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tchallasbabymama · 3 years

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Troubled Waters Chapter Four

Hey, yall! Here’s the next chapter of Nia and T’Challa’s journey. I’m super proud of this one (I’m proud of all my work, but still.) With the help of @wordsfromthelivingghost being a bomb ass beta reader, I think this is some of my best work yet. And I’m only gonna get better!

Check out my masterlist to read my other stories (and catch up on this one if you’re new here.) I love when y’all talk to me and share my work so others can discover it, so hit those comment and reblog buttons. Also, be sure to let me know if you want to be tagged in anything. Enjoy!😘

Word count: 8,894

CW: A little blood and cutting but NOT for self-harm reasons. If it bothers you, skip the second half of the scene at Kokou’s temple.

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Nia pressed her cheek to the window, careful not to smudge the thin line of white clay painted down the center of her face. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung slightly open as she watched Wakanda zoom by from hundreds of feet in the air. She had always loved seeing what the world looked like from above, but it had been years since she last got to enjoy the view. When she was young, Amare would carry her in his arms as he flew high above the ground to give her a taste of what she so desperately wanted: to feel the wind beneath her nonexistent wings.

T’Challa half-watched Nia from his seat off to the side of the cabin as he flipped through news articles on his kimoyo beads. As they flew over a statue of Bast in her full panther form, he could tell the bright blue light radiating from the tunnel beneath the goddess intrigued her. Her head tilted slightly to the left, and he turned off his beads right as she turned around with a question on her lips.

“That’s Mt. Bashenga,” T’Challa answered prematurely as he stood and made his way over to the window, looking out at his kingdom as Okoye steered the Royal Talon over the Mining province.

“Why’s it glowing?”

“Vibranium.”

“Ohhh.” Nia thought back to the human history books she read as a child that told their story of the founding of Wakanda. Obviously, they had censored the part about aziza, but she still found their revisionist history fascinating. “That’s where the meteorite landed, right?”

T’Challa nodded, impressed by her knowledge.

“Ubaba always said vibranium was ‘the humans’ magic’,” she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

T’Challa was mildly shocked. He had never considered it that way, but he supposed it was sort of otherworldly what they were able to do with the substance. In comparison to other humans, anyway.

Okoye kept her focus on flying the ship, but T’Challa couldn’t help but spot the slight glow that emanated from Nia’s skin while she ogled the scenery. The king reflected on the description of aziza he had read the day before and remembered that it mentioned their luminous skin. He had noticed that even when she was standoffish towards him, she seemed to radiate light from the inside out, but seeing her literally light up in excitement brought him joy.

When Birnin Zana came into view, Nia’s eyes curiously trailed along the tributaries that moseyed through the metropolis and she was reminded of the magic realm’s big city, Birnin Umlingo. She smiled fondly at how similar they were despite the fact that Birnin Zana was so much bigger. It was nestled between rolling hills and sharp cliffsides, and she was pleasantly surprised to see all the lush greenery dispersed throughout the city. There were small parks everywhere and most of the roofs were topped with well-kept gardens. The skyscrapers and apartment buildings stretched to the sky like the trees that lined the streets, but Nia was almost blinded when the sun bounced off of an impressive structure in the middle of the city. Two almost conical, shining towers spiraled up from an ancient foundation that swirled around the base like the flowing tributary that surrounded most of it like a moat. The towers were connected by a long bridge about a third of the way up and despite her amazement, Nia couldn’t help but wonder why they had to build two towers instead of just one.

“Bast, is that the palace?” She pointed up ahead.

T’Challa smirked proudly. He never tired of seeing the dual vibranium spires that towered over even the tallest skyscrapers throughout the city.

“It is,” he said proudly.

“It’s so big,” she whispered, then turned to look at him. “Does it ever feel empty?”

He furrowed his brows, making a little crease appear between them that Nia found endearing. “How do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just you and your family that live there, right?”

The king nodded.

“Then why do you need so much space? And why two instead of just one? It seems so unnecessary.”

Okoye bit the inside of her lip to keep from snickering at Nia’s sincere inquiries. She wasn’t too keen on Nia and wasn’t quite sure why she was there, but she had worked for T’Challa long enough to know he didn’t like people questioning him.

“I don’t- it’s not just...look.” He pointed back out the window to distract her, and Nia whipped her head around to watch their descent to the landing pad in front of the palace.

The three of them exited the Talon, but instead of entering T’Challa’s gratuitously large home, they made a left and walked through the palace gates and into the bustling streets of Birnin Zana. Nia had been to the big city before when she was young, but it seemed like it had exploded over the last couple of decades. It had always been a busy hub of commerce for the Merchant tribe, but business owners from the other tribes had moved there in droves over the past few years to get a piece of the pie.

The three of them passed through the financial district with ease. Nia kept her neck craned to look up at the tall banks, corporate offices, and massive parking garages filled with hovercars. In the distance, she saw an arena and she wondered what took place there. Did they have many concerts? Sporting events? She made a mental note to ask about that later and continued to take in her surroundings. The maglev trains zooming by high above the street caught her attention, and her eyes widened. She had never been on a train before.

They eventually made it to Three Step Town, the cultural hub of the city and Nia looked on in awe at the various businesses that surrounded them. Once again, she was reminded of Birnin Umlingo as she looked around at the diversity that surrounded her. Most of the older folks were dressed in the traditional clothing of their tribes, but the younger Wakandans seemed to prefer a more modern look. They really were a spectacle. Some people had brightly colored manes and shining vibranium tattoos that decorated their skin, and the sight had Nia’s wheels turning. She had never really experimented much with her look, but they were giving her the inspiration to try something different.

Just as Nia began to ponder what body modification would look good on her, she felt someone grab her and yank her to the side of the street. She began to protest right as a streetcar full of people rolled by. Nia turned to thank her savior, smiling sheepishly when she realized it was Okoye.

“Watch where you’re going,” the general warned harshly and let go of Nia’s arm. The two of them joined T’Challa as he spoke to a snaggletoothed young boy who had proudly shown him the Black Panther action figure that he carried everywhere. The boy’s parents thanked the king for being so polite before they said goodbye and went on their way. Nia’s heart warmed a little at seeing T’Challa be so kind to them. He could have easily ignored the family or had Okoye intervene, but he seemed to enjoy interacting with his people. As the three of them continued on their journey, a small smile pushed up the corners of Nia’s mouth knowing he wasn’t as arrogant as she assumed.

Nia was almost overwhelmed by the many shops they passed by. She could buy anything she wanted: jewelry, instruments, furniture, hats. It seemed like they had everything. However, she came to a halt when they walked by a store with colorful, hand-woven baskets hanging out front. The old lady that ran the shop noticed Nia staring and came forward to help her pick one out, but paused when she saw that the king was standing beside her. She saluted him fondly and turned to face his companion.

“Excuse me, how much for this one?” Nia asked the shopkeep as her fingers ran over the intricate patterns along the sides of a mid-sized sweetgrass basket.

“For you it is free,” the older woman said through a bright smile that crinkled her eyes. Before Nia could protest, she had already taken it down and pushed it into her arms.

“Are you sure? I can pay-”

“Just tell people where you got it,” the woman winked before going back inside to help a customer that was ready to check out.

Nia couldn’t believe how kind the woman had been to give her the gift, but her amazement was cut short by T’Challa leaning in close and ruining the moment.

“Just one of the perks of traveling with the king,” he teased.

Nia rolled her eyes and stepped away from him, continuing down the street with her basket swinging in the crook of her elbow. She had been so caught up in her surroundings that she hadn’t noticed the stares from passersby and began to get a little self-conscious. A few people even snapped a picture or two of the king and his elusive friend, some of which would surely end up on gossip blogs by the end of the day.

Her nervousness was short-lived and quickly got replaced with longing when they turned the corner and walked right through the food district. Not only did the colorful produce stands call to her, but the smells of curries and grilled meats continuously pulled her attention from left to right. However, when a deliciously sweet aroma tickled her nose, she stopped dead in the middle of the road.

“Where is that coming from?” Nia sniffed the air and veered off the main street as she followed the scent to a man that was serving up deep-fried sweet plantain on a stick, drizzled with chocolate. T’Challa kept a close eye on Nia but stayed back and let her wander up to the dessert cart alone. He watched as she engaged the man in conversation and saw her come alive when she tasted the sample he provided her. A small smile crept up the king’s face, but his amusement was cut short by Okoye clearing her throat next to him.

“My king,” she started, and he turned slightly in her direction, nodding for her to continue as he kept his eyes on Nia. “If I may...what exactly is her purpose here with us?”

“Nia is a devotee of Bast, and I believe she may be helpful in our attempts to understand what has happened to her,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Okoye sensed his unwillingness to go further into detail and grew quiet again as Nia damn near skipped back over to them with her hands full.

“Here you go,” Nia sang as she held out two of the desserts for them to take. “He saw I was with the king and gave me three for free!”

Neither of them was hungry, but they just couldn’t say no to her big, childlike eyes.

“Thank you,” T’Challa waved to the man behind the counter and took a bite of the dessert, eyes rolling back in ecstasy. “Mmm”

“See? It’s amazing,” Nia said with a mouth full of plantain. Even Okoye had to agree.

The three of them ate their midmorning snack as they strolled through the streets, eventually making their way to a much quieter section on the outskirts of the busy city center. Just as Nia finished licking the last bit of chocolate from the wooden stick, she came face to face with an ancient-looking stone building that didn’t quite fit the vibe of the modern neighborhood. Her eyes zeroed in on the large statue at the entrance. It was a being with the body of a man and the head of an ibis holding a scroll in one hand and a staff in the other.

“Welcome to the flagship branch of the Wakandan Public Library,” T’Challa said proudly.

While Nia loved a good library, she was a little confused about why they were there. “I thought we were going to a temple.”

T’Challa wiggled his eyebrows as he stepped past her, climbing the steps with Okoye in tow, “This is the temple.”

Nia’s curiosity got the best of her, and she followed behind the king and his general. They threw their sticks away in the trash cans outside of the doors that swished open as they approached. Nia hadn’t expected the building to have such modern technologies based on the look of it, but she surmised the library would have a few more surprises up its sleeves.

“Kumkani wam!”

All three of their heads turned towards the woman behind the large marble desk as she scrambled to salute the king, dropping the small stack of books from her arms. T’Challa quickly rounded the desk and smiled at her as he crouched down to pick the books off of the floor. Before she could stoop down to help him, he had already placed them neatly on the desk.

“T-thank you, my king,” the woman stammered and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Never in her life had she imagined she would be so close to royalty, much less her biggest crush. “What can I do for you?”

“Well…” he started, trailing off to get her name.

“Fatima, sir.”

“What a beautiful name,” he flirted innocently and leaned on the cool marble as Nia and Okoye both fought their eyes from rolling to the ceiling. Okoye was used to his flirtatious manner making women swoon at his feet, but it still irked her to no end. They had a job to do, and he was wasting time. Nia, however, felt the tiniest tinge of something deep in her gut as she watched him make eyes at the beautiful librarian. She waved it off as annoyance since she still wasn’t the king’s biggest fan. Adding “womanizer” to her list of reasons not to like him certainly tipped the scales further away from him, balancing out his actions from earlier.

Fatima giggled as she struggled to make eye contact with the handsome king, “Thank you, your highness.”

“Please, call me T’Challa,” he implored, resting his hand over his heart and flashing his irresistible smile.

“Oh, no. I couldn’t do that-”

“I insist.”

Okoye cleared her throat, and T’Challa’s eyes reluctantly shot in her direction.

“Anyway, Fatima, we were wondering if Abdu is in today,” T’Challa continued as he straightened up and stood to his full height, making Fatima swoon even more in his presence. Her eyes wandered down to his chest, but she snapped out of it and attempted to look him in the eye. Her knees nearly buckled under the intensity of his gaze, but she stood firm.

“Y-yes, he is, my ki-”

T’Challa reprimanded her with a simple raise of his right eyebrow, and she quickly corrected herself.

“I mean, T’Challa,” Fatima giggled once more. “I’ll go get him for you.”

“Thank you, Fatima,” he smiled down at her, watching as she walked away with a pep in her step and her hips twitching just a little more than usual.

Fatima disappeared behind a green velvet curtain, and when they were sure she was out of earshot, Nia and Okoye both turned to look at the king. They wore matching expressions of disapproval, but, for some reason, it stung to see on Nia’s face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“Must you flirt with every woman you see?” Okoye butted in, clearly exasperated by his antics.

Nia’s eyebrows jumped as a teasing smirk settled on her lips. “Oh, so this is a common occurrence?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many-”

“General,” T’Challa warned, and Okoye stopped talking.

Nia tried to contain a laugh, but it came out more like a snort than she intended. Just as T’Challa opened his mouth to make fun of her, Fatima appeared from behind the curtain with a heavy-set man with tortoiseshell glasses just a few steps behind her.

“T’Challa, my boy! Oh, excuse me, my king.” The man bowed sarcastically and crossed his arms in a salute. T’Challa waved him off with a smile and a click of his tongue, and the two men embraced each other. Nia had noticed T’Challa wasn’t really one to demand formalities, but the man’s familiarity with the king intrigued her.

“Abdu, how have you been?”

It had been several months since T’Challa last visited the library. Abdu had worked and worshipped there for decades and had watched the king grow into the man before him. Some of T’Challa’s fondest childhood memories consisted of him spending hours curled up in the stacks, flipping through whatever book caught his eye that day. Abdu would bring him story after story for him to get lost in, and the older man never tired of T’Challa’s curiosity. No matter how many questions he threw at him.

“Getting old, but I can’t complain,” the much shorter man said as they pulled apart. He looked around T’Challa and noticed his company. “Okoye, a pleasure to see you as always.”

“You as well, Abdu,” she smiled.

“And who might this lovely creature be?” Abdu asked as his gaze fell on Nia. She bristled at his choice of words but said nothing. Even as a child, she had always been sensitive to the word “creature” and felt it offensive to refer to non-humans as such. She knew he had no idea about her bloodline, though, and since he meant no harm she simply ignored the terminology.

“Nia Olu, sir,” she introduced herself with a nod of her head, and he returned the gesture.

“Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman. And what is it that you do, Nia Olu?”

“I am a healer and a devotee of Bast.”

“A devotee, huh? Well, I think we will get along nicely,” he smiled warmly at her before turning back to the king. “What can I do for you all today?”

“Well, actually, Nia is a big part of why we’re here,” T’Challa began. “It seems Bast has gone missing. Neither of us has been able to contact her as of late.”

“Are you a priestess?” Abdu asked Nia, confused as to why a simple devotee would be partnered with the king for such a task. Okoye felt vindicated by his questioning but stayed quiet.

“No, sir.”

“Then, I must say, I’m a little confused on how you would have a direct connection to her-”

“She is highly favored in the goddess’ eyes,” T’Challa cut in, hoping his vague answer would be enough to dissuade Abdu from asking too many questions. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to hide anything from a priest of the god of wisdom, but he also knew he couldn’t give away Nia’s full identity. “We were wondering if maybe you could see if Thoth knows where she is or why she isn’t answering.”

Abdu could tell there was something else to the story, but decided not to press the subject. He figured that if the king felt it was important enough to keep from him, then he had to trust his judgment.

The priest nodded and motioned for the three of them to follow him. T’Challa winked at Fatima before falling in step with Abdu, and once again, Nia’s and Okoye’s eyes struggled to remain straight ahead as they followed behind the two men.

Nia couldn’t help but stare in awe at the rows and rows of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves they passed as they walked through the centuries-old library. She imagined herself spending hours combing through the texts and soaking up whatever knowledge held, just like she did with the many books Amare provided her with as a child. Her daydreaming was cut short when they passed through the children’s section, and she noticed a display of picture books, one of which caught her eye. There, on the cover, was a colorful illustration of an aziza sitting in a tree, watching over a group of children as they played in the grass below him.

Before she knew it, Nia had grabbed the book and started flipping through the pages, scanning the words and pictures for any sign of historical truth. She found none, but her hope didn’t die out. Maybe, just maybe the library held onto more of the past than the Wakandans realized. She knew magical creatures were relegated to folktales, but she began to wonder how many of those tales were historically accurate, if any. She hadn’t noticed that the others had stopped and were watching her tear through the book like it held the secrets to the universe.

“You like that one? It’s a fairly new release. Very popular with the children,” Abdu said, but his words fell on deaf ears.

“Nia?” the king called out to her.

She jumped and dropped the book, but T’Challa caught it before it could hit the ground.

“Yeah? Sorry, I just…” Nia trailed off, unsure of what to say. All three of them looked at her curiously, but when T’Challa’s eyes graced the cover, he understood why she had been called to it. “Are there many stories like this?”

“Of aziza?” Abdu asked for clarification, and Nia nodded. “Sure! Kids love fantastical creatures. You know, some of them even swear up and down that they’ve seen them in real life.”

T’Challa and Nia shared a quick glance as he set the book back where she found it. Of course, Okoye caught their quick exchange.

“Such wild imaginations,” Nia murmured, and the group continued on their trek. She was quiet for a moment as she tried to figure out the best way to word her next question when she decided to just go for it. “Abdu, is there any mention of, um, species that are no longer around in any of these books?”

T’Challa looked at her knowingly out of the corner of his eye. He knew what she was getting at, and he was curious about Abdu’s answer. After seeing Nia’s book the day before, his mind had begun to wonder about ancient Wakandan texts. She had told him that they coexisted long ago, so there had to be some evidence hidden deep in the bowels of the library. If there was proof anywhere, it was here.

“Of course!” Abdu said excitedly and pointed to the far left wall. “Species naturally go extinct all the time. If that interests you, check out our history section over there.”

Nia and T’Challa both cataloged that information for later and started mentally planning their next visits.

The deeper they traveled into the vast library, a tingling grew in Nia’s stomach. There was great power there, and she could feel it. The tingling intensified as they arrived at a large door with an image of Thoth that had been hand-carved by artisans long ago.

“We’ll take it from here, Okoye,” T’Challa ordered, and the general nodded before standing at attention with her back to the door. Then, his eyes fell to Nia. “Ready?”

“I think…”

“That’ll serve you well here,” Abdu joked as he pushed open the heavy door.

Nia wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting to see, but a winding staircase certainly wasn’t on her list of possibilities. The three of them quietly descended the steps, and all that could be heard was the sounds of their sandals connecting with the stone as they went. After what seemed like forever, Abdu came to a halt at another large door and turned to face his visitors.

“You must enter with pure intentions and a cool head, or he will not answer. Understood?”

Nia and T’Challa answered in unison.

“Yes, sir.”

“Of course.”

“Good,” Abdu smiled at them and reached for the handle, pushing it open and revealing what looked to be a private study. The lamps along the stone walls lit up when they entered, and Nia was once again amazed at how the ancient seemed to flawlessly combine with the modern. As she looked around, she noticed that instead of books, there were scrolls stacked neatly on the shelves. A high-backed chair sat behind a large wooden desk with several scrolls strewn about it, and in the center of the room, there was a stone lectern that looked like it had been there since the dawn of time. Colorful pillows surrounded it on the floor, and next to it stood another statue of Thoth. This time, his hands were out and he was holding a staff that resembled the one from the statue out front, except this one was made of gold. This one was real, and it made the hairs on the back of Nia’s neck stand at attention.

Abdu made his way over to the closest shelf and grabbed a scroll from the top of the stack. He then crossed the room again and stood behind the lectern. When he unrolled the scroll, Nia and T’Challa were both surprised to find that it was blank. They watched with bated breath as he produced a shiny gold pen from his pocket and removed the staff from the statue’s arms.

“You two, come sit down,” Abdu said to them, pointing to the floor pillows.

They obeyed his order, and each grabbed a pillow. T’Challa sat cross-legged while Nia carefully placed her new basket on the floor and tucked her feet under her. They waited patiently while Abdu mumbled a prayer under his breath. Despite T’Challa’s enhanced hearing, he could barely make out what Abdu was saying, but the more he spoke, the colder the room became. The priest continued his prayers for several minutes until the staff began to glow with blinding orange light and his mouth snapped shut tight. A soft breeze blew through the room as his eyes glowed the same color as the staff, and the pen in his left hand started to frantically scribble words onto the formerly blank scroll. His hand moved faster than humanly possible, and Nia recognized what was happening as a possession. She bowed her head in the god’s presence and nudged T’Challa in his side to do the same. He followed suit, but neither of their eyes left Abdu, too curious to look away.

It seemed like forever had come and gone as the two sat in silence, watching in awe while Abdu filled the scroll as he channeled Thoth. The only sound that filled the air was the fast-moving pen on the papyrus and a faint humming from the staff, but suddenly, it all stopped. The staff’s light waned, and Abdu blinked his eyes back to their normal shade of hazel. He carefully placed the staff back in the statue’s hands and read over the words he had been given from his god. A frown appeared on the priest’s face, and Nia made eye contact with T’Challa. Neither one felt good news was coming.

“Well,” Abdu broke the tense silence, “to sum it up, it seems Thoth hasn’t seen or heard from Bast in several weeks. He says that’s very unlike her, as I’m sure you know, T’Challa.”

The king nodded. “Is there anything else? Did he say where she might be?”

“Oh, he said plenty, but not about your question. He can be quite long-winded at times,” Abdu murmured as he scanned the text once more to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. He then looked down at his two visitors with an apology in his eyes. “I wish I could’ve been of more help.”

T’Challa stood from his seated position and reached a hand out to Nia. She swatted it away and stood on her own, straightening out her long, flowing skirt before sending Abdu a warm smile. “Thank you for trying.”

“It was a pleasure, my dear.”

“So,” Nia turned to the king, “where to next?”

--------

The smile never left Okoye’s face as she landed the Talon in an open field and proudly led them to their next destination. They had traveled to Okoye’s hometown in the Mining province, and she nodded at her former neighbors as they waved to get her attention. It wasn’t often that she could return to Birnin Djata, but since she was on duty, she had to remain professional.

The town was much smaller than Birnin Zana, and the walk to the temple was much shorter this time around. A few moderately-sized dwellings lined the road to the temple, and Nia could see the town square in the distance. They passed groups of miners boarding and exiting the trains that took them to and from work, and Nia couldn’t help but wonder what all that vibranium looked like up close.

When they arrived at the temple, Nia was pleasantly surprised that this one actually looked like a place of worship. The wall that surrounded it looked as old as time, but the vibranium door in the center had to be no more than a hundred years old. A strange sound echoed from inside, and although Nia thought she recognized it, she was confused on why it was coming from a temple of all places.

“Is something wrong? What’s going on in there?” she asked with concern, making Okoye’s smile expand and her eyes light up.

“Sparring.”

Nia’s confusion grew, and she turned to T’Challa for clarification.

“Kokou is the god of war. Fighters often train here, and many of his followers go on to become great warriors. Including Okoye,” he explained.

“Ohhh, ok.”

Okoye led them up the temple’s steps, and Nia’s attention was drawn to the rows of fire that lined the walkway. As the party of three got closer to the doors, they slowly parted to grant them access. Loud shouts and grunts came from the right, and Okoye led them down the hallway, directly towards the noise.

Nia watched excitedly as the warriors-in-training sparred with one another. Fists connected with flesh, spears sliced through the air, and fighters seemed to glide across the padded floor. She recognized some of the fighting styles and thought back to her younger days when Amare took it upon himself to teach her some of the combat skills he had to learn for his days as a secret operative. Even though she was a healer, Nia sure was scrappy and could hold her own. It had been a while, though, and she was sure she had forgotten her training over the years.

A bell rang on the other side of the training room, and all of the fighting ceased. Okoye bowed her head in deference as a tall, muscular older woman in red emerged from an observation room and smiled softly in her direction.

“My king,” the woman saluted T’Challa, making all of the fighters whip their heads around and salute him as well. The woman crossed the floor as her trainees stood at attention, and grabbed Okoye’s hands in hers. “Okoye, my dear, it has been too long.”

“Priestess Yaa, how good to see you.”

“And my king, welcome to the Temple of Kokou.”

“Thank you, priestess.”

“What brings you here?” she asked before shooting a sly glance at Okoye. “You never come visit anymore, so I know it must be important.”

“My apologies for keeping her from you,” T’Challa interjected.

“None needed. I knew when Okoye became general that she would have little time for us anymore,” Yaa waved him off and smiled proudly at Okoye before her eyes fell to Nia. “And who is this?”

“Nia Olu,” she respectfully bowed her head.

“And you are a fighter too, no?”

“Um, not exactly. My father taught me how to fight when I was young, but I am a healer and a devotee of Bast.”

This was the first T’Challa had heard of her knowledge of combat, and he wondered what else he didn’t know about her.

“I’m sure it’s still in there somewhere. You have a warrior’s spirit.”

Nia was surprised by the priestess’ comment but thanked her nonetheless.

“Priestess Yaa, we have a problem that you might be able to help us solve,” the king stated.

Yaa nodded and called to her class, “Keep sparring. I’ll be back.”

The room came alive again, and Nia couldn’t help but watch the dozens of bodies moving about with powerful grace as they fought.

Yaa gestured for them to follow her, and she led them around a corner to get away from all the noise. “How can I help you, my king?”

“Bast is missing, and we would like to ask Kokou if he knows where she is,” he cut straight to the point, and Yaa appreciated his brevity.

She gestured again, and the four of them relocated to the other side of the temple. They entered a large, empty room with nothing except a wall of ancient weapons and a huge, raging fire pit in the center.

“This eternal flame was gifted to us by Kokou many millennia ago as a way of contacting him,” Yaa narrated. “In order for him to answer, you will each have to give a sacrifice.”

“I didn’t bring anything to-”

“Blood, dear. You sacrifice blood. He is the god of war, after all,” Yaa chuckled as she glided over to the wall of weapons. Her fingers danced along the flat side of the blade of a vibranium dagger with a red and gold hilt before wrapping her hand firmly around the grip and removing it from its position. Yaa tested the weight of it in her hand as she rejoined the group. Without warning, she sliced her palm open and allowed her blood to drip into the flame. The priestess noticed the look of horror on Nia’s face and attempted to quell her fears. “Don’t worry; you’ll only need a drop or two.”

Okoye was first to step up, pressing the dagger’s tip into her hand and drawing a small amount of blood. She handed the dagger to T’Challa as she made a fist and let her blood droplets fall into the fire pit. The king did the same before passing the dagger to Nia. She looked at it apprehensively, but T’Challa continued to hold it out for her to take.

“Go on, dear,” Yaa urged. “We will heal you up after.”

Nia and T’Challa locked eyes as they were both reminded of the night they became reacquainted with one another. T’Challa’s wound would quickly heal on its own, but she wouldn’t be able to use her powers to heal herself in Yaa’s and Okoye’s presence. She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the feeling of her palm stinging with the memory of alcohol pads. T’Challa knew where her mind had wandered to and took her formerly injured hand in his as he ran his thumb over her palm.

“It won’t be as bad as last time,” he whispered so only Nia could hear him. “Just a little cut, ok?”

Nia’s mouth dried up, and her eyes traveled to Okoye and Yaa. The priestess seemed intrigued by his tenderness towards her, but the irritation on Okoye’s face was clear as day. Nia remembered that he was a serial charmer and removed her hand from his. She reached for the dagger and quickly pricked her finger, squeezing a couple of droplets into the flame.

Yaa set the dagger aside to be cleaned and watched as the flames grew in intensity. All four of them stepped back when the fire surged towards the sky and took the vague shape of a man.

“Kokou,” Yaa fell to her knees, and the others followed her lead. “Thank you for answering our call.”

“Where is the fight?” his voice boomed around the expansive room as what looked to be his head swiveled from side to side taking in the four who summoned him. He had no eyes, but Nia felt his gaze land on her and linger for a moment too long.

“There is no fight this time, but we have an inquiry,” Yaa said as she stood.

“Very well,” Kokou’s voice rang out again, and the flames whipped in T’Challa’s direction. “What is so important that the king requires my assistance? Have you not a god of your own?”

T’Challa looked to Yaa for reassurance as he began to stand, and she nodded for him to continue. “Yes, I do, but she is missing.”

“Missing?! What do you mean missing?”

“She has not spoken to me in weeks, and Thoth has not seen or heard from her either.”

Kokou turned back to Nia. “And you have not heard from her?”

“No, sir,” Nia stood tall as she answered him.

“I am surprised she has not spoken to you of all...people,” he said with a mischievous lilt in his voice. Nia stilled as she realized that he knew what she was. She slyly made eye contact with T’Challa, and though his expression was unreadable, she knew he had to have heard it, too.

“You know, blood can tell you a lot about a person...or being,” Kokou began to pace around the large fire pit. “Who they are, what their lineage is...you, Nia, are very special. But I am sure you know that already, don’t you?”

Nia ignored the confused stares from Yaa and Okoye and stared straight into where she assumed Kokou’s eyes to be. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.”

“Kokou-”

“Patience, your highness,” the god chastised T’Challa, “I was getting to it. I just had to take a little detour first since you brought me such an interesting young lady. Now, to answer your question: sorry to disappoint, but no. I do not know where Bast is. I wish I did, though; she is an excellent sparring partner.”

Nia and T’Challa both deflated a little bit. They had hoped for a better answer than that.

“Thank you, Kokou,” T’Challa spoke with his head bowed to the god. The others did the same, and just as quickly as he had appeared, Kokou was gone.

--------

“Third time’s the charm,” T’Challa mumbled as he held the intricate iron gate open. Nia and Okoye walked through, and the general was blown away by the beauty before them. The botanical gardens sat on a protected stretch of land on the border between the Mining and River provinces, but people from all over the country traveled there to witness its splendor.

Nia, however, was no stranger to the gardens. She made sure to visit a few times a year just to sit and commune with the diverse group of plants, but she never knew it doubled as a place of worship. She liked that the gardens were never full of people, and depending on how deep she veered off the main walkways, she could avoid the public altogether. Except for the delightful presence of one of the attendants, Nia always managed to find solitude and serenity among the plants of the botanical gardens.

“Has this always been Mujaji’s temple?” she asked as the three of them followed the long, winding path that led to the greenhouses in the back of the gardens.

“As far as I’m aware. Why?”

“It’s just that I’ve been here before, and I never knew. I always felt like there was...something here, but I just assumed I was feeling the energy from all of the plants.”

“You can do that?” Okoye asked, and she caught another shared glance between Nia and the king. They had been doing that all day, and she was growing tired of it.

Nia opened her mouth to try to fix her slip-up, but she was saved when a young woman about her age emerged from behind a mango tree and recognized her colorful headwrap.

“Nia?”

“Sukutai!”

Nia ran over to her, and the women embraced. A smile crept up T’Challa’s cheeks at seeing Nia’s faint glow again, but, unfortunately, it seemed that Okoye might have seen it as well. The king ignored her pointed stares and continued to watch Nia and the woman from afar.

“What are you doing here? It’s been months since I saw you last!” Sukutai playfully scolded her before leaning in like she had a secret to tell. “You have to see the new fire lily blooms; I know they’re your favorite.”

“They are,” Nia chuckled, “but I’m here on business today.”

“Business?”

Nia gestured behind her, and Sukutai’s eyes widened in shock as she finally noticed T’Challa and Okoye standing in the distance.

“My apologies, my king,” she quickly saluted him, but he waved her off.

“None needed. Any friend of Nia’s is a friend of mine.”

Sukutai’s eyebrows almost reached her hairline as she turned back to Nia. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but how come you never told me you knew the king?”

“He’s new,” Nia shrugged nonchalantly.

Sukutai shook her head fondly at her friend as T’Challa and Okoye came to stand next to her.

“What brings you to my humble garden, your highness?”

“I would say this is anything but humble, priestess,” he chuckled. This time it was Nia’s turn to be surprised.

“Priestess?!”

“Yeah, I don’t like to advertise it,” Sukutai shrugged.

“Well, I guess we both have our secrets,” Nia teased, making her friend giggle.

“I guess we do.”

“Sukutai, we are here because we need to speak with Mujaji. Bast is missing and-”

“You need to see if he knows where she is.”

“Yes,” T’Challa nodded.

“Right this way,” Sukutai said as she stuck her elbow out for Nia. She wrapped her arm around it, and the two of them took off, chatting about the flora they passed on the way.

Sukutai led them to the back of the botanical gardens towards the greenhouses. There were several smaller ones scattered around that were about the size of Nia’s home, but the very last greenhouse was huge. It stood about two stories tall and expanded across an acre of land.

“How did I miss this?” Nia wondered aloud.

“You weren’t looking for it,” Sukutai winked. “Too distracted by the pretty flowers, as usual.”

“You should really pay more attention to your surroundings, Nia,” T’Challa teased, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Despite the fact that she was still very hesitant to trust Nia, Okoye had to stifle a chuckle at her attitude. It was refreshing for her to see a woman that seemed to be immune to his charms.

The four of them entered the greenhouse, and Nia was amazed at what she saw. Instead of beautiful flowers and lush trees and bushes, there were rows and rows of crops.

“I knew you had some fruit trees, but I didn’t know you grew other foods here, too,” she said with her mouth wide open.

“We have to. Who do you think taught us how to work the land?”

Nia nodded as she soaked up Sukutai’s words. It had never occurred to her that the humans had to learn agriculture from somewhere...or someone. She wondered if aziza had learned from him, too, and if so, why hadn’t she heard about it? Were their history books incomplete, too? Nia’s train of thought was cut short as they arrived at the center of the greenhouse. There was a large patch of soil surrounded by an old stone wall no more than two feet tall. A small plaque near the opening caught the visitors’ eyes, and they crowded around to read it.

“The first garden?” Nia gasped, and her eyes traveled to the rich soil.

Sukutai smiled proudly, “That’s right. This is where Wakandans first learned how to grow sorghum. Mujaji’s magic still inhabits the land, and he allows us to speak to him through it.”

“How does it work?” T’Challa asked, equally in awe of the plot of land that allowed his people to prosper. Yes, they had vibranium, but what use would that be without the ability to feed themselves? Had they remained hunter-gatherers, they never would have gotten to where they are today.

“I’ll show you,” Sukutai said as she untied her shoes. “Nia, would you like to help?”

“M-me?”

“Yes, you, silly. You have the heart and hands of a gardener.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“First thing’s first, shoes off,” Sukutai instructed, and Nia slid out of her sandals. “Now, you see those jars full of seeds over there?”

Sukutai gestured behind them, and they all turned around to follow her line of vision.

“Yes,” Nia’s voice shook as she spoke.

“Don’t worry about what each one is. Just go pick whichever one calls to you.”

Nia nodded and padded her way over to the table covered in glass jars. She felt the power radiating from each one, but she felt compelled to pick up a small jar full of green coffee beans. Her hand instinctively reached out to touch it, but she pulled back and looked to the priestess for permission.

“Go ahead, take one,” Sukutai urged, and Nia carefully screwed the top off. She reached in and grabbed one of the beans, and walked back over to Sukutai.

“Ok, how does this work?”

“We start with a yes or no question. Let’s try ‘Do you know where Bast is?’ and go from there, ok?”

“Ok.”

“Follow me.”

Sukutai stepped onto the sacred land, and Nia did the same. The ground seemed to vibrate, and Nia’s face lit up. The slight glow returned to her skin, and this time Okoye was sure in what her eyes beheld. She quickly turned towards T’Challa, who looked at her out of the corner of his eye but kept quiet. He shifted his weight away from her nervously and continued to watch Nia and Sukutai work.

“You feel it too, huh?” Sukutai asked with a sly smile on her face.

“It feels...it feels like my feet are buzzing.”

Sukutai’s head cocked to the side, and her eyes narrowed as she tried to understand exactly what was happening. Nia obviously wasn’t a priestess of Mujaji, yet his magic spoke to her in some way. That wasn’t normal, and neither was the faint highlight that appeared on her skin.

“Yeah, it does,” she agreed and shook the suspicions out of her head. She knelt to the ground, and Nia followed suit. “Hold the seed in your hands, close to your face- yes, just like that. Now, close your eyes and let it feel your energy. When you are ready, speak to it. Ask your question.”

Nia shut her eyes and focused on the feeling of the seed in her hands. She pictured it growing big and strong, and after a few moments, her mouth was filled with the taste of coffee. It was ready. She brought it closer to her lips and whispered, “Do you know where Bast is?”

When she peeled her eyes open, she saw a huge grin on Sukutai’s face.

“You’re a natural.”

“Thanks,” Nia giggled. “What now?”

“Now you plant it.”

“Anywhere?”

“Wherever you choose.”

Nia studied the ground around her and turned a little to the left. She held the seed in her left hand as she made a small mound in the dirt with her right. She gave the seed one last glance before pushing it into the soil.

“No water?” she asked.

Sukutai shook her head with a mischievous smile, “No need.”

“Ok...so now we wait?”

“It won’t take long. Usually about-” Sukutai’s eyes widened. “Look!”

Four sets of eyes trained on the tiny green sprout that pushed up from the ground.

“It’s never happened that fast before.”

The sprout turned into a seedling, and the seedling matured right before their eyes. Just as hope began to fill the air, it left, and the coffee plant shriveled up. The leaves turned brown, then a murky black before decomposing entirely. Everyone’s shoulders slumped in defeat, and silence descended upon the group. Without even asking, they all knew it was a resounding “no.”

--------

The silence was thick on the ride back to Nia’s. Okoye flew the Talon with a million questions running through her mind, all of which seemed to come back to Nia. Who is she? What is she?

Nia left her position by the window, no longer interested in the ground below, and met T’Challa by his sand table. She watched for a moment as the molecules dispersed and recollected themselves in the shapes of the temples they just visited and the gods they just contacted. He chewed on his lip as he tried to put the pieces together, but there just wasn’t enough information.

“T’Challa?” Nia spoke softly to keep Okoye from hearing.

“Hm?” he grunted without looking up.

“What if the problem isn't in this realm?”

The king tore his eyes away from the table, and the sand fell flat.

“You are suggesting we go to the magic realm?”

“Again with the ‘we,’” she sighed. “No, I’m suggesting I go to the magic realm.”

He stared at her blankly for a moment before calling out to Okoye, “General?”

“Yes, my king?”

“You will travel back to the palace alone-”

“No-” Nia tried to stop him.

“I will be staying with Nia a little while longer. I will call when I need you.”

“Yes, my king.”

Nia dragged her hand down her face, then immediately looked down and noticed the clay that had transferred to her palm. She pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned in frustration, both at the king and at her careless mistake.

“T’Challa, I just said-”

“I know what you said,” he snipped, “but this is my kingdom, and I need to know what’s going on.”

“But-”

“I’m going with you, and that’s final.” He turned away and joined Okoye in the cockpit.

Nia sat off to the side and pouted the rest of the way home. When they arrived, Okoye reluctantly left the king behind and flew off to the palace.

“She could’ve just stayed outside, you know,” Nia fussed as they entered her home. “Now she definitely knows something is up.”

He rolled his eyes, “She knew something was up the moment you started glowing.”

Nia froze and mentally kicked herself for not using the glamor spell her ubaba had taught her. She was in such a rush that morning that it completely slipped her mind. The smug look on T’Challa’s face made her want to slap him, so she stormed down the hall to her bathroom to fix her facepaint. As soon as she finished, Nia heard the king make a strange noise and looked out to see what he had done. A laugh erupted from her belly as she watched the king stand on the couch to get away from Sego. He glared at her, but his eyes promptly fell back on the python that was too close for comfort.

“Call off your snake!”

“Python,” she giggled. “Sego, stop messing with him, please.”

Sego turned her way, and Nia could see the playful look in his eyes. He thoroughly enjoyed messing with the king. T’Challa climbed down from the couch and let out a calming breath as Sego slithered away to the kitchen.

“So the mighty Black Panther is scared of pythons, huh?” she mocked him as she leaned against the doorframe.

“Not scared...I just don’t like them.”

“Mhm. If it makes you feel any better, he’s not fully a python. He’s a shifter.”

“Meaning…”

“Meaning sometimes he’s in his human form, sometimes he’s in his python form.”

T’Challa thought about it for a moment. “Actually, that does make me feel better. Thanks.”

Nia smirked and rolled her eyes.

“So,” T’Challa cleared his throat, “what now?”

“First, we go see my ubaba, then the queen.”

“Ok...how do we, you know, get there?”

“It’s easy,” she bragged as she walked over to him. “Give me your hand, and I’ll show you.”

Nia reached out to him, and when their hands connected, an image of the two of them sharing a feverish kiss popped into her mind. She gasped and pulled back as though she had touched a hot stove.

“What is it?!”

“N-nothing, I just,” she had to think of something quick. “My headwrap. I take it off when I go to the magic realm...to, uh, let my ears breathe, you know?”

“Um, ok.”

Nia hurried from the room and left T’Challa standing there, confused about what just happened. He knew she was lying despite the fact that her excuse had some semblance of truth to it. Thanks to the heart-shaped herb, T’Challa could hear her heartbeat, and something had caused her heart to almost beat out of her chest. His suspicions didn’t last for long, though, because when she came back from her room, his jaw dropped. Of course, he had noticed her beauty the first time, well the second time, he laid eyes on her, but as she came down the hallway fluffing her coils out into an afro that framed her face like an obsidian halo, he felt a knot form in his chest.

“Ready?” she asked, obviously over whatever had been bothering her.

“Yeah,” T’Challa cleared his throat. He was suddenly parched. “Ready.”

“Ok.” She grabbed his hands again, but this time there was no vision. Nia sighed in relief and looked him dead in his eyes as the atmosphere around them began to thicken. “Be cool. Don’t embarrass me.”

Next Chapter

Taglist: @maddeningmayhem, @theblulife, @motheroffae, @love-mesome-me, @toni9, @bribrisback, @dersha89, @impremenior, @ljstraightnochaser, @love--life--passion, @yourstrulybrii

#cecewritessometimes #troubled waters #tchalla x oc #black!oc #black panther fanfic #black panther au #Youtube

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storyofmychoices · 3 years

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A Rose By Any Other Name

[Mal Volari x Daenarya Masterlist]

Pairing: Mal Volari x Daenarya (F!MC, human) Other characters: Tyril, Imtura, Nia Book: Blades of Light and Shadow Word Count: ~820

Synopsis: Following the events of book one, the group relaxes in the gardens outside the palace. Mal works on a special surprise for Daenarya

Rating/Warnings: Teen due to profanity and suggestive language

Prompts: @choicesseptemberchallenge21 : roses; @wackydrabbles "This is your lucky day!" (in bold)

A frustrated groan sounded from deep within the lavish garden, somewhere beyond the perfectly manicured hedges.

Daenarya turned toward the noise, listening more intently for more. The garden and the grounds of the White Tower palace were quiet once more. Her attention shifted back to her companions, enjoying a much-needed break after narrowly escaping the Shadow Court.

"I heard it too." Tyril caught her curious gaze. "Perhaps you should—"

She shrugged, relaxing back in her chair, bathing in the warm glow of the sun. "Eh, not yet."

Nia sat beside her, chirping in her ear about the upcoming celebration commemorating their success. Her words strung together, pouring from her mouth in rapid succession; her cheerful cadence increased with every utterance.

Daenarya smiled and nodded along, unable to get a word in, while also shaking her head at Imtura.

The orc laughed readily, having thought it amusing to slip the Priestess some honey wine to kick off the festivities.

A string of loud grunts and groans sounded again, followed by a series of profanities that left the Priestess both blushing with wide eyes and giggling under her breath.

"You should—" Tyril suggested, gesturing toward the source of the noise.

Daenarya, already on her feet, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah. I got him."

She found the Rogue sitting on a grassy patch beside a hedge of roses, various cut flowers splayed on the ground around him. His fist clutched around a rose in his hand, crushing its petals before tossing it to the side with the others he had seemingly discarded. A low rumble of anger trembled on his lips. He shook his hand out in front of him. "Fuck."

"Okay..." Daenarya approached slowly, tiptoeing around the mess of flowers and leaves surrounding him. "What is all of this?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise for you," he grumbled, pulling a thorn from his thumb. "For the gala tonight. But, not anymore, I guess."

Her lip turned up. Her fingers ran through his dark hair, tenderly brushing it away from his face.

He leaned into her touch, his tense muscles releasing with her presence. Mal held up the lopsided floral arrangement he was weaving together.

She knelt beside him. "Is that a flower crown?... For me?"

"That was the plan. The execution didn't go as anticipated." His face fell as he dropped the flowers back to the ground.

Daenarya took his calloused hands in her own. The soft pads of her fingers searching his. "What happened here?"

"Thorns," Mal grumbled.

She brought his finger to her lips, brushing a kiss to the red mark on his skin. "And here?"

"Thorns! Grr—I've fought pirates, thieves, marauders... none have been so fucking challenging as these god-forsaking roses," he ranted, the tension rising in his features again.

She pressed her lips together, trying to stifle her amusement at his frustration.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that prince of shadows didn't curse them."

"Shh—" Daenarya kissed each of his fingertips, carefully caressing every visible thorn prick. She picked carefully at a tiny dark spot in his palm, pulling out the remnants of a thorn. "Better?"

Mal cupped her face, his thumb stroking her cheek. "With you, Kit? Always!"

"Do you want some help?"

"Huh?"

Daenarya sidled up beside him, running her hands over his. "This is your lucky day, Mal Volari!"

"Is that so?" He turned his head, nuzzling closer to her, pressing a kiss to her neck. "It does seem better already."

"Not quite what I meant." She pushed him away with a cheeky grin. Her brow arched playfully, "Save it for later, Mr. Magnificient."

His lips turned down in a pout. "What now then?"

"Now–" Her hand slid slowly up his thigh. She bit her lower lip, watching him intently. As his body began to respond to her touch, she continued toward her goal, wrapping her finger around the small dagger he kept on him. "—I help you remove the thorns without any more unnecessary bloodshed."

"You don't think I already tried that?" He scoffed in amusement.

"Perhaps you need a more gentle touch," she suggested, carefully slicing off the tiny thorns of the rose. "See."

His eyes narrowed on the flower, and his head shook to the sides in disbelief.

"You're not the only one skilled with a blade, your magnificence." She smirked, picking up another rose. She moved the blade swiftly and smoothly with perfect precision along the stem.

"I could kiss you right now." The words flowed from his mouth in complete adoration before he could stop them.

Daenarya schooled her face, trying to hide the telling upturn of the corner of her lips. "Hmm. Perhaps if you finish my flower crown and no better offers arise I just might let you."

Mal quickly picked up the remnants of his crown, weaving in the newly readied roses. He couldn't wait to see her wearing it, both at the gala and hopefully, just for him afterward. There was something about her that, for the first time in his life, he no longer wanted to run.

I miss these two and just wanted to write something random for them. I hope you enjoy it.

I also apologize for any typos or mistakes. I wrote this fairly quickly in the middle of the night because I need to write and this is what happened.

Tags in a reblog, please let me know if you would like to be added or removed

#mal volari #mal volari x mc #mal volari x oc #mal volari choices #mal bolas #bolas #blades of light & shadow #blades of light and shadow #fan fiction #playchoices #choices #choices stories you play #mal x daenarya #daenarya

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teshamerkel · 3 years

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

Chapter 17 (22 Pages)

<< First | < Previous | Next >

Nia and Tobias track down their first outlaw!

TW: Blood/Injuries

“What’s up with you today?”

Nia jumps, looking over at Tobias in surprise. “W-What?”

The charmander huffs out an irritated puff of smoke, focusing his gaze on the scenery of the dungeon they’re in. “You’re all mopey. Have been since last night.”

“Oh.” Nia hops over a small rivulet of water, weighing whether she wants to tell the truth or not. It’ll probably just make him mad, considering who she’s worked up about, but she doesn’t wanna lie to him either. “I uh. I think I upset Xander yesterday.”

As expected, the charmander rolls his eyes. “That‘s reason to celebrate, not mope.”

“Tobias,” Nia warns. “You’re being a jerk again.”

Tobias grumbles something under his breath, but then says, “Fine. Whatcha do?”

Nia fiddles with the branch she’d picked out for her weapon today, spinning it in her fingers with clumsy movements. “That’s just it. I’m not really sure? M-My aura reading came up in conversation so I was just telling everyone how their aura looks, and when I told Xander he got all...quiet. Avery had to take him out of the room.”

“Did he even want his aura read?”

“Of course!” Nia says, giving Tobias a frown. “I wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t asked.”

Tobias doesn’t answer, and as the two of them walk, eyeing the walls and clefts of the rocky terrain for hidden ferals, Nia assumes he won’t. Then, he mumbles, “Maybe he didn’t like what you found.”

Nia’s ears flick back. That’s more or less the conclusion she’d come to as well. But all she’d told him was that his aura was red. Emotional, passionate. Why would that bother him so much? Sure, he always seems so calm and collected and with such an emotional aura he must have to work hard for that image, but it can’t just be that. She knows Tobias won’t know any better than she will, so for now she just sighs and moves on.

If she were in a better mood, Nia bets she’d really be enjoying the dungeon they’re in today. Apparently the mystery dungeon popped up in a small rocky riverbed, a bit scarce in terms of foliage, because the mystery dungeon itself has grown into a canyon-like labyrinth. Rocky brown stone, sunbaked and pale, and small streams of water flowing through the dungeon’s halls and rooms. Nia’s paws feel a bit rough from the scratchy, hot rock underfoot, but occasionally she steps into a shallow stream to cool down.

More than once she thinks she sees something move above her in the streams’ reflection, just a brief flicker of movement, but every time Nia looks up, the canyon walls are empty. She’s probably just paranoid about the outlaw. Hopefully. There aren’t any other signs they’re being watched, so she must be imagining it.

As for Tobias, he seems torn, probably enjoying the heated rocks and warm day but clearly hating the water he has to jump over and climb around. Still, this is the first dungeon they’ve been to since their reconciliation a few days ago, and despite the tension in his body he’s doing a good job of keeping things civil.

“So you said we’re capturing an outlaw? Uh, how exactly does that work?” Nia asks, trying not to sound as nervous as she feels.

Tobias jumps and heaves himself up onto a large rock blocking the narrow path, claws scrabbling, before turning to answer. “Criminals like to hide in mystery dungeons to avoid getting caught. So we have to track this guy down, knock him out, and take him back to the guild.”

Nia, branch tucked into the strap of their exploration bag and busy trying to haul herself up the stone, asks, “W-Wait, so he’s not feral?”

“Nope. Just an idiot who robbed a seed patch nearby.”

Nia slips with a yelp and slides back to the ground. She shakes out her stinging claws and glares up at the rock. “Dang it!”

Tobias snorts a laugh, looking down at her. “Am I gonna be called a jerk again if I decide to just sit and watch you struggle? Because it’s pretty entertaining.”

Nia groans. “I can’t help that I’m not built for climbing! I’m a dog for God’s sake.”

“What in Entei’s name is a dog?”

“If you help me up, I’ll tell you!”

Tobias rolls his eyes but dutifully stretches out on his belly, reaching his arms down. Nia backs up and takes a running leap at the stone. She hits the hard surface, and before her dull claws let her slide back down, Tobias grabs her wrists, yanking her up. Nia pulls herself over the top, plopping down to catch her breath.

“Ugh, I hate climbing!”

“Good, ‘cause you suck at it.”

Nia shoots the charmander a playful glare. “Hey, I used to be great at climbing trees when I was human! At least I can still swim.”

Tobias looks downright offended. “I’m a fire type!”

“And I have a dog body. We’re even.” Nia sits up, rights their satchel and retrieves her branch, then follows Tobias’ grumbling as he slips down the other side of the boulder and back onto solid ground.

They continue down the path (What floor are they on now? Fourth?), and after a few moments Tobias speaks up again.

“So?”

“Uh. S-So what?”

“What’s a dog?”

Nia blinks. “Oh! You actually wanna know?”

“Not really,” Tobias growls, “But these stairs are impossible to find and the ferals are hiding from the outlaw, so you might as well tell me. I’m getting bored.”

Nia hides a smile and looks up to the sliver of blue sky she can see between rocky canyon walls. How does she even explain something like this?

“Well...in my world, there are humans, and plants, but there are also things called animals. I would say that Pokémon are...mostly like humans? You’re smart. You can talk and you have a society and stuff. But most Pokemon look more like animals. Fluffy, or scaly, or resembling certain body types. Like...you look like a lizard, kind of. And I kind of look like a dog.“

“A...lizard?”

Nia nods, encouraged by his thinly veiled curiosity. “Yeah! Um, there are different kinds, but they all have a similar shape and stuff. Four legs, low to the ground, long tail, scaly. Um...you’re kind of like a two-legged version? Lizards definitely can’t breathe fire, though.”

“So I’m like a lizard but a lot cooler,” Tobias surmises.

Nia laughs, loud and caught off-guard. “Pretty much, yeah. Animals aren’t, uh, seen the same as humans, though. They aren’t...lesser, really? But they’re...different. They think differently. More simply, I guess. Lots of humans keep certain kinds of animals as pets.”

“‘Pets?’” Tobias echoes.

“Yeah! Like partners, kind of. Y’know, in their homes. They take care of them, and in return they get to watch them grow and bond with ‘em. They become companions, even if they might not think of us the same way.”

Tobias doesn’t answer for a few moments, carefully skirting around a puddle. “So the, uh...the animals don’t get a say in the matter?”

“Oh.” Nia stops, brow furrowing. “I mean...I guess not? But it’s almost like potting a plant in your house. As long as the animal’s happy and its needs are being met, it doesn’t really matter? Most house pets don’t really have a concept of like...captivity? I don’t think so, at least. I guess some smarter ones do, like monkeys.”

Tobias shoots her a look that’s surprisingly uneasy. “That still sounds unfair.”

Nia sighs. “It’s hard to explain when you don’t really have a concept for animals. Like, maybe dogs would’ve been a better example. They’re pack animals to start with, so when we take care of them they become part of our family, and they see us as their pack. They’re really happy with humans. It’s harder to tell with things like lizards or snakes or something, but dogs and cats definitely bond with humans like their own species.”

Tobias frowns, but not in the way that says he wishes Nia would shut up. This one looks more thoughtful. Nia doesn’t mind this frown as much. Eventually, he seems to settle on, “Humans are weird.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong. But the Pokémon world is still ten times weirder.”

Tobias snorts. “Hardly.”

“You have sentient trash bags, Tobias! And creatures that can use psychic powers! That’s not normal!”

Tobias cracks a grin. “Wait until you see a cryogonal or Mr. Mime for the first time. Now those are weird.”

Nia stares at him, surprised by the teasing and almost friendly tone of his voice. “Did you just say a ‘Mr. Mime’? As in that’s what an entire species is called?”

“You’ll know one when you see one.”

From there, the conversation dies off into a strangely comfortable silence as the two of them continue through the dungeon. Nia had almost forgotten where they were with how casually they were talking. The ferals of the dungeon still seem to be hiding from the outlaw (and that doesn’t make Nia nervous at all), but occasionally they hear one scrabbling along the stone just out of sight or growling in the distance.

They climb to the next floor, and then the next, and even there the ferals are still and silent.

“A-Are you sure we can handle this outlaw?” Nia whispers

Tobias rolls his eyes. “The mission was on the E-rank board for a reason. We’ll be fine.”

Nia nods, not any more assured than before. “H-How will we even know what they look like?”

“The mission said it was a panpour, idiot—" Nia shoots him a frown, and he softens his harsh tone. “Uh. Blue water type. Can stand on two feet? Long tail and big ears. Fuzzy. Plus, they won’t be feral.”

“R-Right.”

From there, the tension in Nia’s body only grows. It’s one thing to fight ferals that are clearly out for her blood, Pokemon that feel more like rabid animals than people, but fighting an outlaw...

The two of them round another corner, and before either can react, a huge spray of water slams into Tobias. The charmander is thrown back with an uncharacteristic cry of pain, into Nia, and the two of them tumble to the ground in a heap.

Nia’s first to stagger back to her feet, shaking her wet fur and looking up to find what must be the outlaw darting into the narrow canyon hallway where they are. He looks like a blue...monkey? Slightly smaller than her and Tobias, but fast. Maybe the most startling thing is how coherent the monkey looks, eyes flashing not with a mindless aggression but with an expression of intentional malice.

“You two are Seekers? You’ve gotta be kidding me—I heard you from across the map!”

The monkey braces himself and rears back, cheeks puffing. Nia barely realizes what he’s doing in time to jump between the next spray of water and Tobias’ shaky form. The water slams into her like a fire hose, and she grits her teeth and tries to stay on her feet as she slides back. She never knew water could sting so badly!

The attack stops, and Nia looks back to the monkey with wide eyes, panting. Except he’s gone, leaping past and behind them again—

“Gotta move,” Tobias gasps out, finally getting his legs under him.

“What?”

Instead of answering, the charmander grabs Nia’s arm and runs for the room the monkey had come out of. They barely make it in before another jet of water is shot at them from behind. They fling themselves off to the sides, to the safety of the room’s walls, wild eyes meeting.

“We’re not trapped in such a tight space here,” Tobias explains, seeming like he’s finally caught his breath again. Nia’s still a little shaken by how a single water move hurt him so badly, but nods.

“N-Now what?”

“We beat him into the dirt!”

The monkey comes barreling into the room, skidding around with a grin. “Good luck with that, kiddos.”

Tobias lunges forward with a snarl, but Nia hesitates, watching as the monkey dodges the charmander’s slashing claws and tail whips with nimble ease. Tobias only spares a puff of small embers here and there to throw the outlaw off, focusing more on physical attacks.

The monkey shoves Tobias away from him, then claps his hands together. In an instant his body is glowing a bright blue (and in a moment of confused panic, Nia thinks he’s using aura). But then a cloud of shining blue water sprays out and around the room. The air feels damp and misty now. Tobias snarls, then goes back to madly swinging at the monkey, no longer using his flames.

The monkey dodges and weaves, takes a moment to time his shot, and then spits a strong jet of water straight into Tobias’ face. The charmander makes a pained sound and stumbles back.

Then the monkey turns to Nia, smirking. “So what’s with you, pup? Just letting your partner do all the work?”

Nia swallows hard and takes a step back, holding her branch in front of her like a sword. Her heart is roaring in her ears and her stomach feels knotted up. This feels different than fighting ferals, somehow. She still doesn’t know how to fight anyways, not really, not with just a few lessons, and it’s one thing to counter mindless ferals, another entirely to be able to hold her ground against someone like this! This is like...an actual person!

“Nia, snap out of it!” Tobias growls, lunging at the monkey again.

The charmander is clearly wearing down, but Nia can’t seem to unfreeze herself, staring at the fight in a panic. This is so different. This isn’t defending someone—or yourself—from a rabid animal, this is willingly going toe-to-toe with a criminal.

She can’t do this. Not on a physical level or an emotional one.

With a few more nimble dodges, the monkey is once again shoving the charmander away and blasting him with a water move. Tobias falls to the ground and doesn’t get back up.

The outlaw turns to Nia, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “I’m actually a little offended that the guild thought you two could bring me in. What is this, your first day?”

Nia doesn’t answer, gripping shaky fingers tighter around her pathetic weapon. Her eyes flick nervously from the outlaw to Tobias, and she knows he’s not dead or anything, his tail flame is still flickering, but seeing him so still in the dirt is making her chest tighten with fear. She doesn’t want to see anyone hurt, not even a criminal, but she’s already grown a bit fond of the sharp-tempered charmander and he can’t do this on his own so she has to fight—

The outlaw must be sick of waiting for her response, because the next thing she knows she’s being blasted into the wall by a painful jet of water. Her head bounces off the canyon wall, but she stays on her feet, shaking her head to get rid of the stars in her vision. As she does, she sees the monkey grin.

He’s enjoying this. Enjoying hurting them.

Fighting ferals is one thing—they don’t know what they’re doing, they aren’t actively, consciously trying to hurt people. And in a way, that’s easier. But this guy? This guy’s just a jerk who stole some items and is beating up two teenagers for fun, getting some kind of sick enjoyment out of it. Yes, he feels more like a person than the ferals, but doesn’t that just make it worse? That he’s doing bad things intentionally?

Suddenly, her fear feels a lot more like anger.

The monkey goes to attack again, almost lazily, and the riolu moves, pushing off the wall. She sprints for the monkey, taking him by surprise and swinging her branch around to slam into his stomach.

The monkey staggers back with a wheeze, and for a split-second Nia hesitates. He didn’t react how ferals do, didn’t just shake off the hit with an inhuman growl and a counterattack. He’d grabbed at his stomach, grumbled under his breath like a person, and something about hitting him so solidly, seeing the damage she did to him, it still throws her off even through her adrenaline rush.

And now the monkey’s angry, wiping at his mouth to glare at her. “Oh, so you were holding out on me, huh?”

He darts forward, and it’s all Nia can do to keep his claws and sharp teeth away from her body. She’s on defense now, smacking away attacking limbs with her branch and stepping steadily back, keeping her eyes focused on the monkey’s body and letting her peripheral vision react to the lightning-fast strikes like Val taught her. It’s terrifying and doesn’t even leave her time to think about what she’s doing, her body working fully on instinct.

It’s a little bit exhilarating, too.

But then the monkey’s hands change target, grabbing Nia’s branch and yanking it out of her hold before she can register what’s happening. In one swift movement, he snaps the branch in half and chucks the pieces over his shoulder. Then he lunges at her again, and she barely manages to catch the monkey’s hands in her own. Her head snaps up to meet his grin a heartbeat before he blasts her with another water attack. The move knocks her back and off her feet, and she rolls to the side to avoid a follow-up attack.

The monkey just keeps coming at her, and she’s scrambling back to avoid it, thoughts racing, about to block a hit to the face when something small blurs past her vision to hit the outlaw right on the forehead. He shouts, staggering back. Nia sees what looks like a little yellow seed tangled in his short fur, taking root on the skin of his forehead.

“Idiot.”

Nia jumps, turning to see Tobias padding over, worse for wear but still standing. Then she remembers what she’s doing and falls back into a defensive stance.

Except the monkey is staggering around in circles like a drunk man, falling this way and that in a desperate attempt to regain his balance, tail flailing. He’s frowning, blinking hard like he’s trying to concentrate.

“Totter seed,” Tobias explains, shooting Nia a wicked grin. “Dumb ‘mon left his stolen goods sitting over there in the corner.”

Nia’s mouth falls into a little “o” of surprise. “So he’s confused now, right?”

The outlaw grunts and shoots off a vicious jet of water that makes Nia and Tobias flinch even though he’s facing the wrong direction.

“Yup. Let’s finish this since you finally got yourself together. Why do you always wait until I’m beaten to a pulp before finally fighting back?”

Nia barks a laugh, beyond relieved to feel back in control of the situation. “Let’s call it a lesson in ego.”

Tobias snorts and moves to attack. Nia, not wanting to get in his way, positions herself on the other side of the outlaw, so the monkey is left staggering between the two of them. Without his wits about him, the outlaw’s speed is useless, and he flails weakly in the wrong direction as Tobias slams the smaller Pokémon with his tail and sends him towards Nia.

She takes the opportunity, uneasy about using her own fists instead of a weapon. But no, Val’s been teaching her how to punch and kick, so she needs to try to use that knowledge. She goes with a set of punches before shoving the monkey back Tobias’ way. The feeling of hitting solid warmth--fur and muscle and bone--with her own two hands is unnerving, but she tries her best to ignore it as they bat the outlaw back and forth. It’s like the world’s weirdest and most violent game of monkey in the middle, with a literal monkey as the ball. Nia almost laughs aloud at the thought.

Of course, the outlaw chooses that exact moment to blink out of his confusion, used seed falling to the dirt. The monkey bares his teeth, beaten and bloody and livid, then turns and grabs Tobias, swinging the charmander around and flinging him into Nia. The two fall with a pained yelp into a tangle of limbs.

The outlaw is breathing hard, clearly hurting but not willing to give up the fight. As Nia and Tobias rise back to their feet, side-by-side, the riolu takes a moment to appreciate the feeling of the charmander at her side in the heat of battle. For maybe the first time, she thinks she understands what it means to really feel like a team, to have a real partner.

Then the outlaw dashes forward, and the two of them move at once, bumping into each other—her arm jabs his side, he steps on her foot—and in the confusion the monkey bowls into them both. Sharp, blinding pain shoots through Nia’s right bicep, and she cries out, kicking at the outlaw whose jaws are locked around her arm in a vice grip. She rolls, claws, even tries to manifest her aura, but he just sinks his fangs in deeper. She feels blood gush out, hot and slick.

God, it hurts.

Then, there’s something else tugging at the monkey, and she squeezes her eyes open to see Tobias with his arms around the outlaw’s middle, his own teeth latched around the monkey’s shoulder and tugging hard.

Finally, the monkey is ripped free, and Tobias throws him away. Nia presses a hand to her injury, but keeps her eyes squinted open to watch eye the outlaw. The monkey manages to land on his feet, then tries to leap forward again. Nia braces herself.

“Back off!” Tobias snarls.

And then all she sees are blinding purple flames, beautiful and hot even from a few feet away, engulfing the monkey with a flare of light. Nia watches, breathless, as the ball of flames lands hard, smolders, then slowly putters out. The outlaw’s body is left charred and black in the dirt, and Nia only breathes out when she sees the faint rise and fall of the monkey’s back. For a moment there, she’d thought Tobias had killed him.

“You okay?”

Nia jumps, then looks over to Tobias, crouched down at her side and frowning. His expression is odd, somehow. Pinched.

“W-What was that?” She asks, awed voice raspy. It takes her a moment to realize that she must’ve been screaming when the outlaw was biting her, because her throat feels a bit raw.

Tobias blinks. “The fire? I, uh. I think I might have learned dragon rage?”

Nia’s eyes widen. “Dragon rage? That’s sounds awesome!”

Tobias’ expression finally breaks into something lighter, amused. “It is awesome. Now stop stalling, show me your arm.”

Nia hadn’t been meaning to stall, but now she wonders if she even wants to see what the monkey’s sharp teeth did to her. With a hiss, she slowly removes her hand, now sticky with blood. She can feel her heartbeat pulsing at the wound.

Tobias sucks in air between his teeth.

“T-That bad?” She asks, voice wobbly.

“‘S not pretty,” he admits. “Here, hang on...”

Nia watches as Tobias leans close and rummages through the satchel still hanging around her shoulder. He pulls out an oran berry, frowning.

“I thought we had two?”

“W-We did.” Nia had packed them herself.

Tobias looks around, then groans, slumping. Nia follows his gaze, recognizing a smear of smashed blue pulp in the dirt. Great. Must’ve fallen out and gotten stepped on in the scuffle.

“Well, at least eat one,” Tobias says, lifting the berry up to her mouth.

Nia leans back. “But you’re all banged up too, and—“

The charmander rolls his eyes, but there’s less venom in the gesture than usual. Maybe it’s the exhaustion weighing on them both, but Nia would almost say he looks concerned. “My skin’s stinging and I’m exhausted, but I’m not bleeding out through my arm. Eat it.”

Nia hesitates, but takes the berry, chewing it up and letting the sweet tang burst over her tongue. As soon as she swallows, she already feels a bit better. Tobias scoots closer, reaching up to hold her arm with one hand and feeling around the bite with the other, intensely focused. He’s gentler than Nia thought he’d be, but she still winces at the pain.

“The worst of the wound is closing up, but we should probably still staunch the bleeding,” he murmurs, almost to himself.

“W-Would my scarf work?” Nia asks.

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Is it in the bag?”

Nia nods, and Tobias rummages through the satchel again with his now-bloodied hands, finally bringing out the red scarf that the riolu has had for weeks. She actually wants to wear it now to symbolize their newly remade team, but she’s still not sure where to wear it. The collar of fur around her neck is just so darn fluffy!

Tobias tugs at the material as if to test its strength, and then nods, satisfied. He scooches around Nia again to get a better look at her wound.

“Don’t move,” he says.

Nia hums an affirmative, closing her eyes and trying not to think about the blood she can feel all over her arm, tacky as it starts to dry. The charmander carefully arranges the scarf around her bite, circling the material twice, before pulling it tight.

Nia flinches and almost tugs her arm away. “Ow!”

“Sorry,” Tobias grumbles, still focused on his work. “Hold still.”

Nia tries to, sniffing back pained tears as the charmander ties the scarf into a knot. When he’s done, he leans back. “How’s that?”

Nia looks at the patch job, a little amused and a little nauseous seeing the bright red scarf against the darker crimson blood staining her arm. That’s gonna be a pain to get out of her fur. She gingerly moves her arm back to her side, slowly bending it to a lax position. It definitely still stings and the muscles are probably bruised, but...

“Much better,” she says, meeting Tobias’ eyes with a shaky smile. “Thanks, doc!”

The charmander rolls his eyes, but his face flushes red and embarrassed as he pushes himself back to his feet. “C’mon, let’s get this loser back to the guild.”

Nia struggles to stand, a bit woozy, but nods. “Right.”

Tobias gathers up the stolen bag of seeds, finds their badges in their satchel, and pulls the charred monkey onto his back, lip curled in disgust.

“You really did a number on him,” Nia says quietly, impressed. “You said that move was...dragon rage? Did you just learn it?”

Tobias shrugs as well as he can with the outlaw on his back, looking uncomfortable. “I guess. That happens as your battling experience goes up and you get stronger. Definitely handy that I learned a dragon type move after that water sport he pulled.” He pauses in the middle of sending out a pick-up request via their badges to give Nia a look. “Speaking of—what’s up with you not using actual moves? I thought you would have adapted to fighting hand-to-hand by now.”

Nia sighs and glances at what remains of her makeshift weapon, lying discarded in the corner of the room. “I guess I really should stop depending on a weapon so much. Didn’t do me much good today.”

“No, not that,” Tobias waves her off. “I mean, yeah, that too, but even when you were punching, you weren’t using moves. You were just using basic body attacks. Why?”

Nia blinks at him. “Uh. What do you mean I wasn’t using moves?”

The charmander blinks back at her. “You…you didn’t know you weren’t?”

“I thought I was! I was punching a-and kicking and stuff! That’s what fighting types do, right?”

Tobias opens his mouth to explain, but then seems to reconsider and just heaves an exasperated groan. “We need to talk to Val tomorrow. Arceus, I thought you just weren’t using ‘em for some dumb personal reason, not because you didn’t know how to use them at all.”

Nia’s ears pin back. “I...I thought I was using them.”

“And I haven’t seen you two spar much since I’ve mostly been with Azami, so Val might not even know that you don’t know…” Tobias trails off, more to himself than to Nia. “We’re talking to her about this tomorrow. It’d help if you actually knew how to use your moves. And how to not freeze in battle until I’m half dead.”

His tone is harsh, but lacking the old bite it used to have. Nia still whines and buries her face in a hand, embarrassed. “I’m sorry! I promise it’s not on purpose. It just really caught me off guard, fighting a Pokémon that wasn’t feral.” Nia tries to latch onto something other than everything she’s apparently doing wrong. “A-At least we can tell Azami about your new move tomorrow too, right?”

Tobias nods, looking the faintest bit proud. “True.”

Their conversation is cut off as one of the retrieval psychics at the guild calls them back in a beam of light. Nia’s stomach flips, and when they land back on solid wood, the riolu collapses to her knees.

“You aren’t gonna pass out, are you?” Tobias asks, frowning at her.

Nia squeezes her eyes shut, fighting off a wave of nausea and lightheadedness. “N-No, I don’t think so. Just the blood loss, I’m pretty sure.”

There’s the quiet murmuring of voices, and the shifting of Tobias handing off the outlaw to the psychic type. Some more talking, and then the charmander’s light footsteps return to her side.

“Maggie’ll have some spare oran berries lying around if you can get back to the room.” Tobias says. He sounds a little awkward, like being any form of encouraging with his words is physically making him uncomfortable. Nia almost smiles.

“I...I think I’m fine.” The riolu blinks open her eyes, glancing around. The psychic type taking care of their case (not an abra, but an adorable, green jelly-like Pokémon who is shooting her worried looks) has the unconscious monkey chained up in psychic bindings, presumably to wait for law enforcement to take the outlaw away. At least, that’s what she guesses. She’s never done this before. Are there Pokémon police? Are they the police? She needs a badge. Wait, she has one of those.

“Okay, c’mon, before you pass out on the floor,” Tobias grumbles, hesitating before wrapping a warm arm around her back to help her to her feet. Nia stumbles, then slowly allows herself to put some of her weight onto Tobias. The charmander slings her uninjured arm around his shoulders, face flushed with embarrassment as he pointedly avoids her gaze. Then, the two start their arduous trek up the stairs to Maggie’s quarters.

Once or twice Nia considers thanking the charmander for helping her like this, but he’s already burning with embarrassment—quite literally, he feels hotter than normal—so she lets it be.

“Maggie’s gonna be so mad,” Nia mumbles when they’re nearly there.

Tobias has relaxed enough (or is maybe just exhausted enough) to snort a laugh. Nia can feel it rumble through his ribs, pressed against her side.

“She’s gonna be ticked at both of us,” He agrees. “I don’t know why she always throws such a fit when we get hurt. It’s part of the job.”

“Occupational hazard,” Nia agrees with a tired smile.

The two are silent the rest of the way, and sure enough, as soon as they step through the door, Maggie descends on them with all the worried wrath of a mother scolding her terrible, danger-prone children.

Nia relaxes and lets herself be babied. Her chest hurts just as much as her arm, something in her finding Maggie’s motherly worry familiar and comforting, in an aching, longing sort of way, so she lets the meganium fuss over her injuries. She’s feeling far too fond of the situation, really, as she watches Tobias stubbornly shooing Maggie away from his own wounds. It’s nice, to be cared about. To have somewhere safe to come home to.

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #panpour #charmander #riolu #pmd seekers of soul #tesha draws #tesha writes

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miceenscene · 3 years

Text

Star-Crossed

din djarin/female oc | soulmate AU | pre-canon

wc: 2.3k / 9.8k (so far)

summary: The Way was not supposed to be a solitary one. People, house, clan. And when all else failed, your Match. “Fits like a Mandalorian Match” was the old saying. Though it wasn’t so long ago that it stopped making sense. But what's a lost Match to a man like Din Djarin?

warnings: canon-typical violence, lol does pining need a warning??

Previous Chapter | Masterpost | ao3

Chapter Four: The Difference

It was as the hull door was slowly shutting behind them that Din realized he'd invited someone to join him on a semi-permanent basis.

It was as the hull door was slowly shutting behind them that Din realized he’d invited someone to join him on a semi-permanent basis.

He’d never done that before.

Ever.

Sometimes people were more passengers than quarry, but they never stayed before.

They always left.

Nia stayed.

It took some getting used to, having another person around.

Old habits had to be adjusted. His helmet now only came off in bed or the fresher.

Though once he did forget it till he was halfway across the hull, half-awake and scrounging through the ration bars to find the good ones. It took a boot scrape on the floor above him to remind him that there was another living thing aboard.

There was an undignified scramble back to the bed cubby, but the helmet was firmly in place before Nia appeared down the ladder.

Other habits were completely abandoned.

“Heading out?” Nia asked, looking up from her flight manual as the hull door dropped slowly open.

Din pulled a few hand grenades out of the armory and tucked them into his belt. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“I’m coming with you.” She picked up her bo staff and the pistol that she’d taken from the Sergeant.

“There’s no need–”

“I’m not going to sit here and babysit an empty ship.”

“I work alone,” he hedged.

“You offered to help me. And since the only thing my mind seems to bother recalling is fighting, I’m sure as hell not going to let that slip out of my grasp too.” She crossed her arms and gave him a very obstinate look.

Out of habit, she got the usual treatment he gave people when they argued: silence.

It was laughably ineffective.

They just wound up staring at each other for several minutes in stubborn silence.

She’d stand there till the sun went down, he could feel it in his bones.

Call it a Match hunch, which did not technically exist but might as well have.

“Fine. But wherever I go, you go, understood?”

“Loud and clear.”

Her stubbornness didn’t stop once they were off the ship either.

A quarry got away from them for a full two days because they kept arguing about battlefield tactics.

They got the clawdite in the end. But only once they’d both apologized and made a new plan together.

And there was also the time she flew the ship without him.

Granted, he’d been knocked unconscious. And they did need to outrun the X-wings.

And for a woman who couldn’t remember where she was two moon cycles ago, she was a fair pilot.

If he didn’t care to use the ship ever again.

That dent in the hull wouldn’t come out no matter how many mechanics tried.

Even still, it seemed to take very little time at all before Nia’s presence was thoroughly expected and normal.

She seemed to… enjoy herself at times. And he did too, if he was honest.

Not that she wasn’t still deeply odd.

She spoke fluent mando’a, but fought like no Mandalorian he’d ever seen.

She could meditate for hours, and always seemed keenly aware of his exact location nearby when she did.

And then one evening, he came down from the flight deck, ready to climb into bed for some rest when he found her… contorted in the middle of the hull.

Her body was bent and stretched in ways he wasn’t previously aware that bodies could move.

Or at least move and still survive.

He watched as, without any hurry at all, she moved from one impossible pose to another; her breath and muscles in perfect control.

She could have made any of his old trainers proud with her self-mastery.

“You’re staring,” she said without looking his way.

His face heated under the helmet. He should have guessed this would be like her meditation.

“What are you doing?” he asked, moving to sit on a crate and pull off his boots.

She ended her routine by standing and bringing her hands pressed together in front of her chest and letting out one last long breath.

“I don’t know exactly. All I know is I feel restless if I don’t,” she said, turning around to face him. She patted his shoulder as she passed. “Sleep well.”

That happened often. Her touching him.

Even in the covert, even in his years of training back on Mandalore, no one had touched him so often.

And so casually too.

Like it was nothing at all for her to rest her arm on his shoulders as he demonstrated how to properly land the ship.

Or to sit so close to him when eating that her arm brushed his with every movement.

Maybe it was nothing at all to her.

But it was much more than nothing to him.

Her hands were all over him as she trained him in polearms, adjusting his grip, shifting the angle of his arms, urging him to relax the tension between his shoulder blades.

She held his hips to guide him through the weight transfer he kept overshooting, his face hot enough to melt his helmet clean off the entire time.

She quickly noticed how stiff he was around her. To his detriment.

He’d just been stepping around her in the flight deck.

Then suddenly a hand jabbed his rib cage.

He jumped, a strange noise cutting out of him as he did.

Nia broke immediately into a resounding laugh, pressing a hand to cover her mouth, doing a poor job of dampening the sound.

“I’m sorry!” she managed after a moment. “I–I didn’t know you’d… oh I’m s-sorry, Din.”

That was the first time he heard her laugh. It softened her blow considerably.

The second time he heard her laugh was when he retaliated two days later.

She leapt to the other side of the hull and was in a full fighting stance before she realized that he’d poked her.

Then she laughed again, making him laugh too, a smile beaming from under his helmet.

It happened somewhere when he wasn’t paying attention.

Somewhere between debating infiltration tactics and sparring, between knowing glances while Karga attempted to short-change them and long warm afternoons spent up in sniper’s nests, waiting for their quarry to return home…

She became his friend.

“I figured it out,” Nia said as she sat at the bar of a crowded cantina. She’d been sent in alone, semi-undercover as she was far less conspicuous than he was, to find their quarry. “An emergency induction tube. Then you can drink in bars with me and keep the helmet on.”

Outside in the alley, Din scoffed and spoke over the commlink in his helmet. “An emergency induction tube?”

“I have one now.”

He looked through the window to see her sip her drink through a straw. He chuckled then answered, “Still won’t work.”

She grunted, feigning annoyance. “‘Wherever you go, I go’ always seems to stop counting when it's time to relax.”

Under the helmet, he smiled.

“Do you have friends, Din?”

“What?” he asked over the commlink. Had he heard her right?

“I said, do you have friends? Been flying with you for a few months now, and I’m still waiting to meet them.”

“You met Ran and his crew.”

“You think Ranzar Malk and the rest of those criminals are your friends?” she asked, a little incredulously. “Didn’t Qin try to stab you during the last job?”

Technically, it was Xi’an who tried to stab him. “They’re… contacts.”

“So that’s a no on friends.”

He paused then said, “You’re my friend.”

Through the small vantage he had, he could see her smile down at her drink, eyes glancing just his way. His chest warmed.

“So one woman with a head like Corellian cheese. That’s… pretty good for a bounty hunter.”

“Same number you have right now.”

Her chuckle was low, sparking a single star burst high in his chest. “You have me there. Ah, found him. Target’s at the sabacc tables. I’ll flush him out into the alley.”

They had a good partnership. And he was happy to share most everything with her, what little amenities he could offer aboard The Razor Crest.

He didn’t realize she hadn’t been sleeping in the bed for weeks. Not until he came down from the flight deck early and found her curled in a corner of the hull, still using his cape as a blanket.

She didn’t seem to know where it had come from. And he certainly wasn’t going to inform her or take it back.

When he asked why she wasn’t using the bed, she said that it was his.

“It belongs to whoever’s sleeping,” he replied, firmly meaning it.

She took him at his word.

He hadn’t really been prepared, however, to crawl into the cubby after a long day and find that the whole space smelled like her soap.

She’d bought it in the first city they arrived in weeks back. Now it was all over his blankets.

Sea air. And wildflowers.

With the door to the cubby firmly shut, he slept with the helmet off that night…

And every night after, an unstoppable glow building in his chest.

Her memories, unfortunately, did not return. Or certainly not as fast as the droid made it seem like it would.

In several months, very little arrived.

Early childhood memories of Mandalore before the Great Purge. But no explanation of the control chip, or her skills.

She kept up a strong aloof appearance of her defect, but every so often, Din caught a glimpse of her despair hiding behind it.

They were in hyperspace, both working on small projects during the journey. He was outfitting one of his guns with a new scope, and Nia had taken to carving designs on her bo staff. It was turning into quite the fine weapon in her steady hands.

They’d been quietly working for a while when she started humming a low, slow tune. She didn’t even seem to be aware she was doing it.

Din looked up at her as her quiet song continued. Her curly dark hair twisted high on her head, back bowed over her staff in her lap as she deepend the etchings she’d done.

Her song wound back on itself and only then did she seem to realize what she’d been doing.

She looked up and sucked in a shaky gasp.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently.

She nodded, bottom lip quivering and eyes turning glassy. “My father used to sing that song,” she finally explained with a watery smile.

Though she couldn’t see, he smiled back, a tightness clenching high in his chest.

A bright fullness so wide it pushed out all the air in his lungs to make room.

He’d been feeling that a lot lately.

It wasn’t unpleasant, though it was annoying at times.

Especially when it showed up in the middle of a fight after Nia did something particularly skilled against her opponent.

It seemed to have no rhythm or source… besides her.

The galaxy was just different with her around.

It didn’t seem so soulless.

Perhaps because she noticed the small ignorable things.

Grabbing his arm to stop and watch street performers in a market he would have otherwise just passed through.

Pointing out the broad purple sweep of the planet’s rings through the night sky as they walked the quarry back to the ship.

Or perhaps because it was just simply nice to have someone around. Someone he enjoyed spending time with, someone who would have his back in danger, someone he trusted.

He knew what the star bursts high in his chest meant.

He wasn’t obtuse.

But there was a large difference between understanding and ready to admit, even just to himself.

Much less to her.

As for Nia, it took her several months to ask the inevitable.

He could feel her gearing up to ask something. Must be something pointed with how long her wind up was, nearly a full ration bar.

“Can I ask about your helmet?”

“No, you can’t wear it,” he answered, not looking up from the gun he was cleaning. He got a small smack on his arm for the answer, making him grin.

“I know that. I meant… your oath is to not show your face to another living being ever. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Not even your clan?”

He looked up now. “I don’t have a clan. I was a foundling.”

“But you could have one someday–unless that’s also part of the oath.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not part of it.”

Nia leaned forward, deadly serious. “So… say you have a spouse, or children, they’d never know your face?”

She sounded… sad, he realized after a moment.

He’d had plenty of questions about his helmet; it came with being a Mandalorian. But none before had ever looked at his helmet and seen tragedy.

Not even him.

“When I took the creed, I gave up my old life. The helmet is my face. That’s what it means to be Mandalorian.”

“But I knew my parents’ faces… and they were Mandalorian.”

No they weren’t, a voice not his own hissed in the back of his mind, nasty and cruel and he didn’t know where it had come from.

He shook his head. “I don’t know… but this is what I was taught. This Is The Way.”

She didn’t press it any further, but the quiet disagreement in her eyes stuck with him as he drifted to sleep, alone and helmetless in sea air and wildflowers.

Chapter 5: The Discovery

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#The Mandalorian #Din Djarin #Pedro Pascal #Din Djarin x ofc #the mandalorian #mando x you #Din Djarin fanfic #soulmate au #Star Crossed #my writing

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medfangs · 4 years

Photo

live by the shadows

prince aerin x mc

word count: 2k

angsty fic based on theories i’ve seen around reddit about the prince possibly getting corrupted by the shadow court in future chapters.. it hit me with inspiration so i banged this out. this is gender neutral and basically inclusive to all races and weapons so yeah! hope you enjoy!!

The lake had an effect on you, that’s for sure. Colors hazing and scents dizzying (the good kind, the kind that leaves you feeling a mouthful of static, a buzz that spreads and warms as it leaves your body through every small crevice). You could blame this on that, sure, you could also blame this on the rose-tinted glasses you wore miles before you came here. But you won’t. Because not even the others—Mal with his being streetwise, Tyril and his perception—could have predicted this.

Prince Aerin stands bleeding tendrils of shadow. His eyes are glazed over with a murkiness one of his kind should never be caught in, and they stare in no particular direction. He senses your party with a deeper perception, one indiscriminate and sharp. And then he lashes his dark tendrils at each one of you.

“Hey!” Imtura snatches a tendril mid-air and crushes it within her palm. Her muscles pull taut with the action and her nostrils flare as she glares down at the lost prince. “Is this the best you’ve got? My mates slay leviathans as a pastime!”

The other party members wrangle with their own tendril in the meantime, faring from Nia’s impromptu light defenses to Tyril’s practiced swordsmanship. Even Prince Baldur carries his own weight, landing multiple blows with his bow and arrow. You swing your own weapon just in time to save yourself from Aerin’s attack. Just barely—you’re too shaken up by the prince’s transformation and stagger when the shadowed limb falls to your feet. It gives him just the opportunity to thrust another attack right towards you.

It whips around your wrist and drags you through the forest’s floor.

“Kit!”

“Help!” you cry out, the shadow searing your arm with piercing frigidness. When you grasp onto it with your other hand, you’re met with a bitter emptiness. It weighs heavy and collapses in your chest like you’ve got the whole sun to carry on your shoulders. And then, you feel him. You feel the resentment, the self-pity, and an anger tasting like vengeance. Then you feel something foreign, sinister, and deeper, manipulative.

Duke Erthax.

He’s got a grip on Aerin like a vice, of his emotions and sorrow, and places it all in his fist of power. It’s in that you sense a weak spot, a vulnerability, that is neither yours nor the Duke’s.

You’re thrusted back out when you find yourself flat at Prince Aerin’s feet, his blank stare meeting yours. You hear the cries and growls of your party. Beasts have sprouted out from hidden parts of the forest, gnawing on Tyril’s armor with decaying fangs. Imtura punches through one, two, and guards Nia behind her back as she summons her magic. Mal and Baldur have teamed up, mowing down animals near and far with their bows and daggers. Baldur turns to keep a hateful eye on his brother. The latter pays him no mind.

He grabs the front of your clothing, pulling you up to meet face-to-face. He's glazed with sweat, cheeks blotchy and the veins along his face have grown black and bulge with strain.

“Aerin,” you cry out before you can stop yourself. “Don’t do this.”

Hearing you speak his name does nothing for him. His eyes seem to look past you, and his mind elsewhere. Of course, you’re not foolish enough to believe that. Especially with deathgrip he has to keep you upright—your feet has given out on you. Your back hurts. Your skull throbs. And frankly, you just might piss yourself.

Even more so now, when Prince Aerin opens his mouth and out comes—not his voice. It’s a voice that speaks so deeply that it sounds like it’s coming from somewhere further inside Aerin.

“Finally,” he drawls, and the edge of his lips twitches slightly. “It is only the beginning but it feels as though I have made it.”

“H-huh?” you attempt to stand but his strength forces you down.

“Every single one of you have minds so weak it is no wonder you crave a hive to follow,” he grins, “a king here and a God there? Look where that has brought you all! Have you no agency to be your own ruler? If you must insist, I will be your monarch. ”

His words sting, though you know it shouldn’t. You have no idea who’s even talking, the Prince or Duke? At this point, either title spells ruin for you. But you cannot take any chances.

“Aerin,” you grunt, “This isn’t you! Don’t let him take over. You can defeat him.” Something in his expression changes, softens, and then hardens, and with a stronger grasp and stone-cold face he spits, “No! I have no reason to do away with what fills me with life, one I had chased all my life. Now, it is here, in me, and all I have to do is get rid of you.”

He shoves you out of his reach then, and you tumble to the ground on your back. He brandishes his sword and you only have enough time to gather your bearings. You scramble to parry his attack, rolling away from him—and closer to your party—and prepare yourself to defend against him. The others struggle with their own demons. Imtura fails to connect her fists to the monsters all while skeletal beings evade Tyril’s sword with slight maneuvers, his blade slicing through the empty gaps of their ribs.

Aerin, or more appropriately Duke Erthax, seems to have already lost his interest in you, instead moving towards the most prominent figure in his life—Prince Baldur. He struggles pulling back the string of his bow, the blood and sweat making the thin string slip piteously from between his fingers. Nia and Mal handle the heavy work, but even then Nia’s light could merely be described as mingling with Aerin’s shadow magic. None of them are ready enough to take on the corrupted prince on their own, so it’s up to you to mitigate that.

You jump before the prince and call out to him, blocking the blow of his sword when he swings and lock him there long enough to conjure a plan.

You know this isn’t him. You think you know this isn't his fault. When the Duke snuck up on him, you have no idea, but it had to be within a short timeframe, definitely no longer than the time you’ve spent with him. The Duke must’ve caught him when he was vulnerable, but—

—you’ve also caught him when he’s been vulnerable. His past words resound in your head. Then it clicks.

“Aerin,” you say steadily. “This isn’t what you want. You’ve never wanted to become a ruler. You’ve always been aware of the setbacks that came with it. You’ve always had your own goals—one separate from your brother’s, one that gave you friendship and freedom. Listen to me, Aerin, you can be free!”

The prince sways in his steps, a quick contemplative look that’s gone the moment it arrived. He hardens again, though softer than before. He swings his sword blindly, missing you by a mile. He seems to recognize this, because he calms himself before diving again. You don’t want to hurt him, not when he’s like this, so you try your best to dodge and deflect him.

Suddenly, he speaks up again, hollowed. “All my life I have lived underneath the thumb that is Baldur’s power. The greater of two.” He glances at Baldur, and with a gleeful smile he watches his brother struggle against his monsters. “Now, I finally know what it’s like to be inside his princely, polished shoes. And it is so, so satisfying.”

“No, it isn’t,” you yell. You land a light blow to catch his attention and continue, “You know what is satisfying? Our night at the lake. When we sat and looked at our reflections in that glowing water. The way we both felt that coolness on our skin after we took the stress off each other’s shoulders. The knowledge that we shared. That my brother can be saved. That you can be saved.”

Prince Aerin stands there stunned. His sword shudders weakly in his grip. The darkness around him seems to lift, or at least reflect the light that bounces off the forest’s walls. You seem to have touched him.

Your name falls from his lips faintly, and then he’s curled onto himself. He drops to his hands and knees and heaves painfully, until finally, “You know nothing. None of the knowledge I shared is true, you naive fool.”

“You don’t truly think that,” you say. Cautiously, you kneel at his side, far enough to defend yourself if he tries his luck. “If anything, you’re the fool, Aerin Valleros.” He whips up, tense, shocked, and angry. But then it melts into sadness, confusion, and even more so, disappointment. His chest grumbles, so deep and low you feel it vibrate the ground where you kneel. “I am, aren’t I.”

His voice holds none of the reverb it previously did. No more of that spacious emptiness.

Neither of you move in that moment, though you watch the way his back rises and falls with every deep breath he takes. The cries of battles behind you begin to settle, and from the corner of your eye you see a finishing light burst from Nia’s hands. You rest a hand on Aerin’s shoulder. He looks up, broken.

“Need help?”

“As always.”

You pull him to his feet. He coughs embarrassedly once you’re eye-to-eye (or almost, anyway). Up close, you can still see the straining in his face, his bloodshot eyes, and the grayish tone of his veins. His fist is clenched at his side and his adam’s apple bobs as he swallows repeatedly and that’s when you realize he’s still fighting. Not your party, but himself, and Duke Erthax. The realization makes you spike in empathy—suddenly you’re flushed with his strain as well. You step back and he smiles coyly at you.

“Well—"

Then his eyes are wild with panic, the darkness around him coils violently and in a flash, and you can barely process what’s in front of you until you hear a telltale pew! and your vision is clouded by an inky miasma and when you blink you see—

Oh, no.

—An arrow lodged deep in the crux of Aerin’s chest. His fist is wrapped tight around its shaft.

You stumble back, looking into his eyes and following his gaze to his brother. Prince Baldur lowers his bow and stands with haughtiness, as though it isn't a fatal blow he just delivered, but a bullseye.

Your party shares a collective gasp.

“Prince!”

“What’d you do that for?!”

“Your own brother!”

The fallen monsters seem to come alive, for just a second, before crumbling back to the floor. And with a thump, Aerin follows, too. His tendrils shrivel up and shadows bloom alongside blood on his chest, billowing once before waning. He fights with all the life he’s got left, his expression taut and fists curled, but the essence Duke Erthax gave him seems to have been his only life source, so when his darkness fades completely, so does he.

What you’re left with is the shell of a person, in more ways than one. No one dares to break the silence. Only the pristine sound of nature may speak. Till Prince Baldur, like most of his affronts, calls the attention back to himself. He approaches Aerin’s body stoically; no grief, no sorrow, and definitely no remorse. He kneels down, one hand resting on his knee, the other coming down to rest on Aerin’s shoulder. He rubs it, gently, brotherly. It's almost a warm sight, if only you refrain from acknowledging what happens before and after.

“What a shame, you are. Born in my shadow, raised in my shadow, and, unfortunately, you had to die in your own shadow. Think that’s just the life you were made for.”

He turns to your group, frozen in fear and disgust, and slings his bow over his back. "Now, shall we venture onward? I reckon Undermount isn't much far from here."

#playchoices #blades of light and shadow #prince aerin #prince aerin x mc #aerin x mc #aerin valleros #playchoices art #playchoices fanart #playchoices fanfic #playchoices fanfiction #bolas #bolas aerin #blades of light and shadow art #blades of light and shadow fanfic #bolas art #bolas fanfic #my art #my writing

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naturaldisasterfanfiction · 4 years

Text

12. Part 5

I know this nigga did not just wash the dishes when he has a whole ass dishwasher, squinting my eyes at him “you have a dishwasher?” placing the dish cloth on the side “yes I do, I uhm” he paused “forgot” he is so adorable, I hate him “right, so you washed that for what?” Chris stared at me all wide eyed and then laughed “you got me fucked up, like I ain’t on no lean anymore, but you got me fucked up” shaking my head at him, Chris is goofy as hell “oh wow, you are the drug. Man, I forgot about this bitch, but thank you. You helped me, so uhm. You erm, sleeping here? I mean where else you going?” he has a point “I don’t know you know, I didn’t think of that. I mean you are the host; you tell me?” Chris poked his lips out with the biggest smirk “erm, well. You could stay over, and erm you can have my special room because you are special, but you have no clothes” nodding my head “but I have plenty of that, also toothbrush I have spares or you can use mine. And guess what?” leaning against the kitchen counter “go on” I know it’s something stupid “I have Fenty Skin so you can wash your wash, what you think? I been using it, well tried too” raising an eyebrow “well I can see the difference, your skin ain’t dull. Looks smooth, like mine” hearing his phone go off, but it is a facetime it sounds like “I can only imagine who that is, I have nosey females in my life. I knew it” he said picking up his phone “it’s Royalty” nodding my head “he’s picked up mom, hi dad. Mom said I can only say goodnight to you, but I wanted to see if you are ok, and did the surprise girl?” she sounds so cute, Chris’ smile grew “uhm, I would say I did” Chris dragged out “did you do something stupid?” I wanted to laugh because it’s like she knows him “nah, I did no such thing. It worked and that person is happy, she uhm, she liked your flowers” Chris looked at me smiling “well you have no sense. You must be really happy dad. You are so quiet” walking around the kitchen counter “is that a good thing? Shouldn’t you be asleep, you got school” I want to see but like not get caught “I know but I just wanted to say goodnight, also dad! Listen to me! Look!” Chris is busy looking at me “yes” peaking over a little, she is so cute. I gasped as Chris grabbed my head “get off!” I spat moving it back “oh my god dad, is she there?” Chris is laughing but I swear to god, if he exposes me “no, I am playing what is it” moving away from him, he is dangerous. I am going to walk away until he is done because he will be playing around too much.

“Fuck!” Chris jumped onto the couch “why are you honestly like this?” Chris is hyper, he is happy, and I like to see it “she is cute, she is very inquisitive though and you are bad. What if she noticed” poking him “I know but she didn’t, Royalty would be coming to the home if she did. She doesn’t play, she is going to freak out when she finds out. With my son it’s hard because he’s like a pawn against me, I tried to gain that feeling for him, and I find it hard. Royalty just gives off love, she just does and it’s the mothers. I had shit with Nia, it was bad, and I said a lot of shit then, but we realised that Royalty is growing up and she turned around and said it’s about her, that is it. We get on now, the other one is wanting me and is taking it out on the boy and it’s hard because I can’t be that father because she is there, and my mother thinks I am useless but it’s all good. I am sorry that I have this mess though. I wish it were just you if I used my mind I wouldn’t have any kids. I don’t want them to see what a fucked up dude I am either” he laughed “don’t say that, because you are a good person. Don’t put yourself down like that, I guess we just need to take it as it comes, and I am accepting of your kids. I was pretty upset about it all but Mel, and Jen also. They said what makes me special, others have kids elsewhere you know. And I think it’s hard because I would like to be as perfect as Bey, I am happy for her, but it’s like I can’t even get one thing right. But we know they have their own secrets too” watching Chris shuffle forward and then turn to me, his knee just hitting my thigh as he rested his leg up to face me “you know they fucked us up, you know that yeah?” chewing my on my bottom lip nodding my head “when I said to you not to go on that seven whatever bullshit, I told you not to accept it but you did. We needed to be strong because nobody wanted it but he did, he was behind it. Jay Brown, he was laughing at my face. When I came to your concert they made me feel like shit, you were busy and we argued because I was doing my own thing, they strained us under the spotlight and then bought out shit about us. They ruined me and then tried to do it to you because you went against them. You know nobody will be happy for us, just the people that know now” nodding my head slowly “I know, I saw it and I was stupid. I listened to them Chris but this time I have my daughter, she means more to me then anything. I really fucking don’t care for them, it’s me. This is why I don’t do shit for nothing now, you don’t see me, I could hide and given birth. This is why I am saying to you Chris you do it your way. You don’t need people, I just wish you had better peers, and probably family. Your family, well some don’t like me either. When we announce it together and they say to me about what they dislike I don’t care, we will just drop it and leave it at that. We have told them our way” Chris is listening to every word I say, I can just tell on his face he is holding onto every word and taking it in.

He is making me shy now, with the way he is just staring at me intently “so uhm, like. What have you learnt? Like on a real, do you know not to do drugs right?” Chris chuckled “I do, I know that you will be there for me and that I can’t wait to join the Fenty cult” I busted out laughing “shut up! You are so annoying” hitting his arm “but yeah, I just need to be truthful with you, you will ride for me. You got my back and I got yours, and that is good. I will do it your way, I think it will work better that way because me, I am dumb” poking my lips out “not really, so are you going to get me something to wear? Maybe a large sweatshirt, something oversized. And new or even worn, you always smell nice” I grinned “mhmm worn, ok. I will be back” Chris placed his hand on my thigh as he got up from the couch “don’t get scared now, there is nobody here” pulling a fact at him “you have scary shit in here, I don’t like it” that is the truth, it’s just weird and spooky at the same time “this is why I hate being alone, shit is not nice” watching him walk off, I sighed out heavily smiling to myself. He just needs guidance and a lot of love, I think it is cute that he wants to spend time with me I mean I wouldn’t understand why, I am annoying.

I giggled at Chris, he would come back with half of his clothes “I got some used socks too, but I got these for you. You can take them, they have all been worn and I haven’t washed them yet, I wore them this week, like I don’t stink. Promise you” I breathed out smiling “I know you don’t stink” I winked at him “which one do you think I will look best in” let him choose “erm, this white tee” getting up from the couch “right, bra on or off?” walking over to him “uhh you like bra off so I think me and my dick vote bra off” taking the tee from him “can I just get changed around here” I pointed “for sure” he moved out of the way “also what we doing now? Like you going to entertain me? I am your guest” I am being deadass too “we can do normal things and watch a movie? I ain’t done that in a while, well with someone I care about. Whatever you want to watch too” I cooed out “that is fine, it is because we would just smoke weed and gaze at each other, I miss that actually. I miss weed a lot” I sniffed his tee “uh yes” I miss weed a lot, I miss smoking that shit so much and now I can just sniff this “I will be waiting” Chris said behind me, I swear to god he needs to stop because that shit just played at my heartstrings “poor baby” I said to myself.

Chris really didn’t move; he is actually stood there “I just thought you might get scared like always. So, can I now sniff your clothes” holding my clothes close to me “nope!” I spat “I thought that is what we doing? You need a bag for those? You can take my clothes with you if you want” nodding my head “I do actually, I have taken off my bra off too. If you can get me a bag please” Chris came over to me “let me take those form you then, just go to the fridge and get some drinks or whatever. I got anything you want in there or wherever” nodding my head “you want something for your feet too?” shaking my head “I am ok” I smiled at him, he is fussing over me. I have not had that in a while, not a man fuss over me. I guess I will look in the fridge “what do you want to drink!?” I half shouted “uhm just get me anything, Fanta or whatever!” nodding my head as I tiptoed my way over to the kitchen, pulling open the fridge door “uh” not the cup, he really put that shit in here. Let me throw this lean in the sink because that is not what we going to do, we are not having that mess around at all.

I am not sure what he wanted but I got him any Fanta can that was in there, placing the drinks on the table “I found chips” Chris came out with two duffle bags “oh what, what you doing?” I asked him “those are expensive” I mean those are MCM duffle bags “it’s ok, I was going to give you Black Pyramid, but we can’t do that now, you will be caught out. But your clothes and bras are in here, they smell nice” I laughed out as I sat in the corner of the couch “my legs are cold” which they are “then wear pants? Nobody told you to not wear any, I swear you are driving me crazy” he placed the bags down “I will be back” he walked off once again, I just smiled at the fact he is running around again for me, he is too good to me. I wish I were drinking wine and a blunt in the other “oh god” I sighed out, placing my hand over my stomach. Sometimes I forget that I am actually pregnant which isn’t a bad thing but it’s just apart of me now, I love it “I am back, we have a blanket” smiling at him, he laid the blanket on me. It felt a little warmer, I wrapped myself in it. It is a huge, thick blanket “so what are we watching?” he asked me, I shrugged “wait” I said as Chris proceeded to take his jeans off “nigga, the hell” Chris laughed as he pulled them down “I want to be comfy so the sweatpants are coming on” he is just freely doing this like it’s ok, I mean if he wants to do that I don’t mind watching him.

We ended up watching ‘US’ I haven’t watched it and neither has he so I thought why not but I don’t think I can concentrate on this movie at all “I am not that big Chris, there is enough space for us both” he looks so off sitting afar from me, he placed his drink on the table and the shuffled close to me, moving the blanket back “I think I will end up falling asleep” stifling out a yawn “you getting old” feeling Chris’ leg graze mine, placing the blanket over us “I suppose I am not, I am going to be a MILF, what you think?” turning to him laughing about it, I mean I am now “you seem too happy about that Robyn, you funny” Chris wrapped his arms around me which was unexpected of him, shuffling down a little and resting my head on his chest. Chris’ arms are protectively wrapped around me “well it’s about time I had a baby, you know. How annoyed would you be if I told you that I need to pee?” Chris rested his head lightly on mine “very annoyed” he lucky I am joking then “are you ok, like me being this close to you” furrowing my eyebrows “oh, well if you are going to be in the delivery room, I think you are going to see a lot. But I mean, what haven’t we seen of each other, we are best friends as well as lovers” I felt his hand brush against mine “it’s always one hundred with us, we either don’t speak for years or we always together” Chris took my hand in his, our fingers intertwined. Looking up at Chris and smiled before resting my head back on this chest “I ain’t even pay attention to this shit at all” He smiled back and squeezed my hand, I felt the warmth in my heart because it’s been a while since I have Chris so this, feeling him just lightly play with my fingers with his.

From the corner of my eye I can just watch him lightly play with my fingers still, he is still doing it “you know how annoying that is?” I said laughing “I am enjoying it, you know I don’t be still for nobody” he is right “so in London, are you living with who? On your own?” I blew out air “my own home, me, myself and I but you know Mel is there. I would have the girls crash there but just me generally. The thing is, the girls have their own life and I feel so bad that I drag them away, Mel has a man, Tina has a man, Jen has a whole family, Noella has a family. Ja is a bitch so nobody will be with him but my mom won’t leave Barbados, she said that she will stay for a few days and go back so just me in and I am just going to get a nice a little home in the outskirts of London or whatever. But I will be there and Barbados, once she is here it will be her world. Probably visit America for work, but that is it. Rather lonely, I mean what is the different from my previous shit anyways” which is true, there is no difference “so that means we can be together, I am going to be there” I chuckled “here and there Chris, I just can’t do it here. Now I have lived that British lifestyle, tested it out that I could actually be normal, it’s so amazing. Walk in, get my groceries, all on my own and then go back. I have walked around, done my own thing. I mean of course people so see me, but they say hi and go along with their day. It’s like the rich side of London, these are not celebrities but multi-millionaires that live around there so it’s just nice to have normality, and there is a cute school around that area too but if, like I can’t do anything to get you in then I will have to, but I won’t be happy. Just give birth in France or New York then but I just, you know. It’s us, we don’t have much luck. Nothing has been leaked in London, I don’t get harassed there. It’s just I get bad vibes here, but I will make sure you can be there” I am not going to dog him out “I will be there, you won’t be alone. But I know your people will be around, they always are. I am sad you are going though; you know what. I think Jay is going to make your life hell when he finds out I am the dad, he always finds a way” Chris is saying it but I am ready for him.

#Chrianna #chrianna ff #chriannaff #fanficiton #fanfiction

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lena-in-a-red-dress · 5 years

Text

Cadmus’ Revenge

WARNING FOR THEMES OF SELF-HARM, SUICIDAL IDEATION, PARANOIA, NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE.

A/N: This story is not a character death, and ends on a happy note.

----

Cadmus is resurrected, and abducts Lena. She's missing for over a year when they finally find her, in a facility packed with guards but devoid of any trace of Lillian. They find Lena pale and thin but alive in a small windowless cell. Down the hall and around the corner, they find a chilling lab, complete with a chair that looks like it belongs in a dentist’s office, if not for the manacles bolted to the arms and legs, and the macabre net of needled probes haloing the headrest.

Lena sleeps for days when they get her to the DEO. They clean the smears of blood from her forehead, examine her from head to toe, but when she wakes Lena is hale and whole and remarkably cogent. She doesn't seem surprised by her rescue, and is neither scared nor thrilled to be back.

She's a little distant, but otherwise well-adjusted-- unnervingly so. The Superfriends are all massively concerned, but Lena goes to therapy, she follows the doctors' instructions, and they don't want to make it worse so they just... let her be.

Until the day that Kara walks into Lena's L-Corp office as Supergirl, and finds her building a bomb.

A big one.

"Is that...?"

"A bomb?" Lena replies coolly. "Yep. I'm surprised it took you this long."

"Lena..."

"Don't come any closer," comes an off-hand warning, along with a head tilt towards a new arrangement of wall-mounted rail guns suddenly aimed at Kara.

"Those are loaded with kryptonite bullets. Not sure if kryptonite is needed against a construct, but just in case you're following the usual rules... even if it doesn’t kill you, it'll hurt like hell."

Kara swallows thickly. "I don't know what's happening, but I do know that this isn't you. Step away from the desk, and we can talk about what's going on with you, okay?"

"Nope. No more talking. No more interrogations, no more debriefing. No more scenarios."

Scenarios? "Lena, what--"

"I'm a little surprised to be honest. You usually catch on to my escape attempts a lot sooner. But that was my mistake, wasn’t it? Escape."

Finally, Lena straightens and turns, pressing a button that sets a countdown in red lights.

"Tell me, mother," Lena smirks, folding her arms against her chest. "Do you believe what they say about the Matrix?"

Kara doesn't understand what's going on, but she does understand that Lena is not well, and she understands that Lena is fully intent on blowing them both up. And the whole city block, if the size of the bomb and Lena's acumen are any indication.

"Lena, please..."

Green eyes regard her coolly. "You really do look like her. Its the closest you come yet. Fitting that it'll also be your last."

"What do you mean?"

"Scorched earth. There's nothing to reset if this explosion fries every neuron in my skull. So whatever you're looking for, better ask now before I'm brain dead."

"Lena--"

"Oh, and before you decide to blip out on me, I should probably mention that this room is equipped with an electromagnetic barrier. Again, not totally sure it works against what amounts to an online avatar, but I figured I might as well do my best to rid the world of both us Luthors."

"I am not your mother..."

"Obviously."

Kara's gaze flickers to the timer, ticking down. Less than twenty seconds.

"Lena, I am not Lillian, I am not here to hurt you, but I need you to let me get that bomb out of here--!"

"Ooh, the tears are a nice touch. For a heartless bitch I'm impressed--"

"I am not your mother!"

"You're not Supergirl, either--"

Without thinking, Kara surges forward, pressing her lips against Lena's. She can almost feel the surprised stutter of her heartbeat underneath the panicked roar in her own ears.

She pulls away, maintaining her grip on Lena's face to stare deep into her eyes. Shocked green stares at her, her calm confidence flickering in confusion.

"Would your mother have done that?!"

Lena's mouth works wordlessly, finally returning something human to her. Finally, she looks at the room around her as though seeing it for the first time. Too late.

The timer flickers from two seconds to one.

"LENA!”

She only has time to wrap her arms and her cape around Lena before the bomb detonates. The force of the shock wave throws them through the office wall, followed by a bellow of flame and debris.

Heat engulfs them both, swallowing them in a blazing inferno that seems to last hours. Kara's entire focus narrows to funneling cold air from her lungs to the hollow of her cape, cooling the air within before the superheated gust could sear Lena's lungs.

For an interminable moment, her world is fire and ice, and the desperate, panicked prayer that when it abates, Lena's heart will still be beating.

As soon as she can spare an ounce of focus she propels them both through the nearest window. The blaze chases at their heels, hungry for the oxygen accessible through the broken pane. Kara doesn't stop. Not until she's skidding against the floor of the DEO lobby, Lena cradled against her chest.

"Supergirl!" Alex calls, cutting through the blur of Kara's shock. "We just got the alert about--"

She cuts off abruptly as Kara peels back her cape to reveal the bruised and ashen features of an unconscious Lena. Her hair is dry and singed, soot staining every inch of her, blackening the raw, weeping burns the cape couldn't protect against.

Kara looks up at her sister, tears cutting twin tracks down her cheeks.

"Lena's not okay."

---

Lena wakes in the infirmary, bandaged, medicated, and under constant guard. Kara remains at her side, and straightens when she sees her friend's eyes flutter open.

"Lena?”

At the sound of her voice, Lena's eyes pinch shut. Gritting her teeth, her hands fist in the blankets.

"Are you in pain? Alex! Lena, it's all right, you're safe--"

"Shut up!" Lena cries. For the first time, something besides ready acceptance colors her voice-- despair. "Just shut up! You're not real. You're not real!"

Kara stares, helpless. Alex materializes at her side, watching with wide eyes.

"It should have worked, why didn't it work... You're not real. Not real..."

"Lena..."

"You're not real!"

---

The chair, Brainy deduces, was a means to run a series of simulations. From the data he's able to mine, Lena has spent most of her captivity in that chair, trapped in an ever evolving construct of her own mind, where it learned her patterns and expectations until it could render even the most realistic and intricate scenarios.

For what purpose, they don't know.

"Information, perhaps," Brainy suggests, his anxiety betrayed by his habitual twisting of the Legion ring on his finger. "Something they anticipated Lena would only share with a familiar figure."

"Or maybe to mine her intellect?" Alex theorizes. "If they had a problem, Lena would be the one to solve it."

"Whatever the reason," Kara concludes, her voice low, "Lena caught on. She learned to doubt everything she saw. Us included."

"So how do we snap her out of it?" Nia asks.

They all exchange glances, hoping another has an answer.

None of them do.

---

Reason gets them nowhere.

Footage of Lena’s discovery and rescue is met with disinterest. Detailing the ongoing search for Cadmus and her mother puts Lena to sleep.

They take her to L-Corp to show her the aftermath of her bomb. Thankfully, they'd been the only ones in the building, but the damage was substantial even weeks later, and it seems that none of the prior simulations ever displayed such continuity. For a moment, her mask cracks.

They try to capitalize on their opportunity by immediately following up with a game night. Lena loses soundly, seemingly another distinct change. Lena's features soften further, enough for the tiniest of smiles to creep over her, and for a moment they can believe that they've finally gotten through.

Twenty minutes later, Alex finds Lena in Kara's bathroom, carving a long, deep line into her forearm with a razor.

Chaos reigns, and a hopeless fear creeps into Kara's heart as she cradles Lena in her lap. Alex wraps a hand towel tightly around the wound, lifting it above Lena's head while Brainy notifies the DEO.

"Lena... please," Kara whispers. "I don't know how to help you. Tell me what I need to do."

Hazy green eyes gaze up at her.

"Let me go..."

"No, Lena--"

"Please, Mom…" Lena's voice cracks. A tear squeezes from the corner of her eye, coursing down her temple to pool against Kara's hand. "Let me go."

It's worse than the moments before the bomb went off. This time, it isn't a triumph of spite.

This time, it's surrender.

---

It's a surrender none of them accept.

When Lena is stitched up and resting under sedation in the infirmary of the DEO, the rest of them gather to discuss a new plan of action.

"There is likely no way to convince Lena that this is the true physical world," Brainy delivers crisply. "The nature of the machine allows it to perfect mimic the world she expects to see, but any aberration to that effect is merely a glitch, or an instance of learning."

Alex shakes her head, hands propped on her hips. "I refuse to believe there's nothing we can do. There must be something we're missing."

Silence stretches between them, until Kara rocks back in her seat.

"If we can't convince her out here, maybe we can convince her in there."

Nia blinks. "In... where?"

Turning to Brainy, Kara takes a deep breath. "Brainy, you've found mind-palaces for both me and James. Do you think you could find Lena's?"

"You think we might connect with her there," James fills in. "Like Kelly did with me."

Kara shrugs. "It's worth a shot."

"It would be exceedingly difficult," Brainy warns. "Even before this recent trauma, Lena has relied heavily on compartmentalization, which I now know is not a healthy mode by which to operate. Her mind is bound to be in chaos-- if there are any boxes left, it may be wise to leave them unopened."

"Could you build a new one?" Alex asks.

Nia shakes her head. "Isn't that what got us into this mess in the first place?"

"I don't know what else we can do!" Kara snaps. "I am not going to just sit here and watch her kill herself! I won't! We--" Her voice cracks. "We just got her back..."

The others stare at her in stunned silence. Kara swallows her rising sobs, and looks omce more to Brainy.

Brainy shifts uncomfortably.

"I will try."

---

It takes days, but with Nia's help, Brainy succeeds. He finds the one quiet corner of Lena's mind, and with the aid of Nia's psychic powers manages to tethers Lena's consciousness to it. The moment he gives the signal, Kara puts white diode to her forehead and closes her eyes.

When she opens them again, she finds herself standing on the rocky shore of a wide flat lake, the water so still it turns the surface to mirrored glass.

On the shore stands a familiar figure, looking out across the water with an air of peaceful serenity.

"Lena?"

Lena turns, and when she lays eyes on Kara her features spread into a soft, sweet smile. "Kara..."

The next thing Kara knows, she's wrapped up in all she remembers Lena to be-- her warmth; the smell of her shampoo; the press of broad hands against her back, pulling her close.

"I've missed you," Lena murmurs. Kara hiccups a sob, half of a laugh. If only Lena knew... "But I think I've finally done it. It worked."

Kara's purpose catches up to her like a knife to the heart. She grips Lena tighter.

"You're not dead, Lena."

Lena pulls back, resting her hands on Kara's shoulders. "It's okay," she says calmly. "It means it's finally over."

"No, Lena. We saved your life. This place isn't real, Brainy made it so we could talk to you."

Kara braces for Lena's reaction, but it comes in the form of lines crinkling at the corners of Lena's eyes.

"It is real. Real enough, at least." She turns to look out across the water. Though she pulls out of Kara's embrace to do so, their fingers lace together in a gentle grip. "My mother died here."

Kara's heart pounds against her ribs. This isn't a construct of Brainy's design. It was something else.

Lena turns to look at her, giving their joined hands a squeeze. "I'm glad I got to see you again."

Absurdly, Kara's reminded of The Deathly Hallows, and Dumbledore's final scene in a quiet, sterile version of Kings Cross Station. That's what this place feels like: a waystation. A platform to say goodbye.

"No."

Her voice cuts through the quiet, sharp and incisive. She pulls Lena back around to face her, and gets a startled pair of green eyes staring back.

"Four months ago, we found you and rescued you from a Cadmus facility. In that same facility, we found a chair."

Alarm sharpens Lena's gaze. She tries to pull free, but Kara tightens her grip. "No, no, I won't--"

"You're not there anymore," Kara promises, rubbing her thumbs against Lena's hands in comfort. "We brought you home. We thought you were fine, but-- six weeks ago, you built a bomb in your office. And then you tried to stop eating. And then..."

"Stop," Lena said. "Let me go--"

"I don't know what Lillian wanted from you--"

"LET ME GO!"

Lena tore free, stumbling backwards from the force of it. Suddenly, the placid aura of the lake shattered with the sharp, heaving sobs of Lena sitting among the rocks, hands pressed tight to either side of her head.

"It wasn't enough... it's never enough! Why won't you let me go?! Please! Please just let me go..."

Kara sits on the pebbled beach in front of Lena. When she reaches for Lena, it's to place one hand on a pale ankle, exposed by a denim cuff.

"I don't know what she wanted from you," Kara says again, more gently. "And I'm not going to ask."

Rocking, hands pressed tight to her head, Lena says nothing.

"I don't know how to convince you the real world is out there," Kara continues. "I don't know if I can. Maybe... maybe you just have to choose to believe that it is."

"I won't give you anything--"

"The only thing we're asking for is you, Lena."

Lena opens her eyes, meeting Kara's gaze for a brief moment before the anguish returns, and Lena rocks backwards once more, breath quickening with anxiety as her features pinch in distress.

"We won't ask you any questions except what you want to have for lunch," Kara continues, desperate, "or what movie you want to watch on Friday night. We don't even have to stay in National City. We can go up to the mountains-- find you a lake just like this one, where no one can find you."

Lena stills. Her eyes stay closed, her body continues to tremble, but the rocking stops, and Kara hears the steadying breath that cuts through it all.

When Lena makes no move to speak, Kara tries one last time.

"I know it won't be easy. I know how tempting it is to just let go. And I know I can't stop you." Her hand firms on Lena's ankle. "This is your crossroads, Lena. Whatever happens next, you have to choose. All I'm asking, right here, right now, is that you choose us."

Kara's breath catches in her chest.

"All I'm asking is for one more day with you. So that tomorrow I can have one more chance to ask you to stay. However many times it takes."

Lena sags, exhaling into a sob. She reaches for Kara's hand.

"I'm so tired, Kara," she whispers.

Nodding, Kara blinks back her tears. "I know... I know."

They sit together for long minutes, until Kara senses that her time here is down. Whatever happens next, comes from Lena, and no one else.

"If you do choose to let go," she croaks. "Please know how sorry I am that I didn't find you sooner. And know that we don't blame you. We love you, and we'll miss you every day."

With a final squeeze, Kara climbs to her feet, letting Lena's hand slip from her fingers.

"Kara--!"

"I love you, Lena. With all my heart."

Kara blinks open to the sight of the med bay ceiling, and the weight of Alex's hand in hers.

"Kara?"

Brainy and Nia both exhale, turning to face her.

"It worked," Kara croaks. She pulls the sensor from her forehead and sits up, scrubbing the tears from her cheeks. "I saw her."

"What happened? Did she believe you--?"

"She needs to choose," is all Kara can say. "She has to choose."

Together, they wait.

---

Kara stays at Lena's bedside as she sleeps, long after the sedative wears off. As the minutes and hours tick by, Kara waits for the ever growing expectation that the only change in Lena's condition will be the flatline of the heart monitor.

Which is why she jumps a foot in the air when Lena's hand tightens on hers, well into the next morning.

"Lena?"

The room wakes around them: Nia bolts upright from where she'd slumped against Brainy's shoulder; Alex pushes off the wall, crossing towards the bed; James jolts awake, blinking and bleary-eyed.

Lena flinches when her eyes open to find shadows looming over her, as her heart monitor jumps alarmingly. Kara motions them back with her free hand, the other still locked around Lena's.

"Lena, can you hear me?"

After a long moment, Lena manages to turn her head, focusing a blurry gaze on Kara.

"Kara...?"

"It's me." Kara coughs out a smile. "It's us."

Lena blinks sluggishly against the hairs sticking to her forehead with sweat, jutting out over her eyes. Kara reaches up to smooth them away, then lets her hand linger against Lena's skin. Lena breathes softly, turning her face into Kara's touch.

"I choose you."

#supercorp #cadmus revenge #cw suicidal ideation #cw paranoia #cw self harm #pls avoid if you're not comfortable #idk where this came from #but i def worked on this all day instead of any of my other ideas #but i like it #happy ending #not a character death

257 notes · View notes

ravenforce · 5 years

Text

Ta ta touch

Prompt: “Hi! If you feel like writing something. I have an idea: Lena x f!reader with a prompt: "Please stop petting the test subjects". Something cute and fluffy where the reader is visiting Lena's lab for the first time and wants to touch everything, press all the buttons since everything there is fascinating and exciting to her. Lena tries to keep her gf from causing problems to herself or L Corp.”

Requested by: @pentagoniablue

Pairing: Lena Luthor x Reader

Word Count: 2825

Warning/s: None.

A/N: I will go ahead and apologize for that ending. Was it intentional? Maybe. LOL. I hope you guys like it. If there are any mistakes that escape me, please forgive me. Let me know what you think!

***

You've been best friends with Alex Danvers since you were kids. You've been the honorary youngest Danvers since you moved next to their house in Midvale, and you just moved back to National City after living and working in your family business in France. You can hear multiple voices inside the address Alex gave you, you're not really nervous but you double checked yourself before you attempted to knock on the door. Before you can knock though, the door was almost ripped out of its hinges when Kara opened it in excitement.

"(Y/N)!" Kara squealed as she pulled you into a hug.

You laughed at her enthusiasm, at least that didn't change. Alex walked out of the kitchen and into your periphery looking like the broody big sister she has always been. You walked directly towards Alex for a hug after Kara released you. She wrapped her arms around you and you rubbed your face on her shoulder. She let out a laugh remembering how you used to always do that.

"Welcome home," Alex said against your hair. You pulled back when a girl with long hair cleared her throat. You peered over Alex's shoulder and fought the blush in your face at the number of people witnessing your moment with your sisters.

"Hi, I'm Nia. You must be (Y/N), we heard so much about you," she said with a warm smile.

You extricate yourself from Alex and moved around to shake everyone's hands. Everyone seems to be genuinely nice and warm, not that you're surprised; Alex and Kara are a good judge of characters. You're sitting next to Alex on the couch when you noticed someone in the balcony, Alex saw where you're looking.

"That's Lena. Lena Luthor," Alex said before drinking from her wine glass.

***

After finishing her call, Lena came back inside Kara's apartment and almost knocked you down when she walked in the kitchen. She would have fallen if you hadn't caught her wrist using your other hand that's not holding a fresh bottle of Moscato. She fought the urge to stare and shiver at the feel of your warm hand on her skin.

"Hi, are you okay?" You asked after letting go of her wrist. Lena immediately missed the contact.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking at where I'm going," Lena said fighting to get her heartbeat in control.

"It's okay, no casualties," you said beaming at her. "I'm (Y/N) by the way."

Before Lena could respond, Kara came in at the kitchen looking weirdly at her best friend.

"What's going on here?" She asked. Shit, Lena cursed in her head. Kara might have heard her heart racing.

"Nothing," you said while exiting the kitchen. "Your friend is breathtaking," you whispered only loud enough for Kara to hear.

She let out a loud laugh that startled Lena. Both of them followed you in the living room to continue playing Pictionary. Winn suggested to change the game to Monopoly, which he only realized is a bad idea with two CEO in the room. At half past midnight, only you and Lena were playing and everyone else just broke off in various parts of the room to chat.

"How about we just say we're both winners?" you suggested.

Lena looked at you like it was a trick question. "Only if you buy me dinner sometime," she teased.

"Done," you said before you extended your hand for Lena to shake. She laughed before shaking it. When she came to game night today, she was stressed about work but meeting you certainly made her brain shut off anything work-related. All she can focus on really was the way you laugh, the crinkles on the side of your eyes when you smile, and how generally great you are.

***

It took two weeks before you saw Lena again. Lunch hour just passed, so the restaurant was blissfully empty except for a few others. You were looking for an empty seat when you saw black hair, pale skin, green eyes, and red lips sitting alone in the corner. The mere sight of her lifts your mood instantly.

"Is this seat taken?" You asked innocently. Lena was ready to tell the stranger off but when she looked up from her phone and saw you she instantly smiled.

"No," she answered.

Lena non-subtly looked at you from head to toe, taking in your tight-fitting trousers, loose white button up and black trench coat before she gestured for you to take a seat. You smiled warmly at her ignoring the fire in your gut ignited by the way she looks at you.

"Late lunch, Ms. Luthor?" you asked smiling. Lena can't help but return it. Something about you just makes her feel safe like Alex does, and warm like Kara does. At that moment, she realized why you're considered the youngest Danvers sister; you take on quite a few characteristics of the two. She's intrigued how different you are from both though.

"Yes, my assistant Jessica locked me out of my office," Lena said. Completely abandoning the email she was writing before you walked up to her.

"Ah! Yes! My secretary once had security drag me out of my office after I've failed to leave for 48 hours," you said as you look at the menu. Lena laughed.

Of course, she knows about your family business. Your an only child, hence the responsibility of continuing your parents legacy as one of the most successful real estate tycoons falls upon you. You're two years younger than her but also incredibly mature and intelligent. Also unbelievably beautiful and soft, which intrigues her how you survive in the industry without being eaten by sharks.

You ate and talked with Lena for almost two hours. It would have gone well to dinner if not for both your phones continuously alerting you of new messages. Both of you looked at your phones and knew it's time to go. You walked Lena back to L-Corp, secretly not wanting to end your time together.

Lena was walking to her elevator when you had the courage to speak. "Lena," you said aloud. She turned around to look at you.

"I still owe you dinner," you continued. She smiled at you.

"Sure, I'll clear my schedule for you," she said before entering her elevator.

***

Alex and Kara were hanging out at your new condo Friday night. It was apparent that something is on your mind, your sisters can see right through you. When you wiggled on the couch one more time, Alex had enough; she reached for the remote and paused the movie you're watching.

"Okay. What's wrong?" Alex asked, turning slightly on her seat to look at you. You're cuddled next to her. You nibbled your bottom lip and glanced at Kara before sighing heavily.

"It's about Lena, isn't it?" Kara asked. You tried to hide your surprise but with the smile on her face, you know you just gave yourself away.

"I hear the change in the rhythm of your heartbeat every time someone so much as mention her name," Kara teased. You sighed, there's no point lying to an alien with super hearing and a black ops.

"Yeah, I owe her dinner but I don't have her number so I don't know if tomorrow would work for her," you said. Kara laughed before she pulled out her phone, wiggling her eyebrows at you.

"Jeez, all you had to do was ask instead of interrupting my TV show," Alex said as she hit play on the remote, Kara dictated Lena's number.

Once sure that you got it correctly, you ran towards you balcony to call Lena. One ring, two rings before Lena picked up.

"Hey Lena, it's me (Y/N)," you greeted cheerfully hoping it'll hide the nerves.

"And here I thought I'll never hear from you," she can't help but tease. She's been waiting all week, she even contemplated asking Kara for your number.

"Sorry, I've been busy moving. Are you free tomorrow night?" You asked.

"For you, I will be," she answered. Is she flirting with you, you wonder.

"Great, I'll pick you up at 7?" You're bouncing at the sole of your feet.

"Sure, ask Kara for my address. See you tomorrow," Lena said smiling like a giddy teenager.

"Yes, see you. Wear something casual," you said before hanging up.

When you came back inside, Kara and Alex are smiling widely at you. You rolled your eyes at your sisters.

***

Saturday couldn't come fast enough. You swapped your black McLaren P1 with Alex's black Rubicon for the night, which she agreed to easily. You texted Lena that you have arrived and is waiting outside. Not a moment later, you looked up and nearly fell on your knees looking at how beautiful Lena is wearing dark skinny jeans, green blouse, and black boots. You felt completely underdress in your washout jeans, faded MCR shirt, black leather jacket, and yellow Adidas Gazelles.

"Is this the most casual you could go, Ms. Luthor?" you teased when she stood a foot away from you. Lena laughed, she always laughs when she's around you it seems.

"You look great," she said while running a hand on your chest over your leather jacket. You thank heaven you're still leaning on side of the car or your knees would have given out. You wonder how you're going to survive the night.

"Right," you said while opening the door for her.

"Is this Alex's car?" she asked when you sat on the driver's seat.

"Yeah, my car isn't built for where we're going," you said before reaching out at the back seat.

Lena was already secured by the seatbelt when you handed her a bundle of sunflowers. She gaped at you while you pulled out of the parking lot. She cleared her throat to hide her growing blush. It's been a while since she dated, the last one was James, and you're far more charming than him. Lena finds it very easy to talk to you about anything, she found you very smart and you showed genuine interest in her work and ideas. You don't flinch or doubt her intentions as she tells you some of her project that involves the Harun-El.

You listened to her intently while keeping your focus on the road. When you crossed the city limits, Lena wonders where you're going but not long after she saw fairy lights and soon a Ferris wheel is looming in front of you. You watch her take in your destination.

"I know I said dinner but I found this place while I was moving. Thought it's been forever since I've been in one, we can go if you hate it," you ranted. Lena looked at you and smiled.

"Hate it? I love it! I've never been in one," she admitted.

Without further ado, you jumped out of the car and waited for Lena to join you. The carnival is located in a huge clearing near the woods a little outside the city. It's huge enough not to feel cramped even though it's crawling with people. Out of reflex, you held Lena's hand all throughout the night. Lena didn't complain, wouldn't complain. She already loves the feel of your hand in hers.

***

Since she admitted to never being in a carnival, you made it your mission to give Lena the full experience. First, you made it through the parlor games; Lena absolutely sucked at shooting moving targets. Thankfully, Alex taught you a thing or two about guns since you arrived back in NC. She pouted when you won a dog plushie but she immediately smiled when you handed it to her. Second, you made her ride all your favorite carnival rides like the bump car, octopus, anchors away, Ferris wheel, and the horror train.

Two hours have passed before you both decided you're famished. Great thing there was a dedicated area for food trucks. You eyed her curiously as she surveyed her choices.

"Are you sure you want to eat here? We can leave and get food in a proper restaurant," you suggested.

"There are tacos over there," she said before she's dragging you to the said food truck. There's a small queue but Lena doesn't seem to mind, she looks so happy in that moment. Plus the tacos smells divine. Lena ordered one of each item on the menu, the trucker gave her a funny look.

"Is this too much?" She asked as she helps you carry her orders on a nearby picnic table.

"Maybe a little but I understand the logic," you said.

After finishing up on food, you carried your trash to the segregation bin. Both of you decided it's best to just walk around before heading home. If you're both being honest, you just didn't want to go home yet. You walked around the carnival holding hands, talking about everything and anything under the sun. You even shared cotton candy and took some photos together.

Eventually, you had to go home; by the time you decided that the sun is already rising. Both of you laughed at how time evades you when you're having fun. When you pulled up in front of her building it's already 7 in the morning.

"Thanks for last night, (Y/N). I had so much fun," she said before she kissed your cheeks.

"I had fun too Lee," you said unable to fight the blush that crept up your neck and face.

"When you're free next week, I'll give you a tour of my lab," she said before closing the door of the car and heading inside her building.

***

It's almost a week since you took Lena to the carnival and you want to see her already. You were watching the shadows on the ceiling of your new office when you heard your notification alert. You ignored it thinking it's probably just Alex and/or Kara. On the fifth unanswered message, whoever was texting decided to just call.

"Hey, are you ignoring me?" Lena's voice sounded on the receiver.

"Hey, no!" You defended quickly. "Well, I'm ignoring my whole phone. Sorry."

Lena chuckled. "How about that lab tour? Only if you're not busy," she said a little self-conscious.

"Be there soon," you said already grabbing your keys.

It took thirty agonizing minutes before you arrived in L-Corp with a bag of Chinese take-out on your hand. You were surprised to find Lena sitting at her assistant's table waiting for you.

"Took you long enough," she teased beckoning you to come closer. When you're at arm's length, she tugged you so she can kiss your cheeks. She took the take-out from your hand and left it at Jess's table. Then shes dragging you back to the elevator to go down to her lab.

“When we get there, don’t touch anything,” she warned. You just smiled at her.

When you entered her lab, you weren't surprised to find it sleek and modern just like her office. She watches you as you take in every detail of the lab. You asked her excitedly about anything that piqued your interest, and she answered you eagerly. Sometimes you'd forget you're not supposed to touch anything, and she'll be instantly beside you swatting your hand gently.

“(Y/N),” she whined when you picked up a petri dish. You smiled apologetically.

When you come around the part of the lab that houses the Harun-El, you were fascinated you tried to reach for its glass case but Lena stopped you.

***

In an instant, she's tugging you away from the space rock and you found yourself pinned against the opposite wall. She held your hand over your head.

"For the last time, no touching," she said with a low growl.

"Lee," you whispered but before you could apologize, she's surging forward and kissing you.

You've had your fair share of kisses before but nothing as intense as this. You lose your breath every time Lena moves her lips against yours, at every nip and tug you feel yourself getting wet. It doesn't help your cause when she let go of your hand in favor of running hers through your neck, to your shoulders and down your chest. Your breath hitched when you felt nimble fingers undoing the buttons of your oxford shirt. She slightly pulled away to look at your disheveled look, blushing cheeks, and kiss-swollen lips.

"God, you're beautiful," she said before she's kissing you again, her arms wrapping around your waist.

She walked you towards the nearest table without breaking the kiss, you're impressed and hella turned on. You felt her hand squeeze your ass before you felt your back hitting the table. She helped you sit up the table and guided your hand towards the edge.

"Hold on, (Y/N)," she said while looking at your eyes.

"You let go, and touch me I will stop. Do you understand?" She husked.

#lena luthor #lena keiran luthor #imagine #supergirl imagine #lena luthor imagine #lena luthor x reader #lena luthor x you

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deepdisireslonging · 5 years

Text

Family Found Part 28: Not a Total Loss

The Reader has to take a match into her own hands when one of her wrestlers is attacked backstage. With that against her, and the other events of Survivor Series not playing to her favor, how can she prove to Stephanie McMahon that she is still the best option for a General Manager?

Warnings/Promises: wrestling violence, some Sheamus x Reader, uneven match descriptions, probably some typos (sorry, wrote this quick)

Word Count: 5430 (I am so so sorry. It’s a big PPV!)

Note: It’s Capstone season for me, so some of this is a bit more rushed than I would have liked. Still, it turned out pretty good, and I’m getting excited for some things to come. Also, I have Becky still competing because my invasion was different, and she would not have been hurt in mine. Please let me know what you have been liking or disliking about my series. The tag list is still open. Enjoy!

Part 1: Welcome to the Team

Part 27: Powerhouses

Survivor Series – November 18, 2018 – Los Angeles, CA

Before the show could even get started, there was one more fight that needed to come into being. It wasn’t your problem. The stars were part of William Regal and Drake Maverick’s crews, and part of it was up in the air until after Saturday’s NXT: War Games. The cruiserweight champion, Buddy Murphy was pleased to see Tommaso Ciampa retain the NXT championship. So, on Sunday they met each other in the ring as part of the pre-show. NXT versus 205 Live.

You were in the PPV booth with Renee, Shane, and the regulars watching the match and listening to the join commentary team make their usual commentary. Mario’s ‘Mama Mia’ never failed to make you smile. Though first, you had to flinch. Ciampa technically weighed less than Murphy, but only by three pounds. And his stringy form was making some problems for Murphy each time he tried to catch him. But when he did… there was nothing Ciampa could do. The cruiserweight wasn’t one of the highest flyers, but he was plenty. If Ciampa couldn’t get up, then he was repeatedly at risk of getting pinned. Luckily for him, he was a sly character. He didn’t have to get to his feet, all he had to do was roll out of the way of a landing and let gravity fight against Murphy for him.

This strategy won. Ciampa’s hand was eventually held high, and he even went as far as to put a weary boot on Murphy’s chest for the event.

***

The wrestlers were still leaving the ring when a techie came up to you at the booth. He whispered in your ear something that made you jump out of your chair and rush back stage.

When you arrived, the trainers were already taping up Dolph’s knee and shoulder. “What happened? Dolph, if this is some trick to get out of the match-“

“I was attacked from behind. I’ve been looking forward to this match and you know it! Why would I have myself attacked?” He tried to stand to say as much closer to your face, but his knee gave out. The trainer had him lay back on the concrete floor. He gave you a look and shook his head. Dolph noticed and sighed. “I’m sorry, Y/N.”

You couldn’t tell if he was apologizing for getting attacked, or for challenging Sheamus in the first place. You assumed the former. It wasn’t his fault. “It’s okay. I’ll think of something.” You turned and walked a few steps away. “Something.”

***

The pop for Breezango was incredible. Although Fandango wasn’t going to be competing, it was still good to see their team entrance. Arm sling and all. The reaction for R-Truth and Tye Dillinger was almost as good, but most of the energy went towards rapping along. Tyler and ‘Dango got into it too.

It was a fun match. Tye and ‘Dango stayed on the floor while Tyler and R-Truth performed acrobatics against one another. Impressed by R-Truth’s flexibility, Tyler tried to do a split.

Tried.

Thankfully, his own flexibility helped him spring into his own impressive stance. And the battle continued. There was a five-second dance break, and some fashion feux-pas tickets given out to some audience members on the front row, and to Tye. He didn’t take kindly to this and got up on the apron to argue it with Tyler, which gave R-Truth the opening he needed. He rolled the officer up and won the pin. Tye tossed his ticket in ‘Dango’s face and left with his partner having won the first score of the show for Smackdown.

***

Survivor Series officially started.

Sheamus made his entrance alone since Cesaro was going to go solo later. Backstage, you were in a rush and bumped into Shane coming back from the pre-announce table.

“What are you doing?” He motioned up and down to your hastily thrown-together gear. Technically it wasn’t really gear. Just some flexible skinny jeans and a black tank-top with the Raw logo on it.

You finished your hand tape. “What do you mean ‘what are you doing?’ Did you think I wouldn’t have a back-up plan?”

“You can’t just…”

“I know. Like you have never inserted yourself into a match. Or erroneously filled a team member spot or main evented or wore black and white stripes. Nah. Heaven forbid a manager get involved. Tonight, you guys are just going to have to deal.” You smirked and took a deep breath, squaring off to him. “A manager does what they have to, to keep the show going.”

Shane sputtered as you side stepped him to enter the arena.

Sheamus laughed as soon as your music hit. He leaned against a corner as you lifted a mic to your lips.

“Sorry, Sheamus. Dolph Ziggler won’t be able to fight you tonight. Oops,” you shrugged and continued down the ramp. “But what kind of manager would I be to deny the WWE Universe a unique match?” The mic bounced off floor and you entered the ring. The bell rang shortly after, and you began to circle one another.

Right out of the gate, Sheamus sling shot you into a corner and tried to take you out with a Brogue Kick. You dodged it easily, laughing. He smiled back and waited for you to take a turn attacking him. Before he could change his mind, you bounced off the bottom rope and swung a punch to his face, shaking your hand after the collision. He stumbled back, shock giving way to being impressed. There weren’t taking turns after that.

He caught your Seth-taught frog splash, and he was too big for you to Spear. You were to quick for him to trap in the ropes for chest slaps, and your self-preservation kept avoiding getting hit to hard. The ref was having more trouble getting you two to fight than the usual keeping wrestlers apart. You wanted to keep smiling at each other too much. After another evasion, you spun to sit on the ring post. When Sheamus turned to find you, you gave him a finger wave. Then you jumped, effectively catching him at the shoulders and dropping him to the canvas for the first attempted pin. It didn’t work, but that feeling of ‘almost’ was addicting.

You wore him down a few kicks at a time. Due to his tall figure and your lack of equal height, you aimed more at his thighs and stomach to cut him down to size. Occasionally you forgot to keep your arms up to block and took a punch to the head or shoulders that sent you spinning away. You had to avoid another Brogue Kick, wincing as his boot barley missed your face. With his knee still resting on the top rope, you scaled the turnbuckles and spun to give your punch more force. It hit Shamus square in the jaw and sent him to his back. One, two, three later, you won Raw’s first score of the evening. You had felt him tense at two and a half, but he didn’t go through with it. Something you confronted him about while the crowd cheered.

“Raw’s goin’ ta need the win. We’ve got the better teams.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.” Hiding a true smile with a smug grin, you held out your hand for his. He took it and gave you the handshake. “Good luck with the rest of the show, Miss Manager.”

“The same to your team, Mr. Sheamus.”

***

The second match was the first of the one-on-one matches. Natalya and Becky Lynch took a second to observe each other after the bell rang. For Natalya, it was just another match. Another chance to show how she deserved to be the women’s champion, for Raw and for herself. Becky saw it a different way, and she had expressed as much with her Twitter account. Natalya was another example of a legacy winning over the individual hard work of a roster. Because of this, Becky started the match at the same intensity as she did with her last woman standing match with Charlotte. Fast and brutal.

Desperate to slow the match to a glacial pace so she could catch a breath, Natalya caught Becky up in a series of holds. With each, Becky scrambled to the ropes or was able to contort her way out. So, Natalya changed her game. She met Becky blow for blow, and kick for kick. Dragged her to the center of the ring for holds. And still, Becky fought her way out. If she couldn’t beat Natalya, then her victory over Charlotte was a fluke.

And that could not happen.

When Becky had repeatedly beaten Natalya down to the canvas, she finished her off with a Dis-arm-her. She left the ring holding her blue title high, even as the ref handed the red one back to Natalya still recovering.

***

The women of Raw squared off against the women of Smackdown. The blue brand ladies were running on a high note with their champion’s victory. Carmella was already bragging that she was going to challenge Becky next when she led her team of Charlotte, Sonya, Mandy, and Asuka to the next win. Ember rolled her eyes but kept that plan in mind. She turned to Nia, Sasha, Alicia, and Ruby for a few last words, then left the ring to give the first-round ladies their space.

Sonya and Ruby faced-off first. Sonya pointed back at Mandy. She had back-up from her own mini team is she needed it. Ruby was by herself in a team of people she had taken great pride in destroying. They met in a head-lock, with Ruby taking the opening advantage. They struggled back into the Raw corner, where Sasha tagged herself in and quickly flipped Sonya into the bank statement. The Smackdown team flooded the ring, dragging their teammate from the hold. The teams were forced away from each other by the ref, who noted the change of tags to Carmella and Alicia.

Each woman had a turn to shine. And when the moment was over and she began to dim, another tagged in and picked up where she left off. Alicia eliminated Mandy. Sonya eliminated Alicia. Ember and Asuka had a long engagement, but neither was able to eliminate the other. Nia tagged herself in and eliminated Asuka after a while that left her battered and bruised. Charlotte took that advantage and quickly rolled her into a Figure Eight, relying on her teammates to keep the others at bay. Ruby tried to sneak in to catch Charlotte off-guard but missed the tag that brought in Sonya, who eliminated her with a series of rough punches.

It was down to Ember and Sasha against the three remaining Smackdown women. Sasha leapt in and caught Sonya in another Bank Statement. This one was successful with the others engaged on the floor. Carmella was nowhere to be seen, leaving it to Charlotte to answer the empty tag. Outside on the floor, Ember was hunting for Carmella. She found her hiding behind a camera crew. Carmella screamed, making Charlotte turn from where she had Sasha ready for a pin. Sasha leapt up and rolled Charlotte onto her back, holding her down just long enough for the pin. They glared at each other. The Queen took her time leaving the ring, making sure Sasha was looking at her instead of watching her own back. Which is where Carmella entered with a superkick as soon as Sasha turned around.

Ember slid into the ring, eyes aglow with her victim in her sights. Carmella backed up into the ropes, ordering the ref to keep her back. She tried to escape to the floor, but Ember met her on whatever side she landed on. Carmella finally changed her tactic and fought back. She was captain. And she was going to make sure she was number one contender for her brand’s women championship. She tossed Ember around by her hair. Kept her on her knees. Spun her into corners so she could hit her fast in a place where she couldn’t get away. When it looked like Ember wasn’t going to make it, she turned to the crowd and started to gloat. By the time she had turned back, Ember was on the top turnbuckle. Carmella shrieked. It was cut short by the Total Eclipse and the following pin.

***

The coed teams of Jimmy and Naomi Uso, and Bayley and No Way Jose met in the ring next. The women said hello to one another, and the guys shook hands. Then the bell rang. The match had the same rules as the Mixed Match Challenge. Naomi and Bayley started first. They were cordial to each other but didn’t hold back. Naomi was almost pinned after a series of Bayley-to-bellies. After she kicked out, she rolled out of Bayley’s grasp and tagged in Jimmy. Jose danced in from the other side, hip bumping Bayley on his way by. Jimmy danced for a while with him. But when his back turned, Jimmy ran for the ropes, drop kicking Jose just as he came back around. Jose kicked out at two, making Jimmy tag in Naomi with a huff.

It continued like that. Each team trying their hardest to beat each other down. Tagging out when it was time to switch tactics. In the end, Bayley and Jose didn’t have nearly as much practice working together as the married couple. There were no hard feelings after the pin. Goodbyes were said in a similar way as to the greeting at the beginning of the match. And all four of the wrestlers walked out of the arena together.

***

Logic left the building. Sanity entered the arena. And then Braun Strowman and Dr. M. The doctor wore a blood red lab coat with a ripped blue pocket. A detail that did not go unnoticed by the opposing team. Before they could take the fight to him, Braun took it to them. He controlled most of the fight while Dr. M watched from the floor and kept an eye on their third member, Wolfe. For the longest time, it didn’t matter if Killian or Eric were in the ring. Braun was more powerful, and he only had minimal difficulty in powerslamming Killian. But when they finally cornered him and took turns tagging in, they were able to get him to his knees.

Wolfe cheered them on while Dr. M scaled the ring, holding out his hand for the tag. Braun roared and burst from the corner. He staggered to the center of the ring where Young stopped him with a pair of fists to his spine. He fell to one knee again, taking the blows while Dr. M called out words of encouragement. Words that were strange and twisted and made Young pause. It was enough. Braun broke forward and tagged in Dr. M. Young was caught in the kiss-n-twist and Braun kept Killian from interfering. Raw had another win, making it even against Smackdown.

***

The tie did not hold for very long. Shinsuke Nakamura and Seth had a match for the ages. United States champion versus the Intercontinental champion. The match was constantly moving, jaw dropping, and had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Even Corey was enjoying himself. Seth responded to Nakamura’s “come on!” with a shrug and a near-pedigree. His attempted frog-splash was diverted into a roll as he was thrown over Nakamura’s shoulder on the way down. They danced around the ring like the veterans they were, sometimes having to take a moment to smile in awe at their opponent.

Seth scooped Nakamura up in his northern lights suplexes, making the king of strong style wobble half-way to his feet, seconds away from falling to his knees. It was the opening he’d been waiting for. But on his way by, Nakamura ducked, and Seth tripped over his leg. Seth came back up, spinning around and ready for anything. Except a kinsha-sha. When Seth could blink without his vision blurring, he stared incredulous at his victorious opponent ascending the ramp.

***

The Prince of Phenomenal met the Demon King once again. But this time, as man versus man. Finn passed his Universal championship out of the ring, and AJ did the same with his WWE Heavyweight title. When the bell rang, AJ rushed Finn, catching him in a head lock and pushing him back into the ropes. Finn wrapped himself up in the ropes, hanging out there until the ref was able to get AJ to back off. Then it was his turn. With a series of rope bounces, he had AJ flipped onto the canvas, kicked to the face, and down for the first attempted pin. They rolled away from each other, the seriousness of their matches setting in. Raw was down a win. If Finn won, the men’s elimination team had a chance to win the who pay per view for the show. If AJ won, it wouldn’t matter.

This lit a fire in both of them, making them run and jump and crash into one another. When they weren’t leaping at each other from high, they were interfering with the ropes and making everyone watching flinch with the landings. AJ jumped up on the ropes to do a Phenomenal Forearm to Finn on the floor, but he spun out of the way, leaving AJ with nothing to do with his momentum but fall back into the ring. When he came back up, Finn was there was a kick to the face. The Universal champion scaled the turnbuckles and finished the match with a coup de grace. Raw still had a chance. And the two leaders gave one another a ‘too sweet’ after taking back their titles.

***

Before the men’s elimination match started, while the teams were still staring each other down, Dean and Jey stood across from each other. Dean’s fist let go into a Shaka that Jey mirrored. They shook their fists like they were tossing back a drink, then shared a smile. Kofi let them have their moment, but as captain, he scooted Jey over so he could stare Dean down.

The captains started the match. At the bell, Dean was already attacking Kofi’s head and shoulders with punches. Kofi was able to grab him around the waist and push his back into a corner but then needed to take a breather. He got it by placing his hand over Dean’s face and leaning ever so slightly. When Kofi had his rest, he stepped back, leaving Dean confused. But only for a second. Dean kept Kofi on the defense for most of the rest of their time in the ring. With a kick to the stomach, Kofi fell with a Dirty Deeds. Almost. At the last second, he kicked out and twisted Dean up for the pin.

Before the Raw captain could roll out of the ring in shock, Drew McIntyre was in the ring with a Claymore kick that eliminated Kofi. Cesaro stepped to him. The men were equal in strength and skill and height. Which made it hard for either to gain the advantage. When neither could even take the other down to a knee, they both backed off, tagging in different partners. Bobby Roode and Jey Uso entered the ring. Again, there was a match in skill. But Jey gained the upper hand and lucked out with a heavy drop-kick. Bobby Roode was eliminated.

Baron stepped in, angry that his team was falling apart so quickly. He ran at Jey, who dodged and sent the lone wolf out of the ring, who spun around the ring post and was back in the match in seconds. With a Deep Six, Jey Uso was taken out of the match. Elias and Drew rushed into the ring as Cesaro, Rusev, and Andrade came in to keep Baron from taking advantage of their downed teammate. Once he was safely out of the ring, everybody backed off. With the encouragement of the rest, Rusev entered the match. Baron narrowly avoided a Matcha Kick that would have made him vulnerable to a hold. Both Drew and Elias held out their palms for a tag. Baron growled and shied away. He should have been captain. If he had, they probably would have won the match by now. Another furious attack later, Rusev was eliminated.

Team Smackdown was livid. Baron wisely tagged in Drew when Cesaro entered. With a simple trip, Cesaro had Drew on his back and in perfect position for a spin. He let Drew go as Baron tried to interfere, slinging Drew into Raw’s corner where Baron could tag himself in. He was caught and spun too. Elias held his hands up in defense under Cesaro’s glare. Instead of interfering, he rolled Drew to the floor and pushed Baron further into the ring. Dizzy, Baron wasn’t able to fight back as well as he had before, and he was eliminated. Elias eased into the ring. He used Cesaro’s anger against him and continually beat him down to the canvas until he was able to roll him up for a fighting pin. Andrade rushed in just as Elias and Drew switched. No matter what they were going to do, he was a fresh man who had more energy than them combined. He eliminated Drew first, still reeling from Cesaro’s spinning. Then, avoiding Elias’s heavy hits and dangerous knees, Andrade was able to pin Elias.

Smackdown won Survivor Series with five matches to Raw’s four. Their first winning year.

***

Monday Night Raw – November 19, 2018

It was inevitable. Still, you flinched to hear Stephanie’s boots approaching. Hopefully, your plan was going to be enough to wow her and the disappointed universe.

“This is unacceptable,” she spat, “we are the leading show for the WWE, and we should have won. You-“

“Hey, take it easy. I think we did pretty well, all things considered. We only lost by one match, and I won mine. On the fly, might I add.” You sighed. “In the long run, we’ve still got the lead. Raw won the last two years, and this has been Smackdown’s first winning Survivor Series. We’ll get them next year. I don’t really know why you’re so upset. Everyone tried their hardest, and we put on some great matches. Not a single won was an easy win. In my eyes, we are still the leading show. Especially now that everyone will work that much harder to prove it again. Don’t worry.”

“But-“

“Stephanie.” You gave her a soft smile. “It’s okay. This is Monday Night Raw. We will excel like we’ve always done. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an announcement to make.” You headed for the door but turned and offered for her to go first. “Shall we?”

***

The women of Raw were already waiting in the ring when you and Stephanie arrived. Nervously, you spun the mic between your palms. “Well done, ladies. All of you. In my eyes, you were all a success in showing off the best female talent in the WWE. So, I think it’s time for a change. Another milestone. This Saturday at Starrcade, there is going to be a tag match. Four on four. The winners of that team will get first pick. ‘First pick of what’ you might ask. Well, the final product isn’t done yet, but Raw is going to have women’s tag team titles.”

The women gasped and hushed each other so you could continue.

“The winning team of Starrcade will get first pick of their teammate for the tournament to determine the first ever female tag team champions.” With a smile you let them flock you for hugs and thank you’s and handshakes. “Good luck everyone.”

You held the ropes open for your boss. She shook her head and met you on the apron. “And you were going to tell me… when?” Stephanie smirked. You were still in trouble, but not nearly as much as you had been.

In the ring, Ember picked up a mic before everyone could leave the ring. “Natalya, could you stay a minute?” She handed her mic to the champion, then went for another. “I’d like to have a word.”

“I’m all ears,” Natalya said brightly, motioning to her trademark cat-ear headband.

“You lost your match.”

She shifted the title uncomfortably on her shoulder. “So did a lot of people. Why? Do you think you could have done better?”

Ember cocked her head. “Maybe I do. I was the captain of the winning elimination team. And as such, I deserve a title shot. And I want it at Clash of Champions.”

Biting her lip and looking off into the crowd, Natalya scoffed. “What? Starrcade too soon for you?”

“No,” Ember sing-songed. “I’m going to be busy already. I’m going to be in that tag match. Making history. And then… I’m coming for your title.” She pouted mockingly. “That’s enough time for you to prepare. Get those last pictures and stuff, right? They’re all you’re gonna have of that title once I claim it.” She dragged a finger down the red and white, then across Natalya’s shoulder blades on her way around to the ropes. “Enjoy it while you can.”

***

Backstage, Sasha stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes. She turned around to go the other way, but Bayley stopped her.

“Sixty seconds. That’s all I need. Hear me out.” She waited for Sasha, who crossed her arms with a sigh and set her gaze on her former best friend. “The world is changing. It’s getting bigger, and there are new opportunities. Like the new Raw women’s tag titles. We both know the group that’s going to do anything to get their grubby hands on them first. But what if they didn’t make it.”

Sasha squinted. Bayley’s time was almost up, but now she was listening.

“We are the best at what we do. But for the past several months we’ve turned it against one another. It’s weakened both of us. You don’t have to like me. I don’t have to like you.”

“We just have to work together,” she added.

Bayley grinned. “I’m glad we can agree on something.” After half a nervous breath, she held out her hand. Sasha took it and gave it one hard shake before continuing her way down the hall.

***

“I once held the whole world in my hands.” Dr. M peered out over his firefly followers with Braun standing right behind him. “I rose up and up and then fell into a pool that cleaned out the cobwebs in my mind. And I realized, the world I held was not rotten and in need of salvation by fire like I had originally thought. I realized it was just sick. In need of a doctor. It still needs salvation, make no mistake. Salvation from the depths the WWE has sunk to.”

Dr. M stroked at his beard, newly trimmed but still dark against the bright white lab coat. “This Saturday there is to be a match. Whoever comes out on the other side will be the number one contender for these badges of honor.” Behind him, Braun lifted the tag titles to show them off. “But there is another, more desperate matter at hand.” He breathed deep. “The sickness. The illness that has taken these athletes and lulled them into a false security. To heal anyone, I must first go to the one who was infected first.” Dr. M grinned. “Starrcade. Then… the purification begins.”

***

“Dean. Dean!” Seth jogged to catch up with Dean. “Where’ve you been all day?”

“Nowhere,” he mumbled. Dean shrugged Seth’s hand from his shoulder, but Seth grabbed at his forearm.

Seth shook his head. “No, no, no, no, no. Don’t avoid me.”

“I’m not going to talk to you about this.”

“I know, but Y/N is busy-“

“She’s in hot water because of me. I wasn’t going to talk to her either, brother.”

“No. Just listen.” Seth succeeded in getting Dean to face him. “It’s not your fault. There were four other guys in that match. And four other matches that could have ended differently. A whole mess of things that were out of your control.”

“Actually,” Baron stepped into the light, overshadowing Dean. “It was. You were the captain. There were four of us who could have started that match better. You got us off on the wrong start.” He leaned closer to Dean’s face as your cousin bit back a growl.

Seth stepped between them. “Hey. You didn’t do so hot yourself, mister lone wolf. You made sure the team lost when you wanted to do everything by yourself.”

“I eliminated more of Smackdown than anyone else. And who are you to get into this? One of those ‘other four matches’ was yours. And you lost it.”

“Shut up,” Seth and Dean chorused. Just Baron was about to bite something back, they froze at the sound of a guitar.

Elias walked up. “I have to agree… with Baron.” Everyone looked confused. Including Baron. “You also lost your match, Seth. You’re supposed to be ‘the man’ and this great pinnacle of wrestling skill. But you fell flat,” he said, twanging his guitar strings. “A champ is not a champ if he can’t win matches.”

Dean had to be the one to step between them. “You’re the one that got pinned, cockatoo.”

Seth pushed against his arm. “And I bet you think you’re the guy to step up, huh?”

He grinned. “If you think you can handle it after such a sweeping loss.”

“You’re on.”

Elias’s eyes raked over the title on Seth’s shoulder as he turned to leave. Baron gave one last hard look at Dean, then went his way too.

***

It didn’t take long for the Seth and Elias’s match to get nasty, even with Dean there to run interference from anybody who tried to get involved. Seth flattened himself against the barricade as Baron swept past. Baron moved to attack again, but Dean hit him from behind. Elias reached over the ropes and grabbed at Baron’s vest, effectively unbalancing him over the apron where both Seth and Dean could attack his rib cage. When Elias let go, Baron sagged to the ground where Dean could keep a close eye on him.

“Stop messing around and get in here,” Elias said, nodding towards the ring. He stepped to the center of the ring, ignoring Seth’s dramatic huffs.

They kept going. Elias was sure that the match with Nakamura would have exhausted Seth, but he was mistaken as to the amount. With a series of Northern Light suplexes, Coasts to Coasts, and a Curb Stomp, Seth retained his Intercontinental Championship.

Later that night, you announced that the four of them would have a match at Starrcade on Saturday.

***

“Congrats on your win tonight. To bad about your loss on Sunday.”

“Yeah, yeah” Seth chuckled, shifting his title on his shoulder. “I’ve already been over that tonight, and I’m not looking to do it again.”

“T’at’s too bad. So much for Monday Night Rollins. Guess that doesn’t extend to other nights of the week.”

Seth spun. “Really? That’s how you see it?”

“T’at’s how I see it.” Finn’s forehead creased as he watched the cogs turn in Seth’s head. “Watcha thinkin’ about there, Seth?”

The man chuckled. “You remember a couple weeks ago I said I would hold both titles by the end of the year? How would you like the chance to prove me wrong?”

Finn slowly grinned. “It’s one of my fav’rite things. Shall we set tha date for Clash of Champions?”

“Yes. Unless you lose your match to Drew tonight. And again, on Saturday. Then… I guess I’ll have to make the deal with him.” He gently patted Finn’s shoulder before walking off.

***

The main event was to determine if Drew McIntyre was going to have a title shot at Starrcade. But he had to beat Finn first. Which he did, carrying the rage and frustration over from losing in the elimination match. Finn’s high over beating AJ Styles again wasn’t enough to keep up with the Scotsman.

The combination of a Glasgow Kiss and a well-timed Claymore Kick wiped the champion out for the pin. And put at risk Finn’s title reign.

Part 29: A Dangerous Road

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bluespruce25 · 3 years

Text

Life for A Life to Balance the Scales

CW: Suicide/Self-sacrifice

Follow #L4LBS for daily updates | Up now on AO3

Chapter 1 of 5: Nothing Good Can Come of This

J’onn was standing at the planning table in M’gann Morzz’ home on Mars. He had been there since just after the fight with Leviathan when he received an urgent call from M’gann and Ma’alefa’ak. He brought his hand to rest on his jaw with his fingers splayed across his grimly set mouth. He had hated leaving before they found Brainy, without knowing why all traces of Leviathan had seemed to disappear in the middle of their last fight. A fight in which the enemy had kryptonite no less. The circumstances of the attack left him uneasy and he found his thoughts drifting back to his family on Earth.

“J’onn!” M’gann exclaimed as she came running to a stop in the doorway. She held onto the door frame, beckoning for him to follow without even fully entering the room. “You must come quickly, it’s a pod from Krypton, I think it may be Kal El’s pod.”

He dropped his hand and looked at her with raised eyebrows. He shook away his confusion and hurried after M’gann. The grim line returned to the set of his mouth and his eyebrows knitted into a crease that would rival even Kara’s fiercest expression. “A Kryptonian ship here on Mars. Nothing good can come of this,” he thought to himself. The pit of his stomach calcified into a boulder of anxiety.

---

J’onn followed M’gann to Kal El’s pod. She was correct that it was Kryptonian, and correct that it once belonged to Kal El, but to J’onn’s knowledge this particular pod hadn’t been flown in over 30 years.

“How did this come to be here, M’gann?”

“I don’t know; one of our scouts called it in. I‘m afraid if we don’t address it soon, it may disrupt our peace talks with the White Martians. They will not look kindly on this disruption.”

“We’ll take it back to the compound and investigate it there. I want to know more before I try to contact Earth. The last thing we need is to distract from the search for Brainy and Lex. I can only hope that they have already been found, but we cannot be too careful. We must address this development within the delicate balance we are walking here on Mars. We can’t let anything disrupt the peace talks now; we are so close. ”

All his bravado expended outwardly, J’onn felt real fear creep into his heart. Whatever this was, it couldn’t be good.

---

“Okay, so I have isolated the pod’s last known location and it’s most recent destination.”

M’Gann pointed to a star chart on the table in front of them, “The pod last came to a stop a few thousand miles from the surface of our sun.” She turned to make sure J’onn was following, “Then it was programmed to return to Earth. It appears that the unprecedented solar flare we witnessed yesterday knocked it off its course. Earth’s gravity field acted as a slingshot and redirected the pod into Mars’ orbit.”

M’gann paused here to look at J’onn who was barely holding it together. Every muscle of his body was tensed and the muscles in his jaw were bulging under the force of him gritting his teeth.

“Thank you, M’gann. Do we know who operated the pod and where they’ve gone since landing on Mars?”

M’gann hesitated, looking anything in the world like she did not want to say what it was she was about to say. J’onn picked up on this immediately and furrowed his brows.

M’gann let out the breath neither of them knew she had been holding. “J’onn,” she said, “we searched the crash site and there was no evidence of anyone exiting the pod. It was still closed when we approached. However,” she paused again, not able to meet his gaze, “we found these Sunstone Crystals in the console. They appear to be projections of Kara. There is one addressed to you.”

***

Kara was standing in the hallway of the DEO, just outside the medbay. She stood back, half obscured in the shadows as the Superfriends crowded around Brainy’s bed. Tuning into her super hearing, she listened in on their conversation.

“I must apologize to you all, my friends,” Brainy started, “I had to work with Lex. It was, statistically, our only chance to beat Leviathan.”

He looked up into Nia’s eyes, tightening his grasp on her hands in his lap. “You have to know I would never betray my friends. I couldn’t let him kill you. I ran the simulation three million times with two thousand different variables, and each time, I found that there was no other way.”

Nia huffed, “ Brainy . You would have died if we hadn’t gotten there any sooner. What were you thinking?”

“I had to. I had to stop Lex. I had to stop Leviathan...and I had to do it alone. It was the only path to success according to my calculations.” He closed his eyes as if the memory itself brought him physical pain. Kara remembered all of the moments between them over the last few months. All the times they pushed him away, not quite trusting him anymore, but not knowing why. She remembered Nia’s heartbreak and their confrontation outside of the DEO after Rama Khan flattened it.

“I’m so sorry. To all of you.”

At this he locked eyes with Kara through the window. She held his gaze for a moment before she turned on her heel. She knew what had to happen next, and by the look they shared, so did Brainy. Her friends, everyone she loved, had given everything time and time again to defeat Lex. Now he was out there with Leviathan in a bottle and they had no recourse for stopping him. How many more people had to end up in the med bay? Or worse. What about all the people he murdered on Earth 38 the first time? This couldn’t go on. She had to be the one to end it. Killing Lex Luthor would be the last thing Supergirl ever did.

---

Alex caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. As she turned her head away from Brainy, she saw the tail end of a cape flicking out of view.

“Kara?”

“Not now, Alex.”

“Kara, where are you going?”

“It’s time we end this. It’s time Lex faces justice. I’m going to protect you.”

“Kara, come back and sit with us. Talk to Brainy; don’t punish him for Lex’s crimes. He saved us all. You and I both know that Leviathan had kryptonite, and they were going to kill you.”

Kara stopped and turned so fast she was a blur as she understood what Alex was saying, what they all must have thought. She threw both hands out in front of her with her palms out toward Alex. The words tumbled out of her mouth faster than she could form coherent sentences.

“Alex, I love Brainy. I know he did this to save us; to save me. I could never be mad at him.He’s a hero. And he almost died doing it. Rap, how could I be mad at him for that?” Kara was gesticulating wildly at this point, using her arms to drive her point home. “I am in awe of what he did. He was willing to sacrifice our friendship in order to save us. I’m not sure I could have made that choice, Alex. ...After Mon-El...,” she continued more quietly, “after Lena…”

“Brainy is a hero. But Lex Luthor…” the anger flashed in Kara’s eyes. She punctuated her sentences by jabbing an outstretched index finger at the ground emphatically. “Lex Luthor has a debt to pay, and I intend to collect.”

Alex reached her hand out to catch Kara’s arm as she turned away. “Kara, you don’t have to do this.” Kara could tell from the desperation in Alex’s voice that they both knew she did have to do this. Alex’s eyes were full of fear, but also recognition. Alex knew that Kara was going to do whatever she had planned and that there was nothing she could do to stop her sister.

Kara took Alex’s hand and pulled her into one of her signature hugs, this time tainted by the ghost of goodbye. Kara remembered all the times those arms had wrapped around her in her life; to protect her, to comfort her, to save her. Ever since she came to Earth, Alex had been home for Kara. Kara put every memory into that hug. “I love you Alex. You are the best sister I could have ever hoped for. You have saved me so many times. You’ve been saving my life since I was 13 years old.”

“Kara,” Alex asked as she tried to step back. Kara’s arms were tight around her preventing any distance between them, “Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye? What are you planning to do to Lex?”

Kara just tightened their hug even more, testing the very limits of how hard she could squeeze her fragile human sister. Her eyes were scrunched closed in pain and in concentration. Kara was trying to memorize this moment. She would need something to hold on to. Kara leaned in to whisper in Alex’s ear, “I’m going to make this right. For all of us.”

With that Kara was gone, and Supergirl disappeared out off the balcony in a flash of red and blue.

***

J’onn made preparations to leave, but he knew that before he did, he had to commune with the Sunstone Crystal, he had to know for sure what to say, what to report, when he returned to Earth. Briefly, he wondered what he’d find there when he returned. He stopped pacing, steadied himself with a deep breath, lowered his chin as if charging into battle, and walked resolutely into the viewing chamber M’gann had prepared for him.

Clad in his father’s traditional robes, J’onn knelt on the pillow placed in front of the console. The console rested at waist height, roughly a foot in front of him. Bowing his head, he reached out and placed the crystal M’gann had given him into the console.

A projection of Kara flickered to life in front of him. She was wearing an unmarked suit, something he had never seen on her, but her eyes gave her away. They shone blue, and even through the hologram, he could see the tears standing in them. The scar above her left eye disappeared into the scrunch of her eyebrows in their signature crease.

“ Kara-” J’onn said, so softly it was almost a whisper.

The hologram began speaking, and he did not interrupt her.

“J’onn J’onzz, you who have been as a father to me in this life on Earth. I am sorry for the grief I must put you through, but I know if anyone will understand the honor that binds me, it is you. I broke the very tenet that defines Supergirl, and I must be held accountable. As such, I have voluntarily submitted myself to the judgement of the sun of this system, that by its fires I may be cleansed of my crimes. This is a choice that I make freely. I can no longer protect the citizens of Earth as Supergirl, for I have become the very thing that they always feared. My time now is over, but I hope that by making the choice to atone for my crime, the legacy of hope inspired by who Supergirl was on Earth can endure. I hope that my friends and family can remember me fondly, and that my memory will be cherished by those who knew me.”

Here, Kara paused to take a shaky breath,

“I want to thank you for the love you have given me; for the times you have risked everything to love me and Alex. You have protected me, and our family for even longer than I have known you. You are truly the Paragon of Honor, for you are the most honorable being I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Your devotion to family is above all others in this world. I am so grateful to have been a part of that.”

At this, the tears in Kara’s hologram spilled over and onto her cheeks. She barely held in a sob, collecting herself in a gasping breath before continuing,

“You must continue to protect Alex. You must be for her the father that Jeremiah was meant to be. As Jeremiah tasked you with protecting his girls, I task you with continuing to protect Alex. Moreover, I task you with continuing to love her as a father should. Your guidance will be all that protects her from...this.”

Kara closed her eyes and turned her head away, collecting herself momentarily before continuing,

“You must forgive Brainy. We found him and heard his story. What he did, he did for love. We must return that love for him and show him that his sacrifices were worth it. Brainy is family. We... you can never forget that again. He is too precious.”

Despite the invisible knife twisting in his chest as his breaths came raggedly and the tears streamed down his face, J’onn felt relief bloom at the revelation that Brainy was safe with the family. Kara continued, “I am telling you this as the last message I will ever give you. You must trust Lena Luthor. She is the only one who can build the world the legends have foretold. She may lose her way, she may disagree with you, but, J’onn, I promise you that if you give her your love and support, she will always fall into the light.”

“Speaking of legends. Please look out for the Legends now that I can’t. Support them the best you can and honor Oliver’s sacrifice in my absence. They will need you now more than ever.”

Kara paused, her eyes gleaming, and J’onn knew that they’d reached the end of everything she had to say. She looked directly out and said, with confidence and determination, “I love you as a father J’onn J’onzz. Remember me fondly. May Rao’s light shine on your path and let it be H’ronmeer’s will that I see you again. Goodbye.”

---

Kara’s face was peaceful as the hologram flickered and collapsed, leaving a void in its wake. J’onn knelt, crying silently with his eyes raised to where the hologram had stood just moments before. He dropped his head to his chest and collapsed forward onto his hands and knees, letting the grief overtake him.

“No, not Kara. Not my daughter. Not again. Not Supergirl .” He looked up as M’gann came to kneel beside him. He searched her face, “We both know it can’t be Supergirl. She is the Paragon of Hope, Saviour of the Universe, Protector of Earth. She is the Last Daughter of Krypton. She cannot die. Not now. Not after everything this life has put her through.” He finished, out of breath, having raised his voice more with each exclamation. His hand was outstretched, his index finger extended, pointed towards M’gann as if to defy the grief in her eyes; as if to defy the truth he saw there. He would recognize the emotion clouding her features, the pity in her eyes, even if he hadn’t grieved the loss of his entire race already this lifetime. Her pain was written on her face and rolled in waves off her consciousness into his.

He grasped at her waist as a sob escaped his lips with the herculean force of a man who had already lost two daughters, only to now lose another. After three hundred years, it was still too soon to feel this grief all over again.

M’gann held him in her arms as his body was wracked with sobs. She watched as J’onn tilted his head back and roared out into the universe, “ Nooo ! She was too good for this. She was too good for all of this. How can this be?! How can H’ronmeer take her from us like this!” M’gann flinched as the force of his fury pulsed through their bond. Spent, he bowed his head until his forehead rested on M’gann’s feet.

He could not say how much time had passed until the grief consuming his every breath subsided enough for him to rise to his feet. As he stood, he cleansed his face of the last vestiges of tears and reached out to remove the crystal from the console. With a steadying breath, he turned to the door and walked out, a different man than the J’onn J’onzz who had entered just minutes before.

As he crossed the threshold, he turned back to M’gann who followed him in silence, “It is time for me to return to Earth. My family needs me.”

***

As Supergirl flew one last patrol around National City, she took note of all the small differences from Earth 38 now that all the earths were consolidated on Earth Prime; the extra hot dog cart in the park; the taco trucks outside CatCo where there used to be only street parking. As she flew, her loops became smaller and smaller and she let herself drift ever-closer to L-Corp. She sighed and shook her head. “LutherCorp,” she chided herself.

She picked Lena’s heartbeat out of the cacophony of the city around her, a bad habit that she’d never been able to break; an invasion of privacy she had hoped to someday deserve again. Lena wasn’t in her penthouse office from Earth 38. With Lex back in power, Lena had been free to work down in the labs again, pursuing her passions. Kara’s flight speed slowed as she thought about Non Nocere. As she looped closer and closer to LuthorCorp, she reflected on everything that happened with Lena. From the plane ride to Kaznia, to the moment Lex seemingly fell to his death at Shelley Island, to finally telling Lena her secret at the Pulitzer party. She thought about the moment in the fortress when the kryptonite encased her and she was forced to come to terms with all of the pain she had caused Lena. The tightness in her chest constricted as she thought about the happy times; the first time Kara walked into Lena’s office, the Big Belly Burger runs and shared donuts, the holidays spent together, Lena’s first day at CatCo and brunches on the balcony between meetings. Kara tried to pinpoint the moment - the smile, the look, the words - that she had fallen in love with Lena.

At that, she came to a stop in the sky, hovering just high enough to be out of sight for human eyes. She had loved Lena for so long that it was impossible to say when it had begun. As she continued to reflect on events of the past, she gradually rose higher and higher into the sky, lost in her thoughts.

She thought about Mxy and her heart breaking over and over again as she watched their friendship end in each and every possible eventuality. In every alternate timeline, one of them died, sometimes at each other’s hands. In none of the timelines did Kara see the one outcome she hoped for. In none of those timelines did her and Lena’s friendship blossom into something more. If anything could convince Kara that it would never happen between them, that her feelings were one sided, it was that. She had to believe that if Lena loved her, they would have found a way back to each other in at least one of those timelines.

Sighing as she climbed even higher, frost starting to collect on the wisps of her hair, Supergirl reflected on Mount Norquay and what it felt like to beg Lena. The moment the kryptonite cannons activated and the moment she saw them be disarmed. She thought about the risk of her hovering in front of them, ready to die at Lena’s hands; ready to die with Lena if Alex activated the Claymore satellite.

As she thought about Lena coming to her door, she closed her eyes against the vice tightening with another twist in her chest. She remembered how seeing Lena again that day after a year of being apart had felt like someone had reached in to grab her heart and claw it with vicious intent. She hadn’t been sure if she could trust Lena after everything. As she floated above LuthoCorp, Kara hung her head. Even after working with Lex, all Lena ever wanted was to help the world, to protect everyone from the hurt Kara inflicted on her. Lena’s big villainous scheme was to try to eliminate evil from human nature. It was terrible, wrong, and ill advised, but still so pure in intention. What could they have achieved together if Kara had trusted her? If Kara had told Lena the whole truth about why it took her so long to reveal her identity; if she had told Lena that she loved her.

Kara opened her eyes, the sun catching off of their steely gaze. Her face softened, but her eyes held their sharpness. It was too late for her and Lena, but she could make sure that Lex never hurt his sister ever again.

***

Next Chapter

#L4LBS #Content Warning: Suicide/Self-sacrifice #New Fic #Post-Season 5 #Kara takes matters into her own hands #Updated daily #Exploring the toll of self-sacrifice #I hate that cwsg keeps doing this to Kara #I hated it when I wrote this fic before they announced S6 #And I hate that it's what we're getting for S6 #Self-sacrifice hero plots are not cool and I wanted to explore how much it sucks for everyone left behind

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imaginationisallawomanhas · 4 years

Text

A Reign On My Night

“Francis!?”

I was shocked. Flabbergasted. If that was even appropriate.

There he stood, with a new haircut and a fitted suit. Sounds like I'm describing the Doctor, I know. Can't really help it though can I? It felt like time slowed down, looking at him in the lobby of the office. I stood there like fish out of water, a deer in the headlights, a doe-eyed little idiot.

He looked at me with surprise, began to take a step towards me but was halted by my boss, Steve.

"Hello chap! you must be Leith Callahan!" Steve exclaimed with a hearty laugh, patting him on the back.

Quickly, he turned around, gained his composure and began conversing with Steve.

I couldn't hear anything, my mind was just not processing anything. I slowly backed away and went into the studio. I could hear some scuffling behind me to see my colleagues follow me in. one came to my side the other closed the door so no one could hear us.

"That's him isn't in?!" Nia asked excitedly.

"Did you know he was gonna be here?" Sammy asked.

They had a faint idea as to who he was, but even they didn't know exactly what happened. "Uh, yeah that's him." I continued more to myself this time. "But what the hell was he doing here? He would have mentioned he was moving here wouldn't he, unless he didn't want me to know. But that makes no sense either. What the hell is going on?!?!?!"

"Ayla, what’s wrong?" Nia asked, here eyebrows scrunching up.

"It's just- I mean- I didn't" I took a deep breath and composed myself. "I don't know what he's doing here but we should probably get back to work before they realise that we're gossiping instead of being at our desks." I smiled at them.

Nodding, they went back out to their desks. I could faintly hear Steve introducing Leith to the rest of the staff. I composed myself, and went back to fiddling with the Pinterest Page open on my screen when the voices got louder.

Soon there was a small knock on my door and in he came. His eyes were almost sparkling, accompanying a smile so big I couldn’t help but return it.

"This is Ayla, our head of creatives." Steve mentioned. He went on to explain what the studio was all about and what I did there, but my eyes just stayed on him. extended my hand and he gingerly took it and gave a little shake. He wasn't letting go.

"Ayla" He said with a heavy breath. "Nice to meet you"

"Pleasures all mine" I replied.

Almost in a trance I was taken back to that night.

_______________________________________________________________________

We had been visiting London on a conference. It was the three of us. Nia, Sammy and myself. We had been there for almost 5 days and it was a productive week. We decided to check out the nightlife, and so we met with a few colleagues and went to a local pub. There was a lot of shouting and music. Seemed like everyone was in that tiny pub. We got our drinks and settles down in a small booth in the corner.

The night went on and I couldn't sit still. I wanted to go and dance, pulling up one of the girls we went onto the dance floor and began dancing. Soon a lovely old jive number came on and I felt someone take my hand. I looked to the person attached and thanks to the few drinks I had, I was feeling chatty.

"Could I get a dance?" He asked already pulling me into position. I glanced around for my friends but only saw a glimpse of her nodding as I was pulled back into this stranger's arms, and damn did he have those big muscly ones. I was a little tipsy, if you couldn't tell, and that made me a little more spontaneous.

"You know what?" I said cheekily, pulling him closer. "Sure" I stage-whispered in his ear.

That was all it took for him to pull me into a full swing jive. We twirled and danced for what seemed like at least 5 songs.

When we finally settled down I only then realise that all the alcohol has burned off, I was fully sober and completely delighted. He ushers me towards the bar and I gander at the clock on the wall. It was 2 in the bloody morning. Gulping down the glass of water that was placed in front of me I quickly headed over to find my friends. They were chatting away and heartily clapped at my return. I sat back down and we laughed along at something for another hour. The guy that I had danced with was across the bar and our eyes kept making contact. We'd share small smiles and return to the conversations at hand.

"Ooh la la" Frida let out a low whistle. "Looks like Ayla might not be going to the rooms tonight." She said to the rest of them, as a waitress came by with a drink.

She smiled sweetly at me and set it down in front of me. "It's from the lad across the room. Asked me to pass this on too" She said as she handed a napkin with some scribbling on it.

"T'was a great dance. Would the rest of the night together be too much of an ask?" P.s. Drinks is not poisoned I swear.”

I took a small sip of the glass and it tasted normal. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Frida looked over and read the napkin. "Well?" She asked "Are you going?"

"I don't really know. Should I? That would be very unlikely of me. At the same time I wanna see where it goes. But should I be leaving these two alone?" I just rambled on for a bit while the others tried not to laugh.

"Go have your fun" Nia said. "We'll be fine." She almost seemed as excited as I was feeling.

Quickly grabbing a sticky note pad from my bag and scribbled a reply. I quickly called the waitress and passed the note with her. I watched as he received the note and lit up. He quickly gave his friends some money and walked over to our table. Instinctively I stood up.

"Ready?" He asked with almost what is considered a bad boy smile.

"I guess I am" I gathered my things and handed the room keys to Sammy, got my bag and took his hand.

He began to pull me away and I took a final look back at the table in disbelief. All of them were mouthing good luck and things like keep sending me your location. Quickly nodding I turned back and we were out into the cold air.

"By the way I'm-"

"Let's not use real names" I cut him off. "I don't know why but let's not. I don't know if you're a serial killer, you don't know if I'm one. Let's keep it unknown for now."

He gave a hearty laughed and said "Okay sounds good. Then in that case I'm Francis"

"Like De Valois?" I asked in jest.

"Exactly" He nodded eagerly, almost surprised that I pulled that reference. "Then I guess I'm Mary" I smiled.

He held out his arm and off began our adventure.

_______________________________________________________________________

Steve had turned back to us and I was pulled out of the daydream. I chuckled and unwillingly let go of his hand. It felt like we were about to get caught, which was silly because standing in front of me was Leith not Francis.

"It’s awfully cold in here" Leith said with a small chuckle, as if he remembered something.

"I prefer the cold to the heat" I shrugged "Keeps me more alert."

"Might have to stay in here for my first few days to get used to the temperature" his smile turned sly.

I couldn't help the look of astonishment, seeing what he was trying to pull.

"Now THAT sounds like a fabulous idea!" Steve replied with delight, not even a glance at me. "It'll also put you right in the epicentre of all the work that goes on."

I couldn't move a muscle. Fran- Leith would be working in the same space as me? I would have liked to say that this would be interesting but I genuinely couldn't for the life of me say it would go well.

"Sure!" I responded slowly. "That would be great."

Soon Steve headed out saying something but I couldn't take my eyes off Leith...he was just looking at me like he was trying to decide something. I walked around the table the same time he set his bag down.

He turned as I set my hand on the handle to let him leave, he was close. Heavy musk, that smell of winter nights with a hint of roasted chestnuts. He was moving closer and I couldn't stop myself. I looked up at him through my lashes and all hell broke.

His lips were on mine in a second, it was quick but it was so good. His hand caressed my neck as if to pull me closer. I was so glad that my curtain was pulled over the glass door, so no one saw that. A small knock at my door sprung us apart. His lips were ever so lightly tinted with my lipstick, I wiped it off as quick as I could. He pulled the door open and walked out perfectly composed

Working together was going to be interesting all right. Just had to make sure some work would actually get done.

_______________________________________________________________________

We began to talk a little. Some part about ourselves, the lives we lead yet not giving any definite clues as to who, what, where, etc. The conversation seemed easy enough. We were just walking around the streets, we had wandered near Camden. The smell of all kinds of street food wafted through the air.

Small sounds of grumbling emanated from both our stomachs and we share a laugh. He asked me if I was allergic to anything, and if there were certain things that I didn't eat, I simply replied that there wasn't and suggested that I would get us some drinks. I found a small shop that sold homemade alcohol and picked up a fancy wine blend sort of thing, had a little taste before buying it. It tasted a little of peach and was slightly tart but had a really nice aftertaste. The man at the store said that it was a bit string so to drink it slowly.

I went back to where we split ways and waited, within seconds he was bounding up the street with bags of food and a goofy smile on his face. He suggested going to Primrose Hill, and having a small midnight picnic. Now I'd be a fool to say no to that.

We polished off the food while chatting and laughing about the silliest of things. I happened to glance at my phone when I saw the time, it was 4a.m. I think he noticed too and suggested heading back to his place.

I couldn't help but agree, we walked hand in hand after disposing all the litter, and walked for about 20 min before coming to a stop in front of a slim building. We slowly walked in, our conversation had settles into a peaceful silence.

We entered a small studio apartment and slipped off our shoes and jackets.

"Water?" He asked switching on small lights as he moved.

"Yes please" I replied. He handed me a glass of water and disappeared into a room. He returned with what looked like a oversized shirt.

He hesitantly handed it to me. "Something more comfy?" I gingerly took it from him and walked into the direction of the room he was pointing to.

Slowly I freshened up and slipped on the shirt, after washing my face and letting down my hair. The shirt was just long enough to not wear pants, pleased with myself I folded my clothes and went out into the room.

I should have waited.

He was still changing and had just tightened his pants. He was also shirtless.

A small smile on both our faces, as I set my folded clothes down on what looked like a dresser.

He gestured to get into the sheets of the bed, next to him. His bed was against a huge window, and I realized that I would have to climb over him to get there, he looked like he was holding back a laugh but that automatically disappeared as I put one leg over him, paused and flopped over onto the bed with an even more smug smile.

He chuckled and shimmied. Yes. He shimmied down into the bed, reached over to shut the lights and turned to face me. His hands wandered under the sheets till he reached my waist. The window really helped making him look all sultry and cute. I brought my arm up to his neck, slowly tracing his skin, let it follow its own path till it reached the band of his sweatpants.

He on the other hand had very slowly slipped his hand under the shirt and was caressing my waist and bottom, all the while looking directly at me. He moved forward and very lightly kissed me. It was so light that it felt like it didn't even happen. In a second he kissed me again with a little linger. My fingers pulled on the sweat pants and everything sped up.

We kissed and kissed, lost our clothes somewhere along the way. Filled the room with small moans and grunts, all in throes of passion.

His arms held on tightly as we fell to sleep. The sunlight from the window filled the room almost instantly and my alarm rang indicating that it was 7 am. We had managed to sleep for a little less than an hour and a half. I knew I needed to get to work in time so I immediately tried to stand up, unfortunately I woke up Francis as well. He was still groggy and looking around to figure out what happened.

I couldn’t help but smile. Quickly, I rushed out of bed into the bathroom, and took a shower. By the time I came out he seemed more awake and passed me a glass of water.

“I’m going to need a shirt please. Anything you don’t mind not getting back.” I smiled a little guilty.

“That sure we’ll never meet again?” He laughed as he headed to his dresser and ruffled around. He pulled out a powder blue jumper with one of those white collars attached. It was really cute. “This works?” He asked as he handed it to me.

“It’s perfect.” In minutes I was ready, and looked good to leave. I failed to see that he too was dressed.

“Where are you headed to?” I asked, putting on some lip colour.

“Dropping you off to work? Maybe getting some breakfast on the way?”

I tried to protest but I also really liked that he wanted to do it. I shot a quick text to my colleagues telling them that I’d meet them outside the office by 9.

On the way we spoke some more and held hands the whole way. Stopped at a small cart and picked up a bagel and coffee before walking to the front of the office building. It was about 10 minutes to 9. I knew the others would get here soon, meaning I would have to end my little adventure and go back to reality.

He knew this too. Slowly he leaned forward and kissed me slowly. He pulled away, heaved a heavy sigh. “Till whenever?”

I smiled. “Whenever” I kissed him softly, and that was the last I saw of him.

_______________________________________________________________________

It was well after lunch and I had decided to try and shoot some of the products that needed to be posted on various platforms. With a hearty laugh outside my door I stilled. He entered after making a comment and sharing a laugh with Sammy and Nia. The room was dark the only light form the studio set up. He walked around me to get to the table, taking an awfully close turn and brushing against me as he passed.

Letting out a deep sigh I watched as he sat silently and set up his system to begin working. He began humming a soft tune and went about his work. He was scribbling something in a notebook and clicking away at his laptop.

It almost got normal till Nia knocked on the door and popped inside to tell us she was leaving. We bid our byes and good nights and the room went quiet.

I packed off the products and switched all the lights off, walking towards the door for the main light I felt a hand on my elbow. I froze.

I felt him move closer and turn me around. A sliver of light was leaking through the curtain on the door. It was perfectly placed to fall partly on his eyes. They were darting around my face as if trying to decide or remember something.

I was pretty sure the whole office was empty. I couldn't stop myself from winding my arms around his neck and pulling tight. His arms encircled my waist and held on tight.

I could feel his heartbeat and he could probably feel mine. Both were increased and beating their own rhythm.

His lips moved against my shoulder but I heard nothing.

#oneshot #when suddenly #longer than i expected #out of the blue #a night on the town #london love #adventure with a stranger #easy love #fun little dance #a fantasy romance #never in real life #sweet but not short

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swervestrickland · 7 years

Text

Hold This Flower | Dean Ambrose

Pairing: Dean Ambrose x Reader, Roman x Galina mention

“Hey there ! I was just wondering if I could request imagine with a plus size reader ? Maybe something where she was the female member of the shield and [Dean and her] had a romance storyline that carried on after the [Shield] breakup and they’re also dating in real life as well ? Just a bunch of fluff. If not, I’m sorry to disturb you at this late hour.” - anon

Word Count: 4,298

Warnings: Literally none I think??? Fluffy as all heck

Author’s Note: I’m taking requests! Honestly, not gonna lie, I’m a little worried with how the anon will like this one because I saw that someone requested a very similar prompt to someone else and I’m worried the anon couldn’t wait for my slow ass :( Anyway, I personally like how this one turned out so please let me know??? Thank y’all sooooo much <3

Tagging: @llowkeys / @we-work-hard / @p0tat0catofwesteros / @toosweetme / @blondekel77 / @welshwitch5 / @alexahood21 / @the-geekgoddes / @xxmaddhatter39xx / @sjwrites22 / @crowleysqueenofhell / @xstylesxclashx / @justrae9903 / @hardcorewwetrash / @helluvawriter / @wrasslin-x / @roman-reigns-princess / @reigns420 / @athoughtfulmindwrites / @wrestlingbabe / @heyambrose / @straight-outta-the-asylum / @idekwhatthisis / @mewsburger

“Don’t tell him I told you.” “Roman, when have I ever told a secret?” “Literally all the time.” You laughed, burning with embarrassment. “Okay, you’re right.” “I’m serious, [Y/N]. Don’t even hint that you know. He’ll kill me.” You looked at Roman, sitting next to you. “I’m not gonna-” “Shh,” he hushed, “don’t look at me. What if he comes through and sees us talkin’?” You couldn’t help it. You giggled, slapped his arm. “Are you telling me Big Bad Roman is afraid of my soon-to-be-”

“Shh, put your head down, there he is,” Roman hissed, grabbing his plate of unfinished steak, potatoes, and salad and making to leave. Sure enough, there was Dean, hands taped and ready for his match, walking towards them. It had been a blessing, having Dean back on Raw. After the Shield break up two years back and the draft last year, you and Seth and Roman had all ended up on the same Raw roster. You’d been heartbroken, when you found out, but Dean assured you that he wouldn’t let that separate the both of you. “Just keep that bastard Seth at an arm’s length, okay?” He’d said with a wink. The break up might have been the betrayal of the century for the WWE universe, but for the four of you, it was nothing but creative’s latest storyline. Still, you had to hand it to creative, as well as Vince. Vince had noticed the on-screen chemistry between you and Dean, and told creative to book a romance. It went along with his plan, anyway. Had your chemistry not been noticed, it would’ve still been three against one by the time of the break up. They wanted to set Seth as the worst person imaginable, and it just so happened that stabbing his brothers in the back was nothing compared to clapping his real life sister in the back with a steel chair. “Hey, Dean!” Roman smiled nervously, nearly gone. Dean held a hand out in front of him, stopping Roman dead in his tracks. “Why you leavin’ so soon, brother? I just got here.” Roman swallowed a gulp, flashed Deano a brilliant smile. “Gotta get ready for that match against Braun. You know how it is.” “That I do, brother, that I do.” He dropped his hand to let Roman pass, and turned his attention to you. He sat down in Roman’s recently vacated chair, legs spread apart, one arm draped on the back of your own chair. “What was that all about?” Dean asked, ever in character. Nothing slipped past the ol’ lunatic fringe. His mind moved way too quickly for that. Luckily, you were quicker. “My match with Nia. I asked him for advice. He bounced when he saw you because he knows how you feel about me asking anyone else for ring advice.” He shot me a confused look. “I’m not that bad, am I? Looked like Roman saw a ghost.” You feigned thinking about it, looking up at the ceiling, then back at him. “No, you’re pretty bad.” You reached for his face, scratching at his beard. His eyes fluttered closed, reveling in the feeling of your soft skin. One of his hands grazed your body, squeezing those parts of you that you tended to dislike. “You know I don’t like when you do that to my fat.” His eyes opened. “We’ve been through this, baby.” “I know, but-” “Does it feel good?” “Yes, but-” “Then you like it. What you don’t like is that you’re bigger than the average woman, but you know that doesn’t bother me.” A hand touched your cheek. “It’s actually one of the things I love most about you. There’s more of you to love. And I plan on loving every goddamn inch of you.” It was enticing. There was a growl in his voice you only heard when he was filled with lust for you, but he wasn’t making any definitive moves. Plus, you had a match. “[Y/N]! Backstage in five minutes!” As if on cue, one of the backstage hands called out. Dean’s light blue eyes shined with love, head nodding in the direction of the assistant. “Go on, baby. Kick that ass.” “I’m losing this one.” “All the more reason why you should kick that ass.” A woman’s shout from outside the catering room. “I heard that, Dean!” Nia. You stifled a giggle, your boyfriend smirking in Nia’s direction. “Damn right ya did!”

9 DAYS LATER You were due for a few days off. On screen injury from Nia and that Little Miss Bitch ambushing you during your match against Emma. Okay, and it was Christmas. Dean wasn’t about to let those few days pass without making sure he got to spend time with you, so you figured this was probably it. The Day. You were taking a flight home with Seth. Dean was going to be meeting the both of you in Iowa, at your parents’ house. You shook your head. This situation screamed Big Deal, even if Roman hadn’t warned you about it. Every minute on the plane at Seth’s side was making you more and more nervous. Seth hadn’t spoken the entire flight. But you did your best to stay busy; after all, three hours was too long to be bored. You silently thanked the universe for remembering to bring your iPad and headphones, drowning out the silence between the two of you with some Five Finger Death Punch. Because angst. Obviously, “I Apologize” was on repeat. It was the song you imagined played in the background of a shield reunion promo. But of course that would never happen. Roman was doing too well on his own for Vince to jeopardize that with a reunion, and you understood that perfectly. “Hey, sis?” You almost didn’t hear it. But you had seen him shuffle in his seat, and you knew that something was wrong. Seth slept like a bear on most flights. You took both headphones out, all too eager to break this tension. “Yeah?” He looked at his feet, struggling to find the words. Your hand reached out to him, hand covering his own. “You know that…Dean’s gonna…” “I know.” “How did you…?” His voice drifted away, thinking. You let him, because the answer was simple. “Fucking Roman,” he realized. “Yeah, Roman. But you aren’t really that much of a secret keeper, either. Or were you not just about to tell me, too?” Seth sighed, caught. “Yeah, I was.” He was quiet again. You were about to check if he’d drifted off to sleep, when he spoke. “Listen, I’m ecstatic for you. I honestly never imagined that your relationship with Dean would amount to this.” You raised an eyebrow, wondering if you should be offended. “That’s not what I mean,” he said. He let out a sigh, mustering up the right words for what he was about to say. “You and I both know that everyone on the roster knows about my relationships with women.” “If you can call them relationships,” You quipped. “Exactly. And everyone thinks I’m the only one with a history like that. But Dean used to be the same. That’s why, early on in your relationship, I was worried. But I never said anything, because you were happy.” “I guess what I’m saying is, that if he ever does anything to treat you wrong, I’m here. I’ll kick his ass all the way back to Cincinnati if I have to, if it’s what you want. I won’t let him hurt you.” You stared at him, tears pooling at the corners of your eyes. “Seth…” “Fuck, oh, shit, sis…don’t start that crying shit,” he griped, hand pulling out from under yours, “you know that crying shit makes me uncomfortable.” You slapped him on the arm. “You fucking asshole,” you whined. “You knew that would make me cry.” “That’s why I didn’t want to fucking say it.” “But you did, and it was beautiful.” “Don’t start that shit, oh my God.” “Give me a hug, Seth,” you cried. “No, what? Don’t get near me.” “Please?” He was halfway off his seat, keeping the distance between the two of you at its max. “Absolutely not.” “Come on.” He looked at you, mascara sliding down your face, eyes red and puffy. But happy. You were happy, and he saw that. So he couldn’t say no. “Ugh, fine.”

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and the both of you made it to your parents’ place in one piece. You wrapped your blue scarf tightly around your neck, pulled your jacket closer against you. It was freezing. You grabbed your suitcase and left Seth to pay the driver. Mom had the door open before you could even knock. “Sweetheart!” “Merry Christmas, Mom!” You wrapped her in a warm embrace. “Merry Christmas to you, too, honey. Go on, your father’s in the living room. Oh, Seth!” She reached for her beloved son, paying no more mind to you, her daughter. You rolled your eyes, dropping off your suitcase by the stairs. “Happy holidays, Ma.” “Oh, that’s right. The non-believer,” Mom said jokingly. “Mom,” you chastised, saving your brother from torture. “Be nice.” “Okay, okay….are you hungry? There’s leftovers in the fridge if you want some.” “Good, I’m starved.” He said, rubbing at his tummy. She led him by the hand to the kitchen, and you smiled. “Catering can’t beat your cooking.” He was a momma’s boy through and through, that one. You heard laughter coming from the living room. It sounded like two voices. One deep, one mellow. You traipsed through the doorway yelling, “Dad! I’m home!” before you stopped short, catching that flair of ginger, those dazzling eyes. “Dean?” you gasped. He had told you his flight was delayed, that he wouldn’t be there for another couple hours or so. “Hey, babe. Your dad and I were just talkin’ about the day you were born.” “Yeah, a chubby lil’ thing,” Dad grunted, remembering the day well. “I’d never thought you’d grow into the big, strong woman you are now.” “Papi!” You plopped down next to him on the couch before he could stand, squeezing him tightly. “Hola, mijita. How’s my little girl?” “I’m great, pa, now that all three of my boys are here, together.” Dean let out a few light chuckles. “Don’t let Roman hear you say that. You’ll break his heart.”

After spending quite some time in the living room with your mom, dad, Seth, and Dean (consisting heavily of nagging from your mother and saving Seth from interrogation, starting with “So, Seth, honey, how’s your love life going? Am I going to be expecting some grandchildren anytime soon from any of your lovers?” and ending with “How are you going to find yourself a good, loving relationship with a woman if you don’t have a good, loving relationship with God?”), Mom and Dad retired to bed, your dad claiming to be exhausted from second-hand nagging, and your mother just tired of her heathen spawn (a lie, of course, she loved both of you know matter what). Seth chuckled, shaking his head. “Is it like this every time you come home?” Dean asked, clearly amused at the mother-son dynamic. You were sitting on his lap, sinking both of you deeper and deeper into the soft couch, but Dean didn’t seem to mind. His hands held you cozily, one hand on your outer thigh, the other wrapped around and tucked into your under arm. He claimed he liked your warmth. “Just at Christmas. Otherwise, I have free reign.” You conversed back and forth for a while, all of you entranced with the conversation of, “So what are we going to do come January? What are the storylines going to look like?” It was safe to say all of you were workaholics. There was something strange about being home, as if home was really somewhere else, on the road, with the rest of the crew. Five years ago, that would have been abhorrent to think about - not having a true home. But it took you that long to realize your home was anywhere Dean and Seth were. Roman, too. Just then, you heard Roman’s all too familiar voice from somewhere beneath you. “You can Believe That!™” Dean didn’t flinch or jump, but something in his voice sounded a little shaken. “What the hell?” You laughed, the look on Dean and Seth’s faces completely priceless. “That’s Roman’s text tone on my phone. I made him record it a couple weeks ago.” “That’s the….most terrible thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Seth griped at you, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “You can practically hear the trademark in his voice.” “He’s right, that sounds terrible.” “Don’t be mean to Roman! It was my idea anyway. I forced him into it,” you slapped Dean on the arm, reached behind you to see what Roman sent, making sure to keep the screen away from Dean’s eyes. [So?] You quickly sent back, [Not yet. Shush.] You hoped he’d realize that he shouldn’t send any more messages. When you heard his trademark again, you nearly broke down in anger, but were surprised to find a picture of Roman and Galina in Cancun, the beautiful bright blue water shining behind them. He was kissing her cheek, and you could see the blush lightly shading her gorgeous brown skin. “What’s he saying?” You silently thanked Roman for not listening to your text, ultimately giving you some back up evidence in case Dean asked. And he had. You showed him the picture of Galina and Roman. “Aren’t they adorable?” “Yeah. They look so happy. Good for them.” You handed the phone to Seth. “They’re so precious.” “I wouldn’t say Roman is precious.” “Ugh, whatever!” Seth handed the phone back, and made to stand. He stretched his arms, his black haired happy trail visible for a moment. “Well,” he groaned, “I’m gonna hit the sack. Maybe play some videogames before I go to sleep. You need anything, Dean, clothes or anything, just let me know.” “Thanks, brother. Good night.”

“You wanna go for a walk with me?” Dean asked, squeezing you tightly. Sometimes it really struck you how different Dean could be from the man he played in the ring. Sure, there were some truths to his character - the impulsive nature, the (for the most part) no-care attitude…but there were a lot of traits he possessed that no one ever got to see, and would be surprised to find out about him. He was very sweet, and very touchy. He loved to keep his hands on you in every moment, whether it was a thumb pressed against your side or a hand on your thigh. You weren’t nearly as touchy, which you considered a side effect of never being touched. Your parents were only semi-affectionate in the touch department, hugs in welcome and kisses good night. And your infrequent experience with men didn’t help, either. But all of that was okay. All that time lacking personal affection made his touch all the more welcome. His touch was the only touch that really, truly, made you feel safe. But his touch wasn’t going to keep you warm outside, unfortunately. “Dean, it’s in the twenties. That’s below freezing. Have you forgotten the snow on the ground?” “So?” he shrugged, “it’ll be fun.” You both sat there in silence, mulling it over. You could hear him humming softly, awaiting your response. His cheek vibrated beneath yours as he did so, and you grinned. It was only then that you realized he was humming silently the chorus to Bad Touch. You and me, baby, we’re nothing but mammals

So let’s do it like they do on the discovery channel Repeatedly. For no reason. “Okay,” you laughed, “if only to get you to stop humming that song.” “It’s so catchy.” “Exactly. I don’t want to catch it.” “Alright, baby, up you get,” Dean said, patting your thighs, signaling for you to get off him. You stood, turned back to grab his hand and help him up from his sunken position in the couch. “You’re really stuck in there, aren’t you?” He grunted, “I had about 243 pounds of love on top of me.” “Have you been stalking my Wikipedia page?” You pulled on him, hard. He popped out of the couch and rammed into you, nearly knocking the both of you backwards. “Whoops,” he muttered, hands gently resting at your waist, quick to benefit from the blunder. “And no, I haven’t. I do watch women’s matches, you know. Especially yours. I know how they bill you.” “And do you know my actual weight?” His proud smile dropped in confusion. “You mean that’s not your weight?” “It was. Now it’s not.” “You got me.” He gave you a kiss on the nose. “I have no clue what your actual weight is.” “Two forty. I lost three pounds last week.” “Now why’d you go and do that for?” “Because I wanted them to bill me with an even number,” you laughed. “Baby, that’s three pounds less of you to love.” He sighed dramatically. “But if it makes you happy, it makes me happy. I’m proud of you.” “Thanks, Dean.” “So will you take that walk with me?” “Of course I will.”

Whoever thought hell was a burning pit of fire had never seen ice. The field that your parents called their backyard glistened with snow. The trees bordering the field were a good acre away at least, and the driveway in front was already being blanketed with tiny little snowflakes. It was fucking freezing, the wind was quietly howling in your ears, and Dean’s body was as cold as your own. It was a good day to die together, you mused. “Dean, why did you talk me into this?” You seethed through chattering teeth. “I have no earthly idea,” he trembled, hands holding one of your own close to his chest as y'all walked. You were glad of it. It was easing the cold, if but a fraction. “But I’m starting to regret it. Come on, we can take shelter in the barn.” “Dean, I don’t think that’s-” But he was gone, in the blink of an eye he had crossed the distance from you to the barn, cold hands rubbing together; he blew on them to melt his frozen fingers, and opened the barn door just a smidge. He slithered in, careful not to open it too far or else he’d let in too much of the cold. He’d regret that, too. That barn was always a mess. You stood there in the snow, speechless. You were amazed at his impulsive nature, and how very quickly he left you out in the cold by yourself. “He just-?” you muttered, flabbergasted. You shook your head, and continued the walk to the barn, cursing silently at him but also finding his behavior extremely funny. His head popped out suddenly from the crack of the barn door. “Come on, babe, what gives?” “Oh, I’ll fucking show you what gives.” More grumbling from you, followed by rubbing of your arms as you reached the door. “Fucking left me out in the damn-” You shut up as soon as you saw the scene before you, straight out of a teen fairytale. Twinkling fairy lights strung across the ceiling. And it was clean. Even the horses in their stables smelled like flowers, and there were a great deal of flowers. They covered every inch of the barn, from the floor to the top, the hay bales on the loft nearly invisible under the coat of white and purple roses. Every piece of farming equipment was mounted and stored at one corner of the barn, out of mind and spotless. And Dean: mouth closed, lips curled at one end in a crooked smile. A red rose in his hand, trembling slightly. Ocean blue eyes bright with hope. “Dean?” He stepped close, handed you the rose. “Hold this flower.” You giggled, accepting it, in awe at the way he presented it to you. You were very confused. Sure, you knew what was happening, but you were amazed at how. The shock of the beauty surrounding you had you thinking. He planned this out, all right. He planned this out well. He had help, and lots of it. And this was so un-Dean. “Ya like it?” He asked, nonchalant as ever. Only the trembling in his left hand gave away his true feelings. He caught you staring at it, and he buried it in the pocket of his jeans, taking a step back from you. “It’s beautiful,” you sighed, taking a whiff of the dazzling rose. It smelled fresh, crisper than the scent of cold. You made to take a step closer to him, but he stopped you, holding out a palm. “No, just stand right there.” You did as he commanded, waiting patiently. He ran a hand through his hair, dropped it to scratch at his beard. You wondered what he was going to say. “Look, you’re probably wondering what all this is.” You nodded, silent. “I planned this out. With your mom and dad. Strange, I know,” he chuckled. “I’m not usually the kind of guy with a plan. I’m that guy with the impulse, the kinda guy who changes his mind once, twice, three times in the span of five minutes.” “But this took me weeks to plan, and I did it. All of it. For you.” By then you were on the verge of crying. You did your best not to, but you drew your eyes to the ground, shying away from his words. He took a step closer, and stopped himself. “Stay with me, babe. Show me those beautiful eyes. I need you to listen to me. Please.” You nodded, looking back up to him, doing your best to hold back your tears. “[Y/N], I planned this out for you because I wanted to prove to you that you are not some impulse. I’ve thought about it, for weeks, months even. All that time apart, you and Seth and Roman on Raw and me on Smackdown, I thought about it.” He sighed, but not a sigh of resignation…but one of love. “I love you. I love you so much. I love every little bit of you. I love your laugh. Your eyes. That you can’t keep a secret worth a damn. Your dimples. The small freckles that litter your body. Your humor. Your tummy fat. Your hip fat. The way your arm jiggles when I poke it. Your gorgeous, chubby cheeks. Your plump ass. No, don’t stop me now, I’m almost done,” he held his hand up again, stopping you from your wordless protests. “I love every single bit of you and I promise you, though you may not love it yourself, I’ll love you enough for the both of us.” A shudder of breath escaped your lips, still unable to grasp the reality of the situation. He stepped closer, dropped down on one knee. His hands fumbled at his jacket pocket, took out the small, navy velvet box. “I know that I won’t always be the best person. I’m an impulsive, belligerent, don’t-give-a-damn kind of fool.” His fingers opened the box, revealing a small diamond on a simple silver band, absolutely perfect. “But I promise I will make you laugh every day for the rest of our lives, if you’ll let me.” “I guess what I’m trying to say is, will you marry me?” You couldn’t choke back the tears any longer. You dropped down to look Dean in the eyes and nodded desperately, a silent yes all he needed in order to wrap his arms around you and kiss you on the forehead, rubbing his nose against yours. “For all intents and purposes, that was a yes, right?” He asked. “Of course, you asshole,” you cried, not wanting to let him go. You could feel him chuckling against you, before his head lifted away from you and he shouted in the direction of the barn door. “Come on in, everybody!” Seth came in first, black beanie covering his ears from the cold, jacket wrapped tight against him. “It’s about fucking time, goddamn it.” “You know, for someone who doesn’t believe in God, you sure like to invoke his wrath a whole lot more than the average person.” “Ma, please.” “Honey, leave him alone,” Dad appeared behind his wife and son, “this isn’t about him. This is about my baby girl.” His arms reached for you as you stood up to embrace him, the strong scent of his cologne filling your nostrils. The road might be home, but your old man never failed to make you feel welcome. “Heya, Papi.” “Congratulations, mijita.” He let you go, and held out a hand to his son-to-be. “And congratulations to you, too, Dean. You better take care of her.” “I will, sir.” “I mean it. I may not be as young as I used to be, and I’m not a wrestler by any means, but I can still kick your ass.” Behind them, you could hear the sound of Seth’s laughter at his stepdad’s words as your mother embraced you. “He’s not bluffing,” Seth stated. “I believe you, Mr. Lopez.” “Damn right ya do.” In all the excitement, you hadn’t realized that your phone was buzzing in your back pocket, the sound of Roman’s voice once again floating to your ears. [So did he propose yet or what?] You weren’t so lucky this time around. “Roman told you?” Oh, fuck.

#Dean ambrose #Dean ambrose imagine #wwe #wwe imagine #dean ambrose fluff #roman reigns #seth rollins #text #my fics #mine

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paniccord-ff · 7 years

Text

36. Part 2

I can’t believe I am an actual model, me a model. How amazing is this, I can’t stop thanking Chris because this was on him. The car came to a halt outside the hotel “I think the fans have found my hotel” Chris said so calmly like there ain’t a whole bunch of them “and we have no bodyguard, let’s just rush in. They are behind barricades” the driver slid the door open for us “ok, let’s just do this” I am not about to wait for Chris, climbing out of the car and walking into the hotel. The screams pierced my ears, the doorman opened the door smiling at me. Walking into the hotel turning around, seeing Chris taking pictures with fans. He is such a sweetheart with them when he wants to be “I love y’all too, I need to go in. I’ll be back later” he waved running inside, he is saying that like tonight won’t get even worse for him “they love you so much” I said walking to the elevator “I mean who doesn’t love me, come on. I am Chris Brown, I am bomb as fuck” he walked in front of me backwards “keep telling yourself that” gripping his tee “watch it” he nearly hit into the guy “woah! My bad bro” the guy caught Chris as he was about to fall back “it’s fine Chris” I like his accent, that is so nice “he said Chris like he knew me, crazy” pressing the elevator button.

EJ is still sat in our hotel room, he never left at all “I thought y’all was leaving my room” Chris doesn’t look happy “I am waiting for little miss the jeans didn’t fit me and I gave her trash jeans” he pointed at me “shut up, I need my suitcase Chris. Please get it me! I can’t do this, I need clothes” Tamia laughed “being on the road is not all that cute, shit be going missing” she said but I want my things “Chris, I am serious. I want my suitcase” he shrugged sitting on the couch “they are on the bus, I can’t get them” furrowing my eyebrows at him “we are going to be here for like three days, get me the suitcase please or I will not be happy. Let’s go EJ” I might as well go “hey, wait. The hell you going?” Chris pointed “I told you, I need to go and buy you something. I am just shopping” he looked at me and then EJ “I can come?” sighing out “no Chris, just please no. You will ruin the surprise” he is so hard headed “what surprise?” EJ said all confused, eyeballing EJ “oh yeah” EJ said in a whisper “right, Joe is going though” blinking at Chris several times, not knowing what to say now “oh no, we don’t need that. We are fine” EJ said for me “it’s not for you, it’s for Rylee. Take Joe or one of my cousins or even Mijo” I hate Chris being like this “no, that is final. I said no, I don’t need it. Text me what you are doing” turning on my heels “you honestly up to something” he spat, I will just ignore him for now because he is holding me up.

Walking behind EJ, everyone be staring at us like we are foreign but it is EJ’ fault. He acting mad boujee “here we are, now we need to find a test for you. I will hold it of course, we don’t want anyone taking pictures now” why is there so many tests, it’s stupid “have you seen this?” Tamia walked over to us with this light blue box “sperm check? Oh shit, I mean if I thought Chris’ sperm didn’t work I would get him this shit to upset him but clearly it does, how the hell does this shit work” EJ took the box “seriously? Can we just get the test” I snapped, EJ scoffed glaring at me “ok, right so. Do you think you are early? You can get early detection?” I shrugged not knowing, EJ looked me up and then down “oh girl, your jeans ain’t fitting so let’s not play. We will get the regular thing” hitting EJs arm “that’s mean” he laughed picking the box “sorry, you know I love you” walking behind EJ to the cashier.

I feel somewhat excited but scared at the same time, what if I’m not because then that means I am fat “oh no, drive!!” EJ shouted, looking at him confused because we are here. Looking out of the blacked out window seeing Chris and his cousins walking out of the hotel, he stared at the car and it’s weird because it’s like he looked at me but turned his head away “he wouldn’t leave if we stayed and you know that” EJ is right, Chris would sit in the car and wouldn’t leave “he just misses me, don’t be mean about him” I miss his little face “he is about to have you on baby watch, this is going to make Chris paranoid about you. He needs it though, Royalty is never his and that is sad. That bodyguard built bitch said something on Insta saying Chris leaving his child to fed for herself, I goes bitch you a lie and she took it down. But it’s nice, I will be so happy for the both of you” rolling my eyes at Nia’ bullshit “fuck that bitch, I am coming for that ass. Watch” she messed with the wrong bitch, on god I will be having her crying to us.

I feel so bad, Chris probably knows that was us. I hope he won’t get too offended “I wonder where them niggas are going, I want to go to the club. I’ll have to ask him, I love London’ nightlife too” sitting on EJs bed as he spoke “Chris hasn’t really text me” placing my bag down “oh yeah, congratulations. Rylee Turner the model!” Tamia grinned at me “thank you, I heard that Mark guy saying to Chris to get me a manager and I will have an entourage. I mean, is that something that just happens or?” EJ chuckled “they will find you the right people but you got us, I will ditch Chris in a hot second for you. I can’t be sitting with them niggas, they be using me as bait for their jokes. Remember me bitch! Chris can dress him damn self, he always gets annoyed with me talking about shit ain’t right but then again you did call my jeans trashy” EJ will not let that go “well I got upset and I will more than likely have you two, probably cry to Chris and have you both. He doesn’t like me crying.” EJ held the pregnancy test box out to me “no hiding away now, come on. Let’s find out the truth” I am so damn nervous, taking the box from him “do them both” so nervous, I hate this.

Sighing out closing the bathroom door “there best not be pee on that shit” holding them both out to him “I dried them” he scoffed pulling a face “just take them, oh god. I am so scared, I feel also upset. I don’t know” covering up my face with my hands, my emotions are everywhere, sitting down in the chair in the corner “did you want to be a mother?” EJ asked “honestly no, then I got to know Royalty. She changed me, I realised that I wanted to be someone’s mother. I fell in love with Chris and that made me want that, I will be so happy because I don’t think I can. I mean I can but it will be a battle. My mom lost a lot of babies, there is three of us but before Kyrie came along if my mom kept them babies there would have been another three. My parents don’t even use protection that is how much she struggled, oh god. I feel sick” Tamia cooed “stop it, how long do we wait anyways? Ain’t this shit supposed to be like a minute?” she looked over at EJ “yes but now I feel nervous, girl. You didn’t have to tell me how nervous you are. You are making me nervous now” EJ is the worst “oh Rylee, I hope you are pregnant” he is making this even worse for me “negro will you just look!” Tamia spat, EJ sighed out “oh god, but I hate telling bad news. Upsetting Rylee is not cute” EJ actually cares.

EJ does not understand how nervous I am, the butterflies in my stomach right now. I just want to be sick “EJ! Will you just turn them around and look, we will look together!” Tamia spat, EJ scoffed sighing out “fine, one, two, three” staring all wide eyed as they both stared at both sticks, the silence in this room. I should have just looked myself, they are not reacting at all “can you just tell me? If it is bad news at least I can just lose weight?” I am more than likely not pregnant, feeling my heart sinking slowly. My heart aches “shall I tell her or you?” Tamia said “just please, I can’t do it anymore” when you feel your heart breaking, this is me right now “well Rylee I think you will need to” he paused “how do I put this?” he looked at Tamia “I think she might need to start learning how to change diapers” Tamia said, my face softened “you are pregnant bitch!!!” EJ screamed running at me, my hands over my face as I cried out “oh my god, oh Rylee” feeling a pair of arms wrap around me “aww Rylee, this meant so much to you” sobbing out tears of joy.

Tamia held out a tissue to me “oh god, I just can’t believe it. Is this real life” wiping the tears that fell with the tissue “yes girl, look at the screen” he held out one of the tests “it says three plus weeks but you need to find out yourself, it doesn’t tell you anything but that” tears fell even more, taking the test from EJ “I am actually having a baby, I am going to be a mother” staring at the word pregnant like it wasn’t real, this seems so surreal to me “you got me choked up now, I am so happy for you. After everything you deserve this, you have found out you’re pregnant and you’re a model. So happy for you” getting up from the chair, hugging both Tamia and EJ “I appreciate you both so much, I am having a baby. Oh my god” this seems so weird to me.

My mind is everywhere right now, I am just excited, nervous, emotional “you still look in a daze, you look real tired too. That must have took a lot out of you” blowing out air “I have been stressing a lot, my mom said I was and I said I didn’t believe her. Oh my god, I need to apologise to her but I want to tell Chris first, oh my god yes. I need to tell Chris, oh my god. I am actually pregnant and have been for a while. It said three plus weeks?” looking at Tamia “yeah, it says that if you are more than three weeks it will say three plus” I really need to get checked out “are you really supposed to get Chris an anniversary gift?” EJ questioned “yes I do” I think I am going to bed, getting up from their bed “there you have it, hide those sticks. We are going to think of something exciting for y’all, all of this excitement got me not wanting to go out now” EJ pouted out “just hide those things, we will think of something together and get his ass with a big surprise, he stay doing it for everyone so please hold off. Stop being sick and crying, don’t want him to catch on” waving EJ off “whatever, but thank you both so much. I think I am emotionally drained now from all of this” this took it out of me so much, I had so many emotions going through me.

Looking at my phone seeing Chris had actually text me an hour ago, the elevator doors opened and I stepped inside “going up?” this guy said, looking up from my phone and seeing the couple “oh yeah, top floor” smiling at them, tapping on Chris’ message.

From: Chris

To: Rylee

Where are you? I have ate but do you want some food? The boys are thinking of going to the club, if you don’t mind? I will bring some food for you either way

He is so cute, I don’t even want food I am just so happy but yet so drained from all the commotion. Looking up at the number and seeing we are reaching the top floor, the elevator doors opened and I let the couple go first and then I stepped off, replying to his text.

To: Chris

From: Rylee

It’s fine, I am not hungry. You can go to the club but if you are drunk then do not come to the room. I will tell you this in advanced I will cuss you out, I am not in the mood for that at all. I am going to sleep now anyways, be good. Miss you x

I am not about that cleaning sick mess today. I want to actually sleep in a bed. I miss home so much, tour buses are horrible. Pushing the room door open, my phone ringing in my hand. Chris is always waiting for my text “hello” answering the call, this hotel door is so damn heavy “seems like so long since I have heard your voice” he is so dramatic but I couldn’t help but smile, letting the door close behind me “been that long huh” switching the light on in the room and there in the middle of the room, my suitcase “god, I love you” he got me what I wanted “I love you too, I got the suitcase. After cussing some niggas out, are you going sleep now?” he sounds so sexy right now, it’s weird “uh yeah, I am tired. All the travelling and then everything that went on, the bed will feel a little lonely but have fun” I am happy to have the bed to my damn self, Chris be poking his dick in the back of me to wake me up and doesn’t really let me sleep “I rather be with you but you know how it is, niggas want to chill. I didn’t go to the club, I was waiting for you to say yes. I’ll be back before you know it, I will be with you soon. And was you in that car that went by?” I knew it, he saw me “uh yeah” I admitted “I couldn’t see but I just knew it, I felt you” biting my bottom lip smiling “I love you Chris” he’s making me so shy “I love you too, EJ is a dickhead. I know that was him, rest up and goodnight baby” I want him with me now, pouting out “goodnight” I don’t even want to get off the phone, Chris and I both sighed out together before he hung up. I can’t wait to tell him, to tell him we are going to be parents and we are having a mini us.

#Chrianna #Chrianna FF #Fanfiction

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dang-misha · 7 years

Photo

Imagine – Winning the first ever women’s Money In The Bank ladder match and dedicating your win to Chris Jericho

Word Count – 2,118

Warnings – None

A/N – I’m going to try to write tons of imagines again. J But I’ll probably have more WWE ones than Supernatural ones sadly. I’m not sure yet but I might change my account into a multi fandom imagine page instead of just SPN and WWE. Anyways enjoy!

About two months ago Stephanie McMahon and Triple H came up to you and the rest of the women’s locker room announcing that the first ever women’s Money In The Bank ladder match would be taking place June 19th. Everyone screamed with joy.

“The women in the match will be Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Emma, Nia Jax, Nikki Bella, and last but not least Y/N.” Triple H smiled. You all had a group hug then went on with your day, talking nonstop about how exciting this is for women’s wresting.

A few weeks ago Vince McMahon called you to his office. You’ve been in the company for five years now but you still get nervous around your boss.

“Oh Y/N! It’s so nice to see you. Please, come sit.”

“I’m not in trouble am I?” you asked nervously, knee bouncing up and down

“Why does everyone always think that they’re in trouble when I call them in? Am I really that scary?” He chuckled. You shook your head and smirked a little, still nervous.

“I called you in here to let you know that… You will be winning the MITB match. And you’re going to cash in on the same night.” Your jaw dropped.

“I am! Are you sure?”

“Well Y/N I kind of run stuff around here. Of course I’m sure.”

“Right, sorry my mind just isn’t in the right place. I’m honored, and I’m so thankful but I have to ask, why me?”

“You have been very loyal to this business. You’re a great worker, you’ve barley been injured and you have been here for five years without one title run. I think your time is now, miss Y/L/N.”

You walked over and gave him a huge hug as he gave you one back.

“Thank you so much Vince. This means the world to me.”

“You deserve it.”

-The Night-

Tonight is the night. Everyone was so excited, you especially but also very nervous. All these thoughts kept coming through “What if I mess up?” “What if I get injured?” A calm voice caught your attention. It was one of the ladies who create wrestling gears.

“Here’s your Chris Jericho gear you wanted” She smiled, handing the pants over to you along with his boots and a black tank top.

“Thank you so much, I love it! It looks just like his! I can’t wait to put these on.”

“No problem, good luck sweetie. You got this!”

You ran into your dressing room and quickly changed into your gear. You left, showing off your pants to everyone when you realized you still had to do a quick interview with Renee Young.

“Y/N, Are you ready to make history tonight?”

“You betcha Renee! But the question is are YOU ready to watch me win? Is the WWE Universe ready to watch me win? If not, they better get ready. Because I promise by the end of tonight that briefcase will be in my hand, and before Charlotte knows it that title will be in my hands.”

“I can’t help but notice, your gear is inspired by Chris Jericho. What’s the story on that?”

“Chris has always been my favorite since I was 12. Even though he was a bad guy, there was always something about him that just really interested me. It’s around 15 years later now and even though we work in the same company and are really good friends I’m still a huge mark over him.” You smiled while she smiled too.

“Since he created this match, I thought I’d dedicate my win to him. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be where I am right now. He’s my mentor, he’s my friend, he’s been my inspiration for as long as I can remember. He’s the one who trained me to wrestle and I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done for me and this company. Chris always says how he is the best in the world at what he does, its almost two decades later and he still proves that every single night.”

She thanked you and wished you good luck and went on her way. You looked at the clock and realized it was almost time to go out. You sat around in the lunch room sitting and talking with the members of the new day along with Bayley and Nikki.

“I can’t believe we’re here.” Nikki smiled

“In the lunch room?” Kofi joked, nudging her shoulder

“No! We are about to go out there and make history. That’s so cool.”

“Right? I never thought we’d do it.” You said, trying to hold back the tears.

20 minutes go by and one of the workers tell you its time. Your heart starts pounding what seems like a thousand times a minute. This is it. You waited for everyone to head out and make their entrances when finally your theme song hit, you ran out and smiled as you went down the ramp hearing the crowd sing along with your theme.

The match went on for about 30 minutes. So many crazy stuff has happened, and you’re pretty sure you broke your finger. At some point you climbed up the ladder and dropped kicked Emma off the ladder, knocking you down along with her and landing on your back pretty hard. Nia crushed Nikki like ten times. You did a lionsault onto Bayley. Everything was going great but the best was yet to come.

10 more minutes pass and everyone was down except for you. This was it. This was your moment. You looked around the ring at all the girls and shrugged your shoulders, smiling at the camera while the crowd chanted your name. You climb up the ladder, every step you were getting closer until you finally were on the last step. You grabbed the buckle, unlocked it and tore the briefcase down. You held it in your hands and looked down at it, a big smile coming across your face as your theme blared through the arena along with screams of joy.

“And here is the winner of the MITB ladder match, (your ring name)!”

You went backstage and took a few photos for social media. You did a few interviews and before you knew it it was already time for Charlotte vs Sasha for the women’s title. You watched backstage as they fought, feeling someone sit next to you so you look over and it’s Chris.

“Nice pants, they look awesome on you. I have great style, don’t I?” He smirked

“Yeah you do, I never want to take these off.” You both laughed, watching the match together

“I’m glad you won. It’s been what 5 years and you’ve never had one title run yet? That’s ridiculous. I’m glad Vince finally woke up and realized how awesome you are.”

“Thank you Chris. That means a lot.”

Before he could reply the same man who called you out earlier came back to give you your que to run out there. You gave Chris a quick hug as he yelled “Good luck, champ!” as you were walking away.

Charlotte’s theme played through the arena until yours hit, the crowd going wild knowing what’s about to come. She stood in the middle of the ring clenching her belt to her chest while yelling “This is mine!” but what she didn’t realize was you were right behind her, attacking her with your brief case. You slid out of the ring, handed your case over to the ref and demanded him to make the match.

“(Your ring name) Is cashing in her Money In The Bank contract!”

JBL kept yelling “It isn’t time to cash in yet! It’s not right! Charlotte just had a match there’s no way she can defend herself!”

You speared Charlotte and got up yelling “Come on baybay!” obviously like Chris does sometimes. You got up and went into a corner, yelling and telling her to get up again. She got up and speared her again. You got back up and got ready to put her in a liontamer. You struggled but finally locked it in. 65 seconds pass and Charlotte taps. You jumped off while tears already flowed down your cheeks as the ref handed you the beautiful white and red belt.

“And your new WWE Raw Womens Champion, (your ring name)!” the ref held your hand up high as the confetti fell through the ceiling. This was all the blood sweat and tears paying off. All the homesickness, all the bruises, all the traveling. This was a big screw you to the people who said you couldn’t wrestle because you are a girl.

You got on your knees in the middle of the ring and looked at your title thinking about everything. You got up and turned around and saw Chris, standing there with tears in his glassy blue eyes while smiling and clapping. You gave him a huge hug while thanking him. He let go, wiped away the tears off your face and held your hand high, pointing over at you with pride.

“Lets clank our belts! It’s what all the cool kids do!” He said picking up his United States championship. (I know he wasn’t U.S champ at the time let me live)

He got out and held your hand as you got out too. You ran over to your friends and family who were sitting in front row seats, hugging them tightly. You walked back up the ramp then stopped before you went in. You held up your title and heard as the fireworks went off.

You and Chris went backstage and watched as everyone joined and clapped for you. Some were crying tears of joy even. You covered your face, trying to hide the fact you were crying when you felt Chris wrap his arm around your shoulders. Triple H came over and picked you up in a great big bear hug. He was always like a father figure to you.

“I’m so proud of you. I’m sure Chris is proud of you too. We’re all proud.” You hugged each other again then went your separate ways. You went back to your dressing room to sit and take in what just happened.

You looked at the title that was still in your hands. This will never feel real. You were lost in a trance until you heard someone knocking on your door.

“Come in!” It was Chris

“Come here, I need one more hug.” He laughed, eyes still glassy from emotions. He picked you up off the ground and squeezed you tightly.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

“It was all you. I’m so proud of you. I cant express that enough.” It felt so good to hear that. The room got quiet for a few minutes.

“This means we get to clean our titles together” He said with excitement when another knock came.

“Hey sorry to interrupt but can I have one last Interview with you for today? I know you’re probably tired of seeing this mic but” Renee said

“It’s fine if Chris can join”

“Of course!”

You picked your title up and put it on your shoulder. Chris looked over at you with a smirk on his face.

“What’s the smirk for?”

“I’m just so happy for you.”

“I’m here with our new Raw women’s champion, Y/R/N along with Chris Jericho.”

“Renee, what did I tell you earlier tonight? That I was going to win. And what did I do? I won! I think I still have confetti in my hair.” You both giggled

“Chris, how do you feel about Y/R/N’s achievement tonight?”

“Renee, I can’t even begin to put into words of how proud I am of her. Back in 05 she came to one of my meet and greets and that’s where we first met. And now? I just stood in the middle of that ring, on a WWE PVP and held her hand up high while she held the women’s title in her other hand. That is amazing. Not to mention she beat Ric Flair’s daughter for the title too in under what 3 minutes?” You nodded.

“Well congratulations Y/R/N.”

She walked away and left you two to yourselves. The rest of the night you took selfies with everyone who wanted one, did your photoshoot even got one with Chris in it to keep for yourself for memories. Then after you got everything done you went back to the hotel and spent the night with Chris and Natalya talking about memories and playing games with each other on your phones.

This was a night you’d remember forever.

#wwe #raw #smackdown #wwe imagine #wwe imagines #wwe fanfiction #chris jericho #chris jericho imagine #chris jericho fanfiction #jerichoholic #y2j #y2j imagines #y2j fanfiction #chris jericho x reader #wrestling #wrestlers #professional wrestling

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