#v. Father of Night and Evil I Call You ( Daughters of the Moon AU. )

[derschwarzeengel]

@missing-muses

Crossing between the realm of Nefandus and Earth usually meant (since the early 2000s) that Damon would end up somewhere in Los Angeles. Today, however, that wasn't the case.

When the Immortal passed through the boundary, he blinked in surprise when he found himself in Tokyo. Not where he'd intended to end up, but... okay.

Warily he probed the air with his mind, sensing for any other Followers. Nothing on that end, but he did pick up on an overwhelming sense of goodness.

Exactly the sort of person he liked to target and cross over, turn to the Atrox.

After a quick glance to make sure nobody was watching, he stepped back into the shade provided by a building and let his body dissolve into shadow. He tracked the sensation back to its source, dropped back into solid form near a young woman. Leaned casually against the nearest surface that would take his lean 6'1 frame.

Over the centuries, this was the first time he'd been to Tokyo. Another slight problem: he wasn't a native Japanese speaker. Using his mind-control powers, it would be easy enough to learn the language, but that felt vaguely like cheating.

Best to stick to English, he supposed, though it wasn't his native language. Anything to get her attention, have her look into his eyes.

Damon opened his mouth to speak, and then frowned slightly as he lightly probed her mind again. Whatever she was, her mind didn't scan as human.

"Don't tell me you're an escaped servus." It slipped out before he could stop it, a mutter loud enough for his and her ears alone. Servi were usually teenagers or new adults who accidentally found themselves in Nefandus and were roped into serving a particular Follower. Those who had been servi long enough were granted the ability to read minds and shapechange into shadow, but in order to keep them under the Atrox's thrall they drained the souls of anybody they kissed. If they had gone too long without feeding, the urge became impossible to resist.

Much like Damon's own compulsion to cross people over, turn them to his god.

And yet, whatever this woman was, she didn't entirely feel like a servus either.

[agrestenoir]

ml au where lila has the black cat miraculous

lies and trying times (chat noir!lila au)

i.

There’s a girl in a hotel lobby sitting on a plush sofa, watching raindrops trail down the glass pane of the window. Paris storms have overtaken the seemingly quiet morning, and on her first day in the city, Lila Rossi wants nothing more than to leave the stuffy hotel room her father has booked. 

It’s supposed to be for three days, a business trip to impress a few French officials, but her father has already warned her that it might stretch out a bit. However, “a bit” in the Rossi family, is code for “three months to a year, depending on work”. He hasn’t decided whether they’re staying or leaving, which means she can’t decide whether to plan for permanence or establish an escape. The whole thing, like most other relocations throughout her entire life, is exhausting and messy. It’s the whole reason her mother decided to take a vacation to Barcelona three years ago… and hasn’t come back yet. 

Outside, the rain pours hard. Lila can only watch. 

She’s tired of waiting—for her father, for her mother, for her life to start. 

She pushes herself off the sofa, gets up on her feet, and heads towards the front entrance of the Bourgeois hotel. Outside, there’s a bustling and busy city, full of ancient history and secrets—a whimsical world she so desperately wants to throw herself into but has never had a chance. Lila rushes out onto the wet pavement, wedge heels clacking through puddles as she pushes past people. 

The rain pours. Lila leaves. 

She’s tired of waiting.

*

ii.

 The story starts like this: Lila lies. 

It’s something she’s done in every situation. The lies are a quick and easy way to meld in with the new crowd of new people with new faces in a new place; she just wants to be liked and have friends. That’s the crux of the matter: Lila is always lonely. 

In a way, she doesn’t care if everything is built on lies because nothing in her life is permanent—not her parents, not her home, not herself. Consequences are lost on her. She does what she can to process, to fit in, but something’s different this time. 

You see, there’s something about those Paris rainstorms that leave her feeling light and new, where the rain washes away all her sins, like she has a clean slate with no problems. 

In the Paris rain, Lila is born again. 

(In the Paris rain, an evil burns with a new rage.)

In one world, a tottery old man named Master Fu finds a baker’s daughter and a famed son, giving them the tools to save the world from one man’s unquenchable dreams. In this world, he finds a lost little girl who lurks in the shadow of self-created chaos and dreams of doing better. 

Potential, Master Fu thinks, is stronger than nature. 

When he falls waiting for a train, cane clattering across the cement, Lila Rossi stares for a moment before extending her hand to help him up. Rainwater drips in rivets from her tangled hair and sopping clothes, but she still has those sad eyes and soft smile. He tucks the Black Cat Miraculous into her purse as she turns to jump onto the train, walking away with a surety even in the face of risk. 

It’s a gamble, he thinks, but one who can create chaos knows how to control it. 

The story starts like this: Lila lies. 

But it ends like this: Lila can be better.

 *

   iii.

 The first akuma is hard and rigid, his heart a rocky range of every reason he cannot find to love 

Plagg calls him Stoneheart. Lila calls him hurting. 

In a way, a part of Lila can understand where Stoneheart’s dark feelings originated from. Her life is a constant cycle of coming and going, having and hurting, and loving and losing. The geography of her own heart is full of high mountains and wide, open oceans, barriers to block her core from complete destruction, but each day in a new place leads to more bits being chipped away and crumbling to dust. Each place she goes, every person she meets: it’s the same story over and over again 

Paris is different. It leaves her breathless and free in a way everything else has failed to do. 

It doesn’t make her life easier, but it sure does make her believe in the impossible.

“Rock monster,” she murmurs to herself, staring at the akuma as he stalks through the streets. He leaves footsteps of cracked pavement, handprints of crumbled brick on buildings, and his roar echoes like thunder through the city. “I have… to beat a rock monster with a baton.” 

“Hey,” a voice says beside her, startling her from her strategizing. “I’ve got a fucking yo-yo. I think you’re the one who’s better off here.” 

Lila whips around, coming face-to-face with glittering green eyes and a bright smile. A boy stands beside her, all red and black-spotted with a mask to match. His blonde hair is wind-tamed and tousled, as if he’s been dashing across rooftops and flying through the city too. He looks every bit the partner that Plagg told her about. 

“You must be my partner,” she says needlessly. 

“Ladybug,” he introduces and holds out his hand. “You can call me Ladybug, pretty kitty.” 

“Chat Noir.” Lila holds his hand in a strong grip and tugs him forward, until their foreheads are nearly touching. She levels him with a sharp smirk, eyes burning something fierce. “And I am so out of your league.” 

Shoulders shaking, Ladybug laughs and laughs and laughs. “Oh,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m so going to love being your partner.” 

In another world, a charismatic cat falls in love with a blue-eyed wonder. In this world, the cat finds a friend. 

A little bit more of her heart crumbles to dust, leaving her more open to all that life has to bring her.

What do you know? In Paris, impossibilities are possible after all.

 *

  iv.

 “Listen,” her father tells her, three weeks after they arrived in Paris. “Something came up.” 

Lila enrolls in school the next day. She can’t say she didn’t see it coming. 

Francis-Duponte is full of nameless faces and numerous questions, things she’d once rejoice in, but it’s her sixth school in three years, and she just wants a break. Madame Bustier introduces her to the class, and she sulks to the back row, slipping into a seat with hunched shoulders and tired eyes. Interactions are quite exhausting when nothing ever sticks. 

The day passes in slow lunges, no sudden leaps or stumbling stops. The teachers are knowledgeable, the kids are loud, and the world is a kaleidoscope of everything she can’t handle. It’s during lunch, though, that a student accosts her in the hallway. 

“You’re new, right? Lila Rossi?” A girl with bright blue eyes stands in front of her, holding a tablet against her chest. For the first time, Lila is at a loss for words. “Someone told me you were from Milan.”

“I am,” Lila acknowledges, and her mind is spinning away with lies built on threads of promise and purpose, whispering friend friend friend. She vehemently tries to deny it, swallowing back a lump and trying to pretend that old urges aren’t scratching at her heels. 

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” the girl says. She shifts her weight, gaze skittering everywhere else; she’s nervous, but Lila doesn’t know why. “Do you want to sit with me at lunch? I’m working on some designs, and I was wondering if you could tell me about some of the fashion in Milan.” 

I have my own fashion line.

My father owns half of the fashion industry in Milan. 

I came to Paris because I’m personal friends with Gabriel Agreste. 

I’m— 

Lila doesn’t lie. Lila tries. 

The question hits her in a whoosh, air jumping from her lungs as if a wrecking ball had slammed into her ribcage, and she can’t catch her breath. “I…” Lila swallows again, shaking her head. “Yes, actually, I can do that. I’m probably the best person to ask actually; I know a lot about Milan fashion.” 

Marinette smiles.

*

 v.

 Paris at night is beautiful. 

Lila stares at the dark sky above her, which twinkles with clusters of stars and the soft glow of the pale moon, and she can’t help but think there’s something ethereal about this city. Ladybug sits above her, leaning against one of the struts of the Eiffel Tower, but he’s not staring at the view. 

He’s staring at her. 

She quirks a brow high, a smile slipping onto her face. “Distracted tonight, bug?” 

“Why won’t you tell me your name?” He crosses his arms against his chest and levels her with a quizzical stare. “We’ve been partners for over two months now. Don’t you think that at least puts us on a first name basis?” 

“Colleagues.” 

Ladybug jumps down from his perch above, landing softly on his toes, and settles back on his haunches with a small, cautious smile. “I’m pretty sure we’re way past coworkers, kitten.” 

Lila can’t help the laugh that falls from her lips. “Then what the hell would we be?” 

He flashes her a quick, blinding smile—teeth and all. “Friends, obviously.” 

Lila pauses, trying to make sense of her suddenly slippery world. With a quiet sigh, she drops down and parks herself alongside him. Their thighs brush against each other as they kick their feet back and forth, falling in sync like a pendulum swinging in time with a clock. Slowly but surely, her life in Paris ticks away, seconds slipping past without her notice, and she wonders when the day will come that her father will pick up and move to another city, another country, another continent. 

It goes like this: Lila doesn’t form attachments. 

It goes like this: Lila lies to push people away. 

It goes like this: Lila is tired of being lonely. 

“Friends,” she echoes. 

“Yeah.” He rolls his eyes. “Haven’t you ever had a friend before?” 

Lila toys with her fingers, needing to be doing anything to take her mind off of the situation, but the words still leave her lips. “No, I haven’t actually.” Something tells her that she needs to be open and honest with him. That’s what friends do, right? 

“Oh,” he says. A quick pause and then, “I understand that feeling pretty well myself.” 

There’s silence—thick and heavy like fog before a storm—but she pushes past it and forces herself to admit the truth. “I’ve moved around a lot literally my entire life. I never really had a chance to sit down and… talk to people, I guess. I really don’t know how to have friends.” 

Ladybug bites his lip, pondering the problem for a moment before suggesting, “Well, I think you’re doing a pretty good job right now.” 

She snorts, cheeks burning hot with embarrassment. “You’re lucky I like you, Ladybug.” 

“See?” He pokes her nose with his index finger. “You’re great at this.” 

Lila can’t stop laughing. 

She really, really loves Paris.

 *

 vi.

 It’s been months and months, but if it’s one thing that Lila Rossi knows, it’s that life is only temporary. 

There’s no such thing as permanence when it comes to a home, people, or even friends. 

What a fool I’ve been, she thinks.

*

 vii.

 “You’re a real asshole, you know that, Agreste?” Lila tells Adrien Agreste one morning after Marinette leaves the room, all stammer and stutter, muttering something about the restroom so she can try to drown herself in the sink to quench her raging embarrassment. Alya, the last of their trio, follows at her heels in effort to revive the former if needed be. 

The perky blonde with the green eyes simply blinks up at her, too taken back that Lila erupted out of the blue. It’s obvious he’s confused, but Lila is tired of watching her friend make a fool of herself over a stupid boy who won’t give her the time of day.

“Excuse me?” Adrien asks. 

“I said you’re an asshole,” she continues, crossing her arms against her chest. She leans forward, brown eyes burning with a fierce fire, her smile so sharp it could cut class. “And you’re going to start treating her better, or you’re going to have to deal with me.” 

“I don’t know what you mean,” he tells her, and she just rolls her head. Stupid boy, stupid boy. “Marinette’s a good friend—”

Lila snorts. “Like you don’t see the way she looks at you, or how she can’t even speak a complete sentence the minute you walk into a room.” She flicks her wrist in his direction, poking the bridge of Adrien’s nose with her index finger. “Marinette’s my best friend, and I will not let you drag her along like she’s your latest toy.” 

Adrien flounders, trying to find the right words. “I’m sorry, Lila, but I really don’t know what you mean.”

His answer makes her blood boil because how can he not see what he does to her? There’s an itch under her skin, because people who are too oblivious are hurt too easily, just like those who fall too fast and hard. Instead of a healthy relationship between two people, you just get a mess of pain and hurt, and there’s no hope of relief. It’s not a happy situation to get involved with. 

How does he not know? And if he does, how can he let it go on? 

“Marinette’s in love with you,” Lila says in a rush and laughs, something bitter and hard. “And you don’t care.” 

There’s silence—a long pause—and then the voice that speaks is certainly not Adrien. “Lila?” Marinette asks, shaky and feeble from the doorway to the classroom. 

Adrien turns to Marinette, eyes softening. “Marinette…?” 

The other girl can’t even form a coherent response—in fact, she doesn’t even try—and instead bolts out of the room before either Lila, Alya, or even Adrien can stop her. 

Something settles in Lila’s chest, like the pieces of her heart are clicking back together just to get broken again. The looming horror of the situation haunts her, a reaper coming to bring death to the tentative peace she’s carefully crafted. Ever since she came to Paris, lessons of love have been the only things she’s learned: how to love a friend, how to love a partner, how to love a city. 

This is her first lesson in heartbreak.

*

 viii.

 “That akuma was my fault!” Lila thunders at Ladybug, their Miraculous beeping insistently as she paces the rooftop.   

“In what way?” He turns to face her, eyes burning into her own. “You know that it’s never the akuma’s fault, so it’s certainly not yours. Hawkmoth—” 

“Because I hurt her!” Chat Noir’s power thrumming through her, Lila can’t stop the hiss that falls from her lips. She grits her teeth, fists her long brown mane, keeps moving because coming to a standstill makes the world weigh heavier on her shoulders. 

“That doesn’t make this your fault,” he says. “They’re vulnerable, and Hawkmoth sends his butterflies when you’re hurt, purposely because you’re at your lowest, when you’re the most vulnerable and easily manipulated. It’s his doing, not yours, chaton.” 

“You don’t get it,” Lila interjects. “I betrayed her, and I put her in that position. Hawkmoth wouldn’t have gotten to her if I hadn’t hurt her in the first place. She’s my friend, and I did that to her!” 

There’s quiet, a stillness that settles over, thick and heavy. “You know Marinette then?” 

Lila snaps her gaze away from her partner, staring at her hands clasped into tight fists. Her ring is still beeping, as is Ladybug’s, but none of them seem to care at this point. “Yeah, I do.” She wonders how much she’s just given away. 

“Are you Lila then?” he asks, and there it is. 

Like an arrow has pierced through her heart, she grasps at the front of her chest as if to smother it’s fire, but nothing helps. Suddenly her world is crashing down around her, and the peaceful bubble she’s spent the last five months inside has burst. 

Lila’s already lost one friend today—is she about to lost another? 

“How do you…?” But she can’t voice the question quick enough as the magic gives away, and both Ladybug and Chat Noir disappear in a kaleidoscope of color. 

It’s Adrien Agreste.

“Oh.” Everything turns slippery, and she struggles to find an anchor to keep her from falling. “Oh god.” 

“Lila,” Adrien says, expression softening as he catches sight of the fear and worry lining her face. “It still wasn’t your fault. You were only trying to protect your friend.” 

“No, you still don’t get it, Agreste. I hurt her.”

The name silences him, and shame washes over her like the high tide against the shore. Adrien Agreste has never been someone Lila gets along with, just for the sole way he turns her friend into a mess and continues on like it doesn’t matter. Lila knows people who string others along without a care—has done it herself for most of her life—because people are not important, and they truly don’t matter to her. 

(Because she doesn’t matter to them—she never has, and never will. So many names and faces, all in different places, who promise to call or write even after she leaves, but no one has ever reached out to her after she’s gone. It’s the crux of her pain, and it makes her realize that she’s never been wanted, she’s never been first choice, and she’s never been someone worth having.) 

“We’re only human, Lila,” he tells her after a long while. The words echo through her head, louder than she wants them to be, but they still speak volumes. He’s not wrong, but he’s not right either. 

“Do you know how hard it is to tell the truth?” Lila takes a deep, shuddering breath and pushes on. “Telling the truth is like… giving a part of you to someone, and today I did that. I told you how Marinette felt, and that was a part of me—a part of her that she willingly shared—and… I took it, and I told you. She will never trust me again, won’t even look at me, and I lost one of my only friends. So don’t try to tell me you understand because you don’t get it.” 

“I’m sure Marinette will forgive you. You just have to apologize—” 

Lila shakes her head. “No, no. You still don’t get it, Adrien, and you never will. I don’t tell the truth because the truth fucking hurts. It’s so much easier to lie. It’s the only thing I’m good at.” She laughs, bitter and broken. “I should’ve just kept lying.” 

Right now, with everything she cares about broken on the floor, it’s the only truth she knows: Lila Rossi is so good at lying, it hurts.

 *

  ix.

 It goes like this: Lila lies. 

It’s easy on most days, just a couple of words strung together to capture the ear of whoever’s listening, to make them linger on her voice, their eyes following hers like a lifeline. In a way, it makes them navigators as they track her across the sky, using a star to find their way. Empowered, she feels infinite, where she can be the impossible and they just pray in her wake, but it’s been a long time since she’s longed for that. 

Paris has changed her. Being Chat Noir has changed her. Friends have changed her. 

Telling the truth has changed her. 

Truth is a faith that Lila has never believed in. It’s a metamorphosis of chance: you have faith in the ones you love, you have faith in the city you protect, you have faith in your partner—but there’s no guarantee that the truth will make things better. Truth, like any form of human nature, just like the lies she used to spin, has the capability to hurt. But like the first time she donned the mask, she curls herself up into a cocoon, the truth a hard shell against the rest of the world, and waits and prays to become a butterfly. 

In the best turnout, Lila flies. In the worst possibility, she falls. 

Lila didn’t realize just how truth could be a weapon. Lies are a two-way street: one who benefits, and those who suffer if they’re stupid enough to believe it. Truth can be wielded to render someone raw and bleeding, until lies seem like the better option, to the point where they can even heal. 

Lila wishes she remembered how to lie. 

Marinette stands in the deserted hallway, arms crossed against her chest, and she refuses to meet Lila’s inquisitive eyes. “I just wanted… to talk about yesterday.” It’s like she’s steeling herself against a stronger power before she presses on. 

“What’s there to talk about?” Lila shrugs and tries to pretend like it doesn’t matter but it does it does it does. “You went full akuma and tried to destroy the city. It’s just a typical Tuesday.” She swallows thickly, dropped her chin to her chest. “At least Ladybug and Chat Noir were there to save you.” 

Marinette laughs, something soft and quiet. “At least there was one bright side.” 

“Obviously,” Lila says. “Chat Noir is pretty damn amazing. I know her actually, did you know that?” 

“Lila.”

“I’m also on a first name basis with Ladybug, but he’s pretty cute, you know? I could totally introduce you guys—” 

“Lila.” The sound of Marinette’s voice freezes her in motion. It feels like she’s trapped in orbit and just waiting for gravity to take hold and bring her down, like a meteor due for impact. 

Lila closes her eyes and spits out a quick, “I’m sorry!” 

“Excuse me?” 

“It’s my fault you were akumatized. It’s my fault you and Adrien aren’t talking.” There’s a burning sensation in the corner of her eyes, and Lila desperately tries not to cry. 

“I…” Marinette presses her lips into a thin line, shaking her head. “First off, I forgive you.” 

There’s a stunned silence. “What?” Lila asks, too afraid to have her repeat it.

“I said I forgive you,” Marinette tells her. “We have a lot more to talk about, but that’s the most important thing for you to know right now.” 

The shake of Lila’s hands amplifies for she’s been shown love and doesn’t know how to handle it. It’s not something she gets from her father and her mother is more distant than the miles away from her last home. Ladyb—Adrien is perhaps the closest thing she’s ever had to someone she cares for, and it’s clear now that Marinette (and perhaps some others) have gotten that close too.

“You forgive me?” 

“Come on.” Marinette grabs a hold of Lila’s shoulder and pushes her forward down the hall, out towards the courtyard where the rest of their class is taking lunch. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, and you can tell me exactly how you know Ladybug and Chat Noir.” 

There’s a pause, and then, “You think I’m lying, don’t you?” 

“Please,” Marinette snorts. “You think I honestly believe that you know Ladybug and Chat Noir personally?” 

“I do.”

“Sure.” 

The two friends go on, much like life does. 

It’s the way of the world. 

It starts like this: Lila lies.

But it ends like this: Lila is better because of it.

 * 

 x.

 “So,” Adrien says from his perch on the edge of the rooftop, his Ladybug mask practically glowing in the afternoon sunlight. “Marinette asked me out this morning.” 

“Huh,” Lila remarks, cocking her head to the side. “You sure you heard her right?” 

Snorting back a laugh, he nudges her side with his elbow. “Please, you know I’d never—” 

“We all know you don’t have the balls to handle that girl.” She stands up and takes a couple steps back from the ledge, unclipping her baton from her waist. “Just like we all know she is the best thing to ever happen to you, and if you don’t her as such, I’m going to break you.” 

“Lila!” he snipes back, cheeks burning red. 

All she can do is laugh as she runs towards the edge of the rooftop, leaping off into open air. “Try to keep up, bugaboo!” 

“Don’t call me that!” Adrien calls after her as the two fly through the streets, past the meandering civilians and through silver sunlight that streaks through buildings and trees. 

The city sings. Lila laughs. 

She’s living.

Oh god, is she living.

[derschwarzeengel]

The Atrox arose from primordial darkness… A soulless creature who defied god and gave itself life. The Atrox.

When Pandora’s box was opened, countless evils and sorrows were released into the world. But the last thing to leave the box was hope, the sole comfort for people during misfortune. Only Selene, the goddess of the moon, saw the creature lurking nearby, sent by the Atrox to devour hope. She took pity on Earth dwellers and gave her Daughters, like guardian angels, to fight the Atrox and perpetuate hope.

The Atrox and its Followers have sworn to destroy the Daughters of the Moon because once the goddesses are gone, the Atrox will succeed.

H I S T O R Y

Daughters of the Moon is a 13-book (with a 4-book spin-off Sons of the Dark) YA urban fantasy series by Lynne Ewing published from 2000 - 2007, taking place from the years 2000 - 2002 in Los Angeles, California, and the surrounding area. It centers around four (later five) teenage girls who discover they are mortal goddesses, Daughters of the Moon, whose destiny is to fight the Atrox and its Followers and act as a force of good.

THE ATROX;

The Atrox is the primal source of evil, so ancient that it tricked Lucifer into his fall. Since creation it has been jealous of the world of light and tried to destroy it. The Atrox is always around, sending shadows to be its eyes. Usually appearing as a dark shadow, it is actually weaker in this form and strongest in human form. It holds court in both Tartarus and the parallel dimension of Nefandus, meeting with members of its Inner Circle in Tartarus.

“The greatest strength of the Atrox is that modern people no longer believe the demonic walks amongst us.” —Maggie Craven, Goddess of the Night, pg. 172 - 173

REGULATORS;

The Regulators are the Atrox’s enforcers, sent out to punish Followers who have betrayed it or broken the rules by falling in love with a Daughter of the Moon. The fiercest class of Regulators are those so committed to the Atrox that their faces and bodies became distorted over time, “as if continual contact with such unthinkable evil made their flesh decay.”

Regulators have an electrical aura, can disguise their appearance so that they appear human (almost perfectly so, with movie-star good looks). Altering their appearance takes great energy, and they are weaker when disguised. Those belonging to the fiercest class have the ability to walk in and manipulate dreams. Once in a person’s dream they can scan that person’s memories, as well as use the dream to enter a person’s conscience and control them.

Although Regulators serve the Atrox and are determined to find the Secret Scroll (a manuscript that holds the key to destroying the Atrox) and destroy it, they are terrified of the Scroll’s curse: Anyone who holds the Scroll that is not the destined heir or Keeper will bring about misery and death.

FOLLOWERS;

The victims of the Atrox, the Followers. The Atrox steals their hope, sucking it from their soul. Then they become predators themselves, stealing hope from others, trying to replenish their own and feel alive again. But their hunger is never satisfied. They become masters of deceit. They look like anyone, but they hate the moon because it is a symbol of Selene and represents goodness. Under a full moon their eyes turn phosphorescent, and even ordinary people can sense their evil.

The Followers also hate timepieces, not digital ones, but watches with hands and, of course, sundials. Anything that reminds them of their eternal bond to evil. It won’t stop them like a crucifix is reported to stop a vampire, but it will cause them to start.

Followers can never harm a person who has done a genuine act of kindness towards them.

The competition among Followers is fierce, with the greatest reward—a place among the Inner Circle—being given to a Follower for the seduction and turning of a Daughter of the Moon or the theft of her powers.

An invitus is a Follower who was crossed over unwillingly and still retains some of their humanity, having a foot in each world.

Prince of Night

This is the highest honor and rank the Atrox can give a Follower, higher even than those of the Inner Circle who wear the Phoenix crest: The Prince of Night is second-in-command to the Atrox and second in line to its throne. Only one Follower has been given this honor: Stanton, leader of the Followers in Hollywood, in November of 2001 after his defeat and imprisonment of the traitor Lambert.

The Inner Circle (the Cincti)

The Inner Circle, known as the Cincti to other Followers, are the most powerful of the Atrox’s Followers. All of them are Immortals, and only a few—the most high-ranking—are allowed to wear the Phoenix crest.

Those members of the Cincti with the Phoenix crest are more enduring than other Immortals, able to live on as a spirit even if their physical body is destroyed.

They meet with the Atrox in Tartarus, but otherwise typically hold court in Nefandus.

Immortals

The Atrox grants its favored Followers who have proven themselves immortality through the frigidus ignis ritual ceremony, with the chosen one called Lecta (female) or Lectus (male) during the ritual. The cold fire burns away the Follower’s mortal life and bestows immortality.

It is an ancient, arcane ritual, and one must be invited into the fire by the Atrox for immortality to be granted. Anyone who enters the fire that is not a chosen one will suffer a painful death—and the flames can burn away the immortality of an already-immortal Follower.

Immortals are also granted the ability to shapechange into shadow and stay that way for days, if necessary. Many have the ability to read minds, control thoughts, steal memories, erase and trap someone in their own memories, and more powerful Followers can pull sensations and feelings from the air.

Initiates

Initiates are kids, mostly teenagers, who have been led to the Atrox by Followers and are waiting to be accepted into its congregation. They are often apprenticed to an older, more experienced Follower to learn how to perfect their evil in hopes of becoming Followers themselves.

NEFANDUS;

The universe is constructed of atoms. Spaces exist between these atoms, and within these spaces are other atoms that create a parallel universe, one existing simultaneously with ours. —Derek, The Lost One, pg. 246 - 247

Nefandus is the parallel dimension where the Atrox resides with most of its Followers, the Inner Circle, and Regulators. Unless guided by a Follower or someone from Nefandus, to outsiders it looks like a vast expanse of nothingness, the air strangely buoyant like water, and they will be trapped there in a dreamlike trance, lured by a false sense of security.

The servi who live in Nefandus are usually teenagers who have either been lured there by a Follower or found their own way into the parallel dimension by accident. A servus is a servant, a slave, to a particular Follower and those who have been servi long enough are granted the ability to shapeshift into shadow and read minds.

[derschwarzeengel]

Every so often, I remember it's canon the Atrox (in human form) wore a fedora, and I can't stop laughing.

And yeah, honestly? The fedora suits him.

[derschwarzeengel]

tag drop ) Verses

Main Verses

#v. On the Wings of Darkness ( Charmed 1998. )

#v. Is There a Darklighter in the House? ( Charmed 2018. )

#Charmed 2018 v. Something Wiccan This Way Comes ( Season 1. )

#Charmed 2018 v. Charmed and Sleepless in Seattle ( Season 2. )

#v. Along the Crooked Way ( Unknown. )

AU Verses

#v. Bark at the Moon ( Werewolf AU. )

#v. Das weisse Licht ( Post Season 8 / Witch Hunt AU. )

#v. Father of Night and Evil I Call You ( Daughters of the Moon AU. )

#v. Long Live the King (Source!Damon AU. )

#v. Through Passion I Gain Strength ( Star Wars AU.)

#v. The Night Bleeds in Black ( vampire!Damon AU. )

#v. She Has Come from the Shadows of the Dream World ( Dagmar. )

#v. Prince of Shadows ( Teen. )

Crossover Verses

#v. In the Shadows of the Darkness ( CW’s Supernatural. )

#v. Die Schatten der Nacht ( Freeform’s Shadowhunters. )

#v. Welcome to Mystic Falls ( CW’s The Vampire Diaries. )

Closed Verses

#v. Spellbound: The Secrets We Hid in the Night

#romxna v. Let Me Be Your Secret Sin

#romxna v. Wunschkind

#romxna v. Better Keep Your Eyes On the Road Ahead ( Sons of Anarchy v1 )

#romxna v. Gotta Live This Life Until You Die ( Sons of Anarchy v2 )

#romxna v. Riding Through This World All Alone ( Sons of Anarchy v3 )

#v. That Grey Area

#v. The Darkest Is Yet to Come ( Dark Future v1 )

#v. The Power of Three Reborn ( Dark Future v2 )

#v. My Shangrila ( Dark Future v3 )

#v. Dark as Night

#v. Repercussions

#v. Zauber in the West ( Wild West v1 )

#v. Welcome to Sanctuary ( Wild West v2 )

#v. Strange Alliances

[derschwarzeengel]

During the primordial chaos that existed before creation, the Atrox breathed life into itself and strove to be the first ruler of the universe.

Gaia and Chaos fought its evil force. They created Tartarus deep within the earth and imprisoned it there. Tartarus was strong enough to hold the Cyclopes and the Giants, but it couldn't keep the Atrox contained.

The ancient gods created another land beneath the dark clouds of Tartarus, but the Atrox now uses that realm for its shelter and freely roams the world above and in between, and its Followers are growing in number.

—Daughters of the Moon #10: The Talisman by Lynne Ewing

[derschwarzeengel]

{ Open } [Follower!Damon]

“Now you believe, don’t you? You see with other eyes than your own and know. Turn and see the Atrox.”

[derschwarzeengel]

{ Open } [Follower!Damon]

"If you look into my eyes too long, you'll lose yourself."

[derschwarzeengel]

Some notes about Damon's powers as a Follower:

as an Immortal, he cannot be killed, and his body will immediately regenerate/heal if he's seriously wounded

he can shapeshift into shadow and travel + stay that way for days if he wants

his mind control is strong, but for it to work on a human, he has to make eye contact (often, this is how a Follower will drain the hope from someone in order to turn them to the Atrox)

he can sense things from the air, scan with his mind, and read thoughts/implant false memories

as part of his mind control abilities, he has the power to trap people in his own memories

using violence (guns, knives, fists, etc.) against a Follower in a fight will only make the Follower stronger; they thrive on evil

However, as an invitus, someone turned against their will, part of him still has hold on his former humanity and hates what he's become.

Followers with the Phoenix crest are high-ranking members of the Atrox's Inner Circle and are more enduring than regular Immortals: if something should happen that completely destroys their body with no chance of regeneration, their disembodied spirit will live on.

The Atrox grants its favored Followers immortality through the cold fire ceremony; the flames burn away their mortality and grant eternal life. If anyone not invited by the Atrox steps into or touches the fire, they will die an agonizing death.

As for weaknesses:

they cannot stand sundials or non-digital clocks; it won't stop them like a crucifix will a vampire, but it will cause them to start and cause discomfort (they remind Followers of their eternal bond to evil)

the moon amulet of a Daughter of the Moon will burn their flesh and leave a mark; this is one way the Daughters can identify a suspected Follower

they are strongest during the dark of the moon but weakest during the full moon.

the light of the full moon also betrays them to humans: their eyes turn yellow, and normal people can sense their evil

[derschwarzeengel]

The victims of the Atrox, the Followers. The Atrox steals their hope, sucking it from their soul. Then they become predators themselves, stealing hope from others, trying to replenish their own and feel alive again. But their hunger is never satisfied. They become masters of deceit. They look like anyone, but they hate the moon because it is a symbol of Selene and represents goodness. Under a full moon their eyes turn phosphorescent, and even ordinary people can sense their evil.