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anjuschiffer · 4 years

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Even in Hell, There’s a Place Called Home

A bit out of my usual writing and different from my usual formats, but there’s always a reason behind the madness.

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This an overdue prompt I wanted to write for @chocolate1721 so after two whole months, here it is! Of course, I kinda strayed from the original concept... Hope you enjoy it!

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Concept/Context: The Batfam are demons. During a failed summoning, Damian adopts the sacrifice (Mari). He takes her home. Ensue the chaos

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Warning: graphic scenes, gore, blood, mention of animal sacrifices, human sacrifices, character death

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Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life

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AO3

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Marinette tried to keep herself calm as chants were spoken all around her, every now and then hearing the soft jingle of bells that haunted her every thought.

She stared at the pitch black ceiling as her back was pressed against the cold stone table, the blinds at her wrists and ankles cutting into her flesh.

She had tried to fight back, but the cold shackles’ clinking laughed at her efforts, causing her to stop struggling.

So dressed with nothing but scraps of fabric to cover her chest and lower region, Marinette could only wait until she was sacrificed to whatever it was her mother and her cult were attempting to summon this time.

They had found a new summoning book in the depths of the abandoned church, the Cult believing that they would give it a try. So after carefully planning the ritual for months and gathering the herbs and animals they could steal, and kidnap a child to sacrifice, the ritual went underway.

It was just her luck that she was the child they chose for this occasion.

It was the greatest honor to be chosen, her mother had told her…

Should she even call Sabine her mother?

What kind of mother offers their own child to be a candidate to be sacrificed?

What kind of mother encourages their child to even think about wanting to sacrifice themselves for a ritual they don’t even care about?!

Marinette let out a shuddering breath as she tried to recollect her thoughts, to compose herself as she tried to accept her unwanted fate.

However, the fact that they were in the middle of the animal blood ritual wasn’t helping.

Marinette watched as bowls of blood were set beside her, bloody organs adorning the outer edges of the table she was strapped to. The stench of iron hit her nose, wrinkling in disgust.

Marinette didn’t know what organ belonged to what animal, but she honestly couldn’t care. Those poor animals didn’t deserve to be killed for such foolish reasons!

More chanting filled her ears as her mo-Sabine stood beside Marinette and drew a symbol onto her forehead, forearms and stomach.

She felt the swirls that trailed down her arms and body, knowing some dots were added along the way.

Marinette felt as the temperature in the room began to increase, feeling beads of sweat trickled down her head.

She felt as her entire being went cold as she felt something drag across her abdomen, screaming as they dug deeper into her skin. The grinding of the shackles rang in her head as she tugged and pulled, writhing in pain.

Marinette could hear her screams echo within the abandoned church’s walls, a red light coming into view, an odd comfort coming from it.

She listened as her breaths started to grow longer and less short, containing more air as she bared the pain aching from her stomach.

The chants were soon spoken more quickly and with vigor, Marinette only then noticing a dagger that was dangerously close to her chest, feeling her urge to fight to rise once more.

That’s when he came into view.

Something rose to her vision, something that appeared to be human, yet it also wasn’t one. It looked at her with sad emerald eyes as everyone in the cult stopped what they were doing as the being approached her mother.

While he approached her, Marinette also heard another voice. It softly whispered to her, it’s smooth and hypnotic melody calmed her, feeling her eyelids gradually becoming heavier with each passing second.

She soon found herself drifting off, the screams and shrieks of the cult lulling her to sleep.

———

Damian didn’t want to go.

“You have to go.” Bruce said, flipping a page from the book he was reading, ignoring the yells coming from the other room of the manor.

“Why should I grace them with my presence?” Damian asked, motioning to the portal he had created. “They’re literally using animal sacrifices to summon me Father. Animal. Sacrifices.”

Bruce huffed, fully knowing what was stopping Damian from going to where he was being summoned.

Despite being a demon, he was against animal cruelty, so much that he collected all the spellbooks he could get his hands on and changed the items needed to summon him.

Damian had changed his animal sacrifices to using herbs and other organic lifes to summon him, placing these new changes back to where he found them, only for those stupid mortals to ignore them and make their own versions of his summoning spell or the old one they learned from their mentors.

Ignoring the set of instructions was the greatest taboo among cultists, something even demons learned about. All those years of cultist training wasted. Changing the script meant an incomplete summoning, a defective portal for any demon to use. If a demon tried to traverse through them, they could remain stuck in the warp and stop existing. However, if they did manage to get by, the summoning would be void since the cultists were not using the revamped version to summon the demon. In other words, the cultists were at the mercy of the demon they had chosen to summon.

“You know how mortals are, believing that they’re the best at something despite knowing little to nothing about said thing.” Bruce reminded, turning another page, hearing Damian huff in annoyance. “Why not make an example of them?”

With that simple phrase, Damian appeared before the mortals that dared to think they knew what it took to summon a demon like himself. Earraping chants filled his head, Damian wishing they would stop their ununified screeching.

Traversing through his own portal, Damian appeared before the stupid mortals, feeling his blood boil upon seeing the animal corpses scattered around the room, heads with eyes wide open, stomachs ripped open as organs spilled from them. Carcasses of goats and cows pried open and hung as their blood dripped to the containers below them, the blood dripping out of it and pooling onto the floor.

Damian let out a low growl, scanning the room as the chant came to a trailing halt. His eyes finally laid on the old altar, decorated in animal organs, the blood being absorbed by the stone table and dripping onto the floor, a red river flowing down the crossing. But that wasn’t what grabbed his attention.

It was the girl that laid at the table, her hands and ankles bound to the disgusting moldy furniture, looking at him with hazy eyes.

How old was she? Why was she so thin and frail? Why isn’t she-

Damian’s breath came to an abrupt halt.

There, stretched across her abdomen was a vile gash, running diagonally across her body. Blood oozed from her deep gash, the skin around it jagged and already festering, meaning that if he didn’t start healing her now, her infection would grow even worse.

She could die a pointless life.

“Oh Great Spawn of-”

“Silence.” Damian cuts off, wanting to let out a grin when the short stature woman promptly shut up, her hands trembling as he made his way towards her. “Let me tell you something.”

Damian loomed over the woman, a grin unraveling itself as her eyes widened in terror as flames erupted all around the old building and on the people present, screams singing through the smoky air.

“Did you really think a demon would let themselves be controlled by a mortal? Nonetheless by one who disregarded the new changes? How naive.” With a snap of his fingers, the woman went ablaze, Damian ignoring her cries. He walked up to the girl, freed her and scooped her up into his arms. With a swish of his tail, he reopened his portal.

Just as he stepped into the portal, a hand tried to grab him. He quickly turned around and kicked the small woman away, barely hearing her final words as he watched her breathe her last breath.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Marinette.”

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Bruce didn’t know what to say.

“I’m keeping her.” Damian said sternly, leaving no room for debate. “She’s under my care, whether you like it or not.”

It didn’t take long for Damian to come back from wherever it was he had gone. But seeing him come back with an injured child in his arms -who’s time was slowly coming to an end- was not something Bruce would ever think of seeing one day.

The scent of her blood quickly drew attention, Tim appearing in the room seconds after Damian’s arrival while Jason walked into the common room minutes later.

“She’s a mortal.” Tim stated, walking up to the shallow breathing girl, his claws itching to analyze her. It wasn’t everyday that a mortal came to the Underworld. “She’s not going to last here in that condition.” Tim watched as the girl whimpered and stirred in Damian’s arms, Tim knowing she would die in a few moments if Damian didn’t act fast.

“Might as well grant her a single wish before we-” Jason started, his tails low and swaying eagerly near the floor.

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her, Todd.” Damian growled, his tail quickly wrapping around his katana.

Why did Jason have to drop by today?

“What if I don’t give a shit about your warning?” Jason said with a shit-eating grin, casually pulling out his guns from their holsters.

Damian let out an even deeper growl, his wings flaring in warning. Jason grinned as he let his own wings flare in response, Damian hating that they easily rivaled his own.

While bare boned and thin, the remains of Jason’s wings were twice the size of Damian’s, a reminder from Jason that he didn’t care about whether Damian was Bruce’s son or not. Jason never saw him as a threat. He would gladly challenge him anytime.

“Boys.” Bruce spoke, rising from his chair, his book long forgotten. “Enough.”

“Let the Spawn be.” Tim proposed, watching lazily as the two continued their stand off. “If he fails to fix that girl, then you can duel him for the girl’s soul.”

“Hmm...fair enough.” Jason said, releasing his guns from his grasp, only for his two tails to catch them. “I’ll be awaiting your failure, Demon Spawn.”

With that, Jason walked away, allowing Damian to lower his wings, making them settle against his back.

“You only have a few more minutes before she-”

“I don’t need you to remind me, Drake.” Damian huffed, taking Marinette to his private quarters, Goliath purring upon seeing him. “Not now Goliath.” He softly said, petting the creature with his tail, placing Marinette onto his bed.

He frowned upon seeing the festered skin, the skin clumping in attempts to heal itself.

“Hope you make it through.”

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Cold.

No…

Warm…

Dark…

It was very dark.

Marinette let out a shuddering breath as she attempted to breath, feeling something warm against her skin as her body trembled in agony as she tried to exhale.

Was she saved?

Who would save her?

No… she had to be dead.

Death sounded nicer than being alive.

“Seems like you’re awake.” A soothing voice said, Marinette quickly recognizing it.

It was the being from the ceremony. Where was he?

Marinette attempted to speak, but only air came out of her.

“Here, drink this.”

Marinette felt as her head was lifted, a cup of some sort, brought to her lips. But as soon as the iron hit her nose, she tightened her lips into a thin line.

“You need to drink this if you want to get better.”

When Damian saw that the frail girl continued to struggle, he simply pried her mouth open with a spell and forced her to drink the blood, watching as the girl sputtered to breath, going into a coughing fit.

Now it was up to her if she wanted to live or not. He already did his part.

“Why would you- oh.” Marinette surprised herself with her slight outburst.

She would speak without struggling, but she still couldn’t see. Bringing her hands to her face, she could feel the blindfold over her eyes. That would explain why everything was dark.

“Let me help you.”

Marinette flinched harshly as light broke through her dark view, having to blink rapidly to adjust to her surroundings.

Velvet, creams and shades of black adorned the room. Simple, yet an elegant choice of colors.

“What happened to the-“

“They’re dead.” Damian said, Marinette feeling the bed sink at the edge to where her feet were. “It’s the price they had to pay.”

He watched as Marinette frowned, attempting to sit up, wincing as she did so.

How did she forget about her scar?

He watched as Marinette traced her fingers over where the gash was once, now replaced by a lighter patch of skin. The scar had a golden lining, Damian watching her confused expression as she tried to piece together the different textures of her body.

“Will this stay like this?” Marinette asked, finally deciding to look at the being that had cared for her.

“It will.” The being responded, Marinette humming in return. “Is there a problem with it?”

“Won’t-Won’t others find it odd that my wound healed this way?”

“No one else will see it, and if they do,” Damian looked at her with narrow eyes. “They’ll know not to approach you without caution.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Golden lining around wounds and golden scars mark a person under Wayne's care or a Wayne themselves. Every demon in the Underworld knows best to avoid us and since you are under my care, they would know to not harm a single hair on you.”

“Wayne? Demons? Underworld?”

“I suppose it’s time for me to introduce myself to you.” The being said, Marinette watching as they walked up to her side, noticing their tail hanging above the ground and the wings that peered from behind them, “I’m Damian of the Wayne Manor, Damian Wayne for short.”

“Damian.” Marinette repeated, watching as his eyes softened. “Are… are you a de-”

“A demon? Yes. I’m the one that your cult tried to summon.”

“I wasn’t part of that cult.” Marinette corrected, turning her head away from Damian. “I was just the human sacrifice they decided to use that time.” Marinette dug her nails into her arms as she recalled her mother’s final words to her.

Damian wondered if he should tell her about what her mother told him before she was burned alive.

Should he tell her that her mother apologized for sacrificing her own daughter?

That she realized that what she did was the biggest regret of her life?

Should he tell her that her mother cried as she watched her daughter be taken away from her?

That she tried to grab a hold of him while he stepped into the portal, in a desperate attempt to die alongside her daughter?

He should probably keep that to himself.

“I see.” Damian said, walking towards the doorway. “By the way, how old are you?”

“11.” Marinette watched as Damian took that information, a hum escaping him.

I see. I will be back later to check on you.”

“Thank you, Damian.” He heard Marinette say.

“There’s no need to thank me.” Damian turned around, Marinette seeing a small smile on his lips. “I already told you, you’re under my protection. I will always be by your side.”

After all, she still had a whole life span ahead of her. 11 was no age to go ahead and die.

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Damian did come back later that day, fussing over her when he learned that she had tried to get up and managed to before she felt dizzy and had to lie back down.

Marinette soon regretted that, Damian now staying in the room with her, watching her every movement. He would also help to bathe her with a cloth and water and gave her clothing to wear.

The next few days were spent in comfort, Marinette and Damian getting to know one another and Marinette learning about the other residents of the Wayne Manor.

Damian learned that Marinette was a village girl, running a bakery alongside her parents until her father died during the Grand Plague. Falling into despair, Marinette’s mother seeked comfort in the cultists.

He also learned of her love for vegetation and botany. (He managed to convince his father to start a greenhouse in one of the manor’s rooms, quickly showing Marinette once it was done.)

Marinette learned to never speak fondly of Jason, as it got Damian into a bad mood and usually resulted in Damian chasing Jason around the manor for even looking at his ward.

“Todd, one day I will get my hands on you and stick a-”

“Woah there! Not in front of the child!” Jason would scandalize, covering Marinette’s ears. She would then be dragged away and carried by Jason, Damian hot on his heels.

Tim… Tim was just there, sometimes studying her from afar whenever she would join Damian into the manor library. If it wasn’t that, it was Tim teaching her the history of the Underworld, which then trailed to Tim and Damian debating on the topic of which Wayne actually caused the fall of a place called Byzantine. (It was Bruce. He didn’t mean for it to happen.)

Marinette didn’t meet Richard until a month later, accidentally running into him as she left her study that was next to the newly implemented greenhouse.

“Holy shit.” Where the first words that came out the man’s mouth, Marinette blushing as he soon cupped her face in his hands. “Tim wasn’t kidding when he said it was genetic.”

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Marinette hummed as she tended to her roses, trimming off some black ones to replace the dying ones inside the manor.

It’s been years since Marinette had left the mortal realm, 20 years to be exact, and yet… she remained 11. Or rather, looked 11 despite being 15 years of age.

When she had asked Damian why she wasn’t aging, he replied that demon blood had different side effects from bloodline to bloodline. It also depended on the soul of the individual who drank it.

The Wayne blood was always known for its quick recovery abilities, but once Marinette drank it, it morphed into having longevity abilities alongside its healing ones. And ever since other demons heard of this, they’ve countlessly tried to kidnap the mortal girl, waging war against the Waynes.

Of course, there have been a few close calls, but the Waynes were victorious in each battle.

“How are you doing?” Damian asked, Marinette showing him her arm, golden lines wrapped around her arm. Damian held in a growl upon seeing the scar, regretting not being able to get to Mari sooner than he thought in their latest attack.

“Better I suppose.”

“I should’ve been by your side when it happened.” Damian said as he inspected her arm, a scowl forming as he looked at it.

“Dad, I’m fine.” Marinette stated, yanking her arm away. “You know you couldn’t have known that Joker had me where he had me.”

Marinette remembered the first time she accidentally called Damian ‘Dad’. It was a little over a year since she remained at the manor. Damian had just gotten her a hellhound as a gift. Out of gratitude, she had said ‘thank you Dad’ and from there never heard the end of it, Jason and Dick always reminding her of the incident whenever they could. It was also then that she kept calling him that.

It just felt… right.

“I know, but still.” Damian pulled her close into a hug. “I should’ve been there to protect you.” Marinette hugged him back, knowing why he was so hung up on the guilt.

While they were demons, it didn’t mean they were void of emotions.

She still remembered the way he looked when he had finally reached her, his form unrecognizable if it weren’t for the fact that Grandpa Bruce was right behind him.

Getting tired of the moment, Marinette pushed herself away from Damian.

“By the way Dad, didn’t you promise me that I’d get to take Goliath for some fresh air?”

“I-”

“You. Promised.” Marinette enunciated, placing her hands on her hips, hiding her smirk when Damian huffed.

“Fine. But I’m coming as well.” Marinette grinned, throwing her arms in the air.

“Alright! Goliath! Did you hear that?” Upon being called, Goliath came down from where he was resting, licking Marinette, a set of giggles echoing within the garden. “We’re going for a walk!” At this, Titus came into the garden, huffing as he sat in front of Marinette. “You’re invited as well Titus.” At this, the hellhound let out a huff, but he couldn’t hide the excitement. His tail was also wagging with glee.

“Come on then, let’s get going.” Damian instructed, already leaving the room. “Wouldn’t want to come late for dinner. Alfred said he was making something special for tonight’s dinner. Something called a quiche.”

She quickly skipped to catch up, Goliath and Titus right behind her.

How could she have forgotten? Today marks the day she was welcomed into the manor.

20 years since the day her father brought her and welcomed her with open arms.

20 happy years with her beloved family.

While she did miss the mortal realm, she wouldn’t go there if she had the chance. This was her home, and she loved it dearly.

#maribat #Damian adopts a mortal!Marinette #anju writes

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arethereanyoriginalusernames · 3 years

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I wanted to write a post about my story’s rival characters

And fuck it, it’s my birthday

I wanted to make a post detailing how each rival character I have contributes to the story. Now, I want to be clear that these characters aren’t necessarily villains, they simply oppose the main cast in some way.

———

Jadis the Serpent Demon

Jadis is a former 90s grunge rockstar, serial killer and cultist turned demon. She can turn into a giant fucking snake, parts of her outfit can turn into miniature snakes, and she has the same ambiguous amount of supernatural power all other demons have, although she rarely uses these supernatural abilities. She prefers hand to hand combat, doing snakey shit, and stabbing shit.

Jadis is a rival to Phoenix, mainly in ideology. Jadis is cynical, nihilistic, and a massive kill joy. Due to her past and all she’s had to deal with, she only sees the system aspect of society, and views any positive outlook on life as naive and stupid, even dangerous. This clashes with Phoenix, who strongly believes that everything in life has a purpose. She kinda has to, it’s a big part of what motivated her to become the person she is now. Phoenix is figuratively a train going full speed and Jadis is the inevitable brick wall of reality she’ll run into. It doesn’t help that Phoenix never beats Jadis in a fight. Both characters have valid position to question the other, and much of their relationship is influenced by how they both affect each other.

——-

Flaga

Flaga is a former soldier of the Northern Fairy Army, running away to join a group of mercenaries because he couldn’t take any more of seeing his comrades die more often by their own hand out of despair, than on the battlefield. He was a friend of Chronos, before a mission resulted in Chronos shooting him in the back and leaving him to die in the mirror realm. (Flaga has the power to travel through mirrors and the space between mirrors is called the mirror realm) This of course caused Flaga to turn into... essentially a living corpse, and lose it mentally. And now he stalks the world, looking to kill Chronos.

Flaga represents repressed guilt and regret. It’s easy for characters to point out that Flaga is unhinged, thus he probably shouldn’t be taken seriously. However, this is usually used to shift blame from Chronos, who is still affected by guilt he refuses to acknowledge. While circumstance was what forced his hand, Chronos is still aware that he ruined his old friend’s life. Chronos is someone who doesn’t take failure lightly, as he views himself as having this responsibility to help people, thus the situation with Flaga, including how he’s gone out of his way to not have to think about it, shows serious flaws in his mentality. Meanwhile, Flaga is set on killing Chronos because... he doesn’t know what else to do. He doesn’t know how to move on, and doesn’t see any way to heal. He’s motivated by the idea that killing Chronos will fix everything, which, unfortunately, is later proven to not be the case

———-

Wolfgang Dracula

The oldest of Vlad’s cousins, who you may recall from my post detailing Vlad’s entire arc. Wolfgang was the main perpetrator of the bullying Vlad went through after being named the descendant of Dracula. Wolf is the most powerful of the cousins, and the older members of the Dracula family all agree that he should have been chosen instead of Vlad. After Vlad and his parents move away, Wolf turns his sights to the other cousins. Mainly his younger brother, Ludwig. Wolf goes out of his way to establish dominance amongst the group of cousins, and has gone as far as breaking every one of Ludwig’s fingers, and causing various cousins to develop anxiety issues

Wolf is mostly a bully meant to be overcome, but he’s also indicative of the chaotic, unhealthy environment the Dracula family encourages and enables. Wolf’s behaviour didn’t just come out of nowhere, and he was very much pushed to be the way he is by the adult figures in his life. Him being eventually bested by Vlad, something that goes against everything the family believes in, is the start of a change. Plus, this serves as character development for Vlad, who comes to stand up to Wolf, and not let the past affect him anymore.

———

Skele

An orca shifter kidnapped from her family as a baby, and forced to be a child entertainer by the abusive organization Atlanta Prima. After escaping, Skele nearly dies swimming back to Greenland, hoping to find her family. On the brink of death, she’s saved by the god of frozen wasteland, Allyon, becoming his new host. She’s now in charge of a pod of monstrous void whales and is an urban legend throughout the sea, allegedly slaughtering anyone she comes across.

Skele serves as a sort of parallel to Missi. Both were kidnapped as babs and kept in the care of abusive groups. However, they both have clearly different ways of dealing with what happened. Missi detaches from reality in order to ignore what happened, and wants to leave it behind her. Skele, on the other hand, takes her fury out on almost anyone she comes across. Neither girl is more “right” or “correct” here, and both coping mechanisms aren’t helping either one. However, both girls see a bit of themselves in the other, and both want to “save” the other. To top it off, both Missi and Skele are characters considered “too far gone” to be helped by many. However, a potential road to healing comes when Missi realizes that reaching out for help from others might actually be a lifeline both for her, and maybe even for Skele.

———

Arryn the Dream Demon

Former star pupil of the Grim Reaper, Arryn finds herself in a tragic downward spiral as she becomes the unwilling lackey to Ceries, a malicious and narcissistic demon. After Ceries isolates Arryn from everyone she cares about, and takes her little sister Lithie hostage, Arryn is tasked with either killing Trix or bringing him to Ceries. Given how she and Trix were childhood friends who basically grew up together, this is already a difficult task. And of course, as Arryn fails over and over again, she becomes increasingly desperate and unstable, going as far to kidnap and nearly kill Missi. After even that fails and her sister goes missing, presumably killed, Arryn outright gives up on life and longs for death, blaming Trix for the misery she’s been through.

Trix’s story arc carries a theme of questioning your world and what you’ve been told. Trix was taught by Ceries as a child various non-existing expectations about what makes a decent demon, and encourages his flawed idea that being violent and scary required, and dispels any thoughts of nuance and moral greyness within him. Arryn doesn’t want to believe that Ceries has as much control over her as she does, and vehemently denies that she’s being manipulated. After all, she was once the Grim Reaper’s star student with endless potential. She’d know if she was being manipulated.... right? Being persuaded to cut ties with loved ones isn’t her being isolated, right? Both Arryn and Trix are also characters who go out of their way to seem threatening, while hiding their actual personalities and pretending to not care about anyone. So yay, parallels.

I’ll probably make a part 2 with the rest of the rivals later.

Who’s your favourite out of the bunch? Feel free to let me know! All characters and art belong to me.

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29-pieces · 4 years

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Whumptober day 13 - Good Omens

Day 13: Oxygen Mask Fandom/setting: Good Omens, approximately 10 minutes after #11 (Defiance) Read on AO3 Read on FF.net @witchingwhovian ;)

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Part 3/3 [part 1] [part 2]

Crowley peeled his eyelids up with a groan. His head swam, stomach churning, face sore. The entire world seemed wrong somehow, so he closed his eyes again. Something tickled his cheek, which his foggy mind eventually determined to be his tie, which didn't generally belong anywhere by his cheek. Hence his confusion. His hands were up over his head, which was also bizarre, and it took effort to bring them back down.

Ah... that was because he wasn't bringing them down, he was pulling them up, because he was upside down.

Pleased with himself for having solved the mystery, Crowley once again squinted his eyes open in the hopes of determining why exactly he was upside down.

It all came crashing back when he twisted to one side to see Aziraphale hanging upside down beside him, unconscious and bleeding from a gash on his forehead.

The cult who had kidnapped Aziraphale.

The compound he had rescued the angel from and burned to the ground.

The cult leader, seemingly hyped up on angelic power he'd stolen from Aziraphale during his captivity, coming after them, the car chase through the countryside, the resulting deadly game of Chicken.

"Sorry," Crowley muttered thickly to the car, reaching out to pat its dashboard but aborting the move when it took too much energy. He let his arms flop down—er, up—once again and twisted his head painfully to look out the window in search of the other car.

It was on its side close by, burning. These modern cars, Crowley thought with a sniff. Couldn't hope to keep up with his Bentley. He squinted golden snake eyes in the direction of the flames, barely able to make out the silhouette of a body in the driver's seat. Reaching out with his senses, Crowley was relieved to determine there was no heartbeat. The cult leader was dead. Aziraphale was safe.

Well, maybe. Crowley's eyes were growing heavy but his head lolled in Aziraphale's direction one more time, wishing his friend would wake up, as he'd been unconscious for the entirety of his rescue. There was no knowing yet what exactly had been done to him.

"An-angel," Crowley coughed. No response. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, and Crowley sank into the painless black.

The next time he opened his eyes, it was to the sight of flashing blue. Voices, indistinct but getting louder, surrounded him for all sides and he no longer felt disoriented in space. Crowley sat up with a gasp only for a hand to fall on his shoulder.

"Easy, sonny," a voice cautioned him. "You— whoa, those are some contacts you have, gave me a good fright there—you were in a bad wreck, you were. Best not to move too much. Can you tell me your name?"

"Where's-" cough "Aziraphale?"

"Is that the other fellow? Funny name, innit? Got him out too, just you don't worry. We'll have you both loaded up soon, soon's the other ambulance gets here. The other driver didn't make it, I'm afraid."

"Good riddance," Crowley growled, throwing back the blanket that had been covering him. He ignored the protests and the angry questions that followed him as the demon made a beeline for the gurney where Aziraphale was already strapped in and ready for transport. His face was covered by an oxygen mask, which wasn't a good sign but did at least hide some of the horrible bruising left by the muzzle the cultists had had on him.

A medic was hovering over Aziraphale getting some sort of reading with some sort of instrument. Crowley ignored him, shoving his way in and patting Aziraphale's cheek harshly.

"Come on," he muttered. "Wake up, damn you, wake up. Aziraphale, it's Crowley, don't you dare leave me here."

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to-"

"Aziraphale?" Crowley gasped, holding his breath as the angel finally started to shift and moan.

It took him a second too late to realize that, after a week of captivity spent chained and gagged, this was not the way Aziraphale needed to wake up. Crowley's eyes widened in dismay as he quickly yanked at the gurney straps.

"Get that mask off of him!" he shouted to the medic as Aziraphale's eyes snapped open in panic.

The angel immediately began to thrash, choked and garbled sounds coming from behind the oxygen mask. Crowley just managed to rip the strap around his arms away, freeing the angel to claw at the mask covering his face. Though he was awake, Crowley could tell Aziraphale had no idea where he was or what was happening or why he was being held down. The medic was likewise alarmed and baffled, but the second he tried to grab Aziraphale's arm to stop him from pulling the mask off, Crowley could see the angel's panic shift to pure instinct.

In the split second of time they had, Crowley abandoned his task and grabbed the ambulance medic instead, flinging both of them as far away from Aziraphale as they could, and then everything exploded in light.

All around them, medical workers and police officers shouted in shock and fear and probably pain as well. Crowley covered the medic on the ground, burying his own head against the brightness. He'd left his sunglasses at the compound and his demonic eyes were all the more sensitive to the celestial light of an angel enraged. Damn it, he should have gotten that mask off first thing, of course Aziraphale was panicking. Crowley had to bring him back to reality.

"Stay down!" he shouted to the medic over the chaos and the heavenly ringing getting louder and louder and the unearthly wind of Aziraphale's power. The demon clapped his hands over his ears and clambered to his feet, head still ducked against the blinding brightness. Step by step, he inched closer to his friend against the wind.

"Aziraphale!" he yelled. "Angel! Angel, it's me! It's Crowley, you're safe! You're alright, they're not going to hurt you!"

The intensifying ringing wavered, then the light dimmed fractionally.

"C-Crowley?"

The demon's eyes were streaming, even squinted as close to shut as he could and still see what he was doing. Letting go of his ears, Crowley ducked his face into the crook of one arm and reached out blindly with the other.

"Aziraphale! I've got you!"

His hand brushed something solid and Crowley gripped what he was pretty sure was Aziraphale's shoulder. He squeezed gently.

"Angel... I've got you. You're safe, I promise."

"Crowley..."

The ringing stopped, the light dissipating as the wind died down, and then another ragged gasp. Crowley peeled his head up, face feeling raw as though sunburned, but he sagged with relief to see Aziraphale looking back at him with wide, damp eyes. The angel's breath hitched, and Someone damn it, the lingering fear Crowley saw in his face made him wish he hadn't killed so many of those cultists so quickly when they clearly deserved a slower, more painful death. He put that aside for now, though, wrapping himself around the angel in a bracing, grounding hold.

"They... they took..." Aziraphale whispered, burying his head in Crowley's shoulder.

"I know," the demon growled. If nothing else, Aziraphale's show of power was enough to prove they hadn't even come close to draining the angel completely, or else they'd been letting him recover between "extractions". "But you're safe now, I swear it. I killed them, every single one of 'em."

Aziraphale inhaled and for a second Crowley expected a reprimand, but then the angel nodded. "Good," he whispered.

Then, Aziraphale pulled back and looked at the scene around him with a soft cry. "Oh, I- I've hurt them! Crowley, I never meant to-"

"I know," Crowley assured him, snapping his fingers vaguely at the human bystanders. One by one, they all started to shift and climb back to their feet, dazed and foggy but completely unharmed. "You didn't hurt anyone, angel. Just gave them a fright, and I've made them forget all about it. They think it was just the other car they came out here for, and you and I only stopped to see what the trouble was, and now we'll be on our way. Oh, gotta fix Bentley up, too... But that won't take a moment and then I'll have you headed for home."

And then there would have to be conversations. Crowley needed to know what exactly had happened to Aziraphale, whether there was anything Crowley could heal or help. He would have to soundly berate the angel for having traded himself for Crowley to begin with, to insist that Aziraphale never do anything like that again—even though they both knew that either one of them would always do the same, the unspoken Arrangement.

They might be safe, but there was still some healing left to do, and Crowley would spend as long as it took until Azirpahale felt himself again.

That was what friends were for.

#whumptober2020 #no.13 #oxygen mask #good omens #fanfiction #hurt Aziraphale

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ms-rampage · 4 years

Text

Eden’s Gate: Kidnapped Chapter 17 - The Last Of Us Part 2 (continue)

The final part of Eden’s Gate: Kidnapped.

The next series is gonna focus on John and Kate's relationship that occurred 2 years before all the events of Kidnapped.

Supernatural moment? Maybe!?!?!

Word count: 3k+

Warnings: Swearing, violence, death of some main characters, angst.

A slight cliffhanger maybe?!?!?! I don’t know!!! A new follow up series?!? Maybe!!!.

************************************************************

Paige and Kenny go from room to room looking for their daughter.

“You find her?” she whispers.

“No” he whispers back.

From down the hall, Paige sees a dimly lit white light coming from one of the rooms.

She slowly walks towards it, “Where are you going?” Kenny whispers. He follows her down the hall.

They get to the door, it looks like it belongs to an office, she slowly pushes it open.

There’s no one in, a crib similar to the one from Paige’s bliss hallucination sits in the middle of the room. Soft cooing, and babbling come from it.

She walks towards it and sees her daughter in.

She sighs loudly, and picks her up “Oh my god” she says with tears streaming down her face.

Kenny holds the both of them, and after a couple minutes a ring plays over the intercom followed by Jacob’s laugh and voice.

“Hey, only you could’ve made it this far”

“That son of a bitch” Paige says, quietly.

“There is no escape Winchester” he continues.

“Come on we’re leaving” Kenny says, guiding Paige out the room into the dark hallway.

They walk down the dark hallway back to where they came from.

“Only You” plays faintly over the intercom. Panic runs through Paige, and she immediately stops dead in her tracks.

“Take her!!” she tells Kenny, holding out Cristina. He looks at her in confusion.

”What?!?” he asks.

“Take her!!!!” she exclaims, he takes her from her, the music grows louder, and she groans in pain holding her head.

“Go, just keep going!!” she pants, trying to fight the urge to pass out. They continue down the dark hallway.

“So, you’re not weak after all” Jacob’s voice says over the intercom as the music grows louder. As they’re going down the stairs, Paige trips on the last step.

“Paige come on!!, get up!!” Kenny says, trying to help her up.

“Go take her, and go!!” she exclaims.

“I’m not leaving you!!!!” he says, pulling her up.

Footsteps coming from behind them, Kenny looks up, and sees a silhouette approaching them.

He pulls out his pistol, while still holding Cristina and aims at the figure.

“What do you want?” he asks in an angry tone.

Jacob steps out of the shadows, staring at him.

Paige struggles to get up, but is able to get back on her feet, with her gun hand aiming at the elder Seed brother. “Haven’t you done enough already?!?!” she asks him, anger in her voice.

“Ooh honey it’s only just begun” he says, with a tease in his voice.

He starts to circle them, like a shark in the ocean.

She follows his movements not taking her eyes off of him.

***********************************************************

Kate loads up some guns, putting them in her car.

Wheaty approaches her, silently grabbing her waist from behind.

“Hey” he says. She looks at him. “Hey” she responds with a slight smile.

“Are you going by yourself?” he asks. She sighs “Most likely”.

“I can come with you, if you want” he says, “You sure?” she asks, looking up at him.

“Yeah, if killing John is, maybe a way for us to be together then yes”

She smiles at him “Okay”.

She finishes loading up her gear, he kisses the side of her head.

“Hey Kate!” Eli calls out. She turns around. “Yeah!!” she yells out.

“You said Paige and Kenny are at St. Francis?!” he asks.

“Yeah, they’re gonna kill Jacob!!” she yells back.

“I’ll go help them” he responds, “Is Wheaty gonna go with you?”.

“Yeah I am” he answers.

“Alright, I’m gonna go to St. Francis” that being said he leaves to the Centre.

Kate and Wheaty leave to John’s ranch

They pull into the huge driveway. For some reason there aren’t any peggies on the property.

“This is weird” she says “There’s no one on the property”.

She parks the car, they both get out, grabbing their supplies from the trunk.

She’s able to pick the lock, they enter the huge house. Old dead memories come to mind.

“Where do you think he is?” Wheaty whispers to her,

“I don’t know” she responds. Without hesitation she calls out for him “Hey John!!!!!”.

Wheaty’s eyes widened when she does this.

“What are you doing??” he whispers to her.

“Hey Johnny where are ya!!” she yells again. Wheaty regrets this but he wants to help and support her. She’s doing it the Winchester way, guns blazing. Sorta.

The whole house goes silent, and then they hear from upstairs.

“Katie?!?!!?”

Sending chills through her body, icing on the cake is his smug smile when he sees her, and his eyes move to Wheaty.

“What is that?!?” he asks, pointing to Wheaty.

Kate looks back at him, then back at John.

“Someone who won’t manipulate me, who won’t torture my sister, won’t try to have my mom killed, and better yet someone who isn’t a sadist fuck like you”.

A smile appeared on Wheaty’s face as she said this.

John groans in disgust. Making Kate roll her eyes at him.

“We all know you won’t love him like you do with me” he says, walking down the stairs.

She scoffs “That's what you think, and yeah I did love you. Not anymore”

He tilts his head to the side, and says “Really?. You seemed to love me last night when we did. Ya know?!” a smirk on his face.

She clenches her teeth in annoyance “You got me in a vulnerable state, you got lucky, and it didn’t mean shit to me”.

He smirks at her “Are you sure sweetie?. Because I was looking down at you and it looked like you were enjoying every second of it”.

Kate knows the game he’s playing, and Wheaty isn’t having any of it.

“Well you need to get over it. Because she doesn’t love you anymore, she’s with me”

John takes a few steps closer to them “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?. Did you really think I wouldn’t know about you two? I saw your messages from last night, and the car crash you and Paige were in? Orchestrated by me. I saw the messages about you sending the Whitetails to Joseph and Jacob’s regions. That if they didn’t hear from you in 1 hour, to go to St. Francis or Joseph’s”.

Kate is livid “You motherfucker!!. You could’ve fucking killed me and my sister!!!” Wheaty tries to hold her back.

“I’m gonna be so fucking happy once I put a bullet in your fucking head” she yells again.

John looks at her in amusement, it pisses her off more.

“I thought you were different from your sister, but of course, Wrath is indeed contagious. I knew deep down it was your sin, and of course Lust. Speaking of that. Did you get tested? Any morning sickness?”.

She looks at him confused “What the fuck are you talking about?!?!”.

He sighs and says “Well my dear. I’ll just cut to the chase. I cummed inside you, I never put on the condom. So you could be holding my child in the weeks to come”

Her eyes widened, she yells again “You son of a bitch!!!!!. Now I’m gonna really fucking kill you!!!”.

John clenches his jaw “No, you’re not darling you think covering your sins will make you forget that you’re marked?. No it won’t, covering them won’t cover your sins”.

“You’re the reason why I covered them. So I wouldn’t be reminded how the man I was in love with fucking tortured me, and refused to acknowledge it”.

John knows damn well she’s talking about that demon possessing him, and forcing him to have her atone.

The sound and rumble of trucks grabs their attention, Kate, Wheaty look out the window, and see a bunch of Cultist trucks drive onto the property.

They get distracted, and John slips out the back door.

They turn around, and find John gone.

“Shit, that asshole got away” she yells. “Well time to kill some peggie fucks” she shrugs.

They run upstairs to the front windows, and shoot at the peggies.

Kate calls for backup from the Resistance, and they arrive within minutes after making the call. John takes off in his place, destroying and shooting at the Resistance’s reinforcements, Kate calls for Nick Rye.

“Hey Nick, you think you can help me kill John Seed?”

“I’ll be there” he responds, enthusiasm in his voice.

Another few minutes goes by, and she sees his yellow plane fly by.

A Cultist grabs her from behind, she turns around and stabs him in the throat. She continues to kill every Cultist she sees, and Nick takes down John’s plane.

“Oh shit!!” she yells.

She runs out the house towards the crash site. Wheaty following behind her.

Running across the airfield, she sees John’s bloodied up body, thinking he’s dead.

She reaches for the key around his neck, ripping it off of him.

Only for him to grab her wrist, and sit up like the fucking Undertaker. She was 100% he would be dead.

“Fuck!!” she yells out, getting jumpscared. “So this is how it ends?!” he wheezes out.

”For you” she responds. He coughs out blood, some of it getting on her hand.

“We could’ve been happy together!. We were meant to be together!” he says, before coughing again.

“If we were meant to be together. You would’ve never put pain on anyone. You would’ve changed for me, for us!!” she says with hate while trying to be strong.

“Look around you, look at everything that has happened. The world is on brink. Because of you. Everything we could’ve been. A happy family” he wheezes.

“Let him go, he may have treated you well. But he is no good” Paige’s words replying in her mind.

“I’m sorry John, but you and I are no more” she tells him. His grip tightens on her wrist.

“You want this key because you think you're saving people, but they were already safe. We had a plan!.” Annoyance in her voice “No John, you’re weren’t saving anyone. I save people. My family. We help people, it's our job!. I’ve been doing this since I was 6 years old, and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Also our “unborn child” they’ll be better off without you in the picture”

Anger in his eyes “After everything. After everything I did for you!. This is how you repay me?!. For our unborn child?!” raising his voice only to cough out blood again.

“You don’t understand. You don’t believe. You don’t care!!” he lets go of her wrist before saying “May God have mercy on your soul”.

His last words to her before falling back on the ground, he stops breathing. She looks down at his lifeless body. A single tear falls from her left eye, she feels like a huge weight has been lifted from her shoulders, everything feels different. She’s still pregnant even though it's not 100% confirmed with his child. Even though it's still way too early to find out if it's true or not. She places her hand on her stomach, looking down at John. She keeps it to herself for now, clenching the key in her hand. Wheaty approaches her from behind, touching her shoulder

“You okay?” he asks. She looks up towards the evening sun set “Yeah, I’ll be fine”.

********************************************************

Paige has not taken her eyes off of Jacob, “If you’re gonna do something. I wouldn’t if I were you” she tells him. He stops in front of them, backs up disappearing into the darkness.

“Where did he go?!” Kenny asks, looking around.

“I don’t know, but I do not want to stick around” she says. They’re about to leave, and she collapses to the floor. “Only You” starts to play again.

She screams in agony, squeezing her head “Run!!! Go!!!! Get out of here!!!!!” she screams at Kenny. He runs towards the door but it won’t open, he pushes it but it still won’t budge. Paige is fighting the urge to not pass out, her vision goes red. She shakes it off.

Is Jacob’s classical conditioning starting to not have any effect on her anymore?. She gets up, turns around to find Jacob. “Paige, where are you going??” Kenny calls out.

She walks down the hallway leading outside. This ends now, everything ends now, she made a promise to herself that she would kill Jacob. Nothing will stop her until she puts a bullet in his head. Kenny follows her, trying to stop her, calling out for her but she’s too focused on killing Jacob. She’s so focused that she doesn’t even see Eli walk past her.

“Paige?!?” Eli calls out.

“Eli?!?” Kenny says, “What are you doing here??”

“I came to help, Kate said you two would be here” Eli says.

“Yeah, she’s looking for Jacob. Something snapped in her” Kenny says.

Paige makes it outside. Looking around for him.

“It's about time you came out” Jacob says.

“Yeah, well I didn’t want to keep you waiting” she says.

“Well ain’t that sweet of you Winchester” he says sarcastically.

Spotting him on top of a mountain with his obnoxiously bright red sniper.

“Why don’t you come closer, so I can see that pretty face of yours when I kill you” he says

“You’re such a flirt you know that?” she replies. He chuckles “I try”.

She looks back, sees Kenny and Eli exit the building. “You two stay back!!” she yells out. They stop dead in their tracks.

“I’m ending this right now!!” she says. “Kenny stay back with her, I don’t want her to be in the way” she adds. Kenny stays back, seeking shelter behind a tree away from everything. She moves forward, Eli taking the rear. They kill all the judges, and Jacob’s men.

After a gruesome, blood exchange of bullets.

She’s able to corner a wounded Jacob on the mountain.

She confronts him while he’s sitting on a rock, badly wounded and all bloody.

“My brother saw all this coming. I don’t know if he talks to God, that doesn’t matter. He was right. Humanity is once again in crisis" he says.

"You had it coming Jacob" Paige says, aiming her gun at him.

He continues “It doesn’t matter what we build or achieve. We will always find a way to break it down. Babylon, Rome. Empires rise, empires fall. America. We’re no different. We think we’re indestructible” he wheezes out, coughing.

She speaks her final piece to him, just to put it out there because she knows his time is very limited at that very moment.

"Just to put it out there, because I know your time is limited but you were indeed supposed to be my Godfather. My dad wrote you a letter back in September of 1994 when my mom was pregnant with me".

She pulls out the letter along with the photos, holding them out to him.

With his good hand, he reaches out to grab them.

He reads the letter, and what felt like forever.

His eyes start to get watery, as if he were having a change of heart but it's too late.

He's already lost so much blood, they both know he's gonna die.

Kenny, who is still holding Cristina, and Eli keep a distance from them.

He speaks his final words to her.

Motioning her to come closer to him, she hesitates but takes a few steps closer to him.

He grabs her arms, and says.

“I completely underestimated you. You are too much like your father, you have too much pride in what you do. Just like Joel, he always had pride, he always pushed and pushed for it. No matter what”. He lets go of her, slightly pushing her back.

“Oh boy Paige have you pushed us. And you had no fucking clue” he wheezes out before, taking his last breath. His body goes stiff, head looking down. Dying on the rock.

“Jacob?” she says. “Jacob?”.

She quickly pokes his shoulder, he’s dead. She rips the key off from around his neck, walking away from his dead body.

She grabs Cristina from Kenny, and he puts his arm around her.

They all go down the mountain, after a while they make it down.

Paige calls Kate while handing Cristina to Kenny.

“Hey how did it go?” she asks.

Kate on the other line “It went pretty good. John’s dead, Nick Rye shot his plane down, and he died from his injuries”.

She nods her head “Cool, I just killed Jacob, and pretty much the same thing, he died from his injuries. Did you hear from mom?”

Kate clears her throat “Yeah, she told me that her, Cody and Adrian went to Joseph’s compound. He wasn’t there”.

Confused, Paige asks “What do you mean he wasn’t there?!!?”.

“Mom said he left a note for us. I’ll show it to you when you get here”

“Where are you??” she asks.

“We’re by Angel’s Peak near Joseph’s statue in the Henbane River” she answers.

“Okay we’ll be there soon” she says, hanging up.

“Where are they?” Kenny asks.

“Joseph’s statue in the Henbane River, also Joseph’s isn’t at his compound”

“Really? You think he fled?” Kenny asks.

“Probably” she answers. She turns to Eli, saying

“Thank you so much for your help Eli. We pretty much own you guys big time”

“I’m glad we can help. Now with the Seeds gone everything can be peaceful around here”

“Yeah” Paige says, looking off in the distance. “Well Faith is still alive, and she basically betrayed Joseph, we’re gonna go by the statute to see what the fuck is going on over there”. They go their separate ways, Kenny and Paige steal a truck, drive to Henbane River.

Driving up the road leading to the giant eyesore of a statue that's 1000x worse than John’s YES sign.

They drive up the path, and see Mandy, Kate, Wheaty, Adrian, Cody, Nate, Mark, Martin and Faith at the base of the statue.

They get out, approaching them. “Is it done?” Mandy asks Paige. “It’s done” she replies.

She hands her the note Joseph left them. She reads it.

“To the Winchester family, I am deeply aware of what has happened to my family. My brothers are dead, my Faith has betrayed my word. I have forgiven for what Mandeline has done, I have forgiven for what Katella Evyanna has done, and I forgive Paige Hannah for what she has done. I have fled with my flock, and we will continue to prepare for the Collapse, to start our new world. You are indeed a very special family, and God has told me about you.

I wanted you to be a part of Eden’s Gate.

The Mother for Mandeline

The Baptists Wife for Katella

The Soldierette for Paige.

What your family has done for several generations. We wanted you all to be a part of our family.

- The Father Joseph Seed

She hands the note to her mother.

Her and Kate walk towards Kate’s car.

They have a sorta heart to heart conversation.

“So, how did it go?” Paige asks

Kate sighs, “It was tough but John’s dead. I feel relieved, like I don’t have this worry in me anymore”.

Paige nods her head “That’s great to hear”. Kate nods her head, and turns to her

“How did it go with you?”. Paige sighs “The same way. Jacob’s dead, and that’s all that matters”. They sit on the hood of the Monte Carlo staring off into the sunset, while the others are talking behind them.

Paige looks back, watching Faith talk with the others. She can see she has more life in her. Like she’s not afraid anymore, but Paige doesn’t know if she can trust her yet.

A gust of wind blows gently at them, making them feel at peace.

"I’m gonna have a hard time trusting her too" Kate says, looking over at Paige

“Yeah I know” she says. “She has changed a little bit” Kate adds.

Their sisterly moment is ruined when Paige asks “So about my car, Baby?!?!”.

Kate rolls her eyes “That was John’s doing, don’t worry it's not that bad. Even though she went tumbling through a field of cows and bulls, it's not that bad. It's fixable”.

She scoffs “She better be, or I’m gonna bring John back to life, just to kill him myself”

Kate laughs. They get off the car, walk around to open the trunk.

"You know even with John, and Jacob dead. There are still some peggies out there" Kate says. "Yup" Paige says, while opening the trunk.

"Joseph is still out there somewhere with his flock of Cultists" Kate says, putting her stuff in the trunk.

"Yep, he sure is and we have Faith, so I’m sure that hurts him" she replies.

“From what he said in the note. Do you think we would last in the Cult?” Kate asks.

“Nope, because we would’ve killed them all” she answers.

They look down staring into the trunk.

"And you know what that means right? Kate asks. "Yep. We got work to do" Paige says, she closes the trunk door.

THE END

#far cry 5 #john seed #jacob seed #joseph seed #faith seed #the seed family #fc5 #my ocs #paige winchester #kate winchester #mandy winchester #fc5 fandom #my writings #far cry 5 x my ocs #hope county

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consumedkings-archive · 4 years

Text

ancient names, pt. viii

A John Seed/Original Female Character Fanfic

Ancient Names, pt viii: the space between us

Masterlink Post

Word Count: ~6.9k (????)

Rating: M for now, rating will change in later chapters as things develop.

Warnings: Language, some “light” religious blasphemy (it’s Far Cry 5). Strong canon deviance from here on out. Some more PTSD symptoms/descriptions, though mild.

Notes: This chapter is like, nearly 2k longer than most others and folks, we got it all: identity crisis, PTSD symptoms, the irritability of being surrounded by Seed brothers, the irritability of perhaps not having eaten or had any real water for like two days, Jacob being a shithead, the "sees love interest in x state of undress" trope, YOU NAME IT. When does the fun stop?? We'll never know. tl;dr Elliot pops off like 6 times and honestly, who’s surprised anymore.

I hope you guys enjoy, it feels a bit like this chapter got away from me and not a lot of exciting stuff happens but it did feel important to have this lull of a chapter between all the action and drama. Thank you, as always, to my angel @starcrier the best proof-reader a girl could ask for an also a remarkably thoughtful and sweet friend who for some reasons decides to bless me with her presence to this day.

Thank you so much to everyone who comments, reads, reblogs, likes--all of it is always cherished by me, and it really does inspire me to keep going. <3

tagging my lover my life my shawty my wife @empirics bc she still wanna go here even when i babble at her nonstop

John had hoped that Elliot would go to sleep, but he knew the chances of that happening were slim to none and he wasn’t surprised when, out of what he could only assume was pure spite and anger, she stayed awake the entire drive to the compound. She stayed awake through John recounting what they had experienced of the cult already, what they knew about Faith; Elliot stayed oddly silent, in the way that swelled with the knowledge that she probably knew more than what she was letting on, but John didn’t push.

Jacob stuck to the side roads, the back roads, keeping them as far from the most populated areas as possible: and John could see that it drove Elliot batty, knowing they could just stop at Fall’s End. The radio’s gospel songs echoed eerily in the cab of the truck. After about five minutes of it playing—and, coincidentally, about two minutes after Elliot had smoked down the entirety of her first cigarette—she blurted out, “Can you turn that shit off?”

“Why?” Jacob asked evenly, and John passed a hand over his face tiredly as he heard Elliot take in a huge breath, as though she needed to make sure she properly had enough oxygen to spit her venom out.

As John began tiredly, “Deputy, mind yourself and close your mouth,” Elliot bulldozed him to say, “Because I’ve got a head wound that seems to get exacerbated by idiotic cultists,” their voices once again overlapping until their words strangled each other, Elliot glaring at John. He really wished she would stop looking so betrayed when he took the side of one of his brothers; it wasn’t as though she and him had ever really felt like a team , anyway.

Except for the ranch, dispatching of those Swedes in tandem. And except for when they’d been driving, and Elliot had actually looked happy for a second, even with their hands cuffed together. And except for—

Knock that shit off, John thought to himself, just in time for Joseph to say, “It seems as though your time together has made an improvement on your temperament, Deputy Honeysett.”

“What gave you that impression?” Elliot prompted, despite John’s not-so-subtle pleading look.

“Well,” Joseph continued, “we always do try to have faith , you know, especially in our brother. But considering the animalistic state you were delivered to him in, I would have expected much more poor behavior out of you.” A gentle smile tugged at his lips, an expression John could see reflected in the rearview mirror. “I like to see the impact he’s had on you.”

John couldn’t quite sort out how he felt about his brother’s words. He wanted to be proud; he wanted to think, yes, see? I’ve tamed her, the hellcat, look at her keeping her hands to herself. He wanted to, but there was a complicated feeling wound up in it, because he saw the way Joseph’s words struck Elliot, the way they collapsed the iron-clad battlements of her expression, the way they folded her up and crushed them in his proverbial fist. It was exactly what Joseph did; disarmed, unwound, pulled each tangling thread until they were so knotted all you could do was cut it out.

So yes, John felt an immediate burst of pride in his chest at Joseph’s words, and that pride was almost instantly wiped away at the look on Elliot’s face. It was as though she couldn’t stand the idea that he had made an impression on her, in any way. Disgust, he thought, fending off the insult of her abhorrence of his influence, hatred. She has always been spiteful and venomous, underneath it all.

“Just wait until you outgrow your usefulness, Seed,” Elliot managed out, her voice crackling with something violent. “You’re the only one I want to see dead before I hand you over to the government.”

Joseph rolled his window down. “I see that your manners still need some polishing, though.”

Elliot looked at John. Her gaze was hard, but he returned it nonetheless, expectantly. She asked, “Proud of yourself, are you?”

“Elliot,” John began, moderating his voice so that he didn’t sound as pleased as he felt (and of course he didn’t know why he was doing that; there was no reason he should work so hard to preserve Elliot’s feelings, and yet… ) so that she wouldn’t be right about him, “it doesn’t…”

“Shut up,” the blonde snapped. Her voice rattled, with anger and with the sick inside of her. She pressed herself back into the corner of the bench seat in the back; she looked like she wanted to melt into the truck’s frame. “I’m fucking tired of your voice.”

“Watch your mouth,” Jacob said from the front seat.

“You shouldn’t be smoking,” John interjected tartly, feeling himself scramble for something—anything—that felt like normal between them again; the normal that had happened with being forced into each other’s company. “Not until you get better. You still sound sick.”

“ You got those cigarettes for me,” Elliot quipped, vitriolic, “and what the fuck isn’t clear about shut up?”

As soon as the words left her mouth Jacob pushed on the brakes, hard, the movement slamming the back of her head against the window in the back of the truck. The blonde let out a volley of swears, her hand flying to the back of her head instantly.

Jacob said, his voice prickling with hostility, “I told you to watch your mouth.”

“Jacob—” John began, having braced himself against the driver’s seat, but he could already feel Elliot seething.

“You fuckhead ,” Elliot bit out, spiteful as ever, her fingers coming away sticky and crimson. “You absolute piece of—”

“Jacob,” Joseph murmured, “let’s not waste time on the road.”

“Elliot, stop squirming,” John insisted, his voice more urgent now. “You’re going to get blood everywhere.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, is it inconvenient for you that your brother reopened my fucking head wound ?”

“That isn’t what I meant,” John growled. “Stop squirming.”

His voice came out more authoritative than he had intended, wound up-tight and hard by the antagonizing nature of Elliot and Jacob’s exchange. The blonde’s jaw clenched, but she stilled; his hands went to her face, tilting her head so that he could take a look at the wound. Reopened, yes, but only just.

“Don’t move,” John said firmly. He could feel Joseph’s eyes on him, and he thought he knew what he was thinking—that once again, he had reaffirmed Joseph’s words, that he had made some kind of an impression on her, that had he told Elliot two days ago to stand still so he could look at a wound that she probably would have sunk her teeth into his arm like a wild animal.

“Didn’t grab any bandages when we were at the ranch, huh?” John asked, trying at something closer to civil.

“I wasn’t thinking particularly beyond bare necessities,” Elliot replied dryly, her voice muffled by her chin tucked against her chest. John made a noise of agreement—he hadn’t thought to grab any, either, having anticipated they’d get the fuck out and be at the compound by now—and sighed a little.

“Well, let’s rip your shirt.”

“Why aren’t we ripping your shirt?” Elliot prompted, and John blinked at her incredulously.

“Do you have any idea how much this shirt costs?”

“Oh, you pretentious little manchild —”

“Fine!”

John didn’t rip his shirt. Instead, he peeled the shirt off, shrugging out of it and folding it to press the gathering of fabric to the wound. Elliot straightened back up into a sitting position, reaching up; her fingers fluttered over John’s, almost shyly, replacing the pressure of his hand with her own so that he could pull away and let her hold it herself.

“You should have just ripped it,” Elliot said, her eyes flickering over him before she caught herself and looked away. Were John not convinced she was running a fever, he might have thought he saw her blushing. All the same, he felt the corners of his mouth tick in something close to a smile.

“It’s easier to scrub blood out than it is to stitch it back together.”

“That’s our John,” Joseph acquiesced from the front sagely. “Ever-giving.” He paused, tilting his head to peer at Elliot and John in the back, “All we ask for is a little civility, deputy. After all, it is our sister that’s been kidnapped.”

Elliot replied, “You seem very concerned about that.” And then, “By the way, they have Joey too, which wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t pass her off to this idiot,” and she jerked her thumb at John.

“If they wanted to kill Faith, they would have already,” Jacob replied, hitting the bridge to the island and flipping the cruise control on as he blithely ignored her comment about Hudson. “Since she was alive when the two of you saw her. Isn’t that right?”

Elliot muttered something of an agreement, as though Jacob were not saying the things she had already said, as though she so desperately did not want to agree with him about something that she would rather choke on her own words than say it out loud.

“We have some search parties sent out,” Jacob continued, his steely gaze sweeping across the road as he flicked the turn signal on—certainly, pure habit at this point. “To pin them down. Once we have them located, we can work on getting Faith back and wiping them out.”

The blonde beside him was quiet, now. As Jacob pulled the truck into the compound—which looked nothing short of a ghost town, now—John glanced over at her again, nursing the wound with his shirt. She looked only tired, as though she’d spent all of her energy in just this car ride alone.

Jacob put the truck into park and turned it off; as they filed out of the car, John swept his gaze over the compound; everything seemed peaceful, as if nothing were happening, a low breeze drifting over the houses and church while the early afternoon sun drenched it in a harsh, unforgiving light. Though it was quiet, the stillness of the compound unsettled him, and the knowledge that many of their followers had been tucked away in the bunkers for safekeeping made his skin crawl.

“John.” Joseph’s voice shook him out of his thoughts. “Why don’t you take our dear deputy to one of the guesthouses to get settled in? There’s no reason why she can’t rest while we’re getting the radios set up to contact her...” His voice trailed off as he seemed to search for a word, and then eventually mustered up, “Friends.

“I’m not your dear anything,” Elliot said slamming the truck door behind her. Joseph’s lips quirked in a small, muted smile, his eyes beneath the yellow lenses of his glasses nearly unreadable.

“Not yet,” Joseph relented.

John's hand reached Elliot’s shoulder. “Come on,” he said, shaking the way Joseph’s pinning gaze unsettled him, just a little, like there was nothing that was happening that his brother wasn’t cataloging for later.

“Don’t touch me,” she muttered, shrugging his hand off of her but following him nonetheless. John could hear his brothers exchanging words in low voices on their way into the church, and that little sting in his chest lingered, more firmly: the idea that Joseph was pawning off responsibility to him to make him feel like he was doing something important remained.

Elliot pushed the door to a guest house open. “You really just took your whole shirt off instead of ripping a little piece, huh?” she said. It might have been her attempt at casual conversation, but John couldn’t say for sure. It was always so hard to tell what was going to trip that hairpin trigger into enemy territory again.

“It’s Versace, Elliot.”

“Oh, boo .” She pulled it away from her head. “I think you just wanted a reason to be shirtless in front of me.”

John blinked. He didn’t know what to say to that, the most friendly, nearly flirty thing Elliot Honeysett had said to him in many years—which was saying a lot, considering the last time they had spoken in a friendly manner, she’d hardly said more than a stammer of a sentence to him before Joey Hudson swept her away.

“Wouldn’t you like that?” he managed out after a moment, taking the shirt back from her as he got his mental footing back. “I saw you looking. No need to be shy about it, though—we’ve already established you find me handsome.”

Elliot scoffed, but he saw her face flood with red just before she turned away, pacing to the bathroom at the back of the house. “Found, once, years ago,” she said over her shoulder. “Don’t let it inflate your ego, Seed.”

He called after her, “Too late,” and she slammed the bathroom door; the very definitive sound of the shower running echoed in the empty house, and John exhaled a small breath in relief.

As he inspected the bloodstain that had gathered on the front of the shirt, he felt a pleasant little thrill in his chest; a stain was a small price to pay for having made Elliot squirm her way out of that conversation, he supposed, and he remembered the way Joseph had said, I like to see the impact he’s had on you.

Not so wild now, John thought, are you, hellcat?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The benefits of a hot shower were never to be underestimated.

Though Elliot had gone into her shower feeling bedraggled, worn down, furious, and more than unseated—both by Joseph’s assertion that there was a yet to be had with the friendliness of their relations, but also by John’s casual confidence in her attraction to him.

She wasn’t attracted to him. John had held her under like he was going to drown her, really drown her. He’d wanted to tattoo wrath right on her chest.

Elliot’s fingers fluttered over the spot where John’s had dragged, just a day or so ago now, as he said, I think it’ll fit nicely right here, don’t you think? Maybe just over her heart. The same place dream-John had touched, the same place her skin had been burning when flower-eyed John, spilling petals from his mouth, had gripped her face in his hands.

They were getting mixed up in her head now, all of these Johns: the John she had spooned for warmth with in the forest, the John that hadn’t complained when she anchored her fingers into his arm for steadiness, the John that held each side of her face while her body and mind split, somewhere in the middle, bringing her back down before she slipped away permanently; they all wove and intermingled themselves with the others that she knew, the Johns that kidnapped her friends or kidnapped her or held her under or leered at her in a bar when she was young.

It was almost— almost —romantic, the kind of ferocious dichotomy she would have read in a book somewhere, sometime, in a place where she still had the leisure to do something like that: read a book, take a nap, browse television channels.

Almost, but not quite, because there was and could never be something romantic about John Seed.

Elliot startled out of her thoughts when someone knocked on the bathroom door, the sound echoing in the small bathroom much louder than she thought the knocks would have actually been.

“You’re not climbing through the window right now, are you?” John’s voice came through the door. Elliot quickly wiped the amusement she felt creeping into her face and ducked her head under the water, the heat of it stinging her wound in a sort of catharsis.

“If I was,” Elliot called back, “what would you do?”

“Very funny, Elliot.” And then: “I’d probably kick this door down.”

“How very caveman.”

“Well, you know—desperate times. Plus, I hear women like that kind of thing.”

She rubbed her face with both hands to stop the smile tugging at her mouth. She had to keep focused: she had to remember the way John had practically glowed, radioactive with pride at Joseph’s praise that he’d made an impact on her, that he was changing her. For the better, they thought. For them. Elliot had hardly seen John around his brothers, but the short amount of time that she had (and wasn’t drugged out of her mind) it had become very clear to her that the relationship between them wasn’t as easy to swallow as she would have thought.

But it was easy, when she was given the luxury of a hot shower that molded all of her muscles into relaxation, to feel like they were on a team. It was easy—especially when John had handled her so carefully, like his hands hadn’t inflicted pain on numerous other people, like he hadn’t carved sin after sin into flesh as a macabre brand. Easy, Elliot thought, willing herself to turn off the hot water, because she couldn’t stay in a shower forever. Easy to forget. I can’t forget what’s happened.

“Any chance you’ve got some jeans out there?” Elliot said, stepping out of the shower and finding a clean (clean?) towel hanging; she didn’t have much time to be picky, so she wrapped it around herself and squeezed some of the water out of her hair. Outside, she could hear John stomping around, fumbling through things, and once she’d gotten mostly dried off she opened the door.

“Oh,” John said, like he hadn’t been expecting her, standing just a foot away from the door and holding a collection of clothes in his arms. Jeans, it looked like, and a few shirts. His own shirt was back on, the dark bloodstain turning the navy blue nearly black on the front.

“Oh?” Elliot prompted. She held her hand out for the clothes while the other kept the towel in place.

“It’s just that you look...” He paused, and then handed her the clothes, regarding her almost warily. “You look—”

And he stopped again, and Elliot thought, well go on, spit it out, then, her eyebrows arching upward expectantly.

“Nice,” he said after a moment. As though catching himself, he amended, “Normal, I mean.”

Elliot’s expression deadpanned. “I am normal, John. You’re the one that’s part of a cult, remember?”

He squinted his eyes at her. The spell was broken; the clock had struck midnight; he was no longer enchanted with her, numerous days of grime scrubbed off of her body.

Rather than argue the logistics of his family’s venture being a cult or not, John said, “Change quick, it shouldn’t take long for them to get the radio ready.”

“Yes, boss,” Elliot replied demurely, mimicking the words he’d used when she’d told him to shut up and be a good blanket. John’s eyes flashed to her face and then away, but she didn’t spend too long trying to parse out what his expression was; she closed the door and busied herself with shimmying into the clothes, leftovers from Eden’s Gate members, it seemed. Relatively clean, too, considering she usually saw peggies in various states of disarray and neglect.

After she’d pulled the rest of her clothes on, the white shirt—clearly meant for a man—nearly swallowing her up, she kicked the old, dirty clothes out of the way and opened the door.

“Would you have really kicked the door down if I was climbing through the window?” Elliot asked, scrunching her hair. The back of her head throbbed, but in a pleasant way; the wound had been thoroughly rinsed, and though it still ached from Jacob’s foot slamming the brakes, she didn’t think it was concussive. Yet.

John leaned against the door, regarded her with a dry expression. “Why?” he asked. She opened the door from the “guest house”—it was really more a bunkhouse than anything—and shrugged.

“I hear women like that kind of thing.”

A swift, easy breeze drifted through the doorway as Elliot stepped outside, taking one moment—just one moment—to close her eyes, and breathe, and think, I’m so close, Joey, to rescuing you. I’m so close, I swear I’m on my way to you. Please, just hold out for a little longer.

“—than woman.” John’s voice rattled around in her head, and she opened her eyes looking at him over her shoulder.

“What was that?” she asked.

He sidled up behind her, his hands in his pockets, and bent just a little at the waist so he could say into her ear, “I said, it’s a good thing you’re more devil than woman,” and against the wishes of her mind, the skin of her neck prickled with goosebumps.

She scrunched her shoulder up to her ear to fend him off. “That’s right, John,” she replied evenly, “I am a devil, and don’t you forget it.”

Elliot saw movement out of the corner of her eye, her body stiffening a little before she turned her gaze and saw that it was Joseph, standing at the steps of the church.

“Children,” he called, his voice welling with some kind of emotion that Elliot couldn’t quite pin down—perhaps amusement, or something else. “Are you done? The radio is ready for you, deputy.”

“Born done with this one,” Elliot replied, feeling the small smile that had been fighting its way onto her face slip from her features. There was just something about Joseph that put her on edge; every second she spent in her presence reminded her of the way he’d looked at her, that night in the church, when he’d said, God will not let you take me.

Like she was the only person in the room. Like she was the only person that had mattered.

Elliot liked to think that she was not the kind of person that would be so easily won over by a cult—but she also knew that they looked for people like her, people with a history of trauma, people who had fewer parents than a child ought to have, people whose one functioning parent was only barely functioning and only crested the standard when they had a few drinks in them. She was exactly the kind of person that Joseph nurtured, cradled, forgave, and she thought that for a second in that church, that night, she had thought about how nice it would be to feel that. Once.

But she had a family, and people who cared about her and relied on her and would miss her. Like Joey.

With long strides, she crossed the small courtyard to the church and stopped in front of Joseph, waiting for him to move aside so that she could go in.

“Feeling better?” Joseph asked her mildly, and when he didn’t move aside she shouldered past him. “You look like one of us.”

“Peachy,” Elliot replied flatly; she purposefully ignored his last words, rinsing them away by focusing on the task at hand. The inside of the church was dim, with only the Eden’s Gate window at the back. Her stomach dropped unpleasantly; a surge of panic washed through her, and she was suddenly reminded of the feeling of Eden’s Gate members shoving past her, watching her through fringes of dark, dirty hair, and Joseph, hands outstretched, waiting.

And John, prowling in the background, ever a predator waiting for his prey.

Joseph brushed past her, walking down between the rows of seating to where Jacob had set up a table, the radio crackling as he adjusted some settings on it. Elliot pushed her way down as well, hating that her steps faltered, that Jacob’s piercing eyes caught every step that didn’t quite hit the way that she wanted it to. Behind her, she heard the easy, confident cadence of John’s steps, the door to the outside shutting.

For the first time since getting in the truck, Elliot felt like she was in the belly of the beast. If only, a voice inside of her said, if only you had known this then, instead of now.

“Well,” Jacob said, “are you going to call them or not?”

She snatched the radio out of his outstretched hand, her heart hammering in her chest. So close; she was so close. If she wanted to, she could tell Jerome and the others where she was, flush the Seeds out well and good once and for all.

But she couldn’t, because she still needed them. At least, she needed one of them, to get Joey back.

Elliot adjusted the settings on the radio to the proper channels, swallowing thickly, and hit the button on the side. Joseph lingered under the window, a few feet away, his back to her; behind her, she heard John’s steps pacing closer to her.

The radio clicked, static buzzing patiently on the end. Her mouth felt dry. “Jerome?” she asked, tentatively into the static. “Jerome, do you—read? It’s me.” And then, quickly and feeling like an idiot, “Elliot, I mean. It’s me, Elliot.”

Silence stretched on the other side for just a moment. Then, the static crackled, and a familiar voice broke over the radio, “Elliot? It’s so good to hear your voice again. Thank God, we were—” Jerome’s voice broke up a little, and then picked up, “—about you. Where are you? Did you get away from John?”

Relief immediately flooded her system, the sensation almost painful; her heart thudded painfully against her chest, and she gripped the table with her free hand to keep herself steady.

“I—” Elliot paused. Her gaze flickered to John, who now lingered to the right of her; Jacob loomed to the left, and Joseph, ever the pinnacle, ever the point of the pyramid, just in front of her. The closest to heaven.

John’s gaze weighed down on her, pinning her, so that instinctively she wanted to squirm right out of it.

“—I’m okay, don't worry about me," she said after a moment. "I'm on my way to get Joey. Jerome, I need you to listen to me."

“Tell me where you are,” Jerome insisted, his voice crackling through the radio with urgency. “We’ll help you get Hudson back. It’s been quiet, here.”

John rolled his eyes, barely veiling his contempt. Elliot shot him a look and cleared her throat, trying to ignore the way that the pastor’s words clutched and pulled at her heart. Jerome’s voice was like a balm to her nerves; she realized, quite suddenly, how much she actually missed being around people who weren’t the Seeds, or members of Eden’s Gate—someone who actually cared about her.

“Please listen to me,” she tried again. “There’s someone else here. A different group, a new—cult. They’re here and I think they’re going to wipe everyone out. I don’t have a lot of time to explain, but you need to take everyone out of Fall’s End and get them out of here, okay? Everyone, and just evacuate as fast as you can.”

“What? Elliot, what are you talking about? ” Jerome’s voice faltered for a moment, and then he said, “Please don’t try and Atlas this thing, deputy.”

Elliot pressed her hand to her forehead. When she lifted her head, Jacob’s eyes were fixed on her, and he said, “Two minutes, deputy.”

Of course, she thought, both exhausted and infuriated. This fucking Darwinian psycho wouldn’t want to give them a fighting chance. "There wasn't a fucking time limit on this radio call before."

"You're calling the people that want us dead," Jacob deadpanned. "One minute."

Elliot wanted to say that not even a full minute had passed, but she knew better. She bit down on her cheek until she tasted cooper, trying to refocus her attention.

“There’s no time, Jerome,” she insisted, talking faster now as the proverbial clock ticked down. “Take everyone from Fall’s End and leave, okay? I’m getting Joey and we’ll meet up with you a town over, or further way—just don’t stop driving. I can’t explain anymore. I have to go. Jerome?”

There was no answer on the other end for a minute; she could picture Jerome and Mary May arguing back and forth about what they needed to do for this, for her, and her heart ached a little in her chest. Finally, his voice crackled through: “I hear you, but Elliot—let one of us come and help. We’ll get you and Joey out of here.”

“Give Mary May a hug for me, okay? And get Dutch, and everyone, and get the fuck out of here.”

“Elliot.” Jerome’s voice had changed. Her hand had gone to turn the radio off, but it stilled. “Tell me you’re alright and mean it.”

It wasn’t his Resistance Business voice, anymore, and nor was it his pastor voice. It was his dad voice, firm and unrelenting, but not unkind. It welled with gentle affection.

Elliot felt her vision wobble a little. It was embarrassing, that Jerome could disarm her this far away, without seeing her or knowing what the last two days had been. She swallowed thickly and ducked her head against her chest a little when her breath shuddered in her chest.

“We’re worried about you, kid. All of us.”

“Deputy,” Jacob said, impatient, and Jerome continued, “You can tell me if it’s not okay.”

“I’m alright,” she managed out into the radio, willing the tears back away, back from where they had come from. “I’m alright, Jerome, I promise. Please get everyone out of here.”

She put the radio back down on the table and switched it off; she exhaled sharply, once, through her nose. Her chest felt tight, and her body ached, every muscle and tendon and joint in her body feeling deeply bruised. She thought, for one awful, terrible moment, that she might actually start crying right here in front of all of the men she least wanted to do that in front of.

“I guess we’ll see if they make it out,” Jacob said, his voice painstakingly casual and clipped all at once. Elliot felt something hot and sticky flare in her chest, like all of the oxygen had been sucked right out of the air around her. "And if they don't, well—probably means they weren't ever meant to."

She didn’t want to think about the Resistance not making it out; she didn’t want to think about the slow, oozing creep of the cult sidling up on them, of Ase’s fingers on their faces, lovingly planting their gutted corpses with fresh, vibrant blooms.

“Shut the fuck up,” she managed out, her voice wobbling. Jacob’s mouth curved at the corner into something like a wicked smile; he might have been infuriated by her petulance, she thought, if her voice wasn’t thick and wet with unshed tears. She straightened up, digging her nails into her palms, thinking, I could kill him right now, wrap my hands right around that big neanderthal neck and strangle the life right out of him.

But she couldn’t, even if at that moment she really wanted to, because talking to Jerome for even that short time had reminded her about what it felt like to have people around her that cared about her; it had reminded her about being around people that she trusted, that trusted her, that shared the same beliefs. That wanted to take care of her.

She had almost forgotten that, being handcuffed to John Seed for almost two days straight.

“We’ll pray for their safe departure, of course,” Joseph said. His words echoed, tinny and hollow, in her head. She blinked furiously. Elliot was only vaguely aware of John pacing back across the room and saying something to her, but she couldn’t hear what it was; not really.

I am so tired, she thought, over the sound of John talking to her. I am so tired, and I want to go home.

“When will your peggies be back?” she asked, interrupting the sound of Jacob and John blustering back and forth. Joseph paused, and then cocked his head at Jacob expectantly. She waited for one more beat and then said, louder and with more fervent impatience, “I said, when will your little cockroaches be back from finding Joey and Faith?”

Jacob replied, bitingly, “Within the next few hours. They’re going to pin down a location and get back to us.”

“Great.” Elliot turned on her heel, marching herself down the same hallway that just a little over a week ago, she had been walking down with Burke and Whitehorse. “Fuck off until then, you piece of shit.”

It felt like her lungs might burst, or her heart might beat right out of her chest, before she made it out of the stifling darkness of the church. She pushed the door open and hurried outside to take a lungful of fresh air, air unpopulated and unshared with Seed boys.

I’m just one girl. The thought was a desperate one, one that turned over and over again in her mind. That these things were just happening to her, that she had no agency in her life, that it might always be like this. Forever. I’m just one girl.

Elliot walked to the bunkhouse, pushing each step into the dirt in the hopes of feeling more grounded, each breath of air slowly bringing her back to the earth. When she made it inside, she closed the door quickly behind her and paced, rubbing her face. The bunkhouse no longer felt surprisingly clean. It only served as a reminder of where she was, where she wasn’t, where she might never go again.

She pushed her hands against her face until spiderwebs crawled behind her eyelids. They blistered, red fractals of light swimming in her non-vision. She was only a girl, and she was alone—no family and no friends nearby to help, and that was supposed to be good; if Jerome listened to her, they'd be out of Hope County within a few hours.

There was no more room for error. Fall's End evacuating meant there was no rescue party coming, in spite of her words. It meant that she was really only going to get one shot at getting in and getting out, for good. Get Joey, get Boomer, get out. Period.

The door clicked open. Footsteps echoed against the hollow wooden flooring. It was John; she could tell by the way he walked. “Elliot.”

It wasn’t a question; it was a statement, not a how are you, but something else, something that Elliot didn’t know what he meant and or what he was saying or what he thought to gain from it. Did he ever do anything that didn't have any personal gain for him?

“John,” Elliot said, her hands pressed into her face, “can you just leave? I am so tired of hearing your voice.”

“Elliot,” John said again, “take a breath.”

“I am breathing, you fuckhead,” she snapped viciously, turning to face him—John, in his stupid fucking designer shirt, his head cocked to the side as he watched her, the venom in her voice landing but not hitting the way it should have. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be alone? Really, truly alone? Like, for fucking good, unless by some godforsaken miracle your insane brothers don’t kill me as soon as I’ve served the purpose of fetching Faith back.”

“I do," John replied angrily, "and they don’t want to—”

“Oh fuck off, John.” She raked her fingers through her hair. There was a nasty, wicked monster, crawling up from through her, fingers sliding between the slats of her ribs to get a good grip. “You should see yourself whenever Joseph says anything. You practically fall over to kiss the ground he fucking walks on, and for what? For him to give you a little pat on the head? You’d do absolutely anything he asked you to. You’re fucking pathetic.”

That hit the way she wanted to. She saw the hurt slide across John’s face, and then the anger, a power-point presentation on How To Make One Man Hate You.

“You have a lot of nerve, deputy,” John bit out (and she didn’t miss the way he no longer was using her name, like he wanted to distance himself from her), “to talk to me like that, given that you would probably be lying dead in a field with flowers coming out of your eyes without me. Not to mention that you need us to get your little friend Hudson back—”

“It’s your fucking fault!”

She felt the rasp in her throat, the claws of sickness shredding her delicate insides as her voice flexed painfully in volume. John was staring at her, and she thought, I have to stop yelling, I have to stop, this is just what they want, for me to lose control, but she couldn’t, the words welling up inside of her, wrecked and vicious, and she felt like all of the blood had fled from her hands and feet; she was ice, now, frigid and unyielding.

John’s mouth twisted, like he was shaping the words he wanted to say before he said them. He started, less heated this time, “Elliot—”

“It’s your fault,” she interrupted, clenching her fists at her sides until her hands itched and burned with the intense need for circulation. “It’s your fault—I should—I should be leaving with Fall’s End and leaving this absolute fucking nightmare behind, or—or maybe that shouldn’t be happening at all because this is my fucking home and you and your stupid family took that from me, and I fucking hate you, John Seed, John Duncan, whatever the fuck your name is, whoever the fuck you are, I don’t care and I hate you!”

He stepped forward, his hands lifted, like he was going to touch her; perhaps rest his hands on her shoulders, take her face the way he’d grown so accustomed to doing when her breathing shallowed and her eyes unfocused. But she pushed his arms out of her immediate vision, and while infuriatingly he didn’t get out of her space she still bit out, crushing the words on their way past her teeth, “Don’t fucking touch me, John,” and his hands dropped back to his sides.

She tried to ignore the strange, fleeting disappointment: as though she had been anticipating his grounding touch, as though she had wanted it, her body betraying her words and her head.

No more, she thought through the haze in her mind, no more of that.

He shifted on his feet. “You’re tired,” he said after a moment, which sounded not like the thing that he wanted to say but instead the thing that he decided was safe. “You should rest. The search parties will be back soon, and you’ll need to be at full capacity.”

Elliot stared at the bloodstain on his shirt. It felt like all of her insides had been scooped out, emptying her; her stomach twisted, both with anxiety and hunger.

“Yeah,” she replied numbly. “Alright, John.”

He turned on his heel, walking through the door to the bunkhouse and letting it swing shut behind him. The room felt colder without another human body in there; emptier, lonelier. Elliot sat herself down on the wooden floor and pushed her face into her knees.

This wasn’t supposed to be me. Her ears rang, her heart thudding painfully in her chest, a black stone falling over and over until her ribs bruised and cracked. This wasn’t supposed to be my life.

She closed her eyes tight, arms looped around her knees, pressed against the wall of the bunkhouse, and willed herself to sleep.

#far cry 5 #john seed/deputy #john seed/ofc #far cry fic #ch: john seed #fic: ancient names #otp: death keep off; i am your enemy #ch: elliot honeysett

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skynovae · 4 years

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THE NEW SITH ORDER

The time for the Sith to remain in hiding has come to an end. Darth Sidious has abolished the Rule of Two, rebuilding the ancient Sith Order in the ashes of the old, in the depths of a forgotten temple on the forsaken homeworld of Korriban. As his plans for the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire take shape, another plan is put into motion.

Small in number, but fierce and deadly, the Sith Order begins anew on Korriban, where both kidnapped young Force Sensitives and Sith cultists and aspirants are gathered to undergo the Trials of Korriban and either perish or become Sith. These Sith will serve Sidious, the new Immortal Emperor of the Sith.

General Details & Timeline

- Sidious got rid of the Rule of Two after deciding to become Immortal Emperor and believing himself to be the final and most powerful of the Sith. He planned to no longer continue the cycle of death practised by Sith Masters and Apprentices for generations, under Darth Bane’s doctrine.

- His goal was to maintain complete control over a new group of Force Users, and to simply transfer his consciousness to the strongest one each time his own body wore out.

- Though there are similarities to the ancient Sith Empire, there are two key differences: the first being that individual Sith are merely extensions of Sidious’ own will and have no real authority of their own, save over the lower-ranked Sith. All major decisions and movements must first be vetted and allowed by Sidious. Secondly, the Sith have no control over the military, save when acting on Sidious’ orders. The Force wielders of Sidious’ ideal empire operate completely separately from the military and navy, and high-ranking Sith only occasionally oversee some of Sidious’ military projects.

- The entirety of the New Sith Order is housed in the ruins of an old temple on Korriban, their existence hidden from the Jedi by taking advantage of the planet’s own Dark Side aura. The temple, on the surface, appears to be in ruins, but the Order is housed deep within its vaults, which have been fully restored to their former glory.

- The Order is relatively small, with only a handful of acolytes at a time. Few of those acolytes survive the Trials of Korriban. The total number of Sith before the Clone Wars counted less than fifty.

- At the same time, Sidious has established a small imperial military in Wild Space, housed on a few remote colonies. The Sith have no direct control over this military but are occasionally sent to inspect progress.

- The events of the Clone Wars play out similarly to the way they did in Canon, though there are some differences, however, the war still occurs, and Order 66 is executed at its conclusion in order to wipe out the Jedi. Sith agents are already strategically deployed across the galaxy at the same time, to take down any Jedi that survive the initial onslaught, or to capture them in an attempt to turn them to the Dark Side.

- After Order 66, the Sith seize the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and make it into their own. However, only the higher ranking Sith and their apprentices move to Coruscant, with many remaining on Korriban, where all Sith acolytes are trained and tried.

- Throughout the Galactic Empire, the Sith and the Empire are treated as two separate entities, both under the control of Palpatine.

Sith Culture & Training

- Sith acolytes are located either by Sidious himself or by higher-ranking Sith. They are often either young force sensitives that have not yet been found by the Jedi, Sith aspirants or cultists that have gained Palpatine’s attention, fallen Jedi, or captured Jedi padawans and initiates. The acolytes live near the Sith Temple’s inner sanctum, where the Dark Side is the most potent. Acolytes are often treated as servants within the Temple, being sent on tasks and errands by higher-ranking Sith in addition to their Trials.

- Before becoming apprentices, acolytes undergo the Trials of Korriban, which may take place swiftly, or over several years. These trials include a great number of dangerous tasks. Acolytes will be forced to fight in arena combat against various creatures as well as one another, dropped off in the middle of the Korriban wilds with nothing but the clothes on their back and instructed to find their way back to the Temple before a given time limit, and subjected to the ancient tombs, where the dark energy causes many to go mad and only the strongest return unscathed. In addition to these gruelling tests of survival, acolytes will study Sith lore and alchemy, as well as lightsaber and force combat, until they are deemed ready to become Sith.

- In order to become Sith, an acolyte must be selected as an apprentice by a Sith Lord or Dark Lord, after which their training and methods depend upon who selected them. Sometimes, an acolyte will be brought to the temple by the Sith Lord that wishes to train them and will undergo the trials and instruction necessary to prove their worth. Other times, a Sith Lord seeking a new apprentice will select one from among those who have passed their trials or will pit several against one another in the trials to take the strongest on. While Sidious may have multiple apprentices, each Sith may only have one apprentice at a time. Thus, only those with the rank of Darth may have multiple apprentices and former apprentices that still live.

- If a Sith is apprenticed to a Darth, once they have achieved significant feats or otherwise are deemed exceptional by both their master and Sidious, then they can be raised to the status of Lord. Darth Sidious may choose his own personal apprentices from among the strongest of the Lords and can raise them to the status of Darth should he wish. A Sith Lord is unable to grant lordship to their own apprentice, but should Sidious wish to raise them to the rank of Darth, he may do so, and then their apprentice can be granted lordship. If a Darth wishes to take on a new apprentice after their last one has become a Lord, they are able to do so, with Sidious’ permission.

- Sith Lords and Darths are able to take on apprentices. Other apprentices are not able to do so. Sidious can have multiple apprentices at once, though he usually selects the most powerful Lords as his own apprentices, rather than training them from acolytes.

- A vast majority of acolytes die during the trials. They are meant to kill, so that only the most powerful are accepted into the ranks of the Sith.

- Sith Acolytes don’t leave Korriban until they’ve become apprentices. Even then, many Sith remain at the Temple prior to the Jedi Purge. They move more freely through the galaxy after the Rise of the Empire.

- Acolytes are on a strict schedule, with time allotted for meditation, study, and combat training, as well as meals and sleeping. However, acolytes undergoing the trials are often not subject to these schedules.

- Apprentices and above have far more freedom to make their own schedules, as long as they are following their master’s orders, as well as Sidious’.

- Sith are encouraged to compete with one another, and even kill one another, ensuring that all weakness is wiped out. However, any attempt to challenge Sidious in any way, or to place oneself in a ruler’s position, would end in immediate execution.

Anakin in the New Sith Order

- Anakin was created as a result of Sidious’ machinations, though in this timeline he was not meant to be planted within the Jedi, but rather to become the perfect Sith, as well as Sidious’ future vessel.

- When he was eight years old, he and his mother were attacked by pirates, paid off by Sidious, who forced Anakin to watch her being tortured to death. Mere days later, he was ‘rescued’ by Sidious, who brought him to Korriban for training.

- Less than a year after this, Sidious became aware that Anakin’s power was far greater than he had ever expected, and that, should he be properly trained, the boy would have little struggle defeating him. As a result, he subjected Anakin to an intensive conditioning ritual, in which he would be able to activate and deactivate Anakin’s ability to utilise his powers at will. Others who are aware of Anakin’s conditioning are also able to do so should they utilise the failsafe code phrase ‘ bind the krayt dragon’ to cut him off from his powers, and ‘unbind the krayt dragon’ to allow him access once more.

- The ritual was incredibly painful, and Anakin only survived it by becoming engulfed in the Dark Side. His eyes had permanently turned yellow following this. He’s largely unaware of the failsafe, until it’s actually used.

- Anakin’s chambers are directly within the Sith Temple’s inner sanctum, to keep him completely embroiled in Dark Side energy. As such, he endlessly suffers from night terrors, even while away from Korriban.

- A few years after the Invasion of Naboo, Anakin is sent to Lotho Minor to retrieve Darth Maul, who has been given a second chance despite his failure due to his impressive survival.

- Anakin has a force bond with Sidious, though the bond itself is unwilling, and far more sinister and controlling than the Jedi Training bond. Anakin wishes to get rid of this bond, but has thus far been unable to do so.

- Before the conditioning ritual, Anakin retained his good heart. Afterwards, he became cruel and bloodthirsty, seeking revenge on the galaxy. However, he would respond well to being shown kindness, and despite being broken, some light still remains inside of him.

- Anakin was taught advanced lightsaber combat by Dooku after the latter joined the Sith. Anakin views Dooku as a mentor figure, and holds him in significant affection.

- At age fifteen, Anakin took down a group of Jedi that had nearly discovered the Temple’s location. He was given lordship for these actions. Anakin would build his personalised lightsaber out of the parts of the lightsabers belonging to the Jedi he had slain.

- He lost his right arm at age 20 in the Battle of Geonosis fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi, the “sith-slayer.” Anakin has a one-sided rivalry with Kenobi, due to the latter being the only one to defeat a Sith in centuries. After losing his arm, Anakin would retreat, only to go on and kill several more Jedi before extraction. For his brutality and endurance, he was given the title Darth Vader and counted among the most powerful of the Sith.

- During the Clone Wars, he splits his time between the field, Korriban, and Serenno, having grown quite fond of Dooku’s homeworld, and preferring it to Korriban.

- Anakin never grows any taller than 5’6” due to his unhealthy childhood and frequent neglect and malnourishment. His hair has turned a dark brown colour by his mid-teens. He has Sith tattoos encircling his forearms and ankles, which he always keeps hidden beneath clothing, that were given to him during the conditioning ritual.

#｡･:* 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚜 𝚒 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 * ( FILE ;; headcanon )#｡･:*:･ﾟ★ 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗 ( divergent beginning :: new sith order )#so here's sithverse stuff #if you wanna make aus in this verse definitely come talk to me and we can plot #feel free to steal anything from the first two sections at any time just leave the stuff particularly about anakin alone #long post cw

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loquaciousquark · 5 years

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E42 (November 20, 2018)

Dani was actually goofing around quite a bit here, but this still makes me think of some glorious 90s band, so I’m keeping it.

Anyway! The inimitable @eponymous-rose has done more than her share of recaps lately, so here I am picking up where I’ve been slacking off. Tonight’s guests are Marisha Ray and Laura Bailey (with special guest appearance from Ronin! Awwww), so I can hardly wait. We’re discussing Episode 42: A Hole in the Plan.

Tonight’s announcements: Brian is bursting with an announcement he’s not allowed to reveal for another six months. His favorite guess: something about him stealing all the money from the company and moving to an island, but that’s actually his long game, not the short one.

Throughout November, they’re raising money for Operation Supply Drop, Travis’s favorite charity, which supports both active and retired military.

No episode of Critical Role this week due to Thanksgiving. There will also be no episode of Talks Machina next Tuesday; instead, they’ll be airing Sam’s Fireside Chat! This was a reward from the Critter donations to the Pablove Foundation.

Critical Role hoodies are back in the store; the print is very similar to the original with a bit more embellishment on the text on the back.

“Honey Heist 3: Tova’s Honies” airs this Friday at 7pm Pacific! Marisha: “It was bear-nanas.” Laura: “Oh, no.”

CR Stats: Jester has cast Blessing of the Trickster 31 times; 15 of those times were on Nott. Jester technically won her bar brawl with Sorris! She dealt 16 points of damage to his 15. Beau continues to have the most natural 20s with 49. She also has the most natural 1s, womp womp. Marisha: “Well, I roll a lot, you know?” Brian: “Well, your husband is also a tyrant and not to be messed with.” Marisha says she thinks Gil’s die is cursed and everyone gasps. How dare.

Does Brian feel the pressure of following Dani, who was such an excellent host last week? No; when he went through the potential list of fill-ins, the only one that made sense was Dani.

Marisha sees Darktow as a super-abusive socialist society, which does not sit well with Beau. It’s a silk trap.

Jester’s conversation with Caleb was triggered by Fjord’s kiss, especially with her wondering if it really meant anything to either of them. Laura thinks of her high school crushes and how hard you crushed & how devastated you were at every perceived slight; Jester only has the view of romance through her mother, which means physical affection is very different from emotional affection in her mind. On Brian’s asking, Laura’s high school crush was Han Solo. When Laura’s sister was 12, she paid her $15 to paint Han and Leia in a dip kiss, which she still has framed in her current house. I’m dying, this is adorable.

Beau doesn’t exactly trust that Fjord is going to do the right thing, but him sleeping with Avantika doesn’t trigger her red flags in terms of “looking out for each other, keeping each other in check.” She’s looking more for them bullying someone when they don’t need to, being violent when it’s not necessary. “Pursuing power to endless depths and fucking hot pirates, that’s fine with Beau. She just doesn’t want to kill children.” Brian marvels at how this fits into Jester & Caleb’s conversation about killing people from the most recent episode.

Jester can tell Caleb is tortured, and more than anything she wants people not to be sad around her. She just wants desperately for him to be happy.

Marisha has thought a ton about what Beau would have said if Jester had come to her first about the kiss, especially since it was Jester’s first kiss (Marisha assumes, and Jester answers in an adorably non-committal not-not-a-negative). Beau would have been game for it. She doesn’t know if Beau would have given good advice, but she would have tried her best.

Brian spills that Mary’s character’s CHA in their home game is 6. They discuss Nott’s score of 5 and enjoy themselves mightily at both of their expenses.

GIF of the Week! By @ropadoper, it’s Liam casting Reduce and then the Wall of Fire at the end of the episode, both of which involve Marisha falling out of her chair to the floor in reaction so that only her forehead is visible. Everyone is being so cute this episode I can hardly stand it.

As a reminder, an international shipping facility has been created in the UK. Laura asides to tell Travis the keys are in the diaper bag. Literally everyone is in the studio tonight except Sam, EVEN ASHLEY.

Jester thinks the Traveler always gives very good advice, but his suggestion to trick Fjord was the first time ever she felt a little hesitation to follow his advice. Brian: “Is that because he’s never been wrong or because she’s never been allowed to disagree?” Laura says it’s always been amazing advice so far, much more a best-friend relationship, but this was the first time she didn’t want to take his suggestion wholesale because she wasn’t sure it’s how she wanted to get Fjord to like her. Marisha really likes the dynamic of finding out your childhood best friend is a god.

Beau finds herself still being careful with her walls--Marisha imagines Beau was put in a lot of, like, pageant dresses as a kid--so when Jester commented on her hair and then laughed, she felt a little of that “wait, what, do you actually care? Do I look like shit?” Laura says she laughed, not Jester, because it was the most random thing to compliment Beau on.

Beau’s haircut came into being because it was cool & because Marisha wishes she were brave enough to try an undercut.

Brian’s convinced Fjord’s got gills. Dani: “What do you think Fjord is?” Brian: “Obviously a water man. Water genasi. What are water genasi?”

Beau wasn’t surprised Allison rejected her; she’s used to it. Ack. She was looking for an ally against Avantika, Big Brother style. “Instead she just shat in an alleyway with Nott.”

Laura’s not perturbed the Traveler hasn’t mentioned Fjord’s god; he doesn’t really talk about/care about other gods or patrons. Brian suggests he’s actually the Dongfather in disguise. This show’s collective mental age is smaller than Pike, haha.

Beau felt like such an interloper when Sam asked her to help with Fluffernutter, like the best friend trying to be in on a joke without really knowing what’s going on. Marisha also takes a moment to praise Laura for her Jester over the last few episodes; she’s digging into the metaphorical popcorn every time Jester & Nott start going off. (Me too, bud.) Jester’s description of the insect carrying a piece of bread is one of her favorite D&D moments ever. Both Marisha & Laura are agog at how many little plans they’ve tried have gone disastrous and then circled back around to being mostly okay again.

Beau was a little hurt when she wasn’t asked to help break into the captain’s quarters, since that’s her specialty, but it was eased by being able to help with her knowledge anyway. However, she knew since she didn’t have any magic, she had no escape plan aside from jumping off the boat. She laughs that that’s what they ended up doing anyway.

Jester views sex as a transaction, which is why she’s not particularly bothered by Fjord sleeping with Avantika.

Fanart of the Week: @jdillustrates, with a lovely portrait of Caduceus.

Jester’s warring between the logical part of her brain (he was saving her life) and the romantic part of her brain (did he want to kiss me, though?).

There are reasons Beau learned Deep Speech--not as complicated as most people think--that will be revealed eventually. “Nerdy reasons, not because she was kidnapped and turned into a cultist.”

Fjord/Avantika does make her jealous, but it’s also serving a purpose. Laura compares it to telling the high school crush to go hang out with a best friend, only to have them start dating.

Marisha doesn’t feel like Beau’s plans were overly shot down this episode--it’s something she hadn’t even noticed until this question. Marisha feels like it’s so much of a group effort with everyone trying to get to the right plan that it’s hard to pick out who contributed what part of which plan.

Brief interlude to examine a portrait of Brian that looks like George Michael.

In re: the Molly disguise: Beau felt like there was just a wall of regret walking towards her, because it was the friend she let die and the one-night stand. Beau never felt it was actually Molly, though. Jester picked Molly because when Nott said “Keg,” she instantly associated it with “someone who is really cool--who’s also super cool?” Everyone commiserates over how into the night’s shenanigans Molly would have been.

Beau was frustrated while being detained, but she also knew it was going to happen, so it wasn’t a huge issue. She felt like that was where the challenge began for her--anything to get the guard away from what was going on.

Another brief interlude where everyone experiments with how to make power vaginas with their hands. “This is the car salesman power vagina.” I feel like wherever the rails are for this show, they’re so far gone they might as well be little stars in the sky.

Laura thinks Jester’s reaction to Caleb’s backstory would be much different than Caleb imagines it. Both Laura & Marisha talk about how Caleb’s convinced the moment people realize, they’re gone; there’s also the complication that Beau’s “comforting” is not actually that comforting. “She’d say, ‘you know, they won’t care,’” (which Marisha points out, Caleb would respond--how could someone not care about this?) when what she means is, “They love you and won’t abandon you over this.”

Laura and Marisha are both pumped about Caleb’s Wall of Fire--the walk to the dock was like “getting called to the principal’s office, except the principal is going to kill you.” Laura’s immediate reaction was regret she’d tossed the gems, but she loved his decision since she was panicking IRL & her heart was legit pounding. They also both get super enthusiastic bashing Nott’s plan to dump the haversack in an alley. “It’s bright pink! Someone would have definitely seen it!”

Marisha really misses Professor Thaddeus, but is convinced she’ll never see him again. Dani: “He’s your Nymeria, your Arya.” Marisha, tearfully: “He’s gonna come with his flock of owls and gouge out everyone’s eyes but ours.”

Laura’s convinced Sprinkle is magic, since he definitely should be dead twice over.

Quebec is for Lovers: After Dark edition

Neither Laura nor Marisha are cooking this year. Laura & Travis have no Thanksgiving plans at all this year. My gosh, if they were here my parents would be stuffing them full of turkey yesterday, even though they have no idea who they are.

Brian teases Max over messing with Trinket & carrying him back and forth in his car. Dani wants one TM where Brian isn’t mean to Max. Max, offscreen: “I’m FINE. I’m GOOD.” Marisha laughs that Max was okay with Brian’s teasing but shooting daggers at the TDs laughing.

Brian gives Dani an A for amazing and adorable, but not asshole.

Dani ships Percy/Vex, Keyleth/Vax, and Fjord/Jester. Close after is Kima/Allura & Caleb/Jester. She would be surprised if it happened, but wouldn’t object. Marisha asks, as a shipper, what does Dani look for in a quality ship. Dani likes clear feelings with clear reciprocation, canon connections; she doesn’t ship a ton of subtexty stuff.

Laura has been relistening to Vex’s playlists & crying. Both she & Marisha really miss Vex & Keyleth. Liam texted Laura the other day a fanvid of Vex & Vax that made her cry.

Marisha gets emotional seeing fanart of older Keyleth because it means that she’s living on & being happy. Noelle also came up & thanked Marisha for giving Tova a purpose after the latest Honey Heist, and everyone talks about how many hours they’ve spent creating and living in these people.

Marisha can’t listen to Tokyo Sunrise by LP anymore because it instantly makes her cry.

Beau is not a mindflayer. Everyone’s convinced, Marisha.

If Laura had Jester’s paint set, she’d draw home improvements. She’d draw a door for her bathroom into Ronin’s nursery. Marisha would draw more producers--”Not to undermine the ones I have! We’re so overworked!”

Brian looks to Max for the time left, only to have missed Dani literally just giving him the signal.

Brian starts to say he’ll see us next week, but Dani tells him not to confuse us since there’s no TM next week. Brian: “We’ll see you next week this Thursday Critical Role on youtube.com, Logan Paul guest starring, along with Paul Rudd, Rudney Dangerfield...”

Max, as the sound fades: “Okay, please...”

And that’s it for tonight. See you next time, everyone!

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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thatdisastrousfangirl-writes · 5 years

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The Other Way Chapter 11: Into The Woods

Chapter 1 - Last Chapter - Next Chapter

“You WHAT!?” the twins yelled at that same time, jumping up themselves, lunch forgotten.

“I figured out how to get you two back to your dimension!” Alcor said, almost buzzing with excitement, Mabel joining him.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?!” Dipper exclaimed, not sure he could believe they just might be home soon.

“I was going to but then that whole you two figuring out who I was and you running away thing happened!”

“Who cares about all that!” Mabel interrupted, bouncing up and down, a large smile consuming her face. “What’s the plan?!”

“Right!” Alcor sat down again, promoting the twins to follow. “So you guys where exploring the forest when you were pulled into that portal correct?”

“Yeah,” Dipper confirmed, not sure where this was going.

“Well I remembered that a while ago when I was wondering around the forest around Gravity Falls I noticed that the area was more overly saturated in magic then everywhere else around it. I wasn’t able to investigate for too long cause I was pulled away to a summons and forgot about it but, I realised now that that was probably due to some kind of inter-dimensional rift similar to what you guys fell through. With any luck it’s probably the same one!”

“Okay, but, how do you know if it’s still there, you said it was a while ago.”

“It’s our only lead you guys have right now, and possibly your only option.”

Dipper and Mabel thought it over for a second, when Mabel seemed to remember something. “Wait a second? if these two portals are connected, why didn't we show up in Gravity Falls? Why did we show up in the ally?”

That, was a good point, Dipper realised looking to Alcor for an explanation.

“Well, the portals wouldn’t actually be connected like in movies, they’d be two different versions of the same thing.” Dipper and Mabel stared at him blankly. “Right, let me try and explain. The portal in you’re dimension brought you to this version of reality, not to the portal here because they’re not the same thing, so the portal here will hopefully take you to your version of reality.”

“But by that logic it’d just drop us anywhere in our dimension, it doesn’t help us if we show up on the other side of the planet!” Dipper countered.

“Yeah, and how do you know it won’t just take us to a completely new dimension?” Mabel added, smile quickly vanishing.

At that Alcor hurriedly tried to calm them down. “No no no! None of that should be a problem! When we find the portal it should be easy for me to change it so it takes you two where you need.”

“But I thought you couldn’t make a portal for us?”

“I won’t have to, the portal would already be there. I’d just be, influencing it slightly.” he clear up, the twins both relaxing as he did.

A second passed in silence. Then Mabel cheered, throwing her arms up and surprising the two Dippers. “We’re gonna go home!”

A smile graced Dippers face, the realisation finally, properly setting in. “We’re going home.” He almost couldn’t believe it, after what felt like so long it was finally happening. “Well, what are we waiting for! Lets go!”

“Err, well, I mean, I still need to find exactly where it is,” Alcor said, “I know vaguely where it should be, but, how about you two get organised while I see if I can find it,” he proposed, and the twins nodded, before rushing of to do as he suggested, Mabel towards the kitchen, and Dipper upstairs to grab the few things they had had with them.

They were so close, this was actually happening, Dipper couldn’t be more excited and ready he felt like, he felt-

He felt like his head was about to explode. The moment he reached the door to the room they’d been given the headache from when he’d first tried to escape the cultists returned, and worse then before. He couldn’t move couldn’t think. All there was was the feeling of being ripped up from the head down and then-

It was gone, just as quickly as before. When Dipper opened his eyes he was curled up on the ground, and when had he fallen over?

Alcor’s head popped up from the bottom of the stairs. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just tripped,” he lied, getting up. It was probably nothing to worry about anyway.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“…Okay.” He didn’t sound convinced, but he moved back out of site regardless.

That, came out of no where.

———

“Alright, you guys ready?” Alcor asked looking at the twins.

“Yep!” Mabel cheered, bouncing up and down, unable to contain her excitement.

“Obviously, we didn’t exactly have much to do.”

“Speak for yourself! I made snacks!” At that she help up the small backpack she had found and clearly filled with food. “I also got some water bottles, it’s important to stay hydrated!”

“Where did you find all that? I’m sure I didn't have that much food in the house.”

“The kitchen.”

“Yeah but, where?”

“The cupboard.”

“But-“

“Is this really important right now!?” Dipper interrupted, impatience practically radiating off him.

“Right, sorry,” Alcor apologised, and held out his hands for the twins to hold on to. “Let’s go.”

At that he tessered the two of them to just outside what was assumably the Gravity Falls forest, not that they visibly recognised it, being in an alternate time and reality changing its appearance, but could feel the magic coming from it.

Dipper began looking around them. “I don’t see the portal.”

“That’s cause we’re not at it,” Alcor admitted.

“What?! Why?” ”Why not?!” the twins asked at the same time.

“This is as close as I could bring us.”

Just before Dipper could demand to know what that meant he heard the sound of someone behind them and turned around the others doing the same.

“Oh hey it’s you!” Alcor said excitedly, face lighting up pointing at the buff lady staring at them, clearly dumbfounded by what she saw.

“You again!” she growled back, hand pulling out a gun and pointing it at him. “What are you planing this time, Dreambender, and what are you doing with those children?!”

“This time? What did I do last time?!”

“Kids get away from that demon, he can’t be trusted,” she said not taking her eyes off of Alcor.

“Gladly,” Dipper replied taking a step forward.

Mabel put her hands on her hips and gave him a pointed look. “Dipper!”

“Joking.”

“Right, well, listen, Wren, I promise I’m not up to anything evil. I’m just helping these kids get home, no unholy demon plot,” Alcor said, about to step closer when the woman, Wren, who cocked the gun and he thought otherwise, hands held up.

“Oh really? Well if you’re just helping them get home then what are you doing leading them into probably the most dangerous forest in the world?!”

“It’s not that bad,” he muttered, looking away from her.

Before Wren could think to attack Mabel jumped forward arm in the air to get attention. “Hello, Mabel here! Do you two know each other? What is going on right now? I wanna know!”

“Yeah! I want to get going already!” Dipper added, more then mildly annoyed at this point by this set back.

Wren’s eyes darted down to look at the twins for just a second before fixating of Alcor, gun remaining in place. “Stay out of this kids, and for the love of stars get away from him!”

“But he really is helping us.”

“So, what? You’re telling me you two live in the deadliest forest on the planet?”

“No but there’s a portal to our home in there!” Mabel said.

“A portal?”

“Yeah! You see we’re from another dimension so it’s kinda our only way home! Probably.”

Wren finally properly looked away from Alcor, gun lowered slightly, and stared at Mabel, confusion and disbelief written plainly on her face. “Sorry what did you just say?”

“We’re from another dimension!”

“Yup,” Dipper added.

“Can confirm, they’re from a different Earth,” Alcor interjected.

Wren glared at him again. “You’re contribution is irrelevant,” she snapped, and turned her attention back to Dipper and Mabel. “So, you two, are legitimately from a different dimension?”

“Yes and we’ve been stuck here for three days! I’ve been kidnapped twice! I’m really tired and I just want to get home! So if we could maybe not do this that would be great!” Dipper ranted, nearly shouting.

At that, Wren slowly lowered the gun completely, putting it way. “Fine, you can go.”

Dipper, already starting to move into the forest looked behind at Wren. “Wasn’t actually asking permission but great now lets go!”

“But I’m coming with, I still don’t trust you Alcor.”

Alcor began to pout, but Dipper interrupted before he could complain.

“Okay, what ever! Let’s just go already!”

#transcendence au #reversed transdimensional au arc #gravity falls #Alcor #dipper and mabel #fanfic #the other way

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gyrrakavian · 5 years

Text

Umberlee saved my goblin eldritch knight...

This was revealed two weeks ago in session, and I spent those two weeks trying to figure out why a sea goddess of chaos who is very much not known for mercy would save my little amnesiac archaeologist.

And then I tried to plug him into @jewishdragon‘s custom alignment chart. I asked for help placing him and started listing some of the things he’s done. Then, it dawned on me that despite diplomatic attempts (-1 Char mod) he’s caused quite a bit of general chaos.

The first town he got to with the party happened to be the same town that the therianthropic blood cult who tried to sacrifice him was based. Umberlee spared him from bleeding out (magic initiate feat explained).

Upon arriving in town, Bug made certain to wear the ceremonial headdress the cult placed on him for most of his time in public there. Not all of the townies were cultists, but they all recognized the sacrificial helmet and were all made very uncomfortable by it.

At the local tavern that night, there’s a card game and Bug ventures over to join. He puts his trademark scarab medallion up for this hand. Bug wins the hand, grabs his medallion and winnings, then ducks out of the card game pissing off all of the townies and some of the caravan involved. Including some weird blue-skinned dwarf (who may be related to Bug’s near-death).

The party fights a few of the were-cultists that night to prevent them from kidnapping caravan members. We successfully kill all five of them. Bug proceeds to severe the head of the wereboar and carries it around town strapped to his back the next day looking for someone with dermestid or scarab beetles to clean the skull off for him.

That also happened to be the day he ate our kobold chef’s golden curry (grants telepathy). Bug passed his save, the townies who decided to eat some because Bug seemed fine did not. [The DM has informed us we may have a newly awakened warlock or 2 on our hands if we ever go back through there.]

More chaos ensued once the caravan got got to Luxheim. Bug only caused some of it.

During 3 weeks of downtime, he scouted most if not the entire ruined city. He only got into two fights during that time (his Int is 15). The first being when our bloodhunter unwittingly freed a gunpowder ooze from a barrel no-one could read the label on. Bug kept using firebolt on it, demonstrating that goblin science is a combination of gnome science and kobold science. Then, the PCs had to save some lvl 1 NPCs from 2 large slimes in the sewers. Turns out Thunderwave is a novel way to get someone out of a gelatinous cube.

Bug and Bohala (dwarf fighter) mined some weird green and purple crystals while exploring. Thankfully the wild magic crystals just blared out music when the two of them used the biggest one to try to signal some dwarves Bohala invited from across the frozen bay.

A 50ft celestial shark ridden by a Kuatoa preist came cruising out of the city to the by when the dwarvish ironside steamer started firing at the skeletal wyvern showing up across the other side of the bay with Dirk the reasonable wraith. The massive shark went across the top of the water to attack the dwarves (explained later).

After commandeering a landing boat and getting the dwarf to get us out to the shark, the 3 of us who showed up managed to fight the giant shark and priest. Only our poor bloodhunter had to make con saves not to drown.

First we managed to kill the priest. Our skeletal bard turning the shark into a boat (DM’s call) really helped in that respect since it made it much more difficult for the sharp to roll like that.

Once we killed the kuatoa cleric, we had to contend with the 50t celestial shark who was now a shark again thanks to the huge waterweird it was bonded with breaking the bard’s concentration.

Bug managed to crawl into one of the shark’s gill slits and used Shape Water to make an air pocket for himself. Meanwhile the bard and the bloodhunter had to hang onto the shark as it dove and rolled.

Bug slashed and bit at the gill membrane (with disadvantage), used Thunderwave to little effect, and successfully got the killing blow burning an exit hole through the giant shark with Aganazzar’s Scorcher.

After getting the dwarves and the wraith settled, we looted the shark. Bug only wanted it’s 2ft long teeth since it didn’t have much of historical worth in its guts apart from some old paintings and a sealed chest with very clear warning labels (he passed his Wis-save to overcome his curiosity).

That encountered prompted Bug to try to figure out which deity had saved him (nat1). It was totally Peylor. Thankfully, the bloodhunter asked him why he thought that and figured out (nat20) that it was actually Umberlee before Bug started praying.

The dream he gets says, “Open the city. Let the path open.” Still no idea what that means.

Bug had a sword commissioned to be made from one of the celestial shark teeth with the symbol of Umberlee on it. A DM roll later, and Bug had a Sword of the Mysterious Stranger.

We find out about The Curator when Baron Geoff (the bard) manages to catch one of the crows. Bug is trying to be helpful and accidentally spills the beans on some things. So we had to figure out where the Curator’s goons were going to go a raid it first. We narrowed it down to an island with Kuatoa in the harbor and an old battlefield Bug had a map for and had been itching to get to.

We sent the party of now lvl 2 NPCs to the island and convinced Dirk the wraith to go assist them. The party proper managed to gather some NPCs to help us go scout the battlefield. Bug lost a day trying to tame some of the large goats roaming just outside of town while the rest of the party did other preparations.

We did manage to convince some NPCs to join us on our trip to the battlefield. A goblin gambler, an older cleric with a winter wolf, a dwarfish gunslinger, and a fey woodchuck.

Bug the convinced the fey woodchuck to accompany us so they could continue messing with the gunslinger.

The bloodhunter convinced the gunslinger to come so he could keep an eye on the fey woodchuck.

Bug followed the fey woodchuck through a Transport Through Trees spell, and asked to be sent to the battlefield. No one else in the party had thought to do so (we were all there). So they got to figure out a way to get to the battlefield. Turns out the coastal wizard a day’s trip from town is only lvl 4, so they had to ride oxen from the caravan.

The upside to this was that Gesento(sp?) got paid with the sharktooth shield Bug had him commissioned before heading out.

Thanks to being in the fey wild, Bug got transported to the battlefield 4 days prior. He remembered to thank and pay the fey. Then, spent the next 6 days scurrying about finding, logging, and deducing everything he could about the battle. Including some more recent spine devil spikes.

The bloodhunter found a sword that was buried that Bug overlooked. Bug recalled a story about a noble who refused to leave his castle as it sank, and a knight who had come from said castle (nat20). But the source was pretty sketchy.

The Currator’s crows show up, so Bug starts distracting them. Being a terrible liar did and didn’t help. Accidentally outing the Bloodhunter as being a Bloodhunter and asking the crows what they knew of the Promethean (dead language) phrase “seek the dead brother”, the crows (lesser undead themselves) got VERY riled up.

The Currator’s skeletal Kenku goons started showing up and a fight ensued involving a coatl that was acting weird. As soon as the skellies were dispatched, Bug booked it for the trapdoor Rolland had dug out in a fortified hut. Inside was a spiral stairwell. Bug tied some rope to the railing, then proceeded to slide down the hand rail w/o issue (nat20). Which also meant he went sailing off the end of it cartwheeling across the floor, setting off all of the traps behind him, a subterranean courtyard and stopping abruptly by slamming into a tree in its center (nat1) after causing a loud ruckus.

Found the sunken castle!

Thankfully the werewolves that lived there weren’t part of the cult and didn’t kill us since Rolland smoothed things over with them. And we successfully defeated The Currator’s goons! Bug was happy to had some more skulls to his collection.

He also made some Kenku jaw bone pauldrons for our Drow Light Cleric. Yes, you read all of that sentence correctly.

#agent of chaos #he made sure the good werewolves got some of the mythril gear as recompense #dnd #dnd chaos #dnd stories #goblin eldritch knight #goblin archaeologist #accidental agent of chaos

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veinereastath · 5 years

Text

The Church bathed in sinner’s blood: one-shot.

Here we go, another one. This time with all three brothers, but mostly John and Jacob, because you know me and what I really like. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) WARNING: There is a lot of abuse in it. Also, quite suggestive John and Jacob. Word count: 3416 You can also read it here, on my AO3, along with three other one-shots: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15441507/chapters/41331845

She slipped quietly between the buildings in Joseph's compound, avoiding the sight of the passing Peggies. Conditions were favorable - the night was starless, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds. The only source of light was given by burning here and there bonfires. Good. Even though there were few dogs scanning the area, she managed to slip through them unnoticed. She was favored by the wind direction, which she always paid attention to. Everything was going well. Everything was in perfect order. She didn't see Joseph anywhere - she suspected that he was in the church she was just trying to get into. But she hoped that she was wrong this time, and The Father was somewhere else. She didn't wanted to confront him, not yet, definitely not this night. She wanted to get rid of John and Jacob first. Faith was already just a memory, but Joseph's brothers were still a huge threat to everyone in the County.

And suddenly she froze in place, laying flat on the ground, near the church. Because among the black, quite sleepy dogs, she could see the characteristic glow of silver fur. A wolf, much larger than the average one. With a red cross on its face and the characteristic aura of Bliss surrounding its body. A Judge. She never saw Judges on Joseph's island. Nearly all of them were in the Whitetails. Two times she saw them in the Valley, once in the Henbane. But here? Did Jacob decide to give his brother a present?

And then she understood. She saw tho hunters in their red masks, standing near the dock. They were talking to each other, not really paying attention to what was happening around them. They probably felt safe, since no one before tried to slip to this compound. It probably meant getting killed on spot. It seemed that they would shoot first, and then ask questions. Getting so close to this place wouldn't go unnoticed, she realized. She may be able to get into that church without a problem, but what about getting out and escaping?

And most of all... If there as a Judge here, and two hunters, something important was probably happening in this place. Maybe the whole family decided to gather around and decide what to do after Faith's dead from the Deputy's hands. Maybe they already decided what to do with her, she could only guess. But at this point she was nearly sure that Jacob was somewhere around this place. Maybe John was too, she didn't know. There were no signs of him. It was too late to go back now anyway. She waited for the Judge to dissapearfrom her sight and silently went around the church. She was looking for a window somewhere. She knew that most of them were obscured, but she hoped that she might manage to get around this problem somehow. And with a mild surprise she noticed that two of the windows enabled her to come inside. She paused for a moment and thought about it - it looked suspicious and it was obvious. But she was also aware that there was something in the church that could change the course of this war and help the Resistance. According to reports, key information about the activities of the Eden's Gate was hidden inside the book that layed on Joseph's pedestal. All she had to do was get the book and quickly disappear from the compound, before anyone will manage to get her. Or kill, if someone decides to shoot her first, and then realizes that maybe it would be better to interrogate her.

The struggle against the mechanism of the window took her a few stressful minutes, during which she almost got a heart attack several times. In the end, however, she slipped inside, bending her legs to land as light as possible on the wooden floor. The church was empty, illuminated only with the symbol of Eden's Gate on the top of the wall. Emptiness. There were no signs that someone has been here recently. There was a characteristic smell of dust and something sweet in the air - maybe Bliss, she wasn't sure. She didn't feel dizzy, so it might have been something else.

However, the book of Joseph was in its usual place. It almost seemed to call her, begging her to come closer. Rookie hesitantly approached the pedestal, trying not to make any noise, nervously glancing behind her to make sure that nobody is trying to get inside at the moment. If she was noticed, it would be the end of everything she worked for. This time she surely wouldn't be able to escape. Jacob was letting her to do so because he could always get her back anyway. John, on the other hand, was way to careless, and that's why she managed to escape his bunker after the second kidnapping. But Joseph was quite unpredictable. And she was basically in his home, where she shouldn't be, considering her status in the Resistance. She began to read notes on the actions of the cult, indeed found between the book's pages, feeling their hands tremble. She wanted to get out of here already.

"Have you read these words before?"

She froze, recognizing the voice of Joseph. She swallowed hard and closed the book, turning her eyes to him, seeing him approach her. Instinctively, she took a step back, extending her hand towards the bow suspended on her back. Joseph was unarmed, without his goddamn shirt on, looking at her through yellow aviators. He didn't seem angry. He was neutral, but cautious.

"Have you tried to understand them? Their meaning? Did you feel something in your heart clench, when you realize the truth behind them? Behind my Word?"

"Interpretation of literature has never been my strong point." She answered, trying to remain calm. She was here alone, just with Joseph, who was indeed unarmed, but he had this disturbing aura that make her felt naked and helpless, even though she had also a pistol and a knife in her thigh holster. She grasped the bow with her fingers, trying to take it off her back, ready to take even the most risky actions. One arrow could make it all end. One arrow and probably her life as well. Cultists would kill her in a most painful way imaginable when they would see what the had done. Was it worth it? Probably. Did she have courage to do it, though? She wasn't sure. Deep inside, she was a coward. No matter how many life she took, how bravely she tried to act, refusing to confess or trying to win the fight with Jacob's conditioning. There was always fear inside of her.

But soon she realized that she couldn't kill Joseph, because he wasn't alone. John came out of the darkness like a stray cat, with his hands behind his back. His blue eyes shone ominously in the half-light. He looked at her enigmatically abd she was not sure if he wanted to kill her at this point, or to torture her first. She knew, however, that she was in a bad situation. She didn't think she would find John in compound. She saw two hunters and Judge before, evidently indicating that the eldest of three brothers was here. Where was he then?

She already knew.

Taking two more steps back, she stepped off the platform, slowly turning her head back. Jacob blocked access to the exit from the church. Deputy understood that she had no chance for escape. Tensing the bowstring and getting the arrow on it would take her maybe a second and a half. Too long - Jacob had a knife and his characteristic red gun in his holster. John probably hid something under a long trench coat. She had no chance. They would react faster.

"You have deviated from the path that is right for you, but do not worry, my child. We will help you find it once again." Joseph's voice was calm, too calm. Sweet and disturbing, it made the woman sick. Her hands trembled a little, so she clenched them into fists. She already knew what was coming. She realized it when she glanced at John, only to see his eerie smile. He seemed amused and she knew why. He will get what he wanted. He will get to put a knife in her body and make her scream.

"No." She denied with a growl in her voice. She looked behind her back again, seeing that Jacob come closer. Instinctively, she tried to reach for her knife - she didn't make it, though. The oldest Seed brother was faster and painfully grabbed her wrist, throwing the knife aside, also depriving her of the pistol and pulling off the bow of her back. He grabbed both of her hands, holding them in an iron grip behind her. The woman tried to struggle, gritting her teeth furiously. "I do not agree to take part in your fucking rituals." She hissed, still trying to remain calm. Bark, hiss, but without shouting, without screaming. It would only please them, she knew it. She throwed her head up, trying in this way to brush away the strands of hair falling on her face. "You know very well who I am and that you can't change me. YOU KNOW IT."

Joseph didn't react in any way. He looked at her calmly, then turned to his brother. "Jacob." The Soldier tried to pull her down. However, when Deputy didn't give in, he painfully kicked her in the inner side of the knee. The woman clenched her teeth, suppressing the scream and forced to kneel, still feeling Jacob's hands gripping her iown, painfully twisted behind her back. She looked to her right, out of the corner of her eye noticing his thigh holster. So close, yet... So far away. She was sure that Jacob was smiling mockingly, even though she couldn't see his face.

And then John started to come closer. He had a knife in his hand. And oh god, he was smiling, as always. She would give everything to wash that smile of his face. He knew what she was thinking, somehow every member of this damn family always knew what she was thinking about and they surely were proud of it. Always one step ahead of her. Always on top. Kings of the world.

"Hello, Deputy." The youngest Seed kneeled in fron of her, still smiling, playing with the knife in his hand. "I truly missed you. And I realized... I still don't know your name." He looked at her curiously and clicked his tongue, then asked mockingly. "Will you do me the honor and reveal this secret?"

She smiled coldly at the corner of her mouth. "Not in your wildest dreams."

Youngest Seed closed his eyes for a moment, then sighed. Jacob shifted from foot to foot, apparently not too interested in the conversation, even a bit irritated. "John, don't play with food." He muttered with a hint of amusement, squeezing the woman's wrists harder as soon as she tried to struggle again. "Especially that this one likes to bite."

"In that case, I will cut off her teeth." He replied nonchalantly, then with one stroke of the knife he cut the left arm of her t-shirt, then pulling the blouse off her shoulders. He looked her in the eye. She felt trapped in his - the light blue iris of his had an almost hypnotizing effect. "This is really gonna hurt, my dear."

"Pain for pain." She replied bitterly, smiling slightly, mockingly. "Yours is gonna be much worse. This is the promise I can give you."

"I would like to see you try." And this was the last thing he said, right before he drove the knife into her collarbone, slowly engraving the first letter in her body. The pain hit her suddenly. The woman hissed, suppressing the squeak of a frightened child, nailing her fingers in Jacob's hand that held her wrists. She let the air out of her lungs slowly, feeling the warm blood run down her chest. Joseph stood at the back, looking at everything calmly. John, on the other hand, was incredibly focused on his task - as if he tried to make the letters perfectly straight. She thought that he wanted to disfigure and embellish her at the same time. Maybe he actually saw it as a one and the same thing. SHe didn't know. He was one big puzzle. Each brother was drastically different, and she wasn't able to fully decipher them. Deputy had a feeling that during those few weeks in Hope County she only touched the surface and knew basically nothing about the threat that they posed.

She knew that the scuffle wasn't worth anything at this point. She gave in, breathing heavily, feeling the sweat running down her skin. She lowered her head and narrowed her eyes, hissing quietly with each stroke of the knife. Feeling the fascinated gaze of John Seed on her body, adoringly staring at the bloody picture that he painted on her pale, wet skin. On her collarbone, then both of her arms and the last one on her back. Four sins. Four out of seven.

WRATH.

PRIDE.

GREED.

ENVY.

_________________________________________________

"Aaaaah. Perfect." He stood up and stepped back a few steps, looking at Rookie. Blood trickled down her body, coloring her clothes with bloody red. Jacob stood behind her, unmoving.

"It's over, my child." Joseph said gently and came closer, then looked toward the exit. "Now, take her where she belongs, brother."

"Get up." Jacob's order was icy, and it effectively forced her to get up, despite the tearing pain. She didn't fight him; she wanted to stay calm. She allowed him to move her out of the church. When they went outside, she saw the first rays of the sun leaning out from behind the horizon. Early dawn. It seemed that she managed to survive another day, though how was it possible, she couldn't understand. Joseph still believed she could be saved. Be she didn't even want to. Not to mention that the didn't believe in God's existence.

Peggies watched her from a safe distance. The silence was interrupted by their whispers and barking of dogs. Judge, whom she had seen before, growled in her direction. She didn't pay attention to any of it. She just waited. Waited for a good moment to react, because she knew where she was going to be taken to. They would close her in one of the bunkers, in the deepest darkness of it, to make sure she will never escape again. She would spend the rest of her life in there, with no chance to escape. Forced to imagine all those things the cult would do to the innocent people in the county.

"Go to hell, all of you."

And this one time in her life, she turned out to be faster than Jacob. She broke free of the weakened grip, pulling out the knife from his thigh holster, turning it between her fingers and quickly trying to cut his thigh. The soldier avoided the attack, however, knocking her hand to the side. She growled as the pain in the fresh wounds spoke with another dose of dull pain, but she clenched her teeth.

"Kill the sinner!" Peggies whispers turned into surprised and furious cries and commands. "CULL THE HERD! KILL THE HERETIC!" One of Jacob's hunters got his bow, ready to shoot.

"No!" Jacob protested, spitting to the side. "She's mine. Step back, all of you."

And so they did. No one would dare to disrespect the Herald. He seemend somehow amused that she did what she did. Almost like he expected it, waited for it. He even smiled slightly, looking at her ominously.

"And there you are. You never cease to amaze me." He growled, than sighed. "Still, you're nothing but a lost cause, honey. You're only putting off the inevitable."

"I'm not gonna be your slave. Not yours, or anyone else's." Deputy spat, breathing heavily. She had a pose typical for a predator, though uncertain whether it intended to attack or defend itself. Jacob saw this hesitation and chuckled darkly, flashing his white teeth for a split second.

"Don't have such a high opinion of yourself." He replied mockingly, standing in front of her, casting his shadow on her. She felt overwhelmed. Like an animal in a cage trying to fight for freedom. "You are not a slave, you are only a tool. And you belong to me."

It took him just two steps to get to her. He rolled his fingers into a fist, wanting to hit her again and this time to knock the knife out of her fingers. However, she jumped back. The bear fought with the wolf. Or was it really a wolf's fight with a lamb? She circled him in a semicircle and tried to cut his wrist. They both knew that the hands were crucial here, and damaging it could weigh on victory. Out of the corner of her eye she saw calm Joseph standing at the entrance to the church. John was silent as well, even though his eyes were full of rage, watching everything from the side.

And Jacob turned out to be not only strong; but also extremely fast. The woman knew that her only chance was to fight for time. It will be better to launch an attack when her opponent gets tired - especially since he has again parried her blow without much difficulty. The tearing pain in her body still tormented her, but she didn't give up. She tried to transform suffering into strength. Turn the brothers' weapons against them. Jacob snarled and took advantage of the opportunity he was just given - he slammed the woman's feet, knocking her off balance. She didn't fall to the ground, but she lost valuable time trying to keep upright. And the soldier didn't hesitate - he hit her right into the stomach, taking her breath away and sending another injection of pain over her whole delicate body. She moaned, bending even more in herself, but at the same time tightening her grip on the knife she tried to stab the man's thigh with. Or at least she wanted him to believe it. And he believed - he tried to move his leg out of her reach, while the knife suddenly changed its trajectory and cut the skin on the left side of Jacob's ribs. The worst part, however, was that he didn't seem to mind it. He just hissed, apparently not very impressed, but it sure boiled up his rage. Rookie jumped two steps back, quickly trying to return to a state that would allow her to breathe normally. She saw drops of blood running down the knife's edge. It slightly lifted her spirits. She achieved at least this.

Her satisfaction, however, was short. Too short to be noticed at all. Another punch that Jacob had sent straight hitted her right to the neck. She couldn't avoid this, she was too slow and too weak. She began to suffocate and fell to the ground, dropping the knife and grabbing her throat with both hands, choking silently.

"Enough?" He asked, coming closer. And the woman made a mistake - she tried to jump on him, despite her tragic state. She only managed to gouge her nails in his neck and aim a not very accurate, or severe blow to the man's face. His head slightly bounced off to the side, but at the expense of this small success she got a strong kick in her abdomen that sent her to the ground again. She was kneeling in front of him now, still choking. It was pathetic, she knew it - but Jacob certainly liked it. John as well, because she heard his loud, mocking laugh.

She howled when a strong hand was tangled in her hair and pulled her up. She tried to grab Jacob's arm with hands to minimize the pain, but it didn't help. He lifted her to his own level, and she lost ground under her feet.

"You are weak." He muttered hoarsely, almost disgusted. She felt as if he spat on her. Maybe he even wanted to - but apparently he stopped himself. He dropped her, watching her fall down just before his legs, curling up, fighting for the possibility of breathing, and trying to stop the urge to howl in pain at all costs.

She lost.

#far cry 5 #far cry #fc #fc5 #far cry 5 fanfiction #far cry fanfiction #fc fanfiction #fc5 fanfiction #jacob seed #john seed #joseph seed #deputy #rookie #hope county #john seed/deputy #jacob seed/deputy

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krycss · 5 years

Text

Actions Speak Louder Than Words | Jacob Seed x f!Deputy

Chapter 12

[Read on AO3]

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

OOF! Sorry for the lateness everyone! I'm writing this and my Red Dead Redemption 2 fic, Crossroads, at the same time. I originally was pushing out a chapter for both fics each week but seeing as the chapters for Crossroads end up being around 10k words each I decided to alternate publishing. So you'll get a new chapter of this every other week.

Otherwise, enjoy! Wedding time!

Be sure to check out the art I made for this chapter as well: here.

The next few weeks after Jacob’s proposal were a whirlwind of activity. When the other Seeds had found out they quickly took up the reins of getting everything set up for the couple – much to Jacob’s complaint. The man would be happy if it was just the two of them and Joseph but Joseph had insisted that it has to be a special occasion for his older brother. Especially during these trying times before the Collapse, Joseph had added. So for now it was simply up to Rook and Jacob to continue their work for the Project while the others handled the wedding.

Jacob was more than happy to let the others deal with it.

Rook was antsy, to say the least.

Growing up she had all these ideas of her perfect wedding – a big venue, the fanciest dress, her family and friends, a world-tour honeymoon. She knew she couldn’t get that, but it didn’t matter. The one thing she didn’t plan for as a teenager was a scruffy, somewhat psychotic, ex-military, pseudo-cultist to take a hold of her heart. And if that meant they spent the rest of their lives in Hope County for the foreseeable future, then she was happy with that. It didn’t matter if they had a big, extravagant wedding, or a small one where they just hung out with the rest of the Seed family for the day. She just wanted to be with Jacob.

She thought of inviting some of her closest friends in the resistance. She had picked up the radio a multitude of times. If nothing else, she wanted Kim there, the woman at least wouldn’t be too surprised since she was the first to know about Rook and Jacob. She wasn’t sure if Nick would allow her though because of her pregnancy. And the dangerous cult aspect. Sharky and Hurk would probably come just for the prospect of a good party – they’d certainly provide entertainment. She briefly considered Adalaide but quickly got rid of that idea. Everyone else though, they wouldn’t understand. And she didn’t blame them. Perhaps she could bring Cheeseburger, she certainly missed the big goof. She wasn’t certain that Joseph, or anyone really, would be thrilled with that though.

It was sad, Rook thought, that every time she’d leave the Veteran’s Center she had to look over her shoulder. She used to bulldoze her way through Hope County with no worries of anyone getting the jump on her. They had to worry about her getting the jump on them. Now, however, she was always paranoid that someone was going to kidnap her again – it was becoming a bit of a nuisance. She wasn’t sure if she was more upset about being scared of the kidnapping part, or the fact that if anyone did it’d probably be by people she once called friends.

Still, she had to leave. Especially with the wedding planning. She just couldn’t let the others handle everything. Jacob had insisted he come along to protect her but Rook had continuously turned him down. One, because she knew he didn’t want to sit for hours with Faith talking about fabrics for the dress and decorations, but also because she was planning a surprise for the man. If he had figured something was up he didn’t say, but he was smart. If anything, he was at least a little suspicious. Any time he asked why she had to go at least three times a week to visit with his siblings he was met with a variety of answers. “We’re choosing flower arrangements”, “we’re going over music”, or “Joseph just wants to go over some things.” They weren’t complete lies. She was doing those things – Jacob insisted he came along for the food tasting, though, much to Rook’s amusement.

She had something she needed to do with all of his siblings, and she wanted – no needed – it to be a surprise for Jacob. He had done so much for her these past few months, it was the least she could do.

Hope County was experiencing an eerie sense of peace this past week. Joseph wanted nothing to go wrong on the day of the wedding and so he had been slowly taking Project members off the roads in order to make sure his island was protected. Whether or not the Resistance knew why, there was no word. The radio chatter that Jacob and Rook did pick up was mostly the same, if not for a bit of confusion on the Resistance’s end.

Still, Rook didn’t want to think about that stuff at the moment. She was currently being pampered on by Faith and a few of her followers as they got ready for the big day. She was inside one of the houses in Joseph’s Compound while Jacob was in another.

They had kept her makeup simple – a light dusting of powder, some eyeliner, and a red lipstick. Faith’s followers were currently working on a crown of Bliss leaves. Rook was thankful that Faith was still understanding about her hesitance on the flower and instead was just using the leaves which would cause none of the effects. Another of her followers had lightly curled her black hair. Rook had been keeping it up in either a bun or a ponytail since she started officially working at the Veteran’s Center so she was thankful for the opportunity to, quite literally, let her hair down.

Faith had insisted on making Rook’s dress for her and she couldn’t complain, the final product was beautiful. The top half, which ended just above her waistline, was covered in the same lace as Faith’s dress while the bottom half was layered in chiffon that flowed behind her. It wasn’t too long, but dragged just a bit.

Rook smiled at herself in the mirror. It had taken some time, but she was starting to look past her scars. The holes had started to close up, like when you forget put your earrings back in for a few years. She imagined that after a while they’d end up just barely noticeable. She felt…beautiful. For the first time in a very long time. Jacob had told her many times in their private moments, but she had never believed it herself. At the thought of the man Rook’s smiled widened. She couldn’t wait to see what he looked like. Apparently John had insisted on dressing his older brother. Rook would admit she appreciated it as she was sure Jacob would have just worn his normal look, if not a bit cleaner. Bless him, she thought.

Faith walked up to Rook and they both looked her over in the mirror. She handed her the bouquet, it was a mix of the Bliss leaves as well as a few wild flowers from the area. The stems were wrapped in a piece of burlap and around that were Jacob’s dog tags. Rook fiddled with them for a moment.

“You ready?” Faith whispered excitedly.

Rook nodded.

There was a knock at the door, quick but gentle. Faith answered it and Joseph was standing there. He had on his white shirt and jacket for the occasion. He smiled at Rook when he spotted her and she met him halfway for a hug.

“You look lovely.” He pulled back to press their foreheads together.

Faith’s followers followed her out of the house to head towards the church with a quick goodbye to Rook.

Rook took in a shaky breath.

“Nervous?” Joseph asked with a smile as he held out his arm.

Rook wrapped her free hand around his offered arm, holding her bouquet in the other. She shrugged.

“It’s okay if you need to change your mind, I can improvise.” He winked, causing her to laugh softly.

Rook looked around the compound. There were still some members of Eden’s Gate wandering around. If they weren’t here outside the church, then they were down closer to the water where the reception was being held. She could faintly smell the food being prepared from where they stood. The few people that were around smiled at her. She wasn’t certain if it was for her or the Father, though. She still got some looks and a few comments from some of the members that didn’t think her joining made up for the deaths she had created on their side. Mostly everyone in the Veteran’s Center respected her though so she didn’t mind if people outside had their questions. She looked back and saw that the wrought iron Eden’s Gate fence was locked and guarded by more soldiers than was probably necessary.

They were now standing in front of the church itself. Nothing much had changed on the outside except for a few garlands of flowers around the door to announce the occasion. Faith poked her head through the door quickly, letting them know everything was good to go and that they could enter when they heard the music begin. Joseph thanked her. Rook let out a shaky breath and she looked up at Joseph with a grin. She bounced on the balls of her feet, thankful for the low heels that Faith had given her so she wouldn’t injure herself.

She wasn’t nervous, she was excited.

Her nerves did, however, flare up when she heard the piano begin to belt out a familiar tune. Joseph placed his free arm over the hand she had wrapped around the crux of his elbow.

“It’s time.”

Rook nodded, taking in a deep breath as the door opened.

The first thing to hit her was the smell. Gone was the dusty, stale air of the church from the last time she was there. Instead the windows were open, allowing a draft as well as the many flowers that Faith had decorated the place with that gave off a great multitude of scents. The two members holding the doors open nodded at Rook who smiled back quickly. She was thankful that she didn’t really know many people in the Project which meant that the amount of people inside the church was rather small. She glanced over the heads that had turned around when the doors had opened. She spotted the members of her team from the Veteran’s Center. The largest man of her group, a normally stoic man named Tex, was currently fighting a losing battle with his watery eyes. The others were smiling, both at her and at Tex’s expense. Rook had tried to get Jacob to allow Pratt to show up if he wanted, but he had turned her down for some reason. The rest of the faces were a mix of familiar people from the Center as well as a few unknowns.

A small gasp drew her attention to the stage on the opposite side of the church. Rook’s eyes connected with Jacob and she couldn’t stop the smile on her face if she wanted to. He had a crisp, white button up shirt that was rolled to his elbows. Over that was a red waistcoat with black dress pants and shoes. She would have to thank John later for making her soon-to-be husband finally own some nice clothes.

Her eyes were brought back up to Jacob’s and she couldn’t remove them from the man as she got closer. Finally, after the short walk which felt much longer, Joseph released her arm and pressed his forehead to hers before leading her to Jacob. She passed her bouquet to Faith who was standing behind her. Both of her hands were now held within Jacob’s. She still loved looking at the difference in their hand sizes. Joseph was beginning the ceremony but her and Jacob were in their own little world as his voice became distorted. Soft was not a word she thought she’d ever use with Jacob, but right now that’s how he looked. They were both smiling at one another and she was certain her cheeks were going to hurt later but it would be worth it.

They were drawn from their little world by Joseph placing a hand on Jacob’s shoulder, causing the small crowd to chuckle a bit.

“Jacob,” Joseph smiled at his brother. “Your vows, if you will.”

Jacob nodded, coughing a bit as he was brought back to the moment.

“I, uh, I never believed in love. If I did it was a long time ago. Cat, you’ve believed in me when no one else would, and you’ve shown me how to love again with unconditional acceptance. I’m not sure a lifetime is long enough to return all you’ve given me in our short time knowing one another, but I promise to spend the rest of my days by your side. I promise to protect you, and I know you’ll have my back as well. I promise to be a home for you. A safe haven.” He smiled down at her and Rook could feel a tear slide down her cheek.

“I didn’t know I needed you, but once you came into my life, I knew it was always only you. For now and always.” Jacob let out a sigh as he ended.

Rook could only imagine the mess she looked with her tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t take a hand to wipe them as she was currently clutching tightly to Jacob’s to keep her from simply jumping the man. Jacob looked about ready to cry himself, she could see the tears forming in his eyes but could tell he was keeping them in check and not allowing them to fall.

Joseph turned to Rook who nodded at him, then to Jacob, and then to the crowd.

“Catherine has also elected to recite her own vows.” Joseph placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Jacob’s eyes widened and glanced between the two of them.

Surprise successful, Rook thought as she smiled up at him. She let out a nervous breath of air and forced herself to keep her eyes trained on Jacob’s. She had been spending the past few weeks practicing speaking with the rest of the Seeds. Small bits of conversation here and there in order for this moment. She wasn’t certain if she’d be able to talk to anyone else any time soon, but this was enough for now.

“T-they say actions speak louder than words.” Rook began, squeezing tightly to Jacob’s hands. She took a deep breath, steadying her voice. She could do this, she told herself. “You were there to bring me out of a dark place, and I promise to always be there to do the same for you.”

She gently squeezed his hands again, gaining the confidence to push out the last of her vows with what energy she had left.

“No matter what trials we encounter together, or-or how much time as passed, I know that our love will never fade. I know that we’ll always find our strength in one another, and that we’ll continue to grow side by side. I promise to love only you for as long as I am able. Yesterday, tomorrow, and today. A-always.”

When she was done she could feel her hands shaking like crazy. Jacob was running his thumbs over her knuckles soothingly.

“I’m so proud of you.” He whispered.

If he was controlling his tears before, he had given up as a few fell down his cheeks. He didn’t bother getting rid of his either.

Joseph spoke up again, gaining their attention. “Jacob, do you take Catherine to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others and holding unto her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer as long as you both shall live?”

Jacob smiled down at her. “I do.”

“And do you, Catherine, take Jacob to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do!” Rook grinned.

Joseph took the rings they had picked out earlier from his pocket. He handed the first to Jacob as they went over the words. The ring was a simple, thin, gold band. When he was finished he quickly brought it to his lips, kissing the ring on her finger. Rook was still smiling as she took the ring from Joseph and went to place it on Jacob’s. Her voice stuttered as she recited her part but she didn’t think anyone was judging her for it. When the ring was on his finger she did the same and brought his hand to her lips.

“Well,” Joseph brought their attention back to him. “With the power invested in me as the Father by the grace of God, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Brother, you may kiss your bride.”

Jacob barely had time to react as Rook took the initiative and leapt into his arms, she could feel him laughing against her lips as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms instinctively held her up in the air and she’s so lost in the moment that she didn’t notice the applause from those inside the church until Jacob finally placed her back on the ground.

She was no longer Catherine Rook.

She was Catherine Seed now.

Cat couldn’t keep the smile from her face as they all walked down to the reception area. They stopped briefly for someone to take a few quick photos to commemorate the event, but not enough to seem vain according to Joseph. She could faintly hear music mixed with chatter from those who were already waiting. It was mostly just those who were staying in the Compound. Cat didn’t mind the crowd, besides, she imagined a few of them were happy to have a chance to party for a little bit. Her hand was linked with Jacob’s, her husband. It wasn’t as weird to think about as she thought it would be. Any time she looked up at him he had a smile on his face. It was nice to see him show his emotions more, he usually kept it between the two of them.

As they got closer the guests there turned their attention and started clapping. Cat smiled in thanks but she was fairly certain it was mostly for Jacob and the other Seeds. Though, she thought, she was now a Seed too.

Joseph stepped into the cleared space in the middle of the tables.

“My Children,” everyone quieted. “I want to thank you all for coming and celebrating the union of our beloved brother, Jacob and his new wife Catherine. Before the libations begin, I’d like to invite the new couple to enjoy their first dance.”

As he left the space to join John and Faith and the guests clapped politely as Cat and Jacob stepped forward.

Jacob already had a suspicious grin going on.

“What are you up to?” Cat whispered, her eyes scrutinizing his face.

She realized what it was very quickly. The song began and Cat immediately let her face drop to his chest as she laughed. She had put his dog tags back around her neck and could feel them press into her own chest.

“Only you…” She felt Jacob’s soft singing through his chest as they swayed to the music.

“You’re ridiculous.” Cat spoke. “Good thing you deconditioned me or this would be a hell of a party.”

She tuned out the people around her. She might not be comfortable talking with them, but she could at least talk to Jacob around them.

“I know.” He placed a kiss to the top of her head. “We really did it, huh?”

He brought her into a spin which earned a laugh.

“We really did. Funny how this worked out.”

“I never thought…” He brought her back close. “I never thought I’d have this chance, you know. I had given up on the idea of marriage as a possibility for me.”

Cat looked up at him, giving him her full attention.

“Didn’t think anyone would give me the chance, no one seemed to want to get past all of this.” He gestured to his face and arms. “And then there was you.”

“And I wormed my way into your heart with my stubbornness.” Cat pulled him down to kiss him quickly.

“That you did.” He hummed. “Though, I don’t think you would have considered marrying me back when we first met.” He laughed through his nose.

“Cages aren’t exactly romantic, but I still found you attractive, don’t worry.” She winked at him.

They continued dancing, mostly just swaying around the area as neither bothered to properly learn to dance for the wedding, until the song wound own. Everyone clapped once more as they made their way over to their table where the rest of the Seeds were sitting. They took the two seats in the middle. Faith was the first to make a quick speech, toasting to her new sister and wishing them all the love. John went next, teasing his older brother about finding a woman far too good for him to which Jacob agreed. Finally, Joseph. His speech, of course, was grand and filled with biblical metaphors and mentions of the Collapse but Cat didn’t mind. She was just thankful that he had allowed their union despite the trouble she had given them in the past. A few of her teammates also had some words to say though it was mostly just simple congratulations and then the party really began.

The food was rather good, simple but good. It was a lot of vegetables that had been grown in the compound as well as some of the supplies that could be spared from John’s bunker. There was a part of Cat that had wished for a bar at the party, but alas, that wasn’t allowed. She could tell Jacob and John were thinking the same thing and Cat couldn’t wait for the start of her honeymoon. She already knew what she wanted to do at some point: a simple fishing trip with her new husband and case of good beer. Smiling at that thought, she was brought out of her reverie by Joseph coming up next to her.

“Catherine, there’s something you should see by the front gate.” He whispered in her ear.

Cat looked over at him, confused.

“W-w-what do you mean?” She blindly reached for Jacob’s hand next to her to steady her speech.

“You’ll have to see for yourself.”

He stood and walked away slowly, allowing Cat time to follow.

She dragged Jacob along with her although she knew he would have followed anyways. Her confusion continued until she could see the still-closed white gate. The people behind it, however, were enough to cause her steps to fumble, knocking Jacob into her back. It was a bit of a shock to see Armstrong and Whitehorse, but what really caught her off guard was seeing Hudson, Burke, and Pratt as well. Joey was still in a bit of disheveled mess seeming to have been taken from John’s bunker rapidly. Burke was practically glowing from his time with Faith, literally. And Pratt was staring at her, or rather, behind her. His eyes were hard but still respectful as he stared at Jacob. The others though, Armstrong, Hudson, and Whitehorse, were staring at her. A mix of emotion on each of their faces. Confusion from Whitehorse, what looked like disgust from Armstrong, and anger from Hudson.

Joseph stood in front of Cat.

“When I originally ordered the capture of them it was to punish them, to punish you.” He said quietly. “But you are my sister now, and it would be cruel of me to keep your friends locked away. I understand if you want to say goodbye and so I had them brought here with their…escorts.”

Cat nodded slowly. She felt Jacob squeeze her shoulder and she melted into his touch. She turned to look at him.

“I-I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk to them.”

“I’ll be right here, unless you want me to go with you.” He whispered, brushing a loose hair from her face.

She took in a deep breath before walking off towards the gate. Her steps were unsteady but she held her head up. She stood far enough away from the gate to keep out of reach – just in case – but close enough to hear them.

It was silent for a while.

“What did you do?” Armstrong gritted through her teeth.

Cat turned to look back at Jacob.

“Hey!” Armstrong called out. “I’m talking to you, don’t look at him.”

Cat flinched and her head turned back.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t-shouldn’t have left like I did.” She twisted the ring around her finger. “But I’m happy here. I-I really am.”

“He kept you in a cage!” Joey cried out. “He tortured you, his brother tortured you. His brother tortured me! We were partners.” She growled out. She was holding her side, obviously still wounded.

“I k-know! It’s different-”

“You betrayed us, Dep. Look at you now.” Armstrong spoke up again. “A Seed.” She practically spat the name out.

“It doesn’t – It doesn’t have to be like t-this. Just go.” Rook pleaded.

“Tsk.” Armstrong went to help Hudson to the van that was waiting behind them. “After everything you did for us, for the County. You’re just gonna give it up? For them?”

Cat’s shoulders straightened at that. “I did s-so much for all of you. I didn’t ask for a t-thank you. But you wouldn’t have gotten n-nearly as f-far without me. And you know it.” She grit her teeth. She was the backbone of that resistance for a long time. How dare they throw it back at her.

Armstrong just shook her head as she walked to the driver’s seat. Hudson kept her eyes forward as she sat in the back. Whitehorse helped Burke into the back before turning towards Cat. He gave her a small smile. She wasn’t sure if she was happy that he didn’t say anything, or upset. Pratt stood there for a while. His eyes flicked between her and Jacob.

“Y-you’re welcome to stay with us, Staci. I don’t t-think we’d be able to handle all that work without you.” Cat smiled quickly.

“I…” He hesitated.

“Pratt! Let’s go!” Hudson yelled out from the van.

He shrunk into his shoulders, his gaze drawn to the dirt as he walked back to the van. As he got in, he chanced a glance up at Cat and then Jacob again before the van took off, leaving a trail of dirt in the air.

Cat stood there a moment, watching the van as it drove quickly down the dirt path until it was out of sight. She didn’t realize she was shaking until Jacob wrapped his arms around her shoulders, tucking his chin on the top of her head.

“It’ll be okay.” He whispered.

Cat nodded, careful not to bump his chin. “Let’s head back. We’ve got a cake to eat.” She smiled, pushing the negative thoughts away for the time being. It could wait until they were alone.

The rest of the party was rather uneventful when compared to the shock of seeing her friends again. Still, Cat wasn’t about to let it get her down. This was a happy day for her, even if her friends didn’t see it that way. She briefly wondered if they’d even be considered her friends anymore.

John had somehow managed to get ahold of the most extravagant cake he could find. It was probably the most expensive thing there next to his custom Eden’s Gate buckle and earrings.

“Ah, Cat.” John sighed dramatically as she sat next to her with a piece of cake. “I still don’t know what you see in my older brother. It’s not too late to change your mind, you know?” He winked slowly, letting her know he was teasing.

Cat laughed, shaking her head as Jacob stole the cake from John’s plate in retaliation.

“Don’t worry, Johnny.” Cat bumped her shoulder with his. “You’ll find someone who can put up with you.”

As the party wound down the people there slowly began to trickle out. The Project couldn’t be put on hold for much longer and they still had jobs to do. Eventually all that was left was the Seed family, Cat included. She was currently sitting in Jacob’s lap, soaking up his energy as her social interactions for the day had been drained away. Joseph called for everyone’s attention.

“I heard from the Voice again last night.” He ran the beads of his rosary through his fingers. “The Collapse should be coming any time now. We need to make sure we’re prepared. Now more than ever.”

The four siblings nodded, discussing quietly everything they still had left to do. Cat was currently focusing on her new wedding ring. She still couldn’t believe it had actually happened. She hadn’t even met the man that long ago but, she supposed that when you knew you found the one it was always meant to be. Besides, she thought, if Joseph was right and the world was about to end, well, she at least picked the right man for the apocalypse lifestyle. Jacob then nudged her shoulder a small bit, drawing her attention.

“You ready to go?” He whispered.

Cat nodded, she was eager to get him alone. She felt the urge to scratch at her lust tattoo. They might not have been planning their wedding, but they had certainly been planning their honeymoon. They couldn’t exactly go on a vacation out of the county, but they did have a cabin hidden away in the Whitetails that they could stay at to get away from it all just for a bit.

They said their goodbyes to their family before heading off. Jacob’s truck was already packed with some things they would need so they hopped right in.

“I hope you know that my vows weren’t my only surprise for you.” Cat smirked over at Jacob.

He let his gaze fall away from the road for a moment to follow her hand as it pulled up the edge of her dress. The red garter around her thigh was enough of a hint for Jacob to press the pedal to the floor earning a whoop of laughter from his wife.

#fic: actions speak louder than words #my ocs: catherine rook #far cry 5 #jacob seed #jacob seed x female deputy #fc5 #fc5 fic #hopefully this shows up in the tags

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