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draggeddowntothedark · 23 days

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Damn. It was a mild disappointment to this moment of joy, that there wasn't a way to fix it. With all the other 'fixes' supposedly out there, you'd think there was one that could fix a brain that mixed letters around like they were in a blender.

"Bloody professionals, always charging an arm and a leg when I can barely scrape together the coin for a new coat." And more cat food. Even if Patch never seemed to have a trouble finding a meal, Jules wasn't going to be a poor cat owner and not have some cat food stashed away for him.

"Any help is better than none- even think about picking me a picture book I'm kicking your arse." That was an empty threat, he hardly expected Rorschach to treat him like he was a child. Just at perhaps a child's reading level. He fetched his cane and followed after the other man.

"How... how often do you read, Ror?" Jules was quite curious, he'd seen the other man reading the paper but in all honesty, he didn't know that much about him- save for the fact they had similar missions in life.

It was true, Jules was fairly well spoken. Perhaps because he avoided reading, speaking became more of his stronger suit.

Seeing Jules react in such a way had awaken a piercing feeling in Rorschach's chest. Though he ignored it, remained neutral as he pretended to skim over the book until Jules could regain control over himself. Maybe these mental health books weren't for him. But for other people, like Jules, they were life changing. Though Rorschach would be sure not to feed Jules the nonsense baby aspects. Just the facts. And ways to improve.

Then his questions. Rorschach continued skimming, flipping over a page and for once he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"No pill. It's a lifelong condition..." His tone was gentle. Despite trying his best, there was a small bit of him that pitied Jules. "There are ways to improve, perhaps some professionals can help. But that costs a lot of money." That neither of them had. But...

"I'm not a teacher. But I will help." He took another book and started walking into the kid's section. Looking for easy book to get started on.

#the rorschach mask #jules seaton jr.

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draggeddowntothedark · 1 month

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Queen of Diamonds

TW: Torture, Sexual Assault Mention

Every one reaches their breaking point. Camilla had been teetering on hers ever since she passed her dolls onto her sisters and became the wife of the most worthless sack of shit in the entirety of Rome. But she balanced, she smiled at the right people, she soothed her husband’s ego while she puppeted him into making the right actions for their family. Gods knew if it was all up to him they’d lose it all.

She took his disrespect. His grubby, rough hands. His insults, his control over what she did and how she acted. She did it all with a smile and a soft voice. All she wanted in return? To be able to love and care for her sons… especially her eldest, Cicero.

Oh, it was like a mirror some days. Elegant, dark haired, even darker eyes that hid mischievous light. Cicero was a gift from the gods, the one who made the hard days worth it. To say she would die for any of her sons was truth, but Cicero was her eldest. The one that was most like her.

She knew that she’d lose him one day. His lungs, his weak constitution, he’d be taken from her. But to one day wake up and enter his room to see he wasn’t in it… then to enter the gardens and to find it torn apart, with no trace of her son save for pieces of his tunic.

It nearly broke her. It would’ve. But she overheard just pieces of a conversation between her husband and one of his friends.

“Seeing him being taken away… well, for me, it was a blessing. He’s gone now, and with him goes my burden.”

It was a cold shock. One that she needed, otherwise her grief would’ve consumed her.

Now, she was enraged.

Cicero’s time in life was already looking to be short, and rather than take every moment possible with him, his idiotic father let someone take him.

So once their guest had left, Camilla attacked him.

She wasn’t a very large woman, if it just came down to weight her husband could crush her like glass. But she had rage on her side, and his stupid oafish self hardly knew what to do when his smiling, gentle wife came storming in and proceeded to shove him to the ground.

He tried to get up. Camilla responded by kicking him in the jaw.

“Who took him!? Who took our son!?”

He tried playing dumb, something he was quite good at, but Camilla wasn’t accepting it. She kicked him again between the legs, hard enough that he howled like a dying dog.

“What. Took. Cicero.”

He caved. He told her everything. He told her about what had been happening across the city, how young men and women were stolen away in the night by strange ones, strange ones with bloodless skin and fangs like beasts. The young people had never been seen again. The night Cicero went missing, he’d seen one of them- Cicero draped over his shoulder. They’d left and that idiot man just went back to bed.

Camilla hated him. She wanted to kill him. But she restrained herself. She needed someone to hire soldiers after all, to go look for her boy. She prostrated herself before the statues of her gods, begged them for their guidance, their blessing… Ceres once searched the lands for her Proserpina, could they not also help her find her Cicero?

When she went with her armed guard, she did not go alone- Verus insisted on coming. She tried to dissuade him but it was his brother that was missing too. Verus might’ve been his father’s favorite but that was not a title he’d wanted. And knowing the truth, that he’d let Cicero be abducted? No, he had to help.

It took time. Weeks. But the trail of violence and blood was not impossible to follow. That trail led them to it- the den of the vampires.

They were all passed out drunk, their long suffering captives curling up best they could… except for one. A girl, likely around Verus’ age, laid still on her own. Camilla held up a hand before she knelt by the girl, resting her hand on her shoulder.

The girl looked up and softly gasped, as did Camilla- the girl looked like she’d been through war. Bruises and ragged bite wounds covered her body, her face sunken and dirty cheeks that had clear lines from where tears had been falling.

“Have you seen my son? Cicero, is Cicero here?” Camilla whispered.

The girl’s head bowed. “… The King took him into his chambers. He hasn’t come out yet,” she whispered back.

Camilla stroked the girl’s blood crusted hair. “I’ll go get him. Hold here,” she gestured to her guard. Verus was the only one who seemed to disagree with that plan, but he waited all the same.

Camilla headed in alone, keeping a strong grip on the dagger that was at her belt. The place stunk of blood and death. Her heart hammered in her chest. What was she to find?

It was the crying that led her to her son. The ‘king’, a stocky, ugly man, was asleep judging by his uproarious snoring. But that was nothing compared to Cicero’s sobs.

He was suffering. Bruised, bloodied, curled up in a ball on the floor with rags of his clothing around him… Camilla’s heart nearly stopped. He was alive, but that man… that barbarian raped her son-

Camilla saw red. There was a sword propped up against the wall. It would do. She picked it up and did not hesitate. The king’s eyes opened just in time to see Camilla bringing the bladed down on his neck. She was surprised with her own strength, or perhaps it was the sharpness of the sword, but either way only one blow was needed to take the man’s head clean off his shoulders.

Cicero’s sobbing cut off and he slowly levered himself off the ground. Those dark eyes were glazed over, only regaining their sharpness after a few moments. “M… mother? Mother?” he repeated it a few times, like he couldn’t believe Camilla was actually there. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. “Mother, I… I’m sor-”

Camilla threw herself to the ground, clutching her son to her chest and cutting off the sentence. “No, no, it’s okay, my son, you’re alive… you’re alive…” she wept, burying her face in his hair.

The two clung to each other for what felt like hours, crying and thanking the gods they found each other once again before Cicero finally spoke up.

“… Mother, his ring. His ring made him into something almost as powerful as a god. You should have it.”

A ring? Camilla finally released Cicero to look at the decapitated corpse. There was a ring on his hand all right- a beautiful gold band studded with diamonds. She pulled it off his finger and held it up to the light. “… Interesting…” she murmured under her breath before she placed it in her pocket. She took her palla and draped it over her son, something to cover him. “Stay here for now. I’m going to handle the situation outside. Do not be afraid. I did not come alone.”

It wouldn’t have mattered much. The moment the beasts were awoken by her mercenaries they knew something was wrong. They were no longer the threat they’d apparently been, weak as mortal men and terrified of how the sky was getting brighter.

They begged to be let back inside, to be given their Diamond King’s ring. Camilla gripped it on her pocket before she ordered them to be chased into the fields.

It was an incredible sight. As the sun climbed its way up, the beams of light hit the monsters and caused them to go up in flames. Soon the ground was littered with charred corpses.

The other captives could not stop thanking Camilla. They told her all about their captors, these vampires, how they drunk the blood of mortals to remain forever young and beautiful, how they had strange powers like turning into animals or controlling someone’s actions. Their ‘king’, apparently named Athaulf, he was the most powerful of all. As long as they had a king, the sunlight only weakened them, but no king… well, their blackened bodies were evidence of what that meant.

Camilla heard it all, considering her next action very carefully. When night came again, she sent the soldiers home with the survivors. Let them go home and live their lives.

Camilla had other plans.

The only one who refused to leave was the girl- Julia. She explained how the vampires had killed her whole family, and that out of all the victims of Athaulf, Cicero was the only one who stood up for her. He tried to protect her. She could not bear to leave him.

Camilla turned the ring over and over in her fingers.

“… I don’t believe many men could be trusted with this ring,” she said aloud, looking at those still with her.

Camilla smirked.

“I think it’s fortunate this ring finds itself in the hand of a woman then.”

Camilla slipped it on her middle finger. The transformation was painful, but it was fast. Everything was louder, sharper, clearer. As her heart thudded to a stop, she felt more alive than she ever had before.

She threw her head back, grinning and showing off how her upper and lower canine teeth had been replaced with sharp fangs.

“Well? Who wants to live forever by my side?”

It came as no surprise that Cicero did not hesitate. He stumbled up to his mother before he sunk to his knees. The clothing he wore didn’t fit quite right, but at least it was something to cover his decency. Camilla wasn’t quite sure how she knew what to do, but she used her dagger to cut open her hand, dripping the blood into Cicero’s mouth.

Julia was next. Verus declined, saying he would need to think about it, but the he watched his newly changed brother, who could barely lift his head some days, now run across the field and even perform cartwheels… Camilla had a feeling he’d be asking for her blood sometime too.

The only thing left to do now?

Go home. Let Cicero rip his worthless father’s heart from his chest. And take Sabinus with them to go, well, wherever they pleased.

They now had forever in their hands, and Camilla wasn’t going to wait a moment to enjoy it.

~~~

In v; prince of diamonds, Cicero does not become the Diamond King- rather, his mother because the Diamond Queen. He may not be as powerful, but his life is one of luxury as his mother's Right Hand. It's far less lonely too with so much family about, since Camilla ended up turning his two brothers over the years as well.

#drabble #v; prince of diamonds

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