#which makes the possibility of her doing something unhinged to keep the traveler from leaving... concerningly high. as if it wasn't already

[rubys-domain]

i did some beyond the map border shenanigans, and i discovered something that's either really wholesome or really creepy depending on how you want to look at it

i might be very far from the first one to discover this, but if you open the camera while paimon's trying to take you back within bounds (asuming you're not in a stance that keeps you from opening it like swimming or something), paimon stays onscreen and keeps moving like she does in the paimon menu. but if you move the camera so that it's looking at her from the side, she'll turn to face the camera and do her little wave.

now i don't think they'll do it, but... if genshin pulls some "you, the player" thing endgame... honestly i would be interested in seeing how they pull it off

[guardianofrivendell]

Guarding Your Heart - chapter 2

Modern!Fíli AU written by @laurfilijames and @guardianofrivendell

Summary: Bodyguard AU: Lucy gets dragged into her father’s past against her will and is possibly in danger. Fíli gets assigned to her as her bodyguard. He doesn’t want to be there, she doesn’t want him to be there either. But then things get serious and in turns out Lucy is indeed in danger.

Warnings: mention of drinking and abduction, practically naked Fíli (twice... we don’t know how that happened... Really!), one suggestive moment and the expected amount of sass and smirks. 

A/N: Are you ready for chapter 2? Buckle up, because it’s a long one (7k+ words... we’re so sorry - and no, we couldn’t split it up into two chapters because of... reasons). We had a lot of fun writing this chapter, a little too much because we had to cut a few scenes to make it shorter :) Have fun reading and let us know what you think, we love reading the comments and speculations!

GUARDING YOUR HEART MASTERLIST

Laurfilijames masterlist Guardianofrivendell masterlist

The morning sun came peeking through the blinds and slowly made its way over to Lucy’s bed, sliding closer and closer with every passing minute until it finally reached her face.

Now most people consider waking up with the sun shining and the birds singing their morning songs as a perfect start of the day. Who wouldn’t want to live their life like a Disney princess right? But not Lucy… 

No, Lucy wasn’t exactly what you would call a morning person. 

The only reason she would be awake around sunrise was because she didn’t go to bed at all and was still up partying. There was no way anyone would get her out of bed a minute earlier than she absolutely had to.

Lucy groaned when she felt the warmth on her face and hid underneath her duvet. It should be considered illegal to wake up before your alarm. 

Wait a minute… The sun was shining, her alarm was set at 7 am. This shouldn’t be possible. What time was it? 

Her arm appeared from underneath the duvet and patted the night table a few times in search of her phone. When she couldn’t find it, she threw back the duvet and looked around the room in a light panic. Now where could she… oh.

Everything from the day before finally caught up to her. 

How her new babysitter took away her phone, and then had the nerve to come and ask for her laptop and tablet too. He even scolded her for slamming her bedroom door, like she was still a child. In her own home!

She stared at her open door. Him and his stupid rules...

She thought back to their argument about it yesterday. How he threatened to unhinge all her doors if she wouldn’t listen, and she in turn might have accused him of being a pervert. Fíli had pulled his hair in frustration before he thundered down the stairs again, mumbling something about impossible rich brats.

Speaking of… It was awfully quiet. He was still here, wasn’t he? 

Lucy crawled out of bed and tiptoed to the open door of her bedroom, sticking her head out into the hallway. Nothing.

Without getting her hopes up too much, she made her way to the edge of the landing and peeked over the railing into the living room.

“I can hear you, you know,” a voice sounded from the couch. “You’re not exactly trying to be subtle.”

Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes. Nope, not gone yet.

Her bare feet dragged her down the stairs and to the living room before she realised she was still in her night clothes: a black tank top and her grey shorts. 

Lucy paused, should she go back upstairs and change? Wasn’t this weird? 

There was a stranger in her house and she was barely dressed. Chad would have a fit if he knew. It might even make Fíli uncomfortable.

But hey, she was in her own house! If she wanted to walk around like this, she could. If he couldn’t handle it, he knew where the door was.

Fíli was lying stretched out on his back on the couch, his head resting on his arms, feet on the arm rest. 

“Comfortable, are we?” Lucy asked, crossing her arms over her chest. 

She noticed he had rolled up his sleeping bag already and stowed it away with his pillow. It didn’t come as a surprise that he had his bed made as soon as he was out of it. Even if technically his bed was her couch. He shifted so he was sitting upright, and looked at his watch.

“Do you always sleep this late?” he wondered. 

“Why, what time is it?”

“It’s well past 10.”

Lucy raised her arms and let them drop at her sides again. “Well I wouldn’t know now, would I? You took away my phone! And that’s my alarm clock.” She mumbled the last bit.

“You have heard of an actual alarm clock before, haven’t you?” he said sarcastically. 

“Yes,” she hissed, her annoyance increasing by the second. “I just don’t have one because I happen to live in the 21st century and I use my phone like every other person!”

She walked into the kitchen and flicked on the kettle, desperate for coffee, and took a clean bowl out of the dishwasher for her breakfast. When she turned around Fíli was standing on the other side of the island, looking very smug as he plopped a travel-sized alarm clock down onto the counter. 

“There. Now you’ll be able to tell the time and wake up before the day is half over.” 

“It’s not like I have anything to get up for…” she mumbled as she worked on brewing her coffee. 

Of course he had something like that on hand. What else did he have stashed away in his bags? Likely everything one would need to survive out in the wilderness for days on end. 

She opened the fridge to get the milk for her cereal and almost dropped her bowl in surprise. Yesterday her fridge was practically empty. Not even enough food in it to keep that bloody mouse alive. Which is why she panicked when she heard she wasn’t allowed to leave the house again. 

But now she was looking at a fully stocked fridge. Everything she could ever need was there: fruits, vegetables, yoghurt, milk, drinks, stuff to make sandwiches, …

“Told you I’d take care of it.”

Lucy turned around to face him. “How did you...?”

Fíli was now leaning against the counter, arms and legs crossed. He shrugged in response to her question. She didn’t need to know everything. 

“Did you leave the house?” she asked him, taking the milk out and closing the fridge with her hip.  

“No.”

“You got it delivered?” Lucy didn’t hear the bell, but then again, she was asleep or he could’ve got to the door before the delivery guy had the chance to press the button. 

“No.”

She looked up at him again and tilted her head. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

Fíli just smiled at her and went back to the living room without saying another word.

Lucy took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Easy now, don’t let him get under your skin! 

She placed the milk back in the fridge and opened a cupboard to get her cereal, and almost gasped aloud. Not believing what she saw, she started opening the other cupboards and was met with the same view. Just like her fridge was now fully stocked, every cupboard was filled to the brim with canned and dry foods.

“You’re welcome by the way!” Fíli shouted from his place on the couch. 

She might have closed the cupboard door a little harsher than necessary after that remark.

After breakfast Lucy went upstairs and changed into her running clothes again. 

Yes, yes, Fíli had said she couldn’t leave the house, but she really needed to get some fresh air. It had only been a day, and she already felt like the walls were closing in on her. Her plan was simple: if she wasn’t allowed to go out by herself, he would have to join her. He could protect her just as well outside.

In the hopes he could keep up with her pace, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Not that she had let her eyes linger on his physique, no really, she didn’t, she was just assuming every bodyguard was in perfect shape. Nothing wrong with that. 

When she entered the living room, said bodyguard was working on his laptop. His eyes met hers and he smirked when he saw her outfit. 

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, Fíli. I do not kid,” she repeated his words from the day before. “I really want to go for a run.”

He turned his upper body towards her and rested his arm on top of the chair. 

“Tell me. What part of not leaving the house don’t you understand?”

“That’s why you’re coming with me.”

Fíli raised his eyebrows at her and then pretended to consider it. “Let me think… No.”

He turned back towards his laptop. 

“Come on, Fíli, please? I really need to get some fresh air.” He had to understand she was practically going crazy here, she needed to clear her head to wrap her mind around all this. 

“No.” He didn’t even look up at her.

“I need the workout,” she tried again. 

“You can do that inside.”

“But if you would just-”

“Lucy, I said no!” he interrupted, raising his voice. 

She was so caught off guard that she took a step back at his outburst. 

“You’re awfully rude for someone who’s meant to be keeping me safe,” Lucy said, trying to keep her voice even.

“I’m here to keep you alive, not to be your friend.”

He watched as she bit her trembling lip and he almost regretted lashing out at her. 

Every muscle in his body was ready to jump into action if necessary and sure enough, he saw her eyes flicker to the hallway. She was going to make a run for it.

“Luce,” he warned her, letting her know he was onto her. 

But she was fast. Faster than he had anticipated, and she was already in the hallway before he got to his feet.

Fíli cursed heavily. “Lucy, no!”

It had only been two days since he arrived and he found himself using these two words more than he liked.

When he ran into the hallway, he could see her running up the stairs towards her room, and not out the door as he thought she would. 

Fíli ran his hand through his hair, and exhaled loudly. 

“She’s going to be the death of me someday, I swear...”

Lucy slammed the door and pressed her back against it, fighting the upcoming tears. How was she ever going to live through this?

She ignored Fíli’s demand of keeping the door open, needing a moment to collect herself before she lost it in front of him.

Lucy gripped her hands together tightly to stop them from shaking and took a series of deep breaths to try and prevent more tears from falling. 

She didn’t want to admit that he scared her. It was just a question, there was no need for him to shout at her. 

Could she really be in that much danger? 

And even if she was, he could still try and be nice to her. Or at least try to understand her side of things and see it from her point of view. 

Once she was changed into a legging and oversized sweater and felt strong enough to be in the same room as him again, she threw the door open and walked to the kitchen, ignoring Fíli’s stare. 

She needed a drink.

Jars clinked together in the refrigerator door as she whipped it open, reaching for a perfectly chilled bottle of champagne.

Lucy stood on her tiptoes to reach a flute, and slammed the glass down on the counter a little harder than she intended, but it thankfully didn’t break.

With a ‘pop’ the cork was freed from the bottle, leaving whispers of fizzy smoke trailing in the air. Her hands trembled again as she poured it carefully into the glass, not wanting to give away her nerves to Fíli who was now leaning on the doorframe and watching her like a hawk. 

“I don’t know if this is an appropriate time for bubbles,” he said, his voice full of judgement. “It’s not even noon yet.”

Lucy spun to face him and placed the rim of the glass to her lips, staring him down fiercely as she emptied its contents in one go, not stopping despite the burning sensation it created down her throat.  All she could think about was how much she wanted him gone.

“Maybe I’m mourning the death of what used to be my life!” 

“You’re unbelievable, you know that?” Fíli smirked, biting the side of his bottom lip. “People are simply trying to keep you alive and the only thing you can worry about is your running schedule.”

Lucy slammed her glass on the counter again and braced both arms against the edge to fake some courage. 

“It’s not just my running schedule! It’s everything! My studies, my future career, my boyfriend! All turned upside down and tossed to the side because of my father, who I haven’t seen or heard of for the past seven years by the way. So forgive me for being a little bitter.” 

She refilled her glass, the first one was not enough to take the edge off the terrible way she was feeling. Lucy could see Fíli shaking his head from side to side in her periphery and she nearly lost it when she heard him chuckle. 

“You’re getting a kick out of this aren’t you? You’re watching my life crumble apart before me and I bet you find it incredibly entertaining!” 

“Oh don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart. I’m equally as offended and inconvenienced by this whole thing as you are.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ceiling, not liking where this conversation was headed. 

“You can leave at any time!” she snapped, pointing her finger at him. “I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself!”

“Would you like to try?” he challenged her, raising his eyebrow in question. 

“Try what?”

“Looking after yourself. Should we see what happens?” 

“This entire thing is being blown out of proportion! Nothing is going to happen! Nothing ever happens!” 

He took a few steps towards Lucy until his face was only inches away from hers. If he wanted her to cooperate, he needed to be brutally honest with her. She’d probably hate him after this, but she could use the wake up call.

He took the champagne glass out of her hand and placed it back on the counter, not breaking eye contact.

“Really? So the chances of someone breaking into your house in the middle of the night is, what? One in a million?” he started. “Someone gagging you and tying you up, then tossing you in the back of a vehicle and driving you somewhere, anywhere, where no one is able to find you, not even me? Them doing  unspeakable things to your mind, your body, ... You really think that could never happen in your privileged little life? Think again, sweetheart. Your dad messed around with some nasty people and they will not hesitate to use you to get what they want.”

He watched as fear spread across her features, and he knew he’d done his job in scaring her. The furrow of her brows relaxed slightly with every description he made of what would most likely happen to her if he wasn’t there to protect her. 

“God, you’re a prick!” her voice shook slightly and she bumped his shoulder harshly when she stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her bedroom.

He heard the door slam and he exhaled deeply, his patience stretched incredibly thin. She seriously had the brazenness to shut the door, again?

Lucy spent the rest of the day ignoring Fíli, which he honestly didn’t mind at all. 

She was watching some kind of reality show on the tv that night, with Fíli keeping an eye on her from his seat at the table. She was still ignoring him, sitting with her arms crossed and legs pressed together, and he could tell she wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening on the screen. 

His phone buzzed, breaking the torturous silence and he was happy for the distraction. He picked it up to read a text from Kíli saying he had sent over the background check on Chad that he requested the day before. 

Fili placed the book he was reading down on the table and opened the document on his laptop to check what had been found out about the guy.

Chad Van der Beek, 32 years old, works for his father’s insurance company, living in downtown Auckland… Fíli skimmed through everything and didn’t seem to find anything particularly interesting about him.

Fíli: Thanks for the report. 

Kíli: No problem. Nothing out of the ordinary. Seems like your regular trust-fund douche. 

Fíli couldn’t help but chuckle as he read through the gathered info on Chad and quickly agreed with his brother. 

Fíli: You're not wrong there. Where did you get all of this from anyway? I didn’t really need to know where he ate the other night.

Kíli: His Facebook account. 

Fíli: Are you serious Kíli? 

Kíli: Hey! You’d be surprised what you can find out on social media. He has no previous infractions other than the odd parking ticket, so I dug a little deeper. 

Kíli: You’re welcome. 

Kíli: I still think she’s hot, btw. I looked at her profile too. 

Fíli put his phone down beside him and continued going through everything that was discovered about her boyfriend, choosing not to glorify his brother’s comments on Lucy with a response.

Kíli had even managed to send over some older posts of Chad and his buddies partying on a yacht in Ibiza, completely surrounded by half-naked women, none of which were Lucy. This guy was the definition of a loser. She could do better.

His phone buzzed with another message from Kíli and he sighed as he picked it up again, bracing himself for another one of Kíli’s pervy comments about Lucy.

Kíli: How are things going anyway?

Okay, something normal. 

Fíli looked over at Lucy who was sitting in exactly the same position as before with a full pout on, obviously still upset.

Fíli: Fantastic. 

Kíli: I can sense your sarcasm through the phone. I’ve tried convincing Thorin to let me take over, but he keeps denying me.

Fíli shook his head, thankful for Thorin saying no for Lucy’s sake.

Kíli: You should make a move on her… save the poor girl from that idiot. You can’t deny she’s a total babe, Fee. At least make your time there worthwhile… 

Fíli: Trust me, Lucy can handle a guy like Chad. And for the last time, I’m not going to sleep with her! This is exactly why Thorin didn’t put you on this assignment, you’re always thinking with your cock. 

Fíli: Thanks for the info, dickhead. 

*

Lucy woke up in the early hours of the morning, bathed in sweat and panting as if she had been running like crazy. Which she had, but only in her dream. 

Her eyes darted around her room needing to assure herself she was in her own house, in her own bed. Not in the back of a trunk or tied to a chair in some dusty old warehouse. 

She cursed Fíli for putting those images in her head.

Her bare feet touched the cold floor when she swung her legs out of bed, and she sat like that for a while trying to calm down. A glass of water would be nice, but she didn’t want to wake up Fíli. The travel clock he gave her told her it was a little past 4 am, and he would probably be a very light sleeper.

But her head perked up when she heard a grunt coming from downstairs. And then another one. And another. 

Lucy was curious, that was definitely Fíli she was hearing and it sounded like he was either in pain or he was having a really good time. 

She couldn’t go and check right? She shouldn’t… No, she definitely should not.

And yet her feet carried her to the open landing all on their own, her curiosity getting the better of her. What she saw wasn’t entirely what she expected, but somehow she wasn’t surprised.

This should be the moment where she should have turned around and gone back to sleep, leaving him to it, but she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the show Fíli was unknowingly giving her.

Fíli was lying on his back in her living room, half naked, sweaty and panting. 

She watched him work his way through his fitness routine. Crunches, sit ups, squats, lunges, planks… he just kept going. And Lucy kept staring. 

The drops of sweat tracing the outlines of his muscles, his dog tags softly chiming every time they touched the floor during his push ups, the sounds he was making, it was all so mesmerizing to her. She swallowed thickly and finally seemed to regain her common sense. She had to stop, this was wrong!

Lucy hurried back to her room and crawled underneath her sheets, ready to fall back asleep and hopefully have more pleasant dreams this time.

But sleep wouldn’t come.

After a few minutes she heard Fíli come up and turn on the shower. It only lasted about 3 minutes, and when he was done she caught herself listening to every sound, trying to follow his movements through her house. 

It kept her mind busy and away from her nightmare amongst other images, but it also prevented her from falling asleep again.

After another hour of tossing and turning, she finally had enough and got out of bed. It was around 6, and past Lucy would be horrified to know she was willingly getting up at this hour. 

A shower would wake her up, and if that didn’t work she could always try to take a nap during the day. It was not like she could do anything else around here.

Heck, why not make it into a well-deserved spa treatment while she was at it? Face mask, exfoliate, hair mask, … God knows she deserved some pampering after all the crap she had to deal with the past two days.

She collected fresh clothes to change into afterwards, and made her way to the bathroom.

When he heard movement upstairs, Fíli got up from his seat at the table. 

It was still very early, there was no way Lucy would be up already. He slowly climbed the stairs, his eyes fixed on the doorway of her bedroom, and he reached the landing at the same time Lucy stepped out of her room.

She froze as soon as she saw him standing there, wearing a black, fitted tee.   

Images of him working out in her living room earlier flashed in front of her eyes and she felt her cheeks flush. Her eyes kept lingering on his chest and upper arms, the way they were flexing earlier and the memory of the engorged veins all over his skin made her heartbeat quicken. She clutched her clothes a little tighter against her chest.

“Good morning,” she stammered, trying to hide her flustered state. 

She made a move to go towards the bathroom, but Fíli blocked her way. 

“You’re up early.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” she muttered. There was no way she was telling him about her nightmare.

Fíli watched her closely. She was keeping something from him, but he decided not to push it. At least not yet. She’s probably just missing her boyfriend and he didn’t think he could handle lovesick rambling this early in the morning.

“Oh, so does this mean we’re talking again?” Fíli smirked.  

“If you promise not to be a jerk today.”

He laughed at that. “Only today? I think I can manage that. No promises though.”

And there they went again, easily falling back into their bickering.

“Could you move? I’d like to shower.”

He stepped aside and Lucy disappeared in the bathroom. 

She placed her clothes on the chair next to the vanity and when she was about to take off her top, she noticed Fíli standing in the doorway.

“Can I help you?” she asked bluntly.

“I need to make sure the window is still secure.”

“I really don’t think anyone climbed in through that window and is hiding behind the shower curtain.”

“I’m just doing my job here, Luce,” he said, pulling back the curtain after checking the lock on the bathroom window, twice. 

That was the second time he used that nickname for her and she hated it. “It’s Lucy!” 

Fíli stepped out into the hallway again once he was satisfied there were no threats and positioned himself against the wall beside the door. 

Then Lucy had the nerve to try and close the damn thing, which Fíli prevented by placing his hand on the door to hold it open.

“You’re not serious!” Lucy said in disbelief.

“Doors open, you should know that by now.”

“But I’m having a shower!” She placed her hand on her hip and waved towards him with the other one. “What are you going to do, stand there and watch me change?”

No matter how good looking he might be, this was crossing a line. 

“Of course I’m not going to watch, but you need to keep the damn door open. I’ll be right here on the landing.”

Fíli heard her huff and swear under her breath as he leaned back against the wall. She didn’t know how lucky she was that it was him who was here and not Kíli, who probably would’ve insisted they needed to shower together for “safety reasons”.

Fíli checked his watch for the third time, Lucy had been showering for over 20 minutes already. What the hell was she doing in there?

He peeked his head around the corner, but kept his eyes directed on the ground just in case she would choose to step out at that exact moment. “Are you almost done?” 

“Nope!” she called back, popping the ‘p’ and with a sassy ring in her voice. She was taking her sweet time on purpose. Perhaps he needed to give her a hint to hurry it up.

Fíli stepped in the bathroom and turned on the taps of the sink, hoping it would have the intended result of turning her water ice cold. 

Lucy screamed and flung the curtain open enough for her to poke her head out, but he had already turned the tap back off and disappeared into the hallway, doing his best not to let her hear his laughter.

“Did you just turn on the tap?” she cried at him. 

“Nope!” he yelled back, popping the ‘p’ like she’d done moments before.

“Like hell you didn’t!” 

“If you knew, why bother asking?”

Lucy kept quiet after that and Fíli let his head rest against the wall. 

Kíli was right, this was a low-level assignment.  

He was used to long stake-outs and week-long missions, even in the worst of circumstances, but this was entirely different and she was really testing his patience.  

Maybe he could convince Thorin to let him switch with Kíli every other week after all. 

Fifteen minutes later, Lucy finally finished her shower and Fíli sighed in relief. He had actually been thinking about going to the kitchen and shutting off the water completely… Maybe next time.

*

After a full week of paying attention to Fili’s habits, Lucy had come up with a plan. 

The alarm clock read 3 am. Officially the earliest she had ever woken up. Except for that flight to Bali. Oh and that trip to Italy, how could she forget that one! 

Correction; this was the earliest Lucy had woken up to don her running gear and pretend she was still sleeping in order to go for a run.

She was more than desperate to leave the condo after being cooped up with the Winter Soldier for more than a week now. She wanted to feel fresh air on her face and to allow her legs to carry out her frustrations by finally going for that mind-clearing run, but she needed to wait until Fíli was in the shower to make her escape.

He was going to be furious with her and it would probably make the next couple of days a living hell. Maybe he would actually lock her in her room this time, but she was willing to risk that for an hour of freedom.

She knew his morning routine by now and Lucy intended to use it to her advantage.

She had set the alarm on the travel clock to go off at 3, and stuffed it under her pillow so as not to alert Fíli. If he would wake up too, her plan was useless.

Thank God Fíli was very regimented, because at 4 o’clock sharp he was up and starting his daily workout. Lucy listened to him grunt as he carried out the ridiculous series of push-ups and sit-ups, and tried not to imagine what he looked like doing them. She knew of course, she witnessed it with her own eyes last week. But that didn’t mean she didn't wonder why on earth anyone could be bothered with such effort.

After an hour of rolling her eyes to herself in her bed, she heard his footsteps on the stairs and him approaching her room. 

With the covers tucked up close to her chin so Fíli wouldn’t see her running clothes, she closed her eyes, ready for her best acting. She tried to breathe as slow and even as she could and even managed to make her fingers twitch a little like she was dreaming. An Oscar-worthy performance, truly.

A minute had passed and she listened to him step away from her doorway and head to the bathroom. 

At least that was something positive about these open doors, she thought, he could hear everything she was doing, but that applied to her as well.

As soon as the shower flicked on, Lucy used the noise to her benefit and bolted out of her room, bounding down the stairs at an impressive rate, knowing by now his showers only lasted about 3 minutes. The door was ahead of her, and the last two steps met her feet in no time at all, her freedom so close she could almost taste it. 

But then the ground suddenly fell out from under her and she landed hard at the bottom of the staircase. 

A dull pain started spreading through her left ankle and she cursed under her breath. Perfect timing Lucy. She groaned and sat up to check on it, but she didn’t have much time left, any second now Fíli would be done with his shower.

She reached a shaking hand to it, prodding it to check its condition. It was tender to touch and Lucy thought she could see a swelling come up, but she was still hellbent on getting out of here. If she could reach the nearby park, there were enough benches to let her ankle rest for a bit if needed.

She moved to stand, immediately crying out from the jolt of pain that shot through her ankle as soon as she put weight on her foot and she collapsed on her knees. She clasped her hand over her mouth, knowing Fíli would have heard her with his razor-sharp hearing. She slammed her fist on the floor out of frustration. She could forget her escape-plan now…

Just as she predicted, a very naked Fíli appeared at the top of the staircase mere seconds later. He did have a towel wrapped around his waist thank God, his hair still dripping wet and drops of water running over his chest. She was certain he jumped straight out of the shower as soon as he heard her scream. The worried but calculated expression on his face turned into a grin the second he saw her lying on the floor. 

It took Lucy a moment to notice the gun he was holding in his hand, the shock of having it pointed at her taking away from that of her fall. 

“Were you seriously pointing a gun at me just now?” 

“Were you seriously trying to leave the house?” he countered.

Fíli put the safety back on his gun and trotted down the stairs, easily stepping over the tripwire he had secured on the second to last step the previous night. 

Lucy’s mouth dropped open in disbelief at his trap, reaching for it and plucking it with her finger. 

“You set this up?” she gawked. 

“Mhm,” he replied, crouching down and reaching for her ankle. 

“Were you trying to kill me?” 

Fíli took her foot in his hands to remove her running shoe and Lucy was surprised with how gentle he was. 

“The exact opposite, actually,” he muttered. 

“You’re insane.”

“And you don’t listen,” he said, his voice strained. “That tripwire has been there from the first day I got here. Every night I put it up as an extra safety measure in general, not to try and trip you if you decide to make a run for it. But you just proved its effectiveness. Don’t go anywhere, I’m going to put some clothes on first.”

Lucy grabbed the shoe he had removed from her now busted ankle and hauled it at him as he ascended the stairs two at a time, unfortunately missing him. 

Despite the pain in her ankle and feeling like she was being kept prisoner in her own home, she kept her threatening tears at bay, refusing to cry in front of that bastard. 

Within a minute Fíli was making his way back down the stairs, this time wearing a pair of grey track pants, his upper body still bare aside from his dog tags.

He scooped Lucy up into his arms like she weighed nothing and turned to carry her up to her room. 

“Put me down! I can walk just fine,” she protested, completely flustered because she was pressed up so close against his bare chest.

He chuckled, “Okay then, suit yourself,” and he released her legs from the crook of his arm but kept his other arm around her waist just in case.

She stood tall, trying to fake her strength, and placed all of her weight on her right foot before very gingerly touching the toes of her left to the ground. That slight pressure alone made her face curl up in a wince. She instinctively grabbed Fíli's shoulder for support when her ankle gave out again, and Fíli in turn tightened his grip around her waist to keep her from falling.

He refrained from making any smart-ass remarks and instead he sighed, collecting her in his arms once again, making his way back up the steps.

“At least now I know you won’t try to run away again,” he commented.

Lucy made a gruff, displeased at the entire situation including being pressed up against his hairy chest again. She couldn’t help but notice how remarkably firm he was though. Guess those early morning workouts were useful after all.

It felt like it took an eternity to reach her bedroom, and when Fíli finally placed her on her bed she was surprised by the gentleness with which he treated her. Little did she know Fíli had genuinely considered tossing her onto it instead.

He instructed her to lay back and lift her leg up for him to check her ankle once more. 

She did as she was told, and he swiftly placed one of her spare pillows under it for support. It took all of her willpower not to kick him with her other foot when he pressed against the sore and swollen part.

“You’re in luck, it’s not broken. Just severely sprained, you’ll need to stay off of it for a couple of days,” he instructed her and Lucy nodded, too stumped to say anything. “I’ll get you some ice. The bruising won’t start for another few days. In the meantime you have to keep it elevated.” He carefully placed another pillow beneath her foot before he went downstairs.

Lucy stared at her ceiling, cursing the fact that she was now completely dependent on the guy who she refused to believe she needed here in the first place. To be fair, he had been incredibly gentle when it came to tending to her foot - which she hadn’t expected at all - but the whole thing still made her feel helpless.

A tear slipped down her cheek and she furiously wiped it away, wishing more than anything to be wrapped up in Chad’s arms right now.

*

Three days had gone by since her fall and Lucy finally managed to hobble over on one foot to the large window in her bedroom without Fíli’s help. The state of her ankle was preventing her from moving around at any sort of a decent pace, so it took her far longer than she would’ve liked. She was already dreading the way back, but for now she was more than content to admire the view.

She leaned against the window frame and watched the sun setting over the city. After days of staring at nothing but her bedroom walls while being confined to her bed, it was a more than welcomed change of scenery.

She was lost in her thoughts, wondering what she was missing in her classes, what Chad was doing and if that mouse was still in her house somewhere, when Fíli’s stern voice startled her.

“Get away from the window!”

She whipped her head over her shoulder to glare at him, thinking how he could possibly forbid her from looking out her own bloody window. Yet another addition to one of his many rules. At this rate it wouldn’t be long before the only thing she was permitted to do was breathe and go to the bathroom.

“I was just getting a little tired of staring at the wall, that’s all,” she sighed, while she turned back to watch the shadows of the night slowly but surely take over the city. 

“Someone could see you! You really need to stop being so careless,” he warned her as he quickly drew the curtains.  

He watched her begin to make her way over to the bed on one leg for a few seconds before he lifted her into his arms to get her to her destination faster. 

“Thank you,” she said softly. 

“It’s fine, just... keep away from the windows, alright?”

“Alright.” 

Fíli grabbed his laptop from his bag and settled himself at her makeup table. 

This was their new arrangement ever since she hurt her ankle. Lucy was dependent on Fíli now, and was very quickly getting bored to death, so Fíli worked in her room to keep her company.

He made her breakfast and cooked dinner, and she hated to admit that he was a very decent cook, which surprised her at first. She half expected to eat nothing but toast with beans for a few weeks if he was on cooking duty. 

He really tried to make it as comfortable as possible for her, but she suspected he was glad she was immobile now. It made his job a lot easier.

Lucy watched him type away on his laptop, his phone next to him. You know what…? This wasn’t fair at all!

“Why can you have a laptop and a phone and I can’t? I have work to do too,” she said, a little put off.

Fíli sighed heavily before answering, he needed to choose his words carefully if he didn’t want to sound too much like an asshole. 

“Because mine are on a secure connection with headquarters and I’m only using them to send in my reports and keep up to date with other cases.”

“Can I use your laptop?”

Fíli gave her a sideways glance, “Absolutely not.”

She grumbled and he had to bite his cheek to stop him from laughing. Saying ‘no’ to Lucy was just as bad as denying a child something they really wanted. 

“What are you writing in your reports? How you tried to kill me with your boobytraps?”

“The same thing I write everyday,” he answered before smirking at her, “how annoying you are.”

Lucy ignored his insult. She really wanted to know more about his job. Since he knew everything about her, it was only fair he would share some information as well. 

“So... how did you get into all of this?”

Fíli continued typing and gave her the most vague answer he possibly could. 

“I was in the military before this and it just seemed like the appropriate next step.” 

“I figured as much, those aren’t just an accessory.” 

She nodded at his chest when he gave her a questioning look, causing him to glance down at his dog tags that were resting between his pecs. 

“Hmm,” he hummed, tucking them inside his t-shirt and attempting to focus on his task. 

“No offense, but why did you end up here? I mean… This doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of thing that would be assigned to you,” she stated, hoping to throw him off slightly and get him to talk. 

“No, it isn’t,” he admitted, “my brother messed up and our uncle didn’t want anything else to go awry. So they sent me instead.” 

His fingers stopped moving across the keyboard, and Lucy knew he had revealed more than he wanted to. 

“Oh! You have a brother?” 

She sat up a little straighter, interested to hear more. “What’s he like?” 

Fíli exhaled deeply and continued typing, setting his jaw tightly, mad at himself for letting that information slip. 

“You wouldn’t like him.” But Fíli knew that was a lie, of course she would like Kíli, everyone adored the cheeky bastard. 

“I bet he’s a lot nicer than you.”

“I’m plenty nice.” 

“Ha! That’s rich,” she snorted. “Do you at least get along with him?”

“Yeah, I do. Luce, I’m trying to work here...”

“It’s Lucy. What’s the age difference?” Lucy continued, ignoring his plea to let him work. “Are you older or younger? I bet you’re older. You’ve got that way about you that older siblings seem to have—“

“Shh!” Fíli suddenly interrupted her and held up his hand. 

“I wasn’t finished talking, but don’t mind me!”

“Shhh!” Fíli said again with more concern this time, his brows furrowed, eyes fixed on something in the hallway outside of her room. He slowly stood up and walked towards Lucy, ready to take action if he needed to. 

Lucy however was completely oblivious to what was happening.

“Would you stop shushing me! You’re so ru—.” Fíli cut her off by placing his hand over her mouth to force her to stop. 

“Luce, be quiet for a moment, okay?” 

He gave her a warning look as he removed his hand, and Lucy's eyes widened when she saw him pulling his handgun out of the back of his waistband.

Fíli carefully made his way to the hallway and peeked over the railing on the landing, only to see his suspicions confirmed. He cursed under his breath, hating to admit that Thorin was right after all.  

He made his way back to Lucy, but kept his eyes fixed on the doorway and quietly gave her instructions. “Get on the floor and hide behind the bed.”

Lucy gave him a questioning look, “Why? What is it?” 

“Someone’s here.”

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[akiraink-no]

Empires SMP-Spirts/Fae AU

Hey! So I was watching Shubble’s stream(right after her first episode and as she was playing, I got some ideas for the Empires SMP!  Note: I haven’t watched everyone’s episodes on Empires, but I highly suggest that you check them all out. Pearl and Gem’s videos on Empires are some of my favorites, but I also love Shubble, Scott, fWhip, and Pixlriffs.

Initial World-building:  I like to think that the Empires SMP is a story of spirits/fae/royal courts. For example some of the players would be spirits or fae creatures. (Think Scott, Shubble, Jimmy?? And maybe Pixl), and the rest would be normal, human players that are royals. (Again, fWhip, Mythical, Pearl, Katherine, Joey, Gem, etc…)  I’ll start with the fae creatures first and if I’m up to it, I’ll post my ideas for the others. 

Scott Smajor: Ice/Wind

So in my head, I like to think that Scott is a fae creature from the court of ice and wind. (Mostly because ice powers are cool and because he’s in a mountain). He has explicitly stated that he’s building in an elven sort of style, which can still match with him being from a fae court. 

Personality: 

I would like to say he’s cold, calculating, and even ruthless or cruel at times (He murdered Gem after she died, guys, come on). He sees the people around him as assets that can help him, but he doesn’t form a real connection with any of them just yet. Everything is very strict and formal around him

I like to think that because wind spirits are pretty mischievous and free spirited, he has a softer side to him as well. He likes to pull pranks, but doesn’t know when too far is too far. His pranks can border on cruel and sometimes insensitive, but it’s because wind/ice spirits are probably the most detached from the other spirits

Appearance:

As for his appearance, I’m taking his skin as part of my inspiration. I like the idea of him in whites, blues, golds, and silvers. He has a crown of diamond shards that mimic ice and is held together with silver and gold that mimic branches. His robes are mostly white(representing snow) and there would be a trim of blue for the skies above his lands. He might have either arm bands, bracelets, or rings that are made of silver or gold(representing the times when the sun or moon hits the snow). 

Powers(?)

Because Scott is an ice/wind spirit, I think it would be cool if parts of him would reflect that. Maybe his skin is super pale and cold to the touch. Maybe he doesn’t wear furry coats because he doesn’t get cold. 

The air around him gets colder when he’s angry or stressed, and if he gets really pissed, he could make it start to snow around him. When he’s sad, ice starts to freeze the ground under his feet or plants around him. Maybe it gets windy when he’s happy or dies down when something shocks him

I also think it’d be cool if he had like… frost walker(?) on his feet. Like the water freezes should he get too close and he doesn’t even realize it until someone points it out. It makes travel easy for him, but also an annoyance when he is doing a build or getting a bucket of water

Shubble: Nature/Decay

So Shubble’s kingdom/empire is called the Undergrowth. When I think of that, I think of mushrooms, soil, roots, and trees. It’s pretty close to what she’s planning right now. Her style of building gives me very cottage core vibes that’s very overgrown. I like to think that she’s a nature spirit because she has said that nature provides and that just seems like a very spirit thing to say. 

So I know I said decay, but when it comes to decay, it has an interesting look to everyone. Sometimes it’s bleached bones and withered grass, sometimes it’s spongy soil and mushrooms. I like to think that Shubble is the kinder side to decay(That’s saved for someone else). Something that must happen for the cycle of life to continue, she isn’t ruthless or cruel, she’s just trying to help the earth along.

Personality: 

Shubble would be very kind, sweet, and overall very trusting. That doesn’t mean she’s stupid or naive, it just means she’s willing to be kind to people first and give them chances to show their kindness. (I spent a long time in her chat during her streams and… yeah, wholesome energy). 

She doesn’t see the people around her as assets and rather hopes to make friends rather than enemies. I won’t say she forms connections quickly(mostly because I haven’t seen her interact with others just yet). But she is very trusting. (remember fWhips potatoes and Pearl’s shovel). During her stream after her first episode aired, she talked about hoping to be friends with Katherine from House Blossom and is aiming to stay as peaceful as possible during the time of the server. 

Appearance: 

So I haven’t seen her skin yet(mostly because this is coming out before we see it.) But she’s using a lot of browns, yellows, greens, and reds. I would like to say that her outfit would sort of reflect that. Instead of a crown of precious gems and metals, it’s maybe a crown of twigs, branches, leaves, and maybe some smaller mushrooms. (Antlers would be cool, so… ) 

I don’t think a dress would work, since she does a lot of work around her base. (Her stream was having her working with trees, leaves, and mining), so I think maybe a pair of overalls (maybe a brown?), a yellow/red undershirt and maybe a dark green jacket. Her outfit would be perfect for her to get on her hands and knees and dig into the earth(Gardener! Shubble). 

Powers:

I feel like because Shubble has this overall sweet and kind energy, I think mushrooms would grow from around her feet. Maybe she can sense when things are about to pass on and tries to make them as comfortable as possible. She can communicate with the earth below her(again, nature provides), and can speak with the animals to some degree

I would like to see spore blossoms react to her. Since spores are also the seeds for mushrooms, it’d just make sense in my head. Maybe she can coax plants to bloom or grow slightly faster around her if she’s happy. Maybe when she’s sad, things start to wilt or shrivel up. Her anger makes things die or age rapidly around her. Her touch can either harm or heal. Knitting the body’s wounds or it could tear into them, causing them agony. 

Jimmy: Ghosts/Decay

I like to think that maybe Jimmy started out human. Or maybe he’s half human. Like one of his parents was human and the other was a fae. (It would certainly explain his skin) 

Personality:

So I haven’t watched a lot of Jimmy, but I wanted to get this off my chest because it’s been in my head for a while now. I think Jimmy, like Shubble, is trusting. Not as much as Shubble, but he does aim for friendship first and then enemy second. So, maybe he’s an opportunist instead. 

Another thing that he might be is petty or spiteful(see his and Sausage’s argument over a music disc). Another ruler might negotiate or bargain their way to what they want, but I think that either Jimmy is pretty young(for fae standards) or his mixed bloodline makes it hard for him to act with a clearer head. It’s pretty clear that he wants others to take him seriously, but at the same time, he can act very impulsive and rashly(See all of 3rd life). 

Appearance: 

It’s pretty clear that Jimmy has that green tinge to his skin. But I think he would have colours such as green(for obvious reasons), browns, and maybe some greys(for clay in the swamp). He wouldn’t have a crown, instead, he’d have a set of gills on each side of his neck. Since I like to think that he swims around in the swamp to talk to the cod in his kingdom. 

For more formal events, he might have a brown cloak and pants with a rich green tunic. He doesn’t look the most royal, but maybe that’s okay because he doesn’t want to be seen as super royal to the rest of his kingdom. Maybe he feels like if he appears to be too royal, the people of his kingdom wouldn’t approach him. 

Powers: 

So Jimmy’s was pretty difficult. Swamps aren’t like ice and wind or nature. But he is a spirit of decay. A less kind version of decay, but not overall cruel. Maybe his decay strikes faster than Shubbles. Where she is understanding and aims to help those along, Jimmy is buried with memories, sunken bodies, and ghostly apparitions. 

So maybe he can see the dead, ghosts who haven’t passed on and simply wander his empire. His eyes glow a faint green whenever he talks to them and tries to aid them to move on to the afterlife.When he’s happy, he shines in the dark backdrop of the swamp, drawing more of the dead, eager to pass on. 

Maybe his anger results in ghostly wails or being dragged into the soft earth around his home. His sadness draws more of the dead to his area, even if they didn’t die there. His pain and grief is like a blackhole, pulling souls in and forcing them to stick around, stuck in his orbit. Maybe a certain few stayed because he was the first one who spoke to them, who reached out to them, who made an effort. 

Pixlriffs:Time/Death

So Pixlriffs has said that he wants to watch over the others deaths with his vigil and he lives in a desert, so I thought they would work with each other. When you think of time, you think of hourglasses, they have sand so that’s the connection I made. 

Personality: 

So Pix has shown an unhinged side to his overall calm and collected composure.(Example, Episode Ten, I think?) His: I sent five people to their deaths and they granted me wings(paraphrased) line is both chilling and is also perfect for a spirit of time/death. 

He, like Scott, is a bit disconnected from the others. Not by accident or nature, but by choice. As a spirit of time and death, he sees the clocks above everyone’s heads, knowing when their last breaths will be taken and when those clocks finally stop. 

It’s not that he’s apathetic to his fellow kings and queens, but rather he is scared. He doesn’t want to form connections only to see them disappear like a drop of sand in a desert. He wishes to honour the people who have weaseled their way into his heart. So he keeps the vigil to count their deaths and remind them that they will not be forgotten. Pixl is a watcher, an overseer that is afraid of the day his friends will pass on and leave him alone. 

Appearance:

The man calls himself the copper king, so I have to have those shades of copper in his outfits somewhere. Teal, brown(for bronze), and those shades between (for copper)are very good(both in builds and on clothes). I also think that pale yellow(representing the sand) is also a nice touch and green for his lush gardens is also a wonderful tone. 

He has a cape that is mostly teal(I’m thinking the shift between the third to final stage) with a bronze belt. The pale yellow would be his shirt and his pants would be a darker brown. Matching his boots. 

I think he would have a crown with pale yellow crystals(yellow zircon or topaz) with bronze wires making up the rest of the crown. Maybe there are pieces of turquoise or aquamarine, that would be cool too. 

Powers: 

The man is basically a watcher. He has wings and can see through time. Like I said before, he can see the clocks ticking above the other players’ heads. Seeing how long they have until their last breath. Pixl is equal parts chaotic and calm. So I think he has a good control over his emotions. 

When he’s stressed things start to wilt under his feet(another reason he lives in a desert), in his anger, he can cause death. Maybe he’s just an omen or something that draws in death. (See his end raiding attempts one and two). I like to think that maybe he has the ability to hold flames or make small ones(just for his candles), he isn’t violent or uses them to hurt others. He simply just uses them to light his candles. 

He’s more than capable with his other abilities. 

This is all I have for now. If I decide to do the others, I’ll add a link to this post. I’d appreciate some information or ideas for the other players since I haven’t had the chance to touch down on all of them. If you have any ideas, feel free to send them to me too!

[jq37]

The Case File – Mice and Murder Ep 1

The Case of the The Pernicious Party  

Hello, hello, hello! It’s been a hot second but your resident D20 recapper is back to tackle the newest season: Mice and Murder! Y’all had to know I wasn’t gonna sit out the murder mystery, are you kidding me???

I might be playing around with the format a bit in the coming weeks to make sure I have the best possible system for keeping track of possible clues, suspects, and theories as we untangle whatever web Brennan weaves for us this season so don’t be surprised if things change a little. 

Anyway, without further ado, onto our mystery!

Summary

In case you missed it, this season takes place in an alternate, Zootopia/Wind in the Willows-esque universe where all the characters are animals but history seems to have happened in more or less the same way--for example there was still a King Charles but he was a King Charles Spaniel (cute Brennan). Our story specifically takes place in the English village of Tufting Meadows.  

We start with Katie’s character--Gangie Green (Weasel/Thief Rogue) in the graveyard of the Anglican Chapel (Our Lady of Prayerful Paws). Gangie, we learn, is an orphan who was kicked out of the orphanage at some point for thievery. Obviously, he’s not reformed of the habit because he is here to do some graverobbing. On a nat 20 (that Katie hilariously doesn’t notice even though her total is like a 29) Gangie can see through the window of the rectory that there is a weeping window inside--Catherine McCabbage who is being (dubiously) tended to by Raph’s character, Vicar Ian Prescott (Owl/Bard, College of Eloquence). 

Ian comes from a line of men of the cloth but he’s not exactly the best speaker despite his subclass. He’s doing his best though! The widow’s husband (Conor McCabbage) died at the local mill in what has been declared an accident but she suspects foul play. She’s been hearing his voice on the wind and wants Ian’s professional opinion on whether this could be a sign from God or if her husband might be speaking to her from beyond the grave or something like that. Ian gives a very muddled and not very comforting answer but seems pretty sure that something sketchy did in fact happen. Then, he sees a crack of lightning outside which illuminates the graveyard where he gets a glimpse of Gangie. 

He goes to check it out (and Gangie fully has an elderly goat he’s dug up slung over his shoulder) but “gravedigger” is his legit job so Ian decides to assume whatever’s going on is legit and not ask too many questions. He goes back to the widow (who, before she leaves, says that maybe sometimes people need to work on God’s behalf) while Gangie takes the body Loam Hall (a massive manor, built into a hill).

We cut to the next day and our next two characters! 

At 22B Hamsted Street in a pretty well appointed home are Ally and Grant’s characters. First up, we have Lars Vandenchomp (Huge ass Doberman/Battlemaster Fighter) who is so tough looking but also so Swedish sounding--it’s A Lot (so, incredibly on brand for Ally). Lars is security for Grant’s character Sylvester Cross (Fox/Inquisitive Rogue) who is a kinda (to use Grant’s word) “foppish” Sherlock Holmes type. He was hired by Squire William Thornwall Brockhollow to figure out what happened with Conor McCabbage (and clear him of negligence in running the mill) but he couldn’t find any evidence of any funny business, making this the only case he’s never cracked. He’s not as young or popular as he once was so this is, understandably, bumming him out. He’s even more bummed out when he realizes that William has invited him to his 60th birthday party that’s happening that night (as kind of a prop to show that he did his part in trying to solve the mystery) and Lars has already RSVP’d yes. He grudgingly agrees to go as it’s one of those asks that’s really more of a veiled demand but decides to pull the money he was paid from the bank first so he can return it and really stick it to the guy.

Finally, we cut to our last set of PCs who are on their way to Tufting Meadows via a very luxurious train. Inside are Sam and Rekha’s characters! Sam is Buckster $ Boyd (Peccary which is like a small boar/Mastermind Rouge) a Texan Oil Tycoon who acts exactly how you’d expect a Texan Oil Pig to act. Yes, you pronounce the dollar sign as “dollar sign” (even though as we find out later his middle name is Cassius so it’s like Cash which I think is super cool). With him is Rekha’s character, Daisy D'umpstaire (Raccoon/Assassin (???) Rogue another American (from South Carolina) though it seems she’s My Fair Lady’d herself into an upper class socialite (her last name was previously Dumpster). They’re traveling with their accountant, an Armadillo named Armond who seems kinda skittish and concerned about their travel expenses but Buck tells him that to make money you gotta spend money and they’re gonna make a *ton* of money on this trip. They’re also so so mean to him for absolutely no reason. 

When the train stops, they’re greeted by Templeton Padhop (a frog, natch) who is the chauffeur of Loan Hall, sent to fetch them. A wheel on his car is broken so he joins in on the Armond abuse immediately and has Armond roll into an Armadillo ball and replace it. Poor guy. When they show up they're greeted by a footman--a pug in a bowler hat named Milo Snout.

Meanwhile, Lars and Sly (Oh, Sly fox, I see what you did there Grant) are similarly greeted by another footman--a lizard named Basil Baskins. On a 23 perception check, Lars sees that Jeremy “Jez” Brockhollow is inside (the son of William who is a badger btw) and also clocks Gangie (who they know as a career criminal who disappeared like a year ago). Gangie doesn’t notice Lars though. 

Ian, who is also invited, shows up at about the same time as Sly but very quickly, the conversation is taken over by Lucretia “Lucy” Brockhollow, William’s older, eccentric sister who immediately gets into it with Lars about astrology and the occult (she thinks bad stuff is happening because of a curse let loose when Sly’s old rival--a rabbit named Fletcher Cottonbottom who is the son of his former employer--opened an Egyptian tomb). They’re thick as thieves right away because Ally is a nonsense magnet. And not like a regular magnet, one of those big electromagnets. 

Daisy and Buck spot William’s kids--the aforementioned Jez and his older sister Constance--along with their husbands Dr. Corbin Magpie (Constance’s and obv a magpie and a doctor) and Osmond Sheffield (Jez’s who is a Ram and a lawyer). Daisy is too stuck in her conversation with a truly unhinged squirrel (Lady Eugenia Bristlebrush who clearly does not know she’s in a murder mystery because she just keeps talking about how much she hates and wants to kill everyone) to hear what’s going on but she indicates the conversation to Buck who is able to eavesdrop and hear that they’re lamenting that Catherine--the widow--RSVP’d no which is gonna look really bad, like they didn’t invite her (bad PR). 

Buck, introducing himself as a business partner of William, eases into a conversation with the husbands which their respective spouses also join into and we learn that Buck's dad was British and a friend of Willian’s. Buck bonds with Jez (who is a bit of a dilettante) really quickly since Buck is ready to go drinks-wise immediately (and there’s a stellar pun about the “American [Drinking] Constitution''). Through the window, Buck notices Gangie outside getting his attention. 

At the same time, Ian is going from party guest to party guest, giving out the penances he forgot to earlier at church (as one does). We see him talking to the Lord and Lady Bramble (a cow and hedgehog, respectively) and while she wants to pray her way out of situations without doing any legwork, he wants to buy his way out and gives Ian 250 pounds. A frustrating but financially lucrative conversation.  

Buck goes outside to talk to Gangie who has a list of names of the bodies he’s been collecting. We’re not told what Buck is doing but it seems that this list is extremely valuable to him in some way. Gangie (who Buck keeps calling Gangly, to his annoyance) pays him handsomely (like, with a 50% tip) for the list (and Gangie gives him the real list, despite Brennan saying he didn’t have to). We also learn that Gangie has allegedly been getting the orders from someone in Loa Hall and they flow from William himself.

Matilda Molesly (a mole and the head maid) invites Gangie to come in from the rain--she’s the only person who’s been consistently nice to him and he agrees to come in for tea and scones. 

Everyone is ushered together by the butler (because of course there’s a butler--he’s quite literally a fancy rat named Thomas Gilfoyle) and William gives a speech where he wishes Conor well and kinda highlights that he did hire Sly to solve the case in a “Hey, I did my bit don’t blame me” kind of way. He also makes a 150k pound donation to the church (and Ian thought 250 was good) and tells his daughter not to read the praise he got for it from the cardinal when she mentions it (I wonder if that was choreographed). Sly interrupts the speech to “magnanimously” give his money back, to William’s annoyance. Buck notices that Lawrence Longfoot (a nouveau rich, rabbit photographer) takes a pic of the scene but with Sly in the foreground and William in the background. 

Then, a few things happen at once (in a very cinematic way):

As the camera flashes, Mrs. Molesly drops her tray, eyes hurt by the light. Lady Calliope Fawnbrooke (Deer, Matron of the Arts) helps her up.

In the moment of dark, after the flash goes away, the butler disappears. 

Buck thinks he sees a shape through the window, out in the rain. 

A cheer goes up for Sly for returning the money but all Sly can focus on is one figure he recognizes in the back of the room. Daisy, who is downing her drink and not cheering for him. He downs his as well, and looks at her until she breaks the stare and leaves the room. 

And this episode doesn’t end with a dead body like I thought, but with a flashback to a younger Sylvester, 12 years ago when he first met Daisy.

PC INTERPERSONAL DRAMA Y’ALL!!! Get HYPED! 

Case Notes

Here is a compilation of all the characters (PCs and NPCs introduced in this episode). 

Sly mentions that Ignatius Cottonbottom faked his own death as a part of some scheme which seems like a backstory point that might come back later--we now know that there exists a way to convincingly fake your own death in this world. 

Sly walks with a walking stick because of some “mysterious accident” but we’re jumping into a flashback next week so it looks like we might find out about it pretty soon. 

Sly also mentions he used to be the personal physician to the elder Cottonbottom so those are skills he has. I wonder if that’ll be useful to this healer-less party. I wonder if cleric was even an option in this world which seems to be low to no magic. It would explain by Ian is a bad and not a cleric. 

Lars has a military background which I wanted to mention in case it becomes relevant later. 

And Dr. Magpie grew up poor and still acts it a bit even though he married a very rich woman. Brennan uses the very good line, “He forces his body into the shape of an apology”

This might be a really deep cut reference but did anyone else here was the old Britcom “Keeping Up Appearances”? Cause I was getting serious Bouquet/Bucket energy from Daisy. 

This is an all College Humor season and it shows. The energy of 6 (7 if you count Brennan) top notch comedians sparking off of each other, trying to one up each other is off the charts. Some of the best bits this episode:

“When God closes every door but one, you go through the door that is open.” followed by “I’m an owl by the way.”

“Time is money, here’s both” from Buck re his inscribed gold pocket watch--everyone at the table loved that so much and they’re right. 

Armond going from being a third to a fourth wheel. 

And the names--I already shouted out a ton on the main recap but also a rat butler (like Rhett Butler) and naming the mouse Cat(therine). Can’t forget Gangie Green/gangrene from Katie. Also points to Ally for the data stealing Eel Musk which broke Brennan a little. 

I know we just went through this with Crown of Candy but what are these animals eating? Like, in Zootopia there were only mammals so we can assume the carnivores are eating like birds and fish but there are sentient birds here. I know this isn’t important. I’m not trying to do a CinemaSins gotcha. I just wonder, you know?

Y’all were waiting for all the lights to go out during that speech and then come back on and there’d be a body too, right?

If Brennan makes the bad guy a chicken or a duck or something so he can make a “fowl play” joke, he is cordially invited to catch these hands. 

I have been waiting for Raph and Katie to do D20 forever. Their specific brand of nonsense on Rank Room was always amazing. 

I love love love that Grant and Rekha are the PCs that have ~a past~ because they are so funny together. If you haven’t seen their episode of Game Changers, you absolutely must (it’s also a murder mystery actually!). 

[typewriterghcst]

Title: mother, forget me

Fandom: Kung Fu Panda

Characters: Shen, Soothsayer

Summary: He’s lived his life in a burning house, and now he is wasting away inside it. Why should he be at all surprised that she would fight the flames to traverse back into it in order to rescue him? At this rate, though, perhaps they’re simply burning to ash together.

Notes: whispers kind of an affectionate maybe Send Off written for @infini-tree regarding our Shen and Soothsayer muses, since we’ve both sorta halfway-ish moved into different fandoms and don’t write together very often anymore `~`

So of course this is based on the main verse on my Shen blog, where he Somehow survives the end of his canon and starts hiding out at the Soothsayer’s home like a particularly deviant NEET

I’ve long enjoyed our interactions, and even if we don’t write together again, I’ll still think back fondly on those interactions, ha. So. Just sort of a gift, then!

                                                        +++

Shen forgets he is no longer a skittish, sullen teenager sometimes, though he isn’t certain how. There’s an aching stiffness in his bones that has followed him into his miraculous second chance survival which had never assailed him back then. He lives now in a dream world where time stands still at inopportune and awkward moments, only to pass in an instant when he blinks. He doesn’t know how long he’s lingered here. He can not force himself to think of the future; it’s like futilely plucking at a minuscule piece of shell in the egg white.

Yet unlike those dream worlds he remembers from his childhood, he is not alone this time. No, he has become someone’s burden again, and he might relish in that newfound purpose were it not for who it is that has undertaken the burden.

The Soothsayer joins him at the window, once, and leaves a thin jacket of her own thrown across his shoulders, and it’s then he realizes he isn’t sure who has imprisoned who. 

It’s then, also, he thinks he should leave.

                                                        +++

Quite often he will find himself reluctant to ask those questions he so dearly covets answers for, simply out of a fear that those same answers shall prove ultimately devastating. Tonight, his courage refuses to falter.

"Did you know?" Shen asks his old caretaker (a position she's rather wordlessly slipped back into, though he will not dwell on the similarities now). "Did you know I'd do it?"

"I knew you had the potential to travel down a very dark path," she eventually answers with a measured cadence, and Shen fills in the blanks that she hadn't foreseen just how much darkness that path had had the capacity for.

                                                        +++

He had tried to promise himself once, in a fleeting, blinding instant of childish fury, the source of which has been long obscured by time. 

He had tried to promise himself that anyone who tried to harm her would meet with an agonizing fate, and he had taken a certain amount of comfort and pleasure in imagining just how he might make good on that promise.

He thinks of it nowadays sometimes when she leaves early in the morning, when he pretends to sleep so she doesn’t know he knows he wasn’t the only one unable to sleep through the night. 

(They are both such prideful creatures.)

He thinks about how he is in a far more convenient position to keep his word now, how he would not hesitate, and he wonders if that is perhaps the closest he will ever come to real love.

                                                        +++

What will he do, he wonders sometimes against his will, when she is gone? He has but one friend left in the wide, blue world, and being a creature quite comfortably accustomed to a literal army of supporters kept in line with fear, the instability inherent in this new status quo is perhaps more distressing than even he realizes.

Shen spies the Soothsayer drifting off at her table as she works once or twice, and it lights in him a difficult to define, frenzied knot of half-emotions. He makes mention of her fatigue once. Her response, he assumes, is to put more effort into keeping up her composure in his presence, as he doesn’t catch her dozing again.

It isn't fair, it isn't fair, and sometimes he's so frustrated by what he’s managed to do how things have ended up that he can't stand it. It's then, again, that he thinks he should leave.

                                                        +++

He doesn't know her story. Somehow in all their years together, interrupted as they've been, she has never been compelled to share it with him. It's fine that way. It's the way it ought to be, he supposes.

Yet, every now and again, he will glimpse some shared similarity, some shared response to a petty trauma, and for the first time find himself musing on what other familiarities might linger in their pasts. 

                                                        +++

Even now, the memory will so often come back to him, unwanted, unprompted. Pulling himself up over a balustrade in a clumsy attempt to see over it, to catch a faraway glimpse of Mother, needling curiosity and awe always tempered so expertly by the lingering haze of unbelonging.

For so long he has recalled this moment as one of solitude and numb resentment, but like a buoyant balloon eventually resurfacing after being shoved under bathwater, he remembers the Soothsayer calling to him from down the hall, and how he'd so eagerly abandoned his hiding spot to bound to her side. She had smiled at him, had asked what it was which had captured his attention so thoroughly.

And something rises in him, then, a sharp stab of remorse so powerful it aches in a way he’d never thought possible.

If only. If only.

                                                        +++

Too often she approaches his occasional fleeting tantrums with nothing more than mutely exasperated resignation, her hooves folded neatly on the top of her cane as she surveys the petty devastation he's left behind— an upended side table, scattered incense and old, singed bowls now lying in disarray.

"Was it unworthy of me?" She eventually asks flatly, and Shen barks out a harsh laugh despite himself.

“Yes,” he says, with an unhinged lightness he hasn’t felt in decades. “It should be better. It should be ornately and ostentatiously decorated and well-constructed enough to last literal dynasties. Then it’d be a worthy addition to your meager collection of furniture.”

There she smiles at him, familiarly, a half-crooked one that speaks to decade’s worth of dealing with his childish temper. He’d seen it, too, all that time ago, in the feverish and sleep-deprived days of his biggest scheme, but at the time it’d only infuriated him, made him feel intrinsically small. Here, now, the sight of it elicits a wash of comfort to come over him, and tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

He laughs, but the sound is thick with emotion, and he flees shortly after.

                                                        +++

"I should leave."

He speaks it into existence with all the strength of a flickering candle, hoping it might pass by unnoticed, perhaps. Yet like a candle in a darkened room, this hushed murmur's reach in the silence of the midnight stillness betrays him.

The clatter of the Soothsayer’s pestle somewhere across the expanse between them tells him she’s heard him. When she speaks, it’s soft but reluctant.

“...Where will you go?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to leave.”

“But I should.”

She doesn’t respond to that, but he can feel that she wants to. He can imagine her when he closes his eyes, searching desperately for something to make this all alright. To make it work for the best. Something that makes it not so hopeless. But she’s smart, he knows. She’ll come to the same conclusion. If she hasn’t already.

Somewhere, there comes that same memory of running to her side, taking her outstretched hoof in his wing, already starting in on some inane factoid he’d picked up in his studies that day, eager to share with her his discoveries.

"I-I'm sorry."

It slips away from him without his approval, before he has a chance to stifle and drown it with any kind of success, and it comes out as a broken whisper. His vision as he stares out the window has started swimming. Some part of him wishes it was because he has begun breathing his last breaths.

Even now, he remains selfish and weak— were he truly so sorry, he thinks, he would have simply disappeared from her life in the night, with only a letter to explain his thoughts; he would have vanished just as unceremoniously as he had arrived, and left her in peace.

But he had done that once, he remembers abruptly.

I thought you died. It comes back to him in pieces.

And now he knows what he is apologizing for. There’s no one left to blame it all on. There is only him. And now for the first time does he feel so thoroughly where he has ruined himself with his own hands only to have pointed the bloodied finger outward to everyone else.

This is a mistake which can not be mended, and he’s known it all along.

Somewhere in the midst of it all he’s aware of a ginger touch to his wing. It’s the Soothsayer, looking up at him with an expression he finds quite difficult to interpret— the furrowed brow of regret, of heartache, but the quirk of hesitant hopefulness. When she speaks, her voice is just as frustratingly troublesome for him to comprehend, soft and sad and vastly unfitting for the words she has decided upon.

“...I’ve wanted to hear you say that for a long time.”

“It’s not enough—” Shen starts, and he can already hear the beginnings of his old hysteria rising in his protest, can feel his age-old pessimism awakening, but the gentle shake of her head in apparent, paradoxical agreement prompts him to hold his tongue.

“No. It’s not.” Then, more firmly, with a tenacity he finds quite startling in its unexpected familiarity, “But it’s a beginning we can work with.”

[thran-duils]

Devils Look Like Angels (Ch. 5)

Title: Devils Look Like Angels (Chapter 5) Summary:  Fem!Reader x Psychotic!Castiel. An unhinged, criminal, supernatural artifact collector extraordinaire… and the reader caught his eye. It will not take her long to realize that beneath the charm and mystique is a crazed killer who will go to great lengths to woo her. Words: 1,933 Warnings (for the fic in entirety): Stalking, angst, death/murder, violence

Author’s Note: I have reset my tag list. If you want to be added back, please DM or send me an ask!

Chap 4 || Chap 6 || Masterpost  || Fanfic masterpost

This time, Sam did not protest when Dean suggested calling Castiel. The fact he had bothered you at the hospital when you were vulnerable had seemed to cross a line for him. As it should have. You did not protest either, frightened because he had found you and you knew Dean was right.

Door closed, Dean paced as the phone rang, his jaw set in determination.

Castiel barely got out hello on speaker phone before Dean cut him off furiously.

“The hell are you playing at?”

Castiel scoffed, bristled. He told Dean coolly, “I said what I needed to say to Y/N. This is between us, not you.”

“She is my family, so, no, you are wrong. I am one hundred percent involved when it comes to my family’s safety.” Dean growled. “You listen to me, you absolute psycho: Stop stalking her. Leave her the hell alone or things are going to get really ugly.”

Dean did not give Castiel time to respond before he hung up the call and unceremoniously tossed your cell phone onto the end of your bed. He ran his hand through his hair angrily, throwing an expectant look at you and Sam.

Sam leaned forward, giving him a nod of affirmation. His elbows rested on his thighs as he asked, “How the hell did he even know where she was?”

“He could have someone watching us,” you said quietly.

Dean sighed heavily, “Which means we need to even more so keep our head on a swivel.” Sam nodded in agreement.

“Please don’t leave me alone again in here,” you begged, looking between the two, eyes pleading.

Sam assured you quickly, “We won’t. We promise.”

You relaxed a little, slowly reclining again. Nervousness was eating away at you still, your mind traveling to dark places. Images of Castiel coming back during the night in retaliation for Dean’s call. Or blowing up the hospital in anger. Would he do that? You could not be sure he would not.

Your call light, you remembered.

“He unplugged this,” you said holding it up. “It’s why I couldn’t call for help when he was in here.”

Agitated with the situation, Dean sighed, “I’ll go find someone to properly get your call light set back up.”

<> <> <>

The following day, you were deemed well enough to be discharged from the hospital. You had to be on crutches for at least another week, although the doctor recommended continuing to use at least one for another week afterwards for support. They had set you up with enough painkillers too. You would most certainly have leftovers though since the medication made your head heavy, which meant you wanted to wean off as soon as possible.

At least over the next week, Dean and Sam were willing to wait on you hand and foot. You made sure to milk it as much as possible, reminding them because of you, you were all getting a two-week vacation. Dean scornfully told you unless his toes were in sand, it was not a vacation. You had merely held out your water bottle and gave him puppy dog eyes and smirked when he got up to assist.

Nearing the middle of the second week, as you and Sam headed out the door for a grocery run, you told them that you had a craving for takeout. Dean was quick to jump on board with this and texted Sam his order since he was staying behind at the bunker. On the way to the store, Sam pulled off at the restaurant to run inside and place the order for pick up on the way back home. The restaurant parking lot was empty except for a few cars, that could just be staff. This was not odd since it was late on a Sunday evening.

As he got back into the car, Sam made a quip about you needing to hobble faster when you were getting groceries since the pickup window was relatively short considering they were not being hit up for business at the restaurant. It was ten minutes into town, but you knew he was right, still you scowled, drawing a laugh from him.

When you parked back at the restaurant, you insisted that you ‘hobble’ your way inside to get some more exercise.

The bell rang on the door when you walked inside. You had been inside before a handful of times. The décor was a little outdated, but it was comfortable, and the food was good. Not to your surprise, the restaurant was indeed empty inside as you made your way to the front counter.

What did surprise you was that no one came out to greet you when you walked in and the bell rang. No host, server, owner… it was quiet.

Too quiet.

Despite all the alarm bells going off in your head, you reached out and hit the service bell. The ring echoed through the still air. You leaned on your crutch, craning your neck to see through the kitchen door windows.

You heard footsteps and saw a flash of brown hair through the window before they opened and your heart fell into your stomach.

Castiel smirked and said, “Well, I was expecting the tall halfwit, but what a lovely surprise. I guess my men do not get to lay their hands on anyone tonight. Pity.”

Your stomach was in knots and you turned, clumsily on the crutch, trying to leave. But two of his men were behind you now. They must have came from the hall at the same time he had walked out, while you were distracted. You barely wasted a second before turning back to face him, leveling him with a glare with more calm than you currently felt.

“I could scream. Sam would hear it,” you threatened.

“By all means, call him in here. I promised my guys here a brawl and if you would like to indulge them…” Castiel tsked you, waving a leather gloved finger, “But, my sweet, that is entirely unnecessary now that you are in here.” He held up the large back he was holing, the aroma of delicious food wafting. “I brought your food out. No need to scream. I even covered the bill.”

He placed it on the counter and reached into his pocket. You resisted the urge to flinch although you were entirely unsure of what he was reaching for.

When he presented you with a museum ticket, he looked proud of himself. ‘That is a good first date, no?” He placed it on the counter next to your food. “It is for anytime, just text me when and I will make time for you.”

He straightened his jacket and cleared his throat. His tone changed telling you tightly, “But… speaking of unnecessary… Dean. Threatening me. Me.” He took a step closing, his eyes burning into you. “Now, I do not fault you of course, kitten. He is an adult and made his own choices, albeit foolish ones.” Another step and he was close. “Can I request a favor from you regarding that?”

You did not think it was wise to refuse the request, so you gave him a small shrug of acceptance.

“In the future,” he reached out, resting his hand on your shoulder gently. You fought the urge to jerk away from him, more so due to your current altered state of balance. “Can you – silly me, we. We are a team. Can we make sure he keeps his nose out of our business? Hmm? I can guarantee he cannot conceptualize what ugly can really be.”

Silence suspended as he stared you down, waiting for an answer.

Swallowing sharply, you vowed, “I’ll do my best. He’s headstrong.”

A satisfied smile pulled at the corners of Castiel’s lips. “I daresay he would find a formidable challenge when put up against you, no?”

He stepped back, giving you breathing room. “I put two extra orders of crab rangoon in the bag for you. Courtesy of the chef since he made you such subpar rice and the girl was going to serve you it without batting an eye. I despise terrible service, it is unbecoming.”

Tapping the ticket on the counter, he requested, “Please let me know when you decide to go. I know the museum here is not grand, so this is for the National Gallery in D.C. I will need some time to arrange flights and lodgings.”

His men walked around you when he beckoned them. “An unexpected pleasure to lay my eyes on your charming face, kitten. Your face happened to save your friend’s.” With a wink, he told you, “I am glad to see you are doing far better. I will be seeing you.”

Following him, the men went through the kitchen door, leaving you standing by yourself.

Your eyes were trained on the kitchen door, dread swirling in your stomach. You had thought it the moment Castiel had walked out but there was no doubt deep down that something was wrong with the staff considering they had still not shown themselves. And he had sounded so upset with them, which you knew would not bode well for them.

A part of you did not want to check.

But the messiah complex was winning.

Slowly, you hobbled towards the swinging doors. Heart hammering, you swung one of the doors open and shuffled through the doorway.

At the first sight of what you assumed was the server with her hand pinned to the wood counter with a long knife and a gash across her throat, you almost keeled over. Your hand on the wall caught you, bile rushing up your throat.

The bell ringing on the other side of the door startled you.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Y/N?”

All the worry slipped away hearing Sam’s voice. It was not Castiel returning or another customer that would see your face and ID you to the cops.

You closed your eyes tightly, trying to will the nausea away before leaving the kitchen.

“Hello?” Sam called again.

You emerged from the kitchen, pushing your way through the door.

“The hell you doing back there for?” he questioned, his brow pinched in confusion.

Shaking your head, you gestured at the food. “I… we just need to get out of here. As soon as possible. Can you carry the food? It’s too heavy for me.”

Cocking his head concerned, Sam asked you expectantly, “Y/N….?”

“We do not want to be here if the cops show up, Sam. Trust me.”

Sam eyes moved to the kitchen behind you and when he moved around you, you sighed, knowing you could not stop him even if you tried. He disappeared through the doors and you heard him exclaim in alarm. He was back out in the blink of an eye.

Pointing behind him, he demanded, “What the hell is that?”

“What do you think. Or for that matter, who?”

Sam’s face darkened. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m unfortunately not. But like I said, we need to leave or we are going to have a huge problem on our hands.”

Turning his eyes upward, Sam eyed the security camera above the door. You followed his gaze and reassured him quickly, “I don’t think Castiel would leave tape that would incriminate himself or me for that matter. Now can we go?” Sam shot you an incredulous look. “Don’t give me that look.”

Sam did as you asked, keeping watch around you as you both walked to the car.

You did not realize until later that the museum ticket had been left behind.

~~~

CASTIEL FOREVER TAGS: @willowing-love @perseusandmedusa @greenappleeyes @afanofmanystuffs @earthtokace @shikaros-blog @marisayouass

[lil-meow-meow-goes-rawr]

Tragedy Strikes

⚔︎ Previous Chapters: Trouble Brews, Illusions

⚔︎ Pairing: Jungkook x OC

⚔︎ Genre: Medieval Fantasy, Knight!Jungkook, Knight!Hoseok, Wizard!Yoongi, King!Namjoon, Prince!Taehyung, Prince!Jimin, Brothers!Yoonjin

⚔︎ Warnings: major character death, mentions of blood, large wounds, mentions of minor character deaths

⚔︎ Rating: 13+

⚔︎ Synopsis: Despite losing Jungkook, Emelyn is able to locate the wizard, Yoongi. He agrees to help her find and cure the knight, but things take a dark turn when fate intervenes. 

⚔︎ Word Count: 10.1K

⚔︎ Masterlist

Perhaps it was the sinking sun, or the razor-sharp wind on my back which gave way to my foul mood. My day had been spent searching, yet there had been no sign of Jungkook or the moon dragon. As the moon rose to take the sun’s place in the sky, I began to feel discouraged. Where would a dragon go to avoid being found? Why was it so difficult to find something so large?

I blew out a frustrated breath as I sat beside the small fire I had managed to light. Another day had come and gone. Another day in which I had not been able to locate Jungkook and my family had been left to fight for their lives. I could not keep riding in circles. It was clear the dragon did not wish to be found. I would need to acquire some assistance.

Glancing up at the mountain in the distance, I felt my heart begin to race at the mere thought of traveling there alone. The idea of braving Blood Mountain with Jungkook beside me had not seemed such a daunting task. Yet now I was forced to face it alone. I knew every tale, every horror that was ever told about the mountain. I was there the night it received its name. Some of the bravest and most skilled knights had attempted to cross over the mountain, yet only a few managed to complete the journey alive.

Taehyung would often recount the tales he had heard from the knights. Tales of horror and misery. Stories which kept me on the edge of my seat, yet they had been nothing more than a fairytale to me. Sitting here now, staring up at the mountain looming over me, the stories became so very real.

“Emelyn,” Taehyung giggled, sliding onto the bench beside me, “I overheard the most thrilling tale last night while the cooks prepared our meal. It seems another knight was granted a quest.”

“Blood Mountain?” I guessed, my eyes glowing with anticipation as I leaned in further, soaking up every word the boy spoke.

Taehyung’s grin grew. “Yes! One of Father’s knights was given a quest to cross over the mountain. He made his return only yesterday.”

“He survived?”

“I do not believe anyone expected him to. It has only been one month since he has joined our knights. Two weeks ago, he was sent on his own to face the horrors of the mountain.”

“Did he tell you what he saw?”

Taehyung shook his head sadly. “He has not said much since his return, I’m afraid. It was the servant assigned to him who finally managed to garner a few words about his journey. The magic, Emelyn, it is unlike anything we have ever seen. Ryia’s magic would appear to be mere child’s play if put against it. The knight spoke of an unforgiving wind. One which penetrates to your bones and never ceases. If you are to remain out in the wind, you will not survive for more than a day.”

I leaned in closer still, crossing my legs under me and resting my chin on the palm of my hand. I had heard the stories told of the mountain before, yet they never once ceased to draw me in. I could not get enough. Though the tales sent a cold shiver of fear down my spine, and I would most likely not sleep the night through, I wanted to hear everything. Taehyung knew of my interest in the mountain and would always humor me with more stories he had heard.

“Blood Mountain, just as we have imagined, is a place of sorcery. The blood of those slain on the night the mountain first received its name, cries out for vengeance. Even the creatures that live there are not to be trifled with. The knight spoke of pixies and the many harmless pranks which they pulled on him. Yet he also spoke of more terrifying creatures, such as the basilisk.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. Snakes had always been a creature I feared, the basilisk being the most feared of all. One bite from a basilisk’s fangs would kill a full-grown man within days. The poison moved through the body slowly and painfully until it finally claimed the heart, sometimes so much as weeks after the initial bite. There was no known cure for the poison. If a man were unlucky enough to encounter a basilisk, he would not expect to live on for much longer.

When I returned my attention to Taehyung, I noticed he had become much more somber. He had gotten lost in his own thoughts and from the look on his face, they were not pleasant.

“Do you remember that night?” Taehyung asked, his voice growing unnaturally quiet.

I bit my lip as I finally sat straight once more.

“I still do not understand why magic had to be outlawed. What harm was it doing to anyone?”

“Magic killed the King’s daughter.” I reminded him.

“Yes, but magic has also saved many lives. Just as there is in everything else, magic is made up of good and evil.”

“Magic is not evil.” I corrected. “It is the people who use the magic which create the evil. Evil lies in the hearts of man.”

Taehyung shook his head sadly. “All those people hunted down and slaughtered, simply because they were born with the ability to wield a power not all of us were given. The king did not even allow them the chance to leave. I can still hear the cries from when the knights chased them up to the mountain.”

“And now it is that blood which gives the mountain its power.”

“Do you think anyone will ever restore the mountain to its natural wonder?”

I sighed as I stood from the bench. Turning to Taehyung, I offered him a sad smile. “I do hope so, Tae. I truly do hope so.”

Memories plagued my dreams that night. Memories of children screaming and mothers wailing; swords being drawn and villagers crying out in protest to the slaughter. After the death of the King’s daughter, it had not taken more than a day for the ban on magic to be announced. No one had been prepared for it. Those who could, ceased their practice immediately, fearing what the King may do to them if they did not. For those who had been born into magic and had no say in whether they kept it or not, the day became a nightmare.

The next morning, I began the harsh journey up into the mountain. The further I rode, the denser the trees became and the colder the wind blew. Never once had I imagined myself, forced to live out the same tales in which Taehyung and I had spent hours amusing ourselves with.

Beneath me, my horse trembled. This had not been an easy journey for her. I could not force her to go on much further without stopping to rest, yet everywhere I turned, the shadows seemed to move, daring me to stop and wait among them.

My horse heard it before I did. The mare had never attempted to throw me before, yet with one sudden spin and a bolt in the opposite direction, I found myself sprawled on the ground, left to watch helplessly as my horse galloped back the way we’d come.

“Why?” I called after her, my fear turning to a sudden bout of anger. “What possessed you to do that?”

The mare disappeared through the trees, taking my sword and my chance of survival with her. A shaky breath escaped my lips as I slowly turned to take in my surroundings. Everywhere I turned, it all seemed to look the same. There was no sign of human life anywhere. Perhaps Ryia’s tale of the wizard was simply that - a tale. Who’s to say I had not journeyed all this way only to find that the wizard did not truly live here, or even exist?

Grumbling slightly, I pushed myself up from the ground and brushed the dead leaves from my dress. Whether Yoongi lived here or not, my top priority became finding a place to make camp. It was beginning to grow dark and I knew I would not be able to survive in the night if I were to keep going.

It was then that I heard it. A low, angry hissing sounded from the small bush beside my foot, a few mere inches from where my head had just been. Slowly, I turned toward the sound. Barely visible beneath the lowest branches, curled up tightly against the roots with its crown on full display, sat one of the most feared creatures known to man – a basilisk. I choked out a strangled noise as I stared at it. The large yellow eyes regarded me with an anger that was just barely controlled. I had disturbed its nest, and it was not pleased to see me.

Swallowing hard, I slowly began backing away, but quickly froze again when it snapped at the movement. Hardly longer than my foot, the snake’s size was not so intimidating. Yet what it lacked in size, it made up for in speed.

A part of me knew I was not going to survive this situation. No one was around. Jungkook was still missing and I had no idea as to where Yoongi resided. I was left on my own, face to face with possibly the last creature I would ever see. Still, I wasn’t about to simply give in. I would not just stand there frozen, waiting for someone to appear. There had to be something I could do.

The creature quickly grew impatient, its anger only growing the longer I remained in its space. Faster than I could blink, it sprang out from beneath the branches. Its tiny jaws unhinging as it latched onto my ankle.

A scream clawed its way up my throat as I attempted to kick it off me. Yet the more I kicked at it, the tighter its grip became. A fire blazed at my ankle but quickly moved up into my leg and I crashed to the ground, my chin connecting with a large stone. With my free foot, I began kicking mercilessly at the creature’s head yet even that did not seem to deter it.

A blast of deep purple light suddenly blasted the basilisk squarely on the head. I froze, watching in shock as the snake released my ankle and began writhing around on the ground. After a moment, the creature went limp, its body lying motionless beside me. I stared at it, unsure of what had just transpired. Was it dead?

I nearly screamed when it suddenly sprang to life again and quickly slithered away, only to return to its original position beneath the bush.

A sigh of relief fell from my lips as my head hit the ground with a light thud and I hissed at the searing pain in my ankle when I attempted to move it. The basilisk may have left, but in the end it did not matter. The large, red wounds on my ankle proved my demise.

“That bite looks bad.”

I yelped and scrambled back at the sudden voice beside me. My head shot up only to find a young man staring at me in shock. Except his eyes weren’t looking at me, they were trained on the two puncture wounds which now adorned my ankle.

“Who are you?” I demanded, using every bit of self-control I had to keep from screaming in pain as I retreated.

For a moment, the man didn’t answer. He continued to stare at the spot my ankle had been just seconds ago. His eyes glazed over as he got lost inside his own thoughts. It wasn’t until I cleared my throat that he returned to the present.

“My apologies,” he quickly crouched down to my level, so as to be a bit less intimidating, “I heard someone scream and came to see what was happening.”

“Who are you?” I repeated.

With a shy smile, he bowed his head slightly in greeting. “My name is Yoongi. I live just through the trees there.”

I nearly choked as I took in the man before me. He was nothing quite like how I imagined him to be. Not much older than I was, the man did not seem like someone who would practice dragon magic. The word which came to mind as I took in his presence was ‘delicate’. Soft, dark curls fell just above a pair of the kindest eyes I had ever seen. His lips seemed to be drawn in a permanent pout and his cheek reminded me of Jimin’s young cousin. There was a simple boyish charm to him, yet his eyes reflected wisdom far past his years.

“You are Yoongi? The wizard known for using dragon magic?”

He cringed. “I am still learning.”

“But you do know it?”

“To an extent, yes. Although I have spent years studying it, one can never truly improve without first putting their skills into practice. That is not an easy task when there are no means in which to do so. Magic that powerful cannot be used for any mundane thing.”

“I need your help.” I blurted, worried he may leave before I got the chance to ask.

“I can see that. Basilisk bites are a nasty business. One cannot treat it on their own. It takes a certain type of skill.”

I shook my head. “No, not me. It is my friend. He is in dire need of your help.”

“But your ankle . . .”

“Please, your magic is the only thing that may save him.”

“So, you do not wish for me to help you treat your wound?”

“Pardon?”

“The basilisk bite,” he motioned to where my ankle was now tucked beneath my dress, “you do not wish for me to treat it?”

I scoffed and gently removed the bit of fabric which now covered it, wincing as I did. The wound had already become inflamed. I could hardly feel my leg and my ankle was slowly turning an odd shade of yellow. “What good would it do? I am as good as dead. It is not I who requires your skills in this moment.”

Yoongi eyed me curiously, as if he thought perhaps I was jesting. Perhaps he thought the poison had gone to my head, for when he spoke, his words were slow and enunciated. “That bite is still new. There is a chance you may live to see tomorrow if you would allow me to help. After I have seen to your wounds, I shall help you with your friend.”

“You’re willing to help Jungkook?”

He cocked a brow. “That is what you drew from what I just told you?” Shaking his head, he sat back on his heels. “Would you like my assistance or not?”

Deciding that I truly had nothing left to lose, I agreed with a small nod.

A large, endearing smile spread across his features. “Seokjin may not be pleased about visitors arriving unannounced, but I believe he can make an exception just this once.”

Though I had tried desperately to do it myself, my ankle simply would not allow me to stand, much less walk with him. Yoongi did not seem at all surprised when I crumbled to the ground after my third attempt to stand.

A small, shy smile graced his lips as he asked if I would allow him to carry me. As I did not have much of a choice, I granted him my consent. I worried he may struggle under my weight, as he was not much taller than I was, and he did not appear to be quite as strong as any of the knights, yet he lifted me with relative ease.

Yoongi did not take to the path as I expected him too, instead veering off into the thick of the trees. My heart began to pound furiously inside my chest. Other than his name, I knew nothing of this man, yet I had handed him my full trust willingly. In that moment, as we travelled further into the densely packed forest and all light seemed to be blocked out, I wondered if that had been the right decision. Yoongi was a powerful wizard, a man of great strength who lived in the most dangerous of all places. Ryia had warned me against him. In my desperate state, I had not heeded her words. Namjoon once told me my carelessness would get me killed someday and I was beginning to believe he had been right.

After walking in silence for several tense moments, I decided to voice my concern. “Where are we-”

The words died in my throat as Yoongi approached a large tree. My eyes immediately trailed up to the branches above us, as if I were expecting to find house among them. To my disappointment, they stood empty of any such thing.

Carefully setting me down, Yoongi hurried to remove a loose piece of bark, revealing a small nob in the trunk of the tree which he carefully pushed in and twisted. Immediately, an opening appeared, revealing what appeared to be a lovely little cottage.

He turned to me, his shy grin returning. “Welcome to my home.”

“You live . . .” my eyes darted between the wizard and the large opening, “in a tree?”

“Not quite. The tree is simply a disguise. In case you have not noticed, I do not live amongst friendly neighbors. The only way to survive, is to stay hidden.”

“I never would have found you on my own.” I breathed disbelievingly.

He chuckled as he crouched down next to me. “Most people do not even come looking for me. I am considered dangerous for what I do.” Offering me his hand, he smiled encouragingly. “I’ll help you, but the door’s not wide enough for me to carry you through, so you will need to walk. Can you manage?”

Somewhat reluctantly, I took his offered hand and carefully balanced myself on my good foot.

“Just take it slow. I promise the magic door will not close unless I tell it to.”

“Who’s to say you will not close it once I start passing through?”

He cocked a brow. “I suppose you’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Can I?”

“How badly do you need my help?”

I glared, “Fine.”

Letting out a slow breath, I hobbled toward the opening. The edges shimmered in a dull purple and a warm heat radiated from it. I hesitated a moment, swaying precariously on my good foot.

“It won’t bite.”

Stealing my nerves, I closed my eyes and hopped through. A warm sensation ran through my body, but it did not last for more than a second. When I opened my eyes again, Yoongi had returned to my side, his arm looping through mine to offer his support. We were standing in a small room with nothing more than a small bench present. Through another doorway, I could see the flickering of a candle’s light. The heavenly scent wafting through the small home nearly knocked me off my feet.

“Yoongi!” A loud voice called out from the other room.

Yoongi flinched beside me and muttered a curse under his breath.

“You better not have come empty handed again. I swear if I do not have those herbs on my table in the next few minutes you are going to-” A large man stepped around the corner and froze, his eyes widening in surprise when they landed on me. He was stunning; his appearance rivaling that of any man I had ever seen, and I could not help but stare.

A nervous chuckle escaped Yoongi’s lips. “Seokjin, I have returned.”

The tall man, Seokjin, pinched the bridge of his nose with a disappointed sigh. “When I told you not to come home empty-handed, this is not what I meant.”

Yoongi grinned sheepishly. “She needed my help.”

“Yoongi, we’ve been through this. You cannot help every person you come across.”

 “But she got into a fight with Flower and she would have died if I had left her on her own.”

Seokjin raised an eyebrow as his eyes darted back to me. “What on Earth possessed you to anger a basilisk?”

“You named the basilisk Flower?” I asked, perplexed.

“Yes,” Yoongi nodded fervently, “because when she puts her full crown up, she resembles that of the sunflowers which used to grow back home. The ground here is too coarse to grow them, so Flower is the closest we will ever get to seeing one. I wanted to call her Sunflower, but Seokjin would not let me.”

I began to wonder just what sort of men I had found myself amongst. A basilisk had no right to a name, yet they spoke of it as if it were a pet.

“How did you become tangled up in a fight with Flower?” Seokjin asked. “She has a nasty temper.”

“I did not mean to. My horse threw me, and I landed next to the bush which she was occupying. It was not my intention to anger a basilisk.”

Seokjin frowned slightly as he took in my appearance. “You are from the royal family.”

I was confused by the sudden accusation but still I nodded, “That is correct.”

“What is someone of your stature doing all the way up here on Blood Mountain?”

Yoongi bit his lip nervously, glancing between Seokjin and myself. “Jin, not now.”

Seokjin ignored him. “Do you not have knights to do your bidding?”

“Pardon?”

“What need does someone from the royal family have to be this far into Blood Mountain? Wouldn’t it have been safer to send one of the knights?”

“Seokjin,” Yoongi scolded, “stop it. Now is not the time.”

I pushed myself away from Yoongi to stand on my own, making certain my head was held high. “I do not understand, nor do I care to know why you seem to hate me so much. It is of no concern to me whether or not you do, for it is not your help I seek.”

“Well then, what is it you need my brother to do?”

“A friend of mine is in dire need of your brother’s magical abilities.” I answered simply.

“Seokjin,” Yoongi interrupted before the other could speak, “gather some henbane. I must treat her wound before it festers any further.”

Grumbling to himself, Seokjin shot me one last glare before turning back into the room he’d appeared from earlier.

“Sorry about him,” Yoongi said, his voice small. “He’s not usually quite so demurring.”

“Why does he seem to hate my family?”

Yoongi hesitated while carefully helping me onto the bench. Motioning toward my ankle, he silently asked permission before rolling the bottom of my dress back. “Do not take it personally. My brother blames the royal family for what happened to our parents. He has never truly been able to move on. The memories have haunted him since the night our mother was executed.”

“Oh,” my heart broke for the man. I knew first-hand what it was like to lose a parent, for I had lost both of my own as well. It was a wound one could never truly heal from. It was of no surprise that he disliked me, even if I was not from a direct royal line.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice quiet.

“I fear it is not my place to tell you. If you truly wish to know, you are welcome to ask my brother, though I would advise against it. It is clear he already dislikes you.”

I nodded solemnly, resting my cheek on the palm of my hand. “Why is it that you do not despise my family?”

His shoulder lifted into a slight shrug as he observed the snake’s bite. “I do not blame anyone for what happened. It was tragic, but it would be far more tragic if I were to place the blame on someone innocent. It all happened with the ban on magic. King Namjoon was not even on the throne at the time. Why would I blame him for something he did not do?”

“You’re a good man.”

“No,” his smile was empty as he glanced up, “I am far from being a good man.”

“So you say, and yet you are helping me when you do not even know my name.”

“Emelyn.”

My eyes widened in shock. “How did you-”

“Just because I live at the top of a magical mountain does not mean I do not know the family who rules over us. Blood Mountain rests on your kingdom. Namjoon is as much my king as he is yours.”

Just then, Seokjin marched into the room. Without a word to me, he left the herbs on the end of the bench before striding back out.

Yoongi sighed. “Give him some time. He will not hold this grudge against you for long. Once he takes a moment to realize that you are not even of direct line to the King’s family, he will return to be the friendly man he usually is.”

“I do not hold it against him. I know what it is like . . . losing your family. Never once have I ever gone through anything quite as horrible.”

“Your own parents?”

I shook my head lightly.

Yoongi nodded his understanding and returned his full attention to the wound on my ankle. The longer he looked at it, the bleaker his expression became.

I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away from him. I knew it was of no use to try and treat it. The basilisk had not only bitten me, but she had held on for a while as well. The poison that now ran through my veins was great. I would not have put much faith into healing it, yet Yoongi had been insistent. Even now, he set his shoulders back determinedly and gently spread the herbal paste across the wound. I hissed in pain and bit my lip to keep from crying out.

Yoongi flinched. “Sorry. Did I not mention it was going to burn?”

“No,” I spoke through clenched teeth, “you failed to mention that.”

“I hoped you would have assumed it would burn. A wound like this won’t be treated without pain.”

I groaned and stuffed my face into the crook of my arm. Before long, Yoongi came to kneel next to my head, having done all he could for the ankle.

“You may look now. The worst is over, for now.”

“For now?” I said, gingerly sitting back up.

He nodded with a small hum. “It was only last month that Seokjin got himself bitten by Flower as well. I used the last of the poison’s remedy on him. The new batch is still being made, though it should be done in a few days. For now, the herbal remedy I gave you will help with the pain and work to contain the poison to one area of your body.”

Crossing his legs, he sat himself down and simply stared at me for a while. The curiosity in his eyes was evident. It was clear he wasn’t used to interacting with anyone other than his brother. Yoongi was nice enough, but his way with other people left something to be desired.

Fidgeting somewhat beneath his gaze, I broke the awkward silence. “Did you mean what you said? About helping my friend?”

“You talk a lot about your friend. This person must be truly special.”

I hummed in agreement. Jungkook was more than special. He was the only hope I had of saving my kingdom, but he was also so much more than that. Jungkook had one of the biggest hearts I had ever seen. He was someone to be admired. Never had I had the pleasure of meeting anyone quite like him.

“You are smiling.” Yoongi pointed out with a grin of his own.

“What?” I snapped my head around to look at him before quickly turning away again in an attempt to hide the blush that was coloring my cheeks.

  “This friend of yours, he is more than a friend?”

My eyes grew large as I quickly shook my head. “No! No, nothing like that.”

“Why the strong denial? Simply by observing the way in which you think about him, it is clear that he is special to you.”

“I have only just met him. It would be far from appropriate to assume such things.”

Yoongi lifted a shoulder with a knowing smile. “The heart does not understand what is considered correct or inappropriate. This friend of yours has charmed your heart, whether you have yet to see it or not.” His tone, though light, held no room for argument. “Why is it your friend is not with you? If it is he who needs my magic, why would you come alone?”

“I-” I hesitated. How was I meant to tell Yoongi I had managed to lose Jungkook somewhere along the way and haven’t been able to locate him on my own? “I do not know where he is at the moment.”

“I’m afraid I cannot help him if he is not here.”

“I was hoping you would be able to help me find him. See, Jungkook is a dragon.”

Yoongi’s eyes shot open wide as he leaned in closer. I had piqued his interest. “Did you just say a dragon?”

“Well, part dragon I suppose. He was cursed when he was very young. Since then he has been forced to shift into the dragon with the rise of every moon.”

“Yes well, very few dragons were not part man. The dragons died out several centuries ago. Most of the creatures you hear about nowadays are much like your friend.” Yoongi explained excitedly. The passion he felt for this topic was evident. This was his entire life and he was more than happy to share any information he could. “What is it he needs my help with?”

“Recently he has been losing control of himself even as the sun shines brightly overhead. That is why he is not here with me now. We were attacked and it caused him to shift. He flew away and I have not been able to find him since. I was hoping you would be able to help me.”

“You lost a dragon?” Seokjin stepped back into the room, wiping his hands on the end of his tunic.

I looked up to find him watching me incredulously. “I can assure you it was not my intention to do so. Jungkook is my last hope. If I am not able to return with him to my kingdom soon, we will all surely perish.”

Yoongi frowned in confusion. “Why would we perish? Namjoon is a wonderful king.”

“While that is true, there are many who wish to take his throne. If it had not been for Jungkook’s protection, we would have faced war years ago. As it is, with Jungkook unable to control the dragon, he has been unable to offer his protection. King Merek has taken advantage of his absence and has declared war on our kingdom.”

Seokjin raised a brow. “This dragon friend of yours has been protecting the kingdom?”

“Virtus Invicta,” Yoongi breathed.

“Pardon?”

Looking between Seokjin and I, Yoongi let out a slow breath of realization. “Virtus Invicta. Jungkook is the Phantom Knight.”

Seokjin groaned. Turning on his heels, he marched from the room once more, muttering to himself. “This is not happening to us. We are not getting mixed up in that mess.”

“You know?” I asked Yoongi once Seokjin was fully out of sight.

“It is the only thing which makes any sense.” Jumping to his feet, Yoongi began pacing, his excitement bubbling. “I should have seen it before. It’s been right there, staring me in the face the entire time.”

“What has?”

“Virtus Invicta,” Yoongi repeated the words as if I should know what they mean, “it is a powerful incantation. One that even I would not be able to recreate.”

I stared at him blankly, still not seeing how any of this was at all connected.

“The incantation is ancient. In the times when the dragons were becoming extinct, the ones who practiced magic created the spell in order to preserve the race. Before they were hunted, the dragons used to do what your Phantom Knight does now. They were our protectors. All it took was one dragon to go rogue and the humans turned on them. After the rogue dragon nearly burned down the east village, the king declared the banishment on dragons. From there, dragon hunting became a game of sorts. Their hides could be sold for large sums of gold, and the oils on their skin were excellent for healing potions. Powerful sorcerers used the people’s greed to their advantage. The people would pay large sums to have the dragons hunted down. It was not long before nearly all the dragons were gone.”

“That is truly horrible.”

Yoongi hummed in agreement. “Those who wished to preserve the dragons created the incantation. It allowed the dragons to live on, while offering them a disguise in a human body. It worked for a while, until the people began realizing what was happening. The incantation was outlawed and soon it was looked on as a curse rather than a blessing.”

“It was never a blessing.” Seokjin called out from the other room.

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “My brother is a bit more skeptical.”

“I’m not skeptical,” Seokjin stepped back into the room, “I simply do not refuse to see all the facts.”

“What facts?” I asked, my curiosity spiked.

“Oh, the incantation certainly helped to preserve the dragons for a while, but there is a reason it was outlawed shortly after. Once a person’s life has been morphed with that of a dragon, they lose a part of themselves. When in their dragon form, they no longer act as human. The instinct to protect, which once lived inside every dragon, did not live inside these newly formed beasts. The dragons created from this curse were monsters. Killers.”

Yoongi scrunched his nose at Seokjin’s choice of words. “I would not call them killers.”

“Whatever you call them, it was clear they were not the same creatures we had grown to admire.”

“Is there a cure?” I asked, dreading what the answer may be.

Seokjin shook his head sadly. “There was never one that could be found. Whether the original creators of the curse also created a cure was never known.”

“I’m sure there is one out there somewhere.” Yoongi said.

“Even if there isn’t,” Seokjin gave him a soft smile, “if anyone could create one, it would be you.”

I smiled as I watched the exchange. It was clear that Seokjin held great pride in his brother. I had to wonder just what they were doing so far up on the mountain. I knew Yoongi needed to be away to practice his magic, but why had they remained so secluded? Something told me there was more to their story than Yoongi had let on earlier.

Just then, there was a loud bang at the door which drew everyone’s attention, quickly followed by another. Yoongi scrambled to his feet and both brothers came to loop their arms through mine, guiding me to my feet.

“What’s going-”

I was cut off by Seokjin slapping a hand over my mouth. He gave me a sharp look and shook his head once. The message to remain quiet, rang clear.

The pounding only grew to a higher intensity as Yoongi motioned toward the back room and the three of us quickly made our way there. Without a word, Yoongi marched directly over to the far wall and tapped it once. Immediately, it opened up to reveal a dark passage. I could not be sure, but it appeared as though it was underground, which did not make much sense, as we were technically still inside a tree.

Seokjin prodded me to move forward. The banging on the door continued and though the passage did not look overly inviting, it was a better option than facing whatever was outside. I followed Yoongi inside.

Once we had all made it through, the opening closed, trapping us in a blinding darkness. I swallowed hard, my hand reaching out to grip onto the back of Yoongi’s tunic. I could not see my own hand when I held it up in front of my face. How were we meant to navigate this tunnel?

“Do not worry.” Seokjin’s voice sounded beside my ear, causing me to jump. “Trust in my brother. Do not let go of him and he will lead you out.”

“How?” I asked, my voice shaking slightly. “He cannot see.”

“I would not be so sure.”

When Yoongi began slowly moving forward, my grip on his tunic tightened. I shuffled along behind him, giving everything I had to keep my feet under me. The medicine Yoongi had spread on my ankle allowed me just enough freedom to use the foot without collapsing with every step. Though the fire which erupted up my leg with each step was unpleasant, I was simply grateful I was able to remain standing.

“Almost there.” Yoongi said, his voice low.

My foot caught on what I assumed to be a root in the ground, causing me to fall forward onto Yoongi’s back. A string of apologies left my lips as I scrambled to pick myself back up.

I could hear the laughter in his voice as he turned to help me. “You are clumsier than even I am. What on earth did you trip on? The path has been clear.”

I shook my head with a frown, though I knew no one would be able to see it. “My foot caught on a root.”

“There is no root here.” Seokjin spoke from behind me. I could hear him lightly tapping the surrounding path with his foot. “The ground is smooth.”

“Then what did my foot catch on?”

A small orb of light suddenly flickered into view, the light purple glow emanating from Yoongi’s hand. He held it up to illuminate the area around us and I heard his breath catch. Somewhat reluctantly, I turned my head to follow his line of sight. What I saw confused me. The tunnel we had just come through had been completely taken over by dense foliage. Vines and roots extended from every inch of the dirt walls, completely blocking the way in which we came, and I realized with a growing terror that it was slowly reaching out towards us.

Yoongi cursed under his breath. “They’ve found the tunnel.”

“Who?” I asked, dreading the answer.

Both men ignored my question.

“We need to get out of here.” Seokjin said, as if that weren’t the most obvious solution. “How much further?”

“A few yards maybe?”

I spun back around and began pushing him along. “Then let’s go.”

Yoongi nodded in agreement and extinguished the light. With one quick demand for Seokjin to grab my hand, Yoongi took my other and together we raced forward. I did my best to keep up, hobbling along as fast as I could. Seokjin helped, eventually bending down a bit to offer more support, allowing me to wrap my arm around his shoulder.

“Yoongi!” Seokjin shouted, his voice laced with panic. “The exit!”

“I’m working on it!” Yoongi shot back.

It was then I felt it too. The vines and roots behind us were growing faster, the ends reaching out to begin wrapping around my feet and legs.

A strangled noise sounded from the back of my throat as I leapt out of the vine’s reach. “Why are there vines chasing us?”

Seokjin groaned. “Ogres.”

“Ogres?”

“Annoying little creatures.” Yoongi sighed.

“That’s putting it lightly.” Seokjin said.

“I did not believe they even existed.” I admitted, feeling rather foolish.

“Perhaps it is time you start believing in things you cannot always see.”

“But ogres are simple creatures. They are not capable of magic.”

“What the stories tell and what is actually true are not always the same.” Yoongi corrected. “Ogres are indeed capable of magic. In fact, they wield a highly powerful earth magic. One which rivals even that of a dragon master.”

“So, what you are saying, is-”

“-if we do not hurry and find the exit to the tunnel, we will all become dinner for the ogres.” Seokjin interrupted.

 “Why exactly are there ogres chasing us?” I panted, only barely having managed to catch myself after tripping over another vine.

“I suppose you would not know,” Yoongi replied, “ogres enjoy hunting humans. Preferably smaller ones such as children or infants, though they will eat any they find. Since there are not many people to be found on Blood Mountain, once they catch our scent, it is difficult to shake them off our trail.”

“They’re trying to eat us?”

“I would assume so, yes,” Seokjin grumbled, “and unless you plan on sticking around to find out for sure, I would suggest we continue moving ahead as quickly as possible.”

“The exit!” Yoongi cried, suddenly surging forward.

I yelped as he dragged me forward, my hand having still been securely wrapped in his tunic. Seokjin kicked a particularly close vine out of the way and quickly followed after us. We raced forward blindly, Seokjin and I placing all our trust in Yoongi to lead us safely out.

“Here.”

I froze at the sound of Yoongi’s voice. I heard him shuffle around for a moment, before I was suddenly blinded by the light that came flooding into the tunnel. I blinked several times, allowing my eyes to adjust. Yoongi wore a proud smile as he ushered us through, and I sighed in relief.

The sun’s rays blinded me as I stepped out into the open and my heart skipped a beat when I looked behind me, for the exit to the tunnel had vanished. There was nothing apart from an open field. Yet that could not be right. I had just left the tunnel. It had been right behind me.

“Mind your step!”

I reeled back at the sudden cry from Yoongi, my eyes dropping down to where I heard his voice. The tunnel’s entrance stared up at me, ready to swallow me back in if I were to take one more step. Seokjin marched straight up the side of the tunnel, his feet sticking to the walls as if they had been molded together. He came to stand directly beside me after fully righting himself.

“You should try closing your mouth. The birds may try to build a nest there if you do not.” He said with a smirk.

I immediately snapped my mouth shut, though my eyes remained wide as I stared between Yoongi, who was still inside the tunnel, and his brother. “How did-”

“Do not think too deeply about my brother’s magic. It will only serve to make your headache.”

Frowning, I backed away from the hole as Yoongi made his way up. I was not fond of the way in which Seokjin continually interrupted my words. It was rather rude.

It struck me as strange as I took in my surroundings, that not a single blade of grass was wet. Hadn’t it been raining when we’d left the brothers’ house? Surely it could not have dried so quickly. I blinked up at the sun, searching for any signs of the massive clouds which had ruled the sky just moments ago.

“The weather changes dramatically from one end of the mountain to the other.” Seokjin said, coming to stand beside me.

I peered up at him, confused. “How did you-”

“You were staring up at the sky as if you were questioning your own sanity.”

“Seokjin!” Yoongi’s shout drew both our attention.

Seokjin’s eyes grew wide and he immediately rushed to help his brother. I was confused at first. Nothing seemed to be out of place initially. The vines and roots had not grown past the tunnel’s exit. We were all safely back on the ground, standing upright. It was not until I caught the first glimpse of the hideous creature that I understood their panic.

No one knew much about the ogre. Most assumed they were not real, claiming them to be a creature formed by the imaginations of those who had survived Blood Mountain. Until that moment, I had not believed in them either. Perhaps Seokjin was right. It was time to start believing that there was some truth behind every tale.

The first ogre protruded its ugly head from the opening, just as Yoongi began to close it. Seokjin jabbed his foot into its face, sending the creature careening back down into the hole. Yoongi squeezed his eyes shut, doing everything he could to keep his concentration as he worked on closing the exit. I did not understand why he would not simply seal it like he had the other side, but then I suppose the ogre’s magic could have been preventing him from doing so.

My ankle throbbed as I began searching for anything that may help. There was nothing around us for miles. I could just make out a tree line in the distance, but it was nowhere near close enough to offer any help. At my feet, I noticed a particularly large stone and quickly snatched it up. Struggling under its weight, I hobbled over and shoved Seokjin aside. Ignoring his cry of protest, I let the stone fall. It connected with three different ogres, pinning them all down to the ground below. They were scrawny creatures. Nothing at all like how I had imagined them to be. Each one shorter than I was, and each had an ugly scraggly mass of hair on top their heads. Their greyish skin stretched thin across their heads and hands yet was saggy and wrinkly over the rest of their bodies. With heads larger than their chests, the creatures were surely the sight of nightmares. A greenish mucus was built up around their eyes and they squinted as if unable to see clearly because of it.

“So, what is the plan?” I asked as I began picking up and hurling every stone I could get my hands on into the hole.

“Yoongi has to close the exit, but the ogres are using their magic against him.” Seokjin said, glancing up worriedly at Yoongi. “There must be dozens of the horrid creatures down there. Alone, their magic is enough to battle Yoongi’s, but together it appears they are a bit overwhelming.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“All we can do is try to keep them away from Yoongi until he’s managed to close it.”

“You do not possess any magic?” I asked, tossing another particularly large stone at an approaching ogre.

Seokjin’s eyes grew dark and he angrily shoved his hand inside the bag at Yoongi’s waist. “Only Yoongi was blessed with the gift of magic. He alone is our hope of survival.”

I swallowed hard and stole a glance at the wizard. Sweat beaded his forehead and his eyes were kept tightly closed. His hands balled into fists at his side as he chanted words I could not understand.

Seokjin shoved a few small, glowing orbs into my hands.

I recoiled at the slimy texture and wrinkled my nose at the odd scent wafting off them. “What is this?”

“Toss them at the ogres,” Seokjin said, “they shall work far better than the stones.”

I was about to ask how a bundle of glass orbs was going to help us, when Seokjin threw the first one at the nearest ogre. A loud popping sound reverberated through the air and the ogre was thrown back. The creature didn’t move after having been hit squarely in the head with what appeared to be a small explosion.

“You are suggesting we blow them up?”

Seokjin shrugged and threw another orb at an approaching ogre, sending it flying back into the tunnel. “It is worth a try, is it not?”

Deciding it was a better alternative to being devoured by one of the ugly creatures, I joined the man in his endeavor to protect his brother. Though the strategy worked for a time, it was not long before we began running out of orbs, yet still more ogres made their way out of the tunnel.

“Yoongi, it is of no use.” Seokjin said, racing over to shake his brother out of his concentration. “We must run.”

“We would never outrun them.” Yoongi shouted back, anger and frustration brewing in his words.

“Yet we cannot remain here! They will not stop their assault until they have acquired at least one of us. It is clear that their magic combined cannot be overcome with your own. It is time we made our escape. We make for the trees. If we can reach that, we will be able to get away.”

Before Yoongi could respond any further, a scream fell from my lips as I fell forward, my leg having been yanked out from under me. I clawed desperately at the ground, as the creature latched onto my ankle and began pulling me down.

“Emelyn!” The brothers shouted in unison.

Yoongi dove for my hand and Seokjin ran to try and peel the ogre’s hand off my leg. I clung to Yoongi’s arm yet all that managed to accomplish was having us both dragged back toward the opening. Seokjin managed to beat the ogre back until it finally released its hold on me and the three of us scrambled out of reach.

“Run!” Seokjin shouted, helping to lift me to my feet before taking off in the direction of the tree line.

I followed closely behind with Yoongi on my heels. Behind us, I heard the angry screeching of the ogres as they began emerging from the tunnel.

“We’re never going to make it.” Yoongi panted, clutching at his side as he ran. It was clear using his magic was draining. I noticed how his legs shook beneath him as he forced them to keep moving.

“Try to look on the bright side,” Seokjin quipped, “we survived the tunnel. We can survive this.”

Stealing a glance over my shoulder, I saw a hoard of ogres surging toward us. Some carried clubs, others wielding small swords while some came at us with nothing but their magic. Each pursued us with a hungry cry and an evil glint in their eyes.

Yoongi was right. It appeared as though our chances of surviving this encounter were minimal. I rested my gaze on the man in front of me. It was my own doing which had brought on the ogre attack. Whether it was due to the fresh scent of human flesh on the mountain which drew them in, or the ruckus I caused with the basilisk, I knew the brothers would not be running for their lives if I had simply not shown up at their doorstep.

Looking to the sky, I wished again that Jungkook was with us. Perhaps he would have had a few ideas on how to stop the gruesome creatures.

The first vine shot up two feet from Yoongi’s face. He yelped, skidding to a halt before skirting around it. I glanced behind us once more to find the ogres advancing. They may have been small and disproportioned, but they were fast.

Another root shot up and tangled itself around Seokjin’s foot, sending him crashing to the ground. I dove to help but Yoongi was quicker. He shot a beam of purple light at the root and it shriveled away back into the ground. Seokjin scrambled to his feet once more and we continued our retreat.

“We’re not going to make it!” Seokjin shouted, leaping to the side to avoid another shooting vine.

“We have to!” I shouted in return, determined I was not about to become an ogre’s meal.

A strangled scream escaped my lips when the vine shot up beside me and wrapped securely around my waist, sending me crashing to the ground. My hands clawed at the plant as it began dragging me back. Distantly, I heard the others shout after me, but my focus was held entirely on escaping. Tears clouded my vision as I struggled against its hold. Blinking rapidly, I craned my neck to look across my shoulder, only to wish that I hadn’t. The ogre whose magic was holding me, stood only a few feet away. A gruesome smile stretched across its face.

My head snapped back around when I felt two pairs of hands wrap around both my legs. Seokjin and Yoongi both began pulling me away from the approaching ogre. I screamed as the vine’s hold on my waist grew tighter and I began struggling to breathe. Still, the struggle continued. My fingers clawed viciously at the plant, yet the effort was pointless.

Yet another root shot from the ground then, wrapping itself around Seokjin’s neck. Yoongi screamed and immediately tackled his brother, fighting against the root as Seokjin’s face grew redder with every passing second.

I froze, watching with bated breath. Yoongi’s magic wasn’t working against it and brute strength was not going to work either. Something had to be done, but what? My arm scraped against a rough surface and I hissed in pain, frowning as I peered down to see what it was. My eyes grew wide when I saw it. One of the ogre’s clubs lay abandoned and forgotten in the tall grass. Scrambling to snatch it up, I twisted around and threw every ounce of strength I had into bashing the approaching ogre over the head. It swayed for a moment before crumpling to the ground, the vine immediately releasing its grip on me once the ogre was out.

Leaping to my feet, I rushed to Yoongi’s aid. Seokjin had long since lost consciousness, his face unnaturally red. He was not breathing. My chest ached as I thought of the worst. I did not want to believe it, but my gut told me one of us would not be surviving the night.

Large tears trailed down Yoongi’s cheeks as he fought with the root. Dropping down beside him, I snatched the bag at his waist and dug inside.

“Yoongi! Do you have any more of those odd smelling orbs?”

“What?” He snapped, not bothering to cease his efforts to free his brother.

“Never mind,” my hand wrapped around a familiar slimy orb and I pulled it out triumphantly.

Yoongi’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “What are you doing? That will kill him.”

“It is not for your brother,” I nodded toward the ogre drawing closer, “it’s for him.”

With as much force as I could muster, I threw the orb at the creature. It connected with the ogre’s chest, sending him flying back. Seconds later, the root around Seokjin’s neck went slack.

Yoongi ripped it off and began shaking his brother, trying to wake him.

I laid a hand on his shoulder; my attention being drawn to the mass of ugly creatures coming toward us. “Yoongi, we need to leave.”

“Wake up, Seokjin. I cannot lift you on my own. Wake up!” Yoongi’s voice shook as he pleaded with an unconscious Seokjin.

“I will help.” I said, reaching down to loop one of Seokjin’s arms around my neck. “But we must hurry.”

Yoongi nodded, jumping to his feet.

We carried Seokjin between us, his feet dragging across the ground as we raced for the tree line.

The ogres were growing tired of the chase. They wanted their meal and it was escaping. The ground beneath us began to tremble and Yoongi suddenly froze in his tracks. His voice shook when he screamed for me to get down. Before I could so much as blink, we were surrounded by a haze of soft purple light. An explosion of light shook the earth and the ringing in my ears forced my hands up to cover them. Ducking my head, I fell to the ground beside Seokjin, praying for it to be over quickly.

As the ground finally stopped shaking and the ringing in my ears faded, I slowly raised my head. The world was hazy and spun around me. Sounds were muffled causing me to become disoriented as I searched for Yoongi, my eyes eventually coming to rest on a hazy figure which I assumed to be the wizard. What I did not understand was why he seemed to be moving away from where Seokjin and I were. Glancing down, I realized with a shock that Seokjin wasn’t there. Snapping my head back up, I blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear my vision. Yoongi was chasing after a group of ogres as they carried a large floppy lump between them.

“No,” I breathed as my vision finally returned to full focus. It was Seokjin.

Scrambling to my feet, I nearly fell back to the ground as the world continued to spin madly. My feet stumbled forward, chasing after them. I was not sure what had transpired just moments ago, yet most of the ogres had gone. The few who remained were the ones carting Yoongi’s brother away.

Yoongi tripped, crashing to the ground in a heap, yet he did not remain there for long. Pushing himself back to his feet, he chased after them again. Anguished cries left his lips as he desperately tried to awaken his brother. Cries which fell on deaf ears.

The ogres disappeared back into the hole which they’d crawled out of, sealing off the entrance as they did. Yoongi shouted after them, dropping to the ground where the exit had been. His hands tore at the ground with uncontrolled desperation, sending grass and dirt flying in every direction. Sobs wracked his body as I slowly approached. I was not sure what to say or do. My heart ached for Yoongi as I silently watched him tear apart the earth. I had acted much the same way when my mother was taken. After having been suspected of using magic, my father and I had been forced to watch as she was carried away. I had spent the next several days at the doors of the prison. My hands had become bloodied and bruised from the constant attempts to open the door. It had only been a few days later when she was publicly executed, as an example of what would come to anyone who practiced magic.

Dropping to my knees beside him, I gently wrapped my arms around Yoongi’s shaking shoulders. He tried to throw me off only twice before falling into my embrace. His shook his head as he cried into my shoulder, his hands wrapped securely in the fabric of my dress.

We remained that way for a little while. Yoongi’s sobs eventually calming and his breathing became a bit steadier. I held him tightly. I knew there was nothing I could say which would ease his pain. There was nothing I could do to bring his brother back to him. The most I could do was remind him that he was not alone.

 After a while, Yoongi sat back and wiped at his eyes, which had glazed over as he stared at the place his brother had disappeared.

Reaching over, I took his hand in mine, gently rubbing my thumb across his skin. Glancing over, his eyes dropped to our hands before rising back up to meet my eyes. “He was my best friend.”

Those five words shattered my heart. No one would ever be able to replace what he’d lost. Squeezing his hand, I let him know he wasn’t alone. I may not have been able to change things, but I was not going to leave him on his own.

Looking at Yoongi then, I wondered if I was truly doing the right thing. I had left my family behind to fight for our kingdom. Jungkook was lost because I had sent us out on an impossible journey, and now Seokjin was gone as well. It seemed everywhere I went, I brought destruction with me. Perhaps if I had simply stayed locked in my room, none of this would have happened. If I had only accepted Taehyung’s offer in marriage, Seokjin would still be alive. I had vowed to make things right when I left the castle, yet all I had managed to do was make those around me suffer in unimaginable ways. Would I truly be able to restore peace to my kingdom? I was no longer sure I could. 

[paullahotes]

Incalescent- Chapter One

Pairing: Paul Lahote x Fem!OC

Summary: Em just wants to be loved and have a family for once in her life. But nothing has ever gone right in her life before so why should it now?

Word Count: 7.3k

Warnings: some violence and shitty writing

A/N: Listen, I don’t think I’m a good writer so bare with me this could be terrible! Let me know what you guys think of it!

People say the only thing guaranteed in life is death but for me that's a lie. I had only been on this earth for twenty-three years and I knew death would never come for me, at least not a natural one. The only thing guaranteed for me was the all consuming loneliness and disappointment that seemed to only get worse as each year ticked away. 

Sometimes it would hit me that this was my life forever. The thought alone could suck me into a blackhole of despair, my chest tightening and my lungs fighting to get oxygen. I was thankful this never happened in front of anyone, I could always pull myself out of it before I had to explain anything to my dad. 

My father was just as tense as he usually was with his hands gripping the steering wheel, driving us to our new home. I had lost count over the years how many times we moved, it felt like so many that it would be impossible to even count to the number anyway. With every new place we moved came even more distance between us.

Nothing was ever the same, the only thing the same was my father. He hadn’t changed at all since my first memory of him, no wrinkles on his face or grey peeking through his carefully coiffed hair. He was the reason we had to move all the time, he had been doing so for about three hundred years before I made my appearance in the world. After being in the same town for a couple years, people began to question how he never seemed to age, coupling that with the uneasiness people felt around him we always had to move.  

Keeping our secret was the only way to survive in the world. We wanted to be civilized, living in a house, having a job or in my case continuously going to school and hunting animals instead of humans. We had met others like us, more so like him, over the years of us traveling the world and they were practically unhinged. They never seemed to care about human life, their beady red eyes darting around looking ready to drain every last drop of an innocent without a second thought. 

Meeting other vampires were few and far between, thankfully. My father always made sure to sniff out the town, literally, before moving to it. Vampires who had red eyes were very territorial, their hunting grounds not something to mess with. Even with us explaining we didn’t hunt humans they wanted nothing to do with us but it was fine because we didn’t want to deal with them either. It had only happened twice when I was still little and my dad had moved us to a new town right away.

I understood why we had to move all the time, especially lately with how me and my dad looked the same age. There was no way he could pass for more than a few years as my dad and even that was pushing it. I just didn’t understand his intolerance of me, he tried his hardest not to talk too much with me or have a deeper relationship that I had seen other fathers have with their daughters. Years of my life I felt had been wasted trying to get him to do anything fatherly with me, I had never even heard him say ‘I love you’ to me. 

“We’re almost there,” He muttered quietly to me, if I didn’t have vampire hearing I wouldn’t have caught it. I side eyed him and found he was looking at me wearily, his dark golden eyes became emotionless once again after a minute. I pulled my cardigan tighter to my body and crossed my arms, letting out a small huff. As we passed by a sign that said ‘Welcome to Forks’ it began to pour, loud booms of thunder piercing through the otherwise quiet car. Times like this reminded me that I was half human, everytime the weather even became the tiniest bit gloomy I began to get a severe migraine. 

The whole area we were driving through seemed to be nothing but trees. Huge, drooping trees that were being weighed down by the pouring rain. Rain pelted the car, having not once let up since my father had announced that we were close to our destination. Thick moss covered huge boulders that lined the sides of the road. Deer seemed to be in abundance, practically lining the trees just inside the tree line. 

Bright red leaves caught my eye once we pulled down a new street. The only color besides green I had seen for miles. The tree the leaves covered was huge and almost hid the whole house behind it. The tree was semi wrapping itself around a telephone pole. The trees color contrasted heavily with the plain white house behind it and the surrounding greenery. To the left of the massive red tree was an even bigger green one, a few branches so weighed down with water that they were almost touching the ground below. 

“You can stay in the car if you want,” My dad mumbled to me as he shut off the car. He got out and cold wind whipped into the car before he could close the door. I pulled my cardigan tighter to me again and watched him as he walked toward the moving truck I hadn’t seen before. There were two men standing outside of it, soaked from the rain, waiting for him. They exchanged some brief words before opening the back of the truck and climbing on to begin getting stuff out.

I tried to play around on my phone while they moved our stuff into the house but nothing was interesting. Every article was just another reiteration of the same few stories that had gotten big the past week and I had already read into them. This week I knew far too much about some youtuber who had put out toxic makeup, next week would probably be the same. Endless stories about useless things I used to fill any void I felt.

My eyes lifted from my phone to see my father single handedly carrying in a huge recliner as the two movers stared at his retreating back in awe. The two of them exchanged a look and shrugged, silently agreeing neither of them get paid enough to question it. They moved box by box and pillow by pillow and were done in record time. My father was handing them a tip as one of the movers bravely asked how my dad was able to lift things that were so heavy and move so quickly. 

He chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand nervously. Then he muttered something about having a daughter who didn’t want to move in the first place, so he wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. The two movers looked over to me as I sat in the car and nodded in agreement with my dad as they probably noticed the irritation on my face.

The two movers said goodbye and got into their truck and took off down the road. Each turn of the tires on the truck made a wet, crunching sound as they pulled off onto another street and out of view. A gust of chilly wind flowed through the car when my dad pulled open the driver seat door to reach in and grab his bag. He said nothing to me as got his stuff and the car keys, slamming the door and marching his way into the house. I watched as the door closed behind him with a small clicking sound.

The rain and my headache had lightened up a little bit but they were both still annoyingly there. It seemed that I had spoken too soon because just as I decided to get out of the car and go inside the rain began to pelt the car harder and searing pain shot behind my right eye and to the back of my head. A loud crack of thunder sounded across the sky, shaking the ground slightly and making me wince in pain. Gritting my teeth I got out of the car and ran through the rain to get inside. 

The front door opened to reveal a narrow hallway and a bulky staircase to the right of it. I could see into the living room just to my left from the front door. My dad was already putting together the TV and wifi, kneeling in front of the fireplace mantle that had our tv displayed on it. He was muttering to himself about how technology these days was useless and combing through different wires he had in a box. Even with his advanced senses he had difficulty with today's technology, which didn’t make sense to me because he had been alive for over 300 years and watched as technology progressed.

“Do you need help?” I asked him, setting my bag down on the couch across from him. He shook his head and didn’t bother looking up at me. “I guess I’ll go set up my room a little bit and take a nap, I have a killer migraine.”

“Sure,” he muttered, pulling the wires out of a box and trying to untangle them. I watched him for a minute, waiting for him to maybe say more to me. Or maybe show that he cared even a little bit about me. Watching him became awkward and disappointing quickly so I grabbed my bag and ran up the stairs two at a time. The door at the top of the stairs was open and I could see my stuff all piled around the room, I hadn’t seen the house beforehand so he had just assigned me a room. 

It wasn’t a bad choice on his part, it was the master bedroom with an en suite. When you first walked in the first thing you would see was a huge picture window with a window seat attached to it and a small bookshelf under the seat. To the left was my bed and to the right was a wall covered by a bookshelf and the door to the en suite. 

My mind wandered to all the different things I could do with this room to try and make myself feel at home. I took out some decorative pillows and a couple throw blankets and threw them onto the window seat. The next thing I did was put my bed together, throwing on my favorite blue sheets and quilt set. 

The distraction of arranging my room took my mind off the weather and my headache, during which time both had gone away. Though my mood and the weather were still gloomy it was nothing compared to earlier. 

My body felt heavy as I got some sweats out of one of my clothes boxes and pulled them on. The freshly made bed in front of me had never looked more inviting so I climbed in and wrapped myself in the quilt. I wasn’t one who usually fell asleep quickly but as I yawned and snuggled closer to my pillows I knew it wouldn’t take long today.

I shot awake what felt like two minutes later, sweat beading all over my body. My breathing my heavy and uneven, the quilt I had wrapped up in now at the end of my bed having been kicked away during my dream. It was the same dream I always had when we first moved to a new town, yet I never expected it.

There was a woman, completely and utterly starved. Her eyes were sunken in and surrounded by the deepest black, worse than any black eyes I had ever seen. Her lips were chapped, white pieces flaking off here and there with deep splits in them covered in dried blood. Her hair was the same color as mine except hers looked like it was covered in dust.

The clothes she was wearing were stained in blood, some fresh and some all dried up. Her chest didn’t move up and down with every breath, she was still. There was no sign of life left in her 

Someone was screaming her name in the background, managing to choke it out between sobs. You could hear the endless chant of “Mary, please don’t!’ and “Mary, please stay with me!’ but there was nothing else the person could do, her eyes were blank as they stared ahead. Whoever she was she was gone and not coming back.

I pressed the palms of my hands to my eyes and tried to calm down. The dream felt like a memory, a distant one. This dream came around all the time but I couldn’t place who the woman was, I couldn’t recall that I had ever seen her. A few years back I had even tried looking up what dreams meant but came up short. 

Taking a deep breath I realized my dad was cooking something downstairs, the scent of garlic was now making its way into my room. I didn’t want to think too much of it but he never usually cooked for me since he doesn’t eat. He would go out and hunt his dinner while I stayed home with stolen blood bag and whatever I decided to cook for myself.

I got out of bed and followed the scent down into the kitchen to see my dad leaning on the counter while something was cooking on the stove. He had a small piece of paper in his hand and he was staring at it, a look of grief on his face. He was so distracted by whatever the paper held that he didn’t know I had come downstairs and almost jumped when he saw me. He shoved the paper quickly into his back pocket and went back to the stove.

The only sound in the kitchen was the popping of the food he was cooking. We didn’t say a word to each other as I went to sit at the island in the middle of the kitchen and watched him cook.I had caught him a few times looking at what I assumed to be the same paper, him never telling me what it was. I noticed the piece of paper sticking out of his jeans so I leapt up from the table and trying to go as fast and as quiet as I could I went to grab it. 

My success was short lived because just as I got a hand on whatever it was he had his hand around my wrist stopping me. He had turned around so fast, his senses alerting him to my movement practically before I even decided to do it. That was the trouble with being on half vampire, you were barely half as powerful as a full one.

“Em,” he whispered, with a threatening hint to his voice. I stared at him for a minute, my chest heaving as I decided on what to do. Without hesitation I threw my head forward, every negative thing I had pent up coming out in this moment for no reason. My forehead hit his mouth, hurting me more than him but taking him by surprise. The paper was still pinched between my fingers, his grip loosened on my arm and I spun around looking down at whatever the paper was.

“Mary,” I gasped, recognizing the woman on the paper. She looked much better here, her bright eyes not sunken in and her hair was exactly like mine, shiny with life. She was smiling widely, her nose crinkled as she laughed at whatever the camera hadn’t captured. 

“How do you know her name?” My dad asked gravely from behind he. For some reason his words came out breathless though he had no reason to breathe, he didn’t need to. Slowly I turned around to look at him. My brain was going over every possible answer to who she was, trying not to go to the one I was dreading.

“I-I dream about her sometimes,” I whispered to him. He looked crazed, his eyes wide and darting from my face to the picture in my hand. I looked away from him and down to the picture again. There was no getting around it, this could’ve been a picture of me if I had ever been given the opportunity to laugh.

“Mary’s your mother,” He stated, his voice no longer breathless. He had straightened his posture when I looked back up at him. He was now glaring at me, disgust written all over his face. The woman in the picture that I had been dreaming about for years was my mother? He had never once talked about her. I didn’t even really know the concept of having a mom until he put me in school and I saw that everyone else had one and when I asked him about my mom he always ignored me or told me not to talk about it.

“You’ve never…” I let my sentence trail off. He wouldn’t talk about her with me and yet he kept a picture of her that he looked at all the time. 

“You killed her.” He spat at me and I froze looking at him through the corner of me eye but not directly. He had backed up into the hallway and out of the kitchen. Whatever he had been cooking was now burning and sending smoke through the house.

“No, I-,” I cut myself off, my eyes darting around trying to remember more of the dream. How could I have killed my own mother? She had never been there and I could remember further back than a human could, I could remember practically back to when I was still a tiny newborn. 

“When she was pregnant you sucked the life right out of her,” He explained quietly and when I finally looked up at him with tears spilling down my cheeks he looked like he regretted bringing any of it up. My stomach lurched and my chest tightened thinking of it. I had killed my own mother? 

“I don’t…” I tried to start another sentence but they weren’t forming. Realization rushed at me so fast I almost fell backwards, I ended up stumbling back a couple steps before stopping myself. I suddenly felt this hatred bubbling up inside me, I hated everything about my life before and now I could feel hatred for myself. I shouldn’t exist, a human and a vampire shouldn’t have made a child. A killer.

“Em, I don’t know what else to say,” my dad mumbled suddenly closer to me. He ice cold hands gripping my upper arms. My eyes met his sorrow filled ones and tears continued to pour from mine. 

“I get it now,” I whispered, shrugging out of his grip. I set the picture down on the island before slowly walking toward the door. Everything in my life suddenly made sense and even though I had clarity I felt no better. I felt worse. My dad looked at me as I slid the backdoor open and turned around to gaze into the backyard.

“That’s why you don’t like me,” I said quietly, as I looked toward the sky. It was pitch black out and rain was falling so heavily I don’t know how I didn’t hear it before. The sky lit up as a flash of lightning struck across the sky, followed by thunder so loud it shook the house and even made me stumble a bit. I looked back at him before continuing to speak. “You hate me because I killed her.”

“Em-” I ran out the back door before he could finish. My clothes became soaked almost immediately, sticking to my skin as I ran as fast as I could through the forest. My bare feet went numb from the cold and I couldn’t feel the ground underneath me but I didn’t care, I kept running as fast as I could. 

My mind was reeling as it made sense of everything. My dad not taking an interest in having a relationship with me make complete sense to me now. He hated me for killing the woman he loved even though I didn’t do it on purpose, I never would. I was half vampire but I couldn’t bring myself to kill a fly, let alone my own mother. 

I heard a loud scream and was startled before I realized it was me. While I ran my body vibrated with anger, nature seemed to agree with me as lightning started to strike more frequently and closer. This was going to be my eternity, wandering the world by my dads side while he hated me.  I let out another scream before I could even stop myself. A loud crack of thunder shook the ground I was running on at the same time. 

Ahead of me was a river so I tensed my body and made my legs push me off the ground as hard as I could. I flew through the air and just as I was about to land on the other side a big mass of fur came out of nowhere and knocked me backwards into the rocky river. As the mass knocked into me I had felt something sharp pierce my right calf. My body turned as I fell and slammed into jagged rocks. My whole right side getting scraped up and my head hitting hard. My breath hitched in my throat as the pain coursed through my body.

I rolled off the rock and into the water, it wasn’t deep but if I laid my head back too much it would be completely submerged. A sob loudly broke from my chest as I used my left arm to try and pull myself up. I couldn't stop my crying but something had just attacked me and I wasn’t going to die this way. My right leg was ready to give out from under me, a huge bite mark was present, most of my pant leg torn away. As I stood and blinked my eyes to clear my vision the huge mass of fur was making its way toward me. I stood completely still, frozen to my spot as I realized what it was.

A huge wolf, at least 5 times the size of a regular wolf was stalking toward me. His silver/grey fur gleamed in the moonlight. I dared a glance up at the sky, the clouds were parting letting the moon peek out. When had it stopped raining? 

“Go ahead and kill me, that’s I deserve,” I sobbed out. There was no way this wolf understood me but he was going to kill me anyway so I might as well make it therapeutic for myself. “I shouldn’t even be alive, I killed my own mother. I deserve to be torn apart, my father would love it.”

The wolf stopped walking toward me and cocked its head to the side. The wolf looked to be examining me, his eyes roaming my body and stopping to look at each gash on my right side. When our eyes locked I could’ve gasped, they looked human. The raw emotion coming from them was unbelievable. He looked as if he was in awe as we stared at each other. Underneath the awe was complete sadness, like he understood what I had been saying.

I didn’t want to risk moving and startling the wolf so I stayed as still as I could but my legs were beginning to shake, ready to give out from how much pain I was in. I could feel the blood dripping down my face, neck and arms from all the gashes I had sustained slamming into the rock. My right arm couldn’t move, whether it was broken or just knocked out of the socket I didn’t know and I didn’t think I’d find out since the wolf in front of me was probably planning on having me for dinner.

After a minute my legs gave out and I collapsed to my knees, clutching my right arm as I went. Hot, fat tears rolled down my cheeks knowing the wolf took this as a surrender and was probably gearing up to eat. When I caught his gaze again there was even more emotion than before, he looked undeniably upset. Sadness and anger all mixed into one. He took several steps back and let out the loudest howl I had ever heard and ran up the rocky cliff and disappeared into the woods. 

My whole body relaxed when he was gone from view but that was short lived because the pain I was feeling before was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. Struggling through the pain I began to inch forward, using my left arm to pull me up the rocky embankment. Before I was even halfway up I heard someone coming down, it wasn’t a wolf this time. Warm arms wrapped themselves around my body and pulled me up gently.

“Are you okay?” The person carrying me asked. My eyes were closed as pain coursed through my body. I would heal quicker than a human but I couldn’t escape the pain. I nodded in response to the stranger and let my body relax in their arms. He was warmer than most humans I had met, the warmth strangely comforting as he walked through the woods.

“We should get out of here quickly,” I mumbled, sounding very tired. “There was a really big wolf and it’ll probably come back for us.”

He chuckled, his chest rumbling against my body. “We’ll be fine.”

Despite knowing better I kept going in and out of consciousness. My eyes not opening even once to look at the man helping me. My mind not even questioning how he was so strong and warm or how he was able to navigate the pitch black woods as a human without enhanced vision. 

Before long I regained consciousness a little and felt myself be laid down on something soft, I could hear voices around me talking but wasn’t aware enough to decipher words yet. I felt a warm, wet cloth on my feet, someone was washing them very gently and muttering something as they did. Before long the cloth was on my face and neck, cleaning up the blood that had probably caked my skin.

“She’s healing really fast,” A voice murmured to someone, different than the voice of the man who had carried me to wherever I was. I felt small, warm fingers prodding the skin of my arm and shoulder. “The injuries she sustained from hitting the rock are practically gone. The bite mark you gave her isn’t though.”

“Maybe she’s a wolf too since her healing is incredibly fast,” the voice was female and very beautiful. The words flowing out of her mouth like a song. I was comforted by the fact that it was a woman cleaning me up and not another man.

“She looked scared when she saw me. If she was a wolf she would’ve phased to protect herself,” another voice said, the same one of the man who carried me here. There was a murmur of agreement between the three voices. The man who carried me here sounded like he was saying that he was a wolf and that would explain the emotion in the wolf's eyes but that wouldn’t explain his existence. But who was I to say anything when my father was a vampire and I was half.

“We’ve dealt with vampires and werewolves before, who’s to say there aren’t more supernatural beings out there? When she wakes up we can ask her but until then she needs her rest, she’s been through a lot.” The female voice was back, taking control of the situation. Her small hands stopped examining my wounds and left my body to be replaced with a blanket.

I wanted to open my eyes and start explaining myself to them and thank them for helping me but I was beginning to drift off again. It took my body a lot of energy to heal, sleeping it off was always my best bet. Before I could even begin to argue with myself that this might not be the safest option I was asleep. 

My senses were in overdrive as I came too a while later. I wasn’t even fully awake, my eyes cracked open just slightly as I leapt off of the couch. My feet hit the floor and a shooting pain went through my right calf and up my body, almost making me fall. I was breathing hard as I tried to concentrate and gather my senses.

Three people were standing around the room, the two closest to me were men and the one furthest sitting at the kitchen table was a woman with violent red scars down her face. The woman had a sad expression on her face as she looked at me, my face pinched up in pain from my leg wound that oddly hadn’t fully healed yet. One of the men mirrored her face, his eyes were sad and somehow he was still the most handsome guy I had ever seen. The man next to him was tense and watching me with weary eyes, he was standing in a defensive position with his hands up as a warning for me to calm down.

“Take it easy,” the defensive man said, trying to relax his position a little so I would feel at ease. It didn’t work, my human side and my vampire side were fighting over what to do. The vampire in me needed to be on defense, ready to fight anything that came my way. The human part of me wanted to surrender because these people had helped me and clearly were not an enemy.

“I’m Paul,” the handsome man stated, taking a step toward me. He gestured to the man next to him as he got closer to me, “That’s Sam and the woman over there is his fiancee, Emily. She’s the one who cleaned you all up and gave you fresh clothes.”

“I’m Em,” I murmured looking around at all of them trying to get my body to recognize that there wasn’t a threat. Paul stepped closer to me, arms reaching out and wrapping one of them around me. I let my legs give out from under me and he easily scooped me up and placed me back on the couch. 

“What are you?” Sam asked finally relaxing and sitting on the coffee table that was just in front of the couch. Emily walked over from the kitchen to join him and I looked around at all three of them. All eyes were on me as they got right to the point, their eyes filled with curiosity. 

“You guys waste no time,” I mumbled, wondering if I should tell them anything. My mind flashed back to before when I was laying down on the couch half awake listening to what they were saying, how Paul insinuated that he was the wolf in the woods that attacked me. “Maybe I should be asking you the same thing.”

“Have you heard the Quileute legends?” Paul asked from beside me. I looked over at him, his eyes already on me. His eyes were the exact same ones the wolf had, both filled with a look of awe as they searched my face waiting for me to answer.

“No, I’m not familiar with anything from this area. Or any area really,” I mumbled the ending quietly, the three of them all exchanging glances. 

“We aren’t going to bombard you with too much at once. Our ancestors, going back for a long time, have been able to shapeshift into wolves.” Sam started to explain, his eyes darting toward Paul who had grown tense next to me. The heat radiating off of him was unbelievable, it was like sitting directly next to a heater.

“So which one of you attacked me in the woods?” I asked looking between the two men. I excluded Emily because judging by the scar on her face she wasn’t a shifter, just someone who had been attacked by one. They had also mentioned earlier that they thought I could be a wolf from my fast healing so the scar on her face was also an indication she wasn’t one of them.

“I did,” Paul said from behind me confirming his story from earlier. When I looked over at him he looked ashamed of himself, like he was ready to jump under a bus from how much he regretted it. I felt the sudden urge to comfort him, the stranger who had attacked me in the woods, I almost laughed from how stupid I felt over it.

“He thought you were a vampire from how fast you were running,” Emily interjected, placing a hand on my knee. My dad, bile rose in my throat as I thought of him, has always been very clear about sharing our secret but I felt safe here and I doubted that they were going to just let me go without answering them. The way they had taken care of me made me think that maybe they could be friends. Maybe they could finally give me what I had been missing my whole life. 

“Well, you’d be half right,” I told them. They all exchanged looks again and Sam leaned back running his hands along his thighs as he spoke. He seemed very unsure of how he was going to say what he seemed to need to to me.

“We have a treaty with some other vampires who used to live here, the Cullens,” he paused and looked at me waiting to see if I recognized them. The way he said ‘The Cullens’ made them sound like a bigger coven than I had ever been used to but he said they were gone now so I didn’t have to worry about a fight over territory. When I didn’t show any signs of knowing them, he continued. “Vampires aren’t allowed on our land, it’s a rule we have to protect our families.”

“Oh,” I whispered suddenly disappointed. The part of me that had let myself get comfortable in their presence was now tense and remembered how my life usually went. To stay alive and inconspicuous I had to hide myself away, only doing necessary things to blend into the town and not be spotted.  

“Maybe if we knew more about you we could let you and only you, come back here sometime,” Emily offered up, looking over at Sam hopefully. Sam was staring at Paul and paying no attention to anyone else. Paul also had the same hopeful look that Emily did as he stared back at Sam. 

“What do you want to know?” I asked them sitting up straighter and waiting for the real interrogation to begin. It seemed to be two against one with Paul and Emily against Sam, who was clearly a leader of some sort to them.

“Are you alone? Do you have like a mate or whatever vampires call their boyfriends?” Paul asked from beside me. That was not the opening question I was expecting. He looked hopeful while I probably looked dumbfounded at the first question, not having expected it.

“Uh, no I don’t have a ‘mate’ but I just moved here with my father who’s a full vampire not just half,” I told them and Sam tensed, his eyes going between Emily and Paul. They all looked nervous and like I just made them think of a million more questions. 

“How does that even work? Being half a vampire, we’ve never experienced that and our legends don’t speak of vampires being on ‘half’,” Sam asked, no one else had wanted to continue. I bit my lip unsure of how to continue too. I hadn’t really known either until a few hours ago and the truth was shocking and not something I want to tell strangers about myself. Especially when they had taken care of me.

“I didn’t know until a few hours ago either, I never questioned it and my dad doesn’t really speak to me so I know next to nothing,” I started, gauging their expressions again. Next to me I could feel Paul staring at me and when I looked at him he was looking at me like I could never tell him anything that would make him not like me. The intensity of his look, we were total strangers so it didn’t make sense for him to look at me like this, knocked the breath out of me.

“Continue,” Sam instructed, breaking me away from Pauls gaze. I felt myself frown a little going over every way I could answer them without telling them the complete, horrible truth. 

“My vampire father had sex with my human mother and she got pregnant,” I relented shrugging my shoulders and looking around at them. “I don’t know much about vampires or humans really so I don’t really know how any of it works.”

“Where’s your mom now?” Emily asked, making my eyes almost bulge out of my head. How could I even go about explaining this?

“I really don’t know, my dad never talks about anything with me let alone my mom,” I replied sounding casual, to me it sounded too casual. They all seem to be satisfied with my answer, as none of them looked like they were still questioning me.

“This is something we’ve never heard of,” Sam muttered and mumbled under his breath about the legends.  

“I thought vampires couldn’t have children,” Emily mentioned sounding puzzled. “Their bodies don’t change, they’re frozen in time.”

“My father only ever told me what I absolutely needed to know about vampires, stay away from the ones with red eyes and hunt inconspicuously. This is all I know,” I said sounding a little defensive. 

“Your father doesn’t have red eyes?” Sam asked, a very little bit of relief present in his face. 

“His eyes are golden, sometimes black depending on when the last time he hunted was,” Sam nodded at me, seeming to believe what I was saying. Next to me Paul scooted closer to me, our knees touching. 

“Do you know anything about a red headed vampire? She’s been coming through Forks and La Push for a while now, she’s after one of our friends,” Paul asked and I shook my head, I had met a red headed vampire a few years back but she wasn’t alone.

“I’ve only met a few other vampires, one of them was red headed but I doubt its her because she was part of a small coven with her mate and a friend they picked up along the way,” I answered them, if it was her they were in trouble. When I met her, Victoria, she had been with her mate James and their newest addition, Laurent. James was the most lethal tracker in the world according to my dad and it had been surprising to him that they left me alone. 

“Was her name, Victoria?” Paul asked shifting beside me and grabbing my shoulders to bring me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him in surprise, my mouth opening but no words coming out. Paul looked worried and cast a look over at Sam who was standing now, looking out a window into the early morning light. I had been here for longer than I thought, it was almost time for my first day of school.

“I’m guessing you’ve met her,” Sam stated not bothering to really ask or look back at me. I shrugged out of Paul’s grip and got up and went over to him. 

“I have never met anyone who has ever made me as uneasy as Victoria and James did, they are absolutely lethal. James is a tracker, once he ‘tastes’ your mind he can find you anywhere, he does not give up,” I said looking around the room, mainly toward Emily. Paul and Sam had some advantage over the vampires but Emily was defenseless. “Victoria I would say is even worse, she can’t be caught. Some vampires have gifts like James does, I know that much about them, somehow Victoria has the gift of self preservation or that’s what my dad heard over the years.”

“The friend she’s after was friendly with the Cullens. James tried to kill her so the Cullens killed him and now Victoria wants revenge,” Paul explained coming over to us. I relaxed a little hearing that James was dead but Victoria alone could be deadly.

“We haven’t picked up her scent in a little while though,” Sam said eyeing me. Next to him Paul tensed up at the look Sam was giving me. “It’s good to have some information on her though, now we can be more vigilant if she shows up.”

“I can always help,” I offered, the look on Paul’s face making it clear he didn’t want me to help but Sam looked surprised. “I only have school, my first day starts soon so I should be getting to that so I look normal or whatever but I can come back...if you want.”

“You’d help us kill one of your own?” Sam asked sounding intrigued. 

“She’s not one of my own, I don’t really have anyone. I guess my dad counts as my own but I probably would fight him too if it was to save innocent people,” I explained, practically wincing when I mentioned my dad. My brain was trying desperately to suppress the events that had taken place back at my house and focus solely on this. 

“You should come back but I wouldn’t want you getting hurt helping us,” Paul replied quickly. My face flushed when he said it was him that didn’t want me to get hurt. There was something about Paul that I liked but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

“You can come back but let your father know he isn’t welcome on our land,” Sam told me, he didn’t wait for me to say anything else or leave. He disappeared to a room just off the kitchen, the door slamming shut so loudly that even I flinched. 

“He’ll come around,” Emily assured me but looked over at Paul, more so assuring him. The last few hours had been a lot of information to take in and I was too overwhelmed to question anything more about Paul. Emily was moving around the kitchen quickly grabbing stuff and putting it into a paper bag. 

“Can I walk you home?” Paul asked, taking my attention away from Emily. 

“You can, you’ll just have to leave before we get too close to my house. My dad doesn’t like me talking to anyone unless it is absolutely necessary,” He frowned when I said it but quickly pushed that thought out of his mind.

“Here you go, some breakfast and lunch since we kept you so long and you’re running late for your first day,” Emily handed me the paper bag she had been filling. She had a wide, cheerful smile on her face as she waved Paul and I off.

My heart hammered in my chest at all the possibilities of my new home. In a matter of hours of being here I learned so much, way more than my dad had ever wanted me to know. I felt like I was going to be able to finally become independent from him and able to set my own course in life. I didn’t know what the end result would look like but I knew it was happening.

Tagged:

@angelenemies @twilightxcx

[hellbentwidow]

witcher verse sadie never went to any academies for magic-inclined folks.   it’s universal for all my verses that sadie is home-schooled and that translates over to this verse too.   sadie and her adoptive older sister Marjorie were taught to control their abilities by their adoptive mother.  while their mother was a very powerful witch,  she was not the best teacher though she tried.   she never believed in bottling the chaos,   which is why she…  wasn’t all there in the head,  especially towards the end.   marjorie eventually died due to her own abilities overtaking her and crushing her down to the bone and their adoptive mother wandered into the swamps and never returned after that happened.  sadie tried to search for her but to no avail.  

after seeing what magic did to the two most important people in her life,  sadie stopped trying to learn/forced herself to stop being curious.         don’t get me wrong,  she’d still cast minor spells here and there–   something to help heal a wounded dog or an innocent merchant…   something to make a piece of shit prick trip over thin air and bust his nose open on a table.   but besides that,  she stayed relatively off the radar.   took over the farm her mother and sister lived in by the swamps,  a good hour away from the nearest village.  filled it with horses, chickens, and pigs. 

she eventually met jake,  a traveling merchant from the skellige isles.   it’d been a long trip to velen and he was mugged and left for dead by bandits.  sadie saved and healed him and let him stay with her until he was better but instead of staying two days,  he ended up staying with her until his last breath,  six years later.  they fell in love and married and sadie was sure this was her destiny–  that jake was her destiny.   even without being able to carry a child and with her being a non-human,  he didn’t care and loved her through and through.   

she lived happy and carefree until witch hunters showed up at her doorstep.   because witch hunters don’t care if it’s just a woman trying to live a good and peaceful life who has never truly harmed anyone–  they just cared about tying her up to a stake and burning her alive.   sadie was forced to use defensive/offensive magic she’s never had to use before because though her husband was a large man, he knew very little of how to protect himself.  he tried,   god did he try–   and him trying ended with a sword in his chest and his throat slit after two days of them tormenting/abusing the couple.     turns out it’s awfully easy to get a witch on the floor when you threaten to gut her husband like a pig.  that sort of grief,  pain and shock did to her what it’d do to any woman madly in love with someone:  unhinge her and make her want to hurt the witch hunters as painfully as possible.      she snapped their bones one by one,  starting with their ankles and moving up to their knees, up to their ribcage,  their arms and finally ending at their neck.  burnt one of them alive–  a fire which eventually burnt down the entire home.   the last hunter left alive was left on the floor with his hands and feet severed.     sadie was bleeding profusely from her nose,   clothes barely clinging onto her charred body.  but she asked him who hired him/where he found out about her.  turns out the town a whole fucking hour away didn’t want a witch living that close to them so several villagers put their coin together to hire the hunters.      funny thing is they most likely would have been able to capture and kill sadie if they hadn’t decided to get their rocks off and torture her and jake.  if they hadn’t killed jake,  they would have been able to get her because all she cared about was him being safe.  if they had let him go,  she would have tied her own damn self to the stake.  that’s what happens when unprofessional and sadistic bastards become witch hunters.   

the house as well as most of the animals got burnt down,  as well as the hunter who had been left alive.  sadie got what remained of jake’s body once the flames died down (and after she woke up since she got knocked the fuck out by her own magic and woke up with a blinding migraine as well as two blackened fingers on her right hand.  yeah they fell off an hour later),  buried him and the animals,  released the ones that were left alive and then hopped onto bob,  her very loyal and resilient steed that got a few burns to his backside,  leaving him with a big ol’ bald spot.   

she rode into the village that called for her head and wiped out nearly everyone.  we’ll say the village had a population of about 70 people–  she killed thirty-two of them that day,  all in agonizing ways.   one of them was a kid,  six of them were people who had been against hiring the witch hunters.   the village got burnt down to the ground,  down to the very last ash,  though people still remained alive after sadie rode out of there.   they chased her,  enraged and blinded with grief the same way she was,  but bob has always been an extremely fast horse and got sadie to safety.  sadie passed the fuck out for three and a half days after that.  

when she woke up,  a godling was hovering over her,  pouring water on her face and giggling when she got up disoriented and terrified.  turns out that godling is the only thing that stopped her from turning into the dinner of a huge fucking bear.   she almost passed right back out after fighting the bear off but she got herself to her feet and back to bob.   the consequences of her actions are massive–  it seems like every single fucking witch hunter in velen starts trying to track her down after what she did.  the remaining survivors of the village all put up notices for her,  all of them able to describe her appearance in vivid detail.  sadie is still so angry and unsatisfied,  and for years she comes after the last survivors of the village.  not the kids or the women though.  but she becomes pure unfiltered chaos for almost an entire decade on that side of velen.  

word spreads about her throughout the entire province though,  but what helps the witch hunters stop finding her is the ghost stories about her.  folk start describing her as an old hag with long white hair, or a beautiful red-head with in-your-face tits.  there’s less and less hunters coming after her each year and eventually all the last remaining men of the village get wiped out by sadie.  somewhere towards the end of her uhh Journey of Vengeance,  she runs across a bounty hunter.  he doesn’t give a fuck that she’s a witch–  if anything,  he tells her that might help her bring in the tougher bounties.  he introduces her to the life of a bounty hunter,  shows her the ropes.  sadie,  towards the end of the decade,  exhausted and in so much physical/emotional pain,  takes up the gig because she needs a…  new start.   she doesn’t particularly think she deserves it.  she doesn’t see herself as a bad person the first two or three years,  but the rest of them?  she loathes herself & gets no happiness from her actions.  she’s just doing it because she’s angry and wants to feed the chaos in her,  even if the chaos keeps hurting her.   she gets riddled with burn scars from the neck-down over the years from the flames cast by her own hands.  loses those two fingers,  loses all of her hair for a while there,  and she suffers permanently from spontaneous nose-bleeds and blackouts.  

anyway yeah she becomes a bounty hunter and people start seeing her a bounty hunter more than a witch since she seldom uses her magic now.  she depends on her skills with her blades and bow and arrow above anything else.  only uses her magic when she’s forced to/not around humans because she fears they’ll figure out who she actually is.   there’s people who are still alive who remember who she is and want her dead,  witch hunters still searching for her.  she’s got a massive amount of coin racked up in the witch hunting world and a horrible reputation.   if people recognize who she is they tend to turn a blind eye out of fear,  and she’s been confronted multiple times.  knocking them unconscious always works for her,  since she doesn’t want to kill anymore people than she already has if they ain’t a bounty for her to track down.  

forgot to add–  though she avoids murdering needlessly now…  if she runs across a witch hunter,  that bastard is getting a knife through his neck IMMEDIATELY.  she fucks with witchers, but witch hunters can go straight to fucking hell.  

[hellbentwidow-moved]

witcher verse sadie never went to any academies for magic-inclined folks.   it’s universal for all my verses that sadie is home-schooled and that translates over to this verse too.   sadie and her adoptive older sister Marjorie were taught to control their abilities by their adoptive mother.  while their mother was a very powerful witch,  she was not the best teacher though she tried.   she never believed in bottling the chaos,   which is why she...  wasn’t all there in the head,  especially towards the end.   marjorie eventually died due to her own abilities overtaking her and crushing her down to the bone and their adoptive mother wandered into the swamps and never returned after that happened.  sadie tried to search for her but to no avail.   

after seeing what magic did to the two most important people in her life,  sadie stopped trying to learn/forced herself to stop being curious.  don’t get me wrong,  she’d still cast minor spells here and there--   something to help heal a wounded dog or an innocent merchant...   something to make a piece of shit prick trip over thin air and bust his nose open on a table.   but besides that,  she stayed relatively off the radar.   took over the farm her mother and sister lived in by the swamps,  a good hour away from the nearest village.  filled it with horses, chickens, and pigs.  she eventually met jake,  a traveling merchant from the skellige isles.   it’d been a long trip to velen and he was mugged and left for dead by bandits.  sadie saved and healed him and let him stay with her until he was better but instead of staying two days,  he ended up staying with her until his last breath,  six years later.  they fell in love and married and sadie was sure this was her destiny--  that jake was her destiny.   even without being able to carry a child and with her being a non-human,  he didn’t care and loved her through and through.   she lived happy and carefree until witch hunters showed up at her doorstep.   because witch hunters don’t care if it’s just a woman trying to live a good and peaceful life who has never truly harmed anyone--  they just cared about tying her up to a stake and burning her alive.   sadie was forced to use defensive/offensive magic she’s never had to use before because though her husband was a large man, he knew very little of how to protect himself.  he tried,   god did he try--   and him trying ended with a sword in his chest and his throat slit after two days of them tormenting/abusing the couple.  turns out it’s awfully easy to get a witch on the floor when you threaten to gut her husband like a pig.  that sort of grief,  pain and shock did to her what it’d do to any woman madly in love with someone:  unhinge her and make her want to hurt the witch hunters as painfully as possible.   she snapped their bones one by one,  starting with their ankles and moving up to their knees, up to their ribcage,  their arms and finally ending at their neck.  burnt one of them alive--  a fire which eventually burnt down the entire home.   the last hunter left alive was left on the floor with his hands and feet severed.  sadie was bleeding profusely from her nose,   clothes barely clinging onto her charred body.  but she asked him who hired him/where he found out about her.  turns out the town a whole fucking hour away didn’t want a witch living that close to them so several villagers put their coin together to hire the hunters.   funny thing is they most likely would have been able to capture and kill sadie if they hadn’t decided to get their rocks off and torture her and jake.  if they hadn’t killed jake,  they would have been able to get her because all she cared about was him being safe.  if they had let him go,  she would have tied her own damn self to the stake.  that’s what happens when unprofessional and sadistic bastards become witch hunters.   the house as well as most of the animals got burnt down,  as well as the hunter who had been left alive.  sadie got what remained of jake’s body once the flames died down (and after she woke up since she got knocked the fuck out by her own magic and woke up with a blinding migraine as well as two blackened fingers on her right hand.  yeah they fell off an hour later),  buried him and the animals,  released the ones that were left alive and then hopped onto bob,  her very loyal and resilient steed that got a few burns to his backside,  leaving him with a big ol’ bald spot.   she rode into the village that called for her head and wiped out nearly everyone.  we’ll say the village had a population of about 70 people--  she killed thirty-two of them that day,  all in agonizing ways.   one of them was a kid,  six of them were people who had been against hiring the witch hunters.   the village got burnt down to the ground,  down to the very last ash,  though people still remained alive after sadie rode out of there.   they chased her,  enraged and blinded with grief the same way she was,  but bob has always been an extremely fast horse and got sadie to safety.  sadie passed the fuck out for three and a half days after that.  when she woke up,  a godling was hovering over her,  pouring water on her face and giggling when she got up disoriented and terrified.  turns out that godling is the only thing that stopped her from turning into the dinner of a huge fucking bear.   she almost passed right back out after fighting the bear off but she got herself to her feet and back to bob.   the consequences of her actions are massive--  it seems like every single fucking witch hunter in velen starts trying to track her down after what she did.  the remaining survivors of the village all put up notices for her,  all of them able to describe her appearance in vivid detail.  sadie is still so angry and unsatisfied,  and for years she comes after the last survivors of the village.  not the kids or the women though.  but she becomes pure unfiltered chaos for almost an entire decade on that side of velen.  word spreads about her throughout the entire province though,  but what helps the witch hunters stop finding her is the ghost stories about her.  folk start describing her as an old hag with long white hair, or a beautiful red-head with in-your-face tits.  there’s less and less hunters coming after her each year and eventually all the last remaining men of the village get wiped out by sadie.  somewhere towards the end of her uhh Journey of Vengeance,  she runs across a bounty hunter.  he doesn’t give a fuck that she’s a witch--  if anything,  he tells her that might help her bring in the tougher bounties.  he introduces her to the life of a bounty hunter,  shows her the ropes.  sadie,  towards the end of the decade,  exhausted and in so much physical/emotional pain,  takes up the gig because she needs a...  new start.   she doesn’t particularly think she deserves it.  she doesn’t see herself as a bad person the first two or three years,  but the rest of them?  she loathes herself & gets no happiness from her actions.  she’s just doing it because she’s angry and wants to feed the chaos in her,  even if the chaos keeps hurting her.   she gets riddled with burn scars from the neck-down over the years from the flames cast by her own hands.  loses those two fingers,  loses all of her hair for a while there,  and she suffers permanently from spontaneous nose-bleeds and blackouts.  

anyway yeah she becomes a bounty hunter and people start seeing her a bounty hunter more than a witch since she seldom uses her magic now.  she depends on her skills with her blades and bow and arrow above anything else.  only uses her magic when she’s forced to/not around humans because she fears they’ll figure out who she actually is.   there’s people who are still alive who remember who she is and want her dead,  witch hunters still searching for her.  she’s got a massive amount of coin racked up in the witch hunting world and a horrible reputation.   if people recognize who she is they tend to turn a blind eye out of fear,  and she’s been confronted multiple times.  knocking them unconscious always works for her,  since she doesn’t want to kill anymore people than she already has if they ain’t a bounty for her to track down.   

forgot to add--  though she avoids murdering needlessly now...  if she runs across a witch hunter,  that bastard is getting a knife through his neck IMMEDIATELY.  she fucks with witchers, but witch hunters can go straight to fucking hell.  

[tuff-and-fluff-archives]

The Virtue of Silence

Word Count: 1163

Warnings: None

Summary: Junkrat sets a world record by nearly ruining Valentine’s Day two entire weeks before it begins, and Ruby learns there’s just as much risk as there is reward to dating an unhinged convict with a bad case of never shutting up.

Ok so I wanted this to be a comic but I was too tired and it woulda taken too long and some other third excuse, so here’s a fic instead! I was going for a more light-hearted and silly tone, and while I don’t think I quite succeeded, I still had fun. I was also trying to write something less than 1000 words, but uh... I think it’s pretty clear I didn’t manage that. *looks off into the sun wistfully* Maybe some day...

Ruby plopped down on the couch, a bowl of spaghetti in one hand and the television remote in the other; usually she would be dining at the table across from her boyfriend, but Junkrat was out on yet another one of his heists. If she remembered correctly, he and his partner-in-crime Roadhog had ventured to Paris, but that was, unfortunately, all she knew. It was unusual for Junkrat not to share all the details of his latest schemes with her, and even though Roadhog had reassured her that he would be keeping the reckless Aussie safe, she still felt uneasy about not knowing exactly what kind of trouble the two would be getting into.

She flicked on the TV before tossing the remote aside and picking up her fork, twirling up a clump of spaghetti as a series of commercials played until at last, the program she wanted began.

“Tonight, on A Moment in Crime…”

Ruby knew that this particular show tended to keep up-to-date on criminal events, so if Junkrat and Roadhog had already finished their heist, she’d be sure to hear about it here. Sure enough, their mugshots appeared on screen, and Ruby perked her head up as she shoveled a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth.

The overdramatic narrator continued, “These notorious criminals have spread destruction and mayhem across the globe, but could the pyromaniac known as Junkrat… have his own romantic flame?”

Ruby froze mid-chew, her eyes going wide and spaghetti dangling from her mouth as she focused intently on the TV, praying that this story wouldn’t be going where she thought it might be. The screen changed to a video- with the unstable quality making it clear that it was recorded on a phone- that showed the two Junkers together at the outdoor seating of a cafe, with Junkrat in plain view and Roadhog sitting with his back to whoever was recording. Junkrat was mid-ramble about something, and as the audio cut in and Ruby heard his far-too familiar voice, she felt her blood run cold.

“-d’ya think, Hoggie? I just know that Roobs is gonna love this place!” Junkrat spoke far too loudly, not even noticing that he was being recorded. “It’s a bit posh f’me, but she’s been goin’ on about doin’ somethin’ special fer that whole Valee-Day thing, so I think I’m alright riskin’ looking like a tall poppy, long as I can get me girl ta smile!”

The audio lowered, and the narrator spoke over the video. “This footage, uploaded just hours ago, was taken at a shop outside the Cabaret Luna in Paris. The explosives-obsessed Junker seems to be discussing plans for a supposed date with an unknown person whom he refers to as ‘Rubes’. The criminal goes on to talk about methods of traveling to the city of love with this mysterious person, before the brave witness who uploaded the video is noticed. Viewers should be warned that the following footage may be frightening to some.” 

The audio of Junkrat’s voice came back in. “-wish I could be up on the bird-boat with her, but I’m pretty sure I’ve made it on the no-fly list by now, heheh, so I guess we could just meet up here.” As he kept rambling, his eyes wandered towards the recorder until he made eye contact with the camera. He had to do a double-take before he finally noticed that he and Roadhog were being filmed, and the cheery grin on his face quickly turned into an angered scowl as he stood up in his chair and stomped his boot onto the table with his fists raised. “Oi, the fuck d’ya think you’re doin’, mate?!” Junkrat quickly reached down for his frag launcher, which was placed beside the chair he had previously been sitting in.

The video became incomprehensibly shaky as the person recording began to flee, repeating “merde” between panicked breaths as Junkrat shouted for them to “get the hell back here”, and the video stopped just as an explosion went off behind the recorder. The screen freeze-framed on the last second of footage and slowly zoomed in to create a dramatic effect as the narrator spoke up again. “The uploader luckily managed to escape by running into a neighboring store, but the footage they posted gives us a startling view into the personal life of these violent criminals.” The show cut back to a still shot of Junkrat from the video just presented as the narrator continued, “Is it possible that this wanted convict is actually involved in a romantic relationship? Is there someone out there insane enough to partner themselves with a pyromaniac like Junkrat? Or is this simply the delusional ramblings of a madman?”

The show cut back to Junkrat and Roadhog’s mugshots. “As always, if you have any information about these two dangerous men, or any knowledge of the unknown person, again, referred to as ‘Rubes’ in this video, please contact us today. Remember, crime doesn’t pay, but we-”

Ruby had to shut off the television before she could hear more. She stared forward blankly, her spaghetti weakly hanging from her pursed lips as she processed what she had just seen. She didn’t even have the energy to bite down, as all her brainpower was immediately going into panicking as hard as she could. She wondered if this was how omnics felt when they short-circuited; her mind was just piling one bad thought on top of another, leading to a never-ending wave of fear washing over her. Damn that man and his big mouth…

***

“Oh, Roooobs!” Junkrat shouted as he burst through the front door to Ruby’s apartment, throwing down his frag gun and the sack of stolen goods in his hand as he held his arms out expectantly, waiting for his girlfriend to run from around the corner and jump right into his arms as she had always done before. Instead, he saw her slowly move out from the kitchen with her arms crossed as she leaned her shoulder against the wall.

“Welcome back, Jamison,” Ruby spoke in an alarmingly calm tone with a nearly unreadable, but clearly unhappy expression.

Junkrat immediately broke into a cold sweat at the use of his full name as Ruby stared him down. “Er…” he put his arms down just a bit, “i-is there somethin’ wrong, sweets?”

Ruby simply glared at him harder, making him panic and hunch down as he looked at the floor and nervously rubbed his hand. What the hell had he done? Did he forget to say goodbye before he left? Had he eaten the last of one of her favorite snacks and put the empty box back? Did he leave the toilet seat up?

“So,” Ruby said, “you go to any nice cafes while you were in Paris?”

Junkrat snapped his head back up as his eyes went wide. “How did you know?” 

Ruby rubbed her face and sighed. “Jamie, my dear. We need to discuss the importance of thinking before you speak…”

[oskea93]

Think of You: Seven (Part two)

Warnings: Sexual situations, language

A/N: ENJOY!  (PS: please excuse the grammar issues.) 

“Make sure to stay in a single file while walking down the hallway.”

I watched as my second graders made their way towards the cafeteria. Today was a new day. I was back in teacher mode and my escapades from the weekend were behind me. Granted, it was close to 80 degrees and I had to wear a long sleeve dress. I’m not the type of girl to show off the presents that a guy had left. “Okay-“ I spoke again. “Since Lilly’s the line leader, she’s going to hold the door for everyone.” I watched as the little girl stepped out of line, grabbing hold of the door, allowing her classmates to go in one-by-one.

“Ms. Daniels?” I heard my name being called. I looked down and saw Teddy, a student of mine, standing close to me. He motioned for me to come down to his level, waving his little hand in a downward motion. I bent down to face him more directly, “Yes, Teddy?” I asked. I placed my hand on his arm, seeing as he looked somewhat worried. I watched as his bright blue eyes danced from mine to something behind me. “There’s a weird man behind you.” He whispered. I was confused at first, slowly turning my head to see who it was. Looking as out of place as he could, Nikki stood feet away from me. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I turned back toward little Teddy. I assured him that everything was fine, taking his hand and walking into the cafeteria. I couldn’t believe he would show up here of all places. This was my place of employment, and his kind was not welcomed around here. The people that worked here were some of the snootiest people I’ve ever met. Plus, they were very religious and did not take kindly to the new wave of music that was taking over the world. I would hear certain teachers talking about how their students were more interested in the bands on MTV than their studies. Even the principle was trying his hardest to keep his school pure, innocent, and out of the hands of guys like Nikki Sixx.

Once I made sure my students were all set with their lunches, I quickly made my way back out to the hallway. I didn’t bother saying anything to him, simply grabbing his hand, and marching us back to my classroom. “You in a hurry to tear my clothes off again?” He started to laugh. I didn’t answer. Once inside the classroom, I locked the door behind us, turning to look at him. “What are you doing here?” I asked. “And how did you know where I wor-“

“Why did you leave?” He cut me off. I looked at him confused. “The other morning, why did you leave?” He seriously came all the way to my job to ask why I left him alone yesterday? He couldn’t have just called and asked me this question? “Carol-“

“You can’t just come to my work and start asking all these questions, Nikki.” I explained. “I left because it should have never happened. What happened between us was just a one-time thing and should never happen again.” Everything that Mac and I spoke about last night had flown at the window. I admitted to her that I had feelings, strong feelings for Nikki. My heart wanted to be with him, but my brain, as usual, was taking over and messing everything us.

A smirk found its way onto his face, “It was more than just one time, darling.” I wanted to slap that sexy smirk off his face. “You may think that I’m just using you because that’s the kind of person I am, but-”He stopped mid-sentence. “I really and truthfully care about you, Caroline. Hell, I may even love you.” My heart began to race as he expressed his feelings. “Yeah, I’m in a band and there’s girls throwing themselves at me, but you’re honestly the only girl I think about. Ever since the first night I met you, all I do is think about you. I can’t fucking shake you. I don’t want to shake you.”

“Nikki-“ I sighed.

“No-”He cut in again. “Let me finish.” He stepped closer to me, blocking me between him and the bookshelf. “When I woke up and you weren’t there, that fucking hurt, Caroline.” His voice sounding more serious, a bit emotional. “I didn’t think what happened between us was just a causal fuck.” I grimaced at the word. “Sorry, casual sex. I honestly had a meaningful time with you. You’re the first girl I ever had slow, meaningful sex with. If that doesn’t tell you anything then I don’t know what will.” I looked down at my shoes, taking in everything that he had said.

I let out a sigh, “Can we just talk about this some other time? Maybe we cou-“

His lips smashed into mine, taking me by surprise. Involuntarily, my hands entwined in his raven hair, grabbing a fist-full so I could be as close as possible. I was still pinned against the bookshelf as Nikki’s hands traveled to the hem of my dress. “I’ve always wanted to fuck a teacher.” He muttered against my lips as his hand moved further up my leg. I was back in Veronica mode. Caroline, sweet and innocent Caroline, had left the building and Veronica was in control. I couldn’t help but start moaning as his lips moved to my neck, nipping at the already tender spots from before. The whole notion of being at work, especially in a Christian Elementary had left my mind, only focusing on Nikki and his skillful hands and mouth. Without warning, Nikki’s fingers slipped past my underwear, finding the most sensitive part of my body. I let out a whimper, well it was more a moan, a very long moan. This was also a first for me as well. I guess you could say I had a pretty boring sex life up until now. My body reacted as he slowly pumped his fingers into me, going extremely slow to garner a better response. I couldn’t help but bite down on his neck, causing him to let out a hissing noise, as his fingers worked their amazing magic. My whimpers and moans filled the classroom. 


“I want you out of this fucking dress.” Nikki whispered against my lips. I finally made eye contact with him, seeing his green eyes turning darker with lust. Like I said before, Veronica was in charge, causing me to nod my head. It was as if I was watching myself from above. Nikki’s hand was up my dress and his lips were on my lips and all over my neck. I was in a state of lust and if I didn’t stop, things were going to escalate to a whole other level.

“Nikki-“ I gasped. His fingers accelerated to a faster pace, causing my breath to hitch in my throat. “Oh god.” I whispered. I could feel myself start coming unhinged. My legs were getting weak and starting to hurt. My heart was racing a mile a minute and my breathing was becoming more raged. With one last stroke, I finally broke lose. It was as if I was a damn and I had finally broke free from the barrier. That sounds kind of gross now that I think about it. “Oh my gosh.” I exhaled. My head remained buried in Nikki’s neck as his left arm held my body in place. “Pretty good, huh?” He laughed. I slowly lifted my head and placed it against the bookshelf, looking straight at him again. I watched as he slowly licked clean his fingers that were inside of me clean. I thought it was incredibly gross but I was also incredibly turned on at the same time.

“Now-“ He began to smile. “Let’s get you out of that fucking dress.” I remained frozen as he started working on the buttons of my dress. His lips once again found my neck, as my hands held onto his shoulders. Before he could get the last button undone, the bell rang, snapping me out of the lustful trance.

‘Shit!” I exclaimed, roughly pushing Nikki away from me. “Shit, shit shit!” I continued to yell as I hastily re-buttoned my dress. “What’s the problem?” Nikki asked confused. I ignored him as I ran to the mirror that I kept in my classroom. I looked like a woman who just had sex. My hair was sort of matted to my forehead, which was covered in sweat. My dress was wrinkled where it had been pulled up, and I had a small wet spot near the bottom. “Caroline?”

My eyes cut to where Nikki was standing, still unsure what was happening. “You need to leave, like right now!” I raised my voice. He tried to speak but I started pushing his body toward the classroom door. “What the hell, Caroline.” He barked back. I roughly opened the door, pushing him out into the hallway. I was in a panic haze that it didn’t occur to me that the other teachers were also out in the hall.

“Ms. Daniels?” I turned from Nikki, seeing Mrs. Brady, the Librarian looking between Nikki and I. “Is everything okay?” She asked. Most of the teachers at this school talked about each other like they were back in grade school. I’ve learned that they’d be nice to your face but tear you to shreds behind your back.

I must have looked like a deer in the headlights, “Uh-“ I stuttered out. “Eve-everything’s fine, Mrs. Brady.” She gave me a disapproving look before making her way down the hallway. Everyone that passed by us were staring, some even whispering to one another at the scene Nikki and I had caused. My eyes moved back to Nikki, who was staring right at me. “Care to explain?” He smirked.

I didn’t bother answering his question. I needed to get my students from the cafeteria and he needed to get out of here before the principle showed up. “Just, please leave.” I stated firmly. I didn’t bother showing him to the door, he obviously knew where it was. I made my way to the cafeteria, trying my best to keep calm and professional.

“Who’s your friend, Ms. Daniels?” Vanna, a fellow second grade teacher, asked. She had been one of the many that walked by as I was pushing Nikki out of my classroom. I nervously moved a strand of hair behind me ear, “He’s um-” What was I to say? He’s the guy I’ve been having sex with? He’s a rock star and I’m his groupie? “He’s nobody.”

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Caroline!

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

“Who are you and what have you done with the real Caroline Vanessa Daniels?” 

I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of my milkshake. I had called Mac from the office phone once school was over, asking her if she could meet me right away. Ever since my encounter with Nikki, my mind had been in panic mode. During my math lesson today, I forgot how to do the problem, causing my students to get even more confused. I had to skip over the whole chapter, telling the kids that we would go over it tomorrow.

“He just shows up like he owns the place, telling me how he feels, ex-“

Mac began to wave her arms around, “Woah, woah!” She exclaimed. “He told you how he felt?” I nodded my head. “You didn’t think to tell me that part first? Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing about your sex life, which is now a hell of a lot better than mine, but him expressing his feelings is more important!”  I looked down at the table. “Tell me exactly what he said to you.” Mac’s body was now leaning right against the counter, getting as close as she could to hear what I was about to say.

I took another drink of my shake, “He, he-“ I stuttered. “He, uh, He to-
 “Spit it out already, woman!” Mac yelled, causing those around to look at us. My face instantly turned red with embarrassment. Maybe telling Mac this in public was a bad idea. “He told me that he thinks he loves me.” I rambled. “He told me that I wasn’t like any other girls he’s been with and that he loves me.” I could feel tears well up in my eyes. “He told me he loves me and I don’t know what to do.” I was over analyzing again. I was breaking down for the second day in a row due to one man.

“Oh my God.” Mac muttered, moving herself back against the booth.

“What?” I asked confused. I used my sleeve to wipe away the tears that were falling from my eyes. “What’s the matter?”

The smile that formed on her face grew larger, “You don’t just like him, you love him.”  

“No, no, no.” I shook my head. “I am not in love with him. I can’t be in love with someone I barely even know. He could be a secret serial killer or something. I can’t be in love with a guy like Nikki Sixx. I mean, who the heck names their kid Nikki Sixx? I bet that’s not even his real name, so I can’t be in love with him even more now. He’s to-“

“Caroline!” Mac exclaimed. The people across from us were now sending dirty looks our way. I’m pretty sure the whole restaurant was at this point. “You’re looking for any excuse you can find, and the excuses you are using suck.”

I looked down at my melted milkshake. Yesterday, I only had small feelings for this guy. You know, the kind of feelings that someone with a crush has. Nikki was sort of a crush to me but I meant more to him. Maybe he meant more to me as well. “You need to fucking tell him how you feel before some other bitch comes along and steals him.” Mac said pointedly. “Tom Zutaut is having a party tonight and you’re gonna tell Nikki exactly how you fucking feel.”

“But-“ I tried to speak.

Mac held her hand in face, “No buts, Caroline. You are going to that party and if I have to lock you and Nikki in a room so you can admit how you feel, I will find the darkest, tiniest room, and lock you two in there. Do you understand me?”I slowly nodded my head like a child who just got scolded by their parents.

“Fabulous.” She shifted in her seat. “I’ll see you at eight!”  

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

“If you’re gonna tell someone you love them, you can’t wear what you’re wearing!” Mac exclaimed as she rummaged through my closet. “You’re not purposing your love to the Pope, Caroline. You’re telling a fucking rock star, a fucking hot rock star, that you’re in love with him. You have to look the part!” I watched as dresses, shirts, and pants flew out of my closet. “I know I say this all the time, but you are a fucking prude!”

“Enough with the F word, Mackenzie.” I groaned.  I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was down and my makeup was light, as usual. I looked at the dress I was wearing. It was the same material as the dress that I wore to work today but it was green. It had long sleeves and reached to my knees. I decided to wear stockings with it, along with a pair of boots. I thought I looked pretty good but Mac’s always the judge of that. “Aha!”

Mac removed herself from my closet, a white romper in her hands. “Put this on.” She threw the garment in my direction. I had forgotten that I owned this, probably only wearing it back in Georgia. I did as I was told and made my way to the bathroom. I removed my dress and stockings, placing the romper on in its place.

“I can’t wear this.” I muttered to myself. My reflection stared back at me, as did the many hickeys that still lined my neck and collarbone. “Mackenzie!” I cried out. Mac showed up seconds later, worry written all over her face. “I can’t wear this!” I told her. “I can’t go out in public looking like this.” I pointed towards my neck, her eyes going wide as she took in the evidence.

“He did a number on you didn’t he.” She chuckled as she began to look through my makeup bag. “Of course.” She muttered. She jetted out of the bathroom, back into the bedroom. I heard her rustling in her purse before she came back to the bathroom. “This should help.” She held a bottle of liquid foundation. “Your skin tone doesn’t match mine.” I wined. She ignored my comment, placing the liquid on a cotton ball. I felt her dab on the makeup, making sure to cover as much as she could.

“Ta da!” She smiled. I looked at myself in the mirror. The spots were still visible but not as bad as they had been. “No one will notice.”

“I hope you’re right.” I muttered. I gave myself a glace over, making sure I did in fact look okay. “You look fine!” I heard Mac yell from the other room. I let out a sigh, closing the light and making my way to the front room. I grabbed my purse and made my way out the door, ready to face whatever was gonna happen tonight….

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

Even though I barely knew Tom, he didn’t seem like the type that would have parties at his house. Maybe a get together with a couple of friends but not a party with drugs, alcohol, or rock stars. When Mac and I arrived, the place was so crowded that it took me 20 minutes to find a place to park. I had to park my car halfway down the block and walk back up the hill to where his house was. I had asked Mac in the car how she even got an invite to Tom’s party. She explained that it was more of an Elektra Record party for the Motley guys. It was being thrown at Tom’s house since he signed the guys and worked with them. For a guy that just got promoted, I never expected him to have a big house. Maybe a regular size house in the valley somewhere? To say I was surprised when I saw the size of his house would be an understatement. His house was huge! It was mansion size and even had a pool in the backyard.  

“Let’s party!” Mac screamed. I stayed close behind her as we entered the house. People were everywhere. It was as if we were back at the party from the other night. Music was blaring from the speaker, allowing people to dance freely in the living room. From where I was standing, Vince was talking with some girl and Mick was sitting on the couch next to Tom. I didn’t see any sign of Nikki, relief coursing through my veins. “I’m gonna go find Tommy.” Mac shouted. I nodded my head, watching her get lost in the crowd. I stood in the archway awkwardly for a couple more seconds before going over to the couch where Tom and Mick were sitting. 


“You mind if I sit here?” I asked. Tom’s head snapped up, a smile forming across his face.

I watched as he scooted over, giving me more room to be comfortable, “Sure thing.” I took a seat next to him, pulling down the shorts of my romper in the process. “Caroline, right?” I nodded my head. From what I remember of our first meeting, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He was a little nerdy, looking like he should be crunching numbers instead of working in the music industry. “How have you been?” He asked.

“Fine.” I smiled. “How about you?” I was probably the worst person to make a conversation with. I was awkward and never knew what to talk about, especially with a new person. “Just living the Motley life.” His smile turned bigger. “I heard you and Nikki are really hitting it off.” My eyes widened. Did everyone know what Nikki and I had done? “What do you mean?” I asked. He looked at me a bit confused, “You guys are together.”

Before I could reply, I felt a hand on my bare shoulder. My head whipped around as my eyes connected with Nikki’s. “We need to talk.” He stated. His eyes were dark, making him look even more pissed off. I wanted to tell him that I was talking to Tom and would find him later but I just nodded my head, biding farewell to Tom in the process. In order not to get lost on the way, Nikki grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd to an empty room. I looked around, seeing it was the laundry room of all places. My heart started to race as Nikki closed the door behind him, taking a deep breath before turning to face me. I couldn’t help but stare at him once he did turn around. His hair was wild and his leather pants were tighter than ever. He looked really, really good.

“What’s going on?” He blurted out.

I looked up at him confused, “What are you talking about?” He rolled his eyes as his hand ran through his raven locks.

“I need to know what the fuck is going on with you and I? One minute you’re tearing my clothes off and then you’re pushing me away. I need to know what this is, Caroline.” He pointed between him and I. “I need to know if you feel the same way as I do.” He seemed so vulnerable. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone except you. You make me feel things that I thought I would never feel for someone.” He was pouring his heart out to me, making my own heart swell.

I let out a sigh, “Nikki-“ I began.

“No-“ He raised his hand to stop me from talking. “I came from a life where the word love was foreign. My mom never said it, I never said it, nobody said it. From the time I was 10 years old, I never thought I would be able to say that word to someone, especially if I really meant it. I never thought I would have feelings toward a person that were genuine. I’ve been with a lot of girls, but they were just bed warmers. I never felt a single emotion for them. When I met you, without even talking to you, I knew were the one.” I could feel tears forming in my eyes as he spoke. He was pouring his heart out to me. “I know how cliché that sounds but there was something about you that had me hooked. You aren’t like any of the girls that flock to our concerts or try to get with us at parties. You are your own person and I fucking love you for that. I fucking love that you’re shy and reserved. I love that you have your own personality, even if it’s boring.” We both chuckled. “You are nothing like I’ve ever seen and I love you for that. I fucking love you, Caroline.”

I wiped away the tears that had fallen during his speech. My heart was beating a mile a minute, my emotions going into overdrive. “Everything about you scares me.” I started. “I’m scared of the lifestyle you lead. I’m scared of the things you do. Most importantly, I’m terrified that I’m falling so hard for you and there’s nothing I can do about it. You are the last person on the earth that I thought I would ever fall in love with, but I’m in love with you and that scares me to death.” I explained through tears. Nikki instantly pulled me into his body, his arms wrapping around my waist as mine wrapped around his neck.

“I promise I’ll never scare you again.” He whispered.

@triplehaitches @fandomshit6000 @sighsophiia @divaanya @primal-screamer @theabductionofpersephone @ithinkimhardcore @lauravic @jonesie32 @queen-introvert

IF YOU WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE TAG LIST, JUST LET ME KNOW!!

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

Devil’s No 1(7)

Chapter 7: Abundance

Loki x fem!Reader, Bucky x fem!Reader

Theme: The definitions of devils, angels, demons etc. are twisted here in this world. But some things remain the same.

Series: Will contain violence, death, destruction, softness, fluff, smut, everything that my mind can conjure, really.

Chapter warnings: None... is a kink a warning?

A/N: This was written two years ago (I think) on @phantomrose96 ‘s prompt/situation of a shy girl summoning the devil to be friends with him (and something else that he does but I’ll leave that part out for you guys to have fun with). But I- being thirsty for tragedies- twisted things a little.

Word Count: Work tomorrow. ugh! Sundays always make me feel lonely. So lonely. I need a hug.

MASTERLIST in bio, love. Tags are open

credits to @russian-hiddlestoner for the picture

It was a journey. Through a tunnel, maybe? Or something deeper in the ground. Well, that's what it felt like. Like when you travelled in a train and passed a junction, or where the tracks met, maybe even a tunnel there! That was how you were feeling. Or rather, your conscience was feeling? Or should we call it your soul?

Let's just skip to the part where you felt it all and woke up.

...

WAKE UP!

A loud gasp rose from your lungs as your eyes threw themselves wide open.

"There you are," you heard the dark honey voice of the devil himself from somewhere around- hopefully he isn't still inside you, "I was worried about you."

By the layers in Loki's voice, you could clearly tell how he was mocking you but your brain was on too much of a spin to even consider registering that idea right now.

"Ughh," you responded, trying to get up from the sofa. "What happeuuh-" you barely stood straight before feeling yourself falling down again if not for Loki breaking your fall, catching you in his slender but surprisingly strong arms.

"Woah! Now, now. We haven't even had proper drinks yet."

You took the support of his arms- which were eerily stone-like under all that expensive fabric that he was wearing- and scrunched your nose as you stood up, this time slowly. "We had freaking Jagër didn't we?"

"And that's got you so blurry already," he announced, sitting down, and took you by your shoulder with him, causing you to look at him with a bit of a diluted and confused rage, "we really need to work on your drinking capacity."

You don't know who you shared a look with- God, an angel or any entity that was invisible right now- but you were certain of the age-old fact that the devil was not a good influence on you.

"That's the only way I get that thing out of your system."

Now hold on. What was that?

"What? What thing?"

Hmm...maybe not as bad an influence?

"That thing inside you make you all-" he flayed his hands like an English noble while scrunching his nose just a bit- "so depressing and boring."

Your neck hurt having to turn to look at him but your ego was taking none of it. "Excuse me?"

But did he show any empathy for you? Unless that devilish smirk- that was meant kill thousands of weak-hearted earthly creatures when gazed upon- was his way of showing you how he felt for you, he clearly wasn't anywhere close to 'e'.

Oh, what am I even expecting! And from whom?!

Loki turned to you and relaxed into the sofa, his back being supported by the arms of your comfortable furniture.

"So, humans don't count being saved by the devil from a demon empathy?"

The broken harp inside you made the worst possible sound any instrument could.

"Please stop doing that," you begged, turning away from his face, heat radiating from your cheeks from the embarrassment.

"Why?"

"Those are my private thoughts," you tried to stress but your voice broke.

Loki got up and leaned a little closer to you, making you shift a bit to the other side- never stopping him from leaning closer. "Oh but I like hearing how irresistible you find my form," he nearly moans into your ear.

Holy Buddha! Lord of mercy!

"Aw," he pretended to groan- quite seductively though- in your ears, "don't take his name," whispering while moving your stray strands of hair away from your face, "he always kills my party mood by giving me his eerie smile and asking me how I'm doing. Like he cares."

He nearly spat out the last sentence and you sat there with raised brows, wondering what choice had you made that brought you straight in the arms of the devil while he narrated his dislike for Buddha.

"It was a Wednesday and you had your exams that week," Loki began, still playing with your hair.

"No, stop!" You shifted to the other end of the couch, raising your leg over the sofa to block his body, "stop telling me what I chose wrong. Stop telling me how excessively great Buddha is and definitely stop reading my thoughts."

The rims of Loki's eyes light up in a fiery-green glow, looking at you with a tilted curiousness. "Are you ordering me, darling?"

Great. Now he brings his powers in play.

"I am requesting you," you stress, folding your hands in front of him, "this is really uncomfortable and my head hurts and...wait." The tone of your voice changed, so did that pleasing colour in your eyes that Loki was loving till you dropped it wear a hint of confused blue before turning into a suspicious grey. "What exactly did you do inside me?"

"Woah," Loki raised his brow, "I didn't know you were into those kind of...kinks."

You looked like a sad confused potato till it dawned on you how of context the devil was taking your words.

"Seriously? I am dying here from this unending pain and all you can think of is sex jokes," you nearly shout with whatever energy you have left inside you.

Loki flicked his finger and within seconds there were vines coming out of the floor, wrapping around your limbs like snakes ready to devour you whole. "Stop," you said with a hint of rage but the vines only grew tighter, beginning to dig into your skin. "Loki, please," you begged this time, watching them force your hands behind your back.

"Loki," you cried softly with just the right amount of fear burning in your eyes. Exactly what Loki wanted.

And so, he finally shifted, fixing his arms around you as his hovering figure came to a stop above you, blazing eyes looking at you with the intensity of burning everything between your skin and his.

"Do not forget, pet," he cooed, too close to you, "that I am the one who holds the chains to your life. And if I want, I can yank them as hard as I please because in the end, your cries will only deliver me pleasure."

You should have been afraid. You should have been shivering in fear and panic; your heart should have been pounding for watching death right in the eyes. But this scorching sensation that you felt inside you did not seem fear like. The shiver was definitely not because of panic or your nerves feeling this unhinged tide. And all you could do was look at him while blinking with visible stupidity, gulping down something to moisten your dry throat while Loki's eyes seemed to shift.

"See?" He nearly sang, "Now that's the colour I love to see." He inhaled your essence in, moaning as he felt it register inside him, making you question his senses- and for this one very discreet almost 'invisible in the darkness of the moonless night' reason, made you question yours. "Smells like the right amount of fear," he chuckled, "with a hint of something I can't really put my finger on."

Her kink of being tied up and aroused by you! Your insides shouted.

Shut up! Shut up!

"Hm," Loki looked at you with fresh eagerness, nearly killing you with the intensity of embarrassment about to explode inside your head, "I have to say you seem interesting to play with without your thoughts too. So, I'll keep this thing off till as long as I like."

He finally got up and away. You were relieved.

Danggit, your inner voice didn't seem, though, I thought he'll finally kiss you without context!

Awesome, you hit back at her, just the person I want you to be rooting for!

You know if she had a physical form, she would be rolling her eyes at you now because both of you knew you had felt something glow inside your chest- and heat up inside your legs- at the mention of being at his mercy.

Shaking your head, you tried to bring yourself to reality.

No, I am better than this. I have to be.

"So," Loki chugged a glass of your Jager, "what do you want to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not going to wait for you to decide on getting drunk and all that because I know the moment you hit the limit you will be crying your eyes out and I am not in the mood to ruin my suit for pent up tears tonight," he declared, letting his hands show you the piece of work layering his body, "more critical tears of underpaid labourers and cattle have gone into the making of this."

You shared that look again, with no one, in particular, being done with the devil for the night and yet knowing that there were still so many more hours to go.

"Fine," you got up, realising the vines had long since vanished, leaving barely any scars on your wrists and ankles, "we can go somewhere then? Uhh...someplace you'd like to visit? There's a pizza place here that's open at this time of the night."

You went on and on while Loki's concern for you modified into a chuckle transforming into laughter. "Oh, you poor human. You are about to die in five days and you are still worried about the things I want to see? Honestly, woman, who died and made you the queen of ethics? Wait, is there a course for such things now?"

He wasn't wrong. Because he admitted it right now, it all started to seem more real. You were going to die in five days. He was going to take your soul to hell and God knows do what all with it. Peter's disappearance and your state then had created such a perfect picture for it to make sense but now...

"Are you having second thoughts, darling?"

His words broke you out of this nauseating spell that you cast upon yourself and you found yourself standing in the kitchenette with your shot glass in your hand looking down at the floor where broken glass lay in a puddle of water along with one of your ceramic angels. You picked up the ceramic figurine to look at, a familiar old ache replacing whatever little glow had risen inside your chest.

The angel seemed to be looking at you, begging you not to do this.

"Yes," you finally declared, throwing the figurine in the bin, "I'm sure."

.

The angel on the watch sat by the lake on the lone bench, going through his device, looking at various statistics while someone hummed in the back somewhere, going about its own business.

"And another one and another one and another bites the dust..."

The humming was not as serene for the angel at work as he wanted it to be, but he was trying to get through it somehow. It was a really special person after all. One couldn't just tell him to stop humming.

"Would you stop humming," the angel announced, "I am trying to work here, Peter!"

Everything went silent, letting the angle heave a sigh of relief and go back to his tablet.

The tree behind him rustled before Peter popped out of it upside down. "Whatcha dooooooin', Happy?"

"Tryna' work."

"Can I help?"

"You've helped us already."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did. No go cuddle spiders...or something."

"Well, technically our friend did. You know, that woman who goes by the name-"

"Peter I just want a few moments of silence to track down what exactly does Tony want from that stupid-"

"Bad word."

"Excuse me?"

"You said stupid, put some of your essences in the swear jar."

"Yeah, right. That's not gonna happen. Now please just shut u-"

"Oh shoot! Happy-"

"Aha! Now you take out your essence young man and put them in the swear-"

"No, Happy, look!"

The angel followed Peter's gaze to the lake as he watched a figure soaking in it coming out with scars and wounds being healed by the water. The figure- a man, apparently- was heaving for breaths, his glass eyes searching for someone, anyone.

"Hello!" he shouted, the tiredness in his voice abruptly changing his pitch. "Is there anybody there?!"

"Should we let him in?" Peter asked in a whisper.

"Hello! Mr Stark?" he shouted again, catching Happy and Peter's hundred per cent attention, "it's me, Scott. Can you please let me in? There is some very very important news I have to share with you."

Happy turned to his device to open the gate of mirage.

The man, still tired as he was, lit up on seeing Peter and Happy standing in front of him.

"Oh! Thank God!" he almost cried, putting all his energy in his legs to walk towards, "thank you! Thank you so much! I need to s-speak to Tony Stark."

"Identification please," Happy announced, earning a confused stare from Peter.

"Happy, he can barely walk."

"I don't care. Whoever has to meet Tony has to go through me."

"But Happy!"

"It's okay," the man smiled at Peter, still breathing heavily, "it's okay."

"My name is Scott. Scott Lang. I'm Y/N's guardian angel," he declared before falling on the ground and losing all consciousness.

[emo-floof-child-writes]

The Sword of the Solstice

Chapter 4: The Mage of Luminescence Unleashed!

Dendar dives one of the cultists, or rather, Ochaco floats over them, as Dendar unhinges Her jaw again. She bites a cultist’s arm off. Izuku looks down at the Solstice Sword. Anything you can do here? It gives weird hum in response. “I was created to holdeth magic energy, but I couldst casteth a spell he commonly used on me.” Izuku frowns. You have innate magical power? “That’s one of the reasons I’m so sought after, yes.”

Izuku takes a deep breath. “Do it.” Izuku whispers. The sword glows. “Hit the shadow, without hitting thine companion, it’ll dispel the magic that keepest Her here. 'Tis only one of Her nightmares.” Izuku rushes forward, pushing past Shoto, and towards Dendar/Ochaco. “What’re you doing, Deku?” Katsuki asks. “Yeah, didn’t Shoto say he has this?” Eijiro says. Izuku swings his sword at the shadow, right as She swings her shadowy tail around.

He swings under Ochaco’s legs, connecting with Dendar's shadowy tail, with a vibrant golden light. Ochaco/Dendar screeches in agony. “No! It can't be!” Dendar hisses. “The Solstice Sword!” She wails, and she turns Ochaco's body toward Izuku. “The Sword has been found! The Mage of Luminescence rises!” Ochaco's arms wrap around Izuku throat. Ochaco whimpers. “I'm sorry!” She says, clenches her jaw. “She's t-too strong!” Izuku grunts, his face turning blue. Is there anything else you can do, Solstice? Izuku asks, grabbing at Ochaco's fingers with his left hand, still holding onto the Sword with his right.

“I can tryeth to casteth another spell?” Solstice suggests. Izuku wheezes. Do it! “Point me towards your friend.” With a wheeze, Izuku points the sword at Ochaco, a light curves around Ochaco's form. It passes through Dendar's shadowy form and Dendar yells. Ochaco loosens her grip on Izuku's throat, to shield her eyes. Izuku gasps for air, and Shoto runs up to him. Dendar gasps. “I underestimated you...To have control of Lathander's Lightning so soon!” She says, as her shadow returns back into Ochaco's normal Elven shadow.

She gasps, and starts to collapse to her knees, but Katsuki and Eijiro catch her. She frowns. “Wha-what was that?” She says. Shoto sighs, and looks at Izuku. “Although I'm a Lathandrite, I admit that I have limited knowledge on Lathander's Lightning. If I recall my studies from my paladin-in-training days, it is something that Lathander bestows on a limited order within Lathanderism.” Izuku looks down at the sword, the blade glowing.

“But, I'm not in Lathanderism...” He says. Shoto shrugs. “I did say that I have limited knowledge of this.” Eijiro grunts. “Can we discuss this elsewhere? This place spooks me out.” Ochaco nods, staying close to Katsuki's side. Izuku nods. “You are right, we should head back to Tsuyu, he will probably know more about the sword and stuff.” Shoto casts his spell Find Steed, and his horse appears. “Very well, let us hurry, we need to make sure no cultists follow us.”

Eijiro smiles. “I happen to have a spell that might help with that.” The one-armed cultist stands. “W-wait! We're dead if we don't go back with that sword!” Katsuki scoffs. “Then don't go back. You have your own brains, right? Use them.” They look at each other, and nod. “Very well.” They say, running off to the east. Eijiro kneels down, and a veil of shadows and silence surrounds the 5 of them, in a 30 feet radius. He sighs, and stands up.

“That should keep us obscured.” Eijiro says. Ochaco, still staying close to Katsuki, frowns. “Can they see us?” She asks. Eijiro shakes his head. “To anyone outside this sphere, there's nothing, no people and no sound.” Katsuki wraps his arm around her. “You aren't scared, are you?” He teases. She rolls her eyes. “I'm an adventurer, I don't get scared...” Izuku and Shoto climb onto Shoto's horse. Eijiro scratches his head. “S-sorry, I can't fly and keep this up.” He explains.

Katsuki shrugs. “No, we got to stay stealthy, and besides, Round Face here is scared.” She grunts. “I am not scared!” She says, pointing her staff at him. He smiles. “Why are you practically hiding behind me then?” She frowns, and bites her lip. “I rest my case.” Eijiro pats her shoulder. “I understand not being in control of your body can make you shaky. I was cursed by a mage to change into a dragon on his terms.” She smiles, seeming to be glad that someone understands her plight.

Katsuki walks over to Shoto and Izuku. “So we're heading back to Tsuyu.” Katsuki says. Izuku nods. “We need to know more about this sword, and I feel like she should know what happened to the party she sent to retrieve it.” Shoto bows his head. “Hopefully their souls made it into the light.” Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say, Light Bringer.” They continue down the Tythum Trail, for a good 3 hours, before they broke for camp.

Ochaco climbs into a tree, and lays on a branch. Katsuki sees her, and walks up to her. ���What are you doing up there, Round Face?” She shutters. “I don't think I should travel with you guys anymore.” He scoffs, and pulls himself up by grabbing the branch.

“Why?” He asks, sitting next to her. She scoffs. “You mean besides I'm possessed by the goddess of Evil and I can't control myself? What if I kill you in your sleep?” Katsuki shakes his head. “I don't think you will.” She sighs. “I appreciate your confidence, but how could you possibly know that?”

He looks at her. “I haven't been possessed before, so stop me if this is inaccurate or impossible; isn't there a way to exorcise an evil entity from your body?” She sighs. “I tried that, but Dendar is like Evil Incarnate. To any High Priest of Lathander, killing the vessel that holds Dendar is a sign of faith.”

A leaf flies past Ochaco's face. Katsuki sighs. “I'm sorry, Round Face. If you want to leave, I won't stop you.” She sniffs. “I don't want to. I-I just don't want to hurt you guys! Dendar murdered my last acquaintances, and now that you guys have the sword, She's gonna kill you to get it to Her cult, to free Her darkest servant.”

He pats her shoulder and jumps out of the tree. “Do whatever you think is best. Just know that you can always stay with us.” He turns around, with a smirk. “It'd be nice to have a girl in the party, though.” Her lip curls up on one side. She floats down, using her Levitation spell.

“I want to stay...at least for the night.” She says. “But can you like tie me to a tree or something, so I can't hurt anyone?” He frowns. “I can, but are you sure that you want to do that?” She grunts, and nods. “Yes, until I can find a better solution, tie me to a tree.”

He nods, and guides her over to where the others are. Eijiro smiles. “Ha! They were together! You owe me 20 copper, Izuku!” Izuku reaches into his money pouch, and passes Eijiro some copper coins. Ochaco leans against a nearby tree. Katsuki scoffs. “What were you wagering about?” He asks, reaching into his pack for rope.

“Um, nothing super important.” Eijiro says, and Izuku nods. Shoto points to the rope in Katsuki's hand. “What's that for?” Ochaco swallows. “I don't want Dendar to try to kill you for that sword, so I asked him if he could tie me up until morning.” Izuku frowns. “Are you sure about this?” She nods.

“Do it, please.” Katsuki sighs, and motions to Shoto. “Help me out here, Light Bringer.” Shoto stands, and grabs an end of the rope, and the two of them walk around the trunk, and tie it off. “That's not too tight, right?” Shoto asks. “Nah, this is good.” She says.

Shoto nods. “Very well, although I cannot say my conscience approves of this tactic.” Ochaco smiles. “I don't expect you to. But it's the only thing I can think of doing to combat Her power.” Shoto sits down, nodding. Katsuki takes first watch, mostly because he wanted to talk to Ochaco.

”So.” He whispers, as he sits down next to her. ”Is there any way I can at least make you comfortable?” She smirks. “Wow, Half-Wit; aren't you quite the gentleman?” He snarls. “I'm trying to be nice here!” She giggles. “I know, I just really find your annoyance at my teasing hilarious.”

He chuckles, and stands. He reaches for the rope, and tightens it. She grunts. “Shut your trap, Round Face.” She grins, and winks. “You need to—you think you're some impressive—GAH!” He says, walking away frustrated. She giggles. “Thanks for trying, Katsuki.” She says, and he sighs. “You’re welcome, you idiot.” He says, sitting down against a nearby tree. He folds his arms, and stares down at his boots. “Try not to kill us, okay?”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m gonna do the best I can.” He nods, and pulls his red cape, with a furry collar of a maybe a wolf’s fur, off, and stands up. He wraps it around her and clips it closed. “There.” He says, as his scratches his spiky ash blond hair. He sits back down, and uses his arm as a pillow. She smiles as she closes her eyes, in an attempt to go into her trance. But her mind starts to wander.

Not to mention her legs are falling asleep, and she can see Izuku, Shoto, and Eijiro sleeping as she is sitting there. She sighs, and looks back at Katsuki, who is eyeing the area. He yawns, but shrugs it off. He pulls out his warhammer, and sets it on his lap. He starts to wash off some dried blood on it with a rag, which is wet from the water in his waterskin. He smirks, and looks up.

“You should try and get some sleep.” He whispers. She sighs. “I’m having trouble going into my trance. I think Dendar is keeping me awake.” Katsuki nods. “I thought that might happen. But at least you’ll have company?” She nods, and looks at the ground below her. A spider the size of a copper coin crawls onto her foot. She whimpers, and tries to kick it off, but she can’t move her leg far enough.

Katsuki frowns, as he is unable to see the spider. “What’s wrong?” He whispers. Another spider comes down on a web from a tree branch beside her. Although this one was bigger, about the size of an apple. It drops onto her shoulder. She squirms, really not liking all of the creepy crawlies. More spiders crawl up her legs. Katsuki stands up, noticing her discomfort. He sees the spiders, and swats them off her leg, as the bigger one hisses at him.

Katsuki smacks it with his warhammer's handle and bats it off. It lands on the ground, and charges Katsuki. Despite the fact that Katsuki hit it with the intent to kill it, and the decent fall from Ochaco’s shoulder, it seems unscathed. It grows a little and Katsuki takes a sharp breath. “Okay, you aren’t supposed to do that...” He says, as he swings his Warhammer down on it. It smashes into the spider, and it squeals.

Its leg falls off, and its body gets squished into the dirt, black blood squirts out. Katsuki grins. “Take that, you ugly creature of Dendar.” Ochaco says, clenching her fists. He looks at her, with furrowed brows. “This spider is servant of Dendar?” Ochaco nods. “She created spiders, and they follow her orders.” The spider’s leg reattaches itself, with a purple light. The spider hisses again, and its eyes turn to purple light.

It jumps at Katsuki, but before he had time to react, it pounces him, and bites his leg. He growls, and tries to pull it off. Ochaco gasps. Dendar’s Spiders can poison their victims, putting them into a deep sleep, and into a Nightmare Dimension they can’t leave! She grunts, and tries to cast Dispel Magic on it. She starts to chant the incantation, and motions with her hands. She feels it taking hold, and the Spider’s eyes return to black, and it falls down to the ground, dead.

Katsuki sighs. “I thought I killed it!” He says, as he inspects his wound. It has a gaping hole with blood spilling out. Ochaco gasps, and uses her spell Misty Step, which surrounds her with silvery mist, and she teleports to an unoccupied space near Katsuki. “I guess Dendar can reanimate them. Now, let me heal your wounds.” He nods. “Okay...” Pink light emits from her hands, and she takes a deep breath.

“I can only do this once a day, I pass out and cannot be awakened until two trance cycles, or about 8 hours.” He nods. “I’ll make sure that no more spiders will attack you. Don’t worry.” She nods, and touches her hands to his leg. Katsuki winces, and then he feels his wounds close. He squeezes her hand, and she collapses onto him, dead asleep. “She wasn’t kidding...she passes out like a candle light...” He mutters.

He shrugs, and he crawls over to the tree that has the ropes tied around it, and lies against it. Ochaco is sound asleep in his lap. There’s no point in tying her up again, especially if her trance takes as long as she says it does to be completed. It’s not like I wanted to do it to her in the first place. I’ll just let her rest in peace. It’ll be fine...right..?

[renegade-skywalker]

"31-I fucked up" for Atton/Eden ?

Thank you for this! I took a bit longer than intended writing something up but here’s another scene I’ve been dying to write for a while. Part of me always wanted Atton’s medpac scene on Nar Shaddaa to mirror Rick giving Evie the stolen toolkit in The Mummy and in my heart that’s still my head canon (flustered gift-giving, a soft non-proclamation of true feelings, trying to act cool but failing miserably, etc.) but here’s another take on it that I’ve been messing around with for a while…

-x-

Breathing even wasn’t easy knowing full well she was walking straight into a trap. 

Knowing the dangers and realizing there was no other way, Eden soldiered on, shouldering her way through the crowds at the docks, passing the entrance to the refugee sector unseen and unnoticed, weaving her way through the dilapidated marketplace and onward. She fell into hurried step with the other passersby, keen on keeping her hood drawn but not too far down her face so as to seem that she was purposefully hiding her identity (even though she was), keen on keeping pace with the others lest she seemed lost or fell prey to pickpockets. She suspected she’d need the credits tucked into her boot once she entered the cantina, unless Visquis’ twisted lounge requested something dirtier than money as payment, and she needed her entire arsenal to handle whatever thugs lay beyond the Jekk’Jekk Tarr’s dark refuge, she’d need -

Fear gripped her once she realized she was being followed, careful not to give herself away, to appear as unsuspecting as possible while still managing to keep a close eye. A figure swathed in brown followed, close on her heels, but a few steps behind enough to disappear into the crowd once she turned her head enough to afford what she hoped appeared to be a casual glance. She kept up her pace and continued - she was close to the spaceport docks, if she could just duck through the barrier and get inside…

Just as she turned a corner, her body lunged side-ward, suddenly veering right when she meant to turn left. A hand held her elbow in a vice grip, though careful enough not to startle her as it changed her course, bringing her face-to-face with-

“Atton?” she breathed, still careful to keep her head covered, careful to keep her voice down, eyes shifting side to side in search of anyone vaguely resembling a bounty hunter, or even a stereotypical version of one, “What in the hell?! I was-”

“I fucked up,” Atton admitted before she could finish, lowering his hood. Eden realized he was donning what appeared to be Mical’s travelling cloak, still as pressed and pristine as it had been since bringing the man along from Dantooine - the thing even still smelled like fresh grass and damp earth. But instead of asking about what he was doing here or why he was wearing Mical’s robe, Eden gaped at him, open-mouthed and speechless.

“I fucked up.” Atton repeated, avoiding her gaze but seeking it out still, looking away before he could register her reaction, as if afraid to.

“You-?” Eden started, about to repeat his own words, “I-”

Then she realized. The reality of their last conversation slammed into her as his eyes finally settled on her, setting the near-dumb level of confidence she was planning to carry into the Jekk’Jekk Tarr completely askew. It wasn’t how she wanted to leave things, especially not with Atton, but the only way to mend whatever had happened between them and their heated conversation about Atton’s past, Eden’s shared sins and the Mandalorian Wars was time - something neither of them had.

“I didn’t tell you,” Atton began, easing his gaze onto hers, his hazel eyes locking with her green, “I should have, but I didn’t.”

Eden didn’t say a word, she just watched him. Watched as a world of words formed on his lips before he opened his mouth only to close it before saying anything, watched as he chose his words carefully before speaking again, uncertain of where this was going or what it was he really meant to say.

“I don’t regret it, any of it, as I’m sure you don’t either,” he continued, somewhat unsurely but with an unhinged sense of confidence even Atton seemed surprised by, “But as much as we all wish things had gone differently, they didn’t. What I do regret is not telling you sooner. I regret you not hearing it from me.”

“But I did hear it from you,” she said, her voice quieter than she’d intended, suddenly aware of just how close they were standing now, “You chose to tell me.”

“I wasn’t the one who brought it up,” Atton shook his head, “I should have been the one. You should have known.”

“Atton, I’m not walking into this to prove a point to you or to anyone. If this is your way of convincing me to turn back, I-”

“Oh, I’m not trying to convince you of anything,” he said, his voice low, eyes darting for a moment to make sure they were in adequate cover before continuing, before his eyes fully met hers and this time refused to look away. “You’re going to do whatever it is you’re going to do. I’m not here to stop you, I just-”

His next words were drowned out by whatever uncertainty Atton was still unwilling to voice, but in lieu of words he reached for his belt and unlatched a small pouch, reaching for one of her free hands with his own, his fingers lingering on her wrist as he did so, pressing the parcel into her grasp.

“Just…” Atton swallowed before meeting her eyes again, his expression set, “Just take this, will you?”

Eden’s gaze flicked between Atton’s eyes, somehow simultaneously bright grey and a dark mossy hazel in the haze of the alley and the neon lights beyond. His expression did not falter, his resolve steeling in her silence. She looked down as she accepted the pouch, unlatching the flap to get a glimpse of what was inside.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, even though this plan is downright… well, stupid,” he explained, his words tumbling out of his mouth almost faster than he could think them, “But I sure as hell don’t trust anyone else, so just… please. Take it.”

Inside was a set of high-grade medpacs - a satchel Eden recalled Atton pilfering from the Harbinger with wide eyes before finally escaping the hell hole that was Peragus, coveting them as if he’d never owned anything as valuable, at least nothing he’d gamble away that wasn’t a ship or a glass of juma - along with an antidote kit, and a few vials of what looked to be stims, expensive ones.

“Atton, I can’t take this,” she said, her posture slumping slightly as she attempted to push the satchel back into Atton’s hands but he only gently nudged it back into her own.

“You can, and you will. Please.”

It was the most earnest Eden had ever seen him, but the fire that had been in his eyes when they had spoken of his past, what he’d done and why he did it, was still there, but tempered now, his attention only intent on her.

“I’m not going to say I didn’t mean what I said back there,” he continued, his voice almost husky now as he spoke softly yet with purpose, trying to remain hidden but still be heard, “But know that I mean it when I say that I-”

He paused, watching her for a reaction, and Eden realized she’d held her breath, her face a blank slate as she processed every minutae of emotion that crossed Atton’s face, which was more than he’d offered in their entire time together, his mask finally slipping, enough for Eden to know that it was a mask and there was another Atton underneath - and he was letting her see it, slowly. He wanted her to see it.

“I care about you,” he near-whispered now, one hand nudging the satchel into her grip, his other hand covering hers, and Eden could have sworn his thumb circled the back of her wrist for a moment before finally letting go. “Now, don’t go and get yourself killed or something.”

He cracked a smile that fast turned into a smirk, color rising to his face quicker than he could don Mical’s hood again to hide it.

“You know I’ll make it out of there alive,” Eden said, nodding in thanks, not quite sure what to say other than in jest, “You realize I’d kill for the opportunity to make fun of you for borrowing an outfit from Mical.”

Atton let out a breathy laugh, careful of their cover still but unable to hide his amusement, to hide the relief that now colored his face.

“Hey, brown’s just my color, I guess,” he shrugged, walking backwards now out of the alley and into the bustling crowd again, though Eden could feel a tug of reluctance in each of his steps, because she felt it, too. “Just take care of yourself, okay?”

Eden nodded, smiling slightly. Her face grew warm and a maw of uncertainty and nervousness took root at the pit of her stomach as she watched Atton leave, at least relieved that he’d come, if not to stop her but to say he was sorry, to say that he… cared.

I care about you.

The words echoed in her mind as she watched him disappear, dissolving until he was just another silhouette in the crowd, wondering just how many times she’d yearned to hear those words from anyone, and wondering why it scared her so much when she finally did.

[my-creative-hell]

Idiot scientists

It had been a week since Iden had first booked out of work with a nasty case of the flu which didn’t seem to want to dissipate, leaving him stuck in bed and useless all week, leaving Hannah to do all the work he was missing, doubling her work load, and cutting her break time to a glorious zero hours a day.

A week since Hannah has had the time to have a meal, a week since she’s been able to properly hydrate, and a week since she’s been able to have more than an hours worth of sleep, not that she had even been getting that, the stress of jeopardising their jobs weighing down on her shoulders like a leaded weight.

By that Sunday night, a full week since Iden got sick, she looked terrible. Her hair was messy and bushy on her head, haphazardly pulled back from her face. Her eyes were sunken and had dark rings of purple around them, making her look like she had two black eyes. Her skin was paler than normal, and the normal natural flush to her face had dissipated, leaving her looking dead. All of this coupled with the fact that she looked a little lighter than normal, made for a horrific sight as she worked in the lab that night.

Though nothing she was doing was any different than usual, checking all of the levels and readings for Grave and her charts, reporting the numbers in the most accurate fashion, and typing behavioural reports, something was clearly off.

Her movement were slower than normal, indecisive and clumsy, hands seeming to shake lightly as she moves around the lab, recording all the necessary findings. She was good at feigning that she was okay, she had been doing it all week to fool her co-workers, but now it was at a dangerous point.

Even Grave could see it now, watching Hannah form inside her cage as she works, processing the horrible outwards appearance as she looks down at the poor person, opening her mouth to speak in her own language of beeps and noises.

“-.-- --- ..- .----. .-. . / -. --- - / --- -.- .- -.-- .-.-.-” (You’re not okay.) Grave remarks bluntly as she looks down at Hannah, who glances up at her momentarily before returning to her work, though her expression darkened ever so slightly.

“I’m fine, just a little tired is all.” Hannah makes light, a forced laugh rolling off of her tongue. But it didn’t touch her face at all. Her lips lifted, but her eyes stayed dull and tired, the light in them seemingly faded and dimmed. She didn’t even believe herself.

“-.. .-. .. -. -.- / .-- .- - . .-. .-.-.- / --- .-. / .. .----. -- / -.-. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. --. / -.-- --- ..- / .- / -- . .- -. / -. .- -- . .-.-.-” (Drink water. Or I’m calling you a mean name.) Grave threatens the small person in front of her, though it doesn’t seem to do much. Another flick of her dull eyes in graves direction, though nothing was really behind them.

Another laugh is forcefully shoved out of Hannah’s chest once Grave speaks, it sounded gravely and forced, grating on Hannah’s ears.

“Oh yeah, what are you gonna call me?” She asks, smiling, though it looked so tired it was easier mistook for a grimace than anything remotely positive. Hannah knew her façade of normalcy was weaker than it had been all week, the tiredness, hunger and dehydration were catching up slightly, and she had to admit it. But she was too stubborn and worried to possibly drop the façade she had created, even if she knew her smiles no longer lit up her face as they once would.

“-.-- --- ..- .----. .-. . .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.-” (You’re…) Grave paused as she thought it over, softer beeps escaping her mouth as she mulled over finding the correct word to use to describe Hannah. “-.. . .... -.-- -.. .-. .- - . -.. -.-.-- -.-.-- -.-.--” (DEHYDRATED!!!) Grave exclaims, face melting into a smug smile, proud of her words. It almost made Hannah smile, almost. But she couldn’t anymore.

Hannah sighs, and it sounds broken, the air coming out in a fractured breath as she looks at Grave, the façade dropping slightly as she somehow manages to look even worse than before.

“You aren’t wrong, but I don’t have the time to get a drink, so I’ve just gotta deal with it.” She explains, though the words taste rightfully sour in her mouth.

This was a fucked up situation, Hannah was aware of this. But currently, there was nothing she could do to prevent it when both her and Iden’s jobs were on the line.  Companies in the business of capturing and studying cryptid creatures weren’t exactly in the business of treating staff fairly, especially lower down ones.

Without answering, she can see Grave sliding something out of her cage. Upon inspection, it seems she had managed to steal a water bottle from one of the fridges or another room and was currently sliding it to Hannah to drink.

A slightly genuine smile graces Hannah’s face at that, though she still looked tired and weak. She slowly reaches out and takes the bottle as she looks at Grave.

“You shouldn’t steal things from the fridges you know-” Hannah chastises lightly as she opens the water, taking a small sip, not wanting to irritate her currently very empty stomach by suddenly dumping water into it.

The water felt like a blessing as Hannah feels it travelling down her throat, soothing her dry voice box as she swallows, though the sensation of it dropping into her empty stomach was less than pleasant. Still, beggars cant be choosers, Hannah reminds herself as she takes a few more short drinks from the bottle.

“.... . .-. . / - .... . .. .-. / ..-. --- --- -.. / .. ... -.-.-- / .. - .----. ... / .-- .... .- - / - .... . -.-- / -.. . ... . .-. ...- . .-.-.-” (But its fun seeing the other people wonder where their food it! Its what they deserve.) Grave justifies, showing her distaste for the other scientists working at the facility, who treated her less than kindly.

Hannah sighs again, sounding more tired. While she understood Grave’s actions, she couldn’t help but worry over the possible consequences of said actions.

“That may by the case, but if you get caught, they could tranq you again…” Hannah explains, the agitation she was feeling worsening slightly. The other scientists often liked to tranquillise Grave when they worked with her, to keep her docile, and it stressed Hannah out.

“.. / -.- -. --- .-- / .-- .... . -. / - .... . -.-- .----. .-. . / --. --- -. . .-.-.- / .. / .-. . -- . -- -... . .-. / - .... . / ... -.-. .... . -.. ..- .-.. . ... / ...- . .-. -.-- / .-- . .-.. .-.. .-.-.-” (I know when they’re gone, I remember the schedules very well.) Grave reminds Hannah, though that does little to quell the stress inside of her. She had been on edge and stressed all week, and it was no different now. She looks at Grave quietly, her voice low when she speaks.

“I know, just… please don’t risk it. If anything happens to you because of me…” Hannah doesn’t finish the sentence, not wanting to think on the matter any more. Seeing Grave on tranquillisers was a punch I the gut everytime, to see her eyes so unfocused and her words so unhinged and sluggish was something she never wanted to experience again if she could help it.

“... .-.. . . .--. -.-.-- / -. --- .-- -.-.-- / --. . - / .. -. / ..-. ..- .-. -.-.--” (Sleep! Now! Get in fur!) Grave’s simple demands were clear and precise for Hannah, she clearly could see they were tired, but Hannah sighs. The amount of work she had left to do, sleep was out of the question for today and maybe even tomorrow until Iden could come back in and balance the workload between them again.

Another painfully fake smile appears on Hannah’s face, looking abnormal and twisted.

“Cant, got work to finish, and if I don’t, nothing good is gonna happen.” She explains simply, though the urge to just give up and accept the potential firing they would receive was almost too much for her. Grave’s fur would no doubt be soft and comfortable, but the risk was too high for Hannah.

Sad and annoyed beeps and noises are coming from the large cryptid in the cage, each one making Hannah feel a little guiltier as she listens to them, the worry clearer with each noise.

She could feel her body starting to involuntarily shake as the weight of all her issues came crashing down on her. The tiredness, hunger, dehydration and just general overworking starting to press onto her.

A few more distressed beeps and some small noises from the cameras observing them in the room tell Hannah that Grave has remotely shut off all the cameras. Before she can say anything to Grave, the large cryptid is leaving her cage and storming towards her.

“Grave, what are you ding?! Please, please, I have to get this done!” Hannah pleads as the cryptid approaches her. But Graves eyes are hard, and she isn’t listening.

“-.-- --- ..- / -. . . -.. / - --- / . .- - / .- -. -.. / ... .-.. . . .--. .-.-.-” (You need to eat and sleep.) Is all Grave says as she Picks Hannah up in a swift motion, making Hannah’s head spin and become light-headed as her vision cuts out for a few seconds, before she tries one last time to plead, worry overtaking her.

“But, but-” Hannah tries, though she doesn’t know what to say at this point. Her head is swimming in fuzziness and her ears are ringing as Grave carries her gently in her arms.

“-. --- / -... ..- - ... -.-.--” (No buts!) Grave warns as she carries Hannah softly, Hannah sinking into her fur slightly. But the words sound a bit more distorted than usual, fading in and out of Hannah’s hearing as she tries to listen.

“Nnnnnn.” Hannah would like to speak, but her head is swimming and reality seems to be out of touch, and all she can do is make a sound to try to convey that she doesn’t feel right.

Grave slows down slightly as she walks Hannah in the direction of the kitchen, not wanting to jostle her too much, instead opting to take bigger steps to speed up progress in a better manner, focused on getting Hannah to the kitchen to eat something before forcing her to fucking sleep.

Hannah can feel the shift in momentum, but her brain is swimming too much for her to acknowledge it or really recognise what is currently happening, her body giving up completely on keeping up her façade and allowing everything to sink into her and affect her immensely now.

The noises she can hear slightly shift as Grave presumably enters the kitchen, her padded bear like feet gently thumping on the tiled floor as she moves.

Gently, more gentle than you would ever assume she could be, Grave sets Hannah on the counter in the kitchen, where Hannah proceeds to lie down, not trusting her own ability to sit up in the state she’s in.

Grave carefully moves around the kitchen that is much smaller than her, finding a big container of soup in one of the cupboards she opts to give to Hannah, as she figures the small human may be too exhausted to actually chew food.

She carefully puts it in the microwave and sets it all up, waiting anxiously as it heats up, the seconds feeling like hours as she worries about her small friend.

Hannah tries to stay awake as Grave heats it up, not wanting to cause any more stress to her than she already has, her eyes heavy and tired as she watches the microwave spin.

When the microwave stops, Grave almost pulls the entire door off in her eagerness to get the soup out of it. She gently grabs the soup and finds a spoon in the kitchen before attempting to give some to Hannah.

Before remembering Hannah is currently lying down. Grave lightly pushes Hannah into a sitting position with her hand, holding her there with it as she begins to spoon soup into her mouth.

Hannah leans heavily into Grave’s hand as she uses all her energy to accept the food and swallow. The soup runs hot and uncomfortable down her throat, but she can feel the vacant feeling in her stomach beginning to leave as the empty space is filled with the hot soup.

The existing panic in Grave rises slightly seeing how much Hannah is relying on her to stay up and eat right now, and she bites her tongue. It wasn’t bad enough to start making upset noises, but it might get that way soon.

Hannah’s stomach had shrunk from not eating all week, and some weight had dropped off of her, making her short stature look even smaller than it was. It didn’t take long before the soup lost its welcoming feeling, starting to make her stomach twist with something else, making her panic slightly at the thought of throwing up in her state.

Not much food has been eaten before Hannah’s stomach was concerning her too much, and the very real possibility of being sick was closing in.

“Nnnnnnnnnnnnnn” This was all the noise Hannah could make to try to signify to Grave to stop trying to feed her anymore, before there were serious consequences.

Grave seems to listen, as she moves the spoon away and puts it down, concern written on her features.

“-.-- . ... ..--..” (Yes?) She questions, looking down at Hannah in concern. Hannah uses the remaining strength she has to move her head a tiny bit, forming a tiny shaking of her head as she looks up at Grave.

‘Nnnnnnnnn.” She tries to talk, but nothing but noise can come out, and she can only hope Grave understands.

“-. --- / -- --- .-. . .-.-.- / --- -.- .- -.-- .-.-.-” (No more. Okay.) Grave nods and Hannah lets out a small sigh and naturally leans into Graves hand more, her energy all gone, leaving her feeling more tired than words can describe.

“... .-.. . . .--. .-.-.-” (Sleep.) Is all Grave says as she moves her off the counter gently, carrying her again and letting her sink into her fur. Hannah’s worries still plague her mind, causing her to whine.

Grave only repeats the same word with a little more fire behind it, making Hannah huff as she realises she’s lost the battle, allowing her eyes to close and her body to relax into Grave, falling asleep almost immediately, her breathing evening out to be slow and shallow, making Grave very happy.

Grave goes back into her cage, holding Hannah as she sleeps through the rest of the shift, through to the morning, when other workers can be heard filtering in the doors.

Grave hears the door to her lab open and backs into the corner of her cage, pretending to sleep, as if she hadn’t been watching over Hannah the entire night.

She hears Iden enter the room, finally feeling better from his flu. He almost immediately notices them and walks over, taking in his twins pallid, tired and thinner appearance.

He lowers his voice to a whisper as he speaks, though the fury he feels at seeing his twin like this is not contained well.

“I know you’re awake, you wanna tell me what’s been going on while I was off?” He directs the whispered question at Grave.

“... .... . / -. . . -.. . -.. / ..-. --- --- -.. / .- -. -.. / .-- .- - . .-. / .- -. -.. / .-. . ... - .-.-.- / ... .... . / --. --- - / .. - / .- .-.. .-.. .-.-.-” (She needed food and water and rest. She got it all.) Grave says bluntly, opening their many eyes to look back at Iden, Hannah dead to the world in their arms. Iden narrows his eyes, visibly angry.

“They’ve been overworking her, huh?” He asks, slight venom in his voice as he speaks, flicking his eyes towards the door of the lab.

“-.-- . ... .-.-.-” (Yes.) The word is blunt and harsh off of Grave’s tongue, causing Iden to sigh in response.

“Those bastards, they knew she wouldn’t say no…” He frowns and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Thank you for looking after her and forcing her to eat and sleep.” He adds, looking at Grave in appreciation.

Iden sits in front of the cage that Grave is inside, fed up already with his ridiculous co-workers, and ready to murder all of them if he was honest, he didn’t understand how they could have allowed Hannah to do this to herself.

Grave smiles at Iden, her wide array of teeth showing, making Iden automatically smile back at her genuine expression.

 After a not-so-civilised talk with his higher ups, and a threat to throw hands, Iden managed to convince them to half the hours they worked when working alone, so this could never happen again to his twin, all the while Grave was watching over the small human carefully, making sure they were safe.