#I'm thinking of doing one about world war three or maybe even something from Eleven’s era | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

persage · 2 years

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I WILL FIND YOU-S. Harrington

PART 2: Sacrifices

Summary: Vecna knows he's losing the war, so he makes a trade. He agrees to stop the attacks, and asks for only one thing in return-You. Seven. By keeping you and Eleven apart, he will be safe forever.

In which you are one of the kids from the lab

Part 1 Masterlist

(Post S4! Steve Harrington x Reader)

Warnings: Whump, Heavy Angst, mentions of phycological abuse. It's long, very long, and sad (very very sad) so if it triggers you don't read, your mental health is important!

Words count: 7.5 k

Steve Harrington knows what he wants to be in life: the person who keeps his friends safe. A protector. It's a good way to live. It's a good way to die too. To be fair, he never doubted that he have would have died young.

One is here, in front of you.

"What did you do Seven? Why?" His tone is so calm it almost scares you more than usual. "Forgive me, I don't know what is happening to me I don't understand anything ..." You reply, letting yourself fall on the floor in a deep tiredness. How long have you not eaten? How long have you not slept? You just want to close your eyes and let yourself go. Suddenly you are dragged up by One, he holds you tightly in a grip with his powers and you feel every muscle and bone in your body tense, excruciating pain starts from within as something warm and liquid falls from your eyes. Blood. That's your blood, red tears runs on your cheeks and all you can think about is that you are dying and you don't even know how long you have lived.

It hurts so much you don't even realize you've started screaming as the house is shaking. You are resisting with your powers without being aware of this, otherwise you would probably be already dead and a small part of One is proud of you. Proud of himself. You are strong enough to resist him, strong enough to fight him but he has managed to hide it from you. He has made you weak.

You don't notice your name being shouted over and over, blood now spilling from you ears.

"Steve come back!" Nancy calls him but he doesn't care, he has a Molotov to throw at Vecna and all the reasons in the world to come back to you. Before Hopper and Nance can reach him at the lower level of the house everything collapses, Steve has time to climb up to you, then a flock of demobats reach them, followed by the demogorgons.

"We have to get away" Hopper shouts. "But Steve!" Nancy is against it, she can't leave him behind. She can't, not again. "Run Wheeler! Or three of us will be dead"

You fall suddenly on the ground, hurt and confused, only to end up in the warm arms of the boy, Steve. He grabs you before you can crash to the floor and holds you carefully, like you are glass ready to break. One burns before you, the flames consume his body. Steve Harrington smiles, cause he's not hero but he did a pretty good job trowing that bomb at Vecna. He has always been an excellent pitcher, if Robin was there she would be very proud of him. Good job dingus.

"NO!" You suddenly scream, freeing yourself from Steve's embrace, getting up, risking to fall on your knees from exhaustion. One has saved you and maybe, maybe he is scary and rude and violent sometimes but he... He's like you. He has protected you, he is all you've got in the world and now the boy has hurt him and it's all your fault. Humans do bad things.

You turn to the Steve, his chocolate eyes are filled with concern. "We have to escape!" He intimates you, grabbing your hand. "No!" You walk away from him. "Y/N, what the hell are you doing? I'm taking you home!"

You look at One, you don't know what to do. It's like being torn in two, your soul is splitten in half and you wanna be strong, you wanna be capable to decide, to understand. But aren't. You are so lost and confused it makes you sick.

"Home?" You ask.

"You ... Don't you remember? Don't ... Do you know who am I?" You shake your head as One's agonizing screams fill the room. The fire is dying out and Steve wants to throw up. Silly boy, did he really think he would defeat him with a Molotov and some good will?

"Y/n" He repeats caressing your face. You move away from him, angry, destroyed. And perhaps it is the thing that hurts the most - knowing the you are there, but are not at the sametime- even more than when with a sharp blow, shouting at him, you hit him, pushing him towards the wall with your powers.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

His back slams hard, a sharp, dull sound. You don't remeber him. You don't know who he is. You don't care about him anymore, that's all he can think of.

"Humans do bad things, Seven." Vecna is behind you now. The fire goes out and he comes back like a phoenix, stronger than before. Steve's body starts floating in the air, the invisible hold he has on the boy tightens every second and you just stay there, watching him as he is being suffocated by invisible threads, motionless suspended in the air. As long as his eyes remain open, as long as his gaze maintains a certain clarity, he does not take his eyes off you. If he has to die here and now, Steve Harrington wants you to be the last thing he sees, he wants to pretend for a moment that there is no Vecna or upsidedown, that it's just you and him: two people who love each other more than they've ever been able to say.

As you look at him it feels like you are not breathing too. Why? What the fuck is happening? One throwns Steve's body back to the wall with so much force that leaves a mark where his back hits. He falls unconscious on the ground as blood quickly stains his hair and face.

"I told you human are weak and pathetic. And I told you they will hurt us. Did you see? They will kill you, they will bring Eleven and they will kill you. Do you want this?" Even if you feel like he's screaming at you, Vecna is still calm and his voice is low like there isn't 'an horrorific scene consuming before your eyes.

"Kill him, Seven" He orders. This is the proof he needs. If you do, One will have his perfect weapon and the war will re-start, if you don't... he will need to change his plan again.

You turn to the unconscious boy who's slowly regaining his senses. He coughs violently and more blood comes out of his lips. "Y/n" he whispers, breathless, his voice trembling. He looks up at you and he should be afraid, he should fear you, yet there is something in his gaze, something that you can't identify. He is sad and tired and he's worried about you.

An intense pain goes through your head, so much so that you find yourself grabbing it with both hands, pulling at your hair, barely screaming in an attempt to erase it. For a moment you think you are One's victim again, that he is teaching you another lesson but he is not. And then there it is, a memory and this time it is as clear as the sun.

You're in the car, the hot summer wind moves your hair and dishevels Steve's. But the air is tense, Steve's face is once again covered in bruises and scratches and you are furious.

"You have to stop Steve! You're a fool, you have so much fun being a hero right? Look at me I'm Steve Harrington and I saved everyone once again. But what's the price mh?" He shakes his head, squeezes the steering wheel more in his hands.

"Stop talking bullshit!" He replicates

"Fuck you Steve. You could have been killed! All for what? Prove to the world that you have changed? That you are a hero? What the hell is going through your head? Why can't you think about protecting yourself every now and then?"

He stops the car and turns towards you. He is red in the face, the veins in his neck are swollen and you know he would like to yell at you more than he is doing because despite having known each other for a long time you always seem not to understand his actions and at the same time you are the person who understands him more than anyone else, maybe more of himself and that drives him out of his mind.

"What do you think? Do you think I got between you and the damn Mind Flayer because I want to be a hero? To redeem my sins? No fuck. I've been a jerk my all life and I probably still am, I can't do anything to erase it. I would not die for this, for stupid redemption, but for the people I love yes, I would! "

"Steve ..."

"No no no now let me speak. I don't care if you're a superhero or anything. I protect you. And not because I am good either selfless, it's because I don't want to live in a world where you don't exist. Get used to it y/n"

You breathe heavily, shaking your head to erase the images that overlap with those of One training you. "You have to fight"

"Kill him!" So, without even knowing why, you use your powers to push him away, out of the house, down the stairs where Jim Hopper, armed to the teeth, is coming back to save Steve Harrington. Too bad someone has already done it instead of him. "Let's go away boy." Steve is barely conscious when once again he falls to the ground, his body is so sore it doesn't even seem to belong to him and the blood covering his skin and face scares Hopper more than he shows. He is not ready to see a other of his kids die and he's not ready to leave you behind, but if Steve got out of that cursed house it must be beacause of you and so there must be hope. Jim grabs him, holding that boy who now looks so small and frail and ignoring his unnecessary protests.

"Y/n!" Steve seems to scream but what comes out of his lips is nothing more than a thin voice.

"We will bring her back to us I swear to you"

He had lost many things in his brief life. His favourite tape, his brush and the car keys once. When he was fourteen he had spent a whole month losing things until he found out that Tommy H. was taking them just to piss him off. Never in his life he thought he would lose anything more important.

Then he lost the love of his life, which is ironic because Steve Harrington didn't even believe he deserved "a love". But now he feels exactly like he's lost this: his partner, his soulmate and he doesn't even care that it wasn't a declared thing, he knows it. He knows what he has left behind, he knows what he wasn't able to protect and he hates himself for it. When he opens his eyes, the first thing he feels, even before the excruciating pain in his head and back, is a huge emptiness in his chest that forces him to remain silent for a long time, while the familiar faces of his friends quickly enter his view. Robin, Lucas and Dustin jostle each other, Hopper tells him something but Steve can't really hear him, Max, in the corner of the room in a wheelchair, with blind eyes lost in the void, just smiles.

All Steve can see is your face paler, skinnier, your confused gaze, the battle you where fighing in your mind. He can't help but imagine everything you must have been through. It's all their fault, it's his fault. They've left you in the hands of the enemy and now, now he has erased them from your mind. This was not how he expected things to turn out.

"Stevie." Robin's voice is the first that his ears agree to hear, her hand caressing his hair softly. Dustin has a hand resting on his bare chest, covered with clean bandages, while with the sleeve of the sweatshirt he tries to wipe away some tears that have escaped his control, Lucas does not touch him, he just looks at him with more awareness than one would have expected by a boy of his age. "You scared us so much." Joyce intervenes, grabbing the hot cup Will is handing her and carrying it to Steve while Hopper painstakingly helps him to sit down. "We have to go back." That's all Steve says, letting Joyce help him drink the hot liquid. She nods, maternal as always.

"We will, we will, and you know it." She replies.

"You have to recover first Steve, you scared the hell out of us!" Dustin exclaims, seeking reassurance in the major's boy gaze that softens a bit. "It is not for me that you have to be afraid for Dustin" Steve reaches out to him, a gesture so small that it requires immense effort.

"But we are, you idiot." Max intervenes. "You've slept for a week, you wouldn't fucking wake up. I don't wanna lose another brother Harrington. " Slowly the girl moves towards them and Lucas runs to her aid, she is not practice in her wheelchair yet but she will learn soon. She always makes it. "Oh who's the sermon from." She giggles at Steve teasing her. "I'm happy to see you He adds, his voice trembling with emotion, caressing her knee as she smiles and pretends the tears running down her cheeks don't exist. "I'm fine anyway, now we have to come up with a plan and get y/n back to us" Steve starts to get up, but Hopper is quick to block him and force him - again - to bed.

"What happened is not enough for you? Nancy broke her arm, you are almost dead, boy shouldn't that be enough for you as a lesson? We need a much better plan this time." Jim says. "Good! You should have already thought about it." It's Steve's arduous sentence.

"We did it Stevie." Robin intervenes, with her fingers she untangles his hair. Now Steve's dark eyes are full of attention and fixed on her. "But our secret weapon isn't ready yet."

"El?"

Buckley nods.

"Right now she's with Mike, Nance and Jonhatan in a safe place. She's trying to get the most out of herself. She's training hard." Dustin continues.

"Why aren't you with her?" Steve asks turning to Hopper, the question could also concern Joyce, but Will still weak half-lying in a bed not far from him is a more than convincing answer. Jim smiles.

"My daughter is big and strong she doesn't need me now, but here I have a gang of brats to nurse. One in particular that I feared would do something very crazy and very stupid as soon as he woke up. "

"Well, I understand why you're Sheriff Hopper, that's not such a bad deduction." Steve laughs, for a moment he lets something melt in his heart. For someone who has never had healthy or even loving parents, those words mean everything. For a moment he allows himself to be a kid, to forget what situation he is in and hardly resists the urge to hug the man in front of him.

"El... she'll make it, won't she?" Steve asks. Joyce Byers hugs him gently.

"Of course dear, she will make it 'cause she won't be alone. We will find y/n and we will save her. El will destroy Vecna and y/n will be all right, it is a promise." Steve nods, still wondering what that monster may have done to you during these days.

What price did you have to pay for helping him?

At the beginning there were just anger and fear, they consumed you along with your desire to escape that you vented with your powers, so small compared to those of One and never enough. No matter how hard you tried to get out, to break the walls, to move the vine. It was useless if not to tire you to the point of collapse. And then there were kicks and punches and again you were powerless until, at some point, you were taken by a strange pain in the chest that prevented you from breathing. Panic.

It never leaves, not even now, while you are anchored to the wall by One's vines, like a chain tied so tightly that your legs hurt. You try to breathe again. You can feel tears start to prickle your eyes.

Days go by slowly and to be honest time is so dilated and fast that confuses you. It feels like you're back in the early days with One, when everything was new and scary, but now there's something different, something that animates you. Your memories, they give you hope. They have came back slowly and then like a river they've overwhelmed you. Since you saw Steve almost every piece of the puzzle of your life seems to have returned to its rightful place and maybe you shouldn't be so happy because now you know.

You know what you've done, you know it's your mistake, you know you've hurt people you care about and lost someone along the way. You've complicated things further and you can't forgive yourself. Please let them be okay.

Thinking of Steve and the possibility of never seeing him again cause you to cry more. You gasps for air as you starts to see spots before his eyes. You start to hyperventilate. Where is Vecna? How much time has passed? I just wanna go home.

The spots increase, you feels dizzy and there's a tightness in you chest. As the darkness starts closing in on you a little light comes from a passage. Vecna is here again. "This wasn't supposed to happen" He says and at the sight of him you regain consciousness like a prey ready to run away from the hunter. His scary hands on your head are all you can feel. "We were supposed to be free, together. " He leans down his long fingers on your cheek "But then you had to ruin it all, didn't you?" You blink your eyes open, your head and your heart are pounding. He's gonna kill you and you don't wanna die. Not now. You want to say goodbye.

"I can feel your fear my Seven" He continues. "Don't be, I'm not gonna kill now. I've found a way to make you... useful."

Returning to the upside down is worse than they imagined. Steve feels his heart skip a beat as the gloomy lights of that place hits his eyes and the memories of everything they've been through come back to haunt him. He is ashemed of the small part of him that would like to go back, to run away but there is something more important, something he cannot lose, something he has to bring back and it is worth more than all the rest. He turns to Dustin and the other kids and thinks it's not fair that they're back here in danger once again. Henderson walks alongside Eleven, holding her hand. Steve knows them well enough to understand that she's not the one who needs reassurance, he doesn't need Dustin to tell him, in his eyes he reads his thoughts: Eddie. The last time Dustin was here he lost his friend and Steve would give anything to erase the memory of that night.

Mike and Jonathan walk close together, the eldest slightly on the sidelines, probably worried about his borther's fate as he is still stuck in bed, too weak to fight and to be honest Steve is glad Will isn't here. He has seen enough of the upside down.

This time Erika has remained safe with Max and despite some protests she accepted Lucas's decision. "You have to protect Max" He had said, but the truth is that Sinclair wanted to protect his sister as well.

To stop Nancy from coming, they had to give her tranquilizers. She was ready to fight even with a broken arm. This time, however, nothing could have stopped Robin who is now jumping around trying to avoid the vines with a gun in her hand that she unexpectedly uses better than Steve can.

Hopper next to Steve leads the group ready to give anything to take back the person he considers a daughter and hating himself every second for letting Vecna take you.

During the journey to the Creel's house they are attacked several times but the plan is well thought out and Mike Jonathan and Lucas stay behind to distract the demogorgons and demobats who attack them repeatedly. When the group splits up Steve is forced to grab Dustin and drag him away. Henderson is against this plan, he knows what happened last time and that's the main reason Steve has decided to take Dustin with him in the final battle against Vecna. Not that the thought of the boy in front of the monster makes him particularly happy, but for sure Steve will not allow Henderson to relive the nightmare of the last time and he knows that in the end he will be able to protect him. He trust the others, but the only other person to whom he would entrust Dustin's life sacrificed himself for them a long ago.

Eddie, this is for you too.

The old house looks poised to collapse, more unstable scarier than ever. He is afraid of what they will find, afraid of finding out what happened to you, knowing that all of this can be useless. In Hopper's eyes Steve reads the same awareness. When they open the door Robin holds Steve's hand and with the other one she grabs the gun tighter, ready to fight.

He tries to swing the axe again, ignoring his heart beating in his ears and the fear growing inside him. Within the haunted walls of the house, they find everything they didn't expect. "And our plan has failed. Good." Robin comments, while shooting at another demodog.

Hell has fallen on them without scruples, they are attacked on every front and Eleven is already exhausted in an attempt to protect them all. She shouts, pushing away the demobats who have lashed out at Dustin grabbing him in their death grip and Steve is grateful that she is there, ready to go where he can't, busy surviving the combined assault of those monsters shoulder to shoulder with Robin. "We would have needed the others here!" Dustin shouts, waving a nailed bat in the air. Steve would like to smile. It's his. But then something happens: one of the damn dogs jumps on him.

His axe falls to the floor.

Next thing he knows he is on the ground too, looking up at the face of the demogorgon that had been in his nightmares for the past years. Dustin is about to run to the older boy and Steve tries to scream and tell him to go hide but he can't get the words out of his mouth. Thankfully, Robin's grasp stops Dustin. The kid drops his own bat to the ground too. He can't see Steve die . Hopper starts shooting at the demogorgons as Steve is barely holding on, but then the corpe of the monster collapse on his side and he can breathe again.

" If we continue this way we will never be able to reach y/n" Hopper says, grabbing Robin's arm just before a demodog hurles at her, and hitting him hard. "We need to split up again," Steve suggests. Dustin shakes his head frightened. "No. No. Dont' even think about it. It is too dangerous." Steve looks at him for a moment, he would like to hug him and tell him that everything will be fine, but he has no time and hopes that in his eyes he can read all

"Protect him" He orders Robin before climbing those bumpy stairs again, ready to save you with Eleven.

Vines cover your mouth and you can hear the scary sounds of a battle below you. You are nervous, you body is tense and you are shaking while triyng to set yourslef free and the more you do it the more those brambles squeeze your body until they crush your bones. You try to scream but you cannot. You just want your family to run away and at this point you don't even care if they take you with them anymore, you just want them to be safe and for everything to end. When you see Steve cutting his way through the vines with his axe, part of you feels relieved, the other - the rational one - becomes more agitated in an attempt to capture his attention. Don't get close. Vines sqeezes your ankle until you can feel a crack, something must be broken but the pain doesn't stop you from continuing to move.

Please, please, please go away Steve.

Steve rushes towards you and you don't expect anything different. This is what heroes do, they throws themself into danger. And Steve Harrington has always been this: an impulsive, selfless, stupid hero who can't waste a second just to think about what he is about to do. Sometimes you hate him for that. Everything moves in slow motion, like in a movie, while he runs towards you you can catch El's expression changing, turning into something scary and resigned. It is too simple, there are no monsters guarding your tower, there is no Vecna, the road is clear but Steve doesn't see it. All he sees is you and all he wants is to hold you in his arms and take you away. When he begins to cut the vines out of your body, they immediately retreat under the guidance of a higher force. One.

"RUN!" You shout as soon as your mouth is free. But it's already too late. It's like a smack in your brain, a flash, something breaking in your bones. You feel One penetrating your mind with ease. Not again. You pray. But this time it is different, you are lucid, you are present and you are immobile, even though you are shouting at your legs to do something, your body does not respond. Steve looks worried at your empty eyes, Hopper comes from the lower floor and approaches to pull him away from you, Eleven is still standing at the door. She can feel that something is wrong, but she doesn't understand what.

Then it happens.

In an instant your body snaps like a spring but you are not driving it. You are just a puppet in the hands of the monster. Of a master.

"Y/n" Steve whispers before you hit him with a wave of your hand and with the maximum strength you have. You just see Steve's body go flying across the room and nothing else in the world matters. You stop thinking about fighting, about monsters, about escaping, instead you just want to run to him. Your try so hard and still you can't. Your body doesnt follow your instruction, it's like being prisoners, immobilized by a straitjacket.

Without moving your head, your turn your eyes.

You figured that when you will see him, he'd be like his normal self, getting up, cracking some joke ready to try again to save you. But there he is, with blood coming from his head, unmoving. No, no, no! This can't be happening. This can't be Steve, not your Steve, always so strong, so resilient.

You don't even try to fight anymore.

It all your fault, Seven.

Your entire mind just shut off and you can't even cry. You feel your heart skip a beat, your frightened gaze reaches Hopper. You can't stop.

I'm sorry Dad. You hit again, harder, and Hopper is thrown away too, collapsing to the ground.

Please stop. You scream, mouth still closed.

"It's your time, Eleven" Vecna's voice is in your head and from the way El's terrified gaze rests on you, you know she heard him too. No. Not her. She's just a child. You can't hurt her too, she's your sister. Your little sister who won't lift a finger against you.

"Y/n please" she begs. "React. I know you are there, you are stronger then him. We, togheter, we can beat him, please." And you would like to tell her that you are trying, that you don't want to keep hurting everyone, but all you do is throw another blow at El, who takes it hard, moving slightly, but without replying. "Please fight" She continues.

"Hit her Eleven" Vecna states. "Or she will do it" Another blow, then another one. El does not reciprocate, she cleans the wipes the blood that runs from her nose with her sweatshirt, until you are on her with your arm stretched over her head, ready to do what Vecna does best: kill, take part of his victims.

"I'm setting you free, Eleven." Slowly El's body floats in the air. She doesn't want to hurt you. Please I can't do this

The next five seconds feels like a good ten minutes to you. As life slowly slips away from El's body and her bones begin to assume a strange, unnatural position, you struggle with all your might to prevent that from happening and you feel One's grip grow less and less strong.

"I won't let you go Seven." He whispers.

It's a battle that takes place inside you, like a tug-of-war without a clear winner, one second he's in control the next it's up to you. Suddenly there's a silent feline movement by your side and you are on the ground, with Steve's still bleeding body pressed against yours. "I can't let you do it" He murmors faintly.

That's enough for El to recover, once again you. pull Steve's body away from you this time with less force, counterbalancing Vecna's cruel attack.

"Hit me" you think. And unexpectedly your voice comes out from your lips. You are speaking with your own voice. You can speak. For a moment you feel like you are defeating the monster. El looks at you uncertain, her gaze goes from and uncoscious Hopper to Steve still trying to get up again on his shaking arms.

"Don't waste time El! "

"I' can't." She cries.

"DO IT EL" Your voice echoes powerful in the room. And so El screams her pain while does what you've told her. She hits you with all the strength she has. Her power lashes out at you and is stronger than anything you have ever felt. More than One. More than you. You let yourself go to her. You trust her, you know she will be able to stop in time. You close your eyes as oblivion catches you.

"Y/N" Steve voice is the last thing you hear.

You always thought "the life flashing before your eyes" is cheesy and not true. Like in many things, you are mistaken.

Learning to play basketball with Steve.

You and Nancy fighthing, then hugging. You, Max and Eleven shopping at the mall.

Erica smiling sweetly when nobody sees her.

Seeing the demogorgon. Running back inside the Byers house. Jonathan throwing the lighter. Steve hugging you to keep you safe.

Steve driving you to school. .

Protecting the kids.

Robin coming out to you.

Singing with Robin in Steve's car. Hopper teaching you how to drive, then you teaching El.

When you regain consciousness you jolt awake, coughing and gasping. You notice you're still in the some room, your prison, which also mean they haven't saved you. You understand that you are not dead and perhaps that you are not even close to doing so, also you no longer feel One in your mind, which lifts you up, before realizing that if Vecna isn't using you as a weapon, if he's not in you, then he must be out, somewhere near ready to fight.

"Steve, watch out! " Robin's voice brings you back to alert immediately, Steve is in front of you, axe in his hands, jacket, hair and neck completely soaked in blood. He keeps away the demorgons who are now attacking you. They've gotten there and there's only one way out. You are screwed. You get up quickly, not caring about anything but the people who are next to you and who are now fighting hard to get out alive.

"He won't make us leave that easily." Dustin shouts. You rush on him, trying to protect him from another creature that attacks him and with your powers you drive it away. Being free from Vecna's hold means you being able to use your true powers, to be able to change the state of substances, their atoms, which, for some reason, he was unable to do. He's just a puppeteer who has yet to learn how to play with his doll. So with a gesture you transform the demodog in air and you immediately turn to the others, ready to destroy them with a single gesture but something is wrong and your powers do not work as they should, after each attack they are less and less effective.

"Vecna takes a piece of the victims from him." He took a piece of you.

"Now we're tied Seven, your fate is mine too." The truth of those words is thrown at you like a boulder. His fate is yours too. If Eleven kills Vecna, you will die. You decide not to say it outloud, you take the blow.

Vecna will let you escape, maybe with some difficulty but he will not move personally to prevent it, he has nothing to lose simply because he has put insurance on his own life. "Come on let's go away." Hopper grabs you by the arm and slashes vines while Robin and the others cover him. You just turn to your friends to check if they are all ok, Steve's gaze reassures you.

He nods, as if to tell you to continue, not to stop. You will have time to talk.

Robin is wounded, her hand covered in blood, Lucas wears the marks of a strangulation from demobat's, similar to Steve's, Jonathan has been hitten in the face and the cut will likely leave a scar, Eleven is exhausted and leans on Mike to continue walking towards the portal. Despite this you all seem to be fine. Except you're a doomed death. Sure.

"Hey buddy are you okay? "Lucas asks, turning to Steve. You turn and see him: he's left behind, legs shaking, hands on his side. His hands stained with blood move away revealing a blood stain on his belly, which continues to expand. Your limbs aches with each movement of your muscles as you run to him. All you can see is him as your vision becomes blurry while trying to get closer. You need to get to him. He looks up at you. "It's okay" He whispers before collapsing to the ground. He could feel the blood on his skin, soaking through his clothes, but he have tried to ignore it. He had to, there were bigger problems but now the adrenaline has slipped away and with it all his strength

"STEVE!" Dustin screams. "No, no, no!"

You fall on your knees trying to catch him, preventing him to hit the ground hard. You scoop him into your lap. There's blood in his hair too, it comes from his head. It is wet and sticky and continues to flow copiously. You wonder how he has managed to resist until now. You pull him closer. "Hi, Stevie" You call him sweetly as he coughs, blood dripping slightly down his mouth. "I'm here, okay? I-I'm here now." You brushes some blood off of his face. "We've got you." Robin adds, holding his hand.

All his life Steve Harrington has been looking for a place in the world, something to be, someone to become. Now he knows exactly what he wants to be. Not a policeman, like you've suggested a million time, not a successful person, as his parents would like, he doesn't care, not a jerk, not a cool guy: he just wants to be a protector, he always did and maybe in the end he has succeeded. He wants to be the person who keeps his friends safe. It's a good way to live. It's a good way to die too.

To be fair, he never doubted that he have would died young. Since monsters had appeared in his life, or maybe even before, he couldn't really see himself old, ever since he has started seeing the people he loves constantly in danger, he realized that this is the way he would die: by saving them. But until recently Stevd would never have believed that his motive would be a girl. Saving the princess from the tower like a reckless prince in a particularly sad tale. He still imagined a more heroic death than this, something that was noisy like an explosion, colored like in a terminator movie, but the truth is that death stinks, makes you nauseous and there's nothing epic about feeling your body slipping away slowly.

Also his hair is out of place and Steve hates this thing. In movies people die with their hair all right and Steve the hair Harrington, someone who has made his hair his trademark, is he really going to die like that?He calls himself stupid, because it is not really the time to think about his bad hairstyle. Still, he is. Copious losses of blood are strange, death is strange and maybe this is his way to exorcise fear or maybe he is really stupid like everyone else say, which in the end is not bad, because these idiotic thoughts can keep the truth at away: Steve Harrington won't see another day.

Here he is dying slowly on the floor for a girl to who he hasn't even had the courage to say I love you to. And in fact, oh my God, he hasn't said that even now. Sure actions speak louder than words sometimes, but anyway ... he haven't told her yet. Perhaps this will be his only regret.

You can still do it Steve.

Dying it's painful, but it's accompanied by a sense of peace and comfort. The peace is a little disturbed considering the chaos unraveling around him. People screaming, voices that won't let him sleep. Let me sleep, please. The temptation to close his eyes, to escape from the pain is irresistible, however he holds on as he hears your voice and your hands on his body.

"Hey." He manage to say. His throat burns like hell, speaking seems impossible. He wants to look at you one last time. "Hey." You repeat, glancing at Hopper. The man presses hard against Steve's wound to stop the bleeding. Harrington knows it should hurt like hell but it's nothing more than a warm pinch. Not good.

"Try to keep your eyes open for me, can you do that?" You ask. He nods as his eyelids slowly close. "No, no, no open your eyes dingus" It is Robin's voice this time, followed by a slap that succeeds in its intent. Steve's eyes widen as you gently grab his face in your hands, caressing the battle-scarred skin with your fingertips. There is no blood, there is no death, for a moment pretend not to feel his skin getting colder, there is only Steve, the man you love, and he is handsome and looks at you with the biggest eyes of the world and is not afraid, not even now. Steve is never afraid.

Jonathan and Lucas are checking his wounds, they are more numerous and deeper than they expected and as they tear off their clothes to block the blood, everyone knows it will be useless.

"We have to take him away." Eleven yells, hugging Mike. Hopper prepares to pick up the boy, but Steve shakes his head. "I just need ... for a moment ... I don't want to." He coughs."I don't want to risk... not doing a thing." You continue to caress him. "We have to go away Stevie."With his trembling hand he grabs your wrist and his grip is so weak that makes you want to cry. "Baby we've got to get you to a hospital... " He shakes his head softly, smiling against your touch. "Love... " As he calls you like this you are sure you are dying too. Panic is tightening your throat, words forcing themselves from you. "Don't! don't shake your head at me Harrington" Droplets slid from your cheeks, landing on his - mixing with the blood over his lips. Behind you a motionless Dustin has already started screaming and crying. "Please, Please not again" Steve eyes shine with a glimmer of peace. "Take care of him. He'll be fine one day, tell him I'm sorry."

"You will tell him. You will protect him yourself Steve." He doesn't listen to you. "I want you to know" his grip tightenes again, "Don't blame yourself y/n please" You shake your head, "I can't, I can't do it without you. please, please. Please"

"I want you to know," his voice strains against the words, "You were my dream ... more than I ever deserved and I... I."

"No" You sob. Your head fall, buried into the space between his neck and shoulder. "No, you, you are my dream. My future Steve. You are my future, please don't ..."

"Shhh, it's okay. Keep them safe for me" He replies as your body wrackes against his, slowly you feel the grip around your wrist loosen, then the sound of his hand falling against his chest. Steve is drowning. He closes his eyes, breath stuttering, he’s too tired to keep his eyes open anymore.

"Love... You"

And with your head against his chest you listen to Steve Harrington as exhale his last breath. Nodoby see it but in that moment, you die too.

You cry hard. You scream with all your voice, so much you can't hear the others doing the same. Robin has her face pressed on Steve's hair and she's whispering something you can't catch to him, Dustin is now pressed against your side and you clung onto him like he is the last thing keeping you alive. But Steve, he seems peaceful. For what he knows him dying means you can live. Means he has saved you and he would do it all over again.

"We need to get him out of here" Robin orders, her voice breaking. Hopper silently approaches, his shining eyes can barely hold back the tears. He caresses your shoulder, wordlessly asking you to step aside, but you shake your head, you cling to the cold, dead body of the man you love. The man you killed. You tighten to his clothes, you almost lie down on him, you place sweet kisses on his cold cheeks. "Come back to me" You cry, praying that he will listen to you. In a world of monsters, you can always hope that death isn't permanent.

"Y/n" Hopper calls your name sweetly, Eleven caresses your hair to calm you down but there is nothing for you anymore. "It'll be fine," She says softly. You turn in anger and with your face contorted into an expression of pure pain you yell at El. "It's not okay. It will never be okay!" It's not her fault, you know, but you can't handle a pain like that. You look back at Steve. He is surrounded by people who love him and whom he has loved unconditionally. Did he know how much he matters to people? To you?

You lean over his face, kiss his eyes, nose, his lips and cry in despair. It's your first kiss. And Steve Harrington is dead.

It's Robin who pulls you away, squeezing you in a hug that you initially reject but cannot escape from. You let yourself be lulled by her, weeping together. You both lost your soul mate after all. Hopper takes advantage of the moment, lets his arms slide under the boys knees and back, and there's so much blood he'd like to throw up or scream. He won't do it, not now, now he has to be strong for you, for the kids. He has to tell what happened to Nancy and Max. To Joyce. He grabs the kid's body and hugs him to his chest. What he can do is place a well-disguised kiss on his forehead.

He was so young. So brave.

What you can do instead, while trembling you follow that funeral procession, is swear revenge. Your fate is tied to Vecna's, now you have no more reason to worry about it. You will be the one to kill him. It's a promise

Taglist= @lokiofasgard616 @ihavebecomesomething

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 2 years

Text

tuesday again 10/11/22

in which i read a book but completely fail to discuss it

listening Bloody! Bloody! by Junie & TheHutfriends. self-described indie pop, incredibly fun chorus! the same sort of frantic plinky..banjo? undertones that i liked so much in my absolute favorite song of hers, The Consequence of Imagination Is Fear.

youtube

very good spooky halloween song. i truly do love this band so much for how fucking Weird it is.

And you’re driving with your hands, not believing all the bleeding, and they’re calling you- Bloody! And the knife sits gleaming in the red back seating, and they’re calling you- Bloody! And they’re all still screaming in your head, and their lips dead, calling you- Bloody!

there are a couple creatives where i'm like "yes i WOULD like a new Frog Detective/twine novel/something every year, where i have a marvelous time for forty minutes and it's a little self-contained experience". this band goes in the same brain bucket, bc it feels like it is as much an excuse to collage and make felt puppets as it is to release a new single once every few months. now i am projecting bc i do not know this lady or her process, but i would like more people to be able to make art where i the art enjoyer get a little thing every once in a while, without the artist feeling the crushing need to be a professional artist hitting it big in order to make the art and any sort of living also.

reading The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick.

i had to think really fucking hard about if i wanted to talk about this book, bc like a lot of older scifi it critiques the problems of its time but is also very much a product of its time. and i then i remembered that i'm going to do what i want forever until i die :) and then i didn't really have time to even discuss this book much at all :)

let's yoink the description straight off wiki

The Man in the High Castle (1962), by Philip K. Dick, is an alternative history novel wherein the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the political intrigues between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany as they rule the partitioned United States. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a novel-within-the-novel which is an alternative history of the war in which the Allies defeat the Axis.

i do enjoy how scifi, especially older scifi, often refuses to resolve neatly or at all. this one left me unsettled. this is not a bad thing! it is unsettled in a way that is un-fan-ficcable. it is unsettled in a way that even though Philip K. Dick planned a sequel, he couldn't bring himself to write one bc the research for this book was so depressing. i do think i gotta let this one percolate in the back of my brain a bit, bc i don't have any useful thoughts aside from "wow yeah this series of events is totally plausible and plays out in a very 'yup i can see that happening' way". this entry is more setting down a marker to myself that i can in fact read full length books. maybe even do it again

how did i find it: this entry came about through a perfect confluence of events: i read this all in one sitting (rare) after seeing it in a thrift store earlier that day (also rare) and thinking "this probably isn't a book i'll reread, does my library have it" (near-miraculous).

watching Ōtomo Katsuhiro, director of Akira, has done three...whatever the animated version of a book of short stories is. is it just an anthology also??? anyway i watched Memories (1995) back in july, adored it, half the soundtrack is on my regular roulette wheel of data entry music, and i finally looped back around and watched the other three anthologies he was part of this week.

didn't like them as much! it is eleven forty three pm as i write this so i will not be going into great detail. overall impressions only.

robot carnival (1987) i did not care for very much at all. i think it is the weakest overall of the four both in animation and in story. it did give me this baller screenshot.

neo tokyo (1987) absolutely off the fucking chain with animation flexes. stories overall were not as strong as memories (i am going to be thinking about the first short in memories until i die probably). i have never seen such a perfectly animated cat that nobody seems to have really giffed? unrelated in a different short, i have never seen fire animated like that and now all other animated fire looks wrong.

short peace (2013) i liked much more both on strength of animation and strength of storytelling. "possessions", wherein a wandering samurai takes shelter from a storm in a shrine to...discarded objects? charmed me the most.

playing Card Cowboy by a large assortment of people and published by Luckshot. available PWYW on itch and it's like three american bucks on steam. you're out seeking "Revenge against the Gunman who killed your dad, wooed your mom, and kicked your dog" in a procgen fashion gathering cards board-game-style to progress along a web of little location options. and the little opening animatic has the best royalty-free morricone i've ever heard

this is a very polished game with all the quality of life features and smooth art one expects from a card game. it wants to be a phone game really badly.

this is not a moral judgement or a dig at how fun it is, bc it's very fun, but the whole time i played it i thought about how much fun it would be to play on my phone.

at one point i had three bandits, a wife, a baby, a baby horse (the game did not call it a foal don't @ me), and a gold lasso. the next turn i got Blood Money from sending the foal off to compete in the rodeo.

the below is how i got a baby

the below is how i lost the baby

this game is very easy to tell stories about like "oh yeah did you get the blood money from sending the foal off to the rodeo???" which is always super fucking helpful in both game discovery and selling the damn thing. extremely streamable bc it is procgen. i hope it sells a billion copies.

making having a fancy bathroom makes me feel like a rich bitch so i got a new shower head. the shower head of course did not fix the abysmal water pressure in this house but it does have an additional detachable head so possibly i will actually clean my bathtub more often. got to use a big fuckoff pipe wrench to take the old showerhead off which was fun. other than recaulking the little escutcheon to the shower wall (annoying) this was a fairly quick and painless process. suspicious. shower head here except i did not spend seventy five dollars on it, that’s ludicrous, i found a new in box one on eBay for thirty bucks.

in other news, acquired the Perfect double breasted trench coat in the Perfect length, it’s got the belt, the wool lining is intact, it’s in decent shape except for the horrible stain on the front. so it’s at the dry cleaners to see if anything happens. the armscyes are just a hair too tight for me in a thin tshirt to lift my arms over shoulder height without looking stupid as fuck so i may find a tailor if i ever want to wear it with a sweater or something. i cannot stress enough how much it is the perfect cut and the perfect length for me. i am willing to invest some dollars in a good classic trench coat i will hopefully have for the next twenty years.

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 2 years

Text

The Unknown Quantity Part Seven

A Stranger Things Fanfiction

By: dwobbitfromtheshire

un·known quan·ti·ty

/ˌənˈnōn ˈkwän(t)ədē/

Learn to pronounce

noun

a person or thing whose nature, value, or significance cannot be determined or is not yet known.

Part Seven

Wendy turned to run but Vecna bined her to the chair and proceeded to show her what might happen to Hawkins. The town is split in half, opening from the gates, as the upside down spills into Hawkins. He showed her what he would do to Max, to Dustin, to their mom, and finally to Eddie. Tears spilled over her cheeks and she is released from the curse. Steve helps her climb the rope and with the help of Eddie, she is pulled back into the real world. Wendy clings to Eddie, sobbing, and he holds onto her tightly. She never wanted to let him go.

Eventually, they settle into Max's trailer waiting for Wendy to tell them what she saw and she did. Well, not all of it. For whatever reason, she couldn’t find it within her to tell them about what Vecna showed her of her past. She just couldn't. She was afraid again, not of what they might think, but of the power she kept locked inside of her. Maybe Vecna was right. Maybe she was a coward. Wendy told them of what he would do to her family, her friends, and their town.

She told them how Vecna showed her four gates which made the group come to a sudden realization. He had been revealing his plan to them all along. His clock always chimes four times, exactly. He had killed three people so far. Three people, three gates. It looked like he needed a fourth person to open the gate and it seemed like Max might be the chosen one. Nancy revealed that they had no other choice but to go the upside down and kill him. It didn't really seem like a fair fight to her and Robin voiced her agreement.

"He's a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin," Robin said.

Her little brother suggested that they could use that to their advantage. If he has the same power as Eleven's then Dustin's theory suggests that Vecna also has her weaknesses and she is weak when she goes into a trance like state like Vecna. If they find a way past his bats then they could possibly kill his physical body while it was defenseless. Wendy bit her lip, they would need a hell of a lot of firepower for that plan to work. Now would have been a good time to bring up the fact that she had powers that she yet to unlock but the tingling at the back of her neck told her otherwise. She couldn't tell them.

Robin spoke up then, saying that they didn't know who Vecna's victim was. It was obvious to Wendy who it was and she proved it when Max, the girl in question, stepped forward to volunteer herself as bait. Max was determined even when Lucas begged her not to and Wendy couldn't help but admire her for it. The girl was rock solid in her decision. Even though there was something keeping her from telling them the truth about her powers she knew she was going to use them to protect Max at all costs even if Wendy herself had to die to do it.

Eddie revealed that he knew of a place called, "the War Zone", just outside of Hawkins. It would take too long to get there on bikes and they needed more than a car to carry the weapons they needed. Eddie came up with a plan to steal someone's RV. Unfortunately his only choice of disguise was Max's Michael Myers mask. Eddie hotwired the RV, something that his dad had taught.

"Eddie, I'm not sure that I love the idea of you driving," Robin told him.

Wendy scoffed and wanted to say something to her. They were stealing the RV because of Eddie's idea and he knew how to do it. She kept quiet about Robin's comment. So, her boyfriend wasn't perfect. Who is?

"Oh, I'm just starting this sucker. Harrington's got her," Eddie said. "Don't ya, big boy?"

Wendy felt a rush of something in the pit of her stomach when Eddie flirted with Steve. It wasn't jealousy but. . .arousal? No, no dirty thoughts. Do not thinks dirty thoughts. This was a very serious situation. She should not be thinking or feeling such things about Steve and Eddie but what a thought. . . Wendy shook her head. It didn't help that as soon as Eddie moved out of the way he moved to a seat pulling her with him causing her to land in his lap. She blushed at the contact.

"I'm sorry, I am a little freaked out by all of this. I needed a cuddle," Eddie said pouting.

"Ugh, you know that I can't resist it when you do that," Wendy told him.

She leaned down and kissed his pouty lip, his tongue darting into her mouth pretty quickly. She felt his hand slip into the back pocket of her jeans and she grinned against his lips. Wendy loved it when he did that.

"Hey! I don't want to see this!" Dustin exclaimed. "C'mon!"

"Yeah, nobody wants to see this," Robin replied.

Wendy and Eddie responded to the protests by throwing up their middle fingers. They didn’t break the kiss until they needed to break apart for air and found that everyone was scowling at them.

"They're just jealous, baby," Wendy said grinning.

"I love you," Eddie said and Wendy's eyebrows rose.

Judging by the look she felt on her own face she guessed that everyone knew that was the first time that they said it to one another. She wasn't sure what she was going to say. . . Until she did. Her face grew solemn and she nodded at him.

"I know," she replied.

"Did you just - did you just fucking Han Solo me?!" Eddie exclaimed and they heard Dustin burst into laughter. "I fucking love you!"

"I love you too," Wendy said shaking with laughter.

"Buckle up, kiddos, this movie is about to get bumped up to NC-17!" Eddie exclaimed, crashing his lips to hers.

It might have been the fact that they might due soon or the fact that the couple's pure enjoyment was infectious but everyone in the RV burst into laughter. It was both, definitely both. The laughter stopped for everyone else when Eddie slipped a hand underneath Wendy's shirt and they groaned in disgust.

"I told you!" Eddie exclaimed and Wendy giggled.

To be continued. . .

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chiliiscereal · 3 years

Text

I hate you

Daryl’s adopted daughter

Chapter 1

Summary: Diana is a girl on the run in the apocalypse. Her past chases her no matter where she goes. One day, by chance, she meets Daryl Dixon. Thinking she’s a walker, he shoots her and brings her back to their camp. Shane strikes a deal with her: she has to stay for two weeks before she can decide if she wants to stay. But Diana is determined to keep her past in the past, and never make the same mistake again

Season 1 - I’m not sure yet

—————

Diana sat in a circle with her family. Blood dripped down her neck from her lips.

Everything was red.

Red

How could everything have gone so wrong so quickly?

Her eyes never left the blond man she once knew. She watched him as her fury and fear grew louder and louder, echoing off her skull.

That was, until Negan stepped out of the van. He walked about the circle, until his eyes landed on her.

"Fancy seein' you again, Darlin'."

————————

Rick stumbled into the street, a hospital gown draping his skin. He knew there was something wrong. There was something off. Maybe it was intuition...

Or maybe it was the woman, chopped in half, chomping her teeth to get at his ankles.

He rubbed his eyes, the sun glaring right into his vision. It had been a week and a half since the start, and a day since his IV ran dry. It had been even longer since he last saw the sun.

Where was everyone?

Why hadn't he waken up to nurses and doctors?

Or his family's familiar faces?

He spotted bodies. Bodies walking. Maybe three.

He couldn't understand... he couldn't understand any of it...

The light off a gun reflected into his eyes. He blocked it and moved to see where it was coming from.

The revolver was placed in the holster on the side of a walker. The man... or whatever he was now... shuffled toward Rick.

He was deathly pale.

"Sir," Rick's voice cracked, "sir, are you okay?" He held his hand out, trying to make it a comforting gesture to someone possibly in need.

Edging closer, the man stared at him with hungry dead eyes. His clothes were torn and draped off his skinny frame, his eyes laid sunken in his face.

"Sir?" He asked again, stumbling back.

The man growled and advanced further.

"Are you-?"

With a blur, the man was down.

Nearly tripping over his own feet, Rick let out a horrified gasp.

On the ground was a little girl, around Carl's age, placing her knife in the mans forehead. Her light blond hair, tucked under her baseball cap, clung to her dirty face. The crunch echoed in Ricks head, reverberating off his skull.

That was the first walker he had ever seen killed.

She quickly wiped her knife on the walkers shirt and snatched his revolver. She opened the back to check how much ammo was left. Satisfied, she clicked it shut and began patting the double dead man down.

"W-why did you do that?" Rick found his voice again.

She leaped back, her bright blue eyes finding his.

Quickly, she pulled herself up and began to dash away. If Rick hadn't lunged out and caught the back of her shirt she would have disappeared as soon as she apparated into his line of sight.

"No. You can't leave yet." He spun her around to face him. It was evident how terrified she was. Especially with her eyes as wide as dinner plates and hands clawing at his arm. "Why did you kill that man?"

She glared at him and wriggled harder. "Man?" She gasped, "that... that wasn't a man!" Her hands fought to unclamp Ricks grip. "That's a Walker! He would have eaten you if I hadn't stopped him!" She grunted with effort. "Didn't even see you. You already look dead."

"What do you mean by dead?" Rick questioned, holding tighter.

"Gone. Deceased. vamosed. Perished." With each word she struggled. "Now let me go!"

Rick was about to question again, when he felt the stitches on his side rip. With a grunt, he let her go and fell to the ground. His hand cupped his side.

"Please.." he stopped to breathe heavily as the girl watched him warily. "I don't know what's happening. I woke up in the- in the hospital." He glanced down at his side to eye the bleeding. "The sun will be setting soon... and I need help."

The girl glanced at the lowering sun. Tapping her foot, she glowered at the ground. "How can I trust you." It wasn't a question. It was as if she was challenging him to be wrong.

Rick attempted to stand, only to find himself back in the ground. "I was a cop. My job was to protect the people. ALL people. And I like to think I did a good job of that."

She stuck the revolver in her holster (which was clearly stolen based on how big it was). "Prove it."

"I don't have my badge or my hat. That's at my house. But I'm officer Rick Grimes. I've been on the force for seven years. My partner was Shane Walsh. I was in my car when we got a call about a run away car. I was shot in action and hospitalized." His eyes seemed to beg her to help him.

Diana tried to fight the raging war in her head.

She knew better.

She knew to trust no one.

Her father and mother both betrayed her trust.

Why trust again?

But... she could tell when people were lying. All people have tells. Her fathers tell was him avoiding eye contact. He always looked at the ground. For her mother, she always played with her wedding ring.

But this Cop... sheriff... man... was not lying.

He looked her dead in the eye.

"Fine. Come with me." She hadn't known that she was gripping her new revolver until she released it. "I have a place in the sewers. I know... in most movies that's where walkers would be. But how would someone get down there in the first place? You'd have to move the lid." She walked over to Rick and slung his arm over her shoulder to help him stand in any way. "And most walkers," she grunted "are pretty stupid."

"Thank you...for helping me." Rick stated gratefully.

"I have some house rules, you know."

"Name them." He said confidently as they shuffled down the street.

"One: you're gone when you can walk."

"You don't want someone to watch your back?" Rick was surprised. Usually, kids jumped at the chance for safety. The ones he has worked with in cases of violence had immediately decided he was trustworthy.

"the worlds changed. You can't trust people." He noted the grim expression on her face. He wanted to ask why, but he figured it was better to stay silent.

"I'd argue about that, but I'll hear out your other rules." He wrapped his arm around his side again, fingering the broken stitches.

"Two: you do as I say or you die."

"Yes ma'am."

Rick couldn't help but like her spunk. She was serious, but it wasn't much of a threat coming from an eleven year old girl.

"3: ..." she started only to trail off.

"...3?"

She cleared her throat and resituated Ricks arm. "You repay my kindness if we ever cross paths again. I don't care how."

"Was already planning on it." He grinned. He could feel the conversation beginning to die, so he started it back up again. "What's your name, kid?"

She hesitated, eyes staying on the road. "Diana." She spoke softly. "My mother named me after the Roman goddess of the night."

Rick smiled. "Pretty name."

Diana's thoughts drifted to her mother. Her mother with her honey brown hair and warm chocolate eyes. She stopped her thoughts there. "Well... what about you, officer friendly? You got a name?"

Rick laughed. "My names Rick Grimes. I ain't named after the moon goddess, but I think it has a nice ring to it. Don't you?"

She forced down a smile. "Pretty name."

He chuckled. "Well, Diana, I am glad I ran into you."

~~~~~

They arrived at the sewer lid.

"Here we are. I've been camped out here since early yesterday morning." She slipped under Ricks arm and got down to lift the lid. With a couple tries, and an offer from Rick for assistance, she lifted the lid.

She stood up and dusted off her hands. "I'll go down first and scope out the area. Need to make sure it's still clear. Then I'll help you down."

She began her descent.

Rick watched the top of her light haired head fade into the darkness with each step. He briefly thought she would try and make a run for it. Escape through the sewers.

He immediately dismissed it. Why would she waste daylight by helping him? The sound of her footsteps hitting the water at the bottom and echoing as she walked down the tunnels set him on edge.

Especially when they began to fade.

He sat patiently for over ten minutes, watching the sunlight tick by. He looked down into the darkness, listening for any sound. There was nothing... not even a whisper.

Maybe she did leave.

"Alright, Sheriff, get down here! It's clear!" Her voice reverberated loudly from the tunnels so suddenly, that Rick stumbled back.

"I don't have all day! Unless you wanted to be walker chow, get down here!"

Rick chuckled as he began to shuffle his way down the tunnel.

"Any day now, Deputy Fossil!" She shouted.

"Hold your horses, kid." He slowly lowered himself into the dark. He looked down to see where his feet were going to land, spotting the flashlight that Diana held. Her light hazel eyes reflected impatience.

"Nice place." He said, clearly biting back his truth.

"Don't be fake." She said as she kicked at the water. "It smells like a pig ate dirty gym socks, farted, and died."

"I was trying to spare your feelings."

"Don't bother. I'm leaving this place as soon as you're ready."

Rick finally landed on the bottom of the sewer. "You got a place you're headed to?"

Diana shook her head. "No. Just a place I never want to see again."

Rick stopped moving to look at her. "Troubled home life?"

She thought about it and shrugged. "I guess you could call it troubled home life. It was home once. But this apocalypse changes people."

"I'm sorry kid."

"Don't be. That's just life."

Rick opened his mouth to say more, but Diana beat him to it.

"Alright, lets move." She motioned for him to follow.

The place she had holed up in was dryer than most spaces. There were a couple of dirty blankets placed on the ground and a first aid kit. Some batteries were sprinkled on top.

"You can sit there. I can stitch you back up." Diana pointed at the wall. Their part of the sewer was a dead end so they wouldn't be surprised.

"Thank you."

Diana hadn't stitched wounds before, but she did well enough.

Rick tried starting a conversation again but she told him she needed silence to focus.

~~~~

"Are you sure you want to travel by yourself?"

Diana nodded as she packed her things. "Very sure. You're nice and all, but you don't want to travel with me."

The Georgia sun had risen already and they both were preparing for departure in the street

"Do you have any family to find?" Rick questioned.

"I already know where they are. And they don't want me either." The girl looked down, avoiding eye contact.

"If we ever meet again, you better give me more details." Rick narrowed his eyes and pointed at her. "I deserve to know more about the little girl who saved me."

"Once a cop always a cop I guess." Diana said slyly. She looked back at him. "What about you? Any family?"

She eyed a walker down the street but decided it was too far away to pursue.

"I got a son and a wife. My son's your age actually. 11." Rick looked through the neighborhoods. "I don't know where they are, but I'll protect them. They need me."

Diana squinted in the direction he was looking at, seeing nothing. "You'll find them, chief." She patted his shoulder, having to reach up very high.

"It was nice to meet you, Diana." Rick said, a little sad that they were parting. Possibly that he would no longer have company. Maybe that he didn't have enough time to get to know her well. "I don't know if I'll see you again, but you helped me without anything to gain."

Diana scoffed. "I'm not a good kid."

"You're right."

Diana looked up, confused.

"You're one of the best."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Go. You have people to find."

"From the looks of thangs, so do you."

"I don't have people."

"You'll find them. Just a matter of where and when." He stuck his hand out for her to shake.

She placed a brown bag in his hand instead. "It's for the road. There's batteries, water, a flashlight, food, bandages, antibiotics, and one more thing..." she unbuckled her holster and handed it to him, along with the revolver. "You need these more than I do."

Rick tried to push it back to the little girl. "No I can't take this. You need it."

"No, you do. You're gonna help people, Rick. You're gonna help so many. You gotta find your people." She pushed it back to him. "I'm gonna be fine. I spotted a gun down the road that I'm gonna check out later."

Rick gave her a solemn look before accepting it. "If you can, head to Atlanta. The CDC is near there and there's bound to be survivors."

"I don't need survivors."she rolled her eyes.

"They may need you, kid. Ever think about that?"

She stayed silent for a moment. "Stay safe, sherif fun sponge." She shook his hand, even though he hadn't offered it yet. "I hope we meet again."

"We will." He smiled. "I don't know how or when, but we will. I have a debt to pay."

She wanted to return the smile but couldn't. "I hope you find them."

"You to."

With that, they went separate ways.

Next fifty chapters posted on noandisaidno on wattpad!

#for you #bookish #disney #digital art #small artist #tik tok #tik tok art #wattpad #fanfic #percy jackson #twd imagine #twd daryl #twd fanfiction #twd negan #twd #the walking dead fanfiction #daryl dixion imagine #daryl dixon x daughter!reader

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sitp-recs · 3 years

Note

hellooo, I was wondering if you had any recs for a down-and-out draco who redeems/rescues himself? I’ve read a lot of fics where Harry comes into his life & inspires him or rescues him from a bad situation, but I’ve never read one where draco is able to make that journey on his own.

also thank you for the work you do, hope you have a lovely day :)

Hi there! Oh I love this ask, such an interesting trope (and not that rare in my opinion!). I really like the idea of post-war Draco struggling but landing on his feet by himself and I’ve selected a few fics where, if anything, he’s the one inspiring Harry. As a side note, I am a bit particular about down-and-out Draco - sometimes I find him a bit too meek for my tastes, I tend to prefer him proud and snarky even on his most vulnerable moments. It’s just a personal preference, so I hope these work for you! Happy readings :)

Too hard to be lived without by @harryromper (2018, T, 3k)

Or, in which Draco manages to find some peace until Harry comes barrelling back into his life.

Harmony (Left-Handed Melody Remix) by mindabbles (2010, M, 6k)

He is the last person Draco was expecting, but then again, this is not a place Draco ever expected to be.

Tidings of Comfort by @blamebrampton (2012, G, 10k)

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. Luckily for Draco Malfoy, London has places where the tired can rest and recover.

Cold Like Fire by @queenofthyme (2018, M, 12k)

Head Auror Harry Potter had no problem with mandatory consent training for his team. He’d actually been looking forward to it, that is, until he discovered who the teacher was.

The Year of Non-Magical Thinking by whiskyandwildflowers (2018, E, 13k)

“I don't know what I'm going to do, Potter. I'll think of something. So will you. But this is my journey to self-actualization. You can fuck off and get your own."

Turn and Face the Strange (time may change me) by @punk-rock-yuppie (2019, T, 16k)

Draco and Harry and how their relationship—and themselves—change over the course of eleven years.

The Stars Above Us by 606, create_serenity (2015, M, 19k)

It started as an innocent day out taking Teddy to visit the local observatory..

Unfinished Business by cupiscent (2003, E, 20k)

Ten years after the War ends, Harry and Draco still haven't got their act together. But maybe it's not too late.

Vortex by @xanthippe74 (2020, T, 20k) - Harry and Hermione help Draco’s community project here, but his redemption arc is established before that!

Who would want a soulmate who was a schoolyard bully, a Death Eater, and a convicted felon? Certainly not Harry Potter. And Draco is determined to take this secret to the grave.

We Might Be Too Old for a Bildungsroman by @wellhalesbells (2015, T, 21k)

Harry finds something he’s been looking for since the war’s end. Admittedly, the packaging’s a bit odder than he expected.

With Great Yawns and Stretchings by sugar_screw (2016, T, 22k)

The coffee is very good. Really. And the cats are so cute. That's why Harry goes so often.

Doing the Lambeth Walk by @blamebrampton (2012, T, 26k)

There are only three traditional choices for the cashed-up hero after victory. Harry Potter is too young to settle down and provide the wizarding world with a happy ending, and has too acute a sense of humour to spiral downwards into a spectacular flame-out. That leaves a life of good works.

Exposure by GallaPlacidia (2020, M, 27k)

When Seamus uncovers Draco Malfoy's camboy profile, he, Harry and Ron decide to anonymously book a private show so as to humiliate him later.

Slithering by astolat (2016, E, 27k)

Draco found the nest down in the Manor’s cellars, while he was clearing them out.

Faint Indirections by ignatiustrout (2019, T, 29k)

Draco Malfoy is the last person Harry expects to turn up in Boston, Massachussetts.

Open For Repairs by @drarrytrash (2015, M, 35k)

After the war, Draco works at a tv repair shop and Harry breaks things.

measures of our days and nights by flimsy (2012, E, 40k)

Draco returns to London to help the Ministry decipher a spell, but things aren’t quite as simple as they seem.

Anatomy of a Wolf Heart, orphaned (2021, E, 40k)

Three years ago at the tragic Battle that freed our great Wizarding World from the grip of a megalomaniac Dark Wizard, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, our world lost many Witches and Wizards. Among the dead and missing was Draco Malfoy, the only son of notorious Death Eaters Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, both of whom volunteered their home for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to use as a headquarters.

The Vanishing Department by @dictacontrion (2014, E, 47k)

The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, even if that involves a lot more form-filling, bickering, covert glancing, miscommunication, and flying furniture than we might expect.

Here's The Pencil, Make It Work by ignatiustrout (2013, M, 49k)

Harry thinks "Why is Malfoy working in a coffee shop in muggle London?" is a much simpler question than, "Are you going to accept that auror offer and, if you don't, what will you do?"

Modern Love by @tackytigerfic (2020, E, 61k)

Harry Potter, of all people, knows that life isn’t always fair. And no one gets to be happy all of the time. But surely there’s something more—something better—than a rubbish Ministry job, and a lonely old house, and that feeling that everyone out there is doing a better job of living than Harry is.

Who we are in the shadows by @quicksilvermaid (2019, E, 100k)

What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise? Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life.

A Sword Laid Aside by @korlaena (2018, E, 128k)

When Draco’s cover is blown during a deep undercover operation and the Ministry is compromised, Ron takes Draco to the only safe place he can think of—Potter. Hiding out with a taciturn Harry Potter, who has been missing from the Wizarding World for almost two decades after a shocking fall from grace, is nothing like Draco thought it would be.

#asks #drarry reclist #draco saves himself #down-and-out draco

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passable-talent · 4 years

Note

Part 7 of the Dai Li series please!!! Excellent work again, as usual- I'm DYING XD

guess how long it took for this request to come in?

eleven minutes!! thats a new record!!

and so we return... ANOTHER whole month later!

“I need you to tell me what happened to Iroh.”

Zuko kept your gaze, his eyes almost wide. You didn’t look away, couldn’t let yourself. A few heartbeats passed, and he looked away, shame clear on his face.

“He was put in jail,” Zuko said, closing his eyes. “I visited him often, but when I went to help him break out during the eclipse, he was already gone.” Slowly, his gaze returned to you. “I wish I could tell you I knew where he was.” It made sense, what he was saying, and you knew he wasn’t lying. You had hoped something else had become of Iroh, that day, that maybe he’d escaped after securing yours, but some part of you knew that he was likely jailed in the Fire Nation, if not dead.

Broken out, though. He had made it out- just like Zuko. Maybe, someday, they’d see each other again.

But for now, you were satisfied. Zuko, though responsible for Iroh’s imprisonment in an odd way, was ashamed of it. And you wouldn’t hold against him actions that he was paying for. Your heart beating, yet stinging like a raw wound, you fell back into his chest, spending any long moment you could in his arms, the sky darkening around you and revealing its stars.

The days before Sozin’s Comet just felt odd.

Four days from the comet, you went to a play, which didn’t mention you at all. That pissed you off- you were instrumental to their escape from Ba Sing Se! Who the hell else would’ve protected Katara from Azula if not you? Not to mention Zuko died in it, which surprised all of you, most of all, Zuko.

His upset from the night before bled into the next morning, when he attacked Aang. The terror in your chest, when you saw the fire struck toward the avatar again, was thick and visceral. You never thought you’d see him attack Aang again, not after Ba Sing Se, and you didn’t understand what had happened that made him so violent, so suddenly.

But when you attempted to come to Aang’s aid, and stood between the avatar and the prince, you caught his gaze. That malice that you’d seen in Ba Sing Se, that you’d hated so much, that you expected to see now, in a prince gone mad- it wasn’t there.

Zuko wasn’t doing this out of hatred for Aang.

It stunned you enough that the prince slipped past you, continuing his attack. You watched as a spectator, until they dove into the attic, your mind swimming. What could Zuko be thinking?

Okay, so he was confused at Aang’s complacency. Real interesting decision making process there, Zuzu, attacking him to resolve such an issue.

Three days from the comet. You run a drill- which didn’t make much sense as an actual plan, you had to say, but not many of these other teenagers had the benefit of actual military training like you. Your job was to draw fire with Sokka and Suki- and, though Sokka didn’t admit it, to be an earthbender who could throw up a shield at any time. It was fun training, which you hadn’t really gotten to be a part of for a while.

Two days from the comet, and Aang is missing.

Which is really, really, really bad.

Like, sure, the kid wasn’t exactly super ready to face Ozai, but he’s still the avatar, right? That’s still got to count for something. And he’s missing, leaving a very gifted and still extremely underqualified gaggle of teenagers to face the Fire Lord.

So you went to the Earth Kingdom. Zuko took you to an old friend named Jun, who seemed to go way back, back to before you’d met Zuko. She seemed like she’d be helpful, but then revealed even more deeply unsettling information- Aang was gone. Which was much, much worse than missing.

So, facing the Fire Lord without the Avatar. How fun.

And yet, there was a glimmer of hope, in the form of an old, smelly sandal, which really made you wonder why the hell Zuko still had it. And, really, now that you thought about it, how Zuko even got it. The Shirshu could definitely catch a scent from that- anyone with a half working nose could.

One day from Sozin’s comet, and most of it was already gone, spent chasing a shirshu across the Earth Kingdom. Appa was the best, letting you sleep on a massive paw, and though he was itchy, it was much better than taking the time to set up your beds. Though, your rest didn’t last long- quickly you were ambushed, a ring of fire surrounding you. Four men looked down upon you, and though you didn’t recognize three of them, you did know King Bumi, and assumed that the others must be friends, if he were in league with them.

“Well, look who’s here!” Bumi said, a snorting laugh following his words. You saw relief and joy on Sokka and Katara’s face, and so you knew that your assumption was true. It seemed like, for the first time in a few days, you were about to catch a break.

“What’s going on? We’re surrounded by old people.” A smile cracking your face, you had to be grateful for Toph, and her outlook on the world.

“Not just any old people. These are great masters, and friends of ours!” She bowed to an old man with long white hair. “Pakku.”

“It is respectful to bow to an old master,” he said, returning her bow, “but how about a hug, for your new grandfather?” You raised an eyebrow as the siblings reacted with surprise, but not too much, like that was a normal thing to say, if exciting. Following their conversation, though, you picked up enough details to figure out a bit of the history that they must’ve had.

“And this was Aang’s first firebending teacher!” Katara explained, and Sokka went on to explain the name of the third.

“Master Piandao,” he said, and you smiled brightly, even if it was to yourself- this was truly a lucky day.

“So, wait, how do you all know each other?” Suki asked.

“All old people know each other, don’t you know that?” Bumi said with another snorting laugh.

“We’re all part of the same ancient secret society,” Piandao explain, causing your gaze to shift to the matching uniforms they each wore. “A group that transcends the divisions of the four nations.

“The Order of the White Lotus,” Zuko interjected, and you looked sideways at him, wondering how he knew that. He had a smile on his face- he looked hopeful.

“That’s the one!” Bumi answered.

“The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty, and truth,” Jeong-Jeong began, and as you crossed your arms over yourself to protect them from the wind, you were glad that such a society exists in such a war-torn world. “But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important.”

“It came from our Grand Lotus,” Pakku said, diverting his eyes to Zuko. “Your uncle. Iroh of the Fire Nation.” While Zuko’s expression softened, yours brightened- Iroh was as trustworthy as you had always known him to be. You were glad to know that he kept peace just as much as he preached it.

“Well, that’s who we’re looking for,” Toph said.

“Then we’ll take you to him.” Reaching Jun and her shirshu, it felt sure that you were going to see Iroh again. But when you followed her for a day, the inevitability of it dribbled away. Yet here, again, your hope renewed, that you could see him again, and be reminded that there was at least one adult in the world that you could really, deeply trust.

“Wait,” Bumi shouted, shoving himself to the midst of the conversation, “There’s someone missing from your group. Someone very important... where’s Momo??”

“He’s gone,” Sokka said, clearly deeply troubled by having Bumi’s nose pressed to his face, “and so is Aang.”

“Oh well, so long as they have each other, I’m sure we have nothing to worry about!” Bumi said, prompting you to wonder what the king had seen and experienced to allow news such as a missing avatar to not startle him. “Let’s go!”

It was a surprisingly far walk to the Order’s camp, in which the old masters caught up with their friends, and filled each other in on details. You kept quiet, having not personally known any of them.

The sun came up as you reached the camp, and Zuko entered his uncle’s tent, to wait. You sat outside with Toph, but decide not to practice your seismics- whatever was happening between Zuko and Iroh deserved to stay between them.

A nice stew was your breakfast, the gaang all sitting around its pot, with Iroh sitting at the head of the group. You’d sat between Zuko and Toph, one leg propped up on its foot with the other extended in front of you. Iroh had given you a long hug when he saw you- delighted that you had continued your path alongside the avatar, and secretly even more delighted that Zuko’s path had also lead him back to you.

“Uncle, you’re the only person other than the avatar who can possibly defeat the fatherlord,” Zuko said, and though you heard his mistake, you only smiled into your stew.

“You mean the Fire Lord.” Because you could count on Toph to do it for you.

“That’s what I just said,” Zuko snapped, but it was merely his temper, not true anger. “We need you to come with us.” Iroh seemed to consider for a moment.

“No, Zuko, it won’t turn out well,” Iroh began, and you lifted your head, ready to hear true, unfiltered Iroh wisdom.

“You can beat him,” Zuko insisted, before looking sideways across the rest of the group. “And we’ll be there to help.” You gave him a smile, but ultimately turned your attention back to Iroh.

“Even if I did defeat Ozai,” he began, “and I don’t know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History will see it as more senseless violence: a brother killing a brother to grab power.” Slowly you brought another bite of your stew to your lips, but once you had, your chopsticks slowly maneuvered around your fingers, finding a way to fidget as you considered. “The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the avatar to defeat the Fire Lord.” You let out a quick breath, recognizing the sense in his words, but feeling worry reveal itself. Wasn’t Aang... gone? Off world?

“And then... would you come and take your rightful place on the throne?” Zuko asked.

“No,” Iroh said, quickly, like he’d been prepared for such a question. “Someone new must take the throne- an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor.” He was speaking directly to Zuko, and you understood before he’d had to say it. “It has to be you, Prince Zuko.”

In all the time you’d known Zuko, you had known him as a lot of different things. Refugee. Waiter. Friend. Crush. Traitor. Enemy. Prince. Fire Nation. And in all that time, you’d realized his lineage, as the eldest child of the Fire Lord, and certainly most sane. Yet, in all that time, you’d never considered what he was poised to become: the Fire Lord himself.

In that moment, you nearly felt the need to bow, or scoot away, as though you were reminded of his royalty, the true meaning of the term ‘prince’. Wasn’t the bloodline of the Fire Nation royals considered to have been made royal by the spirits?

Inferiority didn’t even begin to cover it, but you’d worry about that another day.

“Unquestionable honor?” He asked, looking away from his uncle. “But I’ve made so many mistakes.” At long last, days after you felt like you had finally forgiven the prince, you were put in a position where you could accept or deny the way he had hurt you in the past. But you weren’t just an earth kingdom citizen, not anymore. You were world-travelled, a soldier, a warrior, a friend to the future fire lord and the avatar alike. You knew the mature and good and right thing to do. And in that moment, it wasn’t to hold above him the things he’d done to you, but instead to recognize the way he’d overcome them. You shuffled closer to him.

“Yes, you have,” Iroh admitted, his gaze briefly meeting yours. “You’ve struggled, you’ve suffered.” Gently, you took one hand from your bowl, and laid it on his, where he’d left it on his knee. He didn’t look at you, but his fingers slid around yours slowly. “But you have always followed your own path. You have restored your own honor. And only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation.”

“I’ll try, uncle,” he promised, and you knew he would make good on it.

“Well, what if Aang doesn’t come back?” Toph asked, and you once again thanked her for saying the things you couldn’t seem to get past your tongue.

“Sozin’s comet is arriving, and our destinies are upon us,” Iroh declared, using his chopsticks for emphasis. “Aang will face the Fire Lord. When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back, from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again.”

“That’s why you’ve gathered the members of the White Lotus,” Suki said, her words prompting you to look around at the dozen other old masters, who would be more than capable of pulling your mighty home city from the grasp of a few Fire Nation soldiers.

“Yes,” Iroh agreed, turning his gaze back to the prince. “Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne, and restore peace, and honor. But Azula will be there, waiting for you.”

“I can handle Azula,” Zuko said, malice written across his face, but this time for your first real enemy.

“Not alone,” Iroh insisted, “you’ll need help.”

“You’re right,” Zuko admitted. “Katara, Y/N. How would you like to help me put Azula in her place?” A devious smile spread over Katara’s face.

“It would be my pleasure,” she said, and you couldn’t help but smile as their gazes turned to you.

“She’s had it coming,” you said, cracking your knuckles of your free hand into your thigh.

“What about us?” Sokka asked, from between Toph and Suki, “What’s our destiny today?”

“What do you think it is?” Iroh asked, halfway to his next mouthful of stew, and for a moment you saw Mushi again, being cheeky back at the Jasmine Dragon when he suggested you do something that would put you in Zuko’s path.

“I think that,” Sokka began, considering, “even though we don’t know where Aang is, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet.”

“And that means, when Aang does face the Fire Lord, we’ll be right there if he needs us.” Toph’s attitude, as though she would take on the comet herself, and win, filled you with a sense of hope. You could win the day.

You rested your back against Appa’s saddle, leaning over the side to say your goodbyes to the Order.

“So if I’m going to be Fire Lord after the war is over,” Zuko said, once again reminding you of such an insane fact, “What are you going to do?”

“After I reconquer Ba Sing Se, I’m going to reconquer my tea shop!” You couldn’t help but laugh, remembering the place you’d fallen in love with Zuko, back before the world had fallen down around you. You could imagine going back there, when it was all over. “And I’m going to play Pai Sho every day!” His happiness, his hope, was infectious.

“Goodbye, General Iroh,” Katara said, and you leaned down on your elbow, as though you could give him one last hug before you left. You already had- but that didn’t curb the impulse.

“Goodbye, everyone. Today, destiny is our friend. I know it.” You could believe him. For that moment, you were filled with strength, and the feeling that though the day would be hard, it would be won. It had to be.

Appa kicked off from the ground, and you crawled to the front of the saddle, closer to Zuko.

“Hey, Zuko?” You asked, taking a deep breath.

“Yes?” he didn’t look away from Appa’s path, but turned his head toward you.

“When this is all over, I...” you swallowed, hard, but kept yourself from putting it off any further. “I’m ready to love you again. I think I already do.”

And then, in that moment, for Zuko, there was a thousand more reasons why he needed to win the day.

-🦌 Roe

stay tuned (aka request) for the series finale...

edit: | part 8 |

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mandoalorian · 3 years

Text

The Way of Betrayal [Din Djarin x Reader]

Summary: Din Djarin finally meets other Mandalorians, and he learns the truth about his creed. Confused and hurting, he begins to over think, and so it's your job to comfort the Mandalorian and promise him that you'll love him no matter who he is or where he comes from

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: none really, a little bit of guilt and anxiety I suppose.

Authors note: I know I always write a smut based around the new episode but.. as a TCW/Rebels fan, chapter eleven hit hard. I had been theorising about Din being a Death Watch foundling on my twitter literally since season one came out and now that it's been confirmed… my feelings are all over the place. So I knocked up this fluff/angst. It's a little painful but let's preserve.

~ gif by firedragon04

When the leader of Clan Kryze, Bo Katan, removed her helmet, it came as a surprise to you. You couldn't even imagine how it made Din feel. His whole body tensed up, shock coursing through his veins.

Waves crashed against the hull of the ship, the cold air stinging your skin as you nursed the child in your arms. You covered him in your cloak slightly, protecting him from any further attacks. You hushed him gently, rocking him up and down as his big dark eyes blinked up at you. You gently stroked the light white hairs on his little green head and he gave you a tired smile. "You're okay, little one." you whispered out as he settled in your arms.

It wasn't just Bo Katan, but stood by her side were two other Mandalorians, both helmetless. You half expected Din to remove his helmet, despite you knowing that it was against the code of his creed. You were baffled, to say the least. You and your boyfriend were now stood before three Mandalorians, each one helmetless. Of course, there could be a chance that they weren't Mandalorian at all; and that their armour was stolen. It seemed as though Din shared the same thought process as you.

"Where did you get that Mandalorian armour?" he gritted out. "Nobody is allowed to remove their helmet."

"Oh, he's one of those." Said the girl with dark hair, bitterness dripping from her tongue.

Din didn't move an inch, his fingers cautiously gliding over the blaster in his holster. You didn't like her attitude, or the way she spoke to Din. You wanted to rip that smirk from her lips; but you knew that acting irrationally would only get you and your Mando in more trouble than necessary.

"One of what." Din's question came out as a more gruff statement, anger bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. He didn't have time for games.

Bo Katan hesitated for a moment, her amber eyes becoming glossy as traumatic memories swarmed over her. "Death Watch," she tried to remain composed but her explanation came out as a shaky exhale. "You were a foundling of the Death Watch. They're traditionalists, trying to rebuild the way of Mandalore so it remains the way it was intended to. They're a violent faction of Mandalorians. Your creed are responsible for the death of many Mandalorians, including my sister, Duchess Satine of Mandalore."

You knew of this. You had heard of this before. The prolonged silence was unbearable and you decided to speak up. Din was clearly struggling to process Bo Katan's words.

"We don't know what you're talking about," You sighed. "We have been tasked to bring this little one to the Jedi. We've come from far away places, just for some intel. Just to find you. Outer rim to inner rim. We need help."

"You really don't get it, do you?" Bo Katan frowned. Din remained silent and your grip tightened around the child as you took a step forward, breaking any distance between you and the red headed Mandalorian.

"Can you help us?" You asked finally, not wanting Bo Katan to expel any more information that could confuse or hurt Din. You knew he couldn't bear to hear the words that Bo Katan spoke, and to you, it didn't matter anyway.

You had heard of the Death Watch; but your father had always told you it was an ancient folk tale during the Clone Wars. He told you of clan leader Pre Vizsla and how he worked with Darth Maul to overthrow Duchess Satine. And now you were learning that it could all be true, and that your Mando could be part of it. You wondered how much Din knew about it.

Despite all of this, it was something you could see past. You knew Din better than anyone else in the whole world. You knew that he is not capable of Death Watch crimes. You could never judge him for his creed.

"We can help you. I know of… a Jedi…" Bo Katan folded her strong arms over her chest. "But you need to help us first. I'm looking for a certain Mandalorian weapon and I've received word that it's in the hands of an Ex-Imp. There's an Imperial transport leaving docking bay 94 at dawn and we plan on scavenging it for at least information on the weapon. Your help would be greatly appreciated."

Din loosened up, finally moving his gaze from the floor, back to Bo-Katan. For a moment and looked down at you, holding his garbling child in your arms. You and the child were his life, and he hated leaving you both. Since met you, he found himself caring more about you and the child, than he did himself. Mandalorian's are taught to be selfish, but you taught him compassion and love, something he valued a lot more. He was your protector. His mind returned back to Bo Katan's plot and he didn't like the sounds of it. He knew this would be a Mandalorian only mission, and that you wouldn't be able to join him.

The Razor Crest was in bits, and every native Din had already encountered had tried to kill him for his beskar, or kidnap you, or drown the child for shark food. There was no safe place you could stay. Sure, you were strong, but Din needed the confidence that he could protect you. He didn't want to leave your side.

"I'll consider it." Din replied and you knotted your eyebrows together in bewilderment. He wasn't sure if he could go through with the mission if it meant leaving you and the child behind. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to return the child to the Jedi; but he was quested to do so by his creed. The same creed he now learnt were Mandalorian terrorists during the Clone Wars.

"You know where to find us," Bo Katan smiled politely. "This is the way." she said before the three Mandalorians put their helmets back on and jetted off the ship and into the velvety night sky.

"What do you mean, consider it?" You asked Din, dropping a hand to your hip. "You've come this far. This could be your only chance to find the Jedi. You have to help them."

Din's knees felt weak, all this information was too much. The Mandalorian could handle a lot. He could survive a lot. But this was hard to take in. Your words were scrambled to him and with a wobble he fell backwards into a box of crates. You gently placed the child down and ran towards him, grabbing his hand and pulling him up, sitting him on an extended plank of wood. "Are you okay?" you asked, concern filling your eyes.

"Nngh, I don't know. I don't know if I can trust them." Din admitted, looking into the ocean. You slipped your hands into Din's and began to rub comforting circles through his gloved fingers.

"I've heard stories about Clan Kryze… and Duchess Satine. I've heard of the invasion of Mandalore, and all about Death Watch. They… they've done bad things to a lot of people." You felt Dins hand tense up at your words. "But that doesn't mean you're a bad person. I think it just means we can trust her."

Din looked at you. "They… they removed their helmets. All this time I've been telling you I can't but maybe I've been wrong."

"I don't care what they look like under their helmets. I don't care what you look like under yours. Because I fell in love with your heart, Din. And if you still don't want to remove your helmet, then I respect that."

"I feel so foolish." Din admitted and you shook your head. You sighed, leaning into him and curling up on his lap. The child clambered up his knees and shuffled in between you two for comfort. "Look cyar’ika, our little family." Din hummed with delight, running a gloved finger through your hair. "Promise me, no matter what, no matter who I am or where I come from, you won't leave me."

"I promise Din."

"Because I don't think I can live without you, sweet girl," Din croaked out, his heart breaking at the mere thought of losing you. "I wish I could take my helmet off for you and the kid. I wish I could show you who I really am."

You cupped the curve of his beskar helmet and looked into his visor. "I know who you really are Din, and I love you for it. Whatever happens next, we will figure it out together."

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