#Daniel fucking Schiester

[whump-tr0pes]

Honor Bound 5 - 18

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3, Honor Bound 4, and the prequel Vera.

AO3

Content warning: a lot of discussion about death, anger at family members, past off-screen death, mild dissoci@tion, self-blame

~

Isaac shivered as Finn stared at the note, their brow furrowed, their mouth twisted in a grimace as they leaned on the counter. Ellis stood just behind them, reading over their shoulder. They had circles under their eyes and looked exhausted, wrapped in the blanket they’d stolen from the couch.

Vera stood behind them both, her face like a storm cloud. She absentmindedly rubbed Tori’s shoulder as she clutched her tight. Tori’s eyes glittered with unfallen tears she as watched Isaac closely. Across the room on one of the couches, Zachariah, Sam, and Edrissa sat huddled in a pile of tangled limbs and clasped hands, worry stamped on each of their faces. Gray near Isaac, close enough to touch him but leaving him room to breathe.

As for Isaac, he stood back from everyone, watching them all through red-rimmed eyes, burning alive.

Finn set the note down on the counter and turned to fully face Isaac, crossing their arms over their chest. “Isaac… listen, I don’t think—”

“I know you don’t think he left on his own,” Isaac snapped. “But then what do you think happened to him?”

“Has he given you any sign he was planning on leaving?” Vera croaked, squeezing Tori’s shoulder. “Has he… I don’t know, done anything out of the ordinary?”

“Besides the obvious?” Ellis grumbled.

“Maybe not the fucking time, Ellis,” Vera snarled at them. They pursed their lips and shifted their eyes down.

Isaac tore his hands through his hair. “I… no, I… I haven’t noticed… anything,” he said weakly. “Not a s-single… I mean…” He looked at Vera helplessly. “I don’t… th-think…?” He turned to look at Gray. “Gray… I kn-know Gavin has a, a lot of people up here to want to kill him, but…” He whined low in his throat. “Come on, Gray, we know someone who wants Gavin dead for sure.”

Gray pressed their lips into a hard line as they looked at Isaac. When they spoke, their voice trembled. “Yes, we do.”

Isaac’s chest heaved and he struggled to force down the spike of panic inside him. “And… fuck, Gray, if it’s him, and we call him…”

“Schiester will kill him,” Gray murmured.

Tears brimmed in Isaac’s eyes. “And if it’s… if it’s… n-not, and we ask Schiester where Gavin is…”

“…then Schiester will start hunting him. He’ll know we lied. And he…” Gray’s gaze moved to settle on Zachariah. “And our lives will be forfeit.”

Zachariah withered under Gray’s gaze. Sam and Edrissa both clutched him tighter on either side. “D-does that mean…” Zachariah hunched his shoulders up around his ears. “Is this… m-my fault? Did he—”

“No,” Gray said firmly. “If Schiester knew about you, I have no doubt you would be dead right now.”

“I need to fucking do something about this,” Isaac growled, turning to pace the living room. “I… Gray, I need to… Gray, I need to fucking do something.”

Finn set the letter on the counter. “We can start searching near the house,” they murmured. “If… I mean, it’s possible someone was blackmailing him and—”

“I would have known!” Isaac cried, whirling to face them. “I would have… he would have told me! He knows we could help him, whatever it was. He knows I… we would have done anything!” He whimpered and pressed his face into his hands. He was falling apart, he was breaking – he raised his head and shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself.

On the couch, Edrissa whimpered and shrank back from Isaac’s rage.

“Isaac,” Gray said carefully. “Go search your room. Look for anything that could indicate someone was communicating with Gavin without us knowing. Finn, that’s a good idea. We’ll split up, search around the lake and around your cottage, too. I’ll go into Burmingham this morning, ask around, see if anyone’s seen anything. I’ve got a shift in Crayton tomorrow and I can…”

“What are you going to do, Gray?” Isaac rasped. “You can’t ask Schiester. You can’t ask for a fucking… tour of his goddamned town hall. He told you he kept Caleb in the basement before he murdered him. He knows we know about that. That’s probably the last place he’d keep Gavin, if he knows what we do—”

“I think Schiester is only too aware of the nature of our missions,” Gray said tightly. “I think if he believed for a moment we were coming after Gavin…” They pinched the bridge of their nose. “He probably has people on the roads who will tell him the moment we even look like we’re driving to Crayton. If we assume he’s the one who’s done this at all.”

“Who else could it be, Gray?” Isaac whimpered. “I know nothing’s for sure, but… who else…?”

“I don’t know,” Gray confessed, their voice fading.

“Let’s just… start by checking your room,” Vera said darkly. She kissed Tori’s hair and went to Isaac’s side “I’ll help.”

Isaac stood frozen, broken, not quite in his body enough to pilot it around. He trembled as Vera’s hand landed gently on his shoulder. He raised his gaze to her, his vision blurred with tears. He opened his mouth to speak. No sound came out.

“Come on, Isaac,” Vera murmured. “Let’s go. I’ll help you.” She steered him from the room. Tears ran from Isaac’s eyes and streamed down his cheeks.

∴

Vera folded her arms awkwardly across her chest as she stood in Isaac and Gavin’s room. It felt bizarre to be standing there, the room still smelling faintly of Gavin, the bed unmade, the blankets rumpled. The curtains were pulled back, letting light stream in, dust motes floating in the golden beams. There was a book on the nightstand, next to a cup of water. A shirt lay on the floor in a heap. Isaac stood stock-still, staring at it, his hands shaking at his sides.

Vera took a step closer to Isaac, then another. Gently, carefully, she placed her hand on his shoulder and winced when he jumped. She chewed her lip and stepped in front of him. His eyes remained fixed on the shirt on the floor behind her, swimming with tears, his face in a rictus of agony. He blinked, and the tears ran down his cheeks.

“Isaac,” Vera murmured.

Isaac shuddered and raised his gaze to hers. His throat bobbed as he swallowed loudly. Vera’s chest ached with the pain seeming to tear Isaac apart from the inside out.

Vera wet her lips. “I…”

“He t-took my shirt,” Isaac rasped, his gaze sliding back to the shirt on the floor. Vera turned to look at it. Isaac trembled at her side. “He… I don’t know if it was… on purpose, or… but he took my shirt.” He took an unsteady step forward. He crossed the room with another stride and snatched the shirt up, pressing the wrinkled gray cotton to his face, and erupted in a sob.

Vera went to him and wrapped her arms around him, holding him as he shuddered and completely came apart. He sagged against her as he wailed against the shirt, dropping his head onto her shoulder, gasping with sobs, convulsing with each tortured whimper.

Vera’s eyes pricked with tears as he cradled the back of his head. She swayed slowly with him as she drew in a deep breath and let it out between her lips. She caught the faintest scent of Gavin from the shirt with her next breath in. Her stomach lurched as she squeezed Isaac tighter.

“Wh-what if he’s dead?” Isaac sobbed, his voice tight, breaking with each word. “Wh-what if, if Finn and the others go out and, and they f-find… they… they find…” Isaac sobbed wordlessly. “What if, if Schiester came and… and Gavin went out – why would he leave? – and Schiester killed, k-killed him, and I… I didn’t… Why didn’t he wake me up? I… no matter what it was, I could have, have helped, I could have helped him, didn’t… didn’t he know? D-didn’t he know that we… we… I love him, didn’t he know that? I… wh-what, Vera, wh-what if he’s, d-dead, oh no, Vera, no no no no no no no…”

“Shhh,” Vera soothed, and blinked her own tears away. “Isaac…”

“If it’s Schiester, then he’s dead,” Isaac whimpered, clutching at the shirt. “If it’s Schiester… he’s killed him, Vera, I know he has, he s-said he would when he… no, I c-could have saved him, no, no, please, no, please don’t let him be dead…”

“Hey,” Vera snapped, and shook Isaac. He sagged forward in her arms, tears pouring down his face and onto her shoulder. She pushed him back and ducked to meet his gaze. “Isaac. Stop. Listen to me…”

“I should have protected him,” Isaac moaned. “I sh-should have, he, he left while I w-was sleeping and I, he left and, and I didn’t do anything, I h-had no idea, and I… no, please, Gavin…”

“That’s enough,” Vera said fiercely, and jerked his chin up in a firm grip. “Isaac… stop. This… isn’t your fault.”

“It is,” he whispered miserably, holding the shirt tight to his chest. “He knows I can p-protect him. But he wrote that… that letter—”

“I think we all know that wasn’t really him,” Vera said through her teeth. “Whyever he wrote that letter, it was to stop you from coming after him. Isaac…” She lifted his chin higher. He blinked tear-filled eyes and met her gaze. “Take it from someone who’s had to deal with you lovesick dumbasses for the past month…” She cleared her throat, gentled her tone. “…he loves you. Okay? He… l-loves you so fucking much. S-so much that…” She shivered, pushed down the wave of dread that broke over her. “So much that… he wrote that letter. To… to save you from… whatever he thought… was going to happen to him.” She released his chin and put her hands on his shoulders, steadying him. Steadying herself.

Isaac’s eyes darted between Vera’s. He shuddered and his face crumpled with another sob. “A… a-a month,” he whimpered. “I… h-had a month with him. I… I’ve never… Vera, we were… safe. And happy. The whole family. I had… I’ve never…” He convulsed forward and pressed his face against the shirt again. “I th-thought I’d have… longer. I thought… I…”

Yeah. I thought you’d have longer, too.

Vera shook herself. We just have to find him. We just… have to find out where he went, and go get him. She swallowed hard and drew herself up taller. Her back twinged, and she winced.

Isaac’s tears ran into Gavin’s shirt, soaking the fabric. For a moment, Vera felt the urge to pull the shirt away from Isaac’s face – if it takes us very long to find him… you don’t want to ruin the shirt with your tears. She shook her head once to clear the thought.

I didn’t even have Ryan’s shirt to hold onto when—

NO.

She drew in a slow breath as she rubbed Isaac’s arms with shaking hands. “Isaac,” she said gently. His unfocused gaze flicked up to hers, and down again. She pushed him back towards the bed and guided him to sit down. “If you sit here, do you mind if I look around? Try and find anything that… means something?”

Isaac nodded absentmindedly, staring at the wall.

Vera sniffed back her own tears and turned slowly in a circle, her gaze moving slowly over the room. It was mostly bare, just a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand on either side of the bed. She pressed her lips into a line and went to the dresser.

Her throat was tight as she pulled open the top drawer. Her skin crawled with the feeling of invasion, the feeling that she was doing the invading. She pushed Gavin’s socks and underwear around the drawer. A short length of rope caught her eye. She left it alone and closed the drawer.

In the next drawer were shirts and pants, a few pairs of shorts. Vera checked under every single one, unsure what she was searching for. Another note, maybe. A cell phone. Something. There was nothing but clothes there. She pushed the drawer closed with shaking hands.

She knelt and pulled the last drawer open. She blinked as she looked down at Isaac’s things – his clothes, a knife, and little else. She blinked tears away. Her drawer in her room with Tori had a letter written by Tori, a small white rock in the shape of a heart Tori had found on the beach and given to her, a tiny sack of Edrissa’s potpourri that she’d made from mint leaves, lemon balm, and lavender, a tiny book of poems Gray had thought she might like on one of their trips into Crayton…

Her throat worked around a swallow as she stared down at the utilitarian objects, the functionality of things in Isaac’s drawer. Her eyes welled with tears all over again. She swiped at them as she pushed the drawer closed and leaned forward to look behind the dresser. Finding nothing, she pushed herself to her feet, groaning as her knees complained. She turned and walked around the bed to Gavin’s side. She rolled her neck and pulled open the drawer on Gavin’s nightstand.

Inside was a small orange pill bottle with rizatriptan scrawled in handwritten letters on the side. There was a small pile of books that Vera carefully took out and set on the bed. One by one, she opened each book and shook it out over the covers, her heart in her throat, waiting for a piece of paper to slip out – a note from Gavin, explaining what was really happening. A letter from someone else, blackmailing Gavin, demanding he hand himself over, or—

Or Isaac would die. Or the whole family would.

Vera set her jaw. She knew nothing else would have convinced Gavin to go. Someone, somehow, had threatened the family. For what felt like the hundredth time that morning, she lifted her chin against her tears and tried not to look at the titles of the books she was shaking out.

Unreality: The Role of Neuroplasticity in Brainwashing and Deception

Parents Who Hurt: How to Recover from Narcissistic Parenting

The Body Remembers: A Study in the Manifestations of Early Trauma and Recovery

When Home is a Nightmare: Recovering from Childhood Abuse

The books were empty. Vera’s vision was blurred as she put the books back. Gray got him these. Her throat tightened. She closed the drawer.

“Isaac, can you get up?” she said as she looked over at him where he sat on the other side of the bed. Numbly, mechanically, he got to his feet. She lifted the mattress and checked underneath. As the mattress shifted, something clattered to the ground on Isaac’s side.

She leapt to her feet and dashed to the other side of the bed, her eyes wide, her heart pounding in her chest. She pushed Isaac out of the way and crouched by the bed. Her gaze raked the floor and landed on a knife, the black metal glinting dully in the light from the window. She reached out and picked it up. She looked at Isaac, who glanced at the knife and looked back at the floor.

“This is yours?” Vera rasped. Her hand tightened on the handle.

Isaac nodded wordlessly. He shivered and shrugged.

Vera pressed her lips together and nodded once. She turned and put the knife back, between the mattress and the bedframe. She stood and pulled Isaac into her arms without a word. Slowly, his arms wound around her waist, and he squeezed her tight as he began to sob.

Continued here

@untilthepainstarts, @womping-grounds, @free-2bmee, @quirkykayleetam, @walkingchemicalfire, @inpainandsuffering, @redwingedwhump, @burtlederp, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @whatwhumpcomments, @cursedscribbles, @whumpywhumper, @stxck-fxck, @omega-em-z-02, @whumps-the-word, @justwhumpitwhumpitgood, @justplainwhump, @moose-teeth, @finder-of-rings, @inky-whump, @thatsthewhump, @orchidscript, @insanitywishes, @this-mightaswell-happen, @newandfiguringitout, @whumpkitty, @pretty-face-breaker, @cinnamonflavoredhugs, @pebbledriscoll, @im-just-here-for-the-whump, @endless-whump, @grizzlie70, @oops-its-whump

#honor bound 5 #Isaac/Gavin #aftermath of kidnapping #Daniel Fucking Schiester #death discussion tw #anger between family members tw #the throuple #death tw #dissociation tw #murder bros #self-blame tw #the angst was heavy in this one y'all #but it's Isaac so what do you expect

[whump-tr0pes]

This is random but I must know: what does gavin’s new haircut look like (Or Joseph’s old style I guess)? I like to imagine the characters correctly and now that his hair is different, I don’t know to picture it 😂

You've woken the beast. I love sharing faceclaims

Gavin's hair is like this when Isaac meets him, and stays about the same:

And DFS has his hair cut... like this:

#daniel fucking schiester #fuck joseph Stormbeck #gavin uriah lives

[whump-tr0pes]

Honor Bound 4 - 18

Honor Bound 4 - 18 (Undeserved Reputation) @badthingshappenbingo​​​​

Requested by @whumps-the-word​​​​

~

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3.

AO3

Cw: past captivity, implied whump of a minor, PTSD, dissoci@tion, death mention

~

Gray smiled gently as they drove, avoiding potholes in the road caused not by violence, but by the simple, innocent freeze and thaw of the ground. The sun was already high in the sky after more than three hours of driving. The sky was clear, the air clean and cool with the northern summer that was already well under way.

Edrissa sat in the passenger seat, almost completely turned around, chattering happily to Vera in the back seat. Every now and then, Gray and Vera met eyes in the rear view, and Gray could read something like gratitude in her gaze.

“…and there’s this store in Crayton that sells three different kinds of lace!” Edrissa said, the wispy blonde bun at the top of her head bobbing along as she spoke. “And there’s a lot of cotton, I mean, obvious, but they also sometimes have some nice linen and I think that’s what I’ll make Sam’s sling out of, so it breathes. Because it gets hotter up here than I thought it would, because I thought it wouldn’t get very hot at all and it’s already May and it’s been pretty warm, and the winter was so cold so I just kind of assumed it would stay cold. I mean, it’s been nice outside. Maybe when it gets a little warmer we can go hang out at the lake, maybe do a picnic, I mean it’s not very far from the house but it’s really pretty and I’ve already been in it and it doesn’t go that deep, but it is really cold. Before that I hadn’t been swimming in so long. But yeah, I think I’ll do the sling out of linen, and I hope they have blue because that’s Sam’s favorite color.”

She paused to take a breath. Vera grinned at her.

“It is Sam’s favorite color,” Vera said, and Gray was tempted to give Vera a conspiratory nudge. “What else have you been up to while we’ve b-been—” Her voice wavered for just a moment. “—gone?”

“Um…” Edrissa’s mouth twisted and she leaned towards Vera. “Yeah, um, a lot. Gray said, Gray said I could paint my room if I wanted, but I haven’t found the right color. They’re all so… so garish.” Edrissa flipped the stray wisps of hair out of her face and looked to Vera, eyebrows raised, as if she was waiting for something.

It was so good to see Edrissa looking for Vera to assure her not that she was safe, but that she was… cool.

“Absolutely,” Vera said with fervor. “Sometimes walls just need to look sophisticated.” Edrissa lifted her chin, and her mouth pulled into a wider smile at the word.

“Exactly,” she said with an emphatic nod. “Sophisticated. I was thinking I could do a whole thing with a mirror on the wall and, and maybe a nice painting if I can find one that captures the… the…” Edrissa stumbled for a moment, her eyes still fixed on Vera. “…the atmosphere I want.”

Sadness dragged at Gray’s heart. She hasn’t been allowed to make her own choices, any choices for two years. And I remember how much I just wanted to be me when I was eighteen.

They pressed their lips into a line to stop the corners of their mouth from falling.

“That sounds like such a great idea,” Vera said, her face breaking into a smile again. “And… Tori and I wanted to start a garden out back. It’s a little late for planting, but… if we get seedlings, would you want something?”

“Yes!” Edrissa cried, and distractedly tapped Gray on the shoulder. For a moment Vera looked at Gray in delighted surprise. Edrissa hadn’t let anyone but Tori and Vera touch her since she’d been rescued almost five months ago. Gray knew the easy touch on their shoulder spoke volumes of the healing she’d done just in the past three weeks.

I wonder how much of that is time away from Gavin. Gray pushed the thought out of their head.  

“Oh, my god, I totally forgot. Last time I was in Burmingham, they had little mint plants. Gray said they wanted some, and I forgot!” She turned to Gray with an unsteady smile. “I’m sorry, I—” Edrissa shivered. Her eyes went distant. She curled into herself slightly, shrinking back against the door of the car.

“It’s alright, Edrissa,” Gray said gently, never taking their eyes off the road. “I’m not hurt. I’m not angry. It’s just a mistake, right? Mistakes are alright.”

“Mm-hm,” Edrissa said uncertainly. She relaxed slightly.

“Remember your counting?” Gray said, low and calm.

Edrissa jerked her head in a nod. She took in a deep breath. “One two three four five,” she muttered, and shook out her hands at the wrists with each number.

“Good. Let’s do it again, together.” Gray’s hands were steady on the wheel, never faltering. Watching the pavement of the road disappear under their car.

Edrissa drew in another deep breath. “One two three four five,” she and Gray said together as she shook out her hands, her quavering voice mixing with Gray’s steady one.

“One more time. Deep breath, one two three four five.” This time, Edrissa, Vera, and Gray said it together.

Gray glanced at Edrissa, at how her shoulders hunched just a little more than they had before, at the dullness in her eyes that reminded them so much of… of Vera, when she was under. Their mouth made a hard line.

“S-sorry,” Edrissa murmured. “I j-just…”

“It’s alright, Edrissa,” Gray said evenly, passing the first few houses on the north outskirts of Crayton. “Everyone has moments, and you were just having a moment.”

“Having a moment,” Edrissa said softly. “Just having a moment.” She smiled tightly at Vera, the corners of her mouth twisting in embarrassment.

Gray’s heart ached for Edrissa, for the girl who had just been going on and on about her room and her fabrics not thirty seconds ago and was now trembling, embarrassed, frightened. Vera leaned forward and put her hand palm up on the center console. An invitation, not a demand. Edrissa fit her hand into Vera’s, and Vera squeezed.

“Tell me more about what plants you want.”

Edrissa offered a wider smile. “Um, I like osteospermum,” she said, her eyes shifting down. “And sunflowers. I like the tall kinds of flowers.” She looked up at Vera. “I had to get a book on plants that do okay with the, the climate up here, because down south it was always—” She cut herself off and swallowed hard. “I like the colorful tall kinds of plants. I’d try for a rosebush but I think it’s too hard for this year.”

“Hm.” Vera nodded. “Well, I’d like to try some raspberry and strawberry bushes. And we could build a shade for the garden, in case the sun is too much.”

“Y-yeah,” Edrissa said softly. She sat back slightly in her seat until Gray pulled onto the main street of shops. They eased the car into a spot along the sidewalk. When Gray stopped, Edrissa shook herself slightly and looked up.

Gray put the car in park. “I was thinking you two could get out here,” they said, indicating with their hand the store that had regular deliveries of fabrics. “I should go to the town hall and check in with Daniel Schiester. I understand your check-in was… rushed.”

“And good fucking thing, too,” Vera said quietly, her jaw clenching shut.

Gray dipped their head. “I don’t exactly appreciate the way he’s spoken to you in the past, so I thought I would make this visit alone. Make sure he feels in control of the situation. Stroke his comically over-inflated ego.”

“I swear to god, he’d make a great fucking syndicate leader,” Vera said, rolling her eyes. She opened the door and climbed out, moving stiffly. Edrissa got out, too, and drifted to Vera’s side.

Gray rolled the passenger window down and leaned towards it. “Shouldn’t take longer than twenty minutes. If you move on from here and I don’t catch you, I’ll meet you in the square in an hour, and we can get lunch. Sound like a plan?”

Vera nodded and cocked her eyebrow. “Have fun with DFS,” she said, snidely.

Gray’s brow furrowed. “DFS?”

Vera bent forward and leaned into the car. “Daniel. Fucking. Schiester,” she said, her voice nearly gleeful with contempt.

Gray snorted and leaned back. “Ah. I’ll have to try not to call him that to his face.”

Vera straightened and shrugged. “If you do, get pictures of his reaction.”

Gray laughed and put the car in drive. “See you soon,” they said, and pulled away.

∴

As Gray got closer to the town hall, their hands tightened on the wheel. Something itched in the back of their mind, something about how Daniel looked at Vera with fascination, with humor. As if he was watching a dog performing tricks. Saccharine. Amused.

Something in the back of their mind stirred at how Daniel looked at Gavin.

There was something there, between them. Gray doubted they had ever actually met. Perhaps it was just morbid, spiteful fascination on Daniel’s part, fascination with the syndicates who ruined the lives of the victims he saw every day. Perhaps it was buried rage, resentment that people like Gavin’s family were the reason Crayton had to exist at all.

Perhaps it was something else, though Gray wasn’t sure what.

Gray pulled in front of the town hall and parked the car. They sat quiet in the seat, staring at the front door, already feeling the tension headache starting. They breathed a sigh, turned off the car, and got out.

Inside the atrium it was cool, dark, and empty, just like it almost always was when refugees weren’t being processed. Gray’s hands tightened into fists and they began to climb the stairs to Daniel’s office.

The stairs creaked under Gray’s feet, their footsteps muffled by the dark green carpet. They made their way to the landing and turned in the direction of Daniel’s office. They almost hoped he wasn’t in today. Their hands clenched tighter as they walked down the hallway, almost feeling the urge to tiptoe, to not make any noise.

Gray grimaced. I’m being ridiculous.

They stopped in front of the door to Daniel’s office. They knocked.

“Come in,” came the deep, even voice. Gray’s face fell. They turned the handle and pushed the door open.

Daniel glanced up from his work on his computer, then looked up and pushed himself away from his desk. “Mx. Uriah,” he said, standing, and held out his hand. “Always good to see you.”

Gray’s skin felt cold as they shook Daniel’s hand once.

“Mr. Mayor,” they said stiffly.

“Ah,” Daniel said with a smile. “I suppose if I wanted you to call me by my first name, I should have begun with that courtesy. Forgive me.”

“Old habits, on my end,” Gray said, and forced their mouth into a smile.

“Right.” Daniel sat back into his chair and leaned his elbows on the desk. “What can I help you with?”

Gray had to stop themself from staring at the pictures of refugees on the walls. Those pictures definitely weren’t of every single refugee Daniel had saved, they couldn’t be. There couldn’t have been more than forty or fifty people in those pictures, and Gray knew Crayton could see that many in a busy week. Maybe those refugees held some meaning for Daniel. Gray didn’t want to pry.

If they were perfectly honest with themself, they didn’t want to ask.

“I’m sure at this point that you are aware that my family has returned from the south?” Gray said, meeting Daniel’s eyes.

Daniel grinned. “Ah. Yes. The triumphant heroes return, quite successful, I’m given to understand. Colleen Stormbeck is dead, and the region is destabilized.”

“That’s right,” Gray said. “They were successful, although at great cost to themselves.”

Daniel’s mouth turned down. “You don’t mean that any of them died…?” He turned to rifle through some papers on his desk. “When my people checked them in, all six were—”

“They all came back alive, yes,” Gray said, their heart twinging. Their gaze fell. “But they all came back with some sort of… permanent… mental or physical scarring.”

“Hm.” Daniel leaned back and folded his hands in his lap. “When you say they all came back alive, I’m assuming you’re not including the Stormbeck boy in your count.”

Gray blew out a slow breath. “When he left here, his name was Gavin Uriah.” They raised their gaze to meet Daniel’s, his eyes a cold blue that always seemed to pierce through Gray. “But yes. He is dead.”

Daniel huffed out a silent laugh. “Generous of you to allow him to take your name, considering everything he’s d—”

“I don’t wish to discuss the rehabilitation of Gavin Uriah,” Gray said softly, their cheeks reddening. “I am fully aware of your opinion of him, and of redemption in general. The fact is when he left here, I had become rather fond of him. And I’d like to let his memory remain for me what he was: a broken boy who died trying to set things right.” Gray’s stomach churned.

Daniel was silent for a moment, regarding Gray coolly across his desk. After a long moment he nodded and said, “Just more evidence for the syndicates’ cruelty, then. I’m sorry your family was the target.”

“So am I,” Gray murmured. They glanced around the office and returned their gaze to Daniel. “But they had to check in with your people in the dead of night and move on without proper processing, as one of them was gravely injured. I wanted to make sure nothing was missed, and answer any questions you had.”

“No, nothing was missed,” Daniel said with a winning smile, waving his hand. “I know that your team arrived in no condition to follow protocol, and the people who checked them in are very thorough.”

“Good,” Gray murmured. The hair on the back of their neck tingled. “Did you need anything from me?”

“Actually, I could use your assistance,” Daniel said with a smile. “Due to the instability of the western region, we are already seeing an increase in the frequency and number of refugees, and am very certain that will only continue to increase. Summer is always a busy season for us, but I am anticipating unprecedented numbers. At the moment, I currently don’t have the people to handle this efficiently. Your family is particularly suited to assisting with refugees, given the nature of your work. I was hoping to recruit you in the processing, if you’re able.”

Gray nodded. “Of course. I can’t speak for the others as they are all convalescing, but I would be happy to help. I will pass on the request. I have no doubt they will offer what they can, as soon as they are able to travel. A few of them may be ready now.”

“Whatever you can do will be appreciated,” Daniel said, and stood, offering Gray his hand. Gray took it. “Always a pleasure, Gray. When you and your family are ready we will orient you with our process.”

Gray nodded. “I’ll keep you posted. Until then, stay well, Daniel.”

“Thank you.” Daniel smiled and sat down. He turned back to his work.

Gray turned and left the office, closing the door behind them. They walked down the hall, their steps quickening, their shoulders tightening. They made their way down the stairs and across the atrium. By the time they pushed through the doors out into the sun, they were nearly jogging.

Continued here

@untilthepainstarts​, @womping-grounds​, @free-2bmee​, @quirkykayleetam​, @walkingchemicalfire​, @inpainandsuffering​, @redwingedwhump​, @burtlederp​, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog​, @whatwhumpcomments​, @cursedscribbles​, @whumpywhumper​, @stxck-fxck​, @omega-em-z-02​, @whumps-the-word​, @justwhumpitwhumpitgood​, @justplainwhump​, @moose-teeth​, @slaintetowhump​, @finder-of-rings​, @inky-whump​, @thatsthewhump​, @orchidscript​, @insanitywishes​, @this-mightaswell-happen​, @newandfiguringitout​, @whumpkitty​, @pretty-face-breaker​, @cinnamonflavoredhugs​, @inaridriscoll​, @im-just-here-for-the-whump​​, @endless-whump​

#honor bound 4 #bad things happen bingo #undeserved reputation #whump #recovery #past torture #past captivity #Gray: mom friend #edrissa: mystery girl #Edrissa is so soft #implied whump of a minor tw #PTSD tw #grounding exercise #dissociation tw #Daniel fucking Schiester #Daniel Schiester is an asshole #DFS vs. Gray: welcome to the thunderdome #hashtag foreshadowing #Gavin Stormbeck is dead #death mention tw #torture aftermath #my oc: Gray

[whump-tr0pes]

I would like to drop kick DFS into the sun. If you don’t mind

He does mind, thank you very much. He's so close to properly punishing the syndicate trash for his crimes! So close! Maybe a few more days and he can murder Gavin Stormbeck and dump him into a shallow grave!

#death tw #murder #daniel fucking schiester

[whump-tr0pes]

For the lovely cry babbies...y'all a bunch of pussies!!!! XD XD

Omg Tatiana 😂😂😂

#daniel fucking schiester #joseph fucking Stormbeck

[whump-tr0pes]

Can I ask you to start tagging posts with/about dfs? I love the arc and Gavin and AHHHHH but also for some reason my brain randomly gives me panic attacks when reading shit about it. Rlly a 50/50 split so I need a way to blacklist it when gremlin brain comes a knocking

Sure! Is there a tag you want specifically? I can just use a "Daniel Fucking Schiester" tag if that helps. Do you want me to tag the chapters that mention him, too, or just the ones with him directly in it?

And just so you know, most of the chapters will be in some way about DFS for a bit. Please let me know if I can help, more than just tagging!

#Daniel Fucking Schiester

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Honor Bound 5 - 14

Honor Bound 5 - 14 (Forcibly Stripped) @badthingshappenbingo​​​

Requested by @gottalovethemwriters​​​

~

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3, Honor Bound 4, and the prequel Vera.

AO3

Content warning: death threats, thoughts of death throughout, self-hatred, discussion/thoughts of hanging, blood mention, noncon nudity (shirtless only), mention of parent torturing child

~

Gavin’s eyes were red and stinging when Schiester and his men pulled into Crayton’s main square. There was a thin line of pink along the horizon to the east, the only hint of the coming sun. Gavin swallowed hard. His throat felt dry and gritty.

I’m never going to see the sun again.

Gavin shivered. He squeezed his eyes shut at the stab of agony that went through him as he caught a hint of Isaac’s smell again. His hands clenched into fists and he winced as the zip tie rubbed against his chafed skin.

He opened his eyes and stared blankly out the window. The square looked different, without all the snow. The light posts that lined it shone in the near-dark, and the scars on Gavin’s back flared to life as he saw the post he’d been tied to and caned, months and months ago. He chewed his lip and shifted in the seat. He knew, with a strangely detached blankness, that the caning was nothing compared to what Schiester was going to do to him.

“Once you have suffered what I deem appropriate for your crimes, you will be put to death.”

Gavin’s throat bobbed and tears sprang to his eyes. I begged them to kill me. I begged Vera to kill me.

The car pulled up to the town hall and turned down an alley next to it. Gavin couldn’t find it in him to be afraid as the driver pulled into a sally port behind the town hall and turned the car off. He felt desolate on the inside, frozen, empty. The sally port door began to slowly close behind them. A light flicked on overhead, casting the garage in a dim, sickly yellow.

The sally port closed, and the guards opened their doors. Schiester stepped out and straightened his coat – thick gray wool, stretching all the way down to his knees. Gavin thought it might be the one he’d been wearing when the family first arrived in the north. He couldn’t be sure. It didn’t matter. He shivered in the cold, protected by nothing but Isaac’s t-shirt. The guards reached in and roughly dragged Gavin out of the car. He sucked in a breath. His toes curled away from the freezing cement floor.

Schiester looked down at Gavin’s bare feet, and his brow wrinkled. “Where are his shoes?” he said casually, his breath fogging lightly in the cold of the garage.

“Didn’t bring them,” one of the guards grunted. His hand tightened around Gavin’s upper arm, so hard Gavin could feel it bruise.

Schiester blinked once, and then slowly brought up his gaze to look at the guard. Gavin shivered at the coldness in Schiester’s eyes, the tightly coiled violence that he kept perfectly in check.

“You what?” Schiester said, his voice carefully even.

The guard hesitated. “We… didn’t bring them. Sir.” His hands tightened even more on Gavin’s arm, and Gavin couldn’t hold back a whimper.

Schiester drew in a slow, deep breath and let it out. It fogged around his mouth like he was breathing fire. “And what,” he said softly, “Do you think his people will do when they find him missing, with his shoes still there? A coat I can almost understand. But shoes? They’ll know he couldn’t get far, and when they fail to find him…”

The guard blanched and in the cold yellow light of the garage, he looked like a wax statue – or a corpse. “Um,” he mumbled. “Sir… I apologize.”

Schiester pierced the guard with his gaze. The guard squirmed and stared at the floor. After a moment, Schiester blinked slowly and wet his lips. “Well,” he said softly, with a glance at Gavin. “At least this one’s suffering will be brief, if they come for him.” He turned on his heel and headed for a door at the back of the garage. One of the guards tripped forward to open the door for him.

The guard holding Gavin jerked him forward and dragged him towards the door, as if he was expecting Gavin to resist. Gavin stumbled forward on legs that felt disconnected from his body. His hands and feet were numb from the cold. He shivered so violently his muscles ached.

Schiester disappeared into the doorway, and Gavin was pulled behind. He blinked as he was led down a short hallway with cement walls, cement floor, and no windows, lit by the same pale lights from the garage. He panted in short, whimpering exhales that clouded in the air. Icy dread trickled down the back of his neck as he was led deep into the building – then down some stairs to the floor below.

This is what I did to Isaac, he thought with a crashing wave of despair. I paraded him through my fucking warehouse and took him down to the basement and chained him up and beat him and hurt him and— He did his best to hold down a whimper as shame pulsed dully through him.

Schiester glanced back at the sound, his footsteps echoing in the stairwell. He turned back with a slight smile on his face and said nothing.

Gavin heaved a sob and ducked his head, trying to catch another hint of Isaac from his shirt. He clutched for a shred of comfort, a moment of relief from the throbbing terror that pressed against the inside of his skull. He’ll think I hated him. He’ll think I lied. He’ll think I never loved him. I’m going to die and he’ll blame himself… I didn’t mean… Shame lashed him as he breathed in the faint scent of Isaac’s sweat and soap and skin.

He hated himself for his selfish need to keep that scrap of Isaac with him. He knew when Isaac woke up, that letter would break him. Gavin was going to break Isaac again with the rising sun, with that letter by lying to him, confirming Isaac’s worst fears – but he was desperate. He was desperate to feel something good. He could almost feel the shadow of Isaac’s arms around him as he breathed Isaac’s faint and fading smell from the shirt.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Gavin looked around with blank despair. His gaze went straight to a set of gallows built against the wall. A wooden platform stood about three feet in the air, with two nooses hanging from the ceiling above. There was a lever at the side of the platform that could be pulled to let the platform drop.

Gavin’s throat ached as he swallowed and choked on the memory of the rope around his neck – the burning in his chest – the bitter cold against his skin – the sound of Isaac screaming – the smell of Isaac’s blood after Schiester’s men cut him to prove Gavin was broken.

Even then. He tried to protect me even then.

He realized then why Schiester’s people tried to hang him in the square, instead of just putting him on his knees and shooting him dead with one of the pistols they carried on their hips. As his gaze moved numbly over the gallows, he knew. Schiester had been killing people like this since long before then. Gavin’s vision blurred with tears.

That’s how I’m going to die. He shuddered as he stared at the nooses, imagining how it was going to feel when one of them tightened around his neck, the rope rough against his skin, cutting off his air while he kicked and strangled and died. He wondered what they would do to his body afterwards. Would they bury him? Did they have a graveyard of innocent people killed because of the choices they made to survive? Was Gavin going to be buried with them, a killer and a sadist and a torturer beside the people he would have tortured and killed?

Gavin looked around, his heart beating faster, pounding in his chest to the thrum of his own terror. Just like the hallway upstairs, the room was cement walls and a cement floor. The ceiling disappeared in the glare of lights that made his head ache behind his eyes. Just opposite the gallows was a mirror; Gavin wondered if it was one-way glass, placed there so people could be executed without ever seeing their accusers’ faces.

Along the walls were five barred cells. They were all empty. Gavin wondered how long they ever stayed full. When Gray found out Schiester was killing people, they said one of his victims was killed the same day he’d been found. But Gavin wasn’t like the kid Schiester killed – Caleb, that was his name. Gavin glanced at the gallows and shivered as the temperature in the already cold room seemed to drop.

There was no one else in the basement. Gavin wondered, dimly, if they turned on the heat for the guards when they had someone to watch.

He hissed in a breath as the guard’s hand tightened on his arm and dragged him to the center of the room. The guard threw Gavin roughly to his knees. Gavin grunted and pulled weakly at the zip tie around his wrists. He could see Schiester’s boots as he stopped walking and slowly turned to face Gavin.

Gavin sobbed weakly as a hand gripped his hair and dragged his head up so he was forced to look at Schiester, who looked down at Gavin with a hint of vicious satisfaction on his face. Gavin pressed his trembling lips together. Words burned in his throat, filled his mouth until he felt like he would be sick if he didn’t say them.

Please. Please, don’t kill me.

A tear rolled down his cheek as he bit back the desperate plea.

Daniel Schiester tilted his head as he looked down at Gavin. Gavin squirmed under his gaze and couldn’t help but feel, not for the first time, that Schiester was looking for someone else in the lines of Gavin’s face, the set of his jaw, the frame of his shoulders. Gavin shivered and wet his lips. He could taste his own tears on his tongue.

“Y-you knew my father,” he said softly.

Schiester snorted. “Yes,” he said with a casual nod of his head. “I did.”

Gavin opened his mouth to speak again, then closed it. His knees ached against the cold floor. His stomach roiled as he wondered what his father must have done to Schiester to make him hate Gavin so goddamned much.

I’ve done enough things for him to hate me for. I’ve done so many things.

Schiester tilted his head and glanced up at the guard holding Gavin on his knees. “Alvarado,” he said softly. “Show me his scars.”

Alvarado grunted, and there was a pinch at Gavin’s wrists as the zip tie was cut away. Gavin gasped as Alvarado dragged his shirt up over his head and yanked it off his arms.

“NO!” Gavin screamed as he clawed at the shirt. He heard seams pop as Alvarado snatched it out of his grasp and kicked him onto the floor. Gavin cried out at the icy floor on his bare chest, and scrambled to his hands and knees before a boot on his back shoved him to the ground again. His breath froze in his chest.

“Interesting,” Schiester drawled above him. “It seems someone felt the need to redo Gray and Isaac’s handiwork. Did they make those cuts themselves?”

“I-it was my bodyguard,” Gavin heaved as he shivered on the floor. “My mom, my mom told him to, to hurt me so I’d… tell her how I…” Tears burned in his eyes and dripped onto the floor beneath him. His voice cracked and he heaved a sob. “Sh-she tortured me so I’d tell her how to… h-hurt Isaac.”

Schiester scoffed. “Fabricating a story like that will not spare your life, Gavin Stormbeck. I’m afraid you assume I feel enough affection for those people to be moved by the notion of you protecting them.”

Gavin sobbed weakly, and he pressed his forehead into the floor. The scars stung in the cold air. Pain pounded inside Gavin’s head, the sickness and agony of the moment when he’d broken and told his mother everything. Everything she needed to torture Isaac. Everything she could use to torment Gavin’s family, while he just stood there and watched.

The boot let up from his back, and he dragged in a breath. He lay prone on the floor, shivering, watching Schiester’s boots where they stood inches from his face. After a long moment, he dared to look up at Schiester with terrified eyes.

Schiester’s lip curled as he stared at Gavin. “Get him up,” he snapped. “And tie him. Fifty lashes, to begin his sentence. And this time, I’ll administer them.”

Continued here

@untilthepainstarts​​​, @womping-grounds​​​, @free-2bmee​​​, @quirkykayleetam​​​, @walkingchemicalfire​​​, @inpainandsuffering​​​, @redwingedwhump​​​, @burtlederp​​​, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog​​​, @whatwhumpcomments​​​, @cursedscribbles​​​, @whumpywhumper​​​, @stxck-fxck​​​, @omega-em-z-02​​​, @whumps-the-word​​​, @justwhumpitwhumpitgood​​​, @justplainwhump​​​, @moose-teeth​​​, @whumpywhumper​​​, @finder-of-rings​​​, @inky-whump​​​, @thatsthewhump​​​, @orchidscript​​​, @insanitywishes​​​, @this-mightaswell-happen​​​, @newandfiguringitout​​​, @whumpkitty​​​, @pretty-face-breaker​​​, @cinnamonflavoredhugs​​​, @pebbledriscoll​​​, @im-just-here-for-the-whump​​​, @endless-whump​​​, @grizzlie70​​​, @oops-its-whump​​

#honor bound 5 #bad things happen bingo #forcibly stripped #Gavin whump #death threats #thoughts of death tw #self-loathing #Gavin/Isaac #hanging tw #blood mention tw #manhandling #noncon nudity tw #abuse tw #my oc: Gavin

[whump-tr0pes]

Honor Bound 4 - The Final Chapter

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3, and Vera.

AO3

Masterlist

~

Content warning: past noncon, death discussion, off-screen death

~

Zachariah huddled lower and lower in the seat. The car rattled as Gray drove up the bumpy driveway to the house. They put the car in park and glanced at him where he shivered. He clutched his backpack on his lap on the front seat, his knuckles white. They wet their lips and turned off the car.

“It’ll be alright, Zachariah,” they said gently.

Zachariah nodded distractedly, his eyes unfocused. “Mm-hm.”

“Hey,” Gray said softly. Zachariah brought his eyes to theirs. “I’ve already told them you’re coming. No surprises. And they won’t… won’t, ah, hurt you.”

He nodded again. “I kn-know,” he whispered.

Gray pushed out a slow breath as he looked at them. So damned young, no older than Sam. No older than Edrissa.

“What are you worried about, Zachariah?” they murmured, speaking soft and low, just like they did with their family when they all were frightened.

Zachariah gulped and blinked tears away. “I… um… I d-didn’t, um, h-hurt them. But I… I was on the team that did. I… um…” His cheeks flushed and he looked down. “I h-helped… d-drag… Isaac, his name is Isaac… into his cell, once. I’m not the one who, um, who hit him, but… I… j-just, I just… watched. And S-Simmons…” His throat worked as he tried to swallow again. Tears stood in his eyes. “S-Simmons… held a, a gun to… to Sam’s head.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Their name is… is Sam. And I did… nothing.” His hands clenched in fists around the strap of his backpack.

“Hey,” Gray soothed, and gently placed a hand on Zachariah’s shoulder. “You helped them. Right? Isaac told me you helped carry Sam to the car after they—”

“That doesn’t matter,” Zachariah whispered. “They were… they were being tortured for weeks. I wasn’t part of it but I… I knew. And I did nothing.”

Gray fell silent and pressed their lips together. Their hand stayed firm on Zachariah’s shoulder.

“They let me live,” he breathed. “And I don’t know why.”

Gray tipped their head. “My family is largely a good judge of character. I’m sure they knew—”

“They knew I was willing to work for the Stormbecks,” Zachariah whispered. “And I begged them not to kill me. That’s all they knew about me. That’s it.”

Gray chewed their lip. “That’s all true,” they said softly. “But you also told me you didn’t have a choice but to work for them.”

Zachariah looked up at the house. He shivered. “I didn’t think I’d see any of them again,” he rasped.

Gray laughed before they could stop themself. “I don’t think they expected to see you, either, if I’m honest. But I…” Gray paused. “We’ve all done bad things. All of us. But we try again. And by doing what you did in the end, to help them…”

Some of us have done far worse. They bit down on their lip.

Zachariah nodded sullenly. “Okay,” he whispered, and wiped his nose.

“And…” It’s not permanent. When we find you a permanent home…

That probably wouldn’t help anything. Gray closed their mouth and climbed out of the car. Zachariah followed, his head bent, his eyes shining with tears. He trudged behind Gray as they made their way to the front door. Gray opened the door and stepped into the house.

Everyone was in the front room. Finn and Ellis sat on a couch together, bent over the coffee table, the puzzle there momentarily forgotten as their heads snapped up, their eyes fixed on Gray. Tori sat in an armchair. Vera balanced on the arm of it, a bowl of cereal in her hand. Sam and Edrissa sat on another couch, the sides of their legs touching, their fingers laced together. Isaac stood against the doorway to the kitchen. Everyone was there, except—

Gray’s brow furrowed. “Where’s—”

Gavin walked through the doorway from the kitchen and handed Isaac a mug of tea.

Zachariah gasped. His backpack thumped to the floor in front of him. “You… you have… G-Gavin Stormbeck…”

Gray took a step back. “I… I thought you—”

Vera took a bite of her cereal. “We call him Gavin Uriah now,” she said, seemingly unbothered by Zachariah’s reaction as she crunched at the bran flakes.

Zachariah blinked and shot a glance in Vera’s direction, eyes wide, before he stared again at Gavin. “Y-you…”

“Zachariah, I thought you… you knew?” Gray said, their gaze darting between Zachariah and Gavin.

Zachariah slowly shook his head. His eyes went wider as Isaac took a small step in front of Gavin, placing his mug of tea on the kitchen table. He reached back and clasped Gavin’s hand.

“But I… you… h-he hurt you,” Zachariah breathed. “H-he raped… he tortured you.” His chest heaved with gasping breaths. “I don’t… understand…”

“He was lying,” Isaac said, the faintest hint of a growl in his voice. “He was lying so his mother would trust him. He never wanted to. He was ours, the whole time.” Gavin gazed at Isaac with a look that made Gray’s heart ache. There was trust, there. Sorrow. Love.

They blinked and took a step towards Zachariah. “I’m so sorry,” they murmured. “I thought… I would have prepared you. I thought you knew he made it out with them.”

“Everyone thinks Gavin Stormbeck died on May eleventh,” Zachariah whispered. His eyes were still riveted on Gavin. “I… how…?”

“When you helped us,” Vera said, resting the bowl on her knee while her other hand squeezed Tori’s shoulder, “Gavin was getting Ellis.” She nodded in Ellis’s direction.

Ellis waggled their fingers at Zachariah. “Nice to meet you,” they said sardonically.

“N-nice to meet you, too,” Zachariah mumbled distractedly. He blinked and looked again at Gavin. “He… h-how long… has he…?”

“Ever since I left. The first time.” Gavin spoke up from behind Isaac. He took a step forward and folded himself under Isaac’s arm.

“You… I’m so confused,” Zachariah confessed. He shivered again, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.

“He’s good, Zachariah,” Sam said softly from the couch. Zachariah whimpered softly as he finally turned his gaze on Sam. “He’s with us. He has been, the whole time. The whole t-time we were… were there.”

“Sam,” Zachariah whispered. “I… I w-wondered if you… I worried…” He wrung his hands in front of him. “How…?”

“Finn fixed me up,” they said, pride warming their voice. Finn flushed where they sat on the couch. “They’re a medic. They—”

“I know,” Zachariah mumbled. “I know they… they helped… fix you. After. I knew about that.”

Gray’s chest ached with the sadness, the guilt lacing Zachariah’s voice. Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Gray,” Isaac said softly from where he stood with Gavin. “What happened with DFS?”

Gray’s lips quirked into a smile that the nickname had caught on. They opened their mouth to speak.

“What’s… ‘DFS’?” Zachariah said, looking around, his eyebrows pulling together.

“Daniel Fucking Schiester,” everyone said at once.

Vera burst out laughing. “Yesss,” she hissed.

Gray smirked. “We aren’t, ah, fond of our fearless leader of the north. So that’s our nickname for him. Well, it was Vera’s nickname, but I see it caught on rather quickly.”

“Oh,” Zachariah said in a small voice.

Gray nodded as their gaze move over the room. “We’ll discuss what I learned today,” they said, pushing down the cold thrill of dread that welled up in them as they said it. “And after that we’ll get you cleaned up, get you some new, warm clothes. We have a spare bedroom where we’ll get you set up.” They resisted the urge to glance at Isaac. They knew he’d be blushing anyway, at the mention of the room he never slept in. It would be cleared now, prepared for Zachariah in the three hours the team had had since Gray called them to tell them they were coming.

Zachariah stood frozen with his backpack at his feet. Gray gestured into the room. “Sit anywhere,” they said gently. “We don’t bite.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ellis said with a grin.

Gray rolled their eyes. “Except for Ellis, apparently.”

“You can sit here,” Sam said from their spot on the couch. They moved over, gently maneuvering with their right arm still slinged. Zachariah stared blankly at them for a moment before he bent and grabbed his backpack. He shuffled forward and sat awkwardly on the couch, as far away from Sam as he could get.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “I’m kinda gross. Haven’t had a shower in—”

“We used to live on the road, Zach,” Vera said with a smile. “We’re used to it.”

“Um…” He wet his lips nervously. “P-please… I want to be called, um, Zachariah.”

Vera straightened. “Oh. Sorry.” She pressed her lips into an apologetic line.

Sam pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and passed it to Zachariah. He took it gratefully and pulled it around his shoulders, his eyes unfocused.

Everyone’s gazes slowly made their way back to Gray. They cleared their throat. “So, about… about the mayor.”

“Tell us all about Danny boy’s shady shit,” Vera grumbled. She took another bite of cereal.

“Well…” Gray let out a breath. “He’s, ah… he’s killing people.”

The temperature in the room dropped.

“Who?” Isaac said, his voice careful and measured. His arm tightened around Gavin’s shoulders.

“Anyone he wants,” Gray said through their teeth. “Anyone who comes through with any syndicate affiliation. And anyone who comes through with a syndicate tattoo. That’s what the screening questions are for. He’s weeding out… syndicate agents.” The words tasted bitter on Gray’s tongue.

“But…” Sam’s voice shook. “If people lie… Z-Zachariah, did you tell…?”

“It wouldn’t matter,” he whimpered. He pulled up his sleeve. The Stormbeck crest stretched across the top of his arm in black ink.

Edrissa gasped and shrank back from him. She bit her lips and squeezed Sam’s hand tighter.

“We know what it’s like,” Gray said quickly. “We know that sometimes, you only have the choice between working for the syndicates, or starving. We know that you did what you could. And we… we know you didn’t hurt any of us.”

Edrissa blinked and relaxed slightly.

Zachariah folded forward and buried his face in his hands. He shook his head and muffled a sob. “But I didn’t stop it,” he whispered. “And you…” He lifted his head and looked at Isaac. Miserable tears shone in his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. “I helped them hurt you.”

“No, you didn’t,” Isaac said, his voice tight. “You helped carry me to my cell once. That’s it.”

“After they almost shot you,” Zachariah whispered. “After they… after they beat you.”

“Zachariah,” Isaac said forcefully. Zachariah flinched and glanced at the floor. “Listen. I’ve been put through enough shit to, to tell you that…” Isaac shook his head. “You didn’t hurt me. So… don’t add that to your conscience. Okay? And you… you left. You helped us.” Isaac drew Gavin even closer to his side, almost like it was an unconscious movement.

“Not soon enough,” Zachariah whispered.

“Yes, soon enough,” Sam murmured. Their hand found Edrissa’s again. Zachariah stared at the floor.

Gray cleared their throat. “As far as I know,” they said as they crossed their arms over their chest, “The people going missing are going missing because Daniel is pulling them off of their caravans.” Their throat burned with the echo of tears.

Isaac’s eyes went wide. “But… l-like Caleb…?”

Gray’s eyes fell closed. “Ah. Yes. Caleb is… is dead.”

“No,” Isaac snarled. Gray opened their eyes. Zachariah and Edrissa both flinched away from his anger. “He… that motherfucker… you’re, you’re sure?” He looked at Gray, his eyes blazing with desperation.

“I’m sure,” Gray murmured. Their voice broke. “When we helped Aryn… he was killed that afternoon.”

“Fuck me,” Vera breathed. Tori reached up and clasped her hand. Tori’s eyes were bright, focused. She looked more present than she had been in several days. And even with the appearance of Zachariah… Warring hope and despair twisted through Gray’s heart.

“We’re… g-going to do something about it, right?” Finn asked, hesitant. They squeezed Ellis’s hand. “We can’t just…”

“No,” Gray said through numb lips. “We can’t.”

“Does he know you know?” Isaac said. Darkness brewed in his eyes, trembled in his limbs. And beside him Gavin looked…

He looked terrified. But below that, there was a hardness. Gavin looked murderous.

Gray briefly wondered what it would be like to go to war against Daniel, if the team had the ingenuity of Gavin Stormbeck at their disposal.

They shook themself slightly. I will never, never ask that of him. I’ll never ask him to use himself for destruction. He’ll never have to do that again.

“Yes,” Gray said softly. “He knows. He told me himself.”

Vera scoffed. “And he thinks we’re okay with that? He thinks we’re just gonna… what… let that go?”

“I don’t think he gives a damn what we think,” Gray said heavily. “He made that perfectly clear.”

“But we’re gonna stop him… right?” Sam said. They sat up straighter. “We can’t let him just… do this.”

“No,” Gray said, clenching and unclenching their fists. “We can’t. Not now that we… know. But… he made… some very explicit threats.”

Vera rolled her eyes. “Forgive me for not considering Daniel Fucking Schiester to be oh-so-scary after we’ve destroyed the Stormbecks,” she said, not batting an eye at Gavin.

“I do,” Gray said, watching Gavin carefully. He stood beside Isaac, strong, the violence in him falling and slipping beneath the surface again. “As far as we’re concerned, he’s the most powerful person in the north. He controls the entire refugee recovery program. He holds the line, and who knows what kind of resources he could muster if he asked for them?” Gray’s gaze moved over their family. “I consider him to be just as much a threat as Joseph Stormbeck. More, maybe. Because up here, he can control our allies.”

No one spoke.

Tori raised her head to look at Vera. Vera gazed back and leaned gently against her shoulder. When Tori met Gray’s eyes, they shivered. Fire burned in her eyes, and fierceness, and everything else that had been so gone from her ever since she appeared on their doorstep weeks before.

“Fuck ‘im,” Tori murmured, and her voice sounded strong. “We can’t let him do this.”

A painful smile pulled at Gray’s mouth as they looked back at her. She held Gray’s gaze. She didn’t look away, didn’t sink back against Vera. They nodded. “No,” they murmured. “We can’t.”

“So what’s the plan?” Isaac said, tense, shaking. “How did you find out about him, anyway?” He jutted his chin at Zachariah.

“One of Daniel’s people,” Gray said, bracing for an outcry. There was none.

“Does this person know Danny is killing them?” Vera said.

“I don’t think he does, no,” Gray said. They shuffled their feet.

“Would he be willing to keep sending us people?” Finn said, sitting forward. “I mean, if we could run the same operation we ran with Tori, just funnel people north and place them with people once we find houses… I mean, DFS doesn’t control every route in, does he? Would people notice if folks started showing up farther north without being sent through DFS?”

“I don’t know,” Gray said with a shrug. “I’d have to do more research. Which means I’d have to continue helping Daniel with the screening process.”

“I don’t think that would hurt,” Isaac said tightly. “Might even catch a few that way.”

“But we’re not going to… to wait until we have that figured out, right?” Sam said, and made a small, strange motion with their right hand where it sat tied against their chest. “I mean… we can start… start saving them now, right? We don’t have to wait?”

“Mathias said he only gets a few a year,” Gray said.

“I doubt that’s all,” Isaac murmured. “I’ll bet that’s just all he finds.”

“Yeah, I bet that’s true.” Vera drew a hand through her hair.

“But we’re doing this, right?” Isaac said, his eyes flashing. “We can’t… Jesus, Gray, we’ve been up here for… for three weeks and he’s been doing this evil shit right under our noses…”

“If we all agree to it,” Gray said. “We take a vote. Because this will affect all of us. This puts all of us in danger.” They leveled their gaze at Gavin. “Especially you.”

“Don’t give a shit,” Gavin said through his teeth. “He can’t… fuck. These people coming through… I understand when it was, was me, but… these people aren’t like me.”

Isaac pulled Gavin close and pressed a kiss into his hair. Zachariah watched with his mouth open.

“I’m for it,” Ellis said softly. “But I… I don’t…” They placed their hand on their belly and held Finn’s hand tightly.

“We can distance you from the operation,” Gray said. Finn leaned forward and opened their mouth to speak. Slowly, they closed their mouth again and looked at Ellis. “Does anyone else have any concerns?”

One by one, Gray looked around the room and met everyone’s eyes. One by one, each member of their family nodded.

“Alright,” they said softly. They reached into their pocket and pulled out their phone. “We’re doing this.”

They went to Mathias’s number, still not saved in the phone. They tapped it and typed out a message:

Send us each one like him that you find. And be careful. Give me a call when you can.

They smiled gently as they slid the phone back into their pocket.

Honor Bound 5 continues here

@untilthepainstarts, @womping-grounds, @free-2bmee, @quirkykayleetam, @walkingchemicalfire, @inpainandsuffering, @redwingedwhump, @burtlederp, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @whatwhumpcomments, @cursedscribbles, @whumpywhumper, @stxck-fxck, @omega-em-z-02, @whumps-the-word, @justwhumpitwhumpitgood, @justplainwhump, @moose-teeth, @slaintetowhump, @finder-of-rings, @inky-whump, @thatsthewhump, @orchidscript, @insanitywishes, @this-mightaswell-happen, @newandfiguringitout, @whumpkitty, @pretty-face-breaker, @cinnamonflavoredhugs, @inaridriscoll, @im-just-here-for-the-whump, @endless-whump, @grizzlie70, @oops-its-whump

#honor bound 4 #the final chapter #jesus christ that's 5 books in exactly a year #guilt #Zachariah: a boy who needs a nap #past torture #Fillis #HMS ToriVera #Sam/Edrissa #Isaac/Gavin #Gavin Stormbeck is dead #past noncon tw #Daniel Schiester is a hero #death discussion tw #death tw #Fillis baby

[whump-tr0pes]

Honor Bound 5 - 2

This is a series. Start here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3, Honor Bound 4, and the prequel Vera.

AO3

Content warning: unplanned pregnancy, discussion of death, PAST DEATH OF MINORS, self-hatred, past head injury, mention of mutilation (to cover a brand), past torture, emesis

~

Finn balanced the large paper bag from the pharmacy with one hand, and pushed open the door with the other.

Ellis sat alone in the living room, staring blankly at the mostly unfinished puzzle in front of them. Their face was pale, their eyes dull and deeper set than they normally were. Finn wet their lips and closed the door behind them. Ellis slowly lifted their head.

“Hey, babe,” Ellis said softly. “How was the trip?”

“Frustrating,” Finn said as they hung up the car key on its hook beside the door. “The rizatriptan came in, but the Zofran didn’t.” They walked to the kitchen and set the paper sack on the counter. They looked at Ellis through the window in the wall between the kitchen and the living room, lined with barstools on the living room side that were pushed up against the counter. “I’m sorry, babe.”

“It’s all good,” Ellis said weakly, and slumped down against the couch. “I’ll be okay.”

Finn chewed their lip as they pulled the multivitamins out of the sack and put them in the cabinet, next to the spices. “Yeah, I know, but I… I would have liked…”

“Yeah, me too,” Ellis murmured. Their gaze returned to the puzzle in front of them.

Finn watched them for a moment, then tucked the can of pickled ginger into the fridge. “You doing the new puzzle?” they said softly.

“No,” Ellis said. Their voice sounded thin as a string. “Just looking. You know I wouldn’t keep doing it without you.”

“Damn right,” Finn huffed with a laugh.

Ellis laughed, too, and the sound was soft heat in Finn’s chest. Finn looked over at them where they lay almost completely horizontal now on the couch, staring at nothing. Their hands went still.

“Ellis?” Finn said softly. “Is… is something wrong?”

Ellis shifted, then blew out a deep sigh through their lips. “Um… no,” they said, finally.

Finn abandoned the paper bag and went to Ellis’s side. They sat down on the couch next to them. Ellis shifted onto their back and stretched their legs across Finn’s lap. Finn gently rubbed Ellis’s knee, their hand inches from the spot where if Finn grabbed Ellis’s knee just right, just above the joint, Ellis would shriek and laugh and push them away, their cheeks flushing, their eyes sparkling…

They squeezed gently. “Babe,” they said, and watched Ellis’s gray-green-blue eyes laze slowly over the puzzle. “What’s wrong?”

“I want to move out,” Ellis croaked. Their voice was tight with tears.

“Oh.” Finn drew in a slow, deep breath, and winced around the ache that formed around their lungs as they did. “Okay.”

“With…” Ellis waved their hand vaguely in the direction of the back of the house. “…the new plan, the new rescue, taking in people DFS would have killed… it’s…” Ellis raised their gaze and met Finn’s. It’s… dangerous, Finn.”

Finn swallowed hard. “Yeah,” they rasped. They reached out and took Ellis’s hand. “But that’s… we… we knew that, babe.”

“We did,” Ellis said softly. Finn gently rubbed their thumb over the back of Ellis’s hand. Ellis’s free hand went to their belly, covering up the tiny little baby inside them. They weren’t showing yet. They wouldn’t, after only a month. The baby was only the size of a grain of rice, now, according to the book Finn had purchased in town. They and Ellis had looked at the book together just yesterday, and laughed at how the pictures of fetuses looked more like newly-hatched chicks or baby dinosaurs or anything other than a baby—

“It has your eyes,” Ellis had said, pointing at the two little black dots resting at the top of the little blob.

“And your tail,” Finn had said, and Ellis had pushed them away, laughing, then pulled them right back in for a kiss…

Ellis took in a slow, deep breath. Finn’s hand drifted to rest over Ellis’s, over the baby. Ellis’s hand was cool, but Finn could feel the electric current of excitement under it, the knowledge of the tiny little blob inside Ellis that was half Ellis’s, half theirs.

“I…” Ellis cleared their throat and swiped at their eyes. “I love this family. More than anything. You… you know that.” Finn nodded. “And…” Ellis blinked tears out of their eyes. “And we support each other. We keep each other safe. But with… with that…” They waved again at the back of the house. “I…”

Finn took both of Ellis’s hands and squeezed gently, their knuckles going white as they met Ellis’s gaze. “I think I—”

“I’ve already lost two babies,” Ellis said, heavily. Their eyes filled with tears, and this time, they let them fall, rolling down their temples and into their black hair, limp from not being washed for a few days. “I… I love this family, and I love this cause. But…” They looked down at their abdomen. Their shirt was pulled up just the slightest bit, revealing a thin stripe of their stomach. “No amount of refugees will be worth losing another baby. Or… or being killed, so she has to grow up alone.”

Finn’s mouth pulled into a strained and rueful smile. “I thought we decided it was a boy.”

“Well, right now, it’s just a blob,” Ellis said softly. “Sex organs don’t form until week seven, remember?”

Tears burned in Finn’s eyes. “I remember,” they murmured. They held Ellis’s hand to their mouth and pressed their lips firmly against the knuckles.

“So… I… I can’t live here, if we’re going to be bringing refugees through. DFS will find out eventually. He’s got… who knows how many people working for him. And I can’t… I refuse… I can’t…” Ellis’s voice twisted in a sob. “…lose this baby, too.”

Finn’s stomach lurched, and their heart squeezed painfully in their chest. Their hands tightened on Ellis’s as something poured into Finn’s blood, hot and sharp, filling them up, making them ready to fight, to die.

Daniel Schiester will die if he threatens my baby.

Finn bit down hard on their lip. “I… I know.” There was another pull, weaker, but there all the same. There was a pull into the fight. They’d always wanted to be in the thick of it, always wanted to go where things were hardest.

Why the fuck did I sign up to be a medic, then?

Because I’m a coward, and deep down I’d rather be on the sidelines than be the person to take the bullet.

Ellis’s gaze moved over their face. “What is it?” they murmured.

“Um…” Finn’s eyes flicked to the puzzle on the coffee table. Barely even the outside edge was finished. On the box was a picture of a desk, covered in lovely writing utensils and leather notebooks, smudged with ink. Really crafty stuff. Edrissa had picked it out for them from a store in Crayton.

But Finn had always wanted the fight. They’d emerged from Gavin’s warehouse with a head injury, but was otherwise unscathed. And… and Colleen’s fucking nightmare castle… They’d emerged from that with nothing but a brand. Their hand wrapped around their right forearm, over the bandage that Vera had placed after slicing the brand until it was beyond recognition almost two weeks ago.

When the team had disappeared into Colleen’s murder house, Gavin’s cane marks had been opened again, Isaac had been caned and burned and cut and beaten again, Sam nearly lost their fucking arm, Tori was lost in her own head more often than not… and all Finn came away with… was a fucking brand.

They wet their lips. Their eyes focused again, and they saw Ellis staring at them, a little wrinkle between their eyebrows. Finn bent forward and kissed the worry line. When they leaned back again, Ellis’s worried expression was still frozen in place.

“Um…” Finn chewed their lip again. “I… I know.”

“So…” Ellis swallowed hard. Finn’s heart broke as they looked at the uncertainty behind Ellis’s eyes, the worry that came not just from concern about the baby. “Will you, um… will you… come with me?”

Finn’s stomach dropped, and the air rushed out of their lungs like they’d been punched. “Ellis—”

“I know there’s so much work to be done,” Ellis said softly. They pressed their lips together, although Finn could see them trembling. “There’s so many people to save. DFS is an evil motherfucker, and he needs to be stopped. But…” Ellis’s face hardened. Their jaw set. Their eyes flashed. “Sorry, but nothing is worth risking this baby for. Are you coming with me?”

Beneath the fierceness, the anger, there fluttered a terrible, wounded vulnerability. Ellis looked up at Finn, their eyes still brimming tears. Ellis bit down hard on their lip.

Finn leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to their lips. “Yeah,” they said gently. “I am. They’re my baby, too. And… you’re my fucking family.”

Ellis whined softly against Finn’s lips. They pulled Finn down on top of them and clutched at them, holding them tight against their chest, as they pressed the kiss deeper.

“We could move into that little cottage down the road,” Ellis sighed. Finn’s hand went to cup Ellis’s face, then slid down their neck, over their shoulder, down their side until they pressed their fingers into Ellis’s hip. “It’s like a ten-minute walk, but far enough that we have plausible deniability. It’s kind of a shithole but the others would help. We…” Ellis gasped as Finn pulled them hard against them. “We just need to tell the others.”

The back door swung open. Finn groaned and pressed their forehead against Ellis’s. Then they extricated themself from Ellis’s embrace and sat up. Ellis pushed themself up to sitting and pulled their knees into their chest. A faint blush burned on their cheeks.

At least they had some color now.

Gray, Zachariah, Edrissa, and Sam all filed into the kitchen. Zachariah carried an armload of zucchini – or some kind of squash, Finn didn’t actually know – and set them on the counter. Edrissa carried two fistful of leafy herbs. Sam and Gray followed behind, holding a bowl of fresh string beans each.

Finn’s stomach grumbled. “Are we having all of that for dinner?”

“No,” Edrissa said with a light glare. “What dish that you know of combines all these things?”

“Fuck, I don’t know how to cook,” Finn grumbled under their breath. Gray put the bowl of string beans down on the counter and came into the living room.

“How are you feeling?” they said gently to Ellis, and sat at a couch next to theirs. “Still nauseated?”

Ellis shrugged weakly. “A little. I don’t think I have anything left to throw up.”

“Let me make you some tea!” Edrissa called from the kitchen. She darted to a cabinet and pulled down a tin with for Ellis scrawled across it in Edrissa’s handwriting.

The corner of Gray’s mouth pulled up as they looked at Edrissa. As she went to the drawer that held the tea strainer, Zachariah shuffled to the stove and grabbed the kettle. He filled it in the sink and put it back on the stove. He glanced at Edrissa as he lit the burner. Edrissa flushed and scooped out a tablespoon of dried herbs with the tea strainer.

Gray turned back to look at Finn. “The trip into town go alright?”

“No Zofran,” Finn said flatly. “But the rizatriptan is in. Hopefully no more migraines for Gavin.”

“That would be ideal,” Gray said dryly as they rubbed their forehead.

Finn glanced at Ellis. They looked back at them, their eyebrows pulled together, their mouth pressed into a painful smile. Finn reached out and laced their fingers through Ellis’s.

Ellis nodded once. “Gray… we should… probably tell you, um, something.”

Gray lifted their head and met Ellis’s gaze. A flicker of fear passed over their face, made all the more creased with stress and worry. Finn swallowed, their stomach burning faintly with guilt.

“Um…” Ellis nervously rubbed their thumb over the top of Finn’s hand, mirroring the motion Finn had made a few minutes before. “We… we would like to move out.”

Gray’s eyes went wide. They sat back slowly and folded their hands in their lap. Their eyes slowly unfocused. Finn chewed their lip and waited for Gray to speak.

Gray wet their lips and slowly opened their mouth. “I… understand,” they said, finally.

Finn blew out a slow breath and looked up to see Sam and Edrissa standing in the window of the kitchen, looking out with identical expressions of hurt on their faces. Zachariah stood behind them, his arms crossed across his chest, looking nervously between them all.

“We love you, so much,” Ellis said in a rush. “We love this family. Gray, I’ve been with you for, for seven years.” They gave a weak laugh. “And I’d die for any of you. But… with DFS doing his bullshit…” Their hand drifted again over their belly, as if they could hold off the world with only that. “…I can’t risk my baby. There’s a cottage just a bit down the road. We’ll visit all the time. But at the end of the day, when DFS comes knocking, because he will…” Ellis raised their shoulders jerkily in a painful-looking shrug. “…I can’t let this one get hurt. I… I…” Ellis’s chest heaved in a shaky breath, then another, then another. “I thought Finn was dead. I lost my family once already. And I can’t, I can’t, I can’t—”

Gray quickly stood and crossed to Ellis. They crouched in front of them, joints creaking as their knees bent, and pulled Ellis into their arms. Ellis shivered and clutched at Gray. They breathed hard against their shoulder, their fingers digging into Gray’s shirt, as Finn rubbed slow circles on their back.

“I absolutely understand,” Gray said, their voice pitched low.

Finn leaned over and pressed a kiss to Ellis’s shoulder. They drew in a slow, deep breath, and felt Ellis doing the same. They smiled.

“This is your baby. You protect your family, above all else.” Gray leaned back and their lips curved up in a watery smile. “Besides. You’re thirty-five years old. Plenty old enough to be moving out of the house.”

Ellis playfully smacked Gray’s shoulder, barely hard enough to even make a sound. “Fair enough.”

Gray took both of Ellis’s hands in theirs and squeezed. “This baby deserves all the protection in the world. I think it would be safer for them to be distanced from this…” They threw a glance at Zachariah where he stood in the kitchen. “…operation.”

Ellis nodded jerkily. Their eyes shone with tears. “Thank you for understanding.”

Gray leaned forward and pulled them both into a hug this time. “Of course I do,” they said softly.

“They’ll be your first grandchild,” Ellis said in a small voice.

Gray shuddered and squeezed Finn and Ellis tighter. Finn could feel Gray trembling, and they swore they heard Gray sniffle. When Gray pulled back, their eyes were red. “Oh,” they whispered.

Ellis wiped their eyes on their shirt. “You’ll have to think of what you want them to call you,” they said softly.

Gray let out a sort of twisted whine and smiled wide, showing a toothy grin. “I’ll give it some thought,” they said. Their voice broke. “Never thought that would, um… h-happen.” They drew their hand over their face.

“Yeah, me neither,” Ellis whispered.

The three of them burst out in half-laughter, half-sobs. Gray squeezed Ellis’s hands once more and stood. They groaned and rubbed at their knee. They straightened and rolled their eyes. “I’m certainly old enough to be a grandparent.”

Ellis grimaced. “Don’t say old.”

Gray tilted their head in concession. “Fine,” they said with a laugh. “I’m a fifty-three-year-old spring chicken.”

“Speaking of chicken, what’s for dinner?” Finn said, looking towards the chicken.

Ellis shot upright and gagged weakly. They smacked their hand over their mouth and dashed from the room. They disappeared down the hallway, and Finn could hear the weak sound of them retching into the toilet. Edrissa’s mouth puckered. She turned to the stove and stared at the kettle as it came to a boil.

Finn bit their lip. “What… what was it?” they said weakly. “They did okay with chicken yesterday—”

“I think it’s just the mention of food,” Gray said. They stared into the hallway with Finn. “This is just… a rough pregnancy for them.”

“It shouldn’t be Rh incompatibility,” Finn said as they wrung their hands. “We’re the same blood type. They checked at—”

“I think it’s the stress,” Gray said softly. “They…” They blew out a slow breath through their lips. “You all have survived… a lot.”

In the kitchen, the kettle began to whistle.

Continued here

@untilthepainstarts​, @womping-grounds​, @free-2bmee​, @quirkykayleetam​, @walkingchemicalfire​, @inpainandsuffering​, @redwingedwhump​, @burtlederp​, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog​, @whatwhumpcomments​, @cursedscribbles​, @whumpywhumper​, @stxck-fxck​, @omega-em-z-02​, @whumps-the-word​, @justwhumpitwhumpitgood​, @justplainwhump​, @moose-teeth​, @slaintetowhump​, @finder-of-rings​, @inky-whump​, @thatsthewhump​, @orchidscript​, @insanitywishes​, @this-mightaswell-happen​, @newandfiguringitout​, @whumpkitty​, @pretty-face-breaker​, @cinnamonflavoredhugs​, @inaridriscoll​, @im-just-here-for-the-whump​, @endless-whump​, @grizzlie70​, @oops-its-whump

#honor bound 5 #Fillis #Iris #unplanned pregnancy tw #death discussion tw #death of a minor tw #self-loathing #head injury tw #mutilation tw #past torture #emesis tw #morning sickness #mild spice #baba Gray

[whump-tr0pes]

HB4-26/Whumptober day 4

This is a series. Start here, continued from here.

This is a sequel to Honor Bound, Honor Bound 2, Honor Bound 3.

AO3

Masterlist

~

Content warning: past branding, self-image issues with scars, discussion of captivity and human trafficking, mild self-harm themes throughout

~

Finn reached over to the table beside the couch and took another sip of their tea. It had a strong, spicy, almost bitter flavor, swirling through the warmth of the cinnamon and cloves mixed in. Chicory, Gray called it, although Finn had never had it before. Apparently it grew pretty well up where it was colder, and with it so difficult to get coffee…

It was getting easier every day, though. Shipments of coffee, flour, and vegetables were arriving north every day, pulled off of syndicate supply lines with almost no resistance.

Shipments of people, too. People were coming north, lone people and families and groups. Gray had asked the family yesterday if they’d be willing to drive south to Crayton sometimes and help Daniel Schiester process the refugees as they came through. Finn was happy to do it. They’d be happy to.

As soon as I take a fucking break.

The mug sat forgotten in Finn’s hand until they took another distracted sip. Their eyes focused as they turned to set it down on the side table—

The nearly jumped as they realized Edrissa was standing, perfectly silent, beside the table. Ellis was looking at her with a smile.

“Do you— Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Edrissa said, and Finn distractedly waved the apology away. Edrissa’s eyes flicked from the cup on tea on the table to Finn’s face. “Do you like it?”

Finn glanced at the tea, then stared, slightly bewildered, at Edrissa. “Um… yeah?”

Edrissa grinned and flushed. “Good. I got it from this store in Crayton that sells teas and herbs and things, and I love how chicory smells, and they’ve been using it kind of like coffee up here when it’s scarce, but I think it’s so nice as a tea because it works so well with cinnamon and cloves, you know, and sometimes just a tiny bit of pepper if you want to heat it up for a winter drink, and I just thought the family might like it since it’s just such a different flavor. And it grows on the side of the road up here! There’s a lot of it that grows on the road south of Crayton, we just didn’t see it because of the snow last time. It has these really nice blue flowers and that’s how you know it. But I was just hoping you’d like the tea, because it’s not… really…” Edrissa trailed off, her lips twisting in a conspiratory grin. “…it’s not everyone’s, um, cup of tea, I’m sorry, that was a terrible joke, but…” She waved at the tea and smiled shyly. “Yeah. I’m just glad you like it.”

Finn blinked and stared for a moment longer. They swallowed. The thoughts that moved through their head edged through slowly, as if through a fog. They’d been foggy in the past few days since reaching north. Probably the sleep deprivation. They shook their head and glanced at the tea.

“It’s great, Edrissa,” Ellis said beside Finn. “The tea is fucking awesome.” Finn glanced at them, and they glared softly at Finn, tilting their head towards Edrissa.

“Yeah,” Finn said flatly, and reached out to take the mug again. “It’s pretty nice. Tastes like… like cinnamon on steroids, I guess.”

Edrissa grinned. “Yeah! And like a little hint of—” She went white and cut herself off with a gasp. She was staring at Finn’s forearm.

Finn flushed deeply with shame and jerked their hand back. They dragged the long sleeve of their shirt down to cover the mostly-healed brand that marred the inside of their forearm.

They’d rolled up their sleeves for a moment, while they were thinking, looking over their and Ellis’s puzzle on the table. Looking for pieces of the horses that galloped through the field of the puzzle, now that the sky was already done. They always started with the sky, always, back when—

And now, Edrissa was looking at them with a mix of horror and pity that made their skin fucking crawl.

“Oh,” Edrissa breathed. “They, um… they—”

“Branded me, yeah,” Finn ground out through their teeth. There was no need to fucking worry, they’d taken off the bandage for the last time a few days before they’d escaped. It was healing. It wasn’t going to get infected. They’d find a way to cover it up. It was fine. It was fine.

Edrissa covered her hands with her mouth. “I’m so sorry,” she said softly, the words muffled behind her hands.

“’s fine,” Finn grumbled, huddling back against the couch, wishing for the world that they could disappear into the cushions. With Edrissa on one side, Ellis on the other, and the coffee table holding the puzzle in front of them, they couldn’t easily leave. Couldn’t easily go hide in their room or in the laundry room or leave the damned house entirely, just run and run until their feet ached and their lungs burned and they could leave this fucking moment behind.

Edrissa dropped her hands and reached for the sleeve of her own shirt. She pulled her right sleeve up past her forearm to her elbow, revealing the scar there: a flat burn over the tattoo that had marked her as a plaything for two years. Her hand shook and she let her sleeve go.

“I… I kn-know—”

“Edrissa, don’t,” Finn said heavily, and let their face fall into their hands. Edrissa went silent beside them.

“Finn…” Ellis said as they put a soft hand on their shoulder. “It’s not her f—”

“I’m not saying it is,” Finn said. “I never said that. I’m just saying I don’t want to talk about it.”

“It’d be good if you got that off,” Edrissa said softly.

Finn raised their head to look at her. “What?”

“I mean…” Edrissa’s lips trembled and she bit down on them. “Um… If you’re ever seen, I mean, if anyone ever sees that, the… the wrong people…” She trailed off into a whisper. She looked at Finn with heavy implication. “You could be, um, taken. Taken back, and, I mean—”

“What, to the Stormbecks?” Finn said bitterly. They dragged a hand through their hair. “The Stormbecks are fucking dead, Edrissa.” Edrissa flinched weakly beside them. Finn hung their head. “S-sorry. I’m sorry. I just mean… The Stormbecks won’t be looking for me because they’re gone. There’s no one to sell me to.”

“There is,” Edrissa said, and Finn lifted their gaze to her. “Um… I heard you t-talk about, um… G-Gavin’s cousin once. He has a cousin. And if he wanted you…”

“Mark doesn’t know about us,” Finn said, feeling exhaustion dragging them down.

How long have I been this tired?

Have I been making mistakes this entire time?

“But what if he does?” Edrissa said, her small frame trembling. “He’s still alive. What if he heard about you while you were, um, south? What if he… he wants you back? What if he and Gavin—” Edrissa’s mouth shut with a snap.

Finn peered up at her. “What if he and… and Gavin, what?”

She slowly shook her head. “N-nothing. Um. Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Finn held her gaze for a moment longer before they slumped forward again.

“Finn…” Ellis said weakly beside them. “Maybe… maybe it’s not a bad idea.”

Finn’s head snapped up. “What?”

Ellis swallowed hard and glanced at Edrissa, then back to Finn. “I mean… if the brand marks you…”

“It doesn’t mark me,” Finn said, a bubble of fragile rage rising inside them. “It… it reminds me. Of what Coll— of what the syndicates did.” Their left hand went to wrap around their arm over the brand. “It shows what I went through. It shows I survived. It shows that there are people out there who are evil and that we beat them.”

“It also shows that you can be sold back to them if you’re found,” Ellis said, a hardness in their eyes.

“I won’t be found,” Finn spat back, the rage quickly giving way to fear. “I won’t. We’re… we’re safe up here. We’re going to stay safe. I can’t be… c-can’t be sold back…” When did their hands start shaking? Their fingers dug harder into the brand. The pain stabbed through their fear.

“Finn,” Ellis said gently. “Babe.” They reached out and pulled Finn’s hand away from the brand. It stung in the open air. “I’m just saying… I’m sorry. We’re just saying that having something on you that marks you as Stormbeck-owned can bring… nothing but good.”

“But…” Finn’s eyes burned with tears. Why were they reacting this way? It was a brand that was burned into their skin, showing them as property. As a slave. They should want it off. They should want to gnaw their own arm off to get it off them. They should want to cover it like Isaac covered his scars, cowering away from the world as if their eyes burned him. They should feel shame. They should feel terror.

“But… it’s the only scar from her that I ha-have.”

Ellis froze, their eyes darting between Finn’s. Then, they leaned back, and something blazed in their eyes that made Finn shiver.

“We can make it so there’s still a scar,” Ellis whispered.

Edrissa took in a sharp breath next to them. Finn couldn’t look at her. “But… you should… you should want it gone. You should— Why would you want… something from, from them, on—”

“Should nothing, Edrissa,” Ellis said tightly, their blue-green-grey eyes still locked on Finn’s, and Finn could have melted, could have kissed them, for understanding. For knowing. “Sometimes you need scars.”

“N-no you, you don’t,” Edrissa murmured, and the floor creaked as she took a step back. “You don’t want—”

“Everyone heals differently,” Ellis said, finally breaking eye contact and glancing over Finn’s shoulder to look at Edrissa. “Some people wish their bodies were healed again. Like Isaac. And some…” Ellis’s hand wrapped around Finn’s and squeezed. “…some need the scar. As a distraction. As a reminder.”

Finn squeezed back. They knew about Ellis’s scars all too well.

“Um…” Finn glanced up at Edrissa. Her eyes were wide, angry, her hand clutching her forearm over her own scar. “I still think you should, um, have it off. For our… to keep us safe.”

Finn’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “I… I can… I’ll think about it.”

“That is actually a good idea, babe,” Ellis said, and Finn softened a little. “I know we’re north, but… if you’ll be helping with the refugees, and you’ll be in Crayton… Shit-ster said the syndicates send agents through and… all it takes is one… one of them to see… just for a second…”

Finn rolled their eyes. “I’m not exactly basing any of my actions on the word of that piece of shi—”

“It’s our family, Finn,” Ellis said, sharpness finding its way into their voice for the first time. “It puts our family at… at risk.” Ellis licked their lips and looked at Finn, their eyes pleading, angry. “It’s our… our family.”

Tears prickled Finn’s eyes and they stared at the table, their eyes moving sightlessly over the puzzle. Swirls of color, it’s all it was, all anything ever was. They swallowed the lump in their throat.

“Fine,” they said heavily. “I’ll start researching, um, safe ways to remove brands.”

Ways to reduce pain didn’t enter their mind. They were so far beyond caring.

Continued here

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#honor bound 4 #whumptober2020 #no. 14 #branding #OC #fic #self-image issues tw #human trafficking mention tw #self harm tw #edrissa: mystery girl #Edrissa rants about pretty things #past captivity #fuckin' Mark #trauma recovery #scars #Fillis

[whump-tr0pes]

I think, at some point or another, the Honor Bound fandom should just pick a random character and like,, INSIST they be a villain even if they’ve done nothing wrong in their life ever. like, they say one off-putting thing? it must be foreshadowing for the villain reveal! and no, Daniel Fucking Schiester does not count, Athena

What has DFS ever done?? Really, I think you're imagining things

[whump-tr0pes]

Daniel

Fucking

Schiester

needs to watch his back 🙃

Isaac planning his demise like

#daniel schiester is a hero

[whump-tr0pes]

Are there any face claims for your honor bound characters?

I’M

GLAD

YOU

FUCKIN

ASKED

Just a disclaimer: I do have some non-binary characters but I have faceclaims for them that are... binary folk? I tried to find people who looked close, and encapsulated the feel of the characters. So.

Isaac

Sam (gotta credit @newandfiguringitout for this pic, it’s perfect)

Vera

Tori

Ellis

Finn

Gray

Gavin

Colleen 

Joseph

Ryan

Edrissa

And introducing... Daniel fucking Schiester

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[whump-tr0pes]

Ryan Reveal part 1/2

Honor Bound 2 - 23 (grief/mourning) @badthingshappenbingo​​ (requested by anon)

Red X is for posted, white X is for requested. 

This is a series. Start here, continued from here. 

This is a sequel series to Honor Bound. 

AO3

Ryan Reveal Part 1/2

Cw: discussion of death of sibling 

Tori’s hand closed around the doorknob and she paused for a moment. Once I open this door, I can’t undo what happens. I can’t unknow what I learn. And I can’t take back what I say. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed it open.

Gray was lying on the couch with Finn hovering beside them, wringing their hands, checking Gray’s wound every few seconds. Gray gently pushed Finn away as they saw Tori walk in and sat themselves up a little, wincing as they did. Tori’s eyes flicked to Sam and Isaac in the kitchen. They both turned when they heard her walk in. No one else was in the front room.

She licked her lips. “Where’s Edrissa?”

A flicker of fear passed over Isaac’s face. “In her room. Why?”

Tori set her jaw. “I need to talk to her.”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

Isaac carefully made his way out of the kitchen to stand in front of Tori. He pitched his voice low. “What is it? Is she…?” His throat worked. “Is she…?”

Tori’s eyes narrowed as she realized what Isaac was asking. “She’s not syndicate,” she said under her breath. “No. She’s not a spy or anything. I just…” She bit her lip and looked around at the others. All their eyes were on her. “I went to talk to Daniel Schiester. To smooth things over and give him our information.” Her jaw jutted forward. “Turns out he’s the mayor here. Seems to enjoy quite a bit of control.” She pushed down a flare of frustration. “Anyway, I got us registered with their town hall and um… someone recognized Edrissa in the square. He didn’t say anything while we were all there, but he found me and asked me about her. I just… have some questions. I need to talk to her.”

“Do you mind doing it in here, where we can hear?” Isaac’s face was tense with suspicion.

Tori shook her head. “Not at all. I’ll get her.”

She made her way down the hall further into the house.

It was a sprawling ranch-style house with plenty of bedrooms for them. It bore the marks of heavy traffic; scuffs marked the walls and doorways, the aging carpet was bare in some places, and there was more than one mural scribbled on the paint where a young child had decided to express their creativity. It made Tori smile.

Her face fell again as she reached Edrissa’s door. Her heart clenched and she raised her hand to knock.

She heard rustling behind the door and soft footsteps. The lock turned and the door opened. Edrissa looked out at Tori with wary eyes.

“Hey, honey,” Tori said gently. “I want to talk to you about something. Can you come out to the living room?”

Edrissa immediately went pale and cringed behind the door. Her eyes flicked past Tori once, twice, calculating how far she could make it before she got caught. Tori put her hands up and stepped away from the door.

“Hey. You’re not in trouble. I just need to talk to you. Okay? You’re not in trouble. We’re not…” The words died on her lips. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

Edrissa swallowed loudly and wrapped her arms around herself. Tori turned and walked to the living room. Edrissa followed along behind, her head bowed like she was walking to her execution.

Everyone turned when they heard Tori walk back in. She went to an empty couch and sat, placing her hand on the cushion next to her. Edrissa’s eyes moved warily over everyone as she sat down, huddled on the edge of the couch, as far away from everyone as she could possibly be.

Tori looked around at the others and cleared her throat. She took a deep breath and looked squarely at Edrissa. “Edrissa, honey, you told the bounty hunters your name was Edrissa Worthington.”

Edrissa’s eyes went wide and she shot up on the couch, bracing as if to run. Isaac flinched and his hand went unconsciously to his waistband. To his gun. It wasn’t there. Edrissa sank miserably back to the cushions.

“Hey, sweetie, I told you you’re not in trouble,” Tori said soothingly. “Okay? We just want to know. Worthington isn’t actually your name, is it?”

Edrissa’s eyes were huge and filled with tears. She trembled as she pulled her arms tighter around herself, eyes darting to each person in the room in turn. Her breathing was fast and shallow and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Um…”

“It’s alright, honey,” Tori murmured, her voice low and steady, like she was talking to a frightened animal in a cage. “We aren’t going to hurt you. We just need to know.”

Edrissa’s breath caught in a sob. Her eyes finally rested on Isaac in a look that said he’ll be the one to hurt me. Have to watch him. “No,” she whispered.

Tori held her face and voice perfectly neutral, the way she’d done with her family when they’d all arrived on her doorstep months ago, broken in varying degrees. “Okay. What’s your real name? Can you tell us?”

Edrissa stared at Isaac. “I…” She shook her head. “I don’t have that name anymore… I’m… I’m nameless. I’m a plaything. I’m… I’m nothing…”

Tori couldn’t conceal the tremor in her voice. “Oh.” She licked her lips. “No, Edrissa. You’ll never be that again. You’re here with us, now. Free. You don’t belong to us. What was the name you had before?” Her gaze flicked to Isaac and she stared at him, silently urging him to back down. He shrank back. Let his hands fall subtly at his sides, open. Empty. He looked at the floor.

“Please…” Edrissa whimpered. “Please, I don’t want to get in trouble.” She was crying now, openly, with tears rolling down her cheeks and into her lap.

Tori pushed down the urge to go to her and pull her into an embrace. She pushed down her own tears and tried again. “Edrissa… I might have news about your brother.”

Edrissa’s eyebrows shut up and her mouth fell open. Her arms unwound from her chest and she leaned forward, gripping the cushions. “Micah?” she breathed.

Tori’s heart sank. She folded her hands on her lap. “Edrissa, I need to know your last name.”

“Clark,” she said, nearly tripping over the word. “My name is Edrissa Clark. Is Micah alive? Did he, did he make it? Is he alive?”

Tori looked at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears brimming in her own eyes from falling. “No, honey. Um…” She pushed a slow breath between her lips. “Micah was killed.”

Edrissa collapsed. It looked like the core of her had shattered, and there was nothing holding her up now. She dissolved into sobs, pressing her hands against her mouth, bending forward at the waist until her forehead nearly pressed against the cushions.

“No,” she moaned, and her voice broke. “No… Micah… no…” She dragged in a shuddering gasp and wailed, a terrible keening sound that tore at Tori’s heart.

Tori pressed a hand to her lips and tried to force her tears down. “I’m so sorry, honey,” she whispered. She cleared her throat. “I’m so sorry. Someone in the crowd thought you looked familiar –”

“Micah –”

“—and he knew your brother several years ago –”

“—no –”

“—when he saw you he thought he knew who you were –”

“—please –”

“—but he wasn’t sure –”

Edrissa’s breaths were coming too fast. Her eyes were wide and she braced herself up on the couch, gasping for air. Tori reached out and pulled her close.

The girl didn’t stop her horrible wailing that dug claws into Tori’s heart. She slumped in Tori’s arms, weeping, and curled her fingers into Tori’s shirt.

“…he asked me if your name was Clark when I was at the town hall.” Tori raised her voice over Edrissa’s cries and pressed her lips into her hair. “He knew a Micah Clark who looked like you, and I thought I remembered Gray telling me your brother’s name…” She glanced at Gray and they nodded. Tears shone in their eyes, too.

“Micah…”

“She said he was, um. Shot. When she was taken,” Gray mumbled. Edrissa shuddered against Tori and cried harder.

“He, um, succumbed to his wounds,” Tori said miserably. “I’m so sorry, honey. I wish –” I wish what? I wish your brother was alive? I wish you hadn’t been taken? I wish you hadn’t been tortured as a plaything for two years? Tori pressed her cheek against the top of Edrissa’s head. Tori’s tears fell into her hair.

Edrissa struggled and pulled herself out of Tori’s grasp. She dashed for her room, her hand pressed over her mouth, still sobbing her brother’s name. She nearly collided with Vera as Vera stumbled into the living room.

Tori’s head hung low as tears ran down her nose. “Fuck,” she whispered. “That poor girl… she had nothing but the… but the hope that her brother was still alive, and now she –” Tori cut herself off at the sound of a strangled sob. Her head snapped up. Her heart sank as she saw Vera standing in the doorway of the living room, her hand thrust out against a wall. Her other hand was pressed against her chest. Her eyes were faraway, staring at something only she could see. Tears were streaming down her face.

Tori was up in an instant. “Babe. What’s wrong?” She crossed to Vera and stopped a few feet away from her, hands outstretched, helpless. “Vera? Are you there again? What is it? You can speak.” Tori nearly babbled with panic.

“I…” Vera convulsed forward as another sob wracked her body. She slid down onto her knees and screamed in horror at what was playing out in front of her eyes, in her mind. “I remember. I remember what Ryan did. I remember what happened to Ryan.”

Read part 2 here

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#honor bound 2 #bad things happen bingo #grief/mourning #whump #on the run #death tw #death of a sibling tw #isaac's PTSD #past torture #edrissa: mystery girl #the Ryan Reveal #part 1 #sorry peeps #also i have no regrets #also this was the plan almost from the beginning so... #my oc: Tori