#Chapter 8: At Our Destination Not Just the Two of Us | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sunflowersandsapphires · 10 months

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Spend a Little

Wake Up, Chapter 1

Series Masterlist Next Chapter

pairing: Matt Murdock x fem!reader

summary: In an attempt to stop the advances of an unwanted suitor, Matt Murdock accidentally condemns you to being his fake girlfriend.

warnings: swearing, no use of y/n, descriptions of anxiety

a/n: This chapter is a little slow to start because it was my first time writing Matt. This series is going to be sickly sweet so prepare yourselves. Also, most of the legal knowledge/anecdotes comes from my own experience because I work in a pro bono firm :)

w/c: just over 3k

Matt clenched his jaw, a flicker of frustration shooting through him. These NYC Bar events weren’t known for being overly accessible, and Foggy had promised to meet him at the entrance to help him navigate so he wouldn’t reveal his…abilities. Sighing, Matt made his way towards the crowd of people to the left of the ballroom entrance, seemingly finding their table assignments on the papers in front of them. His senses frantically searched for anyone that he recognized, but he didn’t smell Karen’s perfume or hear Foggy’s heartbeat.

As he was internally debating whether to enter the ballroom and simply hope that he could find them, someone at the edge of the crowd in front of him stumbled backwards over his cane. Dropping the cane entirely, he caught her before she could knock them both over in a domino effect.

She scrambled out of his grasp and whirled around. “Oh my gosh I am so sorry, are you alright?” Her voice was sweet, melodic, and echoed gently through his ears.

He chuckled, softly, “I am perfectly fine, I promise. Let me just grab my cane…” Matt suddenly realized she had already bent down to pick up his cane.

“It’s right here, about two inches in front of your right hand.” Heat was pooling in her cheeks, her heart raced with what Matt assumed was a combination of anxiety and embarrassment. “I’m so sorry for bumping you. I get clumsy when I’m nervous.”

Matt smiled at her endearing admission. “It’s alright, no need to apologize. To be honest with you, I’m nervous myself. I thought my partners were meeting me out front.”

“Oh no! These things are already so overwhelming, that would put me on edge too.” She shifted back and forth on her feet as Matt listened intently to her beautiful voice and stuttering heart. “Can I help you find your table, at least?”

“That would be amazing.” Grinning, Matt offered his hand. “Matt Murdock of Nelson, Murdock, and Page.”

You shook his hand, offering your name in return. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Murdock. Oddly enough, I think we are at the same table. Would you like me to lead you there?”

“Please! Lead the way” Matt offered his elbow and you gently took it.

You pulled him around the masses taking immense care to not bump either of you into things. Your pulse fluttered under his arm, beginning to still a slight bit. Eventually, the two of you reached your destination. “We are at our table, there are 8 chairs total, one just slightly to the left of your left hand.”

“Thank you.” Matt murmured in response, donning a grin that Foggy referred to as a crucial part of his “fail-proof Murdock charm.” As he was about to invite you to sit with him, he heard Karen walk up.

“Matt, I am so sorry! I was running late and I couldn’t find a taxi and—“ Karen stopped herself, taking in a breath.

“It’s ok,” Matt assured her, pulling her into a hug. “I had help.” He smiled, turning back to where you were still standing.

Karen held out her hand. “Karen Page of Nelson, Murdock, and Page.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Page.” You two shook hands and you introduced yourself to Karen. After greetings and names had been exchanged, Karen took a seat to Matt’s left.

Before sitting down, Matt reached slightly to the right of his own chair, pulling out the neighboring seat and turning his attention back to you. “Care to join us at this end of the table? I’d love to have the honor of sitting next to the sweetest girl in the room.” He could practically hear Karen rolling her eyes at his boldness.

You chuckled, still slightly nervous but eating up his flirtation attempt nonetheless. “The honor is all mine, counselor.” You sat down, careful not to jostle the table.

As Matt took his seat, he asked, “So, how did you get roped into this event?”

“Well, I am representing the NYC Pro Bono Association but I also have a friend getting an award tonight so it was sort of a 2 birds, one stone sitiuation.”

“Ah, so you really had to go. Who’s your friend?” Karen asked, flagging down the waiter for a flute of champagne.

“Marci Stahl, she’s getting the Association Medal.” Your eyes gleamed with pride as both Matt and Karen gaped in surprise.

“No way. She’s our partner’s—“

“Girlfriend! Yah, I know. Foggy is great by the way, speaks very highly of you both. Quite often.” Matt could hear the smile in your voice as heat rose in your face again. He wondered why briefly but then…

“Aw, you guys! I’m so flattered but, really, you can talk about something other than my wonderful self when I’m not around.” Foggy’s voice brought a chuckle out of Matt. He heard you startle in your seat, your heart rate spiking again, before standing up to give both Marci and Foggy a hug. Karen followed suit.

“Matt, Karen, I see you’ve met my favorite volunteer coordinator in the city.” Marci said, squeezing your shoulder and making you flush more.

“You’ll have to try harder, Marce.” Foggy pinched your cheek, pulling out the chair next to Karen for himself. “I’m afraid she’s the best volunteer coordinator in the state.”

You took your seat next to Matt once more and leaned over to him, slightly. “I was just promoted, they’re way too excited about it.” You informed him and Karen.

“Too excited?!” Foggy feigned a gasp, clutching at his chest. “You have had this position for less than two weeks and you managed to place two of our impossible cases.”

“Wait, that bankruptcy case—you were the miracle worker who placed that shit show?” Matt turned his attention to you, slightly incredulous.

“Well, yah, but I—“ You stammered, clearly less than comfortable with all the attention.

“And!” Marci jumped in, running a hand over your arm. “You helped that client get representation for her damages hearing against Headstrong.” Marci turned to face the rest of the table, “The client got the damages halved. HALVED!”

“No way. Headstrong is the cruelest property manager in Hell’s Kitchen. We thought that case was already decided in their favor!” Karen looked thoroughly impressed.

“Ok if we’re discussing accomplishments, I’m at a table with three attorneys who took down a crime syndicate and another who’s getting an award from the New York Bar tonight. People should be paying to sit with you four.” You laughed, feeling out of place among such big players in the NYC Law community. After all, you didn’t even have your J.D. yet.

“We aren’t done complimenting you, young lady.” Foggy pointed his finger at you accusingly. “We’re all incredibly outspoken so you better prepare yourself. But, I suppose we can toast to my beautiful girlfriend. The ASSOCIATION MEDAL RECIPIENT.” He raised his voice, turning towards the other tables slightly to get everyone’s attention.

“Hear, hear.” Karen laughed, raising her glass. “To Marci!”

The rest of you raised your glasses, clinking them against each other and laughing amongst yourselves before downing the champagne.

“Ok, I don’t know about all of you but I’m going to need something stronger to get through this thing.” Marci sighed, looking for a waiter.

“I could definitely go for a drink.” Matt grumbled, making you laugh. Pretty soon, the emcee started greeting everyone and the five of you settled in for a long evening.

——————————————————————————————————

After the night of your initial, very awkward, meeting, you began to spend more and more time with Matt. Foggy started inviting you out with them for dinner or drinks. Karen suggested that you meet with them once every couple weeks to help refer cases. And Matt, well, he was charming and sweet, often offering to walk you home or help you get a cab. You thoroughly enjoyed your time with all of them, but Matt was some of the best company you’d kept in a while.

It was hard to believe how comfortable you already were with him—yet, here you were, practically pressed against him in a booth at Josie’s.

Foggy, quite inebriated at this point, claps his hands together and gasps at you. “Have you told them about getting blacklisted by Davis and Campbell?”

You groaned. “Foggy, please don’t make me tell this story.”

“Now you have to tell us. What could you have done to lose the support of an entire firm?” Matt scoffs at you, already laughing.

“Oh god” You buried your face in your hands, but began the story nonetheless. “Well, one of the senior attorneys was representing this police officer who had bludgeoned peaceful protestors and put a 17 year old in the ICU. And the asshole was bragging about it, saying how it was a toss away win and the protestors deserved it blah blah blah.”

“Ugh, what a douchebag.” Karen grimaced.

“Right!” You exclaimed, eyes widening. “And this was a cause that my organization had publicly backed and spoken about with his firm! So, naturally, I had to take him down a peg because what was I gonna do—just quietly sit there? I started in on him, telling him that if he wanted our partnership he was going to need to be respectful towards adverse parties, be less cocky about it, be more thoughtful about community movements. But I went a little…too big with it.”

Matt was practically vibrating with anticipation, his hip pressed to yours. “Please tell me you cussed him out.”

“Not exactly…I called him a bootlicker in front of the entire room” You shook your head as the entire table erupted into laughter and cheers. “God, I wish I could say I regretted it but he totally deserved it.”

Matt cackled, Karen gawked in disbelief. “You called him a bootlicker? To his face? But you’re so sweet and quiet!”

“I can be noisy if I need to be.” You smirked.

“That’s a good quality to have.” Matt nearly purrs, sliding his arm around your shoulders. You shove at his chest, laughing.

“That’s not what I meant, you perv.”

He squeezed your shoulder and removed his arm. “I know, I’m teasing you. But, seriously, I’m glad you called him out. You shouldn’t regret that.”

You smiled down at your lap. He gently nudged you with his hip, smiling. You nudged him back, heart beating faster as you watched him wet his lips.

You stared at him for a moment, taking in how handsome he looked in the dim lighting when you noticed the others staring at you.

Foggy smiled, waggling his eyebrows. “I’m sorry, did you want us to leave?” He gestured to himself and Karen. Karen laughed and gave you a pointed look.

You moved out of Matt’s space slightly, shaking your head to clear out the thoughts of kissing Matt. You’d barely been friends for three months! It wasn’t worth jeopardizing that.

“Sorry.” You murmured. Matt’s face fell, but he quickly recovered.

“Who wants another round?” Without waiting for the answer, Matt got up and walked briskly towards the bar. You bit your bottom lip, feeling guilty for ruining his night so suddenly.

——————————————————————————————————

The office was buzzing with activity and Matt was starting to get a headache.

“Thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Alvarez. Is there anything else you need from me today?” He plastered on a smile.

“No, no. Thank you so much Mr. Murdock. You don’t know how much this means to me.” The woman before him sounded like she was holding back tears.

“It’s not a problem. We will get you your benefits back, I’m confident. Have a good day and let us know if you need anything else.” He opened the office door for her as she thanked him profusely.

After Mrs. Alvarez left, Matt let his back fall gently against the door. He sighed roughly, scrubbing a hand down his face. At least he had a minute to think before his next client.

Then, he heard a set of heels clicking down the hallway. A very specific, overwhelming perfume drafted through their floor of the building. Notes of vetiver and blackberry slowly trying to suffocate him.

This was so not what he needed today. He heard the commotion as she entered the room.

“Ms. Snyder! What a pleasure.” Foggy’s heart stuttered. ‘Lie’ Matt chuckled to himself.

“It’s Miss Snyder, Mr. Nelson. Ms. makes me feel like a walking fossil, but I am still woefully single.” She let out a sharp bark of a laugh at her self-deprecating humor.

“Ah, yes. Forgive me. How can I help you?”

Beatrice Snyder was a ruthless partner at Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz. She was known for being incredibly unforgiving and for her intolerance of “shenanigans”, as she liked to say. Matt, Foggy, and Karen were always polite, as she could be a fantastic ally if she chose to be and they had heard horror stories of those who got on her bad side. However, it was sometimes difficult to bite their tongues, given that she was cold, uncaring, and a vicious coquette who had set her sights on Matthew Murdock when he was fresh out of law school.

Being a huge flirt himself, you’d think Matt would’ve been comfortable with her advances, but Snyder was not one to take no for an answer and Matt had tired of her seduction attempts ages ago.

He could practically feel her wicked smile as she said “I’ve come to speak with your partner about a business opportunity, of course. Is he available?”

Matt bit back a groan, and left the safety of his office. “Miss Snyder! How lovely for you to visit.” He gave a small, tight-lipped smile.

“Speak of the handsome devil,” Snyder giggled, sounding more like a tortured dolphin than a charming suitor. “And how many times must I ask, Matthew, call me Beatrice.”

“My apologies, Beatrice.” He spat out her name, practically gritting his teeth. “Can we help you?”

“Yes, well, I was hoping you’d accompany me to the upcoming Liberty Gala at Landman and Zach next weekend? I assume you’ve all been invited…”

Matt nodded, “We have, yes.”

“It would be a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know each other, rather intimately.”

Matt’s mind was racing, desperately trying to think of an excuse. “Well, I appreciate the thought, but…you see—I—“

“Matt actually has a girlfriend.” Foggy blurted, smiling hastily. “Yup, Matt has a wonderful, totally real girlfriend.”

“Oh?” Beatrice shifted on her feet, clearly not expecting this news about the famed bachelor of the office.

“Yes, it’s a—uh—recent development.” Matt stated.

“It’s new but they’re quite serious so I’m afraid he cannot attend with you.” Foggy said matter-of-factly.

“I suppose not. What’s your girlfriend’s name? I’ll want to congratulate her on landing such a man.” Beatrice directed the question at Matt, causing him to panic.

And this is where it all went sideways. Because Matt, who usually prides himself on his ability to think quickly, blurted out the name that no one expected. Yours.

“Oh, that little project supervisor from the Pro Bono council?”

“Volunteer coordinator, actually.” Matt corrected, feeling Foggy’s eyes burning a hole through his skull. What exactly had he just done. “And yes, that’s her. My girlfriend.”

“Well…” Beatrice sucked in a breath, clearly fuming. “I’ll see you both next Friday then. I assume she’ll be your plus one?”

“Um—“ Matt hesitated.

“She’ll be there!” Foggy jumped in, unhelpfully.

“Then I will see the two of you at the gala. Do give her my regards.” She didn’t even bother smiling as she spun on her heel and stalked out of their office.

“You are so screwed Murdock.” Foggy shook his head, chuckling breathily. “You are so utterly, completely, devastatingly—“

“Screwed. Yup, I got it.” Matt’ brow furrowed. “Any advice on how to ask someone to be your fake girlfriend at an event with the biggest crowd of bullshit-detectors in the state?”

“No idea, but tell me when you’re going to ask her so I can bring popcorn.”

“You’re the worst.” Matt groaned.

“Yah, well. Can’t say I want to be you right now, dude. But it will be entertaining to watch.”

———————————————————————————————————

Matt wasn’t really sure how he expected you to react. With disgust maybe? Anger? What he definitely did NOT expect, was for you to burst out laughing.

“Wait, wait” you could barely get a word out you were laughing so hard. “This woman has been after you for years and not only have you never pretended to be taken, but the first time you use this excuse, I end up as your fake girlfriend?”

“Yes that about sums it up.” Matt grumbles miserably, Foggy patting his shoulder and popping a few more pieces of popcorn into his mouth.

“Well, I can’t say this is what I expected to hear when Foggy texted me that there was an emergency,” Your laughter faded to small giggles, which lifted Matt’s spirits despite his embarrassment. “But, I guess I’m mostly glad none of you are gravely injured or something.”

“Yah, sorry. It seemed like, very urgent at the time” Foggy rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly.

“It’s ok! Though I suppose the real question is, what time are you picking me up?”

“What?” Both Matt and Foggy asked, equally astounded.

“I mean, I can totally meet you there, but I’m thinking it’ll be more believable if we arrive at the gala together.”

“You—you’re not mad?” Matt asked, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“No, of course not!” You chirped, reassuringly.

“And, not only are you not mad that I just lied to a very important woman about us being together and potentially dragged you into some intense dramatics,” Matt continued. “But you’re going to come with me?”

“Yep!”

“As my plus one.”

“Yes, Matt.”

“To pretend to be my girlfriend.”

You laughed again, finding his hand under the table and squeezing it gently, making Matt’s heart skip a beat. “Yes, of course I will. Snyder is a stone cold bitch. If this will help you not be harassed, I’ll absolutely be your fake girlfriend.”

Matt felt his heart sink slightly, but he didn’t have time to reflect on why.

“Have we told you how amazing you are recently because you’re amazing.” Foggy beamed at you, embarrassing you with his praise.

“It’s nothing.”

“No, Foggy’s right. You’re—incredible. Truly.” Matt said, squeezing your hand again.

Your heart pounded, but you smiled. “I’d do anything for you guys. I mean it.” You took a breath, drawing your hand out of Matt’s and clasping your hands together.

“Now, tell me as much about yourself as you can. We’ll need crash courses on each other if we want to be convincing.”

Foggy laughed. “You are both so screwed.”

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verai-marcel · 2 months

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Your Hearth Is My Home (BG3 Fanfic, Astarion x Female Reader, Part 22 of 28)

Summary, Notes, Tags, & Part 1 are here.

AO3 Link is here, darling.

Word Count: 4,003

—————————————

Act III, Chapter 1 - The Gate

As you entered the outskirts of the city, you, Halsin, and Karlach split off from the main group to secure your next campground, while the others started looking around for Astarion’s siblings and for Lae’zel’s contact.

You offered a small girl, Yenna, some food and a few coins, but when she asked to join your camp, you looked at the others and you all agreed it would be safer if she didn’t stay with your group.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” you said, kneeling down so you speak to her face to face. “It’s dangerous to stay with us. We have enemies, and they could hurt you.”

The little girl nodded. “All right. I understand.”

“We’ll walk with you to the temple, perhaps? Find a safe place for you there,” Karlach said.

You took her to the temple nearby, only to find it closed off.

“Murders? At the temple?” Karlach muttered.

You looked down at the girl. “Perhaps… somewhere else.”

Wandering into the refugee area, you eventually ran into some of the tieflings you had met back in the grove. They agreed to take in the human girl, feeling sorry for her having lost her mum.

“You haven’t seen Mol on your travels, have you?” one of the tiefling children asked.

You shook your head. “No dear, I’m sorry.”

“We’ll keep an eye out for her, alright? I bet she’s alive, that li’l rascal,” Karlach assured them.

“Of course she is! She’s tough,” one of the other kids replied, as if it was obvious.

Leaving Yenna in caring hands, your trio wandered a little further and found an abandoned farmhouse off the beaten path, with a large yard and ruined buildings.

The three of you looked at each other and grinned.

“Perfect.”

***

You had set up nearly everyone’s tents, while Karlach had wandered off to let everyone know where the camp was. Halsin was setting up his own tent, while Scratch & Owly were already running around, sniffing the perimeter and chasing each other around. Owly had certainly grown bigger in the weeks since he had joined your merry little troupe, and you couldn’t let him sit in your lap anymore. He had grown too large and would probably crush your legs at this point.

But he was still lovable and huggable, so when he nearly ran past you, you leapt upon him and hugged him tight. You could hear his childish giggle in your head as you rubbed his belly.

~~More, more!~~

~Me too, me too!~ Scratch added as he joined your puppy pile.

You played with your beloved friends, not realizing that Withers had appeared. His shadow spooked you, and you turned with a gasp.

“Oh, it’s just you.”

“Hmm.”

“How… do you always find us? And why don’t you just walk with us to our next destination?”

Withers stared at you for a few moments, making you feel uncomfortable. “Thou needest not know.”

You shrugged. As per usual, his non-answer gave nothing away. “Fine.” Giving the two furballs one last pat before shooing them away to play elsewhere, you slowly walked with Withers as he claimed a spot in front of a boarded up, half-ruined building.

“So… You once said that fate brought me here, but it was up to me to stay, right?”

He closed his eyes slowly, then just as slowly, opened them. “I believe I said the rest was up to thee.”

“The rest of what?”

He did not answer.

“You’re infuriating, you know that?”

You swore you saw a hint of a smile flicker on his dried up lips before he returned to his neutral, almost bored expression.

***

It was nightfall before the others returned, gathering around the campfire and trading stories. You overhead quite a bit, and realized that there was a lot going on. As you flitted about, you could hear fragments of conversation, discussing their next moves.

“Oh, we ran into Orin today.”

“Really? So did we!”

“Wait, who’s Orin again?” you asked, coming closer to the campfire.

They described her, a changeling woman in a red outfit, murder in her eyes and a dangerous aura.

“If you think she’s nearby, just run,” Shadowheart said. “Find one of us if you can.”

You gulped and nodded.

Gods, is it really alright for me to stay with them? If she can impersonate anyone, she could…

You shook your head. You’d just have to stay vigilant.

***

As you finished all your prepwork for the night, you found Astarion sitting by the fire, tossing the feywild bell idly as he stared into the flames. You immediately grabbed it out of the air and clutched it close to your chest.

“Careful with that!” you nearly screeched.

He looked at you. “Calm down, did you really think I would drop it?”

“I’m not taking any chances.”

He shrugged.

You suddenly had an idea. “You don’t need this feywild bell anymore, right?”

“I suppose not.” He cocked his head, an eyebrow raised. “You want it so badly?”

“I don’t want anyone else to be tempted to ask her other questions,” you replied. “It’s bad news, messing with a pixie.”

He shrugged. “All right. I guess it doesn’t serve much of a purpose now that we’re here.” He waved a hand dismissively towards you. “You can have it. Just remember that I was nice to you.”

You grinned. “How could I forget? It happens so rarely, it’s like a little treat.”

“Cheeky kitten.”

“Stingy cat.”

***

A few days passed in the relative calm in Rivington, with the others investigating their various leads and returning at night to share notes. They hadn’t gotten much further to figuring out how to get close to Gortash without basically fighting the entirety of the Flaming Fist, nor finding out where Orin was hiding. Lae’zel had been close to getting answers about her issue, but you had overheard them talking about finding another way, because she had been considering making a deal with Raphael.

“You want to sign your soul to a devil?” you had asked Lae’zel later that night.

She had looked away. “I must do what must be done. The Comet will fly free again.”

You sighed. “Don’t throw away your soul so quickly when there may be a better way, with some effort and some planning.”

To your surprise, she had listened to you, and the next day, you had overheard them talking about finding a way into Raphael’s home to steal some kind of weapon.

Okay, not quite what I had in mind, but at least her soul will stay free.

***

On the first day of autumn, the others came back during the middle of the day, to your surprise.

“We found a little place along the harbor,” Jaheira said. “I pulled some strings, so we can use it as our base of operations for now.”

You nodded. “Alright, let’s get going.”

***

Walking through Basilisk Gate and into the city, you couldn’t help the chill of anxiety running through your veins.

The Zhentarim are here. They barely looked for me before, and I doubt they’d even remember the bounty on my head now, even if it was still available. Maybe I’m just being paranoid.

And yet despite your logic, your anxiety wouldn’t go away.

You followed the others as they led you and the floating disc full of backpacks, bedrolls, and rolled up tents to the water’s edge. As you approached what appeared to be a dilapidated archway, you didn’t bat an eye. After all, you were used to such shitty locales. However, as you walked through, your jaw dropped. The harbor site was ridiculously huge. It spanned several buildings, an abandoned chapel amongst them, with a magnificent view of the water.

“A little place, Jaheira?” you asked her as you set up the main area up within a large veranda. “This is practically a mansion compared to where we’ve been staying before.” You sidled up to her and eyed her curiously. “What kind of strings did you pull? Garrotes?”

She laughed. “Don’t underestimate the power of a few names,” she said as she took her pack from the floating disc. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pick a good spot for myself.”

You shrugged. Ever since she had permanently joined your group, she had declined your offer to cast your cantrips on her gear, and you respected that. She seemed a relatively private person; you could relate.

Setting up the veranda as the communal area, you hummed peacefully as you worked. A shadow overhead blocked the setting sun for a moment, alerting you to some welcome visitors. You walked over to greet Isobel and Dame Aylin as they landed on the lower level, near the water.

“Do you mind if we stay in your camp for a bit while we get our bearings?”

“Not a problem, although I’m sorry to say we don’t have any spare tents. We do have a couple of extra bedrolls though.”

“They can use my tent,” Shadowheart said. “I… can find other accommodations.”

You blinked. Then you grinned like a cat that had just caught a mouse.

She glared at you.

The others politely said nothing at your silent banter, but you resisted teasing her in front of your guests. “Well, since Shadowheart is being so kind, let me prepare the tent to your preferred temperature.”

***

You entered Astarion’s tent to see him reading that creepy book again. He closed it and heaved a huge sigh.

“Did… did you finish reading it?”

There were shadows beneath his eyes and he looked a bit weary. “Yes, finally.”

“Did you get what you needed out of it?”

He shrugged. “Yes? No? I’m not sure. It is full of terrible secrets, including Cazador’s bloody ‘Rite of Profane Ascension’, but it told me nothing new.”

Then he grinned. “Then again, it was filled with otherworldly power. Which I am more than happy to wield to my advantage.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Alright, well, as long as the price isn’t too high.”

“And what price would that be?”

“Your soul. Your freedom.”

He put the book away and patted the bedroll beside him. As you knelt down, he promptly laid his head onto your lap. You automatically began to run your hands through his hair, feeling his contentment through the soft touch of your fingers on his scalp.

If he were a cat, I bet he’d be purring right now.

“What if the price was souls other than ours?” he said slowly.

You looked down at him. “This is about ascending, isn’t it?”

“Yes, naturally.”

You blew out a breath. “I don’t think giving a devil any souls is good for anyone, even the contractor.”

Astarion frowned. “I thought you were with me on this. Besides, I’ll need something to protect me from the sun if things don’t work out with our parasite friends. This ritual could set me free.” He sat up and took your hands in his, meeting your eyes and looking a little vulnerable. “And you want what’s best for me, surely?”

You almost wished he was being manipulative, but from your touch, you could tell that he truly thought this was the best way. It would be harder to change his mind since his convictions were true. “Of course I do, but I don’t think it’ll be best for you in the long run.”

“There won’t be a long run if I die in the sunlight,” he replied harshly.

His frustration with you felt like a hot iron pan on your skin, and you flinched, pulling your hands away. He immediately softened his expression.

“I’m doing this for you, too, you know. To make sure we’re both safe. Forever, for good.”

“We can be safe if Cazador is killed. Your… colleagues… need not be sacrificed.”

“They’re not sweet innocents. They brought him just as many victims as I did.”

You frowned. Doesn’t that make them the same as you? Or even me, when I had to kill to keep my own life? “You don’t think any of them would spare you, if the situation was reversed?”

“No,” he said definitively. “No one ever looked out for me. No one ever said a kind thing to me.” He paused, taking your hand again. “You’re the first one to care. Other people don’t have a heart like you. You’re… you. No one is like that.”

“I’m not—”

“Ah, don’t sell yourself so short.” He gently caressed your cheek, a strum of possessiveness plucking its way through the tenderness of his touch. “You’re the only thing in the world I care about. And that’s all that matters to me.”

Warning bells went off in your head as that hum of covetousness grew louder with each caress. Did he just call me a ‘thing’? “Then listen to me. Don’t lose yourself just to gain power.”

He frowned. His hand, which had been gently resting on the back of your neck, suddenly tightened ever so slightly. “I’ll do whatever it takes to see you safe, even if you don’t appreciate it.”

…mine… MINE…

Your heart pounded in fear at the intensity of his emotions, though you could tell that he didn’t realize how much he was projecting. “I… I need some air.”

His anxiety peaked, but you couldn’t deal with it as your own unstable emotions began to make your heart pound. You pulled away from him and left the tent, not letting yourself look back.

Outside in the night air, you took a few calming breaths as you walked toward the edge of the water. The moon shone brightly in the sky, its reflection a silver disc shimmering on the surface of the river.

What is happening to him? Am I really the first person he’s ever cared about? Is that why he’s so focused on keeping me safe?

Staring out toward the horizon, you wondered when he began to see you as more of a possession, and no longer an independent person.

I need to set things straight.

By the time you came back into the tent, Astarion was already in a trance.

Perhaps tomorrow, then.

***

The next morning, bright and early, you awoke alone. Coming out, you noticed that your companions had already left on their adventures, having eaten some cold cuts and fruits.

Missed my chance to talk to Astarion. Dammit. I’ll do it tonight. I hate confrontations, but… I can’t let this slide.

As you were cooking a small breakfast for yourself, you saw to your surprise that Gale had returned.

“How would you like to come with me to Sorcerous Sundries?”

“I thought you and the others already got what you needed from there.”

He shrugged. “Well, yes, but there could be more information there that might help.”

You looked at his hopeful expression for a moment. “No one else wanted to go again, hm?”

He frowned. “I just thought you might want a chance to get out of camp, that’s all.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Not even Shadowheart wanted to go?”

Gale sighed. “No, not even her.”

Laughing, you patted him on the back. “I’ll accompany you, my friend. After all, I have a few things I’d like to research.”

***

Staring up at the huge tower, you realized that calling it a bookstore was disrespectful. The place was a treasure trove of tomes, a wondrous collection of knowledge and lore that you could barely comprehend. It was hard not to wander off and get lost in all of the aisles, just reading all the titles. Gale told you he was going to have a look around and ask an employee for certain texts, and that he’d meet you at the front desk when he was done. So you wandered off to look for books about songs and the Sylvan language.

My mother may have never taught me Sylvan, but I can at least try on my own… if there is anything here.

After some searching, you managed to find a thin book that had a rudimentary translation of a Sylvan poem. It would have to do for now.

You also found a book from the School of Song that Gale had mentioned a while back, with some introductory songs. Purchasing the two books ate into your gold pouch quite a bit, but it was worth it.

You were already working through one of the songs in your head when Gale came to the front desk.

“Oh? Found something you liked?”

You nodded. “Yes, a book from the School of Song. Hopefully I can learn some new musical spells.”

Gale took you back to the harbor before heading off to find the others. You spent the rest of the afternoon doing some chores around the camp.

By the time the sun set over the water, you could hear some of your companions entering the campsite, sharing their stories of the day.

You realized that Gale, Shadowheart, Karlach, and Astarion hadn’t returned with them.

“Do you know where the others went?” you asked.

Wyll scratched his chin. “Shadowheart mentioned something about finding a lead while searching for her parents.”

You closed your eyes and tried to find that dark purple strand of power that you associated with Shadowheart. Now that you had subtly tried it a few times this past week, analysing the feel of each of your companions’ powers, you could quickly feel them out without having to see them. After half a minute, you gave up. She was too far away.

“I hope they’re okay,” you said.

Wyll patted your shoulder. “They’ll be fine. Karlach is with them, after all,” he said half-jokingly.

You smiled. “You two have gotten along quite well, considering how things started.”

“And to think I was going to kill her, assuming she was a devil of the hells.” He scoffed self-deprecatingly. “She’s a breath of fresh air at the end of a long day. I…”

You watched his eyes widen before his whole expression softened oh so tenderly. “Well, I respect and admire her a great deal,” he finally said.

Gently touching his arm and squeezing it reassuringly, you confirmed your suspicions. You love her. “I’m sure she’d love to hear that from you directly, once she comes back.”

Wyll smiled and nodded. “Once she comes back,” he repeated softly.

Supper time came and went, and the others were still gone. You prepared their tents and set aside a portion of cheese and cold cuts for them in case you were asleep when they returned. As you were cleaning up after the evening meal, you felt a sharp sting to your seal, one you hadn’t felt since…

Oh no. “Wyll!”

He came to you just as Mizora appeared, rising from a hellish portal in the ground, along with two other devils. She gave him an ultimatum, and with you by his side, he stared at the contract, torn between freedom and family.

You grabbed his hand, letting his fear and dread wash over you. Fueling your seal with his emotions, you searched for the right way forward. Please, please help him, guide his path to the happiest possible ending.

“Wyll,” you finally whispered.

He turned to look at you, conflicted.

“Save yourself.”

His eyebrows raised in surprise. “But… my father…”

“Yes, his father,” Mizora repeated with a mocking sneer, gaining a glare from Wyll.

“You can save your father without her help. But you can’t save yourself alone.” You squeezed his hand. “The others will help you find him, you know they can.”

Closing his eyes, his face in great pain, Wyll took a deep breath.

Please. Please take my advice.

He turned to the she-devil. “You wretch. Do it. Break the pact.” His face crumpled. “Father…”

Mizora grinned before reciting the words to break the pact, and stubbornly decided to stick around in camp as a mostly impartial observer. Setting herself up in a corner of the harbor near Wyll’s tent, she summoned a glass of wine and cast her eyes around with an arrogant sneer.

Gods, I hate that she won’t go away. You turned to Wyll. “Come with me, I have an idea.”

You guided him to the edge of the water. Taking out your dagger, you cut your palm, dripping five drops of your blood into the water.

“I learned this from a book,” you told him when he looked a bit surprised. Then you turned to stare into the surface of the water and began to sing.

Use my voice and my song

To guide my vision far, far beyond

Take my blood, a gift to thee

To unveil a sight unseen…

The blood swirled and suddenly an image appeared in the water. You were not familiar with the locations, nor the man being pushed into a metal container of some kind, but Wyll clearly recognized him.

“Father!”

The vision disappeared after a minute. You turned to him. “Do you know that place?”

Wyll shook his head. “No, but I can talk to the others. Perhaps they’ve seen something similar.” He pulled you into a hug. “Thank you,” he murmured. “You’ve given me another path.”

…grateful…anxious…guilt…

You hugged him in return. “You deserve to be free, Wyll. Don’t ever feel selfish for wanting that.”

His hold on you tightened, and you felt him tremble slightly before he took a deep breath and stepped back, his hands on your shoulders. Giving you a wan smile, he walked back with you to the campfire before heading back to his own tent.

You headed toward Astarion’s tent to heal the cut on your palm with some potion before going to sleep, but you heard your alarm bell chime on your belt. Hurrying to the entryway instead, you realized that it wasn’t the others.

“Who… who are you?”

A tiefling woman and a human man, their eyes glowing red, walked down the path towards you. You knew the signs now, so you could tell right away.

Vampire spawn.

You backtracked as you tried to head back to where everyone else was, but you stumbled over your feet in your panic. In a flash, they were upon you, the man’s arm wrapped around you in a chokehold, covering your mouth to prevent you from screaming. You stomped down hard on his foot and bit into his hand, which bought you a split second of freedom before the woman pinned you down, shoving your face into the dirt.

“She smells of Astarion,” she said as she leaned over, sniffing your neck.

“If we take her, he will come to us.”

“Leave him a message.”

As you struggled futilely in the tiefling’s iron grip, the man carved letters into one of the crates nearby. Helplessly, you watched as he walked up to you, raised his fist…

Then darkness.

***

It had been a hellish day and a half. Astarion didn’t expect to be playing rescuer, but here he was, helping Shadowheart bring her parents home, walking with them through the lower city to the harbor where their camp was.

Where she was. His mind wandered, imagining her smile at his return, his worried look as she fussed over him, her gentle touch as she washed and brushed his hair. He wanted to set his little witch onto his lap and languidly sip her sweet blood and fall into a lovely trance, her scent wafting around him…

As he stepped through the entryway, he immediately saw the struggle in the dirt, his witch’s footsteps, and the footprints of two others.

Oh fuck no. Nobody takes what is MINE.

“You all you better come see this,” Karlach said, standing next to a crate.

His stomach dropped as he came closer. The poorly carved message was as bright as day.

‘WE HAVE HER’

“Fuck,” he muttered. He turned to the others, scowling. “I know where she is. But we have to go in the daylight when he’s weakest.”

Shadowheart came back from settling her parents into her tent to rest. “When who is weakest?” she asked, not having caught the first part of the conversation.

“Cazador.”

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

Act III, Chapter 1 End notes: Oh no, what will happen to our dear hearth witch? We’re hurtling towards the end, six chapters to go. Let me know in the comments what you think of this turn of events!

Tag List: @numblytemporary @xalphafox @avitute @stormyjane7 @kmoon21

#bg3 fanfic #astarion #astarion x f!reader #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #writing #female reader #bg3 spoilers #your hearth is my home

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historicrad39a · 10 months

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I am currently working on a “chapter two” of sorts, but for now, here’s an interlude from the perspective of the Humans:

Previous: https://www.tumblr.com/historicrad39a/721956662022389761/1-the-raid

Interlude 1. Aftermath

HD 164922 D - 72 ly from SOL

FDS Frontier Captain’s log: June 8th, 2538

First contact had been made.

Well, it wasn’t exactly first contact per-se. Being an Alliance of two separate species required both parties have a “first contact moment” with each other, after all. But this was the first time since the combined Human-Tathrax Alliance was founded that they had encountered sentient, space-faring life other than their own.

Unlike the excitement surrounding the discovery of the Tathrax some 300 years ago, the discovery of this new civilization was a lot more solemn. After all, the first message of greeting from our new friends was 23cm metal slug slamming into the Frontier’s main fuel tank.

Of the roughly Forty-three thousand people crewing the Frontier defense fleet, some twelve and a half thousand had perished. It was a disaster. We had lost 66 ships - around 44% of their entire fleet - in the engagement. It was a devastating loss.

Despite the losses, we had, technically, won. Not a single Alien ship had escaped, all but one ship had been completely destroyed by the last-ditch ramming attack Captain Zinn had led.

The remaining ship was heavily damaged, but largely intact. This was thanks to the FDV Knockout accidentally piercing the hull early, causing the ship to vent its atmosphere, along with several of its crew members into space. The ship had been dragged back to the (now crippled) Frontier, and through some complicated “docking maneuvers” involving a blowtorch and the station’s robotic arms, access to the vessel was gained.

The first thing that stuck out was how few crew members were needed to operate craft. Human/Tathrax vessels were usually crewed by 2-300 individuals, whereas despite being nearly three times the size, the alien vessel had an estimated crew of 100 at most.

The second thing that stuck out to the salvage crew was what appeared to be a dark-red hand. Apparently, one of the crew members had survived the initial decompression, and donned an oxygen mask (or rather, something resembling one), enabling them to survive long enough to attack one of the poor sods in the salvage crew.

When all was said and done, the salvage crew managed to “rescue” five very unhappy individuals from the ship. We took them to our detention facility, but we let them keep their masks. We weren’t sure if they breathed oxygen like us or not, so we decided to play it safe, rather than risk unintentionally suffocating them.

Efforts to decode the alien language were ongoing, and while the aliens seemed to have some understanding of modern English, it wasn’t enough to get any meaningful information out of our unexpected guests. Their entire vocabulary consisted largely of terms related to negotiation. Terms like “hostage,” “surrender,” “no harm,” along with the names of various resources and numbers. It would seem that the aliens planned to attack our fleet and possibly take hostages, in order to force us to the negotiating table.

Luckily this hadn’t happened, but such a tactic was worrying. HD 164922, being on the Frontier of Human-Tathrax space, was nearly exclusively a military system. However, numerous other frontier systems were not home to just military installations. Some were tourist destinations, others had research facilities, and a select few had recently-established colonies. Had any of these systems come under attack, the aliens likely would’ve been successful in their plan.

More concerningly, we had learnt the hard way that our weapons are ineffective. The aliens had exclusively used rail guns and other slugthrowers, whereas we had used plasma and laser-based weapons. Can you blame us? This was space. Everyone knew that in space, you use lasers and plasma bolts! But unfortunately, these aliens have decided that Age of Sail-style close-range broadsides are too risky, so they cower tens of kilometers away instead. As a result, our weapons cannot pierce their armor. Tests on the remains of their warships proved that our weapons can be effective, but we have to be within 5-10km in order to have a chance to do any damage.

Along with various ship parts, recovery teams also collected some thirty or so bodies of the ships’ former crew. Their dark-red skin turns a shade blue in death. The exact mechanisms of this are unknown, but the eggheads over in the medical wing are busy working on figuring that out. They initially wanted to perform tests on our new friends in the detention wing, but I shut that down before they had the chance to become war criminals.

The most fascinating discovery by the eggheads proved our initial suspicions correct. Despite the fact they had a pair of lung-like organs, they didn’t breathe oxygen. Rather, they breathed a mixture of Hydrogen, and Uranium Hexaflouride. I wasn’t about to let the eggheads pump metric tons of uranium into my precious Frontier, nor was I going to pump boatloads of hydrogen into it either - not that we had much left - someone blew the majority of it up, after all. In the end, we settled on just making our guests some impromptu oxygen - or rather, hydrogen masks.

We forwent adding Uranium Hexaflouride to the mix, on account of being several light years from the nearest device capable of producing it. While in theory we could order a shipment of the stuff from Earth, I’d rather just ship the aliens back to Earth instead. The paperwork needed to ensure the proper treatment of our POWs would be a nightmare, so the sooner they were off my station the better.

With all of this, hopefully central command realizes we need more than beat-up old destroyers, and gives us one of those new Shōkaku-class carriers, or Kongō-class battlecruisers (courtesy of Akatsuki Shipyards). Hell, even a Casablanca-class or Constitution-class would be welcome at this point. Anything’s better than these damn Action-class corvettes. I’ll try requesting some. Worst case scenario is I get laughed at for having the gall to ask for our Navy’s newest toys. Best case is that somehow we are actually given the things. It’s worth a shot.

The Frontier Defense Fleet has always been the laughing stock of our navy - we’re stuck out here with minimal resources and rusting ships. But even that won’t stop us from trying our hardest to blast these aliens all the way to Andromeda. Bring it on E.T.! We’ll beat your asses any day of the week!

Log end.

Read the next entry here

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #reddit refugee #sci fi writing #writing #hfy #humanity fuck yeah #scifi

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virgo-mess · 4 months

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Hey, just a little update on what to expect for Silver Bells and the remainder of Silver Thread!

First things first, I promise I'm not going to make either of them super sad, I'm not aiming to make any of us cry! I know a lot of you are worried about the breakup, but I don't think I'm going to go into too much detail surrounding the whole thing. Silver Threads epilogue will be fluffy romantic and will take place in August 1985. I will be sticking with the movie timeframe as messy as it is someone on the writing staff definitely can't math all the wiki years are a mess, lol. So, Terry and Veda officially break up the day of the tournament, which is around December 17th, 1985, I believe.

Silver Bells is taking place in December of 1995, a full 10 years after the break up and the first Christmas they get to spend together. I'm just going to do little references to the break up and maybe a flashback or two of the more important plot points, but that's it. The overall tone of Silver Bells will be a more lighthearted, rom-com type deal. Mostly because I don't really want to dwell on the ins and outs of it all. You guys have seen the movie and can understand why they most likely broke up without me telling you. But regardless of the circumstances surrounding the whole deal, I think a breakup for them was necessary. Terry and Veda's relationship is slipping into a realm of unhealthy codependency right now. They both have things they need to work on. You can't just make someone the center of your universe no matter how much you love them, and that was the tone I was aiming for in part 1 of chapter 8. Their love is real, but the reality of the situation is that Veda is just a kid who needs time to grow up, see the world, and deal with her unresolved trauma. Terry also needs time to grow and heal from all his unresolved trauma too. Right now, being together is preventing that growth and maturity from happening. They encourage each other's bad habits by blindly fixing the other's problems for them instead of only lending a supportive hand. They both need to stand on their own and fix themselves before they can be good for each other.

With that all being said, I've picked the location, and the resort Silver Bells will be taking place! Just me living out my wanderlust through Terry and Veda vicariously, lol. Our setting will be the very pretty village ski destination, Vail Colorado! And of course, I had to have them stay at the Four Seasons resort since the Beverly Willshire is a Four Seasons hotel as well 🥺. Crazy expensive, but cost isn't a problem for either of them at this point in their lives!

I'm really excited to get to this part in their story. Enjoy these pretty pictures of Vail 💙💙💙

#thomas ian griffith #terry silver #terry silver x oc #enemies to lovers #terry silver smut

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owletwriter · 2 years

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Welcome to Hawkins

CHAPTER 1

Summary: Stranger Things and The Upside Down, they're both fictional, right? But what if it wasn't? What if somehow, someone comes across a gate and ends up in not only the 80s...but in Hawkins?

Slow-burn Eddie x Reader / Eddie x OC, Robin x Friendship!Reader

Disclaimer: Don't own the rights to any characters except the ones I created for this story.

Hope you enjoy!

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

This is a spontaneous trip, but at the same time it's not because I've been wanting to do it for a while now. Currently, I'm in a car with my best friend, Sarah, who's driving us to our destination, the location of where they film the popular show, Stranger Things. I've always been a fan, binge-watching the new seasons that get released instantly and then waiting patiently for the next to arrive. However, once season 4 volume 1 came out and I watched it, I felt so much more passionate about the show. I assume it's because the wait for it was so long, the hype for the show increased, and it has such an awesome horror element to it this season. I'm excited, but nervous about watching volume 2.

Anyway, Sarah noticed the increase of my interest with all the theories I was discussing with her. So, as a very early 21st birthday gift, she one day offered to drive me to visit the film location. At first, I was stunned and thought she was joking, but as she grabbed one of my bags and started to pack for me, my excitement was very apparent when I tackled her in a hug. However, she's only available around the time volume 2 is out, which means I'll have to watch it when I come back. I don't mind though because I can avoid spoilers. So, here we are in a car, after quite a long road trip from New York and we're almost at our destination.

"Hey, Kate." Sarah says while nudging my arm to get my attention. "What street was our Airbnb on again?"

"Oh damn, right. Hold on." I say forgetting to look at the address and quickly fumble for the phone from my backpack. "It should be 2 more blocks and then make a left. It'll be on the left side of the street." I reply back.

Sarah chuckles at my moment of being flustered and says, "Man, you just love to daydream don't you?"

"No! I was just really into the music." I defensively tell her. The song that just finished playing was, "The Hell Song" by Sum41, one of my favorite artists among many.

Sarah luckily finds a parking spot near our Airbnb and as we get out of the car, she smirks at me saying, "Yes, I'm sure that you were fully immersed in the song and not at all fantasizing about a certain fictional character worrying about what will happen to him in volume 2."

"Shush! No I wasn't." I tell her and quickly move on to a new topic. "This actually looks a little smaller than I expected." I state while walking up to the door.

"Well it's a good thing you're small yourself." She jokes while patting my head entering.

I walk in as well looking around, "Okay one, I am fun-sized and two, I definitely think I grew an inch taller."

"So…5'1"?" Sarah teases as she takes a seat on the couch.

With genuine excitement I say, "Yep! I will take all that I can get and have the small victories." I plop down next to her and we both stay silent for a moment, happy to finally be at our destination.

After another minute, Sarah stands back up stretching her arms wide while suggesting, "So should we go check it out?"

"Right now?" I ask stunned by her suggestion and then say standing as well, "We just got here. Are you sure you don't want to relax after the drive or grab a bite?"

"Nah, I'm good. We came all this way, why not go there right away? Plus, even though you're trying to not show it, I can tell you're buzzing with excitement." She tells me with a pat to my shoulder. I blush a little embarrassed that my enthusiasm is showing, but she continues, "I'm actually really interested in seeing the place too. So, let's grab our backpacks and head out."

With a nod, we both leave the Airbnb, get back in Sarah's car and head straight there. We found a great location for where we're staying because it's only a ten minute drive until we start seeing familiar landmarks from the show. Sarah makes one more turn and then I see it, Hawkins High. My mouth is a agape as I stare at the sight that has been seen on the show. We stop and get out of the car. Sarah walks ahead as I slowly take it in. It's looks exactly the same. I think to myself.

"Wow, this is actually really awesome!" Sarah shouts impressed with the structure in front of her and adds, "But, it sucks that there's a fence around it." I snap out of my trance now noticing the barrier around the school.

"Maybe there's an entrance?" I suggest to her.

She points to a sign on the far right of us that reads "No Trespassing" and states, "I don't think so." My mood deflates a bit when reading it and Sarah chimes in again, "Ugh, seriously? The whole point of us coming here was to go in and check it out."

"I mean, it is used for filming so it make sense." I say with a hint of disappointment in my voice and add, "We probably should have researched ahead of time." I take one last look sighing before turning to head back to the car and call to Sarah, "Come one, let's grab a bite to eat."

We enter the car once again, but Sarah doesn't start it. I look over to see her staring at the school in thought before facing me with a smirk saying, "We'll come back at night and sneak in."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!" I shout with my hands waving in front of me and state the obvious, "We can't break in!"

With a pleading look, she begs, "Come on! We came all this way to actually go in and not just see it from a distance behind a fence. My gift to you is supposed to be the "Hawkins High Experience" and not just staring at it from a distance like it's a zoo."

"I know, but-" I try to argue back, but Sarah holds her hand up.

She peers straight into my eyes and asks, "Would you really be okay if we just drive away knowing you had a chance to walk through those halls, but didn't?"

I sigh before answering quietly, "No."

"Hey, I don't want to force you to do it, but I know how much you were looking forward to seeing this place and I want you to be able to do it." She tells me sincerely and then says, "I promise that we'll be in and out of there quickly."

I shut my eyes pinching the bridge of my nose and give in saying, "Alright, we'll do it." Sarah bounces in excitement, but I add, "However, if we can't find a way in safely, we walk away."

She starts the car almost singing, "That's totally fine."

I fidget playing with my long dark brown hair and I say more to myself, but she overhears, "You're slowly corrupting me."

"Yeah, but you're turning 21, Kate! Let's make it your year of adventures!" She shouts while driving off as I roll my eyes at her.

We have time to kill, so we go to a local diner to eat and then head to a store to buy flashlights with whatever else we need. Sarah jokingly suggests buying ski masks as well, but I feel like that will definitely draw more attention than less. After about 4 hours, the sun is setting and we're putting the necessary supplies in our backpacks at the Airbnb. The cool night air hits our faces as we now head for the school once again. I have a bundle of nerves in my stomach that just won't go away no matter how many deep breaths I take. At the school, we walk up to the fence and we decided earlier that it's probably best to climb it. Sarah almost makes it look effortless, but she's pretty fit ever since she started taking kickboxing lessons. I on the other hand, have been exercising lately, but I'm still on the chubbier side, so I take a little longer to get over. We hope that's the only difficult obstacle and now we search for an entrance crossing our fingers that a door will be open. Thankfully, luck is on our side and a back door is unlocked.

Sarah looks over to me and asks quietly, "Are you ready?" I nod in response and we enter. The first place we walk into was the cafeteria. We shine our flashlights around the large room taking it in. "Wow, this is so cool. I mean…it's kind of creepy at night, but still really cool. Right, Kate?" Sarah asks me, but I don't respond so she points her light at me to grab my attention.

"Sorry, yeah, this feels…unreal." I tell her while I walk around. All the tables and chairs have been left out like they used this place yesterday. I subconsciously head over to a specific table remembering the introduction of a certain metalhead who stood on it. That was some entrance you had. I muse to myself smiling. Suddenly, I get spooked by the sudden music filling the room. Turning, it's Sarah playing the song "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush on her phone.

I give her a look and she shrugs saying, "What? This is the perfect time to play this song!"

"Well don't blame me if your phone dies since you forgot to charge it…and not so loud." I reprimand her in a whisper.

"Who else would be here besides us?" She asks and then says, "Also, I can always rely on you for your charger since you always carry it."

I respond while exiting the cafeteria to a hallway, "We don't know if there's someone else here like a security guard and yes I do have it because you never know."

"Alright, alright. I'm turning it off." Sarah says walking behind me, but that quickly changes when we come across a door and she walks past me. "Oh look! This is the room for the Hawkins High newspaper." She states pointing her flashlight at the door.

With her head, she gestures for us to check it out. Entering, we notice right away that it's not the same as the show. It's empty with no chairs and has white cloths over the tables. Since we planned on not touching anything, we take one more glance and head out. As we walk through the hallways, I imagine the different scenes that took place in the show. There wasn't too much that took place in the school for season 4, but the parts that were, are memorable. It honestly still feels like I'm dreaming. I think to myself still in awe while looking around. We pass by a restroom and Sarah stops prompting me to as well.

"Mind if I take a quick bathroom break?" She asks with a sheepish grin.

"Do the toilets even work here?" I question doubting their functionality.

"Well, I'm about to find out." Sarah says entering, but pauses to turn and ask, "You coming?"

I shake my head and say, "Nah, I'll just wait here until you're done."

Without the added sound of Sarah talking, it's eerily quiet. That is, until I hear a clanking sound a little ways down the hall. It spooks me and I reflexively prepare to hide, but don't when I hear that the sound is in a repetitious pattern. Curiosity winning, I go a little ways down the hall and as soon as I make a left, a red light from under a closet door catches my eye. My body doesn't listen to my mind and it goes towards the door opening it. There's a sigh of relief when I see that it's one of the gates from the show with nothing else in the closet.

"This is actually a really cool set piece. It looks so authentic." I admire it going closer and then ponder, "I wonder if they actually connected it to the next room."

With little hesitation, I go through the slimy gate only to witness that the room I entered was just another closet with the door shut and more dust in it making me cough a bit. I'm tempted to venture off even further out, but decide to head back into the prop gate once more to show Sarah, so we can check it out together. However, as I go through the gate again, I notice the closet that was opened, is now closed and there's now a light seeping through from the outside. What freaks me out more is not only are there janitorial supplies now, but I hear commotion on the opposite side of the door. What is that? I ask myself trying to step over things on the floor to press my ear to the door.

That fails once I trip on something causing me to grab the handle for support. Accidentally, I turn the knob and fall out of the closet onto the floor. What I didn't plan on hearing after my clumsy fall…was laughter. It's bright and I squint waiting for my eyes to adjust to what is now daylight. Once they do, I let my mouth fall open in shock as I see a multitude of people, teens, walking by in both directions passing me in the halls, a few chuckling at me. I grab my backpack while I stand up and look around at my surroundings. Starting to panic, I turn towards the closet to see if I can walk back through the gate prop, but it's no longer there. I close the door and lean my back against it. My mind goes blank trying to process all the new information in front of me, but then I snap out of it and jump at the sound, of what I assume is a school bell. The halls start to clear as teens enter rooms and then I remember, Sarah! I remind myself.

I run back to the bathroom she was in and enter calling for her, "Sarah? Sarah!" All the bathroom stalls are empty and so I charge out of it back into the hallway. I bump into a girl and reflexively apologize. Once I get a better look at her, I'm again in state of shock. I didn't really pay attention to the other people before, but now I do with the girl in front of me. Her outfit, hair and makeup, all of it screams 80s fashion. Before she leaves I grab her attention again, "Excuse me? Um, do you…mind telling me what the date is, please?"

The girl says, "It's September 7th."

"And…the year?" I ask her awkwardly.

She gives me a strange look before replying, "1985."

As she quickly hurries herself down the hall, I'm left standing there dumbfounded. What the hell is going on!?

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

Likes, Comments, and Reblogs are appreciated!

Also I have an Etsy Store with my artwork!

#eddie munson #strangerthings4 #stranger things 4 #stranger things #the upside down #eddie the banished #eddie the freak munson #stranger things fic #eddie x fem!reader #eddie x reader #eddie x oc #robin buckley #st fic #st4 fic #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x oc

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juniper-sunny · 1 year

Text

The Art in the Heart - Chapter 11

The completion of the mural steers your relationship with Silco into a new direction…

Everybody Lives AU | Pre-Act 1 | Silco x Reader | Female!Reader | Slow Burn | Eventual Smut | Fluff | Mild Angst || SFW | WC: 2.62k

ao3 || Masterlist || Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 3.5 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 7.5 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10

taglist (open): @sherwood-forests @deny-the-issue @let-the-monster-out @ariaud @joscelyn02 @crunchlite @sheacrowley

───────────────── ●◉◎◈◎◉● ─────────────────

It’s hard to believe that you were ever afraid of Silco leaving you, when he’s on your bed right now, sitting close enough for you to touch him. The fabric of his shirt is soft against your cheek as you lean against his shoulder. You look up at him; he stares out your window, but he wraps an arm casually around you, pulling you in closer.

The worries you had earlier this morning seem so distant now. As if they belonged to another person…

________________________________________

Silco and you had both continued doing chores at the orphanage, then enjoyed brunch in the cafeteria. Trying not to giggle when the children’s eyes grew wide as Silco walked past their tables. When you were about to admonish them for gawking, he reassured you that he didn’t mind. He even made funny faces back at Powder when she stared straight at him.

When you both finished eating, Teema had then insisted you both leave.

“Our girl here already works too much. Take her out and have some fun, won’t you?” the older woman had directed this question at Silco, failing miserably at giving him a surreptitious wink.

“For once, I agree with Teema,” chuckled Cuny. The two of them had shooed you out the front doors.

You had sheepishly apologized for their behavior again. He had said it was fine, and reiterated that he didn’t have any other plans for the day. Pointedly reminding you that he meant to stay by your side until your stalker was dealt with. So first, you both stopped by your studio, picking up the supplies you used to protect the mural from the weather. It was going to be another rainy night.

On the roof of the mural, you had asked again, “Are you sure you don’t—”

“No, I do not have any other plans. Yes, I do intend to accompany you for as long as you’ll have me,” Silco had recited. “Please don’t ask me again.”

A crazy impulse seized you: to tell him that you’ll have him forever, until the end of your days. You had bitten your tongue hard then, punishing yourself for the outlandish thought.

Then Silco had asked if he could introduce you to another friend of his named Benzo; his shop was in the heart of the Lanes, only a few streets away from The Last Drop. During your trek through the Undercity, Silco was vigilant about staying close to you, and once grabbed your hand when a group of strangers passed by too closely. He hadn’t let go until you arrived at your destination.

Benzo was just as rough around the edges as Silco’s other compatriots, but warmed up to you quickly. When he lamented about a former employee who recently quit, you offered to ask around at the orphanage to see if anyone would be interested in taking the newly vacated position. The shopkeeper needed the help, and some of the older children at Janna’s Hearth were about to finish their education; they’d be looking for a job as long as it was safe and paid well, of course. Benzo was quick to promise you that any employee of his would be compensated fairly, especially if they were a friend of a friend of Silco’s.

The rain started then, a weak drizzle tickling the shop’s windows. After some quick goodbyes, Silco had grabbed your hand again and rushed you out. You were breathless but laughing at the speed with which he pulled you along, as if he were trying to outrun ravenous flesh-eating mites and not some bad weather. He didn’t stop until reaching your Promenade apartment.

By then the rain was coming down in sheets. It took much less effort this time to convince him to stay the night. After you each had showered separately, Silco had taken up residence on your bed. You curled up in your sleeping bag at first, intending to sleep early.

All things considered, the activities of the day hadn’t been that strenuous. It was the emotional exhaustion that was getting to you, though. The catharsis of telling Silco everything was greater than you anticipated, especially when he didn’t run away, as you feared. You could rest easy knowing that Silco was still your friend.

The only unresolved issue was the interrupted moment at the orphanage. If Vi hadn’t come… had Silco wanted to kiss you? If so, then why? You’re not quite ready to believe his reassurances that you weren’t a bad person, but surely you’re not the only woman in his life right now? He had told you that he’s single, but has he had past lovers? What were they like?

These questions and many more had kept you tossing and turning restlessly, until finally, you had let out a quiet huff out of frustration.

“Is something the matter?” Silco had called out to you.

“Can’t sleep,” you had groaned, getting up to look at him.

Silco seemed to have the same problem. He had been sitting with one knee up, back against the wall. He unfolded himself and patted the bed. You had climbed up and settled next to him, keeping a respectable distance at first, but Silco had automatically scooched closer to you.

Your first instinct was to pull away from him. Were you really deserving of his company? But maybe he would have taken it as an insult.

So for the first time in a long while, you allowed yourself to savor the company of a friend, without any guilt or reservations.

And now, he’s still here, his arm around your shoulder, turning to look at you with a kind smile, the rain-dappled moonlight resting against his cheek like a mother’s hand.

You smile back at him, so overcome by gratitude and affection that tears start welling in your eyes again.

“Are you alright?” he asks. His smile falls from his face, replaced by wide eyes of concern.

“I’m okay,” you whisper, pushing the heel of your palm into your eyes. “I’m just really happy that you’re here.” That’s the most honest way of putting it without lying about your feelings for him.

Silco slowly, gently wipes your tears from your eyes. “Am I meant to believe that these are tears of happiness, then?”

You nod, heart fluttering at his touch. Good thing that the darkness of the night hides your blushing face. Hopefully he can’t feel your cheeks heating up though.

He frowns. “I’m not sure I believe you.”

His gaze is intense. You can’t help but try to lean away from him. He doesn’t let you, though. He pulls you into a hug, resting his chin on top of your head.

“If ever your mind is unquiet, or unkind to you,” he murmurs, “you must tell yourself that you deserve to be treated with the same kindness that you have shown to so many others. You do not need to ask for forgiveness, as you have done no wrong that needs forgiving,” Silco speaks his next words directly into your ear, his warm breath providing the same comfort as his arms. “If you are not ready to speak these facts, then I will do it for you.”

You can’t help but sigh at his words, the cracked parts of your heart slowly but surely fusing together again. Your hands hesitantly reach around his back to reciprocate the hug, a deep inhale filling your lungs with his warm scent. “Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me for telling the truth,” he laughs, letting go of you to stroke your cheek. You take one of his hands in yours, squeezing tightly.

“Why are you awake?” you ask, leaning back against the wall. Silco mirrors your posture to resume staring out the window.

“I was enjoying the rain,” he says. He looks far off into the distance but rubs his thumb against the back of your hand.

“You like this kind of weather?”

He nods. “There’s peace in water… it holds you, whispering in low tones to let it in… and every problem in the world will fade away,” he takes a long inhale, as if preparing to dive into water at this very moment. “And yet you cannot allow yourself to sink too deeply, or those same waters keeping you afloat will drag you into its depths. It’s a story of opposites that has always fascinated me.”

You frown at him. “You sound like you’ve almost drowned before or something.”

“Not at all; I merely had a few mishaps in my youth.”

You want to ask him to tell you more, but you’re suddenly overcome by a huge yawn. Silco’s presence has been so soothing that drowsiness has crept up on you, ready to pull you into sleep.

He chuckles and lowers his legs, petting his lap for you to rest your head on.

“It’s been a long day, hasn’t it,” he says softly. “Please don’t stay awake on my account. I’ll be here in the morning.”

Even if you weren’t too tired to crawl back into your sleeping bag, you don’t want to give up Silco’s body heat. You lie your head down on his thigh, ear squishing against his pants. Snuggling as close to him as possible. He pulls a blanket over you, humming a lullaby that eases you into slumber.

________________________________________

The next morning, you make breakfast. Then Silco accompanies you to the mural, where you manage to get in a full day of painting. He never seems to tire of your company, always smiling at you and trying to get you to laugh. Casually touching you at almost every opportunity that presents itself. You worry that he’s spending too much time away from the Children of Zaun, but he assures you that they’ll be fine without him. Then, as the sun sets, he escorts you home, giving you a goodbye hug before he leaves.

Weeks pass by, each almost identical to the last. Silco is a constant in every one of them, a lighthouse in a peaceful, contented blur of time that teases you with what life could be… if Silco decided to stay with you.

It makes your heart ache. His company is so comforting and reliable during the daytime, it’s hard not to take him for granted. In contrast, your nights feel lonelier than ever without him. You cling to your pillows, but they’re a poor substitute for your friend’s presence.

One day, Silco is clambering over rooftops. Your camera is slung around his shoulders, banging against his chest as he pulls himself up pipes and ladders. He reaches a shorter building with a steel roof rusting turquoise not too far from the mural. He snaps several photos, trying to get the best angle where the sunlight highlights the focal points of the completed mural.

You stand on the roof of the mural, pacing erratically. You’ve never felt this much anxiety upon completing a commission before. Sure, there’s always a bit of nervousness before presenting the artwork to a client, but your pride in a job well done has always carried you through.

You feel none of that confidence now when Silco returns the camera to you. He hands you the photos, and you flip through them frantically.

“This is all wrong,” you mutter. “There’s too much empty space. Maybe it could use more birds? Everybody likes birds, right? Or maybe I should start over? I could—”

Silco cuts through your rambling with a murmur of your name.

“It’s perfect,” he says. He places a hand on your shoulder. “It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”

“No way!” you exclaim, “I— I still have to—”

The artist in you knows that you’re finished with the mural. You can never achieve perfection when it comes to art, but you’ve reached the finish line nonetheless. Adding anything new or taking something out would ruin the whole thing.

And yet there’s a visceral fear twisting your guts, threatening to quash the very air out of your lungs.

The mural is done. But what about your time with Silco? Will he leave you now that you don’t need him anymore?

But… you do need him. And it has nothing to do with him keeping you company at your worksite.

You need him in your life.

“I don’t—” you’re too choked up to finish your sentence.

Silco says your name again. You close your eyes to better relish the sound of it. If it’s the last time you’ll ever hear him say it—

“We should rejoice,” he says deliberately, as if chewing his words carefully before speaking. “This is quite literally the largest piece that you’ve ever completed, is it not? Then it warrants a celebration just as grand.

“Would you allow me to take you to dinner?”

You open your eyes wide. Staring at him.

The two of you have shared plenty of meals together. But the way he asks the question— with a heavy, significant gravity— makes you wonder…

“Silco…” you say slowly. Your next question could make or break the bond you’ve formed with him. But it would kill you not to know.

Especially if he gives you the answer you’re hoping for.

“Yes?” he asks.

“Are you… asking me out on a date?”

The upwards quirk of his lips blooms into a full smile, his large teeth peeking out at you. Shy eyes watching you between the curtains of his hair.

“Yes. Yes I am.”

Your anxiety scatters in the wind like dandelion seeds. Overwhelmed by the jubilation those four words give you, you run towards him and jump, throwing your arms around his neck and burying your face in his chest. The forgotten photos drop to the ground.

Caught by surprise, he stumbles backwards. He hugs you around your waist, laughing. “May I assume that your answer is ‘yes’?”

“Yes!!” you almost shout. Oops, that might have been too loud. You’re up in his face, after all. “I’d like that very much.”

You lean back to meet his eyes. They’re bright and shining.

Still chuckling, Silco lowers his lips. Brushing them against your forehead. His eyes fall half-lidded. Turquoise irises still visible, deep as the sea.

His nose nudges yours. Breath softly fanning your cheeks.

You bump your cheek against his. Then he dips his head.

His mouth opens hesitantly. When you don’t pull away, he leans in.

Kissing you.

Joy bursts inside you. Launching your heart into the heavens, as if it were rising on a scissor lift of its own.

At first, he holds back. Light, grazing kisses that give way to more eager, deeper ones that force you to open your mouth wider. His thin lips are softer than you imagined, but still manage to encompass you entirely, tasting your upper and bottom lip in turn.

Silco lifts you up and off the ground. His arms squeezing you tighter.

The kisses melt into each other. Passion and gratification building up and breaking all at once. Roiling inside you like the abstract, twisting swirls you painted on the mural.

An eternity later, he finally lowers you onto the ground. Breathing heavily as he opens his eyes again. You break free from his lips, but remain standing on tiptoe. Your stance is unbalanced along with your heart. An elated drumbeat that has your pulse hammering loudly in your ears.

He grins at you. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

“Me too,” you whisper, smiling brightly at him. You plant another kiss at the end of his lips. He happily peppers kisses all over your cheek, forehead, and nose before kissing you on your lips again.

Maybe… just maybe… does Silco want you as much as you want him?

Hopefully, the answer is yes.

Chapter 12

#Arcane #Arcane fanfic #Silco #Silco x Reader #Arcane Silco #Silco Arcane #my writing #The Art in the Heart #TAITH

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coffeepurpleu · 11 months

Text

On a Sweet Night, Be My Lucky Star☆ (Teaser)

Pairing : VampireTaehyung x WitchReader x DemonJungkook

Genre: Supernatural, Smut, Angst, a little of violence,Fluff (I'll try go with all lmao)

Serie: (still don't know how many longer will be, like chapters, but I'm going to make you enjoy it),about updates (there's will be not a specific day to update, *wink).

This will be my first fanfic here, English It's not my first language, so, if you have any suggestion I'll try it🏃🏻‍♀️.

Ch01

Long ago there were fights between different types of species, each with its life partner or destiny, today, although we live comfortably, there are some types of "clans" who refuse to believe that the life partners of different species are not equal to the same (type, an elf with a troll to say). But clarifying that, being a witch, I have learned to live without a companion, I have my best friend Jin.

"Where is my omma?" I asked walking into the restaurant."Yah! You know you shouldn't talk like that" Jin mentions, I managed to dodge the incoming punch.

"Come on! It's funny anyway, it's almost 8 o'clock, are you going to close? Remember that tomorrow you will accompany me to Paris" I gave him a wink.

I usually focus on work, I'm a CEO of 5 companies, I took 2 weeks off, since Jin's birthday is coming up, and I thought I'd give us a trip.

"Yeah, just let me lock up" He mentioned taking off his apron, looking for the keys. At that, we heard the door open and saw a gray wolf. "Jin?""What-"

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

"Hey, Tae wake up" Yoongi was trying to move tae to take him to the car for go to apartment they had, it was 4 o'clock in the morning in Paris after a crazy night.

"Let me sleep for a while Hyung" Taehyung snorted trying to turn over, but yoongi prevented him by carrying him on his shoulders. "Hyung comee oooon."

"There are things to do Tae" He muttered.

They were two old vampire friends, both had always dreamed of finding their mate, but to one, 2 centuries made him give up and he stopped looking everywhere, or, he was missing one. To the other, he was still trying to keep his friend with hope.

"Really, you should stop doing this, you're seriously going to kill me man" Yoongi spoke, walking down the stairs helping him to support himself.

"I'm sorry Hyung I just-" Before Tae finished speaking, Yoongi completed the sentence he always repeated. "Tired of searching, I know, you've mentioned it a thousand times" He snorted.

"And despite me mentioning it to you, you always say to end it all" Taehyung rolled his eyes "Ouch!" he hadn't come to see the punch his Hyung gave him.

"Watch your mouth brat, and you know it's not good for you to do this either, how about sometime these days you meet your destined partner?" This made Taehyung laugh, but what he didn't know was that Yoongi was partly right.

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

"Are you sure we should go to another city, Hobi? I'm fine here in Venice, aren't you?" Jimin pouted slightly.

"I feel something big coming Chim" Hoseok gave his usual bright smiles.

"I don't feel anything, my god senses will be gone?" he laughed softly.

"Maybe we can go back to Paris? Dance with The Moon" Hoseok slowly approached Jimin wiggling his eyebrows, seeing the cheeks of the last mentioned red as a rose.

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

Noises of trucks unloading sounded on a darkened road, voices in a whisper begged to leave the worst place anyone could find.

An unusual demon, with tattoos, piercings decorating his pointed ears, hair covering almost all of his face, the smell of blood and dirt coming from him, one horn full while the other is only half full, bruised ribs sticking out of him, chains all over his body, rusty ones slowly infecting him, suffering looked on.

"Unload this wretch" mentioned a guard as he took out a cigarette to smoke.

A well-dressed gentleman in a suit said, "Be careful, this is valuable merchandise".

Suddenly, our demon is moved to a large place, but complaints echoed between walls. A small sigh came from him, he was cowering in the large cage made for him, closing his eyes hoping at least that someone would take pity on him.

"Hey, kid, are you okay?" He heard a light voice next to him

"Y-Yes."

"What's your name? my name is Neithan" The boy smiled.

"I'm Jung-" He whispered

"Hey, assholes, no talking, take number 16" A bald gentleman said.

Jungkook watched the boy he had recently talked to being taken away. A shiver ran down his spine as he listened to the bustle behind that golden door. He had to escape from there, he used his almost last breath to devise a plan to get the hell out of there.

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

"Elizabeth, what did you bring?" Flor asked excitedly. After a month of not meeting, they had to put together a crazy reunion. At Y/n's mansion, who had a pool, hot tub, a lot of rooms (where ome of them she makes art or read to calm) and his own greenhouse.

"I brought tons of candy," replied Elizabeth.

"I brought chocolate covered strawberries" Flower fluttered into the living room.

"I'll get the drinks, and fairy meat" I chuckled, approaching Flor. She opened her eyes like saucers after coming out to hide behind Elizabeth.

"Bitch!" scared Flor didn't know what to do, so she pounced on Y/N. Elizabeth just laughed at them, taking a seat on the tan couch.

Ding-Dong

"Get off me you ugly dumpster fairy!" I yelled, shoving Flor, as she kept pulling my hair.

Since neither of them could keep still, the doorbell kept ringing, Elizabeth went to open the door, finding other friends, Chaeyoung and Momo, both smiling with more food,in the distance came Celeste stumbling with the tents she had in her hands to build it with the others.

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

"Get the fuck away from me motherfucker!" A shout echoed through the trees

"But I love you!" A shrill voice almost on the verge of tears was heard.

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

"I know we can do this, together," he murmured softly.

"Are you sure?"

"Let's get this over with and show everyone that it's possible."

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

"ey princess, free tonight?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's for us to go out tonight."

»»————>»»————>»»————>»»————>

"Help, she's bleeding!"

"No, you can't leave me, you promised!"

word count: 974 I think

So that's about a preview, I hope you've enjoy it<3

All people have different way to write right?

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bubbleonice · 6 months

Text

Samhain special:

Choose a number between 1-5 and read your card below for a message from your ancestor.

Choose a number between 6-10 and read cards below for a message from your destined soulmate.

1: King of swords reversed:

You may feel that others are not treating you fairly and that you are being taken for granted. You may be trying to overturn an unfair policy in work or in the family and feel that you are banging your head against a brick wall. You may feel that you cannot express yourself effectively or that no one will listen. You may need to scream louder. Maybe you are not asking the right questions or talking to the relative people.

Lay down your arms and open your heart. Speak the truth but leave the brutal part out of it. The King of Swords reversed can warn of corruption or abuse of power. In this case, you may want to watch other people's actions…or your own.

2: The chariot reversed: When The Chariot reverses forward momentum ceases and the wheels no longer turn. This may indicate that for the moment life and progress seems to have slowed down or stopped altogether. You may feel that you will never advance in your career or that your relationship is stuck in a rut. You may be riding for a fall.

it means that fear of making the wrong decision can rob you of feeling like your life and destiny are in your control. This card will often accompany a feeling that life is pulling you in two opposite directions. Fear of committing to a choice can lead to a sense of being stuck. Be courageous.

3: 10 of wands: The Ten of Wands often appears when you are entering the final stages of a project, task or job. The end is in sight but you are now entering the agonising home stretch when energy levels are down and enthusiasm for the project has been beaten out of you. Instead of the workload lightening, it has become heavier. There are so many things that need to be sorted and arranged, especially those boring parts you would rather suck razor blades than do. These tasks are usually ones you just have to do yourself, because involving others at this stage would create further delays as you would have to spend time instructing them on what you need done, how, where and when. Close to burnout, you may be suffering from information overload now and are not able to think straight.

Self-Care is essential at this stage for you are spreading yourself too thin and are quite frazzled by it all. Outwardly you may be keeping up a pretence of being strong and enthusiastic but inside you could feel beaten and exhausted. You certainly cannot keep going on in this manner.

4: 9 of pentacles: The Nine of Pentacles Tarot Card symbolizes self-reliance, financial stability, luxury, and personal accomplishment. It signifies enjoying the fruits of one’s labor and independence in different aspects of life.

Regardless of what the present looks like, the desires of your heart are not out of your reach. All of your aspirations are right around the corner.

5: 10 of swords: When the Ten of Swords appears in a reading, it is not a great omen. Number ten of this suit represents being backstabbed, hitting rock bottom, and experiencing failure and betrayal. The situation that is impending will only be temporary and you have the strength you need to be able to weather the storm. It may be difficult, but it won’t be impossible, and you will get through it!

——————————————————————————————

6: EGO: I let my Pride get in the way of our connection.

Shadow side: You made me realize my flaws

I’m too afraid to talk to you.

7: Habits: I don’t know if I will ever change

Commitment: I want you to be a part of my future

Now is not the time.

8: Daydreaming: I am always longing for you

New Chapter: I am trying to move on

Wait!

9: Missed Opportunity: I didn’t act when I should have

Third Party: There were others that got in the way of us being together

I worry about us a lot.

10: Unfinished buisness: we still have things to resolve and discuss.

Unsatisfied: I wasn’t happy the way things were going

Be more selfish!

Hope you enjoy❤️🙏🏻

#samhain tarot #samhain

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yeahwhatdidisay · 2 years

Text

The Body Series Book 1: Ch 8 'Senses'

18+ please!! minors DNI (For other chapters, kind of this one) [Prev. Chapter] [Next Chapter] [First Chapter] [Ao3 link]

Summary: when Khonshu calls upon you you at the worst possible time you struggle to keep your senses under control. Of course, the bird also decides to throw a curve ball into the mix.

Pairing: Steven Grant x F Reader, Marc Spector x F Reader, Jake Lockely

Warnings: descriptions of violence, mentions of alchohol/intoxication A/N: Back on the update schedule! Also realized I never really included a description of the Scribe Suit, so I decided to draw a picture instead. A little FYI, the short cape that falls over the back of our Scribe is what extends to the full cape and where the cowl comes from as well. Also if you have a different idea of how the hair looks then imagine it as you wish. The suit hides the identity so it can change. This character is as much all of yours as they are mine. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and thank you to everyone who reads and lets me know what you think! I appreciate all of you!

“What is this!? We have a task at hand and you come to me in this state!”

“I didn’t think you’d need me tonight?” you whispered, taking off your heels and lightly smacking your cheeks, trying to sober up by sheer will which wasn’t very effective.

“This is unacceptable! I’m going to get Jake!”

“No! No…please, you agreed!”

You shifted into your suit which did help a little with the lightness you felt in your head. As for the swaying of the world around you, it did nothing.

“Where do you need me to go?”

“Take my hand and hold your breath.”

As soon as you took Khonshu’s hand it felt like all the air had been taken from your lungs and someone had punched you in the stomach.

You fell to your knees and into a coughing fit once you arrived at the destination. Struggling to take a deep breath at first until it finally caught up with you.

“I told you to hold your breath! You’re almost as bad as your idiot! OW!”

You couldn’t speak yet but you slammed down your fist onto Khonshu’s foot beside where you were on the floor.

“Fine, I won’t call him that! This is not going to work!”

“Y…yes it is! *cough* Just…shut up! Let me…*cough*”

“There is no time! They are getting closer to their goal!”

You inhaled as deep a breath as you could and stood up, making your way to the side of the building to look down.

Down below was a group of at least 13 people quickly coming in and out of a very expensive looking home. Carrying boxes of antiquities and paintings into an awaiting van.

You began to panic because your vision was far from where it should be. You knew this would be a struggle and you weren’t going to be as efficient. Or silent.

‘Okay…here we go…’ you thought.

The men and women down below were too busy to notice the fog creeping in around their feet. It blanketed the ground all around the courtyard when, in an instant, the fog grew and flew up around them as if a smoke bomb had been detonated.

“What the hell is happening?” one of them yelled while the others cried out to each other in their confusion.

Your first target was easily dealt with. A precisioned jab to the neck and the back of the head was enough to knock them out. The next victim was a little more difficult. He was able to see your cloak disappear into the dense fog so he started to move as well.

You missed your attempt to dispatch him in the same way as the first man but was able to wrap your arm around his neck and pull him backwards onto the ground. The next punch was enough to knock him out as well, although he did make more noise than you’d like.

You stumbled on the ground, the lightheadedness returning.

You were quickly joined by two other people who followed the sound of your last victim. Only one of them had a gun at the ready but you were able to pull it out of his grip. Using it to deal a knockout blow. The other used the time you were focused elsewhere to wrap their arms around your neck.

He held on tightly and began to squeeze, calling out to the others.

You struggled to breath and knew if you didn’t deal with this man quickly you would have a larger group to deal with.

You grasped onto his crossed arms, lifting up your legs and bringing them down firmly on the ground, using his grip against him and lifting him up and over your body. Slamming him down hard on the ground and again dealing a final blow that knocked him out.

You moved away from him back into the fog just as a large group showed up to where you were.

You could hear them yell to each other to stay together and not shoot their weapons out into the fog. They may hit the other members of their group.

You started to worry again. You were more winded than you would have been and the man choking you had made your head even more lightheaded than you had been. You struggled to see straight but you knew there wasn’t time to wait for your vision to clear up…or at least clear up as much as it could. Considering you were still pretty tipsy.

“This is taking too long! You are holding back! I am not Thoth, I know you are capable of bringing them all down at once!” Khonshu scolded, standing in front of you.

You shook your head.

“I will not use those powers!” you firmly whispered. “They come with too much liability and consequence!”

“For you? Or your opponents?”

“It doesn’t matter! I will not…”

“Hey! I think I heard something over here!”

‘Dammit!’ you thought, quickly leaving where you had been hiding and making your way quietly to the large van that still sat near the building.

Khonshu was right, this was taking too long and you were beginning to feel the fatigue that went with summoning and keeping the fog on top of everything else.

‘Okay, okay! only a little…’ you thought, deciding to tap into your higher powers to quickly deal with the rest of the thieves.

The men who were sitting in the van began to panic, yelling at each other to get out of there. The driver reached to turn on the ignition when the cab was engulfed in darkness.

“I can’t see anything!” one of them cried out. His voice echoed as if they were no longer in the vehicle, but rather in a cavernous room.

He lifted his phone and turned on the flashlight just as a hand came in from the back of the cab. Dragging him into the backseat to the sound of his terrified screams.

The driver tried to reach out to find the phone but as he lifted it he had a second to see your fist coming out from the dark. Then nothing.

“Oh crap…” you said, worried that you’d hit him too hard.

You took a minute to check his pulse.

“Oh thank god…still alive.”

Just as you finished your sentence you began to hear the sound of screaming coming from outside of the van.

“What…?” you whispered.

You removed the illusion from within the cab but could only see fog.

It was then that you noticed movement. The sounds of the other people screaming continued as they ran to try to escape whatever it was that was taking them out. Gunshots accompanied the screams with the flashes from them shining in the fog.

Then there was silence.

No movement or screams.

Just the fog.

You began to move closer to the driver side window to try and get a better view when someone was thrown into it. Shattering it instantly.

You shielded your face and was so caught by surprise that you let out a shocked cry.

The front windshield was suddenly broken into a thousand pieces and two hands reached in, grabbing you by the collar of your cloak and pulling you out. Throwing you down hard onto the hood of the van.

You let out a painful grunt and looked up to see who had thrown you down.

Another cloaked figure!

He had a white cloak with a black underside that looked almost as dark as the night sky. His mask was also black like the rest of his suit except for white details on it. The rest of his suit looked something like yours, which resembles both Thoth and Khonshu’s wrappings. The biggest difference being that his wrappings were black in contrast to your white.

“Y/N…?!” you heard a familiar, gravely voice say.

“Jake?!”

‘How did he know it was you?’

Not even the gods could tell who you were when you were wearing your suit.

Before you could say anything else a gunshot rang in the fog as a bullet came flying past and grazing the side of your arm.

You took in a sharp inhale of breath through your teeth when Jake grabbed you and rolled the both of you off of the hood of the van and onto the floor.

Jake's cowl and mask formed off of his face and you saw the fear in his eyes.

You couldn’t ignore the feelings that welled in you, even in a time like this.

It was nice to see him.

“Dios! Mi amor, estas bien? Where did the bullet hit you?”

“I’m fine, it just grazed my arm,” you said, looking down and noticing the amount of blood that poured from your upper arm, “Oh…no I’m, I’m okay. It looks worse than it is, I promise. I’ll be okay.”

Even with the amount of blood you didn’t feel much pain. You chalked it up to the amount of alcohol that still fogged your brain. At least one good thing was coming from that.

Jake nodded, returning the suit over his face and leaving you to go back into the fog.

The screams started up again, accompanied by the sounds of guns going off and bones crunching.

You got up to go and help but you had reached your limit. Your legs felt weak and your vision faltered.

You leaned against the front of the van when the sounds silenced around you. There were no other noises coming from the fog when Jake returned, wrapping your arm around his neck to help you stand.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah…I just need to…”

You closed your eyes and exhaled. The sound echoing around you as the fog lifted and disappeared, leaving you to the sight of carnage all around.

Jake angled himself so he obstructed your view but you had already seen the bodies of the people laying across the ground. Some of which had multiple fractures as their limbs bent in ways they shouldn’t have.

“Why did you…”

“Shh…I did what I had to…” he said, just as you closed your eyes and lost consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you woke up you were alone on a rooftop, the cold wind biting at your face.

You still had your suit on, which you morphed so your own cowl disappeared and your cloak returned to its shorter length over your back.

You groaned as you pushed yourself and sat up, leaning back against the wall behind you just as Jake came over the side of it.

He rushed over, kneeling beside you as he willed the mask and cowl to disappear on his own suit. Placing the intricate box he held in his hands down to your left.

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at you, the concern plastered on his face.

“Hi Jake…” you whispered.

He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief, almost letting a smile form on his face.

But not quite.

“You’re not hurt?” he asked.

You shook your head.

“Just a little light headed from using my abilities.”

“And your arm?”

You looked down and willed the wrappings over your injured arm to disappear. The wound had already started to heal so you raised your arm to give Jake a better look.

He looked over what remained of your injury. Trailing his hand over it lightly.

“Good…” he said without looking at you again.

He reached over and picked up the box before getting up and turning to walk away.

“Wait! Where are you going?” you contested, trying your best to get up even though your legs still felt like Jell-o.

Jake didn’t reply.

“Jake! Why won’t you talk to me? Please, stop!”

He paused for a moment, looking as if he was going to turn around but instead kept walking across the roof away from you.

You had had enough of this but knew you wouldn’t be able to catch up so you opted to again tap into your higher abilities. You let out another deep breath, willing yourself to turn into a wisp of fog, moving swiftly around his body and rematerializing in front of him.

“I said stop!” you commanded.

“Aye, mierda!” he cried out, definitely not expecting your angry face to suddenly appear in front of him.

The rest of your body quickly followed, rematerializing from your head down. Unfortunately you felt your legs begin to shake as soon as they became flesh again and you started to lose your balance. You weren’t strong enough to be using your higher powers yet but as you began to fall Jake reached out and grabbed you. Bringing you close.

“You shouldn’t be…”

“Why are you walking away from me?!” you interrupted.

He again averted his eyes and said nothing.

You could feel your resolve begin to falter. You hadn’t seen Jake in three months and had tricked yourself into thinking that was a good thing. You thought not having him around would make forgetting him easier but, judging by the ball that had begun to form in your throat it was painfully obvious it wasn’t.

“Jake, please say something.” you begged.

“I’ve messed everything up.” he whispered.

“What?” you asked as he maneuvered himself to be able to lift you up and walked over to the side of the roof. Again placing you down against it before sitting beside you.

The two of you sat in silence for what felt like forever. You wanted to ask what he meant again when he finally broke the silence.

“Your suit…it’s impressive.”

“Thank you…” you whispered, deciding to let the reply to your original question go, “My suit usually hides my identity. How did you know it was me?”

Jake finally looked up at you. Letting his eyes wander over the features of your face before stopping to look you in your eyes, or at least where they would be under the wrapping that covered them.

“I would recognize you anywhere.” he said, which made your heart skip.

You closed your eyes and willed your long white hair to return to its natural color and style. The wrappings that covered your eyes undid themselves around your head and as you opened them the color returned to your irises and pupils from the illuminated white they became when you wore your suit.

“There you are…” he quietly said. His gravelly voice becoming soft and breathy.

You smiled and averted your eyes when you noticed he was holding his right arm close to his body.

“Did you hurt your arm?”

Jake’s stern expression returned.

“I’ll be fine, it’s just a sprain.”

“Can I see it?”

He hesitated but lifted his arm to you, making the wrappings around his wrist disappear like you had with your arm.

His wrist was bruised. Deep purples and blues bloomed out from where his injury originated, spreading up onto a large portion of his arm.

“I don’t think this is a sprain…” you said, realizing that he had lifted you with what could definitely be a fractured if not a broken wrist.

You closed your eyes and brought it up to your lips, kissing it lightly.

Instantly his arm took on a soft glow that disappeared almost as soon as it began, leaving his wrist completely healed.

Jake lifted up his arm and inspected it, flexing the muscles and clenching his hand to double check that it was fully healed. Which it was.

“I didn’t know you could do that…Preciosa.”

Hearing your pet name earned him an audible sigh from your lips.

You reached out and took his hand in yours.

“I missed you…” you whispered.

Jake closed his eyes and let go of your hand, looking away. He couldn’t bear to see the hurt he knew would be forming across your face.

“No…no you don’t,” he said.

You turned your gaze forward and brought your arms close to your body.

“Why do you say that?”

“You can’t miss me…”

“Stop it Jake!” you said, finally reaching the end of your shortened fuse, “I think I would know my own feelings!”

“No! You don’t because I made you think you could feel something for me!” he said, his voice level matching yours.

“What does that mean?!”

“I teased and played around with your emotions to the point where you thought you could feel something for me! I toyed with your feelings and…and then the kiss…”

He trailed off for a moment trying to gather his thoughts.

“Everything you think you’re feeling is tied to this body. It’s tied to Marc and Steven and I…I used that tie to manipulate you into thinking you had any emotions toward me. You can’t trust those feelings just like I can’t trust these feelings within me!”

You turned to look at Jake, trying to make sense of what he had just said.

“Jake…how do you feel about me?”

“It doesn’t matter…”

“Of course it matters!”

“No…these feelings are tainted by those two! I feel this way because of them! They’re not my feelings! I can’t trust these feelings…”

You placed a gentle hand on his arm, stopping him from continuing.

“Are you saying you love me, Jake?”

Jake quickly lifted his head to face you. Hearing how he felt put so plainly, and from you, had effected him more than he could have anticipated.

You gave him a gentle smile before allowing your suit to fall away, revealing the short black dress you had been wearing, glistening in the moonlight.

Jake’s eyes grew wide as he saw what you had on. How it hugged your curves and rode up because of how you were sitting. How the neckline plunged so dangerously low. How you looked in the moonlight…your hair and makeup done so perfectly.

“I, uh…I *cough*,” was all he could get out.

“Jake…” you whispered.

You rolled up off the floor so you were kneeling beside him. Slowly inching forward, placing your hands gently on his chest and lifting yourself so you were only centimeters away from his face.

Jake froze, his back up against the wall, trying his hardest to keep from taking you into his arms and closing the space between the two of you. It was then that he noticed the smell of alcohol on you.

He closed his eyes and finally let out the breath he was holding in.

“You’re not in your right mind,” he said, placing his hands on your shoulders and gently pushing you back, “we should get you back to Cairo.”

Your whole demeanor fell. You felt your heart breaking within you as you looked away from him.

“Damnit, Jake…” you whispered, closing your eyes and sitting back down on your legs.

“Did you find the artifact, avatar?” Khonshu asked, appearing behind you.

“Yeah…yeah I have it right here.” Jake said, shifting away from you to get up and take the artifact to Khonshu.

“Is everything alright, Little Bug?” Khonshu asked, noticing that you were still kneeling on the floor.

You again summoned your suit, allowing it to envelope you, along with your cowl and full cape.

“Yes, please take me back to Cairo,” you said, getting up off the floor and walking past the two of them. Using all your strength to keep from faltering or swaying on your still weak legs.

You kept walking until you were on the far side of the rooftop, just far enough to be out of ears reach.

“So, Avatar…I take it you couldn’t find the courage to clear the air with my Little Bug?”

Jake lifted his arm and rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head.

“I’ve made it worse…”

“As we sometimes do. There is always next time.” Khonshu said, walking away to where you stood.

He reached out his hand and as soon as you took it you were both gone, leaving Jake alone on the rooftop.

Jake looked down at the ground and kicked a piece of roofing in front of him.

“Damnit, Jake…” he whispered, summoning his cowl again and jumping off the side of the building to make his way back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You see. Holding your breath is all this type of travel takes.” Khonshu said when you appeared in Layla’s guest room again.

“Why did you call on Jake?” you asked, “We had an agreement, remember?”

“And I have stuck to our agreement. I said I wouldn’t summon my Avatar while you were gone, when we returned to London you were no longer gone from your home. So when I felt you needed him, I summoned him.”

You let out an aggravated breath.

“You worm…” you said, almost laughing from frustration.

“I’ve destroyed others for less, Little Bug.”

“So I’ve heard…”

You let your suit fall away and walked over to your bed for the night. Plopping down with a soft thud on the blankets, reaching out and hugging the nearest pillow.

“I hope my summoning of my avatar wasn’t too much of an inconvenience for you.” Khonshu said, still hanging around.

“I’d rather not talk about it right now, Khonshu. I just want to get some sleep.”

“Then I will leave you, Little Bug. Have a good rest.” he said before disappearing, leaving you alone in the room.

You opened your eyes and stared at the wall, bringing your legs up and tightening your hold on the pillow you were hugging.

You let out a long exhale and closed your eyes for a moment, replaying everything that had happened that night between you and Jake. You replayed how you hadn’t even thought about Marc or Steven once during your conversation. You let the realization settle in that you were willing to essentially cheat on the boys that night without a second thought.

You felt your heart break under the pressure of everything you were feeling and everything you’d learned that night before opening your eyes and staring out the window leading to the balcony. The moon in full view.

“Damnit, Jake…” was all you could say.

Taglist: @delicatespiritualitysciencebat

#moon knight #moon knight fanfic #moon knight fic #steven grant x fem!reader #steven grant x you #steven grant #marc spector x fem!reader #marc spector x you #marc spector #jake lockley x fem!reader #jake lockley x you #jake lockley #the body series #the body series fanfic #the body series fic #the body series: book 1

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timelord-emmet · 11 months

Text

Chapter 8

Proceed with Caution :

After spending a few weeks in Celibi’s forest to adapt and learn of his new abilities , Emmet is practically vibrating in unused energy and frustration to move on and proceed to his destination which is to go back to Sinnoh and use his powers to grow a stupid berry for the stingy Lake Guardians for the stupid Trial he has to complete .

Emmet huffs at the small condensed version of information of thoughts in his mind his foot tapping impatiently , suppose he is to be blamed for this , he abandoned his usual Safety Checks to become a Timetraveller which would be the next big step to find his brother and Agent Looker’s worry is getting reeeeeallly annoying and forcing him re-check himself ,listen to Celibi and put back aaaaalll his safety checks for he can not leave till he is absolutely sure all Safety measures are accounted for etc etc.

Cel-Bi!Bi!-

The Subway Boss looks up at the mythical time travelling pokémon his head tilted as he listens to them address him , he can sorta understand what they mean now that all the power has settle in his body, not as clear as Sprits voice as she uses telepathy to talk to him but enough to get the gist of Celebi’s cries.

“I am Emmet , you say i can leave now?”

bi Bi!- the pokémon nods

He grins “ Brillant! Thank you for your accommodations and kindness in teaching me what you know! Sprit! Mr.Looker ! we are moving to our next destination!!!”

he starts marching out of Celibi’s territory following the barely made trail and avoiding any flowers the Mythical likes to avoid stepping on them and inviting their wraith , he hears the fairy pokémon and Sprit hovering over to him and Lookers footsteps hurrying to catch up as he sputters.

Mr.Emmet! are you sure your re-

The conductor cuts him off “ I am Emmet and i am Fine! Thank you for your concern!”

Looker frowns “ Emmet sir i can understand your hurrying but i don’t think a week is enough time for you to fully adapt to such powers!”

The Subway boss hums smile twitching as he keeps walking .

“Maybe not ,but we will never know! unless we continue forward , we can not stay stuck on one track forever and i refuse to dawdle any longer ! “

Looker sighs as he follows catching up to his pace and looking the other over , he is still concerned at the many wrong or worst possibilities that could happen , there will be questions when Emmet reamerges in civilisations, his clothes have strange markings that be difficult to explain not to mention the fact if these side effects that Celibi warned happen in public.

Continue to worry Mr.Looker and you stress yourself into a early grave !” Emmet speaks up making the Agent sigh

“I can say the same to you ,how are you so sure you can achieve such a goal? How can you be so sure these consequences your willing to take won’t affect others around you? Keep you from your brother where ever he is more and more ?” he questions making Emmet pause and blinking a few times , the conductor slowly turns to him.

“............Nothing will keep me from my brother.....i will not stop and i will make sure all passengers are safe along the way !”

he turns away and continues marching his voice was low as he spoke monotone but picks up to normal again

“After all! the safety of my passengers always come first! Check Safety ! Everybody smile ! ALLLLL ABOARD!”

The two mythical quickly speed up as Emmet does and Looker pauses standing still as he watches them get farther away , he shakes his head muttering low.

“Safety of your passengers ? What about your own safety ? Do you care for yourself aswell as others?”

Agent Looker quickly catches up with the other three a frown on his face -Just what have i REALLY gotten myself into?-

#pokemon #Subyway Master Emmet #SubwayBoss #Emmet #Kudari #TimeLord-Emmet #AgentLooker #Celibi #Sprit the shiny Mesprite #Timetravel #art

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chocolatequeennk · 1 year

Text

Forever Timeless, 11/24

Summary: Two months after the Dalek Crucible, the Doctor and Rose are getting used to having the biggest family on Earth. As they visit Leadworth in 1996, Victorian England, a mysterious desert planet, and Elizabethan England, those family and friends often help in unexpected ways. But no matter where they go or who they’re with, it’s always the Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose Tyler–just as it should be.

Ten x Rose, Donna x Lee

Betaed by @rudennotgingr, @pellaaearien, and @jabber-who-key

Tagging @doctorroseprompts for 31 Days of Ficmas. This uses the Gift prompt, and probably others.

Part 7 of Being to Timelessness

AO3 | FF.NET | TSP

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | Ch 10

Chapter Eleven: Not Exactly Brixton

The first morning after the Christmas holiday, the Doctor looked at Rose over the console. “What do you think? Shall we let the TARDIS take us wherever she wants for a while? Since apparently she’s mostly in charge of our destinations anyway?”

Rose laughed at his reference to their conversation on Christmas Eve. “Yeah, why not?” She patted the console. “I know she’ll take care of us.”

The time rotor started moving before she’d finished her sentence, and even Rose was caught off guard when they shifted into the Vortex. “Whoa!” the Doctor said as he jogged around the console to give her a hand up.

They leaned on the console and watched the time rotor move, then slow as they shifted out of the Vortex. “Well, she was definitely excited to bring us here,” Rose said once they’d stopped. “Let’s check where we are.”

That trip landed them in the middle of a smuggling ring that had a stranglehold on the economy of an entire sector. It took them a week to break it down, and then the adventures never stopped.

So when they left the TARDIS a month later and saw the Serpentine in Hyde Park, they looked at each other and nodded. This might be their home away from home, but they weren’t on holiday. It was time to save the Earth again.

The Doctor sniffed a few times as he closed the TARDIS doors. “Do you feel that, Rose?” He stuck out his tongue, tasting the air. “There’s something very not—London—y here.”

Rose rubbed her arms. “Yeah, I feel it. It feels kind of like being in the Vortex, only… different. Less friendly,” she offered.

The Doctor had bent over to run his fingers over the grass, trying to trace that off-putting feeling. He sat back on his heels and looked up at Rose.

“Friendly?”

“Yeah, when I was in the Vortex alone, it felt almost nice. Like I belonged there.”

“When you…” He shook his head. “Less friendly works,” he said, deliberately choosing not to think about the nonchalant way Rose talked about travelling through the Vortex. “There’s a… disturbance.”

“In the Force?” Rose quipped, making him grin.

“Something like that. Or in the time-space continuum. Something is interfering with the space around London in a way that definitely does not feel friendly. Now, if I could just…”

He tugged on his earlobe. No matter how hard he tried, he could not place this feeling. “I need something to help me track down the source.” He stuck his hand into his coat pocket, all the way to the elbow. Feeling his way around the various things he kept there, he finally found what he was looking for.

“Ah-hah!” he crowed, pulling it out with a flourish.

Rose blinked. “Is that… your timey-wimey detector?” It had been almost three years since their stay in 1969, but she was pretty sure she was right.

“Yep! I worked on it a bit when we got home. Now it can detect any kind of disturbance in the fabric of reality.”

“Well then. Let’s get detecting.”

oOoOo

Donna sighed and leaned into Lee slightly as they walked through Hyde Park just before sunset. “Thanks for getting me out of there,” she said. “I don’t know why, but she always brings out the worst in me.”

Lee wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Because she won’t see the best in you.”

Donna didn’t know if it was the simple truth of the statement or the matter of fact way he said it, but she felt like she’d been hit with a 2x4. She stopped on the bridge over the Serpentine and stared at him.

“What?” she asked, and for once, she felt dumbstruck rather than just plain dumb.

Lee nodded. “She d-d-didn’t say a single positive thing the whole time we were there.”

Donna ran her hand through her hair. It was true, but she was so used to it that she hadn’t quite realised how abnormal it was. She spotted something over Lee’s shoulder and squinted at it.

“I didn’t believe Rose, but she was right,” Lee continued, not noticing that Donna’s attention had wandered.

“Well, you can tell her that when we find them,” Donna said. She pointed at the TARDIS, only thirty feet away. “Come on, they’ve got to be around here somewhere.”

Lee grinned and held out his hand. Laughing, Donna took it and they jogged over the bridge together.

They heard the Doctor’s voice as they passed the TARDIS. “Look, Rose. You can see the way the device is picking up the rhodium particles—just like a geiger counter.”

“Oh, of course you couldn’t just be here for fun,” Donna drawled, taking great delight in the shocked looks on her friends’ faces.

“Donna! And Lee! What are you doing here?” the Doctor asked.

“I should be asking you that,” Donna retorted. “We actually live on this planet… sort of, part time at least.”

“The TARDIS brought us here,” Rose told her. “We’ve been on a series of adventures and she decided to give us one closer to home.”

Donna eyed the device in the Doctor’s hands. “Well, if we’re going to save the Earth, I guess we’d better get moving. Which way are we going?”

The Doctor took a few steps, watching his device, then walked in a circle until he saw the indicator spike. “That way,” he said, pointing vaguely southward.

The sun had set and they’d walked through most of Knightsbridge when the Doctor looked up for a moment. A large display of Easter candy in a shop window caught his eye and he raised an eyebrow.

“It’s barely March,” he complained. “They’ve only just cleared out the leftover Valentine’s chocolate, and now here they’ve already got the next holiday moving into the space.”

Rose smirked at him. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing. Just wait here for a minute.”

He watched as she jogged into the nearest shop. From where he was standing, he couldn’t see what she was buying—and why was that important when they were tracking down the very-not-London disturbance?

Rose returned a few minutes later and handed him something wrapped in gold foil. “So you don’t feel like you’ve missed the holiday chocolate.”

The Doctor laughed and handed her the device. “Have I told you today that I love you?” he asked as he unwrapped the chocolate and broke off a piece of the egg.

They started walking again. “Maybe, but I don’t think there’s a rule stating you can only say it once a day.”

I do love you, he told her as he munched happily on the sweet.

“I don’t know how you stay so skinny when you eat all that sugar,” Donna said. “And your teeth! They’ve got to be completely rotten.”

The Doctor turned and gave her a toothy grin. “Superior biology,” he said smugly.

Donna snorted. “You’re trying to tell me that your teeth just magically clean themselves?”

The Doctor continued to watch his device as he took another bite of the chocolate. “Our saliva breaks down the bacteria that causes tooth decay.”

Rose had only been half-listening to the exchange. The already busy street was suddenly crawling with police, and sirens in the air indicated more on their way.

“Does that have anything to do with us?” Donna said, noticing the same thing.

“Does what?” the Doctor said, not looking up from his device.

“All of the p-p-police.” Lee gestured at the street.

The Doctor finally looked up and blinked several times when he noticed the officers moving quickly up and down the street.

“Interesting,” he muttered.

The device pinged, and he looked down at it again, apparently completely dismissing the police activity. “Finally!” he said. “I’ve got a good heading. We need to go south. I can’t tell if it’s on the other side of the river, but it’s still a ways away.”

Donna pointed at the bus across the street. “Any reason we have to walk?”

The Doctor grinned. “Nope! Come on, everyone onboard.”

They jogged across the street and quickly filed onto the bus. The driver shook his head. “You’re just in time, folks.”

The Doctor grinned at him with a cheeky wink. “Oh, we’re very good at time,” he said while Donna, Lee, and Rose went down the aisle. Then he touched the psychic paper to the Oyster card reader.

The driver opened his mouth to protest, then shut it when the display indicated that all four fares were paid. He blinked, then shut the door and nodded towards the back.

Rose followed Donna and Lee down the aisle and slid into the seat in front of them. The Doctor sat down beside her and grinned. “Allons-y, Rose Tyler!”

“Oi!” Donna tapped him on the back of his head. “What about me and Lee? Don’t we rate a mention?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine… Allons-y, everyone.”

The woman sitting in front of them brushed her dark hair back over her ear and turned her face towards the window. “Yes please, let’s go,” she muttered. The sirens wailed after them, and she flinched in response.

Rose looked out the opposite window at where she could see police lights flashing in the dark, and then back at the woman. Well that’s an interesting development.

She tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, intending to fill him in. But as she did, the unfriendly feeling that had been bothering her all afternoon doubled. She shivered and rubbed her hands briskly over her arms, trying to stop the chill.

“Cold?” the Doctor asked. He dropped his chocolate and started to wrap his arm around her shoulders, but his device started beeping in mid-move.

“Ah!”

“Yeah, exactly.” Rose grabbed the chocolate off his lap while he fumbled through his pockets for the device. “That weird feeling is getting worse.”

The Doctor pulled his detector out of his pocket and flipped it in his hands. “Oh, we’ve got excitation,” he said, waving it so they could all see the flashing lights.

Rose clenched her hands into fists. The unfriendly feeling had settled into a cold pit in her stomach and a prickly sensation down her back.

The Doctor glanced at her, his device held up to his ear. All right?

She shrugged. It feels almost like a fixed point, except I know it’s not.

His eyes narrowed. “I’m picking up something very strange,” he muttered.

“Well don’t leave us in suspense, Spaceman—what is it?” Donna asked as the bus entered the Gladwell Road Tunnel.

The Doctor extended the antenna at the top of the device, and the beeping got louder. “Rhondium particles, that’s what I’m looking for. This thing detects them.” He flicked the dish. “Look, this should go round, that little dish there.”

“Right now, a way out would come in pretty handy,” the woman sitting in front of them said. “Can it detect me one of those?”

Rose had almost forgotten about her, and the police cars chasing them. But now she could hear the sirens echoing in the tunnel. I wonder which will get us first, the rhondium particles or the police.

“The d-d-dish is going round now,” Lee said.

The Doctor nodded. “And round. Whoa.” He jumped up and pivoted slowly in the aisle, trying to sense which direction the excitation was coming from.

The device fritzed, and a spark landed on a blonde woman a few seats in front of them. “Sorry, do you mind?” she asked, brushing her hair back over her shoulder.

The Doctor got up and paced the aisle, staring at his little device. “Sorry,” he said absently. “That was my little dish.”

Rose smiled at the people watching him dubiously, especially the older couple seated opposite Donna and Lee. “I think we’re about to hit a rough patch in the road,” she told them. The wrong feeling intensified, and she planted her feet firmly on the floor.

The Doctor’s eyes widened, and he dropped the dish back into his pocket. “Rose is right,” he said tersely as he returned to their seat. “Donna, Lee, hold on tight.” He braced his arms against the seat in front of them. “Everyone, hold on!”

The bus jolted with a crash that sounded like breaking glass. The window over Rose’s head broke and she ducked to avoid the falling glass. A bit of deja vu, she thought wryly.

A hard jolt knocked the Doctor out of his seat, but Rose grabbed the back of his jacket and yanked him back down almost without realising she’d done it.

When a blinding white light flashed through the bus, Rose relaxed. No matter how she got there, the Vortex always felt safe to her. And whatever had created this wormhole might not be friendly, but the wormhole itself was stable.

The light disappeared and every window in the bus shattered. Rose winced when she heard the wrenching sound of tearing metal—apparently, a London bus was not made to travel through the Vortex the way a TARDIS was.

The wormhole opened up and dumped them out onto a planet. Rose blinked against the bright sunlight streaming in through the gaping holes in the bus’s frame.

The Doctor slowly stood up and held out an automatic hand for Rose. Together, they walked to the front of the bus and pushed the battered door open.

“End of the line,” the Doctor mumbled. “Call it a hunch, but I think we’ve gone a little bit further than Brixton.”

“Just a bit,” Rose said.

“Come on,” the Doctor said, and they skidded down a dune. “There’s something a bit flashback-y about this,” he added. “Stranded on a bus on an alien world with a bunch of humans.”

Rose tightened her grip on his hand. “Yeah, but this time we’re together.”

“And this time…” The Doctor glanced at Rose, and she felt his unspoken question. Taking a deep breath, she reached out to the TARDIS. Wherever they were—Brixton, or parts farther afield—they were stranded. They would need a way back to London.

In the back of her mind, where her connection with the TARDIS lived, she felt the softest flicker in response to her call. Rose frowned and tried again, but this time, there was no response at all.

Rose?

She opened her eyes and looked at the Doctor. I can’t call her, she said. We’re too far away, I think.

He nodded, and the lines around his eyes tightened. Makes sense that there’s some kind of distance limit, I suppose, he said. Of course the first time we’re stranded, we’re too far out.

oOoOo

As soon as the bus stopped and the sun started pouring in through the broken windows, Donna pulled her mobile out of her pocket. “Let’s hope this works,” she muttered as she pressed and held the number 9.

Ten seconds later, a message popped up on her screen. Coordinates sent.

Beside her, she felt Lee draw in a breath of relief she echoed. “That’s good,” he said.

“Yeah. Now we just need to wait. Come on, let’s go tell the Doctor and Rose.”

But as they left the bus, most of the rest of the passengers joined them. “Where are we?” asked a blonde woman Donna guessed was in her early 40s.

“It’s impossible. There are three suns. Three of them,” said a woman Donna guessed was in her early 40s.

The young Black man standing next to her shaded his eyes against the glare. “Like when all those planets were up in the sky.”

“But it was the Earth that moved back then, wasn’t it?” another young man countered. His fair skin wasn’t going to last long beneath three suns.

The first man moaned. “Oh man, we’re on another planet!”

Lee stepped forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. “We are, so we need to find a way home,” he said, his voice steady as it always was in a crisis. He looked at the bus driver. “Can you drive it?”

Donna nodded at Lee and followed after the Doctor and Rose. He would keep the passengers calm; she needed to talk to them about getting everyone home.

The Doctor had just shambled away from Rose when Donna reached her and tapped her on the shoulder.

“When will the TARDIS get here?” Donna asked.

A furrow creased Rose’s forehead. “She’s not. I tried to call her to come pick us up, but we’re too far away.”

Donna snorted. “I didn’t mean call her directly with some kind of mind meld thing,” she said, trying not to be too weirded out by the idea.

Rose frowned. “Then…”

Donna rolled her eyes. “Sometimes, you’re just as bad as Spaceman over there. Use your phone and call Jenny. She can come get us.” She waved her phone in front of Rose. “I already did the thing and sent the coordinates.”

Rose stared at her. “That’s… I mean… That’s actually brilliant, Donna.”

Donna pursed her lips. “Don’t sound so surprised.”

Rose laughed as she pulled out her phone. “Never,” she promised.

She started to call, then looked at the other passengers standing not too far away. “Come on,” she said, motioning for Lee to join them. The more they stayed together, the better.

Jenny picked up on the second ring. “Hiya, Mum.”

“Hi Jenny.”

The Doctor rocked back and sat on his heels. Jenny? He mouthed, his eyes wide and hopeful. Rose smiled at him as she kept talking.

“Listen, we might have gotten a bit… stuck.”

Donna snorted, and Rose made a face at her.

“How do you mean, stuck?” Jenny asked after a short pause.

Rose rubbed her forehead. Jenny was picking up some of her mum’s speech mannerisms, and it was a little disconcerting.

“Stuck off world. Could you get to the TARDIS and fly her here?”

“Um…”

A rustling noise came over the line, like Jenny had covered up the microphone. Rose heard muffled voices, then the rustling stopped, replaced by the staticky click of being on speaker phone.

“Are you still there, Rose?”

Rose frowned. “I’m here, Pete.”

“Jenny just told me what happened. Where did you park?”

“In Hyde Park, near the Serpentine.”

“Okay, we’re leaving the Hub now. It’ll take us a few hours to get there, though. Are you safe for a bit?”

Rose looked down at the Doctor, knowing he’d picked up every word of the conversation. He nodded.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine. See you in a bit.”

“See you then.”

Donna smirked at Rose as she put the phone back in her pocket. “Well?”

“We just need to wait a few hours, then the TARDIS will be here to pick us up. Thank you, Donna.”

The Doctor was playing with a handful of sand, sniffing at it and picking up bits and letting it float away on the wind. “Funny sort of sand, this. There’s a trace of something else.” He rubbed his fingers in it, then licked his fingertips.

Rose laughed when he stuck his tongue out and made a face. “That’s what you get for licking sand.”

“Not good,” the Doctor pronounced.

“Not good how?” Rose asked, just as Donna said, “Well yeah, it’s sand, Dumbo.”

“No, it tastes like…” He breathed out heavily through his nose and shook his head. “Never mind,” he said quickly as he stood up.

Donna opened her mouth to insist he told them what he was thinking, but Rose shook her head quickly and nodded back towards the bus. Donna followed her gaze and scowled.

One of the passengers had left the group huddled around the mangled bus and was walking their way. Donna had noticed her before and had disliked her on sight. She knew this type of posh woman all too well—the type who dressed all in black so you couldn’t help but notice how expensive their clothing was.

The interloper set her backpack down, and the heavy bag left an indentation in the sand. “Well, the four of you seem a little more organised than that group back there.”

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a glance, and Donna crossed her arms over her chest.

“We’re just experienced in handling emergencies,” Rose offered after a second’s conversation.

The woman’s mouth curved into an amused, almost mocking smile. She reached into a small pocket of her backpack and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.

“So am I,” she agreed as she put them on. “Ready for every emergency.”

Donna rolled her eyes. “Having a pair of designer sunnies does not count as being ready for an emergency.”

The woman didn’t respond. She just sidled closer to the Doctor. “And what’s your name?”

“I’m the Doctor. This is Rose, Donna, and Lee,” he replied, pointing at each of them in turn.

It didn’t matter, because she didn’t look away from the Doctor. “Name, not rank.”

“His name is the Doctor.” Rose bit back a sigh.

Donna couldn’t tell if she was tired of people always doubting the Doctor’s name, or always ignoring everyone else. Either way, she definitely agreed.

The woman spared Rose a quick glance, then focused on the Doctor again. “Surname?” she pressed.

“Listen, sunshine,” Donna snapped. “He’s told you his name is the Doctor. His wife has told you his name is the Doctor. What more do you need? His passport?”

The woman finally blinked. “You’re called the Doctor?” she queried, somewhat disbelievingly.

“Yes, I am.” He put his hands in his coat pockets and rocked back on his heels.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not a name. That’s a psychological condition.”

“Well, what’s your name?” Donna demanded.

She sighed. “Christina. Lady Christina de Souza, actually.”

“Right,” Donna drawled. “Lady Christina. Talk about a psychological condition.”

The Doctor turned towards the bus so Christina couldn’t see his smirk. But when he saw the young Black man striding towards them, he wished he’d made a different choice.

“Hold on a minute,” the man said, waving his finger at the Doctor as he approached, the other passengers and the driver close on his heels. “I saw you, mate. You had that thing, that machine. Did you make this happen?”

“Well if I did it backfired on me, didn’t it?”

The man’s eyes narrowed, and the Doctor was again reminded of another trip on another bus.

“Look, look, if you must know,” he started rambling as the rest of the passengers joined them, “We were tracking a hole in the fabric of reality.” The others looked at him in disbelief, and he shrugged. “Call it a hobby.

“But it was a tiny little hole,” he insisted, holding up his hand, his fingers only an inch apart. “No danger to anyone. Suddenly it gets big, and we drive right through it.”

“But then where is it?” The driver turned and looked at the golden desert. “There’s nothing. There’s just sand.”

“All right.” The Doctor walked past the passengers, Rose, Donna, and Lee right behind him. “You want proof? We drove through this.”

He grabbed a handful of sand and threw it towards the anomaly. The air shimmered and swirled as the sand hit the wormhole.

He spun back around and was gratified to see the less angry looks from the passengers.

Lady Christina glanced at him, then at the invisible tear behind him. “And that’s?”

“It’s a wormhole,” Rose said, beating him to it. But outside of Donna and Lee, no one else seemed satisfied by her explanation. “A door in space,” she clarified.

The driver stepped forward, pointing at the wormhole. “So what you’re saying is, on the other side of that is home? We can get to London through there?”

The Doctor shook his head. “The bus came through, but we can’t.”

Some of the passengers nodded their heads in agreement, but the driver didn’t pay attention.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” he said and rushed past the Doctor.

The Doctor’s eyes widened and he pivoted to watch the man. “No, no, don’t.”

“I’m going home, mate!”

“It won’t work,” Rose argued. She tried to grab his sleeve as he jogged past her, but he shook her off and jumped into the wormhole.

Rose closed her eyes so she wouldn’t see his body disintegrate, but she couldn’t shut out his scream. She felt a hand slide into hers, and squeezed Donna’s hand back in thanks. Then she took a deep breath and opened her eyes again.

The passengers were all staring in horror at the blank space where the bus driver had been.

The young man who had first accused the Doctor of bringing them through space spoke first. “He was a skeleton, man,” he shrieked. “He was bones. Just bones.”

“Th-that’s what a wormhole d-d-does, if you aren’t protected somehow,” Lee said quietly. His words didn’t seem to soothe the young man, who stumbled to his knees in the sand.

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow, then nodded. “Quite right, Lee.”

The Doctor gestured towards the bus. Rose looked at it, taking in the way the top had been peeled off by the wormhole.

“It was the bus,” the Doctor explained. “Look at the damage. That was the bus protecting us. Great big box of metal.”

“Rather like a Faraday cage?” Christina surmised.

“Like in a thunderstorm, yeah?” another of the passengers said. He had an arm around the woman who’d gotten singed by the the Doctor’s device earlier, comforting her as she cried. “Safest place is inside a car, because the metal conducts the lightning right through. We did it in school.”

“But if we can only travel back inside the bus…” Lady Christina shook her head. “A Faraday cage needs to be closed. That thing’s been ripped wide open.”

“Well…”

The Doctor stretched the word out while he thought quickly. It would take Jenny at least two hours to get to the TARDIS. He knew all too well how quickly humans could turn on each other in stressful situations. Giving them a purpose might be the best way to keep them safe until the TARDIS arrived.

He scratched his cheek. “Slightly different dynamics with a wormhole. There’s enough metal to make it work, I think. I hope.”

Rose stepped forward, brushing her hand on his arm as she moved to let him know she’d followed his line of thought. “We’ll have to dig it out of the sand first, though.”

“Exactly,” Christina said briskly. “Five tons of bus, and we’ve got nothing but our bare hands. Correct?”

“I’d say nine and a half tons,” the Doctor mused, “but the point still stands, yes.”

Donna saw the smirk on Lady Christina’s face and knew exactly what she was going to say. “All right, Doctor,” she said, cutting Christina off before she could take charge. “But can’t we go sit inside while you tell us how we’re going to get this bus back to Earth?”

“Right, yes.” The Doctor nodded and gestured towards the door. “Everybody in.”

Lady Christina snapped her mouth shut and stalked towards the bus. Donna caught the twinkle in Rose’s eyes and knew her friend realised exactly what she’d just done. She smirked and Rose nodded back.

“Is it safe in there?”

Donna and Rose both turned to the scared young man. “What’s your name?” Rose asked.

“Nathan.”

“Well Nathan, safe’s more of a relative term at the moment,” Rose said, and Donna rolled her eyes at that understatement. “But Donna’s right—we ought to sit down for a few minutes, and getting out of the sun probably isn’t a bad idea either.”

He nodded shakily and followed the blonde woman onto the bus, Rose and Donna right behind him.

The Doctor held out a hand to the last passenger, the young Black man still sitting on the sand. “Come on,” he said, pulling him to his feet. “I think they’re all waiting on us.”

The man shrugged and brushed sand off himself. “Does it even matter?” he asked fatalistically.

The Doctor slung an arm over his shoulder and walked them to the bus. “Oh come on… What’s your name?”

“Barclay.”

“Barclay, I promise you. I have a plan to get us all home safe.” He felt some of the tension ease out of the other man’s body before letting him go so they could enter the bus.

Barclay took an empty seat, but the Doctor stood at the front of the bus. “Hello, everyone. I’m the Doctor. As I was just telling Barclay here, I have a plan to get us all home.”

He took a breath, ready to launch into a ramble on the nature of wormholes and the fabric of reality. Rose prodded the bond gently before he started, and he nodded quickly.

“But before we get into that, let’s get to know each other a little. Why don’t you start?” he suggested to Lady Christina.

She raised a haughty eyebrow, and the Doctor wondered what had gotten her dander up. “Christina,” she said coolly.

“Excellent. And what’s your name?” he asked the blonde woman sitting to Christina’s right.

“Angela. Angela Whittaker.”

He smiled at her, then nodded at Rose, who was sitting in the seat just behind Angela. She waved at the group. “Rose Tyler.”

“I’m Donna and this is Lee,” Donna said, going next without being asked.

The older Black couple were next. “My name’s Louis,” he said, a slight West Indies accent colouring his words. “Everyone calls me Lou. And this is Carmen.”

The Doctor nodded at Barclay, who gave a faint smile and waved. “I’m Barclay.”

And finally, the young man Donna and Rose had encouraged earlier waved weakly at the group. “Nathan.”

“Right.” The Doctor bounced on his toes. “So, the wormhole. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was just an accident.”

“No,” Carmen interrupted him, her voice louder than it had been before. “It wasn’t.” She shook her head firmly. “That thing, the doorway? Someone made it for a reason.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. That fit with the unfriendly feeling, but still…

“How do you know?” Rose asked, beating him to the question.

Carmen sighed and looked down at her hands, but Lou answered, his voice full of pride. “She’s got a gift. Ever since she was a little girl, she can just tell things. We do the lottery twice a week.”

Lady Christina huffed quietly. “You don’t look like millionaires,” she muttered.

Rose and Donna both scowled at her, and even Lou’s warm good nature cooled. “No, but we win ten pounds,” he told her. “Every week, twice a week, ten pounds. Don’t tell me that’s not a gift.”

“I’d take it,” Donna said, earning a round of laughter from the group.

The Doctor grinned, then studied Carmen for a moment. He put his hands behind his back and said, “Tell me, Carmen. How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three.”

Could be a coincidence. He added a finger, testing her.

“Four.”

His eyebrows rose. “Very good. Low level psychic ability, exacerbated by an alien sun.” The Doctor walked down the aisle and sat down next to Rose, across from Lou and Carmen. “What can you see, Carmen? Tell me, what’s out there?”

Her eyes unfocused slightly, and the Doctor knew she was listening to something only she could hear. “Something, something is coming. Riding on the wind, and shining.”

The uncomfortable feeling—that very-not-London feeling—came back. “What is it?” he asked, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

She swallowed, then looked him straight in the eye. “Death. Death is coming.”

“We’re going to die,” Angela gasped, tears coming to her eyes.

Barclay threw himself back in his seat and glared at the Doctor. “I knew it, man. I said so.”

“We can’t die out here,” Nathan protested. “No one’s going to find us.”

“Oh, now there’s a cheerful thought,” Christina said sarcastically.

“What is there to be cheerful about?” Barclay growled. “Bloody hell, we’re dying on an alien planet and you want to dress it up somehow.”

“Quiet,” Lou ordered, but no one could hear him over the argument brewing in the front seats.

“I just think there’s nothing to be gained by whimpering,” Christina countered testily.

The Doctor held his hands out. “All right now, stop it. Everyone, stop it!”

His shout finally quieted the bus. He took a moment to meet everyone’s eye, making sure they weren’t going to burst out into fighting again as soon as he moved.

In the silence, he realised Angela was still crying, sobbing hysterically. Rose had slid into the seat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, but the woman didn’t seem to notice.

The Doctor joined them, crouching on the floor in front of Angela. “Angela, look at me,” he requested firmly. She kept sobbing, and rested a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently to get her attention. “Angela? Angela? Answer me one question, Angela.”

Her sobs slowed to sniffs and she finally looked up at him.

“That’s it. At me, at me. There we go. Angela, just answer me one thing. When you got on this bus, where were you going?”

She bit her lip and looked at the floor. “Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

Rose squeezed her shoulders. “Come on, Angela. Just answer the question.”

She shrugged and wrung her hands together. “Just home.”

“And what’s home?” the Doctor pressed, wanting her to think about what she had waiting for her back in London.

“Me and Mike.” Her voice broke, but she kept going even as her tears returned. “And Suzanne. That’s my daughter. She’s eighteen.”

“See, that’s good,” Rose said, and Angela nodded, finally a little bit calm.

The Doctor looked up at her. “Rose, what about you?”

Rose raised an eyebrow, and the Doctor shrugged. So everyone knows that we all have a reason to get home.

She smiled. “Jenny, and Mum and Pete.”

The Doctor stood up. “Definitely want to get back to Jenny—she’s our daughter,” he added for the group. “I’m not sure about your mum, though.”

“Oi!”

Donna laughed. “You know that most days I’d be glad to strand my mum on an alien planet.” She sighed and her smile dimmed. “Gramps though. I’d like to get back to him.”

The Doctor nodded. “Lovely man, your Gramps. Lee?”

“J-just home. I was already g-gone too long.”

The Doctor winced. After being trapped in the Library for 100 years, and then in Amelia’s wall for who knew how long, he didn’t blame the man for wanting to be home.

He looked at Barclay, wanting to keep the positive talk going. “What about you?”

“Don’t know.” He shrugged. “Going round Tina’s.”

“Who’s Tina? Your girlfriend?”

Barclay smirked. “Not yet.”

“Good boy,” the Doctor cheered, then looked at Nathan. “What about you, Nathan?”

Nathan shrugged sheepishly. “Bit strapped for cash. I lost my job last week. I was going to stay in and watch TV.”

“Brilliant,” the Doctor said, absolutely meaning it. Everyday life was worth going home to. The more they believed that, the better off they would be.

He looked back at Lou and Carmen. “And you two?”

“I was going to cook,” Lou replied.

Carmen nodded. “It’s his turn tonight,” she said, pointing at him. “Then I clear up.”

“What’s for tea?”

“Chops,” Lou answered. “Nice couple of chops and gravy. Nothing special.”

“Oh, that’s special, Lou. That is so special. Chops and gravy, mmm.” Both Lou and Carmen finally gave him a small smile, and the Doctor turned to the last passenger. “What about you, Christina?”

She blinked, clearly not expecting to be included. “I was… going so far away,” she said, and he couldn’t tell if she sounded evasive or wistful. Or both?

He shelved the question of Christina and looked around the bus, taking care to meet everyone’s gaze. “Far away. Chops and gravy. Watching TV. Jenny and Pete and mums and Gramps. Home. Mike and Suzanne and poor old Tina.”

“Hey,” Barclay protested.

“Just think of them. Because that planet out there, all three suns, wormholes and alien sand, that planet is nothing. You hear me? Nothing, compared to all those things waiting for you. Food and home and people. Hold on to that, because we’re going to get there. I promise. I’m going to get you home.”

#ficandchips #doctorroseprompts #ten x rose #cq's fic: forever timeless #series: being to timelessness #planet of the dead rewrite #i had a lot of fun with this one #donna vs lady christina is a blast #donna x lee

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aeoki · 1 year

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High and Low: At World’s End - Chapter 8

Location: Australian Town Characters: Tetora, Tomoya, Hinata, Mitsuru & NEGI

Season: Autumn Writer: Akira

TL Note:

Negi is also the Japanese word for spring/green onions.

Tetora: Hey, is someone badmouthing me…?

Touri: Ugh~ Try and keep it steady~ I’ve just got up and I don’t feel so good~...

Tetora: Walk on your own if you’re gonna complain. The same goes for you too, Sora-kun.

Sora: HaHa~♪ Sora will help Tetora-chan with the weight training he loves so much!

Hinata: Woah. Tetsu-kun’s dragging Momo-kun and Sora-kun along with the suitcases.

Tetora: It looks like these two are too sleepy and can’t walk on their own.

Sora: HiHi~♪ Someone will move Sora if he sits on the suitcase so it’s nice and convenient~

Tetora: You’re so shrewd. You can be like that sometimes, huh, Sora-kun. I think the adults just see you as a good and obedient boy, though.

Surprisingly, you tend to do whatever you please when you’re with your peers, huh.

Tomoya: Yeah. He’s definitely part of the problem child category. He’s like that because his upperclassmen in “Switch” spoil him.

Sora: Hm~ Sora won’t forgive you if you badmouth Master and Senpai~

*...Yaaawn* ♪

Sorry! Sora’s been tired and sleepy from the different environment~ Sora’s gonna go back to bed so he’ll appreciate it if you can carry him like this!

*Zzz… Zzz…* ♪

Tetora: Woah. I’m surprised you can just sleep outside overseas like that. What kinda state of mind is that?

Touri: I’m sleepy too… We were all really tired yesterday, so we decided to stay the night here and leave the travelling for the next day.

Tetora: Osu. It was pretty tough since it was difficult to find a hotel.

It can’t be helped, though. The project this time was like a bolt out of the blue for Anzu no Anego, so there was no way she could’ve booked a hotel in advance.

We’re in a foreign country where we don’t really speak the language so we ended up wandering around searching for a hotel.

Hinata: We managed to find one, in the end, thank god. In the worst-case scenario, we would’ve been sleeping outdoors in the open air.

Touri: Uweeh… You guys might be fine with that but someone as delicate as me wouldn’t be able to handle it at all.

The rooms in this hotel were all run-down and the bed was hard as a rock. It was the worst… It might’ve been better than sleeping outdoors but I couldn’t sleep a wink.

Just when I thought I was getting sleepy, I felt something touch my face.

Tetora: Oh? Is this a ghost story?

Hinata: This hotel definitely gives those kinda vibes~♪

Touri: Don’t. I’m gonna start feeling less sleepy… Also, the thing I saw was even worse than a ghost. It was something that I hate: some sort of shaggy bug that I’ve never seen before.

Sora: Shaggy…?

Touri: We’re not talking about Tsumugi-sama so you can keep sleeping, Harukawa.

Sora: HuHu~...♪

Touri: Anyway, that bug basically kept me up all night so I couldn’t sleep at all.

All I could do was grab my pillow and escape to the corner of the room and sleep there so my entire body feels stiff.

Mitsuru: Hime-chan, you’re scared of bugs? You’re so weird~♪

Touri: No, I’m not! They’re just gross so I don’t like them! You’re the weird one because you’re fine with them!

Tetora: There, there… If you’re sleepy, you can take a nap too, Touri-kun. I’ll carry you.

Touri: I’ve got no idea what’s gonna happen from now on, so how can I relax and sleep? What’re we gonna do now, anyway?

Mitsuru: Hm~ Hitsugi-chan went out to hire a car.

I guess we’ll just take that and head towards our destination?

Tomoya: Yeah. We can talk about our plans for the next couple of days in the car.

Even if we’re starting with nothing, nothing’s gonna happen if we don’t have legs.

Touri: Hitsugi… Kurone’s gonna hire a car? But he’s the same age as us, right? Does he even have a driver’s licence?

Tomoya: Ah, now that you mention it. But we’re overseas right now and can’t you get your licence when you’re pretty young here? I don’t really know but I get that kind of feeling.

Touri: Even if that’s true, why does he have a licence to drive in Australia?

I don’t really know much either, but don’t you need an Australian licence for that?

Tomoya: Really? Hitsugi– I mean, NEGI-senpai seemed rather confident about it, though…

Touri: Negi? Spring onions[*] ? Is that today’s breakfast? I hate spring onions!

Tetora: Ahh~ I’d like to eat something… Yesterday really took a toll on us so we didn’t really have time to eat.

Tomoya: But are restaurants in Australia open at this time? From the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like there are any convenience stores, either…

Hinata: Even if there were convenience stores, they’re probably not open around this time. We probably can’t get any food until the shops open.

Tomoya: The same goes for hiring the car, right…? NEGI-senpai might be going on a fool’s errand.

Oh, man~ We’re not gonna last long if we keep thinking like we’re back in Japan.

Touri: Can’t we just eat at the hotel? When I went on a trip with my papa and mama, we had a fancy breakfast at the hotel, though…?

Tetora: I guess we can go ask and see if they can. Mitsuru-kun, could you run off and tell Anzu no Anego about this?

She should be checking out of the hotel and making a call to Japan at the front desk right now.

Tomoya: Anzu-senpai’s about the only other person who can talk with the hotel people. It’s obvious already but they don’t understand a lick of Japanese.

Hinata: Yeah. It seems Touri-kun is used to going overseas so I thought he’d be fluent in English, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Touri: T-That’s because we always had a tour guide who could interpret for us! It’s my first time going on such a miserable trip!

Mitsuru: Wahaha! I’m actually having fun though!

Our original plans were to stay at a luxurious hotel, get beauty treatment, go see the sights when you can just look them up on the internet and shop at brand stores…

None of that looked fun to me, so the situation right now is way more exciting!

Touri: That might be the case for you, Mitsuru, but I hate it~ I would be sleeping and having a lovely dream in a luxurious hotel right now. I’m jealous of Hajime.

Tetora: Well, there’s no point in venting our dissatisfaction, so let’s do what we can a little at a time.

Let’s learn from Mitsuru-kun and enjoy the little things.

Touri: Guuuh… I can’t believe I have to learn from someone like Mitsuru.

Mitsuru: Zoooom! Dash, dash, dash~! Nee-chan~! Um~ We wanna know if we can eat at the hotel! Food, food!

Touri: …Well, I guess that cheerfulness? That simplicity does help in one way or another.

We look more like idiots since we’re the ones who are genuinely worried about everything.

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#high and low

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kyanitesaphire · 1 year

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Lightning In A Bottle chapter 8

A vibration in her pocket drew Éclair’s attention as she cheerily sauntered down the sidewalk after her meeting with Dr. Deschamps. It was a text message from Dauphin.

-We haven’t heard from you in a few days. Do you still want to meet up?

Éclair thought for a moment before replying.

-Sure. I’m free now if you want.

- I’m currently indisposed, but I can send Ciel to meet you and bring you here. You can meet her at the park where we first spoke.

- OK. See you lot in a few.

Éclair pocketed her phone once more and made tracks for the meeting place.

Sure enough, Ciel was at the park waiting in anticipation for Éclair's arrival. The minute Ciel laid eyes on her, she ran over and embraced her with crushing force.

“I’m so excited we finally get to hang out!” She shouted as she bounced back and forth on her feet. “come on! I’ll take you back to our place.” She grabbed Éclair’s hand and led her away. Once they reached an alley between two buildings with an emergency fire escape, Ciel leapt up and pulled herself onto the first landing. “It will be faster if we take the high road.” Éclair quickly picked up on where Ciel was going with this. She immediately followed suit and climbed up after her all the way to the roof top. From there Ceil led Éclair across the city , hopping between the closely constructed buildings and scuttling along scaffolding. When they reached the roof of their destination, they descended the fire escape a few floors and entered a window.

They emerged into an open livingroom/ foyer area where the rest of Le Fierte were scattered about. Dauphin was lying face down on the floor, shirtless , with Etoile straddling his backside, applying the finishing touches on a beautiful yet grizzly tattoo on his back. Éclair stood over them to better inspect the behemoth masterpiece. Depicted in flesh and ink was an image of a felled angel being feasted upon by a phoenix in a magnificent thunder storm.

“Hello Éclair.” Dauphin purred turning his head to meet her gaze. “I’m so glad you could drop by.” Etoile gave Dauphin’s back one final wipe down to remove the excess ink and blood before dismounting and dismissing him.

“ That’s a pretty tattoo. You did a great job on it.” Éclair praised Etoile who responded with a signed thank you. The muscles on Dauphin’s well sculpted body flexed and rippled as he pushed himself up off the ground to his feet and Éclair noticed the tattoo on his back wasn’t the only ink he was sporting. He also had a star-scape image of a lion surrounding the constellation Leo on the left side of his chest . He wasn’t the only one who bore this mark either. All of the women had the same tattoo in the same location. “ Wow! You guys are big on ink I take it.”

“You could say that I suppose. Personally I find it helps detract from my blaschko patterns.” He explained gesturing to the areas of his torso that were naturally pigmented more heavily. Dauphin’s comment confused Éclair primarily because she was unfamiliar with the phrase he’d used.

“ Your what?” She inquired hoping for an explanation she could understand. Dauphin simply laughed briefly before going into detail .

“ I’m what’s referred to as a chimera. In a sense I am my own twin. I have two sets of DNA, so I have two skin tones, two hair colors, and two eye colours.”

“Oh! That’s pretty cool! And I suppose tattoos are a more permanent and less messy way to cover it up if it bothers you so much.”

“ It’s just my skin I don’t like. I’m actually kinna fond of my hetorochromia.” Dauphin clarified with a wink.

“Does the tattoo on your back have a special meaning? Or is it just some of Etoile’s wicked art?” Éclair asked as she took in the numerous paintings around the apartment. As soon as the words passed her lips, a subtle yet still palpable solemnness befell the room.

“It’s to honor the greatest loves of my life.” He replied. Éclair realized from the tone in his voice that this wasn’t exactly a topic he wanted to discuss further.

“I see….. what else do guys around here?” She attempted to change the subject and clear the air of its current weight. After an awkward moment, Ciel piped up.

“Well, as you can see” Etoile likes to paint. I’m a singer and Dauphin plays the guitar.” She pointed to a beautiful blue and purple custom guitar resting on a stand in the corner. “ Luna made that. Blanche’s thing is clay. She makes flutes and ocarinas.”

“Given the amount of destruction in our past, it’s nice to create for a change.” Blanche said in her most calming voice.

“Yeah, plus people pay good money for our work!” Luna added both genuinely and humorously to which the collective agreed with laughter.

“Really?” Éclair whined with just the slightest pang of jealousy. “I’m not allowed to earn any income since I don’t technically exist.”

“Technically neither do any of us.” Dauphin admitted. “That’s why we earn all our money under the table so to speak. Cash only transactions.”

“Then how do you have an apartment? Don’t you need ID and stuff?” Éclair only had a minimal understanding of how a lot of things worked but she had done enough research into what was needed for her own independence to know something didn’t add up here.

“You’d be surprised what people are willing to overlook when they get desperate enough. See, something really bad happened here nearly a decade ago. Something so bad the landlord is required to disclose such to potential tenants. Something so bad nobody would live here.” Luna began to tell the tale as if she were telling ghost stories around a camp fire.

“ Basically this apartment represents a financial drain on the landlord. So we have an arrangement with him that we’ll stay here but only if he dropped the cost and agreed to forgo the traditional renters agreement.” Dauphin butted in, cutting to the chase.

“Oh, you’re no fun! I wanted to tell her about the woman who got butchered by the serial killer!” Luna sulked loudly and Dauphin gave her a scolding look.

“Wait, if you don’t exist in the eyes of the government like me, how do you have cell phones?” Éclair asked as if the previous revelation was daily gossip.

“We’re not the only ones in the city who wish to remain anonymous.” Blanche alluded vaguely. “How about I make some tea for everyone and you have a seat.” Dauphin put his arm around Éclair's shoulder, led her to one of the couches and seated her next to him.

“I’m sure you have a lot of burning questions, and we did promise you answers. Unfortunately we can’t give you all of them at this time.” Dauphin confessed. “ There are some answers that are long overdue, and I’d like to rectify that, but first I have a few questions of my own id like you to answer.”

“OK.” Éclair shrugged.

“The man you were with last night. Who is he?” Dauphin asked trying to hide the possessiveness in his voice.

“He’s my boyfriend, Spencer!” She replied without hesitation . Then it dawned on her. “Wait, I never saw you last night, how did you know I was with him?”

“ As you know, we’ve been way out for some time now. I know where you live. I came over to talk to you but I saw you with him and you two were getting quite… comfortable. So I thought it best not to.” Dauphin explained. “Are you sure you can trust him?”

“I think so, yeah. Unlike Dr. Jericho, who is the only person truly scares me, Spencer makes me feel safe. He has a heart of gold. Its something in his eyes that tells me so.” Éclair swooned. Dauphin seemed slightly taken back by her logic but didn’t question it.

“Very well then. If he has your trust, then he has ours. Maybe in time we can meet him properly.” Dauphin conceded. He retrieved his guitar and took up playing. “ Your turn. What questions do you have?” At this point Blanche returned with the tea.

“A lot actually. I’m not sure where to start.” Éclair admitted.

“How about we start small. The basics. We have all the time in the world now that you’re back with us.” Dauphin advised.

“OK. The other day you called me your sister. Are we actually related? Like anyone here?”

“No. We are siblings by circumstance, not by blood.”

“ Why is there no record of me anywhere? No driver’s license, no employment records, not even a birth certificate.”

“None of us have that. For starters, our births were never documented anywhere legitimately, and until about eight months ago, we never truly saw the light of day.”

“Who would do something like that? And why?”

“There’s a lot of bad people who do a lot of bad things out there, Éclair. Some do it for money. Others for personal gratification.” Dauphin explained as he shifted his strumming from random cords to Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.

“Are the people who kept us still out there?” Éclair asked wearily.

“Possibly. If so, I hope we don’t run into them until we’re able to take them down for good.” Éclair was quiet for a moment, just listening to Dauphin play before she spoke up again.

“One more, unrelated question. What’s your guitar’s name?” Her question caught him off guard.

“Name?”

“ Yeah. Lurch says every guitarist names their guitar.” She explained emphatically. Dauphin thought hard about her statement, looking back and forth between her and the guitar before the glint of an epiphany came to his eyes.

“ Tonnerre.” He said simply.

“So… are you done with the heavy convo topics? ‘Cuz if so, I wanna hear more about sis’s boyfriend. The rest of us weren’t with Dauphin when he saw you two together. ” Ciel cut in tentatively. Éclair eagerly pulled out her phone and showed off her pictures of him and fauned over him, discussing his career and intelligence. Off to the side Dauphin was having a silent conversation with Etoile via sign.

“Aww! He’s adorable! He reminds me of a baby burrowing owl!” Ciel cooed.

“No he doesn’t! He’s a man, he doesn’t look like an owl.” Luna countered.

“Agreed. He is rather handsome, with an innocence about him, but I wouldn’t liken him to a baby owl. That’s just odd.” Blanche concurred.

“ It’s funny you said owl though. Today he was wearing and outfit that made him look like a character in animal crossing who’s an owl.” Éclair said with a bashful giggle. “And he does this thing when he’s really into whatever he’s talking about where he stretches himself out taller and rocks up onto his tippy toes kinna like a bird looking into the distance.” She added endearingly. Ciel and Blanche tittered over Éclair’s affectionate gushing.

“See! He’s totally an owl! Your little Hibou. It’s funny cuz he’s your boo!” Ciel broke out into a fit of laughter at her own joke.

“That is a cute nickname, Hibou. I like it! I’m going to use it!” Éclair proclaimed as she joined Ciel in her elation.

“That’s it. I’m out. You girls are getting too mushy for me.” Luna said as she returned to the opposing couch.

A loud default alarm sounded from Éclair’s phone and a notification came across the screen reminding her she was due for her meds.

“I need to go. Can someone show me how to get home?” Éclair announced as she rose to her feet.

“ I can!” Ciel exclaimed jumping up. Dauphin nodded to her in a show of consent.

“We’ll be in touch yeah? Hopefully soon we can give you more answers.” Dauphin said as he approached her and wrapped her up in an embrace.

“Sounds great! I’ll see you around!” She said Following Ciel out the window.

#criminal minds #spencer reid #spencer x oc #spencer reid x oc #fanfic

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drawing-way-outside-the-lines · 1 year

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➖ Mature content, 18+ ➖ check the trigger tags each time ➖

Chapter 30 - Old Messages, pt. 8. Episode 2.

Congo: As they found a booth to sit down in at the bistro, he looked at George a bit wondering So why exactly are we meeting here George? I know this isn't just the 'congratulations train'… or breakfast burritos…

George: He smiled friendly and nodded Correct. I do come with quite a lot of topics, but let's order first, and then I can start filling you in. You'll need some energy to digest all of this. He smiled softly Don't worry, there is mostly good news.,… and here I mean the really good kind.

Congo: Smiled softly That all sounds really welcome, however, I do hear the word mostly, so I wont relax too much until I have heard it all. He picked up a menu and pushed the other menu in Georges direction, quickly running his eyes over the letters so when the waitress joined them, he had already put his menu down, smiling at her politely I'll take a round of the sausages, bacon and eggs with two pieces of bread on the side, 2 blueberry pancakes and a slice of apple pie…. oh, and a big mug of coffee.

George: Nodded at Congo, then turned to the waitress And for me an omelet and a slice of apple pie….. aaand make that 2 big mugs of coffee, please. As the waitress left he padded Congo's hand gently Now listen… this is all a bit on the freakshow side, so if you have questions, or I lose you somewhere, feel free to pause me or ask questions. Gabriella filled me in during the night, so it's all very new for me as well. First and foremost I have to let you know, Gabriella is at Sparkle's house, she is waiting there to greed Andy, and will fill him in on the same things I'll be filing you in on. So when we are done here, you and Andy will know the exact same things, except one matter, which I'll share with you last. Are we okay so far?

Congo: Nodded agreeing and smiled politely at the waitress as she brought their coffee, quickly sipping the coffee a few times to wash his mouth from Andy, more or less against his will, but just to be on the safer side

George: Smiled friendly at Congo and sipped his coffee I'm afraid there's no way to ease you in, so prepare yourself for another roller coaster ride. But hopefully a better one than the previous ones. He took a big breath, and smiled softly You know that old saying, 'he, or she, is my soulmate'?

Congo: He nodded softly and sipped is coffee

George: Well, it's not quite like that… That's more the romanticized, version of it, although it's not far off. I'm sure you know that in many animal species, one or both of the animals picks a mate and stays with that one mate for the rest of their life? It's like that with humans too , but since we are further evolved than many other species, our mating system is also further evolved. Our mating system works as such; Our mates are pre-destined for us, depending on a lot of factors, like genes, smell, taste, good compatibility in DNA and so on. A mate is picked for us when we reach the age of 18, and do we happen to find this person, we will be able to feel a strong connection with them, stronger than with any other person we will ever meet. We will be able to feel a love we never thought existed, and do things we never thought possible for this one person. We only get one mate, so do we miss out on this mate, we will not get assigned another mate. That doesn't mean we are destined to run around living an empty life, we are more than capable of loving other people beside our mate. But do we pick to be with our mate, it's a bond that will rarely ever break again. Picking to be with our mate, and sealing that bond, is done by a marriage ceremony, it does not matter what kind of marriage, in what culture or what religion it is performed in. When two mates are married, almost nothing will be able to break their bond. Mates are as such not made for each other, we are all individually born, and as we grow up, and our personality evolves we will be paired with our mates. These mate-pairs can be detected only by people who practice the old form of art named Witchitatu, an old Navaho art form of magic. He sipped his coffee and smiled softly at the waitress as she brought their food Thank you very much. As she nods and walks off, he continues Gabriella and her family practices this art… And through that, Gabriella can over time receive information about her own mate, or even mates of other people close to her. This info shows up in the form of visions. Two days ago, when you and Andy declared your love for each other, Gabriella had such strong vision, it woke her up from heavy sleep and gave her nosebleed. She contacted her sister, and together they were able to piece the fragments of the vision together. He smiled softly and sipped his coffee It turns out, sometimes even mother nature screws up. On your 18th birthday, your mate was picked out. But your mate was but a baby when this happened. However, this is not the screw up, since even then as he was an infant, you already shared the bond of mates, which means, your bond is even stronger than regular bonds between mates. However, where the screw up happened was, when your mate grew up, on his 18th birthday, he was assigned not only the mate he already had, but also a second mate. He sighed softly turns out, you are Andy's mate, and therefor he's also your mate… but Andy's second mate… is A.

Congo: He stared at George a bit, letting the fork drop out of his mouth, then he took his napkin, spat out the food he had in his mouth in it. He got up, walking out of the bistro, crossing the road and disappeared between a few trees in the forest across the street

George: Signaled the waiter I'll pay now honey, but please don't take our food, we will be back in 5 minutes… but if we aren't back in 10 you can clear it out, okay? As she nodded George hurried after Congo, finding him sobbing with his forehead against a tree Congo… He placed a soft hand on Congo's upper back, gently stroking him I know it seems hopeless, but you have to…

Congo: Interrupted George I can't compete with him, the creature of the night…. so it's over.

George: Shook his head softly Not necessarily. Hear me out please… this thing, double mating someone, happens rarely, very rarely. But when it does, there's always a stronger connection with one of the mates.

Congo: Sobbed and interrupted again Yes, and I have seen those two together, plus I'm just a mere human… A is all magical and shiny to Andy…. plus he has that whole vampire magnetism… Andy sucks it right up!

George: He raised his voice, but kept it warm And yet your connection with Andy is stronger.

Congo: He turned and looked at George with red, teary, confused eyes What?

George: Nodded softly and padded his shoulder

Congo: Sniffled his nose But how? Are you even sure?

George: Positive. We didn't know until this night. Gabriella and her sister performed a spell to guide them to find Andy's strongest connection, and it lead her to you. That whole process is very hush, so she can't tell us the spell itself, we will have to trust her. But she knows what she's doing, and the spell is flawless. There is no doubt, that you are in fact the strongest connected male. If you think about it… why would Andy risk everything he has been fighting for with A, including a marriage and the possibility of becoming immortal, which he so desperately wants, just for the simple reason that he just, two days ago, learned that you are in love with him? Andy's world collapsed when you told him those words, but in the ruins of that, a tiny, but very strong flower grew, and if we protect that flower, it will grow big and impossible to destroy.

Congo: He started sobbing softly again

George: Wrapped his arms around him Come here…

Congo: He spoke between the sobbing So he's really truly mine?

George: Nodded firmly Without a doubt. Andy is yours. But since he's also technically A's, we have to work together, to get him out of that whole situation, so he can be united with his strongest mate. And that's the tricky part, but we will not give up till we succeed. I have tried to make both Gaby and her sister look into the future, but everything is very very vague at the moment and constantly shifting, due to Andy being at a crossroad. The first step, is for him to finally choose which mate he wants to be with, and not only choose with his heart. His soul and brain has to be in it as well. When he makes that choice he will step out on one of the two roads, and he will be able to marry either you or A, sealing the mate bond forever. Of course we want him to choose you, for obvious reasons…

Congo: Sighed deeply George, I just want him to be happy… even if that means he will choose A…

George: Smiled softly I know, but Andy will be truly most happy with his strongest connected mate. It's destined Congo. It's meant to be. He sighed softly It wont come easy, and it will most likely be a long and at times dangerous process, and if Andy… when Andy's heart, soul and mind comes together and definitive picks you, we will have to do the marriage ceremony as quickly as possible, so your bond will be impossible to break. That doesn't mean you or any one of the people involved will be immune to whatever A or any other of his kind may want to do to you. So we have to fade Andy out of A's life. Making a clear break will cause too much suspicion, and it won't take him long to figure what is happening, and Gabriella's family, is not doubting he will raise hell. So we have to fade Andy out, make sure a break will look like it comes from A's side, and not Andy's, but still keeping Andy safe. It's tricky, its complicated, but it can be done. If you trust us, and if you stay patient.

Congo: Sighed deeply I can't George. I can't put his life in danger.

George: His life is already in danger! We will do our best to protect him, and to strategically plan everything step by step. I promise you, they are very capable people, and they believe in themselves. They have educated themselves on A's family, since they learned about Andy and A's engagement. They are not going into this blindfolded.

Congo: Shook his head and sighed deeply It's still too risky. I will risk anything for him, including my own life. But I wont risk his.

George: I can't guarantee, of course, since I can't predict the future, and the future is constantly changing anyway, depending on what happens in the now… but, I can honestly say, I don't believe it will ever come that far as long as Gabriella's clan and family is involved. If we get Andy through a marriage ceremony with you, Gabriella's family and clan will be willing to adopt you guys. It doesn't change you much, unless you want to. They do not make immortals though, but few minor powers can be passed on for protection, and they can later be taken back, if one would wish. However, in the adoption process, there will be put a code on both of you, Andy already received one when A adopted him. It's a line of numbers or letters on your skin. Us humans can't see them, but immortals can. However, this special form of code Gaby's clan will make on you guys are always kept invisible, unless one of the clan members calls on it to be shown. In a case like that, it will be shown for a minute or two, a small time period, but long enough for the viewer to read that you guys are off limit.

Congo: Frowned deep and groaned I don't like the idea of being owned… I'm not a calf… or horse…

George: Gaby's clan will of course sign a binding paper, that no one is to use you guys in any way. That you are your own persons, and that this adoption has no effect on you besides protection. But of course we understand if you need a few days to think about it, but decisions has to be made soon. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to ask Andy what he thinks? Unfortunately he can't just speak out, saying he picks you, the soul, heart and mind has to fall together in the decision, which can take a while, since he's already engaged to A and furthermore loves him deeply. Your love, and the love he has for you, has to triumph the love he shares with A. Again, it's far from impossible… and as the girls look into the future, they can sense a mortal marriage ceremony… but that's how things looked last night after your engagement, that future can already have changed due to your words here… We do understand if you need some time to catch up with everything… but in order to succeed, we need to start soon. You need to show Andy, how life with you would be, vs the chaotic life with A, he deep down inside knows its no good for him. He loves you Congo, an undeniable love even A is already detecting… if he figures out for sure, you can be sure none of us will ever see Andy again.

Congo: His eyes started flickering and his legs started shaking I know George! But don't put this on me! Don't make me put his life in danger! Don't make me risk his life, risking my own is enough! Being married to Andy, being his mate and him being mine, all of that, sounds like the most beautiful thing I could ever imagine… but the possible bad outcomes are too much to risk. I'm sorry, but I can't! He ran out from between the trees, and as he stood in the middle of the road, thinking about where to run, a big truck came roaring around a corner

George: Yelled at the top of his lungs CONGO! WATCH OUT!!

Congo: *As he turned, and in almost slow motion watches the truck roar towards him, his life flashed before his eyes, and all he saw was Andy smiling, a single tear runnng down his cheek, his eyes closing, and all sound drained from his ears, all he saw and heard was Andy smiling and laughing, telling Congo he loves him.

Andy: He padded Congo's cheek firmly Congo? Sniffled his nose Congo? Are you okay?… please open your eyes… please… I beg you…

Congo: Slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times as he saw Andy laying on top of him, with tears streaming down his cheeks. After blinking a few times, he can see Gabriella and George standing bent over him as well… and as he started gaining back full conscience he can hear a few people talking around them. He lifted his arms from the ground and wrapped them around Andy, pulling him tight against his chest, speaking in a hoarse voice I'm okay…sssh sssh… I'm okay..

Andy: He gasped and looked at Congo, then started sobbing silently, pressing his face against Congo's chest

Congo: Gently stroked his back and hushed him a few more times, then looked a bit confused at Gabriella and George What happened?

Gabriella: Sparkle insisted I as soon as Andy showed up at her house, would throw him in my car and drive him back up here, she feared you were gonna freak out and take off. So it was better for everyone to fill Andy in on the car ride up here. And luckily we had just parked my car as that truck came roaring, if it wasn't for your crazy fiance, you would have been nothing but a pancake! He flung himself in front of that truck and pushed both of you to safety, just in the last split second before you had both been dust.

Congo: He looked down at Andy with tears in his eyes You idiot… you could have gotten killed! He kissed Andy's hair gently

Andy: He coughed a bit from the sobbing So could you! I already told you, I don't wanna lose you! I cant live without you! So don't make me!

Congo: Hugged him even tighter I'm sorry…

Andy: Sobbed loudly I don't know what's worse? -That you almost got killed or almost left me?! He got up and slapped Congo hard, crawling few meters away, and curled up on the ground, sobbing loudly as his body started shaking

Congo: He sat up straight Andy… I… I don't want to risk your life… that does not mean I don't love you… I love you more than anyone else! He quickly got on his feet and walked to Andy, squatting down next to him, softly stroking his back

Andy: Wiggled his shoulders Don't touch me!

Congo: Sighed softly Andy, please listen to me… you heard the whole story, right?… can't you see it's insane? we will never win… we will only lose! And your life is too much to gamble on an already lost game.

Andy: You don't know how I feel about you! He got up fast you don't know shit! But it's so easy always doubting me! And what we might be able to get if we were together! I'll gladly sacrifice it all, including my life, even if I have never had more will to live than I have now!… cause a life without you… is just something I can't face! And I won't! I didn't even think before throwing myself in front of that truck, I saw you, I saw the truck, and then I flew through the air! I have never felt anything so strong before… EVER! Not even with A! NEVER!

Congo: But Andy… as soon as he tries to leave you, you almost die in the process…

Andy: He shouted between his tears That's because I knew nothing about our love!!! Now I know, and it literally grows stronger and stronger for each second! How can you stand here and deny me only hours after you proposed to me?! I know a lot of things has changed, I know we just got buried under possible the biggest pile of shit we will ever be buried under… but Congo… for fuck sake… George believes I'm strong enough for this… he believes my strength lies in you! Sure I won't stop loving A today, tomorrow and maybe not even a year from now, maybe I'll always love him because of the bond… but I know I love you more… I don't know how that's possible, or how I even know… but I know… I feel it running through my whole body! I feel it right here he pressed a hand against his chest and groaned loudly, as he fell to his knees

Congo: Gasped and grabbed his shoulders What's happening?

Gabriella: Looked confused and scared I don't know… I looked worried at George

George: Andy… he placed a firm hand on his back Try to breathe, I think you are having a panic attack… try to relax….

Andy: Groaned from pain and grabbed on to Congo's shirt, grinding his teeth as he spoke You… are breaking… my heart! He gasped for air you are breaking…. my heart!

Congo: Looked at Gabriella with despair in his eyes Please do something!

Gabriella: Shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks I have never seen anything like this… I can't help! Only you can help!

Congo: Started sobbing loudly Try to calm down Andy… I'm right here… I won't leave… tell me what to do! Please!

Andy: Sobbed loudly Just love me… just love me forever… just never leave me… I want you… and only you… I don't care at what cost!!!… you are my mate… my true mate… I love you with all of me… don't ever walk away!! Please! It kills me! It kills me inside! I wanna marry you and be yours only! He sobbed loudly why can't you believe in us?

Congo: He fell to his knees, sobbingly leaning his forehead against Andy's Tell me how to fix this! I beg you! I can't stand seeing you like this!

Andy: Sobbed uncontrollably and fell to the ground as he fainted

Congo: Leaned over him and picked up his head from the ground Nononononono don't leave me! Don't leave me! I love you so much, Andy! Come back to me! Please come back! He checked Andy's pulse with shaky hands Please, I can't stand going through this again! I'll do anything if you come back! I'll do this with you! I'll marry you! Just come back and choose me! Please choose me over him! Please! I beg you! I beg you with all my heart! I beg you with my life!

Andy: His skin sorta started glowing, and for a few seconds, he levitated a few cm's over ground, making George look around nervously, but to his relief all of the bystanders had long gone left the scene when nothing seemed to be exiting enough to look at. Andy's face gained a pink glow, and as he opened his eyes they too seem to almost glow. Then he fell back into Congo's arms and sighed deeply, speaking in a calm soothing almost singing voice Congo… I choose you.

Gabriella: Nodded at Congo as he looked up at her, squealing as she wraps her arms around George's throat

Congo: Looked back down at Andy Did all of you choose me?

Andy: Nodded softly Yes… all of me. I feel so calm inside. Like every worry and tension is gone, like I'm floating on air. Kiss me…

Congo: Sobbed happily as he pressed his lips against Andy's, drawing him closer to himself

George: Looked at Gabriella as tears starts running down his cheeks, smiling softly Did he really choose?

Gabriella: Smiled bright Yes, yes he did. I feel the energy all around us.

Congo: Sobbed softly as he chuckled happily Did you pick me? Am I really so lucky? I can't even wrap my head around all of this, but I'm so fucking happy! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Andy: Chuckled happily through his own tears Don't thank me… I'm so fucking happy you are my mate! It's perfect! It's beyond perfect! I wouldn't want it any other way!

#unicornmanes #trigger warning:#drama #Andycorn #Andy Shaw-Thompson #Congo Shaw #Gabriella Lupei #George Cullman #mate #matebond #mate bond

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flslp87 · 1 year

Text

The Promise

A Captain Swan AU

Killian and Emma, two souls destined to be one. Come along on their journey of True Love, filled with romance, passion, and challenges as they fight for their Happy Beginning in The Promise.

Special thanks to @duathadun @hellomommanerd @linda8084 @juliakaze

Can be found on Tumblr (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26 ) (27) The Promise Compilation

Can be found on FF (Rating changed to M) Can be found on AO3 (Rating will remain T to T+)

~8500 words

Chapter 14

Monday, Third Week in May

Early Morning

Killian stood under the flower bedecked arbor in front of all their friends and gazed out at the group of people who had come to share the day with him and the woman he couldn't wait to make his wife. They were an eclectic group, their friends; from the faculty they had become close with here at Harvard to the group of ragtag children they had met through Henry. They were surrounded by people who were happy to share the day that he and Emma had been moving toward for nearly two years.

As the music swelled, a set of double doors opened and Emma appeared in the back of the group. She was a vision of white, wearing a long flowing dress fit for a princess and floating ethereally to him as if her feet were no longer touching the ground. When she reached him and put her hand in his, he held it firmly, giving it a gentle squeeze as they turned toward the clergyman who opened his book and began to speak.

Killian smiled down at Emma and heard, "Emma and Killian have come before us this day," before hearing BAM BAM, in rapid succession. He turned toward the back of the room where a set of double doors had been so forcefully pushed open that they hit the walls with a sound that reverberated throughout. When Killian saw what the cause of the commotion was, his eyes immediately went to his Nemo, who was sitting in the front row, and lifted his brows in question. The shock on Nemo’s face as Liam strode down the aisle was no less than the one on his own.

"Little brother," Liam bellowed, using the voice that he employed to get attention as a Captain in the Royal Navy. "Just what do you think you’re doing marrying this twit?"

Killian looked over at Robin and with an unspoken message, they moved in front of Emma, providing a protective shield. "Leave us, Liam. You made it clear you would not support our marriage and as much as it pains me to choose, I'll not let you tear us apart."

"Pah, what do you know of love? She's just like Lily. If you allow it, she will break your heart." Liam had reached the front of the aisle and made to push Killian aside to get to Emma when Emma's friend, Elsa, stepped into his path and gently laid her hand onto his shoulder. She hadn’t uttered a word, but with only her touch and Liam stopped, giving her his full attention.

Killian tried once again to reason with his brother because he really wanted them all to be a family. “Liam, she’s nothing like Lily. We are both sorry you are hurting, but just like our mother chose our father over her family, I choose Emma. I’ll not let you hurt her. If you know anything about me, you should know that, just as you do, I too will go to great lengths to protect those I love."

"Me… hurt her? Don’t you know that I would never hurt you intentionally? I am just trying to protect you, just as I have done for as long as I can remember. She will bring you pain. That’s what women like her do. She will crush your spirit and then she will crush your heart until you wake one day and feel that you are only a shell of yourself. That life has passed you by and that the only thing that is good and right in your life is your brother." His voice cracked and, quieting, he looked back at Elsa, but then it was as if another wave of anger took hold and he yelled again, "I will not allow it Killian, do you hear me? I will protect you if it's the last thing I ever do."

cs~cs~cs

Startling awake, Killian tossed off the blanket and sat up on the side of the bed, running his hands over his face and head before looking at the time. Only 3:00 a.m. but he knew there was no way he would get back to sleep with that nightmare running through his mind. Assuring himself Emma was still asleep, he padded into the small bathroom, shut the door and turned on the shower.

Killian stepped under the hot water and pressed both palms against the front tile, allowing the spray to stream down over his bent head and the back of his neck, hoping it would wash away some of the tension residing there. In here, alone with his thoughts, he could admit that the dream had scared the hell out of him. Liam, his own brother, taking extreme measures to ensure that he and Emma didn't get their happy ending. And now awake, he could think of several regrets that the dream brought to the front of his mind. In a way, he regretted taking the position with Nemo's company, because he was going to be forced to work closely with Liam, and if there was no changing Liam's mind, it would be difficult on all of them. He regretted even telling him about the wedding, because strife on their wedding day was not something that either of them wanted. But even with the difficulties that lie ahead of them, there was one thing that he could never regret and that was loving Emma Swan. He couldn't wait to make her his wife and was even more anxious to be her husband. Emma and Henry were his family and they were his priority. And after that nightmare he needed to decide what to do about the problem with Liam and to come up with a solution where all would be happy.

An overwhelming sadness came over him as the more he thought about it, the more he realized that with the things Liam had said and the steps he had taken to invade his and Emma's privacy meant there might be no going back. As the child who had followed his older brother around from a very young age, annoying him but always idolizing him, he ached with sadness. Liam’s experience with the woman he loved taking his heart and squeezing the very life from it was not something that any human should have to endure. That treatment alone would be enough to cause a person to become bitter and look at love as something that caused pain and not joy. And then adding to that the entire situation with the child, the agony one would feel was on an entirely different level. But as much as he hurt for Liam, that didn’t excuse the fact that it had been years, and not once had his brother come to him to explain where his pain was coming from. Not once had he turned to him for help, which was another big regret. Families were supposed to rely on one another in times of pain, much more so than in times of happiness.

Hearing the curtain slide back, he turned to see her standing there, the light highlighting the blonde hair that flowed around her head and down her back. She was gorgeous, his Emma, and he could have been strong, telling her he wasn’t fit for company now, but bloody hell, he needed her.

She stood there in all her naked glory, allowing him to look his fill at her slim toned legs; softly flaring hips, trim waist and breasts that fit perfectly in his hands, the look on her face not vulnerable, but determined, as if she were on a mission and there was no way she would allow him to resist her. He could have played this several ways, but he did the only thing his heart would allow.

He held out his hand and when she took it, dragged her toward him, burying his hands in the wild tangles of her hair and lowering his mouth to hers in a kiss that threatened to consume both of them, wrapping them in a haze so tightly that it was impossible to see where one ended and the other began. He backed her against the shower wall, skimmed his hands down her sides, around her waist and using his lips, teeth, tongue and body showed how much he loved her, telling her she was his everything.

She encouraged him with her throaty groans, her open-mouth kisses and her possessive hands that skated over his shoulders, down his back, then lower to his hips, where she squeezed and urged him along with the rock of her hips against his. Her slick body rocking against his brought him higher and higher until there was no holding back. Everything that he was feeling at that moment in time came pouring out and without stopping, he lifted her higher against the wall so that her softness fit against his hardness and with one more thrust of his hips, he buried himself inside the warm, wet heat that was only her. The comfort he had been needing since he had opened his eyes following the nightmare, he had found. Home, with her he was home.

When he came back to himself, he had his face buried in her neck and her body pinned against the cold hard tile wall and immediately felt nothing but shame at his behavior. She didn't deserve to be treated any way but with love and respect. As he stood there calling himself every name in the book and trying to think of how to apologize for his behavior, he realized she was trying to get his attention.

"Killian, don't." She must have seen something in his eyes because she immediately continued, "Not that, you, big ninny! Don't feel ashamed. If you can't get your head out of your ass long enough to see that I was just as much involved in our lovemaking as you were than we DO have a problem.

Her words sent his heart soaring and giving her a cocky grin, he pushed his hips back against her where, even though he had just loved her like there was no tomorrow, her words were waking him all over again. "You liked it?" He asked, hoping that his initial thoughts were completely wrong.

"Duh. What's not to like?" She gave him a sexy smile. “It was hot, and yes please, I want to do it again and maybe even again, but first," she released her legs from around his waist, "you need to talk to me. What brought that on?" Her gaze pleaded with him to open up and let her in.

When he finally met her eyes, he allowed her to see what he was feeling, which was one of the most difficult things he had ever done. "Fair enough. But not here." Keeping their hands to themselves, they quickly finished their shower and turning off the water, Killian reached for a towel and dried his hair before securing it around his waist.

"And now you." He pulled one of Emma's towels off the warmer and wrapped it turban style around her head. Taking another off the warmer, he rubbed it over her body paying extra attention to any crevices he encountered.

"Watch it there, big boy," she quipped, “unless,” her fingers roamed through his chest hair on their way to the tuck that was keeping his towel secure. “you have other things in mind.”

She had just given him a way out if he really wasn’t ready to talk, but a quick peek at his feelings made him realize that he wanted to tell her at least some of what he was feeling. Hanging up the towel, he wrapped her in her robe, tying the belt around her trim waist. "Maybe later, but now…” he left the thought hanging and, tossing the towel toward the shower rod, responded to her other comment. “I was just being thorough." She giggled and rolled her eyes at him as he opened the door to the bathroom, indicating she precede him. Before following, he picked up her wide tooth comb and after plumping the pillows against the headboard, tossed his towel onto the floor, settled on the bed and encouraged her to sit between his legs.

Once Emma was situated, Killian gently towel dried her hair, before tossing it on the floor and running the comb through her blonde locks. After the first pass through, she looked over her shoulder, giving him a look that spoke volumes. "Don't you think you've stalled long enough?"

He grinned at her, knowing it didn’t quite reach his eyes. "It's not pretty."

"Pain never is, my love. Talk to me."

She turned back and after a few more passes through her wet hair, he started talking. He told her about meeting with Liam and about Liam's Lily. He went on to explain that Lily had grown up in an orphanage in the United States and how after setting her sights on his brother, she had gotten her wish. She had married a man, who was both an officer and a gentleman, who had fallen in love and married her with the intentions of giving her the world. Sadly though, she’d had a different definition of forever, far from what the Jones brothers had grown up believing it to mean.

"She started life the same way that I did,” Emma responded solemnly. “Did you share with Liam about my youth?"

Killian knew he needed to tread carefully with what came out of his mouth from here on out because he had no desire to hurt her, yet he wanted to share as much of the story as possible. Setting the comb on the bedside table, he pulled her more firmly against his chest, and pressed his jaw against the side of her head. "I never told Liam you were an orphan, Swan. I told him you were beautiful. I told him you were kind and caring. I told him you were from Boston and that after one look into your green eyes, I knew you were the woman I wanted to marry."

Emma snorted out a laugh, "I'm sure that went over well."

"Well considering that I hadn't even met you when I told him that, I thought it went over as well as could be expected. "

"What else, Killian? There has to be more to the story. I can hear that you are holding something back from me."

He sighed, "Aye, love, there is." Killian went on to tell her about Liam catching his then wife with several men after he had received the letter that told him she was pregnant. His heart broke again for his brother when he had to explain that the paternity tests had shown that the child had not been his and then, after everything, the child had not lived to see the light of day. The death certificate had listed cause of death as stillborn, but really what did that mean? It meant that Lily had not been given a reason as to why the babe had been born dead and all that was left were the parents who would have loved it, and now were only left to mourn.

Emma squeezed his thighs. "You know, in a way I understand a little bit more about Liam and his state of mind. I even understand why he feels he needs to protect you from being hurt, but I guess I don’t understand why he wasn’t willing to meet me. Why he wasn’t willing to see us together and see how happy we are together before making up his mind?

Killian’s chin dropped onto her shoulder. “That’s very thoughtful of you, love. I’m not sure I could be so forgiving if it were one of your friends behaving in the manner as my brother. And as far as Liam jumping to conclusions before hearing the entire story, well,” he cleared his throat not sure if he really wanted to admit the rest of what he was thinking, “we Jones men are a stubborn lot.”

Emma hummed softly, “You may be stubborn, but I’ve never known you to be unreasonable. However,” She grabbed his head and kissed it, “you’ve never felt pain over losing a woman, either. I guess we never know exactly how we would behave until we truly walk in another person’s shoes.”

“No, we never do.” He mumbled.

“But Killian, even though I'm sorry to hear about all of this, I feel that it was something else that brought about that…" she waved her hand toward the bathroom.

"Aye, you're right.” He sighed, not wanting to upset her too much. “It was a nightmare that caused the fear that led to that behavior."

She turned in his arms. "A nightmare? About me or about Liam?"

He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed, "Both really."

She leaned back and looked up at him. "Tell me?"

He rubbed his knuckles up and down her cheek while trying to decide how much he wanted to share about his dream. Needing to settle himself a little, he leaned in for a kiss and before it got out of hand, took a deep breath and began, "It was our wedding day, Emma, and we were so happy. And you…you looked so beautiful you nearly took my breath away. We were standing in front of the clergyman and just as he was ready to marry us, there was a loud sound in the back of the room and Liam burst through these doors and started ranting like a madman."

"Keep going," she whispered.

"He was running toward us and shouting and saying I couldn't marry you because you would break my heart. He wouldn't shut up. He just kept saying the same things over and over again."

"What were you doing? Trying to stop him?"

He shook his head slowly before continuing on with his story, "Aye. I moved in front of you to shield you from his behavior and, as always, Robin had my back."

"And Liam, did he keep coming up to where we were standing?" She asked quietly.

"No, that's the odd thing. He was stopped before he reached the front of the aisle." His voice trailed off into nothingness as he thought once again about the exchange between Elsa and his brother, two people who had never met and most likely never would. Yet, in his dream there had been a connection.

Emma didn't respond for a few minutes, but he could tell she was contemplating what he had said. "What was holding Liam back?" She finally asked him.

Killian turned her, so he could look into her eyes. "It was Elsa. She stopped him just by laying her hand on his shoulder." He gathered what he wanted to say and then continued, "Every few minutes he would look at her and for a split second there was a connection there, almost as if he loved her, but then something happened and the bitter Liam that I've come to expect the last few years was once again inhabiting his body. It’s like he was a real-life Jekyll and Hyde."

~~~~~~~~~~

Listening to Killian tell her about Liam and his nightmare and hearing the pain in his voice made her heart hurt. She knew he was trying to watch what he said because he wanted to protect her, but that’s what she wanted to do for him. How could she help him? Holding his hand, a little tighter, she asked the question that she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to. "What happened then?"

"I don't know, Emma," he whispered brokenly. "I woke up and couldn't catch my breath, it hurt so much inside. The pain from the nightmare and from feeling as though Liam had betrayed me, but mostly from the void I was feeling. I don’t know how to explain it, but when I woke up, I was convinced you were gone. Something or someone had taken you from me. I couldn't bear for that to happen."

Emma turned completely in his arms and pulled his face to hers. "Nothing can take me from you. I am yours and I will always be yours."

~~~~~~~~~

He kissed her tenderly, but didn't move far before whispering, "And I promise to always be where you need me and to never, ever say goodbye.” He closed his eyes, wanting to say more but not knowing exactly how to put his thoughts into words. Finally, the words coalesced in his head, “And Emma, just know that if we were ever separated, I would go to the ends of the earth for you." After kissing her again, Killian knew what he wanted…no…what he needed to do. "Emma, will you marry me?"

She frowned at him. "Killian, you already asked me to marry you and I said yes, did you forget?"

"I meant today. Let's get Robin and drive to Atlantic City. We can be there in six hours or so, spend a night or two, and be home before graduation. Will you? Will you be my bride today?" He tried to contain his anxiety but something inside was telling him that this was the answer. This was the way to make her his wife and keep her from any potential harm that his brother, or anyone else, might have in store for them. Once they were married, then they would find a way to bridge the divide with Liam, together.

She stared at him for so long, he wasn't sure what she would say, but when she smiled and said yes, he grabbed her in a hug that said he never intended letting her go and peppered her face with kisses. "Can we leave within the hour? I'll text Robin.”

Killian, it's 4:00 in the morning, and there's been a development in the Robin and Regina relationship that makes me wonder if he'll even want to go."

His eyebrows went up at hearing the news. "Oh? I knew he was taking her to dinner and wondered how it went. But,” he sent her a cheeky grin, “when I returned from my trip I had other things on my mind."

He got out of bed and, taking his phone from his jacket pocket, said confidently as he sent a text, "He'll want to be there. He knows I would do the same for him." Moving back to the bed where she still sat, he leaned over and kissed her leisurely and very thoroughly. "Maybe if we hurry we can drive by our new apartment in New York City. Get a move on, Mrs. Jones." He pulled her to her feet and palmed her behind as she sashayed off to get dressed and pack. Once she was out of sight, he continued his conversation with Robin and pulled up places to get married and stay in Atlantic City. If luck stayed on their side, they would be married by sundown and he could spend the night loving her as he had never loved her before.

cs~cs~cs

They had been lucky that Robin had been sleeping alone in the apartment he still shared with Killian, although Killian was rarely there. Once Killian had taken him aside and briefly told him what had gone down with Liam, Robin, behaving as a best mate should, had grabbed a bag, tossed in a few clothes and climbed in the back seat only complaining about needing caffeine this bloody early in the morning.

"Quit your grousing, we'll get you some caffeine. Maybe it will put you in a better frame of mind." Killian drove into a Starbucks, ordered and parked while he handed out the offerings. "Robin, here is your caffè mocha and blueberry scone and plenty of napkins.” And when he added, “Don't make a mess in my car." an eyeroll was his payment. Once he had handed Emma her hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon and a cinnamon morning bun, and kept his caramel macchiato and cranberry orange scone, they were on their way.

Driving out of the parking lot, Killian pushed the button for the classic rock station on the satellite radio and took a sip of his drink, ending up with a caramel and whipped cream mustache.

"Let me." Emma reached over and wiped her thumb across his lip before licking her thumb clean.

Swallowing hard, Killian watched the little minx tease him, knowing he was in a situation where he couldn't give her a dose of her own medicine. With difficulty, he pulled his eyes away from her mouth and back to the road, winding his way through the city streets until they were able to move onto the I-90 heading toward New York City via the George Washington Bridge. Once in the city, his plan was to detour by their new neighborhood, so he could show his future wife where they would be living once they had moved. From there they could easily pick up the Garden State Parkway on their way toward Atlantic City.

After they had finished their pastries and caffeine, Robin started to sing along with Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion as it played on the radio. When that song was followed by Journey's Don't Stop Believin’, Killian took over and sang lead and Robin easily harmonized as if he had done it for years. As the singing continued with ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man, Emma laughed so hard at the way they competitively tried to outdo each other that she had tears running down her face. The next few songs didn’t make them feel like singing and just before they changed stations, the opening bars to Somebody to Love started and before it was over, all three were singing in harmony.

When the station once again played a few songs that had Emma rolling her eyes and both Killian and Robin groaning, Emma pushed scan and let the dial slide along until she found one that she liked and hit the button again, stopping it. She had only sung a few lines to Train’s Hey, Soul Sister when Killian changed the station.

“You have to be barmy to like that band, Swan. Their music is rubbish.” He stopped the music on another rock station and tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel along with the beat.

"Oh, I don’t know that it’s rubbish, Killian.” She ran her hand along his thigh. “I’m pretty sure if you were to sing one of their songs, you might get lucky.”

He cut his eyes to her. “And which song would that be?”

“Hmm, I can think of a couple.”

“Hey, I’m still here.” Robin groused from the back. “Give a man a break.”

“Sorry, Robin.” Emma covered her mouth as a yawn snuck up on her.

Giving her a little grin, Killian squeezed her hand. "Tired, love?"

"A bit. Somebody woke me up really early." She yawned again.

"Hey, you two, I don't need to be privy to all the gory details." Robin handed Emma one of Killian's jackets that seemed to always be in the back seat. "Here, this should cushion your head if you want to have a sleep."

Emma smiled her thanks and took the jacket. "Don't let me sleep longer than an hour, okay?"

Killian nodded and hoped that hour would remove the dark patches under her eyes. “If you say so."

As she leaned her head on the jacket, she was surrounded by Killian's smell, and when Eric Clapton started singing Wonderful Tonight and Killian and Robin sang softly along with him, she drifted peacefully to sleep.

~~~~~

After several more songs had played, Robin leaned forward from the back seat and whispered, "She asleep?"

"Aye, she seems to be," Killian answered just as quietly with a quick glance at his future wife.

"Good." Robin met Killian's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Now, tell me about your visit with Liam. Was it bad?"

Meeting Robin’s eyes, Killian tipped his chin slightly. "Aye, it was bad. Not only the real story about Lily, but what has happened to him since we last saw him." He winced as if retelling the story were physically painful. "Remember how Liam looked when he was in the Royal Navy?"

"All proper and polished?" laughed Robin.

"Precisely," Killian continued, "Now he's the exact opposite of proper and polished. He's as disheveled as a lorry after a hurricane."

This time it was Robin's turn to wince. "That’s bad.”

"Sadly. And the man he’s become," he shook his head, "he scares me Robin. To think my own brother had the woman I love investigated and someone followed us taking pictures," he grunted, "it makes me want to punch some sense into him."

Robin was quiet for a while before simply saying, "I've got your back."

"I know you do and I," he smiled over Emma's way, "we appreciate it."

"You two talking about me behind my back?" Emma stretched in the seat as best as she could. "Can we stop at the next place, babe? I need to stretch my legs."

Killian pulled off the Pike at the next turnoff and they spent a few minutes walking around and enjoying the beauty of the sun as it peered over the horizon. Disappearing into the lady’s room, Emma took the opportunity and splashed cold water on her face and brushed and braided her hair. Once she had tossed her brush in her purse, she smoothed lotion on her arms and hands and tossed the tube in her bag before walking out the door, right into the arms of her fiancé. "How did you know I would be the one walking out just now?" She squinted up at him.

"ESP?" He grinned before leaning in to take a sniff of her neck. "You smell good. Is that for my benefit?"

Humming in agreement, she leaned her head against his chest. "Maybe, but Killian,” she tapped her finger against his chest, “aren’t you going to allow Robin to drive for some of the trip?”

He gave her a pained look. "Emma, I love Robin like a brother, but he's not quite got the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road. I’d rather we get there in one piece."

“If you’re sure,” she finally said. “I just don’t want you driving if you’re too tired.”

“Relax, Swan.” He kissed her lightly and turned them back toward the parking lot. “I’ll be fine, as will you and our best man. Come, we have a wedding to get to.”

“And I can’t wait.” She took his hand as they walked the rest of the way to the car. "Robin, do you want to ride in front for a while? There's a little more leg room."

Killian gave her a long-suffering sigh. "He's not as nice to have in the front, Swan. I won't be able to hold your hand or put my hand on your leg if you're in the back."

She patted him on the chest. "You could let Robin drive and ride in the back with me."

"Hold up, you two." Robin pushed them apart. "I'm not playing the chauffeur while you two spend time doing who knows what in the back seat."

Emma grinned at him. "Missing Regina?" He blushed and smiled shyly, totally out of character for Robin. "I think it's about time you share the new development with us, don't you?"

"I swear, you two or worse than the couple of old biddies that lived next door to my mum and pop growing up," he groused at them. "Fine, get in and I'll talk."

As it turned out, Robin ended up in the back seat again, claiming he didn't need Killian mooning over Emma being so far away, so with him in the back he started his story.

"Well you know that I’ve been terribly patient waiting for an opportunity to be with her, right?" he asked, almost as if he were expecting a medal for his patience.

Emma looked over the seat at Robin. “Well, duh. I’m pretty sure every time I’ve seen you since January, you’ve made a comment or two or three or…"

"Exactly. But she wouldn’t give me the time of day.” He pretended to pout but his smile couldn’t be contained for too long, which had been a long time coming.

“I’m not sure I remember it exactly that way,” Emma told him, wryly expecting a witty response from the back seat.

When he was quiet for too long, she looked over her shoulder to see what he was doing and caught him staring at the screen on his phone with a decidedly smitten smile on his face. "Robin?" He glanced up but she wasn't sure if he saw her or not. "Go on."

Finally, he continued, "You know what I remember about that first day? She walked into class wearing a tight red dress and black heels and when she gazed out at the class with her dark eyes, I swear ever tiny head in the classroom stood up and took note except mine."

Emma snorted out a laugh, "TMI Robin. I don't need to know about your tiny head."

"Here here, mate. I don't think I care for the idea of Emma thinking about your tiny head either. But," he glanced over his shoulder, "I'm not believing yours didn't have some say in the matter."

"Well," Robin stammered, "maybe a little, but mainly my friend, it was like that night at The Burren all over again. You said one look was all it took for you to know Emma was the one and, well," he paused to take a deep breath, "one look and I knew she held my heart."

"But she handed it to you on a platter, didn't she?" taunted Killian.

"I wouldn't go that far," muttered Robin. "She was my instructor for a semester and once I realized there was no getting around that I backed off. But, bloody hell, it was hard." He hadn't paid close enough attention to his words until his last statement earned him a snicker from the front seat.

Emma kept the conversation flowing forward instead of allowing it to stay in the gutter, "The last time I saw you two, the barrier," she cleared her throat to keep from giggling, "appeared to have been removed."

He shrugged his shoulder and quirked one corner of his mouth causing his dimple to pop. "I took my exam and when I finished and put it on her desk, she handed me a note." His grin got even broader. "Said I should meet her in her office to discuss dinner."

Emma smiled over at Killian. " That was the day we drove up to Portland, wasn’t it?"

"Aye, love. And it was also the day you said you would marry me for the first time." Killian, who was holding her hand, picked it up, kissing her fingertips.

"Hey this is my story," Robin interrupted. “Shall I continue with my story or do you want to moon at each other some more?"

Killian met Robin's eyes in the mirror and smirked. "Carry on by all means."

"Why, thank you." He cleared his throat as if preparing to give a great speech and continued with his story.

They learned that when he had arrived at her office, she handed him both his paper and exam, asking if he were completely done with his obligations as a student. His response to her had been that he had just left his last professor’s meeting and that his responsibilities as a student were complete. Once Regina heard that, she had given him her killer smile and that was when the real fun started for them.

"I was standing there feeling like a complete arse, but also worried that I not sound like a blathering idiot when, finally, she got to the point." He hesitated for effect. "She said that if I asked her out for dinner, she would be more than happy to say yes. Needless to say, I got right to it and after I said my piece, we ended up eating in a small Italian place not far from The Burren, where we shared a bottle of wine, had a lovely dinner and talked quite freely."

"And the fact that I saw you two canoodling a couple days later with her wearing the same clothing that I had seen her leave in on Friday morning meant that you must have wooed her back to your apartment." Emma shook her head. "I do hope you had cleaned the place up."

"It was alright, as were we. But a gent never kisses and tells."

Killian glanced sideways at Emma. "Guess he didn't require our help after all."

"Question is, will he screw it up?" She answered back.

"Hey, I'm right here," Robin popped in with from the back, "and I don't intend to make a mess of this. It's the real deal for me."

Once they exited the Pike onto the 84, the traffic increased and the conversation in the car decreased so Killian could pay close attention to where they were going. As they neared the George Washington Bridge, traffic was stop and go and the use of horns became more prevalent, with every car jostling for position. "Why the bloody hell are they honking at me?" Killian groused.

Emma looked around at all the cars. "Is it always this crazy?" she whispered in awe.

"Probably.” Killian sighed as he slammed on the brakes when a car darted in front of him. “This traffic is bloody awful, which is my own damn fault because of the time, but I was in such a hurry…" he trailed off thinking about his dream and why he had been in such a rush.

Emma squeezed his thigh. "It's okay babe, I was anxious too.”

He gave her a small grin and turned his attention to the traffic moving haphazardly around them.

~~~~~~~~~

Driving into the city, Emma found her face plastered against the passenger's side window staring up at the buildings surrounding them. Growing up in Boston she was used to big cities, tall buildings and populated areas but nothing could have prepared her for sheer enormity of Manhattan. Buildings so tall they almost blocked the sun, streets so packed traffic was stop and go and so many people bustling around that if you weren't going in the correct direction, you were run over. Could she get used to it?

"This place is wild!" Emma grinned over at Killian. "You're moving here too, right Robin?"

He gnawed on his lower lip as he contemplated his answer, "That was the plan and I know my pops would love it, but there's Regina to consider."

"You know what they say, 'If it’s meant to be, it will be.' You should talk to her when we get home." They drove on in silence for a while longer. "Oh, I didn’t tell you," she looked at Killian, " guess who else is moving here later this summer?"

"Henry?" He grinned at her.

"Well, of course Henry, but no… Elsa! She takes the bar in July and hopes to be able to find a job quickly and move into the apartment that her parents kept for when they had business in the city. Isn’t that wonderful?"

Killian thought back to his dream and how in it Elsa was the one who seemed to have some effect on Liam's behavior. Was there more to his dream then he knew?

Driving through the city, he played tour guide and pointed out Marco's jewelry store, The Hidden Gems, showed Emma where their apartment was and drove by Central Park. Anxious to get on their way, he turned a corner and followed his GPS back to the turnpike, mentally crossing his fingers that the rest of the journey would be uneventful.

As soon as they left the city, it started raining, just enough to make the streets wet and make using the wipers a necessity, even if they were only on low. However, even with the streets becoming wetter and the visibility decreasing, it wasn’t enough to slow the speed of the traffic. As Killian drove, the dream still lingered in the back of his mind, but now that some distance had been put between himself and that initial feeling of fear, there was no doubt in his mind that as much as Liam might think that Emma was not the woman for his brother, there was no way he would ever physically harm her. Their mother had brought both of them up in the same manner and respecting women was something she stressed from the time they were lads. And if catching his wife in a compromising situation didn’t spur him to violence, then nothing would.

But as much as he believed that Liam would never resort to physical violence, that didn’t mean that he was ready to excuse his brother’s behavior. Killian’s goal and main concern was in making sure that Emma was protected, no matter what came their way throughout their lives together. With Emma as his wife, he could show her that being by her side, protecting her as his father had always protected their mother, was where he planned to be.

Seeing a sign indicating that the exit to the Garden State Parkway was still a few miles away, he couldn’t help but wish the bloody trucks would get out of his way. It seemed they were on the road in full force and between those, and the buses and the cars switching lanes so rapidly, the highway was one big accident waiting to happen. A quick glance at Emma assured him her seatbelt was snug across her chest, and wanting to move around the truck laden with utility poles in front of him, as it made visibility damn near impossible, he flipped his signal and moved into the left lane. As soon as he had rounded the rear of the truck, the realization of what it had prevented him from seeing caused his eyes grow large and his heartrate to go through the roof. "Oh shite," he grunted, tightening his hold on the steering wheel.

He was seeing what might have been the last view his parents had ever seen and what had become his very own nightmare for months after their deaths. Ahead of him and on the other side of the median, a semi-truck had jackknifed, gone into a skid and broken through the barrier that separated the highway. Because of its high speed, the wet road and the weight of the truck, it was still moving, and its momentum was carrying it into the traffic on his side of the highway. Within the blink of an eye, it had rammed into a large SUV, pinning it against the guardrail lining the road to Killian’s right. But while that stopped the cab of the large truck, it was no match for the size and speed of the rotating trailer as it circled around to plow into a large bus with enough force to flip it onto its side.

With the slick roads providing a smooth surface, the fallen bus was sent into a skid, careening directly into the path of his car as well as the truck he was passing. With only a heartbeat of time to think, Killian wrenched the wheel hard to the left. What he hadn't anticipated was that the utility truck’s driver would stomp on his brakes. Unfortunately, the slick streets provided no resistance for the weight of the trailer, and when the bus hit the truck broadside, it angled the truck just enough for its trailer to catch the back bumper of Killian's Subaru. Killian’s car spun, flipping over and coming to rest on its passenger side, facing in the opposite direction. His breath stopped as he saw a utility pole break free from its confinement, barreling directly toward his front windshield.

~~~~~

Emma had been angled toward the back seat talking with Robin when she heard Killian’s yell. Surprised by the fear in his voice, she whipped her head back toward the front just in time to see the jackknifed truck hit the bus, sending the bus flying toward them. As Killian wrenched the wheel to the left, Emma’s head was thrown back against the seat and bracing her arm against the dash, she prepared for impact from the front, but when it came from the back, throwing her forward, a scream was ripped from deep inside her soul.

She was violently tossed around as the car simultaneously flipped and spun 180 degrees, causing the airbags to deploy and knocking her hand and arm into the side glass window so hard, they immediately went numb. The view when she opened her eyes felt like that of death as a large utility pole was hurtling their direction with nothing to save them. As another scream was torn from her throat, she covered her face with both hands just as the impact ripped through the car. With the sound of breaking glass in her ears and hundreds of shards of glass raining down over her, her body was tossed around until the pain became so intense, she welcomed the blackness.

~~~

Robin’s thoughts had been of Regina and contacting her again when he heard Killian’s yell, sending a sliver of fear racing up his spine. His head came up and as the bus skidded toward their car, he dropped his phone and grabbed onto the back of the seats in front of him. It was too late to put his seatbelt back on and as Killian jerked the wheel to the left, his hold on the seats loosened so that when the trailer hit them from the rear, he wasn’t prepared. He bounced off the roof, jarring his head before sliding down behind the passenger seat and crumpling against the window. In the few seconds when the car settled on its side, he had just started to move when there was a horrible crunch and something flew through the car, pinning his legs in place and sending pain shooting throughout his body. With screams reverberating in his head, he was pulled into unconsciousness.

~~~

The force with which Killian’s airbag deployed knocked the wind out of him but kept him from being crushed by the steering wheel. His head, however, hadn’t had that luxury and it bounced between the window and the headrest, instantly suffused with throbbing pain, causing him to see stars. The finality came when the utility pole crashed through the car bringing with it a shower of glass…and then he only knew agony and screams ringing inside his head.

He wasn’t sure how long it took for his pain to recede, but when it did, Killian experienced a feeling of peace unlike anything he had ever known. His body felt weightless and free as if he were floating on a giant cloud or riding on a gentle wave. Unwilling to open his eyes, he allowed himself to be carried along and listened carefully to the sounds around him. Sounds that triggered some sense of fear deep inside, that he wasn’t yet ready to acknowledge.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to see that the world had changed so significantly that he had to blink several times to assure himself that his vision was true. The color was gone and it was as though each picture that appeared in his brain had become a part of a slide show. Except now as he viewed the slide show, it wasn’t with the vibrancy and color of life, but the negative of it. His world was no longer colorful, but shades of gray.

He was carried along on the cloud in his pain-free place, able to see the carnage around him, discovering that his view was from above. Over one truck a man hovered for a brief second before disappearing from sight. A woman had risen above the bus and appeared to be waiting for someone to tell her where to go until she smiled such a beautiful smile that Killian felt his eyes tear up and a chill run through his body when she floated toward a man who was waiting. When no one was waiting for him, he had an instant feeling of regret but when he realized that going with them meant leaving Emma behind. That was not something he could do…ever.

As the destruction around him became too much to bear, he closed his eyes and absorbed the chaos around him, hearing the sounds of grief and pain as they competed with those of joy and happiness. A cacophony of noise bombarding his very essence until he could no longer stand to listen to it and looked for someplace to go to get away from them. Rubbing his hands through his hair, he covered his ears, and tried to shut out the noises that reminded him of a bloody jackhammer, but it was useless. He was powerless to stop them.

The racket went on and on until he wanted to scream STOP, and little by little the pain snuck in, but every time it did, he shied away. He could see firemen and other emergency personnel surrounding his vehicle, working open the door of his car. His body could be seen suspended from where he had been tossed during the crash, now being held in place by the seatbelt. The large pole separated him from where Emma and Robin had been sitting, preventing them from bringing either to safety. He needed to help, but control of his own body no longer belonged to him.

When his body was removed from the destroyed vehicle, he could see blood on his face, head and legs, but feeling no pain, he couldn’t tell the extent of his injuries. He was placed on a stretcher, fitted with a brace around his neck and buckled securely on the bed preventing any movement, giving him some indication that his injuries were not as simple as those he’d had as a young lad many years ago.

As Killian watched them work, he didn’t know what happened but the pace with which they were working increased tenfold and suddenly one of the paramedics yelled to the others, "We're losing him…start CPR, NOW!” and then climbed on the gurney to rhythmically push on his chest. The other paramedic yelled, “Where’s the defibrillator?“ before he too stepped in to help.

As two of the men worked over his body, two others climbed down into the opening they had created, and with the help of several others outside the car, began to remove the large pole. Killian willed them to hurry, needing to see Emma and know that she was okay. As the pole slowly started to move he could see her slumped against her door. His normally exuberant Swan lay still…so still he couldn’t tell if she was alive or, god help him, already gone. They were moving too slowly and he needed to scream…………HURRY……………. until finally…they moved and when he looked in her direction, expecting to see her beautiful eyes and strong chin looking back at him, there was nothing but blood! Emma, he screamed over and over in his mind.

~fin

Read on and enjoy

#cs ff #captain swan ff #the promise #csau

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