#what kills me is the fact that i also have an oc i ship with ivan and whenever i see ur fanart I FEEL LIKE A HOMEWRECKER 😭😭 LMAO

[iiikaruz]

It’d be like- totally cool and awesome if you could share more ivan headcanons if you have any :]

i hope ur ready for the most random, unorganized hcs on the planet bc WHOO BOY DO I HAVE SOME STUFF TO SAY ABOUT THIS CRINGEFAIL INCEL!!

- tried learning how to do jumpstyle and is actually pretty decent at it, despite his skinny-ass toopthpick legs. also he literally can’t dance in any other way. like, he sucks at anything besides that.

- however, learning that forever ruined his music taste, since he now listens to breakcore and slavic dnb: just the most ear-rupturing, bass boosted music with anime samples

- he was definitely a Creepypasta & Invader Zim kid when he was younger. no questions asked. also he probably had unrestricted internet access as a child and fell upon gore & shock vids.

- furthermore on middle school ivan, he probably wore eyeliner and covered one of his eyes with his bang. he also never grew out of covering his eye with his bangs (i hate/adore his gay-ass bangs so much. maybe they’re the reason why he gets no bitches lmao)

- was raised learning russian by his foster parents and only started learning english when he was 6. (side note: i fucking love his accent it has me thrashing around on the floor)

- his hands are always sweaty but always cold at the same time?? bro is a physical anomaly and gets the worst of both worlds.

- absolutely sucks at eye contact, but not in the usual way. he ends up accidentally staring at people for way too long when they talk to him/when he’s talking. like, straight-up not blinking for a good minute.

- inherited schizophrenia from his clone father. he mostly just deals with paranoia and bouts of depression.

- is unbelievably touch-starved. to the point that if someone even touches his shoulder for more than a second, his brain just explodes and he immediately just crumples up like a piece of paper.

- swears a LOT in russian and in english (get you a man who can do both lol). his favorite insult is just “kill yourself” and other variations. it always works, definitely/s

- he thinks that any advance towards him is either someone making fun of him or that it’s just him reading into it too much it. he physically cant accept the idea of someone being into him.

- is chronically addicted to Monster Energy.

- greasiest hair ever. i just KNOW he probably washes his hair once a week.

- his favorite anime is Serial Experiment Lain (he’s absolutely a lain kinnie and you can pry this hc from my cold dead hands)

- has an incredibly shitty sleep schedule. like, 4 hours AT BEST. this is made from the combination of him having mild insomnia and him being online all the time.

[leafpool-loves-ashfur]

calling it now people are going to ship Flipclaw and Podlight

[ignify-caligo]

Hussar: 🤥, ☕️, 🙈, 🏊‍♂️, 🪤, 🚲, ☁️, 💗 no obligation to answer!

Ranger, my man I’m so sorry for coming with these after so long but my mind just said “You wanna write? Sike here you go: a writer’s block” hah. Tried my best to write something decent - hope you will like this as much as I liked writing it (even if I had to fight tooth and nail for some coherent thoughts lmao)!

oc emoji ask game here

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

Telling white lies to appease someone you need to keep close to yourself is a need to have skill in the military. Of course, Hussar isn’t the type to even use those white lies - most of the time he’s straightforward with his opinion and thoughts. Even with that in mind it quickly can switch - try to toss him on the topic of a relationship and he immediately shuts down. Turns snappy with replying and the emotional wall he’s setting up is truly visible in his eyes - where they turn frigidly cold from their usual warmth. Where he usually will twitch his lips into smirks or small smiles when he tries to cut off the chase - his lips won’t even lift or frown, they stay as neutral as his replies. When some people tend to drag their gaze away whenever they lie to their conversation partner- he is the complete opposite. He will look straight into your eyes as if he was about to try and either melt your head with lasers or look into the deepest part of your soul. Another sign for whenever Hussar’s hiding something is the double work he does to keep his movements in check - we won’t go “deer in the headlight” still but often when not he will scratch at his stubble, especially on his scar crossing from the jaw up his cheek.

☕️ HOT BEVERAGE - do they prefer hot or cold drinks? what is their favourite drink?

Hussar is the highest-ranking caffeine addict in the “Polonaise” Squad (Drużyna “Polonez” - tysm to @u5an5 for the name idea ;> ). Without a cup of coffee in the morning, you may just sign your death certificate on the spot if you manage to get under his skin before his daily intake quota. His go-to preference for his coffee is ¾ water with a splash of milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar; if the proportions are slightly off he won’t complain openly but you will definitely see the furrowed brows of discontent he desperately tries to smooth out of his expression if he knows he’s being watched. Other go-to drinks of his are for example homemade kompot, a rare bottle of soda (usually coke) from time to time and scotch whiskey on the rocks or a shot of jägermeister or vodka with Gromsko whenever they meet up between all the chaos in their lives.

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - what's a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people?

The first thing which comes to mind when it concerns what he wouldn’t like other people to see is that Hussar would do anything to hide how vulnerable he truly is to his squad and loved ones getting harmed. Being the commanding officer, especially that high up the ranks comes with stuffing your own emotions down into the darkest corners of your heart, so no one can easily dig them up and use them against you or others. He will show that he cares but not how much he cares - he will filter out the magnitude of his feelings to not appear as “weakhearted” or being one to resolve into favouritism.

Another aspect of his is how easily stress can turn into impulsiveness and outburst of heated emotions. Anger in his case is a form of masking his vulnerability and how big of a toll his environment forces upon him. He acts cool and collected before the masses but easily dissolves in the safety of closed doors - people brush off his outbursts as a part of his “commanding personality/front” but the reality is: he’s falling apart at the seams whenever the situations get too heated and hides his fear of failure behind a mask of anger. Especially considering his fresh promotion to a general brigadier - the lowest rank of general in the Polish army, being thrown out to the deep sea is a great toll on his nerves.

🏊 SWIMMING - can they swim? or are they afraid of water? how well do they swim? how do they feel about swimming in the ocean?

He can swim that’s for certain - learned to do so by getting tossed into the lake by his parents and getting told to “wing it”. This skill got, even more, worked up on when he enlisted. Unfortunately, thanks to the creative way he was thought how to swim - he isn’t quite comfortable with the deeper bodies of water. He much prefers to swim in a familiar lake or pool than to get thrown into unknown waters, especially the ocean. Doesn’t necessarily mean he will lock up in fear because of it but he will definitely get uncomfortable - nonetheless, he will fight the feeling and the job done if he has to.

🪤 MOUSE TRAP - what will always lure them into certain danger? a loved one in danger? a promise of something they are always searching for?

As much as he tries to deny or dampen his obvious concern for every Polonaise member’s safety - he will go full-on instinct if he even suspects something happening to the people he counts as his family. Not even mentioning the person in danger being Gromsko, it’s game over for whoever dares to touch his boy. He is aware that all of them signed up for this themselves and they are aware of the risk taken - but he will take it upon himself to keep them safe because they are under his care and he’s responsible for all that happens (even though many of the things happening are not because of him - he will find a way to blame himself for it nonetheless).

🚲 BICYCLE - can they ride a bike? what do they remember from learning to ride a bicycle?

When he was younger the bicycle was his number one way to escape the militia and get home after the curfew has been implemented - so, of course, he can ride a bike. As any, he had a rough start with the falls and bumps from learning - but being as stubborn as he was and with the unique form motivation from his father (who would rather go “look at what the fuck you did with the pavement!” rather than focus on his son’s sniffling from his fall) he caught up on the basics rather quickly. In comparison to most people who usually don’t use bicycles after learning to drive cars or just getting older in general - he still keeps up with his riding. Weekend rides in the wild are for him a form of taking a breather in his tight schedules life: right besides taking hikes.

☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon

His flat has a guestroom combined with his office where most of the belongings you will find there are actually Gromsko’s. It isn’t an unusual sight to see Gromsko barging without beforehand notice into Hussar’s flat (though in all honesty with him having one of the two extra keys to the flat it technically isn’t barging in) with his travel bags and crashing down onto the living room’s sofa with a quiet groan. The warm smile spreading for a moment on Hussar’s lips - smoothing down all the nicks, scars and wrinkles of stress and heartbreak is on the same level of softness as his view of a tired Gromsko finally coming back to the place he can call his own home. As if a switch has been flipped the atmosphere of the mediocre flat has switched from a greyish hue to a bursting warm of colours. The soft purring of Hussar’s two cats enveloping the quiet reunion of many more to come is a point-blank cherry on top.

💗 GROWING HEART - if they have a crush, is it noticeable? what changes when they're in love?

After getting early wed and even faster divorced - he ultimately got himself stuck in the limbo of “not being worth it”. His first and only long-term relationship had ended with his wife leaving him after giving birth to their child with the reason being “that he wasn’t even remotely focused on their life and that he ran to the army for an escape”, essentially making him believe that it was all his fault it all ended. This in the end forced him to shut down all hope for any long-term relationship that wasn’t platonic. He gets all internal panic at the mere mention of someone being interested in him - body stiffening and his heart going minutely flatline because of it.

The same goes for when he catches bigger feelings than a simple crush - his supposed to keep it professional not get emotions mixed in there goddamit. Internalised homophobia isn’t helping much when it turns out he catches himself thinking too much about a certain brit. To someone who hasn’t known Hussar for years, he would seem quite normal and friendly around his crush - but internally he is about to implode. The way he fights to not flinch out of shock when Price touches his shoulder or when the brit brushes their hands as supposedly “on accident” is evident for someone like Gromsko who doesn’t take mercy on his older colleague/father figure and blankly points it out whenever he catches Hussar alone. Where Gromsko hammers with “Wybacz, ale czy ty jesteś kurwa ślepy czy jak? Ewidetnie on ma na ciebie chrapkę!” (Excuse me but are you fucking blind or what? Obviously, he has a crush on you!) Hussar replies with: “Chyba cię pojebało.” (it can mean “You lost your fucking mind” or smth along those lines).

[sansaorgana]

— THROWN TO THE WOLVES (X)

PART ONE || PART TWO || PART THREE PART FOUR || PART FIVE || PART SIX PART SEVEN || PART EIGHT || PART NINE

PAIRING — Na-Baron Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x fem!Reader // Atreides!OC

SUMMARY — Muad'Dib's forces attack the palace during the imperial visit on Arrakis. The new Baroness Harkonnen must face her past and choose her future.

AUTHOR’S NOTE — It’s written as an usual x Reader fic without describing anything about the Reader’s looks but I still classified it as an OC as well since she is Paul Atreides’ half-sister. A month ago (March 6th) I went to the cinema to watch Dune: Part Two and I stayed up until 3am to write the very first chapter of this fic despite having morning classes on the next day. 🙈 I couldn't have known back then what a journey this would be and how many lovely and amazing readers would be so engaged in this story! 💕 This is the final part – but I am willing to write additional one-shots with these characters in the future. Thank you everyone who suggested me the baby names. I went with the idea commented by @alexandrainlove since it made sense to me due to the fact I have already used the name before in this fic. I loved all your recommendations, though! 🥰 Also, I want to credit @houserautha for pointing out that the thick Harkonnen blood (as I have described it in this fic) would actually be an advantage in combat because it would make bleeding out to death more difficult. I know some of you might be disappointed or sad about some events in the last chapter – I decided to go with my original plan for it because, at the end of the day, I can't possibly please everyone anyway. I loved all your ideas and assumptions, though, they made me rethink my plans many times. Love you! 💗

WARNINGS — arranged marriage, blood, violent behaviour, death, murder, childbirth

WORD COUNT — 12,780 (😳)

ENGLISH IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE.

THROWN TO THE WOLVES (X)

You watched the imperial ships land through the window with anticipation and anxiety. They were huge and covered in imperial sigils, now covered with the sand and spice. The symbols of power and influence – a reminder of your whole existence being reduced to the subject and a servant. 

Escorted by the guards, you walked down the corridors to greet the guests. Your husband stayed inside to call upon other leaders of the galaxy. Feyd feared that the Emperor had arrived on Arrakis to once again take it from the Harkonnens because of some whim. He wouldn’t let that happen, especially now when it was the first day of his rule as The Baron. Losing such an important planet on the beginning of his reign was a political suicide. But The Harkonnens were in possession of an imperial secret that the Emperor wouldn’t want anyone else to know – his troops had been used to kill the members of the House Atreides… your family. Having other galactic leaders knowing that would mean the end of the Emperor and Feyd-Rautha would not hesitate to threaten him if he was about to take Arrakis from you.

You had just found out that secret and pretended it had not bothered you at all when you walked down the corridor to go outside, accompanied by the guards, with your hand clasped on your abdomen and chin held up high. However, realising the Emperor’s true nature had given you some sort of fighting spirit.

You stood and awaited to face him – The Emperor. The man who was responsible for the death of your family. The next goal of your ambitious game…?

You watched the first men walk out of the imperial ship. The Sardaukar fanatic soldiers caused a shiver to go down your spine. Your few Harkonnen guards suddenly started to feel like little mice locked in a cage with a bunch of fat cats. You almost overlooked The Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. He was older and weaker than you had expected and remembered from his visits on Caladan. At the sight of him, your mind filled with intrusive thoughts of how easy it would be to  simply… get rid of him.

The Sardaukar soldier’s loud and powerful salute at their Emperor made you shake those thoughts off. Then you spotted two women leaving the ship as well and you started to feel sick when you noticed Bene Gesserit’s Reverend Mother dressed all in black with a veil covering her face.

But you’d recognise her everywhere. You remembered when Lady Jessica had walked you out of your birthday party after turning sixteen. She had taken you to a dark room where this very Reverend Mother had been waiting. Your humanity had been tested in the Gom Jabbar and never before nor after you had experienced such pain in your life. The Reverend Mother had looked at Lady Jessica and uttered out only three words to describe you.

Human… but weak.

You hadn’t gone back to the party. Instead, you had spent the rest of the night by your mother’s grave where your father had eventually found you.

You had been hoping to never see that woman ever again in your life. But here she was now, once again testing you on such a special day as the beginning of your reign.

The other woman was much younger. It was Princess Irulan, daughter of the Emperor. You looked deep into her eyes and she stared back, widening hers. Her dress looked like armour, too.

You had met her only once where you two were children. You had been playing together but she had been very upset at the fact that you had been holding the same title.

“I am not as important as you are, Irulan,” you had been trying to explain to her. “Duke’s daughter is called a Princess but our ranks are not equal. You are an Imperial Princess.”

“I should be the only Princess in the galaxy,” Irulan had pouted at you.

You approached the delegation and bowed down. Technically, you should be kneeling but the late Baron Harkonnen had taught you a few things before his pathetic end. One of them was to always remind the Emperor of the power the Harkonnens were holding. To treat him more as if he was an equal than a superior. You commanded an army bigger than him and your wealth was much more impressive.

“Your Imperial Highness,” you looked up at him and straightened your back. He was staring at you and furrowing his brows, most likely surprised that you were greeting him alone with only a few guards. “Your visit is an honour to us,” you added. “Sadly, we experienced a great loss last night as Muad’Dib’s forces assassinated our beloved late Baron Vladimir Harkonnen,” you faked a shiver of your voice. “Forgive the new Baron,my husband, for not coming out with me to greet you, Your Imperial Highness. He is very busy with his new duties and obligations,” you explained.

The Reverend Mother leaned into the Emperor's ear and whispered something to him. You didn’t like that at all. But he only nodded and raised a hand at his guards to keep following him as he approached you slowly.

“I am very sorry to hear about your loss, Baroness Harkonnen, Duchess Atreides,” he addressed you elegantly and you bowed down again. Once he joined you, you began to walk side by side. His daughter and the Bene Gesserit followed very closely.

“Thank you, Your Imperial Highness,” you faked the sadness of your smile.

“The reason for my visit is the man you have mentioned… Muad’Dib,” he added and you raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, I am aware that we have not caught him yet but now, after last night’s events… I am sure my husband will do everything in his power to avenge his uncle’s death. Muad’Dib’s days are numbered, Your Imperial Highness,” you tried to assure him. “He is nothing but a terrorist. Not only he slayed our late Baron but also some of the servants and most of the guards.”

“What a miracle that is that you and your husband were spared,” The Emperor pointed out and you could swear that there was a shadow of a smirk on his face.

“Prepare the throne room for The Emperor,” you looked at the servants approaching you and they nodded before running away as fast as possible with their heads held low. Then you turned around to look at The Emperor again. “Not lucky, no. We just weren’t the main target. But I am sure he will be back for us.”

“Forgive me, Baroness, I need to rest after the long journey,” The Emperor nodded at you and you bowed down.

“My servants will show you to your rooms as the throne room is being prepared for you to use it when you are rested, Your Imperial Highness,” you told him and nodded at another pair of servants who had just approached you. “Please, do forgive us for our lack of preparations and today’s chaos.”

“It is quite understandable after such a tragedy,” he assured you and walked away with his daughter and some of the soldiers. The rest of The Sardaukar stayed inside to monitor the corridors.

You turned around, ready to go back to your husband when you almost bumped into The Reverend Mother who had stayed behind you.

“Excuse me,” you faked a smile and tried to walk past her but she stood in your way once again. “What seems to be the problem?” You asked.

“The child inside you was not a part of our breeding program,” she stated casually. You felt your son moving as if he knew she was talking about him. You put your hand on your swollen womb protectively.

“I do not care about your breeding program, with all respect. I just want to give House Harkonnen a male heir,” you explained.

“The child is too powerful,” she told you but her words did not make you proud. They sounded too sinister to take it as a compliment.

“In what way?” You raised an eyebrow. “Am I not weak, Reverend Mother?”

“The Harkonnen medics have overdone themselves, Baroness. Your child does not only have all the best genetic material of your flesh and mind… but of all the Atreides and the Harkonnen families. He will be an unstoppable force if trained properly,” the woman whispered.

“I have already promised you a daughter… under certain conditions. I am not giving you a son,” you hissed.

“That is the point, Baroness. It is a shame your child is a son. But do keep going… If the Harkonnen medics are so advanced already, I cannot wait for the daughter you will give us,” you could spot a smile under the veil as your jaw clenched.

“If I were you, I would fear the day she is born,” you nodded at her and walked away. This time she allowed you to, but she kept staring at you until you disappeared behind the corner to go back to Feyd and tell him about the reason for The Emperor’s sudden visit.

“I have brought back the spice production to full efficiency, Your Imperial Highness,” Feyd explained himself as he was looking up at The Emperor sitting on the Arrakis’ throne with his daughter and The Reverend Mother standing beside him. He had been questioning your husband for the last fifteen minutes, as if it was really an interrogation which would decide whether he should keep governing Arrakis or not.

“Have you, Baron Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen? Or has your late uncle done that?” The Emperor asked.

You were standing a step behind your husband, with your head kept low and your hands clasped on your abdomen, playing a dutiful wife. You knew that showing off your power and influence in front of The Emperor would only make Feyd look even weaker in his eyes.

“He was a great help but I was The Governor of Arrakis, with all respect,” Feyd answered, trying to hide his anger and frustration.

“And what about that idiot brother of yours?”

“Count Rabban has been dismissed. He’s on his way to Giedi Prime now, Your Imperial Highness,” Feyd nodded.

“His problems with the spice production were a result of the activity of the mysterious Muad’Dib… You still haven’t caught him either, have you, Baron Harkonnen?” The Emperor hummed to himself. “And last night he slaughtered your uncle, so I’ve been told… Tell me, what do you know about him?”

“He’s one of the Fremen, I assume. A leader of a terrorist group with great influence,” Feyd explained.

“And you, Baroness?” The Emperor addressed you and you looked up, too, surprised to be included. “I have been told of your influence in the House Harkonnen. Do not play a shy mouse with me.”

You smiled nervously at his words and bowed down slightly.

“I did not mean to play anything, Your Imperial Highness. Please, do forgive me for my sombre mood today after last night’s tragic events…” You batted your eyelashes at him and took a step forward. Now you were arm to arm with your husband. “I do not know more than The Baron about Muad’Dib,” you added as your heart pounded in your chest.

“Liar!” The Reverend Mother exclaimed suddenly and the whole room went silent. Feyd turned his head around to squint his eyes at you and with the corner of your own you spotted a hint of sense of betrayal upon his face.

“I am not a liar, Your Imperial Highness,” you shook your head. “I can not know for certain.”

“But you do have your assumptions,” The Reverend Mother pointed out and you swallowed thickly, feeling the weight of this secret on your shoulders.

“I am suspecting that Muad’Dib might be my brother… Prince Paul Atreides,” you whispered.

“The Atreides are all dead,” Feyd drawled through gritted teeth. “That is impossible.”

“So I thought,” you nodded. “But Paul has been haunting my dreams since the first night I came here. After some time I started to realise that they might not be dreams at all… More like visions. He has been communicating with me and it appears to me now that he might have survived in the desert after The Harkonnen invasion,” you avoided looking into anyone’s eyes.

“Why haven’t you told me about those visions?” Your husband’s voice was full of anger and betrayal and it surprised you how much you hated to make him feel this way. After all, you two were supposed to always play on the same team.

“Because I thought they hold no significance,” you finally dared to look into his eyes again. “What does it change who he truly is? And I could not be sure anyway.”

“Why would Paul Atreides communicate with Baroness Harkonnen?” Princess Irulan asked and you looked at her. “Do not misunderstand me, my Lady, but you are no Bene Gesserit. You hold no telepathic power like that.”

“He is not communicating with her,” The Reverend Mother pointed out. “He is communicating with her son. Because if Muad’Dib is as powerful as they say that he is now, then Baroness’ unborn child is the only person who can stop him.”

“Stop him how?” You asked with furrowed brows.

“Your child’s powers are not yet fully known but his presence might be interrupting Muad’Dib’s foreseeing abilities,” she explained.

“Foreseeing abilities?” The Emperor moved uncomfortably on the throne. “What exactly are we dealing with?!”

The timing of those words was not of the best kind as a loud booming sound from the outside reached your ears. Startled by it, you grabbed Feyd’s arm to squeeze it.

“My Lord! My Lady!” One of the engineers from the conference room ran inside, breathing heavily with his eyes widened, not even caring about The Emperor’s presence. “The Fremen… They are using The Atreides’ nuclear weapons to attack us and they are coming at us… Hundreds of them… Thousands… All united as they’re waving The Atreides flags.”

“Duchess Atreides, care to explain?” The Emperor asked you and you looked at him as if he was crazy.

“I’ve had nothing to do with that!” You denied. “I haven’t even been told where my father had hidden the Atreides nuclear weapons. If I had known, they’d be used against the Fremen long time ago, Your Imperial Highness,” you stated.

“It’s Muad’Dib,” The Reverend Mother said. “As he promised to come.”

“Wait, you had an agreement with him?” You asked her but she remained silent. “I thought you wanted him dead.”

“We were curious about him, Baroness,” The Emperor informed you. “We were supposed to have negotiations.”

Another booming sound made you shiver as the walls around you trembled.

“Negotiations, you say,” you drawled. “There you have them,” you pointed at the door. “We don’t have enough guards to protect us from this sort of attack, even with your Sardaukar soldiers, Your Imperial Highness! Most of them were slain last night.”

“And whose was the hand that slayed them?!” The Emperor yelled and you tried to keep your poker face on but you hated the feeling of fear creeping up on you. You thought you would never be afraid again in your life.

But now you were afraid. You were afraid of the Muad’Dib forces outside the palace and you were afraid of The Emperor sitting on a throne above you. He was an old and weak man but his power was still strong enough to cause you harm, especially with his fanatic soldiers surrounding you in the room.

“Fear not,” an odd, unfamiliar voice filled your brain. You furrowed your brow and looked around, trying to reach for the person trying to communicate with you. However, the voice was deep and raspy in a Harkonnen way. It reminded you of Feyd’s but his face looked pretty oblivious. “Fear not, mother,” the voice spoke again and you gasped.

The Emperor thought that you gasped because of his accusation, though.

“I do not care about The Harkonnen’s inside affairs,” he informed you angrily. “However, now we’re all paying the price of your last night’s selfish act!”

You didn’t know what to feel or do. You were overwhelmed with anxiety and the new discovery of your son’s voice being able to communicate with you. The booming sounds were becoming more and more frequent and the Harkonnen guards formed a circle around you and The Emperor alongside the Sardaukar soldiers.

You hid behind Feyd and dug your fingernails into his shoulder. Some part of you wished Muad’Dib was indeed Paul Atreides. Well, he had to be since they were using the Atreides nuclear weapons and flags. Your own brother would not kill you, would he? 

He would understand that everything you had done, you had done to survive. If he had survived in that desert, he would understand everything.

The Emperor, Princess Irulan and The Reverend Mother walked down to stand beside you so the soldier’s circle around you could tighten.

“Can you hear me?” You thought.

“All the time,” your son answered and you smiled slightly to yourself.

It was a comforting thought to know that. 

“Is that true that you’re able to stop Paul?” You asked inside your mind.

“I can try,” he answered. 

“Your voice reminds me so much of your father’s,” you kept talking to him and distracting yourself from the sight of the doors being stormed as a horde of Fremen was trying to get inside the room with the sound of explosions in the distance.

“I am his son,” he answered very seriously and you almost chuckled at the fact he was clearly as rigid as Feyd – so logical and stiff even as an unborn baby.

“Yes, you are, my darling,” your hand, placed protectively on your swollen womb, squeezed the flesh through the dress’ fabric and that was when the doors opened with a loud bang sound and for a short while you thought you would die on Arrakis indeed, where your father’s bones already remained somewhere in the desert. Perhaps it was The Atreides’ fate to die on Arrakis.

But, after all, you were a Harkonnen.

You had not been attacked, though. Once your guards had been defeated, you were all taken to one of the rooms and locked there with the Fremen guards outside ensuring you would not escape. You were waiting for Muad’Dib’s forces to take over the whole palace as you were basically his captives.

Sitting on a chair with Feyd crouching down by your side, you were worried sick about Astra and Cara. You hoped that the Fremen wouldn’t hurt the servants but seeing their brutality and barbaric ways, you weren’t so sure about it. The Emperor was sitting, too, and staring at you with his eyes squinted.

“If that really is your brother, Duchess Atreides…” he started.

“Then what, Your Imperial Highness?” You snapped at him. When his dangerous guards were defeated, he was just an old, weak man and no threat to you. Feyd would slit his throat in half a second.

If he had a knife. But it had been taken away from him and surprisingly, he had been pretty obedient about it. You were grateful because you did not want to watch him getting slaughtered by a whole bunch of Fremen. He was a great warrior but every person had their limits of how many opponents they could take at the same time.

Your knife had not been taken, though. As a woman – especially pregnant – you hadn’t been searched properly and you hadn’t brought up the fact that you had a knife strapped to your hip under all the folds of your dress. Even Feyd didn’t know about it and you wanted it to remain this way. You hoped that you wouldn’t have to use it but you couldn’t be sure and it was better to keep it a secret.

“I can’t be responsible for his behaviour just because I am Duchess Atreides,” you reminded The Emperor.

“If Muad’Dib is really Paul Atreides then you are no Duchess Atreides, Baroness Harkonnen,” The Emperor reminded you. “His actions speak for your House then, not yours.”

“My House is Harkonnen,” you only barked at him and turned your face around to Feyd. You held his hand and he leaned in to place a kiss upon your forehead, sensing your nervousness.

“What kind of fighter is your brother?” He asked you in a whisper but everyone could hear him.

“He was bad last time I saw him. Weak and pathetic in combat,” you answered. “But now he is different. He’s been training a lot.”

“How can you know that?” Princess Irulan looked at you, intrigued.

“If we believe my visions, I know he’s been training. If he is Muad’Dib, we don’t even have to believe my visions. Muad’Dib is the only name my brother-in-law fears and he’s the one called Beast Rabban,” you told her.

“He is an abomination,” The Reverend Mother spoke up, “in a different, worse way than the spawn inside you, Baroness Harkonnen.”

“What did you call my son?” Feyd’s muscles tensed.

“Calm down, Baron, she knows what I’m talking about,” the old woman was not bothered by making him angry. “Your son might be the only hope for us. He is interfering Muad’Dib’s foreseeing abilities.”

“I do not like the way you speak of it as if it’s all certain,” The Emperor joined. “If that is true, then I wish I had known about it sooner.”

“Father, there are some secrets that shall be kept even from you,” his daughter tried to calm him down.

“I disagree.”

“We shouldn’t fight now,” you interrupted them. “If we want to survive, we have to work together.”

“And what do you propose, Baroness?” The Emperor asked you with a contemptuous smirk. “He’s a madman, your brother.”

“So is my husband,” you raised your chin proudly. “And do not underestimate me, Your Imperial Highness, as I am the madman’s sister.”

The doors opened loudly and the Fremen warriors looked at all of you with visible contempt that made a shiver go down your body.

“Muad’Dib wishes to see you,” one of them barked at you.

Feyd helped you to stand up and you were taken to one of the rooms upstairs with a balcony and a beautiful view. The sun was setting slowly and giving the whole chamber an orange hue.

Gurney Halleck was the first man you recognised. He was standing in the middle of the room and waiting for you. You honestly hadn’t expected him to survive The Harkonnen invasion.

Seeing your father’s Warmaster broke something in you. It was as if the young Princess Atreides bloomed once again inside your rotten heart. After all, he had known you ever since you were a little girl.

“Gurney!” You smiled and ran up to him, not caring much about Feyd’s hands trying to stop you. The Fremen soldiers reached for their knives but Halleck stopped them with a small gesture of his hand.

“Princess!” He smiled at the sight of you as well and opened his arms. You had never been close – not as close as he had been with your brother at least – but seeing him brought back all the memories and for a short while you thought that finally, after all those months surrounded by the Harkonnens… you were saved.

You hugged Gurney with a wide smile and he fixed a loose hair strand falling rebelliously on your forehead.

“Look at you, Princess… So mature now, aren’t you?” He asked in a whisper. There was pain in his eyes and it brought tears to your own.

He was sorry for you. But he was sorry in a different way than all those late Baron’s guests who had been looking at you as if you were a little, innocent, naive prey. He was Gurney, your Gurney and he had known you. You were his Princess. He was sorry for you because he knew who you had been and who you were supposed to be under different circumstances. He had known your heart. Your whims, your moods, your smiles, your laughter, your dreams, your kindness and your humour. He had known all of you.

And perhaps all this time you had been wanting for someone to be sorry for you. You didn’t want to be admired for your strength and ability to survive, for your cunning mind and your schemes. You just wanted someone to admit that a great pain had been inflicted upon you and it was unfair to happen to you and brought you nothing but suffering.

Before you could open your mouth and answer him, the doors opened and you gasped at the sight of Muad’Dib followed by the Bene Gesserit sisters.

You would recognise his silhouette and his walk everywhere. Your brother, Paul Atreides – it was really him.

Perhaps the shock was not as big as it would be because of the dreams you two had been sharing for the past few weeks.

But was it really your brother…? His hair was longer and curly now, no longer neatly combed, his eyes were blue from the spice and the way he wore his stillsuit felt nearly as if it was his second skin. You had never seen him so angry and confident, so ready to fight and so bloodthirsty.

The Bene Gesserit surrounded their most important one – sitting on a chair with her face covered in tattoos and sheer veils. She looked familiar to you, you thought, and then she laid her own eyes on you – blue from the spice – and you realised it was Lady Jessica.

Throughout the past few months, both of you seemed to significantly rise in power.

“Brother…!” You ran up to him, instinctively, despite everything that was telling you not to trust the man in front of you ��� he was not your brother, he was a shell of Paul Atreides; filled with hate and anger and a newly discovered hunger for power.

Perhaps you two had more in common now.

“Sister,” he greeted you with a nod of his head and you froze in your place as you were about to give him a hug but he visibly did not want it.

A long, awkward silence occurred between everyone gathered in the room. You tried to keep your chin held up but your head felt heavy at that moment as you realised that there was no home and no family to go back to.

You were not about to be saved by a long lost family. There was nothing to save you from. Giedi Prime was your home and Feyd-Rautha was your family.

Paul looked down with contempt as his eyes fixed on your abdomen. He was visibly uncomfortable with the presence of your son. He had to sense his abilities interfering with his own.

“I’ve been informed that apparently, last night, I have slain my grandfather,” he smirked.

“Your grandfather?” You asked, surprised, and then you laid your eyes on Lady Jessica.

Perhaps that was why you fitted so well with The Harkonnens. You had been apparently raised by one of them.

There were actually many things you wanted to ask her. Why had she taught you how to be able to fight The Voice? Why had she been preparing you for things you were clearly not destined to become? And – most importantly – had she ever had any love for you in her heart?

“I do not mind such accusations,” Paul told you and reached out his hand to caress your cheek. From the corner of your eye, you spotted Feyd’s muscles tensing. Your brother’s touch was surprisingly gentle but it did not feel like Paul at all. And your son was kicking your ribs in a painful way for as long as his uncle’s touch lingered upon your skin. “I have missed you, sister. You never replied to any of my letters.”

“I was not given any letters,” you told him.

“I see,” Paul looked down again, this time he focused on The Atreides signet ring on your pinky finger. “Kneel down,” he ordered and you furrowed your brows.

“Excuse me?”

“Kneel down, Baroness Harkonnen and I shall spare your life,” he expanded his thought. “I feel sentimental today,” he added. “You can live, however your husband and the spawn inside you cannot.”

You felt as if he had just spit in your face. That was more offensive than hurtful and more angering than saddening.

“You’re insane,” you took a step back. “How dare you speak to me in such a manner, Paul Atreides? You’re a Fremen savage terrorist now. I am The Duchess of The House Atreides, The Baroness of The House Harkonnen and I will not kneel down in front of you,” you stated proudly.

“I am The Duke Atreides!” He yelled as you took a few more steps back. “I am the son of Duke Leto Atreides and you are nothing but a spoiled Princess that was thrown out and disposed of to die amongst The Harkonnens!” He reminded you harshly.

“There are ships appearing above the planet,” one of the Fremen interrupted you as he informed your brother. He was staring at a tracking device in his hand. “They are leaders of the Great Houses. Someone had to call upon them earlier.”

“That person has done me a great favour,” Paul smirked mischievously. “I am going to inform them about what you have done to my father, Your Imperial Highness,” he addressed The Emperor with contempt. “And by defeating you, I will take your daughter as my wife and reign as The new Emperor of The House Atreides.”

“Please, don’t! My father is old and weak! You can’t fight him!” Princess Irulan stood in front of her father to cover him with her own body.

“Such a fight will take no place,” you clenched your jaw. “He has no right to speak in the name of The House Atreides. I am The Duchess of it and he’s just a Fremen terrorist!”

“Perhaps you haven’t heard me right, dear sister…” Paul started.

“I have heard you perfectly well, brother,” you turned around to face him with raised eyebrows.

“Then you know that I am The Duke,” he squinted his eyes at you.

“I will not give up such a title easily,” you raised your head even higher as you straightened yourself. “I shall challenge you to a duel, brother.”

“Challenge to a duel? Me?” Paul snorted at you. “You cannot wield a blade sister.”

“I am the blade of my Baroness,” Feyd’s raspy voice interrupted you as everyone looked at him.

He nodded at you and you nodded back, approaching him to put a hand on his chest.

“Do not disappoint me, Feyd,” you whispered. “Make me proud like you always do.”

You hoped he was aware of the weight of the responsibility placed upon his shoulders right now. It was not a simple duel with Paul Atreides caused by his wife’s whim to keep some title. It was a duel about the future of his House, a duel about his child’s life… Perhaps a duel about the future of the whole galaxy.

And you hated that on that day you’d either lose a husband or a brother. Losing your husband would be much worse – you couldn’t imagine your life without Feyd now and what you’d end up like without his protection. On the other hand, seeing Paul die – even changed like that – would bring you no pleasure.

“Give my husband his blade back,” you barked at the Fremen guards as you stood next to Princess Irulan and watched the guard hesitantly handing Feyd his knife.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Baroness,” Princess Irulan hissed at you.

“Would you rather get on your knees and beg him, Princess?” You asked her.

“For my father’s life, I would.”

“Well, that is not a tradition of The House Harkonnen to beg on our knees,” you explained.

No one had to know how pathetic the late Baron had been in his last moments. Or how easy it was to humiliate Count Glossu Rabban.

“Have faith, mother,” your son’s voice brought you great comfort as Feyd and Paul stood facing each other. Hot Arrakis' sun was setting slowly behind them; its light was making them both look more like nothing but dark silhouettes.

“It’s nice to meet you, cousin,” Paul greeted your husband.

“Cousin? Is that so?” Feyd looked amused.

“Please, save your father. Do not let your uncle have any advantage. Let your father have a fair fight,” you pleaded to the baby inside you.

You had to be very desperate to count on the unborn child to save you, you realised.

“May thy knife chip and shatter,” Paul raised his blade to perform the traditional Harkonnen gesture.

It annoyed you how he displayed his Harkonnen heritage as if he was more of it than you were. He might have had their blood but he was no Harkonnen. Perhaps that was what you had always felt towards your brother above anything else – annoyance. 

He was simply annoying in a way he was nothing special and yet your father favoured him because he was a boy and a son of a woman your father loved. It was annoying that he had a mother and you did not. That he would inherit the title you could only dream of. That he was following you around like a lost puppy, pretending that you two were normal, loving siblings. You loved him but the annoyance was often stronger. And now the love was barely there.

Your brother had died in that desert. Muad’Dib was not your brother.

Just like Baroness Harkonnen was not his sister.

“May thy knife chip and shatter,” Feyd smirked at Paul as he repeated the Harkonnen gesture and the duel began.

The whole room went completely silent. The only sounds were the ones of the fight – the music of the crossing knives and occasional grunts. Amongst the Fremen women, two watched the most curiously. One of them was naturally Lady Jessica, meanwhile the other one was a young woman whose blue eyes were following Paul’s every move.

Feyd noticed her, too, as he pointed at her with a smirk.

“Your pet?” He asked Paul.

Your brother did not answer and attacked but you had your eyes glued on the Fremen woman. She would possibly cause trouble in case of Paul’s death, so you wanted to remember her face.

You did not like the way Paul seemed to fight as good as your husband. You were aware his skills had improved but nothing could prepare you for the sight of him blocking nearly every blow and successfully performing his own. The way these two skillful warriors fought reminded you more of some sort of sophisticated dance than a common fight. And if this duel was not about your future and your life, you’d love to watch it and admire it.

Princess Irulan was as scared as you were. She held your hand and you squeezed it to give her comfort.

As women you could only watch and hope for the men to spare you. In times like that, you hated to be a woman. No matter how much power and influence you were holding, in critical moments like this, you were only an observer of the grand spectacle of life.

A soft gasp left your mouth at the sight of your brother attacking Feyd with so much ferocity that your husband stumbled for a moment and when he raised his head again, you spotted fresh blood dripping from his nose all over his chin. He smirked, of course, since pain was bringing him pleasure. However, his pain was bringing no pleasure to you.

The duel progressed in a more aggressive manner. The foreplay was long gone now as two opponents were growing more and more frustrated with each other. It was getting less sophisticated and more messy. You tried to follow the movements closely but sometimes you missed half of them because of their speed.

Princess Irulan’s loud wheeze made you realise that Paul’s blade found a thin gap in Feyd’s stillsuit as his blade cut deep into your husband’s flesh right below his rib. Your eyes widened at the sight and your heart sank so deep in your chest that you forgot to breathe to the point of dizziness.

Paul had a smirk on his face when he turned around to face you as Feyd dropped his blade and stumbled behind him. You stood there, petrified as the reality around you seemed to slow down.

You felt more like an animal than a human being at that moment – your head was empty, you were driven by nothing but instincts.

Feyd fell down to his knees as Paul began walking towards you, limping slightly. Your free hand covered your womb as your other hand squeezed Irulan’s hand so tight you nearly crashed it. You tried to keep your eyes on Paul, you wanted to observe his moves to make sure you’d be able to somehow defend yourself. But you couldn’t. You kept staring at your husband and you noticed his struggle to get the blade out of his body. You couldn’t understand why he was trying to do that since a skilled and experienced fighter like him had known perfectly well it was never a good idea.

On shaky legs but with all the force, bleeding from his fresh wound, Feyd rose up and attacked Paul yet again, accompanied by Lady Jessica’s scream that made you shiver.

Your brother turned around, surprised to see Feyd back on his feet again – desperate act of a wounded, dying animal, ready to sacrifice everything to win the final battle. Feyd pushed the blade in between the gaps of Paul’s stillsuit and twisted the knife with a psychotic smile before they both fell to the ground.

After a short while of silence with the waves of shock going through your body, you screamed and ran up to Feyd. Lady Jessica stood up and ran up to her son. Everyone watched with widened eyes the two feral women kneeling down arm to arm, holding the wounded men in their arms.

Feyd chuckled at the sight of you and coughed up as you put your hands on his wound. The Harkonnen blood was thicker, which was making bleeding out to death a more difficult process but you could see his eyes getting hazy anyway.

You felt the tears streaming down your face as you caressed his cheek and he raised his hand weakly to put it on your womb.

“No!” Lady Jessica’s scream was animalistic. You turned your head around and saw her face winced in so much pain and anger that she no longer seemed human. You took a short glance down and noticed that life had completely left your brother’s body by now. It stinged your heart, too, but you knew that it meant only one thing – Feyd had won. You were The Duchess Atreides now. “He’s dead!” Lady Jessica yelled at you.

You were a mother now, too. You couldn’t imagine the depth of her pain and loss. Her only son – dead in her arms. Your brother.

Her hand reached out for the blade stuck in Paul’s guts. The same blade that had wounded your husband before. Now she wanted to slay Feyd with it to make sure he would die, too.

“Mother,” your son warned you and driven by a pure instinct you swiftly grabbed the short knife attached to the armour piece on your hip beneath all the folds of your dress. Without thinking you stabbed her before she was able to take the blade out of her son’s dead body.

Lady Jessica’s blue eyes widened as she looked deep into yours and you sobbed.

“Forgive me,” you whispered, your hand shaking as you had just committed your very first direct murder.

You would never find out all the things you wanted to ask her. Sometimes even the biggest questions remained unanswered. Perhaps it was for the best.

And Lady Jessica had to understand that what you had done was caused by your need to protect your family. She had been one of those people sending you to the Harkonnens. She couldn’t be surprised now to see you had become one of them. You had to protect them.

Her body fell down on top of Paul’s and all the Fremen started to look around uncomfortably. You did not care, you focused on your husband again. His eyelids were getting heavy but he was still smiling.

“Can somebody help?!” You asked, looking around. “Please,” you begged Gurney.

“Stilgar,” he looked at one of the Fremen who looked like he was important and most likely the new leader after Muad’Dib’s death. “Bring here those servants we are holding captive,” he told him.

The man called Stilgar nodded unsurely and two Fremen guards left the room in a hurry.

“Please, don’t die,” you whispered to Feyd, cradling his head and putting it on your lap delicately. “Please, don’t leave me now.”

“I’ve made you proud, my Lady?” He asked in a weak whisper.

“Oh, you’ve made me the proudest,” you smiled through the tears. “But you can’t leave us now… None of this matters without you, my darling,” you wiped the blood off of his chin with your sleeve but it only smeared some more. “I love you, please…”

You expected to give up completely one day and finally confess your feelings but you had never expected it would be on the day of his death.

Feyd chuckled as his hand weakly slid down your womb as he no longer had any strength to keep it there. 

“I love you, too, pet,” his whisper was inaudible but you heard him right and sobbed some more, watching his eyes close.

“No! No, no, no…” You lowered yourself down and pressed your forehead to his, covering his face with your tears.

The doors opened and the Harkonnen medic entered the room in a hurry, accompanied by a few spared servants with Astra and Cara among them. Your poor girls were terrified and trembling. It was a great relief to see them but in a moment like this, you couldn’t care much about anything but your husband.

What was the point of defeating Paul? What was the point of anything without Feyd by your side?

The medic hurried to your side and knelt down next to Feyd’s body. He examined it quickly and furrowed his brows.

“My Lady, he’s still alive,” he informed you and you looked up at him.

“Wh-what?”

“The body functions are still there, Baroness. He lost consciousness due to the blood loss but maybe… Maybe I can still save The Baron’s life,” he swallowed thickly.

“What are you waiting for then?!” You yelled at him and he nodded, beckoning over a few male servants to help him carry Feyd’s body to the medical wing of the palace.

You stood up clumsily and watched them walk out. You wanted to follow them and forget about anything else but you were aware that at a moment like this you could not leave any case unfinished.

You faced The Emperor. He looked as if he was about to have a heart attack, his face paler than usual and his eyes widened. His shaking hand was holding Irulan’s one.

“I, Duchess (Y/N) of The House Atreides, Baroness of The House Harkonnen, pledge my allegiance to The Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV,” you kneeled down and bowed your head.

His time would come, too, of that you were sure. But not now. Not yet.

“May your service be accepted, Duchess Atreides, Baroness Harkonnen,” he nodded at you and stood up once again.

You turned around at the Fremen, looking at the man named Stilgar who had been watching you very closely ever since Paul’s death.

“You may attack us but all the ships above us with the galactic leaders will destroy your homeworld in revenge,” you informed him. “Or you might cooperate with me. I will give you what my father has never given you and what he would never give you,” you added. “I shall join my husband now but I want you to stay here and negotiate with you.”

Stilgar looked around to see the faces of his fellow Fremen brothers and sisters. You knew that the reason they had not yet attacked you despite all your guards being slain was respect. You were the one to win the duel and it was your husband who slain their Muad’Dib. You were the one to slay their Reverend Mother.

Some of the fellow Fremen were shaking their heads hesitantly, not trusting you. But some of them were nodding.

“We can divide the planet for spice production and for Fremen to live in. We do not harvest spice in the south of Arrakis because it is inhabitable to us,” you explained. “So if we give the south to you, we will not lose any production. And you will have your own territory to live in. I am going to help you to turn the south of Arrakis into a more friendly place as much as possible. The Harkonnen science is well developed, I am sure they will find a way to make trees grow again there. And I offer you to have a representative during the most important councils about Arrakis’ fate in the future. That would be you, I assume?” You tried to explain calmly. “I do not want you as enemies. Arrakis is big and spacious enough for all of us.”

The long silence occurred.

“What if I was wrong? What if she is Lisan Al Gaib?” Stilgar asked and some of the Fremen rolled their eyes angrily.

“I am no Lisan Al Gaib,” you told him, “I am Duchess Atreides, Baroness Harkonnen. That is how you shall address me.”

“The leaders of The Great Houses are getting impatient,” one of the Fremen said as he was monitoring the tracking device in his hand.

“Tell them to come down,” you looked at him. “They shall witness our new deal.”

Hesitantly, Stilgar nodded at the man.

“Now, do excuse me, I should go to my husband,” you nodded your head at him and then at The Emperor.

You were about to walk out, when Gurney spoke up.

“What about Paul’s body? Lady Jessica’s?”

“Do you know where my father’s remains are?” You asked him.

“I have my assumptions,” he answered. There was no kindness nor love in his eyes anymore when he was looking at you. There was hurt, betrayal and anger. None of it mattered to you anymore.

“Find it then and send all of them back to Caladan. Lay them down next to my mother,” you told him. “I do not want Arrakis to be known for being a place where the Atreides rot.”

“My Lady,” he nodded.

With your eyes you found the Fremen woman who most likely had been Paul’s lover. She was now kneeling to his body and stroking his cheeks.

“You,” you addressed her as she looked up angrily. She could kill you with her eyes only if she could. “What is your name?”

“Chani,” she answered proudly.

“Was Muad’Dib your lover?”

She hesitated before answering.

“Yes.”

“Change of plans, then,” you looked at Gurney. “Lady Jessica and my father shall go back to Caladan. Let this woman bury Muad’Dib as she wishes.”

“My Lady,” he bowed.

“Let it be known that Baroness Harkonnen can get a little sentimental,” you smirked at Chani before walking out of the room.

Your body was so full of adrenaline that you felt as if you were in a dream.

Feyd was unconscious for three days now and most of them you were spending in the medical wing, holding his hand. In the meantime you were working on a deal with Stilgar. The Emperor had left Arrakis as soon as possible but not without thanking you for your loyalty and support that he had promised not to forget.

With fake kindness you assured him of your sincerity as if you hadn’t been already planning how to get rid of him next. Seeing his weakness and how easily your brother would take his title, if not stopped by your husband, made your own hunger for power even greater.

The leaders of The Great Houses hadn’t stayed for long but they borrowed you servants and guards for until your own would come from Giedi Prime, sent by Count Glossu Rabban.

So much was happening and so many things there were to process but your mind was in a haze. All you could truly focus on was Feyd. At first you wanted to give up completely but it was your son who decided to motivate you.

“You have to be strong now, mother. Do it for me,” he had pleaded.

And he had been right. You had to make all the arrangements to ensure the position of the House Harkonnen for your heir. 

Holding Feyd’s cold hand and caressing his fingers, you watched his body functions on the monitor. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. Some part of you was glad he was getting all this rest. You just hoped he would eventually be alright.

Suddenly, you felt his cold slim fingers move slightly. You looked at his face and watched his eyelids flutter before opening slowly. He looked around, confused.

“Pet?” He only asked at the sight of you, confused, as you smiled widely and sobbed a few happy tears.

“Oh, Feyd!” You leaned in to place a soft kiss upon his lips. “Oh, my darling…”

“Shouldn’t I be dead now?”

“Not on my watch,” you caressed his cheeks. “You’ve been knocked out for three days, my Baron,” you told him. “Let me call a medic to examine you.”

You stood up and informed the guard behind the doors that Baron Harkonnen was awake and he nodded before walking away to call for the medic.

While you waited for him, you told Feyd about everything that had been happening for the past three days. He was only watching you closely and nodding his head.

“My uncle was right. You’re better suited to be The Baroness than I am to be The Baron,” he told you eventually.

“Don’t say that! You’d do the same,” you assured him, squeezing his hand.

“No, I would not. I would slay all the Fremen once I’d have an army here.”

“You would not because I would advise you otherwise,” you chuckled and then you took a deep breath in. “I can’t wait to go back home.”

“Home?” He furrowed his brows.

“Giedi Prime,” you answered like it was obvious. “I want our son to be born there.”

“We need to find someone worthy of being the Governor of Arrakis first. Someone loyal and not a complete idiot like my brother,” Feyd reminded you.

“I’ve already found one and sent him a letter,” you admitted, a little anxious about his reaction.

“Who?”

“Lord Kirill, the one who married one of my former maids. She bore him a son not so long ago. He will be loyal and I’ve read about his successful military campaigns in one of the books,” you answered.

“Lord Kirill is not a bad choice,” Feyd nodded. “We can allow him to try.”

“I’ve told that man, Stilgar, that he can write to me any time if anything happens. For some reason he seems to respect me greatly. Probably because I have slain their Reverend Mother,” you laughed nervously.

“And how do you feel about it?” Feyd asked, squinting his eyes at you as he slowly sat up on the bed.

You didn’t answer at first. Your smile dropped and you stared in the distance.

“I remember how your uncle told me that you had killed your mother. I could not understand it back then. It seemed to be the worst thing a person can do,” you admitted. “But I’ve realised that I have killed my mother twice. I killed my biological mother by being born and I killed Lady Jessica who has raised me. And guess what… The sun still rises in the morning. My blood still flows. As if nothing terrible happened at all. Strange,” you looked at him again.

“With time you just don’t feel anything anymore,” he assured you.

“She was with a child, the medic told me. Lady Jessica was as pregnant as I am. With a daughter. My sister,” you whispered.

“So, you slaughtered them both,” Feyd smirked. Of course it brought him some sadistic satisfaction.

“I have slaughtered the last member of The Atreides family except for me,” you told him. “This House dies with me so the House Harkonnen can thrive. This is the greatest sacrifice and I only hope it is going to pay off.”

“What do you mean?” He tilted his head.

“You shall give my son The Harkonnen Empire,” you stated but before he could answer, the medic entered the room with a smile.

“I’m so glad to see you awake, my Baron,” he approached your husband. “You must be starving, I’ve told the cooks to prepare your favourite steak.”

Feyd nodded at him.

“My Lady, your servant girls would like to see you,” the medic told you and you stood up.

“From now on, you shall address Astra and Cara as my maids,” you told him.

The title would not change much about their position but at least it was giving them some dignity. The medic’s eyes widened a little but he nodded.

“I will see you soon,” you leaned in to place a kiss upon Feyd’s forehead before walking out and going to your bedroom.

Astra and Cara were standing by the window, waiting for your arrival. When you entered the chamber, they both approached you excitedly.

“Is that true that the Baron is awake now, my Lady?” Astra asked.

“Yes, my darling, it is,” you nodded.

“Oh, what a relief!” Cara sighed.

They were terrified of Feyd but they knew that if he died, no one would allow you to be Baroness Harkonnen on your own. The Harkonnen lords would most likely start an uprising. No one would accept a woman in charge – especially an off-world woman. They would rather crown Count Glossu Rabban their next Baron and you’d be an outcast alongside your son. Without any family to go to. Meanwhile, your servants – now maids – would either be killed or enslaved again.

But that would not happen – not at all. And it was hard to believe that you really had survived and found a new home, new family, new purpose. Perhaps you fitted even better with them than you had ever had with The Atreides on Caladan. Perhaps it was making it easier to cope when you believed that.

Bittersweet was the taste of your victory. You still remembered your brother’s dead body laying on the floor. You remembered Lady Jessica’s widened eyes right after you stabbed her. They would haunt you forever but you knew they were inevitable to happen if you wanted your happy ending and your survival.

And you wanted them more than anything.

Coming back to Giedi Prime was making you a bit anxious. You weren’t sure what people’s reactions would be to Feyd and you being the new Baron and Baroness Harkonnen. Rabban was assuring you that the citizens were rather excited but you were mostly worried about the noble lords. Only the most stupid ones believed in the late Baron’s death being caused by Muad’Dib. But the stupid ones didn’t matter.

The official ceremony of you and your husband becoming the Baron and Baroness was planned for the day after your arrival. Surprisingly, Rabban who had been responsible for making arrangements, had done a splendid job. The whole Giedi Prime was decorated already when you looked at the city from the windows of your ship. He was doing his best to stay in Feyd’s favour.

“Do you wish to keep your old bedrooms, my Lord, my Lady?” One of the servants asked once you entered the Giedi Prime’s fortress. “We can prepare the late Baron’s chambers for you.”

“Is that the room with the bathtub?” You asked and Feyd nodded at you with a hint of disgust in his eyes. “We wish to keep our old ones, thank you,” you informed the servant. “But I do want to change some decor,” you added. “Some other time, though, now I’m exhausted,” you dismissed the bowing man.

“You still say thank you to the servants, even now when you’re The Baroness,” Feyd smirked at you as you two began walking down the corridor to reach the staircase.

It was a surprising feeling but you sighed out of relief as you passed all the huge black doors on your way. It truly felt like home.

“That is how I was raised. It’s not easy to change what we were taught as children,” you reminded him and he nodded.

Feyd walked you to your shared bedrooms since you could barely walk in your current state. You were about to give birth any day now and you noticed he didn’t like leaving you alone for long when you were in that state. He waited for Astra and Cara to join you before he eventually left to deal with some official duties as The Baron.

Your maids brought a celebration dress with them to show you and make the final fittings. It was so huge that it filled half of the bedroom space. Black and feathered with enough volume to hide your pregnancy.

“How do you feel, Baroness?” Astra asked as she fixed one of the feathers on the dress’ fabric and you were looking at yourself in the mirror.

“Like an Empress already,” you smirked to yourself.

Cara and Astra looked at each other significantly but they chose not to comment.

“Like an Empress of death,” you added. “I imagine The Harkonnen Empire to be a dark, cold and scary place. I can see snakes slithering down the black marble floors, following me wherever I go, willing to attack any enemy of mine,” you dreamt out loud.

In one of the Harkonnen books you had read about such creatures – genetically modified to be loyal pets to their owners and deadly attacking their enemies. You had been waiting to become The Baroness to ask the engineers for pets like these, too.

The celebration was supposed to start in the late afternoon but you were on your feet since early morning, dealing with official papers to sign and to get familiar with. There were off-world guests to greet – Princess Irulan amongst them, representing House Corrino and her father. He was still grateful for what you had done on Arrakis in a nearly exaggerated way. Perhaps he knew about your bloodthirsty ambitions blooming within you and he hoped to become your friend.

The Emperor himself being desperate for you to like him because of the power you were holding now. That was delicious in a way, you had to admit.

He was not the only one. The word had spread about what had happened on Arrakis. Feyd was known now as one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy who would sacrifice everything for The House Harkonnen. And you were known for being cunning, dignified and unhinged in a way you were able to murder a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who had been your family member. The new Baron and Baroness Harkonnen were quickly becoming characters of scary stories people would tell their misbehaving children. Cold and bloodthirsty; unstoppable and inseparable force.

You couldn’t tell what moment of the ceremony was your favourite – when everyone was looking at you walking slowly and gasping at your dress or when the Harkonnen army saluted you and swore to shed blood for you, making you realise what kind of massive army you were truly commanding now. Perhaps it was the moment of making vows or putting on the Harkonnen insignia. Or maybe an unscripted, passionate and hungry kiss that Feyd gave you in front of everybody once you were announced officially The Baron and Baroness of The House Harkonnen. That kiss was a promise of more. He would give you so much more than this. And you would be by his side every step of the way.

You were his anchor and he was your blade. The whole galaxy knew that now.

The Giedi Prime was celebrating but you chose to go back to your chambers quite early. You were not pleased with missing the party but you were exhausted after a whole day of walking and standing. Astra and Cara helped you to change into your nightgown and they were in the process of brushing your hair softly when you felt a sharp pain in your abdomen.

“My Lady?” Cara asked, worryingly.

“It’s fine, just a contraction,” you smiled at her. They had been occasionally happening for a few days now.

“Are you sure, Baroness?” Astra looked at your face in the reflection of the mirror.

“Are we sure?” You asked your son in your head.

“It’s time, mother,” the familiar voice answered.

Your eyes widened as another contraction came and you grabbed the edge of your vanity table. The girls looked at each other, scared.

“Call for the medic and inform The Baron,” you told them and they nodded their heads.

Astra stayed with you while Cara recruited one of the guards in front of your doors to go with her and find Feyd and the medic. With Astra’s help you sat on the edge of your bed and squeezed her hand.

“I might die, Astra,” you told her and she shook her head, terrified. “Listen to me, my mother died giving birth and I am aware this might happen to me as well.”

“My Lady, no… I refuse to…” She started with a trembling voice.

“Astra, listen to me, it’s important,” you drawled through your teeth gritted out of pain. She closed her lips and looked at you with her big Harkonnen eyes. “If I die tonight, I want you and Cara to take care of my son, do you hear me?”

She nodded as tears started to form in the corner of her eyes.

“The medic has been informed. He knows about my wish and he told me you and Cara have been studying infant care intensely. Feyd knows he cannot hurt you nor Cara. You will be safe, do not worry about that. I ensured that,” you assured her.

“Th-thank you, my Lady…” Astra stuttered out.

“In return, I ask you to take care of my son. And to keep him away from the Bene Gesserit scheming. Please,” you pleaded.

“I promise. In Cara’s name, too,” Astra put her free hand on her heart and you broke a smile at her.

She was barely sixteen and you were placing such great responsibility upon her shoulders. You couldn’t deal with it differently, though. It was a cruel world you lived in and much worse things were being forced upon sixteen years old girls anyway.

You feared death. Especially now when you were about to give birth to your son and begin your reign. You had things to look for and your child might had not been conceived out of love but it was still wanted by you. You did not feel trapped in a loveless marriage like your mother had been. You actually wanted to give Feyd-Rautha a son. Many sons and many daughters; you wanted to be known for giving House Harkonnen many successful heirs. You wanted to be an important figure in their history books one day.

But as much as you feared death, you also knew that it was also a place where your mother was waiting for you, your father, your brother, Lady Jessica and your unborn sister. You liked to think that even now they’d still greet you with open arms. And if not, you’d just wait for Feyd patiently.

Your depressing stream of thought was interrupted by the black doors opening rapidly without knocking. It was the medic accompanied by Cara and Feyd. You had never seen your husband stressed before. Usually so stoic, he was on the verge of a breakdown.

“Prepare the bed for The Baroness,” the medic ordered Astra and Cara helped her with the duvets and towels.

Feyd helped you to stand up and he cupped your face in his cold and shivering hands.

“How do you feel?” He asked.

“How do you think I feel?” You rolled your eyes and hissed out of pain as another contraction hit you. “Like shit.”

“You can do it, my pet. You’re the strongest woman I know,” he assured you and helped you to get in bed. The medic was preparing some injections already that were supposed to make the process go smoother and easier.

“Our technology allows the whole childbirth to be nearly painless,” he told you with a smile. “Of course only the richest can afford such shots.”

“Remember what I’ve told you before,” Feyd barked at him. He was standing beside your bed and squeezing your hand in his. Astra and Cara were standing on the other side with a bowl full of cold water and a towel to wipe your forehead when needed.

The medic nodded and you furrowed your brow. He injected the first shot and you winced, squeezing Feyd’s hand tighter.

“What is that arrangement between you two?” You asked but they did not answer. “I have a right to know if it is about me or my child!” You demanded.

The medic looked at your husband and after a short moment of hesitation, Feyd nodded at him.

“The Baron has made me promise to… To ensure you live, my Lady. Even if it means your son will not,” he explained.

“You’d sacrifice your heir?” Your eyes widened when you looked up at your husband. He crouched down and leaned in to kiss your temple and to whisper in your ear so the rest would not hear him properly.

“We can produce more heirs. And if we can’t, any whore can give me a son. But no one would ever replace you, my Baroness,” he told you.

“You can’t let our son die… No…” You nearly cried. “You don’t understand, Feyd. These past few weeks I have been talking to him every day. I already have a bond with him. And he saved your life on Arrakis… If someone has to die tonight, it’s going to be me,” you tried to convince him to change his mind but he only clenched his jaw and gave you an angry look before standing up again.

“So far, the baby is placed properly,” the medic assured you. “I do not think anyone is going to die tonight.”

The sunlight was already creeping in through the narrow windows of your bedroom. Exhausted, squeezing your husband’s hand, you finally made the final push. If the medic claimed that thanks to his injections the process had been nearly painless, you did not want to know what it would be like without the said injections.

But it was finally over and the loud cry of a newborn baby filled the whole room as you sighed with relief.

“Oh, he’s a big boy, my Lord, my Lady,” the medic smiled at you as he cradled the baby in his arms. “Strong and healthy,” he assured you and handed your son to Cara. Astra wiped your face with a towel and brushed the hair out of your face gently and you reached out weakly to hold your child. You were too exhausted to process the thought of having a son but when he was finally placed in your arms and stopped crying at the sight of you, you burst out in happy tears.

The boy had your eyes and soft, fluffy, thin baby hairs on his head. His skin colour was much paler than yours but not as white as his fathers.

“He looks more like me,” you thought out loud as Feyd chuckled, staring at the boy in your arms with his chin resting on your shoulder.

“His hair might start falling out once he’s getting older,” the medic informed you.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter,” you chuckled through your tears. “I’m still going to love him even when he’s bald.”

“My Lord, shall we inform the people of the birth of the na-baron?” The medic asked your husband.

“Immediately,” Feyd answered. You spotted pride and excitement in his voice even though he was trying to hide it.

“Do you have a name, my Lady?” The medic laid his eyes on you.

“I want to bring back the old Harkonnen tradition,” you stated. “The one about giving your first born son the name of the Wedding Games winner from his parents’ wedding,” you brought up the fun fact you had read in one of the books from the Harkonnen library. “But I would also like him to be named after his father just like my husband bears his grandfather’s name,” you added. “What about Maxim-Feyd Harkonnen?” You looked up at your husband, trying to read the reaction from his face.

“You can name him whatever you wish as long as it is not Vladimir,” he only said.

“Na-Baron Maxim-Feyd Harkonnen that is,” you nodded at the medic and he left your bedroom to announce the birth of the new heir.

“Girls, can you leave us alone for a moment?” You asked your maids and they bowed down before walking out quietly as well.

Once you were left alone in the room with your husband and your son, you moved slightly to the side, wincing out of pain.

“Come, join us?” You looked at Feyd and he nodded, hesitantly, before sitting up on the bed next to you. He put his arm around you and his eyes were not leaving your son even for a moment. “What do you think? Now, without anyone to witness?” You teased, knowing perfectly well there were things Feyd would never say or do with any kind of audience.

“I think he’s… beautiful,” he admitted and raised his finger to caress the boy’s cheek. “And I’m glad he was born in a world without my uncle in it.”

“And that’s because of you, my darling. You protected him,” you reminded. “Like you always will, yes?”

“He is my heir. Everything I do, I do for him. My legacy is for him to inherit,” Feyd answered and placed a kiss on your cheek.

You stayed like that for a while, in complete silence, looking at Maxim who was staring back at you with his wide eyes.

“Do you hear me?” You tried but there was no answer. However, the baby kicked his feet slightly when you spoke to him with your mind.

“You’re going to be a strong warrior, my darling. The most fearsome in the galaxy,” you promised him in a whisper. “The greatest pride of the House Harkonnen. Mummy will make sure of that.”

You heard the sound of fireworks going off in the distance, black splashes of ink-like gas scattered all over the morning sky. Giedi Prime had already found out about the birth of your son.

“They will want to see him,” you turned your head around to look at Feyd.

“They can wait,” he told you. “You rest.”

“No, I can do it. I want to show them,” you assured him and pecked his lips gently. “Tell Astra and Cara to come here and prepare me.”

He nodded and leaned in to place a kiss upon his son’s forehead before leaving the bedroom to find your maids. You thought you’d feed Maxim first but he was already falling asleep in your arms, so when your girls entered the chambers, you handed Astra your child delicately and she took him to the bathroom to bathe him. You needed a bath as well and Cara helped you with it, holding your hand as you were moving slowly on shaky legs.

Your dress was black and very simple – humble even. After all, you were not supposed to be the main attraction on that day. Your hair was done up and the only jewellery you were wearing was the rings of your houses. Maxim was put in traditional black clothes for the newborn Harkonnen babies and you waited for the noon, half asleep on your armchair, feeding your baby with the help of Astra and Cara. Your dress was pulled down but ready to zip back up any given moment.

Feyd entered the room but he unusually announced his arrival with a soft knock upon your doors. He was wearing his black leather uniform and froze at the sight of you feeding his son.

“Since when do you knock?” You looked up at him with a soft smile.

“I didn’t want to startle the baby,” he told you. “You’re feeding the child yourself?” He was visibly surprised.

“I will not let any Harkonnen woman feed my child. There is enough poison in him already,” you answered. “And it is good for creating a bond between the mother and her child anyway.”

“How long does he need? The people have already gathered and they want to see him,” Feyd approached you.

“It’s not noon yet.”

“They’re impatient, my Baroness,” he smirked and looked down at his child sucking on your breast. Maxim looked up at him and reached his tiny hand up.

You sighed at the sight of Feyd looking completely paralyzed. You moved one of your hands gently to grab your husband’s pointing finger and put it in your son’s hand. Maxim squeezed it tightly and you chuckled.

“He’s strong already,” Feyd noticed.

“Of course he is, he’s your son,” you nodded. “But it’s enough now, my boy, you’ll get more later, I promise,” you nodded at Cara. She took the child from you delicately as Astra wiped your breast and helped you to put the upper part of the dress back on. Maxim whined for a while but Cara successfully shushed him by carrying him in her arms.

Feyd helped you to stand up and he led you out of the bedroom with Astra and Cara following you closely. You approached the big glass doors leading to the balcony of the fortress. You could already hear the cheers of the gathered masses waiting to see the heir.

You took a deep breath in as Cara handed you Maxim and Feyd nodded at the guards to open the doors. Slowly and carefully you walked out into the black-and-white world. Thousands of nearly identical pale faces were waiting impatiently to see you and when you finally graced them with your smile and a wave of your hand, they cheered loudly, causing Maxim to startle and cry. The sound of his crying caused the crowd to go even wilder, though.

You handed your son to Feyd and he raised his arms to show off the crying boy to the cheering and saluting population of Giedi Prime. He held him up in the air for a while and then he carefully gave him back to you and joined your lips together in a hungry, passionate kiss. He cupped your face to hold it in place as he devoured you. All the cheers and your baby’s crying were suddenly nothing but a muffled sound. All that mattered was you and Feyd-Rautha, showing his loyalty and gratitude to his Baroness.

Scared and naive Princess Atreides who had come to Giedi Prime a year earlier, she hadn’t known how much she could endure and survive. How much she had been capable of. She couldn’t have known that this scary place was indeed her home and that terrifying man was the love of her life.

Perhaps for the first time in your life you felt sincerely and thoroughly respected and appreciated. You had a purpose and you had a hunger for more.

And although no one else could hear him in that noise, it still surprised you what your husband dared to say to you in public.

“I love you,” he breathed out after breaking the kiss, still holding your face steadily in his hands and staring deep into your eyes. “I will give you the world.”

You nodded at him with a soft smile.

“I love you, too, my Baron.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE 2.0 — Hi, it's me again! 👋🏻 I want to explain a few choices that I didn't want to mention about before the chapter because it would spoil the events. At first, Reader's baby was supposed to be just a regular baby – strong warrior of course etc., but nothing extremely special. Some of you were calling him jokingly an antichrist, though and it gave me an idea. I decided that giving him special abilities would actually make it possible for Feyd-Rautha to win the duel with Paul. Otherwise, Paul would be able to kill him because he'd be able to foresee Feyd's moves like it happened in the movie. So, the whole theory that the baby is an antichrist was actually very helpful and made the plot of Feyd killing Paul more possible. 😈 Also, I decided to rewrite the scenes from the movie because whenever I am writing fics that happen in the movie scenes, the worst part is to actually describe the events on the screen and writing down everything actors are saying etc. I've always hated doing that so I decided to just be inspired by the events of the movie but go with my own version, especially that the presence of Paul's sister would obviously change the dynamic anyway. I know that some of you hoped Paul would live and have some sort of a deal with Feyd and his wife. I also liked the idea of arranging the marriage between Alia and their son. But as I said before – I decided to go with my original plan for this story. I hope I am forgiven. 😅

MASTERLIST

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Finals

Propaganda Under Cut

Sakura Haruno

Her husband is gay and her author doesn't know how to write women. So many people say she's the worst but she. DESERVES. BETTER!!! Save her from this franchise.

My baby girl my bestie my best friend. She committed the crime of um being written by kishimoto who both doesn’t know how to write women and somehow writes men in the gayest way possible specifically naruto and sasuke. Like the thing is naruto and sasuke ARE gay and also she gets so much hate for the crime of kishimoto writing her one dimensionally in love with sasuke. I know her personally she is a butch lesbian to me just trust me she’s in love with Ino and has a lesbian thing going on with Karin okay just trust me. My everything. She needs to divorce the loveless lavender marriage she’s in 

What is there to say, even? The OG Threat to my 90s anime brain, the only woman I've ever hated with such a passion she made me turn away from the color pink. I used to write fics with my friend where she got left behind on purpose so our OCs could join the Naruto and Sasuke team instead. I loathed this bitch until I was 16 and realized the author simply couldnt write women and decided it was time to make peace with Sakura. It is not her fault she's vaguely written and obsessive over Sasuke. She deserves better. Sasuke and Naruto still should be together and Sakura shouldnt be with Sasuke but I no longer believe this because I hate Sakura, it is because I love her. She deserves a spouse who will actually put in the time to treat her like the hero she is.

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime

[nn-ee-zz]

What are your other OC's like? I'm interested in hearing about the stories you came up with for them.

UH OH youre gonna get me talking!

My OCs are NPCs by origin. I was (still am) the DM of my friend group and to get their characters moving along I had to create my own.

Unexpectedly, my friends loved them.

ILYA - unwell henchman

i know its a boys name,

An aiding hand to an ambiguous villain, Ilya was introduced as sneaky, smiling, and untrustworthy. The facade collapsed once she vomited inside a cup after accidentally touching the liquified remains of (unbeknown to her) her younger sibling. The villain is a wizard of great power and transported all the liquid from their body to put out a fire, mummifying and killing the person in the process in an attempt to save several.

She seeks her sibling amongst the city. The tingling awareness of their demise at the hands of the guild she encouraged them to join and growing panic and grief led her to start a fight with someone who is spiraling as well.

She ends up at the local clinic, heavily injured and minus one eye, and spirals further from her injuries, her guilt, and the knowledge her family was correct about her being too mentally fragile to be in the city. Until....

(For now. The overall arc for this character is of recovery and improvement instead of pain and self-destruction. Forgive your past and find value within you that goes beyond self-sacrifice. With the help of others, of course.)

Despite her questionable moral position, a lot of characters feel the need to protect her.

Art - Her wearing another characters shirt and her getting a widdle kiss from said character, because even I (the monster freak artist) have my lovely ships

ED - emo organ trafficker

''Nez, I want my oc to be kidnapped and rescued by another oc'' ''Hm, I'll make up a guy to kidnap them then''

Originally meant to be a minor antagonist that would kidnap a character to harvest their organs and be easily defeated. Villain of the week type.

However, his snarky behavior, violent temperament, fancy victorian-boy-esque looks captured a lot of attention. He is a little freak but his direct words seem to bring out a lot of honesty in other characters.

Fun facts; His name is inspired by Edward Hyde. He is roomates and best friend/adopted sibling to Ilya. He makes an effort to be fancier than he is because he was born a bastard child and forced to be his fathers servant before he murdered his siblings and father and joined the army to escape (where he met ilya and ultimately got adopted into her family <333)

Art - Him, and him as a chibi fighting the guy who rescued the person he kidnapped. They also fall in love

REDD - funny bully

I recently made an oc just to mess around with the players while they were in jail! Well, now one of them drank his blood and is forever connected to him. The other one got her finger broken cuz she poked him. He also had the prision keys the entire time but pretended to be a prisioner as well. What a menace! I love making horrible pests. His name is red cuz thats how the others refered to him, because I described him as having red hair and red eyes.

Isnt it funny how despite being a DM I never use my monster designs?! I find it a lot more interesting to make characters specifically meant to alter the course of the character development of my players. I love to change deeply and irrevocably! : D

[frankcastleonlyfans]

Could you possibly do one where Aemond reacts to finding out that he might have to marry Daemon’s daughter? Would he be mad or weirdly happy in a way. We all know what daemon thinks of what his brother has in store for his daughter and he is not having it.

𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐄

pairing: dad!daemon targaryen x mom!reader au | aemond targaryen x daemon's daughter!oc

warnings: fluff(?), aemond is his own warning, cussing because aemond has a dirty mouth.

author's note: I'm truly obsessed about this bc I never thought about Aemond's reaction to being betrothed. This is going to be in headcanon format due most of it just being from Aemond's pov. Thank you so much for your amazing idea <3 also wrote this while listening to "the red means i love you" and i'm shipping alymond 😭

read this headcanon for context of this story

reblogs, feedbacks and likes are appreciated. support your content creators 💓 enjoy your reading.

· ┈┈┈┈┈┈ · ୨♡୧ · ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ·

"I know you're lying, Aegon. Don't you have anything better to do? Maybe some young maid to fuck?"

Aegon scoffed, "Well, if you don't believe me, go talk to father about it. I'm just telling you what I heard."

Aemond believed his brother was nothing but a drunk liar, so his word didn't actually meant anything.

But he went to talk to the King anyways.

While walking through the corridors, Aemond thought about what that meant to him.

He wanted to be mad about it, but it wasn't that bad.

In fact, it wasn't bad at all.

He knew Alyssa Targaryen pretty well. He knew how feisty that pretty little thing could be. She did took his eye, after all.

And Aegon wasn't lying.

"I don't hope you to understand, but our line must spread. She's a pure valyrian, and would make to you a good wif– Why are you smiling?" King Viserys questioned, raising a curious eyebrow.

Aemond chuckled, "Have you told Daemon?"

"I did... He was furious about it." Viserys confessed.

"Well, that's great! I'll give these exciting news to my betrothed, myself. I couldn't be more happy about your choice, father." Aemond left the king's chambers without discussing if Daemon agreed or not.

Aemond knew Daemon wouldn't let Alyssa marry him.

He also couldn't care less. His father was the king.

Aemond couldn't put in words the taste of satisfaction in his mouth once he knew how angry Daemon was about his union with his uncle's daughter.

The girl literally took his eye, the least she could do is marry him without complaining.

Oh, but she would be furious too. He knows she's just like her daddy.

"I figured I'd find you here." Aemond said with a smile.

Ever since Daemon gave her her own sword, Alyssa spent quite some time in the training yard when the boys weren't there.

Curiously, Aemond always knew when she was there.

"And what do you want?" Alyssa spat, slamming her sword towards a wooden target.

"I came to give you the great news! I couldn't believe my own ears when I heard it."

"Oh? Did your mother successfully try to kill anyone? I hope it was your grandsire. Gods, I hate that man." Alyssa chuckled and beheaded the target.

Aemond frowned and squinted. He wouldn't fall for her games. He was the one to tease, not her.

"Haha. You're so funny, Alyssa. I bet it wouldn't take long for me to fall for you." Aemond coaxed.

Alyssa blinked a couple of times, processing what he just said.

"What?"

"Did I stutter?" Aemond smirked.

Alyssa took a deep breath before asking, "What the fuck are you talking about, One Eye?"

Aemond clicked his tongue, "Gods, you're just as fucking stupid as you're pretty. It means we're betrothed. I'd be treating my future husband with respect, if I were you."

"Are you crazy?" Alyssa hysterically laughed, "My father would have your head before letting me marry you." She pointed her sword towards the prince, "I would have your head before giving myself to you."

"Kinky." Aemond retorted and lowered her sword with the point of his index. "Who's your father to disrespect the king's orders?"

Alyssa swallowed hard. She had no answer for that. Even the dumbest girl knows the king's word is above everything. And she is no dumb girl.

She left him there and went looking for her father.

She thought about a million possibilities.

Maybe she could run away? They lived in Pentos for a while, she'd do well there.

No, Y/N wouldn't let her go alone.

What about Daeron? If she begged, maybe the king could call him back to King's Landing, so they could get married.

To be truthful, Alyssa didn't want to marry any of Alicent's kin, but anyone was better than Aemond.

But Daeron was the same age as her brother, Maegon. That was kinda disgusting.

"Did you know uncle Viserys wants to marry me to Aemond?" Alyssa stormed into her parents chambers.

Daemon's lips immediately left yours. You groaned in response.

"Maybe knock the next time, Alyssa?" You said in annoyance.

"Sorry mother, but I think what I have to say is way more important than you snogging with father." Alyssa answered with wit.

Daemon smirked, "It's okay, 'Lyssa. I'll talk to Viserys again. You know I'd die before letting this happen."

You rolled your eyes, "You're both being dramatic about it. Aemond is not that bad. He's a bit... violent, yes, but he would never hurt you. I promise you, daughter, violent men can be great lovers." You ran your fingers through your husband's little braids in his hair.

"Don't go giving her any ideas, Y/N." Daemon warned with a stern look, and you snorted.

"She's a grown woman, Daemon. There's a sword in her hand. I don't think you need to protect her anymore." You shrugged.

"Hello??? I'm still in the room, please stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Alyssa crossed her arms.

"Don't worry. I told Viserys you're not marrying Aemond, so you're not marrying Aemond. Is that clear?" Daemon asked, reassuring her.

"Yes, father."

read the second part to this story

[camilaxmartin]

gonna put them emoji’s again💀😭 so it would be: 🥑🍬🌸🐝🎨🍄

I love using these TOTALLY USEFUL emoji’s so I picked em🥰

you don’t use avocado/bee/mushroom everyday? what are you even doing?🙄

BUT ANYWAY

🥑: you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

probably @bunnylove1 and @blookyag, idk why tho honestly, just getting the vibes they’d help somebody out with hiding the body💀 (it’s a compliment, i swear-)

🍬: post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character:

okay uhh- (don’t cancel me plz) i respect with my whole heart that alastor is asexual and (?) aromantic but i don’t get the hate people receive when shipping him with someone? as far as i know being on the spectrum means he can still date? like i know, he doesn’t show any interest in that but if its just for a silly au or for a cool drawing then what’s the fuss about? i’m not talking like about erasing that part of him because that’s a big no no for me, but like…? respecting it but still having fun with his character? i saw a great tiktok explaining my thoughts exactly so maybe i’ll link it here if i can find it (add the link here later camila:) (besides all that i project a lot of myself onto alastor (still debating if im aromantic or not) and i want to explore myself with his character (if i can even phrase it that way) so all the hate and shit really bother me, you know?)

(another thing more about whole thing not a character is that “whatever it takes” is in my top 4 songs and i don’t get the hate it gets?? i love this song?? it’s so great?? two latina (?) girls singing together?? cmon??)

🌸: do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them:

i do actually! i have a dog and three rats:) (also had a rabbit but he died not so long ago and he was like my whole world so i got a tattoo to remember him, i’ll add it as well just because i can)

🐝: tag your biggest supporters and say one nice thing about them:

@kimmyisachiisaiakuma - ugh of course?? like in my head we are already besties fr fr, what can i saaaay😭 idk i love you and how supportive and just friendly you are!!:) and god of course, i love your art?? but i’ve already said it a thousand times??? so here’s one thousand first??

@bunnylove1 - just how supportive you are towards my stuff and how with exactly one request i felt like we also became besties? maybe it’s just me but yeah😭

@blookyag - liking my every post and responding to every single one of them!!! she’s a treasure, really. i’m surprised someone cares about my rambling this much💀

@informist - i’ve noticed that she’s also reacting to a lot of my stuff and she’s so quick with it like?? idk it makes my heart jump okay? i love attention from people even when it’s just my stupid rambling😭 (#iamanattentionwhore 😗😗)

@rougecreator1 - liked a lot of my posts as well, and somehow i feel like they enjoy my stuff? idk tho?😭😭 yeah just noticed interactions in my activities:)

@riveramorylunar - i feel like we were more active on each other’s accounts when i was still in my lady lesso era, but idk i really liked you then and i still love seeing your stuff pop up on my main page:)

and of course, all of my lovely anons who send me their ideas that i can’t wait to write!!:)

🎨: link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it:

okay so like it changes every day?? but for now i must say this one:

click!

why? simple. a. brokerdoll b. the marvellous style? c. i want to draw like that d. just… just look at it okay? e. lesbians.

(and a special mention for THIS as well, as it’s the first time someone ever drawn my oc and besides the fact that she looks so pretty here it’s just… idk i just love it okay, she stole my heart)

🍄: share a headcanon for one of your favourite ships or pairings:

let’s start with the fact that i even have a favourite account for all the headcanons about brokerdoll which is @vypridae (adore all the hcs, really)

buut! my personal headcanon is:

• carmilla didn’t really expect to fall for velvette, i mean in my head she just saw her as so… respectless and dumb and stupid and careless and carefree and wild and free and pretty- wait

yeah, so in my head velvette was the first to initiate anything and at first carmilla was like “ha! no way, you stupid girl” but then she started to think more and more about velvette as the time went on and one day she just got along the fact that she might be attracted to the young overlord and somehow… went with it? like she didn’t make a big deal out of it… but velvette definitely did, despite the fact she was actually the first one to say or act on her attraction in any way.

(i need to write more headcanons for them, they’re literally eating up my brain)

[archie-sunshine]

Do you have more ocs we could see? :V

I WROTE A WHOLE THING AND THEN TEH PAGE REFRESHED IM KILLING AND MAIMING AND KILLING!!

anyways yes!! let me introduce you to my actual PLAYER CHARACTER from @pinkanonwrites's dnd campaign!!!

RODGER NELSON LEWIS! coloquially known as 'the man so nice they named him thrice' by no one except for pink.

(apologies for bad art, some of these were drawn in like 2021-2022)

Above image pictured drawn circa~ february 7th 2022

Rodger is the 19 year old disappointmentson of an incredibly influential brigadier general who works for the militia of a very important residential city-metropolis space station(Circua). He wanted to go to flight school and be a pilot, however his father wanted him to be a soldier, and so, he is shipped to circua to be just that!!

Only catch is, in his first hour on the space station he gets stuck with an ancient artifact from some mysterious alien civilization(i still dont know what it is, its a secret pink is keeping from me) that not only gives him lightning and teleportation powers, but also houses the collective consciousnesses of 76 past hosts bent on documenting the lives of it's new prime entity.

He has a lot of facts about him and i could go much deeper into my thoughts and the plot surrounding him however instead i will instead throw a thousand images of him at you bc hes my sweet and special boy.

thank u for asking i have a problem. you can tell he's my absolute wubby bubby and i want to squish him and eat his head and brains. eheheheee!!!

simping permission is granted, however i would say it IS a harder sell. he is. kinda just an anxious geek with zero social skills and asthma.

[empressofmankind]

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS

MY TRUE LOVE SENT TO ME

[Crocodile x F!OC]

Explicit - 5.5k words / 13 pages

(A/N) One large dick refusing to be contained, two bananawani for a picture perfectly framed. Three excellent sets of nightwear, and four shots that caught genuine care. 

Actually, a teenager's absolute worst nightmare.

Nico Robin is a teen in the cruel throes of puberty, peer pressure and that never-ending sense of social shame. For I realised a few days ago that she has a massive gap in her canon from about age 12-ish onward until Crocodile runs into her at 24. So, as her teens match up beautifully with the nuclear disaster that is Crocodile and Shiv's marriage, I decided that what this insane ship really needed was a teenager and zero tools to deal with it. Also, the notion of him having been stuck fake single-parenting Robin after everything went royaly south with Shivs just tickles me, personally.

This story is set around the same time period as ‘Hooked On You’ and ‘The House Always Win’, in Alabaste at Rainbase, mostly in and around Rain Dinners. Because apparently, I am not over these two.

It may be a tad less polished than my usual stuff, because I wrote it at the break of my Christmas morning to deliver it to you all on your Christmas day. Enjoy!

Tag(s): Teenage rage quit. Reprehensible parenting. Several amazing sexy lingerie modelling moments, courtesy of yours truly being horny on main on Christmas morning. We've also got dry humping, hand jobs, some good fingering and dicks breaking containment simply by being that darn large. Graphic sex. Excellent banther. Solid comedy, if I may say so myself. Absolutely filthy language. Shivs too. Girl made him lose his shit. Size difference is still relevant, stretching and edging too. I'd say orgasm denial, though neither was down for that one. At least they got to wreck eachother real good in the end. I'll be over there, helping Robin putting herself back into the system. I'd wanna disappear off the face of the earth, too.

🐊 🐊 🐊 

“You can't do this to me!” Robin all but stamped her feet.

Crocodile glanced away from Shivs to the fuming teenager, smoke escaping him as he caught her angry gaze. “I didn't realise we needed your permission.”

“This is humiliating!” she continued, beside herself with frustration. “I won't be able to show my face in public ever again!”

“You already can't, sweetie,” Shivs said in a tone not even on the same continent as comforting. “What with the World Government looking for you.”

“That’s not the point! You are murdering my social life!” Robin fumed as she glared at her adoptive parents. She'd sooner be an orphan again, she thought angrily. “Like, why are you even doing this? It's not like you need the money!”

Shivs tilted her head, taking the cigarillo from her mouth even. “It's fun?”

Robin switched her angry stare from her to Crocodile, but he was no help. Had the gall to chew that cigar as if he were actually thinking about it. 

“What she said,” he said through a cloud of smoke.

“Hrgh!” Robin balled her fists at them. “I hate you both!”

When neither particularly responded to her outburst aside from blowing out more smoke and perhaps raising an eyebrow, she turned and stormed out, slamming his office door. 

The Sphinxxx nightwear designer smoothed his tailored jacket with a nervous glance. “Will this be a problem, sir?”

“No.”

🐊 🐊 🐊 

When the photographer's assistant dimmed the ambient light of Crocodile's office to a softly flickering orange, Shivs felt the shift in mood. Of the office space, yes. But also her own, and Crocodile’s. The fact that there were nearly a dozen strangers fussing about them didn’t kill it as much as you'd think.

They'd just changed into the lingerie they were meant to model and were undergoing the fussy attention of the two resident make up artists. It was a nice set, though privately Shivs thought, not quite their style.

Shivs wore a just below hip length tube dress of sheer dark fabric that reminded her of stockings. It had a strip of opaque black silk that went around her pubes and breast only. The effect was interesting, she supposed. Crocodile wore matching boxer briefs made of the same sheer material, with thin opaque strips circling around his hips. However, the patch of cloth meant to obscure his business did not quite do its job as intended. And the fact that it had a subtle black zipper down the middle that appeared to go all the way around seemed like a hazard to her. But, Stefano - the Sphinxx designer who had envisioned these - was not one to argue fashion with, they’d already discovered. 

Fortunately, she’d managed to keep Crocodile from blowing the whole thing off at the first confrontation. He sat smoking at his desk now, blowing out smoke and creating personal thunderclouds around his head as one of the make up artists fussed with him. Could be have been far worse. She’d count this a win.

Cussing, Shivs fumbled with the small clap of her necklace behind her neck.

“Turn around, doll,” Crocodile said.

She glanced up to find him beside her, and wondered if he’d used his abilities because the poor make up artist was staring in their direction like a particularly dimwitted calf. Or perhaps he’d simply been rude.

“Thanks,” she said as she turned, bending her neck as she felt his touch against it. It should be illegal that he could unclip those with one hand while she barely managed half the time with two.

“No, no! Absolutely not!” Stefano exclaimed as he came towards them, all hand gestures.

Shivs could tell from the way Crocodile’s touch abruptly stilled that the fashion designer better follow up with a good reason fast.

“Keep the jewellery, it is classy, distinguished,” Stefano said. “This is art.”

Shivs relaxed when she felt the weight of his hand shift against her neck, idly palming the tension from the muslces there. Good save, she thought.

“Ready when you are, Stef,” the photographer said as she tossed her cigarette bud into the nearest ash tray.

Stefano clapped his hands. “Let’s do this.”

An assistant hurried towards them with the ashtray for Crocodile to discard his smoke, but Stefano waved them away. “It adds character, atmosphere.”

And just as well, for it was only half way gone, and it was never a good time to make him stop.

Stefano motioned them towards the desk, though with far more grace this time. “Poses, if you please.”

“C’mon big guy,” Shivs said as she took the curve of his hook and tugged him up from his seat. He rose with due reluctance through a cloud of smoke.

🐊 🐊 🐊 

“They are magnificent!”

Stefano’s breathless exclamation at seeing the dozing bananawani on the rear deck of the casino was especially satisfying. The rest of his crew hung back, exchanging uncertain glances.

“They won’t do anything,” Crocodile rumbled around his cigar. He caught the designer’s gaze. “Unless I tell them to.”

“Haha, noted,” Stefano said with a small laugh soaked in anxiety.

Shivs slid her hand into Crocodile’s as they watched him harry his terrified crew into setting up. “You’re so mean.”

He glanced down at her, then at the busybodies. “Think they'll miss us for six minutes?” he rumbled as he blew out smoke.

“Only six?” she muttered into the skin of his bicep, pressing a kiss against it.

“Hrm.” 

There was a note of amusment under the grumpy noise though, and she was glad his mood had shifted for the better again.

“Oh, that is small,” Shivs chortled when they were shown what they’d be wearing this time. Both were unnecessarily complicated looking contraptions of thin black cord holding in place the most minimal bits of cloth necessary to pretend at decency. She cast a cheeky look up at Crocodile. "Can that even contain you?"

Turned out, it couldn’t.

The elastic had been too weak to keep his junk from doing exactly as it pleased, and she was fairly certain she’d cherish the visual of all of it ignoring the thong’s confines for a good long while. In the end, the poor tailor had to thread iron wire through the main cords. Once that was done, they tried again.

“Over here,” Stefano said as he directed them towards the corner of the deck with an unobstructed view of the oasis around Rain Dinners. From this angle, the rest of Rainbase city wasn’t visible and you could fancy yourself in the middle of the Alabaste desert.

“Would it be possible for one of them to be, well, closer?” he asked, his tone carefully polite.

Crocodile audibly patted his naked thigh and made the clack-clack sound from around his cigar that was usually the only warning some unfortunate soul got. Instantly, one of the massive creatures uncoiled from its nap and lumbered towards them, the deck shaking under its heavy steps.

Shivs rubbed the bananawani’s giant snout. “Hello handsome, you’re gonna be a supermodel too?” she cooed at it as the enormous beast settled down around them.

“P-perfect!” Stefano said, seeming equal measures excited and terrified. “Jace, framing?”

The photographer took aim, motioning them this way and that way before she raised a thumbs up. “Good shot. Got both the desert and the animal framing them.”

Shivs leaned against Crocodile’s thigh, a hand on his broad chest as she looked up at him. He reached around her, resting the curve of his hook against the small of her back.

“Turn a little to the camera, darling, just a little,” Jace said. “Yes, perfect. Hold that position.”

Ever so subtly, Shivs pressed up against his hip, a wave of languid pleasure rolling up her spine as if a quiet beach. The small huff that escaped her drew his attention immediately, his hooded gaze snapping unto hers.

“Let’s have a different one. Glass!" Stefano said as he gestured at one of his assistants, who immediately came over to them with a crystal tumbler. "Something sweet, I think. Hold it up as if you're sharing it."

"What was that, doll?" Crocodile rumbled under his breath as he held the tumbler between them, leaning in as if about to drink from it. His gaze snared hers. Every stealthy push of her pussy against his muscular thigh lit a spark of pleasure that threatened to catch fire in her core. The curve of his hook pressed against her lower back as her quiet pants clouded the glass. "You going to cum on my thigh with all of them watching?"

“Oh, perfect!” Stefano exclaimed, oblivious. “Please hold those expressions!”

“Don’t think he’ll be happy if I climb on your cock instead,” she whispered above the glass. "Though I am dying to."

She heard it as much as she felt it - the twack of snapping fabric and the sudden shift of his balls spilling against her thigh as his cock broke containment, erect for all to see.

“Oh-hoh!” Shivs chortled, leaning back as Crocodile cussed, sloshing the drink. He removed his arm from around her but his hook snagged on one of the uncountable bands of the delicate contraption she wore. It snapped and the whole thing came undone around her with a sigh of fabric that would have been satisfying if it had been intentional.

“Oh, dear!” Stefano, his voice pitching up two octaves as the tailor and his assistants rushed in to fix things. The photographer put away her camera and went for a smoke break.

Shivs struggled not to laugh at the tailor’s awkwardly cautious manner while Crocodile glared down at him. “That is never going to fit back in there.”

Stefano gave her a look more panicked than when Crocodile had threatened shutting all of this down. “What are we going to do?!”

Shivs shifted as the tailor’s assistant helped her into a bathrobe. “Well, Stefano,” she said with a waggle of her eyebrows. “I know what to do about that.”

He stared at her for a long moment.

Then clapped his hands.

“You heard the lady, everyone out! Out!”

“Soooo,” Shivs said when everyone was gone, running her hand up his hard shaft. “What are we going to do about this?”

Crocodile reached for the back of her head and drew her to him for a kiss. She responded greedily and he drank her eagerness in as the gluttonous creature within him stirred from sleep.

“If you put your pretty pussy around it, you're not coming off any time soon,” he rumbled against her lips when they parted.

"Tempting as that sounds, I suppose we can't."

He was rock hard as she fitted her palms around him, just below the head, and pulled down with short, firm tugs that drew rapidly louder grunts from him. Holding on to his hip, she straddled his thigh again and rode against him with a languid roll of her hips that send sparks of pleasure up her spine as she jerked him off.

When he reached down to rub her clit, she almost immediately lost it, so wound up the whole affair had left her.

"Cum. For me. Doll," he grunted near her ear, his breath hot bursts against the side of her neck.

She whined pitifully as a short, intense orgasm cut through her so sharp and clear that it brought tears to her eyes. Trembling against him as she clenched around his thigh, savouring the sweet after pleasure. When she recovered, his large cock throbbed in her grip, precum leaking down his shaft and running between her fingers.

“I need those pretty thighs of yours, sweetheart.”

“I need you inside me,” she complained as he dislodged her from his thigh. She reached for his neck, tried to drag him on top of her as she spread her legs. The reverberating groan that drew from him did things to her.

“No -ngh- honey.” He struggled to turn her around as she squirmed underneath him. He was this close to shoving his cock into her soaking pussy and fuck them both into a stupor.

Instead, he pulled her up unto her knees and then feet. He leaned unto his hand, dragging her up against him. The angle was awkward, but no matter. He hooked her thighs together, his cock straining between their soft, hot skin. He groaned as he pressed along her slick pussy.

She complained, fingers curling into fists on the wooden boards as she bucked back into his thrusts, his breath hot along her back.

“You wanted the damn photoshoot,” he grunted, picking up his pace. 

“I want y-you,” she whined, and he had to force his hook around her waist to keep her from tilting her hips trying to get his cock inside her.

If that happened, he wouldn't be able to stop.

He threw his weight around and leaned on his hook instead, so he could reach his hadn between her thighs.

“I know, doll,” he grunted as he rubbed two fingers roughly against her clit, drinking in the way her whines pitched into moans.

“I will - hrng- fuck you. So good. Later.”

“Oh-ah!” She cried out as a second orgasm rushed through her like an oncoming wave and he pounded himself through it with quick, hard thrusts between her trembling thighs. They squeezed around his shaft as he came with a low, drawn out groan that made the bananawani look up. She felt its timbre against her back as he dumped his load on the boards beneath them with a noise that made her bite her lip as she caught his gaze across her shoulder.

By the time the Sphinxxx crew dared approach, they’d settled beside the snoozing bananawani enjoying that glass of brandy and a smoke. It had hardly been enough, but his dick had gone soft and it took the edge off. That’d have to be enough.

“Shit,” Shivs said when she noticed the incriminatingly bar-shaped bruises streaking her left hip.

“Not to worry,” Stefano said quickly. “We can retouch that away.”

“I like it,” Crocodile rumbled against her ear as his fingertips traced her hip.

Shivs stretched against him, nestling into his hold as she sipped the brandy.

“Bet you do,” she said against the glass.

🐊 🐊 🐊 

“Ohhh, it has a little tail! I love that!” Shivs exclaimed when Crocodile had turned around to go where Stefano pointed them.

The last set of nightwear the Sphinxxx designer had brought for them to model was distinctly seasonal. And though not usually one for these kinds of things, Shivs had to admit she didn’t hate it. Predictably, she was wearing a Mrs Santa ensemble that comprised a very short red velvet skirt edged in genuine white fur that felt sinful soft against her skin. It came paired with an impressively v-necked hooded crop top in the same style. She’d opted for stockings and red heels to go with it, because it felt half-finished without them. Stefano had been thrilled.

However, instead of matching Crocodile with a Santa-inspired outfit, they’d actually gone for a reindeer. A very big, very hunky reindeer. 

The outfit comprised a short sleeved top that barely reached to his midrif and struggled to contain his pects, and boxer briefs with cut outs at the thighs that only just managed to contain him. The whole affair was a seasonal chocolate brown, except for the smudge of white on the chest, thighs and butt. It had taken some convincing to get him to wear it. Nevermind, the antlered headband. But that, and the boxer brief’s little reindeer tail delivered the whole thing to grace.

No, she definitely didn’t hate it.

They had returned inside, to Rain Dinners' primary casino floor, which had already been decorated the previous weekend for the upcoming season. Stefano had been conflicted about where they’d do the shoot - by the oiled wood and polished brass of the Grand Café bar, or at the colonnade with the nightlights of Rainbase through the window wall? Shivs had casually suggested they could do the shoot at her table, and he’d loved that.

“No, no, lay down flat. Pretend it's grass and this is summer - yes,” Stefano said as Shivs laid down on her stomach on the poker table, leaning on her elbows with her hands under her chin and idly kicking up her feet.

“Good, perfect!” His tone was as cheerful as the decor as he handed her the poker cards. “Hold ‘em like you mean it, darling.”

“Devil’s in the details.” Shivs winked as she tossed the third card back to him, then put down the right amount of community cards as well. “That’s a little too much.”

“That’s not what you said last night,” Crocodile rumbled not even pretending to lower his voice as he leaned over her as instructed.

That drew awkward looks from everyone, and a chortle from her that settled pleasantly in the pit of his stomach as he leaned unto his hand and pretended to be interested in the cards instead of the feel of her damp cunt against his cock. The moist spot discolouring her panties under the short skirt hadn’t lied.

“No, not quite,” Stefano rubbed his chin, then snapped his fingers. “Indicate one of the cards.”

“Well, that’s a solid tell,” Shivs said with a snort.

“Art, art! This is art, not an actual game,” Stefano protested. “Go on, please.”

Crocodile shifted his weight unto his hand, indicating one of the two cards Shivs held with the tip of his hook.

“A little nearer - perfect!”

He leaned in closer as the camera clicked, pressing his cock against her firm butt. “You look like a seasonal treat good enough to eat, doll,” he grunted under his breath.

Shivs arched her back with a little noise, spreading her thighs more to accommodate him. She glanced away from the cards to catch his gaze from the corner of her eye. “Don’t tempt me to take you up on that, Blitzen.”

The rumble at the back of his throat as she felt his cock stiffen against her made her smile at the cards.

When they rounded up the last shot, Stefano came towards them positively aglow. “This was wonderful,” he said in a near reverent tone. “Stunning. Perfect.”

Crocodile lit a cigar, letting the praise shower him. Shivs suspected it smoothed his rankled humours from earlier today.

“Let me gift you any one of these,” the Sphinxxx designer added. “It would be my honour.”

“These ones,” Shivs said immediately. It was the little tail, truly.

Crocodile glanced down at her through a cloud of smoke. Amusement tugged his lips around his cigar.

“What she said.”

🐊 🐊 🐊 

“That what you want, doll?” Crocodile said as he ran his hand up her side and under the top’s red velvet to palm her breast.

“Yes. It will turn out to be the best picture,” Shivs said as she laid down on her stomach and leaned on her elbows, hands under her chin. They were in their bedroom, facing the floor length mirrors opposite the curving window wall, wearing the seasonal set that she’d claimed for them. A cheeky glance at him from across her shoulder. “And I want to see it already.”

“You do look good, doll.” He pushed the short skirt up, fingers running through the soft fur edge and against her warm skin. He palmed her firm butt, pulling the cheeks apart. Her crimson panties were soaked, just as they’d been during the photo shoot. 

“My own seasonal treat,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her shoulder, sliding fingers under her panties and between her wet folds. Her little huff when he pushed two into her slick cunt made his cock throb for its tight embrace. “I wanted to rail you every time your pretty pussy pressed against me.”

“Wish you had,” Shivs said as she arched into his touch, pressed her hips into his palm as his fingers drew sparks of pleasure from her core with their every move. She spread her legs further, wanting him against her the way he’d been during the photo shoot. “Wani, please. Need to feel you against me, on top of me. Like that. Again.”

She whined when he withdrew his fingers, and moaned when she felt his hips and weight settle against her instead. Their gazes crossed in the mirror.

“That what you’d do, doll?” he asked as he leaned over her, all but cheek to cheek as he dry humped against her butt, making her feel his erection. “Come to the stable at night and let all the good reindeer stuff your tight, needy hole like a little slut?”

“I only know a bad one,” she replied with half a moan. “But his cock is the best one.”

“Is that so?” he grunted as he pulled the boxer brief’s crotch out of the way and pushed his hard shaft along her clothed cunt and groaned at how wet the thin fabric of her panties felt.

“He always fucks me good and proper,” she said between huffs of need, pressing back against him to feel more. “I love how his thick dick spreads me open, fills me so fucking good.”

“Like this?” He pulled the soaked fabric aside and shoved his hard cock into her in one smooth thrust, the slick noise of her soaking cunt drawing him in incriminatingly loud in the quiet bedroom.

Her moan broke and set fire to the desire that had been smoldering in his loins.

“Oh, yess!” she whined when she felt him bottom out, stretching her so deliciously around him. The tip boldly pushed against her back walls, wanting to go further still. She cramped around him when he stayed put, pushed back against his hips. “F-fuck me.”

He watched her squirm and claw at their bedsheets. Felt her squeeze so tightly around his shaft it made him clench his teeth. He leaned close against her, his breath hot against the back of her neck. “What’s that, doll?”

“F-fuck - ngh- me, damnit,” she cursed as she pushed back against him, desperate for friction, any friction. “Make me f-feel your thick cock. You filthy beast.”

“Beast?” he rumbled with a firm thrust that wrested a groan from him as he blunted against the back wall of her tight hole.

“A-ah! Yes!” she whined half muffled into a fistfull of sheets. “More. Damnit.”

“More?” he grunted into her ear as he locked his hand around her shoulder and his hook behind the far edge of their bed. He wanted, no, needed, to hear her scream for him.

“Ye-ah! Yes!” She’d all but buried her face in their bedsheets, fingers clenching around the pale silk.

“Didn’t my little honey want to see?” he said as he struggled to control himself, hold back from recklessly thrusting into her wet, cramping pussy a moment longer. He pushed her chin up with his index finger as he started pounding his cock into her with thrusts that shook her whole frame. Thrusts whose wet slaps filled their bedroom as the slick noises of her soaking pussy eagerly taking him made him hungry for more. Much more.

“Look up, doll.”

The horny greed in her gaze when they met in the mirror made him groan as his cock throbbed. She was perfect, and his. She fed the ravenous beast within him the way no one else did. No one else could. Not any more. Not ever.

“Scream -ngh - for me, honey,” he grunted as he strained into his pushes, groaning as he forcefully pulled himself up by his hook with long, deep thrusts that damn near made him see stars. She screamed for him then as she watched him wreck her, shattering her cries with his thrusts. And when she started cramping around him, his low cries joined hers as he spilled his load deep in her tight cunt.

Feeling his arm give way under him, he turned to fall on his side into the rumped sheets beside her, drawing her with him as he rode out his orgasm with languid thrusts. She turned her head up and they kissed as he reached under her top again. She made a delightfully hazy noise against his lips when he stroke her hard nipple.

The timid knock at the doorpost drew an irritated grunt from him that made her want to fuck him again.

It was Anthony, his gaze fixed firmly on the ceiling. He was holding something, a magazine by the look of it.

“What.” Crocodile grunted.

“The draft print came in, sir,” Anthony said as he held out the magazine, gaze never straying. “They will hit the shelves tomorrow, I was told. Unless, of course, you object.”

“Oh!” Shivs was up and rising so fast that he groaned when his cock slid from her tight pussy. He rolled unto his back and watched his cum leak down her thighs as she grabbed his dress shirt and shrugged it on while trotting to his secretary. He reached for the night stand without bothering to get up, flipping a cigar from the box laying atop of it.

“Thank you, Tony,” Shivs said as she accepted the magazine from him.

“No problem, ma’am,” Anthony said without meeting her gaze, keeping it diligently up. “If there is nothing else?”

“Absolutely nill,” Crocodile said as he sat up and lit the cigar, and his secretary quickly made himself scarce.

“Look what they put on the cover,” Shivs said, clearly delighted, as she came towards him, proudly showing that seasonal shot she’d loved so well she’d made him wreck her like that not five minutes ago.

“Seems you got your wish,” he huffed through a puff of smoke as he reached out to her with hook and hand. 

She chortled as she took hold of his hook and let him draw her into his lap. “This sensationalist line they added about seasonal fun at the casino makes it sound like we got a whole something here for select guests, haha.”

“No, no other reindeer,” he grumbled, making her laugh.

“Don’t you worry,” she said as she sat up to press a kiss against his lips, hand stroking across his lower stomach. “None could hope to compare.”

The molified noise he made in response made her smile as she curled up against him with the magazine. “It looks so pretty,” she said as she ran her fingers across the full colour pages.

“That’s because you’re in it,” he said as he looked at them from above her shoulder. The article was a little ways into the middle of the fashion magazine. Eleven pages of quality photographs and there wasn’t a single one they didn’t like. It was only when she paged back to the front that they noticed the envelope taped into the inner cover.

There was a note in it emblazoned with the Sphinxx calligraphy, and a stack of photographs.

‘It was a delight and honour to work with the both of you. These did not make the cut, but I dare say I’d be in trouble if I did away with them, wouldn’t I?

Con affetto, Masotti Stefano.'

The delight with which she went through the additional pictures made the creature coil inside him with a purr.

“Oh, but these came out nice too?” Shivs said as she held one up. 

It looked like a candid shot as they walked to their intended spot during the shoot in his office. He’d just taken a draw from his cigar, a fond glance shrouded in smoke as she tugged him along by his hook, glancing over her shoulder with a smile as radiant as the desert sun.

Crocodile plucked it from her fingers. “This one will sit in my office.”

“I want a bigger print of this one,” she said as she shielded another one from view. He tugged at her shoulder with his hook to see. It was one from the second location, outside, with the bananawani. On it, he sat in one of the cast iron deck chairs, the large animal and the sprawling Rainbase oasis behind him. She stood against his inner thigh, leaning into him as she held up a lighter so he could light his cigar. It was a good shot, except for the part where all of his everything was breaching containment from the frightfully complicated thong. 

“I am going to hang it at my table,” she declared as she held it against her chest.

“Absolutely not!” he objected, smoke escaping him as he tried to snatch it from her.

She dodged and laughed, rolling off his lap amid a flock of scattering photographs. Then jumped up, the incriminating picture held high in hand. “Maybe that'll keep 'em piped down!”

He tangled himself out of the blasted sheets, biting down on his cigar as he gave chase. 

“Get back here!”

🐊 🐊 🐊 

Robin basked in the bright, sunny morning as she sauntered down Rainbase’s boulevard with her bestie, Miguella. They’d gotten the largest, fanciest lattes they could find and she had put them on Crocodile’s tab. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t taste better for it.

“We could go to All Stars or Seven Palms tonight?” Miguella said as she stirred her straw through the whipcream of her latte.

“All Stars.” Robin let the latte’s creamy texture take over her thoughts for a moment. “They’ll know to find us in Seven Palms, we go there too often.”

“They’re mad at you?”

“I am mad at them.”

Robin scowled. It was always excessively embarrassing when they did something like this, even when it was just lame old suit brands. She didn’t need to hear from everyone and their dog how good they looked, how amazing they were, and how lucky she was. She hated it here. She’d run away if she actually had anywhere else she could go without being turned in on sight. 

It was strange, though, for they hadn’t even tried to curfew her the past weekend. Perhaps they felt bad and hadn’t gone through with it? That’d be a first.

As they sauntered down the boulevard, not all its souvenir and food stands had opened yet. And the lady at the corner kiosk was just dragging the ‘newly arrived’ stand outside.

And that’s where she saw it.

Rendered in glossy full-colour, proud as could be on the front of Fashion First. Them. How dare? Her on her stomach on one of the casino’s poker tables, wearing the skimpiest sexy-Santa skirt and top you could still put on a front cover without being delegated to the randy back corner of a 24/7 shop. And him, dressed up as a goddamn reindeer, leaning over her back in what couldn’t possibly be an accidental posing. They pretended to be engrossed by the cards she was holding, but Robin knew better. She could fucking tell from their stupid horny glances.

Standing there, in the sunny, quiet boulevard. She thought she might actually scream.

“Hey! Aren’t that your parents?” Miguella said, and had the gall to chortle about it.

“They are NOT my parents, and they are dead to me!” Robin screamed, and stormed off.

🐊 🐊 🐊

Horny hell seat reservations - @tiredemomama @smut-goblin @ruledbyproblematique @momodwriter @littlemountainwolf @fanaticsnail @feral-artistry - have a very merry Christmas with a shot of crocaine on the house.

[nights-at-crystarium]

January 9 is Vivi’s birthday \;w;/ The date’s cheeky, it’s when I reached ShB on him ingame. A year ago. JUST A YEAR. No other oc of mine had such an intense development process. I wanted to try writing a disaster, and, well....

Lemme have today as an excuse to ramble about his influences. Of course I didn’t merely lump these together, I kept realizing the likeness as time went on.

The concentration of unhinged blondies and literal idols is past the critical level, take cover, it’s gonna blow.

Spoiler warning for everything.

Anarchy Panty

Because his full name’s Vivien Fucksalot Rell x’D A good number of their tropes match perfectly.

This speech could as well be copypasted into his final battle with Emet:

Panty: You're right, I'm just a little bitch and I'm proud of it. But guess what, douchebag? That's not the point. News flash, I don't need special fucking powers to beat the shit out of you. You know why? Because I'm a bitch who doesn't give a fuck. You and your half-dead face can preach about hymens and demons and other weird words that supposedly mean shit, but that doesn't change the fact that if any of you fuckers get in my way, I'm gonna kick some twisted-ass ass. You hear me dick? I'm a hot bitch angel named Panty. And no matter what anyone says, I DO WHAT I FUCKING WANT!

Princess Ai

An edgy fashion icon that I'm still in love with. Brainstorming the visual styles for Vivi, I simply decided to indulge as hard as I can.

Howl

Howl gets his redemption arc, Vivi, uh.... Surprise, the entire ShB part of Fragments is his redemption arc of sorts. But he exists outside ShB as well. He’s not meant to be a goody two shoes. But hey, his drama queen moments are entertaining to watch.

Raha has a lot of Howl in his character too. With Vivi, he’s basically this, except he doesn’t swallow him.. Okay he does but in a different way *kicked*

Arataka Reigen

Because I’m physically incapable of writing a classic hero.

Vivi has a complicated relationship with his career and a pragmatic approach to most things in life. He also prefers words to violence, will fight only if that fails.

When confidence and persuasion carry so hard you don’t really need anything else. Vivi firmly believes in everything he says and does. He doesn’t derive any fucked up joy from being right, but he knows as a fact that he IS right.

Sakuma Ryuichi

Duality my beloved \o/ And dorkiness. Other than that, Ryuichi doesn’t have as much influence on his character, but the visuals?

I mean I literally use this shirt and necklace as an easter egg/homage. Gravitation triggered my queer awakening in the faraway 2006, might as well give it the acknowledgement it deserves.

And, lastly, the he.

What else do you expect from a character tailored for a ship \o/

Short. Sassy. Dorky. Gremlin. All of their direct likeness stems from ARR, while the more subtle parallels and extreme opposite values form later.

If Raha’s eccentric, Vivi takes that just a tad bit further, simply because he’s always been allowed to.

What Raha keeps repressed, buried deep down, Vivi embraces in full. He’s an unruly, effervescent spark of life, he’s meant to be Raha’s “manic pixie dream boy” according to tvtropes, to slowly lure him out of his shell and teach him confidence, the joy of living, and find a way to stop him from killing himself over and over again.

Words of praise and affirmation have no effect on them. Both are competent in some field, but never brag about it. While Raha has a severe imposter syndrome, Vivi knows he’s cool as a fact, which still doesn't mean he loves or values himself as he should. He just acknowledges and uses his status for his own benefit as openly as the world keeps using himself.

Destiny (affectionate) and destiny (derogatory).

Raha’s The Adult (tm) Vivi needs to stay somewhat stable. This’s the reason they don’t quite get along in ARR yet, Raha must go through that century of suffering that, despite all common sense, refines him into something delightful, Vivi must go through HW-SB to realize his priorities in life and frankly get fucked up enough to form a perfect chemistry with Exarch.

Raha has a moral compass that he may adjust at will, Vivi has none at all. How much more questionable would they be if they weren’t cute and charismatic :’D

They’re feisty and competitive towards each other, Raha especially so. Vivi has a red cloth effect on him. Forever wrestling for that imaginary control (yep, in bed too). On the emotional side, it’s forever “you matter, I don’t”. They’re mirrors of each other, reflecting some parts as they are, twisting others in most peculiar ways.

Vivi literally wouldn’t exist without Raha, both ic and ooc. So I daresay Raha has the most influence on his character, at the same time he’s his own guy enough to stay interesting. I’m so proud of him. I’m holding him by the scruff and helplessly shaking him in the air.

[shooting-star-hearts]

♡•Glitter For Skin•♡

✰ • 𝓟𝓐𝓘𝓡𝓘𝓝𝓖 ⇢ Cloud Strife/OC(Astrid Lovelyn) ✰ • 𝓣𝓗𝓔𝓜𝓔𝓢 ⇢ Fluff/comfort, Angst ✰• 𝓝𝓞𝓣𝓔𝓢 ⇢ Considering that this is oc x canon there will be...some things I changed that differ from canon ff7, such as Highwind scene...yeah I was a bit scared to add that one in sooooo no hate please? Thank you. Also I have horrible writing so I apologize for having to go through this if you choose do so 🥲 Anyhow...I wrote up this fic because it's been three years I've had this lil ship so...Happy Anniversary Cloustrid 💖(I'll also tag as x reader for anyone that wants to use as inspiration I'll allow it) ✰ • 𝓦𝓐𝓡𝓝𝓘𝓝𝓖𝓢 ⇢ Heartaches, Mention of a cut/blood, Suggestive at some point(implied nsfw), no proofread(?), Cloud is a bit...ooc I think, he talks a little more than usual

Now playing - golden hour by JVKE

“Ouch!”

As a reflex, the paper flew from her grasp and was gently curled over the thin cut.  Her thumb soothed over the little red slit with her brows furrowing slightly; the cut was small but admittingly it did cause a bit of an annoyance to her finger. 

“Astrid~”

Tifa’s voice was followed by the jingling of the bells over the door, signaling someone’s entrance in the bakery. Astrid’s eyes left from her cut momentarily to flash a smile at her.

“Hey Ti! Closed up early?” 

“Mhm…You alright?” The dark-haired woman made her way around the counter, her eyes followed down at Astrid’s finger.

“A-ah- yeah! Just a paper cut! Hang on..” Astrid didn’t want to further concern Tifa. She opened up one of the cabinet doors under the counter, shuffling around items in search of band-aids. 

Tifa was already ahead of knowing what she needed.  “Need band-aids? I believe there’s some upstairs” “Actually that won’t be necessary, I’ll deal with it late-”

Before Astrid could reply, she heard the bells ring again and the door closing. Chuckling, she smiled at how sweet Tifa was being despite the case not being serious.

. . . . .

“How was business today? I’m guessing busy telling from how they were visiting my bakery immediately afterwards~”

“You bet!” Tifa wrapped a small, thin band-aid around Astrid’s ring finger. 

Evening on a weekend, perfect for when these two want to hang out after their shorter shifts. It had been two years and a half since Astrid’s official opening to her bakery, Promised Land, and since then she had been extremely happy over the fact that both her and Tifa’s business had brought them closer.

“You weren’t too overwhelmed I hope?”

“Tifa…you’re asking as if this is the first time I’ve dealt with a large crowd!” She laughed. 

“I know you’re capable but…being how you’re the only one working for yourself…you know you could always ask Fiona to help out, right?”

“I know! But you two seem s~o happy together even when you’re working! I can’t take that away~” The brunette shot a friendly tease at her.

Tifa simply averted her eyes and chuckled, a faint blush painted on her upper cheeks. “I don’t think one day of not being around me would kill her.”

“Oh c’mon, have you seen how clingy she is with you? I’m not lying when I say there isn’t one conversation I have had with her where she doesn’t mention your name~” Astrid’s teasing was full on Aerith-like at this point.

The more the brunette teased about Tifa’s love life, the more red on Tifa’s cheeks became visible from her smiling. 

“Alright, tough cookie…but seriously, I just wanna be sure you have the help you need, at least let me help out with tidying up some things around here?”

“Well, there isn’t much more to be done but…I know you won't say no either.” The girl titled her head.

Tifa pointed a finger gun at Astrid and clicked her tongue. “You know me~!” She went on to pick a broom and started sweeping away.

A new source of warmth entered the room as the sun set, pointing right at Astrid across the room as she stared at her band aid once more. Upon noticing the change in atmosphere, her green eyes softened at the new color that painted the walls of the bakery interior, her favorite color at that.

Gold.

The color of the sunset.

The color of their deal.

…And of course, the color of his hair.

Sunsets never failed to make her think of that one person during these times of the day. Ever since the first day of their budding friendship, a friendship that was sealed by their own hearts and a deal. Some may say childish for such a silly thing, but it wasn’t like anyone would understand how much that alone affected each other throughout their life. Even when starting out as outcasts, it didn’t take much for them to mean the world for one another. 

“Hey…did Cloud happen to text you?”

Tifa stopped in her tracks, a smile tugged her lips without facing the shorter lady.

“He…did say he’d come back early but…”

“Don’t worry.”

She turned around, flashing a reassuring grin, remembering the short conversation she had with Cloud earlier.

“...He’ll be here soon.”

. . . . .

Orange sunset: “Warmth and comfort”

“...You’re really good at that.”

Any kid—or adult for that matter—in this village would recognize that voice as the weird kid, or one of them at least. It was a strange interaction for the two children to face each other after all those times of visiting and having their moms bond since they were just babies, but now? It felt as though they had just met for the first time. Except by this point, they were longing for a friend to talk to, so one would say….it was only natural that they’d end up like this, somehow, someway.

The young brunette’s lips parted from the flute, cutting off the soft melodies that escaped from it. From the corner of her eyes, she saw him. His blue eyes—non-mako at the time—glistened widely in fascination with the girl’s talent. Then again, in all his years of knowing who Astrid Lovelyn was, he didn’t really know her.

“...Cloud?”

The same could be said for the brunette herself, or as 10 year old Cloud would know as the girl that feared him. He expected nothing more than seeing her run off to her room whenever she was aware of the boy’s presence.

…Or so he thought.

“...Thank you…!”

…So when he heard those two words ring in his ears, this took him by surprise. He’d ask her to repeat again but seeing he had gotten this far, he was pulled to talk further with her.

Except he couldn’t gather the words to create another sentence, he just…stood there, findling with his fingers.

♪Pink and orange skies, feelin' super childish♪

Cloud had only one plan: Ask her why she was being attacked by Tifa’s friends and go back to his lonesome self for the rest of his day, instead it felt like he was confronting a kitten that needed to be handled with extra care; one wrong move could cause some serious consequences.

Wait…why was this kid worried? I mean, he’s seen what this girl is capable of doing, she did scold the kids that lied about him convincing Tifa to endanger herself on Mt. Nibel. Albeit she isn’t violent as Cloud is but seeing her stand up for him deepened his curiosity of what else she was on about.

“Hey…are you okay?”

The tables had turned with who was the shy one in this case.

Cloud’s upper body moved back slowly at Astrid leaning forward to take a look at his expressions better. When the hell did she stand up? He hadn’t even been able to process the fact that he was standing the closest he’s ever been to her. The blonde was desperate to form words to tell, but nothing could rip from his throat to respond besides the common “uh..”

Oh shoot, is she smiling? Was it because he had just embarrassed himself in front of her by being such a dork? Or maybe the blonde just hadn’t considered how lovely he looked with tangerine hues glistening up his miniature spikes and blue eyes yet.

His eyes drifted from the young girl’s emerald orbs, finding himself staring at books leaning against each other. 

“What are…” His finger finished the rest of his question while pointing, intentionally diverting Astrid away from him before she could notice his blushing.

The brunette’s pigtails swayed in rhythm whilst turning her head, following the direction he was hinting at. “Oh..those? They're just…boring stuff.” 

She walked back over and picked up one of her books, showing off the cover to Cloud, “Growth in Gardening” it read.

“Stuff on gardening…stupid, I know.”

It was fast how Astrid instantly dissed her own interest. “...But you like it, right?” Was simply how he could respond. He wasn’t about to lie and pretend he knew anything about gardening, I mean, boy thinks flowers all look the same.

But, judging by how lush and flourishing the plantation had grew near Astrid’s house, this was definitely her biggest passion, or at least, one of possibly many others

“I do, but others think it’s weird for a girl to be working outside just to get all muddy and sweaty…” She sat down, flipping over a few pages to the section of yellow lilies. “So…I don’t really have anyone else to talk to about them besides my mom and…”

“…who?” Cloud tilted his head.

“...The plants that I grew.” She chuckled to herself. She must’ve felt like a freak in front of him. Guess all that outcasting really affected how she saw herself too.

“...Oh.” 

That was the only thing Cloud could murmur before letting the crickets fill in the rest of the silence. Astrid noticed his eyes averting from the corner of her eyes. By this point, the young blonde had completely forgotten the entire reason why he had come to visit her in the first place. He had considered leaving before things got more awkward–

“So…why did you come see me?”

Oh, that’s why he was there.

“Not that I don’t want you to be here but…you haven’t come to visit in so long…”

“...Why were those kids bugging you?”

“Oh…that…” She sighed, recalling how foolish she had put herself into trouble, only for Cloud to get pulled in just to defend her. “I overheard how they lied about you getting Tifa into danger, they were being jerks to you. It’s not fair how they’re doing this to you…I couldn’t just…stand there…”

“But you would’ve gotten yourself hurt.”

Astrid blinked at how Cloud saw it. ”I don’t….think they would’ve went that far-”

“Doesn’t matter. They shouldn’t have talked to you like that. They talk about you all the time and I just wanted them to shut up.” He blurted without thinking.

Okay now she was confused. “...Huh?”

“Yeah. They said some nasty stuff about you so many times. About how you’re weird and ugly and…all that.” 

Her eyes widened, the realization stunned her. Yeah she knew he was reckless and getting himself into trouble but…for her though…?

He fought them…because they were saying stuff about me…?

“Cloud…you shouldn’t have…why..?”

“Cuz….even if you hate me…they were still being mean about you.”

“Huh?!” Well that didn’t sound right. “Hate you?! What made you think I hate you Cloud??”

Cloud was just as surprised to figure out that he may have judged her wrongly. “...You always ran to your room each time I came to visit…”

…Oooh…

“C-Cloud I…I didn’t hide because I hated you, I did that with everyone! I was just…scared of people, but that didn’t mean I hated them!”

“I-”

Cloud choked up, both of them did. For a while Cloud had assumed that he was cursed with others taking a dislike to him but ... this was just a misunderstanding between these two kids all along?

One was overthinking on what to say and the other was underthinking, not the most ideal conversation if you can even call it that now. All in all, it was embarrassing, and it would’ve been rude if Cloud had just walked away without saying anything.

I guess the only thing left to do is…to apologize? For misunderstanding? For judging her past fears? Maybe?

“...Sor-”

“Ugh! I can’t take this!” 

Astrid stood up, stomping the ground in frustration. “This is dumb, we’re both being dumb!” Walking over back to the confused blonde, she had an idea in mind. “We can’t just keep beating around the bush like this! So if we don’t want that happening anymore, we’re gonna make a deal!”

“A-A deal…?”

“Yeah! A friendship deal!”

The little brunette extended her arm out, fingers widely open. “I can’t keep running away in fear and you can’t keep your own feelings hidden! So I’ll stick by you whenever you’re in a rough patch no matter how bad things get, but you have to be honest with me.”

“But…I-I don’t want you getting hurt because of me…”

“Well someone’s gotta be by your side! You can’t do everything on your own all your life, y’know?”

Yup, that sentence alone settled his decision. 

His eyes widened, he never really thought of himself as the type to be looked after. Again, lone wolf, lone life, it was what he was used to up until now. Spending way too much time trying to fit into a friends group didn’t even give him a chance to realize that there would be someone to genuinely be accepted by all along.

“...Deal.”

His hand glued onto hers, Astrid gave it a shake to seal the deal. He never saw her smile so brightly before either, it was a lovely complement to the orange glow on her face. Cloud’s lips tugged upwards into a half smile. The truth is, he would’ve been honest with her with or without this deal the moment he realized that he meant something to her.

This is childish….but she’s happy.

This wasn’t just a friend. This was the soul he vowed to stay close with and protect for the rest of his life.

Cloudy sunset: “Splitting relationship”

“Cloudy!!”

The brunette’s head turned over. Standing before her, his eyes stumbled upon the girl smiling up at him. For a moment, he had almost mistaken her for an angel, she never failed to look like one in these golden hours while the sun was setting. The sky was painted full of clouds, all surrendering the warmth of the sunlight that shone onto the kids’ faces.

The gentle zephyr breezed through the strands of her curly, long hair as he made his way to sit next to her on the dock. Both of their gazes fall upon the miniature wave of the water drifting into the light red thread in the sky.

♪Missed call from my mother, Like "Where you at tonight?" Got no alibi♪

“Are you okay? You seem like…”

The boy turned his head to face Astrid next to him. “Like what?”

Astrid tilted her head. “I dunno…you look like there’s a lot you wanna say…”

Her legs kicked back and forth, slightly hesitating to ask.

“What’s on your mind, Cloudy?”

There wasn’t an answer for several seconds, Cloud was equally hesitant, but after all, this was Astrid, a dear friend who’s been visibly obvious in her support for him. He sighed.

“...I wanna be a SOLDIER.”

“SOLDIER? Wouldn’t that mean you’d…have to leave off for Midgar…?”

The girl’s eyes softened, a hint of sadness hidden within her green eyes. She knew what that meant.

“..We won’t be seeing each other for a while.” Cloud’s head remained low, avoiding eye contact.

“..Yeah…” Astrid sighed. “Well…is it what you want to do? To become a hero?” 

“…It’s not just that.” The blonde picked up a knee and leaned against it. “I wanna impress someone.”

The girl’s head tilted to the side. “Hmm? I-Impress someone?”

“Yeah…I want to impress her. So I thought that becoming a hero as good as Sephiroth would finally make her notice me in…a new way.”

“R…really??” The smile widened on Astrid’s face. “May I ask…why?”

“..Because...” Cloud hesitated with a sigh, pink painted faintly on his cheeks. He was quite open with Astrid, so why not be honest with her? “..I like her.”

This was it.

Those three simple words made Astrid’s heart rush faster.

He didn’t even have to say that he felt the same for her. She just…knew it.

Was he finally going to confess? Was he finally going to tell his love for her? He’s always been so unusually affectionate to her even if it was just as a “friend”…she knew this was going to be it.

…This was it, wasn’t it?

She made up her mind: She’ll go in for the first move.

“You know, Cloudy…” Her legs swung in a light rhythm, the excitement within her heart felt like bursting out of its cage like a wild animal. Cloud turned his head to her as she spoke. 

“...You’re great with the way you are…you don’t need to prove or impress anything to anyone. I think you’re amazing and already a hero to me just by being an amazing friend but…I like you, for you and you only Cloudy~.” 

The smile remained brightly on her face, a warm glow of red flushed to Astrid’s cheeks. She could’ve sworn the blonde shot a momentarily smirk for a second.

But then…he turned back to face the sunset and…and then came back in silence.

…What went wrong? Did the words come out too weird and awkward? Was he trying to find his own words to express his feelings?

“Thanks Astrid, but…I don’t know if she’ll think the same as you.”

Wait…what?

“Wh…wh-what do you mean…?” Astrid’s smile slowly faded.

“I like Tifa but…I don’t think she’ll feel the same. That’s why I wanna impress her.”

[...]

Oh.

“I know it’s…surprising. Especially since Tifa and I aren’t the closest.”

Astrid didn’t even realize how widened her eyes were. Surely it wasn’t only surprising, but shocking. Her little heart remained at that same speeding pace, but this time, it was all for the wrong reasons. Had she misread his signals? Shouldn’t she be happy either way? Shouldn’t she have known this all along? Where was the part she had missed about Cloud’s feelings for Tifa?

…Does…Tifa like him as well…?

There were too many questions buzzing in the girl’s head. She couldn’t think straight.

“...That’s okay.”

Stupidly, those were the only words she could put together. Nothing more, nothing less.

The boy looked at her, he noticed how awfully quiet she’s been since he told her his crush.

“...The heart wants what it wants Cloudy…There’s…” She forced a soft smile. “...nothing…wrong with that.”

They both were one with the silence. The sun was slowly fading into the clouds, and so was Astrid’s fake smile; she badly wanted to cry her heart out but…this is her friend, her happiness, and if this was how he felt…then she knew well that she should be happy for him too.

“...When will you tell her?” The brunette spoke up, her green eyes glued on the sun’s disappearance.

“Hm?” Cloud’s turned to her.

“Your feelings for her…” Likewise, Astrid’s eyes met his blue ones. “When will you tell her?”

He looked away momentarily, this had him thinking of what time would be the perfect time to confess to Tifa. “I’ll be telling her about it tonight but...do you think it’d be best to confess when I come back?” He looked back at her. “Do you think…she’ll like me too…if I became a SOLDIER..?”

“I…I-I don’t know….” The tone was hinting at her breaking apart. Even she realized she couldn’t keep it together for long..

Cloud stuttered a bit on her response, he didn’t expect her to know but…it did in a way made him insecure about his idea.

It took all her strength and force to spark a small smile back onto the corner of Astrid’s lips.

“B-But….no matter what….”

Astrid faced Cloud with that radiant happiness she always carried around him, hoping that it wasn’t forced this time though.

“...I-I’ll be there for whatever happens between you too…just like what we shook on.”

“Thanks Astrid…and if I haven’t said it…” Cloud itched the back of his head shyly. “...You’re a great friend too.”

It never existed.

His feelings for her.

His protection for her.

His love for her.

…Only to realize they were merely just feelings for a very, dear friend.

And that those feelings…had been built off of imagination.

It got darker soon, as the sun sunsetted early behind more dense clouds that surrendered the remaining light left. The young blonde knew it was time to head back home. 

“Before I leave…I want to give you this back.”

As they stood facing each other, Cloud took off the gold necklace that hung from his neck from under his shirt, handing it in Astrid’s palms.

“You…don’t want it anymore?” She looked up at him with hurt hidden in her eyes.

Cloud shook his head. “I just…don’t want to lose it somewhere in Midgar. I think it’s safer with you.”

She looked down at the necklace. “D-Does it…still mean something to you…?”

“Of course it does.” Cloud responded softly. “That’s…why I’m scared to lose it.”

“...Yeah.” Her fingers curled on top of the jewel before looking back up to him. “...I’ll keep it safe…for us.”

Astrid could feel her eyes water up, and as a desperation attempt to hide her emotions, she hugged him suddenly. 

It took Cloud by surprise, not being used to affection that comes out of nowhere. “A-Astrid…?”

He could sense something was wrong, her grip refused to let him go. Eventually the young blonde relaxed. This was Astrid after all…a girl of nothing but love to give for others. His arms gently wrapped around her slowly. 

“Calm down...you’ll see me again.” Cloud awkwardly muttered.

Astrid was having a hard time focusing on what he said, being that she was in between keeping her breathing from becoming shaky and not letting him see the few tears that failed to stay behind eyelids. 

She was able to eventually clear her mind temporarily from his comforting touch, although she knew she had to let him go at some point, so she did.

“S-Sorry…I-I….I don’t know why I did that…” She looked down, a bit ashamed of herself.

“Hey….don’t worry ‘bout it, K?” Cloud reassured her before having to make his farewell to her. “Well…I gotta go now…”

Cloud began walking away from her.

“Cloudy..”

Until she called for him for one last time.

He turned over to look at her, standing under the spotted, clouded sky, her hands held closely to her heart. Her smile was as sweet as it could look.

“I….wish you nothing but the best for you.”

. . . . .

Her hand hurt so much when clutching hard on the jewel of the necklace.

Well….Astrid definitely knew what a heartbreak was now if she wasn’t gonna feel it later.

Describing her as a sobbing mess would be an understatement, it was hard to make less noise but she just had faith that no one would check on her. 

She felt ridiculous, crying over a boy after teaching herself not to care about what others think of her, and yet the thought of her own crush not feeling the same way she does for him bothered her?

Astrid, grow up…you’re better than this.

The young brunette sat up, caressing her cheek dry from the rest of her tears. Looking out from her window, the stars faced down on her brightly. She remembered how Cloud was supposed to meet up with Tifa tonight, just thinking about it made her hear their voices, but it was just difficult to imagine how they’d be together. Would they be happy? Would it work out? Would she….finally notice him like he had hoped for?

It was what he wanted, after all. And she knew.

That night before sleeping, Astrid had vowed never to fall for her friend like that again.

Pink sunset: "Budding romance"

“Cloud…I think you should talk to Astrid. I mean…really talk to her.”

“...You’re right, Tifa.”

. . . . .

The moment she felt fingers curl around her hand, all the thoughts and worries blurred the instant her gaze met with stunning, angelic blue eyes. She was so caught up in her own thoughts, Astrid hadn’t even noticed Cloud’s presence crawl up from behind whatsoever.

“Astrid…”

The blonde softly muttered from his lips, almost sounding like a whisper. Astrid struggled to talk, he could see how hard she was trying to either talk or not break down in front of him. She truly looked as if she knew that the world was gonna end that night.

Well.

That’s because the world is ending.

She was clearly scared as a result. A part of her was trying its best to be strong, something that her own cousin, Aerith, would do, but she felt as if she wasn’t brave enough, then she’d have to carry the burden of disappointment. Well, it wouldn’t have mattered anyways if the planet’s life was coming to an end, would it now?

Cloud softly sighed, he acknowledged her suffering and saved her from the trouble of responding to him. He got closer to her, his eyes looking down at her in empathy. He softly spoke in his lowest tone.

“..Let’s get off the Highwind for the night. Just…the two of us.”

He didn’t need to hear her say ‘yes.’

Her eyes said it all.

♪Can you even imagine fallin' like I did for the love of my life?♪

Their hands remained stuck together. Each moment that passed they held on slightly tighter, giving a few squeezes every now and as they walked onto the rocky mountain, decorated in patches of green here and there. They stopped at the top, their skin basking under the warm, pink-casted light of the sunset that they were both facing. They stood there, soft wisps of wind fluttering the tips of their hair gently. Their eyes locked gaze with the beautifully painted sky, the rosie scenery that resided in their nostalgic memories and hearts. 

It was exactly why the image of it being ripped and wrecked by the giant meteor beast scared them. They both flinched. It was clear that they were thinking of the exact same thought.

“I-It always felt like…the sunset either brings us closer or…drags us apart…each time we bask in its light…”

Cloud turned to her, watching her slowly walk away from him and creating more distance. It felt like a wave of relief washing over him upon hearing the brunette’s soft voice, but he can feel her worries and sadness louder than her own words.

“...But r-right now…I can’t tell what it feels like…” Her green eyes shift down to the ground. “...A part of me feels like….all of this…is my fault…”

Cloud mouth slightly parted, blinking in disbelief.

“The reason for how we got here and…why we’re here…you know well that I don’t deserve a moment like this Cloud…”

She sighed gently, then turned back to face Cloud with slightly watery eyes.

“...You didn’t just take us down here for the scenery…didn’t you?”

“...No.”

Cloud paused before continuing.

“...But you know well why I brought you here, and all I want…is to hear you say that reason.”

But here she was.

Eyes slightly widened at him, the state of shock was clear as crystal on her face. Her breath hitched as she immediately looked away, the red hotness creeping up her cheeks. She knew it’d only have been a matter of time until Cloud finally found what was in the depths of her heart, the feelings that she’d been trying her best to kill. The guilt was catching up, and the woman was at her limit of excuses to make.

She couldn’t tell if it would’ve been better for her to finally fess up to it, or if the world should’ve just ended right then and there.

She had been so lost in her doubtful thoughts she hadn’t realized Cloud standing right in front of her, her hands resting on his palms. She looked up through her lashes, and the blonde knew how fearful she was to tell him.

“Don’t be scared..” He gently gave her hands a few faint squeezes. “I’m not letting you do this alone. So…let’s both promise to be honest this time…deal?” Cloud tilted his head.

A deal huh.

If anything, maybe things would’ve been different had Astrid not come up with that similar scenario when they were younger. But even god knew they both needed it at some point in their lives.

Astrid seemed to calm down, nodding softly. Yet, the pit of anxiety in her stomach still rested comfortably, and it would only grow bigger the moment she opened her mouth. She’d have to, eventually.

“They all told me.” The blonde started.

“The lifestream….Tifa…Aerith…”

“They all wanted me to know about your feelings, Astrid.”

“In the lifestream…Tifa took me to you…during the time after I left…”

Astrid looked as if she had a million words to say, but she just couldn’t bring herself to even say a single word. She just looked away, the memories forcing her to relive the young pain she once swore to get over.

The blonde’s crystal eyes softened. “...I hurt you badly…didn’t I…” 

Astrid’s hand wrapped around her arm, her chest elevated and softly fell back down as she sighed through her nose.

“...I never blamed you, Cloudy.” She let out a sigh-chuckle while humming to herself. “If it was never meant to be then….”

Once again, she couldn’t find the words. Cloud blinked, finally hearing Astrid’s inner feelings, as if she had another hidden heart that she had just revealed to him. A heart that’s been hurting…and he blames himself for it all.

Astrid looked over to his guilty expression, one that can be rarely seen. And this…just devastated her more.

“C-Cloud…i-it’s not your fault..” She looked up at him with pleading eyes. “...I promise…i-it really isn’t..”

“If there’s one thing that can put me at ease right now…it’s to hear you talk to me, Astrid.” Every one of his words filled to the brim with sincerity. “You’ve always had an ear to everyone else…but there wasn’t once anyone’s returned the favor for you…I wanna change that, right here, right now.”

…He had a point.

“Please Astrid…you don’t have to hide your feelings anymore…especially not with…me.” His hand reached up to her cheek and lifted her head up to look at him. “...Please.” Cloud whispered gently.

…And he was right.

It had to be said at one point. All those feelings. Those memories. Those heartaches…

She took a deep breath, sighing away the small emotional rock that was stuck in her throat.

“...I-If anything…it’s my fault.” She looked off to the side, ashamed. “I should’ve never fallen for you in the first place…”

She shook her head.

“...but even so…it was like I was never allowed to get over it completely…even when I saw you again I…I wasn’t even sure how to be myself around you like I used to…” The brunette bit her lip.

The blonde started to realize. “...When I changed, so did you…”

She looked back at him to face him.

“But….no matter what…there were always those feelings we had for each other that stuck with us, huh…”

. . .

F…

Feelings…?

Our…feelings…?

Does he….also…?

“C-Cloud…”

Her body had a mind of its own.

Not realizing the closed-in space between herself and Cloud, her hands rested upon his chest, fingers curling into a hard grip at his shirt. Her form was kept still by the strength of Cloud's arms wrapped around her, hands resting up on her lower back. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the blonde’s crystal blue orbs. 

So full of emotion…

So full of feelings…feelings that can’t be put into simple, plain words…

It was a naturally magnetic feeling. Each second pulled each other closer, both having the strongest urge imaginable to get even more closer. It was like..they were both revealing their true selves to each other…

Oh…

How much she missed him…

How she missed his true self…

The Cloud she once knew and fell in love with all those years ago…

…

“I promise….never to fall for you again.”

The remembrance of that oath gave Astrid’s heart a sudden jolt. She snapped herself awake from the sweet dream that clouded her thoughts, finally gaining back control of her senses and only to realize that the real she knew Cloud didn’t feel like this for her.

He never did, never would either.

Those thoughts alone made her pull herself away from his arms. Tears overwhelmed her eyes, making them glossy and brighter to the reflection of the light. It was clear she wanted to cry, but something held her back, not allowing her to let the droplets escape from her eyes.

“I…I-I shouldn’t…I can’t…!”

Her hands formed into fists, a sign that she was still clenching hard on her remaining hidden feelings.

“...I can’t fall in love with the boy whose heart was never meant for me…a-again…”

She was scared, afraid to fall in love with him, only to have her heart crushed to pieces all over again with the unfortunate truth.

It was deja vu to the both of them.

But this time.

Cloud could see…her. 

His heart was at its fullest with his honest feelings for her.

And he wanted her to know.

Every. 

Single.

Bit of it.

“Astrid…”

Cloud’s eyes gave the softest look, he badly wanted to make amends with the fear he caused in Astrid’s heart. He wanted to prove his feelings innocent, that they were honest, from the bottom of his heart, and from his own real self, the same one who had been too blind to see how all of her past efforts were all out of nothing but the love she had for him. It was the same love for him that’s trapped in her but..

Only he had the key to unlock the trust of her love for him again.

“Whether this may be the last night we’re together like this…or we’ll have more nights to talk…just to get closer each time...it wouldn’t matter. I feel the closest to you at this moment, but if I’m never able to fix the trust of your feelings for me…then I’ll always be afraid…”

He drew closer.

“...Because I now know…I hurt the one girl that’s always understood me…”

His hand cupped her cheek once more. A single tear rolled softly down her cheek.

“...And it was the biggest mistake I could’ve ever made..”

“....C….Cloud…”

“...Is there any way I can fix this…?”

More tears started to spill, slowly. Cloud’s voice becomes a soft whisper. Astrid’s lips quivered, the more she looked into his eyes, the more she saw how serious he was about her.

“B-By knowing how I feel, Cloud…. th-that’s all I want…all I need..” Her voice was shaken up. “I-I never wanted to say a thing to you, I vowed not to…I-I knew I could never be the one for you…I kn-knew that there was always g-going to be someone else for you…. a-anyone but me…”

It was clear he was fighting for her trust again, and it was equally clear that it’s working. It was stinging Astrid’s heart in so many ways at the thought of this finally being her moment to finally accept her own feelings for him.

Their moment.

“No…you convinced yourself that Astrid.” Cloud brought himself closer to her slowly, trying to break her walls break by break at an unrushed pace. “...You were always there in my mind even when I didn’t realize it..”

“You understood my feelings for the longest time…but I hadn’t known about your broken heart that you were trying to fix by yourself..”

 He slowly leaned near her ear, blonde strands brushed against Astrid’s cheeks softly..

“You can’t do everything on your own all your life….y’know?”

He….remembered….

Finally, Astrid was speechless through tears, her arms thrown around Cloud’s form as she stuttered through her sobs. It was all going so fast yet time seemed to slow down to a halt.

Being in Cloud’s arms felt like a lifetime, despite all the times they lost together had she fessed up earlier…it didn’t matter now though. She felt like a huge weight was washed down even through the crying.

Soft lips were planted on her head…but Cloud knew they were far from being done.

. . . . .

♪She's got glow on her face, a glorious look in her eyes♪

By now the sky’s hues were radiating with magenta-purples, a sign of nighttime approaching. 

He held her close, laying on a soft patch of grass with his hands entangled in her reddish-brown waves of hair. To the sound of his gentle heartbeats, Astrid’s breathing did its best to regulate itself after crying.

Once she was ready…she spoke up.

“Cloud..I…I’m ready…”

The man’s arms loosened around her waist, facing the emerald eyes that reflected the remaining light of the sunset. Some hair rested upon her nose, to which he brushed off slowly and tucked it behind her ear.

“I never really cared about what others thought of me but…after that growing connection we had…it really stung upon realizing how I had conjured those memories as romantic when…it wasn’t true. After that I promised never to fall for you again but…” She chuckled. “...I guess fate didn’t like the idea of me truly giving those feelings up, when your true self was starting to melt from the ice…so did my feelings…and it hurt even more knowing how I knew I fell over again for someone who was….already in love…”

“Maybe I was, but…”Cloud’s hand rested still on her cheek. “...in the end, it all led me back to you.”

Seeing him move closer, she was at her last chance at resisting.

Instead however, as her mind reeled every memory.

Every memory of her heartaches…

Every memory of him…

Every memory of the times he’s spent with her…

Oh, Astrid…

You’re not just childly in love; you want to spend the rest of your days and nights with him, don’t you?

She wanted to spend her evenings with him outdoors and watching every glorious sunset with a feeling of reassurance, knowing that tomorrow she’ll wake up to see the same loving, blue eyes that glowed in her own times of darkness. To hold him gently through his pains, watch him smile when he knows that everything will be okay…

Yes…this was what she wanted to fight for….

The only sounds that they could hear were each other’s heartbeats as their lips interlocked.

♪My angel of light…♪

Red sunset: "Passionate love"

Soft glows of red streaks filled the bedroom across through the blinds. She closed the door, soaking up the serenity atmosphere as she faced her lover that she hadn’t seen for a week, an apologetic look at his face spoke for itself.

“Astrid…I-I’m sorry..”

“I know you are, Cloud..”

The brunette walked over to the bed, sitting next to him as he avoided eye contact. He felt ashamed abandoning her ever since geostigma had caught up to Denzel.

“I also didn’t know how to fight that battle…all those years of…mourning over her put me off from learning anything more of my heritage.” Astrid sighed, she too was in deep regret of how she had handled things. “...I’m glad to know that we’re getting stronger now…and to know that we have others that I can call…family…”

Family…

Oh how lovely that word sounded…something they both hadn’t heard since they were little, something they had longed for once more.

“....That includes you, Cloudy…” Astrid reached for his cheek, turning his head gently to face the loving look in her eyes. “...so we’re not letting you go off to face the impossible alone no matter what…got that?”

“Yeah…”

A faint tint of red appeared on his cheeks. He felt warm from her words and lingering touches, her thumb brushing some of his blonde spikes behind his ear. Cloud took his gloves off before removing her hand from his face, taking a good look at her palms whilst caressing its softness…

So soft…

“They wouldn’t have cured if it wasn’t for you…~”

The blonde smiled, his heartbeat steadied at a relaxed pace. She didn’t wince or feel any pain when he applied some pressure onto it with his thumbs, unlike when it was infected. The look of joy on his face was unforgettable upon washing away the geostigma from her hands, knowing that he’d be able to hold her hand again.

“This is a future that we fought for…” His hands held Astrid’s, looking into her eyes. “...so I won’t let it go to waste again. I promise.”

“Cloudy…you don’t have to promise…because you already know it’s what we want…” 

♪I was all alone with the love of my life♪

Astrid closed the leftover gap between them with a tender kiss. Saying that they missed the feeling of locking their soft lips with one another was an understatement, they practically yearned their touch after what they had been through. They couldn’t keep their hands to themselves no matter how hard they tried to resist. They separated in between kisses for air but they had no plans on stopping any time soon. 

Slowly, they ended up laying together. Cloud crawled on top of his petite girlfriend while cradling her legs up his thighs, his hand caressed up her waist tenderly under her shirt. 

At some point their loving stares locked with each other, Cloud’s thumb rubbed her bottom lip with a strip of red light streaking over it as well. It was obvious how much he wanted to take things a step further, telling by the look in his eyes that she knows all too well how to read. 

“I missed this…I missed you…” He absolutely longed to reveal his unconditional love to her. 

Sparks burned brighter with each kiss that led to a more passionate connection. Fire prickled at Cloud’s fingertips all the more as he stroked further up her form, craving to hold her smaller body into his loving embrace, it felt like his whole world was in his very arms…

It was a fresh breath of air to know he was in the same room as her, the same bed as her again…just like how it should be…

“...C-Cloudy…~” The pace of the girl’s heartbeat quickened from the euphoric state, she wanted him as much as he wanted her that moment. 

. . . . .

The warm lovers were tied up together in cuddles and kisses. Cloud’s mouth buried on Astrid’s head whilst tangling his fingers through her wavy hair. 

“Astrid..?”

♪She's got glitter for skin, my radiant beam in the night♪

He didn’t get a response from her, she must’ve been tired out. He smirked while giving a tender peck on her head. Just from that, she snuggled up closer to his chest which earned a chuckle from him. She was the absolute cutest in every way possible in his eyes, he could feel the fireworks in his chest go off with happiness to have her warm and safe in his arms again…

“I love you…~”

He slowly dozed off to the sound of a muttered "I love you too."

Golden sunset: “Long-living love”

Ding ding!

The bells rang in rhythm with sounds of footsteps that followed.

“Ah! Sorry but we’re closed..” Astrid’s eyes didn’t leave her focus on organizing the money in the cash register.

Tifa giggled in the back when she realized that her own friend hadn’t even noticed who just walked in. “Astrid…look up silly!”

“Huh?” She hadn’t even taken notice of the shadow approaching her until a familiar gloved hand was placed on the counter in front of her. “Cloudy~!!” The young brunette raced around the counter and threw her arms around her boyfriend gleefully, having him return the affection with his left arm while his right one was holding a small decorated box.

“For a moment I was worried that I wasn’t welcomed back~”

“Don’t worry I was just distracted…Tifa and I were just tidying up some things. I just need to bring the rest of the tools upsta-”

“Allow me!” Tifa hurried over to grab the rest of the stuff before Astrid could get to it. She giggled and winked at the two. “Gotta let the couple of the night have their deserved rest~” Tifa winked and walked out of the room before either two could reply.

“She seems…oddly chipper all of a sudden…” Astrid remarked, it confused her to how Tifa had just rushed out so fast. She looked back up to Cloud after hearing a soft chuckle escape from his throat, he had a smile that screamed he was hiding something as he averted his eyes. Astrid noticed and got even more confused. “Hey, why the mischievousness? Do you two…know something that I don’t?”

Astrid placed one hand on her hip and the other on the counter beside her, leaning towards Cloud with an eyebrow lifted to interrogate him. He didn’t reply, instead he simply placed the small box that was in his and pushed it towards her. The girl’s green eyes widened at the beautifully detailed box with a gold ribbon and a red rose attached to it. 

“...I think this package will answer your question~”

She let out a soft giggle and shook her head at his attempt at distracting her.

But as she carefully peeled at the wrapping, her heart slowly increased its pace. 

“C-Cloud…” 

“Open it Astrid…”

♪I don't need no light to see you shine♪

This girl could’ve been shaking from the excitement upon lifting the box open, facing a glittering golden ring, a mold of the yellow lily’s petals was circulated around a shining blue gem, reflecting the golden light off of its flat sides. 

“Oh my…C-Cloud…I-I..!” Her mind was still reeling at the fact that Cloud had just proposed to her and she didn’t even acknowledge how much she was crying her eyes out, not until her now-fiancé reached to caress the tears off of her cheek with his thumbs gently. 

“Astrid..?”

Through tears, Astrid lunged herself in a hug with him. “Yes Cloudy! I will marry you!! You mean the world to me!! I love you so so s~o much…!” Her arms tightened around him, it caused his heart to flutter with a loving smile that followed up.

Hearing a tap on the door window that Tifa had left from, Cloud could still see her presence whilst she raised two thumbs up and a wide grin plastered on the woman’s face for encouragement. The man smiled, he was the happiest in that moment. He wanted to see her excitement last for the rest of their days, to hold her like this forevermore…

That wasn’t the only thing that Cloud is giving however. 

“Ah right, I almost forgot…” He gently held Astrid’s arms for her to loosen her grip, allowing him to pull something else from his bag.

A pen and a marriage certificate.

“Just sign here…Astrid Strife~”

♪It’s your golden hour~♪

[relaxxattack]

how come twitter hates knifetrick? i havent read it nor have i ever been involved in any mcyt or adjacent stuff btw

oh man. ok let me explain the story. it was around exactly a year ago the main bit of this shit happened actually

in 2020 minecraft roleplaying (mcrp) becomes super mainstream with the rise of dream smp. in these series, stories are scripted and then acted out live with some improv stuff

in the fandoms there is a LOT of drama over whether it's okay to ship the roleplay characters. there's lots of stances on this. in the beginning, most people say it's not okay to ever ship rp characters, because the youtubers usually just use their own persona as a base for an oc, so it's basically the same thing as shipping the youtubers together. shipping irl people is weird and gross, so nobody wants to do that.

in 2021 a couple of ships start getting confirmed as canon in the rp. characters date or get together or canonically have romantic scenes. this makes the fandom hurt itself in its confusion, because it doesnt understand if it's allowed to ship those characters together.

two guys have their characters literally get married and have a child. the fandom LOVED these characters, they were well written and cute and had a great dynamic. the fandom wanted to ship them and support their marriage so bad. BUT. they were played by real people. those real people (tubbo and ranboolive) were also minors at the time, who nobody wants to risk being weird about obviously.

the mainstream fandom decides that to solve this problem, they will pretend that the marriage is platonic, and ostracize and witch hunt anyone who claims it's not. they draw tons and tons of ship fanart of the two characters, all helpfully tagged as "platonic", sometimes tagging every single use of the word "husband" as platonic.

EVENTUALLY, people start realizing, hey wait, this is roleplay. it's fictional. the streamers are not actually traumatized war veterans who invented nukes, have amnesia, raised a child, are half hybrid alien etc etc etc.

in fact... it's actually really weird to try and make their roleplay relationship the same as their real life one. in the roleplay, they are married and have a kid and act lovey-dovey... why would you claim that's their real relationship? why would you conflate the two? can't we just understand that it's fictional?

most of the tumblr fandom, eventually, realizes that fictional characters and real human actors are not actually the same person. (it helps that the actors themselves state the same thing.)

the twitter fandom however... does not eventually realize this. they stay in their "platonic husband" hell, simultaneously being really weird about shipping and outwardly hating all shippers.

fastforward a bit, there's another mc roleplay series. it's a spinoff series of that first one we were talking about, and it's an athology series-- a whole bunch of oneshots with new characters each time. keep in mind, these characters are NOT EVEN RELATED TO THE STREAMER'S PERSONAS... they make up new ones each time!!

anyway they do one of the oneshots in a cool futuristic city and i was like "man it would be cool to write about this." one of the characters (ran) acts very weird and suspicious for the 5 lines he has total, which leads to a lot of silly theories about what he might be up to in this future city. i think, "man it would be fun to write about him." a different character (jackie) remarks on that character as well; jackie is also one of the only characters to live to the end of the oneshot.

ages after this oneshot was actually aired i thought to myself, what the hell, i'll write a story about ran and jackie. they have literally no existing personality and the futuristic city is not even remotely expanded on- i get to do all that myself!

so i write a comedy mystery action romance novel about an alien assassin (ran) assigned to kill the general of the city's army (jackie) while they try to find some kidnapped kids. keep in mind, i had basically nothing to work with for these characters-- they were side characters for a single episode from a spin-off series, they had around ten lines total. i got to make up basically everything about who they were and where they came from and what they would do myself. the story is also chock full of OCs, and all of the mechanics for the city itself were original and invented by me-- it was a huge labor of love and invention and original work.

the romance wasn't intended to be a whole thing, but honestly it felt very natural (and all the story's fans definitely wanted it), so it eventually happened.

surprising no one, the same twitter fans who believe that fictional characters are somehow LITERALLY the same as their actors started trying to tell me i was shipping real life people. (what? gross?). they told me i was being a bad fan by going against the wishes of irl people who didn't want to be shipped. they accused me of so much, of just trying to "hide" that i really shipped irl people, tons of things. but my story was not about irl people. the characters literally have different fucking names, appearances, personalities, dynamics... EVERYTHING.

twitter users eventually started a "cancellation" of me. i don't even use twitter. but anyway they dug up a bunch of weird innocuous comments or fanarts i had done before, and then pointed to knifetrick, and said i was secretly a gross person, that i was a guy who shipped gaming youtubers, etc. there was a thread about it, idk.

eventually the harassment in my inbox caused me to take a break from tumblr for several weeks. i actually wasn't sure if i would come back. HUNDREDS of people were talking about how terrible i was; people on twitter literally have me and my works in their goddamn dnis. it was such a surreal experience and it caused me so much anxiety.

eventually, several of my friends convinced me to finish the story, because really there was nothing all that wrong with it in the first place. i came back to tumblr.

i added the banner that is currently in my pinned to discourage gross shippers, or people who think *i* am a gross shipper, from coming near me anymore.

as far as i'm concerned, ran and jackie are my OCs. they were from a oneshot-- a oneshot that has not been MENTIONED by its creators for years now-- who i gave an entire story to. i don't want to associate with that fandom anymore, so i don't want the characters i worked so hard on associated either.

they still talk about me on twitter sometimes, kind of as an urban legend of drama. "holy shit you guys remember the knifetrick stuff? that was so gross, how did we let any of that happen. people kept defending it too 🤢". it doesn't bother me as much anymore, because i'm surrounded by people with the critical thinking skills to tell the difference between tom hanks and woody, but it's still sometimes surreal and hurtful.

don't take this as just me complaining though- making knifetrick was incredibly fun, and i still adore all the fans and memes and fanart to this day. you all were incredible and pretty much make those awful episodes worth it <3

in case you're wondering, the steamiest thing those characters did, that people were so upset about?

they shared a chaste peck of the lips for .2 seconds before one of them tried to kill the other.

[personalizationai]

Interested evil smirking skeleton image

If it wouldn't be a bother to you or the others in your group WHAT IS CLEANUP CREW SO SO SO COOL SO COOL ITS SO COOL!!!!!!! <- me forever abt all the goofy goobers

ok well, put simply cleanup crew is a selection of multiple ocs within a friendgroup of mine! essentially, its a collaborative project where in the free time we have, we craft a narrative through playing lethal company via improv with the only planned things being the basic ideas of events we may want to happen.

it started off as a JOKE initially. where @ballcrusher74 was watching everyone play together and playfully taunting our mutual friend to kill me (this was my first time playing mind you) for a promotion. ever since that event we started becoming more and more invested in this narrative we’ve made! there’s quite a few members here, but for a more comprehensive list take a glance at this:

this info is a little outdated! to correct some things:

- rookie has since turned 17

- spades was away for a good while, and when she returned she seems to have contracted a mysterious ailment. unsure about the details of this.

- specs no longer is a war vet, but now has a slowly unfolding plotline about their study of masks and how it will affect them personally. their author cites similarities to chujin from undertale yellow.

- BRAIN IS NOT AN OLD MAN BUT IN FACT IN HIS 20S. He has a lot of deep family issues and a lot of unprocessed trauma. He desperately wants to find his daughter, but hasn’t had any luck. That ghost girl looks awfully like her though. He always chases after it.

- Lieutenant has issues regarding memory post their deaths. It’s a “reset” of sorts. Lietenant was also gone for around the same time Spades was before returning to the crew. Lieutenant and Rookie are very good friends.

- FOUR… To attempt to summarize, Four was a member of the crew that Rookie’s father Lee was the defacto captain of. Lee was presumed dead and abandoned on a moon (on the same day he brought Rookie on a brief outing to show him his work because the kid wouldnt stop begging) and well. theres that connection. Later on after this though much much later, the navigator in their ship had gone haywire. The entire crew crashed into a nearby moon, and Four was the only survivor. He survived alone on March until the cleanup crew had found him.

- WE ALSO HAVE A NEW CHARACTER! She(?) is called Medic. Medic is a strong believer in hope and positivity, and tries their best to keep things together. They used to be on a different crew, but going off of things implied to me it was pretty bad. Medic also has a connection to Terrance. @codeopathy can explain further as I don’t wish to get any info wrong

[zelsisi]

How to Properly Kill an Emperor...With Your Problematic Sibling

So this is set in SWTOR during Echoes of Oblivion with Outcast's brother OCs Cuyan (Jedi Knight) and Kaden (Sith Warrior). I’m glossing over things here, it's not supposed to be exactly like the Echoes of Oblivion. I changed some things for the sake of this story considering it's on the OCs and not the story itself.

Also! Hi Outcast! @outcastcommander Been awhile vod! We need to talk more again, only if you want tho. I hope you like this piece (yes it was me as the anon asking lol)!

Here's a preview:

When the two heard what was going down here, of course they wanted to help. Except for very different reasons. For example, Kaden wants to put his former Emperor into the grave for good, afterall a lot of things in the galaxy is his fault. The blue eyes of his brother seem to twitch a bit as he catches the thought through the Force. Meanwhile, Cuyan wants to do it for a multitude of reasons. One to help Satele, the former Grandmaster of the Order and the one that helped him down the road he was on. Two, he hates that he agrees with his brother for wanting to just finally put down the major pain in the osik that is The Emperor. So what if he also wanted to get even for all the bullshit he’s been through? It's not that major. Who is he kidding though? Definitely not his brother who obviously caught wind of the thought through the Force and just gave him a look with his white eyes.

Regardless of why they’re doing this, the fact is that they are doing it. Running head long into danger. Again. For the thousandth time at least. A fact that both have been…quite vocal about as they board the ship that holds the ailing bodies and minds of Master Satele Shan and her students, who they find fairly quickly after carving through the Emperor’s Servants and the Scions.

Both of them kneel and close their eyes, using the Force to go into Satele’s mind. The landscape there is of stars and barren landscapes. Illusions of enemies long dead arrive causing them to fight back to back. The brothers activate their sabers, the glow being the only light close enough to them than the stars. Both are fairly aggressive but Kaden is more honorable in his fighting as he jumps from enemy to enemy, emitting force waves and force slams as he goes. He doesn’t take every opening but that’s his way, better to fight honorably than to take a cheap shot. Cuyan, on the other hand, while he does jump around from enemy to enemy, he’s a bit more…dirty. His fists and feet and head, aided by the force, become his secondary weapons. Every opening he sees he takes, even if it's cheap, his style greatly contrasting to his brother’s.

As the fight winds down, Cuyan’s footing slips on an unstable piece of the area as he dodges to the side, leaving him open to a strike which is quickly intercepted by Kaden’s off hand saber being thrown to throw off the strike. The blue eyes sharpen towards him as they deal with the last of them, “I don’ need your help!”

“Clearly. Tell me brother, how would Kira react if you didn’t come back from this?” That shuts up his brother real quick and Kaden can’t help but feel smug at that and gives a small smirk, “Regardless of your capabilities, this enemy is more cunning than most. As you and I have seen first hand as he was the Emperor of the Sith, saw the way he consumed Ziost, and then saw what he did as Valkorion.” Cuyan’s blue eyes go wide as they go through a wide variety of emotions. The fear of being raised by the Sith so much so that he left and later killed the Emperor as a way to face his own demons. The utter failure he felt after Ziost was consumed, he was a Jedi Knight wasn’t he supposed to save as much as he could? And the utter loathing that he felt when he returned inside his own head after killing him as Valkorion. The final part causes a shiver to run down Cuyan’s spine and he realizes how glad he is that his head is free from that…being.

Kaden sighs lowly as he deactivates his sabers, “Regardless of the past we’ve had, we both want to see that bastard dead. So watch my back, I’ll watch yours.” His hand becomes a fist as it hovers over the area of Cuyan’s armor where his heart is. It's a gesture they used to do as kids before they…made very different life choices. Cuyan freezes and watches it, clearly remembering the gesture but still tenses up. Whenever one of them had touched the other recently it was because they were fighting. Kaden pulls back. He doesn’t know if the touch would even be welcome or if he’d allow it. Both of them turn away from the other.

“How touching.” The brothers whirl around at the familiar voice to see Valkorian. Their eyes narrowing and their sabers activating in near synchronization as they spit out. “Valkorion.”

[chazmcfreelyhater]

CHAZ/TOBOR BRO HEADCANONS

omg. so I realised that after I drew Chaz/TOBOR content one time that i haven’t actually shared how important they are to me. erm. so I have made a silly little document of background/headcanons that could have been pages long but I didn’t want to be TOO insane.

also BIG DISCLAIMER the TOBOR headcanons and art at the bottom belong to Chiptoons on Insta/Chipt00ns on Twitter. SHE IS AMAZING and helped me to edit this doc so thank u for ur service chippy. thank you for inventing tobor mysims

They became friends because we were friends and it was like dragging our children along to a function and being like “ok now go play w the other kids” lol. lmao.

We both have OCs x canon with the robots so that's pretty much where it all started from- I probably won’t do a whole timeline at least for now but basically Makoto, Naomi (Louie’s OC) and Vivian (Chippy’s OC) would all spend time together regularly until they started inviting the bohs along

TOBOR was. a bit suspicious of Chaz at first since he had some pretty bad trust issues when it came to humans, and also because that’s usually the normal reaction to meeting Chaz, but he honestly wasn’t super phased by it. Chaz was used to people being kinda cold towards him yet also had a tendency to latch onto them anyway. Even though he spent hours actively trying to annoy him and talk about bike mechanics, which was pretty much just his attempt at being friendly and having fun- the biggest thing for TOBOR was that Chaz would never use the fact that he was a robot against him. Like he would never treat him like any less of a person, to Chaz he literally was just Some cool dude with a green head

Even when they become like Friend friends they still are surprisingly careful around eachothers’ boundaries. Tbh a lot of their relationship is built off things most people wouldn’t expect from them, as in the two scary bitch boys are actually very respectful of eachother and keep secretz and look out for the other n their bffs. It’s not OOC if we make the chars. IDGAF

They actually didn’t think they’d get as close as they did: TOBOR and Chaz essentially see eachother as brothers at this point, since they (mostly through accident) found out they had a surprising amount in common, with the way people kinda assumed stuff about them beforehand and were not the nicest . Chaz considers him one of his best friends bc he is CRINGE and is still constantly out to annoy him but at this point TOBOR just effortlessly shows him up. Chaz also likes to bully him on account of he hearts Vivian and you know what who doesn’t. They both got parental issues too which they also kinda relate to each other with; sometimes there will be stuff between them that they tease eachother for RELENTLESSLY, but if anyone else were to bring it up at all they would be killed within the second. TOBOR tends to stick up for Chaz a lot since he is more naïve and struggles to see when people are actually trying to upset him instead of just being Chaz Haterz for fun. Defending people and having their backs is his love language.

There is also a whole thing in the future with him/Makoto being more closely associated with the Delarosarenas but I don’t want to overshare or b cringe but Kerry literally adores TOBOR and the fact he loves cooking :> he simply IS her new son and she displays interest in hiring him one day. If the lab thing doesn’t work out. Which it is not. Again they r like BROTHERS make no mistake we do not ship them.

Silly little HC list for the fun of it:

Chaz likes to attempt to tackle TOBOR every time he sees him and it always ends in an injury.

TOBOR is secretly very good w Chaz’s younger family members.

TOBOR attempted to teach Travis how to cook for Chaz romantic style. After it all went to shit he informed the Englishman the only way to save it would be to fake his own death.

Chaz’s favourite name for TOBOR is “Flat Head Ass”, closely followed by “Toby”. His bro name for them is “Chobor”. TOBOR is repulsed by every single thing that comes out of his mouth.

TOBOR considers Naomi a little sister. Not super relevant but when Chippy said he probably did I wept. oh how I wept

Toborviv bridal party at Chavis wedding. I may be cringe but I am free.

TOBOR succumbs to the fact he is in love with Vivian. Instead of confessing, he panics and asks Chaz, who has NO electronic experience, to program it out of him. They both damn near die, bro style

TOBOR LETS HIM INFODUMP he is happy that Chaz trusts him ahehe

WTF!!! Da gallery: