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twilightprince101 · 4 years

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Warmth (Twi X Empress)

Felt impulsive and stayed up until 4 AM last night writing a self insert fic with me and Empress.

I regret nothing.

(TW: Blood, scars, injuries)

It’s not every day that Empress retreats back to her old apartment. She mainly uses it as a sort of hideout, sneaking away solo if any of her plans ever spun out of control. Due to the nature of her position, that thankfully never happened. The complex was old and run down, dwarfed both in size and quality by a hotel occupying the land immediately next to it. The owner was simply relieved to have anyone in occupancy, it didn’t matter who they were. At most she’d use it twice per-year. But after the most recent heist, that tradition was forced to be broken.

Empress grunts with each flight ascended up the staircase, inwardly cursing that she never bothered to build up any muscle. She was never exactly strong in the physical sense, mainly relying on others to do the heavy lifting while she focused on the planning. She had been trained to see lackeys merely as tools, an extension of oneself, so she relied on them to do the hard work.There have been times in the past where she had to get her hands dirty, but the resulting scuffle was typically ended by a slash from her claws or a shot from her rocket launcher. They focused on precision, never strength.

So today, with a bloodied and injured dragon occupying her shoulder, she began to regret that.

“C-come on now… we’re almost, there…” The yakuza wheezes out as they reach the 4th floor of the complex, knees aching as they stumble their way along to her room. Twi only mutters a response, barely keeping a grasp on consciousness as they ascend. Puncture holes and dark red stains adorn his robe, which he clutched at while they climbed. The dragon was likely more concerned about the cleanup for his clothes rather than his actual injuries, muttering about how he’ll have to sew in some more patches for it later. His umbrella thumped against the stairs with each step taken while dragging it behind by his tail. Even after such a near-death experience, he still refuses to let it leave his side.

With a swift keyturn and a twist of the doorknob, the two injured combatants fumble their way inside, being met with a wave of dust that only weighed down their tired lungs. The apartment barely had anything save for the few given commodities, which were barely ever used even during the few times she visited. There were storage boxes that contained more dust than their actual contents, blanketing the stolen goods and other materials that were within them.

At last reaching her dust-soaked couch, the cat allows Twi to collapse into the cushions and groan from his injuries. Without wasting even a second, she undoes his robe’s belt and pushes the cloth aside to examine his injuries. In their most recent endeavor, the two were attempting to make an escape after stealing from the rival Mad Dogma gang. After a few too many slip-ups, the two were backed into a corner. It took some last-second improvising from the both to make an escape, but while Empress escaped unharmed, in the process her associate had taken most of the fire. She entrusted her gang to take the loot back to the safehouse while she brought him back here to mend his injuries.

“H-how’s it look doc?” the dragon blurts out, watching as his boss scans the different wounds with the slightest hint of a smirk. He can’t help but joke around, even at a time of crisis like this. The sphinx cat just shakes her head and analyzes his wounds.

“There are mainly three entry points across your chest, not much else along your lower body. Judging by the points of entry, none of your vital organs have been punctured and your bones only got scraped, and due to the strength of the Mad Dogma’s firearms the bullets managed to shoot clean through you.” She places a paw on his chest, making Twi’s tail instinctively curl up. “Simply put, you got lucky. Very. Lucky.”

“Hehehe…” The dragon points a peace sign up to the ceiling, barely able to get his arm fully extended before cringing again. “The d-dragon’s luck strikes again!!”

Empress takes his arm and forces it back down. “Just because the injuries aren’t fatal it doesn’t mean they aren’t serious. From your behavior I can already tell you’ve lost a fair amount of blood, which is serious in its own right. We’ll have to get these patched up in order to prevent any more. I’ll fetch some supplies, in the meantime, don’t move.”

Twi just gives a thumbs up in response, giving Empress all the confirmation she needs to search for medicine. She makes her way towards the bathroom and opens a box within the towel closet. Even after not returning for months on end, she still knows where every item is.

While she searches, Empress’s mind can’t help but wander to the events of that night. Everything had been going smoothly, everything had been going to plan. They snuck into their warehouse in hopes of taking some important documents relating to their future plans in an upcoming gang war, getting a jump on them before they’ve even begun. The two snuck through the air duct and snatched their documents right from under their noses. In their plan they would escape the same way, meet back up at the rendezvous then escape from there. It was such a simple mission that they had decided to do it only with the two of them, allowing the lackeys to handle another mission further into the metro.

That was their first mistake.

As they were making their exit, Twi had taken notice of a hostage that the Dogma were keeping as a means of interrogation. They had no affiliation to the Nyakuza, Empress was willing to just leave them there. But Twi and his unique stance with gang affairs persisted: no innocents should be involved. Even as she hissed at him to follow along or be left behind, he was already trying to figure out a way to save them. Empress had no choice but to assist, lest she abandon her most valued strategist.

In the end they were all able to escape, but Twi’s kindness had costed him yet again.

This wasn’t the first time his kindness had came back around to bite him. Whenever he developed a strategy, he tried to find a way that would involve the least amount of people getting injured, leading to an increased difficulty whenever he formulated a plan. At his best, the entire crew manages to escape without so much as a scratch. But at his worst, they leave with nothing.

‘One would expect to hurt others when joining the criminal underworld in any form,’ Empress thinks while closing the medicinal box, ‘it’s what many join it to do in the first place. So why does he insist on following this course of action?’

With a towel and several medical supplies in hand, Empress exits the bathroom and returns couchside, finding Twi fiddling with his robe with a blank expression. When she re-enters the room though he snaps out of his trance, his face lighting back up while his tail limply taps against the carpet.

“The queen of the metro returns! All h-hail!” The dust that lingered within the couch catches back up to him, beginning another coughing fit.

‘The blood loss must be affecting his ability to think.’ Empress thinks while kneeling at his side.

“I have all the proper materials here. These wounds will have to be cleaned and bandaged, so I’m going to have to ask you to bear the pain for a little while. Be thankful that they will not have to be stitched. Hopefully with the amount of blood you’ve already lost, you won’t feel too much of this.” The cat began to unscrew the cap of peroxide, dripping some onto gauze to prepare to clean out the wounds.

“Eeeehh, it’s you we’re talking about! It shouldn’t hurt that much!”

The owner wasn’t sure if he should call the police that night.

With all points of entry cleaned (and stuffing Twi’s robe into his mouth to muffle the screams), Empress set the gauze down and grabbed the roll of bandages to the side. Her ears were still ringing from the dragon’s outburst, but she pushed past it for now.

After sitting up Twi (currently on the verge of tears) to an upright position, Empress used a towel to clean the blood from his blue scales. She knew that she would also have to clean the blood from the carpet and couch in order to get rid of evidence, but that can be handled later.

“I swear, you joined my gang, one of the most feared criminal groups in the metro, and yet of all things… you lack even the slightest amount of pain tolerance.” She instructs Twi to raise his arms while she cleans him, guiding him just enough to where the pain from the wounds won’t surge again.

“I mean, I-I did take those three bullets like it was nothing.” The dragon was having trouble keeping so much as one eye open.

“You were fueled by adrenaline, it’s only natural.”

“Pure. Willpower.”

The cat rolls her eyes, unable to let out a small chuckle as she continues. While there isn’t so much blood that it turns into a sponge, there was still enough to turn the once-jade towel a deep crimson. For a moment she eyed the dragon’s robe, already slightly bloodied but still a bit dry. But Empress soon shook her head and continued mopping up the blood.

As more of the liquid was soaked up, the wounds became more visible, along with the rest of his body. Adorning his chest were various slash marks, bruises and other remains from past battles. Some were small and insignificant to the naked eye, others couldn’t possibly be ignored, spanning across his entire body. Not all of these were from his time in the Nyakuza, there were some scars that were just barely visible enough to be seen, obtained most likely before he even set foot in the metro. But the rest Empress can rememberl clearly.

Shielding some Nyakuza goons from enemy fire during an escape.

Protecting civilians caught in the war zone of two warring clans.

Challenging the mad cat of the metro, Goro Nyajima, to a duel despite being hopelessly outmatched.

All of these events stand firmly in her mind. Despite not having nearly enough fighting prowers to gain the upper hand, each instance he jumped in without hesitation, and each time he had to be treated afterwards. She has likely wasted enough materials on him to rival a regular medical clinic on the front lines. But despite having visited the hospital and being forced to wear his failures like a tattoo, he simply smiled and put back on his robe, asking what their next mission was.

Because in his eyes, each scar wasn’t a failure, it was like a medal.

He had protected the Nyakuza goons after a plan had gone awry, leading to only him earning fire.

The bystanders caught between two warring factions had managed to escape without a scratch.

The duel against the mad cat was to buy time as Empress escaped.

“Even if these scars will never go away…” Twi once told her. “It’s still a sign that I was able to help someone. So I’ll gladly wear it.”

Empress stares down at the scarlet towel, holding it as it drips onto the couch. She could hear him saying her name, but she was lost in her own mind as she recalled each injury.

‘If I-if you had just been more careful, you wouldn’t have to be…’

Empress waved the thoughts away as she tosses the oversized rag into a nearby hamper, reaching over for the bandages and preparing to wrap them around Twi’s injuries.

“To be frank, I can’t help but wonder why you even joined in the first place.” She tugged a line of bandages snug. “Your strategies may be beneficial, helping my gang thrive in intricate heists, but out of all those who pledge loyalty, you stand out like a dog.”

“Nu-uh, I’m a draegen.” Twi points to himself while saying that, as if it were a grand line of reasoning.

“Only proving my point even more…” She clips a string and ties the line tight, continuing for the other two wounds. “You gain the most shares out of the entire clan yet you never spend a quarter of it. You’re aware that the underworld is a ruthless place, yet you go out of your way to ensure none are injured. You don’t have a hint of pain tolerance yet you throw yourself into the line of fire. Some in the clan consider you a walking paradox, others worry you might have an agenda of your own.”

“Well, doesn’t e-everyone have an agenda though? The goons get paid, you get power, I’d say n-not having an agenda makes you weird…” With each word spoken it seems like he just gets more loopy, rolling his head from side to side either out of playfulness or an inability to keep it straight. Nevertheless, he just smiles all the way.

Empress just sighs, she knew it would be pointless questioning him in this state. But still, she couldn’t help but give into the curiosity that lingered within the gang. The dragon had simply appeared one day in the metro, no sign of where he came from or who he was. While exploring he found Nyakuza goons struggling to slip away from police, then without a second thought he assisted their escape. Even the most ordinary of civilians understand that police are “the good guys,” yet he proceeded to leap in without hesitation. Several of the goons find it suspicious even to this day.

His past, his mannerisms, his motives-they were all a mystery to her.

With the final line of bandages snug and tight, Empress rolls up the excess and places it behind her. The bullet wounds were covered with bandages on both sides, cleaned out to prevent infection. Now it would only be a matter of time for him to recover.

Rummaging through the kitchen, she comes back with an unopened water bottle and a protein bar. He happily munches on granola while Empress cleans up. She takes his sunset robe to the bathroom, hanging it on the shower curtain to clean later while swapping out bandages for hydrogen peroxide to clean the carpet. After coming back out with a mop and rags, she’s about to clean the splatters on the carpet when-

“You…”

Empress stopped mid-kneel, standing back up to face the dragon. He was still sitting upright, arm over the side while sitting cross-legged on the cushion. The water bottle was already half empty and only the wrapper of the protein bar remained.

“You… what?”

“You were wondering… why I joined the c-clan, right? Well…” He turned his gaze over to her. “It was you.”

For the first time in months, Empress was left genuinely confused. She waited a few moments for him to finish his sentence, but it took longer for her to realize that the sentence was already over. Submitting to her curiosity, she set the cleaning supplies down and sat down in front of him.

“I knew about you before… before I came to the metro.” His words were slow and cautious, taking care not to over-exert himself and cause any more unnecessary pain. “I heard ‘bout how cool you were… how powerful you guys were… was much more interesting than back home. Had to s-see for myself.”

“So…” all Empress could do was blink as she processed his words. “You joined my clan simply because you thought it was… cool?”

The dragon shook his head.

“Not the only reason.” He shifted a bit in his seat, uncovering his wounds as he figured out the right posture to be in while talking to her. “You remember… what I said about m-my home?”

Empress just nodded, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out where this was going. He had only said vague statements before, about how he ‘couldn’t be in his home anymore.’ Twi had always dodged the question, sometimes giving different stories for those who insisted on knowing.

“Back home… everything was falling apart. My family, my town… sometimes it felt like the whole world. Everyone was fighting over pointless things, tearing each other apart until they didn’t even know why. It had been my home for… my entire life it felt like. But one day everything just… snapped. Too much tension built up. It wasn’t my home anymore, all the warmth had gone. So… I left.” Twi looked out the window of the apartment. Neon lights blinked on and off in nauseatingly bright pinks and greens.

“I wandered for… a long time. Didn’t know where to go, what to do. I wanted to go home, but I didn’t know what home was. I wanted to help people, but it felt like anything I did only hurt. It felt like I just walked forever, wandering aimlessly, not knowing what to do with myself. So when I came to the metro and saw your gang… I didn’t even know they were yours then… I didn’t even think. I wanted to do something useful… for once…”

Twi tried to pull his tail closer, dragging along the umbrella that he clutched tight the entire march home. Empress leaned down and picked it up, staring at the designs of the umbrella both inside and out. He had said before as a passing remark it was a gift, but never said who it was from. But with how he never let it leave his side, with how willing he was to run back into enemy fire just to reclaim it, it became clear just how much it meant to him.

Empress gave the umbrella to the dragon, his expression relaxing a bit upon doing so. His hands traced along the grains of the wooden pole, looking down at the object as if it was a familiar friend.

“When I realized that they were part of your gang, and you were the Empress… I couldn’t stop myself from asking to join. The stories I heard, the feats you did… they all amazed me. I had always wanted to meet you in person before, just to see what you looked like. And while I admit, you were certainly looked as cool as I thought you were,” the cat playfully rolled her eyes, “I think, back then... I saw you as my last chance. To not just become something… but prove I was worth something.”

Looking up from his umbrella, Twi turned to Empress once again. He was struggling to say this, she could tell from his eyes. When he was staring out the window, they were distant, hazy. In his mind, he very well could have been in a different place full of neon and saturation. This was, perhaps, the first time since his years of being in the gang he openly talked like this. But looking back to her, away from the artificial light outside, those eyes were focused again.

“This gang, your gang, you… means a lot to me. I was worried you would turn me away, scared that I wouldn’t be enough. But you… you saw something I didn’t see in myself. You let me in… a nobody… and gave me a purpose again.”

The dragon wiped a tear from his eye with a chuckle. “I thought that I was good for nothing, that I’d just be dead weight to everything you did, but look at me now! I’m lead strategist in the Nyakuza! I’m helping pull off heists that will go down in the history books right along the great Empress! In my wildest dreams I don’t think I could have imagined being here now, being blessed with this sort of purpose... it feels like it’s too good to be true.” He grips the wooden handle tighter, imprinting the grains into his hands.

“Sometimes I worry I’ll wake up one day, finding I never left home and nothing’s changed. That I’m still the person I was before. That all of the work I’ve done would just be for nothing.” Twi pulls his umbrella close, hugging it to his body like a childhood toy. “But even if I do wake up… even if this is all just a fleeting dream and I’ll just be right back to where I was…”

He takes a moment to steady his breathing, which slowly got more and more shaky with each word spoken. For a split second he looked away to prepare himself, unclogging the lump in his throat, then after a small sigh he turns back to her. Tiny streaks of tears remain, but he doesn’t let those stop him from revealing his wide, toothy smile.

“I’m still thankful that I could be by your side.”

For a few moments, the rain falling against the window is the only sound that fills the apartment. Twi taking a few moments to express his gratitude, Empress taking a few moments to process everything that was just said. She had speculated before about Twi’s reasoning for joining why he would go out of his way to do this when he gained nothing in return. Everyone in the gang had their own ideas for what he could gain. But out of everything they had speculated, none could have come up with this.

Empress’s training to become head of the Nyakuza had conditioned her mind to remain in a losses-to-gains mentality. Every action she did would cost something, in exchange she would have to gain something worthwhile or else the choice would be pointless. She knew how to manipulate, how to decieve, how to get into the headspace of others. But this was a mentality she never could have predicted. She never knew how much she could have meant to those around her. When Twi had first joined, she saw his ingenuity as a valuable asset that could be used. Even her using the dragon as a tool at first had meant this much to him.

‘No… he’s not a tool anymore.’ Empress thought. ‘He’s much more than that now…’

“Come now, I think it’s best you try to rest.” The Nyakuza boss put a paw on her subordinate’s shoulder. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, you need to let your injuries recover.”

The strategist nodded, eyelids starting to weigh themselves down. After the day he’s had and him pouring his feelings out like that, it’s only natural he would be exhausted. But as he brought a hand down to the couch cushion, it was met with a cold moist stain. In their talking, both had completely forgotten about the blood stains on the couch. Twi attempted to flip the cushion over, but found that it was stuck to the base.

“Ah… okay then.” With a smile and a shrug, he reached over for a pillow to cover it up. He was content with being uncomfortable for the night, it wasn’t anything too bad after all. He’s slept under worse conditions. In this moment, he simply wants to rest.

But as he fell to his side, Empress pulls him back up to where he was. He looks to her for an explanation, wondering if there was still anything he had to do or if he did something wrong. Empress’s eyes didn’t met his own immediately though, she stared down at the stain that lingered there. After ten ticks of a clock, Empress reached up to her shoulders and slipped off her coat, revealing the countless scars that were underneath. They were long, jagged, spanning from shoulder to waist. But all of them were old and faded, signs of the battles she fought and the wars she had won.

Gesturing for Twi to stand up for a quick moment, she spread her coat along the couch, acting like a blanket covering the stains. Due to the quality and material of the jacket, none of the stains would seep through, even if one side did soak up a bit of the blood.

“There are materials in here that can easily clean out blood stains from clothes. Rest up now, you need to let your injuries recover.”

Empress had turned away from Twi to clean up the water bottle and wrapper. The coat itself Empress likely had longer than Twi had his umbrella. It was what many used to recognize her in the metro if she ever decided to step out and handle business herself. She had it custom made from a popular tailor that had visited the metro, paying them to create it exactly to her liking. On its own it likely cost a few thousand dollars, perhaps even hundreds now that so many correlated it to her. So for her to offer it to Twi just like an everyday blanket, the dragon could do nothing but stare with open eyes.

He looked back up to her, seeing Empress from an angle that not many saw her at. While so many only saw her looking down on them, just another object in her path to be used, she had faced Twi directly. Both of them shared eye contact in that moment as if it was a miracle that could only be experienced one, lingering on it for some time.

Then, gripping the arm of the couch, Twi planted his feet firmly into the carpet and pushed himself upwards to her level. From the blood loss and fatigue he had lost much of his strength, making simply the act of standing up feel like a monumental feat. Empress tried to lower him back down, seeing that little red dots were beginning to appear through the bandages, but he persisted. His teeth grinded together like a saw cutting through a tree, his claws puncturing the fabric of the couch, but after a fifteen second eternity, he managed to meet her eye to eye.

Empress wanted to scold him for possibly opening his wounds up even more from the strain, but with this amount of determination despite just how much his body rejected pain, she could tell his efforts had drive behind them, so she let him see it through. Once more the two shared eye contact, looking into each other’s gaze for what felt like an eternity. His eyes were focused, but his lip quivered.

Then in one swift motion, Twi stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Empress, pulling her tight against him.

The sphinx cat’s reflexes yelled at her to claw and push away, screaming that something was wrong and she had to get away. But after the shock had faded away, Empress could feel just how tight Twi was holding her, along with drops of something cold falling onto her shoulder. He was trembling, but somehow Empress knew it wasn’t from the injuries.

“T-thank you…”

For her entire life, Empress had never seen kindness as something useful. She had been conditioned to be ruthless by her own mother. Any sense of compassion towards others was a weakness, which would only be exploited. But with Twi hugging her close like this, feeling his warmth, those thoughts slipped away. She didn’t remember the last time she just let herself be held, or even if she ever had been. Empress never thought before she would mean this much to somebody. She never thought before somebody would mean so much to her.

Empress wrapped her arms around Twi, pulling him tight and allowing him to be close to her. The feeling was… alien to her. But with the warmth that it brought to the two of them, simply letting themselves be held in each other’s arms, she was content.

The two of them didn’t let go for a long time.

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