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arlecchno · 1 year

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mission accomplished [ scaramouche x reader ]

twenty-five | viktor and yun jin

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as the plot thickens with a new victim, you were dead set to catch viktor stepanov, once and for all. you didn't know this would end up way different than what you had imagined.

warnings: use of scaramouche's, childe's and signora's real name, death and killing mentions, breaking in, kinda fluffy in the middle, kidnapping¿, very suspenseful at the end (i think)

a/n: i'm incredibly sorry for the long delay of this chapter, been a bit busy last weekend. but it's here now, and i hope everyone enjoys the suspense as we're nearing the end of the series. 7k+ words. 90% proofread so please lmk if i've gotten anything wrong.

grammatical errors may occur so please let me know if i've made any mistakes!

“so…” you started, hurriedly scanning your eyes to your surroundings, checking if someone was near you. seeing that no one was in sight, you continued. “what do you want to talk about?”

childe cleared his throat on the other line. “we found a new victim.” he dropped, causing you to let out a short gasp.

it had been… how long now?

two months. it's been two months since you've last heard of a new victim, and now the killing is happening again.

wait, but…

“but viktor's been with me the whole morning? i don't understand.”

“anastasia obolensky. familiar with the name?”

you took a moment to think, recalling where you had heard of the name. if memory serves you right, that'd be…

“the university's chancellor?”

childe hummed. “she was found dead at her home this morning.” he informed, and you gripped your phone a little tighter.

going for the higher ups of the campus? you wondered to yourself. isn't that too far?

anastasia was one of the campuses most respected chancellors, and had contributed a lot to snezhnaya university. if word got out that she's dead, who knows what hell would break loose.

but viktor… he has been with you all night, right? would that even make sense for him to head out and kill people whilst being drunk?

“i don't understand.” you replied, still in disbelief. “he's been with me all night.”

“what were you two doing?”

“well, it was actually the four of us.” you awkwardly let out a chuckle, causing childe to usher you further on the information. “him, yun jin, scara and i. yunjin invited us to dinner, they got drunk, bla bla bla, you know the basics.” you didn't bother fixing him up with the details. knowing childe, he probably knew the rest of it already due to experience.

you peered over your surroundings once again, this time trying to find a seat. you walked over to a small park bench once you've caught glimpse of it, relishing a sigh of relief after standing for so long.

after a moment, you continued. “anyways, i don't think he'd have the time to go out and kill people. i stayed up for an hour or two after they passed out, trying to clean up everyone's mess. if he had gone out, i'd have noticed it right away.”

“what time did you sleep?”

“around twelve or one, why?” you asked.

“report says that the estimated time she was killed was at two in the morning.”

widening your eyes, you left your mouth agape. so he went out after you were asleep?

you shook your head. “no, wait, this is confusing me.” you replied, squeezing your eyes shut before opening them once again. “he passed out after a couple of drinks, there's absolutely no way he'd wake up in less than an hour after that. i remember him telling me that he couldn't hold his liquor well.”

“also.” you continued, already scoffing at the thought. “where the hell have you been?! you can't just disappear on me for two months and then finally show up just to tell me someone's dead!” you shouted into the phone, resulting in childe wincing at the tone of your voice.

he sighed, and you heard sounds of rummaging in the background. “i'm sorry, y/n. i still can't disclose the details to you.”

“what details?” you asked coldly. “what the fuck are you doing around behind my back?”

childe groaned. “look, it's nothing that you should be concerned about. just… focus on your case right now, i'll tell you once everything's calmed down.”

“what?” you questioned further. “you're not doing dirty work now are you, ajax? you know i hate those kinds of people. i'm gonna fucking kill you when i get back.”

childe chuckled from the other line. “of course not, y/n. i'd get fired if i'm working with people that aren't from the department.” he said.

from the tone of his voice, it seemed that childe was telling the truth. but somehow, you don't trust him, not even a single bit.

it's the first time that's ever happened to you.

on most occasions, you fully trust childe. you had never doubted his words, because he was always telling the truth, and never once broke a promise. he is one of your best friends after all, you'd never doubt him.

you still remember the day you two promised each other to never go behind each other's backs, and to always go to one another for help, no matter how dire the situation is.

but now, you had an inkling that he had just broken that pact. for whatever reason, you wouldn't know, and not that you would pry on it either.

you'll just have to confront him once the case ends, whenever that is.

sighing, you changed the subject. “so? what do i have to do now? this is his seventh victim, i think.” you said. “i can't just let him get away with this.”

“have you… ever considered looking for other suspects?”

you blinked. “are you telling me that viktor has accomplices?”

“most serial killers need accomplices to continue on with their crimes, sometimes they're also just cover ups for the actual serial killer.” childe informed.

you hummed, thinking of the possible accomplices he could have at the moment.

to be honest, you've never really seen him hang out with anyone during your stakeout times, and have never seen him interact with people other than yun jin.

“wait.” you blinked once again, the cogs in your brain turning. “you're not suggesting it's yun jin, are you?”

childe merely chuckled. “you'll never really know unless you look further into it. anyone who is close to him can be possible suspects or accomplices.”

“but yun jin is innocent. i see her every other day, and the killings never happened during the night before our classes together, unlike viktor, when all of the victims were found the day we do have classes together.” you countered, defending your dear friend.

there was no way a sweet person like her could be someone looking out for blood.

childe shrugged, but stopped when he realised he was talking to you over the phone, opting to let out a huff instead. “like i said, you'll never know unless you look further into it. it could be anyone at this point, and i'm also sure you're smart enough to figure everything out.” he tried convincing, and you took a moment to make a decision.

“...fine. i'll look into it.” you finally decided, heaving out a breath soon after. “i'll see you after i'm done with this case. don't do stupid shit while i'm not there.”

hanging up the call, you stared at your phone screen, looking at your call history. you don't really call people much, well, not that you have that many contacts saved in the first place. childe's name, ajax was at the top, as you had just hung up on him a second ago.

the second one was yun jin from a few days ago, when she had forgotten to turn off the oven and asked for you to do it for her.

the third was from viktor, when he was asking you if you could write up some notes from mass communication class since he was absent on that day.

the fourth was signora, or as you had saved her name, rosalyne. she had face-timed you around a month ago to check up on you after your fight with scaramouche, along with the incident from the night before.

the last one that was visible on your screen was the one and only scaramouche, who's name is written in red, meaning that you didn't pick up his call the time he had dialed for your number.

it was the first and only time he's ever called you after the fight happened. you didn't bother picking up his call, nor did you even bother blocking him. knowing scaramouche, he's not exactly someone to be on his phone that much, so you don't think it was any use to block him anyways.

and you were right, he never bothered you after that.

though you won't deny that sometimes, you kinda wished his name would pop up on your screen.

you still had his name saved as scara, the name you had always called him since forever. you thought of changing the contact name after finding out his real name, but you didn't have the time to do so, definitely not after everything.

a smile ghosted your face as you clicked on his contact information, the picture of you and him from a few months back on display as his profile. hovering your fingers over your screen, you made some adjustments to his contact details.

“what're you smiling at?”

snapping your head upwards, you look at the person who approached you, who turned out to be viktor.

you quickly widened your eyes, standing up abruptly. “o–our class finished already?!”

viktor shrugged, slinging his bag over his shoulder properly. “it was only a thirty-minute class since it isn't from our usual schedule. what took you so long?” he asked.

“oh…” you flickered your eyes elsewhere, gripping your phone to your side. “a friend called me, and i kinda got distracted, haha…” you muttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of your neck.

the tall brunette looked at you skeptically, before sighing. “i can give you the notes later. i have to run to the psychology department right now though, i have class soon.” he informed, and you turned your head to look at him.

“thanks…” you mumbled. “i'll uh, i'll head to yun jin's dorm then. see you?”

“yeah, see you later.”

you watched as viktor walked away, heading towards his destination. sighing, you brought up your phone to look at the screen once again.

the picture on display as scaramouche's profile had changed. now, it was a picture you had taken with him the night before the incident occurred, the one at the balcony.

although the picture you took was in a rush, you could still see most of it clearly. it was a selfie of you and scaramouche, you had one hand holding your phone, the other holding up a peace sign over scaramouche's head, presenting them as bunny ears.

and even though scaramouche was forced to take this picture, he reluctantly followed suit, a soft smile plastered on his face, one that was only presented to you. one of his hands was holding onto the railing of the balcony, the other wrapped on the side of your waist.

smiling giddily once again, you stared into the picture for the next few seconds, before flickering your eyes to the contact name, that was also changed earlier.

the name is now changed to the one you had heard just recently, the one that he had buried deep within him, the one that he never revealed to anyone, except for you.

kunikuzushi.

with a purple heart beside it.

you've convinced yourself the emoji you had added was only for aesthetic purposes. no other reason behind it whatsoever.

stepping inside yun jin's dorm, you peered over the living room, that is now all cleaned up, all thanks to you. if it weren't for your work last night, this place would be a total mess, with bottles of beer and vodka scattered throughout the small area.

you landed yourself on the small couch, staring up at the ceiling.

it was a thursday, meaning that you had no classes for the day. scaramouche and viktor would have their psychology class by now, you figured.

you're not sure if yun jin has gotten home or not, so you decided to stand up, sauntering over to her room.

you knocked on her door a couple of times. “yun jin? you there?”

no response came.

“yun jin?”

again, no response.

you huffed, hand on the knob. though when you brought it back to your side, you accidentally twisted the doorknob, causing the door to open slightly.

raising a brow, you looked at the door confusedly. huh, she didn't lock her door, you think as you peeked through the small gap between the door and door frame.

you know this might sound crazy, borderline creepy even, but you felt like investigating yun jin's room. sure, you had entered it just last night to take care of both yun jin and viktor, but you didn't have the time to look at her room properly, given how it was late and you had other things to do, such as taking care of scaramouche.

furrowing your brows in contemplation, you recalled back to your and childe's conversation from an hour ago.

“you'll never really know unless you look further into it. anyone who is close to him can be possible suspects or accomplices.”

well, it wouldn't hurt to just take a quick look, no? you asked yourself.

you supposed it would be for a good cause. seeing how long this case is taking to end, you would do anything to solve it.

and if it meant sneaking into your friend's room, then so be it.

yun jin's room looked exactly like what most fashion students' rooms would look like, except for the fact that she's a criminology student.

you stood in the middle of the room, scanning your eyes to every single detail of her room. papers that were sketched out with designs scattered throughout the room, with some plastered on the wall, some placed on her desk, some on the floor, and whatnot.

it wasn't anything bizarre nor uncommon to you. maybe it was due to the fact that your old roommate from a few years back was also an art student, pursuing their passion in painting. to say that their painting supplies were clumsily placed everywhere would be an understatement.

and honestly, it shocked you how yun jin did not pick fashion design as her major, not even as her minor, too.

what could possibly be so interesting about criminology that she'd just throw away her passion in fashion design?

you scoffed at the thought. it was hypocritical of you to say such a thing, when you yourself were exactly the same when you were her age. your love for wanting to become a police officer had overthrown every other interest you had, leading to you choosing criminology as your major, and soon landing yourself in the police academy the second you graduated.

yet, you had no regrets, for if you didn't choose criminology, you wouldn't have gotten into the police academy, if you didn't choose criminology, you wouldn't have gotten your dream job in the most prestigious precint, and if you didn't choose criminology, you wouldn't be standing here today, working on a big case.

sighing, you continued on with your investigation in yun jin's room.

this is not the time to be pondering on useless topics.

—

after what felt like an eternity, you practically gave up on searching around her room. no evidence nor leads in sight. there was absolutely nothing that you should take note of, let alone be suspicious.

you think this was a waste of time.

sighing, you turned to head towards the door, before stopping yourself in front of a corkboard that was plastered on the wall near the bed.

the corkboard in particular did not catch your eye, however, the pictures that were pinned there did.

it was a picture of yun jin, and someone beside her, hugging yun jin tightly at a restaurant. the young woman was around her age, and you figured they were close, given hoe the picture is on the corkboard. though, the details wasn't what piqued your interest.

you recognised that face.

but somehow, you couldn't pinpoint it.

the polaroid beside it caught your attention too.

it was yun jin with two other women now, with yun jin being in the middle, hugging the others at what you assumed was at a park, dated a few months ago, as what it had been written on the white frame of the polaroid.

once again, you recognised those two faces, yet you couldn't figure out how you did, or where you have seen those faces.

there were other pictures pinned on the corkboard, and most of the people in the pictures made you realise that you quite literally recognised each and every one of them, which made everything more confusing than it already is.

how did you recognise these people?

where have you even seen them?

have they gotten arrested before for you to be familiar with their faces?

your thoughts were cut off when a notification came in from your phone, causing you to fish it out from the pocket of your pants to read the new notification.

yun jin

hey luna!

sorry but i might arrive home late today

please don't wait for me! >-<

you smiled at the messages she sent, momentarily forgetting about the familiar faces you saw earlier.

it's fine, take your time! ||

sighing for the umpteenth time that day, you shoved your phone back into your pocket, walking away from the corkboard until you reached the halls, closing yun jin's door shut.

the last picture in the corner of the corkboard went unnoticed by you, which had a photo of yun jin and the chancellor of snezhnaya university, anastasia obolensky, eating out together.

you hated how awfully silent the dorm is right now.

it was currently late at night, and yun jin still hasn't gotten home. you didn't mind it of course, yun jin is a grown-up, and you're not someone who had the authority to keep her away from doing things, but you always enjoyed yun jin's company.

she was always someone who could make the whole room light up, she was someone who could brighten up someone's day, and she's one of the few people who knew about your problems with scaramouche.

so with her being absent in this dorm makes the atmosphere really… dull.

you had spent the evening eating some takeout as dinner, too lazy to even get up and cook up something in the kitchen. if scaramouche were to hear about this, he would've whipped out a full course meal, nagging at you for eating unhealthy and greasy food.

the thought made you let out a few laughs, remembering how scaramouche would always cook up food for you, no matter what circumstances may arise.

as your laughter died down, you bit your bottom lips, before shaking those thoughts off your head.

this is definitely not the time to be thinking about him.

you were in your room at the moment, sitting at your desk as you had just finished doing some work around ten minutes ago. you had been cleaning up your desk for the rest of it, decluttering the many papers on the wooden surface.

a brown a4 sized envelope tucked in your mess on the desk caught your attention.

you picked it up from between the files on your desk, opening the manilla up. a set of pictures and other written details were inside, making you recall back to when scaramouche had given you this the other day as you took out the contents.

“everything in that envelope are new evidence i've gotten, and all of it leads to a whole different person.”

right, you haven't gotten the time to check out the new evidence scaramouche had gotten, from where, you don't even want to question. it's not like he'd ever give you the answer anyways.

the first photo that greeted you was a picture of a wooden cabin, the least of evidence you had expected.

why is there a picture of a cabin? was this mixed up by accident?

you furrowed your brows, ignoring the picture as you continued looking at the next few papers in hand. they however seemed as though to be completely useless, as they were only printed details on the purchase of the cabin, with receipts and purchase history.

though, you stopped when you read the name of the bank account's transaction history.

you blinked once, twice, before scanning your eyes on the paper once again, reading each and every syllable there is, in sheer disbelief with what you're looking at right now.

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

snezhnaya bank

yun jin

date: 11/17

description: cabin in the woods

withdrawal: XXXX

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

you widened your eyes.

no.

impossible.

you flipped through the other papers in hand, scanning your eyes and stopped every time you see the same name, over and over again.

what?

did viktor rope yun jin into buying stuff under her account to avoid himself from being caught?

“most serial killers need accomplices to continue on with their crimes…”

you groaned in frustration at the conversation with childe from earlier that played in your mind.

there was no way the ever so innocent yun jin, would be an accomplice to viktor's crimes, especially when she was so passionate about becoming a police officer.

you tossed the papers on the table, pinching the bridge of your nose as you grumbled.

this is giving you a headache.

and you're sure as hell viktor had snuck behind her back to purchase a random cabin in the woods. it's not her doing.

yun jin was still nowhere to be found in the dorm the next day.

you figured she slept over at viktor's dorm, given how she'd do that occasionally. though, she'd usually inform you first, but the last thing she did was leave your text message on read, which was yesterday.

you didn't bother on messaging her, seeing how you have a criminology class together. you'll just ask her later on.

but it became a problem when yun jin didn't show up to class.

your professor had just dismissed your class, yet yun jin still hasn't shown up, making you worried. where could she possibly be to miss out on class?

for the duration of your time being friends with her, she has never, ever, skipped class. no matter how busy she was, she'd always make time to show up to class, even if it was only for a few minutes. so for her to skip class was something unusual, especially to you.

she probably overslept, right?

you grabbed your phone and clicked on yun jin's contact name, hitting the call icon. but after a moment, it went to voicemail.

you raised a brow. strange. she always answers her calls, no matter the situation.

huffing, you clicked on viktor's contact name and called him next, and once again, it went to voicemail after a few seconds of waiting.

you can't be serious, you thought to yourself.

did they both oversleep?

sure, it is understandable that it could be pretty hard to wake up early, especially for a class that starts at eight in the morning, but can't they even hear their ringtones ringing throughout the room? unbelievable.

and to make things worse, someone plopped on a seat beside you, causing you to turn your head to look at them. once you did, you yelped.

“w–what… what are you doing here?!”

scaramouche merely rolled his eyes, before placing a plastic container full with food in front of you on the table. the action made you raise a brow in confusion as you stared at the lunch box.

you looked at him again. “what's… this for?” you asked confusedly.

“you're really stupid, huh.” the sudden jab of insult as his first words to you made you glare at him. “we share the same food delivery account, remember? i saw you buying takeout last night.”

you still had a perplexed look plastered on your face, making scaramouche turn his head elsewhere, too embarrassed to look at you in the eye as he mumbled out his next words.

“i… made extra food this morning. i didn't want them to go to waste, so i'm giving them to you.” he nervously said, cheeks burning up. “d-don't think i did this willingly! i just didn't want to waste the leftovers!” he exclaimed.

as he finished his sentence, your confused expression slowly changed, and before you know it, you're hugging scaramouche.

burying your face to the crook of his neck, you smiled. “thank you, kuni! i've kinda been craving for your home-cooked meals for a while now.” you muttered, voice muffled as you wrapped your arms around him tighter.

scaramouche was taken aback for a few seconds, before he hesitantly reciprocated your hug, engulfing you with his arms. you two stayed like that for a moment, until you slowly detach yourself from him.

“do you…” you stopped yourself before you could even finish your sentence. no, you shouldn't do that, not after what happened the other day. “ah, nevermind.” you mumbled.

you don't want him to have high hopes for this... whatever relationship you two have right now. it's just too risky, especially now, when you both are burdened by the big conflict that is the incident.

“spit it out.”

you widened your eyes in shock. “what?”

“did you not hear me?” his grip on your waist tightened as he brought you closer. “go ahead and spit it out. now.” he repeated, words venomous.

you blinked, confused as to why he was acting so bold all of the sudden, when he was quite the embarrassed mess just a second ago.

scratching your temple, you reluctantly continued on with what you were gonna say, as scaramouche watched you with narrowed eyes.

“well, do you, uh, want to...eat this together?”

eyes wide, scaramouche was, shocked to say the least. even if he was the one who insisted you to continue on with your sentence.

scaramouche quickly turned his head sideways to hide the blush on his cheeks, causing you to gaze at him confusedly.

the ravenette slowly nodded. “that…that'd be nice, i guess.”

you did not expect this to be the most awkward moment you've ever had with scaramouche.

hell, you didn't even expect to be back at his, no, your shared dorm.

you and scaramouche were on the small couch, the lunch box sitting on your lap just nicely.

to say that you were too scared to make the first move would be an understatement.

“aren't you gonna eat that?” scaramouche was the one to break the deafening silence.

you twisted your head to look at him. “well, i uh…” turning your head back to stare at the container on your lap, you slowly grabbed it, opening up the rectangle-sized container in hand.

utensils were already there as a set of the lunch box, and the sight of the cooked meal before you made your mouth drool in delight. the aroma of his home-made meal made you want to munch it all up more than anything right now.

you picked up a spoon, and quickly shoved it in the food before picking it up once again, bringing the utensil to your mouth, swallowing the delicious meal.

you sighed in contentment, the food tasted heavenly, just like every other meal scaramouche has made. you won't deny that you had missed this, missed his very delicious meals, missed the way he'd always cook up extras for you, and definitely missed the way he'd always look at you with a fond look as you tried out his meals.

you glanced at him, and without a doubt— scaramouche still had that same expression plastered on his face, looking at you so fondly as you had your first bite of the meal he made.

picking up a spoonful of food once again, this time, you brought it over to the front of scaramouche's closed mouth, your other hand beneath his chin.

“what the hell are you doing?”

“you said you wanted to eat together.”

“i didn't say that. you did.”

you grumbled. “okay, sure, but you were the one who said ‘it'd be nice’, so i'm just doing what you agreed upon.” you insisted, resulting in scaramouche's cheeks to flare up once again.

the ravenette was about to say something when you suddenly shoved the spoonful of food into his mouth, leaving him no choice but to eat the meal you had fed him. after the spoon was empty, you brought it back to the container on your lap, scaramouche taking a few seconds to swallow up the food in his mouth.

“tastes good?” you asked.

scaramouche quickly looked away, the tips of his ears turning red. “it– it's my cooking, obviously it'd taste divine.”

you scoffed, picking up the spoon to eat the rest of the meal.

what a stupid guy, you thought to yourself.

the afternoon continued on with you eating the meal scaramouche has made whilst talking with the ravenette, occasionally feeding him a spoonful once in a while. you absolutely paid no attention to the relentless refusals of his, saying that 'he has his own hands to feed himself', yet still accepting the meal you spoon-fed him.

“can't you stay longer?”

you sighed, shaking your head as you stood at the front door.

it was almost evening now, and you two were currently standing by the front door of his dorm, ready to part ways.

you don't think either of you were ready.

“just for the night? it's getting late.”

you shook your head once again. “sorry, kuni. i have to head back to yun jin's to check up on her, she hasn't gotten home since yesterday.” you said, eyes looking into his indigo ones. “i might have to visit viktor's dorm too to see if yun jin's there.”

“viktor?”

“yeah, why?”

“it's just that...he wasn't in class yesterday.”

your forehead wrinkled in confusion. “what do you mean?”

scaramouche shrugged. “i didn't see him during class the other day. he'd always insist on sitting next to me whenever we had class together, but he wasn't there.”

“that's… strange.” you commented, twisting the doorknob. “i'll have to check up on them at their dorms.”

scaramouche stopped you, hand grabbing your wrist, causing you to flicker your eyes to him. “i'll accompany you.”

you shook your head for the third time that night, making scaramouche furrow his brows.

“no, you should stay here. i'm sure they're just busy with whatever they're doing right now.”

“but what if you get in danger?”

sighing, your free hand reached out to grab his hand that was holding your wrist. “look, i'll… call you when i get home, okay? just to assure you that i'm fine.” you caressed his knuckles, hoping that'd ease out whatever worry he had in mind.

scaramouche huffed, looking down to the floor.

“okay...fine.”

you smiled, holding his hand as you opened the door. stepping out to the halls, you turned to look at him for the last time that evening.

“then, i'll get going now.”

“but…”

you rolled your eyes playfully, amused with the expression scaramouche had right now. he was pouting, hand holding onto yours tightly, as if he really didn't want you to go.

“i'll be fine, kuni. stop worrying about me.”

“promise you'd call me?”

you smiled, nodding as you do so. “yeah, sure, i'll call you.”

before you even got the chance to walk away, scaramouche engulfed you in a hug, knocking the breath out of your lungs.

he wrapped his arms around your figure, just like he did earlier this morning. you grumbled, but reluctantly did the same, hugging him with your bundle of layers of clothes and jacket.

you were the one to pull away first, hands falling to your sides. scaramouche however, still had his arms wrapped around your hips, causing you to blink up at him. scaramouche made no move to remove his hold from you.

“hm? is there anything else that i forgot?” you asked, referring to him still holding you.

scaramouche looked like he was in deep thought, given how he did not bother answering your question with his words.

but after a second, he answered you with his actions instead.

the hurried movement made your eyes widen, as you hesitantly brought up a hand to brush over your forehead, the spot he had just left a quick peck. it was only for a fleeting second.

did he just… kiss your forehead?

flustered, you quickly snapped your head to him, wanting to say something before it died in your throat, as the sight of scaramouche's flushed face greeted you.

even though it was a simple gesture, it still made you… shy and awkward. you've never really gotten a forehead kiss before, especially by someone like him, so for scaramouche to do such a thing would be a total shock to you.

you still remembered when he'd never fail to jab at you with his insults and degrading words, and you still remembered when you'd always reply back with snarky remarks just to spite him back.

but right now, you two were way far from being enemies. you don't even think you two are friendly colleagues at this point, because you're absolutely sure this is not something that co-workers do with each other.

co-workers wouldn't hug each other at the most random times, co-workers don't give you extra home-cooked meals, co-workers don't feed each other food, co-workers don't share the same food delivery account.

and co-workers definitely do not kiss you on the forehead as a goodbye gesture.

the moment was unfamiliar, yet you had a feeling it'd be engraved in both of your minds tonight, or until forever, even.

“be safe, y/n.”

“...yeah. i'll see you later, kuni.”

you left your shared dormitory with a fond smile, and flushed cheeks. the warmth of his lips still lingered around the spot on your forehead, making you ten times more flustered than anyone else in the building.

and scaramouche had the same embarrassed expression once he closed the front door, leaning against it as he hovered a hand over his mouth, in disbelief with what he just did a second ago.

the trip back to yun jin's and viktor's dorm building was quicker than you thought, and before you knew it, you were already in front of viktor's door.

you heaved out a sigh.

you've never gone inside viktor's dorm, so this would be a first. would a serial killer's dorm look the same as your average-college-guy dorm?

the answer is just right behind this door.

readying yourself, you built up the courage to finally knock on the door, waiting for it to open.

and when the door finally opened, someone… unfamiliar greeted you instead.

“huh? d'ya need anything?” the stranger asked, making you sweat. you don't remember viktor having a roommate.

“is uh, is viktor here? i need to see him.”

the stranger raised a brow. “that weird guy?” they asked, pointing a finger towards the dormitory beside him. “his dorm is that one. think you got the wrong place.”

“oh.”

you bowed down profusely. “s–sorry! i thought it was this one!”

the stranger laughed. “'s fine. go on now, i got a show to catch up.” they said, closing the door.

groaning, you smacked your forehead in embarrassment. archons, how did you even got it mixed up?

you sauntered over to the dorm the stranger had pointed out, heaving out yet another sigh.

well, here goes nothing.

knocking on the door once again, you waited for viktor.

yet no one opened the door.

you frowned, knocking on the door once again.

and yet again, no response.

surely, they'd be up by now, right? there was no way they were still asleep.

you fished out your phone from your jacket to dial his number, and waited for him to pick up the call.

it went straight to voicemail.

“what in teyvat…” you mumbled, looking at your phone screen. you clicked on yun jin's contact details, and called her.

it also went straight to voicemail.

“you've gotta be fucking kidding me.”

you snapped your head to stare at the door, contemplating with what you're about to do right now.

it's okay, you assured yourself. this is for the case, there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to break into your suspect's dorm.

you held your guard up, and grabbed onto the knob of the door, crouching down until you were face to face with the lock.

you've had your fair share of practice at picking locks, so this wouldn't be a hassle for you.

you quickly rummaged your bag for a paper clip, and once you found it, you looked to your left and right, making sure no one was in sight, before averting your attention back to the lock.

yet as you twisted the doorknob by accident, it opened.

“it's… it's unlocked?”

you stood up properly, pushing the door.

the dark living room greeted you, with no signs of viktor nor yun jin whatsoever. you raised an eyebrow as you reached for the switches on the wall beside you, and when the lights finally turned on, the empty room still greeted you.

you scanned through the room confusedly. where the hell are they?

quickly walking over to one of the closed doors in the dorm, you twisted it open, and yet another empty, dark room laid in front of you.

the other room was empty too, yun jin and viktor were nowhere to be found.

you scratched your head. where could they be?

are they at yun jin's dorm?

—

but as you entered yun jin's dorm after that, you were still greeted with silence, no sign of them occupying those two dorms, which made everything more confusing than it already is.

are they out watching a movie?

no, impossible. yun jin would have notified you further.

are they having a date?

no, she also would have notified you earlier, and she wouldn't have her phone turned off.

so, where were they?

sitting at the dinner table in yun jin's dorm, you took a moment to think. maybe they're at either of their parents'? you thought to yourself, shifting your eyes from your lap to the wooden surface of the table.

a piece of paper there caught your eye.

huh, that was never there before.

picking it up, you quickly scanned your eyes over the paper, and a small note was written there.

find me, before it's too late.

your eyes went wide as you read the short message, gripping onto the paper tight.

what did the message mean? find me? where?

and what did it mean before it's too late?

is… yun jin in danger?

you quickly got up, scrambling to your feet to piece the puzzles together. you fished out for your phone once again to call yun jin.

the familiar melody of yun jin's ringtone rang in the dorm, and you twisted your head to the living room, eyeing her phone on the coffee table as you quickly walked over to pick it up.

impossible. you were sure her phone wasn't here the last time you were sitting on this very couch, which was just last night.

did she come back here while you were gone, and left her phone here?

shit. you placed her phone back on the coffee table. she's definitely in danger.

you hurriedly made your way to the front door.

find me… you repeated the same words over and over again as you headed out to the halls, slamming the front door shut.

find where? where can you find her?

yun jin's and viktor's dorms are empty, so they would be crossed out from the list of possible places you could find her.

you sweat, the thought of yun jin being in danger frightened you. is viktor really going as far as to harm her girlfriend just for the sake of luring you in his trap?

wait.

does he know you were a cop?

and if he does, does that mean your cover is blown?

you gritted your teeth. no way. you had done everything in order to not get your cover exposed, so how in teyvat did he even figure it out?

you ran down the halls, heading towards the elevator. once the elevator doors closed, you continued on piecing the puzzle.

find me.

find. me.

your eyes widened upon realisation.

as the elevator dinged and slowly opened its doors, you hurriedly ran outside, before forgetting that your car was still at the workshop, meaning that you had no transportation to get there quick.

groaning, you think of another solution to quickly get to your destination.

a light bulb popped over your head, but was dismissed when you let out a sigh. no, you shouldn't trouble scaramouche by driving you there.

hell, you don't even want him to know that yun jin and viktor were gone, and that you couldn't find them.

you grumbled frustratingly. there's no other way.

viktor's frat house isn't that far off from campus, and you haven't ran in a while.

surely this quick trip would strengthen your muscles.

as you almost reached your destination, you were already out of breath.

archons, you've forgotten how tiring running would be, especially when you haven't worked out in so long.

with ragged breaths, you made your way towards viktor's frat house. you had left your bag back in the dorms, along with your bundle of scarves and layered clothes, so that you wouldn't have to carry so much stuff on you. and yet without any of those distractions, you were still tired as ever for running such a long distance in a time span of five minutes. you don't even have an ounce of idea how that's possible, but what's important is that you made it here in time.

once you reached the doorstep, you paid no mind to even think if the door was unlocked as you swiftly twisted the doorknob, causing the door to open. you were thankful that you didn't have to pry out yet another paper clip, if you had one with you in the first place.

the sullen interior of the frat house greeted you.

you turned on the lights, heading towards the living room.

if you remember correctly, viktor had a hidden basement somewhere in the living room. you stood in the middle of the area, peering over your surroundings until you finally saw the hidden basement in the corner of the room.

the rug that was covering the plank was already flipped, just enough access for someone to open up the plank to the basement.

you raised a brow.

so they really are here.

you breathed in deeply, before exhaling.

this is it, you think. it's time for you to save yun jin.

without any weapons whatsoever.

you grumbled. you really weren't prepared for this, huh.

it's fine, you thought to yourself. your never ending physical combat trainings back in the police academy would do you justice.

pulling up the plank, you eyed the entrance down to the basement, a ladder attached by the wall.

the distance from the floor of the living room to the floor of the basement was suitable enough for you to jump right in, and you did just that, landing yourself professionally on the concrete floor.

you hastily stood up, turning yourself to look at the basement.

it was empty.

what?

you were sure this was the right place.

the only stuff that filled the basement were a bunch of useless junk that were thrown out for parties, and a random table in the middle of the basement, with yet another note placed on top of it.

you quickly walked over to the table, snatching the paper to read the contents.

you got the wrong place. think again, y/n.

eyes wide, you stared at the paper in shock, sweating.

he knows your name?

archons, your cover really is blown.

but most importantly, you went to the wrong place? how could this even happen? you wondered to yourself as you crumpled the piece of paper in your hand, too frustrated with the events happening as of now.

you're sure… you're really damn sure this was the right…

you blinked, before your eyes went wide once again.

fuck, of course.

tossing the now crumpled paper to the side, you quickly went back up with the ladder, scrambling to get out of the stupid frat house that was no use to you.

once you got outside, you ran to your next destination, pulling up your phone to call for the one person you needed at the time. how can you be so slow on catching up with his clues?

of course it'd be the cabin.

the exact cabin you found in the evidence scaramouche had given you.

the exact cabin under yun jin's name.

how could you even miss out on such detail?

the frat house was just a distraction to mess with you. the basement you and scaramouche had thought preserved the most darkest secrets of viktor stepanov was only filled with a bunch of junk for parties and such.

viktor knew you were headed for the frat house first. he knew that you knew about the secret basement he had there. and he absolutely knew that place would be your first target.

the tall brunette had tricked you from the very start.

viktor already had you wrapped around his finger from the very beginning of this case, trapping you in with the many tricks up his sleeve.

and the worst thing is that he is winning.

you hurriedly ran for your life, not even minding the numb and tiredness you're getting from using the strength of your legs for the past ten minutes. yun jin's life was in serious danger by the hands of a serial killer, and you're not going to let anything happen to your new friend.

the call rang for a few seconds, until it finally went in.

“y/n? you got home safe?”

you didn't answer for the next few seconds, only the sound of wind crashing through the mic of your phone.

“y/n? you okay?”

“call–call the squad, now.” you said through heavy breaths, continuing on running.

“what? are you okay? why are you running?” scaramouche asked worriedly, and you didn't answer immediately. suddenly, it dawned on him. “wait, you're not–”

“just fucking call the squad and tell them to head for the cabin! yun jin's in danger!”

the sound of rustling can be heard from the other line, until you heard the sound of the door closing. “y/n, don't go there by yourself. wait for me.”

“there's no time! she–she could be hurt any second now!”

now, the sound from his line was matching yours, as scaramouche was currently running too. “you're unarmed, y/n! stop running and–wait for me to come and get you!”

“no use, i'm almost there now.” you were right, the cabin was a few hundred meters away from you now, you could practically see the small roof of the cabin from here. you were thankful the woods isn't far off from viktor's frat house.

“y/n. stop, please. don't you dare go in until i get there!”

“no. i–i need to save her. just–call the squad and tell them to barge into the cabin. we're gonna close this case tonight— once and for all.”

“y/n, you're going to die if you go there alone. how many times do i have to keep telling you to stop being the stupid fucking hero you think you are?! was that fight not enough?!”

you morphed out a small smile, stopping yourself just right in front of the cabin.

“i won't–i really won't mind dying in the line of duty, as long as i get to save people.” you mumbled through heavy breaths. “and–this people in question just happened to be one of my closest friends.”

scaramouche started up his car, the sound of his engine filling up his line. “y/n, just wait until i–”

you hung up, turning off your phone for good.

this is it, you think through batted breaths.

if yun jin and viktor aren't behind this door, then you've completely fucked up this case.

but if they are, you've got to prepare for the worst.

there's no other solution behind this.

you're unarmed, you have absolutely nothing to shield you from being attacked, and to be honest, you're not ready in the slightest, yet you had a feeling that you just had to do it now, or else you'd be scarred for life.

holding onto the doorknob, you braced yourself for what you're about to face behind this very door.

you've reassured yourself from the frat house all the way here that nothing bad would happen, and that you would stop viktor before he could make things worse, but the way your body is shaking and trembling right now was saying otherwise.

you gripped tightly onto the doorknob, your shaky hand making it continuously rattle like a madman.

no. you have to do it now.

before it's too late.

just like what the note had said.

viktor had waited for you to crack this case. he had only mentioned your name in the paper, and he had left these notes for you to find.

he was anticipating for your arrival, not anyone else's.

there was no time to wait for scaramouche, let alone wait for the squad to arrive. the precint to here is at least a fifteen-minute drive. you could try stalling some time until they get here, but that'd take too long, and you're not sure if you'd be alive by the time they arrived, so you have no choice but to finish this off yourself.

you sighed for the hundredth time that evening.

the memory of scaramouche vowing to protect the people of snezhnaya played in your mind, and you smiled to yourself with gritted teeth.

yeah. ready or not, you had made an oath to protect the citizens of snezhnaya, in any sorts of circumstances, deathly or not.

there was no other way for you to prevent this from happening.

the only thing you could do now was stop viktor, save yun jin, and get out of this mess.

even if it meant sacrificing your own life.

slowly twisting the doorknob, you heaved out yet another warm breath, the cold weather hitting you like a brick. the winter season was close, and it could snow anytime now.

you hoped you'd have the time to witness the snow after this, at least for one last time.

as the door opened rather quickly and harshly, you hurriedly slammed it shut, peering over the inside of the cabin. it looked like any other cabin you've seen off the internet, except that instead of a cozy atmosphere, it was only filled with despair.

someone was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, their hands and ankles being restricted to a tight rope. you couldn't make out on who it was due to their head hanging low, so you decided to do what any other person would do when they're curious.

you slowly walked closer to the person tied to the chair to see them clearly, but when you finally got to see who it was, you furrowed your brows in confusion.

“viktor?”

a reminder that this exists and there's a very slim chance that is the ending, but who knows, haha!

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#h✧˖—mission accomplished #scaramouche #scaramouche x reader #genshin scaramouche #genshin impact scaramouche #scaramouche fluff #genshin scara #scara x reader #genshin impact #genshin #genshin x you #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact reader insert #kunikuzushi #kunikuzushi x reader #and the plot thickens #hope you guys are doing well after this chapter

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bacon-sandwich-of-dionysus · 1 year

Text

Bloodhound. (A Ghost x AFAB!reader fic)

Act One, Chapter Four: The Fool

Hey all! I hope you enjoy this chapter as I had a lot of fun writing this one! :)

As per usual, apologies for any grammar mistakes. Exam season is coming in thick and fast too, around May to June, so momentum for this fic will be slowing down by a lot. You guys have been so patient so far and I'm very grateful for it.

Word count: 6,327

Warnings: Threats of violence, strong language, horror elements, Y/N having a bit of a moment, and Ghost and Soap being a pair of daft himbos.

Ghost and Soap really are the epitome of 'tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dumber'. Yes, Ghost is mean and moody, hot and broody, but I also believe that when he gets comfortable with someone, he loses about 95% of his intelligence.

“Aha!” He got out a small red bag with a white cross on it. “Roll it up so I can see what we’re dealing with here.”

23 shifted awkwardly, refusing.

Graves sighed, “Kid, you gotta help me out. I’m the one with the first aid kit and you’re the one with the bleeding knee. Let me have a look and try to sort this out.”

Again, she refused, shrinking away from him a little. Phillip rolled his eyes under his mask and then made for her, reaching forward to bring her closer to him. The child soldier backed up even further, almost falling off the tree stump she was sitting on as she swatted his hand away. He muttered a curse under his breath and turned around.

“72,” he called, “could you tell your, uh… Could you tell 23 here that I need her to show me the injury so I can fix it?”

“He’s not got any intentions of hurting you, 23,” 72 said, not looking up from her crossword, “You can see for yourself.”

Eventually, the younger of the two girls came around and rolled up her trouser leg to expose her knee. Graves winced a little as the injury was revealed. It was a nasty scrape, not too deep, but it definitely looked like it hurt. The joint itself was a little swollen too.

“I think you might have sprained it,” he remarked, bringing the leg closer to his concealed face.

“It really hurts.”

“I’m sure it does, hun.”

As he got to cleaning up the blood and debris of gravel with an antiseptic wipe, 7629 approached and set down a small bowl beside him.

“Thanks.”

“You better eat quickly. I think Valeria’s gonna be up soon.”

“Roger.”

He briefly stopped tending to 23, removing his hand from her leg to feel around for the release-mechanism on his canister-less mask. Phillip couldn’t remember how exactly he ended up with no canisters on his face, but, then again, he couldn’t exactly remember how ended up unconscious, on top of Valeria… who was also unconscious, looking like she had just escaped from an animal attack. The woman’s clothes had been torn in a pattern of scratch marks, with a shallow but still painful bite on her shoulder.

He was still puzzled as to how she got those slashes and how he ended up covered in blood too, with bite marks of his own littering his forearms… because he was still denying it was him.

Phillip was also denying that he had any part to play in 23’s sprained and bloody knee.

No one had told him anything useful about what had happened to the kid too, just that she had tripped trying to run away from someone. 72 had mentioned offhandedly that she had gone looking for him once the dust had settled and the pack had cleared the area of hostiles but…yeah, at this point he’d rather not know.

He took a spoonful of whatever 7418 had cooked up in that cheap-looking iron pot, only to almost faint from sheer delight.

Phillip never thought he’d see the day when he’d experience a ‘foodgasm’.

“Holy shit!” he said with a mouthful of the stuff, “What the fuck did you do to this, ‘418?!”

7418 shrugged, shaking his head as he chuckled, watching over the bubbling pot.

Graves was certain it had to be mutton or something, the texture reminding him of lamb. He had no idea how 7418 had managed to make something so good from mere camping food. He knew the guy had brought little jars of spices with him, catching the scent of them as he walked past 7418’s rucksack every now and then. The other guys, who had known him longer, appeared to have this running gag about him being the Las Almas cartel’s cook, as opposed to an ex-sicario, as shown by 7152 slapping him lightly on the back and addressing him as ‘Chef Ramsey’.

Anyways, Graves took one more spoonful of his dinner and quickly got back to patching up 23.

“I don’t want this getting any worse,” he mumbled as he got out a large plaster, “You stay close to 72 and you don’t get into the heat of the action. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” she sighed.

“I’m not having two kids dying on my watch. You help when I say you can, and you stay out of it when I say you do.”

She nodded.

“And that goes for you too, 72!”

The other girl gave him a thumbs-up, still working through her crossword.

Phillip shuddered at the mere thought of losing these two. Sure, he wasn’t exactly a good person per se, but the man had morals. Children. Children were where he would draw the line. Furthermore, judging by how the other guys didn’t really have much regard for them, he knew he would have to take it upon himself to ensure their safety. Graves just hoped they wouldn’t make that too difficult for him.

He pouted a little as he saw 23’s melancholy expression.

“You’re fine, 23.”

That didn’t really do much to cheer her up.

Then, Graves had an idea. He got up and moved a few feet to kneel down by the supply bags. After retrieving the desired item, he returned to kneeling before 23, presenting it to her.

“Hey!” he called for her attention, “At least your little camcorder didn’t break during your fall.”

A small smile crept onto her face as she took it from him, eager to start flicking through any footage she captured. A warmth found itself building in Phillip’s chest as he watched on, relief sweeping over him as he saw some colour and some cheeriness return to his lamia.

That was when someone lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

“She’s up, 7223.”

He nodded and thanked 7629. Then, he got up, told 23 to stay put and 72 to watch over her, before taking his leave. Not wanting his food to go cold, Phillip took his bowl with him, wolfing down a few more spoonfuls as his fellow soldier led him to where they had put Valeria.

Her eyes fluttered open, and Valeria was quick to pick up on the fact both her arms and her legs had been restrained. The wilderness which engulfed Las Almas was where she found herself. With a grunt, she struggled a little against the restraints, to test how securely they had been wrapped around her. Her legs had been bound by wiry rope and her arms were brought around and secured together behind her. Well, behind a tree. Valeria had been cuffed to a tree trunk.

As her vision cleared up, she saw three figures approaching from the small gathering a few metres ahead. She kept her head high, not wanting to show any sign of weakness. However, her captors could easily see through her facade of confidence, hearing her heart race inside her chest. 7629 couldn’t help but salivate a little, hackles raising, his mind filled with blood-drunk thoughts of a tasty meal.

Graves too could sense her blood rushing through her body. So… much… of… it. He shook away the urges, a little unnerved by them.

“So,” Valeria sighed, shoulders slumping a little, “what do you want this time, lobos?”

“We have a job for you.” The one in the middle spoke.

More specifically, the American one.

Valeria felt a shiver run down her spine. He was the one who half-ate Alvaro and almost devoured her too.

“Job?” she scoffed, putting on a mask of her own, of being unfazed and unafraid, “I don’t take orders anymore. I can offer intel to the Foundation, but I won’t do jobs.”

“You see, that’s the problem.” The American one feigned an apologetic sigh. “We have all the intel we need so bartering your way out of this with information ain’t gonna help.”

His voice was much clearer with his mouthpiece removed and mask drawn up to reveal some of his face. Now, Valeria knew why she recognised him from the scuffle.

“Graves?” she asked, almost timidly, “Phillip Graves, is that you?”

“Hi, Valeria.” He grinned, his voice coming out almost like a purr.

Her heart threatened to burst, blood rushing in her ears. She could feel herself begin to quiver a little.

“I saw you die. Your tank exploded. You would have been literal pieces…”

“It’s amazing what we can achieve with modern medicine, isn’t it?” he chuckled, resting his hands on his knees as he leaned in.

This was bad. This was really bad. The Foundation wanted him to be here for a reason. They wanted him here because he had connections. He was very much relevant to whatever task these lot were undertaking.

Alejandro, Rudy, and the rest were in grave danger.

Her tan skin had paled a little, breaths becoming shallow, as she stared at him with wide eyes.

“What does the Foundation want with the Vaqueros?”

“It’s not the Vaqueros we’re after.”

Valeria chewed on the inside of her cheek, already dreading the answer to her next question. The woman prayed that they already knew the information she was about to divulge in her question, or she would end up giving those boys away.

“What does the Foundation want with Task Force 141?”

“A client has a target we need to make a Son out of,” another spoke up from behind Phillip, “and we need you to deliver the infection.”

Valeria felt a cold sensation run through her.

“Why me?”

“Does it matter?”

The woman had an idea. Most likely, it was to keep the element of surprise for when they’d extract their new packmate. On the other hand, though, they could’ve kidnapped anyone else to do that. This was personal. Well, she sighed, that is the Foundation. They held grudges and they held power. No one, ex-lamia or ex-gorgon, was ever truly a free woman.

She didn’t want to do this. She really didn’t. Infecting someone with this… that would be delivering them a fate worse than death. Valeria was sick but there were still a few morals lingering at the back of her mind. Morals that were coming to the forefront now. The angel on her shoulder was screaming at her to just let them kill her and find someone else to be their personal postman.

Graves tilted his head to one side, impatience growing as Valeria’s silence dragged on.

Whilst Valeria’s reluctance was the dominant, screeching voice inside her head, her logical side was still very much part of this internal debate… and it argued well.

Death for her was… not ideal.

Valeria didn’t want to die but she also didn’t want to be part of this twisted game of ‘Pass the Parcel’.

“Well,” the logical part of her argued, “you wouldn’t really be part of this game, not voluntarily, anyway.”

Besides, word was, on the street, that a runaway lamia was sighted in their hepta-plate armour just on the outskirts of Las Almas. Yes, it wouldn’t be ideal to foist another problem onto that poor person but… wouldn’t they mind helping a fellow sister out? Valeria prayed that the rogue lamia would stay long enough to cross paths with the monster she was about to help create.

Her hands were tied, both literally and figuratively.

Valeria swallowed hard, desperately trying to cling to her slipping facade of fearless strength.

One of the hounds behind Phillip growled, hackles raising a little.

“Valeria,” 7418 began, “do you want to know what we’re having for dinner tonight?”

He pointed to the bowl of food Graves had set on the ground.

No, she didn’t want to know.

He chuckled.

"Te lo diré, de todos modos. ¡Es uno de tus sicarios y será mejor que empieces a cumplir o te unirás a ellos en un maldito caldo!"

"I'll tell you, anyway. He's one of your hitmen and you'd better start complying or join them in a damn broth!" was what he had said.

She sighed resignedly, horrified but not surprised. They were nothing but animals after all. At this point, Arcadian Sons gloating about which friend of hers they had eaten wouldn’t do much but cement the fact that they were rotten to the core, infected with both disease and whatever long-harboured spite had been brewing away inside them from their time as corpses.

She really should have been grateful that they hadn’t made a meal out of her yet. The fact that they were choosing conversation over tearing her throat out was something not to be taken lightly.

“At this point, boys, I don’t care. Kill, eat, pillage, destroy… I…”

Valeria couldn’t even bring herself to say it. ‘El Sin Nombre’ had given her an illusion of control and now, she had found she, in fact, had only been playing pretend. Those men were always so good at reminding her of who she was. They were an annoying constant which bridged the gap between her old and new life. Valeria loved power, until now, because now she had realised she had never even had a true taste of it. Valeria had been merely toying with the idea.

Real power was holed up in the heart of the Foundation, wearing a white coat and ticking boxes on a checklist.

Real power was also lording over her, dangling these men, these puppets, over her head, as if to say, “You’re still mine.”

It was always wise to recognise when you only have one choice, and Valeria could see it now. She had to do what she was told. The woman just hoped that there was someone else further down the line who could minimise the damage that would ensue from making this decision.

“I’ll do it. I’ll lure them out and infect the target. Give me all the information I need.”

Her voice had no emotion. That passionate, brazen cartel queen was gone. All that was left was someone tired. Someone who just wanted this to be over and done with. Like that, the woman was back to square one. Broken and afraid, with nowhere to go but to the Mexican military, with the hopes that maybe she could make a living putting some of her skills to good use.

“Muy bien.” Graves smiled.

“On the condition,” Valeria added, “you leave me be… for good.”

“You know we can’t promise that.” 7629 spoke up.

It was worth a try, Valeria supposed.

Graves turned around to address the men, “I’ll give Valeria, here, the intel she needs to complete the job. I’ll inform both you and her of what the agreed signal will be to notify success. Once we receive that signal, we’ll plan for the extraction. Understood, boys?”

“Yup!”

Phillip nodded and returned to Valeria.

“Your target is…”

Oh God…

She braced herself.

“... Simon Riley.”

Huh?

“Who?” the woman asked, brows furrowing.

Graves smiled, fangs glinting in the dim light of the central campfire.

“You may know him as ‘Ghost’.”

Her stomach dropped.

“This is some reunion! Don’t you agree?” Phillip chuckled, picking up his bowl and taking his leave, “I’ll tell you all you need in ten, Valeria.”

She cast her gaze to the ground, staring daggers into the soil, too afraid to direct them at Graves’ back; lest he sensed her look of indignation and did something about it.

“We’re not too different, you and I, Commander Graves.”

He halted, a little unnerved by her robotic, yet somewhat condescending, tone.

Turning around, Phillip looked at Valeria with a concealed face of slight confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re both trapped- slaves to the Foundation. You’ll never be rid of them, you know. This is only just the beginning.”

She slowly moved to meet his face, head resting against the tree bark, her body not bothered enough to correct her slumped posture.

“Uniforms were always limitations for you and now look where you are, what you are.”

“I’ll cope,” he replied, through clenched teeth.

“You’re already struggling.”

She was just trying to stir him up, to try and get one over him. He wasn’t going to give in and entertain her, though. Valeria would just have to remain bound to a tree until they’d have need of her for their plan.

“By blood, we are bound,” the woman chuckled wryly, “You’ll be a soldier forever now, Graves.”

“Well, not forever,” he spoke patronisingly, setting down in front of her again, “One day, I’ll die and then I’ll be a soldier no more.”

“That’s if the Foundation is merciful.”

Cold ran through him. Graves growled a string of obscenities under his breath and got back up, shaking his head. Valeria followed him with her eyes, watching him finish his meal and press down on his mask. Once again, he was back to being a faceless monster, any remnants of his humanity being locked away under that awful, awful mask.

***

You were pacing back and forth in the small supply closet you had managed to find. You should’ve waited with Soap, not been a coward. However, you also knew that you’d probably end up sitting there for five minutes, jigging your leg up and down, before becoming too restless and running away anyways. There was really only one option here.

Sighing, you stopped your pacing and leaned against a wall, before sinking down and landing on your bum. You drew your knees to your chest, hugging them as you contemplated just how much trouble you were in with Laswell.

Could you even quantify it?

A little whimper escaped your lips.

How on Earth were you a lamia? You were the most spineless coward you knew!

Perhaps that was why everyone else had died that night except for you.

Oh God…

How could people in the army voluntarily do this?!

Which then begged the question of why you had decided to take up that challenge to go against Ghost.

‘Ego’ was most likely the answer.

You wanted to impress, to fit in, to befriend them, maybe start a few inside jokes. You thought that’s what army men liked doing: beating each other up and then cracking jokes about it.

The problem was that you were no army man, and you didn’t really find entertainment in beating your mates up. You didn’t really like violence altogether.

You wanted to be a normal person, have a normal job, you know? Take trains, type on computers, drink expensive drinks from… what was that place called that people spoke about… ‘Barstucks’?

Laswell could sense it in you from the moment you arrived: a monster trying to become human. You thought, maybe because she had experience in that department, she could teach you a few things.

Now, you had your doubts. Maybe she hadn’t had that experience. After all, she was in the military, using the same skills, just for different bosses. Laswell was still a lamia, just not the Foundation’s.

Other free women you had heard about had either gone into crime or… well, didn’t last very long.

Maybe you couldn’t be a normal human.

You buried your face into your knees.

Laswell had been running all over the place to find you. She had asked Gaz, gone back to see if you had returned to Soap, grabbed Price by the shoulders and shaken him, raving on about how you were… well, the best she could put was ‘fragile’.

She supposed the one good thing to come out of this was that in the hour she had spent hunting around, building up a small party consisting of Gaz, Rudy, Price and Alejandro, Ghost had managed to recover somewhat.

Soap was so happy when he saw Ghost come out of the medical room, a little sore but mostly alright. He had practically leapt out of his seat, fussing over the man the moment he had made his exit.

“Steamin’ Jesus!” Soap rejoiced, feeling relieved upon seeing Ghost look like his usual, albeit slightly mysterious, self.

“Relax, Johnny, it’s not like I was going to die.” Ghost sighed, rolling his shoulders, his body still waking up.

“I was more worried for yer future kids!” The Scotsman elbowed Ghost playfully.

“For a second I was too but the doc said I was fine. Apparently, I was just ‘shocked’.”

“Shocked?!” Soap couldn’t believe it, “Are you telling me that Y/N actually managed to gain the element of surprise over you?”

Ghost shrugged.

“No way! Someone actually did it! Someone out-Ghosted you!”

Soap couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“I’m glad you’re having fun at my expense.”

“Come on! It’s a bit funny. That tiny, little-”

“Okay, Y/N isn’t that small.”

“Well, compared to you, anyways. That little minx! They absolutely out-Ghosted you!”

Ghost sighed… and then realised something. Y/N definitely packed quite a punch. Quite a big punch. Almost too big of a punch, for someone of their size.

“Speaking of Y/N,” he looked over to Soap, before continuing in a hushed voice, “Don’t you think they were a bit too strong?”

Soap cast his mind back to the fight. Yeah. Now that he thought about it, there was a moment that he could only describe as… odd. You had thrown Ghost over your shoulder like he was nothing but a sack of potatoes. Pairing that with the rather strong handshake you had introduced yourself with to MacTavish… hmm… He stroked his chin. Strange.

“Aye. I mean, Y/N had, uh, quite a firm handshake too.”

“What do you mean?” Ghost asked, raising an eyebrow under his mask.

“When I shook hands with them, yesterday, I… They held onto me quite, you know, strongly. Felt like they were going to take my arm with them!”

“Something’s off about them.”

“Sure! But Laswell did say they were weirdly socialised from a young age or something.”

“Having an odd upbringing doesn’t make you freakishly strong, Soap.” Ghost shook his head, letting out a breathy laugh.

“Oh, and how would you know that, Simon?”

He remained quiet, looking at Soap knowingly, before quickening his pace.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” MacTavish asked.

He chased after Ghost, breaking into a light jog.

“Oi! Simon! What do yer mean by that?!”

Suddenly, Ghost stopped in his tracks.

“Do you hear that?”

“What?”

“Come here.”

Ghost gestured for the man to press his ear against the door of the supply closet. Soap did so, after picking away at some of the peeling paint. He did a few seconds’ worth of listening before looking back at his friend.

“Is someone in there?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Who hangs around in a broom cupboard?”

“Let’s find out, shall we?”

Gently, Ghost opened the door, light spilling into the darkness. He looked this way and that, sticking his head into the closet.

You held your breath, shrinking into the shadows, hoping they’d lose interest soon.

“I don’t see anyone, Ghost.”

He hummed in reply, though it wasn’t in agreement.

“Hello?”

“Lt, with all due respect, I think you’re talking into a void right now.”

“Shh!” Ghost snapped back.

Soap rolled his eyes, before catching sight of a vending machine sitting by the doorway to the canteen.

“While you’re poking through broom cupboards, I’m gonna go grab a snack. Want anything?”

Ghost didn’t reply, instead taking a step into the closet.

MacTavish shrugged, letting Ghost continue his investigation whilst he went to get himself a cereal bar or something. He thought he needed one after the day he’d had. Ghost would probably want one too, though Soap knew the man would begrudgingly take it from him… as he always did. Ghost seldom liked to rely on others, and it was a recent breakthrough for MacTavish to get him to even take offered food.

Soap wandered off to pursue some sugary delights as Ghost fully immersed himself in the darkness of the supply closet.

Someone was here, he knew it. The lieutenant had developed a sense for these types of situations, it was like he could sniff a person out. Anyways, he peered around, lifting miscellaneous bits and pieces off the ground, seeing if anyone lay under them.

You shrunk away even further, hoping he’d drop it and leave, wanting to be alone.

Unfortunately, Ghost found you. He removed the bundle of brooms and mops which had sheltered your sulking body.

“Y/N?”

You looked up at him before your eyes fell to the ground.

“Go away.” You mumbled.

“Wow. You kick me in the balls and now you’re telling me to ‘go away’. Awfully kind of you,” he chuckled, taking a seat beside you, wincing a little as he landed on a sore spot.

You shuffled away from him, withdrawing further and further into your cocoon of sadness. You reminded Ghost of a kicked puppy, which was kind of ironic seeing as you were the one who had done the kicking, but anyways, he wasn’t oblivious, he could tell you weren’t happy.

“Usually when I see someone realising they’ve fucked up, it makes me feel quite good,” Ghost remarked, “but for some reason, Y/N, you’re really bringing my mood down looking like this.”

You grumbled something, but he couldn’t make out what it was, your knees muffling your voice.

“How long have you been sulking in this broom cupboard?”

Again, you mumbled something.

“What was that?”

“I’m not sulking,” you growled.

“It looks like you’re sulking.”

Finally, you released yourself from your prison and stretched your legs out, sighing.

“I… I just feel bad, Ghost. I didn’t mean to-”

“I know you didn’t.”

You turned to face him, a little surprised.

“You looked scared,” he admitted, staring ahead, “I wasn’t going to hurt you. You know that, right?”

“I look scared?”

“Yeah. When I was coming to help you up. you looked at me, but I…” He scratched the back of his head, trying to find the words. “I don’t think you saw me.”

Being in this profession long enough, Ghost knew the signs of trauma when he saw them. Sure, he wasn’t exactly the leader of this motley crew, that title belonged to Price, but he was still a lieutenant. He still had to take care of people in some form, and while you weren’t really part of anyone’s group, that caring instinct took hold of him.

You sat there in silence, face twisting a little as you digested his sentence. Ghost turned to look at you, leaning in a little but being measured about it, hoping to not frighten you off.

“Are you okay, Y/N? I’m not usually good with this, but do you need to talk to someone?”

Your lip wibbled, tears forming in your eyes. You didn’t know what was happening, but this surge of emotion overcame you. Body trembling, shoulders tensing, you felt it coming up your throat.

You cried.

You cried and cried and cried.

Tears streamed down your cheeks and into your hands as you brought them to your face. As you clutched your head, fingers threatening to dig into your eyes, Ghost just sat there, unsure of what to do.

He had expected that you would start howling like a banshee, but it never came to that. Instead, muffled sobs and sniffles filled the silence of the supply closet.

As you trembled, you felt a light touch on your shoulder and back. Then, a force pulled you until you hit something fairly solid.

Instinctually, you nestled into his warmth, still crying. Ghost stared off into the distance, letting you have this moment, unjudged, to just let it all out.

Laswell had said you had been through a lot, and now, he was certain of it.

Several footsteps sounded outside, suggesting the presence of a group of people hurrying along the corridor. The murmur of voices came along with it, growing louder as the party drew nearer.

“Okay, this is the last place we haven’t checked.” Ghost recognised Price’s gravelly voice.

“I’ll have a look inside, you lot keep an eye out for them around here,” Kate replied.

She came in, only to see you resting against Ghost, eyes squeezed shut as you continued to cry.

Laswell made to approach, but Ghost raised his hand.

“Give them a moment. I’ll let Y/N know you wanted to see them.” He whispered.

She let out a sigh.

“If you start feeling weird, leave them and eat raisins.”

Before Ghost could ask one of the many questions floating around his head after that bizarre statement, Kate left.

Go eat raisins?

The way she had said it almost sounded like medical advice. What did Kate mean by that?

His eyes narrowed a little, but he wasn't going to pay too much attention to it. He supposed if it came to it, he’d just do as she said and ask his questions later. Ghost was pretty sure he wouldn’t start ‘feeling strange’.

However, gradually, Ghost began to notice an unfamiliar sensation overcome him: profound sadness. The feeling sort of made itself home at the back of his mind, being just about ignorable, but he found it curious. This probably sounded nuts saying it aloud, but Ghost felt as though this emotion didn’t belong to him.

He looked at you. You had stopped crying now and had resorted to staring off into space, your tear-stained face haloed by the light pooling in from the open door. You had entered the numbness stage, not really feeling anything. Although, you did know things were still intense, bubbling just under the surface, because you could sense it had transferred to Ghost, like a faint, developing stain on his mind.

It was probably best to conclude this ‘exchange’ and go your separate ways.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, wiping away some of your tears from his shirt with your sleeve, “Your top is probably really gross now.”

He let out a small chuckle as he watched you do your best to neaten yourself up, moving your hair aside and wiping away any signs of sadness on your face.

As you made to get up, you felt him gently stop you.

A lump in your throat formed as you locked eyes with him.

Ghost wanted to ask who you were, what you were, knowing full well you had had some effect on him… However, there was a time and place for those questions, and he understood that you probably wouldn’t like being interrogated. And so, he let you leave.

“Go eat raisins, they’ll, uh, help,” you blurted out before spinning on your heel and scampering off.

Raisins, again. Ghost’s brows knitted together under his mask. He decided he would take that advice… just in case.

Finally, you had space to breathe… well, you thought you did. Your hopes were quickly quashed as you halted at the sight of Laswell, standing a few feet ahead of you, down the corridor, arms folded, unimpressed.

You gulped.

She ushered you into the bathroom and closed the door. Then, she took a deep breath, before returning to face you.

“Y/N… I…” she sighed, scratching the back of her neck, “Look, if you want to blend into normal society, you gotta-”

“I’m leaving,” you cut her off, “I don’t think I’m any good here.”

Laswell was shocked.

“Y/N, no. You can’t. I still haven’t sorted out-”

“It’s fine. Just put it on my lexicon.”

“I don’t have a lexicon to transfer the information to yours.”

“What?”

She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“This is my point. People out there don’t have lexicons. The guys here aren’t anything like the Arcadian Sons back at the Foundation. They’re not as strong. They can’t change. None of it. You’re not weak here.”

Laswell made to approach you and felt her heart sink a little as she watched you back up.

“Y/N, I can help you find a way to keep the Foundation off your tail but once you’re out there, you need to understand that you are not weak. We lamias are insanely potent, and that potency can seriously hurt people. You have to promise me that you’ll be careful. Being human isn’t easy.”

“Laswell, I wasn’t going to hurt him!” you shook your head, voice shaking a little as you laughed, nervously, “I know that these guys and the people out there are not the same as those in the Foundation. I’m not stupid!”

“I just need you to be careful. I have seriously hurt people and I don’t want you to make the same mistake.”

“I won’t.”

“You won’t?”

“Yes, I-”

“Shh!”

Laswell’s demeanour suddenly changed. She looked about, alert, pupils dilated.

“Someone’s eavesdropping.”

You tried to suss out who it was too, looking about just as Kate was.

“Who?” you asked.

Soap stood on the other side of the door, plastered against the wall, covering his mouth.

“Mactavish,” Laswell whispered under her breath.

Soap shuddered.

He looked down and saw the handle on the door begin to turn. Almost immediately, he took off.

The door swung open, and Kate peered out to an empty corridor. She hoped Soap hadn’t heard too much, sighing resignedly.

“Y/N,” she kept composed, continuing the conversation, “don’t overthink this. Just be aware of your strengths. The world’s not made of glass, but it easily can be if you’re not careful. I’m still working on contacting someone who can get your records deleted and make you officially not Red Room property, but it’s gonna take some time. Stay here in the meantime and keep calm, I don’t need you turning my boys into messes.”

“I’ll do my best. And I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Learn your lesson and stick to where I can keep an eye on you.”

You nodded, your mind wandering back to Ghost.

Laswell picked up on it.

“Ghost’s a good one. But don’t crowd him, he likes being mysterious and aloof.”

She chuckled as she watched you flounder, trying to excuse your sudden interest.

“Take care of yourself, Y/N.”

“Thanks, Kate. I’ll try.”

***

Ghost, for some odd reason, had volunteered to be on night watch again. Everyone was surprised and seriously discouraged him, especially after his little accident with you. However, all pleas for him to just go to bed fell on deaf ears. He was stubborn as a mule and adamant to be on lookout for the night.

Soap had initially joined the discouragement but soon was elated to have his mate with him. They both trekked the halls, looking around for any signs worthy of suspicion.

It had been a pretty quiet night, with little to nothing happening.

That was until the howling started.

Soap had gone from reclining in his chair on the ‘front porch’ of the base to sitting bolt upright, gun at the ready. Ghost gestured for him to lower his weapon.

“What was that?” Soap whispered.

Ghost shrugged, throwing a raisin up in the air, only to miss it as he tried to catch it with his mouth.

“Coyotes or something.”

“Nah!” Soap shook his head. “That’s too deep to belong to a coyote. It almost sounds like a person!”

“Coyotes sometimes sound like that,” Ghost remarked, stretching his legs out, “Remember when we were interrogating Hassan? Those coyotes sounded like a bunch of wailing women.”

“Freaky stuff.”

He watched Soap swallow hard, reclining back into his seat, albeit reluctantly.

“Awooo…” Ghost let out, with a snicker.

“Simon, that’s not funny.”

“Awooo! A-A-Awoooo!” The lieutenant howled into the night.

“Simon, shut up!”

Soap struck at him, lightly, only to then whip his head around at the sound.

“AWOOOOOO!” the forest replied.

Soap felt chills run up and down his spine. Ghost watched his face grow pale.

“Come on, Johnny, let’s go inside if you’re that spooked.”

He got up from the dinky chair and gestured for Soap to follow and he did so, not taking his eyes off the trees, deeply unnerved by the sounds of the night.

As they walked down the corridors, Soap stopped by your bag. He shined his torch at it, curiosity spurring him on to investigate.

“Those are Y/N’s things,” Ghost spoke with a stern voice, “Leave ‘em.”

“You know,” Soap mumbled as he squatted down before the open duffel bag, something shining between the lips of the open zip, “I think Y/N might be something supernatural, and so is Laswell.”

“Laswell?” Ghost raised an eyebrow under his balaclava.

“Aye. I think they’re both the same… thing?”

“Johnny, I don’t think we should be looking through Y/N’s shit. Let’s keep moving-”

CRASH!

“Soap!” Ghost snapped.

MacTavish’s eyes widened as he investigated the spilt contents of your bag, lightly holding a sleeve of your hepta-plate armour.

“What is this stuff?”

Now, Ghost was curious. He knelt down beside Soap, peering at it.

“It’s… shiny.”

He ran his finger over the scale-like texture of your chest piece, only to then reach the centre. There was a larger chunk at the heart of the armour and, wanting to see if it was a button or something, he gently gave it two taps.

They both gasped as they watched the entire raiment vanish from existence, only to then fizzle back like a glitching television screen.

“Oh my God,” was all Soap could say.

Ghost was stunned into silence, feeling the foreign fabric between his thumb and index finger.

“Who is Y/N?” he muttered, examining how the scales of your armour reflected the torchlight, iridescent, like the shell of a beetle.

As Ghost was about to activate the shroud mechanism again, someone from behind spoke up.

“What are you two doing?”

They both stood up and turned around, hearts kicking up a notch as they realised it was you.

You had your arms folded over your chest, your foot tapping on the floor as you eagerly awaited their excuses for going through your things.

“Y/N!” Soap remarked, “Uh…”

Ghost knew the Scotsman was going to start digging a hole for the two of them, hence why he elbowed him. Soap promptly shut up.

“I see you’re having another late-night stroll.” Ghost gestured at your… uh… clearly-being-up-ness.

#AND THE PLOT THICKENS #bloodhound fic #cod mwii fic #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley #phillip graves cod fic #valeria garza cod #john soap mactavish #kate laswell #cod mw2 werewolf au

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