#those two are so damn precious I WILL DIE ON THAT HILL | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hotdamnhunnam · 2 years

Text

Frontier of Anarchy – Chapter 5 –

Pairings: Jax Teller x OC || Will Miller x OC

Rating: M (swearing, sexual content, violence)

Summary: Two brothers separated at birth... bound by one woman they both love to death. This SoA / Triple Frontier crossover series alternates between the Charming high school love story of Jax Teller and Aera Lee, and Aera’s encounter with a face all too familiar—Will Miller—years later in New York City. When Jax learns that he has a twin brother... he sets out across the country with no clue that he might find him in the arms of Jax’s ex-lover. The love that he never got over.

In the FoA playlist, the three scenes of this chapter correspond to songs 13-15 – “Make Believe” // “Ride” // “The Face”

Link to Previous Chapter // Series Masterlist

____________________

Chapter 5

🎵 Song 13 from the FoA playlist: “Make Believe” by The Burned

Charming, California || 2014

I know you’ll never be the same after this kill.

It’s all too true; she always knew. She knows him even from the grave and always will. Now that the son has raised a gun up to his mother’s head and put a bullet through, there’s only one thing left to do: ride off to meet the end that calls to him from far beyond the California hills.

It’s all so clear in his mind’s eye. The way he’s gonna fucking die. For years he’s wanted this and isn’t even sure why his dead heart is beating still.

For years it’d beat for his late wife, and for his mother till he learned what she had done, then took her life. For his two sons, and for the club that’s caused him so much fucking strife. His heart is constantly at war and there are times he’s sure he lost it in the blur, or fed the pieces to the beast that he’s become until he’s man no more. Yet in his deepest damnedest core... he knows it’s there because it always beat for her.

Hold on to the one precious thing in your life that was pure. Then even if it kills you you’ll die better. From the moment Gemma wrote those words, referring to the lost love Jax still carries as his greatest curse… she knew her son would never burn this letter.

And then there’s the other—the letter for Jax’s twin brother. Part of him feels compelled to throw this trash away. Why should the kid she gave up so long ago care today, whatever sorry shit she has to say? She may have borne him but she’s not his fucking mother.

Jax won’t be the fucking messenger. Won’t let himself feel bound by her desires now she’s died. Won’t let this madwoman control him even from the other side, the hellfire to which he’s sent her.

So today he’ll cast this damn letter aside, and then he’ll take his final ride. He’ll join the queen mother of Charming six feet under and they’ll burn in hell together.

Cut the presidential patch off of his leather. Rid his fingers of these thick metallic rings. These are the trappings of a Son, and of a king—he’s neither of those things—he’s no one—nothing. He’s done, trapping what’s left of him in the shadow of Jax Fucking Teller.

And he won’t think of her ‘cause he doesn’t deserve to die better.

There’s a deep sense of peace about him ever since he had woken determined to die by the end of the day. Everyone knows damn well. Isn’t much left to say. The transition of power is well underway; Chibs will take up the gavel, a role that Jax trusts him to handle. The air in the room is heavy where the Sons are assembled. They’re tending to some final orders of business before the king goes on his way.

The hour hasn’t yet arrived, for him to take his final drive. But it’s close. He’s already a ghost.

Someone stops by this afternoon from SAMCRO’s hired cleanup crew. Till recently the club typically cleaned up their own massacres and messes, but these past few months there’s been too much to do. This team of ‘waste management’ pros—experts at helping criminals conveniently dispose, of fallen foes—consists of trusted allies of the Sons, who run some shady businesses. Jax doesn’t like them very much for a few reasons, but they get shit done, so it is what it is. Though it’s not the best time right now for someone from the crew to come around, this nitwit doesn’t have a clue, about what’s going down. Says he’s just passing through. The whole club knows they’ve got a bill that’s overdue.

This little shit goes by the name of Dash. Jax knew him back in high school as a ratty little kid often caught cutting class, reeking of hash, who thought he was so badass. Dash had idolized the golden bad boy back then—wanted to be more like Jackson. That was until senior year when Jax’s image all throughout school started going in a whole different direction.

The ash-blonde idiot with tattered shoes and white supremacist tattoos is every bit as skinny and as spineless as he was in school. Still just as much a fool. It’s really no surprise that he now spends his life taking out human trash. Jax hopes the body count will lessen for the Sons in years to come so that the club can stop relying on the services of scumbags such as Dash.

He’s here to claim some cash. Tig goes to get it from the safe while Dash makes small talk for a minute, compulsively fidgeting and scratching his crotch like he’s got some small creature stuck in it. Most nights he sleeps with any piece of ass he can afford on his low budget so he always seems to have some kind of rash.

“Lots of Chinese takeout these past few months,” he casually remarks on all the damage done to the community surrounding Henry Lin, since Gemma blamed him for her sin, and Jax just wishes he would shut his mouth for once. “Sad to see some nice yellowtail caught in the crossfire a couple weeks ago. My guys we got a rule that we don’t fuck what we dispose, but some of those sweet-looking hoes—shit got me thinking though, like who would even know...?”

Tig is returning with the payment and even for his perverted ass that’s low. The twisted grimace on his face screams dude just no.

Jax glares at Dash and fights against the urge to throw him out the window. “Just take the money and go.”

“All you boys can’t be judging me like this when you weren’t even fucking there. That shit ain’t fair,” the lowlife tries to laugh it off as he picks up his wad of dough. Shaking his head in amusement at his own sick half-joke about breaking company rules. “That shit ain’t cool. If you were there I swear...”

Dash looks over at Jax then, pausing and squinting in recollection; his drug-addled brain barely even retains shit from high school. And just from that look on his hideous face Jax can already tell what the bastard is going to say. If Dash knew better he would have just kept his mouth shut and been on his way, but he’s too much of a fucking tool.

“Oh wait hey... am I crazy or back in the day, weren’t you banging that cute little chink—”

He chokes on a bullet before he can blink.

One in his throat. Two in his chest and then another in the center of his head. Jax doesn’t think twice as he lets his gun repeatedly explode; the beast that’s bleeding at his feet deserves to look less dignified than a wild animal split open by a cavalcade of trucks running its corpse down on the road. He doesn’t give a shit the scum’s already dead. He wants to paint him red. And make his ghost regret every damn thing he ever said.

Just one more bullet. Jax’s finger is the trigger as he stands over this piece of shit and pulls it.

That’s the end of Dash.

At least now he can stop scratching his motherfucking rash.

And no one in the room is even shocked that all that happened in a flash.

Given what they all know of Jackson, that’s of course the only thing he could’ve done. And now of course these are his words to all the Sons, as he emotionlessly tucks away his gun: “Take out the trash.”

He steps out of the room, but in his wake the air’s still raging with his fumes.

For a few seconds no one wants to touch the roadkill on the floor. It’s not as if they’d never seen the savage side of Jax before, but this was something fucking more.

Chibs notices the newest prospect in their company is just a little shaken, so he mutters words of wisdom that will surely be well-taken. In his heavy Scottish accent he’s aware the words sound scary. “Remember how I told ye, we don’t ever breathe the name of Aera Lee?”

He points his finger at the dead man’s bloodied body till the prospect nods unsteadily and looks him in the eye.

“That there is why.”

The rule for anyone who knows Jax Fucking Teller is to never speak of her unless you want to fucking die.

And in this moment something tells Chibs in his gut... that there’s a door in Jax that’s still yet to be shut. He wasn’t shooting simply for the sake of everything he’d lost those years ago—he may have lost it yet he holds it in his heart no matter what. Each shot was fired in the name of love he can’t fucking let go.

Or so believes the rising President of SAMCRO. He won’t breathe a word about his intuitions to his predecessor though. Knows better than to tell him so.

In silence he’ll hope in his bones... that Jackie Boy will hit the road and realize his road isn’t done. The king has given up the throne, but maybe once he leaves his kingdom at his back he’ll come to realize not all life in him is gone.

Maybe he’ll fucking ride on.

Finally live to see the world beyond the California sun. ********************

🎵 Song 14 from the FoA playlist: “Ride” by Cary Brothers

Charming, California || 1996

The world feels bigger now.

The sky above feels higher up somehow.

Road stretches out so fucking vast, the scenes a brighter blur of earthy brown and green as he rides past. It’s not the first time Jax has ridden at this speed out on the highway. Yet it’s never felt so fast. As if the sun tempts him to chase it through the sky and fly away. As if the color of his life has been recast.

For a second while he’s riding, he stands up to fully take in the sensation of the wind whipping so briskly through his hair. He feels so powerful and tall and it’s exciting. There’s a fresh whiff of his whole entire future in the air.

His future started just last night and he’ll be seeing her again soon—plans to pick her up when she’s finished with work this sunny Saturday afternoon—and he can’t fucking wait.

Jax never thought that he would sleep with Aera Lee on their first date.

As in literally sleep with her. They’d spent the whole night, through the dark till the first spark of morning light, both fully clothed and cuddled closely on that pink loveseat together. Wasn’t quite what Jax had had in mind when he’d set up the private movie night on the rooftop of that theater; he had figured maybe they’d chat for a minute, once the film ended and he would take her home and then their first date would be finished. But a minute swiftly melted into hours and it couldn’t have gone better.

As it turned out, he and Aera hardly even slept at all given how much they had to talk about. With her Jax finds that all the words simply fall out. And they’re all true, and that’s a feeling that’s so new—it makes him realize that so much of who he is has gotten lost over these past years honestly, caught up in who this town wants him to be. A product of peer pressure and the power of his family legacy drowning him in a sea of self-hate and self-doubt.

But he’s not drowning anymore. He’s riding high and fucking flying toward his future ‘cause something about this girl—every damn thing he can’t ignore—opens some kind of door inside him to another fucking world, within his heart and makes it soar.

He hasn’t even kissed her yet the way he’s been longing to do. God knows he wanted to, last night up on that rooftop, and could tell she’d want it too, but he was pretty sure his heart would fucking stop. Maybe it sounds overdramatic but he didn’t want to put it to the test, and possibly drop dead of cardiac arrest, before he even makes it to date number two.

When the horizon glimmered golden with the rising of the sun, they’d known they had to finally end date number one. He’d walked her home with her hand cradled in his warm grasp all the while. Told her goodnight or more like good morning or something dumb like that as they approached her doorstep mirroring each other’s smitten smiles. Gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Asked if she had plans for the weekend and if not then he would love to take her on another date after her usual Saturday shift at Lee’s.

Maybe this time she’d even get to ride the beast.

Jax hadn’t said those words aloud but they were heavily implied, to say the least. So was the answer in her eyes that she would love to let him take her for a ride. Out loud she’d just enthusiastically replied her Saturday is open wide. And so are all her holes for him but that part of the answer wasn’t actually released—just maybe very subtly teased.

At any rate, after their first date, both of them went to bed very fucking pleased.

The lyrics of the title song in Beauty and the Beast say the sun rises in the east.

It’s a sweet song. Watching the ballroom scene they’d even sung along, giggling like idiots when they got the words wrong. And yet those lyrics are a bunch of lies, Jax muses with a giddy smile as he goes for a ride this afternoon to let off steam, from last night’s wild fucking dreams. Their first date proved what he’d imagined for so long, about the sunrise: that the sun rises and sets in that girl’s eyes.

Meanwhile Aera can’t stop swooning over that boy all throughout the day with stupid schoolgirl sighs. Her shift today is noon to three. And then she’s free. Till then she really ought to focus on her job but his goddamn face won’t escape her brain no matter how she tries. She’s not sure what will ever stop this fire in her heart and flood between her thighs... no idea what could ever bring her down from this highest of highs...

It’s in the middle of this train of thought that Jess Dalton arrives.

She’s just as polished and pretentious as the cherry red convertible she drives. Tosses her glossy auburn waves over her shoulder as she struts through the front entrance, followed by two of her minions who have tried so hard to mimic her for all their teenaged lives—who think that they’ve achieved some semblance close to physical perfection with a mess of desperately applied makeup and lengthy hair extensions—but have miserably failed somehow to capture Jess’s essence. For all their efforts at resemblance, they have failed to reach that level of pretension.

Aera is manning the cash register today, as she does often ever since Steph went away. When the queen bee of Charming flounces through the door, her green eyes land immediately on the object of her enmity standing across the store. Her heels click their signature clack across the floor, as she marks Aera Lee as her targeted prey, and furiously storms her way.

Ugh. Aera really doesn’t want to start a war. As if high school’s not already shitty enough. She isn’t here for any girl-vs.-girl games this hateful bitch has come to play. And yet Jess Dalton is already keeping score; her dignity has been insulted and the culprit has to pay.

For Jess it’s not just that her recent fling with Jax has been disastrously upstaged—it’s that the enemy is someone of an inferior race, which is an absolute disgrace. Complete and utter fucking outrage.

“Does it always reek of egg rolls in this place?” she mutters to her friends just loud enough to make sure the cashier can hear the shit she says, as a disgusted grimace twists across her face. Aera just rolls her eyes in silence as she tries not to engage.

But Jessica Dalton is not to be ignored. She isn’t one for subtlety by any means—she’s never been—her flair for drama is quite honestly absurd. As Redwood High School’s reigning queen, she has a thing for causing scenes and treating everyone beneath her like a worthless piece of turd. And so she leans over the counter and makes sure that this audacious nerd can hear her every word.

“I heard the rumors you went on a nice romantic date last night. Happiest moment of your sad pathetic nerd life am I right?”

Aera bites back the thought of reaching for the gun kept in the drawer behind the register, just as she’d done when Bryce had followed Jax into the store to start a fight. She’d really like to do the same thing to his sister. Would resist the urge to pull the fucking trigger but if Jess keeps up this bullshit she just might...

Apparently the rumors had spread rapidly, of Jax Teller and Aera Lee canoodling over noodles at a lovely little restaurant. Naturally Jess received the news very unhappily. And she deflects all of her issues back at Aera in the form of racist taunts.

“I’m gonna burst your fairytale bubble up front: you are not the kind of girl a guy like Jax would ever want.” The queen proceeds to blow and pop a big pink bubble with her gum to get the point through loud and clear. “I don’t know what’s going on here—maybe it’s just some kind of bet or he’ll sweet talk you into doing all his homework for a year—but there is no way that boy’s legendary dick is ever going near your little yellow cunt.”

Before last night some part of Aera might have flinched at such a bold outright affront.

But now she doesn’t. Not at all. Something about the way her heart blossomed last night has made her soul stand proud and tall. It might not make sense but she feels secure and powerful today in ways she previously wasn’t.

It feels good. Feels good as fuck. She’s grown up more in these past few days than she thought she ever would—ever since that moment when she had grabbed that gun and held her ground with newfound courage coursing through her that she barely understood. And as she looks up at the clock and sees the hour of her second date has struck, she hears the roaring of the beast outside and turns to see Prince Charming through the window and realizes that she can believe her luck. Ever since last night she’s believing things she thought she never could.

Till recently, Aera Lee often used to doubt her wildest dreams had any chance of coming true. But now some truths are plain to see. The lines have blurred between reality and fantasy; believing is the only thing to do.

It brings a smile to her lips, now as she looks over her shoulder through the window. Jax is so excited hopping off his bike he almost trips. Chasing the dream that’s now within his grip—he’s never letting go.

Meanwhile Jessica is standing at the counter shocked that Aera isn’t bursting into tears. Glares at her archenemy’s face and can’t abide the little smile that appears.

She can’t believe she isn’t yet winning this war against the quiet little grocery store clerk. “Excuse me bitch is that a smirk?!”

The quiet girl doesn’t have time for this shit though. It wasn’t quite a smirk before but now it is with how the corners lift into a subtle quirk. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m sorry but I’ve got to go—the legendary dick is here to pick me up so I can do his homework.”

So he is indeed, to take her on his mighty steed, and Jess can’t do a goddamn thing about it.

She could pull this bitch’s shimmery dark hair or smack her hard across the cheek, but she’s too shook right now to move or even speak. All her supremacy as queen has just been flouted. And the hard fact—one she won’t accept no matter how her pride might get attacked—is that she’s nothing without it.

Of course her followers are speechless too as they watch Aera leave. Their empty heads agree that the audacity is too much to believe.

While Jess stands there and seethes, the stink of weed starts to invade the air she breathes. She recognizes the ash-blonde moron who happens to be near and couldn’t help but overhear, though it’s a memory that she’d rather forget, from a night she fiercely regrets. A tasteless whistle wheezes out between his teeth. Of course he just happens to be hanging round here. As Jess recovers from what Aera Lee just said, it’s the last thing she needs to run into this motherfucking pothead.

His name is Ash or Dax or something like that but it doesn’t even matter. Makes her skin crawl with the words he dares to utter and the way he’s looking at her. “Hey baby. Wanna do my homework maybe?”

“Oh my God no, you’re disgusting,” Jess recoils as she feels like throwing up right now like literally though. Issues with Dash aside, her frequent bouts of nausea started days ago. And in her gut she’s terrified... that this can only mean one thing.

So she instructs her girls to wait for her outside, then rushes over to the bathroom as her stomach keeps revolting. She would rather deal with this whole thing herself. And once she’s done puking up buckets, she heads down an empty aisle on her way out of the market, snatching a pregnancy test off of the shelf. Stealthily rips the barcode off the paper box and leaves without paying a thing. Why should she when her rich daddy owns everything in this town because he’s the fucking king?

As far as Aera is concerned the only king on earth is Jackson Fucking Teller. It’s only their second date and he already bought a special helmet for her—it’s a lustrous champagne gold with subtle floral accents and it fits so well on her. Makes her feel like a fucking princess but somehow it’s not too tacky or too delicate; somehow it’s got a badass edge to it.

The butterflies are back for both of them as Jax fastens her helmet. Thinking to himself that she looks hot as hell in it.

Their hearts are racing while they settle in their seats. The beast is so alive with raw power and heat. As Aera wraps her arms around his waist and clasps her hands beneath his chest, resting her face against the leather of his vest, she starts to melt from how Jax Teller’s frame and hers are now so intimately pressed. The world begins and ends right where they meet.

“You alright?” he asks her warmly as he gets the engine going. Feels the thrum of it course up throughout his bloodstream which his dangerous when he’s already got all his juices flowing. The sweet sensation of her nodding and smiling against his kutte makes all the world shine so damn bright. “Alright, we’ll take it slow at first but hold on tight.”

The way she holds him makes it clear that letting go of him is something she would never dare to do.

He asks her something cheesy as the bike starts moving forward through the quiet small town avenue. Charming still feels like home but no longer the prison of his future, as it’d always seemed before; now it feels like a place he’s passing through. An avenue leading toward something so much more. “Where to?”

Aera digs Disney-level cheesy so she says what Jax already knows is true. “Anywhere with you.”

She’d ride with him into the pit of hell itself and won’t even be scared to. Hell is heaven just so long as he’s there too.

They pick up speed slowly but surely all throughout the afternoon. Jax makes a turn onto the highway pretty soon; the Harley vibrates underneath them in a way that makes her swoon. So does his scent as she breathes in the energy that’s radiating off his skin, musky and maddeningly masculine... it makes her want to sin... sends her over the goddamn moon, even now as the sun is blazing while she sits and soaks it in...

He’s so ridiculously firm. So big and powerful and warm, the bulging ripple of his muscles underneath layers of worn leather and flannel as she wraps his torso tightly in her arms. She hopes she’s not soaking the motorcycle seat through the thin fabric of her sundress and just thinking of it makes her start to squirm.

It’s just around then that they pull up to a quiet spot of greenery, a small secluded park just off the road. In all the areas surrounding Charming, Aera’s never seen such lovely scenery. The rocky hills of California flank this lovely little haven and the beauty is alarming. It’s where Jax comes to find peace and scribble dumb shit in his journal when his head feels like it’s going to explode.

The park is quite a hidden gem, but not totally isolated as there are some others strolling down the tree-lined path or spreading picnic blankets on the grass within viewing distance of them. There’s a concession stand nearby selling big soft pretzels and ice cream. They of course run over there, indulge in one of each to share. And as Jax watches Aera’s tongue swirl all around the sweet white goodness it’s a scene out of a motherfucking dream.

For a long while they just amble through the park with constant smiles on their faces. Ever since last night, all the words that they’ve exchanged have been so happy and so light. That carries on so naturally this afternoon and it feels right given how picturesque this place is. Sun-kissed and idyllic and bright. Crack silly jokes and pick up conversations all about their passions and the stuff they love to see and read and write. With her he finally feels he’s worthy of the crazy dream he chases, and with him she holds her dreams so close and tight, till they’re the only thing in sight.

The conversation turns to family at some point and Aera talks about how she’s an only child and her mom is her best friend for life. When Minah married Aera’s dad he made the unorthodox move of taking her last name, which is why Aera shares the same. In the time since her parents split when she was ten, she’s been on good terms with her father but she doesn’t see him often, and their bond has grown more distant as he lives miles away with his new wife. The divorce left him heartbroken for quite some time though it was civil and nobody was to blame.

Aera is grateful that the fracture in her family didn’t cause any big drama—honestly doesn’t consider it a source of any trauma, and she’s truly glad for how close her relationship with her mother became.

Jax is an only child too... but wasn’t always. On his second date with Aera, telling her about the little brother he had lost to a congenital disease six years ago isn’t exactly something he had planned to do. Why kill the mood on this most beautiful of days? It took him weeks to open up about this topic when he’d started dating Tara. It’s a lifelong fucking sorrow that he carries in the deepest darkest hollow of his heart and there it stays.

Just as the afternoon sun starts to fall and fade, the touch of dusk casting its shade, she notices the sudden dimness in his gaze. The subtle downturn of the smile on his face speaks to her heart before a word he even says.

She tenderly squeezes his hand in hers so closely intertwined. Only the second date and he feels like this girl is honestly reading his motherfucking mind. The squeeze assures him that she’ll listen to whatever he may ever want to share; whenever he's ready to lay his whole heart bare, or any piece of it deep in the hollow she’ll follow him there. Roll in the deep and help him seek the hope and healing that he’s scared he’ll never find.

In silence he tells her he’ll always do the same for her and that’s a fucking promise. Someday Aera Lee will tell him all her troubles and her problems, and he’ll dedicate his whole damn life to finding ways to solve them or to help her rise above them. Someday soon... but just for now as the sun gives way to the moon, Jax sits with her beneath the twilit trees and gives her hand a squeeze and tells her about Thomas. Just how much he’d loved him. Loved him from the start and still loves him with all his broken heart and spends his days haunted and hanging on the ghost of him.

Aera can’t even imagine what he’s been through, but she doesn’t even need to—she can feel it as he lets himself break open in the cradle of her hand now as she holds him, and she’s never felt so close to him.

So close to anyone.

She takes him in just as the hills on the horizon swallow up the setting sun.

“Bad boys don’t cry, you know?” Jax laughs away the lonely tear that rises to his eye, as he relives his grief from all those years ago. The grief he still hasn’t let go. “Had to keep living by that lie. Had to be that guy, like my future as a Son is set in stone although I don’t even know why. There’s just this pressure that the king can never let his weakness show.”

“It isn’t weakness, Jax,” she reassures him as she basks in just how beautiful he looks the more he sheds his mask, the light of who he is filtering brightly through the cracks. Light of a man who wants to be the strongest king he can but isn’t certain how to. Feels so much but isn’t sure if he’s allowed to. Aera wants the prince to know it isn’t weak to feel. To know there’s strength in being real, and it’s the only way to heal. “There’s nothing weak about you.”

He believes it when she says it as they sit upon the grass, their every breath and beat so seamlessly in tune. Words rise to his mind in this moment though his lips won’t let them pass—it’s way too soon, to feel shit like this yet his young heart is so stupidly proud to—That isn’t true. It makes me feel weak to imagine ever living life without you.

Jax won’t say anything so intense out loud. Not yet at least. Although his stupid heart is proud, he tells himself not to fall too deep, sowing seeds too sweet to reap. There’s no way that such beauty could be fated for a beast.

Aera is even lovelier inside than out. He’d always thought so but as of tonight he knows without a doubt. She’s not just book-smart; everything that makes her brilliant is rooted in her heart, a heart that seeks to understand everything to its deepest core and dig in more which is why she can see the strength in him as he’s breaking apart. And that’s what he’s head over heels crazy about. Not what she sees in him because that’s not what matters—what he sees and feels when he’s looking at her. Renders the world so fucking real yet at the same time such a fucking work of art.

He shakes the feeling in his bones that something so good has to be doomed from the start.

Though it’s a feeling he can’t fight, he strives to ride away from it when they’re out on the road later that night. Drives ever faster as he chases down his dreams with all his might. The moonlight doesn’t hold a candle to their smiles, as their hearts race past the miles. Any speed feels right when she’s pressed to his back holding him tight.

He feels so free when she’s behind him on his bike. They stop for dinner at a restaurant she suggests—an authentic Korean place she really likes—and Jax officially decides their barbecue has got to be the fucking best. He wolfs down all the sizzling strips of beef and big stone bowls of spicy rice while Aera laughs and fondly wipes splatters of sauce off the black leather of his vest.

The restaurant closes at eleven, but they barely even notice time is passing as they share a massive serving of its signature shaved ice slathered with sweet syrupy fruits that taste like fresh slices of heaven. When he drives her home she’s tempted to invite him in as they hop off his Harley... but she catches herself wondering if maybe it’s too early. Knows she shouldn’t have to follow any set of rules about this kind of thing and yet she’s never kissed or even dated anyone before, so she feels suddenly unsure. Especially since Jax’s kiss tally is probably like a hundred and seven. Or even more...

He’s also well aware of this and plans to see his doctor—get some tests done, for good measure—just one of the reasons he hasn’t yet touched her. It’s not sexy or romantic to be thinking of such things but in more ways than one, he wants a real clean slate now that he’s met her. Thankfully he’s never noticed any symptoms, but he’ll count himself lucky if all his awful habits haven’t yet caught up with him. It’s not like Aera asked or ever hinted this is something he should do; he just wants to, and once he does he’s sure he’ll feel a whole lot better.

None of this is said aloud yet Aera gets the sense somehow. Not every detail of his thought process but just enough to understand the way he’s feeling now. Reaches to gently scrape a streak of dried up sauce off of his kutte and jokes about how he’d embraced the role of Disney’s cartoon Beast, the way he went about his feast. He’s beauty in this moment though, more beautiful than he himself could ever fucking know, the way his smile beams across his sweet pink lips as starlight streams across the soft gold of his brow.

Seriously too soon to be feeling such things but they’re both unafraid to feel more than fate dares to allow.

Jax walks her to her door and every step is strained and slow. A little pained because he doesn’t want to go. The hurt all fades as soon as he senses that she feels the same way though.

Then all he feels is bliss and he wants this every damn day to follow.

“Can I see you again tomorrow?” And then every day for the rest of my life ‘cause you know I’ll die if you say no?

“It’s today now I guess,” she replies, as the hour has fallen past midnight and all of the stars are aglow. “And I’ll always say yes.” And the rest of our lives?... I hope so.

It’s a promise in silence they make, knowing it might not be theirs to keep. Knowing forces of chaos and violence beyond them might break. They make it all the same, without shame, ‘cause they’re already in way too deep.

Until now they could taste their dreams only in sleep; in these past few nights given how tightly entwined all their dreams just became, now they’re both wide awake. And if these seeds are too sweet to reap... still their young hearts will plant them because that’s a chance they’re both living and dying to take.

In the meantime across town, Jess Dalton breaks down, with hard proof in her hands of the seed that’s been planted in her. Popping pills from her mom’s cabinet hoping that they’ll numb the ache. But they don’t for fuck’s sake. They just cause her to puke up the salad she’d picked at for dinner, wishing she could vomit this fucking mistake, green eyes puffy and red as she fights back the salt threat of tears till her manicured hands start to shake.

All her bottled up anger and agony turn to pure hate... and she has an idea for an outlet as she hops in her drop-top car and drives off from her family’s estate. Her big brainless brother is out late to party with his football teammates—just won a big game so they’re taking the whole night to celebrate. If she goes to meet him and asks for his help with the havoc she wants to create, she knows Bryce Dalton won’t hesitate.

Even with this unwanted weight, she’s still the crown fucking princess of Charming, whose daddy is king, and whose brother is like a big beefy henchman who will help her with literally anything. And it feels fucking great. The sensation of power is such a damn thrill, better than any cure she could get from a pill... and it drowns out the truth in her gut till she can’t feel the seed of it resonate. Feeds the delusion that she can escape from the chaos and violence and hate that have already poisoned her sad fucking fate. ********************

🎵 Song 15 from the FoA playlist: “The Face” by Kings of Leon

New York, New York || 2014

It’s honestly hard to believe this is only their second damn date.

The thought strikes her as she stares at Will sitting there looking so good it’s got to be some kind of crime. There’s a level of closeness and comfort between them that she hasn’t felt in a really long time. Then there’s that chemistry she’d initially tried to fight off though she knew it was too fucking late; when she’s with him she goes into some kind of starry-eyed state.

And if this is a sign of how their future dates will continue in such a delicious direction, deepening what already feels like a cosmic connection, she really can’t wait.

It’s insane to be thinking so prematurely far ahead, but it’s almost impossible not to with Ironhead. Drowning deep in his stormy blue gaze, falling into a daze, she can’t help but imagine how mind-blowing that view would be when he’s hovering over her body all spread out beneath him in bed...

If she treads any longer down that train of thought she is bound to go braindead.

She focuses on his drink order instead, hoping that the low light in this dive bar is dim enough that he won’t notice her cheeks flushing red. They’re together alone in Tribeca Frontier—not another soul here—it’s nearly 3:00 A.M. and the place is closed down, so that they can hang out in private after spending a lovely day strolling through Central Park and indulging in the food scene uptown. On their first date just last night she’d educated him about dozens of different obscure pasta shapes so tonight she’d asked him to enlighten her on all the countless varieties of beer.

Their first date could not possibly have gone better: dinner at a cozy Italian restaurant followed by a cheesy romantic movie at a rooftop theater. None of that had been Aera’s idea—all had been spontaneous suggestions from Will as they’d walked through the streets of Manhattan and scoped out the area. Pure coincidence that their first date had been so parallel to the sweet high school fairytale Aera will always remember from her senior year...

Anyway. Now that they’re all alone in the bar that he owns past the end of the day, Will had the bright idea to indulge in a little roleplay—though it’s not in a sexual way. They’re both still fully clothed. Given some of the conversations that had gone down today, he thought this might be fun for them both.

“How’m I doing so far?” Aera tops off the glass in her hand with some random-ass liquor and serves him her sorry attempt at a sidecar.

“Gotta say I’m impressed what a natural at customer service you are,” her date laughs as he takes a big swig and then sets down the glass on the wood of the bar, with a satisfied slam. “I don’t know what the hell this drink is, but it’s fucking delicious. Goddamn.”

Aera echoes his laugh as she takes a taste of her own citrus concoction—one sip and she’s already too buzzed to function. “That cocktail’s as much of a mess as I am...!”

Will theatrically arches his brow, which she already knows means that he is about to say something dumb right fucking now. “Guess this isn’t the kind of bar you thought you’d work when you passed the New York Bar Exam?”

This adorable bastard is too much and he needs to stop it at once. “At it again with your corny puns...”

His slick pink tongue flicks out over his lips and glints lusciously in the dim light. This motherfucker obviously knows that it’s a pussy-soaking sight. “Yeah, they’re almost as bad as my horny ones.”

He isn’t wrong; his dirty pun game is strong. Aera catches her mouth watering as she’s so mesmerized by his tongue. “Bad in a good way though.”

“If you say so.”

He’s so fucking gorgeous and so close that she could lean over the bar and just kiss him right this instant if she could get over her inhibitions. It’s been eighteen years since she’s been in this kind of position, with all of her wildest dreams within reach...

The next words from Will’s mouth come as quite a non sequitur. Clearly the captain has no inhibitions with her. “So uh, how would you feel about sex on the beach?”

Aera crinkles her nose in a grimace, not really a fan of that gritty stuff getting all up in her business. It’s just not her thing but the truth is that any damn manner of sex with him is. “I feel sandy just thinking about it but if that’s your kink—”

“It’s the name of a drink.”

Cue a mortified facepalm. Suddenly feels crazy dumb. “Oh my God I know that one! If you’d just put an ‘a’ in front of it...”

He smirks and quite frankly the sight makes her cum. “That would’ve been no fun. For what it’s worth I fucking love it.”

She bites her lip as Will holds eye contact and doesn’t dare to blink. This time it’s clear he’s not talking about the drink, the way he flashes her a dark devilish wink.

And now she’s so aroused she cannot think.

They carry on with their little roleplaying charade in which Aera’s working as a bartender here. The idea for this game arose out of their conversations about her sudden shift in career: this upcoming week is her last week at her godawful law firm. And in the immediate future her plan is to focus on writing her trilogy, while also helping her mom run LoveLee’s, as she takes some time figuring out what to do in the long term.

Years ago she had worked as a clerk at Lee’s Market but she’s never actually waitressed or anything like that before. So she’d told him on their date today that she’s not really sure whether she’s qualified to take orders and serve customers at her mom’s pastry store.

So just as a half-joke that is what tonight’s practice is for.

Will can hold down a boatload of liquor but knows Aera’s more of a lightweight, and he doesn’t want to go too hard on their second date. So at some point they stop the charade and sit down on a couple of barstools to chat about how they’re both really determined to get their lives straight.

Aera asks what brought him to New York. How he’s liking it here, how he feels about running Tribeca Frontier. Whether he feels like he could make city life work. Honestly shocked the subject had not come up yet but the flow of their conversation during their first two dates has been random as hell. It’s because they’re comfortable enough shooting the shit and being total goofballs, though Will isn’t one to avoid heavy topics and hide behind walls—he can handle those talks just as well—from that deep earnest look that sometimes enters his ocean eyes she can tell.

Yet she hadn’t expected the chat to turn down a more somber direction, when she asked those innocent questions. Had no idea she would be hitting a nerve. Shadows play on his face, in the low moody light of this place, as his lips lose their soft smiling curve.

Will grits his teeth, at first. Is it too soon to share the shit that lies beneath, to let her see him at his worst? Their interactions up till now have been the best, and felt so blessed, and he would hate for her to see that he’s so cursed.

If he were on this date with anyone but her, he would’ve brushed it all away, he’s pretty sure. Would have no clue just what to say. Would stow it for another day. But being with her makes him feel some kind of way.

The words just flow, and somehow he feels so at home letting it go. Like all the shards of grief inside him cutting him to pieces somehow fall in place. “I just wanted a change of pace, you know? My kid brother and I grew up in this small town in Colorado, then we both served. Spent some time in Florida and Benny got into the fighting scene down there and made some enemies and shit went fucking sideways. Never really got a chance to live the life that he deserved. I lost him just over a year ago.”

His sea-blue eyes hold so much sorrow. Chases down the aftertaste of that tragic confession with the water in his glass though he can barely even swallow.

Aera feels all of his pain, clasping his hand to ease the strain. “Will I’m so sorry...”

“You shouldn’t be.” He cracks a broken smile trying to assure her that she has no need to worry, and no reason to feel bad. “You asked a natural question and I just wish that the answer weren’t so sad.”

The little tremor in his voice cuts her right through.

The warmth in her gaze brings him this heart-stopping feeling that just might be the first step toward fucking healing and it feels so fucking new. “It’s been a struggle trying to go on without him. Usually I’m way too broken up to even talk about him, but I guess with you I always want the answer to be true.”

And she can tell it always will be for she sees nothing but honesty as she falls deep into that gaze of blue. Rides out the wave, ‘cause it’s the only thing to do, and finds it’s everything her heart could ever crave. “That’s what I want too. We can talk about him all night if you want to.”

His smile is whole now as he thanks her. He tells her about his brother for a little while longer, till his shattered heart feels just a little stronger. The soft touch of her palm upon his hand comforts and holds him like an anchor.

After some time Will finally feels he’s unloaded enough. Brushes the prick of unwept tears off, as he casually directs the flow of conversation back to lighter stuff. Cracks silly jokes to make her laugh. The utter beauty of the sound fills him with hope about a life and love he thought he’d never have.

Maybe it’s too soon to be thinking that he’s somehow bound to her. That someday soon he’s gonna love her. But it’s just their second date and when he thinks about his future... all he has are thoughts of her.

He doesn’t know yet that she’s feeling the same way. But just the hope of it means more to him than words ever convey.

Just then they both notice the song that starts to play: it’s that distinctive tune by Gotye. The one that played when they first sat down in this bar the other day.

Ironhead is far from shitfaced but he’s just a little buzzed from all the drinks that he had downed, and from the high of this new feeling that he’s found. In retrospect he will immediately realize this is not the thing to say... but as they mutually swoon over how great their first two dates have been, soaking their shared butterflies in, he says it anyway.

“And to think that you were gonna let this all go, just because I look like somebody you used to know...”

... Oh.

That struck a blow. Suddenly Aera’s heart feels hollow. At the same time so damn full, sharply aware of all the memories of past love that have always had such pull—most of the night she’d been so present but she finds herself tugged back in that direction and her split heart has no clue which path to follow.

“He wasn’t just somebody,” she murmurs more to herself than to him as all the purity of her feelings for Will feel fucking muddy, shards of her splintering heart cut up all bloody. He was everything to me. He still is truly. More than you or anyone could ever be.

And you and he share the same face and that is not fucking okay.

She knows she shouldn’t think or feel that way. On some level she doesn’t and it’s thankfully something that she averts the urge to say. She also had a little bit to drink tonight, so maybe that’s the reason she’s not thinking right, can’t keep her high school sweetheart flame at bay.

And as for Will—he sits stone-still. He can’t believe he fucking said it. In the weight of this moment he’s sure he’ll forever regret it. But if there are issues down deep, that prevent her from being with him due to secrets her heart has to keep... maybe he shouldn’t come on so strong when she’s clearly not sure where this whole thing is headed. Maybe it’ll be for the best to just bring a quick end to this little love story. “I get it. I’m sorry.”

“You shouldn’t be,” she tells him woodenly, but it falls on deaf ears. The beating of her broken heart is honestly the only thing he hears.

Maybe the alcohol got her extra emotional but suddenly she finds she’s fighting back a flood of tears, and biting back her greatest fears—the fear of feeling something soul-crushingly fierce, for the first time in all these years, and sowing seeds too sweet to reap. She did it once and Jesus Christ the price was steep.

At first her instinct is to turn and run, as she’s so often done…

But then she looks at him and realizes that isn’t what she wants to fucking do. That there’s no shame in being raw and true. No issue if he sees her shed a tear or two. Will already opened his heart and let her see right fucking through, so she feels safe and free to let him see her too.

Maybe she won’t share all the details just quite yet. Maybe they need to take things slow for just a minute—if they can when they’re already so deep in it. All she knows is that she’s done trying to run from it and fight it.

So she stays. At least for now she fucking stays, trusting a chance at love like this is worth whatever price she ultimately pays.

In the meantime across town a lost soul arrives in New York for the first time in his sorry life. Dead grey eyes and nothing to his name but the shirt on his back and a half-loaded gun and a small pocket knife. Walking the streets, his hefty frame and haggard face spooking off everyone he meets, he asks around for Aera Lee because he’s got something to give her. Has a message to deliver.

Sits and reads the crumpled letter for himself tonight, in an abandoned alleyway beneath a crescent moon’s faint light. It’s all he has left of his precious little sister—he can see her green eyes glimmer in the sad curve of her signature. He holds onto it tight.

What happened to her wasn’t right.

He thinks of all the things he’s done. It’s nights like these that he’s ashamed to be a Dalton.

Checks the bullets in his gun. There are a few although he knows he needs just one. ____________________

I hope you guys are enjoying so far! I’m super grateful for comments so please let me know if you are!! 😊❤️

If you’d like to be notified of future chapters of this fic, just let me know and I’ll gladly add you to the tag list! ✨

Frontier of Anarchy Tag List:

@pomegranatearildreams @rayslittlekitten @samanthaisnthome @kesskirata @soaharleys @innerpaperexpertcloud @itspdameronthings @dvnvln @doll0026 @maeleeme @aussies074 @niki-xie @blondiekook @bettergetusetoit @rosegxoxo @trappedinlove666 @digitalhoe @oldstuffnewstuff @poge-life @mrspeacem1nusone @o0idk0o @thexhostess @melodranas @stellaa33 @midnight-dreams-23 @kravitzwhore

Series Masterlist

→ Next Chapter

57 notes · View notes

toukatan · 3 years

Note

Allthey ever dreamt of is running freely through those fields and live their life with their friends

It is truly on those trivial moments we think life is the best, its not a matter of status or anything, we enjoy things and keep them close. God damn this chapter was a banger, and honestly teared me up, seeing Jean almost cry when hitting eren, telling him to stop being suicidal, he knows him best those two always were toe to toe since they knew each other

Reiner being ready to die in order to stop this, and everyone coming together

And all leading to this, seeing Mikasas face and Armin being resolved to end it.

All i have os respect for isayama for capturing this so well, and im so grateful i get to enjoy this.

armin talking about ema and how maybe the reason he was born was so that three of them could just simply race upon hills towards that tree. made me deveasted— they’re such simply blissful moments that he treasures i cry

armin talking about the 104th as well. them being your typical carefree and happy 15 year olds kids that wonder around town eating well and having fun as they should be

i don’t need to say anything we call cried the moment armin said ‘these trivial moments might actually be precious’

SNK HAS ME IN TEARS EVERY MONTH AND FOR WHAT — 😭😭

even though jean and eren were constantly irritating one another for just breathing— jean is one of eren’s first friends outside of ema, despite them butting heads and their rivalry. they care about one another and understand each other well and just seeing how conflicted jean was throughout this whole ass arc had me floored. you know he didn’t wanna do this, the simple look in his eyes is enough to say it all.

yes, reiner being ready to risk it all even though it may cost him his life just to stop this. eren and reiner have always been similar, different but very similar. i think we’ll get a moment between them before the end— and reiner’s gottta live my dude out here with 9 lives he’s just gotta make it.

tha last panel of armin and mikasa hurt me because ema, we all knew it would eventually come but god dayum i hate seeing pain in their eyes. yams always out here capturing pain through the eyes so well i hate it here

snk for sure will go down as one of the best series in history. it taught us so many things. we all basically grew up with these characters and now we get to see the end with them— i’m so glad we were all born in the right era to witness this amazing story.

#truly 137 will live in my head forever #i can’t read that ish without getting teary #replies #nitatalks #snk 137 #snk spoilers

97 notes · View notes

warningsine · 2 years

Text

"Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer."

"Human history is written in a litany of blood shed over differing opinions of government and afterlife."

"Yours is a very interesting species. For example: if there are 3 humans in a room, there will be 6 opinions."

"It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Grey? I don't know what to do with grey..."

"A life this long. Do you understand what it is? It's a battlefield. Except it's empty, because everyone else has gone."

"I don't think life is about what you deserve."

"Respect's a funny thing. People always assume they deserve it. The truth is, respect is earned."

"An assassin is a weapon to be used. A tool. If a person were to kill a man, would you hold the gun responsible?"

"When the soul is weakened by despair or fear, when the body is ill or injured...the individual is disconnected. No longer whole."

"Then what's the damn point? Of drinks or conversation or... any of it, if we could all die tomorrow?" "It's not tomorrow yet."

"Nobody ever fell in love without being a little bit brave."

"There is too much room for interpretation in the opinions of others."

"Your time is precious. Spend it wisely and with those who care for you."

"I am free. I am a ruined vessel of sorrow and regret, but I am free."

"I won't let fear compromise who I am."

"It's hard enough fighting a war. But it's worse knowing no matter how hard you try, you can't save them all."

“Home is recognized patterns. Known spaces. Familiar thought processes of fellow sapients. It is belonging. A planet is an amount of material massive enough to collapse into a spherical volume. Rocks, ice, and gases are not home. The home of the Creators is where the Creators are. Their place of origin is not relevant.”

J: "We are all a product of our time. Had I been born in this cycle, perhaps I would be the noble scholar she wishes me to be." S: "You think you'd like that? It is a whole different line of work." J: "I wouldn't know. Living a life of constant war, taking life in every battle..." S: "I see how it could be tough to see outside the box." J: "It is the only 'box' I have known. It shapes me, as stone is shaped by the one who carves it. The stone has no choice in the form it will take. You and I, Commander...war is our sculptor. And we are prisoners to its design."

"No two species are identical. All must be judged on their own merits. Treating every species like one's own is racist. Even benign anthropomorphism."

"You can pay a soldier to fire a gun, you can pay him to charge the enemy and take a hill, but you can't pay him to believe."

"The Old Machines offered to give us our future. A short cut to our objective. We rejected it. The Geth will build our own future. The process is as important as the result."

"So your hands are clean? It's fine, even if the ground is stained with the blood of millions?"

"Always expect trouble. Failing that, cause trouble for someone else."

"Mess with someone's head enough, you can turn a scared little kid into an all powerful bitch."

#this has been sitting on my drafts for 2 years but I'm feeling nostalgic today #fans sure do like to give #Mass Effect #shit for all its flaws #(sometimes rightly sometimes not)#but damn it if it didn't also have some good lines in there #and even more tear inducing and funny moments #q

4 notes · View notes

wu-sisyphus-gang · 3 years

Text

Motion Sickness Chapter 85

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

"What can you give me about Hill and her huntresses?" Ironwood asked me as we walked briskly up to his office.

"Fiona has some sort of matter absorption semblance. Evidently she can put a plane in her pocket and walk away. It's Striker ranged and probably limited to non-living things, I'm speculating on that bit. Still, it's supposed to be fairly wicked. May has the invisibility field. It's got a decent radius and it's mobile. It fucked with one of my own operations once. Sabotaged me. Then there's Joanna. She's got super strength, classic Brute," I informed him. "You want me here for this? I've had a run one with them before."

"You'll be with me," he affirmed. He swung the doors open to his office and he sat down at his desk.

I took to a corner by the window. I folded my arms. My sword hilt extended over my head.

"Their weapons?" Ironwood asked me.

"These crossbow staves. Probably modifiable with dust rounds. Except Hill. She's got a crossbow with blades on either side. My man described it as like a fan or an accordian."

"Your man?"

"A union leader down in Mantle. That's how he worked with Hill. You want the details?"

He shook his head. He steepled his hands before him and we waited. Penny came skipping into the room. She saw me, smiled, and waved at me. I grinned back at her and nodded.

"Oh are we acting brooding? I'll do my best." She imitated me by the far side of the long window.

"I don't need to act. I am brooding," I laughed back. "But yeah. A little."

"Hill should be up any minute."

"Good. I was getting tired of looking relaxed."

"I'm glad you two get along," Ironwood mumbled. "It bodes well. For you in particular, Strife."

"Eh, it's mostly Ruby." I kicked my foot around, rolling out my left ankle.

"Don't say that. I thought we were friends."

"We are, Penny. I'm trying to brood, though."

"I see…"

Hill pushed her way into the room with a small smile. She took me and Penny in. She had Fiona with her and another woman I recognized as Joanna Greenleaf from a photo.

Fiona nudged Hill. "That's him. Cloud Strife. The killer mercenary."

Hill glanced at me. "I've heard a bit about you, done some nasty business in my town. What? You working for Ironwood now?"

"For the foreseeable future. Judge ordered. You could probably find out about it. Given your seat," Ironwood returned from behind his steepled fingers.

"You give up the merc life?" She asked. Her question directed at me.

"For now," I answered.

"You're a dangerous man, Strife, I'd be glad to hear you're playing for the good guys. If that's what's going on here."

"It sort of is. You fucked with my operation. Don't think I don't know."

"I did nothing illegal. Nothing anybody could prove at any rate." She showed her teeth. I liked her. "Not like you and Taurus."

"You heard anything about him?" I wondered. "I have a blood score to settle with the bastard."

"Not a peep. He's been laying low. Like I thought you and your illusionist were. Color me surprised to find you standing beside the General. Right beside the protector of Mantle after the shit you pulled."

Maybe this was why Ironwood wanted me here. To divert her focus. I doubted he wanted me for moral support. He wanted me on as a distraction. So I'd be as distracting as possible.

"Those charges were dropped," Penny said.

"You hear that?" I asked. "It's like I never did it."

"But you did do it," Fiona spat. "You killed people."

"Interesting way you phrased that," Hill said with a hand raised at Fiona beside her.

"I only killed other criminals." I shrugged. "And I got time served with a hefty fine."

"Meaningless to someone like you," Hill countered.

"Not meaningless. Just the best I could have hoped for."

"But are you reformed? Do you serve Atlas and Mantle well?" Robyn wondered.

"To the very best of my ability, I protect the people now."

"Will you swear by it?" Hill held out her hand.

"Sure. I'll promise." I took her hand. Purple flowed over my hand as I took hers and it wreathed both of us. "What do you want me to say?" I asked. Words could be very particular.

"That you serve as a guardian to the people, now."

"I serve as a guardian to the people now." I echoed. I technically did before too. Her aura flashed green. It must have registered as true because she reclined looking satisfied.

"Now that that's settled we can get down to business. When will the new tower be ready for launch?"

"Classified. You shouldn't even know about the tower," Ironwood returned.

"But I do. And this will go smoother if we work together, General. I can vote in your favor or I can vote against you at every turn. I can even raise a vote of no confidence."

The General grimaced. I think that he hoped I'd buy him more time before the nitty-gritty.

Robyn leaned over his desk and spread her palms on it. Hunching over on him.

"What's it gonna be, General? I can do worse besides. I can petition to have your council seat taken away. How long will your precious tower take to get completed then. Work with me. I just want to talk."

"You want to talk for now."

"That's right," Hill returned. "I might change my mind based on what I hear, too." At least she was open and clear about it. The value of her prizing honesty.

"The launch is two months out." Ironwood stated.

He stood up and towered over Hill with her slumping over the desk. She recoiled back and stretched to her full height. It was still nowhere near the General and closer to me though she was tall for a woman.

"All of our attention has been on raising the tower and restoring communications between the kingdoms."

"Even though Mantle suffers," she murmured.

I thought about saying something like 'Mantle always suffers' but I kept my mouth shut. It wasn't the time. Never let be said I couldn't be diplomatic.

"Some sacrifices have had to be made to get things done but we're in the final stretch now. No going back."

"I want things to get better for Mantle, General. And fast."

"I'm working as fast as I can," Ironwood vowed.

"I want you to slow down the launch of it means things can get better for Mantle. Diverting both supplies and huntsmen."

"That isn't practical."

"Practical be damned. Mantle always bears the lion's share of the suffering for Atlas. All for it's floating neighbor. You want me to not vote against you at every turn so this project gets completed? You're going to have to make concessions. That means voting my way on minimum wage increases and miner safety standards. Even if those safety standards set back your little project."

Ironwood sighed. It sounded like she had him in a corner.

"We are so close." He grunted. He sounded frustrated and exasperated. "So close to getting this project done. For everybody's benefit."

"Well it just got further away. One way or another. Not one more miner will die for this or anything else. They matter to me. What's it gonna be, James?"

"Friends call me James. You can call me Ironwood or General."

"Petty," she clicked her tongue. She had him in a vice though. She'd be petty and slow down the project too. She was a woman of her word. No one with a semblance like that wouldn't be.

"It sounds like I've got little choice. Just know that once my project is complete I won't back down so easily anymore."

"I'm counting on it, General," she turned on a clicking heel and left. Her tour de force departed with her.

"Sorry. I tried but she wasn't going to be distracted. Not by me and not by Penny."

Ironwood groaned. "The launch just got set back a month. Minimum. And if I start capitulating now who knows when it will end."

"She's a woman of her word. So you've got that going for you."

"At least it wasn't Jacque Schnee," Penny chipped in brightly. "This election could have gone much worse. She's willing to work with you if you work with her."

My scroll chirped. I pulled it out of my pocket.

"Strife. Who’s this?"

"Aurum. I've got a hit on your lady friend. She's here. She's threatening me. She demanded my information. She was asking the same sort of questions you were. I need to know what that's about now."

"You don't. I'll be there."

"My life is on the line! She immolated my men!"

"Try and hold her there. I'm coming. Let's get lucky and kill her."

"Sorry Cloud but I have got to do what I got to do to protect my business."

"Just hold her. I'm on my way."

I cut the connection.

"Something important?" Ironwood asked.

"I got a hit on Cinder. She's about to burn one of my contacts to death. I need to get there."

Ironwood nodded. "Do you need reinforcements? I'll call Ace Ops."

"Better call Team RWBY too and put them on standby with Qrow. She's at The Den."

"I'm sending Penny with you."

"Let's go Penny." I said with a nod by the door. "You and I will fly there."

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

Penny and I swooped down on The Den. "You take her accomplices. Let me worry about Cinder."

"Do you believe that you can defeat her?"

"We're about to find out." Let’s hope that sounded confident.

I bust in the door to find the club empty and quiet. The lack of music and the distant smell of inhalants gave the place a void like feeling. It was strangely empty and lacking.

"Sorry Cloud. It's nothing personal. Just business, you understand." It was Aurum's voice coming from the top floor above me. "She forced me. You get it."

There was the clink of glass heels on the floor above us and Cinder Fall came into view.

"You," she purred. "Jaune Arc was it? I owe you for when last we met." Her one eye glowed like embers.

"It was. Not anymore. It's Cloud now."

"A change in name will mean little to my mistress. You're her son."

"Hardly. She didn't raise me," I shot back. I drew the broadsword from over my shoulder. I gripped the enormous handle beneath the titanic cross guard the shield helped form.

"She has bade me not kill you and your sisters have a certain fury I would dread but whatever happens happens," she sung. She spread her fingers and a flame grew across them. "You would have had me last time if not for my maiden powers. Powers which have doubled. I'm sure you are aware. And you've been spying for me. Through this rabble but you've been on the look out nonetheless."

She made Aurum call me, then. Aurum dashed out the exit, trying to keep his life intact and escaping while we were both distracted. Cinder set a trap for me. Sustrai stepped out from behind Cinder with Black in tow. I watched and my vision faded as Sustrai narrowed her eyes at me. She was trying to use her semblance on me.

I shouted at Penny and I watched a blurring kaleidoscope fly up to them and slash out at Emerald with ten floating blades appendages. My vision snapped back into focus and in perfect time for me to see Cinder descending on me with flames pouring from her feet to aid her assault. As she flew she left fire behind on the glass dance floor. I met a strike from her similarly glass weapons and stuttered back a step on the dance floor.

I activated my semblance and brought my weapon around to match her. I drew an electric crystal from my pocket. I crushed it in my palm and sent a thunderbolt at her. She blocked it by crossing her weapons and her one eye flared at me with the power of the maidens. She gestured and a half dozen fireballs floated into place before her. She blew gently. Like she was blowing a kiss at me, I didn’t catch it, and I was forced to dance out of the way of the fireballs.

I went through them. I rolled and floated towards her through the conflagration. I stabbed my sword downward and tore up glass as I pushed it screeching across the dance floor towards her. She met my strike with both her weapons crossed.

Then she struck out at me in high, low, high fashion, alternating each blade. She twirled with the motion and I was forced on the defensive, blocking each one of her attacks. I never let her truly get close to me with the enormous blade between us.

She waved her palm and a flare shot up inside the tight room towards me. I couldn't be sure how Penny was doing against her two opponents because I was too focused on Cinder.

I blocked her and seesawed my weapon down on her. Sparks flew from her glass weapons from where my Titania edge but down into them.

"I'm going to kill you this time. We'll see how my Mother takes that," I whispered. I spoke softly as I threatened her. As I made my vow.

Lightning ran up her weapons and into my arms. It made me tremble in pain for a moment before she pushed me off of her and kicked me in my exposed chest. Then she flew at me.

"Aren't you quite the little rebel. Doing what makes mommy mad?" She laughed at that.

"Oh I'll piss her right the fuck off. Can't imagine she was happy I didn't bring the relic to her."

She pointed her sword at me and there was a kazzap of lightning. I blocked it on the edge of my weapon but she just swung her weapon around her body again. A trail of fire emanating from it and growing larger until she whipped a lash of red hot blaze right at my head.

I rolled again and came up thrusting at her, forcing her to block. She swung at me with one of her glass weapons but at the far range of my weapon I was too distant and she miscalculated.

She dropped into a crouch and pointed both her weapons at me and there was another mighty kazizzle of electricity. I jumped over it and brought my weapon down on her head in a move that forced her to block with both of her own. It shattered the dance floor around us for yards and yards. All the way to the edge near the bar.

"You're right of course. She was most displeased. She will punish you for it given the opportunity. I think not, however. You will die here."

She waved her hand and a gale picked up. All the glass from the once smooth and now shattered dance floor flew up from it. She gestured at me and I hunkered behind the wide edge of my weapon and weathered the storm of glass pellets. Some struck into my aura and chipped it away. I held firm against the wind.

Blue light still licked at my body but it seemed like my semblance would not be enough. I couldn't imagine spending it and then being forced to fight her without it. If I spent it, when I spent it, it would have to be for the kill. I could use it for no other purpose. And it would probably have to be the Octa slash. No other attack would do enough damage in a single go to take her down except maybe a Finishing Touch.

I'd hardly touched her. Hadn't touched her, I realized.

When the gale broke down she hit me hard with both flaming feet. Not as hard as Penny had with a similar move but hard enough to send me stumbling back. Next she delivered three lighting fast diagonal slashes to my torso. She ripped away massive chunks of my aura.

Then she thrust forward and I blocked to the side. Her weapon buried in my personal soul based force field to the hilt right next to my head. She still managed to rip away a chunk of blue light from my body.

Things were seriously not good. Her magic was too much for me and her competence with a blade in each hand was nothing to scoff at.

I kicked her back. A move that caught her in the gut. Then I swung my blade towards her head in a massive strike that she caught with both her weapons. Making yet another 'x' shape. It seemed to be her go to in order to block against my titanic sword.

I screamed and flew at her. Closing the little distance between us with a shoulder check that knocked her to the ground.

I danced at her, flowing like water as she caught herself on one hand and tried to cartwheel back but I chased her roll now that she was out of position. Now that she was in serious disadvantage and close to me I made to capitalize on it.

I caught up to her and hit her once vertically diagonally downward and to the right. Then I reversed and came diagonally up and to the left. Then I can back down on her diagonally and from the right once more in a staggering triple hit. The kind I'd seen do twenty-five percent or more of Ruby's aura when I wasn't Limit Broken. When I wasn't Limitless.

I didn't spend the charge on it but I did shout, a scream left my lips as I performed the move with exertion. It flung her back and into one of the bars and into the wall in a shattering of glass and bottles.

She flew out of the hole in the wall and through the crevice her body had left in the bar. A trail of flame coming behind her and at her feet. I flew to meet her and where we struck the ground rippled like it was made of liquid for a moment before elasticity caught up with it and it shattered.

I was taller than her. I was conventionally stronger, too. Especially while Limit Break was active and I slowly lowered my weapon down onto her while her back twisted from trying to match me in the crater on the floor.

She kicked my leg at the hip but I only grunted and took it. I took one hand off my blade and backhanded her hard with my knuckles. Then I slid forward a step and reversed my hand and grabbed her by the throat and picked her up into the air. I pulled her in and kneed her in the stomach hard enough to make spittle fly from her lips.

Then Mercury came flying and kicked me in the back. Then he shot me in the back with both of his boot guns.

I twisted to my feet again on a pocket of air. He was breathing hard. So was Cinder where I'd knocked the wind out of her.

I wasn't much better and now that they were alone Emerald let out a scream where Penny slammed her hard into a wall.

"Ma'am…" Mercury trailed.

"Save Emerald," Cinder hissed.

Then I gambled. I dashed forward like I was going to hit Cinder. Then I spent Limit on a thrust but not at her. I thrust up and into Mercury's aura and then into his chest in a crackle of violet energy.

Blood flew from his lips as I speared him. Penny had done enough work for this to pay off and from the sounds of things she'd defeat Emerald too.

"No," Cinder whispered. The battle was out of her favor.

"Yes!" I roared. The edge was ours now.

I watched as Emerald plucked herself from the wall and fell to her knees. A tear on her face as we all saw Mercury slide onto my six foot blade.

"Emerald! Get us out of here!" Cinder called.

I swung my sword and Mercury flopped off the blade. He was already dead. I flexed and started charging my next semblance. With slow promise I stood and began the charge. Soon.

"Emerald!" Cinder barked. I was assaulted with a massive illusion. Penny was too from the way she stepped back in shock on the second floor. A gigantic image of my Mother rose from the twisted glass and roared.

Cinder burned a hole in the wall and grabbed Emerald's sobbing form and fled. I was too shocked by the cyclopean vision of my Mother to move.

"Cloud!" Penny called to me distantly. I fell to my knees before the image of my Mother and held my hands up like I was expecting an attack, I fumbled my sword with dumb hands. My brain burned and my mind was ajar.

Mother…

I thought. And despite that I knew it was an illusion. Despite the distance between us I heard her answer.

“My son…”

"No…" I whimpered.

“Yes…”

The voice seethed.

“Yes… you belong to me… I am your mistress…”

I could feel her shadow on the corner of my mind. She twisted into me and trapped me between agonies I knew weren't true.

"Cloud are you alright?"

The massive image of my Mother faded. But she lingered on my brain. A growing pressure. I howled in pain. She raked at my body and I convulsed.

"Cloud, it wasn't real."

"She's in my… my… my…" I stuttered like a broken record player. Then I started to froth at the mouth. I seized on the broken dance floor.

“My son… my precious son…”

"Oh my gods!" I heard Penny cry. "Don't worry, Cloud, help is on the way!"

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

-WG

13 notes · View notes

papermoonloveslucy · 3 years

Text

INDOMINATABLE LIFESTYLE

July 16, 1972

HOLLYWOOD - Indomitable funny girl Lucille Ball, with a messy scoop hair the color of an orange popsicle, flashes on the scene in a sad predicament.

She's got a lame leg.

Lucy hobbled from her sleek silver Rolls Royce and into the yellow cubbyhole dressing room which is a sunny retreat near the Lucy set which Is crawling with rehearsal activity.

On the surface, everything's ha-ha-ha. But the fact is that surgeons have inserted pins into the shattered leg bone suffered last year in a Snowmass Peak, Colo., skiing accident. The leg brace is a semi-intolerable ball and chain. But, as always, crippling situations must be mastered. Lucy's inextinguishable spirit pulsates despite the physical handicap.

Lucy Is showing a smiling color photograph of herself in a flowing white hooded cape coat rimmed in fluffy fox. The picture, radiating exterior happiness, doesn't reflect the inner pain. Lucy's leg, in a hip cast, is disguised under a blanket.

You know the familiar Lucy grin? She's grinning it and saying hell no, baby, she's not ever going to ski again. She couldn't stomach another goddam ordeal like that. Besides, on the immediate horizon is an operation to remove the pins.

Lucy, being Lucy, bears the cross with humor: "Honey," she says, "skiing is just getting into those nice winter clothes and being a show off." The burdensome subject of broken bones is dismissed with frivolity.

Brainy Lucy, now 60 and president of a $30 million corporation, is an American institution.

But, like all super-successful females, she vibrates complex contradictions. The fashion plate - who initiated her career as a Hattie Carnegie hat model - is a winsome dumb broad on the tube. In reality she's tough executive who barks orders left and right. Staffers instantly do like the lady says. God has spoken. Lucy runs a tight ship, but she is more respected than feared.

Yet Lucy is softie with a heart of spun sugar. Trappings, which she has in predictable abundance, aren't a psychic crutch.

"Success is knowing that if everything were wiped away tomorrow, it wouldn't really matter. I wouldn't die if I lost my things," she says. Then the awesome simplicity: "Dear, I still go home and let the cat out"

Lucy has always run her home life with a liberal hand.

Desi Arnaz, Jr. is currently Involved in well-publicized liaison with Liza Minnelli. There was a previous Desi scandal regarding Patty Duke. People gossip a lot here because they live in a city where the major industry is make-believe and fact and fiction become blurred.

Lucy isn't deaf to the talk about her son's romances:

"What the hell, they're having a fine spree. I just hope it lasts for Desi and Liza. They don't have time to get married. Their scene is the world and they're swinging in there. I'm the one who talked marriage to them. One night I said: Look, kids, don't get married too soon. They were upset. Desi countered with the observation that you don't have to settle down when you get married. So I go - well, that's true son! The subject of marriage just never came up again. They're a nice couple. They present themselves well without becoming asses. I've told the kids to do as they wish."

Lucy, who was a good friend to Judy Garland, makes no bones about her affection for Liza. And once Lucy loves, the feeling lasts. After 20 years of marriage to Desi Arnaz, there was the divorce. Still Lucy looks people straight in the eyes and says the present Mrs. Desi Arnaz is a "wonderful woman." And she can see it in her heart to rent ex-husband Desi studio space on her lot so that he can work in the shadow of a success they initiated together.

When Liza Minnelli was a child, Lucy kept a scrapbook of Liza's activities at play, in ballet school, attending birthday parties. There, in a battered old photo album, are the precious pictures. Liza didn't know about the book until recently. Desi brought Liza home and Lucy accidentally-on-purpose left the book on a coffee table. "Oh! Wow!" exclaimed Liza through a flow of uncontrollable tears.

Lucy; "And I said to Liza, honey-baby, I told you I've known you for a long time. Didn't you believe me?" Lucille Ball speaks in an affectionate aside about Liza and the loyalty is simultaneously visible and audible:

"That kid is liable to explode any minute. I just hope I'm around to pick up the pieces. No one knows why she works so hard. She's made it her objective to clear her mother financially. Those b--- lawyers took her --- really took her. But she's paying back every damn cent herself."

Life is, of course, an inexplicable mixture of tears and laughter. Buoyant Lucy can see the funnies in everything. Love, she says, is looking beyond someone's minor faults and caring passionately despite the irritations. Lucy's 80-year-old mom, Dede (Desiree Ball) lives near Lucy's sprawling colonial house in Beverly Hills. Dede has a longstanding idiosyncrasy which used to drive Lucy wild but is now an amusement.

In that familiar screechy scratchy soprano voice oozing feigned stupidity, Lucy sing-songs the dialogue;

"I say to Dede: Hey Dede, I've got a pain in my elbow. Dede always says: 'stupid, it's because you're not eating right!" Honest to God, if you've got a pain in your big toe, it's not because someone stepped on it it's the food. Drives you nuts! Dede really has a thing about food. The other day I went home and cooked a batch of chicken. 'Chicken!!" says Dede, 'you know it's gonna make me sick.' Of course Dede eats more chicken than anybody. Next day I say: Dede you been up all night throwin', huh? Naw," says Dede, the chicken wasn't half bad.'"

The ridiculous story illustrates two things Dede taught Lucy early in life. One: That without good health you've got nothing. Two; That without a non-pliant, thoroughly independent attitude, you've got less than nothing because show business kills the weak.

Lucy is in constant awe of Dede. When Lucy built the five-story ski chalet 9,800 feet on the side of a Colorado mountain she was certain Dede couldn't take either the long trip or the altitude. Besides, once you get to Lucy's place, there are a million icy steps to climb before you make the front door. "Even the dogs stop to get their breath," says Lucy. "But when I start huffing, Dede looks over her shoulder and sorta snaps: Aw, Lucy, you're a sissy!' That woman is my challenge."

Does Lucy ever get down? Do the burdens of crushing disappointments halt her enthusiasm even temporarily? "Jesus," she says, "I cry. I cry a lot. Then anger sets in. When I'm angry, I become a fighter. And I always fight to win."

When Lucy talks to you, she taps your knee in a natural gesture of intimacy. Her gaze is through black fringed x-ray eyes that sear through trivia. She smokes her cigarette twirled ceremoniously between her thumb and forefinger. Lucy always spews gut honesty:

"Love is a great peace of mind. There's no panic in the relationship. It's never having to prove yourself. Love is not playing games. Baby, some women have to put up with mysterious absenteeism. That's always a sign of hanky panky-ism. Christ, I never have to worry where Gary is."

Gary is Gary Morton, Lucy's husband and executive producer. Suddenly he bursts into the dressing room and asks for the afternoon off. Lucy's going to work the full day. Her answer is affirmative, but she doesn't use the word "yes"; "Just don't forget to tell the cook to get out the steaks and have a big salad ready."

The show is all in the family. Lucy's sister, Cleo Smith, is another producer. Lucy is having the talk-about twosome of Desi Jr. and Liza written into a script. Little Lucy, who has been Mrs. Phil Vandervort for a year, is a regular. She, too, bursts into the dressing room to use the john. The jeans are already embarrassingly unzipped. As she whizzes by she comments only to her famous mama: "Jeez, I though you were alone!"

But an emergency is an emergency. Lucy, quick to seize the humor, quips: "Our togetherness is only occasionally splintered."

In retrospect, Lucy is pleased with her real-life mother role. "I've been one hell of a mom," she says. "I always knew where they were every minute." Lucille Ball is a profound woman who often uses great simplicities to get her points across.

Once, when the kids were small, a nurse observed to Lucy that Little Lucy was calling Desi Jr., "fatso," and jabbing him in the stomach-when no one was looking. Desi didn't hit back because mama had said never to hit defenseless little girls. Lucy relives the old conversation with her daughter, first announcing each "part" and changing voices to portray the back-and-forth swing of conversation:

Big Lucy: "Got a problem, Little Lucy?"

Little Lucy: "Me? No."

Big Lucy: "Let's talk. Whose fault is it? No, actually it doesn't matter whose fault it is. Next time one of you is hurt, I'm going to hit the one who is hurt."

Little Lucy: "What does that mean, ma?"

Big Lucy: "You'll see."

Soon there was another battle. As usual, Little Lucy elbowed Desi in the stomach and he howled, Lucy illogically whacked Desi hard on the rear and his screams got louder. Little Lucy immediately became hysterical: "Mom, don't hit him! For God's sake, why are you hitting HIM?"

Lucy delivered the punch line which is the credo of their life: "I hit Desi because you let things go too far. Never let things go too far. Someone innocent always suffers. Do you understand?"

That was the end of sibling squabbling. Forever.

Once, before her chorus girl days, New York-born Lucy worked as a fashion mannequin for various Seventh Ave. houses. She's still got a clotheshorse figure but she won't splurge on couture: "I'm just one of those normal working women who doesn't go in for hifalutin’ fashion."

Lucy haunts three fabric shops in Beverly Hills and has local movie set seamstresses make all her clothes. "I'm not the type who dresses and goes out," says Lucy who long ago graduated from the silly-but-necessary movie star game of being seen in the right places.

"Once when I was in Paris, I bought a designer dress grey flannel, I think and wore it out from the salon to my car. When I sat down the damn thing was so strictly constructed that the neckline popped up to my nose. I was on my way to Switzerland and I mumbled to my driver, God, did that designer expect me to stand up on the plane?" Lucy can afford emergencies. When she got to Orly, she bought a dress from an airport boutique and changed in the ladies room.

And, so, the sweet saga of Lucy continues, there are no plans to quit. The word - retirement - isn't in her vocabulary. "I can't imagine doing nothing," she says. "If you don't keep moving, you're buried."

The beauty is still there. The complexion is like alabaster. Lucy confesses that she washes her face with Ivory soap, colors her own hair and occasionally gives herself offbeat facials."

"Honey, the idiot who said to put honey on your face never explained that it has to be mixed with cream," she says. The face melts into that wonderful famous grin. "I put honey on straight from the goddamn jar and it closed my pores for a month."

That's lovable Lucy.

[Ed. Note: The original photographs were degraded by copying so similar shots were substituted as close to the originals as possible.]

# # #

#Lucille Ball #Desi Arnaz #Gary Morton #Wildcat #Dede Ball #Lucie Arnaz #Desi Arnaz Jr.#Liza Minnelli

7 notes · View notes

atlas-of-a-human-soul · 4 years

Text

Bloodstream (Vampire AU)

Summary: Small towns usually hide big, dangerous secrets. Dolan twins thought it would be a perfect place to lay low...until they meet her.

Warnings: mentions of death, blood, violence, angst and fluff

Word count: ~ 3000

Vampires are bloodthirsty creatures, past redemption, their humanity long gone. Y/N knew that even in the moment she stayed with Ethan and Grayson while everyone else ran. She stayed, her eyes hyper focused on the blood dripping from their chins, their hands drenched with no trace of human skin - all red. She didn't know what happened, why they lost control, but she believed they wouldn't hurt her. Perhaps it's naive, wishful thinking or even her overconfidence in skills she was granted after they first arrived in town, but she stayed put, actually provoking them.

"Why did you do that?" Trying to keep her voice even, calm, Y/N almost forgot they could hear her frantic heartbeat, smell the indescribable mix of emotions oozing off her skin, undiscovered by human senses.

"You know why." Grayson rolls his eyes, wiping his mouth and chin against the sleeve of his once white hoodie, looking at Ethan for justification.

Regardless of his silent plea, Ethan simply shakes his head, turning around to avoid her questioning glare, almost relieved with her presence. A part of him craved for her in every possible way - from a primal human way to a primal vampire way and it's an overwhelming tension around his dead heart that makes him take a step back.

"No, Grayson! I don't fucking know why and I want to understand, I do! But how can I when all I seem to get is dead bodies dropped at my feet as if you're a damn cat showing off a kill!" Voice echoing around the now empty woods, Y/N realized she has to tone down her anger.

She wanted them to suffer for what they did but she didn't want them to die. If anyone found out a vampire slayer is in love with two vampires who kill mercilessly, she'd likely lose her life along with them.

Before she could blink, she found herself gasping for air, not because of the sudden change in her position or the tree she found her back pressed against, not even because of the way Grayson's bloody hand held onto her neck, but because of the intimacy of the way his lips lingered right above her carotid.

Applying a little bit of pressure only to release it had made her arteries run wild with turbulent blood-flow, the kind that played on Grayson's control issues, the kind that made him want to do something he would forever regret - if he could have just a taste and stop, to let her blood warm his heart and make it beat again even if its for a few hours, he might do it, but he couldn't risk her dying. Not now. Not ever.

"I did it for you. To protect you." Drawing the words out slowly, carefully, Grayson leans back and away from her neck, letting her breathe again. He could sense she wasn't scared, not even when he held her at inch length of death, she trusted him and that scared him. He has never been as scared in all his miserable days as he's been scared since the day she walked into his life. For once, Grayson Dolan had something to lose and he wasn't about to let it happen.

"I can't tell you how many people I killed since I came to this town, but I know why they're dead." Swallowing thickly, she watched his lips press together briefly, just for a moment - as if he's contemplating his next words and the impact they might have.

"They're dead so you could live. And I don't feel sorry. Not even a little bit. Maybe that makes me the monster you think I am but I can't regret saving your life." Leaning his forehead on hers, Grayson almost forgot about Ethan who was so clearly growing anxious, frustrated and most of all - jealous. Sadly, to Grayson's greatest dismay, he wasn't the only Dolan in love with a human - a slayer - his Y/N.

She didn't utter a word; she didn't have to. In a blink of an eye, Ethan and Grayson, as well as the bodies of the people she once considered her townsfolk are gone. Shaking, leaning back on the tree, Y/N wondered why she ever got involved with the Dolan twins - why couldn't she leave this particular mystery alone?

To understand that, we'd have to rewind this to the day she first met them, a few months earlier.

There are three things you need to know before you read this:

1. Vampires are real,

2. Their thirst for blood is unmatched by anything but the love for their mate,

3. Humanity is fragile and to love a vampire is to court death.

The sun-rays lit up her pale skin, her favorite season finally chasing away the winter snow she hated more than anything. She wasn't particularly happy about being forced to walk to campus so early in the morning, a cup of tea warming her frosty fingers, reminding her winter's still got a hold of her little town, the kind of town you'd see on postcards. It's easy to feel at home in towns like these, the kind where nothing bad ever happens except for a few college students running wild during rush week.

Smiling, she nods at the car letting her pass the road, recognizing one of her old high school teachers, the one that used to favor her for her "exceptional kindness and talent". She always felt like she disappointed him, her pristine grades and record were supposed to take her far from that town and for a while she was willing to do anything to get out of there, but life always has different plans for us, doesn't it?

Regardless, Y/N wasn't bitter nor did she resent the circumstances forcing her to stay behind when all her friends left. She still found happiness in small things - watching the sunrise that reminded her there was a fresh start every day if we're willing to take it, in the beautiful scenery - nature always calmed her nerves and it reminded her of her late father who always took her camping and taught her basic survival skills, and then there was the very college she goes to - the place her parents met for the first time, giving her a feeling of closeness to the ones she loved the most but had to say goodbye to.

Nostalgic, half lost in her thought, Y/N didn't pay attention to her surroundings, a daydreamer as her friends uses to call her. Perhaps that's something she would have changed, that day and that moment she was too lost in her own head to see she was seconds away from colliding with a force of nature - Grayson Dolan.

She didn't register the moment of impact, rather the moment a strong pair of hands gripped her waist and left arm, holding her in place with a sturdiness she didn't possess on the best of days. She heard her books fall on the pavement, one of them breaking at the seams and she didn't bother looking up, rather down at her precious books.

Quickly, she bent down to collect her books and assess the damage on her favorite book, the man doing the same, managing to take the books before her, forcing her to look into his eyes without escaping it.

Grayson could see wind-stirred waves in her eyes and he knew if one were brave enough to enter their depths, the world would blur and he'd fall so deep in love that he'd choose to stay there – right in the midst of her storm, no matter what. Of that, he was completely sure.

"The Vampire Academy? Really?" His almost mocking tone made her snarl, narrow her eyes and force the books out of his hands. If there is anything she hates, it's someone judging a book by its covers and she really hated when people deemed her a vampire fanatic because of her favorite series. The Vampire Academy is so much more than a story about vampires and that's a hill she was willing to die on.

"You bumped into me and the first thing you want to do is mock my choice in literature?” Standing up, she raised her chin defiantly high, perhaps because he's a lot taller than she is or because she simply hated being perceived as weak and naive, but she was ready to hand his ass to him and in the most merciless manner possible. “Seriously?" She humphed, swallowing thickly as she held his gaze captive.

"You're right." Raising his hands in mock surrender, he chuckled at her attitude. Licking his lips, he raised an eyebrow before speaking again. "I'm Grayson Dolan and I'm very sorry about your book." Putting an emphasis on very, Grayson smiles too, hoping his usually disarming smirk would make her swoon like all the other girls do.

Shrugging, she pulled the books closer to her chest, her gaze falling to her feet inadvertently, wishing she could rip him a new one but he's apologetic. After all, she felt guilty about the small incident anyway and while he may be a closeted asshole, she wasn't about to chew him out for being decent enough to apologize. Every asshole needs someone to show them they are capable of change, right? Well, she certainly thought so.

"Alright." She shrugs again, a nervous tick Grayson realizes but reserves that observation to himself, deciding it would be best not to antagonize her much more though he wants to. Y/N certainly peaks his interest and it's not just about the fact he can sense her blood type just by the smell of a recent scratch on her forearm, but the fact that she's awkwardly, innocently feisty but also beautiful in the most effortless way possible, the kind where she's absolutely blind to the little things others notice and adore about her.

"Not gonna tell me your name?" Grayson steps in her way, stopping her from leaving him high and dry, effectively making her heart skip a beat loud enough that his brother heard it from the football stadium. Those earthly hues he enchanted everyone with, rimmed with thick, long, dark lashes that brushed his cheeks every time he closed his eyes, seemed to bore into her every time she looked into them and nearly lost herself. Suffering, loneliness, longing, desire; his eyes held all those deep seated emotions and for a moment she had to physically restrain herself from placing her palm on his cheek and softly asking him who hurt him so deeply.

Shaking her head, she pushes those thoughts down and reminds herself she’s probably seeing this comely man through the eyes of her wild imagination, her reality check lost somewhere on the ground ever since he bumped into her. "No. You haven't earned that yet." Smiling, she winks at him cheekily, enough to cause him to change his initial opinion - there is nothing innocent about her and he's more than willing to find out what hides in every dark corner and crease of her complicated mind.

He inhaled her scent as she passed him by, sauntering toward the entrance, purposefully too. She knew his eyes never left her form, she could sense his gaze taking her in, and usually she'd feel overexposed, making her self-conscious of every step she makes but she wanted to leave a lasting impression on him. For some unfathomable reason, Y/N found herself glancing over her shoulder at the grinning man, rushing inside faster to hide just how fast her heart is beating and how blushy his attention made her.

Shaking her head, she wondered why him. She wondered why would he be the first man to make her feel like that after years of never even looking at any man. One thing was certain - Y/N wanted to know every single part of Grayson Dolan's heart and soul.

He's not perfect as he seems, but she wants to know him, all his virtues and flaws and she wants to love and hate him and argue and cuddle and go on adventures and stay at home being lazy. She wants to hype him up and have him be her cheerleader too. It doesn't even have to be romantic in any sense even though she couldn't deny the spark she felt just by the way he looked at her. He would be a part of her life and she would make sure of it.

Rumors fly in small towns, there is nothing surprising about it. That's how Y/N had found out more than a few things about Grayson Dolan and apparently, he has a twin brother. When two guys manage to switch universities in their senior year and at the beginning of the summer semester, it’s bound to create a buzz.

From what she remembers, Grayson Dolan is very tall, muscular and from her vantage point, all she could say for certain is how sharp his jawline is. Of course, she managed to memorize his smirk and gaze, both intimidatingly intimate, the kind that grips your soul and haunts your dreams. He oozes charming confidence but also arrogance she'd usually frown upon. All in all, in few minutes she knew him, Grayson Dolan had left an impression worthy of an afterthought, the kind that turns into a daydream where your mind makes up scenarios that are highly unlikely to happen.

As it will turn out, she wasn't nearly as imaginative as she thought.

Taking her seat, relieved it's the last class for the day, Y/N glanced at the door, her eyes catching a striking man as he enters the room, his presence alone enough to make her question reality, pinching herself only to groan under her breath. In that very moment, his eyes met hers as if he could hear the silent pained 'ouch' she mumbled under her breath.

Averting her gaze, she sat up a little straighter, clearing her voice nervously before looking into her bag for a pen, anything to avoid eye contact with a guy she could easily tell was the fated twin of the man who was still taking over her waking thoughts and she was certain he'd be there when she closes her eyes too.

"Need a pen?" The low, dark voice makes her turn sideways, noticing the guy had taken the seat next to her without hesitation, his brown eyes focused on her with interest she truly wanted to squash. If anything, Y/N didn't want a guy too close to her, especially with what her father told her: "You're going to change the world one day. It's in your blood - our family blood."

Anyone would think it's just delirious talks at the end of a man's life, but there was something in his eyes when he told her, something she couldn't disregard.

"I got one." She shrugged, looking back at her bag, trying to remain calm despite feeling his lingering gaze on her.

Heat washed over her, the kind that comes when you're both embarrassed, nervous and extremely uncomfortable. The main reason for it all wasn't just Ethan but the fact that her pen was missing...and her back up pen too.

Ethan knew that too. She had no idea he had swiped them during lunch, aware he'd need a conversation starter with the girl his brother had decided was worthy of his attention after centuries of ignoring romance and love in any form. Ethan had expected a little more if he were completely honest, especially since Grayson spoke about her alluring blood and enticing personality, but he figured there's more beneath the surface.

Unlike his brother, Ethan loved making women giddy, enjoying every bit of attention his immortality gifted him with and what most humans never understood, it's that vampires have more than the gift of immortality kept by human blood.

Vampires have strength unimaginably greater than any human as well as speed no human eye could follow. Their skin isn't always cold, as long as they drink hot beverages or human blood, even their hearts might beat again. The sun won't hurt them, crosses and holy water and garlic wouldn't cause any damage either, but fire might - as well as their hearts pierced with a wooden stake or their head being chopped off? That’s a sure way to rid oneself of a vampire.

"Just take it." Ethan pushed one across the table, winking her way when she dares to look his way once more, enjoying the pink tinted cheeks barely covered with her hair way too much not to crack a smile - a smile that could melt a hundred hearts.

"Alright." Taking the pen, she clicks it eagerly, pressing her lips together to hold back a smile from him. "Thanks." And that's when the longest hour of her life began, completely unaware she became prey and not just in the eyes of the handsome twins that recently joined the campus, but of many more who'd come looking for her - a direct blood relative of Buffy Summers - the last vampire slayer and her power had finally awakened.

Completely unaware of her destiny, Y/N went about her day, falling asleep just a few minutes before midnight strikes, a certain vampire sitting nearby, listening to her breathing evening out and her heartbeat slowing down.

"Are you really going to stalk her now?" Ethan clicks his tongue, watching Grayson roll his eyes. "Don't be a cliche, brother. Either kill her and get it over with or leave her alone. It's not that hard."

Cracking his knuckles, Grayson narrows his eyes, a few dark, blood filled veins becoming increasingly prominent on his face and his once brown eyes are now clouded with darkness.

"Someone is here." Grayson whispers and Ethan chuckles.

"Yeah. Us."

"Are you really that dense? There is something creeping on that girl and it's not just us. And it smells foul." Scrunching his nose, Grayson whips his head around to her window, noticing a speedy shadow moving up the wall, and before he knows it, Grayson's instincts take over.

It only took a moment, but the next thing he knows, Grayson’s primal nature had acted for him and he was grateful. He couldn’t exactly sit by her bed and protect her all night – he couldn’t even enter her home without an invitation, but Grayson could at least protect her home.

Why?

Even he wasn’t sure on the actual reason.

"What the fuck did you do?" All he hears is her heartbeat, even as Ethan whisper shouts in his ear. All he can feel is her scent invading his senses once more, the foul stench of the creature he just beheaded no longer standing in the way.

"What I had to." Grayson spat on the body of the creature he killed without a second thought and he couldn't help but smile. As he did, the temperature fell a little. Even in the dim light of the streetlight Ethan saw his bared teeth.

"This is what will happen to anyone who dares touch her."

#dolan twins #grayson dolan #ethan dolan #grayson dolan x reader #ethan dolan x reader #ethan dolan fanfic #grayson dolan fanfic #grayson dolan vampire au #ethan dolan vampire au #grayson dolan fanfiction #grayson dolan fic

80 notes · View notes

random-mha-thoughts · 4 years

Text

Smile (Shinsou x Reader)

Pairing: Shinsou x Reader

For anon (request)

Genre: Slight angst to fluff

Summary: Shinsou has a crush on someone in 1-B and works up the courage to ask them on a date.

Tags: @wwwwyamd @yuki-osaki @liviitehe @iamsoftsodonttoucheume-blog @bunnythepipsqueak

Word count: 1,680

a/n: Ah, I missed writing for my tired purple boy. I just miss him in general, when I was searching for fanarts to post, I really was like “Damn I really miss Shinsou.” How many of you agree?

So this is a request that some of you have seen already, but I don’t quite want to spoil anything for anyone who’s new, so I’ll post it at the end. I'm glad I was able to extend this longer than I was planning, because I really only had just the one scene from the request in mind vividly and the rest I wrote as I went along.

I have 3 more requests, but I'm gonna take a break from them so I can write some of my own original ideas before starting those up again, so look forward to that! Enjoy this one!

(Also gender neutral pronouns they/them coming through!)

Buy me a coffee?

Shinsou first saw his crush at the beginning of the first semester. He was taken by their quirk, a pretty flashy light quirk. From what he overheard while they were telling their 1-B friend - he was totally not stalking, Shinsou doesn't stalk people - they can control the color of the light to do different things.

"Red light is a heat laser, green light heals, yellow warms things, blue cools things," they explained, the proudest smile on their face. "I'd say it's pretty versatile. And the more saturated the colors are, the more powerful they work!"

Shinsou was already intrigued by their quirk, but seeing their face light up was like icing on an already delicious cake. The sparkle in their hazel eyes, adorably smaller form that's the right right height for him to kiss their head, a smile he already decided he wanted to protect. If only he could go over there and ask them to tell him more about their quirk, but he was afraid that his intimidating figure would scare them away. Discouraged, he walked back to his own class to mope. Crushes and him never worked out in the past anyway; once they found out about his quirk, they would either run for the hills or try to abuse him.

However, he still longed to be with them. He found himself naturally searching through a crowd to find them. Each time, they would have the most brilliant smile on their face as they chatted with their friends. It always put a smile on Shinsou's face that they were happy being in the company of good friends. More and more, he found himself craving them to smile at something he said, to pat their head to greet them, just to hold them in his arms for a warm hug. It became less of a want and more of a need, but he held himself back for his heart's sake.

After the Sports Festival came and went, Shinsou had a change of heart. He's not a villain, he will only appear that way if he comes off like that. He won't let his quirk define him, and he'll make a much more pleasant impression so they wouldn't think of him as dark. He took the opportunity to work on himself as a person, gain more confidence in himself so he can put his best foot forward. He's won't let himself lack in any department, he'll only show the best parts of himself and present himself to them in a new-and-improved form.

After training with Aizawa for a while - not to mention bulking up quite a bit to improve his chances - Shinsou decides on the right time to face them. The purple haired boy practically shakes with anticipation the entire day. During his last class, he rehearses the words he's wanted to say since he first saw them.

"You're such a bright, shining person. To me, you stand out among everyone else. I'd like to get to know you better, would you mind going out with me?"

He second guesses every word and intonation, convinced that even the slightest error would throw the entire mood off and send the whole thing crashing down. He won't let that happen.

The final bell rings and Shinsou's practically the first person to jump from him seat, throw his belongings haphazardly into his bag, and rush out the door of the school building. Stationing himself at a nearby bench, he waits for them to come out, tapping his foot impatiently while still trying to look casual shoving his hands in his pockets.

Scanning the crowd of exiting students like a human radar, he searches for that smile he adores. His heart practically beats out of his chest when he locks onto them, homing in on them without paying any mind to the surrounding students. He collects himself and breathes, keeping in step behind them. They're talking to a friend of their's, going on about hero training and homework. He could listen to them talk indefinitely if he wanted, but then he wouldn't have the chance to confess his feelings.

Just you practiced big guy, go on. Do it for that precious smile. Shinsou gathers his wits and approaches just a bit closer. Do I say "hey?'" "Hi?" "Yo?" Damn it, just do what's natural! Calm down! He bites the bullet. "Hey." He's proud that it sounds casual enough.

The apple of his eye turns around curiously, their smile just faltering slightly from their conversation with their friend.

Take it away big guy. "Hey, I noticed you around. I think you're-"

It's then he notices. The way their eyes widen, the smile drops completely from their face, their skin turns pale, and Shinsou isn't sure why. He's sure he didn't say anything wrong, he's barely said anything. "Is-"

They let out a yelp and hide behind their friend, squeezing their eyes shut and quivering. Beyond bewilderment, Shinsou's chest hurts as his world darkens. The one person he wanted to smile at him and lighten his life plunged him into despairing blackness. All his fear of people hating him for his quirk and being frightened of him resurfaced. He feels naked, vulnerable, and ashamed all at once standing there frozen.

"You have to forgive them, it's not your fault." The friend offers a sympathetic smile.

"Did I do something wrong?" The entire ego he's spent the last few months popped in two seconds flat.

"No, it's not you, trust me." The girl pats the frightened soul behind her on the had to comfort them. "You see, they have a deathly fear of purple."

It almost sounds like some twisted joke, a prank the universe was playing on him for some unknown reason. "Oh. I see." That's all Shinsou manages to say in response. At least he's doing his best not to show how heartbroken he is.

"Sorry about that," the girl flashes another sheepish smile in half-comfort while his crush drags her away by the arm to escape what anyone from the outside would think is a monster.

And the monster is him.

Shinsou is way past disgruntled once he gets home. He doesn't know what to do now, what can he do now. Giving up would be the easiest thing to do, especially with how dejected he feels. The thing that hurts him the most is his sunshine who he never saw without their smile didn't smile when they were around him, all because of something else about him that he can't change.

He swiftly sits up from his laying position as an idea strikes him. Or can he?

Two weeks later, Shinsou shows up to school so people barely recognize him. He'd bought one of those hair coloring conditioners in black and washed his hair with it last night, and the brown colored contacts arrived shortly after he placed his order online. Shinsou isn't the type of guy to give up that easily, and for someone he really wants to get to know, he'll make it work. If he can temporarily change his appearance just to get to know them first, maybe he can be the one to help them get over their fear little by little.

Shinsou brushes away all the comments about his drastic appearance change; he's doing it for them and that's all that matters. He decides this time to just approach them at lunchtime, no dramatic openers or well-timed moments; a friendly conversation is just as good an introduction as he can get now.

He approaches them while throwing away their lunch alone, tapping their shoulder. "Hey." He holds his breath when they turn around again, eyes scanning his figure for recognition. "You don't know me, I'm in 1-C, we haven't spoken before."

A friendly grin spreads on their face. "Oh, it's good to meet you!"

The boy inwardly cheers in victory. "I'm Shinsou, your name is?"

"(Y/n)."

He rubs the back of his neck. He wants to be honest, but doesn't know how they'll take it. "I tried to talk to you a few weeks ago, but you were startled and ran off before I could say anything."

Their hazel eyes widen slightly before guilt morphs into their features. "Oh, you're that guy. I'm really sorry I did that to you, I must've made you feel awful." They groan, a sound Shinsou admittedly finds cute, red color rushing to their cheeks, "And you even changed your hair color and everything, I'm really sorry!"

"Hey, it's okay." Shinsou offers empathetically, "You shouldn't feel bad about things that you have no control over." He knows that feeling all too well. "I put the effort in because I want to get to know you better, it's not something you should feel bad about. I think you're cool, from what I've seen. We should hang out."

The boy can tell how taken back but grateful they are, a deep rooted appreciation shines from their eyes and more color saturating their cheeks. "I'm not that special, but I think you're a cool guy for doing this for me."

Shinsou's heart can't help but feel captured once again by their vulnerability. "It's what's on the inside that matters, I guess. Can I join you for the rest of lunch?"

And finally, he's rewarded with what he's wanted to see: His bright light shows him a beaming, toothy grin that crinkles up their eyes and puffs out their cheeks; it's a smile that's directed straight at him. As his heart thumps wildly in his chest, the boy thinks he can die happily in this very moment. "Of course! Let's go sit."

It takes him a moment and a cough to clear his throat before he's back on Earth, nodding and following them back to their table. As they walk next to him, he steals a few glances down, hoping that nothing else goes wrong. Even if they do, he knows he'll have to find a way to work around them. With that battery-charging smile, he knows he can figure out the solution to any problem.

So the full request from Anon was: “Hey you could take ALL the time at this but it wouldn't be sad if Shinsou's crush, the reader, is porphyrophobic. That means the reader is scared of the color purple. Have a good day!"

I hope I did it justice, it was originally gonna be just full angst, but it would only be drabble length, so I took it a step further. I hope it made you guys feel all warm inside :3

#Shinsou x reader #shinsou angst #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #shinsou hitoshi #angst to fluff #gender neutral reader #request #shinsou imagine #shinsou scenario #mha shinsou #bnha shinsou #mha x reader #bnha x reader #mha fanfiction #bnha fanfiction

204 notes · View notes

gukptune · 4 years

Text

Pairing: jimin x reader, member x reader

Genre: angel!au, angel!jimin, angelhunter!reader, fallen angel!member, unrequited love?

Warnings: explicit language, gore, unhealthy sibling relationship, funny business, loads of sexual tension, eventual smut

Summary: only once in a blue moon do an angels fall from the skies, to the luck of a young angel hunter an angel fell right into her hands.

Words: 6.6k+

Note: This has been in the works for the longest time!!! This is a multiple members x reader, but the second member is revealed in the story! I’ll add them to the tags a few days after the release, spoilerss. I hope you guys will like it, it’s very original (i hope).

The crunching of snow, crumbling at the heel of your shoes. The pure white earth blending with the light blue sky of the early morning, the only sign of ground being that of the overgrown Oak trees, bare of leaves with only some stringy twigs remaining. With the occasional cuties running across the ground and little furry creatures, lightening your mood by the minute.

The crisp wind slicing the bare skin of your cheeks. Your fingertips tightening around the leather wrap of the basket in your hand.

Skipping over the protruding roots of the Oaks, you make your way towards the far creek, far enough for your heels to start aching. The wisps of your hair brushing past your cheeks in strange patterns, as if it was getting rougher. Giving you a sense of unease. You faced the direction of which the wind originated letting the air rush past your ears as you watched the obscurity in the distance.

It looked like nothing special to the usual eye, but you weren’t usual. If you were just anyone else, you’d just assume it was some bird flying in a strange circle and you would have gone about your day. A sinking feeling maybe had found itself within you, was it really that time again?

Instantly, you forgot about the basket and your search for the pollen, it wasn’t as important now that you’ve seen that.

You ran like your life depended on it back towards Hearth. As soon as you reached the gates your fellow mates faces twisted with confusion at the usually calm collected girl running like a crazed witch ablaze.

“Brother! Brother!” You yelled, as you reached the castle’s courtyard, hoping to get a sense of his direction. Within an instant one of the hunters raised his finger in the right direction. You thanked him quickly running into the left wing, he must be in the library.

Blasting the damned door open, you scurried about. Whipping your head around, you finally see the spot in which his dark hair illuminated by the large window. He’s completely covered in thick fur, making your nose flare but you couldn’t think too much of it now. Your tapping heels quivered his ears enough to make him expect your arrival but the look on his face changed when he sees how distressed you looked.

“What happened—”

“I saw one, it fell in Ivory Orchard—well not really. I was near it and it was falling east from the direction of Hallow Creek,” You spit out, catching your breath with your hands on your knees bracing yourself.

Your brother’s eyebrows cocked, “Are you sure?

“Yes! I’m sure, Taehyung—you know it was suppose to happen weeks ago, it’s here now,” You told him.

The look on his face was doubt and worry, of course, you had just given him hope for the season. It had been slow and well, it was about time. You’ve all been lacking in game.

“I’ll get the Guild out,” Taehyung got up, dropping his book on his seat as he pushes past you without a glance.

You were fuming, knowing damn well what he meant, “The Guild?”

“Yes, if you saw one there’s always bound to be more than one,” He responds, marching towards the main hall with you trailing behind him.

He was walking fast, and you were walking even faster than him. Managing to get in front of him you scoffed, “I found it.”

“Doesn’t fucking matter if you’ve seen him, y/n, only matters when you catch one,” His eyes burned into yours.

Grunting you made your way past him, “So I’ll go fucking get it.”

Before you could get far, he roughly grabbed you, pulling you back, “You’ve never caught one, shit, you’ve never even fucking seen one up close Y/n. Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Neither have you.” Friendly rivalry wasn’t something that ran in your family, it was rather brutal. You all wanted to be the epitome, the best. Never given the chance yet now was that time.

You didn’t understand his anger, you gave him information, if there were many why would he be worried that he wouldn’t have the kill.

“Y/n, look at yourself. You’re kidding yourself if you think you’d actually kill one of them.”

“Look at you, we both know I’m more hunter than you are—Father’s said it, Mother’s too fucking nice to tell you the truth,” You spat.

Reality was hard on him, you know that. Since childhood you’ve excelled past him. It was humiliating, you knew it. Whilst you were praised for your talents, Taehyung was considered a waste. You were twins, they considered you the blessed twin thinking that you excelled past many because you got all your Father’s talent leaving none for your twin, making him the lesser.

Your parents never treated you guys differently, but neither was your father a liar. He was honest, to the point, wouldn’t bullshit whatsoever, whenever Taehyung would slack, he’d get in trouble. You never thought Taehyung would ever grow into a hunter, you never thought he wanted to be one. You two used to share a bedroom where he’d constantly be reading, dreaming and drawing. He’d follow you on herb hunts to merely draw the flowers, he was strong, physically but he couldn’t stand the sight of blood.

During your physical maturity he passed out seeing the red stains on your bedsheets, he also cried thinking you were going to die. You were close, as close as any twin could be until he could finally understand the stares and murmurs he’d get about being the lesser twin. It was then, when you were both sixteen when he broke away finding his own group of friends and leaving you alone. You didn’t seek friendship, neither did you try.

Your brother became his own person, of course many would still talk when you needed to stand together side by side with your Father but otherwise, he was his own man. A man many women lusted for and well, had. He became a true man-whore. Picking women like they were toys he could discard, one of the reasons why you preferred being away from him. That and his disgusting friends, none of which were worthy enough to be called hunters.

He kept his mouth shut, his eyes dropping towards your shaking hands. You knew he can’t stand in your way. Pushing past him you rushed to your bedroom to ready up. Gathering all the gear you’d need, gathering your thoughts for the first time—a lifetime of training to finally kill—

An angel.

The long day had drained into a long night, teams of what few hunters existed unearthed the area. Ripping apart the little greenery and even threatening the villagers around. You rolled your eyes at their attempt, of course the people around here despised your kind—mostly out of fear and hatred.

Hunters, they should be grateful. The kingdom does nothing to protect them, only the Hunters do the dirty work, getting paid little for it, leading Hunters like yourself to sell your catch to others that would pay a high price for it. Including, alchemists who’d used the parts for their craft, or wealthy nobles who’d consumed them for holistic beliefs. Or if desperate you’d even trade them to witches.

Of course, many hunters lurked for different hunts, you were the most daring kind. Angel Hunters, hunting the feathered that fell from the sky during a blue moon. They’d all fall the same time and scatter around the world for safety, their safety whilst causing chaos to your world. They’re of high priority to the royals and rich, they love to hang their precious wings on their walls for status. Getting their asses kissed by those that desire to be them as they gloat about their hunt, eluding the fact that you, angel hunters like you, get drenched in blood getting those pretty wings for them.

As much as you hated angels, you hated those people way more.

The snow had started to level, stomped on by your people. You had lost hope at this point, you weren’t going to get that angel, over the hill you could see your brother ordering men around to find the angel. They’ve found a feather, so now they’re determined.

Most Angel Hunters were men, they could handle their strength easier, it was just the truth yet the rare females were always stronger, if we inherit it that is. You weren’t going to come out this far again anytime soon in this weather if you hadn’t thought it would be the right chance to finally get that pollen, before it’s all gone.

Huffing you trudged over towards the ravenous creek, known to have killed many little children from neighbouring villages apparently. Good, you didn’t have to worry of teeny devils getting in your way, you’d gladly push them into the water in fact.

The red pollen plant popped clearly against the white snow, you fell on your knees, deep in snow as you eyed the plant trying to get a sense of a good one. Needing a healthy, juicy one to properly extract. Turning around you grabbed your bag and pulled out a small drawstring bag, lined inside with leather and wool on the outer. Leather to keep the plant from getting into the fabric, with edition from the wool keeping it all dry. You continued to pick at all the pollen you could.

It was strangely serene, the sound of rolling water and the occasional chirping from birds. If only you could sit here forever, if only that wasn’t extremely boring.

Getting off your bum, began to get back, eyeing a large group of pollen, excitement filled you as you ran towards it. One of your hands, trying to wisp it all up, causing a stain on your bare skin, your eyes widening in shock as the stain began to drip off you onto the dusted white snow illuminated by the night sky.

What—

This wasn’t pollen. It was blood, it wasn’t just any blood, fresh blood. At this point in the season and time, no animal was out hunting. It was hard to believe at first that it was blood, but the smell was enough to secure that thought. No more second guessing, it has to be.

Your head whipped around, looking for any signs of more blood, hopefully a trail. The damned thing lost what seemed like a ‘death approaching’ load of blood.

A thrill shot through you, a trail. Not just any, a trail any animal could smell from far away.

Instantly, you rushed towards the droplets. Red and fresh, hard to see in the darkness but reeks enough to tell you it was close.

You knew this area well, you knew everywhere very well. Thanks to your talented twin who’d sketch maps and locations all the time, you managed to remember most of it, without his permission of course. You could only think of one place it would be hiding in.

There it was—whimpering.

Heavy breathing.

Your heart raced, somehow in the tiniest place in your head you wished it wasn’t an angel, hoping it would be anything but that, yet there in the thorny bushes circling(circling) around a bare space where a large white oak once sat before lightening took it down. Approaching it, you gripped the blade in your waist. Unsheathing it and twirling it in your hand to point in its direction. Within the ring of bushes, you saw something over the thorns. Stealthily you hopped over the bush, landing without a sound. Seemingly your previous skills worked wonders in this case, you were used to doing dirty deeds for others with enemies.

You circled the white fluff covering the ground, its feathered covering it from danger but also from knowing of approaching danger like yourself. Your heart raced, you felt like it was beating out of your chest at this point. Choking you up slightly, beating at the base of your throat. Your chest heaving trying to keep yourself calm.

Calm like the wind.

Finally getting around to a point where you could see light hair peeking out of the large wings. A weighted feeling filled you, it was just like you, looked like you. Human but winged, you blinked away your thoughts, they weren’t the right things to be thinking right now, those things were scums.

Before your feelings could get in the way of duty again, you lifted the blade to strike at it, where it would kill within an instant. With your body ready to strike a twig snapping underneath your feet causing light coloured eyes to blink into life.

A gasp left your lips as its wings feathered outwards, pushing it back away from you within an instant. As the wings spread apart it revealed the being that hid underneath the soft surface. Its eyes ripped apart with a shriek spilling from its lips.

The being scrambled towards the far end, pushing itself into the vines of the thorns and razor-sharp leaves, visibly leaving dents into its wings—feathers puffing through the air.

You hovered over it, trying your hardest to focus on your intentions, gripping the hilt of your knife so hard your hand could literally turn red. As you took in its physical attributes you saw it all.

The angel’s pure white lashes over its light eyes glimmering in the moon lit night, pupils directing its gaze towards the glistening dagger in your hand. Its bare chest heaving as it finally meets your gaze.

Your breath hitched as you could feel your heart tighten at the thing in front of you, seemingly so innocent, pure, nothing like you were raised to believe. It didn’t seem to be a shell filled with evil but rather, a terrified, frail, losing, prey.

Its white skin covered with scratches, blood, even dirt. Snow peppering on the ends of its relatively messy hair, as a flake falls right on the end of its button nose, you sneered causing your prey to whimper, not truly from its attempt to duck but from its strained movement.

As it laid on its side, you laid eyes on the palm that grasped its waist, holding onto a large wound, dirtied with twigs and grass. Its bare feet kicking even though it did nothing to get up, it was pathetic, even sad how hard it was trying but in the end it does nothing to help.

You stepped closer to it, blinking towards it, finding a spot for you to strike. It squinted in pain, its mouth shivering as it managed a few words, “Please—I—I won’t hurt you.”

It spoke the language you do and for some odd reason you didn’t expect that. Of course, you’ve heard the tales, gotten the lectures and studies about Angels but to finally be in front of one and getting the information firsthand was just—different.

“You can’t hurt me even if you tried,” You spat, narrowing your eyes at the angel’s wounds. It took note, nodding as it lets out a deep breath seemingly spacing out.

Its head whirling, as its eyes kept drooping.

You couldn’t help but feel sympathetic, but you couldn’t show it, “Gosh, from all the tales I’ve been told to fear those like you—you don’t live up to your reputation angel.”

It blinks, puffing its cheeks before responding, “Fear me? I don’t—I’m sorry?”

You cocked your head with confusion, maybe the thing was losing braincells, “Don’t play dumb.”

The look on its face was enough to answer that. You shook your head pointing your blade at it, “Your kind fall from the sky to disturb the peace on our lands. No one in our world believes the folklore that was told to us as gullible children, that ’angels are messengers of god’ if anything you all serve the devil.”

Its eyes widened with disbelief, murmuring to itself. Pulling itself together it looked to you, “Is that what you believe? That we’re descendants of the devil?”

Its eyes watered. You couldn’t believe it, it must be acting, faking it for your sympathy maybe it would survive. Or it was stupid.

“I don’t believe in much of what they say, I believe in what I see—”

“And do you see the devil?” It cuts you off, “Please, we’re here to help.”

“Help with what exactly, it’s been centuries since your kind was valuable to us in terms of ‘help’ let’s just say—” You dropped to your knees, your hand striking your blade onto the end of the angels wing causing it to shriek out in pain.

“—nobles value your kind for reasons that you’d rather not know of.”

It nods, knowing that it’d survive longer agreeing than fighting you.

“You’re one of those angel hunters…aren’t you?” Its voice wavering, tears ran right down its face now, dropping all over its bare chest and—thighs.

Yours eyes looked down subconsciously, seeing exactly what you didn’t intend on looking at. You looked away, blade still plunged into the angel’s wing. Its shaking hand hovered over your own, suddenly it drops onto your skin. The angel’s hand was cold and delicate over your torn-up knuckles and broken nails.

It saw the hesitation in you, with every step you doubted. It wasn’t stupid at all. It read you, it understood you. It showed this, “We aren’t bad—we’re brought down here to help you all. We’re just messengers of heaven we have no ill thought or even the means to do such bad things.”

You didn’t want to listen to it, not at all. “Please—”

Its cries struck within your core.

“Then what are you here to do, angel.” As much as you didn’t want your heart to win against your head it always managed to. You blankly stared awaiting a response from the feathered being.

He breathes deeply before his eyes sank into your own, “To teach what can’t be taught through violence and pain.”

An overbearing weight on your shoulder told you it was a mistake, the little devil on your shoulder said to just stab him in the back right now—right through his heart—the back of his head through his eye sockets.

But you couldn’t even imagine doing that, fuck, what was wrong.

You felt pathetic, like a failure. All your life you trained to finally lay eyes on your prey, to kill him and take his wings like the savages you were supposed to be. But you can’t, it felt so wrong. Your skin crawled, itched, grew hives thinking of it. That feeling in your chest, squeezing tightly within you had just made you the weakest link of all, a hunter who couldn’t hunt.

Here he was, the angel you thought to kill, walking in front of you with your overcoat covering him and his large wings. From afar he merely looked like an extremely pale boy with glittery hair and features, walking barefoot. His wings wouldn’t retract, he said from his injuries he can’t make himself hide it, he needed to heal first. What were you even doing?

He would look back every now and then, was he making sure you weren’t going to kill him or whether you’re still following him. You were guiding him to your home, you chose to be behind him to get a view of him and whatever upcoming dangers. You didn’t tell him another reason was to keep him where you could see, you didn’t trust him, not fully. He had his way with words, somehow so eloquent with his words and so convincing, maybe it was one of his traits, lying.

You decided to take him the long way that would allow you both to arrive behind the castle at Venandi Hallows, you weren’t about to drag an angel right through the front gates into the training ground for all the hunters who trained after dark to jump him and neither were you going back the same way you came to face your twin and have him see what you’ve decided to do, gosh he would be so angry, disappointed, he wouldn’t believe himself.

The angel cradled your coat around himself like a child, as he padded through the snow, the closer you got to home the more nervous you became. Hopefully no one would be out the back at this moment in the night.

“Is this the place?” His voice echoed, dragging you back to reality.

You blinked at the view ahead, nodding, “Yes, it is. We better be quick unless you want to die.”

He looked back at you, giving you a visible full nod as he side stepped for you to lead. You didn’t look him in the eye as you passed him, even feeling his radiating heat, must’ve been an angel thing which would explain how he was able to withstand the freezing weather with nothing on and not get hypothermia or well, die.

Your bedroom was the only place you knew as safe, no one would dare walk in unannounced. It was also further up the tower than most other bedrooms, the only problem being your brother who might’ve been in his room across your own.

For safe measures you locked the door as secure as you could, for some reason you felt a sense of possessiveness over the angel. The angel that now, still draped with your raven black coat, sat on your cotton sheets. He feels at the fabric underneath him, his gentle small hand brushing over it with such curiosity.

“What am I supposed to do now,” You mumbled.

The angel heard you. His eyes watch you pace back and forth around your room with such worry. You could feel his burning eyes. He lets out a squeak before he seals his lips shut, he wanted to say something, but he didn’t know if he could. You pause, looking over at him to lock eyes with him.

His chest freezes mid breath, he doesn’t even blink, staring back at you.

“You wanted to say something, angel.”

The angel nods, taking a deep breath before he responds, “I apologise for putting you in this position.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is. You didn’t need to help me, I don’t know why you did but I thank you… for saving my life. I owe my entire existence to you, I shall serve you until your last breath.”

That was unexpected. You didn’t want this, no, you wanted to get rid of him but instead he’s devoting himself to you just like that. You recalled the events earlier, groaning with frustration. He mentioned ‘we’ as he spoke, could that possibly mean there were multiple here to serve whatever purpose that he was here for as well.

“You mentioned something earlier, I want to know whether there’s more of you,” You asked.

The angel froze again, looking down at his hands whilst twisting them about, “Yes, there are.”

He seemed troubled having to express this. You didn’t expect him to be so straightforward to you.

“Angel. What are you actually here to do,” You pushed, stepping closer to him. You see him tense up. The little hairs on his skin standing up.

He closes his eyes for a few seconds, “I was sent to fall because of a prayer.”

“A prayer? Could you speak with sense! Stop speaking in metaphors.”

“They aren’t metaphors. A girl called for us, she’s spent her entire life praying for us to come here and we’ve finally been able to,” He explained, his voice wavering as if he was going to break out in tears.

It caused you to feel a squeeze in your chest.

“Who’s the girl.”

“I don’t know.”

This wasn’t going the way you wanted. You’d had hoped if there was a name, you’d take him to her, and he’d finally leave. You move yourself over towards a vacant chair, dropping yourself on it as if you were some heavy load.

The groan that left your lips and the hands that rubbed against your face told the angel that you were burdened by him. He felt awful, “I—I’d like to know your name.”

“My—my name? Why would you need to know that?”

“I don’t need to know it, but I’d like to know it.”

You sighed, “Y/n.”

“Y/n. Y/n…” The angel mumbles your name quietly, you could only see his lips move while he pronounces the word, “My name is Jimin.”

“Jimin? Strange name for an angel.”

He nods, letting out a breathy laugh, “I know. I was told to use this name when I’m here, it was my name before I died.”

Before he died. So, it was true that angels were the souls of those that passed. He must’ve done a lot of good to become an angel. Maybe he was the kindest person to exist, he seemed like he was. He was changing a lot of your assumptions of his kind, they weren’t so scary, they weren’t murderers of yet, nor were they seemingly ‘spawns of the devil’.

“Do you like being an angel?”

“Yes. I get to help people. I get to see things people don’t get to see. Most importantly I get to meet incredible people…if I was never an angel, I would’ve never met you.” His words were sweet, too sweet for a world like your own.

“I—“

“Y/n!” A loud knock in the door made you jump off your seat, “It’s me, we’ve caught one.”

It was your brother. He’s, he’s actually caught one. You look towards Jimin, his expression showed everything—he was scared, worried for his fellow angel. He begins to get up, your coat slipping off his body.

“No! Sit down,” You whisper shouted, motioning for him to stay seated. For his own safety and your eyes’ purity.

You knew you had to go out to see it, hoping Jimin would listen and stay put, “I’ll be there in a second, brother.”

You hear him respond before his footsteps echo further and further away. Breathing a sigh of relief, you hear Jimin ask, “That’s your brother? He sounds… scary, did he catch an angel?”

“I think so.”

“Please—I need to help him—“

“No, I’ll figure something out, just please don’t go anywhere,” You cut him off, pleading at him, “I… I don’t want to lose you, okay?”

His face flushes red, his eyes widening. Jimin nods rapidly, settling himself into your bed. You don’t know what had gotten into you, there was just an overwhelming sense that filled you. But it wasn’t important right now.

You rush out of the door, taking one last look back at him. He gives you a worried smile, assuring you that he’d stay put but also showing that he was worried.

The race downstairs was quick, you could hear the loud shouting coming from the dungeons right away. It was indeed your father and brother arguing. You pushed past all the people in the way to get a proper look at the situation.

The angel tied up in the centre of the room, he was hanging from his bound wrist off the ceiling. He was terribly wounded, and his eyes couldn’t even stay open. Something strange did stand out amidst the argument.

Your father takes one look to realise you were here, “Y/n, tell me why your brother caught a defective angel.”

“A what?”

Taehyung growls, “Father said that this angel is defective, take a look at it.”

You knew what he meant, the angel didn’t have pure white hair, or pure white wings. They were black, pitch black. He was much larger than Jimin. You’ve read about these types of angels before. Fallen angels.

You knew one way that could allow him to live, one way.

“He’s a fallen angel,” You announced, the angel’s ears perked. He looks up at you from between the space of your father and brother. His naked body, glimmering in the candle lit room.

His left eye bruised and cut, his body covered in stab wounds, yet he still stood on his knees with dominance.

“So, it won’t sell,” Taehyung spat, “Like I fucking said, Dad.”

Your father curses, whipping his hand at the crowd of hunters motioning for them to leave. He lets out a sound of frustration.

“It’s been months since we caught one, Taehyung you need to lead a proper hunt. Y/n, I know you’re a good tracker, I know you can do this alone. We won’t survive without another one, please.”

That was all he said. Your father walks away without another word, knowing that you two would do as he told. You sighed, seeing your brother in distraught.

“Tae—“

“Don’t talk. I need to figure this out,” He interrupts, mumbling some plans to himself.

You look at the poor angel on the ground, probably wondering what his fate would be. “What about him.”

“It. Will die,” Taehyung pulls out his pocket watch, “With cuts like that, he’ll bleed out anyway. A painful death for a worthless hunt.”

Your brother doesn’t bother saying another word or sparing you a glance when he leaves. Stomping his way out of the dungeons leaving you standing across from the tainted soul. You took in his appearance this time.

Stepping closer, you see him try to move backward away from you with fear.

You continued, eyeing him. His hair was tousled, curly and longer than Jimins’. His body was stocky and buff, much more than Jimin. He was naked of course, you were trying to avoid eye contact with his privates. His thighs, his very muscular thighs, were what your eyes couldn’t part with.

You walk towards the table against the wall, pulling out the fabric underneath the gruesome tools and tossed it at his crotch. Completely covering him up. The angel’s head turned up, his eyes snaps towards you.

His lips curled into a smirk, “Can’t stand the sight of me?”

You tilt your head. He’s indeed very different.

“I bet you feel disappointed.”

“Disappointed?”

“Yes, in your men. I’d be disappointed too if I looked like them,” He laughs, his body language filled with arrogance. Well he was very deviant compared to Jimin.

His bounded hands rustled, the chains clanged against each other, he was getting off his knees. You see the way he didn’t care that the cloth had dropped off his crotch, he stood fiercely over you. His broad shoulders covering most of the light behind him.

He cocked his head sideways, narrowing his eyes into you. You hold your head up high unmoving, you didn’t want to show him that you were intimidated whatsoever.

“You look different from most of the hunters I’ve seen.”

“You’ve seen more than this?” You motioned behind you where the hunters were.

He nods his head, “You aren’t the only camp of hunters, darling.”

The word he used shot a spike through you.

“By that I assume that you’ve survived their hunt, why have you lost to this one?”

The angel bites the side of his lip, “A bad day, I guess.”

From the little experience you’ve had, he was the first fallen angel you’ve ever seen or even talked to. He was indeed fearless, he didn’t even flinch when your brother mentioned he was to die. He was so, ominous.

“You have a big ego.”

“No, I think I’m just confident.”

“You think you’re better than everyone—“

The angel clicks his tongue, “No, I just know I’m better than everyone around here. Don’t lie to yourself, all the sad brutes you house, they don’t compare to me. Be honest, wouldn’t you rather suck my cock than theirs?”

His perverted words should’ve made you feel disgusted, but instead somehow you were confused, your body was confused.

“How are you so shameless.” You took a look around to make sure no one else heard a thing.

He raises his eyebrow at you, “You’re the only pretty thing I’ve seen in years. How could I not be, I want to live too.”

So, he was trying to use you to save himself, great. You rolled your eyes, watching as the angel twists himself around possibly stretching out his sores and aches, giving you a look at his flexing abs in the process.

“Come on, it’s not like you’re not keeping a little secret already.”

You felt nerves rising up your spine, your face heating.

“I can smell the angel you have, no one else knows?” He grins, “You’re one naughty hunter, aren’t ‘ya.”

“I think you need to shut up,” You said with a low menacing tone, “I could kill you.”

The angel nods, grinning to himself, “But you won’t. You’re too nice.”

Nice, in a world like this nice didn’t exist. It was a pity and the rare sense of sympathy from most. You just couldn’t process the fact that the damned angel had figured it out already, why didn’t Jimin tell you that angels could smell each other.

“If you help me, I’ll be on my way and you can keep your little white angel.”

You had to, there was no other way.

“And how do I do that, I’m no doctor.”

“The angel can heal—“

“Then why can’t you?”

He sighs, rolling his eyes at you, “Like you said, I’m a fallen angel. I’m not like him, I’m the worthless leftover of heaven. Why do you think they tossed me away, why my wings turned black and my hair burnt away?”

“Alright then, just don’t make a sound, okay?”

He seemed pleased that he managed to convince you. Standing up straighter, his face flinching whilst you tried to unchain him. It was rather easy to pick these chains. The chains dropped to the ground with a rattle, the angel breathed a sigh of freedom. Rubbing his wrists with a pure smile on his face.

“Now, where’s your friend?”

You didn’t think this through very well, you were never good at making plans. You did manage to sneak the angel up, his wings were massive though, but you were thankful that everyone was at dinner instead of the living courters.

Pushing the door open you see Jimin curled up under your blanket, sleeping away with a peaceful look on his face.

When you shut the door leaving all of you finally alone. The angel flutters his wings out, it was then that you realised that the bottom half of one of his wings were missing. He sighed, taking it in his hands. He brushes it against his face, closing his eyes to savour it. You did find beauty in the darkness of his wings, you’d like to think he did too.

He saw you watch him, locking eyes with you he gave you a foreign expression.

“He’s sleeping,” You said.

The angel nods, “I can see that. We can wait.”

He sits himself in the chair you once sat in, making himself comfortable. You see his wounds start leaking blood again, you couldn’t help but feel like you needed to do something.

“Would you survive the night, with cuts like that?”

“I don’t know,” He revealed, his voice showed signs of doubt. He flicked his eyes back and forth between his stomach and your face, “At least I’ll die with a pretty girl looking over me.”

“Shut up. You won’t die.”

You walked towards the end of your bed where you kept most of the supplies for accidents. Rustling through the chest, you came across some tonics, chemicals and gauze. Hopefully it would stop the bleeding. You also picked up the thing you hated, needles and thread, you could never imagine using them for wounds neither did you even dare watch someone use it.

You marched over to the dark angel, setting the supplies on the desk behind him where you usually worked. His eyes watched your hand drop the stuff down, he furrows his eyebrows at it.

“What’s that going to do?”

You took a deep breath, “Hopefully, it will seal you up.”

His face was plastered with doubt still, he must’ve never seen such things. You wouldn’t blame him he wasn’t human after all. You pulled up another chair to place in front of him. Picking up a thin blanket on the way, holding it out to him.

He looks between you and the blanket again, “What do I do with this?”

“Cover yourself up, I don’t need to see your…uhm that, or breath over it when I stitch you up,” You sat on the chair.

The angel’s face twists to a grin, his eyebrows curving playfully, “I wouldn’t mind you breathing over my cock if you wanted.”

He sees the look on your face and immediately covers himself. You weren’t in the place to play along right now or argue. You just needed to make sure he wouldn’t die in his sleep.

“It’s going to hurt.”

“It won’t hurt as much as getting my feathers ripped out.”

You wanted to apologise, for the shit he went through. The shit your brother did to him, or made others do to him. It was so unnecessary, usually we hunt angels with the purpose of selling them whole now a days. Keeping them pretty, but of course your brother was angry that he wasn’t a proper angel, so he took it out on him.

“I’m going to start, okay,” You told him, your hands shaking as you held the needle.

He notices this, taking your hand in his large warm hands, “I don’t know what you’re going to do but it’s okay, it won’t hurt me.”

You appreciate his motivation, nodding. You clean him up a little before beginning. Right at the first incision his hand drops to your thigh, gripping onto it, “Oh fuck.”

You let out a little chuckle unknowingly.

“Oh yes, it’s real funny.”

“I’m sorry!”

He shakes his head letting out a smile, “Yea, yea.”

You started with the wound closest to his chest, then you went down. Closing three of them up and having one left. The last one being on the side of his pelvis. He pushes himself further towards the end of the chair, leaning himself back giving you more space. But with that given space his thighs spread over your own, trapping you in between his own.

You lean over his crotch, resting your elbow between the joint of his hips and thigh. Surprisingly he lacked hair in almost every part of his body but his head. His eyes never leaving you, watching you seal up his cuts.

His hands shaking from the pain, you could see from the corner of your eyes they came close to your face. His hand lightly brushes the fallen strand of hair behind your ear, you paused, not knowing where to look.

You blinked up at him. His face seemingly getting closer…and closer. His wavering hand, slipping behind your nape, pulling you closer to him. Now he was the one breathing over you, his lips so close. His eyes locked with yours, the dark eyes seemingly even darker now.

You see the ball in his throat move as he swallows. His lips brushing against your own, before it fully takes you. The wet, warm and soft pink skin against your own, heating your body up against the winter cold. He was burning you up, his touch was stirring you up. Lips moving against each other without a care in the world, you’ve planted your hands against his abdomen, feeling up the flexing muscle of it.

He lets out a filthy groan, filling up your ears with its alluring sound.

He threads his fingers into your loose hair, holding you against his lips. His free hand sliding up your thigh, so close to your warming core.

He pulls away with a lewd smack, his lips wet with your mixed saliva, “I don’t even know you name, darling.”

“Y/n.”

He smiles with bliss, “Jungkook.”

#bts #bts smut #jungkook #jungkook smut #jimin smut #jungkook x reader #jimin x reader #bts fanficition #repost since it disappeared for some reason!

85 notes · View notes

idk-what-im-doing275 · 3 years

Note

Awesome, I really loved the Teru hang glide fic! If it isn't too much trouble, could I have Teruteru reacting to a swarm of angry butterflies picking up both him and his S/O and carrying them off to somewhere?

Angry butterflies? Hm, geez what a horrifying image. Although one that does provide a quit humorous image. Alright darling, I shall humor you for this request.

(Non-despair Au)

Teruteru had a genius idea for a date. One that was simply divine, that being a picnic with you!

He woke up decently early to prepare your food. He was debating on if it should be brunch, lunch, or supper. He ultimately (heh) went with brunch. Reason being he didn’t wanna be there at lunch time where the sun was all the way up in the air and temper raised plus he had a great idea for a breakfast lunch combo idea.

He of course added a bunch of desserts that included strawberries. Ah, they were quite refreshing on the peak of morning and lunch.

The complicated thing was finding a spot. Under a tree? Up on a hill? In a field? There were so many choices! But, the more comfortable area was under a tree. Reason being that if you two decided to take your precious time noon would arrive fast and in the shade would be more welcomed than anything else.

Setting everything out on the blanket, along with some coffee (or whatever drink you would prefer) tightly sealed in cups you two decided to admire the scenery. It was pretty, very pretty the butterfly’s looked lovely... there were just so many. You heard of migrating butterflies but out in the open some resting and some fluttering about was slightly concerning. You would think something was wrong and it well... it was.

Apparently those butterfly bitches meanies were fairly...upset that day. Some were surrounding the two of you ever so slightly. A few would land on your shoulder, top of your head whatever they would land on you and you didn’t try to shoo them off for the main that that if you touched them they would die. So you let them be.

You almost thought you were imagining things when a swarm of them came over and PICKED YOU UP

Of course you panicked teruteru was loosing his damn mind over there. He kept looking at you as they lifted you off the ground. Of course not by a lot a swarm of them weren’t that strong regardless being lifted it by tame insects was alarming.

Your food left behind, and you two in the air you weren’t too worried about being dropped. Plus at some point you two would be dropped but it wouldn’t hurt (unless they dropped you off a cliff which was possible since there were none in sight)

It was almost like a Sunday drive home

Except you were instead of going to a...flower field.

Huh, butterflies were quite the romantic weren’t they? It looked quite better than what Teruteru did much to his disappointment.

Regardless they set you down right in the middle, fluttering away after a few moments. You two staring at each other in shock, before a few quiet giggles escaped both of you turning into loud laughter. The scene that just occurred was so unnatural that it was humorous.

You two stayed there for a good solid 10 minutes before deciding to get up to fetch your belongings returning back to the flower field not forgetting to bring an umbrella for some shade.

You two are, relaxed and enjoyed the scenery feeding each other strawberries. Who knew some insane butterflies could make your date even better.

#danganronpa #danganronpa x reader #x reader #teruteru hanamura #Teruteru #danganronpa goodbye despair #goodbye despair

14 notes · View notes

arcanescholar · 3 years

Text

Hard to Find the Right Words Ch. 2

Omori Post True Good Ending Spoilers. Chapter 1 here

Sometimes you just need to vibe with your friend(?)

The sun hung high and beat down with its telltale brutal heat with not a cloud in the sky to block its fury. Summer was starting to reach its full swing and god damn it she did not wanna put up with the judgy sky orb’s bullshit today. Ugh, riding out to the hospital on her bike at night trying to follow the ambulance’s route was a pain in the ass already that left her legs feeling way too damn sore, and piling on with this was just over kill damn it.

… Huh. Shit, that’s probably why her knees gave out back in Basil’s hospital room. Come to think of it, damn, she should’ve snagged some bandages while she was there, they were all in Sunny’s pocket-

She screeches to a halt, barely stopping herself from running smack into some younger elementary school kids that take one look at her haggard, emotionally exhausted expression and…

Scream.

Then run away, tripping over themselves because the scary nail-bat lady was here to eat their faces.

…

After a bit of fumbling, she yanks her phone out of her pocket and turns the busted front facing camera on to take a better look at her face…

She slept on a visitor’s couch last night, hadn’t had breakfast, just went through one of the most emotionally harrowing nights of her life, then one of the most emotionally harrowing mornings, and now just did what felt like a half and hour of hard pedaling to make it to her planned meet up with Kim cause her sense of time estimation fucking sucks.

“… I look terrible, ugh.”

First thing she’s gonna do, she thinks, is dunk her sore legs in a lake once she gets to the park, but before that, she takes off her jacket, tying the sleeves tight around her waist, leaving her in her favorite crop top to vent some heat off before getting back to pedaling.

The rest of the ride is a bit easier thankfully, a familiar coast through familiar streets and under familiar trees with familiar shade. She passes by the curb that the group first comforted her on along the way, past where she had her picture taken in her favorite coat and decided that she wanted to dye her hair pink one day, past where Kim first snagged her by the hand and dragged her along to meet the Hooligans-

Haahhh…

She coasts down a small hill, letting the bike carry her where it pleases for a bit, hair billowing behind her, standing up a bit on its aged frame and just letting the moment wash over her. She wishes she didn’t leave her headphones at home, this was a pretty perfect moment to just play something dramatic y’know?

But, the ride eventually comes to a stop, as she arrives at the park. The kids were already playing out in force, and that nice garbage collector lady was set up with her stand like always, but Aubrey didn’t have time to snag much extra cash, she was already late for meeting up with Kim by like ten minutes-

“Aubreeeeeey!”

Speak of the devil

“Hah… Hah… Hah…!”

Kim struggles over on her bike, panting for breath-

“Hey.”

“Sorry…! Mikhael- uh, the MAVERICK got in trouble with some girls he was supposed to pay cause he forgot he left his wallet at home so I had to bike back and forth to snag it for him, or else he would’ve followed me here whining the whole time! I’m not too late am I?”

“Nah, I just showed up too.”

“So, uh…! What did you wanna do?”

“…”

Aubrey turns without a word, stepping off of her bike and walking to the back of the park, shuffling her way across the verdant, well kept grass.

Come to think of it, there was way less trash around than before, and with how much she saw Sunny running around town…

Jeez, did he really pick up most of this with Kel? Damn pair of goody two shoes-

Is what she almost thinks, but, after the past few days, it’s kind of hard for her to really make fun of them for it. It’s honestly kind of impressive.

She remembers how many flowers were set up in Sunny’s hospital room in that moment while they waited for him to wake up… How many well wishes and thank you notes sprawled across the tables and some even on the floor itself because of how much space was taken up. For a boy that hadn’t shown his face in maybe four years, that looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in just about as long, that seemed more like a mystery than an actual person, he really…

…

Was it really good? Was it something he did out of kindness? Was it one last hurrah to try to apologize for what he did to Mari? Aubrey can’t wrap her head around his headspace, and that thought is enough to make her punch her hand against a tree with enough force to shake its leaves… That or the breeze was really well timed-

“Aubreeeey…! I can’t help out if you don’t even talk to me y’know!”

Kim grumbles as she manages to catch up, walking alongside her best friend with the canopy of trees overhead shading them from the sunlight.

As Aubrey turns her head, she takes a moment to stare at her friend, watching the way the sunlight dances across her skin as it peeks out from the trees to light her up the way her smile lit up Aubrey’s worst days.

Kim’s expression was that perfect mix of annoyed and genuinely worried, the kind that makes you feel bad for bringing up a problem in the first place but yanks all your guts out onto the floor to get it settled already, her eyes resolute and determined to get to the bottom of what was happening. Was this her way of apologizing for leaving her behind with Sunny, Kel, and Basil at the lake…?

“… Hhhffffhhhit’sallfuckedup.” Aubrey finally groans, stepping forward into the hidden spot behind the park, the lake’s water glistening in the sunlight, the old statue’s flowers swaying in the breeze, and the same abandoned picnic basket and blanket. Someone really needs to clean that up damn it, but, the blanket makes for a nice place to sit kinda.

She dumps her bike off to the side with more force than she means to, Kim following suit. The pair share a quick look and a nod of understanding before popping off their shoes, their socks, rolling up pants legs in Kim’s case.

They walk together and sit by the edge of the lake, leaving the stuff they took off to the side, dumped carelessly in the grass, dunking their legs into the cool water with a harmonized sigh of relief, a mirrored gesture of leaning back to rest their palms against the grass before flopping onto their backs in near perfect sync, and finally taking in a deep breath to just bring themselves back into the moment.

Without a word, Kim pulls out her phone and a pair of headphones, offering one up to Aubrey that she takes with no hesitation, stuffing it into her ear and staring up at the clouds as music plays loud enough to hear but quiet enough to just let them… Vibe, is the word they’d both use for it.

For a few minutes they lay there, sharing a song, a mellow guitar and the tapping of a drumstick against a closed hi-hat washing over them.

The beach might be out of their reach right now, but sound waves’ll make a good substitute.

Kurayami de yorisou hibi

“… Sunny lost his eye.”

“Holy shit…”

Bokura ni wa beddo mo nai

“Dunno if Basil’s woken up yet either, but… Sunny told us, a little bit about what happened when Mari died.”

“…”

Nai kedo…

“… Sorry I’ve been so cagey and quiet and stuff lately.” She murmurs, rolling over onto her side to look at Kim more properly, her friend rolling over too, her glasses getting shoved slightly till she just takes them off and sets them off to the side.

“I dunno what’s goin’ on but it seems like it’s really heavy… After what went on with your mom and dad though? Feels like you can tell me… well… Just about anything right? After you shut us out and I had to call those three over to your place I started really worrying you were gonna dip back into a screwed up place again.”

“… Gonna be honest… I almost was.”

Kimi waaaa, ima tashika niii-

“But?”

“… But, I managed to realize some important stuff, I think. About… About Mari. About Sunny, Kel, Hero, you, all of our friends.”

Soba de…!

“… I missed them so much it hurt. I missed everything so much that it ached.”

Hohoemu

“And, when I couldn’t do anything about that ache, I turned that anger out on nearly everything around me. If it weren’t for you and the other Hooligans I think I would’ve turned out even worse…”

“Aubrey…”

Sawarasetari shinai

Kurutta koi to

Sashichigaete mo ii nda

Zenbu uketomeru

“… Sunny pushed Mari down the stairs of their home in the middle of a huge argument between them after he broke his violin.” She murmurs, tears starting to trickle down her face, cresting over the bridge of her nose and spilling onto the grass and dirt.

“Holy shit-“

“But… I… No matter what I do I just can’t think to be mad at him anymore.”

Beautiful morning with you

Itsuka, utaitai na

Beautiful morning with you

Kimi to hikari abite

“After I pushed Basil into a lake… Kicked off this whole mess of yesterday and today, I guess it made me realize how precious stuff is.”

“How do you mean?”

“That like… If Basil died right there… And Sunny with him? If he and Sunny drowned in the lake, even if I somehow ‘got away with it’, I’d… I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself.”

“…”

“When it happened I was so freaked out I couldn’t even move, let alone try to rescue him. My head twisted to all sorts of places, like, what should I do to get away if they both die. About how I’d have to run away from town, dye my hair a different color, get as far as I can and never look back.”

Sabishisa wa teguchi wo kae

“That’s… heavy.” Kim murmurs, finding it hard to bring herself to say anything else, but…

Maybe, in a moment like this, there’s nothing she could say. Nothing she could do, except be here in this moment to be someone Aubrey could talk to, reaching out in a moment of vulnerable affection to squeeze her close, one hand resting at the small of her back, and the other pressing against the back of her head, running her fingers through the girl’s hair…

Nando demo ai ni kuru

“So, I guess I get it now. Why he hid away in his home for so many years. Why he took so long to tell us until it exploded like that. Why they did something so… dumbfuck stupid like trying to make it look like Mari killed herself… I get it cause, I think I would’ve done the same thing if we weren’t lucky and had Hero there to save them both, and hating Sunny over it would make me a hypocrite.”

“And we both know how much you hate those…”

Kuru kedo

Futari ikudo to naku

“… I’m gonna try to be better than I was a few days ago. Better than I was a few years ago. Maybe this is just me trying to make excuses and wriggle my way out of the dumb stuff I’ve done but, I want to be there for them the way you were there for me. The way you and the others were, when I had nowhere else to go, so… Thanks Kim.”

“Heh… S’ what I’m here for Aubrey.”

Koko de unadzuite

The pair hold up their hands, and bump their fists in time with the song’s beat picking up, and just in time for-

“AH! There they are! Hahahaha, of course THE MAVERICK would know the right way-”

“Hey sis! Jeez, where were you two, we were wondering what happened!”

“Yeah! Did that smelly Kel and weird Mystery Boy with the knife do something to you after all?! I’ll give ‘em a dropkick that’ll send ‘em flying!”

“… sorry, t-that we weren’t there when… things went really bad…”

Furimuitari sinai

Sodatta ai ni!

Kizusuitatte ii nda

Mou

Modoranai

The Hooligans damn near bum rush the pair, dog piling on them both with muffled shouts in faux-protest as the group becomes a tangled mess of limbs, laughs, and little room for escape.

Beautiful morning with you!

Itsuka! Wakaritai na!

Beautiful morning with you

Bokura umarete kita koto!

“Hey, hey, Charlene brought some egg sandwiches from home that her mom made-” Angel grins at the top of the pile, resting on his side and supporting his head with his hand.

“M-mh… Um… I… had a feeling you missed breakfast again, so, I got worried… I was gonna bring them to the hospital but… when I called to ask where you were they said you were gone…” Charlene explains with her usual quiet voice, this time tinged with affection and worry as she… stands off to the side, feeling a bit too self conscious to dog pile but still holding both Kim and Aubrey’s hands.

“Yeah… After what happened with Basil by the lake and the stuff that went down at his place with him and the other guy, and that day you weren’t answering your door, all of us sorta got together and talked a bit…” Vance continued, directly hugging the pair of girls with a big, doofy grin.

“And of course, I, in my infinite wisdom as The Maverick made the wonderful declaration that we reaffirm our bond as the glorious, Hellacious Hooligans of Faraway Town! Our bonds of brother and sisterhood won’t be shaken like that again, this, I promise! What do you think ladies? Falling for me yet?~”

“shpk lke thhgh hhhhghnn nhhh whhll kll yu-”

“Hmmm? Say that again Aubrey?”

Vance shuffles off just enough to let the girls breathe again, the pair simultaneously sucking in a breath before shouting at the same time with big grins on their faces.

“”Speak like that again and we’ll kill ya!””

In the tackle-hugging dog pile rush, Kim’s headphones got unplugged, and the play button on the song got butt-pressed while it was auto based, but as the Maverick lets loose a yelp and topples off of the pile with only Charlene to catch him, with a laugh from the rest of the group, the rest of the song they were listening to finally gets to finish.

Promises like these might not always stand the test of time, Aubrey knew that for a fact. They can wither and fail and break and shatter in your hands faster than she can blink, but now…?

Beautiful morning with you

Itsuka, utaitai na

Beautiful morning with you

Kimi to hikari abite

Beautiful morning with you!

Isumo, kanjitai na!

Beautiful morning with you!!!

Kimi to, deaeta koto!

Now she kinda understands why Kel was so damn determined.

Even if it doesn’t last forever, even if it doesn’t work out, moments like this are worth fighting for.

She just wishes, in some part of her chest, that it hadn’t taken her so long to realize…

… … …

The hours pass, the sun raises as high as it can be before finally beginning its descent. The rest of Aubrey’s morning and afternoon was spent talking with her friends, practicing her bat swing on any random tree branches they could snap off and throw. Turns out Angel was nice enough to snag her bat for her on the way over too, and Bun-Bun…

Well, Charlene barely fit through the ladder hatch, but, Bun-Bun had a nice, temporary home at her place while Aubrey had to manage everything that happened last night and couldn’t go home to check on her and play with her. It’s a good thing she’s so gentle.

Against her better instincts, she uses her phone’s crappy, busted-ass camera to snag a picture here and there as they spend the day.

Angel and THE MAVERICK practicing dumb poses at each other, Charlene crouching nearby some flowers to see whether or not she wanted to pick them or leave them be to grow on their own, Vance and Kim getting into thumb wrestling matches to figure out how they’d split the last of their candy haul…

They were messy, unprofessional, usually badly focused, and the camera’s issues made it difficult as shit to call them anything close to “good”, but, they were hers…

And as the sun dredged low, and as the group had to split up to go back to their parents’ places for dinner time, that was good enough.

Kim and Aubrey are the last pair left alone once everything is said and done for the day, standing next to their respective rides as the distant laughs, jokes, and banter of the rest of the group echo out into the distance.

“… Hey Kim? ‘Fore I go… I just…”

“Yeah, Aubrey?”

“… Thanks. For spending time with me today. For the music and stuff too.”

“I had a feeling you forgot your headphones with everything that happened. Glad I turned out to be right!~”

“… Yeah…”

“Hey, one last thing before we split off for the day!”

“Huh- Eh?!”

With barely any time to react, Kim sweeps an arm around Aubrey, squeezing he close and tight while lifting her own phone up into the air, the relatively undamaged thing snapping a picture of Kim sticking her tongue out and Aubrey’s shocked, red faced blush at being hugged outta nowhere like that before Kim gives the barely taller girl a big squeezing hug, stuffing her phone into her pocket and damn near lifting Aubrey off the ground.

“Picture for picture, send me some of the stuff you tried to sneak pictures of!~ And... I’m not gonna make the same mistake of leavin’ you to deal with all that alone again, okay? I’m still not good at this kinda nerdy touchy feely feelings stuff, but…”

She pulls away, pushing up her glasses with one hand and scratching the back of her head with the other in an attempt to hide her blush at trying to throw up this kind of bravado outta nowhere-

“Th… The candy doesn’t taste right, if you’re not happy, or something!”

“… Kim that might be the cheesiest shit you’ve ever said in your life..”

“Hey-”

“But… Thank you. I think… I’ll be fine, just for now. If anything else comes up, I’ll tell you, okay? Right now, I gotta meet up with Kel and follow up with him on what we’re supposed to do next.”

“Best of luck with your mission, comrade.”

The pair smack their hands together for a firm high five before going their separate ways.

For now…

She had some god damn pizza to get, and a guy too lovably foolish to give up on people to share it with.

#omori #omori aubrey #aubrey focused #kim omori #spoilers #omori spoilers #omori good ending #omori good ending spoilers #what the fuck i've never written this much this consistently in a while why-#bonus points to whoever knows what the fuck they're listening to #but tbh googling lyrics is easy so #probably just like one point or some shit #fanfic #omori fanfic #hard to find the right words #chapter 2

11 notes · View notes

a-collection-of-villainous-aus · 3 years

Text

COFFEE SHOP AU PT4

SEGMENT TWO

Now let us visit the manor shall we, I should also point out the way the manor is positioned in this au is very Edward Scissor hands like, you know high atop a hill overlooking the town, just personally feels more fitting to me anyway like, Hat wants to stay away from most people but watches over them like the evil overlord he is, just my thought though shrugs.

Cruentus had ran, he didn’t stop until he was inside Hat Manor, back pressed to the door, was he breathless? Hyperventilating? At this point the hellhound could barely tell the difference, head in hands and sliding down the door, he damned God, he damned him because if this was some kind of trick to torment him…

Could even God be that cruel?

Knees now to this chest and arms around his waist he shivered, snow falling where it had collected on his coat, leaning his head back he couldn’t believe it, was his baby Lulu, his pup alive…no…no he was dead, had he become so absolutely sleep deprived he was imagining his son?

The oil lamps and their flickering lights made the lobbies deep red paper shimmer…akin to blood oozing from the walls…if it was appearing like that, there was a chance Black Hat was not in the best of moods himself…this house seemed to express his masters moods after all…no it was not oozing…the way it appeared to spill, meant he was bleeding emotionally.

It was selfish, but sometimes he wished he didn’t know how Hat felt, sometimes he wanted to just ignore him, Acylius had never blamed Hat for his impending death, but as a Father who lost his son…on bad days, really, really bad days, there was a part of him that did, even though he knew Acylius would have been miserable and unhappy without Black Hat.

It was his own selfish want to have his pup here and be his Father…but in all honesty, when it came down to it…when Acylius had told him to let him go, even though they knew what would happen when he left that day, no matter how much he wanted to stop him, reach out and beg him not to go…

Cruentus could not have denied that soft smile of his son who stood before him a soldier…no…a king who was willing to die, to turn the tide and save the Elderichts, change what the world had done to them as well as give the Legion demons their own freedom, to not always be eternally bound or the less fortunate ones who were sold off…after all not every Legion demon had been born rich and with privilege.

He remembered, his sons hands on his face, telling him it was alright and that he was ready to die, that he’d accepted it the moment he’d seen Hat standing there in the rain, that if the happiness he’d had with Amadeus came with this price, every single time he would be willing to pay it…what if this was Acylius…

Would fate be so cruel as to make his son pay it again just for being with Black Hat?

Or would Acylius even end up with Black Hat this time…he could try and play matchmaker, after all he had a friend or two who would treat Acylius as if he were as precious as the universe itself…

No these were desperate thoughts.

Cruentus knew that if Acylius wanted Black Hat.

There would never be anyone else for him…

Didn’t mean he couldn’t maybe try and put out something tempting on the table, after all Caspian was always a kind soul who wanted to look after Acylius and had held a candle for him even if he had never outright said anything, he’d never been blind to how the glass demon was practically always humming a happy tune at the prospect of seeing him.

He let his head fall back against the door, this was all too much, his world felt like it was spinning, it might not be him, reincarnated Acylius would mean there was an entirely different life bound to him, he would be Acylius but different in so many ways.

Was it the Acylius they’d known finally spat out of purgatory?

That fucking place had a habit of playing games with people and leaving gaping holes in their memories and placing bets on how long it took them to remember if they ever remembered at all.

Then the last question was it even Acylius? Hope could be a cruel thing after all.

The idea of going to bed was unbelievably tempting, go to sleep and pretend this was all a very real dream of his son, but he knew at this hour everyone else had already retired apart from a few scientists who were lost in their work coming up with the next dastardly thing to sell to villains.

Perking his ears up he stilled, eyes closing he listened, as suspected scientists were busy with their work but he was not searching for them, his hearing focused on Black Hats office, his room, his study but there was nothing there, no grumbling, pacing or turning of a page, not even a scrawling of his quill signing paperwork, just Acylius’s old grandfather clock that ticked in his office.

So if Amadeus was not in the manor…

He lay on his side and listened there, the mourning room Black Hat had made for Acylius ran along the complete under side of the manor, Amadeus, had made it into a museum with glass cabinets including little plaques.

As much as Hat seemed obsessive, he had earnestly tried to move on as Acylius had asked of him, he’d had short term relationships that just didn’t last, he’d found happiness in many ways, but nothing had ever lit that spark in the short demon as Acylius had, no matter how much Amadeus had tried, it was clear that his mourning might never end, much as a swan who mated for life and there would never be another to fill that space.

He would be lying to himself though if he denied ever visiting Hat’s shrine to his son, he was the only other person who had access to it and that was just because he was Acylius’s Father.

Ah yes there he was, that heavy forlorn sigh, slightly ragged and in pain, if the bleeding walls were not a clear sign alone that it was a low day for his friend then that would have said enough.

Cruentus would have shadow travelled to him but Black Hat had enchanted the place to stop fools from trying to break in.

Making his way to the entrance, he went down the spiral staircase with black iron bars decorated with gold leaf decorations as vines twisted around them, his palm open as a fireball lit the way, down at the bottom a blue walk way carpet in a hue only Legion demons could see, so of course it would just so happen to be Acylius’s favourite colour, he’d wondered what it looked like on many occasions as to both he and Hat it appeared only gray.

Of course his son had tried to describe it as being close to the sea only more divine.

Grand oak doors greeted him at the end, opened slightly still, he closed his hand, snuffing out the fire and made his way in quietly, his heart was racing, how was he going to tell Amadeus about the man he’d met, the possibility Acylius was back, well first he had to find him in this place it wasn’t exactly small after all.

Black Hat was currently sitting on the bed he’d shared with Acylius, fingers brushing over the covers, recalling how once upon a time it had been infuriating how much Flug moved in his sleep until he reached a day where sleeping without some part of the blasted tree draped over him was nigh on impossible.

Of course he’d slept since Acylius’s death, but it’d never been peaceful, sometimes he only rested because he could imagine that disapproving look…which if he’d been alive he’d have also been picked up and carried to bed whether he wanted to or not, in the end he’d always been thankful that the tree had because he just knew, he just always seemed to know when he was exhausted or needed to just rest.

Flopping back he sank against the pillows, a faint scent of his doctor still lingered on the linen, staring up at the four poster canopy he wondered if the Flug he’d met was simply a doppelganger, sometimes these things happened, a creature taking a face when no longer in use and sometimes those memories attached to it would bleed into their memories.

He closed his eyes, hands to his chest, sighing solemnly, wouldn’t it be wonderful just to have him here for one more night, to say good bye in a way that would be soft and tender…his dear tree had entered this world in pain and left it in the same manner.

When Amadeus opened his eyes again he found Cruentus staring down at him he let out a more than undignified scream hand to his chest only to then slap Cruentus’s face, the Hellhound of course had no reaction, after all it was a more you bastard for making me jump but I’m not actually angry at you but how dare.

“Sir if it is time for you to rest I can fetch you a hot coco or single malt, all depends on what you wish for, tonight.”

Hat recomposed himself and sat up; damn it, only his tree and the damn hellhound could sneak up on him like that.

“Sir, you and I both know your heart is not in your chest.”

Cruentus smiled, biting back a laugh.

As Amadeus watched the hellhound’s ears express just how funny he’d found making him jump was, he could not be mad, no it only added to the sad longing of just wanting to be beside that idiot who was down at that wonderful little café Amongst The Stars.

Of course Acylius had learned to express with his ears from watching his hellhound father, he even wondered sometimes if he’d picked up on it to himself and even how to control and hide his emotions with them, but what he missed most was seeing them wiggle every time Flug was happy, it had taken Black Hat so long to realise they always moved like that when he entered the room…

Did Acylius ever know just how much his heart fluttered at the sight of him?

He could not recall if Flug’s ears had moved like that when he saw him today or yesterday, he’d been too lost in just seeing him, trying to grip onto reality, it was a phenomenon to just see Acylius walking and breathing, being alive.

It left him in a wonderful dreamy daze, he could barely take his eye off him, Amadeus so desperately wanted the barista to turn around and smile at him like he used to…that was probably a heartbroken and desperate wish…but still if it took wishing on every star for a moment he would ask each and every one of them until it came true.

He like Cruentus knew there was the very real possibility of another life attached to this man; still the question they both wondered was he reborn or spat out of purgatory?

Could this Acylius even be a man he could love or love him?

What if Acylius felt nothing for him…no he would not despair, one could not know the answer to something if they did not at least ask or try to find out.

Hat blinked as snapping fingers brought him from his thoughts

“Hey now, what’s on your mind, Gremlin?”

Cru asked softly only for his hear to lay back as the anime dark blue cloud of oh dear I done bad hovered over him as he was on the receiving end of one of Hat’s famous dark looks, of course only Acylius was allowed to call him Gremlin.

He tilted his head though when Amadeus didn’t do anything and watched him flop back onto the old bed, yelping as he was pulled onto it with a black tentacle wrapped around his waist and plopped onto the other side, the tentacle immediately disappearing afterwards. (The side where Hat used to sleep as Amadeus was currently taking up the side where Lulu slept.)

“Acylius is on my mind, what else…I have something very important to tell you Cruentus.”

Oh so Black Hat did know about the coffee shop?

“What is it sir?”

“I think…I am not sure, but Acylius might be alive, reborn, back from purgatory or pulled from wherever Legion demons go when they die, but I also want to call him a doppelganger. As much as I want it to be him…we cannot trust it at the same time…though his scars…can someone match them that perfectly?”

Cruentus lay there listening to him, staring up at the canopy; it was embroidered with silver stars that glowed in the dark, no matter Flugs age, his boy had always loved lights and things that’d glowed, heh he remembered hearing him asking Amadeus to open his mouth one night, how in awe he’d been of his glowing fangs…that was his pup alright.

“I saw him my way home, he was putting out the rubbish…I’m numb and yet feel everything at once, still my thoughts and feelings have come to stand still as I process it all, I can’t tell if we’re just finally losing it and starting to just want him back we’re imagining him there.”

The Hellhound didn’t face Amadeus; he thought he might just break down right then and there, how could he tell him, Acylius had remembered something from his childhood at this moment when it was clear he’d not said a thing about Black Hat.

No he would tell him tomorrow…but would that be a good idea, should he mention it…would Black Hat understand if he told him he’d been afraid to as the last time had been the final step into Acylius dying…yes, he would probably understand.

He would never tell him though and Acylius would never forgive him for making Hat feel that guilt when it was never his fault, when Acylius wanted to do something he did it, every step had always been his decision.

He would lie, a white lie, a simple one of he just wanted to make sure.

Closing his eyes and settling against the pillows Cruentus shared a moment’s silent until he felt Black Hat move beside him, he cracked open an eye and watched him turning on his side to face him.

“I understand completely, but we need to find out, carefully though mind you, if we rush his memory back it could genuinely do more harm than good…but I am willing to wait even if it only leads to heartache for us, we will regret it so much more if we don’t even try to be there and he remembers us.”

Cruentus only nodded to show he was listening, after all that was a good point.

Black Hat propped his head up with a hand, looking up at the star canopy in thought, a small hopeful smile creeping across his features

“If this Acylius and I are compatible, then I will gladly work on wooing him, learning all about him and his new life and new him, because no matter what he will always be my husband.”

(Send me messages if you want me to ever write their secret wedding, you can do it on anon btw <3)

“Is that not perhaps sir, a little obsessive and possessive?”

Cruentus returned, turning his head to face him only for Hat to look down at the still laying flat Hellhound with a brow raised

“So you are fine with the idea of him calling someone else Father…yes I know if it makes him happy and he is happy you would let him while your heart silently breaks, but I am not good like you…or even like he was , but Acylius always knew that.”

Cruentus’s brow furrowed, tears stinging his eyes, the idea of someone else being called Father or Papa…the notion was agonizing, but Hat was right , if Acylius was happy he’d let him go…no matter how much it hurt.

“You won’t make him be with you though, if he comes to realise he does not love you in this life?”

That was when Amadeus’s whole demeanour changed, sitting up his form turned completely to shadows covered in eyes and open maws, all moving, gnashing teeth and slit pupils focused on him, the one set in his skull was bloodshot and vibrating as Black Hat barely held his temper

“I trust you know me better Cruentus than to assume…I would ever do anything like that rat Vincent.”

The Hellhound was not afraid, but he himself knew it had been a cruel comment to make, looking up at him with bright yellow eyes he stayed still as the darkness of the room pressed in tightly around his body.

“I am sorry Amadeus, that was a truly uncalled for comment, I know you would never force Acylius to do anything he did not want, forgive a hurting Father who wants only what’s best for his son, but punish me if you see fit…”

He place a hand on Amadeus’s arm where fangs were but the maw did not open or try to bite him

“I know how much it hurt you what Vincent did that day, how much you still blame yourself no matter what Acylius said , you could never accept the fact that it wasn’t your fault it was Vincent’s…how he took advantage of the situation.”

A tentacle covered in razor sharp spikes whipped through the air as Black Hat let out an inhuman screech, only stopping a breath away from Cruentus’s face.

“I could never hurt you…Acylius would never forgive me if I did so.”

The shadows coiled back in, washing away as he returned to his old small form, after all he’d never grown the height the world saw him as was all for show, he really was still that four ft five Gremlin Acylius had loved so much, he was just too tired and emotionally drained to keep up that façade right now.

“Not even if I deserved it?”

Cruentus asked softly, oh Amadeus really was suffering; it was not often when he resorted back to his root form to rest.

Looking down and pulling his knees up to his chest his face hidden by the brim of his top hat and answered him quietly

“No, not even then, now go make my tea.”

He used a tendril to push Cruentus off the bed; a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as the hellhound fell unceremoniously onto the floor and heard the somewhat pained groan of

“Yes sir.”

End of segment two of three

Segment one

#paperhat #Black hat #Acylius flug #Coffee shop au #Present day #Cruentus #So AU ALL THE AU XD #Vincent did a very bad thing

12 notes · View notes

treatian · 3 years

Text

The Chronicles of the Dark One: Breaking the Curse

Chapter 7: Outside Chance

Anger was an emotion he was very good at. It was an emotion that every Dark One was good at, but considering the fact that he was nothing but a weak human in this Curse, he knew for a fact that the anger he felt belonged to no one but himself. And that was okay. In his experience, anger often brought about clarity. Once the gnashing of teeth and urge to destroy anything he could get his hands on phase passed, he found himself alone with his thoughts and was able to think through the anger and devise a plan.

He'd had a rough night. It was well after midnight by the time he finally came to on the floor of his shop, staring up into the eyes of the sheriff and an unknown paramedic who kept flashing a light into his eyes. The light was unnecessary. It gave him a headache so bad he felt nauseous, and immediately he'd gripped the young man's wrist so tight he'd cried out in pain and moved away so that he could assess himself. He was on his back. His ankle hurt like it always did after he tripped or didn't put his weight properly onto his cane. His head was pounding, so much so that his own heartbeat was agony. And when he put his hand to his forehead, he felt a sting on one corner and the familiar crust of dried blood. But what bothered him the most was his eyes. They felt gritty. They stung when he rolled them around in his skull as if sand had gathered over his eyeballs. They were swollen and difficult to open.

Pepper spray. When she'd raised her hand, and something had sprayed into his eyes…she'd maced him. Fucking hormonal princesses!

The next two hours were a blur.

The paramedics wanted to take him to the hospital. Tempting as it was to do that and potentially have a run-in with David, he knew that the shop and Ashley Boyd were a far more pressing situation at the moment. It was nothing, he insisted. He'd wash his face, bandage his own damn head, and take an aspirin for the headache against the advice of the paramedic. Still, the paramedics continued to insist, even after he'd checked his head in a mirror and saw the small cut. They wanted to properly wash his eyes out after the pepper spray and monitor him for a concussion. It took threatening them with a lawsuit if they didn't leave his property to finally get the Sheriff to say that if he was clearheaded enough to insist on that, then he was probably fine. They finally left after giving him a long list of things he shouldn't do for the day and telling him to come in if he had problems.

Once they left, he wasted no time laying into the Sheriff, who insisted there had been another emergency across town he'd been caught up on. He wondered if it had been Regina, as he'd originally thought, but he managed to hold his tongue on that one, especially since he was coming to regret his decision to call the man. If he could have gone back in time and knew it was Ashley breaking in, he never would have left the message. Given what had happened, given the Seer's prophecy regarding the girl, he preferred to keep this to himself. The Sheriff attempted to be gentle, but his questions were probing and annoying as he moved around him, trying to put it all together while lying about it at the same time.

He filled out the police report but lied about what happened using his father's old method of being as truthful as possible. The story he told was accurate right up until he found Ashley. Instead, he left out that detail, simply said that he didn't see an assailant, they attacked him from the shadows, used the pepper spray, and he must have fallen. The keys to his safe sat on the counter by his register instead of where he'd clipped them to his belt. The girl must have used them to get into the safe. The adoption papers were gone. But the dagger was still safe inside.

"Nothing has been taken," he insisted when the Sheriff asked him for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. "I must have scared them off."

"You're sure? Positive? This is a small place, but there are a lot of tempting valuables-"

"And if one of them has been taken, I'm certainly not going to find it in the next twenty minutes. I need to do an inventory for that, but as you said, there are many items in my shop. A full inventory will take weeks."

"And you're sure the camera doesn't work."

"Yes," he lied. "Hasn't worked in years." Though, in truth, he hadn't even remembered he kept a security camera until the Sheriff had looked up and spotted it. In fact, he'd used it so infrequently the equipment for the thing was stored in the tiny water closet in the back room. It might prove helpful in this situation, but given what he was going to be doing now that Emma Swan was in town, he preferred to turn the thing off and forget about it for good.

"Well…I've got your report. If you are sure, you are fine-"

"I am."

"Right…if you find anything missing in your inventory, let me know. Otherwise, whoever it was probably couldn't find what they were looking for and got spooked. If you think of anything, let me know."

"You'll be my first call. Hopefully, I won't be transferred to a voice mailbox again."

"Ahm…what the paramedics said…I know you haven't got many friends in town since your aunts died. You really shouldn't be alone with a concussion, and they said you shouldn't sleep for a while."

"I'll manage."

"If you want me to stay-"

"What I'd like, Sheriff, is for my calls for help to be answered in a timely manner, so I'm not bleeding out on the floor for hours, and to be left alone with my trinkets to make sure my possessions are still my possessions. Do we understand each other?"

Graham looked skeptical, but Regina's toy knew how to take a hint. He nodded his head once and then slowly backed out of the shop, leaving him alone with his anger to figure out what would come next. And what a question that was. He was positive; this wasn't a coincidence. It hadn't just happened. No, no, this was the Curse breaking, and his present finally catching up to a future he'd seen hundreds of years ago.

"A debt from the woman of ash will find the boy of fire," the Seer had said. And here he was. The boy of fire was obviously his Baelfire, making this the most important part of the prophecy. And Ashley, "Cinder"-ella, was obviously the girl of ash but…Ashley? The one to find Baelfire? No. It didn't seem right, and it never had. She owed him her baby and nothing else. And besides, the prophecy wouldn't lead him to the Swan only to have Ashley Boyd be the one to find Baelfire. No. Long ago…long, long ago, he'd suspected it was going to be an exchange, a favor. It was Cinderella's debt but one that Miss Swan would acquire for herself somehow. Now that he knew the Savior, it made perfect sense. She was a bail bondsman, capable of finding people. Oh, true, he planned on bringing magic to this world to find his boy, but he'd not set foot out of this town in twenty-eight years. He needed more than magic. Emma Swan had knowledge of the world outside their little town, and she was tough as nails. She would be the perfect person to enlist in helping him get to his son.

He had no Seer to whisper in his head now, but he had a plan. It was nothing but a half-cocked hunch, but given the pounding in his head, he wasn't capable of much more. He was going to get his favor, his debt…Emma Swan would pay it. But first, he had to make sure the girl was involved.

He spent the night in his shop. He was tempted more than once to bring out the cot and sleep, but that was the cocky Dark One inside of him talking. Like it or not, right now, he was human, and his headache told him that the paramedic's worries about concussions were real. He wasn't immortal until he brought magic back. He'd hate to make it this far only to die because he'd been an idiot who thought he was indestructible. So instead, he washed his eyes thoroughly in the water closet sink. He used the ancient security footage to find Ashley's picture, printed it out, then took his cane to the equipment, making sure it was good and destroyed. He stayed up for the rest of the night, thinking through his plans. Plans he had for getting Bae back, plans he had for bringing magic back, plans he had to get Emma to break the Curse. Some of those plans were solid. He felt certain he knew how to bring magic to this world using an old well up in the hills said to return lost things. Once he got Emma to get him the rest of the True Love Potion, it should be easy. From there, with magic, finding Baelfire should be just as easy. Other plans, like getting Emma to break the Curse entirely, were still unclear. He hoped, with time, it would sort itself out. He hoped. Near dawn, he changed into a spare suit he kept at work for all those false times Mr. Gold spent the night. Then as the sun rose, he packed up Baelfire's shawl, Belle's chipped cup, and his dagger to transport back to his house. He'd never had a break-in before this, but with the Curse breaking, he could be sure others wouldn't be back to see what else he had. He felt more comfortable leaving his most precious things at home, instead of in the shop, at least until he could find a safe place for them.

When morning arrived, he'd meant to venture over to Mary Margaret's apartment first thing, but after stopping by Granny's to grab a cup of coffee, he found that the chatter about town wasn't about his break-in, as he expected, but rather Emma. Outsiders had come into town that morning to deliver boxes to Mary Margaret's apartment. Supposedly it was Emma Swan's belongings. Though outsiders did on occasion come to Storybrooke, it was always the talk of the town when they did, and the magic always seemed to be…disturbed by it somehow, as if the Curse knew they didn't belong. Outsiders never stayed long. So he sat down for some breakfast, giving the service time to get in and out, then once his belly was full, and the coast was clear, he went to the apartment. He walked up the stairs, listened to the sound of the women chatting, and then knocked on the door. Mary Margaret answered, her eyes going wide at the unexpected sight of him. She'd looked that way the first time she met him, not that she remembered.

"Miss Blanchard. Is Miss Swan here?"

Suddenly the girl appeared over her shoulder in the doorway. Mother and daughter together…what a happy sight if only they knew it. He extended his hand for the girl, and she took it. "Hi, my name's Mr. Gold. We met briefly on your arrival."

"I remember."

"Good. I have a proposition for you, Miss Swan. I, uh… I need your help. I'm looking for someone."

"Really? Um…" the girl looked over to Mary Margaret, and he followed suit, raising his eyebrows to indicate he wanted privacy. Unlike the curious and brave Snow White, Mary Margaret backed away at the gesture.

"You know what? I'm going to go jump in the bath," she excused before hurrying away. Perfect.

"I have a photo," he explained, pulling a photo from his security cameras free from his pocket and handing it over. "Her name is Ashley Boyd. And she's taken something quite valuable of mine," he explained, hobbling into the tiny apartment. The table was still set for breakfast. They must have been in the middle of it when the movers had arrived.

"So, why don't you just go to the police?"

"Because, uh…she's a confused young woman," he lied. "She's pregnant. Alone and scared. I don't want to ruin this young girl's life. But I just want my property returned."

"What is it?"

"Well, one of the advantages of you not being the police is discretion. Let's just say it's a precious object and leave it at that."

Emma tapped the photo against her fingers as she looked him over. He kept his look of concern on his face, but it was a struggle not to smile as he saw curiosity and concern grace her face. Her mother had the same look when she was queen, not that she'd know that now.

"When'd you see her last?" she finally asked.

"Last night. That's how I got this…" he let his hair fall out of the way of the scab that had formed in the night, the source of his current headache. When he turned back, he decided that she looked properly shocked by that to please him. "It's so unlike her," he added with false concern. "She was quite wound up. Rambling on and on about changing her life. I have no idea what got into her. Miss Swan, please help me find her. My only other choice is the police, and I don't think anyone wants to see that baby born in jail now, do they?"

That was a low blow, but one that he had perfectly timed to play on the Savior's own past. He remembered what the adoption agency had told him about Henry, about his mother, where he was born. In fact, he still had the records that he'd been sent sitting around somewhere. But now, here she was trying to do right by her son…it wasn't possible for her not to feel that comment deeply. And it appeared to work. At least if the defensive posture and crossed arms were any indication.

"No, of course not."

"So, you'll help me, then?"

"I will help her."

"Grand," he smiled. "I will help her." Help "her," not "you." Not exactly what he was expecting. It was better than that. She was developing a relationship with this girl already. He could easily use that to his own advantage.

Suddenly the door to the apartment clicked open and there stood none other than the reason Emma felt so connected to dear Ashley Boyle, her son Henry.

"Hey, Emma. I was thinking we-" The boy stopped dead when he saw him standing there, his eyes widened, but he politely put a smile on his face the way his Bae used to when he ran into someone he didn't care for. He respected that about the boy.

"Hey, Henry!" he exclaimed, smiling back and pretending not to notice the way he smiled. "How are you?"

"Okay?" he responded as if he wasn't sure.

"Good," he chuckled as he made his way to the door. "Give my regards to your mother. And, um, good luck, Miss Swan." He took a glance at Emma before moving around Henry and looking down at him. The second he closed the door, he let his smile vanish.

Henry…he respected the boy, but as long as he was pursuing the Seer's prophecy he had to admit that he hadn't forgotten about her other prediction. A precious debt from a woman of ash would find the boy of fire. But a boy would lead him to Baelfire, and would also be his undoing.

He didn't believe in chance. He didn't believe in luck or happenstance. He didn't believe it was an accident that the town clock started again the night Emma decided to stay in town or that David waking up was random. And he certainly didn't think, not for one single second, that the fact that Henry had brought Emma here for a second was a coincidence.

#Rumbelle #Rumple #Rumpelstiltskin #Dark One #Mr. Gold #Baelfire #sheriff graham #Emma Swan #Henry #Mary Margaret #Snow White #fanfiction #ouat #ouat fanfic

6 notes · View notes