#ALSO HURT AND COMFORT is so them (in that raised together shaped into weapons au but also HER TEACHING HIM LIFE TOGETHER and he

[voidstilesplease]

love and war

a demigod au [companion] ficlet

~•~

Theo's eyes snap open when he hears the loud honk from outside the motel they're staying. He sits upright in his makeshift bed on the cold floor. It's still dark, and when he checks the clock in the room, only an hour has passed since they went to bed.

He transfers his gaze at the sleeping lump on the single bed, wrapped tightly in the comforter like a human burrito. Stiles is dead to the world, open-mouth with a bit of drool on one side. He looks so young and innocent and can't hurt a fly like this. But under his pillow, Theo can see the handhold of his dagger. They're almost to the entrance of the Underworld now. More monsters are after them. Caution and vigilance are of utmost importance if they want to come back from this quest alive.

Soft snoring takes his attention from Stiles to the shape on the couch. Involuntarily, Theo scowls at the sight of him. Derek Hale, son of Poseidon. He still can't believe he's on a quest with him, or even that all three of them are together in some mad twist of fate and managed not to kill one another yet. Barely, but still. Their godly parents are the worst rivals and are the three Olympians on the verge of a war if Theo, Stiles, and Derek fail. The last thing they should become is allies.

Derek shifts and Theo notes that he looks uncomfortable in his position. It makes him oddly satisfied.

He hears the loud honk again, but it's apparent now that only he does among them. Otherwise, his two companions would have sprung up, wide-eyed and ready to pounce, no matter how exhausted they had been from a full day of running and fighting monsters.

Theo gets up to his feet, clutching the hilt of his sword, and approaches the window guardedly. With sure fingers, he pulls down the blinds enough to peek. The image that greets him gives him a moment's pause, lips parting in surprise. 

Outside, a spotless, white limousine casually parks on the deserted road. A muscular man in black jeans, combat boots, and a red muscle shirt underneath a black vest leans against it. There's a familiar sneer in his mouth noticeable even from afar, and though he's donning sunglasses, Theo knows his eyes are on him. 

He's imagined this happening since his claim at Camp Half-Blood. If he appears to him right now while Theo's in the middle of a make-or-break mission, things must be getting worse in Olympus. He usually communicates to Theo in vague dreams, in a voice in his head, in some other weird manifestation since this started, but never coming to him in the flesh.

He lets go of the blind, delays for a second of contemplative silence, and then opens the door to meet his father, the God of War, Ares.

~•~

He slows his steps as he nears the broad figure. Up close, Theo notices the fire reflecting from inside his glasses. He has heard from his siblings that their dad had fireballs in his sockets instead of eyeballs. And that any children of Ares are compelled by unexplainable force to meet those flares, cowering.

Theo stops and raises his chin to meet his father's gaze, and no matter how he tries and how tough he is, he still dips his head in submission to the god. He swallows, "Father,"

His reply was a terse and detached, "Son,"

Theo lifts his head again, not quite meeting Ares's eyes this time, and hesitates for a second, but asks, "What are you doing here, father?"

The god's face twists like he has swallowed a lemon. His head fastens in the direction of the room Theo is renting for the night. "You have such unpromising companions," he spats, glaring at the window as if he sees through it. Ares probably does. "The son of Poseidon I can scarcely forgive," his attention slips back to Theo, and even without the proper organs, Theo can feel the disgust that would be reflected in them if he had eyeballs. The disapproval is rolling like waves in his aura, and it makes dread crawl up Theo's spine. He hates that his father can evoke such emotions just with his presence. He's also starting to feel his blood boil. "but Athena's spawn?"

Theo bites his lip and balls his fists to avoid saying something that will make his father smite him to smithereens. That is not at all the way he had imagined his first meeting with his father to end.

"She dares call me a thief," Ares's voice does not rise, but it doesn't have to. Theo's hyper-aware of his father's rage, and it makes his knees quiver to kneel and supplicate. 

Theo forces to say the words, "Stiles is helping to find an end to this conflict,"

Ares scoffs, unimpressed. "And by an end," he crosses his burly arms. "You mean victory against our enemies in the war."

Theo shakes his head, breathing through his nose. "I was thinking about not starting a war at all."

The look Ares gives him makes his stomach coil, and he hates it. The god regards him similarly to an insect: small, insignificant, and revolting. "No child of War runs from war."

Theo breathes in deep, his blunt and dirty nails digging in the skin of his palms. "There isn't one yet, that is necessary."

Ares's face thunders and the fire in his eyes glow brighter. It seems the god expresses no aversion to smiting his son right then and there. "She slandered my name-"

"Ares, dear, do be nice now." A silky, feminine voice interrupts his father from inside the limo. And amazingly, the god's anger deflates, albeit grudgingly. He's still enraged, but he's holding himself back from committing a crime. Theo inwardly sighs in relief.

The god purses his lips, nose flaring slightly, "My Lady wishes to give you a weapon,"

Theo draws his eyebrows together, "Your Lady?" Just as he says the question, the answer comes to Theo. He remembers the afternoon Stiles discussed with him in their session about his father's amorous relationship with a fellow Olympian.

"Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty and is married to Hera's son, Hephaestus, the god of the forge. The union forced upon Aphrodite as it was a condition made by Hephaestus so he would free his mother, Hera, from being bound into a magical throne he built and tricked the queen of the gods into sitting. Zeus granted it, and so they were married. Aphrodite resented his husband because Lord Hephaestus was, in the standard of the divinities, ugly and lame, and therefore, not befitting the goddess of beauty.

The god tried to gain her affection by designing beautiful jewelry for her in his workshop. But she wasn't interested. Instead, she used the opportunity of his husband's work arrest in his workshop to be unfaithful and be with other gods or goddesses, and even mortals.

Then she met Ares, and they fell in love. They kept on having affairs with other immortals and mortals, but they always came back to each other -even though that's against the rule of formal infidelity of the Greeks."

"Bring him in, dear,"

The soft voice breaks Theo's reverie, and with a huff, his father motions him to the door as requested by the goddess Aphrodite.

He doesn't know what to expect the goddess of beauty would look like, but when the door opens, Theo catches a glimpse of the car's occupant, and he thinks he hallucinated Stiles for a brief moment. When he blinks, he now sees the flowing hair and feminine features instead of gelled up hair and slender muscles.

He takes a seat, and the door shuts. Theo finds himself captivated by the different aura that she emanates in comparison to what he had felt with his father. His skin feels warm instead of burning, and his heart steadies instead of races. He stares at the face of the goddess, and if he isn't so gone, he would have remembered his manners -whatever little he has. At least, the goddess doesn't seem offended by the rapt attention -she's probably used to it- but amused.

Theo had never mentally built a picture of the goddess, but he didn't expect for her to have moles sprinkled in her pale face or have amber, almost molten liquid, eyes. But she has an elegant upturned nose and pink cupid's bow lips, which are as expected. Her features remind Theo so closely of Stiles. That must be why he thought he saw him for a second there.

When she smiles, it even feels familiar to Theo.

"What do you see?" She asks.

"Um," Theo swallows and licks his dried lips. "Your beauty, goddess."

She emits a soft, coy chuckle. "It is not universal. Do I resemble someone specific that you know?"

The question throws him for a little, and he blinks. "Yes," He says honestly, figuring there is no point in lying.

The smile on her face broadens, "My beauty is an individual's perception of it, son of Ares. It is one or the other, depending on who's looking."

He frowns, confused. Before he can ask what the goddess is trying to say or process it himself, Aphrodite procures an object in her hands that she passes to Theo. When he looks down at the item, it's a palm-sized rose looking-glass. He sees his reflection as he studies it. It's a simple circular mirror with roses encrusted around it; each petal is elaborately carved.

"It is a present from my husband," the goddess says.

Theo nods, thinking it makes perfect sense. Something as well-crafted as the item he holds must only be from a god. 

"When you absolutely need it," she continues, "look upon the mirror, and help will come. It grants only one call."

He gives the goddess a quizzical look, "Why are you giving it to me, though, Lady Aphrodite? I am grateful and honored to receive such a gift," he hastily adds, remembering Stiles's warning of always showing gratitude to the gods. It avoids spontaneously combusting. "But I don't know why me?"

Thankfully, she seems to be in good spirits because she only inclines her head. "Do you think it appropriate if I gifted that to the children of my beloved's rivals?"

Theo made a humming noise.

"I must say," she adds, "I assumed if it was the son of Poseidon I invited, I know what image he would see in my face. But, I wonder," she gives Theo a look, her brown eyes twinkling in the same fashion as Stiles's when he formulates a clever, and devious idea. "If it was the son of Athena, whose face would he have seen between two?"

Theo pauses, caught off guard.

Then, the goddess straightens. "Remember. Only once. Choose the moment wisely."

Theo opens his mouth to thank her once more and asks what is in exchange for the goddess' generosity. Stiles had also taught him that gods don't just hand out presents to the mortals they favor without a deed or a sacrifice. But, the next time he breathes, he's back inside the room, sitting in his comforter on the floor.

He blinks rapidly and scrambles to his feet toward the window. He pulls the blinds aside and sees nothing but a deserted road outside where the limo has been.

He almost thinks he dreamt it, but when he looks at his hand, Aphrodite's mirror is in there.

"Remember. Only once. Choose the moment wisely."

~•~

[1][2][3][4][comp 1]

#teen wolf #steo #steo ficlet #steo au #teen wolf au #teen wolf crossover #camp half blood #teen wolf characters #as demigods #demigod au #tw demigod au ficlet #teen wolf demigod au series #word count: 1935 #fics tag #i just remembered this scene #in pjo 3 #the titan's curse #and i had to make a steo version lol #demigodseries

[nimsajlove]

Brothers (III)

Du suchst diese Geschichte auf deutsch? Dann schau mal hier.

Brothers-AU  AO3

Part II , Part IV

*~*

Ahsoka grumbled, tried to wake up and looked around the quarters. She had willingly given her little quarters to Rex, the clone had looked so tired and the constant chattering of Hardcase and Hevy didn't made it any better. Since the death of Echo, he had left his quarters and gone to sleep with his brothers. He had only one desk left and she wouldn't let him sleep at it! Now she was lying in the upper bunk, which the captain usually occupied, and looked around. Below her she could hear Jesse snoring softly, Hardcase and Kix were in the beds at her foot. Opposite were the bunks for Fives, Echo, Cutup and Hevy. A heavy blow went through her, Echo's bed would stay cold. But she had mourned, she had shed tears and sat with Fives for many hours and let him rest his head on her shoulder. Now she saw the remaining four men of the domino unit lying on a bed, all entwined and snoring softly.

She was glad, without the rest of his family it might have hurt Fives even worse to lose his closest brother. As it was, the chaos troop, as they now almost affectionately called them, had survived quite well and meanwhile continued to return to a kind of normal life.

She hopped quietly out of the bunk and slipped back into her clothes, she couldn't miss her shuttle. She hurried across the cruiser, trying to shove a bite of early breakfast into herself and at the same time to be calm inside. After half an hour, not only was her master waiting for her at the ship, Rex was there too. And next to him Hardcase, Jesse and Kix. How they were always on their feet so quickly was a mystery to her. "You can do this, I know it.", her master smiled and she grinned teasingly. "So no 'good luck'?", she asked and Skywalker grinned back. "No, you don't need that." With that he took a few steps back and Ahsoka smiled broadly at him again, before turning to the clones. "Commander.", said Rex and Ahsoka returned his gentle smile. Then a feeling of concern arose in her, like a presage. "I heard you all are leaving for Umbara today?", she asked softly and the men nodded. She looked at each one. "Be careful and watch out for the Dominos, will you?", she asked softly and something made her heart contract. "As always, vod'ika.", Hardcase grinned and she striked hands with him, his restless energy transferred to her and put a grin on her face. Jesse and Kix leaned against each other and nodded to her and she turned back to Rex. "Fives will be angry because you didn't wake him.", grinned the captain and she smirked, not only would Fives be full with rage, the others would also have wanted to wish her good luck... "Good luck, vod.", smiled Rex and Ahsoka knew attachments were forbidden. But she felt so connected with the clones, that had simply adopted her into the family. Just like she had adopted the chaos troop.

*~*

She knew it before she got on the cruiser. Something was different, very different. She had not yet been able to read any reports about Umbara, the successfull exam had required a few rituals and then Master Plo and the wolf pack had invited her to a flight over the city. To celebrate the day, so to speak. But now, her heart was pounding hard against her ribs and she gasped, something was terribly wrong! The shuttle landed and immediately she jumped out, the hatch not yet fully open. She looked around and the hangar was empty except for the clones on duty. Unusual for their troop, usually there were always clones somewhere, who just watched to pass the time. Her master was not there, but she could feel Master Kenobi and went to see him. She found him in one of the quarters, Cody was with him. They seemed to be having a deep conversation when she knocked and stepped through the already open door. Kenobi looked up and a tired smile appeared on his face. “Ahsoka, how nice to see you. I heard you passed?”, he asked and she nodded before taking a seat next to him and Cody at his signal. "What happened?", she asked immediately and shivered, pulling up her shoulders, all this gave her goose bumps and she could see how Cody's fingers tightened around the helmet on his knees. Kenobi smiled encouragingly at his commander, then turned to the padawan. “It's good that you're back. Anakin will probably stay away for a while and I hardly think, that my presence means the same to the men as yours." She was not deterred. "What happened?", she asked again.

 When she left the quarters with Cody, her head spun and the world turned slightly. The commander grabbed her shoulder carefully and held her upright. "Are you okay?", he asked and she nodded, pressing her fingers against her temples. "Krell is not that innocent.", she stated. The Jedi hadn't mentioned anything unusual, but it was obvious. She didn't knew of any clone who would aim his weapon at a Jedi. Especially not the young Dogma, she had seen only a few times before. "No, Rex told me.", Cody replied and she could hear the bitterness faintly. He hadn't been with the 501st or the battalion wich fought them, but they'd already got an overview of the fallen. Many had been very close to him, and in the end each of them had been his brother. She knew clones from both troops, her heart clenched as it had before they left. "Hardcase...", she mumbled, choked and slumped to the floor, her face buried in her hands. "I knew it!", she cursed with tears on her face and Cody stood there for a moment, before he shook her shoulders lightly. "We have to pull ourselves together, vod!" The word tore her from her convulsive crying fit and she immediately swallowed more tears. "Are you serious?", she asked softly, slightly startled, and she knew that Cody's eyes had always been warm. But what flowed through her now was the feeling of home. "Stand up."

 She crept quietly to the quarters and the door slid open silently. The sight was devastating. The domino unit had pulled into a corner and was together as she had left them. However, this time none of them slept. Five's eyes were still filled with the horror of Umbara, when he looked up at her. Kix and Jesse slept on another bed, looking pale and exhausted. The shadows under the eyes of all the clones scared Ahsoka and she put her bag down. The dull sound caught the attention of her younger brothers and she was about to say something, when Hevy stood up and threw his arms around her. Stunned, she grabbed the clone and hugged him tightly, he was shaking terribly and his fingers clawed into the fabric of her cloak. Carefully, she began to pat his back and as if she had flipped a small switch, the clone began to whimper helplessly. The sound didn't really matched Hevy in her head and she carefully navigated him back to the bed and pulled him between her and his brothers. Only now did she realize, that all the clones were shaking somehow. Hevy and Cutup literally shivered violently and Droidbait kept rubbing his arms too. When she looked closely at Fives, she could see his fingers trembling. Whatever had happened, he seemed in the best shape to tell her his side of the story.

She kept herself together for a long time and waited between the clones until everyone except Fives slept. Then she got up and walked over to Jesse and Kix, both winced when the commander's shadow fell on them and were immediately wide awake. "Don't!", Kix begged and flinched, Jesse already bared his teeth. Then they recognized the Togruta and both slumped. It hurted so much, to see them like that and she crawled over to them. She was welcomed into their midst and sat helpless for a moment. She hadn't had to comfort any of her brothers for a long time, she only hesitantly began to run her fingers over Jesse's head and use her fingertips to draw small patterns on Kix's neck. It calmed her when they both relaxed a bit and Jesse even fell back into a restless slumber. Kix stayed awake and clutched his brother's arm. Their heads rested on Ahsoka's upper stomach and she almost missed it, when Kix spoke softly. "I'm sorry...", he managed to whisper and suddenly Fives was with them and patted his brother's shoulder. "It's okay, not your fault.", he muttered and the calming phrases only faded away, when Kix had fallen asleep again. "How long hasn't he slept?", she asked softly, trying to remember how long they had been of Umbara now. “If you don't count the short minutes he was just out? Five days, maybe six.", Fives shrugged his shoulders and when Ahsoka raised her arms, he complied with her request and lifted her out of the bed of the other two clones, so she didn't had to climb over Kix and wake him again.

Together they left the room and Ahsoka looked closely at Fives, he avoided her gaze. For the first time since she knew him, he wasn't looking directly at her. "What happened? I already have information from Master Kenobi, but what happened really?”, she asked and Fives began to rattle the events of Umbara down, almost whispering. An hour passed, then two, then three. They sat in front of the quarters, leaned against the wall and the words just came out of Fives. At some point, he became quiet and when he looked at his commander again, he didn't knew how to react. They had all seen Ahsoka in different moments, and they knew her grief. Anger too. She had shown so much of it, after Echo was gone. But he had never seen such deep guilt in her eyes. Her face was pale and she was breathing heavily. "I suspected it.", she mumbled full of remorse and anger, she was so angry with herself. She should have stayed when the uneasy feeling arose! She could have replaced her master on the battlefield, or at least stopped Krell! But she hadn't stayed, because the Jedi had asked for her... Never again, she vowed to herself. She would never again leave her men alone, just because the Order called for her! She couldn't allow the men to be forced into such plans. Or that they suddenly had to point the guns at eachother!

Fives saw the fire suddenly flare up in her eyes and she got back on her feet, when would this girl break under all that pressure? How great could her will be? "Where's Rex?", she asked and Fives got up too. “In his quarters, working. Hardly eats, does not sleep. Threw out Kix and all the other medics, won't let any of us in. Cody tried it too, I tried it.", Fives muttered, since the death of Echo he and Rex had been much closer than before. Because he suspected, that Rex was just as clinging to every little bit of his family as he was. "He even locked out the general.", he stated soberly and Ahsoka paused, that wasn not like the Rex she knew. "Then let's go."

 They met Cody in front of the clone's quarters, he was pounding on the door. He yelled at his brother in mando’a, Ahsoka heard a few heated insults and hurried over. Soothingly, she put a hand on the clone's arm and he paused. "You are here.", he sighed in relief and part of the tension left his body, seemed to pass into the young Jedi and she straightened her back. “I'm going in there, Cody. Whether he wants it or not!", she promised and watched as Fives and Cody nodded worriedly. She felt the looks of the two men, as she knocked carefully on the door. “Rex, it's me. Open the door, please.", she said just loud enough and waited a few seconds, nothing moved and it reminded her bitterly of the day, when she locked herself inside her quarters. "I'm coming in now.", she just said and checked the keypad, locked. Without further ado, she began short-circuiting it; she would be able to repair the damage later. She had learned a lot from Master Skywalker, after a few seconds the door slid open about halfway and the light from the hallway fell into the dim quarters. Fives and Cody hesitated, seeing their brother sitting at the desk. It was as if he hadn't heard her at all. Determined, Ahsoka slipped through the crack, congratulated himself in silence on still being so small and thin, and calmly approached the clone.

"Rex?", she asked quietly, no response. On the table was a half-drunk cup of coffee, cold. "Rex.", she said a little louder and put a hand on his shoulder. She had expected a lot, just not his new reflexes. In a flash he had looked up, freed himself and her hands firmly in his grip. She saw Fives and Cody squeezing through the door and shook her head, not wanting to hurt Rex any more. "Rex, let go.", she requested gently, the captain shook his head, as if he was trying to dispel a nightmare. “Rexter, it's me. Ahsoka.", she tried, now hopefully and the grip loosened. She carefully grabbed his face and stopped his headshaking, he looked terrible. Even in this little light, his skin seemed pale and his face strangely sunken. He was shaking, not as badly as Heavy, but more than Fives. She looked at the other clones. "Help me.", she mumbled, Rex seemed to have lost all tension in his body and the whole armor was surprisingly heavy. She was sure, she hadn't minded it so much otherdays. Carefully, Cody and Fives grabbed their brother and, with Ahsoka's help, dragged him onto the long unused bed. She still held his face gently as he sat. “Cody, Fives. Can you find something to eat? I am sure there is a tart from Master Plo in my bag somewhere. And water, I think he had enough coffee.” She and Cody looked disapprovingly at the desk and while Fives was on his way to fetch the tart, the commander picked up the cup and a few other things. He let out a few curses and Ahsoka smiled, although that was very inappropriate given the situation. "You don't happen to have a medic left who wasn't involved in all of… this?", she asked and Cody sighed, then nodded. "Give me a few minutes.", he mumbled exhausted and disappeared too. She watched him go, it was goddamn luck that the Commander hadn't had anything to do with Krell on Umbara! He shot well and she didn't knew, if he could have lived with it. But Rex would have to!

 Ahsoka was very patient. It took a long time before Cody and Fives came back. She patted the captain's cheek again and again and he seemed to reappear a bit, at some point he actually looked at her and she could have cried of joy to see the recognition in his eyes. "Ahsoka, you've come back.", he muttered and she gave him a desperate smile. "But of course, why shouldn't I come back?", she whispered and her brother broke in her hands. He didn't cry tears, but the sobs still shook his whole body. He hastily wrapped his arms around the girl and Ahsoka returned the hug, wiggling up to him on the bed. At some point he began to mumble, choked and softly, but there. "Vod’ika, I couldn't ... I should have..." Carefully, she ran her fingers over his head, similar to Jesse's before. "It's okay, it wasn't your fault.", she muttered. Of course, he didn't believe her. He was shaking even more now. "Why are you back again?", he whispered, sounding strangely suspicious. Ahsoka immediately pulled back a little and looked at Rex, he looked so defeated. “I betrayed our brothers, why are you here again? With me…”Ahsoka drew her eyebrows together, her stomach hurt at the sight and she wanted to cry, but didn't. There were more important things to do. "You are my brother.", she simply replied softly and pressed a kiss to his temple. The small spark of seriousness and her big heart had made her an emphatic, young woman.

He asked again and again and at some point Ahsoka couldn't help herself anymore and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. “You are my brother and there is nothing that could get me to ever leave your side or that of our brothers again! You took me in and built me ​​up, now I'll do the same for you! You are my brother and I will not let you go down like this!“, she growled, in Rex's eyes she saw a certain clarity for the first time that evening. He stared into her angry face and suddenly, the tears came. "I love you, vod'ika." he muttered, and she let him bury his face in her shoulder. "Me too, Rexter.", she muttered, rocking them both back and forth until Cody and Fives came back.

*~*

Now it was official, Skywalker was insane. However, there was a Jedi on board, who could easily hold a candle to him. And, without exception, all of the clones jumped away ,as she made her way to the bridge. With eyes sparkling with anger, she went to her Master and Rex, who was standing upright on his own for the first time since she had come back. Of course, he immediately got back to work, as if it would help dispel the horror faster. Skywalker had asked about Rex's health, but accepted the quick and easy answer. As if he didn't knew his captain's self-destructive drive. "You and you!", Ahsoka hissed and pointed to the two men. "How dare you? Rex, get out of here. Now!” Her brother looked at her for a few seconds through his helmet. "That's an order!", she barked again and finally, he obeyed and got out of the way. “Master, have you even looked at the men? No one is able to fight at the moment, most have only slept a few hours in the past few days! It's irresponsible to…” Master Skywalker immediately interrupted her. "There is a war, Ahsoka.", he said quietly, making her even more annoyed. “And these are people, not machines! You can't send them back into battle so soon, after all this, there are hardly any men left anyway! Have you even read a report about Umbara, just a single one? ", she snapped and the clones on deck ducked their heads, never before had anyone heard the commander roar like that. Not to talk about that being that up close. Now, Anakin Skywalker got angry too, they shouted at each other for a few minutes, until Ahsoka suddenly became calm and collected herself. For a moment, her master thought he had won. “As Commander, I refuse to pass the order on to the Captain! These clones won't move out.”, she hissed and disappeared again.

 She looked up at her master, she really did! But she got an uneasy feeling, as she trudged angrily down the hallways. She passed a couple of open quarters and whenever she looked inside she saw men, broken men! How could her Skyguy miss that? She stopped at a door, the clone was sitting alone in a corner pulling his hair. Unlike most clones, they were long enough for that. "Soldier?", she asked quietly and entered the room, the agitated mood hit her and almost made her stumble. And there was only one man in this room!

"Are you okay?", she asked again and crouched down in front of the clone. He looked up and the corner of his mouth twitched. "What do you want from me?", he asked quietly and Ahsoka offered her hand, she didn't wanted the man to be afraid of her. "Ahsoka Tano.", she introduced herself and with a tired handshake he also introduced himself. "Tup.", he mumbled softly and she smiled. "Can I help, Tup?", she asked just as quietly as before and slid into a cross-legged seat in front of his bunk, preparing for a long conversation.

In the end, she had a real hatred for her master. And her anger came at Fives too, a bit milder though than at Skywalker. "Oh you!", she growled and was tempted, to slap his face, before simply wrapping her arms around him. He was confused. "What did I do?", he asked worried and felt her shiver briefly. “Never hide anything from me again! Especially not, if only your big mouth saved you!” Jesse didn’t escape her either, but he caught a hefty push from her at breakfast. She was sorry, he winced violently. But when she began to talk her anger out, his face lit up and Ahsoka decided to stick with the loud scolding. From that day on, she always forgot the formalities when she could no longer hold back her deepest worries.

* ~ *

Of course they all got on good terms again, she loved her master so much and yet, he was sometimes blind to the people in front of him. They had invaded the slave empire and although none of them got away without a trace, they digested it faster than other missions. Then came the day, when Rex tried desperately to keep two mad commanders under control, he only managed to keep Cody in place. Finally, his brother could still be dealt with reasonably and in the end Cody admitted quietly, that his men needed him after all. And that, because of that, he couldn't go on a breakneck quest for revenge, even if every fiber of his loyalty cried out to take the enemy apart like all the droids every day. He was forced to be content with just the idea of ​​tearing the shooter's head off with his bare hands. Ahsoka was not, Rex had tried to appeal to her sanity over his own anger, but was he powerless. She was already hard to hold back and General Skywalker supported the whole thing. It took weeks for them, to completely leave this thing behind. Ahsoka noted one evening, that she felt that her Master would never quite take it. Rex didn't say anything.

* ~ *

"Hey, Rex." Ahsoka muttered and entered the tent. She had refused to leave, before the camp was up and the first wave pushed back. Rex was sitting at his makeshift desk, even here he still had paperwork and she didn't wanted to know, how looked at Codys. "I have to go.", she admitted as the captain looked up at her, guilt welling up inside her. She had promised, not to leave the men alone under any circumstances. Never! And certainly not because of the people, whose call she now obeyed. Because she was a Jedi and those, who raised her and took her in, needed her. She had a good feeling about this battle. But when she thought of the temple, her stomach knotted and it was difficult for her to breathe, something was waiting for her there and it would not be nice.

Rex got up and walked over to her, looked at her, then grabbed her hand. He squeezed it hard enough to show, that they were going to fight, but gently enough to ease her guilt. “Don't worry, we'll be fine. Hevy found the flamethrower.", he joked, but his eyes looked tired at the thought. She giggled and squeezed his hand back. "Then let the stuff wander on my table, I'll deal with it.“

* ~ *

Things never ended up on her desk, even though Hevy nearly burned the camp down. Jesse made no move to help, he laughed his ass off. It was thanks to the quick reflexes of Droidbait, that only one tent entrance was slightly charred. Kix almost had a nervous breakdown and Fives, as always, didn't made it any better.

Rex wished, he could have told her. But he sat here, like all the other clones, staring at the transmission. Fives and Wolffe, who, to the surprise of many, could handle cables better than many others, had managed to crack one of the cameras and share the signal with them. Many sat in the room, huddled together waiting for the inevitable.

* ~ *

Ahsoka stared at Barriss, who looked away. Everything rushed past her, in something near to a trance, she was escorted back to the temple and she just let everything go on around her. She felt so betrayed, so utterly lonely. Her brothers hadn't taken part in the hunt, but Wolffe had. Of course, he had no choice, but she no longer knew whether he would give her another brotherly tip after the blow she had given him. She stared sideways at Plo Koon, and the stinging in her chest got worse. Next to him was Obi Wan Kenobi, she felt sick. None of the great Jedi Masters had believed her, no one had stood by her side! She looked ahead, her master walked half a step in front of her and kept looking over his shoulder, as if he were looking to see if she was still there. She was so grateful, but she was still hurt. He hadn't tried to save her from the start, only when she tried to save herself. Perhaps his strength was, that he put himself first. Not the Jedi, not Ahsoka, not even Obi Wan. Oh, she didn't doubt that he would have thrown himself between her and a tank anytime, if he had to. Nor did she doubt his affection, which rolled towards her in waves through the Force. But she doubted whether she could rely on him unconditionally. Whether she could still rely on anyone ...

 All of these thoughts got worse and louder when she turned her back on the temple. Had any of the Jedi ever thought anything good of her, ever? Or did she not matter, as it was with a lot of things for the Jedi? She didn't knew, where her feet were taking her, until she stood in front of the barracks and heard the loud celebrations from one of the buildings. What did they have to celebrate on this black day? She would have liked to be there, but she was afraid that Wolffe would point the blaster at her again when she stood in front of him. She took her time, in the Force she slipped along every single one in the room and bathed a little in the laughter and singing, her mind seemed to vibrate with awe as the Mandalorian songs sounded from so many throats at the same time. Then, she was done.

 Rex looked up and paused, before letting his gaze wander. Cody looked around too, he seemed to be looking for something and Cutup was so confused, that he even set the bottle down to look around. Fives put a hand on his shoulder from behind, Wolffe was with him. "Was that her?", he mumbled softly. Rex knew, what he meant, what his little chaos troop and the two commanders had felt. As if someone had sneaked around them, unseen and unheard. He knew this feeling, as if a voice without a sound sneaked into his head and listened to him a little, before it disappeared again. He got up and looked around again. "She has to be outside.", he replied to Fives. "Wait here and keep your eyes open, who knows what she has planned.", he tried to grin, but his feeling told him that none of her pranks would follow.

Carefully he pushed himself out of the crowd and out the door, the cooling evening air hit him and the sun had just disappeared behind the horizon. He looked around searching, and almost missed her receding figure. "Wait!", he called and hurried in her direction, she stopped. But she didn't look up when he caught up to her. "Where are you going? Come with me and join us.", he suggested, the thought that she had tricked certain death was energyzing and he wanted to share this feeling with her. But she shook her head in a small motion, didn't look up. He became more careful. “How about a bit of sleep then? Your bunk is made.", he offered more calmly, but she just shook her head again. This time, it shook her body with it. "I'm sure everyone would love to see you, Commander." As soon as the word had escaped his lips, she looked up. She was crying, it had been a while since he'd seen her shed tears.

He was confused, why was she crying? Every bit of joy in him turned to worry and he reached out to her, without actually touching her. "What happened, vod'ika?" She sniffed and wiped her face. “Go back to your men. The party sounds great.", she said simply and he furrowed his eyebrows. Something went wery wrong here, but what exactly? "Ahsoka, talk to me.", he insisted and she shuddered again. She looked down at the floor again, as if there was an appropriate answer. "I'll go.", she mumbled, barely audible, and for a moment he thought, it might be a mistake. But she said nothing more, looked down and shivered. "The council still excluded you?", he asked, she shook her head. Suddenly the pieces fell into place and despair overcame him. "Stay, please.", he muttered and this time, his hand actually landed on her shoulder. She looked at him, he could see how betrayed she really felt. "If not for the Jedi, then for the boys.", he muttered and could watch her eyes grow cold.

"None of these men owe me their loyalty, who guarantees me that one of them won't hold a grudge against me and make a short end to it?", she growled, her voice strengthened by the anger and panic. She was afraid of going back to normal after all of this. But even more afraid, she was of being alone against the world. "Who can I trust, if I don't trust myself?", she asked softly and the tears ran down again, she was angry about it. All day long she had swallowed this knot in her throat and now, in front of Rex of all places, she lost this fight too. She didn't wanted him to look at her pityingly. She didn't wanted, to show any weakness. But then she saw the captain's gaze harden too. “We trust you, always had! If you really want to be alone, then my brothers will not stop you.” Then he relaxed a bit and for the first time, Ahsoka was afraid of what he might say. "But if you still want us with you, we will find a way." She said nothing, she would not crawl in front of the council again and bow down to the will of others. She was terrified. “Please don't go away. We will find a way to handle things without the Council. Become a general, go your way. We would follow you.“, the clone muttered and his eyes showed his fear of being left alone. She shivered again and then she broke down, after all these years she just broke.

How could she not trust her brothers? With tears on her face and a lump in her throat, her knees gave way and she sagged to the floor. She buried her face in her hands, she already knew what she was going to do. She couldn't do without them, not again. They shouldn't have to doubt her, she always trusted them with everything she had. Hands grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm scared.", she choked out and was ashamed. But Rex didn't blame her, either for her fear of the Council or of losing her family. Leaning his chin on her head, he just rocked her back and forth and let her cry. "I know, vod'ika. I know."

#thats my last try to post this #shitty internet #please be stable enough #brothers-au #ahsoka tano #why did dave kill so many of them? #shit this took a long time to get it right #clone wars #star wars #clones #rex #fives #umbara

[darth-el]

The Rebellion (Chapter 3)

Pairing: Steve x Reader x Billy (Zombie Apocalypse AU) Warnings: Gore, violence, language, but there is fluff!!!!  A/N: This is the final chapter of Senior Year and The Bunker and I’m so sorry that it took so long for me to write. It is a long one with 8.5k words. This also took a different life to what I was expecting which is interesting as well.  I hope you all enjoy and feedback is always welcome.  Also side note, the films and TV show that inspired how this series went (and there are references to them) are: Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, 28 Days Later, A Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Zombieland, and The Walking Dead. I would fully recommend watching all these films if you haven’t already. 

Part 1 Part 2

Masterlist

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Steve stroked your cheek as if to check he wasn't hallucinating.

“We found somewhere safe to stay for a couple of months and then this girl found us and I think she led them to us but I don't know what happened because one minute we were fine and then we had a run in a shop with cult members who I'm guessing were with these guys and then we were raided by them, zombies everywhere and my aim wasn't as good as it should have been,” You were talking really fast Steve's brain couldn't fully comprehend what you were saying. You took a huge breath to regain some of the oxygen you had lost while explaining everything to him.

“Who's 'we'?” He asked raising his eyebrow. You gulped and carried on talking at your quick pace.

“I stayed in Indiana expecting you to be there for weeks, but I ran into Billy Hargrove while I was searching for y-” You were suddenly be cut off by Steve.

“Who?” Steve looked like had been blind sided by this bit of information.

“Billy.” You muttered under your breath remembering how much they actually hated each other in school.

“You spent the couple of months with Billy?” Steve stood up and threw up his arms in frustration, you just looked at him wondering why this was the most important thing to focus on in that moment.

“Steve,” You said as calmly as possible but you didn't know how to finish that sentence.

“Yes?” He scoffed at you. This was far from the reunion you had in mind, but you thought once you saw each other nothing else would matter. You just sighed and shook your head not looking at him and trying to fight back the tears. “You slept with him didn't you?” Steve thought he saw guilt on your face when it was just pure frustration at this whole situation.

“I didn't,” Your voice was cracking. “I did kiss him though.” You confessed now that you were faced with this question. He laughed sarcastically and clapped his hands.

“Oh that's just fucking brilliant.” His tone was equally sarcastically as he started pacing throwing his arms up in the air again.

“I thought you were dead,” You shouted at him. “In that moment we were the only ones alive, you would have done exactly the same.” You screamed, causing the a guard to come in and check what was happening.

“Keep quiet or I'll blow your fucking heads off.” He sneered before slamming and locking the door again. You both looked at each other wide eyed, in that moment Steve knew what happened in between him going missing and now didn't matter because you were right. He was gone, you didn't know if he was dead or alive.

“I wouldn't kiss Billy even if it meant saving humanity.” He tried to joke and sat back down next to you and wrapped an arm around you meaning you could rest your head on him. You let out a gentle laugh.

“It wasn't worth it,” You sighed with a giggle resting your hand his thigh. Steve pulled you in closer and kissed the top of your head softly making you smile. “What happened with you?” You were drawing shapes on his thigh absent mindlessly.

“Where do I start?” He chuckled watching you draw the shapes on his thigh.

“The beginning is always a good place.” You teased adjusting your head so you were a bit more comfortable.

“After we got separated due to the mass of zombies breaking into where we were staying I managed to find a car, I went to find you but you obviously had left so I went searching for you but you were nowhere to be found. I don't know where I was but I was driving along a road and a tree had been chopped down to block the road, which is when I became surrounded by these guys and thrown down here,” Steve explained. “What season is it?” He looked at you trying the gage the amount of time he's been down here for.

“Winter,” It pained you to think he's been down here for months. He exhaled sharply as he knew it was at least three months since he was captured. “What are these people?” You asked quietly not really expecting a proper answer.

“Sadistic,” Steve was trying to mask the fear with humour. You stared up at him puzzled, you knew they must have been but it wasn't answer. “They think they're the answer to the new world. Join them or rot in here.” He shrugged like he didn't believe what he was saying.

“At least we can rot together.” You sat up and kneeled next to him playing with his hair as it soothed both of you. He laid down and rested his head on your lap making you get into a more comfortable position.

The fluorescent light was continually flickering and buzzing making it difficult to sleep. You have no idea how many days it's been since you last slept. Steve was able to sleep as he had grown used to this. He was laying next to you with an arm stretched out lazily over your stomach, you noticed he was drooling in his sleep making you laugh because the amount of times he would make fun of you for drooling over him in your sleep was constant. Sleep seemed to be the only time he was content down here, he moved slightly and wrapped his arm around you tighter. You enjoyed watching him sleep, but it also motivated you to find a way out of here. You could hear indistinct shouting in the rooms surrounding you and crying, you wondered if this was always the case or not because this was the first time you picked up on it. You could hear the door unlock after a crash was heard and a different guard came in to find the source of the noise and upon seeing you laying on the floor and Steve asleep he slammed the door shut making Steve jump awake. Your eyes narrowed at the door in thought.

“What you thinking?” Steve sounded sleepy and was resting on his elbows looking as sleepy as he sounded.

“How often do they come in here?” You asked still looking at the door and hearing the noises outside.

“Only to give us food,” Steve put his hands over his eyes and laid back down next you.

“Any other times?” You pressed him to think some more as this could be your chance to escape.  

“Only when we're an inconvenience.” Steve said not really thinking much more of it making you roll your eyes at how unhelpful he was being, you laid next to him and wrapped yourself around him with your head on his chest. You watched the light flickering and saw that it had a plastic casing around it.

“Do you think you can remove that?” You asked Steve who had fallen back asleep, you nudged him to wake him up and he just grumbled and held you tighter. “Steve?” You voice was firmer.

“What?” Steve mumbled annoyed that you woke him.

“Do you think you can remove that?” You repeated yourself and sat up to make sure that Steve hadn't fallen back asleep.

“Maybe,” Steve was slightly confused by this question, he stood up and tried to reach it but it was just out of his reach. “Get on my shoulders.” He instructed as he pulled you up. You climbed onto his shoulders and managed to pull the casing off easily. You stood on one end of it and snapped it in half so it was jagged, you looked pleased with yourself as you examined it hoping it would work. Steve wondered what you were doing.

“Tell me if this hurts.” You smiled at him, and he looked a bit bewildered by this statement, you stabbed at him in the arm with a small amount of force so he would feel it but not cause him damage. He jumped back as your new weapon made contact with him.

“Why?” Steve asked rubbing where you stabbed him.

“Just checking if it hurts.” You beamed a smile at him, making him wonder if you were enjoying hurting him.

“Why though?” Steve asked again taking the weapon from you apprehensively scared you were going to hurt him again.

“Because if that hurt, imagine it in neck.” You exhaled letting out a small laugh feeling overwhelmed. Steve looked terrified of you, it had been a long time since he saw you and he realised how much you had changed.

“Wouldn't the actual light work better?” Steve looked up at the flickering glass tube of light which was stained yellow with age.

“It would, but I don't want to risk it,” You tilted your head to the side impressed with him.

“What do you mean?” His face was now one of confusion as he passed you the broken case.

“That is going to be hot to touch and unless we can turn that off we might get electrocuted,” You explained unsure if the electrocution thing was true or a myth. Steve slumped his shoulders in defeat before picking up the other half of the snapped casing and swinging it like a baseball bat a few times while you crouched down next down to the door, Steve quickly followed suit as he could see in your eyes you plotting something. “When whoever it is comes in, hit them in the face as hard you can with that and I'll do what I can as well.” You instructed, he saluted to tell you that he understood which was immediately followed by you banging on the door and wailing to get a guard in the room. You heard the door unlock and Steve stood up pressing himself against the wall, the door swung open with force you had to stop it from hitting you in the face making the door shut, you heard the sound of plastic hitting flesh and you jumped into action and stabbed the man in the neck. You were surprised the plan actually worked as the man laid on the floor choking on his blood which was spilling out on the floor.

“Wow!” You exclaimed as you picked up his weapons and stabbing him in the head with the knife he was carrying, you went to put that in your holster only to remember it had been taken from you and slid it over to Steve.

“Wow?” He questioned your response as you checked if the gun was loaded, which it was.

“I was not expecting that to work,” You had amusement in your voice mixed with relief, Steve just blinked at you in shock that you took a gamble on both your lives like that. “It paid off okay.” You blurted out making him look away as you examined the wrist of the guy who had the same branding as the guys in the shop. Steve went for the keys and you made your way out the door quickly and quietly while he locked the door behind you making you gesture vaguely at him.

“What?” He looked at bit blank at you making you shake your head.

“He's dead Steve,” You chuckled to yourself shaking your head. “He isn't going anywhere.” You heard Steve mumble in response but you weren't quite sure what it was, you grabbed his hand and pulled him along the corridor. The bunker was huge was obviously made by someone everyone probably thought was paranoid at the time but was in fact just thinking ahead. You heard voices approach and you shoved Steve into what you hoped to be a cupboard as the door was unlocked, you falling in behind him. He could see your eyes grow wide as you stared behind him and he turned around and to discover a lab with zombie parts strewn all over the place and you jumped when one charged at you only to be pulled back by the chain around it's neck.

“I knew this wasn't a bad idea,” You muttered to yourself as you admired your surroundings.

“What do you think they do in here?” Steve asked as he picked up an arm that was laying on the table and started playing with it.

“I don't know what kind, but it's definitely research.” You sighed as you took the arm from Steve and hit him with it playfully before putting it back down.

“What was that for?” He pouted, but a smile cracked through his pout making him laugh.

“We're not here to play with severed limbs,” Your voice was stern but you could feel a laugh escape. “That is a sentence I never thought I'd say.” You whispered laughing which was cut off by voices approaching the door, you pulled Steve to the side and crouched back down. A guy who looked like your typical mad professor walked in with a guard, as they walked through the door you slid out without them noticing.

Navigating the tunnels was hard, but it became clear that this wasn't just some millionaire who was paranoid about the end of the world; it most likely had something to do with the government initially. To Steve you were running around like a headless chicken when in reality you were trying to find Billy and escape with him too. There was a guard at the end of the corridor you were sneaking down, you instructed Steve to stay where he was but he was waving his arms about as he silently protested and pushed you back as he crept up behind the guard; you weren't sure what he did but you heard a gurgle and saw the body hit the floor as Steve stabbed it in the head. You walked down the corridor to meet Steve who was collecting ammunition for your gun and giving a knife, which turned out to be your old knife. You heard sobbing from a room, instinctively you grabbed the keys from the guard and opened the door to find a woman crying over the body of another woman, she didn't even realise that you were standing in the doorway. Neither you or Steve knew what to do, all you knew was that you had a dead body behind you and one in front of you.

The woman after a couple of minutes felt eyes watching her and turned around her eyes were filled blood, you noticed she had a bite on her shoulder and the body in her room was in fact the body of a zombie, whether or not she was a relative was unknown. You quickly threw the body of the guard with the help of Steve into the room as she lurched towards you, the body knocked her off her path and distracted her as she started to bite into the flesh. Steve closed the door and locked it hoping she wouldn't escape sometime in the future. “That was lucky,” You tried to joke as you made your around the corner. You could hear more screaming and growling coming from each room and it unsettled you.

“What do you think they're doing?” You could feel Steve hover you as you checked if the next corner was clear.

“No idea, but I don't like it,” You didn't take your eyes off the door at the end of the room, no one was guarding it but you felt drawn to it. “Come on.” You took his hand and led him down the passageway and opened the door, you ground to a halt as you gained the attention of men playing poker. Survival instinct kicked in before they could grab their weapons you shot through them all knowing your cover had been blown, Steve stabbing them in the head. You grabbed what you could in terms of ammunition and weapons. Alarms started blaring and you knew you were in trouble now, Steve grabbed your hand and ran in no particular direction, someone shouting orders echoed through the corridors amongst the noise of the alarms. Steve tried to open a door but it was locked, which meant someone was most likely imprisoned in there. You didn't have time for Steve to find the key so you shot at the lock and was ready to kill a zombie if needed, the door opened and inside were two men who looked just as bad as Steve and they both looked at you confused. “Who are you?” One of them asked, he had a long beard and a lot of hair, but had kind eyes behind all his hair.

“Freedom.” Steve took two guns from you which had on your shoulders and tossed them to the guys who scrambled for them and ran out the room.

“Really Steve, freedom?” If it wasn't an emergency you would have teased more about his cheesy line.

“I thought it sounded cool.” He followed you running through the corridors in the opposite direction of the other prisoners, a guy stepped out a room wondering why the alarms were sounding until he saw you, as he went to pick up his gun to fire you had already shot at him. You shot him once more to make sure he was dead and picked up his gun. Steve pulled you back and dragged you into the room that the guard came out of which was a large weapons cupboard.

“Fuck me sideways and call me Rambo,” You weren't really thinking what you were saying as you enamoured with your choice of weapons.

“And you said 'freedom' wasn't cool.” Steve teased as he picked up what happened to be your crossbow.

“We need to be 'freedom' for other people.” You took the crossbow from Steve who was difficulty working it, the moment you loaded it the door opened and a man was standing looking confused before it dawned on him that you were the ones that escaped. You fired the crossbow without thinking and when his body fell to the floor you pulled the bolt out of his eye making Steve cringe and reloaded it and handed it back to Steve.

“You scare me, you know that?” Steve examined the crossbow trying to figure out how you were so at ease with it because it was so heavy and stiff.

“That's why you fell in love with me though.” You blew a kiss and picked up a handgun which had a silencer on it and a holster for it. You were sure they were yours originally, Steve quietly agreed at your statement as he picked up another gun and slung it around his shoulder. Both of you looked like you were you were made of guns where you picked up so many.  

The 'rebellion' as you called it went as smoothly as it could despite being chased from all angles, you were breaking people free and the people who captured you were thinning out. You ran past a room and heard banging on the door, you shot at it and the door swung open and Billy was in there with a zombie crawling across the floor where Billy was trying to fight it, you shot at the zombie and it instantly stopped moving as you gave him a gun. “What the fuck is going on?” He was confused by the pandemonium around him.

“Freedom.” Steve dragged you away and to find a way out, Billy following closely behind which you knew Steve wasn't to happy about. In a small dark tunnel you found a ladder and assumed that this was your way out. Light broke through the heavy metal trapdoor as you opened it, a large smile spread across your face because you were free, you helped Steve and Billy out but you could feel the tension between them which you chose to ignore for the moment and continued running trying to find a car; neither of them noticing you were gone until you called their names making them run over to you.

“Your petty high school rivalry means shit in this world,” You smacked them both around the head. “If you want to survive, move!” You smacked them again hoping it would get through to them and they both looked sheepishly down at the floor before following you.

The entirety of the time while trying to find your way out of the forest and onto a road the boys were bickering which made you question whether or not you should just leave them to it and go back to surviving on your own as it was so much easier then. You swung round on your heels holding your gun making them stop in their tracks and saw a zombie coming up behind them.

“Duck,” They both did as you said as you fired the gun hitting the zombie right in the head and letting the body crumple to the floor both of them watching the body when they got what had happened. “You two need work this shit out right now because I am not going to get killed because of your idiocy,” You stormed over to them and threw their weapons behind you so they were out of reach. “Talk,” You threw your hands up in the air, picked up a large stick and planted yourself on the floor as you the carved the stick into a weapon while both the boys looked at you in bewilderment. They both stood there awkwardly, Billy was rubbing the back of his neck as he did when he felt awkward and Steve was kicking a rock avoiding eye contact. “You both consider yourself fucking alpha males and obviously wanted to be the dominant one,” You rolled your eyes at how useless they were “Especially you,” You pointed at Billy. “I know you're pissed at Billy because of the kiss,” You shot a look at Steve who looked like he wanted the world to swallow him up. “So fucking talk about that.” You continued carving you stick to make a weapon waiting for them to talk thinking about useless men were when it came to talking about their feelings, especially to one another.

“That ain't happening,” Billy finally broke the silence making you throw a stick at him which made Steve laugh, you threw your head back in frustration and let out a huge groan.

“I don't want you near her,” Steve glared at Billy, face was filled with anger but his eyes showed that he was hurting more than anything.

“That's not your decision to make,” Billy retorted with his cocky smile making you roll your eyes so much you thought they were going to fall out. “ And I think she made her decision when she kissed me.” Billy knew this was a low blow, hearing him say that felt like a gut punch. Steve glanced at you trying to hide the hurt and walked off. You ran off after him. “Tell me why I shouldn't end your life right now,” You spat at Billy as you walked past who looked way to pleased with himself. Steve was leaning against a tree with his head resting against it as he looked up at the sky watching the birds fly over. You leaned on the tree next to him subconsciously mirroring what he was doing.

“You kissed him?” Steve huffed looking at you.

“I instigated it,” You finally admitted “Missing you and alcohol do not go well,” You sighed with a small laugh, Steve furrowed his brows at you and exhaled as if he was trying to calm himself down.

“I don't want the same conversation again,” Steve pushed himself off the tree and moved so he was facing you. “It just hurt hearing it from him.” He stroked your cheek gently, his eyes were soft but looked tearful. You melted at his touch.

“I love you Steve,” You wrapped your hands his neck and kissed him gently on the nose making him smile.

“I love you too.” It didn't feel like you were in a forest god knows where surrounded by flesh eating ghouls that could attack at any second.

“Come on,” You took Steve's hand and led him back to where Billy was sitting waiting for you which shocked you because you thought he would have taken the opportunity to run away. “This is what's happening,” You caught Billy's attention who was admiring your handiwork on the weapon. “You two are doing what exactly what I say,” Steve and Billy both looked at each other holding their breath because they knew the next words that were coming out your mouth would not be good. “If either of you put us in danger with your incessant arguing I will leave you to get eaten,” Your eyes darted between the both of them. “Do you understand?” They both nodded in agreement knowing you were going to be true to your word. You picked up the weapons and passed them their owners and made your way through the forest.

“Was she always this scary?” Billy tried to make conversation with Steve as he was interested in if this was a drastic change in character.

“Not really,” Steve side eyed Billy not wanting to talk to him.

“Oh.” Billy knew that was the end of the conversation as he trudged along following you.

“She's a completely different person now,” Steve confessed, he knew you were in there somewhere but he almost didn't recognise you. Billy knew this you better than he did.

“She threatened me with a knife two seconds after saving my life,” Billy admitted looking embarrassed. “She also looked like she enjoyed it.” Which made Steve laugh.

“She knows how to survive.” Steve watched you as you gracefully walked through the forest, your long hair that reached down to your waist was now nothing but a memory. Your large wardrobe of pastel dresses were replaced by tight leather trousers, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket. Your once soft features were now hardened.

You all found a safe place to stay for the night, but it was only for the night. Billy was asleep on the bed and you were on guard. You were expecting Steve to be asleep, but he proved you wrong when he sat down next to you on the balcony which had your legs hanging over. When you found the place you devised an escape route which involved you jumping off the balcony onto a trampoline and hopefully over a fence. Usually moonlight would light up the area, but it was cloudy and it was a new moon that night. You rested your head Steve's shoulder, the night was still and it was getting warmer meaning spring was close.

“I'm sorry,” You mumbled under your breath taking Steve's hand in yours while you watched over the ghost town.

“For what?” He was baffled and couldn't understand why you were apologising, he wrapped his arm around you.

“Just for everything.” You moved closer to him so your legs were now touching, you were feeling a bit melancholy and you weren't sure if Steve felt it too.

“I'm sorry too,” You could hear in Steve's voice that he meant it and he was feeling the same as you.

“Get some sleep, I can guard.” He gestured to the room behind you, before standing up you kneeled behind him and wrapped your arms around him.

“Good night.” Your face was buried into his neck, this to Steve was the old you. He watched you as you walked back indoors and made yourself comfortable on the makeshift bed on the floor as you cursed at the sleeping Billy who was taking up the entire bed.

Billy went to find a working car the next day while you Steve packed everything up and got ready for a raid. You wanted to see if the cabin you made your home for a couple of months was still empty as it was truly safe, until humans turned up but you doubted you'd be able to find it now.

“Humans are the worst,” You thought aloud, Steve didn't know exactly where this came from but agreed as he considered everything he had been through in the past year and a bit. You could hear a scraping at the door which meant that a zombie had decided to try either making itself at home or making you lunch. Steve looked slightly worried as you walked over the door and opened it making the zombie fall in, which was immediately greeted by a knife into the head. You started hacking the head off with your knife without fully thinking.

“What are you doing?” Steve moved away from you slightly as he was worried about some of the mess you were causing would get on him.

“It's a long story,” You didn't look up at him as you pulled the head off with difficulty, you proudly presented it to Steve who turned green. “They're attracted to the smell of blood,” You started to explain. “I use the heads in hopes that it'll cover up the smell of us,” Steve stood there trying to figure out the logic which didn't take long as he clapped his hands the moment he understood. You heard a car rock up and Billy climbed out draping his arms over the roof with a pair of sunglasses on which he must have stolen. You picked up your things and the head and threw them in the car and the head in trunk. “I'm driving.” You held out your hand expecting car keys to be dropped in them.

“No!” Billy's face contorted from arrogance into one of horror within seconds as he had flashbacks to your chaotic driving.

“Don't ever let her behind the wheel.” Steve teased as you poked your tongue out at him.

“I learnt that the hard way.” Billy picked you up and put you down so you were now no longer near the driver's door which made Steve uneasy. You kicked Billy in the shins for manhandling you like that, Steve climbed into the back seat of the car and you climbed in next to him. You could see Steve was getting jealous again.

“Steve,” He hums in response turning his head at you, he could see that you could still read him like an open book. “I love you.” You put your hand on his thigh and squeezed it gently to reassure him. Billy was watching you both in the mirror instead of keeping an eye on the road which is when you hit a zombie making you jolt forwards in your seat, your instinct was to put your arm in front of Steve's chest to stop him from hurtling forwards even more. Billy had lost control of the car, he was really thankful in that moment that you warned him about the seatbelts because he would have been a puree in the street otherwise. He managed to regain control after a few agonising seconds, there was a collective sigh of relief as you carried on like normal except the windshield was painted red with chunks attached the wipers which struggled to clear away the mess.

“You okay?” Billy's voice was a bit shaky and you nodded while staring at Steve.

“We're good.” Steve answered looking down at your arm which was still resting on his chest making him happy because even before everything you always put him first and tried your best to protect him.

“Where to?” Billy looked at you in the mirror, the windshield was still smeared red but the outside was more visible now.

“No idea,” You leaned forward in your seat and rested your arms on the backs of the two seats in front of you. You felt Steve's fingers trace along the small of your back which felt electric. “Do you know where we are?”

“We're still in Ohio,” Billy shrugged turning his attention to the road and leaned back into your seat, you nodded in thought.

“How did I end up in Ohio?” Steve tilted his head in confusion looking out the window at the fields you were driving through.

“I want to get as far away as possible from here,” You ignored Steve's comment as you put your head in your hands and racked your brain to think where you could go.

“As long as it's warm I don't care.” Billy broke your train of thought and you looked at him blankly.

“Because that's the real priority here.” It felt like Steve read your mind and Billy rolled his eyes as he continued to drive down the road.

“Canada?” You interjected before an argument could start between the two boys.

“That's a no,” Billy shook his head.

“It's perfect though, it's less populated meaning there's less chance of getting eaten,” You explained rolling your eyes and throwing your arms up in the air.

“She's got a point.” Steve chuckled knowing that would irk Billy.

“What about Mexico then?” Billy suggested not taking his eyes off the road, but gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“If we can survive that then that'll be great,” You couldn't believe what you were hearing. “But I know we're not. Canada is our best bet.” You said bluntly as your stomach made an unearthly noise meaning you needed food.

“You hungry?” Steve was trying not to laugh at this noise as you nodded, stomaching still gurgling. It didn't take long to find another ghost town, you handed Steve your handmade weapon for him to use as Billy sharpened his knife.

“I'm going to stay here,” You checked if your gun was loaded and both the boys were not happy to hear this. “You need to be quiet for this and I'll draw too much attention.” You put your gun in your holster smiling at them. They nodded and made their way into the shop. Billy followed exactly what you did on previous raids which made Steve wonder what he was doing until a zombie made itself known. Billy crept in and you heard a body fall to the floor, you hoped it wasn't Billy. You climbed on to the roof of the car and sat on it keeping watch, your ears had been very attuned to the smallest of noises. You heard a small clattering inside the shop which was most likely one of the guys and could hear low growls over the ultimately silent landscape. The growls were closer as you thought as two zombies staggered around the corner looking as ungraceful as they came, you waited for them to come closer as you decided not to waste bullets on them. They caught you sitting on the roof of your car and staggered over to you, you jumped off the car and got yourself ready. It took longer for them to come over to you than you anticipated making you impatient. You let out a soft groan and walked over to them stabbing them both in the head with ease. You hacked their heads off and played with them as you went back to the car both boys came out the shop with a number of supplies and covered in blood looking like they saw a ghost.

“You guys okay?” You were slightly concerned by their appearances as you threw the heads in the trunk of the car.

“Y-yea...We're fine.” Steve was stumbling over his words, you knew something happened in there but he would tell you when he was ready. Billy didn't say anything, he just climbed in the car and started it while waiting for you to get in.

“If either one of you got bitten you need to tell me now.” Your eyes darted between them hoping they would give away something.

“No one got bit.” Billy's voice was low, it almost sounded like he was holding back tears or anger. You could see in Steve's face he was the same, you sunk down in the seat opening a pack of potato chips the boys stole. The crunching and the sound of the engine were the only things filling the silence.

“How did you cope with your brother?” Steve said softly, tears started to fill his eyes, your stomach sank hearing this.

“I had to accept it happened very quickly,” You screwed up the now empty bag and threw it behind you. “Life goes on and we have to survive,” You pursed your lips and you could see that was not the answer Steve wanted to hear, but Billy knew this was lie. You had become numb and repressed it, you could see Billy looking at you as if to say “tell Steve the truth”.

“Have you accepted it though?” Billy shook his head knowing you weren't going to tell Steve unless he got it out of you himself, you looked at him disbelief as did Steve. You started falling over your words unable to form a coherent sentence or thought.

“I don't think I have,” You let out a huge breath to calm your thoughts and the words fell out of mouth as naturally as breathing. You felt a huge weight lifted off your shoulders, you felt Steve's hand caress yours making you turn to him. Tears were rolling down his cheek which you gently wiped away with your thumb as you rested your free hand on his cheek. “It does get easier though.” You whispered reassuringly, he wasn't wholly convinced but he could see the sincerity in your face.

Billy stopped off every now and again on your journey to nowhere so supplies could be picked up or scouting potential places to sleep for the night, you all felt there nothing suitable and carried on. At some point you had all entered Michigan, you wondered if Billy did think going to Canada was good idea and didn't want to admit it because he protested far too much initially or if this was accidental. You entered a town which looked like it had military involvement but it was now just a ghost town like every other place you went through, you laughed at the thought that if this was an old wild west movie there'd be tumble weed rolling across the roads. Steve was asleep resting on your shoulder, you moved gently so he could sleep on your lap as it was probably a lot more comfortable for him and you could play with his hair. “He saved my life.” Billy murmured not entirely wanting you to hear what he had just said because it would be admitting defeat in his eyes. You hummed in response as you didn't hear him as you were too focused on Steve, making Billy repeat himself which went against his every instinct.

“What happened?” You asked quietly running your fingers through Steve's hair which made him mumble something in his sleep which was complete nonsense.

“There was zombie in the shop,” Billy clutched onto the steering wheel tightly making his knuckles go white at the thought of what happened. He felt like he didn't have the strength to carry on, but knew he had to find it somewhere. “It came up behind me and knocked me to ground and I wasn't in a position to get it off me,” He exhaled as he said this not taking his eyes off the road. “It was incredibly close to biting me. He stabbed it in the head and saved me.” You knew there was more to the story than what Billy was letting on.

“What does that have to do with my brother though?” You were puzzled, you were pleased that both were safe but it didn't explain the pure horror on their face when they left the store. Billy shook his head and bit down hard on his bottom lip. “Was it someone you knew?” You knew that would be a long shot but it was worth asking anyway if it meant a little bit of clarification. He just shook his head and sighed as he pulled over the car so he could regain his composure.

“Where are we?” Steve woke up as the car came to a halt and sounded groggy.

“We've potentially found somewhere to stay.” Billy shrugged getting out the car as if the conversation beforehand hadn't happened.

“This doesn't look s-” You were cut off by the door slamming shut, you watched as the zombies stumbled around the building. Billy grabbed your homemade weapon from the trunk of the car and walked over to the zombies, you weren't sure how many there were but it was in double figures meaning if he made one wrong step he would end up dead. You let your head drop forwards in annoyance before getting out the car yourself to help Billy, you ran up and stabbed the closest one in the head and made your way through them. You could see Billy was releasing his rage out on them and it was dangerous because you knew he wasn't thinking straight and it left a lot of room for error. After a few minutes he managed to kill everything that was trying to attack him, his breathing was heavy and covered in blood as he examined the damage he had done. Steve raced up behind you to check if you were okay, also covered in blood.

“It's safe now.” Billy wiped the hair out of his eyes with his bloody hands. You walked up to the building and saw that the building was padlocked shut, inside you could hear loud moans and banging on the wood covered windows.

“That would be a no.” You skipped down the steps and stood next to Steve who draped his arm around your shoulder.

“Carry on?” Steve looked at the mayhem you were going to leave behind as you made your way to the car, you looked back and could see that Steve and Billy were in a heated discussion about something. Billy stormed over looking angry and climbing into the car and lighting up a cigarette that he must grabbed from the last raid.

“I need to talk to you,” Steve took your hand and pulled you away from the car. You knew it wasn't going to be good. Steve was looking at you intently trying to find the right words to say, you could feel your heart stop as you imagined the worst case scenario. “What happened in the store wasn't good,” Steve started, you chewed the inside of your cheek as you waited for him to confirm your worst fears. “The reason why I asked you about your brother was because,” You could see he was difficulty forming the words and it was breaking your heart and he could see it on your face. “I should have done the same, but couldn't,” Visible confusion swept across your face as you looked at him. “There was a child in the shop who had been bitten. I killed what turned out to be their mother and they didn't want to end up like that,” Steve looked away from you as he said this scared that you would hate him because he wasn't strong like you. “It was actually more like eaten than bitten,” Before he could carry on you swung your arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug.

“It's okay,” You whispered in his ear, he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you in tightly.

“I didn't want you to know because I'm not strong like you.” He buried his head in the crook of your neck.

“Steve,” You laughed at hearing him say that you're strong. “You are honestly the strongest person I know,” You pulled away slightly so you could look at him and moved a strand of hair that was flopping over his face. He shook his head laughing. “Being in that position isn't about whether or not you're strong, it's far more complex than that,” You looked at him, there was still a lot of pain behind his eyes. “When I chose to do that for my brother, it was for self preservation on my part. I didn't want to watch him turn into what killed him, but as I pulled the trigger the only thing running through my brain was 'what if I fuck up and it doesn't kill him instantly? What if I make a painful death even more painful?' ultimately I knew I made the right decision. I also had the advantage of being bought up with my dad who taught me how to hunt which helped a lot, you however were far more likely to cause more harm than good especially with a knife.” Steve nodded understanding that you were right and you held out your hand and he put his in yours as you walked back to the car.

“It was the zombie that almost got Billy,” Steve admitted as well feeling like the weight had been lifted.

“Does Billy know?” You looked back at him still walking to car and Steve nodded in response.

“My mistake did almost cost another life.” Steve caught up with you so you were now walking side by side.

“Not a mistake, but I didn't think people turned that fast.” Steve smiled down at you feeling happy that he had someone as understanding as you.

“I didn't either.” Steve opened the car door for you and let you climb in and walked around the other side to get into his side.

“All good?” Billy asked flicking his cigarette out the window and putting his sunglasses back on.

“All good.” You smiled as Steve climbed in next to you.

The night drew in and after multiple stops Billy had driven you to the Canadian border, you and Steve were both asleep on one another. The atmosphere in the air was tense and Billy didn't like it. It was eerily deserted despite there being evidence of military presence at some point. You felt a hand whack you. “Go away,” You mumbled adjusting yourself in your seat to get comfortable again in your half asleep state. The hand hit you again making you wake up fully. “What?” You hissed as you jolted up waking Steve up.

“What's going on?” Steve rubbed his eyes as he yawned.

“We're near the border,” Billy pointed at the road in front of him and you climbed over the centre console to sit in the seat next to him. The headlights illuminated what was in front of you, there were barricades at the side of the road and old news papers danced in the headlights where they were picked up in the wind. You felt tense, you turned around to Steve who looked deeply unsure by everything that was surrounding you. Billy stopped the car which scared you as it made you vulnerable. “What do you think we need to do?” Billy's hands were clasping at the steering wheel still as he looked back at Steve and then looked at you.

“I'm scared.” You admitted as you locked your door, not that would make much difference in the end.

“I think keep going.” Steve was scared, but he knew if you were scared he had to be calm for your sake.

“Okay then.” Billy pressed his foot down on the gas slowly when all of sudden an army made themselves known. Your eyes were wide with shock wondering if they were there the entire time or if they saw you coming. A knock on your window made you jump and a man who was dressed in a military uniform was staring at you. You rolled down the window slightly so you could talk to him.

“American?” You all nodded in response to him. “Flights stopped months ago,” You all looked at each other and mouthed the words 'flights' to Steve wondering what he was talking about. “But we can offer you refuge,” He smiled, you wanted to trust him in your gut but after the ordeal you had been through you weren't sure if you should. He hit the roof of car and gestured for you to drive beyond the border. “Three Americans.” You heard him say in a walkie talkie as you rolled up your window and Billy drove off.

Beyond the border the town was functioning like normal. It didn't feel like it hadn't turned to shit just a couple of miles away, but you noticed that the barriers surrounding the place meant that just outside it was shit, but it felt like it was going to be contained. You chuckled softly to yourself hoping this was the start of something new for you and Steve. Billy parked the car and you were greeted by a very happy woman who showed you around and showed you to your houses which had everything you needed from electricity to water. The car was checked and your guns were taken away into storage which you were shown, the guy checking your car held up the heads that you forgot were in there, you leaned into Steve trying to suppress your giggles which made Steve laugh.

“Collector?” The guy joked as he put them down next to him and handed you the rest of your weapons that didn't require ammo. You walked back into your house putting the weapons down by the door deciding you'll deal with them in the morning and before your foot had touched the bottom step you were lifted up bridal style by Steve who carried you upstairs into the nicely decorated bedroom and put on the bed. Steve was hovering over you smiling.

“We finally have a safe place we can call our own.” You played with the neckline of his shirt as he stroked your cheek gently admiring your features.

“All I've ever wanted.” He whispered gently before you pulled him in for a slow, passionate kiss which he quickly reciprocated with a smile as he wanted to do that the moment he saw you in the bunker and every second after.

#Stranger Things #Stranger Things Imagine #Stranger Things x You #Stranger Things x Reader #Stranger Things 1 #Stranger Things 2 #Stranger Things 3 #ST1 #ST2 #ST3 #Steve Harrington #Steve Harrington x You #Steve Harrington x Reader #Billy Hargrove x Reader #Billy Hargrove x You #Billy Hargrove

[maximumsnow]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, HLVRAI - Fandom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Gordon Freeman, Tommy Coolatta, Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Bubby (Half-Life), Benrey (Half-Life)

Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical swearing, Basically an au exploring what if HLVRAI followed Half Life a little more closely, Au where there isn't a betrayal in that one spot, Mainly was wondering what would happen to the others if they hadn't been in on it., Some things change some don't, Oh also this is sort of intended as a not a game au Summary:Anyone who knows original Half-Life knows that the ambush happens in that spot no matter what. What would have happened if the ambush was as rough for the others? Chapter Summary: We meet up with some friendly and some not so friendly faces.

The locker room’s other entrance opened up to a break area for the lab workers on this side of the complex. Immediately to their left, there were vending machines, but before Gordon could fully lift his crowbar to the soda one, Tommy shook his head vehemently. “We-we can do that later.”

“Yeah, when we’re not in danger,” Bubby added on curtly and tried to push Gordon’s shoulder so that he would move.

Utterly shocked that Tommy turned down the opportunity for free soda, Gordon was stunned in place. He had only started the action with the assumption that Tommy and probably Bubby would want to continue things as usual, but hearing them both shoot down the idea threw that out the window.

It made something in his chest twist in concern.

When he could get his feet to move, he could see more of the break area. There was a section with more comfortable chairs parked in front of a TV that now only showed multi-colored bars that usually preceded a service announcement. There was also a shelf with books, but the chairs by that weren’t nearly as comfortable looking.

… He could almost hear Coomer going on his chair spiel. A part of him hoped that he would be able to actually hear it again.

The eating area looked like a tornado had spawned long enough just enough to throw the tables and chairs around before disappearing again. What was more concerning was that there was a pool of something dark as ink in the middle of the room that then turned into a large, smeared trail on the floor leading down the hallway to the offices.

“Well, that’s not terrifying,” Gordon said when they stopped at it. “Hey didn’t you- WAIT, DON’T TOUCH IT!” Bubby had knelt down to poke at the strange substance, but Gordon was quick to yank him away from it by the back of his labcoat.

“What was that for?” Bubby was clearly unhappy at being manhandled and grabbed at Gordon’s hand to make him let go.

With him out of danger, Gordon released his hold on Bubby. “We don’t know what that is! For all we know, it could be poison or something that will make your finger fall off!”

“Hey guys, isn’t there- Didn’t you say that there’s a big monster in here? Killing the military? Maybe this is its blood?” Tommy managed to cut off any further sniping by directing them back to the present problem. “Also, why haven’t we seen any dead soldiers?”

“I didn’t see it killing them. I just assumed it since they never came back.” Bubby readjusted his glasses as he continued looking at the blood-like substance. “… Looks like they did a number on it here, though.”

“It’s not green like the other aliens’ blood we’ve seen...” Whatever the hell it was, it wasn’t something they had dealt with before. While Gordon didn’t care if the soldiers survived or not, he hoped that they had taken care of the creature. It had to have been massive to leave that much blood here, and he was unsure if Tommy was good enough to take out something that big in a few shots.

Any further musing was interrupted by something moving out the corner of his eye, and his head shot up along with the others. Tommy was already pointing his gun down the hallway where Gordon could see something moving. The flickering lights made it difficult to make out exactly what it was, but he could tell it was humanoid and dragging something behind it.

It raised its free arm and waved. “Hello! It’s me! Your friend, Dr. Coomer!” The voice immediately put Gordon and the others at ease. Bubby no longer looked like he was going to bolt, and Tommy pointed his gun down.

As Coomer got closer, he could see that he was dragging a sledgehammer-like contraption straight out of Fallout. After a minute, he shifted his grip and then balanced the unwieldy weapon across his shoulders.

He was also completely ignoring the blood trail and walking in it.

Gordon tried to wave him down before he took another step. “Hey- uh, Hey. Coomer? Hey Coomer? You probably don’t want to walk in that.”

“I’ll be fine! A little alien blood never hurt anyone.” Coomer continued his casual stroll towards them, but he did get out of the trail. Once he was close enough, Gordon couldn’t help but look him over.

Dr. Coomer appeared perfectly fine. There weren’t any notable injuries, and while his clothes looked dirty, that wasn’t exactly new. The only new addition to his ensemble was the souped up sledgehammer.

“God, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Gordon couldn’t help but say as he patted him on the shoulder. “Was getting worried about you.”

“I’m in tip-top shape! Handling a couple of boot boys was no trouble for me.” He also didn’t seem too perturbed by The Incident. Which was fine, Gordon guessed; he wouldn’t say no to a little normalcy. At least the Science Team was mostly back together now.

“Any idea what made this shithole a bigger mess than usual?” Bubby impatiently asked.

“Oh, probably the fight between that alien monster and a group of soldiers, Professor.”

“Doctor.” Predictably, Bubby corrected Coomer and Gordon contained his groan as he prepared to get the topic back on track of Alien Monster Fighting the Soldiers.

Until Coomer said, “My apologies, Doctor.” Bubby’s eyebrows drew together, and his eyes narrowed when their usual bit didn’t continue, but Gordon sighed in relief. “Anyway, there were a lot of them running through and throwing explosives, so I decided to hide.”

“What did the monster look like?”

“I didn’t get a good look since I had to hide. Though, I think I saw colors that didn’t exist! All I can tell you was that it was bigger than a human, had claws, and it went that way.” Coomer emphasized his point by pointing towards the exit. Where the trail clearly lead. “Which is also the only way to go if you want to find someone who can let us out of here.”

Gordon tangled a hand in his hair before smoothing it back. “Great, so we still don’t know what it is, and we have to go that way.”

“You got it!”

“… Thanks.” Gordon wasn’t frustrated with him, but it would have been nice to know what they might be walking into.

“Let’s get a move on, gentlemen.” Coomer wasted no time in leading them down the hallway; taking the lead from Tommy as if that was the most natural thing in the world. Gordon nearly called Coomer back to fix the marching order, but then he noticed that Tommy’s hold on his gun had loosened considerably.

Maybe giving Tommy a break would be a good thing.

The floor sloped upwards, and while the angle wasn’t steep, the inky fluid that had smeared itself everywhere made the trip more perilous than it should have been. Even if the possible alien blood was harmless, it still made the floor sticky, and Tommy had had to offer a steadying arm more than once to the two injured parties.

Coomer kept his lead and didn’t look back.

He did, however, stop when the hall took a sharp turn, and he held up a hand for them to stop once they finally caught up with him.

Bubby opened his mouth to snap a question when an unknown voice shouted, “What the actual fuck!?” The heavily filtered voice made everyone freeze in place with bated breath. “What did they find down here?”

A different voice answered, “Dunno and don’t care. Smith says he took care of it, but to keep an eye out while we pick up the goods.”

As the conversation continued, they noticed that the voices were getting closer. Coomer hefted the sledgehammer as he readied a swing, and Gordon began nudging Bubby backwards. Thankfully, the stubborn man took the hint and ducked behind the human with literal body armor.

The casual reference to “goods” probably meant Bubby and Coomer, since it appeared that Tommy’s earlier guess about the military wanting any Black Mesa experiments they could get their hands on was correct. It pissed him off. Bubby and Coomer were people, and he didn’t doubt that the military planned on treating them as far less than that.

Maybe it was dumb of Gordon to insist on staying in front of him, but even if Bubby was more durable than most humans, Gordon didn’t want him getting more hurt than he already was.

The pair of soldiers that rounded the corner never stood a chance. One precise shot from Tommy, and the one without a gas mask was down, and the other one’s head was caved in and flattened with one swing from Coomer’s weapon.

Ignoring the blood that had splattered onto him, Coomer quickly knelt down to grab at the assault rifle, but tumbled backwards when shouting echoed through the hallway. “There they are! Get them!” The sound of heavy boots running towards them was unmistakable.

As was the sight of a grenade landing right in front of them.

“SHIT, GOTTA MOVE!” Gordon had already started backing up before turning around and bolting down the hallway while pushing Bubby ahead of him. They made it back to the first turn when the explosion went off. Thankfully, they were far enough away to avoid the worst of it, but Gordon could still feel some shrapnel bouncing off the HEV suit even at that distance.

A quick head count told him that Bubby and Coomer had followed, and while Coomer’s presence was a little surprising, the immediate problem was that Tommy was nowhere to be seen.

“TOMMY!?” There wasn’t a white coat on the floor with the now decimated soldier corpses, but that didn’t mean he was safe. In fact, given the fact that Gordon could hear bullets being exchanged, it meant that Tommy was in even more danger. He wasted no time in trying to charge back up the hallway, even as his legs protested all the extra movement. “He must’ve gone ahead!”

Coomer was quick to outpace him even while carrying the sledgehammer. “HYAAH!” The shout was loud enough to make Gordon’s ears ache, and he couldn’t help but slow down as the stout scientist sprinted past.

Bubby wasn’t far behind, but he stopped to pick up the now ownerless assault rifle. The confident smirk was back on his face. “Let’s give them hell!” He shouted before hobbling up as quickly as he could.

Gordon kept up with Bubby and entered what he vaguely recognized as a lobby with skylights. He didn’t get much time to look at much else before a bullet ricocheted way too close to him. Bubby was already shooting back, and he could see Tommy ducked down behind a barrier reloading. Coomer’s zealous sprint had taken him to the far side of the lobby already, and given the blood splatter on the walls nearby and on Coomer himself, he had already taken someone out.

No one else saw the camouflaged figure stalking its way behind Tommy’s position.

Gordon charged towards him as he yelled, “Tommy, watch out!” He could see Tommy’s head jerk up and around, but the soldier had already leveled his shotgun to take a shot in point blank range.

Without much thought, Gordon did the only thing he knew he could do. His momentum carried him straight into Tommy, knocking them both over and onto the ground. He could feel the bullets whiz by overhead, and one pinged off the back of the HEV suit.

He heard the soldier suddenly start choking, and when he could make himself focus again, he could see that Tommy somehow managed to keep his grip on his gun and shot the soldier in the throat from his position on the floor.

The soldier collapsed in a miserable pile, leaving his shotgun up for grabs. Gordon scrambled off of Tommy to grab it before thinking to ask, “You okay? And uh, do you want this?”

Tommy’s breathing hadn’t slowed down yet, but he gave a shaky smile. “I’m f-fine. Thanks, Mr. Freeman. And uh, you should take that for now.” With that line, he stood back up and fired a round at the soldier that he had been playing sniper war with.

He just won, judging by the lack of a responding bullet.

Gordon checked the shotgun’s ammo as he kept an eye on the others, and once he was satisfied with it, he slowly got himself up. He knew his body was going to hate him in the morning, but he had to make sure they all got to see that morning.

Bubby had taken cover behind the reception desk while exchanging shots with a pair of soldiers hiding behind some metal crates, and after checking for danger, Gordon ran towards him with Tommy following.

With all three of them ducked behind the desk, Bubby snarled, “They keep hiding before I can blow their brains out!”

“Got any explosives? Maybe we can flush them out?” Gordon suggested as he tried to peek over the desk. A gunshot made him fall back down quickly while clenching the shotgun.

“I’ve- I’ve got a grenade.” Tommy offered before pulling out the referenced weapon.

Bubby reached over Gordon to snatch it out of Tommy’s hand. “Yes, that will work. But I need someone to distract them before I can throw it.”

Again, with barely a thought, Gordon acted on impulse and threw the shotgun he had just acquired into the middle of the room. The thunk and clatter of the tossed firearm drew the attention of the soldiers for just long enough for Bubby to stand up and toss the grenade right behind the boxes they had hidden behind.

The explosion was preceded by a couple of muffled swears, but once the dust settled, silence fell over the lobby. Behind the desk, the three Science Team members kept quiet as they all listened for the heavy footsteps that they had all come to associate with the US military.

After minute that felt like hours, Tommy slowly stood up and scanned the room. Once he deemed it safe, he gestured for the others to stand, and Gordon was able to finally get a good look at what remained of the lobby.

The room had been taken over as a military outpost, but this one was wrecked even more than usual after one of their fights. There were a lot more bodies that Gordon knew they had put there, and it looked like several of them were missing pieces. There was also the matter of the dark blood splattering random parts of the floor and walls from the creature getting shot and blown up.

What the fuck? How was it still moving? And how did that one guy ‘handle it???’ He could see that the trail lead down the open hallway, and he had to assume that it had chased its prey in that direction.

“Where’s Dr. Coomer?” Tommy’s question was a much more immediate concern, and Gordon quickly looked around as his heart rate picked back up.

“Last I saw, he took out someone by the exit over there,” He finally said. “Shit, did he go ahead?”

“Probably. Pretty sure I saw a soldier take off that way.” Bubby had made his way over to the shotgun that Gordon had carelessly thrown. “Since you tossed it at the first opportunity, I’m guessing you don’t want it.”

“I didn’t-” He caught himself and sighed. “You know what? Fine, you can have it.” Clearly his head was not on straight if his first instinct was to throw the gun and not the crowbar. Bubby seemed pleased to rebuild his arsenal, anyway, so Gordon let the matter go.

“How about I go get Coomer while you guys stock up?” He wasn’t too worried about Coomer, but he didn’t want the guy to get too far ahead. And since he didn’t doubt Coomer’s efficiency, it was very unlikely that there were any survivors.

He also didn’t want to waste the opportunity for them to restock their supplies, and between all the supply crates and dead soldiers, they could easily get back up to their pre-ambush levels.

Tommy’s eyebrows drew together in concern. “Are you- Are you sure, Mr. Freeman?”

“Yeah, I should be fine. You and Bubby just pick everything clean, and we can distribute it once I get back.” The nonchalant wave he did was definitely forced, but they didn’t need to worry. “We heard them say that they ‘took care of the problem’, so whatever was making such a mess is gone, too.” With his crowbar in hand, he crossed the remainder of the lobby and entered the next hallway.

“Don’t stay gone too long!” Bubby’s shout followed him.

As he rounded the first corner, he was met with yet another dead soldier, and he elected to not inspect the blunt force damage too closely. The adrenaline was wearing off, and he could feel the aches in his muscles protesting again along with his head. No point in tempting fate and making himself sick in the process.

The path split, but since one direction was blocked off by automatic doors that were refusing to open, he was forced to follow the path the strange creature took. Or that’s what he would guess based on the continued splotches of blood that continued to pop up.

Even if the thing was dead, what was left behind sure made him feel like he was walking into a horror movie.

There were stairs going upwards in the side hallway, and soon he realized that he was standing on the balcony overseeing the lobby. Bubby and Tommy were currently dumping everything they found behind the desk, but didn’t seem to notice his presence above them. Just the sight of his friends helped ground him and quieted his anxieties that threatened to overtake him.

But he didn’t want to disturb them with his illogical worries right now, so he continued his trek.

The next hallway quickly rounded another corner and lead into another set of automatic doors. Through the window, he could see Coomer’s familiar head of white hair, and didn’t think twice about marching forward.

As the doors opened, Gordon raised a hand to wave and said, “Hey, Dr. Coomer-” He stopped as he took in the sight.

Coomer had his sledgehammer swung back like he was about to play a strength game at a carnival as he apparently aimed at something on the specimen table.

That something was the spitting image of Coomer with cloth tightly bound over his mouth, and he was lacking arms and legs.

#My writing #Hlvrai #Gordon Hlvrai #Tommy Coolatta #Bubby #Dr Coomer

[hymn2000]

Chiquitita - MCU AU fanfic - C19

Story summary: Something strange is happening. Someone from space has made their way to Earth, armed with a strange weapon. Targeting teenagers, their ray gun, when fired, turns the victim into a toddler. The Avengers set out to stop this, and find a way to reverse the effects. However, they don’t all come out of the battle unscathed.

Previous chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Part of my Frostiron and Spiderson series.

Warnings/themes: de-aging, family stuff, corporal punishment (early chapters only), mental health stuff, hurt/comfort, hospital/medical stuff

 Content warning: this chapter follows strong themes by way of discussion about death and bereavement, including mentions of child and infant death. If you want to skip this chapter and want a summary of important points in it, please comment and I'll be happy to give you an overview

Chapter 19 - Memories, Good Days, Bad Days

-

Bruce stepped up and offered to look after Peter on Thursday so Loki and Tony could go out. It was the seventh of the month, and Bruce knew there was always an unavoidable commitment on that day.

Tony grabbed Loki’s hand just inside the cemetery gates.

“I’m not ready”

Loki looked at him. “Ok. Do you want to have a little walk round first?”

Tony nodded, keeping tight hold of Loki. “Can you take the flowers?”

“Of course” 

Loki took the bouquet from him, balancing it against his free arm. Loki squeezed Tony’s hand reassuringly, starting down the adjacent path. They walked for some time, before turning down one row of graves. There were lots of black marble kerb headstones filled with coloured glass pebbles and personalised memorials. Many of them had cards and flowers and plaques and statues and candles. Some had bottles of beer balanced on their edges, obviously something the deceased had been a fan of. Many of them showed the persons interests in life;- television programmes, songs, hobbies, and the like. Many of the mens ones had football team logos and colours on them. Almost all of them had photos of the person included. They were big, shrine-like monuments, and they were beautiful. 

Tony held Loki’s hand tight as they walked down the rows. They later stopped in front of one of the graves. Blue pebbles. Little statues of Disney characters. A framed poem about daughters. 

“She was only eight” 

“Does it make you wonder what happened?”

Tony nodded. “These people are all so young. I think a lot of them, those teenagers, it could have been traffic accidents or something... Illnesses, maybe. This little girl... Maybe she was sick”

“We’ll never know, unless it explicitly states. But it’s not our place to know” Loki looked at the picture of the little girl printed onto the headstone. “Aside from that stillborn, I think this is the youngest out of these ones”

“One of them was six” Tony said. He swallowed hard. “These are nice, aren’t they? They’re so personal. You can tell how much all these people were loved”

“Is it bad, do you think, that I like looking at them?”

“No” Tony shook his head. “I do too, in a way. It’s peaceful, and it’s interesting. Just... it’s horrible, isn’t it? Loss”

Loki’s mouth twitched. He started to walk again, so Tony did too. They were slow, taking their time, reading everything, looking at everything. Tony stopped again, in front of a grave for a young baby. 

“Three months old” he said. “There’s a baby and child cemetery here, isn’t there? Why are some of them over here?”

“I suppose it’s up to the family where they want them buried” Loki said. “Maybe it’s easier for them, having them separate from everyone else’s lost little ones”

Tony looked up, and Loki did too. In the near distance, they could see the start of that section of the cemetery. They could see the first few headstones, one of them clearly shaped like a teddy bear, and age balloons visible flying above.

“Do you want to go over?”

“Oh Tony, I can’t” Loki said. “Even just looking from over here breaks my heart. I hate that that bit even has to exist”

Tony leant his head against Loki’s shoulder. “I’ve imagined this twice”

“Imagined what?”

“Coming here for... someone else”

Loki stayed quiet.

“The night of the accident, it went through my head. Until we saw him. And again that night he had that building site accident, and he had a reaction to those antibiotics, and his heart stopped”

“Don’t” Loki said. “Seriously, don’t. Even if it’s just a concept come to light from fear, I can’t bear to hear it. It makes it feel like a very real possibility and I just can’t torture myself like that. Not over our son”

“I’m sorry. It’s just... My mind is absolutely racing right now. I don’t even really know why”

Loki sighed and squeezed his hand. “It’s just like that sometimes. We’ve had a tough few weeks too”

“Loki... You’ve seen babies die before. How do you cope with it? Do you remember them all, or does it all kinda merge together?”

“Jo Jo and I have a book” Loki said. “It’s a blue marbled notebook with a stork carved into the cover. He writes in blue, and I write in green. We’ve got the names of every baby we’ve lost in there. We write their name, or their family name if they didn’t have one, and we write the dates and the times. We write about what happened and how we felt about it. We get it out of our systems as quickly as possible. It’s easier to get out the emotional side of it before we have to do the official reports... I haven’t lost anywhere near as many as I’ve seen delivered. The NICU nurses aren’t so lucky”

“When we have our baby, do you think you’ll quit?”

Loki paused for a moment, looking down at the teddies and toys on the babies grave. 

“...No, I don’t think so. If I could go back to work there after my long hospital stay, and after losing May, and after all the times Peter’s ended up in A&E, I don’t think having our baby is going to make me give it up” he said. “I think I’ll carry on regardless” 

Tony swallowed. “I like Oliver”

“Hm?”

“For a boy” Tony said. “Oliver for a boy. Oliver Stark”

“What about a girl?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought of anything for a girl yet”

“What about May?”

Tony went quiet for a moment. “I don’t think Peter would like it. Not as a first name. Maybe as a middle name. Something May Stark”

“Princess”

“What?”

“Princess” Loki repeated. “I had a dream... We thought we’d decided on a shortlist of names, but then the baby was born and she was just too perfect for any of them. We were cradling her in our arms and we were talking to her, calling her our little princess, and we looked at each other, and we just knew...”

“Princess...” Tony said. “Princess May Stark. Or Oliver Stark. Oliver Loki Stark?”

“I think we may need to brainstorm that one a little further” Loki said softly, but he was touched.

“I think it’d be nice to name him after you. I think we should name the baby after someone, anyway”

“And here I was, thinking we had said that we were going to wait until conception before thinking up baby names”

“We also originally said we’d wait until the new year before asking Peter if we could adopt him, and we barely lasted a fortnight before we cracked on that one”

Loki smiled at him. “Ah, you’re right there. So. Princess May Stark, or Oliver Stark. Loki, Tony, Peter, and Princess”

“Or Loki, Tony, Peter, and Oliver” Tony raised Loki’s hand to his mouth and kissed it. He took a deep breath. “I think I’m ready now”

Loki nodded “I think I am too”

-

They looked down at the grave. The headstone was still pretty as ever; black marble with gold lettering, chosen by Peter. But after seeing all of the kerbed memorials, it looked almost plain. The grave was still covered in flowers and candles and trinkets - Loki and Tony knew they weren’t the only people who still visited regularly - but underneath all of that, it was just a mound of grass. Loki took the flowers in his arms from the cellophane and set them in the grave flower vases. He stood up again, taking Tony’s hand once more. 

-

It felt strange, being there on the seventh without Peter. All three of them visited often, sometimes alone, sometimes together, whenever they felt they should or whenever they felt they needed or wanted to. Peter always brought flowers. Tony often wrote a letter and, when visiting alone, would sit and read it out loud. Loki often went empty-handed, but he’d sit on the path at the foot of the grave, talking, and imagining that maybe she was somewhere out there, watching and talking back to him. Sometimes he felt like he could hear her voice and sense her presence. He just wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not.

But the seventh, that was the day the three of them always went together. They all dressed smartly, they bought an expensive bouquet from the florist Peter favoured, and they went down to visit May’s resting place together. Peter had struggled considerably at the start. He’d start to get funny around the fourth or fifth of the month, and he’d often have some sort of fit or tantrum on the sixth before going all funny and shaky and whiny on the morning of the seventh. 

For a long time he’d hated it. He still went, and he wouldn’t miss it for anything. But every time the seventh popped up on the calendar, he felt sick. Even now, when things were less of a hardship and more of a routine, his mind was thrown back to that fateful day where he’d woken up at the Stark’s, checked his phone and seen it was the seventh of January. He hated thinking of that day, which had started so nice and normal and ended with his entire world crashing down around him. He hated the feeling that he could have done more. He hated remembering being told. He hated hating; remembering how much he hated the look of his room when he got to the Stark’s that night, how he hated the feeling of having lost everything, how he hated feeling so unbearably sick, how he found himself hating himself, hating the world, hating it all. 

A lot of the time he could avoid delving back into the day completely, but not always. But he was lucky, because his parents went through the same loss, and they knew how hard it was for him. They never made him feel bad for struggling.

-

“She deserves better than this” Tony said after a long silence.

“She never should have died”

“I don’t just mean that” Tony said. “We can’t do anything about that. I mean... I want to update this”

“Update it?”

“The grave. All those ones we just looked at are so beautiful and special and lovely. We never really looked into it properly. We should give her one of those. Give her something more than a headstone and grass. We should look into it properly, get it done. Give her a memorial just as special and lovely as she was”

Loki looked at Tony, at the tears in his eyes and the quivering of his lip. Tony kept his eyes on the grave a few moments more, and the turned and threw his arms round Loki, and he started to sob. He didn’t say anything;- he didn’t need to. Loki held Tony tight and closed his eyes, and it was only a matter of seconds before he broke down too. All of it still felt so raw sometimes. Whenever they visited, they wondered what she’d think. What would she think now, when Peter had been turned into a toddler? What would she think if she could see them? Would she be able to tell that they’d been doing their absolute best by him, ever since that night May had been marked DOA? They liked to think she knew. She always left Peter with them if she was going away or something was happening which meant she couldn’t look after him. She even gave them a type of custody agreement, for goodness sake; every Wednesday and every second weekend. They were all happy with that. They knew where they stood. So of course she knew they’d take the best possible care of him, no matter what. She trusted them. She’d be proud of how far Peter had come. She’d be relieved that he was being looked after by people who loved him more than anything else in the world. 

But sometimes, at times like this, none of that reassuring knowledge mattered. Sometimes, all they wanted was to be able to pick up the phone and talk to her. They didn’t always miss her quite so painfully, but the loss was still felt at the back of their minds. On days like today, they just wanted to hug her again. They wanted to hold her and laugh with her and argue over what they were going to do together that day. They’d been such brilliantly close friends (and a little more besides), and that was a hard thing to say goodbye to.

“Why does it hurt more when we’re going through stuff?”

“Because she was always at the other end of the phone to help us through it before” Loki said. “Because she was part of our family”

“I felt so bad for throwing up when I identified the body. All the staff were so nice, saying it wasn’t uncommon, moving me away and getting me a drink and talking to me like they completely understood...” Tony let go of Loki, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. “Peter wanted to see her. Do you remember him shouting and begging and pleading with us, saying he needed to see her? He was absolutely beside himself. He near enough screamed the house down when we said no”

“It would have absolutely killed him” Loki said. “Tony, I don’t know, what you saw that night at the hospital, but considering I know her injuries were incompatible with life, I don’t want to know. But I saw her at the funeral home, after she’d been cleaned and made up and looked after and- and prepared, and I absolutely could not deal with seeing her lying there, looking like herself but knowing she wasn’t really there, and you know that. If I was affected by it the way I was, imagine what it would have done to that little boy”

“I had to say no” Tony said. “I’d seen her at the hospital. I didn’t know they could do so much to make her look... Well. Like she was just sleeping. But even if I had known, I still wouldn’t’ve let him go”

“He said to me once that he was glad we hadn’t let him” Loki said. “Quite a while after everything, he said he didn’t think he would have been able to deal with it. He’s not sore about us saying no. He thanks us, in a way”

“He... He absolutely fell apart that year and we just watched. We watched him break, and we did so much wrong. We shouted at him. We sent him to school way too early and we know how that ended. We didn’t address the PTSD until he was at St Hendrick’s. We should’ve forced him into counselling straight away”

“We were grieving, Tony. We were trying to deal with our own grief while also suddenly having him full time, and while trying to juggle the rest of our lives too. We didn’t know how best to deal with his trauma, and losing May was definitely at the forefront of our minds. Neither of us were in a position to turn around and decide that what was wrong with Peter was more than grief, and we certainly wouldn’t have known what to do about it then either”

“He stopped speaking. I got cross at him for that for such a long time. I made him cry at work events because of the way I spoke to him and refused to understand the condition when he couldn’t talk to people. I shouldn’t’ve taken him to work events anyway; he was far too fragile”

“Maybe” Loki said. “We’re both at fault, but we did the best we could under the circumstances. I made mistakes too. The way I treated him when I found out he’d been skiving from that first school, that wasn’t great, especially when we found out why he’d done it. The way I treated him that day he ran away to the airport and tried to go to England was even worse. I talked to him about it months later and he said he’d never been so scared of me before or since. He said it was like I’d turned into a completely different person, someone he didn’t know. He said he thought I was going to injure him... And then there’s my sabbatical. I went for the right reasons, but I should have told you first, and I shouldn’t have walked out and left him alone in the house the way I did”

“Those few months while you were away were some of the hardest in my life. I did things I regretted in that time too” Tony swallowed hard. “That year was horrendous for all of us. We all did stupid, reckless things, and we all hurt each other and made some pretty catastrophic errors. But we got through it, didn’t we? We made amends. We forgave each other and we got help and we’ve worked through it. But, you know, despite all of that, we always had something going for us, didn’t we?”

“And what was that?”

“We always loved each other. We didn’t always like each other, but we always loved each other”

Loki put an arm round Tony’s shoulders. They looked at May’s grave, and drops of water started falling from the sky. At first it was just spitting, but it soon came down heavily. They listened to the sound of the rain against the pavement and the leaves of the trees. They listened to the thunder that began to rumble above them. They swallowed, and rested their heads together.

“We have a son, who can and will crawl into our beds when he’s scared during the night. He’ll climb onto our laps for a cuddle when he’s sad. He’ll come crying to us when something bad happens, and he’ll tell us all about it. Our son trusts us, and he loves us, and he knows that we love him too” Loki said. “He knows we’re not perfect, but I think, like us, he knows that all of our triumphs have far outweighed our mistakes. I know we’ve been through a lot together, but when you take those away, we’re happy. All of us. We’re a happy family. Despite everything”

“...A couple of months ago he came into the study. You know he’s not a fan of the study”

“He says the dark wood makes him feel unnerved”

“Right. Well, he came into the study, and he was all teary-eyed. And I was like, what’s the matter, darling? And he came and crawled onto my lap and cuddled into me and said, he said he wasn’t crying because he was sad. He said he was crying because he was happy. And I asked him why, and he said; ‘because you’re my dad’” 

Loki took a deep, shaky breath. “He’s not what we’re going home to”

“I know” Tony closed his eyes for a moment. “We’ve got a toddler to go home to. He won’t be a toddler forever though. Your brother’s gonna make sure that reversal gun gets sorted”

“He’s a sweet little toddler. He’s so cute and lovely and funny and happy. I really do love him, Tony”

“I do too. He’s brilliant, but... We adopted a teenager”

“It’s going to be hard letting little Peter go”

“We’ll get normal Peter back. The Peter he’s supposed to be: big Peter, teenage Peter” Tony said. “We’ll get him back... We’ll still remember little Peter, though. We’ve got the memories, and the pictures”

“And all of his things”

Tony put an arm round Loki’s waist. “May would laugh at us. Especially me. She’d say surely the great Tony ‘Iron Man’ Stark could deal with watching Spongebob and making up juice bottles for a few weeks”

“The school rang me on Monday” Loki said.

“Yeah?”

“They know what’s going on, obviously. They said they’re happy to offer Peter a place in the nursery at their sister school while he’s a toddler”

“Oh” Tony said. “What did you say?”

“I said thank you, but we’re not interested”

Tony held him tighter. “Good”

*

#my writing #fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #frostiron #irondad and spiderson

[writersrealmbts]

Alternate Reality Nightmare: Part 2

Part 1

Description: You end up in an alternate reality with your bias when you got lost trying to get out, and things definitely aren’t the same here as they are where you’re from. Namjoon x Reader.

Warnings: Violence, other issues, (You should always be careful when reading things)

Posted: 10/28/2018

Tags: Namjoon, Reader X Namjoon, AlternateReality!AU

Angst: 5,876 words

A/N: It’s choppy, it’s awful, it’s long, but this is the wrap up of the first part which I loved. 

“No, no way. I’m not staying here while you run off with him. He’ll kill you. Then I’ll be alone,” Namjoon whispered, his voice shaking. “I don’t think I have a choice,” you replied, shivering as you remember the way Hoseok had looked at you. “And could you really watch Seokjin die?” He looked at Jin, who was on a respirator and was only alive due to the combination of medicine and the fact that Namjoon was holding his hand. He was close enough to this world’s version of Namjoon that his presence—his touch—helped Jin. The physician said that if he had another seizure like that he would die. That he was running out of time. “Besides, he’s right. He know this world’s version of me better. And he’s from this world. We aren’t. We don’t know how anything works.” You didn’t like it either, but logically it was the best choice. “But, we’d both be alone in a different way.” He took your hand in his free hand. “And what if you have a panic attack? What if he just leaves you?” “I’m not heartless,” Hoseok chuckled from the doorway. “Are you sure about that?” Namjoon shot back, gripping your hand tightly. Hoseok’s face softened. “I need them back. Namjoon and Jin. I’ll do my best to get her back to you, but I can’t promise anything because I might not even make it back. What we’re going to do is dangerous. And we’re short on time. Which is why you need to put this on so we can go,” he addressed you, holding out an outfit. You slid your hand out of Namjoon’s so you could take the clothing. It was soft yet felt strong and durable. Namjoon caught your gaze, his own worried and scared. 

“I’ll be right back,” you told him, then went and changed into the strange clothing. You pulled your hair back while you were in there and then went back out. Hoseok nodded. “It’ll do. I’ll be in the living room.” You went back to Namjoon, who let go of Jin’s hand to hug you. “Come back. We’re going home together or we’re stuck here together.” He held you tightly. Then he kissed your cheek and quickly took Jin’s hand again. You nodded, thinking how crazy it was that this morning you were freaking out about just seeing his group in person and now you weren’t even fazed by him hugging you. The kiss to your cheek surprised you, but you bent and kissed his forehead. “I’ll try not to let you worry too long,” you whispered. “Talk to Jungkook and Jimin. Jin said that they might have been responsible for us being here.” He nodded slowly, eyes closed and hand on your arm. You kissed his forehead again and then slipped out of the room, hearing him murmur your name with a goodbye. Hoseok was waiting just outside the door, leaning against the frame with a bored look. “It’s going to take us a while to get there. Let’s hope you’ve got it in you to travel hard.” You sure hoped so. —————— You often caught glimpses of the Hoseok you were familiar with as the two of you traveled and fought to where you were guessing this world’s you would be. The two of you dropped behind a chicken coop to catch your breath. He actually laughed softly. “You weren’t kidding. You aren’t a soldier.” “You’re just reaching this conclusion?” You smiled as you tried to catch your breath. You’d been virtually useless, even making him refrain from killing like he normally would which made things twice as difficult. You’d picked up a couple things, and only had two panic attacks that he had helped you through with a surprisingly gentle manner and touch. He fought beautifully and powerfully, just like he danced in your world. It was somewhat mesmerizing and you often found yourself watching him instead of worrying about how the people he was fighting were now hurt. The world was messed up. Crazy messed up, but there was enough that was similar that you could find your way through. Now the two of you were hiding behind the chicken coop of your doppelgänger “She lives here?” Hoseok muttered, peeking at the modest two-story house. You peeked out and smiled a little. There was a porch with a porch swing. Roses in the garden. An herb patch and a vegetable patch. Apple trees further back. The house was modest, but well taken care of. “It’s what I always dreamed I’d have. Minus the chickens because they kind of freak me out. I thought I’d raise pheasants.” He peeked around the coop. “I don’t think this is in use right now. Doesn’t smell.” “True.” “But, this?” He gestured to the house and yard. “I can almost guarantee that she keeps bees in the back of her yard.” “But would she keep Namjoon here?” You licked your lips, then bit your lower lip. “Um, I don’t know. I’ve never kidnapped anyone.” “Good point,” He took a deep breath. “So, now what?” “I could go ring the doorbell.” “Really? That’s the first idea that came to your mind?” You shrugged. “Can you think of a better one?” He looked at you like you were crazy. “Scope it out and break in when she leaves?” “Okay, you do that. I’ll try the doorbell.” You slipped out and into the trees, then around to the road. You went up to the front door and then rang the doorbell. She—you—answered the door. You both stared at each other. “Hi, I’m you from another reality and I have a bone to pick with you.” She looked at your clothes, then her gaze sharpened and scanned her yard. “Where is that jerk?” “What jerk?” Your voice sounded weird to you. And you couldn’t help but notice that this version of you was in better shape. “Hoseok Jung,” she folded her arms. “Oh, well, we’ll talk about that later.” You walked into the house. “Hey!” “What? It’s my house,” you reasoned, checking it out. “Dang this is freaky. I would totally decorate it like this. Where’s Namjoon?” “Excuse me, this is not—“ “Look, I’m sorry I’m interrupting your movie, but I’m trying to prevent one persons death and get back to my own reality with my friend and I can’t do that unless I get Namjoon back.” You folded your arms and looked at yourself. “If you’re anything like me…” you noticed that she had markings on her hands, arms, around her ears and throat. “Then you probably didn’t take Namjoon as a soldier, but as a healer. That’s what you are, right? Not a soldier, but a healer.” She whipped a weapon out, pointing it at Hoseok as he hurried in. “It’s not loaded,” you told him. “Because I’m not a soldier. Never have been. Never could be.” “What are you talking about, she’s—“ “A healer, Hoseok! Look at her hands,” you told him. He let his gaze drop to her hands and his eyes widened. “But you took Namjoon…” “I couldn’t stop healing him after I started the process. We were avoiding escalating war.” She kept her gaze fixed on Hoseok, and her gun. Hoseok looked like his world was shattering. “He was hurt?” “He had a brain tumor and fell down those stairs. I healed him, but it took a while,” she said, still sounding like she would shoot him. “And there wasn’t time to explain it to anyone because the delegation I was there with was attacked.” “Has Namjoon even asked to leave?” Hoseok asked. She frowned. “I’ve kept him in a healing cocoon. It was the best way to help him recover while I worked out how to return him to his home without causing any problems. I just finished healing him. I followed protocol. He knows where he is, and that I was treating him.” “Wake him,” Hoseok demanded. “Please. We can get him back.” She didn’t move. “Me, promise that Hoseok will stop hunting down me and my family.” “Really? Her family? Idiot. Yeah, I promise. I’ll make sure he doesn’t bug you.” You have him a disapproving look. If it had been your family you would definitely have a loaded weapon pointed at him right about now. Oh shit. That could have been really bad. He frowned and shrugged slightly. “Know your enemy.” “Your enemy gets twice as dangerous when you pose a threat to her family,” you answered, folding your arms. She lowered the gun and then set it aside and led the way upstairs to a very comfortable bedroom. Namjoon—this worlds version of him—lay in the bed with a sort of blue light surrounding him. His markings matched Jin’s, but he also had more of them. Hoseok hurried to his side, making a choked sound. She nudged him aside and then seemed to absorb the blue light surrounding Namjoon, placing her hand on his forehead, then stepping back as he took a deeper breath and then opened his eyes. First he saw Hoseok. “Hobi? What are you…” he frowned, then saw both versions of you next to each other. “It’s a long story, Namjoon. We need to get you back home.” Hoseok helped Namjoon stand up. Namjoon looked at her. “Am I done healing?” She nodded. “How long did it take?” He looked outside and froze, eyes wide with horror. He turned desperately to Hoseok. “Jin?!” “He’s alive, but barely. I’m afraid I wasn’t…the burden of leading didn’t help him…” Hoseok looked at the ground, ashamed. Namjoon looked at her. “Thank you, but we need to leave.” “So I gathered. Here’s your stuff.” She held up a bag. He took it and looked to Hoseok. “Everyone else?” You led the way out. “It’s been hard, Namjoon. But they’re alive and healthy.” You sighed, wondering when Namjoon would ask about you. Being around him just made you worry (for the billionth time) about how your Namjoon was doing. You wished you could let him know that you were on your way back with their Namjoon. “What is she doing?” “Ah, shes coming back with us because of reasons you won’t believe until you see. Let’s just focus on getting you to Jin.” Hoseok put a friendly arm around your shoulders. “She’s our guardian angel.” ———— Hoseok had filled Namjoon in on everything, ashamed of his inability to see straight. Namjoon for his part seemed to accept the explanation as to why he had been seeing double, murmuring something about Jungkook or Jimin and messing with things they didn’t understand. “That’s what Jin said,” you commented. Anguish covered Namjoon’s face. “It’s taking us so long to get home. What if he’s dead when we get there?” The three of you were talking as you slipped through side streets of their city. “We have to hope that he isn’t,” Hoseok replied. “If he is…I don’t think I could forgive myself…” Namjoon just made a distressed sound. You dropped behind them as other people appeared, letting the veil drop over your face again. Carrying the bags so that no one would question their walking with you or whether you were a slave. Hoseok unlocked the gate to their home and ushered both of you through. Then the three of you hurried inside and over to the room Jin used. Namjoon froze momentarily at the sight of himself sitting by Jin’s side, but then hurried to Jin’s side and took his place. His marks glowed silver as he took Jin’s hand, as did Jin’s marks. Your Namjoon rushes to hug you, pulling you tightly against his chest. “Oh thank God, I’ve been so worried.” You just nodded slightly, watching as this worlds Namjoon gently ran his fingers through Jin’s hair. Jin’s body seemed to relax, his breathing seemed easier. His eyes fluttered open, glowing silver. “Joon?” “I’m here, Hyung.” “Idiot. Told you you shouldn’t bond with me,” Jin murmured. “You need someone stronger.” Namjoon shushed him softly. “I wanted to keep you around. You’re stronger than I ever was.” “He’ll never fully recover,” Your Namjoon murmured, watching with you. “The physician said that he was almost blind, and that his body has sustained permanent damage.” Their Namjoon kept running his fingers through Jin’s hair. “I failed…I couldn’t take care of them…” Jin’s breath hitches and he coughed weakly. Namjoon shushed him softly. “You did great, Hyung. They’re all alive. You’re alive. You’re going to get better. I’m back now. I’m not going anywhere and you better not go anywhere either.” “I’m so tired, ‘mjoon…” Jin breathed it out, eyes closing. “I…” “Jinnie?” Namjoon quickly moved to check his pulse and then slumped over in relief. He then pushed back up and leaned in and kissed Jin. You felt your Namjoon (RM, just think of him as RM) stiffen. “What?” He breathed out. You stared as well as Namjoon crawled into the bed to hold Jin gently so that he could easily monitor the elder mans breathing and heart rate. Hoseok nodded for all of you to leave and give Namjoon and Jin some space, closing the door behind you. “I’m going to go tell the others. Make sure they don’t try to get in.” You nodded. Your Namjoon shook his head. “That’s so weird.” “Alternate reality, anything could happen. Besides, there are factions in your fandom who ship you with Jin.” He shook his head and then hugged you tightly. “It was Jungkook. He admitted it the day after you left. We could get back home.” You sighed in relief, burying your face in Namjoon’s shoulder. “Good. This place scares me. I’ve seen more than I wanted to. I was worried about you.” He pushed you away a little and then kissed you lightly before he looked at you like he couldn’t believe he did that. You nodded slowly. “You did.” He got embarrassed, stepping away and covering his face with one hand and stammering. You just sort of nodded, downplaying how much your heart raced and your mind screaming in ecstasy at getting kissed by him. “It’s okay. It’s just because of the situation. I get it. Everything will go back to how it was before. The way it should be.” You turned away from him. It was strange that you felt so close to him. He knew so little about you and you knew quite a bit about him after being his fan for so long. After having him as your bias for so long. Besides, for all you knew when you got back you might end up in jail or something for kidnapping. “I don’t want it to.” You froze at his words, looking up at him. “You barely know me.” “It’s going to take us some time to get out of here and for once I have some privacy. I can take the time to get to know you. So let me. Let me know you.” He took your hands, still seeming a little shy and embarrassed, but when he did meet your eyes, he held your gaze. You looked away. “When we get back, you won’t. You’ll have schedules. And I’ll have to go home. Everyone knows even if you guys don’t say that dating isn’t an option. I’m just one of a couple million fans, and you deserve to have someone who gets to know you in person, by spending time with you. You deserve to have someone who knows as much about you as you know about them so that you can learn about each other together.” “Or I can get to know you,” He insisted. Jungkook cleared his throat. You quickly pulled away from Namjoon as he was distracted by Jungkook. Jungkook looked apologetic. “Sorry, I, um, I figured you didn’t want to continue that conversation in front of me. Are they…” “We’re under strict instructions not to let anyone in,” Namjoon told him. Jungkook looked at you. “Did he tell you?” “That you were the one who brought us here? Yeah. He told me.” “I’m sorry I pulled you from your lives,” He murmured, looking at the floor. “But I’m not sorry that it led to hyung returning. We need him. Jin-ssi-hyung needs him.” Just then you all could hear raised voices from inside. “I’m not breaking our soul-bond! Not when it can save you!” Namjoon’s voice carried through the door and he yelled it, almost desperately. “If you break it, I’ll just put it back!” The others had come down at that point and all of you looked nervously at each other. You went over, opening the door slightly while the others waited nervously. “No, stop it, hyung. Stop it!” “Namjoon…I’m not…I’m not getting better…it’ll hurt you…if I die…while we’re…bonded…” “It’ll hurt me if you die at all. Hyung, if you break it you’ll die,” Namjoon’s voice had risen in pitch as his desperation to stop Jin turned to panic. “I might not be able to establish it fast enough to save you!” “If I don’t break it and I…do live, you’ll never be able…to part from me. I’d die…if you broke it to…bond with your…future partner…” “Stop, just stop! Please just rest!” It was quiet for a moment. “Hyung? Hyung!?” You unfroze, darting in and seeing that Jin was spasming again. The others were right behind you and Yoongi quickly moved to adjust the medical equipment. Namjoon hovered right next to Jin, looking as terrified as RM had on that first day. “Please stay with me, please, hyung!” He was touching Jin’s skin everywhere he could without being in the way. “He should be getting better,” Yoongi said, sounding scared. You grabbed Hoseok’s arm and pulled him close so you could whisper. “Is there a disease that will strike soul-bonded people if the person they bond with thinks the other doesn’t love them?” He looked at you, but you could see the wheels turning. “Joon, did you ever tell hyung how you felt? Did you ever tell him how you really felt? Kiss him when he was awake?” Of course. Jin had been asleep. Namjoon looked between Hoseok and Jin. “He would never believe me. I couldn’t lose him.” “You are losing him, you idiot! Tell him!” You screeched, unable to hold back anymore, a panic attack of your own starting to well up. Hoseok straightened. “Everyone buy Yoongi out. Now.” The boys moved to obey, and RM quickly guided you out, seeming to notice that you were sinking into your own panic from the stress around you and inside of you. ————— The two weeks it took to prepare to send you and RM back to the proper reality were quiet. He spent most of it getting to know you, he asked you questions and would talk with you about your interests. He wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to know everything, because that’s what he asked. Everything. But you wouldn’t let him do much more than hold your hand, and you would let him hug you to help you through any panic attacks. You were aware of the reality you would have to go back to. The day you two were set to go back was the first day that Jin was finally out of bed. He was in a wheel-chair, still not strong enough to stand on his own, but the relief that seemed to fill the house at seeing improvement was soothing. He listened, staring blindly outside with a soft smile as everyone talked to each other and prepared to send you and RM back. You sat next to him. “You’ve got a great family.” He smiled, turning toward your voice. “I do. Will you and RM stay together after you go back?” “It’s a little more complicated. He’s in the public eye there, a girlfriend could really do some damage to his career. He doesn’t have time for a girlfriend. Plus, there’s the language barrier. Sure, he speaks English, but I don’t actually speak Korean.” You looked at your hands, fidgeting a bit. “Besides, it was just a coincidence. Us meeting. It should never have happened in the first place.” He reached out, finding your hands in the first go. “But it did.” You sighed, shivering slightly and pressing his hand to your forehead affectionately. You had grown close to this version of Seokjin over the past couple of weeks as you helped Namjoon help him. The two of you were friends. Now you’d have to go back to your own reality where you’re just another fan-girl that they struggle to communicate with because you don’t speak much Korean. Actually, you’d probably get labeled a sasaeng and have to go in hiding. “Hey, it’s going to be alright,” Jin murmured, his other hand finding your face. “Breathe.” You tried to, but you were too wound up and anxious about returning. “RM.” He came over when Jin called, seeming to know that it was about you from the way Jin held your face. He pulled your head to his shoulder as Jin let go, then pulled you from your spot and onto his lap so he could hold you and comfort you. “Breathe,” He murmured, then starting humming softly. He had been doing it ever since you told him that you loved his voice, that you liked to listen to Mono and Reflection when you were stressed because it was oddly chill despite the deep and sad lyrics. You shivered and curled to bury your face in his neck, breathing him in one last time. “You’ll always have me,” He murmured. “It’s ready!” Hoseok called over, then seemed to regret interrupting you two. You nodded, sliding out of RM’s arms because he wasn’t expecting you to leave them. He quickly stood up, a hand on your back to steady you if you weren’t able to yourself. You didn’t look at him. “We should get home.” He tried to get you to look at him, but realized you weren’t going to. Finally, he settled for taking your hand and squeezing it before following you over to where the boys from this reality were waiting to send you back. Whatever they did, it worked fast. You fell back from the force into Namjoon’s arms and when you looked around, you were somewhere in Korea. He stared down at you, then looked up and blinked in surprise. “Uh…my dorm is just over there.” You swallowed hard. “I should get going. We don’t know how long we’ve been missing.” He smiled at you. “You’re still speaking in Korean.” You blinked, and sort of knew it was true. You switched to English, wondering what would happen if you tried to speak Korean after speaking English here. “I still need to go.” “Come inside, call your family.” He insisted, still speaking Korean. “Namjoon, they probably think that I kidnapped you. How are you going to explain to them that we ended up in an alternate reality?” He caught your hand as you tried to turn away. “Please don’t go. You’re the only one that…no one else will understand. Please don’t leave.” That’s when both of your phones started blowing up with missed calls and texts and other notifications. You both looked at your phones, then at each other. “Two months…” You swallowed hard. “Namjoon, we’re going to have to pretend we were kidnapped.” Namjoon nodded, and pulled you down the street. The two of you went quite the distance, to an area that seemed sort of sketchy. Then he called one of them back. “Hyung-nim?” You closed out the conversation, barely noting how Namjoon spun the situation before focusing on the texts you had received. You would have to call later, after everything here in Korea was taken care of. “Hey, you still with me?” His voice was gentle as he took your hands in his, searched your face with a look of concern, then sat beside you on the sidewalk and put an arm around your shoulders so he could pull you to him. “Sorry, y/n. I should have made sure you were out of the attack before we walked halfway across town.” You just whimpered slightly. “What if they blame me?” “I won’t let them,” He murmured. “They know you’re with me. I know you need to go back to your family, but I’ll need your help to get through all of this. For sanity.” Your heart ached at the familiar words, but you nodded slowly. “For sanity.” The words came out soft and somewhat reluctant. He seemed to shiver for a moment, then his hold on you tightened. His own breathing was shaky. A van pulled up and someone that must have been his manager got out and started asking Namjoon if he was okay and if you were okay, and just seeming really worried about him. “We woke up here, hyung-nim. I don’t know where we were before, or how we got here,” Namjoon lied, even though you could tell he didn’t want to. His manager seemed to accept this, coaxing the both of you up and into the vehicle as if worried the two of you would disappear. Since you had already done so once before, you supposed it wasn’t that big of a stretch. His manager asked about you, and Namjoon seemed to sense that you didn’t want to speak, not yet, so he spoke for you, including that you understood and spoke some Korean but that you were fighting off a panic attack. This was all followed by a trip to the police station, where you had to stay until the embassy representative arrived with some paperwork to help the process go more smoothly. Namjoon insisted on staying with you, despite his manager’s protest that the boys would want to see him. He had already talked to his family, but had yet to see the other boys. He looked at you, then at his manager. “She needs me right now.” And he was right, unfortunately, because you were having trouble making head or tails of anything and the longer the police questioned you, the more upset you got. You were surprised when the boys came into the police station, but Namjoon seemed even more surprised. He got up, quickly getting engulfed in hugs and greetings. You saw the embassy representative come back out after talking with the police, and looked at you. “We should get you to the airport.” You looked back at Namjoon, who was completely distracted by the guys, then you got up and followed her out to her car. The police had had your stuff from the hotel, and it was the only reason they had even known you were missing from what they said. And now you were heading home, far away from Namjoon. ———— “Hey, isn’t this the group you like?” Your best friend asked, showing you a song on her phone. “BTS. Yeah,” You replied, but your words sounded hollow. You hadn’t been able to listen to their music ever since you left Korea. You started crying every time. Your family thought it was just because you had been through some sort of trauma. “I like it. They have a new album coming out soon, right?” You shrugged. “I haven’t been paying attention lately.” She just nodded, then patted your back. “I have to go meet my boyfriend. I’ll see you Thursday?” “No. Mom’s taking me to visit my brother.” “Oh, okay. Well, I’ll see you soon then.” She bonked your head affectionately, then left. She’d been nice about the funk you found yourself in ever since. She was able to draw you from it every so often, but today was a bad day—the six-month anniversary of your return—and she must have been able to tell the minute she walked in that there was no pulling you out today. Instead she cuddled you and made quiet conversation every now and then while you both just sort of surfed different websites in each other’s presents. The v-live notification startled you, but you noticed the title of it and your heart skipped a beat. “[BTS] for sanity”. You tapped it, your hands shaking. “Ah, there we go. The notification is still so late,” He was saying, reading comments and waiting. “Yes, I’m doing well. Sorry I was gone for so long. Yes! The new album. I’m really excited for this one. It holds a lot of meaning for me. I recently read a book, it was placed in an alternate reality and a lot of what I learned there was really inspiring. I wondered if the characters managed to keep their ability after returning, and while thinking about everything that happened in that story, I wrote one of the songs on the album about the main characters. I hope you all listen to it and enjoy it.” You wanted to close it before the tears wouldn’t stop. It hurt so much just seeing him on the screen of your phone. To hear him referring to that time with you like this was almost unbearable. “It’s also my solo song on the album, so I really hope you all love it.” His eyes seemed to flick across the screen like he was looking for something. Like if he looked hard enough he might see… “The book? I can’t remember the title. It didn’t fit the story. The main character’s name was y/n, though. It was a great story, but the ending broke my heart. I…hope there will be sequel. I feel like I never got to say goodbye, you know?” He kept talking, moving on to other subjects so that his fans wouldn’t linger to long on his words. But you were crying. You were crying so hard that you couldn’t breathe and when your brother found you he quickly sat you up and called for your mom. You told her everything, and just demonstrating the fact that you could speak whatever language you wanted as fluently as you wanted was enough to convince her. She’d seen your grades in Spanish. She helped you cut that stuff out of your life, she helped you refocus. You started helping your brother house-hunt. So she took care of the actual story you had written based off of what had happened, just altered, and sent it to a couple agents while the you mostly focused on house hunting for your brother. Which was how you found yourself staring at the same house as the one in the alternate universe. It needed work, but your brother said he liked that, and that it was near his work and you had already agreed that you would live with him and cook and help him fix it up instead of having to rent an apartment. It was time to move on. But you weren’t even surprised when he appeared on your front porch one day. You had described the house to him back in the alternate reality, even told him the address, telling him why you would have made each of those choices in your own world. You weren’t surprised that he remembered, or had written it down. You had been sitting on the porch swing, a blanket draped over you as you looked over your newly published book. The van that pulled up your drive was pretty big, and you didn’t know anyone who drove one, which led you to be suspicious. When Namjoon got out and saw you, your heart soared and you could see him almost start to smile. You sat up as he hurried up the walkway and up the steps of the porch. “Y/n.” You kept your gaze down. “Don’t even think about denying that you love me because I read it. I read it and you do. That’s why you left without saying goodbye. I tried to catch you at the airport but I couldn’t. I meant to find you sooner, I swear. I just, I was just able to convince them that I needed you.” He then looked at the house. “Is it…?” “My brother’s. I…I couldn’t tie myself down no matter how hard I tried.” He brought your face up so he could look at you. “Hmm, looks like you’re suffering just as much as I am from being away from the person I’ve bonded my soul to. My y/n.” “It still doesn’t make sense for us to be together.” “I don’t care. I need you.” And you needed him. Even your mom was pointing out that you seemed better when you first got home than you did now. She had helped you cut them out because she thought it would help you, but when she saw that it made you worse… “I heard your song.” He smiled. “It’s about you.” “I know. I like that it wasn’t sad. It helps me sleep,” You murmured. He sat next to you, pulling you into his arms and starting to softly sing. You melted into him. “What made you come here?” “I remembered your words at the alternate version of me. You screamed at him to tell Jin how he really felt. You encouraged them when Jin thought he should let go. I realized that you’re Jin in this situation. You screamed at Namjoon because you saw yourself in Jin.” He tilted your chin up and kissed you. “I love you. I know it’s scary, but the company and the boys have our backs. We’ll get through whatever happens together.” You sighed, feeling all the tension leaving your body. You were tired of fighting against what felt right. “Okay.” “Really?” You nodded. “I love you, too. I’m…I’ve just been too scared.” “Our nightmares are over, baby. Come formally meet the guys?” He asked gently. You realized they were all peeking out of the van doors and windows. You looked up at him. “Anyone you especially want me to meet?” He realized you were teasing him about Jin and just shook his head, grinning and helping you up. “The only person I would ever bond my soul to is you.” You kissed him. “And I would choose you.” Suddenly a letter dropped onto the railing of the porch. The two of you looked at it in surprise, then you tentatively picked it up, noting your name on it. You opened it and smiled as you scanned over the letter, then poured the eight rings into your hand. “We’ve been invited to dinner,” You said, handing him the ring that matched yours—which was the only feminine looking ring in there. Namjoon grinned. “They’re going to freak out.” “Mmhmm, but they’ll have all of us. For sanity,” You smiled up at him, excitement bubbling up in you. He turned toward the van and waved for the guys to come up. “Tell the manager we’ll meet them at the hotel.” “Wonder if any of the other boys have soul-bonded since Namjoon returned?” He laughed at the idea. It was a beautiful sound.

Masterlist.  Part 1. Special: Little Problems  Masterpost  Part 3

#bts #bts fic #alternaterealityau #alternate reality nightmare fic #alternatereality!au #alternatereality!bts #kim namjoon #namjoon x reader

[marshmallow-phd]

The Experiments

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Experiment AU

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Exo (????)

Summary: You were a med school graduate who just wanted to help research cures for the world. Instead, what you got was a dream job at EXO Applied Sciences. That is, until you discover the secrets of Level Sixty-Six and the nine inhabitants that are stored down there….

Warning: nothing but... I’m sorry

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 I 15 I 16 I 17 I 18 I 19 I 20 I 21 I 22 I 23 I Final

You woke up well before dawn. Sleep hadn’t come easy and that worried you. Being exhausted was not an ideal state to be in. But you had no choice. Your brain had been running a majority of the night, worrying and imagining the worst. So much could go wrong, but death was now the scene you pictured the most. This time, you wouldn’t disregard that possibility.

Taking a deep you flipped over to your side. Junmyeon slept peacefully on the right side of the bed, undisturbed by your tossing and turning.

When he’d snuck into your room sometime after midnight, you had insisted that it was a bad idea. He’d been bunking with Sehun until Luhan arrived. Because of the lack of room for an extra body and being the good person he is, Junmyeon gave up his bed and had been crashing on the couch ever since. Using that as an excuse, he insisted that he needed a good night’s rest in order to be alert on the move. You couldn’t argue with that. And you wanted to know what it was like to sleep next to him. After his arrival, you certainly slept better, more peaceful. So much for pumping the breaks.

Reaching out to him, you lightly traced the outline of his cheekbone with your fingertips. His hair was curling on his forehead, making your heart flutter. Just as your fingers reached his nose, a hand flew out and captured yours.

Junmyeon’s eyes flickered open. He smiled at you sleepily.

“Good morning.” His voice was that quiet, raspy tone that was way more attractive than it ever should have been.

“Good morning,” you whispered back.

“How’d you sleep?”

You shrugged your one exposed shoulder. “Fine.”

Sighing, he scooted closer to you, releasing your hand and wrapping an arm around your waist. “Someone else can drive, you know? Maybe Luhan, if you’re too tired.”

“Sure,” you snorted. “But I’m pretty sure I have years of driving experiences on all of you. Besides, I’m fine. Really. As soon as I hop in that driver’s seat, I’ll be running on adrenaline. It’ll be okay.”

“Exactly. Everything will be okay.”

He could see right through you. All the boys were focused on getting to the headquarters and starting their life. None of them - at least to your limited knowledge - were worrying about the journey there. Not like you, who could think of nothing else.

After placing a kiss on your forehead, he removed his arm and stood up. He’d forgone a shirt last night, saying it was too warm, and you took this precious bubble of time to properly admire him. You couldn’t believe the cut of his muscles, their definition. How had he stayed in shape like that on a limited diet and confined space? Was it just his genetics? You really wanted to run your fingers over the raised squares on his stomachs and feel the muscles contract. For scientific purposes, of course.

“Are you going to get up?” he teased.

You scowled at him, throwing the covers off yourself. Everything was packed up already, save the shirt and jeans you’d folded on the dresser to wear today. Comfortable but moveable, just in case. Junmyeon also got dressed, you in the bathroom while he stayed out in the bedroom. Both ready for the day, you walked down together to the kitchen.

No one else was awake yet. You were thankful for that, for the little bit of alone time you could get. In silence, you started breakfast. Junmyeon occasionally helped, keeping an eye on the meat and helping set the island.

In groups of two, they all came down the stairs, most still half asleep with stifled yawns as they sat on the stools. To an outsider, it might have looked like a regular breakfast on an ordinary morning. The boys chatted away, talking about nothing of significance.

You took in this moment, appreciating every little thing you could. It was possible that there would be mornings similar to this inthe future, but never again would this exact setup exist.

So lost in your thoughts, you’d hardly touched your own breakfast. Junmyeon nudged you with his elbow and pointed at your plate with his eyes, silently insisting that you eat more. Giving him an appreciated grin, you finished off your food with a little force before starting on the dishes.

Minseok joined you soon after, completing the task in record time. Since that first night, Minseok had warmed up to you quiet a bit, even helping you keep on top of cleaning and refilling the SUV with gas from the extra canisters the night of the meeting. He was no longer hostile towards you, even smiling  and joking with you.

When everything was cleaned up to the point of looking like no one even lived there, everyone gathered in the front room, bags slinged across shoulders and prepared to leave. This was it. Time to move on.

“Let’s go.” You exited through the front door and waited for everyone to be out before you locked up the house and replaced the key under the fake rock where you’d found it before.

Everyone piled into the SUV in an orderly fashion. Luhan sat shotgun this time to help with navigation.

Your heart never slowed down, even as you found the road and followed Luhan’s instructions. Paranoia never left you. Every car that past you was possibly driven by someone from EXO. Every movement in the corner of your eye was an ambush. Part of you was annoyed with the boys who seemed so relaxed behind you. Most had fallen asleep, leaning on each other’s shoulders, some even cuddling up. They were so at ease, not fully understanding how they could be captured at any minute.

After five and a half hours, Luhan had you turn down a side road that was flanked by trees on either side. It took you deeper and deeper into a forest not to different from the one you left. After another ten minutes, Luhan told you to stop.

“Come on.” He unbuckled his seatbelt before getting out of the car.

You followed suit. At the sudden stop, the boys began to wake up and crawled out as well.

“What are we doing?” Chanyeol asked.

Shrugging, you turned to Luhan.

“The escort should be here,” he answered. “But they have to know it’s us before they’ll come out.”

Leaves rustled somewhere behind you and you turned around, thinking your allies had arrived. Oh, how wrong you were.

Eight men armed to the teeth with guns and dressed in the EXO black uniform stepped out of the forest from the left, weapons pointed at the group. Once again, you were surrounded by wolves in protective mode who blocked you from the enemy. A white van drove down the road at an agonizing pace, coming to a stop just twenty feet from you. The driver was hidden by the too-dark windshield, but the passenger swung open the door and stepped out oh-so casually, like she was meeting a friend for lunch.

“Dr. Wang,” you gasped.

All ten wolves immediately shrank back, reliving memories of the torture that woman had put them through.

“Hello, Dr. (l/n),” she smirked. Gone was her lab coat, but she was still dressed to the nines in her black slacks and not a hair out of place on her too-tight bun. “Good to see you again.”

“Just leave them alone!” you begged. “They’re human beings. They deserve their own lives.”

Dr. Wang tsked at you, shaking her head. “Dr. (l/n), you disappoint me. Here I thought you were a progressive researcher, wanting to help improve the human condition. Your betrayal hurt when I found out that you’d helped that traitor.”

“I’d do it again,” you said defiantly, resisting the urge to ask what she did with Marcus’ body. “After seeing what you were doing to them, I didn’t have a choice.”

“Oh, there’s always a choice,” she corrected. “You just chose to be manipulated by them. I thought you were stronger than that. But rereading your reports, the signs were there. How weak you were.”

You lunged forward, but strong arms held you back. “They did not manipulate me!”

Dr. Wang shrugged. “It doesn't matter. All of you are coming back with us. And maybe, (y/n), I’ll be generous and let you live in a cozy cell along with them. Or maybe I’ll just have a bullet put in your head.”

Deafening growls ripped through the crowd, even making you afraid of the anger behind them.

“You’re never going to touch her,” Junmyeon roared.

“Oh, Zero-One,” Dr. Wang shook her head, “you’ve disappointed me the most. You were always the most obedient.”

The muscles in his arms tightened. “It was that or be tortured.”

She smirked, amused by Junmyeon’s reply. Turning to her guards, she ordered, “Bring them here.”

The six guards started forward. With perfect timing, twenty more armed gunmen descended on the area in souped up ATVs that rivaled tanks, but instead of being hired by EXO, they were there to protect you. Ten on each side, they flanked your small group, outnumbering Dr. Wang’s men and keeping them at bay.

“Guess you shouldn’t go against the government, huh?” Luhan mocked.

Dr. Wang scowled. “You can’t just take my property. Do you understand how much money has gone into making you what you are?”

“Under the eyes of the law,” said one of the men on your side, although the voice was a higher pitch making you wonder if they were actually a female, “they are still human beings, unable to be labeled as property. The only way they’re going with you is if they walk over to your side themselves.” They seemed to be the leader given their patch was a different color than the rest.

“Oh, really?” Dr. Wang smirked. Her eyes trailed over the hybrids. “Zero-One?”

“Not a chance in hell,” Junmyeon scoffed.

An evil glint shined in her eyes and your heart sank. What was she about to do?

“Elyxion.”

Junmyeon stiffened as soon as that word left her lips. Straightening up, his eyes glossed over, empty of any sign of life. The blank look reminded you of the robots from the movies your father used to watch.

You gripped his upper arm. “Junmyeon?”

“Zero-One, come here,” Dr. Wang ordered.

Without hesitation, Junmyeon stepped forward. You tried to pull him back, but your strength was useless.

“Junmyeon, stop!” you yelled as he slipped out of your grip. You started after him, but Jongin wrapped his arms around your waist, stopping you from crossing over. “No! Let me go! Junmyeon! Come back! Junmyeon!”

Dr. Wang laughed as the hybrid stopped in front of her. “Good boy.” She looked to the leader. “Looks like at least one is coming here with me.”

“NO!” you screamed. You kicked, scratched, and fought with all your might to get Jongin to let go of you. “Junmyeon! Junmyeon, come back! Junmyeon!”

“We need to get out of here,” the leader hissed. “Now!”

Luhan nodded, turning to Jongin. “Get her in the van.”

You fought harder, determined not to leave Junmyeon behind. “No! Jongin, let me go! We can’t just leave him! Let me go!”

Tears had been streaming down your eyes for a while now, splashing down on Jongin’s arms. He ignored your pleas as Kyungsoo opened the side door. Jongin dragged you into the SUV and the other boys piled in as Luhan took the driver’s seat. He bolted out of there before the door was even closed. You were still trapped in Jongin’s arms as you tried to fight your way to the back, making no progress. The last thing you saw was Junmyeon standing beside Dr. Wang, staring after you blankly.

#exo #exo fanfiction #exo hybrid!au #exo hybrid au #exo scenario #exo x reader #exo x fem reader #xiumin #minseok #suho #junmyeon #lay #yixing #baekhyun #chen #jongdae #chanyeol #D.O. #kyungsoo #kai #jongin #sehun #the experiments

[isagrimorie]

[January Meme] - ‘If you could what would you change about the last season of POI’

“If you could, what would you change about the last season of POI (or another series)?” for @aurumcalendula

For season 5, I really think they needed a stronger villain and the team going up against Van Gogh wasn’t personal enough. Somehow Greer was declawed. If Team Machine went up with the Greer from season 3, things would have been a lot more interesting.

If Claire was the one to pull the trigger (I know broadcast TV wouldn’t stand for it) but, imagine if Claire— the one they were setting up as a mirror for Root, was the one who shot Root? Samaritan positioning Claire into becoming its own ‘Root’.

It would have been more personal and maybe even some thematic resonance.

(Although TBH, I wish they hadn’t killed Martine off in season 4 — sure it was cathartic then but can you imagine how much more cathartic it would’ve been if she died in season 5?).

I would seed the virus in a lot earlier, flag it for the viewers.

And then tie in Shaw’s return to the team with the realization Samaritan has truly gone global and their scope of work is even more terrible: Genetic testing, crop manipulations, etc.,

It turns out Shaw learned a lot more about Samaritan’s plans than it intended — Samaritan!Greer is talkative and Shaw used that to its advantage.

I would also extend the season up to at least, 16 to 18 episodes, and then change the AU episode into a true ‘There But For the Grace of God’ episode ala The Wish. Really explore what it’s like if things had gone differently.

I would also re-write the episodes where Harold ran away, I know it’s crucial for the Machine and Harold to bond but man it was so repetitive and didn’t add much to the story: ‘Let’s find Harold, Oh We Can’t Look For Him Yet. Oh Wait, He’s in the NSA, Oh Wait He’s Not — JK, He’ll come back on his own in the finale.’

I wanted them to do the ending as a team, I didn’t want any of the we’re going separate ways! For me, the best Team Machine vs Samaritan thing was in Symbolic Constant by Lithium Doll:

“I’m really … quite comfortable,” Harold lied. “It barely hurts now. And - and I must confess, I’m not entirely sure why you’re making such an effort. Clearly, things are not going as well as we’d hoped, it’s unlikely to matter in the end.”

She scowled, glaring as if he’d offended her.

And he had, he realized, by asking a question she hadn’t been given the tools to answer. He suddenly felt he’d been unspeakably cruel and opened his mouth to retract the question.

“Because I’m an idiot,” she snapped, before he could. “Because you and your ridiculous machine made me an idiot. Trying to make things better. Things will never get better - they’ll never letthem get better.

“And now I’m a dead idiot. And, worse, I’m okay with that, which just proves … I don’t know what it proves. You and Cole...” She was staring down at him, but whatever she was looking at was far away. Her eyes glinted.

“Because you paid me,” she finished, focusing on him again. “I already cashed this month’s check.”

“I see,” he said, oddly breathless now. “Well. I should probably arrange a raise. Or perhaps a small bonus. In the meantime…” He closed his hand over hers, stilling her work. “Find Ms. Gro – find Root. If you can. I’m sure she would appreciate your company.”

The nimble fingers that had been trying to stem the inevitable fell away. A blissful relief. And it wasn’t so bad, he thought. Not so bad really.

“Harold –“

“It has been … my great, great honor to work with you. Goodbye, Sameen.”

From inside her jacket, she drew his glasses. Huffed on one lens and then the other, then carefully as she’d ever cleaned her weapon, wiped the glass with her sleeve. He blinked when she settled them over his eyes; the world that had been blurred with indistinguishable shapes was now only scratched and distorted at the edges.

“It’s been fun,” she said as she hauled herself to her feet. “I’ll see you around, Harold.”

——

See— that’s what I wanted! For the team to be together, the sense of the tragic as they fell of one by one. I ended up liking the Angel of Death Machine!Root but man, can you imagine such an epic finale like this

#january meme 2019 #person of interest

[arofili]

Innumerable Stars 2021 Letter

Hello lovely creator, thanks for writing for me in Innumerable Stars 2020! I’m very excited and grateful for whatever you create for me <3

This letter will restate my DNWs, list my likes, give you a brief rundown of my canon preferences, and then dive into specific prompts for each of my requests. I’ll warn you upfront that I tend to ramble, so feel free to skip prompts that don’t interest you and/or use ctrl+F to search for whatever it is you want to write for. I’ve named each of my requests based on the basic idea within it, so hopefully that will be helpful for you!

~

Housekeeping

DNWs:

non-con/dub-con

ABO (heat fic is fine)

food involved in sex

abusive/neglectful parenting (especially not with Fëanor; Eöl is the only exception, but even then don’t dwell on it)

sibling incest and parent-child incest (cousin incest is fine)

unhappy/unhopeful endings (unless requested)

jealousy

possessiveness EXCEPT with Russingon, for some reason I love it with those two

cheating

character or ship bashing

hanahaki or any scenario where unrequited love is physically damaging

soulmates, especially soulmate AUs BUT soul bonds are excellent as long as there is an element of choice involved

unrequested modern AU

non-trans mpreg

if you are writing a slash ship where the characters are/were married to/involved with someone outside of the ship in canon, please don’t have the character(s) hate their spouse or not have been actually in love with them. The only exception to this is Finrod; I’m fine with him and Amárië not having been actually in love, but don’t do this for anyone else, especially not Fëanor.

Hobbit/LOTR-specific DNWs:

the concept of a dwarven “One”

any Fíli pairing, even in reference

Alfrid

Legolas or Gimli paired with anyone other than each other

mortals dying super quickly in Valinor

unrequested smut

Silm-specific DNWs:

evil/irredeemable/incel Maeglin

Elwing bashing

Fëanorian bashing

over-the-top Fëanorian apologism (they did bad stuff; it was at least partially their fault. you don’t have to address that, necessarily, but don’t rewrite the story to claim they were blameless)

Fingon with a wife

Fingon or Maedhros ships that don’t take Russingon into account (polyamory, an open relationship, Mae with someone after Finno dies or vice versa for an AU, them with other people while they’re separated on the Ice/in Angband - all of these scenarios are fine, but in the end I need them to be with each other first and foremost)

dark!Maedhros

elvish re-embodiment after death being an actual, literal rebirth that requires the characters to have a second childhood; I much prefer them being granted a new hröa in their prime (feel free to explore what “in their prime” means, though, especially wrt scarred and disabled elves)

~

Likes:

queer headcanons, especially aromantic-spectrum headcanons & trans/nonbinary headcanons

trans/nonbinary pregnancy and parenthood

found family

queerplatonic relationships

kidfic

angst with a happy ending

gray morality

explorations of magic

most tropes

fanon and fandom tropes

deconstruction/inversion of fanon and fandom tropes

secret relationships

secret kids (especially secret peredhil)

giving ships OC kids

confessions of love

first times

hurt/comfort

redemption, forgiveness, mercy

ironic foreshadowing

canon divergence AUs and X Lives AUs

fairy tale AUs

politics and scheming

resolving conflicting canonical details

names fitting the time period (Quenya names in Valinor, please; if this is difficult for you, that’s okay, no pressure, but I do strongly prefer it)

choice of character names having a lot of thought put behind them (does the character go back to their original Quenya name upon rebirth? or do they keep their Sindarin name? or come up with something else entirely? do they hate their new Sindarin name and resent having to use it, or do they embrace it? As long as you put some thought into it, I’m sure I’ll like whatever you decide!)

author’s notes where you explain your thought process, if you want; I love hearing how the story took shape!

~

Preferences re: canon:

LaCE compliance is always completely optional. If you do want to include it, that’s great, but if you just want the characters to fuck without having that be an issue, go for it. I love explorations of LaCE that take into account the exceptions, boundaries, definitions, etc; I also love takes that emphasize that they are Laws and Customs, not biological imperatives.

I’m not picky about my Amrod deaths. He can die at either Losgar or Sirion (or, hell, some other time/place if you make it interesting enough!), whatever works best for the story. I do like Lightly Toasted Amrod, aka he almost burns to death at Losgar but survives/gets rescued at the last minute.

Gil-galad theories are all very fun. Please don’t make him the son of Fingon and a wife; if he’s Fingon’s son, I want Maedhros to be involved at least a little bit (adoption or trans mpreg are both fine in this scenario). Otherwise, I don’t have a particular preference, though if it’s not really relevant I usually default to the son of Orodreth (who is in turn the son of Angrod).

Honestly, when it comes to theories and headcanons, my rule of thumb is “convince me”! I’m down for whatever, for the most part, as long as you can justify it :)

~~~

LOTR Books Request

Gigolas tags: Gimli, Legolas, Group: Gimli & Legolas, Group: Gimli/Legolas, Group: Gimli/Legolas & Glóin, Group: Gimli/Legolas & Thranduil, Group: Legolas & Aragorn & Gimli, Group: Glóin & Thranduil, Original Dwarf of Aglarond, Original Elf of Ithilien Suggested worldbuilding tags: Battle of Dale, Differences in Elvish & Dwarvish Histories, Fall of Dol Guldur, Interspecies Relationships, Queerplatonic Relationships, Rebuilding of Ithilien

All Gigolas is good Gigolas, and you can quote me on that - but I do have a soft spot for queerplatonic Gigolas, and I might die of happiness if you wrote me some :) I love elf/dwarf relationships, and cultural differences leading to miscommunication is one of my favorite tropes for this ship.

For the “& Thranduil” and “& Glóin” I’d love to see some “telling the family” scenarios, with Thranduil and Glóin coming to terms with their sons’ relationship. For “& Aragorn” I was imagining a Three (or Four, if you want to keep Boromir alive!) Hunters situation with Aragorn third wheeling them (and/or commiserating with Boromir about how terrible their friends are at expressing their feelings).

I’m very interested in Legolas and Gimli’s new homes post-War, how much time they spent visiting each other and how much time they spent apart, etc. I would love to see an outside POV of Gigolas, what their friends and subordinates think of this odd couple; perhaps an elf of Ithilien and a dwarf of Aglarond strike up a friendship and gossip about their lords! I’d also be interested in Gimli and Legolas visiting their original homes, meeting one another’s parents, and helping rebuild after the Battle of Dale / Fall of Dol Guldur.

I would also love to see an exploration of dwarf/elf relationships and the difficulties that would arise from that. Legolas’ father is a Sinda of Doriath who remembers the Battle of the Thousand Caves, and I headcanon that Gimli’s mother is descended from the dwarves of Nogrod who were involved in that debacle, so them coming to terms with that difficult history (and how that history differs) between their peoples would be really interesting.

~

Gildor Inglorion

...okay, so this is technically a Silm request dressed up as a LOTR request, but I would really love to see an exploration of Gildor’s origins! I have a few concepts for how he can be  “of the House of Finarfin,” mostly relating to this Inglor figure who is his father. I think Inglor was either the son of Finrod and trans!Bëor (and thus the first peredhel) or the son of Aegnor and Andreth; either way, he was raised mostly by Finrod. But who is Inglor’s spouse/Gildor’s other parent? (Edrahil, maybe?) How did Gildor survive the Fall of Nargothrond, or was he born afterwards? Where did he live in the Third Age? Who was awaiting him when he arrived in Aman?

~

Took Fairy Wife

I think this concept is fascinating, and I’d love to hear the story of a hobbit/elf romance! Perhaps Pippin or Frodo tell this story to the Fellowship? I also have the headcanon that since Durin I “woke alone,” his spouse was also an elf, so maybe Gimli could throw in that legend as well.

~

Group: Last Prince of Cardolan/Lady of the Blue Brooch Suggested worldbuilding tags: Barrow-downs and Barrow-wights, Necromancy and Hauntings, Sentient Weapons & Jewelry

I’ve recently become a little bit obsessed with the concept of the Last Prince and the Lady of the Blue Brooch being star-crossed lovers. We have conflicting accounts of the Last Prince’s demise, and I’d love to see those reconciled into one story; we also know that the Prince was buried in the barrow-downs, where the Lady’s blue brooch was found. How did that end up there - was it a token she gave to him before his death? Did she visit his grave after it was too late? How did Tom and Goldberry know her? Maybe they are the ones to tell this story to some hobbitish traveler through the Old Forest... I do have my own version of this story, if you’d like to borrow some ideas from there, but feel free to make up your own thing too!

~

Group: Eldarion/Elboron

I just think they’re cute :) I like the idea that Eldarion’s heir is not his own child, but the child of one of his sisters, and that Elboron had a sister who was the parent of Barahir of Ithilien, so these two can be gay together. Of course, you could also make one of them trans and have Eldarion’s heir and Barahir be siblings! Or you can explore the beginnings of their relationship - just a cute get-together story would be wonderful.

~

Worldbuilding: Arwen reforged Narsil

This is such a neat concept - I would love to see Fëanorian Arwen (bc Kidnap Dads) going full smith mode and personally reforging Narsil into Andúril for her boyfriend. Arwen embracing her dual kinship as both the descendant of Lúthien and the descendant of Maedhros and Maglor would be amazing (especially if Maglor is hanging around in Rivendell). Bonus points if Narsil used to be Maedhros’ sword, and that’s how it got passed down to Elros!

~~~

Hobbit Movies Request

Kiliel tags: Fíli, Kíli, Tauriel, Group: Fíli & Kíli, Group: Kíli/Tauriel, Group: Kíli/Tauriel & Fíli Suggested worldbuilding tags: Almost Everyone Lives AU, Kíli's Runestone, Worldbuilding: Tauriel goes to Erebor AU

I’m a basic bitch when it comes to Kiliel stuff: give me fluff, give me angst with a mostly-happy ending, give me Fíli being exasperated by his brother’s romantic drama! I would be interested in an AU where Thorin dies but Fíli and Kíli survive, and King Fíli has to deal with Kíli’s love life causing political problems; I’d also love to see an AU where Tauriel goes to Erebor with Kíli, Fíli, Bofur, and Óin after the lakeshore scene. And anything surrounding the magic of Kíli’s runestone would be very welcome - perhaps it really was cursed/enchanted, and by giving it to Tauriel, Kíli lost the protection Dís had placed upon him and passed it to her. What if Tauriel had returned it before the end - would Kíli have lived, and she died? Or, in a canon scenario (in this case, full angst is welcome) what if Tauriel and Dís met and talked about the stone and its properties?

~

Hilda Bianca

I just think she’s neat. I’d love to see her getting involved in the politics of a rebuilt Dale, either collaborating with or causing problems for Bard. Her being a mentor figure for Sigrid and Tilda would also be great.

~~~

Book of Lost Tales Request

Group: Ómar & Salmar

Ómar Amillo and Salmar Lirillo were brothers in early stages of the Legendarium - I would love to see that explored in a more Slim-compliant verse, where they are both Maiar. Ómar could be a Maia of Ulmo, like Salmar is, or a Maia of some other Vala. Music and water are intrinsically connected in Arda’s makeup, so Ómar as a being of song and Salmar as a being of water would be really cool to see explored somehow!

~

Meril-i-Turinqi

Another really neat character!! I headcanon that she is the child of a grandson of Olwë and a granddaughter of Ingwë. How did she rise to power on Tol Eressëa? What are her relationships with her great-grandfathers? Is she friends with other influential elf-women - perhaps Elenwë or Amárië or Galadriel?

~~~

Silm Requests Russingon Request

Russingon tags: Maedhros, Fingon, Group: Fingon/Maedhros, Original Character from Himring, Group: Fingon/Finrod/Maedhros Suggested worldbuilding tags: Elven Gender Constructs, Hair and customs/kinks around it, LaCE as a social construct, Melotorni & Meletheldi, Onnalúmë

Russingon is my OTP, I just love them a lot!! I adore both plot-heavy explorations of their characters and relationship and more slice-of-life fluff/angst/porn stuff without any particular story behind it. If I need comfort fic this pairing is my go-to, and I’d love to have more of that to come back to. PWP would be welcome; plot is also excellent and I’m sure to enjoy that too. I’m always a sucker for falling in love / confessions of love / first times, but ESPECIALLY for Russingon; the beginning of their love story is something I’ll never get tired of. Established relationship, reunions (after the Ice/Angband or after time spent apart in Hithlum/Himring or after leaving the Halls or another scenario) are also amazing. The secret relationship aspect of this ship is very fun, both keeping things secret and having their secret come to light. If you wanted to invert that trope, though, I would definitely enjoy that; something like a fake dating AU or an arranged marriage AU or a situation where they get pregnant and have to tell people. It would also be great to see them trying (and failing) to keep their relationship a secret while they are in Beleriand - outsider POV from a resident of Himring would be great here! I like scenarios where they’re married, and I like scenarios where they’re not married, whichever floats your boat will be excellent. Honestly, I’m likely to enjoy almost any Russingon content you write; I just… *clenches fist* love them… If you wanted to explore a queerplatonic interpretation of them that would be really cool, but I do love love love romantic/sexual Russingon and would be overjoyed to have any content about them! In my DNW I mentioned that I don’t like the concept of soulmates (for Aro Reasons) so please steer clear of that, but having Mae and Finno choose each other over and over again and that affecting their soul bond/mental connection might just bring me to tears ;-;

I adore Fingon on his own - he’s brave and valiant and good-hearted and deserved better ;-; If you wanted to write a Fingon-focused story that touches on his time as a prince or a king or adjusting to re-embodied life in Valinor or his relationships with people other than Maedhros, I am sure to love that.

Maedhros is probably my favorite character in the Silm. I love his character arc, the fire symbolism, his trauma and recovery, his relationship with his brothers and his cousins, his time helping Maglor care for Elrond and Elros - really all of his story. For this exchange I’d rather not receive a fic focused on his time in Angband or his death; I can enjoy fics about that, but I’m looking for something a bit happier here. Art of Maedhros in those situations would be okay.

When it comes to throwing Finrod into the mix with Russingon, what I’m really looking for is some smut, tbh. Maedhros and Fingon are ridiculously in love, and Finrod is a bit of a hoe, and I can’t believe there wasn’t at least one time they had a threesome. Finrod getting fucked by both of them at once would be excellent. Finrod is canonically friendly with the Fëanorians in Beleriand and goes hunting with Maglor and Maedhros, maybe this is a time where it’s Fingon instead of Maglor and they fuck in the woods, or Maedhros and Fingon visit Nargothrond, or Maedhros and Finrod visit Barad Eithel, or Fingon and Finrod visit Himring. Is this a planned encounter? Something spontaneous? Is Finrod seducing them both, or are they inviting him in? Did Maedhros and Finrod have a fling in Valinor, or did Finrod and Fingon find comfort together on the Ice, or both? I’d love to see where you take this!

When it comes to the worldbuilding tags, I’d love to see an exploration of gender and sexuality in relation to Russingon. I adore trans depictions of both Maedhros and Fingon, so that would be extremely welcome - you can also explore how elvish gender concepts differ from our understanding of gender and transness (I mused about that a bit in this post, along with thoughts on elvish naming traditions, if you’re looking for inspiration). LaCE is such a tricky topic, and I would definitely be interested in Mae and Finno experimenting sexually and discovering what is and isn’t biological about those concepts, and what is actually a cultural construct the elves have adhered to over time. Hair customs (what braids mean, hair coverings, etc) are really interesting - and a GREAT opportunity to include some hair kink! I mean, Finno has those gold braids and Mae’s name “Russandol” refers to his hair, I bet they are into each other’s hair.

Regarding the concept of melotorni, I can easily see that as either gay-coding or queerplatonic love; I’d love to see either or both those options explored with Russingon. (As for meletheldi, I mean, if you wanted to make them girls I would be super down for that too. I’m okay with genderbending, though I do prefer trans/nb headcanons, and I definitely don’t want them genderbent to be “straight.”) And as for Onnalúmë - well, that’s just heat fic, isn’t it? ;)

The bottom line for Russingon is that I Love Them and they love each other, and for this request I’d love PWP, fluff, hurt/comfort, falling in love, getting together, reunion, established relationship - really almost anything with them would absolutely make my day!

~

Russingon & kids tags: Gil-galad, Erien, Group: Erien & Gil-galad, Group: Fingon/Maedhros & Erien, Group: Fingon/Maedhros & Erien & Gil-galad, Group: Fingon/Maedhros & Gil-galad, Group: Erien & Faniel Suggested worldbuilding tags: Elven Naming Traditions, improbable parentages for Gil-Galad

The only thing I love more than Russingon is Russingon with KIDS!! I’m a sucker for Russingon as the fathers of Gil-galad, and recently I’ve decided to adopt Erien, a discarded daughter of Fingon, into my personal canon as a Russingon daughter. Exploring either Gil or Erien’s relationship with their dads would be wonderful - and, if they exist in the same universe, their relationship with each other!! (I recently wrote a novel-length fic about Erien being Tauriel, if you’d like to borrow some concepts from there, but that’s certainly not my “usual” interpretation of either of them so feel free to make up your own Erien origin story too!) I was very excited to see that someone else nominated an Erien relationship - Erien and Faniel is a great concept! I usually headcanon Faniel as the daughter of Findis and Elemmírë and the younger sister of Glorfindel, but if you have a different origin story for her that would be really neat as well. Discarded Finwëan daughters ftw! Russingon having kids would be a great place to explore elven naming traditions, how gay elves would name their kids (two father-names??), and maybe the Fëanorian tradition of -finwë names :p I definitely selected the “improbable parentages for Gil-galad” with trans!Russingon in mind, but if you’ve got another situation (that one fic where Finrod, Fingon, and Maedhros do Weird Science with a Maia comes to mind...), be my guest.

~

Kidnap Dads tags: Elrond, Group: Elrond & Elros, Group: Elrond & Gil-galad, Group: Maglor & Maedhros & Elrond & Elros Suggested worldbuilding tags: Choice of the Peredhil

I threw in Kidnap Dads into this request as well :) I firmly believe this relationship was, in the end, mostly a positive one despite the rocky beginning - I don’t want to see E&E hating M&M, and I also don’t want to see them resenting their birth parents either (however, their bio parents interacting with their foster parents in awkward/humorous situations would be great). Fluff would be wonderful, but some post-WoW angst would be welcome as well. Elrond and Gil-galad Russingonion considering each other brothers because of their shared father Maedhros is a favorite headcanon of mine! I really would love to see a focus on Maedhros and the E twins; Maglor can of course be involved, but I’m more interested in Maedhros as a character.

Some possible scenarios: an official adoption ceremony, cultural differences, M&M giving E&E some more names / teaching them Quenya, sharing traditions, Maedhros teaching the twins some skill (cooking? swordfighting? embroidery?), the twins being Weird (either because they’re part human or part Maia) and M&M learning to deal with that, Elrond reuniting with Maedhros in Valinor, Elrond getting adopted by M&M’s spouses (Maglor’s spouse and/or Fingon), AU where Maedhros lives and is around for E&E’s later lives

Exploring the Choice of the Peredhil would also be great. How did being raised with M&M affect E&E’s decisions when it came to their Choices of kindred? Were there any Men in the remnants of the Fëanorian host, and did that affect their Choices? 

And since this is technically under the umbrella of the Russingon request, of course Maedhros telling E&E about his husband would be amazing. (And quite probably heartbreaking, too...)

~~~

Maeglin Request

Reminder that I am not at all interested in irredeemable/evil Maeglin; I am a known Maeglin sympathizer and I will not apologize for that.

Maeglin & Fëanorians tags: Maeglin, Group: Dwarves & Maeglin, Group: Caranthir & Dwarves & Maeglin, Group: Maeglin & Fëanorians Suggested worldbuilding tags: Cross-Species Mentorships, Differences between Dwarf craft and Elf craft, Elven magic and art and technology, Maeglin Adopted by Fëanorians AU

I would adore an AU where Maeglin is adopted by the Fëanorians!! Maybe Maeglin escapes to Himring instead of Gondolin after his capture, and Maedhros helps him deal with Angband trauma? (I know that doesn’t really make sense timeline wise, you figure out the details, lmao. Maybe it’s actually taking place in Ossiriand, idk, or the timelines get moved around.) Otherwise, I’d love to see a younger Maeglin interacting with the Three Cs and dwarves!! A focus on craft and smithing would be wonderful, in that scenario.

~

Maeglin in Gondolin tags: Turgon, Group: Anairë & Maeglin, Group: Fingolfin & Maeglin, Group: Eärendil & Maeglin, Group: Idril & Maeglin, Group: Idril/Maeglin/Tuor, Group: Maeglin & Rôg Suggested worldbuilding tags: Metal Dragons

I think Maeglin’s relationship with emotionally repressed Turgon was difficult because of miscommunication, but they did love and care for one another. A version of events where Idril and Maeglin were friends before she found out about his feelings for her, or where they can work through that, would be really interesting to read. I love the idea of Maeglin begrudgingly coming to love Eärendil even though he’s Tuor’s child; I think that Eärendil’s mithril coat was made by Maeglin as a precaution against himself and the curse Morgoth placed upon him (I also think this is the origin of Bilbo’s mithril coat). Rôg is usually depicted as an Angband escapee; him noticing something wrong with Maeglin and figuring out about his capture would be a great story. Idril/Maeglin/Tuor is a great concept, especially Maeglin being upset about Idril and Tuor’s marriage because he’s in love with both of them - a threesome where finally gets what he wants (and some consensual rough treatment??) would be excellent. Also, some post-reembodiment fic where Maeglin gets to meet his grandparents would be amazing!! As for the metal dragons, some focus on Maeglin’s craft combined with the magics of Sauron and Morgoth would be really interesting. I would prefer if it Maeglin’s time in Angband was Pretty Bad (though I’d rather not have torture depicted on the page), and show him struggling with the excitement of being able to bring these incredible creations to life versus the knowledge that Sauron and Morogth can and will abuse him to get what they want. I’m not particularly interested in a sympathetic portrayal of Sauron and Morgoth.

~

Maeglin, Túrin, and Tyelpë tags: Túrin, Group: Celebrimbor/Maeglin, Group: Turin & Anglachel, Group: Maeglin & Anguirel, Group: Maeglin/Túrin Suggested worldbuilding tags: Bedazzling as a love language, Celebrimbor forging Gurthang, Sentient Weapons & Jewelry

OKAY so Maeglin/Turin is my rarepair OTP and I would absolutely die of happiness if you wrote this ship! For this request I’m envisioning a scenario where Maeglin goes to Nargothrond and that’s where he encounters Túrin. I’m also interested in Maeglin/Tyelpe, so throwing him into the mix would be fabulous. One of my favorite aspects of this ship is Maeglin and Túrin’s connections to Anguirel and Anglachel, so having them bond over that (maybe a literal bond...like a soul bond or something???? enforced by the semi-sentient swords??) would be excellent. I definitely believe Celebrimbor was the one to reforge Anglachel into Gurthang, so that could be a way of getting him involved. (Him ~bedazzling~ the sword as a way of flirting with Túrin would be hilarious; or just smiths bedazzling their creations to impress each other in general, lmao.) It’s also quite likely that in this scenario that Maeglin arrived in Nargothrond with Celegorm, Curufin, and Celebrimbor (and possibly Aredhel, though I was kind of envisioning her as dead in this scenario, RIP - or otherwise not present, much like how C&C have been banished by the time Túrin shows up), so he would have a preexisting relationship with Tyelpë. Maybe they broke up? Maybe they’re awkwardly pining and Túrin is what brings them together? Or some other situation. This ship is doomed no matter how you twist it, and so digging into the dramatic irony of it all would be delicious; happy endings are optional for this request.

~

Maeglin & Aredhel in Himlad & Nargothrond tags: Aredhel, Group: Aredhel & Oromë, Group: Celegorm/Aredhel & Maeglin & Curufin & Celebrimbor, Group: Curufin/Finrod & Celebrimbor Suggested worldbuilding tags: Aredhel and Maeglin Remain in Himlad, Aromantic Aredhel

This is kind of similar to the previous request, but with a focus on Aredhel, Celegorm, and Curufin as well as Maeglin and Celebrimbor. I would love an AU where Maeglin and Aredhel go to Himlad instead of Gondolin, and eventually end up in Nargothrond - I really can’t get enough of this concept! What happens with Eöl; does Curufin actually kinslay him this time? How do Maeglin and Tyelpë get along? My Aredhel is always aromantic, but I do ship her and Celegorm as FWB (though maybe Celegorm’s caught feelings somewhere along the line...) - how does Maeglin feel about her rekindling that relationship? I’d definitely be interested in a story about Celebrimbor being a Curufinrod baby (trans!Curvo ftw), so that would make returning to Nargothrond extra tense and emotional. As for Aredhel and Oromë, I have this headcanon that Anairë gave all her children Valar-related mother-names, and that Aredhel was named Írissë Aldarindë after Oromë Aldaron. How does she feel about that name and her connection to Oromë? I don’t think she ever actually joined his Hunt like Celegorm did; why is that? Did Celegorm discourage because he’d adopted his father’s anti-Valar sentiment and left the Hunt? Did she just get involved too late, and then the Darkening happened? How do her and Celegorm’s relationships with their patron Vala differ in Beleriand? I think they were both Kinslayers at Alqualondë, but Celegorm is bound by the Oath and Aredhel isn’t - how does that affect things? Can Aredhel and Maeglin’s presence change how Finrod’s demise goes down? All sorts of fascinating things you could explore!

~~~

Misc. Silm Request

Cuiviénen tags: Original Awakened Elf of Cuiviénen (Silm) Suggested worldbuilding tags: In-universe Origins of LaCE, LaCE as a Horror Concept, LaCE as a social construct, LaCE-compliant soulbonding, Non-romantic/sexual Soul Bonds

I’d love to see an exploration of how LaCE came to be, which parts of the rules around marriage and children and re-embodiment are social constructs and which are innate to the fëa and hröa, and/or relationships that defy the norms. If your take on the laws is hetero/cisnormative, how does that affect queer elves? If your take is free of bigotry, what are the flexibilities around queerness, including asexuality and aromanticism? Laws and customs and rules always have loopholes and exceptions, so what do elves who don’t fit into the expected relationship mold do about these norms?

How do soul bonds work on a metaphysical level? Can they be broken? Do they have to be nurtured and maintained? What’s long-distance communication like? Heck, what’s short-distance communication like, is it like talking in your mind or sharing your feelings or more abstract than that? Can elves form soul bonds with mortals? And most importantly—how did elves figure out they could soul bond with one another?? I can imagine that would be quite a shock when they’re discovering sex and then suddenly they’re inside each other’s minds! This could easily be tied into the “LaCE as Horror” tag; especially if the characters were not expecting it or the bond was being abused. (If you do decide to explore abuse, I would prefer you use OCs rather than canon characters, unless you want to write Eöl abusing Aredhel or Sauron abusing Celebrimbor. In any case, please be careful with that kind of relationship, I am quite sensitive to abuse in fiction even if I am interested in this subject.)

For non-romantic and/or non-sexual soul bonds: Explore sibling bonds, twin bonds, parent-child bonds, queerplatonic bonds, found family bonds, adoption bonds, the bond between a Vala and their Maia…any kind of soul bond that is familial or platonic or chosen without regard to romance! (Feel free to take a canon romantic relationship and turn it queerplatonic, I live for that shit!) How are these bonds formed outside of sex? What are the rituals and ceremonies around forming them? Is it a public or private thing? Are non-romantic soul bonds taken seriously, or are they seen as less important than marriage bonds? Since elven parents literally give part of their soul in the creation of the child, is that parent-child bond innate? What are traditions around elven adoption? Are there soul bonds created between the adoptive parents and children? Was adoption even a thing in Aman, or is it only practiced in Middle-earth? Did elves adopt mortals and vice versa? Is adoption extended to found family other than a parent-child situation? How is adoption viewed by elvish society, especially if inheritance/succession is a concern?

~

Turgoldo tags: Group: Finrod/Turgon, Group: Mariners send by Turgon to Aman Suggested worldbuilding tags: Songs of Power

This is my rarepair to end all rarepairs tbh. I honestly don’t know why these two are not shipped more! I am desperate for any and all content with them, I am not picky at all, I just love them.

Fun times in Aman before things get dark and serious would be lovely, I think in that context their relationship would be more casual (or at least they’re trying to make it casual and that leads to hurt feelings). I’d rather not focus on their relationships with their canon love interests, mostly because I’m not a fan of stories about jealousy (also because I see both Finrod and Amarië as gay and together mostly for convenience’s sake AND/OR they’re in a queerplatonic relationship, not a romantic/sexual one), but I do ship Elenwë/Amarië so those two having some sort of polyamorous arrangement with Finrod and Turgon could be fun. But feel free to just ignore any of that and depict Finrod and Turgon together without their respective ladies!

If you go into Beleriand times, I like: Turgon grieving Elenwë and finding solace with Finrod; whatever went down that night by the river they never wanted to talk about again; helping each other build their hidden kingdoms; Finrod sneaking into Gondolin maybe??; repressed Turgon being angsty about discovering his bisexuality and Finrod either helping him or making things more complicated; Finrod missing Turgon and trying to distract himself in Nargothrond (maybe in combination with another Finrod ship? honestly I ship Finrod with any dude that moves, feel free to put your own spin on his relationships, though I would prefer a focus on Turgon/Finrod for this request). Post-reembodiment scenarios would also be great.

Or maybe you want to do an AU with them! Supernatural creatures? Some other fantasy setting? A space opera? Honestly the only AU I wouldn’t be interested in is a modern AU, I’m very picky with my Silm Modern AUs. Honestly like I said earlier, I would love ANY content with Finrod and Turgon, you’d make me very happy if you depicted them together!! Feel free to ignore any of the stuff I said if you’ve got a better idea!!

Regarding the mariners sent to Aman: maybe Turgon is trying to pass a message along to a re-embodied Finrod along with the general cry for help to the Valar? And for “Songs of Power” I was thinking about Finrod’s rap battle with Sauron, and if there was any precedent for him being musically/magically powerful before then that Turgon could have witnessed.

~

Misc. worldbuilding tags: HoME/UT backstories and events that contradict the Silm, Dragons hunted for their leather, Ossiriand and the Laiquendi

I love incorporating other drafts of stories into the “main” version of the Silm! Please feel free to tweak early concepts to fit the later Legendarium, and definitely explain yourself in the author’s notes, I love that shit.

I can totally see dragons or adventurous Avari hunting dragons for their hides. You could also maybe explore this with the corpse of Smaug in the Long Lake; dwarves harvesting scales as a precious resource, or something?

In writing my recent Tauriel longfic I came to love the Laiquendi of Ossiriand. I’d love to see a nuanced exploration of their cultures - who were their leaders after Denethor? Were they really all nonviolent, or did some fight in self-defense or choose to join the Union of Maedhros? What was their relationship with the Fëanorians, both before and after the Nírnaeth? Do they consider themselves Avari? Do other elves consider them Avari?

~~~

Númenor Request

Early Númenor tags: Group: Elros/Elros's Wife (Silm)

Idk, I just think they’re cute. I have an OC for Elros’ wife that I love, and it would be awesome if you wrote something with her! Or you can use your own OC, whatever you’d like :)

~

Late Númenor tags: Group: Amandil & Ar-Pharazon & Tar-Míriel, Group: Inzilbêth & Tar-Míriel, Group: Míriel & Tar-Míriel, Group: Elwing & Tar-Míriel Suggested worldbuilding tags: Númenórean Settlements in Middle-earth, Peredhil Heritage in Numenor’s art & culture (Silm)

Amandil, Pharazôn, and Míriel’s childhood friendship is really interesting to me (especially if you throw in Elentír as well!). Would love to see how that dynamic changes over time, Pharazôn’s time conquering in Middle-earth, and their varying opinions about their heritage as the descendants of peredhil. I’m not really interested in portrayals of Pharazôn and Míriel’s relationship as healthy or even consensual; I’d rather you didn’t dwell too much on the abusive aspect, but even when I incorporate the story of Elentír I like to preserve the narrative present in the Silm where Pharazôn takes Míriel to wife against her will.

I never really thought much about Inzilbêth and Míriel, but now I definitely am! How does Míriel feel about her faithful grandmother? I see Míriel as not particularly faithful in the Valar, not like her father, but more politically against the King’s Men; does Inzilbêth try to instill faith into her granddaughter like she did her son?

I’m not sure how Míriel Þerindë or Elwing would interact with Tar-Míriel (perhaps Míriel Þerindë weaves her story? or they meet in Mandos before Tar-Míriel leaves to receive the Gift of Men? - maybe Elwing watches over her descendants from Eärendil’s ship, or flies to visit Númenor before its fall?) but I’m now interested in how that might happen, and what kinds of advice they would pass on to her. Also, if you go with Tar-Míriel and Míriel Þerindë, I’d love to see a silver-haired Tar-Míriel to mirror Þerindë! (also, “fairer than silver or ivory or pearls” makes a great image for a silver-haired Tar-Míriel)

~

Tar-Silmariën AU tags: Worldbuilding: Silmariën Becomes Queen of Númenor AU

GOSH everything would have been SO different if she had been able to rule! Would her descendants have been corrupted like her brother’s? Would Aldarion and Erendis’ marriage end so badly if he didn’t have the pressure of kingship? If the roles in the Amandil-Pharazôn-Míriel dynamic were reversed, how would that change things? Would Sauron get involved? There are SO many directions you could take this, I’d love to see any of them!

~~~

Alright, that’s the end of my prompts/requests! Thanks for reading this far, and whatever you end up writing for me I am super excited to read it!! And if you have questions or ideas or something, my askbox is open and I have anon messages on, I’d love to talk! Thank you again for creating for me, you are the best! <3

#is21 #exchange letter

[sl-walker]

I only hesitate because I'm not super familiar with your AUs yet! Sometime I really will read All of It, I just don't know where to start!! Anyway, um, that said ... is Savage in any of them? Because I'd like to see two of him and Savage: gift exchange and baking Christmas cookies. Probably Savage is baking them and Maul is helping, for whatever value of "help" inspires you, LOL

I always recommend Witness me first because it’s sort of my ‘prime’ verse, and really, you can read it in order.  If you prefer lighter fare, sort of fluffy and sweet you can also read Taking Flight in order.  ( @shadowmaat and @doorsclosingslowly are also authors in that series.)  And while GoT:A doesn’t have nearly the audience, it’s pretty dear to my heart because I love how comparatively stable and such that he is in that one.  It’s more scattered, but it’s here.  Really, though, if you’re serious about wanting to read, just start at the beginning of Witness me and see where the mood takes you. XD

That being said, in the future after Gambit, Savage is around in Taking Flight (there’s quite some time before he makes it into Witness me), so!  Without further ado, have some brotherly fluff and a lot of Maul introspection.

Apparently, Nightbrothers on Dathomir had holidays.

Maul hadn’t known that; he wasn’t raised there and had no memory of the place, but he had two brothers and with every day that passed since they had come into his life, he grew closer to them.  Slowly, he got used to the mere concept of having blood family; it was such a foreign thing at first that he had a hard time figuring out how to relate to it, but as time went on, he was getting-- better at it, he thought.

It wasn’t easy; Savage had known nothing but Dathomir from birth.  He had no real understanding of the wider world than that, and it often showed.  More than once, Maul caught him trying so very hard to catch up and grasp such a wide galaxy, so much wider than one village and the surrounding areas on one back-water world, and it was-- it was hard watching Savage struggle with it.  He was intelligent enough, it wasn’t that; he just wasn’t raised like Maul was.  He was grown when he left Dathomir to try to save his little brother; even if Maul had spent his first seven years (or six) on Mustafar, isolated and alone, he was educated in how big the universe was, at least.

For Savage, though, it was gods and goddesses; it was Nightsisters and disappearing males and the quiet terror of the day he was chosen.  It was hunting and raising children.  It was fighting, and weighing his worth on his ability to provide and protect.

 It was a strange thing, for Maul to go between small children in the creche and an older brother, tall and rangy and only now really starting to lose the hollowed-out features of a hard-bitten life in favor of something more filled-out and healthy, because the children and Savage had a common innocence, a lack of sophistication, no matter how bright and clever they were.  But where the children would grow into it, Savage had to go backwards to learn, and it was a struggle for everyone.

Maul did what he could, and in this case, it meant celebrating a Dathomirian holiday; a day set aside for families, be they chosen (as they often had to be for Nightbrothers, shattered down the middle and isolated and stolen) or by blood.  Savage had hesitantly tried to explain it for him, talking of obscure hunts by moonlight and torch-flowers, and about making sweet biscuits from roots which could only be dug up once a year to go with their kills.  Maul couldn’t quite grasp it, but he wanted to be there and do something with it, and maybe if he did, it would give his big brother one more thing to help him feel more at home on Coruscant.

It was likely to end up as much an exchange in cultures as it was a celebration.

Savage had insisted fervently that Maul didn’t need to bring a gift, even though gifts were supposed to be exchanged, but Maul didn’t want to turn up empty handed.  So, he requisitioned a zhaboka; Iridonian in origin, but a weapon zabraks had an affinity for, and when he got the plain double-bladed weapon, he sat for many hours across a few nights carving into the wooden handle, allowing the Force to guide his carving knife.  When it was finished, he rubbed black stain into the abstract, elegant patterns, then a lighter stain over the untouched wood, and finished it the night before with a clearcoat to protect the work.

On one end, under the blade, he tied two coverts he pulled, much to Obi’s concern -- it hurt some, but not terribly, not worse than being stung by a fly -- with leather and hoped the present would be well-received.

(Feral’s gift was much easier; with Issa’s help, he had Bloodclaw Killgore, who was Bloodfang’s little brother and with just as many felt teeth.)

“I wasn’t able to get the same kind of flour and roots,” Savage said, fretting before Maul was even through the door all the way.  On the small counter were supplies and a baking sheet, and it looked like Feral had been helping, given the little prints everywhere.  Then Savage stopped for a moment, looking wide-eyed at the wrapped gifts Maul had brought. “You didn’t have to,” he said, not in accusation, but in apparent anxiety.

“I wanted to,” Maul replied, then oof’d as Feral ran into his legs and hugged them fiercely.  He grinned down at his little brother, reaching around himself with his wing since his arms were full, and brushing it across the tiny Nightbrother’s back. “Can I help bake?”

Savage looked a little worried, though also oddly pleased at the same time. Maul idly wondered (not for the first time) at their genetic differences, because Feral seemed to share some common features with Maul, facially, but Savage’s eyes especially were so different from both of theirs; striking, shifting color in different lighting, and elegantly shaped.  Though, Maul and Savage shared almost identical horn patterns.

“I can try to teach you.  It will be harder with the different ingredients.”  Savage gingerly took the wrapped presents away from Maul to set with the other ones in the corner of the room.  Once he had, Maul picked Feral up and held him against a hip, following Savage over to the counter.

Once they got into the rhythm of it, though, like most things it got easier.  Maul had to work one-handedly, but Feral more than made up for it, helping roll the dough into balls with his small hands.  The results were a sheet full of uneven cookie-like objects, but once they were baking, something in Savage’s face seemed to settle and he looked nearly comfortable, with the smell of food cooking in the air and the lower lighting in the room and the three of them together.

Maybe a little more like he felt at home.

(If @doorsclosingslowly wants to continue this, I am down for it. XD  Since Savage is really more Anton’s muse.  Speaking of, Anton, if I screw anything up, God, let me know.)

#maul #savage #feral #taking flight #maulmas #ajax-daughter-of-telamon

[caustic-synishade]

Bait

Supplies is getting low. Bait might be needed for more.

Zombie Apocalypse AU- violence and whatnot. Sorry for any nonsense lol. I'm also unable to edit this properly

  "Pretty big place," Ethan spoke under his breath, inching forward behind Mark's lead.

  "Yep... we're gonna have to split up if we want to get back to camp tonight," the lead turned to the rest of the group, all three of them, for confirmation.

  Ethan turned to Kathryn, Amy to Ethan, Kathryn to Mark. They all stared at one another before nodding in agreement.

  "You guys sure? We have the supplies to stay here for tonight," Mark raised a brow, "If you guys aren't comfortable with splitting up..."

  "Tyler's gonna worry," Kathryn sighed, leaning against the brick wall for a moment.

  "Yeah... let's just get this done, then..." The flanneled man huffed, "You all got ammo-just in case?" He seemed nervous as all hell, but everyone knew how much he worried for them.

  "Do you?" Amy raised her brow at him.

  "I'll be fine with this," Mark pointed towards the machete in his bag, then proceeded to flex while chuckling, "And these... plus, I have a few shots left in this guy," the man waved his pistol gently.

  The blond rolled her eyes, "Okay, you child. We get it. I just want you to be safe, too..."

  "We should get moving..." Ethan spoke up, nudging Mark's arm, slinking back awkwardly.

  There was a moment of hesitation before they headed off again. The town so far seemed long abandoned. There wasn't a sign of infected nor of any survivors. With scarce supplies so far, they could only hope that there was something left in the last place. It never hurt to check...

  Mark stayed low, opening the front door slowly with his sidearm at the ready. He gave a quick, but careful sweep. Nothing. It was silent. The flanneled man waited for any sound, but only the birds gave in to his demands, thankfully.

 "Okay," the man spoke softly, "Ethan, Kathryn, take this hallway. Split up each side. Amy, you and I- this way. Listen out for each other. Just yell... If we get separated, we know where to go. Don't lead anything or anyone to camp. Got it?"

  As tiring as it was to hear each time they did this, everyone knew Mark's desperation to stay alive and stay together. Everyone nodded and murmured their agreements before parting ways.

  "You sure you'll be okay, Amy?" Mark wrapped an arm around her as they walked their part.

  "You worry too much. Go do your job, I'll be fine," the blond smiled as Mark brought his lips to hers.

  "I know..." The man looked down before heading off, turning to watch her as she headed down her sector of the place, knowing she'd be fine, but still worried.

  Amy knew how to take care of herself.

---

  Mark rummaged around throughout the dressers and closets, finding only a few items of clothing that might fit someone. It was all too small for him. So far he had found one bottle of painkillers, a blessing by far, hidden in between a bed frame and the wall. There wasn't any food that he could find, and he had learned to strip search places, right down to the bare bones of a place. Nothing of trading value. At least his search wasn't entirely a bust... however, something was off. There was a soft noise from outside the room. A thump. Mark's attention was quickly taken.

  The flanneled man quietly approached the hallway, his eyes not catching anything. His gun was drawn, only 4 bullets to his name. Mark checked to make sure it was loaded. Carefully, he made his way down the corridor, glancing around for any sign of life. There was so far, nothing.

  "Amy?" Mark called quietly. There was no response, "Amy?" He called again.

  Mark made it to the end of his sector, glancing into the last room. There was no one. No sign of life. Carefully wandering in, he spotted something. There was food, canned goods just sitting there on the windowsill. Mark was immediately suspicious, but he couldn't just call out for the others. Not yet. He took no chances potentially alerting any infected for nothing.

  The flannel-loving man peered around the room, scanning the entire place with aggressive care. There was no one. No one under the bed, no one in the closets. He glanced behind him, everywhere, just to make sure he was not going to be ambushed, hoping the food was not trapped.

  Mark approached the goods cautiously, checking around the items to make sure they weren't strung up to a bomb or something. That last close call with one blowing up near him was enough to scare him straight. An entire agonizing afternoon of pulling half of a pair of scissors out of his leg without bleeding to death was not ideal.

  The man confirmed the goods were not trapped, quickly bagging them. Everything was okay. He breathed a sigh of relief. Soon, he slipped out of that room to double check everything, just in case anything useful was overlooked. A creek behind him soon stole his attention again.

  Within a moment, an arm wrapped around his throat, squeezing his windpipe shut. Another hand took his wrist to stop him from attacking. The fire escape. He forget to check the fucking fire escape.

  The writhing man was quickly dragged into the nearest room, his captor struggling to restrain him. Mark fired the gun, but the safety was still on. What a fucking idiot, he though to himself. Trying to flick the switch off, he dropped the weapon. He thought fast. Mark dared to hunt for his machete hanging out of his bag. Time was ticking. Another hand grabbed that wrist before he had a chance, stopping him from his attack. Fuck, there were two people. Then, another body appeared, masked. Bandit raid. A trap.

  "Shh, darling. Stop fighting," the masked man put a finger to where his lips would be, Mark's own pistol in the other hand.

   Like hell he'd listen. The bullheaded man swiftly kicked out his leg, making contact with his boot right into the man's dick. Leaning his head forward, he attempted to headbutt the asshole holding him, but he had no advantage. For a moment, he thought he had a chance. For a moment, he thought he'd be fine. A quick realisation hit him hard as the grip only tightened.

  A fist pounded against Mark's face, dazing him momentarily. He gasped in vain, but nothing would come through. Still being strangled. On top of his burning lungs, now he had to deal with the aching in his face. A warm sensation dripped down his cheekbone as his vision started to spin. A fist raised in his sights as the second man became visible.

  "Wait..." The masked man on the ground groaned, struggling to his feet, "Allow me..."

  The man pulled his arm back and slammed his fist against Mark's head.

---

  The world twisted in confused shapes. In and out. Black and shapes.

  "... all of their supplies..."

  Nothing was making sense. Home. He was home.

  ".... gut this asshole once we..."

  Something was wrong with the recording setup. The damn webcam was glitching again. Video was going to be delayed.

  "... take his weapon, kill that girl..."

  Amy was asleep and the stars were so bright. But now the power was out. The radio was dead.

  "... right in front of him."

---

  Mark finally was able to bring himself together. He felt he was out for hours. It had only been a few minutes.

  There was something wrong; immediately Mark took notice. Opening his eyes, all he could see was black, mind for a sliver of light in the bottom of his vision. Something was covering his eyes. He tried to move, but as he suspected, his arms wouldn't budge. It felt like his hands were tied to something, some sort of stick. Maybe a weapon. The man's arms were tied in such a way that he could barely struggle. He felt like a damn mannequin on display, secured tight. There was no way he'd worm his way free. Not on his own.

  "Shh, darling. Please, this time," the same voice from earlier whispered in his ear, "I'm going to need you to cooperate with us."

  Mark immediately hissed through the cloth tied in between his teeth. A muffled, "fuck you," could be heard amongst various indecipherable threats. Only masking the terror slightly.

  "Now, now. You want your friends alive, right?" There was silence from Mark now, "Good. We both do, then. They're still around the building, hunting for our supplies. See, you're gonna help us. You make a sound before they reach you, we will kill you and them. You cooperate and lure them in, you all live. We take your stuff. And you get to leave. All you have to do is sit here and wait," there was a chuckle. A cocky chuckle, "It's that simple."

  Mark didn't respond. All that came from him was heavy breathing. Planning his next moves carefully. He had to keep himself together. For everyone else.

  "Do you understand?" There was something cold pressed under his neck. Sharp.

 Mark nodded softly. Cautiously.

  The knife pressed harder, "Tell me."

  Mark let out a desperate, muffled, "yes," as he nodded more visibly. All he cared about was their safety...

  "Good boy," footsteps moved farther away, "Now wait. They'll be here soon."

---

  "Mark?" Amy called out softly, Ethan and Kathryn following close behind, "Mark, are you okay? Please answer me..."

  "God I hope-" Ethan mumbled.

  "He's okay," the smaller woman snapped, "He's okay..."

  "Maybe he hit his head or something. Or maybe he's just being a douche," Kathryn suggested, patrolling behind.

  "I hope..." Amy paused, seeing a figure sitting there at the end of the hallway in the last room, his back to the door. She could see an unfamiliar rifle in his hands as he appeared to just be staring outside. Without a moment's hesitation, she lunged forward towards him.

  Ethan quickly grabbed onto her shirt, pulling her back, "Wait, wait! This feels... weird."

  "Why? He probably just fell asleep. Mark!" The blond shouted.

  There wasn't a sound from him. Only breathing. Heavy breathing. He twitched at the sound of Amy's voice.

  "Amy, careful. Ethan's right..." Kathryn whispered, "He could be fucking with us, though..."

  Amy led them carefully up the hallway, sweeping for any traps. Nothing. She suspected, maybe he did just fall asleep.

  "Mark?" Amy breathed out softly as she came up behind him, "Mark, answer me."

  There was a whimper this time. The man's girlfriend quickly tugged off the hood, revealing Mark's situation. It was only then that she noticed the ropes. Seeing her boyfriend blindfolded, gagged and tied up like a damn puppet sent her into a moment of rage.

  "Oh no... It's a fucking trap!" Amy snapped.

  They didn't even have time to react before the bandits swarmed in, quickly overwhelming them. Mark did all he could to try to break free, now no longer fearing the repercussions of struggling. However, just like earlier, he couldn't. All he could do was listen and wait. Forced to endure the screams and gunshots until it all settled. The helpless man could only hope that those bastards kept their word.

  A gun was placed against his temple once the chaos settled, "Congrats, you all get to live..."

  Mark breathed a sigh of relief, maybe too early. Without warning, a fist slammed into his face. He could hear the others shout in protest. But it didn't stop the hits. Another came. Then another. He felt that warmth trail down his chin as blood trickled.

  "Punishment. For stealing. And resisting. Get the rest of them taken care of. I want to drop them off tonight," the man seemed amused as he soon began to rework Mark's situation.

  "Where ever you're all camped out at, you best hope you're dropped off nearby," one of the bandits hacked in laughter.

  "If we don't find it first!" Another cackled with him.

  Mark wanted nothing more than to end their mocking laughter. Fight or flight demanded them dead for touching his family. In this situation, it seemed reasonable. He listened into his team, hoping to get reassurance. Worry mostly took hold of him, hoping to all hell that they were okay as he sat there, bleeding and defeated. Only they mattered.

---

  "Good luck with the infected..." The familiar voice called as the vehicle drove off, just after dumping them.

  Silence followed for a long while before someone spoke up.

  "Is everyone okay?" It was Amy's voice.

  "Yeah..." Ethan and Kathryn responded.

  Mark was still unable to give a clear response.

  There was shuffling from the others as Mark sat himself up. A heavy breath escaped him as he tried to tug on the ropes again. However, soon enough, his vision was given back.

  "What assholes..." Amy growled, pulling the cloth from his mouth as well before working to free his hands. The man was incredibly thankful to see she seemed fine, quickly wrapping his arms around her.

  "Did they hurt you?" Mark glanced towards each one of them.

  "Not bad, no. But, they took everything. Seriously, using you as bait, though? God..." she sounded more pissed than anything, "then leaving you like that... total garbo."

  "I don't care what they did to me," Mark brushed off the concern, "I only care about what happened to you guys."

  "You don't have to be the selfless hero forever," Ethan chuckled softly.

  Mark nodded, defeated. A silence fell over them for a moment as they tried to recollect themselves. The sounds of the infected followed.

  "I want our shit back..." Mark finally hissed, urging everyone to move.

#Markiplier #crankgameplays #peebles #my fanfictions

[selenelavellan]

Howz about... more of that au where Selene can turn into a smol dragon and Glory and Squish kidnapped her? And Dirthamen is now Freaking Out and Selene is Very Done with being kidnapped. That au is fantastic.

The Rescue

Dragon Selene AU

(previously the Elvhenans-not-so-shitty-anymore-AU because that was just a mouthful)

Part One

Part Two

Everyone that features here and isn’t Selene belongs to @feynites

It has been a week since Selene wentmissing.

A week, since Deceit dragged thebookstore owner into the dungeons and searched them for informationon her whereabouts.

A week, since Dirthamen discovered Glory wasstill around.

Each day drags on, as even his mostskilled spies are unable to find so much as a hint of her. Nightafter night, Fear scours the dreaming for her, and each morning theyreturn empty handed.

This is his fault, of course.

If he had been more forceful whenasking her not to go, if he had insisted that she be accompanied bysomeone, if he had given her more incentive to stay, instead. Nodoubt she has been taken because of their closeness. He has nothidden her well enough, he has been too open with his affections, andSelene is paying the cost.

It is unfair.

…It was unfair what they did toGlory, as well. He has learned that, over the years. He has softened,he has learned from his daughter, from Selene, of kindness andempathy and moral boundaries. He has learned that his brother wascruel, and that it was a moral lacking of Falon'dins, and notDirthamen’s, that caused it.

Even if that is not always something hetruly believes.

It does not bode well for Selene, ifshe is with Glory. There have been no ransoms, no lists of demandssent to him, or his people. Nothing he could agree to give up inexchange for her safe return.

Which leads him to infer that they donot intend to offer her safe return.

It is a miserable feeling. He hasbecome unaccustomed to sleeping alone, after so many centuries ofsharing his bed. And so, he has been avoiding sleep until his bodydemands it of him. He is fatiguing himself, trying to find her,trying to keep his territories under control with the rising tide ofrebellion already rocking against his shores. Stretching himselffarther than he should, than he is able to in his current state.

His body has become less solid, he isaware. His mind less focused as his thoughts wander to where shouldcould be, what she could be doing, whether she is all right. Deceithas taken over for much of his duties, although they are not in amuch better state themselves.

He longs for her in a way he has notfelt in memory. It is not in a way he enjoys. The way it sits on hischest and weighs heavy in his mind is far too unpleasant for him tofind any joy. A sensation he once thrived on, become his slowundoing.

On the fifth day, his daughter comes tovisit.

It is good to see her again, her visitsfew and far between these days. He tries to pull himself together, tomake himself presentable and unoffensive for her to speak with. Buthis neck is too long, his wings spread too far behind him, and he cannot seem to force his bones to remain entirely solid when he issitting.

“There has truly been no clue to herwhereabouts?” Mana'din asks. His daughter. One of the few people heknows he can trust, still.

“I have found one lead, but it is notone I have had success in tracking.” he admits.

She gestures silently for him tocontinue, head tilting slightly in concern.

“I believe she was taken by Glory.”he admits. Not information he has shared, of course. After theirdisappearance had lead to his own brothers demise, open knowledge ofthem would likely lead to a hunt that the empire can not afford tospare at this time.

His daughter freezes. “Glory isdead.”

“That is what I thought as well,”he agrees “Or run back to the dreaming, or someplace outside of ourreach. But when I dug through the memories of the last person knownto see her, they revealed that they had been blackmailed andthreatened by an all too familiar face. I would not mistake theirsfor another.”

Mana'din leans back in the chaircontemplatively. Lets out a heavy sigh. “That is…troubling.”

Dirthamen nods. “Any assistance youcould lend to the search would be appreciated. I know your resourcesare still growing, but perhaps your people will have information minedo not.”

“Of course,” She agrees, standingto take her leave. “I…will go and see what I can find.”

Dirthamen thanks her, offering a hugbefore she strides back out towards the paths to her own lands.

It is another two days before one ofhis people finds the location of Glory’s bunker, and Dirthamen leavesto reclaim whatever is left of Selene.

–

Selene listens attentively, curled upwhile Glory tells her of their past. Forced into a body, intoservitude, into Falon'dins hold. It is a tragic tale, and Seleneknows if they had approached her before she had met Dirthamen, shewould have offered her services to their cause entirely.

But she could not betray him now.

“He is a monster.” Gloryinsists. “Like his brother.”

“He is not,” Selene argues,shifting back into her natural form to make a stronger argument.Snorts and whines just aren’t quite cutting it, in her dragon shape.“Dirthamen has his flaws, of course he does. He is not always kind,and his understanding of other people is still growing. But he ismaking an effort to be better, to be better, to understand.Monsters don’t care about the people they hurt. He does.”

“We’re still talking about the sameperson, yeah?” Squish snorts from the same corner. “Because Iworked for him for a long time, and I can tell you firsthand heabsolutely does not care about the people who get hurt, nearly somuch as he is intrigued by their pain.”

“You have also been away for a longtime,” Selene says. “He has changed, is changing. I havenever been held against my will, I have watched him change and learnand become kinder over the years!”

Glory rolls their eyes.

Selene huffs, frustrated that her pleasseem to be falling on ears of those that have already condemned him.“I’m not under any kind of thrall! I just love him, he is a goodman!”

“Love can be its own thrall,”Squish mutters from where she is still propped against the wall.

Selene lets out a loud noise offrustration, angrily pulling on the pile of clothes Squish hadbrought in from earlier. “What would it take to convince you thatI’m telling the truth?”

Before they can answer, the door toGlory’s office slams open and Mana'din strides in.

She pauses as she takes in the scene;Squish, relaxed against a wall, Glory, sitting comfortably back intheir chair, and Selene still pulling the robe around her otherwisestill naked and freshly shifted form.

Mana'din gestures angrily to Selene“THIS was your brilliant plan?”

Selene blinks, having never seen herlose her cool like this, and takes a slow step out of the pathbetween Mana'din and Glory.

“It worked.” They respondflippantly.

“Do you have any idea what sort ofdistress you have caused? How much development you may have undone?”

“She needed help.”

“They were happy! Do you know howlong it has been since my father has been happy?”

“Then I am glad to have taken it fromhim.”

Mana'din seems to sigh then, beforeturning to Selene “What do you want to do?”

Selene blinks, and pulls the tiestogether on the robe “I want to go back, of course.”

She nods, and turns to Glory “Thenyou will send her back.”

“The hell I will!”

“This is not a discussion, it is anorder.”

Glory rises from their chair, fuming asthey step towards Mana'din before the torches flicker and the bunkershakes.

“Oh no.” Whisper Mana'din andSelene as they exchange a knowing look.

The bunker shakes again, and a fewvoices can be heard screaming before being abruptly silenced, as itthe room rattles around them once more.

Like footsteps.

Glory’s hand reaches for the sword ontheir hip, as they and Squish stride into the hall, weapons ready.Selene follows, staring down the hall as a dripping mass of blackenedooze slams guards and soldiers violently into the walls. Great wingswith dark, glistening feathers sprout from several sides of it, toolarge to fit into such a cramped hallway, but moving and flickingangrily all the same.

Glory charges towards the creature, andSelenes legs take off like a shot behind them.

“No!” She screams,loudly enough to startle Glory, allowing Dirthamen’s outstretched,dripping hand to knock them off balance as they let out a cry ofpain. Selene grabs the wrist as it raises for a second blow, holdingon as tight as she can while it tries to shake her off. “It’s me!”She cries, arms tightening their hold as she slips on the substance,legs dangling in the air “Dirthamen! Vhenan, it’s me!”

Cold air continues to spread throughthe narrow passage, enveloping them all as mana pokes and prods ather, and a second hand extends beneath her, gently cupping at herlegs.

“Selene?” Grumbles the mass, liquidsliding like oil off the sleek surface of a familiar mask, emergingfrom the front of the being curiously.

“Yes!” She cries “Yes, it’sme, it’s Selene. I’m here, I’m ok, it’s alright!”

Carefully, she is settled back onto theground. She keeps her eyes focused on him, on trying to help himshift into a more manageable form while the sludge slumps off of hisform and vanishes between the cracks in the floor.

“Selene,” he mumbles wrappinghimself around her entirely. “Selene, Selene. Ithought you were dead.”

“I’malright Vhenan, it’s ok. I’m right here with you,” she soothes,whispering reassuring words to him while he shrinks back to hisaverage elf size in her arms, wings still wrapped around her as hismask clatters to the floor and his face buries itself in the crook ofher neck.

Gloryregains their footing behind her, sword raised and still ready tostrike. Mana'din places her hand on their arm, and shakes her head.They hesitate, staring at the pair for a moment, caught between apiece of the vengeance they’ve been seeking for so long, and theterrifying knowledge that Selene may have been telling the truth.

Dirthamenstop most set of eyes glance up at Glory, and from where they standthey are hit with a thick wave of remorse, and guilt, directed tothem. An apology?

Glory’sfist tightens around the hilt of their sword, but before they cantake another step, Dirthamen and Selene are gone. Vanished, in a rushof magic and feathers, leaving behind only the trail of woundedsoldiers that had been unfortunate enough to get into the Evanuris’spath.

Theywill have to relocate, Glory thinks with a lead feeling in the pit oftheir stomach. And then devise a new plan of attack.

Noreason this should have been a total loss, after all.

#Dragon!Selene AU #Anonymous #Selene Lavellan #Dirthalene #Mana'din #Glory #Squish #There's probably some OOCness but this is a crack AU where everyone loves Selene tbh so *shrug* #I tried for some character exploration #It's in there #Maybe I'll try to go deeper next time #A lot of this is still me stepping lightly in a world that is not really mine #so much as it is contrived of some of my favorite bits and pieces of others