.

"He marked you." They had nearly forgotten the demigod was in the same room. "That bastard! Touching a Destined with Darkened Magic is forbidden!"

"I had no idea I was a Destined, my powers never came in until I became lost in the Forbidden Woods." Her voice was soft with sadness but still clearly heard. "This means he will have to be put to death doesn't it?"

The silence from the demigod was loud enough in its own right. King Gabriel would pay the price of meddling with the Darkened Magic, the blackest of black magic and required sacrifices of souls and thousands of blood rituals or even contracts with demons. The penalty was raised even more for using the Darkened Magic on a Destined and stunting Marinette’s growth and endangering her life, a Demigod had chosen her and had been denied the right to connect with her because of Gabriel's foolishness.

"You'll rise to your place in the throne then Prince Adrien." 

"You can't be serious, killing my father? For using magic on a witch?" Adrien cried, waving his arm carelessly.

"Boy, Magic Kissed you are but Chosen you are not! I will take you down with him should you choose to go against the wish of the Gods!" Plagg snarled, teeth glinting sharply in the candlelight. 

Adrien started at the show of anger and reacted with fangs bared and eyes darkening to red. The predator was unused to feeling truly like prey, even in front of his father and his fight or flight instinct was set to fight. Marinette hummed herself, layering a few protective spells over herself and Plagg, surprising the demigod enough to whip his head and stare at her in disbelief.

"You're Tikki's chosen…" Adrien calmed a bit and glowered at the two that had suddenly forgotten him.

"I wouldn't know." Marinette whispered, barely heard by either male.

"Look kid, either he dies and you step up to be the man they need you to be or you'll suffer at the end of my claws as well. You have until sundown to decide. Little witchling, I shall keep in touch. There will be three parting gifts in your room and with your smarts you'll put it all together." Plagg bowed slightly, a show of respect to Marientte which had her and Adrien shocked as the demigod disappeared.

"We need to act normal for the time being. I'll see you at dinner." Adrien spoke dismissively, an echo of Gabriel's attitude behind his words. Marinette was left with no choice but to retire to her room.

Her room was alive in the way only a witch could truly achieve, the flora was bursting with healthy green leaves and big bright beautiful blooms. The air carried a weight of the magic she often conjured within the four walls, positive and practice vibes floating playfully past one another to create a safe atmosphere. Little did anyone realize the room itself was enchanted and she could move the entire thing at will, it was difficult as it required a lot of magic but with the help of Moon Water, she could do it and hide away to regain her strength.

"Alright, time to get to work." Marinette opened her chest and humming a light airy tune, the shelves floated off the walls and slowly drifted into the chest, allowing her time to select certain ingredients. Taking a deep breath she changed her tune and her furniture began to shrink and floated into the chest as well. The young witch was about three quarters depleted of her magic, Marinette had suspicions that Gabriel had something to do with it.

"Okay, time to juice up. Just a little bit, nothing major. Nothing ventured, nothing gained after all." She muttered under her breath, trying to shake off the sudden nerves. Tapping into the last of her power, Marinette focused on the new moon water and held the clear quartz above it, near breaking concentration as it began to float. Starting a soft hum, the water took a shiny quality and the crystal glowed in response. Very thin multicolored wisps of smoke drifted back and forth, showing a tangible power exchange between both stored magics. Once the water no longer shined and the smoke faded fully, she stopped humming.

"One more step and onto freedom…" Blue eyes took in the half packed state of her room, fingers already reaching for her Amethyst to charge with the Full Moon water. This was easier as there was only a little need for direction, the power was already there and no need to purify or mix with another essence. Gently she placed the crystal to float on top of the water and with a whisper of a chant, the process began.

Marinette moved around the room and tossed the shrunken furniture into the chest, convincing her plants to sleep for the trip and even getting some to shrink into seeds for packing purposes. Once everything was cleared and stored away, the young witch turned back to the crystal and pot, the process about halfway done. Steeling herself, Marinette grabbed a ring she rarely wore when staying inside the castle, strands of gold layered and twisted to form a beautiful rose. This was one of her more precious gifts, it also lent the ability to disguise everything tattletale from vampires.

"Now to make it through dinner… And hopefully out of here alive."

Dinner was a quiet affair, the tension could be felt by even the servants who were speedy about setting down the dishes and retreating as quickly as they could without triggering a chase from an angry vampire.

"I thought King Gabriel was to join us?" Marinette asked politely, forcing herself to enjoy the cooked lamb at a moderate pace.

"Father had some unexpected business to attend to." Adrien had finished sucking his peice dry and moved on to the goblet of blood wine.

"I hope nothing too strenuous."

"Father can handle anything."

Once she was finished, the table was cleared for dessert. The young witch knew this would be her moment as everyone else had left the room and if things were to go south, they would be spared from Adrien's wrath. Gathering courage, she rose from her seated position and bowed slightly.

"If you have a moment to spare, I would like to discuss something with you." 

"So be it, speak your piece." Adrien leaned back in the chair, his persona more and more like his father every day but never closer than in that moment.

"After the events I am resigning from my position as healer for the Agreste Coven."

"Marinette, there's no reason to have this discussion." He sighed heavily and rose from his seat, turning to leave.

"There's no reason for me to be here any longer Adrien. My original reason for employment has been null for a long time. I feel it's time to leave and further my skills, that cannot be done while in here. There's nothing for me to learn." As a human she knew this would trigger what was left of his humanity and kept her breathing even to avoid the blow up 

Adrien spun around suddenly, knocking off the dinnerware from the table. The plate was a near miss from cutting Marientte's bare feet but she stood her ground, after all no matter how nice Adrien was, there was still a predator in his heart. Green eyes blazed with anger and a low snarl ripped from his throat, it had no effect on her after so long of being in his service. "You dare mock me and then presume to leave me!? For the flea bitten mongrel at that?"

"I'd rather lay with that so-called mongrel and risk fleas than be with you a moment longer than I have to." Marinette calmly stated, pulling on her inner strength to not let her ring fail her and reveal how fast her pulse was truly racing.

"What is this really about Marinette? Did I not give you all the splendor and treasures you could want? I let you choose a trade and keep your money from it, supporting you and never asking for you to repay your debt with me. Have I ever hurt you?" Adrien spread his arms dramatically, appearing innocent except for the look of rage taking over his face.

"Adrien. Do not make this a big deal, Plagg is already watching you closely." Praying to the demigod himself that Adrien wouldn't be able to call her bluff. "I am not a prize to be won or fought over, I am most certainly not yours. You have never hurt me nor have I you, please do not change that."

"Then leave, when you get fleas do not come crying to me." Adrien spun and left the dining hall, anger leaking from him.

Marinette wasted no time, teleporting back to her room and casting a cloaking spell on the chest. The transfer was done and quickly she saved the water for both by sealing the collection pots temporarily. The crystals went onto the pouch at her waist, Marinette noticed that there was more than usual and smiled in relief.

"One of three found little witchling. Best hurry to get out of here before my kitten blows a gasket." Plagg commented lazily, floating above the opening of her door.

"Thank you for your watchful eyes Plagg." Dropping into a quick curtsey and drawing a quiet chuckle from the Demigod, the witch finished packing what little was left. Humming brightly, she gasped as the chest shrunk into a perfect sized bracelet. 

"The least I can do to help rectify the wrong that has been done towards you. Mayhaps you should find a mentor that has knowledge of God's and Divination."

"Consider it done! Master Fu told me if i ever needed anything to go see him at the Temple of Heroes." Marinette smiled brightly and with a wink, teleported into the clearing she favored. She miscalculated how drained she was on magic as something solid but somewhat squishy.

"Well lass, did not expect you to fall into my lap quite like this." The werewolf's deep timber caused a shiver to run up her spine.

"Not quite my intention but I do need help and a certain big friendly werewolf would be quite helpful against the big scary vampires."

"Well lassie, you're in luck. Just hang on." He shifted her to his back and she clung on for dear life with a huge smile on her face. Time to live for herself.

[brokenjardaantech]

Blue-tinted Red Walls (Chapter 11: The Luck in Survivability)

my entry for the @dbhau-bigbang.  also part of the groom lake aftermath series.

chapter summary:

In the past, Louis freaked out.

In the present, the survivors ponder their luck.

In the past, the twins cleaned up the mess.

also on ao3

note: this is a double update. the epilogue will be uploaded immediately after this. also, content warning for canon typical violence and a brief mention of suicide.

---

Before

Louis looked around the room with wide eyes. So many people. So many new faces. So many plans to make, reports to fill, paperwork to organise.

All he could think of was what led to everyone here gathered together, scrambling to support an entire city worth of SWAT demand after most of the previous teams had been wiped out in the Blast, and his chest suddenly grew tight, his head ached, and a sharp pain burnt from his cybernetic leg all the way up to his left lung. There was little he could do apart from removing himself from the situation and went after the nearest bathroom he could, but he did manage to shut himself in a stall before his legs gave out and he slumped on the toilet seat. His face crumbled, a sob tore itself from his throat. Tears rolled down his heated face, the contrast between the strong air-conditioning and the warm droplets only making him feel worse as he curled into a ball alone with no one to talk to because he couldn’t even find the words to explain the sheer emptiness in his mind that he swore wasn’t there before.

So much for being the only survivor of the Blast.

o0o0o

Now

By the time he reaches Recall Centre No.5, Connor is entirely numb from both the cold and the realisation that Hank is gone. He puts on a brave face as he meets Markus and presents the leader of the revolution with the deviant army he freed from CyberLife Tower, he mirrors Louis’ expression as the human arrives with another army of android on his own with a beaming smile and the air around him smelling of static and a now-familiar tingle of their powers, and he doesn’t let his smile drop as Markus pulls Simon close and gives him a passionate, celebratory kiss in front of everyone. He wants to decline Markus’ invitation to stand next to him on the container as he makes his speech, but the leader pleads, Louis accepts the offer after a few rounds of persuasion from the android, and Connor joins them standing behind Markus and near the edge of the container next to Louis purely because it will be strange for him to not be up there. If he edges closer to the human for warmth when Markus finishes his speech and turns towards Simon for what will be another kiss and interface, Louis disguises his comforting hand as a congratulatory pat on his shoulder, and they hop off the container before the others so that they can blend into the crowd. With the celebration going off all around him, Connor finds himself in a desperate need of some space and quiet.

Of course Louis catches it and stops him before he can sneak away. ‘Where are you going?’ he asks. There is only inquiry in his voice, no accusations, no pity, no anger. Completely neutral. ‘It isn’t safe for androids to walk around alone yet.’

I know, Connor wants to answer. But… ‘I need to think.’

His voice cracks and there must be something on his face, because instead of leaving him alone, Louis places his other hand on Connor’s arm and forces them to face each other with that permanent frown of his even more prominent than ever. The human gives him a once-over. ‘What happened?’

‘Please,’ Connor tries to pull himself away from the human’s grasp and meets no resistance, ‘I need to…’ everything happened so quickly that it is only at this moment that he realises how little he thought of Hank as he busied himself with deviating the androids, ‘I need to go to somewhere quiet. This is…’ he gestures at the crowd, all the people cheering and exchanging their thoughts with one another as they anticipate a bright future ahead. His mouth opens but no sound comes out.

‘Too much,’ Louis finishes for him, and he is glad that someone understands at least for a little. ‘I’ll go with you. I can use some fresh air as well.’

He marks one of the androids passing by and asks them to inform Markus about their early departure before guiding Connor towards the street where Louis’ androids marched to the camp. There are a few cars parked on the side of the road but Louis ignores those, and Connor’s processors are too occupied from him replaying the last hour’s events over and over again in front of his eyes. That is why he doesn’t ask any questions when the human somehow manages to call a taxi, doesn’t resist when he urges him to get into the vehicle, doesn’t calculate their route from the landmarks and streets they pass by; all he can think of is how Hank is dead and they didn’t even manage to properly say goodbye. ‘We’ll talk about it,’ he said. ‘I’ll stay safe,’ he promised.

Lies. All of them. Why do humans have to make promises they can’t keep?

A hand on his shoulder tears him away from his thoughts however momentarily. ‘Do you mind if we go pick up Connie first?’ Louis cocks his head. ‘I feel like she should be with us as well.’

Right. Connie. His sister whose existence he almost forgot because of the mess that was his last mission. He nods because he doesn’t trust his voice, and Louis inputs a new command into the taxi and directs it to the church. Connor interfaces with the vehicle and hacks it so that the company can’t track them.

Louis thanks him.

The taxi stops a block away from the church because the rest of the road is too ruined to safely drive a car through, and they leave together to pick Connie up. It is past her bedtime, her systems unable to support her for such a long time, but it must have been the stress of the situation outside because they find her eyes glued to one of the projectors cycling through the news which are focused on the revolution. Louis calls her name, her head twists awkwardly towards the direction of his voice, and her face splits into a half-grin until she catches the expression on their faces. What happened? her scrunched-up face says. Then she holds Connor’s hand so that he can share some of his processing power with her and she can ask, Where’s Hank?

Connor yanks his hand away so that he won’t accidentally share the image of Hank’s body with her. He has to shut his eyes, blinks his tears away. He wants to collapse on the floor and shut down until Ryder hacks into his system and take away his deviancy, take away his emotions. He doesn’t want them. ‘Gone,’ he cuts off the connection between his analysis module and voice box, but the task is harder than before he broke the red wall. ‘I can’t go back to get him now. It’s too late.’

Realisation dawns in Louis’ wide green eyes, his arm jerking in an aborted motion to comfort Connor by touch. The android isn’t sure if he should be grateful. ‘What happened?’

Connor gestures towards the taxi with a cock of his head, and the three of them get into the warm protection of the vehicle once more, Louis setting another destination for them that Connor is too distracted by making sure that Connie is comfortable to deduce. Having someone to look after eases some of the pain, but he does remember Louis’ question, and he desperately hopes that the human has forgotten about it.

No such luck. ‘How?’ he asks once more. ‘I knew infiltrating the tower wasn’t easy but… shouldn’t Hank be helping civilians evacuate?’

Connor swallows. ‘Alec shot him,’ in front of me, he wants to add, but that burden is his to bear. ‘He lured Hank with another RK800 model. Ryder showed up. She distracted him while I tried to convert the androids. Alec targeted them after he realised what I was doing. Many died before I could…’ broken limbs and a body rising from the scraps flash in front of his eyes. ‘Ryder protected us.’

Louis shoves the magazine into his rifle particularly hard. ‘And where are the two of them now?’

‘Alec’s dead.’ He remembers the splatter of blood, the charged air, the cold, red glow of Ryder’s eyes as she pummeled her father’s head into subatomic particles. ‘Ryder made sure that I was watching before she killed him slowly. I tried to connect to CyberLife Tower’s system on my way to Hart Plaza, but it seemed to have been locked down.’

‘Locked down?’

‘A last resort against whoever is trying to take over. I assume that Ryder has succeeded.’ They pass an abandoned checkpoint, and he decides to change the topic. ‘How about you?’

‘How about me?’

‘What happened to the others?’

Louis starts disassembling his rifle again. ‘They’ve got other things to do, or so they said,’ he pauses his movements and then shakes his head. ‘I stopped thinking halfway through. Not that Chloe was being forward with her answers.’

‘What about her?’

The human remains silent.

‘Louis?’

‘I’ll show you later,’ he assembles his rifle with a series of fluid motions. ‘I have a feeling that there isn’t a lot we can do on that end anyway.’

‘And why should I trust your intuition?’

Louis’ smile is bitter. ‘I doubt it’s gonna malfunction suddenly after ten years.’

oOoOo

Connor isn’t sure if he should be thankful that their destination is Louis’ house. Before the fighting broke out, it was already a quiet neighbourhood, and the silence is almost eerie now with most of the residents having evacuated or moved to parts of the city where the power is still on, because from the lack of indicator lights on the road and the heat signature of the streetlamps, the neighbourhood hasn’t received any electricity for quite a few hours, long before the march was publicised. As the human’s house is located deep within a relatively large plot of land surrounded by what Connor remembers is a small forest, it somehow manages to get darker to the point where even the android has difficulty seeing the path ahead of him, and he doesn’t let go of Connie just in case she trips on the snow-covered path leading from the main road to Louis’ cottage. He is almost jealous of the way the human navigate the house’s perimeter with ease. 

After a short but terrifying walk, he feels something cold being pressed into his free hand. A key. ‘Open the door and get inside first,’ he hears Louis’ voice from somewhere in front of him. ‘I’ll turn on the generator at the back.’

Then he disappears with the sound of crunching snow and a faint blue glow shrouding his body. An idea pops up in Connor’s mind, and he risks letting go of Connie to direct his energy and thirium to his fist not holding the key. Tendrils of blue appear and illuminate the space two metres ahead, glowing dimly but enough for him to see the patio ahead and insert the key to where it’s supposed to go, and entering the house and leaving the door unlocked for Louis is easy. The lights suddenly switch on at the same time, his optical units adjust to the new brightness, and he settles Connie on the sofa as the human enters and disappears into his room, emerging without his rifle and with a change of clothes enough for the three of them. ‘Want to take a shower?’ he asks. ‘Just to get rid of the grime and smell. We stink like thirium and static.’

Under any other circumstance his words wouldn’t have made sense, but after the entire show in CyberLife Tower and whatever Louis went through in the cam, it isn’t difficult to imagine the remnants of blue, destructive tendrils clinging onto their body and refusing to go away. Then he remembers the crack in his chassis. ‘I need some thirium first,’ he gives Connie a scan, ‘and so does Connie. I need to repair my chassis first -’ he feels Connie hold his hand, transferring her thoughts to him - ‘and Ryder didn’t design her for optimisation.’

‘Got it. Stay here. You,’ he is looking at Connor while he says it, ‘take off your shirt. I might be able to speed up your self-repair protocol.’

‘I don’t think -’

‘Unless you want to sleep with a long-arse gap in your torso, sure.’

He places the clothes down on the sofa’s armrest and goes to the fridge to retrieve two big bottles of thirium and a protein shake probably for himself. Suddenly feeling self-conscious about the extent of the damage on his body, he delays the inevitable by sipping his thirium slowly while Connie does the same through a silicone straw, whereas Louis downs his shake in a few large gulps and tosses the bottle into a recycling bin with a small crackle of static. He then pretends to leave the RKs alone for a moment, wiping non-existent dust away from the kitchen counter and herding his cats to the living room, but Connor knows that he is paying full attention to what they are doing. Connor does feel better and less pessimistic after having enough thirium in his body, and as he takes off both his jacket and his shirt to expose his upper body to the air still being heated up by the radiators, that was when he realises how bad the extent of the damage is. ‘How did you know?’ he asks still. The crack runs all the way from his shoulder to his belly button in a clean split both in front and back. The skin around the site has been deactivated some time ago, but everything is hidden underneath his clothes and nothing is bleeding.

‘Your entire left side is hanging and is slower than the right,’ Louis squeezes into the sofa and gestures for Connor to face him. ‘I can hear the racket and see how it stretches your clothes weirdly. You ready?’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Use my powers to knit your body back together. My cybernetics are based on androids’ biocomponents, so unless Ryder completely redesigned the mechanisms, I know what to do.’

‘Your powers?’

‘Both of us witnessed how destructive it can be, but ultimately it’s just a tool. If I can use it to rip the turret off a tank, I can also mash things together. Do you trust me?’

Connor can only give him a nod. Louis raises his hand with tendrils of blue dancing on his fingertips, and they extend and thicken and wrap around one another until it reaches Connor’s broken chassis and breaks down into what seems like a million atom-thin threads, tugging and winding and pushing the split material towards the middle until both sides are pressed together. Another raised hand, another series of threads and vines, and this time they enter deep into his biocomponents to direct his thirium to where they should go, the fluid changing state and form so that they fill in the gap left behind by materials broken down by friction and wear of the past few hours. Louis furrows his brows and his stomach’s growl is audible at Connor’s position, but the android dares not break his concentration for fear that he will hurt himself. Next to him, Connie’s eyes are wide as saucers, and Connor wishes that he isn’t the one being worked on so that he can admire the human’s handiwork objectively; he somehow doubts Ryder can do this, her power too focused on destruction to be able to accomplish a task like this. 

A few long minutes later, Louis lowers his arms and sags into a sofa. Beads of sweat are gathered above his lips and on his forehead. ‘If you don’t mind, run a diagnostics. I want to see if I did it right.’

Connor touches his intact chassis as his skin returns and he does as the human says. ‘It’s perfect,’ he whispers. ‘Thank you.’

‘Can’t have your biocomponents falling off your chassis right after you gained your freedom, can I?’ Louis reaches for the stack of clothes and hands it to Connor. ‘Now get your shower with Connie. I’ll see what I can cook for myself.’

Connor wonders how he can stay so calm in all this. First whatever was in the camps, then Hank, then this; does being a cyborg really detach him from the crisis at hand that much? But then the human is already rummaging his fridge for not one but three frozen meals, giving him no choice but to usher Connie into the bathroom and quickly wash them off with surprisingly warm water, and he takes his chance to note the physical changes Ryder made to his sister’s body. 

The differences between them are enough to convince him that the only thing his creator kept about Connie is her face.

They towel off, throw their clothes into the washing machine placed in a convenient indent, and put on the clothes Louis gave them (and why is he not surprised that they are self-heating?) before going out again feeling slightly better but also with a weariness that wasn’t there before just to discover that instead of the three frozen meals he took out from the fridge, the human opted for a protein shake of a different flavour. ‘You should head off to bed,’ he says. ‘It’s been a long day. Take mine; it’ll be more comfortable than the sofa.’

‘And you?’ Connor retorts. ‘You are exhibiting signs of exhaustion as well.’

‘I’ll go to bed after finishing this thing -’ he taps the table with the bottle - ‘and showering and brushing my teeth and all other things that organic humans need to do to prepare themselves for sleep. You want me to turn down the lights?’

‘Is that an option?’

‘I’m offering.’

‘If it doesn’t inhibit your motion, sure.’

‘Just go to sleep. I’ll handle the rest.’

With yet another reassurance, the day’s stress crashes on top of him and threatens to drag him down right there, but his legs manage to carry himself and Connie to the bedroom and tug the two of them in, his sister going into stasis in less than five seconds while he lies awake, and behind them the lights change into a much warmer colour before dimming and then outright snuffed out after a few seconds. Whenever he thinks he is finally going to dip under, a fresh, static-laced scene will flash before his eyes and drag him back up just to disappear like a wisp of smoke when he wants to remember. He can hear his own blinks through the wheeze of Connie’s breath as he tries to chase away both his tears and the notifications that don’t seem to go away, and as his system warns him about his growing stress level, his world warps and turns in front of his eyes and he feels himself being connected to a much bigger network once more. He knows it isn’t the Zen Garden - Ryder destroyed it and there is no snow right now - but the entire experience feels the same. Like walking into his potential doom. He wraps his arms around himself anyway to ward off whatever threat being thrown at him, and when he blinks again, Ryder is standing in front of him.

‘Wait at the chicken feed tomorrow at sixteen hundred,’ she orders. ‘Don’t be late. I don’t care if you’ll bring Connie or Louis. Now rest.’

A ravine opens underneath his feet and swallows him.

oOoOo

At 1550 tomorrow - or the same day, really, since they retired after midnight had passed, but time seemed to have become a nonlinear concept after his deviancy, some passing in a blink of an eye, and some dragging on and on as if there is no end at all - Louis’ car pulls onto the street where the Chicken Feed is located at with all three of them. The streets are still deserted, a light snow is still falling, the food truck itself is closed. They are the only three in the immediate vicinity.

‘I’m still not liking this,’ Louis says as he shifts in his seat. His rifle is at the back within his easy reach, but Connor knows that there is at least one more pistol in his possession. How on earth did the man manage to find so many places to hide his weapons? ‘Especially if Ryder hacked into your systems to send you that message. What’s so urgent, and why here?’

‘That’s what we’ll have to find out,’ Connor answers with a shrug. ‘I’ll wait outside. Text me or just shout if you need anything.’ When two pairs of eyes swivel towards him, he adds, ‘Unless you want to come with me, of course?’

He places his hand on Connie’s shoulder so that she has enough processing power to at least send him her thoughts. To no one’s surprise, she chooses to stay, and so does Louis who says something about not leaving Connie alone in this atmosphere, and Connor steps into the cold with only a down jacket on top of his usual shirt and trousers, all of them borrowed from Louis or at least stored in Louis’ house. He waits by a snow-covered table with his coin flying from one hand to another but then quickly abandons the motion; everything reminds him of Hank now, and he isn’t going to lose it in front of someone like Ryder. Maybe a few days later in the safety of Louis’ house after he finishes processing what he went through for the past week, but not right now, not when -

[Connor, look up.]

The message from Louis is sudden and startles Connor out of his stupor. His head snaps up, his eyes automatically focus on the familiar silhouette in the distance, but it can’t be, Hank is dead, whoever is standing there can’t be him, unless he was mistaken yesterday night, then it means -

The figure approaches him, and Connor is frozen in place by the image of Hank being backlit by the afternoon sun. His clothes aren’t the same as the ones he was wearing last night, but neither does Connor expect them to be, and as the man reaches the table the android is waiting by, the android’s thirium pump skips a few beats. It was Ryder who called him, he reminds himself. This can be a trap. An illusion. Anything that is not Hank being alive and well.

‘Lemme guess,’ even the voice is the exact same timbre too. ‘That asshole didn’t tell you who you’ll be meeting, did she?’

‘No,’ Connor discovers that his voice box is working at a suboptimal rate. ‘She didn’t.’

‘Typical,’ Hank - or at least, the man who looks like Hank - grumbles. ‘How can I convince you that I’m the real thing?’

Don’t, Connor wants to say. He doesn’t know what he would do if he discovered that this Hank isn’t the Hank he knows, but if he really needs the confirmation, he’ll choose something that CyberLife doesn’t know about. ‘Where did we go after investigating the Eden Club?’

‘First to bring a self-sacrificing asshole back to his house, then stay in said house. You fell asleep on my shoulder and clung onto me after we expanded the couch.’

‘Who did we call for help after I deviated in Ryder’s manor?’

Perhaps-Hank gestures at the car parked a few metres away. ‘The owner of this ugly car.’

[It’s him,] Connor shoots a message to Louis before walking to the other side of the table to wrap his arms around Hank, giving his body a quick scan to make sure that he isn’t carrying a gunshot wound around - and he isn’t. There is no sign of him having taken a bullet in his stomach at all. ‘How come?’ he asks, not letting go of Hank. He has to look up to meet the human’s eyes. ‘I thought you were dead.’

A small hiss as a car’s door opens. A pair of footsteps approach them, and Louis and Connie soon join in, the four of them forming a big group hug, but Connor stays close to Hank with his head on the man’s shoulder. He closes his eyes, feels Hank plant a kiss on his LED, hears someone sniffle. He doesn’t bother to find out who that is.

They finally pull away from one another when Connie complains about her chassis being squished. Connor keeps a hand intertwined with Hank’s, though, and although his focus is on the human, he does catch the mysterious eye wipe Louis does. ‘You still haven't answered my question.’

Hank’s smile drops. A squeeze of Connor’s hand. ‘Let’s get back to somewhere indoors before I talk about it,’ he says. ‘It’s a long story.’

o0o0o

Before

When Fadia reached level zero, the last of the androids Connor had deviated were not even out of the door, and it was easy to point a finger at them and reprogramme them from a distance. She didn’t need a lot; a hundred or so cannon fodders capable of utilising their biotics would do the trick while reinforcements arrived, and no one would notice until much later if she redirected them to the weapons locker to retrieve armour and some rifles - not like those weapons were the most effective things humanity had to offer, but that was one advantage she had: she doubted the agents patrolling the floor knew that biotics existed, and their lack of knowledge had shown when they thought pointing their rifles at her and pulling their trigger will stop her.

Now they were no more than splatters of flesh and blood on the walls, dead bodies piled up on the floor so that they wouldn’t get in her and her army’s way, or had run away into the darkness of the night, shedding their armours and weapons in the way so that they couldn’t be identified. Those were the smart ones so she left them alive.

Hacking into the Tower’s security system told her that the rest of the agents had regrouped by the upper floors so as to protect the most important personnel stupid enough to remain in the Tower instead of evacuating or at least in the safety of their homes, and despite knowing very well that those records could be forged or rewritten easily, she still secured herself a copy of the full list of human personnel still in the tower: the remaining agents, some researchers she had already trapped in the R&D floors with sufficient power and nourishment to survive the night comfortably, and, somehow, all of CyberLife’s senior management, probably watching events unfold in front of their eyes together while devising plans in an attempt to keep themselves a step ahead. They shouldn’t bother, but she doubted that they knew about the truth behind the very company they led and the people they were exploiting, and they had always liked to pretend that they were the winners even though the truth was otherwise. Such was their nature, and it was time for her to beat some sense into their brains - both metaphorically and physically if it came to it. The sub-levels are under her control anyway so they had nowhere to escape even if they wanted to; unless they broke the windows of their precious designer’s office and then jumped off, of course, but then she wouldn’t be stopping them either, all of them insignificant collateral damage in the grand scheme of things. She could almost imagine the news headline the next day: ‘CyberLife Leadership Experiences Fall of their Empire, Commits Suicide En Masse’. 

It would be poetic if it wouldn’t be so anti-climatic.

A transmission request from Chloe appeared on her HUD, and she accepted it as she partitioned some of her processing power to hacking the entire Tower’s security system and rerouting most of its operation through herself. ‘Report.’

‘All the camps are secured. Don’t know if you’ve been keeping up or was too busy killing your dad, but to summarise: Markus’ march ended on a very cliché note and the rest of the camps are secure. You didn’t tell me Louis Allen can rip a turret off a tank.’

War did bring out humanity’s worst and best at the same time. ‘I didn’t know,’ because that was the truth. ‘He didn’t even realise the true extent of his powers until three months earlier. Have you sent the video?’

‘The ones close enough to the camp, yes, but I dare not send them to the ones following Louis.’

‘Don’t bother. We can recruit them later when things have calmed down.’ The hack completed, she disabled human controls for all lifts before stepping into one and taking herself to level 38 with two androids in tow. The rest took the other lifts to secure all the floors above ground, and their job should be smooth and easy with the evacuation of non-essential personnel and the fact that normal humans were no match for androids who could use their abilities to their fullest. ‘How’s Reyes?’

‘Should be coming, though with the demonstrations and the army we just unleashed on the city, it might take some time for him to retrieve your brother before coming here. Are you sure we can’t use a chopper?’

‘It’ll be too high-profile,’ the thought of her twin brother taking the blunt of the damage CyberLife would sustain didn’t please her, but there was no one more suitable than him to be on the CEO’s seat; they could explain it with some family business bullshit, and Reyes would be able to monitor the progress of the country from the shadows. ‘I’m still securing the Tower, so tell them that they don’t need to hurry.’

A pause. ‘Done.’

‘And Elijah?’

‘I don’t know,’ Chloe replied nonchalantly. ‘Not the first day he went rogue, after all. He’ll be back soon enough. I didn’t expect Gavin to mean so much to him. Are you sure we’re not going to stage a rescue right now?’

‘Yes. I’m not going to waste resources on a lost cause, and if the Church is willing to do the job, I’ll wait for them to finish it.’ The lift comes to the 37th floor. ‘Going dark now. I’m almost there.’

She cut the comm before Chloe could give her a reply, but it wasn’t like she needed one anyway. She had no weapons with her, but as evident with the Blast, she didn’t need them at all. If she lost, the worst she could do was blow up the top of the Tower into subatomic molecules and rendering Belle Isle a radioactive island for the decades to come because again, it would just be yet another insignificant collateral damage on the never-ending list of so-called crimes she had done in the name of protecting and advancing humanity. It would be even more symbolic than throwing the current CyberLife leadership off the building, but then it would be bad PR for the entire movement, and as much as she wanted to smack Markus’ head for being so fucking idealistic or just resume control over that trusted, quiet little lover of his, she did want to liberate the androids - that was what she intended to do since she stormed out more than ten years ago, wasn’t it? She wouldn’t let petty dramatics ruin her own fucking work.

The lift’s door slid open, and it was easy enough to find the room where Hank Anderson was held: it was the only room whose lock had been tampered with in the past 24 hours. Instructing the two androids she brought with her to guard the door while she investigated the room, she was immediately drawn to the body lying on the floor. The puddle of thirium on the floor had evaporated a long time ago, but she could still extrapolate the time of the RK800’s death from the extent of thirium evaporation on their clothes. Adding her pre-construction programme to the mix, and she watched the yellow outline of her father grabbing RK800-60’s wrist to immobilise them before shooting them in the head, saw how the body hit the floor, how her father retreated back to his seat in one smooth movement to face the Lieutenant he kidnapped from the safety of his house.

Times like this really highlighted how similar she was to her father. Target-oriented. Accomplishing their goal at all cost. Uncaring about the collateral damage they would cause, because by the end of everything, more people would be alive than the people who had died. 

The food on the table was fresh but cold. She didn’t want them to go bad and stink up the room, so she reached out for a utility robot and called for it, placing the tray on top and ordering it to dispose of it. It was then that she knelt down and placed two fingers on the RK800 unit’s wrist to run a diagnostic. It should be an easy fix, but then again her plan involved completely revamping this unit for another purpose, and she didn’t have the time to do everything she wanted to right now. ‘You two stay here and don’t let anyone enter the room,’ she ordered the two androids waiting outside. ‘Not even self-assigned reinforcements.’

‘How about securing the upper floors?’ the AP700 asked. ‘You won’t have any backups.’

‘Don’t need them,’ Fadia let her finger crackle with blue. Under any other circumstances, people would just blink at her and wonder what on earth happened, but she reprogrammed these two to understand her world, and the spark of power was enough to convince them that she would emerge unharmed. 

She used the stairs this time to give herself more time to pre-construct all the different ways she could paint the walls with the blood of the agents no doubt waiting for her on level 40, but that would be a pain of the arse to clean up and she considered herself a considerate person towards the people working for her, so she only snapped the first few agents’ necks with a blast of energy in front of their faces before standing in the middle of the corridor with a barrier in front of her to absorb the bullets flying towards her; deflecting them would have made her job quicker, but again she didn’t want to leave too much work for the clean-up crew, and not leaving bullets holes on the walls seem to be basic etiquette. The radiation count might be off the charts for a few days because of all the atoms and subatomic particles in the air, but it would be some time before humans would step foot in the Tower. Plenty of time for the scrubbers to do their jobs and get rid of all the anomalies that would kill any normal human being. 

The magazines on the agents’ rifles were finally spent, and some of them giving up reloading to switch to their pistols did not save them from death. She made a quick job of them with a shockwave tearing through their bodies and liquifying their organs, guns and other weapons clattering onto the floor in a mess that she easily swept to one side with another burst of her biotics. She yanked a pistol from the air before it could be damaged by the fall, though, because as satisfying as using her powers to threaten people was, the effect wouldn’t be the same if her target didn’t know what she was doing. Confined within the narrow corridors with her enemies, she made sure that a layer of barrier was always present behind her so that no one would be able to sneak on her, rigging it to explode once the force it had sustained went past a threshold so that it knocked her enemies off their feet and suspended them in a destructive biotic field, priming them for her to finish them off with either a simple sphere of force or something deadlier like a Warp to tear them apart on the molecular level. And since she couldn’t derive her satisfaction from knowing that her enemies died painfully, she tapped into CyberLife’s listening system instead and enjoyed the way the current leadership was panicking through the comms and ordering non-existent agents around to try to protect themselves from their impending doom. Four floors, about four dozen agents as easy to put down as ants falling into a fire, each wave easier than the previous ones as she got more and more familiar with the layout of the tower and the tactics the agents were using against her. She noticed that they were trying to adapt to her movements, doing everything in their power to try to stop her, but nothing they could do would be able to stop her; while they were still using plain old bullets and gunpowder, she had already harnessed ripping spacetime apart with a thought of her mind, and soon she reached level 43 where her targets were all holed up in the same meeting room.

A gross tactical error, really.

There were neither cameras nor bugs in the room so she had to adjust her hearing to understand what was going on on the other side of the door, and she heard the sound of furniture being rearranged to block the door. At least they came up with something on their own instead of relying on the agents, but one single inward blast was enough to vaporise the door and knock down the poorly-improvised barricade in her way. She let her targets - yes, that was what they were to her now - scurry around in a panic for two seconds before letting her powers drop and raising her gun.

‘Ryder?’ one of them asked, her voice sharp and gritting on Fadia’s ear. Danielle Carnegie, if memory served. She had no idea why they chose her to be the spokesperson for the company. ‘Why are you -’

‘Just to negotiate,’ Fadia pointed her gun at her and let her powers slip into the air, knitting a web of distorted spacetime just to make them more unsettled; they would be able to feel it but not figure out what was causing it. ‘Give me CyberLife or you don’t get to leave this room alive. You have five minutes.’

oOoOo

‘Hold on, he’s waking up.’

Hank blinked his eyes open and was surprised that he could do it at all. He was lying on a bed… somewhere, but he didn’t recognise his surroundings. The pain in his stomach was gone, replaced by… nothing, really, except a smooth patch of skin when he gingerly touched where the bullet pierced skin and poked his stomach open, and he sat up for the first time in years without his joints creaking and a headache.

Reyes’ face came into view. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like I’m supposed to be dead,’ he remembered the searing pain, the shock, the feeling of his stomach acid eating away his insides, and he doubted anyone was made to survive that. The room was the smell of antiseptic with a hint of that power Connor and Ryder and Alec apparently had. ‘What the fuck happened?’

Reyes shrugged. ‘I’m not entirely sure. Ryder asked us to retrieve a person from the warehouse; we didn’t expect that to be you.’

The door slid open to reveal Safaa wheeling himself in. ‘Someone injected you with the nanobot equivalent of Louis’ implants,’ he said nonchalantly as he approached a monitor. ‘It saved your life and made you immortal.’

‘Safaa -’

Immortal? Fucking - ‘It was Ryder, wasn’t it? Don’t think the guy who shot me will save me later.’

‘Won’t be the first time she pulled a stunt like this,’ Reyes almost looked guilty. ‘I’m… sorry, Hank. I didn’t know -’

Hank cut him off with a wave of his hand. ‘Save it,’ he dangled his feet off the only side of the bed and discovered that someone had taken off his shoes but kept his jeans on. ‘What time is it?’ How long since the revolution? Did they succeed?

‘The date is November 11. The time now is thirteen-fourteen,’ it was Safaa who answered him. ‘My sister scheduled a meeting at sixteen hundred outside the Chicken Feed with Connor, though I suspect it’s just a ploy to lure the two of you for a reunion.’

‘Any chance she’ll come as well so that I can punch her in the face?’

‘Her current chassis is made out of space-grade alloys, Lieutenant,’ the use of the word ‘current’ bothered Hank more than it probably should. ‘I always advise against that.’

‘Aren’t I like Louis now?’

‘No,’ Safaa handed him a set of clothes. ‘Not in terms of the powers, at least. If you aren’t born with it, no amount of implants and nanobots will give you any.’

‘And the immortality?’

‘All yours. Now get changed,’ he suddenly looks up from where he is and stares straight into Hank’s eyes. ‘Enjoy the peace - however short it is before my sister ruins it once more.’

[itsuki-minamy]

FOUR SEASONS OF K: “SUMMER FESTIVAL’S HEROINE”

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

"Damn. This is lost too."

Painfully, Aya threw the ice cream stick on the ground.

Suddenly she breathes in pain and takes the stick and throws it in the trash in front of the store. She walks into a convenience store and buy another ice cream, and immediately escape from inside the store where the air conditioning was too effective. The damn heat wave that struck while waiting after the rainy season was God's salvation for today's Aya.

"Ah. How hot."

As she was sitting on the bench in front of the store and opening the ice cream, a grandmother's emotions leaked out. Although she likes mint with chocolate and is her favorite, her tongue is already thin and she can no longer feel the taste. Her tongue was tinted green when she showed her face on the screen with the PDA camera.

According to the information between users, there is a probability of one in thirty. She thought it would be an easy win because she had a high probability, but she was completely down with the fifth race.

She managed to strip the stick and turned it over to see if there was a mark anywhere, but couldn't find that letter.

"Isn't Ogai? What is this? What are you doing?"

There was a brake screech and a familiar voice stabbing. Aya, who had been drooling desperately, raised her face, and a boy wearing a baseball cap with both arms clearly colored with exposed short-sleeved burns on a running shirt or something, was lowering a leg off his bike.

Misaki Yata's firm appearance was glowing with halos at this moment.

"Misaki~! Please help me~"

++++++++++

Line 28 with thirty lines in front.

"Ah... that's a river!"

"Oh, oh, Misaki-kun, good job~!"

Aya instinctively held onto both hands with Yata, who posed triumphantly with the stick raised.

"I did it!"

After the two pale-faced people embraced under the heat,

"Uwaaah!"

Yata took distance from Aya. Aya almost caught the stick that Yata had thrown into the air with a jumping rhythm.

As a result, there are seven for Aya. She contributed 21 hits, three times more than Yata.

"And what is that?"

"Not even Aya knows about it yet. It seems like the 'items' of the prizes appear randomly."

"Elements?"

It goes back...

When Yata craned his neck and tried to look inside the stick while keeping his distance, an eerie low noise somewhere in between.

The sky is clear. The light of the midsummer sun drenches the roof of the tent. There is no cloud shadow that can help.

Yata shook her hand and said "Uh."

"Okay... Oh, I'm going home."

"Misaki-kun?"

Raise his back and return to the saddle with an unnatural pose.

"Oh, tell me what happened next."

He bracketed his index finger and middle finger and held it in front of him, but he was cold and sweating.

"Ah... Please do it in time..."

Aya said, "Thank you! Thank you for your cooperation."

When Aya was alone, she sat on the bench in the shade with the baton in her hand.

A two-dimensional barcode is engraved on a flat wooden stick with the word "Hit!"

It was a special summer vacation mission broadcast by "Jungle" for version B users.

Those who win the hit ice cream sold at a limited number of convenience stores will receive "the item that makes the summer break stronger" as a gift. The "object" of "Jungle" is said to be a transient supernatural power that can be separated from the "King" of "Jungle". Aya has yet to see.

Will the summer holidays be the strongest? What's going on?

In the “Jungle” mission, if you take a wrong step, some serious and dangerous things roll like a crime stick, but on the other hand, very childish entertainment can be planned. Who is the "King"? There are times when she thinks he can be a child instead of an adult.

Launch the app and hold her camera over the two-dimensional barcode as she taps. The camera automatically adjusted the focus and read the 2D barcode.

"Congratulations on winning, Shell!"

A booming sound effect echoed through the speakers and the mascot character Jean Pii appeared on the screen.

"The element that makes 'summer holidays the strongest' is presented to Shell."

On screen, Jean Pii quickly spun the lottery machine, which spins an octagonal wooden box, which is often used in draws. As soon as the yellow ball rolled out of the exit, the sound of the bells was loud.

"Congratulations!" Summer Festival Hero Set!"

Summer Festival... Set of Heroes...?

Aya, who was looking at the lottery results while holding her chest high, coughed coldly.

"What is that?"

++++++++++

Nothing interesting.

With a dog character mask on her head, dipping a red apple candy with a coloring agent into her mouth, and pushing a yo-yo of water that dangles from the middle finger of her right hand sharply, Aya is animated in the fair. It rots inside and comes out.

At the end of the path, kick the garbage that was in the driveway. It does not matter if the hem of the yukata is altered.

It didn't seem like anyone else was coming alone. Everyone happily watches the stalls with friends and family.

Who would become a hero in this place? She can't brag to anyone because she has no one to come with.

A sound of water rising near her was heard, and the boy began to cry,

"Buaaah!"

Looking at him, there was a puddle at the feet of a first grader from elementary school. A rubber band with the remains of a water yo-yo hanging from it is attached to the finger of a child who covers his eyes with his fist and cries. Although his mother reassured his, he stepped on the ground saying, "No! I want a new one!" Aya screamed at the sharp scream that pierced the eardrum and approached the boy.

"Take it."

When he turned around and pushed the water yo-yo in his right hand, the crying stopped. The eyes and cheeks of the boy who was staring at the watery yoyo with a beautiful blue marble pattern that trembled in front of his, were dry.

He's not crying... That's why she hates children.

"I'm sorry. It's yours."

The mother refused.

"I do not need it. I'll give you all of this too. I do not want it.''

Aya said, not only her right hand but also her left hand, and hung it up in front of the boy. In the left hand, there are eight colored water yo-yos that are arranged vertically with rubber bands. It is Aya who offers him everything because she is angry.

"Your mask is amazing! Have you got it all?!"

"Thanks to you."

Her brave mother's jaw closed and she responded, walking with the apple candy in her mouth again.

++++++++++

"Ah? Do you want to be stingy in our business?"

In front of a certain position, a person spoke with a bad voice to customers.

The stall sign says "shoot." Gifts such as toys and sundries are displayed on the platform, and guests with a BB gun filled with cork bullets line up in front of the long desk. It looked like one of the customers and a hat-wearing, hard-eyed employee was fighting on the other side of the long desk.

"I used five shots to calculate and make sure he could fall. There's something behind that that it can't fall."

He responded with about a tenth of the squeaky voice to the one in the store, that person has a slim back with a T-shirt.

"Isn't Saruhiko?"

Aya stopped her legs and raised her head.

"Isn't it your arm problem? I'll sue you for business interruption."

From the other side of the desk, the clerk faces Fushimi. His brow is furrowed as if regretting a bad smell.

"Saruhiko. I didn't think you would come to a festival like this. What kind of game are you playing?"

Fushimi turned to Aya's voice. However, he didn't change his expression at all, she said, "What are you doing?"

"What is that? I didn't find you because I wanted to."

"If that's the case, I'm busy now."

Fushimi quickly leaves Aya, who is outraged by what he says, turns to see the store clerk. Aya looked away when she noticed a child clinging to Fushimi's waist.

"Absolutely spot on, a Saru ball! Hit Nakamado's transformation set!"

“There's no use hitting him, dummy. It's a rule that you have to beat it.''

“It's cheating. Do not cheat!"

And even a smaller girl holding a child's hand screamed, and Aya was shocked.

"Oh, and that hidden boy?!"

"I do not know."

Immediately disproved by Fushimi by showing the coldness of absolute zero in the lens of the glasses.

"Yata and this little..."

"Oh, Misaki's younger brother and sister... What happened to Misaki?"

"I'm going with my brother!"

The boy upstairs yells around, "Ni-chan, Ponponpipi!" The girl said and laughed.

"Well... Misaki-kun and this girl..."

It's silly and annoying. After calling him nasty, Aya convinced his younger brother and sister, thinking he was there.

"I'll ask you just in case, but is Misaki-kun sick to his stomach...?"

"I don't know. It's some ice cream. Surely, because of that big eater, I became the babysitter for these little ones."

"Look, Nii-chan. If you're convinced, don't open the space. Is it a nuisance to the waiting customers?"

In front of Fushimi's face, the clerk waved his hat to avoid it. "Who's convinced..." Fushimi was trying to pay, sucking dust and coughing. However, the younger brother pushed Fushimi's buttocks back and said, "I still haven't received Nakanama's transformation set!"

Aya turned her mouth into a V shape and looked at the situation, but exhaled with a sigh and threw 500 yen at the table in the store.

“If you buy a bullet, you are still a customer. Give me five shot opportunities."

She changes places pushing Fushimi, who has a mysterious look.

"Which one do you want?"

"Nakanama Transformation Set!"

A large box of toys was displayed in the place the younger brother pointed out, such as a special seat on the platform. Certainly, even if the stand is hidden behind, if it is that size, it cannot be seen from the front.

"Hm. It is an easy victory."

With a snort, Aya received the air pistol and cork ammunition that the store manager handed her.

“Can you take it down, miss? I will not accept complaints after having used five shots."

"Alright. Instead, if I defeat it clearly, that's not to complain."

Before setting up, she takes the chest pad out of her yukata and operate the app. Standard summer festival items such as "collect goldfish" and "throw rings" are displayed in the item list. Since it's a one-time disposable item, the "yo-yo fish" she used for a while has disappeared from the list.

Element "trigger", activated.

For a moment, her entire body was enveloped in a sensation of running static electricity, and she was sucked into her weapon.

"It's a spectacle to see Aya's skill."

She spread her legs over her shoulders, holding the gun at eye level and staring. "Do your best, sister!" "Go!"

Cheers flew not only from Yata's younger brother and sister, but also from Nojima, who was guarding the stall, saying, "You can, princess! Good luck!"

Pont.

The gun made a soft sound and a cork bullet came out of the muzzle, she wondered if a harmless cork bullet would put out a green light.

Poom!

A sound that she couldn't think of as a cork bomb exploded and blew up the prize. After all, the support and awards hidden behind fell off the pedestal, and cheers roared from behind, "Is that a lie?!"

"Incredible! It can't fall!"

"What do you mean it can't go down? Isn't it a scam if you have a business that won't go down?"

"That's right, I promised you I wouldn't complain if you clearly defeated it!"

When the clerk was caught in front of Aya, he got scared and said, "I'm sorry..."

"Take your prize! Don't come back!"

++++++++++

"Great! The Red!"

The sister leaned to the edge of the aquarium and pointed to a goldfish swimming in the water. Fushimi sighed and grabbed the neck of the sister who was about to fall headfirst into the water.

In the aquarium crowded with parents and children holding a net made of plastic wrapped in Japanese paper, red, white, or red-and-white marbled chairs, the goldfish is swimming vertically and horizontally. Like a large candy containing only a few grains in a small plum flavored candy, there were a few buns mixed in with a headache.

"Do I like the one that isn't cute...?"

While muttering, Aya operates the app and selects an item from the list.

"Do you want a very cute one?"

While muttering, Aya operates the app and selects an item from the list.

The item "Collect goldfish" is activated. The selected fish glowed green.

Rolling up the yukata sleeves, Aya put a net in the aquarium in the spirit of "Let's go!"

The net that ran through the water, picked up the goldfish and bounced off the surface. An exceptionally large gold-colored ranchu leapt high into the air, splashing water under the lights of the stalls. The ranchu is the first to allow it to be taken to the bowl Aya put in.

Jump inside, the rest of the fish fell similarly.

As the night deepened, the crowds of people who began to cool off at night began to catch up. Children who sleep on their parents' backs are transported home in a quiet whisper.

Yata's sister was sleeping on Fushimi's back with a plastic bag that held the goldfish on her wrist. A balloon art dog is tied to the other of the two small hands that hang from Fushimi's shoulder and flutters over Fushimi's shoulder.

A while ago, the younger brother, who was still cheerfully chewing cotton candy and takoyaki, suddenly fell silent, grabbed the hem of Aya's yukata and tried to walk down. Nakanama's box, which he had been appreciating, was about to slip, and Aya had no choice but to pull it out of the boy's hand and hold it in her armpit.

"You used something strange."

"Hmm. It didn't matter because it didn't make you feel uncomfortable."

"If it's unpleasant, it's unpleasant, but the reason I made a loan is because I couldn't handle it if Yata wasn't there and he was too busy with the kids..."

Fushimi was different than usual, saying that he was relieved that she carried the brother who fell asleep.

Aya looked at the PDA. Almost all items in the item list have been exhausted, only one remains.

"Fireworks."

“I returned the loan to Misaki-kun. The latter can be used to fulfill Aya's wishes, right?"

She wants to be a hero, not someone's hero.

Hold down and grip the bottom of the yukata tightly. The toes sandwiching the geta's clogs were red and rubbed. At first she was angry when she wondered why she was wearing a yukata.

Are you aware of the unusual appearance? Don't you pay attention?

She can hear the sound of her heart clearly under the obi.

"Saruhiko. Why don't we watch the fireworks together...?"

The small voice was disturbed by the small vibration.

Fushimi held the sister's buttocks with one hand and pulled his fingers out of his pocket.

"Hah. He finally broke free from the bathroom."

With a sigh of jealousy, she looks around and begins to reply to check the benchmarks.

During that short span of time, Aya's floating heart recovered.

The sound of her heart was strong due to the tight band that she did not get used to. This made her emotions confuse. She seems silly...

"Oh, you were there. Oh, Saruhiko!"

She can see Yata running through the access, feeling like her cheeks are thin.

"I don't care. He came, and he couldn't get away from the bathroom. He finally cut everything off."

“These brother and sister of yours. I can't keep up with them."

Aya was terrified that she would often say out loud that she was grumpy, and took the boy's hand and pulled her away from her yukata. Push the toy box into the hand of the younger brother who sways with one sleepy eye.

"Aya is going home. I'm already on hand with Misaki-kun."

She yelled back, clicked her clogs, and left the place. Fushimi's reaction was not seen. She didn't expect to be stopped, but they didn't even call her.

She seems silly. She really looks silly... Aya doesn't think she can become that heroine.

++++++++++

"Why did you have a big ice cream after all?"

"Oh, actually, I meet Ogai at noon."

When he hears Yata's story, the line from the woman on the left side, who said she had filled in the holes, matched up. In other words, he was the main cause. Fushimi regretted feeling a little blessing and his tongue slipped out.

"Still, I have a lot of things! Was it really fun?"

As he accepted Megumi from Fushimi's back, Yata was impressed and looked around at his brother's hands. "Thanks for all the kindness, Saruhiko." Although he said thanks, he didn't get it, so Fushimi looked away.

Megumi's lips, which had moved to Yata's arm, were swaying and she had one eye half open.

"Oh, Nichan. Where's Nee-chan?"

"Nee-chan? Were you with someone?"

Following Megumi's gaze, Yata looks around mysteriously.

Minoru tugged on Yata's shorts to make his eyes sparkle.

“Oh, my masked sister! She's so cool, she's super cool! She was the goddess of the festival!"

"Festival goddess? Seriously, I wanted to see her too!"

"That is not true."

Fushimi, who rushed inside with half-narrowed eyes, rolled his eyes and hit Yata,

"Ah, because here is a sanctuary, is there a god?"

Assuming that there really is a god written in this shrine, it would be a punishment to equate it with Aya Ogai.

Well, should I thank the shrine gods? It is a pain to correct it and turn it into an achievement of that woman. What is sown is reaped.

"The festival is over!"

Looking at the grounds where the posts were being removed, Yata smiled a little alone. Yata is the man of the festival more than anyone. It would have been a shame if the festival wasn't completed because it was a round trip to the bathroom.

"Ah... fireworks..."

Yata suddenly screamed and looked as he approached the approach.

Hyururururu… A thin line of light rose from the ground, and a refreshing sound erupted, and a large flower bloomed in the night sky.

"Why, there were still fireworks! Why did everyone go home without seeing the fireworks?"

"Excellent!"

Fushimi frowned, as the Yata clan brothers were incredibly innocent, while there was a plan for the fireworks at today's fair.

Hyurururu... Bapappan!

Rays of light rise one after another from the ground that has sunk into darkness, and colorful flowers of various sizes illuminate the night sky with force. The indigo sky turns gunpowder white. Yata breathes comfortably into his lungs,

"I think this summer, this summer smells like this. They don't feel like they've finally come to the festival! Minoru! Megumi!"

"Nichan, what is that?"

"I don't know. That's what you say."

"Well, ok."

While listening to the Yata family's conversation, Fushimi stopped thinking deeply.

Today there were some mysterious things, but he thinks that often when he sees Yata he is very good.

The smell of gunpowder comes with the smoky summer breeze. It was the smell of summer that he notices only after getting involved with the Yata family.