#3-We Who Remain When The Price Was Paid

[gayliketheancients]

Super happy with 2-Family Home

So much so I wanted to drop a sneak peak at 3-We Who Remain After The Price Was Paid

BREAKING NEWS:

4 year old Harry Potter fights death!

#challenge prompt au #3-We Who Remain When The Price Was Paid #slytherin harry #master of death harry potter #glta #glta writes on ao3 #glta writes fanfic #gayliketheancients #jegulus #wolfstar #drarry #rosekiller #uncle severus #uncle moony #uncle barty #marylily #mwpp #marauders #marauders fanfic

[dreamescapeswriting]

Shadows Of The Past ~ YJN [MATURE WARNING]

CONTINUATION OF THIS PIECE

WORD COUNT: 5.2K

GENRE: mafia AU, established friendships, friends to lovers, financial trouble, joengin helping the reader, always been there for her but she never knew it, SMUT MINORS DNI, protected sex, public sex (kinda) links into the other stories too ehe epilogue with everyone included <3 

PAIRING: Jeongin X Fem!Reader

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - February 2024

⤜MASTERLIST

When you'd agreed to go to dinner with Jeongin to talk business you hadn't thought he'd bring you somewhere too sophisticated and fancy and you suddenly felt out of place. You were dressed in your pencil skirt and a white shirt that you were almost sure had stains all over it and everyone in the restaurant looked as though they were dressed for an award ceremony.

The restaurant exuded an air of elegance, its walls adorned with muted artwork that all seemed to be signed by an artist known as "Little Muse" and you felt unease bubbling inside of you. Why did he bring you to such a nice place? 

Soft jazz music drifted through the air, mingling with the clinking of silverware and the murmur of voices.

"Jeongin," You whispered as a waiter took you over to a table, your eyes widening as you saw them pull back some curtains to a private booth the two of you were going to be sitting in.

"Yes?" His eyes landed on you, sending shivers up and down your body something you wish you could shut off instantly. You'd had a crush on him as a kid but it had passed when he moved away, or so you had thought since everything seemed to be coming back up to cause trouble again.

"This is a business dinner, we should go somewhere...I-I don't know, better for business." You stuttered out as you took a seat across from him, your eyes looking down at the table that was draped in a white cloth with candles casting a warm glow on your private booth.

"This place is perfect for business, a friend of mine owns this place so we'll be left alone." He smirked at you, he wanted this to be alone time with you.

After not seeing you for almost 10 years he was desperate for some time alone with you, he hadn't seen you since the two of you were young but his feelings for you remained true.

"Okay, so I was thinking if you're serious about going into business with me-"

"Order something to eat first, you look like you haven't had a proper meal in weeks." You stared at him, a little taken back at just how forward he was with you, how did he know?

You hadn't eaten anything but ramen and something you could scrounge up from the hotel kitchen without being noticed. All of your money went straight back into the hotel, you hadn't even had two coins to rub together as of late but there was no way he could have known that. No one knew about it, not even your employees since you didn't want to have them worry about losing their jobs.

Instead, you cut your payout completely making sure they would still get paid and budgeted whenever you could, even leaving your home so you could sleep in your office. You sighed a little and nervously let your eyes flick over the menu, your eyes catching a glimpse of the prices and you instantly felt sick.

"About this business proposal," You said, your voice uncertain as you refused to look up from the menu.

"Yes, Cupcake?" The nickname made your hands clutch onto the menu. No one had called you that in years, no one but Jeongin had ever called you that and he only called you it because you always made sure to have them to hand if he was around.

Clearing your throat, you tried to shake off the memories that were threatening to overwhelm you. You'd been practically inseparable when you were kids, exploring the hotel together until you knew every inch of that damn place. But then Jeongin moved away when he turned 19, no warning, no letter, nothing he was just gone. Part of you thought he'd died until you were old enough to find out who he was and who his family truly were.

"I want to make sure we're both on the same page," You told him, forcing yourself to focus on the matter at hand.

"I put my heart and soul into this hotel, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to share ownership," You were but you weren't going to come across as too desperate to him. 

Truth was, the hotel was going under and you were left to try and scramble to put it all together. 

When you found out your uncle left you the hotel in the will you'd been over the moon about it. Ever since you were old enough you'd been working in the hotel, starting as a maid until you were promoted again and again till the point where you were practically running the place - your uncle still in charge of the books though. You now realised was because he was losing money left and right, taking out shoddy insurance deals or just flat out refusing to pay for some of the repairs only to do it himself and fuck it up more. 

A bank had recently told you that you'd be better off starting a fire and claiming insurance on the place than getting out a load but you were determined not to give up on the place, not when it had been everything you'd wanted ever since you could remember.

Jeongin's lips curled into a faint smile as he watched you, he knew how much trouble you were in but he wasn't going to let on that he knew. He didn't want you to see this as some sort of pity party, he did this because he loved the place as a kid and couldn't stomach the thought of something happening to it, or to you. 

His men had been watching you since he came into power, he refused to let anyone touch the hotel you had his protection and you didn't even know it. 

"I understand your hesitation, Cupcake. But trust me when I say that together, we could turn that place into something extraordinary." You sighed a little, your fingers tracing the rim of your glass, you knew he was persuasive, and he seemed to be drawing you in against your better judgment. But there was something else lurking beneath the surface, something you couldn't put your finger on.

"What's in it for you, Innie?" Your tone was more assertive now but Jeongin smiled at the nickname you used for him.

"No one's called me that in years." He chuckled softly and you felt your cheeks warming up at how happy it seemed to have made him.

"For me, it's more than business, Cupcake. It's all about reconnecting with an old friend, someone who knew, before all of this." You stared at him, unsure of how to respond to him but luckily a waiter came over to take your order. Jeongin rattled off his choice of food and you couldn't help but admire him from across the table and then he ordered for you. Ordering more food than you'd ever be able to eat but you were grateful for it nevertheless. 

Throughout the meal, you talked about everything and nothing, the easy banter of your childhood friendship slowly resurfacing. And as the evening drew to an end, you found yourself opening up to him in a way you wouldn't have expected to. You still hadn't told him about the money issues, you were scared if he found out too soon he'd bail on you. 

"I'll come by tomorrow with my payment, we'll sign everything with a lawyer," Jeongin told you as you stood outside the hotel, he questioned nothing when you asked him to drop you back here instead of a home which you were more than thankful for.

"That sounds good," You smiled a little, you were still unsure of everything and you weren't sure if you'd be able to trust him but you knew time could only tell that.

The following day when Jeongin showed up he expected to find you at the reception desk waiting for him and he frowned not seeing you standing there. Lowering the bouquet of flowers he got for you he stared at the woman on the front desk.

"Is YN around?" He stared at the woman who nodded frantically. 

"She's probably doing some tasks around the hotel, Miss YLN is a master of all trades." Jeongin hated that you'd resorted to fixing things yourself, he couldn't stomach the thought of something happening to you while you were fixing something.

"Will you make sure these are put in some water and on her desk? I'll try and find her," With that he walked around to try and find you, his footsteps echoing on the marbled floor of the lobby as he made his way to the elevators.

Eventually, he found you in one of the rooms, straightening out the bedsheets while a maid stood shaking in the corner, 

"Did she take over?" Jeongin asked quietly as the maid bobbed her head frantically, and he nodded for her to leave and watched her run off down the corridor. Jeonmgin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at you, with an amused smile playing on his lips.

"Isn't that the maid's job?" He teased gently, his voice laced with amusement. You glanced up from your work, heat taking over your body. You cleaned whenever you were stressed about something and it seemed you'd hardly stopped since waking up this morning.

"I...Uh...Just felt like doing some cleaning." You mumbled, the truth was you were stressing more now that you knew a lawyer was coming to help you and Jeongin signed everything over. You thought he was going to see the books and run for the hills and you worried you'd be left with nothing. The thought of it had kept you up for most of the night and you'd spent all of your time stress cleaning the entire place. Your office was the cleanest it had been in months and you showed no signs of living there and the toilets on the reception floor were spotless too.

"To relieve stress?" He arched a brow, staring at you as you placed chocolates onto the pillows and brushed your hands down the front of your skirt. The same skirt and shirt you'd been wearing the night before and looked as though you'd slept in, if you'd slept at all. Which judging by the bags under your eyes was a big no. You hated that he could see right through you, you hated that he could tell something was wrong without you saying a thing.

"Maybe." You grumbled a little, pushing the cart out of the room and into the hallway, going to move on to the next room when Jeongin stared at you, freezing you in place. His eyes bored into the side of your head as you let out a small sigh,

"Well, you certainly seem to have everything under control." He remarked, a little admiration in his voice. He was impressed with how well you'd kept the hotel going until now, he knew what his lawyers had found since he'd found it months ago but he said nothing. He knew if you found out about him knowing about the money problems you'd refuse his help, you were stubborn and always had been. 

This deal was to keep the place he loved afloat yes but it was also to stop you from losing something you loved, he wanted you to be happy. He'd do anything in the world to make sure that you were joyful about something. It was the reason this place was still even going, no one was allowed to touch it under his strict rules and no one went against him.

Even some of your high-paying clients had been sent there specifically by Jeongin but it was getting harder to send them when the hotel was going under.

"Just trying to keep things in order." You mumbled, trying to downplay everything as you kept a casual tone.

Your eyes met, and for a moment, the air between you crackled with tension and you felt your throat drying up and your heart beginning to race. Whenever he looked at you like this it made you feel as though all of your problems were melting away, that he would take care of everything.

"Listen, Yn," He began, his voice gentle as he stepped closer to you, his hand gently clasping your elbow and bringing you closer to him. Your steps fumbled a little as you crashed against his chest, your eyes never leaving his as you now felt how hard his heart was racing.

"I know we've got business to attend to, but I want to say...I'm grateful for the chance to reconnect with you..." You nodded at him, not knowing what to say or do, your heart was aching for you to reach out and kiss him but you needed to remain professional. 

"Whatever happens with the hotel, I value what we have more than anything." Your heart fluttered at his words, despite your reservations about all of this you couldn't deny the connection you felt with him.

"Me too, Innie..." You replied softly, a small smile playing on your lips as he leaned down closer to you.

"Boss. The lawyers are downstairs, saying that something is wrong with the books." Your heart shattered into tiny shards, all of which felt as though they were beginning to pierce into your lungs leaving you breathless.

"We'll be right down," Jeongin spoke coldly, his hands holding onto you as you scrambled to get away from him.

"We should go downstairs," You mumbled, refusing to look at him and he missed the time you had before this.

"Yn." He tried to call out but you were already making a B-line for the staircase without looking back in his direction.

In your office the tension hung heavy in the air as Joengin sat across from you, flanked by his team of lawyers. Your hands were shaking as you stared at one of the mn,

"I'm sorry, Yn, but the numbers don't lie." One of them said gravely, you'd been introduced but didn't bother to learn either of their names since you knew this was all going to fall through.

"The hotel is haemorrhaging money, and if we don't act fast, it's going to sink further into debt." He explained, sliding the papers over to you as you stared down at the maths you'd already been working out long before they came into the scene, 

"Our recommendation is to cut our losses and walk away while we still can." The other one said to Jeongin but his jaw tightened, his expression unreadable as he absorbed everything.

"Innie, I know this looks bad but...I-I can fix it. I can get another loan." You tried to scramble for something, anything to keep him from walking away from this.

"Every bank has turned her down." The lawyer stated coldly, making your blood boil as you turned to face him,

"I'll fire some staff, make more cutbacks. I'll stop paying myself." You weren't telling them that you'd already done that, you just needed to buy some time to get him to stay.

"You haven't been paying yourself for months, you've been sleeping in your office." The second lawyer stated making you stare at him, wondering how long he'd been watching you for them to know all of this.

"You've been watching me?!" You snapped at the lawyer who looked as though you'd just bitten his head off. 

"Sir, we recommend walking away." They both stated, standing up slowly as you stared at Jeongin, your eyes pleading with his. A knot formed in the pit of your stomach, the weight of the situation pressing down on your shoulders.

"I'm not walking away." He declared, his gaze locked on yours, your heart thumping rapidly against your chest.

"I made a commitment to Yn and I intend to honor it. We'll find a way to turn this around, no matter what it takes." He told the cooly. The lawyers exchanged incredulous glances, clearly taken back by Jeongin's stubbornness.

"With all due respect, Sir, this isn't a wise investment." One of them insisted.

"You'll be throwing good money after bad." Jeongin shook his head at them, he didn't care what they said he wasn't going to walk away from any of this. They were only here to oversee the signing of everything, everything they found was everything knew already and didn't care about.

"I'm not in this for the money. I'm in this because Yn is my friend, and I won't abandon her when she needs me most. We'll figure out a solution together, even if it means taking risks." You felt a surge of gratitude swell within you, a lump forming in your throat at his unwavering loyalty. Despite the odds stacked against you, he was still willing to stay by your side and you knew you had a fighting chance. 

"T-Thank you...I-I don't know what I'd do without you." Your voice choked up a little and he smiled at you,

"You don't have to worry anymore Yn, I'll always have your back, no matter what," He told you reassuringly, with that the lawyers got out the papers and you all began signing. Jeongin put down more money than he needed but he was willing to do it for you. 

As the night stretched on, you and Jeongin found yourselves huddling together in your office, poring over the financial reports, and brainstorming ideas to salvage the hotel.

"We can have more functions held here, a friend of mine is having a wedding soon and I'm sure I can sway him to holding it here," He stated as you stared at him in complete awe. All night long you'd found yourself staring at him more and more. 

"Sure. It's been a while since a wedding was at the "Celestial"." You giggled at the thought. You'd always loved hosting weddings but everything had died down when you didn't have enough staff to work the events.

"I can bring in other servers and we can slowly build everything back up," Jeongin smiled proudly of himself and you stared at him. The air crackled with tension as you thought back to your moment in the hallway earlier but you quickly went back to scribbling notes onto a pad. Your mind races with ideas other than weddings, you could host parties, charity balls, or anything you wanted.

Jeongin leaned in close, his presence comforting and yet electrifying all at once. You slowly looked up to meet his gaze and linger a little more than necessary. The years of unspoken longing bubbling to the surface, your defences crumbling like sandcastles in the side. Jeongin's hand reached out tentatively, cupping your cheek as he brushed his thumb along your skin. Your breath caught in your throat, your heart pounding against your chest as you leaned into his touch.

"Innie," You breathed out, your voice barely coming out above a whisper as you searched his eyes for any sign of hesitation. But he said nothing, his lips capturing yours in a kiss that ignited a firestorm inside of you.

In that stolen moment, time seemed to freeze around you as you melted into each other, the weight of your unspoken desire finally finding a release. You wrapped your arms around Joengin's neck as he pulled you onto his lap, your lips moving together in a silent promise of love and devotion. 

"I-Innie," You breathed out as you broke apart, completely breathless and dizzy with desire, you knew that you wanted him badly.

"Sofa," You whispered, kissing down his neck and softly biting into his skin as you moved together toward the sofa. Jeongin carefully set you down on the sofa and sank to his knees in front of you, 

"Yn, are you sure?-"

"Yes...Just please, touch me." You begged him, a smirk tugging on the corners of his lips as he slowly rolled your skirt up your hips.

"I've wanted to fuck you ever since I saw this skirt," He moans out, kissing up your thighs until he reaches your underwear, yanking them down in one swift movement, your heart hammered against your chest.

"R-Really?" You felt your body heating up as he wrapped your legs around his shoulders, dragging you to the edge of the sofa quickly.

"Don't act shocked, Cupcake. I've always wanted you," He said plainly as if it was common knowledge for you to know but you'd never had any idea that he did.

"You never said anything to me when we were last together," You battled back with him but he smirked,

"I was planning on it before I was yanked away from you,"

"You never wrote." You mumbled to him, it wasn't the time to get into this now when you were laid bare in front of him but you wanted answers.

"Orders from dad, no contact."

"But-"

"Will you let me eat your pussy? I'm fucking starving, Cupcake." He growled out before you nodded, giggling a little but it was quickly replaced by a gasp as he ran his tongue up your slit. His mouth was hot and wet as he slowly ran his tongue against you, building you up as he ate you out like a man starved. Your head rolled back against the back of the sofa as you cried out his name. You couldn't remember the last time you'd slept with someone or even made yourself feel come but Jeongin was already better than any memory you had.

"F-Fuck," You hiss out, your hips slowly grinding against him as he hummed against your clit, vibrations chilling up and down your spine, as you cry out his name.

"I-Innie," You moaned out, raking your fingers through his hair and pushing him deeper into you, his tongue swirling around your clit as he slowly pushed two fingers into you. Thrusting them slowly and softly, curling them to that one spot that made your head spin. 

"Just like that," You plead with him, your heels digging into his shoulder blades as you feel the tension building deep inside of you. Jeongin pressed himself closer to you, humming against your clit until it was too much your orgasm hit you suddenly, your legs shaking around him as he smirked.

"Good fucking girl," He groans, standing up and chuckling as you quickly removed his belt, throwing it against the room and pulling down his pants.

"Please," You beg as he lays you down on the sofa, kissing you softly as he carefully lines himself up at your entrance, your legs carefully wrapping around his waist.

"You're so hot when you beg." He moans out as he slowly pushes into you, filling you to the hilt as you let out a strangled moan. He was bigger than you'd been expecting and you whimpered a little,

"M-move," You urged, bucking your hips a little to let him know he was good to move and he smiled kissing you roughly as he slowly pulled out of you, only to slam back in a second later.

"F-Fuck yes!" You cry out, your eyes screwed shut as you clutched onto him, trying to adjust to his size as he continued to pound into you. His cock driving into you, hitting that one spot that made you scream louder. Your nails dragged down his back as you searched for something to cling onto, ripping holes into his shirt as your head rolled back in complete ecstasy.

"Jeongin!" You moan out, your clit grinding against him on every stroke of his cock, the pressure building inside of you hitting near its breaking point.

"Cum for me, cupcake. Let me feel you," He moans out, his thrusting getting faster as you finally felt the pressure snap and you came around his cock violently, causing your back to arch away from the sofa. 

"S-Shit, Yn." He groans, unable to hold himself back anymore as he thrusts into you, slowly coming undone inside of you as you lay there. The wind knocked out of both of you as you let out small chuckles at one another.

Wrapped in each other's arms, you lay on the sofa together, the warmth of your embrace serving as a sanctuary from the outside world. Jeongin's fingers gently traced patterns along your back,

"My dad never wanted me to contact you after we moved away. He said it was best to leave the past behind us," He finally told you, his words hesitant.

"I regretted it every day...Losing touch with you was like losing a piece of myself. But now that I have you back in my life, I never want to let go." A smile tugged on his lips and tears brimmed in your eyes at the weight of his words.

"Innie..." You whispered, your voice cracking a little. Jeongin pressed a soft kiss to your forehead, 

"I love you, Yn. I've loved you since we were kids, and I'll love you for the rest of my days." Tears spilt down your cheeks as you clung to him, your heart overflowing,

"I love you too, Innie." You confessed, 

"I always have and I always will," You finished as he kissed your lips softly. In that moment, as you lay close to one another, you knew your love was a force to be reckoned with. That no matter what, with him by your side, you'd be able to overcome any obstacle that stood in your way. 

"I want this place spotless!" You called out to the event hall of your hotel, everyone inside was rushing around at the last second to make sure everything was perfect for you. You placed your hand on your stomach and watched as one of your guards - Carlos - made his way over to you with some snacks,

"You're going to make it obvious," You mumbled to him as you took the crisps from him and started to eat from the packet. It seemed as though ever since you'd hit the 6-week mark of your pregnancy you'd been craving crisps or anything that was savoury and Carlos had been the man to help you. Mostly because he was the only other person who knew about it and he only knew because he found you crying in your office whilst holding the stick.

I think it should be obvious. Too much stress isn't good for the baby and have you told Mr Yang yet?" Carlos was far too comfortable with you, you thought maybe it was time to switch him for another guard but you'd grown comfortable with him also and you enjoyed your talks together.

"No." You mumbled with a mouthful of crisps, shaking your head at him. All week long he'd been trying to get you to tell Jeongin about the pregnancy but you were nervous about it. It had only been a few months since the two of you got together and you knew if he found out he was only going to stop you from working Jisung's wedding that your hotel was hosting and that was the last thing you wanted.

Everything you and Jeongin had been working toward was here and you weren't going to let someone else take the reigns on this.

"Don't you think you should?" He raised his brow at you but you mumbled what he said back to him in a mocking tone and walked toward your office. You opened the door and stared at Carlos with a weak smile,

"I'll tell him when the time is right after the wedding is over." You shrugged not realising that Jeongin was standing inside of your office and Carlos held back the smirk. He'd known about Jeongin coming to visit you and it was his intention to try to get him to overhear everything,

"Tell who what when the time is right?" You cringed as you heard Jeongin and you glared at Carlos.

"You're a backstabber and I hate you." You mumbled slamming the door in his face and making your way toward the chair behind your desk.

"Is there something I should know?" Jeongin chuckled, watching you closely as you shook your head

"No. It's nothing, it's just Carlos worrying for nothing." You hated the fact that you were lying to your boyfriend but you needed to make sure you worked this wedding. You'd been planning it for months now and you weren't going to let Jeongin or anyone else take it away from you, not when it was the first wedding in years.

"Is it about your pregnancy?" Your hand paused midway to your mouth and the crisps fell from your grasp,

"How-" Your heart sank as you thought about him finding out through someone else but you. The last thing you ever wanted was for him to be upset but he didn't seem it in the slightest, in fact, he seemed rather happy.

"Please, you've been eating crisps non-stop, you're throwing up and not to mention some of the maids were gossiping about it when they found the test in your trash." Jeongin had known for weeks and at first, he was a little upset that you hadn't come to him but he could understand why.

"Those little rats," You mumbled to yourself, sighing and looking at him, suddenly feeling the guilt take over you as you whimpered a little.

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd stop me working." You defend but Jeongin eyes you up closely

"Did I though?" He smirked, raising a brow at you. Sure, at first he wanted to stop you from doing everything but he knew that would only make you worse and neither of you wanted that.

"Well, no, but-"

"I won't stop you working but as soon as I see you stressing that's when I'll put a stop to things." He reached his hand over the desk and squeezed yours softly, 

"Thank you," You whispered, smiling a little as you thought about it.

"Jisung and his bride-to-be are waiting for us in the Restaurant," They were waiting to go over a final plan and you had a special surprise for them as well. You'd been working with a private contractor for a few weeks making sure that the honeymoon suite was perfect for them and it was finally complete which you were going to show them around after food.

The sun dipped below the horizon casting a warm glow over the gardens of your hotel you watched as your daughter ran toward Changbin's son - Rath - who was quickly running away from her.

"Your son is a nousense." Jeongin grumbled, his arms folded against his chest as your daughter continued to chase Rath through the gardens yelling for him to wait for her.

"Your daughter is the one with the crush, it's not my son." Changbin laughed as he wrapped his arms around his wife, your head shaking as the two men began to bicker back and forth with one another. It felt good to have nights like this together.

You found yourself close with all seven of the other wives Jeongin's friends were married to, each of you helping raise each other's kids or just being close friends, it was a bond that could never be broken.

"Wait till he hears that Jisung's son wants to date his daughter." Chan laughed loudly causing Changbin to yell louder and in Jisung's direction this time. You giggled a little lacing your fingers with Jeongin's as you listened to all the children laugh as they played games in the garden and you couldn't think of a better place to be than right here.

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[deliciousangelfestival]

The Lady - 4

Character: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader, Eddie Horniman x Female Reader

Summary: After fifteen years away, a step-daughter returns for her Duke step-father's funeral, only to inherit a staggering 8 million pound debt and strike a risky deal with a criminal underworld figure.

Main Masterlist || support: Ko-fi

Chap 1, Chap 2, Chap 3 , Chap 4 , Chap 5 , Chap 6 , -

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After a half-hearted attempt to watch the tennis tournament, you, Hugo, and Eddie retreated for afternoon tea.

"Me? The criminal organization in this country want me?" you asked incredulously.

Eddie nodded, casually adding sugar to his tea, with Hugo mimicking his actions. "They're still trying to figure out who you are. They won't ask Barnes since they despise him. They've made inquiries, but your identity remains a mystery to them, given your recent arrival."

"What about you, Eddie?" you inquired.

Eddie raised an eyebrow, a smile playing at the corners of his lips as he sipped his tea. "Hmm?"

"Why didn't you expose me to them?" you clarified.

Eddie set down his cup, meeting your gaze directly. "And let them exploit your expertise? You're too valuable for that, my dear."

The endearment caught you off guard, evoking memories of summers spent at Manor with Eddie's parents, particularly his mother, who often referred to you as "My Dear" during afternoon tea. But when Eddie used the term, it carried a different weight.

Eddie continued, "I faced a similar situation last year. This organization is far more dangerous than most people realize, even those at the UN dealing with cross-border issues."

"True," you agreed, contemplating the chaos of the criminal underworld. "The real zoo is here. But what about your organization?"

"My cannabis business remains neutral in conflicts," Eddie explained. "Even in our silence, there are those who seek to undermine us."

He paused, then offered, "If you want to join forces, you could. You could easily settle the debt."

The air hung heavy with the implications of his proposition, the tension palpable as you considered the possibilities.

"No," you interjected firmly.

Hugo finally joined the conversation, shooting Eddie a defiant glare. "My dad paid a high price to cut ties with cannabis."

You were surprised by Hugo's sudden assertiveness, especially considering his awareness of Rupert's dealings.

Eddie chuckled, unfazed by Hugo's challenge. "I could see you as a Duke in the future."

But before the tension could escalate further, another voice cut in, catching you off guard.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Are you cheating on me in broad daylight?"

You tensed at the sound of Bucky's voice, turning to find him standing beside your table, impeccably dressed in Ralph Lauren, his smirk as infuriating as ever.

"Can't I have a day without seeing your face?" you retorted, unable to hide your irritation.

Bucky feigned injury, clutching his chest dramatically. "Ouch."

Eddie intervened, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "What are you doing here, Barnes?"

"I wanted to try tea time. Felt like a royal for a change, but the cake tasted like shit," Bucky quipped, oblivious to the disapproving looks from nearby tables and the waitress.

"Well, I just wanted to say hello and meet the Duke of Horniman. Say hi from me to Bobby Glass, will you?" Bucky continued, his smirk never faltering.

Eddie's smile turned sour. "I won't."

"Great," Bucky replied casually, turning his attention to you. "Wait for my call, Your Grace."

You responded with a curt, "Fuck off."

Hugo nearly choked on his drink at your blunt retort, while Eddie struggled to contain his laughter.

Unfazed by your harsh words, Bucky simply bowed and took his leave.

Eddie glanced at you, his expression sympathetic. "I can see what you're dealing with."

As you drove back to the manor with Hugo, his voice interrupted the tense atmosphere inside the car. "Can we switch our ride?"

You glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "What's wrong with this one?"

Hugo's enthusiasm was palpable as he explained, "My buddies have got green cars, red cars, even yellow ones. And get this - their car doors pop up like wings when they open!"

You couldn't help but chuckle at his excitement. Seeing him like this, he seemed more like a kid dreaming of his favorite toy.

If Rupert weren't neck-deep in debt, you'd have no qualms about splurging on Hugo's dream car. But for now, you couldn't bear to crush his hopes. "Yeah, sure. Once we're done here, we'll get you one."

As you drove back to the manor with Hugo, you delved into a conversation about Rupert's work.

"You know a little about Rupert's work?" you inquired, curious about your stepfather's business.

Hugo nodded thoughtfully. "All I know is, dad wanted to quit the cannabis business because of Charles."

His mention of Charles brought a warning to mind. "Don't ask anything about weed with Bro Charles," he cautioned.

"Why?" you asked, intrigued by the sudden seriousness in Hugo's tone.

Hugo shook his head solemnly. "Ask Mom or Charlotte."

"Fine," you conceded, understanding the need for caution.

Upon your return to Evergreen Manor, you inquired about your mother's whereabouts from the butler. Learning that Susan was out shopping with friends, you sighed in frustration. With no one else to turn to, you realized you would have to seek answers from Charlotte.

Entering the living room, you spotted Charlotte engaged in a live conversation with her followers. It was clear she was preoccupied. "This will take a while," you muttered to yourself, bracing for what lay ahead.

Four hours later, Charlotte's hostility lingered as she addressed your inability to come to a conclusion on your own.

"Can't you figure it out on your own?" she snapped, arms crossed tightly as if she couldn't bear to share the same air as you.

You sighed, bracing yourself for another round of her disdain. "No, I can't. I've been out of touch with everyone for the past 15 years," you admitted, resigned to the reality of your isolation.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Charlotte gestured for you to follow her. You trailed behind her to the barns, where an out-of-place container caught your eye.

As Charlotte swung the door open, a wave of nausea washed over you as the unmistakable scent of weed filled the air.

"Weed," you muttered, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling into place.

"Dad was making extra money with this, but he wanted out because of Charles," Charlotte explained, her voice tinged with bitterness.

"Why?" you pressed, eager to understand the full extent of the situation.

Charlotte remained silent for a moment, her expression guarded. "This is why you should at least read the emails that Mom sent you, even if you don't want to reply," she scolded.

Her words struck a chord, and you listened intently as she revealed the shocking truth. "Charles overdosed," she continued, her voice heavy with emotion. "We almost lost him. The doctors said he was brain dead. It's truly a miracle that Charles could come back alive. That's the reason why he became a priest."

The revelation left you speechless, your ignorance laid bare before you. "I had no idea," you whispered, grappling with the weight of the revelation.

"But now you know," Charlotte replied, her tone softer. "And you understand why my dad cut off all contact with anything related to drugs."

Charlotte's words hit you like a punch to the gut, stirring up a whirlwind of emotions within you.

"What did you say?" you demanded, your voice tinged with disbelief.

"If you never came here, none of this would have happened," Charlotte muttered, her gaze heavy with accusation.

You bristled at her insinuation. "None of that is my fault," you retorted, feeling the weight of her words bearing down on you.

Charlotte's voice was laced with bitterness as she continued, "Your existence changed Charles."

You recoiled at the truth of her words, the realization hitting you like a ton of bricks. Charles's feelings for you had always been a taboo topic, one you never dared to confront. It explained so much—the distance, the tension, the unspoken truths that lingered between you and your family.

You couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt, even though you knew deep down that you were not to blame. "I didn't even ask to be born," you muttered, a bitter reminder of the unfair hand life had dealt you.

The tension crackled in the air as you and Charlotte locked gazes, each refusing to back down from the confrontation.

"You can't blame me for Charles's choices," you snapped, your frustration boiling over.

Charlotte's eyes flashed with resentment. "I'm not blaming you for his choices, I'm blaming you for existing!" she shot back, her words like daggers aimed at your heart.

Your jaw clenched as you struggled to contain your rising anger. "Well, I'm sorry if my existence inconveniences you so much," you retorted, your voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It's not just about inconvenience, it's about ruining lives!" Charlotte spat, her voice trembling with emotion.

"Ruining lives?" you scoffed, incredulous. "I didn't ask for any of this! I didn't ask to be the reason Charles spiraled out of control."

"Maybe not, but you're still the reason!" Charlotte's voice rose with every word, her frustration reaching its peak.

You took a step closer, your own anger boiling beneath the surface. "And what about me? What about the life I've had to live because of all this?"

Charlotte's expression softened slightly, a flicker of guilt crossing her features. "I know it's not fair to you either," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Then stop blaming me for everything!" you pleaded, the weight of years of resentment and guilt bearing down on you.

"Stop it," Susan's voice cut through the tension, her breath heavy as she approached.

Both you and Charlotte halted, the argument stalling at Susan's arrival. She hurried over, concern etched on her face as she reached Charlotte, who appeared flushed.

"Are you alright?" Susan's voice was laced with worry as she checked on her daughter.

You felt a pang of resentment, knowing that despite being her biological child, Susan often treated Charlotte as her own. It stung, a constant reminder of your place in the family hierarchy.

As Susan tended to Charlotte, you clenched your fists, a surge of frustration coursing through you. You turned away, unable to bear the sight any longer.

Walking away, you pulled out your phone, dialing a number with shaky fingers. "Where are you?"

Inside the car, you and Bucky sat side by side, watching the second target intently. The bomb had already been discreetly placed under the car, and now it was just a matter of waiting.

Bucky's voice broke the silence, filled with genuine awe. "Damn, watching you do your thing is like watching Picasso paint."

You shrugged nonchalantly, trying to downplay your talent. "Yeah, turns out anger can make me completely focused."

Bucky let out a low whistle, his admiration evident. "Well, color me impressed, sweetheart."

As you both observed the target, a man stumbled out of the club, clearly inebriated. His drunken antics drew attention, and he shamelessly flirted with every girl he encountered, much to your disdain.

"What's the reason for him?" you inquired, unable to hide your distaste for the man's behavior.

Bucky's response was simple yet cryptic. "Someone just really hates him."

Moments later, the target climbed into his car, oblivious to the impending danger. Without hesitation, Bucky pressed the trigger.

'BANG' The explosion echoed through the night as the car erupted in flames, sending shockwaves through the surrounding area.

'KYAA!!'

The chaos erupted as the explosion sent shockwaves through the crowd, eliciting panicked screams from bystanders.

"Too bad the wedding will never happen," Bucky remarked casually, his tone laced with dark amusement.

Your heart sank at his words, a sense of dread settling over you. "Huh?" you muttered, struggling to comprehend the gravity of the situation.

Bucky's pointed gesture toward the burning car made everything click into place. "He's your step-sister's fiancé," he explained bluntly.

A wave of guilt washed over you as you realized the ramifications of your actions. You cursed your ignorance and lack of foresight.

In frustration, you turned on Bucky, your voice trembling with anger."Next time, how about a little warning before we go blowing up someone's bloody ride?"

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Author Note: Hey friends,

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[kiefbowl]

this is a random thought I had in the shower actually well over a month ago, but I've been gnawing at it in my brain...and perhaps this is going to sound pathetic and a bit esoteric.

So, it suddenly dawned on me very randomly while I was showering that I have been paying for netflix for my own account since I was a freshman in college. Back in the dvd days, I remember having Firefly sent to me disk by disk my fall semester. This is 2009. It was an important part of college because I let my friends use it on their console and we'd all go to their dorm and watch streaming, and I passed out my log in to a ton of friends. I basically provided free Netflix to more or less 10 or so people over the course of four years for not even $7 a month I think.

What hit me though was that means, this year - that will be 15 years. That's what stopped me in my shower to stare off in the abyss for like 10 minutes and what's been on my mind for the past several weeks. I've been paying netflix for 15 years, which is the longest I've ever done anything. There is no other company I've so consistently paid for like this either, not for that many of years not even close. Quite possibly my longest relationship outside of my family and 2-3 other people. Netflix, the ever constant, of all forsaken things.

And what really bothers me about it is that, uhm, not to be an American consumer but like...I don't feel appreciated by netflix. For the past few years, I've barely used it, except for a few titles I've wanted to watch. I haven't passed out my log in since I changed it not long after college to keep an ex using it for free. I've remained loyal, despite the fact that I don't feel like some sort of loyal consumerist. I don't give a fuck about brands, I try to shop as little as possible, thrift what I can. And yet, what can I say? I actually am a loyal consumerist, to netflix that is.

What a shock to realize this, and what a shock to realize netflix does not acknowledge this, no email saying thanks, no surveys, no swag, no pizza party, no invite no perk no discount no nothing. Instead they raise prices, cut services, lose licenses, and cancel barely finished products. I'm 15 years loyal to this company for this?

And I think about the days of yore, but really not long ago. The preferred shopper's catalogues of department stores, the longtime shopper promotions of industry giants, the award systems for the loyal consumerists of chains and malls. The specialty Christmas items that are today vintage and worth money for their rarity. The thank yous, the special events. The mailers that say "Come to our store loyal customer and receive a free $20 coupon for that day!" And I'm not saying this is good, and of course it's all just marketing and advertisement, and I'm not saying this is the life I want to live...

But I am saying this would be easy for netflix to do, for someone like me. Someone who went from $7 to stream and receive DVDs, who got customers onboard when the model was new and the company was pioneering, to $20 to sit unused but for a month or two out of the year. It would be easy to pull the data. It would be easy to say which accounts have been opened the longest, to actually verify who has given 180 months worth of payments to them. It would be easy to give me a year's discount to say thank you. It would be easy for them to send an email to verify my address to send me merch. Do I want the merch? No, not really. But have they tried?

Have they even sent me an email saying "We appreciate your 15 years of support! We value you!" with little confetti animation? They didn't do it at 10 years. They didn't do it at 5 years. I don't recall ever receiving emails from netflix besides "Unfortunately, our payment model is changing."

As of today, I haven't pulled my account yet. I want to finish Bridgerton, even if this season is a snoozefest. But I think I will. I feel had and used, as pathetic as that sounds. Has Hulu done anything different? I can't remember when I signed up for them but it's been many years. No, but I frankly use it more, so I'm less angry. And with netflix...it's been fifteen years. They have really banked on us being passive in our payments, and accustomed to the freedom of endless choice, and it just feels gleeful that they never even once acknowledged I've been here this whole time. Actually, act like Sears and Bloomingdales 60 years ago, or we quit I think we should say. Ask me my address to send me a glass netflix mug or I'll fuck off, because who do you think you are to think so little of me, the only reason you exist for?

[kneelingshadowsalome]

Scorpio Curse (König x F!OC)

Part 2/3 of Valkyrie

(Part 1 here)

Summary: König gets an order to make a female SpecGru sniper talk, but König doesn't want to hurt women.

Category: Smut 🔞, angst, fluff

Tags & warnings: Explicit mature content +18 audiences only, strangers to lovers (slight enemies to lovers), dubious consent, threats of rape, virgin!König, size kink, size difference, p in v, multiple orgasms, cunnilingus, squirting, hugs and cuddles, super fluffy ending. König will be named in later chapters. 

Part 2: Mostly König who is in desperate need of a hug (don't worry, he will get it soon enough :*)

A/N: KorTac and SpecGru are rivaling military contractors, Conor is König's superior (and a huge villain), and I just wanted to write angsty smut featuring our favourite Austrian boi. 

"You should've come to me, König."

He was still here.

No one had told him to leave his stuff and sign the papers and get the fuck out.

He had been called to see the team leader, though.

Immediately.

"It's true that we don't do that shit. Especially with the SpecGru, not after everything that already went through."

He told his side of the story, and apparently, the command agreed that Conor had made a mistake.

"Your superior officer slipped, but that doesn't mean you have the right to do whatever the fuck you deem more appropriate."

The leader's cheeks were red, and his voice traveled from peaceful, tired account to a booming loud yell.

"To tell you the truth, König, you're good at what you do. But pull this kind of shit again, and the KorTac will ensure you lose your rifle for good. They'll make sure you'll get spat in the face in every fucking PMC on this fucking planet, you hear me?"

He was surprised he didn't catch spit flying right now.

"Sir."

"Now go fix that goddamn fence."

"Yes, sir. Right away, sir."

König, former weapons sergeant of the Jagdkommando and current operator of the special forces known as KorTac, felt like a fresh recruit when he turned heel and marched from the office. He thought about asking whether the surveillance tape would be destroyed or if it was already but sensed that this was not the best moment to ask questions. The leader's tired voice followed him as he walked away with cold sweat tingling down his back.

"Jesus. Where did you even get those bolt cutters.."

He worked half a day to get it right. Repairing the fence was easy, but fixing it so that it wasn't a weak spot in the area's defense was not. He had kneeled down in this exact same spot less than 24 hours ago, with a tense, silent cargo thrown on his back in a fireman's carry.

He had yanked the door to the surveillance room open to let the men know they could get a coffee break while he watched the prisoner — only to find that there was no one there. He had been played twice the fool, and she had paid the price. He wasn't man enough to tell her it had been all in vain when he went to get her.

He certainly wasn't going to tell her that he would still do it all again.

She stayed mute the whole journey to the fence, remained quiet even when he placed her gently on the ground and showed her the hole he had made on the chain link fence for her to crawl through.

"There you go, little Walküre."

She stared at his work for a while, sniffed, then looked up at him.

"You think you can fit through that?" He asked, although he had made sure the hole was big enough for even him to go through.

"Yeah…" she uttered her first words since forever before reaching for her road to freedom. Realizing she was still tied, she pivoted back.

"My hands.." she started, but he was already kneeling on the ground with his combat knife pulled out. With utter care, he cut her loose. She caught him after it was done, and he glanced at those tiny fingers that barely reached to close around his wrists.

"Thank you."

He raised his stare, and her eyes bored into his as she ensured her words had sunk in. Then she turned, dived for the hole… but turned back again.

"König."

He had enough time to discover that the naked pain in her eyes was of the exact same kind as the agony spreading in his heart before she leaped to him, threw her arms around him — and suddenly, he was home.

"Don't get yourself killed." Her voice was a muffled sob that hit his skin through the mask as she pressed her face against his neck and squeezed him with a surprising amount of strength. Dumbfounded, he raised his arms but wasn't sure if she would welcome the touch. He didn't want her to think he would seize her just when she had been offered a way out.

"Promise that you won't get killed."

He knew that he would probably get maimed for this. At the very least, he would lose his contract. But he hadn't even thought about it when he made that hole and carried her here.

She released him and pulled back. Her eyes were pure attention, a time-halting awareness that seized him without warning. It didn't matter that he was loaded with gear, that he had a helmet and a mask on. She could see him. All of him. And she smiled.

Then she reached for his mask.

He did nothing to stop her as she grabbed the hood and started to lift it. His vision went black with the ascending cloth for the longest second…

And then he could see again — see her wide eyes roam his face. The silence was pierced by a few raindrops, the first of an impending heavy rain. They landed on his helmet and on his arm guards, specked on her cheeks as they fell from the heavy clouds above them.

"Wow," she breathed, with parted lips and eyes that sparkled.

She grabbed his helmet through the cloth and pushed both the hood and the piece of metal away. The bundle landed somewhere next to him with a soft clunk a second before her lips pressed against his.

Rain fell, and with it, the paint from around his eyes — all the black he had surrounded himself with ran down his cheeks and neck, all the way under the collar of his shirt and over his heart that thumped like a maniac. They were in a warm August shower together, and she pulled him by his neck, threatened to swallow him, and he could do nothing but melt and surrender and answer with the same gentle hunger.

Her fingers swept across his chin; they caressed his temples, brushed his scalp, and tugged at his hair, not hindered by the fact that there wasn't much to grab hold of in the classic military undercut. They slid down his neck, grabbed his tactical vest, and pulled him deeper into the kiss. She sucked his lip, kissed the raindrops away, and he was hard as a rock even in the pants that were soaked and cool.

When she relented, all too soon, he would've given everything to freeze time and stay there. Under that hail, kneeled in that mud — with her, forever.

"I can't go through that fence unless you promise me," she panted in his mouth, and every single fiber in his body told him not to promise anything. He wanted to grab her instead, take her back, tuck her somewhere safe, and keep her as his own.

"Ok," he whispered.

A gush of hot air landed on his face as she gave a short laugh.

"Ok what?" She smiled against his mouth, her teeth colliding with his lips.

"I… promise."

"'Atta boy," he felt the words before he heard them, and she kissed him once more, and he could've drowned in that kiss. In those words.

"I'll never forget this," she said, lips wet with all that rain, eyes blinking through the drops that slithered down her face and got caught in her lashes.

I'll never forget you.

"No problem."

"No problem…? God. Could you get any more charming?"

She thought he was charming…

"Just one more thing, hero."

She bit her lip, looked down on the soaked grass, then up at him, and smiled.

“What’s with the hood? I really don’t get it. You look super nice.” She winked an eye at him. And then she turned and crawled through that hole and vanished into the darkness.

He was left alone in the descending rain, and there he had remained ever since.

He was convinced he still had her scent on him. He never washed that shirt he had been wearing the day he lifted her in his lap. He tried to catch her from it, and for a few days, he thought he actually did. But then that scent became only a memory.

Nevertheless, it followed him everywhere. No one knew that he was encompassed by it. That he was shrouded with her as he walked the base or rose on the plane.

Days passed by, and he still felt her lips on his own. Her taste in his mouth. Felt her legs around him, her soft walls surrounding him.

He replayed the frenzied vision over and over again in his head to remind himself that he had truly been inside her. That he had made her produce all those sounds. Made her clench around him and smell like honeydew and summers by the lake. He realized that he had started to truly live only after he had opened the door to that bleak room full of her. And then his life froze like a movie that was pressed on an eternal pause as he saw the soles of her boots push against the muddy ground to get her through that fence and away from him.

Three weeks passed — three weeks without her.

He did his job, went on missions, and executed orders to the letter.

But mostly, he was in his thoughts.

Mostly, he thought of her.

He thought of her when he had a rifle in his hand during ops. He thought of her during briefings, when he did deadlifts, racked a barbell after bench press, or sparred with training knives.

He thought of her in showers, in the mess hall, and most of all, in bed at night when he stroked himself to a release that eased his sleep.

He had never been so virile, not even as a teen. His libido was off the roof as the only thing he could think about was how he could get to jerk himself off in the shower stall or in his bunk after the day was done. Thoughts of her were his reward, the only thing that seemed to sustain him.

She was the most radiant thing in his life: everything else had faded away, turned to gray and black. Monotone, lifeless, empty. The pain faded for a while every time he came into his fist. Then it hit him with an even more crippling force as he realized that she wasn't real; she wasn't here.

Still, he fantasized what it would be like to hold her after, how they would drift off to sleep together. He envisioned her skin, her scent, her hair. The top of her head against his chin, her little hands around his neck, her laugh, all of it.

Sometimes when he had a hard day, he fantasized how her body would press softly against his back, and she would slide an arm around him, and it would disappear beneath his shirt. Her palm would come and rest right where his heart was, and she would just hold him.

On the worst days, he cried. He thought of the bullies and what they would say and how they would laugh if they saw him now, curled up in the soiled sheets with a cock in his hand, falling asleep on a tear-soaked pillow.

After a few months, he started to dissolve.

He got reckless on the field — jumped out of the helo before it had even landed properly, was all sloppy with his cover, wasted bullets, and revealed his position for the sake of getting up close and personal, for having the satisfaction of killing his opponents with a knife or with his bare hands.

People complained. Hutch complained, Fender complained — even Zero complained.

Some said it was just good old König, that he didn't care. Medics said he had a guardian angel with him when he never got hit, got barely even scratched when at the same time, some of the best operators were severely injured.

And some saw right through it.

"He fell in love with that sniper bitch. That's what's wrong with 'im," Conor had said.

He had nearly attacked the man for what he said — what he had called her. His angel.

But he knew that's what Conor wanted: to taunt him into making a mistake that would result in his dismissal from the force. Would probably destroy his chances to continue a career anywhere in the military. And then he would quickly find himself in civilian life, where he had never quite fit into.

"Promise me you won't get killed."

He had promised her to stay alive, and he couldn't disappoint her. So it became a prayer. Every night he made an offering to her, so she would keep him safe. No bullet could touch him. He knew that somehow she could feel his longing, the love he had for her. She would protect her like the war maiden that she was. And even if he caught that bullet, he knew it would only take him to heaven. She had already carried him there.

Six months without her, and people started to fear him.

His teammates looked at him with dread as he geared up for missions with the secret knowledge that he was practically immortal. The team leader said he resembled a machine, and he took it as a compliment. Even Lieutenant kept his mouth shut and looked at him with something akin to respect.

But he got even more time off when he wanted the exact opposite. He was pretty sure that there was a note in his file now. Right after the screaming red words released a prisoner without the requisite order from a superior officer. A comment that said he was behaving wrong, that he was unstable or something. They offered him cognitive therapy, sleeping pills, meditation groups, ice baths, even acupuncture. He turned it all down, knowing that it was no use.

And so they sent him home more and more often.

It was even worse there. He never wanted the leaves, but KorTac was firm in their protocol. Contract soldiers needed time off duty to prevent "substantial impairment concerning the operator's ability to work." Even if he wanted to, he couldn't stay in the barracks and get every mission he could get his hands on.

He sat in his apartment, slept late, went for a swim, went to the gym, and came back to sit and sleep. He thought of her when he walked the streets with a hole in his chest, a hole as deep as the Mariana Trench. He saw her in all the women of the same height and weight as her. At some point, he realized he had never paid so much attention to women as he did now.

"Go get a pint and a girl, König. Just get it out of your head."

Zero meant well, but he could've punched him too for saying that.

He didn't want a girl; he wanted her.

Pint sounded good, though. He had visited the nearest pub only a few times before, but the place had only reminded him that he was not home and that pubs were different from bierstubes. But right now, he didn't want to go back to that cold, dark flat to stare at the ceiling and wait till sleep would come.

He pushed the door open and stomped his feet on the mat even though it didn't rain outside. He walked further into the dimly lit hall and saw that early evening wasn't the busiest time in this place: more than half of the tables were empty.

And then he looked for the counter and saw her.

His Kriegsmädchen was there.

His Walküre was here.

She was here and looked just the way he remembered her — no, even more luminous. Glowing.

Perhaps he had finally lost it. But he kept looking, blinking, and saw her fingertips curl around a glass, saw the hair she had tied into a high ponytail, the smile that spread across her face just before she laughed.

The angelic sound went straight between his legs and stabbed a hole in his gut, and he was bleeding — months and months of pain, right there in the hallway of a quiet pub.

She was alive and safe, laughing, and so lovely that his hands started to tremble just as they had when his bullies approached him back in school. It was odd because she was everything but. He took a step, heart thumping and palms sweating, like he was approaching an enemy he knew he had to finish with his bare hands.

He walked to the counter in the eye of a storm, and she evaded his gaze and tried to act like she didn't even notice that some man was striding toward her.

Did men approach her often?

Of course they did. And she tried to look like an immovable stone, a prey that wouldn't draw attention.

"Walküre?"

And only then did she turn her gaze, eyes filled with both fear and hope.

Her mouth opened, and she drew a sharp breath, shoulders tense. He had to fight tooth and nail to not grab her and press her against that counter or kiss her, devour her while he carried her off out that door...

"... Valkyrie?" Her friend repeated sarcastically, with a birth of a laugh on her lips, staring at him like he was a circus attraction. He didn't spare even a glance her way.

Couldn't, because he was mesmerized by the most soothing gaze in the world.

"Hi," she breathed, voice almost breaking.

His eyes went straight to her lips as she said it, the sound far too similar in his mind to the breaths that had escaped her in that dull, grey room.

She cleared her throat and swallowed.

"Kate, this is… Siegfried. A friend from my old job."

He knew he should move, look to the side, and say hello. Act normal. But he couldn't move, couldn't even blink.

She pursed her lips and looked down at her drink, at her friend, and then back up at him.

"Nice to meet you," her friend spoke, and he finally managed to turn his eyes toward her and nod slowly.

“You must be the battering ram.” She took a sip of her drink with a flash of eyebrows.

He heard a sharp inhale from beside him and only wanted to ignore everything and everyone else in the room except for the one who gasped like that.

“You know, the one they send to charge through doors?”

“Done that too.”

The friend called Kate's eyes widened from the stare he knew made most people uncomfortable.

"What are you doing here?"

His angel spoke, and he turned. She was looking even more beautiful with flushed cheeks. It was strange to see her like this: sitting gracefully on that bar stool, wearing jeans and a bit of mascara. She wasn't covered in dirt and sleepless nights and fear, and he realized that he never wanted to see her like that again. He wanted her safe and sound, and happy; even if she had come on this earth to fight, just like he, even if she was deadly with a rifle. Even if she was a more able-bodied sniper than he ever could be.

"To get a lager."

"No, I mean," she laughed, sending warmth between his legs, "Why are you here, here?"

After a blink or two, he realized she meant the town.

"I'm on leave. I live here."

"Oh." She bit her lip. "Kate, um. Would you… Would you mind if we catch up a bit?"

He saw from the corner of his eye that the woman looked him up and down, and then a smile started to creep up her face.

"You know what June, I think I'm gonna head home. You two catch up for as long as you need and I'll see ya later, ok?"

Her name was June.

Like midsummer fests and seagulls and Radler.

Honey and raindrops…

"I'll go grab a table," he declared, thinking how odd that sounded, thinking whether his English was somehow off. As if he was going to physically grab a table and raise it in the air...

Kate chuckled behind his back as he turned and headed for a darker, more private corner.

"Jesus Christ, June… I knew you did some special commando shit, but that guy is -"

"Will you keep your voice down?"

"I mean… If you catch up all night, I doubt you'll be able to walk tomorrow."

"Kate…! "

The rest of the exchange of words faded as he reached the table and adjusted the chairs to be able to sit down.

Then he noticed that he was still wearing his jacket and got up to take it off. He saw her coming with her drink in hand, and she flashed a smile at him as he threw the leather bomber across the chair next to him.

"Nice jacket."

He looked down at the dark brown leather, worn and looking mostly what people called vintage or something.

"You gonna go get that beer, sweetie?"

Sweetie.

Sweetie.

"Ja," he nodded, turned, and marched back to the counter.

He ordered a beer, then asked what the lady over there was having.

"I think she, ah… ordered a mojito." The bartender extended his neck to the side to glance at their table. "Yeah, that's a mojito."

"One of those as well."

The man gave him a look that distinctly said You really think you're gonna get some of that? He didn't know what it was in his aura that told people he was a loser. Or a menace. And he didn't know which of those looks made the pain worse. But all of it faded instantly as she greeted him with a shy smile when he returned to the table with the drinks.

"Oh, you shouldn't have… I haven't even finished this one." She raised those lovely eyes at him, smiling, smiling… "Thank you, König."

Her fingertips brushed his as he gave it to her, the glass sweating with tiny cold drops of condensed water. She had pale pink, almost nude nail polish that made her nails look shiny and pure, her hands even more delicate. She watched as he scoured through the chairs to take a seat, pick a coaster and place his own glass on the table.

"A big one."

She then turned those playful faerie eyes on him, and he was suddenly grateful that he had picked the loose, black cargo pants to wear today… and that he was sitting.

"This is considered a small beer where I come from."

"I'm sure it is," she chuckled. The tight, white t-shirt she wore reminded him of the first time he had seen her, even though it was not one of those heavy cotton, military shirts. He grabbed the beer to do something, anything, and raised it to his lips, almost pouring the liquid all over him when he took a sip. She watched him gulp and smiled even wider. He was half hard at that point and had to spread his legs to accommodate and conceal what was happening in his pants and under the table.

"What about you, Walküre? What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping a friend -uh, Kate. She had an awful breakup."

He nodded and kept picking up his beer, drinking a small sip and trying to hit the center of the coaster as he set the glass back down.

"You're not with SpecGru anymore?"

"I signed off one week after… After. You know."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, even though he wasn't sorry at all. At least, not for the fact that she was out of harm's way.

"Nah, don't be. It was for the best. I'm able to sleep at night and everything."

She had trouble sleeping? Maybe that's why she looked even more radiant than before. She had slept well.

"I was worried about you."

"Really?" she tilted her head to the side, and her eyes started to shine even brighter.

"... that you might not find your way home."

"I'm a big girl. Trained with the Green Berets and everything.. But it warms my heart to hear that. I worried about you, too."

"You did?"

"Yeah. Sure, I mean… I was afraid you'd get into some trouble because of me."

Someone laughed at the next table, but the unexpected sound reached him through a comfortable haze; like he was sitting underwater. The battlefield wasn't nearly as distressing an environment as this peaceful pub - or any other place he rarely visited. But this time, with her, it was not too bad. His senses were blown wide, but he wasn't afraid.

"Also ja… They did yell at me."

"That's horrible. I could never yell at you."

He felt himself nearly choke on the beer, tried to breathe through his nose, and forced the liquid down with an audible gulp.

"You kept your promise," she said in a low voice, her smile fading slightly. Her eyes locked with his, and he basked in the warmth.

"Natürlich."

I prayed for you every single night, Kriegsmädchen.

She gave him a small, sad smile and looked down, swirling her ice-filled glass.

"You know I…" she started, took a breath, then another. "I've missed you, König."

He squeezed the tall glass before realizing that it might actually break at some point.

"I've missed you too, Walküre."

He looked at his beer, still halfway full, and then at the completely untouched drink he had brought her.

"You want to go to my place?"

Part 3:

#könig fanfiction #könig mw2 #könig call of duty #call of duty #könig imagine #my fics #könig x oc #könig #könig x female oc

[rottenraccoons]

hi! i wanted to ask a question about the game monetization wise will it remain free/name your own price or will the other chapters be paid? or any other monetization system you guys might have in mind like early paid releases etc?

if you already answer this sorry sksk i tried looking through past asks but i didnt find an answer to this

We talked about our monetization plan in one of our monthly round-ups, but here's the quick version!

Chapter 1 is free forever. It's a demo, basically, and will always be able to download for free.

Chapter 2 will be released and we will charge for that. We will not be charging full price yet, and people who buy Chapter 2 will own the game, so when Chapter 3 is released it'll come as a free update for people who bought Chapter 2. We're gonna recommend buying Chapter 2 as "early access" to get the best deal.

Chapter 3 will be released and we'll raise the game to full price!

Hope that helps, nonny!

#obscura vn #rotten raccoons #asks #about us #(by which i mean our process)

[aristotels]

I would love to hear an extended rant about being an artist in a periphery country, if you're willing to say more.

sorry for this being late! but yes there are quite a few things to this.

1) EDUCATION/JOB OFFERINGS

when you are from a periphery country, the art education accessible to you is much worse than in the imperial core. yes, i know, you dont need to go to art school, you can be self-taught, you dont need a degree, but art school is about making potential job connections. in a country like croatia, you do not have access to those connections. you do not have ability to go out, show your portfolio, get reccommended by a professor for a listing. the education is stunted as well - the animation program here is atrocious, my building had an attic with dead pigeon corpses littering the room, there are no drawing tablets, computers are old, the building is leaking, but the lack of ability to make professional connections is the main concern.

also, your degree? people hear you got a degree from a balkans land and you are immediately less worthy in their eyes. your name, which is not anglo? crossed out, despite your skills. job offerings within your country? good luck, everyone lives in poverty, you are underpaid, and studios hiring can be named on fingers of one hand. you are left with earning online.

and you are left with earning illegally. making author contracts with pdv, taxes, etc is incredibly complicated when working over upwork, doing commissions etc. this does constitute as black market. we do not hand in our taxes like in the usa, theyre deducted from our salaries and contracts immediately. this means you are missing out on potential grants and statuses which require you to provide papers of your commissions. it also means that transfering money over paypal has to go into small amounts to your own account, to avoid suspicious activity.

2) ART TOOLS ACCESIBILITY

a thing that is very frustrating. living in a periphery country? good luck getting anything. art shops are scarce. art shops do not carry the same amounts of items, and they are more expensive than in their mother countries. you are left with office supply stores. the quality of accessible paints and other tools is lower. its already been proven that products shipped to eastern europe are of lower quality and higher price than in the west; and this goes for paints too.

this means that, if you do traditional art of any kind, you are left with shopping online. this includes shipping - youre in a periphery country? congrats, often it does not ship to it, or the shipping is atrocious. your choices? mostly deutschland amazon - every item has 10€ shipping minimum. prices are not adjusted to your salary, they are adjusted to the german ones, which are much higher. i have to regularly order fillings for my brushpen. it is not available in my country. the price on amazon is significantly higher than on pentel website, and their usa based shipping. yes, just the price of the product. pentel does not ship this to my country btw. aliexpress is what you have, it takes 2 months to arrive, is frequently lost in mail, and even with it being cheaper - its still a bit more expensive than the original.

3) ALGORITHM, SOCIAL MEDIA

this is the third thing - algorithm works against you if you are not from the imperial core. of course, there are timezones, but also - your posts tend to be shown to people who live around you; meaning you have harder time breaking into the international market, and that market is the only viable one.

4) BEING PAID LESS

being eastern european (or asian or southern american or african or...) gets you lower salary. i indeed love my employers, i adore the comic i work on so much that its become my own project as well, theyve been nothing but kind to me - but the fact remains that i, as an eastern european, am and will always be paid much less than my usamerican counterparts.

5) JOB OPPORTUNITIES, ONCE AGAIN, ENGLISH LANGUAGE

adding this but: its hard to break into cartoon network/adult swim/etc without being presently there. you cannot get to conventions, you cannot have your portfolio checked, and you must speak english. yes. anglos take english-speaking for granted, and fail to realize that actually speaking english for us is not a privilege, its a necessity, and its a tool of imperialism. it is unfair that you cannot do ANYTHING without speaking english. you cannot get jobs, you cannot advance your career, and while i personally speak english quite well, not everyone does, not everyone should have to.

anyway sorry for the length

#txt #artists on tumblr #eastern europe #imperialism #usa imperialism #marxism #marxist leninist #socialism #communism #ask

[cathkaesque]

Around 500 workers in the garment industry gathered in Leicester’s Spinney Hill Park on Sunday, 1 October to protest the worsening conditions workers are facing amid factory closures in the city. They were joined by labour rights campaigners and trade unionists. This was the first time workers had gathered to publicly protest their situation, but workers said they were ‘ready to speak’.

Suppliers have warned that fashion brands sourcing garments in the city are demanding price reductions, often on orders of clothing already made and delivered, which is making businesses unviable. In turn, garment workers in Leicester report significant reductions in hours and factory closures, increasing pressure on already low paid workers on the frontline of the cost of living crisis. 40% of children in Leicester are living in poverty, including those where parents are in work.

Garment workers are calling on fashion brands to take urgent measures to support the industry in Leicester. They want brands to commit to orders from local suppliers with decent wages and standards safeguarded in the contract price, and for a long-term commitment to the area. At the rally, women spontaneously spoke from the crowd to express their anger and frustration at the lack of work as well as the discrimination they face. Women spoke of being given unpaid trial shifts, zero predictability of the amount of work they’d be offered and the struggle to access services and support without speaking English.

A Leicester garment worker said: “Brands should take responsibility and commit to orders in Leicester. I know that the factories here have been running for many years. I speak to other workers who have been working in this industry for 20+ years. This is the time when workers are in need of work the most because of the cost of living being so high but instead the factories are slowly closing one by one. Thousands of workers are dependent on working in the factories in Leicester and most of us are migrant workers who have moved to the UK because of our suffering and for a better future ahead. 

We want factories to stay open and busy, we want improved working conditions and better workplaces with correct rules and regulations and factories that look after workers rights and pay national minimum wage, holiday, and sick pay.

Dominique Muller, UK Policy Lead at Labour Behind the Label, said: “It is high time for UK fashion brands to accept they are responsible for the present crisis garment workers are facing in Leicester. We’ve been here before: during the pandemic revelations about the industry in Leicester forced brands to take measures to improve the treatment of workers. But once public scrutiny moved on, all that remained were vague and aspirational pledges towards a more ethical industry. 3 years later, we see they have failed to live up to their promises. 

If brands are serious about building a fairer, more sustainable industry, they must commit to it. They must adopt an ethical sourcing strategy which includes assessing the working conditions of workers in their supply chain and making improvements. In this case, it means committing to UK suppliers and supporting workers in obtaining decent work. The workers who have given brands years of their labour and millions in profits deserve nothing less.”

[lloydfrontera]

had a thought. if lloyd were to ever be infected with a poison/curse that makes him think of everyone as a threat and/or something happened to him that made him lost a limb and became increasingly paranoid to the point he'll resort to irrational solutions (basically if he got alicia's fate instead), would javier stay loyal to him and still follow his orders despite it all? :<

because imagine if things got too extreme and javier would have to be the one to kill him (⁠˘⁠･⁠_⁠･⁠˘⁠)

mmhhh i gotta say i don't particularly like that change of the webtoon. alicia's not paranoid because she's under a curse. she's paranoid because she went through a traumatic experience, is under a lot of stress and her mind is just prone to turn towards paranoia. which is much more fun imo!

but! let's focus on the second scenario for the sake of fun mental exercises.

would javier stay loyal to lloyd if he started becoming paranoid and irrational? mmhh,,, i think it would depend on who lloyd becomes paranoid against.

if lloyd turned paranoid against absolutely everyone, including his own family, then no, i don't see javier staying loyal to him no matter what.

see the thing about javier is that his loyalty is not mindless or just dutiful. he's not loyal for the sake of being loyal. he only gives his loyalty to the people he genuinely thinks deserve it. he's not sir blanc, who was loyal to the queen til his very death and only in his dying moments allowed himself to ask tkobai javier to stop her. javier is constantly thinking about whether the things he's doing are good and he protests and speaks out when he thinks something is wrong.

he's loyal to arcos because arcos has proven to be good and kind. and he's loyal to lloyd because lloyd has proven to be good and kind (in his own way) too.

if they weren't, then i don't see javier being all that loyal to them in the first place

(that's not to say that javier isn't flexible with his morals if it comes down to doing things for the people he's loyal to tho! a big step in his relationship with lloyd, is him being willing to compromise in things he thinks aren't in complete alignment with his own moral code, because he either 1) comes to understand where lloyd is coming from 2) thinks is the best way to protect lloyd and the fronteras or 3) just because lloyd asked him to. but that only comes after lloyd proves he deserves being trusted and he does by proving he wants to help and protect the fronteras and the estate.)

so if lloyd turned against the family and estate that javier loves so much, i don't think javier would be able to remain loyal to him, no matter how much he'd want to

now, if lloyd's paranoia were to manifest in an extreme need to keep his family and home safe from everything around them that may hurt them, that would give us a lot more wiggle room to play with

and we have to take into account that even in canon, lloyd looks irrational plenty of times. sure, he finds way to justify himself, but a lot of the things he does make no sense from an outsider perspective! javier is already working from a 'this may as well happen' kind of attitude in canon. if lloyd were to suddenly get paranoid and act out in irrational way, i don't doubt it would take people a while to notice that there's something amiss lol

so let's say something terrible happens, something that none of them can avoid, something javier can't defeat in time and lloyd is horribly hurt because of it.

no one would blame lloyd if turned more wary and cautious after that, least of all javier, who'd be wrecked in guilt at not being able to protect him.

they also wouldn't bat an eye if lloyd started to raise his estate's defenses, increasing their power and preparing their people for an attack. they just saw the consequences of not being on guard, their young master just paid the price of their complacency, no one would protest against making sure it never happened again.

and if lloyd suddenly declared that another territory, another kingdom even, was plotting against them, scheming for their downfall, well, why wouldn't they believe him? a trusted knight betrayed their lord, another territory already poisoned their water, a good portion of their population is formed of refugees from an attack of a foreign power, this wouldn't be the first time they've been hurt by others. and it had always been lloyd that saved them. why wouldn't they trust their young master this time?

and lloyd, who's been hiding how he knows things he shouldn't know for a long time now, has a lot of practice making irrational things sound perfectly acceptable when coming out of his mouth. and in his mind, his paranoid thoughts would make so much sense, he'd be convinced he's acting for their own good, he'd be able to spin all his incoherent fears and anxious thoughts into something compelling. he always has.

and javier, who already said before that he would trust lloyd no matter how insane what he said sounded like, would follow along because to do otherwise, after he failed him like that, would be unthinkable. and lloyd's acting for the good of the family, for the estate, just as he always has, why wouldn't javier follow him this time too?

he'd want to prove to lloyd and to himself that he can be trusted, he can be worth having lloyd's trust, he'll try harder, he'll do everything to keep him safe this time.

it would take quite a bit for javier to decide he can no longer follow lloyd's will, not when everything he's doing seems to be for the good of the family. it would have to be something truly horrible for him to reach that point.

i'm also torn?? on how likely it is that javier would even be around to see what lloyd is actually doing. because on one hand, lloyd is not the sort to stay behind while his people are working on getting rid of anything he deems a problem and anywhere lloyd goes, javier goes with. but on the other hand, if lloyd's paranoia is about keeping the people he loves safe at all costs, then javier is very much included in there. and maybe he'd think it too high of a risk to have javier risking his life when the entire world has turned against them.

and if he's giving in to all of his paranoid thoughts, then i can also very easily see him being too wary of letting javier be too involved in his plans, precisely out of fear javier will turn on him. lloyd knows javier, he knows the way he thinks, what he cares about, he knows javier is, more than anything, a good person. and good people don't always have what it takes to do what's needed. he wouldn't turn on javier, he's a part of the very thing lloyd wants to protect no matter the price he has to pay, but i can see him hiding the truth from him, convinced as he is that he's doing the right thing.

crying and throwing up at the idea of javier having to be the one to kill loyd to stop him tho. because. javier is the person lloyd trusts the most in the world. 'There was no one else he would be able to trust as much as him'. imagine this lloyd, lost in his paranoia thinking the whole world had turned against him, but still trusting javier wholeheartedly, believing he's the one person he can count on no matter what. only to be betrayed and killed by him. oh i would go insane actually

very fun scenario thank you for sending it!

#hey i got an ask #teh-inggris #tged #the greatest estate developer #lloyd frontera #javier asrahan #the thing about lloyd in this scenario is that... he wouldn't be wrong. not really. #he does have the world plotting against him. he does have reasons to fear the people around him. #he himself acknowledges it would take very little for alicia to turn against him and decide he's too dangerous to be left alive #he's the kingdom's first defense he's the perfect target for anyone looking to invade magentano #there's an all powerful force looking to kill him and his family off #is it really paranoia if you're right about it is what i'm saying

[michanvalentine]

Notes: I went with the flow (and the poll result! xD) and wrote this fanfiction. It is the retelling of the events we already know, from the point of view of the most lovable scientist in the world. <3 (x°°°D) With the addition of various and possible missing moments, of course. I particularly focused on the psychological aspect of Hojo, on how a person like him can experience falling in love. With everything that entails. In this case, naturally, it is the poor Vincent (and not only) who pays the price. There are no explicit scenes of violence and a lot is left to the reader's imagination, but I think the result is still quite disturbing. Normally I dabble in the comedy genre, but when I decide to change I don't have too many scruples. And Hojo remains a disturbing character in his own right. Below I leave a preview of the fanfiction, until I finish translating it and my account on Archive of Our Own is up and running. Be patient with me, I'm an old woman! xD

You look at the Turk sideways, his tall, slender figure silhouetted against the bright glass window. The image - or the light - hurts your eyes and you turn back to the steaming coffee in your hands. It was that silly hen who prepared the drink - for everyone, including you. Your mouth distorts into a grimace of impatience: you didn't need a break. But Faremis found it a splendid idea. To you it's just a useless waste of time, however, and you tremble leaning against the wall, when you could instead be concentrating on the lenses of your microscope. “…I took them home, their parents didn't know where they had ended up,” the dude sent by Shinra is saying.

“Luckily they didn't get hurt,” observes the female, the hen to whom you owe that annoying interruption.

“Good job, Valentine,” Faremis adds, and takes another sip of coffee.

A sound of annoyance comes out of your mouth, and you haven't even touched your coffee yet. Good fucking job, you think. He is paid to protect you, to repel and eliminate threats, not to babysit. It doesn't matter that it was a bunch of curious kids who attempted the break-in.

“Excellent indeed, now the villagers of Nibelheim will think that crossing the borders of the Shinra mansion and putting our jobs at risk is a simple joke,” you observe.

Everyone's eyes fall on you, as if they had only noticed you at that moment. Crescent even puts a hand to her mouth in surprise. But you barely notice, because you're focused on the Turk. On the still look, on the regular features of the face, on the crimson eyes that convey no hesitation. It irritates you, but you can't exactly say why. Meanwhile, from the photo on his CV you hadn't understood how tall he was. And to look him straight in the face you are forced to raise your head. He looks like Grimoire Valentine, you notice again - even if that charlatan has been dead for a while and you don't remember him well. But Vincent Valentine also inherited from his mother. Genetic traits don't lie, no matter how pleasantly mixed they are. He may wear an elegant dark suit, enjoy an excellent education and all the training necessary to stand out among the Turks, but he remains a dirty half-breed. A bastard from Wutai.

“I didn't think it was appropriate to do otherwise,” he says - he contradict you, in fact, and without hesitation in his voice, “Scaring the children more than necessary would have alarmed the entire village. I imagine that to work you need quiet and concentration, not eyes on you.”

“I understand the concern, Hojo, but everything is under control. Our security guard knows what to do,” adds Faremis, unsolicited.

You let your gaze go from one to the other and grit your teeth. Valentine's insolence, Faremis's condescension. You feel outraged deep inside and a little voice suggests to you that they both think they are superior to you, that they can silence you. Clench your fists as well and keep quiet. Take the insult - for now. At least the hen saw fit to stay out of it and keep quiet.

“Well,” you state dryly, “I hope so. In the meantime I believe that this," waste of time, useless theater crosses your mind. “Pause,” you say finally, “it lasted long enough. This is a very important project, Faremis, you should know. Or would you rather our diligent bodyguard also invite the Nibelheim brats here for a coffee?”

You don't wait for an answer, you have paid far too much attention to the issue and to those present, when there are many other things to do. Data to analyze, results to achieve. You throw the still full paper cup into the dustbin and walk away towards the lower floors of the mansion, towards your laboratory. There you will no longer have to listen to useless chatter, nor stumble upon Valentine's profile silhouetted against the window. Or in his steady red eyes that pass through you. Despite yourself, irritation follows you into the basement and you can't say why. He is nothing. Yet everyone in there seems to appreciate him. He is nothing, repeat in your mind; yet even you cannot ignore his simple existence. And you can't stand this.

#vincent valentine #professor hojo #lucrecia crescent #gast faremis #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #ffvii #ff7 #dirge of cerberus #hojo x vincent #fanfiction

[strangesthirdeye]

Chapter 3: Lion and Deer

The stars and the moon adorned the night sky making the Hellcarrier flight quiet and silent as some workers and crew went about their work in silence while Coulson and Thor discussed something regarding Jane Foster and Erik Selvig. There is an occasional topic about Bildschneip becoming one of the topics once in a while, making the situation for both of them awkward.

After Thor explained about Bildschneip to the increasingly confused Coulson, Thor then left the topic by walking towards a large window of the Hellcarrier. Looking at the night and starry sky from where he stood, He crossed his arms as his mind played over the memory of Loki.

"When I first came to earth, Loki's rage followed me here and yours people paid the price. And now again." Thor paused. "In my youth I courted war."

"War hasn't started yet."

Thor looked at the voice's whereabouts. Fury who was wearing the same clothes as before stood on a higher platform than Thor looked at Thor seriously. His hands are crossed behind him making him appear smart and show that he is the leader there.

"You think you can make Loki tell us where the

Tesseract is?” Fury added.

Thor turned his gaze back to the large window and without paying any glanced at Fury he replied. "I don't know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's revenge upon me. There's no pain would praise him need from him."

Fury then slowly went down the stairs while his focus was on Thor "A lot of guys think that, until the pain starts."

Thor looked at Fury. "What are you asking me to do?"

Fury stopped going down the stairs and placed both his hands on the rail and leaning forward slightly looked at Thor's face sharply. "I'm asking, what are you prepared to do?"

"Loki is a prisoner." Thor answered.

"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?" Fury questioned Thor.

Thor looked at Fury in wonder. His mind began to dwell on what Fury had said a moment before turning his gaze to the large window.

"And that doesn't include her?" Thor stated.

"who?" Fury tilted his head slightly.

"the woman who wears different clothes than all of you. The one who answers everything. The one who called herself The Doctor" Thor described.

"Y/n? why? You know her?" Fury looked at Thor.

"I once bumped into her at one of the events in Asgard. Though, it's been a while since I've bumped into her seeing she looks the same as before even though me and Loki met her when we were kids. I still remember her. Same goes to Loki even though he doesn't admit it." Thor explained.

"what is she?" Fury looked at Thor seriously.

"why do you want to know?" Thor looked at Fury seriously.

"because we don't know if she carries the same trouble as Loki. It's kinda odd that she's the one offered to help us. So what is she?"

"she's the one who you can trust" Thor replied simply.

"How come you can say that when you haven't seen her in a long time?" Fury asked.

"Because I believe in her. She's a Time lord. The Lord of time. She knows what she's doing and you just have to wait and see the results" Thor assured Fury.

Fury remained silent. He knows that no matter what he can't let his guard down. He still hesitated a bit with you appearing out of nowhere and offering to help him find the cube. Who knows what you will do if the cube is in your hand and the scepter becomes your weapon. Who knows you're actually just to work with Loki to implement the plan.

"I don't care what you say but I still believe that at any time she can be a danger to all of us and that includes you."

Thor looked at Fury's unreadable face carefully. "I assure you that me and her did not bring any bad luck on this ship. We're trying to help you." Thor assured Fury.

Fury remains silent. His eyes looked directly at Thor's face before he slowly left Thor there and climbed the stairs to the middle of the ship. Fury thought for a moment. If what Thor said is true, then he needs evidence that proves what Thor said about you is true. So Fury looked around.

"Hill" Fury called.

Maria Hill who was assisting several agents on the computer looked at Fury. "yes" said her.

"help me find information about the Doctor will you? We need to know our unexpected guest, right?" Fury ordered without looking at Hill.

Hill thought for a moment. "Where do you want to start?"

Fury looked at Hill. "from the beginning until now."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

As the night continued, the three of you were still in the lab doing work, god knows how long the three of you were there, but it was something else the three of you were trying to do. As Tony was pressing the keyboard and sliding some information on the hologram screen, hacking all the information that SHIELD was trying to keep secret because they needed the location of the Tesseract to make something. Something that needs to use the energy of the Tesseract itself.

Well, this is all Tony's idea. He who has a sense of suspicion and his unbridled curiosity makes the three of you involved once to know the secret information of SHIELD.

Tony was pressing some keys on the keyboard. The words 'Access Denied' appeared on the screen making Tony, you and Bruce silent for a moment.

"something wrong" you mumbled over Tony's shoulder.

"something definitely wrong" Tony replied before the screen slide.

"let me try" you took Tony's place and started typing some keyboard and slide the information quickly.

Not a moment later, Fury entered the lab with a furious face. His long coat swish with his quick movement as Fury walked quickly into the lab and looked at the three of you who were still standing near the computer. You can see how much steam is coming out of Fury's ears telling the three of you how mad he is now even though his face looks calm.

"What are you guys doing,?" Fury ranted towards Tony and you with his hot face.

You and Bruce just looked at Fury calmly without any reaction. While Tony looked at Fury with a face like he won something.

"Uh- kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony waved his hand that holding a phone towards Fury casually.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury granted.

"We are, the model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile. Thanks for the little 'boost' Y/n gave," Bruce responded while pointing his index finger towards the computer that is proceeding the location.

You who stood besides Tony waved your hand with a toothly smiles indicating that you were still in the lab. All your little 'boosts' bear fruit, just wait for time. Now let's just go into something serious.

You stopped waving and looked at Fury with a serious face. "don't worry, you'll get your toy soon. But, let's just talk about something we found. What is Phase two?" you questioned Fury with a sharp face then take out your sonic and a wheering sound starts to be heard after that the information you 'hacked' came out.

And all of a sudden, a loud clang sound like iron hitting was heard behind Fury. The four of you quickly turned your eyes towards the sound and there was Steve Rogers standing with his offended face. Steve's jaw clenched together in a faint attempt to control his anger.

"Phase Two is SHIELD using the Cube to make weapons. " Steve explained to the three of you then looked at Tony and you. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me. "Steve added.

You just shook off by nodding your head as a sign of understanding. Meanwhile Tony slides the screen and an image of missiles appears on the screen.

Fury began to approach Steve. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we’re-"

"I'm sorry, Nick" Tony cut off and  turns the screen towards Fury. "What were you lying?" Added Tony.

Fury's face shifted as if he was caught when he saw what Tony was showing. His body language also changed. while Steve looked at Fury with a disappointed face.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said bitterly.

Just then, Natasha and Thor entered the lab with serious faces. Bruce looked at Natasha and you looked at Thor.

"did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" Natasha reminded Bruce.

Bruce chuckled sarcastically. "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you" Natasha approached Bruce.

"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce questioned. eyebrows furrowed.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha looked sharply at Bruce's face.

You just look at the tense situation now. Didn't know what to do unless there is something you want to add. But because Natasha and Bruce seem to be getting more and more tense, it feels better to keep quiet.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy" Bruce asked loudly as he reached the computer screen and turned the computer towards Natasha and waved his hand at the screen. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce added.

"Because of them" Fury suddenly spoke and pointed towards Thor and nodded his head towards you.

Thor looked confused. His eyebrows furrowed in question.

"Us?" you and Thor said in unison.

Tony looked at you with a confused expression as well as Steve who was still in a state to understand.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly- hilariously, out-gunned." Fury explained referring to Thor and walked to the middle of the lab.

Thor looked at Fury sharply. His hands that were crossed on his chest began to be undone. Bruce eyes glanced at Thor and Fury several times. You who were miserable standing looking at the tense situation began to change your face. From serious to angry from angry to serious. Is this how Fury's way to gaslight Thor?.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet. " Thor said out loud trying to emphasize his point.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. " Fury taunted and looked at you sharply.

"years ago, before all this fiasco happened, there's a rumor that a woman and her police box are in London. Travel through time and space like people claiming and bringing problems with her. What caused chaos there was a group of plastic statues attacking some civilians and then the next time they know that some random woman came and fixed everything back to normal. Some witness saw the woman come out of the police box and the next time they know the police box disappeared overnight." Fury closed and looked at you with sharp eyes.

"You don't know anything" you said lowly. fists clenching together to hold back anger. No one should know about that. Not even this so called SHIELD.

"Oh I know everything, Doctor. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched,

they can't be controlled. You're just endangering them" Fury uttered.

"Like you controlled the cube? Isn't that also endangering others? Steve scolded.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the

realms that the earth is ready for A HIGHER FORM OF WAR. "Thor said out loud and approached Fury.

War. oh you don't like that word. It makes you remember that. The feeling that you yourself can't face.

"A higher form?! " Steve exclaimed looking at all of your faces one by one with a determined look on his face.

"You forced our hand! We had to come up with some-

"Nuclear deterrent! 'Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony cut off Fury.

Fury looked at Tony sternly trying to fight back. "Remind me again how you made yours

fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Steve interjected and walked to the side.

Tony held out his hand towards Steve with a displeased face. "Wait-Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve replied while looking at Tony with his hard face.

"I thought humans were more evolved

than this. "Thor intervened in the argument.

You scoffed and shook your head a few times. Humans. disagreement seems to be one of the human nature that cannot be discarded. Always fighting among themselves without end. Either way, all creatures are also the same as humans. No exceptions.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury looked at Thor disapprovingly.

"Tis your champion." Thor referred to himself.

"YOU'RE NOT MY CHAMPION!"

"guys-"

"Are you guys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats." Natasha said to Fury and Tony or rather to everyone.

Your eyes looked at them all who were fighting with each other with displeasure. Fingers fidget on your sonic screwdriver unconsciously.

"And Captain America is on the threat poll? Is Y/n also in the threat poll also consider she's an alien? " Bruce said to Natasha with his arms crossed over his chest.

"We all are!" Natasha responded quickly.

"You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees? " Tony looked at you and Steve with a fake shock on his face.

"Believe me, I expect this would happen once I set foot on this earth" You replied while shaking your head. Yup, you expected this to happen if Fury was still wary of your appearance here. No wonder you are on the list.

"Stark, So help me God. if you one

more wisecrack.." Steve began.

"You're a threat. VERBAL THREAT! I FEEL THREATENED! " Tony said out loud.

As the all of you contradicted there, without you all knowing that Loki's scepter started glowing brightly. The energy in the crystal was swirling as if it wanted to burst with strong energy at any time.

"SHOW SOME RESPECT." Steve gritted his teeth with anger on his face.

"RESPECT WHAT!" Tony yelled at Steve's face.

"Honestly, is this what we should be talking about right now?" you interjected in the argument.

"You speak of control, yet you court Chaos! Thor scoffed looking at the human before him.

"It's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're- we're a time bomb" Bruce pointed his point of view to Fury.

You stared at Fury for a long time but turned your gaze to the lab window looking at the now brightening morning sky. This is very inconvenient.

"You need to step away." Fury said one by one in a low tone.

Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony said looking at Fury as he put his hand on Steve's shoulder.

Steve shook off Tony's hand on his shoulder angrily and looked at Tony hard. "You know damn well why! Back off!"

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me " Tony blurted out carelessly.

And there goes Steve's patience which is getting thinner with the jokes Tony throws at him.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you? " Steve started to challenge Tony.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropists. Tony simply said.

You raised your eyebrows impressively so was Natasha who nodded her head, amazed by what Tony said.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Steve spit out all his anger in the form of words on Tony's face.

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony replied.

Steve smiled unsatisfied and glanced at Bruce and you.

"Always a way out." Steve looked at Tony again. "You know, you can not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Steve spit out that sentence on Tony's face bitterly.

You narrowed your eyes at the back of Steve's head.

"A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." Tony replied with hatred in his yet calm tone as he walked close to Steve.

Steve smirked. "Put on the suit, let's go a few

rounds. " Steve challenged.

Suddenly Thor laughed out loud making people there look at him confused.

"You people are so petty, and tiny." Thor said with a glimmer in his eyes.

You looked at Thor unpleasantly. Suddenly you noticed something is wrong but you just stay silent thinking it's just your mind game.

You don't know what it is but you can feel that something will happen soon.

"yeah, this is a team" Bruce muttered out loud.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"

"where? you rented my room" Bruce interrupted with dissatisfaction.

"The cell was just-" Fury was interrupted by Bruce again.

"IN CASE YOU NEEDED TO KILL ME. BUT YOU CAN'T, I KNOW, I TRIED! " Bruce replied in an angry tone.

You were startled by Bruce's loud voice. Bruce seems calm and uncertain, but whenever this situation becomes more irritated and sensitive, all his calm is lost. You can see the veins on Bruce's forehead rising but only faintly. Oh, the beast will wake up from its sleep.

Bruce looked around and with a lowly he said calmly trying to get rid of his temper. "I got low. I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping others people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk.

You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Bruce looked at Natasha with wide eyes.

Everyone is silent. Nat and Fury began to reach their guns slowly in their holsters and it was only a matter of time before they opened the safety on the gun and shot Bruce to death. But it is not possible that Bruce will die because his beast will definitely rise.

You narrowed your eyes and glared at Fury and Nat dangerously. Unknowingly your thumb is on the button of your sonic screwdriver. Why? because you noticed Bruce's hand holding the scepter close to it. So it was everyone in the lab who saw Bruce holding the scepter threateningly.

Oh the thing that the scepter can do now.

"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter" Fury pointed at Bruce's hand.

Bruce stopped and was silent and looked down at his hand that was holding the scepter tightly with a surprised face. Looking at his reaction, He himself did not know how it happened. Bruce looked at them all then looked at you with disbelief on his face.

All of the sudden, the monitor there beeping loudly attracted the attention of everyone in the lab. You rushed to the monitor while putting your sonic screwdriver in your coat pocket.

You examined the information there carefully. "got it" you announced.

"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all. " Bruce said after just putting the scepter back to its original place and walking towards you.

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor questioned.

"I can get there faster" Tony said.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it" Thor argued.

You ignored all the debates and only examined the information on the monitor. There are times when you just want to stop the debate with a sensitive comment but you just stay silent. You are still in the phase of getting to know your new self. After you regenerate, you are then attacked with sontaran after trying to sabotage their plan. That's why you are kind of rushing and quite full of energy for now. You are still cooking.

"You're not going alone!" Steve held out his hand to stop Tony from walking away.

Tony smacked Steve's hand and glared at his face. "You gonna stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out!" Steve challenged.

"oh, for God's sake, boys. shut up will you?!" you shouted out loud with frustration.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony replied bitterly.

"put on the suit!"

You stopped for a moment so was Bruce when you both noticed something wrong with the information on the monitor. You gulped slowly and looked at Bruce with skepticism on your face.

"you see what I see?"

Bruce gasped and took a quick breath then took off his glasses and rubbed his face with his palms.

"oh my god"

Suddenly a blast that exploded out of nowhere in the lab made you all thrown everywhere around the place creating a hot and flash atmosphere with fire and broken glass all over the place. You, Nat and Bruce were thrown back and fell to the bottom of the hellcarrier with a loud crash to the metal floor. Debris and glass flooded where the three of you were.

You groaned as you made contact with the metal floor and looked around with blurry eyes. You tried to get up but the pain started running through your body making you lie down again trying to ease the pain.

Your ears were still ringing after the explosion made you shake your head a few times trying to clear the headache. You took a quick breath and tried to sit up. TARDIS and Bounty.

You panic and look around trying to identify where you are now. It seems like where you are is in the equipment room.

You then noticed Nat and Bruce who were not far from you. Nat still lying unconscious, while Bruce hunched over and his breath seemed to be gasping for air, indicating that he was still conscious. You then crawled towards Nat and checked her pulse on her neck. You sighed in relief after knowing that she's okay. But then you notice that her foot is stuck on the pipe. You then tried to lift the pipe from her leg but the pipe wouldn't budge. You groaned in frustration.

'Ngah! Why does all this have to happen?!'

But then you froze then looked at Bruce who was lying on his back and you could clearly see his veins popping up and his skin getting greener. Oh, it seems the other him has started to wake up.

"no no no no" You then crawled towards Bruce.

Natasha regained her consciousness and gasped for breath then looked at Bruce and you with pain on her face.

Bruce groaned in the back of his throat. And that you can tell that something is definitely wrong. However, everything that is happening right now is so wrong.

Nat tried to pull her leg which was still stuck under the large pipe but the results were the same. The large pipe was too heavy to lift. Bruce groaned in pain while you tried to calm him down. Bruce is giving up more and more and he is now in the corner of his mind and the other him is starting to control his body.

You frankly tried to calm him down and looked at Nat with panicked eyes.

"Natasha? you okay? no don't answer that.. I know you're not okay.. in fact we're all not okay now. Bruce! come on! fight back, you genius!" you said sternly trying to bring Bruce back to his senses.

"Doc, we're starting to think we need you now" Stark said into your ear piece.

"can't! I'm in a situation that needs me now!" you responded quickly.

Bruce's face changed in the dim light of the place. He started to groan and scream with rage while his hands ball into fist hard. His skin is getting greener, the muscles in his body are starting to change.

"no no no! Nat!" you crawled to Nat's feet and tried to lift the large pipe with force with both your hands. You could feel the skin on your palms peeling off with how rough the large pipe was.

Painfully, you use all your energy to lift the large pipe. Nat with hope tries to bring Bruce back.

"Doctor? Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay Listen to me. "

Suddenly, two maintenance guys came running to where the three of you were.

"you hurt?" one of the maintenance guys asked.

You groaned painfully trying to lift the large pipe. Nat waved the maintenance guys quickly indicating to leave immediately.

"Nat! Confront him again! Try to bring him back to his senses. We don't need our green friend to join this party. We've got a lot of plates now!" you shout at Nat.

Nat nodded and looked at Bruce with a hopeful face "We're gonna be okay. Right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never ever-"

"YOUR LIFE?!" Bruce shouted in his rough voice that started to change. Bitter and amusement in tone. Bruce got up from lying down and kneeled on all fours and his body started morphing into something that you both expected.

The skin is getting greener and spreading all over his body, his shirt is starting to shred after his muscles are growing and changing. Bruce winced in pain. All control of his body began to disappear and now only other him is in control.

You stopped what you were doing and looked at Bruce with panicked eyes.

"welcome to the party then" you said under your tired breath in defeat.

Bruce then crawled away from the two of you and stumbled in front of Nat with a groan and a scream coming out of his mouth. Bruce then looked at both of your faces with his eyes still in their original color. You can feel how scared and defeated Bruce is now.

Nat looked at Bruce with a hopeful face. Try to find any clue that Bruce is still there. Nat panting. You looked at Bruce's face with the same hope on your face.

"Bruce?" Nat whispered.

Then Bruce let out inhuman sounds in his throat and his body began to change drastically and grow. You with panic and adrenaline in your veins quickly try to lift the large pipe as hard as you can. You groaned loudly and lifted the large pipe. Your palms started bleeding while the inhuman sounds from Bruce made your hearts pound even more.

Bruce or rather the Hulk got up and ran fast but stopped and hit a pillar there and roared loudly. The two of you who tried to lift the large pipe then managed to move it from Nat's feet and got up and ran from there.

You half relieved took out your sonic screwdriver and pressed the button to scan any shortcuts to get out of there. The sound of wheering is heard from your screwdriver. Your Sonic Screwdriver starts beeping loudly.

"Nat! let's go!" you screamed and ran fast with the screwdriver pointing ahead.

Nat then snapped out of her sight from Bruce and started running fast following you from behind.

Like a horror story, the Hulk started chasing you both like a predator chasing its prey for its dinner. The two of you started walking up the stairs quickly while Nat looked behind her to see the hulk.

"don't look at him! just focus on running!" you screamed

Nat looked ahead and started to skip a few steps before Hulk smashed the stairs until they came off.

You start leading the way out by climbing some pillars and jumping some pipes there while Hulk is still hot on your trail. You stumbled a little but managed to adjust and hold the sonic screwdriver tightly in your hand.

Hulk grunted angrily and started destroying several pillars and stairs there. He then roared as loud as he could.

Now here you can imagine the situation the three of you are in now. Hulk as a lion and you and Nat as a deers trying to escape from the hungry lion. Jumping there and jumping here you start turning and climbing some stairs with Nat. Everything is chaos and in ruins now.

You were both starting to get tired but that didn't stop you from running away from the Hulk who was still angry and chasing you both.

And suddenly, everything is quiet. You both were stunned and looked at each other with fearful faces. You looked down while Nat looked up trying to sense Hulk's presence.

You started crouching and walked towards the stairs and looked down. A glimpse of green began to greet you below where you looked and you jumped and ran from there towards Nat who was kneeling next to the generator.

Nat then moved slowly with you behind. As soon as you reached one part of the place, Hulk suddenly spawned in front of Nat and you then roared loudly making you startled and quickly Nat took out her gun and shot the pipe above causing the pipe to release gas.

Hulk then smacked the pipe until it was torn out furiously. Nat and you quickly ran from there with panic and wide eyes. The two of you took a thousand steps as fast as you ran in an area like a tunnel. You cursed out loud. Well, is this the thrill you get after regenerating? Yup.

The hulk who didn't fight behind began to smash through all the walls and pipes there. Glass flying all over the place and cutting through the skins on your face but you ignored the sting of the pain and just ran.

Hulk was getting closer and faster. You jumped some barriers there. Nat is still running while Hulk is close behind you and starts destroying everything that stands in the way. Sparks of fire began to sprinkle above, below, left and right of you both making you both to cover your head with both hands.

Once the Hulk approaches, he smacks your side so hard that you are flying and sliding into the iron wall there. Nat takes cover and dodges from Hulk's way which seems to be unstoppable and causes Hulk to collide with the wall there. Hulk shook his head and scoffed furiously.

You grunted in pain and winced as you made a move. Nat sliding beside you.

"I'm not surprised if there are bruises and cuts on my body honestly" you grumbled in pain and kneeled on all fours looking at Hulk. your sonic screwdriver is not in your hand because you were thrown by Hulk now you don't know where it was thrown.

You and Nat looked at Hulk defeated and tired. Just waiting for destiny to do its job. Is this the reward you will get after regenerating? maybe. Is this your last day in this world? it seems so. Oh Bounty must feel lonely. The Tardis can't take care of Bounty because he's busy babbling. Oh dammit. You didn't have time to say goodbye to the Sontaran who was chasing you.

You and Nat were leaning against the wall and looking at Hulk with wide eyes. But then all of the sudden, Thor flew towards the Hulk and collided with the green man with Mjolnir in his hand. The two were thrown behind the wall and thud to the floor.

You both let out a breath that you didn't know you were holding and looked at the place where Thor and Hulk smashed it on the other side of the walls. You shook your head and got up from your sitting position and walked over to the wall with the big hole.

"well, good thing our lives are still long" you muttered then sighed in relief.

Nat who seemed to be shaken off from the shock looked at you with disbelief.

You then rush to find your sonic screwdriver. "where is it? where is it?! aha!" you flicked your screwdriver a few times and the nozzle of the screwdriver started to light up.

"great, come Nat. we have to go before that angry broccoli comes back" you swooshed your long coat and stumbled a few steps. Yep, bruised.

#mcu x reader #lost in time and space series #lost #marvel cinematic universe #the doctor #doctor who #doctor who x reader #avengers x fem!reader #avengers #avengers 2012 #david tennant #david tennant x reader #marvel #bbc shows #marvel fandom #marvel fanfiction #SoundCloud

[gayliketheancients]

Welcome to the challenge prompt AU

Hello friends, and welcome back to Gay✨ has brainrot for her own fanfic. This post is a welcome to the AU guide where I explain what we’re looking at.

Before I say anything else, a PSA. Fuck JKR. LGBT rights are human rights. How did she write the most queer coded characters and then be like “sorry, only Fumbledore is gay. Love him!” Lol nah.

This au is based loosely off the criteria in this post, where the lovely anonymousqualities called into the Tumblr void for someone to take on their idea. I’ve heard their call, they looked over my outline, and I am posting part one today! Woo! The OG prompt was meant to be plotless, kinda crack fic ish, but I don’t know how to quit when I’m ahead so there will be a good deal of lore-building/lore-fixing from the source material.

Enjoy! ✨

Timeline: Halloween 1981 - Harry’s 8th year

Title ideas (taking suggestions):

The Age of Silver and Gold Alliances (currently the one I like most)

Snake in the lion den, lion in the snake pit

Mirror images, distorted reflections

Ships:

Jegulus, Wolfstar, NobleFlower, RoseKiller, PandaLily, platonic MoonWater, Drarry (in the future), and more!

Things it will be featuring:

Regulus raising Harry

Harry and Draco becoming friends as young children

Regulus being a spy for James - but not the Order, never the Order. Him building a resistance of former death eaters with Narcissa Malfoy’s help.

Harry being a prodigy - and a scary one at that

Lily and James are alive (surprise! Regulus put them in a coma and adopted their son!)

BAMF Minerva McGonagall and BAMF Narcissa Malfoy

Snape gets an actual reception arc instead of dying a trash lord (hello, Uncle Severus)

And so much more!!!

A link to the series ❤️

1-There Is No One Else

Regulus saves Lily, James, and Harry. Minerva saves him. Custody changes, Remus goes ape shit on Dumbledore, and the smallest moments of context.

2-Family Home

Regulus raising Harry from ages 1-4 (ft Grandma Minerva), meeting Miss Cissy and Draco

So many cute moments in this one.

3-We Who Remain When The Price Was Paid

Harry Potter becomes the Master of Death on his 5th birthday. It's like playing where's Waldo, but instead, it's where are Harry's uncles???

Narcissa starts the resistance of exclusively wives of Death Eaters (blood magic pta moms)

Uncle Moony, Uncle Padfoot, Uncle Barty, Uncle Sev

4-Ragtag Little Family

Regulus just wants to hold a family meeting. But you can't hold a family meeting unless you can get the whole family in the same place.

A prison break, wolfstar reunion, wolfsbane potion trials, blood magic pta moms get a name, another prison break, a unicorn, a rat, and a birthday.

(happy adoption day, Uncle Moony)

5-Moony, Bobcat, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to introduce Harry James Potter-Black

6-Mirror Images, Distorted Reflections

Harry's last year before Hogwarts. Lily and James are awake, we get the family meeting Regulus has been wanting, and everyone tries to figure out how to function again.

7-Forbidden knowledge and misunderstood monsters

Year One (in progress)

8-Turns (in the tides of war)

9-The choice no one gets to make

10-The ones who lived

11-I love (the ghost of) you

12-Roads unseen guide us home

13-Always and forever with you

Fan Art (yall, you have no idea how exciting it was to even just typer that omg)

From our beloved prompt giver, @anonymousqualities from little Luna in 4-Ragtag Little Family ❣️

#glta #glta writes on ao3 #glta writes fanfic #glta writes #glta has brainrot #challenge prompt au #regulus raising harry #Moonwater raising Harry #platonic Moonwater #marauders era #marauders fanfic #Jegulus #supportive + platonic Jily after the birth of Harry #Harry calls Regulus Papa #I will give no spoilers of the Hogwarts years yet my plan is too good #wolfstar #nobleflower #Drarry

[wardingbond]

a short little drabble about my current favorite divorcees <3

‘It’s not green’, is Elody’s first thought as she holds her gold leaf book in her hands. She brushes over the title, over her name written in red script like spilt blood over the gold. ‘He would’ve liked it’, is her next thought and it pains her because she… she had thought his name. She thought his name but it wasn’t there.

Elody tries to say it but her voice cuts short like it’s been punched out of her and all she can do is wheeze. Loss. A tremendous loss has her hunched over and holding onto the book like a lilypad in a vast pond. ‘Oh, oh you fool. You foolish frog’. She opens her book, watches the ink spill and slither into the pages. It tells the story she knows well, the short sweet one, but it doesn’t end.

But the childhood companion grew and their love began to dry. The Princess Elody is brave and charges into war while the Frog Prince hides in the castle walls and flees when the battle finds him. As Princess Elody was less and less the little girl who could love a frog, she became more and more a powerful princess who could not love a prince who acted as a little frog.

Elody’s fingers shake on the pages as she stares at the illustrations of him, at how water had been dropped on the ink and smudged his human face. She remembers all the times he had pleaded with her to stay back, to remain comfortable in their titles, to stop caring. She remembers the silent dinners where she would watch him out of the corner of her eye. She remembers the creeping distance like a slowly freezing pond. But then the words continue.

The prince’s curse filled in the empty space of his heart as destiny forced him out of his hiding place. Destiny had always followed Elody’s wake but it was never hers. Yet as the frog prince fell further into his curse, so he did cling to his love for Princess Elody. So did he find his reason to care and be just a little brave as a prince should have been all along.

Her own tears drip steadily onto the page but the ink stays dry and bold. A growing dread boils up in her chest as Elody whispers to the illustration of her husband, “What did you do? Why can’t I remember your name?” She remembers the way his friends had looked at him, the care and worry in their eyes as they tried to cheer him up with smiles and hands tugging at his cloak. “What did you do?”

And the book answers its new subject’s question.

The frog prince paid a dear price but shifted destiny, freeing Princess Elody from his tale. Herein begins a new story about a brave princess named Elody…

She closes the book with a sharp snap. Just in time too as the door clicks open and a smiling face appears beyond it, hair creeping into the room before the woman. The pit in Elody’s stomach widens when she sees Rapunzel and remembers what she had done. “Yes?”

“I just wanted to check on you,” Rapunzel says in her softest tone, so deeply different from the venom she spat to her husband. “I know it must be hard-“ she stops short at the sight of the book in Elody’s hands, mouth dropping open in a gasp. “You- you have one! How?” She surges forward, her hair reaching out first before her hands.

Elody steps back, cradling the book to her chest. “Yes, I do.” She tries to school her expression into something less wary, the frog prince’s words about Rapunzel echoing in her head, and she forces a smile. “I don’t know how but it’s about time, isn’t it?”

Rapunzel stops at Elody moving away and she smoothly settles again, face plastered in a warm smile that Elody believes for a moment to be real. “Of course! I still can’t believe someone like you was forced to be part of a coward’s tale as his prize.” She snorts derisively and it’s no longer a pit in Elody’s stomach but a deep cavern.

Elody forces a nod and clasps her hands behind her back, book hidden behind her skirts. “Well, I suppose we should tell the others the good news.” ‘A prize… that was never true’. Elody thinks back on the selfish prince she knew, who she once loved so deeply, and knows that even then, even at his worst… He never saw or treated her as a prize won, he loved her too. And as her hand squeezes the spine of her book, Elody knows he loves her still.

#i literally wrote this all rn murph and brennan why have you done this to me #im so mentally unwell over them #just the fact that elody would understand the depth of what gerard had sacrificed #my writing #gerard of greenleigh #princess elody #d20 spoilers #d20 neverafter #d20 neverafter spoilers

[ravynfyre]

do not come at me if you read beyond the cut and get traumatized.

my elderly cat died yesterday. i wish i know how, because the not knowing is killing me. she'd suddenly taken a turn for the worse, and i had already decided that we were going in monday to say goodbye. i don't know how she died, though. i had a really bad bout of insomnia the night before, and laid down to take a 3 hour nap in the late morning after chores. when i woke up, she wasn't begging for more breakfast, so i got worried and went looking for her. i couldn't find her. looked all through the house in all of her favorite spots, but she wasn't there. i didn't find her until i checked the crate of one of my dogs. the dog was eating her. dog had already pulled her head off and eaten the front half of her body. i had to get bags to collect what was left of my elderly cat from the dog's crate... and i will never know if the dog just found her body soon after i laid down for my nap (because i know my cat was alive them... i had fed her a little breakfast - less than she would normally want, so i was worried already - and then she'd come to lay down on me once i was settled) or if my dog actually killed her. i know that she was in multiple pieces, though, and i had to clean that up... and i have already had multiple people today telling me that my mental and emotional state, my distress, is unreasonable. one person literally asked me how i could be this upset for a cat when i have spent my life dealing with dead humans in even worse conditions.

here's my awful confession: i don't like people. they lie. they're complicated. they bring drama to my life. they hurt me. they go out of their way to hurt me. they hurt each other for the joy of inflicting pain. they destroy the world for fun and profit. humans are terrible creatures and i cannot stand them. there are individual people that i care for... but humans... fuck humanity.

my animals don't lie to me. they want food, safety, and compassion... and they love whole-heartedly. they don't try and deceive me for personal gain. except maybe for another snack, but i like food, too. my animals don't want to destroy the world. at most, they want the fun of the chaos of wrecking a stuffie.

but now i am conflicted, and that's the worst part, i think. she's a dog. dog's gonna dog. it's not like she was being malicious when she started eating my cat. she's got behavioral and medical issues that make her feel like she's starving, even when she's full. she licks things off the floor, sometimes, so it's pretty believable that she would start eating a corpse. but when she came to me, she wasn't cat safe, and it took many months to train that out of her. except i forgot that you can never 100% extinguish a set behavior... so an elderly cat on her last legs who was slow and weak... yeah, i could see this dog killing her out of misguided instincts, too. i just don't know. and that makes me sound like a shitty, unprepared, ignorant person, i'm sure, that i would risk my elderly cat like that. trust me, you can't say anything i haven't already been thinking about myself. (and other people have said to me already yesterday and today. you'd be late to the party) but the dog had been so trustworthy for so many months that it honestly wasn't something i could consider - except in retrospect. so i'm going back to closing the crate when i am asleep or not home. all of my other cats are young and spry and well able to take care of themselves, unlike my herschell was, but i am not going to risk that ever again.

i fucked up and my cat might have paid the price. or maybe not. either way, i still had to fish her decapitated, partially consumed remains out of my dog's crate... and apparently, being upset about that makes me irrational, offensive, and unreasonable. you know, because i have scraped decapitated, smeared human off of highways before. i should be immune or some shit.

how do i love that dog again?

#tw animal death #tw traumatic animal death #cw animal death #cw traumatic animal death #dead dove do not eat #heed the tags #tw graphic animal death #cw graphic animal death

[mixu]

Some Things I Know are True

I've been obsessed with Naruto and Sasuke as kids, growing up together so I had to write this.

This takes place right after Naruto and Sasuke enroll in the Academy. They have been friends since they were 3 years old, and it was Mikoto who convinced (coerced) Jiraiya to become Naruto's guardian.

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

The whispers were worse than the shouts and insults directly thrown at him. At least Naruto knew what people thought of him, but when the other kids whispered behind his back... Naruto remained ignorant, making him feel left out of his own life. It was bad enough that the adults knew more about Naruto's life than Naruto did himself, but it was way worse with the other children. Jiraiya had promised the other kids didn't know about the monster, so what were they whispering about? Did they know something even Jiraiya didn't? Or had Jiraiya lied?

Naruto knew adults lied all the time. The man from the candy shop lied to Naruto about the price of things. Teuchi-jichan lied when Jiraiya asked if Naruto had already paid for his bowl of ramen. Jiraiya lied when the ANBU asked if Naruto had been at home all day —instead of painting the taiyaki shop, which he did— and lied to the woman that picked up the things he wrote. But Naruto was his family, and family should not lie to you. 

If there were no whispers, Naruto would know for sure and would do something about their dislike. He knew not everyone had to like him, the way he didn't like everyone around him. For example, he didn't like the people from the shopping district, Mizuki-sensei or Sasuke's brother, but he had a reason. Mizuki-sensei and the people from the shopping district were mean to him, and Itachi made Sasuke sad when they didn't train together. But if no one explained the reason to Naruto, he couldn't make things right. 

He had to make a list to organize the things he knew. Iruka-sensei said shinobi could deduce what they didn't know if they arranged and analyzed the information they did have.

Things I know

Most adults don't like me because of the monster.

Most kids don't like me but don't know about the monster. 

Adults lie.

Jiraiya is 

He didn't get to finish the sentence because Sasuke placed his bento box on top of his notebook. Naruto lifted his eyes, realizing the classroom was empty except for Sasuke and him.

"It's lunchtime, Naruto." Sasuke was watching him, head inclined curiously. "What are you doing?"

"I think I got confused with math again." Naruto smiled, pretending the shame was because he had not understood the lesson. He tried not to glance at his notebook when he took it from under the bento box and closed it. Sasuke would get angry if he knew Naruto was thinking about the monster. "You will have to help me again."

"We can do that later." Sasuke nodded as he sat beside Naruto and unwrapped the bento box. "Mom made karaage today." He placed one of the compartments in front of Naruto. "She said you have to finish the veggies first."

"That's not true," Naruto pouted.

"You know it is."

Naruto sighed. "Tell your mom I'll only eat her veggies because they taste way better than Jiraiya's."

"Of course they do."

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

"Don't you ever want to be friends with other kids?" Naruto asked later that day while they did homework. 

"Not at all," replied Sasuke, still writing in his notebook. 

"Why not?" 

"Because they're stupid."

"How do you know if you never talk to them?"

Sasuke raised his eyes to meet Naruto's and said, "because they don't want to be friends with you." He frowned like he did the few times he didn't understand something. "They are always saying how cool and strong and smart I am, but you are too, and still they don't talk to you."

"You always help me with math." Naruto looked away shyly. 

Sasuke shrugged. "And you always help me with the difficult kanji."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Naruto took out the notebook where he was writing his list after Sasuke left for home. He found Sasuke had rewritten some parts —probably when Naruto went to the bathroom.

Things  I know  Naruto needs to remember

Most adults don't like me because of the monster. are stupid.

Most kids don't like me but don't know about the monster.  are stupid.

Adults lie.

Jiraiya is kind of useless but not stupid.

Naruto's eyes stung a little after reading that. He remembered what Jiraiya told him the first time they talked about the monster:  "You have people who love you and care about you. That's what really matters."

Naruto added another couple of points before tearing off the page and pinning it to the cork-board above his desk. 

Things  I know Naruto needs to remember  I must not forget

Most adults don't like me because of the monster. are stupid.

Most kids don't like me but don't know about the monster.  are stupid.

Adults lie.

Jiraiya is kind of useless but not stupid. cares about me.

Sasuke's mom is really kind to me.

Sasuke is the best friend there is.

*The End*

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I have planned other related stories, but I'll only share the shortest ones here. If you'd like to know more about this universe , you can do that here.

#sns fic #sasunaru #narusasu #ao3 repost #ficlet

[dresyreads]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Mature Warnings: Underage Relationships: Regulus Black & Harry Potter, Regulus Black & Severus Snape, Regulus Black & Remus Lupin, Regulus Black & Minerva Mcgonagall, Regulus Black & Sirius Black, Regulus Black & Barty Crouch Jr., Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Barty Crouch Jr./Evan Rosier, Sirius Black & Barty Crouch Jr., Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Characters: Regulus Black, Harry Potter, Severus Snape, Narcissa Black Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Elphinstone Urquart, Minerva McGonagall, Death (Harry Potter), Sirius Black, Barty Crouch Jr., Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Astoria Greengrass, Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Andromeda Black Tonks, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Kreacher (Harry Potter) Additional Tags: OCs - Death Eater Wives, Past Jegulus, Past Jily, Past Regulus Black/Barty Crouch Jr., past Regulus black/Voldemort, and underage at that, I'm so sorry reg, mature tag is because we get into the darkest moments of Regulus' life, Master of Death Harry Potter, the chapter of many birthdays, Harry can talk to magic, Parselmouths & Parseltongue (Harry Potter), Lily and James are still in the coma, peanut allergies, unicorn blood (Harry Potter), True and accurate depictions of slytherin dynamics, Azkaban, Astral Projection, BAMF Narcissa Black Malfoy, Blood magic pta moms?, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, We finally learn the address of the safe house, Regulus Black and Sirius Black Angst, Regulus Black Needs a Hug, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Gay Panic, future draco malfoy/harry potter - Freeform, how is that not a tag?, Kid Fic, Mentions of the death of Alphard Black, Regulus Black Raises Harry Potter Series: Part 3 of Challenge Prompt AU (Title Pending) Summary:

WELCOME TO THE CHALLENGE PROMPT AU A series of one-shots that are hella canon divergent and everything I've ever wanted.

PART THREE: Harry Potter becomes the Master of Death (at 5), blood magic pta moms, astral projection, Black Brother angst, more information on Harry's magic, trying to get tabs on all the members of the family, and Regulus being stressed out. Featuring: Uncle Severus, Uncle Moony, Uncle Padfoot, Uncle Barty.

Alternate title: The Chapter of Many Birthdays