#as soon as i get my light glyph earrings back i’m never taking them off i swear

[luminousstardust]

thinking about how luz was the light the boiling isles needed. not only is it literally her name, but it’s the first spell she learned how to “communicate” with the titan. and it’s the spell that was able to wake everyone up from their nightmares and the puppet spell. it’s the spell that got rid of that god-awful belos goop. she’s the light.

#FULL CIRCLE MOMENT BABYYY #as soon as i get my light glyph earrings back i’m never taking them off i swear #i’m having big feelings about the owl house if you can’t tell bye #TOH SPOILERS #WATCHING AND DREAMING SPOILERS #THE OWL HOUSE SPOILERS #the owl house #toh #watching and dreaming #luz noceda

[drabbles-of-writing]

Be Alright

This is part of my Four Years AU

AO3

Masterpost

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Luz was never known to be overly cautious.

She was reckless, impulsive, and an overall disaster of a human.

Titan, Amity loved her.

It was almost routine at this point, how it would go. Luz would jump into oncoming danger, others would (sometimes) follow, and she’d limp out with a big grin and a cheer about how she’d shown them, whether or not she’d actually won. It was no surprise that Amity had taken up healing as a secret secondary track.

It was always a gamble how things would go. Sometimes Luz would only have a few scratches, other times she’d be clinging to consciousness by a thread, moments away from breaking Eda’s house rule of nobody jeopardizing the rebellion by going to a public hospital.

But they usually had it handled. Luz would bounce back with twice the enthusiasm, even if her scars told a different story.

Despite all of this, Amity knew she’d never get used to seeing a scar in the making. 

,

“Who brought fireworks?”

“Ed!”

“Worth it!”

Explosions rung out, painting the emptying Night Market in scattered debris and bright flashes. Amity ducked under a broken roof, cursing as another explosion sounded off further away, accompanied with whoops and cheers.

“It’s a miracle none of them are dead yet,” Came a hiss from beside her.

She whirled around, relaxing when she saw it was just Willow appearing by her hiding place, vines wrapped all along her arms. Out of everyone, Amity was sure she would come out the most unscathed.

“I’m convinced Eda’s already died a few times,” Amity said, tilting her head to the sounds of explosions. “But she keeps coming back. My bet’s that she’s on life seven now.”

“That would explain a lot,” Willow agreed, peering out of their hiding place. “Dawns breaking, we should get out of here.” She added, raising her head.

“Already?” Amity lifted her head as well, seeing that, indeed, there was light seeping around the Market.

“Think you can wrangle Luz without setting more things on fire?” Willow asked, glancing at her with a smirk.

“If anyone is going to set things on fire, it’s Luz.” Amity said matter-of-factly, wincing as she heard shouts and a crash from elsewhere in the Market. “I can promise my best,” She said simply.

“That’s the best I could ask for,” Willow chuckled, stepping out of their hiding place. “Good luck.”

“I’ll need it,” Amity muttered, peering around the debris as she heard another explosion sound off. “Titan knows who she's going to piss off this time.”

,

Amity felt like she shouldn’t have been surprised.

And yet, she still felt a wave of exhaustion just finding situations like these.

Luz stood atop a pile of debris, swinging her staff like a club and knocking it against the heads of those in the Night Market who had stayed to attempt to fight her and the rest of the Owl House residents. Aside from a few scrapes and cuts to her hands and cloak, she wasn’t any worse for wear. Even her owl mask was relatively intact.

Eda was somewhere at the bottom of the pile with King, also giving their attackers a hard time. Amity was almost about to be surprised at how tame Luz was being...before she combined a firework and ice glyph and shot it towards an attacker, flinging them back with an explosion and into a busted stand with a gleeful cheer.

Amity sighed and calmly summoned a regular sized abomination, sending it off behind her towards other assailants that had assumed she couldn’t hear them approaching. In boots covered in metal. Honestly, she wondered how nobody had caught them yet.

Luz swung her staff at a different demon, grinning as she turned and scanned the area. Near instantly, her eyes landed on Amity, who was a good few meters away from her trash pile.

“Hey, Ams!” Luz shouted across the battleground, frantically waving her hand, her smile somehow growing.

Amity couldn’t help but return a smile of her own, her ears flicking back as her features softened. 

There was a bark behind her and she snapped out of it, glancing back as Barcus ran by, giving her a tired look.

“Oh don’t you start,” Amity warned, flashing a fang.

Barcus rolled his eyes and rushed off around a broken stand vanishing from sight. Though the sounds of yelling from those of the Night Market confirmed he was still as much in the fight as everyone else.

“Hey,”

Amity yelped at the sudden noise by her ear and spun around, almost falling over before an arm holding a staff hooked around her back and stopped her falling.

“Oops,” Luz smiled sheepishly, her head hovering over Amity’s as her shoulders hunched. While the top half of her face was hidden by her mask, the eyes were very expressive. “Sorry, wrong time for surprises?”

“That’s not going to stop you,” Amity grumbled, getting to her feet as Luz pulled her staff back and thumped the blunt end against the ground. “I was just with Willow, we need to--”

Luz’s head tilted away from Amity’s face for barely a moment before she withdrew a fire glyph from her sleeve and activated it. She chucked it right by Amity’s head, almost grazing her ear.

Amity turned barely half a second later, watching as the fire glyph made contact with a demon trying to sneak up on them. This one hadn’t worn metal boots and Amity hadn’t heard them approaching. Smart. She’d see if she could get the Emperor's Coven to help her arrest that one.

“Sorry about that, you were saying?” Luz said, looking right back down at Amity. She assumed so, at least. The eyes of her mask were more like pale circles than actual eyeholes. 

“The Coven, Luz.” Amity said, also unphased. “It’s dawn, the Coven will be here soon. You know how they like to come early to catch people trying to flee the Night Market.”

“Aren’t you also in the Emperor’s Coven?” Luz reminded, unconcerned. “Can’t you make them leave or something?”

“I’m the leader of my small, and remarkably passive,” Amity enunciated, ignoring explosions sounding off. “Group of the Emperor’s Coven. They don’t come here. Other guards do. I have absolutely no power here.”

“I wouldn’t call Archie breaking Jerbo’s nose passive,”

“Oh you have not seen the kind of guards they have by the Toes.”

“Shame,” Luz leaned against her staff. “Perhaps you could show me sometime?” She asked, the eyes of her mask moving in a sort of eyebrow wiggle.

“Luz,” Amity sighed, clasping the palms of her hands together and pressing it against her nose as she mentally reeled herself in to keep her composure. “Asking me on a date in the middle of a battle is bordering on impressively bold and tacky, which is a line I didn’t know even existed.”

“What can I say? I like making new lines.” Luz beamed widely. “Does this mean I can keep kicking in teeth?” She asked hopefully.

“Absolutely not,” Amity crossed her arms. “I just said the Coven is going to arrive. Do you want to explain to the rebellion you need another prison breakout because nearly everyone here got captured for not leaving?”

“Tell you what,” Luz said, passing her staff to her other hand. “You can grab everyone who’d rather not be here when the Coven arrive while Eda and I finish up here.” She suggested casually.

“Luz you're going to get captu--”

“Oi, there she is!”

Luz and Amity calmly turned their heads, spotting that over the crest of the fallen stands, with the sunrise behind them, was a small band of demons and witches. A little less than a dozen or so. They all looked a little beat up, but many still sported a decent amount of weapons and, likely, magic.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” Amity groaned, leaning her head back.

“Well, since we’re already here…” Luz said, nudging her shoulder. “I mean, it's pretty bad form to back down from a challenge…”

Amity, ignoring the gang approaching them (who clearly thought they had the high-ground at were taking their sweet time, the idiots), gave Luz a half-hearted glare. Luz was still giving her a hopeful look, giddy with excitement. And Amity had to admit, it had been a while since they’d fought an enemy on the same side. Publicly, at least.

“Fine,” Amity relented, sagging as Luz perked up. ��But as soon as they’re gone we are leaving.”

“As you wish, Miss Blight.” Luz said with a low, dramatic bow, mocking the title Amity’s Coven would give her.

“Only you could get away with that,” Amity muttered, finally turning her gaze back to the group of demons and witches, who had spent the last few minutes pulling up weapons from the debris and scattering to ‘hide,’ if you could call it that.

Snowy finally decided to show up, flying around Luz before landing on the end of her staff. Luz stood from her bow and gripped her staff with two hands. Amity summoned her own, already determining where to place three different abominations in the area.

“Shall we?” Luz said, giving Amity a coy look and gesturing broadly to the approaching witches.

“Try not to get your head blown off,” Amity said casually, offering the tiniest of smiles. Luz’s staff began to glow as she took a step back and braced herself, a springboard moments away from uncoiling.

“No promises!”

,

It was hardly a fight.

But Luz didn’t seem to mind. She never did. She was just thrilled to be part of one.

Amity would’ve been bored were Luz not there. One could count on her to make things interesting. Granted you had no say on if it was for better or for worse.

Amity swung her staff, her abomination following and lumbering right into a cluster of demons. She had multiple up and running around, and she’d admit, it was a little tiring. But she’d done worse before, and their assailants were almost gone.

Dawn was well upon them now, the light casting long shadows. Amity had lost track of who was or wasn’t around them anymore. She figured Willow had already left, and likely dragged a few others with her. She’d get yelled at later, she knew it.

There was a holler to her left and she turned towards it, flicking her wrist to move an abomination out of the way.

A spire of ice shot up from the ground, sending three witches flying off to who-knows-where. Luz’s head popped around from behind it, laughing as Snowy flew at another witch trying to run at her. In the same movement, Luz drew a plant and lightning glyph. She threw the plant glyph at one of the larger demons around the ice spire, wrapping his arm in vines. She ran by and slapped the lightning glyph on the vines, causing them to erupt and explode as the demon yelled and bolted.

Amity shook her head, glancing at her own palisman, Fang, sitting on her staff and giving her a bored expression that could rival Willow’s.

“Hey, at least she's effective.” Amity shrugged. Fang only huffed and clung tighter to the top of her staff, melding into it until he looked like nothing more than a fancy wooden carving.

There was a crack and a shout, and Amity looked back just in time to see a demon stumble away from getting Luz’s staff whacked right into their face. Amity quickly moved an abomination towards them to get them stuck, should they try to retaliate. She did a double check on the rest of her abominations, which were thankfully beginning to drive away the remainders of their attackers and beginning to melt into the ground when they were done doing so.

“And you better stay out!” Luz shouted after a demon behind her, waving her fist in the air. 

Amity was about to call out to her, but sounds of rapid footsteps grabbed her attention. She whirled around, summoning a small abomination as a shield before a witch crashed right into it. It took all of two seconds for Amity to recognize their white cloak and gray mask before she recoiled and cursed under her breath.

“Titan I hope you weren’t paying attention,” She mumbled before drawing a circle in the air. One of her other abominations turned into goo and quickly fused with the abomination in front of her, caging in the guard as they yelped and thrashed about.

Amity flicked her wrist and her abomination lumbered off, taking the guard with them.

They had run out of time.

“Luz, we gotta go!” Amity yelled, her shoulders tense as she searched for her human.

Luz had ended up a good few meters away on a slope, hollering after a few running demons. She glanced back at Amity’s shout, and seeing the worry on her face, wasn’t about to argue with her.

“Well, it was fun while it lasted.” Luz shrugged regretfully. “I suppose this is where I bid you adieu” She said, giving Amity a cheeky bow. In the same movement of her bow, she had hooked her hand into her mask and easily took it off and held it out in a hand. It was mainly for show, anyway.

Amity huffed and raised a brow, despite her amused smile. Luz lifted her head slightly and gave a teasing wink before standing back to her feet.

The witch, who hadn’t paid attention to anything else going on, saw a sudden movement from behind Luz. She could only process the mild annoyance at having to patch up another bruise on Luz before she spoke.

“Behind y--”

In barely a second, the demon behind Luz wrapped an arm in front of her and tugged her back, startling the human. In the same moment, before any of them could react, they brought up their other talon. There was the flash of a blade between their fingers before said blade was jabbed straight into Luz’s throat.

Amity froze. Luz froze. Everything seemed to go still. The blade was dug high up on Luz’s neck, blood already coating the object and beginning to leak around the demon's claws. Blood trickled down Luz’s neck and began to stain the collar of her shirt.

And, just as fast as it froze, time snapped back at a jolting speed.

There was a shriek overhead and a dash of white. Snowy reappeared and slammed her body into the demon's face, flashing her talons and screeching. The demon threw the blade to the side, yelping and stumbling back to try and throw off the palisman.

Blood gushed from Luz’s neck, and upon finally being released, the human gasped as her hand flew up to her wound. She stumbled, having nothing holding her up. Her knees shook and buckled, sending her tumbling to the ground, still grasping at her neck.

Amity could only stare, her eyes wide and pupils so narrowed they practically vanished. She visibly flinched and broke out of her state when Luz’s body hit the ground.

“Luz!” She screamed. A scratchy, shrill sound that even Amity didn’t know she was capable of.

She was running before the name was out of her mouth. She suddenly knew what tunnel vision was like. Her focus was solely on Luz, collapsed on the ground. Her feet seemed to hook and stumble against every little pebble as she rushed up the slope, her heart in her ears. Everything else was fuzzy and irrelevant, and they faded into background noise.

Amity was at Luz’s side far too soon and still too late for her liking. She stared down at her, her throat going dry.

Luz was gasping and pressing both hands to her throat, whether it was due to the pain or some part of her conscious enough to try and stop the blood flow, she couldn't tell. Blood pooled out, creating almost a sort of halo around her head. 

But her eyes, oh Titan her eyes.

They were blown wide, and were so white it looked almost unnatural. Her pupils had shrunk to sizes that she’d learned from Luz should not be physically possible for humans. A constant side-effect of shots she had gotten years ago.

Her eyes stared off into nothing, glazed but still so full of pure, unbridled terror. Luz was not someone who was scared easily, and seeing such an unmasked horror from her was nothing short of unsettling. Her eyes darted about as she wheezed for air, and she looked as though she couldn’t tell where she was.

Then those eyes landed on Amity.

Her face barely changed, although her eyes did. Her pupils dilated, ever so slightly. She locked those eyes with Amity as she gurgled through the blood bubbling in her throat. Amity could see her own petrified, still expression reflected back at her in those eyes. She was like a deer in the headlights, and she could feel her hands going numb.

One of Luz’s hands left her wound and she reached out, coated and dripping with blood as her fingers grazed Amity’s pant leg, weakly trying to grab at her.

Finally, though now that she looks back, the entire experience probably only lasted a few seconds, Amity snapped out of her trance.

“Luz,” Amity’s voice cracked, startlingly quiet as she dropped to her knees.

She panicked, and she knew she was. She looked over Luz rapidly as she wracked her brain for what to do. She knew healing magic, for Titan’s sake!

Instead, all she could think of to do was to press down on Luz’s throat, taking over as her girlfriends own hands started to shake and fall. Her eyelids drooped slightly and Amity felt a violent spike of fear at the sight.

“Viney,” Amity croaked, shaking her head as she wrapped an arm around Luz and pulled her closer, placing her head on her lap in some feeble attempt to elevate the wound, even though that wouldn’t do anything for a neck wound because of course it wouldn’t.

“Viney, Viney!” Amity cried, raising her head and frantically looking around the debris and dying--wrong word--chaos around her. “Where’s Viney?” She yelled pitifully, tightening her hold on Luz.

Yes, Viney could help. She was a far better healer than Amity. She’d healed bad injuries all the time. She just needed Viney and everything would be fine.

“Where are you?” Amity wailed, her panic rising to near hysteria as she searched the area with blurry, tear-filled eyes. She wasn’t sure who specifically she was calling for now. “Please, please she…”

Amity risked a glance down at Luz. She was now breathing through laboured breaths, raspy and shaking like a building that was about to collapse. Her eyelids were droopy, but she was stubbornly keeping them open as she lightly tried to hold her hands against her neck.

“There you guys are! What--”

Amity jerked her head up, pulling Luz closer to her chest as her ears dipped low.

Eda.

It was Eda. She was going to be okay. They were going to be okay.

Eda faltered, her confused, but still cocky, grin falling as she looked over Amity. Sitting on her knees, covered in blood that wasn’t her own, holding Luz like she was going to slip away from her at any moment.

“Kid!” Eda exclaimed, rushing forward and skidding to her knees so fast she likely cut them up as she grabbed Luz.

Amity was too numb to stop her, letting Eda take her as she stared off. Eda turned Luz over, sharply inhaling at the sight and her pupils narrowing and ears flicking back. Amity felt selfish for being glad that Eda had to see this, too. Because now Eda could take Luz, and she’d be fine, and tomorrow this day would be a funny story they’d tell the rebellion on a slow day.

Snowy had shown up again, though Amity couldn’t remember when. She had landed beside Eda, chirping and flapping her wings frantically as Eda scooped up Luz in her arms. She stood, momentarily forgetting about Amity as she yelled words the younger witch could no longer make out.

Her vision became splotchy and her ears felt fuzzy. Everything felt like a blur, and she was barely aware of being lifted off the ground. But she could still acutely hear the frantic beating of her heart and feel the stickiness of the blood drying on her clothes and hands.

,

When Amity finally came to, she was in the Owl House.

It wasn’t a consciousness she eased into, but rather was jerked out of by nothing in particular. She simply suddenly snapped up, her eyes shiny with emotion again as she looked around.

She was sitting on the couch, and Lilith was beside her, obviously lost in thought. Willow, Barcus and Gus were the only ones in the room, all of them sitting on the floor around the table in front of the couch.

She felt something warm in her hands and looked down, realizing she was holding a cup of tea. Lilith must’ve made it, considering how obsessed she was. Likely one of the kinds that helped keep her calm, she used those a lot.

She stared at her hands in fascination, seeing that they were no longer covered in blood. And for a moment, she thought she’d imagined it all.

But if she looked closely, she could still see the small bits and splatters of dried red liquid on the back of her hands. And when she looked down at herself, she saw that while her cloak and extra layers had been removed, her pant legs were still covered in dried blood and her shirt had specks of it that had soaked through.

Amity felt like she was going to be sick.

“Are you back?”

She blinked, forcing her eyes away from herself as she looked to the coffee table in front of her. Gus was sitting next to it, leaning his arms on it. He was looking at her now, face full of concern.

“Come--” Amity stopped and cleared her throat, hating how strained it sounded. “Come again?”

“You, um,” Gus gestured to his face with his hand. “Had a bit of a...gone look, for a while. You just, I dunno, you were…” He shook his head and swallowed. “H-how are you doing?”

He was nervous, clearly so. And seeing Gus as such did little to ease her own nerves. At least it was only nervousness, Amity wasn’t sure how she’d react if he was full-blown freaking out.

“I…” Amity blinked a few times, trying to get her mind in order. She was aware of everyone else in the room looking up towards her. “I’m--I’m fine.” She said, looking down at her hands again before sharply turning away. Right, the blood.

“Where, where’s Luz?” She asked, looking around the room. She tried to push down the growing feeling of unease, she didn’t trust herself not to hurl if she thought about it too much.

“She’s upstairs,” Lilith said, frowning slightly. “You saw Eda carry her up there with Viney.”

“I-I did?” Amity said, staring at her mentor.

“Yeah, you wanted to go with them.” Gus nodded, looking increasingly worried. “You don’t remember? You were freaking out and Willow had to calm you down.”

Amity turned to Willow at that, like just looking at her would suddenly explain everything. Willow was sitting at the other end of the coffee table, looking tired. That was nothing new, but her looking ready to fall asleep where she sat wasn’t. She met Amity’s gaze with exhaustion, cringing slightly and glancing away.

“Oh,” Amity said, gripping her cup of tea a little tighter. “I...I don’t remember that.” She said, shrinking in on herself. “Is Luz okay?” She asked, her voice wavering slightly.

Nobody met her gaze. Aside from Barcus, who lay underneath the table, for some reason. He met her gaze for a moment before his ears flicked back and he growled something under his breath.

“I’m going to check on her,” Amity said, pushing back the way it felt like her heart dropped as she sharply put her cup down on the table and stood up.

Her head felt dizzy as she did so, and it didn’t help that everyone started talking over each other as soon as Amity spoke. She stumbled for a moment before Lilith grabbed her shoulder and awkwardly pushed her back onto the couch.

“Absolutely not,” She said sternly. “We barely got you cleaned up, and still need to get you out of that.” She said, gesturing to the stained clothes Amity still bore. “Eda only took her up there a few minutes ago, we were simply catching our breath before you came to, it's why not everyone is here yet.”

“I know healing magic!” Amity protested, shrugging off Lilith’s hand. “I can help Viney.” She said, getting up again.

“You are in no condition to help Luz right now,” Lilith insisted, getting up just as quickly and lightly touching Amity’s arm as she stood in front of her. “Not after all that.” She said, her voice softening.

“What would you know?” Amity growled, more harshly than she meant. “You weren’t there. Nobody here was!” She hissed, resisting the urge to throw her hands in the air.

“No, we weren’t.” Lilith agreed, and the fact Lilith had done so with no argument had Amity shutting her mouth instantly. “But Eda told us where she found you, and judging from how you reacted and looked when they brought you back, I highly doubt seeing Luz in her current state is going to help anyone.”

Amity wanted to protest, she really did. She wanted to shove Lilith aside and storm up to wherever Luz was and do all she can to make her look up at her with eyes that didn’t get burned into her mind like a nightmare and a smile that didn’t have blood gushing out of it. But she knew she’d never make it far. Lilith was stubborn, and Willow would surely help keep Amity downstairs. There was no fighting Willow.

And, if she were honest with herself, she doubted she’d be able to do anything, anyway. Eda was probably already panicking, and the mere thought of seeing Luz laying on a cot with bandages around her neck and curled into a ball made her knees feel close to giving out.

“Luz will be okay,” Lilith continued, moving her hand up from Amity’s arm to the shoulder. “Viney said the blade entered too high,” She explained. “It didn’t hit any main arteries. She’s made it through a lot, this’ll be barely any different.” She assured, giving a tense smile.

If Amity had the energy, she’d argue that the fact everyone was anxiously waiting around didn’t exactly give any good signs. But right now, she wanted to do anything but dwell on today.

“Come on,” Willow said, pushing herself to her feet. “I have spare clothes here, we should get you out of that mess,” She said, offering a hand for Amity to take.

Amity stared down at it for a moment before her shoulders slumped and she took it, letting Willow guide her out of the living room. Gus and Barcus gave her pitying looks as they left through the door by the stairs.

“I’m sorry,” Amity mumbled, bringing her free hand close to her chest, where it was currently fisted. “I didn’t get her out of there in time, I humored her and now--”

“Hey,” Willow said sharply, turning around and narrowing her eyes. “I know how Luz is, this isn’t your fault.” She said, lowering her head so she could keep eye contact with Amity. “Something like this was bound to happen, anyway.” She mumbled bitterly.

“But I…” Amity trailed off, her throat feeling dry as she broke away from Willow’s gaze and glue her gaze to the ground, her hands trembling.

“It’s alright,” Willow said, gently squeezing her hand. “Luz will be fine, and so will you. Knowing her, she’d probably fight the Bat Queen herself if you so much as said you vaguely missed her.” She added, trying to joke.

“I know,” Amity said, looking up as her ears flicked down. “And that's what scares me.”

,

Amity was on her fifth cup of tea when the door to the Owl House had opened.

Barely an hour had passed, with no word from anyone upstairs. Barcus insisted that if Eda wasn’t worrying about having to risk a hospital visit, Luz was bound to be fine.

Nobody had left the house since Luz had been whisked away, leaving none of them able to tell the others they hadn’t picked up on the way back about the situation.

So the laughing and jeering that greeted them when the door opened was a bit jarring.

“Ey, there they are!” Edric grinned, walking in as he shoulder-bumped Jerbo. “I can’t believe you guys left us!”

“Ed almost got caught by the Coven,” King said, sitting up on Jerbo’s shoulders. “I rescued him.” He added proudly, a paw on his chest.

“You did not,” Jerbo shook his head with a smile. “What was the rush? We thought you’d all been carted off to prison again.” He asked, looking around the room.

Exhausted, stricken faces greeted them. You could see the joy die from their eyes, replaced with bone-chilling worry.

“What happened?” Emira demanded, stepping in and closing the door.

“Luz got hurt,” Lilith said calmly. “Badly.” She glanced to Amity beside her, who was staring at her tea. “Amity witnessed it.” She added, quieter and full of pity.

The twins looked to each other with similar faces of fear before they rushed in, moving to crouch beside their sister. Lilith silently moved to the furthest side of the couch so Emira could sit next to Amity. Jerbo and King glanced to each other before hurrying to the others on the floor, talking in hushed tones.

“She’ll be okay,” Amity said, her eyes flickering between her siblings. “I’ve learned from you two that things often look a lot worse than they actually are.” She added with an obviously forced lighter tone, giving a small smile.

“Oh, Amity…” Edric trailed off, his ears pressing back. “What...is…”

“Wasn’t fun,” Amity said, continuing her fake tone. “I can tell you that. I think I washed my hands raw.” She said, looking down at where said rubbed-red hands were shaking as they held her cup. “She’s--” She broke off, swallowing thickly and refusing to let her voice break. “She’s with Viney and Eda.” 

“If you start using humor to cope I’m going to punch you.” Emira warned, a growl forming before dying out. 

“Hypocrite,” Amity rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her tea.

“Well hey, if Viney’s with Luz, then she’s going to be up and running in barely a day.” Edric said, quickly changing the topic away from them. “She's dealt with all kinds of ridiculous injuries, especially from Em.”

“Oh your one to talk,” Emira snapped. “If Jerbo was a healer--”

“Behave,” Lilith called sharply, giving the twins a warning glare from the other side of the couch.

“Yes, mom.” Edric mumbled under his breath so she couldn’t hear.

“Hey, Luz is tough.” Emira said, wrapping an arm around Amity’s shoulders and pulling her against her side. “A little scrap will barely graze her. It’ll be a joke within hours, just you wait.”

Amity raised a hand to her neck, lightly rubbing it as she glanced to her sister, grimacing before looking away.

“It was here,” She said quietly, almost inaudible. “They got her here.”

The twins tensed. Edric squeezed Amity’s arm and she slumped, letting Emira keep her upright.

Neither of them spoke after that.

,

It was late afternoon when they heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Everyone's heads were up in a flash, waiting in bated breath.

It was Eda.

She looked drained, a hand running down her face. She paused at the doorway, looking out into the living room with anxious faces staring back at her.

“She’s okay,” Eda said, and it was like the weight of the sky had been lifted off their shoulders.

Amity almost fell off the couch by how fast and heavily she sagged in relief. Emira’s arm around her was the only thing keeping her stable.

“She’ll need rest for a few days, but Luz will be back to normal in no time.” Eda said, walking into the room. “Viney’s doing a final once over,” She added, catching Emira’s eye.

“Can we see her?” Gus asked, standing up.

“Kids exhausted, you can’t all see her at once.” Eda deadpanned. “Viney already almost bit my head off for staying that long,” She mumbled under her breath. “One at a time, and honestly, Viney might yell at you to leave her alone within the hour.”

Amity was on her feet in seconds, her cup forgotten on the table. She took a step towards the stairs before pausing and turning back to Gus.

Sure, Amity had seen what happened to Luz but...he was Luz’s friend, too. He and Willow were still her closest. And...well, she couldn’t help but feel guilty as she met his eyes.

Gus seemed to understand and smiled, sitting back down on the floor beside Willow.

“Go ahead,” He said, and Amity once again wondered how his emotions could almost flip on a dimel. “But I call seeing Luz next.” He said, looking back to the others with a joking glare that couldn’t frighten a squirrel.

“Yeah, good luck fighting for that.” Willow taunted, punching his arm as he yelped and gave a sheepish smile.

“Don’t break anything,” Amity warned, but smiled back as she nodded to her siblings and made her way to the stairs.

As she passed Eda, the witch reached out for her. Amity paused, watching her. Eda seemed to hesitate for a moment before patting her shoulder and moving away, towards where the rest of their family began to discuss who-knows-what, all the tension having left them.

Feeling a bit lighter, Amity made her way up the stairs.

,

She hung outside of Luz’s room for a moment, scuffing at the floor with her feet. She could hear shuffling and muffled voices through the door, and wondered the consequences of busting in when Viney was still packing up.

The door opened and Amity jumped. Viney stepped out, looking surprised for a moment before relaxing with a smile.

“You know, she was just asking to see you and the others.” She chuckled, re-situating her medical bag under her arm. “Try not to--never mind.”

Viney only shook her head as Amity pushe right by her, rushing into Luz’s room. Viney couldn’t blame her, and only shrugged and shut the door behind her.

Amity paused for a moment to take in the scene, suddenly remembering she probably should’ve mentally prepared herself better.

Luz was laying on her mattress Eda had upgraded her too, under a single sheet. She was laying on her back with one hand hanging off and brushing the floor. The other was situated on her stomach. She was still wearing her outfit from earlier, but her purple cloak had been discarded on the other side of the room, and Luz had been changed out of her surely bloodsoaked shirt. She wore one of her gray tank tops instead, and her eyes were partially closed.

For a brief, horrifying second, Amity was reminded of a corpse in an open casket.

That was, until Luz saw who had entered the room.

“Ami--” Luz’s gleeful cry was cut off by her hacking loudly, coughing as she sat up and pressed a hand to her throat.

“Are you okay?” Amity worried, rushing over and standing over Luz, reaching out a hand.

“Fine,” Luz wheezed, lifting her free hand to reassure Amity. “Voice is just gonna be off for a little while.” She said, her voice scratchy as she rubbed at her neck once before dropping her hand.

And once it moved away, Amity finally got to see the bandages wrapped tightly around her. True to Lilith’s word, they were much higher up than a typical throat-slit. On Luz, it was just below her chin, right where her neck met her head. Though it still didn’t stop Amity from wincing at the sight of the gauzes.

Luz noticed and deflated slightly. She attempted to shake it off and grabbed Amity’s hand, pulling it closer and encasing both of her hands over it. Which was an easy feat, considering they were noticeably bigger.

“I’m glad you're okay,” She said in her strained voice, looking up at Amity with a smile that the witch lingered on a moment too long to be natural.

“I’m not the one you should be worrying about,” Amity said, a little sternly as she pressed her ears back. “If anything, I should be saying that I’m glad you're okay.”

“Aw, you care.” Luz teased, sticking out her tongue. Amity gave her a half-hearted glare and she faltered, her smile falling along with her eyes.

“I just,” Luz swallowed, biting the inside of her cheek as she noticed Amity’s unease. “I’m--I remember what you looked like when I,” Luz hesitated, clearing her hoarse voice as a hole opened in Amity’s gut. “I...I was worried about you.” She mumbled, lowering her head.

Amity stared at Luz’s hunched form for a few moments. Then, tentatively, like she was expecting Luz to bolt, she lifted her other hand and stepped right to the edge of the bed. Luz spared a glimpse up as Amity wrapped her hand around Luz’s back and pulled her closer.

Luz drooped into her hold, thumping her head against Amity’s chest and squeezing her hand tighter. Amity lightly ran her hand through the hair at the base of Luz’s head, which she also rested her chin on and rocked subtly to the side, shutting her eyes.

They stayed like that for a while, letting the memories of the day roll over them before forcing it back, all in silence. Amity was sure Luz could tell she was fighting back crying again, and she knew Luz wasn’t as alright as she acted. Not from how her hands left her own and clutched tightly at the girls sides, pulling at her baggy shirt and pressing her face close.

“I was scared for you,” Luz finally broke the silence, her raspy, painful-sounding voice almost inaudible. “You looked like you’d seen the end of the world.”

“Well, I was certainly scared for you.” Amity said matter-of-factly, trying to cover up her disturbance at Luz having remembered more than she thought. “Don’t worry about it, I’m alright now.”

“That’s the worst lie I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Oh, and you're a master at figuring out liars now?” Amity snarked, looking down at Luz and meeting Luz’s eyes, which were wonderfully normal and not full of panic.

“I’m good with you,” Luz said cheerfully in her stupid scratchy voice that Amity hated she kind of liked. “Your right ear moves when you lie, when you forget about it.”

Damnit. Edric and Emira had always remembered that tick of hers and Amity had learned to stop herself from flicking said ear whenever she was lying. But every now and again, she forgot.

“That proves nothing,” Amity said stiffly, turning her head away. “I move my ear when I’m annoyed all the time.” 

“That's your left ear,” Luz said with gleeful factuality. “I noticed.” She said proudly, giving Amity an expression like she’d solved a puzzle and was looking for praise.

“That you did,” Amity mumbled, ruffling Luz’s hair so it’d fall into her eyes. She needed to cut that sometime. “You're very annoying like that.”

“Too bad I’m your annoyance,” Luz teased, giving Amity a smug wink.

“Woe is me,” Amity said in a bleak voice, laying her head on Luz’s to hide the blush creeping up her face. “I’m going to be suffering for the rest of my days.”

“C’mon, I do that all on my own--” Luz broke off in a fit of coughs, doubling over and releasing Amity.

The witch stepped back, eyes flashing with fear as got to her knees beside the bed and laid her hand on Luz’s leg. She shoved down the helpless feeling she thought would’ve been gone by now as Luz coughed and rubbed at her bandaged neck.

“Sorry,” Luz wheezed, her fit finally calming down.

“It’s alright,” Amity said, her voice quiet as well. “You should rest your voice.”

“No, I-” Luz flinched, rubbing at her neck more before shaking her head. “I’m sorry for scaring you,” She rasped. “You said we had to leave, and I didn’t, and--”

“Hey, hey,” Amity chided softly, lifting to hold Luz’s free hand. “It was an accident, I don’t blame you. Nobody does.” 

“I know, but…” Luz sighed, her shoulders slumping. She leaned forward, lightly knocking her forehead against Amity’s as she closed her eyes for a second before opening them. She kept her eyes locked on where Amity was still holding her hand.

“I’m a mess,” Luz mumbled, stroking her thumb over the back of Amity’s hand. “And I should’ve...I dunno...I just…” She groaned and finally met Amity’s gaze. “I’m sorry. For a lot of things. And I wish that it,” She gestured around them with her other hand. “Didn’t end up like this. You know? This is a rebellion, I thought it’d be fun. They always make rebellions sound so cool and how you’d always escape them okay and be heroes.”

“So, Azura, then?” Amity lifted a brow.

“Don’t patronize me,” Luz huffed good-naturedly. “Look, I’m just...sorry. That I got hurt, that someone else could’ve gotten hurt, that you're stuck in this mess, that…” Luz muttered and blinked her eyes rapidly, like Amity somehow couldn’t see they were beginning to water. “God, I think I’m still high off those pain medications.” She groaned, covering her face with her hand.

Amity blinked before giving a small smile. She moved her head back slightly and raised her other hand, reaching out for Luz and cupping her cheek. Luz immediately leaned into it and slipped her hand off her face to hold Amity’s in its place.

“I’ve been stuck before,” She said, pointedly keeping her gaze away from Luz’s bandages. “And if this is your idea of stuck, then you better believe I’m not leaving.”

Luz gave a small half-smile, leaning further into her hand. Amity brushed her thump behind Luz’s eye, looking over her with mixed feelings. Luz wasn’t one to admit her fears so openly, and even Amity could tell how she tried to cover up her awkwardness at being open. Perhaps taking a page out of Luz’s book wasn’t a good idea, but she couldn't be bothered to worry about herself right then.

Amity leaned forward, catching Luz’s minor surprise for only a second before she placed a kiss on the side of Luz’s mouth, where a small scar went right over it. She remembered when Luz had gotten that scar, and she recalled how at the time it seemed like nothing more than an inconvenient cut. 

Amity pulled back only a moment later, almost snickering at the sight of Luz. She was flushed and looked like a deer in the--nope. Wrong analogy.

Amity hoped her quick cover-up smile was enough to make up for her sudden shift. 

Luz eventually reeled herself in and her expression shifted to that of a pout, letting her hand fall from Amity’s as she thumped her head on her girlfriends shoulder.

“Cheater,” She whined, her voice muffled.

Amity giggled, relaxing as she wrapped an arm around Luz and held her close. It was an awkward position, but she couldn’t find it in her to care.

She remained there for a moment, laying her cheek against Luz’s shoulder. She glanced to the side, looking over the bandages around her throat. And for a moment she saw just how deep that blade dug into the human’s skin.

“It’s going to scar over,” She found herself saying, feeling Luz stiffen in her arms. “Isn’t it?”

Luz was silent for a few moments, and in those moments Amity feared she shouldn’t have spoken. Luz had never been one to dislike her scars until...well, she’d gotten a rather nasty one from Eda she’d rather forget. But then Luz exhaled, sounding far more tired than she had been before.

“Yeah,” She croaked. “Viney said it would.”

“I’m sorry,” Amity murmured.

“It’s okay,” Luz said, resting her chin on Amity’s shoulder so she could be heard better. “This isn’t my first and it won’t be my last.”

Amity felt a chill at that line. She knew it wasn’t meant to be foreboding, only a small joke so she wouldn’t worry. Yet, it made her uneasy at how Luz brushed it off. And it was a small reminder that, even if Luz felt regret, she was still a naturally reckless person. And one day she’d be right back in her bed, covered in bandages and possibly in a worse condition than a hoarse voice.

“Luz,” Amity said, tightening her arms around the human. “I…”

Titan, what even was there to say? Don’t say that? You deserve better? I love you?

She wouldn’t get anywhere with any of those. And especially not the latter. There was too much going on already, and this was neither the time nor the place.

Amity squeezed her eyes shut and sighed before leaving her eyes half-lidded.

“Be careful,” She said instead. “If not for yourself, then for the others. You have no idea how scared we were.” She flicked her ears further down. “Don’t do anything overly stupid, okay?” She said, her voice hitching as she tried to cover it with a more teasing tone.

She could feel Luz swallow against her shoulder, shifting in her hold slightly.

“I’ll try,” She murmured.

And Amity supposed that was the best she could ask for.

“Also,” Luz started nervously. “Uh, not to rapidly change the subject,” Luz said, lifting her head slightly, her voice a bit more strained than before. “But your claws are kind of digging into my back…”

“Oh, right!” Amity squeaked and jerked back, sharply tugging her hands off of Luz and wincing when she felt her claws slide out of Luz’s shirt and skin. “Sorry, sorry,”

“I’ve had worse.” Luz chuckled, pulling away and giving Amity a mildly pained smile. “And as much as I love having you here,” Her eyes trailed somewhere behind Amity. “I think Gus is about to break something if this doesn’t hurry up.”

Amity turned around, confused. Sure enough, the door to the room was just barely cracked, and Gus could be seen pacing outside it. And Amity was willing to bet Willow was there, too.

“Seriously, guys?” Amity rolled her eyes, exasperated.

“We weren’t listening, I swear!” Gus insisted, pulling the door open further and poking his head in. “We weren’t even here that long!”

“Next time, you can just knock.” Amity grumbled, flicking her ear at Luz’s snickers behind her. 

“Eh, figured you’d tear our heads off if we did,” Willow said, pulling the door open further. “So, can we come in then?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Amity sighed, getting to her feet and brushing herself off. “Eda’s going to kill you if she finds out both of you were sneaking in at the same time.”

“Eh, I’ll probably be fine.” Luz shrugged, her voice scratching more as she clearly tried to hold back another cough.

“Get it out of your system,” Amity told her simply, deciding to push back her earlier turmoil as she turned back to the door. “You want me to cover for you two?”

“You and I both know it's going to take ages for you to finally go downstairs instead of hovering by the door.” Willow deadpanned. 

“This is bullying,” Amity complained as Gus and Willow walked in, with Gus instantly springing to Luz’s bedside and going off about some topic Amity was tuning out.

“Yeah, hurts, doesn’t it?” Willow said with a smirk, raising a brow as she passed Amity.

“...Touché,” Amity mumbled with an acknowledging nod.

Willow only shook her head and came up by the head of Luz’s bed, calmly watching as Gus talked a mile a minute, so much livelier than how he was mere hours ago. Amity stood back and watched, fiddling her hands together as Luz coughed and assured her friends she was fine and letting Gus continue his rambling.

Amity unconsciously rubbed her hand at her own throat before quickly dropping it again. She fiddled her hands together, feeling that her claws were still unsheathed. She pressed along her fingers, trying to coax her claws to sheath. It only somewhat worked, and she relented that her claws weren’t going to go away for a while.

Willow glanced over at her with a questioning look. Amity cringed at seeing her concern and gave a forced smile and nodded her head. She knew it didn’t convince Willow, but she didn’t push and turned back to Gus and Luz without further comment.

She’d always be worried about Luz, she decided as she watched said human listen to Gus and pointedly ignore the warning glances Willow gave her as she messed with her bandages. Luz would always be a handful, no matter how much she changed, she’d still be the human who had to learn as much magic as she could and the one who wouldn’t stand for an emperor like Belos. If nobody would do it, Luz sure as hell would.

And, as scared as she was to blink and suddenly see that blood on her hands again, she decided it was worth it. She’d never get used to it, not completely.

Amity could almost hear Willow calling her a hypocrite, because the more she thought about it, the more Amity began to realize that she’d likely do anything of Luz’s request to make her safer. Hell, she didn’t doubt she’d fight her own parents one-on-two if Luz asked nicely.

And while the thought of that terrified her, she couldn’t find the common sense to find a reason to stop herself, should it happen.

Perhaps that's just the impact Luz had on people.

Or maybe it was just Amity.

She couldn’t find it in her to care anymore.

#four years au #the owl house #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #my writing #willow park #eda clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #gus porter #jerbo #barcus #viney #edric blight #emira blight #toh #king #luz #amity #willow #eda #lilith #gus #edric #emira #emperor's coven #angst #tw minor gore #tw blood #trauma

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Ch 10

Luz appraises herself in the mirror one final time as she gets ready to leave. She holds her mask in her hand as she looks at the eyeliner King had carefully applied for her after she’d gotten out of the shower, as well as the glyphs inked carefully behind her ears, giving them a pointed appearance. 

For someone with no eyelids, he's really good at it. 

She steadies herself on the sink, as she stares back at herself in the mirror.

Was their milk in her lunch? Her stomach is squirming uncontrollably. 

Aye dios mio

Shes is so nervous. 

She decides talking to her mom might make her feel better. She pulls out her phone and starts the recording. 

"Hey Mamì, I'm about to go to a magical masquerade party and confess my feelings to one of my closest friends…well, wish me luck!" When the vlog is saved she pockets her phone.

She takes a deep breath and exits the bathroom and walks down the stairs where everyone is waiting on her.

Eda and Lillith are sitting on the couch talking quietly to each other, King is curled up on a cushion beside them.

She clears her throat softly, drawing everyone’s gaze.

“Well, how do I look?” she asks nervously, holding out her arms and doing a little spin.

A black vest fits snugly, buttoned around her frame over a dark violet dress shirt tucked into the waist of her black dress pants, which stop just below the ankle, too rest on her polished black dance shoes. Her hair is slicked back much like at grom and the flower she had picked up at the market is pinned to the vest on her chest, a bright pop of white against the darks of her clothes. 

She feels really fancy actually and she kind of likes it, even if it’s a little strange for her.  

Eda lets out a long, low whistle as she stands and walks over to Luz with Lillith trailing behind. 

“You look fantastic, Kiddo.” Eda grins, walking circles around her.

“Very dashing.” Lilith agrees, smiling.

"You will conquer your enemies and the heart of that measly girl!" King raises his tiny fists into the air.

Luz puffs her chest out at the praise.

"That illusion on your ears is pretty impressive," Eda hums. "Maybe we could do something like that with the other ones.

Luz is momentarily sidetracked by the idea.

"Do you think if I drew the fire glyph on the palm of my hand I could shoot fireballs?" 

"That sounds incredibly dangerous…," Eda says.

Lilith is relieved that her sister is being sensible for once.

"And totally awesome! We'll wait till after the party to try it though."

Lilith slaps a hand against her forehead.

She puts on her mask. It covers her face from her forehead to her cheeks, leaving her eyes and mouth exposed. It's black with bright swirls of purple around the eyes and a pair of upward curved horns on the forehead.

“Wait, how am I going to find Amity if she’s wearing a mask?” Luz suddenly remembers. 

“The Blights will be wearing masks, but they aren’t enchanted with the glimmer spell. They’re the hosts and it would be quite problematic if no one could find them.” Lilith soothes her worry.

“That and they’re too proud to hide,” Eda huffed. Lilith doesn’t disagree with the statement.

“Oh, well, I guess I’m ready then.” 

"You got this kid, show that girl of yours some of that bad girl coven charm." Eda winks, prompting her sister to roll her eyes even though she's smiling. 

"Right!" She smiles and bolts toward the door.

"Hey, hold on!" Eda calls and she slides to a stop looking back at her mentor. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Eda questions.

"Uh, bye?" She tries and Eda chuckles, looking at the girl fondly.

She holds out her hand and a few seconds later her staff flies into the room landing in her outstretched fingers before she tosses it to Luz, who scrambles to catch it before it can clatter to the floor. She looks at the staff in her hands and then back up at Eda.

"Be careful, and try not to make too much racket whenever you come back in." She smiles and Luz's face breaks into a bright grin.

"I won't, I love you!" she calls as she runs out the door. 

Owlberts wings pop open and she straddles the staff and takes off toward her destination, wind whipping through her hair as she flies above the treeline.

Eda and Lilith watch her go from the doorway.

"She's got this." Eda crosses her arms and leans in the doorway. Lilith hums in agreement.

The cool air helps calm her nerves some as she directs Owlbert toward her destination. 

"You can do this, you're Luz Noceda, you've done way harder stuff than this!" She hypes herself up on the short flight to Blight Manor. 

Though, nothing she's ever done before has had such power to potentially break her heart…

She shakes it off and clutches the staff tighter.

She's going to do this!

As she rides through the air she can see the moon in the sky, it's large, full and not surprisingly, blue.

A bright cobalt in fact.

She knows what a blue moon is in her world, it's just a second full moon in one month, but she's not surprised at all that in the Boiling Isles it's actually blue.

Soon Blight manor comes into view, it’s as large as Luz imagined it would be. It reminds her of a Victorian-era house she saw in a history book once. She glides to the ground outside the large black gate that encircles the house. 

A pair of stone gargoyles sit outside the gate and suddenly their eyes light up.

“Invitation” an eerie, breathy voice drifts out of the statues and Luz jumps.

“Oh… uh.” she digs the paper out of her pocket and holds it up, then the gate swings open and the statue’s eyes go dark.  

“That’s so cool…,” Luz whispers, starry-eyed as she walks up to the house.

She knocks on the door and after a few seconds the door opens up and Emira is standing there in a long golden colored dress. Her hair is out of its normal braid and done in long ringlet curls around her head. Her mask is the same color as her dress and studded with little crystal gemstones.

“Hey, Emira,” Luz greets with a grin.

“Hey, come on in." She stepped out of the way and gestured inside. By the lack of recognition on her face, Luz can tell that Emira has no idea who she is.

She follows the older teen inside.

"You can leave your staff here." She holds a hand out to a rack affixed to the wall that already has a number of staves hanging from it. 

Luz carefully hangs it up and follows Emira through the entryway into the main room which is already filled with people in masks chatting and helping themselves to the refreshments. 

"Enjoy yourself," Emira says before disappearing into the crowd.

Luz looks around at everything. Everyone is dressed to the nines and there are some very interesting masks among the crowd. She doesn't recognize anyone, but that was the point she supposed. 

The lights are low but there are floating sconces with fire to give the room a certain ethereal glow and upbeat music is wafting around the room. She just happens to look up and her mouth falls open. The ceiling is a rounded dome of glass, allowing for a clear view of the night sky and the moon slowly moving overhead, it's blue light shining onto the high polished floor.

Luz has seen a lot of amazing things since coming to the Boiling Isles, but this really does make the top five.

The food looks amazing but she really can't bring herself to eat right now.

 Instead, she begins scanning the room, looking for a certain head of mint green hair.

She glances over the dance floor where a few people are already dancing but doesn't see who she's looking for among them. She walks around, taking it all in.

She catches a few people's eyes and they wave or nod. She smiles but doesn't stop to talk, she's on a mission.

After five minutes she finally turns around and freezes.

Amity

She'd recognize her anywhere... provided she wasn't wearing an enchanted mask of course.

She’s standing on the other side of the room, looking around, and Luz hopes it's her she's looking for. 

She finally really looks at her and her mouth goes dry.

Amity is wearing a dark, magenta-colored dress that stops at mid-shin and the ‘v’ shaped collar dips just below her collar bones. The long sleeves go all the way down to the back of her hands and are affixed to gold rings on her middle fingers to hold them in place. Luz swallows thickly as she takes in the girls’ entire appearance. She’s pretty sure those are the same shoes she wore to grom and there’s a black choker wrapped around the column of her neck. Her mask is black with fang-like points framing her cheeks and little white stars painted on it. 

She’s never seen Amity with her hair down before and it does weird things to her insides.

A gleam catches her eye and her gaze is drawn to the brooch pinned to the left side of her chest.

The brooch Luz had given her. 

Seeing this sends Luz’s heart too thumping loudly in her chest, but it also emboldens her.

She squares her shoulders and straightens her vest before walking confidently across the room toward her, carefully maneuvering around the other guests but never taking her eyes off Amity.

Amity is facing away from her when she stops just behind her and, resolved, reaches up to tap the other girl’s shoulder.

Amity looks over her shoulder and her curious face turns surprised before she spins around to face her.

“It’s you,” she says, softly, eyes wide behind the mask and Luz’s heart is beating so hard she’s surprised Amity can’t hear it, but her nerves are tempered by a lack of reaction that tells her that Amity really doesn’t recognize her.

“Hi” Luz smiles and dips herself in a half-bow, holding out a hand. She’s seen this in more movies and books then she can count so she figures, why not?

The greeting gesture is familiar to Amity, being from the upper echelons of Boiling isles high society. 

She slips her hand into Luz’s and her anonymity emboldens Luz to a level she could never even begin to dream of without it as she leans down farther and skims her lips over the back of Amity’s knuckles, hardly a touch at all but it’s enough for Amity to make a surprise choked noise.

Luz straightens up and scratches the back of her head with her free hand and chuckling sheepishly.

“Sorry, too much?” She asks.

“No! No, it’s fine.” Amity chokes out as her hand is released. "You look very nice." Which is an understatement of unparalleled proportions she thinks. 

Her 'date' is about her height, lean and cuts a very nice profile in her fitted suit. 

Something is so familiar about her, but the glimmer on her mask keeps Amity from really focusing on what it is. She supposes that she'll know before the evening is through.

"Thank you." She seems to straighten up at the compliment. "You’re beautiful." She smiles and Amity flushes behind her mask. At the many parties her parents had dragged her to over the years she's heard a variety of compliments. Cute, adorable, pretty. 

Usually Adults talking to her like she’s a baby. 

This is the first time she's been told she's beautiful and it makes her knees weak because she knows the girl standing in front of her means it. 

"Thank you." She smiles shyly. 

“I’ve never seen you with your hair down… it’s nice.” Luz says and the young witch flushes all the darker and Luz can’t help but grin. 

"I thought I'd do something different…" She shrugs and is reminded that this person knows her.

Before they can say anything else, Edric and Emira appear on a nearby raised dais in a puff of blue smoke.

Edric is wearing a gold colored vest and mask that matches his twins' but it's over a black dress shirt tucked into black pants.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Blight manor." Edric holds up an arm and takes a dramatic bow, making the tails of his vest swish about with the movement.

"Remember not to reveal yourselves to anyone until the party ends when the blue moon is directly overhead." She points up and all the guests look up at the celestial body that is only just peeking past the edge of the glass to be in view. 

At least two hours before it's overhead. 

"And enjoy yourselves!" the twins echo with a wink before they draw a spell circle and disappear as quickly as they had appeared.

"Those two are a riot…," Luz chuckles once the twins have finished officially starting the party.

“You know Ed and Em?” she asks, trying to think of some way to make conversation but then just wants to slap herself for that. “Oh… well, duh, they invited you, so obviously you must…,” she trails off, embarrassed and Luz can see the pink dusting her cheeks. The mask doesn’t cover much and she smiles.  

“Ah, well, I wasn’t exactly on their list of invitees,” she chuckles. “I asked them if I could come.” she shrugs.

"You willingly wanted to come to this? Why?" Amity asks with a laugh.

"Of course!" Luz grins. "I knew you'd be here." She says this like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Amity feels like tonight is going to be a theme of her being red faced and embarrassed. She thought it was bad when Luz was around.

She stiffens at the thought, but quickly pushes it aside.

“Emira seemed to figure out how I felt about you and I think she took pity on me.” Luz chuckles with a shrug.

Amity’s brows furrow at that, Emira knows how she feels about Luz, why would she encourage some secret admirer? Then again that seems like the kind of teasing thing her sister would do. 

Now that the party has officially begun, more people have moved out onto the dance floor and a quick upbeat song is playing.

Her date looks at her smiling, and there's something so achingly familiar about it that tugs at Amity's heart strings.

"May I have this dance?" She holds out a hand, open palm inviting. 

She smiles and rests her own in hers.

#Lumity #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Edric Blight #Emira Blight #Eda Clawthorne #Lillith Clawthorne #King #TOH #the owl house #fic #Moonlit Masquerade

[dragonswithjetpacks]

Theurgist

Chapter Three: A Night with the Magistrate

-dragonswithjetpacks

Summary:  Astarion chuckled, pulling another blade of grass from the ground and spinning it between his fingers. There was more to the woman in front of him. From what he had gathered, she had already given more than what she was willing to share. A warlock from Baldur’s Gate with a bag full of books and smirk full of secrets. He may have found decent company  in the most unexpected of places.

Read here on Ao3.

“A temple?” Shadowheart glowered behind her. “Are you sure?”

Ferelith climbed up the debris, her hands rough and hot from touching the hot fleshy walls. She brushed off the soot and looked down at the rubble below. Flames were still rolling, sending ash and smoke through the sky, now growing darker. They would have to find somewhere to camp soon. Which shouldn’t be to difficult considering there was fresh water nearby. Now that they had crossed the remains of the crash, it would be easier to find spot.

“I’m entirely sure,” she finally answered between thoughts, waiting for them to follow her up the path. “The architecture resembled something of the sort. I can’t imagine what other structure would be placed in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like it’s a bakery.”

“The luck we would have if it was,” Astarion sighed.

“Then there must be something in there that could help. Perhaps even shelter.”

Ferelith was partial to the idea. If they made it in time. “Let’s focus on what we can, first. It doesn’t look like we’ll have much-”

Her words drifted off as she stopped on the trail. There was a slight buzzing sound, like energy activating at a source. She turned, watching something flicker across a marking on the stone wall.

“What is it?” Shadowheart inquired as she grew closer.

“That glyph,” Ferelith cocked her head to the side to study it. “Sounds like someone’s using it.”

With a loud crack, a large hole twisting with energy opened against the stone. A wayward glyph, one that could be used to travel quickly. She was familiar with such means for transportation. Shadowheart jumped back, her mace already in hand. Ferelith lifted an arm out, holding her back in case whatever came through was not hostile. Though with the luck they had that day, the likelihood of something else trying to kill her was very high. It was a bit of a relief to find a man walking through to the other side, stepping lightly into the brush next to the path. He took one disbelieving look at Ferelith and gave a warm smile.

“You’re alive,” he said as the light flashed again, dismissing the portal. “That’s unexpected.”

“I’m sorry?” Ferelith approached, inquisitive to the nature of their newly appeared friend.

“Last I saw you, you were lying in a crucible’s worth of blood, an intellect devour nibbling at your ear. Glad to see my eyes deceive me.”

Ferelith shuttered at the thought of one of those walking brains near her head, but was somewhat relaxed by his friendly tone.

“I’m Gale,” he nodded. “Well met.”

“Ferelith,” she continued to watch him carefully, observing his stance. “Well met.”

There was a time in her life she had been surrounded by magic users of excellent caliber. And she had grown used to a certain aura they emitted. It was a mix between arcane energy and arrogance, always aggravating her as it made her feel less superior. Wizards were always assuming their magic was the only the kind that mattered. She was never fond of them. But she always knew one when she saw one. And Gale held his confidence at a level where she could not mistake him as anything but. His robes were even loud.

“You were on the ship, I presume?” she shifted.

“The very same,” he replied. “A traumatizing experience, if an instructive one.”

“An interesting way to put it,” Ferelith couldn’t help but chuckle. “By trauma I’m assuming you mean the worm that was forced into my eye?”

“Yes,” he pointed at her. “The ocular penetration by an illithid tadpole which will-”

There it was. The all knowing ramblings of a man who liked to overshare his intelligence. Typical and common in nearly every wizard she had met. Though, she could think of a few who were humble enough. Mostly those in the abjuration school. They were never that much fun, though. No, Ferelith was more attentive to listen to the words of the necromancers and their theories of the dead. Now they had some interesting thoughts.

“You’re staring at me like a Rashemi at a blackboard,” he said when he realized she was hardly listening. “You’re no wizard, are you?”

“No,” she crossed her arms. “I’m a warlock.”

“There’s a gust of Weave about you, but it’s a mere breeze.” he squinted at her. “I need a tempest. It’ll have to wait. The primary need is a healer. I take it you recall the insertion of the parasite?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Quite vividly.”

“Are you aware that after a period of excruciating gestation, it will turn us into mind flayers? A process known as ceremorphosis?”

“I am aware of that, yes,” she noted the intensity in his voice.

“It is to be avoided,” he said firmly, his eyes shifted from her to the other companions. “I assume you’re no accomplished healer, either? A powerful cleric maybe?”

“It seems you’re out of luck. We’re all in the same predicament as yourself.”

“Well, we’re all in a whole lot of trouble. We need help and I’m not sure where we’ll find any in this wilderness. How about we embark on the quest for a healer together?”

“We have been looking for others,” she glanced back to her other companions. “So I imagine that’s just the plan we had envisioned.”

“Most excellent!” he proclaimed, a bit more excited than she had anticipated. “Then without further ado, let’s be off. Besides, it looks like you keep some interesting company.”

His gaze fell back onto Shadowheart, biting the corner of her lip with a menacing glare.

“A woman with shadows for eyes- deep as the Darklake. A pleasure, madam.”

“Is it, indeed?” she tilted her head with a mocking tone. “We’ll see.”

Astarion snicked, remaining hidden behind the two women. Ferelith looked back to cast a look of disappointment, but it hardly phased him. She turned back to Gale, the wizard with the optimistic grin. He would be useful. And if anything other than, he would at least bring some positive musings to their solemn thoughts. Even if those musings were just the truth spoken in a happy manner.

“We were just headed up the hill to the ruins,” she motioned. “We were looking to see if perhaps there were supplies we could scavenge.”

“The ruins?” he looked in the direction she was pointing. “The old temple, yes.”

Ferelith took another look behind as if her eyes would tell the others that she had been right on her earlier assumption.

“I took a peak during my rounds. Looks like the place is covered with bandits.”

“Which means there’s supplies,” Shadowheart stepped closer.

Ferelith turned to her at her left shoulder. “We’ll have to prepare for a fight.”

“Prepare for a fight? You’re going to raid the bandit camp?” Gale looked at them with surprise.

“It’s them or us,” Shadowheart shrugged.

“We can try to ask nicely, I suppose,” Ferelith smirked. “But something tells me they won’t be willing to share.”

“This is going to interesting,” Astarion smirked, his enthusiasm rising in the two women whom he it seems he had not judged fairly.

“Let’s just assess the situation when we get there,” Gale raised his hands, clearly not anticipating a battle ready party so soon.

“He’s right,” Ferelith came to reason. “We should make camp, first. Somewhere close to the water? I’d like to wash this soot from my face.”

“We should head back, then,” Shadowheart agreed.

“Yes, I think I saw a nice bank to camp on from the cliff side. Shall we?”

With the sun setting and weary bodies, the party had agreed to settle on a flat surface near the river. There was enough sand to make the ground soft. And enough dead wood to create a fire. Gale was gracious enough to provide flames while everyone helped collect wood. There was little they had salvaged from the wreckage, but Ferelith and Shadowheart managed to pull together a few bedrolls from the fishermen they had looted earlier that day. They all pooled their findings together to create a meal of bread, cheese, and two apples. Ferelith was even pleased to find she had a few leaves left in her apron to make tea. If only she had a kettle. Feeling around her waste for her belt, she found the component bag which had remained empty. She placed the leaves inside, deciding there would be another time she would need it.

"So," a voice approaching from behind. "We're resting here? Turning in for the night?"

She stood up to face Astarion who seemed a bit uncomfortable if not distraught. He not only seemed worried, but he was shifting as he stood in front of her. As if he were too embarrassed to say what was honestly on his mind.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, trying to catch his veering glances.

“No, not at all,” he smiled, appearing grateful, but unconvincing.

“It’s nothing what you’re used to in Baldur’s Gate, I’m sure. But it’s a lovely spot.”

Ferelith looked about. It had been a long time since she camped in the wilderness. Truth be told, she would consider it one of the best campsites she had rested in. There may not have been beds or tents, but the sound of the river nearby was calming. There was a waterfall close. A ruin to other side. And a group of rocks and logs to provide seating and shelter.

"I suppose," he said politely, noticing her admiring looks around the scenery. "I'm not sure what I expected, really. This is all a little new."

She couldn't help but feel some satisfaction from his suffering. A noble forced to sleep on the ground. It was nice to have some sort of entertainment for the evening. Still, he appeared not to be completely broken about it. She imagined if he was truly upset about the matter, he would be demanding more bedrolls. And for that, she was somewhat impressed by his humility.

"You mentioned you were from the city as well,” he went on. “The night for us normally means bustling streets... bursting taverns..."

His eyes narrowed a bit, searching her face for a sudden realization. But... there was none. Ferelith had not recalled their run in whatsoever. The illithid must have cleared the memory of his face when he mind controlled her. It made having to explain himself nonexistent. And it made smoothing her over all the more obtainable.

"Curling up in the dirt and resting is... a little novel," he went on with a sigh.

"You're being terribly polite for not having much a choice," she crossed her arms.

Again, he saw the hint of tease in her nature. She was going to be fun. A challenge... but fun... He smiled.

"You expected me to be rude?" he questioned, impersonating someone who was hurt. "No, I won't complain. Not while everything remains unsettled."

"Agreed. Not that I want to hear your complaints. But we should get some rest so we can catch up on that unsettled business in the morning."

"I'm in no place to rest yet," he raised his brow. "Today has been... a lot. I need some time to think things through. To process this. You rest. I'll keep watch."

There was something ominous about the idea of resting in the midst of three complete strangers. Her perception had not failed her yet, but it seemed odd to put her life in the hands of someone who had tried to stab her just hours before.

“I’m afraid I won’t be needing much rest,” she stated. “Besides, I’m not so eager to completely trust any of you just yet.”

There was a pause as the two elves stared at one another, as if two predators had spotted each other from across an empty field. It created a tension that could crack the moment it was disturbed. Or could wither away with a simple word. Astarion plotted his next statement carefully, as he knew if he went about it the wrong way, she would never learn to trust him at all.

"You know,” he leaned forward, “if you wanted to spend time with me, you only have to say so."

The drop in his tone during the last few words caused Ferelith's expression to drop. In most occasions, she did very well to conceal her emotions. But the audacity of this man was enough to change that. The familiar flutter in her chest had returned. And she was not so willing to bury it this time. Her jaw had nearly dropped open, but the long pause gave her away.

"But suit yourself," Astarion said smugly. "I'm sure we'll drift off at some point."

"Yes, well," she closed her mouth and shook her head, looking down into her book. "I've got work to do... with this..."

"Good evening, then," he gave a slight nod before he sauntered back across the fire.

As she rummaged through notes she had written that day and the small black leather book she clung to tightly, she couldn't help but feel she was circling back to an unanswered question. There was still no word from her patron. She was lucky she could even still feel him. And as the night grew quieter, she could hear the feint whispers in the back of her head. They were only causing more distractions. As if the occasional on looking eyes were not enough. Looking up from her book, she glanced to Astarion, picking grass and throwing it to the fire. They really were the only ones awake. Then again, they were the only ones who did not need to sleep.

"Is there something you need?" he asked, catching her staring.

"No," she replied, looking back down to her book.

“You look like you need a break,” he suggested, crossing his legs.

Ferelith sat up, stretching her lower back as she pushed her chest out. “What is it they say? No rest for the wicked?”

Astarion chuckled, pulling another blade of grass from the ground and spinning it between his fingers. There was more to the woman in front of him. From what he had gathered, she had already given more than what she was willing to share. A warlock from Baldur’s Gate with a bag full of books and smirk full of secrets. He may have found decent company in the most unexpected of places.

“If that’s the case, you and I have a long night ahead of us.”

“Long nights never bothered me,” she placed her hands on her lap. “What about you? What were your long nights like back in Baldur’s Gate? Other than those bursting taverns.”

He felt a tightening in his chest at there may have been a hint of recognition. “There were nights spent outside of taverns.”

“I see,” she nodded at his quick dismissal. “Likely filled with entertainers and wine, then.”

“Not always,” he shrugged, picking the grass apart just as he did the one before. “Some nights were spent studying. Much like yourself.”

“A scholar,” she shook her head in jest.

“A magistrate,” he corrected. “It was all rather tedious.”

“Oh,” she brought a hand to her chest. “Excuse me, then. I must apologize. I didn’t realize I was in the company of someone so formal.”

Astarion sneered from across the fire, remembering that she had been in the upper district when they crossed paths. “You know,” he inhaled, holding his breath for a moment while he contemplated her remark. “Something tells me you’re not so humble, yourself.”

“I’m quite proud of my work,” she blinked. “And I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

“You carry yourself with a strange sense of power,” he glared at her now, as if he were searching beyond what her face would show. “Something greater than pride. You wouldn’t happen to be familiar with the nobility of Baldur’s Gate, would you?”

Her heart sunk as her mind began to search her memories for his face. There were none. She was certain she had never met this man before. But his in-sinuous tone told her otherwise. If he was asking, it only meant he was unsure of himself. And if she gave him the answer he desired, it would mean she was admitting to something she was not certain she was guilty of. Whatever the case, she remained firm in her decision to remain as unapproachable as possible.

“I can’t say that I am,” she lied.

“That’s disappointing,” he threw the rest of what was left in his hand into the flames. “You seem like someone I would have acquainted myself with.”

A commendation cloaking the questions of an obvious interrogator. She knew the tactic and dismissed it, taking it only as a backhanded compliment. Turning her attention back to work to ignore his presence, she began to scratch more useless notes across the paper. Anything to keep her from talking to him further. Her heart began to pound against her chest. And again, she tried to recall the memories of Baldur’s Gate. Even as far back as her time in Neverwinter. But not a thought was found for a handsome white haired magistrate. She was sure she would have noticed.

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said softly when she had been quiet for a few minutes. “These are strange times and I find myself in need of… a friend.”

Ferelith couldn’t help but feel he was looking in the wrong the direction. Still, she looked up with interest to find he had rose to his feet, towering over the flames and looking down at her.

“Those are not so easily acquired,” she retorted.

“Weeeell,” there was a shift in his brow, “if you ever warm up to the idea, I’ll be here. For now, I think I’ll take my leave to admire the night. I’m growing ever more anxious for the sun to rise.”

Ferelith said not a word as he strode off toward the ruin. She watched as he hesitated crossing the log, but found his footing to be rather graceful as he strut across it. He was being very careful. Not just about the river, but about how he was speaking to her. There were too many blank spaces that she could fill detailing what he could be hiding from her. That, of course, was also due to her the charade of what she was keeping to herself. And with that distracting her from any more work, she shut her book with the conclusion that she needed rest more than she needed answers. She was anxious now, as well.

#astarion #astarion fic #astarion x mc #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #ferelith #ferelith moonshade #ferelith writing tag #i know it's two in one night #but this one was a quick write

[bigkyle990]

A Witchy Pirate part 4

Links!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

And we return to the Boiling Isles! Anything else that happened on Great Blue will be in flashback from this point forward. 

Amity held back a sigh as she made the last few checks on herself before the door to Emperor Belos’s throne room. The now 21 year old young woman stood, wrapped in a tight black dress, under the cloak of the head of the Emperor’s Coven. She straightened out her now unbound hair, still dyed green as it always was, but now in more of an undercut style with her hair swept to the right side of her face. Her roots were already starting to show again, it would be time to redye it soon. The one last check was a light check of her staff, a Palismen she was lucky enough to have crafted herself, a regal looking Phoenix that she’d named Azula. It was a name of a character that Luz had told her about from some human show. It felt fitting. 

She could already hear the unnerving beat of the Titan’s Heart within, reminding all of the power the man had. Much like the last 7 years, she was never used to how things had changed for her life. Ever since Luz had been dragged through the Portal back to the human world, things had grown slightly darker for her. Oh she’d kept contact with the friends she’d made thanks to the human, Willow was thriving as not only a botanist, but had worked her way to the head of the Plant Coven. It surprise to everyone but those closest to her. Gus was able to work his way into a high ranking member of the Illusion Coven, only being beat out by Amity’s own siblings for the higher spots. She herself had gone into the Emperor’s Coven just as her family had wanted and worked her way to the top. It had plenty of benefits, but it’s fair share of annoyances and problems themselves. With one last sigh she centered herself and entered into the Chamber. “Ah… Amity, good to see you arrive so soon.” Came the eerie yet oddly charismatic voice of the Emperor from his throne. Amity approached and took a knee before Belos, bowing her head. “I came as soon as I was called, how may I serve you sir?” “A moment on that Amity,” Belos raised his hand and turned back to the other occupants in the room, “continue with your report.” He ordered. Another member of the coven cleared their throat, one that Amity knew came from the research team within the coven. “Of course, sire. Well, as you know, the portal to the human world had been in a dormant state since the rebellion attack on the Day of Unity over 7 years ago. We’ve been working to restore power to it since then, with little results.” They paused as they all heard the Titan’s Heart beating faster, signifying Belos’s annoyance. “That was, until about two hours ago when we had an incident…” Amity blinked. “An incident? What happened?” She asked curiously, a small spark of hope that maybe the portal was working. Sure it would be good for her Emperor, but it could let her see… “Yes, while working on it, the systems within the machine attached to the portal suddenly shot to life, opening it for just a brief moment and something came out. Unfortunately we can’t say what it was, as it came out like a cannon shot and broke through the walls of the lab, clear out of the castle itself. It was… An interesting experience to say the least.” They stated, trying to cut the slight tension in the room with some humor. “I would assume so.” Belos stated, bringing the tension right back, as the researcher froze up a bit. “Then the portal is operational again?” He asked, expecting an affirmative. The researcher gulped and shook their head slowly. “N-no sire… Um, whatever that anomaly was that activated it, damaged the portal further… It may not be salva-” They were cut off by standing of Belos and the much faster beating of the heart. “So you have nothing for me but failure, is that it?” He asked, a calm tone still coming from him, but it dripped with anger and venom. “Tell me, what does this do for my Day of Unity?” He asked, expecting a very quick answer. “W-well… Um, we detected where the anomaly landed… It’s.. It arrived just outside of Bonesborough! By the-” Belos sat back down and sigh. “The Owl House… Of course.” He said holding a hand to his mask. Amity stood by for the moment, unsure of how to approach this situation, she was about to try and offer to send someone to check it out, but found herself cut off. “Amity, I want you to take a group with you and go to the Owl House, see if you can get information on what came through.” Belos ordered. “At once sir. Do...do you want the sisters captured?” Amity asked, she knew they had been pardoned despite not joining any covens due to their lack of magic beyond the use of glyphs. Did he intend to have them arrested? “Only if they choose to resist and hide what arrived. I feel whatever it might be will be important to finally obtaining my goals. Now go.” “Yes sir.” She stood, turning on her heel and quickly heading out to gather a team. It was time to see the Clawthorn sisters it seemed. 

_

Two hours earlier, at the Owl House

The day had been somewhat normal for the residents of the Owl House. It was still early morning for them, Eda was busy trying to wake up with her normal cup of Apple Blood, Lilith was busy reading the morning paper as she prepared lesson plans for her class at Hexside on Glyphs and Glyph Magic, and King was busy with his morning nap in her lap. 

Yes, a perfectly normal morning for the group, at least until a sudden rapping on the door causing all three to jump at the noise.

Eda grumbled as she cleaned some of the apple blood that splashed into her face from the sudden scare and looked to the door. “Hooty! What are you doing making such a loud racket suddenly!?” She growled at her door, only to get no answer. “Hooty, what is going on?” She stood from her spot on the couch and made her way over, only to pause as the door opened. All three, four if you included a surprisingly shocked silent Hooty, were witness to a figure standing in the doorway. The tall form of a dark skinned, black haired woman, human judging by the round ears that poked out of her long hair. She was panting in a labored way as she held her side. Covered in blood, her clothing damaged, and plenty of opened wounds. Despite all this, the woman smiled at them. “I… Hi… I’m… Home…” Was all she said before collapsing onto the floor, blood slowly pooling from her wounds as exhaustion finally took its toll. The shock dissolved from Eda first, rushing over to her and starting to try and move her as best as she could. “Lily, go get the med kit! Now!” She ordered her older sister, who shot up quickly to go and get said kit. Eda brought the wounded woman over to the couch and laid her across it, it was already red, blood wasn’t gonna change that color much, as King moved out of the way. “Eda, is...is that?” King asked, the scent of the woman was so familiar, slightly different as she smelled heavily of salt under all the blood and sweat, but familiar. Eda nodded as she brushed a bit of the young woman’s hair aside to get a better look at her face. “Yeah… I think so... “ She said softly, staring at her face. “Luz.. Kiddo, what happened to you…?” She asked as Lilith returned with the med kit and the two started work on patching her up as best as they could.

#A Witchy Pirate #fanfiction #fanfic #owl house #the owl house #One piece #Luz Noceda #Luz #Amity Blight #Amity #eda clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #King #Lumity #crossover #mass crossover #crossover fanfiction #Ha #Cliffhanger

[vaniccio]

sea’s wol challenge — x. awakening (ft. @witchfall‘s Izzie!)

The first time he experiences the nonsense that comes with the magickal defenses set up around her house, it’s well into the dead of the night. Muffled cursing floats up from the open window facing the road. He blinks the sleep out of his eyes before irritably dragging himself out of bed. 

Of course it’s one of the nights that she’s out of the house, halfway across the world in Othard. He hopes it wasn’t one of the more severe traps; she’d shown him how to disable everything but spells have never been his strong point and he really doesn’t want to scrape a poorly-informed burglar off the gravel. 

Or explain to the Yellowjackets that no, sorry sir, the Warrior of Light didn’t inadvertently murder someone at her doorstep. 

He stumbles down the stairs, flicks the light on, and nudges open the door. And stares as one of her friends wrestles with the mess of writhing vines crawling up her legs, rooting her in place. 

“Izzie,” he greets without batting an eye. “You alright?”

Her ears flatten against her head and her eyes snap in his direction, but recognition immediately loosens her stance. “Finally! I thought I’d be stuck here all night. Help me out of these, would you?”

He steps out into the night with the door sliding shut at his back, mindful of the other cantrips and glyphs he knows are hidden in the grass. “What are you doing here?”

“Taking a midnight stroll through Mihren’s yard,” she drones. “What’s it look like?”

“Like you stepped in something you shouldn’t have. Don’t you know what she has set up around here?” 

"She said she turned them all off!" He swears he can see her tail poof up in the night. "Are you going to help me or not?"

He warily eyes the vines tangled around her legs. None of them are barbed and the grip doesn’t seem overly tight. More of a nuisance, he figures. “Wait here.” 

Using an axe was out of the question. He didn’t want to accidentally sever a limb right alongside the greenery. The knives in the kitchen weren’t the right tool either—and something told him Mihren would talk his ear off for even considering them—so he settles for something out of his own armory. A simple, sharp dagger would be enough.

Izzie, apparently, comes to a similar conclusion, and he returns to find her irritably slicing at the restraints wrapped around her left leg. “Why won’t this stupid thing—” 

“Hold still,” he orders, then kneels beside her and grabs the closest vine. It’s easy enough to slice through, and the sharp steel in his hand cuts through the strand like butter. The problem presents itself as soon as the sawn-off piece of plant hits the ground and withers. Izzie recognizes the issue just as he does.

“They’re growing back!” 

He sits back on his haunches as the vines stretch further up her body as though out of spite. “I can see that.” 

She angrily slices off another chunk wrapped around her waist. The empty space is almost immediately replaced with two smaller, thinner strands. 

“Persistent creepers, aren’t they,” he mutters under his breath. 

“Persistent what?” 

He gestures at the mass of vines now tangled all around by her feet, covering her boots and up to her knees. It grows each time she slices off a piece. 

He grabs her wrist when she moves to do it again. “Stop. You’ll be part of the yard at this rate.”

“Got any bright ideas then?” She glares down at him, but loosens her grip—which is good, considering she looked seconds away from treating her predicament as one would approach the thick foliage of a jungle. “Don’t you know how to turn this off?”

He should. But the longer he wracks his brain for the instructions Mihren left, the more he realizes that no, he doesn’t remember a thing she said—at least not for this particular trap. 

And it shows on his face.

Izzie groans. “Great. So I’m stuck here.”

“I can call her back.”

Her tail twitches. “To see this? She’d die of laughter before she helped us.” 

That pulls a small smile out of him. But some part of him agrees, because he moves on from that option almost just as quick. She didn’t need more ammunition to tease him with. 

“G’raha might be of help,” he mulls. “Last I heard from Tataru, he was in Limsa Lominsa on Scion business. If we’re lucky he may still be nearby.”

At that, Izzie stiffens. The heated glare returns to her face, though this time it’s accompanied by a slight blush that even he can see in the dim light. “No.” 

“No?”

“No. We can get out of this ourselves.” 

They don’t get out of it themselves. 

. . .

G’raha, to his credit, does an admirable job of keeping a straight face. For at least the first minute. 

“Before you ask,” Izzie mutters, “This is all Mihren’s fault.” 

“I’m sure.” G’raha’s eyes glitter with amusement as he enters the yard. “Though this is most certainly not what I was expecting when you mentioned ‘magical troubles.”

Ardbert shrugs and stands off to the side as he inspects the vines. “Describes the problem well enough. Got any idea how to turn it off?” 

Izzie stubbornly refuses to meet G’raha’s gaze, arms crossed and back straight. Somehow, she manages to make it look like she had the entire matter under control, as though it was my idea to be in this situation, thank you very much, and not like she was mere minutes away from looking suspiciously like the leafmen in Il Mheg. 

Ardbert frowns as the thought crosses his mind. The trap had some striking similarities. 

“Ah. It seems our dear friend Feo Ul decided to share some pixie knowledge after all.” G’raha straightens out and tilts his head in thought. “These are curious modifications, though.” 

“I’m sure it’s very fascinating,” Izzie mutters under her breath. “Can you get me out?”

“Of course.” G’raha’s brows furrow in concentration. One snap of the fingers later, the restraints slide down Izzie’s legs and back into the bushes lining the gravel path like an obedient dog. Her heated glare follows them the entire way back. 

Ardbert clears his throat. “Now that that’s settled. What were you doing here anyway? Especially ‘round this time of night.”

“Her house was the closest,” Izzie says with a shrug. 

He considers her a moment before his attention flickers to G’raha. Like Izzie, there were dark circles under his eyes and a weariness settled over his shoulders. Clearly tired, despite the distracted way the man smiled at her. 

Ardbert sighs and beckons them in. “Come on, both of you. Gods know there’s more than enough room in here for all of us.”

#seaswolchallenge #masq writes #astra inclinant #the mihren tag #char: izzie #the last five entries have basically been 'misadventures with ardbert' #but listen... i'm having fun and that's what matters #the izzie tag

[pilot-boi]

Five Injuries Hidden: Chapter One

A little look into the extents that Jaune would go for his team, his friends, his family. Did he maybe go a little too far at times? Maybe. Is it really necessary for him to get medical attention and actually heal his injuries? Probably. Will he ever stop gladly throwing himself on top of the wire to protect even one of them? Definitely not.

Maybe he should actually let them help him when he goes too far and gets hurt in their stead. But for that to happen, they’d have to know about the hits that he keeps taking for them, which they don’t and never will. And what they don’t know won’t kill them.

But… It might kill him if he isn’t careful.

((I keep forgetting Aura is a thing, so don’t mind me giving him injuries that he shouldn't really be able to get. Set vaguely between V5 and V6.))

Oscar

Jaune’s never had a baby brother before, so he can be forgiven for being just a little bit more protective than he really needs to be, right?

AO3 LINK

It was pouring

Not an innocent little sprinkle either, oh no. It was a torrential downpour.

The water kept getting in his hair and washing it down into his face. Who needs eyesight anyway? That wasn’t necessary, right?

And to think, he had been having such a nice day, too.

A wild shout snapped Jaune out of his thoughts, and he snapped up his sword to block the clumsy swipe of the Ursa’s paw, the resounding clang leaving a faint ringing in his ears. A grin made its way onto the  soaked knight’s face as he batted the offending limb away with his shield and slashed across with his blade to decapitate it.

Whipping his head around, Jaune quickly scanned the impromptu battle field for his friends. His family. A voice that sounded suspiciously like Yang’s joked in the back of his head about counting heads like a teacher on a field trip, but he paid it no mind.

Relief swept through him as he saw that they all had their battles well in hand. Yang and Nora even seemed to be making a game out of it, shouting out the number of kills to each, both trying to one up the other. Their partners were taking it more seriously, but Jaune could see Blake smiling in amusement and hear the laugh tinging Ren’s words.

Ruby and Weiss were dashing around each other, working like a perfectly oiled machine. Glyphs would appear for Ruby to run on, perfectly timed for her to take out a truly obscene amount of Grimm with one strike. As he watched, he even saw Oscar take out a Beowulf singlehanded.

Jaune couldn’t help the swell of pride in his chest.

Shaking his sopping wet out of his eyes -in vain, apparently, as it simply slid right back after he swept it away for the millionth time- a movement in the trees caught his eye by complete chance. Red glowing eyes and feathers flickered from branch to branch. 

Whipping his head around, Jaune zeroed in on a hidden Nevermore. It must have been drawn by the strife of the combat. With a screech it launched itself from the trees and reared back its wings to launch its feathers like throwing daggers.

Aiming directly at Oscar. Oscar, who still had trouble remembering to keep his Aura up. His brother. His baby brother.

Everything seemed to slow as his mind’s eye worked out just what he was seeing. He quietly pushed away the rage that bubbled up, and sought the cool planning mindset that had saved him and his friends time and again. Jaune would have time for anger later -because how dare that monster even think of laying a feather on Oscar Pine- because he had more immediate problems.

For one, and most immediately, that he would not be able to warn Oscar in time. No, the stupid bird was already locked and loaded onto Oscar, and by the time he warned him, there could be a feather a foot long skewered through his chest.

So, that brought his options down to only one. One acceptable solution. If that arrow was going to hit anyone, it was going to be him.

As he came to that conclusion, everything rushed back into full motion.

The Nevermore loosed its feathers like a hailstorm.

Oscar heard the noise and turned to see what was flying towards him.

Their friends yelled out in warning. Weiss threw up a wall a moment too late. Ruby jumped into a cloud of petals.

And Jaune slammed Oscar -his little brother, dammit stupid bird would pay for that- out of the way, his momentum carrying them both mostly out of the path of the barrage. Mostly.

Jaune was never so happy to have a soaking wet red sash tied around his middle than at that moment. It hid injuries quite well.

Hiding a grimace of pain as something just short of agony raced across his lower ribs, Jaune quickly checked over Oscar for injuries. His Aura flared up in his hands, liquid light pouring down into any possible imaginary injuries the boy could have. “Are you okay?! It didn’t get you, did it?”

Oscar shook himself out of his shocked stupor, blinking dazedly. “N-no. I’m fine. Thanks Jaune.”

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, shoulders slumping, before they raised back up rigidly and his shield spiraled back out to cover them both. “Wait, what about the Nevermore?!”

Ren laid a calming hand on Jaune’s shoulder. “Not to worry. Ruby and Weiss are taking care of it. Are you alright, Jaune?”

A sharp sting lanced across his ribs. Couldn’t spare Aura for an injury he didn’t know the extent of. What if he needed to heal someone? “Yeah, sure, I’m fine! Do you think you could check over Oscar to make sure that it really missed him?”

Ren tilted his head to one side in confusion and crouched down beside them both. “I saw you using your Semblance, but it you’re sure-”

“Guys, I’m fine! Not even bruised anymore thanks to you,” Oscar reassured him.

“You got him to the ground before the others even took off after the rest of the Grimm,” Ren reminded Jaune, ignoring the knight’s skeptical expression. “You did well, Jaune.”

“My ‘good enough’ almost wasn’t good enough.” Jaune slumped tiredly, resisting the urge to sling his arm across his torso to cover the angry welt he could feel. “I’m just relieved I saw it in time.”

Oscar punched him lightly in the arm, and then shook out his fingers from punching his metal armor. Jaune didn’t even notice the hit, but he noticed the reprimand. “Come on, stop that. Please! You saved me, you made it. I’m right here, on the ground, safe and sound.”

“Yeah, what he said!” Ruby called as she waded through the semi-dense brush, the tell tale smoke of dead Grimm dripping and seeping off the scythe leaning on her shoulder.

Good. The thing was dead. Jaune tried not to feel so satisfied about that.

Nora bounced out from behind her and slung an arm across Jaune’s shoulders, unknowingly aggravating Jaune’s side. “C’mon fearless leader, cheer up! Everything turned out a-okay. Now, what do ya say we all finish up here and go get something to eat, huh?”

Jaune heartily agreed, and soon they were all back in Mistral proper. Qrow, slung across the couch with one arm covering his eyes, grumbled when their troop stomped inside covered in mud and shouting to each other. 

Excusing himself with the plea of exhaustion, Jaune snagged the first-aid kit from the kitchen and sequestered himself into his and Oscar’s shared room. And with a wince, he finally took in the extent of the damage.

The less said about the torturous removing of his armor and soaked through clothing, the better.

A long, angry red mark was gouged across his side, right under his rib cage, and a dark, grim looking bruise covered from just above the severe laceration all the way down to the top of his hip. 

He stared at it for several long seconds, debating whether to heal it or not. Who knows what they’d be doing over the next couple days. Could he afford to leave it? Or could he afford to siphon off precious Aura to heal himself, when he might need it for the others?

After far too long, he settled on cleaning it out first and figuring it out later.

Biting back the few curse words he knew, mostly from Yang, he quickly balled up the cleanest, least muddy piece of his shirt before biting down on it, effectively blocking any yelps that would be sure to somehow slip past the firm barrier he had paced against them.

Taking a deep breath in through his nose, his side protesting fiercely, and gathering up all his courage, Jaune tore open a sterile package and applied the large antiseptic patch found within.

The world whited out.

Suddenly, in some part of his brain that was untouched by overwhelming agony, he was very, very glad that he had taken the precautions to stop anyone from seeing or hearing him. Locking the door behind him had been an afterthought born from years of sibling life, but now he was so very glad that he took the second to do so.

After all, he couldn’t have someone walking in on him feeling like he was dying, now could he?

He used to like rainy days.

Somehow pulling himself back together out of the sheer force of will, he finished cleaning out the gash. He channeled a sliver of Aura into the injury and watched as it stitched himself up into a barely healed slash, still surrounded by bruising. Just enough to stop the bleeding.

Taking a moment to center himself, he spit his shirt out of his mouth and finished up by wrapping a loop of gauze around his middle and over the still extremely tender wound.

Finished. Now he could die in peace. Didn’t they say that death was eternal rest? Yeah. He could go for an eternal nap right about now.

Sadly, that wasn’t in the cards for Jaune at the moment. Briefly mourning the fact that he couldn’t stay seated on his bedroom floor with stray medical supplies strewn about forever, Jaune mentally shook himself off and begrudgingly started cleaning up any evidence of this little escapade. 

His dirty shirt got tossed right into the laundry, along with the bloody soaked and slightly-more-tattered sash. Hopefully nobody would notice the extra holes in the latter.

That done, and knowing that Oscar at the very least would undoubtedly be coming by soon, Jaune quickly pulled a new shirt over his head to hide the remaining evidence, i.e. his injury. 

It was quick for him, but really he walked slowly with shuffling steps, as his side strongly rebelled against the thought of doing anything fast other than sleeping. So he shucked off his soaking wet jeans, tossed them into the pile with his shirt and sash, tugged on a pair of sweatpants, and collapsed painfully into his bed.

No training tonight. Sorry, Pyrrha, but he didn’t think he’d manage to wake up to his alarm no matter how loud he set it. And setting it loud enough to wake the others was a no-go. Jaune felt so exhausted that he doubted even his nightmares would be enough to wake him.

Don’t get him wrong, Jaune didn’t regret what he did. He never would. You could scour his soul for eternity, and you would never find even a slightest shade of remorse for doing what he had done to save Oscar, the little brother he’d never had. 

This result was the optimal one. That’s what he did, he crunched the numbers. And the numbers would always come to this result, without question. Jaune would gladly relive this entire horrible, muddy, rainy day a million times if it meant that Oscar would come out of it uninjured. 

In fact, he would willingly do this for any of his friends, his family, the family he’d found and made and cobbled together. This family that was a little damaged and cracked, but that had dragged him out of the darkest time in his life without a second thought and without asking for anything in return. 

A debt that Jaune could never begin to repay. Not that he’d ever stop trying. He hadn’t been grateful enough when they’d been doing it, so he was doubly grateful for them sticking with it and not giving up on him like he’d so dearly wanted them to.

So he’d do anything for them. Anything at all. With absolutely no hesitation at all. If any of their lives were on the line, there were really no numbers to be crunched. This decision was a no-brainer.

Hands down, no questions asked.

#rwby #jaune arc #oscar pine #lie ren #nora valkyrie #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #qrow branwen #mine #mistral au #my writing #five injuries hidden #chapter 1

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes pt14:Getting ready

It was the middle of the night and Veronica was still awake. She sat on the floor of her happily swaying her tail side to side as she admired her own tailoring work. ‘Not a bad job on such short notice if I do say so myself.’ She thought while rubbing her stomach.

A low growl came from it. Walking away from dinner was a mistake. Veronica looked at the clock to see it pass midnight. ‘Technically it’s breakfast time.’ She decided to poke her through the ground to see what was underneath her. Sad to say, it was a bathroom. A very fancy bathroom, but not a kitchen. Still, it had to be on this floor. Veronica phased through the rest of the floor; landing in the shower before exiting the entire room to the hallway.

It didn’t take her long to find the kitchen. Her eyes might not work in the dark but her nose was just fine. Veronica stared at the various options in the fridge and got a little tempted. They had smoked ham; cured smoked ham. The smell alone made her eyes constrict, becoming cat-like until she shook her head. ‘Don’t even. If you start then you won’t stop. Self control Veronica, self control.’ She took her attention off of it and saw someone had wrapped up her unfinished meal along with Summer’s; Yang’s doing no doubt.

Veronica grabbed the plate and took it out. She was tempted to eat the pasta cold when the unexpected flick of a light blinded her. Veronica instinctively hissed and shielded her face. “Ow, who the-”

“Oh, you’re here. Now things make sense.” Said a familiar but entirely different voice. Veronica felt the hair on her tail stand up and she looked to see Summer there. Except, the sensation she was getting immediately told Veronica that it wasn't Summer, but Shiva. The frosty girl rubbed her eyes and walked closer until Veronica was forced to move around to the other side of the kitchen. Not taking any chances and walking across the counter top. Shiva opened the fridge and grabbed milk, ice cream, and parfait filled with fruit.

Shiva:You know...walking up there is very unsanitary right?

Veronica:.....

Shiva:Okay, do whatever you want. Can you pass me a spoon though? First cabinet below you.

Veronica did nothing for a second before Shiva held out her hand. Veronica slowly reached for a spoon and tossed it into her hand. Shiva smiled and got busy grabbing a cup and started making a milkshake. Veronica didn’t move. This was the first time she had actually seen Shiva. Nick had told her about the physical difference thankfully but that wasn’t all. Shiva’s voice held a certain distortion like faint cracking ice. Then there was her smell. It was different from Summer's. It was… disgustingly fresh; like the feeling of chewing a mint in the cold while the wind blew. Against her better judgment, Veronica got back on the floor.

Shiva:Finally coming down Veeeerrr… Veronica? That’s your name. Sorry, Summer May think about you from time to time but that doesn’t mean I have to pay attention or am around. I gotta say, I thought you’d be taller.

Veronica:What the hell is going on?

Shiva:I was wondering the same thing before I walked in here. Summer never forgets to turn on her heater. She wasn’t even under her covers; that’s a new level of recklessness. “How could she be so exhausted and distracted” is what I was thinking. My guess, a total accident because she was distracted. You say something to her?

Veronica:(Of all the fuc-) The dumbass was probably pouting after our little chat and dozed off.

Shiva:Yeah she's like a bicycle wheel. Her mind runs pretty well until you throw something in between the smokes. I however, am more like a monster truck.

Veronica’s body tensed as Shiva reached for the milkshake. ‘Is she trying to get colder?’ That could get bad. Yet Veronica was strangely okay. Her ears faintly hearing the rest of the residents soundly snoring. Then something clicked.

Shiva:I can’t remember the last time this body even had a milk-

Veronica:Let her go.

Shiva:Huh?

Veronica:You heard me. *cracks knuckles* Let Summer go.

Shiva:Well then, someone went from spineless to bold in no time. I’m just trying to enjoy-

In the fraction of a second there was no longer a milkshake or parfait near her. Instead she was looking up at Veronica who stood over her with a glare just as frightening as her own. Shiva couldn’t help but smile out of intrigument and agitation.

Veronica:I was never scared. Startled for sure, but never scared of something like you. In case you didn’t know, Summer’s never beaten me in a fight and you’re giving me the perfect excuse to hit her in the face.

Shiva:You’d have to be real stupid to think it would be easy to-

Veronica:To what, beat up a body that’s starving for food and apparently calcium. I know when Summer’s at her best so believe me when I say I can knock you on your ass in five seconds and catch her body before she wakes up; something you definitely wouldn’t like right now.

Shiva:.....Hmph, I like your eyes. They’re broken like hers. Count your blessings you aren’t the one with dust in their veins. Now that. Would be interesting.

Veronica:You really are insane if you’re comparing me to her.

Shiva:And you’re dumb to think I’d try anything in this place again. So many thermostats, so many loved ones and ground to cover. I couldn’t make it out this place on the coldest day; especially with your pain in the ass of a mom.

Shiva chuckled as Veronica grabbed her shirt. ‘They are definitely similar, and yet..” Shiva couldn’t put her finger on it but there was something about Veronica she particularly hated. This girl she just officially met had instantly become number two in her list of people to deal with if she got the chance. But for tonight, Shiva was out of time. Not like she actually had a plan. A milkshake was the goal because yes, this body needed calcium.

Shiva:Can you do me one favor since you ruined my night? Seriously, get this girl some milk or something. The cold has a way of screwing with bones. The fool knows this and purposely does it in fear of me taking over. She would have broken something today if not for me.

Veronica:You almost sound like you care.

Shiva:Her health is my health. You know what they say, your body is a temple. And from the way you were eyeing the ham it looks like I’m not the only temple that isn’t being well kept.

Veronica:Tsk, do me a favor and fuck off already.

Shiva:That answers that. Goodbye Veronica. For your sake I hope you never stand in my way. I might enjoy myself too much dealing with you.

And with those words, Shiva fizzled out. Leaving nothing but a sleeping Summer Schnee that fell into the faunus girl’s arms. Veronica stood there a moment to collect her thoughts. This was far more excitement than she was looking for at night. Worst part was she wasn’t entirely sure what to do. The situation was handled, so should she wake someone anyway? Does she tell them later?

Veronica lifted Summer like a bride and looked at her before looking at the food left out. ‘I guess I’m having a cheat day today.’ Her eyes looked at the milkshake as she came to that conclusion. ‘Since I’m destroying evidence, maybe it was best to keep quiet? If this encounter was my fault then that means I can control it so it won’t happen again.’ She reasoned. Carefully she started the walk to Summer’s room with a look of pure displeasure. ‘Just another reason to be on my best behavior I suppose. Tsk, as if I needed any more.’

xxxx

The night might’ve been eventful for Veronica but to Summer, it was over in a wink. The girl’s body had naturally woken up and she stared into the darkness of her room that barely had any light coming through her blinds and the red dot on her heater.

“Still early” Summer groaned, “even by Nick’s standards most likely.” There was no real reason to get from underneath her cozy covers just yet. A shower could wait for a bit. Besides, Veronica had her uniforms; there was no rush to see her so early. Valerie definitely wasn’t up this early. The mental list of people to chat with quickly shrunk. There was one person possibly awake Summer thought, and she actually should’ve called them yesterday.

The girl rolled over near her nightstand and grabbed her scroll, hitting a custom icon in the shape of a cane.

Oscar:Hello?

Summer:Hey Oz. Sorry if I woke you up, and for not facing timing for my appointment.

Oscar:Don’t feel bad about it. Yesterday was a busy day for you from what I saw.

Summer:Man you wouldn’t bel-....saw?

Oscar:Penny showed me the video.

Summer:Ugh! *covers face*

Oscar:I heard a face palm. Everything okay? And I mean really okay?

Summer:.....No, no it isn’t. I completely blew it yesterday. All that training over winter break, no, all the training this year and I’m not strong enough to stand on my own. Nothing is changing. I fight, get overwhelmed, Nick steps in; this time with a new ability. I’m the one who’s an expert with glyphs and yet he completely overshadowed me with summoning. Not only that, but now I have Veronica to deal with for a while. Who probably is eavesdropping right this moment. I feel like I can’t get a win! Even my music doesn’t feel up to par recently which is terrible considering I have to perform soon. What if I-

Oscar:Summer!

His shout stopped her from spiraling. He couldn’t see her face but he could hear her sniffing. Oscar waited patiently, listening to the girl trying to calm herself down with deep breathing exercises they had practiced day in and day out. Summer’s camera turned on and Oscar was greeted with rosy cheeks and slightly red eyes.

Oscar:If you gotta cry then go ahead.

Summer:I’m sick and tired of crying. What good is it anyways?

Oscar:Hey, crying is great sometimes! I cried a lot whenever I got frustrated traveling with everyone.

Summer:Really?

Oscar:Hell yeah. I was stressed and overwhelmed constantly because I felt weak. Also I constantly dealt with Qrow being dumb.

Qrow:You’re alive aren’t you!?

Oscar:Sir, I’m in the middle of a session. I’ll be with you after. *smiles*

Summer:Hehehe, I forgot Winter said something about him tagging along.

Oscar:He’s not the only one. Adrian wanted to tag along and then of course you know who’s ship we ended up on.

Summer:!!!? You're on Sparrow’s ship!?

A loud voice off screen answered her question. “Did someone say my name!?” The voice cried out. Oscar rolled his eye playfully as he flipped his camera to show Summer that Qrow and Adrian was fishing right next to a man. A young man that was barely in his twenties and wearing captain’s uniform, as if he was running some fancy cruise liner. Complete with the hat.

His face was clean shaven for once and his wavy brown hair that matched his eyes was put up in a bun. He looked over at the camera and immediately greated Summer with the goofiest smile he could make.

Summer:Hey Sparrow, it’s been awhile. How’s the sea life?

Sparrow:Better now that I’m not in the military!

Qrow:I’m telling Winter you said that.

Sparrow:Stop, she’s already mad I didn’t stop by in between jobs.

Adrian:Catch a giant fish and maybe you’ll buy our silence.

Sparrow:You’re on!

Oscar:Your cousin is the only sailor crazy enough around here to go searching for the gods. Also he’s extremely affordable; helping family is free of charge.

Summer:Thanks, all of you. Personally I wouldn’t want you all to go this far for me but-

Sparrow:You’re family. Since when the hell is there a price or distance on that?

Adrian:He’s right.

Qrow:If I taught this numbskull anything, it’s that right there.

Sparrow:Beer pong too.

Qrow:Ssssshhhhh

Oscar:Getting back on track, progress wasn’t made in a day. Sometimes it’s not even made by training. I’ve watched that video at least a hundred times already.

Summer:I wish you didn’t tell me that.

Oscar:My point is that progress just happens in an instant. A moment that makes everything click or demands your body to push beyond what it couldn’t do. Don’t trick yourself into thinking Nick got this moment in wanting not to waste yours and Valerie’s efforts. So he dug deep in order not to disappoint you both.

Summer:I….I know this. We’ve always pushed each other along; the ultimate duo. Yet I’ve always felt like he’s not only giving more than I can give, but he’s preventing me from giving all I’m able to give.

Oscar:Oh?

Summer:Hey...can I say something? Something you won’t write down?

Oscar:Go right ahead.

Summer:For awhile now I can’t help but feel...like he’s in my way. And it makes me so irritated to see that no matter what, my big brother is right there. Always ready to put things on hold for his baby sister. I’d rather take a loss than see him do damage control.

Oscar:You feel like he’s smothering you? Have you told him?

Summer:Almost, then I lost the nerve. He’s so patient with me and understanding. Yet I wish he’d be upset with my mistakes and hold me accountable. I wouldn’t mind him raising his voice at me or calling me out like-

Oscar:Veronica?

Summer’s eyes went wide. Is that what she wanted? No, well...no. Not exactly.

Summer:That would be a little much I think. I don’t think I could cope.

Oscar:But you do realize that maybe you continue to associate with Veronica and egg her on because you admire her confidence and you desire some form of tough love?

Summer: I mean...I do admire her confidence; not to mention her looks. Tough love though? That’s sugar coating it I think. She hates me.

Oscar:Maybe. I’d love to talk to her one on one at least once. I can’t say what her exact opinion is on you but it could be possible that you think she hates you way more than she actually does? Now may be a good time to figure it out.

Summer:I think I would need about a hundred journals to even express what one day of being around her would feel like.

Oscar:Speaking of journals, have you gotten a new one? I’m not letting you slack on this.

Summer:All my journals are underneath my bed. Including the new one. Not sure how much it’s helping. Writing down my personal feelings, it scares me. Like the words might jump out at me.

Oscar:...I may be out of line here and off base but, Summer, don’t hesitate to call me or Penny for anything. And I mean anything. Life is a precious gift.

Summer flinched at those words. The look on his face was one of complete calm and concern all at once. Summer got the message clear. Playing dumb would be an insult, and yet she smiled anyways at him.

Summer:You worry too much Os. Things are bleak but not that bleak. Don’t worry your pretty little head; honest.

Oscar:...Okay, I trust you. I just wanted you to remember that people can only help so much and help so effectively, depending on how much you let them in. Walling us off from anything important, it could be risky.

Summer:Thanks for your concern but I promise you that I’m fine. I should probably start getting ready for school now. Call you again, Regular appointment time?

Oscar:I’ll have my scroll charged and ready. Have a good day at school. Remember-

Summer:One step at a time. You say it constantly. Penny really needs to finish this baby chamber thing she’s making. I think you have baby fever or something. Always doting on me.

Oscar:You’d be jealous the moment Penny and I have a baby.

Summer:I would. Take care of yourself...uncle.

Oscar:!? Did you just call me-

Summer hung up immediately. Yeah she meant those words, but saying it out loud was too embarrassing to deal with. Not even out of her pjs yet and she was already a little drained; and she still had one more person to talk too!!!

‘Let’s get this over with.’ Summer hopped out of the bed and quickly made her way to Veronica’s room. The faster she gets there means the faster it will be over.

It only took a second Summer to stand at the door. She only got two knocks in before the door swung open and Summer was greeted with tired eyes. Veronica’s hair was ruffled and her tail was frizzy around her waist, yet she was already fully dressed in the uniform she borrowed. Veronica made it fit like a glove. Even in the simple white button up and black skirt, she looked gorgeous. Veronica bent down to fix her black calf high socks while keeping eye contact.

Veronica:I take it you’re here for your clothes? Give me a sec.

Summer:H...how long have you been up?

Veronica:Don’t know. A couple hours? Had to make sure I could readjust the size of this when I gave it back.

Summer:You wrap your tail around your waist for school.

Veronica:What’s with all the dumb questions so early? It’s your uniform. Cutting a hole for my tail would be stupid; I’m giving this back. Unless you want people looking through a hole in your skirt?

Summer:*red* Now look who’s asking dumb questions?

Veronica:Shut up and be productive. Strip and try on the clothes while there’s still time.

Summer:S-Strip? We don’t have to. I mean it’s no big deal if whatever you did is a little-

Unamused eyes glared at Summer, shutting her up. Of course Veronica’s designs were a big deal. Everything is a big deal with her. Summer didn’t put up a fight and walked in, closing the door behind them.

Summer:Can you at least turn around until I’m finished?

Veronica:That doesn’t do me much good. I intend to make sure I have your proper measurements. Suck it up and deal with it. We’re both women and don’t you have P. E. as a class? Undressing shouldn’t be a problem.

Summer:I...don’t undress typically. If I do I try to do it alone. The eyes on me are unnerving.

Veronica:You’re a performer.

Summer:That’s completely different and you know it. I display my voice on stage. Not my scars.

Veronica:This again?

Summer:Tsk, I don’t even know why I try with you sometimes. Of course you wouldn’t understand this. Must be really easy to say the things you do when your body is perfect.

Veronica:If you’re assuming that I judge people by their body or appearance, then everyone gives you too much credit when it comes to how smart you are. Only scum would ever be so shallow and daft. Since when the hell have I ever belittled you about your scars, something you couldn’t control?

Summer:......

Veronica:Think before you speak to me like that again.

Bickering was normal between them. This is how it’s always been. So why did Summer feel guilty about it this time? More importantly, why did Veronica sound so defensive? The only other thing she said after was asking Summer if she had permission to touch her. A question that confused her for a moment before she nodded. Maybe it was a designer thing.

Veronica grabbed the sleeve of Summer’s shirt, as well as the waistband of her pants. There was a brief moment of nothing happening that confused Summer. She almost asked what was going on until Veronica tugged on the clothing and it passed right through and off of Summer’s body; making the girl yelp. Just what else could Veronica do with her semblance? The faunus was entirely too good with it for someone who doesn’t wanna be a huntsman.

Summer had no time to think about it however since Veronica’s warm hands on her Summer’s hips snapped the girl back into reality. Veronica took her time with whatever she was doing. It was definitely more than measurements. Her hands gently traveled down each leg, feeling the muscle groups and gently touching each scar on the way down. Sometimes her thumbs pressed a little harder in certain areas.

Veronica could feel different spots of tension and the cold dust that ran through each scar. Her hands finally started to go up after examining Summer’s feet. The accent went to the waist and upwards. Each digit rolling over a rib. Veronica made sure to be very thorough and listen to the sounds Summer and Summer’s body was making. The sounds told a story and Veronica’s ears could listen to it. Last place was her chest and back which Veronica gave a little more force over places like Summer’s spine and scars. Summer oddly felt like she was being sculpted out of clay.

Veronica finally let go and grabbed the tape measure. That only took a few seconds though. Summer figured it might’ve been because those numbers weren’t high to begin with unfortunately. Step three of this process also went quick. Veronica grabbed one of the uniforms and phased it right on to Summer’s body perfectly. The length remained but all the excess baggy material was apparently tucked in or removed. Nothing felt too tight or loose as Summer moved her body around. Even that felt lighter. These adjustments were outstanding. All this progress in a night!

Summer:Woah, this is….disturbingly comfortable. Form fitting around my arms, but not tight.

Veronica:The only thing disturbing is how impressed you are about clothes that fit. Any complaint you have about the skirt length you can fix with simple leggings.

Summer:...Thanks for this, and sorry. I was out of line a moment ago.

Veronica:Hmph…...I prefer actions rather than words. If you really feel that sorry about it then I expect compensation.

Summer:What…? You want me to pay you as an apology?

Veronica:Your money is worth absolutely nothing to me. You are going to help me with a variety of tasks I need in order to make the best outfits possible. Then you’re going to wear them.

Summer:Oh, So you want my influence and connections to get free self promotion?

Veronica:This kingdom has its eyes on you. Someone is bound to talk about who’s doing your wardrobe. Considering how one of these outfits happen to be your tournament outfit, I think offering to lift a finger or two wouldn’t be too much to ask.

Summer:I thought it was finished?

Veronica:Not with the measurements I just got from you. Too small for you and I have some ideas to improve it now. So do we have an agreement or not?

Summer:.....

Veronica:You hurt my ears yesterday.

Summer:Fine, don’t have to guilt trip me.

Veronica:Perfect, you can start right now.

Summer:What!?

Veronica:From now until I leave I expect you to stretch your entire body when you wake up and before bed; dynamic stretches that focus slight tension around the ligaments in your left wrist and right knee especially. I could feel how worn out your body is. I expect better from a fighter that can pay for any spa. The unnecessary stress in your shoulders need to be fixed too.

Summer:(She got all that from just touching me?) Why does this sound like a health care routine and what does it have to do with-

Veronica:Questioning my methods won’t get you any closer to understanding them. Just do it.

Summer:Next you’re going to tell me what to eat with demands like this.

Veronica:Milk, at least two cups a day. Vanilla, regular, chocolate, warm, I really don’t care.

Summer:I wasn’t being serious!

Veronica:Well I am. Your bones need calcium from what I could feel. If I punched your ribs right now they would probably crack like a glow stick.

The way she worded that made Summer scrunch her face in pain. She could feel them ache already.

Summer:Fair point, but I have this thing against dairy-

Veronica:Are you going to keep making excuses, or are you actually going to give something your all for once? Not that I care. I can use a few more videos of you getting flung like a rag doll.

Summer:That’s not going to happen again.

Veronica:Less words, more action. I’ve said my peace, now I’m heading out.

Summer:School isn’t for another two hours.

Veronica:I’m aware. Perfect time to explore a little and find something remotely inspiring.

Summer:I don’t think Yang would like you walking around all-

Veronica:Summer, have I ever listened to you before? Like at al?

Summer:....

Veronica:Exactly.

On that note, Veronica grabbed the scarf she was given and fell through the floor, their conversation over. It went pretty well considering all things. They bickered and said a few choice words but strangely, Veronica wasn’t as mouthy. ‘Maybe mornings aren’t her thing.’ Summer concluded. They definitely weren’t hers.

Summer pulled out her scroll and decided now was probably a good idea to pass the baton to Nick instead of keeping quiet about Veronica’s plan to galavant around.

Nick:Hello? Summer, why are you calling me so early? Wait, why are you calling me?

Summer:Too lazy to walk. Just thought you should know that Veronica decided to go exploring around the town.

Nick:I’m sure she can find her way around.

Summer:She’s in a school uniform. Not to mention she isn’t wearing a bow or anything. It’s only gonna take one stupid person making a tasteless comment and-

Nick:Our school ends up taking heat.

Summer:To be fair, she looked pretty quiet and not very energetic. Just thought you should know.

Nick:What’s your plan?

Summer:To let you deal with it. I’m going back to bed for awhile. Feeling a bit drained.

Nick:I’m pretty sore myself. I’m sure she’ll be fine.

Summer:If you say so.

Their call ended immediately and Nick rubbed his eyes before laying face down on his pillow. ’She’ll be fine.’ He told himself whilst trying to go back to sleep. At least ten minutes had to pass before he flipped over on his back. “.....”

Nick silently cursed under his breath and hoped out of bed, annoyed by his troubled mind. It’s not that he didn’t trust Veronica, but it would really suck if something did happen. Especially after Yang asked him and Summer to keep an eye on her. “Looks like I’m getting dressed early today.”

His morning routine wasn’t long, or even complicated. In half an hour he was physically ready for the school day. The cold air outside should wake him. Nick was about to leave when he smelt something cooking the kitchen. He poked his head around to see Yang cooking some eggs. Nothing unusual, but he’d be lying if he didn’t say he was more than a little uncomfortable with how short her shorts were and loose fitting tank top. He wondered if she forgot that this wasn’t her house.

Nick:Ummm…

Yang:Oh, Hey Nick! You’re up early.

Looks like she just did not care. Now he knew Veronica got a trait from Yang that wasn’t physical

Nick:Yeah I couldn’t sleep any longer.

Yang:Well if you wait a little longer before leaving then I can make you some breakfast? I’m hoping the smell of eggs and some ham will get Veronica down here. With you she’s bound to eat it.

Nick:Uhhh Summer said Veronica left like forty minutes ago.

Yang:She wha- that little sneak!!! I bet she knew what I was planning. Sigh...damnit…

Yang cracked an egg a little too hard and it splattered on the stove. The yoke that got in her hand started to sizzle faster than in the pan. Then look in her eyes wasn’t anger though, but concern.

Nick:Is breakfast a big deal for you?

Yang:It’s not breakfast that matters, but the food. It’s been like three months since that kid has eaten actual meat.

Nick:I’m...not sure I see the problem. Does this have something to do with the kind of faunus she is. Actually, now that I mention it, I’ve never seen Veronica eat meat.

Yang:Because she intentionally doesn’t eat it around people or tries to avoid it in general. Can you keep a secret, or at least keep it within this house? Weiss and Jaune already know.

Nick:Yang, keeping secrets is like my best quality. That actually sounds bad out loud. Second, it’s my second best quality.

Yang:Hehehe. Look, having two faunus traits isn’t as simple as dealing with a tail and ear problems; her very genes are turned up to an eleven. Her hearing is better than Blake’s by a wide margin and even her sense of smell is extremely sharp. It sounds helpful but…

Nick:It’s overstimulating?

Yang:She’s gotten pretty good at honing it early on, but not so much with other things. Different faunus have different...impulses. Their fight and flight reflexes are even different than humans because of whatever animal instinct they have. Blake is a feline, a panther. If she’s angry, she gets angry. When she craves food, it’s typically fish. Any urge she has is related to that of a panther.

Nick:Okay, that’s not exactly new to me. So Veronica feels these “urges” or “instincts” in certain situations, but it’s more intense.

Yang:Let me put it to you like this. Blake on her worst day is still very much in control of her actions. It’s simple for any faunus to stave off any particular urge because it’s basically the same thing as refusing to act on adrenaline. Veronica’s worst day makes her as intense as Ghira fighting for his life. Regular days are Blake’s worst days.

Nick:That...explains a couple of things.

Yang:Basically, her hormones are a little frazzled. Veronica gets around this little hurdle by choosing to not indulge in what feeds those instincts. Panthers are predators…

Nick:So she rarely eats meat. The way you talk makes it seem like that’s very bad.

Yang:Image being a grimm coming at you and telling your body not to do the instinctual thing and move. She represses those instincts because she finds them uncivil and deplorable. Pushing it down only builds tension however. Veronica is naturally hot headed and scrappy but being irritated and having a short fuse comes from her eating habits.

Nick:Indulge too much, and she feels like she becomes essentially feral. Don’t indulge at all then…

Yang:She’s a bomb trying not to blow up about every little thing.

Nick:High school is gasoline then!

Yang:That’s why I wanted her to eat! Once she gets actual food that her body wants then she can control that temper way better and think clearly. Her eyes and nails even stop being feline like and just go back to normal.

Nick:Why didn’t we know any of this before?

Yang:It’s a lot for people to handle, and Veronica hates people knowing. I try helping her with this sort of thing but it’s not like I can exactly understand what she’s feeling. She only really comes to Blake about it. All I do is find ways for her to expel all that tension through boxing and anything else. Eventually we get her to eat normally but then she goes back to her regular routine until the urge becomes too overpowering.

This really did explain a lot. Nick wondered if he'd actually seen Veronica function at a hundred percent. He could recall a couple times he’d seen get out of hand, furious about one thing or another that ended in a fight. Nick vividly remembered her and Valerie giving each other black eyes. That was years ago. Yeah, she’s definitely gotten better in comparison.

Nick:Well I’m actually about to go chase her down and just make sure she’s okay. I got worried something could happen to her.

Yang:*smiles* It’s terrible how accurate Weiss praises you. (I can also see why Veronica is head over heels for you) I hate to be a bother but-

Nick:I’ll make sure she eats something fatty. School doesn’t offer much vegetarian options so it shouldn’t be hard.

Yang:I owe you big time for this. I mean it.

Nick:I’m paying it forward. Veronica is always in my corner. Being in her corner isn’t anything new. I’ll try to not tell her you told me all this either.

Yang:Trust me, she’ll figure it out. I pray for your success!

Nick gave a thumbs up and ran out the door. Yang started to clean up the mess she made. A long sigh escaped her lips as she continued thinking about her daughter and the kind boy willing to try. A twinge of guilt hit her heart. She couldn’t tell if it was because she talked about affairs Veronica didn’t want people to know, or because she didn’t tell Nick everything. Not the most important pieces. No one knew the important pieces. Yang wiped a tear from her face. Even she knew that she was missing an important piece. She was sure of it.

Yang:(Maybe…just maybe, she’s what he needs right now. Obviously I’m not.)

Part 13

#rwby #rwby au #rwby twin snowflakes #veronica belladonna #summer schnee #nicholas schnee #yang xiao long #oscar pine #qrow branwen #adrian cotta arc #sparrow branwen

[c-atm]

Journey's end and New Beginnings

  "There you are, Sweetberry."

  Connie 'Heartberry' Maheswaran, opened her eyes to Steven 'Mister' Universe looking down at her with a small smile. She patted the spot next to her.

  "Join me."

  Mister complied, dropping to the ground next to his Connie and leaning next to the tree with her before draping his arms around her as she snuggled close to his chest. Both looking at Beach city and Little homeworld in the distance from the cliffside hill. Enjoying the peace and quiet.

  "It's been two months."

  Mister didn't say anything but squeezed her a bit tighter. He knew what she was talking about.

  *Two months ago*

  Mister, Dapper, Witchy and Lion leapt out of the pink portal and on to Little Homeworld, never losing a step as the beast ran across the pavement.  

  "My lady. It's him." Mister huskily growled.  His senses on high alert feeling the familiar malevolent magic nearby.

  Witchy kissed her teeth as she gripped Lion a bit tighter. "It was just too good to be true." 

  "Mind filling me in? I rather not be left in the dark."

The demon and the witch looked at each other before turning to the half gem.

  "We know the demon who's here."

  Mister took account of the tone they used. It was one of guilt and annoyance instead of fear and caution. 

  "How dangerous are they?"

  He didn't know what to expect, never having fought a bonafide demon, but the annoyed expression the two demon hunters gave did elevate his worry a bit.

  Dapper grimaced in disgust  "Well they're powerful, but...."

  "He's a magician.  A very annoying summoner to be exact." Witchy continued with the same disgusted tone. "When we were hunting him, it'd usually be a mimic of some kind." 

  "He's not one to fight his own battles. Not the most physically conditioned for fights, but when you can create an army of your enemies you really don't  need to be."

  " And you don't think that makes him dangerous?!" Mister accused.

  "They're weak. Mostly used for distraction and allowing him to escape." Dapper answered. " Autonomous, self-regenerating and duplicating upon reforming. Yet can only be active as long as his glyph is activated and that will only remain active if he's around.. "

  "As soon as he leaves 5 meters from his glyph, his spell ends." Witchy added. "Also riding the glyph ends it too."

  "Ok so tell me about these…"

  Mister lost his voice as they turned into Granite Avenue and the scene in front of them. The street was flooded with black sludge like mimics in the shape of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and HB. They heard the sounds of battle throughout the street. Explosions from Garnet rocket punches, Blast from Pearl's spear, and the flesh like ripping from the demon Amethyst as they fought in front of  LHWR&D. 

  "Guys jump!" 

  Not missing a beat, Garnet with Amethyst under her arm and Pearl leapt straight up, passed the buildings height. 

  "Lion Go!"

  The beast eyes glowed and eerie pink before it tipped its head back before bringing it forward.

  "RRRWWOOOOOAAA!" A high powered sonic concussion blast ripped through the mimics, breaking them down and splattering them along Granite Ave. 

  "Messy but good job, Lion." Dapper congratulated  as he rubbed the beast's head.

  "Big bro! Big sis!" 

  The three heard from above to see. Purple falcon flying towards them, as soon as it got in range it morphed quickly to the purple demoness, who tackled the demon hunters off Lion and tackled them to the ground. The trio tumbled a few feet back before laying on the street. 

  Amethyst lifted her head up, tears in her eyes as she looked down at the hunters. 

  Dapper patted the demoness head with a smirk. 

  "Hey Amy, came to get us?" Witchy joked as she wiped her purple eyes.

  Amethyst nodded with a laugh. "You two have been gone for almost a day. We didn't know how to find you..but there was something like a ripple where Kelvin activated his spell.

  "And you just jumped in." Witchy reprimanded gently. 

  "No no! I gotta tethering spell placed on me by Garnet before I came. They wanted to make sure we all came back the way we entered." 

  "Wow, they actually planned it out." Dapper smirked. as he sat up with a groan before He stood to his feet he held a hand down to both of them and lifting them both to their feet effortlessly when they grasped it. Putting a hand around his partner's waist as he had the other on Amethyst's head. Who hugged them both 

  "I'm just happy you're not dead Bro and that sis isn't that scary sister."

  The Crystal gems watched the reunion with a  chuckling smile except for Steven and Lion who was looking around for a certain Berry.

  "Speaking of, I don't see Connie anywhere." Worry evident in Mister's voice. 

  Amethyst looked over and her eyes widened in surprise. "Bro..There's an older Bro over there."

  Before Dapper could say anything the black stains began to move and slither towards the center of the street. They soon conjoined and morphed to a towering, nightmarish gargoyle like knight. Complete  with wings, fangs, armor, and a morning star. Its roar shook the street and sky, causing everyone to cover their ears. 

  "I really don't have the patience for this right now."  Mister groaned anxiously as he made two bubble spiked boxing gloves.  

  He was caught off guard when Dapper grabbed his shoulder and pushed him towards R&D "Bro. Go help Sis."

  "Hold on. How you know she's in there."

  "Because she's not here..and that demon magic is doused with fear." Dapper smirked

  As if proving him right, a glass window broke from the third floor and a voice could be heard from it.

  "You think a shadow can stop me! Come fight, you coward!"

  Mister smirked at the sound before rushing into the building, leaving the others to take care of the behemoth.

  "Kids, take a step back. We can handle this and the last thing we want is for you to get hurt." Pearl stated as she stood in front spear in hand. 

  Dapper and Witchy glanced at each other breathing in deeply, slightly annoyed at being underestimated..despite it being from a place of care.

  " Wait Pearl. We should let them take point and follow their lead." Garnet suggested , giving the hunters a nod while adjusting her glasses.

  "Listen to the seer, Pearly. This is what we do." Dapper stated a bit cockily. He turned to Witchy with a smile. " You ready to work the rust off, My lady?"

  "Rust, he says." Witchy joked as she flexed her hands chuckling at the feel of magic running through her body. The heat in her veins. "I'll show you rust."

  The demon chuckled before turning towards the large still behemoth. Taking the homeworld sais off his back. They were large, pearl colored, and made of Homeworld metal. "Hey big guy.. Mind if I take a-"

  He didn't get to finish as the monster brought its spiked ball down upon him, creating a dust cloud. 

  "Steven!" Pearl yelled in horror trying to run to assist.

  "Sheesh you're a rude one huh?" Everyone heard from above to see Dapper sitting on a nearby roof looking down at them, his smile never faltering.

  The monster growled as it jumped after the demon,  swinging its weapon, preparing to smash Dapper flat. Only to be interpreted by an assault of Pearl's spear blast to it's back.

  The gargoyle roared in annoyance as it was brought back to the street below in a crouch, turning its attention to the women. Its wings began to glow and  flex as it got in all fours. It pulled its wings back about to attack. 

  'Can't have you doing that." Dapper taunted as he dropped on to the beast back and sliced the wings off, causing the beast to howl in pain. He watched as the wings became the shadowy sludge and slithered  back to the center of the street. 

  "My lady." Dapper called as he dodged  a punch from the gargoyle.

  "Got it!"  Witchy exclaimed as she concentrated on sensing where the spell perimeter began. She breathed deep deepening her focus as her eyes began to see a fleetingly thin rectangle black smoke on the street, two buildings long. Inside the square was a glyph that looked like falling feathers.

  She rolled up her sleeves and cracked knuckles before slamming her palm down a few inches in front of the sludge. Purple flame ran along the hidden spell, revealing to all as it burned away along with the sludge the withered under the magic flame, soon became nothing but the smell of brimstone.

  "Reformation spell is gone. you're free to let loose."  

  Dapper licked his lips in anticipation, crouching a bit low  and swirling his weapons playfully, a small glow in his demon eyes. He watched as the monster  prepared to attack with its morning star again. In a blink, Dapper sliced through that arm, making the monster permanently left handed. 

  The monster roared as it arm dropped and faded to nothingness. In anger it swung it's right hand wildly,  ripping through a few street lights.  

  Dapper lips pursed together as he prepared to take it out, when two giant rocket fist slammed to the beast exploding on impact.  

  "Um..Hmm. That was overkill." Dapper stated in shock as he looked back at the four, seeing Garnet  in front with her fist out.

  "It destroyed Little Homeworld property, it was the proper response." Garnet answered with a smirk.

  "Such a horrific judicial system." 

  A weak roar paused the joking, as he turned back to see the gargoyle climb to a kneel trying continue to fight.  It lost a hand, it's right legs was broken, pieces of it black skull were out and little by little bits of its form were fading away.

  Sheesh..You're more stubborn than the one who created you."  Dapper praised gently as the gargoyle sloppily charged forward, ready  to take the Dapper demon in its jaw. 

  It tripped forward and faded away before it hit the ground as Dapperleapt and removed its head. 

  While Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst were taking on the horde of shadows outside. HB with sword in hand, was heading down to the main lab with the decommissioned gems intent on dropping them into their revival pool. After analyzing the properties of the Diamond's essence, Little HW was able to create a makeshift essence that held the properties of all four. It wasn't yet as pure but it got the job done just as well.

  It was made to help gems reform even faster than usual, fueled with the essence of all four diamonds it was great for gems...and  for organics as well as HB would attest. Nothing like a relaxing dip after a hard day of research and development.

   She entered quickly and headed straight for the back room. Opening the doors to an almost spa-like room, with a ten foot deep body of liquid essence, you could feel the magic properties in the air..before tossing the gems in the pool, she felt someone  Slashed at her back and kicked her in before locking the door. She groaned as the pain numbed and vanished just as fast as it came. 

  Grabbing her blade, she swam up and looked for the culprit and kissed her teeth at what she saw. A shadow version  of her, sword and all with smoke colored eyes and magic wisps off her.

  "Can you talk?" HB asked, honest curiosity in her voice.

  the mimic said nothing just pointed it's blade and..attempted to smirk in challenge.

  HB said nothing as she climbed out on the left side of the pool. As she was getting up to her feet Her mimic was already upon her, starting to swing its blade down upon her.  

  HB felt the slight graze of the mimics blade as she dodged away in a roll before standing in a ready position.  She was instantly put on the defensive being forced to dodge and block the mimic's consecutive stabs at various places of her body. She found  her opening when mimic over extended her final stab, allowing HB to slip in close in to deliver a rib breaking right hook to its body.

  Mimic grimaced and coughed without sound, but it did wither in pain slightly, only HB sword holding fist  connected with its solarplesou and again to its face as it was about to crumble to its knees, knocking it back and off its feet.  

  Mimic climbed to its feet in painful anger and charged forward, it swung its sword attempting to scalp HB, just to have HB's blade knock Mimic's from its hand. The last thing Mimic saw was the pink gleam of HB's blade and the pity in her black eyes.

  "Why is it always clones?" HB complained as she walked away from the fading shadow and out the room into the main lab, where the demon; Kelvin and another Mimic were waiting for her.  

  "My my my, You dispatched of that shadow swiftly, but that was just a small insignificant  thing..this one here is many ti-"

  The demon's bragging was silenced by his shadow's swift decapitation. HB kept her eyes on him and him alone as she moved forward, not caring about the fading body beside her. A look of aggravation on her face.

  "Well,  it seemed I underestimated you a bit. You're  strong..but you're still human!" The demon roared  as his body began bulk up. Muscles bulging as his body turned concrete grey, his height as tall as jasper's. he glared at her like a slobbering ogre. 

  "Now lets see you struggle before you prostrate yourself and become my doll."

  It happened instantly. The moment 'doll' hit her ears, her blade swung, the flat of it knocking Kelvin's jaw and illusion clean off. The demon fell face first into the floor trying not to choke in his own blood as fear gripped his heart. Every instinct in his body told him to run or die.

   "What was that?"

  He shivered at the cool and calm voice of the human woman. Turning to see her staring down at him, indifferent in face but her eyes burned with rage. 

  Kelvin listened to his instincts, scrambled to his feet and ran, making more mimics as he did.

  HB nose flared in annoyance "So..This is my night."  Before she gave chase. She took a quick moment to text Steven the situation. Once she was sure it was sent, she charged forward cutting down yet another mimic. and giving chase.

  'What the hell is that MONSTER? That's  definitely not the same witch..Hell, she doesn't even have the same magic as the young witch.. No flames, it's something different!" Kelvin thought  as he ran creating more mimics as he headed to the roof. " She's cutting them down faster than I can make them!"

  Kelvin trip over the step crashing into a window breaking it. 

  "You're gonna have to pay for that!" 

  Kelvin looked back to see another one of his mimics being cut down. 

  " You can give up! We can talk it out!"

  Kelvin felt the chill at her call, he growled at her before roaring at her. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME! KNOW YOUR PLACE POWERLESS HUMAN!" He created a trio of mimics to block her way as he continued  to run.

  HB was sighed in annoyance."You think a shadow can stop me! Come fight, you coward!" She charged forward slicing them down, " They're getting weaker each time!"

  HB took a moment to look out the window to see that Mister and the others arrived, the forming of the gargoyle  and Mister running in. She decided to wait for Mister to catch up, watching the others fight as he did.

  It only took three seconds for pink flash to meet up with her and take her in a protective hug.

  "You ok Sweetberry, He didn't hurt you did he?"

  "three seconds, did you walk up here?" She rolled her eyes before giving him a small peck. "Just a slash and kick into the revival pool." She shrugged nonchalantly.  "I've done worse to myself during training and experiments."

  Mister smiled with an arched eyebrow,  "The Cos-spheres prototypes?"

  "The very same."

  Mister was about to comment when a mimic came running down sword ready to cut HB from behind.  In a quick smooth motion, Mitser took HB in his arms,spun her out of the way and slammed a spiked bubble glove into the mimic's face, almost instantly making it fade from existence.  

  HB looked down at the shadow and back at Her Mister, before giving his cheek a kiss. "Whoa! Mister that was...That was hot." 

  "It looked like you…" Mister said in guilt and then anger. "Is this what you've been dealing with?"

  She nodded as she rubbed his fist. "It's not me,  it's not our little witch either. Just shadows in the dark. Can't even smile, let alone talk." She saw him groan and caressed his cheek. " You saved me, Bisky,"

  Mister nodded in agreement before focusing on the situation.  " So.." He stated as he looked passed her up the stairs 

  "Yeah.."  HB looked back the same direction . Two mimics coming down one of each of them. " This is going to be tedious."

  "I know a way we can make it fun." Mister smirked. "If your game?"

  HB smiled bright before giving him a hug  giggling as a pink light enveloped them both.

  Kelvin broke through the roof door. Nerves going haywire as he felt his glyph being burned away, as well as his mimics being destroyed even faster than before.  He hid behind door..ready to assassinate his persuaders by catching them off guard

  "I couldn't win head to head.  but If I catch them off guard. I can eat their essence, heal, escape and survive. Find a new place where I can torture and feast on humans, Just gotta get out of here."  The demon spoke to himself.

  "So you're going to run and hurt more people..is that what you said? That just won't do."

  Kelvin looked up at a figure staring down at him with a gentle smirk. The shadow they cast was terrifying  but it was nothing compared to their pink glow.

  "Well, that was a light workout..to say the least." Dapper jest, walking back to the group. 

  "No kidding, I didn't even need to clean up after you." Witchy joked as she tapped his chest. "Though, it was nice to get a little exercise in. Wipe the rust off."

  "Wasn't it though, my lady."

  She smirked as he kissed her hand. " Yes it was. We're not done yet  still gotta get Kelvin."

  "No need!" 

  A voice from above said as  a knocked out Kelvin fell to the ground in a pink bubble. On top of said pink bubble, in Steven's vest, jean's and sandals; as well as Connie's sweater, barrette and her sword in hand, was Stevonnie.

  Garnet and Pearl smirked at the fusion. 

  "Didn't think we'd get a visit tonight." Pearl stated happily.

  "I hoped we would." Garnet chuckled. "But didn't  see a future when you would.. He couldn't have been that hard for Steven or Connie, let alone both of them together"

  Stevonnie scoffed "Annoying, not hard. He didn't  even fight..He just tossed shadow after shadow. and I tried talking to him after he was pinned...but he tried to run me through as soon as I turned my back after that.." Stevonnie clicked their tongue while slightly  swinging a fist.

  "You did what you had to do." Garnet reassured.

  "Um..Who is this and why do they look like Bro and Sis adult child?" Witchy asked, confused.

  Stevonnie looked towards the three hunters, taking in their expressions.  Witchy looked confused and curious, Amethyst looked shocked switching her views from Stevonnie to the demon hunters, and Dapper smirked knowingly.

  Stevonnie smiled brightly looking at the two. " My name is Stevonnie. I didn't think we'd meet before you head off." Holding out their hand

  "You seem to know us very well, stranger." Witchy inquired, shaking the fusion's hand. 

  "Gues they wanted to give us one last surprise  before we go." Dapper joshed as he shook the fusion hand. " Didn't think it would be this."

  "Yeah well. They got bored of the tedious shadows and wanted me to take over."

  Dapper nodded in agreement. "So what can I expect  from.." He gave Stevonnie a once over.

  "I can't tell you cause it's different for anyone, and don't know how your version works but… If it's anything like me, It'll be an incredible experience."

  Dapper nodded in acceptance of that fact.  

  Stevonnie turned their eyes to Amethyst  who looked somewhere between amazed and scared. "You know I'm not gonna hurt you, right?"

  "You're still part scary-sis."  the young demoness stated matter of factly, getting a half snort from Stevonnie, before they came apart.

  "Wait, I'm not scary! Right? Witchy, tell her. I'm a sweet older sister."

  Witchy was too shocked at watching Stevonnie defusing to be a help.

  "Dapper, I'm a sweetheart right?"

  The demon gulped at her cool tone. "You're  very..Cool..Haha." Dapper took a step behind Witchy.

  "Garnet, pearl.." She turned to them giving them a sweet smile.. " I'm gentle as a newborn fawn.right?"

  "Connie..You want us to lie?" Garnet asked with a smirk.

  "You're very strong. Be happy with that." Pear answered reassuringly.  

  "Scary.." Amethyst comment

  "Mister, tell'em. I'm sweet, Right?"  HB turned to see Mister holding his stomach trying to hold in his laughter. "Really?" HB crossed her arms a small scrunched pout in her face. "I don't think I'm scary."

  "Can someone explain what I just saw?" Witchy asked. 

  *Present*

  "They left the next day. You still didn't get their Amethyst to not be afraid of you." Mister joked as HB groaned.

  "Yeah, thanks for that, you punk." HB gave him a half smile before pinching his thigh.

  "Ow..Scary berry."

  "Stop it."

  Mister chuckled as he sat her on his lap. Feeling content at her snuggling up to him. 

  "You think they're ok?"

  "Them two? Yeah. They're tough..Tougher than us in some cases."  Mister looked up as he spoke. Thinking about the next day.

  It was a bittersweet farewell at least for them. Dapper and Witchy hid it better. They were happy to be going back home, yes, but it still felt like they were losing siblings. It was the final moments before they left that was the hardest,  for the four of them.

  * Two months ago*

  They stood in front of the active warp stream,  staring at each other. older and younger, the same people, who lived different lives..and yet became so connected in such a small time.

  "So this is it. It was a short time, but it's gonna feel strange with you two not around." Mister stated, scratching his head in bashfulness.

.

“You’re going to miss us?” Dapper teased. “You should be happy to have your love nest to yourself again.” He continued.

  “Not even gonna dignify that with a response” HB folding her arms giving the demon a half smirk..

  “Maybe because it’s true.”Witchy giggle. 

  “Didn’t you tell us you two live together, alone.” Mister retorted with a smirk.

  “But we’re not as lovey-dovey as you." Witchy grinned smugly…

  “Empire.” HB and Mister stated just as smug. 

  The younger duo blushed, glaring at their counterparts, who sneered back.. Before the four broke into identical chuckles.  

  Until one of them started to tear up. 

  "Sorry." Witchy wiped her eyes " Something in my eyes. Dust from the warp.."  She chuckled as she did “I’m o-

  She was interrupted by HB hugging her close resting her head on top of hers as Witchy hugged her back. 

  “I’m gonna miss you so much, Big sis.”

  “I’m gonna miss you too, Lil sis.” HB  squeezed her smaller counterpart a bit. “Don’t worry, though. I’m gonna get this thing running and we’ll be together again.”

  “If anyone could it would be you.” 

  “On that same coin you could too...” HB took a deep breath before stepping’ “Now as your big sister and elder Connie, allow me to impart some knowledge.” . 

  “Yes ma’am.”

  HB looked down at the witch feeling pride. “You’re strong and capable, dependable and bright. I know you’re on your way to doing whatever you want in life, stay on that track...That doesn't mean you don’t have time for your relationships.” She glanced at the Stevens, before turning back. “ Take breaks every once in a while for yourself, let him pamper you every once in a while. Make little precious moments between you two.” She sighed looking serious.” If he’s anything like my Steven...If Dapper life is anything like Mister’s…You both we’ll need them like water.”

  “Sis.”

  “I don’t know what you two life is like, but if it's anything like ours ..I suspect it’s not easy..and it’s stressful..So always check in with each other and give each other space when it's needed...Sometimes self-reflection is the best thing you know.” 

  Wichy nodded in agreement. “Ma’am.”

  “ Love yourself fearlessly… So you can do the same for him. He might hide things from you to not worry you...Don’t let him and vice versa… Communication, flexibility, love and trust. Never forget these things..” She relaxed with a sigh looking apologetic. “What am i saying? You two are one of the most understanding relationships I've ever seen. You’re a strong woman already. I’m being assumptious, sorry about that.”

  “No no.” Witchy stated waving her hands “ It’s ok.. I appreciate it. Especially the whole self advice… I’m kind of a workaholic “

  “I swear, all Connie’s are” HB laughed.“Remember you matter Witchy. Self-care is paramount, I can’t stress this enough.”

  “You and Steven both.”

  “Your Steven does the same thing?!" HB laughed before she spoke mimicking Mister.

  ‘ Ni', those reports could be done tomorrow, go to bed it’s 2:30 am ’’

  Witchy giggled before impersonating Dapper. “ My lady, you don’t need to do that spell now, come eat.

  “Ni', you don’t need to practice right now, come watch tv”.

  “ My lady, why are you doing fire spells at 5 in the morning. Go back to sleep

  The two looked at each other before bursting into giggles..

  HB recovered first from the fit. “It’s sweet though. Heartwarming to know that someone as sweet, and loving and special as him cares so much about you.”

  “Just wished he would learn to do the same for himself a bit more .”

  Heart berry eyes widened at that, before falling into a sad smile. “Pay him back.”

  Witchy looked at HB with an amused smile. “ Pay him back?”

  “Yup, for every time he made sure you’re well rested, well fed, and well taken care of.  You make sure he engages in his hobbies, he’s not taken on too much by himself..That he’s taken care off as well.*

  Witchy grinned “Is that advice from one Connie to another.”

  “From someone going through the same thing. Loving a hybrid is hard.”

  Witchy blushed shyly. “He’s worth the hard times though.”

  HB nodded “'I've never regretted meeting him..Falling for him.”

  "So you admit that you're more than best friends, huh" 

  "I admit nothing about nothing." HB folded her arms, looking away before chuckling. "He is my best friend.. but what that means to us is for us to decide. Yes, we know how we feel about each other and act on it."

  "And how do you feel for each other?"

  HB sighed a maroon heat on her face throwing her hoodie over her head to hide her face.

  "You're blushing and hiding!?  Is my cool big sis..going to show her cute side?

  "Quiet or I'm not saying it."

  Witchy didn't say anything as she waited.

  "We make each other better, you know. I can function, succeed, and be content by myself..But when I'm with Steven..Everything seems enhanced. Not even talking about the gem powers. It's the way we cherish one another, care for one another and take time to understand one another; knowing that I have a compliment as wonderful as him. 

that makes me unstoppable"

  "A compliment?"

  "A compliment for my heart.  Even if it feels that he has become my heart at times. We just happen to fall in sync alot more than usual..You know how it is."

  Witch nodded in agreement  before chuckling "It almost sounds like you're contracted with each other."

  "Maybe you're onto something.. A contract written by our experience and time with each other...Seems appropriate  actually...since he does bite me, ever so often …" HB chuckled at her sister's blushing face and dropped jaw. 

  "Is that why you were so extra giddy two days ago?"

  HB just laughed. rubbing her collarbone 

  Witchty looked at HB face a bit red as she glanced  at Dapper talking with Mister. "So..how do we become like you and mister?"

  "It took..a lot for us to get where we are.. That being said.  If you're talking about the level of emotional intimacy then I say you're well on your way. If you're talking about physical intimacy.. Talk about what you want..and being a bit bold once in a while helps....But if you're trying to make your relationship a copy of ours..Don't."

  "I wasn't planning on that..but you two have an excitingly passionate and openly affectionate one.. Can't blame me for feeling a bit envious."

  "Maybe...But that's because of who we are..our relationship works for us… You and Dapper are already in a very mature, loving and devoted relationship. Everything you want for a more intimate relationship is already there and the best thing about it'll be your relationship. Unique to you two...Besides you two almost kissed in Empire, right? Just gotta let nothing stop you next time, remember little moments."

  "Little moments...Be bold...ok..I can do that."  Witchy stated with determination." I'll just go at it like I would a hunt." 

  "Thay how I started… I'm sure you'll be fine  Whooa!"

  HB was caught  off guard at Witchy's  sudden hug. 

  "Thank you Big sis.

  "For the advice? It's nothing. 

  "No!..I mean.. a bit..but.." She held her tighter.  "For everything. Giving us a place to stay,watching out for us, working to get us back."  she started to tremble. " For letting us see and spend time with our parents again, for introducing us to Lion and the gems and everyone, ...For treating us like your family."

  "You are family and you're very welcome." HB held her back just as tight. " Promise me you'll be as safe as possible over there. Take care of yourself ok?..Don't be reckless and have each other's backs.. Don't ever doubt yourself Lil sis. A brilliant, beautiful and capable girl like you, can take the world by storm, don't ever think anything less."

  Witchy could only nod  as gripped her sisters back for what might be the final time 

  The boys watched on, as the two Connie’s conversed among themselves. Dapper was caught by surprise when Mister pulled him into a one arm hug. The demon looked up at his alien counterpart questionably.

  “Big Bro?”

  “ I can’t speak for any other Steven, but you’re a blessed guy, Dapper. Demon powers aside, you got all you need to take on whatever your world might throw at you and win. the Intelligence, charm, the strength of will and the most important.” He nodded towards the girls. “Someone who thinks the universe of you, but will keep you grounded on earth.” He chuckled. 

   “You two are an amazing team. The trust, respect and love you share. That connection..It’s gonna take you two far in yours or any world.”

  “Speaking from experience.”

  “Most definitely.” He looked forward gazing at his Connie. “Gem powers be damn. That woman is my strength. She keeps me human and at the same time, makes me feel like I'm the strongest in the galaxy and the next moment she makes me happily weak.”

  “You love her” Dapper teased only to get a noogie from Mister. He released him with a smile. 

  “She compliments my heart and I hers.” he released his counterpart and placed his hands in his pocket. “ It’s no different from you two.”

  “You think so?”  

  “You don’t?”

  Dapper shrugged  “We don’t act like you and sis”

  “And you don’t have to. You two are not us, despite the obvious.” Mister sighed 

  “What If I wish we were.”

  “You shouldn’t. Word of advice, never compare your relationship with others. It’ll only blow up in your face. That being said, if you want more physical affection. Talk about it. ..Not like she’ll say no.”

  Dapper snickered as he looked forward at the two scheming girls. “I love her, Bro.”

  “Then make sure you continue to show her that. Use that demonic charm and sweep her off her feet.”

  “She’ll probably reprimand me, little tsundere mage.” 

  “Possibly, but that’s how you two communicate... She loves you, truly…”

  “I know… Don’t feel like i’m worthy of it sometimes.”

  “Show me a Steven who never felt that way and I'll show you a liar.”

  “Think 'Connie’s' feel the same way about 'Steven’s'?”

  “Well, ours probably do...Crazy right?”

  “ Yes it really is...That's why we gotta make sure they’re happy..right? 

  “Exactly....Just watch out for and take care of each other, and you’ll be fine.”

  Dapper nodded before turning to his older counterpart and hugging him. “Thanks bro, for everything.”

  “No need Dapper” the older one hugged Dapper back. “ Love ya, Lil bro.” 

  The two separated  as they went to join the girls. Once again the four of them were in front of the warp. 

  HB sighed  "Still hard to believe this is it. So soon too, my place's going to feel so empty now."

  Mister nodded, wiping his eye."Yeah, It's  sad, but your world needs you."

  Dapper looked up to the ceiling" Yeah..I guess it does."

  Witchy closed her eyes looking away. " Yeah but."  she looked towards the older two " It's not good-bye right? More like see you later."

  "If our resident mad scientist has anything to do with it.."

  HB tapped Mister on his shoulder.." I'm not mad..Just motivated by aggressively ambitious determination."

  Dapper arched his eyebrow with a  teasing grin " So a Maad scientist."

  "Oh really, you cheeky little boy." HB walked up to the demon with a teasing glare... before kissing the top of his head between his horns. Dapper face cheeks warmed up with a purplish flushed as he began to feel shy. "What a cute little brother I have."  

  Dapper scoffed before hugging the older Connie. "I'm gonna miss you, Sis."

  "I'm gonna miss you too Dapper. Take care of  yourself." She moved closer to whisper in his ear. " I mean it. Take care of yourself.  take breaks, have fun, Take her out on dates..She loves and worries about you. so you gotta step up a bit, alright?"

  Dapper nodded "I hear you.. and I'll take your advice...as long as you do too."

  "So cheeky, but deal."

  Mister and Witchy looked on before sharing a smirk.  

  "Sure you wanna leave already?"

  Witchy giggled "Sounds like you're gonna miss us, Bro."

  "Well maybe a bit. It was fun having you little ones around."

  Witchy pouted, giving him a tap on his stomach. "You two are just freakishly tall."

  Mister ruffled her hair affectionately.  "Whatever you say, Miniberry."

  "Ugh! You really are a punk!" She exclaimed  as she fixed her hair, before hugging him around the waist. " You're such a punk!" 

  "Yeah I am." Mister joked as he returned the hug. "I don't  think I have to tell you anything since Ni¹ probably already said it, but know this." mister dipped down to her eye level. "You're a sweet, beautiful, smart and strong young woman, and you're only going to get better if you stay doing what you do. So don't lose that focus. ..Also.. Don't make Dapper too jealous over there, little head-turner."

  Witchy chortle at that. "I promise only to make him moderately jealous.. " She hugged one last time, giving him a quick and light peck on his cheek. " Gonna miss you Big bro."

  'You gonna make me cry" Mister teased hugging her back " Gonna miss you, lil sis"

  As the two sibling pairs let go, Mister and HB stood by each other's they watched the demon hunters  prepare to walk through. 

  With a shy and appreciative wave to their counterparts the demon and the witch interlocked  hands and gave each other a grin..Before Witchy, with cheeks burning, gave him a quick and tender kiss.

  "Little moments!" 

  Witchy giggled at her sister's cheer before breaking iit leaving him stunned and smiling. " Let's go home, dapper demon."

  Dapper only nodded as he allowed himself to be led through the warp stream, which instantly died out as soon as he was fully through.  HB walked up to the warp pad and searched for any trace of a rift or anything semblance that they were really there. 

  Trembling, she wiped her eyes of tears when she found none.

  *Present (W-FF21) *

  "So..Nini, what did you ask me to come up here for?" 

  HB looked up as her Mister. "I've been thinking...I need a new adventure. I've been feeling stagnant at R&D.

  "You love R&D." 

  "I do..I do so much…" She sighed  " But, I'm ready for something new… I'm thinking of a traveling expedition to new lands...and I want you to come with."

  Mister grinned at the woman in his lap. "Still sounds like R&D work."

  "The word expedition..I admit that..it is somewhat related to R&D..A bit of data gathering is involved..but" HB sat up and straddled his thighs before kissing his chin and trailing upward.

  "That's only" 'Chu!'

  "Ten percent."  'Chu!'

  "Of it all." 'Chu!' ' Chu!' ' Chu!'

  Mister groaned a low growl at the rain of sweet kisses. "That's..cheating." He held her by the small of her back and the seat of her shorts..squeezing her a bit as she continued to kiss on him.

  "Yeah. You love my tactics."  She gave him a breathy giggle before kissing his lips. 

  "All this to get me to say yes? You Minx."

  HB was silent for a moment. "No. I just wanted to give you some affection." She pecked his lips. 

  "Sweetberry."

  "Besides I think if I tell you the first item of the itinerary, you'll be sold."

  "Oh.. "

  "Come here and give me that ear."

  Mister turned his ear to her, feeling a bit of excitement  at her secret...His excitement rose more and more as she spoke his jaw dropping as he turned to her proud face.

  "You're for real."

  "We're all packed and ready when you-MMM!~MM !"

  Mister stopped her speech with his lips on his own. His hand caressing her left cheek while the other pulled her close. For her part, She folded her hands at his nape and kissed back. They separated with a silent pop before she found herself being lifted up in a bridal carry.

  "I'm taking this as a yes, by the by."

  "Oh It's a hell yes."

  HB giggled. "My oh my Mister, swearing? What would Dapper and Witchy think?"

  Mister just chuckled as he carried her down the hill towards their new adventure. 

  *Present (WD-423)*

  Things instantly went back to normal for the demon hunters. They did their hunts like normal, saving people, killing demons, getting paid for it.  Witchy still studied her magic and went to her normal job, Dapper still attended to his garden, practiced his own magic, and did jobs with the crystal witches when he was needed. Nothing really changed for them. 

  Except..

  Dapper stood in his garden listening to his smooth jazz  from magical music notes like wisp in the air as he watered his flowers, a smile on his face as he did, gliding to the music. So engrossed in what he was doing, he didn't know he had an audience until he turned and saw a teasingly giggling Witchy.

  He didn't say anything as he commanded his watering can to continue the work and he made his  way to his Best friend and contractee.

  "My firey lady?" He held out a hand for her to take.

  "My darling demon." She took it with a smile allowing  him to pull her close to him.

  His left palm on the small of her back, her right on his shoulder, their other hands interlocked. Her head on his heart.

  They swayed to the music dancing in their personal  circle. Both blushing, but not at all nervous. It was an overwhelming welcomed feeling of affection. They didn't say a word to enthralled with being in each other's grasp. 

  She originally came just to check in on him when she caught him in his own world. She was going to surprise him when he caught her and offered his hand. It worked in her favor, her objective was to do this. Create a little moment  amongst their busy lives. Advice from her big sis, that she took to heart and something Dapper quickly caught on to.

  Ever since that kiss before their departure, two months since they've been back.. hey made a number of little moments..Some were things they've done before the trip, but now had an extra layer of meaning, like washing the dishes together, or researching a new spell or case.. Other things were spontaneous like this dance.

  All was memorable. 

  As the dance ended with a small twirl from then into his arms again getting a sighing giggle from the witch against his chest. He looked down at the slightly flushed face and instinctively squeezed a bit, getting a hum of curiosity from the witch.

  "Your heart pace changed." Witchy stated factually. She stroked his cheek with a smile. "It's faster now."

  "Is it ok?"

  Witchy nodded, before closing her eyes and slightly  partially her lips. The invitation was sent.

  Dapper purpled face and anxious moved in  holding her cheeks before his lips gently brushed against hers.

  Only to be interrupted by a sound they did hear in two months, and a stream of rainbow light like magic hit behind their home. The two looked at each in shock  and excitement before sharing their interrupted kiss and running to where the stream landed.

  It was rude to not greet visiting family after all.

#jambudweek2 #Connverse crossover #Steven universe #Connie Maheswaran #Connverse #Comedic #witchdemonAU #fighting flirty #Lion #Mister #Heartberry #Witchconnie #Demonsteven #Journey'send #New beginnings

[drabbles-of-writing]

First Class Mess

This is part of my Four Years AU

AO3

Masterpost

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Living with Edric and Emira had it’s ups and downs.

On one hand, Amity could finally get away from her parents. It wasn’t a permanent living space, and she always made sure to spend at least a few nights at her parents house, excusing her absence as being busy with the Emperor’s Coven. But it was far better than trying to hide at the Owl House where her anxiety spiked through the roof, no offence to the family.

On the other hand, her siblings were an absolute mess.

,

“Rule number five, I don’t wanna see any girlfriends here.”

“Wow, okay, no, I veto that rule.” Emira said immediately, leaning her head off the couch arm to look over at her brother, who was sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Yeah, what gives?” Amity agreed, sitting on her knees on the couch.

“Amity, is there something you’d like to share with the class?” Emira asked, glancing back at her with a raised brow.

“You and I both know he just means Viney and Luz,” Amity growled, crossing her arms. “He just prefers to use the term girlfriends.”

“I meant they can’t stay over for the night,” Edric said, raising his hands defensively. “This apartment can barely fit the three of us without falling apart.” He said, gesturing to the room around them, which, admittedly, did look pretty ghetto.

“I don’t need to be dealing with you two causing more damage with your little crushes. They’re kind of known for causing trouble.” He said matter-of-factly. “And yes, I’m spreading this to Emira because it’s rude to stick it only on Amity.”

“Wow, thanks,” Amity grumbled as Emira gave an offended gasp.

“Unless someone is dying, I don’t wanna see any dates in here, understand?” Edric said. “At least not until we’ve gotten everything together in some capacity.”

“I resent this rule,” Emira insisted stubbornly.

“Yeah? Well, I’m older, therefore I win.” Edric said smugly.

“Ed, it was by eleven minutes.” ,

And that’s how Amity came to the apartment in the middle of a thunderstorm to find Edric and Jerbo in the kitchen. Both a little too close to be casual.

The second they registered the door opening, Edric sprung back. Jerbo whirled around from where he was perched on the kitchen counter (seriously, that thing can only hold so much weight).

Both of them looked like King when he’d been caught stealing from the fridge for the fifth time that week.

Amity stared at them for a few moments, her brain a little fried from dealing with the pelting boiling rain earlier.

“You’re such a hypocrite, Ed.” She finally said, walking in and kicking the door shut behind her.

“It’s just Jerbo!” Edric defended frantically, looking wildly between Amity and a very perplexed Jerbo.

“The fact you immediately knew which rule I was talking about isn’t helping your situation,” Amity called back, throwing off her overly thick coat onto the hanger by the door, too lazy to take off her Emperor’s Coven cloak on underneath.

“And unless you want Emira to taunt you endlessly, I suggest Jerbo should leave soon. No offence,” She added, looking towards the upperclassmen.

“None taken,” Jerbo said with a wave of his hand. “Viney’s not much different.”

Edric groaned and slumped against the counter beside Jerbo, head hanging. Jerbo gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.

Amity kicked off her boots and flopped dramatically onto the couch, waving her hand above her where the boys could see.

“Either go make out downstairs or make up your mind, ‘kay? Cause I’m tired.”

Jerbo made a strangled wheezing-like noise that reminded Amity of a deflating squeaky toy. Edric sprung upwards, flushing brightly.

“We were not making out!” He exclaimed, voice strained. “We were doing nothing even remotely like that, even!”

Amity sat up on the couch, turning her head to look over at her brother with a deadpan stare. She looked like she wanted to say something, but resigned to just sighing and laying back down on the couch.

“Whatever. I’m blackmailing you with this later.”

“You suck,”

,

“Quick question,” Emira said, poking her head into Amity’s room. “I can still get away with doing something illegal here, right?”

Amity looked up from her book, giving her sister a look that said her question was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard.

“I’m only a cop when on the clock, Em.” Amity said. “Anything illegal you do when I’m not working is fair game. Legally speaking.”

“Nice,” Emira pumped a fist.

“Can I ask what you’re planning on doing?” Amity raised a brow.

“You gonna rat us out?”

“I’d be a hypocrite if I did. Like somebody in this house!” Amity added the last part notably louder.

“Amity, shut up!” Edric called back.

“...I’m gonna ask about that later.” Emira said, pointing a finger at Amity. “Anyway, Viney can’t afford the supplies she needs to help out some baby bearstripes she found. So we were just gonna steal it and stash the supplies here.”

“You’re whipped,” Edric’s voice floated from the main room.

“Shut it, Ed!” Emira snapped back.

“Yeah, sure, go steal some stuff.” Amity shrugged. “I’m not working till tomorrow.”

“So we can totally commit crimes now?” Edric asked, suddenly appearing being Emira, looking far too excited.

“I mean, yeah, but I wouldn’t recommend it.” Amity said.

“If it’s a bad enough crime I could be put on a mission to hunt the two of you down. Obviously I’m not going to raid this apartment but if I catch you on the streets it is on sight.” She warned.

“Oh, so your little Owl family gets a free pass, but we don’t?” Edric scoffed.

“I do not give them a free pass!” Amity protested. “I throw Eda in jail all the time. I’ve never even had to break her out!”

“Right, sorry,” Emira amended. “Ed meant that your hopeless crush gets a free pass, but we don’t?”

Amity growled and threw her book at the two of them. They quickly jumped back and swung the door shut, letting the book hit it instead.

“That’s a yes,” Edric snickered.

“I’m not the only one who gives crushes a free pass!” Amity shouted after them.

There were a few beats of silence.

“You have got to be kidding me, Ed.”

,

Emira knew the rules of the apartment. Which meant there were barely any and they fluctuated from day to day.

The two big ones were that anything that happened in the apartment was a safe zone, and to avoid bringing over anyone associated with the Owl House, which sadly, included Viney and Jerbo, seeing as they were friends with Luz.

They loved everyone in the Owl House, they really did. But everyone in that family was known to be very chaotic, and they’d probably break the shabby apartment or piss off the neighbors more than the siblings already had.

It was simply a precaution.

Emira, however, was a known rule-breaker.

So, it wasn’t a surprise to find Viney sitting in the living room, currently wrapping up Emira’s sprained wrist.

“You're a mess,” Viney sighed, slowly bandaging her arm. “Can’t you ask your parents to cover your medical bills?”

“Course I can, but at one in the morning?” Emira scoffed, keeping her voice low. “I’ll bug them about it later.”

“Only you would get a sprained wrist and say it’s not that big a deal,” Viney sighed, gently raising Emira’s hand and letting her hand glow, doing her best to ease the pain.

“Eh, I’d say it was worth it anyway,” Emira hissed, flinching as she felt a sharp pain in her wrist.

“Sorry, sorry,” Viney whispered, laying her free hand over Emira’s to hold her still as she slowly healed the sprain as best she could.

“I don’t have any healing glyphs, so you’ll just have to leave it be till morning. The splint should work for now, though.” She continued, looking up at Emira.

Emira was staring at where Viney was holding her hand, blushing with her ears lowered, eyes blown wide.

Though that last part might’ve been because the only light was the moon shining through the small window beside the two.

“Em?” Viney tilted her head, smiling.

“Huh?” Emira jerked her head up. “Sorry, did, uh, did you say something?” 

Viney giggled and removed her glowing hand from Emira’s wrist, though she kept holding up her arm with her other hand.

“You’re ridiculous,” She said, shaking her head.

“All the best people are,” Emira replied, dipping her head to properly meet the shorter witch’s eyes.

Viney smiled and lightly pressed her forehead against Emira’s causing the girl to freeze and stiffen up.

Emira’s face lit up and her eyes darted around, though she didn’t move away.

“S-so, sorry to hi-hide you out here,” She stuttered, shoulders hunched. “But Ed pre-pretty much broke...broke that rule s-so I’m sure it’s not...not that big a--”

“Em,”

Viney leaned forward more and squished their noses together, giving the Blight a rather amused look.

Emira quickly shut her mouth with an audible clack, meeting the witch’s gaze.

Viney slowly tilted her head forward, her eyes closing.

Emira did her best to calm her heart before leaning in as well.

Something clattered, loudly, on the kitchen floor.

Viney froze and jumped back, startled. Emira only slumped, thoroughly annoyed.

“It is one AM!” Emira snapped, leaning around the couch. “Ed, what are you doing--”

It wasn’t Ed.

Amity shut the fridge, a slice of bread in her mouth and a bag of snacks in her hands, along with the cup she had dropped.

She looked over, surprised to see Emira, before morphing into a look of understanding when she saw Viney peek out as well.

Amity took out the bread in her mouth, setting the cup down in it’s previous position by the sink.

“Carry on,” She said calmly, holding her snacks as she walked out of the kitchen and back to her room.

Emira glared in the direction where Amity left for a moment before she heard a snort behind her.

She looked back, seeing Viney was doing her best to smother a laugh.

“...what?” Emira demanded, raising a brow.

Viney broke into a fit of giggles then, barely able to smother a loud laugh that would definitely wake up Edric.

“I’m sorry, it’s just--I wasn’t expecting that!” She snickered. “What’s your sister even doing up this late?”

“I guess being up at ungodly hours just runs in the family,” Emira sighed, embarrassed as she picked up one of the pillows that had fallen off the couch with her uninjured hand and placed it in her lap.

“I take it that was probably my cue to leave,” Viney chuckled, standing up. “My dad will get worried if I’m not there in the morning.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Emira said, visibly deflating.

“Keep off that hand, you hear me?” Viney said, gathering up her bandages and extra splints into her bag. “And go to the hospital to get it properly fixed in the morning.”

“I know, I know,” Emira muttered bitterly, looking up at Viney with puppy-dog eyes. “Do you have to go?”

“Sorry, Em. But I’d rather get at least some amounts of sleep.” Viney said. “I’ll check on you tomorrow, okay?” She said, leaning down and kissing Emira’s forehead.

Emira, somehow, lit up even brighter with her ears twitching downwards. She held her pillow tighter and buried her face in it.

“‘Kay,” She mumbled shlyly.

Viney giggled and stepped back, making her way towards the door. 

“Don’t lay on your hand too much,” She added, opening the door.

“‘Kay,” Emira repeated, lifting her head ever so slightly and watching Viney with one eye.

Viney gave a small wave before stepping out of the apartment, shutting the door behind her.

Emira only continued watching the door where Viney left, absolutely lovestruck.

“All I wanted to get was a drink,” Came a grumble behind her.

“Amity!” Emira gasped, sitting upright and looking around the couch again to see Amity had wandered back in to grab a drink. 

“I didn’t ask to see my sisters failing flirting attempts,” Amity muttered, pouring herself a cup of apple juice.

“Go back to bed!”

“I’d rather die,”

,

“Okay, okay, but what if instead of teeth, the worm had legs inside its mouth.”

“Ed, it’s like, ten. I’m not doing this right now,” Emira groaned, sitting on her bed as Edric sat on the floor beside her.

“Helps keep us awake, doesn’t it?” Edric shrugged. “Shouldn’t Amity have come back by now?”

“Maybe she just decided to sleep over and forgot to tell us,” Emira said, checking her scroll.

Sure enough, her last text from Amity, thirty minutes ago, only said ‘I’ll be back soon.’

“Doesn’t really seem like her, though.” Edric frowned.

The sound of a window opening caught their attention. Both of them scrambled out of Emira’s room and peered around the corner, curious.

Amity crawled in through the window, brushing herself off before turning back around.

Luz was outside the window, standing on her staff as it flew beside the open window. The staff lowered so Luz could learn her arms on the windowsill, giving Amity a smug look.

“See? I’m not that bad of a flier,” She said proudly.

“Uh huh, sure.” Amity said, sounding amused. “After the first couple of terrifying minutes,”

“You wound me,” Luz said with a dramatic sigh. “Why must I be cursed to be with such a cruel witch?”

“Oh hush,” Amity chuckled, batting at Luz’s arm. “You made me late!”

“Was it worth it, though?” Luz said, tilting her head with a grin.

“...yeah,” Amity admitted, turning her head away, a faint blush on her cheeks.

“That’s the Noceda charm for ya,” Luz winked.

“You’re impossible,” Amity grumbled bashfully.

“Yeah, but you like that.” Luz said, leaning forward through the window.

“Very much so,” Amity agreed, meeting Luz’s chaste kiss with a smile.

“Wha--”

Edric, who had been leaning too far out, fumbled and fell over with a loud thump. Much to Emira’s chagrin.

Amity broke the kiss and whirled around, face flushing even more when she spotted both of her siblings.

“When did you two get here?” She demanded, pressing back on the windowsill, where Luz was now staring in, startled.

“We live here, Amity.” Emira deadpanned, not bothering to help up Edric. “And you have some explaining to do, young lady!”

“I think I’m just gonna…” Luz slowly flew a few feet away from the window. “I think I’m gonna go…”

“Yeah, you probably should.” Amity sighed, looking back. “Bye, Luz.” “See you tomorrow,” Luz gave a shy smile before sitting appropriately on her staff and flying off in a flash, clearly embarrassed about the situation as well.

“Hold on!” Edric shot up from the floor. “Since when was this a thing?”

“It was recent,” Amity grumbled, shutting the window.

“Are you telling me our Mittens got herself a girlfriend?” Emira asked excitedly, spinning the girl around.

“I can’t believe she beat me,” Edric muttered, crossing his arms as he sat dramatically on the couch.

“Suck it,” Amity teased, sticking out her tongue. “And listen, I was planning on telling you, but it was pretty recent and we didn’t really--”

“How recent, exactly?” Emira raised a disbelieving brow.

Amity looked away, ears flicked back.

“Like a week and a half...?”

“...that’s reasonable.” Emira nodded, releasing her sister. “And it was about time, too!” She said, ruffling her hair.

Amity slapped away her sister's hands, embarrassed as Edric gave her a grin.

“Guess we gotta compete for second place, huh?” Edric teased.

“You and I both know you and Jerbo couldn’t ask the other on a date to save your sanities.”

“I never said it was Jerbo!” Edric squawked.

The sisters shared a knowing look but didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, I’m tired. I had a long day,” Amity said, walking by her siblings. “I’m gonna head to bed.”

“Try not to get lost dreaming about that heart-stealer of yours!” Emira called after her.

“Don’t make me come back out there!” Amity’s voice warned from around the corner.

“Whatever you say, Mittens!”

,

Amity wasn’t used to late-night shifts.

Coming to the apartment early in the morning was a pain. Her mask was pushed up on her head as she walked into the apartment on quiet feet, ready to collapse and sleep all day.

Edric was in the kitchen.

He was never up this early.

His elbows were leaning on the kitchen counter, and he was covering his face with one hand, his other clenched into a fist on the counter.

Amity blinked and took off her mask, setting it on the coat hanger and slowly walking over, worry evident on her face.

“Ed?” She asked quietly.

Edric jolted and jerked his head up, expression flashing to that of momentary fear.

He was crying.

“Mi-Mittens!” Edirc gasped, quickly wiping at his eyes. “I-I didn’t hear you come...come in,”

“Edric?” Amity rushed over around the counter, gently grabbing her older brother's arm. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He said, giving her a sorrowfully forced smile. “Was, er, cutting some tear-peppers earlier and it hasn’t gone away yet.”

Amity sighed and looked up at her brother.

“Ed, that’s the worst lie I’ve ever heard.” She said bluntly. “What happened?” She asked again, her voice softer.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about it,” Edric insisted. “It’s my job to look after you, remember?”

“You're my brother, not my dad, thank Titan.” Amity muttered. “I’m not thirteen, Ed.” She continued. “You can tell me,”

Edric gazed down at his little sister for a moment. He swallowed before sighing and letting his shoulders slump.

“Just a little stressed,” He admitted, turning away to stare at the empty counter. “You know, what with trying to actually make a living without mom or dad's help.” He sighed.

“And then there’s the whole rebellion thing me and Em are working on. And that stupid tennant I hate. And trying to find a decent part of the Illusion Coven to join, since we definitely want to stick to that.” He continued.

“And…” He glanced down at Amity. “Well, let’s just say that fear of loneliness isn’t looking too irrational right now,” He said, sounding like he was seconds away from breaking down, hands shaking.

“Hey, that’s not true,” Amity said, squeezing Edric’s arm. “Me and Em aren’t gonna leave you.”

“Amity, you’re in the Emperor’s Coven. You're a spy. You're part of something big.” Edric shook his head. “You’ve got a lot ahead of you.”

“And Em…” He looked away. “Em’s got something going for her. You don’t become mom's favorite by being mediocre.”

“Who cares what mom thinks?” Amity demanded. “She isn’t worth either of our times. Last I checked, she was just as mean on Emira after you flunked the Emperor’s Coven tryouts as she was with you.”

“...she said a lot of things you didn’t hear,” Edric said quietly. “I’m grateful you were at the Owl House.” He murmured. “You deserve a place like that.”

Amity stared up at her brother, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Just how long, she wondered, had Edric been hiding these things from her? From Em?

She leaned against his side, burying her head in the crook of his arm.

“You deserve it, too.” She said softly. “You were able to stand up to mom, you made your own choices and even let me live with you…I couldn’t do those on my own.” She shut her eyes.

“You never gave up, even after all that. That’s what I always liked about you, y’know?”

She felt Edric stiffen and shutter, trying to hold back cries as tears freely fell down his face. He drew an arm around his little sister, pulling her close and pressing his nose into her hair.

They stayed like that for a while. Holding each other in silent reassurances.

,

It was late in the afternoon, sunset fast approaching.

The three siblings were all at different places in the apartment, for once, having a moment of peace among them.

That was, until, the power cut out.

Amity raised her head from where she was reading on the couch. Edric paused making his sandwich and Emira poked her head out of her room.

None of them said a word for a few moments.

“Did you two seriously forget to pay the power bill?” Amity broke the silence.

“I swore I paid it!” Edric insisted. “They didn’t give a notice or anything!”

“You just keep forgetting to close the mailbox, you great idiot!” Emira growled, walking into the main room. “Maybe they just got lost or something.”

Amity got off the couch and opened the apartment door, peering out. 

There were no lights in the hallways, and she could see a few other tenants looking out in confusion as well.

“Nope, it’s a complex issue.” Amity said, looking back. “Whole place lost power.”

“Fantastic,” Emira grumbled. “In the beginning of winter!”

“At least there isn’t any snow yet,” Amity shrugged.

“We’re going to freeze to death in like half an hour.” Edric sighed, stepping out from behind the counter.

“I’m sure I could find some blankets,” Emira insisted.

“You guys know we could just like...go to the Owl House?” Amity raised a brow.

Both her siblings turned to stare at her, blinking dumbfoundedly.

“...right, you guys don’t go there as often.” Amity mumbled quietly. “Look, how about we just head on over? Eda will understand. This should only last for a day or so, anyway.”

“So long I’m not freezing, I’ll take it.” Edric said, already grabbing his coat.

“Isn’t it a bit late?” Emira worried.

“Someone in that house is always awake, no matter the hour.” Amity assured her. “They won’t mind.”

“Yeah, because you have special girlfriend status,” Edric teased.

“Jealous,” Amity shot back, a blush coming to her cheeks as she held the door open for her siblings. “The Owl House has its own power, anyway. So it should be fine.”

“And if not, you get to snuggle up to Luz,” Emira taunted.

“I’m going to let Fang bite both of you,” Amity threatened, walking out after her siblings and through the dark hallways of the apartment complex.

“Ha! Jokes on you, he already bit me.” Edric said proudly. “I’m immune.”

“That’s not how that works.” ,

“Hi, Amity!” Hooty greeted, well before the Blight siblings were at the front porch.

“Can it, Hooty.” Amity said with a sneer. “Tell Eda we’re here,”

“Oh, she already knows.” Hooty said cheerfully. “Luz saw you through the--”

The door was suddenly swung open, and Hooty’s face smashed against the side of the house, much to his complaints.

Eda stood there, looking over the two young-adults and teenager with a confused, but not unwelcome expression.

“Didja get kicked out of your apartment?” She inquired, flicking an ear.

“Power went out,” Emira explained. “Amity said you’d let us stay while it gets fixed?”

“What did I say about making decisions for me?” Eda scolded the girl. “I keep getting Luz’s friends showing up because you insist that I’ll let them in.”

“And yet, you never disappoint,” Amity said with a grin. “May we come in?”

Eda muttered under her breath about kids these days before stepping aside, allowing the three to wander on in.

“Amity,” Lilith greeted from where she was having a cup of tea on the couch. Amity swore that woman was addicted to the stuff.

“Amity!” Luz said at the same time, much more enthused as she rushed from the window and enveloped the witch in a hug. “What’s with the party?” She asked.

“Power problems,” Emira explained for her flustered sister. “We’re just gonna hang here for a bit. Don’t let us invade your mushy time,” She teased, stepping around them and looking at the house.

“Aw, come on!” King complained, crawling out from underneath the table in front of the couch. “Now I’ll never get sleep with a bunch of teenagers around.”

“Excuse you, we’re nineteen! Legal adults,” Edric corrected.

“Same difference,”

Lilith rolled her eyes and offered tea to the twins. Emira accepted it while Edric hung up their coats, watching as both his sisters seamlessly fit right into the discussions of the Owl family, despite their sudden intrusion.

He smiled to himself, slowly looking around the Owl House.

Yeah, they’d picked a good family.

,

It was late.

Amity hadn’t made it home.

Emira had called the Owl House to see if Amity was there. They said she’d left two hours earlier, and were surprised to hear she hadn’t made it back to the apartment yet.

They said Amity had left after getting a call from their mother.

It was nearly midnight.

Edric was beside himself with worry, pacing the living room.

They’d even called up Keene, the second-in-command of Amity’s Emperor’s Coven group. She had given his number to them for strict emergencies.

He hadn’t seen her either.

“I’m going to go look for her,” Edric said, breaking Emira out of her train of thought and storming towards the door. “Something must have happened with mom and dad.”

“I’ll wait for her here,” Emira nodded. “I’ll call you if she--”

Right as Edric was about to open the apartment door, it swung open very aggressively.

“Amity!” The twins exclaimed.

The seventeen-year-old stood hunched in the doorway, head hanging and bangs covering her eyes. She was shaking, violently. She was still in her Emperor’s Coven outfit, as she had visited the Owl House first and didn’t have a spare change of clothes.

“Where have you been?” Edric asked worriedly, crouching down. She was always shorter than them. “We were worried sick!”

“Did something happen?” Emira added, getting off the couch. “Mittens?”

The girl raised her head, and the twins gave a sharp intake of breath.

Amity’s face was stained with tears, her eyes red and swollen. She had a dark, angry purple bruise on her left cheek, and was rubbing at her left wrist.

“What happened?” Emira demanded, shutting the door as Edric pulled Amity into the apartment.

“I-I,” Amity stuttered, fresh tears already beginning to leak from her eyes as her siblings gently led her to the couch and sat on either side of her.

“I didn’t mean to,” Amity sniffled, shoulders trembling. “I didn’t mean to say it, I didn’t, I--”

“Hey, hey, shh,” Edric comforted, holding her hands to stop her messing with her wrist. “Just tell us what happened, Amity.”

Amity took in sharp, shaky breaths for a few moments, trying to calm herself down.

“M-mom wanted me to c-come home,” She explained, though the twins already knew. “She...she told me it was because I left something there. I-I went over and...and,”

She bit her lip, holding back a cry as Emira gently placed a hand on her back.

“She got mad,” Amity said, her voice rattly. “She...she said she talked to Keene and-and he said I wasn’t spending as much t-time at the Coven as I said...he...he didn’t know--”

“Hey, we know, we know,” Emira said softly. “What else?”

“Sh-she demanded to know where I-I’d been,” Amity sniffled, holding herself. “I did...didn’t want to tell her, so I,” She inhaled. “I got mad...I got mad, I told her it wasn’t...wasn’t her business…I didn’t even really li-live with her…”

The twins fearfully glanced at each other. Nobody talked back to their mother. Not unless they wanted a death sentence.

Edric raised his hand and Amity flinched, and he felt a stab of pain in his chest.

He slowly, and genty, brushed his hand by her shoulder, right below where her bruise was.

“It...it didn’t go well,” Amity murmured, pulling off her gloves and revealing she had a bruise around her left wrist, looking like she had been sharply grabbed.

“Did mom do this?” Emira demanded quietly, gesturing to the nasty mark on her face.

Amity didn’t answer.

“She said sorry right after,” Amity mumbled, almost inaudible.

The twins stared, horror striking them to the core. Edric wrapped his arm around Amity’s shoulders, pulling her closer. She let him, sniffling.

“...you’re not going back there.” Emira decided. “I don’t care how many laws we break. You won’t.”

“I already told them,” Amity murmured, glancing over at her. “I...I said I was a member of the Emperor’s Coven and they, they couldn’t tell me what to do anymore…”

She lifted her unhurt hand to her cloak and withdrew Fang, her palisman, who was curled around her fingers and looked up at the twins.

“Eda showed me a re-recording spell before I left. They know I can use it if, if they try to get me back.”

Neither of the twins wanted to know what that snake had seen.

“Good, because you were never going to go back there to begin with.” Edric said firmly. “Well, no, no, not good, that’s probably not--”

Emira punched his arm and he winced, but obediently went quiet.

“What if she finds out I live here?” Amity asked quietly, curling closer into Ed’s shoulder. “She-she’ll try to do something. What if she cuts you off?”

“We don’t want anything to do with her anymore, I assure you.” Emira growled.

“You-you need the money,” Amity sniffled. “I know you do.”

“We can start making our own--” “Please,” Amity turned her head, giving her sister a scared look. “Please don’t cut off mom. She’ll do something worse.” She said, voice going quieter. “Not yet. You need it now. I’ll be okay.”

Emira wanted to argue, she really did.

But she couldn’t.

Getting jobs in this time of the Boiling Isles, and in this region, was tough. Especially for illusionists. They’d made a bit of money here and there, but a lot of their support came from their mother and father, who grudgingly handed it out so to make their children at least look like they were surviving on their own, for the public.

And it wasn’t like any of them could go to the coven just yet. In a real court battle, they knew their parents would win. They always would.

It was their public image that worried them. And for now, the Blight children had the upper hand.

They’d have to let the spider come to them. As horrifying as the thought of waiting sounded.

“Alright,” Edric related, drawing circles on her arm. “But you aren’t going anywhere near them. Not ever again. Do you understand?”

Amity didn’t respond. She just pulled herself closer to Edric, shuttering with the strain to hold back sobs.

Edric pulled her into a real hug, and Emira wasn’t far behind. They both murmured words of comfort as Amity muffled her cries in Edric’s shoulder, tense with the effort.

If this was what the Blight name meant, they didn’t want it.

#four years au #the owl house #owl house #toh #drabble post #amity blight #edric blight #emira blight #amity #edric #emira #jerbo #viney #luz noceda #luz #lumity #jerbric #vinira #eda clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #king #eda #lilith #the blight parents #karen blight #chat blight #angst #hurt comfort #fluff #humor

[johaerys-writes]

Dorian Pavus/Trevelyan

A World With You, Chapter 26: To Have and To Hold

A moment of respite in the midst of war and chaos. The comfort of knowing that one’s loved one is just within reach. Having someone to hold, and just holding.

In other words: It’s wine and poetry night in Skyhold, and the boys are making the best of it :)

Read here or on AO3!

(art by @le-mooon​) 

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

“Lavender and lemon blossoms. Interesting.”

Tristan lifted his head from the edge of the tub where it had been resting and eyed Dorian questioningly. “What?”

“The soap you use,” he replied. His back was pressed against Tristan’s chest, his voice vibrating through him when he spoke. Low and smooth, making the water itself ripple. “I could always detect the lavender, and I knew there must be some sort of citrus in there, but I could never quite place it.” He reached out for the soap bar, bringing up to his nose to smell it again. “Simple. Unsophisticated. A touch mundane, perhaps. It suits you quite well. I approve.”

Tristan laughed softly at his teasing tone. “I’m glad you find my unoriginality appealing.”

“Amusing, amatus. I think the word you’re looking for is amusing. I guess there is some beauty in simplicity, but let’s not overdo it, yes? Next thing you know, you’ll be washing with the ash soap they use in the kitchens.”

“That might not be such a bad idea. I’ve heard it takes the grime right off. What? It’s true!” He laughed at Dorian’s horrified expression, leaning forward to nuzzle his ear. “You don’t have to worry about that. I wouldn’t let you walk about with a man that smells like a well scrubbed kitchen pot.”

“Good,” Dorian chuckled, leaning into his touch. “I almost feared you were being serious. One can never know with you Southerners.”

Fingers skimming over the surface of the warm, soapy water, a smile still lingering at the edges of his lips, Tristan let the weariness and tension of the last few days bleed out of his limbs. The fire in the hearth crackled softly and doused the room in a warm glow, the only other light coming from the bright orange glyph Dorian had cast on the bottom of the copper tug to keep the water warm.

“Fascinating,” he murmured.

“Hmm?”

Dorian’s eyes were closed, his head resting on Tristan’s shoulder. Tristan buried his nose in his hair, breathing deeply. “I find you fascinating.”

“You’re not the only one.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.” Tristan smiled at the soft hum that sounded at the back of Dorian’s throat. “How do you maintain the glyph? Are you channeling now?”

“Just a little. This is a relatively small one, so it only requires a trickle of magic to sustain it.”

“And you can do it just like that? With your eyes closed?”

Dorian’s smile widened. “You’d be surprised how many things I can do with my eyes closed.”

He was relaxed, almost melting in Tristan’s arms, his features soft, his breaths even and smooth despite the low chuckle that rumbled in his chest. Tristan let his eyes roam over the curves and planes of his body, sprawled as it was before him, submerged in the warm, cloudy water. He was… exquisite. Sublime. God-like. Real. He was real, tangible, there. Beautiful and daring, sharp-witted and eloquent, a shining example of all the qualities the ideal man should possess, those that philosophers and thinkers had debated on for centuries. Tristan wondered for a moment exactly what Dorian had seen in him. He had been average in most of his endeavours on the best of days, let alone now, that every new day was an opportunity for all his shortcomings to be exhibited for all the world to see. Most people, he was sure, saw him just a step away from failure.

Yet, with Dorian he never felt like a failure. He never felt less, or not quite good enough, or broken. He felt whole. It felt odd.

He idly traced a line with his index finger from the perfect half moons of Dorian’s manicured nails where they rested on his knee, all the way up to his forearm, past the angle of his elbow, up his bicep. His skin glowed copper in the golden light, and Dorian hummed softly when Tristan leaned forward and pressed a feather-light kiss upon the curve of his shapely shoulder.

That was when he saw it; a small, barely noticeable scar on his arm, a darker patch on the otherwise unblemished expanse of skin. His own skin was riddled with scars, large and small, smooth and ragged, and it had become a habit for Dorian to trace his long fingers over them, asking for the stories behind them. A habit Tristan had come to look forward to, he had noticed.

“How did you get this?” he asked him, examining the small mark.

Dorian reluctantly opened his eyes to glance at it, then closed them again. “A proper gentleman never reveals his secrets.”

“Who said anything about propriety?” Tristan asked teasingly, to which Dorian scoffed.

“You’ve got me there.” He let out a soft sigh. “I’m afraid it’s not as grizzly and thrilling a story as yours tend to be. I got it when I was thirteen, while I was still in the Circle of Trevis.”

“You’ve never told me about your time in the Circle.”

“Circles. I did change a few. Besides, what is there to say? I was incredible. Everyone loved me. My professors revered me and waxed poetic about my abilities. If they could, they would have carved my likeness in marble and set it atop the entrance of the University of Minrathous, I’m sure.”

“Right. Of course. I should have guessed.” Tristan huffed a quiet laugh at Dorian’s sarcastic tone. “Is that the way things work in Tevinter? Do they move you about in different Circles?”

“No. But it was the way things worked for me.” He let his head fall back against the crook of Tristan’s neck, peering at the snowy mountaintops beyond the wide windows. “I was admitted to the Circle of Carastes first, when I was nine. I got into a fight with another magister’s son, and I was expelled soon after. Then I moved to the Circle of Marothius, then Trevis, then Caimen Brea… I could go on. The very last one I went to, Marnas Pell, was by far the worst. No other Circle wanted a mage with such a terrible track record, as you can imagine. I didn’t even last a month.”

Tristan’s heart clenched with the resignation in his voice. Pain, deep, visceral, seared him to his core. Was that what Dorian’s childhood had been like? Kicked about from Circle to Circle, never lingering, never growing roots, never having friends? He let out a slow exhale through his nose, trying to keep his voice level. “Did you get into fights a lot?”

“I was admitted in the Circle very young, and progressed very quickly. I was usually the most competent in my year and beyond. There were many that didn’t appreciate this.”

“Who were they?”

“Older students. Some apprentices. They didn’t like that I moved ahead so quickly, my powers and knowledge surpassing theirs by a wide margin. Some were vocal about it. The one that gave me this scar was particularly loud about his displeasure.”

Tristan frowned. “Did he bully you?”

“Me? Bullied? On the contrary. He challenged me to a duel. I beat him quite easily, but not before he managed a gush on my shoulder.” He brushed his fingertips over the small scar. “It was the first time I had attempted healing magic on myself, and it would prove to be the last. I only got this small scar; the burn scar on my opponent’s face is still visible to this day.”

“How old was that boy?”

“Seventeen.”

“Seventeen? Blight,” Tristan breathed. “And they expelled you instead of him?

“Yes, well,” Dorian said with a bored wave, “I was the one with the terrible reputation, you see. He was the son of a magister, a powerful one at that. I had become something of a pariah at this point. He didn’t hesitate to call me that to my face, either.”

Tristan’s fists clenched, nails digging into his palm. Anger was bubbling inside him, thick and hot enough to choke him. He wrapped his arms around Dorian, pulling him close, as if that would be enough to shield him from the world. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you,” he whispered. “Never again.”

Dorian let out a dismissive harrumph. “This isn’t always up to you, amatus.”

“I’ll make sure that it is.” He reached out, threading his fingers through his where they lay on his knee. “I would let the whole of Thedas burn if anyone so much as thought of touching you.”

“Now, this is either incredibly romantic of you, or incredibly insane.”

“What if it’s both?”

Dorian paused for a moment, tilting his head to the side. “Yes. That sounds about right.”

Tristan huffed in amusement, and Dorian lips widened in a fond smile as he rested his forehead against the side of Tristan’s face. A long moment of silence passed before Dorian spoke again. “Did you ever get into fights when you were younger?”

Tristan paused for a moment in thought. “No. Not when I was that young. Except for Tilly, there weren’t that many children my age when I was growing up. I did have a few friends… but I didn’t see them quite as often. Other than during those awful banquets my mother used to drag me to.”

“How did you spend your time, then?”

“When I wasn’t fencing or riding, I would go to the beach with Tilly, or read books, or… I guess I tried to study, too, occasionally.”

“You must have been a stellar student.”

“Why is that?”

“You are very bright, amatus. Not to mention surprisingly well read. For a Southerner at least.”

An odd sense of pride swelled in Tristan's chest with the earnestness in Dorian’s voice. Why did it make him feel giddy that Dorian thought him bright? He shook his head, scoffing. “My tutors would disagree with you. They were never particularly pleased with my abilities. I didn’t have an affinity for history, or maths, or science. I found them incredibly boring, and my tutors found me very dull indeed, compared to my sister. She was the stellar student, not I. They all loved her. Me, not so much. A maths tutor once called me “terribly obstreperous and frightfully obtuse” because I’d refused to solve an equation.”

“He called you that?” Dorian turned his head slightly to look at him, incredulity in his gaze. “What did you do?”

“I pretended not to care, but Tilly was very mad. Oh, she was fuming. She told Nelly, our housekeeper, and Nelly told our mother. The tutor was dismissed the next day.”

“Good. I would have boxed his ears if I had him right here.” Dorian’s furrowed brow relaxed, his thumb brushing over Tristan’s palm. “Were there no subjects that you did enjoy?”

“I was fond of my Orlesian tutor. Madame Clemence. A lovely woman. When she’d first arrived, she had tried to teach me Orlesian the same way she did with my sister; grammar, syntax, rules…" He shook his head. " I didn’t take to that very well. The letters would dance before my eyes and my tongue got tied in knots. In the end, she gave up trying to teach me the rules. She’d noticed I was fond of poetry, and started bringing me books with Orlesian poems. We would go out in the garden when the days were good, and she would read them to me. Then, she would talk to me about them until I was able to reply back.”

“She sounds like a fascinating woman.”

“She was. I would probably have hated Orlesian too if it weren’t for her.”

Dorian huffed, but Tristan could see the smile painted just at the edges of his lips. “That would be such a pity. Your Orlesian is quite irresistible. I could listen to you talk for days.”

“You could?” Tristan smiled softly. He brushed his cheek over Dorian’s ear, tracing its contours with his lips. “J’ai regardé devant moi, dans la foule je t’ai vue, parmi les blés je t’ai vue, sous un arbre je t’ai vue, au bout de tous mes voyages, au fond de tous mes tourments, au tournant de tous les rires, sortant de l’eau et du feu, l’été l’hiver je t’ai vue, dans ma maison je t’ai vue, entre mes bras je t’ai vue, dans mes rêves je t’ai vue…” He tightened his arms around him, sliding his mouth to his. “Je ne te quitterai plus.”

Dorian hummed against his lips. “I think I caught a few words of that.”

“I hope you did.” Tristan ran his thumb over his cheek. “I meant them.”

Time stretched on languidly while they lay in the water, warm like a wet embrace, their lips gliding in soft, velvet kisses. The moon hung close to the eastern edge of the night sky, thin like a nail, silver against a velvet blue canopy. They kissed and kissed… until a soft rumbling sound echoed through the silence.

Dorian edged back to gaze at him. “Was that your stomach?”

Tristan felt heat travelling up to the tips of his ears. “I, uh… yes?”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“I think… this morning?”

Dorian’s eyes widened in their sockets, and he pushed himself up and away from him. He was dripping wet, water running in rivulets down his body and pooling around his feet when he stepped out of the tub. He held out a hand to Tristan, who simply gaped at him.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

“W-where are we going?”

“You need to eat. The way you’re going, you’re going to be falling flat on your face any day now. Come,” he said, his fingers curling, beckoning, “I’m taking you to dinner.”

Tristan huffed a laugh as he rose to his feet, letting Dorian help him out and pat him dry with a soft cotton towel. There was something in that gesture, the familiarity, the sheer tenderness and care of it, gentle touches with no ulterior motive or desire. The simple act of caring for a loved one, and taking joy in the shared moment.

Tristan caught Dorian’s hand after they had both put their clothes on, bringing it up to his lips and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “So,” he said softly, “what are we having tonight?”

Dorian smirked playfully. “Whatever is left in the kitchens, of course. Beggars can’t well be choosers at this hour. Let’s pray it’s something edible and not that meat pie they keep serving at the tavern. Or, Maker forbid, that stew.”

Tristan shuddered at the thought of the thick, floury crust, or those tasteless stews that felt like boiled mush on his tongue. “I’d happily go another day without food if it meant not eating that foul stuff.”

“No. No, you would not. Not while I’m here. Now,” Dorian said, showing him towards the door, “I want to see that lovely derriere marching down those stairs and to the wonderful midnight feast we’ll no doubt be having very soon.”

Tristan rolled his eyes, yet couldn’t help the wide smile that blossomed on his face. He did as he was told, walking out of the quarters, Dorian in tow. Maighdin mumbled a quiet “Your Worship” when he informed her he would be going to the kitchens with Dorian. Alone.

“She’s quite nice, that girl,” Dorian said to him after they were well out of earshot. “Kinder than she looks. She actually came by the library a couple times while you were gone to ask me if I needed anything. I joked about wanting caramel apple slices to nibble on with the tea I was drinking at the time, and she brought me some the next day.”

“Did she?” Tristan tried to combine the image of stern-faced Maighdin and caramel apples. No, it didn’t quite fit. “Why would she do that? That’s hardly her job.”

“She knows we're seeing each other. Perhaps she feels the need to check up on me simply because I'm associated with you. She does seem very diligent. Cullen has chosen your guards well.”

Tristan’s brows furrowed as he walked on. “Yes, he has. I wish they weren’t needed, yet I’m happy with the people he has chosen anyway.”

Dorian shrugged, his steps falling almost at the same time as his. “You can’t change the way things are. Besides, they make you look intimidating. That’s what the leader of Inquisition should look like, isn’t it?”

“I think that was the idea from the start,” Tristan grumbled. “I’m glad that’s working, at the very least.”

“Not as intimidating as you look now, though,” Dorian said teasingly. “That scowl you wear could drive anyone in their right minds away.”

“How come it hasn’t driven you away?”

“I happen to be quite fond of it.” He turned to glance at him, head cocked to the side. “There’s this small line you get in the middle of your brows when you do it. It’s rather lovely.”

Tristan laughed quietly under his breath as they walked to the lower keep, a flush warming his cheeks despite the night chill. The narrow staircase before Josephine’s office was long and dark, seemingly unending as they descended to the bowels of the old keep. The damp there was far thicker than upstairs, permeating the stone walls and clinging to the dampness than still lingered in Tristan’s strands. They walked along the corridors, illuminated only by the dancing light of torches, their footsteps echoing in the silence. The underground level was thoroughly empty at that hour, and Tristan found that he could breathe more easily now that it was just him and Dorian there. He had almost forgotten there were other people in the keep other than them, when they heard the shuffling of boots, hushed whispers, the sound of fabric brushing against fabric.

Dorian and he exchanged a quick glance before cautiously approaching. They hadn’t even taken a step before a slender female figure dashed past them. Tristan had just enough time to glimpse the black hair gathered in a long braid that flowed down her back, her grey washerwoman’s cotton dress rustling around her feet as she ducked around the corner.

A man followed soon after, but he didn’t flee down the corridor like the woman had. He stood before them, blinking, his dark eyes wide as realisation dawned on him.

“Y-your Worship,” Nhudem mumbled. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, then bowed before him, as if remembering himself. He was wearing his Inquisition armour, the golden eye on the breastplate catching the light of the torches as he moved.

“What are you doing here, Nhudem?”

The man paled visibly, fists clenched at his sides. “N-nothing. Your Worship. I-I was… was on my way t-to your quarters and I… I-” He stopped, bottom lip trembling. He looked ready to pass out.

Tristan’s frowned at him. “Who was that-”

His question was cut short when he felt Dorian’s elbow nudging his sides. He glanced at him, and saw the minute shake of his head, and the smirk that curled his lips before he reined it in. With a soft exhale through his nose, Tristan turned to Nhudem. “Maighdin should be expecting you upstairs to relieve her of her duty. You are late as it is.”

Nhudem bowed eagerly again, throat bobbing as he gulped. “Yes, Your Worship. Of course, Your Worship. By your leave, Your-” Tristan waved him off, and the man bowed once more before walking- or rather running away.

“It seems your guard has found a lady friend,” Dorian said after Nhudem had disappeared down the corridor.

“Right.” Tristan sneaked a glance behind him, making sure there was no sign of the woman or Nhudem before resuming his march towards the kitchens. “Did you get a look at that woman?” he asked, lowering his voice.

“No. She was very fast. Why?”

Tristan worried his lip as he walked on. “I should tell Leliana.”

“For whatever reason would you do that?”

“They’re my guards, Dorian. I need to know who they associate with.” So far as he knew, Nhudem had been a widower for years. Leliana’s very thorough vetting had mentioned no other relationships, which meant that whatever had been going on between him and that washerwoman must have been fairly recent. Unless he was really good at hiding. Which was troublesome in and of itself. If Tristan had learned anything from having grown up around servants and guards is that they talked. A lot. His own guards would soon come to know more about him than his own advisors, if they didn’t already. He couldn’t afford to have them spilling that information during secret trysts in storerooms and dark corners.

It was odd, how much things had changed for him ever since the title of Inquisitor had been bestowed upon him. A few months before, Tristan himself would have clapped Nhudem on the back and never thought twice about the whole thing, but Inquisitor Trevelyan had entirely different considerations.

Dorian’s steps fell alongside his, his palm brushing against the small of his back. “You don’t have to be in control of everything all the time, amatus. Let your people have their fun. You know they deserve it.”

Tristan rubbed the back of his head, trying to shake off his unease. He took a deep breath, nodding. “Perhaps you’re right.”

“When am I not?” Dorian asked with a wink, placing a kiss on his temples. Tristan leaned into his touch, threading his fingers through his. It would do him some good after all to let go of the Inquisitorial mantle, he realised, if only for a little while.

Their steps echoed along the dark corridors, and the damp lessened more and more as they made their way towards the kitchens. The warmth from the fires that roared most of the day had seeped into the stone, hot to the touch even in the middle of the night. Tristan let his fingers trail along the ridges in the centuries-old bricks, relishing the silence, when he noticed a soft, eerie light coming from behind one of the many doors.

Without really thinking, he pushed it open. The smell of dust and old parchment reached his nostrils as soon as he took a step in.

“A library?” Dorian gasped, walking ahead of him. “An actual hidden library?” He immediately went over to the shelves, glancing at the book titles. His eyes grew wide, like a child in a sweet shop. “This is fascinating. Maker only knows what else is tucked away in this place.”

Tristan smiled at his lover’s enthusiasm, letting his gaze sweep over the many books on the shelves. Most of them were far too old for the letters on their backs to be legible. It surprised him how many things he still didn’t know about Skyhold- he had lived there for months, yet he kept finding new places every time he happened to wander aimlessly about. Not that he had been doing much of that lately. There was usually no moment to spare from his Inquisitorial duties, his days scheduled by Josephine to account for nigh on every single minute. They were filled with meetings, training, judgements -the list went on, seemingly endlessly- and by the time he finally got to meet Dorian at night all he had mind for was… well. When it came to Dorian, there were a few things he had mind for no matter his exhaustion or the time of day, but even they weren’t enough to sate him. Nothing could ever be enough.

“How’s your research going?” Tristan asked, his fingers brushing over the books’ hard leathery backs.

“Ah! I’d almost forgotten about that,” Dorian said, turning to him. “I think I’m on to something. Remember when I told you that I could tell that the Venatori glyphs looked familiar? As it turns out, they are.”

Tristan’s eyebrows shot up with interest. “Are they? You remembered where you’ve seen them?”

Dorian nodded enthusiastically. “I believe I’ve seen them before, in Minrathous. It was a very obscure piece of research, but I might be able to retrieve it. I’ve already written to Tilani. If she manages to locate the scroll again and send a copy of it to me, I may be able to find what the Venatori are trying to do. That should give us an advantage when we next encounter them…”

Tristan’s fingers strayed to the scar on his neck while Dorian spoke, where the Venatori blade had cut him so long before. Talk of them always made him uneasy. Thinking about how close he had been to dying at their hands was... unnerving. Had Solas not been there during that time in the Hinterlands to heal him… His lips tightened in a line as his guts twisted and turned. Knowing that he had only himself to blame was even worse. He had been so reckless back then, always dashing about, getting into fights he couldn’t possibly win. In many ways, it was as if he had been challenging his fate, pushing at its edges to see where it would snap. Wasn’t he still doing that, in a way? Wasn’t he testing his limits, day after day? How long before he actually met them? Even in his last encounter with those blighted Venatori, he had only been a hair away from getting burned to a crisp, and Dorian with him. He had almost died, and still he hadn’t been able to rescue but a single person. There was so much at stake, people’s lives hanging in the balance, while he teetered. While he stood, as a symbol of hope, even though he had very little. And how much blood had been shed, so that he may stand there? How much more before his task was done? Before-

“Amatus.”

Tristan blinked. He hadn’t even realised he had stopped listening, lost in his own thoughts. Dorian was holding him by his shoulders, concern evident in his features. Tristan rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Forgive me. I got distracted. You were saying?”

Dorian shook his head. “It’s alright. We can talk about it tomorrow. Now is not the time.”

“No, I really want to-” Tristan cupped his cheeks. “I want to hear everything about it. This is important. You’re important.”

“So are you. My research can wait. This night is for us. You deserve some time away from it all.” Dorian smiled warmly at him. “Tonight, the only subjects we’re allowed to talk about are food, wine, and all the things we’ll be doing once we get back to your quarters.”

“Sleeping, that is?”

Dorian clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes. “You’re dreadfully dull and I hate you.”

“Mm-hmm. Why do I find that hard to believe?”

Dorian returned Tristan’s cheeky smile with one of his own, pulling away to return to the dusty shelves. Tristan let his eyes linger on Dorian’s back for a long moment, following his movements. He wouldn’t mind simply standing there and watch him for a day or three; watch as long fingers brushed over the books’ hard leather spines, careful, light as feathers; as he pulled the books out, caressing their covers before tilting them open; as his brow furrowed in concentration, as his eyes glided over the letters, as he brushed his knuckle over his chin in thought. As he sniffed in contempt, snapping the book shut and placing it back on the shelf.

“Senseless drivel. The amount of Chantry propaganda in this place is shocking. How they found themselves here, I’ll never know. One would have thought that a place this ancient would have some decent books, but apparently this is not the case.”

“A mystery for the ages,”Tristan murmured in agreement, glancing at an entire shelf of biographies of various Divines.

Dorian let yet another book snap shut and placed it on the shelf. “I challenge you to find one book in this place that isn’t about some Divine’s or saint’s life or some other similar nonsense.”

“A challenge?” Tristan asked, perking up. “I like the sound of that. What do I get if I win?”

Dorian smiled wickedly at him. “That will depend on what you find.”

Tristan thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I’ll bite.” He glanced at the tomes on the shelf closest to him, squinting as he tried to read their titles, faded with time and obscured by generous coatings of dust. He drew one out, brushing the grime away. “This one doesn’t look so bad.”He handed it to Dorian, who peered at the book cover and huffed in amusement.

“Assorted Poems and Elegies of the Storm Age. Why am I not surprised?”

“It isn’t a Chantry book," Tristan said with a grin."What’s my prize?”

“Not so fast.” Dorian flipped the book open on a random page, peering at the writing. “Wilt thou love the Maker, as He thee? Then digest, My Soul, this wholesome meditation, How the Holy Maker In His Ascension, doth make his Temple in thy breast.” He glanced at Tristan, quirking a brow.

“Oh," Tristan breathed. "Right. I'd forgotten how much of the poetry from that Age is religious. Let me see.” He took the book from Dorian, flipping through the pages, scanning their contents until he found what he was looking for. A small poem, tucked away at the bottom of a sprawling epic about a Templar blessed by the spirit of Andraste. He handed the tome back to him, tapping the page lightly with his finger. “This one.”

Dorian shot him a lingering, apprehensive look as he accepted the book, lips parting slightly on a soft intake of breath. “He is equal with the Gods, that man, who sits across from me. Face to face, close enough to sip his voice’s sweetness, hear him laughing love’s low laughter. Fire in...” He squinted at the page. “I can’t make out the rest. The letters are faded.”

Tristan moved closer, placing his palm on the small of his back, reciting from memory. “Fire, delicate fire in the flesh, with flowing rein, gliding swiftly through every vein. Though ’tis death to me, I cannot choose but look on him; But, at the sight, my senses fly, I needs must gaze, but, gazing, die; I lose my colour, I lose my breath, I drink the cup of a costly death, Brimmed with delirious draughts of warmest life. Ears resound with noise of distant thunder, eyes gaze on stars that fall forever into deep midnight.” He gazed expectantly at Dorian, watching the soft light of the room play across his features as he tilted his head to the side.

“‘Eyes that fall forever into deep midnight’,” Dorian said after a moment, drawing out the syllables. “Is that some very elaborate way to say that someone kicked the bucket?”

Tristan let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. “You’re hopeless.” He plucked the book from his hands, placing it back on the shelf. “I still win, though.”

“Not a chance. A single poem does not a decent library make. I need more.”

Tristan rolled his eyes, biting back a smile as he continued searching through the shelves. He was never one to back down from a challenge. He was combing through a shelf filled with books of chants and psalms, when he saw a small, thin book, almost hidden behind the large tomes.

“Tristan de Lydes,” he whispered as he pulled it from the shelf and held it in his hands, heart thumping in his chest.

“Hmm?”

“Tristan de Lydes. It’s an old Orlesian epic. I used to have a book just like this. I took it with me when I left home, but it was lost after the explosion at the Conclave.” Tristan turned to look at Dorian, who had drifted from his corner of the room to glance at what he was holding. “It was my father’s favourite. He was so fond of it, he named me after it. He used to read it to Tilly and me all the time when we were kids.”

Dorian’s touch was light and tentative, his hand brushing the base of his spine. “You never talk about your father.”

Hazy memories, half hidden and half forgotten drifted through his mind unbidden, like smoke gliding over a fogged mirror. Smell of old parchment and burning smoking leaf. Light blonde hair streaked with white, gathered at the nape of his neck. Ink stains on crisp white sleeve cuffs, long fingers constantly fidgeting with the stem of his ivory briars. Carvings of flowers and birds around the pipe bowl.

Grey morning light streaming in through the wide window panes of his study, dancing dust motes catching the sun, settling on the books and scrolls that covered every surface. The sound of his mother's laughter as his father recited a silly poem, their tea forgotten in their cups. One of the few memories he had of his mother laughing like this, bright and carefree.

Light blue eyes, almost translucent, that grew more and more weary as time went by, absent, red rimmed, unfocused. The silence that spread over the Trevelyan manor after they had closed for good.

He clenched his jaw, his hold on the book tightening. “He died when I was very young,” he whispered. “I don’t remember him well.” He swallowed past the knot in his throat as he lovingly brushed his fingers over the letters etched on its leather cover. “After he passed away, Tilly and I used to read it to each other before we went to sleep. She loved the sappy, romantic stuff, while I wanted to hear all about the sword fights. We would argue about which part to read for ages.” His lips curled in a soft, reminiscent smile. “She always got her way in the end.”

Dorian’s arms slithered around his waist, drawing him closer. He rested his chin upon his shoulder, the side of his face touching Tristan’s cheek. “You could read it to me, if you’d like.”

Tristan huffed quietly. “I thought you hated poetry.”

“Not when you read it.”

The tenderness in his voice made Tristan’s heart swell, pushing away the shadows, like a shining globe made of pure starlight. He leaned against him, the warmth of Dorian’s chest soothing and comforting as it seeped through his clothes. They stayed like that for a long while, simply touching, simply holding, speaking little, perhaps not at all. The companionable silence, the presence of someone that cared for him, and that he cared for in return.

He could get used to this, he thought.

****

Tristan swirled the wine in his cup, bringing it up to his nose to inhale the rich blend of grapes, berries and honeysuckle. He tipped it over his lips, letting the dry red roll over his tongue, savouring the taste. “This is exquisite. 9:32 was an excellent year for Antivan wines. This one may actually surpass that Rowan Rose we found in the Hinterlands that one time.”

Dorian blinked at him, incredulous. “You must be joking. Rowan Rose is one of the most prized wines in Thedas. Only second best to Aggregio Pavalli. Antiva can never hope to challenge Tevinter in wine making.”

“Different years yield different wines. The one we found was from 9:26, and it had been a relatively poor year for strawberry grapes all over Tevinter, what with that pest outbreak. It was still good, but I dare say this one here is better.”

Dorian harrumphed, still unconvinced as he took another sip. “You Marchers wouldn’t know good wine if it hit you on the head with a frying pan.”

Tristan shot him a teasing smile, slithering closer to him. The embers in the kitchen hearths were still glowing, enveloping the wide room in a thick heat, and he was feeling slightly flushed under his coat. Dorian’s presence and the wine they had both been drinking was enough to make him sweat. “You seem to have a lot of opinions about Southerners. Specifically Marchers.”

“Indeed,” Dorian said, quirking his brow. “There’s one Marcher in particular I am chock full of opinions about.”

His scent tickled Tristan’s nostrils when he buried his nose in his neck. “Care to share them?” he whispered, placing soft kisses along the underside of his jaw. Dorian caught Tristan’s bottom lip between his teeth when it brushed over his, sighing softly. Sitting on the floor of Skyhold’s kitchens, tipsy from wine and heady kisses - could there be anything better than this?

“This isn’t going to work, you know,” Dorian murmured against his lips.

“What isn’t?”

“You think I haven’t noticed that you still haven’t finished your dinner?” he said as he gingerly picked up a small piece of pie from the plate beside them- the only leftovers they had been able to find. “Kisses don’t work in distracting me. Now, eat.”

Tristan scrunched his nose as Dorian held it before him with the tips of his fingers. “I don’t like it. It tastes like plaster. Plaster with a terrible filling. It makes me queasy.”

“I know. But this is all we have now. So, open up.”

Tristan smirked, brushing his palm down the inside of Dorian’s thigh. “Why does that sounds so enticing when you say it?”

“Oh, no. No, no.” Dorian swatted his hand away, dangling the pie before him again. “I told you I’m not so easily distracted. Don’t even try.”

Tristan rolled his eyes and huffed, accepting the vile thing. Before Dorian could withdraw his hand, Tristan caught his wrist, flicking his tongue over his fingers, drawing them in his mouth. Dorian’s lips parted on a silent gasp, his lids growing heavy as he watched him. Tristan smiled wickedly, placing his cup on the ground as he slid his mouth off Dorian’s fingers, then pushed him on the floor, climbing between his legs. Dorian let out a soft moan, threading his fingers through Tristan’s hair.

“Amatus,” he rasped, “we’re in the kitchens.”

“Are we?” Tristan said, looking around him with a perplexed frown. “And here I thought we were in Cullen’s office.”

“Ha-ha. Very funny. Positively hilarious.” He smoothed his palm down Tristan’s back, following the curve at the base of his spine. “What if someone comes in?”

“At this hour, it’s probably just us and a couple rats doing the rounds.” Tristan pushed himself up on his elbows, peering into Dorian’s eyes as he lay beneath him. Dorian watched him carefully, running his tongue over his pillowy bottom lip, over that indentation in its center that Tristan wanted to lick, and bite, and kiss. Maker help him, but he could spend an eternity just kissing his lips.

He took a deep breath to bring some focus back into his brain. “Would it bother you if someone saw us? Together? If it makes you uncomfortable, being seen with me…” He paused to swallow thickly. “I wouldn’t want to do anything that makes you unhappy. If you wish for what we have to remain a secret, so it shall be. I’ll do my best to hide it, and-”

“I want you, amatus,” Dorian whispered, cutting his sentence short. “I want to be seen with you. That’s what worries me.”

“Why?”

Dorian gazed at him thoughtfully for a moment, then exhaled softly through his nose. “You and I both know how people will react. They will say that I ensnared you with my wit and charm. That I used evil blood magic from Tevinter to turn you into my plaything.”

Tristan shot him a perplexed frown. “Can blood magic even do that?”

“It can do worse than that.”

“Dorian,” he said, putting on a serious face. “I have something very important to say.”

“Yes?”

“I want to be your plaything.”

Dorian huffed a laugh, smacking him playfully on the shoulder. “Oh, just stop it. I’m being serious.”

“So am I. I want to be your plaything. I want to be your plaything. I want to-”

Dorian stopped him with a kiss, chuckling against his lips. “I know you do, you terrible, terrible man.” He pushed a strand behind Tristan's ear, his silver gaze fixed on his. “Beis festis umo canavarum.”

“What does that mean?”

“'You will be the death of me'. Quite accurate in this case. Especially if your highly religious and anti-Imperium followers find out about everything you’ve just said.”

Tristan looked at him, his brows furrowing in determination. “They can try to pry you away from me, if they dare.”

“You’re full of lofty declarations tonight, aren’t you?

“You bring it out in me.”

“I’ve noticed I’ve been bringing a great deal out of you lately.”

Tristan laughed, cupping the back of Dorian’s neck as he brushed his lips over his. He deepened the kiss, savouring the sweetness of his tongue, drinking in the sound of his sighs, the pie and their wine entirely forgotten beside them. Tristan didn’t need any of that for sustenance, not when he had Dorian in his arms. He didn’t need food to eat, wine to drink, air to breathe.

He had him. He had him. He had him.

***

The first light of morning was slithering through the folds in the curtains of his quarters when they finally lay down to sleep. Enveloped in Dorian’s soothing warmth, Tristan felt there was nothing in the world that could disturb the calmness of that moment.

There, wrapped in the heat of Dorian’s body, surrounded by his sweet, earthy scent, with the gentle pull of sleep at the edges of his consciousness, was when the nightmares finally caught up to him.

#dorian pavus #dorian pavus fic #dorian pavus/inquisitor #dorian pavus x inquisitor #dorian pavus/trevelyan #dorian pavus x trevelyan #pavelyan #dorian x tristan trevelyan #dorian x tristan #tristan trevelyan #a world with you #johaerys writes

[thegoldenembers]

The Great Gubal Library || Part Three

Lanelle Lumiea took a larger step back after the Au'ra pulled out the journal. She actually began to sweat, and shook her head slightly. "I can't.. I can't go near that..." Another step back. "He could use it! My father—" Her voice cracked, and she nervously pushed away her bangs. "H-He said it could be dangerous in the wrong hands.. my hands..." Her voice was low, but certain in tone. In the background Eanrin's ears twitched. "She broke the ward?  You broke it?"  He called joyfully over to the Lalafell who giggled and nodded, but remained where she was.

Aethelbald continued to stand absolutely still, both hands holding the book.  "You remember your parents?"  He both stated and asked, then he slowly continued.  "This book was meant for you."  He paused looking intensely in her eyes.  "But only you."  He seemed to be glaring right past Lanelle at the pair of red eyes. "I see your heart is troubled. It warms my heart."  The dragon raised one hand quickly. "Don't get me wrong, I do not like to witness suffering, but I think your friend Rayn has given you the rare opportunity of being able to think entirely for yourself.  My friends and I, if they are willing, could help you keep this freedom if you want it.  But are also completely free to continue as you are now.  I won't impose, I simply offer you a choice."

Lanelle Lumiea began to tremble as Aethelbald seemed to look straight into her. Even if she wasn't able to hear it, it was if something was growling inside her again, and the smallest whimper escaped her lips as she opened them. "I—.. I'm afraid.." This confession actually brought her back to her knees, her breath shaking as Lanelle focused more on those same red eyes piercing right through her in her mind. "He's always there... I can't have freedom.. is it.. is it a lie? He called himself Friend.. It's all I know..!" She was struggling, and brought a hand to her head. "My body is not my own... my mind.." She whispered and pulled slightly at her hair. "And I hate it... I hate it!" Lanelle screamed, and it echoed through the room. "But I can't have it! I can't be free!" Her throat was aching, and she was already weak. Oh, how she just wanted to give up...

At her scream, the bird on his head had fluttered and he'd winced.  His heart broke, and his face was sad.  "Wouldn't it be worth it to try though?"  Eanrin had pulled himself together, his hands on his knees.   "If you're afraid you'll be alone..."  he said slowly and softly, "I really wish you wouldn't be."  The Bard focused on nothing in particular as he continued.  "I mean, I'll always be there if you need a friend.  Always.  But, I think you'd like having your mind to yourself."

Her arms dropped to her sides, and Lanelle hung her head. 'My mind to myself...' Even now, it was quiet, aside from the few in the library with her. Lanelle lifted her head just enough to spot the books she had previously positioned open, ready to summon lesser demons. "And for what..?" She asked herself aloud. Turning her head, she looked over to the girl unconscious on the floor, and the Lalafell sitting quietly next to her, as if she was protecting her. Lanelle looked back to Eanrin. His eyes were still dark, and no matter how much it killed her, that wasn't going to change. "I can't.. right these wrongs..." She tried to sort out her mind. But finally, she looked up to Aethelbald, her knees starting to ache from the pressure. "I need help..."

The dragon's eyes shone with pride and pleasure.  He nodded solemnly, and reached down, opening the journal to a marked set of passages. "This should help."  He offered the book out and stepping closer. He continued to hold the other pages down.  "I won't allow him to see anything else in this book."  He said quietly.  "See what you think."

Lanelle Lumiea inhaled deeply through her nose to try and calm herself as she looked about the page open to her. She exhaled sharply. 'It's really theirs..' The familiar handwriting and styles of runes and obligatory notes and scratches marked out the final results of their last test before completing their alchemic weapon. "T-This.. but this is for the catalyst... they used it to expel darkness in voidsent.. I-I.. I can't reproduce this sort of thing.." Lanelle said in defeat and put her palm to her forehead, pressing against it to relieve an oncoming headache. Maybe it was punishment... "I've seen them use it countless times on other demons and such, but.. this spell can't be done singlehandedly, or even without such an item.. there's.. there's no way..."

Aethelbald nodded patiently. "Agreed.  It can't be done singlehandedly.  But you have me, Zui, and Eanrin here to help.  Is there a way."  He said slowly.  "That we could possibly force him to become corporeal?  Eanrin has dispatched voidsent before as long as they're in this state.  I have no doubt he could do so again with this one."

Lanelle Lumiea paled a little. "Y-You mean... to summon him..?" Her eyes darted between the people in the room, and she could feel the sweat beading up again. "I-I was going to summon lesser demons, but to summon him..!" Her eyes spaced out as she felt a burning sensation in her heart. "I-I... t-the ink isn't.. isn't strong enough.. I was.. the dark aether I've been storing.. he was going to take it all away once he could be strong enough, he promised..! I'm so confused..." Lanelle stood to her feet and brushed away her bangs. "I don't know how to.." she gulped. "If I do, I don't know what will happen..." Lanelle steeled herself as she looked over to the cast aside arrow and the ink stains about it. Stepping forward, she reached out for the book still in Aethelbald's hands, and shakily turned the pages back. "M-my parents.. they wrote about a failed extraction attempt.. I remember because that night father gave me this.." She touched her free hand to the ink around her eyes. "He said it was training wheels..." She continued to blather until finally she stopped flipping and set her hand down on an early page. "Blood mixed with ink creates a strong bond that can be used to extract darkness, however, it would in itself create a duplicate of said darkness, rather than expel it completely..." Lanelle read and gave a slight grin as she noted a small mistake even in this line of thinking. "The glyphs are correct, but his theory was proven wrong soon after.. it doesn't duplicate.. it draws it out and creates it's true form using the blood..." Lanelle looked up from the page with a blank stare. "This could work..?" She hesitated.

Aethelbald smiled encouragingly at her. "I think you're on the right track. But you need something you don't have?"  He guessed.

Lanelle Lumiea she sulked momentarily. "I can't do it... not without the catalyst.. I think even my mother tried this spell once soon after and found it to be faulty.. it wasn't until they crafted that catalyst were they able to funnel properly the amount of light aether needed to actually destroy any darkness within someone.." Frustrated, she pulled at her sleeves, hiding the markings on her arms. "I can't summon him and use light aether, I don't have any..! My parents worked together to perfect this spell... Who am I to try and replicate it..?" She was going in circles, and her frustration only grew. The markings gave off a small glimmer.

"You can do this."  Eanrin said quietly.  "How about focusing on a smaller goal then?  Maybe you can't entirely destroy your darkness.  That's a huge feat for anyone really.  Alls we want to do is kill friend.  Can we separate him from you and not kill you?"

Lanelle Lumiea's mind paused her whirling. 'Not... kill me..?' Chills ran down her spine as the thought never really occurred to her. "If.. if I summon him entirely..." Worried eyes looked from Eanrin to Aethelbald. She couldn't finish that sentence. "Oh Gods... is that all I've been doing...? My whole life..? Just... just a holding pen?!" Her voice died out, and her hand went to her mouth and tears began to form again. "I-.. I can.. I could start to summon him..." Pained eyes looked to the Au'ra. Eanrin Farthestshore slowly rose to his feet, a bit wobbly, both from weakness and a bit of insecurity.    He stretched a bit in place, wincing and sore.  'I can do this.'  He told himself.  Taking deep breaths.

Aethelbald looked sadly at Lanelle. "You are more than just a holding pen, Lanelle.  We wouldn't have gone through all this trouble to help something so insignificant. You are a being, and you matter. Remember your parents and how much they loved you.  Nothing has changed.  They still love you beyond the veil.  And we care about you here.  You can do this."  He extended a hand to her.

Lanelle Lumiea quickly eyed the Miqo'te attempting to stand to his feet and then locked eyes again with Aethelbald. 'Everything you say...' Her head was reeling, and she only wished she could finally stop shaking. "I just want to slip away.." She breathed barely above a whisper and her eyes fell to the Au'ra's extended hand. Lanelle looked up and then back at his hand. "I-If I try to... I can't promise I can.. stay..." Her head was still low, and she looked at Eanrin from the corner of her eyes. "What if he... what if I... I'm afraid of what might happen... if I'm gone.. and you're left with him...." Memories of what she thought were a dream came back, and saw her parents standing in front of her, and then in the next moment, they were gone. Lanelle shuddered. Eanrin Farthestshore's tail swished along with his ear twitch.  "I believe you're stronger than you think, Lanelle."  Eanrin nodded resolutely, slowly taking a couple of steps forward.  "But rest assured.  If that happens, he won't leave here alive."

Aethelbald laughed slightly and shook his head at Eanrin.   The dragon looked to Lanelle.  "I will do my best to keep you tied here.  But you have to want to stay."  He said solemnly, hand still outstretched.  "Are you determined enough to want to exist?"

Lanelle Lumiea stood straight, breathing in deeply. "I don't want to die.. but I don't want to hurt anyone anymore..." Lanelle timidly put out her hand to take his and then stopped. It was as if she froze for a moment, but she quickly shook her head and took hold of the large hand. 'It's warm...' And it soothed her cold skin. Lanelle took in a deep breath and looked carefully between the few in front of her. "I need to ask you for your help.." Lanelle's hand still felt foreign in his, but she gripped it tightly regardless. "Your dragon magic may help.." Her eyes were still sad, and pleading.

Eanrin Farthestshore closed his eyes and looked through Letter Bird's flickering vision.  He looked around a bit and saw Zui sitting next to Rayn, the Lalafell frowning in concern toward Lanelle.  He slowly turned himself in that direction and walked towards the girls. He tripped on a book strewn across the floor, but managed to stay standing.  Beating down his pride he continued to slowly make his way to the foot of the staircase.

Aethelbald nodded solemnly.  "I will help you in any way I can.  I am a dragon, though I may not look it.  I promise to do everything within my power to keep you safe."

Lanelle Lumiea nodded in return. "I know." She gave a half smile. "I can see your aether." Letting go of his hand, she held it up still defensively. "You'll need to shed your blood, though.." She mumbled. "Mine doesn't have enough strength.." Lanelle watched the stumbled Miqo'te and then nodded over in their direction. "I.. I'm not sure how this will impact them..."

Aethelbald followed her gaze. "Eanrin is vital to the success of this endeavor.  And don't discount Zui.   Rayn should be safe in her coma." He watched Eanrin fall to his knees next to Zui and Rayn.

Zui hugged Eanrin, then held his face in her small hands, looking at his eyes.  His face was wry and sad.  "Everything will be okay."  She whispered and folded herself against his side.  She pulled over a pack she had discarded and fished out a flask of water. She placed it in Eanrin's hand and he nodded gratefully at her, pulling her close with his left arm as he took a drink.

"Is Rayn okay?"  He whispered, slowly extending a hand and slightly fumblingly putting his hand to her shoulder.  He frowned to himself.  'Even the bird's vision throws me off.'

Lanelle Lumiea's face fell when she saw the two of them hold together close. There was such a strong bond between them, and even in their depression, she could see still how much they still held on to their hope. Lanelle looked down and sighed weakly. 'I have to make things right, no matter the cost...' She turned on her heel and walked back over to where she originally woke up from the blast. The array of books were still about the corner of the basement, and they barely pulsed with their red tint. The Elezen kneeled down and scooped up a larger sized book that still held a normal pulse and a vial that still had its cork in place. "Dragon.." She called over softly, her eyes filled with determination. "I need your blood."

Eanrin Farthestshore frowned deeply from where he was sitting.   "Sir, are you sure about this?"

Aethelbald nodded to Eanrin.  "We really don't have many other options." He reached down and picked up the claw blade from earlier; he once again blew fire on it.  "Tell me where you need it."  The dragon said quietly.

Eanrin's scowl remained, and he patted Rayn's shoulder one more time before trying to get up.  "Come on, Zui.  Nothing we can do here."  She nodded and took him by the hand, leading him over to where Aethelbald and Lanelle were standing.

"So what's the plan, Lanelle?" Zui asked softly, looking at Aethelbald with concern.

Lanelle Lumiea was a bit stunned at the reception she received. 'They.. all want to help...' She got that small itch on her forehead again from the nerves and brushed away her bangs with a free hand before stepping a little closer. "I.. I'll use the Dragon's blood mixed with my own and the ink to supplement the strength needed to summon him.. but.." She stopped and looked up from the book in her hand. "I won't be able to control myself or him... I can't say what will happen once this summoning begins..." She swallowed hard and inhaled deeply. "He could take all my aether from me in an instant if he chose to once this begins... and more.." Her scared eyes looked back to Aethelbald. "Can you control your own?" Lanelle practically begged in this question, but she tried her best to sound confident, even with her voice shaking the way it was. "Miss... can you set up a ward to control any loose dark aether that may try to take hold of those present..?" Gosh was it awkward asking the Lalafell she nearly choked last she met for help with anything... but.. "I have to be sure he won't reach you..."

Aethelbald rumbled, "He won't take my aether.  He is a gnat, even in my current state."  He ran the blade on his left palm, running his right hand across it, he leaned down and wrote a small rune on Zui's head, then looked to Lanelle. "With your permission, I can add this ward to you as well.  It will make resisting him just a bit easier for you I think."

Lanelle Lumiea took a small step back, but nodded hesitantly. "I.. I suppose.. I'm not sure what will happen..." She looked down to the book. "But it's worth it if it'll help everyone..."

Aethelbald channeled all his care as he slowly wrote on her forehead, his eyes focused on hers.  Then he offered his wounded hand out to Lanelle.

Eanrin Farthestshore continued to scowl deeply. But he closed his eyes and raised his right hand a fraction.  Dark energy and fire coalesced there for a moment, and as he closed his hand, with a sound like almost breaking glass a long dark sword flickered into existence. Eanrin swing the sword in a couple of small arcs, a radiant smile on his face, like a puzzle piece slipped into place that was dislodged. He stayed back, carefully watching the other three through Letter Bird.

Zui unholstered a classic looking gun and snapped her gauss barrel on the end and loading the clip.  She looked eager and frightened all at once.

Lanelle closed her eyes tightly as if the writing on her forehead would hurt. Which.. was odd, considering the ink tattooed across her face was given to her as an eager child from her own father. In a way it made her feel it was almost the same thing. As Lanelle opened her eyes, she watched carefully as the Miqo'te channeled his dark aether into summoning a brilliant sword. And it was brilliant. Her eyes were wide with fascination over the seemingly simple spell. It was like she snapped back to reality as she saw Zui load her gun, and noticed Aethelbald's injured hand. The Elezen steeled herself and she took his other hand wielding the blade and scored her forearm down to her palm with it. She winced and clenched her teeth before dropping his hand. Quickly, she reached for the vial and struggled to pull the cork out with her now bleeding hand. "There!" She sighed as she finally got it out, then immediately fell to her knees and flipped open the book. It was glowing a hungry red again, and her eyes narrowed. "I've got to get this just right.." She mumbled to herself grabbing the vial and letting the ink pour down the lengthy cut across her arm. Instantly the markings across her body were highlighted the same red as the book, and she held out her dripping hand toward the Au'ra. "Ready..?"

Aethelbald looked to Eanrin and Zui, who both nodded.  Eanrin's grin was almost feral.   He turned back to Lanelle and nodded solemnly.  "Ready."

Her shaking was more than visible this time around, but with a couple quick breaths and a small whimper, Lanelle grabbed hold of Aethelbald's bleeding hand. Instantly, she could feel the strength of the dragon's magic, and her eyes shot open at the surge of power. The blood began mixing just as she intended, and Lanelle dropped his hand to quickly begin scribbling glyphs and runes across the page. As fast as she was writing them, she would swipe at the Au'ra's hand to gather more of his blood and continue flipping through the pages to write. Each character she wrote, the eyes in the back of her head burned brighter and brighter until finally she heard it. "At long last.." But.. it wasn't in her head. It echoed throughout the room. But the girl refused to lift her head longer than to gather more of the dragon's blood before tears started streaming from her eyes. "How vain of you to try and think that summoning me would be of any use but your own destruction.." The demon snarled, and as quickly as she was writing, her speed diminished just as fast, until finally the last glyph came across a center page. "If your parents weren't so idiotic, they would have made a much finer vessel than yourself.. what a loathsome child you are." Lanelle's cries became more and more audible as he continued on his hateful rant, but finally she slammed her hand on the book with one last stroke of bloody ink. With that, what looked like a steam of darkness came from her body as it slumped forward in semi consciousness, while still rising to her feet. Lanelle eyes filled completely with what appeared to be black ink, and the cloud continued to thicken above her, snarling and growling as it did.

Aethelbald quickly began making motions with his hands, and white magic began spiraling around the au'ra's body.  With slashing motions, streaks of white light began slicing at the lines tying the demon to the girl.  Zui backed up a few paces and took careful aim, waiting for the right moment.

"And she says I talk too much."  Eanrin laughed at the demon.  "What a bore."  Once again red aether coursed around him, but this time his emotions were 100% under control. Letter Bird nestled down tight against his head.  'This is going to be interesting.'  He thought to himself, and with a grin, he brought Odenta to bear and took a swipe at the demon's "claws" to get its attention. "Don't listen to him, Lanelle!"  Eanrin shouted, not even sure if she could hear at the moment.

Lanelle Lumiea's body was not fully her own, and it took a quick step back, though as unnatural as it was. Her head still hung low, but the forming cloud raised its "hand" up, also raising the Elezen's at the same time. "How dare you think you could harm me.. You try that again, you'll just hurt your new companion, here." The demon cackled into the open air, turning Lanelle to face Eanrin. She took a step forward, her arms outstretched. "Go on, try again." He taunted.

Eanrin Farthestshore glanced over at Aethelbald.  The dragon was making steady progress on the bonds.  But he stopped and made a second set of motions, the blood on Lanelle's hands and face began to glow white, the wards spreading quickly across Lanelle's body and closing over her as the last thread was severed.   Eanrin looked over to Zui and nodded, slicing one finger through the air.  She fired at the demon, right between his eyes.

Lanelle Lumiea stumbled as if she had fallen from a great height, the black slowly fading from her eyes. There was a gunshot that rang through her head, and that's when she realized how empty everything felt. And yet... it was.. warm. She looked over and gasped loudly, falling backward to the ground as she saw the same demon's face physically in front of her. It was if she was back in the same space like when she was a child.. the same scenario all over again. Except there was no hiding this time. The demon was still manifesting physically, but before there could be any other movement made by him, he was shot, and sunk low to recover from the impact of the physical encounter. There was no blood, nor was there any damage, but when the voidsent opened his eyes, he let forth a terrible roar, causing Lanelle to cower. The demon took a great step toward the Lalafell and tried to reach out toward her in a quick motion, but it still had not gained enough of a form to actually grab at her. Instead a cloud of dark aether washed over her and quickly dispersed.

With a shout, Eanrin stepped in and swatted the semi-aetherial claw away from Lanelle, slicing through the "wrist." Anything below the wrist vanished, leaving a truncated shadow behind.  Eanrin shifted Odenta to a defensive pose and motioned at Zui again. Crack! Another shot straight between the eyes.

The demon let out a horrible scream, causing Lanelle to further sink into herself. Before she knew it, she was cowering behind the Au'ra, clinging to his leg and sobbing. 'Those same roars...' She nearly lost it all. But she knew it wasn't the same. Opening her eyes, she saw Zui calmly fire her gun a second time, stunning the voidsent again. He spewed curses out in his native tongue and tried desperate to reach out and slash at the two of them, but without luck of actually landing any physical hits.

Aethelbald held out a hand and all his blood from the book burned white and reached out, snapping new bonds around the demon and forcing him to shift into corporeal form just a bit more. "Now, Eanrin!"  Aethel yelled.  With one more hand motion, Zui fired once more, causing the demon's head to jerk to the side.  Gracefully, Eanrin brought his sword in a quick arc, slicing right through the neck. He then snapped the blade with his wrist and swung straight up, right through the middle of the demon's head. Lanelle Lumiea cried out in shock as the dragon's blood burned white along her injured arm. The glyphs across her body phased through dark and light aetherial colors and Lanelle turned her head away as silence finally fell across the room. The demon's body lay on the ground dismembered. And without even realizing it, Lanelle couldn't control her breathing. Her chest would rise and fall so fast, it was as if she hadn't even realized the horror was actually over. Slowly the voidsent's body crumbled into dust with no blood to be spilled. And the Elezen just shut her eyes tightly, trying to regain control over herself.

Aethelbald knelt down and wrapped his arms around Lanelle.  "Deep, slow breaths.  In.... and out." He whispered to her.  Eanrin returned the sword with a flick of his wrist and slowly sank to the ground.  Zui whooped, jumping in place in a circle.   "We actually did it?"  She looked around again, then turned to look at the pair on the floor. "Are you okay, Lanelle?"

Lanelle Lumiea tried to follow the Au'ra's instructions as best as she could comprehend them. But even as her breathing slowed, her tears continued. Lanelle nodded her head to answer Zui's question, but then after a moment shook her head violently. "No.. I-I mean.. yes... I just..." She stammered over her words, not able to really understand quite the situation at hand. Was she in the same place she was before..? Is this really happening? Or is it just a dream..? She looked around and saw their faces, sobered her for a moment before her eyes caught a glimpse of the demon disintegrating on the floor before her. "It's done..?" She whispered. Aethelbald smiled, still gently holding Lanelle.  He looked carefully at Lanelle.  No strings, no red eyes.  "You are free, Lanelle.  I'm so proud of you."

Eanrin Farthestshore beamed from the floor. "That was the weirdest hunt yet."  He said quietly, favoring his side, looking just a little pale.  Zui dashed over and hugged Eanrin then bounced over to Lanelle. "You're free, Lanelle! You're free!"  She bounced a happy dance near her.

Lanelle Lumiea looked between the few in front of her, though she wasn't focusing on them at all. Instead she was still spacing out between trying to make sense of everything around her. Her mind kept flashing back to the memory of her parents' death and then seeing the demon crumbling away. Lanelle shook as chills ran across her body, and she took in a small breath. "Free.." She repeated. 'What does that even mean..?' Her thoughts finished. With the adrenaline starting to fade away, her arm throbbed. She looked down to see the robe smeared with blood and ink, and her hands the same. Finally she focused in on the blood and looked up. 'And yet.. nothing changes what I've done...' Her mind plagued her as she looked at the blind man a distance away from her.

Eanrin Farthestshore's ears twitched and his head raised to look in Lanelle's direction.  Once again getting to his feet, he walked slowly over to her. "Zui, love, would you mind getting some water for all of us?  At least two of us lost a decent bit of blood..."

Zui hopped back a bit.  "Oh!  Yeah, you're right!  I've got some energy bars too, hold on!"  She scampered off to where she left her pack with Rayn.

Aethelbald slowly released Lanelle, sitting on one side.  He motioned to Eanrin, who picked his way over to the other side of Lanelle and he sat down.  "A gil for your thoughts?"  He asked casually.

Lanelle Lumiea simply sighed softly, and looked to her hands again. "It's quiet.." She tried to joke, without a smile. Glancing back up toward where the monster was, there only was a pile of dust remaining. "I don't know.." She whispered and rubbed her cheek slightly with her 'cleaner' hand, the dried tears beginning to itch. "I shouldn't be here.." Instinct came upon her again, wanting to flee instantly. But she didn't move. Instead she just continued to sit between the two men, examining her hand.

Zui returned with water and snack bars, she gave five to Aethel along with water, placed a bar in Eanrin's right hand and water in his left, then she offered sustenance to Lanelle, questioningly holding the offerings out. "You shouldn't be here?"  Eanrin probed as he fiddled with the wrapping on the bar. Aethelbald quickly but relatively quietly wolfed down the five bars, looking a little bit sad when they were gone.

Lanelle Lumiea seemed a bit shocked to have been offered some of the food and gave a appreciated nod in return for shyly taking them. With her uninjured hand, she opened the water flask and took a small sip. Gosh it had been a while.. and it really was refreshing. Lanelle took a larger sip and stayed quiet for a moment. "You should have cut me down, as well."

"How do you figure that?" Eanrin muttered, still working with the wrapping. Zui grinned happily when Lanelle took her offering, and settled herself down quietly across from Lanelle to work on her own snack.

Lanelle Lumiea turned her head in shock at Eanrin's response. "How do I figure..? You obviously saw my.. crimes..." She muttered and took another sip of water. "I'm just as rotten as.." she pointed behind Zui. "...that."

Finally breaking into the wrapping, he grinned and took a bite, tilting his head thoughtfully to the side.  "Well first off, and I can't point this out enough, that voidsent of yours had messed with you for years.  You can hardly be held entirely responsible."  He managed as he swallowed.  "Second, if that's the standard you're going to hold, I should've been killed before we even met."   He took another bite.  "Unless you don't remember pointing out I was a murderer?"  He once again spoke with his mouth full.

Zui frowned.  "Eanrin...  do try to put on some of that charm you usually use.  And you're not a murderer... in the typical sense." She added the last quietly, looking off to the side. Eanrin Farthestshore just grinned at Zui. "I'm too tired, love.  But I promise to try and be more charming tomorrow to make up for it."  He moved his hand around to find the water bottle he'd placed nearby.

Lanelle Lumiea watched as the bard fumbled around to find the water by his feet and reached over him slightly to grab it for him. "Here.." She offered after fumbling herself to opened it with her clean hand, trying to avoid getting blood on it. But she forced a grin and then returned to her frown. "I suppose I don't see the difference after all." Lanelle shrugged a shoulder. "But your aether isn't fully dark." She nodded over to Eanrin. "And yours is hardly dark at all. It wasn't as if it was already that way in the Ishgard library.." She said to Zui and then quickly braced herself for outlash.

Zui slowly nodded.  "Aethelbald drew out your aether.  So I'm fine. But you regret it, just in the way you justified it and your facial expression." Zui stated analytically.  "I regretted it too... that was some hangover."  She muttered finishing her snack.  Then she smiled weakly.  "Few people are ever entirely light or entirely dark, Lanelle.    And you're not intolerant of the light... or you wouldn't be sitting here speaking to us right now."  Zui opened her water and slowly sipped it. Eanrin Farthestshore nodded his thanks to Lanelle, taking quiet sips of water.

Lanelle Lumiea sat quietly just thinking over what the Lalafell had to say. 'She wasn't even upset...' Another sigh. "So what now..?" She asked aloud with her voice cracking, making her clear her throat immediately after. Nervously she took another sip of water.

Aethelbald finished his water and looked closely at Lanelle.  "The demon is gone, but it's left a hole.  I did my best to sever him cleanly, but he's practically destroyed your memories in some way or form.  I can help you recover what you can, but you're going to need rest.  Your body may be fine aside from a few cuts and bruises, but your aether is scrambled.  You probably won't even be able to cast at all for the next two days."  The dragon brutally diagnosed.

Eanrin Farthestshore's ears twitched a bit. "My offer to stay with us still stands."  He said quietly, stoppering the water with the lid he'd kept in his hand. "Either way, that's where we're headed next.  We need to get Rayn home."  His eyes were sad and troubled as he stared off unfocused.

Lanelle Lumiea winced at hearing the Au'ra speak. But she knew it was true. She could feel how weak she was just from losing so much aether in the summoning. Chills ran down her spine again, and she shook them off. Turning to look behind her, she looked at the blonde Miqo'te and frowned. 'I don't know why they still want me around... how could any of them..' Lanelle stood to her feet, nearly losing her balance. "The least I could do is make sure you get home safely, I suppose..." She sighed and looked between them all with guilt riddling her face.

Aethelbald rose and motioned to Zui. "I'll need your help with Rayn."  He said quietly. The Lalafell nodded and followed him over to the staircase. Eanrin stashed away his water and slowly rose to his feet, twisting slightly to loosen up, since he was still very sore.

"Listen, Lanelle."  He said quietly, focusing as hard as he could through the bird, he hoped his eyes were meeting hers.  "I know you're hurting... in a lot of ways... and I'm not even saying I understand all of them... but I know unforgiveness when I see it..."  He looked down quickly at the floor then back up, blinking a bit.  "Don't torture yourself too much.  Self hate is easy, and a pretty slippery slope.  I would know.  It'sssss" he hissed out.  "Kind of an opposite form of pride? Either way, I let myself slide pretty far down that slope.  I was a mess. And then I angered a dragon at a banquet.  By that time, I really didn't care what happened to me.  Or so I thought."  He sighed deeply.  "At any rate, my pride cost me big time that night.  It cost me my sight today.  Umm... please just, forgive yourself a bit, okay?  We have..."  He gave a small shrug and seemed to slump a bit.  His eyes were a little shiny with unshed tears.  "Umm... I'm going to see if they need help.   At least come with us till you're back on your feet?" His voice was pleading and a bit concerned as he turned and made his way over to the trio by the stairs.

Lanelle Lumiea watched the Miqo'te as he recounted his own experiences. For a moment, it felt as if a weight might have been lifted from her heart, even as she stood silently while he explained. As he turned to walk towards the rest of the group, she noticed him about to go off in the wrong direction. Without hesitation she trotted over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, giving a slight pull to redirect his steps toward the group. "It's this way..." She spoke softly, keeping her hand on his shoulder. And as she stepped with him, she breathed a small sigh. "And.. thank you..." Lanelle whispered.

Eanrin Farthestshore flushed a bit and his tail drooped a moment, but he turned his head and smiled.  "Thank you.  Last thing I needed was to hug a wall... or whatever I was walking towards."  His steps were almost bright, and his ears were pretty much off his head.  "I really honestly can't wait to get some rest... and maybe if we're lucky some of Rayn's leftovers are still okay.  You haven't gotten to try her cooking yet, have you?"  He smiled. Zui waited for them and took Eanrin by the hand to help lead him out of the library, gun at the ready if needed.

Aethelbald had Rayn cradled in his arms. He smiled and nodded at Lanelle when he saw her following Eanrin.  "Welcome, Lanelle."  He smiled quietly.

#The Golden Embers #Rayn Atkascha #Eanrin Farthestshore #Lanelle Lumiea #Aethelbald Passerine #Zuzui Zui

[shadowdianne]

"You never used to be like this..." "Well, things have changed." SQ as always, please

I’m quitegiddy on how this one turned out even if I tweaked a little the obvious angstundertone just because :P I truly hope you like it twin

Also, sincethis has transformed into a 4k thing and it’s my 2:30 am I’ll post it now andedit the a03 version tomorrow. Apologies for any typo.

Set in:4x21/4x22 (Operation mongoose I & II)

A03 Version

The stillformless silhouette of the tower rose in front of them, the dark of the soiland rock quite the contrast against the waves the ship they had managed toprocure at the port kept on soaring through and Regina bite down on her bottomlip as she glanced at it, droplets of salt water hitting her cheeks as she didso. At her side, albeit equally silent, the teen that had come to her withtheories that would surpass any dream or vision given by fairy dust, was eyeingthe tower as well with barely concealed anticipation. Anticipation that Reginafelt as well; coiling in her stomach as she fidgeted with the ends of her vest,her eyes briefly glancing at the case in where her not mounted bow and arrows waitedfor her.

She stilldidn’t understand what she was doing; why she had given to the captain’s boatevery piece of coin she owned, as close as she had been to have enough to buy asafe passage to some of the more northern kingdoms within the forest. A briefmoment of fear assaulted the back of her throat, coating it with bitterness butthe feeling disappeared just as quickly even if her fingertips itched as shestared at the bow. She had apparently decided on going into an adventure, anoperation like the teen at her side kept on calling it, even if she didn’t knowwhat to make of it yet.

Back at thesmall place she had created for herself she had been about to tell the boy toleave her alone, to try to find this Emma, whomever that was, after the boy hadcalled her “mom” for the hundredth time. The title, as much as it surprisedher, wasn’t exactly what had left her speechless but the story that accompaniedit. A kind of story that could only be product of a feverish, maddened mind.

“Am Isupposed to live in Mine? Where I became your adopted mother after someonenamed Emma gave you up?”

That othername was also a strange one; the reaction it brought within her enough to makeher pause as she pressed the tip of her tongue against the roof of her mouth.There was something there, her subconscious had whispered. She had pronouncedthe name just as the boy had done but her tongue halted between the “m”,lengthening the name for a second longer, the resulting sound breathier andconjuring up a trembling image made out of forest green and dirty white shadowthat had almost made her stumble. She had glanced at the boy, weary, afraidthat behind those gentle eyes the Queen would be whispering those words,fingers curled around a heart that wouldn’t belong to the boy anymore. Yet,when she had asked it directly the boy’s eyes had widened in surprise andtiredness, the reaction far too human, far too alive, for her to be able to shootthe arrow she still had had dangling from her drawn bow.

“I’m trying to help you.”

He then hadproceeded to bother her with questions regarding Robin Hood, the man notexactly high up her list of people she cared about and so, when he hadmentioned true love as the final prove that would be her own way to destroy thecurse they allegedly were under, she had shaken her head, denying and stompingon that option as soon as it was spoken outload. It didn’t matter if she wastruly Regina, from Maine, her happy ending wasn’t with a man and so she wasgoing to help Henry, yes, but with one condition; she decided how.

And so theyhad ended up in the port, the captain they had found open enough to the notionof carrying them to the tower one that had been far too occupied with savoringthe money he was asking them to give to truly question why they needed to go toa place that, for what the stories said, was not only heavily guarded but holda powerful sorceress that had made Queen Snow decide to make an example out ofit. Something Regina knew that it wasn’t something that common.

Now, as theship approached to the tower, she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going tofind at the top of it. Henry had been secretive about Emma, about this… savior.She was her mother apparently and had magic on her own but the boy himselfdidn’t seem to have any or truly be willing to explain how his mother’s worked.Not like it interested her, Regina chided herself, magic wasn’t something shedwelled on, not after Snow. As the ship sailed even nearer to the tower sheglanced around, to the few dark figures scattered here and there that hadprobably already seen them; their dark clothes signaling them as king’s guards.

That madeRegina smile minutely; taking a few of those? That she could do.

She didn’tfeel the pull up until the captain told them that he would not carry themfurther than where they currently were, the promise of waiting for them oneRegina managed to get out of him with a glance to her bow. Henry’s face waswhite, his facial muscles tight when they both picked up the small rowboat theship had, the oars old but sturdy enough as they both moved. It was then, inthe middle of slowly dying waves, that she first felt the pull, a tingle,almost imperceptible, making her glance at the top of the tower once more; atthe dome-shaped roof.

“Emma.”

The nameechoed strangely inside her mind and she shook it once more, a vague butslightly more focused image being conjured as she kept up the pace, the firstshouts from the king’s guards already beginning to reach their ears. Luckilyfor them, it didn’t seem that nights had been waiting for anyone to arrive andthey truly didn’t pose much of a problem as Regina shot arrow after arrow asthe rowboat hit the shore. The squelching sound of arrows impacting thejunctures of their armors one that made Henry press his lips together, greencoloring his temples, but not something Regina knew how to help with. She stilltried however, giving him a tense smile as the boy fidgeted for a second beforekneeling next to the one that had seemed the captain, a set of keys on hisbelt. She didn’t say a thing then, but she followed him as he turned and beganthe ascension to the first steps of many, the keys on his hands and a glare onhis eyes. It reminded her of someone she suddenly realized but she shook herhead and kept on walking behind the boy who had spent their entire journeytogether trying hard not to call her mom and failing spectacularly while doingso.

Theinterior of the tower was truer than the exterior; years of unkempt obvious inthe many cracks the walls sported, cold salty air running through the mostlyempty place as they kept on ascending for what felt like hours. Dust cakedevery surface aside from the faint footsteps imprinted in some parts of thestairs and they followed them as wind howled at the other side, small windowsletting Regina check from time to time that the ship was, in fact, still wherethey had left it. Henry didn’t speak as they ascended but his breathing was labored,and Regina kept glancing at him, an almost fond feeling growing inside herchest even if she didn’t know where that came from. Her thoughts were cutshort, however, when they reached the last landing, the roof far too close totheir heads as they both stared at the closed door in front of her. Made fromsturdy wood, scratches covered it, symbols that made Regina stare at them; glyphsshe didn’t understand, that she was not supposed to understand.

Yet, evenif she didn’t, she found herself stepping closer to the door, a substanceoozing out of the symbols as if it had just been applied and even if she wasn’tentirely sure of the glyphs origin she had traded with enough shady individualsto recognize squid ink when she saw it. A magical inhibitor.

She shouldbe frightened, more than she felt truly, but she stepped aside as Henry beganto fiddle with the keys, the third eliciting a crackling noise as the door gaveaway and let them enter.

The insidesof the room weren’t dark as Regina had thought they would but the scattered sunbeams that seeped through holes in the roof weren’t strong enough to cast totallight in the dome-like room. Not that they needed it as the woman they had beensearching for laid in the middle, crouched in a ball and face partiallyshadowed by blonde locks.

“Mom!”

Henry’sscream made Regina realize she had been staring, utterly dumfounded. Thekneeling woman was shackled, the clinking sound of the chains the first thingher ears registered as Henry took a few steps before halting altogether; theblonde mane moving as well as the kilometric amount of cloth the dress thewoman wore. Something that, even if her mind simply deduced was what sorceresswore, was quickly replaced by tight pants and a very thin white top, thinnerthan anything Regina could truly think off. The image appeared and fizzled outfrom her mind the second she tried to focus on it but when the slumping womanrose her face towards them she found herself swallowing thickly at those greeneyes that quickly fell on her before falling back to the boy at her side. Boythat, as Regina fought against the prickling feeling that kept on growing atthe back of her mind, now seemed much younger than he had previously looked.

Bowclutched on her hand, Regina stood near the door as Henry sighed and chewed onhis bottom lip, nervousness on his movements as he took a few steps more, thesilence heavy as the other woman kept staring at them, fear on her own eyes,chin trembling in something that Regina could only guess was a sob.

And shewondered how she could know that, how she felt connected to her. Henry had toldher she had adopted him but she had never explained how Emma had come in thepicture once more -the thought of the other woman’s name eliciting the samestrange echo than before inside her mind, the name an important one, a powerfulone- and, for a second, she felt like kneeling herself in front of the blonde,ask her who she herself truly was.

A stupidthought, her more practical side whispered, but once that clung to hernonetheless.

“Hello.”Henry seemed to have found his voice again and he tilted his head to his right,a movement that was followed by the woman’s green eyes as she still keptsilent. It occurred to Regina that Snow was a master in disguising herself, intorturing those who wronged her. Emma didn’t sport any obvious wounds, not onesshe could see on her hands -clutched around her dress, bunching the alreadywrinkled dress- or her face -blank, weary-, but that didn’t mean she hadn’tbeen tortured.  “My name is…”

It feltlike a strange echo of how the boy had approached her before, but this time thewords came burdened by the fear of his other mother not recognizing him. Somethingthat made Regina close her eyes at. Even if the boy was truly mad he seemedlike he truly cared about the kneeling woman. It would be devastating if…

Herthoughts were cut short was a ragged “Henry”, the blonde’s voice hoarse as ifshe had been screaming but clear enough for the boy himself to stop and smiletentatively.

“Youremember?”

Reginawatched the reunion from afar, how Henry closed the final few steps between hisblonde mother as the woman scrambled to her feet, the shackles making her tokeep herself slightly hunched, unable to reach her real height as they draggedher down. The dress hung badly on her frame, as it not only truly didn’t belongto her, but she hadn’t been fed in quite the time and Regina sucked on herbreath at that, feeling useless as well as angry. A feeling she didn’t reallyunderstand.

Emma, onher part, was smiling at Henry now, her lips stretched thin as tears welled up,red beginning to rim her eyes but her momentarily blindness was short lived asshe quickly zeroed in Regina once more; a very different kind of hope shiningthere. One that made Regina take a step forward without even realizing it.

“Reg…”Emma’s voice was dubitative at best, her eyes now taking into Regina’sappearance, the look one the brunette truly didn’t know what to make out of it.One corner of those lips rose, creating a ghost of a smile that fell just asquickly as Henry shook his head, his voice soft but sad.

“Shedoesn’t remember.”

Emma’s eyeswidened at that and Regina pressed her lips together at Henry’s words. Up untilnow a part of her had considered that this, whatever that was, was a mereproduct of the boy’s imagination. Yet, Emma’s attitude as she looked at hertold a different story; one in where she was in the wrong, in where she was,apparently, truly the boy’s other mother. The punch that brought with it onethat made her almost take a step back as Henry quietly but quickly liberatedthe blonde with another key, the shackles falling into the floor with anechoing clanging noise.

Reginalocked her shoulders, straightening her spine as Emma kept eyeing her, thefeeling of unease morphing into something the brunette wasn’t entirely sure howto describe. And yet, when Emma began to chuckle, she could only blink andraise one eyebrow.

“What?” Hervoice sounded acerbic, not exactly like hers but holding a different drawl,almost a different accent altogether, a mix of her own usual one, the one sheknew she possessed, and one that spoke of a royal. Something she wasn’t.

Emma,however, didn’t seem all that bothered about her voice or her posture, thechuckles morphing into an almost wheezing sound that made her shake her headfrom side to side, blonde hair following the movement.

"Nothing.”Shoulders shrugging, Emma seemed to be immersed on her own private joke assomething close to fondness glazed her eyes. “It’s just… you never used to belike this, dress like this. Once you remember you are going to be mad.”

Reginafound herself rolling her eyes at that. The words spoke not only more aboutthat apparent other self she had been back in Maine but also on therelationship she seemed to have with the blonde woman. One close enough for herto know how she used to dress.

Lips pressedand a part of her starting to grow impatient and yet craving of that otherreality, she run her tongue through her teeth for a moment, realizing that thebuzzing feeling on her skin seemed to have settled for the moment as Emma hadbeen liberated. A strange notion to have.

"Well,things have changed." It wasn’t exactly the answer she wanted to give, asshe didn’t know how much things had truly changed for the blonde in front ofher but, for the first time, she found herself wanting to be that other womanboth Henry and Emma seemed to see whenever they looked at her.

Fortunatelyfor her, a roar was heard in that moment, the flapping of wings outside thetower giving her the perfect answer to the tension she felt inside her chest:time to go.

The descentwas just as quick as the ascension had been with the added bonus of somethingthat felt very much like a dragon growling and roaring just above them all. Thesea had begun to get choppier, the waves taller than before with every glanceRegina took from the slits the windows were. Yet, the ship was still there, thecaptain apparently more interested on getting more gold than leaving them.Which worked for Regina as long as they reached the ship itself.

Emma’s legsseemed to not truly be able to keep her standing though; the amount of time shehad been chained an undetermined one as apparently the curse they were all inaccording to Henry’s previous words back in the forest had been for them all toremain in stasis within the book. So, even if she managed to fair well throughthe stairs, dress billowing after her, as they reached the bottom of the towershe staged and almost fell, the movement causing Regina to reach forward andhelp her. Something that made her blink as roaring flames from a memory she wasn’tentirely sure was truly hers momentarily became everything she was about tofocus on as it was Emma this time -the Emma dressed almost like a knight, thetexture of strange clothing everywhere- who helped her. The image left her,dissolving into nothingness as she pushed forward but it seemed like Emma wasalso thinking about it as well as she glanced at her, bottom lip trappedbetween her teeth.

Theimposing shadow of a dragon the moment they stepped outside, however, madeimpossible for Regina to question herself about that. She had heard storiesabout the scaly creatures; how they were able to shadow entire lands with theirpower and yet nothing could have prepared her for the roaring monster or howintelligent and cunning eyes zeroed on them as the first wave of heat touchedthem, making them squint their eyes and duck, a fireball exploding far tooclose for Regina’s liking.

“We need toget into the boat!”

Henry’sscream brought Regina back to the present and she could feel Emma nodding ather side, her body still trembling a little. As much as Regina wanted tobelieve they were going to make it, however, a sudden doubt clutched her chest,making her stagger but the blonde at her side kept on moving, her weightshifting just slightly so, for a moment, she was the one carrying Regina,pushing forward.

The dragonkept on flapping its wings high above them, claws and teeth everything Reginawas able to think about as their approached the boat. The ship ahead, however,seemed to start moving, the captain probably having decided it wasn’t worth towait for them anymore and Regina wanted to scream at it as she moved her headto the side, trying to get some loose strands of hair away from her eyes.

Stillholding onto Emma with one arm-or letting the blonde hold onto her, she wasn’tsure anymore- she swallowed and turned abruptly towards the monster. Maybe, avoice inside of her, she could try to shoot at it, try to make it focus on herrather than…

Herthoughts, thoughts she didn’t know she even was able to possess, protectivenessof others not precisely her stronger suit, were once more interrupted by Emmaas the blonde’s hand grasped her wrist, skin prickling once more as tiny sparksthat only grew in intensity seeming to pour from the blonde’s body into herswith a hint of urgency that made Regina wince.

“You nevertaught me how to do this.” Emma’s words didn’t make any sense, but her eyeswere colored dirty white as she spoke, and Regina could feel the taste ofsomething her deeper part of her mind latched into; some old memory beingjogged by the feel of magic. Emma smiled that lopsided smile of hers, oneRegina had surprisingly found herself attached to, before she turned back toHenry; the boy having halted as well as the ship kept on moving in the distance,probably too far away from them now. “Kid! Come here!”

Henryturned and rose his brows, curious, but he ultimately followed the blonde’srequest, face paler than ever.

“Do youhave a plan?” His voice cracked, and Regina’s mind brought forth yet another imageof a slightly younger boy, barely eight, that was scared of darkness. Shepressed forward.

Emmanodded, her hand still around Regina’s wrist, the wrist that wasn’t holdingonto the bow as the dragon kept roaring ahead of them. It didn’t seem to be aboutto kill them though, as if it sensed that they were truly stranded now. Shestill felt on edge though, the charred marks of the dragon’s attacks smokingaround the three of them.

Offeringher other hand, the blonde’s eyes flashed once more, her voice growingstrained.

“Give meyour hand.” Her tone didn’t give that much room to doubt the order and so Henrygrasped it just as quickly, the humming from before intensifying on Regina’sears as Henry’s eyes kept focused on Emma; afraid.

“Mom, youdon’t know how to…”

Emma’s jawlocked.

“I will doit.”

And, justas the dragon began its descent, Regina felt her body disappear in a plume of dirty-whitecolored smoke, their feet quickly repairing at the ship’s dock making thecaptain curse a couple of expletives she wasn’t truly in the mood to listen to.

The dragonroared, knowing it had lost but it wasn’t that what Emma seemed to be able tofocus on as her eyes fell to Regina’s hand, skin still prickling, and thebrunette needed to swallow a gasp as she saw purple oozing out of her.

“Seems likethe author wasn’t able to kill that about you.”

Emma’swords were full of pride and Regina didn’t know what to make of them, but shenodded as the sparks slowly died out; exhausted.

It wasn’tuntil much later, once they were back in the enchanted forest shore withsomething close to a plan formed and Snow’s sneering words still ringing ontheir ears as they run towards a chapel Regina didn’t want to enter into, thatEmma brought the magic once more. She had already changed, the dresstransformed into something closer, much closer, to the image that keptsuperimposing itself every time Regina looked at her and she kept looking ather in a way that made a thousand questions spill from Regina’s mind. The onethat kept appearing, however, is how the blonde seemed to sure that shecrashing a wedding would help them all in any way.

It had beenHenry who had tried to explain it; the end of the book, the end of curse ifthey managed to alter the narrative. Regina had wanted to point out that thenarrative had probably been altered, whatever that truly meant but Emma hadsaid that only true love could break the curse. Her voice when she had saidthat had been dull and, for a moment, it seemed almost like she had forgottento create a façade between her words and her actions, sparks crackling betweenher fingers and hair once more before she had shaken her head, probably willingthem all to disappear.

And Reginawanted to question the blonde about it, about the strange look she had given toHenry when the boy had softly pointed out with an almost morose look that hehad been unable to find Hook. The name didn’t ring any bells to Regina, but shehad felt an immediate animadversion to it and, judging from Emma’s distant anduncomfortable hum she wasn’t fond of him as well. Which, for who knew whatreason, made Henry blink, at loss.

She hadn’t questionedthe blonde about at the end though, the stiffening of the blonde’s limbs astheir plan was discussed more than enough to make Regina want to say that no,Robin couldn’t be her happy ending, couldn’t be the end of the curse. The verythought made her uneasy and she didn’t like the fervent look Henry got on hiseyes for a few seconds, words of ink, authorship and quill falling from hislips until Emma had stopped him with a soft glance.

“It will bealright.” She had said before sighing and closing her eyes for a second, façadeslipping back in and Regina had opted to choose to believe her.

The plandidn’t work as expected; the Hero, the one who Emma called Gold between grittedteeth, had arrived far too early, Emma had tried her best and Regina had shotarrow after arrow as they all waited, hoped for Robin to come, to look atRegina and for Regina to feel whatever was expected from her, a flash, a stringof memories like she had with both Henry and Emma. But that never happened, notwhen Emma got hit and Henry interceded, picking the sword as he screamed forRegina to go inside the church, to stop the wedding.

But Reginacouldn’t, wouldn’t, so she stepped between the final blow of the blade and theboy, falling into her knees and looking at the gash as she slowly began tobleed.

She didn’tquite hear Emma’s scream, the echo of the chiming bells faint and distant thelonger she tried to remain conscious. The gash itself wasn’t all that deep butit cut through her stomach, the pain making it almost impossible for her tobreathe and so she gurgled, trying to, hoping that something, anything wouldhappen.

Yet, Robindidn’t appear, time running out and Emma rushing to her side, her bootsstomping into the ground as she knelt.

“Regina,please.”

She couldhear Emma now, magic pouring out of her, curling around her braid but Regina’smind conjured the bleak and yet utterly stupid realization she had never taughtthe blonde how to heal. She almost chuckled at that; sets of memories erasingothers with a glacial pace; stuck between that Regina of Maine and the one shehad thought it had been her. Rising one hand she touched Emma’s cheek, thinkingback on the forlorn looks, on how Emma’s breathing had caught whenever Robinwas mentioned, whenever that other man, Hook, was mentioned.

She knewwhat it was now, but it was too late.

Or maybenot, even if she was almost fainting by the time a commotion echoed a few feetaway from her, her name falling from other’s lips. A voice she was supposed towant and yet she didn’t.

“Mom! Youneed to kiss her!”

That lastsentence clung to her as she closed her eyes…

Only toopen them a second after, Emma’s name on her lips and a very difficultexplanation swirling on her mind.

“I guess,”The blonde’s voice said as she helped her get up from the middle of the street.“That you now remember.” She was back to her usual clothes as well as Reginabut the brunette felt something amiss; as if part of her still wanted thatother world in where she was slightly more naïve, slightly less jaded, slightlyless preoccupied.

But shedidn’t have time for that, she decided, her lips tingling with a kiss she knewwell who was from, Emma’s magic buzzing from inside of her. Not now.

#swan queen #SwanQueen #prompt #emettkaysworld

[kainissoable]

Industrial Revelations Part 3

Ha’gash’gah hovered nervously next to her chair as the old lady inspected his torn clothes by the light of a single candle, grateful that his human guise hid his face. “Mrs Harewood?”

She raised her head. “I charges tuppence an hour for them things as I can fix, and I won’t even try with them as I know I can’t. My eyes aren’t what they were for doing lace this fine.” She passed back a couple of garments and sighed. “Such a pity I can’t pass them on to my niece. Very pretty lace work she used to do. She’s no time for that now, working for those glyph merchants every hours the gods send. Such a clever girl.”

“But I notice you don’t have any glyph pipes in the house.”

“Oh, I can’t be having with that sort of thing, an old lady like me.” She gestured her sewing. “This pays for candles and food. It won’t pay for glyphs.”

“If it was free, would you get it? I’m a Glyph Rite. I can install it for you right off the mains.”

“Thank you, dear, but I would prefer my payment in coins. You can’t eat glyph pipes.”

*

Ha’gash’gah shut the door to his quarters and leaned against it. He had never known anyone so beaten down by the world. Not by this world at any rate. He remembered his great aunt Grash’ask’ir, who had spent all her time in needlecraft; at least, all her time in the world. Afterwards, she hadn’t cared much for anything. He had seen the same in grey, half blind eyes this evening. She knew her future and had accepted it. Weaving and knitting and sewing with failing hands until her life slipped away from her like thread falling from the eye of a too large needle. She may have accepted it, but Ha’gash’gah hadn’t.

His eyes fell on the knitted blanket on his bed, a gift from his great aunt a few years before she died, and stared at it as if seeing it for the first time. He picked it up and looked closer. Loops upon loops upon loops.

*

Janice looked up as the young man practically fell through her door.

“Mrs Harewood!”

“They’ll be done by Wednesday. If you wanted something done urgently you should have said.”

Ha’gash’gah paused while he shifted mental gears. “No, Wednesday- Wednesday’s good. Do you sell wool?”

“There’s a haberdasher’s on Flinting Street. They’ll be open tomorrow at ten.” She looked pointedly at the darkening sky outside the window.

“Oh. Right. Thank you.”

He stumbled out and tried not to feel hurt when he heard the door being locked behind him.

*

“Bugger. Ow! Ha’drak!”

Shir’kar listened for a moment, then put her head around Ha’gash’gah’s door. “Oh, my poor innocent ears. What’s got you in such a state?”

Ha’gash’gah grinned sheepishly and held up a ragged looking woollen – she peered closer – pentagon?

“Nope, I still don’t follow. Care to give us a clue, Gash?”

“Knitting. Very badly, I hasten to add,” he said as his sister started giggling.

“Good luck with that.”

*

The next time Shir’kah dropped by, the knitting needles had been abandoned in favour of the oddest loom she had ever seen. She was sure they didn’t usually have a row of crochet hooks on the top.

“I’d like your opinion on this,” Ha’gash’gah said as he pulled it into the middle of the room. “Do you think something like this could be glyph powered?”

“Depends. What is it?”

“Watch.”

He threaded an awl with some difficulty, then slotted it into the side. “Pull the wool across this gap here, then this row of hooks goes down.” He paused for a moment to rearrange one which had spun around. “Now the hooks turn around and catch the wool. They go back up.” He rattled at the handle for a moment. “Bugger. Forgot to turn it. Right. Turn them sideways and pull back up.”

“Congratulations. You’ve looped two bits of wool together.”

“Shut up and watch.”

Shir’kah watched as her brother cursed and muttered his way through another few cycles of the machine, then stood back proudly.

“A knitting loom? Okay, I’m actually impressed. Drag that thing down to the factory Tuesday and we’ll do a better mock-up. Then we’ll think about who to take the design to.”

*

Some months later, Janice was startled by a knock on the door.

“Sorry. I know you said you didn’t want linking up to the glyph network, but it’s all got out of hand.”

She stared blankly at the man in the doorway, hoping he would soon start making sense.

“Oh, you probably don’t remember me. You mended some clothes for me last year and I-”

“Yes, I remember that. What I don’t understand is why you’ve come bursting into my house.”

“Ah, right. Well, you remember the yarn?”

Several hours and cups of tea later, Ha’gash’gah was still trying to explain. His human guise had failed long before the candle guttered out, but thankfully she was too blind to see him for what he was. “…and then someone said it all comes down to numbers. Zeroes and ones. I don’t understand it either, but now they have these cards.” He handed a punch card. “And they can do colours now and we’re still working on increasing and decreasing. I meant to help people like you, but it’s just going to take work away from you. I’m sorry,” he finished in a rush.

Janice patted his hand. “Drink your tea, it’ll be going cold. Now about this glyph malarkey, what did you say is going to happen?”

“I can get the workmen in tomorrow and we can get you connected for lights, heating, and one of the mark 1 knitting looms.”

“Won’t that cost a lot?”

“Nothing! It won’t cost you anything. I’ve fucked this up so badly, this is the least I can do.”

*

Shir’kah walked into his office without knocking. “Gash, there’s a parcel for you!”

“Thank you.”

When she made no move to leave or relinquish the parcel, Ha’gash’gah snatched it from her and elbowed her out the door. Locking it behind him, he tore off the brown paper and something soft and deep blue fell into his lap.

After being held up at a few different angles, it revealed itself to be a robe of hylden style, machine knitted. There was no name on the parcel, but half hidden in the paper he found a square of card on which a crabbed hand had written, It’s the least I can do to thank you.

#kind of weird to read this one back now #my friend from my knitting group died suddenly about a week ago #and every time i tinker with this i think of her #so it's going up as is #gnu jan #my fic

[blondiefrommars-blog]

The Flight

(Note: This is also posted on Archive of Our Own. I am known as BlondefromMars.)

January 3rd.

             I was finally headed home, to L.A. and back to reality. My job, my friends, and my healthy food. The holidays are over, I went to Seattle to spend them with my family. I had left for the Pacific Northwest on December 22, and I was just coming home now. I was sitting at my gate, waiting. I am HATE flying. But driving from Los Angeles to Seattle on a motorcycle is not as easy or fun as you think. I was sitting with 2 other women, Jessica and Carly, we had all headed out from LAX together, now we were headed home to So. Cali. I was eating my hummus and pita chips, in preparation of taking my anxiety medication and watching YouTube, when my video paused and I received a text message with a picture from my mom:

 -Are these yours? (it was a picture of a medication bottle.)

 SHIT!!

I texted back:

 -HELL!! Yeah those would be the meds I am supposed to take before getting on the plane. Well, I guess I am gonna have suffer through it. Wish me luck? At least it is a short flight?

 -at least you found the silver lining? I’ll have your dad put them in the mail to you.

 -thanks.

 As the time to board drew closer, I started to notice a serious lack of passengers around for the flight. I walked up to the desk, a brunette woman smiled at me and asked, “How can I help you sweetie?”

 “Hi, I was just wanting to make sure that flight 62 to Los Angeles is on time.”

 “Oh, yes, it is, there aren’t a lot of passengers that booked that flight. And, there is another flight that is having some technical difficulties and so the airlines are placing those passengers on this flight so we apologize for the delay in the boarding process. As soon as those passengers are here, everyone will be able to board.” She smiled.

 I made my way back to the other two and explained what was happening. They were tweeting, and instagraming our waiting. This is when they asked if I was okay. I explained that I didn’t have my anxiety meds and the waiting wasn’t helping.

 15 minutes later…

 My hood was up and I was standing in the jet way, waiting. As I stood there I wondered, if there wasn’t a lot of passengers on this flight then why was it taking so long to get onboard.

 As we stood in the jet way Carly’s eyes became as big as saucers. I stepped closer to her and toucher her forearm, “You okay Carly?”

 She nodded and replied, “Don’t turn around.” I didn’t have a chance to say anything.

 “Nice hoodie.” A male voice came from behind me.

 I knew that voice. This is not happening. I turned and there was Jared and Shannon. My bodies response was to start laughing. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I closed my eyes and shook my head, “Thanks, its cozy. You should know.” I pointed at his jacket. He was wearing the same one.

 I looked at the other girls, they both were staring with their jaws on the floor. “Well, I guess we know whose plane was having issues, yeah?” I said looking back at Jared.

 Shannon snorted, and replied, “That’s an understatement. It was frozen solid and the heaters aren’t working.”

 “Welcome to winter time in the Pacific Northwest. This is why I live in L.A. now. I hate the cold.” I said as we all started getting comfortable, leaning against the walls of the jet way, dropping bags on the floor.

 “Any of you know why we aren’t boarding?” Jared asked.

 Jessica, Carly, and I all shook our heads. The conversation ended and the phones came out. Jared was the first to pipe up. “Alright, you ladies wanna do something with me?”

 I looked up, Jessica and Carly looked scared. “Hell, I’m game. When am I ever gonna be able to say that I got to hang out with 2/3 of Thirty seconds to Mars.” I finally said.

 “Awesome. Come here.” Jared said and opened one long arm. “We are gonna take a picture and post it on twitter.” He pulled me close. Wow, he was warm and he smelled amazing. “Thanks!” He said, and hugged me. I smiled.

 After a few minutes, my phone pinged. “So sorry of the delay everyone, welcome aboard.”

 I didn’t talk to either of them until 30 minutes into the flight. I was in the 8th row in the middle seat, there was a total of 9 of us in the coach area, the first class was full. The crew said that we could all pick our own seats, I had a whole 3 seats to myself. I had my wireless headphones in and Jared was screaming in my ears, and I was writing. That’s what I did when I was nervous. I wasn’t paying attention to the people moving around me in the cabin, until the aisle seat to my left was occupied. I looked up and there Jared was, staring at me, smiling. Then Shannon appeared in the row in front of me, smiling.

 I removed my headphones. “Well hello.” I saved my work, and closed my laptop. “What were you writing?” Jared asked. “Nothing special, I like to write my dreams out so that I can remember them for another time. But I also just like to write in general, questions, dreams, thoughts, basically.” The plane shuddered a little.

 I sighed.

 “Hey, you okay?” Shannon asked, he looked at Jared and then back at me. I nodded. Jared and Shannon shared a look, he then slipped by me. This is when I realized I was in one of the rows with the extra room. Jared took the window seat to my right and then Shannon occupied the seat Jared was just in.

 “You don’t fly well do you?” Jared asked. I shook my head. “Do you have meds or something?” he said quietly.

 I sighed and replied, “I didn’t realize it but I left them at my parents’ house. So, I’m shit out of luck on that.”

 The plane shuddered again. I gripped the arm rests, and groaned. I felt 2 hands, one on each arm. “It’s okay. You can get through this. Do you like amusement park rides?” Jared asked.

 “Yeah” Another shudder. I glanced at Shannon he was looking up the aisle at the other passengers and crew.

 “Hey,” Jared said, drawing my attention, “I just realized I never got your name.”

 “I’m Emma.” Jared was holding my shaking hand now. He motioned with his free hand, pointing at his eyes. “Right here, whole time. Okay?”

 I nodded.

 “Think of this as an amusement park ride. The bouncing and jerking.” Jared said.

 I hadn’t realized that Shannon had left until he came back to our row and said, “Apparently Los Angeles has some shitty weather right now. That’s why the ride is so bumpy. Stewardess said it should pass soon.” He moved to sit when the plane jumped so violently other passengers yelped or gasped.

 “Shit.” Shannon said as he was slightly thrown into the seat. I gasped, and closed my eyes tightly.

 “Em, you okay over there?” Jessica asked.

 “She’s okay, I got her.” Jared replied. “Emma, what did I say? Open your eyes. Look at me.”

 I could feel the blood rushing out of my face. I opened my eyes, and took a shaky breath in. Shannon shifted in his seat and placed one thick muscled arm around each side of me.

 “Everything is gonna be fi--.” Jared started but was cut off by the pilot coming over the intercom.

 “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going to ask that all passengers return to their seats, and buckle up. We are coming into some rough weather and will be experiencing some turbulence. Please remain seated and calm. Thank you for your patience.”

 I felt like I was going to pass out. The last time I was on a plane that had turbulence I was flying across the country and it wasn’t bad enough to warrant an announcement from the pilot.

 “Okay, Emma this is what’s we are gonna do. Shannon and I are gonna stay here with you. Don’t be scared, we fly all the time and this is normal.” Jared said.

 After the three of us were buckled in. Jared shifted in his seat so he was facing me, blocking the window. “So, how long have you been an echelon?”

 “I have been listening since high school. So, over 10 years.” I replied quickly, concentrating on my breath.

 “You have any tattoos?” Shannon asked.

 “I do I have 2, the triad and the glyphs with the saying ‘This is who I really am.’” I replied. “Both are on my arms. I wanted to be able to see them every day to remember to go for my dreams. And so, I couldn’t self-harm anymore.” I was gripping my sleeves.

 “Oh shit, really? That’s intense.” Jared said, “I’m glad you don’t hurt yourself anymore.”

 “You guys saved me. I found myself in the bathtub with a razorblade when your playlist started, specifically ‘Alibi’ followed by ‘Bright Lights.’ That’s when I put the knife down, and really delved into your music.”

 Shudder. Jump.

 “Jesus.” Shannon said.

 I gasped and grabbed the arm rests.

 “Woah!” Jared whispered, “Hey you want my hand again?”

 I chuckled. I could see his glyph tattoo. I released the arm rest, and pulled my sweatshirt sleeve up, showing him my triad tattoo on my wrist. “We are kind of twins.” I said quietly. He smiled as he grabbed my hand.

 SLAM! The upper compartments opened and threw bags. I reached up to Shannon’s neck and pulled him closer to Jared and me. A giant plastic case came down, right where Shannon’s head had been.

 Jared was leaning on the wall, I was leaning on Jared, and Shannon was leaning on me. All three of us were breathing hard. I looked around at the others, Jessica was holding her head. Carly was slumped over into the aisle; her head was bleeding. “Carly!” I yelled. I went to get up out of my seat, but Jared had me by the waist. “No Emma, you can’t.” He was holding me at this point.

 Adrenaline was running through my body at this point, I broke his grip. “Carly!” I yelled again. “Shannon, help me!” Jared yelled. The brothers had their arms wrapped around me. I was sitting again. “Jared let go, I have to help her.” I said panicking. “You can’t help her if you get knocked out to. Besides the steward is helping her. Calm down baby.” Jared said, gripping my handfuls of my hair.

 Shudder.

 The tears spilled over. He pulled me to his chest, “What did you call me?” I had suddenly realized what he had said.

 I was practically in his lap. Jared’s left hand was in the middle of my back and his right was tangled in my hair. Shannon had a rough grip on my waist, holding me down. My headphones were around my neck and you could hear ‘Alibi’ blasting.

 JUMP.

 I cried out, as did everyone else. Except for the two brothers holding me.

 Shannon moved closer and took the headphones and slipped them into my ears. He slipped his arms up further, I reached up and grabbed onto one muscled bicep. His head was resting on my shoulder.

 Slam. Jump. Shudder.

 The lights flickered. Suddenly the oxygen masks dropped. Shannon grabbed his and slipped it on. Jared followed suit. I could hear people crying, and screaming. I covered my ears. Jared and Shannon helped me get my mask on. Jared made the same motion with his hands, wanting me to keep eye contact with him. Shannon and Jared were holding my arms.

 The lights went out.

 Em! Em! Emma! Someone is yelling my name. I opened my eyes. I was in the airport, SeaTac.

 “Emma, come on! We are boarding.” My friend Jessica said. I had fallen asleep on the floor by our gate. It was all a fucking dream…are you kidding me?

 As we made our way to our seats, past the people in first class, that’s when I heard it….

 “Hey nice hoodie.” Jared said.

 I looked to my right. Jared Leto. “Thanks.” I whispered.

#@lolainblue

[heroofthelostones-blog]

Chapter 4: Getting Personal

+Yuu+

Kota lead the way to the bar and picked a place for all of us to sit. Kota and I sat down beside each other with Dakota on the other side of Kota. Sariel looked a bit displeased by it all before sitting down between Dakota and I. A nice lady came up to us and brought us all a water to drink and a menu.

“Can i get you something to eat?” she asked and looked between us all.

“Your best fish meal for me please.” I smiled up at her and she wrote something down.

“Tomato and herb soup please.” Sariel spoke sweetly to her and handed back the menu she gave him. She nodded and wrote his order down.

“Just a salad please.” Dakota said and handed her the menu back as well.

“Roast plate for me.” Kota grinned and handed back the final menu. The woman smiled and left soon after.  “Yuu, would you happen to have anything to make a protective barrier?” he turned to me and put an elbow on the table and his cheek in his hand.

“Hmm.” I hummed softly and put my hand up to my mouth, “i think so, i’’ll have to check when we get back to the room.”

“Thanks, id do it myself if body snatcher didnt snatch my body and split my magic.” He groaned a bit.

“How many times do i have to say it isnt my fault?” Dakota put her head down on the table. Sariel patted her back a bit to comfort her.

“Until i get my body back thats when.” Kota stuck his tongue at her and she groaned more.

“What magic are you using to put up this barrier?” Sariel asked and leaned back into his chair a bit and crossed his arms.

“No magic.” I purred, “I dont possess much magic in me, i specialize in alchemy but mainly poisons.”

“And that will help you make a barrier?” Sariel raised his brow and lowered his head a bit.

“Do you know protective glyphs and wards over there mr.Angel man.” I asked and leaned on the table with my hands under my chin.

Sariel paused and glared at me. “No. i dont.” he said low and angry.

“And Kota is splitting his magic with dakota, so my alchemy is best we got at the moment.” Kota and Dakota snickered a bit beside me as Sariel slumped in his chair.

“How come you dont have a lot of magic, yuu?” Dakota asked and turned to face me.

I shrugged a bit and smiled, “Dont really know, i just cant use my magic as freely as say Kota can. Mine is a bit more...limited in a since. Its hard to explain.”

“His magic is for hidden badass moments or to turn into a cat of some form.” Kota put a hand on my back and patted me.

“I guess that explains it a bit more.” I laughed and shoved his hand off my back.

Our food arrived and we all stopped talking so we could it. Kota, Sariel and i all took our time and were amazed at how fast Dakota ate a salad. It was a pretty basic normal salad but she ate it was faster than the rest of us could even eat our food, and Kota and i were use to eating while on the move. Sariel couldnt take that long to eat soup unless he was just stupid slow at it.

“Uh how are we going to pay?” Dakota leaned in and whispered low.

Laughing a bit, “dont worry, i got paid on my job today so its all good.” I patted her shoulder. I got up and pulled the money pouch i had tied around my waist off and walked over to a counter with a man standing behind it and paid for everyone’s meal.

Kota and the other two waited for me at the stairs before proceeding up them. Kota walked into our room first and moved all of our belongs around so they were placed neatly in a corner.

I grabbed my bag that had a bunch of my vials and potions in them and sat on the floor. Pulling various things out of it. Kota sat on the bed closest to me and watched while Sariel sat on the other bed. Dakota sat in front of me and watched as well.

“Hm, im finding all sorts of things that i forgot i had or misplaced, but cant find what Im looking for.” I was pulling various sized bombs, vials, pouches, and other assorted things out. I looked up to see Dakota reaching for something, “I’d be careful with that Dakota, thats a very deadly powder.” I smiled up at her and she pulled her hand away.

“I wouldn’t touch Yuu’s things, he’s smacked my hand a lot for it.” Kota chuckled from above us.

Dakota looked up at him, “why?”

“Because it can either kill you or cause you a lot of pain and maybe some missing limbs.” He said calmly.

“Is he legally able to carry that kind of stuff?” Sariel asked with a slightly urked and curious tone.

My ears twitched and i looked up at Kota then at Sariel. “Hmmmm, probably not but im careful with my things.” I turned and looked back through my bag. “AHA Found it!” i held up a flask.I got up and grabbed the do not disturb sign on the inside of the door and put it on the outside of our doorknob before closing the door. “Now, you all have to promise me, you wont leave this room.”

“I promise.” Kota smiled.

“Why?” Sariel asked and Dakota looked just as confused as he did.

“Because this is a powder, that it isnt harmful to smell but it will activate at the contact or motion of it being swept away to cause a break in the line im going to make under the door and windows. So if you dont break it, we’re fine, thus means you cant leave.”

“Im confused.” Dakota groaned a bit and got up and sat beside Kota.

“Its alright, i dont need you to understand it, just promise you do as i ask you.” I smiled at her and turned around to leave a bit of a trail by the door that if the door opens it will move the powder. “If this gets activated, the building will fill with a poisonous gas and we’ll either die or be evacuated.”

“That isn’t safe at all!” Sariel complained and watched as i moved to the windows.

“Then dont leave!” I turned and purred loudly with a smile. “I’ll be able to get it up in the morning just fine, but if you wake up before, you cant leave this room without waking me.” I turned back around and left a trail along the windows.closing the cap i put the flask on a table by our belongings. “We should be fine, and if someone comes in, Kota or i will usually wake up and be aware of it.”  

“You said usually. You are also implying that is not always the case. What happens if no one wakes up?” Sariel groaned and put his hand over his eyes.

Jumping on the bed with Kota sitting on it, “then we’re dead and thats the end of our adventure.”

“You are so sadistic yet such a cute looking person.” Kota laughed, “and i love it honestly.”

“Thank you!” I purred happily. “It is getting late too, we should go to bed and get some sleep. So….who’s sleeping with who?”

“I nominate myself and Yuu to sleep with body snatcher in our animal forms.” Kota smirked at me and then looked at Sariel.

“I agree!” I nodded and also turned to look at Sariel.

He had a very bored yet displeased look on his face. “Fine, i can't argue with this too much given what we have. Plus I’m not a very…..fun to person to sleep beside.”

“Aw why? Do you kick?” Kota started chuckling to himself.

“No, fleabag.” He groaned, “My wings.”

“Oh, Yeah do you know magic to get rid of them?” Dakota asked as she crawled up onto the bed and between Kota and I. “I can only imagine that you can.”

“I can,” he paused and grumbled, “I just dont like to. It’s unsettling to me, and i feel….vulnerable.” his wings twitched at the mention of it all and they dropped a bit behind him.

“It’s all okay, we’ll understand.” Dakota smiled at him, “i can see how you dont wanna be in pain sleeping with someone either.”  she yawned.

“We should sleep so our magic can restore itself.” Kota poofed into his fox form and soon after Dakota’s body changed into Kota’s body. “We’ll need you rested for tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.” Dakota yawned again, louder and longer this time.

Using my small amount of my own magic, i poofed into my little cat sized form next to Kota. Extending my front legs forward and my lower half sticking up in the air, “i haven’t been in this form for a while.” my voice was now kind of squeaky like Kota’s was. I shook my body, ruffling up my fur and sitting up straight.

“Oh my god!!” Dakota squealed a bit given that her voice was now Kota’s voice. She put her hands on my sides and lifted me up off the bed and into her arms, nuzzling my cheek with her’s. “You’re so cute!”

Purring loudly, i nuzzled my face against her’s more. “Thank you!” i licked her cheek slightly and she started scratching my chest. Dropping my head back, i purred loudly.

“You’re too into that, Yuu.” Kota chuckled lightly with his squeaky voice.

“I like how she pets me!” I perked up and turned to kota, “she actually knows how to love a cat gently! Those other people always pet me too hard.”  I fidgeted and jumped out her arms and onto the bed. “You never get to be the distraction.”

“Because you do it so well.” Kota wiggled his body a bit, the pounced on top of me, “you’re just so cute! And you’re purple and white, you’re easily noticeable while i’m all black and can be sneaky.”

I stuck my paws up and put them on his fluffy chest, trying to push him off of me. “I think women would love to pet you too. Plus i can get away with so much more because i am cute and people love cute cats.”

“The fact that you’re both thieves does not make up for how cute either of you can be.” Sariel walked across the room turning off all the lights. Once the lights were off, the sound of the other bed squeaking under his weight was the only noise before he spoke, “im going to bed. Good night.”

“Good night, Sariel.” Dakota spoke softly and crawled under the blankets.

“Night!” Kota and i squeaked and got on either side of Dakota’s body and curled up next to her on top of the sheets.

———————————-

-Sariel-

“Wake up!” I heard the little squeaky voice of the black fox, while there were little paws bounced on my shoulder. “Oh. he’s awake.” Kota snickered and then jumped off of me and his little body hit the ground and he trotted to the other bed. “Wake up body snatcher!”

Sitting up on the bed I turned to look over at the little fox as he bounced and pressed his little feet into Dakota. Similar to how foxes would jump and stick their noses into a hole looking for food. Turning my head i looked to see Yuu, in his human form, cleaning up the powder he laid down last night.

“Good morning, Sariel.” he said sweetly and put the cap on his flask and moved to their bags.

“Good morning.” I groaned and got off the bed, stretching my arms over my head then my wings.

“She’s up!” Kota bounced off Dakota and onto the floor, “cmon, time to be a lady!”

Dakota threw the blankets off her body and the black hair that was Kota’s was all sorts of crazy and wild. “Mm, morning to you too.” she mumbled and stretched.  

Kota and Dakota took the quick moment to change forms. While Yuu and I gathered our belongings. We made a bag for Dakota so she had any womanly needed things with her, with some small easy first aid things as well as some food and water in case we got separated.. We headed to the bar for a quick breakfast and checked out when we were done eating.

“We need to get some other supplies.” Yuu slung his bag over his back, “i need ingredients that we’re running low on.” he pulled out a small scrap of paper from his pocket, “few things we can either get out in nature and hunt for them, or just take a quick trip to a herb shop.”

“Anything expensive?” Kota asked and threw his arm over Yuu’s shoulder.

“No nothing too expensive.” he was still looking at the little piece of paper and they talked to themselves as we walked.

Looking down at Dakota, I held my hand out to her, “i’ll carry your bag for you if you like.”

“Oh um, thank you, but it’s not that heavy so I can carry it.” she looked up at me real quickly before looking ahead at where we were walking.

“Of course, if you ever need help dont be afraid to ask.” I smiled lightly down at her.

“Can you carry a backpack given you have….wings?” she looked behind her at my wings as they stayed tucked nicely behind me.

“I dont have to carry it on my back to be able to carry something for you.” i chuckled a bit, “we are taught at young ages to carry things in different ways because we do have wings. As children its easier to carry bags on our back, but as we grow it becomes harder.”

“Love birds! This way! We’re stopping in here.” Yuu shouted from the door of a small little shack, with Kota beside them and they both walked in.

Dakota blushed red then jogged up to the building and went in after them. I stayed by the doorway on the inside because everything looked so close together, and i didn’t want to knock anything over because of my wings. Yuu was walking around the shop and grabbing everything he needed.Kota and Dakota would play around or look at other things while Yuu shopped. He paid for the things and talked to the shop owner.

“Are you young ones going into the woods?” an elderly woman came out from the back.

“Ah, yes, actually we are why?” Yuu put the things he had purchased neatly in his bag.

“There is an herb that grows out there, would you four be willing to grab some for me if i were to reward you?” she sat down on a stool. “Me and my husband are too old for this and our children are grown and gone.”

“Um.” Yuu looked back and Kota and he shrugged, “may i ask what the reward is?”

“We don’t have much, but if you bring some back to us. I’ll give you something that is much rarer then what i am asking for.” she smiled, “its a plant thats hard to find and only blooms after several years.”  she extended a hand to Yuu and he took her hand, “you seem like a smart young man who knows how to use plants for various things, I’ll give it to you for free, given no one else wants it.”

Yuu looked back at Kota with his ears perked up, and chuckled and shook his head, “Sure, we’ll go find it for you”

“Thank you all.” she smiled, “take your time and be careful, creatures lurk in those woods.”

“We will ma’am, thank you.” Yuu shook her hand and received a paper from the woman. We were allowed to leave most of our belongings with the couple and brough only what we needed and a bag to carry the plant in.Once we were in the woods, Yuu pulled out the paper once more, “she says what we’re looking for will look like this.” He held out the paper to us too look at, “She said it’s fairly scattered around and we should keep our eyes open.”

“Do you know what we’re looking for?” Dakota made her way around the paper and got between Yuu’s arms too look at it.

“Its a plant used for health. It can be made into a tea and helps clean out the body. It can be used as an ointment too for wounds, and various other things to improve your body.”

“Should we grab some for ourselves?” Kota asked as he stood a bit away from everyone.

“It wouldn’t hurt but lets get as much as we can for them, just so they dont have to come out her themselves later.” Yuu rolled up the paper and stuck it in his back pouch.

“Im fine with that, but lets all stay close together.” I mentioned and looked down at Dakota, “I don’t believe she knows how to fight incase something does come at us.”

“Are you assuming just because i’m a girl means that I don’t know how to fight?” she puffed her cheeks and put her hands on her hips.

“Oh not at all.” i smirked at her, “Ive had many female trainers who can beat the male trainers, by no means am i assuming its because you’re a woman.”

“Then what is it?” She huffed loudly.

“Its the fact that you physically dont look like you can fight…..Well.” i crossed my arms and stared down at her.

“I’ll fight you.” she got really close to me and stood up on her toes to get as close to eye level as she could with me.

Still looking down at her just a bit, “Bring it, i’ll teach you how to fight.” I smirked. Kota and Yuu started snickering to themselves, and covered their mouths when i looked over at them. Dakota had her little cheeks all puffed out and her small hands in fists by her side as she bounced on her toes a bit. “You’re face is turning blue, i advise you breathe.” I pushed her cheeks in softly and made her blow out air.

“I’ll show you I know how to hold my own in a fight Sari.” she had much determination in her voice and held her body stiff.

“Whatever you say, my lady.” chuckling to myself, i turned and walked away from her, “Also,” I held a hand up, “Dont call me Sari.”

“I’ll call you Sari if I want to mister.” she mumbled and jogged up behind me.

We stayed as a group through our walk in the woods, but Dakota would be just a bit behind us sulking a bit or struggling with getting over large roots or logs. She’d often reject my assistence to help her get over a log or around something. Kota and Yuu were mainly the ones finding the plant the woman asked for, They seemed to grow in larger clusters under things such and in shaded areas. Most of the time it was Dakota getting on her hands and knees, fitting into the small spaces that the three of us couldnt. Yuu would usually be beside her to help on his knees. Dakota would often have her bottom up in the air and Kota would start snickering and trying to get my attention to look. I kept my back to both them and waited for them to get up and put the plant in the bag that i was given to carry. Kota and Yuu would go and get the herb when it wasnt in a small space, and Dakota would be left to get it if it were in a tight spot.

“Do you hear something?” Kota stopped and his ears twitched side to side.

“Hmmm.” Yuu hummed and tried to listen in as well, “no not really, why?”

“I hear rustling but i dont know where is coming from?” He mumbled and looked up and around.

“Do you think its someone following us or just an animal?” I asked and dropped the bag by my feet.

“I dont know….” he trailed off and he turned around and his ears went back and his eyes wide, “D-Dakota!” he mumbled, “Dont move.” Yuu and I both looked backwards and saw Dakota standing on a large root that stuck out from the ground.

“What?” she looked up at all of us. A large species of bird, swooped down from the tree above her and snatcherd her up with its legs. She started screaming when she realized she was snatched and the bird took her up above the trees.

“aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!” Kota and Yuu both started screaming, “S-Sariel GO GET HER!!” Kota looked at me with his ears back and pointing up where the bird had taken her.

“Fu-Fine!” I grumbled and dropped everything off me that i didnt need and took off from that spot. Going through the foliage, i got above the treetops and looked around quickly to find the bird, The bird looked to be heading deeper into the forest. Taking off towards the bird, i pulled my staff from the pouch on my thigh and extended it out to its full length. Diving down enough to be beside Dakota. “Dakota, I need you to trust me okay?”

“What?! Why?!” She yelled and still freaked out.

“Just trust me! Please! I’ll catch you.” I fell back and went up to be above the bird’s back and atop its wings.

“WHAT?! CATCH ME?!” She screamed from below.

Landing on the bird’s back. It swayed it’s weight to try and throw me off, making me lose my balance and land on my knees, and causing Dakota to scream more and louder.Standing back up, i took my staff and spun it above my head. Bringing it down on the softest spots of the bird’s wings, or where it would hurt the most to be struck there. The bird let out a loud curling shriek and tilted its body downward from the side I had hit, and let go of dakota. Sliding down its downward wing on its soft feathers, i grabbed onto Dakota’s hand.

“Told you I would catch you.” I chuckled a bit and held her hand above her head.

“Uh Look out!” She pointed upwards.

Turning around to look above me, the bird had its claws coming at my own wings. Pulling Dakota up into my body and holding her close, i just barely got turned around enough before my wing was struck by the talons of the bird. There was enough of a graze to get some contact with my right wing that hurt enough that flying would be difficult. The bird flew beside me with enough force to cause me to bring in my wings so they were going against the air flow. Keeping Dakota close to my body i wrapped my wings around her to shield her from the talons of the bird. It hit  me with its wing hard enough to send us spiraling down through the trees. My back hitting several tree branches and breaking them with our weight combined.

We landed in a small ditch that caused my wings to be very close to the edges and i landed on my shoulders. My back just barely in a muddy puddle and my legs against the wall like my wings were. Keeping my arms around Dakota, i held her close to my body. Waiting to see if the bird, or anything dangerous, was coming to the ditch we fell in. It was silent for a few moments, so i let go of Dakota.

“Are you okay?” I asked and dropped my arms beside my body.

“Yes.” she mumbled and sat up pressing her small hands to my chest and sitting up against my legs. She looked up and around her. “Oh no nononono.” She started mumbling, and tried standing up. Her feet just barely stood on my wings as the rest of her feet were in the water. “We have to get out.” she tried to climb out and just ended up slipping and landing on top of me.

“Dakota.” I groaned as she kept slipping and stepping on me.

Looking up at her she looked to be freaked out, tears on the edge of pouring out. She was mumbling to herself, saying how she has to get out and she didn’t like being in such a tight spot.

“Dakota.” I put a hand on her knee as she stood up, she didnt hear me and tried to find another way out. “Dakota.” I spoke a bit louder and she didnt hear me. “Dakota!” I reached up and grabbed her by the back of her thighs and pulled her down onto me again. Her knees pressed to my wings and her hands in the water beside my head, she looked down at me with wide eyes, tears at each corner. “You can’t get out alone, and i cant help you given you are on top of me and this ditch is small.” I groaned in pain as her knees pressed into my wings a bit more. “So if you would please calm down and just sit still.”

Her body trembled and little tears rolled down her cheeks, “I’m sorry Sari, I didn’t mean to. H-How do you want me to sit so I’m not hurting you?”

Taking my hand off her legs, i ran my thumb on her cheeks and wiped the tears away, “just sit.” I spoke softly and put my hands on her hips. She sat with her back against my legs and her legs were pressed softly into my leg this time with her weight being on my lap. She ran her hands on her eyes. “Try to breath for me please.”

“O-okay.” she hiccuped and took deep breaths, “im sorry.”

“Dont be sorry.” I put my hand on her thigh. “Just look at me and focus on breathing.” she sniffled and nodded. Her body still trembled, lighter this time and she clutched my shirt with her free hand. “Is there anything i can do?”

“I-i dont know.” her voice was shaky, and she looked up slightly.

Taking a hand off her leg, i reached up and put a hand on her neck, pulling her face down to look at me. “Look at me, Dakota.” I smiled softly at her, “Only look at me, okay.”

She sniffed a bit and took in a deep breath, “Can i hug you?” she spoke softly.

“Yes, you can.” I brushed her cheek with my thumb again.

She leaned down, her face against my chest and her arms around me as much as she could given my back was in a puddle. Putting my arms around her, i had one one her back and the other in her hair, stroking her hair softly. “I’m sorry for calling you Sari. I didn’t mean to make you mad or upset you if I did.”

“You didn’t make me mad.” I spoke softly and rubbed her back. “I just dont hear anyone ever call me things like that.” I shifted my shoulders around, “if you enjoy calling me that, or it makes things easier. Please by all means call me what you want.”

“I’ll only call you Sari if we’re alone. You don’t need to have the other two snickering.” she chuckled a bit against my chest.

“I dont mind what they do or think. If it makes you feel better i dont mind.” i rubbed off some mud of her legs. “Things like that dont bother me.” i brought my hand back up to rub her back.

She picked her head up a bit and smiled,“Then you have to let me repay you for saving me. I just feel so pathetic. I can’t hold my own for very long in a fight against you and then I go and get snatched by some bird.” she started to cry a bit again and her voice was shaky as she took her hand and cleaned some mud off of my face.

Tucking her hair behind her ear and away from her face. “You dont have to repay me.”  i plucked some leaves out of her hair and clothing, “You arent pathetic either. You handled that better than i would have thought.” I smiled up at her, “I can teach you how to fight so you can protect yourself later.”

“But, I don’t want to be a bother and we have that mission that your queen gave us.” she started speaking faster this time.

“Dakota.” I chuckled to myself, “my queen doesnt expect us to get this done with quickly. She has her reasons for this mission.” I reached a hand up and touched her cheek. “So relax, please.”

“BODY SNATCHER!!!”

“SARIEL!!”

Yuu and Kota’s voice yelled over head at a distance and the sound of ruffling bushes was faint behind the yelling.

She sat up and put her weight back on my lap,“We’re over here!!” she yelled up cupping her mouth.

Kota and Yuu popped their heads over the ledge of the ditch, and Kota started snickering. “Oh my god, are you two okay?” Yuu asked.

“Could be better.” Dakota laughed nervously.

“Lets help you get out!” Yuu smacked Kota and they both stood up. Dakota stood up and was careful to not step on my wings. Extending her hands up Kota was leaned in the ditch while yuu helped pull them both over and out. “Do you need help, Sairel?” Yuu asked and came back to the ledge.

“No i should be fine.” I looked around at my body and the position i was in, “Possibly.” putting my hands under my body as best i could, i slid up so my back and wings were now pressed to the muddy wall of the ditch and my feet were in the puddle. Keeping my wings close to my body, i grabbed onto a piece of dry earth that stuck out a bit. Dakota had her hand extended downward to me with a smile on her face. Taking her hand in mine, i grabbed her upper arm as well and got my feet on the ledge. Kota and Yuu helped pull Dakota back or keep her stable as i pushed off the wall and climbed up and out. I got my torso out of the ditch and on the ledge. Yuu and Kota grabbed me by my arms and helped pull my body the rest of the way out.

“You okay?” Dakota asked as she cleaned her hands of mud.

“Yes.” I groaned and stretched my arms over my head, popping my shoulders. Bringing my arms down in front of me and caving inwards i popped my spin close to my neck, rolling my neck side to side and cracking it. Pushing my hands against my lower back, i leaned backwards and popped my spine all the way down. Turning side to side and extending my wings, i cracked them as well and my hips.

“Oh my god, Sariel!” Dakota sounded so upset, “I am so sorry!D o you want a massage? I know how to give good massages.””

“I’m fine, Dakota.” I looked back behind me and looking at my right wing and trailing down to about the tip of my wing where there is still flesh. There was a bit of blood under all the mud that was caked on my wings.

“Did that bird get you? Can you still fly?” She sounded nervous, coming up to touch my wing just around the cut.

“I’ll be fine once it heals, it might sting a bit if i fly too much.” i mumbled to myself. Then look at her, “and no thank you, i dont need a massage.”

“We can maybe as the nice old lady to make you an ointment with the plant we found her.” Yuu held up the bag. “Lets go back and get you patched up.”

We took the trip back to the small shack that the elderly couple owned. The woman made a quick ointment and applied it to my wing and wrapped it up nicely for me.She gave Yuu the reward she promised and gave him a small journal on various remedies for how thoughtful we were on giving her so much of what she asked for. We grabbed our belongings,said our farewells to the couple and headed out of the town.  We walked several miles before it got too dark and we picked a place to stay. We set up by a waterfall in a cave that was large enough for us to move around comfortably and we didnt sleep too close to each other. Kota and Yuu took the trip back in their animal forms to town to get more food for dinner and other things.

“Mind if I go wash up in the waterfall?” Dakota mumbled and blushed a bit.

Looking down at her, i eyed her up and down at how badly she was covered in mud. “By all means, please go take your time. I’ll wait here until you’re done.”

“Thanks. Ill be out soon so you can clean up.” she dug through some of our belongings looking for a rag.

Taking the sash off my waist i held it out to her. “Use that as a towel.”

“But thats your sash.” she looked at it then up to me again. “I dont wanna get it dirty.”

“Please it’s already messy, you’ll be fine to use it to clean off your body. I dont mind, the sash holds no value.” I put the sash in her arms and pushed her gently off to the waterfall. “Yell if you need help.”

“I won’t be long, I promise.” She smiled and jogged to where the waterfall would be.

I stood waiting around our belongings for Kota and Yuu to come back. They arrived some time after Dakota had left with several things in their arms that looked like extra food and clothing. “Where’s dakota?” Yuu asked.

“She’s washing off in the waterfall just a bit away from here.” I watched them set the things down.

Kota perked up and his ears were up straight. “We should all go clean up, right?” he stood up straight with his ears and facial expression laxed now. “You bond over bathing right?” he turned to look at Yuu with a smirk. Yuu just looked between Kota and I with his ears back and eyes wide.

“If you leave my sight and head for that waterfall, i will knock you out so you wake up next morning.” I said flatly, “she’s a woman, she deserves her privacy.”

Kota smirked widely, “Well fine then, You take her new clothes to her.” he grabbed a extra set of clothing and shoved them into my chest.

I looked at his hands then back at him as he had that smirk on his face. Sighing heavily, “fine.” i grabbed the clothes and took them off my chest, not looking at what the clothing could possibly look like.

“Ah, i can do it if-” Yuu chuckled a bit and kota turned to him.

“You’re going to help me cook yuu!” he threw his arms up, “actually, you’ll cook and I’ll help because you’re better at it then i am.”  he sounded like he had a smile on his face.

I turned and left those two to do their own thing and walked in the direction that Dakota did. When the sound of the waterfall came louder and closer, i covered my eyes with my wings and shouted, “Dakota?”

She squeaked lightly, “y-yes?” I heard the splash as if she “ Is something wrong Sariel?”

“Ah no, its just Kota and Yuu bought you extra clothing and i….brought it to you.” I started mumbling, “Is there somewhere you want me to put it?”

“Ah…” she paused, “yeah theres a rock by the edge of the water, can you put it there with your sash?”

“Of course.” I shifted my wings around to keep her out of sight but see the rock she mentioned. It did have my sash draped on it and i walked over to it and neatly put her extra clothes there. “Please do take as much time as you need, im sorry to bother you.”

“N-no no, you’re not bothering me. Thank you for bringing me an extra set of clothes. I’m almost done.” she sounded a bit embarrassed.

“Alright, do you wish for me to stay here with you and walk you back to the camp, or leave you be?” I asked and turned my back to her, and kept my wings around my body.

“If you want to stay, your welcome to. It’s up to you if you would rather go and be with Kota and Yuu.” she sounded less nervous and sounded like she emerged slightly out of the water.

“Then i will head back to the camp and help with dinner. I’ll see you soon.” I took the short walk to the camp and saw Kota and Yuu together. Yuu was sitting by the small pot that was over the fire they made and Kota was squatted down next to him and whispering things too him, Yuu looked like he was laughing. Walking up to them i put a hand on my hip, “Am i disturbing something?” I had a smirk on my face.

“No no, nothing at all. We were just taking bets to see if you would stay with the only women in our group who was kidnapped today to make sure she stayed safe. But it looks like you trust her enough to let her be alone. So, it looks like I won the bet Yuu.” He had a smirk on his face and he turned to Yuu.

“Fiiiine.” Yuu groaned and chuckled to himself.

“Can i know what you two betted?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“No, thats between us.” Kota smiled wickedly then his ears perked and he looked around, “welcome back, body snatcher!”

I turned around to see Dakota walking up to us with her dirty clothes and my sash in her hands.  She wore a blue shirt with the sleeve off the shoulder and a white skirt that was just a bit too high for me to be comfortable with and similar blue thigh high stockings. The thread around the bottom of the skirt was gold color and she had some detail in gold detail around the top that was barely covered by the skirt if by not at all. I stared her up and down and had my mouth open a bit. Kota and Yuu were snickering behind me. “What?” she giggled a bit and asked.

“Nothing, Im going to wash up. Please no one come with me.” I walked past Dakota and turned my body so i didnt bump into her and quickly left the campsite, hearing the other two laughing as i left.

When i made it to the waterfall, i let out a loud sigh and shook my head. Shaking my hands lightly i took off my gold bands on my arm and leg, my accessories and my pouch that held my staff. and put them on the rock that Dakota had pointed out to me.taking off all my clothing, i dropped them on the rock off my accessories. I realized i didnt bring extra clothes, so i’ll just wear my dirty ones back and change when im at the campsite again.

Walking into the cold water, i looked down and saw the moon’s reflection in the water. Shaking my head once more, i walked through the water to the waterfall and stuck my head in under the steady stream. Pulling my head out, i pushed my lavender hair back away from my face. Running my hands on my face i washed off any mud on my face. Turning to the side i stuck my right wing under the water and run my hand on my feathers, cleaning any mud off of it, with my back to where the rock was I heard rustling and turning just a bit to see who it was, but not show my front.

“I um, you forgot your extra clothes, i’m setting them on the rock, kay bye.” It was Dakota and she quickly put the clothes down on the rock and turned around so fast and ran away.

I stared at the rock and then back up to where she would have been. I felt my face heat up a bit and i instantly stuck my head back under the water. I pulled my head back out and pushed my hair  “Oh goodness, how much did she see?” i mumbled to myself. If she just saw my back, i wouldn’t have minded it as much, how long had she been standing there? I quickly cleaned up the rest of my body and my left wing.

Getting out, i looked at the clothes neatly placed on the rock. Picking up the shirt, it was a black leather sleeveless shirt with gold lace up over the black on each side of the shirt and on the front of the neck that showed skin, turning it around the back was a black cloth and most of the fabric was missing so my wings could fit through the edges being sewn together with the gold, a zipper on the back of the neck piece and the back of the shirt at the bottom so it could come on from my front and not over my head. Looking down i saw a fresh pair of undergarments on top of black pants that did not look like leather but was a sturdy material, Picking it up and letting it unfold.It was solid black with gold detail up the outer sides, gold and white bands wrapping around the middle of the thigh and half bands going around just the calf. A pair of black ankle boots sat on top the rock as well, with dark gold bottoms. Putting the new outfit on, i realized the pants were tight like my legging and clung close to my body. Putting on my accessories and pouch for my staff, i leaned over the edge of the water and looked at my reflection. My gold bands and necklaces didnt look odd against all the black either, only thing different is i can not wear the sash and metal wings i wrapped it around anymore.  I walked back to the camp, seeing Dakota’s back to me as she sat by the fire with Kota and Yuu.

“Welcome back!” Yuu smiled up at me, “you look good in black.” he purred.

“Thank you, but i prefer my old colors over black more.” I walked around Dakota and sat down beside her as she sat on a fallen log. I felt Dakota put her hand on my head and play with my hair. Looking up at her through my bangs, “was there something in my hair?”

“No, i just wanted to touch your hair. You look nice with it all down.” She smiled sweetly at me.

“Ah.” I stared up at her, “thank you.”

“Now since you’re clean, let me give you a back massage!” she stood up and put her hands on her hips.

Her legs were the only things that i could see now that she was standing up. I stood up so i couldnt see under her skirt with one wrong move and got on the log she was just sitting on. “I’m fine dakota, i dont need a back rub.”

“Please.” she whined, “for saving me and what not, please let me get the knots out of your back.”

“Kota and I are going to go wash up, okay.” Yuu popped up and his tail swished side to side, “Cmon Kota.” he bent down and grabbed Kota by the wrist and some of their belongings, “you two have fun, eat as much as you want!”

“Wait why are we going to clean up?” Kota sounded so confused. Yuu looked at him with a wide smirk on his lips and his tail still flicking side to side. He didnt say anything and just proceed with dragging Kota off.

“Pleeeaaaase?” Dakota bent down to my level and had her palms pressed together in front of her face and trying her best to give off puppy dog eyes.

“Will it make you happy to do so?” I raised a brow and eyed her.

“Yes!” she smiled happily. “Most definitely!”

“Fine.” I groaned and stood up. I turned to face her, rolling my shoulders and sticking my my chest out a bit, i felt my wings disappear from my back and the look on dakota’s face made me chuckle, “I’d imagine you’d want me to hide my wings to do this?”

“Uuuh, yeah didn’t think you would do it though.” She mumbled and walked around me and put her soft hand on my back where the wings would have been coming out of.

“I wont have them gone long, they will be right back out as soon as you’re done.” I lowered my body down into the soft grass around the fire and crossed my arms under my head and placed my head on my forearms.

I felt Dakota sit on the back of my thighs and her hands pressed all around my back feeling for knots.her hands felt so small as they roamed my back, working out little knots that she could find. Soft and cold hands pressed into my shoulders and got a few pops out of them that way. “Can I ask what all these marks mean? On your arm, thigh and back.”

I tensed up and turned to look back her, she was sitting on my thighs. Sighing, “I wish you didn’t see my thigh.”

“Why?” she sat up and put her hands on the back of my shoulder getting another pop out.

“Because the ones on my arm and back, i dont mind as much, but my left leg being exposed makes me uncomfortable.” I mumbled, “but to answer your question, they are markings i’ve received as remembers in a way.”

“What does the one on your back mean?” she traced it lightly with her nail, sending a shiver up my spine.

“It means Embrace life.” I moved my shoulders around to make her stop tracing the mark on my spine. “Any others you must know?”

“Yes.” she said quickly and she sat back down on my thighs, “All of them.” she giggled.

Letting out a snort like noise, “really?” I picked myself up a bit too turn my body and look at her. She had a happy smile on her face and her eyes wide with excitement, sighing heavily, “fine from my shoulder down to the back of my hand. Persistence, Encouragement,  Nurture yourself, Listen within, Willingness and Thrive in the current moment.”

“And your thigh?” she patted my left thigh. She heard me grunt loudly and pouted, “please.”

Sighing once more, “from my hip down. Patience, Vitality, Authenticity and Fortitude. They all function in ways to remind me how to live life.”

“Were they given to you for a reason?” She asked and rubbed on my back once again.

“I would be given them as i got older at certain ages or if i did something wrong. Say i was being Impatient, i would get my Patience mark.”

“Does everyone get those marks?” she asked and pressed her hands along my spine and then held her hands on the center of my back just under my shoulderblades.

“No, not everyone.” I paused, “only archangels and their children.”

“Oh, im sorry.” she mumbled then pressed her hands against my back more, “Okay, im going to press really hard here and i’ll count to three. On three i need you to breath out, alright?”

“Alright.” I took in a deep breath.

“One…..Two…” she paused and shifted her body, “three.” i breathed out and she pressed her hands into my spine and made a loud pop come from my back.

When i let my breath out, i instantly tensed up and felt my whole spine pop up and down from where she was. Losing concentration on keeping my wings gone they instantly popped back out and laid flat on the ground beside me. My whole body shivered and i dropped my headed into the dirt with my arms above my head, letting out a long groan at the sensation of being so loose now.

“Oh my god, Sariel are you okay?” she got off of me and came around to my front, avoiding my wings.

Grunting and groaning a bit, “yes, im fine, thank you. You just really hit a good spot.”

“Uh, your welcome?” she giggled a bit and kneeled down beside me, “are you okay though?”

“Yes, yes. I just have never felt so loose in so long.”I turned my head so i was now looking at her, “thank you that was greatly appreciated.”

“You two look you had fun.” Kota spoke and Yuu walked around him to put things they had back in their bags. “Did you eat?”

“Uh no not yet.” Dakota stood up and patted off the dirt on her knees. “I was giving Sariel a massage before we ate.”

“Then get up and eat!” Yuu poked at me and then got up to grab two small bowls and handed one to Dakota.

I got up and dusted any dirt and grass of my chest and stood up, receiving the other small bowl from Yuu. We ate together around the fire and mostly listened to what Dakota had to share about where she was from, and how different it was from this place. Yuu seemed most interested in this while Kota and I just seemed to have a hard time believing it. Once we finished up our meal we had everything packed so when we woke in the morning we were ready to grab our things and go. Dakota and kota both changed bodies before we settled down for bed. Dakota and i used sleeping bags while Kota and Yuu slept in Dakota’s bag with her. The night was quite, faint sounds of night creatures roaming around with the waterfall just aways from us pouring with water. It was nice, soothing even. It got all of us to fall asleep fairly quickly.

#Sariel #Dakota #Kota #Yuu #OcStory #OCs