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darkdevasofdestruction · 3 years

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Don’t Let Go ~ Alfie Solomons

I’m in love with one man and one man alone. Mum and dad love Alfie too, but they still can’t take him away from me ;;;

How did she end up like this, she wondered? They were family...Even though her last name was not legally “Shelby”, she was still a part of the family since she was born. The parents were best friends, and when her parents died, Polly took her in. And then, they grew up together - Same home, same beds, same food, same clothes...Same everything.

And then, war came, and while true, she was younger than even John - Not by much, only about 3 years - But that didn’t seem to bother either of the Shelby siblings, and she was especially close with Arthur and Ada, mostly because they were the ones with the warmest hearts, and could understand her gentle one as well..

However, Tommy was the smartest of the family, and Polly taught her enough about Gypsy street-smarts, so the three of them together somehow became the true heads of the family, the true backbone that kept everyone straight and together.

When war came, she was barely 16, and yet, she joined them, dressing as a man and pretending to be a volunteer physician, healing and running around the battlefield, only to end up helping them dig up tunnels and plant explosions...

And taking a bullet for Tommy.

And nearly dying.

But at least, by the time they returned home, 4 years later, she was called an honorary Shelby and Polly officially adopted her.

She wasn’t Y/N L/N anymore, she was Y/N Shelby, and she was damn proud of that.

She helped with fixing races, rode around with her gorgeous black mare, going to the Garrison with her brothers to make sure they don’t end up drunk, in a ditch, she helped the strategy against the Lee family, got beaten up by Sabini, beat him up right back, got in that whorehouse of a Russian noble family, let the Duchess touch her while in her underwear, got beaten up by the priest, had to blow up a train with good people and many more...

But nothing was bringing her down, because she was a Shelby, and she was strong - Mentally, Physically, Emotionally - And she wanted to make sure the family was together, or at least trying to hang on, somehow.

She was the perfect woman - Never drank, never smoked, never cursed, never did drugs, never did drugs, never dated anyone...

But when one day, Thomas took her on a meeting at Alfie’s place... Boy of boy, was that entertaining.

She always appreciated Thomas’s ambition, cunning and intelligence...But Alfie? Alfie was something else. Something much above him, no much smarter, so much better at scheming...And at everything, really. And she was attracted by him like moths to the light.

Back and forth talks, interesting insights on life, learning words in foreign languages that she didn’t know, but he did, and likewise, teaching her foreign stuff, talking to him about books and many other things...

And it was weird, but it almost seemed like she didn’t want to leave that place any time soon, but Thomas needed her for business, so what could she do, really?

And she agreed...And agreed...And agreed...

Until one day, when all things went completely upside down and...Sure, she did her job, and she was supposed to return to Alfie’s to have a chat with him and Tommy... And she did...

As soon as she stepped inside the “Bakery”, she saw Ollie, whose eyes widened in shock seeing her in that state.

“Miss Shelby, what happened?! Let me call the physician-...I’ll go inform Alfie-...” Ollie stumbled over his words, only to have her grab his sleeve and pull him back. “Don’t tell them I’m here. With the way I look, better make it a surprise. Tommy’s here, right?” she asked, slamming the doors open, walking inside, the clicks of her small heeled boots resounding all over the place. “B-But Miss Shelby, we have to treat you - “ Y/N simply shot him a glare, before continuing in a straight line. “Ain’t a Shelby anymore.” she muttered, and soon, she reached the middle of the wide business room, as Alfie was sitting at his desk and Tommy was pacing. “Y/N...Finally, you’ve arrived. What happened to you?!” Thomas asked, rushing to her side, only for her to push him away. “You lied to me, Thomas. You lied to me. You promised I wouldn’t get hurt. That you were gonna make sure they wouldn’t touch me. That I was gonna come back perfectly unharmed, not even a strand of hair touched. Only business talks. How do you think that went?” the girl looked down, her hands deep in her bloodied, yet incredibly fancy and silhouette-fitting high-waisted pants. “What exactly happened with the Sabini meeting, Y/N? And why are you covered in blood?!” he asked, frowning. “It’s fine, not ALL of it is MY blood, thanks for worrying, THOMAS!” but as she rasped out his name, she started coughing up some blood, and as her side started burning in pain, she lifted her already disheveled shirt, applying pressure with her hand where she got shot to keep herself from bleeding out. “Well...This one is.” she used her sleeve to wipe her face, completely non-chalant. “Y/N...Tell me what happened...Please...” Thomas’s voice went lower, almost as a soothing whisper, but it was quickly obliterated by Y/N’s exaggerated, yet pained laugh. “I got beaten up, raped and shot by Sabini and his men. That’s what happened, Thomas. No business talk, just abuse. You promised nothing will happen to me...But, oh, damn, remember that you told Lizzie the same too, and she, that fucker raped her at the Derby too, when you were too busy fucking around with two other women? Oh, wait...Is it because I’m a woman? Because, the way I see it, all women that you have in your life get abused somehow...By you. Grace died because of you. Ada left the city because of you. May got hurt because of you. Esme hates you...There’s also the Duchess, but she very much outsmarted you, so she’s safe and...Still a noble woman. And don’t even get me started on Polly...Poor woman...Having to endure living in the same world as you. For the amount of time you spend fucking women, one would think you’d be more considerate of them.” her beautiful eyes were sharp and hateful, throwing daggers at the man in front of her as she continued to pace around, her tongue speaking the poison that very much tainted her heart over the past many years of her life. “...Y/N. I know you’re in pain, and that I’ve hurt you. I know. You are right, I agree. I’m aware. But it wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t have known, and-” as he continued, the girl calmly approached him, and as soon as she was right in front of him, she back-slapped him, thanking her classy mind for wearing lots of rings that day. As she laughed at the way the wounds showed up on one side of his face, she followed by slapping him on the other side, much harder than before. “Shut the fuck up, Thomas Shelby. Don’t speak to me. Don’t get close to me. I am not a Shelby anymore, so you can fuck off...Do you see who you’re doing business with, Alfie? A guy who can’t even protect his family! He got all of us arrested and almost hanged, made Ada go away, made Polly go insane, had Arthur beaten up, me as well, and guess what, Michael got shot and JOHN GOT KILLED! BECAUSE OF YOU, THOMAS! Grace died because of YOU! And your child got kidnapped and almost died BECAUSE! OF! YOU!” with each sentence, she punched him, hit him, kicked him, smashed him head with her knee, then on the wall, then ended by stomping her boot on his stomach...And walked away, as calmly as if never happened. “And...This is not my blood.” “Well, lass, gotta say, yeah, you ain’t as much of an angel as I thought, eh. Or, maybe now more than ever, you’re the angel I thought you were.” Alfie watched from behind the desk, completely relaxed, analysing the show in front of him, and yet, his brain was running a thousand miles per second, thinking of millions of things. “D’you have a free spot here, Alfie? No guns and death and all that. Maybe...Someone to patch up your boys. I don’t know. Hell, I’ll even accept being your secretary or...Flower girl. Cook. Tea girl. I can walk Cyril...I don’t know, anything you want, just get me the hell out of this Shelby hell.” she turned around to look at him, using her other sleeve to clean her face, using the water from her tears. “Heard that, Thomas Shelby? Your sister’s deserted you, and for a good reason, eh. You can leave now, there’s other times to do business, right.” Alfie spoke, getting up and stepping towards her. “This isn’t over, Y/N. We’ll talk again. You’re a valuable part of the family, and you’re coming back, sooner than later.” Thomas went get get out of the building, only for the girl to quickly take out the gun from her jacket and cock it, pointing it at the man. “Fuck off and go to hell, Thomas.” she pulled the trigger... “Stop it, lass, don’t do it! You’re gonna regret it!” Alfie sprung out, holding one of his arms around her body, while his other hand went to her gun, making her shoot a wall instead of a living being, letting the man get out of there, still alive, somehow. “Damn it, Alfie! Why’d you do that! It’s 2 for 0, damn it! I’m fed up with taking bullets to save that guy, while all he does is sit comfortably behind his desk, damn it! I’m not a fucking rag doll that can be tossed in the trash!” she cried, trying to struggle out of his grasp, but the wounds were hurting her too much, so her strength gave out faster and she stood limp in his arms, trembling softly. “S’okay now, lass, yeah. I’ll bring ya to Cyril and we can...Uh...Drink that tea you like, right. Forget that guy, let’s get ya treated, right. Get that bullet out of ya. And sure, y’can be my physician, I know you were a great one in war, yeah.” the Jew gently took out the gun from her hand, throwing it to the ground for Ollie to take later, an he picked her up with much, bringing her to the medic’s room. “I need vodka, cigarettes, and if I’m brave enough some Tokyo...Snow...Whatever you call it.” she groaned as soon as she was place on the bed, as the gangster frowned in confusion at her. “I thought you didn’t do vices.” he sat on the opposite bed, watching her intently. “Woaw, I lied to you and everyone else in the world. I do drink and I do smoke and I did date before...Just...Not when people were seeing me. People think you’re an angel, they will hopefully leave you the hell alone. Difficult being a woman these days, as you can see. Everybody’s treating you like a piece of garbage. And bring me that vodka, I need to have the room spinning before I take out the bullet...And vodka’s the best disinfectant. The hospital stuff is washed up and diluted a lot of times.” she gave him a sarcastic half-smile, taking the cigarette he just lit up and puffed on it. “Only whiskey and rum, if you want, yeah. You don’t have to pretend to be someone you’re not around here, lass. Just do what you want, nobody’s gonna say a thing, right, and if they do, you know how to use a gun, so shoot their brains, eh, show them all who’s in charge.” he got up, bringing her what she requested, watching attentively as she let her head back, poofing smoke into the air. “Thanks, Alfie. Come back in an hour. I don’t need witnesses of my misery. You know better than everyone, Captain Solomons, that taking out a bullet gets messy.” she pointed the cigarette at him, smirking miserably at him, knowing very well that she wasn’t mentally ready for the procedure. “Well, lass, if you’re very sure, you don’t need help, right, then I’ll be waiting outside.” the Jew patted her head, leaving the room, letting behind only a graveyard silence, that for some reason, creeped the girl out big time. “...Let’s fuck shit up, then...” she muttered to herself, letting the ashes of the cigarette fall pitifully on the bed, as she took a deep breath and violently slammed her hand over the medical tools.

She’s always been a very careful and precise person, and whenever she did this on someone else, she would have people keep the victim down, so she could rummage through their bodies with relative ease, especially after they got shit faced drunk...And maybe with some anaesthesis... But this is the worst. Just like back then, during the war...

Letting a few tears of anticipation fall down her face, she cut a bit deeper into her body, to allow her fingers, previously washed with alcohol, she whimpered and squealed as she searched around for the bullet - It was no easy feat for, but it had to be done, no matter the searing pain -.

It felt like time stopped completely before the extraction of the stupid lead thing, she held it in her hand, watching its taunting gleam glaring back into her eyes, then watched with horror that stupid bottle of whiskey, and with her last strength, she snatched it and putting her pillow over her face to keep the shrieking from leaving the room, and gritting her teeth, she let the alcohol pour out from the bottle, wailing loudly, and yet, hoping nobody would hear her.

She was still sobbing in the pillow, the fire-like pain, electrifying the surging, diffuse pain throughout her whole torso, and she laid there, throwing away that pillow as soon as the door was opened again, and adjusting her head, she noticed Solomons walking in the room, a basket dangling from his arms.

“What’cha got there?” she asked in a weak, whisper-like voice, still trying to recover. “Goodies. Freshly baked cookies. At least something that smells nice in this pigstry, eh.” Alfie’s joking way of speaking seemed to take away her mind, but she smiled apologetically, lifting her hands briefly. “Sorry, too much blood on my hands. Literally and metaphorically speaking.” she explained, only to have Alfie take out one of the cookies and feeding her. “...This...Is the best thing I’ve eaten in my life. Did you make them? Because if you did, you’re like...A Cookie God. Have more?” she asked, managing, with a lot of difficulty, pain and his help, to get in a sitting position. “Well, I’ve never been called a God, right, but it ain’t that bad, yeah. Here you go, one more. I’ll ask a maid to draw a bath for you, yeah, I doubt you wanna stay all bloody the whole day, eh.” he helped her eat another cookie, and weirdly enough, despite all the blood on her face, her small smile was oddly charming. “...Y’know...If you ever want to retire from this gangster bullshit...You could settle down and...Just bake for a living...No, rather, a hobby. I’m sure you have enough money for a life time, so might as well just rest and take it easy. Move away from here...Maybe another country...Or another city, at least...And just...Y’know...Be happy. You could do that...And be rid of stupid Italians and Americans and all these jerks.” Y/N spoke, more or less not directly to him, but in a way, she was projecting her own hopes and dreams. “Margate.” Alfie muttered, sitting down in front of her. “Margate?” she furrowed her brows in confusion, leaning forward a bit. “Aye. By the seaside. The sand is really soft, they say, and the waves are nice, yeah. Very calm town.” he continued, which made her gasp softly in realisation. “You...You DID think about retirement! It means you’re really kinda fed up with this...This mess. I like where this is going.” she smiled softly at him, nodding in agreement. “I think you’re making the right choice, if it makes for anything.” “Y’know, lass, you’re not wrong. We do need a vacation, yeah, and a very long one at that, right. Now, how ‘bout we talk about what you need, right, for this medical thing. You’re a sensible woman, yeah, so, I trust you more with the details and organising.” he pointed, and thus, they started chatting idly about the medical issues, and even more, about life in general - Books, the pictures, concerts, travelling and things...Leisure things, just simple things that she never had the privilege to talk about, and she had no idea she wanted, nor needed.

Many weeks passed and things were unusually calm for her, and for the first time in her life, she felt...Happy. She enjoyed being around Alfie, working with him without being involved in all the killing, and she absolutely loved baking things together, and he was so charismatic and charming, always giving witty remarks that amused her and made her laugh...

It was the perfect life she always dreamt of having, and he even asked if she wanted to go to a jazz pub with him, and...She got to dress up, and do her make up and do her hair, wear pretty, expensive jewellery, and a damn fine dress to show off her gorgeous silhouette, and high heels to match...And she walked next to him, her arm hooked to his, as they enjoyed the beautiful jazz music and each other’s presence.

It was a blissful dream, and she swore that if anyone dared wake her up, she was gonna kill them, and it won’t be quick, nor painless.

“Y’know, Alfie...You’re the best man I’ve ever met in my life. And that says a lot, considering how many men I had the misfortune of meeting...Including my family.” she raised her champagne glass slightly to clink with his. “Maybe you haven’t met the right men, dear, yeah, y’know, and men in Birmingham are fucking shit anyway. Camden’s better, yeah.” the man chuckled mirthfully, leaning back on his chair. “You...Mentioned Margate once. How are things going on with that?” Y/N asked, smiling at him softly. “Well, lass, y’know, yeah, things are...Things are fine. But, uh...You see...The doctor said I’m sick. They aren’t really sure yet what’s wrong with me, alright, but they said the results should be given pretty soon, yeah.” he admitted after a few seconds of consideration, which made the girl gasp in shock, moving her chair to look at him better taking his hands in hers and leaning forward. “What did they say about it? Did they take blood sampled? Wanna do blood work? Or...Biochemistry tests? Or something more complex?” Y/N bit her lip, looking concerned like never before. “Don’t worry, lass, even if I die, yeah, I’ll still make sure you get paid for your hard work, alright?” the man tried to brush it off, but the indignant look on her face made him chuckle. “I’m gonna kill you if you imply something like that again. I don’t need your money, I just want you to be healthy and alright, got it? Now come on, tell me, what do they suspect. Also, where is your doctor’s clinic, and when will your results arrive.” she pressed on, waiting for an answer. “Come on, don’t be so serious, yeah, enjoy the show, it’s not every night we get to have fun, right?” Alfie, again, tried to play it off as nothing important, but the look on her face made him sigh and nod, giving in. “They think’s cancer, right. I got a tumour, they’re checking if it’s...Uh...Cancer or not. right. Doctor’s around here in Camden, results come out sometime in a week or two, that enough?” he rolled his eyes, and yet, he was grateful for her worrying. “...I guess. If I knew, I would have done the lab work myself, but, you know...If anything, I can do the procedure myself... Or maybe I should hold your hand and make sure you’re not scared. They have to do general anaesthesia, cut you open and all that...It won’t be fun.” she looked down a bit, before smiling encouragingly at him. “Y/N. I’m a big boy now, right, I’ll be fine, no need to worry about me, yeah, you just...You be okay, and relax, and-...And before long, we’ll go to Margate together.” he continued, trying to calm her down, without realising at first of the commitment, until he noticed the excited gleam in her eyes. “Alfie...? Are you...Are you sure...? Margate is the place you want to go to...Why would you...Me...?” she muttered, almost unsure of how to react. “Let’s go home, eh. I want to make you some nice tea, yeah, and some cookies. I have to tell ya something, and I’d rather it not be out.”

Alfie squeezed her hands, helping her get up, and the walk home was filled with anticipation and a comfortable silence that wanted to rip out the answers out of his throat.

He let her dress in more comfortable clothes, and so he did, then went down to prepare some nice and warm tea, with the biscuits he baked that day, and went to her room.

“Do you like me, Alfie?” she asked in a shushed voice, not daring to raise her head to look at him. “What’s not to like, lass? You’re smart and witty, and for some reason, you find me funny, and look at ya, you’re gorgeous, right. So if I say, yeah, I want you to come to Margate with me, I mean it. You just have to agree, aye. Get away from this and rest. God knows we need this.” he had a sweet smile on his face - A smile that quickly faltered when he saw stray tears falling down her face, and he started worrying. “Why...In the world...Would someone as amazing as you...Like me? Alfie, you’re...You’re amazing, and me, I’m...I’m the worst. I can’t let go of the past, and I’ve got like...This...This devil inside me...This Shelby devil that keeps whispering in my ear, saying that I’ll never be happy, and that I’ll...I’ll kill again, and I’ll be dragged back to that slum and...And all that happiness will just shatter and...And I don’t deserve you.” she looked down, hoping her long her would hide her face, but next thing she knows, she got brought into a tight embrace, and he stroked her hair, his chin on top of her head, waiting for her to calm down, and yet, he could feel her trembling softly. “Don’t say things like that, yeah, that’s not true. You’re with me, not with them anymore, right, so, then, you’re going back. I won’t let them take you back, if you don’t want to, aye. No need to cry, right, I’ll protect you from anyone who dares try to take you away, eh, even if it’s Tommy Shelby himself, so no need to cry, yeah, Y/N?” he spoke, only to feel her cling even tighter to the back of his shirt. “I...I’ve...I’ve never felt like this before, Alfie. You make me feel so warm...And safe...And happy...I’ve been hold before, but all I felt was repulsion and fright...I was panicked and I wanted to run away...But this...This never happened. And I think I love you, Alfie. Don’t let go of me, please.” her voice was barely audible, but Alfie could feel the raw emotions, so he laid down with her on the bed, holding her dearly. “It will be fine, Y/N, okay. None of these worries will come to you again when in Margate. You and I will be happy, away from here, yeah, so, know that I love you, and let’s wait just a bit more, so we can get rid of this Changretta mess, and we’re leaving, eh.”

And it was true - From that night on, they slept in the same room, holding each other dearly, reassured that the next day, things will still be as good as the previous night. One morning, however, Alfie woke up without her in his arms, and he panicked, thinking the worst - Poor Ollie thought he was going to get killed - But it was all fine, as she returned with the biggest grin on her face, jumping in Alfie’s arms, not allowing him the chance to say a word, only shocking him. And she held his hands and dragged him to his room, getting him to sit on the bed, and at first, she wanted to make tea, but then she shook her head and brought a bottle of the best whiskey, poured it in the glasses and had him drink.

“Damn it, lassie, don’t fucking scare me like that, yeah, like, at least tell me in advance if you’re gonna leave, okay, I thought those fuckers got ya for good. What the hell was the urgency?” he asked, drinking the glass in one go before looking at her. “I...Well...Haha, sorry ‘bout that, I’m just...I’m sure super happy. So, as you know, today the doctors had to mail you the test results, so, you know, I seem to have been a bit too eager to find out, so I since there were no trains, I walked all the way to your doctor, told him this and that, then got the first train back, and here I am. Oh, and, obviously, I’m super happy ‘cause like, I couldn’t keep myself - Sorry ‘bout that, by the way - So I ripped the envelope and looked at the results. And, uh, yeah, so, I’m happy ‘cause - Look ! - No cancer! You’re completely, 100% cancer free! And, like, the tumor completely benign, no invasiveness, no metastasis, so this is completely curable by surgical removal, and it won’t affect your life span, nor will it, in any way, alter your health. Et, voila, here we are! Go on, drink, cheer, be happy, I know I am!” she laughed gleefully, watching the shocked spark in Alfie’s eyes as he took out his glasses to read over the annoyingly complicated medical stuff, but he was a smart guy, and he understood everything there is to it. “You’re the best, shiksa. You say things are gonna turn out bad, but here, look, they aren’t, and hey won’t right, ‘cause clearly, there’s something up there, alright, that’s looking out for us, and it ain’t only me making sure you’re fine. I’m happy, Y/N, and in less than a month, aye, we’re fucking away from here. Just the two of us...And Ollie as a butler, if ya want. And we can get as many dogs as you want. We can do whatever we want, really.” he hugged her tightly, cupping her face and kissing her tenderly.

It all went sweet and soft at first, and it got hotter and hotter, with much more passion than before, and one thing led to another, and their first night of overflowing love gave hope for a better future, one that will ensure their happiness and that won’t involve them in this stupid gangster war anymore.

Just him, her and Cyril, maybe Ollie too, at the side...What better life to have than this?

But just one week before they had to leave, as they were still preparing for their grand exit, Y/N was walking towards the clinic room to check on the few patients she had left, only to notice the glint of guns, and she did a turn around, looking for Alfie, and yet, Ollie stopped her in her tracks as soon as she saw her, rushing to hide her from the people who were, apparently, having a meeting with Alfie.

“Ollie, it’s an emergency. Life or death, I promise. I NEED to speak to him. Who is he having a meeting with?” she asked, holding her clipboard close to her chest, looking left and right carefully. “With the Sabinis. Now, come on, Y/N, whatever it is, can wait. I’m sure you can wait a bit with Cyril. Please.” Ollie pleaded with her, but she only started writing rapidly on her clipboard, letting the first two pages filled with obvious, typewriter-written pages about standard medical procedures. “I’m sorry, Ollie, but this is bigger than even Sabini. Come with me and NEVER leave Alfie alone with those sharks, got it?” she gave him a sharp look before rushing to the usual place Alfie had business meetings, and as she completely ignored the villains, she slammed the clipboard on his desk, giving him a look. “Very important medical business thing, I need your signature after you read through these.” as he was so much taller than her, she only needed to bend a bit to talk into his ear, carefully flipping the first two pages, only to reveal big, messy writing.

ENEMIES WITH GUNS IN THE MEDICAL WARD POINTED TO THE BOYS DON’T TRUST THEM

Alfie gave her a look, knowing shit went bad, he nodded slightly, getting a pen and, as his signature, he wrote “TELL OLLIE”, and ushered her to leave. And so she did, and Ollie went to alert the other guys so they could ambush the enemies in the medical ward, all while cursing herself and preparing guns, hidden in her long trench coat, then returned to stay by Alfie’s side, her hands placed on his shoulders reassuringly.

“Mr. Solomons, I see the little song bird likes flying around to every powerful gangster family. Wonder if she’ll go to the Changrettas when she’s done with you.” the Sabini leader smirked at her, and Alfie could feel her nails digging into his flesh, and not even the good way this time. “Listen, listen, Mr. Sabini,eh. You come here, begging me for fucking favours, right, and then, you dare fucking speak ill of my partner, yeah? So, where is the fucking time where you, like, do something to make me want to do that fucking favour of yours, if the only fucking thing you make me want to do is to fucking grant you the favour of putting you out of this miserable fucking life, right?” there was no clearer indicator that Alfie was angry than when he cursed like his beard was on fire, and true, YN found it very weird, considering how sweet and gentle he’s always been with her, but she could feel the protective aura he gave off, and she never felt safer than now. “Aye, aye, Alfie, don’t overreact, please, it was just a merely innocent joke! Lighten up, let’s discuss business. We teamed up with Luca Changretta, we can give you money and exposure. We can sell your rum and weapons all over Europe, especially France and Italy, and that means, in the long run, a ton of money. I’m sure you’ll agree with me, won’t you?” Sabini spoke, and from the corner of her eye, she could see one of the men taking out a gun from the back of his pants. “Mr. Sabini, I will have to ask you, as Mr. Solomons’s secretary, not to take out any weapons, otherwise our men will shoot all of you, with no discrimination.” Y/N threatened in a low voice, taking her hands from Alfie’s shoulders, and crossed her arms to her chest, ready to draw her weapons at any second. “It’s alright, Y/N, right, I don’t think Mr. Sabini is fucking stupid enough to dare a shoot out in my own fucking warehouse, eh.” Alfie warned the Italian gangster, snapping his fingers for Ollie to come by. “Vaffanculo...Che stronza! No, fine, fine, we’re all calm, all good, right? We can have a business deal and leave this place happy, both parts, right?” Sabini spoke, using his hands to gesture everyone to calm down. “Stick that deal up your ass.” Alfie cursed Sabini in perfect Italian, making Sabini straighten up, almost as if he got sobered by a hammer to his head, and without a second to wait, some of the lackeys drew their guns.

But they were too late, for Y/N already had both guns out and killed most of them, starting with Sabini himself, and Ollie’s boys helped up just enough to have the Red Sea at their feet.

Once all the enemies were laying dead on the cold, wet ground, Y/N sighed, throwing the guns to the ground, sighing and staring at the carnage with the eyes of a dead fish.

Alfie nodded to himself, pissed off at the mess that just had to happen, a week before they were going to sail to a better place, without either of them having to bloody their hands anymore, just like now.

“Well, Ollie’s got them all, so we’re good now. The sooner we finish the preparations, the better. Let’s hope Changretta the Bitch gets blown up...I should go check on Cyril, I’m sure he got scared by the gunshots.” Y/N sighed, patting him on the shoulder before turning on her heels to leave, and yet, Alfie motioned to Ollie to clear the mess, and then followed her back to their room, watching her cuddle with the beautiful dog. “Are you alright, Y/N?” Alfie asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand reaching to stroke her hair, only for Cyril to reach to get his head pet instead. “Aw, Cyril...You’re the cutest baby ever. And...I will be, Alfie. I will be. Soon...Once we leave, I will be. Until then, I’m happy spending my time with you and Cyril. It relaxes me...And it makes me happy. WE are happy.” she reached out her hand, holding his, intertwining their fingers together and leading him to lay on his side, with the dog between them, like they were a family. “Well, darling, it’s just a few days longer, and we’re out of here, right. And we’ll be a family, like you want, and by the shore, there’re no more gunshots, right, so, we can learn how to swim, and we can mess with this slobbery bastard, and I can teach you how to bake other things. I heard the waves and the salty air help you sleep better. Ain’t that just fucking perfect, eh?” Alfie gave her a sweet smile, and laid there, with her, relaxing. “Sounds amazing, Alfie. I can’t wait for Margate, then. Just you, and me, and Cyril...And maybe Ollie too, y’know, that guy makes the best tea, ain’t gonna lie.” she giggled, squeezing his hand lovingly. “Aye, it’s gonna be great. And, we can travel wherever you want, whenever you want. Any country, any city, any date. You pick, we go. Sounds good?” Alfie asked, smiling tenderly at her excitement, happy that she wasn’t stuck on the previous blood bath. “Yeah, it sounds perfect. As long as we’re together, everything is better.”

#alfie solomons #alfie solomons x reader #alfie solomons imagine #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinder imagine #peaky blinders #thomas shelby #arthur shelby #john shelby #ada shelby #polly shelby #elizabeth gray #michael gray #finn shelby

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sugarbutterbroadway · 4 years

Text

A New Kelly

“We need to talk,”Davey said, setting down his backpack. Jack froze, pdf on his laptop immediately forgotten. He tried to keep his face neutral but his mind was doing a frantic recap of everything he’s said and done in the past week. The worst part was that it kept coming up negative, which made him even more nervous. He forgot to pick up Luna’s poop outside yesterday but they had both laughed it off, so they were fine, right? It couldn’t have been about the poop, right? His face must have betrayed him because Davey took one look at him and winced.

“I phrased that wrong”He said, “I’m not mad at you about anything, i’m just tired and can’t speak”

“Not even about the poop?”Jack asked in a tiny voice. Davey scrunched up his face and took a seat on Jack’s lap, letting out a sigh.

“You’re the one who stepped in it, why would I be mad?”he asked. Jack shrugged and wrapped his arms around Davey’s waist pulling him closer. Davey toed off his shoes and lifted his legs onto the couch.

“What did you want to talk about, my love?”Jack asked, placing a kiss on his shoulder. Davey sighed and grabbed one of Jack’s hands. Jack took that as a sign to attempt being serious and looked at him.

“Jack”He said, squeezing Jack’s hand. “I want another baby”

Jack sputtered, “What do you mean another?”

“Well Luna’s getting older and I just think that a little sibling would teach her some responsibility-”

“Who has the new puppy?”Jack groaned, rubbing his eyes. Davey grinned and wiggled a bit trying to get his phone out of his pocket.

“Specs and he’s so cute, look!”He said, shoving the phone in Jack’s face. It was Specs instagram definitely, the bright yellow theme was indication enough. Jack gently grabbed the phone and hummed as his eyes scanned it. He let out a noise of triumph, yup that was definitely a puppy. It was a candid shot of Jojo mid laugh on the floor with the puppy curled up in his lap. Jack looked up at Davey with a raised brow, and Davey groaned reaching both hands up to cup Jack’s face.

“His name is Percy!”he continued, squeezing Jacks’s cheeks.“That’s so fucking cute babe, just look at him! His paws are too big for his body!”

Davey continued to coo but Jack’s mind was still reeling. He didn’t know why he felt so disappointed. Sure he was scared shitless at the mere thought of a human baby, but a tiny part of him was hoping that’s what Davey meant. He leaned back into the couch and let his arm go slack around Davey’s hip.

“-nd I know that we just saw them a few months ago but would it be so bad to vis--babe?”He said.

“Hmm?”Jack hummed. Davey shifted a bit in his lap so he was somewhat facing Jack and poked at his cheek.

“You’re frowning”

“Am not”Jack frowned.

“Are too”He said, poking the creases in his forehead. Jack let out a groan and opted to bury his face in Davey’s shoulder. Davey clicked his teeth and rolled off of Jack's lap--much to his disappointment--onto the couch.

“What’s the matter?”He asked.

“Nothing”Jack waved off, “My mind is just somewhere else” “Where?”he asked, leaning his head on Jack’s shoulder. “I wanna go too” “Santa Fe,”Jack said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah right”He snorted, “You haven’t wanted to go to Santa Fe since you figured out that it was desert land”

“Not true!”Jack exclaimed, “I obviously wanted to stay for my loving boyfriend-” “And you’re scared of spiders”He said, snuggling closer into Jack’s side. “But, come on Jack. I thought we didn’t keep secrets”

“Fine”Jack sighed, “I want a divorce”

“Again, nice try”He snorted, “please Jackie, for me?”

“Davey…”

“Please”

“Alright alright!”Jack exclaimed, “Enough with the eyes. Christ you Jacobs are spoiled”

“No, we just know how to get what we want”He smirked, tucking a leg under his butt. “Now spill”

“You’re restless,”Jack pointed out.

“And you’re still avoiding the question”He said, “whatever it is can’t be that bad”

Oh but it can, he wanted to say.

“I…”Jack said and took a deep breath, “I want a baby”

Davey blinked, “I thought you didn’t want another puppy?”

“No!”Jack whined, shaking his head. “No no, Luna is enough. I...I want an uh..an actual baby...with you” god he was being so awkward.

Davey’s eyes widened slightly but he smirked. “Should we go try for one?”

“Stop teasing me!”Jack whined, “But is..is this something you want Davey? Like do you think we’re ready for a baby?”

Davey just stared at him.

“You’re making me nervous, Davey”Jack chuckled, “You’re not speaking, that’s weird”

“You’re an asshole,”He said.

Jack’s heart stuttered. “W-what?” “You’re an asshole because now me and Spot owe Race fifty dollars”He grumbled. “How could you do this to me?” “I’m not following,”Jack said after a few moments of trying to pick his jaw off the floor.

“Of course I want a baby with you”He said, grabbing Jack’s hand. “I’ve only been dropping hints since the day we got married!”

“What hints!”Jack exclaimed, “I’m so confused”

“I’m always holding the babies at any family function”He started, “I’m always offering to babysit Chanah and Anika and Damien-”

“I get it, your family is huge”Jack said, Davey gave him the side eye.

“We have a spare room that I have been guarding with my life!”he continued, “we have a literal baby name book in here-”

“You said it was so we could name Luna!”Jack sputtered.

“And that’s how she ended up with the most human name ever!”He laughed, “Our dogs name is Luna Anne Kelly-Jacobs”

“It’s a cute name!”

“Face it Jack, I’ve been dropping hints”He huffed, “And now i’m short fifty bucks so thanks a lot”

“Well why were you guys betting on me!”Jack asked, “You know better than to bet with Race on anything”

“We wanted to see who would cave first, me or you”He said, “I obviously thought it was gonna be me because you’re dense-”

“Hey!”

“But then you get all nervous and cute saying you want a baby!”he finished, chest heaving. “Which is simultaneously the most attractive and dumbest thing you’ve ever done”

“I...I don’t know what to say,”Jack said. There were a lot of things he could have said, but his brain had turned to mush.

“Just...sometimes you are very clueless”He giggled, “I thought I was going to have to spell it out for you on the fridge or something”

“So you really want a baby?”Jack said, “With me?”

“No, I want a baby with Specs”he scoffed.

“Hey”Jack warned, “Specs is an attractive man, you got somethin you want to tell me?”

“Of course I want a baby with you, idiot”He rolled his eyes. “Adoption or surrogacy or fostering I...I don’t care. I think you’ve been an amazing parent to Race,Charlie and Luna, and you’ll be an amazing parent to whatever kid comes through this door. You sell yourself short Jack”

“Says you”Jack snorted, “You see the way you are with those babies? You’re like a completely different person, it makes my heart do weird shit”

“Makes your heart do weird shit”He quoted, “Now I feel like that should’ve been your vows”

“Yeah?”Jack smirked.

“Yeah, it’s completely on brand”He said.

“So this is...this is something we’re doing”Jack said, “We’re gonna have some babies?”

“Woah there buddy”He said with wide eyes, “How did a baby turn into some babies?”

Jack waved him off, “Potato tomato”

“That’s...that’s not even the saying”He said slowly, “But let’s start with one”

“Two”

“One”

“Three”

“One”

“One and a half!”

“You can’t have half a baby!”He exclaimed.

“Well you can if you try hard enough!”Jack fired back.

“Unbelievable”He said, rubbing his eyes. “You’re unbelievable, why did I marry you?”

“For Medda”Jack said, with a serious face. Davey shrugged and laid his legs over Jack’s lap.

“Medda is pretty awesome”

“We’re gonna have a baby”Jack repeated.

“Yes we are”He said, “But let’s take this one step at a time, yeah? I don’t want to overwhelm you-”

“I’m gettin the baby book!”Jack exclaimed, bolting up from the couch. Before Davey had the time to process Jack was running back into the livingroom at full speed. He skidded to a halt but ended up toppling over onto Davey’s stomach.

“Bastard”He wheezed, pushing at Jack’s shoulders. Jack stuck his tongue out and made himself comfortable flipping through the book.

“What are you-”

“Shh”Jack hushed, furrowing his brows. His eyes scanned the pages until they found what they were looking for.

“Aha!”Jack said, sitting up so Davey could get a good look. There appeared to be four names messily scrawled in red ink at the bottom of the page. Davey wanted to scold him for defacing the book but his scolding soon died in his throat when Jack spoke up.

“I-I know your peoples are important to you so I wanted to add some more...ya know, traditional names in there”Jack said fiddling with the pages, “I got a boys and a girls name and just-they’re so pretty Davey”

“Just when I thought I couldn’t love you anymore”He murmured, placing a kiss on Jack’s temple. “You picked good, baby”

Elsie and Salem were scribbled in Jack’s messy handwriting. “I really like these two, but what are these other ones?”

“I mean i’m Irish I guess”Jack mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Both of my folks were and I didn’t really get to learn anything and just-”

“You want our baby to grow up knowing what their parents are,”He said. He grabbed the hand Jack was fiddling with and intertwined them.

“Yeah”Jack said, squeezing his hand. “Exactly”

Davey leaned forward and pressed a finger against a name Jack hadn’t written. “This one, how do you say it?”

“Saoirse?”Jack said,

“Saoirse”He repeated slowly, “Saoirse...I..I really like that one”

“Yeah?”Jack said.

“Yeah”He chuckled, “Yeah I really like this one a lot”

“Saoirse Kelly-Jacobs”Jack said, with a grin. “It’s kinda growing on me”

“Saoirse Kelly-Jacobs”He said, “I’m not even mad you snuck your last name in there”

“Should we add it to the list then?”

“No, Jack I think it’s the one”He said.

“Really?”

“Really!”Davey said, “Saoirse Kelly-Jacobs”

“Saoirse Kelly-Jacobs”He whispered, squeezing Davey’s hand even tighter.

“God, we can’t wait to meet you”

A/n someone should try and count how many times Davey fidgets in this fic. Also comments do be kinda nice

#newsies #davey newsies #newsies jack kelly #javid #newsies broadway #fluff #Jack Kelly #Davey Jacobs #Luna the puppy #Paint The Sky #jack kelly x david jacobs

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buddywaterfalls · 4 years

Text

I Won’t Leave You CH 1 (Toph x Male Reader)

“I’m telling you, we’re gonna find it this time!” Zei exclaims. You stare out of the window as he goes on about how his life has been leading up to this moment. His words would be encouraging, if this weren’t his upteenth time making the same boring speech on the same boring topic. The train speeds out of Ba Sing Se and you pay half a mind to him, ignoring his speech. You’re his best student, always working to learn the history of the world and understand how people feel. Zei is a close friend, your best, and always makes sure to take you along on his numerous expeditions, you get to frequently travel around the globe and make your own analysis on several topics. You were an intellectual prodigy, and he brought you into the university to better yourself. “Are you excited?”

“For what?” You ask, nonchalantly.

“Us to make history, Y/N. I just know it.”

“If you say so.” You reply as the train slows to a halt and you both step off. “It's the dry season.” you grumble, covering your face with your hat and moving forwards. You hand your passports to the angry lady to get out of Ba Sing Se after a long period of waiting in line. Zei is much more patient than you are, and babbles on about the possibilities of the knowledge that lies within the library to keep your impatience at bay. You waited for three tedious hours to get out and onto a ferry. “It feels like there should be a better way to do this.” You say, watching the water roll by slowly, “So why are we going to Misty Palms?”

“Just a gut feeling.”

“So we’re risking a mugging because of a feeling in your stomach?”

“Yes. You’ll come to learn to trust a gut feeling eventually.”

“I’ll never understand you, old man.”

“One day you might.” He says, smiling. “So Squirt, you finally participated in poetry night, I hear.”

“Yeah. Unfortunately I like actual poetry and they were all over haikus.”

“Well, haikus are poetry.”

“Bah.” You grumble, “How’s the girlfriend?”

“Oh we… broke up. She wanted kids, I wasn’t ready to make that commitment.”

“Oh. Sorry, man.”

“No, you’re fine. Besides, I needed to focus more on my work anyway.” The rest of the ride is in awkward silence as they slowly arrive at a dock and rent ostrich-horses to ride their way to Misty Palms Oasis. At one point, it was a gorgeous paradise now it sits as a reminder of the temporary nature of the world on which you live. “The ice has melted another three meters since our last visit.” Zei notes, writing it down in his little book. “Wait in the bar for me.” Zei says, “I’ll be right with you.” He pulls out a Pai Sho piece and walks in a different direction. You walk awkwardly into the bar, feeling several pairs of eyes prying into you.

You sit, “Uh… mango?” You ask the bartender, who hurries up and makes your drink after you pay him. A sip makes you feel more clear, and soon, you’ve finished.

“Well, you finished that quick, huh?” The professor asks, now walking in, looking better himself. “I’ll have what he’s having.” The tender makes another mango juice and he pays, right before a kid bumps into him, getting Zei’s drink spilled all over his outfit. “Sorry son, I didn’t-”

“No worries, I clean up easily.” The boy says, pushing his fists together and unleashing a gust of wind that dries him off.

“You’re a living relic!” Zei exclaims, holding his hat to his head.

“Thanks, I try.” The boy says. As they continue to converse, you look over the kid’s group, they don’t look like bandits. There are two Water Tribe people, a boy and a girl of around the same age as you and a short blind girl, with a dress that looks distinctively like it’s from Gaoling due to the stitchwork, who is in the back. An odd bunch for sure, but you’ve seen weirder. Soon, they’ve laid out a map and Zei’s rattling his life’s story like it’s small talk. With a groan you stand beside Zei.

“...and knowledge is priceless.”

You thank the heavens that you missed his whole spiel about books, the blind girl has an unimpressed look on her face. “Hm. Sounds like good times.” She sounds utterly unimpressed as well, which is reasonable. While he may be kind, you will always defend professor Zei there, but his speeches are tiresome at best.

“Oh, it is!” He says cheerily, disregarding her lack of enthusiasm, “According to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit; Wan-Chi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers.”

“Oh! So this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?” the Water Tribe boy dumbly asks.

With a shove, the Water Tribe girl responds, “I think he means that they look like actual foxes, Sokka.”

“You’re both right! They’re handsome little creatures. Wan-Chi Tong and his little knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world and put them on display for mankind to read. So that we might better ourselves.” He smiles as he pulls out a scroll of the library and displays it on the table, and you sigh realizing that he’s reeled a couple more suckers into his crazy plot.

The Water Tribe boy-- Sokka speaks in realization. “If this place has books from all over the world, do you think they’ve got info on the Fire Nation? A map, maybe?”

“Wait a second, we aren’t getting involved with the Fire Nation, are you crazy? Zei, we should go-”

“No. These people need our help.”

You stare him in the eyes, “Do you remember what those savages have done?”

“The Avatar is our best hope to stop them, Y/N.”

After a second’s hesitation you sigh, “Fine. Sorry, I’m just on edge here. You can’t trust anyone anymore.” You say. They all nod and look back at Zei.

“If a map exists at all, that’s the place it’d be.” He says, after a moment.

“Then it’s settled!” Sokka exclaims, turning to the Air Nomad, “Aang, I do believe it’s my turn. I choose to spend my vacation at the library!” he animates the last part as if it’s a declaration of war and you groan. It’s quiet for a second before the blind girl speaks.

“Uh, hey! What about me? When do I get to pick?”

“You gotta work here a little longer before you’re qualified for vacation time.” Sokka retorts, she slams her drink down, crosses her arms and grunts in annoyance. She’s new to the group. You note.

“Of course, there’s the matter of finding it. Me and Y/N have made several trips to the Zi Wong Desert and almost died each time. I’m afraid that desert’s impossible to cross.”

“Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?”

“A sky bison?! You actually have one?!”

With that, he’s convinced so you trail the group with the blind girl until she finally speaks, “I’m Toph.” she says.

“Y/N” you reply, “That kid’s really the Avatar?”

“Yeah. Weird, isn’t it?”

“Weird doesn’t scathe the surface. We were supposed to go on a tracking mission, just as guys, then we end up flying on a bison with a monkey that can also fly and the Avatar to dig up dirt on the Fire Nation. But screw it at this rate, you know?” She smiles at this as Zei shoos away sandbenders from the sky bison. “That thing is ridiculously huge.�� you say, looking at it as everyone climbs up. Zei helps you onto the saddle and the air bender says something that makes the thing lift into the air. You screw your eyes shut and hold the saddle for dear life. As time ticks on, you feel more comfortable, but more restless. Sokka’s taken his shirt off and everyone’s cranky after a while. It doesn’t help that Zei reveals that the library might not even exist, which really ticks off Toph. Eventually she decides to blurt out a blatant lie, which everyone hilariously falls for.

“There it is!” she cheers. They look on her side seeing nothing but sand and back at her with scowls. “That’s what it will sound like when one of you spots it.” Then she waves her hand in front of her face to emphasize that she’s blind and you stifle laughter. She turns in your direction and smiles before scooting closer to you and striking up a conversation, “So where do you live?”

“Ba Sing Se. I go to university with Brainiac over there. He’s my teacher.”

“Are you a good student?”

“He’s the best!” Zei pipes up and chuckles as your face heats up.

“Best is an awful strong word, Zei.” You say, trying to redeem yourself from sounding narcissistic, “I’m good at what I find interesting.”

“I never went to school. I took earthbending classes, but my blindness held me back, so I sought out my own help.”

“Now you’re training the Avatar, that’s pretty cool.”

“How did you know one of them didn’t train him?”

“They’re both Water Tribe.” You say, nonchalantly, “And they’re wearing water tribe apparel.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Toph says, laughing nervously.

“That’s fine.”

“It shouldn’t be this hard to spot a giant ornate building from the air.” The girl says.

Suddenly her brother speaks up, “Down there! What’s that?!” We descend to the ground and see a tower extending into the sky.

The water tribe girl sighs. “Forget it. This obviously isn’t the building we’re looking for.” Aang looks over her shoulder at the scroll, “The building in this drawing is enormous.” Then you see a bright reflection of light in the distance and elbow Zei, who quickly turns around to see it. You all watch a fox-like creature come from the desert and scale the tower, entering a window near the top.

“I think that was one of the knowledge seekers,” Zei exclaims, “We must be close to the library!”

“No. This is the library, look!” Sokka says, comparing the tower with one of the towers in the picture. “It’s completely buried.”

It’s quiet for a few seconds before you feel the weight of Zei’s grief pour over him as he collapses to his knees, “The library’s buried?! My life’s ambition is full of sand!” You put a hand on his shoulder and he sighs, sucking the pain down and returning to his optimistic self, “Well, time to excavate!” He says cheerily, pulling out a tiny shovel and getting to work.

“He’s… incorrigible.” You say, sighing.

“Professor, that won’t be necessary.” Toph says, you look up and see her with a hand on the building and her eyes closed, “The inside seems to be completely intact, and it’s huge.”

“That fox thingy climbed in through a window. I say we go up there and give it a look.” Sokka says.

“I say you guys go up there without me.” Toph says.

“You got something against libraries?”

“I’ve held books before and, I gotta tell ya, they don’t exactly do it for me.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“I’ll stay out here with her.” You say.

“But Y/N, this is our life’s work!”

“Reminder, I loathe spiders and if there is any place on Earth sure to have at least a thousand, it’s the library under two tons of sand, yeah?”

“Fine. Be safe, okay? Don’t do anything I’d do.” Zei smiles and ruffles your hair, chuckling at your scowl.

“Let me know if they have something I can listen to.” Toph remarks. With that they make their way into the library, leaving you, Toph and Appa outside. “You know that I can handle myself, right?”

“I’m well aware. Like I said, spiders terrify me.”

“Why?”

“Well they’re eight-legged, hairy, revolting things that want to do nothing but kill.”

“That’s a little melodramatic, don’t you think?” She asks, sitting down, you can sense the smile on her face though and sigh, leaning back against the tower. “So, can you bend?”

“No. That’s why the fire nation makes me uneasy, what will I do if they invade again? Punch them to death? I can throw a punch, sure, but what’ll I do against an army?” You sigh, “Anyway, how do you walk without needing a cane or something? Not trying to offend of course! Just… intrigued.”

“When I was you, I… well what I did doesn’t matter, but it led to me being trained by the badgermoles. They taught me to see the way they do, through vibrations in the ground. This sand is awful because it’s all loose and shifty, it makes everything all fuzzy.” Appa roars, “Not that there’s anything wrong with fuzzy!” She adds, quickly. “Anyways, how’d you meet Zei?”

“Well it’s a long story. My family had a big home, it was the oldest standing house in the world. Zei met me and we talked for a while, he was impressed. He wanted to take me back to Ba Sing Se so I could learn under guidance and my parents refused, insisting that I carry on the family tradition and live my life helping out people.” You sit down next to her, “Fortunately, my dad gave me a choice and I was able to use the cover of night to get away. I’ve since made peace with my family. I want to make a difference.”

She smiles, “I get it. Maybe you should join us.”

“I don’t think so, I don’t wanna be a burden.”

“You wouldn’t be a burden.” Toph cuts in, she blushes slightly and looks down. After a while of awkward chatting, you’ve fallen asleep against Appa, and Toph lays awkwardly next to you, after a while, Appa growls. “I already told you, I don’t want to snuggle.” Then Appa gets up, letting both of your heads fall into the ground, waking you up as you rub the back of your head. “Library's sinking.” she says calmly, then her eyes widen, as do yours. “Library’s sinking!” she yells, bolting into action and struggling to hold it up.

You see sand rising in the distance and your senses start to tingle. “Uh, Toph?”

“What now?!”

“Whatever you do, focus on that building!” You say, taking up a fighting stance. The sandbenders conjure up a dust cloud that makes it hard to see. “Back off!” you shout at one who jumps off of his glider. He moves for a strike which you bat away and jab him three times in the stomach before crane-kicking him for the knockout blow.

“Who’s there?!”

“Sandbenders!” You shout back. Two more start to focus on you, using sand bending for cheap tactics and keeping you from fighting them fairly as their friends attack Appa. They try to hold you under the sand as they tie Appa up. With a huge effort you break free, leaping into the air and landing a swift kick on one. Then you feel something sharp puncture your neck. You pull it out and glare at the dart and then at the sandbenders. “It’ll take a lot more than-” Suddenly a barrage of about fifty darts fly your way, you run towards Toph and take about twenty that were heading for her before collapsing, “That’ll do.” You groan, watching the world fade in and out. Suddenly, she’s picked you up and leaped out of the way as the building crashes into the ground. You feel an overwhelming sense of failure as your mind sneaks itself into unconsciousness.

#atla #toph x reader #male reader #sokka #katara #aang x katara #aang #professor zei #the library #reader insert

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lu-undy · 3 years

Text

Chapter 48 - SBT

Here it is!

Mundy parked the van about a mile away from the palace Duchemin lived in. It was the end of the afternoon and the sky was turning orange. The endless desert ground was hard, dusty and brown where the few cacti would cast their growing shadows.

"It's all on me now."

He slipped out of his van and shut the door.

"Right. Let's find the bloke."

The Aussie adjusted his rifle on his back and climbed on his van's rooftop before scoping in to watch over the impressive mansion. There were guards patrolling and…

"Sick bastard…"

Mundy had to do a double take at the impressive number of lightly dressed females lounging in the gardens, the same French gardens him and Lucien had been in back when -

"Ugh…" He sighed but shook his head. Those days were over. The days where his heart would feel warm at the sight of the expensive suits and the alluring man wearing them.

Mundy focused on his scoping again. The ladies weren't a problem in itself, no, the problem was that they looked young, very young, no doubt even... illegally young.

However, Duchemin wasn't with them. So Mundy moved the scope to align it with the windows and tried to get a glimpse of what was happening through them.

"More guards… More goons… Ugh… Where the hell is he…?"

He followed one of the guards going down a flight of stairs until -

"What the hell?! Where is he gone to?"

The man had disappeared underground.

"Wait, so there is an underground to this place? Alright…"

Mundy stayed a bit longer, counting the number of guards and watching them patrol around.

"Right, I won't see more without getting closer. But there are cameras… I hope those bullets will do the trick…"

The Aussie loaded his rifle and one by one, the CCTV cameras went off.

"Perfect, now the guards…"

Mundy changed his bullets for his double-chambered sleeping darts and started shooting. Thank God for the suppressor, no one heard him shoot and the guards fell limply one after the next, starting from those on the rooftop. When he was done with the dozen or so, the Aussie came down his van and got closer to the gardens. He found the young girls next to the pool, where he had first seen them.

"Hey - Ssh! No, don't shout, don't scream! I'm here to free you up!" He took one as a hostage to make the others obey. The poor girls were scared to the bone in their bikinis. He released the little girl that he had in his arms and looked at them earnestly. "Listen, if you run that way for about a mile, you'll find a van.. It doesn't have much space but you can hide there until I come back and take you somewhere safe, ok?"

"What about Arthur?" One of them asked. "He'll find you and kill you and us for it!"

"Nah, I'm here to kill him and look around you, no guards, no alert, nothing. You're safe. Besides, this might be your only chance to get free. Now, tell me anything you know about where he is."

"He must be underground… I heard him say that something important would happen today…" A young black-haired girl said, in tears.

"Yeah, he's about to move his merchandise someplace else…" Another added.

"Alright, how do I get underground without being seen and what's my best bet to get to him?" Mundy asked.

"There's a… A sewer pipe, it's actually a whole network of them… He uh…" The poor girl couldn’t continue.

"That's where he gets rid of the corpses." Another one explained and Mundy's pupils shrank.

"Bloody sick bastard… Alright, where does it lead? If I find the end of it, I can just work backwards to him, yeah?" Mundy asked.

"You'll have to go around the house, look down and you should see a manhole."

"Alright, I'll do that. By the way, are there any others like you?" He asked.

"There were."

Mundy gulped down hard and frowned.

"Alright. Go to my van and stay there, ok?"

"Thank you so much! Be careful!"

Mundy left them and followed their instructions. He walked in the maze of hedges that he knew from that time in the party. The only difference was that this time, the sunlight was enough to see and…

And Lucien wasn't there.

"No!" Mundy said to himself and shook his head.

No, Lucien wasn't there and that was the whole point of it. Mundy would find Duchemin and kill him such that his goons would go after him and not after the Frenchman. He had a cat to raise and someone he longed for.

Mundy finally found the manhole. He moved it with great effort and took the ladder down until his heeled boots hit the floor.

"Bloody hell, that's some stench…!" He winced and switched on the light on his little keyring.

Mundy wasn't surprised by the existence of the bad smell, after all, he was now walking in the sewers. No, what surprised him is the nature of the stench, he could clearly identify rotting flesh in the air…

"Sick son of a whore…" He mumbled to himself as he progressed in the tunnels.

He had no idea where he was going exactly or where he should be going. But as long as he kept moving, he was bound to find something. Eventually.

"Fuckin' hell, that bloke has a thing for mazes or what…?"

Those sewers proved to be another kind of mazes, just like the hedges in the French garden; only this time, the visibility was extremely low. The little flashlight on Mundy's keyring wasn't powerful enough to help him greatly and the Aussie started to regret not having taken a torchlight with him. But how could he have known that he would end up travelling in some disgusting and no doubt highly contaminated sewers?

Mundy sighed and put his hat in front of his face like a mask. The lingering smell of his soap in his old, leather hat was better than the filth floating in the air.

He walked and walked, wishing he had something to mark his way, just to make sure he was not going in a circle…

Mundy let the little light explore left and right around his feet and the sight wasn't one he wished to remember. In the dirty waters he could clearly see remnants of what used to be living beings. Sometimes animals, sometimes not. He winced in disgust and pulled the light higher up in front of him.

The cracks in the walls spoke for the age of the building Mundy was exploring, the rats too, although he didn't meet that many of them.

"That's always a good sign, isn't it? If even the rats don't want to live here…" He grumbled and kept walking.

He had no idea how deep the network of undergrounds ran, or where Duchemin would be with respect to them. And even if Mundy wanted to spin on his heels and make it back home, where the hell would he go…? Through which tunnels…? Every fifty metres or so was a junction and with it came multiple possibilities not to find the damn criminal, but to get lost entirely!

However, Mundy didn't lose patience. He thought about his parents and carried on. His parents were not shown any mercy and they were put through hell itself. There was no reason why Mundy wouldn't do the same, as penance, to pay for his absence on that day, ten years ago.

He went on, walked, and with each junction came a choice and with each choice his rage grew.

"Oh bloody hell, no, not now!"

The battery on Mundy's light decided to die, leaving the Aussie in the dark. He took a deep breath and waited a minute or so, for his eyes to get accustomed to the darkness. There, that's a bit better… And he went on.

"Huh?"

There was a metallic clinking noise. It came from his left. For lack of any other clue, Mundy went in that direction. He walked further but the noise had died and there was no way to see where it had come from either.

"Hm…"

Mundy put his ear on the walls.

Rumbling.

Distant but continuous rumbling, a bit like a boiler maybe, or a power generator. The Aussie tried to walk towards the noise, his ear always probing the walls left and right. And the rumbling grew louder and louder until he managed to identify what it was.

"Oh bugger…"

It sounded like a waterfall. The sewers actually went in small cascades lower and lower down in the ground. Mundy sighed.

-- Meanwhile, in town --

"Richard!"

Lucien had barged in the tailor's shop throwing politeness and courtesy out of the window.

"L?"

"Please, I need equipment urgently!"

The tailor nodded.

"Paul, occupe-toi de la boutique!"

[Paul, come and deal with the shop!]

Both Richard's sons came out of the workshop and shut the front window.

Fortunately enough, there were no customers that afternoon. Richard nodded to Lucien and jumped to the wall with the fleur-de-lis handle before pulling on it. The secret wall opened and both slipped in.

"What will you need?" He asked as Lucien ran to the display cases.

"This gun," Lucien pointed right. "With a suppressor, please..."

"Ammunition?"

"Both non lethal and lethal, please."

Richard opened the display cases and collected the items as fast as Lucien was listing them.

"Do you still have watches?" The spy asked.

"I'm afraid they are a bit outdated and modern agents don't use them much anymore nowadays…" Richard answered.

"Do you have them?!" Lucien exclaimed, furious. "There is no time to lose!"

Richard got startled but he nodded and opened a drawer that was connected to the wall.

"Here there are."

Lucien jumped to them.

"I will need this one."

He pointed at the one with the silver strap.

"Of course." Richard gave it to him and Lucien fastened it around his left wrist in a flash.

"Do you have earpieces?"

"Yes, we do, how many do you need?"

"Two, please."

Richard opened another drawer and tossed them over to the Frenchman.

"Merci… I will also need a balaclava… this one, here." Lucien pointed at the black one.

"Do you need a matching suit? I have a few black ones in stock, one of them should suit you…"

"Oui, please, and hurry!"

After a few minutes, Lucien exited a changing booth dressed in a black three-piece suit: jacket, vest and trousers, even the shirt was black.

"Parfait, merci Richard!"

[Perfect, thank you Richard!]

"Here, a utility belt with throwable knives and additional ammunition. And this is a special pair of garters with an additional hidden blade in…"

Richard threw the items above the curtain of the changing booth and Lucien caught them with ease. About a minute later, he exited the booth.

"I don't have much time, Richard. See you!"

And the masked man ran out. He hopped on his motorcycle and dashed out of town. He drove as fast as he could through the desert, not even on the asphalt itself. He needed to get to Duchemin's palace as fast as possible.

What on Earth did Mundy think he could accomplish on his own? Find Duchemin, in broad daylight and then what? Kill him then and there?! That would for sure end up in Mundy's death!

The Frenchman saw the van in the distance and switched the motorcycle to silent mode. He parked next to it and turned it invisible before dismounting it.

"S'il vous plaît, mon Dieu, faites qu'il soit encore dans son van ridicule…"

[Please, Lord, tell me he is still in his ridiculous van…]

"Mundy…?"

Lucien approached the van and heard some muffled noises coming from the inside which fell completely silent after he called for the Aussie.

"Mundy, I can hear you are in there, come out and I promise to stop punching your idiotic self before you die."

Nothing.

"Bien. You have chosen poorly, for if you do not come to me, I will come to you!"

Lucien took his blade out and forced the lock open before slamming the door wide open. His jaw dropped as he saw a group of young teenage girls in bikinis, scared to the bone, trying to all hide and fit in the van. They all screamed with their high-pitched voices at the sight of the man with the mask.

"Mon Dieu! Mais qu'est-ce que c'est que ça?!"

[My God! What the hell is that?!]

"Don't kill us, please!" One of them cried.

"I will not kill any one of you, what are you doing here?"

"Fuck! Duchemin's gonna kill us…!" Another one said, sobbing in her hands.

Lucien jumped in the van and they all gasped. He knelt down and put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Listen, my… friend is the owner of this van. He is off to kill himself and I am trying to save him. Have you seen him?" Lucien asked.

"He saved us… We were Arthur's girls…"

"His girls? I thought he had no children?" Lucien asked, confused.

"N-not his children…"

"What do you - ? Oh mon Dieu…"

[Oh my God…]

Lucien couldn't be more disgusted if he had wanted. "Don't tell me that…"

The girls grouped around the sobbing one and hugged her.

"I am truly sorry for what you have lived with that man. But please, tell me where I can find him. My friend, you see… He is my best friend. I can't let him die."

There was a kind of honesty in Lucien's eyes that the young girls understood without really knowing what it was.

"He is off to kill Arthur. He freed us and asked us to hide here until he comes back."

"Do you know where I can find him?"

"Your friend or Arthur?"

"Both."

"Your friend is going through the sewers to find Arthur. His offices are-"

"Underground, oui, I know. Stay hidden here. I will call someone who will pick you up and hide you."

"How will we know that it's not one of Duchemin's men?" One girl asked and Lucien looked in her eyes.

"Ask them who sends them. If they answer L, they are an ally. If they answer anything else…" Lucien looked around the van and saw a few kukris hung on the wall. He pointed to them. "Use them and do not think about any consequences. You are now under protection from the French government."

"French?" One the young ladies asked.

"Oui, in coordination with local authorities. But you do not care about this nonsense. And remember what I told you: a friend of L is your friend. Anyone else…" Lucien took the three kukris and gave them to the girls. "No hesitation. It's you or them. Understood?"

They all nodded.

"My friend will be here shortly."

Lucien exited the van and shut the door. He pushed a button on his watch and put the earpiece in his ear.

"Richard…? Yes, it is me. Call Maurice and ask him to send a van or a minibus here. There are young girls who need to be evacuated. They are safe in a van so far."

"Will do immediately."

Lucien pushed the button on his watch again and headed for the gardens. The sun was below the horizon now and the Frenchman took advantage of the dark to make very fast progress.

When he arrived in the maze of hedges, he was only half surprised to find Duchemin's guards down, all struck by a double-chamber dart to the head or the neck.

"Hm. The guards are still here and asleep. No one has found them yet and I hope that the same can be said about Mundy."

Lucien headed for the house and switched a button on his watch. He looked at his reflection on a window and couldn't see any.

La bonne vieille montre d'invisibilité.

[The good old invisibility watch.]

He nodded to himself and entered through the window.

Ah, la bibliothèque…

[Ah, the library…]

The Frenchman was standing in a wooden room filled with endless rows of books. No guards there. He went to the door and peeked through the lock before slipping out of the room. He found himself in a corridor with doors left and right.

He walked through it until he met a guard and passed him without being seen.

Je ne comprends vraiment pas pourquoi les agents actuels n'utilisent plus ces montres, elles sont divines!

[I really don't understand why modern agents don't use these watches, they work wonders!]

He thought to himself as he soon found the stairs. He took them and spiralled down, stopping at each level and trying to find any way to see where the sewers could connect with him.

Lucien was on the third level underground when he overheard a conversation between a group of guards. They were sitting around a table with drinks and playing a game of cards.

"The bloke stinks like there's no tomorrow…"

"How long has he been in the sewers?"

A card was placed on the table and the guards frowned, planning their next moves.

"No idea, but when Russel found him, he got a decent beating and his nose is broken now. Thank God I arrived in time with Jimmy to help."

"The Boss knows about it?"

"Of course, we told him, he might be with him now or something, I don't know."

Another card and another second of thinking.

"Jimmy told me the bloke was weird, I mean, apart from the smell."

"Yeah, he was carrying weird stuff. When we searched him, we found a blowgun, some darts, a sword of some sort, like a machete, and some bullets."

"Just bullets?"

"Not just bullets, they're a rifle's bullet, a big one, like a sniper would use. I've seen some like that back when I was serving."

"Bloody hell… And what did he want?"

"Finding the Boss and killing him."

Another card landed on the table and the guards burst out laughing at the idea that a single man had gone through the sewers to try and get the most protected man in the whole of Oz at least.

Lucien frowned.

"Oh, God, that's a funny one, mate…" One of them resumed the chat as he laid another card on the table.

"Yeah, I know. Well, I guess the boss is gonna kill him and throw him with the others, eh."

Lucien's pupils shrank. The others?

"Yeah, I reckon he'll just scare him off a bit before killing him and poof, back to the sewers but this time, dead."

They shared a laugh around the table as they raised their glasses and had a drink.

"Oh I don't know about that, he took him down to cell 1."

Lucien frowned. Cell 1.

"Cell 1? For a dude fished out of the sewers?"

"Yeah, the Boss asked us to do that after having had a quick chat with him."

"Might be more serious than that then, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but the bloke's alone and smells of rottin' shit. He can't do much."

Lucien had heard enough. He needed to find Cell 1, which he felt was a bit of a special one, from what the guards said. He took a quick look at his watch and slithered against the wall back to explore the place.

One of the guards had said 'down to Cell 1', so presumably Lucien had to go down some more stairs…

And he did until he came across a very useful plan of the place. Finally! He had been looking for it! As secret as a place might be, there always is a fire escape plan somewhere on the walls, finding it reveals a lot of information on the building.

Lucien stared at it and studied it carefully. He was looking for a floor with cells, so presumably, a row of small rooms… Hm…

Ah! There! Two levels below him! Those must be cells!

He thurtled down the stairs as silent as a shadow and went through a few doors before finding that he had been right. He found a corridor with cells left and right and in front of him, at the end of it, was a larger cell with a man chained to the wall from his wrists and his ankles.

Lucien winced. He passed a table on which was Mundy's blowgun, his darts and a few bullets. He came closer to the prisoner and, after making sure no one was around, he tapped on his watch. Out of a thin cloud of smoke, the silhouette of the Frenchman appeared in thin air.

"Ugh… Spook…? Oooh, you look like a burglar, dressed all in black like that…" Mundy was sitting against the wall limply, he was speaking comically slowly and Lucien guessed he had been drugged.

"Ssh! Bushman, I will get you out of here but you must stay quiet!" Lucien whispered as he took his cigarette case out. He flipped it open and took the pins concealed there to pick the lock.

"Eh… Spook…? You came here through the sewers too..?"

"Non, but I can clearly smell that you did. Now, keep your mouth shut!"

Lucien managed to pick the lock and entered the cell before shutting its door again. He went straight to Mundy's wrists and ankles and started picking the locks there too when a door opened in the corridor. The spy tapped his watch again and turned invisible.

"Woohoohoohooo Spook…? I thought only yer bike could do that…!"

Lucien didn't move and just watched the guard approach.

"Eh… Eh mate? See the Spook? Hey! Can you see him?" Mundy drunkenly asked.

"Shut up in there, will ya?" The guard shouted back. He looked in the cell and judging that everything seemed normal, he left.

Lucien waited for the man to be completely gone before reappearing and dealing with the cuffs.

"Bushman, keep your mouth sealed. If they learn that I am here, we are both doomed."

"Yeah but at least I'll get to be… I'll get to be with you, eh? I mean…"

Lucien blushed but kept on trying to free his stinking friend. The ankles were free, time for the wrists.

"Ssh, Bushman."

"No, no… Listen… I mean… If we both die here and now… I mean… No… That's not what I mean… Pearl needs you…" Mundy raised an index finger and stared at it. The poor man was seeing double under the drugs he had been fed. "And there's this bloke you like… Ah, damn him… Damn him to hell and back…!"

"Oh for that, I couldn't agree more. Damn him because he can't keep his mouth shut!"

"No, not for that, Spook…" Mundy missed the meaning entirely. "Damn him cause you… you like him and that's a problem, see?"

One wrist free. Now the other.

"It's a problem cause… See, I like you…"

Lucien stopped his picking of the lock on Mundy's wrist and raised his eyes to him.

"Bushman. Stop talking before I make you."

"No… But seriously… I like ya… You're…"

Lucien expected a compliment.

"...weird." The Frenchman rolled up his eyes. "But a good kind of weird, eh…?"

"Bushman, listen to me."

"Huh?"

"If we want to make it out of here you will have to stay quiet. We can't afford to be spotted, especially you, running free outside of your cell. How often do these guards come and check on you?"

Lucien helped the Aussie up and Mundy naturally put an arm on the Frenchman's shoulders. The spy realised that he had been beaten up quite badly when Mundy started limping. They moved to the table and Lucien took Mundy's equipment that he stuffed in the poor man's pockets.

"I don't know, mate… Quite a bit of time… Gets lonely here y'know… So I just think of my parents… Heh, keeps the motivation goin'... And I think of you too… Keeps me warm inside… Can't help it…"

"Listen here. Let us make a bet, shall we?" Lucien tried another strategy to make his rescue shut up.

"Yeah, alright, anythin' for you…"

Lucien rolled up his eyes again.

"I bet that you cannot remain quiet until we reach your van."

"What's in it for me…?"

"If you succeed, I will owe you a dinner. If you fail, we will however both end up back in this cell before getting killed and thrown in those infamous sewers you went through. How does that sound?"

"Dinner… with you?" Mundy asked.

"Oui. Dinner with me."

"Just you and me…?"

"Just you and me."

"Like… a date or something?"

Lucien sighed.

"Oui, Bushman. Now, do you take the bet, yes or no?"

"Right, I'll uh… I'll shut up until we get to the van… Easy…"

"Good."

Lucien tapped his watch and both turned invisible. They went to the stairs and started climbing them. To his honor, the Aussie stayed silent even though he looked like he was suffering immensely while taking each step up. His gait was slow and heavy but Lucien was patient.

When they finally made it back outside and on ground level, Mundy tapped his friend's shoulder and asked for a break. Fine, Lucien stopped pulling him and gave him a moment.

They were in the middle of the maze of hedges and no one was around them except the bodies of tranquilised guards.

"Huh…" Mundy frowned. His vision was blurred and seeing double did not help, especially in the middle of the night. The lights from the lanterns in the garden waved and danced before his eyes and his whole head was spinning. "Ugh…"

"Mundy?!"

The Aussie collapsed but thank God Lucien caught him before he hit the floor. He carried his limp body over his shoulder all the way to the van. When he arrived, Lucien went straight to the passenger's seat and laid Mundy there. The Aussie was only unconscious, thank God.

Lucien fastened his seatbelt to secure him before going to the back door.

He opened it and the girls had gone, the kukris were all back on the wall as well. Good. Lucien rummaged through the Aussie's belongings before he found some deodorant. He grabbed it and went outside again. There was one detail to arrange: the motorcycle.

Lucien double tapped it and it appeared. He fiddled with its dashboard for quite a long time before he managed to make it understand that it had to follow the van. Once it was done, the Frenchman went back to the van, on the driver's seat this time.

"Oh…!" He winced at Mundy's smell and sprayed some deodorant on him. There, that would do, at least momentarily. For now, the Frenchman raced through the desert back to town. He needed to get Mundy to the Doctor's.

#tf2 sniper #tf2 spy #sniperspy #SBT

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aphasene · 4 years

Text

The Commander's Neice A Levi x reader fanfiction.

I never understood the true meaning of safety. Even while staying in the inner walls of wall Sina. There was always danger at hand, no matter how hard my parents tried to hide it. It was always in the back of my mind like a parasite, ready to attack at any moment. Despite me never seeing a titan in my entire life, there was always a different type of danger waiting for me.

My story isn’t an overly happy one, I must warn you now. Not for me, nor the people around me. I fell in love, I made so many wonderful friends. That being said; it is a necessary one, for me and for the thousands of others whose story may not be told, I refuse to be another forgotten wilted flower, trampled by the heroes who weren’t as brave as I was.

I lived in the inner walls of wall Sina until the age of Ten, at that time I was still pretty young, not too young to be aware of the dangers that followed my family and I. we lived a rather happy life, living in one of the wealthiest places in the wall. My mother was a researcher in an underground organisation which sought the study and capture of not only titans but the politicians who kept the information to themselves. She was paid a large sum of money for the service. My father worked as a soldier for the military police, mainly as a spy from the organisation.

One day, however, everything changed. My mother was murdered and I was taken from wall Sina to the outer district; Shiganshina. But, before I left, my mother gave me a small pendant on a chain. There was a small keyhole in it, she told me to wear it around my neck and to never take it off under any circumstances.

My father and I fled to Shinganshina where he worked as a merchant, going from district and district, selling salts, furs and other endangered items. Despite him making a fair amount of money from these strange things, my father and I lived a very humble life.

All seemed alright until that fateful day…

***

The ground blurred beneath me. I continue running for what felt like longer than it should have. The steady pound of my footstep’s echoes into my ears. I feel beads of sweat roll down my forehead and splatter to my chin. The only things that could hander me from my survival were my physical limits and my doubt. I clutch the small loaf of bread in my jacket. The soles of my shoes hit the ground in stings of pain, but I wasn’t giving up. There was no way I was going back to my father empty handed.

I turn a corner sharply, only to slam straight into a wall. I had cornered myself in an alleyway. I spin around to see a group of three slightly older boys advancing slowly, trapping me in this alley.

“Get away from me!” I cry, in one last attempt to hide my fear and panic.

“Come on no, (Y/N).” The ringleader snarls. “All you need to do is give us that loaf of bread you have tucked in your pocket.”

“No!” I scream, “That bread is for my father and I.”

“Your father is a merchant. Surely you could afford so much more than that. Why not give that small loaf to someone who needs it.” He shoots me a menacing toothy grin.

“That’s not the point. Bullying someone just because you want a small loaf of bread is low!”

He growls. “I’m going to ask you one more time: hand over the bread.”

“No!” I yell.

“Fine.”

The three boys move in closer and closer, closing the gap between us. This is the end. I think to myself. I close my eyes and braced or impact.

“Hey you!”

I open my eyes at the unfamiliar voice and see a boy around my age dashing towards the boys with an unhuman speed. Beside him was a girl with jet black hair and a look of thunder and a boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes behind them.

“What is it now-!” The boys stop in their tracks when they see the three of them. “Oh shit, it’s her!”

The boys scramble away, seemingly forgetting about my measly loaf.

“And stay away from her!” The brown-haired boy bellows. He turns to me with an apologetic look. “Sorry about those goons. Did they hurt you?”

I shake my head and take my loaf from my jacket. It was a little crushed but still good enough to eat.

“I’m Eren by the way, this is Mikasa and Armin.” He gestures to the others who smiled and waved.

“I’m (Y/N). Nice to meet you.” I say shyly. I had seen the three of them before. They caused a lot of havoc in the time I had been here, which is only a few months.

Eren offers me a welcoming hand. “You should totally come with us. Armin here, has a book he wants to show us.”

Armin nods. “It’s about the outside world.”

My eyes widen in awe. “I’d love to!”

***

The four of us sit, cooped in a corner beside the river that runs through the district, all huddled over this book that contained a future that was never meant to be.

“It says here.” Armin begins, “That there is a huge source of water called the ‘ocean’. Apparently, there’s so much salt that not even all the merchants in the world could collect it all.”

“My father’s a merchant!” I respond. “I bet that would be heaven on earth for him.”

“No way, that’s so cool!” Eren claps his hands in glee. “So, he like, goes to different places in the walls?”

“Yeah, we used to live in wall Sina, but there were issues concerning my safety so we decided to live here.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie but one wrong move could blow our cover for the both of us.

“What was Wall Sina like?” Mikasa asks, her voice soft and quiet.

“It was huge! There were huge buildings around the districts. It was a land of silver where everything sparkled.” I say as I recall the place, I once called home. “But there are evil people crawling the place.”

“The military police.” Eren snarls.

“Not really, my father used to be an MP. But you’d be surprised how secretive you’d have to be. You could never be too careful. But it was certainly cleaner.”

“Also,” Armin had only been paying half attention to my story, he had been flicking through his book. “There are huge fields of sand. I think they’re called…Deserts?”

“We have to go there!” Eren squawks, “Just you wait, when I join the survey corps, we’re going to see all those things!”

“The Survey Corps?” I shudder. “There’s no way in hell! I’m never joining those suicidal maniacs.”

“They’re not suicidal!” Eren protests.

“Well, they kind of are.” Armin shuts his book.

Mikasa remains silent, though I can see her face contort.

“They’re not! And I can prove once and for all that they’re true heroes.” He glares at us through his fringe, “Besides, I have a mission to kill every last titan in existence.”

“Good luck with that.” I say rolled my eyes fondly. “Anyway, I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

The trio nods, smiling sweetly at me, before I stroll down the streets.

***

“Father, I’m home!” I yell, letting myself inside.

Over my shoulder, see him standing over the sink peeling a pile of potatoes that we had grown in our tiny garden. He looks over at me and beams.

“Ah, (Y/N). You’re back. Did you get the bread?”

I nod, placing the loaf in the middle of the dining table. “Uh huh. Those boys gave me a bit of trouble though.”

“What did they do this time?” Father looks at me with genuine concern.

“The same as they always do, but I made some new friends though.”

“That’s good to hear.” He ruffles my hair and places our supper on the table, two bowls of vegetable broth. “I was beginning to worry about your ability to make friends.”

“It’s not my fault that the people in Shiganshina are difficult to talk to.” I sit in my seat and feel the fragrance of the soup and the bread mixed together, my stomach growls hungrily.

“Whatever, I’m glad you’re finally hanging out with someone that isn’t me.” He chuckles taking a sip.

I look down at my pendant, a mixture of confusion mourning.

“Still thinking about Mother?” Father asks, it’s clear that I had been quiet for a little too long.

“Yeah.” I say simply. “It’s still a little difficult.”

“I know honey.” He reaches over the table to touch my shoulder. “I miss her too but I’m sure wherever she is right now, she’s so proud of you.”

“Speaking of which.” My eyes flicker to my pendant, “I’ve been having a think about this pendant…”

My father smiles. “You’re still wondering what it truly is, aren’t you?”

“Why was it even given to me?” I ask, still fiddling with it.

Father smiles knowingly at me. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

***

The next morning, I trot down the street, the sun shining brilliantly on my back. I see Eren, Mikasa and Armin sitting in a circle on a nearby pavement. Eren waves at me earning a smile from the others.

“Morning (Y/N).” Mikasa says patting a space next to her. “Eren was telling us about the scouts again.” I see a little roll of her eyes.

“Don’t say it like that!” Eren protests. “And don’t pretend that you weren’t sold on joining them too.”

“I’m not.” Mikasa huffs.

“Hey (Y/N), what’s with the necklace?” Armin asks.

“Oh this?” I look down to my necklace. “Well before my Mother died, she gave me this, she told me that it was vital that I didn’t take this off. She told me that it was important for humanity, but I never knew what.”

“So, it’s the only thing that you have to remember her?” Eren asks.

Mikasa slaps Eren’s shoulder.

“Ow! What was that for!?” He scowls.

“Don’t be so insensitive!” Mikasa scolds.

“It’s fine, really. It’s kind of nice to have something that’s been entrusted to me.”

“Don’t you think that it-.”

“Titan!”

We hear a panicked voice echo over the entire district. I jump to my feet, in an attempt to see over the shoulders of the crowd.

“What is it?” Mikasa asks.

“I don’t know.” I say hopping on the balls of my feet, “I’m going to get closer look.”

“I’m coming too.” Eren says.

“So am I.” Mikasa and Armin say in unison.

The four of us dash down the cobblestone road, pushing past the groups of people, I search the scene in front of us, then I see it.

I watch as a titan slowly appears over the wall, it was grotesque and twisted, as if the skin had melted off its face, despite it’s lack of expression, it moved with purpose, sending a jolt of dread through my entire being.

“It’s peering over the wall.” Armin cries. “It has to be around 50 metres.”

The crowd remains silent for what feels like an eternity, when suddenly I hear a mighty crash! Beside us stands another titan, it looks like it had armour from head to toe.

I stumble back, bumping into a few people, a few flashes of figures of titans run through my vision. I have to find my father!

I run, my feet slapping the land. Perhaps a little while ago I would have scoffed at the idea of running so far and fast, now I push myself forward in the search of my father. Only now, I am born to run, it’s as if my life depends on it, a few titans jump in front of me but I dodge their grasp, I cannot be killed today.

I run down our street, I see father staggering into the clearing, clutching his side. He’s alive!

“Father!” I yell, catching up to him, but as I get closer, I notice his despairing face. “Father I-!”

The second I come within reach of him, he grabs me by the shoulders and pushes me into another alley.

“Father, what’s wrong?”

We hear a thump, almost like a loud, large footstep.

“Oh my god.” I squeak.

“Listen to me (Y/N); it’s too late for me now, you have to go on without me.” He shakes me slightly.

“What do you mean? You look fine.”

“Sweetie, I can barely walk, let alone run. You need to get out of here, you are our only hope.”

“Hope?” I sob. “Hope for what?”

He rummages in the pocket in his jacket and hands me a small letter enclosed in an envelop with a wax seal with our family’s crest. “This will explain everything.”

I take the letter, gripping it as hard as I can. “Father-.” My voice wavers as tears pricks my vision. “I don’t want to do this.”

He brings me into a tight hug, I feel him shake violently, “(Y/N), I will always be proud of you, remember that.”

The footsteps get closer and he pushes me behind a few crates. I peak around theme, I see a slightly smaller titan with a sickening grin approaching my father, I want to scream and cry but against my better judgement I stay as quiet as I can. I watch as it grabs my father’s squirming body and walks away. I turn as quiet as I can and scramble to my feet.

My feet patter on the ground, I run as fast as I can, I think about my father, I thing about my friends, I think about the entire townspeople whose lives may have been taken away today. I hear a shrill scream coming from behind me. I blink back a few tears, as I power forward, I have to. For everyone who has faith in me.

I never knew what the world had in store for me, but one thing was for certain, it wasn’t this. Both my parents are dead and I never knew what plans they were scheming, maybe it was never really truly for me to know.

But now I have to fight for my survival, I don’t know that the world has in store for me but bring it on.

#attack on titan #levi angst #levi attack on titan #levi x reader #levi x oc #snk levi

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tinydooms · 4 years

Note

#30 (“There are souls that you feel to lean forward to, like a sun-filled window”) for Rick/Evy?

#30 “There are souls that you feel to lean forward to, like a sun-filled window”

The Western Desert, October 1922

An hour out from Hamunaptra, night had finally fallen over the Western Desert. Rick sat on his camel, rocking gently back and forth with each step, the girl he loved snug and warm in his arms.

Holding Evelyn Carnahan to him, hugging and kissing and being kissed by her, felt like the best thing that had ever happened to Rick. And it just kept getting better. For the last little while they had shared quiet kisses, lips meeting and clinging with wonder and affection or brushing each other’s faces and brows and hair. There was a wonderful moment when Evie pressed her lips to the hollow in Rick’s collarbones, tasting the smooth skin there, a sensation that gave him a delicious full-body shiver. Evie looked up at him with amusement in her glowing eyes.

“All right?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Rick said, bending his head to kiss her again. “You’re perfect.”

Evie grinned at him, her face crinkling up in pleasure, and squeezed him a little. “Good.”

She tucked her head into Rick’s shoulder, idly stroking his arm. It was wonderful to be so entwined, arms around each other. Evie was so soft in his arms, so cozy and comfortable. Rick dropped a kiss on the top of her head and felt her smile. This really was just the nicest feeling. The camel’s gate rocked them together, soothing them both after the chaos of the past few days. Little by little Evie stilled, hooking her thumb into the turn of his sleeve, and after a while Rick felt her go heavy as she fell asleep.

Rick took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and rested his cheek against Evelyn’s dear head. He had read stories where the hero had cradled his beloved to him like this, but had never really believed it would happen to him. Before the War, maybe, but since then he had seen and experienced and participated in the absolute worst that humanity had to offer, and there had been no place for love or romance in it. And afterwards...Rick pushed the memory of Afterwards away, not wanting to dwell on how lost and hopeless he had been. Focus on the present. Focus on this remarkable gift. Rick was no stranger to physical pleasure, but this was something different. He burned everywhere Evie touched him, where her arm rested around his waist, her hand on his hip, the fingers of her other hand tracing patterns into his forearm, and yet there was something different in this pleasure than the other times he had been with women. This was permanent. He wanted to take Evie to bed, sure, but he also wanted to go places with her, to listen while she explained the past to him, to watch her dig things up out of the dirt. From the way she held him, looked at him, Evie wanted that, too. She was safe and alive despite everything, and she loved him, and Rick didn’t want to ever let her go. She was a bright shining light; she warmed his soul. He shifted the reins to one hand and reached up to cradle Evie’s head, letting his eyes close in relief. He had been so afraid that he would lose her.

A camel’s snort jolted Rick out of his reverie. Jonathan had brought his mount alongside them and was fussing with a blanket roll strapped to one of his saddlebags.

“Here,” he said, “take this. Is Evie asleep?”

“Yeah,” Rick said, taking the proffered blanket, a little embarrassed. “Has been for a while.”

Jonathan didn’t seem at all phased. “Good, she needs it, poor kid. Here, I’ll hold your reins.”

Rick handed them over and shook out the blanket, shifting to wrap it around Evie’s bare shoulders. The temperature was falling fast; at least he and Jonathan had long sleeves to offer a minimum of protection against the nighttime cold. Evie’s sweater was long gone. She did not wake as Rick snugged the blanket around her, but mumbled a little before subsiding again against his chest. Rick smiled, resisting the urge to brush his lips against her hair, and took his reins back from Jonathan. He wondered what the other man thought of it all, if he would say anything. But when Jonathan did speak, it wasn’t about Evie.

“How long, do you think, until we reach the little oasis?”

Rick looked around at the moonlit landscape. They had come a good way along the trail, but he had only been paying partial attention to it.

“Uh, four or five miles, I’d say,” he said. “An hour, tops. You holding up okay?”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine. A bit sore and sleepy, but I’ve had worse.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, Rick was beginning to feel the after effects of battle. He hurt all over his body, and his throat was sore where Imhotep had choked him. He reached up to touch it, his fingers meeting the last of the rope burn from when he had been hanged. Rick swallowed. It could all have ended so badly. He drew in another deep breath, feeling his chest expand and release. He was alive. They were alive.

“Thank you,” Jonathan said abruptly. “For all this. For saving my sister. Couldn’t have done it without you, old chap.”

“You’re welcome,” Rick said, giving him a small smile. “Thanks for having my back.”

“Well, I’ve never left a partner in the lurch yet,” Jonathan said with a shrug. “I’m no hero, but I’m not that bad.”

“Heroes only exist in fiction,” Rick said. “The rest of us just do what needs to be done, even when we’re shit scared. Besides, I couldn’t live with myself if Evelyn had been killed.”

“No, I’d gathered that.” Jonathan chuckled. “You’ve been making calf eyes at her almost from the beginning.”

Rick felt himself reddening. “Am I that obvious?”

“Oh, Evie’s just as bad. Ardeth Bey thought the two of you were married.”

“He did?”

It came out a squawk; Evie stirred in his arms and Rick struggled to contain his laughter. He couldn’t help it; they were alive, and he was so happy. Jonathan, too, was chuckling. It was the sort of laughter between friends, the giddy delight of having survived an impossible situation. Rick knew that when they returned to Cairo all sorts of conversations were going to have to take place, but for now he was content to just be here with Evie, with Jonathan. They rode on in silence, Jonathan dozing in his saddle, until they reached the little oasis and dismounted for the night.

A second wind restored all of them then, as Rick found that the saddlebags were not loaded with the expected camping gear and supplies, but rather the wealth of Hamunaptra, and Evie learned about that scarab that had burrowed into Jonathan’s arm. Rick looked over their food supplies as she fussed over her brother, feeling kind of guilty. He had completely forgotten about the scarab incident in all of the tumult that had followed. The wound looked awful, purple puckers all the way up Jonathan’s arm and a neat stab where Rick had dug the thing out. He shivered.

“Are you all right?” Evie asked, looking him over. “Have you got any awful injuries that you haven’t told me about?”

“No, ma’am,” Rick said.

“Are you sure? Because if I find that you’re hiding any manageable hurts from me because of manly pride, I’ll-”

Rick held his hands up. “I’ve only got bruises.”

It wasn’t quite true; he was pretty sure he’d cracked a rib or two, but he wasn’t about to let Evie strip him to the waist. They weren’t there yet. Instead, he focused on dinner, dividing up their meager supplies, cutting up the stale bread and spearing it on sticks to toast over the fire. They could have some of the jerky now, and an apple each. In the morning they’d finish the bread, and there were date palms at the other end of the pond, so they wouldn’t starve, but it would be a long, hungry day until they reached the cultivation and villages to barter with.

“We’ll manage,” Evie said, turning her stick to toast the bread evenly. “As long as we have water, anyway.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Rick said.

“It’ll be nice to be back properly,” Evie said, settling back with her toast and apple. “Do you think the house was damaged in the firestorm?”

“I’d be surprised if it wasn’t,” Jonathan replied. “We’ll call up Daoud as soon as we get back to the fort and check.”

“I hope they’re all right,” Evie said. “You know how Fatima hates thunder and lightning. She was probably terrified.”

“Well, we won’t tell them that we had anything to do with, what?” Jonathan shook his head. “I don’t think they need to know that we’ve been conjuring afreets.”

Rick looked from one to the other. “Who’re Daoud and Fatima?”

“Our reis and housekeeper,” Jonathan replied. “They’ve been with us forever; Daoud was Father’s foreman, and then he had to retire from that because of an injury, so Father asked him to manage the household instead. Fatima’s his wife.”

“So you’ve known them your whole lives?”

Evie and Jonathan nodded.

“Our parents had rather a magpie approach to family,” Evie said. “Father and Daoud knew each other as young men and considered each other brothers, and Fatima and Mum were dear friends. Simple, really.”

Rick grinned. The magpie approach seemed to run in the family. “Where’s your house at?”

“In Zamalek, on Gezira Island,” Evie said.

Rick blinked. “I know where Zamalek is. Swanky place.”

Evie and Jonathan glanced at each other. Rick felt a sudden worry.

“I mean, it’s not Garden City…” he trailed off, uncertain. He knew Zamalek to be a nice, safe, quiet place; it was where the nice restaurants and the opera house were.

“It’s an old house,” Evie said, her voice hesitant. “It’s been getting a badly-needed new roof. It’s not fancy. But I think you’ll like it. It has a little courtyard and plenty of space.”

“‘Course you’ll want to let your own people know you’re alright,” Jonathan added. “You mustn’t let us monopolize you.”

“I, uh--” Rick rubbed the back of his head. This was going to be awkward no matter how he went at it. “I don’t have anyone. Any people. I mean, I don’t have a family or anything. It’s just been me since I was thirteen. My mom died and she was my only family, so...”

They stared at him. Embarrassed, Rick poked at the fire with his stick, avoiding their eyes.

“How old are you, Rick?” Jonathan asked. His voice sounded funny, kind of soft.

“I’m twenty-eight.”

“So you’ve been all alone for fifteen years?” Evie’s voice was soft, too, and horrified.

“Yeah. I mean I had friends in the army, but I guess...yeah.”

For a moment there was silence only broken by the crackling fire. Rick stabbed at it, memories of the orphanage beginning to swim in the back of his mind.

“That’s...that’s awful,” Evie said. “I’m so sorry, Rick.”

Rick stabbed at the fire again; these were not memories he wanted to dredge up.

“It isn’t fun,” he said, trying for a light tone. “Anyway, when we get back to Cairo, I...I’d like to stay.” He swallowed and looked at Evie. “With you. If that’s all right.”

She met his eyes and Rick could see that he understood what he meant. She began to smile.

“I think that sounds wonderful,” she said, reaching to take his hand.

“Plenty of room for you,” Jonathan added. “Happy to have you.”

Rick looked from one to the other and back to Evie. Warmth filled him like he had stepped into a sunlit room. A magpie family, wasn’t that how they had described themselves? And now they had collected him, too. Rick squeezed Evie’s hand and kissed her fingers, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt. He could stay. She wanted him to stay with her. It was going to be alright.

#The Mummy #my fanfics #prompts #asks

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onepdumpsterfire · 4 years

Text

Summary: Usopp moves to the city after a year since his mom died in a way to feel closer to her. There he looks for a roommate and finds none other than Zoro himself. what fate has in store for them is left for a later date lol

Roommates

Usopp . Zoro

It’s been almost a year since my mom died. She’s been sick for a long time, so I knew this was coming for some time now.

Even so, knowing didn’t stop it from hurting just as much.

Since her funeral, all I’ve done is coop myself up in our house. I’d probably turn into a hermit if it weren’t for my neighbor, Kaya. She came around whenever she had the chance.

That was nice of her considering what she has been going through…

But the more she worried about me, the guiltier I felt.

I know that she can't help but take care of people. Hell, It's why she’s been studying pharmaceutics, but I also know she can do so much more with her life. She could be some big-city doctor or researching to cure cancer!

Wouldn’t that be so much cooler than being stuck in a no-name city, too small to even afford more than the one clinic it has?

In any event, that’s only one of the reasons why I’ve decided to move away for a while. I think some time out of this house would do me some good.

The city that I’m moving to isn’t all that big and a bit further than I’d like it to be, but that’s the point of moving, right?

One way or another, I chose this city because my mom fell in love with it. She used to tell me about how, when she was young, she used to travel all over! She’d seen it all. Every tourist attraction and big-name city, but there was something about this city that just took her breath away. She told me that this place managed to calm her need to be constantly moving. This is also where she got pregnant with me then later she moved back to where she was raised and had me.

As much as she loved it there, she wanted me to go out on my own and find a place that would ‘sate my most wild urges and fuel my deepest desires,’ as cheese-ly as she put it.

At first, I thought she was joking.

I thought that she only liked that place because it’s where she met dad… It’s also why I hated this city.

My father was a coward that ran away as soon as my mom got sick. Though, she never blamed him for it. I never got to as her why, though. Years later, I did ask her if I was right. That she only romanticized this place because she fell in love there. However, she told me that he was only part of the reason why she loved this city so much, and that if I didn’t believe her then I should go find the depth of this city for myself.

I debated with myself for the longest time. Whether this was the right choice, or if I was ready to set foot in the place I used to loath so much. But being here now, I feel so much smaller than I thought I was. I’m nowhere near the heart of the city, but the sheer enormity for this place makes it feel like it’s trying to swallow me whole.

Sure, back home we had a lot of open fields and the horizon was always noticeable, but here the buildings towered over everything. It felt like a tsunami that threatened impact but never collided. The horizon was replaced by millions of stars that fell from the sky and sat just out of reach so that if you got too close thy’d turn into someone else’s day. Someone’s life.

There are so many people here that It almost made it feel lonely. Being surrounded by so many lives yet being so far from them. A mirage in a desert, one could call it. It promises life, but the closer you get the more you realize you could never get close enough.

I guess I was too much of a coward to be as alone as I felt when I first stepped foot here, though, I’ll keep telling myself it’s because the apartments here are too pricey and I only managed to land a job as a gas station attendant. Nevertheless now I’m sitting on the first floor of a fully furnished two-bedroom apartment checking a roommate wanted ad I posted earlier this week.

So far there have been only two people who wanted to move around this area, but one ghosted me after a few messages and the other ended up creeping me out so much that I had to report his account! I just hope the last person that answered my ad isn’t as much of a weirdo as the previous two.

They seem to be a bit curt, but I shouldn’t get too picky. Rent for next month is gonna be due soon, and there is barely anyone who wants to live near this area as is!

I’m sure that they’re nicer in person! I shouldn’t worry. It’s just two days.

Two days.

-2 days later. Thursday 2:30 pm -

When I arrive at the coffee shop, I walk straight to the back of the line. It isn’t that long and I’ve got here thirty minutes early, so I should have time for a drink before they get here.

Should I get something for them too? No, that’d be weird, and it would probably get cold by the time they get here.

The person in front of the line leaves and we all step forward.

Shit.

Someone arrives and lines up behind me.

I didn’t ask for their name! I don’t even know if they’re a boy or a girl!

The next person leaves and we take another step forward.

Is it too late to ask? Would it be weird if I did?

Another step forward

What if they’re a girl? Would they feel uncomfortable living with a guy?

“-ir?”

I did put on the ad I was a dude though…

“-cuse me, sir?”

“Huh?” The barista’s voice brings me back to earth. “Oh, sorry!”

“It’s okay!” her chipper voice rung out, “could you repeat your order? I didn’t quite catch it.”

“O-oh, sorry. Sorry. I didn’t mean to talk out loud. I was lost in thought, I guess... haha ...” I looked up to their hanging menu, more so to look away from her than to figure out what I wanted.

After putting in my order I take a seat at the very back.

Ten minutes later my drink was ready and my anxiety was rising again.

What if they don’t come?

Five minutes later and I sent them a message to let them know I’m here.

Maybe I could’ve phrased it better?

That sounded weird…?

God, is that a typo?

five minutes later

They haven’t answered, but that’s okay! It’s only been five minutes. Can’t expect them to be by their phone 24/7 right?

I’ll play some games on my phone to distract myself. Yeah, that’ll be fine. It’s fine.

I take a big gulp from my drink

I downloaded that new game. My hopes aren’t high for it, though. I found it via a random Facebook ad. Hopefully, it’s not one of those scams that say 90% of people can’t pass level five, but it’s only ‘cus no one lasts long enough to get to level five.

Hmmm… it seems plays well. A bit of a lag but the graphics are awesome! The old-style, pixelated art and bright, neon, solid colors give it a very retro vibe. The ads between levels kind of ruin the experience, though.

Guess they gotta make money somehow, right?

I wonder if they’ll go away if I turn off my data and Wi-Fi.

I shouldn’t just in case the person I’m meeting tries to reach me.

Could be fine for a round or two, though, I’d anxiously suffer through all of it.

I shouldn’t just in-

A sudden scraping sound from the chair opposite of me jolts me from my hypnotic state. “Hey,” a green-haired man in front of me mutteres before taking the seat he pulled out.

Taking in his form as he makes himself comfortable, my mind begins to race. Green dyed hair with roots of black hair showing. Fitted, sleeveless Nike shirt and black basketball shorts paired with a white pair of sneakers.

Oh, god. What’s with the green hair? He looks super buffed. Am I about to be mugged? No, that’s stupid. He wouldn’t have sat- in a cafe, really?

I quickly glance down at my phone for the time.

Exactly 3. Is he super punctual? More than likely a fluke, but impressive nonetheless. What if he’s a perfectionist?

My thoughts continue to swarm around my head, buzzing in an insatiable mob until a humming silence washes over me. Like one of those box televisions from back in the day. Not broadcasting anything in particular, stuck on a blue screen, droning on in silence.

The sudden stillness in my thoughts came so abruptly that it almost gave me whiplash. That aside, I need to focus now and answer him.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t ask for your name-” I left my statement open so that he could fill in the blank“-Zoro”

“R-right, Zoro. My name’s Usopp,” I waved my hands like the gesticulation would somehow help my words form into a coherent sentence, “but you probably already knew that from my ad... Hah..” I gave a quick huff before pushing through my awkward inexperience with ‘interviews’. “I was thinking we could talk and get to know each other before I take you to see the apartment.”

“That’s fine by me,” Zoro relaxed further in his seat. “What do you wanna know?”

Right at home, ain’t he.

~Do you smoke? “No”

~Are you a messy person? “I don't have a lot of things other than clothes.”

Doesn't quite answer the question but ill take it.

~Do you have friends over often? “No”

~What do you do for a living? “I’m a bouncer at a bar near here.”

Explains the muscle.

~Can you pay rent on time? “Yes, actually I brought the first month’s with me. Your ad said that split cost between the both of us plus the utilities would be $487 right?” Zoro dug around his pocket before pulling out a folded wad of cash and handing it to me.

“U-uh yeah,” tentatively I reach over to take the money. “Yeah...” I doubt I can find someone else by the end of the month. Zoro’s my safest bet at getting a roommate before next rent's due. He doesn’t seem so bad, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.

...I guess this means there’s only one more question to ask.

“Do you wanna see the apartment?”

#modernlivingau #one piece #one piece zoro #Pirate Hunter Zoro #roronoa zoro #one piece usopp #god usopp #one piece kaya

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myinconnelly1 · 4 years

Text

A Life Unlived Ch. 3: Life Goes On Pt. 2

Masterlist / Previous

Word Count: 1,618

A/N: Season 4 still good luck don't murder me

Warnings: non-graphic smut, themes of cheating, canon gore

September 2008

Dean watched as the Demon chained to the chair choked on the black smoke that it was made of. He hadn’t heard much from outside, but he had heard enough.

“Slutting around with that demon bitch. What were you doing all those months?”

Dean couldn’t stand there anymore. He burst into the warehouse.

“Dean,” Sam said genuinely shocked. “I can-”

“If you say you can explain…” Dean said heavily. “Why don’t you start with who she is?”

“It’s good to see you again, Dean.” Ruby faked a smile at the older Winchester.

“Ruby? Is that Ruby?” Dean asked looking at Sam. He hurled himself at her, pinning her against a grate and pulled the demon knife intent on stabbing her. Sam intervened, telling Ruby to leave.

“Dean?” Dean!” Sam called after his brother as Dean walked out of the warehouse and got in the Impala. He had no idea where he was driving to but he needed to get somewhere.

The motel he arrived at was not the one that he and Sam were staying at. It also wasn’t the bar that he had planned on going to. He saw Myin’s Camry parked there and realized he had gone to her. Maybe she would understand. She had refused to stay around Sam since Dean had returned from hell.

“Dean?” Myin asked surprised when he knocked on the door. “Are you okay, what are you doing here?” She let him into the room, locking the door behind him. The sat next to him on the bed. She caressed her thumb and knuckles down his cheek in a well-practiced motion of care. Dean turned to face her and leaned his forehead against hers. Myin had always been generous with her physical contact, a fact about her that made her seem warmer and inviting.

She lifted his chin with her index finger so that his eyes met hers and his nose bumped against hers. Dean’s attention was brought to her lips as she licked them, concern etched on her face. He went for it.

He pressed his lips against hers. The pain he carried from hell, the anger at Sam for his betrayal, the expectations of Castiel and the angels and God all crashing down on him and out in a cathartic release as he kissed the short brunette. His hands slid around her waist, her body was so warm and comforting, and he didn’t want to let go. Much to his surprise, she kissed him back after a moment of surprise.

He pulled her body close as her hands curled into his short hair. He kissed her again, and again, letting his hands feel her not wanting to break contact.

“Dean,” She gasped against his lips. He kissed her again, getting his hands under her legs to pull her onto his lap. “Dean!” her cry was muffled against his mouth. He flipped her onto her back his erection hard as he was nestled in the cradle of her legs.

“Dean, stop.” Her words finally cut through his haze and he pulled himself away from Myin as if he had been burned.

“Myin, I’m sorry, shit I’m sorry.” He babbled his apology even as he looked at her, lips kiss chapped and hair fanned on the bed below her.

“It’s okay,” She said as she sat up and licked her lips. “What happened?”

“I, uh, followed Sam and saw him with someone that made me really unhappy,” Dean chuckled as he explained without trying to sell Sam out in a bad light even after everything.

“So you met Ruby I take it?” Myin mumbled as she bit her lip.

“Yeah, how did you know?” Dean was taken by surprise at how quickly she had come upon the name.

“When you died Sam came to live with me and the girls. It was good for a while. We were happy I thought. But I guess I wasn’t enough. He wanted me to cast a spell to save you.” Myin stood from the bed and crossed her arms. “I told him the cost was going to be too high, magic always comes with a cost.”

“He left because you wouldn’t cast a spell to save me?” Dean asked looking at her bewildered.

“I guess Ruby is a better witch than me. At least in bed.” Myin looked down at the floor bitterly.

“He’s sleeping with her?!” Dean nearly shouted as all the anger flooded his system again.

“What did you think they were doing together?” Myin asked looking at him as if he had two heads.

“She’s a demon,” Dean said as if it were obvious. “Didn’t you know?”

“No?! Why would I know that?” Myin threw her hands out in exasperation.

“You could see the angel, I figured it was all of them.”

“I have no idea why that happened,” Myin said looking away. She was a good liar, in Dean’s opinion, but it takes one to know one, he thought ruefully.

“So he wanted you to cast the spell and you wouldn’t so he left you for ruby?” Dean clarified.

“Yeah after about a month of them doing whatever it is they do together.” She rolled her eyes as if saying the next thing couldn’t make anything worse. “It’s funny cause I found out right before I was going to tell him I would cast the spell anyway.” Myin shook her head again, but when she turned to look for Dean she realized he had walked out the door.

“No, that’s okay, Dean. I can hold a conversation by myself for the both of us. It’s not like I sent up a red flag to the Angels or anything.” She muttered as she closed the door to her motel and went about fixing the blankets on her mattress before calling her kids.

June 2008

“This one requires a witch,” Myin said hesitantly. “You don’t have a witch.”

“Well,” Sam gestured to her. “Maybe your dad let something that could be helpful, and you just don’t know it?”

“I don’t know, Sam. Magic always has a price. Even if you don’t know what it is. It’s not safe.”

“We have to try,” Sam said desperately.

“I’ll look. But no promises.” She brushed his hair out of his face, then kissed his lips.

“Hey, Sam?” Myin called as she unlocked the front door to her house. The Dani and Penny were away with Myin’s mother in law, and Myin was hoping for a long weekend with Sam. It would be nice to have some time together that wasn’t quickies once the girls had gone to bed. Not that she minded the quickies, but she liked the sore feeling that she got after having Sam inside her for longer than twenty minutes. “I was thinking about cooking tonight, I got chicken and pork, any pref-”

Myin cut off mid-question as she dropped her groceries and nearly threw up in her mouth. Sam was in the living room with a skinny brunette, licking blood from her wrist. They were both partially naked and Sam was fucking her senseless. The glass of a jar shattering was enough to get their attention, and Sam nearly dropped the girl as they moved to cover themselves. Myin turned her back to the two of them shock and disgust evident on her face.

“I’m gonna leave now,” The brunette muttered as she scrambled to get past Myin. Myin grabbed her shoulder and punched her in the face.

“Ow,” The slut groaned but broke free of Myin’s grip and rushed out.

“Myin, I’m sorry I can explain. Ruby… Ruby and I were trying to find a way to save Dean…” Sam was starting to trail off as he realized how bad the entire situation looked.

“I think you should leave,” Myin said numbly. “I’m going to go out, please get your things and leave.” Myin grabbed her keys and walked back out the front door.

She found herself in a church parking lot, a place she hadn’t been since before Jay died. She walked in, soaking wet from the rain and had a seat in one of the pews.

“Can I help you?” The priest walked over to her and placed a hand on her forehead. “You look like you are in so much pain.”

“Father, I- I feel like God has deserted me,” she sniffed pathetically as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

“God always looks after us, even when we think He has left us, that is really Him helping us the most.”

“I have a favor to ask Him, but after everything, I’m not sure I am very high in His books. I don’t think He likes me very much.” Myin giggled a little manically at her awful joke.

“He has time for favors from those of us that are farthest from Him.” The Priest said. “If you need help asking Him for a favor let me know. We’re on good terms.” Myin smile for real this time, but the priest walked away to give her space.

“If You’re listening, I need help. Someone very special has been misplaced. He is a good man, and he is in hell,” Myin whispered her prayer as she stood and walked to the baptismal font. “I offer you my sight, in hopes that you will see how important he is.”

She reached her right hand into the water then let the droplets hit her eyes like eye drops from her fingers. Her tears intensified for a moment before stopping and her vision cleared.

“I will help you,” A voice carried on the wind caressed her ear. “I hear your call. Dean Winchester will be saved.”

@waywardbaby @destielhoneybee @snffbeebee @deangirl7695 @spnbaby-67 @maddiepants @tabrown2021 @ladywinchester1967 @woodworthti666 @miraclesoflove @tumbler-tidbits @emilyshurley @akshi8278 @mannls @wendibird @bobasheebaby @flamencodiva @theoneandonlymelol @chelsea072498 @donnaintx @justsomedreaming @supernaturalenchanted @kalesrebellion @prettydeaneyes @emoryhemsworth @yourdommelb

#supernatural #Sam x Myin #Dean x Myin #Sam x Ruby #smut #non-graphic smut #canon gore #blood drinking #demon blood!Sam #Castiel #Ruby #Sam winchester #Dean winchester #Myin #self insert #flashbacks #themes of cheating #TW: Cheating

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thetriggeredhappy · 4 years

Note

👀 hmmmmmm?

ok, the WIP itself is going under a cut because it’s pretty long, but the explanation will stay up here above it.

so the premise was that i wanted more practice with experimental storytelling because, i’ll be honest, i was in a weird place mentally and that’s one way i work shit out. so i did the thing everyone else who writes for the TF2 motherfuckers does and i messed with the understood conventions of Respawn. the idea was that Respawn does three things: first of all, it brings people back from the dead and to a previous save state of them, a singular state at a specific age for all of them. this means that none of them age, because every time they die, that counter just restarts. second, it erases basically all memory from before they died--it resets them to a state before they’d made those memory pathways. then the team often catches up whoever died on what all happened, and they believe it at face value. however, if the whole team dies, they’re basically entirely reset. and thirdly, the system has tweaked them in a very specific way; none of them are very prone to asking questions, and none of them are very prone to going anywhere off-base.

the idea was, there would be a singular repeating opening to every single chapter--or maybe three respawns per chapter or so, depending on length--and every time, one or two words would be tweaked just a little bit in a weird game of telephone. there would be slight deviations in one direction or another, elaborating in different ways, with two constants: seven days after Scout last died he would realize he was in love with Sniper, and that never, ever, ever would they interact or witness a human being besides the ones on the team. this is because scout’s save state is that he’s trapped shortly before he realizes he’s in love, and because the team has no concept of time outside of their base, and unbeknownst to them, the world outside of their little sphere has ended, and they’ve been fighting in the gravel pits for hundreds of years. the announcer is just pre-recorded messages, the other team is also caught in the same system, the bases are entirely self-sufficient, and none of them know that the rest of the world has died.

i realized 1. i could run with this concept literally forever, and this would be like 100k words, and i do not have the time or energy to ever run with it for that long i would Literally Die, 2. i could probably adapt the concept in some ways to be applicable to original work that i could then potentially make money off of because i do think the idea’s pretty good, and then eventually 3. Oh Wait I Sort Of Wrote This Already, I Did A Whole Play On Time Travel, Like A Groundhog Day Thing, I Can’t Do This Again I’ll Die

but since i’m almost positive i’ll never finish it, here’s the work i already have featuring the editing notes as well. the working title was “Loops!AU”. literally absolutely feel free to run with this idea

1. His name is Mickey Lawrence Mundy, and he’s thirty-one years old, and he’s been a smoker for fifteen of those years. He’s tall by American standards and short by Australian, and his parents hate his chosen career path and fashion choices, and his favorite holiday is Halloween because it’s in the fall, his favorite season.

Not a single one of those details would ever be important, out here in the desert far from everywhere, fighting and killing.

The missions start and stop abruptly with little warning, sometimes heralded by the sound of a little motorcycle carrying a girl who’s worth a hundred times her weight in danger, but generally not. He always goes with, even when he’s not so terribly needed, because he’s told to and he gets paid if he does. He hasn’t checked his back account balance in almost two years. He knows it’s probably giving some poor Swiss intern a stress ulcer just looking at it. Rarely does something memorable happen, at most one of his teammates getting taken out and needing to be retrieved, but usually not much of anything at all. They’re important though, apparently. That’s how he’s getting so much money.

His teammates are as remarkable as they are unremarkable—so oddly human despite being absolute freakshows, much like himself. He’d argue with the Spy, avoid the Medic, try and keep the Pyro in his line of sight, and tended to get pestered by the Scout since he was the only person who wouldn’t actively chase him off.

But that last one has been acting strange lately. It’s been a few days since the last mission, which generally makes him pretty antsy, but this is a different sort. He’s been staring at Sniper a lot, eyes sharp from underneath the shade of the brim of his hat, like a wild cat hiding in the brush.

Dangerous, is the word he’s looking for.

2. His name is Mickey "Mick” Mundy, and he’s thirty-one years old, and he’s been bitten by more exotic animals than most people have even seen with the scars to prove it. He’s tall by American standards and short by Australian, and his parents don’t pick up the phone for him anymore for some reason, and his favorite season is the fall because it’s got his favorite holiday stuck smack dab in the middle.

Not a single one of those details would ever be important, out here in the desert far from everywhere, fighting and killing.

The missions start and stop abruptly with little warning, sometimes heralded by the sound of a little motorcycle carrying a girl who’s worth a hundred times her weight in danger, but generally not. He always goes with, even when he’s not so terribly needed, because he’s told to and he gets paid if he does. He hasn’t checked his back account balance in quite some time. He knows it’s probably giving some poor Swiss intern a stress ulcer just looking at it. Rarely does something memorable happen, at most one of his teammates getting taken out and needing to be retrieved from Respawn, but usually not much of anything at all. The missions are important though, apparently. That’s how he’s getting so much money.

Dangerous, is the word he’s looking for.

[[every time Sniper dies and gets reset, change tiny little details about the paragraph above, like a game of telephone, deleting more and more information along the way. have sniper remember details about scout that he shouldn’t know, or circumvent earlier problems without thinking about it—ex. scout has an allergic reaction to something sniper cooks and later sniper cooks a different meal even though previous conversation is borderline identical. have one or two times where scout and sniper get in an argument because one of them died but the other didnt and they don’t remember each other correctly]]

[[final chapter scene, scout shows up frazzled, some conversation, deviating an awful lot from previous scripts]]

“Remember Woodstock?” Scout asked, tilting his head. “Remember when that was a thing that happened, and it was a big fuckin’ deal, all sorts of magazines talkin’ about it, it was on TV and everything?”

“Yeah,” Sniper agreed, nodding.

“But do you remember what year that was?”

“Well,” Sniper said, “I,” Sniper said, “I, well, obviously it was fairly recent.”

“Uh-huh,” Scout said, and it wasn’t encouraging.

“Had to be, what, three or four years ago?”

“Weird, because, uh, because the Doc—I asked him about it, right?—he said it had to have been a few months ago. And Spy said it had to have been almost a decade ago. And Mumbles didn’t know what I was talkin’ about.”

There was silence for a few long seconds.

“Because—because the thing is—“ Scout scrubbed at his hair underneath his hat. “—I, I had that written down. I wrote that down, I, I scratched it a good quarter-inch into solid wood planks. Y’know those planks, on the underside of a bedframe? Right where a mattress goes? I uh, I was cleaning under my bed for once, and I’d apparently scratched it under there. Just—just four words. ‘Ask Spy About Woodstock’. That’s it. And—and he started talkin’ about it like it had to have happened, like, before I would’ve even known what that was, when I was a kid or somethin’. And I’m just wondering—I—“ Scout was finally starting to really stumble, and his gaze kept drifting, snapping back, disorientation settling into the furrow between his eyebrows like rain on cracked desert earth. “I’m just wondering how the hell I don’t remember doin’ that.”

He swallowed hard, and it took several seconds to sink in, the weight of his words. “You…” Sniper started to say, and couldn’t find the last part of the thought.

“Me?” Scout prompted, almost desperately, and how long had Sniper been standing there, jaw gaping?

“Snipes?” Scout prompted from through what sounded like a glass of water, snapping his fingers in front of Sniper’s nose a few times, jolting him back to—

“Snipes!” Scout said far too loudly, and Sniper flinched, and resurfaced with a thought.

“Why,” Sniper asked, “did you write it down somewhere so hidden? Who were you worried would find it before you?”

“And did I write it down somewhere else, and it *did* get found, and that’s why it’s so hard to think about?” Scout finished.

Silence for a few seconds.

“Did… you write anything else?” Sniper asked, voice thin.

“That’s the thing,” Scout said, voice thin from a slightly different direction. “Because, see, I did write somethin’ else, but I didn’t need to find that writing to have known somethin’ was up. Because—“

There was silence for a few seconds, a few more.

“Do I… know you from somewhere?” Scout asked.

He wasn’t even looking at Sniper, but his eyes were a shade of—

“Because it feels like just… the way you talk, the, the way *we* talk—“

It was dimly lit in the camper, but his hair shone in the light of the sunrise—the sunset—the—bonfire—sunset?—sun—rise?

“It just feels… familiar.”

He was soft—he was tense—he was soft—had he ever even touched Scout before?—he looked tense—he looked soft.

“It feels like I’ve met you somewhere before.”

He looked tense.

“Is it you?”

“What?” Sniper asked.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” His voice trembled. “It’s all your fault. You’re the one doing this. Why—why the hell else would I have scratched in your name?”

“What?” Sniper asked.

“But—but it can’t be you,” Scout started, talking himself back again. “It can’t be you because it’s—it’s not just ‘Sniper’ scratched down there. When did you tell me? Why did you tell me? Why’d I hide it?”

“What?” Sniper asked.

Scout looked at him, gaze hard enough, fragile enough, glass, sheets of ice, that he fought to find more words.

“What are you talking about? Is it… what did you find?”

Scout looked at him, gaze soft enough, firm enough, decades-old-mattress, rotting springs, that he didn’t dare say anything else.

“I’m gonna ask you a few questions here,” Scout said, voice wobbly.

Sniper nodded.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

Sniper thought. “I ate a sandwich at the base before I walked over here,” he supplied.

“Before that.”

“Took a shower and all that, fresh off Respawn.”

“Before that.”

“Well, woke up in the Respawn room.”

“Before that.”

“Well, I… I died,” Sniper shrugged.

“How’d you die?”

Sniper was

Sniper

Sniper was

“How’d you die?” Scout asked again, almost exactly the same way.

“Well, I…” Sniper started to say. “…I don’t remember. Probably shot in the head. That happens a lot, I get shot in the head.”

“Let me ask another question,” Scout said. “I come bug you a lot, don’t I?”

“Yeah,” Sniper agreed.

“When’s the longest time I’ve hung out over here?”

“Well, that had to have been…” Sniper started to say. “Well, obviously it’s the time when we…” Sniper started to say.

“When we…?” Scout prompted.

“I…” Sniper said.

“I’ll ask something else,” Scout said, paced one way, then changed his mind and stepped back again. “We get sent to the other bases sometimes. Remember that?”

“Right. Right!” Sniper said, clinging to the scrap of clarity. “We go to a different base every few months until it gets destroyed.”

“And those places have names,” Scout supplied.

“Yes!”

“What were some of them?”

Sniper looked at him. “Well, there was… and… there was a cold one, with… or a…”

Scout looked at him.

“There—with the, with the buildings, and the…”

Scout looked at him.

Sniper looked around his immediate surroundings for clues. He spotted a picture tacked to his wall, blurry and faded and indistinct and damaged, and took a breath, and words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

“You call your family often?” Scout supplied.

“I do.”

“When did you last call?”

Sniper’s head felt like the picture tacked to his wall.

“Just one more question.”

Sniper looked up at Scout.

“What’s your name?” Scout asked.

“M-Michael—“

No, that wasn’t right.

“Mitch, Mitchel—Mitch—“

No.

“Rich—?”

No, it was,

“Mike—“

No.

Scout’s face was a one-way mirror. “It’s not any of those,” he said, as if Sniper didn’t know. “It’s somethin’ else.”

He was right.

“Your name’s Mickey,” he said, “Lawrence,” he said, “Mundy,” he said, “and I think we might be some of the only people alive on the planet.”

“And I think,” Scout said, “that we’re stuck here, repeating things over and over.”

“And I think,” Scout said, “that we’ve both been the same age as when we were hired for a long, long time, and we keep getting set back to that age.”

“And I think,” Scout said, “that you stuck me at this age on purpose.”

“Why,” Sniper asked, “would I… what, what’s special about it? Why would I pick this age for you? If I—what makes you think that I’m doing it, and that I would?”

“Because I think that every time I wake up after being shot in the head, a few days later, I realize I’m in love with you.”

“What makes you think that?” Sniper asked next.

“Because I realized it again when I saw your name, and it felt like déjà vu. And I’m lookin’ at your shoulders, and I remember exactly what they feel like when I wrap my arms up around them, and how your stubble feels, and what your laugh feels like when I’ve got a hand against your chest, even though I can’t remember ever having touched you in my goddamn life.”

Silence. Sniper felt his breath catching in his chest.

“That’s not possible,” Sniper said, and felt his mind shifting away into denial. “You’re delusional. I’m—there’s just something wrong with our heads.”

“Of course it’s impossible. *None* of this is possible,” Scout said, voice scorched. “It’s not possible to remember feeling things that I’ve never felt before. Just like it’s not possible to be brought back to life, after being shot in the head.”

and that's the end of what i have written for this. so there you go

#shut up me #everybody talks #tf2 #team fortress 2 #speeding bullet #sniperscout

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ayma-nidiot · 4 years

Text

In the White Light - Prideshipping fanfic Chapter 18

Also on AO3.

Author’s Note: This chapter is named in honour of an old Boueibu chat @queenofthefaces and I used to be a part of.

This chapter also features hints of Scandalshipping.

Chapter 18 – Big Ass Spider

Mahad returned from the infirmary, back to the court meeting currently taking place in the throne room. “Pharaoh, you’ll be glad to know that your companions have made it out of the Shadow Game alive and well. After they’ve recuperated, I’ll ask them about the foes they’ve faced.”

“Excellent work, Mahad,” Yami Yugi acknowledged as the High Priest sat back down.

Those fools actually survived a Shadow Game? Kaiba, who had reluctantly agreed to sit in on this meeting, tittered. I guess every dog has his day.

“So now that we’ve discussed everything we know so far about our enemy, what is our best course of action, pharaoh?” Isis asked.

“I want you and Mahad to stay and guard the palace while the rest of us move out.”

“A sound decision, Your Majesty,” Karim remarked. “Monster attacks on the palace have been rather scarce lately and have mostly been concentrated in the villages.”

“Then I will send you and Shada with some of my forces to help protect the villagers. If you find the time, ask them for any information that may be useful to us. You have my permission to leave.”

“At once, Your Majesty.” With that Karim and Shada bowed before equipping themselves with their Millennium Items and DiaDhanks, and heading out the palace.

“But what of you, Priest Seto-”

“That’s Kaiba to you,” Kaiba corrected Mahad with a curt voice.

“My apologies… Er, what will you, Kaiba, and your companions do?”

“We will head out to Anubis’ chamber. Seeing as how he was one of our greatest enemies in the past, perhaps our new enemy is affiliated with him in some way. In fact, I’m almost certain that the zombies you’ve been seeing are getting revenge for their master.”

Kaiba knitted his brow at this announcement. “That… is a very dangerous idea, Yugi. Did the desert dry up your brains? Or are you that eager to repeat history?”

“I’ll have to agree with Kaiba,” spoke Isis. “It is possible that Anubis’ spirit may return and attack you again.”

“Not if they take two of our strongest soldiers.” Mahad called out into the hall, “Mana! Kisara! Your presence is requested in the throne room.”

“Your Eminence.” A young woman with long blue hair and plain beige robes presented herself.

“You called, Master?” A sprightly girl who looked just like Dark Magician Girl joined her. “Oh! Hello again, Pharaoh!”

“Dark Magician Girl! I’m so glad you’re all right after what happened on Atlantis.”

“Likewise, Your Majesty. I’m honoured to fight alongside you again, and on such an important mission, too. Oh, yeah, one more thing. In this world, call me Mana.”

Kaiba had nothing to say to Mana, and instead was more interested in the other young woman. She looks a lot like Maiden with Eyes of Blue!

It was then that this young woman noticed Kaiba staring at her. “Oh! Pardon me for not introducing myself properly. My name is Kisara and… well, we’ve technically met before.”

“I should say the same.” Kaiba took Maiden with Eyes of Blue out of his deck and showed it to her.

Mahad elaborated, “Kisara is the original owner of a powerful ka – or, as you call it in your world, monster – the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.”

“Then consider myself charmed.” Kaiba bowed before arising from the table. “Well, Yugi, if we’re going to go on this death mission, then let’s make it quick.”

“Hey, if rich boy is comin’, then so am I!” declared Joey.

“Figures… But you’re not riding on my back this time, Wheeler. Use your own damned dragon for once.” Kaiba turned to Mokuba.

“Ooh! Can I come?” Mokuba asked.

“Kaiba, I’m not sure taking people without Duel Disks is a good idea,” Yami Yugi warned. “I don’t want my friends to get hurt, and I’m sure you don’t want Mokuba to get hurt either.”

“Don’t you think we know that?” Tristan growled.

“I… I’m not afraid of zombies!” Téa spoke confidently. “We’ve faced them before! And don’t forget all the other trials we’ve been through… We’re tougher than you think, pharaoh.”

“Don’t worry, babe, I’m strong enough to protect us all.” Kaiba held Yami Yugi by the waist. “Don’t you know who I am?”

“My love, overconfidence is a deadly enemy. At least let me do my share of the protecting.”

“Oh my gods, guys, you can flirt after we’ve defeated Anubis’ zombies!” Joey already started running towards the palace exit and started flying on Red-Eyes Black Dragon with Tristan and Yugi. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

“You moron. You don’t even know where to find the damned place!” Kaiba shouted after him.

While the remaining people decided who would be riding with whom, Weevil overheard the conversation. Having just emerged from the infirmary, he made sure to stay out of sight. “Looks like Yugi and company are going to some creepy guy’s tomb to face some creepy zombies and get some awesome treasures! We better follow them!”

“Ohohoho, no. Not on your Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth, we’re not. Remember last time? We’re taking the Slash Dragon this time.” Rex summoned this monster.

“Fine, whatever. Just transform into that rabbit form of yours so we don’t blow our cover.”

“I… Um… Okay, I’ll try…” Rex concentrated all of his energy in his torso, but all that came out of it was a loud fart. “Sorry that I’m not cool like Kaiba. I can’t just transform into an animal the way he can.”

“I’ve noticed!” Weevil covered his nose for a few seconds. “Well, hun, you’re going to have to try again!”

“Since you’ve called me that, I’ll try once more for you, baby.” Rex winked before focusing again, and luckily for him, this transformation was successful. “Haha! See? Second time’s the charm. Now make sure you take care of my Duel Disk.”

“Yeah, yeah… Now hurry up before those lamebrains leave without us.” Weevil got onto the Red-Eyes Slash Dragon, and Rex hopped into his arms.

“Hmm…” Kisara closed her eyes, summoning the Blue-Eyes White Dragon - which she, Téa, and Mana promptly mounted.

“Impressive that you can summon one of my favourite monsters out of thin air!” Kaiba transformed into the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon. “But so can I.”

“Oh boy, oh boy!” Though Mokuba normally was mature for his age, he acted excited, despite the danger of the mission. “Finally, I get to go for a ride!”

“Come, I’ll help you up.” With that, Yami Yugi helped Mokuba and himself mount Kaiba’s back.

“Okay, Mokuba, it’s going to be quite a long ride. So you better hold on tight,” Kaiba advised when everyone had left the palace. “Both onto me and onto my Duel Disk.”

“You got it, bro!” Mokuba liked the breeze that greeted him as Kaiba took to the air. “Wow, what a view! The skyline is so pretty!”

“Yeah, it’s pretty, but don’t forget what we’re supposed to be looking for,” spoke Kaiba.

“Right, uh… Some stone building with a huge jackal statue in front of it.”

“How did you know?”

“Because I see it right there!” Mokuba pointed at the middle-of-nowhere building. “Wh-Whoa!”

When Kaiba had dived to the sand, and Mokuba had faceplanted, Kaiba sighed. “I told you to hang on tight… Now please don’t do anything unnecessary from here on out.”

“Got it,” Mokuba sheepishly replied after Kaiba turned into a human, and he gave him back his Duel Disk.

Kaiba noticed that Mokuba had stiffened up as the party walked deeper into the chamber. “You can talk, you know. Just don’t touch anything.”

“It’s much more elaborate than the last time we’ve visited,” Téa noted.

“And best part is, there aren’t any zombies!” exclaimed Tristan.

“Don’t jinx it, man…” Joey picked up a dagger. “Hey lookit, it’s the Dagger of Fate!”

“‘Last time?’” Téa’s remark intrigued Mana. “You mean you’ve been here before?”

“I’d rather not remember it…”

“You sure looked cool doing that double roundhouse kick, though!” Joey did a few air punches. “And so did the rest of us!”

“Yeah, you sure looked cool running away from the zombies.”

“Oh, stuff it, Tristan.”

Kaiba interrupted the silly talk. “That was around the time I summoned the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon and nearly kicked Yu- I mean, the pharaoh’s ass. How I still have the card after all that happened with Anubis – and how I can transform into said card – I wish I knew.”

“It’s like I told you during our first time travel, my love. Anubis cursed you after he died.”

“Huh…” Kisara’s voice sounded from even deeper in the chamber. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that, pharaoh.”

“Did you find something?” Yami Yugi lead the other companions to this deeper part, which began to jog his memories. “This…”

“Babe?”

“This place… It’s where I heard… Priest Seto’s last words.” Yami Yugi trembled. He would have fallen to his knees, too, if Kaiba hadn’t held him tall.

Kaiba changed the subject. “So, Kisara, what did you find? …Great. Another giant rock. You can never get enough of them in ancient Egypt, can you? Let me guess, it displays some kind of ‘epic’ battle? Or some other occult nonsense?”

“I don’t know how you can utter that overused phrase of yours after all that’s happened.” Yami Yugi stepped forward to get a better look at the giant stone tablet. The dragon in the middle, which took up nearly half of the tablet’s space, was the first thing to catch his attention. “This tablet looks just like the one I keep at the palace.”

“Guess again, pharaoh.” Kaiba pointed at the only two other pictures on the tablet – a small rabbit and a large spider. “I remember that giant rock well, and it certainly didn’t have a big ass spider on it. Now then…”

“Kaiba?” Kisara looked concerned as Kaiba reached for the sapphire on the Shining Dragon’s head.

“Will you tell me what I want to know?” Kaiba let the powers of this tablet take him and his companions into a vision quest.

“And to think, you didn’t believe in ‘occult nonsense.’”

“Wheeler, if there was a perfect time to shut up, it’s now. Or really any time you think of opening your mouth.”

“Why you…”

“No, Kaiba’s right. Look at who’s here! It’s Anubis!” Mana pointed at a man with messy long blond hair, a cape, and a teal jewel in the middle of his forehead.

Yami Yugi looked at the elderly man standing next to Anubis. He bore the Millennium Eye and wore nothing but flowing white robes. “So… So, it’s true. Aknadin really was Anubis’ accomplice.”

“Tch!” Anubis, clearly displeased at his latest creation, crushed it and sent it into a ball of shadows. “Yet another weak monster! Perhaps using just servants of the Thief King aren’t enough… I have to find the scumbag himself. Maybe then I can stop conjuring things like mere rabbits.”

“If I may?” Aknadin spoke up. In his right hand, he held up a young man – bound and gagged – by the collar. “If we can’t transform the left hand of the Thief King into something powerful, then maybe the right hand will work.”

“I suppose he will have to suffice for the time being…” Anubis sighed as Aknadin threw the young man in front of him.

“Mmmph!” The young man whimpered loudly as eight spider’s legs sprouted from his body, and his form changed.

“Yes…” Anubis admired the black and red spider that towered over him, and the four Red-Eyes Black Dragons it killed. “Finally, a monster that can defeat Aknamkanon!”

“Are you really sure?” Aknadin pointed at this monster that faded as soon as it attacked.

“No… No! What could have been wrong this time?!”

“I’ve heard that certain monsters require certain spells in order to survive. Such may have been the case with this one.”

“Then that’s the last time I’ve tried an experiment using foreign techniques… I’ll have to use Egyptian magic that can rival the Pharaoh’s Incantation. In fact… Speaking of the Pharaoh’s Incantation… Hahahaha!”

“That’s… so disgusting!” Téa started crying. “So Anubis used to perform experiments transforming humans into monsters?”

“Guys, it looks like it’s time for a scene change,” Tristan noted as the vision quest abruptly changed scenes – this time, to the throne room.

“That dickweed looks a lot like Kaiba! Let me at ‘im!” Joey tried to “swim” over to where Priest Seto stood, but only flailed about midair.

“Wheeler, just shut up and watch.” Kaiba looked to the elderly man who knelt in pain.

“What’s… happening to me?!” The elderly man could feel his time at an end, and it scared him to not know why.

“Pharaoh Aknamkanon!” Priest Seto knelt down, trying in vain to invoke the power of the Millennium Rod. “No! Don’t go!”

“S-Seto…” Aknamkanon’s soul began to fade into the shadows. “Can I see you… smile for me… one last time? One more smile… before I go?”

“Pharaoh… I… I’m a sorry excuse of a High Priest… Aaaaargh!” Seto threw the Millennium Rod at the wall, nearly breaking it in a fit of rage. “Father… Just you wait, I’m coming for you!”

Tristan asked, “What… the hell was that about?”

The scene changed yet again to Anubis’ chamber, and Kaiba responded, “Do you guys always talk during the movie?”

“Hahahaha!” Anubis held up an object that resembled the Millennium Puzzle. “With this, the Pyramid of Light, there will be no failures in my experiments any longer!”

“Then what will your next experiment look like?”

No sooner had Aknadin asked this question when an intruder made his presence known in the middle of the chamber. “Father! I should have known that you have allied yourself with Anubis!”

“Hmm… I think we’re about to find out what my next experiment will be. Aknadin, as you know, those in the royal family carry the blood of the Creator. As such, I believe they’ll serve as perfect vessels for an all-powerful monster!”

“As amazing as that sounds, I do not wish to risk my own life for your experiment.” Aknadin gave his son a sly smile. “But I willingly offer my son. Do with him what you will.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Hey!” Seto couldn’t resist the zombie army that swarmed and bound him. “Father! You fucking traitor!”

“Hehehehe…” Anubis held the Pyramid of Light in the air. “O most blessed goddess, our Creator of Light! I present to you the Pyramid of Light, crafted from the very ba of Pharaoh Aknamkanon himself! I ask you to infuse your ka with the ba of His Highness Priest Seto! Make him into a monster that can rival even the gods themselves!”

“Oh my gods…” Seto watched as his skin became aglow, and the zombies’ grip on him became even more painful. “Aaaaaargh!”

“Irot ow et on ekaoy… Edam ih ukatabah ukakat!” This dark incantation gave Seto the fuel to complete his transformation. “Arise, Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!”

“Graaaaar!” Seto easily killed the zombies that bound him, but before he could motion to kill Anubis and Aknadin, the former uttered more words of the Dark Incantation.

“With these words from my lips, you have no choice but to obey my every command! Now go! Show the common people just who rules this land!”

“I’ll have to thank you.” Aknadin started to pack his things, with the intention of returning to the palace. “You have made me the father of a god!”

“…Wait. Stay silent.” Anubis heard light footsteps coming from the chamber entrance. Soon after, a singing voice followed. “No! It cannot be! How is the pharaoh still alive?”

“Look again, Anubis! It’s not Aknamkanon that stands before you…” The Millennium Pendant was now in Aknadin’s sights. “It’s his son! He’s using the Pharaoh’s Incantation!”

“Impossible!” Anubis watched as Seto turned back into a human. “Not even Priest Mahad had been able to separate his ba from the ka of his monster! …Wait, Aknadin, where are you going?”

“Anywhere is better than here! If the new pharaoh is to execute you, then I’m not letting him take me down with you!”

With that, Aknadin fled the scene right before Mahad and Isis stormed in. The vision quest now panned to the desert just outside the chamber, with Seto staring down an unfamiliar enemy.

“So… That’s how it happened…” Yami Yugi felt a tear run down his cheek. “Father… Anubis killed him!”

“I’m shocked too, babe.” Kaiba wrapped a quivering arm around Yami Yugi’s shoulders. “But there’s still more to see.”

“Yuck! That guy’s got a dragon head for a dick.” Tristan’s remark elicited a light slap to the face from Téa.

“Huh.” The enemy unfurled his purple wings as he towered over Seto. “I was under the impression that I would be facing the pharaoh. But all that I see is a priest who was too dimwitted to bring his Millennium Item to battle.”

“I don’t need the Millennium Rod this day,” Seto declared. “For you see, I am a weapon unto myself. Zorc! Your reign of terror will end today!”

“Hahaha! You really think so, boy?”

“Hah!” Seto jumped onto the base of the building and climbed it. When he reached the top, he jumped off, transforming into the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon without freefalling. “Yeah. Yeah, I really do. You cannot defeat the power of the gods!”

“You? Power of the gods?” Zorc shot a Zorc Inferno in Seto’s direction to counter the Shining Neutron Blast coming at him. “Don’t make me laugh!”

After many more exchanges of attacks, Seto spoke, “I’ll give you credit for one thing. Of any foe we of the royal court have faced, you are the strongest.”

“Flattery isn’t going to save you – or your precious pharaoh for that matter! Why don’t I remind you?” Zorc suddenly vanished.

“Damn…” Seto tried in vain to look for Zorc. Instead, the Dark One found him, making his presence known with a sharp Zorc Inferno to the back. “Urgh…”

Zorc was pleased to see Seto barely managing to remain airborne. “You must realize that you cannot defeat me! Though in my final act of mercy, I’ll spare your life if you give me the pharaoh.”

“No! I refuse to give you the man I love more than anything!” Seto closed his eyes as his body glowed a light blue.

“Then you’ll- Huh?”

“I’m sorry, my love… But I really will be taking my love for you before Osiris.” Seto shed one last tear before launching himself at Zorc full force. “Shining Nova!”

“Argh! Damn you… Horakhty…” So were Zorc’s last words as Seto’s lifeless body fell to the sand.

Joey felt as if he were being sucked into a vacuum. “Whoa, man! I think the movie is ending, you guys!”

“I… I…” Before Yami Yugi could truly process what he had just seen, the surroundings became fuzzy. Soon, he and his companions were brought back to reality.

#yugioh #ygo #prideshipping #fanfiction #kaiba x yami yugi

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txladyj-blog · 4 years

Text

This Time Around - Chapter 14

A Daryl Dixon x OFC collaboration written by @xmistressmistrustx by request of @txladyj-blog

Rating: Explicit

Relationship: Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character

Tags: Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Awkwardness, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Crush, Fluff and Humor, Angst and Humor, Mild Smut, Strong Language, Eventual Sex, Eventual Romance, Slow Burn, Canon Divergence, Some Canon Scenes and Dialogue

Chapters 23/?

Nerves bubbled in the pit of her stomach; much like they did when she’d first spoken to anyone at the Quarry. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other repeatedly, dancing a nervous jig in front of the door to the large home Daryl shared with Carol, Rick, Carl, Judith, and Michonne. A fly buzzed erratically around the light on the wall and Jess scoffed when it dawned on her that she could relate to that fly. Attracted to something that she couldn’t have. She rolled her eyes and checked her mask and hood were firmly in place before knocking on the door.

It was almost midnight and the streets were deserted save for the guards and perimeter checks that Rick had insisted on. It rarely disturbed the residents and therefore Deanna had no reason to object to a little extra security. She glanced over her shoulder to see Glenn passing the front lawn holding a rifle. He nudged his head up in greeting to her and she returned the gesture, turning back just as the door was opened.

Carol stood in the entrance and crossed her arms, visibly and shamelessly unimpressed with Jess’s presence. Jess had no idea why she was receiving such a cold reception and could only conclude that Daryl had told her everything, just like she’d told Aaron.

“Good evening, Carol.” She said formally, not even recognizing her own voice for a moment.

She tilted her head up and looked down her nose at Jess, making it clear that she was not happy with her.

Why are you always telling me off?

“He told me you guys had a big fight.” She mentioned.

“Uh…yes. I guess we did.” She replied.

Carol shooed her away from the door and over to the chairs on the porch while she gently closed the door behind her. Jess, not wanting to protest and be scolded anymore, simply did as she was told and sat down as Carol leaned against the railings, looming over her like an angry parent.

“You need to know something.” She began “After the quarry, we were on the highway, hiding from a herd. Sophia…she got scared and ran off into the woods. We all went out looking for her. I refused to move until we found her. Eventually, people started to give up. I could see it in their faces, they didn’t think she was coming back. Daryl was out looking for her every day. Soon, every day turned into every night as well. Eventually, we ended up on the Greene Farm. Maggie’s dad owned it. Daryl continued to look for Sophia. He truly believed she was out there and that he’d find her. One day, he came back with an arrow in his side. He was covered in blood and dirt, hallucinating and talking crap. Andrea thought he was a Walker and shot him-”

“-Andrea shot Daryl?” Jess intercepted.

“Yes. Luckily, her aim was a little off and the bullet grazed his skull. But he could have died from that arrow wound if he hadn’t got back to the farm when he did. He was willing to sacrifice his life to find my little girl. I went to see him when he was recovering. He’s a man of few words but I remember what he said as if it were yesterday.”

She narrowed her eyes at Jess, who was hanging on every word, her lips parted behind her mask.

“He thought himself useless because he couldn’t find Sophia….and he couldn’t find you.”

Jess turned her head away slightly and swallowed hard. She’d done enough crying for one day and flat refused to give in again but the prospect of him still hurting from not being able to find her was something that stung at her heart.

“You are not the only one that built a friendship with Daryl. He has grown up not knowing what it’s like to be cared about by another person. That is until he met you and I and the rest of this group. He is a good man, Jess. So, if you’ve come to fight with him again…” she sighed “…as his friend, I will be forced to turn you away.”

“I’m not here to fight with him.” Jess confirmed.

Carol studied her expression, trying to read her intentions and thought carefully. The night of his fight with Jess, Daryl arrived back at the house soaking wet from the rain and headed for the stairs without a word to anyone. Carol detected something was wrong straight away and followed him, stopping him at the top and making him face her so she could see his face. She’d asked what was wrong and he’d muttered something inaudible at first. It was only when she encouraged him to repeat himself that she finally heard what he’d said.

“I broke her heart.”

Seeing how much that night affected him bothered Carol and sent Daryl into a solitary existence. He spent his days outside the walls and when he did return, he was quiet and dismissive of everyone, even her when she was usually the one he could lean on, the one he told more than anyone else. She wasn’t about to allow another incident to knock him back further.

“OK.” She finally agreed. “He’s here, I’ll go get him for you.”

She moved across the porch to the door and placed her hand on the Handle.

“Carol?” Jess said

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry… about Sophia.” She offered.

“Thank you.” Carol replied with gratitude.

- = = = = -

Daryl stepped out onto the porch after what seemed like an eternity and Jess shot up from her seat like a nervous teenager. She removed her mask but not her hood, a single, simple nod to his preference of not wanting to talk to a mask. Still wanting to hide behind her strong, mysterious façade in front of the other inhabitants of Alexandria, she would not budge on the hood. The hood stayed put no matter what. He could see that her hair had grown a lot longer, her face shape had changed and her skin was bright.

“Hi” She whispered.

“Hi.”

“Take a walk with me?” She requested. He couldn’t simply walk away without finding out what she wanted and so, decided to honor her request and join her on a midnight walk. He was grateful she wasn’t wearing her mask, its simple existence annoyed him so much that he had visions of burning it to ashes and making her wander around with her face uncovered. To him, it was a much prettier picture than the computer game hero headwear she insisted on.

For a few minutes, neither of them said a word. Jess was almost suffocated with all the things she wanted to say and every time she opened her mouth, she quickly shut it again and re-thought her course of action. The curse of the overthinker; every single little detail was scrutinized. Daryl strolled beside her and glanced her way from time to time, a thin smile on his lips when she caught him on the third occasion in a row.

Aaron and Eric’s house came into view and she veered off to the garage, checking the street briefly to make sure she didn’t have to pull her mask back up. He waited wordlessly but with a bemused expression as she dug around in her coat pocket. Finding what she needed, she held out her hand, a black and silver key hanging from between her fingers.

“Here”

“What’s this?” He asked, taking it from her and briefly staring down at it as if he had never seen a key before.

“An Olive branch.” She said after taking a lungful of breath and trying to portray herself as more in control than she felt inside.

His vision lifted and she could see how baffled he was by the gesture that arrived with no context at all. His eyebrows knitted together slightly and he tilted his head back subtly, suspicious of where this was going.

“When I first got here, I was asked to stay and live here by Deanna. Multiple times. I’ve always refused. I have my own space that I worked hard for. I don’t like to get attached to things, or people. I live my life with no ties or connections. I have to protect my emotional wellbeing” She explained

Regret stung at Daryl's heart when he realized that he was part of the reason why she lived a life of isolation and seclusion from everyone. It was because of him that she kept a basic civility with the people of the town but had no one she wanted to call a friend. He was responsible for her changed attitude towards people and he hated himself for it.

“I was also offered a job and I’ve been considering it since.” She added.

“You hunt n’ clear the woods for ‘em. Ain't that a job?” He wondered.

She shook her head and noticed she was tapping her thigh as she avoided the piercing gaze of his blue eyes.

“No. It’s an agreement. I do it because I want to. Not because I have to. I can survive by myself. I choose to help these people and it’s an arrangement I can walk away from at any time.”

She paused to see him tilt his head again, but this time to the side, thoughtfully.

She even talks differently.

“I know that you’ve spent a lot of time outside the walls since you’ve been here. You volunteer for every run and you hunt more than is necessary. I know why. It’s because the outside is where you feel like you. I know because I’m the same. The other side of those walls is where I’ve learned to live, I don’t feel the fear anymore because it’s just become…normal. But the difference between you and I, is that it’s always been like that for you. Am I correct?”

He nodded, seemingly a little impressed by her observation and understanding of him. She knew him, even after so long apart, she still knew who he was.

“Yeah.” He rasped.

She reached out and tugged the handle on the garage and opened the door. Flicking on the light she walked inside. Daryl followed her to find a Motorcycle in the middle of the room. He looked down at the key in his hand as Jess closed the door behind them and shook her hood from her head. She ran her fingers through her long, dark hair and let it fall around her shoulders.

“What the…?” Daryl started as he slowly began to approach the bike.

“I’m assuming you no longer have your brothers’ bike.” She said from behind him. He glanced at her, unable to look away when he noticed her silky hair and hoodless appearance. Her blue eyes peered back at him; his lingering stare had not gone unnoticed.

I must look so different to him.

“Um, no….no, I don’t.” He managed to answer.

“I spoke to Deanna before I came to your place. I turned down her offer and asked that it goes to you instead. Alexandria needs another recruiter. Someone to go outside the walls on a regular basis and recruit other survivors to become active members of the community. When I met with her, I asked Rick to meet me there. He tells me you are intuitive and an excellent judge of character. He speaks highly of you. My decision was confirmed further when Carol answered the door to me and told me everything you did to find her daughter.”

The surprised look on his face refused to move and Jess thought he was now looking at her like she’d grown an extra head. Multiple times, he tried to speak but a grunt was all he could manage. Not knowing what to say, he finally just seemed to give up. Jess decided to fill the awkward gap with some more information.

“You may not be the Daryl I knew back then. But there are parts of your personality that are befitting to this type of job. Carol, she said you’re a good man…I’m not going to disagree with that. I think you’d be able to find other good people, because they are still out there. I found you guys, after all.”

As he listened, he started to pace around the bike, raising his eyebrows in approval when his fingertips bumped over the handlebars and the leather of the seat.

“it’s custom made, using all the parts that were found in this garage.” She told him.

“S’a damn nice bike.” He admitted. It was unlike anything Merle had before the turn and it was clearly comprised of all the best parts of some decent motorcycles. After years of arguing with his brother over who would get to use the bike on any given day, he was finally being offered his own.

“Accept the job and it’s yours. I can manage hunting alone. I did before.” She shrugged, secretly hoping he would agree and she wouldn’t have to walk back into Deanna’s house and explain why Daryl turned down what was a generous offer and one that suited him perfectly. It was the only olive branch she could think of.

“Alright. I aint got nothin’ better to do.”

Oh, thank the lord.

“Great.” She chirped casually, digging into her pocket again and throwing him a handmade keyring. He caught it with ease and opened his palm to find a metal, soldered ‘A’ looking back at him. He threaded the key onto the metal ring and licked his lips as he looked up at her.

“Thanks.” He said sincerely.

“Sure.”

She didn’t know why, but she felt the need to break away from his close proximity and wander around the garage, trailing her fingers over the tools and motorcycle parts on the workbench. She could feel his stare practically burning her skin as she moved, the stillness and quiet around them becoming nearly intolerable.

“I’m sorry. ‘bout what happened in the woods.” She heard him say.

She was tapping at her thigh again and this time Daryl noticed with a flicker of familiar amusement for the nervous tic she hadn’t managed to lose along with everything else that made her Jess. She swallowed hard and faced him, her eyes fixed on the floor. Her courage had vanished at the mere sound of his apology. He’d been the bigger person and apologized first, now it was her turn. But she had no idea where to start.

“I don’t want to fight with you.” She muttered.

“Naw, me neither.” He agreed.

Then, she met his eye and her heart lurched. The top buttons on his shirt were open and his leather vest was absent. She could make out the alluring shape and tone of his chest and arms through the thin, dark grey shirt. His jaw was pulled tight and his hair was floppy, falling over his eyes just enough to make him smolder as he glared at her.

How did you get even more attractive? You asshole.

She closed her eyes for a second or two, needing to compose herself. She dropped down onto a wooden stool and sighed loudly, flailing her hands in the air before she’d began speaking.

“I’m not so good with apologies anymore. So…” She paused to check he was listening. Of course he was. He was on tenterhooks. “…unfuck yourself. Or, whatever.”

He snorted at the comment and she detected a small half smile from him which told her he was about to forgive her a lot more easily than she’d thought.

“Right. Yeah.” He grunted, clearly forcing away a laugh.

She had done what she wanted to do. Offered a way to start to clear the air, swapped apologies albeit not very well and Daryl had a task, a purpose that was given to him by Jess. She felt better, not as mixed up and confused but still wary of getting too close. She could be civil and that would have to be enough.

“Aaron will talk you through everything in the morning. I’m heading home. Goodnight.” She said quickly, standing up and making her way out of the door into the night and leaving him alone with his new bike in the middle of Aaron and Eric’s Garage.

Jess could only hear the thumping of her boots on the sidewalk while she charged towards the gate, needing to be alone in her own space, to write in her journal and vent everything that was building up inside her. She lifted her mask and hood up as she approached the gate guard and reached to her torso in order to lift her bow from her body to equip it. A hand tapped at the back of her elbow and she whirled around, finding Daryl in front of her having followed her from the house.

“I didn’t mean to.” He blurted out. Jess dropped her arm and took a step backwards, wanting to put some distance between them and his out of the blue comment. “In the woods” He continued “Ya said I-I broke ya heart. I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t mean none of it. I never would have… .”

Jess stayed silent.

“… I never would have done that on purpose. I guess I didn’t know that… that ya gave a shit about me.”

She swallowed hard and tried to decide exactly how honest to be.

“I cared about you.” She croaked, her vulnerability now peeping through the cracks in her hardened exterior.

“That stuff ya wrote in ya journal-" He mentioned.

Oh lord. This again.

“-it was true.” She interrupted bravely.

In the months since her departure from the Quarry, she had thought of little else other than that journal entry and the trouble it had caused. She wished she could turn back time and rip the page out, throw it in the fire and pretend it never existed. It was one of the reasons she rarely wrote anything down anymore. But as time ticked on, she realized that if it wasn’t the journal to open a can of worms, it would have been something else. Convinced that Daryl thought nothing of her and that their friendship was a sham, she accepted that the lines of fate would have crossed at some point and shown her that she didn’t belong anyway. She was tired of lying, tired of pretending it was anything other than her spilling her innermost thoughts onto a page.

“I had a crush on you. I lied and said it was all crap because I was embarrassed.” She admitted.

“Oh.” He grunted awkwardly at the same time as scuffing his boot along the ground “OK.”

“It’s in the past, Daryl. It doesn’t matter now. I have to go.” She snapped, attempting to turn around again.

“Hey, we good?” He called out to her as she raced towards the gate.

“I gave you a job and an apology. We’re as good as we can be” was her bland and standard response, thrown over her shoulder while on her mission to put as much distance between them as possible.

- = = = = -

A short run to a canned goods factory sounded good to Jess. An opportunity to get out on the open road and spend some time with the elements. She needed to get out of her own head after spending three days replaying her last conversation with Daryl and staring at the journal in her upturned crate of a nightstand. It was begging to be written in and her head was getting full, but she knew that as soon as she put pen to paper it would force her to acknowledge that which she was fiercely avoiding; she still thought he was the most attractive man she’d ever seen and she hated that he distracted her so much. Part of her felt like she was back at the quarry again, the rumble of nerves in her stomach when she saw him, the pull to admire him from a distance. But one thing remained stronger; her desire to keep her life and emotions to herself. She had no plans to get hurt again and as a self defense mechanism she opted to linger at the sidelines of everything, Deanna’s weekly meetings and Rick’s supply run roster being the main things.

But this was needed and she wasted no time in stepping up and volunteering her services to collect as many boxes of canned food that was left in the factory. She’d felt a sense of satisfaction. The perfect task that kept her out of the way. That was, until Daryl piped up and announced he would go with her. It wasn’t a request and Rick didn’t treat it as such. Needing no convincing, he simply nodded at Daryl and moved on to the next thing on the agenda.

Jess could have strangled him there and then in front of everyone but her quiet, simmering rage soon dispelled when he mumbled in passing that he’d be taking his new bike.

At least I don’t have to share a truck cab with him. She thought.

It wasn’t easy to decide on the route either, with Daryl involved, everything seemed so much more difficult. He insisted that the highway would be the fastest way to their destination and had the cheek to scoff at Jess when she pointed out that the highway left them exposed and like sitting ducks and that they should stick to the smaller, more obscured backroads. His refusal to agree with her flared her temper and she failed to disguise a frustrated sigh as she turned and walked to the truck she’d borrowed.

Daryl was stubborn when he wanted to be and he was sure that they would cut down their journey time by half if they stuck with his idea. But Jess was meticulous and cautious now. She was also not one to suffer fools and waste time on worrying about being diplomatic. He watched her stomp across the street and climb into the truck, closing the door with a loud slam. She waited in the cab, sitting back and drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. Her attitude was new to him but not altogether unpleasant, he couldn’t deny that he liked the firm stance with which she held her beliefs and how unafraid she now was to disagree with him.

She wants to take the back roads. I wanna take the highway. I guess we should compromise… and take the backroads. He considered with a small smile.

- = = = = -

The factory was surrounded by a bustling crowd of Walkers that Jess chose to drive straight through at full speed, splattering the trucks windscreen with body parts and teeth. Daryl looked on with concern from the other side of the shattered gate and knew he was going to have to dismount his bike and help her chop her way through the remaining Walkers. Her apparent impulsiveness was a surprise to him, until he realized that in ploughing through the crowd she had, in fact, eliminated over half of them.

She jumped from the cab, machete swinging and blood flickering over nearby vehicles and walls. Bolts flew past her, dropping oncoming Walkers. Daryl was working his way towards her with his crossbow aimed and after a solid ten minutes of dodging, stabbing and shoving, they were able to make it inside through a smashed window. Daryl helped her up, using his hands joined together as a step to boost her up and through the gap. When she was safely through, she checked the darkness with her flashlight before leaning back through and offering him her hand. For a split second, he almost refused, unable to believe she would handle his weight, but he knew better than to challenge her capabilities. He slapped a hand into hers and allowed her to help him up the wall and through the window.

Picking through the numbered shelves with flashlights poised and filling large carts was a time consuming process and while Daryl worked his way through one side of the building, Jess covered the other and amused herself by humming a quiet Beatles tune under her breath. When they eventually met in the middle, Jess heaved a large box from a shelf to find Daryl staring back at her from the next aisle. She briefly held his gaze before tossing the box of cans into her cart.

“Wanna tell me why you volunteered for this run? I didn’t need a chaperone.” She questioned.

It was the first time either of them had spoken since leaving Alexandria. Even in the tussle out in the parking lot full of Walkers, not a single word was exchanged between them. Daryl sensed her barely disguised irritation. If he was to answer her question truthfully he would have to confess that she fascinated him and now he knew her true identity and was witness to her evolution, he wanted to spend more time with her. Missing her had become a familiar feeling, but she had walked back into his life and he wanted nothing more than for her to let down her guard a little, although he was almost certain it was never going to happen.

“Relax” he rasped “Was a good excuse to use the bike for the first time.”

“Hm. You like it?” She wanted to know.

“Yeah.” He replied as he scooped his arms around several cans and slid them from the shelf into the cart in his aisle. “Purrs real good.”

A quick snort from Jess saw her veer off at the end of the aisle and head for the shutter to the lot. Reaching the metal structure, she took hold of the chain and pulled with all her might. A harsh rattle sounded through the vast space but the shutter refused to lift. She tried again, grunting with discomfort and using her entire body weight to pull the chain. Still nothing. She stepped back, defeated and hoping Daryl wasn’t watching her. As she rubbed her sore hands together through her gloves, she heard footsteps approach from behind her. A hand reached out and plucked a metal bolt from the chains mechanism.

“Was locked” he mentioned before taking hold of the links and hauling it open. His arms were illuminated in the glow of her flashlight and she not only averted the lights beam but her eyes too while she attempted not to let her attention wane and focus on things too indulgent to be thinking about at that moment in time. If anything, It did wonders to distract her from the embarrassment of not realising the chain was locked into place.

That would have taken me awhile if he wasn't here. Dumbass.

- = = = = -

When Jess backed the truck up to the edge of the loading area and everything they’d collected was moved inside the vehicle, Daryl settled on the edge and lit a smoke with little regard for Jess’s desire to head back to Alexandria. Instead of protesting, Jess sat down beside him, keeping a fair distance between them and exercising some self control over her own body. She wanted to tap her leg, fiddle with her hands and chew her lip. But she kept still and composed.

“You talk to Aaron?” She asked

From her peripheral vision, she saw him exhale a plume of smoke from his lips and nod.

“Yeah. Said our group was the first bunch of decent people found in a long time. ‘Sides you.”

She wasn’t sure if she wanted a conversation but the urge was becoming stronger. She hated that she was still so drawn to him even though the pull to her solitary life was so strong. He was different to before, somehow slightly more open and definitely more mature, she knew that much.

“Humanity is at its worst and best all at once” she found herself saying “Terminus is proof of its worst, Alexandria is proof of its best.”

He looked to the side at her and she met his eye. He tapped ash from his cigarette and it floated to the floor between his boots. She expected him to speak, but whatever he wanted to say was delayed while he examined her mask-less face. A sight he wished he could see more often.

“You really helped us get out? You were really there?” He queried.

The blood. The death. The booming explosion from the gas tank. People running, screaming for their lives. Yes, she was there.

“I saw you on the road a couple days before. With that group of men.” She told him.

He flinched at the memory of the small group he’d attached himself to for a brief spell. A group he should have steered clear of, killed every single one of them while he had the chance. Regret stung his conscience and he dipped his head.

“Hm” he grunted “I didn’t know what they were.”

“I did. I followed you for miles. Watched you sleep from the window of the auto repairs garage. They were another example of the worst of humanity.”

“You were there the whole time.” He stated quietly, the disbelief evident in his voice as the sentence croaked out.

“I was mad at you, but I wouldn’t have let them hurt you.” She admitted. The truth hanging in the air with foreboding. “I realized you were heading for Terminus when I saw you stop at one of those signs. I knew what it was after coming across the signs myself a few weeks before. Instead of just walking in, I scoped it out. Never went back after I saw them burying truck loads of human bones behind the building.” He was glaring at her intently, trying to figure out how she’d changed so much. Become so street smart, so calculating and always seemed to be one step ahead. Then, he remembered the quarry and all of their conversations. Jess was always smart; she was just underestimated by everyone. Even him. Even herself. “I was trying to steer you in a different direction by skirting around your group to get to the signs first, but I got cut off by a herd and by the time I got there, you were nowhere to be seen but Carol was in murder mode in the woods. I knew then that I was too late. I had to help…. I couldn’t just leave you.” The end of her sentence was mumbled, as if she wasn’t sure if she should say it, but Daryl heard her perfectly.” It was pretty unforgettable. Walking through that place was… macabre.”

Daryl threw his smoke away and cast his gaze out across the bloodied ground of the parking lot and loading bay. Bodies scattered all around, most of them chopped into pieces or ground to smithereens by the truck. The air lingered with the stench of rotting flesh, Much like it did at Terminus.

“You don’t wanna talk about it?” He offered without looking at her.

Rustling from beside him caught his attention and it dawned on him that she was casually unwrapping a protein bar during their unintentional lunch break. Little did he know, it was all Jess could do to keep her hands still.

When in doubt, eat. She told herself.

“Since when do you want to talk about stuff like that? She answered with a mouth full of seeds and dried berries.

“Since you had to kill a ton of people back at that hell hole to save our asses." he reminded her "You OK?”

“Gotta be.” She shrugged, swallowing and scrunching the wrapper in her hand.

“Alright. Well. I’m here.” He told her “talk to me, or don’t talk to me. I’m still here”

“Wow” she smirked “You got all sensitive while I was gone.”

“Fine. Forget it.” He quickly dismissed with a flick of his hand as he adjusted his body in his spot.

She smiled at him, the urge too strong to ignore and she found that his face was subtly mirroring her expression. He was glad she was neglecting her mask while she was alone with him and not fighting Walkers. He didn’t know if it was proof that she was starting to trust him or if it was simply that she didn’t need it if there was no one else around. Her blue eyes twinkled in the daylight, the contrast of her dark hair making them seem more icy than usual.

“Seriously, I like sensitive Daryl.” She quipped with a wink in what was possibly the most flirtatious gesture she’d ever offered to anyone. It wasn’t intentional and she shocked herself with just how well executed and smooth it came off.

“Stop.” he grumbled with a huff. Jess grinned smugly to herself when she noticed the pink hue across his cheeks and nose.

Holy shit. I just made a guy blush. I just made Daryl blush. I must be hallucinating. What was in that protein bar?!

She grinned at him and he was transfixed. Daryl had never thought anyone to be beautiful, it wasn’t a word he ever used or even mused over. No woman he’d met could be graced with such an adjective and he’d all but accepted that beauty was merely created to quell humanity’s desire for validation. But as Jess dwelled beside him and dragged a rag from her pocket to clean her machete, he stole a glimpse of her while she concentrated and decided that maybe, just maybe, beauty was a reality after all.

“What’s with the name? Why Parker?” He asked with the desire to avert his thoughts from the fact that’d he’d always thought of her as attractive in some way, now it was becoming more and more obvious to him that it was stronger than ever and it wasn’t something that he could easily ignore.

“It was my brother’s name.” She answered “we both lost our brothers”

“M’sorry.” He offered sincerely.

She shrugged and let out a sigh, stuffing the bloody rag back into her pocket and tugging the keys to the truck out instead.

“I like to think of it as; at least he doesn’t have to see the world like it is now. All the fear, the death, the depravity. He was spared that. So were the rest of my family.” She explained before getting to her feet and looking down at him.

“Good way of lookin’ at it.” He nodded.

- = = = = -

It was well into the evening by the time Jess and Daryl arrived at the gate and as Abraham was on gate duty, Jess jumped from the truck’s cab and greeted him with a masculine high five. Daryl steered his bike over to the side of the road and watched on with a sting of irritation at Jess’s friendly and accepting display of jest with the big, ginger military man. Her reluctance to make friends and trust people had been conveyed in no uncertain terms but it was the polar opposite to what he was witnessing at that moment. She’d been cold towards him and even questioned his reasons for accompanying her on the food factory run, she may have been more personable towards the end, but there she was, grinning and laughing behind her mask with someone she had nowhere near the same history with.

“A great ass and she brings home the bacon!” Abraham jeered at her

“No bacon, just a nice, cold serving of get-your-eyes-off-my-butt.” She giggled. “Evening, Mustache. you good?”

“Evenin’ darlin’. Feel like a can of mashed assholes. But I’ll live.”

“That’ll be the hangover. As usual.” She pointed out in reference to his habit of indulging in a little too much whiskey each night. She habitually passed his house on her way home from Aaron and Eric's in the evening's and caught him settling into suburban life a little easier than everyone else. Abraham was easily pleased and Jess figured that all he would ever really need was good whiskey, good cigars and a good woman.

“Tell me you got some cigars in that goldmine.” He requested with a stroke of his beard and his neck craned to see into the truck behind her.

“No. Sorry. Just a whole lotta canned tomatoes.” She shrugged.

Abraham grunted and shot her an unimpressed look as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other and stepped closer to her. From the other side of the street, Daryl was concentrating on trying to hear what was being said as he pretended to check his bike over. The late hour and deserted streets meant their voices were clearer than usual.

“Well then I do declare that I’m owed a consolation prize. What d’ya say?” Abraham suggested.

Delving into her coat pocket, she fetched another protein bar and slapped it against his huge, muscular chest. “Of course, here ya are. Enjoy.” She smirked before turning back to the truck and climbing back behind the wheel without a second glance.

“You’re stubborn as a mule, woman!” She heard him call out to her when she passed, heading to the pantry to deliver the fruits of her labor.

Daryl was walking his bike across the inside of the gate, heading back to the house when Abraham wandered up to him, chewing eagerly on the protein bar Jess had given him. Seeds attached themselves to the hairs of his beard but he paid it no mind, no one had to be classy in the apocalypse. He shifted his rifle strap on his shoulder and observed the trucks headlights go out by the sidewalk outside the pantry. Jess appeared again and began unloading the vehicle with Olivia, who was frantically scribbling notes on her clipboard.

“Mmm mmm mmm. Little bird tells me she never used to look like she does now.” Abraham commented.

“What?” Daryl probed, knowing who he was referring to but digging for more information.

“Jess. Apparently, she was a little chunky but funky n’ now…well, that ass is damn hypnotic” He pointed out.

“Hey, watch your mouth, man.” Daryl snapped. Anger coursed through his veins and his fists clenched around the motorcycle’s handlebars. Sounding like an overprotective boyfriend wasn’t on his agenda, but it had happened nonetheless and he could only hope that Abraham would take into account Daryl’s frequent and obvious protectiveness over the women of the group and apply the same logic to his relationship, or lack thereof, with Jess.

“Ahh I’m just yankin ya chain. She’s a pretty fine lil thing though, huh?” Was Abraham’s blasé response.

“Uh, yeah. Guess so.” Daryl grumbled. Having heard enough, he continued to push his bike towards the house, only to find he had acquired an unwanted escort.

“You ‘guess so?’ What are you, gay?”

“Hell naw!” Daryl protested, stopping and glaring at Abraham in disbelief.

“Honestly, I don’t care what hole you think is a goal, ain’t no bother to me.” Abraham chuckled with a playful back slap across Daryl’s leather vest.

“Will you keep your goddamn voice down?! I aint gay!” he hissed in defiance.

“Alright, alright!” Abraham conceded, holding his hands up in surrender. He turned his body and began to slowly stride back to the gate. “Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.”

Daryl could hear him say something to himself, under his breath and in a mocking tone. For a second, he had to think about the words he was able to detect as they floated in the air, but this distance between them failed him.

“What you sayin’?” Daryl demanded loudly.

Abraham stopped and looked over his shoulder, a sly grin on his face.

“I said, I think I been patrolling this gate too much. My replacement is sposed to be here.” He said innocently, raising his hand and gesturing to the gate behind him.

“Mm. Good luck with that.” Daryl grunted before putting some speed behind the bike and wanting to put the conversation behind him. He knew he disliked the way Abraham spoke about Jess, but it wasn’t much different to the way he spoke about other females and Daryl struggled with the fact that the heavy, penetrating feeling in his chest that bothered him so much and only fueled his rage was, in fact, jealousy.

NEXT CHAPTER

----- tagging as requested --

@lilred254

#daryl dixon #the walking dead daryl #twd daryl #twd fanfiction #daryl fanfiction #daryl x oc

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angsty-nerd · 5 years

Text

Fictober #9

I made it! I made it!

#9. “It does have a certain taste to it.”

Roswell, NM Fanfiction, Liz, Rosa, & Arturo Ortecho. Gen.

This is a continuation of my Fictober #3 ficlet... it gets a little longer than most of them so preview with the rest beneath the cut.

It was an odd, but comforting family reunion.

Most intense family gatherings don’t begin after ten o’ clock at night, but in this case, with the Crashdown closing for the evening, it was that late when Liz brought Rosa home for the first time in a decade.

The reunion went well. Papi didn’t have a heart attack, and Rosa was finally at ease, being at her home with her family. Papi was overjoyed to have both his daughters back. So sleep simply wasn’t an option.

Liz and her father traded off telling amusing stories of the past 10 years to Rosa, while Rosa roared with laughter. Most of Papi’s stories even Liz hadn’t heard yet, and it reminded her how much of her father’s life she had missed...so much time wasted while she was running and hiding from her pain.

Later, when the laughter died down a bit, and Rosa was silenced with an enormous yawn, their father asked, "What did Rosa mean earlier when she said that I was the best 'out of everyone'. Who else have you seen, Rosa?"

"Papi, don't blame Rosa," Liz insisted. "I was the one who was keeping her hidden."

"It's been, what? Two weeks or so?" Rosa mused.

"Fifteen days, 13 hours, and…" Liz glanced at her phone. "...24 minutes. Since I found you in the desert and Max's body in the cave."

Rosa and Papi both just stared sadly at her, wide eyed. "Yeah, I know!" Liz cried out. "Muy idiota! But I'm feeling every single minute that he's gone, like each one is like a pin prick to my heart. Each one alone is small and insignificant, but with time? I won't be able to tolerate the pain anymore. I have to figure out how to save him before I fall apart. I have to!!"

"Oh Liz…" Rosa reached over and hugged her sister tightly. "We all see how hard you're working. If it's possible to save him, you will."

"Yeah." Liz agreed. "But what if it's not?"

They both fell silent. Nobody ever had a good answer for that question, or any words that actually brought Liz any comfort.

After a long moment of silence, Papi gently replied, “Then we thank God for the brief time we had with him and we pray that his soul finds peace, mija.”

It wasn’t what Liz wanted to hear, and it hurt like hell. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, trying to fight back the tears that were stinging and threatening to fall. Once she was sure she could claim victory over them, she reopened her eyes and told them, “Well then, Max is damn lucky that I’m a fighter.”

Papi nodded and thankfully redirected the conversation. “But two whole weeks! Where have you been hiding, Rosa?”

“Mostly with Liz at Max’s house. Occasionally with Kyle at his place. One very weird night at Isobel Evans’ house, and that was an experience I do not want to relive!”

“Why?” Papi asked.

“Just… it gave me the chills being in that house. It was like I could feel him all over it. Like he was watching me the way he used to.”

“He’s gone, Rosa,” Liz insisted. “Max told me himself that he’d never be coming back. Michael and Isobel saw Max…” Liz’s voice faltered. “...they said they saw Max kill him. You’re safe. We’re all safe.”

“I think...we need to stop with the sad and scary talk,” Papi announced. “Instead I think it’s time that we talk about the happy times. I think it’s time for a churro pancakes talk, Liz. Tell Rosa and I tu loca historia de amor with Max, hmm?”

Liz couldn’t help laughing as her father wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. “Oh we are definitely going to need churro pancakes for that conversation!” Liz announced, tossing off the blanket she had wrapped around her lap. “I’d better get cooking!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Pancakes are served!” Liz announced with a flourish, as she slid the plates across the Crashdown kitchen counter at her family.

“I’m still not sure about this new recipe of yours, mija,” Papi said skeptically as he cut his first bite and took a sniff. Rosa had already shoved some in her mouth chewing slowly, with uncertainty.

"There is a certain taste to it. It's not churros exactly. More like actual dirt. Seriously Liz, are you feeding us dirt? How did you manage to take something as perfect as Papi's churro pancakes and turn them into this?"

Liz and their father both burst out laughing at the look of disgust on Rosa's face.

"Rosa! I told you that Papi hasn't been well. He's pre-diabetic. He can't eat all that sugar anymore!"

"Well yeah…" Rosa said with a smirk. “But does that mean we have to suffer?”

“Rosa!” Liz scolded, but Papi cut them off before they could argue further.

“Now girls, let’s get on with it here. I believe Liz promised us a love story.”

“I don’t know how much there is to tell,” Liz admitted. “Sure there was a lot of...I don’t know...feelings between us, but it all happened so fast.”

“Did it though?” Rosa asked. “You were interested at the end of senior year.”

“You were friends with him in high school, yes?” Arturo wondered.

“Well yeah… we were friends, lab partners...and we went on a date.”

“What!?!” Rosa exclaimed in unison with Papi musing, “I didn’t know that.”

“Well, it was earlier on the day that Rosa died,” Liz explained softly. “So we didn’t really get a chance to talk about it. He took me out to the desert, and we listened to music and watched the sunset. We danced. It was perfect. Until I told him that I was leaving town. He asked me to stay, and I refused. Then he offered to come with me. I think...he was already in love with me then, but I didn’t really understand. Then Rosa died, everything fell apart, and I left without him and broke his heart.”

“Wasn’t this talk supposed to be about the happy times?” Rosa asked through a mouthful of pancake. “So far we have death and heartbreak, so, great start there, Lizzie.” She gave Liz a sarcastic thumbs up.

Liz made a face at her sister. “Fast forward ten years, okay. I guess Max never really got over me. And while I may not have been in love with him in quite the same way, I certainly had unresolved feelings for him that I had buried along with everything else that I loved about this town. Except for Papi, of course.”

“Then the government pulled my study’s funding and I lost my job in Denver, unexpectedly. Somehow, in a decade, that had never happened before. I always had managed to have the next thing lined up. But this time, for the first time, I had nothing. I needed to reboot my life. So I dumped my fiancée, packed my car, and drove home.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rosa interjected. “Did you just say fiancée? Elizabeth, you’ve been keeping secrets! Spill!”

“Different guy, different story!” Liz protested.

“Let’s save it for another night, muchachas.” Arturo agreed.

“Fiiiiine!” Rosa complained. “Continue. I guess.”

“So, I’m driving back into Roswell for the first time in 10 years, and I drive right into an ICE checkpoint. Which is totally illegal this far from the border. So ICE tries to hide what they’re really doing by making the local sheriff's department set up a DWI checkpoint. And the locals can’t really say no to the Feds, right?”

“Bastards,” Rosa muttered.

“So, I’m driving into the checkpoint, and they wave for me to stop, and I just lose it. I roll down my window and start digging for my passport, and all the while I am just going off on this guy, telling him he’s a racist, citing the legal precedent that I’m gonna sue him under...and then I turn to show him my identification…”

“...and it’s Max?” Rosa interrupts.

“It’s Max.” Liz confirms. “And he’s staring at me like he’s seeing a ghost. And we’re both almost speechless at the sight of each other. Then Sheriff Valenti steps in to see what’s going on and the moment is over. At least, until Max showed up at the Crashdown that night after closing. And that’s when we actually talked, and caught up a bit. There was a moment between us that was just electric…and then Wyatt Long shot out the Crashdown windows.”

“The windows and the outside lights,” Arturo corrected. “I am so glad that Max was here with you.”

“Yeah.” Liz agreed. “Yeah, it was a really good thing, Papi. Because one of the bullets got me. I was shot. Wyatt Long would have murdered me on my very first night back in Roswell, if Max hadn’t been there.”

“Oh Lizzie,” Arturo gasped.

“I was bleeding out on the floor, and Max just didn’t even hesitate. He put his hand over the wound and healed me. And then went after Wyatt. Oh, and Wyatt didn’t shoot out the lights, Papi. That was Max. He, uh… his power is somehow tied to electromagnetic energy. I haven’t quite figured it all out yet, if he channels it and uses it to do what he does, but it’s also somehow tied to his state of mind, like when things get intense or emotional for him it also tends to affect the electricity in the area, so I still want to know if it’s that he draws from it, or just is connected to it, or…”

“Liz, you’re rambling.” Rosa interrupted.

“Right.” Liz acknowledged. “Sorry. So if you just want the shiny happy version of things, Max revealed himself to me and told me that he had loved me since the first day he met me. We slowly got to know each other better, but I was always hung up on the idea that he might love the idea of me more than the reality of me, so finally I called him out on it. And he proved me wrong. So I kissed him.”

“He proved you wrong?” Her Papi asked.

“He listed my faults. Trust me, it was way more romantic than it sounds.” Liz insisted, before taking a big bite of pancakes.

“So what are you leaving out. The part about me?” Rosa asked.

“Well, that among other things,” Liz admitted. “I found out that you were murdered by an alien and I was trying to be sneaky about investigating him, but I lost it pretty quickly and accused him to his face of murdering you. Which in turn upset and hurt him so much that he accidentally blew the power grid for the entire town.”

“The mysterious power outage!” Arturo exclaimed

“Yup. My fault,” Liz confessed. “Then Noah tried to kill me, and Max saved my life...again. And then he finally told me the truth as he knew it about what happened when you died. I told him I never wanted to see him again because of what he did to our family. Then I was so angry that I spent weeks in my lab creating a weapon to protect myself against an alien. Then Isobel injected herself with it and almost died. And I felt horribly guilty about my role in that, plus came to a few of my own realizations about how much I cared for Max, so I spent weeks working to cure her. And then we kissed.”

“Oh, is that it?” Rosa laughed.

“The short version.” Liz confirmed. “But this is what I meant when I said earlier that it all happened so fast, Papi. That kiss was just a few days before the gala. The night of the gala was when we confirmed Noah’s identity. The next night is when Max killed him, and the morning after that he brought Rosa back and died. We only had a few days together. I mean, we haven’t even officially gone on a second date yet. Just that one date back in high school.”

“Oh Lizzie, I’m so sorry,” Arturo murmured. “Come here mija.”

He opened his arms and Liz leaned in to hug her Papi. He opened one arm wider and gestured for Rosa to join them. She did, and the three Ortechos stood there in the kitchen of their family restaurant, the smell of cinnamon still in the air from the pancakes fresh off the griddle, and basked in the miracle that they were together again.

When they separated, Arturo looked at his two girls, still so alike, even though instead of two years apart in age they were now over eight years apart.

“Liz, keep the faith. You may not have alien powers, but you do have one of the most amazing minds and hearts I have ever known. If anyone can bring your Max back, it is you.” He squeezed Rosa’s hand and smiled. “I may not have believed yesterday that the dead can return, but I have been proven wrong. Rosa is with us again. So what’s to say that another miracle can’t happen too?”

#fictober19 #rnm gen fanfic #liz ortecho #rosa ortecho #arturo ortecho #churro pancakes #my fanfic

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kulcipher · 5 years

Text

ML Partners in Crime AU- The Obligatory Lila fic

What Miraculous Ladybug au is complete without everyone’s favorite fake fox wannabe? Based on @gale-of-the-nomads partners in crime au

“We have a returning student today class, everyone give a warm welcome back to Lila Rossi.” Miss Bustier announced warmly and beckoned a young brown haired woman into the classroom. The young woman smiled charmingly and waved at the class before going to take a seat in one of the empty places near the front… Right where a double life leading biracial girl with blue bell eyes usually sat.

“Uh, that’s actually my girl Marinette’s seat.” Alya said, leaning forward. She had taken to sitting with her boyfriend Nino so that she could have more time with him and to force Marinette and Adrien to get a little closer as well. Adrien meanwhile was looking at the new girl with a very strange expression on his face and scooted away from her.

“Yeah I think Marinette is just running a little late today.” He said, not liking the way Lila was looking at him.

“Oh really? I wouldn’t want to take someone’s seat! It’s just that I have tinnitus so it’s really helpful for me to be near the front! Who knew you could get tinnitus from getting too close to an airplane motor? But it was so worth it to save Jagged Stone’s poor kitty.” Lila said and laughed though it slowly died off when Nino hummed. “Hey, didn’t Chat Noir and Ladybug just like steal Jagged’s crocodile?”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that!” Rose piped up. “I think they gave him back after a couple of hours though.”

“Did you see the outfit they put him in? Jagged posted pics online and said he wasn’t even upset about it.” Alix added with a snicker.

Adrien was the only one to notice Lila’s eye twitching at largely being ignored when the exploits of Chat Noir and Ladybug were shared by the class. When Marinette finally walked into class a few minutes later and saw Lila in her seat a dark expression crossed her face. Before she could say anything though Adrien hopped up and headed to the back of the class.

“Adrien?” Lila asked in surprise bordering on alarm when he moved away from her.

“Sorry Lila, I really want to sit next to Marinette. Plus you’ve missed so much class I wouldn’t want to distract you.” He said and smiled angelically at her. Lila gaped at him and struggled to come up with an appropriate response to get him to stay sitting next to her. She wasn’t quick enough to stop him from sitting down next to Marinette who smirked back at the flabbergasted liar.

Lila ground her teeth together. She’d been trying to get everyone’s attention all lunch period but all they wanted to talk about were those damn criminals Ladybug and Chat Noir! It wasn’t impressive if she had met princes or dined with popstars because a couple of- of petty criminals had stolen some stupid trinket from some lame bank vault or nabbed a valuable treasure from a heavily guarded museum!

She huffed and went into the deserted girl’s bathroom to collect herself and spin a tale impressive enough to get the attention she so rightly deserved. She leaned over the sink and glared daggers at her own reflection as a little black butterfly fluttered into the fox tail necklace she wore around her neck. “Ignored and cast off by your so called friends, how tragic. Volpina I am Hawkmoth, get me the miraculouses of Ladybug and Chat Noir and become a true hero of Paris. Take your rightful place in the spotlight and wrest it away from those criminals!”

Lila smiled cruelly. “Yes Hawkmoth.”

“I finally found you.” Volpina said smugly as she approached Ladybug and Chat Noir who were in the middle of defacing a new billboard advertising some frou-frou product featuring the young model Adrien Agreste. “I am Volpina.” She announced when the two thieves didn’t even bother to turn around to look at her.

“Good for you.” Ladybug said dryly, still not looking as she slapped a large brush wet with black paint onto Adrien’s ad. She felt a bit bad but he seemed to enjoy it so she went along with it. It wasn’t like she could judge. “We’re a little busy so why don’t you run along? You’ll keep your powers longer.” She added, finally looking over her shoulder.

“I want to join you. I got my hands on the fox miraculous and I want to be like you two.” Volpina said persistently, laying on the charm that had worked so well in the past. Before the likes of Ladybug and Chat Noir had become so extraordinary that Lila couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

That finally got the thieves’ attention and they turned fully to look at her. They looked at her with some interest. “Oh really?” Ladybug asked.

“How did you get it?” Chat Noir asked, thinking of the old man who had come to him and tried to take back the cat ring after his first few vandalization sprees.

“I’d rather not say in case Hawkmoth is listening to us.” Volpina said dramatically, casting suspicious looks into the shadows.

“Well you should be able to tell us your kwami’s name at least right?” Ladybug asked suddenly, just barely avoiding a heavy eyeroll at Volpina’s blank face.

“K-kwami?” The brunette asked, her mind scrambling for what that could even mean. She’d never heard the word before!

“Just give them a name!” Hawkmoth suddenly ordered, making her flinch in surprise.

“Oh my kwami’s name is… Lucky.” Volpina lied, still having no clue what a kwami was.

Ladybug and Chat Noir shared a knowing look, recognizing the purple butterfly-shaped outline which had appeared for a split second on Volpina’s face. “Well Volpina, we were just about to go pick something up. Why don’t you come with us and we can tell you about our next plan?” Chat Noir said.

“I’d love to!” Volpina said eagerly, smug at how easy it was to fool these two. How could they be the topic on everyone’s minds when they were so gullible? She followed them towards the center of Paris, landing at the top of the Eiffel Tower to talk.

“So what are you planning next? I’d love to help.” Volpina purred, sidling up to Chat Noir since he seemed to be the friendlier of the two. He also seemed quite handsome under his mask so that didn’t hurt either. There were rumors that the two thieves were romantically involved but Volpina didn’t think that really mattered. She was here now and much better than Ladybug after all. “I have super strength so I’m sure I could be quite useful.” She added.

Chat Noir smiled and leaned towards her a bit. “Sorry, My Lady and I only trust each other.” He said and yanked her necklace off in a move too quick for her to react. He tossed the necklace to Ladybug who broke it and captured the black butterfly which fluttered out.

“No! This isn’t how this is supposed to go!” Lila shrieked, eyes wide and rage coursing through her. She tried to lunge at Chat Noir who simply side stepped.

“You’re right, this isn’t how tonight was supposed to go. You’re the one who interrupted our night with half-baked lies!” Ladybug snapped. She grabbed one end of a spare cable and tied Lila up, pleased when there was plenty of slack still. She shoved Lila over the edge and laughed when the girl screamed in terror as she was left dangling off the Eiffel Tower.

“Shall we continue My Lady?” Chat Noir asked with a sweeping bow. Ladybug smiled and took his hand contentedly.

“The night isn’t over yet kitty, I’m sure we can salvage it somehow.” She said and with that they left Lila squirming and yelling for help, not another thought spared on her.

#miraculous ladybug #ml partners in crime au #ml au #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #lila rossi #Ladybug #Chat Noir #volpina #the class is more apathetic here and would rather talk about cool heists than some chick they barely know #Lila wasn't changed into Volpina earlier because Adrien was more angsty and went off on her before Marinette had a chance to bug out as LB #Lila slunk off to lick her wounds and think up more fantastical tales #it failed #Loosely based on the events of the chameleon ep #I refuse to watch that ep though so I really do mean loosely #I'm not a fan of Lila #She had so much potential in canon and it was all squandered #oh well this lila is pretty dumb #LB and CH are much smarter too

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ask-the-cordium-crew · 5 years

Text

a detectives quest (a WKTC story)

artwork used by the very lovely @alwaysd2 i am not the best at grammer or puncation but i hope you enjoy the story none the less!

I was on a journey thru remnant on the hunt for a man I once loved a man I once called My friend... Mark J. Barnum or as he changed his name to Mark Edward Fischbach the just thought of his name made me feel sick to my stomach I was soon in the small little city of argus the major trading center between the continents of Anima and Solitas It is one of the largest non-capital cities in all of Remnant.

I soon walked up to a stone statue the one made for a young girl well known by alot of people Pyrrha Nikos poor girl killed at beacon from what i’d been told by Cinder Fall I was gonna hunt down that girl and Mark and bring them both to justice or my name wasn’t Abe Lincon I had already had to lie to several familes about what really happened to their familes I just couldn’t deny a case but they would get their just deserts soon enough Mark would be brought to prision for all the faunaus Mark had gotten to It just wasn’t right Marks brother Willliam was crazy but he at least respected faunus and didn’t kill people for fun.

I stared at the statue for what seemed like days when In reality It was only for a few minutes I then left some roses down and lit up a cigar for myself I soon put It against my lips.

“I’ve never been one much for smoking but... With days like these? Everyone needs to relax even If the way to relax Isn’t the best... Hmm still better then drinking I suppose I wonder where I could find infromation on Marks wareabouts In a city like this poor girl didn’t deserve this and I’ll make sure that Cinder girl goes to jail a hell of a long time for what she did to her... The law is gonna throw every book they have at her they will throw her In a cell and after that they’re gonna throw away the key and after that they’re gonna throw that............. CELL into uh... Lake? I don’t really know hmm then pyrrha could rest perfectly in peace once she knows her team is safe from Cinder and her allies... I don’t care if that Penny girl was a machine she didn’t deserve to die no one deserves to die no one excpet for me and the monster I let happen I should have done something sooner when I had the chance but I was too love struck what a fool I was right?”

I soon tossed away my smoke into a trash can near by and walked off soon finding the house of Saphron Cotta-Arc and her wife Terra Cotta-Arc along with their kid Adrian I decided to vist them because I heard from the lady at the atlas station that thoes kids RWBY and team JNR along with Crow Branwen were here recently and they just left only a few days ago.

For at least an hour I talked to them about what they knew and where thoes kids were going he got all the infromation I needed and headed out I respected the two alot I had been homosexual myself for the longest time but I had never put myself out there I was glad he didn’t in some ways If I did I would either get rejected by mark or worse rejected then killed by him If I some how even ended up with mark would I even want that? Maybe back then but now? No to me that wouldn’t seem or be right my crush for mark was done and over with now I only felt hatred for the man I once called my best friend honestly If I had to choose a best friend now it be a tough choice.

After all my choices were Celine she did seem nice plus from the last i heard of her she did find out she was bisexual now being in a relationship with Neo Politan I didn’t trust the little mute bitch but knows she dosen’t work for Mark or this Salem woman Mark talked about to him so I’d lay off for now She dose try to be a good person for Celine at the very least my other choice for a replacement best friend? William J. Barnum aka the Colonal of atlas honestly I liked the man he was unhinged sure and honestly a little crazy but the man did know how to party plus despite all this he was one of the best dam people I have ever met in my life he protected the faunus even giving support when he could but now wasn’t the best time to get chummy with him he recently lost the love of his life and found out his brother was an evil bastard?

I’d think of a new best friend later I chuckled quietly to myself but then I sighed thinking about William a bit more why was he still so sane? sure he was a bit crazy but he just found out his brother was evil he used some girl who was killed against her own best friend for christ sakes! and his partner Is dead as well? god I knew how that felt every single partner i had died he did keep their pictures in my wallet along with my detective badge but some how William stayed sane a smile on his face but not from madness but to make sure others don’t worry about him poor guy I thought to myself.

I had a few favors from william so I went back to that base and showed my detective badge soon enough all the pictures came out of my wallet.

“Thoes were my old parnters” I said to the guard I then groaned “don’t ask me about them” the guard seemed confused and said “I won’t” but then I got angry and said.

“FINE I’LL TELL YOU! each of them died on cases each more tragic then the last for some reason despite how good of a detective I am my partner always ends up dying god the worst one by far was probably my friend Stra dokey weird name I always thought anyway once he died iInever touched any sort of jelly again it was too much for me to handle.”

The guard backed up a bit and held up his hands “Ok dude well uh... yeah i’ll call up our colonal and let him know your using one of your favors take the small ship on the left all yours.” Despite being a big guy who had a hat cover his eyes he was intimated by me I soon thanked him and took the ship.

I decided to go to the one place I thought mark might be his own mansion It was the best lead I had After about a day I arived just outside the forever fall forest area where mark had his mansion I might die today but if it meant stopping mark then fuck it I didn’t care i needed todo this I soon kicked down the door and held up my gun at a girl whos name was Emerald Sustrai who I just happened to have met before back at Beacon and haven’t seen her since.

“GET DOWN ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW THIS IS DETECTIVE ABE LINCION!!!” I had a look of anger In my eyes

To be continued???

Please get this post to at least 4 reblogs if you want to see this story continued i hope you all enjoyed! i’d also love to see your thoughts in the comments

#rwby #rwby au #rwby fandom #who killed markiplier #who killed markiplier au #markiplier fandom #who killed team cordium #who killed team cordium au #crossover au #fanfiction #markiplier fanfiction #rwby fanfiction #abe the detective #abe lincoln wkm

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cuthie · 4 years

Text

Omru: Fabled City of Gold?

A mild cyclone of sand and wind ran across the entrance of a small rocky burrow, masking the sounds of a dozen people chatting, bartering and playing games within. A trio of black furred vulpera were making the most noise, a middle aged woman squeezing a young man hard enough to make his eyes bulge. This, naturally, was followed by ten to fifteen squishy mushy loud wet kisses, “Mwua mwua mwuah!”

Omru gasped for air, “Leggo, leggo!”

Finally, his mother released him from their embrace, “It’s been too long, Omru. I’m just glad you came to see us before going off on this grand adventure to Django or wherever.”

“It’s Durotar. Lush tropical paradise home of the Orcs.”

A snarky teenage girl’s voice cut in, “More like Uratard. Cause you’d have to be some kind of stupid to follow those brutes home. They probably spend all day smashing their heads with rocks- Actually Om, you’ll fit right in.

Om rolled his eyes at his younger sister. This had been his reception for the last hour or so. They’d chat, catch up on things, say hi to nosy vulpera who continuously interrupted their reunion, then his mother would grab him and start kissing and hugging. To be fair, he hadn’t seen her in a few years. In fact, he hadn’t recognized his sister initially. It was almost like looking into a gender bending mirror. Before he always had a height advantage, but now she had finally caught up to him. “Yeeeah. Of course I had to come visit. Oh, where did you say Pops was again?”

Om’s sister, Elni, pitched in again, “Oh, he went out to get some candles for my birthday cake mom made.”

Om winced, “Oh. Uh, happy birthday El!”

Elni’s face dropped, “Are you serious? That was seven months ago.”

Mom placed a hand on either side of Om’s face, squishing it, “I’m so glad you came. I was worried that those awful Faithless might have got you. You know there’s a curse on this family, so I never know when we’ll see one another again.”

“A curse on the -men- in this family.” El stuck her tongue out before giving a cheeky grin. “Us women don’t get lost when we get up from bed to pee. Only the boys.”

Om scratched at the back of his head. He had every intention of reaching Dazar’alor when he had last left Keni and the ‘babes’. Yet somehow he had found himself here, surrounded by family and friends. Heh, there definitely was a family curse; it was the only thing that made sense. It all went back to his no good, dirty, rotten pig stealing great great grandfather. And if his mother found out that the Faithless actually -had- captured him, he’d never hear the end of it. “Yeah, well, curse or no curse, I’ve got a life debt to a goblin that I need to repay.”

“A life debt?” Mom raised a single brow.

“Yeah, I uh, I got trapped in a chasm. And, uh, you know, if it wasn’t for him, I would have died of dehydration.”

El leaned in closer, her eyes squinting with suspicion, “Are you suure that’s what happened?”

“Yes, I’m sure!”

El pulled her left eyelid down, sticking out her tongue as Omru made the same expression right back at her, “Nyah!” Their mother wasn’t even annoyed by the childishness. It was an expression of fondness for one another, so far as she was concerned. As the pair continued poking at one another, she took the opportunity to host a rare family dinner. It really was a shame their father was out there in the dunes, lost, but it really had been a recurring theme for several generations now.

Om and El had long quit squabbling by the time food was roasting over the fire pit. The scent of the buzzard meat had the whole cavernous hideaway bringing out their plates and utensils. People would offer their seasonings, wines, desserts, you name it. That was one beautiful aspect of caravan life. People always seemed to come together at the end of the day. One didn’t just have a mother and father. They had a host of ‘aunts’, ‘uncles’ and ‘cousins’, a whole network of friends and family who bonded over the trials and tribulations of the sands.

For Omru, it was the last such caravan night he would experience in Vol’dun.

Shit shit shit shit shit.

Omru pressed his back against the cold stone wall, shivers coursing down his spine. His breath rose in a fog before him as he tried to quiet his breathing, his large ears twitching, listening. For a moment there was nothing, only silence. Then came the jagged clattering steps of the skeletal troll, searching for the little fox that had dared defile the resting place of kings and queens with his presence.

Not that Omru had disturbed the tombs intentionally. At long last he had made it out of the desert, had climbed literal mountains of vivid green moss and vines, and made it to a Zandalari city of gold. It was beautiful, but it was also kind of a shithole. A city made of pure gold, with the bodies of trolls, dinosaurs and oozing puddles of shadow, decay and vomit. Exploded spiders clung to steps with their still attached legs twitching, and as Om descended golden step after step, not a single sign of life stirred.

That should have been a wake up call, but how many golden cities could there be in the jungle, right? And so the vulpera had explored, poked and prodded. Some of these corpses weren’t native to Zandalar. Large horned bipedal beast men with hooves, slack jawed soldiers that had been dead for ten years at least, and the odd orc or goblin were scattered throughout the streets. Eventually Om found himself deeper and deeper within the city, the temperatures dropping despite lit fires in each room. Cobwebs hung from ceilings and spilled ink blacker than any darkness Omru had ever seen threatened to swallow the entire floor.

The pacing of the long dead Zandalari echoed through the corridors like the slow rattled ticking of an old clock. Somewhere behind the rotted creature, Omru’s pack lay on the floor ripe for the taking. It mattered only slightly less than his own life did, but what meaning would his life hold if all his stuff was gone, left behind for any passing grave robber to collect?

A shimmer caught his attention, light dancing atop something long, flat and sharpened, risen and resting atop a stone pedestal. A steel sword with emerald baked into its center. Two feet long, a peculiar shape curving in four different slices, two on the top, two on the bottom. The blade seemed to emit a purple aura around it’s sharpened edges, and like any good Trader slash Explorer, Omru knew exactly what that meant. Magic. Enchanted or cursed? Did it really matter? Would it really make sense to store a cursed sword in a tomb of emperors though?

The clunky clinking steps seemed to grow louder and louder, perhaps only a few feet away from Omru as he debated. He knew that his stealth magic was no good here. This thing had spotted him an hour ago and he had barely gotten away with his life. What had happened to this city that had risen the dead to unlife? What were those shadowy pools, what was that dark ink? Om shook the questions from his mind as the towering skeleton stepped in front of him, dwarfing him three times over.

A rusted blade clanged, biting into stone as Omru disappeared from his hiding spot. Somewhere in a realm between worlds, voices called out, shrieking in eternal torment. Those voices were muted and forgotten in the nano seconds between the fox’s disappearing reappearing trick. In a little poof, Omru was behind the skeleton, kicking at the back of it’s kneecap with a furry foot. The skeleton did not even buckle.

“Shit!”

A trio of small throwing knives were sent into the rib cage of Omru’s enemy. Literally, slipping right through the bones, bouncing within the sloshing interior of bones and guts. Wait, guts? No, this thing was too dead to have any guts. Why would- Omru barely ducked out of the way of another sword slash. No time for thinking here, only doing.

Running as fast as his paws would take him, Omru ran to the shining enchanted-or-cursed sword, gripping it by the hilt with two hands and pulling it free.

‘You wield de dagger of Isgi, daughter of de Assassin Queen o’Zandalar. Continue my work an slice de troats of de unworthy.’

Omru’s eyes widened. Continue the work of, wait, dagger? This thing was almost as big as him, how was it a dagger? Still, it was light enough to be held in a single hand comfortably. As the skeletal troll rushed forward, Omru squinted his eyes at his enemy and concentrated. His legs bent at the knee, then shot him up forward with the slight aid of supernatural force. The skeleton attempted to parry, only for Omru to disappear, reappearing behind the creature, airborne.

In a series of attacks, Om would strike the skeleton with his new glowing weapon, then disappear, four, five, six times in a row. Each attack hit harder than the last, emphasized by vulgarity, “Fuck.”

“You,”

“You”

“Piece”

“Of”

“Shit!”

The last strike sent the skeleton sprawling onto the ground, falling apart. Literally, with no muscles, ligaments or fibers connecting anything, all the bones just kind of clattered to the ground, the skull landing upside down with broken tusks digging into the dusty stone floor.

Omru rotated his right shoulder backwards, making a popping sound, as he caught his breath. For good measure he kicked at the skull with his foot, half expecting it to levitate or explode or something. Nope, nothing. Bright orange eyes fixated on his new enchanted weapon. There was something here, alright. He didn’t know what, but he could feel it in his gut. He hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary during the fight. He was, after all, an experienced scavenger of Vol’dun. Staying alive was an art form there, and he had picked up a dozen tricks. Perhaps the magic was just in how light the blade seemed to be. Sometimes magick was just that obvious and simple. Purple glowing aura? Makes the blade a quarter of its original weight. Boom, easy. To be certain, he would have to call on an expert. Before he could do that, he had to grab his stuff and find the -REAL- city of Dazar’alor.

#wra rp #wra #Wyrmrest roleplay #Warcraft Roleplay #vulpera

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