#and i guess.. sienna is the kind of person who stares for a while but then gets used to it? im making up baloney here

[crystalflwr]

𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 — 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

➸ 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: In which, agent Carter finds herself at the mercy of a psychopathic killer but it wasn't just any killer... the velvet killer has finally stepped from the shadows.

➸ 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: violence, use of weapons, mentions of death, slight mentions of Tobias Hankel, use of poisen.

➸ 𝐖𝐂: 2.8k words

𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 || 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

➙ 𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗜𝗔 rushes into the room. The sound of her heels clicking had already been heard by most of the team members but the door swinging open still startled them. "Sienna," The woman said, hardly understandable by her out-of-breath state. Jj frowned in confusion. "She– she..." by now, Hotch had stood from his chair.

"Garcia." The older man commanded. "I know I'm sorry sir, it's Sienna... she's missing." They all stilled.

It didn't need to be said, everyone knew it. They only didn't want to believe it. So Hotch asked, not letting go of that disbelief. "Do we have any leads." Garcia didn't answer. She didn't need to. The silence was a good enough answer already;

The velvet killer took Sienna Carter.

Despite the guilt tearing her apart, Garcia pressed the call button. It goes off for a couple of seconds before Derek's voice comes through the device. "Tell me you have something." Normally, she'd respond with a snarky comment but nothing about this scene was fun.

"Yes, I think Sienna had something about the velvet case." She spoke, her eyes ranking over all her friend's saved articles. "She has been researching this case for months now, even before we got the case again." Derek sighed. What had she gotten herself into? "It looks like she spoke with the families of the victims and with a certain Diane Wilson - She's the sister of the last victim, Nathan Wilson. Address already sent."

The team looked at each other. This Diane didn't fit the profile one bit but she could be the last person to have seen agent Carter. "Prentiss and I will pay her a visit, the others keep searching." The others just nod. Hotch didn't miss the angry looks behind their eyes. He understood, he was angry too. He only knew how to hide it better.

They left the room. The sound of Prentiss her boots clicking overpowered the noises around them. Her face was stiff, her jaw clenched and her left cheek sucked in. Soon they reached the elevator, the two stepped in. Not a word said. Both of them stood with no emotion - as if their friend isn't fighting for her life somewhere. Prentiss raised her chin, her eyes focusing on the closed elevator doors until they split back open to reveal the parking lot.

Hotch kept his steady peace but Prentiss did nothing like it, her steps were hurried yet powerful. Two man came passing by and they didn't even dare to look her in the eye.

She opened the car door and waited for him while staring out in front of her. Her blood boiling. She knew, from the moment she would find out who dared to hurt her friend, she'd pull the trigger in an instant.

The car ride didn't last long, ten minutes but to the two it felt like hours. Ten minutes may not be much but in this kind of situation every second counts.

"Yes?" The woman asked as she opened the door. The loud clattering of children could be heard in the background. She must be in her early thirties. Her features look young apart from the dark purple circles under her eyes. "Hello, I'm SSA Emily Prentiss and this is SSA Aaron Hotchner." The two held up their badges. "We would like to ask you some questions." Hotch followed. The woman was quick to nod and step to the side, inviting them in.

They did so, the house looked like a normal middle class family house. The screaming of small children radiated through the house. Hotch counted the voices, four. From their voices alone he guessed three boys and two girls. One girl older than the others. "I'm so sorry for the noise, they can be a little crazy sometimes." Explained the woman while rushing to the kitchen area but the agents didn't mind.

They followed the woman. When the sweet lady pointed to the kitchen table the agents accepted and took a seat and the woman one across from them. "What did you want to ask?" She questioned, her voice clearly concerned.

"We wanted to ask you some questions about Sienna Carter." Prentiss stated as she held up her phone with a picture of the missing agent. Before the woman could answer Hotch added, "We know she came to your house to ask questions about the velvet killer." The name given to the unsub fell from his tongue harshly. He didn't agree to this nickname, this unsub was clearly getting of on the fame and naming her made things only worser.

She seemed in thought for a moment, studying the picture before speaking up, "Yes, yes. I remember her. She came to me a week ago asking about - about my brother." Hurt flashes in her eyes. The two agents could tell the scene where she found the dead body of her brother replayed itself in her mind.

"Diane!" A young feminine voice from behind them sounded. "Lila's hungry, she's asking for cereal-" Her voice trailed off when her eyes land on the two agents. Hotch studied her as she narrowed her eyes, looking between the older woman and the two.

The girl is young, maybe seventeen or eighteen. She had curly brown hair, her skin slightly tanned, no bags under her eyes meaning sleep wasn't a problem for her, her finger nails were cut shortly and painted a light pink - meaning she must come from a middle class or a higher class family.

"Oh! Yes, uhm... this is Natalia. She helps me with my kids when my husband's not home." The girl – Natalie – gave them a tight smile. "These are fbi agents. They are here to ask some questions about the other girl who came over last week."

"I need all agents at Garden Street sixteen, It's her last known location." Hotch ordered getting in the car and handed the phone to Prentiss before starting the car. "On it." Garcia answered. The dark haired woman went to hang up but paused when Garcia's voice sounded through the device again. "If you find her - Sienna - tell her I love her, okay?" The agent closed her eyes, the 'if' haunting her. "I will."

Inside, the woman had told them that their colleague had said something about going to another location. An abandoned hospital where the first victim's body was found.

Prentiss tried to shove the thought away, but with every second, she believes it more;

That lady may have been the last person to have ever seen Sienna alive.

"Hotch, we need to move in!" Derek commanded, his anger and nerves blinding him. The older man shot him a stern look before speaking up, "We can't, it's too soon. The unsub will shoot Carter if we do." Jj places a hand on Derek's arm, to try calm him down. "Hotch's right " Spencer mumbled before an officer came running over to them with a phone in his hand.

"It's her!" The officer shouted, his breath uneven. "The velvet killer, she wants to talk to the unit chief." The man looked around the group until Hotch reached out to grab the phone from his grip.

"Hello? You wanted to speak to me." He kept his voice calm even though he could hear his agent crying and begging for her life on the other side of the line. "Hello, Aaron Hotchner." Her dark voice grinned. He kept silent, waiting for her to speak up again while his agents just stood there.

"I can feel her pulse beating against the barrel of my gun." The unsub acknowledged. Hotch laughed. Not because of how true the unsub's statement was but because of the obvious bluffing. "You won't shoot her." Spoke the man simply

It was silent for a moment – meaning Hotch was right about the bluffing – before she spoke up again. "Are you sure about that, agent?" She spat, the anger taking over her voice.

Mascara stained Sienna's red cheeks as hopeless pleads continue to escape from between her bruised lips. Her eyes flew shut when she felt the cold material of the barrel of a gun being pushed against her temple. "I will kill her!" The psychotic woman continued to shout in the phone.

"No, you won't. You'll get nothing out of it except from a bullet in your own skull." Hotch threatened and heard the unsub suck in a harsh breath. Three sᴡᴀᴛ were talking to agent Prentiss, the grip on their guns thight while they nodded at everything she said. Spencer catches Hotch's attention by shaking his head, meaning there was no actual clear shot.

"We'll see about that, Aaron Hotchner."

A gun shot. The loud sound of a trigger being pulled ringing in his ear. Sienna. Panick took over his normal professional features. His gun was already in his grip when he shouted. "Shot's fired!"

The three sᴡᴀᴛ agents ran to him, Derek and Prentiss. The man loaded his gun before placing his hand on the agent's shoulder, giving the signal for them to move in. The other two did so too.

Hotch went first then Prentiss and then Derek. The sᴡᴀᴛ agents moved fastly but carefully. He could feel the tension in the agent's body.

Each door they passed gets kicked in moments later by either Spencer or Jj. "Guys, she's in here!" Spencer voice echoed.

Sienna stood there. Covered in blood. A gun in her hand, still pointed at the unsub's death corpse. Relief flew over him but he didn't soften as he continues to scan the messy room.

Other agents rushed to the girl but Hotch studied the dead body. The familiar tanned skin, the dark curly hair, the pink nails. Natalia. She fitted the profile perfectly.

With a last look around the room, he tucked his weapon back in its holster before following the others out. Sienna got escorted to one of the ambulances while he went over to a group of officers. He didn't want to admit it but hearing the warmth of her voice again made his heart skip a beat.

"You okay?" Sienna snapped out of her trance by her boss's rough voice. She flashed him a smile despite the fresh tears rolling down her face. She whipped them away with the sleeve of her bloody shirt. "Yes, I'm fine. I don't even need to go to the hospital, I'm free to go." She answered, trying to add a laugh to it but Hotch kept his hard stare.

"Take some time off, two weeks the least." He instructed. His voice harsh. Normally, she'd protest but she's not sure if she wants to do that. The old her would have but that girl died the moment she pulled that trigger. So, she just nods.

He turned around to walk away but her voice stopped him. "Wait!" The agent pushed herself up. "The doctors said I can't drive, could you maybe give me a ride?" She asked and for the first time in a very long time, he offered her a smile. "I'm sorry, I can't. I need to go pick up Jack. But, I think Reid could give you a ride." She nods slightly, biting the inside of her cheek as embarrassment rips through her.

She goes back to sitting down and wraps the blanket tighter around herself as horrible memories continue to disturb her sight. A tear sliding down her cheek as she closed her eyes when the sound of her own screaming recalled itself in her ears. She could still feel the barrel of the gun pressing against her pulse.

Sienna knew she shouldn't have but in that moment, when the unsub had pressed the gun against her temple she had given up. She had felt herself already slipping away even though nothing had happened yet. When she had closed her eyes she could already feel the cold embrace death brings with itself.

"Hey, Hotch said you needed a ride," The tender voice of her best friend shook her alive again. She hadn't even realized how hard she had missed his voice - how hard she had missed him - until this very moment. She smiled up at him. "Yes that would be very nice." She whispered, trying her best not to let her voice break. He noticed but nodded anyway.

It was silent for a moment before she stood up and he stumbled back a bit as if caught off guard. She hated this feeling. She hated that everyone thought she couldn't even walk anymore. "uhm... I- I don't have my car here so uh- we're going with the SUV." He stuttered. She didn't answer only continued to walk over to the dark vehicle.

the car ride was silent. The brunette noticed how he wanted to say something but decided not to and she was happy for it. She knew everyone had questions. How was she taken or how was she not dead and managed to shoot the ruthless killer who makes no mistakes? The real answer was that she had no idea. It all went too fast, one moment she was accepting the fact that she was going to die and the other she had a gun in her hand, hovering over a death body.

The car stopped. She looked up and saw the familiarity and comfort of her house. Spencer went to say something but she had already gotten out of the car. He got out too, almost forgetting to take out the keys. Spencer watches as she runs inside.

He stood before the open door. Deciding if he should go or not. He understood how difficult this was. He understood because he went through the same thing she did many years ago. Before his thoughts could take him back to those horrible moments, he pushed inside. If it's one thing he knew, it's that no one should be alone in these kind of situations.

When he walked into the living room, he saw her sitting on the couch, staring ahead at the wall blankly. Her eyes and cheeks red from all the crying.

Spencer sighed softly and walked over, going to sit down too at the other edge of the couch.

It was silent for a couple of minutes. Both of them sitting there in a weirdly comforting silence. "Thank you for staying with me." He barely heard her words. The doctor nodded softly but didn't speak up.

Again the two stilled into a silence. Spencer fumbled with his fingers while she continued to count her breaths - something she did in moments were she wanted to scream and break down, moments like these.

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, ...

Spencer, on the other hand, lost himself in the clicking of the clock decorating the wall.

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, ...

"I'm gonna get some water." The girl uttered while pushing herself up. Her legs hurting but she didn't acknowledge it. Spencer flashes her a quick glance. "You want some?" She requested, there was a shadow of a begging tint in her voice - begging him to let her do this. He cleared his throat loudly. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Here." Spencer took the glass from her grip. Feeling the couch dip besides him, he decides he should speak up, "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked while lifting the glass to his lips, she watched intensely.

Spencer drowned the cold liquid, not having realized how thirsty he actually was. When he looked back at her he found her already staring at him. A blush creeped onto his cheeks.

She shook her head, not taking her eyes of him.

Spencer yawned, surprising himself at the sudden tiredness. His eyes feeling weirdly heavy. He cleared his throat loudly, feeling bad for being so tired while she needed his help. "I'm so sorry, I don't know why I'm so tired." He mumbled, his hand coming up to rub his eyes.

When his eyes are open again his vision isn't the same anymore. Black dots disturbing his sight so he rubs his eyes again but nothing changes. He felt his left arm dropping and the glass falling from his grip onto the floor, the loud chattering zooming out in his ears. "Oh god- I'm so sorry."

He went to reach over, to collect the pieces and clean up his rude mess but instead he fell over. Landing on the ground. He tried to get up but his limbs were going numb.

Realization hit him hard in the chest. His tired eyes snapping to the smiling girl still seated on the couch. Panic raised through him when the pieces finally fitted. He had already been confused by the easy death of the unsub - the death didn't fit the profile but he had assumed it was luck.

It had been so fast and easy because Natalia Marshall wasn't the unsub, Sienna Carter was.

Sienna Carter was everything the profile described.

"No no no-" He tried to move his arm, to reach for his gun or phone but it didn't bulge. His whole body didn't bulge.

Soft and warm hands cup his cheeks. He focuses his blurry sight to see the person he once trusted most looking down at him. An amused smile plastered on her lips. "Stop fighting it, baby. Go to sleep."

It felt like her words had hypnotized him as he did exactly that. His eyes fell close but before he could be fully dragged away by whatever drug was used on him he managed to get out, "Why?"

"Why not?"

#crystalflwr #the velvet series #criminal minds #spencer reid #dr spencer reid #spencer reid fic #dark fic #spencer reid angst #criminal minds fanfiction

[puppyeared]

snack run <3

(sienna (right) belongs to @taswel, go check him out!)

#wb to tumblr taswel!!!! #its almost sad the only two ocs ive drawn are sienna and OJ to my knowledge #but i did doodle sunvei comic OJ in my sketchbook last night so i think that counts #i want to believe that sienna is the kind of gf who kind of just sits patiently and lets stormy braid her hair while she talks about #the 8 hour victorious analysis video. and she hasnt even watched victorious LMAO #i want to make headcanons for them but all i really do is draw them lovey dovey and then staring at it for the next 2 hours #stormy is the kind of person who puts their milk in first and then cereal completely oblivious to judgement #and i guess.. sienna is the kind of person who stares for a while but then gets used to it? im making up baloney here #OH and stormy speaks fast but maybe for sienna she would kind of speak slower and make her lip movements more expressive if her hands are #full and she cant sign. im not sure how good at lipreading sienna is but well thats just me #my art #myart #my oc #others oc #stormy #sienna #stormienna #eheheheh i love using that tag #furry art #fur #clean furry #furry oc #taswel

[rataltouille]

HOUSE PLANTS, UPDATE 7

[novel intro can be found here]

HEY ACTUALLY I FINISHED THIS BOOK!

i don't want to get too sentimental [watch me proceed to get sentimental] but this book means a lot to me and i really could NOT have done it without the support of the wonderful folks on writeblr. the writing community is kind of the reason i even started this novel so it means a lot to me that i’ve met so many of y’all here. this is my first ever novel and i’m so glad i was able to make it so far! here are the final stats:

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 81,049 words.

STARTED: april 17, 2020

FINISHED: january 28, 2021

AVERAGE CHAPTERWISE WC: 3242

NUMBER OF CHAPTERS: 25

NUMBER OF TIMES LILITH SNAPS: 2

NUMBER OF TIMES LILITH SUFFERS: you know it’s too much to count.

the last month of writing this novel was so mixed. like before i hit the 70k mark i’d just been slogging through the novel, feeling uninspired and bored of the story. and then january hit and i was like. wait a minute. my deadline to finish it was the 31st of january. and so i basically startled myself into drafting again and then hit another wc milestone and that motivated me?? so much??? like i remember that drafting the penultimate chapter took me a pretty long time but it was so enjoyable because i was genuinely liking what i was writing and that hadn't been happening for the past few months. and then i wrote the entirety of the last chapter [it’s a vignette so it’s pretty short] for an hour until 1 am in my bed with the lights off and boom. it was such an experience. what makes it even more fun is that i’d drafted 75% of the book in my bed with the lights off at 1 am so this was such a nice full circle moment.

i’m also a little insane from all that lack of sleep but it’s okay we don't talk about that.

excerpts:

chapter twenty-one

this one’s a mix of the weirdest and most broad emotions. there’s a funeral in town, willow’s acting shadier than usual, lilith and juniper finally kiss, etc. etc. literally a rollercoaster. also it’s important that you guys know they kissed in a graveyard. nothing’s more romantic than that amirite.

Residual— that’s how we all felt. Just shells that wash away right before they touch land. We lingered like sleep at dawn, like medicine rimming the lip of cough syrup bottles, like fingerprints on fresh glass. There wasn't a permanence in the way we persisted, because eventually, one leaves their nest. They untether from the source in pursuit of the world. How would a dead girl do that? She won’t reside on the fringes of life like a bad dream.

god this prose is so depressing. even i’m getting sad over it and i’m literally an emotionless husk of a person. hey but the description slaps so enjoy.

also if you’ve noticed i’ve been sharing excerpts less and less in the updates despite the chapters being longer on length [these chapters average at like. 5k words] and that’s because i’m finding it harder to share stuff that doesn’t need context / isn't spoilery.

chapter twenty-two

ah yes the angstiest chapter, probably. something happens to willow that lilith blames herself for and this kicks off the final cluster of events that lead to the climax. i love this chapter because lilith gets angry [but at the wrong person aka herself] and we get to see this side of her she always tries to hide!! another thing that happens is that her garden withers so that’s a fun trip

My garden could have been a fallen kingdom. The ferns were rotting from under the flap, their spores gone. Gardenia blooms had split with their petals discarded like an evening gown all around the pots. The mint had binary fissioned and lay in shreds, the jasmine wilted and spread. All of them like war dolls, casualties of my ignorance, beyond saving.

poor garden :/

chapter twenty-three

this chapter. exists i guess. ISDNJSDUH i sound so disillusioned but essentially this chapter was supposed to end on a the ✨big reveal✨ that the book has been leading up to but then something. happened. and i had to move that into the next chapter and so nothing actually happens in this one! like it’s all important things and we’re setting up tension but overall it’s the least eventful of the final story arc.

We stepped together into our house; it had been abandoned for a day but was the exact same. Dust hadn't suddenly piled up in the threshold, sticking to our soles. The air hadn't musted over in the house’s grieving for its sole occupants. The bathtub was still filled. The water skimmed the floor, and I’d decided. I’d stay with you for the whole week, the fortnight, the month, the year. I’d stay inside with you, because me leaving the house, me choosing to spend any second of my life without caring for you, was a mistake. I’d always seen you as fragile, quiet like moth wings and just as delicate. Maybe I’d needed to feel I was protector just as much as I thought you needed me.

i really like this excerpt because it’s very simple and light in terms of prose but also the implications and that purposeful telling at the end really stick with me. exposing lilith since 2k20.

As morning rose the next day, like a curtain lifting, the sun picked itself up from the horizon, shattering cloudlines in a bright, orange glow. The skies got clearer by the hour as summer sauntered in again. Already the habits of my grounding were kicking in; my circadian rhythm bounded to my outside, too, as I instinctively scheduled and compartmentalized my daily life. First, wake up, check on you. Finish chores while making sure you’re alright. School, eaten with worry, but you're capable and you’ll call if you need help. Home, count your pulse as you inevitably slumped in plush sleep— at the coffee table, at the bathtub, in Aunt Hailey’s chair (rare), in your bedroom (rarer). You’d wake for dinner and read until the lights begin to dim and your eyesight tripped. You’d doze off for the rest of the night. Your internal clock was more functional, more efficient, than mine.

obligatory rhythmic everyday life excerpt that's reminiscent of 2020.

chapter twenty-four

THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER! THE LONGEST CHAPTER!! THE ONE WHERE SHIT GOES DOWN!!! [can you tell it’s my fave chapter]

this took me two whole weeks to draft [it’s around 7.2k words] but it was so enjoyable the whole time!! there’s something so satisfying about making the quiet character, the one who never express anger, finally snap. so satisfying. lilith is actually pretty feral in this and we all stan. it also has a lot of simpler yet more sharp prose? if you know me you know that repetition is literally my favourite device ever. i overuse repetition it’s actually insane. and this one has a lot of that, but in a way that isn't annoying, and i really enjoyed writing it!!

I’d never been in your bathtub before. You haunted the room and it was always yours; I didn’t consider running the tap for myself. Maybe your going out prompted me this time. The water was so high it sloshed over the lip of the tub. The floor was slick like eels’ skin. My skin was blue with cold; the chill gummed my cheeks and ears and I shivered. My reflection stared at me in hatred, the features warped and pulled like taffy. I half-floated, a ghost in liminal space, and the walls were choked with water lines and flower patterns. With my body invaded by alien frost, with the ceiling low and cruel and ready to crush, I cowered. How did you do this every day? Did the clothes make the difference?

lilith’s going through it again ft. willow’s bathtub.

after this it’s a lot of incredibly spoilery stuff!! like the prose slaps but it’s too many spoilers to share. but have another description of the heaviness of midnight because i’m obsessed with that aesthetic

The lock clicked behind me. Silence descended like birdsong and I was paralysed, stuck at the two half-stairs that led to the outer path, stuck at the threshold of no return. My body shook. All around me was nighttime, gooey and heavy. I was unfurling, like a rose, step after step, pushing past the gate and onto the road. The wind was so cold it frosted my tears.

btw the chapter does not end on lilith crying she kind of has a girlboss moment and snaps massively [i mean after all she’s been through she deserves it] and then the main story aka the fictive past ends.

chapter twenty-five

the final chapter, which also happens to be a vignette chapter and is thus set in the fictive present! it’s very short and is only one tiny scene but it really ends on the perfect tonal quality for the novel. i can't share any excerpts because it really is very short so! have this iconic screenshot i took as soon as i finished the draft instead:

[also if you were wondering yes i did type the entire novel [and basically everything i write] on my ipad because i don't own a laptop]

and that really is it! this was such an incredible journey and i’m so excited to share more of my newer writing and upcoming projects with y’all. it feels so weird that this really is the last time i’ll be making official posts about this novel. truly the end of an era.

house plants taglist: @discreet-writer @mp-golfin @jaydewritesfiction @writer-in-monochrome @magnus-s-writes @firesidefantasy @sugarlessbubblegum @theoldcity @n1ghth4wkz @remi-writes-sometimes @suninks @dreamybellatrixanvm @camusbf @fablemancy @isherwoodj @svpphicwrites @spillme @sunwornpages @bijouxs @asadlitficwriter @bookphobe @sirius-xthem @carlyiswriting @hekat-ie

general taglist: @lovingyou-is @haldimilks @andiwriteunderthemoon @coffeeandcalligraphy @shaelinwrites @tuoyu @charles-joseph-writes @eklavvya @wolf-oak @bitterwitchwrites @laughtracksonata @whatwordsdidnttouch @indeliblewrites @thenataliawrites @illimani-gibberish @sienna-writes @jennawritesstories @chloeswords @aelenko @keira-is-writing @cherylinanika @infinitely-empty-pages @jmtwrites @august-iswriting @sarahkelsiwrites @freedelusionbanana

tumblr is being. really really annoying and wont let me edit on the browser so i’ve got the 50 mentions per post mobile thing to deal with. the rest of the taglist will be tagged in a reblog!

#writeblr #am writing #crabappletracking #wtwcommunity #atlastracking #ofcolourtracking #house plants #house plants update #everybody say “goodbye house plants” as i yeet willow off a good somewhere #just ignore how i’ve actually finished the book and this update is a month late please and thank you <3

[tsrookie]

Now, and Forevermore: Part 2

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr. Alyssa Brooks)

A/N: Super nervous about this one, because I’ve wanted to write an ILY fic for such a long time, but it always got pushed back thanks to PB and their stupid inconsistencies. May or may not have included a teeny tiny Merder reference.

Trope: Fluff

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 1.5k

Warning(s): One innuendo, that’s it

Link to Part 1

——————————

Loud music blared through the speakers. Few guests remained in their seats, choosing to watch the joyous celebrations on the dance floor.

A wedding was an event where people came together to rejoice the union of two souls. Two separate lives, binding together for life. They came together to celebrate friendship, eternal partnership, and love.

Alyssa was still figuring out a way to confess hers.

She stumbled to the side of the crowded hall along with Sienna, who was equally exhausted from dancing the night away.

“Oh my god I think the last time I danced this much was at our housewarming party two years ago.”

Her best friend let out a chuckle. “I remember. Jackie even managed to knock over a plate of fries which ended up on your hair.”

She took a sip of her drink before continuing, “Speaking of the housewarming party, where’s the only person from the hospital who declined our invitation? Haven’t seen him since your dance, which was almost an hour ago.”

“He’s probably over at one of the balconies, away from all the noise.”

“Hmm.”

Sienna let out a sigh before fixing her eyes on the newlyweds, happy in their own little bubble, without a single worry.

“They look so… content. Like they have everything they’ll ever need right there in each other’s arms.”

“Yeah… I guess you feel that way when you’re head over heels in love with someone, and by some miracle, they feel the same.”

She looked over at Alyssa, who had a soft smile on her face. Her best friend had found the kind of true love she had always dreamed of, and she only hoped that it would last forever.

“Have you two said it yet?”

“Said what?”

“You know what I mean. Eight letters. Three special words. Words you two have been skirting around for almost a year now.”

“I…” She looked down, a pensive look taking over. “I don’t know Si… it never feels like we have a proper moment to say it. Everyday at Edenbrook feels like an unpredictable circus where something could go wrong at any minute. Finding time to just… be with each other without worrying about work seems impossible. Besides, he knows how I feel about him, and same here. There’s no rush.”

“No. Don’t do that. Don’t always rely on your actions. Sometimes, words are better. Saying it makes it sure. It makes it feel real. Or else, you’ll be out of time before you know it. Say it out loud, Alyssa. Don’t waste time waiting for some perfect moment, because chances are, you might never get one.”

Alyssa held her hand tight, and took a moment to take in the gravity of her words. Sienna might’ve been ready to move on, but Danny was still someone she missed everyday.

“Okay.” She turned to face her. “I’ll tell him tonight. I promise.”

Sienna nodded her head in response, a small smile of satisfaction assuming her features.

—————

Ethan stood over by the railing, enjoying the feel of the sea breeze ruffling through his hair. The ocean glittered like diamonds, mirroring the starry sky. It was a magical sight, and he decided to go back into the raging party to bring Alyssa to enjoy the view with him. Although, he wasn’t sure his eyes would remain straight ahead with an actual goddess beside him.

“Thought I might find you here.”

His ears perked up. “I was just about to come and find you.”

“Well I found you first. Didn’t see you having any cake earlier, so I brought you some.”

He nodded in thanks. As she stood beside him, she looked positively ethereal. Her eyes sparkled as she took in the sight of the moonlit ocean, and her brunette hair danced along her bare shoulders.

Ethan didn’t have the words to describe her beauty, so he refrained to simply admiring her while he still had the time.

Her soft voice broke the comfortable silence they were in. “It’s beautiful out here. Kind of reminds me of the last time we were on a balcony facing the sea.”

He smiled ruefully. “You mean the night I threw every single rule I had for myself out the window and kissed you like my life depended on it, before leaving you the very same night to go sleep on the couch?”

“The very same. The only night where I had the best first kiss I could share with someone, and get dumped before we even got together.”

Ethan felt a pang of guilt in his chest upon hearing her words. He might have her now, but he would always regret the time he let go to waste.

Alyssa looked over at him, and his expression made her squeeze her eyes shut and smack her forehead. “Oh god I ruined the moment, didn’t I?” She took his hand in hers and said, “I’m so sorry. I’m under the influence of alcohol, so you know that I barely think before I blurt something out.”

“And here I was hoping we could have a proper conversation for the first time in months. Of course, I shouldn’t have had my expectations so high.”

She punched his shoulder playfully, and he took it as an opportunity to pull her closer. Closing his eyes, he breathed in her hair, which smelled of his shampoo from their shared suite. Ethan felt utterly content, having everything he ever needed and wanted in his arms, and wished he could stay rooted to the same spot for as long as he lived.

“Okay, Dr. Ethan ‘I would rather spend my time alone, in a party where his girlfriend’s having the time of her life, wishing her boyfriend would be there with her so that they could spend some quality time together’ Ramsey.”

“That’s… I think I preferred ‘freaking’ as my middle name compared to everything you just said.”

Soon, they were both laughing. She turned around to face him, and Ethan held her tighter. Taking in her face filled with happiness, illuminated by the light of the moon, he knew he had to say it.

“Is… everything okay?”

“I…” His throat closed up, at a loss for words. Saying the words he had longed to tell her for almost a year suddenly seemed impossible. After fearing true, long-lasting commitment for more than twenty five years, cementing his love for Alyssa scared him almost as much as the thought of ever losing her.

But looking into her concerned eyes, the eyes he could get lost into within the span of a second, he knew she deserved to hear it. She deserved the whole world, and so much more.

“It’s funny. I kept quiet all these months, not telling you what I should’ve told you the moment you were out of harm’s way after the attack, waiting for a perfect moment to present itself. When all along… I never realised that I didn’t need such a moment at all.”

He cupped her cheek, as she stared at him with wonder, yet a small smile dancing on her lips with the knowledge of what was to come. “Every single day, every minute, every second by your side, could not be more perfect. And I’m sorry that I didn’t know it sooner.”

“I love you, Alyssa Brooks. With all my heart, body and soul.”, he said as he brought her hand up to his thundering heart. “I believed love to be a lost and foreign concept, one which I would never be able to experience. But with you… I’d be an idiot to say that what I feel for you is anything but love. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to love anyone as much as I love you and frankly, I don’t ever want to. I want to love you for the rest of my life. If you’ll let me, that is…”

Hopeful and earnest cerulean eyes stared back into awestruck shining brown, awaiting the response he desperately wanted to hear.

“Well… took you long enough.”, she teased, eyes sparkling with mirth. “I love you too, Ethan. More than you’ll ever know. And I want to love you for the rest of my life too.”

Matching her grin with one of his own, Ethan kissed her deeply. She wrapped her arms round his neck and let her fingers tangle into his soft hair. He continued to kiss her with fervour, but she pulled away, panting.

“Don’t you think we should probably take this inside? I’d definitely like a more private celebration of us finally coming to our senses.”

“Are you sure? There’s still much left at the reception, including the bouquet toss, which I’m not sure Sienna would be okay with if you missed.”

She chuckled. “Considering the fact that she was the one who sent me out here to find you, I don’t think she’ll mind.” With a sudden surge of confidence, she added, “Besides… do you really think I should stay for that?”

Ethan held Alyssa’s gaze, which was both bold and bashful at the same time. He finally smirked and said, “No, you don’t have to.”

Her face broke into the smile he loved to see. A smile unburdened of all the worries in the world. A true and rare smile he thanked for being able to witness.

“Then let’s get out of here.”

Alyssa took his hand and led him back to their room, but truthfully, he felt her lead him into a new life that would have its highs and lows, all filled with unconditional love.

He couldn’t wait to see what came next.

——————————

Link to Bonus Ending

A/N 2: Hope you guys liked it! There’s a small bonus ending I’ll be releasing soon, cause if my babies are happy, my babies’ number one shipper deserves to be happy too😌 Thank you so much for reading💙

Taglist: @whimsicallywayward15 @aleynareads @starrystarrytrouble @dxnicaramsey @decadentwinnerjudgedream @ilikemenbutonlyethanramsey @rookiefromedenbrook @eramsey28 @the-pale-goddess @ohchoices @wellhelloramsey @mvalentine @swiftlydarcy @utterlyinevitable @akshara16 @sushiharrington @drethanramslay @lion-ess24 @whippedforethanfreakingramsey @aarisa-frost @drariellevalentine @perriewinklenerdie @blossomanarchy @stateofgracious @takemyopenheart @open-heart-ramseyyy @maurine07 @udishaman @queencarb @ethanramseylover @rookiemarsswiftie @aworldoffandoms @lsvdw-blog @n03lia @openheartfanfics @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfan @jamespotterthefirst @senseofduties

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#ethan ramsey #open heart #ethan x mc #playchoices #ethan ramsey fanfiction #mercy writes #ethan ramsey x mc

[razorblade180]

Shackles Finale: Free

[Part 12]

Destiny is a fickle thing. For some it’s real, and for others it’s as fake as fairy tales. No matter what however, time still goes on. Things still happen. Ruby was never one to think too hard on the topic despite all she’s been through. However, as she walked into Menagerie’s hospital soaking wet from the extreme downpour happening in the middle of the night, Ruby couldn’t help but wonder if it was destiny to test everyone’s resolve; or karma coming to collect.

Her self imposed mission had been going well. Adam cooperated, Blake planned ahead, and things progressed steadily. It should’ve stayed like that for three more months. Unfortunately things don’t always go as planned. Jacquelyn went into labor early, too early. The woman woke up today looking fit as a fiddle. Who could’ve guessed she would be fighting for her life today? Her, and her daughter?

Hospital staff were in a frenzy from the storm just like the public. It made getting to the back where everyone was without suspicion easy for Ruby. Certain doctors were notified ahead of time of the complexities of their patient and precautions had already been in place for Jacquelyn and company to have no disturbances. Though nobody factored in an unhealthy birth creating this island’s worst storms to date. Ruby made it to the sealed off waiting room. What should’ve been a haven of calm was another conflict. Blake stood arms folded and ears back in the way of guards and her conflicted father while Adam sat behind her, silent.

“You know I expected more from you, Saber. That goes double for you dad.”

The man frowned. “Blake, this wasn’t my-”

“We have held our end of the agreement.” Saber interjected, “Adam was to be free until the child was born. Not my problem that day came early.”

Blake grit her teeth. “You know damn well that’s not why I’m standing here right now!” She said through her teeth. His kid had just been born moments ago and just like that, she was rushed to intensive care. Meanwhile Jacquelyn was slipping in and out, her body failing her during the labor. “Let him see this through.”

“What good would it do him to hear terrible news? He’ll lash out for all we know. That can not happen in a hospital!”

“You just want to kick him while he’s down!”

“AND FOR GOOD REASON!”

Okay, Ruby had enough. “HEY!” She yelled, gaining everyone’s attention. She brushed her wet hair out of her face. “I set up generators across the island. No one's gonna lose power. I also told people Menagerie’s guards were making their rounds to make sure everyone was accounted for. I don’t mean to overstep being an outsider and all but…” her eyes burrowed into Saber’s “Get to work.” It wasn’t kind or even right necessarily, but Ruby didn’t care.

Feeling the pressure, Saber made the wise decision to take his people and leave. Ghira looked at Blake with guilt in his eyes for letting it get this far. “Listen I-”

“You know I understand mom not wanting anything to do with this, but I didn’t expect this from you. It’s like you’re trying to create every reason to push him back into old habits and make all this worthless. We will hold up our end of the bargain, so teach them what you tell me and have some patience.”

Ghira didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. There was caution, and then there was insensitivity. He had no words, just a nod before walking away.

Ruby grabbed his arm in passing. “She knows this wasn’t your call. Blake is stressed. Your house still has power. Ilia is with Kali trying to calm down Sienna and Sun is helping check on people. Maybe you should go home too?” Ruby smiled softly. She knew a worried father when she saw one. Ghira needed something to do.

“I appreciate the concern Mrs. Rose, but I think I’ll just stand guard outside this room.”

“Understood, and hey, things will work themselves out.” Ruby let him go and headed from one worried feline to the next. “You know he’s not to blame right? He’s just…trying to keep everyone connected.”

Blake let out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I know that, and I also know he’s not going to lose me. But right now I really need everyone to not jump the gun. Thanks for keeping the peace. Maybe I should’ve paid more attention to your leadership skills.”

“I just got snippy with faunus officers on their own island. Really testing my boundaries with my status as an important huntress across Remnant.” Ruby patted Blake on the back. “You should go check in on the doctors. I’ll do my job watching our person of interest.”

“Okay.” Blake looked back at Adam. He stayed quiet throughout all of this, eyes closed and arms crossed. He must’ve figured the best thing he could do right now is not look threatening. “I’ll let you know first if anything changes okay?”

He still didn’t move but that didn’t stop him from speaking. “Thank you.” He heard Blake run off in a hurry while the sound of chair legs rubbed the ground in front of him. Adam opened his one good eye and saw Ruby sitting in front of him with her scroll in hand.

“You know…I can’t remember when a day has felt this long.” Ruby sighed, “Moments like these is enough to just make you want stop time ya know?”

“I don’t need sympathy.”

“Wasn’t giving any. Just venting I guess. My husband sent me a text. I’m missing a very important arrival today; not that it’s your fault by any means. I just know it’s gonna be grounds for a conversation later that might get feisty, again.”

Adam could see how tired Ruby was. The normally energetic woman was leaning back in her seat, eyes closed.

“Maybe you shouldn’t take long missions then?”

“Pfft nah. I don’t regret helping where I can. Besides I didn’t know until after I took the mission. Things will work themselves out though. That’s how family works. Believe in each other and the impossible happens.”

“I know what you’re doing. It’s not gonna work. Just stop talking okay?”

Ruby pursed her lips. Years of leadership didn’t prepare her talks like these. She had to say something though. It was hard to explain, but Ruby could feel the importance of this moment. Good or bad news, bottling this up would make anyone go insane. Ruby reached down her shirt and lifted her necklace. It was a silver cross with red roses wrapped around it. She took it off and dangled it on her fingers, scooting closer to Adam.

“My dad and uncle gave this to me on my birthday. They said…sometimes you need a piece of faith when you don’t have any yourself. I’m not really religious but apparently my mom used to pray after she knew there was nothing left she could do herself. Hehe, it’s a Rose mentality.” Ruby put it in Adam’s hand and curled it. “Don’t tell anyone this, but it’s pretty cool that you are your own kind of rose. Makes me feel like we’re connected in a way. Keep that. I know it’ll fit you.”

Adam remained quiet. He stared down at the trinket in his hand until his vision blurred. His body trembled. Slowly he clenched the cross. “I have no right to pray for anything. If destiny or whatever you want to call it exists then it’s only fair I get punished.”

Ruby frowned, “Hey that’s-” she cut herself short, not expecting Adam to put his other hand over the cross; his forehead pressing against them as he closed his eyes.

“Punish me.” He uttered weakly. “Me, not them. Leave everyone else out of it.” The first and only prayer he’ll ever make. His life could be at destiny’s whim forever as long as the ones who fought for him didn’t get burned.

Ruby stood from her seat and knelt down, grabbing his hands and joining the prayer. All while Ghira watched silently from the entrance.

For several hours, It was out of everyone’s hands. A roll of the dice, luck of the draw, fate, gods, destiny, whatever anyone wanted to call it; that was the only thing left and no one dared to keep track of the time out of anxiety. It was a scary, humbling feeling for certain. It was also the purest reminder that life wasn’t fair. Bad things happen to good people, hard work is left with nothing, and sometimes… a sinner’s prayers get heard.

The doors flung open with Blake breathless. “Adam…” she panted, eyes bigger than the smile on her face. “She’s-” the tears shed caught her off guard. The two roses stared blankly before Adam stood. Blake moved out of the doorway and he took it as a sign. ‘Run.’ Adam ran and no one dared to stop him.

“Back room.” Blake said, walking to her father. Ruby got up as well and joined the two. Blake looked at the red faced girl. The feline giggled softly while wiping Ruby’s tears. “And here I thought I knew how big your heart was?”

Ruby laughed as she tried to stop sniffling. “It’s not what it looks like. Seeing him sit there with his demons like that, it reminded me of how my dad and uncle qrow used to look when mom was brought up. Sorry, got a little compromised.”

“Welcome to the club. Dad, sorry I-”

Ghira wrapped his arm around Blake. “Don’t apologize. I tell you to take things slow and yet I tried rushing to the end of this. I’m sorry. I can’t say what lies in store for Adam next, but I suppose…I’ll have to keep more of an open mind. He’s earned that much.”

Ruby shook her head and sighed. “If I’m being honest, personally I think everyone has been a bit silly. Including my lovable sis. You all make it sound like he’s been trouble free for six months when that isn’t the case. I can’t say if he’s been perfect or not but the fact that Remnant thinks he died at Argus has to mean something, right? I certainly can’t link him to any world threatening incidents since then. He’s been minding his business for a couple years now. Is locking him up really gonna change anything? I mean it wouldn’t matter if Cinder was in or out of jail for me. I’d still be wary and pissed. Your men’s feelings about him wouldn’t change because of a cell. But hey, that’s just me.”

Ruby put her hands behind her hand and walked off. “I’m gonna step out for a moment and make a call.” She looked out a window. To her surprise, the rain had stopped. Ruby dialed Yang’s number. “Hey sis! Beautiful day to start a family. So, what’s my precious little niece’s name?”

xxxx

Adam reached the back room and pushed the door open to find Jacquelyn in bed, startled by his entrance before giving him a grin. Her skin had a sickly yellow dinge to it and she was covered in sweat. Still she smiled, holding a small infant as doctors looked at vitals and did their work.

“Awe, have you been crying? I’m sorry. Guess we gave you a fright.”

One of the nurses looked at the maiden like she was crazy. “Ma’am you slipped into a coma. Please don’t try and move around much.”

“I was a little tired, that's all. Heh…guess we finally found something I’m not good at? That’s un- oh…” Adam put his arms around her and the baby. Odd, to think he could hold something this gently? His presence soothed her into leaning into the embrace, humming quietly to both him and the new arrival. A premature baby with red hair, and tiny horns.

The doctor, naturally sworn to confidentiality, watched from the sidelines. “I’d like to congratulate you with confidence, but these two aren’t out of the woods yet. While I expect Jacquelyn to bounce back with time, your daughter is pretty frail. We have her stable for the time being but the heart is a complex organ even when fully developed. We’re going to have to keep her for a while just to make sure she’ll grow up healthy. Rest assured, I will do everything in my power for her.”

“Thank you.” Adam looked at his daughter’s round face. She opened her eyes to reveal two pools or bright blue. “Hmmm.”

“Something wrong?” Jacquelyn asked.

“She’ll have a hard time, with these features going for her. I was hoping she’d look more like you.”

“Oh hush. She’s beautiful like this. Though maybe I am a little jealous she doesn’t have my hair. Still, real big fan of those eyes.” She kissed his cheek. “We’ll do our best and then some.”

The doctor pulled out some paperwork. “Now then, I’m going to need a name. Her record won’t be too expensive in terms of…background history, but she’ll need the basics as best as possible. Especially in her condition.”

“Wanna name her after your mother, or even your sister?”

Adam shook his head, “I think we already have enough namesakes. Let her be free from that. You decide. I was never really good at these kinds of things.”

“Oooo okay. Don’t come crying later if you think of a good one. A free spirited name for our little kid.” Jacquelyn giggled to herself. “Got it. How about we name her…”

“Hehe, That’s a perfect name.” The two roses spoke.

#rwby #adam taurus #jacquelyn frost #rwby au #blake belladonna #ruby rose #ghira belladonna #rwby shackles

[lorei-writes]

Fairy Tales for Bedtime

The King of Liars

Shingen x MC Fantasy AU (Fairy Tale-ish) Choose Your Own Ending*

Ahh, it’s finally done! I don’t even know what to say, other than I’m so happy. I can barely see now, because I wanted to edit it instantly after I finished writing it and then post it. Allow me to invite you into a fantasy setting of yet another type. You won’t regret it.

*- Fluff or Angst

Word Estimate: 4.5k

Content Warnings: kidnapping, food (main); none (Dream ending); death (Nightmare Ending)

Sweet wind played with her hair, clementine mist extending its reach over to the terrace, dispersing through air like ink droplets submerged in water. Her hands resting atop the railing, her feet rose above the ground – she could have sworn Shingen had to hold back a gasp, her upper body tilting forward as if she was about to fall. She stopped, however, only gazing into the depths below them, starts seemingly calling out to her. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered, the gentle hum of the sky cushioning her voice. “Would you want to see them from up close?” Soles of her shoes clacked against the tiles, her skirt swirling as she turned to face him. “Could you do that?” One foot on the railing, Shingen pushed himself up. Without losing his balance, he leaned forward and offered her his hand, the words she wanted to hear leaving his lips. “I don’t know.” Yes, of course.

Long, long ago, when seas of grass heaved undisturbed by human influence, it was still believed that summer solstice held a special kind of power. It was celebrated as such, flames higher than trees attempting to touch the night sky while laughter flew abundantly over rivers, flower crowns being carried downstream. As day touched the night, humans seemed to awaken, pushing past the borders of the unsafe darkness, their voices daring to pierce through the harmonious buzzing of the forests. For an untrained ear, it would seem silence didn’t exist then, that it was banished outside the borders of the human realm and replaced by joy… Yet it lurked somewhere else, somewhere where the slightest mistake could be paid with the greatest of prices.

She stared into the well, silver moonlight being reflected at her from below. She breathed in deeply. Air seemed to electrify, prompted by her chants. “Mirror, mirror from below, Tell me tales I shouldn’t know, Show me days that are to come, Mirror, mirror, hear my call.” The water bubbled, a whirlwind appearing in the very centre of it, colours beginning to separate on its surface. She leaned it closer, her eyes shining with curiosity, images of the future forming to answer her pleas. Her lungs begged for the air, not even a breath being invited into them as she strived to stay perfectly still. Just a little longer, just until she saw it, and then she’d be able to let it go, to let time flow the way it’s supposed to…

A leaf flew past her head, swirling in the air before being sucked into the well, her eyelids twitching as she failed to stop them from moving. Her eyes opened wider as terror overtook her. She sprung back, her clothing already twisting, pulling her towards the water. She tore it – to no avail, her entire body being swallowed with force she couldn’t oppose. In her descent, she turned around, lush greenery emerging from the silver water, sliding up the walls of the well as if to cushion her fall. A scream died in her throat, consumed by everlasting silence that seemed to have taken a permanent residence within her.

The world around her morphed, initially fading into darkness and then erupting into a sea of vivid streaks. Trees hung suspended in the air, endless ocean of azure spreading far below her, carnivorous clouds rushing underneath the surface of the water. Sun chasing them around, they took shelter in reefs of long branches extending from above, phasing through the jewels growing in place of leaves. The reality slowly making itself known to her, she began to panic, her hands combing through the air in a desperate attempt to find anything to grasp onto. Her heart stopped – the sky exploded in pink mist, its edges spilling in various ripples around her.

“A human? Poor soul,” a voice vibrated through her.

Initially stunned, few things escaped her attention, her body only later catching onto the change in its position. Buzzing in her ears drowning out all sounds, she hid her face behind her arms, her eyes suddenly beginning to burn. She coughed – and just as it started, it was over, her head spinning as she snapped it to look up. She shouted, her body jolting back, strong hands keeping her in an embrace. “You don’t want to fall? Keep on doing that,” the person laughed, huge irises in shade of lime green piercing though her. Instect-like wings fluttered behind their back, colours of the sunrise being seemingly enchanted in the thin membrane spreading between each resemblant of a bone part. “Azla!” another voice called. “King said not to bring any new spoils back. Just let her fall.” “The clouds aren’t hungry,” they whined. “What a pleasant time, really.” “I’ll gladly listen to your problems later, please, pour your heart out.” Her arms trembled, her gaze travelling from her captor to the man, confusion flooding her senses. A pointy nose almost brushed against her cheek, ultramarine hair falling onto her face. “You’re kinda cute. You make me want to eat you.” “Please, do,” the person holding her replied. “Now.” She winced, yet no harm came her way, wind beginning to hum in her ears anew.

The travel was fast, fast enough to be both deafening and blinding, pushing her further into a state of deep confusion. Lost and certain only of the fact that the rules had been broken, she did not even attempt to look around, the watercolour-like mists with acidic smell being sufficiently dooming for her mind. The world could have very well frozen, time nearly stopping as she struggled to stay in touch with reality, her heart racing – and only beginning to pick up its pace after they landed. An ivory palace emerged from a forest of vermilion roots, wide trunk extending deep into the navy sky below them, shining starts losing themselves in orange reefs of branches during their never-ending chase. Undisturbed by any predatory moons, they adapted different tactics, some staying in constellations while others opted for a solitary hunt, burning bright as to provide the light for the palace, membranous windows allowing for it to sneak inside. Her captors setting her down, she trembled, soles of her shoes clacking against the glass ground. She focused, willing her mind to take a step forward – yet she stayed still, her body refusing to obey any of her commands. A hand fell onto her shoulder. “Backwards, take your time,” Azla demanded. “I...I can’t,” she forced out, a knot tying itself inside of her throat. The fairy groaned in reply, pinching the bridge of their nose as their gaze focused on the ground. “Feet, pretty please, carry the guest to our King, thank you, have a nice time and enjoy your day.”

Charmed, she rushed forward, barely managing to hold her back upright, each step bringing her closer to collapse. Exempt from her will, her legs acted on their own, speeding past the castle guards and then through the halls, azure carpets eventually disappearing as ornaments became sparser, wood replacing the ivory. Golden window frames turning to metal, gusts of wind snuck inside, each floor being less resemblant of a rich palace than the previous one – until she finally reached the very top of the estate, the last corridor leading directly to what seemed to be a wall taken out of a completely different building. Rather frugal and solid, balks rested firmly atop each other, a door standing in her way. Fearing her feet may not stop, she leaned forward to knock and press the handle, as not to let herself get hurt.

Her body passed the doorstep, her legs instantly collapsing under her weight, no longer supported by magic. Her lungs burning after the run, she breathed in deeply, too tired to notice the pair of grey eyes staring at her from over the table. “What do we have here?” the human-looking person hummed, causing her to snap her head up. Scared, she tried to get out, the door closing behind her back. “An angel? Please, allow me to soothe your worry, you are completely safe now.” “Who are you?” “I am the one in control of the entire realm, the king… Although just for you, I’d suggest using ‘Shingen’ instead,” he explained, offering her a hand. She accepted it, still too shaken to question an existence of another human in the land of the fairies, much less his position or role – and only once she was standing by herself again, did she notice the hem of his sleeve rolling up, burnt sienna marks creeping up the man’s forearm, something deep within his skin shining like copper.

***

The days passed, her existence being contained to the borders of the king’s quarters. Initially assuming she’d meet her end there shortly, she opted to stay by herself, the solitude of the room assigned to her providing her with an odd sense of comfort. Much to her surprise, however, nobody came, only the low humming daring to sneak inside during each meal time, the king himself setting a tray in front of her door. At first, she guessed it would be poisoned… Yet there was little difference in dying from starvation or as a result of a scheme, if anything the latter being preferable in its length. Desperate, she gathered her courage to taste the food.

It was safe, although perhaps a bit too savoury for her liking, some vegetables being additionally somewhat overcooked. She accepted it regardless, her stomach ceasing to growl for the first time in days – and her mouth watered as she reached for the cake, the pastry being perfect in its taste. Encouraged, she gathered the dishes and set them outside, still too cautious to let herself be lured out for longer.

The pattern repeated for few weeks, her senses slowly beginning to adapt to the unusual movement of the sun and the eternal day. Feeling she might be prepared to learn of what was to happen to her, she got up from her bed and walked to the door, ready to open it… A knock came from the other side. “Can we talk?” Shingen asked. “Y-Yeah,” she stuttered.

Following her host, she walked down the corridor, taking careful note of the paintings hanging over the walls, the frames being seemingly out of place. Having seated himself in one of the armchairs, Shingen gestured at her to rest too. He rolled up his sleeves, symmetrical markings spreading up his skin – her eyes widened. “I thought you were a human…” she spoke absent-mindedly. “Have I ever said that? Few humans have managed to live here before, yet I am not one of them.”A faint smile appeared over his face, as if he tried to comfort her. “I… I see. What will happen to me?” “Plenty and precisely nothing.” “I think I don’t understand.” “The well will open in a year and one day, counting from the day of your arrival. I will arrange new quarters for you.” “That’s… That’s not necessary!” she exclaimed, rising her hands in a protective gesture. “I am fine living here.” “Oh, I insist. This year will most likely be a long one for you,” he hummed, something shining deep within his eyes. She did not look close then, though, completely convinced that opposing his command would cost her dearly. As such, she retreated into her room once more.

However, no change happened, Shingen only inviting her to explore his quarters, his private room excluded. She asked for explanation, yet got no reply, her reach slowly expanding until she had seen all parts of the castle at least once. During one such trip, when she ventured out onto the terrace to watch the sentient stars, a fairy landed by her side. “Boo!” Azla exclaimed, his wings fluttering happily as she jumped. “Azla!” Botchka scolded him, soon finding himself by their side. He turned towards her. “My lady, please punish this...Person of the greatest intellect,” he ground through his teeth, causing her to laugh. “Apologies accepted. Or should I say, ‘perish’? I have noticed some of you seem to speak in opposites… But it is different with the king. I don’t think I have it quite figured out…” she trailed off, hoping they’d provide her with enough information to resolve her confusion. “Fairies must speak only truth and king is the only one able to make it sound like an utter and complete lie,” Botchka answered without a hint of hesitation, reaching to entwine his fingers with Azla’s. “For example: I absolutely hate this great, scholarly personality.” “I won’t make a cat poop in your shoes for that,” they muttered, unmoved by the confession.

The woman nodded in reply. “So it’s that simple? I wonder then…”

***

Her suspicions having been confirmed, she chose to learn more, asking the king whether he’d mind if she joined him during the meals. He disagreed, which she assumed was a sign she should try regardless, preparing the table for the both of them. She glanced curiously at him. No reaction. As such, she brought out the stew and the dessert, soon reaching for the bowls to fill them – and yet, one disappeared straight out of her hand, Shingen suddenly materialising in his spot and cutting himself a hefty slice of cake. Content, he sat down, already digging into the crust as she laughed: “This isn’t really a balanced diet.” “I presume you’re right, my angel. After all, I consume human food for the nutritional value alone… Yet I can’t seem to stop myself.” Not quite, my angel. I don’t consume human food for nutritional reasons… Although I could have spared that piece of cake, she tried to understand. “Fairies eat different things? Then why bother with human stuff?” “I’d rather save that story for another time,” Shingen stated, smiling a polite smile. I’d prefer not to share the reason as to why. The woman nodded in reply, her brows knitting together. Her face relaxing a moment later, she rose her gaze and looked at him, the corners of her mouth curling up. At least she was beginning to adapt.

It seemed each day their talks lasted longer, soon exceeding past the meals, the empty plates listening in to the joyous laughter and words of explanation, sometimes hours past their serving time, the king only taking note of them once the next meal came. The dining table soon losing its role of being the bridge between them, it was released from its duty, the pair moving to the living room – and when that ceased to suffice too, they opted to stroll around the castle, her eyes gleaming with curiosity as he revealed the secrets of the fairy realm to her.

Sweet wind played with her hair, clementine mist extending its reach over to the terrace, dispersing through air like ink droplets submerged in water. Her hands resting atop the railing, her feet rose above the ground – she could have sworn Shingen had to hold back a gasp, her upper body tilting forward as if she was about to fall. She stopped, however, only gazing into the depths below them, starts seemingly calling out to her. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered, the gentle hum of the sky cushioning her voice. “Would you want to see them from up close?” Soles of her shoes clacked against the tiles, her skirt swirling as she turned to face him. “Could you do that?” One foot on the railing, Shingen pushed himself up. Without losing his balance, he leaned forward and offered her his hand, the words she wanted to hear leaving his lips. “I don’t know.” Yes, of course. She accepted the invitation, soft breeze nuzzling against her ankles as sudden warmth spread through her body, causing her to feel lighter. His fingers closed around hers, her eyes meeting his – and she followed his gaze, few shining steps appearing in front of her. Mesmerised, she climbed them, soon standing by Shingen’s side, holding onto his arm as not to fall.

Words were unreliable, all things he could have told her being too heinous as lies, the sweetest thought having to turn into poison if it were to leave his mouth. As such, he did not dare speak, instead guiding her with his eyes, her breathing hitching at every stolen glance. Carefully, Shingen took a step forward, the initial fall stopping as platform emerged below his feet. Shingen looked up, his lips parting, but he hesitated to talk. “Yes, please,” she whispered in reply, his hands finding themselves onto her waist as he lifted her. Perhaps it was just a habit, perhaps she forgot herself, her arms crossing behind his neck – and she could not avert her gaze, her body pressed to his, her tiptoes hoovering just above the ground. Her blood started to rush, familiar tenderness sneaking into the grey irises for a split second – yet it was over so very soon, black lashes falling to hide it away as Shingen set her down. With a gesture of a hand, he urged her to go forward, the next platform being only a step away. Silently, she did as instructed, entwining her fingers with his once more. Slowly, they descended to the very border of the night sky.

She saw the light – only a moment more, Shingen setting the last platform in place. The woman swallowed thickly, releasing a deep breath out of her lungs a second later, unwilling to let her fears hold her back.  His hand resting atop her arm, she looked from Shingen to the very sky below them, air being ocean-like in its structure, licking the edges of their step – only to evaporate in pleasant breezes, carrying up smells of fruit, flowers and summer days. Notified of their presence, a myriad of stars swam their way, crowding at the edges of their shelter, sparkly tails following them through the depths. The woman crouched town – and much to her surprise, the king knelt by her side, dipping his hands into the fabric of the sky. Seemingly playful, celestial bodies swarmed to them, as if begging to be invited into his palm, few that got inside buzzing against his skin excitedly. He trapped them inside with his other hand.

The king straightened his back, the droplets at his fingers bursting into the scent of sandal tree. “I… I wouldn’t dare to ask you to hold your hands out,” he let out. Blush spreading over her cheeks, she did as he asked – and he opened his fingers, the smallest universe she had ever seen falling into her grasp. She gasped, her eyes shining brightly. She looked up at him. “On any other day, I’d like to have it back… But since tomorrow is the last day of your stay here, I suppose I’d like for it to be the one thing to remind you of the fairy realm.” Her eyes crinkled. “Liar. I’d rather take something else,” she chuckled, leaning forward… He touched his finger to her lips, an odd sense of hurt dimming his eyes. “No,” he grunted, the markings on his forearms lighting up, his face growing paler. The sky crept onto the platform.  Shingen rose to his feet fast, pulling her up by her hand. “We could stay a little longer, on some other day. On any other day.” We must go. She did not understand the rest.

They ran up the platforms, each step being shakier than the previous one – until they reached the terrace, Shingen collapsing to his knees, his back pressing against the railing as he clutched onto his chest. She dropped next to him, pressing onto his shoulders to get a better look at his face, liquid copper flowing below the skin of his hands. “Shingen?” “I’m fine.” It hurts. “How bad?” “Not at all.” It can’t be described. “What should I do?” “Stay.” Leave me to myself. “I can’t. I will take you to your room, okay?” “No.” Yes.

Her shoulders supporting his weight, they hurried back inside, the corridors seemingly shortening themselves as to let them reach his quarters sooner. She pushed the door to his personal room open, helping him to sit on the bed. “Any medicine?” “Left drawer.” “Right!” she thought aloud, already rushing to open it and search through its contents. She almost froze, a solitary bottle of human medicine staring at her – yet she did not let herself waste any time, instantly turning around with it in her hand. She unscrewed the lid, pouring the liquid into it and soon pressing it against his lips. Shingen drunk hurriedly.

The king fell onto his back, copper shining withing the markings growing calmer to eventually completely subside and resume peaceful slumber. “Why do you have human medicine?” she asked. “Why, indeed…” Shingen panted, his face relaxing. “I want to know.” “I will tell you on the last day of your stay.” I won’t ever be able to tell you. The woman frowned, her feet carrying her towards the corridor. “Well then,” she huffed. “I will make you.” The door closed behind her back.

Her night wasn’t a peaceful one, no dreams daring to come her way as she tossed from side to side. Uncertain whether she felt more concern or anger, she got up, the clock having struck a quarter past midnight. She shook her head, letting the thought of rest go freely. Hoping to at least calm her mind, she got up, her feet carrying her to the very terrace they… What exactly had they done the prior night? Explored? Spoke? She laughed to herself – how truly odd was this world, submerged in deep navy yet also bright, sunken in light. She could not even classify it in any clear category, her mind failing her at understanding the nature and what happened to her alike. Wings fluttered behind her. She turned around.

Azla and Botchka landed, gazing at each other in solemn silence. Puzzled, she irked a quizzical brow at them. “Is something a matter?” she asked. “No.” Yes, Botchka replied. “We certainly did not want to talk.” “It’s only that we felt obliged to,” Azla gulped. The woman leaned against railing, her fingers growing white as she clutched on it. “Well, I’m all ears.” The fairies glanced at each other once more. “Do not listen to us at all.” Listen to all we say very carefully. “We can repeat ourselves.” We won’t repeat it. “The well opens precisely one day after the solstice,” Azla stated, turning their attention towards their partner. “The well opens precisely one day before the solstice.” The woman frowned, her eyes growing wider in fear. “It opens today.” “It hasn’t already.” It already has. She gritted her teeth, her heart beginning to beat faster. “Thanks, I think I must talk with somebody now,” she blurted out, breaking into a run.

She understood, fairies lie – yet she also knew Shingen was very well capable of suggesting where the deception began. Fearing he may send her away without giving her the chance to talk one last time, she knocked onto his door, opening it before he could react. Her heart sunk – he was there, lying in bed and basked in the light that somehow felt dark, his skin pale as his face twisted in pain, his hands grasping onto the sheets. She ran up to the drawer, her fingers curling around the familiar medicine bottle.

Empty.

Dream:

Content Warnings: none

Slowly, she sat down by his side, her fingers pushing damp from sweat hair out of his face. “You’re burning up,” she noted bitterly, her lips brushing against his forehead. “You have been unwell all this time. And you’ve never told anybody, have you?” “It’s only solstice,” he rasped. “Huh?” “It’s only solstice. It makes our worlds touch… And then… Humans were not meant to live in this realm –” A cough tore through his chest. “But you’re not a human,” she noted, letting her fingers stroke his cheek. She shook her head. “And all you say are lies. How am I to trust any of that?” “Not fully, not yet… The solstice… The solstice allows for truths to be said without a punishment.” Her lips pressed into a thin line, she nodded. She reached to hold his hand in hers. “I want to trust you,” she whispered. “So I will… And if this world is hurting you… Come. Come with me.” “I can’t.” “Why?” “If I’m not here… If something goes wrong… The well may close before you pass. I don’t know what will happen to you then.” To his surprise, she stayed calm, emotion draining away from her voice. “Then what should I do to get back?” “Stay still… And recite your spell, starting from the last verse…”

Silence fell thick between them, the woman eventually moving to stand up. “Thank you. Thank you for everything,” she uttered, seemingly accepting his wish. Slowly, she stepped into the centre of the room, her eyes fixated onto the last drop of medicine in the bottle. Her chest rose as she breathed in deeply, her eyes electrifying. “Mirror, mirror, hear my call, Show me days that are to come, Tell me tales I shouldn’t know, Mirror, mirror – ” Strong winds broke out, drowning out her words, her clothing beginning to twist as an overwhelming force began to swallow her. The king smiled – in his defeat that happened to be a lesser victory…

Shingen blinked fast, the pain in his chest lessening as his hands grew transparent. Her voice vibrated through his mind, sending chills down his spine. “ – save my love,” she spoke, the incantation being complete.

***

Buzzing in his head grew stronger, each breath filling his lungs with an unfamiliar substance – something he both craved and couldn’t identify. Shingen opened his eyes slowly, black sky, so unlike anything he had ever seen before, spreading above his head. He blinked fast, the events of the night reawakening themselves in his mind – he shot up, frantically looking from side to side until his gaze fell over her body. Fearing the worst, he rushed to her, his knees failing him.

Gently, he turned her onto her back, cradling her head as not to cause any harm – and he leaned down, hoping that she was still alive. Her breath tickling his cheek, he sunk back down, waves of relief flooding him on the inside. “The stars…” she mumbled, seemingly awoken from her slumber. “Yes, my angel? What about the stars?” “I could never tire of watching them,” she giggled weakly, tiredness sounding off in her voice. “And yet they can’t measure up to even a fraction of your beauty.” “Cruel, aren’t you?” Shingen propped himself on his elbow and gazed down at her, the faint gleam in his eyes proving her wrong. “It is the truth.” Her hand cupped his cheek, the fever she felt seemingly only a moment ago having disappeared completely. “Then… Would you mind giving me the one thing I wanted then?” she asked, although the answer was already known, they lips being mere inches apart. She gasped as they collided, her wish coming true– and she couldn’t have helped thinking it was dearer than the universe he had granted her then.

Nightmare:

Content Warnings: implied impending major character death.

Slowly, she sat down by his side. “You’re ill and you haven’t told anybody, have you?” she spoke in an empty voice, her hands clutching onto the empty bottle. “It will pass,” he rasped. It won’t, she understood. “If… If it’s terminal… Can I help you?” she uttered, looking away as not to let him see her despair. A shadow of surprise swept over his face – and then he realised, she did not know he could tell truth for once, during that one special day a year. “No.” Yes. “I wish I would never hear those words… Could you erase them with a song?” “A song?” she hummed. “Any song?” “From the human realm… I was always curious… What do you sing to get into my domain?”

She laughed bitterly, her head shaking as she swept her hair forward. “Mirror, mirror from below, Tell me tales I shouldn’t know, Show me days that are to come, Mirror, mirror, hear my call,” she started, her voice breaking a few times. A moment of pause. “It… It does go on like so,” she sobbed – and it shattered his heart, as he knew she was convinced it could be the end. “Mirror, mirror, hear my call, show me days that are to come, tell me tales I shouldn’t know, mirror mirror from below – ”

Silence consumed her voice. She grasped onto her throat, unaware of what she had done – and then she looked at him, her lips parting to say “no” as his turned into an apologetic smile. “I lied to you one last time,” the king admitted. The universe around her twisted, collapsed onto itself… She was gone.

Tag list: @datenoriko, @nad-zeta, @tsubaki3192, @missjudge-me, @ikemencrossedmyth, @nuttytani, @thesirenwashere, @milas-imaginarium, @kisara-16, @yukas-clover, @alerialumina , @cheese-ception , @iamryxx, @cottonfluffballofdoom, @ozziegrl71, @silhouette-of-a-dream If you want to be tagged under my future works, let me know (any way works)! ^^ Also, if you have some preferences (for example: you’d rather not be tagged under some series, etc.), please, tell me.  If you don’t want to be tagged anymore - please, do not feel bad about it, just say so :)

#shingen takeda #ikesen shingen #ikemen sengoku shingen #ikesen #ikemen sengoku #ikemen series #my ff #my writing

[perriewinklenerdie]

Gave into the fire (Ethan Ramsey x MC)

Open Heart, Ethan Ramsey x MC

A/N:  Hello, hello, hello! Guess who's alive :D Exams are officially over, thank god for that, so that means that writing can be back in session. We also are kinda sorta more or less about a month (and no, I couldn't fit in more 'maybe' words into that sentence) away from OH coming back (I said maybe, because it's an enigma at this point). So yeah, I finally am able to fuel all my brain power into writing (and playing Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled because it's the best game ever and you can't change my mind). I hope you're all okay and taking care of yourselves

AO3 link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25362976

Tag list: @paleweasels, @kittykatchoices, @valiantlychaoticbarbarian, @radlovedreamer , @usuallyamazinglyaverage, @strawberrwess @palestazure, @cordoniaqueensworld, @universallypizzataco, @princess-geek, @faithhasnowords, @mightyfangirlofthefandoms, @drakewalkerfantasy, @timmagicktoad, @laceandlula, @greywitchyshots, @llamasgrl, @gingerjane15, @bucket-harrington , @marywrites-things , @ethanplaysfavorites , @mfackenthal , @betelgeusebee , @simsvetements,  @i-only-signed-up-for-fanfiction, @buzz-bee-buzz, @owleyes374, @cora-nova, @aworldoffandoms, @l822, @cream-ray, @ughhhxjazzy, @silverlitskies, @justendlesssummerfeels, @togetherwearerapture, @desmaranj, @edgiestwinter, @friedherringclodthing, @daisy-ashton, @waytooattuned, @choicesgremlin , @lapisreviewsstuff, @the-soot-sprite, @writerapprentice, @chasingrobbie, @choicesobsessedd, @x-kyne-x, @thisperfectmemory, @drakewalker04, @rookie-ramsey, @jlynn12273, @thepinknymph @dr-brianna-casey-valentine, @a-i-n-a-a-s-h @justanotherrookie 

  Enjoy! <3

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

Even though it’s been hours since their fate had been decided by a bunch of rich people that were willing to spend their money on their cause, their nerves eased only when they finally sat down in the booth at the bar, Reggie serving them drink after drink. The unsettling feeling that followed them since the day the news of Edenbrook losing its funding has reached them, finally gave way to a wave of relief and unrestricted happiness. At least for one night, all their worries faded away, overshadowed by a glowing victory.

The regular circle of residents has been joined by one more person. Sitting right between Bryce and Sienna was Alex Morrow. Claire and Alex have known each other since they were kids, there was probably no one else that knew her as well as he did. Jackie called him ‘a walking Claire’s diary” and then tried to bribe him into spilling all her secrets, which Claire did not appreciate.

Since he lived in England, they didn’t see each other often. For that reason, her friends have never seen him outside of the computer screen before. Now, there he was, sandwiched between Bryce and Sienna, telling yet another story from their childhood, completely ignoring the kicks he’s consistently been getting from a sitting across from him Claire.

“That’s not how it went down and you know it!” she exclaimed, slamming her palm against the table. “You were the one who set the tree house on fire, I wasn’t even near that thing!”

“You did what?” Jackie choked on her drink, throwing herself into a coughing fit interlaced with a string of laughter.

“It was an accident, most of which was my fault, I admit. But it wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Claire who decided to announce that my aunt was taking us out for ‘real food’ as she used to say, by which she meant the most gross concoction ever known to human kind. ” Alex admitted, shrugging his shoulders like it was the most logical thing in the world.

“Dude, I was only delivering the news. How is that my fault?”

“We didn’t go out with her and didn’t die eating that abomination, so I say it’s a win in my books. I was seven, my view of the world was different back then”

“So, you’re saying you wouldn’t set that tree house on fire again, just to spite aunt Kate?” grinning widely, Claire took a sip of her drink, her eyes sparkling playfully.

“Oh, hell yes I would, that woman is nasty.” He answered in a heartbeat, nodding his head just a bit too enthusiastically, causing the whole group to laugh. Alex’s eyes scanned the room, coming to a stop at something by the bar. “Someone’s staring. Is that him?”

Claire looked over, not knowing what to expect and at the same time knowing exactly who he was talking about. Right next to Reggie was Ethan, nursing a drink, looking over his shoulder from time to time. Their eyes met and she expected him to look away, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he insistently held her gaze, an unreadable spark causing a shiver to run down her spine.

“You should go talk to him.” Sienna muttered softly, her eyes sympathetic. “It’s been almost two months since you really talked to one another, and I don’t want to push you into doing something you don’t want to do but maybe you guys need… closure.”

“I agree with Sienna.” Alex joined in, looking at her with a smile. “You’ll feel better afterwards.”

Claire looked between the two of them. The whole purpose of staying away from Ethan was so that she wouldn’t have to talk to him. It’s been two months of trying and somewhat succeeding at keeping their relationship professional while trying to not be short with each other when they did have to talk. No one knew what exactly went down between the two doctors, and they wanted to keep it that way.

A war was waging in her head, both sides screaming loudly, pulling her in the opposite directions until one of them won. “Ugh, I hate you all.”

“We love you too!” Sienna called out after her, sharing a tense smile with Alex.

She stood up, squaring her shoulders as she mentally prepared for what was to come. It was easy, right? She just had to… walk up to him and start a conversation. Pretty easy.

Except it wasn’t. Because with Ethan, nothing was ever as easy as it seemed. It filled her with dread almost as much as it excited her, most of the time at least. Talking to him was thrilling, his intelligence challenging her and drawing her in the more she tried to resist.

Being near him was exhilarating. Every last one of her nerve endings was sparking with electricity, her body tuned to his presence. If his behavior towards her was any indication, he was tuned to her too. She moved, he felt the tug to follow. He stepped closer, she felt the invisible force, pulling her to him.

Her walk came to a stop, right by his side. She felt his eyes on her before she saw them, hot and intense trail, enveloping her whole body. When their gazes finally met, there was that spark again, thinly veiled by indifference.

“Hi.” She decided to be the brave one and start the conversation. Though brave didn’t exactly describe the way she spoke the word. Slowly, quietly and shyly, like she was afraid of shattering the fragile balance they managed to achieve in the past two months.

“Hi.” He responded, just as quietly and uncertainly, his shoulders tensing slightly. A long moment of silence followed, their eyes locked onto one another securely, refusing to look away. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, he asked. “How are you?”

“I’m good. So relieved that we’re out of the troubled water. It feels like a heavy weight has been taken off my shoulders. I can breathe again.” she let out a nervous breath, laughing slightly. He smiled at that, his eyes softening just a bit, tension in his body lessening.

“Don’t suffocate on me, Rookie, we can’t afford to lose you.” Ethan’s voice sounded like he tried to be nonchalant, but ultimately failed. It carried so many emotions and had so much depth to it that he himself could drown in it, searching for salvation that was out of his reach. He couldn’t get out of this feeling if he tried. To an outsider, it seemed as though the longer they were so close to one another, the softer Ethan was becoming, the closer to each other they were leaning. Like they were unable to resist it, like they didn’t want to resist it.

“Don’t worry, Dr. Ramsey, you’re stuck with me for a long time.” She muttered, shifting from one foot to the other. Her gaze fell to the ground, the floor suddenly more interesting that the conversation they were trying to have. Finally, she looked up, biting the inside of her cheek for a quick moment. “Anyway, I just wanted to check in on you. Enjoy the rest of your night… Ethan.”

“Claire?” he called out after her, making her turn back towards him. Her eyebrow shot up in question. “Let your hair down. It brings your eyes out.”

A blush spread across her cheeks, accompanied by a soft smile, but not another word was spoken. She felt his eyes on her, walking her back to her friends, and then the warmth was gone once again. He turned back to his drink, trying to refocus and shake off the feeling of her effect on him.

Sienna and Alex waited until Claire sat down, watching with surprise as she took apart the braid that her hair had been in, and only then did they bombard her with questions.

“What did he say?”

“What happened?”

She held her breath before letting it out, shrugging her shoulders with a blank expression. “We… talked. That’s it, actually.”

In the corner of her eye, Claire noticed Ethan getting up and going towards the garden in the back. She tried not to let it distract her too much, tuning back into the conversation her friends were having, but the temptation to follow him has became too strong to ignore. “I’ll be right back.”

Her feet carried her towards him on her own, like she was being pulled by a magnet. Once she was sure that she’s out of her friends’ sight, her pace had picked up, but as she stepped outside, she saw it empty. No sight of Ethan, or anyone else for that matter. Just the soft tune, flowing in the background, blending flawlessly with the wind that moved the leaves on the trees.

Slight movement of the door leading inside the smaller building in the back caught her attention, and suddenly she knew exactly where she was supposed to go. Her hand pushed the handle, closing the door as she stepped into the dimly lit room, her breath shallow and fast, uncertain of what was about to happen.

Pretty much as soon as the door closed, his warmth surrounded her like a thick blanket. His arms went around her and pulled her back towards him, embracing her gently. “I was worried you wouldn’t come.”

“I think you’re lying” she whispered, her hands sliding down his arms until they reached his palms, fingers tangling gently. “You have a hard time staying away from me, and so do I.”

“Are you suggesting I don’t have any self-control, Claire?”

“When it comes to us? No, you don’t.” she responded lightly, leaning back against him. “But then again, neither do I. Prime example is us being here, Ethan.”

He took her hand, bringing it up to his lips for a lingering kiss as soon as he spun her around to face him. She took a step towards him, her other hand resting on the side of his neck comfortably while his other arm slipped around her waist, pulling her as close to him as he could. Eye to eye, nose to nose, body to body, they fell into the comforting motion of swaying, back and forth. Her eyes fell shut, his scent calming her senses, her breathing in sync with his.

“I’m not sure I can let you go.” Claire’s voice broke the tender silence that fell upon them after what felt like forever. His embrace got tighter, his lips pressing against her forehead.

“I’m not sure I can either.”

----------

Rain rang against the windows of his apartment, creating a soft contrast to the discussion they were having. Seated on the couch were two doctors, sitting under a blanket, two cups of now cold tea on the table near them. He raised his eyebrow at her idea.

“That’s it! That’s the one!” Claire’s voice rang out, laced with a delighted laugh. Ethan looked at her in confusion. Mostly because the whole discussion of the ‘code’ seemed ridiculous to him at the time, but he would find out later on that having a silent way to say ‘I care about you’ would come in handy more times than he would be able to count.

“But I do that all the time. How will you know what I mean by that?”

“That’s the added bonus. No one will be able to tell if you’re professing your feelings to me or being annoyed. As for me…” she leaned towards him, her lips brushing against his as she spoke. “I already know that you can’t get angry at me, really, so there’s no conflict there.”

“But-“

“Find some other way to express you being annoyed at me, then, because this one is sticking.” She kissed him, for real this time, climbing into his lap and tangling her fingers into his hair.

“How about you?” he panted after they separated a few moments later, his hands running up and down her back. She combed her fingers through his strands for a bit as she thought her answer through.

“What would you say about…” she tapped her cheek three times, right in the place that he’s always chosen to kiss in the past. “… this.”

His lips followed right where her finger was just a split second ago, pressing a lingering kiss to her skin. “Perfect.”

---------

Somehow, neither of them was sure how, they ended up by the wall, Claire’s back pressed against it as Ethan’s lips assaulted her neck. Her soft moans got lost under the music, flowing from the outside. He tangled his hand into her hair, pulling on it slightly. “I’m glad you followed my advice.”

“I had a feeling you would get your way somehow, so I decided to make it easy for you.”

Their lips met in a hungry kiss, no holding back, no reservations. It’s been a couple of days since they could just let go and not stress about the outside world, and every time they got the chance to do so was a small victory they got to celebrate.

That’s how it’s been for quite some time now. Ethan got fed up with his own stubbornness and decided to give himself a chance to be happy. That meant that he finally got the chance to see where his feelings for Claire would lead him. Very soon, pretty much the moment he kissed her with the purpose of never letting her go, he realized that he has been, in fact, an idiot for trying to suppress this feeling. Naveen has told him, time and time again, that he should stop trying to be correct all the time, and instead go for what was right.

Because what they had was right. It felt right. There weren’t a lot of times in which Ethan could say he experienced ‘right’, but here it was. Claire just… was. And that was enough. It was enough to pull him away from unhealthy work habits. It was enough to pull a smile onto his face. It was enough to pull that heavy weight off his chest. It was everything.

The kiss slowed down, until they just stood there, lips pressed against each other, breathing the same air. When her eyes opened, she found his already on her, filled to the brim with warmth and softness that she didn’t see in there that often.

Her arms went around his neck, pulling him closer to her, taking a deep breath to remember his scent, even though she’s had it memorized by now. “We should tell Naveen.”

“I think he knows” Ethan muttered against the skin of her neck, the motion tickling her a bit.

“We should tell him regardless. Maybe he’ll have an idea as to what we should do. I’m not sure if I can keep you hidden for much longer.”

“I’m that tempting, huh?” he snickered, earning himself a pinch on the side of his ribcage, followed by a shriek as he tickled her back.

“Irresistible.” She breathed out, pulling him into a short kiss, trying and failing to not fall into him again. Neither of them was sure how much time has passed before they came up for air again, but judging by the change in music, it must have been a while.

“Where are you going after the night is over?” he asked, pulling her hair back over her shoulder, smoothing it out to his best ability. She shrugged, her face spelling out innocence.

“My apartment of course.” Her response was met with a low hum, his finger following the line of her cheekbone.

“I think you meant mine.”

“Why? Are you implying something, Dr. Ramsey?”

“Only that I will miss you dearly if you leave me alone, Dr. Herondale.” He admitted with a boyish smile that lit up his features, making him even more handsome in her eyes than he usually is.

“You’re asking so nicely…“ Claire muttered, her lips kissing his chin tenderly. “… how could I possibly refuse?”

They had a hard time letting each other go, pulling the other back in as soon as they got too far, but at last, their embrace broke and she went back to her friends, praying that her appearance didn’t give her away. They’ve gotten good at pretending, but if there was to be any indication of what was happening between them, her friends would pick up on it instantly.

Luckily for her, no one seemed to notice anything, and as soon as she sat down next to Sienna, she was brought into the conversation. If Alex had noticed her being flushed, like she always was when even so much as talking about Ethan, he didn’t say a thing.

About five minutes later, Ethan walked back into the main building with a purpose of going home, where he would wait for her to join him. As he passed them by, he raised his eyebrow at her, and she tapped her cheek three times.

#ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #mc x ethan #dr. ethan ramsey #mc x ethan ramsey #dr ethan ramsey x mc #fic #fanfiction #open heart #open heart fanfiction #choices fanfiction

[eleanorbloom]

[OH] When You’re Ready Ch. 03

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything of the Open Heart World. The name Eleanor Bloom and her story was created by me, though.

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x f! MC (Eleanor Bloom) x Ethan Ramsey.

Word Count: 4.8k

Warning: Angst, adult language, and smut. 

Summary: Bryce has decided to let go of Eleanor because she’s in love with Ethan Ramsey. But a turn in her relationship with the attending might change Bryce's plans.

A/N: Thank you so much for all your kind words and your support. 

I have the urge to remind you all that English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes. As a perfectionist, I’ve been having a hard time trying to make this fic the more comprehensible as it can be.  I know my English doesn’t suck, that your people understand what I write (lol) but I’m sure there are some idioms or, I don’t know, the order of the words that may seem off, and I can't help but feel bad about it. Just know that this happens because I’m a Spanish speaker trying to write a fanfic in English.  

That’ll be all. Lots of love to my readers 

Let me know if you wanna be added to the taglist! :)

Taglist: @utterlyinevitable @binny1985 ​ @laiba-the-person ​ @choicesficwriterscreations @shanzay44

______

Chapter Three: All I Ask.

It matters how this ends

‘Cause what if I never love again? 

Eleanor walked into the locker room feeling her heart in her throat, a knot threatening to make her explode with rage and bitterness once again. When she reached for her locker, she found Sienna already fully dressed to leave Edenbrook.

“Oh my god, Ellie, are you okay?!” Sienna inquired as she perceived the mortified expression on her face.

“I’m not”

“What happened? Did you… Did you speak with Dr. Ramsey?”

“I did”

“And?”

Eleanor couldn’t help but let a few tears stream down her face, but she managed to avoid the sob.

“He’s going to the Amazon with the WHO”

“What?! Oh my god, that’s big”

"And he’s leaving tomorrow”

“Oh no. Ellie, I’m so sorry ”

Suddenly, all traces of sadness and rage disappeared from her. She wiped the tears off her face and cleared her throat.

“Don’t be. Let’s get outta here, I need a drink”

"Okay, I’ll text the others to meet at Donahue’s”

Sienna eyed Eleanor with concern. She wanted to tell her to stop suppressing her feelings, to stop pretending she didn’t care, but she preferred to keep it quiet, hoping that at some point she would explode and let everything out. Because she had spent all those weeks pretending that she didn’t care, that it didn’t hurt to ignore Ramsey, that it didn’t hurt that he didn’t care that she was ignoring him. Nearly five months of pent-up emotions.

 An hour later, Eleanor was at Donahue’s with Bryce and her new best friend, the vodka. Elijah was with Phoebe choosing a few songs on the jukebox to dance to; Sienna was with Danny and other nurses playing darts and Jackie and Rafael were deep in conversation at the bar. Bryce had noticed her mood but didn’t want to ask her directly, since he guessed who was responsible. Instead, he preferred to join her to drink, without judging that she was almost drinking the entire bottle of vodka by herself without any coyness, although he was willing to make her stop when it became dangerous for her health.

Suddenly, Eleanor’s face sparkled with fury. Bryce turned to check the source of her discomfort, knowing perfectly well who it was. Ethan was at the bar talking to Reggie as he took a seat.

“You’re so predictable, Ethan Ramsey"—She muttered as she took the shot of vodka in one sip—"I bet he’ll have a couple of shots, waiting for the moment when I’m alone, and if doesn’t find me alone he’ll just switch to some non-alcohol drink because he will have to wait for me until I decide to go home. All that wait just to cry apologies for something he didn’t want to say, but said anyway”

Bryce smirked as he heard her rant.

"Do you want me to leave you alone so you can talk to him?”

“No! No, please, I don’t want to make it that easy for him. I want to see what he’s capable of. If he’s just going to be a shitty wary that’s going to expect to find me alone, or if he’s able to get right up to me. Please don’t leave me alone, Bryce.

“Don’t worry, Elle, I won’t leave you alone if that’s what you want”

“Thank you, Bryce. You are the best”

“I know I am. Cheers for that”

They clanged their glasses and took another shot.

“Why are you so mad, by the way?”

Eleanor told him their talk with the details that only a drunk and upset person can do it.

“So, he’s leaving then? And he didn’t even tell you?”

“No. He didn’t want to tell me”

“Oof, what a douche. Hun, why do you let him treat you like this?”

“I don't know. I don’t know why I have allowed this torment for so long. But I got tired. I don’t care anymore. If he stays, if he goes. I don’t know why should I care when he has never cared for how bad I’ve been all this time”

Bryce looked at her with a sad expression. He hated to see Eleanor that way. Crying, hopeless. Suffering. He took her hand tenderly.

“Eleanor, I’m so sorry”—He said, caressing the back of her hand—“You don’t deserve anything you’re going through. It’s okay to be angry, you can’t allow him to treat you like that”

“I know”—She replied in a tiny voice.

“And you can’t keep wasting your time with someone who doesn’t value you, Elle. He may love you, but if he really valued you, he wouldn’t treat you like that. He wouldn’t let you suffer like that” 

Bryce stroked her cheek, looking right into her tear-filled eyes.

“You’re right, Bryce"—She stared right into his eyes without looking away, then wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“You deserve the world, Eleanor”

She couldn’t help but give him a big smile as her cheeks flushed.

Then she turned her gaze to the bar and realized that Ethan was with a tense posture making glances toward their table.  Seeing Eleanor cry and be comforted by Bryce surely challenged his nerves more than he was willing to admit.

About fifteen minutes later, her friends began to return to the table to start the Karaoke session. They had fun with some of their favorite songs and other classics requested by other clients. Then was Eleanor’s turn to sing a song. She felt a twist on her stomach.

“Eleanor, it’s your turn, what did you request?”

“All I Ask”—She replied to Elijah, simply.

Everyone at the table stared at her.

"Eleanor…"—Bryce whispered—"Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes. I’m done hiding my feelings, pretending he didn’t hurt me just to make him feel the less uncomfortable”

The melody began to play, and Eleanor already felt her heart shatter without even having started the first line. Her friends stared at her for a few moments and then looked away at the awkward situation that was coming. 

“I will leave my heart at the door

I won’t say a word

They’ve all been said before, you know”

Eleanor was heartbroken and drunk, and practically putting on a show in front of all Donahue’s, but deep down her friends knew that that was what Eleanor needed right now, to release all her feelings in front of Ethan, though not directly. Because Eleanor had been holding back all these months, resisting love, the desire to be with Ethan, resisting the urge to stand in his office or his home and ask him once again to stop pushing her away and to be together once and for all, more times than she had already done. She had swallowed the love, the pride, the pain in inhuman ways. But what had happened today was the culmination of too many repressed feelings, and if her way of finding catharsis was through the saddest, cheesiest, and most heartbreaking song Adele had ever written, then so be it.

“So why don’t we just play pretend

Like we’re not scared of what is coming next

Or scared of having nothing left”

Eleanor took all the courage she had and turned her gaze to Ethan, who was staring at her with the most mortifying look she had ever seen on him, and she had seen plenty: When Dolores passed away, when he found out Banerji had a month to live. He was not holding anything, the pain, the guilt, the embarrassment.

“Look, don't get me wrong 

I know there is no tomorrow

All I ask is

If this is my last night with you

Hold me like I’m more than just a friend

Give me a memory I can use

Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do

It matters how this ends

‘Cause what if I never love again?”

At least Eleanor had a very good voice to sing the songs of Adele, so she wasn’t embarrassing herself too badly. Of course, she was not as good as Adele herself but made a few good notes, and the alcohol had given her too much courage to go for the high pitches, and the anger gave her too much feeling to sing with such a passion, that she astonished to all her friends. She was actually killing it.

-"I don’t need your honesty

It’s already in your eyes

And I’m sure my eyes, they speak for me

No one knows me like you do

Eleanor looked directly at Ethan again.

And since you’re the only one that mattered

Tell me who do I run to?"

The words came out with such rage from her core, that Ethan felt as if she had said it a few inches from him, and not indirectly through a song and standing several feet away from him. And he felt every one of her words, every look, every drop of anger and sadness. He acknowledged receipt of all this and accepted his responsibility. He felt broken at the sight of her because he wanted to do so much to ease her pain. But he couldn’t.

After the song was over, Eleanor returned to her place with tears on her face but not one iota of embarrassment.

“Eleanor, that was truly beautiful”—Sienna said, tears on her face too—"Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling better, I think it took a lot of weight off my shoulders”

“That is the important thing”

“You were very brave”—Bryce said caressing her back.

“Guys, I just ridiculed myself in front of the whole bar and you guys are treating me like I’ve won a war”

“You did something for yourself that you should have done months ago. Show how you really feel”—Sienna replied, serious.

“Well…”

“We are proud of you, Eleanor”— Elijah added.

“It’s about damn time you take care of yourself and don’t let Ramsey do whatever the fuck he wants”—Continued Jackie.

“Even if that means to sing a sad song in front of him”—Concluded Sienna.

After that, Eleanor was in a better mood and managed to distract herself from all she had been through that day. However, the presence of Ethan, sitting there at the bar, probably waiting for her, was a latent nuisance in her stomach.

A few hours later, Eleanor and her friends decided to go home. The moment she passed by his side, Ethan got up from his seat and walked towards her.

“Rookie”.

His disposition had changed from hell to heaven. She was no longer Dr. Bloom. She was Rookie again.

“What is it, Dr. Ramsey?”

Ethan looked at her sadly at the coldness in her response.

“Can we talk?”

Eleanor looked away to the floor, anger washing over her again. Then she looked back at him, who was waiting for her answer with pleading eyes.

“About what? I’m going home”

“I know … I-“

“I’ve been here the last four hours, I’m sure you could’ve looked for me in all this time… But obviously you waited for me to want to go home to do it?”

Ethan knew she was berating him. She shook her head.

“I was hoping you weren’t such a coward and would look for me directly. But you behave like a shy teenager who has never spoken to a woman in his life”

“Eleanor, are you coming?”—Jackie asked.

Her friends were at the door, first-hand witnesses of her exchange with Ethan.

“No, I stay. Don’t worry about me”

Eleanor looked at Ramsey coldly. They took a seat in the back of the bar so no one could hear them.

“So? I thought we were done”—She broke the silence between them.

“No, we are not done, Eleanor”

Ethan lowed her head, pondering his words.

“If… If I didn’t tell you about my trip to the Amazon, was because I wanted to make things less difficult for us. The last time we spoke I made myself clear that we can’t be together not because I don’t want to, but because we can’t. And when I noticed you started to avoid me, I thought maybe you finally understood my point, and I was okay with that”

“Then why you threw all over my face that I was ignoring you, like you weren’t okay with that?”

“Because I realized that you didn’t do it because you understood my point. You did it to piss me off. To return the favor. As vengeance. So, if you did actually ignore me with that motive in mind, you didn’t have the right to reclaim something from me”

“I…”—Her cheeks turned red.

“That’s not the point now, Eleanor”—He interrupted—"What I’m trying to say is… You can’t stop saying that everything I’ve done it’s because I want it, that I’m responsible of all your misery. But let me be clear. I don’t want it, Eleanor. I don’t want to be apart from you, I don’t want to ignore you. I’ve never wanted to spend the last five months ignoring your existence, not be able to talk to you, not to even look at you”

Eleanor observed his features, tracing all sense of honesty and determination. She knew he wasn’t lying or playing the victim.

“I’m not comfortable with this”—He continued—"I’m not okay with that but if that’s what allows me to be away from you to not interfere in your career, I’m willing to do that and more. I know it’s painful for you, that it’s not the best option for both of us. But this is the only way I can cope up with the situation”

“The only way… Ethan, are you sure not talking to me, not even looking at me the is the only option?”

“To me, it is”—He responded categorically—Eleanor, what I want is to be with you. If I could, I would’ve never let you leave my bed the first time we made love, or I would’ve never get up from your bed the last time we were together. If I could, I would live in that dream all my life. But I can’t”

Tears started to stream down her face. Again. His words broke her in million pieces. Because she couldn’t stop reliving those nights in all these months. Now she was realizing Ethan couldn’t either.

“I need you to understand that I’ve never wanted to hurt you. If my actions have hurt you, I’m sorry, but I mean it when I say I’ve never wanted anything of this to happen. I would love to make you happy in the ways you want. Believe me. But you have fought so hard to be here, Eleanor. Years to get to be at Edenbrook. Years and especially difficult months to get the Junior Fellow position. I can’t let you jeopardize your career nor your reputation”

Eleanor was speechless. She felt dumb, like a stupid teenager that let herself go on emotions and never thought through the real meaning of all his actions. She still felt a little pissed off, because there were still a lot of things Ethan should have avoided telling her and that were mean. But everything else he had done was… reasonable. Fair. Thoughtful.

“Ethan… I’m sorry for yelling at you like that. I feel embarrassed about how childish I was today”

“No, Eleanor. I still believe that you have every right to be mad at me because I didn’t tell you I would be out. I always knew I should’ve told you, but I was afraid. I’m a coward as you said. I didn’t want to face this conversation. Your pain. But you deserved more”

Eleanor nod.

“Well, yeah. You should’ve told me. But I made an outburst. I didn’t want to listen to you, I was being stubborn just to get what I want, but maybe I’ve never really put myself in your shoes”

“That’s all I ask. To understand why I’m doing this from my point of view”

Suddenly, Reggie approaches.

“Ethan, I’m sorry, but we are about to close”

“Thank you, Reggie”

Eleanor grabbed her purse and walked to the door followed by Ethan.

Eleanor turned to him.

“I believe you when you tell me you’ve never wanted to hurt me by staying away from me. But there have been plenty of times when you have hurt me by behaving like a dick to me, unnecessarily. Because one thing is avoiding to talk to me, but you have ignored me, you have been cruel, you have looked at me like you hate me”

“Yes. I know. I hope you can forgive me one day”

“I could forgive you, but I’ll only do it when I feel assured that you won’t do it again and I think there’s not enough time for that now”

Ethan stared without saying a word. He knew he couldn’t promise her that. He knew himself.

“Well, I think you can go in peace now that we have left everything clear, don’t we? Have a nice flight, I hope the mission is a success and you return safely. Bye”

Eleanor started to walk down the street to get a taxi.

“Why are you leaving like that? You’re not even going to say goodbye?”

“I said bye. That’s a goodbye. Or was it too informal? Goodbye Dr. Ramsey. There you have”

Ethan took her arm, forcing her to look into his eyes. Hers were reddened, tired, anguished. Like she was holding a ton of pain on her mind.

“Eleanor…”

“What, Ethan, what?“—She answered as her voice was breaking. She didn’t want him to go. But she had to let him go. To let that goodbye lingering more than necessary would only do her more harm than it had already done her.

“Let me take you home”

No. She would lose her mind if she let that happen. But she wanted it so bad.

“You were drinking”

“I drank whiskey when I arrived, after that, just lemonade, because I figured I’d have to wait until the end of the night to talk to you”

She wanted so bad to be with him as much time as possible. But she was trying to respect Ethan's intentions. But… He was leaving tomorrow. That was the last time she would see him in god knows how much time.

“Okay, let's go”—She agreed.

They walked silently back to the hospital, where Ethan had his car parked. The journey was silent. Ethan didn’t even dare to turn on the radio. They were only accompanied by the noise of the engine and other vehicles traveling through the streets of Boston at 3 am.

Eleanor wanted to say so many things, but it would make everything worse. So she lost herself in the smell of his car. Every time she sensed that smell on someone’s car o in any place, it reminded her of him. 

She had always had a particularly olfactory memory, and although most of the time it brought her good memories of her childhood or adolescence, in terms of relationships it always brought her bittersweet memories, melancholy, regret. 

She knew that smell—The smell of Ethan’s car, a scent of pine and musk—, or his smell — a fresh citric scent—would only bring her pain.

Ethan parked outside the apartment. The street was lonely, no one could be seen in the distance, and the only sound was the murmur of cars passing by the main avenue. A lump wove in her throat. She was afraid.

Eleanor turned to him to say goodbye. She wanted to make it simple. She could swear that she wanted to make it simple. 

“Have a good trip, Ethan, I hope you get back safely”—She spoke softly as she hugged him.

"Thank you, Eleanor”

“Text me to know that you arrived safely, please”—Eleanor asked, looking straight into his eyes. Those sky-blue eyes that were always the beginning of all her madness.

Ethan caressed the nape of her neck with his thumb and then he closed his eyes while pressing his forehead into hers, trying to absorb all her presence, the silkiness of her hair, the sweet scent of her neck, the warmth of her skin, of her hands. Before Eleanor could pull away, he sighed:

“I hope one day you finally understand that everything I’ve done, everything I’m doing, is for you. Because it's never been about me, Eleanor. The only thing that matters to me is that you become the brilliant and successful doctor you really deserve to be”

There were so much sincerity and pain in his speech that Eleanor pulled away from him so she could see his eyes. She stroked his cheek.

“I know, in a way I understand it, Ethan… But I can’t accept that path has to be this painful… And so unfair”

“Life isn’t fair, Eleanor”

Eleanor wanted to refute him that in this case, life had nothing to do with it. Because life wasn’t being unfair to her. He was being unfair. But she was unable to say a word. She was mesmerized by Ethan’s look. His eyes that so many times had given her comfort, now they haunted her dreams, they didn’t let her sleep at night, and at that precise moment, was threatening the little sanity she had left. 

After a few moments, they began to look at their lips, mere inches away from each other, until they finally gave in to the inevitable. A brush of lips so satisfying and full of redemption that they sighed in unison, to come together again in a more intense kiss, capturing and biting each other lips. Ethan felt Eleanor’s tears stream down his cheeks. To alleviate her own pain and avoid a sob, Eleanor stroked Ethan’s hair tightly in the back of his head, intensifying the kiss even more, sliding her tongue in his, and all over his lips. 

Ethan didn’t have time to hesitate and was caught up by the same desire. Soon, he was sliding his hands under Eleanor’s coat, feeling the curve of her breasts, her waist, and her hips. It was a never-ending dance of lips, which was complemented by more caresses, and then Eleanor climbing on top of Ethan, straddling him with her legs.

On another occasion, she would have pulled herself together and walked away. But knowing that she wouldn’t see him again for a long time, it drove her crazy. And maybe not for a long time, but there was always the possibility that this would be the last time they would be together, that both of them would want each other. Because no one could foretell what would happen from now on, when both he and she had finally accepted that their relationship had reached a dead end and that it was up to Ethan to revive it, and he had been clear that that wouldn’t happen.

“Eleanor…”—He sighed, a glint of reluctancy in his tone. He gulped.

She ignored him and continued to kiss him passionately, as she began to move over Ethan’s lap gently. 

"Deny that you want this"—She whispered a moments later—"Say that you don’t want me and I swear I’ll go”

Eleanor pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. It was dark, but she was able to see the sparkle in his eyes slightly. Eleanor’s anticipation was stifling as she felt Ethan’s bulge between her tights.

“I want you more than anything in this world”—He replied melting at the sight of her on top of him, his arms around her body.

Without wasting another second, she kissed him again, intensifying her movements over him.

“Eleanor"—He gasped, feeling an electric shock down his spine as he rested his hand over Eleanor's hips, pressing her against his crotch, rubbing each other as their moans began to invade the car.

Suddenly, Eleanor slid her hand between his tights, feeling his arousal under her fingers. He went to her pants, unbuttoned them, and shoved his hand under her panties. He felt her wetness, her desire. She sighed.

“Ohh, Ethan…”

“You’re so ready”

“Yes” She mumbled.

Ethan tried to lower her pants, but he couldn’t do much, due to the uncomfortable position. For a second, Eleanor thought they could have gone to her room but abandoned the idea immediately. She knew that Ethan could have second thoughts on their way to her apartment and she didn’t want to risk the possibility to be with him. 

Instead, she returned to the passenger seat, took off her shoes, and after moving the seat backward, took off her pants and panties. Ethan imitated her and pushed the seat backward as well and began to unfasten his pants. Eleanor, anxious, unhooked his belt and pants before he could finish, and released his cock under the boxer, and lowered herself to slide her tongue in all his length, to finally cover the tip with his mouth and then go deep. After a few moments, she moved upwards, sucking him hard.

“Eleanor”—He sighed in pleasure.

The girl worked on him for a few moments, until Ethan stopped her and guided her to sit on his lap again. “Come here”

They kissed again, devouring each other, Ethan grazing her jaw, her neck greedily, while she was gasping loudly as the anticipation was taking her body, feeling his arousal right under her sex. Then he removed her sweater and pulled her shirt and bra up, exposing his breasts. He cupped them with both hands before taking his mouth straight to her chest and began to kiss them… and then to suck her nipples.

"Ethan” Eleanor moaned loudly “Yes!”

The sound of his breath while licking her nipples and the “smack” after his mouth sucked them resonated in the car, and it was just another source of pleasure for Eleanor. But there was still something both were missing. Eleanor shifted slightly as she directed his arousal towards her center.

“Fuck”—She sighed as Ethan was entering her.

It was a blessed feeling, although neither of them believed in God, least of all in religion. That pleasure, that ecstasy, was a catharsis after all those months containing their deepest feelings and desires, after reliving almost every night the precious time they had spent together and that now were long gone.

“Oh, I missed you"—He groaned, taking her butt harder, as he was picking up more speed.

“Fuck yes. I wanted you so bad”—She kissed him, tongues colliding, teeth biting and swollen lips asking for more and more.

“You feel amazing, Eleanor”

The noise of their bodies colliding filled the car, but they were soon muffled with the moans that each one was not able to suppress, in the face of the sensations that were overwhelming them.

If someone was passing by and they had caught them, they wouldn’t have cared. All that mattered at that moment, was the feeling of their bodies connected. The pleasure that one was producing in the other. The ecstasy, the madness of their touch. The smell of their bodies. Ethan went to her breasts taking one with her hand, sucking her nipples hard while the other hand was on her ass, gripping her roughly.

“Ethan, I’m close”

Ethan was holding back just to this moment. He grabbed her firmly by her hips and began to thrust her at an impossible pace. Eleanor couldn’t comprehend where all that sensations were coming from, how she started to melting so abruptly, because she climaxed just a few seconds later.

“Oh my god, ETHAN!”—She screamed as he felt her hot breath in his mouth. Her tights squeezed as she was climaxing and that was enough to make him cum crying out her name.

He saw Eleanor toppling over him resting her forehead into his. Ethan embraced her, trying to feel every inch of her exposed skin in his.

“I love you”—She whispered.

He tightened his embrace, just as he did the last time she had said those words, and Eleanor still couldn’t figure out if he did that to pent up and not say anything, or to catch some bravery to tell her something. Either way, she wasn’t waiting for an answer this time. She only wanted him to know, before leaving, that she still loved him.

After a few more seconds holding each other, Eleanor returned to the passenger seat. She took her clothes and began to put them on. He also fixed his clothes. Somehow, when she came back to reality, the atmosphere was just as tense and painful as before the kiss. Even though the orgasm was still latent between her tights, the fact of knowing that the goodbye had finally come, was shattering her.

She turned to him, look into his blue eyes for a brief second, and breathed:

“Have a good flight ”

And without further ado, she got out of the car towards the building. 

“I love you too, Eleanor”—He said just as Eleanor closed the building’s door.

 _____

Chapter 4.

#bryce lahela #bryce lahela x mc #bryce #bryce x mc #bryce x casey #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #ethan x casey #ethan x you #ethan x f!mc #open heart fanfiction #open heart choices #open heart #choices #oh #oh choices #playchoices #choices stories you play #choices fanfiction #oh fanfic #fanfic

[blake-belladonna-defence-force]

Without Dance, What’s The Pointe?

Sooo... I maaaay have gotten this idea earlier yesterday and I needed to write it. Let me know if you folks would like me to continue it.

Big thanks to @jermeryl and @shadowtheif117 for their ideas 😊

When Blake loses her entire career because of one man, she loses her spark. Her flame. Her passion. But perhaps it can be found with a flame?

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Adam Taurus could go fuck himself.

Blake was pissed as she drove to work in her new city. And hurt and angry.

The man she had loved had successfully destroyed her career that she had basically been working towards since she was two years old. Ballet had been her entire life. The thing that brought her joy.

And when she successfully made it to Mantle’s top shows, she soon found herself co-starring alongside Adam. And she thought he had the same passion that she did. The same love and hope and compassion that she did. But it turned that he held a secret hobby; using their tours as an alibi for his crimes. Theft, assault, Hell, even murder!

When he got caught, not even Blake could refute the evidence that piled up against him. It tore her apart to realise that the man she lived had become a monster. To realise that she had been manipulated and used since she was eighteen years old. But what really destroyed her? Was when Sienna asked her to leave their company.

In other words; “You’ll never dance professionally again, kid.”

And so Blake moved to Vale, where she found herself immensely grateful for her mother’s insistence that she get an online degree of some kind while she performed. At least she could still be a journalist, she supposed.

But losing her career was like losing that spark. That special little flame that was all hers. The question now was; would she ever find it again?

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The potential answer to that question came one day after work. The day had been long (mostly due to her co-worker, Sun. Sweet guy, means well. But with very little understanding of personal boundaries.) and had decided to get a cup of tea after work.

As she she was sitting at an outside table with a new book, her eyes landed on a dance studio across the street.

‘Greek Fire?’ Blake thought to herself with a small smile. ‘Cute.’

Her ears flicked and she attempted to get lost in her book, but the 22 year old cat faunus soon realised that it was damn near impossible to focus. Her mind and gaze kept drifting to the dance studio. It called to her, like a siren luring sailers to their deaths.

‘Fuck it.’ She finally decided as she finished her tea and returned her book to her back. ‘Let’s go check it out.’

When she entered the studio, she was hit by a wave of modern music. She suddenly felt very overdressed in her jeans and button down shirt.

“Yang, I swear if you say one more thing…”

“Ah, c’mon, Nikos’. Vomit Boy’s not gonna make a move. Go get your boy.”

Blake nearly died when she looked aver at two women that were stretching by the benches, dressed in simple work out clothes; sweat pants and sports bras, though one of them had a glove on her right arm. The issue was that they were very fit, very attractive women and her mind went blank for a moment.

‘Welp. If I had any doubts about my sexuality before, I sure as hell don’t now.’ She thought to herself as the redhead arched her back. Dear God. She had the face of a wood nymph and the body of an MMA fighter!

“Um. Excuse me?” She called, shaking herself out of her disaster state. “Hi. I’m new in town and-“

“Oh! A new potential member, Yang! It’s so wonderful to meet you!”

Blake nearly jumped out of her skin when the redhead came over with a pleasant smile.

“My name is Pyrrha Nikos’ and I’m the captain of this team. I really hope you’ll join us. We could do with some fresh blood.” Pyrrha said, shaking her hand enthusiastically. “I’m getting a little sick of the blonde one.” She added with a conspiratorial wink.

‘Yup.’ Blake thought. ‘Definitely bi.’

“Wow, thanks, Pyrr.” Came a sarcastic drawl as the blonde made her way over slowly. She carried herself with more… presence. Like she knew that eyes were on her and welcomed it. Blake narrowed her eyes at the cocky smirk. “Don’t scare off the fresh meat. She’s too cute to lose.”

Blake tried not flush as she glowered at the blonde woman.

“My name’s Yang, Pyrrha’s best friend. What’s your name, gorgeous?” Yang asked, directing what she probably thought was a charming smile at Blake. Blake, however, refused to play her game.

“Blake.” She said shortly with a sneer as she turned back to Pyrrha, who seemed greatly amused by the current situation. “Is she always like this? Because I might have to leave if she is.”

She smirked at the sputtering sound that followed as Pyrrha hid a giggle behind her hand.

“Oh I like you. Let me show you around?” Pyrrha asked, holding out an elbow as she directed a knowing smirk at Yang.

“Of course. I do appreciate it when a girl knows how to be a true gentlewoman.” Blake quipped, purposefully ignoring the still sputtering blonde.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Okay. So you’re a street dancing crew?” Blake asked curiously. She had always admired street dancers. The skill and passion that they held for their craft was incredible. “That’s so cool.”

“We are.” Pyrrha said with a flattered smile. “We have our main team, along with several pairs and a few singles.” Her smile turned sharp as they entered the room where they had left Yang, purposely speaking louder. “Poor Yang has been a single for so long. Nobody can put up with her.”

“Fuck you.” Came the eloquent reply.

A loud ringing sound from office interrupted Pyrrha’s retort and she quickly excused herself while Yang decided to take the opportunity to try and make a better impression.

“Hey.” She grinned nervously. Blake stared at her blankly. “Um. I like your hair! Goes great with your… face?”

Blake blinked at her, left ear flicking as she attempted to hide her amusement. At least she wasn’t the only disaster in town.

“Thanks.” She said shortly, inwardly snickering at the almost desperate look on the blonde’s face.

She took the time to really look at Yang. Extremely fit, definitely beautiful. Especially her eyes. Lilac pools that seemed to shine with a kindness and intelligence to them.

“Look, I’m sorry about before.” Yang sighed, averting her gaze. “I like to mess with Pyrrha but I guess I made you uncomfortable so I apologise.” She finished, making eye contact as she apologised.

Blake was stunned. She hadn’t been expecting an apology. Especially not such an emotionally intelligent one.

‘Hmm.” She thought to herself. ‘She’s certainly interesting.’

“Uh. Don’t worry about it.” She coughed into her fist. “You’re good.”

The two stood there awkwardly for a moment until Yang spoke up again.

“So what kind of dancing do you do?” Her eyes were bright with curiosity, a fire within.

“Ballet.” Blake said, slightly taken aback by the passionate gleam in the other woman’s eyes.

“Ballet?” Yang snorted derisively. “Of fucking course. Cute girl, horrible choice in dance.” Welp. Pop goes the bubble.

“Excuse me?!” Blake bristled.

“You heard me.” Yang muttered. “Every ballerina I’ve ever met is stuck up, pompous and pretentious as fuck. Not to mention that not a single one of you can keep up with my crew.” Yang huffed, staring Blake down. “Why should you be any different?”

“That’s a load of bullshit.” Blake growled, ears pinned. “I can keep up with you just fine, Sweetheart.”

When the other woman’s eyes almost seemed to flash red, Blake knew she hit a nerve.

“Don’t call me Sweetheart.” Yang growled, eyes narrowed as she leaned down. Blake, however, didn’t back down.

“Fine, I won’t.” She smirked as she leaned towards Yang’s face. “Sweetheart,” She whispered with a sharp grin. Her competitive nature was showing and she was enjoying herself.

“You really think you can keep up?” Yang said quietly. “Then prove me wrong, Princess.” She walked over to her bag, adjusting the long glove covering her right hand and arm, and pulled out a pen and notebook. She wrote something down and walked back over and handed it to Blake.

“We’re having an open night competition this weekend. If you’re feeling up to it, I’d love to see what the pretty little sugar plum fairy can do.” She smirked.

“Oh.” Blake laughed. “It will an honour to wipe the floor with you.” She said confidently as she walked towards the door. “I need to go. But say goodbye to Pyrrha for me.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Yang snorted. “And don’t forget your tutu, Princess!”

“I’ll put on my best leotard just for you, Sweetheart. Just for you.” Blake said over her shoulder, throwing a playful wink before walking out the door as Yang sputtered angrily.

For the first time in a long time, Blake was excited. She was thrilled.

And she couldn’t wait for the weekend.

#rwby #blake belladonna #bumbleby #yang xiao long #fanfic #dance au

[rikudiora]

Unintentionally Seducing Emotionally Compromised Chameleons

AN: This little piece of write fuckary has been bumping around in my head for a long fucking time now. I think I laid out the groundwork for the idea about a year ago, but I haven't seriously put work into it until the past couple of weeks. As usual, it's way longer than I originally had in mind, and probably not as funny, but I'm satisfied with it ultimately. And to address the elephant in the room, of course I know Ilia enjoys the muff, but if I can make Jaune into a girl to bang Blake, then who's to fucking stop me from doing this bullshit? Enjoy some fucking primo crackshipping!

Ilia Amitola had been utterly speechless when she'd watched the human rise shakily to his feet, but when he turned around and looked back at her, speechlessness was replaced by complete thoughtlessness, her mouth falling open partially and her stomach suddenly brimming with tingles.

She blinked and then blinked once more, trying feebly to process all she'd seen; all the emotions that welled up in her head, her heart, her entire body. She'd never felt like this before. It wasn't anger, not sadness, not jealousy, and not joy either. All of those she'd experienced in the past, and subsequently learned how to deal with, thanks in most part to Blake, at least until recently. Thoughts about Adam and how much he'd changed? Same thing; she could handle them. This, on the other hand? This was completely new. Completely alien.

Ilia was well and truly stumped. And all because of a single, bloodied and bruised, yet still brightly smiling blonde boy.

Just how had she gotten herself into this situation?

Well…

XXX

'She just… left… she left us… abandoned us...'

In the most secluded corner of the airship that she could find, the only thing keeping her company being the dull rumble of the engines, Ilia sat stewing in her thoughts, her face twisted in a scowl halfway between furious and heartbroken. While not the first, this was one of the very, very, very few opportunities she'd had since the betrayal to just sit down and think about what exactly Blake had done, the weeks following the announcement having been too busy for her to fully process everything. She'd been sent on mission after mission after mission ever since the Fang had joined forces with that Cinder woman, and days had begun blurring together as she did her work and then immediately fell asleep from exhaustion, only to wake up a few hours later to do it all over again.

Anger and confusion and sadness all tumbled around in her head, each emotion only lasting for a moment before it was replaced by one of the others, and Ilia hated every single second of it. She couldn't decide what feeling was the right one, and that only put her even more on edge. She'd felt flashes of all of these emotions coming over her during the past few weeks, but it was only now that there was nothing else to interrupt her that she could truly think about them. She didn't know whether to scream, to cry, or stare blankly at the floor in front of her—whether she wanted to pummel Blake bloody or throw herself into her arms as she wept.

Her anger was the most simple to understand; Blake had been her close friend, maybe even more—unrequited though her true feelings might have been—and yet Blake had said nothing to her regarding her plans. She hadn't even had the decency to tell Ilia herself through a message or something, it had been Adam who had broken the news to everyone.

For years, Ilia had thought that they'd been fighting for the same goal, that they were both equally dedicated to their cause, but no, Blake had given up on everything without a word to anyone in the Fang! Just how many lies had she told them if it had been this easy for her to abandon them all!

Ilia's hands clenched into fist tight enough that her aura sparked around her fingers, the pain she'd felt in her chest when Adam had returned alone from the mission stabbing through her like a jagged spike of fire once more, her fury draining out of her as quickly as it had blazed up, leaving her feeling hollow and vacant inside instead.

Blake had been her first true companion in the Fang, the person she'd turned to whenever her own convictions had been shaken, and the only person Ilia had ever felt she'd happily want to spend the rest of her life with. When Blake had gotten together with Adam, she'd been disappointed like never before, but deep down she'd known that the chance of the ravenette returning her feelings had always been slim and their friendship hadn't been damaged by it either, occasional pangs jealousy not withstanding. And now Blake was simply gone.

Just as her eyes started to grow watery, Ilia was shaken from her thoughts by the distinct, heavy sound of docking clamps being engaged and the feeling of finally coming to a stop. She got up from her corner and stretched mechanically, not really consciously caring about how stiff she'd gotten from sitting still for so many hours, before picking up her bag from beside her. Her face was downcast as she stealthily joined the other passengers when they began disembarking from the airship, pretending to be just another commuter, but she felt a pair of eyes on her as she walked by some of the airship staff and she set off in a run the moment the crowd around her dispersed enough. She wasn't interested in giving them a chance to call her out. This wasn't her first time sneaking aboard a transport vessel, nor would it be the last, and she'd since long learned to recognize the signs that meant someone suspected her of getting a free ride.

With practiced ease, she melted into the throng of people outside the airship station, willing her skin to lighten and hair to do the opposite. No longer was she the mocca-skinned brunette the airship personal would be looking for. Instead, she could blend into the crowd disguised as just another fair skinned, black haired girl.

'Just like Blake...' came an unbidden thought, and a streak of blue appeared among Ilia's new tresses.

It took more effort than she'd ever like to admit to keep herself from screaming out and making a scene, but Ilia ultimately kept walking along the streets until she reached what she assumed was the city square. As the crowds around her dissipated a bit, she turned her eyes to the horizon and the mountain that overlooked the city, atop which laid her final destination and mission objective.

The world famous Hunter school; Beacon academy.

Seeing the imposing spires and towers crowning the almost castle-esque structure reminded her of her childhood, albeit faintly. She'd heard stories about the school for as long as she could remember and many years ago, she'd secretly dreamed of attending it; learning how to become the greatest fighter in the world so she could protect all of Faunus kind from both Grimm and the humans that had pushed them down so many times. Those dreams had been abandoned the moment she'd joined the Fang, however. The world didn't need more heroes, she'd learned, it simply needed justice to be served, and she wanted to be one of the ones who delivered it.

But then Blake had left, and suddenly Ilia didn't feel so certain about her goals anymore. Not when the person she'd thought would be by her side through the whole journey had abandoned her.

A deep sigh left Ilia's lungs as she tore her eyes away from Beacon. A brief glance at a nearby shop window confirmed what she already knew; yet another streak of blue had appeared in her hair, and , she a new surge of annoyance started to bubble up in the pit of her stomach. She should have more self-discipline than this. Blake was gone and it looked like any of them would be seeing her again for a very, very long time, if ever. Ilia had allowed herself to think about what it all meant, how she felt about the situation, for almost the entire ride to Vale and now she needed to suck it up, accept that her best friend had left, and move on.

"Stop being pathetic, Ilia. You have a mission to do," she whispered to herself, though the words rang hollow even to her own ears.

Unless something or someone took her place in Ilia's mind, she knew deep down that thoughts about Blake would come back to nag at her.

For now, however, Ilia managed to bury the brunt of all those feelings in the back of her mind, her appearance returning to normal. With some concentration, she even managed to make the blue lines vanish, and with that, she set off for the safehouse she'd be staying at while on her assignment. Adam would want to debrief her fully as soon as possible, and she really wasn't keen on having him berate her for being late. Not today.

When she blended in with the crowds walking along the streets of the city, no one could ever guess that there was a White Fang operative among them, and Ilia made good use of this ability to appear human. When given the opportunity, she asked around about the comings and goings of Vale and, to a lesser extent, Beacon academy, taking mental notes of hotspots and places that people suggested she avoid respectively. She learned that Beacon had begun its new term only a week previously and that there were some rather famous individuals that had arrived with the new students. Pyrrha Nikos was one of them, but what interested Ilia more was fact that the Schnee heiress herself was attending Beacon at this very moment. Adam and Sienna would surely want to hear about that little tidbit of information, if they didn't already know about it.

As Ilia started to get closer to the safehouse, more or less content with her first intelligence gathering 'operation', she suddenly tensed up, feeling a distinct sense of trepidation run up her neck. She recognized it well—she'd felt the sensation earlier that very same day in fact; someone was following her.

Pretending like she hadn't noticed, Ilia kept walking for another block or so until she reached an alleyway that she deemed inconspicuous enough, ducking into without hesitation. Once she'd gotten far enough away from the crowded street, she turned back to find that a pair of humans had taken the exact same path as her. One of them was clearly a male, on the taller side and with a face that looked supremely punchable to Ilia right about now. The other was a woman, almost as tall as the guy thanks to a wicked looking pair of high-heeled shoes, with that were features twisted in a sickly sweet smile that couldn't look more fake if there was a person behind her literally pulling on her cheeks. Both wore clothes that reeked of money that hadn't been earned through honest work and Ilia body readied itself for what she knew would inevitably come. This wasn't her first time being accosted by scum.

"Howdy there little lady. Can't say I've ever seen someone like you around these parts before," the man said as he continued to advance towards Ilia, his tone sounding outwardly casual at first. "We couldn't help but notice you've been asking a lot of questions today under what I'd call 'false pretenses' and that just doesn't sit well with people like us you see."

The lady giggled as the man gestured to the two of them and the sound seemed to scrape along Ilia's eardrums. Slowly, she started to back away from the approaching duo, her fists balling up on either side of her body. Her first instinct was to kick in the teeth of both of them and hide the bodies in a dumpster where they could lay among the other trash until they woke up again, but that would be too to conspicuous, she knew. She wasn't supposed to be a fighter, just some random Faunus girl who'd just arrived into town, so all she could do was stay silent and keep backing up.

"A Faunus walking around disguised as a human, asking a bunch of questions? That's just something good, honest folk can't overlook." Ilia cursed mentally as she realized she hadn't been as stealthy in her appearance changing as she'd thought. "I think it'd be best for everyone if you came with us to the police station and told them what you've been walking around doing. Or, if you'd prefer, the two of us could take care of you instead?"

They'd reached the end of the alley by now, the man cracking his knuckles with a poignant glare in his eyes, his female companion's smile dripping with the cruelty that Ilia had known was always there from the start.

"It's your choice, you little pest. Pick wisely," the lady finally spat, and Ilia was just about to make a run for it, when another voice made all three of their heads swivel around towards it.

"Hey! You two better leave her alone or else!"

XXX

Jaune hadn't really had any concrete idea in mind as to what he was going to do in Vale, not being very used to big cities, but he'd figured there had to be something worthwhile checking out somewhere if he kept walking for long enough. A comicbook store or an arcade maybe. He definitely hoped he came across one of these places soon, though, since boredom was starting to take its toll on him and the temptation to call the day a bust and just head back to Beacon was growing.

That's when he happened to walk past a certain inconspicuous and outwardly ordinary alleyway. It was by mere coincidence that Jaune's eyes found themselves turning to look down the alley, but what he saw made every ounce of dullness he'd felt only moments before disappear.

The Faunus girl caught his gaze first, her expression and body language screaming discomfort to him, and he was already moving by the time he'd noticed the clearly threatening words coming from the two humans' mouths. He recognized their tones; it was the same way of speaking that he'd heard from Cardin. When he was halfway into the alley, however, the certainty he'd had about his actions suddenly shook in his gut, and hesitation crept into his steps. Was he really doing this? Was this the right thing to do?

Again, Jaune's eyes came to rest on the young female Faunus' face, and the answer become crystal clear to him. This was what heroes did. What Arcs did. What he had gone to Beacon for.

His voice echoed between the buildings on either side of them all before he'd even had time to think about what he should say, and he set his jaw when both the scumbag looking man and foul sounding woman stopped mid step before turning around to look at him.

For a moment, the two of them only looked at him, and Jaune did his best to keep his glare at them level and unwavering. Nervousness gnawed at his gut, but he refused to look away or turn his back on this now. After a couple of seconds that felt more like hours, the man sneered at him and cocked his head.

"Get the hell out of here kid. This has nothing to do with you. If you know what's best for ya, you'll run off and pretend you never saw us before. Otherwise, this'll get real ugly for you."

Jaune's hands flexed as he deliberately took another step forward, only now noticing that the bastard of a man was a fair bit bigger than him. He told himself it didn't matter; that he was a Hunter in training and that he'd seen far worse things already. This guy was nothing compared to a Deathstalker or Nevermore.

"I said to leave her alone. Or you two are gonna be sorry." Jaune could feel his heart hammering in his chest. Not even he knew where these words were coming from, but he stood by them, his resolve reaffirming itself whenever he glanced over at the Faunus girl.

"You threatening me, brat? Andover some stupid, lowlife Faunus?" the bastard growled back.

"The only lowlifes here are the two of you. Now leave. Her. Alone." Jaune could feel a fire begin to burn in his belly, adrenaline entering his system.

"Sympathizer trash," the bastard muttered and then both he and Jaune moved towards one another again.

It all happened in a flash, so fast that Jaune had a hard time keeping up with it. The bastard had thrown the first punch, but before it could actually hit him, the air right in front of Jaune's face had crackled with energy, stopping the blow. He still felt the impact, staggering back a step, but there wasn't any pain, realization dawning on him.

'My aura...' Jaune thought triumphantly, a swell of confidence rising up inside him as it was his turn to hurl a fist that took the bastard square in the chest. He could do this. He was a Hunter. Hunters fought Grimm—defeated Grimm! Ordinary humans couldn't compete with people like them!

As the bastard stumbled back with a loud oof, Jaune felt another feeling creep in the back of his mind his victory shortlived. Should he really be using this newfound strength on humans, regardless of if they were racist shitheads or not? The question rang in his head as he sidestepped the bastard's wild retaliation, the fire in his belly suddenly joined by a heaviness that unsettled him.

This new kind of uncertainty was just the kind of distraction Jaune couldn't afford to think about, he realized when the bastard took advantage of his hesitation and grappled him, shoving him back against the wall of the alleyway and following it up with a knee right into Jaune's gut. This time, there was nothing to protect him from the full force of the blow, and Jaune felt his breath get dragged right out of his lungs.

Suddenly, stars began to dance in front of his eyelids and pain exploded from his temple, the full impact of the punch he just received taking a second to register. It was quickly followed by another, this one square in the middle of Jaune's face, a wet trickle down his chin teaming up with the pain to further overload his senses.

"I told you this would happen, brat!"

The words were enough to finally knock Jaune out of his stupor, his eyes blinking open just in time to see the bastard next incoming fist. He gritted his teeth and did his best to endure the hit, not content with being a punching bag anymore.

Jaune could feel his split lip start to swell up and blood running running from his nose as he struggled to push the bastard away from him, but with a wall against his back, a hand gripping his collar tightly, and a dumpster to his side, he couldn't go anywhere. Pain throbbed dully in his head as the bastard's fist collided with his cheek again and again, the cruel laughter of the stupid lady ringing faintly in the background.

Eventually, Jaune felt himself stop squirming as his energy was draining out of him bit by bit with every blow to his face, strength slowly diminishing. At the same time, however, he also noticed the bastard's punches had also slowed down, the gap between them growing larger and their impact not shaking him as much. His vision was swimming, but Jaune could still focus just enough to make out the bastard's ugly mug, his unnaturally white teeth bared in a sadistic grin as he took deep, panting breaths. It was only a second's reprieve, Jaune knew, but it was all he needed. As the bastard's arm wound back again, Jaune grabbed his collar as well and slammed his forehead against the bastard's nose with all the might he could muster.

The wet crack that came from the bastard's nose being broken really shouldn't have been so damn satisfying to Jaune's ears, but right about now it really sounded downright musical. From his side, he heard the lady shout in alarm, but Jaune's focus was still on the bastard. Clutching his profusely bleeding nostrils, the bastard stumbled backwards enough for Jaune to deliver a haymaker into the bastard's exposed throat, the bastard letting out a strangled gurgle when he crumpled pathetically to the ground.

Jaune was just about to turn to see how the Faunus girl was doing when he too met the ground, a splitting pain arching up his spine and locking his legs. He barely caught the sight of the stupid lady rushing past him to where the bastard was writhing, the realization that she'd kicked him squarely in the back registering in Jaune's head.

With his world spinning and his legs not wanting to cooperate, Jaune could only watch as the stupid lady pulled the bastard up before they ran out of the alleyway, curses flying back over their shoulders, Jaune only now noticing the gnarled look of the bastard's knuckles. Finally, the pair of lowlifes rounded the corner, leaving Jaune and the Faunus girl all alone.

'Guess Noir was right, I really do have a thick skull,' Jaune thought to himselfas his vertigo passed, a tired chuckle leaving his lips.

With the help of the dumpster that had trapped him before, he got his legs underneath him and was pleasantly surprised that his balance wasn't that hard to find. His ears were still ringing a bit and his whole face hurt like hell, but none of that mattered. It all fell into the back of his mind when he saw the Faunus girl behind him was alright. Through the pain, the ringing, and the blood still dripping from his nose, a smile broke out on his features; bright and filled with relief.

He'd done it. He'd managed to protect her.

"You're not hurt are you?" Jaune asked after a moment of silence had passed between them, figuring that the Faunus girl didn't look like she was planning on saying anything. "I'd offer to show you to a hospital or something, but I don't really know my way around town yet, sadly, so I'd probably just get us completely lost." Concern marred his voice even as his smile remained and he tried to lighten the air between them.

That's when he realized he should probably introduce himself before it was too late.

XXX

When Ilia heard the boy speak, her whole chest felt like it suddenly flipped upside down, stunning her even further. There was none of the hardness in his tone that he'd used on the two other humans, no suspicion regarding what had happen, no anger from being injured because of her. Instead, all of it was replaced with by tentative, but undeniably cheerful words that made a small bit warmth blossom in the deepest recesses of her recently scarred heart, like a candle beginning to light up a darkened room. She'd never had a human speak to her like this before.

Never had a human fight for her before.

It was crazy, Ilia thought. After all this human had just gone through, he was now asking if she was okay when it was his face that was currently covered in both his own and the other, openly disgusting human's blood, followed by making a joke?

Just who the hell was this guy?

As if to answer Ilia's mental question, the human spoke up again.

"The name's Jaune, by the way. Jaune Arc. Rolls- never mind," her 'savior' said, though he seemed to stop himself mid-sentence with an awkward cough. Then he smiled at her again, and Ilia suddenly felt like her knees were growing weak.

'Jaune Arc...'

Ilia had lived practically her whole adolescent life by one principle that she thought would always be true: When push came to shove, humans would only look out for other humans, and as such Faunus were the only ones that would ever look out for other Faunus. She'd joined the White Fang for just that reason, to make sure her people were protected. But then here comes a human and gets himself beaten bloody just to protect her. It just didn't make sense

'Jaune Arc...'

Paranoia tried to worm its way into Ilia's head, but it failed to find any purchase. When she looked at the human—at Jaune—and his bright smile especially, she didn't detect any ulterior motives lurking behind his features. In the Fang, one of the things Ilia had prided herself the most on was her ability to read people and get information out of them, and right now, as her pale gray eyes met his strikingly deep blue, there wasn't any dishonesty for her to uncover. In one fell swoop, this strange boy had managed to all but steamroll right through how Ilia was used to perceiving the world around her, cracking it in much the same way as he'd cracked the nose of the asshole.

'Jaune… Arc… I like the sound of that name...' Ilia found herself thinking, her body slowly but surely losing the tension that had built up ever since she'd noticed the two other humans following her.

It was only then that she noticed just how long she'd spent being silent, and her mouth opened before she had the time to formulate any words herself.

"I-Ilia!" she exclaimed with all the grace of a flying washing machine, her cheeks flushing from just how strange Jaune was making her feel. 'Get a grip, Ilia!'

"I'm Ilia," she clarified after clearing her throat.

For the third time now, Jaune smiled at her, and for a third time Ilia felt something inside herself light up simply from seeing it. A light that she couldn't remember ever feeling before. It was just so different from how humans had treated her in the past—how she more or less thought they were supposed to treat her.

"I would say it's nice to meet you, Ilia, but I think we both know we could have met under far more pleasant circumstances," Jaune said with a small chuckle that did indescribable things to Ilia's insides, as did hearing her name coming from his lips.

Suddenly, just as she thought she might be able to relax slightly, Ilia felt a burst of panic in her chest as Jaune's eyes first flicked to the ground and he then began to walk towards her. She found herself frozen as he approached, unable to get her tongue working inside her mouth, the word 'don't' disappearing from her brain, but then Jaune stopped. She watched silently as he picked up the bag she'd been carrying with her all day long, dusting it off before crossing the last bit of distance between them, the two of them now standing close enough to touch one another if either of them tried. She hadn't even realized she'd dropped it until now.

Jaune offered her the bag with a slight twitch of his eye telling of the pain that lifting anything in his condition brought, but Ilia could only stare at him for a brief moment.

It wasn't some grandiose act of heroism, nor was it the first time someone had performed some manner of polite gesture for Ilia, but after all that she'd just seen Jaune do for her—not just a complete stranger but a Faunus on top of it all—and coupled with the stress of the past couple of weeks, it was as if something simply changed in her head.

Like a switch had been flipped.

In a world that only existed as a quasi-visualized amalgamation of Ilia's thoughts, dreams, wishes, and regrets, the crudely drawn face of one Blake Belladonna—an image that had existed in the very back of Ilia's subconscious for many, many years, albeit in numerous different forms—was abruptly and unceremoniously crossed out with something that looked like crayon. In its place stood a majestic portrait of a tall, blonde haired, sapphire eyed young man, seemingly detailed by the most masterful of brushstrokes. His upper body was bereft of any clothing, displaying his rippling and almost impossibly beautiful physique in perfect detail; powerful muscles that looked simultaneously hardened to a point where they could surely stop bullets and soft enough to provide the ideal form of comfort and warmth if wrapped around a loved one covering his broad shoulders and arms.

His face was that of a boy on the very cusp of manhood, with features that still carried softness but would surely soon harden into something unfathomably handsome and rugged. His eyes looked as deep as the very oceans themselves, as if one could get lost and drown in them if they weren't careful, all whilst hiding troves upon troves of emotions; alluring like they'd been carved from the very gemstone they could be likened with.

Held between his teeth, only further accentuating his inviting expression, was a single rose, a few beads of morning dew still clinging to its petals. Were one of these drops to fall, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine the twists and turns it would take running down the man's chest, drawing even more attention to his body if such a thing was even possible. The image was beauty itself, actually radiating its own brilliant golden light within Ilia's vivid imagination, and somehow she knew exactly what the only appropriate name for this portrait had to be.

"Jaune Arc."

From within Ilia's subconscious, the image of the young man was projected through her brain onto the boy before her, igniting fires throughout her body that she had never felt before. She dumbly accepted her bag and it was the jolt that suddenly passed through her when their hands brushed against one another that finally brought her back to the present.

Yet, for some reason, despite Jaune not looking anything like the picture that had just appeared in her mind, the heat that had sprung up in her chest and traveled out into every one of her limbs remained. If anything, it got even stronger as she looked at his blood smeared features and half-torn shirt. What he'd just done for her replayed itself before her eyes and slowly but surely the disbelief she'd held was being replaced by other emotions; emotions that only added coal to the fire.

"T-thank you..." she mumbled almost dreamily, her cheeks darkening. "For everything."

"It was nothing, really. Wouldn't have been right for me to just walk by and not do anything. Not when I could help," Jaune said, his sincerity once more leaving her feeling flushed all over.

'No one would have blamed you if you had, though… not when it was just a Faunus… you could have walked away… could have left me to fend for myself... but you didn't...'

It didn't matter to Ilia that she could have taken care of the situation herself, or that she was undoubtedly a more skilled fighter than Jaune; the mere fact that he had risked his well being for her sake continued to resonate in her heart. She found herself smiling up at him, only now realizing just how tall he was compared to her, though unlike the human from before or Adam, Jaune's size didn't seem imposing. Not to her. He just looked big.

And Ilia found herself liking that.

"I, uh, heard about how, well, bad life could be for Faunus here in Vale before I got here, but I didn't really believe it until today, honestly. I'm sorry. For what they said and tried to, you know, do." Jaune's tone had turned more somber and serious suddenly, the brightness on his face dimming too. "They- we are not all like that, I promise. There are good humans out there too."

"I know. I'm looking right at one," Ilia found herself replying almost immediately.

It was now Jaune's turn to blush and look away, one of his hands coming up to scratch the back of his neck, and Ilia's heart all but stopped for a second or two, as she was fairly certain she'd never seen anything more adorable in her whole life. She needed to see him do it again in the future, she quickly decided. In the near future preferably.

"So, Jaune... from what you said earlier, I take it you're new to Vale?" Ilia asked after a moment, silently berating herself for just how cliche the question was while simultaneously relishing in any excuse that possibly let her talk to him some more.

Along with enjoying the tingle she felt when she said his name.

"Yeah, something along those lines. I've never really been in a big city like this before, my hometown didn't exactly prepare me for it all," Jaune answered, only to hesitate for a split second before continuing. "I'm a... Beacon student, actually. Hunter-in-training and all that. Leader of team JNPR." Though he was still smiling at her, Ilia couldn't help but notice the oddly reserved way in which Jaune now spoke. There was pride in his words, she could feel, but something else too, and she couldn't deny her surprise that someone with his skills, or lack thereof, had been admitted to Beacon of all places.

There was clearly something going on here that went beyond just the surface.

"You're going to be a Hunter then?" Ilia did her best to keep the disbelief she felt out of her voice, quickly feeling relieved when Jaune nodded without showing any signs of being incensed by her question.

"I hope so," he said earnestly, his eyes taking on a far-off look for a moment. "My family have always been heroes in some way in the past, always fighting to keep everyone safe, and I just can't break that tradition. I need to be just like they were. Need to be one of them, you know? I want to protect people too, like us Arcs are supposed to do." When Jaune looked at Ilia again, there was a fire in his eyes. Conviction the likes of which she didn't think she'd seen before, born from the seriousness with which he spoke about heroes.

Ilia was no stranger to lofty speeches meant to inspire and stir the hearts of people. She'd listened more than she could over the past decade of her life, whether they be from fat-cat humans who wanted more power and money, or from her seniors in the White Fang when they tried to fill them all with the motivation needed to keep moving forwardi. She'd learned long ago how to filter herself through the bluster and grand exclamations to actually hear what was being said. That's why it shocked her when she didn't feel any need to pick apart Jaune's words.

Instead, thanks to the portrait that her subconscious had painted for her before, Ilia saw something different than just another human spilling hot air when Jaune spoke. On the fields of imagination that rolled eternally inside her mind, rode a knight in ornate, gold and ivory armor that gleamed in the brilliant sun shining from on above. His head was helmetless, a bright visage with a mane of hair that seemed to be made out of golden warmth itself. He had a smile that told of glory and victory, of safety and protection, and of strength tempered by unyielding resolve, and the eyes of a warrior who knew he fought for a good cause.

His horse was the purest of whites, unsullied by even a speck of dirt and with not a single hair from its mane out of place even as it billowed in the gentle breeze that flowed over the mind-born meadows. The steed too radiated strength, seemingly bolstered by its master's own convictions. The pair together looked like they could lead an army of a hundred thousand men and women into battle and return home with twice as many as when they left, not a drop of blood on any of them.

In short, Ilia's mind conjured an image of a hero. A hero whose form slowly melted onto Jaune Arc, with his eyes remaining as resolute as ever the whole time, the sight causing Ilia's blush to spread even further across her features, going so far as to darken her ears.

Somewhere in the dark recesses of her mind, the gestalt consciousness of Ilia's unaware cognition, whose appearance could be likened to that of a weird gremlin, rubbed its hands together with satisfaction, feeling very proud of its accomplishments that day, before going off to take an early lunch.

When Ilia once again came back from dream-land, she quickly realized that she must have stayed silent for too long, as Jaune had a look of embarrassment in his face much like the one that made her heart stop before. A phenomenon that repeated itself with no less intensity.

"I know it sounds silly, trust me, but it's always been my goal ever since I first heard the stories of my family. One day, I want my grand kids to be able to listen to tales about my sisters and I and maybe be inspired in some way too. If not, well, then I'm just not enough of an Arc and won't matter in the end," Jaune explained.

Ilia went to reply, to tell him that she'd had similar dreams of being a hero in the past too, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of bells ringing in the distance, announcing the new hour.

"Oh damn, it's that late already?" Jaune mumbled to himself, pulling out a scroll from his pocket and confirming the time for himself. He looked panicked suddenly and started to turn on his heel before stopping and swiveling back around to Ilia. "Sorry, but I have to run! The last Bullheads are gonna be leaving any minute now and I have no idea how to get back to Beacon if I miss them! It was really nice to meet youandIhopewecanseeeachotheragainokaybyeeeee!"

A blinking Ilia was left in the alley as she watched the first human to ever fight for her sprint off like he hadn't taken a severe beating not an hour earlier. She wanted to call after him, tell him thanks one last time if nothing else, but in the end she stayed silent, indecisiveness restraining her voice for what felt like the hundredth time today...

Only for an urge to burst forth inside of her that made an image appear in her head.

When Jaune had disappeared from her line of sight, Ilia felt as if she was left at a crossroads. If she looked down one of the paths, she saw Adam waiting for her, his permanently scowling face making her stomach curl. She could easily imagine what he'd say when she reported in, how he'd scold her for being late and not truly caring about her reasons if she chose to explain what had happened to her. In another life, it was a path that she'd never consider taking, regardless of if she was on a mission or not. She knew she had a duty to the Fang, but things were changing for all of them lately, and the organization that she'd once called her only home didn't feel like itself anymore.

Mentally turning her gaze to the other path, however, filled Ilia's chest with that strange warmth. Instead of Adam's cold, uncaring mug, there was a different figure, wearing a smile. A smile that had implanted itself deep inside of her heart already, and in the state that she was in currently, with everything that happened today and the weeks leading up to this moment, that was all that it took for Ilia to stash away her bag in a hidden enough location and head after the blonde Beacon student who made her feel all these things in the first place.

After all, Adam would yell at her no matter what, so what was the harm in her delivering her report a few hours late?

Or, perhaps, she could hand it in the next morning instead...?

XXX

Jaune grimaced as Nora dabbed at his sore nose with the disinfectant soaked piece of gauze in her hand, an apologetic look appearing on her face whenever he let out any sounds of discomfort. He'd tried telling everyone that it was fine, that he didn't need anyone looking over him, and that it didn't actually hurt anymore, but his team hadn't bought his lies, with Pyrrha all but throwing into a seat on the couch so that he could be examined thoroughly.

Currently, she was hurrying around the common room looking frantically for the gauze and bandages that both Nora and Ren had told her multiple times that they'd already found, but the information didn't seem to penetrate the almost visible layer of worry around her head.

It kind of reminded Jaune of how his sisters had acted whenever he'd fallen and skimmed his knee or something; all but panicking like he could die from spontaneous blood loss at any moment. He felt a bit guilty for finding the sight rather funny to observe, especially considering how levelheaded he'd thought Pyrrha always was. It was kinda refreshing to see that she couldn't contain herself all the time, a fact that Jaune put away in his brain for the future. He should never forget that Pyrrha was a human just like him, champion or not.

"Sorry Jaune, but this is gonna sting. A lot."

Despite Nora's warning, Jaune almost jumped out of his seat when she prodded hard at his cheek, a despairing groan shaking around in his throat.

"Yeesh Vomit-boy, how'd ya manage to get this roughed up? You look like an Ursa used you as a mattress," the voice of Yang rang out into the room with the eponymous blonde herself flopping down into a chair to Jaune's side. Along with her was Ruby and Weiss, both of them standing for the time being, but the team's fourth was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

"I- ugh! I-I kinda got into a fight while I was in Vale," Jaune replied with a pained smile, feeling a small bit of pride from his deed.

At the mention of the word 'fight', all eyes in the room suddenly snapped towards Jaune, and he didn't even have time to blink before both Yang and Ruby were right in his face, their expressions practically the perfect antithesis of the other's.

"Ohohohoho! You need to tell me everything that happened right now! Spare no details! How many guys were there? Did you knock any of them out? Did you break any legs?!" Yang demanded to know gleefully, stars practically shining in her eyes. Somehow, he'd managed to trigger her happy-mode, and as it stood, Jaune wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not considering how Yang was all but vibrating on the spotwith sudden excitement.

Ruby, meanwhile, looked like she'd just burst into the hospital room of her dearest friend that had just been in a horrific, 150 car pile-up on the freeway.

"You were in a fight!? With who?! What kind of monster did this to you!? Do you know where they are!?" she asked in rapid succession, gripping his hand with enough force that Jaune was sure he could practically hear his bones creak.

"I-it was just the one guy!" Jaune stammered out in quick response as he tried, and failed, to lean away from the distraught and respectively elated pair of sisters. "I saw him and some other lady threatening this Faunus girl as I was walking past an alley, so I rushed in and tried to get them to leave her alone. They weren't listening and just told me to get lost, but I stayed, and long story short, the guy and I fought until I headbutted him in the face and punched him in the throat. Then the lady kicked me in the back and they ran off."

As he regaled the assembled group of Hunter-in-training with his daily exploits, he saw a large swathe of different emotions across all their faces.

Ruby had turned from heartbroken to something that bordered on starstruck, apparently her turn now to be excited. To further prove the old adage about actions need equal and opposite reactions, Yang's fire was seemingly thoroughly doused by his words, however, and she didn't need to say anything for him to see the signs of distrust on her features. One glance at Nora told him that she shared Ruby's newfound energy, pride beaming at him from her wide grin, and it was impossible for him to not return the smile. Ren looked far more reserved, though that was to be expected, but he too had a slight upwards quirk to his lips, an approving air coming off him. Jaune's eyes had to search for a moment to find Weiss among the crowd, and his heart fell a little in his chest when he saw her almost bored looking expression and upraised eyebrow, her disbelief clearly written in her eyes.

Just a step away from all of them, a black aura of malicious energy begun to build around Pyrrha Nikos, her mind slowly filling with plots of murder and violence enacted upon those who had hurt her precious blonde bean. It was dispelled in an instant, however, when she heard Jaune let out a new, pained yelp, and she immediately returned to looking for any and all medical supplies available.

"That's amazing, Jaune. You acted just like a Huntsman is supposed to!" Ruby said enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" Nora agreed with just as much bubbly excitement, throwing an arm around Jaune's shoulders. "You're a total hero!"

Their celebratory mood was clearly dampened, however, when Yang chimed in, her tone clearly uncomfortable with the subject.

"Sorry to have to ask this, but was that really what happened, Jaune? It sounds pretty cliché, not gonna lie."

"What the heck Yang! Jaune wouldn't lie about something like this! And weren't you the one who wanted to know all the 'juicy details' not one minute ago?" Ruby protested before Jaune had a chance to do more than open his mouth, her face morphed into an aghast mask.

"I thought he'd ran into some bar-thugs or something who thought they could take on someone with aura! There are loads of those kinds of douchebags in Vale!" Yang quickly raised her hands in a placating manner when Ruby suddenly appeared in front of her in a flutter of rose petals.

"Yang is right, Ruby."

Again, all the heads in the room turned, but this time towards Weiss, whose face was practically ice cold as she regarded Jaune, the look in her eyes sending a very unpleasant shiver down his spine.

"Not you too, Weiss..." Ruby whined feebly, but her partner's gaze didn't move away from Jaune.

"Loathe as I am to admit it, Arc, you do have a remarkably large supply of aura, so the idea of a single ordinary human breaking through it to pummel you sounds awfully far-fetched to me. If what you're saying is the truth, then why weren't you able to pacify this braggart with little to no effort? I say it seems far more likely you simply tripped and hurt yourself that way."

Weiss' accusatory tone cut straight into Jaune's heart, but as much as he longed to avert his eyes and slump in his seat beneath her frosty disposition, he knew he was telling the truth. That what had happened with Ilia wasn't just some lie he made up to seem heroic.

"I did have my aura. At least at first," Jaune began, thinking back to the feeling of unease that had filled him when the asshole's first punch had just stopped right in front of his face. "He swung at me and his fist just seemed to skid off the air, and I hit him right back, which sent him stumbling. I didn't even use any real force in the shove, honestly, but he still almost landed right on his ass. But then..."

His hands balled in his lap as he recalled the surge of power he'd felt all throughout his body in that moment, how invincible he'd been compared to a normal human. And how wrong it had felt at the same time.

"My aura just kinda… shut down? I guess?" Jaune shrugged, cheek and nose hurting again from the memory that was so fresh in his head. "I can't really explain it. I started thinking about if using aura against a human, even if he was a racist scumbag, was really okay or not. The next thing I know he's got me against the wall of the alley, just punching me over and over again. I thought I was gonna pass out. I managed to headbutt him, though, when he stopped to take a breath. Broke his nose, I'm pretty sure. That's what happened, I swear on my mother's honor."

"Wait a sec, have you never fought other humans before?" Yang asked, sounding confused.

Instantly, Jaune realized he'd said exactly the wrong thing, revealing more of his inexperience than he'd intended.

"O-of course I have!" he lied hastily. "It's just that my hometown was really quiet and calm compared to a city like Vale so I haven't run into any people like that racist before. I've done sparring and stuff, naturally. Just never with someone who didn't also have aura."

His rapid thinking earned him a moment of respite as it seemed like everyone believed his explanation, with the exception of Weiss who continued to look at him with a suspicious glint in her icy blue eyes.

"So… this girl you saved, did you manage to get her name?" Ruby interjected after a moment of silence, letting Jaune relax slightly.

"I would very much like to know this too," Pyrrha agreed, speaking up for the first time since forcing Jaune to undergo a checkup, her arms filled with more syringes, dubious pill bottles, haphazardly wrapped bandages, and new gauze than Jaune thought any other person might reasonably carry, but somehow she managed without much effort, seemingly.

"She said her name was Ilia. Didn't catch her last name. I'm guessing she was some kind of lizard Faunus or something. Her skin was very odd looking and had these dots that kept changing colors. Mostly different shades of pink and red," as he described Ilia, Jaune went to take out his scroll, only to realize far too late that he'd forgotten to ask for her number or anything in his rush to catch one of the last Bullheads back to Beacon.

The knowledge saddened him for a moment, since even just from the small conversation they'd shared, he thought Ilia seemed nice, despite looking at him in a kind of weird way. He promised himself that he'd learn from their meeting, however. That there were some absolutely rotten people out there, people who were just as bad as the Grimm, and this wouldn't be the last time he ran into them. Next time, he needed to be more ready to use his aura, even against humans like that. He only had one goal here in Beacon, he reminded himself:

No matter what, Jaune Arc was going to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. Like his relatives had. Like heroes did.

Just as the tense air that had started to build up in the common room lifted and Nora went back to cleaning Jaune's face, Blake came wandering into the room, a book with an oddly blank cover held protectively in her hands. When her eyes landed on him and his injuries, Jaune could have sworn that he saw the ribbon on her head move like there was something living inside it, but he waved the thought off.

"What happened to you?" Blake asked.

"Jaune forgot how to use his aura mid-fight," Yang gleefully explained, much to both Ruby and Jaune's chagrin, not that the fiery blonde cared when they started protesting.

XXX

Clinging to the side of one of Beacon's myriad towers, a pair of binoculars covering her eyes, was one Ilia Amitola, her form disguised as an amorphous gray blob against the building. Through her binoculars, she could easily look through the window on the tower just opposite her, on the other side of which sat the boy who made her feel such strange things. She was glad to see that someone seemed to be taking care of Jaune's wounds, though she also couldn't help but notice how quickly the blonde seemed to heal on his own. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear what was being said, but from reading the body languages of everyone in the room—with the exception of the last person to arrive who she couldn't make out thanks to an awfully convenient glare in the glass—Ilia had to assume that it had to do with Jaune coming to her rescue.

How he'd been her glorious, strapping savior in shining armor, yet somehow still with his rippling, masculine physique revealed for the world, and her, to see and marvel at-

Ilia had to shake her head to stop her thoughts going down that rabbit hole for the millionth time that day. She had Jaune-watching to do, and she couldn't afford any distractions.

Especially not distractions in the form of her silenced scroll which was going off with messages regarding her whereabouts every few minutes. She could take care of them later. Or maybe the next day...

AN: Chapter 2? Yes? No? Go die in a fire? You decide! If y'all want more, I'll give you more!

Maxaro out!

#Orientation play #RWBY #Fanfiction #Jaune Arc #Ilia Amitola #Adam Taurus #Blake Belladonna #Humor #Romance #kinda #If you squint #Dorkmeleon

[originofjaehyun]

Constantly, Consistently, Continually, You. | Prologue

CCCY Masterlist

Word count: 3.3K

Warnings: None just hoping you guys would like it ha-ha

Prologue – She is stillness in the world of chaos

“We never had to force love. We were drowning in it the moment we met.”

Next

There’s no other sound except the sound of your pencil scratching the paper. Messy is an understatement if someone were to see your table. Pencil and pens, markers, fabric samples, are just a few of the things that are visible in a glance. You’ve been sitting on your desk for hours now and the clock on your laptop has shown you that it is a little bit past 10 PM. Before you knew it, you’ve been doodling instead of being productive.

You know the reason, your neighbor who happens to be a NEET has been playing whatever online game since yesterday and he’s still going strong. The walls between your unit are quite thin and you could hear him ferociously screaming “MONSTERS ON YOUR LEFT! MONSTER ON YOUR LEFT!!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!”

You had enough. You barely get any sleep and sleeping has been a struggle because of your neighbor. You don’t even know how he was able to pay the rent when all he did was to play games all day long.

“I need to go somewhere.”

All you wished were to lay down on your bed, still with the messy duvet because you really don’t have the energy to even make up your bed. But ever since you were hired as a fashion designer at 0MILE – one of the hippest Korean fashion brands – you were so busy at work especially when you entered the company during the preparation for Seoul Fashion Week. You really have to make more progress on your work and your neighbor is definitely not helping.

You packed all the necessary stuff on your tote bag and tied your hair into a top bun. You can’t be bothered with contacts at this hour so you grabbed your glasses, wear your black jumper while pairing it with a cozy black track pant before exiting your apartment.

You feel refreshed as the night breeze slowly dances around you. It’s been a long while since you live in this neighborhood. The first time you moved here was when you’re just 22. After college, you decided to move here because it’s really close to your first workplace. Now that you’re 25, even if you’re blindfolded, you can probably still press the passcode buttons on your apartment door. This place has grown on you, and while you’re making more money than before, you can’t just move just because of that reason, knowing how expensive the rent cost is in Seoul. You’re saving up for your dream.

Before you know it, you are already in front of the door of a cafe just around the corner. Sun&Moon, as the vintage-looking gold sticker reads on the door’s glass. You’re glad that this small coffee shop in your neighborhood actually opens until late. As you pushed the door open, you can see two male baristas-turned-waiters behind the counter. The cafe is relatively empty, considering it’s almost 11 PM. There are only a couple and a group of four people left in the cafe.

As if you’re on autopilot mode, you took a seat on the corner and put your tote bag there before making your way to the counter to order your coffee. This is your third coffee of the day but you really can’t afford to fall asleep while the deadline is chasing you. 

You actually know what you’re going to order your usual – cafe latte, considering how late it is, plus, having Americano as your third coffee of the day might not be the best idea. But seeing the cakes on display kind of stimulates your appetite. When did you have your last meal, anyway?

Raspberry and Rose Eclair sounds good

Oh, but so does Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart

But having sweets at this hour is a sin, no?

Then a soft velvety voice snapped you back to reality.

“Uhm, miss?”

“Yes!” You answered almost instantly

He chuckled, and the most prominent set of dimples on both of his cheeks appeared.

“Are you ready to order? Or do you need more time browsing our cake?”

You felt both of your cheeks are now slightly warmer. It’s kind of embarrassing because you are so concentrated while you’re looking at the cake display.

“Oh yes please, I’d like to order. Can I have a hot latte? And also…”

“Nonfat milk and make them extra hot, regular size. Is that correct?” He cut you off before you finished your sentence. On top of that, he got your custom order correctly.

You knit your brows together. How did he know my custom order?

“Oh no need to be alarmed,” as if he knows you’re slightly judging him right now and probably think that he’s a stalker or something.

“You happen to be our regular and you’re very specific with your orders. We, the baristas here thought it would be great to start learning our regular’s order, especially the custom ones.”

You soften your facial expression and it instantly curled-up your lips into a smile.

“Why, that’s a very nice gesture.”

He smirks, “So, did I get your order correctly Miss?”

Unconsciously you let out a small giggle, “You bet you do. Congrats on memorizing my recipe.”

“Well, this is nothing. One latte coming up!” He said it in a playful tone.

You gave him your card as the final numbers of your bill appears on the cashier screen. He then gave you the receipt and politely asked you to go back to your seat as the waiter will deliver your order to the table. You turned back to your seat, allowing him to start making your drink while his co-worker is busy washing the dishes.

You checked the receipt after you sat down.

Your cashier: Jaehyun. So that’s his name.

You typically don’t do this, as you find it slightly… odd to be attracted to someone who’s going to prepare your coffee. But the thing is, he undoubtedly one of the most good looking people you’ve seen in a while. His pale skin that paired perfectly with his soft brown hair that he just messily styled, with eyes that are in the color of deep sienna. They glisten with something else, something that gives you shivers and wraps you in a warm embrace at the same time.

What Am I thinking? Focus, [Y/N]!

You took out your laptop and plugged in your charger to the nearest power plug, before connecting the two. You then spread your notebook on the bench, since the table beside you is empty. In a flash, you are already deep inside your own little world.

After a while, you automatically took a sip of your latte.

Wait, when did this arrive?

You lift your head, eyes searching for Jaehyun. He was in the middle of cleaning up the table from the couple before. You then took a glance at the clock on your laptop screen. 

It’s already past midnight. You were so immersed in your work that you didn’t realize the waiter already delivered your order and there’s only you and another group of people left. You kind of regretted it though, that you forgot to say thanks to the waiter. If it’s Jaehyun who delivered it to you, at least you’ll get a chance to hear his voice again.

You brushed off the thoughts and you immediately start working again. As boring as it might sound – that you missed a chance to exchange eye contact with Jaehyun – you really got to finish your work.

The clock keeps ticking and suddenly you could hear a clink of a plate. You lift your head and now your eyes are locked with the delicate pair of brown eyes.

“I didn’t order this.” You said in a confused tone.

“It’s on the house.” As he said while putting a plate of the eclair you stared before.

He continued, “You’ve been working for a few hours now, I thought by now you’ll need some sugar rush. Plus, I know what you’re working for it's probably important and I don’t mean to rush you but we’re closing in about 30 minutes.”

“Oh!” You quickly saw the time. It’s already 1.27 AM.

“Shit, I hope that crazy neighbor is asleep.” You mumbled.

“Sorry?” Jaehyun raised his brows, wanting to confirm what you said.

“Oh, nothing. Well, thank you for this. I’ll eat this and I’ll pack immediately.”

“Please, no need to rush. You are our esteemed guest, after all.” He said this with a smile, turning his eyes into a shape of a half-moon and as if he knows this is his best feature, he showed his pair of dimples.

As he walks away from you, you asked yourself: Is this a cafe or is this a host bar? He is very soft-spoken, and even though you only hear a few sentences from him, you’re already addicted to his tender voice. You wonder why you haven’t noticed this guy previously.

You quickly take a bite on your eclair, you saved your project before closing your laptop while still chewing your food. You’re slightly embarrassed because Jaehyun saw you in this messy state. Your stuff is everywhere, taking spaces even the table next to you as you are the only person in the cafe right now. You quickly shoved everything to your tote bag and frantically carrying some stuff that couldn’t fit inside. How come everything can fit when you go out but now that you’re rushing it felt like your items are multiplied?

“Thank you for tonight. I enjoyed the cake, good night!” You said as you were about to leave the cafe.

“Ah, yes, thank you. Please be careful.” Jaehyun stands up, a bit surprised with your sudden leave. He was reading a book while waiting for you to finish. He was about to approach you but you already turned your back before he’s able to. 

You would never guess that night is where the string of fate started.

***

“Shit, shit, shit!”

You repeated frantically as you scattered the content of your tote bag. You lost one of your fabric samples. This season, 0MILE material revolves around checkered plaid and without the sample, you might not be able to move forward with your design.

You searched throughout your room that looks more like a shipwreck instead of a room, you even search at weird places like the inside of your freezer but the sample is just nowhere to be found. 

“Fuck, I might left it at the cafe yesterday.”

You grabbed your phone and took your bag in a hurry. You’re moving your feet like the flash as you speed up on every turn towards the cafe before you realize it’s only 10 AM and the cafe only opens after lunchtime.

But you can’t afford to lose anymore second as you have already gone more than halfway to the cafe. As you approached the cafe, you saw a familiar figure.

Isn’t that yesterday’s barista?

He looked in your direction as he heard your footsteps. His eyes sparkled before he showed that warm smile moving towards you so that you meet mid-way.

“Uhm, hi, uh, morning… uhm…” You’re busy finding the right sentence.

“Hi, I think you forgot this.” He handed over the fabric sample you’ve been looking for all morning.

“Oh my God!” You excitedly took it from his hand. Realized that you’re probably being rude to him, you quickly apologized to him.

“Uhm, sorry about that. It’s just that I’ve been looking for this all morning.”

“Don’t sweat it. I noticed that this is important as you were always referring to this before registering it to your laptop last night. So when you left it, I thought you might be searching for this first thing in the morning.”

“Wait, so you’ve been waiting for me?” Your eyes widen.

“Well, I would feel bad if you’re waiting in front of our cafe all morning. Also, I was the last one who cleans up the cafe and that is when I found your stuff. I brought it home because today is actually my day off.”

You’re stunned. As you examined his appearance, his eyes are slightly teary, with ears that have turned red due to the cold weather.

“How long have you been waiting?” 

“Uhm, around an hour I guess?” He said like it's not a problem when it actually is. He has been waiting for an hour in cold weather, and as far as you can see there’s no seat available so its either he’s been standing for an hour or he probably squatted. 

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry you have to do that! I mean, it was my mistake to leave my belongings, but you didn’t have to go that far for a stranger.”

He knows that you are panicking because of your tone, but he just chuckled before giving his reply.

“Well, you’re not entirely a stranger.”

“I mean, you are our regular for quite some time now.”

You let out a sigh, “But still, we don’t even know each other. I’m glad I got this back because it is important, but how could I ever repay you?”

Then he gave a devilish smirk, “We can fix that,”

“How about you treat me for brunch today? I didn’t get to eat my breakfast today because I thought you were already waiting at the cafe, but it’s already too late for breakfast now.”

You’re startled. Did he just ask me for a date?

No that can’t be it. He’s just a kind person that happens to be hungry at the moment, that’s all.

You would actually agree to his condition instantly, but then you saw your slippers and you realized how unkempt you are right now. The person standing in front of you is blessed with his look. He’s definitely bare-faced but he looked photoshopped.

“Uhm, how about lunch instead?” You said while fidgeting with your fingers.

“I’m… not exactly confident with how I look right now. Let me fix myself first, then we can go for lunch? I know the best sundubu in this area, it’ll be perfect for this kind of weather.”

“You’re fine the way you are right now, you know?” Your heart almost jumps because of how smooth he is with his words. 

You shook your head, “I promise we’ll meet at lunch. Here, let me give you my number in case I run away. Which, I would never because I always keep my promise.”

He then handed out his phone to you and you added your contact details to him. He then dialed your number and your phone rang, confirming that the number that he’s calling is in fact yours.

“[Y/N].” He said, in a low voice.

“It’s funny, huh? We never introduced ourself and yet I know your name because of sundubu”

Only then you realized you guys never properly introduced yourself to each other.

“I’m Jaehyun, nice to meet you, [Y/N].”

“At least let me introduce myself,” You pouted.

“I’m [Y/N]. It’s also a pleasure meeting you, Jaehyun.” You acted like you don’t know his name when in fact you already know it yesterday.

“Feisty, aren’t you?” He said with one of his eyebrows went up.

You let out a small laugh, “Well, I’ll better get ready.”

“Uhm, so… where do you want to wait? I mean, you can wait at my place if you want.” You said that and instantly your face turned red. Did I just ask him to crash at my place? You literally just know his name a few seconds ago and it almost felt like you invited him to do something dirty at your place as an added bonus for his lunch. He then laughed.

“I’ll be a gentleman today and wait at the cafe.”

“Let’s keep that one for another time.” Jaehyun continues.

Your brow furrows, “Hang on, you had a key all along?”

He answered with a nod.

“Why didn’t you wait inside? It’s cold out here!”

Again, he smiles.

“The cafe owner is slightly stingy, especially with the utility bill. Also, I could see if you’re coming better if I wait outside, so you don’t have to walk too much.”

You can feel the heat on both of your cheeks. He could definitely see you blushing.

Seriously, how sweet could this guy be?

“Well, I’ll see you at lunch. I’ll be fast, let’s meet again here?”

He grinned, “Take your time, [Y/N]. I’m looking forward to it.”

***

“So you’re a fashion designer?” Jaehyun said while he’s busy preparing the cutleries for both of you.

“Wait, how did you…?” You said in a confused tone. Clearly you haven’t told him anything about you.

“Before you’re getting any weird thoughts,” he chuckled, as he might felt like you just labeled him a stalker.

“One, you carry things like that to our cafe. Secondly, I accidentally saw some of your sketches before.”

You’re in awe. How observant.

“And last but not least,” he continues

“You’re always dressed well. Even though there are times when you visit our cafe in the most comfortable outfit, everything is still very pleasant to the eye.”

Your ears started to turn red. 

“Oh you don’t need to flatter me. The meal is still on me.”

He chuckles, “No, I'm serious. You really do have a great sense of style.”

“Well thank you. You’re a charmer as well.”

Then it’s his ears started to turn into a shade of pink. You think to yourself that it is the most adorable thing as he clearly tries to hide it. So he blushes when he’s embarrassed.

The conversation goes you guys started to eat your meals. He told you more about himself, about the reason why he lives alone right now. He said his family lives far away and he moved out because he wanted to live his dreams. He wanted to be a musician, but since he is supporting himself he currently worked in a tech-startup company at day and took part-time jobs like becoming a barista at night. He does music on weekends, sometimes he would compose his own songs, or do a cover and upload them on his SoundCloud. There are days where he would perform at a cafe or a bar, but he said it’s been a while since he last did that ever since his current day job has been so demanding.

Once you guys are full, you settle the bill and Jaehyun politely thank you for the meal. He constantly insisted that he should pay at least half but you really want to show how grateful you are, at least with a meal.

“I guess we can call it even?” You said it to him while tugging your hands to the pocket of your coat.

He smiled, and you still can’t faze at the sight of his dimples. 

“You really don’t have to, you know. But yes, let’s call it even.”

Then an awkward silence came.

“Uhm, I guess I’ll see you when I visit the cafe again?” Fidgeting your fingers, you really hope that he doesn’t notice that you’re nervous. Am I asking him out?

“Sure.” The response was almost immediate and that is when you noticed he’s also feeling nervous. “I’ll see you around. Again, thank you for the meal.”

“Pleasure’s all mine.”

After sending your greetings, you finally parted ways with him. Not sure where he’s heading, but he walks on the opposite way of where you’re heading. You are lost in your thoughts until you snapped out of it, after walking just two blocks from where you’re coming from. A notification from your phone brings you back to earth.

Jaehyun (Sun&Moon Barista) 01.27

Hey

Jaehyun (Sun&Moon Barista) 01.27

On second thought, I don’t think it’s even yet. I actually waited more than an hour and we only had 30-minutes lunch.

Jaehyun (Sun&Moon Barista) 01.27

Care for a coffee? I’m still around the area.

You felt the heat start to rise to your face as the color of your cheeks starts to turn into a rosy-pink shade. If this were your room, you would scream your lungs out.

You quickly type in your reply.

“Gladly.”

#nct #nct127 #nct au #jaehyun #jaehyun scenarios #nct aus #nct fic #nct angst #fic jaehyun #angst jaehyun #jaehyunxreader #constantly consistently continually you #cccy

[razorblade180]

OC test:Speech!

[everyone shall be put in front of crowd and say something. Think of it like rallying troops, orientation, declaring war, whatever. The crowd is 500 strong.]

All the characters stand on a stage, overlooking the wave of people. Jacquelyn stands behind a podium with a microphone while everyone waits their turn.

Jacquelyn:Ummmm, sup? Not much for speeches so I’ll keep this brief. I don’t know what problems you all have, your background, or where you’re heading. What I do know is I’m down to listen to all of it. A traveler loves a good story, so make it your best.

The crowd of people seem a bit caught off gaurd, yet enlightened. They lightly clap and nod as she bows before letting Sienna take the spotlight.

Jacquelyn:Good luck!

Sienna:(How the hell do I follow that up!?)

Sienna:*clears throat* Yo, my name is Sienna Frost. The lovely lady before me was my mother if anyone was wondering. I might have two sets of ears but I assure you, story time isn’t my favorite thing. You wanna show me who you are, then do it instead. As far as mine goes, don’t worry where I’ve been. Just watch where I’m headed. I just might surprise you.

She held up a peace sign and made her exit, leaving the crowd with nothing to say. It would’ve felt like going against her words. Jael came up next. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The girl chose to back away then began to float up to draw everyone’s direction.

Jael:Remember, on the ground or in the air, look up to me.

That’s all she said before leaving. All the characters were absolutely stunned. Even Carmine. She was sure she’d be the only one to say something wild. Yujin awkwardly walked up next. People immediately started to smile and seem pleasantly surprised.

Yujin:By the looks of some of you, I take it you see my mother’s face in me? That’s fine, it’ll make this easier. Yujin Xiao Long, the girl that’ll be in future text books. Until then, watch me do my thang!

She gave the crowd a prideful smile and a fist bump into the air to hype them up. The crowd did it back and cheered. Tenzen used that energy and added it to his own charisma, choosing to stand on the podium.

Tenzen:Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. Those with heart of fire and wild dreams, stick around! We’ll have the time of our lives! Never stop doing what you want!

The crowd got even more hyped as him and Yujin high fived before running off stage into the crowd itself. Everybody was given a high five and watched both leave as they laughed. Nick was next to go up. To get their attention, Nick made a glyph in the sky that made it snow. A quick change in the crowds attitude was immediately noticed as they stared at the dignified young man show his usual charming smile and kind eyes that made the women blush and most of the men jealous.

Nick:Good evening, I’m glad to see everyone so lively. As heir to a company you would think I’d be good a speeches. To be honest, I’m panicking inside right now. I made it snow, who just does that!?

The question got the crowd to laugh a little. Jealous faces unknowingly got a little softer.

Nick:Anyways, I just wanna tell everyone here that no matter the situation, lean on me. If not, then those you care about and have better spending habits. Hehe, I think I’ve said enough. Thanks and I hope you all have a good time listening to everyone else.

Crowd:(He’s so polite...)

Snowflakes crew:(There he goes, charming the masses like usual.)

Summer walked up next. Much like her twin brother, a glyph formed in her hand that quickly mixed with fire dust in her clothing. The warm of brace of embers flew out of it like a flicker camp fire that was drawn toward the snow. The gentle blend of fire and iced danced in air around the crowd, leaving them amazed. Summer was no stranger to a crowd or a stage. This might be her easiest test yet. The girl sung a simple word that enchanted everyone like a siren spell. “Mirror~”

Summer:I hope you all enjoyed that little tease. I typically like to warm my voice before addressing an audience so I though of that on the fly. Anyways-

The crowd interrupted her with applause. She hadn’t even spoken what was on her mind and they were hooked! Summer chose to accept it and made her way off the stage. It was even easier than she thought. She turned to Veronica and stuck her tongue out. The faunus responsed by flipping her off and walking away.

Eliza:You’re not making a speech?

Veronica:No, I hate people and do this sort of thing too much. I’m goons go draw or some shit. (Summer can’t say she had a better speech if I never do one.)

Valerie:Wait, this is optional? Guess I’ll leave too.

Eliza:At least day a sentence you two!

Both girls rolled their eyes and walked up together.

Veronica:Sometimes being the change you want and the change the world needs are two different things entirely; acknowledge way and take the step forward, not backwards.

Valerie:A jack of all trades is an ace to no one. Not that it’s a bad thing. Just find the other playing card.

The girls waved to the crowd and went off. Valerie started thinking, which card was she? Nick clapped for the two of them like he always does. Eliza took the opportunity to step forward. A snap of her fingers negated all the semblances still at play. Eliza took a running start to hop off the stage and land with a mighty thump that started a wave of sprouting flowers. This was beginning to be more of a talent show then a public speaking test. What was once winter had turned into spring!

Eliza:Sorry, but I think being eye level and warm with you all is far more appealing. I doubt many of you have heard of the a Marigolds but that’s fine. All you have to know is I’m the one who will elevate their status. Playing nice with others isn’t my strongest quality but fairness is. If by any miracle fate comes to join us together for a purpose, I promise I’ll stand by to the very end and pull out all the stops. I simply ask to put in all the effort you can as well.

A gust of wind came by and swept petals into the air as Eliza did a curtsy. As far as theatrics go, it was show, but more than that. It was the truth. A fair and honest truth. Like a gentle breeze on a spring day. Sparrow stood up to go next.

Sparrow:I....do not care about outcomes.

Crowd:.....What?

OCs:Yeah, what?

Sparrow:Good, bad, surprising, or boring; those concepts don’t apply whenever I’m sailing across the seas with passengers and crew mates. Everything that happens is apart of epic journey. Now I’m not gonna stand here and act like I’m anything special, because I’m not. All the same I am a captain and a damn good one at that. For those who passing through life with ambition in their hearts and freedom through their veins, sail with me. You might just be surprised. Thank you for your time.

The ex-military man put on his captain’s hat and walked away, never looking back at the crowds faces. All he heard were the footsteps of those who dared to follow him. The allure of his words reached some of the young men and women. 500 became 450. Kovu felt nervous, but a bit more confident as he went up to go next. All the women, children, sons and daughters, he looked at them in a different light because of Sparrow.

Kovu:Before Sparrow went up here I had the idea of talking about my family and how they motivate me to do my best. While that is true, now I can’t help but sing a different tune. This isn’t my first time with a microphone in front of my face and it probably won’t be the last. It’s what happens when you’re a Belladonna and your other mom is a top rate huntress. Still, it doesn’t feel real that I should get a microphone and a podium because of that; I’m just a regular guy. Being down there feels more comfortable to me than being up here ever will. Average strength, intelligence, normal qualities, but I guess that last one is debatable.

Carmine:Yeah, you dork!

The crowd and Kovu chuckled at the call out. Carmine didn’t know people too well, but she knew Kovu well enough to know when he’s being hard on himself. She spoke up more for his benefit than anybody else.

Kovu:The point is I’m stunned that despite me just being some normal person, I’m very thankful for the fact that you all stand before me to listen. That’s what motivates me most. Thanks, I’ll keep doing my best.

The crowd happily applauded for him. No fancy tricks or even something to leave the biggest impression. Just a boy who made a speech. On a stage full of giants in their own right, having Kovu being so relatable was a breath of fresh air in its own way. Carmine gave him a thumbs up and finally stepped forward. She ignored the podium entirely, choosing to project her voice to all who looked. The commanding yet calm presence she gave off was already at play.

Carmine: Once upon a time my mother Ruby Rose saved the world. She did it with strength, intelligence, and kindness above all. Her dream to protect others fueled her keep striving towards a happy ending. That same compassion wasn’t paid forward unfortunately and my mother suffered a loss some time later that nearly broke her. My mother wasn’t a very religious person until that incident from what people tell me, but it helped give her peace of my. Everyday she prayed to her god for the strength to press and breathe new life into her symbolically. Until one day it became literal. She asked her god for strength and he gave her me. I’m hopes and dreams given flesh. Not just hers, but I’m yours too. *points to the crowd* To all of you good people wanting peace and needing a defender of your normal life, pick whatever god you worship and thank him for me. To those who decide to rot the world they live in with hate and malice, choose a god and make your peace when you meet me. My name is Carmine Arc Rose, the greatest huntress, no, the greatest huntsman in general to ever walk Remnant. I’ll move forward first to keep you all safe. See you at the finish line, eventually.

Her body faded away into rose petals that were carried into the wind. She was never there to begin with. Carmine had more important things to do. The crowd once again fell silent as the petals kept scattering. All the other testers were at a loss for words themselves, except Kovu.

Kovu:Oh boy, as blunt as ever. To think she’d declare her standing among them like that? She might’ve just told them out right how far away they are compared to her.

Yujin:That was badass!

Sienna:More like cocky. She said she’s the greatest huntsman ever. What does that make her mom?

Kovu:The greatest hero. There’s a difference between the two in Carmine’s eyes. Try not to bring it up though. It’s a can of worms she won’t answer. Ruby is no doubt a Great huntsman but....Carmine has feelings about that title.

A petal gently fell into his hand before taking flight again. Aero still silently resting in the question tree with Carmine sleeping under it. Her little brother fast asleep in her lap. An exceptional huntsman yes, but an even better big sister.

#rwby #oc test #rwbabies #jacquelyn frost #sienna frost #jael frost #yujin xiao long #lie tenzen #nicholas schnee #eliza marigold #val valkyrie #veronica belladonna #summer schnee #sparrow branwen #carmine arc rose #kovu belladonna

[aworldoffandoms]

39 for ethan and mc if you would be so kind ☺️

Authors Note: Hello! This Open Heart small ficlet is from this list of prompts. This is the second last prompt and I’m kinda sad about that.

Thank you so much for this prompt, nonny! Enjoy! 😁

I took some creative liberties with this and decided that Nicolette is a prodigy in her field of medicine…so much so that medical conferences want her to speak at them. Let’s just say that she’s got a reputation all on her own. She puts Ethan to shame! lol.

P.s. I’m not American so I don’t know much about LA so I included a convention centre in this. Please excuse any inaccuracies if there are some.

Prompt is: okay, we’ve got this

Prompt is in bold.

***

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC [Nicolette Valentine]

Word Count: 1,125 (give or take)

Rating: G

Warnings: None. Some fluff at the end. 

Summary: Nicolette is the opening keynote speaker at a Medical Conference in Los Angeles and she’s rightfully freaking out. Ethan gives her some encouraging words.

I’m tagging my OH tag list but please let me know if you’d like to stay on it or would like to be removed.

Open Heart Tag: @senseofduties​​ @polishchoicesfan @princess-geek @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @binny1985 @fanficnewbie @x-kyne-x​​@thefluffyphotographer @lilyofchoices @thecordoniandiaries @rainbowsinthestorm @cxld-play @jens-diamondchoices @malakbesharah @hopelessly-shipper @my-heart-beats-for-ya @landofenchantedwonder @sabrinahoffersonsworld @flyawayboo @stanathanxoox @oofchoices @thequeenofcronuts @heauxplesslydevoted @bi-cookie @kingliamsbish @trappedinfandoms @supercoolperson0808 @perriewinklenerdie @riverrune

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Pixelberry and all characters belong to them.

***

CONFERENCE JITTERS

Okay, Nicolette. It’s time.  

“You ready, Nic?”

She stares at her best friend and shakes her head. “No, I’m not Sienna! I’m freaking out.” 

Sienna smiles encouragingly, as her hand rests on Nicolette’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine.” 

Nicolette stares at her tiny friend with the biggest heart and she can’t help but drink in her encouragement or at least she tries. 

Sienna was tiny, yes, but she’s the most caring and selfless friend Nicolette has ever had and she thanks God every day for her. She appreciates her so much.

“Thanks, Si,” 

Sienna gives her a wink and points to the four people sitting second from the front in the large theatre room of the Los Angeles Convention Centre. 

“If you feel like you’re going to faint or throw up, just remember that your friends are rooting for you all the way,” 

A short bark of a laugh escapes her. “You’re rooting for me to throw up? Nice.” 

Sienna giggles. “No! You know what we mean.”

Nicolette nods at her friend and grabs the curtain that leads to the stage. Panic seems to churn in her gut and her breathes become short and laboured.  

Oh shit, I’m panicking. I’m going to have a panic attack. 

Sienna seems to sense what’s going to happen and grabs Nicolette’s shoulders and guides her in some breathing exercises to calm her. 

“That’s right, Nice and slow, Nic. In and out. Inhale, exhale.” 

She does the breathing exercises a few times before she feels her heart rate slow to a normal pace and her breathing settles. 

“Phew. Thanks for that, Sienna.” 

Sienna gives her a wink and squeezes her shoulder. “You’re welcome, Nicolette. Just remember to kick ass and not forget us when you’re famous.” 

Nicolette rolls her eyes at her words but a chuckle escapes her nonetheless. “Heh. I don’t think I’ll ever forget you or the others but I don’t think it’ll come to that.”

Sienna gives her a playful shrug and a parting wink before sauntering back to the seat which their friends had snatched when they arrived. 

She peeks out of the curtain of the Los Angeles Medical Conference and her nerves threaten to derail her again before she clenches her eyes shut and turns away from the growing crowd. 

She sikes herself up. 

“You can do this, Valentine. It’s just one small conference in which you are the key-note guest speaker and your mentor will be scrutinising your every word. No biggie.” 

“No biggie indeed, Doctor Valentine.” 

Nicolette jumps at the voice behind her and her heart stutters for a completely different reason than speaking in front of hundreds of medical professionals from around the world. 

Doctor Ethan Ramsey. Her mentor, her friend and her confidant. And the one person she can’t let down.

Why does he have to be so handsome and serious at the same time? 

She gives him a self-conscious smile, embarrassed at the fact that he heard her pep-talking herself.

Ethan understands her nerves and gives her a warm smile, his hands coming up to place themselves on her shoulders and he gives her a caring squeeze. 

“You’ll be fine, Nicolette. Just remember to breathe. I’ve done a few of these myself and you just have to remember that they are here to see you, learn from you and they’ll see the brilliant diagnostician that I see every day. You’ve got this.” 

Nicolette glows at his words and she can’t resist the smile that reaches her face. Ethan’s expression mirrors hers. 

“That’s what I wanted to see.” 

Nicolette frowns in confusion. “What?” 

Despite the people milling about behind the scenes, Ethan’s hand comes up to rest on the side of Nicolette’s face, his fingers gently brushing some unruly hair behind her ear. 

His smile is gentle as he gazes at her. “Your smile. It lights up the room.” 

If Nicolette wasn’t being held in his strong embrace she’d have fainted right there but thankfully all she does is blush, her cheeks flaming.

Ethan grins at the blush on her cheeks and he moves to kiss her on the cheek. He repeats his earlier sentiment.  “You’ve got this, Nicolette.” 

“Well, when you say it I’m sure I will be.” 

Ethan moves back from her, giving her a final squeeze. He moves to take his place behind the curtain, Nicolette guessing that he’ll sit with Naveen or Harper but his next words make the dread feel like a heavy rock has been dropped to the bottom of her stomach. 

“Oh, and Nicolette, you needn’t worry about me scrutinizing every word you say considering I’ll be there up with you.” 

What?! 

Ethan winks at her, him already realising that another bout of nerves has hit her full force and he gives her some calming words or at the very least wants her to not worry because she doesn’t think clearly when she worries. “We’ve got this, Doctor Valentine. Don’t worry. We’ll educate these doctors, no problem. You and I are a team so we’ll be okay.” 

Easy for you to say Ethan I-embarrassed-the-keynote-speaker-slash-president-of-the-American Medical-Association-and-tore-apart-his-research-while-doing-so Ramsey! 

Ethan walks out of sight and Nicolette takes a shuddering breath to have the chance at a last-ditch effort to calm herself.

She repeats his words as she shakes her hands out in front of her, building up her courage. 

“Okay, we’ve got this. I’ve got this. I’ll kick ass.”

“Welcome all to the Los Angeles International Medical Conference Key Note. We thank you for making the journey here.” 

There are murmurs in the expansive room before the host continues.

“Our key-note speaker today is a highly respected and talented physician who has been an integral part of America’s leading Diagnostics Team based in Boston, Massachusetts at Edenbrook Hospital. Everyone, please put your hands together for Doctor Nicolette Valentine!” 

Oh crap. It’s really happening! 

Nicolette hears the roar of her friends first, Jackie’s whistle heard above Bryce’s whooping and Elijah’s and Sienna’s cheers before she hears the rest of the room clapping in greeting. 

Again, she repeats the words Ethan said like a mantra in her head. 

We’ve got this. I’ll be fine. Let’s educate these doctors….

We’re a team.

A confident (at least she hopes is one) smile graces her face before she leaves backstage and emerges in front of the large crowd of doctors of all specialities and nationalities,  awaiting her words.

She finds Ethan at the front awaiting his turn, his blue eyes shine with pride and admiration for her. 

She gives him a grin and a small inconspicuous nod of her head. 

I’ve got this.

#open heart #open heart 2 #writing prompts #ethan ramsey x mc #ethan x mc #choices fanfiction #choices #open heart fanfiction #playchoices #thanks for the prompt #anon ask #asked and answered #enjoy!

[despressolattes]

CONSEQUENCES | CHAPTER THIRTEEN | LEGACIES/THE ORIGINALS

BOOK THREE IN THE SIDE CHARACTER/LILAH SERIES

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Lilah had felt sluggish when she woke up, and she hadn't shaken the feeling. Everything for the rest of the day just felt off.

An entire summer's worth of looking into Lorelle's revival and the White Oak Coven had gotten the Mikaelsons nowhere.

Lilah felt sluggish when she woke up, and everything just felt off for the rest of the day. Kol and Lilah helped the best they could, the two Mikaelsons still missing their former lives as witches.

"Perhaps we just let it go," Kol suggested, sighing as he shut another grimoire. "Lorelle is alive, this psychotic coven is nowhere to be found, probably dead to resurrect Lorie. Why can't we just leave it be? Why go searching for trouble?"

That was a question that Lilah had been wondering herself. Did she really want to know why the coven resurrected Lorelle, or did she want to know if there was a way to bring back others as well?

"Maybe Kol's right," Davina sighed, stepping away from the table to grab a drink. "We're spending all this time chasing literal ghosts."

Lilah and Freya shared a look. Before Lorelle even came  back, the two were trying to see if there was some mystical loophole to bringing back Klaus, Elijah, and Hayley. This coven and Lorelle's revival seemed like the only solid lead they had, but even this one went nowhere.

"Okay, we can break for today," Freya nodded, shutting the grimoire she had been looking into.

Lilah walked up the staircase of the compound towards her bedroom. After she and Rebekah had made amends, Rebekah had gotten sentimental about how Lilah should be living in her family home. On her and Josh's next free day, they emptied their apartment, both of them moving into two of the spare rooms in the compound.

Lilah swung the door to her room open, her eyes settling on the blond. Roman was just lounging on her waiting, as if he was waiting for her to come inside. She smiled at the sight of him, but he was yet another thing that felt off. Any sense of deja vu she had with him around didn't lead to the girl in the photo, only made Lilah more confused about her and the Sienna boy.

Had they have been together before? Or perhaps, he just strongly reminded her of someone she repressed when she was a ripper? The little visions she was having didn't get clearer, instead, they stayed blurry and confusing.

"This is an evasion of privacy, Mr. Sienna," she rolled her eyes at him. She went over to her bed, shoving him a bit to make room for herself. She propped herself down next to him, wondering when she had let herself get so comfortable with a guy. "What's up?"

"Caroline called me a few hours ago," he explained, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and letting her fall into his chest. "There's someone she and Alaric need me to pick up, with school starting and everything."

"Hm, I thought that Alaric guy wasn't headmaster anymore?" she hummed.

"He's not, but he and Caroline still kind of own it? I guess. I don't know, the person I'm going to get is special to them I guess, to their friend group."

She nodded and grabbed one of his hands, just playing with it. "This was fun while it lasted, eh?"

He gave her a look and said, "I'd still like for this to continue to be fun."

"You're going back on the road," she sighed, sitting up. "We can't possibly be together when you're not even here."

"You don't do long distance relationships?" he asked.

"I hardly even do relationships," she shook her head, ignoring the flutter in her heart when he said the word 'relationship.' They hadn't even actually had a real conversation about what they were together, and now he was throwing around the word relationship.

She moved his hair of of his face, staring down at him adoringly. "Like I said Roman, this was fun while it lasted."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"The boy who sweats diamonds is gone, huh?" Freya asked, coming out onto the balcony late that night, and Lilah nodded, taking the cup of coffee that Freya offered her.

Lilah found herself out there often, staring out onto the city. She loved everything about New Orleans, but she felt like this wasn't the place she was meant to be.

"Everything still feels wrong, Aunt Freya," she confessed. "We can't figure out why Lorelle is back, we don't know who the girl in the photos is, and I just feel like something isn't right."

"What part feels wrong?" Freya asked.

"Everything."

"I wish I knew who the girl was, too. She obviously meant something to all of us. Any theories?"

"Mass compulsion?" Lilah shrugged, but she knew that couldn't be it because she, Rebekah, and Kol couldn't be compelled. "I dunno. This seems impossible."

"Our family is the definition fo the impossible being possible."

"Yeah, well, at least before we had explanations for things. Dahlia took us, Grandma Esther turned them, their loophole was a white oak stake, I don't have a loophole. Dahlia kept us apart to prevent you from rebelling against her. Things had explanations," Lilah sighed.

"Not everything," Freya shook her head, wrapping one of her arms around her niece. "You said you still don't know how you got out of that cave."

Lilah's eyes widened for a moment, and she nodded. A thousand years later, and she still had no idea who broke her free of her desiccation. Despite blood on herself and the floor, she had never found a body.

"I think for now, it's okay to just be grateful," Freya said to her. "Not everything needs an explanation, and we might just drive ourselves mad trying to come up with a solution we're never going to find."

"We're the Mikaelsons, we're always going to be mad."

Both of them turned around to see Rebekah standing there with Kol. The remaining Mikaelson siblings walked onto the balcony, Rebekah standing on the other side of Lilah, and Kol on the other side of her.

"You had the promise of always and forever without us even knowing who you were," Rebekah said. "And you'll continue to have it so as long as we live."

"Soon it'll just be the two of us, Lilah Rae," Kol said, his dark joke hitting each of them a little different.

Freya was a witch, she was mortal. Rebekah wanted to take the cure once Damon Salvatore was ready. Davina was a witch. Marcel would likely take the cure as well. Soon, the only thing left would be Kol, Lilah, and hopefully Josh.

"You didn't need to go there tonight, brother," Rebekah laughed, smacking her big brother on the back of his head.

"I'm just saying!"

"Well, stop saying things!"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

F I R S T D A Y O F S C H O O L

"Thanks Davina, I appreciate it."

Roman ended the call on his phone, placing it back into his pocket while he drove.

"So, where are we going exactly?"

Arianelle Victoria sticking her head outside of the car since Roman's convertible top was down.

She expected to see signs that said Mystic Falls or even a bridge marked Wickery Bridge, or whatever landmarks her dad once talked about.

"We're going to pick someone up before I take you to a safe place," he replied, "And we have to go fast, first day of school is already today."

She rolled her eyes, pulling her head back into the car.

"And yet we're taking a detour? Aren't we supposed to be in that town my dad grew up in?" she questioned, before saying in a mocking tone, "The wondrous Mystic Falls, from where my mom ran from, and she ran like hell."

Roman glanced at her through the rearview mirror, but didn't respond. Caroline had warned him that the girl might be a bit snarky and sarcastic given her current situation.

"So, who's the girl you were on the phone with? Got a girlfriend?" she asked.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend," Roman replied.

"She dump you?"

"Please be quiet," the vampire told her, and she raised her eyebrows with a feigned scared look on her face.

"Jeez, just tryna make conversation. If my dad's sending me here, might as well know what I'm getting in to," she shrugged.

"And what does me being in a relationship prepare you for exactly?"

She shrugged again, leaning back. It felt like hours before they pulled into New Orleans. She was confused, knowing that Lousiana was a long drive away from Mystic Falls. She gawked at the architecture, but stared long and hard at the large building they parked in front of. This place was known for it's Crescent pack, it's witches, it's Bourban, and one thing her dad used to warn her about: The Original family.

Roman pressed his phone to his ear yet again, stating, "We're here."

They waited about ten minutes before a small group of ridiculously hot people walked out. Of the group, a girl was dragging another girl by her upper arm, and one of the guys was carrying out a small luggage.

Roman smiled, getting out of the car to help put the luggage in his back trunk and wrap the girl in his arms. Arianelle watched suspiciously, wondering who these people were. Her eyes landed on the blond adult with pink lipgloss, recognizing her from some photos with her dad. From the stories she learned growing up, she was Rebekah Mikaelson, a vampire her dad was once in love with.

She stared at them in awe once she realized they were the original family—or at least, what was left of it.

The girl that Roman was hugging got into the car, staring back at the blonde girl sitting in the back. Roman joined them after slamming the trunk shut, and there was a knock on the brunette's window. The girl rolled it down, a bald man sticking his head inside.

"You better take care of her, Sienna," the man warned, giving Roman a scary serious stare.

"I will, Marcel," Roman nodded.

Marcel kept his glare on him, staring for a moment longer before nodding and taking his head out of the door. A girl came next, another brunette. She looked she nice and innocent, the smile on her face wide.

"Have fun, Lils," the girl said to the girl inside of the car.

"I can't believe you guys planned to send me away, Davina," laughed the girl in the car.

"It's not sending you away, it's sending you on a trip," a boy said from outside of the car.

"Oh yeah? And how are you going to handle Rousseau's alone?" Lilah asked as Davina moved away from the window, sticking her own head out.

"We'll manage," shrugged Josh.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"So, when did this get planned?" Lilah asked Roman as they began on their drive.

"I called Davina, asked her to pack your things," he explained. "You said that your memory loss began when you woke up near Mystic Falls, and since I need to take Arianelle over here to the Salvatore School, might as well see if we can jog up some of your memories."

"Well, I'm glad you did. It's been boring around here without me."

"Did a Mikaelson just tell me that New Orleans was boring? Your dad is rolling in his grave," Roman snickered, shaking his head.

Lilah playfully shoved his shoulder.

Arianelle watched with wide eyes, wondering just who these two were. When her mom had all but threw her into his car, saying he was taking her to a better place, she hadn't imagined that he'd be anyone important other than some supernatural creature that worked for the fancy boarding school. Instead, he's friends with the original family, he knows one of their kids.

She was even more confused, knowing that an Original couldn't have kids. Vampires couldn't even procreate.

As if Lilah felt her eyes on her, she turned around to look at the blonde.

"Sorry for the detour to your new school," Lilah said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Lilah."

"Arianelle," the blonde said sheepishly, pressing her lips to an awkward line. She looked to Roman and said, "I thought you said you don't have a girlfriend."

"I don't," Roman said as Lilah said, "He doesn't."

"She doesn't do relationships," Roman explained to the fifteen year old in the back of his car, glancing at Lialh with a knowing expression.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They pulled up to a huge campus, parking in front of it. Lilah and Arianelle both gawked at it, for different reasons. Arianelle had heard stories of the things that had gone down in the house or because of the previous owners through her father, but Lilah's expression was sorrowful.

"Normally, there's a welcoming committee, but there's a different headmaster this semester," Roman said as he took off his seat belt, getting out of the car.

The two girls followed after him. The blonde let out an audible groan when she heard a police car approaching. She turned around irritated, watching as a dirty blonde got out of the driver's seat. Why he was still in his police uniform when he was running for mayor of Mystic Falls, she had no idea.

"Aria," he said, sending her a conflicted smile as he got closer.

"Why are you wearing that?" she asked.

"I'm still Sheriff until I get a replacement," he said. "And it's not like I actually have the mayor position just yet."

"Yeah, whatever," she said, spinning on her heels and walking towards the strangers.

"C'mon, let's get you inside," her dad said with a smile. He looked to the two who had driven his daughter, smiling at them. "Matt Donovan."

"Roman Sienna," Roman smiled, shaking his head.

"Lilah Mikaelson," Lilah said, shaking Matt's hand. She saw the surprised look on his face.

"Mikaelson?" he asked.

"Mikaelson."

"Like... Original family Mikaelson?"

"The one and only."

He attempted to regain his posture, a million questioned running through his head about who she was, why they had never heard of another Mikaelson girl, wondering who she was. Instead, he just nodded.

"Let's go find the headmaster, Dorian, and the Saltzman twins, shall we?" Matt questioned, walking towards the school's entrance, a front door that once led to some of his closest friends' house.

He never imagined it would be a boarding school for supernatural, or that he'd ever be sending his daughter there.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Well, her papers seem to be all well, just a day late, but that's all right, she won't be behind in any of her classes" Headmaster Vardemus said, snapping Arianelle's file shut. "Miss Donovan, I can have two students here in a second to escort you to your room and give you a proper Salvatore School welcome."

"I go by Arianelle Victoria," she added, earning a scowl from Matt, but he didn't say anything.

Roman grabbed Lilah by her arm, motioning with his head that they should head out. The two of them walked out of the room, leaving the father-daughter duo with the somewhat creepy headmaster.

The Saltzman twins and Landon were called into the room long after Roman and Lilah had left to the dorm room Roman got to stay in whenever he came by after his recruitment travels.

"So... what are you?" Landon asked, before his eyes widened. He stammered out, "I-I mean, I'm not—I'm not tryna be rude or anything... wow, that was really upfront. I meant... what species are you?"

He scratched the back of his head as they walked through the halls of the school, looking embarassed. Lizzie rolled her eyes, looking at her sister with a ridiculous glare as Josie smiled at Landon's actions.

Seriously, Jo? wondered Lizzie, unable to believe her sister liked Landon of everyone.

"Vampire... witch... werewolf...?" Josie added, aiding Landon in his question, but saying it softer than he had.

Arianelle laughed, and she said, "I'm a werewolf."

And immediately everyone thought about how she killed someone.

"We're gonna need Jed here," Josie said to her sister.

"Raf's alpha," she replied, earning a confused look from the new wolf.

"And he's also stuck in wolf form... soo... I'm with Josie... we'll have to tell Jed," Landon said.

"Of course you're with Josie," Lizzie chuckled.

"So, what's up with Mr. Recruiter and his not-girlfriend?" Arianelle asked.

"Who? Roman Sienna?" asked Lizzie, making a face as she spoke since she was sure Roman was single. "Roman doesn't have a girlfriend."

"There's some girl he picked up on our way here," Arianelle responded.

The twins looked at each other before nodding, "Huh..."

"So, Vampire Captain America finally found a girlfriend, that's interesting," Landon added.

"She's pretty," Arianelle responded, "But oddly quiet."

"Well, first stop, here's our bedroom," Lizzie said, opening a door. "You can always just come here if you need something, chances are, you'll find one of us here."

Arianelle walked inside, looking around at their room. Her eyes zeroed down on a picture frame.

"Oh, you guys know her," Arianelle stated, pointing at the picture. "The girl Roman picked up."

"He brought Lilah Desmarais back with him?" Lizzie asked with surprise, Josie and Landon sharing a confused but rushed expression as they wanted to hear more.

"Uh... She called herself a Mikaelson," Arianelle explained. "But yeah, Roman brought Lilah. Why? Do we not like her?"

"Mikaelson?" sputtered out Josie, and Landon seemed to be in his own world, trying to remember where he had heard that last name.

"She's here, right now?" Lizzie asked.

"Yeah...?" Arianelle responded, confused why her tour guides seemed so freaked out over Lilah. She understood the weight of the name Mikaelson, but even her dad hadn't reacted with this kind of proportions.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"You wanted to see us, Dorian?" Roman asked, walking into the library with Lilah close behind.

Her eyes were bugged out as she took in her surroundings. The Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library. She felt out of breath the whole way, looking at old photos, looking at textbooks. She paused when she got to one about her father, then another, and another, a few about her aunts and uncles as well.

"Yeah," a man said, stepping down from a step ladder and sitting down on one of the tables. "I heard you brought a New Orleans vampire back with you, wondered if I could pick her brain."

"Sure," Lilah nodded, stepping in front of Roman. "What is it that you need help with?"

Dorian stared at her with surprise. He scanned her face up and down, like he had just seen a ghost. It was her, the girl from the files, the girl from the photos. Lilah.

"So, we have this wolf here. He's sort of the alpha of our school's pack. We had some problems last semester, and he had turned into a wolf to help with an attack. We don't really know how he got into his wolf form when it wasn't the night of a full moon, and we also don't know how to bring him back from this form," explained Dorian, shaking his head softly as he tried to get himself to stop staring at her so hard.

Lilah blinked a few times at the information, "I'm sorry... he's been in wolf form this whole time?"

Dorian nodded.

"Did any of the witches put a curse on him?" she questioned, remembering the last time she had heard about a wolf only being in wolf form. "Can he change back into human on the fill moon?"

Dorian shook his head no.

"Okay, well, in my experience with the Cresent Wolf Pack in the bayou... my Uncle Klaus had these reverse kyanite rings made, meant to help a wolf change on command, but it was meant for that specific line of wolves. I don't know the logistics of it all, but I can only assume that whoever gave him a ring like that can be the one to change him back, someone with Crescent blood."

Dorian listened with wide eyes as that information got thrown at him, nodding as he understood what she was trying to say.

"I'm sorry... did you say Uncle Klaus? You're a Mikaelson?" Dorian asked.

She nodded.

"Mass compulsion?" he said under his breath, but with Lilah and Roman's vampire hearing, they heard him.

"Pardon?" Lilah asked.

"Nothing," Dorian shook his head. "Don't mind me, it's nothing. You just... uh... we have files on you... here..."

"What?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

TAGLIST

@akshi8278

people on my wattpad have been asking for a “lilah in tvd” alternate storyline, so i started one! it’s currently only on my wattpad, so let me know if you guys want that story here, too.

you guys asked for a "lilah in tvd" fic, so... I wrote it!  To differentiate this alternate storyline from the original one, it's getting it's "own" series name, SIDE CHARACTER CHRONCILES — LILAH DIARIES.

#elijah mikaelson #Elijah Mikaelson fanfiction #finn mikaelson #klaus mikaelson #Kol mikaelson #freya mikaelson #rebekah mikaelson #the originals #the originals rp #the originals fanfiction #the originals imagine #the originals headcanon #the vampire diaries #The Vampire Diaires #The Vampire Diaries RP #the vampire diaries fanfiction #the vampire diaries imagines #Legacies #legacies imagines #cw legacies #legacies cw #doppleganger #matt donovan #lilah mikaelson #roman sienna #landon kirby #rafael waithe #josie saltzman #josie saltz #lizzie saltzman

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG //CHAPTER 20

i mispelt the title as ‘oofal hunt’ which, i mean, mood,

IN THIS EPISODE OF DEPRESSION TO THE MAX:

"Fuck you."

THAT’S IT. THAT’S-- THERE’S THE CHAPTER.

/looks at the chosen lyrics for this chap :hrm:

do i still have to a little introduction to this liveblog? twenty chapters in? methinks not so lets just get right Tew It shall we

“We’re here, Ms. Fall.”

/marks this next section down on the tally of cinder’s mistakes. we’re somewhere in the high thousands.

An old Dust extraction point, quietly rotting. Cinder’s mouth pulled. There was an abysmal dearth of kindling.

cinder: you know you could at least take me somewhere better suited for me to kick your ass. this is VERY rude. am NOT a fan. my yelp review will NOT be kind.

i love cinder counting up the numbers. you know honestly id be deeply charmed if someone saw it fit to bring half an army out to take me on. i mean, would it be a pain in my ass? yes. but also. awh. thanks lads! love how many of you blocked out this evening just for me x

"Sienna Khan!" Cinder could barely hear herself between the claws of that strange laughter. "Sienna Khan! It’s really—really—you!"

uh-oh sisters,

oh man sienna and cinder is just. look. WOOF. theres a lot here. a lot going on. a lot that HAD gone on. but also im gay so this tension is peak for me PLEASE lay it on thick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LETS GO!

Cinder stopped laughing.

"Overkill," she repeated, and in the same breath, crossed the tarmac in full immolation.

HELL YEAH BABEY. but also was the more the implication that cinder is an easy kill OR the implication that glynda’s the bigger threat that’s more annoying,,,,,,,,,,,,, well!!!!!!!! too late to find out now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They clashed: once, twice, three times, steel on Aura, flitting through space, but—he wasn't faster than Glynda.

wait it’s the former i forgot cinder’s gay nvm

“Cinder. I mean it. I want to talk.” Sienna’s face revealed nothing. Her gaze stayed fixed on Cinder, as if she were searching for something.

What it could be, Cinder had her guesses, and all of them repulsed her utterly. She spat, “Well, I was only planning on sending your Lieutenant’s head to you in a box signed Love Cinder, so I didn’t really come with a speech prepared.”

SDHJGHJGSKFD SORRY IM LIKE. tryna liveblog but im also just :EYES: at everything here.......... im SO PUMPED for this cause im just SO CURIOUS,,,,,, WE’VE HAD SO MANY SNIPPETS,,,,,,,,, BUT IM HONGRY FOR MORE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

that said i feel like cinder’s the type of person who revisits arguments in her head hours later with new, better points, so i think she does have a speech prepared. in fact i think she has many words stored up in the ol’ meatspace, and all of them are very rude,

The Sienna Khan that Cinder remembered still had baby-fat in her cheeks and hadn’t learned to keep her thoughts off her face. The one she saw now had weaponized distance.

/stage whisper hang on that visual is cute dont put it in HERE where the TENSION IS

Quietly, Sienna went for her belt, pulling away something the same polished silver as her whip. It might have been an arrow tip, except that it was lethally barbed and looked like it had been modified to chamber Dust. Pale blue glinted within it.

Cinder darkened. "Ice Dust?"

sienna: i wanna talk sienna: with violence!

GOD ITS REAL INTERESTING CAUSE,,,,,,,,,, THERE’S A LOT HAPPENING HERE. glynda didnt Know cinder in any sense so we’ve very much been on the ‘let’s figure cinder out with glynda’ train like the whole. the rain! and the desert! etc! all very much thru the lens of glynda ‘i dont remember shit’ goodwitch! so now we have seinna who Knows Shit cause there’s so much history here and im like blease wait talk more first i want the KNOWLEDGE

[...] "Roman Torchwick is holed up in Vytal with your warehouses, and those two teens haven’t been sighted in months... But you wouldn't send them that far north, would you?”

“I wouldn’t send them anywhere you could get your claws in them.”

“The White Fang isn’t like that anymore. We don’t strong-arm children into our ranks. That girl—the snake Faunus—”

“If you say one more word about her,” Cinder said. “I’m going to do something drastic to every single person here.”

ACTUALLY TALK LESS TALK LESS LETS FIGHT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!! AND NOT TALK!!!!!!!! A T A L L

Sienna's shoulders leveled. "This is not Hróðvitnir's White Fang anymore."

me: huh why do i recognise that name,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, me: oh yeah!!!!!!! that bitch,

HJGDSJKHGFDS we Love a homage to a classic au and to a cinder so good that id die for her. i mean id die for this cinder too but like that was another level of Die For. anyway. back to the au at hand,

“If I didn’t know better, I might believe you," Cinder snapped, and her old scars throbbed in tandem. “But I do know better. I found one of your parasites, sucking the life out of a town near the wastes. Bringing the White Fang’s protection. You should have seen how he protected them. There wasn't a child there without a fang or an antler missing."

hang on a sec, lets LEAP BACK in time for just a moment

okay so i nipped back to chapter five for just a hot second to see if there was a line that was particular pertinent, but also i found smthng else...

Violence collected at her twitching fingers, old scars across her body flaring with phantom pain. (Chapter 5)

“If I didn’t know better, I might believe you," Cinder snapped, and her old scars throbbed in tandem. (Chapter 20)

HM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, man. cinder. you got real fucked up huh. ANYWAY THAT WASNT WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR I JUST LINED THE CONTINUITY (because im jealous). what i was ACTUALLY looking for was THIS:

There would be another overseer, the inhabitants would resume their harried lives, and Cinder wouldn’t spare this town a second thought.

i said at the time in an emotional fit of pain that this was a straight-up lie but cinder is nothing if not a melting pot of emotional reckoning, and I WAS RIGHT. LET IT BE INSCRIBED UNTO THE STONES!!!! SHE DID SPARE IT A SECOND THOUGHT!!!!!!!! HELD IN HER MIND LONG ENOUGH TO RECALL THE DETAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST 2 SPIT IT IN SIENNA’S FACE!!!!!!!!! im telling you that cinder has SO MUCH MORE GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!! and heres my PROOF. PROOF OF WHY SHES AN ANGEL (ONLY ON TUESDAYS THOUGH [10AM-1PM])!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then: "Why don't you say," Sienna responded slowly, her expression slotting into place like a bullet chambering, "precisely what you mean, Cinder."

"Fuck you."

:’3c

cinder has such a way with words. i love her eloquence. remember that time glynda thought she was taking the piss out of the fact she was autistic at dinner? cinder yr a maestro. never change.

“You brought Beowolves to heel. You could turn a Goliath with a word!"

“I had—no—Aura! Nothing to protect me!”

:eyes: :thinking:

HM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, INTERESTING??????? i feel like this is the first time we’ve heard of cinder w/o aura implicitly? unless im Stupit and dont remember a Got Dang Thing but HUH. does this. hm. huh. am i stupid. someone tell me if i missed a thing.

“This isn’t a diplomatic mission, Cinder. I simply wanted to know what their lives were worth to you—before we wipe our hands of each other for good.”

“That’s a funny way of saying only one of us is walking away from this.”

GOD,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i LOVE this scene a lot the interplay between sienna and cinder is absolutely PEAK,,,,,,,, PEAQUE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, im rly enjoying this. also im dying. but im enjoy it a LOT.

“The White Fang you and I grew up in doesn't exist anymore. We’re changing. But you… When did you stop caring? Was it when you cut your horns to be one of them instead?"

Dragonfire scorched Cinder's lungs, blackening every word: "I was never—your—people."

feels like its been a good goddamn whilst since i got to do one of these 👈😎👈, so let’s savour the moment

👈👈👈👈👈👈😎👈👈👈👈👈👈

aaaaaand savoured. lets continue.

Shaking with the effort of holding her strike, Sienna grit, "I won't relish this."

And Cinder howled, "I will!”

ah shit i shouldve said lets RELISH this to tie the whole theme together and-- and fuck it, combat scene. never good at liveblogging these. sdfjhgsdfghj

Gunfire sparked against her, but she honed in on him with single-minded intent, the kind she’d whetted to a razor’s edge against Glynda.

for a chapter following cinder escaping glynda, she’s thought about her TWICE now. huh. huh. interesting. gay. and interesting,,,,,,

It was nothing like fighting Glynda. This was bleak and repetitive: the second drove forward and Sienna covered his openings, stopping Cinder before she could rip his heart from his chest, and all the while, the gunfire whittled away at her Aura. It was a joyless tactic, no flair or heart, and yet—

HUH. GAY AND INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO FLAIR OR HEART,,,,,,,,,, i cant believe every time they fought cinder was actually just doing a shit job of flirting. the more you know.

The world erupted into flames. They grew massive, swirling around her like a hurricane—Cinder’s Aura exploded outward in desperation, like a dying star defiantly spending the last of itself on a supernova; one final flare, brighter than entire galaxies, if only for a single moment. Cinder felt flashes of bright pain through her muscles as if the fire was burning her from inside.

MAN,,,,,,,,,,,,, I COULD TALK ABT SOME UH,,,,,,,,,,,,, well. i could talk abt a few things here. but theyre kinda 👈😎👈 so i WONT,,,,,,,,,,,,,, but kno that i am having some Thoughts on the matter. hm.

“Prove it!” Death was thrumming in her veins. It had never made her brave before. It did now, the memory of Glynda’s blind, resolute stare heady in her skull. “Come and prove it! Do it, or I’ll hunt you to your last, miserable breath, Sienna!”

so remember when glynda had her little outburst at winter and i said that i love how cinder rubbed off on glynda in the worst way? i cant believe glynda ALSO rubbed off on cinder ALSO in the WORST WAY!!!! this is how u know this truly is a soulmates thing.

“It’s a shame you outgrew your swords, Cinder Fall. I would have taken them as a trophy,”

it’s with great disappointment that i must say: i agree with adam. the swords were hot. they should come back.

Sienna’s footsteps were whispers at Cinder’s back. The trap was closing. Cinder pooled flame in one palm. The other hand was useless, limp at her side. Impotent rage tasted like blood in her mouth. “I don’t even remember your fucking name.”

HJGKDSFKJHGFSDJDHGF GOD IM SORRY BUT THIS MADE ME LAUGH. WHAT A LINE. WHAT A LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i may actually have to draw this scene that image is SO wonderful. just cinder, staggering, exhausted, and she still manages to just spit that out. im screaming. shes a champion. i think she won this battle literally just there pack it up her burns come in more flavours than one.

Beneath Cinder, Hati turned, scanning for an escape, but she didn’t drop Sienna’s gaze. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she said, “I’m told I’m something of a menace.”

firstly: AAAAAAAAA HATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BABY BOY OH NO THATS NO GOOD BAD TIMES AWFUL FEELS MY GUY!!!!!!!!!!!! secondly: CINDER THESE ZINGERS ARE UNREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JESUS CHRIST. I KNEW YOU LIED WHEN YOU DIDNT HAVE A SPEECH HOW MUCH MATERIAL HAVE YOU GOT IN THERE?????????

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

WAIT WHAT HANG ON

WHAT

WAIT

W H AT

okay wait hold on lets dial back i read ahead and dint live blog wait rthereghsdfgjhdffd HOLD ON

Cinder buried her face in Hati’s mane, hating them, hating, hating, hating. Black ichor clotted in Hati’s fur, tacky against her palms. Grimm didn’t have Auras to protect them, and exit wounds riddled Hati’s mighty body. Cinder’s heart lurched with fury. She could have screamed.

i read this bit and got STRESSED because hati is PEAK like hati didnt even fucking SHOW UP in og but i LOVE HIM and i knew shit would happen because its fucking offal hunt BUT

It should have been impossible at this distance, but Cinder could feel her gaze like traded blows, even nestled among the black of Hati’s pelt.

Sienna’s eyes shone like coins. They were cool, detached. Prepared.

She twisted her wrist and the whip flickered through the air in tight wheels. Its end glittered pale blue.

UH OH

Adrenaline cooled to permafrost in Cinder’s body, as though the Dust had already found its home between her ribs.

Cinder whispered, “Don’t.”

UH OH

Expressionless, Sienna gave a wide lash, and the jagged end of her whip released with a click. Silver sliced through the air, then through feathers and fur, with a sickening sound—wet and meaty as the arrowhead dagger buried itself deep into flesh. Hati’s whole body shuddered and Cinder only had a moment more before ice exploded from his ribs, ripping out through his pelt, even slicing into Cinder’s own skin. It speared him from deep inside, where the cartridge had sunk, impaling everything and rending him asunder.

JESUS JESUS CHRIST AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

JESUS CHRIST WHAT A VISCERAL DEATH SCENE HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O H N O T H A T S A N O G O O D V E R Y B A D T I M E

Cinder’s stomach jumped into her throat, and she held on tight to Hati, her bastion, her sanctuary, her family—held on tight like it would make any difference at all—like she could hold her family together with just her own two hands.

Hati dissolved right between her fingertips, and she plummeted alone.

like she could hold her family together with just her own two hands

OUGH what the FUCK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HEY THIS. HEY THIS SUCKED HEY THIS WAS A BAD CHAPTER WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS HATI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXCUSE ME????????? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?????????? HELLO??????????? WHAT THE FUCK????????? SIENNA???????? BITCH?????????? GO TO H E L L

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

#rwby #offal hunt #liveblog #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA