#I don’t think an almost-14 year old should feel burnt out like this already | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sierraraeck · 3 years

Text

Staying Hidden

BAU x OC Aundreya

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Summary: Aundreya reveals everything that has been going on, and visits some of the team members in the hospital while trying to evade notice. Story eighteen.

Category: Angst.

Warnings: Cussing. Brief mention of sexual assault, drug use, and death.

Word Count: 4.8k

A/N: I still know nothing about how gangs work, this is all for entertainment purposes.

I have some explaining to do.

My given name from birth was Clara Spade. If you recall, I grew up with divorced parents and a sorry excuse for a father. When I was 14, I witnessed a mass killing by one of the most infamous serial killers of all time, the Storefront Slaughterer. Somehow, I was spared, but my identity was soon leaked to the media, and my mom, sister, and I were put in witness protection. At this point, my identity was changed along with my name, which was now Cassy Sae. I don’t know how, and I never figured out when the Slaughterer caught wind of my whereabouts, but he did, and he followed me home one night. He burnt my entire home down, taking the remaining two members of my family with it. I jumped out of the back window, barely surviving until Agent Gideon found me and took me back to his isolated cabin house in practically the middle of nowhere. As the news reported, Cassy Sae died in that fire as well, the same day Aundreya Chambers came into existence already at the age of 15. I attempted to go back to school, live as close to a healthy and normal life as I could, but I let my rage get the best of me. I decided that I wanted to hunt down the man that took everything from me, dropping out of high school. I left Gideon, telling him that I couldn’t burden him anymore and had to do whatever came next for me on my own. He reluctantly let me leave, and I found myself on the streets of Chicago. There, in a small self defense gym I’d started frequenting after hours, I met a girl only a few years my senior named Xena. She befriended me and admired how quickly I was picking up on all of the concepts being taught, despite the fact that I never officially took a class, only watched thinking I was going unseen. Xena told me about a group of people who could help and protect me, and before I knew it, I was meeting a man in his early 50s who went by the name of Rafael. Little did I know that I had just been coaxed into joining one of the most feared and revered gangs in the northeast.

One of the first things I learned was how to make money in the form of dancing. It was also when I created the Alionth persona. I was one of the youngest members to have ever joined the Cloaks (I was almost 16 at the time but it was an unspoken agreement that I was now 18), and I picked up on most everything very quickly. I started out low in the ranks, mainly just dancing and drawing new members in or being a distraction while another operation was going on behind the scenes. At one point, I remember that an operation wasn’t going as planned and they needed information from a patron at the club. I wanted to help out and be a part of the ‘more important things’ so badly, that I took initiative without permission. I started performing for the patron, and pick-pocketed him in the midst of it. I returned to Xena, and another boy, with the information I’d gathered from his phone and wallet. It helped them complete their operation, and they were impressed with my skills, even though they were irritated I did it without permission. After that night, I started moving up the ranks. It was also that night that the boy I’d met earlier with Xena started using me. His name is Jamar, but most people know him by his last name, DeLeon. He was the 19 year old son of another revered gang leader. Rafael happened to be close friends with his father, and agreed to look after DeLeon after he died. Rafael also took in the members of that gang, which helped spike the power and ‘popularity’ (for lack of a better word) of the Cloaks. DeLeon and his rowdy friends were hard to control, so in order to appease them, Rafael essentially let them do whatever they wanted, as long as it didn’t hurt the Cloak name. The ‘Cloak name’ did not explicitly include Cloak members.

I was fresh, and had skills that apparently made me ‘special,’ so DeLeon and his boys decided I would be a great way to celebrate the success of that night. And ‘come on, you’re half the reason it went so well. Don’t you want to celebrate with us?’ This was also my first exposure to hard drugs. I was on and off them from here on out.

But beyond that, once I started to be recognized for my pick-pocketing abilities, and being able to track people down for information, I got moved to be a private informant for the gang, and I was damn good at it too. I spent the most time communicating my findings with Xena and DeLeon, so they became the closest people to me. In all of my free time, I looked for the Slaughterer. When I finally found him and asked Xena and DeLeon to help me set up a trap for him, they helped me without hesitation. It was my idea to tip off the FBI, which they were obviously hesitant about at first. But I convinced them that if we caught one of the FBI’s most wanted, and instead of hurting him turned him over to the FBI, it would make us look better to them and hopefully keep them off our asses. We discussed it with Rafael himself, and he thought that it was a good idea. I was surprised and relieved, and once the FBI had the Slaughterer in custody and everything went according to plan, it was enough to get me moved up to the rank of ‘Head of the PI unit.’ That’s when I started being known as The Figure. I was 18 at the time, and for a while I seemed untouchable. I was training other members, three of which were Sydney, Deen, and Corbyn, my three closest friends going into the ring, and we were finding people left and right. I scoped out traitors and infiltrators as a part of my lead job (that’s when I met Christina who was working with Derek at the time), and the gang seemed to be as strong as ever.

Then, one day, I found out that Xena Adaland is the granddaughter of Rafael Adaland, the gang’s leader. She, like DeLeon, was three years older than me, and was pissed that I was now higher in the ranks than she was. She challenged me for my PI spot, and the rules were simple. Whoever lost, would leave.

The day before the challenge, which would be a series of fighting, investigating, and persuasive tactics, Rafael came to me and told me that I had to win, no matter what it took. I was stunned, and even though I pushed for more information, he wouldn’t tell me why. Regardless, I did win, and Xena was forced to leave, and her grandfather let her. No, not just let her, he encouraged her. Once she left, I essentially became the replacement daughter to Rafael, which meant I was in even closer contact with DeLeon. Our relationship had always been very twisted, but once I was under more direct protection by Rafael, he almost completely stopped how he’d been treating me. Almost. I didn’t understand how fucked up it was at the time, but we even started dating once he started treating me better. However, there were bigger problems. The FBI was closing in on us, which I later found out was the reason why Rafael was okay letting Xena leave. He wanted her safe and away from this mess when it imploded. Rafael and I had been working closely side by side for a year now, and I could tell he was feeling like he had nothing left. Xena was gone, his life’s work of building a foolproof gang was collapsing, and DeLeon was slowly pulling away. He and I both knew that the FBI and police were looking for someone to blame, someone to go down for this, and only one of us was going to get out of this whole thing. He all but told me I had his blessing to screw him over and take the gang for myself. I was 19 and he was almost 60, so he knew that the one thing he might be able to leave was a legacy, one that I might be strong enough and smart enough to carry on. What he did tell me, was that what he was about to do was for me and for the rest of the gang, and that it would take the heat off of us, long enough for us to preserve what was left of the gang. For a while, I thought that he would be turning it over to Xena or DeLeon, but when it came down to it, it was me that he chose. I took it in stride and with honor.

That night, when Rafael ended up dead in his office, I fully understood what he was talking about before. If the FBI found the gang’s leader dead, they would have someone to blame, and the spotlight would no longer be on me or really any of the rest of the members. The gang would essentially collapse.

DeLeon had different ideas, though. He thought that I had killed Rafael, the closest thing to a dad he could remember, and was out for revenge. He returned to his old ways of treating me, and left me with a scar to prove it. I fought through all of that shit, knowing I still had a responsibility to protect and salvage the gang. I had to tell them to disperse and find me in a month or so when things had cooled down. I pushed the gang underground, and that was the start of the ring. Whoever could find me again would have passed the first test to see if they were worthy or not to be in my new ring.

Deen found me first, then Sydney, then Corbyn. Others came to me as well, either from the gang or outside of it with other skills that were desirable. I started going by the name Alionth, and the former gang got turned into my ring of elite criminals. I ran a tight ship underground until I was 21.

Xena had been marinating in anger since she lost to me, and decided to get back at me by hurting one of my best friends. She kidnapped Sydney while on a job, and threatened to hurt her if I didn’t show up. It had only been days prior that I met Sydney’s husband Todd and her newborn daughter, Jayana, who I ran into again on my second case with the team. I should have known it was a trap from the beginning, but I’d been getting cocky and wasn’t exactly thinking straight, due to the amount of drugs pumping through my system.

I showed up and was ambushed by both Xena and DeLeon, who explained to me that they’d found each other again after the Cloaks crashed. They bonded over their mutual hate for me, and decided to fuck me over together. They killed Sydney right in front of me, and then left just in time for the FBI to capture me and throw me in prison. If you remember, I was in there for four years from 21 to 24, and then I escaped. I ran right back to my ring, which accepted me with open arms. I was laying low for a while, and decided I’d let things cool off before taking the lead again. Before I could do that, though, I received an interesting visitor.

Agent Howard Archer came to visit me, and he wasn’t there to arrest me. He was there to hire me. He told me about the BAU and a certain unit chief he was not a fan of. He was just a step higher than Aaron Hotchner, and did not like the way he was running the BAU. Not to mention, Hotch was a threat to Archer’s position, and there was a potential competition between the two for the vice-presidency if something were to happen to the vice president. Archer wanted to ensure his future spot, and needed Hotch, and the VP, out of the way. He later informed me that another reason he had such a strong distaste for Aaron was because he failed to solve a case involving the murder of Archer’s son. I asked if he had a preferred way to get two FBI agents out of his way, and he told me he was familiar with my work and was prepared for whatever consequences followed. In other words, he would be satisfied with me killing the vice-president, and pinning it on Hotch.

He had me from the moment he introduced himself as an agent.

I went in to meet the team, which did not go as well as planned. Either way, I agreed to help Archer, and privately investigated each member after that first day. I knew Hotch from my past when I was still in contact with Gideon, but I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was. I thought that I could just come in, get the job done, and then move out. The problem was that there was an odd sense of loyalty to this man I’d met only a few times. It was odd, how he seemed to respect me, and he was even the first person (outside of Gideon and the people I worked with on the streets) that actually accepted my skills. I was one of the ‘bad guys’ from prison, but he always seemed to have some sort of appreciation for my information and willingness to work with him. There was just something about him that was calming, and each day I spent with the team, the harder it became for me to follow through. Aaron Hotchner was a natural born leader, and he was phenomenal at his job. Not to mention that the rest of the team, the rest of his family, really did care about him. I started questioning if I’d be able to tear apart this family, especially when I didn’t agree with Archer at all. Archer claimed that Hotch didn’t run the BAU well, but after spending time under his leadership, I totally disagreed. I also started building connections with people who weren’t obligated or pressured to like me like basically everyone else in my life. They made me feel better about myself, about my abilities, and I realized there was a constructive way in which I could use them. They unknowingly convinced me that I didn’t have to stay on the path of destruction I’d been on for my whole life, and that I could actually make something of myself, something that I didn’t hate. Something I could wake up every morning to and look in the mirror and not hate who was looking back at me or what she was doing everyday.

So I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to follow through with what I had agreed to do. Archer was persistent, though. He checked in on my progress, and at first I told him it would take time, which it would. But by the end of the three years I’d spent with the team, my excuses were just becoming lame. Not to say that the events that followed were lucky, because the whole Spencer and me going to prison thing was not lucky, but it gave me a legitimate excuse as to why I wasn’t working towards ‘the goal.’ It also gave him an excuse to come and threaten me while in prison. I didn’t know how I was going to get out of my deal with Archer, all I knew was that I had to. I was not going to tear that family apart, despite the fact that I already seemed to be doing that all on my own. But if they could survive the tornado that was me and my past, they deserved to be left alone after that.

Yet, I could tell that Archer had become restless, and the moment he mentioned going to someone else to get the job done if I couldn’t, I knew. He was the first one that really cemented my theory of Xena and DeLeon being back, but it was worse than I thought. He was working with them. Probably to do my job and kill me in the process, considering I knew his plans and could easily expose him, effectively wrecking everything. Unfortunately, he had no idea who he’d just gotten involved with, especially now that they were working as a team, and Archer was way too cocky and way too stupid to heed any of my warnings and assurances.

I had bigger problems at the moment, though. I always seem to.

Xena and DeLeon were back, and they were back with a vengeance. I knew that they had to be behind everything that had gone wrong. Some runner finding Maeve even before Spencer could, my father finding me and making weird comments like he knew what I had been up to, Spencer’s frame job and going to prison, and then of course, the detectives finding Spencer and I at my motel. I knew Xena had cameras in that room, and I saw her outside of the building as I was being shoved into the police car. I even wondered if they were behind the kidnapping of Derek’s cousin and Maeve. The three of us learned from the same person, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to match, hell overcome, the two of their minds working together. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to work both angles at the same time: stopping Xena and DeLeon from afar and Agent Archer from all too close. But honestly, it didn’t really matter, because I had to find and stop them before they could wreck anything else, no matter what it cost me.

So I left the hospital leaving only that simple note behind; my unofficial resignation from the BAU. If I went off the grid, Xena and DeLeon would have to spend all of their time chasing me, and would have no time to spare for messing with the team. At least, that’s what I hoped.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

I was successful at staying hidden for about four months. While Xena and DeLeon hopefully didn’t have enough time or energy to keep tabs on the team, that didn’t mean I didn’t. I kept up with every case of theirs, and even left their main suspect tied to a chair in his living room one time as a sort of gift since he kept evading them. You know, since I was conveniently in the area at the time.

When I heard about the explosion, I rushed back to DC from some small town in Georgia. I’d been spending time in all different states and towns, hoping it would be enough to keep those urchins on my tail while I figured out a way to trap them. But this seemed more important, especially because there was a chance that whatever explosion hurt them could have been planted by Xena and DeLeon. I couldn’t be sure of anything regarding their involvement anymore.

I showed up to the hospital after hours, and stood outside the three adjacent rooms housing Derek, Aaron, and JJ. All three were hooked up to a plethora of machines, and were out cold. I just stood there watching them, convincing myself that this wasn’t somehow my fault with each steady beep of their monitors. The hospital was almost peaceful like this, which was odd for me to admit considering how much I hated them.

I don’t know how long I’d been standing there when I heard faint footsteps approaching from behind me. I whipped my head around to face the noise, but when I scanned the hallway behind me, there was no one there. You are getting really paranoid.

But I figured that’s what was keeping me alive, so I just rolled my eyes and moved on. I allowed myself only a few more minutes for now, making sure that the three of them were still alive before heading out.

I came back a couple days later to check on them again. I again did it in the middle of the night, so all three were in essentially the same state, but a bit more color had returned to their faces. I moved a couple paces over and leaned against the wall behind me. I shut my eyes for only a little bit, and when I opened them, I spotted her. Emily was sitting down in the chair in JJ’s room, her full focus and attention on the woman in front of her. I was in a corner of the mini lobby outside of their rooms, and by the looks of it, she hadn’t noticed I was there. My heart was racing as I attempted to slip by her room and out of the hospital. I had almost completely cleared the room when Emily made eye contact with me. It was for a split second, but it was enough for her to recognize me. I didn’t wait to see what happened, because I started a full on sprint out of the hospital.

I decided that I couldn’t go back there; it made me too careless. I was absolutely defenseless and in a weakened state of mind. It was too risky, for me and them alike. Staying hidden until I could figure a way out of this was my only option.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

The whole team had been shook by three of their members getting hurt in an explosion. They were all relieved that Derek, Hotch, and JJ were alive and that no serious damage had come to them. After closing the case Rossi and Preniss decided to be the ones that stayed with them, especially overnight. Penelope had stayed with them for four days straight while the rest of the team finished the case, so she deserved to be relieved of duty for a while, Tara got called to do more inmate interviews for research, and Reid just overall needed sleep. He’d been trying to figure out what Aundreya had meant by her note, where she was now, and what she was doing in all of his free time, including the midnight hours. Of course, everyone wanted to know more about these Xena and DeLeon characters, but even Garcia couldn’t find anything on them. Whatever was going on, there wasn’t really anything they could do about it. Reid knew this, but refused to give up. He finally agreed to go home, get some rest, and spend time with Maeve after some heavy convincing from Rossi and Prentiss. Which just left the two of them to be there together, or take shifts. A few days into it, Prenitss called Rossi in a minorly confused state.

“Sorry, I hope I didn’t wake you,” Emily started.

“I’m actually only a few minutes from the hospital, so that’s not a problem. What’s going on?” Rossi for the most part sounded calm, but Emily’s profiler ears could hear the slight concern behind them.

“Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong they’re all doing fine,” Emily started, and she heard a small sigh on the other end of the phone, “It’s just that, um…” Now that she was thinking about it, she wasn’t sure if she should tell anyone about Aundreya or not. Emily knew that whatever she was going through was very personal, and she probably didn’t intend on being seen, let alone having word get to the entire team. Plus, it probably wouldn’t benefit every member to know that she was around, but wouldn’t tell them what’s going on…

“What is it Emily?” Rossi questioned.

“I think… I think I just saw Aundreya. Here, in the hospital,” Emily answered. She wasn’t completely sure what to do with the information, and her and Rossi had always had a good relationship. He had this soothing, sturdy, knowledgeable vibe about him, and figured if she should tell anyone about this, it would be him. She also knew that Aundreya had trusted him, opening up about things she really hadn’t told anyone else, so it felt less violating to tell him.

“Hold on, I’m almost there,” was all Rossi offered before hanging up. It wasn’t exactly the reaction she’d been expecting.

When Rossi met her in the small lobby on that floor, he jumped right in with, “Yeah, I’ve seen her too.”

Emily’s eyes widened just slightly, but it didn’t really shock her either that he’d spotted her first. It just sort of made sense that he would. He always was better at keeping things a bit more compartmentalized and aware of his surroundings. Granted, Emily was pretty good at that herself, but when it came to her other team members, she could get a little clouded. “What should we do? Do we do anything?”

“I don’t think so. I’m not sure it would do any good, and she seems like she wants to handle this on her own,” Rossi replied.

“Whatever this is,” Emily pointed out. Rossi nodded, and after a few minutes, she added, “Is this what it was like when I was gone?”

Rossi turned to face her head on, “If you really want to know, yes. Except, we thought you were dead.” Not like we know for sure Aundreya isn’t, he thought, at least not yet.

“I’m so sorry for putting you all through that. It really sucks being on the other end of this. Not like the alternative is better…” Emily trailed off.

“You did what you had to do, and I’m sure Chambers is doing the same,” Rossi said with a small smile, “even if that means spending a few nights at my place.”

Emily looked over at him, mouth agape, “What? Are you serious?”

Rossi nodded. “I didn’t put it together until I saw her here a few days ago. I went home and just had this feeling that I wasn’t alone, and had heard a sound during the nights prior. I looked around my house and saw that one of the beds wasn’t made exactly like it had been for all the years I’ve lived there, and the window made the same squeaking sound I’d been hearing. I’ve tried to pay attention to when she’s there, but it’s very infrequent.”

“Probably random if she’s trying to fall off the radar,” Emily added.

A few more moments of silence passed before Rossi asked, “What would you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Her situation is somewhat similar to yours. If you were her, what would you be doing right now?”

It wasn’t a bad thought. They put themselves in the shoes of the unsubs all the time, why not use the same technique here? “Uh, well, I’d be trying to go underground right about now. She’s clearly running from someone, or multiple someones, which are probably those other two names on her list.” Emily thought a bit more and continued, “When it was me, I wasn’t only running from Doyle, but I was also running to Declyn. If she’s running from those two people, what or who is she running to?”

“That is a very good question,” Rossi agreed. They both pondered this for a little while longer before taking a break, realizing they weren’t going to come with the answer tonight, and definitely not at a hospital where three of their friends were staying.

“Are we sure we aren’t going to tell anyone?” Emily sounded concerned.

“I don’t think that will help. And there are people who I don’t think need to know this,” Rossi said with a knowing look, “But, if we get any more information, or just happen upon evidence that points towards her needing our help, along with something we can actually do about it, then maybe we will. But until then, I think you and I should keep this to ourselves.” Emily nodded and the pair remained in silence for the rest of the night, mulling over the next moves they’d make and next questions they’d ask tomorrow, hoping they’d be enough to make a difference.

Series Taglist (open)

@justanothetfangirl @kris-stuff @blameitonthenight21 @wooya1224 @unded-bride @swiftingday @dezzxmx

20 notes · View notes

bitterlikesweets · 3 years

Text

Love Bites Ch 19

This is the nineteenth chapter of a modern/vampire AU ereri fanfic. You can also read it on Ao3. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Special | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19

It would be a stretch to say that Eren and his older brother ever got along well. Zeke hated him. He had since the day they met.

"Met." Because Eren didn't know Zeke existed until he was ten years old.

When Eren was a little kid, he didn't know anything. His parents were the epitome of being in love. Every time they were together, his father would shower his mother in kind words and affection. He always made her smile. He would even bring her gifts every time he came back from his monthly family reunions.

His dad never got Eren anything, but that was okay. As long as he got stuff for Eren’s mom. As long as his parents loved each other, Eren didn’t mind. That was enough. Because it made his mom smile. And Eren’s mom loved Eren no matter what. Eren loved her no matter what, too.

She loved Eren more than usual during his dad’s family reunions.

When Eren asked his father why he never brought Eren and his mother along, Grisha Jaeger just said it wasn't time yet.

They never really explained to Eren how it all happened. Why things with Grisha's first family didn't work out. Zeke just showed up one day, Grisha's hand on his shoulder as they stood in the doorway.

"Eren, this is your older brother. His mom's very busy, so he'll be staying with us over the weekend."

It took Eren awhile to wrap his head around it. How was it possible for Zeke to be Eren's brother but have a different mom? Why was Zeke not living with them?

Why did they look so different?

Eren's mom was very patient. She explained about falling in love. About falling out of it. And how sometimes people are left behind when that happens. She told Eren he could still believe in love. That sometimes it ends, but a new one could start in its place.

"I might not be his first love," his mother said, "but I am his favorite."

His favorite? Eren believed that for a little bit. But he always wondered why his dad kept going back to visit his first love if that was really the case. It wasn't to visit Zeke. Sometimes their dad would still go to see Zeke's mom, even if Zeke was staying with them, babysitting Eren.

"If it wasn't for you," Zeke always used to say, "he would still be with us. He would be my dad, not yours."

Why? Why was it Eren's fault?

When did his parents start arguing in the middle of the night?

Zeke started getting nicer to Eren eventually. When Eren was thirteen and Zeke was sixteen, Zeke started to be almost kind. Saying that it wasn't Eren's fault after all. They just needed time, and everything would work itself out.

Turns out, everything "working out" meant Grisha going back to his first love. Which meant Carla Jaeger was not his favorite, after all.

It made more sense to Eren that love just didn't exist. Romantic love was stupid and fake and wasn't real.

His mom finally agreed with him when Grisha moved out.

When Eren was fifteen, he saw his brother for the last time. He dropped Eren off at his house after school and told Eren he wasn't going to come back anymore. That Zeke no longer had to pretend they were really family.

Eren and his mother got the news a few months later. Somebody broke into the Jaeger household—the other Jaeger household—and now everyone in that other family was dead. The police told them it was a burglary.

That's what they said about Eren's mom too, in the official reports. A burglary; a mother dead, and a son injured, but otherwise fine.

Eren should've realized it then. A burglary with nothing stolen. A report he'd already heard once before. He should've recognized the similarities.

But he didn't connect the dots because things were different then, with his dad. When it happened to Eren and his mother, it wrecked him. It still wrecks him now. It didn't feel real at all. And now he misses her so, so much.

When Eren was fifteen, finding out that his father and older brother were gone for good, he doesn't remember feeling wrecked or sad or missing them.

He doesn't remember feeling anything at all.

Seven years later, knowing who killed them, Eren feels…

Eren feels exactly the same.

Maybe he's been a little monstrous since way back then.

~ ~ ~

Eren wakes up to moonlight, rain, and the smell of smoke. He blinks up at the unfamiliar gray ceiling, unconsciously fiddling with the fleece blanket loosely draped over his body. He's too big for it; it's pulled up to his chest and his ankles stick out the bottom. It's strange though; he remembers dropping onto the couch with nothing but his sweater as a makeshift blanket. The curtains too. He swears that he closed those last night, and hey—Eren can hear rain, so why is everything so dry outside?

Eren sits up slowly, his eyes scanning the room with narrowed eyes. There are a few more things different from how Eren remembers them. The wooden knives and stakes he remembers putting in front of Levi’s small closet are nowhere to be seen, and there’s a light on in the kitchen. The rain sounds seem to be coming from there too.

When Eren gets up to investigate, he finds Levi sitting at the kitchen counter, a mug in his hands as he stares blankly down at his steaming drink. There’s a candle in front of him, and a little speaker by the wall at the edge of the counter.

Eren knocks on the wall, and Levi looks up, his gray eyes brighter than before, a bit more alert.

“Good night,” Eren says with a nod.

The corners of Levi’s quirk up for a moment.

“Good night,” Levi says, moving his mug up to his lips.

“It looks like I turned you nocturnal,” Eren says, pulling up one of the tall chairs beside Levi’s.

The smell of smoke seems to be coming from the gray candle in front of Levi—its label says “Fireside”—and when a single tap of Levi’s finger against the speaker causes the rain to stop, all of Eren’s questions are answered.

...All of his more trivial questions, anyway.

“I should make a midnight shift at the Kitchen just for you as revenge,” Levi says.

“Hmm…” Eren drops his chin into his hand, stroking an imaginary beard with his fingers. “Doesn’t sound like too bad of a deal, honestly. How much do you pay?”

Levi scoffs instead of answering, and Eren smiles, moving his chair closer so that he can bump shoulders with Levi. Levi leans against him in response.

“Thanks,” Levi says quietly. “For yesterday.”

Eren’s smile softens, and he presses his face into Levi’s shoulder.

“Anytime.”

“I…” Levi clears his throat. “I was pretty out of it. If I had known that you—”

Levi clears his throat again.

“You didn’t have to sleep on the couch,” Levi says, his ears getting a pink tint. “If I had known you were staying over, I’d have told you so.”

Eren’s face burns. He’s immensely grateful that his head is tucked against the fabric of Levi’s shirt and out of sight.

“O-oh. I, uh—Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind, f-for next time.”

“Yeah,” Levi mumbles. He’s leaning more heavily onto Eren, though his head is turned away. “Good.”

And then things are quiet for a moment. Eren absentmindedly shifts his face from Levi’s shoulder to Levi’s neck, a deep sort of relaxation pooling in his chest and shoulders when he does. Something about it sets him at ease, even despite the slight throb in his fangs that comes from his close proximity to Levi’s veins.

Though his bite scars do start to itch a bit. Again.

“Eren,” Levi says.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been… thinking about some of things you said yesterday.”

An image of his blond brother’s face flashes through Eren’s mind, and he stiffens. One of Levi’s hands immediately finds its way to Eren’s back, resting hesitantly there.

“We don’t have to talk about it though,” Levi says. “If you’re burnt out.”

“No,” Eren says quickly, raising his head out of the crook of Levi’s neck and pulling away slightly. “No, that’s, uh… We can talk about it.”

Should Eren tell him? He really doesn’t want to tell him. It’s probably hard enough on Levi with that family as strangers with no other connection to him. If he finds out that that man was Eren’s dad—that the Feral King is Eren’s brother—

“Alright,” Levi says, though he sends a confused frown Eren’s way. “Just tell me if it’s too much.”

“I will.”

It’s not like it changes much for Eren either way anyway. They’ve been dead for seven years already—he thought they all were anyway—and he was never angry at that anonymous killer. His mom was devastated, and that made him sad, but…

Shit, it’s fucked up that he didn’t care, isn’t it? He was fifteen, and on TV, people were always telling their parents to go die, so, at the time, he thought it was just one of those “hormonal teenager things” that every adult in his life was always going on about. It wasn’t like he was relieved or happy when they died! He was just… indifferent.

...Maybe he should’ve taken his mom’s offer when she told him she’d take him to see a therapist if he needed one.

“That thing you said,” Levi says, though Eren’s only half-listening, “about people changing. About how not everyone does. I think that… helped a lot. For a while, I didn’t think I…”

Eren tries to redirect his brain. It’s far too late to be over analyzing his teenage brain. He thought his dad and his brother were dicks, and he never knew Zeke’s mom, so he didn’t give a fuck when they died. Is that awful? Probably. But that’s not the thing Eren’s worried about right now.

Should he tell Levi? Now that he’s thinking about it, it might be worse to keep it from Levi. If they go and try to kill those vampires who turned Eren, they’ll probably run into Zeke. Zeke will probably recognize Eren, and springing that whole “yeah, this asshole is my brother” thing onto Levi in the middle of a life or death situation is a terrible fucking idea. So, Eren definitely has to tell him. Should he tell him right now? How is he even going to explain—

“...Eren.”

Eren blinks, green eyes wide as he looks over at Levi. Levi just sighs, setting his mug down on the counter.

“I told you we didn’t need to talk about it.”

“No, no,” Eren says quickly. “That’s my bad. I don’t mind talking about it. I just… Have a lot in my head right now.”

Levi’s expression softens a little, and he reaches up to rest his hand against Eren’s cheek, the tips of his fingers settling in his long brown hair.

“We’re a fucking mess,” Levi says.

Eren can’t hold back a laugh, covering Levi’s hand with his own.

“Good thing you like cleaning,” Eren teases, and Levi rolls his eyes.

A pale thumb gently sweeps back and forth across Eren’s cheek, and Eren leans into the touch, his mind clearing a bit. His thoughts are no longer quite so fast, so frantic. It’s a bit easier not to focus on them with Levi there as a physical distraction, pulling Eren out of his own head a bit.

“What’s in there?” Levi said, shifting his hand to knock his knuckles against the side of Eren’s head. “I’ll help clean it up.”

Eren’s smile wavers, his gaze lowering.

“It might make your own head messy again.”

“That’s fine.”

Eren takes a deep breath.

“Furlan… Yesterday, when I called him, he told me the name of the Feral King.”

Levi nods.

“Zeke.”

“Zeke Jaeger,” Eren says.

Levi frowns slightly but nods again.

“I’ve… never told you my full name,” Eren says. “It’s Eren Jaeger.”

Levi’s eyes grow wide, his hand falling away from Eren’s face, but Eren hurries to grab hold of that pale hand before it can fully retreat.

“Eren—”

“Just wait,” Eren says. “Please. Let me explain.”

Levi scowls, but he keeps his lips pressed shut, even as his hand fidgets in Eren’s grasp.

“He’s my brother,” Eren says. “My older brother.”

“But I—” Levi clutches his head with his free hand. “Your… your mother—”

“No,” Eren says quickly, leaning towards Levi. “No, Levi. Not my mom. Zeke’s my half brother. We only share a dad. My mom was killed by ferals, just like I’ve always said.”

“You—” Levi shakes his head. “You talked with Furlan—You’ve known this since yesterday—why are you still here?”

“Levi, that doesn’t change anything for me—”

“Why the fuck not?” Levi snaps, yanking his hand out of Eren’s grip. “Eren, I—I killed your family!”

“Levi, no—”

Eren tries to reach for Levi’s hands again, but Levi abruptly moves them out of reach, his chest heaving.

“Don’t.”

Levi tries to wipe off his hands, his black eyebrows pulled downward into a deep scowl. Eren clenches his hands into fists, struggling to get air into his lungs.

Levi’s angry—not at him. Eren has to fix this. Levi’s hands—where are the paper towels? If he turns away, will Levi run? Does Levi even want his help? He wants to touch Levi. Levi doesn’t want that. He needs to finish explaining. He doesn’t want to go into detail about that time. Zeke, his dad—they’re haunting him like unruly fucking ghosts. He didn’t want to make Levi spiral again—He feels fucking sick, like his stomach is boiling—

“I don’t get you,” Levi snaps. “Why—knowing what I did—did to you—why are you still here?”

“Because I love you—”

“Why? Why are you siding with me over them?”

“Because they never fucking did!” Eren exclaims. “Always—it was always only my mom, just my mom—my dad never—Zeke never—”

Eren’s eyes are burning. His throat aches. He hates this. He doesn’t want to yell at Levi. He’s not yelling because of Levi. It’s because of his fucking dad, because of Zeke, because of those bastards that he was finally able to not think about after all these years—

“Why would I choose them over you?” Eren’s hands are clenched into tight fists. He feels a sharp pain in his palms and ignores it. “They never loved me. You do.”

Eren looks over at Levi, who’s staring at him, practically frozen.

“...Don’t you?”

Levi’s mouth opens and closes without words for a moment before he manages two words in a quiet, hoarse voice.

“I do.”

Eren’s eyes are still burning, aching. When his eyesight blurs, he wipes at his wet eyes. Pale hands are retreating from him when his sight is clear again—Levi reached out to him but is already pulling back. Frustration burns in the pit of Eren’s chest, and he’s reaching out before he can think better of it.

“For fuck’s—I don’t care, Levi, just get it on me,” Eren snaps, grasping Levi’s hands and covering them with his own. “It’s not like it’s going to fuck me up even more—I’m already—”

Eren goes stiff when he catches a glimpse of Levi’s face. It’s flat, masked, emotionless. Whatever anger that was in him cools immediately, and Eren quickly releases Levi’s hands, internally cursing himself for his insensitive, stupid mistake. Has he learned nothing from everything that happened yesterday? This is it. He’s fucked up absolutely everything—

“You…”

Levi’s eyes are on Eren’s hands.

“You don’t make any sense,” Levi says.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“You really… don’t care?”

Eren winces, his gaze dropping to his lap.

“That’s not what I—it was a bad choice of words—”

“It doesn’t change how you feel about me?” Levi asks, his voice a little louder, more insistent.

“N-no,” Eren says. “It doesn’t.”

“Even though it’s your brother.”

“My brother’s a murderer.”

“So am I,” Levi says, shifting his gaze from Eren’s hands to Eren’s eyes.

“Yeah, and I will be too, soon,” Eren says. “But I love you and my brother runs a murder cult that lead to the death of my mom.”

Levi stays silent, and Eren bites his lip.

“...Does it change things for you?” Eren asks. “The fact that I’m not bothered by it?”

“No,” Levi says immediately. “I just… don’t… It’s hard to believe. For me.”

“That I don’t care about my brother?”

“That you love me,” Levi says. “Because when I did that, I… I still don’t… Trust myself.”

Eren’s shoulders lower slightly, his expression softening.

“Do you want me to prove it?”

Levi frowns.

“...Can you?”

Eren holds out his hand. Levi just continues frowning at him.

“What do you see?” Eren asks. “When you have to clean your hands off like that?”

Levi’s mouth opens and shuts once before he answers.

“Blood.”

Eren's breath stutters a bit. He'd been wondering about that...

Slowly, he reaches out to grab Levi’s hand again, pulling it closer until Levi has to lean forward. Eren keeps pulling until Levi’s hand is flat against his chest, right over where his dead heart lies beneath the surface.

“Levi,” Eren says, smiling slightly in spite of everything, “I’m a vampire.”

He slowly raises Levi’s hand higher, pressing his lips against Levi’s knuckles.

“It’ll take more than a little blood to scare me away.”

“That…”

Levi lets out a deep sigh, getting out of his seat.

“That’s the cheesiest fucking shit you could’ve said.”

Eren’s face grows hot at the unexpected insult, and he drops Levi’s hand, unable to make anything more than incoherent noises of offense in his current headspace. By the time Levi has stepped closer, all Eren can manage is—

“Wha—I’m out here trying to prove my love to you, and that’s what you—”

Eren is interrupted by Levi dropping his entire body onto Eren, and Eren wraps his arms around the man’s back to stop them both from falling off of the chair.

“Levi?”

“Sorry,” Levi says. “It’s… habit.”

“You need to work on that,” Eren grumbles, burying his face into Levi’s neck again, the action immediately setting himself at ease. “One of these days I’m seriously going to get offended.”

Levi nods, still leaning heavily on Eren and showing no sign of trying to hold up his own weight.

“I hope…” Levi says quietly. “...Nothing’s able to scare you away.”

Eren smiles, holding Levi tighter.

“Nothing will,” Eren says. “I promise.”

Not the blood on Levi's hands, not Eren's dad, not the Feral King. Nothing's going to scare Eren away. He's certain of that now.

Levi sighs, and Eren’s fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt.

“What about you?”

“Hm?”

“Is anything going to scare you away?”

Levi scoffs, pulling back just enough to look Eren in the eye.

“You’re going to wish something could.”

Eren grins, leaning in to press his lips against Levi’s.

“No, Levi, I don’t think I will.”

#ereri riren #ereri #riren #ereri fanfic #riren fanfic #fanfiction #sorry this is late i forgot which day of the week it was haha

3 notes · View notes

sdottkrames · 3 years

Text

Five Little Turkeys

@comfortember prompt 17: Flashbacks

Summary: Five Iron Fam Thanksgivings Past + 1 Present

Notes: Happy Thanksgiving! Even if you don't live in the US and don't celebrate, I hope you take a little time to think of something you're grateful for and appreciate it. I am so very very thankful to all of you! and a special Thank You goes to @baloobird for always believing in and inspiring my writing, to @an-odd-idea for tagging me in fun things and for beta reading some stuff for me, and to @littlemissagrafina for leaving the absolute best comments and to every other friend I’ve made in this wonderful fandom. I love you all.

Read on AO3: Here

Five little turkeys standing at the door,

One waddled off, and then there were four.

____________________________________

May Parker had never hosted thanksgiving before.

Maybe that was a good thing, because she’d already managed to ruin the mashed potatoes, which resembled concrete more than anything, and burn the green bean casserole past recognition.

At least Ben was having more luck with the turkeys and gravy, and that was the most important part, right?

Right?

Oh goodness, this is going to be a disaster. I never should’ve agreed to host Ben’s family.

At least baby Peter’s gonna be here.

Staving off tears and chanting more positive things to herself in her head, May turned her attention to something she knew she could do: opening a can of cranberry sauce and dumping it in a festive pumpkin shaped bowl. Then she grabbed the homemade rolls Ben had made that morning and put them carefully in a basket with a pretty white towel to cover them.

Ben came up behind her, surprising her as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Smells amazing,” he murmured in her ear.

May giggled despite the tears that threatened again. “Well, maybe it’s the ruined potatoes, or the burnt green beans.”

Ben spun her around, tenderly kissing her. “I wasn’t talking about the food, babe.” May blushed. “Besides, I’ve already called my mom, and she’s gonna buy more potatoes on her way to make a fresh batch, and we’ve got plenty more cans of green beans to make the casserole again. We’ll be just fine.”

Goodness, May loved this man. She told him so as she kissed him again, and again, and again.

May opened the door to her husband’s family and inhaled a steadying breath as she took in the five of them standing there. She focused on their genuine smiles and kind eyes.

I can do this.

Once hugs and warm greetings had been exchanged all around and a new batch of potatoes had been made, the others put their offerings on the beautifully laid table. What May Parker lacked in the cooking department, she made up for in the decorating department, and the table was stunning, and the food even tasted better than May had hoped. However, it quickly became apparent that it didn’t really matter what food had been made. Little 14-month-old Peter was the star of the dinner.

It was hard for him not to be with the chubbiest of cheeks and the sweetest of smiles. All eyes were on him as he tried turkey for the first time, then stuffing, and cranberry sauce. He was more interested in mashing the food with his fingers...until pumpkin pie. The little boy’s eyes widened as the sweet dessert hit his taste buds, and he eagerly made grabby hands for more. All the adults giggled along as he shoved another bite into his mouth, clumsily holding his spoon.

Ben was right, May thought. Everything is just fine.

She looked around again, her eyes lingering on her husband, who smiled back at her.

More than fine.

________________________________________

Four little turkeys sitting near a tree,

One waddled off, and then there were three.

_________________________________________

Tony stared at his phone, trying and failing to keep the disappointment off his face. It seemed to fill him, all the way from his toes to the top of his head, accumulating into a grey cloud that dumped great drops of homesickness all over him.

He’d been looking forward to Thanksgiving. He wasn’t all that excited to see his father, of course, but he and his mother did get along, and he missed her. It was his first year at college, and he hadn’t seen his mother in nearly three months. He couldn’t wait to sit and play piano with her, hear her singing, feel her hugs. His mom had also promised him that his Uncle Jarvis and Aunt Anna were going to be there, and he was beyond excited to see them too. All that excitement turned sour in just one text.

I’m sorry it said.

Sorry sorry sorry. Always sorry.

He should’ve known his father would ruin plans. Should’ve never gotten his hopes up. His parents were traveling (again) and taking Jarvis with him. There would be no thanksgiving.

Tony resigned himself to spending the holiday by himself, hoping to see his mom and the Jarvises at Christmas. He started unpacking and putting everything away.

Then his roommate walked in.

“What’re you doing?” James Rhodes- Rhodey, as Tony had dubbed him their first week together- said.

“My parents are traveling. I won’t be able to go home,” Tony answered flatly. “I’ll be staying here for thanksgiving.”

Rhodey didn’t hesitate. “Oh, no, you won’t. Pack your stuff, Stark. You’re coming to the Rhodes house.”

“You don’t have to do that, really. I’m alright staying here. I’m honestly used to it! I prefer to be alone, actually.”

Tony tried to keep his cavalier persona firmly in place, playing the situation off. But he should have known that Rhodey wouldn’t buy it. From day one, his roommate had been able to see right through Tony and his bullcrap and been able to call him out on it.

Rhodey arched an eyebrow, placing a hand on his hip. “Uh huh. That why you’re sitting here moping?”

“I’m not moping!”

“I can practically see the storm cloud above your head!”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fine. Well, are you sure your mom-”

Rhodey placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder, cutting him off. His dark eyes were serious. “My momma would have my head if she knew I let you stay here by yourself. I’ll let her know to expect you, but trust me when I say that it won’t be a problem.”

Tony took a deep breath and placed the shirts and bag of toiletries he’d unpacked back into in his small duffle while Rhodey called his mom.

“She said you better come, and expect to bring home at least three Tupperware full of left-overs.”

And so Tony found himself sitting around the table with Roberta Rhodes, Lila Rhodes, and his roommate. He hadn’t expected to be treated like family so quickly, but it was clear that’s exactly how they viewed him as the chatted and passed him turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Later, the Christmas tree cast a warm, happy glow over the four individuals laying around the living room in various stages of consciousness, their full stomachs lulling them into a contented stupor. Tony was surprised the tree was up so early, but he was glad it was. It’s branches were laden with ornaments that clearly held stories (like the handmade snowflake one that featured a picture of a young James Rhodes wearing the ugliest sweater Tony had ever seen, grinning ear to ear without any front teeth), so different from the sterile red and white decorations that went on the tree at his home every year.

The warm light and company seemed to fill him with happiness and contentment all the way from his toes to his head, accumulating into bright sun rays around him like a halo that warmed every part of his soul.

It was the best thanksgiving he’d ever had.

________________________________________

Three little turkeys with nothing to do,

One waddled off, and then there were two.

_________________________________________

The first year is the hardest Tony had heard it said.

It gets easier people promised.

Well, so far, it had been the hardest year, but Tony didn’t think it was going to get any easier after the one year mark.

His parents were dead. Killed. Gone. Right before Christmas.

At each new “first” without them, Tony found himself turning more and more to the bottle, saw his roommate and best friend become more and more concerned, his grades more and more in danger.

Tony had refused Rhodey’s offer to come be with him for thanksgiving. He loved them, but he couldn’t stomach being around a family.

His family, because the Rhodes’ were almost more family than his own parents had been.

Maybe that’s why it was so hard.

So on yet another first- the first thanksgiving without them- Tony woke to a dull grey sky outside his window. Bare trees, brown leaves, and dead grass further matched his mood. It was another day to be drained from his memory, drowned out by the buzzing in his skull.

He was heading to grab a beer for breakfast (totally healthy, he knows) when a knock on the front door had him changing course from the kitchen to the entranceway of his apartment.

He had to grip the doorframe to keep from falling over when he saw who was on the other side.

“Jarvis?”

“Hello, Sir,” the man said with a kind smile, but he couldn't quite cover up the concern in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, Anna and I thought you might like some company today. Our neighbor gave us a turkey that is much too large for just the two of us, so we thought you might come help us eat it.”

Tony knew Jarvis well enough to know that it wasn’t really a question. Jarvis wasn’t leaving without him. And, really, Tony couldn’t refuse even if he had the energy or desire to.

“Okay.”

Later that night Tony hugged them both goodbye, a stomach full of good food softening the sadness that had gripped him earlier that day. After Jarvis dropped Tony back off at his apartment, Tony paused as he was heading up the stairs, and turned around.

“Jarvis?” The man looked up from putting the car in gear. “Thank you. And Anna, too.”

Jarvis’ face softened. “Anytime, sir.”

And as Tony went to bed, he grabbed a beer out of habit, but thought twice before putting it to his lips.

Maybe it was okay to feel sometimes.

He dumped the beer down the sink and threw away the bottle.

___________________________________________

Two little turkeys in the morning sun,

One waddled off, and then there was one.

___________________________________________

The bright sun woke Peter up. He wandered blearily into the living room, and was surprised to find his aunt already awake, holding a cup of steaming coffee.

“Hey, baby,” she murmured, holding out her arm for Peter to snuggle under.

He didn’t need to ask about the red rim around her eyes, or what she was doing up so early. The space on the side of the couch from her was too conspicuously empty, the two places already set at the table too obviously missing a third, the hole in their heart too Ben-shaped to be ignored.

“I’m sorry,” Peter whispered, again, the guilt eating him as it always had, but especially on holidays.

Once May had found out about Spider-Man, Peter had finally cracked one day and told her the real details of Ben’s death after a particularly bad nightmare about the night featuring rain that was red like blood and gunshots echoing all around him. He’d sobbed and sobbed, begging her to forgive him. She hadn’t even thought about it. She’d wrapped her arms around Peter, hugged him as tight as she could, and whispered over and over again that it wasn’t his fault.

But hearing it and letting himself believe it were two completely different things. Peter didn’t feel like he deserved May’s forgiveness. It was his fault that they were awake at 6 AM, watching the sun rise, and missing part of them.

“No,” May said, her voice firm but her hand very gentle as she pulled back to place it on Peter’s cheek. “No. None of that. Ben would not want us sitting here, moping away on his second favorite holiday.”

Peter chuckled at that, remembering how his uncle would always insist that if he weren't already a religious man, he might start his own church dedicated to food. Thanksgiving was almost as holy to him as Christmas.

“Remember that year he made cupcakes that looked like turkeys? With the little candy corn feathers? You couldn’t eat it cause the turkey was ‘looking at you’?”

They both chuckled, snuggling together again.

“Or that time you tricked us with that stupid microwave turkey thing and he called in a panic, screaming for you not to do it?” May laughed.

“Oh! what about that time he laughed so hard, eggnog came out of his nose?”

They continued to remember and honor the man they were missing. As the sun rose and lit their apartment, the memories of thanksgiving’s they’d shared lit their hearts.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” May whispered, remembering her husband’s words from years earlier and taking solace in them once more.

“Yeah,” Peter murmured. “It will. Thanks, May. I’m so grateful I have you.”

“You, too, kiddo. More than you know.”

__________________________________

One little turkey better run away,

For soon it will be Thanksgiving Day.

__________________________________

Peeling potatoes was a mindless task, and Tony found that to be a very not good thing.

It meant his mind had time to wander and think about...things. Like Peter, and May, and the thousand others who weren’t celebrating Thanksgiving for yet another year. Though it had been four years since Thanos, Tony still found his mind wandering every holiday, thinking about and dwelling on the people who were unable to celebrate.

Especially one very specific person. The most important one, really, at least to Tony. And Tony hadn’t even been able to tell him.

To make up for lack of words shared in life, Tony found time every holiday to talk to Peter. Found a little private space that was quiet and secluded and talked to his kid. His kid. It had taken that kid’s death for him to finally admit it, but that’s what Peter had been to Tony. Pepper knew what he did even though he hadn’t told her, and he had a feeling she purposely kept Morgan busy to give him that quiet time.

Tony placed the last peeled potato in the bowl and turned to his wife. Her face softened at the look on his face, and she nodded, gesturing to the back door.

Tony squeezed her hand before walking out the door and to the group of small birches by the lake that he’d chosen for this purpose. He called it Peter’s Place. He was working on a sign for it.

“Hey, Pete,” he whispered, sitting on the ground and leaning up against his favorite tree. “Happy thanksgiving, bud. Another one without you, and I gotta say, it doesn’t get easier. But it gets...different. I hope you know I’m thankful for you. Thankful that you opened my heart to having kids, that you let me get my fumbling attempts at parenting so when Morgan came I had a better grasp on how it worked. I’m thankful for you teaching me about memes, for the movie and lab nights, for your smile and hugs.” He paused to wipe his eyes. “Geez, you made me soft. Anyway, I just wanted to come out and say my piece as usual. I love you, kid. I hope you know that.”

He took a minute to compose himself before heading back to the house. He didn’t make it all the way in before the door opened and a little body was running towards him.

“Oh no! A monster,” he cried, running the other way, smiling as Morgan’s laughter peeled behind him. He ran slowly, letting his 3-year-old daughter catch up to him on her tiny legs. She grabbed his leg, and he theatrically fell to the ground, rolling and taking her with him.

She giggled, and he placed a kiss on her cheek, then another, then another, keeping her happy laughter ringing out.

Morgan was a bright spot in his life, the light that, along with Pepper, chased the darkness of his failures away and reminded him that despite all he’d lost, there was still so much to be thankful for.

And Peter would want him to be happy, to live, to be grateful and positive. That’s how he’d lived, after all.

So Tony kissed his daughter twice more, one for her, and one for his other kid.

“I love you,” he whispered to them both.

______________________________________

Soon it will be Thanksgiving day

______________________________________

Peter could hardly contain his excitement.

May laughed at him as she put the mashed potatoes (that Peter had made, with May “helpfully” giving tips and pointers...mostly to make him laugh) in a tin to bring with them to the Starks.

“Peter, calm down or I will intentionally make this take so much longer,” she threatened.

“But Maaaaay, I’m HUNGRY.”

“Yes, and I told you to eat something for breakfast. And did you?”

Peter mumbled something unintelligible.

“What was that?”

“No. I wanted to be hungry for turkey! And potatoes! And pie!”

“Peter, please,” she groaned, good naturedly. “Go get one of the super bars from the cabinet so your stomach doesn’t start digesting itself and so I don’t have to deal with you complaining the entire way to the lake house!”

“Fine,” Peter sighed, and dramatically went to grab a granola bar as requested.

“Grab two!”

Peter did, and waved them pointedly in front of her face. May laughed. “Okay, okay. Eat them, and let’s get out of here!”

They passed the time by belting Christmas carols on the ride down, laughing and dancing, and soon they were there. Peter carried the potatoes in and put them down on the counter so he could accept a hug from Morgan, who ran and jumped as high as she could, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Petey!!! Happy Thanksgiving!” She shouted, placing a kiss on his cheek.

“Hey, Mo,” he said, smiling. “Happy thanksgiving.”

The little girl placed both her hands on either side of his face, very seriously looking into his eyes. “Peter, I am thankful for you.”

Peter couldn’t help but chuckle a little at her dramatics, even though his heart was swelling from her words. “Well, thank you. I’m grateful for you too!”

Her mission completed, Morgan squirmed to go give May a hug, so Peter turned to Pepper. She was wearing an apron with little turkeys all of it, and was rolling dough for rolls into balls to be placed in the oven once the turkey was done.

He placed a kiss to her cheek. “Happy Thanksgiving, Pepper!”

“Happy thanksgiving, sweetie!”

“Where’s Tony?”

Pepper’s face . “He’s out back. Why don’t you go find him. I’m sure he’ll be happy to know you’re here.”

Peter found Tony by the lake in a little grove of trees.

“Tony?”

“Hey kid,” Tony said, and something about his voice made Peter pause. He glanced around and saw a little sign that said Peter’s place. He looked quizzically at Tony. “I came here every holiday to talk to you while you were...gone. I guess old habits die hard. I couldn’t not come here today.”

Peter blinked back tears. “Wow,” he said, unable to find more eloquent words.

“Pete, you know I love you, right? And that I’m grateful for you?”

Peter’s voice wouldn’t form the words, couldn’t make sound come out through the lump of emotion in his voice. He settled for hugging Tony instead.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “You know I feel the same, right?”

Tony hugged Peter tighter. “Yeah, kiddo, I do.”

They stayed there for a little while, just holding one another, basking in each other’s love and the intense gratitude of being able to be together again that seemed to overwhelm them.

Eventually, Tony let out a watery chuckle. “Geez, today’s supposed to be a happy day. I blame you for making me all emotional!”

Peter nudged Tony with his elbow. “Rude, old man!”

And the two, still linked together by arms thrown over shoulders and around waists, headed back to the house.

As Peter looked around the table as they all sat down, the Starks, May, even Happy and Rhodey, he allowed himself to be a little bit sappy. This was what Thanksgiving was truly about, anyway: family. And he really couldn’t express how grateful he was for each and every one of them, including the ones he’d lost. He closed his eyes and mentally committed the moment to memory.

“Happy thanksgiving, everyone!” He said, raising his glass.

“Happy thanksgiving!” They called back.

And it was. It really was.

#comfortember #comfortember 2020 #mine #happy turkey day

13 notes · View notes

mandochlorian · 4 years

Text

CHAPTER FIVE

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

For over a decade, Y/N Y/L/N has been in a relentless battle with the sinister FIRST ORDER, never getting close enough to destroy one another. After a messy history with the boy who was once known as Ben Solo, he and Y/N had parted ways. Neither sides will rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

TROKR masterlist

star wars masterlist

general masterlist

You can sense him. It makes your cheeks heat up, yet your heart beats rapidly with fear. How? “How did you get on this ship?” You shout, tears coming to your eyes. You’re afraid. You don’t know where he is. He’s everywhere yet nowhere to be seen.

“Turn around.”

Overcome with the feeling that you can barely see, you turn despite the lightheaded feeling racing through your body. “Where are you?” You whisper, looking around the Falcon, “Where are you, Ben?”

“Ben’s not here.” Kylo shouts, grabbing you by your shoulders and you stumble backwards. Your back hits the floor and when you open your eyes, you see the room you’re in is engulfed in flames. “Ben’s never been here.”

Though you’re shocked to find him beside you, you turn to see Kylo laying next to you. The yellow flames on the ceiling above illuminate his face beautifully. His eyes look golden. “We have to leave…” You tell him, though you don’t move one bit, “This place is…” you look at the silent flames, a projection of nothing, it’s as if they’re not engulfing the room, “We’re going to die here.”

Kylo tears his eyes away from the growing fire and he turns to you, his nose almost brushing yours. “Together.” He confirms your statement, his eyes coming to a close.

His lips form a circle and he expels a breath of air. It’s silent. You say nothing, you just look up at the ceiling and you swear the more you look, the more you can hear the high-pitched sizzling of the fire. It grows louder and louder. And suddenly, like a vision of something you’ve witnessed before, the ceiling comes crashing down in a loud, furious heap.

Sirens blare in your ears. Your eyes are filled with bright light. Hands grip your left shoulder. The first thing you do is turn to your right, looking for him. “Someone’s docking us!” Finn shouts, nudging your shoulder.

You can’t hear him. “What?”

“Someone’s taking us on board.” He repeats, his voice filled with panic. Finn furrows his eyebrows, wondering what’s gotten into you. It’s as if you’re still asleep.

“I can’t override it, we’re boarding!” Rey announces, grabbing her staff and rushing up to you and Finn. You stand quickly, your mind trying to come up with something, anything. For all you know, you could be in the hands of The First Order once again. And so soon, after leaving.

“This is a smugglers ship,” you announce, “There are hidden compartments everywhere, follow me!” Heading to the main hold, you stand in the hallway and lift the grate to the smugglers passage underneath the floor. Rey and Finn enter, and you’re standing outside, you look down at them, “Stay hidden, I’ll turn whoever it is away.”

They don’t have much time to argue, nor do you think they would. The front door to the Falcon opens. “Chewie, we’re home.” You can’t believe your eyes. Chewie roars loudly, his eyes on you as he taps Hans shoulder.

“I thought I’d run into you sooner or later.” You mumble, unable to tear your eyes away from the face of Han Solo, a face that your brain immediately picks out similarities to Ben.

Han puts his blaster away, his hands coming to rest on his hips as he lets out a small sigh, “I assumed we’d meet under different circumstances… but…” He shrugs, his eyes cast toward the ground, “Where was she?”

“Jakku.” You snort.

“What the hell were you doing on that junk planet?” Han asks, brushing past you to head for the main controls in the cockpit. You follow.

“Running away from your son.” You respond, seeing Hans shoulders tense, just as Ren’s do from time to time.

“Who else is on board?” Han asks, turning to face you when you don’t respond, “Chewie check the place. If she’s telling the truth then there’s no way she piloted this on her own.” With a roar, Chewie leaves the cockpit.

“You don’t get tired of underestimating me, do you?” You smirk, “Is that something you get from Leia?”

“Listen kid, I have nothing to do with Jedi’s and academies, remember that.” Han grimaces, pushing a few buttons on the ship. He sits in the pilot seat, looking up at the gold dice. He takes them in his hands, closing his eyes momentarily as if he’s absorbing their good luck.

“All the times you’d visit, turn Ben and I away when we asked for your help, for a way out, remember that?” You tilt your head at him, eyeing his white hair and the crinkles by his eyes.

“You expect too much of me.” Is all Han says, not even turning around to face you, “Trust me, they all did.” He finishes. Chewie roars, his paws holding both Rey and Finn from the clothes on their shoulders. Raising his eyebrows, Han stands from his seat, giving you a look as he follows Chewie and the strangers into the main hold, “Friends of yours?”

“Sir, we’re just trying to find the Resistance, they’re friends of ours, please-”

“Sir?” Han smirks, taken aback slightly. He looks to you, “You didn’t tell me I looked so old.”

Rey furrows her eyebrows, looking between you and the old stranger. “You two know one another?”

“Something like that.” You mumble, crossing your arms and looking to the floor of the Falcon. It’s been years since you’ve set foot in this ship, let along been in the main hold with Han and Chewie. All that’s missing is Ben.

Sometimes, when Han would come back from whatever Resistance mission or smugglers job he was doing, he would take you and Ben to see odd planets and distant stars. It felt like the only time you and Ben could be kids. But Hans trips to the Academy became less frequent. And by the time Han felt good enough to visit again, it was too late. He had already lost his son.

“The Resistance, huh?” Han eyes Finn, who looks to the ground. A liar, Han thinks. Wonder how long that’ll last. “What do you want with them?”

“We have the map to Luke Skywalker.” Finn answers him, gesturing towards the droid.

“Luke.” Han mumbles, turning away from the young adults. He looks at the space where Luke once trained inside the ship, eye blindfolded and lightsaber in hand. It feels like a million fond memories flood through him in a split second. And Han’s nearly brought to tears at the memory of his blond haired blue eyed friend. The same friend that he hasn’t seen in such a long time. “If Luke’s hiding, its cause he doesn’t want to be found.”

“Wait,” Rey speaks up, her voice soft with bewilderment as she tries to understand, “You know Luke Skywalker? I thought he was just a legend.”

“Oh,” Han states, “He’s real. But I haven’t seen him in… a long time. A very long time.”

“The Millennium Falcon…” Finn pieces it together, “Luke Skywalker… Who are you?”

Han turns to you, giving you an unamused expression, “They’re quick, is that why you hang out with them?” You roll your eyes at him, taking a seat on the couch while Finn and Rey come to the conclusion about who this old man and his oversized dog is.

“Han Solo,” Rey breathes, “You’re Han Solo?” She looks around the ship with admiration, “This is the ship that did the Kessel Run in 13 parsecs?”

“12!” Han protests, offended at the thought of 13.

“I actually heard it was 14,” you muse from your spot on the couch. Chewie roars, shaking his head from side to side as he holds a hand out.

Han points a finger at the wookie, “It was 12! Don’t you forget it! Now, where’s this map?” Finn points to the droid, who rolls towards Han, expelling a drive of some sort. You keep your eyes on it. It’s not lost on you that you need the map just as bad as the Resistance do. “What’re you doing with Resistance folk, Y/N?” Han wonders, putting you on the spot.

“I’m not with anyone.” You scold, shaking your head, “The sooner we land on some planet, the sooner I can go back to finding Skywalker myself.”

“Why is he hiding?” Rey wonders aloud, looking around at the group, “If so many people are searching for Luke, why did he leave in the first place?”

You stay silent. You don’t even move. Han watches how rigid you’ve become, he grimaces with pity and decides to speak up, not wanting the attention to be placed on you when you’re clearly so uncomfortable.

“It’s a complicated story,” Han begins, taking the drive from the droid and placing it into the holo-projector and he continues to tell the story as he presses buttons, “After the fall of the empire, Luke set out to train young Jedi’s,” he brings the map up, it spans out across the room, bringing a blue hue to everyone’s faces, “He even set up an academy, training around 30 kids… he had two promising apprentices... he cared for both greatly, and they both turned against him that night. This caused him great pain. His closest apprentice turned to the dark side, he burnt the temple down, and he killed the other students. Luke left not long after. And he hasn’t been seen since.”

Rey speaks up, “But the students, did they both-”

“I wouldn’t dwell on it much,” you cut her off, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. You meet eyes with Han, pausing for a moment, “Some stories are just stories.” You end the conversation, heading back to the cockpit. Han follows you, you can sense his looming presence.

“If you’re really set on leaving as soon as we hit some planet, the next one we’ll hit is Takodana.” Han advises you. You give him a nod, but you don’t look at him as he sits in the seat beside you, “We should be there in a day.” He says, giving you one last look before he gives up on hearing you talk.

taglist: mitsuhkai antoniamarie1989-blog haylaansmi eilei-draws

#kylo ren #kylo x reader #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren imagine #kylo ren imagines #Kylo ren X reader imagines #Kylo ren X reader imagine #kylo ren x reader one shot #kylo ren x y/n #kylo ren fanfiction #kylo ren fluff #kylo ren fanfic

47 notes · View notes

alonely-dreamer · 4 years

Text

The Valuable Sun | Chapter 16

Summary: Bill and Sookie’s relationship is broken beyond repair while Eric and Sookie’s only gets stronger.

Pairing: Eric x OC

Warnings: 18+

A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Words: 1780

Masterlist

“What the hell were you thinking?” Pam yelled at Eric as she helped Brooke lay him on one of the tables of the club.

The Viking couldn’t answer. He was in terrible shape, his face burnt all over, smoke coming out of his injuries.

“He needs blood,” Pam said.

“I know.”

“He’s too weak to drop fang.”

Brooklynne didn’t even think as she lifted her wrists to Pam’s face and the vampire bit her almost as quickly. As the human-fairy hybrid started to feed the Viking her blood, Pam started to look for the key of the cuff that was still around Eric’s wrist.

“Thank God, the key,” she said as she took it out of the inner pocket jacket.

She went around the bar to get some gloves that will allow her to touch silver and hurriedly removed the cuffs from her maker.

Brooklynne watched as Eric’s injuries slowly healed and disappeared. He seemed to regain consciousness as well and she jumped slightly when he put his hand on her wrist and started to drink faster.

“You’re gonna be okay,” she whispered to him, though more for herself than for him.

His eyes opened wide and she gave him a small smile as he looked up at her.

“You’re gonna be okay,” she repeated as she started stroking his hair.

His face wasn’t completely healed when he pushed her wrist away, making both her and Pam frown.

“Where’s Russell?” were his first words.

“Outside,” Brooke answered with confusion, “why?”

“We need to bring him in.”

Pam and Brooke arched their eyebrows as they looked at each other in surprise, then back at him.

“Are you insane? Why?” Pam asked.

“Godric appeared to me and asked me to spare Russell.”

Pam raised an eyebrow and gave an angry look to her maker.

“You are insane.”

“Brooke?” he asked, as he knew he wouldn’t get what he needed from his progeny.

“You want me to go get the guy who wants to kill us all and bring him inside? Really?”

She couldn’t believe nor did she want it. After all the trouble they’ve been through to get Russell right where he was right now, she couldn’t understand why Eric wanted to change the plan.

“Eric,” Pam said, “do the world a favor and let that little fuck fry.”

Eric rolled his eyes as he sighed before he stood up.

“I’ll go out there myself.”

“What?” Brooke breathed out. “No way, you’re not going back out there!”

“I’m not letting him die.”

“He would let us die,” Pam reminded him, “and laugh watching.”

“Godric told me only peace came after death. I’m not letting Russell Edgington find peace.”

“You were hallucinating!” Pam shouted. “It wasn’t real!”

Eric growled at her as he showed her his fangs in warning, startling her.

“Oh for the love of God,” Brooke said as she took the silver chains from the counter near her and exited the club under the eyes of both vampires.

Did she want to save Russell? Hell no, she would sleep better at night knowing he wasn’t walking this earth anymore, but she knew Eric wasn’t about to feed him all his bottles of Tru Blood to put him back in shape and let him go freely. No, Eric had a plan and she trusted him enough to know that even if he didn’t kill Russell, the three-thousand-year old psychopath wouldn’t walk this earth again any time soon.

“You’ve come back for me,” Russell managed to painfully say. “Thank you, sweet fairy.”

“Oh, shut up,” she replied as she wrapped the chains around his neck, causing him as much if not more pain than the sun.

She dragged him back inside, ignoring his screams of pain. Eric helped her chain him to a pole under Pam’s disapproving eyes.

“Explain to me, please, why we’re not killing him?” Pam asked with her eternal annoyed tone.

“Killing him won’t solve anything.”

“No,” Brooke nodded, “but it would keep him from killing us,” she said as a way to ask him his plan.

Eric looked up at her as he added another silver chain around Russell’s neck.

“Oh, he won’t be doing anymore killing,” he told her.

“Eric, who the fuck are you right now? He killed your family, rip off his fucking head!” Pam insisted.

“Do not listen to them,” Russell said. “I shall reward you handsomely.”

Eric punched him in the kidney, causing Russell to lose a fang.

“Well, that’s humiliating,” he smirked. “I’ll take that.”

“So what now?” Brooke asked.

“We should go to ground. You stay here and watch him.”

“You want me to babysit him?!”

“He can’t glamour you. Ginger’s coming in later, he would glamour her in a heartbeat,” he explained as he removed the blue gloves from his hands and threw them next to the remaining silver chains behind Russell.

“Eric,” Brooke said quietly as she took a step towards him. “What are you doing? What about the Authority?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be rid of him in less than twenty-four hours.”

“Tell me your plan,” she asked. Though she trusted him, she’d feel better once she knew exactly what he had in mind.

“I’m calling Bill and Alcide. They’ll help me bury him somewhere tonight,” he explained as he trapped her chin between his fingers. “I’ll make sure he’s wrapped in a thousand silver chains. He will never get out,” he said, as a way to reassure her.

She looked down, then shook her head as she closed her eyes. A million thoughts crossed her mind. She knew Russell would be back one day, she knew it was a bad idea, but she also knew Eric was Eric, and there was no changing his mind.

“Make that a billion silver chains,” she said as she looked back up at him.

He chuckled. “As you wish,” he nodded before he kissed her forehead. “Call your sister, she must be worried.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked with a confused frown as he tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear.

“Because next time I see her, she’ll know about Bill. And I don’t want to break her heart.”

“Sookie’s strong. She’ll get over it.”

“I don’t know. She loves him. She wants to marry him.”

“And you’d rather she marry him than tell her the truth?”

“I’d rather she be happy….”

“She’ll know, one day,” he said. “Tell her now, before it’s too late.”

Brooklynne nodded sadly.

“It’s already too late.”

***

Talking to Sookie had seemed like the hardest thing to do and it certainly was hard but not as hard as walking through the cemetery in complete darkness with Eric and Bill to look for her sister.

“Sookie!” Brooke called in the cold night for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“I can’t feel her,” Bill said with desperation.

Brooklynne was only tolerating him because he could actually be useful in finding Sookie, but so far, he had only been a whiny useless heart broken little boy.

“How’s that possible?” Eric asked with a little anger in his voice. “She’s no doubt very upset right now, you should be able to feel her.”

“Well, I don’t!” he growled. “I felt her, I felt her anger and sadness and then nothing.”

“Is she dead?” Brooke asked in a whisper as if she didn’t want to even think about the possibility.

“I didn’t feel her die… she’s just… she’s just gone.”

“Maybe she’s with Jason,” Brooke said, completely ignoring the vampire. She didn’t want to hear it anyway.

“Well, Bill,” Eric sighed, “maybe she just doesn’t want you to find her.”

“Oh, shut up, Eric,” Bill snarled. “This is your fault!”

“How is it my fault?”

“You told her about Sophie-Anne!”

“I told her the truth. It’s not my fault you’re untrustworthy.”

“Jason hasn’t seen her,” Brooke said as she put her phone back in her pocket. “What are we gonna do?”

“Don’t worry,” Eric said as he put his hand on her shoulder. “She’ll come back. I’m sure she’ll be home tomorrow.”

***

One year later

“Damn, I’m glad to be home,” Brooke sighed as she let herself fall on the beige couch of the living room.

She looked up to the clock on the wall and sighed again as she saw it was almost dawn.

“It was Bill,” Eric said as he came in the living room, putting his phone back in the inside pocket of his black leather jacket. “He thanks you for your ‘assistance’ and the money will be here tomorrow, in cash.”

“Great,” she muttered as if she didn’t care. “You hungry?”

“I had enough of you on the plane,” he grinned as he leaned over to kiss her.

She smiled back as he put his lips on hers and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“The sunrise’s in less than five minutes,” she reminded him between two kisses.

“I’m not tired. Are you tired?” he asked playfully.

“Not anymore,” she replied before biting her lower lip.

He scooped her up in his arms and made his way to the fake wardrobe behind the couch that was installed eight months earlier when they renovated the house. He opened it as quickly as he got down in the room they built for him so he could spend the day in the house safe from the sun.

She giggled as he reached the ground and laughed again when he threw her on the bed. The room was like a bedroom from another time, with an old dark red wallpaper with bronze and golden flowers scattered on it, and wooden furniture everywhere.

She removed her shirt as she sat up while he joined her on the bed, placing a knee on the mattress. She grabbed his shirt and tore it open, causing the buttons to fly away and fall on the bed and on the ground. Eric threw his shirt away before he captured her lips once again, pushing her down on the mattress. Her hands traveled down his chest to find the button of his jeans. She undid it quickly before she slid her hand in his underwear.

“Mmh, someone’s in a hurry,” he smirked.

She wrapped her fingers around his length and started to make sure he’d soon be in a hurry too. She was extremely impatient, and he was a monstrous tease. He growled before he removed the rest of his clothes and she watched him do it with a wicked grin as she removed the rest of hers.

“I’m gonna fuck you till you pass out.”

She bit her lower lip again, the way she knew he liked it.

“Yes please.”

**********

Tags: @thepoet1975 @nerdysandwichqueen @catchmeupimgettingoutofhere @raegan-hale @colie87 @heavenly1927 @abbey7103

#true blood #eric northman #eric x oc #oc #fanfic #fanfiction #sookie #sookie stackhouse #bill compton #Russell Edgington #imagine #reader #eric x reader

69 notes · View notes

colorisbyshe · 4 years

Note

S1 of LoK was definitely a trip. I think the takeaway was to show a more “gray” type of morality when it comes to the Avatar universe (Amon being bad because he was a bender manipulating non-benders to violence, and utilizing corporate entities in that violence, but the Equalist ideals ultimately being valid). An important impact (I don’t want to spoil l8r seasons for you) comes in the form of dissolution of the bending council and setting up a democratic president so nonbenders can decide rule

Maybe because I’ve already been burnt out on oooh grey politics by like dragon age and game of thrones and everything else but I’m so tired of it being framed as “grey” in situations where people are... actually morally right?

IMO grey morality can be interesting when it’s people fighting for good things in the “wrong” way and even vise versa (ie people manipulating good systems for selfish means and forcing people to confront if the good thing is worth keeping despite its loopholes or dark origins or whatever)

but the way shows like ATLA doing it where it’s like maybe both sides have points or “well maybe these people were right but EWWW THEY WERE MEAN AVOUT IT” or the framing coming from he perspective of someone who was definitely wrong (ie Korra getting pissed off at nonbenders) without fully having to deconstruct their feelings and stance on it, things just even out without their intentional chang did just... meh

Imo, that’s a lot of why ATLA doesn’t quuiiite hold up for me despite having some amazing characters, arcs, and emotional moments. Aang isn’t forced to confront about how his passivity doesn’t actually work without a magical deus ex machina coming in. Zuko isn’t forced to confront how the entire monarchy system is corrupt and is what enabled his father/grandfather to do what he did. Indeed, Korea’s continuation of ATLA demonstrates a lot of the lack of realization in the old cast but it’s never... fully framed that way. There’s hints and pieces of that but a lot of “but have you considered the other side???” pandering which kinda worked for ATLA as a kids show where kids should be encouraged to at least consider other perspectives but LoK veers towards an older audience (10-teens where ATLA was maybe 8-14 as a true target audience) and it jusr feels irresponsible.

Alas, I just hope the character moments can hit as hard cause at the end of the day I am a 26 almost 27 year old criticizing a children’s show’s politics and embarrassing myself lol

2 notes · View notes

elscarlet · 4 years

Text

Divided Dimensions: The World of Elkanov Part 1 (Revised)

This is the first chapter of the novel. I’ve been writing and have a hard time not going back to edit everything. I really need to stop being a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. Anyway, hope you enjoy~ I’ll post the next chapter tomorrow.

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

As smoke fills the room, the sound of the smoke alarm blaring reverberates throughout the house, waking me from my trance. I jolt up before sighing as I use my index finger to adjust my black-rimmed glasses, my other hand placing the book I had been reading down gently on my desk.

Not this again. I cover my nose and mouth with my sleeve before walking out of my room. I travel down the now smoke-filled staircase and towards the open kitchen which was barely visible. Squinting my eyes, I thread carefully into the kitchen, making sure not to bump into anything.

“Mum! You okay?” I call out, a cough leaving my lips as I search for some kind of movement.

“I’m fine, Alistair! Just burned some pancakes.”

“Burnt pancakes?” I mutter as I turn to face where the voice came from and made my way over. My mother, Bella, was fanning the smoke out of the kitchen from the back door with a magazine, coughing a few times. “Were you hurt?” I ask, adjusting my glasses before looking at her to make sure she wasn’t injured.

“Apart from having a bit of smoke in my lungs, I’m pretty much alright.” She chuckles. “Oh, could you please turn off the alarm, Chip?” She says in between coughs.

I nod before grabbing a broom from the storeroom to turn the smoke alarm off. The smoke had mostly dispersed from the kitchen which revealed the stove and what looked more like charcoal then pancakes. I sigh inwardly at the sorry sight of what was supposed to be breakfast. I throw the pancake that was on the pan and look at the batter on the kitchen counter.

“Sorry about that, Chip. I got a little distracted with my work.” Mum apologises, lightly scratching her neck.

“It’s fine mum. I was planning on making breakfast too but got distracted reading.” I dismiss, already putting an apron on. “I’ll finish up with the pancakes. School is in another hour or so anyway.”

“You’ve been walking to school a lot more these days so how about I drive you today? To make up for the pancakes.”

I hum in agreement as I flip another pancake. This has happened almost every week whenever she was the one to cook breakfast. It wasn’t that she was bad at cooking; it was just that she was a little bit of a mess sometimes. Balancing work and coming home to take care of a 14-year-old kid was not an easy task and I understand that.

“Sorry about this. I’m such a terrible-”

“Please don’t say that mum. I know you’re just doing your best to take care of me.” I shake my head.

“Sigh. Thanks, sweetie. How about we cook some spaghetti for dinner tonight? Or maybe order some pizza? Since its Friday, we can even watch a movie if you’d like.”

“Sure.” I place the pancake filled plate on the table and sit down across from her. We ate as we talked about mundane things before I got up to gather my stuff. I take a quick look at myself in the mirror and comb my dark brown hair into a side part. My eyes land on the green gemstone pendant that came out of my shirt, probably from running down the stairs earlier. I look at it as I held it in my palm, a sudden sense of longing forming in my heart.

“You ready yet, Al?” Mum calls out from down the stairs, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Yeah, I’ll be down in a sec!” I shout back. I take one last look at the pendant before hiding it behind my shirt that was underneath my school uniform. I grab the book I was reading before rushing down the stairs.

We rode in silence most of the way to school and stopped when the stop light turned red. I had unconsciously started to fiddle with my pendant part way during the ride and couldn’t stop my head from forming a question. “Hey, mum?”

“Hmm…?” She hums in response, mostly paying attention to the road ahead. “Where did you get this pendant? I know I’ve asked this a few times already but I really don’t understand why I have to wear it at all times.” I ask as I glance at her.

“There’s no reason for you to ask where I got it from. Just know it’s for your protection.” She answers in a harsh tone, surprising me a little. She sighs. She glances at me briefly with a face I don’t see often. “We’ll talk about it at the right time, okay?” She turns back towards the road just as the light changes to green.

I nod my head, opting to stay quiet. I certainly didn’t want to trouble her with it but I just don’t understand how some green gemstone is supposed to protect me. What is it protecting me from? Sighing inwardly, I place the pendant back behind my shirt, the fabric making me feel stuffy. I decide to grab the book I had been reading earlier this morning to past the time as the car once again fills with silence.

I shield myself from another punch with my arm; the force would no doubt cause a bruise. I grit my teeth to hold back another groan as a kick lands on my side. My glasses already chucked to the side. Shit. Just thinking of all the possible lies I’ll need to tell mum when I get home is giving me headaches. I’m glad they’re avoiding any obvious places that would be hard to cover up or this will just be an even bigger pain.

“You ready to tell the truth now, Al?” Jackson’s voice hisses as his hand grabs a fistful of my hair.

“I have told you enough times… I did not—” I cough, my breathing ragged. “I did not do it!” I glare at the raven-haired boy that I used to call my friend.

“Tch. Still ain’t gonna admit it, huh? That’s fine.” Jackson mocks, his eyes showing an almost animalistic bloodlust, shocking me for a second. “I just hope you’re ready to face the consequences.” He reaches for his back pocket and pulls out a pocket knife.

“Woah, Jack! I thought you said we were just going to scare him a little.” The blonde guy that was holding onto me let go of my arms. “He’s already beaten up! Just forget about it! It was probably just a coincidence—”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Elric. That don’t matter. I’ve been wanting to beat the shit out of him for a long time now anyway.”

“What did I ever do to you?” I exclaim, annoyed, frustrated even, by him. “Does it even matter? I just don’t like that face of yours.” A sinister grin appears on his lips.

“I ain’t stayin’ for this shit!” Another boy yelled before he walks off. A few of the other boys that were there left too, leaving Jackson, Elric, and I alone in the empty hallway of the school.

“Heh, pussies,” Jackson mutters. “Now, I wonder where I should cut you first?”

Damn it! Well, this certainly won’t end well for me. How did it get to this anyway? I would’ve escaped already if I didn’t feel so sick all of a sudden. Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed up reading.

I could feel a cold sensation press against my cheek which brought me back from my meaningless complaints. It wasn’t enough to draw blood, though. But it definitely reminded me that one wrong move could be fatal.

I look up and saw Jackson’s face. He didn’t look like himself, or at least not like the Jackson I knew. I could feel him applying more pressure on the knife against my cheek. I instinctively shut my eyes, just hoping someone saw them and called a teacher. I was already giving up when I hear the sound of footsteps getting closer.

“Tch.” I hear Elric click his tongue before the pressure on my cheek disappears.

“Stop, someone’s called a teacher. We need to go.” Jackson lets go of my hair and I hear the sound of something metal fall onto the floor before another pair of footsteps pass me. The footsteps from earlier got closer as I slump onto the ground. I glance at where the footsteps came from but my eyes started losing focus as the world around me spirals.

“Stop, that’s enough. It’ll be harder for me to heal him if you hurt him too much.” A blonde boy exclaims as he places a hand on the shoulder of the woman standing beside the unconscious raven-haired boy on the infirmary bed.

“Oh, please. It’s not like I’ll kill the kid. Father’s orders were to make sure to drain him as much as possible so it’ll be easier to—” The voice cut off as if someone had stopped them from talking.

“Shut it, Veera. He’s waking up. You better block his memories now before he remembers any of this. And make sure to knock him out.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”The purple-haired woman—Veera—places her hand above the boy’s head, her eyes glowing with a violet hue as she chants something under her breath. A dark mist covers the boy’s head as he stirs. The boy’s body slowly absorbs the dark mist and his movements stop.

“Don’t forget to deal with four-eyes over there. I think your spells are finally starting to work on him.” The blonde boy gestures towards another boy leaning on one of the chairs, barely conscious. “I’ve had enough of playing pretend with these kananai and I really don’t want to waste any more of my time and kana here. You know how long it takes to restore it all.”

“Tch. You’re not the only one suffering here. At least you don’t have to pretend to be some old nurse. Luckily those bastards that ran off already had their memories wiped.” Veera crosses her arms, annoyed. “Let’s just get this over with. I can’t wait to get started with that kid.”

“You better remember what father said. Even if only in name they’re still—”

“I get it, Veros! Geez, it’s not like I’m gonna kill the kid. It’s just a pain in the neck to break that protection charm.” She rolls her eyes. She flicks her wrist and a shadow-like arm emerges from her shadow which lifts the raven-haired boy and moves him onto another chair before placing the other boy on the bed. “I wonder how much longer this charm of yours is going to last? It really is a mystery how he’s still alive after so many years living here.”

“Just get to it. We don’t have much time left before he wakes up.”Veera rolls her eyes. She starts searching for something on the boy; the green gemstone pendant around his neck, and stores it in her pocket before doing what she did with the former boy. It took a little longer for the dark mist to be absorbed into his body and once it did, Veros lifts the other boy up by wrapping his arm around the boy’s torso and the boy’s arm on his shoulder. He walks out the door with Veera in tow.

I hold the side of my head as a confused and pained grumble escapes my lips. My eyes flick open and slowly adjust to the light in the room. I dart my eyes around the room, trying to figure out where I am. Is this…the infirmary?

“Oh, you’re awake.” I look towards where the voice had come from and see the school’s nurse, Ms Vivian with her arms crossed, walking towards her desk, her dark purple hair tied up in a bun. I hadn’t seen her earlier so she must have just come in. I slowly got up to sit, my body feeling lighter than usual. That’s…weird? Shouldn’t I be aching all over right now? I look at my arms in confusion; there weren’t any bruises on them.

“I was surprised when they brought you in. You’ve never fainted during school before.” Ms Vivian says as she starts pouring water into a glass that was on the table and hands it to me.

“Fainted?” I ask before taking a sip of the water. “Yes, the teacher that sent you here said you fainted in the hallway. I believe it was from lack of sleep.”

“That’s… Wasn’t I…?” I stop myself. What happened? I reach up to adjust my glasses only to realize I wasn’t wearing them.

“Oh, right!” The nurse grabs something from her desk and gives it to me. “We can’t forget about your glasses now can we?” She chuckles. I take my glasses from her, sighing in relief after making sure that it was okay. “Um… what time is it?”

“It’s 11:09. You’ve been asleep for about 20 minutes.” She replies after glancing at her wristwatch. “You can go home now if you want since there’s only less than half an hour before school ends. I’ll tell the teacher.” I nod my head. I’ll get more time to read if I go now. Since it’s a Friday, mum won’t be home till late too. With such thoughts, I decide to go home early.

“Alright then, your things are right over there.” She points towards the door where my bag was leaning against a chair. “I’ll make sure the teachers know.”

“By the way,” I say after taking a deep breath once more. “Has my mother been informed of this?” I ask as I adjust my glasses and slowly get out of the bed.

“Mhnm? Oh, your mother? No, since it was just something caused by lack of sleep.” Ms Vivian answers while writing something on a piece of paper. I pay no mind to it and get up to take my bag. As I was about to leave, my hand went to fiddle with my pendant. It wasn’t on me. Just as I was about to ask if she had seen it, Ms Vivian dangles my pendant in front of me.

“You dropped this when you fainted. I nearly forgot to give it back.” She explains with a smile on her face, her dark purple eyes staring at me.

“O-oh! Thank you, Ms. Vivian.” I take the pendant, feeling a little uncomfortable for some reason. She smiles as she pats my back and opens the door to lead me out. I walk out of the infirmary as I sling my bag onto my shoulder. What on earth happened? I wonder as I trudge the silent halls of the school. I shrug, thinking it would benefit me more to just forget it rather than wrack my brain to try and remember. But I just can’t shake the feeling that something was off, especially with the nurse.

Halfway through my walk, I stop after noticing an unfamiliar shop. It was a café. Not an ordinary one though, I could tell, from its name and the interior design I could see from the outside windows. Well, it’s not as if I have much to do at home anyway. Rather, this might work as a good distraction to get my mind off things. Mum isn’t coming home anytime soon either.

I push open the black wooden door with a sign that said “Welcome to Timeless Café”, the light chime of a bell ringing reaches my ears as I take in the scene around me. The café exudes a calm and cosy atmosphere. The smell of fresh coffee and books instantly makes me relax and the sound of light chatter and soft jazz comforts me. I reach the line in front of the cashier and wait patiently to order.

“Hello, and welcome to Timeless Café. What would you like to order?” The cashier, a man who seems to be around his forties, greets me when it was my turn to order. His smile was calm and gentle which contrasts from his large build and bearded face. I didn’t really have much of an appetite and thinking so I say,

“I’ll have a black coffee and…” I stop to ponder as I adjust my glasses. Should I get something to eat?

“How about a slice of a dark Oreo chocolate cheesecake? I’ would work well with the black coffee and won’t be too sweet.” The cashier grins.

“Hmm… yeah, I’ll have that then. Thank you.” I nod, thinking it would be easier to just go with his suggestion rather than make the line wait any longer.

“Okay, that will be 7.55. Will you be eating in?” I nod as the man punches in something into the cash register. “Please hold on for a moment while I get your order ready.” He says and instructs another employee to get the coffee and cake ready. I hand over the money and take the change. "Please, find a seat and take this with you." The man gives me a button-like thing the size of my palm. "The button glows red when your order is ready and someone will give you your order."

I nod again and take the button with me as I scan the café for the seat I had spotted from outside. When I saw the seat that was at the end of the café next to the outside window and a bookshelf, I hasten my footsteps to take the seat before anyone else could. I put the button on the table and slide off my bag and place it on top of my chair. I decide to grab an extra book from the bookshelf beside me while I wait since I was almost done with the book I was reading. I flip through a few of the books, briefly looking at its contents before deciding on what to read. A certain dark green coloured book catches my attention and without much thought, I take it out of the bookshelf. The book's cover was actually made of material close to leather and has two belt-like straps on it.

“The World of Elkanov?” I murmur to myself. Curious, I look at the back of the book however there was no short synopsis at the back of it. Shrugging, I take the book back to my seat and sit down after placing my bag on the chair beside me. I flip open the book that looks as if it were a journal, the first page even stating the writer's name as the owner of the book. Even more intrigued, I quickly go to the first chapter of the book, the lights above me casting’ a yellow hue.

A few minutes in and I was already engrossed in the book. I almost didn't realise the button glowing red, signalling that my order would arrive in a moment. I make sure to remember where I left off before putting down the book as I wait for my food to arrive. The same man from before was now holding a tray and walking towards me, probably to give me my order.

"Thank you," I say as he places my black coffee and the cake on the table.

"You're welcome." He grins. "Oh, didn't think someone would pick that book to read." I hear him say as he points at the book on the table.

"It caught my eye because of its unique design. I've never seen a book using faux leather as its cover before." I say as I adjust my glasses, a little flustered by the sudden conversation.

"Ah, that's true. It’s the only book of its kind. I've never seen anyone read it though. Must be cause of it lookin' so old. Shame that there aren't any more of the books. Even though my friend took so long to finish it." He shakes his head with a sigh.

"Wait, your friend wrote this?!" I exclaim a little too loud. It's a good thing jazz music is playing in the background otherwise people would be staring at me right now. "I-I mean, you are a friend of the author of this book?" The man chuckles,

"Yeah, he was a real weirdo, that guy. Always going on and on about his adventures." The man's face suddenly fell, as if recalling a sombre memory. "He passed away a long time ago though, 10 years to be exact." He sighs. "Well, I’m just glad someone's reading his book."

A little surprised by the information, I adjust my glasses again before saying, "I'm sorry for prying."

"Nah, you don't have to feel bad. It's not your fault. Besides, it's been so long already." He scratches his neck and averts his eyes. "The name's Edward by the way. Oh, and you can take that old book home too if ya like. It's just gonna gather dust if I leave it here." He says as he takes the button-like thing from the table before turning around to leave.

"W-wait! Would the owner of the cafe be okay with that?" I stop him.

"Course he would! I'm the boss after all!" He gives a hearty laugh as he waves it off and leaves to resume his work.

Stunned at the sudden revelation, I shake my head softly as if to get rid of the shock. Who knew the owner of the cafe would be working right at the cashier. I adjust my glasses, opting to pay no mind to it and deciding to finally start eating.

A pleased hum escapes my lips after taking a bite out of the cake. He wasn't lying when he said the cake would go well with the coffee. I continue to eat and drink occasionally as I read the book, already forgetting about the other novel inside my bag. My coffee and cake were finished by the time half an hour had passed however, I decided to stay and continue reading the book for a little longer.��

A few hours pass by and I was almost halfway done with the book. I glance at the clocks on the wall across from my seat and search for the clock with the name of my country under it. It was already 3:34. Realizing how long I have been staying here, I close the book and get up to leave. I grab my bag and with the book in my hand, I leave the café with a more relaxed and satisfied smile.

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

How was it? Feel free to give me any comments or critiques so i can improve on the other chapters as well. Thanks for reading~

#writing #my writing #writblr #ddtwoechapter 1 #dd1chapter1 #novel #webnovel #author #story #writer

1 note · View note

pokii-jonas · 5 years

Text

The Impossible Death

*** NOTE: this is a multiple chapter dump since it has been so long since i last updated tumblr!

** also sorry for the delay!!! i’ve been away from my laptop for a while and unable to update tumblr as frequently as my AO3! (if you want more frequent updates, my AO3 is DeceitMe and will also be linked below!

* also i lost my phone in florida and it had my taglists on it, so if i missed anyone in my taglist please tell me!

CHAPTER 11 - THE SECOND TIME

CHAPTER 12 - RUNNING

CHAPTER 13 - FOREVER

CHAPTER 14 - TENSIONS

CHAPTER 15 - FAULT

CHAPTER 16 - PLAYING WITH FIRE

CHAPTER 17 - THE THIRD TIME

CHAPTER 18 - HIDE AND SEEK

CHAPTER 19 - OFF THE ROOF

Total Word Count: 5,620

WARNINGS:

sympathetic deceit, suicide mentions, body horror(?), self harm, graphic descriptions of self harm, self hate, panic attacks, panic attack mentions, food mentions

PLEASE TELL ME IF I FORGOT SOMETHING!!!

AO3

Previous (CHAPTER 10) Next

CHAPTER 11 - THE SECOND TIME

It wasn’t intentional in the beginning. It had started off as just a quick calm down. A way to quickly bring him back to reality. A way to get out of his own head for a bit.

Just a few cuts. That was all it was supposed to be.

Then he went deeper.

And deeper.

The blood surrounding him would have scared anyone else, but for him it wasn’t enough.

It could always be worse. He could always be worse.

He wasn’t good enough to be worried about.

He only stopped when his little blade got stuck in the wound and he couldn’t find it.

After that, he wasn’t sure what to do. He just looked at the gaping wound on his arm and watched as blood came pouring out of his body.

He watched with a sad fascination, knowing it wasn’t gonna do the damage he desired yet enjoying watching the way the light would catch on the dark red liquid.

A wave of gratefulness washed over him. At least he had no arteries so the blood wasn’t splashing everywhere. That would be way too much effort to clean up.

That gratefulness was replaced quickly with annoyance.

If he had arteries, then he’d probably be dead already and have no need to clean.

Moving to rest his head on his pillow, he looked up at his ceiling and imagined what it would be like to finally disappear.

CHAPTER 12 - RUNNING

Running. He must keep running. He couldn’t stop. He had to get away.

“Hey, Dee.”

He knew he shouldn’t look back. He had to keep running.

“Dee!”

He shut his eyes tight as he willed his legs to move faster. He couldn’t get caught. He must keep moving.

“Hey, wake up!”

He could feel his body falling. Breaking down more and more with every step.

He didn’t stop.

“You’re okay Dee, please just wake up.”

Suddenly he was on his back, his shoulder aching from falling hard on it. He could feel it creeping around him. Feel it seeping into his skin. Draining him.

He had been caught.

“Dee!”

His eyes popped open and he shot straight up, looking around wildly as he backed himself against the wall.

“Come on Dee, calm down.”

Deceit’s eyes flew to the voice and he took a moment to recognize that Virgil was the one speaking calmly to him.

Deceit immediately threw himself at Virgil who was quick to wrap his arms around his shaking figure.

“Hey, don’t worry Dee. You’re safe.” Virgil whispered softly into his ear.

Slowly, he felt his breathing begin to even out and the pain of a sore throat began to permeate it’s way into his conscious thought.

Deceit let himself be comforted by Virgil’s soothing words and soft touch for probably a lot longer than necessary, but he couldn’t help but revel in it.

It had been so long since he last felt safe.

As time went on though and Deceit finally felt as calm as he could possibly be, he let himself move away from Virgil.

“Thanks.” he whispered, so quietly he was afraid that Virgil might miss it all together.

Virgil, however, just responded by patting his knee gently.

“No need to thank. I’m just picking up where I left off.”

Deceit looked up from the bed sheets to look at Virgil who was giving him a look Deceit couldn’t quite comprehend.

“What doesn’t that mean?”

“Well, I shouldn’t have left you alone. I was being selfish when I did. I should have realized you weren’t doing any better and I-”

“Don’t stop.” Deceit cut him off. “You had no reason to stop babying be all the time. You didn’t need your own space, and I don’t understand that. I am not responsible for myself and myself alone, so do blame yourself for how I didn’t turn out.”

Virgil frowned and crossed his arm over his chest.

“No, you stop it. You were the only friend I had growing up and I pushed you away. Plain and simple. Believe it or not Dee, I actually want to help you through whatever you’re going through. Try me.”

Deceit’s own frown took over his face as he curled up on himself, dragging his knees to his chest.

“I am going through stuff. I don’t just want to be alone.”

Virgil huffed and stood up.

“Well, whether you like it or not, you still need to talk to the others. If you can convince them you’re fine I’ll leave you alone, deal?” Virgil said, holding out his hand for Deceit.

Deceit eyed his hand wearily before accepting it.

“Of course I believe you when you say that.” he said with a small grin as Virgil pulled him to his feet.

Virgil returned the grin.

“Have I ever broken a deal before?”

CHAPTER 13 - FOREVER

Listening to the pounding in Anxiety’s chest intently, he placed his own hand to his chest.

Nothing.

“Hey, Anxiety?” 10-year-old Deceit asked softly, twisting his head up to look at the just as young Anxiety.

“Yeah Dee Dee?” he replied, continuing to stroke his hand through Deceit’s sweat dampened hair.

“This is the third time this has happened.” Deceit stated, looking back down at his hand as he clamped it shut and unclamped it again.

“They’re just nightmares, Dee. Don’t worry.” Anxiety said softly, though Deceit knew that they scared them just as much as him when they happened.

“So… Why do you keep coming back here when it happens? I don’t want to keep bothering you with—”

“No Dee.” Anxiety said firmly, as he wrapped his arms around Deceit’s middle.

“You aren’t bothering me. I keep coming back because I know you need someone and I want to be that someone… Okay?”

He said the last part so quietly that Deceit almost missed it, but he knew that Anxiety was probably afraid of Deceit leaving him all by himself.

That was probably the only reason why he helped him anyway. He couldn’t see why else Anxiety would want to be friends with him and help him through all of this.

However, instead of bringing up his doubts, he pushed them away to the back of his mind.

Quickly sitting up, he turned turned to Anxiety and grabbed his hands in his.

“Let’s make a deal.” he said, watching as Anxiety’s face went from surprise to apprehension.

“Deal?” he asked, quiver clear in his voice.

Deceit nodded.

“You can stay in my room with me. That way, you won’t need to wake up running every night. Then, once the nightmares stop, you can go back to your room.”

Anxiety eyed him up and down before giving a small smile.

“Fine. But only if we add onto it that, no matter what, we will always be friends. Okay?”

Deceit gave him a toothy smile and nodded, unclasping Anxiety’s hands from his grip and holding out one of his own to shake.

“Deal?”

Anxiety grinned and nodded, taking his hand.

“Deal.”

CHAPTER 14 - TENSIONS

Deceit didn’t truly know what to expect when he entered the real world once again.

Maybe they all got tired of waiting around and went off back to their rooms, or perhaps they were all sitting around waiting for him to appear again.

He wasn’t expecting to pop up to see everyone running around the kitchen like chickens with their heads cut off and smoke filling the air.

“Patton, why did you leave the plastic on the burner? You know plastic will burn!” Logan shouted over the smoke alarm, attempting to scrape burnt plastic off of the stove.

“I’m sorry! I forgot I put it there!” Patton shouted in return as he fanned the smoke alarm with a metal tray.

“Why didn’t you all just leave it to me?” Thomas asked, also fanning the smoke detector with a metal tray.

“Or you could have left it to me!” Roman shouted over it all, safely from the living room. “If I had done it, it would have been the most magnificent feast!”

With an abrupt halt, the smoke alarm turned off and everyone let out a light sigh of relief before they noticed Virgil and Deceit.

“Dee! How are ya feeling?” Patton asked happily as he wiped sweat off his brow, leaving a long black streak in its place.

“Fine. What in the world is happening?” Deceit asked as he went closer to the kitchen with Virgil in the lead.

“Why did you attempt to cook without me here?!” Virgil asked in panic as he looked around the smoke filled kitchen.

“Sorry Virgil. Patton wanted dinner to be warm when Deceit awoke, so we started it while you were both sleeping. Apologies.” Logan said, wiping his hands on a towel and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Dinner?” Deceit asked, not bothering to hide his confusion.

Sharing a quick look with the others, Roman responded, “Yes, dinner! The best meal of the day!”

Deceit looked around at everyone’s faces of agreement.

“You guys eat food?” Deceit asked and a stunned silence filled the room.

“Uh, why wouldn’t we?” Roman asked, confusion all over his face.

“Well, I guess we technically don’t have to eat.” Logan said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “But it allows us a set time to bond and talk things over.”

“Do… I mean… Do you not eat, Dee?” Patton asked quietly, seeming afraid for the answer and Deceit felt himself wilt inside.

“I mean, I have before. Just, not in a while I guess.” he said softly, looking down and picking at his cuffs on his sleeves.

“How long?” Virgil asked, startling Deceit with his hard voice but soft and scared gaze. He looked afraid to hear the answer.

“I mean not too long ago. I think I ate a bagel the other day—” Deceit began but Virgil cut him off.

“How long, Dee? Don’t lie, I’ll know.” Virgil said and Deceit felt himself deflate as he crossed his arms over his chest and curled inward on himself.

“Thomas’s thirteenth birthday.” he mumbled, so quietly he almost hoped Virgil had missed it, but of course he hadn’t.

“Sixteen years ago?” Virgil asked and Deceit gave the slightest nod.

“That’s… When I left.” Virgil said and Deceit looked up to see tears welling in his eyes.

“I mean, it’s as Logan said. It’s not actually necessary for us to eat, so is it really that bad?”

“Yes, eating or not eating will have no physical effect on our well being. That is a fact.” Logan spoke up, though Deceit could see the concern in his eyes. “However, food has been shown to help improve ones mood and make them happier, thus helping one's mental health.”

Deceit gave a long sigh.

“I’ve already told you I’m fine, guys. Can’t you just drop this?”

“What about the rest of your body, Deceit?” Logan asked suddenly, causing Deceit to stutter a bit.

“I’m not sorry, what?” he asked, hoping that this conversation wasn’t leading where he thought it was.

Logan sighed and leaned backwards on the counter.

“My studies show that those who partake in self harm to the extent that you do often don’t just stop at one part of their body. They usually will go on to do the same to other parts. So my question here is, what haven’t we seen yet?”

Deceit felt his stomach sink as his mind went empty of any excuses he might have had.

“I don’t see how that’s relevant to food Logan.” Deceit said cooley, thoughts knew his body language probably told Logan all he needed.

“I am simply trying to figure out why you are trying so desperately to keep us in the dark of your struggles, especially when we have expressed our desire to help.”

Deceit froze at this, thinking back to all the times he has ever appeared to the others before and he could feel himself snap.

“Shut up. You never cared before. You only want to help now that you know, but you didn’t care enough to know about me earlier. You may blame me for that, seeing as I never asked for help, but why would I? There isn’t anything wrong here except for the fact that you’re trying to what? Fix me? Fix me so I can be seen as the bad guy again? The side you despise and hate? Nah, no thanks. I’m fine, and that’s the truth. What isn’t fine is that you’re now acting like you care when you never did before. So just do me a favor and leave me alone.”

Deceit didn’t stick around to get a reaction, instead sinking out and reappearing on the roof of the mindscapes house.

Heaving a sigh, he sat down on the edge, feeling his feet dangle into the grey nothingness of the rest of Thomas’s mind.

He never asked for help. He never asked to be cared for. Why couldn’t they just get that?

CHAPTER 15 - FAULT

The stunned silence that followed Deceit’s outburst and disappearance was short lived.

Virgil was the one to break it.

“Oh, nonononono this is bad, this is really really bad!” he exclaimed, grabbing both sides of his head and spinning in a circle as if hoping Deceit might reappear behind him.

Thomas wasn’t much better off.

“Oh God, what do we do what do we do? We can’t just go after him, can we? Will that make this worse? Maybe he’ll never return, what do we do then? I’m pretty sure I need him or else—”

“Thomas.” Logan said, promptly cutting of Thomas’s rambling.

“This was my fault. I tried to get him to open up to soon. I should have known better. Therefore, I should be the one to find him and apologize for—”

“Why bother?”

Everyone turned to look at Roman who sat on the sofa with his legs brought up to his chest.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked softly and Roman looked at him with sad eyes.

“I mean, why bother? He wasn’t wrong about what he just said to Logan. We didn’t care until now. But why do we care now and we didn’t care earlier? He’s right. We’re afraid of losing our villain. We just want to make him better so that we can view him as the bad guy again. So why go after him and apologize for him being right?”

Silence ensued in which no one looked at each other. They knew Roman was right.

Virgil clenched his fist.

“No. He wasn’t right.” he said and Roman looked at him with curiosity.

“He said he was fine and that’s clearly wrong. He said we didn’t care earlier and that’s not true. I’ve always cared. He was my first and only best friend for years. I used to help him with his nightmares, but he told me they stopped. I knew I shouldn’t have believed him, but I wanted to. I wanted to think he was better. So I left him. I never truly viewed him as bad. How could he be?”

Virgil couldn’t say when he started crying, but he could feel the tears dripping down his face.

“And then I turned my back on him. I thought he wasn’t listening to me. That he didn’t care about me. But now I see that it’s the other way around.”

Virgil looked at the ground.

“I’m the one who failed him. He needed me and I wasn’t there.”

Wiping the tears off of his face, Virgil looked back up, shocking everyone with the determination on his face.

“But not anymore.”

And with that, Virgil was gone.

CHAPTER 16 - PLAYING WITH FIRE

Rain.

It should be raining. At least, that’s how the movies always portray it.

The sad scene of loneliness on the roof, rain pouring around them, but they don’t go inside. Instead they sit and revel in the cold. Enjoy what little feeling being cold brings them.

But Deceit didn’t have that. It hadn’t rained in the mindscape ever to his knowledge.

He did have a lighter though, and that could also bring something to the table.

The burning pain it brought left Deceit feeling more and more whole with each burn. Each touch of the burning flame bringing him closer to feeling.

He really was happy the others hadn’t seen this part of him. It was fine if they assumed it was the same as the rest, as Logan seemed to suspect.

If they really knew the extent, then there’s no way they’d let him leave the way he did.

Flicking his lighter closed, he sighed as he lied down. The cold metal of the roof digging into his bare back, chilling him to the bone.

He didn't look down at his chest. He already knew what he had done.

Looking up at the grey expanse of the mindscape, however, gave him a sense of familiarity that left a weak smile on Deceit's face.

He and Virgil had discovered this place when they were just seven.

Deceit could never remember what exactly they were doing, but ever since then it had been their hang out spot if they needed away from their rooms for a while.

Virgil probably hadn't been up since they split. If he had then he somehow managed to avoid Deceit who came up here rather often.

In the aftermath of their break, he only came up here to avoid knocking on Virgil's door and beg for forgiveness for whatever he had done.

Back then, he didn't understand why Virgil was so mad at him.

To this day, he was never really told. He never asked, too afraid for the answer.

Though, as he finally looked down at his chest, he realized he always knew why.

Red welted scars and charred skin stared up at him, accompanied by newly blooming bruises and lines and words in varying stages of healing.

It scared him, that he could do that to himself, but at the same time he couldn't help but appreciate its beauty.

To him, what he did to his body spoke more words about who he was as a person than he himself could say.

But Virgil probably always knew exactly who he was.

Deceit couldn't say when his anger melted into sadness, but felt it welling up inside him before he could even try to contain it.

He couldn't cry though. Even though his lungs burned and his mind was clouded over, he couldn't cry.

The tears were stuck inside him. As bottled up as his emotions.

Flicking open his lighter again, he brought it back down to his skin.

He was over emotional. That's why he lashed out so bad earlier.

That's why he pushed away the people who wanted to help.

He still thought he was right, though. About what he told them.

He was fine.

They didn't care before.

They wanted him to be the bad guy.

Yet, at the same time, he knew that his reasons were flawed.

He knew he wasn't fine by normal standards.

They only viewed him as bad because he never gave them the chance to view him as anything else.

They didn't care if he was the bad guy or not.

They just wanted him to be okay.

And that was the scariest part.

Deceit didn't want to be okay. He was afraid of being okay and what okay meant.

He was too tired to change. Too tired of living to change.

Closing the lighter once more, he looked to his discarded shirt and hoodie next to him. Giving a small, unamused laugh, he put them back on quickly.

He didn't need a repeat of that morning.

The whole thing that started this mess.

Closing his eyes, he wished he could take another nap. But the fear of a third nightmare that day scared him more than he'd admit, keeping him wide awake.

So tired, but can't sleep. He couldn't help but chuckle.

The irony of his existence tortured him endlessly, so why not laugh at it?

Surely it couldn’t get any worse.

CHAPTER 17 - THE THIRD TIME

Virgil sighed as he looked dejectedly around the room one last time.

He knew every single hiding spot in the mindscape, where could he have gone?

Collapsing on Deceit’s bed, he felt his frown deepen in thought.

Where could he have gone?

Their games of hide and seek never used to be this difficult.

Virgil’s eyes widened.

Hide and seek.

Sitting up quickly, he face palmed himself.

“Of course! I’m such an idiot!” he exclaimed as he disappeared from Deceit’s room and reappeared on the roof.

Virgil was halfway to calling out for Dee, but saw him lying just a few feet away from him with his eyes closed and his feet dangling off the roof.

Giving a sigh of relief, Virgil took a calm step towards him when he realized that Deceit’s feet weren’t there.

Squinting at the sight before him, he rubbed his eyes and gave another look.

The part of Deceit that wasn’t on the roof wasn’t even there.

Virgil’s eyes widened and he stuck his own hand out to the edge of the roof, watching in fascination as his hand disappeared the second it crossed over the ledge and reappeared when he brought it back.

“How long has it been since you’ve been up here, Xiety?” Dee asked quietly, distracting Virgil.

Virgil thought for a second.

“I think I was eleven or twelve. We stopped coming up together when the nightmares began, didn't we?” he said calmly, sitting down crossed legged where he stood.

Deceit opened his eyes and looked up at the grey.

“Yeah. It used to scare me.” he simply said.

Virgil nodded and gave another glance towards Deceit.

Silence ensued for a few seconds before Deceit spoke again.

“I’ve always hated myself, I guess.”

Virgil’s eyes went wide and he looked at Deceit again.

“What do you mean?” Virgil asked and Deceit finally looked over at him.

“I always used to wonder why you bothered with me. When we were kids, you befriended me. You didn’t even bother to talk to the others. Then we just stayed friends.”

Deceit looked back up at the grey.

“You could’ve been friends with any of the others. I couldn’t.”

Virgil opened his mouth to speak, but Deceit went on.

“I guess I have you to thank, then.”

Sitting up, Deceit lifted his feet out of the grey and watched closely as they slowly reappeared.

“Thank me for what?” Virgil asked softly and Deceit slowly crossed his legs faced him.

“For saving me from myself for as long as you could.” he said, not changing his tone.

“What do you mean?��

Deceit didn’t answer, instead choosing to fiddle with the hem of his hoodie sleeve.

Virgil sighed and moved a few inches closer to Deceit.

“If you’re thanking me, then I’m here to apologize.

Deceit still didn’t say anything, but Virgil continued.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you all those years ago. It was so stupid of me. I thought you didn’t care about me and that’s why you weren’t listening to me.”

Virgil looked down at his own hoodie sleeve as he began to fiddle with a loose string.

“I pushed you away. All because of my stupid ego. All because I thought telling you my name was the most important thing in the world.”

He grimaced and shook his head softly.

“I pushed you away. All because I thought you could do better than me. I’m—”

Virgil stopped talking as he felt Deceit’s hand rest on his knee. He looked up to find Deceit just an inch away, his eyes wide.

“No.” he said and Virgil gave him a confused look.

“I’m the one who pushed you away. I, well… I knew you were having a hard time and didn’t want to add my own problems on top of that. I always thought you’d be better off without me.”

Deceit took his hand off Virgil’s knee and curled up on himself, bringing his knees to his chest.

“I was right, too. Without me, you made more friends. You found people who deserve you.”

Deceit curled up tighter, looking out at the grey.

“I just wish I hadn’t failed the first two times.”

It took a few seconds for Virgil’s mind to catch up.

“Failed what?” he asked.

Deceit didn’t answer, but slowly uncurled himself and stood up, stretching.

Turning to look back down at him, Virgil couldn’t stop his shudder at Deceit’s look.

His eyes were glassy and he had a toothy smile firmly in place on his face that reminded Virgil of a doll.

“Dee, are you okay?” Virgil asked softly, slowly standing up.

“Virgil. Oh my god, Virgil! I’m so stupid!” Deceit exclaimed loudly, causing Virgil to flinch back.

“What’s wrong Deceit?” he asked firmly, trying not to flinch away at Deceit’s manic excitement.

“Everything is wrong, Virgil! Can’t you see? Except it isn’t, because I think I just found the solution to my problem!”

“Problem?”

Deceit nodded and turned back around, walking closer to the edge of the roof.

It was only once Deceit was a few inches away from the edge that Virgil realized what he was about to do.

“Wait, Dee!” he shouted, reaching his hand forward as he started to run towards him.

Deceit turned around.

“Good bye.” he said softly as he fell backward into the grey, disappearing within a second.

CHAPTER 18 - HIDE AND SEEK

Anxiety was almost at ten and Deceit was still out in the open.

“Seven.” Anxiety said and Deceit suppressed a surprised giggle.

He had to hide, or else he’d be caught!

But where to hide? Deceit looked around sadly once again. There were no hiding spots in his room that Anxiety didn’t already know of.

“Eight-nine-ten, READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!” Anxiety shouted, uncovering his eyes and turning around to see Deceit standing in the middle of the room.

“Deeeeeee,” he whined. “You’re supposed to hide, or else we can’t call it hide and seek!”

Deceit frowned.

“I’m sorry, Xiety! I just can’t think of a place to hide!” he said sadly, sitting down on the floor and sticking his tongue out as he thought.

Anxiety frowned too as he looked around the room.

“You’re right. Maybe we should venture outside our rooms!” Anxiety said happily and Deceit looked up at him with wide eyes.

“I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Deceit said, wrapping his arms around himself.

Anxiety frowned.

“Why not?”

Deceit gave a small shrug as he brought his hands up to his scaled face.

“Ohhh.” Anxiety said with realization and he sunk down to sit on the floor with Deceit.

“I just… I don’t want to get in trouble again.” Deceit said sadly and Virgil gave him a one armed hug.

“Don’t worry, Dee Dee. I won’t let them hurt you again.”

Deceit gave him a small smile before standing back up.

“Well, there’s gotta be someplace here that no one else knows about!” Deceit said happily and Anxiety smiled and stood up too.

“Well, we live in a house, right?” he asked and Deceit gave a small, unsure nod.

Anxiety pointed up.

“Then we should have an attic or something!” he said and Deceit looked up.

“How do we get there then?” he asked and Virgil shrugged.

“Maybe we just think about it? Like how we made the legos appear earlier?”

Deceit nodded and scrunched his eyes closed and Anxiety did the same as they both pictured the top of a house.

They opened their eyes again when they felt a soft breeze hit their faces.

“Woah!” Anxiety said as he looked around at the light blue smoke that surrounded him.

“What is this?” Deceit asked in awe, also looking around at the never ending sea of blue.

Anxiety knelt down and tapped the floor.

“Metal? Maybe we’re on a roof or something.”

Deceit looked down at him and then back at the fog.

Slowly, he walked over to the edge of the ‘roof’ and looked down.

“I don’t see anything out there.” he said and Anxiety walked over to stand with him.

“Do you think it’s safe up here?” he asked softly and Deceit gave a pondering look.

“I think so…” he said slowly and thoughtfully. “But we should probably stay away from the edge.”

Anxiety nodded and immediately took a few steps back.

Deceit looked out at the fog once more before doing the same.

“So,” Anxiety said, getting Deceit’s attention.

Anxiety gave a little hum and a spin before he sat crossed legged on the ground.

“So?” Deceit asked, amused at Anxiety’s sudden giddiness.

Anxiety rolled his eyes and patted the spot next to him, so Deceit walked over and sat down.

Leaning in, Anxiety whispered quietly, “Morality finally picked a name.”

Deceit gave an eye roll of his own and leaned back on his arms.

“Why does it matter?” he said, causing Anxiety to splutter for a second.

“Why does it matter? Deeeee!” he said excitedly and Deceit gave a small sigh and lied on his back.

“Names are important! Without a name, you’re no one!”

Deceit closed his eyes.

“Without a name, actions speak more than words. Without a given name, who you really are as a person is what matters. Besides, we technically already have names.”

“Yeah, that Logic gave us after learning all those new words at school!” Anxiety exclaimed and Deceit chuckled.

There was a little bit of silence before Deceit finally asked what he knew Anxiety wanted him to.

“What name did he pick?” he asked, opening his eyes and turning his head to look at Anxiety.

Anxiety laughed and looked back at him.

“Patton.” he said and Deceit laughed too.

“What does that mean?” he asked and Anxiety shrugged with a smile.

“I don’t know! But he seems happy with it.” he said softly and Deceit watched his face go soft in thought.

Deceit repositioned himself so that he was propped up on one elbow.

“Hey, Anxiety?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to pick a new name for yourself.”

Anxiety’s eyes went wide and he looked up at Deceit’s soft smile.

“I… Well, maybe one day.” he replied and shifted closer to Deceit.

“One day?” Deceit asked and Virgil nodded.

“Yeah. I want to let my actions speak for myself first, just like you said.”

Deceit nodded and settled back down so that he was just a few inches away from Anxiety.

“Will you—”

“You’ll be the first one I tell.” Virgil cut him off, holding up his pinky in the air.

Deceit smiled and held up his own.

“Promise?”

Anxiety hooked their pinkies together and gave them a small shake.

“Promise.”

CHAPTER 19 - OFF THE ROOF

Virgil was still running, even after Deceit disappeared. Swallowed by the grey smog that surrounded the roof.

“NO!”

His hand was still reaching out to grab onto him. To stop him from doing it.

But he was too late.

He didn’t even notice he was still running until he felt the ground fall out from underneath him.

Taking a deep inhale of shock, he felt his stomach lurch as he started to drop.

Falling.

A scream never left his lips. His shock keeping him from breathing.

It wasn’t until he hit the ground with a resounding crack that he let out a shout of pain, falling onto all fours and breathing heavily.

“Oh my god.” he said breathily, his head throbbing and his pulse pounding in his ears.

Despite the tears that threatened to fall down his face, he slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his leg.

“That’s not good.”

Virgil’s head snapped up to see Deceit sitting to the right of him, barely visible in the grey smoke.

Virgil felt some of the worry for his friend leave his shoulders as he took a deep breath and let himself fall to the ground face first.

“Oh, Jesus Christ Dee. What the hell were you doing?” Virgil exclaimed breathlessly, his voice slightly muffled by the soft ground.

Virgil quickly pushed himself up and winced as he moved his leg.

“Where the heck are we?” he asked, panic clear in his voice.

Deceit shrugged one shoulder and Virgil finally noticed that Deceit was silently nursing his left arm, keeping it held close to his body.

“Deceit, you’re hurt! Why didn’t you tell me?” Virgil said, quickly crawling towards him despite the pain it sent throughout his body.

“Don't get closer!” Deceit suddenly shouted, curling in on himself more.

Virgil stopped moving.

“Dee, what’s wrong?” he asked slowly. Apprehensively.

Deceit didn’t respond and Virgil finished the crawl, stopping just a foot away.

“Oh, Dee…” Virgil said sadly as he finally was able to take a look at him.

Both legs appeared to be broken. His arm probably was too, but Deceit was still holding onto it tightly, preventing Virgil from getting a good look at it.

But what really made Virgil’s heart fall apart were the stream of tears falling down his face.

Upon hearing Virgil’s voice, Deceit curled up more and Virgil winced.

“Dee, don’t do that. You’ll just damage your legs more.” he said softly, placing a hand on Deceit’s knee.

Deceit just kept sobbing.

Virgil felt his own tears form in his eyes, but refused to let them fall.

Moving so that he was on Deceit’s right side, he sat with him shoulder to shoulder and leaned his head against his whilst wrapping and arm around him.

It was all he could think to do.

#sympathetic deceit fic #sympathetic deceit #sanders sides fic #im too lazy for tags lolol

30 notes · View notes

lvcifvr · 5 years

Note

Lol, I it was a mistake to reblog that, DO ALL THE EVENS!

you got me there orz

ALRIGHT

putting it under a readmore ‘cause this shit be long

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

yes i do, it makes me feel alive - as if electricity is running through my veins

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

coffee - black with a decent amount of sugar; tea - black with a decent amount of sugar

6: do you keep plants?

i do not but i would like to, especially succulents

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

writing mostly

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

side mostly

12: what’s your favorite planet?

pluto!

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

a mix of industrial and traditional with lots of plants, art, comfortable furniture, gaming setups, a huge kitchen, etc.

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

cold pasta salad with the multi-colored noodles, black olives, etc.

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

what friends lol nah but like, i don’t have friends now that i’ve had for a long time so there’s nothing to tell

20: what’s your favorite eye color?

hazel, grey, brown

22: are you a morning person?

it depends

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

yeah

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

just my regular sneakers - i need new insoles for them lmao

28: sunrise or sunset?

sunset

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

yes - i have ptsd from it lmao

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.

again…

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

my gran gave me a dark brown, almost black teddy bear for christmas when i was 15. his name is mebby. i still sleep with it every night lmao.

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

uhhh probably… sleeping at last?

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

willful ignorance, rude customers at my job, people not using their freaking blinkers

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you?

i only really wear one piece of jewelry - it’s virgil’s necklace lmao and its meaning is that i am literally virgil and thomas’ portrayal of him and how he’s treated and then how things change for him and stuff just really resonated with me, so yeah.

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

lol no

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

never

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

heck.. uhh…

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

i don’t really remember my childhood so idk and probably not lmao

50: what’s an odd thing you collect?

temporary tattoos? i have over 250

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far?

uhhhhh idk lmao sanders sides memes in general i guess

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?

my mom

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?

heartfelt laughs that can be goofy sometimes; gigglesnorting for sure

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why?

i’m the vodka aunt probably, idk who the wine mom is

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

yes but i don’t actively read it? so idk

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind?

rarely but apple juice

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?

black ‘cause it’s nearly 2 am

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like?

those small multi-colored wildflowers that you find on the side of highways in the middle of nowhere

68: what’s winter like where you live?

it’s on and off. sometimes it is warm / doesn’t snow / doesn’t change pretty much and sometimes we have a ton of snow and it is freezing

70: have you ever used a ouija board?

i used to own one and yes

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it?

ye lmao

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

they are adorable and a great hugger, very openminded and accepting and supportive

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t?

replying to the rp but i’m finishing this first rq

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub?

hate

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

burnt orange bc it was my uncle’s room before he moved out and he was a nascar fan z

82: are/were you good in school?

i was the Gifted Kid TM that ended up nearly failing lmao

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

i already have two - the trans symbol on the inside of my left wrist and a fox on the inside of my right forearm. i’m not sure about getting more but probably.

86: do you like concept albums? which ones?

i am indifferent mostly

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?

surrealism

90: talk about your one of your favorite cities.

i haven’t been anywhere so

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch?

in the middle???

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?

sara, i legit went to her b-day party earlier lmao

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot?

procrastinate lmao

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

never

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why?

the past because i have regerts

and done finally

#yellowsky2314 #Inbox

4 notes · View notes

themoonandotherslikeit · 5 years

Text

The Daughter of a Righteous Man- Chapter 14

*SEQUEL TO THE LOOK IN HER EYES*

After her husband is drug to Hell, Ava Winchester and her brother in law Sam try their best to do right by Dean and raise her daughter, only to find that good intentions aren’t always enough. Loving someone isnt always enough.

Chapter Fourteen, You Deserve to be Saved

Dean

I gripped the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles white. Ava sat up front next to me, absentmindedly braiding her hair over and over again, and Sam rapped his knee in the back seat.

The air in the Impala was quiet, and thick. I couldn't get the image of Pamela's eyes burnt out of her skull. This thing had to pay. I didn't care if it pulled me from Hell or not.

"I think we should summon this Castiel thing. Gank it for what it did to Pam," I hissed angrily.

"You want to summon it? You saw what it did when Pam got a glimpse of it, and you want to be face to face with it?" Sam asked, leaning forward.

"I deserve an explanation," I said, glancing at Sam in the rear view mirror. "Because if it thinks I owe it anything for pulling me from the pit, it's got another thing coming. I don't make deals with monsters."

Not counting the one that got me into Hell in the first place.

Ava's phone vibrated in her pocket and she picked it up. "John, hey, is everything okay? Mmhm.. yeah he went to the hospital with Pamela. She's in the ICU. No we don't know what it was." She was chewing on her hair, and looking out the window. "Can you just meet us at the house? We are on our way home. Yeah okay. See you soon."

"What was that about?"

"Your Dads dropping Nel at the house."

I squeezed the steering wheel tighter. I'm about to meet my daughter. I wanted to throw up.

We pulled up to the house, and Dads car was already here. I hadn't seen him yet. It was all too much, I wasn't sure if I was ready.

Sam opened up the door and got out of the car, stretching.

"Hey," Ava said, taking my hand. "What's wrong?"

I was frozen, my hands still on the steering wheel. "What if she doesn't like me?"

I glanced at her and her face melted.

"Sweetie, she's going to love you. You're her Dad."

I frowned. Every insecurity that I had pushed away was coming to the surface. "Am I though?" I never had to think about the kind of father I would be, because I knew I would be dead. I'd be in Hell, so why worry? "I haven't been here. She won't know my face. I haven't changed her diaper, or held her when she cried. I wasn't there when she was born..."

"Hey, stop." She took my face in her hands. "Dean Winchester, she will recognize your face, because it is just like her own face. You may not have held her yet, but you talked to her every day that I was pregnant. She is your blood, and you're crazy if you don't think I told her about you. You will hold her when she cries, and I will let you change any diaper you want to. You're her father."

"But I don't know how to be her father. My only example wasn't exactly father of the year."

Ava smiled sadly at me. "You know how. Trust me. You love stronger than anyone else. Just love her. You and I will figure out the rest."

I stared at the smudged eyeliner under her eye, and her wet lips. The crystal blue of her eyes and the eyelash that was on her cheek. I wiped it away and nodded. "Okay."

I chose to believe her. I trusted her, and I knew she would never lie to me. Whatever happened in Hell was behind me, and I wouldn't let if affect the way I was with my daughter. I wouldn't let it change me.

I entered the house holding Ava's hand. Sam leaned against the wall, and Dad was pacing. I couldn't find Nel by just scanning the room, and my stomach dropped. "Where is she?"

"Son," Dad said, walking fast to me. He pulled me into his arms. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Dad, where is my daughter?"

"She's fine," Sam said. "We put her in her crib. I figured you'd want some alone time with her. She's waiting for you in there."

I looked to Ava, almost for approval.

"Go,” she said gently.

"Come with me," I asked quietly. What if I didn't know what to do?

"Okay."

We walked back to the nursery, every step making me feel a million miles away, but yet too close for comfort.

I pushed open the door, and stood in the doorway. I was paralyzed again. All I could see was Alastair's face smiling at me.

"It's okay, Dean. You sit down. I will get her."

Ava lead me to the rocking chair and lowered me down.

She walked to the crib and reached down inside. "Hello beautiful girl."

I heard a small coo, and I sat up a little straighter. That was her. That was my daughter.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sight of my wife holding my daughter. When I met Ava I didn't think I would ever love anyone like that, but everything melted away when I saw what she held in her arms.

"Dean Winchester, meet Eleanor. Nel, this is your Daddy."

Eleanor's hair matched my own, and her eyes were the perfect combination of blue and green. She wrinkled her nose and smiled a toothless smile. That was Ava's nose.

"Do you want to hold her?"

I nodded, unable to speak. Ava lowered her into my arms. She fit in the crook of my arm like it was exactly where she was supposed to be. She reached for my face, looking confused, and I noticed the little dimples on her knuckles. Her tiny fingernails were painted pink.

"I'll leave you two alone. Holler if you need me, okay?" Ava asked gently.

I nodded, unable to take my eyes off the child in my arms.

"Hi," I whispered nervously.

She smacked her lips in response. The corner of mine turned up in a smile.

"Normally I'm really good at talking to women," I said, trying to be smooth. "You are so beautiful. So much more than I could've dreamed."

I rocked her gently. Her hand wrapped around my finger. I hoped the callouses weren't too rough on her soft, perfect skin. She squeezed my finger with a strength I didn't know someone so small could have, and a wave of emotion rolled through me. "I will always protect you. As long as I'm alive I will always fight for you."

Looking at her, whatever emptiness I had was filled. All my cracks were mended. It didn't matter what happened in Hell, because she was alive. I would live a thousand lives down there if it would keep her breathing. She was a miracle, and so was her mother.

"Did your Mom tell you how we met?"

She yawned and nuzzled her face into my chest.

"I was working a case, you see your Mom and Dad hunted monsters. We kept the world safe." I stroked the length of her forehead, watching her eyes roll around, fighting sleep. "And when I met your Mom she put me in my place. She was strong. She didn't take any crap. You'll be like that one day, a spitfire, just like her."

I ran my finger down her nose, and she sniffled and sneezed. God she was so fucking cute I could actually die. "Bless you, sweet girl."

I couldn't tear my eyes away. I didn't want to. "I don't think your Mom knows this, but I saw something with her that first time I met her. She was so beautiful, and she didn't put up with me. I like that in a woman. Then when I found out she was Bobby's niece... then I wanted her even more. I knew she could handle my life, and she could handle me. I just didn't think I deserved her, and want to know a secret? I still don't think I do. I don't think I deserve any of this, but I am going to spend my life fighting to earn it. I'm going to spend my life fighting to earn you."

Ava

"He wants to summon it," I said with my arms crossed. "We can't let him, right?"

"When have we ever let Dean do anything?" Sam asked, his arms crossed matching mine.

"You know what I mean! He has a baby, and I don't think she is going to like looking at a burnt up husk!"

"Fine. Then I'll do it," Sam said sharply.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not. I'm not a father. I have nothing to lose."

I frowned at him. "No one is summoning it. We don't even know what it is. We are going to keep it that way. That's final."

"You're not the boss, Ava," Sam said, grabbing his jacket.

"Hey," I grabbed his shoulder. "You didn't want him to do it either. Do you just want to fight with me?"

John stared between us shaking his head. "He doesn't know, does he?"

We both turned and looked at him. "There's nothing to know," I said flatly.

"Mm."

"Don't try to change the subject. We aren't doing it."

"We are," Dean said, stepping into the hallway. He was holding Nel, she was sleeping in his arms. "Well, Sam, Dad, and I are. Not you. You'll stay home with Nel."

"The fuck I am," I said, my voice low. "We are in this together."

He shook his head. "Nel can't lose two parents, and this is my fight. This thing brought me back, and I need to know why."

I walked to him, wishing it was just us. "Look at her Dean... how can you put yourself at risk when you've seen her." I put my hand on her sleeping tummy.

"It's because of her that I have to do this. I promised I would protect her. As long as theirs monsters... it's up to me to take care of them. It's up to me to at least take care of this one. I can't risk it coming after me, coming after our family. Let me do this, Ave."

My heart ached as I looked at the wrinkles around his eyes. "You don't even know how to fight it."

"We have everything we could ever need. We will figure it out." He transferred Nel into my arms and reached down to kiss her forehead. "I will come back to you."

"You promise? You all promise?" I turned to look directly at Sam.

He shifted uncomfortably, but nodded.

"Fine. I don't like it, but I should know better than try to talk a Winchester out of anything."

Dean

Dad, Sam, and I stood in an old air hanger outside of town. Sam stood over a book, staring intently, while Dad painted every warding we have ever heard of on the walls. I laid out our weapons.

"So you've been babysitting a lot?" I asked casually, glancing at my Dad.

He shrugged. "Is that such a wild concept?"

"Yeah, actually," I grunted.

"I did raise two kids."

Raised? Oh fucking please. "What do you think of her?"

Dad stopped and looked at me. "She's amazing. When I look at her I see every place I went wrong and every place I want to get right. She's a miracle."

"I think so too." I lined up the weapons. "Alright. Everything we need to kill everything I've ever heard of."

"Got every protective marking that exists."

"And I have the ritual ready," Sam said, holding his book. "Let's do this."

It seemed pretty anti climactic. Sammy spoke some words, and we waited, sitting around kicking our feet. "You sure you did it right?"

"Of course I did," Sam snapped. "Sorry there isn't an exact science for..."

A large gust of wind came out of the quiet night and the roof began to shake.

I cleared my throat, suddenly wondering if this was a horrible idea. "Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind."

We turned our gaze to the double doors in front of us as they shook. We grabbed our guns, loading them. The doors burst open and a man stood right in the middle. He was shorter than me, with brown tussled hair. He wore a trench coat over a dress shirt and tie. I raised an eyebrow at Sam.

The light bulbs above his head shattered in a shower of sparks as he walked below them, passing over every marking Dad had been painting. He walked closer, and I nodded to the other two men with me, and we let our guns go. Bullets rained over him, into his chest, arms, neck. It didn't seem to phase him at all as he continued toward us.

"Shit," I whispered, dropping my gun. I grabbed for the demon blade out of the back of my pants, and when the man stood in front of me I drove the blade into his chest with extreme force.

The three of us stood, dumbfounded, as he reached up and pulled the blade out with ease. There was no sign it hurt him at all apart from the small amount of blood coming from the wound.

"Who are you?" I growled.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition,” he said flatly. Blankly. He was void of emotion, his blue eyes blinking mindlessly.

"Yeah. Thanks for that." I frowned. I looked around, wondering how I was going to kill him.

Both Dad and Sam came at him, with other weapons I hadn't seen them grab. He easily knocked them out of the way, taking two fingers to each of their foreheads.

"Sammy!"

His eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell to the floor unconscious, and Dad fell with him.

"We need to talk, Dean. Alone,” the man said.

I fell to my knees and grabbed Sams head. He was breathing, and he seemed unharmed from what I could tell.

"They are alive."

I lowered Sam back to the ground and stood up, ready to confront the bastard. "Who are you?"

"Castiel."

"Yeah, I figured that much, I mean what are you?"

Castiel blinked at me, tilting his head. "I'm an Angel of the Lord,” he said, like I heard that all the time.

"That's fucking cute," I groaned. "Do I look stupid? There's no such thing."

"This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith."

Castiel looked at me, and a flash of light illuminated large, shadowy black wings that stretched along the back wall of the hanger. Huge and magnificent.

"Some angel you are. You burned out that poor woman's eyes." I wouldn't be able to forget her gripping for me.

Castiel sighed. More from inconvenience than anything. "I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be... overwhelming to humans, and so can my real voice, but you already knew that."

"You mean the gas station... That was you talking?" I took a step toward jinx "Buddy, next time, lower the volume.”

Castiel's eyes never left me. He obviously wasn't taught not to stare. "That was my mistake. Certain people, special people, can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong."

"And what visage are you in now, huh? What, holy tax accountant?" I asked, gesturing to his outfit. "Not exactly what I'd expect an angel to look like. No halo, no harp..."

"This? This is... a vessel."

I frowned. Some fucking angel. "You're possessing someone?"

"He's a devout man, he actually prayed for this."

"Yeah I'm sure he did." I shook my head. "Listen, that was a cute story, but I'm going to need you to try again. How about the truth this time?"

"I already told you."

"Right. Angel of the lord, and tell me, Castiel, why would an angel rescue me from Hell?"

Castiel stepped closer, apparently also not knowing personal space. He smiled for the first time as he said, "Good things do happen, Dean."

I turned away from him, looking at Sam passed out on the floor. "Not in my experience."

"What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved?"

What're you a mind reader too?

"Why'd you do it?"

"Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you."

He said it like it was that simple. As if it were easy. "Last time I checked, God didn't care about me."

Castiel smiled again and shook his head. "Oh Dean. How wrong you are. There is so much more going on than what you can see. Maybe if you open your eyes then you can truly see the light of the lord. I will see you again soon."

In a blink he was gone. Maybe he flew away, or maybe I imagined him, but either way something felt off about him. Maybe he was right. Maybe something more is going on. Something big.

————————

"An Angel?" Sam asked, crossing his arms. His jaw hung open. He looked genuinely surprised.

"That's what he said, but I don't buy it."

Sam, Bobby, Ava, and I sat around Bobby's living room. Pam was out of the ICU, but wasn't quite out of the woods yet. Books of angel lore were strewn across the room. I'd caught them up on everything as Ava bounced a fussy Nel.

"Why not? There's tons of lore about it," Sam said excitedly.

"Yeah, but no one we've ever known has seen one. Don't you think some hunter somewhere would've seen one?"

"One did, Dean. You did."

"Why are you so excited about this?"

"Because for once maybe we aren't fighting a monster! Maybe for once they're the good guys..."

"So what? I'm supposed to believe that there's a god out there?"

"I don't see why not." Ava shrugged, bouncing Eleanor.

"And what? He has a personal thing for me? I don't buy it. I'm not special. I'm just a guy."

"Oh please," Ava scoffed.

"I don't even like being singled out at birthday parties. Let alone being singled out by God..."

"Well, I think it's time to put on your party hat, Dean," Sam said seriously.

Ava said down and pulled out her breast to calm down Eleanor. She took it easily.

"Bobby, have you found anything else that could've pulled me out?"

"There's a book here that says angels can do it, but as far as I know there's nothing else. Maybe it's not such a crazy idea."

"What the hell could God want with me?" I frowned rubbing my face. "Fuck I need a drink."

"Me too," Sam agreed.

I walked to Ava and placed a kiss on her mouth. "Meet you at home later?"

"Sure,” she agreed with a smile. "Love you."

"Love you back."

Maybe if you open your eyes then you can truly see the light of the lord. I will see you again soon.

Castiel's voice echoed through my head as we walked to the car. I didn't know what scared me more, the idea that he was lying and was some other kind of monster, or if he was telling the truth. Because if he was telling the truth, and god called on me... how do I say no?

—————

Chapter Fifteen, The Witnesses

Support my writing!

Get caught up!

Tag List:

@xjamiedennettx

@deans-baby-momma

@sonnierae26

4 notes · View notes

assbuttyourlife · 6 years

Text

When We Were Young - Chapter Fourteen

Pairing : Misha/OFC

Warnings : Language, Fire, trauma, PTSD, family members’ death (including child), therapy, flashbacks (not in every chapter), injuries, cheating. Long fic. Angst, fluff, Smut. Mention of suicide.

Words : 5502

Summary : After her grandmother’s funeral, Lily must return to the place she lived in when she was young and has to confront the ghosts of her past. She will run into an old friend that she thought was lost forever.

WWWY Masterlist

AO3 link

CHAPTER 14 - PTSD

The sun had just risen when Lily started to drift from a deep sleep to the half comatose state she was when she usually woke up. That state where she always wondered which day it was.

Her eyes still closed, she squeezed her pillow and twitched a little.

Mmh that's warm and firm and it smells good...

She tried to stretch her legs a little, and winced when she found one of them intertwined with... another leg that didn't belong to her!... And didn't belong to Peter either!

And suddenly she remembered she was in a hotel in Northfield with Misha and fell asleep next to him yesterday. Her eyes popped open, she let go of him and jumped to get out of his arms, feeling guilty, but she was too close to the edge of the bed so she fell on the floor, back first, bumping her head on the nightstand in the process.

"Ouch! Fuck!"

Naturally, the movement followed by the loud thud woke Misha up.

"Damn! Lily are you okay?"

He laid on his stomach to look down the bed and stifled a laugh when he saw her laying on her back, wearing only the large T-shirt and shorts that she slept in, her legs spread, rubbing on the back of her head.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Misha's face fell when she pulled her hand away from her head and he saw blood on it. He immediately jumped down the bed next to her and supported her head.

"You're bleeding!" He helped her getting up slowly and sat her on the bed, examining her hair, and spotted the wound where it was sticky.

"I don't think you need stitches, but let me clean it."

She was awfully quiet the whole time. Misha went to the bathroom and could only find alcohol to disinfect the wound.

He sat behind her and applied the gauze on it. She jumped once again.

"Fuck! It hurts! What did you put on it?"

"Oh she speaks! It's alcohol, don't be a baby. It won't be long."

She hissed when he cleaned the wound but didn't say anything.

"Why did you jump out of bed like that?"

"I don't know, I... I woke up and I saw you... I felt guilty and in the half-asleep state I was in I jumped like an idiot."

He was amused.

"That's a first! You feeling guilty because you slept with me."

"That was totally inappropriate. I'm sorry."

"We watched TV and fell asleep. Big deal! We're not teens anymore, Lily. And it's not like I have a jealous wife in the first place. Just relax, would you?"

"I know! I just need to get used to it, I guess."

"Okay, you're fine."

He stood up and disappeared in the bathroom. When he reappeared a few minutes later, he was fully dressed and ready to go.

"I'm gonna get breakfast. Get ready. We've stalled long enough."

She sighed and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and get dressed. Misha was here with breakfast when she went back in the room to get her stuff.

"Your morning dose of caffeine, ma'am."

She took the cup from his hand with a smile. That was just what she needed.

They left the hotel and jumped into the rental car to finally drive to the farm.

The short trip was quiet, they were both sipping on their coffees when they soon arrived in front the property where Misha parked the car.

"I'm kinda nervous..." He admitted.

"I know... I was too. But you'll feel better when we're done."

"Where do we start?"

"Let's go directly to the house and we'll walked back to the car stopping by the other places."

"Okay..."

He got out of the car and started walking on the large main path, Lily by his side.

"Why do you always say Vicki's not the jealous type?"

She didn't even know why she asked that question at that moment, but the silence was making her nervous and it was the first thing she could think about.

"Because it's true. I'm not either, and I guess we've been together for so long because we found a certain... balance."

"You??? Not jealous??? Are you kidding me? Do I have to remind you what you did because of Ty in Italy?”

"That was different." He said, his voice becoming lower.

"How?"

"Well... It was you. I don't... you I can't share."

"Share? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you saying you're sharing Vicki?"

They were now walking between the cottage and the pond.

"Yeah. She's probably banging her girlfriend as we speak and I don't mind."

"Wha-"

She stopped walking, and when Misha realized she wasn't next to her anymore he turned around.

"What? Don't tell me you're tired already!"

She walked next to him so she didn't have to scream.

"Do you realize what you just said to me?"

He kept walking and she followed, they were now on their way to the orchard.

"Of course I do. I wasn't lying went I told you we're not enough for each other. She loves me, but she's in love with her friend too and I'm okay with it. They have sex, they're happy, and if I need to, I just... join them."

Lily's mouth dropped.

"Excuse me???"

Alright... he was definitely messing with her now. It couldn't be real.

He didn't add anything, so she scoffed.

"You're not serious. you can't be."

"I assure you I am, Lily."

"But... But... But.... The kids! And... and... How could you change that much?"

"The kids are out of this. They're too young to understand anyway. And I didn't change, I just met a woman with other... convictions. I don't think it would've happened with you."

"Of course not! I mean no offense but... I would be full of rage if I knew my husband was screwing another woman, friend or not!"

At that moment, she pictured Peter and Katie having sex and felt nauseous.

Misha laughed.

"You mean like the time I left with my family and you were sick the whole time thinking I was banging every girl on my path?"

Damn he had a good memory. She felt so stupid...

"Ah... You remember that." She looked down at her feet, walking pass the barns.

"I was too disappointed to forget. I told you I would be back and I would be faithful and you didn't believe me. That hurt."

She let out an annoyed and embarrassed moan. He knew exactly how to make her feel guilty.

"I knooow... We've been over this a long time ago already! Don't remind me."

"I wouldn't be able to share you. Not even now... not even with Vicki."

"Okay... end of the conversation! This is making me super uncomfortable. We're here anyway."

The half burnt house was indeed right in front of them.

"So what now?" She asked a little confused.

"Well... Now we get inside."

She ran after him as he started his way to the house.

"What?? Have you lost your mind? It's too dangerous! It will collapse the second we step inside!!! Get your ass back here, Krushnic!"

"Woose!" He screamed.

Oh my god she couldn't believe it... Now she was just terrified that something bad could happen to him. It was so damaged and nobody took care of the house in more than twenty years, the wood was probably rotten and too weak, and it was definitely dangerous.

He tried to open the large front door and turned around.

"Can you believe it? It's locked!" He laughed. “Who locks the door on a destroyed house? Do you have the key or should I go through the broken window?"

She walked next to him.

"How about you do nothing? We can just go chill to the orchard, it's late August there must be plenty of fruits and-"

He started to walk towards the patio, ignoring her comments.

"Okay, broken window it is, then."

" No, no, wait! You're gonna cut your leg, you moron! Of course I have the damn key! What a stubborn ass!"

She handed it to him reluctantly and he opened the front door.

“Yeah, that hasn't changed.” He chuckled.

They stepped inside the hall, revealing an almost intact ground floor, and when Lily saw her old house dirty and messy, but still looking the same as it was in her memory, her heart skipped a few beats, she couldn't breath anymore, and she collapsed on the ground.

Misha didn't have the time to react fast enough to avoid the impact on the ground, but he came quickly to her side and shook her gently.

"Lily!" His voice was full of panic, but he saw her eyes twitch.

"Lily, please wake up!"

She opened her eyes and saw his worried face.

“Are you okay?”

"Yes... What happened?" She asked weakly while he helped her standing up.

"I'm not a doctor, but if I had to guess I think you just had some sort of a flashback. You really have to stop knocking your head!"

She slowly walked a few steps further inside the hallway, observing everything around her.

"I... I thought it would be all black and smelly and empty... Look at that! Everything's here!"

"Well, except a few curious people and the police, nobody came here since the night of the fire. I came back but I never dared enter."

"Look!"

She stepped inside the great room where the grand piano was still waiting. She pushed a couple of dusty keys to play a chord but winced when she heard the raspy sound of the instrument.

"Ouch... out of tune."

Everything was here... it was so strange! It was like opening a door to the past. The huge boat model was still behind the sofa, the stuffed animal heads were proudly hanging on the walls... the books... the logs next to the fireplace...

Misha stepped near that same fireplace to admire the huge wooden bear that Lily's grandfather carved.

"I need that thing in my house."

"Sure. Take what you want. It's heavy though... and we can't bring that in the plane!"

"Yeah... We'll have to come back with Sasha and Darius...and a truck."

"That should be fun."

He took something that looked like a tiny guitar case.

"I think I found your first violin!"

"Oh god... Open it!"

He did so and her face lightened with a huge happy smile that reached her eyes. It still smelled as good as she remembered.

"So many memories... It's so small!"

Misha left the room to explore further in the house while she placed the violin back in its case.

"And I think I know why nobody could come up to get us out by the stairs..."

She heard Misha and ran to see what he was talking about. The first half of the wooden staircase was intact, but the top of it burnt, and the ceiling of the second floor collapsed on the lower floor, blocking the path.

"I'm gonna climb."

"Uh no. You won't."

"Watch me. I need to see your room."

"Misha no! It's destroyed! You're gonna hurt yourself! The floor won't hold!"

He ignored her, placed a table near the stairs, jumped on it and clambered to reach the next level.

"Misha! Please!"

He heard the fear in her voice so he looked down at her through the hole in the broken ceiling.

"I'll be fine. Stay here. If I see it's too dangerous I won't go."

He disappeared into the next floor's mess, and when she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, she understood he was near the tower entrance, so she ran outside through the back patio and looked if she could see him from here.

"Misha?" She called worried.

He didn't answer, and she hated the sensation of helplessness she felt. The same feeling she had when he was half dead in her arms.

Misha knew she was worried so he should say something, but he just couldn't talk.

He made it to what was left of her old room and was so shocked that he just stood here speechless.

The ceiling and the roof were gone, half of it crashed on the floor, and half of the floor crashed down on the lower level, blocking the stairs.

Everything burnt... The walls were black, all the furniture were ashes except the metal frame of Lily's bed.

That same bed they used to share in secret... They were right on that bed's foot the night of the fire. Nothing was left... nothing... but they made it. He made it without a damn scratch thanks to her.

He stared at the spot they were when they lost consciousness, and saw a huge pile of wreckage that probably fell from the ceiling too... burning her back.

"MISHA!!!"

Still no answer... Was she supposed to go in there? She didn't hear any crash sound but she was now biting her nails. Should she call someone for help?

Misha broke down crying on the floor, realizing how close to death they stepped. When he calmed down a little, he took his phone out of his pocket and took some pictures of the room.

"MISHA IF YOU DON'T ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW I'M COMING TO GET YOU! DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!"

"I'm going down! I'm fine!" He finally managed to reply after he cleared his throat.

Thank god!

She waited in the backyard near the fountain and the well, and ran towards him when she saw him getting out of the house.

She didn't care how dirty, dusty and smelly he was, she ran into him and slammed her arms around his neck, holding him tight.

He did the same, circling her waist with his arms.

"Why didn't you answer right away? You scared the shit out of me!"

She wasn't lying, he could feel her body shaking. He lifted her and sat her on the edge of the condemned well, took his phone out of his pocket to show her the pictures of her old bedroom.

She took the phone from his hands and observed.

“Oh my god...” She whispered.

“Where would I be today if you hadn't saved me that night? How would I look now if you hadn't laid on top of me with your blanket?”

A silent tear fell down her face and Misha brushed it with his thumb.

“Thank you, Lily. I really wish I was the one with the scar today, I really wish I could've protected you from this... but thank you.”

She didn't say anything, she just leaned her head into the hand he still had on her cheek and closed her eyes, and another tear fell.

Misha kissed her forehead. When he pulled back, her eyes were still closed, so he kissed her left cheek. She still didn't move, so he gently brushed his lips against hers. He looked at her to see any reaction, and he saw that her eyes was shut tighter, a pained expression on her face.

He leaned forward and crashed his lips on hers one more time, insisting because he just needed her to kiss him back. He opened his mouth a little, and she finally did the same, kissing him slowly and desperately. Her hands raised to his hair, just as she liked to do when they were young, and Misha put his hands on her hips, squeezing gently.

He pushed his tongue inside of her mouth and he heard a soft moan coming from her. That was delightful. He had forgotten how she tasted like, and now that he had tasted it back, he didn't think he could get enough of it, he didn't think he could stop.

So she was the one who broke the kiss.

“We can't do that.” she whispered, resting her forehead against his.

“Why? It feels right to me.”

“Because you're m-”

“I know! It doesn't matter!” It sounded harsher than he'd wanted to. She just didn't understand...

She jumped down the well and walked back toward the house.

“It does.”

He sighed and rubbed his face in his hands in frustration.

“You coming? I think we should go see our tree.”

They didn't stop by the barns or the orchard. They were too eager to go back to their favorite spot at the pond. When they arrived near the willow tree, the sky began to be menacing, it would rain soon so they had to hurry.

“So... are you still flexible, Mr Collins? Can you still climb on it? I sure can!”

She didn't wait for him and jumped to climb on the first branch, the same one they always shared since they were kids when they wanted to talk and share secrets, away from their families.

“I'm impressed!”

He did the same and joined her, sitting on the huge branch next to her. She was sitting too, her back leaning against the trunk.

“See? Who says we're old?”

“My son does.”

She giggled and looked at the water behind them.

“Remember when we used to jump from here?”

“Of course.”

“Ew, the water is so gross now! Katie was right I wouldn't swim in it for a m-”

“I love you.”

She froze and stared at him.

Okay... no panic, this is normal, they were in the place they shared for many years, surrounded by memories, good and bad, they were here to move on, so his reaction was normal. No big deal. They were friends after all, so yeah... of course they loved each other.

“I... I do too, Misha. You know that.”

He scoffed and shook his head.

“Nice try, Lily. You know perfectly what I mean.”

She sighed deeply, swallowing the heavy lump in her throat. She wouldn't even look at him.

“We're here because we wanted to turn that page... and you just say that to me like it's no big deal...”

He took her hand.

“I really came here in order to move on... But I realize now that it's not possible for me. I don't want to move on anymore. I want you back.”

Her jaw twitched.

“This is PTSD... You saw the house and the burnt room and it brought memories back, so now you think you have these feelings back too, but you don't.”

“Okay, Doctor Freud... just look at me in the eyes and tell me you don't feel the same and I'll move on. Tell me you don't love me.”

She frowned and made eye contact. It was painfully similar to what happened in Rome and she personally hated it. She already broke up with him, it was enough.

“You're being ridiculous! Come on, Misha!”

“I'm waiting...”

“Fine! Just keep in mind you asked for it!” She cleared her throat and looked directly into his blue eyes, her hand still in his.

“I don't love you anymore. Not like that.”

He expected everything but this...

“You're lying.”

“I'm really not.”

“Why are you crying then?”

Oh damn, she didn't even notice her tears!

“Because... I never thought I would say that one day, and I hate to hurt you. I love you as my friend... but I'm not in love with you anymore. I moved on, and it's your turn now. You owe it to your family. I won't be the one destroying what you've built. I just can't... I'm sorry.”

Misha looked down at the water. Sadness was written all over his face, and she hated herself at this moment. He jumped down the tree, took her bag and walked toward the cottage at the other side of the path, where he used to live.

“Alright, one more stop and we can leave this place.”

She didn't move from the branch... she just stayed up here like an idiot and silently sobbed in her hands. When she looked up, he was far already, he almost made it to the small house. He probably needed to be alone.

She waited a few more minutes, trying to compose herself, and she finally jumped down the tree to head toward the cottage. She didn't even have the time to reach it when she saw Misha coming back already. She tried to read his expression but she couldn't.

“Misha... are you okay?”

“No... But it's only PTSD, right? I saw what I needed to. Let's go back to the hotel, I'm hungry.”

Fuck!

She thought she couldn't hate herself more but she was wrong!

They reached the car and drove back to the hotel in total silence. They didn't even share a single word. She wanted to say something, but what could she really say to him after what she just did?

#misha collins #when we were young #long fic #misha/OFC

1 note · View note

shitsuzannesaid · 7 years

Text

Back to Reality

Yesterday, I made this incredibly long post about the time my mom spent here with me while I recuperated. At first it was only supposed to be a week which turned into 23 days. There were some good parts and bad parts were she had a couple drinks. That hopeful child and me thought she wouldn't but once we stopped outside of the house and go to the casino either for show or for business she drink. At the end of the day, and the realization that I have had... she will always be a drunk. No matter how many times she says she hasn't drank in months she still goes back. It may be a disease but I think it's bullshit that I think it's absolute bullshit. I feel that alcoholism is a nasty crunch that people who are too weak to cope on their own in a healthy way gravitate towards because it numbs whatever type of pain they are currently in. I come from a long lineage of drunks and I don't like it and that is exactly why I knew being a 16-year-old I was different. I was different and the respect of I don't care for alcohol and I have to be in the mood for it to drink and my crotch really was food. Surgery, in all reality saved my life. If it wasn't for preparing almost a year of going to appointments and saving up $1800 I would still be the weight I was two months ago however I would still gain weight. When I entered surgery I was in the red zone of diabetes my AC1 was 6.6 and I was nearing 300 pounds. I haven't taking selfie's because I have a fat face and because I'm ashamed of my life choices and my body. My stomach is literally would sit on my legs when I would sit down and now it is shrinking and I have more energy, my back doesn't hurt as bad, my knees donate like they used to and really this is a miracle that I have made it this far. I think I'm heading my first stall. Today I am to 74.6 and I am 6 ounces away from reaching my first call which is a loss of 25 pounds. I still feel fat as fuck and I know it's going to be a process but my end goal is to weigh around 135 and that would be a total of 175 pounds lost give or take. I really want to enjoy going to the gym and running and build up strength to where I haven't had a brick wall within a matter of minutes. The end goal for me technically is to have my menstrual cycles the way they should be and to not rely on birth control because I have polycystic ovarian syndrome. So things are going better. My stomach doesn't hurt as bad when I eat and when I drink it doesn't hurt as bad as before. I think by the time I turn 32 I believe I would have lost about 50 pounds. It took me three weeks to lose 25 I don't see why not and it additional three weeks I can lose an additional 25 pounds. If that's the case I'm really hoping I can get under 200 pounds and enter onederland. It's really... typical to know that my mom to complain yesterday to go back to Arizona and hope that someone will call me and let me know that they got her; but instead I figured they'd that she already went home. It really isn't home she's just living with my brother until she can move into her own apartment. honestly, if I had the money I would move all her shit into the apartment so she can have a safe space instead of living in a motherfucking couch and sleeping a couple hours because she's worried her daughter-in-law's going to kill her. I don't understand why some my brothers are in the mile of the situation or they're just burnt out with my mom but I mean at the end of the day when you want her to be in a safe spot instead of living with a maniac who clearly has mental health issues. She isn't compliant with her medication, she still drinks when she's going to "therapy" which must be fucking honest she is a fucking mess and I'm just done with it and given all the advice to my brother that you need to watch your fucking kids and that he really can't trust your wife to watch them so instead you have your oldest child is turning 10 in a couple of weeks watch your baby who's almost a year and a half old? You know at the end of the day he may say he's doing the best that you can't but if he was doing the best that he can he would've got my mom into an apartment but instead she still living almost 6 months later with my brother. I know I shouldn't judge but I'm just completely over their shitty behavior. I'm over in making excuses that it's OK that my mom sleeps on the couch because it's the best that they can do. The best that they can do is get in touch with someone who can help her but instead he's in a tough spot because he works 10 to 14 hours a day and it's absolute bullshit. I wish I had a better family.

#personal

2 notes · View notes

firewarrior117 · 7 years

Text

The Witch and the Tambourine, Part 1

It sure has been awhile. I thinks it about time I get another story out there for you guys!

I’ll finish up unfulfilled contract when I have the chance, but for now, I’m going to start on a new one while I still got the idea in my head.

Fiona has had quite a few families as she’s gown up these past 14 years of her life. From an Orphanage that was burnt to the ground by White Reef militia, to an Aristocratic mage who used her as a test subject, to a family of Slavers who threatened to kill her if she didn’t bend to there will. However...There was one family, that actually felt like a family to her.

I’m not talking about the Infernus clan and Aki’s friends. This was a band of wanderers...who’s only desires were to sing, dance, and bring smiles upon the faces of the people of Vitaria. a band of caravaneers who were like no other troupe that performed across the lands. A troupe Fiona still holds dear to her heart to this day...

(Centurion’s Tower, Fiona’s room)

Vayle: *Comes into the room with a cardboard box* And you’re certain you’re okay with this, Fiona? I don’t want to donate something you might want to read later...

Fiona: *nods!* Don’t worry, lady Vayle! Mr. Bellator has doubles of a lot of these books in the tower library already! I’m sure there’s a lot of people in Vitaria who need these books more than I do.

Vayle: Heh...The Tower Library...Sounds like a room Akimoto should spend more time in...

Akimoto: Ah, shut up! *Places more boxes down* I’ve spent more than enough time in that room back in high school!

Vayle: Graduation shouldn’t stop you from furthering your education, Akimoto...Perhaps we should donate some of these books to YOU!

Akimoto: Sounds great! I’ll use em as kindling when Summer rolls around...*Picks up a book of beasts vol. 4* Anything like this you don’t want, Fiona?

Fiona: Yes, the book of beasts volumes can go! I’ve read all 10 volumes already!

Akimoto: Alright! *Places various random books and biographies within the box* How about spell books? Are those allowed to be donated?

Vayle: So long as they don’t fall into the wrong hands, they shouldn’t be a problem.

Fiona: Oh! yeah! *point* The ones on that shelf are okay to go! I got all the important ones on the shelf by my bed!

Akimoto: Got it! *!* Huh...what the hell? *Picks up a tambourine that was stacked upon a small pile on top of the shelf, it makes a small jingle as Aki picks it up!*

Fiona: *Her eyes widen, turning to Akimoto in panic*...

Vayle: ...Oh? Is that a Tambourine?

Akimoto: Yeah. *Shakes it slightly as it jingles away* looks like something the Caravaneers play when they perfo-

Fiona: DON’T TOUCH THAT!! *Snatches it away, hugging it tightly*

*Aki and Vayle both stare at her in shock of her reaction!*

Fiona: ...*Blink* I...*Ahem!* S-sorry about that...Please don’t touch this Tambourine, it’s...It’s very important to me!

Vayle: It certainly must be, given your reaction. If I may ask, Where did you get it from?

Fiona: It’s a memento...Something to remember my old family by...A Family...Who loved me for who I was...Not for What I-...*Looks at her shackles*...Well...You know...

Akimoto: The Caravaneers, right?

Fiona: Mmhmm! They were the nicest, most joyful, upbeat, happy people I’ve ever met. They took me into there troupe with open arms! They didn’t care who I was, what I’ve done, or what power I had within! They welcomed me as one of them...They showed me so much love and joy. And they spread that joy to all of Vitaria through song and dance! *Jingles the Tambourine!* Through Rhythm, Dance, magic and talent, they always knew how to make others smile!

*Unintentionally Strikes a Caravaneer pose with a twirl and a smile as the Tambourine Jingles loudly!*

Vayle: Ahaha! *Claps!* seems some of that Rhythm rubbed off on you!

Akimoto: Heh...You might just give Krystal a run for her money with moves like that!

Fiona:...*Blink!*...O-oh! *Blushes!* Whoops! Force of habit! Ehehehehe! *Places the Tambourine in her Satchel* Well, that should about do it for the books! Where are we taking them?

Vayle: We’ll be dropping them off at the chapel in Speranza! That’s where the other nobles are collecting books as well.

Akimoto: Feh...just be careful they don’t force there preaching down your throat!

Vayle: *Raises Eyebrow at Akimoto* Not a fan of the Way of the lord, are we?

Akimoto: My family isn’t exactly on good terms with human gods...

Fiona: Still! We should at least do our part to help with there donations! There’s bound to be a lot of people who’d get better knowledge from these books then me!

(Speranza, Capital city)

Vayle: The chapel is in the noble district. We simply need to hand these books off to the guards assisting them, and they’ll handle the rest!

Akimoto: *Holding up the boxes, struggling due to there weight* grrr...hnng...Sheesh! How many books did you put in these boxes?

Vayle: Just a few fantasy novels and old Grimoires I didn’t require anymore!

Akimoto: It Feels like you put a whole shelf in these boxes! Hrrrk! *Lifts them up, keeping his balance!*

Vayle: Well, combined with Fiona’s Shelves and those Shelves of dusty old novels we found in the tower’s many abandoned rooms, I’d say it’s about the same amount you’d fill a shelf with! Wouldn’t you agree, Fiona...?*Blink*....*Looks around!* Fiona...?

Akimoto: *Blink* Oh great. Where’d she wander off to?

*The sounds of Jingling, Flutes, drums and other instruments suddenly fill the streets as cheering echoes with the music!*

Vayle: *Raises Eyebrow* What is that noise? Is there a Festival going on?

Akimoto: *points!* It’s coming from over there!

*Akimoto points to a brightly lit caravan of Drow performing for the people of Speranza as Villagers, Nobles, Guards, and Merchants cheer them on with delight!*

Vayle: Ah! There’s a troupe of Caravaneers in town! How lovely!

Akimoto: ...*!* Ah! There’s Fiona!

*Fiona stares with stars in her eyes as the Caravaneers perform!*

Fiona: Wow...

*The musician plays Songs of joy, bringing a soothing, mesmerizing tone to the ears of Speranza. two Male performers show off there juggling and sword techniques as they jump and swing away at the air with there Scimitars. The Females dance to the rhythm clad in long, colorful flowing skirts as they twirl and twist there bodies to the music, striking poses and winks to the audience!*

Fiona: Ehehehehe! *Claps! Almost dancing to the rhythm herself!* It’s so mesmerizing! So Nostalgic! *Suddenly, her laughing and clapping turn to joy as she too begins dancing to the rhythm of the caravaneers, attracting the attention of the audience!*

Vayle: *!* Oh my!

Akimoto: Wow...How the heck did she pick that up so fast?

Head Caravaneer: *!!!!* *Stares at Fiona in astonishment, his expression of shock turning into a large smile, impressed with her movements!*

*The other Caravaneers gaze in awe, clapping for her as the audience cheers her on!*

Fiona: *finishes her dance with several twirls, striking a pose, smiling as she stops exactly to the end of the music!*

Vayle: ...*Blink!*...Goodness...

Akimoto: Hehehe...I’ll be dammed! *Claps for her!*

*The Audience cheers and whistles, praising Fiona for her movements!*

Fiona:...Huh? O-OH! *Blushes!* Ehehehehe...T-Thank you! *Bowing courteously to the citizens cheering for her!* Thank you...Hehe...

Head Caravaneer: BRAVO! BRAVO! *Jumps down to her! Clapping intensely!* ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, LASS! I haven’t seen anyone move like that in ages! You’re a Natural!

Fiona: I-it’s nothing! I didn’t mean to try and steel the show! the Rhythm just echoed in my head, and suddenly my body started to move to the music!

Vayle: Fiona, That was Beautiful! Absolutely Mesmerizing!

Akimoto: It Sure as hell gave the other performers a run for there money!

Head Caravaneer: Ha! I’d say! You’ve got a talent for performing, Lass! You could go far with skill such as that!

Fiona: R-Really? *Her face flushed red* T-thank you! That’s very kind of you to say, Sir...

Tulio: Ah! But where are my manners? *Bows to her!* I am called Tulio, if it pleases you! Wandering entertainer! Proud Father! Loving Husband! Leader of the Luminous Stars Caravan Troupe!

Fiona: My name is Fiona! It’s a pleasure to meet you! *Bows her head*

Tulio: Charmed, my dear! And what of your friends?

Vayle: Lady Vayle! Speranza Noble! *Curtsies to Tulio!*

Tulio: Aha! Yes! The creator of that “Soul Whisperer” Style my daughters love so much! *Returns the gesture!* Tis an honor, my lady!

Akimoto: Akimoto Infernus. I’m a Freelance Swordsman.

Tulio: A warrior of the Infernus clan, yeah? Most impressive! Well met, sir knight!

Akimoto: Woah! Woah! hold on there! I ain’t a knight, pal! I’m the exact opposite of a knight!

Vayle: It’s true. There isn’t an ounce of Chivalry in his bones...

Tulio: Ahaha! Never the less, it is a pleasure to meet you all.

Fiona: So, what brings your caravan here to Speranza, Tulio?

Tulio: We are entertainers, lass! It is as you saw! We’re here on a mission we share with all our Caravan Brothers and Sisters! To spread joy and happiness to all the people of Vitaria! And my family, my cousins, and I are here to do just that! *Gestures to them!* My son Valmiro and my Nephew Kaseem are our Sword Jugglers, they also duel with fire and martial arts!

*The boys pose with there blades, showing off to the others!*

Vayle: Ooooh! My, my! Those are some impressive muscles they have...~

Akimoto: *Rolls Eyes at Vayle*

Tulio: my Daughters Sarisa and Fareeha are our star dancers! There movements and styles are sure to catch anyone’s eye!

*The Two girls strike a pose, raising there skirts with one hand and there tambourines held to the sky with the other as they smile and wink to them, specifically Akimoto...*

Akimoto: *Blushes, turning his head away from them!* Grrrr...

Tulio: My Brother Miguel, His Wife Corina, and her brother Gerardo are our musicians! none of our shows would be entrancing without them!

*Miguel makes an intense face at them, playing his guitar hilariously as his wife laughs!*

Tulio: My Mother, Hilde, is our cook, as well as our alchemist and woodcutter!

Hilde: Heh...I may be old, but I still got plenty of strength in me! Hahahaha!

Akimoto: *Blink!* Good God, She’s like Gramps and Gran if they fused together...

Fiona: Wow! You have quite the family...

Tulio: And then there is my Beautiful wife, Rosalita! *Kisses his wife as she sits on the caravan!* She is our star dancer! She is the one who leads our daughters usually! Ah...But alas, during a performance at a little town in Despoire, she suffered a leg injury, and the doctors say she will need to wait a couple weeks before dancing again...As a result, while I feel our shows have been doing well...They lack a certain charm they usually possess! A fire that truly ignites the entire performance...

Fiona: Oh no! I’m so sorry to here that...

Tulio: However...That is before I saw YOU, lass! *cups her hands with a smile!* Never have I seen such passion and beauty in one’s movements! Your elegance almost rivaled that of an old friend of mine from long ago!

Fiona: ...Really?

Tulio: TRULY! You’re a natural with Rhythm, Fiona! Your passion! Your heart! Your grace! It ignites inspiration within my soul! And as such, I must ask you...Would you be willing to travel with us?

Fiona: *!!!* H-HUH?!

Vayle: Travel with you?

Tulio: Not for long, of course! I only ask until my wife’s injury recovers! We would truly be honored to have you dance with us, lass! You’ll consider it, yeah?

Fiona: I...I don’t know...*reaches into her satchel, pulling out her Tambourine*...hmmmm....

Vayle: I think you should do it, Fiona!

Tulio: Your friends are more then welcome to come with us as well, if you’d li-...*looks down at the Tambourine...His eyes suddenly widening in shock as he stairs at it silently*

Fiona: You think so?

Akimoto: You clearly got the Rhythm for it! Why not?

Fiona: It’s not that I don’t want to, I’m just not sure...

Tulio: U-um...Fiona...M-might I see that Tambourine for a moment?

Fiona: *!* U-um...Okay! *Hesitates, but then slowly holds it out to him* please be gentle with it...

*Tulio grasps it gently, examining it closely and observing the craftsmanship...he then turns his focus to the familiar marking on the tambourine...His eyes widening with intensity!*

Tulio: This...This is the marking of the White Sparrows! T-that was my Friend’s troupe! B-But...No, this is impossible! She was killed by a Manticore years ago! H-How did you get this?!

Fiona: Well...I...*Sigh*...I have it...because I was there when it happened...

Tulio: ...What do you mean...?

Fiona: I was just a little girl when it happened...I had nowhere else to turn...An orphan wandering lost, hungry, confused...But then I met Madam Esmeralda...She took me into the troupe when I had nowhere else to go...She treated me as part of her family! They cared for me! They kept me safe! They cherished me...And then...The Manticore attacked...It ravaged the caravan...Killed them all *a Tear rolls down her face*...It ate her alive! And I...I...*Fists clenched*...I was the only one left...I was scared...Frightened...Alone...There was nothing I could do...So I had little choice but to keep moving...I kept Esmeralda’s Tambourine with me ever since...That’s why I have it!

Arcana: (Oh, Come on! You didn’t even tell him the GOOD part!)

Tulio: You were there when it happened...? Y-you...You were with the white sparrows...? Then...That means....*Whipes away his tears, his sadness turning to joy!* Then that mean they are not all lost! They live on with YOU! THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING! *Hugs Fiona!* Your Dance! Your movements! Joyous Day! The White Sparrows live on! Hahahahaaaa! *Hands on Fiona’s Shoulders!* We would MORE than be honored to have you perform with us, Little Sister!

Fiona: *!* *Her eyes widen with a look of sorrow!* L...Little...Sister?!

Tulio: You were with the Sparrows! You were there FAMILY! You are a Little sister of them! Of ALL Caravaneers! *Smiles, gripping Fiona’s Shoulders!* Please, Lass! We would love to have you perform with us!

Fiona: *her eyes shaking with comfort, sparkling as she wipes away her tears and gives him a huge smile!* YES! I accept! I would love to travel with you guys!

Vayle: *Smiles* I was hoping she’d say that.

Akimoto: *Smiling as well, looking at Fiona with an expression of comfort as he nods in agreement!*

Tulio: HAHAHA! Thank you! Thank you! It will be an honor to perform with you, Little Sister! *turns to Akimoto and Vayle* And you two are more than welcome to come with us as well! Any Friends of hers are friends to us!

Vayle: I would be honored to travel with you all!

Akimoto: *Raises eyebrow!* Depends...Are you gonna pay me as an Escort?

Vayle: *glare* Akimoto!

Akimoto: I’m a mercenary, Vayle! what do you want from me?!

Tulio: Ahaha! Rest assured, Friend! There will be plenty of Adventure and reward waiting to be found on our journeys! Now Come! let us prepare ourselves for the Journey ahead! And the performances that await to be given!

Fiona: I can’t wait! I’m more than ready for when the next performance will be!

Akimoto: *Stops, starring back at the Boxes of Books*...hmmmm...*Shrugs, Pushing them into an Alleyway near the Caravan, then finally rushing toward them to catch up!*

To be Continued in Part 2!

#Crimson Bloodlines #Stories #Fiona #Vayle #Akimoto #Caravan #Tambourine #Gypsy #Gypsy Dancer #Romanian

1 note · View note