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#and THEN made an off handed remark of a similar vein about dyed hair.

codedredalert · 3 years

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no lead nor steel shall reach him so [Golden Kamuy, Ogata & Yuusaku] -- gen oneshot

Ogata character study || 1705 words

A good marksman could swear blind that he knew a good shot before his bullet left the barrel.

Ogata was a good shot. The moment he pulled the trigger on Yuusaku, he knew he'd made a mistake.

Warnings: canon-typical violence, character death, Ogata is messed up and regrets nothing, this is not a nice softe redemption story.

A/N: written for @narramin

(On Ao3)

===/\===

Ogata knew the rumours.

Second Lieutenant Hanazawa Yuusaku is the eight virtues personified, they said. No wonder he was promoted so young. No wonder he had the honour of bearing the flag.

Perhaps Ogata knew the rumours best because they were spoken carefully around him— whispers like prey rustling the grass, catching his attention whether he willed it or not.

He's that Ogata's brother, they said. No, reliably came the disbelieving reply. Can't be, no way, you've got to be lying, is it true? It's true, the Second Lieutenant said so, though Ogata tries to keep it quiet. Ah, well it makes sense, he's the bastard after all, isn't he? Hah, in more ways than one…

Sideways glances between himself and their vaunted officer, not nearly as discreet as the men of the 7th Division believed themselves to be.

Have you heard? asked First Lieutenant Tsurumi in a conspiratorial whisper when he had Ogata alone. They say the Second Lieutenant is very principled.

Yes, Ogata has heard.

Shall we see for ourselves? proposed the First Lieutenant, hand outstretched, an offer.

一.

"Life is a long road."

Grandmother taught this to him in a voice that was light to mask the weight of wisdom in those heavy words. After Mother's death, Grandmother had never faltered in her duties though she grieved, going through the funeral proceedings with head held high, and seeing to Ogata's every need with reliability that Mother had never managed, though she had tried.

"The longer one's road grows, the more places to stumble, and for impurity to rest on the soul. With time, every person falls to the suffering of existence."

She used one of her wrinkled, gnarled hands to smooth back Ogata's clipped-short hair, soothing and pleasant.

"It is just the way life is," she said.

Ogata approached Yuusaku for the first time since the young officer had first called him brother, and the younger man lit up with such unadulterated delight that it sent a shudder of disgust down Ogata's spine.

He had to be faking. No one got that excited about a night out with their bastard half-brother. But as long as the Second Lieutenant wanted to play the good brother, that suited Ogata just fine.

Ogata led Yuusaku to the pleasure district, watching with amusement as the younger man's delight turned to discomfort, to embarrassment, to distress.

"Brother… I'm terribly sorry," he said, bowing. And he sounded sorry too, as if it physically pained him to refuse Ogata's first tenuous offer of brotherhood. His sincerity grated, as did his refusal. In one move, Yuusaku had both undermined Ogata's objective, and plainly made the grave insult that— however much he claimed to want Ogata for an elder brother— Ogata's wants and ways were beneath him.

With the trap now useless, there was no choice but to let him go, and Yuusaku walked out of the establishment as free and upright as ever.

But Ogata could be patient. As the war went on— as the acrid gunpowder, piss, shit, and anguish seeped into them all— Yuusaku would stumble. Ogata just had to bide his time and try again, try better.

二.

His mother was beautiful in death. She had hundreds of admirers from the peak of her career, and many a swooning painter had captured her likeness. A portrait of her had been gifted to them, and it smiled bright-eyed and gentle upon Ogata from the family altar as she never had in life.

"It doesn't look like her," he remarked, as he stood side by side with his grandmother and offered incense. He remembered his mother's back as she stood in the middle of a room for long stretches of time, silent and unmoving. Her profile, as she stared out the window, watching for a man who would never come.

The joss sticks burned down to ash, and Grandmother lifted her head from her prayers. She bowed and turned away, gesturing for him to follow. He followed suit.

"People see what they want to see," she said, once she had closed the door behind them. Grandmother was very different from Mother, in that way. She always paid attention to him, even if she was silent at first. He just had to be patient.

"Men wanted her beauty, so they took whichever parts of her they found beautiful and painted over all the other parts to suit their tastes. They did not know her character, the hardship she went through. The geisha, the maiko… they suffer greatly for their success. But it was our hope that she would have a good life, a better life than the one we could give her. Not..."

Heartache. Deep despair. The delusion that roused her from bed only to make the same dish, day after day: a desperate, futile offering to a love that didn't realise.

Ogata understood.

"Superior Private Ogata. It appears that Yuusaku is a more gallant soldier than we imagined. He's won over the hearts of all the other men."

Ogata let out the breath he'd been holding for his shot and lowered his rifle. He could read between the lines and take the orders the First Lieutenant preferred not to say explicitly. Plausible deniability and all that. It's why the First Lieutenant liked him.

"So you're saying we're better off not killing him, sir?" asked Ogata, reloading and already looking for his next target. He didn't need an answer. "Understood."

Ogata led Yuusaku wraithlike over the fields where gunfire and screaming had reigned earlier that day. The night was quiet but far from silent, the sighing of the wind an unearthly substitute for the dead and dying soldiers' groans. Yuusaku's boots scuffed the earth as he followed. He made enough noise that Ogata could have shot him at fifty yards, blindfolded.

"I want to see you kill him," Ogata said earnestly, pressing his knife into Yuusaku's hands. Yuusaku flinched and his eyes slid away, looking for escape, looking anywhere but Ogata's eyes, anywhere but the Russian soldier gagged and bound at their feet.

"Father said I have to keep my hands clean," Yuusaku begged off, as if the word 'Father' could invoke more authority than 'Lieutenant General' or 'martial law'. Ah, but Yuusaku was a beloved child, Ogata remembered, and this was him trying to appeal to the filial respect that Ogata never had the chance to develop for the man.

Something must have shown on Ogata's face.

Yuusaku embraced him and Ogata's blood swarmed like locusts in his veins, eating him alive with irritating discontent and a curious, persistent thought.

三.

Mother's death was Ogata's first. A lot of customs went with it, though Ogata didn't really see why. When everything was over, Grandmother paid a priest to come bless the family and sprinkle salt at him.

"It's for your own good. Death is an unclean thing, we don't want its shadow over you," Grandmother explained when Ogata grumbled about some of it getting it into his eye. Her voice wavered ever so slightly, as she smoothed the front of her kimono. "Remember to do this after I've passed."

Ogata buried her the year he was conscripted. He didn't get the priest afterwards. There wasn't much point, on the way to a war.

It was so easy to find Yuusaku on the field, even in the chaos.

Gallant Yuusaku, leading the throng of soldiers eager to kill and die for the emperor and their nation. Ogata could frame them in his rifle sight like a painter drafting a standing screen. Yuusaku, marked by the rising sun.

It was so easy that it was a wonder how the enemy snipers hadn't gotten him first. The waving flag begged to be targeted. Did the Russians dismiss him for having no gun? For never drawing his unblooded sabre?

It was so easy to line up the shot.

What would happen if— ?

Ogata pulled the trigger.

四.

Birds scattered as he missed, taking to the peach-pink sky above the fields behind the family house in Ibaraki. Ogata took aim for his second shot, but the timing was already so far off that there was no point. He lowered his grandfather's rifle instead of wasting another bullet.

He'd been over-eager, moving too much, and too fast. The light was gone now, and he would have to return home empty-handed.

Yuusuke's distant silhouette crumpled. His corpse joined the hundreds of bodies on the battlefield, lost in the chaos of the regiment as he went down, the bright white and red and gold tasselled flag falling slowly after him before it too disappeared from sight. Ogata lowered his rifle with a strange sense of frustration and ran his hand through his regulation cropped-short hair.

There was a strange absence of something he thought would be there, and with that... Disappointment. Profound disappointment. Like the shot when he was a child in the fields behind the family house in Ibaraki and learning to hunt, the birds scattering as he missed.

Yuusaku crowned by the sun, beloved.

He'd been overeager and now gallant Yuusaku would be forever gallant, forever pure. The impurity of death didn't seem to stick, and now Yuusaku was an immortal nuisance and Ogata still had no answer to the discontent crawling on his back.

Ogata's hand clenched on the butt of his rifle, white-knuckled with cold. This was the first time he felt bad when he'd made his shot, bereft of something out of reach, which could have been his but never would. It was a pricking irritation similar to missing a shot. Even though he hadn't.

There were no answers here. There were no answers in the dead. Not in his mother, not in his grandmother, not in this man who called him brother.

Ogata turned and First Lieutenant Tsurumi was there. The First Lieutenant smiled in understanding and nodded in approval, as if knowing Ogata's thoughts before Ogata himself.

The father who only had enough love to raise one virtuous son. Yes, Ogata could just ask him directly. There was no point thinking about Yuusaku any longer.

Yuusaku was dead. That was the end of it. Ogata couldn't reach him anymore.

Time to turn to the living.

===/END\===

(On Ao3) ( patreon ) ( kofi ) ( paypal )

#ogata hyakunosuke #hanazawa yuusaku #tsurumi tokushirou #golden kamuy #gk #golden kamuy fanfiction #gk fanfic #gk fic #my writing #mine

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moonknightly · 4 years

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Copper Colored Quiet : Poe Dameron x Reader

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Excerpt: “Thrown into the waves of grief, and then having to try to keep your head above the water long enough to remind yourself that it was all okay, that reality existed outside of what your mind was telling you.”

Warnings: Uhhh, blood, slight mention of suicide, cursing, sad thoughts, blah.

“Don’t look.”

His voice was calm, almost eerily collected — a stark contrast against the panic moving through your veins with torrential, unparalleled force, the emotion so sharp it threatened to slice you open from the inside out until your fingertips dripped with crimson.

Don’t look.

What a stupid, stupid request.

You wanted to scoff at his words, and maybe, if the context had been different, you would have. Maybe you would’ve yelled at him, or maybe you would’ve laughed. You could think of a scenario where you would have smiled at the two simple words, and one where you would have moaned. Another where you would’ve probably hit him.

But you were just frozen.

How could you not look?

How could you look away from the man that you loved more than anything, your everything, when he was kneeling on gravel, the sharp edges of the small rocks undoubtedly cutting into his knees, with a blaster pressed firmly into the base of his skull?

How could he ask that of you?

Don’t look.

You knew he was trying to protect you the only way he knew how, the only way that he could in that moment — and you also knew that it was killing him, not being able to do anything more than that.

Poe Dameron wasn’t familiar with being helpless, at the mercy of someone else’s hand, and the last time he found himself in a similar position, it was only himself he had to think about. He could bare his teeth, sink them into those holding his own mortality above his head and not think twice. But you were just five feet away, being shoved to kneel in front of him, and Gods, you didn’t need to see this. You didn’t need your last memory of him to be some smart remark cut short by the sound of a blaster.

Don’t look.

You couldn’t fucking look away. Couldn’t tear your own eyes away from his grief-stricken brown ones, even as they pleaded for you to. Even as he silently begged for you to just close your eyes, to just listen to him this one time, for the last time. You couldn’t do it.

It was so fucking selfish. He always knew he would be taken out like this — violently, fighting for a cause he believed so deeply in, fighting for something he loved, but he never would have thought he would go out begging. And you were doing that to him, making him beg, all because you were too selfish to follow his last command, his dying wish.

You couldn’t do it.

You couldn’t fucking do it.

“Don’t look.”

And then, a deafening shot.

Hot blood splattering across your cheek.

A body crumpling to the ground, a scream tearing through your lips, a sound you had no idea you were even capable of making, that anyone was capable of making.

And then it was all just a blur.

You didn’t know how you escaped, who saved you, how you made it back to base. How long you had been standing in your quarters, your shared quarters, staring at the blood that still caked your face, the bright red now a dull copper.

Did Leia know? Did Finn? BB? Had you cried? Screamed some more? Was this some sick, cruel, twisted nightmare that you just couldn’t wake yourself out of? Had it really been you at the end of that blaster, and you had been thrown into your own personal version of Hell, a punishment for all you had done wrong?

It had to be, because a world without Poe Dameron wasn’t one you could even begin to fathom.

One that you certainly didn’t want to live in.

But someone had taken your blaster, and you couldn’t remember if it was the Stormtroopers or if it had been whoever brought you back to your room, scared that your mind would fall to the exact place it was now.

You supposed that Finn did know, because that was entirely something that he would do.

And as you sat on the edge of the bed, your eyes finally shut, not looking, hands trembling, you figured it was him who walked into your quarters and gently grabbed your wrists — his hands were shaking, too.

You didn’t fight as he hoisted you up, didn’t have the energy to, even though all you wanted to do was crawl beneath the covers and...you really didn’t know what you wanted to do. You didn’t want to sleep, and you sure as hell didn’t want to grieve, because grieving made it real. Grieving meant that he really was gone.

You let him lead you into the ‘fresher, let him lift your tired body up onto the counter. You flinched, just slightly, when a warm cloth met your cheek, and part of you wanted to scream at him. That blood was all you had left.

But still, you didn’t fight. You let him wash the blood away, and you opened your eyes for just a second to watch that copper run crimson once more as it disappeared down the drain after he rinsed the cloth.

Your eyes closed once again when you let him lead you back into the room, and they remained shut as you let him slowly take your clothes off and pull you to the bed. He tucked you in beneath the covers, and you didn’t question it when he fit himself in right beside you, his arms encircling your body.

Didn’t question it, because it was familiar. It felt like Poe. He smelled like Poe, was warm like Poe. He even ran his fingertips up and down your spine like Poe.

And it made you sob.

“Shh, I’m right here darling.”

Maker, he even sounded like Poe.

You scrambled, trying to push yourself out of his arms, trying to put as much distance between yourself and him as possible. It hurt, it hurt so fucking badly, you didn’t want this anymore.

But he wouldn’t let you go, refused to. His hands found your wrists again, and he wrapped his fingers tightly around them, shaking you just once, trying to break you free from your own mind.

“Look.”

You couldn’t.

“Open your eyes and look at me sweetheart. I’m right here, I’m okay. We’re safe.”

One of his hands found your chin, gripping it tightly between his index finger and his thumb, and you didn’t know why, but something about the simple action had you calming down immediately — convinced you to stop flailing and listen to him.

The brown eyes you were met with definitely didn’t belong to Finn. The tanned skin, the messy head of curls. It was all Poe, undeniably Poe.

You only sobbed harder, and he only pulled you closer, his hand weaving itself into your hair, his thumb stroking lovingly along the base of your skull — the same spot on his own head that should’ve been marked with a hole.

“I heard the blaster,” you cried, your voice shaking, hardly recognizable to Poe’s ears. He didn’t know if he had ever seen you so upset.

“It wasn’t his.”

“But-”

“Wasn’t his.”

All you could do was cry. You cried and you cried and you stared at him, refusing for the second time that day to take your eyes off of him, and Poe held onto you the entire time, whispering words of comfort into your ear that honestly didn’t do much.

What you had seen, what you thought you had lost, left you traumatized.

A part of you had died back in that street, a piece of your soul forever lost when you thought you would have to move through life without Poe Dameron.

You would need time, even though Poe was there, lying next to you, still alive and still breathing, you would still need time. Even if you had listened to him, even if you had closed your eyes, focused on the gravel beneath your knees instead of him, you would still be in this position.

Poe understood that, he understood it completely.

He understood the feeling of being so utterly relieved and yet still so entirely lost. Thrown into the waves of grief, and then having to try to keep your head above the water long enough to remind yourself that it was all okay, that reality existed outside of what your mind was telling you. He had been there before, with you.

You needed time.

And suddenly Poe felt like he had all of the time in the world.

For you, he always did.

#poe dameron #poe dameron x reader #tros #poe dameron fanfiction #star wars #poe dameron imagine

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ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes · 3 years

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Promises Not Kept Part 36

Summary: Tommy Shelby made a promise to Jonah Ward while in the war. A promise he didn't keep. But it comes to haunt him when he tries to drown out his sorrows with a young woman.

Part 36: Alfie and Tommy discuss life. Meanwhile Johanna and Charles are up to no good.

“Tommy, mate, you’ve got to get a fucking grip.” Alfie and Tommy took the walk down out to the pier. It was a bit away from where they’d shot each other on the beach.

Alfie let the man take a few deep breaths of the salt air before he began. With a grunt, he sat down on one of the low dock posts.

Tommy remained standing, his hands in his coat pockets, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

“I mean, honestly, when Leah called me I thought you’d been shot. Or someone had died. She were hysterical, mate. Said you’d lost your fucking mind because your family had come for Christmas. Now, what’s that about, aye?” Alfie clasped his hands together between his knees.

“There’s a black cat in my family.” Tommy replied, not addressing any of his actions that Christmas day. It was embarrassing enough to know that his wife was so distraught and in such a state that she phoned Alfie Solomons.

“Right, now I’ve no fucking clue what that means.” Not the man to speak in riddles like the Shelbys, he skirted around the ominous remark. “I’ve enough common sense to know you’re referring to a traitor. That right?” The slight nod was enough of an indicator that Alfie was on the right track. “So, you’ve got your knickers in a twist because of one traitor? ‘Tween you and me, we both fucking know how many men we’ve gutted for being traitors. Now either you really have lost your bloody mind or you’re using it as a fucking excuse.”

Tommy wasn’t sure what he was expecting from the chat with Alfie. What did anyone ever expect from the man? Even still, he was wise to use the tactic he’d used for years in regard to their interactions. He let the Camden Town gangster run his mouth until everything was said. He could handle the pokes and jabs Alfie made at him, that wasn’t an issue. If anything, he felt mildly comforted. As if things had gone back to a simpler time. Back to when they would meet in Alfie’s bakery. They would negotiate business, perhaps Alfie would pull a gun or dish out a few colorful threats. And yet both knew that they weren’t in any real danger. Because they had an understanding with each other. One that was unspoken. It’s why they weren’t enemies.

“Lookit you, Tom, have you even fucking realized that the world has kept on spinning? You’re out there doing the same shit you’ve always done, ‘cept now you’ve got a fancy new office at the Commons. What’s that brought you then? Just a nasty mess, innit? Now your family’s involved.”

“They were involved from the beginning.”

“No, no, not that family.” He waved a dismissive hand at the rest of the Shelby family. “Your family. Your wife and kids.”

There was a break in Alfie’s rambling. Enough for Tommy to listen to the waves crashing against the pier. Steady, rhythmic churning that felt a lot like the state of his brain at the current moment. Anxieties and anger kept sweeping in. Unrelenting waves of stress and the unbearable feeling of being caged in.

Alfie let out a low chuckle of pity and shook his head. “We’re men of habit, Tommy, ain’t we? Don’t fucking learn, right, from our mistakes ‘til it really does some fucking damage.” He subconsciously rubbed a hand over the mangled part of his face. “Think ‘bout it. All of us going off, yeah to that fucking War, seeing the shit we did, then they fucking expected us to just come back. Some men did, can’t fucking understand it. They must’ve been able to shut off that part of their brain or sumthin’.” He shrugged. “We saw blood over there, didn’t we? Then we came back and didn’t see none. And that didn’t feel right, did it? So, we made the streets into a warzone. That felt right.”

Tommy watched the crests of the waves as they glistened in the dim sunlight. The clouds had made it a gray afternoon and the sky seemed at odds with the dark angry sea.

“Does it feel right now, Tommy?”

Finally, he looked over at Alfie. In a moment of vulnerability, his defenses lowered. “I’ve dug in too deep.” He admitted in a low voice. “You, Leah, Polly, Arthur, whoever can blame me for what I’ve done. You can tell me I was wrong for getting involved with Mosley. I don’t even fucking care what me reason was in the first place. What matters now is I’ve done it. There’s no way to reverse it. I can only move forward. That’s all I’ve ever been able to do.” When his voice broke, he lifted a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Alfie peered up at him. “So, is this what happens when you’ve run out of answers? You lose your damn mind? Tryna hold everything together by a thread? May I remind you that you’ve got people ‘round you that are waiting patiently to fucking help you?”

Tommy lowered his hand and raised an eyebrow. “Including you?”

Alfie rolled his eyes and muttered a few incoherent words. “Didn’t fucking say that, but if it means helping out your saint of a wife, then yes.” He replied gruffly.

“The world really is upside down.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Although they hadn’t covered much ground, at least Alfie had managed to get Tommy grounded. The ocean and their usual banter had a strangely calming effect. For how long it would last, neither of them was sure as they walked back to the house.

Unfortunately, it would only last a few minutes past walking in the door.

Tommy, ever the perceptive one, almost instantly caught on that something wasn’t right. Both Charlie and Johanna’s coats, which he had hung up on the coat rack, were gone. Yet, Leah’s was still there, ruling out that she’d taken them out for a walk. Cyril was also sitting by the door as if he were waiting for someone to return.

Alarm bells going off, Tommy pushed past Alfie in the hallway and went into the sitting room. Molly was sleeping in her bassinette but the other two children weren’t there. “Leah?” He called down the hallway.

Still in the kitchen with Alfie’s maid, Leah poked her head out the door. “Yeah?” She was hopeful that the chat had gone well. But that hope was dashed when she saw the same panicked look that he had on Christmas Day.

“Where are the children?” He demanded.

Instantly, her heart dropped to her stomach. “What do you mean? They were in the sitting room?” She quickly dropped what she was doing and rushed out to find the room was empty aside from Molly. The sight made her chest seize, a hand going to her mouth.

Tommy ran outside. It felt like there was pure ice running through his veins. Dread made his head swim as he was desperate to keep afloat so he could find Charlie and Johanna. The yard was empty and there weren’t any nearby sounds of the two playing together. “Charles! Johanna!” He shouted. As he repeated their names, there was an overwhelming feeling that begun to mingle with the fears of the worst. His throat began to close up until he was gasping for breath. His vision started to cloud. It almost felt like he was drowning on dry land.

Alfie, Leah, and the maid came outside after calling through the house to see if maybe the children were just hiding. Leah, overrun by mother’s instincts, took off sprinting down the dirt path that led to the main road. Alfie’s maid headed down to the beach to see if they’d gone there.

But Tommy didn’t even notice, he’d dropped to his knees on the grass. He clutched his sides, continuing to hyperventilate.

Alfie recognized the symptoms. He’d seen many young men suffer a similar fate. Wide-eyed men, boys really, as they experienced the trenches first hand. Panic attacking them like a vicious monster, pressing down on their chests to make it difficult to breathe, overriding all thoughts.

“C’mon, c’mon.” Alfie grabbed Tommy by the shoulders and hoisted him up. “Let’s get you inside. We’ll find them, they couldn’t’ve gotten too far on them little legs of theirs.” He guided the hyperventilating man back inside and onto one of the couches. He picked up Molly to bring her somewhere quieter so she could sleep.

Tommy curled into himself, his forehead pressed to his knees, his arms thrown over his head. He trembled as he tried desperately to breathe. Darkness was starting to close in on him. Was this really how he was going to go out? Some attack? Hardly a fitting death for a Shelby man but he felt powerless to stop it.

Alfie returned to the sitting room and plopped down at his armchair. “Just try to breathe, mate. You’re alright.”

Alright?!

Tommy was sure he was dying and Alfie was just sitting there like it was nothing. He let out a broken sob, unable to really speak. His fingers knotted into his hair gripping so tightly he threatened to pull every strand out.

“Easy, Tom, just have to wait it out.” Unfortunately, as many times as he’d seen the abnormal condition, Alfie didn’t know how to snap a man out of it. He could distinctly remember smacking one private who had gone completely mad. But a slap hadn’t done much and Alfie didn’t want to beat up a man who was nearly catatonic. Wouldn’t be a fair fight.

It was just waiting game. Either until the person wore themselves out entirely or had a moment of clarity.

Alfie stood and looked out over the balcony. The beach was empty aside from his maid who was calling for the children. Of course, he was afraid for the wellbeing of Charlie and Johanna, but it didn’t help if everyone was running around like chickens without heads.

So, he stayed with Tommy as he endured the fit. Every so often, he’d offer a few words of comfort. Sometimes, he stood up to check on Molly before returning to sit with Tommy.

Gradually, the Blinder’s breathing slowed and the grip on his hair loosened. He lifted his head slowly and could actually see clearly for what felt like hours. It happened to be good timing too because the front door opened and Leah marched in two very sheepish looking children.

Charlie hung his head and Johanna was clutching a bag of chocolates.

“Now you go and apologize to Alfie and your father for worrying them.” Leah ordered firmly.

Charlie and Johanna stepped forward with pouts. “Sorry.” They mumbled in unison.

“Now where’d you go off to then?” Alfie asked with a tut. “Gave us all of fright, can’t go wandering off on your own like that.”

Neither of the kids answered until Leah prodded them. “Go on and tell them.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Charlie said a naughty word and I wanted to tell mummy but he said not to. So, then he said he’d get me chocolate if I didn’t tell mummy.” Johanna rattled off. She’d tattled on Charlie almost immediately upon seeing Leah running towards them on the road.

“That’s not what happened!” Charlie exclaimed defensively.

“Was too!”

“Alright, enough!” Leah interrupted the bickering and snatched the chocolates away from Johanna. “Go to your rooms. I don’t want to hear a peep from either of you.” She snapped.

Johanna whined and made grabby hands at her mother. She hated being in trouble and never liked it when Leah was the disciplinary.

“Go, Johanna.”

Reluctantly, the young girl followed her brother down the hall to the room they were staying in.

Leah sat down beside Tommy with a sigh. She put a hand over her pounding heart. “Spoilt, the both of them.” She mumbled. Although she was just grateful the two were alive and hadn’t been snatched up.

Her husband silently wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. The physical touch was enough to completely bring him back.

“Did you two talk?” Leah asked, her tone softening.

“We did yeah.” Alfie nodded. “’Course there’s always more to talk about, ain’t there? You’re all welcome to stay s’long as you need to.”

“Oh, Alfie, thank you but I don’t want to intrude on you with the kids.” Leah was slightly embarrassed by the fuss the children had already made.

“S’alright. Brings a bit of life to the house, don’t it?” Alfie chuckled. Cyril plopped down by his feet for a good tummy rub. “Doesn’t hurt to have this ol’ lug around again too.”

Leah smiled and Tommy there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “We appreciate it very much.” She said softly. “You’re giving us some time and a place to sort things out. I know we’ll be able to.” She said the last sentence to Tommy more than to Alfie.

~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie Shelby liked to believe that he was fearless. At least braver than most boys his age. He enjoyed riding horses, never shying away from a challenge in the saddle. He wanted to be as tough as his father and uncles. Wanted to carry a gun in a holster and walk around with razor blades sewn in his cap.

Although he would never say such a thing to his mother. Leah would probably faint from fear if he ever said such a thing. She could barely stand the way he rode horses sometimes.

Tommy hoped for a long time that by the time Charlie was old enough to understand, their business would be one-hundred percent legitimate. He didn’t expect the Depression and he certainly wasn’t expecting the fascist movement. So, it worried him that his son would pick up on things he wasn’t meant to know.

Certainly, spending time with another notorious gang boss wouldn’t be the answer. But it strangely was. It took the children out of the framework of the company. Even though they spent most of their time in Warwickshire, business was still conducted there.

Meetings, parties, deals. Didn’t matter.

What mattered was pulling them out of that environment. Much as Leah had done when she took them to America. Putting them in a sort of safe-house was enough to draw their attention away from things they weren’t meant to be involved in.

Still, Charlie had either learned enough or it was simply ingrained in him by blood.

~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re writing an awful lot.”

Winter turned into spring and Leah was worried they had long overstayed their welcome at Alfie’s. But the man didn’t seem to mind or give hints that they needed to leave. In fact, he waved off any of Leah’s concerns about how long they’d been there.

Not that Leah wanted to leave. None of them did. The children were so happy to be there with Uncle Alfie. But they were also getting much closer to their father. And Tommy had a feeling he had Alfie to thank for that.

Tommy glanced up from his notebook. He and Leah were sat on the beach, enjoying the first warm afternoon of the season. The children were indulging in the sunshine as well, romping about with Cyril and Alfie along the beach.

“Can I know what you’re writing?” She wondered cautiously.

He tapped the tip of his pen on the paper. He’d promised to be more open with his wife no matter how difficult it could be. “Alfie mentioned something about keeping logs in the War and it reminded me of-well of the journals I kept.” He admitted. “I used to write as much as I could so that if I died, maybe they’d have something to give Polly.”

“And now you’re writing again.” She noted the number of pages he’d gone through in the leather-covered notebook.

“Yeah.” Tommy nodded. “Not really to leave behind to anyone.” He idly flipped through the pages already filled with writing. “Just to, I guess get me thoughts out. Somewhere other than my brain.” He shrugged.

“I think that’s a good idea.” She nodded and smiled warmly.

Her husband smiled back and for the first time in a while, she could see the sun in his blue eyes.

By the shore, Charlie was hopping from one rock to the other waving a piece of driftwood around like a sword. He’d been particularly taken by the pirate story Alfie had told them the night before. After all, who was more fearless than a pirate?

“Argh!” Charlie stabbed his makeshift sword at the empty air in front of him.

Alfie chuckled. “Captain Charlie, where’s your ship, mate?”

“Erm…it’s been…it’s been stolen!”

“Stolen, aye? What sorta scoundrels took your ship?”

Charlie frowned and hopped down from the large rock he was standing on. “It was-um-it was Queen Jo! She was jealous of my ship and took it!” He pointed his sword at his sister.

Johanna frowned. “I don’t wanna be a queen, I wanna be a pirate too!” She put her hands on her hips. “That’s no fair!”

“Girls can’t be pirates, Joey.” Charlie rolled his eyes.

“Now, hang on, Charlie-boy. Plenty of women pirates of legend.” Alfie told them.

“Pfft, yeah right.”

“I’ll tell you the story of Anne Bonny tonight.” Alfie crouched down when Molly grabbed at his pant leg. “Legendary pirate of the Caribbean Sea.” He picked up the youngest Shelby. “And a woman.”

“Ha!” Johanna beamed triumphantly. “I can be a pirate!”

Charlie frowned. “Fine, but I’m captain.” He asserted.

“Very well then, Johanna can be the first mate and Molly can keep watch from the crow’s nest.” Alfie propped Molly up on his shoulders. “Now let’s set a course for mum and dad, I think it’s nearly time for lunch.”

~~~~~~~~~~`

Charlie finished lunch before the others and wandered off when he was excused from the table. However, he wasn’t allowed to go back down to the beach by himself. So, he took to wandering around the sitting room. There were a few toys left out but he felt bored of the usual imaginary games he and Johanna played. Instead, he wandered back down the hall until he came across the coat rack. There, his father’s flat cap had slipped from one of the hooks.

The young boy, rapt with curiosity, picked up the cap and turned it over in his hands a few times. He took a hold of the brim and pushed back the part of the fabric that hid the razorblade carefully sewn inside. Too young to think through the consequences, he lightly placed his finger on the edge of the blade.

“Charlie! Drop that, now!” Tommy’s frantic voice from down the hall made Charlie startle and pull his hand back quickly. The motion caused him to cut his finger on the blade.

The moment he saw blood, Charlie began to panic. Fearless. He liked to think he was fearless. But he’d never cut himself so badly before. Before he could really react, Tommy picked him up, making him drop the cap. He brought Charlie into the kitchen and grabbed a dish towel to wrap around his son’s finger.

Alfie and Leah looked over from their spot at the table. “What’s going on?” She turned in her chair. "Is everything okay?"

“He accidentally cut his finger,” Tommy replied.

Charlie started to hyperventilate, tears pricking his eyes. He wanted to move his hand but his father kept a firm grip.

“Is he bleeding?” Leah stood up, suddenly locked into mother mode.

“Yeah.”

“Well, what on Earth happened?” She gasped as she saw there was blood seeping into the white cloth around Charlie’s finger. The boy had only been away from the table for a few minutes.

“He…he found my hat and was playing with it,” Tommy admitted. There was no use in lying.

“Why did you leave it out?” She demanded.

“I didn’t just leave it out!” Tommy argued over Charlie’s crying.

“Well, he got his hands on it, Tom!”

Alfie got up to separate the two. “Things fall from that coat rack all the time.” He said gently. “Let’s have a look-see then. If he needs stitches, there’s a doctor just down the road.”

Tommy tensed up but let Alfie take a peek at Charlie’s finger.

“Hm, doesn’t look too bad. Let’s get a bandage on it, yeah? You’re lucky, aye, your pirate name would’ve been Nine-Fingered Charlie!” The joke made the young boy laugh tearfully.

Leah took a deep breath and stepped back. Her eyes met Tommy’s. They both realized how fragile their relationship still was.

“I’ll go get something to wrap it up with,” Alfie said and headed down the hall.

Charlie sniffled. “I didn’t mean to do it.”

“I know, Charles, you just can’t play with sharp things,” Tommy replied quietly.

“But you wear it. Thought it would be okay.” He mumbled.

The hypocrisy was not lost on Tommy but he didn’t have an explanation suitable for the child. “I know. But you shouldn’t play with things that aren’t yours.”

Johanna peered over the top of her chair. “Is brother gonna be okay?” She asked.

“He’ll be fine, love,” Leah promised. “It was just an accident.”

“Just an accident.” Tommy echoed. He wiped Charlie’s tears. “Something we can all learn from.”

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no-url · 5 years

Text

Failsafe

Fandom: Young Justice

Pairing: Dick Grayson (Robin) x reader

Words: 1991

Author’s note: So this is my first fanfic on this website so i hope you enjoy it! :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the Failsafe, no one was the same.

Y/N watched the most composed lose their cool, the most optimistic curl in on themselves and the most stoic show real emotion- she even swore she saw Batman shed a tear upon witnessing the distressed teenagers.

Seeing all her friends die, it was a lot to process, especially for a child, so Y/N and the rest of the team invited sleep with open arms. But the night was even worse. Sleep had not taken full effect when the images started showing up – every pained expression, every scream of anguish, every nothingness that was left behind by those who died. Y/N tossed and turned in her sleep until she was jolted awake by one last scream: her own. She panted heavily as the sweat weighed down on her brow. She glanced at her clock – 2.45am. She sighed as she realised what a long night ahead she had.

The next morning, Y/N wearily made her way to the kitchen but was stopped in her tracks when a sudden chill came over her, her breath misting up the air. She half-sprinted to the usually warm control room to find it entirely covered in a layer of fresh snow. She stood there in disbelief, thinking her eyes had deceived her, as she heard the rest of the team coming up behind her, similar looks on confusion on their faces. Everyone knew who caused this – who else but the one whose power is weather control.

Just what I need right now, she thought to herself, lack of emotional control causing blizzards.

Wally didn’t seem to mind though, as he flung himself unto a particularly large snow pile with lightning speed. He did, however, mind the fact that the pile was rather shallow, and he face smacked into the floor. The team had a good laugh, then followed by a snowball war started by Dick, who took base up on the ceiling, and won by Artemis, who sniped him down. For a moment, they were just kids, messing about, not a care in the world.

After a long day of snowball fights, and then cleaning up the snow after the rest of the Justice League couldn’t get in, it was time to try and sleep. Emphasis on try. Y/N tossed and turned in her sleep, trying to shake everything out of her head. This time, her brain got a bit more creative by putting her in the bodies of all her friends. She saw everything through their eyes, including getting disintegrated. Each time she ‘died’ she expected the nightmare to finish. And every time, she just got put into another body, another doomed friend.

Suddenly, she was torn from her distressed slumber by a strong pair of hands shaking her awake. She blinked the sleep from her eyes as she made out Kaldur’s confused expression.

“You did it again,” he said matter-of-factly, almost solemnly. Y/N didn’t understand what he meant; her mind still fuzzy after being so rapidly awoken. That is until she glanced at the corridor behind Kaldur’s shoulder. It was completely shrouded in a thick fog, making it impossible to see the other side. Y/N buried her face in her hands as she scolded herself for letting her emotions run this loose. She raised her hand and quickly cleared the fog, unmasking the metal corridor and an irritated Artemis mumbling something about fuzzy hair. The rest of the day went without much hiccups: just combat training, workout session at the gym and some late-night patrol.

They returned at around 2 am and everyone quickly hit the hay. Y/N was apprehensive about falling asleep, knowing what she was capable of. But this time, I’ll be ok she reassured herself, thinking that she won’t cause any more freak weather accidents, after all the nightmares can’t get worse.

This nightmare was worse than the first two. It was her. Y/N was the reason her friends were dying. She tried to stop the disintegration ray by pushing her friends out of the way. Instead, she looked down and saw that she was the one disintegrating them. She screamed at her friends to move out of the way, but it was falling on deaf ears. They couldn’t hear and she couldn’t stop. It was awful. As she ripped herself from sleep, she felt the power coursing through her veins, and she knew that she did again. She jumped out of bed and sprinted down the hallway. She reached the control room, watching her friends try to salvage the equipment from the rain cloud looming over the floor, the rain drenching everything. Some of them went up to assure her that it was no issue and that it was nothing to worry about, whilst others just shot her weary, even pitiful, glances. She quickly got rid of the cloud and started to help her friends.

“Batman is so gonna kill us,” Dick remarked, probably not meaning to make Y/N feel worse but he did.

“I’m sure he’ll understand,” Kaldur, ever the optimist, replied, giving Y/N a sympathetic look. She smiled slightly but inside, she knew that she had to somehow fix this. If this is caused by me sleeping, she realised, I’ll just have to stop sleeping. A foolish idea, but logical for a 13-year-old, don’t you think?

She tried literally everything to occupy herself: read books, watched movies, mended her costume, worked out in the gym. The first night was ok but with each passing day, she found it harder and harder to stay awake. During the day, it was slowly becoming clearer that she wasn’t her usual fiery self, instead becoming more sluggish. The nights, however, were the worst. She eventually ran out of things to do and opted to lay on her bed, staring into the plain ceiling. The stillness of the cave and the silence of the night were slowly lulling her to sleep, which she almost welcomed with open arms. However, she quickly ripped herself from her bed and decided that she couldn’t take the silence anymore. With just her pyjamas on her back, not even making time to close the door or turn out the lights, she walked out of her room, out of the cave and to her favourite spot on the island: the beach.

------

Dick was having a difficult time falling asleep. It wasn’t that nightmares plagued him, but he just couldn’t get himself to sleep. The past few days, he spent in his own house. However, due to some fancy party held by his dad, he had to spend a night at the cave. The metal walls and silence were a massive change from Wayne Manor which was constantly filled with noise of some kind. The stillness of the night was too much to bear, so he decided to go to the kitchen for some milk, hoping that it would at least ease sleeping a little bit. As he walked through the long corridor, he noticed a light coming form down the hall. He walked quickly to investigate the source when he saw the open door leading to Y/N’s room. He looked in but saw that it was empty. Confusion crossed his mind as he wandered around the cave looking for her. He looked in the kitchen, the gym, the control room and the library. He didn’t know why he charged himself so much with finding her.

“After all, it’s not like we’re brilliant friends,” he muttered to himself as he walked on, a habit he’s recently been made aware of, “sure, I’m friends with her like everyone else on the team, and sometimes maybe we share a little more, but I’m sure it’s like that with everyone.”

His ponderings were quickly silenced when he bumped into a hard surface. He looked up and realised that he was at the exit of the cave that lead directly to the beach, Y/N’s favourite place. He didn’t know why he didn’t think of this place first, and he took a deep breath – not quite sure why – as he opened the door and stepped out into the cold evening air. Immediately, he felt the sand between his toes and chill go through his body as he took in the figure in front of him.

Y/N sat in the sand, curled up to keep out the cold, staring off into the sea, her mind wandering. She didn’t feel Dick’s presence behind her until she felt the ground shift slightly under her as he sat down beside her. No words passed between them for a short moment, though it felt like an eternity as she stared out at the water.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Y/N broke the silence softly, preceding the question she was sure Dick was about to ask.

Dick chuckled slightly. “Me neither.” Another silence filled the air. A gust of wind made its way across the beach, rustling the teenagers’ hair and pyjama hems. Y/N shivered slightly, making Dick look at her with a slight smile. “There are definitely warmer places to hang out,” he remarked.

A small smile formed on Y/N’s face. She would have been lying if she didn’t admit that she was rather fond of the Boy Wonder, who just always seemed to have the right thing to say to make her smile. “I like it here,” she replied, “it brings me closer to nature. I prefer it to those cold metal walls inside. Plus, it’s too quiet in there”

“I get it,” Dick agreed knowingly, “Sometimes, it’s too much like a cage. Still, much easier to fall asleep there than here. So why you out here?”

Y/N let out a small sigh as she looked down, noticing that the pair had moved closer together, their shoulders a whisper of a touch away. I’d have to tell him at some point anyways she thought to herself. So, she started to explain everything: about the nightmares, the freak weather and her plan to stop sleeping all together.

“But the cave was just too quiet so instead of being left alone with my thoughts, I reckoned I’d come somewhere where I can focus on something else.” Y/N finished her explanation, her heart feeling a little lighter now that she shared her feelings. She looked at Dick, not quite knowing what she expected his reaction to be. Wordlessly, he shuffled closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Immediately, his warmth spread through her body and she pressed herself closer to escape the chilling wind. A comfortable silence befell the pair and they stayed like this for many hours. Though they didn’t know this until many years yet to come, it was that night in which the two 13-year-olds started their true journey together, a journey that was written in the stars yet to be told.

The next morning consisted of a treasure hunt for the whole team as they attempted to find Dick and Y/N’s whereabouts. After an hour, the Justice League where called in to aid with the search. It was Batman, the – self- proclaimed- world’s greatest detective, who tracked them down. Batman knew the toll that the exercise had on the pair, so a gentle smile graced his usually stoic lips as he stood silently in the entrance way, watching the two peacefully sleeping in each other’s embrace, Dick’s arm still placed around Y/N, her head laying delicately on his shoulder. They were refreshed and good as new when they woke up later that day (which didn’t last long as they both caught a cold out on the beach and were bedridden for the rest of the week). However, their hearts were warmed up by the lack of images or screams lingering in their heads, as well as some other emotion that the pair couldn’t quite place. The team was back together, stronger and prouder than ever.

And the nightmares came no more. Nor did the snow, much to Wally’s dismay.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope you guys liked it :)

#young justice #dick grayson #dick grayson x reader #robin #robin x reader #yj #dc #justice league

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stanskzseungmin · 5 years

Text

BC ~ Corpse Party

Supernatural! + CorpseParty! AU

Genre: Angst, Horror

Trigger Warnings: Graphic descriptions of gore and death, Chan has a bit of a potty mouth oop-

Word Count: 4834

A/N: I took light inspirations from Corpse Party, but it isn't a direct retelling of the series. Credits to the original owners of Corpse Party for giving me inspiration for this imagining as well as credits for the character, Sachiko, and the Sachiko Ever After charm.

A/N 2: i actually tried to proofread this time (I know, shocking), but I got lazy and really want to get this one up lmao. So we kinda dying like men?

A/N 3: I suggest listening to the soundtrack as you read, but it's fine too if you don't.

Chan and you had always been close. You both grew up as next door neighbors. The two of you formed a fast friendship when your ball accidentally rolled over to your neighbor’s yard with it stopping by his feet. The dark haired boy with chubby cheeks looked at you with your red cherry ball within his hands. You had asked him if he wanted to play play along with a wide toothy smile that showed the gap in your teeth. You ran over the boundary to grab him by the wrist and the rest was history.

“Hey, short stuff. Are you ready to leave this hell hole?” Chan chuckled landing a light punch on your shoulder.

“You’re not going to be able to leave this hell hole if you don’t study for your final. I didn’t agree to stay after school to tutor you just for you to fool around,” you smiled back tossing a rolled up paper ball at him. The ball bouncing pathetically off his forehead, eliciting a “hey!” from him.

“Nu uh. You’re not tutoring me, I’m tutoring you,” Chan enunciated by pointing at himself then pointing at you.

“Dork,” Chan laughed at your remark. ”Chan, we’re tutoring each other on different subjects.”

“I can’t wait to go home, I’m pooped,” Chan exclaimed dramatically.

“Me too, but we’re stuck here until the storm ends,” you pointed your pen to the window with rain pattering against the glass as the night sky lit up with a loud thunderous boom.

“Ugh!” Chan leaned back in his chair and throwing his head back.

“Might as well to use this time to not procrastinate and squeeze in extra studying,” you suggested.

“But I don’t wanna~” Chan whined.

“What are you? 8?” you chuckled, shaking your head.

“Don’t you have any other ideas?” Chan sighed slumping over the table, sprawling his limbs over both your notes.

“I got one idea.”

“Do tell,” Chan sat up leaning his cheek on his hand.

“Do you have scissors?” you asked pulling out a sheet of paper.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Chan rummaged through his backpack for the school supply.

“Have you ever heard about the ’Sachiko Ever After’ charm?” you asked grabbing the scissors from his grasp.

“Mmm mmm,” Chan pressed his lips together as he shook his head.

“I read it on a blog online,” you started, cutting the paper into a doll shape. “It’s a charm that blesses people with eternal friendship.”

“Lame,“ Chan snorted.

“Rude,” you pouted.

“Hey, we’ll still be friends forever,” Chan smiled grabbing your hand gently shaking it softly. “So what is it?”

“Legend has it that years ago there was a school that was met with a tragedy. The school nurse died in a tragic accident: she fell down the stairs and her neck was deformed and bent out of shape. Allegedly her daughter, Sachiko, went missing that same night.”

“And this ensures eternal friendship how?” Chan inquired, his eyebrow quirking up. The room lit up as thunder boomed.

You shrugged as you cleaned up the shape of the paper doll. “They say that her spirit still wanders the earth and she has the ability to grant wishes. If you do the ‘Sachiko Ever After’ charm, her spirit will channel through and give her blessings for eternal friendship.”

“Cool,” Chan smiled. “So how do we do it?”

You held up the paper doll. “We need at least two people in order to do the charm. We both have to firmly grasp parts of this doll, then we chant ‘Sachiko, we beg of you.’ We have to do it in our head, one time for each person in the room. In our case, we have to chant it twice. Afterwards, we have to pull on the doll. Ideally, we keep the paper scrap on our person at all times.”

Thunder struck loudly as the room shook lightly.

Chan laughed. “This could be a sign? Sachiko doesn’t want us to be friends.”

“Very funny, Chan,” you responded sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Chan grinned at you grabbing the doll’s legs with you grabbing the head.

“You ready?” you looked at him.

“Yeah,” Chan smiled.

‘Sachiko, we beg of you. Sachiko, we beg of you.’

Chan and you made eye contact and nodded to each other signifying you were done. With a firm grip, you both pulled on the doll, the paper ripping along the waist.

Lightning tore through the night sky as deafeningly loud thunder broke through the silence. The walls shook lightly as the lights flicker. The window shatters as the harsh winds force the tree branch that was tapping on the glass to break through.

“Wack,” Chan frowned, leaning over to his backpack to grab his wallet and slide his piece of paper into it with you doing the same to yours.

“So, now you’re stuck with me for eternity,” you giggled.

“Gasp. The horror!” Chan smiled as he grabbed the fabric of his shirt over where his heart is residing before throwing an arm around you to pull you into a hug.

You and Chan paused as the entire building shook. The tables moving along the vibrations. The lights were flickerings as books were shaken out of the book shelves.

“Earthquake!” Chan called out, reaching out to grab your shoulders to pull you down to the ground.

“Channie!” you called out, with panic laced in your voice.

“I’m here, I got you-”

The ground shook once more, this time the shaking was so much more forceful. You felt the vibrations stopping momentarily as the ground disappeared below you. Your heart skipped a beat and you and Chan stared at the dark abyss that suddenly appeared below you. Soon afterwards, both you and Chan starting falling into the darkness as a scream ripped out of your throat.

“Y/N!” Chan called out to you, reaching out to you. Your hands reach up to grab at his sleeves as he pulled you close to his body. “Don’t let go!”

That was the last thing you’ve heard before you were engulfed by the darkness.

You awaken (by Stray Kids) in an unfamiliar place. You sat up slightly, feeling the searing pain in your shoulder. You let out a small whine as you rubbed at your aching shoulder with your free hand.

“Chan?” you called out for your friend realizing he wasn’t with you. “CHAN?!”

You stood up on your knees as your frantically looked around the room. Outside the window was the same familiar thundering storm, but the room you were in was unfamiliar. The walls were greying and weak. The paint has chipped off, worn over the years exposing the weak splintering wood underneath. The floor was made of the same wood. There were holes decorating the floor as a few planks were popped up. Surrounding you were many desks, broken and tattered, knocked over haphazardly. Curiously, the desks were all on the smaller side. There were a few posters pasted to the walls, the ink and image faded away due to age. You can barely make out the faded text and image. It looked to be what was one a colorful cartoonish image with various letters on it.

Were you in...an elementary school?

“Channie?” you called out again, standing on your feet.

Thunder rumbled lightly outside as the rain pitter pattered lightly on the window. Lightning cracked through the atmosphere again, illuminating the dark room momentarily. You screamed at what you saw, backing up quickly. Your back roughly collided into the book shelf as you lost balance. Your hands reach out to the shelf to catch yourself.

Opposite of you on the other side of the room, was a sprawled body. An arm was outstretched as the head rested on the limb. Both eyes were void of any contents as it appeared as if a vast emptiness was staring deep into your soul. The mouth was open in a silent scream. The skin was grey with several wrinkles and had a texture similar to leather. The clothes were ripped and tattered as you saw bone peeking through the holes.

“Oh my god,” you breathed out, feeling your legs give out under you. You curled up on the floor, pulling your knees to your chest. Your hands overlap over your erratic heart as your breaths labor. You felt a chill ran down your spine as goosebumps appeared on your arms. You lifted your arm into view as your fingers grazed over the bumps to soothe them.

In your peripherals, a blue light illuminated the corner. In curiosity, you faced the light. Your heart dropping as your eyes widen. In a seated position with her knees pulled to her chest, a girl, red, boring deep into your souls. Her skin looked pure and pale as a sheet, but her red attire, what used to be a pretty red dress was torn and distressed. The fabric was fraying out and dirtied with who knows what -- things you wouldn’t dare to imagine. The figure’s hair was long and dark and in disarray. Strands of hair lingered in front of her face as her glaring wide eyes peeked through, you can feel her gaze burning holes through you.

You made eye contact with a girl as you felt an electric shock running throughout your veins. Cold sweat began forming in various spots in your body as your breathing became increasingly more labored. Fear wracked your body when you realized that your limbs felt as if it wasn’t your own anymore. The girl, without a sudden sound, stood upright in a straight posture and walked menacingly close to you. You wanted to protest, but even your mouth betrayed you. Your mouth was fixed in its clenched position as you were forced to watch the specter inch ever so closer to you. A hand was brought to her chest as the object glinted. Held by the base of the blade, was a squeaky clean unrusted pair of scissors as the lips curled upward in a small innocent smile.

Your blood curdling scream ripped through the air.

Chan had awaken with a jolt as he shot awake. His head was pounding as he rolled onto his back with a pained moan. He brought his fingers up to the throbbing pain, feeling warm liquid and a slight stinging upon contact. Bringing his hand into view revealed to the Aussie his brilliantly red coated fingers.

“Fuck,” Chan let his hand fall limp as he screwed his eyes shut. Chan let out a breathy sigh as he cracked his eyes open a bit. He took a nice long look at the cracked, worn and discolored ceiling not recognizing it.

“What the fuck? Where am I?” Chan wondered out loud shooting up into a sitting position, wincing loudly at the throbbing on his head protesting from the abrupt action.

“Ow ow ow,” Chan pressed his palm firmly onto the head wound as he willed himself off the ground.

Lightning illuminated the room briefly. It was a small quaint room with faint evidence of childish crayon and marker scribbles on the wall. The floor was littered with various markers and crayons as well as various toys. Chan scanned the room from left to right. He eyed the sprawled out letter blocks, each block was gathering dust and spread out haphazardly. He then analyzed the several balls that were scattered on the floor. Chan’s eyes narrowed at a point of interest as he stepped forward towards an oddly familiar ball.

“What the fuck?” Chan shook his head in disbelief. His hand reached for the ball, his fingers grazing over the worn rubber as he rolled it towards him.

“No,” Chan said sternly backing away quickly from the ball. Written on the ball scribbled with permanent marker was his and your names from your childhood days. Chan remembered the ball that started his long lasting friendship and vaguely recalled the ball popping and tossed due to the worn rubber from continuous use and play being weak and thin. Chan remembered the ball bouncing into his parent’s rose bush and the beloved toy popping.

“That’s- that’s not possible,” Chan whispered out. Chan turned away to step out of the room only to trip over the stacks of blocks gathered by his feet. “What?”

Chan’s eyes darted to the corner where the blocks were previously rested at only to find it bare. How did it gather at his feet?

"This is getting freaky," Chan grumbled stepping over the blocks.

Chan made his way towards the door of the room only to find a flipped over toy remote car blocking the doorway. Unlike everything else in the room that was greying and gathering dust, the car had a brilliant gloss and sheen over the red paint. Chan bent down to pick up the toy car and examine it closely. It looked to be in pristine condition with a fairly strong smell of fresh plastic.

"Why- aah!" Chan yelped when the car revved to life as the front two wheels began turning left and right frantically dropping the car as it fell and bounced on the ground. Pieces of plastic shattered and fluttered off during impact. The car bounced and rolled until it was on its hood, the battery casing popping off the bottom.

It was empty.

A loud scream shrieked through the atmosphere as Chan jumped up ready.

"Y/N? Y/N!" Chan barreled out of the room into an unfamiliar hallway.

"Oh shit," Chan cursed as he stopped just in time, swaying back and forth trying to keep his balance. The room Chan was in led to a collapsed floor. The wood was splintering around the edges and the remaining wood creaked and groaned under Chan's weight. Chan peered down the hole, it seemed endless; Chan was unable to see past the darkness.

Chan pressed his back against the wall to shimmy his way to his right down the hallway back to solid ground. Going left wasn't an option do to the lack of structurally sound wood, the ones that were there looked as if they were rotting away and can give way when applied any sort of pressure.

Chan could hear you scream once more.

"Y/N?" Chan looked past the huge collapsed gap on the floor as he sees you stumbling out of your room, landing directly on your back. Your eyes were wide and glossy, your hair was disheveled with several strands sticking in every direction. Panic wracked through your body, Chan can see all the trembles and could almost hear your labored breathing.

"Y/N? Y/N!" Chan tried to call out to you from his side of the gap.

Your head slowly turned to face his directly as your face paled impossibly whiter as if you've seen a ghost. Whimpers erupted from your lips as you quickly back up and ran away.

"Y/N! Wait!" Chan called out, reaching out an arm, but you were already gone.

You whimpered to yourself as you slowly walked down the stairs, jumping slightly after every creek of the wood holding against your weight. Paranoia wracked your being as your dilating eyes dart back and forth at every single nook and cranny. The air felt heavier the further you walked down as if there were more paranormal activity in the air, but you kept pushing on. You needed to get away from that thing you saw.

"Anything was better than that," you would whisper to yourself in a dire attempt to console your erratically beating heart. A fleeting feeling rushed through you. The heavy atmosphere felt as if it was pushing against you, the weight of it putting pressure over the entire surface area of your body. Your thighs subconsciously rubbed against each other as your hands absentmindedly trailed down to your pelvis area. You didn't notice it before, but it felt full and overflowing, close to bursting. The heavy atmosphere made the need for relief more dire.

You whined loudly. Why did you need to go now of all times?

You rushed down the hallway, each step creaking loudly in protest as you pushed opened the door. You yelped after being greeted by another deceased form, two actually. One larger than the other as it held the smaller within its arms. Both their eyes were hollow and dark like the one before, but their facial skin had more integrity. It was off colored with hollow cheeks. Their clothes looked clean, almost too clean. What was more off putting was the familiarity of it. You screamed shaking your head vigorously as tears flowed out in streams with your body shaking in fear.

They were donning what you and Chan were wearing.

"How horrible," Chan grumbled gazing at the sight of two bodies before him. One was was upright against the wall with the other sprawled on the floor. The one sat up right had a dark stain on their dress shirt. The once white shirt now had a large black spot. The skin underneath looked raw and torn, the flesh looked ferociously torn open by a wild animal. The other body lying on the floor had a similar black stain along their jaw. The body had decayed enough where the skin shriveled and exposed the teeth, within the junction between two teeth had evidence of meaty flesh that used to be there.

Chan groaned in disgust as he leaned down to grasp at the discarded piece of parchment. The back was blank and had a dark browning blood smear. Chan turned the piece of parchment over to read the desperate chicken scratch. Most of it was illegible and covered by drying bits of blood and dirt.

"We… starving.

… food…

Itchy… scratchy…

Rock, paper, scissors

Loser… eats winner."

"Oh my fucking god," Chan exclaimed tossing aside the scrap note. "This has got to be a sick joke."

Chan shuddered momentarily as he continued down his hallway trying to make his way to you. Chan wasn’t really the type to believe in the paranormal. Sure, Chan liked to indulge in the superstitions and the good scare of ghost stories (much to your dismay), but that doesn’t necessarily mean he believes in them. The whole building seemed to look in complete disrepair as if not a single soul has been here for years. The entire place was silent, more or less, the only noises that permeated throughout the entire building were the muffled thunderstorm outside, the building settling and himself. Chan’s entire body stiffened as a cold chill ran down his spine. A low moaning came and went like it wasn’t even there. Chan whipped around to check his behind only to see nothing out of the ordinary. Soft gurgling could be heard, similar to someone gurgling their mouth with mouthwash. Chan whipped around once more, each noise came and went but it sounded like it was directly behind him.

“What is this bullshit?” Chan mumbled under his breath, turning back the way he was originally going. His breath hitched when he noticed a figure of a small child glowing a pale blue at the end of the hallway. Chan’s eyes widen as he blinked repeatedly.

“No,” Chan spat. “I am not seeing ghosts.”

The same gurgling sound could be heard from the child. Chan gulped once he finally took in the child’s entire appearance. The child was wearing what used to be a white sweater, the white now painted a brilliant red along with a simple pleated skirt, knee high socks and black flats-- standard elementary uniform. While her body seems physically unharmed, her head was an entirely different story. Chan froze in place as he felt as if his feet were nailed to the ground. The girl trudged towards Chan with a slight wobble and limp to her step. A bloodied hand was outreached trying to grasp at Chan as she walked closer. Chan’s jaw went slack staring directly at the girl, everything jaw up was missing. It was a painful sight. The skin looked red and raw, the anatomical evidence of the upper mandible and the upper vertebrates of the spine was gone. Pieces of hair were desperately holding onto the missing skin of the neckline and the skin desperately looked like it was ready to roll back down as if you wore pants with too loose of a waist band. The flatness of it was horrendous, the lower half of her head look as if it was displaying the lower jaw and tongue on a rouge serving platter.

Another loud scream broke him from his trance. Your scream.

The headless girl still walked over towards Chan every so slightly with an arm outstretched with gurgling noises coming from the blood bubbling in her esophagus. Even if the danger before had a higher threat, his priority was you. Chan pushed forward sidestepping the girl, her tiny hands barely missed Chan as he rushed for the staircase behind her. Chan barreled down the stairs, his left hand holding on the railing using it as leverage to swing around the staircase. Chan let out a pained yelped as his fingers sliced on something. Chan stopped where he stood to examine his fingers. A huge gash was lined diagonally beginning from his index down to his middle as the blood spewed out in rivers of red as it dripped to the floor.

“Ah, shit. Shit, shit, shit,” Chan cursed grasping at his fingers trying to stop the blood flow. Upon closer inspection, Chan noticed a singular nail protruding out of the hand rail. A bundle of piano wire was gathered around the metal objects as it stretched out to the wall opposite. A small portion of the wire was dyed red with Chan’s blood as a singular drop fell towards the floor.

“What the fuck?” Chan breathed out, analyzing the wire. His uninjured hand ghosted over the wire wincing by how sharp it was. It was thin, almost transparent to the naked eye. Only upon close inspection with a critical eye, would one see the metal wire.

“That’s fucked up,” Chan ducked under that metal wire to continue on.

What you don’t know, can’t hurt anyone right?

You were currently waddling with your thighs being pushed together as you desperately trying to hold it in. You had some pride within you, you wouldn’t be able to live it down if you had to squat in the corner to relieve yourself. Even if Chan never knew about it, you can practically hear Chan clowning you about it for the rest of your life.

“Oh my god, yes! Thank you!” you sighed as your bolted toward the restroom with a sign that displayed a silhouette in a skirt. Your hand reached for the handle when a familiar voice from within stopped you. It was an old fashioned knob with an old fashioned keyhole. You kneeled down peek through the keyhole. As you expected, the voice was indeed familiar. You could see Chan standing before a stall. His head was hung low slightly. You noticed there was someone in the stall Chan was standing in front of, but you couldn’t see or hear who it was. Only parts of her front were peeking out of the stall, you can faintly see the outline of the figure standing on a bucket with their arms rope bound before her. You could also make out a rope tied to the ceiling.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” you panicked as your heart raced in your chest. You watch Chan without hesitation kick the bucket from under the figure as their bound hands flew to their neck. “Oh god. Channie, why?” you wailed out. You gasped when you see Chan turn his head towards the door, his eyes were hidden behind his fringes that were matte and almost sticking to his forehead.

Whimpering lightly, you stumbled backwards totally ignoring the need to relieve yourself as adrenaline rushed through your system. Quickly getting up to your feet, you sprinted the other way, ducking into the first hallway you passed. Your eyes were clenched shut as you blindly sprinted the other direction. The sound of your erratic heartbeat was thundering loudly in your ears as you heard heavy footsteps behind you.

You screamed when you collided with a hard chest. The impact sending you falling to the ground with you landing on your butt ungracefully.

“Y/N?” the voice called out to you. You felt his hand gently grasping your arm.

“No! Let me go!” you wailed, kicking at your assailant.

“Y/N? Y/N! It’s me, Chan! It’s ok, I got you!” he tried to calm you down by grasping at both your flailing arms.

Your eyes cracked open to the man before you. How did he end up ahead of you? You didn’t even stop to consider that he actually looks different. Unlike the Chan you saw just moments before, this Chan actually had a head injury-- red, raw, puffy and bleeding and his fringe was still styled up and out of his face exposing his forehead and eyes.

However, the murder you had witnessed was still fresh in your mind. You screamed and thrashed within Chan’s grip who was desperately trying to ground you in reality. Your breathing was getting ragged and breathy as panic struck. You watched Chan murder someone, what if he was going to murder you too?

“It’s ok. It’s ok, Y/N. Just breathe!” Chan spoke calmly trying not to prod at your panic attack. “Y/-”

You managed to release your dominant arm from his grip and gave him a firm blow to the jaw with your fist and kicking him off of you, by landing a swift harsh kick to his torso knocking the air out of his lungs and him flying backwards. Chan was coughing roughly from the harsh attack.

“Y/-” he coughed, interrupting himself mid sentence. You got up, jumping over his downed body and sprinted down the hallway.

“Wait! Y/N!” Chan called out to you as he stood up to follow.

“Get away from me!”

“Why? Y/N, wait! Talk to me, please!”

“No! No! No! Leave me alone!” you bawled, your voice cracking after every word. You pulled open the door to the stairway and ran up the stairs. The door swinging shut behind you as Chan’s eyes widen in horror remembering what was there.

“Y/N! DUCK!” Chan screamed out desperately.

“What?” you breathed out.

Thump.

Chan’s heart skipped a beat as he stopped before the door. Suddenly he felt as if he was a fly ensnared in a fly trap. His legs were heavy as if gravity had his ankles in a vice grip.

“Y/N?” Chan whispered out, his voice betrayed him.

“Y/N?” he called out once more weeping.

He willed his legs to move even if they so desperately want to stay rooted to the ground. With trembling hands, he wrapped his fingers around the door handle and slowly pulled the door open. His heart was trembling in his chest as he feared what was going to be revealed behind the door.

“No, no, no,” Chan weeped shaking his head. His face scrunched up as his lips parted to weep and his eyes welled with tears. A strong stench of urine filled his nose. Your body was slumped over the incline of stairs with a leg bent awkwardly in an unnatural direction, a puddle of liquid pooling just below your pelvis. Your eyes were wide staring straight at him as your jaw went slack. Your cheeks were decorated by the recently running tears. From the piano wire suspended in between the wall and the railing, a section was red and dripping as your head rolled, bouncing pathetically down each step like a deflated ball with it stopping by his feet.

“Hey there! Do you want to play ball with me?” you called out with a toothy smile, showing off the gap between your teeth proudly.

Ugly screams ripped through his vocal chords. Chan’s cries of despair, mourning and pure raw emotion kept coming out. His voice reverberated throughout the walls. Chan fell to his knees, his hands grasping at his locks pulling at it as he kept screaming. His eyes were wide as his gaze couldn’t focus on anything other than your lifeless orbs.

Stood atop the stairway as the familiar headless specter in blue. Chan looked at her in horror as tears free fell from his eyes. She outreached her hand again, but this time something was within her small grasp. Chan recognized the faux leather material, the smiling faces of you and Chan was shown from the display pocket of your wallet. In her other hand, the bottomless paper doll that was yours. Chan can feel the weightless paper scrap securely stored in his wallet weighing down his pocket.

“Cool,” Chan smiled. “So how do we do it?”

You held up the paper doll. “We need at least two people in order to do the charm.”

We need at least two people in order to escape.

#stray kids #skz #stray kids angst #stray kids chan #bang chan #skz chan #stray kids imagines #chan

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sweetdejun · 4 years

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coterie: the black leather bracelet (1/2)

gang!x1 x fem!reader

synopsis: you’re an ordinary girl, with an ordinary life. but what happens when you catch the gang that is famous for keeping their deeds under the table, in action?

coterie’s masterlist can be found here

pairing: lee hangyul and y/n

a/n: sexual themes, cursing, mentions of alcohol and drugs, so proceed with caution.

the thin black leather weaved around your hand like it’s known the accessory for years now. as you showed the group, your cheeks reddened and your eyes widened, as the guy who flirtatiously introduced himself to you stepped up. ugh, you should have known. “oh, yeah!” he yelps, stepping forward, and hope over to give you a high five, which you timidly reciprocate. “you’re freaking her out, hangyul,” seungwoo scolds the boy, who pouts in response. “thanks for being a party pooper, hyung. anyways, y/n, meet me at the terrace tonight at 7. sharp. I’ll be waiting.” and with one more wink and a smirk, hangyul slips off down another hallway. pretty soon, you leave the group of boys, heading back into your own room. hangyul, you think. the name’s quite nice if it weren’t for the fact that his glare felt like a predator watching its prey. you only know what that look can lead to because as surprised as people usually get when you talk about it, you’re not a virgin. when you tell people that, the first thing they say is, “really?”, as if you admitted to something crazy. you’re in college, and your parents aren’t on your ass 24/7, and you’re also a functioning teen with raging hormones; it was going to happen eventually. but, just because you’ve lost your virginity, you definitely weren’t a sex-crazed person. you knew your limits, and in short, didn’t get much sex because, well, school and your future’s also been a more important priority (“as it should be,” you recall telling soobin when she tried to drag you to the club one Friday night... of course, you won that night and were binge-watching shows whilst she was out and about.) but even so, you’re very aware of what that look can lead to, and you don’t want to smash someone you will be working with, especially since you’ve just met. yeah, he was a good-looking guy, and you’re damn sure he knows it. his piercing gaze is what you see when you bounce onto your bed and shut your eyes and you let out a frustrated groan before you check the time. it was almost 7; the dark hours of the night came much faster than you liked. you took the leather bracelet with you, which you had tightly clenched in your palm when you returned to your room, as you left to the terrace. you wanted to return the piece of jewelry in case he’d wanted it back or something- you certainly didn’t want to keep it. you reached the terrace a few minutes after 7 and found hangyul standing with his back facing you, and his hands in his pocket. at the sound of your footsteps, he turned around. the wind blew threw his grey-dyed locks, and the moonlight reflected upon them, creating a halo-like effect. “ah, y/n, you’re late. but I guess better late than never, am I right?” he chuckles and shuffles closer to you until his face is inches away from yours. your eyes flutter at his sudden proximity and he scoffs, “why’re you nervous, princess? never been this close to a guy before?” who does he think he is, you think and you step back, squinting at him, irked. “no, I just like to keep my distance, that’s all,” you start. your outburst catches hangyul off guard but you continue anyway. “here’s your bracelet, pal,” you give it to him and he slips it back on right away, before saying, “it’s a shame you picked me, then.”

your eyebrows scrunch up at his remark. “what do you mean?” hangyul gives you one final smile before turning back towards the sky and replacing his hands back into his pockets. “you don’t know what I do, do you?” you shook your head, and responded, “no, I don’t, but the way you said that... makes me curious.” “I’m sure you are familiar with a... femme fatale, right?” he says. “a female who seduces people and fucks them up, for lack of better words,” you explain and his eyebrows go up. “wow, you know your stuff,” he praised, and you relaxed a bit. “yeah, I’ve seen a few characters like that in movies and stuff, so I am familiar with it.” hangyul’s smile is small as he says, “well, my job on this team is similar, to say the least. I’m the homme fatale of this team; the goal of this job is to get as close I can get to my targets, just so I can get enough information out of them, to hand over to our clients to use against them. how I get close to them, well, I’ll leave that to your imagination,” the wind picks up in temperature and speed, and you shiver. seeing this, hangyul, who was clad in a leather jacket, slid said article of clothing off his shoulders and draped it over you instinctively. “thanks,” you mumble, and you’re so glad it’s dark out because you feel your face getting a bit hot. “no problem. listen, if you don’t want to do this job, I get it. I won’t force you into doing anything you don’t want to do. I can talk to seungwoo and maybe he can find something else for you to do if you’re not comfortable with the idea. so before you make any sort of decision, I wanna give you some time. I understand that working with me, especially with the job I have, you may get uncomfortable easily. I mean, it’s not hard to notice how you’ve kind of tensed up since I mentioned the details. forget that, you look uncomfortable around me, and we haven’t even seen each other for a day.” you bite the inside of your cheek and keep your gaze on the ground. you sigh, before looking back at him, “it’s nothing, honestly. I just... it takes me time to warm up to someone. I guess you can say I never really act like myself around someone until I’ve had a better understanding of who they are, and I think they have a better understanding of who I am. so, if I made it seem like I don’t like you, that’s not the case at all. yeah, I’m slightly uncomfortable, but I’m genuinely like that with most people I meet for the first time.” hearing you speak up, the corner of hangyul’s mouth lifts up slightly. “that’s good. at least now I know you don’t hate me. but, regardless of what you say I’ll give you a few days. sleep on it, come to a decision and then let me know. and until then, stay warm, sugar.” his tongue runs along his lower lip before he leaves you in the terrace, his jacket still resting warmly against your body.

you go back to your room and shut the door. god, you think, you must’ve made a wrong first impression on him. well, to be fair, you did find his actions, uhh, violating. maybe it showed on your face. you feel your heart drop slightly and you feel the anxiety rise in you. great, now you feel bad. “why do things have to be so complicated?” your voice becomes muffled in your pillow, as you press it against your face and exaggerate a whine. it takes you a few moments to think about it. seungwoo told you that who you used to be won’t matter in this job. nor will whatever you do in this job affect your future life. confusion fogged your head, and you didn’t know what to do. the only thing you could hear was hangyul telling you to think about it before coming to a decision. then, your vision started to blur before everything went completely black.

you saw a nightclub; neon lights and the smell of booze quite fresh in the air, and sounds of people around you mixed terribly with the bass of the music. through the dancing drunken youth, against the bar counter sat two familiar figures. one of them was hangyul, who had taken down a shot of tequila, with a pretty girl securely wrapped in his free arm, his hand how caressing her waist and next to him, was you. you looked almost unrecognizable, but you knew it was you, it had to be. your hair was done all nice, and you were in a shimmery, gold mini dress, and heels. you seemed to be drunk, by the way your head was moving, struggling to stay steady. then you turned around and saw your gaze fixated in your direction, and a small smirk painted your red lips. you got out of your seat and walked through the sweaty crowds of people, only to balance yourself on the shoulders of some guy, and before anything could be done, you kissed him square on the lips. one thing led to another, and you managed to drag the boy into a corner, where you climbed on top of him, your lips now on his neck. things were getting hot and heavy, and before anyone could take it a step further, the boy froze. why? because the girl who was giving him a good time stopped to press a gun against his abdomen. “give me the syringes you have in your pockets, like a good boy,” you whispered against his ear. his shaky hands reached into his pockets and pulled out the drug-filled instruments then placed them in your free hand. “very good, baby. now that I have evidence against you, and there is a video recording of this being made, I’m going to make this very clear,” you start off, your thumb running across his quivering bottom lip. “you don’t want to ruin daddy’s reputation when he finds out this is what you’ve been using the tuition money for, right? he thinks he’s sent his son to a fine, foreign university, when really, he’s here blowing that money on prostitutes and drugs.” the boy shakes his head no, and the smirk appears once again on your smeared red mouth. “then take this pretty little face of yours, and move away to a different city. or country, I don’t give a fuck. but step away from mr. park’s daughter. he’s caught on to your little act, and if he finds you around his daughter again, remember the gun is only here, but I won’t hesitate to shoot next time. got it?” the boy stutters out a response before you give him a sickeningly sweet smile and then whisper, “now, shoo.”

you sit up, breathing heavily in the room. you blink rapidly and realize it was all a dream, but man, were you a badass or what? you feel this adrenaline rush through your veins, and it feels so fucking good. this is all it took? a dream to convince you that you wanted to take this job? apparently, it was more than enough because when the next day rolls around, and you’re looking for hangyul, you find him once again on the terrace the next night. you clear your throat, and hangyul turns around, a quizzical look in his eyes. taking a deep breath before releasing it, your gaze meets his before you say, “I’ve come to a decision, and yes, I’ll take the job.” hangyul’s eyebrows go up in surprise, and before he has a chance to express anything, you say, “I made this decision on my own, and yeah, I’m aware of any danger it could put me in, but I’m willing to try it out. for the fun of it.” hangyul laughs at this, before nodding, “alright, princess. welcome aboard.”

#coterie by sweetdejun #coterie #hangyul #lee hangyul #x1 hangyul #x1 lee hangyul #x1 #x1 series #x1 au #x1 aus #비상: QUANTUM LEAP #x1 quantum leap #quantum leap au #quantum leap #sweetdejun #kpop writing #kpop series #kpop au #kpop aus

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trojansblr · 5 years

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#FightOn! (05) | OT7 Halloween edition!

Summary: The University of Southern California is a prestigious school - only the best or the richest can attend. That means there will be a lot of spoiled brats. Two groups start colliding and the entire college shift alongside them. What will happen when sparks starts to flow between them? Drama will certainly be there.

Pairing: BTS with -eventually- female characters

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut (in the future), College!au, Interactive!au, Halloween!au

Word Count: 20k UNEDITED

A/N: First things first thank you so much to everyone who patiently waited and sent me nice messages. You guys helped my not so confident ass going hehe :’) also, thank you Ali and Lily for being and unconditional support, even if this piece is a mess. You guys make me feel embraced and secure! Like I said, it’s not perfect and it’s more like a comedy based on the sad life of emo Jungkook or something than a proper halloween/suspense story, but I tried and had fun in the process! That’s what counts to me. I hope you all like it and also, I’ll be waiting for asks and conspiracy theories on the discord chat hehehe Happy -first part of- Halloween, fam! Love you all very very much. 🖤🎃

P/S: It was hard to insert so many people into one chapter but! to the one’s that didn’t show that much, don’t worry, part 2 coming out soon and you will definitely show more there hehehe and I can assure you guys part two will be even more chaotic.

The Characters • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5

USC’s haunting night, which came to an end with a shocking reveal, began with nothing more than an exciting buzz that hovered in the air.

The students were now filling up the campus streets with contagious laughter and thrill. A few lamp poles were shining through this dark afternoon in the fall of 2019, orange pumpkins adorning the entrances of the old buildings, three leaves and skeletons that happened to be hanged around were dancing in the howling wind. It was Halloween night, it was time to trick and be tricked, it was time to pretend to be someone you were not while dancing the night away… you could tell by the way all houses were being left in the dark, that every student residing here waited anxiously for this chance of playing pretend.

A built up silhouette wrapped up in a tight red suit, walked in a fast pace towards the Fluor Tower, nobody to be seen down the gloomy streets since the party was located in the opposite direction. The unforgiving wind made walking a little worse for the boy, his breathing against the mask he was wearing began to feel heavier and warmer but there was no way he would take it off now. His friends needed to see him in full costume, he kept thinking. The boy beneath the mask was Jungkook Jeon. His friends, known to most of the university as the Y Group, were all gathered at Deo and Hyori’s dorm room, waiting for him.

Hyori was the one suggesting the disguise Jungkook was now wearing. A week before this, the boy was still indecisive about what to wear and in one rainy afternoon, while they all ate a cheesy pizza and the rain tumbled endlessly against the window, she suggested him to dress like Spiderman with an obvious glance sent through the other end of the table.

Once he was almost reaching the girls building, he started hearing euphoric chattering close by. Hoseok’s laughter impossible to mistake by somebody else’s.

“I can’t believe he actually did it!” Jungkook heard Hoseok say and immediately the idea of hiding behind a tree and pulling a prank on his friends crossed his mind. That was exactly what he did “That guy is crazy to say at least!” laughter filled the chilly air.

“I never doubted he wasn’t” Hyori added sharply.

“Where’s Jungkook though? Didn’t he say he was like- 5 minutes from here?” The boy’s attention was now fully focused on Deo “I’m going to die if we stay here any longer waiting” the sound of her shoe tapping nervously onto the floor didn’t go unnoticed by the hidden spidey.

“Want my jacket?” Jimin offered “He did say he was a few minutes away? Maybe he met someone?”

“Jungkook is more anti social than I am, I doubt he stopped by with someone-” Hyori started but was quickly interrupted.

“HEY! No I’m not!” he let out by impulse making the group snap their heads towards the direction of the sound. Hoseok’s hands fled to grab Deo’s arm who was near him, his eyes almost popping out. Both girls unable to form a sound, too caught up in the moment.

“Fuck-” Jungkook cursed under his breath once he realized what he did.

“Aaaaish!” Jimin said out loud; adrenaline running through his veins, although he would never admit he got a little scared for a second there.

“Are you serious dude??” Deo said once she saw someone coming from behind a tree, ready to throw some hands at whoever it was. She was dressed like Cher Horowitz from Clueless, the movie, one that Jungkook himself had seen countless times once he was younger. He remember turning on the tv on Sunday afternoons and seeing the actress face over and over again. Deo did a great job, he thought.

“It’s spider man now” he started walking towards his friends, arms coming to the front of him to mimic the superhero spider web shooting action “How do I look?”

“Ya, this guy will never change” Hoseok laughed it out “I was really scared, you- you dumbass” he finished making the younger laugh. Hoseok wasn’t far behind, and the character he had chosen a month before, was on everyone’s opinion, the perfect choice for him. Ace Ventura was spirited and loud in every way Hoseok could be. His clothes were probably arranged by his sister, she loved to dress up her younger brother and Hoseok didn’t mind at all, and his hair… Wow, his hair!

“Imagine if it went like I had planned it to” Jungkook chuckled and reached back to tug into his mask and pull it off. His heavy huff louder now, hair completely messy.

“I could punch you in the face I swear to God!” Deo started but the corners of her mouth were already pulling up.

“Can we go now? After this I feel like somebody else will be lurking in the dark-”

“Eyyyy- It’s halloween but we’re not in a horror movie” Jimin glanced at Hyori feeling creeped out. Of course Jimin wouldn’t waste the opportunity to look cool and laid back this Halloween, and Deo excelled herself making his hair look like Johnny Depp’s in Cry Baby. Hyori on the other hand, decided her costume by fumbling through her whole closet. I’ll go with the easiest but still remarkably costume, she said, and that’s how Ashley Spinelli turned out to be her choice.

“She has a point. Everybody will try to scare us tonight and I’m not ready”

“Let’s just go!” Jimin said pulling Deo and Hyori’s arm at the same time and Jungkook couldn’t help but laugh at how much of scaredy-cats his friends were.

“Wait!!!” Hyori heard Hoseok saying loudly right behind her, and once she turned around to smile at him, vision a little blocked by her mustard beanie, she couldn’t help the goosebumps that went through her body. Something feels eerie, maybe it’s just the fact that we are alone in a dark street, she thought. And shrugging off that feeling, she marched alongside her friends to the party she put most effort so far.

Doing his best to keep his posture straight while sitting in bed, Yoongi was feeling rather sleepy having Carolina toy with his hair, the girl trying her best to style it just like Naruto’s. He had been feeling a little lazy the past few weeks but he knew there was zero to no chance of him escaping halloween night, specially because his friends digged the fact they could just dress like some weirdos and pull pranks all night long. If he said he wasn’t going, for sure they would do something stupid and hey, he wasn’t one for refusing free liquor either.

“Why is your hair so damn straight?!” he heard Carolina complain for the thousand time. He said nothing, just kept his eyes closed and opened a cheeky smile. A month before his group started talking about this night - mostly the girl and Taehyung who were already fantasizing about what to wear. Namjoon and Jin quickly followed the lead making jokes on who was similar to what character and what not. Once they inquired him on who would he be for this night he just said the first thing that came to his mind. First because it was an easy costume since it was basically one piece of clothing and also because he wasn’t creative enough to remember anything else, as far as he knew Naruto was the only other guy he would like to be if he had to choose.

“Are you still doing his hair?” Jin came into Carolina’s bedroom with an indignant tone and before she could even answer he was already adding more to his little playful rant “Ya, you need to help me out with the makeup! Namjoon made it look like I had a hole instead of an eye-”

“I’m sorry if I’m no make up artist!!!” they all heard Namjoon say out loud; Yoongi could perfectly picture him sat down on the couch too entertained with his cellphone to even glance up while responding Jin’s comment about his poor artistic abilities.

“Ya” Jin turned around to look at Namjoon; voice deep but in a playful tone “You don’t need to be a makeup artist to know this looks terrible”

“Take those baby wipes over there” Carolina pointed a little package over her desk “And go clean that mess! I’ll do your makeup once I finish Yoongs” she continued spraying hairspray non stop while combing the hair of a now intoxicated boy, who kept coughing like he was really dying.

“I told you not to open your mouth!!” she said more laughing than scolding Yoongi.

“Im- Argh- Impossible!” the taste on his mouth was horrible and for a second he panicked over dying the most ridiculous death. It didn’t help the fact that Jin passed by laughing hysterically only to cough the same way he did once he got closer to the dangerous cloud of spray hovering over Yoongi’s head.

“You should be given permission of the state to use something as toxic as this” Jin said getting out quickly making Carolina laugh and shush him with her famous ‘Go away’. He directed himself to their bathroom to try and remove the damage Namjoon had made on his eye. Jin usually liked a lot what he saw on the mirror, and today wasn’t any different. His hair was combed with gel, he had a nice suit on and personally he thought he did a nice job on gluing Thing - family addams member, or hand, into his suit right shoulder. Gomez Addams was who he chose to be tonight, a classy and fun character, very appropriate for him as Namjoon had pointed out.

“Tcharamm! Howl arrived!”

“Woaah Taehyung, nice job!”

“You like it??”

“What’s going on with that cape?”

“Leave his cape alone, Yoongi, he did good”

“Thank you!”

Jin let out a chuckle, his friends were always nagging one another, not that he wouldn’t do the same with them but normally he would play the mom figure and try do ease the situations.

He looked at himself in the mirror one more time after throwing the used baby wipe in the trash and pushing the bathroom door he made his way to the living room.

“Lady Joker I hope you’re ready for me cause I’m all clean and I’m impatient as well” heads turned to Jin, Taehyung’s previous pout face becoming an excited one now after seeing him.

“Woah!!! Jin! You look just like him!!!”

“You mean handsome?” Jin stated the obvious with his hands on his hips.

“Yes…?” Taehyung replied with a weird confused face making them laugh.

“Lady Joker here is ready, so is everyone else now…” Carolina spared a glance to everyone in the room “… I think. It’s just you now, c’mon” she started pushing Jin back to the bathroom.

“That’s cause he has the easiest character of all” Jin went backwards while Carolina still pushed him; his finger pointed out to Namjoon.

“Being Milo Thatcher requires great effort, like having a brain for example” Namjoon concluded.

“I hope that’s not you calling me dumb” Jin answered back, the sound of it a little muffled since Carolina was closing the bathroom door to avoid any bickering.

“Yeap. He was” Yoongi said quietly; he was sat on the arm of the couch Namjoon was in, his arms crossed and his hair was fully up.

“So! Do you guys think I look good with long hair??” Taehyung said after a minute of entire silence making both boys look at him while he wiggled his head to make his fake hair flow.

After the bathroom door was closed, Jin sat on the faucet while Carolina opened every drawer looking after her black eye shadow and that’s when she heard Jin say “He was calling me dumb wasn’t he? He’ll see. Just- Wow the disrespect” and the way he said it was more than enough for the girl to crack a laughter right on his face.

Differently from the chilly outside, the party at Tau Kappa Epsilon was burning hot. The frat committee had pulled a great amount of money and effort this year and everyone that had been to the Halloween party last year could say so the minute they set foot on the entrance. For starters, this year for you to get inside you needed to know the password, which was strategically leaked on the USC gossip blog a week before this.

“Did you find it yet?” Holly asked; she had her arms crossed, the wind too harsh and although she was wearing a red hoodie and a pair of yellow trousers because she was dressed as Winnie the Pooh she couldn’t help but feel cold since she and her group were still outside.

“God, why in all days today had to be this windy?!” Tori said with frustration, tightening her grip on the coat she was wearing “If I hadn’t brought this coat I would be hard as ice right now, I’m telling you” she chuckled, her chin trembling a little since she was feeling cold, the coat doing nothing for her uncovered legs. She had decided with Deo they would go as iconic characters from the 90’s, and of course she chose Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman.

“Ok I think I got it!”

“You did??” Holly that was a little distracted looking around exclaimed in surprise and quickly scooched up towards Silvia who had been glued on her phone scrolling through USC gossip page to find the code.

“Yeah, I think I did! Look-” Silvia showed them the phone; she was dressed as Simon of Alvin and the chipmunks, her glasses sliding on her nose bridge non-stop while she looked down too focused.

“Nice job, Silvy!”

“Now I only need to wait for Esme and Tessa… I’m sure they are almost here, I mean I called them half an hour ago and they were already on their way” Silvia said looking at her phone again, checking if she had any unread messages.

“I’m sure we can go inside and they meet us there? We could send them a text with the-”

“HEY GIRLS!!” the three of them heard and their attention flew to the newcomers.

“Nina!” Holly exclaimed excited.

“You look amazing guys! Oh my God, I’m so excited for tonight!” Nina said making Cecilia laugh besides her; Nina was dressed as Poison Ivy, her new red hair contrasting greatly with her green outfit. She had some ivy plants complementing her costume and it looked absolutely stunning.

“That’s actually right, she came all the way here talking about it” Cecilia joked; she had chosen to dress up like a sexy racer this year, keeping it simple but hot.

“And you look a bomb as well!” Tori said, giving both girls a quick hug. “Now chop chop girls! Otherwise we’ll get all ruined in this bad wind”

“I’ll send Tessa and Esme a text with the code then- Let’s get going, I’m kind of freezing as well and regretting being a chipmunk without proper pants” Silvia said making them laugh.

The decoration this year was incredibly well done, full of big killer statues, things hanged and detailed paintings on the wall, most probably TKE (Tau Kappa Epsilon) had once again contacted the art students to help with that. Hoseok had already jumped out of his feet ten times at least, too scared of the large Pennywise face he had come across a few times and the many spider webs hanging above everyone’s heads.

“I thought it was you!” Amber laughed when she came besides Hoseok and he jumped in fear… Again. “How are you doing Mister…?”

“Ace Ventura! And ooof- Amber!” He gasped first because he had been scared and now because she was looking really good.

“Hey! You came! Are you alright love? You seem a little startled.” Amber was so happy to see the boy that she talked way too fast making him stare at her with endearing eyes “It’s been a while.”

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss this party for the world! But that Pennywise…” he said pointing at the wall painting, a frown crossing his face “Not cool at all.” he chuckled while turning to her again, his glance lowering a bit now to see her costume more attentively. Amber was wearing a playboy bunny costume, a dress like version of it.

“It’s ok, it’s just a painting. Besides if it wasn’t just a painting, I’d always protect you. Well… I would try.” she giggled making him follow “And tonight will be so much fun, I haven’t really celebrated Halloween in years!”

“I see you already have a drink so now just enjoy the night!” Hoseok said cheekly.

“I do!” she stated quickly looking down, where she had a drink in hands “You should grab one soon too.”

“Jimin went to grab some drinks for us. I’m waiting for mine.” he winked “But what are you most afraid of then? If not Pennywise”

“Probably just… Uh… Spirits” she said finally with a tiny shivering “The unknown too. Maybe just being alone. My fears are very strange.”

“Oh spirits are a no for me too! I try not to believe they exist but I have a fertile imagination!” he said with a panicked face and Amber made a quick note on how cute he could be.

“You look really good by the way… Like I know you aren’t in a sexy outfit, but you look happy and just… You know… You just look great.”

“Thanks Amber! I tried hard to find the clothes to match the movie! But you look great too…“ he offered his heart smile, his eyes genuinely matching his soft expressions.

While Hoseok kept talking to Amber, his friends were close by still waiting for Jimin to come back with something to drink. They had arrived for a while now, but since the place wasn’t that crowded yet, Jungkook managed to find a spot for Deo to sit a little. The girl had been complaining about her shoes choice for some time now but he himself felt like sitting, so that’s what he did. He sat and kept fumbling with his phone while Deo rambled with him (things that he was certainly not listening) and Hyori kept scanning the place after Jimin.

“I hope this party doesn’t suck.” Deo commented a little bored while looking the ambience.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no one here. My feet already hurt. Jungkook took the only seat available and is staring at his phone with a grin on his dumb face.”

“We got here super early, relax! And just take the damn shoes off, you’re going to in a couple of hours so might as well do it now.” Hyori grinned at her “Is Jack coming?”

“I think so? I didn’t talk to him today yet but he should be here. We bought his costume like- last week so…” Deo wondered; she was answering Hyori but her head was turned at Jungkook’s direction, trying to pry on what he was doing.

“The love birds that text all day didn’t talk today?”

“He texted me this morning but we were dealing with the outfits so I… kinda forgot to text him back? He’s probably just making one of his ‘imma take longer to answer’ games” Deo looked back at her again to roll her eyes.

“Don’t sweat it, he’ll be around.” the older girl patted her shoulder with a warm smile to wrap that convo up.

“So… you’re just gonna ignore the fact that JK is laughing at his phone?”

“We teased him enough about him wanting to be spiderman…” Hyori bit down a smile, exchanging her glance to the boy in question, still entertained and completely absented of what was going on around him.

“True…” Deo concluded but then turned around to do exactly the opposite with what she had just agreed with “Hey dork.” she called and poked him, making him lift his head towards them “Yeah you. What are you doing?”

“Texting.” he said simply.

“Who?” Hyori questioned.

“Have you ever heard of neighbor number?”

“No…?”

“You have one?!” Deo asked the boy while coming closer and feeling a lot more excited.

“Everyone has one.” he rolled his eyes.

“What is that?!”

“It’s the person whose phone number is either the before or after yours. Like, your’s 55 and their’s 56.” Jungkook explained to Hyori but he locked his phone trying to hide his previous conversation.

“Oh… and that’s cool because?”

“Because!!!” Deo exclaimed turning around to look at Hyori.

“It’s just like meeting someone online guys.”

“Oh don’t be an old lady. You’re a recess punk tonight!” Deo retorted making Hyori do a funny face as a response while trying to pry at Jungkook’s phone as well.

“You’re not looking at my texts.” he said defensively while hiding the phone against his chest once more.

“Oh c'mon JK.”

“No.”

“I’m not keeping your phone in my bag then. Good luck spidey.” Deo teased.

“Fine!”

A while ago Jimin had departed quickly from his friends to go fetch something to drink, but on his way he stopped by with many people. He got used to being popular in some way, he didn’t mind the attention at all… What he did mind was the constant people who tried to fake being friends with him just to get “famous”. He was now walking furiously towards the bar, the last conversation with some random guy he thought that was being genuinely nice to him stuck on his head. A small bump followed, his mind too distracted to actually pay attention at his surroundings and the frown that was before on his face quickly disappeared.

“Wow Jean! Sick costume!” he said once the girl in question turned around surprised to see the one that bumped on her was actually a familiar face.

“Really Jimin? Thank you” Jean was dressed as Mikasa from Attack on Titan, an anime Jimin had seen and liked a lot. “I think you look handsome in your costume” she finished with a cute smile while blushing a little.

“I tried my best to look like Cry Baby but Johnny Depp will always win.” he showed his cute laughter while saying it and Jean quickly retorted.

“Don’t say things like that. I think you just being yourself is handsome and a win for everyone including you” as soon as she said it and he was about to smile at her again thankful, the bartender came by and Jimin was quick to tell him his orders. He looked back to see if Jean wanted something but he noticed she was already served. The guy that was attending him, poured a glass of whiskey to Jimin and went to fetch some beers. While he went inside to fetch it Jimin turned again to Jean.

"You came with friends?”

“I did! I’m meeting Holly here!”

“Oh~ she’s Deo’s friend! I didn’t know you two knew each other! Small world huh?” he winked and raised his glass to take a sip of it making Jean laugh.

“Yes, we do. We talk time to time whenever I have time. She is really nice.” she said and Jimin hummed in agreement.

"So, who or what scares you most?”

“What scares me most is bugs especially cockroaches… oh yeah also rats. What about you? Are you scared of anyone or something?”

“I’m trying to keep a brave face tonight so I can’t tell you!” he cutely joked putting his finger to his lips and doing a slight ‘shush’ motion “But it was nice seeing you Jean~ I have to bring these drinks to the sober ones before they fall asleep” he said while pointing with his head towards the beer bottles the bartender had just brought.

“Have fun at the party. Don’t be reckless or get yourself in trouble!” she said loudly when Jimin started walking away with all those drinks in hands, trying to make way, only to turn back again and smile foolish at her and then winking again.

On his way towards his group he spotted Hoseok a little closer than the rest and he moved fast to get the help of the older boy. Jimin was hardly managing to hold all those bottles plus his cup.

“So do I! I overthink way too much.” he heard Amber say enthusiastically to Hoseok and for a moment he felt really sorry to be barging into the conversation.

“Hey guys! Sorry! Help me-” he said quickly and Hoseok took two bottles off his hands. “Oof! I thought I was going to let everything fall” he laughed at his own moment of clumsiness.

“It’s alright! I’ll help you take this to them” Hoseok trailed off and then looked at Amber once again, she still had a smile on her face, their talk before being way too cheerful for her to lose it. “It was really good seeing you!”

“It was good seeing you too. I hope we can hang out again soon, I’ve missed seeing you.”

“Keep that beautiful smile on your face Amber~ I’ll see you around tonight yeah?”

“I will! Thank you! You enjoy it too, and keep safe, ok? Don’t drink too much and drink plenty of water. I’ll see you later on in the party. I’ll probably stay until pretty late.”

“Can’t promise I won’t drink much but I’ll try to stay away from the zombies! Be safe sweetheart~” and there he went, him and Jimin towards their group of friends.

“Where’s Yoongi?” Carolina questioned while looking over Jin’s shoulders; her voice louder than expected as the raging song played in the party.

“I don’t know?” Jin looked around too trying to spot Yoongi’s hair among all those costumes “He left quite a while ago… And I doubt he will be able to bring us all something to drink”

The five of them had arrived and the party was already hectic. Yoongi had offered to go to the bar fetch something to drink since he was in the need of something to keep him relaxed and more loose in the middle of all those people. The rest of them stayed in a corner next to the entrance, the less crowded space they could find, but now a lot of time had passed and Carolina was starting to feel anxious.

“Ok, you guys stay here and I’ll go help him out”

“You’re going alone in this sea of people??” Taehyung asked her, whom was already ready to walk away.

“I’ll be fine Tae, just stay here with Nam and Jin. If anything happens I have my phone with me and I can call you. Yoongi is the one without his”

“We’ll wait here. Namjoon won’t be leaving anyways since he’s socializing for what it feels like an hour now” Jin joked looking at the other boy talking enthusiastically to some people from his book club. Carolina spared a glance and smiled at him, and then in a blink of an eye she was already being engulfed by the many costumed students.

She tried her best to make space and go towards the bar, where she was hoping to find Yoongi, but the task was getting complicated. It didn’t help that people were already tipsy and some really drunk. Carolina was starting to feel a little claustrophobic and way too pissed at the people who were pushing and also pulling her. When she was about to shout at some random guy that was trying to make her dance with him, she felt her arm being pulled and her head snapped quickly thinking she had finally reached Yoongi, but no. Someone in an all black costume and a weird baby face mask was pulling her out of there.

At first she offered no resistance, glad she was going to get out of that tumultuous crowd. But after a few seconds of the mysterious person pulling her towards what it seemed like the bathroom area, she pulled back her arm making the person look back.

“Who are you?!” She questioned seeing that the person went for her arm again but she was quick to flinch it’s grasp. “This is not funny!” still, no reaction. She analysed the person standing in front of her; someone taller than her, definitely a male but not a short one. “Ben?” she tried “Dude this is getting creepier.” the man did nothing but to offer his hand to her gently. And although Carolina was feeling a little creeped out she was also starting to get curious about who the costumed guy in front of her might be. So she took his hand, and he took her to the bathroom area.

“Ben if this is you I swear-“ she started but the man she thought was Ben just opened the bathroom door and pushed her inside, locking the door quickly. He himself never entering the space with her.

Carolina bumped hard against something “FUCKING ASSHOLE!!” she exclaimed mad.

“I said the same but he didn’t opened the door… Until now that is” Yoongi’s voice now filling her ears and she turned back in a snap. Turns out the thing she went against was Yoongi and not a wall like she was expecting.

“Yoongs? What are you doing here?”

“I myself don’t know…” he answered returning the hug she gave him.

“Ok! I think I have a plan!” someone said making both of them get out of their transe.

“Oh yeah, Carol this is Sarah. She was already here when I got… here” Yoongi explained simply.

“Umm… I would say nice to meet you but due to the circumstances I think-“

“I perfectly understand and share the feeling!” Sarah quickly interrupted the other girl “Also either we wait for him to open the door again and I don’t know put our foot in the middle of the breach or we stay stuck here”

“Doesn’t seem like a bad plan but I won’t volunteer my foot for the cause”

“Why the hell are we even here???” Carolina questioned “Is it the new trend locking people in the bathroom to socialise or something?” and as soon as she finished it a cell phone started ringing. They all exchanged glances.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t even bring my phone” Yoongi said.

“Well it’s not mine!”

“I think…” Sarah trailed off while going towards the faucet, there was something behind it “Oh” and she retrieved a bag. The sound of the ringtone died and she looked at Yoongi and Carolina who were focused on the paper bag. Not even a second passed and the cell phone started to ring again.

“Oh just give me this” Carolina snatched the bag from Sarah’s hands and quickly opened it, a burner phone now visible and she picked it up. “Who’s this? What? Why would I be enjoying being locked inside a bathroom you weirdo??”

“Who is it?!” Sarah questioned and Carolina lifted a hand for her to wait.

“What game? What are you talking about?” Carolina questioned further “A paper?”

“What is this? This is a stupid prank” Yoongi rambled.

“What- Hey!!!” Carolina exclaimed taking the phone out of her ear and looking at it extremely angry “Asshole!!!”

“What happened?”

“This motherfucker said that the rules were on a paper inside this bathroom and then hanged up!”

“Are you serious now? I just wanted a drink” Yoongi sighed and started pacing around.

“What now?”

“Oh! I have my cellphone!!!” Carolina realised quickly reaching for her pocket of her nurse suit “I’ll call Jin and he can come here an- Fuck.”

“What?!” Sarah exclaimed again and Yoongi glanced at them.

“No reception” Carolina said blankly “I fucking hate this party.” she placed her phone inside her pocket once again and crouched down near the bathroom wall, her hand fast to pick up her pen kept inside the same pocket and started doodling on the wall. The neon light in the bathroom making her feel nauseous.

“I’ll start searching then!” Sarah sighed; the girl was dressed as comfortably as she could. Her costume being Violet Beauregard from Charlie and the chocolate fabric and she mentally thanked herself for choosing something so comfy.

“Are you seriously vandalising the bathroom?” Yoongi asked Carolina; he was leaned against the sink, his arms crossed.

“Yeah”

“I don’t think writing on the wall ‘Babyface sucks’ is going to solve the problem”

“Well I’m unsatisfied with Babyface service! He just pushed me and locked me inside the bathroom! Ugh- I bet it was that fucking asshole…” Carolina started doodling near the words she had just written.

“What asshole? Everyone for you is an asshole”

“Well- That’s a good point. But Jimin. I bet it was Jimin. He must be trying to pay me back ever since-“

“You mean Jimin Park?!” Sarah asked while fumbling through the cabinets that the bathroom had.

“Yeah he-“

“I FOUND IT!!!!” Sarah exclaimed excited and showing them the paper.

“Umm… I guess we are a team?” Sarah looked at them expectantly “And I didn’t brought my phone so…”

“I was going to say no but then I saw the 6.000 cash prize so”

“2000 each Yoongi, not 6000!” Sarah corrected him.

“Still. Carolina?” he looked at the girl in question “I could really use the money to-“

“I know.” she said serious “So we better win this. And I guess I’m the only one with a phone which only unlocks with my fingerprint so I guess it’s fine to leave it behind…” she reluctantly put her phone inside the bag “Also Sarah, if we’re doing this-“

“Yeah?” the girl asked.

“Yoongi already knows me but um… I’m kind of extremely competitive so if I happen to loose my shit-“

“Oh it’s ok! Totally get it!”

“She will lose it. Just saying” Yoongi brushed it off.

“I will”

“OK PLAYERS HERE WE COME!” Sarah instantly became another person and both Yoongi and Carolina exchanged glances a little surprised “OPEN THE DOOR!”

“I can’t actually believe we got stuck in a tiny broom closet for 15 minutes just to find a damn paper!” Tori let out laughing; her breathing heavy.

“In my defense my moves were restricted to just being able to lift my arms up” Jason retorted, his face a little red from the lack of air in the confinement.

“That’s true! I was feeling trapped between you-“

“Guys shut up!” Jungkook finally said something; the paper with the rules still in his hands “We have to focus now, I ain’t losing this game”

“Jeez! Ok, ok! We’ll focus” Jason put his hands up in defeat.

“I could really use those speakers bro, I want this prize” Jungkook sighed trying to apologise.

Somehow in the middle of the party Jungkook realised he was left behind with Hyori, both of them clueless of where their friends had gone to. So he eased her mind by saying he was going to look after them quickly. Hyori at the time nodded and kept looking around without leaving their previous spot.

Jungkook went to the bar hopping to find Jimin there but his friend was nowhere to be found. He wandered off to the bathrooms but two of them were locked and the other one was empty. He tried to scream Deo and Hoseok names in hopes that one of them were inside but due to the loud music it was useless. Not shortly after a person passed by and seeing he was fumbling with the door lock, that same person approached him and asked what he was doing. “I’m looking for my friends” was what he simply answered so the mysterious being asked what were they dressed like and after a brief description of their costumes Jungkook was pointed towards a long and gloomy corridor. He didn’t hesitate on going and that’s how he ended up opening the dark broom closet and being pushed inside. To his surprise, Tori and Jason were already there, their breathing too heavy and Jungkook kept thinking he had interrupted something else, but his thoughts were quickly brushed away when a cell phone started ringing.

“To get those speakers you first need to win the prize, Kook, and to do that you’ll need to find those damn three hidden bags” Tori pointed out making him come back to the moment; her arms crossed over her chest.

“Things that scare me most…” Jason wondered.

“AH! The decorations!!!” Jungkook’s face lit up “They must be near the decorations!”

Most of the teams were already out of their confinements by now. Some a little hazy and confused, some fully determined to win the prize. What student wouldn’t want to win 2.000 dollars in a night just by playing a Halloween game? It was easy money! And that was exactly what Aashna kept thinking.

When she left her dorm to go to the party that night she would have never expected to be going home again with that large amount of money, and there was nothing that she loved more than to play games, in fact she liked to think that she was good at them.

She got a little confused at first, when she lost herself from Sana and Cara, especially because she had left her phone back into the dorms and due to that she had no way to contact the girls. While she kept waiting for Sana to get ready hours ago, she used it so much that it discharged and it was totally useless to take it. But now, here she was, running around with two other girls she had never seen before trying to get to those bags before anyone else would.

“Guys look!” Nina pointed towards three dark things on the floor near a tree in the backyard of TKE. A few people transiting from one house to the other were passing by but none of them were paying attention to the girls.

“Are those the bags??” Esme asked a little behind from the other two. She was dressed like Theodore from Alvin and the chipmunks and although she was looking adorable her legs were freezing.

The backyard was the last place any rational person would want to go. It was windy today, and not the kind that feels like a nice summer breeze, it was the kind that made you feel the presence of a storm coming. The fact that the place wasn’t illuminated properly didn’t help either. Team 6 could barely see if those things on the floor were the bags they needed or not.

“I can’t believe we found them!” Aashna said coming closer and once she grabbed a loop of one of the bags a grotesque nun showed up behind the tree. Slowly it made it’s way towards the girls. “Holy-“ Aashna took a step back startled, the bag she had taken was now dropped onto the grassy floor.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Esme that had just being able to catch up with both of them sprinted back the moment she saw the dark presence, going back to where she had came. She didn’t even took a second glance.

The nun kept slowly walking forward. Aashna at the same time walked back. It’s yellow eyes focused on her and her breathing started to match her heart race. Her chest going up and down really fast.

“Push it, Khaleesi!!!” Nina shouted at her making her snap out of the transe. Both of them could hear a faint scream in the back but it was being blocked by their own heartbeats drumming on their ears. Adrenaline kicking in. Nina kept shouting ‘Khaleesi’ at Aashna, the fearful creature making her forget her teammate’s real name.

On the confusion of it, Aashna did in fact push back the nun, but the result wasn’t the expected. It didn’t move. Not even an inch.

“I GOT IT!! RUN!!!!” Nina passed by her with one bag on her back and two on her hands; her costume making it easier for her to sprint, contrary to Aashna’s.

The girl didn’t think twice. The moment the scary image before her started to lurk forward again, she stumbled two steps back and turned around to run. A hand grabbed her arm making her come to a halt. Aashna screamed and yanked her arm back. Free at last she ran towards Nina and Esme. Her mind not functioning properly. She could see her teammates shouting and making exaggerated moves for her to go to them but she could hear nothing. It was like a slow motion scene of her worst nightmare.

Hoseok thought he had been scared enough since he got to the party but now he was more than terrified. He was walking with Cole and Asa, two guys he had just met due to a bad joke and he couldn’t help being alert all the time. Cole was leading both him and Asa and they were looking for the so called bags inside the TKE frat house.

“I’m sure they hid it here, I mean- it’s just the perfect place, not a lot of people will come inside the house when there’s an actual party going on” he heard Cole’s voice more clearly now, the loud music sounded distant; the boy was still facing forward, leading them into a big hallway.

“Yeah but it said it was near what we fear most?” Asa pondered while looking attentive to a photo hanged on the wall “I don’t know about you guys but I’m not afraid of a frat house… As much gross as they can be” he frowned seeing one guy almost naked on that same photo.

The corridor they were now in was narrow so they lined up, Cole going in the front and Asa in the back. The wall on their left had some pictures of the boys of TKE while the wall on their right was mainly filled with big windows. That didn’t mean the place was lighten up, the whole house was dark. Things were visible due to the windows, the boys could see each other’s figures and what surrounded them because of the moonlight, but other than that there was no other form of light.

“Uoooh uoh what was that?!” Hoseok freaked out and fumbled back making Cole giggle.

“It’s just a glimpse of a light dude” Asa calmed him down while catching him and pulling him forward gently.

“I- I think I’m afraid of the dark” Hoseok admitted.

“It’s ok”

“And I’m afraid of being alone” Cole said sarcastically “So that’s why this is the perfect place to hide the bags because it’s both dark and has zero people in it. Genius ain’t I?” and he turned back to face the other two.

Hoseok’s face went pale. Asa’s blue eyes became big. Cole felt a puff of air into his neck and he tensed.

“For the first time in my life I just hope I’m ugly and that’s the reason you guys are doing those faces” he said; his body frozen and his mind in denial, he didn’t want to turn back.

“Boo” something grunted right behind him making his body tremble. Hoseok screamed and fell back into Asa who screamed as well and fumbled backwards, his eyes never leaving the amorphous creature upon them. His big hands clumsily trying to find support on the walls. Hoseok that fell on his butt quickly got up only to turn around just to stumble onto Asa once again.

Cole finally turned back and for a second he wished he didn’t. His voice stuck on his throat, eyes fixed on the sinister scarecrow right in front of him.

“G-Givee meee yourrr heeaaart” the creature grunted once more. Cole finally got a grip of himself and pushed the haunting scarecrow back, running right past him.

“ASA!! THE BAGS!” he screamt after stumbling on something and realising it was what they were looking for.

“FORGET THE BAAAAGS! AAAAH” Asa’s voice was trembling and between trying to help Hoseok who kept falling and running away from the creature who was going after the two he managed to scream back at Cole “FUCK YOU GO AWAY!!!”

“WOOOAHHH!!! WOAA”

“I got this, I got this” Cole kept mumbling to himself while scanning the place. He had very few options. The scarecrow had it’s back turned to him but the corridor was too narrow for him to pass by it without something happening. So he looked at the window right onto his left and let his body take the lead.

Cole’s hands were shaking a bit due to the heat of the moment. He fiddled with the window lock for a little but once he unlocked it a huge smile opened on his face.

“COLEEE?”

“I- Wait a sec! I got this!!!!” he answered while quickly glancing at his teammates and then back at the task in front of him. The window was a little rusty but he managed to open it fully so he threw both bags down. “GUYS! JUST RUN! MEET ME DOWN ON THE LAWN”

“COLE WHAT?!” Asa who was pushing continually the scarecrow back asked. Hoseok was glued to the wall screaming nonstop.

“JUST RUN AWAY! I’LL JUMP” Once he said this the scarecrow turned back. Cole was already sitting in the window. “GO! NOW!” he reassured his teammates again and Asa took the lead grabbing Hoseok by his shirt and running as fast as he could. The dreadful creature fastened it’s pace towards Cole. The boy smiled before jumping.

“Did we really need to choose the dark basement as our place to search?” Jin asked while he looked to the stairs that led to the dim place over Sana’s shoulders. His hands were gripping her arms and keeping her in place as a shield. “I feel like there’s definitely something there but it’s not the bags.” he laughed nervously.

“Yeah… I don’t feel like this is a good idea, Jeremy” Sana pondered, her eyes on the same spot Jin’s were.

“Fine then, you two stay here and I’ll go.”

“Great plan!” Jin offered him a quick thumbs up and his hands were back on Sana’s arm making the girl sigh but also let out a small giggle.

“It’s not a great plan” she said making Jeremy retrieve his foot of the first step to look back at her “If something happens to you, it’s only me and Jin”

“Not offended”

“Guys this is a Halloween game” Jeremy said laughing at their faces “The scariest shit that can happen is someone yelling at our ears and that’s it”

“Fine then, go” she brushed off. Jeremy rolled his eyes and turned front again, the darkened stairs making everything creepier. A second passed and he didn’t move. Another one and nothing. “So… Are you going or…?” Sana looked from him to the stairs again.

“I’m going! I’m going! It’s just- dark that’s all. I have no flashlight and I was trying to get my eyes used to it and-”

“You know there’s a light switch right there right?” Jin pointed to the wall next to them.

“Wha- Jin!!!!” Sana turned back giving him a soft slap “You could’ve told us that sooner!”

“Well sorry! I didn’t think he would go into the dark!”

While both of them kept quirreling Jeremy flicked the light switch in a flash tired of losing time, after all he had a game to win. But as soon as the lights were turned on two things came on focus, the bags near the third step and Freddy Krueger right at the bottom starting to climb up to get to them.

“Run-” Jeremy said lowly still paralysed watching the killer move himself “RUN!!!” that’s when Jin and Sana stopped arguing and looked back at him and what was going on. As soon as Freddy entered Jin’s vision, the boy screamt and started running backwards, looking every direction he could too afraid that more frightening creatures would appear. His loud voice echoing without coming to a stop.

Jeremy quickly pulled the bags towards him and turned around to run, passing one bag fast to Sana who was even faster to turn around and run towards the first floor as well but not before taking a box of washing powder left near the washing machine she passed by and throwing it back to hit the burnt face that tormented her so much.

Acute clinking sounds filled the air along with tree leaves dancing in the maddening wind. Jungkook and his team were sat on the porch of a neighbour house of TKE, the bags already retrieved and now alight right in front of each of them.

Tori kept trying to align her hair strands that kept swinging in front of her face while Jason kept fumbling with a walkie talkie he had just found on his own backpack. Inside each backpack they found a piece of paper with the same clue written on it, a little flashlight, a map of the campus, a walkie talkie and an almost realistic human finger with a tag on it that said one point for you player!

“This wind is making me stressed!” Tori let out with a sigh. Jason spared her a glance but kept pushing the buttons without really knowing what they did.

“That guy dressed as Chucky was pretty heavy” Jason mused “Don’t you think, bro?” he looked over Jungkook who was really quiet while reading over and over again the clue he found inside the backpack with furrowed eyebrows, deep in thoughts.

“Don’t you think bro??” Jason tried again.

“Uh?”

“Lost much, Kook?” Tori laughed.

“What are we supposed to do with this information?” Jungkook asked frustrated to his team “Wet blue? What is that?? There’s no such color”

“I’m sure we still have time, man, don’t stress it” Jason tried to cheer him up “I’m sure we were the first ones finding the bags plus we each have one point finger” he laughed while holding his gifted finger up.

“Yeah” he sighed “You’re probably right” Jungkook swept his bangs back. By now he was sure his hair was a mess, but he didn’t care much.

“Umm..” Tori began, her eyes following the movement of something way ahead of them “Not trying to break the lovely moment but I guess we are second place”

“We what?” Jungkook lifted his eyes from the paper he wouldn’t stop reading to see where Tori’s eyes were focused at and to his despair Yoongi and Carolina, alongside some blonde girl, were walking in a fast pace towards somewhere. They all had a backpack and the blonde girl was explaining something to them in a enthusiastic way. Jungkook tried his best to overhear what they were talking about, shushing Jason when he tried to say something along the lines of ‘don’t worry bro, we still got this’.

“Are you sure that’s the place?” he heard Yoongi ask lazily “I ain’t walking all the way over there for nothing”

“It’s there Yoongs, just stop being a grandpa, do you want the two thousand or not?” Carolina joked and Jungkook instantly got up.

“HEY!” Jungkook shouted “YOONGI”

“Kook what are you doing?” Tori asked alarmed.

“You heard this?”

“I think it was someone calling your name” the blonde girl said to Yoongi while looking around.

“YOONGI!! HERE!” Jungkook stepped forward.

“Who’s there?” Jungkook saw Yoongi stop and squint his eyes in his direction, he knew the older guy had a bad vision. “Ya, who’s that?” Yoongi asked Carolina who had the same expression on her face.

“It’s spiderman” the blonde one said and Carolina immediately commented “Uh nice butt” since the boy was turned to the side trying to fetch his walkie talkie to talk to Yoongi, and as soon as he heard the comment he turned around and walked forward a little further.

“IT’S JUNGKOOK!! YOONGI, IT’S ME!”

“Nevermind” Carolina said again and crossed her arms “WHAT DO YOU WANT VIRGIN BOY?!”

“It’s Jungkook?”

“Yeah”

“BRO ARE YOU PLAYING THE GAME?” Jungkook shouted trying to ignore Carolina. A hard gust of wind hit them suddenly, the boy’s hands coming up to protect his eyes.

“YES WE ARE”

“DO- DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE PLACE IS?”

“WE DO VIRGIN BOY BUT WE AIN’T TELLING” he saw Carolina shut Yoongi’s mouth without need with one of her hands and answered for him while laughing. Jungkook knew this because although he was trying to ask Yoongi the answer, he lived with the guy and knew him well enough to know that he could be a snake sometimes. “GO FIND YOUR BRAIN QUICKLY BEFORE YOU RUN OUT OF TIME”

“YOU- YOU’RE A BITCH!” Jungkook grunted in frustration.

“AND MUCH MORE!” her laughter echoing in the silent street and she coldly turned around with the blonde girl, both of them walking away. Yoongi did the same but before he shouted an apology “SORRY JUNGKOOKIE, GOOD LUCK!”

“Well that sucks” Jason stated bluntly coming near Jungkook, Tori right behind him.

Jungkook kept staring at their figures slowly disappearing in the distance, and something inside of him started boiling. His body was starting to get cold and his brain was completely blank due to his frustration.

A static noise broke the tension and Jason got startled by his own walkie talkie, Tori came rushed towards him as well as Jungkook - who spared one last glance at the horizon, Yoongi long gone.

“Hello players, this is your game master” a modified voice came out of the piece of machinery Jason was holding.

“Thank God! We need a hint!” Tori exclaimed, her right hand coming to her chest in a sign of relief.

“Beware of who may be watching you…” the voice said and as quick as it came it went away. The three of them still looking at the walkie talkie in hopes to hear anything else but nothing. Nothing came. Just the howling wind that was serving as a background song for their night.

“It’s.. It’s that it?” Jungkook asked indignant.

“It sounded like that guy- What’s the name?” Jason asked Tori rather excited “The Scream dude! The voice was exactly the same”

“TKE is definitely excelling themselves this year”

Hours ago Silvia thought she was up for a hell of a good night with her friends, even if the weather wasn’t helping at all, and now here she was, chasing the correct number painted on a tree located on the McCarthy Quad park. At least that was what Hyori and Namjoon had concluded from the clue they had been given to and she didn’t dare to refute.

Silvia was running fast but Hyori was running faster and the wind was pushing them back, difficulting their bodies movements. She heard someone shout a little further and coming to a halt she turned to see Namjoon pointing towards a big sycamore tree.

“Hyori!!!” she looked back to shout at the girl that went ahead “Hyori!!! He found it!” Silvia’s hair was all over her face and for a moment she could hardly see one foot ahead.

Something cold touched her skin while she tried to tame her wild curls, and when she looked up startled she saw Hyori’s smile. Both girls ran towards Namjoon who currently fought a battle with the zipper of his backpack trying to put away the clue inside it.

“What are you doing?” Hyori questioned him chuckling once they approached the spot. The boy glanced at them with a furious expression.

“I broke the zipper of my bag”

“Let me see it” Silvia took the still light bag only to conclude he indeed had broken it. She started then to try and find a solution to his problem.

“Ok so this is it” Hyori said looking around; the lantern she had in her right hand illuminating the red number painted on the tree. “And I’m guessing we’ll have to digg now” she pointed then her flashlight to the shovels pilled next to it.

“I’ll start then” Namjoon took one in his hands and started digging; he had no clue of what he was doing.

“Ok, let’s do this-” Silvia was going to put Namjoon’s backpack on the side but the other girl interrupted her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s take turns!” Hyori said with a gentle smile; her small voice a little louder now to be heard in such a terrible weather. “Me and Namjoon will digg while you come up with a solution to that” she chuckled.

“Got it!”

The boy wasn’t paying much attention now, his eyes strained onto the ground and he tried his best to not make a mess out of it. He could be clumsy at times - most of the times if he had to be honest, but he was trying his best to do the job properly and not disappoint both of his teammates. Hyori on the other hand got a little distracted once she saw another group of three a little further away from them. They seemed to be looking at a map. The only thing she could see was their flashlight pointed to the piece of paper and their silhouettes.

Hyori normally wasn’t that great at distinguishing people, she was bad with faces and all, but she would be damned if she didn’t recognize her own best friend even if she was from far away.

While her gaze was upon Deo and what her group might be, one of the tall silhouettes turned it’s head to the side, right at her direction. The flashlight wasn’t illuminating properly, but Hyori could see it was two boys that surrounded her friend.

“Are you going to digg too or…?” Namjoon asked huffing.

“Yeah… Just a sec…” she answered still too focused on Deo’s group. When her roommate illuminated the higher corner of a map she had in hands, the ray of light flashed Jack’s face and she could see his squinted eyes trying to look at her as well. “Jack!” Hyori said out loud but the howling wind muffled her voice.

The next thing she saw was Jack pointing towards his back and leading both Deo and the other tall guy further away from her. Is he really that competitive? Hyori thought. She held her glance at them for a few more seconds before Namjoon say something.

“I- I think” he gasped “I think we have the wrong spot”

“It’s still shallow Namjoon” Silvia pointed out laughing.

“Oh? Yeah… Sorry. I think I’m not doing a very good job” he said with both hands resting on his shovel, admiring the work he had done so far.

“Jack I’m pretty sure is that way” Deo pointed towards her back but her eyes were still trailed on the map she was carrying around. Jack’s hands never leaving her shoulder, pushing her forward. The girl was a little out of focus since her worst fear (clowns or just pennywise) got to chase after her earlier, that resulted on her eye mascara being smudged a little under her eyes due to crying.

“It’s not baby, look” he pointed with his own flashlight to a trail marked on the map. “We were here and we need to go this way”

“He’s right… I think” Taehyung admitted against his will. From the second he met Jack he hated the guy. He was the typical jock that made stupid jokes and spoke nothing more than about himself. The guy was cocky and basically the complete opposite of Taehyung. And to say it wasn’t being hard to control the facial expressions he felt the need to do every time Jack spoke was a complete lie.

“You can’t even read the GPS on your car and you’re asking me to trust you with a map?” she looked over her boyfriend.

“Hold on a second-”

“Sorry to interrupt the love quarrel but the guy is right” Taehyung interrupted; he was walking behind the couple and that made Deo stop on her tracks to look back at him, Jack being obliged to stop as well. “We passed by those trees back there” Taehyung said carefree while pointing back “and their numbers were 4, 7, 9… If we are assuming this is like a house address numbers thing, then our tree is on that way” he finished his thinking pointing frontwards.

“Thank God someone that backs me up” Jack said with a bright smile and going back to push Deo forward and gently once again.

“Fine then, let’s see” the girl rolled her eyes but offered no resistance at being guided.

Somewhere near, in the chilly park that was already filled with autumn leaves everywhere, you could hear the sound of a shovel insistently hitting the earth while a heated chattering followed. Team 3 was finding hard to reach to an agreement. Emma kept digging by herself, it had been fifteen minutes since they found their tree but Jennifer refused to touch a single nail on a shovel. V alongside Emma had picked a shovel to dig as well but seeing Jennifer did nothing she stopped her work and started arguing with her.

“We are a team Jennifer!” V was now almost yelling; the vein on her neck popping due to such frustration. “You gotta help as well!”

“I’ll help in the next one” Jennifer rolled her eyes and kept playing with her nails. Her expression not even alterated.

“That’s what you said when me and Emma were trying to catch the bags, yours included! And when we were trying to figure out this riddle”

“Stop being a dramatic bitch” Jennifer retorted now looking at Victoria’s eyes. “I said I will help on the next task”

“Leave her be, Victoria” Emma said with a huff. “I can do it, it’s-” another puff of air leaving her mouth “It’s alright”

Victoria grunted in frustration, her eyes never leaving Jennifer stare. “Forget it” she ended up saying and then went back to help Emma. “How deep do you think we have to dig?” she asked throwing the dirt she had just digged to the side.

“To be honest-” Emma started and stopped to kick her shovel deep into the soil “I hope not much more”

“Well I think you two will have to dig a whole more and faster if you want to finish this game until tonight”

“Shut up!” V snapped at Jennifer “No one asked your opinion, oh my God”

Jennifer just laughed in amusement, scenes like this were a regular thing on the volley practices. Both girls were from the same team although it didn’t look like not even a little not even at all.

“Did you felt that?” Emma asked V, trying to ignore the profound want and need of hitting Jennifer with her own shovel. The girl was just being too much ever since they got trapped together.

“Felt what?”

“That” Emma said again hitting her shovel on something harder than what it felt when digging earth and hearing a clink noise in return.

“Shit- We found it” Victoria exclaimed and quickly let her shovel fall by her side to start brushing the dirt aside with her own hands.

“Told ya’” Jack said. They had just found the tree marked as 22, the bright red impossible not to spot from a certain distance. They had been walking for ten minutes non-stop trying to check every tree they found on the way, to make sure they weren’t missing theirs. And turned out Taehyung was right about the whole address thing.

“Told ya” Deo mocked “Just grab the freaking shovel jock. Let’s put those muscles up to good use” she cheekily put her tongue out making Jack blow a kiss with a cocky smile. Taehyung decided not to stand by watching the scene so with a roll of his eyes he grabbed the first shovel he could see and started digging.

Dylan was completely stretched on the dirty floor of McCarthy Quad, although he was feeling his clothes getting damped due to the temperature he was just too exhausted to get up.

“So what do we do now?” Lindsay questioned; in one hand she had the little paper with their new clue and the other was resting on her hip. “You guys have any idea of where this might lead us?”

“I have no clue” Ali who was dressed in a renaissance garb sat down next to Dylan; the air she huffed and puffed visible in the air due to the temperature drop. She and Dylan digged until they found a metal box, inside it another finger with the same tag one point for you player! and the clue.

For a few seconds the only thing hearable was the sound of Lindsay wiggling the pearls she was wearing around her neck to complete her flapper costume and the tapping of her impatient foot.

“Ok” Dylan said while shuffling himself to a sitting position. “As soon as we figure the place, cause I’m really assuming that note leads us to another location, I have a plan for us to go faster”

“Please do tell” Ali turned her face gently to the side to see him.

“No, no, first we need to find what is up with that location”

“Isn’t this talking about books though?” Lindsay said, her eyes trailed on the little note and her mind paying no attention to her teammates.

“Books?”

“Let me see it” Dylan asked with an extended hand to her and she handed him the clue. “Umm… You guys know we are right in the middle of two libraries right?” he asked looking from one to another.

Ali immediately looked at Lindsay with huge eyes. “Oh my God we are!”

“So, what was your plan to get us there quickly?” Lindsay asked excited.

“Oh nevermind, the buildings are right here, we don’t need that old bike over there” Dylan shrugged off.

“Were you seriously thinking on riding that thing?” Lindsay laughed. The old bike leant on a bench near where they were was rusty and seemed to be missing some pieces.

“You probably failed calculus because we are three and there’s no way you could ride a bike taken other two people in it”

“I said I had a plan, not that I had a good one!” he said jokingly while getting up and cleaning his hands on the side of his trousers. A static sound interrupted the girls laughter.

“Hey players, if I were you I’d run…”

“Bro the Halloween game this year is getting hella’ artistic” Dylan commented.

“Yeah, tell me about it! That horrendous version of Slash was really artistic”

“I spy with my little eyes…”

Lindsay glanced around a little spooked out, she didn’t know if it was her head painting scenarios over what she had just heard the so called game master saying or if she could really feel someone watching them. “Guys let’s just get out of here”

The third challenge was indeed in the libraries that surrounded the park the players had gone to like Dylan suspected. As soon as the teams got to the entrance they could spot the door open and everyone knew that it wasn’t supposed to be open at night. Most of them in fact hesitated to enter the dark place… Hyori for example went over the little clue a few more minutes before coming to terms that she would have really to trespass the property.

Screeching noises could be heard the moment you passed through the door, the aged wooden floor not helping to keep the secrecy of someone being there. The only thing team 10 could see was what their flashlight was illuminating.

“Oh my God what is that?!” Jae whispered alarmed, her body frozed up near a huge shelf full of books.

“Is that another player or…”

“If you say it’s that weirdo dressed as Scream again, Cecilia, I swear to God” Tessa was crouched near them, her hands on her head. When the girls were searching for their bags they encountered Scream. He looked like a statue, one of the many that were decorating the party that night, and they would never think it was actually a real person. Tessa that was in the front got a tremendous jumpscare and ended up falling.

“It doesn’t seem him” Jae that was still looking at the lurking presence a little forward said after looking back at them. “It’s mask is different”

“That one is a…” Cecilia tried to figure out. “A phantom of the opera?”

“Oh then we are ok” Tessa got up and started walking towards the person. “Hey! Psssst”

“Tessa!” both girls whispered in a loud manner.

“Hey you! I’m sorry-“

The costumed guy, dressed as what it seemed like phantom of the opera, said nothing but pointed her towards a door.

“Guys” Tessa called looking back. “I think we have to go that way!”

“Really?” Jae approached her, looking from the clue she had pointed with a flashlight and then the door. “Between poets and suspense…” she looked to the sides of the door. There were a two shelves next to it, one that said poetry and the other said suspense/thriller.

“Yeah, definitely here” she concluded.

“Let’s go then… I guess” Cecilia went to open the door, and once her hand was on the doorknob it opened up without her doing anything. “Jesu-“

“For some people Naruto is indeed Jesus” Yoongi chuckled opening the door fully now and walking past Cecilia and the other girls from team 10.

“TESSA!” Carolina exclaimed once the girl entered her sight. “You’re here too?”

“Just got here!” she went for a hug. “What did you do there?” Tessa pointed the door that was now being closed by a girl dressed as Violet from the charlie and the chocolate fabric.

“Friends are friends, business is business, Tess! Sorry!” Carolina smiled apologetic. “And good luck!!” she wished truly.

“Fiiiine” Tessa sighed. “Happy Halloween!” she smiled to her friend. “Let’s go, girls” and she opened the door again, this time going through it with Cecilia and Jae right behind her.

“I didn’t know you could make friends” Yoongi pointed out in a tone of joke; his arms crossed.

“I befriended you, after that everything else is super duper easy” she sticked her tongue out.

Yoongi laughed and then took out the little card he had hidden inside his pocket. “Tchaa!” he sighed “Another one for you two, I’m tired of thinking”

“That sounds like a fun place to go” Sarah chuckled nervously.

Cara, Jimin and Holly had just entered a dark room they had been pointed out inside the library. Jimin mustered the courage he didn’t have and put on a brave face to go first while Cara and Holly followed, both of them tightening the grip on his leather jacket. The room was pitch dark and before going in they saw a sign saying they needed to leave their backpacks behind.

“Just stay close” Jimin whispered without a need while going inside. Not a peep could be heard.

“This room is freezing!” Cara commented while getting even closer to Jimin. “And my outfit isn’t helping”

“It’s ok, girl, I got your back” Holly immediately crouched to grab part of Cara’s dress to help her walk more freely. Her chosen outfit for tonight was Feyre from A court of thorns and roses and although she was looking beautiful until now her dress was making everything seem harder for her, specially running. Before she could thank Holly, the door they had just walked through which was also the only remaining source of light for them was shut close with a loud bang. The three of them jumping with the loud noise and an uncomfortable silence followed.

Jimin’s eyes were trying to adjust to the somber room, he blinked and tried his best to focus on some spot and try to see at least some silhouettes but he failed.

“Hello players, I hope you are up to play a game because I have some questions for you” a grotesque laughter came right after, the voice deep and clearly altered.

“Who’s there??” Jimin asked and chuckled nervously after he did it. He brought Holly and Cara closer to him, his hands firmly placed on the small of their backs.

“Who directed the film Halloween from 1978?” the grotesque voice asked them.

“Eeey- That isn’t fair!” Jimin complained. “How are we even supposed to know that?!”

“Oh God, I don’t really know that one!” Holly said anxious. Cara just kept holding for dear life onto Jimin.

A loud error noise was able to be hear making the three of them jump in fear, no one expecting the loud noise so close and loud.

“Which film has as its main characters, Morticia and Gomez?”

“Oh! Oh! That’s easy!” Holly exclaimed. “It’s The Addams Family!”

“Nice!”

“Thank God we have Holly” Cara said in relief.

“WOUSH!! What was that?!” Jimin fumbled back taking the girls with him.

“What?!”

“There was something touching my feet!”

“What is the word Hallowe’en an abbreviation of?”

“All Hallow’s Eve!!” Jimin and Holly yelled at the same time. Cara unable to form coherent thoughts on her head, the dark room was freaking her out.

On a blacked out room right next to group 9, three girls were kneeled on the ground together. As soon as group 6 entered the room they started getting uncomfortable with not being able to see things and also about the lack of sound.

Esme started crouching down, her defense mechanism being turn herself into a little ball, and of course Nina followed. Aashna stood up for a little while, she kept feeling the other two getting closer to her legs, but once a loud bang echoed the room she dropped to her knees in a matter of seconds.

“What was Dr. Frankenstein first name?”

“Victor! It was Victor!!!” Nina yelled, she wasn’t afraid but she would admit the room was getting weirder and weirder.

“Yes!!” Esme celebrated when a xylophone acute sound soared on the room, they knew the answer was right.

“Name all the killers that embodied Ghostface from Scream.”

“Oh fuck! That one is hard” Nina said more to herself than anything.

“You know it?” Esme asked turning to Aashna.

“Uh… Roman Bridger is one of them…?” Aashna started not feeling very secure of her answer. “Loomis? Ugh I don’t know!!”

“It’s ok-”

A loud error sound echoed startling them, that probably meant the answer was wrong, they thought.

“Who were the targets of Jack the Ripper?”

“Prostitutes!” Dylan said. “That’s for sure!”

“You sure?” Ali questioned him, but he didn’t need to answer because the xylophone sound was heard.

“Thank God! I just want to leave here!!!!” Lindsay was feeling agitated on this room, it was too eerie.

“It’s ok, Linds! I’m sure it will be over soon” Dylan said softly trying to pull her closer. They had just met but he knew she was having a hard time being scared.

“For what is Ted Bundy known?”

“Killing over 35 women!” Ali and Dylan said at the same time.

“It was 35 right?” he questioned.

“Yes, I’m sure!”

Another xylophone sound was heard.

“Please tell me this was the last!!”

“It’s almost babeee” Ali tried to cheer her up, her hand coming to Lindsay’s squeezing it a bit.

“It’s dare time players” the game master finally said freaking them out.

After answering the last question, there was a loud bang again and Deo immediately held the closest thing she found as some sort of comfort. She knew this was just a game but she couldn’t help feeling scared being in the dark.

“Lights on”

The girl had her eyes closed shut. Jack opened his and rubbed them. When he looked back he saw his girlfriend holding tight Taehyung who was standing still like nothing was happening while scanning the room. That was enough to make Jack insanely mad.

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” he exclaimed loudly making Taehyung look at him confused and Deo just opened her eyes surprised.

“I-I thought it was you!” the girl said after looking at Taehyung’s face and realizing it was not her boyfriend there. Taehyung immediately let out a tsk.

“ME?! I look nothing like that guy!” Jack pointed at the other boy furious. “Why are you still holding him?!” he asked when his girlfriend did nothing to move away. His anger making him explode and stride quickly until he could reach her arm to pull her away.

“Hey!” Taehyung exclaimed; his eyebrows furrowed. “You’re going to hurt her”

“I was not! And how could I see?! It was pitch black!” Deo defended herself.

“You were with me in the dark before. You should know damn well how I feel to the touch”

A snort sound coming from Taehyung was heard. “Now that’s just pathetic”

“What?! That doesn’t even make sense!”

“You know what?!” Jack exclaimed furious “I don’t want to talk about this shit anymore” he went towards the left wall; hands placed on his hips. An awkward moment of tension followed.

“Oook” Taehyung said breaking the silence. “What’s up with this thing?” he approached a locker standing in the middle of the room.

“Are you seriously going to be like that? Whatever..” Deo said, Jack having his back to her. And then looking over the locker where Taehyung now was she asked “How many digits?”

“Four”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? Are you really pretend nothing happened??” Jack looked back at both at them but his frustration clearly directed at Deo.

“Jack what the fuck! You said you didn’t want to talk about it, let’s not!” she answered, looking everywhere but him.

“Not to be indelicate but- 2:31 minutes left according to that timer over there”

“Fuck off dude!!!” Jack yelled at him.

“Yeah, same” he answered back.

“Jack!” Deo reprehended him but he did nothing but to ignore her still pacing around the room. "Do you want me to just tell you the words on the walls?“ the girl asked Taehyung.

“Could we maybe exchange? I’m not very good with this but I have big eyes so I can tell you the words!” Tae smiled cutely to her and she immediately walked over the locker.

"Yup, sounds good to me."

“I have big eyes so I can tell you the words” Jack mocked in a stupid tone. “Did I just disappeared is that it??”

"Fucking wish Pennywise was here” Deo said almost in a whisper way. Jack didn’t hear but Taehyung certainly did which made him chuckle loudly.

“What is so funny, jackass?!”

“You’re the one named Jack not me” Tae scoffed; his eyes briefly on Jack before returning to the written walls again.

“Guys the time!!!”

“Sorry!” Taehyung apologized and quickly read a few words before finding one with four digits. “Try rack” he said looking back at Deo.

“Oh shit!!”

“What?!” Taehyung asked nervous and Jack just stopped pacing to look at Deo expectant.

“It’s right!”

“IT IS???!” Taehyung just couldn’t believe he found the word at his first attempt. A huge smile taking over his face. “My eyes worked!!!!”

“What does it has inside?” Jack asked without patience.

Taking over a piece of paper from inside Deo said “A clue I think”

Aashna kept blinking trying to adjust her now recovered vision to the intense light. Nina and Esme seemed more recomposed than her since both of them were standing in the middle of the room inspecting a big and solitair red locker that also stood there. She observed that the walls were full of words and letters painted in red, her hand trailing slowly the gory word that gained her attention the most. Somber.

“I think we need to find the word that opens this” she heard Nina say but her eyes still on the marked walls.

“Yeah and we need to find it fast, look” Esme said and she turned around to see what the girl was talking about. Esme was pointing towards a timer placed on the top of the door they came in by. 2:40 it marked. And after blinking Aashna got to see one number less, the timer was decreasing.

“How are we supposed to know which word is it???” Aashna panicked.

“For starters I think it’s a four letter word since there’s only four spaces here” Nina pointed out going to the nearest wall to try and find something.

“I’ll insert every word I know then!”

“Try dark” Aashna said when she spotted the word right next to where her hand was leaning and then looked expectant at Esme to see the result.

Esme fumbled with the padlock a little and then looked back at Aashna “Nope, not that one”

“Lost!” Nina shouted from across the room.

2:03.

The clicking sound of Esme fumbling with the locker could be heard, nothing else. It was followed by a long sigh. “Still a no!”

“Bone?” Aashna asked.

1:40.

And when the answer was once again a no, Nina shouted again “Shot!”

“I’m starting to get really frustrated at this” Esme grunted. “No, still nothing” she sighed.

“Are we going to stay stuck here?”

“Just keep looking!”

“Ok, what about blue? It’s written there” Nina suggested. “There’s not even a clue or something?”

“I guess not…” Esme answered her while inserting the word on the padlock. “And it’s not blue either.

1:01.

“This sucks!!!”

“I don’t see anymore words here with four letters only” Aashna said while reading everything she could. “Are you sure it’s a four letter word??”

“Pretty sure!” Esme answered leaving the locker and going to check the walls herself. “There’s only four spaces there.”

“I’ll try words I know then” Nina said walking towards the big red locker. “We still have time right?” she looked over the timer to see 0:43 marked on it. “Shit. Ok, what about home?” she said more to herself than anything else fumbling with the lock.

“Ghost”

“That’s a five letter word” Esme chuckled making Aashna chuckle too.

0:27.

“Love isn’t the answer after all…” Nina sighed moving onto the wall on her right. “Let me see if there’s something here”

“And the only door here is locked” Esme said turning the knob of the door and stating it didn’t open. “So yeah, we are probably screwed”

“What happens when the timer reaches zero though?” Nina questioned.

“ZERO! That’s it!” Aashna said excited looking from the timer to Esme who was quick to run towards the center of the room and insert the word on the padlock.

0:09.

“Please, please” Aashna mumbled.

“IS IT?”

And with a heavy sigh Esme said “No”.

A loud and screeching sound of a siren echoed in the entire room making the girls press their hands to their ears to somehow muffle the noise. Nina even crouched on the floor and they got even more horrified when the door finally opened and a tall figure dressed like an intimidating and gory doctor entered with a catering trolly, three cups on top of it.

The siren stopped and the abrupt change made the girls head combust. “I guess it’s going to be trick instead of treat” the guttural voice echoed on the room once again and the girls knew right then they would have to drink from the cups.

“Choose your cup wisely players” a wicked laughter followed along with Aashna, Esme and Nina exchanging glances before picking up their glasses and gulping everything down.

On the room next door the timer was running fast but still no sign of the locker opening up.

“I still can’t believe Jungkook managed to open this thing” Jennifer kicked the locker lightly. Group 3 had previously met Group 2 on the entrance of the library, Jungkook, Tori and Jason were just leaving the place when the girls happened to be entering. They exchanged a few words since both V and Jennifer knew Jungkook and Jason from volley, and of course, Jungkook knew Jennifer from much more than volley but it was a brief meeting nonetheless.

“You don’t know if he actually did it” V retorted.

“Try the word host!” Emma said to Jennifer who rolled her eyes and fumbled grudgingly with the padlock.

“I’m guessing he did since he was walking away from here differently from us” Jennifer answered while doing the task she was in charged with.

1:04.

“And it’s not host”

“What about Hope?” V asked.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be a cutesy word, hello? We are in a halloween game!” Jennifer answered without moving to do what V had asked her.

“Girl I swear-”

“Just try it out, Jennifer” Emma let out a long sigh.

“Fine” with another roll of eyes she turned around to fumble once more with the padlock.

0:38.

V and Emma waited expectant. “Not Hope, as I clearly explained before, the answer is clearly nothing like a cute word.”

“Let me see then” Emma said walking slowly around the room again and reading carefully every word she could find.

“Dark?”

“We tried that one already, pay attention bitch” Jennifer chuckled acidly.

“Girl you better watch out your back starting from tomorrow I swear, if I see you on the street-”

“Four? Try four” Emma ignored the heated argument, by now she was more than used to it.

0:17.

“That would be such a stupid passcode” Jennifer said while inserting the word. “I will be so disappointed if that is actually- It isn’t! Thank God” she snorted.

“This bitch is dumb as hell.” V chuckled while nodding her head and turning around to check the walls once again. “She is actually thanking the lord for not being able to get out of here.”

“It’s what they say, aesthetics first” Emma let out almost in a whisper and it was totally unintended but V managed to hear and she cracked hard.

0:02.

“Oh great, the time is up and you two are laughing like best-” Jennifer was saying but the loud siren interrupted her. She instantly fell backwards, bumping into the locker and slowly sliding down with her hands pressed firmly against the sides of her head.

Emma did the same, trying to protect herself from the madding noise while V stayed up trying to open the door by twisting the knob furiously. Until the door opened and she stumbled backwards seeing the eerie doctor coming in with a trolley and the three cups.

Carolina could feel her heartbeat drumming in her ears due to such excitement and thrill. Yoongi was the one decoding the clue they managed to get from inside the locker placed in the challenge of the library and they quickly came to the nearest graveyard around USC. Arriving there none of the three could see a single soul walking or completing the next challenge and both Carolina and Yoongi weren’t very keen on risking when they didn’t know the outcome. So thinking fast the girl suggested the other two for them to hide near the graveyard and wait for the next team, that way they could see what were they up to or at least know what they should and should not do.

Sarah was bundled up on her tracksuit just looking out with her lince eyes towards the foggy graveyard. Yoongi was crouched down right next to her looking comfortably, his hands near his mouth for warmth. If there was a thing he really hated was the cold. Carolina on the other hand had no coat, she was wearing only a nurse dress, her arms and legs were so numb that she stopped paying some mind to the harsh and cold wind.

“You look like a lunatic with that makeup” Yoongi whispered to her chuckling softly. His breathing creating a considerable breath vapor every time he talked or chuckled.

“Even when you’re serious you look like you’re laughing wickedly” Sarah whispered too with a satisfacted smile making Carolina open one herself.

“Why so serious?!” she looked at them jokingly with one eyebrow up and a creepy smile.

“Ya” Yoongi pushed her and she stumbled back since she was crouching to stay hidden. “That was creepy as fuck” he finished making Sarah laugh again.

“I almost fell and got dirt and mud on my white nurse… thing. What is this called?”

“It’s just a dress” Sarah laughed even more.

“This way we are going to ruin our plan, everyone can hear us”

“We got here first???” they heard someone exclaim from a distance. The three of them silent now and vigilant.

“Bro what did I tell you??? We didn’t open that stupid locker but we still got here first than anyone else!!”

“Who are those?” Yoongi whispered, his eyes squinted but he couldn’t see anything.

“I think… Jason?” Sarah whispered back.

“Not surprised he didn’t open the locker then” Carolina chuckled lowly.

“What do we do now? There’s nothing here”

“And that’s virgin boy” Carolina added.

“How do you even know?”

“Confirmed, it’s him” Sarah answered her.

“His voice is annoying”

“Shit there’s more people coming”

“Where?”

As soon as team 8 heard that, they looked towards the direction the girl that was with Jungkook was looking to. Sarah, the only one with falcon eye vision in that group was reporting what she saw. To what she could see, there was not only one other group approaching but two. The first one she described as being three girls and Carolina quickly recognized one of them being Esme, her new front door neighbour. The other group as Sarah described had two girls and a guy. She tried her best to explain who Silvia was, saying she worked on the library and everything but Yoongi and Carolina never really paid much attention to their surroundings. Now, the guy… That one as soon as he came to both friends vision they recognized as their clumsy friend. He approached Jungkook and while doing so he stumbled on a grave and if it weren’t for the spidey senses that Jungkook conveniently had Namjoon would probably be on the floor right now.

The so familiar static sound surprised team 8 that was focused on the other groups interacting. “Should I take someone else to serve as company to your friend, players?” They heard the voice say followed by a muffled scream that left them in shock.

Sarah chuckled nervously. “They- They are really taking this game seriously” she let out a few more spaced laughter, her eyes going from Yoongi to Carolina, hoping that one of them could ease her mind that the pained scream she heard was nothing but a dumb joke of halloween.

Yoongi pressed the button to respond on the walkie talkie and a little beep could be heard. “Is this another riddle or clue? Over” and as soon as he said it he could hear himself faintly, the message being emitted from Carolina’s and Sarah’s walkie talkies still kept inside their own backpacks.

“Why are we receiving the message as well?” Sarah asked.

Another muffled and pained grunt could be heard again and their attention fell over the walkie talkie on Yoongi’s hand “Tik Tok players… Your friend doesn’t have much time, that I can guarantee you” Carolina looked from the piece of machinery in Yoongi’s hand to his eyes “Mhhmmm” someone screamed uncomfortably and visibly gagged. “Tik tok” and the beep sound made them know the message had come to an end.

“What is happening?” Sarah asked visibly disturbed. Carolina didn’t answer but her eyes moved towards the graveyard again, Namjoon was there looking at a map together with his team and her heart tightened. Where is Taehyung and Jin? she thought to herself.

“Yoongi there’s something wrong”

“What do you mean?” both him and Sarah said at the same time, their expressions worried.

“There’s only Namjoon there.” Carolina pointed out. “Where’s the other two?”

“Which two? What are we talking about?”

“I’m sure this is all a prank Carolina” Yoongi tried to ease her mind. “It’s halloween after all”

“I’m telling you-”

“Too slow” there it was the static noise again. “Happy haunting, players”

A loud scream was heard, Yoongi’s head snapped towards the sound and Sarah gasped at the vision. A bunch of grotesque and gross zombies appeared on the graveyard, and if they didn’t know zombies didn’t exist they would definitely think they were just now meeting the creatures.

Tori was being dragged towards a tiny grove behind the graveyard, she screamed and struggled to get away but the fetid creature had a tight grip on her. Jungkook tried to help but two of them came towards him and he had no choice but to run and on it’s way of doing so he took one down that was trying to catch Aashna. He grabbed her arm and forced her to run with him, dodging the grunting beasts but there were many of it. Aashna eventually couldn’t keep up with his pace and was grabbed by the waist being dragged away from the boy.

“I FOUND ONE!” they heard Jason scream, his arm up trying to show Jungkook the finger they had been receiving with every clue so far. “IT’S THE POINTS RIGHT??”

“KEEP LOOKING FOR THEM!!” the boy answered dodging another zombie.

Esme and Nina were running together, they were trying to leave the graveyard when Nina spotted a piece of paper tied to a finger. She swiftly snatched the finger and looked back to check on Esme, they had what they needed, now they just had to run as fast as they could to the front gates, Aashna already had been taken, they couldn’t afford being catched as well.

“Nina run!!!” Esme’s voice could be heard louder now after a little scream. Nina looked back to see the girl being held by two of the ill looking beings. “GO NINA!”

“We have to help” Sarah whispered to her teammates, they were still hiding.

“No no no, let’s wait” Yoongi tried.

“Yoongi something is not right here, why would they take people?”

“And this game master person said our friend needed company and our friend seemed in pain. I don’t think this is a bad joke guys…” Sarah was trembling.

The boy sighed and then looked front, he could see Namjoon hiding with both girls of his team, just like he was. But something definitely felt wrong. “We need to evaluate this better”

“There’s nothing to evaluate Yoongi. We have zero ways of communication right now” Carolina looked at him with pleading eyes. “We don’t have our phones, we only have walkie talkies that don’t let us talk to others apart from this fucking psycho and that was not a sick prank.” she paused offegant. “I know how editing works and so do you. That didn’t sound like a sound effect he browsed online, that sounded like a real fucking person and it’s either Jin or Tae”

“I- I think she’s right… I didn’t come with friends tonight so he was probably talking to you two. And it’s pretty weird that one of your close friends it’s there but the other two aren’t-”

“We don’t even know if they are in the game! As far as we know they can perfectly be partying right now” Yoongi reasoned.

“And why the hell did he choose me and you instead of Jin and Tae? No offense but those two are walking gamers. Me and you are just grandpas that do nothing but complain” she pleaded tugging his arm. “This thing is looking like the fucking Saw movie, Yoongs”

“Carolina-” he was going to say but Namjoon’s voice was heard loud and clear making the three of them look again at the chaotic scenery at their front.

A group of zombies were trying to take Hyori away but Namjoon pushed two of them freeing the girl. She quickly ran to stay behind him and everything seemed ok until the got to the other girl that was with him. He grabbed Silvia’s hand to pull her towards him, but two built up gory zombies dragged her in a flash.

“Silvia!!!” he yelled. Another one was coming towards him and Hyori again, but he took her hand in his and they both sprinted towards the entrance of the graveyard.

“Fuck.” Carolina said and before she could think properly she was getting up. “Stay here and when I say so you two sprint out of here, understood?” she looked back at Yoongi and Sarah.

“Hell no. What are you doing now?”

“I- I can come as well” Sarah offered.

“I said stay put.” she glanced at them with warning eyes and sprinted towards Namjoon.

A lot of the dead creatures had been gone by now, there was only ten of them remaining and most were focused on trying to catch both Jungkook and Jason. The fogg was making everything feel creepier and Carolina couldn’t help the goosebumps and bad feeling she was having even if her skin was already burning hot from the sprint she suddenly took.

“Namjoon!!” She screamed over the top of her lungs and her friend came to a halt, he was almost near the gates to leave, Hyori right behind him.

“Carolina?”

“You have the clue right??” she asked still sprinting; she could see three creatures walking fast to approach Namjoon and the girl.

“Yes! Are you alone?? What are you doing here??” he asked in a hurry while looking to his sides to see if there were any threats near.

“I’m with Yoongi!” Carolina was almost reaching him “There’s something wrong-” right at that moment she felt something grabbing her arm and she yanked it back, running faster. “There’s something wrong!!! Namjoon run!! The walkie talkies- We can’t communicate”

Two grunting creatures appeared behind Namjoon and Hyori, the girl screamed and stumbled back. “Hyori run!” he said grabbing the grimy arm of one of them and pushing the other with all his might.

“I won’t leave you!!”

“Mother-” Carolina came fast pushing hard one of the creatures due to the speed she was in. “Go you two! Find Jin and Tae!!!”

“What’s going on Carolina???” he asked in panic.

“Try the walkie talkies, Nam, there’s something wrong!!”

They started to aglomerate near the three of them and Namjoon just nodded and ran, taking Hyori’s hand once again and disappearing into the fog.

“WATCH OUT!” Carolina heard Jungkook’s voice near, he came running and pushing a zombie that was hunting down after her but he tripped and fell, the clue he had just found falling from his grip. The girl saw the opportunity and took it. She quickly grabbed the finger tied up with a clue that Jungkook just lost and started running, the object entering swiftly her pocket.

“HEY! CAROLINA” he yelled after her, still on his knees.

“I’M SORRY!” she shouted back but he was being left behind. “YOU AND JASON CAN MANAGE FINDING ONE MORE!! I’M SORRY”

“AAAAH” she heard his scream and turned back to see two morbid silhouettes dragging him by his arms. “GET OFF OF ME”

“Ah shit” she cursed under her breath and sprinted towards Jungkook.

Group 5 had roamed for a while now trying to figure out what the next place could be. Deo kept saying it could only be the graveyard and none of the boys said the contrary, even if Jack kept saying he was convinced it was some place else.

“Do you think this is the right place?” Deo shrugged, eyes shifting from one boy to the other, their eyes clued to their maps. The graveyard seemed empty.

“Yup, seems right to me.” Taehyung said, nonchalant.

“And what now?” She asked again, the apprehensiveness tone in her voice visible.

“Nice! Seems like we are the firsts so let’s not waste more time and look for the next clue.”

“This is huge… It’s going to take us forever specially with this fog.” Taehyung sighed, squinting his eyes to try and see over the deep white cloak pairing in the air. Before Deo could open her mouth to complain about how creepy the game had become Jack pulled her to him, grabbing her hand and running backwards.

“Watch out! Zombie!!”

Taehyung ran right besides them, the wet grass making it slippery for them to keep balance. They heard a scream not so far away and Taehyung’s supersonic ability of recognizing every sound possible made him look attentively towards his right while still running.

“JIMINAH!!” He yelled; his voice sounding deep and hoarse, the wind carrying it away.

“TAEHYUNGIE!!!” he heard back but he had no sight on Jimin. More screams could be heard and in one second of distraction Taehyung bumped into one Zombie. He fell back harshly but quickly getting up. That’s when he saw the piece of paper tied onto a finger and he thought no more, he clumsily ran towards it and grabbed it.

“TAEHYUNGIE! THE ZOMBIES! BE CAREFUL” he heard Jimin’s voice once again and he looked towards the direction of it.

“JIMINAH! LET’S DO THIS!!!!”

“Jack!!!!” Deo’s voice sounded close to him. “Get awaaaaay!!”

Taehyung ran as fast as he could and when he got near the girl she was trying to set herself free from the disgusting creature holding her by her waist. The boy glanced over to see Jack dodging two of them and he wasted no time in pushing the zombie that fought Deo. The creature stumbled back and Taehyung pulled her with him towards the entrance once again.

“JACK!” she kept screaming back.

“I GOT THE CLUE!!! RUN FASTER BRO” Taehyung yelled in hope the other guy could hear it.

“FUCK YOU!!”

The desert streets of USC campus that normally had a peacefulness to them were now feeling intimidating. The big and old buildings had a menacing look to them now. Silvia had her arms crossed tight over her chest, the trees making noises that were scaring her and her body was trembling from head to toe. Her Simon glasses were long gone, she lost them while trying to get away from those zombies, her backpack still secure on her back though.

On her hands she had only her walkie talkie that seemed useless since she tried over and over again to talk to someone but obtained no answer in return. She wasn’t liking the feeling of having to wander around USC at night and alone…

Suddenly a screeching sound. “It’s easier to hunt a prey if it is found alone” and a sinister laughter followed. Silvia looked around, the feeling of being watched creeping her out. She fastened her pace and tried again.

Beep. “Hyori? Namjoon? It’s me Silvia! Please Answer! Over” she kept looking around and walking as fast as she could trying her best to stay in the middle of the street where some lamp posts were still on. The leaves being swayed away by the wind.

“Silvia???” she heard Hyori’s voice and quickly brought the walkie talkie towards her mouth.

“YES!!! IT’S ME”

“Where are you right now?? Over” Hyori asked, her voice seemed hurried.

“I’m-” Silvia looked around. “Near Webb Tower! Over”

“Ok, listen to me very carefully” Hyori started, her voice difficult to be heard due to the noises the machinery kept doing. “Me and Namjoon think there’s something wrong. Be careful! We are currently on our way to the cinema department, the next clue sends us there. We’ll wait for you in the entrance ok? Over”

“What do you mean something is wrong? But ok, I’ll be there! Over”

“We’ll explain once you’re with us again.” Hyori said. “But please be careful. Keep talking to us from five to five. Over!”

“Ok! On my way. Over” Silvia answered before tightening her grip on the walkie talkie and running down the street.

Holly had been separated from her group quite a while ago. The last thing she remembers being Jimin trying to protect her and Cara from some scary zombies who were trying to catch them. It all felt like a fun game of catch until one of them dragged her away towards the grove and tied her up, her eyesight being compromised since they put a sack on her head. She felt like she was being taken somewhere since she could feel she was inside of a car, she could also feel there were other people inside it with her but she didn’t know who since she had a gag on her mouth keeping her from asking questions.

When the car came to a halt for the third time, she was dragged again, this time they removed the rope she had on her hands and then all she could hear was the sound of the tires burning in the asphalt. She waited for a few seconds and since nothing happened she slowly took off the sack that was still on her head. Holly felt a little scared while doing so, she was afraid of what she might see, but it turned out to be nothing more than an empty and dark street.

Now here she was running towards the cinematic department since she was able to contact Jimin and Cara with the walkie talkie that she kept inside her backpack, and although she was feeling a little dizzy due to the alcoholic beverages she was forced to gulp down on the library (her team didn’t manage to open the locker up) and Jimin kindly offered to go pick her up, she was feeling more alive than ever, a little spooked too, but that was halloween and nothing could stop her now.

“It has been quite a while since she said she was on her way” Jimin said pacing around with his hands in his hips; eyes trailed onto the horizon, hoping Holly would emerge there somehow.

Jimin and Cara had arrived on the cinematic building half an hour ago. A big sign glued on the wall saying for the next challenge they needed all three present, and ever since he saw Holly being taken he started worrying over the girl.

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon, Holly is a brave girl, she’s fine” Cara was sat on the steps of the front stair. The wind softly blowing on her face.

“Yeah but it’s dark and-”

“Are you actually afraid of the dark Jimin Park?” Cara chuckled trying to release the tension the boy was feeling somehow. She knew he was feeling guilty over the fact he let Holly unguarded somehow because a group of people passed by him and he got distracted. And Cara was still curious about why he did such a surprised face but that was a question for another time.

“No but she might be!”

“I think she isn’t” Cara offered a smile. “Once she arrives here we ask her about it and see who wins, what do you think?”

“Yeah sure” he answered but his eyes were still full of worries; his lips caught up by his teeth and his body never facing anything but the horizon.

Inside the cinematic department the air was hazy and there was also an unintelligible sound echoing the halls. Group 7 was wandering the halls, Cole once again in the lead since he was a frequent passenger of this department. The lights were out, the three boys were finding their way while following the bloody arrows painted on the floor with their flashlights and as Cole was starting to think it was leading them towards the basement or the archive room as the cinema students would call it.

He wasn’t wrong. He came to a halt right at the door of it, the whole way there Hoseok standing really close to Asa both of them a little spooked out.

“Is this it?” Asa asked. “I was expecting something scarier, I have to be honest”

“I can’t handle anything scarier than this”

“Well, I guess it is a little scarier” Cole pointed the flashlight towards a paper glued on the door. “Look” his flashlight now illuminating the big black letters. “One stays here and the other two go down… in the dark. Wow, what a fun activity!” he looked at his teammates with a sarcastic smile.

“I’m not going down- No oh. Not a chance” Hoseok said, his eyes flickering with fear.

“Then you just have to go there” Cole pointed towards an open space full of small screens twitching and showing different perspectives of a long corridor. Asa kept looking from one to another, he himself wasn’t finding the decision an easy one to make.

“No way I’m staying over there alone! The place looks like a scenery of a horror movie”

“It’s either that or the dark”

“If you stay up you will have to lead us with the walkie talkie, that’s what the rules say… At least it’s a rather backlit place!” Asa presented him the options. “But if you’re scared of staying alone, you can always go down, you’ll be with one of us… but in the dark”

Hoseok’s eyes kept going from the glitching tv screens and the iron made door with the intimidating keep out sign on it.

“Hey guys!!” all of them looked back pointing their flashlights towards the newcomers. Hoseok letting out a few weird sounds, he was definitely the scaredy cat of the group.

“Wow!” Tessa chuckled; her hands serving as shield for her now blinding eyes. “Keep pointing that at me and I might actually become the moon”

“Sorry! We thought it was someone else” Asa clumsily apologised making the girls laugh.

“Ok so I think one of us has to stay outside guiding the other two since down there is basically pitch black and we can’t enter with our flashlights?” Cecilia said, she was reading the rules until now.

“Alone here??” Jae exclaimed. “Not a chance!”

“I’ll do it it’s ok, you guys go” Cecilia reassured them and moved towards the screens. Pressing the button speak of her walkie talkie she tested if it was working. “One, two, one two” beep.

“It’s working!” Tessa gave her a thumbs up.

“Ok, I’ll stay here! It’s ok, I’ll stay with her” Hoseok pointed towards Cecilia.

“Alright! Let’s move then” Cole replied and opened the heavy metal door with a screech.

Somewhere in the way team 7 and team 10 went separate ways, both Hoseok and Cecilia guiding their teams to opposite directions. The humid and pitch black corridors giving everyone the chills, and if that wasn’t scary enough the sound of water droplets falling into what seemed like buckets with water inside was the cherry on top of the cake.

Jae and Tessa were holding hands both of them completely blind in the dense and darkened place, they walked slowly, each with a walkie talkie in hands.

Beep. “Guys turn to your right” Cecilia voice was heard through the static noise. “Not now! Walk about four steps straight and then turn”

“Can you see something inside here with us???” Jae asked her; her voice quivering a little.

“I don’t think so. Over”

“Did we take four steps yet?” Tessa asked coming to a stop. Through the little screen upstairs, Cecilia could see them stopping, they were talking but she couldn’t hear them.

“I don’t think so… Did we?”

Beep. “Girls what are you doing? Turn right now” Cecilia ordered.

“Turn left or right? Over” Tessa asked completely lost. Not being able to see was messing with her sense of direction.

Beep. “Left! Over” and they immediately turned left but what came after was chaos.

Tessa screamed once she felt something going against her. And that something screamed even louder. Fearing something was happening Jae crouched on the floor, the only command her mind was able to give her body with the jumpscare.

“It’s us! Calm down, it’s ok!!” the girls heard a deep voice say making them even more scared. A continuous scream still echoing.

“US WHO???” Tessa shouted putting her hands close to her chest as a defense mechanism. “Don’t touch me!!” she let out in surprise when a hand brushed hers.

“It’s Jeremy! Jeremy from the volley team! And Jin!” the owner of the deep voice said trying to calm them down.

Beep. “Girls are you ok?” Cecilia asked worried. She saw the whole scene without a sound.

“YEAH AND JIN!!” Jin shouted; his hands kept wiggling, in his mind if he kept doing that no one would approach him and scare him. “WoOAh”

“Jin? Jin Kim?” Tessa asked, her hand coming to her heart to calm herself down.

“Who’s asking?” Jin answered turning abruptly to his side and then to the other. Eventually Jeremy had to place a hand on his shoulder to make him stop.

“It’s Tessa! From the cinema!”

“Tessa?”

“Who- What is happening?” Jae was still crouched down.

“Carolina’s friend! She was asking for you!!” Tessa answered Jin.

“She was?” Both Jin and Jeremy asked at the same time.

“When we were arriving here she and Yoongi were leaving and she asked me if I saw you! She looked very worried. She asked for Taehyung as well”

“I-I’ll try to catch up with her” Jin said. “Let’s go Jeremy, we already have the thing”

Beep. “Girls?” Cecilia asked again.

“We’re here!” Jae quickly answered. “Everything’s ok, we just bumped on Jeremy”

“Hey! And Jin!!!” Jin scolded.

Beep. “And Jin”

Beep. “You got it?” Sana’s voice was heard and that made Jeremy remember what he had come for.

“Tell her yes!”

Beep. “We got it! On our way. Over” Jeremy said.

Beep. “Let’s go then! We have a game to win people!!” Sana finished the message with a cute chuckle.

“Best of luck, girls” Jeremy said pulling Jin with him.

“The clue is on the floor!” Jin said quickly and winked and then laughed like a mad man over his own stupidity of winking if no one could actually see his face.

Beep. “Keep moving forward now! I see some things on the floor. Over” Cecilia told them and both of them quickly said their goodbyes to the boys and went on walking slowly and tugging at each other’s arms.

Jin and Jeremy kept walking forward this time, the latter on the front since Jin was a total basket case when it came to feeling scared.

“I think we’re almost out” Jeremy said lowly.

“Ya, how do you even know?!” Jin chuckled. “I can’t even see you!”

“I just know man”

“Back there I was so blind and afraid that it felt like I lost you for a second. I was screaming your name but I don’t even know if it was something decipherable”

Jeremy was about to answer, he turned back as if to face Jin to do so but the static noise of the walkie talkie interrupted him. “Boys! To your left now!” Sana said.

Beep. “Right now?”

Beep. “Yes, turn left Jer! Jin, place your hands into his shoulders, like a train that way I will guide him better and you will follow. Over”

“Ya how do I even know where he is…” Jin thought out loud; his hands coming forward to try and find Jeremy.

Beep. “A little forward!” Sana chuckled. “Up! Up! There you go!”

A few minutes had passed, the boys following Sana’s instructions until they reached the metal door once again. She was already there waiting for them but her voice sounded nothing like before.

“G-Guys we need to go” Sana said almost in tears. Jeremy quickly went towards her and gave her a side hug. Jin approaching her too but without knowing what to say or do.

“What happened?”

“The g-game master” she said pointing towards the screen room now completely empty, team 7 and 10 most probably long gone.

“What did he say?” Jeremy asked concerned. Jin’s face going from worried to confused in a small fraction of time.

“I-I” Sana tried but she was really struggling to say out loud what was bothering and disturbing her mind.

“Easy! Is ok” Jin gently rubbed her back. “Just tell us what is happening”

“The game master he- I think he is keeping someone captive” she blurted it out. Jeremy glanced over Jin who chuckled unsure about the whole situation.

“He probably has… It’s supposed to be a fun game after all” he told her gently. “We have a serial killer like Freddy chasing us and then we had the zombies… I mean, it’s scary but it’s the game-”

“No!” Sana interrupted him. “You guys are not understanding!!” she gasped and looked at them a little distressed. “He contacted me saying there was a traitor inside and I thought it was just another riddle but then- then I heard someone screaming for help!”

“Ya… That was just him trying to scary you” Jin shrugged and then looked at Jeremy who was lost in thoughts. “Right Jeremy?” Jin poked him.

“Yeah! Right”

“I’m telling you guys! It wasn’t for pretend, I swear!” Sana pleaded once again.

“Ok let’s do this” Jeremy paused; both Jin and Sana looking at him attentively. “Let’s go to wherever this next clue takes us and try to find other people? Let’s just finish this and see where this whole thing leads us, ok? It’s probably like Jin said, only a prank to scare you.” he finished. Sana wasn’t very convinced, she knew what she had heard, but she nodded and followed the two guys out of the cinematic department.

It took a good hour for Cole to find a way of getting out a room where someone trapped him, completely in the dark. Once he managed to break in the door he desperately yelled Asa’s name, his clothes were damped and he had to hold one of his arms (he injured it while trying to break the wooden door trapping him from the outside world). Asa who was almost losing hope, absolutely terrified, was quick to get up on his feet and yell back. It was a trick thing to try and find the other person in the dark, specially inside of what it felt like a cold and infinite labyrinth.

Asa pushed the metal door while offering some support to Cole that was visibly hurt and even the half light hurt their eyes when they passed through the way out.

“Hoseok??” Cole shouted. “Our walkie talkies jammed, man! Someone trapped us inside” they both walked towards the little screen room Hoseok was left in.

“Hobi?” Asa called.

The room was completely empty. No note, no walkie talkie, no backpack, no Hoseok.

“What the fuck?” Cole let out in a breathy way.

“He’s probably outside waiting for us dude, let’s just go there” Asa said and both turned around to get out.

“Oh! Asa!” Hyori’s voice shouted. Namjoon and Silvia right behind her as it seemed they had just arrived to complete the challenge.

“Hyo! Again!” Asa chuckled.

“Where’s Hobi?” she asked glancing over his shoulder.

“He’s probably outside!”

“What…?” Hyori asked weakly.

“What happened dude?” Namjoon pointed Cole’s arm with his chin.

“Me and Asa here were the one’s going down but we got trapped. I had to take a door down to get us out of there…” Cole answered. “Hoseok was supposed to be here but he’s probably outside”

“But there’s no one outside” Silvia stated confused.

“Where’s- Where’s Hobi?” Hyori was starting to panic. The way to the cinematic departement was spent by her and Namjoon talking about Carolina’s weird comments on the graveyard. They got genuinely spooked out and tried the walkie talkies, stating indeed there was something wrong with them. Now she was starting to think that wasn’t the only thing that was wrong.

The static noise that by now freaked everyone out interrupted Asa from saying whatever he was trying to say, his mouth opening and closing at Hyori’s question. “Tik tok players, find the last clue to save your buddy here- MHHnMPHHH HEL-” the beep cut the rest, but by the look on everyone’s faces, they knew it was help.

“Hobi-” Hyori gasped.

To be continued…

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savage-rhi · 4 years

Note

Hey there! Can I request a hurt Higgs story with a concerned Fragile? 🥺🥰

@argetlam007

Coming right the fuck up! :D Have a Bitchin’ Christmas you beautiful person!

Fragile arrived at Higgs’s bunker with supplies in hand. She carefully made her way inside the terminal, and then proceeded to go through the door leading down to Higgs’s residency. Despite how much he cleaned up the place, Fragile couldn’t get the smell of stale pizza boxes out of her nose. She always wondered why he had such fancies for them. Pizza was never something she took a particular liking too, but back when they were business partners, it was something Higgs purchased for them regularly when they had their meetings. Fragile chalked it up to some form of childhood comfort that Higgs would never admit to.

Venturing down into the lair of the former beast, Fragile took in a deep breath and found Higgs’s was sitting in the new bed he purchased for himself. His back was pressed to the wall as his breathing labored. He meekly turned his head to look towards her direction. A sense of awe transpired over his features.

“Didn’t think you’d come back,” Higgs said quietly as he swallowed, trying to stifle a cough. Fragile sighed and shrugged.

“I know you, Higgs. The last thing you’d do is take care of yourself.”

“Look at you gettin’ all sentimental over me. You finally decided to chisel some ice off your heart?” Higgs remarked sarcastically, his lip pulling into a tired smirk as Fragile did her best not to smile. She shook her head, trying to play it off.

“Funny you should mention that. You might need some before your brain overheats.” Fragile countered, finally putting the cargo box down that had the supplies Higgs was going to need.

Fragile looked around the bunker in silence, seeking out a stool or something she could sit on while tending to Higgs’s injuries. He had gotten into a turf war with MULEs, and never being much of a fighter, got his ass handed to him. Fragile had been occasionally meeting up with Higgs, checking on his progress since then. She owed him that much considering he saved her life from said MULEs, having been ambushed on a delivery. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect considering Fragile was ill-prepared, to say the least this time around.

Coming across an old chair, Fragile pulled it up to the bed and Higgs adjusted then began to pull off his shirt, exposing his chest and the various cuts and bruises, patched with bandages that painted his form. He swallowed nervously, still not used to this part of the treatment Fragile had cooked up for him. Higgs didn’t like being vulnerable, and in a way, considering what he had put her through in regards to her body, this was karma putting him in his proper place.

Higgs let out a cough as Fragile’s eyes roamed over his body, her gaze calculating as she observed how far along Higgs was healing.

“Am I dying, doc?” Higgs asked playfully as Fragile’s eyes briefly met with his before lifting up some of the bandages, causing Higgs to wince.

“There’s some infection, but once I give you the medicine it should clear up in a few days.” Fragile said.

“Didn’t you tell me that last time you were here?” Higgs asked while Fragile opened up the cargo box and began to pull out bottles of pills and other medicinal goods. Higgs carefully observed everything she pulled out while keeping still, not wanting to hurt himself further. He could take the pain, Higgs was accustomed to it, but being sick on top of it all had been a struggle even for the likes of him.

“I might have.” Fragile commented, then started cleaning the wounds on his abdomen. Higgs winced and let out a pained laugh at her response.

“You tryin’ to give me false hope?” Higgs asked.

“Maybe. You’ll never know.” For once in what felt like an eternity, Fragile smiled up at him. It was brief, maybe even less than a millisecond, but Higgs dedicated it to his memory. His own lips forming into a satisfied grin before he winced, his body tensing up from the stings.

“Try to hold still. I know it hurts.” Fragile reassured him, occasionally looking at his face to see his reactions. She tried to make her movements gentle, but quick enough to where Higgs didn’t have to endure too much pain on his end. Fragile sighed from time to time as she cleaned, then worked her way to the gashes in his upper chest. He was quite lucky he didn’t need stitches, but regardless, Fragile had brought in a kit just in case.

“I’m a little dizzy. I feel like I got pressure building up behind my eyes.” Higgs remarked his tone honest which surprised Fragile. She was prepared for more bantering on his end, so the sincerity took her aback.

“Close your eyes. That always helps when I get migraines.”

“You get migraines?” Higgs quirked a brow, looking at Fragile as she nodded.

“I get them often. Avoiding light and sleeping it off helps me.”

“Well, shit.” Higgs remarked with a tired chuckle as Fragile stared at him. He took a moment to clear his throat, swallowing some mucus that had built up in his mouth. “I’ve known you for a long time and I never took you for someone with headache problems.”

“You sound a little too enthusiastic to hear that.” Fragile said as Higgs scoffed, deciding not to say anything further on the matter. He was thankful when Fragile finished up cleaning the wounds and started throwing another set of bandages on after applying medicine to each cut. The cool liquid made Higgs tremble from the stinging sensations, but Fragile’s touch soothed them over. He took her advice to heart and closed his eyes. His breathing becoming more stable as time went on despite whatever subconscious apprehensions he had towards his former business partner touching him.

Higgs was nearly asleep until he heard Fragile rummage through the box, pulling out an IV, tube, and a large needle. His eyes widened briefly as he shook his head.

“No.”

“Higgs,”

“I said no.” His tone was firm this time around as he looked at Fragile. There was a vulnerability in his blue eyes that reminded her of when she confronted him on the beach, her hands cradling his face before she decked his lights out. As much as Higgs deserved it back then, seeing him now with a similar gaze, made Fragile feel somewhat guilty.

“Higgs, you’re dehydrated. You’re running a fever, and you have an infection. As much as you like to play off you have a death wish, we both know better.” Fragile said as a matter of fact, her voice soft as she could see he was working things out in his head despite his eyes fixated on her like a wounded animal.

“I’m not your father.” Fragile said, and Higgs blinked a few times as he stared at the IV in her hands, the needle too as if it were going to jump at him like a bug. He forced himself to give a nod, taking in a deep breath as Fragile gently took Higgs’s left arm and flipped it over. She found a vein in the upper part and quickly jabbed the needle under his flesh. The way his face contorted as he muttered curses under his breath made Fragile comfort him as she rubbed at the pained spot. Her spare hand putting the IV up on a small stand and then brushing some strands of hair from his face.

“Shh. It’s okay. Everything’s going to work out.” Fragile reassured him as Higgs’s arm pulsated while he hissed, feeling the liquid from the IV beginning to enter his system. He could taste metallic on his tongue accompanied by something bitter that reminded Higgs of the time he had eaten a mouth full of ants when rations had run low on a delivery run. He grimaced thinking about it as Fragile took a few moments to look him over before she got up.

Fragile pulled an extra blanket out of the box, covering Higgs up with it along with the others he had.

“Any chance you’ll give me a kiss and tuck me in?” Higgs asked teasingly, trying to be a smartass to placate his own insecurities and childhood trauma reeling its ugly head in his mind.

Fragile shook her head at the remark, once more, not wanting to smile but her mouth betrayed her.

“You should get some rest. You’ll feel better soon. I’ll get a bath ready for you in the other room. I’ll check on you in a little while.”

Higgs quietly watched as Fragile packed up everything and then got ready to venture into the other room of his bunker.

“Fragile, wait.” Higgs pleaded, causing her turn around.

“Yeah?”

“It’s nothing, but thank you.”

Higgs was full of surprises, but in Fragile’s mind, he was on quite the streak. Sighing she went back over to the bed, her hand reaching out to his face. Higgs flinched for obvious reasons and her fingers retreated back only to slowly inch forward and cup his right cheek. Her thumb caressed over the scruff that was overtaking his skin as her eyes roamed over his. He looked like a child then, being cared for the first time. Higgs closed his eyes and leaned into her hand.

“Do you think I could ever make it alright for us?” Higgs asked quietly, and Fragile’s touch gently retreated away. He asked a good question, but nonetheless, it put her mind into a predicament. Honestly, considering what he had put her through, Fragile didn’t want to give Higgs another chance. She already gave Higgs one at the beach by not shooting him. Still, her mind brought up memories from before Amelie had come into the picture.

Higgs was someone Fragile had counted on. His charisma, the way he valued his work, the way he motivated others in their respective companies, made him seem like a beacon of light in a dark room. She missed how hopeful he was, and how hopeful he made her feel about things. She missed her best friend.

“Don’t die on me, okay?” Fragile requested as Higgs nodded at her. It wasn’t the answer he was wanting to hear, but her words gave him a slither of hope of something to look forward to when he recovered. Higgs closed his eyes yet again after moving his body down the bed, getting comfortable for rest.

“No promises.” Higgs murmured playfully before his eyes started to grow heavy from the headaches and from Fragile tending to his injuries. When he passed out, Fragile swallowed and closed her own eyes. Her hands reaching up to wipe the sweat forming on her brow. There was a lot on her mind, so many concerns, and worries not just for Higgs, but herself.

She got up, swallowed her pride, and went to go draw the bath for Higgs like she said. The whole time, thinking about how they were going to move forward.

**A link to my ko-fi account. If you enjoy my content and want to support me getting my monthly medication for fibromyalgia and arthritis, I would be eternally grateful. It is NOT a requirement however! All my work is free to read!**

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royal-writer · 5 years

Text

a little ‘what if’

no fancy title idea for this. I’m feeling the onslaught of sickness coming on, so I’m cutting this short. massively short but oh my god sleep.

Mama don’t just ‘like’ any man that steps up to win her daughter’s hand. Nah, you have to EARN her respect and blessin... what’s better than to see the genuine trust and love of two people, and knowing that someone has your kids best interests at heart, and that they can make them smile and laugh and bring joy to their life? true, real joy. that’s all mama wants for her child. Yee ;;

Hepsiba Medüza did not like him. Lord Amon saw it in the way she behaved with everyone, but himself. Where she was maternal. How she was warmhearted. Her elaborate actions to please. Yet it felt like all was different and reserved the instant she observed a glimpse upon him.

There were moments when she held to a toothy grin and a mother’s wisdom while fretting over their team all between her teases. She held much of Essätha in her actions, he came to realize swiftly. They had the same sort of joy in their faces when they were happy; where it gripped every feature on the face and exploded into frenzied gestures and boundless energy. They even had a similar laugh, and grinned with the same effort that would at times, peek out the extended length of their cuspids. So like mother, so was like daughter.

But despite their likenesses, they were equally different. Essätha sneezed loud, while her mother sounded like a squeaky door hinge. Where the young Yuan-ti was bold and impulsive; the wild of a raging storm, her mother was timid and soft-spoken like a doe. When tired, his dear heart curled up to conserve heat and her mother oppositely lounged to stretch over her sofa and twitch as she slept.

Essie craved adventure and freedom. She fought with passion, and would do so until her dying breath. Always a burning inferno whipping nearly out of control. Brilliant and hard to grasp or understand. Hepsiba was polite beyond measure, in contrast. Her battles were fought with kindness, or abandoned when she felt the purpose beyond lost. She held a mysterious tongue, but was generally revealing and open in nature.

Both Medüza women were their own unique type of lady. From the tight coils of light brunette in Hepsiba’s hair, to the loose curls and bouncy wave’s of Essie’s light black that the Briarton Lord’s fingers grew tangled in. Their eyes told different stories of tragedy. One he he knew well; saw the summer solstice burn gold around the iris and fleck throughout a soft coppery tawny. The other a bright green; aloe leaves that were showing the wear and tear of time and age.

The illness that had at one time tried to consume Hepsiba had left a great toll as much as aging did. Her eyes appeared to have a wash of discolored fog faded faintly to them. The thick texture of her mane had, according to his Essie, had grown thin (which left Amon astonished; it appeared lethally dense as it was). Her skin looked paper thin and the appearance of veins were in some areas, dark in contrast. She grew fatigue at the simplest work; and if not for the kindly neighbor a bit down the way who visited frequently to help her out, it left Amon to wonder how the elder woman managed. Her body was a fraility, but her mind was sharp.

She had a knack for pushing through exhaustion. When Hepsiba was sure she could manage something; despite the lack of belief on any other, she did so. Her words would come out cutting in a way that was haunting when you did not heed her first words to back off. She was feisty in her independence, he’d give her that. The string of words she could put together sounded like the teachings of scholars; lengthy and astute.

Yet try as he might to connect with the slender aged woman, she did not try to connect with him. Her studious remarks were clipped. Her mannerisms respectful but distant. She would curtsy or bow, accept a kiss on her hand in the deepest level of respect with a smile. It was an echoed version of Essätha what felt like centuries ago. Disconnected and unwilling; not lining up with her eyes and disjointed.

Hepsiba squeezed her daughter with all the fond love of a mom; her every dream and affection put into her child. Dotted over her, but held herself back as she watched Essie continuously grow and make her decisions and become her own person. She was devoted and endlessly proud, as one should be to watch such a magnificent woman grow into her own. The haze-gloom over Hepsiba’s gaze could not stop the saturation of merriment when she looked to her daughter in a way that enticed a slice of envy in the soul of anyone who noticed. It was the kind of relationship every child longed to have with their parent. It held notes of the kind of connection you wanted to hold with everyone you held dear.

She treated Abernathy like an old friend within moments of meeting him. He was invited to return as often as he’d like with his husband for brunch, for lunch, and so on. They chatted of ‘younger days’ as if they’d lived them together. The laughter hardly ceased. He seemed to be the only one aside from Sulhadur she accepted help from in rare occasions.

The Dragonborn held her attention for his polite qualities. Hepsiba glorified his heroism and innocence with trusting pats. When dinner came, there was always an extra slab of meat cooked up and added to Sul’s plate so he wouldn’t have to eat so much of the grain and vegetables she steamed (which was fine with Amon, he found himself sneaking seconds like a ravenous wolf for her well seasoned cooking).

Quite the opposite, Rava got the disciplining gentle motherly hand. Sometimes Hepsiba’s words mingled in with Essie’s in a h soft reprimand that had everyone laughing. She scolded the young elfling when her curiosity had her leaping and taking without thinking of the consequence. She frequently pushed more health-optional food the young girl’s way, too. It didn’t stop Rava from grabbing something sweet or drinking a bottle of syrup when they left the private home at the far reaches of the village, but Hepsiba tried.

Aylin she held politeness to, even when he slipped Rava treats. When he inquired about her and the culture of her kind, she answered what Essätha would not or could not. The straightforward notion of his race’s harsh beliefs seemed to cause her unease and discomfort, but nevertheless, she smiled patiently through their chats.

Courteous she might be to the Drow, it was nothing compared to her admiration for Pri’cha. She adored the well-mannered cleric at first glance. When Pri offered prayer before supper, Hepsiba gladly joined her. She sung a few hymns of Pelor with the Radiant One; the parts said she could remember, anyway. It seemed to take no effort to like the humanoid insect. It was a sentiment Amon could agree with.

There was no judgment on behalf of Adela. The name of another Tiefling came up upon first greetings that made Amon wish to curl his lip, but he refrained. Solace contained none of Adela’s refined decency. They spoke over a small, unimpressive collection of the Medüza matriarch’s jewelry and trinkets, and when Adela presented her with a custom bracelet; simple but elegant, she’d been ecstatic and clung to the pale reddish-pink woman with boastful lines of flattery. They did not connect as deeply as she did some of the others, but there was no denying the friendliness.

Although startled by Penimra’s horrifying demented mouth as he ate, the old Yuan-ti woman tried to associate with the arrogant elf and understand him. When his euphemisms came out unintentionally biting, she remained polite and thanked him for his opinion. Penimra was given more notice than he was.

Amon tried not to suffocate in his desire to impress the mother of the woman he adored. No amount of honest compliments, or generous gifts, seemed to make her smile past a flat line. Hepsiba thanked him, offered him questions and concerns, and moved on to the next party member. Every now and then, he caught her sights upon him. The shadows made it hard to identify her true feelings, but they were watchful. Studying him intensely.

The next moment, she would be offering kisses to K’varr, or stroking Caesar’s head as the animals paraded around the small house. Although her eyes were no longer on them, he could still feel a tension in the air. Clenching to his aching jaws, setting in his taut pulled shoulders. Trying not to stare too hard as she cooked and cleaned, or performed smaller feats of magic. When she walked past, and he held his breath for fear even just being too loud would upset her.

What future would he have with the woman he loved, if her mother didn’t like him? Would she hold it against him? Would she tell Essie he was no good for her? Would there be a future for them at all, if he couldn’t convince Hepsiba he only wanted happiness for her daughter?

He had to know what he was doing wrong. Some way, some how, he would try and try again as much as he could, in hopes of getting her to like him. After all, it was going to be rather difficult to get her approval and blessing for her daughter’s hand, if he could even manage that.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“More tea, Abernathy?”

“No thank you, Hepsiba. I’ve had enough.”

She smiled over her shoulder, rinsing out her mug in the deep bowl filled with water in front of her. The cracked window before the counter where she often chopped vegetables was letting in a lovely breeze today. Outside, she could make out the shape of the many house visitors. Some were sitting around talking, some were goofing off, and others were packing and unpacking items from their wagon.

The firewood Amon had chopped for her the other day still had a sharp smell sitting just outside the window. It was blowing directly into the household. Hepsiba sniffed softly, setting the glass aside to air dry. Her legs ached from standing making the massive breakfast she’d worked on since before dawn to serve her hungry new children. They came and went often, since their current work was nearby. Essätha had been sure to stock the tiny cottage with enough food to fill an army, which is what it felt like she was often doing.

Try as she might, Essätha continued buying her things and stocking the house, without taking any reimbursement. That child of hers. She’d been sending bank slip notes home ever since she took flight and left the nest. Though Hepsiba scolded her for it, it was a large help. After she’d managed to make it out of that wretched city with her daughter and failing health, it had taken a long recovery process and many clerics to nurse her back to some functional state.

Work always remained hard. Raising a rambunctious girl had been tiring to the bone, but it never made her love her spirited daughter any less. She made their lives doing small jobs; sometimes picking up a seamstress service, other times actually getting hired on for a ceremonial event as a cook when people were desperate. Her body hurt as if it was much older than it was for years, and only grew worse as time went by.

She’d raised a wonderful, brilliant adult though. Essie had made it all worth it. Labor intensive or not. She’d grown up so much; much too fast in so many ways Hepsiba wished she could take back. The youth of her brave little girl, never understanding why people were so cruel to her for being different. The nurturing ways she sometimes had to look after her when too many days of hard, grueling work left her bedridden for a day or two.

Now she had Ethan down the lane, who was a perfect gentleman and helped all the neighbors. He brought her clothes from the villagers, and she would mend them up and he would return them. They exchanged meals; his kind wife Helen visited with their kids and they helped clean up and she’d offer her help where she could.

Life was simple and quiet, but it was just the way she liked it. She was left to long for the days when her little serpent would visit again, but she had wielded her own life now. An extraordinary life of grand adventures that people spoke of even among their little town. Essätha was a name among many, with her comrades that swirled around gossip and news. What a delightful surprise for her baby to visit home, and bring all these interesting and lively people with her for her to meet.

What a courageous daughter she had. She worried for her, the more the rumors spread. It made her look around as she wiped her hands dry, but there was no sign of her pretty little girl among those outside. There was no Essie at the table, either, where Abe and Adela still sat speaking softly to each other.

The front door opened, and Hepsiba looked that was expectedly. Though she did not see her daughter, the dark-haired nobleman entered cautiously. He pushed the door closed with a gloved hand; the bottom trim of fur on his cloak brushing the floor as he stepped through the house without a glance in their direction a few yards from the door. One arm was kept firmly down to his side, not swinging as was natural to people in motion.

Hepsiba moved to follow after Lord Amon; unnoticed. He disappeared behind the wall that separated the kitchen from the sitting area, and from there she spotted the wide shape of his frame move into the hall to the bedrooms.

Adela and Abernathy were still speaking to each other in a deep conversation when she shuffled quietly after the man.

It had nothing to do with a lack of trust in him moving through the home, but she was curious. Wherever that man seemed to wander, her Essie didn’t seem to be far.

She was close to the archway when she heard voices. Hesitantly, her eyes peeked around the extended wall to spy. It was her house. She tried telling herself there was nothing wrong with a bit of snooping.

It was dark. The only lighting was the natural lighting cutting through from the open doors to bedrooms with windows. In the shaped silhouette outlines, her vision began to pick up the details of two people standing nearly in the doorway of Essie’s old bedroom.

A girlish giggle escaped Essätha shyly. She pressed a self-conscious hand across to hide her face as Amon tucked the folds of a fully bloomed pink lily behind her ear. He retrieved that same hand moments later, bringing it to his face to rest his lips against the patchwork of scales. A radiant and genuine smile was broadly displayed on her daughter’s face, where it glistened up into the sunspecks of her eyes.

As they shifted, Hepsiba pulled herself out of the line of sight from the pair just as her Essie leaned in to kiss the man.

“I love you.”

Hepsiba exhaled quietly. The whispering husk of the man was hardly audible, but those words were hard to mistake for anything else.

“I love you too, m’lord.”

She’d seen what she’d needed to see. Even with the words, she’d seen enough.

There was long silence, and then a scrap of boots against the floor. That’s when Hepsiba made her move.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There was a glow about Essätha’s eyes that only seemed to shine brighter the moment he expressed his feelings. He hadn’t been able to stop the compulsion when he’d seen the blossom, at the peak of it’s life. With a steady drag of his blade to the steam, he’d nipped it free and knew just where it should be, to compliment an even more graceful beauty than even it.

Her smile was warm and enticing. It fastened him like gravity to the ground even as he felt weightless and life beneath such a longing gaze. He held upon her delicate fingers with a careful grip, pressing her fingertips to his lips next. The shape of her face she tried to hide; tucking her chin in with a shy blush and sections of curls hanging over her eyes and cheeks.

With a little tug on her hand, Essie took a step down the hall to encourage him to follow. He felt instantly pulled to the traverse of the sun as she moved; her ethereal light beckoning him.

A figure moved into the hallway suddenly, beaming brilliantly. They moved with a slowness; and stalled Amon’s advance even as Essätha’s hand slipped from his fingers.

“Ma,” the younger Yuan-ti greeted quietly, leaning in to kiss her mother’s cheek.

“Oh Essie my little viper,” the elder Yuan-ti laughed, pecking her daughter in return as she took hold of her hand in a squeeze. “Would you mind going and finishing the dishes? I’m a bit sore today, I’m sorry.”

“I can do that mom, you go sit down and rest a while, okay?”

“Yes, I think I’ll do that dear, thank you.”

The Lord of the Emerald Expanse almost dared to think to call her back. Instead he stood uncomfortably still, and watched his darling float out of sight. It left him awkwardly alone, with the adoring look of her mother staring after her.

Maybe he’d be lucky, and she would not strike at him like a furious cobra.

When she turned to him, the expression on Hepsiba’s gaze grew calculating. He stiffened considerably more under her evaluation.

He grew even more rigid as she broke into a wide grin.

“Oh, Lord Amon!” she gushed with delight. “My word, you stepped in without a single hello or good day.”

This felt an awful lot like a setup. Unsure which card to play, he moved to bow politely to the elder woman.

“I apologize, lady Medüza-”

“Oh stop with the ‘lady’ this and ‘lady’ that,” she scoffed, shambling down the hall towards him. “‘Hepsiba’ works just fine.”

Amon was numb as the woman reached for him. Linking her arm through his, he looked on with bewilderment to the fragile looking lady of the house. Her smile was full, and worked its way up into the glint playing off her eyes.

“I- uh-”

“Would you mind helping me to the couch, Lord Amon?” she inquired in a fast-paced voice of joy and excitement. “I would appreciate the help so much.”

The sudden change in demeanor made no sense. What had he done differently today? He was perplexed by her joy, which was in that state of resembling Essätha’s bubbly glee. He’d seen that look plenty, but never was it directly aimed to him.

Swallowing his confusion and his nerves, he spoke briskly but politely as he inclined his head, and reached across to carefully place a hand over the bend of her arm.

“It would be my pleasure, lady Medüza.”

“Hepsiba, please, young man,” she taunted him playfully, patting his hand.

With all the bewilderment in the world to this sudden change, Amon took full advantage in guiding her carefully around the jutted out wall in the direction of her sofa. Whatever the reason for her change of heart, he had a foot in the door, and if this was all the chance he was going to get, he was going to make the best of it.

#eci artz #essamon ship #Essie rw #amon illiad #essamon au #i'm going to crawl in bed and not get out until at least 8 tomorrow i feel like scrap

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falkenscreen · 4 years

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Bad Boys for Life

I’m supposed to talk about Bad Boys for Life, and we’ll get there.

It’s not a good movie, not by the standards set by its (first) precursor, films generally nor Michael Bay himself who here returns but for a cameo.

Helmed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who like us can’t quite believe it, this is the poorest imitation of what came before. Begrudgingly acknowledged by critics as a great romp, the very underrated Bad Boys is one of the best pieces of 90s action cinema (furthermore in respect of its paltry 23 million dollar budget) and to date still Michael Bay’s first and best film.

Consigned to realising a grander vision with less than a third of what he would be proffered for his next feature (The Rock), the famous foot chase remains emblematic of what Bay would become. Limited to a few blocks and very practical obstacles absent explosions and special effects, it’s a thrilling sequence dependent on his signature brazen camerawork and kinetic energy evidenced from Will Smith and (then) leading man Martin Lawrence, at the time a bigger box office draw.

Bay, a filmmaker in the vein of George Lucas, later allowed the lavishes of blank-cheque spectacle and the scale of fireworks he could set off frame by frame only because of his earlier successes to detract from stories better realised by allowing two or more able performers to butt heads in a shot sans overly intrusive and never near so compelling distractions.

There’s a reason the original Mario Kart is still the most popular. Players, a couple of sharp turns and a few well-placed objects to throw at them involves us more than same with an egregiously overstuffed environment to boot.

There is nothing as exciting or creative in either Bad Boys follow-up as the low angle-tilted far-flung shot of bad guys running down a stark-white photo studio corridor towards us or a slow pan up to Mike Lowrey, shirt ablaze, running to save Marcus, nor the now iconic 270-degree inward pan as our heroes rise; first establishing Smith as a star beyond the streets of Bel Air.

There too remains a freshness to the first Bad Boys missing from its contemporaries and likewise films today. Call Bay regressive if you want, but in 1995 he cast two African-American actors in lead roles without causing the film to so much remark on it and alongside Smith a female lead (Tea Leoni) who, contrary to still dominant and frustrating trends, was her male co-star’s elder.

Bad Boys II was never nearly so enjoyable for heedlessly leaping between mind-numbingly similar sequences which turned relatable heroes who never went much further than jumping onto a moving car into here bulletproof objects lumbering from one disaffecting encounter to another. At least bearing a few memorable scenes, Bad Boys for Life continues very strongly in this vein, but with even fewer moments to affectionately behold.

Time’s moved on, Mike’s still doing his charming bachelor thing and Marcus is keen for retirement. Villains emerge with an attempt to mark them beyond the singularly dimensional antagonists of those preceding films. When the relevant revelation does come, delivered in one of the many bouts of grinding, frustrating exposition and/or moralising, it lands with a groaning thud; moreover so for those familiar with Smith’s curiously similar, very recent Gemini Man.

There’s one creatively distinct shot in the entire film when the camera leans into an off-kilter lowly view of a figure running; soon adjusting to the statically shot oeuvre which characterises this threequel. You can count on one hand the enjoyable moments in action sequences, including when those concerned vault off a club balcony, an episode in an apartment with a drug-fuelled accountant and a car pivoting off a truck.

Green screen blatantly pervades much of this effort with the main performers simply not showcasing the physical energy or thrills they once did. Such decision made, had the leads more greatly leaned into the pacing this could have worked better, as the film’s funniest sequence managed where Mike’s attempts to get back in on the action are contrasted with Marcus quite literally putting his feet up.

Having said this, there is a joy in the chemistry and in several exchanges between Smith and Lawrence who effortlessly and moreover charmingly reprise their clearly beloved roles. Recurring references to one of the duo dying their hair better speaks to the pair’s moving relationship than any regular piece of stilted, overly-familiar dialogue.

With yet another sequel on the way, there is very evidently an attempt being made to establish a Fast and Furious style universe and cavalcade of characters via a newly-arrived quartet, with the female leads’ (Paola Nunez and Vanessa Hudgens) characters never being nearly so developed as those of their male counterparts, played Alexander Ludwig (who is fairly very funny) and Charles Melton.

This film may very possibly be remembered for Melton, here graduating from Riverdale High, turning in a performance that might just be the early makings of a not insignificant star. Joe Pantoliano is also back for more of the same, as is the unnecessarily remixed yet still exceptional series score. To this point, there near emerges nothing so exciting herein as those opening seconds when ‘Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ flashes onto the screen in that familiar typeface.

The third instalment not making a sequel look promising, one would be better off jumping back 25 years and revisiting the original.

Bad Boys for Life is in cinemas now

#xl #reviews #bad boys #bad boys for life #will smith #martin lawrence #jo pantoliano #jerry bruckheimer #don simpson #michael bay #charles melton #alexander ludwig #paola nunez #vanessa hudgens

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gwyvian · 7 years

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Heart of the Forge

Chapter 3: Thin Air

“It’s beautiful,” Ryder lifted a hand to catch one of the sparks like a snowflake and marveled at its pulsing glow.

Akksul stepped closer and bent to examine it also, eyes reflecting its light as if it was mesmerizing him; or he it, judging by the determined way his eyes studied it. Ryder caught herself studying him more than the spark, intrigued by how different he looked when he wasn’t glaring hate or derision; he was admiring and analyzing, much in the same way that she did when discovering something. Abruptly he seemed to realize the fact and he straightened, forcing a sneer onto his face as he leveled a disdainful stare at her. It was forced, though.

“Aren’t you going to go on about how dangerous it could be?” he asked with a hint of mockery in his voice. She was sure that was an honest reflection of his attitude, reckless as he was.

Ryder didn’t respond, however; she realized the spark in her palm was pulsing more energetically now and as she examined it more closely, she noticed that it was slowly growing in front of her eyes, building into what she assumed was a very small bot. Hastily she brushed it off, backing away uneasily and making sure none were still on her or in her hair. Akksul gave her a puzzled frown, but he also studied the sparks dancing in the air, looking for an indication of what had alarmed her.

As if in reaction, the sparks began to swirl intensely as if kicked up by a wind, sticking to the sides of the chamber and thereby cutting them off from the exit. She exchanged a concerned look with Akksul and this time neither one minded the fact; clearly whatever this was, it was reacting to their presence and considering the snake bots, it was likely these would be just as dangerous. Faster than she believed was possible abruptly a hum and striated ripples of energy seemed to join a group of the lights together into a net that dropped around her before she could even think to move out of the way.

“What…” she began, looking at Akksul again. Her shields buckled without warning and icy fingers seemed to grip her mind as if to rip it out, blurring her vision and blanking her thoughts – the world began to fade as the vibrating hum intensified.

“Skkut!” she heard Akksul’s voice, felt a hand suddenly grip her arm and she was falling heavily into someone’s arms, drifting on an icy tide of darkness that was parting beneath her to swallow her soul.

Pathfinder, SAM’s voice was so faint and overlaid with static that even in a semiconscious state she despaired, but for once the pain was warming, it felt real.

Just before consciousness slipped away entirely, Ryder opened her eyes one last time and glimpsed lightning coruscating from Akksul’s fingers, disrupting the field, while he dragged her back as best he could with his other arm around her waist. Her head rolled to the side and the last thing she saw was the pain and anger on his face.

Ryder’s eyes opened and slowly, uncomprehendingly focused on a myriad of glowing veins climbing up the walls into darkness. Memories and voices that had filled her mind with their din faded into the background, leaving only a lingering sense of nostalgia that grew more intangible with each flicker of awareness that lit up in her mind. Struggling to sit up, she was surprised and pleased to discover that the agony was completely gone; her body felt weak and cold, but far more comfortable than she had felt in what seemed like an eternity. Her eyes focused on her surroundings and after a moment’s study, she realized she was back at the gravity well.

“Akksul?” she called out, looking around. After receiving no response, she stood and walked around the containers, reorienting herself as she did; she finally found him leaning against one of the smaller crates, facing the way that headed deeper into the building. Clearly he was guarding their makeshift ‘camp’ at the foot of the well, which was a painful reminder of their encounters with the bots down here so far; more concerning, however, was that Akksul’s breath was labored and when he scrambled to his feet at her approach, he moved gingerly.

“I wasn’t sure you would live,” he said, then seemed to realize his tone was a mix of concern and relief and he grimaced, glaring at her. “Instead you live another day to burden me,” he added, turning away from her firmly.

Ryder’s lips thinned. “If that’s how you feel, why didn’t you just leave me to die?”

“Because I’m not a monster,” Akksul said, his tone bordering on condescension. His eyes, however, studied her in a way that they hadn’t before, as though seeing her clearly for the first time.

“So now you feel compassion for me,” Ryder said skeptically, crossing her arms. Absently she wondered where SAM was; if he had reestablished their connection, as she suspected based on her physical condition, he should have said something by now.

“You’re just another alien to me, human,” he replied with a sneer, averting his eyes.

“An alien that saved your life,” she pointed out.

Akksul snorted. “Only because it serves your cause somehow.”

“Yes, my evil plan was to trap you down here so I could get you almost killed only to heroically save you to win you over,” Ryder rolled her eyes. “I would maybe give it an ounce of merit if your role with the Roekaar still mattered,” she added bitingly.

Predictably, her words angered him. “I still matter,” he growled. “You wouldn’t even be alive if I didn’t! But I probably should have let you die anyway.”

“Then you would also die,” she frowned, surprised at how taken aback she felt.

It wasn’t as if Akksul’s feelings about her living or dying really mattered; but Ryder couldn’t help but suddenly remember flashes of how he had leapt to save her without thinking. She had been delirious, maybe she had imagined the whole thing; but then, he definitely had laid her down behind the crates as far from the entrance as possible while he guarded it. The contradiction of his actions and his words frustrated her more than she would have cared to admit. It was silly, really; she knew what he was like, it should have come as no surprise that he had no regard for her as a living being and being angry over it wouldn’t change it, he had definite reasons for wanting to keep her alive that had nothing to do with concern for her well-being and that was that.

“Maybe that’s not too high a price to pay,” Akksul shot back and for a split second Ryder saw again in his eyes the same determination, the same willingness to die she had seen at the Forge; some part of him was still convinced that martyring himself was a good choice, perhaps even the only way to redeem what he had done. The idea filled her with a sudden panic; especially considering that if he had a death wish, there was only so much she could do to stop him, particularly while they were down here.

“What about the Moshae?” she asked. Surely the threat on her life would keep him alive, at least long enough to make sure she was safe. Why do I even care? she wondered suddenly. Any harm that befell him would surely make the Roekaar stronger, even if he no longer lead them she was sure Zivrel would capitalize on it, but she was beginning to realize that a part of what made her anxious about the prospect was that she was becoming used to him; maybe SAM’s absence affected her much more deeply than she realized. And where is SAM…

Akksul was silent for a moment. “I won’t let anything happen to her,” he said firmly, then took a breath and with obvious reluctance he met her eyes again. “Do you have anything useful to suggest?”

Ryder tried hard not to smile in relief; she didn’t want to ruin her chances now that he finally seemed willing to listen to reason. “I think we should explore,” she said a little cautiously, “but first we should go over what we know.”

“You know nothing. You’ve barely just arrived in Andromeda, I studied Remnant ruins for years and not even I recognize those bots or the architecture – I said useful, not examples of your ignorance.”

“There must be some correlation,” Ryder frowned, carefully controlling her tone of voice. She would not let him provoke her this time. “These are Remnant ruins after all, I can’t believe that they just suddenly decided to change how they do things.”

Akksul gave her a flat stare. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. There are many variations of Remnant structures.”

“That may be so, but does it seem logical to you that we haven’t seen a single similarity to ruins we’ve seen elsewhere? Where are the Observers or Assemblers, or any of the bots that turn up at practically every site?”

“The basic construct is still the same, pillars and ferrofluid conduits, even if the architectural design is different,” he said.

“That only indicates that the same base technology was used… what if these aren’t Remnant ruins at all?” Ryder mused.

Akksul scoffed. “Is that what passes for theorizing among your people? Wild guesses?”

“Give me a better explanation,” Ryder demanded, gritting her teeth. She was growing truly tired of his constant need to make supercilious remarks.

“This cannot be anything but a Remnant site,” he replied flatly. “The technology is the same, even if the bots do not match.”

“But these bots are a clear indication that, at the very least, this place was constructed by a different group of their kind.”

“Because you haven’t discovered these particular bots before?” he frowned, clearly dismissing her suggestion. “All that indicates is that you don’t know enough.”

“Because of what we learned about the Jardaan,” Ryder corrected, then hesitated. She wasn’t even sure if Akksul knew anything about the Jardaan; she had shared all the information they had gathered at Khi Tasira with the Resistance and the Moshae, but beyond that she wasn’t sure whether the rest of the angara were aware of the facts, although she was fairly sure the Moshae wouldn’t have kept that information from her colleagues at least.

“Ah, yes, your discovery,” Akksul said sardonically.

“You don’t believe me?” she asked incredulously. “Akksul, your own people have confirmed my findings there!”

“You mean the Resistance has confirmed your findings,” he retorted.

“The Resistance and your scientists.”

“And I should just trust that?” he asked, as if wondering how she could expect such a thing from him.

“What reason do you have not to trust that?”

“I have a long list,” he frowned. “You left the galaxy where you belong to who knows what fate and you come here and expect everyone to be your friend because you were willing to take one of us with you? That’s not a basis for trusting your every word, for all I know you could have left your galaxy in smoldering ruins.”

“I suppose you’re going to say that you know better,” Ryder said irritably.

“I never pretended to like or trust your people,” Akksul said. “And why should I even try to?”

“Because I’ve proven you wrong,” she snapped. “All you’ve done is turn your own people against each other while everything I’ve done has served both our people’s interests. You don’t get to take the moral high ground after that!”

“So you’re saying that blindly trusting you in my best interest? Don’t make me laugh,” he sneered.

“I could have let you die down here, but I didn’t,” she pointed out.

“Why didn’t you?” he demanded hotly. “Isn’t that what you really want, to finally take revenge for what I did to Jaal and kill me?”

“No,” Ryder replied, a little startled at the suggestion. “I don’t doubt or regret my choices, not then and not now. Why would you even think that?”

“I expected no better from you,” he replied dismissively. “You betray your arrogance with every word.”

“Are you angry because I saved you or because you saved me?” she asked, suddenly grasping something about his demeanor that had escaped her until now. He was far angrier whenever the subject of saving each other’s lives came up than was called for. The sudden expression of shock at the unexpected question was confirmation enough, though he immediately masked it with an approximation of contempt.

“Why would I be angry about that? Even if you are useless now, I may need that AI of yours,” he said, but Ryder wasn’t convinced.

“You may need it?” she asked. “Have you suddenly developed an ability to use RemTech, then?”

“This place hardly qualifies as a regular Remnant site, there is nothing to say it works the same way,” he said sourly, but his tone was far less abrasive than before. His eyes appraised her then, clearly making note of how she held herself differently. “Something changed,” he said finally. “You are no longer in pain?”

“No,” she replied cautiously, sure he would somehow turn the observation into yet another accusation. Not wanting to give him the chance, she looked him up and down in turn. “But you clearly are… did that field or whatever it was hurt you?”

Akksul grimaced. “It was as though it started draining my life force, I think that is what was happening to you as well. You paled and your heart slowed so much I was sure you were going to die. My electromagnetic ability seemed to disrupt it somehow though, so I was able to get you out.”

Ryder blushed, flustered at the sudden mental image she had of him pressing an ear to her chest to listen to hear heartbeat; though she knew that there were more ways than one to check for a pulse, that was the one that came to mind, despite not even knowing if Akksul even knew where the human heart was in the first place. Idiot, she chided herself, wondering what possessed her to even think of such a thing. Clearly the insufferable man was causing her brain fever, that or SAM’s absence did; or maybe it was both. SAM’s silence was increasingly making her uneasy.

She cleared her throat. “Why do you think it targeted me and not you?”

“Maybe it doesn’t like aliens,” Akksul said, completely seriously.

Ryder exhaled sharply, exasperated. “Then why did the giant snake thing go after you and not me?”

“The small ones reacted far more hostile to you,” Akksul pointed out.

“The big one went for you,” Ryder repeated flatly.

“There is something they must be attracted to in us,” Akksul mused, then gave her a wary look. “What do we have in common?” he asked.

Ryder blinked. “Well, we are both mammals,” she said.

Akksul shook his head. “Those stars went for you and ignored me until I interfered.”

“Technology!” Ryder gasped, eyes widening as puzzle pieces seemed to snap together in her mind in a rush. “Wait,” a sudden apprehension gripped her as yet another clue fell into place. “SAM?” she asked. “SAM, are you there?”

Silence.

“I thought you couldn’t communicate with your AI,” Akksul frowned.

“This can’t be happening,” she said, horrified, feeling ready to jump out of her skin and she pressed fingertips to her temples as if by some miracle she could reassure herself that the implant was still whole… or even there in the first place. There was no way for her to tell that, however. “I think I lost SAM,” she exclaimed, beginning to pace up and down. “I can’t lose SAM, I would die without the connection! Not to mention that we are trapped here forever if…”

“Perhaps it is temporary,” Akksul said.

“But it makes sense! Think about it: most of the damage we’ve received have been either to keep us out or to disable our technology. The first thing that went was our shields and then… maybe it was SAM’s presence, maybe that’s why it targeted me?”

Akksul frowned, studying her silently for a long moment. “If the Moshae dies because of you, human…”

“I gave her the best protection I could,” Ryder said angrily. “I know you don’t trust that, but…” she cut off, eyes fixed on the wall behind him. “Akksul, look… those weren’t blue before, were they?” she nodded her head at the pillars.

He turned. “No,” he replied, looking suddenly troubled. He approached the pillars and examined them, running fingers over their surface.

Ryder took a few steps backwards to take in the whole chamber, turning around as her eyes travelled across as much of the pillars as she could see. Not all of it was blue, but even as she watched the green glow paled and turned into an icy blue. It was like watching the spread of an infection, or some kind of rewriting process; she was sure it wasn’t immediately dangerous to them, otherwise they surely would have realized it by now, but something was definitely changing and she was very much afraid that they were the cause.

“We need to find out what’s happening,” she said. “Damn it, we need SAM…”

“So we fix your AI,” Akksul said, for all the world as if it were the most obvious thing.

“You don’t understand,” Ryder said. “I have an implant that enables me to communicate with him, but he is also linked to me physically… I feel fine, I shouldn’t feel fine if there’s even a chance… if that thing can disable technology, maybe it damaged it…”

“Our shields and weapons still work,” Akksul said.

“What if it’s because they’re a simpler technology? An AI is far from simple in that sense, neither is the method we use to communicate… I need to figure this out, maybe we can reverse the process! If we capture some of those sparks and study them…” she resisted the urge to keep calling for SAM. She was sure that SAM wouldn’t hold out on her, if he wasn’t speaking it meant that either he was incapable of communicating yet, or that their link had somehow been completely severed. But how am I alive if that is the case? Why do I feel fine?

“Prioritize, woman, we need to get out of here, nothing matters more than that!” Akksul said irritably.

“And I can’t do that without SAM, haven’t you been listening?” she demanded.

“You stopped that snake,” Akksul said, narrowing his eyes. “You didn’t have your AI then.”

Ryder hesitated, trembling from the stomach-churning mix of anger and anxiety. “I have a residual talent for using RemTech after using so much with SAM’s aid,” she admitted. “But with SAM completely gone…”

“If you use it again and it works, perhaps that may indicate whether your SAM is still part of you,” Akksul said patiently.

Ryder stared at him. “You’re right,” she said. “Let’s go! Did you see any consoles down here? Any at all?” A voice in the back of her head said that she was grasping at straws, that even if SAM were completely gone she may be able to use the technology anyway, but she shoved it aside firmly. For all she knew, it could be the trigger SAM needed and she was willing to try anything if it meant getting the connection back.

Akksul wordlessly gestured at the gravity well.

“Right, I’ll try again,” she said, approaching it, but as she reached forward she hesitated. There was more than a little risk in trying to use RemTech without SAM, but more than that, she was very much afraid that nothing would happen.

“Well?” Akksul said impatiently.

Ryder held her hand out firmly and concentrated, focusing on that same feeling, as she had before, straining to feel the well and bring it alive. Her fingers began to tremble and her heartbeat sounded loud in her ears, but she persisted, grasping for that feeling of connection when everything just clicked. After long seconds slipped by, she strained even more, feeling as though she was just at the cusp of breaking through, but she just kept sliding back. Her head was beginning to ache from the effort and just then she felt something stir in her fingers, a whisper…

Gasping, Ryder staggered back and let her hand drop. “I can’t,” she said, vision blurring from unshed tears. She felt wetness on her lip and when she wiped it with shaking fingers they came away red with blood. Her brain seemed to pulse with a washing pain, but worse was the despair closing in around her. I can’t lose SAM…

“That means we do things my way, then,” Akksul said firmly. “We’re going deeper in.”

Ryder shook her head, trying to clear her mind and collect herself. She closed her eyes and took deep, regular breaths. “Akksul, you are hurt.”

“Not hurt badly enough to stop trying,” he said grimly.

She met his eyes and she realized that he was offering her something to focus on to distract her from the gravity of their situation. He knew as well as she did that it was increasingly likely they would die down here, but there was still a sliver of a chance that they might find a different way. Considering him and his opinions on humans, her in particular, she doubted it was an intentional offer of comfort, but she felt grateful anyway; Akksul the Roekaar may be her mortal enemy, but Ryder decided that she was just fine with Akksul the determined scientist.

“We do it your way,” she sighed.

Akksul smiled in triumph and hoisted his weapon. “Keep up, Pathfinder.”

#mass effect andromeda #akksul #akksul x ryder #fanfic #angst #writers

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aeyemenethes-blog · 7 years

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Lathbora viran Ch. 13

Here is the next installment. It can also be found on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10213937/chapters/24891768

Curls of ink and emerald wrapped my spirit up in a calming shell. As I sat cross-legged at the edge of the Fade where my friend once lived, I focused on centering myself. All around the spirits and Fade beings glided by me without a passing glance, and I barely took notice of their movement. Opening my eyes I stared at the spot again and traced the spirals of energy dancing happily.

Ellana’s hand slides behind my neck and pulls my head toward her…and those kissable lips…

I shook my head to banish the memory. This was hardly the time to think of her when I was mourning a dear friend. The strand of energy pulsed a bright green, then blue as if making words to string into conversation. It was young and beat in an excited tempo as a new creature exploring its world.

“…felt the whole world change?”

“A figure of speech.”

“I’m aware of the metaphor. I’m more interested in felt.”

“You change…everything.”

“Sweet talker.”

I blinked my eyes rapidly, bringing the Fade back into my vision. Every pore, every single strand of hair on the back of my arms and neck, rose stiff and high. Even staring at the energy, I thought I saw it split into two shapes, forming two elves that danced around each other. My eyes followed the shapes interweaving around, between, inside each other, and my breath hitched.

Her palm, soft and calloused from years gripping her staff, ran along my cheek as fireflies blinked as stars in the meadow we sat in. At the edge of the forest, and Clan Lavellan, we drank in the other’s presence not caring that, at any moment, we could get caught by one of the clan’s hunters. Her eyes sparkled as sapphires in the firefly light.

“I may also need a favour.”

“You just have to ask.”

The Fade Haven swirled in a circle through my vision as I locked onto those perfect, full lips. Ellana was closing her eyes now, and leaning toward me.

“Alright. Let’s go get your friend.”

“Thank you!”

Ellana flew through the smoke and ash of mage fire and melee fighting. Every strike with her staff hit in a precise dance, meeting its careful mark on the demons hide. Overhead the sharp, green brilliance of the Breach blocked out the natural light from the moon. The putrid stench of the dead and dying smothered the air, and yet, my eyes wouldn’t leave the lithe form of the elven mage hell bent to close the large rift.

I stopped short, my jaw fell open slack and my eyes quivered at the sight of my friend chained and bound by bolts of lightning. Six spires made of stone tore as claws through the sky and, every few seconds, waves of electricity crackled up and down their lengths, and my friend would grunt in pain.

“Inquisitor! Please!”

Her arms wrapped around my neck and mine found her waist, pulling her in and allowing our lips to meet. Our jaws worked, tongues sucked greedy for just another taste. The blood in my veins sang, melting against her warm body.

Memories flooded one after another all working, out of order, toward an inevitable climax. In the beginning they were fresh and crisp, but they slowly melded into a series of deep emotions and vibrant colours until I was breathless at their revelation. When they ended, I relaxed back and noticed that the tiny energy also calmed.

A ghost of a smile flickered upon my lips and I stood up, giving a slight bow of my head toward the swirling energy. “Ma serannas, Lethallin. You are very right.”

It pulsed its reply and I allowed myself to wake up.

. . .

Skyhold’s impressive gates opened without hesitation for me and, as I entered the fortress, I noticed Ellana descending down its stone steps. As if fate intervened. Her eyes fell upon me, and a smile lit her exquisite face. Her delicate calf muscles bunched, giving a spring to her step as she rushed to greet me.

“Inquisitor.” I greeted trying to put the thoughts and memories behind me.

“How are you, Solas?”

My heart skipped hearing the melody of her voice as she spoke.

“It hurts. It always does, but I will survive.” I could hear the cracking in my tone.

Her face fell, and sorrow laced her eyes as she stared at me. “Thank you for coming back.”

A tingling sensation sparked along my lip and fingertips thinking about what we’ve been through already. “You were a true friend. You did everything you could to help. I could hardly abandon you now.”

“Where did you go?” Ellana asked in a genuine tone.

“I found a quiet spot and went to sleep. I visited the place in the Fade where my friend used to be.” I relived a lifetime with you…us. “It’s empty, but there are stirrings of energy in the Void. Someday something new may grow there.”

Curiosity reflected from her eyes, but there was slight hesitation when she asked her next question. “What happens when a spirit dies?”

Our ethereal forms cease to exist in a sense… “It isn’t the same as for mortals. The energy of spirits returns to the Fade. If the idea giving the spirit form is strong, or if the memory has shaped other spirits, it may someday rise again."

“You’re saying your friend might come back?” There was a gentle hope in her tone that sought to calm my pain, and I appreciated her attempt.

“No, not really. A spirit’s natural state is peaceful semi-existence. It is rare to be able to reflect reality. Something similar may reform one day, but it might have a different personality. It would likely not remember me. It would not be the friend I knew.”

I watched as her fingers twitched at her side as if seeking to touch me. Part of me wished she did, but I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate given what happened. I didn’t trust that I could pull away if she did, and kissing in Skyhold’s courtyard wouldn’t be a wise idea. No doubt it would set tongues wagging and Varric to start another book, if he hadn’t done so about the Inquisition already.

“The next time you have to mourn, you don’t need to be alone.”

How I wish it was that easy, Lethallan…that I could abandon myself in your presence without consequence.

I lowered my head. “It’s been so long since I could trust someone.”

“I know.”

Lifting my head, I stared at her, a little taken aback by her agreeing with me so readily. “I’ll work on it. And thank you.”

“Inquisitor!”

We both looked across the courtyard to see Commander Cullen bounding over with some parchments in his hand. As she turned her full attention toward him, I ducked out of their way and toward the tavern. Perhaps another drink or maybe just the company of loud voices to distract my careless thoughts; I don’t know exactly what drove me to the bar or up the stairs.

“I am sorry your friend died, Solas.”

I stopped short seeing the young, blonde haired assassin sitting on the railing of the second floor in the tavern with his feet dangling off. His light blue eyes were clouded as they fell upon my form. Before I knew what I was doing, I had climbed the stairs to stand next to the boy. His sorrow was heavy.

“Thank you, Cole.” I said hearing the thread tone in my voice return.

It was as if hearing this spirit of compassion speak, created a raw cavern inside. Maybe because he reminded me of the friend I lost.

“I didn’t know there were spirits of wisdom.” Cole remarked, kicking his feet in the air and gazing at them as he did so.

Leaning forward I braced my forearms on the railing and watched the patrons laughing, singing off key with the bar, and otherwise engaged in their everyday lives. It felt good being a spectator to their revelry and the boy’s energy washed over me warm and inviting.

“There are few. Spirits form as a reflection of this world and its passions. We will never lack for the spirits of rage, or hunger, or desire. The world gives them plenty to mirror. The gentler spirits are far more rare. We can ill afford the loss of even one spirit of wisdom, or faith…or compassion.”

I directed the last to Cole specifically. Whether the boy knew his intrinsic value to this world was of great importance to myself. We couldn’t afford to lose him to this world.

Cole remained silent for a few heartbeats, and I barely picked up the steady rise and fall of his breathing. For a moment, his eyes glazed over staring at the candlelight radiating from the chandelier. Maybe he didn’t think much of his vital part in the fabric of this world, or maybe he just didn’t feel worthy of it. The deep seated sorrow from him made me think that something really did try to destroy him long ago.

“I will try not to die.” He spoke in a soft voice, almost a whisper, and it created a smile on my face.

“Do that, please.” I answered with sincerity.

He gave me and faint smile before fading and leaving me alone with my dark thoughts.

You can’t afford to be alone, Solas…

I know.

But the more I stood there, watching the bustle of people down below, the more I felt claustrophobic. Many of the rowdy were mages, human mages, and I gritted my teeth remembering the cowering mages who destroyed my friend. Mana bled to the surface of my fingertips and I itched to lash out at the mages. Any mage could do what those humans did to another spirit or even Cole. Vivienne already expressed her hatred for the boy’s presence. She didn’t understand.

None of them did.

I forced myself from where I stood and took the steps down two are a time until they led me to the barkeep. Ordering a few bottles of the strongest the dwarf had brewed that night, I retreated back to my room.

The familiar scent of paint, copper and earth wafted up in a welcomed greeting and, sighing, I relaxed into my high-backed chair. Uncorking the first bottle, I worked to rid myself of all my nightmares.

. . .

“Bright and brilliant, he wanders the ways, walking unwaking, searching for wisdom…”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and shot an annoyed glance at the blonde assassin who entered my room with his arms crossed.

“I do not need you to do that, Cole.”

Don’t root through my mind, please!

Cole looked up and cocked his head at an angle toward me. “Your friend wanted you to be happy, even though she knew you wouldn’t be.”

Setting down the second half-empty bottle, I sighed, knowing that the spirit boy just wanted to help and didn’t think he was causing any harm. “Could you…if you would remember her, could you do it as I would?”

Not my thoughts…do not voice my feelings!

The tone in Cole’s voice dropped as he recited the next words as a person might a play. “He comes to me as though the Fade were just another wooded path to walk without a care in search of wisdom.”

I closed my eyes relishing in the imagery the boy’s soft tone yielded.

“We share the ancient mysteries, the feelings lost, forgotten dreams, unseen for ages, now beheld in wonder. In his own way, he knew wisdom, as no man or spirit had before.”

As his voice faded, I slowly opened my eyes, catching the Inquisitor leaning against the doorway, watching the both of us.

“Thank you.” I said as much to Cole as I did to Ellana.

“That was lovely, Cole.”

The young man turned and nodded toward the raven-haired elf, then to me, before he swept out of my room without a word. I stood up and walked out from behind my desk just as Ellana stepped into the rotunda’s center.

“Inquisitor. I was…” Just thinking about you… “Do you have a moment?”

She raised a curious brow and her nose scrunched in that cute way that stole my breath from my lungs. “Of course.”

Gesturing, I led her up to the tower where her bedroom resided, once it was my room, but that was many lifetimes ago. My eyes swept over the plush green and red carpet over a polished wooden flooring. The old stained glass of halla and wolves in the window panes were replaced with the steady rise of forest and herd animals that symbolized the modern day Dalish. Though similar, there were still distinct differences but it lightened my heart that the Inquisitor still honoured her clan.

A stylish white leather sofa pressed up against the wooden railing opposite of the intricately carved desk piled high with requisition forms and tomes, next to the fireplace, now smoldering with the cooling remnants of a fire. Then my eyes fell on the gold and scarlet bed, large enough for two, possibly three inhabitants to lay down with curtains gathered on the bedposts ready to be freed for needed privacy. I blushed as my thoughts began working away from the chaste questions I intended.

Immediately I broke for the marble balcony where there was fresh air and not as much blatant temptation. I heard the whisper of footsteps as the Inquisitor followed me.

“What were you like before the Anchor?” I asked, turning to address her.

Though I knew the answer from my own experiences, I needed to hear how she thought of herself. Before I left Clan Levallan, I burned my residual from her mind, because I couldn’t bare lying to her. Even now, I felt the press of the danger Ellana threatened to bring if I pursued this, but I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to make her forget…again.

At my question, Ellana looked at the palm which held the Anchor. Such intensity and fear rivalled for dominance in her eyes, but she glanced back up at me before either motion won.

“Has it affected you? Changed you in any way? Your mind, your morals, you…spirit?” Your feelings toward me?

I let that thought go unvoiced.

A gentle smile tugged up her lips. “If it had, do you really think I’d have noticed?”

Has it corrupted you…?

“No. That’s an excellent point.” I found myself admitting.

Her eyes sparkled, “Why do you ask?”

Because it’s my orb. I’m Fen’Harel. The Dread Wolf. Because I’m the reason behind the Breach, and Corypheus’ rise to power and –

“You show a wisdom I have not seen since…” My friend, General Aly’xin, led the Elvhen out of this place when I brought down the Veil. Since myself and the Evanuris won the war against – “Since my deepest journeys into the ancient memories of the Fade.”

I kept my eyes to the ground for fear she might see the truth I eluded for a fraction of a second before lifting my gaze to search hers. “You are not what I expected.”

But everything I find myself needing.

Ellana chuckled and tilted her head. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“It’s not disappointing, it’s…” I sighed. I didn’t want to upset her, but I was never good and voicing my raw feeling. “Most people are predictable. You have shown subtlety in your actions, a wisdom that goes against everything I expected. If the Dalish could raise someone with a spirit like yours…have I misjudged them?”

For a moment, Ellana held her tongue and I knew she tried to think of what answer to give. Then that smile returned. “I don’t hold the Dalish up as perfect, but we have something worth honouring. A memory of the ancient ways.”

“Perhaps that is it.” I nodded in agreement. “I suppose it must be. Most people act with so little understanding of the world. But not you.”

“So what does this mean, Solas?”

Heat rushed up to colour my cheeks as I voiced the answer internally as immediately as I did aloud. “It means I have not forgotten the kiss.”

Ellana took steps to close the distance between us and I noticed the pink painting along her cheeks too. “Good.”

As she neared, she clasped her hands behind her back and leaned into me. I could feel the heat rising from her breasts and the smell of perfume and femininity hit hard enough to stiffen my cock. I sucked in a deep breath and shook my head. I couldn’t breathe.

This isn’t right.

I turned to leave. I said my peace to her, didn’t I? If I stayed much longer –

Pressure clamped down on my elbow and she stopped me from leaving.

“Don’t go.”

That silky voice wracked my body with delicious shivers that practically paralyzed me. I shook my head, trying to figure out the right course of action. Here this woman begged for my attention, and she was so different from the others before.

“It would be kinder in the long run.” Just as I was able to do so when I left her clan. But… “But losing you would…”

Our lip met and I snaked my arms about her waist, crushing her body to mine. She stiffened for a second before melting into me, her hands grazing my hips. I thrust my erection against the inside of her hip, growling at the agonizing friction it gave. A deep moan erupted from the hollow of her throat and she parted her teeth to allow my tongue inside.

The kiss brought back all the blissful nights we stole away from her clan for just the two of us. Lovers getting to know one another. Except now, Ellana knew my name, and I hadn’t lied to her.

Ellana gasped and trailed her fingertips down my broad shoulders, then my back, and I felt as if the heat from her skin would burn wounds into me. She tasted of honeyed-tea and so much better in reality than traveling in the Fade.

As she found my leather belt, Ellana pulled the tunic through and traced along the skin she revealed. I gasped, my hips jerking into her clothed thigh. I felt the metal buckle click and my belt loosened. My growl grew long and low and I laced my fingers into her dark curls, pulled her hair free from the bun she regularly kept it in. Silken tresses tumbled down over my fingers and I wrapped the strands in my hand. With the hair free, a bloom of perfumed soap found its way to my flared nostrils. I moaned.

If you continue Solas, you two won’t part til dawn.

Wolf’s cold voice shocked me like a bucket of ice water emptied on my back. My spine went as rigid as my cock and I broke the kiss. Ellana’s eyes opened up and I stared at her lips, swollen and glistening from our kiss. I wanted to stay. To make love to her.

But…I wasn’t ready.

“Ar lath ma, Vhenan.” I whispered instead, and tore from her grasp before she could pull in for more.

Fenedhis! Fenedhis! Fenedhis lasa!

Right now wasn’t the best of times. I needed air. I needed to think!

My eyes settled back on her bed and my cock twitched in protest. Biting my tongue, I hastened my speed to get the hell out of there.

#Solas #solas romance #solas x lavellan #solavellan #solavallen #romance #fanfic #writing #dragon age #dragon age inquisition

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imagineangryspacegrump-blog · 7 years

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For You

Prompt: "Instead of the reader getting hurt, Bones does? Maybe he protects the reader from getting hurt or something?" -Anon

Warnings: Trashy science stuff that, for the most part, is made up. Angst if you squint

Word Count: 2,099

A/n: This fic is way, WAY overdue, but don’t worry, I’m getting back to writing again. I have been horribly busy. The facts in this story are everywhere, so if you really have the dying desire to know what's real and what's not, message me and I'll let ya know :P

The two suns in the sky illuminated their light softly through a large canopy of trees, illuminating small beams of light through the dense ceiling of leaves. It made the whole environment feel magical, and the mysterious creatures that ran or flew around just added to the feel.

You happily walked around, taking everything in little bits at a time. Your companion though, was having a much worse time than you were, and instead of frolicking around, he was stomping through the vegetation with a deep scowl.

"Can you hurry up and pick a damned plant already? I'm getting blisters on my heels from walking so much."

"Stop whining and enjoy the view!" You stopped and bent over to gently touch a flower that was white with red specks.

Leonard stood behind you and watched your skirt ride up a bit from bending over. Doing so revealed the Starfleet insignia you had tattooed on the back of your thigh.

He grunted. "I am enjoying the view but I'd much rather be enjoying it from our bed, not on some crazed planet that's probably crawling with some sort of deadly space herpes."

You chuckled and straightened out, continuing to walk through the trees. "C'mon, this is is fun! This is probably the only break you'll have in months so enjoy it."

He went silent after that and followed after you, smacking away some pesky bugs that started to hover around his head.

"Woah Leonard, check this out!"

You pointed out a weird looking plant that had spikes along the pod. It looked like a dragon fruit on a stick. The red and brown color's mixed together, making it look beautiful yet dangerous.

Your face scrunched up. "I could've sworn I've learned about this plant before. Does this look familiar, Len?"

Leonard shrugged and hit another bug away. "You're the botanist, not me. I couldn't even tell you what lilies look like. Aren't they white?"

You laughed and reached forward to poke at the flower. Leonard saw the movement in the middle of the flower before you did, so he hit your hand away. In doing so, instead of your finger getting trapped inside the flower, it was his.

The plant had wrapped around his poiner finger and held tight, similar to one of those old Chinese finger traps. The harder he pulled to free his finger, the more it held on.

"What the hell? Can you help me out a little Y/n? The plant keeps pricking my finger."

"Okay, okay hold on." Pulling out a knife, you hacked at the stem of the plant, successfully cutting it in half.

You thought doing so would make the flower let go, but it didn't. So it wasn't the flower? Must be something inside.

"Ok, I'm going to cut the pod open so if I accidentally cut your finger off, I'm sorry."

After a couple of seconds, the hard shell of the plant broke open and released Leonard's finger. The digit was turning purple and had swollen up drastically.

"That can't be good. Umm..."

Turning back to the pod, you nudged the plant with a nearby branch and something fell out.

It was a small caterpillar, almost two inches in size. It's entire body was covered with small, needle like hairs that branched out in every which way.

You blanched at the sight and jumped up. Leonard winced when you grabbed at his hand and ripped off a part of your uniform. While you tied the piece of cloth tightly around his wrist, he started to question you.

"What's wrong? What was that thing?"

"That was a Lonomia Obliqua."

"Ok yeah that helps." His tone was dripping with sarcasm. "I don't speak Botany Y/n, speak English."

"Otherwise known as the 'Assassin Caterpillar'. Very toxic. It uses those little hairs on it's body to inject it's victim with venom that spreads quickly, causing disseminated intravascular coagulation. In other words, you get blood clots in places you shouldn't and you don't get clots in places you should. We have to get you medical help before the symptoms set and you start losing blood flow to your tissues and organs, and start internally bleeding."

Leonard looked a little pale. "Is there a cure?"

You shrugged and made sure the cloth wrapped around his wrist was tightly synched to try and delay the venom from spreading as much as possible. "I think some of the Brazilians on Earth may have come up with something since they have a very similar insect. Hopefully we have the stuff for the cure."

"You're a real comfort, you know that? Good thing you're not a doctor, 'cause your bedside manner is shit." He watched as you pulled out your Comm.

"Yeah, well, last time I checked, your bedside manner was debatable as well." He lightly chuckled at the remark, and you flipped open your Comm.

"L/n to Enterprise, we have a medical emergency and need to be beamed up immediately."

Scotty's crackling voice rang from the little device. "Aye, lass. Beaming in five."

As soon as you and Bones appeared on the Enterprise, you grabbed his arm and started to lead him to the med bay.

"You're holding me like I'm going to collapse any second."

"If the venom sets in, it's quite possible. One can't be too careful."

When the med bay doors were in sight, Leonard's right leg suddenly gave out. He grunted and held onto his thigh with one hand, while wiping and his nose with the other. When he pulled the hand away, there was a smear of blood on it.

You started spewing curses and pressed two fingers to his neck to feel his pulse. His heartbeat thrummed against your fingers.

"You of all people should know that to prevent toxins from spreading at a faster rate is to calm your heart! The venom is already kicking in. Looks like you have a deep vein clot in your leg and you've already popped a blood vessel or two in your nose."

You wrapped his arm over your neck and helped support him for the rest of the walk. When you walked through the door, two nurses jumped at attention and took him out of your hands.

As they set him down on a bio bed, you started listing off orders to surrounding nurses.

"I need you to thoroughly wash that wound with soap and water, no matter how much pain he says he's in. We don't need any infection. And you, I need you to get adhesive tape and wrap his finger with it, then pull it off. Repeat that a couple of times, because we need those little hairs out of his finger. I need a hypo with antifibrinolytics."

The nurses hopped to work and someone handed you the desired hypo. Leonard flinched when you injected him with the fluid, but relaxed when you lightly rubbed the spot while looking at his vitals. His blood pressure was out of wack, the bed trying to decipher if it was high or low since the pressure was different in separate parts of his body.

Small red and purple dots started to appear through his skin as a sign of more little clots. You noticed he had a slight dazed look in his eyes.

"Leonard? Hey, you alright?"

He slowly looked up at you and scrunched up his face, before looking around the room. "Where am I?"

You took a deep breath. "Shit. Mental confusion, first signs of internal bleeding in the brain. Umm... think Y/n, think. What's the treatment? You learned this."

You hit your temple with the heel of your hands, eyes squeezed shut, trying to file through your memories to the deepest and darkest parts.

"Caterpillar, disseminated intravascular coagulation, internally bleeding, tox-"

It was if a light bulb had appeared and smacked you on the head.

"Toxins. The venom! We can use the venom to make an antiserum!"

You sped out of the room, Leonard calling a delirious 'Noooooooo' when you ran through the doors. After grabbing a mug and plate from the mess hall, you ran back to the beaming pad and instructed Scotty to put you back down in the exact same spot.

He did as he was told and you started pushing around bushes to try and find the little creepy thing. When you spotted it slowly working it's way across the soft soil of the ground, you approached it slowly.

When you got close enough, you lashed out and covered the bug with the mug so it couldn't escape. After carefully slipping the plate underneath the lip of the cup so the bug was contained, you contacted Scotty again.

Leonard seemed to be getting worse. He was starting to sweat and his breathing was getting shorter and shallow. More clots must be building somewhere in his lungs.

Going to the nearest table, you started to make an antiserum. You held the caterpillar with forceps so you wouldn't risk getting stung either, and pressed it's head against the lip of a test tube. What you were doing was similar to 'milking' a snake of its venom. A pale green liquid started to slide down the glass and pool in the bottom.

When you gathered a decent amount, you put the caterpillar back in the mug and put the plate over it to keep it contained. For three agonizing minutes, you worked swiftly on the serum. [A/n: This process takes years to actually finish, but we don't have year’s soooooooo I've condensed years into minutes]

You would watch Leonard out of the corner of your eye, failing to push away the smile that appeared when he said "Ouchie" while a nurse administered pain relievers. Even though he was being adorable, the behavior just confirmed the bleeding that was possibly taking place in that thick skull of his.

When the liquid in the test tube turned a golden color, you let out a happy laugh and grabbed an empty hypo, loaded the serum, and jogged over to Leonard.

He watched with distant eyes as you readied the hypo. "Is that chicken noodle soup?"

You chuckled and lightly rubbed his neck to loosen the muscle. "This is some golden blackmail material."

He flinched when you injected the serum and it seemed the stuff did it's magic. His eyes cleared up and he shot up from his lounging position.

"What the hell? What just happened?"

"Wow, look at that. Symptoms gone just as fast as they came. How are you feeling?" You grabbed a tricorder from a nearby nurse and started to scan him, much to his displeasure.

"I feel like I've been hit by a space station. Twice."

"You look like it too." You gestured to the dry blood that caked the tip of his nose and his upper lip. He glared. "But it looks like all your brain functions have been spared and the internal bleeding didn't get anything important. Although, I'm pretty sure it might've damaged the part of the brain that held the instructions on how to smile."

He scrunched his face up and feined confusion, "What's smiling?"

You laughed and kissed his forehead. He quirked a small smile and moved to stand up.

"Woah, where do you think you're going?" You held a hand to his chest and pushed him back to the bed. He sat down but didn't lay back, so you stood between his legs.

"Back to work?"

You shook your head and poked his abdomen with your pointer finger. "You, sir, almost bled out from the inside, which was mostly my fault. I'm not letting you leave until someone looks you over to make sure all systems are functioning properly."

In his head, he was declining your statement, you could tell, but he never argued with you aloud. He knew you would win the argument.

"Fine." He grumbled. "But," He hooked his feet around the back of your thighs and pulled you closer to the bed. "you're staying with me. Besides, like you said, this whole thing was your fault anyway."

You pouted when he used your own words in his favor. When he started to get closer, you pulled back.

"No. I'm not kissing you until you clean up that bloody mess. I love you, but I don't love you that much."

Leonard caught on to your teasing and huffed. A nurse handed him a wet rag for his face and Leonard started to wipe his face off. You sighed and rested your forehead on his chest, listening to his beautiful, clot-free heartbeat.

Tagging: @outside-the-government @feelmyroarrrr @hellhoundsandunicorns @captian-hannah-kirk

#leonard mccoy #leonard bones mccoy #leonard mccoy x reader #leonard horatio mccoy #leonard h mccoy #star trek x reader #star trek reader insert #star trek imagine #star trek #star trek imagines #bones imagine #bones imagines #bones x reader #star trek reboot

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anavoliselenu · 7 years

Text

Hiched chapter 15

She takes a deep breath.

“Look at me, Selena.” I need to see into her eyes, need to see if she regrets it like I fear she does

She looks up, and the haunting depth in her gaze almost guts me. “Once wasn’t nearly enough,” she breathes.

In one heartbeat, I’ve pulled her into my arms, smashing her chest against mine. Her tongue darts out to tease her lower lip just before my mouth crashes against hers.

I need her out of this dress and bent over my desk as soon as fucking possible. Without breaking our kiss, I tug off her blazer and find the zipper at the back of her dress, drawing it down the graceful slope of her spine. Once she’s stripped down to just her nude lace bra and thong and her black stiletto heels, I spin her so she’s facing my desk.

Placing each of her palms on the desk, I say, “Hold on, baby.” Then I drop to my knees behind her and caress her round ass, giving it a playful swat.

She lets out a sharp yelp, more startled than in pain.

“Shh,” I tell her, smoothing my hand over the pink stinging spot. “Can you stay nice and quiet for me?”

Selena nods, her gaze darting over to the door to my office. The very unlocked door where someone can come in at any moment.

I rub her pussy through the damp fabric of her thong and she lifts her ass, rocking her hips against my hand.

“So eager. Promise you can stay quiet?”

She nods again.

I lift the edge of her panties and push one finger into her snug channel. So deliciously tight and hot. I enjoy the view of watching my finger sink in, deeper and deeper, one knuckle disappearing after another, then slowly slide out again. She’s already breathing hard, and her inner walls grip me with every move.

Getting married has made me realize something. I don’t want an endless parade of one-night stands anymore. I want . . . intimacy. Domesticity. Someone to cook for and cuddle with, someone to share in my triumphs and keep my bed warm at night. I want a wife. I want Selena.

But once again, a shadow falls over my thoughts. I’m still hiding the truth from her. I don’t know how she’ll react, how to explain things in a way that protects both her feelings and the company. And as long as I’m deceiving her, I can never have the true connection I’m craving. The secret of the heir clause will be a wall between us. Invisible to her, insurmountable to me.

I give myself a mental shake. Selena is panting and rocking her hips in time with my motion, desperate for more. What the fuck is wrong with me? Selena’s naked ass and pussy are right in my face and I can’t pay attention.

Focus, dumbass, I scream at myself. Your wife needs you. What kind of man would leave her hanging?

I withdraw my fingers—oh fuck, her little whimper of disappointment zings straight to my dick—press on her back until she lies flat on the desk with her ass raised, and plant my lips right over her clit. Just one hard suck pulls a wild cry from her lips. With a chuckle, I lean back on my heels.

“Sorry,” she whispers. “Please don’t stop. I’ll behave.”

I grin and dive in for more. Planting both hands on her ass cheeks, I part her wet lips with my thumbs so I can reach the spots that make her bite her lip as she fights to stay quiet.

I lick and suck until she’s a trembling, writhing mess. I don’t let up, mercilessly eating her pussy from behind. My fingers dig into her hips as I press my face harder into her. I need to be deeper. I need to be as close to Selena as I can get, drowning in her taste and smell and hot, slick feel, and still it’s not enough.

She comes with a stifled moan, her chest heaving on my desk. I kiss her ass, her thighs, the back of her knees as she shudders, then rise to my feet.

Instead of thanking me, or making some dry remark like I’ve come to expect from her, Selena immediately begins opening the front of my pants. Hell yeah. My belt hits the floor and she shoves my pants and boxers down to my knees.

She takes my cock in her hands and starts pumping while kissing my throat. She’s so damn sweet, so eager, it’s almost too much. I lift her by the hips and sit her on my desk. She’s still wearing her thong, but that’s no problem.

As she continues to stroke me, I step between her thighs and lift the elastic edge of her panties, pulling them all the way to the side so she’s exposed to me.

“Ready for more?” I ask, parting her delicately with my thumbs.

A whimper is the only affirmation I get.

I step closer and rub the head of my cock against her clit. Selena gasps and looks down between us.

“You’re so sexy,” I say, rubbing myself along her heat, coating myself in her wetness.

She watches my eyes the entire time. It’s a thrill that she can’t keep her gaze off mine, but there’s something about it that scares me too. Like she’s going to see exactly how I feel about her, discover that my feelings for her run much deeper than fake husband and wife. Maybe this is what it means to love someone. It’s scary and uncertain, and you’re always terrified of fucking it up. But for me, it’s not a question of if I fuck it up. It’s when.

Focus, Justin.

I align the head of my cock and press forward the tiniest bit. Just the tip of me has entered her and I stop, realizing we’re without a condom. I swallow.

Does Selena realize it too? Is she okay with this, or did she just not notice? Staying perfectly still, I thumb her clit again. She moans my name.

“Shh, baby.” I pet her hair back from her face and kiss her lips.

There’s something captivating about this moment. Broad daylight pouring through the window, halogen lights burning overhead. I can see every part of her. It’s intimate and illicit, and that’s a huge turn-on.

I try to keep from thrusting; I don’t want her to cry out and blow our cover. The frosted glass doors don’t block much sound. I’m sure my secretary already heard Selena when she came.

I follow Selena’s gaze to where it’s held captive—the spot where my body joins with hers. Just the flared head of my cock is buried, a thick vein pulsing along the shaft. I stroke her clit again and feel her inner muscles clamp down on me. Pleasure zips down my spine and I’m way too close to coming already.

“Don’t fucking squeeze me like that,” I growl.

“Shit.”

Selena climbs down off the desk. For a second, I think that she’s heard someone—that one of our colleagues, or worse, her father, is about to open the door. But when she doesn’t make a move to cover herself, I know that’s not it.

“What?” I ask.

“No condom. We can’t.”

Fuck.

No, scratch that—double fuck.

“Well, this situation . . .” I glance down at my raging erection. “Needs to be taken care of. How can I be expected to work the rest of the day like this?”

She purses her lips. I almost expect her to tell me to suck it up and deal with it. It’s what the old Selena would have done. But this beautiful, sexual creature before me isn’t the old Selena.

“And how do you propose I take care of it, Mr. Tate?”

I love that she’s playing right into my fantasy of office sex, complete with calling me by my proper name.

“I could send you on a scavenger hunt for condoms, but that might take too long. Or . . .” I tap my chin thoughtfully.

“Or?”

“I could bend you over my desk and fuck that beautiful ass of yours, or watch you wrap those pretty little lips around my cock and swallow every drop I give you.”

Needless to say, the idea of either excites me to no end.

She looks shy for a moment, just a moment, and I’m dying to know what she’s thinking. Then her confidence comes rushing back. “I’m not having the first time we do . . . that in your office.”

“‘That’ being back door?” I ask.

She gives me a swift nod.

Interesting. She’s not saying never; she’s just saying not right now.

My little Snowflake has melted into a puddle for me. Gone is the chilly, no-nonsense woman who I wanted so badly to rustle up. Now she’s the woman of my dreams, tough when she needs to be, but soft and eager when we’re alone.

Without another word, Selena drops down to her knees before me and takes me in her hand. Then her mouth is on me and her head is bobbing in time with her hand, and holy fuck, my wife gives good head.

After only a minute, I’m panting and my abs are tight, my orgasm close.

“Selena.” I grunt, cupping her cheeks in my hands while she continues bobbing up and down. “I’m going to come.”

I warn her to give her a chance to pull away, figuring I’m going to blow my load on the stack of memos on my desk. But her mouth doesn’t move, except to swallow me deeper with a sultry moan.

Fuck. I come hard, with blood thundering in my ears, and Selena swallows every drop.

“Holy hell, princess.” I help her to her feet, then tuck myself back inside my pants. “That was incredible.”

She gives me a sly grin. “I’m glad you enjoyed it, Mr. Tate.”

After a long kiss good-bye, Selena leaves and I sit down at my desk with a lovesick grin on my lips.

But the peaceful atmosphere is not to last. With a tap on the doorframe, Fred enters.

“Hey, Justin, do you have a minute?”

Reluctantly I nod. Fuck. I hope he doesn’t notice that it smells like pussy in here. His daughter’s pussy.

“Come on in, Fred. What can I do for you?”

“Do you mind if I close the door?” he asks.

I nod. “Of course not.” So far his visit is eerily similar to Selena’s, but if he thinks I’m eating his ass on my desk, he’s dead fucking wrong.

Once the office door is closed, Fred lowers himself into the armchair in front of my desk. “How are things going?” he asks, his lips pursed and his tone filled with skepticism.

“Fine?” I reply, confused. What the fuck is he getting at?

“I actually came to talk to you about something sensitive. Specifically, is Selena pregnant yet?”

“Um . . .” I swallow and my gaze darts away from his.

“Because Peter’s little tantrum in the meeting this morning was only the beginning, I fear.”

“What do you mean?” If any of these asshats try to undermine Selena, if any of them try to come at her in any way, so help me God . . .

Fred shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “The board agreed to ninety days.”

“Yes, and?” I tap my fingers impatiently on the desk. We still have plenty of time, by my watch.

“And more than a month has passed without much in the way of results. They’re growing restless. They’re still entertaining offers to dissolve us, son.”

The look in his eyes isn’t just uncertainty. It’s sheer panic. I let out a heavy sigh.

“And there’s something else,” he continues. “My health . . .”

“What is it, Fred?” I lean forward in my chair, placing my elbows on the desk.

“Well, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer earlier this year, as you know. But I’ve received word from my oncologist that it hasn’t responded to treatment as well as we’d hoped.”

“Does Selena know?”

He shakes his head. “Not yet. I hope to try one more treatment before I tell her. And she’s got so much on her plate right now.”

I nod. I’m not unfamiliar with what it’s like to watch a parent die. “I’m going to take care of her, Fred.”

He smiles at me sadly. “I know you will.” Then he rises from his seat and wanders to the door.

I don’t like the slump of his shoulders, the tired defeat in his posture. “Fred, hang in there, buddy. We’ve got this.” I force some hopeful optimism into my voice.

He faces me and nods. “Let’s just get a pregnancy test scheduled soon. We need some good news around here.”

My mouth goes dry, and I swear I can feel the blood drain from my face. “Soon,” I choke out.

“With you two now married, the numbers looking up, and a baby hopefully on the way, the board won’t have a leg to stand on. You’ll win this fight.”

Fred leaves, closing the door behind him. Which is good, because I don’t know how I can face anyone right now.

Selena still doesn’t know. The company is still in trouble. Everything is riding on this. But if I come clean to Selena, tell her that the real reason we got married was to produce an heir, I have good cause to believe she’ll walk away forever. And if I don’t knock her up, we’ll lose our company to a rival firm. It’s either lose Selena . . . or lose Tate & Cane Enterprises.

I lean forward to bury my face in my hands. Christ.

What am I going to do?

Chapter Twelve

Selena

The next week passes in a blur of long hours and stolen moments. On workdays, Justin and I bust our asses at the office, the perfect models of diligent leadership. But we flirt and kiss every chance we get, and we jealously guard our nights together. For the first time in a long time, Tate & Cane isn’t the only center of my life—something else has joined it.

At a familiar knock on my open office door, I look up from my computer.

Justin leans against the doorjamb. “Hey there, Snowflake. You hungry?”

“Is that a pickup line, or are you talking about actual, literal hunger?” I reply with one raised eyebrow. If he asks me whether I want a nice big sausage, I swear to God . . .

“I’ll take whatever I can get.” Justin chuckles. “But no, I was just wondering if you wanted to grab lunch soon. I wanted to ask your professional opinion on a couple things.”

I consider. On one hand, I’m kind of in the middle of something. On the other, I’m also getting hungry. I check my clock. Sure enough, it’s lunchtime. And we’ll be talking about business while we eat . . .

Why not? Deciding that this report can wait another hour, I roll my chair back and get up. “I can go right now if you’re ready. I actually have some stuff I wanted to ask you about too.”

We take the elevator down to the lobby. The weather is nice, so we decide to walk to a small but classy sushi bar about a block from the office. All the way there, we keep finding reasons to touch each other—hands brushing together, hips “accidentally” bumping, playful shoulder nudges, quick affectionate squeezes around the waist.

The hostess seats us at a cozy table for two, tucked away from the window.

Once we have our drinks, I prompt Justin, “So you wanted to ask me something?”

He waves his hand. “You go first.”

“Well,” I begin, settling back in my chair, “I’m worried about this year’s retreat.” Normally, we hold a tropical company retreat every winter, and we always invite the executives of our most valuable clients. It’s all part of maintaining Tate & Cane’s image of personalized, luxury service. “I just don’t think we can afford it right now. Even if we can, it’ll make things awfully tight . . .”

I expect Justin to object. Or at least make an innuendo about “tight things.” Events like this are always huge networking opportunities. And if we deviate from our usual routine, clients might get suspicious about our finances. The last thing we need is a repeat of last month’s Red Dog Optics panic.

But Justin surprises me when he replies, “Then let’s cancel this year. Our employees will understand, and we can find some other way to butter up our clients.”

I blink, iced tea paused halfway to my mouth. “That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking. You read my mind.”

By now I’ve seen his mischievous smirk a million times, but it still sends a subtle tingle down my spine when he purrs, “I hope there’s other, more fun things on your mind too.”

While I can’t help returning his smile, I try to stand firm and stay focused. “Back to our clients—what ‘other ways’ did you have in mind?”

Thinking, Justin rubs his stubbled chin. “We could invite the execs to a private gala. One day, one night. Even if we pay for their airfare and hotel, it’ll be less expensive than sending over a hundred people to Jamaica. We can say something like ‘we decided to host a more intimate event this year’ so we don’t have to admit the real reason.”

“Won’t they see right through that?” In this kind of context, everyone knows that intimate is just a code word for small.

Justin shrugs. “What else can we do? If you say we can’t afford a retreat this year, then I believe you.”

I’m embarrassed to feel a little flutter at his words. He trusts my professional judgment without question. It was such a simple, innocent statement but it carries so much weight, so much faith.

“And we have to place the same kind of trust in them to see us for what we really are,” Justin continues. “You never know . . . if we really want to transform Tate & Cane, honesty might turn out to be our greatest strength. A smart client would appreciate our frugality and efficiency.” He winks at me. “And don’t worry, I’ll still show them a great time, budget or no budget. They won’t miss the Caribbean one bit when I’m through with them.”

“Okay, sure. I’ll leave it to the master party animal.” Sipping my drink, I wave my hand. “Looks like we have a consensus. Motion passed. Now it’s your turn.”

He says, “I’ve been debating whether to pitch our new service style to Acentix Telecom. They’re kind of old-fashioned . . .” One of the few regulars that Dad and Bill managed to hang on to over the years, in fact. “And they’ve always been happy with our work in the past.”

“So you’re wondering, should we even bother trying to update them?” I clarify.

“Right. I figured you’d say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’” He turns his palms up. “But I thought I’d ask anyway.”

I stare into my glass as I weigh our options. Justin knows me well; my first instinct is to avoid spending resources on non-vital work. Pulling together a pitch meeting won’t take a huge amount of effort, but it’s not very likely to yield much of a return either.

For some reason, though, I’m feeling bold. Something inside me whispers why not? And that voice sounds a lot like Justin.

The man himself sips his drink and watches me, keeping quiet, giving me all the time I need to think.

Finally, I reply, “I think we might as well try. At worst, Acentix says ‘no, thanks’—which is always a risk when pitching anyway—and we continue the services we’ve been providing them all along. So why not? The whole reason Dad made us co-CEOs is so we could shepherd this company into the digital era, right? We shouldn’t be shy about trying new things.”

Justin smiles, locking eyes with me. “Experimenting with new things has sure worked out pretty well for us.”

The meaningful glance we share is broken by a ding from Justin’s phone. He checks it, his smile fading away with every second his dark eyes scan back and forth across the screen.

“What is it?” I ask.

Please no shitstorms for at least another half hour. I know it’s a bit selfish of me, since this lunch is for business and not pleasure anyway, but I’m irritated that my one-on-one time with Justin is being interrupted.

“Just an e-mail from our Parrish Footwear project leader,” he grumbles. “Don’t worry, it’s not an emergency. Apparently Estelle has been making noises about how long we’re taking to finish their first round of deliverables.” Justin gives a wry twist of his full lips. “Even though she was fine with our proposed deadline when she signed the contract.”

“We’re not liable for late work if it’s not actually late. So, legally, our ass is covered. But . . .” I chew my lip thoughtfully. “We should probably still try to smooth her feathers. This relationship could make us a lot of money in the long run.” And if working with Justin has taught me anything, it’s that there’s more to maintaining good vibes than just what’s on paper. “You should pay Estelle a visit. Invite her to a business lunch, bump into her at a party, something casual like that. Just smooth things over and reassure her about our progress.”

Justin blinks, surprised. “You’d really be okay with that?”

“She likes you. We might as well put that rapport to good use.” Not too long ago, I would have dismissed this kind of elbow-rubbing as a waste of time. But it’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of Justin’s charismatic approach.

He cocks his head and I realize what he’s really asking.

“Besides, I know nothing would ever happen between you two,” I say, smiling warmly at him. A flash of something daring prompts me to add, “She can look all she wants, but only I get to touch.”

Justin gives a low, pleased noise that’s half chuckle and half murmur. “Damn right. By the way, Snowflake, I like this side of you. Any chance of that touching happening anytime soon?”

I return his smoldering stare. “If you play your cards right.”

He stretches in his chair with a stifled groan, offering me a tantalizing hint of the taut body under his suit, then leans back with arms crossed over his broad chest. His smirk tells me that he knows exactly what he was doing. “Well, that’s the last item on my agenda. You have anything else?”

Sipping my drink, I shake my head. “Not really anything pressing. Camryn asked me the other day about how we should bill content marketing. But I just offered my opinion and let her make the final decision.”

Justin’s eyebrows quirk. “You, delegating?”

“Her team got the in-depth social media training, not me,” I reply with a casual shrug. “And she’s handling everything great so far.”

But I know why he’s surprised. I’ve finally managed to chill out and hand over the reins—at least, where my loyal, responsible BFF is concerned. Other than giving feedback on her weekly reports, I’m making an effort not to butt in.

“That was easy. All our issues discussed and our food hasn’t even arrived yet.” Justin grins at me. “Looks like our business lunch will be just a regular lunch.”

ar�FyE*

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