#have given in to the fact that she is a little wonky eyed

[daisies-on-a-cup]

i miss her 😔

#have given in to the fact that she is a little wonky eyed #all these years i never noticed and yet every person i show pictures of her to- it is one #of the first things they comment on #cats #willow wednesday

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

Alright, today I was going to do an appreciation post for Thanatos’ old design and personality, but when I went to go find some panels of him I came across a few things that irked the hell out of me. Y’all remember that one episode where Hades was showing Persephone around and she said that she was a fury and everything? Almost KISSING might I add. If you remember that I’m glad, and if you don’t it’s okay I’ve got pictures.

One thing I hate about Persephone’s character design and I mean hate with a passion of a thousand fucking suns is how the comic just completely makes her look like a damn innocent child. I can’t post the pictures with the text because I’m still a little fresh with it so I’ll actually have to do two rants.

Oh nevermind I figured it out. Go me! But anyways, look at the damn panel above the text. Persephone does not look like a damn adult in this panel at all, if I showed a random person that I’m sure they’d think she was fucking 15 year old or something! I have no idea why Rachel thought making her small as hell, big eyed, childish, AND emotional was even a good combination! Those are literally traits of a child, and before anyone even opens their mouths to say that “well adults can be like that too!” I KNOW, I’m aware of that but you at least can tell that they’re adults! You don’t even know with this panel.

Also look at the panel below this text. The proportions are so wonky and off. It makes Persephone look so fucking child-like and just REALLY little. I know the same can be said for Meg, but at the same time we don’t know much about Meg and her age. We know that Persephone is supposed to be “an adult” and I just have no idea why Rachel wants her to resemble a child and wants her to be just so naive and impressionable. Hmm, maybe because she’s only 19 and barely even a an adult. Then she’s sheltered too so she could literally be taken advantage of at any given moment. Why did she do all of this? Why can’t Persephone be at least a little mature? She’s supposed to be smart! She’s supposed to be talented and everything, why does Rachel chose not to allow Persephone to truly grow up.

This is also bringing us to my next point. This isn’t the first time that Rachel drew Persephone with childlike features and a curvy body to sexualize. It’s just very uncomfortable to me. And also, I hate how this comic infantilizes her. I know that’s supposed to be the theme of this comic, “grow into your identity” or “prove them wrong” and such, and I would be fine with this if there was actually some development with that. We don’t see Persephone talk back to anyone who infantilizes her and calls her a child, we don’t see her get frustrated with being called that, we don’t see her want to dress herself or anything. We continuously see Persephone being fine with being treated like a child and be handed things. We don’t see her grow tired of it or her wanting to be independent she’s just fine with all of it. So we can’t even say she doesn’t want to be seen as a child because nothing in the comic even says that!

Anyways, this is the end of the first rant although I’m sure (if i’m not passionate about it) that the next rant will be shorter. Like I always say I’m completely and utterly biased so don’t take any of this as fact, and if you enjoy Lore Olympus this is not to shame you in any way, I’m just saying my thoughts and feelings. If you agree, then great! And if you don’t then that’s also great.

#lo critical #anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical

[thefangirlofhp]

Elain Archeron Week, 2022

Day 2: Hobbies

@elainarcheronweek

Swimming. As contrary it is to her fear of baths, Elain finds peace in large bodies of water. It’s where the water feels alive, quiets her powers oftentimes so restless and loud, the lapping movement pushing and pulling her back silences grievances of many kind, both physical and mental. Where she floats, instead of drowning as she had in the Cauldron. Summer days in the Night Court get particularly dry and hot, and finding a lake or resorting to the sea is the best cure for it. She’s told the beaches in Adriata put every other to shame, and she hopes one day to have the chance to see for herself.

Gardening and botany. She expands from flowers to herbs. To medicines and poisons and antidotes. To potions and herbology. Her shelves gradually begin to creak under the weight of her tomes and textbooks until she finds them replaced one day with sturdy thick wood.

Playing with the children at the square, hide and seek and catch. She spends hours teaching them different games from her childhood and enjoys being taught in turn their own. Sometimes they wait for her, and seeing their faces light up at the sight of her cures some ache in her chest that neither time nor herbs can heal. One time she was tapped by a small hand in the market, she’d turned, saw a little toddler waddling around her reach for her hand, give it a shake and then brush her knuckles to her smiling lips in a kiss. Elain very nearly had a heart attack, hadn’t known what to say except crouch and hug the girl back tightly and kiss her head.

Baking. Bread, sweet pastries and delights. Spices tested and tried from all of Prythian. A cookbook of her own modified recipient, slowly expanding. Her dutiful taste-testers Feyre and a not-so-easy-to-please Nyx. Rhys and Cassian are lost causes, seeing as they scoff down any food within sight without much appreciation for the actual taste so long as the rumbling in their stomachs stops. Azriel offers insightful honest opinion, too bad he’s never around as much. Always on missions, always away (sometimes she’s terrified that she’s forced him away from his home and family not knowing that it’s family keeping him away)

Crochet. Winter is the season for it, long nights by the fire, nimble fingers and aching wrists working thick yarn, thin yarn, wool and cotton and anything in between. Simple stitches, starts off with scarfs. Then things get more elaborate and complicated. Square arrangements stitched together in quilts, scarves, doily cloths. Table spreads. Sloppy cardigans loopy at the sleeves. Sweaters that start off wonky and embarrassing, but she’d given them as Solstice gifts one year and her family had worn them all night. One of them wears it all the time he’s home, never out of it if he’s not wearing his leathers. Feyre wears hers in the studio, having been made with a particularly beautiful string of wool of alternating colours that had resulted in a beautiful colorful sweater of different blotches of colours in numerous places.

Boxing. Whenever the anger takes her, it’s all she imagines doing. Sometimes she sinks her fists in empty soil and pounds it repeatedly until her breath is cut off and her tears are droplets of salty rain on the soil. Cassian catches her tendency to pound her fists into things; dough, soil, cushions, her thighs and offers her an hour-lesson every day. They don’t talk much during them, and it’s an hour for Elain where her mind tries to overrule her limbs but the nature of the action drowns it out.

Needlework. Soft curses and hisses of agitation as needles pierce fingerpads and nails. Curling up in an armchair, near cross-eyed. Thread in, thread out.

Translation and ancient texts (decryption), when she has little else to do she pours over books from the Library she doesn’t have much interest in the contents off except for the fact they’re in another language, and she spends hours decrypting symbols, translating chapters. It’s a silly time-consuming hobby that she keeps to herself, likes to work on it in the warm seasons where it’s cool and quiet inside. She pretends not notice the shadows delivering book after book, one resource after the other to her table. Or the mysterious continuous replenishment of her teapot.

Poetry (read, never write)

Music (violin, piano)

Journaling, extensively. Until her fingers grow stained with ink and the pen leaves indentations and sore marks along her joints and fingerpads. Sometimes she writes what transpired in the day, whatever she’d dreamed, her plans for the next day, month, year. She can never seem to speak to it, though. There’s some barrier that stops her from facing her own thoughts. She keeps her personal grievances to herself. Who’d want to listen to them anyways?

Long conversations with strangers in odd places. Pubs, restaurants, alleys, the market. She is an easy person to speak to, with a pleasant smile and a trustworthy face she can get almost anyone to talk without much effort. Elain knows the majority of Velaris’s secrets and stories simply from listening, keeping a sharp open mind and attentive eyes.

To figure out what Azriel’s unreadable face hides. A personal quest, one she oftentimes succeeded in. Except for one dreadful instance.

Anything that requires the use of her hands, enough attention and focus, but some touch of routine and mediocrity in repetition that will allow her mind the reprieve of silence

People-watching

To sneak up on her family and watch them startle and their faces pale when they notice her. “How long have you been standing there?!”

Care of stray animals but never keeping one as a pet. She particularly enjoys looking at the birds in the animal shelter, and the pet shops. Beautiful specimens from all over Prythian. She likes to learn their species, names, habitats. Soon, more textbooks join the botany ones on her shelves.

Cooking at local orphanages and shelters

Putting together plans for the City Council on new attractions, parks, gardens and even rebuilding and renovating others. She always runs them by Azriel first; at first because she liked the option of speaking freely of her interests for hours without being overbearing and boring when she realized the shadowsinger enjoyed her company and then it was because she liked having a second opinion and his smart eyes picked up things she often missed, and then it was because she couldn’t imagine breaking the routine of reassurance. And then. Then. She didn’t know; even though she’d tell others, show more knowledgeable people, somehow if she hadn’t gotten him to look at the sketches and plans, then she wouldn’t be pushing it forward. Even long after tension struck, and things retraced their footsteps back to their original places, Elain would find herself after dinners sitting with him as they always have, and showing him her work. Sometimes she’d show him things she had before, just to prolong the innocuous time where things are simple and nice once more, and he wouldn’t mention it.

Taking Nyx on playdates with other children. Her nephew is scared at first, to be ingrained with his peers, but with Auntie Lain at his side he finds it easier to enjoy himself.

Friday afternoons and evenings out with Nuala and Cerridwen dining and having a pleasant time around the Sidra.

Organizing functions and putting together parties. She finds delight in a successful gathering and Nyx’s birthdays every year surpass the previous ones.

Too many hobbies, too much time, yet still not enough to drown out the voices and the visions in her head.

#elainarcheronweek2022 #elain archeron #acotar #day 2 #here i am once more with another late installment #i present to you: headcanons

[cirruslypumpkin]

Oh boy....

So I found series 4 of Rainbow High at my local target today. While each doll is very beautiful, the attention to tiny details is exquisite...we need to talk about quality control. 

Honest review that nobody asked for below, with pictures. Its a little lengthy so its -read more-

Let me start by saying this isn’t my first series of Rainbow High. I have a Jade and Ruby from S1, Sunny and Poppy from Jr High, and Heather and Natasha from Shadow High. Plus other ones I’ve bought and customized along the way, so this isn’t the first time I’ve been the “lucky” one to get the factory defects. (My heather is one (wonky eyed/easy fix) Jr High Sunny, Jade, ect) So yes, I’m no stranger to the quality control issues on the dolls and I’m not just talking the face ups, but wonky eye sets, off colors in the hair, ect.  Here I am excited like everyone else for series 4, I legit want pretty much every doll in it (much like the Shadow High series) its just given todays purchase I’m not sure about that. These dolls are retailing for 29.99 each, which means getting two of them is going to run you around $64 dollars (with tax), the whole series even more. I’m not a doll collector connoisseur at all, in fact I get dolls I think are pretty and they will either sit as displays or eventually be customized into whatever strikes my fancy at that time. I however, am a believer in if you are going to hype up and then charge a $30usd price tag for a doll it shouldn’t already come with cracked and stained limbs. Odd wrist pegs, shirts that are almost to tight to actually fit the doll, strange marbling in the plastic and so on. Lila Yamamoto has been my biggest want from this series since I first saw them and of course she is the one I picked up for myself and grabbed a Delilah for my mum. 

Now the good:  She is stunning in person, truly a beautiful doll and her face sculpt is gorgeous. Her eyes look bigger than a normal rainbow high but that could honestly just be from the sculpt itself. Personally not a huge fan of the band-aid on her nose but I do get the style and will be making her some street fashion/ kawaii lolita clothing to go along with. The tiny details on her 2nd pair of shoes are amazing, each belts charms are also lovely done and while the clothing is mostly spot on (yes I like the strange sparkle skirt >.>) her as the doll is something else. 

Another good point, I was actually able to purchase her even though the target I was at had very few of each doll (less then four.) Her first outfit is actually a body suit which I’ve seen a few others talk about on here so I wont touch on it too much, it does require you to remove the hands in order to get it or the other shirt on and off though. 

Now the BAD (and boy there's a bit):

(sorry for the blurry photo)

This is Lila Straight out of box and her shoes have been taken off. At this point I did notice a strange sheen on her face and a small (at least what I thought was small) crack on her left knee. A few random threads here and there nothing to crazy honestly. 

Though upon closer inspection this shiny stuff that I thought was just on her forehead is also making a little twirl under her eye. Again nothing to crazy, I could probably fix it with acetone and be okay. Also noted her left bottom lashes weren’t full put on, the band-aid is a little wobbly with the paint job, but those lips look amazing! Now lets change her!

Okay here’s where things started going wrong. Now I’ve had a few dolls recently from the RH series with dents/holes/chips in the legs but nothing like this. Its like the mold was either damaged (her upper right thigh is slightly warped) or the mold didn’t go together properly. Then there was the large cut on her left knee. Now this doll comes with the extra legs for a flat foot option. I think personally that's stupid and a waist of money/time, MGA give your female dolls ankle joints like you did River so you can just avoid this!!!!

Here you can see that cut much more clearly now on her left knee. Now normally I wouldn’t worry about this because RH has only had 1 set of feet for their girl dolls till this line. However, Lila is one of the dolls that I am going to have to pull those legs off and replace if I want her to wear the flat foot shoes and that cute is deeper than it looks. (My Sunny Jr High has almost the same thing on her right leg) 

Anyway, lets continue. So Now I’m genuinely like...huh wth? That right leg looks a mess, the left one is also splitting slightly at the seam and has a hole near the knee joint. Then there's this random black stain on her calf that I have no idea where it came from. Yes Lila does have black shoes however, they are crocs and she has white socks that don’t even go as high as the stain on her calf so again...weird. It just seemed at this point that the more I looked at her actual body the more I found wrong with her. From stains and that weird sheen on her chest to a hole in her right upper arm, things where just going down hill fast on my hopes for my purchase. 

Keep in mind I’ve done nothing to this doll other than take her out of the box and undress her. Where all this damage had come from and stains was and still is a mystery to me. 

The icing on the metaphorical cake of wtfkery with her is this odd lenght of wrist joints. Why MGA did this I have no idea and it doesn’t exactly make putting her hands back on any easier either. Also a side note, if you plan on taking those gloves off her hands, good luck ever getting them back on, with time and patience and some tweezers, maybe. Again another stain and this time on the flat feet which had been packaged in a bag with her lilac stand so no idea how black got on there. (At this point I’ve tried to remove the stains with pure acetone just to see if maybe they where a paint oops and nope, actual stains so time for the acne cream. UGH) 

Anyway this ranting of mine has gone on long enough. Despite all her flaws do I still like the doll, yes. However if each one of the dolls is going to come this banged up I’d expect the price point at 25.99 or even cheaper. She looks more like a potentially well maintained second hand doll (body wise) then one I just bought and took out of the package. Now my theory is they just dropped Shadow High now Series 4 and then the Storm Twins and Ainsley slated to come out this year as well....that's a lot of dolls in a very short amount of time. It has me curious about a lot of things going on with the series and MGA in general. Plus quality control on these can’t be good when its been a month since Shadow High released to the day (April 25th) for me at least since I got Lila today 5/25/2022, and that's what 6 dolls in Shadow series and 6 in series 4. That's TWELVE DOLLS in a month!! That's insane! I just hope for my sake and anyone else looking to get any of these dolls that quality improves on the actual doll bodies and not just their clothing. 

#rainbow high series 4 #rainbow high #lila yamamoto #honest review #fen rants #doll review

[clarrissanewt]

Attraction and Love

Pairing: Harry Potter x fem!reader

Warnings: college!au, enemies to lovers, swearing

Requested?: no, but definitely wanted;)

Summary: A college, two rivals and an unending urge to strangle each other's throat- where would the undeniable attraction show it's color?

A/n: thought of this with zero experience on college life, do let me know if something's wonky!

To say her spirits were high today, would be an understatement. Second semester of the third year needs to be given some (or maybe all the) credits.

Finally she can pick a course where there wouldn’t be a need to see the goddamn face of Potter.

Yeah, yeah, whatever.

“Lupin, honestly, just throw me a class where he won’t be there.”

The grey-haired man sighed, nuzzling his face in his palms. Shaking his head at the girl in front of him, he titled the screen of his computer towards her. “Psychology might go well with chemistry… you got biology too?”

Y/n looked at her advisor beady eyed. “...yeah.”

“Alright. That’s all,” the sound of the button resonated throughout the room as Lupin sat back in anticipation.

“Psychology it is,” she typed furiously in her phone, and judging by the smile on her face, Lupin knew it had to be Weasley on the other side. “Ginny’s in the course too?”

“Yeah, all your friends are, on the side note, this class meets thrice a week- alternate days- Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can check the timings with Professor McGonagall.”

Doing a little dance mentally, she braced up her sling bag, and cooing a ‘thanks, have a great day’, she skipped towards the dorms.

Was she anticipating psychology because it would be fun? ...maybe

Was she anticipating it because he won’t be there? ...definitely yes!

“Before we enter the hell hole of the second semester,” Y/n giggled at her red-haired friend, as she fell back on the bean bag beside Hermione, “we need to have fun!”

Pansy sent a look to Y/n which read like ‘have they drunk their ass off?’ to which she only passed another look.

First semester wasn’t that bad; Y/n had excelling scores in her courses except the fact that he got almost the same in all the classes they shared.

The only class she seemed to like in his presence was chemistry. Oh, before you ask the reason, they had Professor Snape.

Pretty self-explanatory.

“Look, look, look,” Hermione ticked her fingers in suspicion, “if only Ginny and I would be honest, it wouldn’t be worth it…”

Pansy clicked her tongue in disgust while Luna drifted into the kitchen to help the tipsy Ginny.

“Just for tonight,” Y/n pulled the raven-haired girl beside her, who was still shooting glares at Granger for the stunt she was pulling in. “I’m happy for today.”

“Because you snogged that high rated guy?” The Weasley cackled from the counter, earning a light smack from the blonde. “What do they call him…? Potter!”

Y/n rolled her eyes as she drifted to open the windows, the first reason being, he would get disturbed.

Yeah, don’t judge this girl by her mind.

“I heard he took psychology this semester.”

‘He toOK WHAT?”

“Psychology?” Pansy answered bluntly as she swigged the glass Ginny held out for her.

“Fuck this semester too.”

The bushy-haired girl sniggered from the corner, “I thought you would be happy, it’s the first time in three years that we get the same course.”

“Yeah, but that scar faced Potter? He’s a pain in ass!”

“I beg to differ,” Ginny snorted in amusement, “he’s...how Pansy describes...nice, hot guy…”

“I didn’t!” Pansy retorted as she emptied her glass. “He’s polite though, I never get why you two don’t get together?”

“Oh, I got this,” Y/n leaned forward, earning pretended serious looks from the group. “Back in our first year, we were both running for the same associated student positions, and wow, suddenly we were rivals!”

This met with several ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the group.

“On the second note, he gets almost the same marks as me, yeah wait for it, Ginny, that roasts me to level 50. And last semester when Hermione had borrowed his contraband hotspot and managed to set it on fire? Yeah, he framed me for it!”

“I don’t know…” Hermione shrugged at her. “He’s a nice friend of mine-”

“Yeah, but I got framed for it!”

“They need to spend a night together to sort this aggression out,” Luna chirped, which met the hums of all and an eye roll from Y/n.

“Really? What is it, really? A high school?”

“Sounds like a hyped enemies to lover trope!”

➶ ｡˚ °*. * ·

“Before we start with this semester,” Y/n struggled to listen intently, all thanks to the Potter slanders she blabbered the whole night, “I advise you all not to waste your precious time in fighting me. This course of psychology is meant as a-”

The door opened with a ‘wham’ and Y/n didn’t even need to turn around and look towards the door of the lecture hall.

Oh, definitely, it had to be Potter.

She heard a small chuckle from Pansy, who, judging by the smirk on her face, was definitely planning.

“Yes?” Y/n puckered her brows at her. “What is it?”

“Nothing much,” the girl shrugged, “I’m planning on asking Ginny out-”

“What! Really? Why didn’t you tell this sooner?”

“Okay? Wait there. I just thought-”

“As I was saying, before Mr. Potter decided to politely intrude on us,” McGonagall started again, her fingers drumming the surface of the heap of colorful blinders, “The course is meant much as a project rather than lectures. Project as a team of two. By the end of the month, I’d be pleased to let you know that the groups have already been made. Yes, Ms. Weasley, don’t latch on to Granger. If you decide to turn revolutionary, I don’t care.”

Y/n sighed from the last row of the aisles. There wouldn’t be a way she could have been paired with Potter?

“Professor Lupin is on his way, and he will assign you your partners. To avoid plagiarism of ideas, every group will have a different topic.”

To Y/n’s utter dismay all her friends were paired up with each other and as Lupin moved to her at the end, she had already sworn to drop this course.

Of course, it had to be Potter, it had to be Lupin’s doing, for God’s sake!

“It’s Potter?”

“Oh! So our little girl has got smarter,” Professor Lupin grinned as he nodded. “Alright, you can move next to him.”

Y/n poked her head from behind the Professor to find the same uninterested, verdant eyes glaring at her.

Smirking, she pointed to the vacant seat beside her. To Lupin’s utter displeasure, he copied her actions. There was no way their kiddish rivalry would end.

For fifteen minutes, the seat poking game continued. At last, the Professor had to sign in.

“Children, children, you both are twenty one. I can use my authority over you both, but what small children say, let’s compromise?”

“Can’t she just walk to the front of the hall and end this stuff?” The raven-haired boy shot, pointing to the front aisle.

“And you? Too scared to come to the back?”

The whole class of twenty-nine pairs of students along with a pair of professors ogled in interest.

“I call in for compromise!” Lupin chimed in. “It will be a shame if Professor McGonagall handles twenty-nine pairs of students alone and I keep on struggling with one.”

Y/n brushed off the bubbling urge to jump at Potter and strangle him as she followed Lupin to a row exactly in the middle of theirs.

Potter greeted her with a scoff and she replied with another.

“Alright, time for the topic, I’ve five topics for you both to choose from- the twist is you don’t get to see the topic.” He picked up five different blinders and placed them in front of the two explosive students. “Choose a color.”

“Blue-”

“Green-”

“I said blue!”

“Green, Professor, I choose green!”

“I came to the class first,” Y/n squinted in rage as she turned to her assigned partner. “I have the right to choose!”

“I got to know that you will stick to my throat for this semester first. It’s my right-”

The adult inhaled deeply for another hell ride. “Are you both in your terrible-twos, honestly? One of you just suck up your pride and compromise.”

“Fine,” the green-eyed boy huffed after a silent battle of five minutes. “Blue it is.”

Y/n simpered in little victory as she grinned at the Professor. But as she opened the flap of the blinder, her heart latched into the stomach.

“Attraction and Love?”

“Oh, that’s a nice topic!” The Professor winked at them before retreating to the podium.

“Don’t look at me like I knew the fucking topic.”

“That’s why I’m better- I chose green.”

She ignored his ‘self love at it’s best’ rants as she opened her laptop. “Like I was going to choose that fucking color you chose.”

➶ ｡˚ °*. * ·

“What about the time you both actually talked?” Luna tilted her head in curiosity. “Has it ever happened?”

“Why are you all wasting my Sundays over that Potter?” Y/n groaned as she tapped an extremely rude message to him over fixing a better time for discussing the bloody project.

“Come on… loosen up!” Hermione whined as she flapped through her Greek mythology books. “Having an upper hand on Ginny is fun.”

Y/n gave her a look which read, ‘honestly? I’m no book!’

“That was...well, that was back in the first year too. The time when we were choosing our student organizations. You remember that day when he walked into me? That very day!”

“Yeah…” the bushy-haired girl yawned. “I’ve to admit, he looked super cute that day.”

“Hermione,” Y/n warned as she typed yet another rude message, “he’s your best friend.”

“I know but I’m just complimenting! His blue eyes looked so charming!”

“Excuse me?” Y/n looked at her in disbelief. “He’s got green eyes.”

“And I thought you said you never look at him!” Hermione howled as she poured herself a glass of water.

“Hermione, that’s gross.”

“Alright, what about Attraction and Love?”

Luna and Hermione chuckled as Y/n walked out of the room, the laptop tucked under her arm.

“Open the damn door!” The girl shouted as she continued slamming the door. “Potter, I swear, if you don’t, I’ll do something even I don’t know.”

On the other hand, there was a tense silence inside. As Draco and Ron watched the raven-haired boy pacing in the kitchen at the ever increasing pace of banging. “Can’t any one of you just tell her I don’t exist?”

Ron shook his head and motioned towards the door.

What bloody nice friends he has got.

Slowly, he opened the creaking door, just enough to get a glimpse of her face.

“Oh? Are you standing in front of my door?” He smiled at her. “Let me just politely slam the door on your face.”

“Don’t you dare!” She stuck her foot between the door, still scared that he is Potter, and he knows no restraint of rudeness when it comes to her. So to be honest, there were ninety nine percent chances he would still close the door on her foot.

No matter how out of luck she is when it comes to him, he did not close the door.

Oh God, just bless him a little.

“As much as I hate sharing this semester with you, I just wanted to inform you that I’ve already started.”

“So have I,” he huffed and walked inside, leaving her no option but to follow.

“What are you on? Page two?”

“Not exactly. I’m on twenty.”

“You are not.”

“Oh, you bet, I’m.”

Alright, maybe coming here wasn’t the nicest plan.

➶ ｡˚ °*. * ·

With two weeks into the project, Y/n was shaking in disapproval that more than half of the class had already completed their project on their respective topics, but whenever they met together, there seemed no way out to even write an extra page.

Sentences were slashed out due to lack of a comma, a foreign word as ‘adolescence’ and what not.

Y/n definitely had the murderous urge to throw his goddamn specs, shut the laptop and just walk away.

If Lupin ended up pairing them together, oh lord, then Lupin sucks.

And right now, as she climbed the stairs for the chemistry class, seeing Potter was the last straw on her hat.

As soon as their glares met (if it would have been a movie, some window must have shattered with the intensity of their glare), they both started racing up the five flights of stairs, three steps a time, apparently due to some reason even they didn't know.

“I’m telling you, just stop! Don’t follow me!”

“Follow? You?” He seethed back. “Maybe you should stop! Just stop running!”

No matter what happened in those five minutes, they didn’t stop unless they were standing (more like slouching) in front of the chemistry class, panting heavily and trying to avoid the amused looks of their classmates.

“Yes?” Y/n mentally groaned at the flick of black robes as Professor Snape stood in front of them. “You both are late.”

So there were no surprises when they both sat at the back of the class, not to mention, together.

“You know?” Y/n tried to ignore him whispering beside her as she continued to vigorously pen down the notes. “I’ve the keys to the roof of the Chem building...and you look like you need somewhere to-” Her eyes dilated as she slammed her hand onto his mouth, nearly knocking him off his chair.

“Honestly, shut up. Or I'll leave your goddamn chair and you bloody fall down.”

And again they were interrupted by the Professor’s glare and a smooth remark of ‘Get out the class.’

➶ ｡˚ °*. * ·

“Your friends are suing my friends over their good looks-”

“No, please wait,” Y/n held up her free hand, the other still latching onto the door. “ It’s more like your friends are suing my friends over their good looks, and wow, I didn’t know I had to be stuck up with you tonight for completing that shit, well...hello there.”

This time, she eyed him intently, the black sweats did make him look good. Ignoring the weird palpitations that were going straight into her brain, she closed the door behind him.

“Don’t risk sitting here. We can do it in my bedroom?”

“And why’s that?”

“Drunk Hermione and Ginny are dangerous.”

So that was it.

As she sat on the corner of her bed, politely leaving him the other corner of the room (where he had to sit on the floor), furious typing followed, with occasional comments on the sentence structure.

“Your headphones are really loud!” Y/n shouted at him. “Like I can make out Mendes’ lyrics and I’m legit sitting across the fucking room!”

He looked at her oddly. Was it true they were loud? Should he lower them?

But on the second thought, he decided, fuck her.

After five minutes of silence, he gasped unexpectedly, garnering her attention.

“What?”

“You work for the campus radio station, don’t you?”

“Yeah-”

“And you are the one who passively and aggressively keeps dedicating songs to me!”

“That’s not true!”

“Wait-” he scrunched his nose at her bashful expression. “Is that a smile?”

He smiled as he heard her walk away with a small shout of “if you tell anyone about this, I’m fucking killing you!”

➶ ｡˚ °*. * ·

Just an hour before they were supposed to be submitting the file, yet, all thanks to their sudden literary genius brains, every sentence had become a battlefield.

“That’s wrong.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“Just telling.”

As a notification flashed over his screen, he deleted another full paragraph of her, because hey, she deleted his sentence.

“No, no, no!” She kicked him on the shin as he simpered. “You fucking cheat!”

“Oh really?” She saw him leaning intensely on the table, and decided to grab that so-called intimidating position. “You cheated first!”

“No, seriously, I want to bloody throw this laptop on your face, but I decided that you aren’t worth it.”

As she moved back, breathing heavily, he followed, his glare prominent over her. And then, it all clicked him.

“You are a genius, aren’t you? So tell me, Y/n L/n, what have you even known about attraction.”

“Oh, Newton, I have got this,” she clicked her finger challengingly. “When attracted to someone, your eyes dilate. Psychology says that bodies sweat more and move in sync, due to mirroring habits people have when they are high on endorphins. Dopamine levels rise as well as serotonin. Dopamine helps regulate movement, attention, learning, and emotional responses. It also enables us not only to see rewards but to take action to move toward them. Since dopamine contributes to feelings of pleasure and satisfaction as part of the reward system. It also plays a part in addiction. Serotonin in the brain is thought to regulate anxiety, happiness, and mood. The more you have the better your mood. It was also seen that the putamen and the insula light up on an MRI. Indicating that the studied person is experiencing feelings of romantic love, or attraction.”

She ended triumphantly, totally out of breath. “Oh wait, did I add holding deep gazes and increased body temperature? Yeah, fucking take it.”

Potter just smirked in response, and of course, seeing this weird retortment, Y/n couldn’t help but wipe her temple of a stray drop of sweat.

What he wanted, honestly?

“Do you notice? I think the bloody hell not.”

“Notice what?”

“Your eyes are dilated- every fucking time you argue with me. You did sweat, don’t think I don’t see what you do, and your body moves in sync for whatever reasons you stated. And oh, wait” he mimicked the last part as he shut the laptop, leaning extremely close to her. “Have you never held deep gazes with me? So let me know, Y/n L/n, do you really hate me or has this been attraction this whole time?”

For the next two minutes, everything remained still. As his hot breath continued fanning over her, she squeezed her eyes shut.

Was she an absolute tosser this whole time?

The whole world felt like shattering at their feet as she captured his lips in a kiss. He groaned, pushing her into the wall, as her teeth dug into his lips.

Maybe, it had been attraction this whole time.

By the time his lips attacked her neck for the second time, her eyes had snapped open, pushing him back.

“Fucking hell, Harry, the project!”

“Alright, everyone in their places!” Lupin chimed behind McGonagall who strolled to collect the projects. Everyone seemed to be in their seats, except- oh, the pain in ass pair.

Idly walking, he reached the last row and stood near Ginny.

“Where are those two? Didn't kill each other for sure?”

Ginny looked up with a small laugh. “No, but you might want to sit down to listen. Five minutes before the class started, Harry picked up Y/n and ran out of the campus- no, Y/n was kissing him.”

To Ginny’s utter astonishment, Lupin had swooned there.

#harry potter x fem!reader #harry potter x reader #harry potter fanfic #harry potter college!au #college!au #harry potter imagines #golden trio #golden trio era #harry potter #harry potter blurb #harrypotter #harry potter x y/n #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter oneshot #harry potter x you #harry potter imagine

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children [DP x Batman Crossover] Ch. 1

Disclaimer: It's been a while since I watched DP and the only Batman/DC stuff I've interacted with are B:TAS, the JL cartoons, and what I got from fandom osmosis so don't expect any sort of canon compliance.

In Which: the author takes advantage of the passage of time in Nanda Parbat being wonky and Danny doesn't give up, per se, but is sort of resigned to being stuck with the League of Assassins until further notice.

AO3 | Prologue | [ 1 ] | 2 |

CW for descriptions of non-consensual drug use (if there's anything you guys would like me to tag, please tell me)

-----

WHEN SOMETHING WENT WRONG WITH DANNY’S LIFE, it was usually because of one or two things: Ghosts or Vlad. And considering their truce and how even Vlad wouldn’t go this far (at least, Danny hoped), Danny was kidnapped because of ghosts. Or his association with ghosts.

Though how an organization of ninja-assassins got wind of his ‘unique’ circumstance was beyond him. The shackles they slapped on his wrists were more a formality than anything after the second time he tried to escape them with intangibility. The only reason they managed to get him contained the entire trip from Amity Park to wherever the fuck Nanda Parbat lay was because of the cocktail of drugs they pumped into his system spiked with blood blossoms.

Danny had to give it to them. The League of Assassins might not have any anti-ecto weaponry, but they did their homework.

He barely remembered the trip. He catches flashes—blurry figures and words he couldn’t comprehend. A warm hand holding his, a thumb rubbing smooth circles on the back of his palm and calloused fingers running through his hair.

When he awoke, it was in a room bigger than his bedroom. His ankle was shackled to a bedpost, and the only door leading out was locked. There was a separate room for the bathroom off to the side and a shelf stacked with books decorating the otherwise bare walls, but other than that there wasn’t much else. Not even windows.

Intangibility, he learned, wasn’t an option. The blood blossoms in his bloodstream were still in circulation, rendering his transformation useless. If his nose was right, his captors were pumping blood blossoms from the vents. The sickly sweet of the flower was faint in the cool air, but the slight red haze that persisted in the room was unmistakable.

He tried, regardless. The rings barely made it half-way before his knees buckled and he started retching all over the floor. At least his stomach was empty.

-------

Danny doesn’t know how long he’s been in Nanda Parbat. Time moved differently here. Faster, he thought. He doesn’t really understand how or why, though sometimes he wondered what Clockwork thought of all of this.

(There are times, in the darkness and solitude of his cell, when Danny would call for Clockwork to rescue him. Quietly, so quietly, it was barely even a whisper. But Clockwork would hear it—Danny was sure he would. Clockwork helped him out before, so this time shouldn’t be all that different. But at the end of the night, nothingness would answer him. And Danny had to learn over and over again that even the Ghost of Time had his own rules to follow.)

It had taken a few days and Talia nearly biting the head off of the League’s physician for them to realize that blood blossoms would be an awful way to contain him. Effective at immobilizing him, yes, but the flowers left him about as helpless as Superman in a kryptonite cave.

“It all works out in the end,” Talia would say. “The blossoms were never going to become a long-term solution; you might end up developing an immunity to them given enough exposure.”

Though knowing now what Talia’s ‘long-term plan’ was for making sure Danny didn’t slip through the walls of the headquarters and fly across the ocean, Danny would rather take his chances with the blood blossoms.

Danny might not have been as smart as Vlad, but he was tricky and creative when he needed to be. He knows he’s powerful. And sure, he might forget some of his own abilities every now and then, but that doesn’t mean he can’t use them. In the time he’s been stuck in the Leage’s lair (and coherent), Danny had thought of a dozen escape plans, each one with a high chance of success. If he made an attempt, he could guarantee the League wouldn’t notice until he was a quarter-way across the globe.

Escaping wasn’t the problem. That would be the easy part.

His core burned at the thought of it. And it hurt—as if his entire being was dunked in a vat of dry ice and left to freeze. He hated how he was here and everything that he was protecting was far. Away.

Danny wanted to go home. Wanted to read comic books in his bed, play Doom with Tucker and Sam, sleep in class and make fun of the Box Ghost. He wants to eat his mom’s food, even if there’s a fifty-fifty chance that it would come alive and try to eat him instead. He wants to listen to Jazz try to psychoanalyze his problems. Wants to go fishing with his dad and eat his famous chocolate fudge. Wants to fly above the skies of Amity Park and touch what little he can of the universe before he’s called down again.

Amity Park is his haunt. His Home. The soft hum of the Ghost Portal in the basement a lullaby he’s listened to for so long that sleeping without it was next to impossible. Every fiber of his being craved to go back because how is he supposed to protect Amity if he isn’t there?

But to go back meant sacrificing everyone.

Danny doesn’t risk it.

(The—the last time was an accident. If Danny isn’t—if he isn’t careful, this time it may be an assassination. He refused to have his family’s death on his hands again.)

He has faith in Sam, Tucker, and Jazz to hold down the fort until he could find a way to escape. They’re smart. Smarter than him. They’ll work something out and—in a worst-case scenario, they’ll find a way to shut down the Ghost Portal to stop the ghosts from coming through.

Logic meant nothing to his ghost core, though. The next best thing to do was to drown out his worries with the League’s rigorous education.

Hand-to-hand and weapons combat. Geography. History. Dozens of foreign languages. Poisons and herbology and basic first-aid. His days are packed with new things to learn and to repeat until it’s drilled into his skull so deep he could recite the information in his sleep. (Hyosycamus niger, aka Henbane. Every part is highly toxic and can cause dizziness, stupor, insanity, and eventual death. It’s medicinal uses range from--)

The League demanded perfection. The Demon’s Head demanded even more than that.

Talia oversaw his education. Sometimes, there would be another, older, man by her side, observing his regimen with cold calculation. Whenever that man arrived, Danny’s instructors were always stricter.

His teachers made little effort to interact with him outside of their set schedule, and during his lessons they only ever answer pertinent questions. He supposed there would be other students of the League in Nanda Parbat, but he’s seen neither hide nor hair of them. His rooms (a bedroom + bathroom combo that led out into a large indoor space for training) are separate from everything else.

Danny slept alone, ate alone, and trained alone. And for a boy who has had his two best friends stuck to his side like glue for as long as he could remember, it’s a terribly lonely experience.

His shadow guards don’t count. They might as well be another piece of furniture. Another stone in the wall.

-------

Talia was the only one that broke his new mundane routine, as much as she was the cause of it. She was his only source of companionship in this hell hole; the only one who would really speak to him. And yeah, he knew why that was. Jazz had rambled on enough about Stockholm syndrome to know that this ‘arrangement’ was Talia’s attempts at forging a bond between them. But godit’s just so hard to be stuck inside your own mind all day when. It made him think too much. Worry. (Whatifwhatifwhatifwhatif).

And then—

And then.

Danny had asked Talia a multitude of questions, but only two did she ever answer. Both asked when he was still trying to flush the drug cocktail and the blood blossoms from his system.

The first was when he asked, “Why am I here?” She answered that it was because Ra’s al Ghul, her father, wanted him. He had knowledge the Demon’s Head wanted; powers that Ra’s could only ever dream of. The man was curious—though Talia assured him over and over again that Danny wouldn’t be vivisected and studied for science.

The second answer came right after when Danny asked her “How could you be so sure?”

Talia smiled. Lacquered fingers coming up to brush away the dark strands that fell over his face. Her hands traced the curve of his jaw, cupping his cheeks to raise his eyes to hers. “Because you are my son,” she said, voice honey sweet.

He jerked from her hold.

Burned by it.

“You’re lying,” he spat. “I’m already someone else’s son. Try again.”

Talia let her hands drop to her sides. “You are my son.” She took a step closer towards him. Steady. Firm. “That is why you are here.”

“I don’t believe you.”

A pitying smile. “Be that as it may, you cannot change the truth.” She approached him, slowly backing him against the wall before she reached out to tilt his chin upwards. Some traitorous part of Danny’s mind catalogued her features. Made connections that shouldn’t exist. “I have carried you in my womb, Daniel. You were a part of me for so very long and I loved you more with each passing day. You are of my body and of my blood—not matter how much you may deny it.”

“No.” He pushed her hands away and raked his hands over his hair. “You’re lying.” She must be. They don’t look alike. Not at all. Everyone always said he was his dad’s—Jack Fenton’s—exact copy. Black haired and blue eyed and sharp-jawed. Awkward but well-meaning and with a heart of gold, his mother said. It was once of the facts of life; Danny took after his dad, and Jazz took after their mom. Simple as that.

(There is a memory resurfacing from his early childhood that Danny is desperately trying to repress again. Memories of kids teasing him on the playground, innocently cruel in the way only children can be as they tried to convince him he was adopted. That his skin looked nothing like his parents’. Dusky where his parents and sister were fair. He went home crying to his parents that same day, and they soothed away his worries with hushed words and a well-timed distraction.)

He asked no more questions after that. Talia was lying to him for some reason, and no answer she could give would be trustworthy anyways. What little of him he could see in her was only a figment of his own imagination. His mind playing cruel tricks.

Then his hopes were dashed aside when Talia showed him a picture of his father a day later.

The man in the photo looked like him. Black haired and eyes the same shade of too-bright blue. There were differences, of course. The man in the photograph was fairer, unlike Danny. He was taller and broader where Danny was lean and lanky. But despite this and all the other minute differences, this man who was supposed to be Danny’s biological father looked like him.

The same slant of the brow. The same shape of the eyes. The way the man held himself with this sense of gravitas and power that Danny couldn’t yet do in his awkward teenage years but had seen before. In a monster another man.

Danny’s future self was terrifying in its inhumanity, but it didn’t take that much of an imagination to know that he looked almost exactly like the man in the picture.

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #cw; drug use #phantom children.txt

[nite-shay]

A leg to Stand on - Togata Mirio x Reader

AN:

Idea: Character finding out their S/O has a prosthetic limb. (Think automail from full metal alchemist).

Sorry for any misspelling or grammar mistakes. 

Togata Mirio x Reader

He wasn't supposed to find out, at least not like this. 

You were going to tell him, of course. It wasn't something you could hide at least, not for long. A mechanical prosthetic leg wasn't common even in the world of quirks and heroes. While you weren't ashamed of your leg, it wasn't something you flaunted. You were proud of yourself for your body and your accomplishments, but... life felt simpler when people saw you for you, not for what you were missing. 

Your love life, if you could call it that, was proof enough of that. It's incredible how many assholes there are in the world. What was more incredible was how you seemed to attract said assholes and DATE them. 

 One broke up with you after on a treadmill at the gym. Coward did it over a text message. 

Another one though your leg was a weakness and bad for his future image.  

And then there was your most recent ex. While they were accepting of your metal limb, they thought it would be best for you to get out of the ‘hero business.’ They kept saying how dangerous it was for a 'normal' hero, but for someone like you, it was a death sentence. After a few fights, they played their final card; It was either them or the hero's life. 

You could never give up being a hero. 

After that, you swore off dating and decided to just focus on your career.

 Everything was going great for a while. 

Then you met, Togata Mirio, also known as the hero Lemillion. 

The sunshine boy wasn't like anyone else you ever met. You ran into him and your coworker Amajiki at a ramen shop near your work. After a shy introduction from Suneater, Mirio invited you to join them. You two really hit it off and chatted like old friends. Amajiki (per request of Mirio) started inviting you to their outing, and you quickly built a friendly relationship with Amajiki, Mirio, and Hado. You were enjoying your time with them, especially with Mirio, but you never could work up the courage to ask for his number. 

Luckily, Hado shipped the two of you... hard….

Hado blunt comments about how you two would make beautiful babies (she even went as far as finding an app that merges pictures together to show you what your child might look like), along with other playful ‘hint hint’ comments force the blonde in making the first move. Two dates and a couple of weeks later, you two were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. 

Dating.. hell just being around Mirio made you the happiest you had been in a long time...

Maybe that's why you hesitated when you thought about how to bring up your leg. 

It's just… you were nervous. You liked him...alot.. maybe even loved him. Of course, Mirio was a hard man not to fall for. And it went far beyond just his looks. His passion, his personality... ok, his looks. Everything about him radiated positivity and life. Put a half-dead plant near him, and the damn thing will jump back to life. 

If he did have a flaw, it was he was too perfect. You knew in your heart he would be accepting of your leg and your career, but...

 You didn't want to mess anything up, and you really hadn't been dating too long... 

Six months might seem like a long time but, given the fact that you were both heroes. It made your schedules a little... wonky, to say the least. Though six whole months have passed, you've only gotten to spend a month actually together in total. But that was the hero's life for you. 

While it wasn't always ideal, you both understood, and fortunately, you had technology on your side. Texting, emailing, and calling made the time apart more bearable. 

You felt like a giddy school girl as you checked your phone throughout the day. Reading the little message he sent you throughout the day, helped with getting through even the toughest of days. 

 But today was different.

After weeks of planning, both of you finally had a day off together and planned on spending as much time as you could together. 

There was going to be a festival held in a local park nearby that you loved going to every year.

 Mirio was dying to see a new comedy movie that just came out and, of course, no date we complete without a nice dinner at the local ramen house, the one you first met at. 

Your day was set! 

 You had just finished brushing your lush (Y/Hair color) hair when you heard a knock at your door. You quickly check your appearance in the mirror before welcoming the expected visitor at your door. Your outfit was simple, (cute/cool) and appropriate for the adventurous day before you. A pair of your favorite pants and (favorite color) tank top. While it wasn't summertime yet, the day was going to be warm and slightly humid.  

Mirio arrived at your apartment earlier than expected, and he looked amazing. He stood in the doorway, wearing a black t-shirt and tan cargo shorts that fit him too well. Not that you're complaining, you would soon cut your own tongue out before telling him ‘ya know babe, your butt looks too good in those shorts. You should go change.’ 

You haven’t taken that many hits to the head yet. 

Without any hesitation, you stepped into his warm, welcoming embrace. The feel of his arms around you reminded you that it really had been way too long since you’d gotten to see him. So long, in fact, that it took the two of you a little longer to leave than planned when a quick greeting kiss turned into a heated ', I missed you so much' makeout session. The moment your lips touched, the world around faded away, and there was only the two of you. But before things went too far though, one your neighbor, old miss nosy, interrupted. Apparently, neither of you remembered to shut the front door for some privacy. The sharp huff and her snide comment about hormonal young people these days were enough to pull you from your daze. After rearranging your clothes and locking your door, the two of you were off to enjoy your day.

And oh, what a wonderful day it was.

Even with the slight change of plans.  

Aizawa called Mirio around lunchtime and asked him to pick up Eri after school. The UA teacher was being called out to an emergency assignment and wouldn't be back till later that night. Mirio felt bad after telling you over lunch, but you weren't upset. In fact, you were excited to see Eri again and suggested that you include her in your outing. You enjoyed spending time with her. You especially got a kick out watching her and Mirio interact. The brotherly and sisterly bond they shared never failed to bring a smile to your face.  

Everything was perfect…

… until a villain attacked…

The three of you were making your way to the festival. You walked beside Miro while he carried Eri on his shoulders. You'd been in an in-depth conversation with the curious young girl, and before you realized it, you reached a rough part of town. Unfortunately, this was the shortest path to the fairgrounds. But with the two of you being heroes, you weren't too worried.

Oh, how wrong you were…

You should have taken the bus. 

You through as you dodge another attack from the villain in front of you. You had to be mindful with attacks you dodged, Mirio and Eri were crouched on the ground behind you. Mirio took massive damage from the villain's surprise attack. Parts of his face, the exposed skin on his arms and neck were an angry red and blistered. His breathing was harsh and uneven. 

Eri huddled up next to him, was scared but uninjured. Even with Mirio's injuries, he kept himself between the young girl and the man you were fighting. The villain had a dangerous quirk, allowing him to attack with scalding hot steam. Thank goodness for the quick reflexes of your blonde boyfriend. The villain came out of nowhere with a blitz attack aimed right at Eri. With speed only a skilled hero would have, he simultaneously pushed you and Eri out of the way of the blast. But doing so left him completely defenseless, taking the full force of the attack. 

In slow motion, you watched Mirio fall while you were left holding the young girl in your arms. Your fury rose as you eyed your injured lover and grinning villain. Quickly you tell Eri to run before you rushed the attacker in front of you. He was preparing for another attack, but before could, you hit him with a hard left, drawing his attention to you.  

At some point, Eri ran over to check on Mirio.

"Mirio." you dodge another attack " If you can move, get her out of here. I got this guy!" You tried to counter

"I'm not going to leave you!" 

"Just go!" Your quirk was strong, but it wasn't suited to fight the man in front of you. Your best bet was to hold him off until another hero arrived. His steam made it hard to dodge and even harder to get close for a counter. Every dodged, every counter made your skin boil. Finally, after what seemed like forever, you see an opening. 

"Gotcha!" You yell, aiming your fist for the man's face.

The villain grinned as he emitted a burst of steam around his whole body. The skin on your hand and arm were instantly burned by the heated moisture of the air. You couldn't help but shout out in pain as you jump back, cradling your injured arm. 

"(Y/N)!" Eri's voice echoed through the alleyway. 

"You don't stand a chance. So just give me the kid, and I'll let you and your little boyfriend live." He taunted before gesturing over to Eri, who was shaking in Mirio's arms. 

"No way. I won't let you take her…"

"What are you? Some hero wannabes?" He sneered.

"Try the real deal." You scoffed back at him.

"Ahhhh, I thought I recognized you… your (Y/Hero Name), aren't you? And is that Lemillion, behind you?" He laughed. "Oh, this is too perfect! I get to kill off two heroes and rid the world of that demon child too? Today's going to be a good day!" He attacked you again with even more determination than before. You manage to dodge most of his attacks and even land a few blows of your own. However, the little damage you could do was nothing compared to the damage you were receiving.

"Are you blind or stupid? Why are you fighting so hard to protect that little brat?"

"What can I say? I tend to take my work home with me." 

"That's not what I mean. I mean, why would you fight to protect her?" He rolled his eyes. "It's her fault, Lemillion is quirkless."

" Do you really have nothing else better to do than pick on a little kid?" You weren't going to fall for whatever trick the villain was trying to pull, but a slight look of confusion must have shown on your face. 

"You don't know, do you?" He taunted

"That's enough!" Mirio yelled as best he could before he started coughing. 

"What Lemillion? Didn't you tell her what happened to you?" He was now looking passed you to your boyfriend behind you. Eri had started shaking as she tried to bury her face into his chest. Whatever the villain was talking about, was clearing affecting the two behind you. 

"Shut up!" You attack again. You hated seeing Eri so upset. But what scared you was the look on Mirio's face. Typically, he smiled, even in the face of danger. You could count on seeing his dazzling grin to get you out of the toughest of situations. Not this time, though. You could see anger but also a look of sadness as he hugged Eri close to him, whispering something you couldn't quite make out. 

"Let me fill you in little hero. That brat behind you, she's the reason your loverboy back there lost his quirk. It's because of her that he'll never be the hero 'should' have been. All because of her and her damn quirk." He smirked as he continued. "You see, she has the ability to destroy other quirks." You were shocked as you listened to the villain in front of you. You never really asked what Eri's quirk was or how it was they met. Of course, you heard rumors that Mirio was quirkless. You never saw or heard of him using his quirk, so you never really asked about it. Honestly, you really didn't care. He was a damn good hero and an even better person. "Don't you see how dangerous that kid is? She could destroy everyone's quirk! Your's, Mine, Everyone! I'm doing the world a favor by getting rid of her." He chuckled menacingly. "Guess you could call me the hero in this situation!"

"Who the hell do you think you are…" Your teeth ground on each other as your anger rose to a new level.

"What?"

"What gives you the right…" Your voice rose as you took a step towards the villain.

"The right? Honey, I'm a villain. I do what I want when I want." He chuckled. 

"Villian or not. That wasn't your secret to tell…" 

"Huh?" That confused him. 

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TELLING SOMEONE ELSE'S SECRET?!" You launch yourself at the man. "You have no right to do that to someone!" You throw another punch only to meet a wall of steam. It wasn't as hot this time. You must have caught him off guard. That or you were just too mad to feel the pain. "People process things and will let others in at THEIR pace, not yours! People have secrets, and that's fine!

It's also okay for them not to tell anyone, but it's never okay for someone else to tell it FOR them!" You jump back to catch your breath some as you prepare for your next move. You looked back over your shoulder and beamed at the teary-eyed girl and your now smiling boyfriend.

"Mirio… Eri... I understand why you didn't tell me about your quirk or your relationship… I get it... That's a big secret to have. But know this, I will protect you, and I will never see you any different from before. I know what that feels like." You winked. "I have a secret, too, ya know… Something I haven't told either of you yet…" You turn to face the villain who had just gotten his second wind and charging up for the attack. And a powerful one at that. Without any hesitation, you rush the man in front of you.

"(Y/N)! "Eri's fearful voice echoed through the alleyway. 

"This is where you die (Y/Hero Name)!" The man engulfed his body in vapor hotter than before. Without any hesitation, you swing your leg in a high kick at the man's face. The vapor destroyed the material of your pants to reveal shiny metal where soft flesh should have been. While you weren't able to see, you could feel the impact of your attack. The contact you made was sold and amplified by your rage, sent the man flying to the alley wall behind him, knocking him out cold.

Adrenaline still pumping, you run over to check Mirio and Eri. Just as you reach them. Backup finally arrives. A couple of offers and some heroes swarmed the scene. Apparently, someone had called in the fight happening in the alleyway, but with the festival going on, it took longer for them to respond. 

"Mirio! Are you ok?" You crouched down next to him, checking over both him and Eri.

"Yeah, I'm ok… What… about you…. Eri?" His breath was uneven and hard as he spoke. 

"Were ok." You said in unison.

Two EMTs arrived, immediately running over to the three of you. They were more concerned about Mirio and wanted to take him to the hospital. He, of course, fought them, saying how they needed to check you and Eri first. True, the burns on your up arms and hands were severe but weren't life treating. Mirio, on the other hand, had more pressing injuries. The first attack from the villain damaged his throat and lungs. So the paramedics were more focused on getting him to the hospital. 

Without hesitation, you and Eri jump in the back of the ambulance with him. Much to the protest of one of the EMTs who was bandaging your burns. The ride back to the hospital was quiet. Eri didn't look at you the whole time. You felt bad. She was shy and to have someone say all those mean things about her... A kid… made you want to go back and kick that villain one more time for good measure. But Eri's safety and Mirio's health comes first. The doctors quickly got Mirio into a room and hooked up to a line of oxygen. One of the nurses was able to apply some minor healing to make his breathing a little easier. However, he would have to wait a little while before someone with the proper quirk could heal his lungs completely.

So there the three of you were. Eri didn't look up at you for the longest time, and it finally took Mirio talking to her to get her to look at you. The villain's comments really upset Eri, and she thought you now hated her because of what happened to Mirio. After a lot of reassuring, tears (from all three of you) and hugs (lots of hugs), Eri finally smiled at you again.

About that time, Aizawa entered the room. His mission got canceled last minute. He heard what happened and rushed over to check on Eri. After a few more reassuring hugs and promises to see each other later. Aizawa took Eri home, leaving you alone with Mirio. You were quiet for a while as you sat in silence, not sure what to say. Luckily, Mirio being Mirio, knew just what to do. He slowly slid over as much as the small bed would allow and raised one of his arms up. 

"Come here..." He gave you a soft smile, and without hesitation, you climbed into the bed with him. This was something you both need right now. After some careful adjustment due to your injuries, the two of you found a comfortable position. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my quirk or about Eri."

"It's fine, believe me when I say I know a thing or two about what to bring up and when." You joked as you patted your metal leg. "Some things... aren't first date or even six months of dating conversations." He couldn't help but chuckle before finally getting a good look at your leg. 

"I... didn't know about your leg... What happened?"  

"There was a villain attack when I was a kid..." You whispered as thought back to that day. After telling him the whole story, he couldn't help but hold you tighter to himself. "After that... I decided to be a hero. I'm sorry I didn't tell you soon... and that you had to find out this way... Bet it was a bit of a shock, huh?" You glanced away slightly but stayed in his embrace. You felt bad for not telling him sooner. You mentally scolded yourself as you stare at your exposed metallic leg; if you hadn't been so afraid of telling him, you could have ended the fight sooner. It could have ended better. Mirio knew you were kicking yourself about the attack. He leaned down and gave you a sweet kiss on your lips. The blonde man knew you well, and you leaned into the kiss. True to his nature, the sunshine boy could break through the darkest doubts you had about yourself. 

"A bit but not in a bad way... I was just surprised! But... now that I think about it... it does make sense..." His sheepish expression made you feel better until you fully comprehend his answer. After a kiss like that, you almost forgot you asked a question. 

"Huh?" 

"Well.. you have a little cans of oil in your medicine cabinet, and you have an unusual amount of tools for someone who doesn't have a vehicle... "He quietly reflected before a look of surprise washed over his face. "And on top of that...Tamaki said that Fatgum stepped on your foot last week, and you didn't even flinch!" He examined with his trademark grin.

His expression, along with his remarks through you into a fit of laughter. Hearing your laughter made his heart soar as he joined in. The fit was made worse as you remembered the look on Fatgum’s horrified face when he realized it was your foot and not a bunched up part of the carpet, stepped on. He apologized profusely and was surprised when you brushed off the incident. 

"Poor guy. I thought he was going to cry!" You roared as you both continued to laugh until a coughing fit from Mirio finally claimed you both down. "So…. Do you have any plans tomorrow?"

"Not really. Bubble girl gave me the next few days off to rest up. What about you?"

"Fatgum was upset I got injured. I believe his exact words were, 'now, as much as I love fried chicken, don't bring your extra crispy butt into work for the next few days? Got it chickadee?'" You did your best to imitate the BMI hero's accent, which only causes you to go into another laughing fit.

"How about we hang out at my place tomorrow? What is Hado called? Netflix and chill?"

"I'd like that." You grinned as gently snuggled against Miro's chest.

Thanks for the read! If you want see the other stuff I’ve done, click the link bellow!

MasterList

#bnha x reader #mha x reader #togata mirio x reader #mirio x reader #bnha imagines #mha imagines #togata mirio #lemillion x reader

[jeezricksa]

dumps  a  metric   ton  of  morty  headcanons  on  the  dash,

he’s  very  adept  at  quickly  picking  up  other  languages!  morty  knows  how  to  speak  upwards  of  five  extraterrestrial  dialects.  if  he  went  ahead  and  installed  duolingo  or  something  on  his  phone  he’d  be  unstoppable.  additionally,  he  tends  to  stutter  somewhat  less  when  speaking  another  language  because  he  has  to,  well,  take  the  time  to  think  about  what  he’s  going  to  say,  instead  of  just  blurting  out  whatever’s  on  his  mind  and  hoping  some  semblance  of  coherence  kicks  in  along  the  way.

morty  takes  the  time  to  observe  alien  life  forms,  cultures  and  plant  life  whenever  an  adventure  is  somewhat  calm  (read:  has  yet  to  go  to  shit).  he  takes  pictures  with  his  phone  and  takes  misspelled,  idle  notes  down  in  the  relevant  app  and  draws  them  into  a  notebook  with  detailed  accounts  once  he’s  back  home.  nags  rick  to  tell  him  the  correct  names  of  everything  and  fact  checks.  his  spelling  is  all  over  the  place,  it’s  the  dyslexia,  but  he  makes  sure  the  information  is  as  accurate  as  possible  in  every  other  regard.

him  and  rick  have  had  to  move  timelines  twice.  first  time  because  morty  fucked  with  raising  shit  from  the  dead  and  mistakenly  infested  their  world  with  a  horde  of  zombie  cats,  second  time  because  rick  fucked  up  in  a  way  he  can  only  hazily  remember.  (he’s  assuming  that  one’s  locked  up  with  the  mindblowers).  they  moved  into  very  similar  ones  each  time.

yeah,  he’s  aware  that  rick  regularly  blanks  out  his  memory.  but  he’s  opted  to  keep  that  knowledge  to  himself  for  now  instead  of  having  an  outburst  over  it.  whenever  an  opportunity  presents  itself  he  seeks  out  the  chamber  and  plays  a  few  of  the  lost  memories  back.  a  lot  of  them  are  traumatising  and  he  doesn’t  want  to  overwhelm  himself,  hence  why  he  doesn’t  just  binge  them  in  one  go ---  but  he  also  doesn’t  want  to  be  ignorant  and  unable  to  learn  and  grow  from  his  mistakes ;  plus,  how  the  fuck  is  it  fair  he  doesn’t  get  to  recall  the  few  occasions  he  gets  one  up  on  rick??

speaking  of  bastard  grandpa,  he  dropped  in  now  and  again  during  morty’s  childhood.  usually  during  birthdays  or  christmas,  always  at  least  a  little  drunk.  he  was  very  starry-eyed  over  rick  when  he  was  too  young  to  really  know  better,  but  disillusionment  started  creeping  in  from  the  age  of  seven  upwards.  every  visit  always  made  mom  really  happy,  then  really  sad  again.  she’d  start  drinking.  her  and  dad  would  have  horrible  arguments  for  weeks  after  his  grandpa’s  every  visit.  he  observed  the  pattern  with  wide  eyes  each  time  and  grew  more  and  more  distant  and  dismissive  toward  rick  with  age,  contributing  to  his  grumpy  dismissal  and  outright  irritation  with  the  other’s  antics  now  that  he’s  a  teenager.

his  parents  have  been  divorced  since  he  was  ten.  probably  for  the  best.  he  doesn’t  blame  rick  for  that  nor  does  he  resent  either  of  them  for  it ;  morty  doesn’t  really  like  meeting  their  new  partners,  however.  don’t  get  him  wrong,  he’d  love  nothing  more  than  to  see  his  parents  find  happiness  again ...  just,  they  almost  seem  to  naturally  gravitate  towards  people  who  bring  out  the  worst  in  them.  him  and  summer  are  polite  and  civil,  but  exchange  meaningful  looks  and  bitch  about  their  potential  new  stepparents  together  in  private.

he’s  not  really  dated  before,  but  he’s  made  out  with  a  few  girls  (human  and  otherwise)  while  adventuring  and  had  a  pathetically  one-sided  crush  on  a  guy  at  school  before.  at  least,  he’s  pretty  sure  it  was  one-sided?

morty’s  on  friendly  terms  with  his  jessica,  but  keeps  her  at  kind  of  an  arm’s  length  because  his  life  is  a  mess  and  she  doesn’t  really  need  dragging  into  it.  she’s  been  involved  in  a  few  shenanigans  and  he’s  awkwardly  /  shyly  bonded  with  her  over  them.  (i’ve  decided  his  jessica’s  last  name  is  field,  since  the  writers  decided  not  to  give  her  a  canon  one?  smh...)

he  has  a  genuine  interest  in  science  and  it’s  the  one  subject  he  attains  good  grades  in  at  school.  that,  and  art.

as  a  kid,  he  wanted  to  illustrate  and  write  his  own  comic  books.  he  still  has  a  few  exercise  books  full  of  wonky  panels  and  kiddie  scribble  drawings  and  wobbly  crayon  writing.  it  was  aptly  titled  ‘space  boy’  (very  original)  and  depicted  the  explorations  of  a  small  child  in  a  yellow  shirt  and  astronaut  helmet  wandering  astonishingly  creative  and  vibrant  worlds.  five  year  old  morty’s  self  projection  is  very  evident.  the  second  thrilling  installment,  ‘space  boy  gets  a  space  dog,’  is  half  drawn  and  incomplete.  probably  will  be  forever.  they’re  dumb,  but  they  make  him  feel  sort  of  happy.  nostalgic,  y’know?  he  was  happier  then.

he’s  definitely  killed  hostile  aliens,  that’s  sort  of  a  given.  maybe  an  innocent  or  two.  adventures  get  out  of  hand  sometimes,  you  have  to  make  hasty  decisions,  have  an  outburst  and  lash  out,  sometimes  he  has  to  relax  his  morals  for  the  greater  good  or  something ...  he’s  cool,  though!  really!  the  terrible  things  he’s  capable  of  don’t  haunt  him  at  all.

never  sleeps.  sleep  schedule’s  fucked.  perpetually  looks  exhausted.  might  have  fallen  asleep  slumped  up  to  your  muse  once  or  twice.

#i had more but this one's! already way too long! fgjhdfjg! #SORRY THIS IS INCOHERENT #but i truly would die and kill for morty smith c-136 uvu #headcanons . #long post cw

[saiilorstars]

Stars Dance

[Story Masterlist]

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: Female OC x 11th Doctor

(Main OC Face claim: Rachel Lefevre) (2nd OC Face claim: Bella Heathcote)

{And the theme song for Avalon and the Doctor is Enchanted by Taylor Swift}

{Find the story’s masterlist here}

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Ch. 1: The Little Girls From Five Minutes Ago

Chapter Summary: The Doctor knows she's not the most typical companion but she's the one who needs him most. Avalon Reynolds has grown up knowing the Doctor's stories all her life. Although she's troublesome, she has a heart of gold that the Doctor cannot deny. He brings her, Amy Pond and Lena Reynolds into the TARDIS. But in doing so, he starts setting the seeds for the biggest stories of his lives.

In a child's bedroom, a young ginger girl and an ashy brunette girl were knelt down beside the only bed in the room. Both were meant to be praying, although the brunette girl didn't think they would be praying to a figment of imagination.

"Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish," the ginger was praying. She missed her third friend, who sat on her bed, rolling her eyes.

"Amelia, I told you, Santa isn't real," the ashy brunette kneeling beside Amelia said, her voice a bit scratchy. "It's just some ploy to get market sells up-"

"Shut up, Lena ," Amelia opened her eyes and gave her friend a small frown. She was sick of this argument because no matter what she said, Lena would still refuse to believe it. "Santa is real."

"Nu-uh," Lena shook her head fast.

"Lena stop that, you're going to get dizzy," the second ginger-haired girl on Amelia's bed ordered. She stopped brushing a barbie doll's hair that she was holding to give Lena a scolding look. "And then you'll have to take your medicine again and Dad and Mum are going to get crossed with me for it."

"Avalon, tell your sister Santa is real," Amelia said. She knew Avalon was much more open-minded than her twin sister was. She believed in everything that wasn't real.

"Of course Santa is real," Avalon mumbled as she brushed the barbie's hair, rolling her icy blue eyes like it should have been logical that this was the truth.

"Avalon, don't do that. Dad says Santa is just a ploy for the hum-"

"Lena, be quiet," Avalon immediately said before her sister said some words Amelia should never know about.

"Sorry," Lena looked down, realizing her mistake.

"Anyways, were doing something important," Amelia reminded, re-taking her praying position, "Santa, I promise it's an emergency. There's a crack in my wall..."

Avalon looked up from the barbie and stared at the wall of Amelia's bedroom where a big, nasty crack was sprawled on. As Amelia continued to pray, Avalon hopped off the bed and went to the wall. There was always so much trouble with the stupid crack on the wall. No one believed Amelia that there were noises on the other side...but Avalon did. She knew it was something alien and despite the fact she told her parents, they didn't do anything to help Amelia. But that was always the way Avalon's family acted - they tried to be human as best as possible to fit in.

"Avalon, you have to stay away from it," Lena said nervously. She was afraid of the crack like Amelia was but her sister was always looking for trouble and going straight for the danger.

Although to Avalon it was more of her trying to see what made things tick. Even then as she walked up to the wall she didn't bother about any calls from her sister warning her of danger. Instead, she tried to dig her finger into the crack, as if it would poke into the other side. She was sure there was another side - but Amelia would probably never guess that on her own.

"Avalon..." Lena called again, more like whispered. She always did that when she became afraid. She wished Amelia would stop praying and help her get Avalon back, but unfortunately it seemed like Amelia was sticking to it.

"Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but... I know it's not, because, at night, there's voices. So please, please, could you send someone to fix it? Or a policeman. Or..." Amelia stopped when they heard something crashing in the garden.

Avalon immediately spun around as Lena gasped loudly, terrified. All three girls remained silent for a moment, but then Avalon's eyes flickered to the bedroom window and she just couldn't resist.

"Lena, stay here," she ordered and rushed out of the room.

Amelia decided to go and see as well. She hurried to collect some shoes and a jacket. "Back in a moment!" she assured Lena then ran out.

Lena breathed heavily and stood to her feet, slowly walking up to the bedroom window. She curled her fingers over her sleeves as she looked out. Her eyes widened when she saw a...blue box...

~ 0 ~

Avalon and Amelia ran outside of the house, Amelia wearing a red jacket and matching wellies unlike Avalon who was outside in her pajamas and no shoes. The doors of the TARDIS opened and a rope with a grappling hook was thrown out, latching into a lawn roller. Both girls watched as one hand and another came over the edge of the box followed by the Doctor's head.

"Can I have an apple?" was his first question. "All I can think about - apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new - never had cravings before," he straddled the TARDIS and looked back inside, "Whoa! Look at that!"

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked. She once again missed her friend's reaction to the strange sight.

Avalon's eyes were fixated on the lopsided blue box. There were so many things that ran through her head, but the main one was 'I know him'. Needless to say, she was fascinated in an instant. "That's not the first question to ask," she distractedly said to Amelia before walking towards the Doctor and his box. "Are you the Doctor?" she demanded. For her, she had merely been asking but for the Doctor it was such a sight to see a little girl demanding something from him.

"Now how would you know that?" he asked, expressing bemusement.

"Because I do know," she said with the biggest smile on her face. "You're him, aren't you?"

If the Doctor had been amused before now he was properly entertained. "Yes, I am."

"Why is he soaking wet?" Amelia came to stand beside Avalon, trying to lean and see what was inside the box.

The Doctor swung both his legs to one side and sat properly over the box. "Just had a fall. All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up."

"Are you a policeman?" Amelia curiously asked.

"Why?" the Doctor stopped. "Did you call a policeman?"

"No, she called Santa," Avalon replied fast. "But you're better! You can help!"

"Help with what?"

"The crack in my wall," Amelia eyed her friend weirdly, wondering why she was so excited over this strange man.

"What cra...?" the Doctor suddenly gasped and fell to the ground, hand clutching his chest.

"Are you okay!?" Avalon rushed to him, Amelia following in suit.

The Doctor pulled himself to his knees, but still struggled to get himself back on track. This regeneration sure seemed to be a wonky one. "No, I'm fine, it's okay. This is all perfectly norm-" but he stopped against his will and released a golden wisp of regeneration energy.

"What is that?" Avalon blinked with widened eyes.

Amelia, on the other side, felt a bit creeped out for a moment. "Who are you?"

The Doctor raised both his hands that were now glowing with the same colored energy. "I don't know yet. I'm still cooking. Does it scare you?"

"Nothing scares me," Avalon proudly said. "Especially not you!"

"It just looks...weird," Amelia thought the man didn't look quite menacing, at least not the way her aunt described strangers.

"No, no, no," the Doctor shook his head at them both. "I meant the crack in your wall," he nodded to Amelia. "Does it scare you?"

"Yes," Amelia said quietly.

"There's something there, I know it," Avalon was the complete opposite once again. She was excited to know that now they would be able to discover what was really on the other side of the crack. Because that's what the Doctor did, she heard from her family - he helped!

"Well, then, no time to lose," the Doctor sprang into action. "I'm the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't wander of." But as soon as he strode away, he walked straight into a tree and was knocked backwards onto the ground.

Avalon skipped up to the Doctor and looked down at the man. "If you can be stupid and walk into trees, then how come you tell us not to be stupid?"

"Well, you're a nice one," the Doctor remarked, unable to stop himself from smiling at the girl.

With a smile of her own, she helped him up and brought him to Amelia's house with the help of the latter. As soon as they were inside, Avalon's twin sister, Lena, was waiting with fearful eyes by the threshold. When the Doctor saw her, she gasped and pulled back into the hallway.

"Lena!" Avalon went after her, leaving the Doctor with Amelia in the kitchen. "Lena! Lena, it's okay!"

"Avalon, you brought a stranger into Amelia's house!" Lena whispered frantically, her eyes filling with tears. "What if - what if he tries to hurt us-"

Avalon grabbed her sister by the shoulders, laughing a bit. "Lena, no, it's him. It's the Doctor! You remember the story, right?"

Lena made a face for the first couple of seconds. "The...the Doctor?"

"Yes," Avalon nodded her head, letting go of Lena's shoulders. "I don't know how...but he finally showed up again! Isn't that great!?"

Lena's eyes drifted to the kitchen threshold where they could both hear the Doctor shooting down the apple Amelia had apparently given him. "But...but if he's the Doctor, then shouldn't we call Mum and Dad?"

"No!" Avalon's eyes widened. "No! If we do that...then they'll want to talk to him like boring adults do. This is our time, Lena. This is our time to meet him and...and ask him about that day."

"But we can't do that," Lena said quietly. She leaned closer to her sister and whispered her next words. "Amelia doesn't know that we're not fully human."

"Okay," Avalon realized Lena was right and that they would be unable to fully ask the Doctor all of their questions. "But...but we can still talk to him, right? We don't need to call any adults, okay?" Lena gave a small nod of her head. Avalon took her hand and excitedly led her back into the kitchen.

Amelia was in the middle of giving the Doctor a small yogurt. He practically snatched it from her and ripped off the top. As soon as the yogurt went into his mouth he spit it out to the side. "I hate yogurt," he tasted the remnants of it in his mouth and cringed. "It's just stuff with bits in!"

"You said it was your favorite," Amelia frowned.

"New mouth, new rules," the Doctor excused himself and unceremoniously wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Eugh," Lena crinkled her nose. "Mister, do you want a napkin?"

The Doctor laughed for a short minute and doubled over with pain. "Agh!"

"What's wrong with you?" Avalon asked him.

"Wrong with me? It's not my fault. Why can't any of you give me decent food!?" was the snappy response.

Avalon frowned suddenly, her eyes narrowing in such a way that it amused the Doctor how quickly she could put on an angry face for a seven year old. "You don't have to be mean. You're not supposed to be! That's not you!"

"Yeah?" the Doctor straightened up. "And just how am I supposed to be, then?"

"Nice!" Avalon tapped her head like it was obvious. "Just because you're hungry doesn't mean you have to be mean."

"Fair enough," the Doctor conceded, but he was almost sure the little girl was keeping something else. She carried herself with an aura of knowledge that apparently Amelia didn't know.

Sometime later, Amelia had begun to fry some bacon. Lena had been nice enough to give the Doctor a towel for his soaky appearance.

"Why are you wet?" she eyed him with a small frown. "Don't you know you can get sick like that? My Mum says the water is bad for you."

"No," Amelia looked over at her friend, "She says it's bad for you. You're the one that's sick, remember?"

Lena nodded. The Doctor eyed the girl and noticed she did look a shade paler than the two gingers. Her voice also sounded much softer.

When Amelia finished with the bacon, she slid the plate to the Doctor on the table and anxiously waited for him to taste it.

Once again, the Doctor had disliked her food. He spit it back on the plate and pushed it away. "Bacon. That's bacon. Are you trying to poison me?"

"But that's what you wanted," Avalon said, rather irritated he was being this childish. Not even her little brother was this childish.

"No, I did not want that!"

Amelia tried her luck again, and this time came up with some beans. But just as the previous times, when the Doctor took his first forkful of it, he spit it out. "Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans!"

"Ah!" Avalon waved her hands in exasperation. "You get one more try, mister!"

Amelia provided next some bread and butter.

"Bread and butter. Now you're talking," the Doctor rubbed his hands in anticipation while Amelia spread some butter over the toast. Amelia soon handed him the plate and wished with all her heart that this would be the snack he finally wanted. Because if not, she was pretty sure Avalon would kick him.

"Eugh!" the Doctor crinkled his nose but instead of putting the plate down like the last times, he walked for the backdoor.

"What's he..." Lena watched, confused, until he opened the door and threw the plate out to the garden.

"And stay out!" he shouted just as a cat hissed.

"Hey! That's my cat!" Avalon ran for the door but Lena pulled her back.

"It's not your cat," she corrected Avalon. "You're not supposed to feed it, remember?"

Avalon shrugged her shoulders and returned her attention to the Doctor. "I'm going to kick you if you keep wasting Amelia's food. Pick something already!"

The Doctor went straight for the fridge to find himself the right snack. He went down to the freezer and started pulling some boxes out until he let out a small 'Aha!' and took out a fish fingers box. Then he took out a container of custard.

"Gross," Avalon declared the moment she saw both items.

But, this time, it was the right combination.

Later, the three girls and the Time Lord sat around the table eating respective snacks. While Amelia and Avalon had taken to ice cream, Lena preferred some cut up fruit. The Doctor was the first to finish with his snack, and he did it with style. He picked up the bowl his custard was in and drank the remainder all in one go. When he put his bowl down, he found Avalon, who sat closest to him, staring at him with a funny look on her face.

"You're kinda gross," she remarked with such ease he laughed. It was clear she hadn't grasped the kind, polite manners all humans seemed so strict on. He was happy for that.

"Here," Lena reached for a napkin and handed it to him, gesturing he had a left over custard mustache on his face.

"Do you know how to eat right?" Avalon tilted her head, one hand supporting her cheek. "Or do you just prefer to eat like that?"

"Avalon," Amelia made a gesture for her to quit asking questions like that.

"What?" Avalon blinked, clueless of the meaning behind Amelia's gestures.

"Avalon? Is that your name?" the Doctor called the girl's attention.

"Mhm! Avalon Reynolds!"

"Do you know what your name means?"

"Oh! I do!" she dropped her ice cream spoon and began to explain. "It's part of the Arthurian legend! It's this small island-" she gestured with her hands, "-where King Arthur's sword was made and then later where the King recovered from a battle!"

"You know your stuff," the Doctor blinked, truly impressed with her knowledge.

"I know everything about legends and fairytales," Avalon boasted happily.

"She does," Amelia playfully rolled her eyes.

"Everything?" the Doctor feigned some doubt, even though he knew it was impossible for her to know everything about the topic. But she seemed so passionate about it he didn't want to cut it short.

"Mhm! I love fairytales. Do you like them!?"

"Yes I do," the Doctor nodded. "Do you have a favorite?"

"Sleeping Beauty," groaned the other two girls.

"I love the story!" Avalon agreed. "I've read it a hundred times!"

"Just the modern ones I assume?"

Avalon's smile turned into a confused one. "What do you mean? What else am I supposed to read?"

"Well...you know...there are plenty of other versions..."

"But those are not nice," Avalon crinkled her nose. She was well aware that many of her preferred fairytales had bad origins and she was not interested in ruining her vision of them.

"No, I meant, like the Brothers Grimm? Do you know them?" the Doctor judged by the blank face Avalon had that she did not know anything. "Okay, well, see those are one of the original ones. But actually, they based their version of Sleeping Beauty on the original French version. "La Belle au bois dormant".

Avalon tried to repeat that in one go but proved to be more difficult. "La Belle wa...La Belle au...La Be..." she shook her head, her ginger curls dancing from the movement. "I can't say that!"

"Maybe with some practice you can," the Doctor tapped her nose, making her smile again. "But my advice is go back in time for these classic versions of your fairytales. They're beautiful and they deserve some recognition. I know you'd love them."

Avalon beamed at the suggestion, taking it to heart...not that the Doctor would know until many years later. "Okay! I will! I promise!"

"Great, now we'll have to hear more about the stories," Amelia muttered but heard Lena chuckling.

"And you two?" the Doctor called to them. "What are your names again?"

"Lena," the brunette girl responded softly. "Lena Reynolds."

"Oh...you're..." the Doctor pointed between her and Avalon.

"Twin sisters," went both.

"Fraternal, before you ask," Avalon added after a moment.

"And you?" the Doctor gave a look at Amelia.

"Amelia Pond."

"Ah, that's a brilliant name. Amelia Pond, like a name in a fairy tale. I can see why you're friends," the Doctor smiled at her and Avalon. "So then, where exactly are we? Scotland?" he gestured to Amelia due to her clear Scottish accent, "Or are we in England?" he then gestured to the two English twins.

"England," the twins responded.

"Rubbish," Amelia muttered.

"So what about your mum and dad, then?" the Doctor once again looked between the girls to find out whose house they were in. "Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now."

"I don't have a mum and dad. Just an aunt," Amelia answered.

"I don't even have an aunt," the Doctor said.

"But you had a friend," Avalon remarked, not that the Doctor understood very well.

"So, your aunt. Where is she?" he asked Amelia.

"She's out."

Now surprised, the Doctor's eyes flickered from one girl to the next. "And she left all three of you alone?"

"We're not scared," Avalon boredly remarked as she dug her spoon into her ice cream. "Besides, she said she would be back soon."

"I can see you're not scared," the Doctor wanted to add 'especially you' but decided against it. "Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard, and look at you all, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"

"What?" went Lena curiously.

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall."

Avalon snorted, clearly against the idea as well. "I'm not scared," she repeated and stuck her spoon with ice cream into her mouth, giving a casual shrug while the Doctor smiled again.

~ 0 ~

The three girls stood by the doorway while the Doctor examined the long crack on Amelia's bedroom wall. "You've had some cowboys in here. Not actual cowboys, though that can happen."

Amelia tossed an apple in her hand. "I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them." She turned the apple over to reveal a carved smiley face on it.

The Doctor returned and took the apple, giving it a small toss in the air. "She sounds good, your mum. I'll keep it for later."

"Where would you keep it?" he heard Avalon mumble under her breath with full blown disapproval.

He went back to the wall and pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing - where's the draught coming from?" he ran the sonic along the crack then pulled it away to read the results. "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. You know what the crack is?"

"Clearly we don't or else we wouldn't have asked," came Avalon's logical response.

"It's a crack," the Doctor began but Avalon once again cut in to make a remark.

"But that we clearly knew."

"Avalon!" Lena scolded, thinking her sister to be rude.

"I'm just saying," Avalon raised her hands. "Clearly we know that it's a crack so why does he have to say it? And of course we didn't know what the crack actually is or we wouldn't have asked him to come into the room and check it himself."

"Yeah, you want to be impressed then, Miss Reynolds?" the Doctor teasingly called.

"Mhm," the girl folded her arms and raised her head, trying to pretend to be far older and serious.

"Okay," the Doctor turned to the wall again and gently ran his fingers along the crack. "Here's something: if you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, 'cos the crack isn't in the wall. It's everywhere. It's everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together...right here in the wall of this bedroom." He turned around to witness the clearly shocked look on Avalon's face.

"Woah..." she whispered.

"Impressed?"

With a wide smile, she nodded her head.

"Sometimes, can you hear…"

"A voice?" Amelia immediately guessed and hoped he would say yes. Often times when she told her aunt, she was cast off as delirious or childish.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded and pressed an ear to the wall. When he heard a slurred, echoing voice, he pulled back and walked to the night stand where a glass of water was placed at. He threw the water to the side and then used it to enhance his hearing on the wall.

Prisoner Zero has escaped.

"Prisoner Zero?" he repeated.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped," Amelia drew on her knowledge. "That's what I heard. What does it mean?"

Prisoner Zero has escaped.

The Doctor took a step backwards from the wall. "It means that, on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. Do you know what that means?"

"That it's cool?" Avalon was pretty much excited over the case unlike her sister and friend.

"Well yes, but...you also need a better wall," the Doctor pulled on the desk in his way and moved it to the side. "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or..."

"Or what?" Lena narrowed her eyes a bit suspiciously. It all sounded too easy to fix what seemed like a big problem.

"You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"

"Aha."

"Everything's going to be fine."

"Liar," Avalon playfully disapproved. "Can you fix the crack, then? For real?"

"I'm going to try right now," the Doctor promised. He faced the wall again and aimed the sonic at the crack. As it activated, the crack began to widen, filling the room with a bright light. Despite it being hard to look at, Avalon made an effort and caught what looked to be like cells on the other side. While the echoing voice grew louder and clearer, the Doctor hurried himself to get the crack to close.

"Ah!" Lena cried when a giant blue eyes peered through the crack. "Avalon!"

But Avalon was fascinated with what she saw. Even Amelia was curious of what exactly they were looking at.

A small ball of light shot through the crack and seemingly struck the Doctor. As he fell back against the bed, the crack sealed right up.

"What just happened!?" Lena fearfully asked, refusing to let go of her sister's hand. "Is it...is it gone!? Is it coming back!? Is it going to hurt us!?"

"Nah," the Doctor got up from his fall and viewed the wall without the crack. "See? Told you it would close. Good as new."

"But that thing..." Avalon's eyes were glued to the wall. "It kept saying something about a prisoner. Is its guard or something?"

"Whatever it was, it sent me a message," the Doctor turned around and pulled out the psychic paper for them to see. "Psychic paper, takes a lovely little message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped'," he read off. "But why tell us? Unless..."

"Unless what?" Amelia saw the immediate change in the Doctor's face and frowned.

"Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here. But he couldn't have. We'd know..." the Doctor wasn't quite sure he could stick with that statement and ran out of the room.

"But if he's here, then shouldn't we leave!?" Lena asked after they followed.

"It's difficult," the Doctor blinked rapidly, trying to get his mind to work with him. "Brand-new me, nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing...in the corner..." he slowly turned, "...of my eye." He was interrupted by the sound of a bell clanging from outside.

"What is that?" Avalon came to the window to see what was making the noise.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor broke into a run and headed for the stairs.

"You can't run down the stairs!" Lena called out in vain from the rails.

"He's not gonna listen to rules," Avalon turned around and ran as well.

The Doctor came to an abrupt stop outside in the garden, just a couple of inches from the TARDIS. "I've got to get back in there! The engines are phasing, it's going to burn!"

"But...it's just a box!" Amelia eyed him a little like he was crazy.

"Boxes don't make those noises," Avalon said knowingly.

The Doctor worked fast to get the grappling hook and rope. "It's not a box. It's a time machine."

"What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?" Amelia's eyes looked from the Doctor to the box.

"Not for much longer if I can't get her stabilized. Five-minute hop into the future should do it," the Doctor looped the rope through the door handles.

Amelia looked at the twins beside her and then the Doctor, "Can I come?"

Avalon blinked at Amelia, "You want to go with a stranger?"

"Don't you do that all the time?" Amelia countered.

"It's different - they're not aliens!" Avalon snapped, a lot for a seven year old. "And besides, I know what I'm doing!"

Amelia rolled her eyes and looked at the Doctor for her answer.

"Not safe in here, not yet. Five minutes. Give me five minutes, I'll be right back," the Doctor hopped onto the edge and prepared to go inside.

"People always say that," Amelia frowned.

The Doctor jumped down to the ground and walked up to three girls, "Am I people? Do I even look like people? Trust me, I'm the Doctor."

"I do," Avalon said so automatically that the Doctor stopped and gave her a curious look. "I trust you'll come back."

"I'll be back in five minutes!" he promised and hurried up to the box. He climbed back and held onto the rope, giving the girls a smile before jumping in, "Geronimo!" the TARDIS doors slammed shut and the girls watched the box disappear.

Amelia dashed back to the house, going up to her room. Lena noticed the way Avalon was staring at the now empty space in the garden.

"Avalon, what are you thinking of?"

"That we actually just met the Doctor...and we let him go like that," Avalon shrugged.

"But...he said he'll come back, five minutes max."

"Mm," Avalon swayed her head. "If his box was malfunctioning...I think it might be a little more than five minutes."

Lena glanced back at the house, thinking of Amelia. "Should we tell Amelia?"

"Nah, she'll figure it out soon!" Avalon cheerily skipped back into the house.

~ 0 ~

The next time the TARDIS materialized back in Amelia's back-garden, it was fully daylight. The box's doors flung open as the Doctor emerged through billowing smoke, a cloth held over his nose and mouth, "Amelia! Avalon! Lena!" he ran towards the house, "I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!" he used the screwdriver on the locked door and finally got it open after a few tries.

~ 0 ~

A male nurse dressed in blue scrubs and a woman with medium-length ashy-brunette hair were following a second woman in a business suit down a hospital corridor into a ward room with two rows of unconscious patients. The second woman stopped in front of a patient, the brunette and male nurse beside her.

"So. They all called out at once, that's what you're saying?" the second woman asked, the pair beside her nodded, "All of them, all the coma patients," she flipped through the patient's file, "You do understand that these people are all comatose, don't you? They can't speak."

"Yes, Dr. Ramsden," the nurse nodded again.

"Then why are you wasting my time?"

"With all due respect, Dr. Ramsden, but I was with Rory when they called for you," the brunette spoke up with a soft voice.

"They called for me?" Dr. Ramsden raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, and I'm a witness," the brunette said.

Dr. Ramsden shook her head, she couldn't exactly take the woman's word as a plausible witness. Her condition probably made her a bit woozy and hallucinogenic.

"Doctor," the patient the trio stood in front of called softly, "Doctor."

The trio looked around as every other patient in the room called for the doctor...

~ 0 ~

The Doctor opened his eyes with a small groan, his head pounding for a second as his vision cleared up. Someone had hit him hard on the head at the staircase after he had come in searching for Amelia and her friends. He saw a female police officer dressed in a very short skirt speaking into her radio.

"White male, mid-20s, breaking and entering. Send me some back-up, I've got him restrained," she ended the conversation and looked at the Doctor, "Oi, you! Sit still."

"Cricket bat, I'm getting cricket bat..." he shook his head.

"You were breaking and entering."

The Doctor tried standing up only to realize he was hand-cuffed to the radiator behind him, "Well, that's much better. Brand-new me, whack on the head. Just what it needed."

"Do you want to shut up now? I've got back-up on the way!" the officer warned.

"Hang on, no, wait - you're a policewoman..." he had just realized that.

"And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?"

"But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia? Avalon? Lena? Where are the girls?" he looked around frantically.

"Amelia Pond?"

"Yeah. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? I promised her and her friends five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?"

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time."

"How long?"

"Six months."

"No, no, no! I can't be six months late! I said five minutes. I promised," the Doctor sniffed loudly for some reason, "Well, what about Avalon and Lena Reynolds? Where are they?"

"Not here," the officer eyed him as she walked away and reached for her radio.

"What happened to them?" he demanded, "What happened to Amelia Pond? Where are Avalon and Lena Reynolds? If they're not here then where are they?"

The officer ignored him and spoke into her radio, "Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up, this guy knows something about Amelia Pond."

The Doctor tried the handcuffs again and sighed deeply when he saw it was no use. His eyes looked past the officer to the door from before, something was in there and that poor officer had no idea...

~ 0 ~

Dr. Ramsden was examining the first patient that had spoken, "I don't think they were even conscious..." she remarked.

"Dr Ramsden, there is another sort of, um, funny thing," the nurse, Rory, spoke up again.

"Yes, I know. Dr. Carver told me about your conversation. We've been very patient with you, Rory. You're a good enough nurse, but for God's sake!"

"I've seen them," he insisted.

"These patients are under 24-hour supervision! We know if their blood-pressure changes. There's no possibility you'd have seen them wandering in the village! Why are you giving me your phone?!"

Rory was holding out his phone to her, "It's a camera too."

"Is your friend going to back you up on this one too?" she eyed the brunette who just remained quiet at the accusation. Dr. Ramsden reached for Rory's phone when her paper beeped and so she took it out instead, "You need to take some time off, Rory. A lot of time off. Start now," Rory opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off, "Now!"

Rory nodded and turned to the brunette who offered a comforting smile, "I'm sorry Rory," she whispered as they walked out.

~ 0 ~

"I need to speak to whoever lives in this house now," the Doctor repeated for the third time to the officer.

"I live here," she finally spoke to him again.

"But you're the police."

"Yes, and this is where I live. You got a problem with that?!"

"How many rooms?" he asked, deciding it was best to change the subject to get back to business.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now."

"Why?"

"Because it will change your life."

"Five," the officer pointed to each door as she counted, "One, two, three, four, five."

"Six," he corrected, surprising her.

"Six?"

"Look."

"Look where?"

"Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you."

The officer slowly turned and saw the door that had definitely not been there for her a moment ago, "That's... That is not possible. How's that possible?"

"There's a perception filter round the door. Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it."

"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed..."

"The filter stops you. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding. You need to uncuff me now!" the Doctor ordered but the officer was in a trance as she walked for the door at the end of the hall.

"I don't have the key. I lost it."

"How can you have lost it?! Stay away from that door!" he called but she kept going, "Do not touch that door!" she put her hand on the doorknob, "Listen to me! Do not open that..." she turned the knob, "Why does no-one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?" she entered the room, "Again...?" the Doctor searched his pockets frantically, "My screwdriver, where is it?"

The officer entered the room which was dusty and contained only old boxes on the floor. There were water damage spots on the walls, barely a scrap of curtain on the window and a table in the center of the room.

"Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?"

"There's nothing here," the officer remarked as she carefully looked around.

"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room," the Doctor called, "What makes you think you could see it? Now, please, just get out!" the Doctor ordered, sighing when the woman wouldn't listen.

"Silver, blue at the end?" she spotted said silver thing on the table in front of her.

"My screwdriver, yeah."

"It's here."

"Must have rolled under the door..." the Doctor shut his eyes at the bad luck he seemed to have even in this new incarnation.

"Yeah. Must have. And then it must have jumped up on the table..."

"Get out of there!" the Doctor shouted, "Get out of there!" but the officer reached to pick up the screwdriver, "Get out!"

The officer backed away suddenly when she thought she heard something. Behind her was an eel-like alien that hung from the roof. It was covered in goo and had a mouth full of sharp teeth. The officer looked one way and then the other but saw nothing.

"What is it? What are you doing?" the Doctor called, frustrated he was still cuffed.

"There's nothing here, but..."

"Corner of your eye."

"What is it?"

"Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it," the Doctor said as the creature seemed to toy with the woman, "Do not... look."

And then she saw it...

The officer screamed, "Get out!" the Doctor ordered, the officer ran out of the room, "Give me that!" he snatched his screwdriver from her hand and used it on the door's lock before using it on his handcuffs, however it didn't work on his hand cuffs, "What's the bad alien done to you?"

"Will that door hold it?" the officer looked at the door with wide eyes.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, course! It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer-space - they're all terrified of wood," the Doctor rolled his eyes as he tried figuring out the screwdriver.

A bright light flashed around the edges of the door, "What's that? What's it doing?"

The Doctor wiped his screwdriver with his finger, "I don't know, getting dressed? Run. Just go. Your back-up's coming, I'll be fine."

"There is no back-up."

He looked up, surprised, "I heard you on the radio, you called for back-up."

"I was pretending. It's a pretend radio," the officer looked at him with a 'duh' look.

"You're a policewoman!"

"I'm a kissogram!" she removed her hat and let ginger hair cascade down her back.

At the same time, the door burst open and a man in blue-overalls holding the leash of a large Rottweiler stood at the doorway...the same man who was a patient at the hospital.

"But it's just..." the officer remarked as the man stepped out into the hallway.

"No, it isn't. Look at the faces," the Doctor instructed.

The man growled and barks while his dog remained impassive.

"What? I'm sorry, but what?" the officer looked down at the Doctor, completely shocked.

"It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two. Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, did you? Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?" the Doctor questioned, the man only snarled back and advanced, showing its pointy teeth, "Stay, boy!" the creature stopped, "Her and me, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back-up."

"I didn't send for back-up!" the officer reminded.

"I know, that was a clever lie to save our lives," he whisper-shouted at her then looked at the creature again, "OK, yeah, no back-up! And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we had back-up, then you'd have to kill us!"

"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."

"What's that?" the woman asked and looked around.

"That would be back-up," he answered her, "OK, one more time. We do have back-up and that's definitely why we're safe," he said to the creature.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration..."

The creature turned into one of the other rooms. The Doctor banged his screwdriver on the floor in the hopes it would work again, "Work, work, work. C'mon."

The creature had gone out to one of the windows and looked outside.

The Doctor finally got his screwdriver to work and used it on the handcuffs, "Run!" he said to the woman as he jumped to his feet, "Run!" he pushed her towards the stairs and quickly made their way down.

They ran outside of the house where the Doctor used the screwdriver on the door, "Kissogram?" he asked her.

"Yes!"

"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?" he stood straight.

"You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid!" she followed him away from the house, "What's going on? Tell me! Tell me!"

The Doctor had gone up to the TARDIS, "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?"

"Yes!"

"Me too," the TARDIS wasn't opening up for some reason, "No, no, don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in!"

Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.

"Come on," the officer grabbed the Doctor by the arm, deciding they were not going to be able to enter that small box.

"No, wait, hang on, wait, wait, wait. The shed," he ran up to the garden shed and examined as it as much as he could, "I destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one. Let's go," the officer gestured again, becoming nervous.

"But the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least," he sniffed the wood before rubbing his finger on the wood and tasting it, "12 years," he concluded and turned back to the woman with newfound anger, "I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late!"

"He's coming!" the woman's eyes flickered to the house.

"You said six months. Why did you say six months?"

"We've got to go!"

"This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?"

"Why did you say five minutes?!" the officer snapped, blinking when she realized what she said.

"What?" the Doctor's mouth nearly fell open.

"Come on," she insisted.

"What!?"

"Come on!" she pulled him by the arm.

"What?" was all the Doctor could muster up as he was pulled away by a grown up Amelia Pond.

~ 0 ~

"You're Amelia," the Doctor stopped in the roadway and faced the ginger woman.

Amelia kept walking however, 'You're late!"

"Amelia Pond, you were one of the little girls!" the Doctor looked her up and down in disbelief.

"I'm Amelia and you're late."

"What happened?" he asked frantically.

If Amelia Pond was grown up...then what about the little Reynolds twins?

"12 years," Amelia reminded.

"You hit me with a cricket bat," he frowned, recalling that pain.

"12 years."

"A cricket bat!"

"12 years and four psychiatrists," Amelia crossed her arms and almost pouted.

Out of her, Avalon and Lena, she was the one who people deemed crazy when they spoke about the Doctor. Her aunt never believed her when she said the Doctor had been there at her sleep over. And, because of who Avalon turned out to be as the years went by no one really believed her either. Lena's illness had only gotten worse throughout the years and so they all blamed it as a hallucination or a very realistic dream. But neither of the Reynolds twins ever insisted like Amelia did. For some reason, the Reynolds twins hardly spoke about the night with anyone. But Amy wouldn't let the man go and so had been brought to numerous doctors and four psychiatrists to help her with her "condition".

"Four?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"I kept biting them," Amelia mumbled.

"Why?"

"They said you weren't real."

"Alright, and what happened to Avalon and Lena, then? Where are they?" he asked as they entered the park.

Amelia sighed, "Lena? She's with Rory...and Avalon, well...probably running."

"Running? From what?"

Amelia looked away, preferring not to get into that whole matter. Avalon, while still very protective of her sister, had a very...tetchy attitude that got her into some issues often...

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated," the same voice from the crack now boomed over the speakers of an ice-cream van.

Amelia quickly jumped for the distraction, "No, no, no, come on… What? We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?" she ran towards it, leaving a very confused Doctor behind.

~ 0 ~

A woman with dark, ginger locks entered a pharmacy and walked straight towards the counter, her boot's heels clicking after her. She wore a pink sweater vest with a white buttoned-up blouse underneath, its white collars sticking over the vest. She accompanied it with white jeans and knee-length brown boots with small heals. Her icy-blue eyes looked around the place, her hand resting over the opening of her purse.

"Miss Reynolds, what can I do for you?" one of the pharmacists moved to help her.

"Tasha, I need a refill for the inhaler - actually we need a new inhaler."

"What happened to the last one?" Tasha raised an eyebrow.

"I may have broken it," the ginger mumbled.

"Avalon, how do you break an inhaler?"

Avalon Reynolds groaned, thinking it was obvious the only way she could break it. "Clearly on accident! Please, can I get a new one?"

"I'm sorry but the insurance doesn't cover a second one."

"Tasha please, I need it. I'm talking life or death, here!"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Tasha sighed, "Look, the inhaler would cost-"

"Whatever amount you're gonna say, I don't have it," Avalon leaned over the counter. "I need to replace it before Lena needs it. Can I just...I don't know...put it on...layover or something?"

"It doesn't work that way," Tasha shook her head with a sad smile and walked away to help another customer.

Avalon frowned and looked down at the clear counter. "I'm getting the inhaler," she mumbled, eyes scanning for the correct inhaler.

~ 0 ~

"What's that? Why are you playing that?" the Doctor demanded from the ice-cream driver.

"It's supposed to be Claire De Lune," the vendor replied, sounding confused as he switched, or tried to anyways, stations.

The Doctor picked up the player and listened, "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

The Doctor stepped away from the van and noticed the voice emerging from other technology people around them carried.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Amelia asked. The Doctor leaped over a low white fence into a front garden, leaving Amelia to run after him.

The Doctor entered the house where an elderly woman was watching the television. There was a blue eye that filled the screen that wouldn't disappear as much as the woman tried flipping channels.

"Hello! Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area," the Doctor said then looked at Amelia, recalling her outfit for the day, "Also, crimes. Let's have a look," he took the remote from the old woman.

"I was just about to phone. It's on every channel," the woman saw Amelia and smiled. "Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?'

"Well, sometimes."

"I thought you were a nurse."

"I can be a nurse," Amelia shrugged, tugging her skirt lower.

"Or, actually, a nun."

"I dabble."

"Amy, who is your friend?" the women looked at the Doctor, confused.

"Who's Amy? You were Amelia," the Doctor frowned.

"Yeah, now I'm Amy," the ginger crossed her arms.

"Amelia Pond - that was a great name," he insisted, "All three of you had excellent, fairy-tale, names!"

"I don't like fairy tales and Lena doesn't believe in them," she reminded.

"I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before," the old women studied the Doctor.

"Not me. Brand-new face..." he pointed a finger at himself, "First time on," he then turned for Amy, "And what sort of job's a kissogram?"

"I go to parties and I kiss people," Amy cleared her throat, "With outfits. It's a laugh."

"You were a little girl five minutes ago," the Doctor frowned. The little girl from five minutes ago was now kissing people?

"You're worse than my aunt," Amy said.

"I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's aunt," he quickly pointed at the elderly woman, "And that is not how I'm introducing myself," he picked up a radio and used the screwdriver on it. The same message was repeated on it in different languages, "OK, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world," he moved to the window and opened it up to look out.

"What's up there? What are you looking for?" Amy looked from behind, seeing nothing but a blue sky and white clouds above.

"OK, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core...they're going to need a 40% fission blast," the Doctor turned to them as a young man entered the house, the Doctor walking up to him as he continued to talk, " But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's 20 minutes," the Doctor had to stand on his toes due to the man's taller statute, "What do you think, 20 minutes? Yeah, 20 minutes. We've got 20 minutes."

"20 minutes to what?" Amy asked.

"Are you the Doctor?" the man was a bit confused with all the eyeing, "He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor, it's him," he looked at Amy.

"I know," Amy nodded.

"Cartoons?" the Doctor asked, bemused as he sat on the couch.

"Gran, it's him, isn't it? It's really him!"

"Jeff, shut up!" Amy snapped then looked at the Doctor, "20 minutes to what?"

The Doctor was flipping through the channels of the television again, the eye with its message on all of them,"The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet. 20 minutes to the end of the world."

~ 0 ~

The same message was being heard in the pharmacy where Avalon was still in. She took a good look around and saw everyone distracted. In one quick, swift move, she jumped over the counter and reached for the inhaler from the other side.

"Hey!" Tasha exclaimed when she saw what was going on.

"I'm sorry, but it's for my sister!" the ginger hopped off the counter and dashed out of the pharmacy.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and Amy were now walking down the roadway again, "What is this place? Where am I?" the Doctor eyed the small town.

"Leadworth," Amy replied.

"Where's the rest of it?"

"This is it."

"Is there an airport?"

"No."

"A nuclear power station?"

"No."

"Even a little one?"

"No."

"Nearest city?"

"Gloucester, half an hour by car."

"We don't have half an hour," the Doctor groaned. "Do we have a car?"

"...no."

"Well, that's good! Fantastic, that is. 20 minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut! What is that?" the Doctor violently pointed at a small pond.

"It's a duck pond," Amy followed him up to the pond.

"Why aren't there any ducks?"

Amy groaned, "Not you too," he looked back at her with a questioning look. She sighed, "Avalon asks the same thing."

"She was one smart cookie," he smiled, "She's right to ask cos if it doesn't have any ducks..."

"...then how do we know it's a duck pond?" Amy finished with a roll of her eyes, "Yeah, I know. She asks that and it frankly gets on my nerves."

The Doctor was about to remark on that when he had another regeneration tremor that made him sit down and clutch his chest, "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet."

The sky darkened up and made both look up.

"What's happening? Why's it going dark?" Amy frowned as the sun turned gray, "So what's wrong with the sun?"

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force-field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the plane," the Doctor stood up and looked at the field where all the villagers were taking pictures of the sun, "Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to - down a video phone!"

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up," Amy frowned.

"Why would I wind you up?"

"You told me you had a time machine."

"And you believed me."

"Then I grew up."

The Doctor groaned, "Oh, you never want to do that. No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it," he smacked his forehead suddenly, startling Amy, "I saw it and I missed it," and another smack, "What did I see? I saw... What did I see?" he focused real hard until he figured out what he had missed and turned to Rory, "20 minutes. I can do it. 20 minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me."

"No," Amy said instead.

"I'm sorry?"

"No!" she grabbed him by the tie and pushed him against a car as the driver stepped out. She slammed his tie into the door and locked the car with the remote.

"Amy! No! No! What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?"

"Who are you?" she demanded from him.

"You know who I am."

"No, really, who are you?"

"Look at the sky! End of the world, 20 minutes," he reminded, pointing up to the sky.

"Better talk quickly, then!"

"Amy, I am going to need my car back," the driver had remained at her side.

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee," Amy shooed him off.

The Doctor reached inside his pocket and tossed the apple to her, "Catch," Amy caught it and saw the same smile face carved onto it, "I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveller. Everything I told you, Avalon and Lena, 12 years ago is true. I'm real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go now, everything you've ever known is over."

"I don't believe you..."

He gripped her wrist, "Just 20 minutes. Just believe me for 20 minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one," Amy studied the apple for a second and looked up at him, "Amy, believe for 20 minutes."

Amy unlocked the car door, "What do we do?"

"What do we do?"

"Stop that nurse!" the Doctor ran for Rory the nurse.

~ 0 ~

"Where is she, Rory?" Avalon was now standing beside Rory Williams, her best friend, losing her patience as the man continued to take a picture of another man with his dog.

"I sent her to Amy's," Rory replied as he went for another picture. "I thought you would be there. And..." his eyes had caught something in Avalon's hand, "...what's that-" but he couldn't finish due to the fact the Doctor had ran over to them and snatched his cellphone from his hand.

"The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?" he stood right in front of Rory who could only blink at the moment.

"Oh my god..." Avalon blinked and turned the Doctor around, a smile spreading across her face. "It's you..."

"Amy?" Rory frowned as Amy caught up to them.

"What do we have here?" Avalon asked the Doctor, the man severely confused as she eyed him up and down. "I thought you were gonna be late, honestly, but not by this much!"

"Who are you?" the Doctor frowned.

She smirked. "The Arthurian Legend...the island where King Arthur's sword was made..."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he realized who the second ginger was. "A-Avalon?"

"Hello, fairy tale man," she chuckled, "You're late! You know poor Amy's had to go to four psychiatrists because of you?"

"What? Hold on, what did you call me?"

"Well, I told her not to talk about you but he didn't want to listen-"

"Avalon," Amy crossed her arms and sent her friend a mock-glare.

"Right, what's done is done," Avalon shrugged her shoulders.

"Uh, hello, back to business? Twenty minutes?" Amy reminded.

"Oh, right, yes!" the Doctor turned back to Rory.

"This is Rory, he's a...friend..."

"Amy," Avalon frowned at the introduction. She wasn't surprised by it, but it didn't mean she was letting it go either.

"Boyfriend," Rory corrected.

"Kind of boyfriend."

"Amy!" Rory exclaimed, a bit hurt that that was his title all of a sudden.

"Man and dog, why?" the Doctor had ignored everything and kept a fixated look on Rory.

"Oh, my God, it's him..." Rory blinked, finally settling in.

"Just answer his question, please," Amy said.

"It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor."

Avalon teasingly laughed, "Yeah, that's him. Is that the only pair of clothes you own?" she asked the Doctor.

"Shush up," he snapped, covering her mouth. Avalon made a gesture with both hands.

"But he was a story. He was a game!" Rory exclaimed.

"Ouch!" the Doctor jumped to the side, rubbing his palm while he stared in shock at Avalon, "Did you just bite me?"

"I can do more than that but I don't know you like that yet," she winked, making him immediately blush.

The fact she had even added the 'yet' in the end made it even more blush-worthy. He shook his head, though, when he remembered the planet was literally twenty minutes away from blowing up. "Man and dog," he sighed and looked at Rory, trying to ignore the pounding pain in his palm, "Why?"

"Because he can't be there. Because he's…" Rory began but the Doctor had finished with him in unison, "...in a hospital, in a coma."

"Yeah," Rory nodded.

"Okay that's weird," Avalon remarked.

"Lena is a witness," Rory lightly snapped, "She was with me when they started talking."

"Knew it. Multi-form, you see? Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind," the Doctor explained.

The multiform snapped and snarled at the group, "Prisoner Zero," the Doctor turned to face it.

"That stupid thing that gave my sister nightmares?" Avalon's eyes narrowed as she stepped forwards, "She couldn't sleep for a week after that sleep over. Oh, I'm gonna kill it..."

"No you're not," the Doctor grabbed her arm and restrained her.

An electrical buzz emerged from above and they looked up to see a spaceship flying over them, the same eye swiveling back and forth.

"What the hell is that?" Avalon frowned.

The Doctor slipped his screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it up, "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver," he flicked it on and caused chaos to shatter the village, "I think someone's going to notice, don't you?" Prisoner Zero barked as the Doctor lowered the screwdriver and aimed it at the phone box ahead which exploded. However, the screwdriver sparked and fuzzled which made the Doctor drop it to the ground, "No, no, no, don't do that!" and then the ship flew away.

"It's going," Avalon pointed.

"No, come back, he's here! Come back! He's here, Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is..."

But Prisoner Zero turned into mist and escaped down the drain.

"Doctor! The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain!" Amy exclaimed.

"Well, of course it did," the Doctor sighed.

"So what do we do now?" Avalon questioned.

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, 17 minutes. Come on, think. Think!"

He ran up to the drain and was followed by the trio, "So that thing - that hid in my house for 12 years?" Amy asked as she looked down at the drain.

"Multi-forms can live for millennia. 12 years is a pit-stop."

"So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute?"

"They're looking for him, but followed me. They saw me through the crack, got a fix. They're only late cos I am."

"And boy are you late," Avalon shook her head, "I was a bit curious myself to see what was inside that box," she admitted.

"Now, sport, give me your phone," the Doctor turned to Rory.

"How can he be real? He was never real," Rory was still in denial but the Doctor didn't care.

"Phone, now, give me!"

Rory handed the phone to the Doctor just to get him to stop shouting. "He was just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him," he said to Amy.

"That was a funny time," Avalon said, "I have lots of pictures if you're interested."

"I told you to delete them!" Rory frowned.

"I have many copies..."

"Avalon!"

The Doctor was looking through the pictures on Rory's phone, "These are all coma patients?"

"Yeah."

"No, they're all the multi-form. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

"He had a dog, though. There's a dog in a coma?"

"The coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop!" the Doctor pointed at Amy who took with wide eyes. "Your friend, what was his name? Not him-" he nodded to Rory, "-the good-looking one."

"Oi, you're still rude," Avalon shook her head.

"Jeff," Amy corrected him, not even the slightest bit upset with the Doctor's behavior.

"Oh, thanks," Rory mock-glared at her.

"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop. Big bag, big laptop, I need Jeff's laptop-"

"Why are you holding an inhaler?" Amy suddenly realized that Avalon had been holding an inhaler in her hand the whole time. But it looked more like she was trying to hide it under her fingers. "You don't have asthma."

"I know but I needed it so I bought it."

Rory's eyes flickered from the inhaler to Avalon with a mighty suspicious look. "Ava..."

"Rory..."

"Avalon," Rory tilted his head, the sharper look on his face making Avalon sigh.

"Fine, I took it. But in my defence-"

"No! No defences! We know those don't work! You don't steal, period!"

"But it was for a good cause-"

"Stealing is never for a good cause," the Doctor frowned, his voice dark.

"Oh shut up, you don't understand my life, got it?" Avalon pushed past him and started to run.

"Avalon!" Rory called.

"You two, get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done," the Doctor instructed the remaining two, "I'll catch up to her."

~ 0 ~

"Avalon, wait!" the Doctor called after the ginger, "Avalon!"

"Leave me alone, stupid man!" she shouted.

"Oh," he let out a sound of annoyance as he turned her around, "Five minutes ago I was the fairy tale man. What happened to that?" A brief smile flickered on Avalon's face. "We have a world to save in less than twenty minutes and I need all the help I can get."

"Love to help, but I can't," Avalon turned around to continue walking. The Doctor, momentarily surprised, reeled her back. "Doctor! I have to find my sister and my brother!"

"You have a brother?"

"Mhm. His name's Gavin. And he needs me because my Dad is working, alright? I gotta go-"

"N-n-n-no wait!" the Doctor brought her back again. "I'm sure he's fine, Mum's probably taking care of him-"

"My mum's dead," Avalon revealed in a quiet voice, all emotion lost all of a sudden.

The Doctor blinked, not having expected that one, "Oh...I'm sorry..." he whispered.

"It was a couple years back," she rubbed away a small tear on the side of left eye.

"Sorry," the Doctor couldn't really figure out what else to say.

"Yeah," she heaved a sigh, "It was hard," she walked around him.

He raised an eyebrow, confused by her...lack of emotion? This was her mother they were talking about. He didn't want for her to cry but the way she acted was a bit cold and blank, like it hadn't affected her. He trailed after her, "Avalon? Where are you going?"

"Well, the police is sort of after me and you need a laptop, right?" Avalon looked back, her arms crossed, "C'mon, then."

"And your brother?"

"Well, let's be honest, he'll probably be more scared if the cops come by my house instead. So, c'mon!"

~ 0 ~

Jeff was laying on his bed using his laptop when the Doctor and Avalon burst inside the room, "Hello. Laptop, give me!" the Doctor wiggled his hands as he walked up to Jeff.

"Sorry about that, he's still rude," Avalon shook her head.

"And you're apparently a thief," the Doctor shot back, not too sure if he was playing or really upset that the little girl who was in love with fairy tales...grew up to be a thief?

"No, no, no, no, wait, hang on!" Jeff was refusing to give up his laptop.

"It's fine, give it here," the Doctor finally snatched the laptop and sat at the foot of the bed. "Blimey! Get a girlfriend, Jeff."

"We've talked about this, Jeff," Avalon sighed and sat down beside the Doctor.

Jeff's grandmother entered the room, surprised to find the strange man again with her grandson, and now with Avalon, "What's going on here?"

"The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big video conference call," the Doctor replied casually as he typed, "All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me."

Avalon's lips curled into an amused smile. "Well, now I know."

"Know what?" the Doctor stopped for a second to look at her.

"Oh that you don't know the definition of 'modesty'."

Frowning, the Doctor returned to the computer. "Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"Ooh, I like Patrick Moore," Jeff's grandmother smiled.

"I'll get you his number, but watch him, he's a devil."

"You can't just hack in on a call like that," Avalon told the Doctor, "Even I don't do that."

"Cos then you're Dad would really blow his head off," Jeff muttered, Avalon shooting him a death glare.

"You shouldn't be doing any of that stuff," the Doctor mumbled. He held up his psychic paper to the webcam as the experts appeared on the laptop screen.

"Who are you? This is a secure call. What are you doing?" one of the men on the screen inquired.

"Hello. I know, you should switch me off. But before you do, watch this." The Doctor cracked his fingers and began typing anew, this time quicker to match his speedy ramble. "Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie - why electrons have mass. And a personal favorite of mine, faster-than-light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens," the Doctor raised his hands, the biggest smirk possible sitting on his face. "Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas, pay attention."

Avalon blinked, fascinated to see the Doctor in a whole new light. It was one thing learning and reading on him, but it was a completely different thing to see him in action. She loved seeing it in real life.

~ 0 ~

"Sir, what are you doing?" an expert asked the Doctor while he typed away on Rory's cellphone. Much time had passed and apparently they were nearing the solution.

"I'm writing a computer virus," the Doctor responded. "Very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. Why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. OK, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish - whatever you've got. Any questions?"

"Who was your lady friend?" Patrick Moore asked, even trying to peer around his screen.

"Patrick, behave!"

"What does this virus do?" another expert asked.

"It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters, it gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain."

Avalon sighed dramatically when Jeff failed to speak up. "He means you, you idiot."

"What?"

The Doctor closed the laptop midway and glanced at Jeff. "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff. Right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Why me?"

"It's your bedroom. Now go, go, go!" the Doctor jumped off the bed and pulled Avalon with him.

"What? I'm coming?" Avalon looked around with surprise, "I can't leave! The police is looking for me!"

"Oh trust me, they'll be a bit too busy trying to figure out what the hell is going on," the Doctor shrugged and pulled her towards the door, "Oh and Jeff, delete your internet history."

"As if," Avalon snorted as they came outside. The Doctor zoomed past her into the street to start looking for some way to get to the hospital. When Avalon caught up, all she found was the Time Lord cluelessly turning one way and another. "Okay, what are you doing?"

"Looking for a car, isn't it obvious?"

"Not when you look like that," Avalon shook her head. "Clearly, you've never hijacked anything, have you?"

The Doctor stopped and turned to her, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Oh, you don't even know."

Avalon matched his smirk for a second then ran down the street. "C'mon!"

"What, hold on, you're not going to steal something more are you?" the Doctor went after her.

~ 0 ~

Rory finished up talking to a nurse in the hospital and rejoined Amy who was on her phone, "Something's happened up there, we can't get through."

Amy redialed in frustration, "Yes, but what's happened?"

"I don't know. No-one knows. Phone him."

"I'm phoning him," she reminded and gasped when the line was finally picked up, "Doctor? We're at the hospital, but we can't get through."

"What did he say?" Rory impatiently waited.

"Look in the mirror," Amy turned to a mirror behind her and saw her reflection, "Ha-ha! Uniform!" she tied her hair up, "Are you on your way? You're going to need a car."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor drove a firefighter truck while Avalon held the phone, sitting in the passenger seat, "Don't worry, you know how good I am at acquiring things," she smirked.

"We're going to need to talk about that," the Doctor pointed.

She rolled her eyes, "Drive, fairy-tale man."

~ 0 ~

Amy and Rory ran out of the hospital lift and saw the corridors ahead of them were a complete mess. There were gurneys and tables turned over with scrubs and utensils sprawled all over.

"What happened?" Amy asked a nearby woman.

"There was a man. A man with a dog. I think Dr. Ramsden's dead. And the nurses," the woman replied fearfully.

~ 0 ~

"The Doctor asks if you're in?" Avalon held the phone and spoke to Amy again.

"Yep. But so's Prisoner Zero."

"You need to get out of there!" the Doctor called from his seat.

~ 0 ~

Rory turned to the woman and...noticed that the woman's voice was now coming out of one of the little girls she held hands with, "He was so angry. He kept shouting. And that dog, the size of that dog, I swear it was rabid.," Amy and Rory started backing away, "And he just went mad, attacking everyone. Where did he go, did you see? Has he gone? We hid in the ladies'..." the woman trailed off, "Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I? I'm always doing that. So many mouths..." the woman opened her mouth to reveal the sharp teeth, the little girls holding her hands following in suit.

~ 0 ~

"Amy? Amy, what's happening?" Avalon repeatedly asked, hearing odd voices from the other line.

"We're in the coma ward. But it's here, it's getting in," Amy spoke, she and Rory backing away from the door of the ward that was shut with a broom through its handles.

"Which window are you at?" the Doctor called.

"How is that important?" Amy heard Avalon snap.

"Just tell me!"

"Uh, uh," Amy looked around, "First floor on the left, fourth from the end."

Prisoner Zero broke through the door, still disguised as the woman, "Oh, dear. Little Amelia Pond. I've watched you grow up. 12 years, and you never even knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor to return, but not this time, Amelia," she opened her mouth.

Amy's phone beeped and showed a message from the Doctor reading 'Duck!". Amy then heard the sirens nearing and pushed Rory down in time as a ladder broke through the window. The Doctor and Avalon climbed up the ladder and jumped inside the room.

"Right! Hello! Am I late? No, three minutes to go. So still time," the Doctor exclaimed.

"That's a first, you're on time," Avalon remarked.

"Time for what, Time Lord?" Prisoner Zero asked, smirking.

"Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies," the Doctor ordered.

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."

"OK. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again - just leave."

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did. And I'd like a word with them," Avalon frowned, "It affected my sister, speaking of..." she turned back to Amy and Rory, "...I need to go and find her."

"Leave her, if she's going to Amy's house that'll probably be safer than here," Rory reminded.

"She's right," the Doctor agreed, his gaze locked on prisoner zero, "Now about those cracks..."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe - don't you know where they came from? You don't, do you?" Prisoner Zero took the voice of the little girls, "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know! The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

A clicking sound distracted the Doctor from actually paying attention, he looked at the wall and smiled, "And we're off! Look at that. Look at that! Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" he took his mobile from the pocket, "The source, by the way, is right here," a bright light shined through the windows, "Oh! And I think they just found us!"

"The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me," Prisoner Zero said, undisturbed.

"Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favorite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of?" the Doctor smugly waved Rory's cellphone. "Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is - no TARDIS, no screwdriver - two minutes to spare," the Doctor held out his arms to the trio behind him, "Who da man?"

"Do yourself a favor and never say that again," Avalon replied, her hand in her hair as she looked away.

"Fine," the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Then I shall take a new form," Prisoner Zero spoke, making the Doctor turn back.

"Oh, stop it, you know you can't. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years..."

Amy fell to the floor suddenly, Rory quickly dropping by her side. The Doctor and Avalon turned at the sound of the thud and hurried over.

"What's happened?" Avalon frantically asked.

The Doctor put his hands on Amy's face, "You've got to hold on. Amy! Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."

Rory was looking behind them to Prisoner Zero, "Doctor?"

Avalon followed his gaze back, "Oh...well that's interesting."

The Doctor looked back also and frowned, "Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?"

"What?" Avalon's head snapped to him, "That's you, moron!"

"Me?" the Doctor looked down at himself. "Is that what I look like?"

"You mean you don't know?" she raised an eyebrow, "You're kidding me right?" but by the face the Doctor made she knew he wasn't, "Stupid!"

"I've had a busy day thank you very much," he stood up and spoke to Prisoner Zero, "Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not. Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside," Amelia Pond moved around the fake Doctor, "Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return. What a disappointment you've been."

"No, she's dreaming about me cos she can hear me," he dropped back to Amy's side, "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside. I tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy…dream about what you saw."

A bright light started taking over again, "No... no... No!" prisoner Zero cried as it started transforming back to its regular form.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself," the Doctor looked up at it, smirking.

Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained.

"Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall," Prisoner Zero said as it disappeared.

The Doctor ran for the window and dialed on Rory's cellphone.

"The sun - it's back to normal, right? That's... That's good, yeah? That means it's over," Rory said, trying to get some confirmation from anyone but the Doctor kept dialing and so was Avalon now on her phone. He felt Amy stir in his arms and looked down, "Amy? Are you OK? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"He did it. The Doctor did it," Rory replied.

"No, I didn't," the Doctor called back.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked, then looked at Avalon, "What are you doing too?" he asked her.

"Calling Lena," she stood up and moved away from them.

"And I'm tracking the signal back. Sorry, in advance," the Doctor explained.

"About what?" Rory dreaded to ask.

"The bill," the Doctor placed the phone over his ear and spoke, "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? What...? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here. Now!" he tossed the gone back to Rory, "OK. Now I've done it," he headed out of the war.

"Did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?" Rory called after them, Amy following the Doctor out.

"Rory, hush, I'm on the phone," Avalon also walked out.

~ 0 ~

"Avalon I don't know what's going on but there was this big spaceship with a large eye like the one on Amy's wall and I'm scared and I don't know-"

"Lena, Lena, Lena, calm down! It'll be okay!" Avalon hushed her twin sister down through the phone while following the Doctor down a corridor in the hospital, "Rory said you were headed for Amy's place, yeah?"

"Mhm," Lena sniffled.

"Okay, then stay there, it's completely safe now. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Okay..."

Avalon hung up and glared at the Doctor ahead of her, "You better have a good reason for bringing back that spaceship, stupid man! Lena is scared out of her wits and she's all alone!"

"She'll be less afraid when she finds out that the spaceship will never return," he countered calmly.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"The roof. No, hang on," the Doctor stopped and entered a new room, a changing room.

"What's in here?" Avalon asked, confused.

"Nothing you'll be stealing, got it?"

"You're not gonna let it go are you?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You don't steal!"

"Well I have and I don't care!"

"That is not the little girl I met five minutes ago!"

"Twelve years happened and she's had to grow up, alright!?" she shouted, leaving an air of silence fall over them.

The Doctor admitted that was a true statement, but it didn't mean he was going to let it go so easily. Right now he would have to focus on the threatening aliens up in the sky, but soon as he was done he was going to go back with Avalon. "Fine," he said and turned for the racks of clothes.

"What are we doing here?" Rory questioned.

"I'm saving the world - I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!" the Doctor sifted through the racks, throwing things he didn't like to the side.

"You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens," Rory insisted on reminding everyone of that pending, stupid action while the Doctor took off his tattered clothes, "Deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off... Amy, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you," the Doctor said, unperturbed with an audience.

"Are you stealing clothes now? And you're on about it with me?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, turning around as Rory already had, "I didn't take you for being a hypocrite, you know."

"Oi, most of these people are dead. Now, that's not something I like but I'm in need of new clothes so button it up, red!"

Avalon rolled her eyes and looked at Amy, "Excuse you," Amy had remained looking at the Doctor, "You have a boyfriend," and she turned Amy around.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was now wearing a pink and white, buttoned-up, long-sleeved, plaid shirt with braces and several ties draped around his neck. He walked out onto the roof with Rory, Avalon and Amy standing a bit back.

"So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving," Amy reminded.

"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better. Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now," he called out and the eye from the spaceship disconnected and scanned him.

"You are not of this world."

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it," the Doctor said, casually looking at a tie then holding it out, "I don't know. What do you think?"

"Is this world important?"

"Important? What's that mean, important?" he tossed a tie back and Rory caught it, "6 billion people live here - is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" he threw another tie which landed on Avalon's shoulder, making her sigh in annoyance, "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

The Atraxi projected a hologram of the Earth with scenes of its history, "No."

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"

"No."

"OK. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here," as the Doctor spoke, a projection showed his various enemies, "Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them?" the projection started playing out his entire incarnations beginning with his first all the way to his current, "Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically... run!"

"Wow," Avalon breathed in fascination. As the ship departed, Avalon sighed of relief, "And that's my cue to get the hell out of here," she pulled out her inhaler and dashed out.

Amy and Rory cheered behind the Doctor, both laughing and hugging. The Doctor felt something nearly burn in his pocket and reached inside to pull out the TARDIS key that glowed.

"Is that it? Is that them gone for good? Who were they?" Amy's laughter faded as she saw that the Doctor wasn't there anymore.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor ran into Amy's back garden up to the TARDIS, seeing the box had taken a new shade of blue, "OK! What have you got for me this time?" he opened the door and stepped inside, completely amazed at the new interior, " Look at you! Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you!"

The interior was now sporting bright shades of oranges with its coral design on the walls. The console stood on a raised, glass platform with steps leading up to it, even creating a lower level underneath it. There remained a second floor with stairs going up to more corridors.

The Doctor ran up to the console and flicked on the screen, pretty much turning everything on just to see how it would work. However, the screen directed itself with something quite interesting that made the Doctor stop...

~ 0 ~

"You have to let go! Please! She needs help!" Avalon was kicking and screaming as a group of policemen and women were dragging her away.

"Let her go," the grown up Lena Reynolds cried after them, slowing down when she felt her air begin to struggle.

"Refusing arrest will be added to your charges," one of the policemen warned Avalon.

"I don't care, you blundering idiot! My sister needs me!" Avalon actually tried biting them just to see if she could get free for a moment.

"What's going on!?" the Doctor ran out of Amy's garden into the sidewalk, in the middle of Avalon being taken away and Lena on his other side, struggling to stay on her feet.

"Doctor, please! Help her!" Avalon managed to reach inside her pocket and tried tossing the inhaler, "It's for her, please help her!"

"Avalon..." Lena dropped to her knees, her hand on her chest as she breathed heavier and faster.

"Say you'll help her, promise you'll help her! Promise me!" Avalon shouted, still resisting the police officers.

The Doctor nodded, "I promise," he reached for the inhaler and looked at Avalon. She'd stolen for Lena...she'd stolen for her sister. That was her good reason...

Avalon stopped struggling when she saw him move to Lena's side.

"Avalon Reynolds, you are under arrest," a police officer hand cuffed her behind her back. But Avalon didn't care, she watched her sister be cared for her. That was all she needed to go in peace.

"Here, take this," the Doctor handed the inhaler to Lena, helping her sit up a little.

Lena blinked when she looked at the man beside her, "You're...you're him..." she smiled, taking the inhaler from his hands, "...you're the fairytale man."

The Doctor nodded and encouraged her to use the inhaler. He could tell her voice had somewhat settled since he'd last seen her. It didn't sound scratchy but it still sounded a bit fragile. He looked to where Avalon had been and saw she and the police officers were gone. He looked back to Lena, "C'mon, you should have something to drink."

"Oh, but...my sister..." Lena took his hand and used it for support as she stood up, "...I can't leave her. My dad will be fuming when he finds out she's in jail again."

"Again?"

Lena nodded, "We're no longer little girls, fairy tale man. Avalon's changed...and it's my fault."

The Doctor looked at her curiously, "How so?"

Lena opened her mouth to respond when she collapsed, falling forwards. He caught her and scooped her into his arms, deciding to bring her into the TARDIS for a good check up.

~ 0 ~

Lena found herself in a white room she'd never seen before. She laid on a bed and turned her head to see the Doctor working on a machine, "What's going on?" her voice trembled, "Fairy tale man, what is this?"

"Don't be afraid," he quickly hurried to her side, "I only gave you a bit of medicine to help with that asthma and then I sort of ran tests on you."

"I'm sick, there's your result," she sat up and looked around.

"I think you're forgetting the part where it said you're not naturally human."

Lena looked at him with surprise, "How-how did you-"

"I'm an alien, Lena. I sort of have the machines to figure it out with. You're human alright," he took a seat beside her, "But...not like the rest of the humans on this planet," he smiled softly, "You're from New Earth."

"Yeah..."

"You traveled back in time," the Doctor said, quite impressed with the fact, "How come?"

Lena shrugged, "Don't know. Mum and Dad used to say they preferred an earth like this. A calm environment to raise children in."

"I like this earth too. Though I'm still a bit intrigued by your family."

"How come?"

"Cos of your illness. See, the New Earth humans don't have the type of immune system you have, and I assume your family has."

"We're from an evolved group of humans. My parents said that their ancestors arose from a group in a hospital, can you believe that?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, intrigued yet confused, "A hospital?"

"Yeah, it really was a fantasy story. Avalon loved it cos there was a hero..." Lena gave him a significant look, hoping he would understand that this was the origin point of her love for fairy tales, "...who cured them all."

The Doctor's eyed widened, "Oh...oh wow...that's a turn of events. Never thought what could happen then they'd start to reproduce." He ran a hand through his hair and began to smile. "And...and so that's why your sister knew me?"

"She loves that story," Lena sheepishly shared.

"Okay, so then...this is why your immune system has..."

"The humans you rescued evolved with the cures you implanted in their bodies until one day, they just walked with a little bit of a cure for every disease. We're not supposed to be sick," Lena explained, "But I was born with a mutation in my genes that makes my system attack itself and weaken my state."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor took her hand, "Believe me, I'm really sorry."

"It's not your fault, I just got what I got. I'm okay with it," Lena then sighed, "But my family..." she sighed again, "...Avalon. Doctor, please, just like you helped me, help her."

"What can I do?"

"Can't you get her out of jail or something? She can't go there anymore, not because of me. Help her please."

The Doctor nodded, "I'll see what I can do," he stood up, "But I want you to stay here and rest until I get back."

She nodded and let him go on his way.

~ 0 ~

Avalon was boredly sitting on the wooden bench in her cell, resting against the wall when an officer walked up and started unlocking it, "You're free to go," he said and opened up the cell.

Avalon stood up, confused, "What?"

"You're free to go now c'mon."

"How is that possible?" she walked out nonetheless. "No one's paid the fine yet."

"There was a request from her highness."

"The Queen wanted me free?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, not an ounce of belief in her.

"Apparently so, now do yourself a favor and get out of here, Reynolds."

Avalon sighed, "Yeah, we'll see."

She walked out of the cell corridors and into the front office to gather up her belongings. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could have sworn she saw someone watching her. She spun around, only barely catching the glimpse of a man with brown hair. She raised an eyebrow and took several steps after them, but she saw no one.

"Reynolds," one of the officers behind the desk called and she whipped her head back. He slid her purse back to her. "Stay out of trouble, will you?"

"Like I told Joshua in the cells, we'll see," Avalon briefly smiled and took her bag off the counter. She turned around and started walking out, never catching the Doctor hidden on the side.

"Avalon Reynolds..." he gave a small shake of his head, "...what happened?"

#11th doctor x oc #noblecrescentedit #oc: Avalon Reynolds #11th doctor x original female character #11th doctor imagines #doctor who imagines #fic: stars dance #doctor who fanfics #11th doctor #amy pond #oc: Lena Reynolds #rory williams

[things-i-think-and-junk]

Hi anon, sorry about the weird problem with the message. I was trying to answer it on my phone and it went wonky.

I can at least reply here.

People like to use that quote with GRRM saying the books and show will be the same, but seem to disregard his comments that only the books are canon or his several hints that he’s not satisfied with the show. His advice has been ignored by D&D repeatedly, including his insistence that Lady Stoneheart be in the show because she plays a larger role later on. Given how often D&D kill off a character for shock value or to surprise people, I really don’t believe that the final season has anything to do with the books.

What makes a main character in the books? We know the key 5, but what about the rest? Cersei is arguably a main, but she didn’t have a POV chapter until AFFC. Ser Barristan has POV chapters, but he was killed off in the show. It’s a lot less clear and while you can guess who might be a minor character, I’m not so sure about major ones.

But let’s argue and say the key 5 are. Okay. The problem is that so much of their arcs and storylines are disregarded by D&D. Jon, rather than being a no fun, cardboard cutout obsessed brooder in the show, is a politically savvy player in the books. He’s concerned with a lot more than the Others and is being shown learning to rule. There’s no Night King for him to fight, he is a powerful warg, and he’s willing to break his oath for his family where in the show, he’s not willing to lie for the greater good. His parentage is such a HUGE DEAL in the books. So much of his chapters are filled with hints about him being a hidden prince. Meanwhile with the show, it’s nothing. It’s used as discord with Dany. We never get a look at how he feels, what this means for his future or how he handles this.

Then we have Bran. The 3 Eyed Raven isn’t really the same thing in the books that the show made it. The one calling him was Bloodraven, a Targaryen prince who gave up the throne and went North. He’s not an emotionless robot, he does want things and has human desires. He had an affair with his sister, Shiera Seastar! Bran also has emotions and wants in the books. He’s not detached, he’s not just monotone, he has a story and an arc, but this was cast aside because I honestly believe it was too hard for D&D to comprehend. These are the same guys that said “themes are for 8th grade book reports.”

The fact that he was left out of Season 5 really says a lot to me. Instead of focusing on him learning these abilities, traveling through the Weirwood and giving people dreams and visions, he’s just written out. If they’ve known all this time that Bran becomes king, they did a really piss poor job of setting it up.

Then we have Dany. She’s vulnerable, compassionate, kind and caring. She tends to plague victims despite her advisers’ advice because she wants to be a good queen. She’s disgusted by Daario’s suggestion of a Red Wedding style take over. Yet somehow in the show we’re supposed to believe she goes from 0-10 in a matter of seconds because “people don’t love her?”

I honestly believe they switched Cersei’s death with Dany’s. A few reasons why. Cersei was built up to have this self fulfilling prophecy she is heading towards where she will be killed by the Valonquar, a “little brother”. The arguably best candidate for this is Jaime, her lover. The idea most people have about this is that he kills her to stop her from committing mass murder, as he killed the Mad King. Does that sound familiar?

What further adds to this is that Lena Headey talked about how they filmed a miscarriage for Cersei in Season 7, but never used it. This baby wasn’t going to impact her ending or death, so why did they keep it in? To humanize her and make us feel sympathy for her death.

Meanwhile we have clear pictures of Daenerys bts where she is obviously pregnant. All of Season 7, we had build up to her having a child, but suddenly that and the talk of marriage for Jonerys is gone. Why? Because D&D likely didn’t want to humanize Dany. As Miguel admitted, they didn’t show Dany’s face during the Bells because they wanted to show she’s the same as her dragons. Having her pregnant would sort of ruin that wouldn’t it?

D&D have even come out and admitted that they changed storylines because they thought they were “too obvious.” GRRM on the other hand has talked about how people guessed a major secret for the story early on (likely R+L=J). He thought about changing it, but realized he laid too much groundwork for it that if he changed it, it would be a disservice to the readers and the story. It’s more likely to me that D&D changed the obvious ending rather than going with what GRRM has set up from the get go.

There are other people who have outlined better explanations for why certain things were changed and I linked a few of them HERE. Take a look.

If you are too heartbroken to read the books, I totally get it. Not everyone wants to lend GRRM much credit and hope. That’s fine. Sometimes it’s easier not to hope rather than getting burned all over again. It’s your choice.

I’ve seen too many good arguments and details about the books that have helped me realize how vastly different the medias are. One is GRRM’s magnum opus and the other is D&D’s shit stain.

#fuck d&d #anonymous #daenerys targaryen

[blueymoons]

40. I Made This For You & 66. Stay Over

For @hobbeshalftail3469 and @crazymarauder

I give you: Part 3 of the 100 Ways To Say “I Love You” prompt list challenge I’ve set for myself.

“Where are you?” Robin asked her partner as she twirled a pen through her fingers and stared at the ceiling of their office. “I’m still at the office, I thought we might have a drink after your surveillance is done.”

“I’m just down the street. I’ll be up in a mo’” Cormoran’s shout came down the line, almost lost in the noise of the jackhammers that were still tearing up Denmark Street. It sometimes felt to Robin like the roadworks were never going to end.

Three years she’d been working with Cormoran, first as his assistant, newly engaged and high on love and anticipation of a beautiful wedding and a happy future. Then she’d fallen in love with the job and become his partner while hiding from the realization that the man she was planning to marry was jealous and petty. Then she’d married that jealous and petty man, only to realize, walking the beach on her honeymoon that she was likely not only just in love with the job…but also with her partner. It had taken another year, feeling guilty for all of the money spent, and the time wasted on the wedding, before she'd discovered that Matthew had been cheating on her, allowing her to find the courage to initiate the divorce she'd just celebrated the finalization of. 

Cormoran was as different from Matthew as night was from day. Matthew had been thin and lanky, trim and golden. Cormoran was huge. Enormous hands, big chest, massive shoulder span, and, most wonderfully to Robin, large of heart.

Matthew had been smaller than Cormoran in so many ways.

Her only regret was that she’d ignored that smallness for so long.

She heard the downstairs door bang as Cormoran entered the building, followed by his heavy tread on the stairs and reached over to drop the pen in the pen holder her dear friend Ilsa Herbert had made her at her first ever pottery class.

It was wonky and misshapen, but it was one of Robin’s most prized possessions. Robin would never forget the shocked and joyful look on Ilsa’s face as she’d noticed it on Robin’s desk three days after she’d given it to Robin, with a slightly embarrassed “I made this for you”, at the Christmas party she and her husband Nick had thrown.

Robin had been a long time without friends of her own, since most of their friends had been Matthew’s mates. She wasn’t sad that she’d “lost” them in the divorce. They’d never been hers to begin with.

But when Cormoran had introduced Robin to his oldest mate Ilsa, shortly after Robin had discovered that Matthew had cheated on her back in uni, she’d felt an instant bond snap into place. It had taken some time and a little awkwardness, but now, after having lived in their spare room for the last few months while she’d saved everything she could to be able to afford a new flat of her own, Robin was an almost permanent fixture at the Herbert household.

A fact that only put her and Cormoran in even more constant contact with each other.

Cormoran swung the office door open with a loudly heaved sigh of relief. “I’m so glad this case is finished,” he exclaimed. “I don’t think I could have taken much more sitting in the park watching that woman massacre art.”

“You got something then?” For the last two weeks they’d been tailing a woman they’d nicknamed Nonet, whose husband suspected her of cheating. So far, they’d not turned up anything other than that she liked to paint really terrible watercolors in Regents Park in the midafternoon. Sometimes she was joined by another young woman who also set up to paint, and seemingly chat, but they’d seen no evidence of Nonet cheating.

“C'mere and have a look,” Cormoran held out his phone to Robin gesturing for her to come to him. She slid around the edge of her desk and moved close to his side. He shifted his weight slightly to the foot closest to her and handed her the phone. This close to him she could smell the lingering tobacco smoke wafting around him, as well as the faint bay rum scent of his aftershave or cologne. It had become an increasingly tantalizing mix of smells over the last three years.

She started flipping through pictures of Nonet chatting to the other woman who was ginger haired and very thin. Cormoran’s arm brushed against the side of her breast as he mumbled, "Here," and reached out to flick to the next set of pictures, impatient for her to see what he’d seen. She knew he didn’t realize he’d brushed against her, but it still sent a frisson of heat through her.

Sometimes she wished he did realize.

“Oh my God!” Robin suddenly exclaimed, her hand grasping the arm he still had extended toward the phone in shock, as the next picture showed the two women leaning into each other, tongues fully engaged in the other’s mouth. “What the…?” she trailed off, completely astounded.

Cormoran’s dark eyes were amused at the shock on her face as she glanced up at him. “I know.” He nodded as he took the phone from her and started the process of emailing the pictures to their Dropbox so that they could be printed and filed in the file to be given to Nonet’s husband tomorrow. “I almost dropped my phone,” he chuckled. He shifted his weight again, and asked “You ready to head to the pub?” with his eyes still on his phone. “I’m dying for a pint.”

“Yep," she nodded as she turned away from him, smiling at the eagerness in his voice. Very little could stand between Cormoran and a pint of Doom Bar. "Let me grab my bag and shut down.” 

He hummed low in his throat, a sound she knew to be one of assent, and walked to the door, still fiddling with his phone. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he opened the door, then propped himself against the door jamb, to wait patiently for her to go through her routine of shutting the computer down and cleaning up her desk for the day.

His head was lowered toward his phone, allowing the curls on his head to flop forward slightly. His big hands worked on his phone as he turned, absentmindedly to scratch his back against the edge of the door jamb. He was wearing a light blue button down with the sleeves rolled to just below his elbows, a pair of black slacks and the boots he usually wore when he was going to be on surveillance. He shouldn’t have been as attractive to her as he was.

But he was. And lately there had been something slightly different about him. She just hadn't been able to put her finger on what it was. He dressed the same. His hair was just as unruly as ever. He'd lost well over a stone over the last few months. But none of that was the reason for this nagging feeling of something being different about him. 

Brushing the thought away with a small shake of her head she picked up her bag and slung it across her chest as she walked to the door, keys in hand. “Let’s go.”

He glanced up at her, and she noticed a flash of surprise in his eyes as he realized how close she was to him. But he quickly grinned his crinkly eyed grin at her, her favorite one, and swept his arm forward in a mock courtly gesture for her to proceed him out the door. “After you ma’am.”

She snickered as she passed him and stopped, waiting for him to follow her out and shut the door so she could lock it.

As she was doing so, she felt a slight tug on the hair she’d swept up into a ponytail to combat the heat in the office this afternoon. She glanced around with eyebrows raised in surprise, to find him laughing. “I’m sorry. It was too tempting,” he laughed. “You don’t often wear it like this.” He reached up to tug it again. "I kind of like it." His grin was getting crinklier by the moment. 

“It was warm today. And I got tired of it being in my face.” She swatted at him, surprised that he’d been so forward. Though they’d only gotten closer over the last year, hugging more often and kissing the other’s cheek in social settings, their physicality with each other hadn’t progressed much further than that. They were comfortable, but not touchy-feely. Not that Robin would have minded that changing.

There had been many times during the course of her relationship with Cormoran that she’d yearned to rub his back consolingly or grasp his hand in support, especially when he was in pain. Occasionally she’d allowed herself to do that. But she’d not made a habit of it, mostly because he tended to stiffen up when she touched him unexpectedly, for some reason.

“You’re like a boy in Primary school. Tugging on the ponytail of the girl he likes,” she smirked as she turned away from him to head toward the stairs with a shake of her head.

Her foot had just lowered to the first step when she realized what she’d said and she whipped back around, words spilling from her mouth, “That is…,” only to see his dark eyes on her and lit with something that made her feel slightly breathless. “I only meant…,” she tried again.

He stepped closer and she stepped back up onto the landing, turning to face him as he neared her.

But he only continued to watch her face as his hand reached out again, grasping her ponytail and giving it a gentle tug, before allowing his hand to slide down the tail of hair to the back of her neck. His head lowered, and her chin lifted as her eyes closed instinctively. She felt his breath against her ear in a rasped whisper, “Are we going to the pub, Robin?”

He stayed there. His hand on the back of her neck. His lips against her ear. Waiting.

And suddenly she realized, maybe he was aware that he’d brushed against her a few minutes ago.

Maybe the something that had changed about him was the way he looked at her. The way he stood closer to her. The way he shifted slightly closer to her when she was near.

Robin had no idea where she found the courage, but standing on the landing, next to the door of the office they shared every day, enveloped in his unique scent of smoke and bay rum, surrounded by his massive body, she turned her head, allowing her lips to graze his ear, eliciting a sharply indrawn breath from him, and whispered back, “Yes."

She felt his shoulders deflate slightly against her, then continued, "Unless you want to ask me to stay over.”

He drew back and once again, this time his eyes were blazing with unbanked lust. He slid his hand down her ponytail again, allowing his hand to cradle the back of her head in his huge palm, then bringing his right hand up to cup the side of her face, brushing his thumb just under her bottom lip, before lowering his lips to hers in the sweetest and most erotically tender kiss she’d ever received.

He kissed her tentatively but became bolder as she responded in kind. Her hands gripped his shirt as his hands cradled her head before sliding lower to wrap around her waist and lift her slightly off the floor, and into his body.

He broke the kiss after a few moments and grinned that crinkly grin she loved so much, his eyes warm and tender on her face. “Robin?”

“Hmmm?” 

“Stay over?”

She brushed her hand across his forehead, brushing his curls back into place and kissed him again, murmuring against his lips, “Sure

#cormoran strike #cormoran x robin #cormoran loves robin #cormoran strike novels #corobin #fiction #fanfic #post lethal white #robert galbraith #robin ellacott #cormoran strike fanfic #fanfic writing #strike fanfic #fanfic writer

[quanticlub]

Long Lore Rant

... Needs to be reformatted into something pretty rip

Background:

Aight so as per the great and infallible wikipedia, Taoist cosmology states that everything started with wújí and then created yǒu jí. The former means limitless and comes from the words "nothingness" and "reaching the end" ... so nothingness at the end aka no boundaries

the latter was the limited. it's only briefly mentioned as its conception brought on a polarity to the universe - yin and yang

taiji itself is the boundary embodied by you-ji with respect to the infinite wuji and represents the Absolute

The split into yin and yang has a the connotations listed above in the pic ((except... for tikki and plagg the feminine vs masculine seem to be switched cuz from the description, tikki is more closely associated with yang)). Yang is represented by one long dash –– while yin is two small broken ones - - . Now, in the middle column where there are category names for what yin and yang represent the wu xing category (elements, second from the bottom) has earth listed as neither. It also doesn't include air, which the wu xing doesnt include in general but is included by almost every other major culture when classifying the elements.

Kwami Origins: Null

In the beginning there was a great big nothingness and then came a tiny blip of umm... everythingness? making the Absolute. This gave the nothingness and everythingness a consciousness. (wow lots of -ness words here). The nothingness part of the absolute became Null. The everythingness got no name cuz it quickly split off into the rest of creation.

Null's concept art is a three-eyed little creature with two kwami tendrils.  I propose Null as the glowing white kwami they originally made but with all black eyes and The Other One as the all black kwami but with glowing white eyes. The prior emptiness/nothingness was energy while the delineation/everythingnes was matter(?). when they created the Absolute, parts of themselves mixed i na typical yin-yang fashion, thus the eyes being like those of the others. This gave them power over the nature of the other sorta???? hard to explain

 For Null, he had power over mass, time, and space - matter is anything that has mass and takes up space at a given moment. The Other One (imma call them Higgs bc of the Higgs boson particle but it wouldnt be the real name) had power over tendencies of energy*. So. energy can be used up to build something (creative force - in human metabolism it's an anabolic reaction), released to tear something apart (destructive force - in human metabolism it's a catabolic reaction). bBt it can also be stored/dissipate with no specific purpose, instead being available for all sorts of possible things later (chaotic force?)

idea is that Higgs, upon consciousness, sacrificed themselves to give rise to existence. The Big Bang. they justs sorta fucked off to become a bunch of cool rocks/stardust floating in space and initiated the course of time (which could theoretically be split into different timelines? idk time travel is weird and this is superfluous to my current ramble)

the three aspects of Null that Higgs had gained powers from became concepts that would gain sentience of their own. The yin and yang markings are, technically, three lines. not two. cuz yin is split ( –– vs - - ).

* = this bit's a little less science-y except for keeping with the triad thing bc neutron, electron, and proton

Three, Not Two: Tikki, Plagg, & ...Hexx?

I imagine Null took up the developing concepts and nurtured them sorta. like they were incubating under Null's protection. Tikki emerged out of Null's sphere first; she had the most power from Higgs though all three were pretty closely matched. she was the creative force. 

Plagg came out of Null's sphere last. He was the destructive force. Sorta. It was actually coser to... decay?  Plagg is really more of a kwami of decay than destruction. He doesnt just obliterate things, he accelerates their decomposition. when his powers act on metal, for instance, it rusts. thats not destruction it's just the wear-and-tear expected to happen over time. Destruction as a concept opposite to that of Creation and Order involves more entropy and plagg really isnt as chaotic as would be expected. While he represents destruction in the sense that the thing is ceasing to function as a unit, the chaos would fall more under hexx.

The third force, the one that embodied possibility, was too erratic. they got out of Null's care first but remained in the sphere for a while longer. they didn't get out til after Tikki. I'm thinking maybe  emerged from Null's domain just a few seconds before Plagg (time is still wonky at this point). while Tikki is yang ( –– ), Plagg and #3, henceforth referred to as Hexx, are both yin ( - - ). Plagg is slightly weaker cuz he was "overcooked" and Hexx was "undercooked". Tikki came out just right like a yummy batch of cookies ;)

While Plagg is the biggest cuz he stayed with Null for so long, Hexx is the smallest. Even more so than Tikki but only by a little. I was thinking of him looking like a mix of Tikki and Plagg. More cat-like but with red accents and maybe blue eyes instead of green.

That’s the gist of it with a quick reminder note that time still affects kwamis differently like they mentioned in Sandboy or whatever. so they might be around ten billion years old be the time earth shows up but theyve been very immature. like little kids. and unlike kids that go to school to learn how things work, they were given immense amounts of power and 0 instruction so they have to figure out what they can do, what their identity is, and what purpose they want to have in existence

Tikki has a very do-good attitude and wants to help (even if shes proven sometimes she doesnt give the best advice) and be a Good Kwami. But Plagg isn't a bad kwami. The opposite of love isn't hate after all; it's apathy. Plagg just doesnt really care and will follow Tikki around bc he enjoys her company and his primary concern is himself. Oblivio was a good example of this cuz he's like "no fuck you whats in it for me" but still gets affected by tikki's words and comes back to do as she says eventually.

Hexx would be the "bad apple" though kwamis dont really have moralities cuz those were human constructs and are incredibly subjective. He wouldnt be hatred in the analogy with love, but rather fire-y emotions that are still more negative. quick anger and stuff. usually happy go-lucky. temperamental goes with the nature of being THE force of chaos. while he doesnt wanna help necessarily, he still wants to DO. he's the one that instigates mischief and wants to fuck around for the fun of it.

Making the Miraculous

So from the dinosaur ordeal we know the kwamis DID have effects on earth, but they couldnt consistently intervene - at least not in a controlled fashion. and they couldnt really communicate with humans cuz different field of existence. but their presence became known even if the humans didnt know what they were exactly

the set from the miracle box was made my a mage in china for the purpose of conquests. Hexx’s mischief and meddling probably gave the humans access to the magic/knowledge/whatever they’d need for making the Miraculous. The pitch to get these baby gods to agree was that tikki would have greater control of her powers and could communicate and help! tikki was down. It seemed like a Good Thing and she wanted to do good. Plagg was meh but might as well cuz tikki insisted. hexx wasn't convinced. they werent warned theyd be confined to the miraculous and essentially trapped. plaggs agreement was more out of ignorance of this fact. he figured he could make tikki happy but still fuck off to do what he wanted. never imagined that he'd be subject to another's will. 

tikki was happy regardless bc very young (developmentally) and naive and honestly believing that the human knew best and it's what was best for both the kwamis and humanity. she had so much power her jewel had to be split into two - thus, earrings. all other kwamis inhabit a singular miraculous.

when hexx was being trapped it was against his will, unlike plagg and the others. he fought it. he still got trapped but the miraculous wasnt like the others. the nature was different... it was corrupted. Cue: cursed miraculous(es) ((still not sure of the plural)). If he has to suffer then by Null so do the humans who did this. Thus the name Hexx. Opened the option for kwamis to try to fight it or go for it. Werewolves perhaps stem from a group of cursed canid kwamis? The Miracle Box is basically the kwamis who were aight with the idea but other cursed kwamis exist. 

The nature of a miraculous depends on the "recipe" used to make the jewels and the kwami's receptiveness to being basically enslaved. The Miracle Box miraculous were all made by the same mage mentioned earlier so they had the same recipe so to speak. All the kwamis in the miracle box fall under yin or yang. Including the elements. So the Zodiac and Wu Xing kwamis are all in either tikki or plagg's domains. Except for one. I propose trixx as the exception, even if they dont fit the traits of earth. i was thinking for the other supporting kwami to hexx there could be one that also refused to join the mage... the kwami representing air (wu xing is basically the only philosophy without air as an element in some shape or form). Possible name: Jinxx, a crow. The fox/crow/cat are all typical tricksters in myths. 

The way the kwamis’ powers can be manipulated varies and the cursed kwamis offer the least control to their wielders - and the greatest side effects. I imagine jinxx just fucks off to follow hexx's miraculous, wherever it may be. Hexx is closer to the original curse on pv chat noir... the curse is possibly activated and summoned by the use of tikki or plagg's powers outside their miraculous? And dormant after death of wielder or kiss from LB or something. So that would mean Plagg activated him in style queen and then helping him get a better location/target with the smaller cataclysm in i think catalyst (when he's like "ive been practicing!).

Together, plagg and tikki have that OP wish granting ability but they cant truly summon Null to the this dimension without Hexx, who adamantly refuses. it's not like Hexx's miraculous can be stolen cuz it's cursed onto the subject. As a summary of combined powers... Tikki + Plagg = wish granting? ... Hexx + Tikki = good luck ... Hexx + Plagg = bad luck ... cuz Hexx is about possibility and consequences. So creation-related effects tend to manifest as what humans deem to be good while destruction-related ones are seen as bad.

Hexx Making an Appearance

For the current Mari/Adri plot I thought of Hexx cursing Felix or sth and bringing him onto the hero scene. Comes with the benefit of jealous CN. Maybe a scene where cat-ish Felix tells Chat Noir that he’s not interested in LB, only Mari and they have some sorta agreement to respect that (would work best in the half brother’s thing if Adri found out). All hell would break loose if/when LBs identity came out.

 Also I like the idea of Hexx having been locked in Pandora's jar with other angry ~cursed~ miraculous and the others immediately fucked off and scattered their miraculous but Hexx remained. possibility and consequence does not mean bad things. it's the uncertainty of the future that allows for hope, which is what pandora found. the greek tales also have varying connotations on whether finding hope was a blessing or a curse depending on how you looked at it

#ref: ml lore revamp #ref: ml kwami revamp

[naomi-owens]

guess who’s expecting!

who? Naomi Owens & Amy Taylor where? Janey Taylor’s Wedding when? February 16th, 2019

Weddings, at least for Naomi, has always been one of her favorite things. There was something about the affair that brought out the best mood in every single guest — love was in the air, who couldn’t be swept up in the romance of it all? The ceremony was near perfection with a pair of vows that moved Naomi to tears, while the spacious venue the guest relocated to blared with funky music and dancers moving around the dance floor was laughs on their face. By then Naomi had tore herself away from the table she shared with Michael and her brother, moving on toward the snack table before the dinner would be served. Scanning across the plates offered up, Naomi grabbed a few cubes of cheese to pop into her mouth, though immediately scrunched her nose. “Well, I guess I ain’t a fan of spicy jack anymore.” She laughed as she noticed Amy approach her side, right around the time she swiftly crumbled up the cheese into a napkin to quickly throw away. “Babe!” The brunette then grinned, turning around to face Amy, clad in her pink wrapped dress. “This is so gorgeous.”

Although the wedding had been in the works for a few months only, when the day finally rolled around, Amy breathed out with relief. Finally, it's here. Someone might have thought she was overwhelmed and annoyed with all the planning and all the conversations that have been had over the past few months, but it wasn't that which held her breath to ransom in her chest. It was that finally, after all these years, Janey Taylor would make her happiness official once more. Whatever the differences the eldest child had with her mother, it was ultimately all she wanted for the woman that had given birth to her: happiness. And though Amy would be the first to say having a man did not equate a happy life, she was glad that her mother would no longer be alone. Legally, emotionally, or in any other way. That, however, was not where her mind was at as the day progressed into the evening and the party was in full swing. No, something else had kept her mental gears busy and preoccupied, lurking for a private moment with her oldest friend. Something she had mentioned that morning as she was helping the Taylor girls with their makeup, and traces of which she had noticed throughout the day, now that she had been made aware of them. Finally spotting her friend on her own by the snack table, Amy did her best to sashay over to her, the sage green of her dress and the matching clutch holding three (3!) different pregnancy tests, helping her blend in with the background. "Having fun?" Amy wondered with a smile on her lips, taking a quick look around the room. "Mom's outdone herself. You know she basically planned this whole thing on her own? I'm amazed." Yes, the kids helped run errands, but it was all at Janey's directive. "I kind of need to talk to you, though. Can you come with me to the bathroom?"(edited)

“Oh, totally.” The teacher laughed, before feeling the surprise take on over. “Your Mom did all this? Does she want to hand over that planner and mojo whenever I get hitched? Because... damn.” Naomi complimented as she allowed two large hues to scan over the crowded venue once more — it was no secret that the wedding she was planning once before it went up in flames was very similar to the idea, but this was all she could ever want herself. A warm ceremony to officiate a love, followed by a rowdy reception where nothing else could be heard other than laughter and good music. “Now we know how spectacular yours and Aubrey’s is gonna be.” The brunette then winked, loosely clasping her hands together in front of her. The night was going on perfectly without a hitch, so when Amy opted for a ladies room break, Naomi simply chuckled and ducked to gather some material of her dress so it wouldn’t drag on the ground. “Of course. I actually need to fix some smudges anyway.” She gestures toward her lashes, thinning nothing of the suggestion before she was twisting to head toward the side exit with Amy. “Everything okay?”

It was impressive, Amy agreed. Not only did Janey know what she wanted, but she knew how to get it, too. No vendors could persuade her otherwise, and it showed in every carefully chosen detail, every delicate flower that adorned the tables spread out throughout the room. And Janey Ta─ Madison, now─ shone like the brightest star in her gorgeous, yet simple and appropriate white dress, holding her new husband by the hand as if they had only just gotten together. Which, in a way, they did, Amy admitted to herself, smiling at the newlyweds dancing not too far away from them. "You know she's gonna make herself an honorary planner whenever you find the man that deserves all the goodness you've got to give." The two families had been so closely intertwined that, yes, Janey Madison would 100% be involved in the planning of Naomi's wedding (if only to drag Pamela away before Naomi lost her nerves entirely and strangled her). Warning flashed in Amy's hazel eyes, a decided shake of her head discarding the idea of a wedding happening any time soon. "Let's not talk about those, not even hypothetically." Lacing arms with Naomi, the two of them adorned in their gentle pink and green dresses like heralds of spring amidst the winter themed décor. "I don't know yet. You'll tell me in a few minutes." The ominous tone of her words could not be avoided as they reached the restroom, and Amy set out to check all the stalls and make sure they were all empty.

Amy did have a point, not that Naomi had minded all that much. With how intertwined the two families had become to be over her entire life there was no doubt a Taylor hand would be played with her big day. Not only Janey, but she always envisioned Amy to be one of a few girls to be standing up there with her as she exchanged her vows. The smile that was on her face because of it didn’t even disappear as they made their way through the venue. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Your Mama is just proving she’s a genius.” Naomi laughed as she walked along beside Amy, unable to help the eye roll that followed suit. If she knew Amy Taylor well enough by now, she knew the idea of her being thrown in a white dress was almost as dreadful as a natural disaster tearing up the town. It wasn’t that it wasn’t possible — but that more or less happened on Amy’s terms. “Well, you better duck and cover when you wait out there for the bouquet toss.” The teacher winked, before slipping into the bathroom. She didn’t pay much mind to it as she moved toward the mirror and began the original task she had in mind, but the twinge in Amy’s rasp had her brows furrowing together. That, coupled with the suspicious way Amy has checked the stalls, had Naomi turning away from the mirror to look toward her friend. “Okay, now you’re being a total weirdo.” Her brows furrowed. “What are you so amped up over?”

"Girl," Amy said, shaking her head at the thought, "you know I won't even be in that lineup. I'll conveniently have to deal with an emergency when she tosses the bouquet and I'll let you and Bree fight over which one catches it instead." Okay, so, maybe avoiding the ordeal was pushing it, but Amy would certainly try to remove herself from the trajectory of the flowers that would quite possibly be aimed at her. Between Wes having a child when he was eighteen, and Amy losing her loved one at the age of seventeen, the Taylors had yet to celebrate or crown one of their kids tying the knot. And Bree was just too young. I mean, twenty-eight is ridiculously young, right? Or so Amy's inner protective sister thought. That, however, was neither here nor there as the subject matter Amy wanted to discuss had nothing to do with any of her family. Having made sure no curious ears would be listening in on the conversation she was about to have with her childhood friend, Amy joined the doe eyed woman at the mirrors, setting her purse down on the sink. "Okay, so, remember how you came earlier today and you were feeling all weird and wonky? And you've mentioned being sick a few times in the last few days?" She began, hesitant, for once beating around the metaphorical bush. "It got me thinking and..." She reached into the little purse matching her dress, drawing out three different pregnancy tests sans their original packaging because it wouldn't fit that way. "Can you just humor me and take these? Or at least one of them?"

“Oh, you’re funny. You act like I’m not going to be dragging that booty out there with me. It’s tradition!” If Amy knew her as well as she said she did, she would then know that Naomi was a stickler for traditions. She even went as far as pointing her fingers into the mirror so the reflection was technically pointing to the other brunette when she spilled the space beside her. Returning her attention back to the mirror and leaning in close to adjust a smudge, Amy’s words at first seemed rather casual, and Naomi didn’t think much of it. “I’m beginning to think it was the bad case of taco Tuesday.” It didn’t seem reasonable, but Naomi laughed it off anyway. There could only be a handful of explanations, right? But those tests came into view out of the corner of her eye, and Naomi stalled immediately, looking over toward her friend. At that point, she actually couldn’t help the hard laugh that escaped her mouth. “Amy, what?” She laughed again, shaking her head. “You’re kidding. Seriously...?” Her body then turned toward her friend. “There’s no way.” It wasn’t the most far off thing in the world. If Naomi stood witness to Amy going through similar signs, she would swear up and down she was about to be an auntie to be. Naomi just stood by the fact that she knew her body and would have known, as one little slip up in the past month wouldn’t have granted her... well, a child. Her brows creased together and she immediately reached out to grasp one of the tests, holding it up. “You went out and bought three tests? You psycho.” She shook her head, laughing. “They’re going to be all negative. It’s just an off week.”

Not only did Amy know Naomi had great respect for tradition and wouldn't dream of breaking this particular one, she also knew Naomi would make sure Amy was stood beside her for the bouquet toss, leaving not even a sliver of possibility for the older brunette to duck away. Not that it would stop Amy, who saw herself as far too serious for these things in the first place. "Mmm, we'll see about that," she shrugged her shoulders, not really eager to get into it when she knew she'd lose, no matter how stubborn she was. A bad case of taco Tuesday could explain some things, but not the fact that it was now Saturday and Naomi had been acting off all the while. The laughter that spilled from her friend's mouth wasn't unexpected, and Amy greeted it with stern seriousness, the three tests unflinching before Naomi. "I'm not kidding. Do you know who called Iris's pregnancy first? This girl," she pointed her thumb at herself. "I have my reasons to suspect, and if it turns out I'm right, I'll be a truffle pig for pregnant women, but that's a bridge I'll cross when we have the results." Wide-eyed and a little outraged by Amy's suspicion, Naomi, however, broke through her disbelief and finally agreed. "I'm not a psycho, I'm just thorough! These things aren't 100% certain, so if they all show the same thing, I figure I'll believe them. So come on, thank god you've had all that bubbly out there," Amy joked, making a mental note to keep Naomi away from the champagne chutes once they got out of there if it turned out that her friend was wrong.

It was a little difficult to even begin to take Amy seriously when she was holding those three pregnancy tests before her, picturing her best friend roaming the drug store looking for the best brands, with a look on her face that told Naomi there was no avoiding this. There was literally no way that this could happen, Naomi was probably the most careful woman there could be, but this kind of thing didn't just happen to her... At least not without a whole lot of planning on her part, and she really didn’t plan something like this. The laugh that left her mouth was a bit sarcastic as much as it was genuine, since she did actually find this entire thing humorous. But if this would amuse Amy, so be it. “You’re still a little crazy. You’re at your mom’s wedding, and you have three pregnancy tests stuffed in your purse! What if Cass found these?” Her brow arched, though she plucked them out of her grip anyway. To humor her, she would just do it. “Yeah, well, Iris also had a fiancé and was totally fertile with the second kid after Sophie. This is you just being totally paranoid.” With that, Naomi set her little clutch down near the table underneath the mirror and actually went for the bathroom stall to have a little privacy to do the deed and the business. For the next minute or so the only thing that could be heard was ripping of a few packages, humming to distract herself, before a quick flush and Naomi was pushing the door open with her heel as she was carrying the dried tests wrapped with torn off tissue. “You’re going to be severely disappointed, I hope you know..” Naomi deflected as she moved to set the tests down on a paper towel, then run her hands underneath the water to wash. “You totally made me pull a Snooki at your mom’s wedding!”

#amy. #closed threads. #february 16th 2019. #unfinished BUT for timeline purposes!

[zoe-yamamoto-blog]

Zoe’s father Fuyuki Yamamoto is a world renowned magizoologist most often noted as being a great expert, but terribly eccentric and somewhat grumpy and antisocial. Rather than have any kind of home base, he always preferred to go from one expedition to the next- something he told Zoe he did mainly to avoid ‘the tiresome wars and other such politics of humans.’. He changed nothing when his daughter was born. When she was still a baby he would leave her with his sister, Zoe’s aunt Akemi at her home in London for months at a time. However Zoe showed to be an extremely intelligent child, with a love of the outdoors, and as young as five years old he was bringing her along on shorter week long journeys, carrying her on his back when she was too tired or slow to keep up with him and whatever colleagues traveled with them. When she goes home for the summer, Zoe tends to spend it all helping her father study the breeding habits of Irish fairies, or the migration habits of demiguises.

She knows nothing of her mother, and no one will tell her anything either. Her aunt claims never to have met her, her father’s colleagues/friends either confess to know nothing or grow suspiciously tight lipped when she asks, and her father point blank refuses to speak of her. The only things Zoe has to remember her by are her wand, and a note she found once while rifling through her father’s things. It reads, in French: “I’m sorry, please do not hate me for this. Shield our daughter from the evil in the world, and give her my wand so in a way I might protect her too. It contains a veela hair given to me by my grandmother- she should at least have something of her heritage, given it seems she will lack a mother. Zoe my little flower, should you ever read this, know that I do only what I think is best. I go to places I would not have you follow. All of my love, Aemela.”

Zoe is an insomniac, and likes to wander the halls when she can’t sleep, or simply needs an escape. Occasionally she’ll take her bedding to an empty classroom, or somewhere on the grounds, and sleep there.

Zoe is graysexual bordering on asexual and bi-romantic, but has pretty much resigned herself to being single forever, as she figures the consent issues involved would be wonky at it’s best, abhorrent at worst.

Zoe knows bits and pieces of many different languages, having spent months in foreign countries before, but knows three fluently- Japanese which is her mother tongue, English which her aunt taught as a child while she was staying with her in London, and French, which her father also speaks and which Zoe learned to feel closer to her mother.

Whenever Zoe starts missing her dad or needs solitude, her favorite thing to do is go for a hike. Once she got lost while hiking and ended up having to climb a very tall tree so she could figure out what direction Hogwarts was and head back in that direction.

She has several pets, both magical and mundane, that she has somehow managed to sneak in past groundskeepers year after year. These pets include two Pygmy Puffs named Soleil and Lune, a one eyed garter snake affectionately named L’bitte, a blind hedgehog named Poppet, an extremely skittish moke named Otoko, four finches she simply calls les petits chanteurs, a great grey owl named Etoile, an old Siamese cat who hates everyone except her that she calls Grandma, and a one armed fairy named Yōsei- all of which she rescued and couldn’t release back into the wild or rehome for one reason or another- save Etoile who was a gift from her father when she was nine. 

The amount of pets she has has caused issues with her roommates multiple times- despite the fact that Etoile stays in the Owlery and Grandma tends to stay in the Ravenclaw common room- not because any of them are poorly behaved, but because Zoe has a habit of letting one or two loose at a time to roam the room.

Zoe has intense anxiety, and has had several panic attacks during school because someone’s come up behind her too quietly, or touched her without warning.

At any given time Zoe normally has an animal somewhere on her person

#ar:tasks #Zoe's Tasks

[therealcalicali]

REPOST FOR @TEPHI101 (Ivar, I Have Something To Tell You.” Part 3)

SINCE THE APP IS ACTING UP, YET AGAIN, THIS IS A CUT AND PASTE POSTING  FOR MY GIRL @tephi101  (she inspired the damn series and can’t even read it thanks to this wonky #$^%!* app!) FIX THE ISSUES TUMBLR!!!!!

Hopefully, anyone whose app is not acting up, should be able to read the fully illustrated post here: 

“IVAR I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU.” PART 3

_______________

PART 3 WARNINGS: Character Death, Murder, Threats, Violence, Domestic Violence, Angst, Cheating, Sex and Fluff

_______________

You were carried back home from the docks after hearing Ivar gloat about Harald sailing off to Wessex. It was as if in an instant, all your of strength was drained from your body and you felt sick to your stomach. Truly, you had nearly vomited due to how shocked you were at the revelation. When your legs went weak, you were very fortunate that Halfdan was standing nearby. The strong warrior was the one who caught you in his arms as you fainted. Your husband merely watched as his friend did his best to awaken you, almost mocking your reaction. When your eyes had finally fluttered open, Ivar cocked his head to the side and smiled - as if trying to decide whether to laugh maniacally or to just keep things smug. He chose the latter.

Though a concerned Halfdan asked if they should escort you back home, your husband insisted that it wasn’t necessary. He commanded some thralls to carry you back to the estate whilst he remained with his friends at the docks; watching the sunset over the ocean. Indeed, Ivar was a delighted and content man - looking ever so forward to his sweet, sweet revenge.

_________________

As you laid in bed the following evening, you stared at the ceiling still numb from Ivar’s revelation. Wessex! The way the words rolled of his tongue along with his smug smile made you sick to your stomach again. If you had the ability, you would have done anything to prevent Harald from departing Kattegat, but alas he was long gone. Now that it was evening, Ivar was busy entertaining guests at the lavish feast he had decided to throw at the last minute. In his Great Hall, he was happily celebrating his victory over you and your lover. Truly, you had never seen Ivar this genuinely happy in a long while. The only time he had been in such a good mood was when Bjorn had given him permission to marry you. Ivar’s smile had not left his face since Harald’s ship had departed. And it wasn’t the sinister smile as he typically displayed, he was TRULY happy.

As you lay on top of the furs, you clutched a silver cross that once hung form your neck - given to you by your Grandmother long ago. Ivar had forbid you to wear it any longer so you kept in hidden from him. You were determined to pray as many prayers as you could for sweet Herry. If God felt you were contrite enough and accepted your plea, perhaps he would save him by miracle.

___________

“Elizabeth. Come here a moment.” A tipsy Ivar beckoned to your little sister as she and a friend passed by his throne.

As she went to place her foot on the steps, Ivar motioned with his hand to one of the thralls who was beside him.

“You idiot! Do you not see she is with child?” He hissed as he furrowed his brow. “Help her before I toss you into the streets!”

The thrall apologized profusely as she rushed over to your sister and helped her up the steps that led to Ivar’s seat. As soon as Elizabeth was standing in front of  him, Ivar angrily motioned for the thrall to get out of his presence. Turning back to your sister, he quickly softened his expression. She was truly glowing and radiated joy in both her mannerisms and expression. Her dainty hands were gently rested on her round belly as she smiled back at Ivar.

“Are you in need of something brother?” Elizabeth asked in her usual innocent manner.

“There is no need to be so far away. You are free to come closer.” Your husband beckoned as he sipped the last drops from his horn.

As he raised his hand for more mead, your sister obeyed his request. She went and stood directly in front of Ivar - as he brushed off the thrall who had finished pouring him more drink. He looked at Elizabeth and eyed her with fascination. The manner in which her petite frame now boasted heaving breasts, curves and a rounded belly, intrigued him. Indeed, Ivar thought for her to endure all these changes just to bear a child for Jonah, meant she truly loved him. Why could you not behave as she did…..Ivar pondered. Your sister always seemed accommodating to her husband and now, was giving him the ultimate gift.

Ivar stopped drinking his mead and reached out towards Elizabeth’s belly. Realizing that he wanted to feel the baby, she smiled and gently took his hand in hers. When she placed his palm on her stomach, Ivar’s eyes widened in amazement. He caressed her round and firm belly with a smile upon his face.

“It is…..remarkable.” He said as he looked up at her. “So, have they told you much longer you have?”

“Mother and the midwife say it should be five more months or so.” She sighed with a smile. “I must confess that I hope to deliver sooner than later. Being with child can be draining. I am often so tired, that I sleep more than I am awake.” She added with a giggle.

Across the Hall, sitting alone at a corner table, Jonah apprehensively watched as Ivar conversed with his wife. He feared your husband and for good reason. Ivar had the ability of taking even the happiest of occasions and destroying it in an instant with his temper. You brother-in-law hoped that whatever Ivar was speaking to Elizabeth about, would not result in something terrible being said or done. Jonah wasn’t the only person in the Hall eyeing Ivar with disdain. A quiet Hvitserk stole hateful glances at his little brother as well. Ubbe, who was seated next to him, understood why he felt animosity towards the youngest Ragnarsson.

Hvitserk, being a person who often doubted himself, had asked for advice about his desire to be with you. Naturally, Ubbe and Bjorn were the most trustworthy. With the eldest Ragnarsson living very far away, he wound up confessing everything to Ubbe, whom surprisingly, was supportive. He, like anyone else with common sense, could see how horribly Ivar treated you. Despite his constant remarks about ‘loving’ you, his actions seemed to betray his words. Ubbe only asked that Hvitserk be careful but did not discourage him from pursuing you. In fact, he supported the affair since it seemed to be the one thing that would make his brother happy.

Hvitserk sat, angered about Ivar’s plan to have you watch your lover die. Despite feeling jealousy over your lovesick demeanor, Hvitserk didn’t want you to be tormented. He loved you enough to even attempt speaking to Ivar about alternative punishments. Instead of  killing the man, he suggested imprisoning him or sending him off to another kingdom as a mine worker. But it all fell on deaf ears. Ivar was hell bent on destroying your lover in the most brutal manner his dark mind could think of.

“Do you know that soon we shall be able to feel it kick?” Elizabeth said as she held Ivar’s hand over her belly. “I am so looking forward to it….though I hope it does not hurt.”

“I do not think you need to worry. It seems that you and Jonah are very blessed of the Gods.” Ivar replied. “While Y/N is….a constant thorn in my side.”

Ivar looked up your sister and smiled though he was envious. How could Jonah, a man with no power, title or great accolades be expecting a child? Whilst he, Ivar the Boneless, leader of the Great Heathen Army and son of Ragnar, be denied? You! He blamed you of course! Yes, indeed! Ivar knew that somehow, you had caused the Gods to not bless your home with a little one due to your affair. You chose to defile his marital bed and now, the consequences of your actions were being felt.

No matter. Ivar knew how make sure that there was atonement. The blood and flesh of Herry Forester would be food for the Viking Gods.

_____________

It took nearly two weeks, but Harald’s boat was finally spotted in the great distance. The news traveled across Kattegat like the wind and soon, you could hear Ivar’s voice as he gave instructions to his servants and men. There was to be an opulent feast to welcome the great Harald Finehair. As you worked on other household tasks, some thralls came to you with orders from Ivar. You were to ensure that a meal fit for a King awaited his friend in addition to assigning thralls to be at his beck and call. Truly, Ivar was sparing no expense in making Harald feel both missed and appreciated.

As you went about giving orders to the thralls and servants, you felt weak. You also developed a massive pain within your head that felt as if your skull was being crushed in a vice.

“I must remain calm and strong. There must be something I can say or do to save Herry.” You thought to yourself.”

Before your husband departed to go to the docks, he made certain to stop in your sewing room where he found you praying. Surprised that you still held out some faith in the midst of everything that was occurring, he laughed. Ivar thought you were insane for being so determined to beg your God for your lover’s life.

“Wife, despite your prayers, I do believe I am the one your so-called God has listened to.” He said with wide, pleased eyes. “He and my own Gods have blessed me. We are leaving to the docks but shall be home shortly for Harald’s welcoming. And please make certain that it is the most lavish feast I have thrown in a long while. I am in a……celebratory mood.”

For a moment, you contemplated stabbing Ivar with the knitting needle that you held in your hand as he turned to leave. He was far to pleased with himself and the glee he seemed to get from the impeding death of Herry made you detest him even more. Though you wanted to hurt him in that moment, you knew better. So, instead of attacking your husband, you laid the knitting needle down and cried.

_______________

At the docks, Ivar appeared to be the happiest man on earth as he sat upon a bench watching the ship pull ever closer to Kattegat. As he peered out over the waters, he flipped his axe over and over in anticipation of having Herry Forester standing in front of him in the flesh.

He wanted to see for himself, the man whom you wished to live happily ever after with and most likely bear his children. Ivar could only imagine the things you and Herry spoke about as you lay in his arms whilst he was away raiding. The thought of it all made him even happier that he had chosen to capture your lover. His jealousy was properly stoked as he threw his axe again.

“I see that you are very pleased.” Halfdan said as he leaned on a wooden beam.

“Oh, I am. Not only will I get my vengeance but I will make certain that his death is one that will honor the Gods.” Ivar said as he kept his eyes on the approaching ship.

Halfdan understood why Ivar was planning to kill the man but at the same time, he also felt bad for you. As he gazed into the sky, he contemplated all that was about to unfold once his brother’s ship docked.

Halfdan knew that you were a good woman and had seen how often his friend had mistreated you. Even as a Viking, he knew women would often find comfort in other man’s arms when they felt unloved or unappreciated. Though he wanted to advise Ivar of this, he understood that the young Ragnarsson was not like other men. He found offense in things too easily and was also quick-tempered. For that reason, Halfdan kept his opinion to himself.

As Ivar, Halfdan and some of their other friends awaited the ship that was still a bit off in the distance, Bjorn appeared. He came with news of an important meeting that was taking place about upcoming raids and newly discovered lands. It had been announced some time back but it appeared that Ivar had forgotten about it due to his focus being on your lover.

“But I am awaiting Harald to dock.” Your husband protested. “Go on without me and make my excuses.”

“Ivar this is important. The other leaders and Kings will take exception if all the Ragnarssons are not present.” Bjorn chided him. “Even I have come, despite living the furthest away. It is far too important. You must attend!”

Rolling his eyes, Ivar finally relented as he took up his crutch. Turning to Halfdan, he announced that they would attend the meeting but leave a good number of thralls and servants behind to welcome Harald home. After leaving instructions with some of his men, Ivar and Halfdan joined Bjorn to attend the meeting.

_________________

After the meeting had ended and all was decided about who would lead what garrisons and battalions, Ivar was quick to make haste back home. He was pleased to see that all the thralls and servants that had traveled with Harald were back on the estate premises. It meant that his friend and the mysterious Herry Forester were there as well.

Harald was outdoors in the canopied dining area after receiving a greeting fit for a King, as per Ivar’s orders. He had been lavishly bathed by thralls and now sat, busily eating foods befitting any royal.

“My dear friend. I am glad to see that the Gods have brought you back home safely.” Ivar said as he warmly greeted Harald.  

“Good to see you as well.”

After Harald and his brother exchanged greetings and brotherly love, Ivar sat down with the two men.

“We shall celebrate your return in grand fashion tonight. So you should rest until then.”Ivar boasted.

“Your little ‘present’ is in the cell as you wanted.”

“How does he appear to you?” Ivar asked as he gave all his attention to Harald.

His inquisitive mind wanted to know more before setting eyes on your lover. In a way, he wanted the opinion of another man, perhaps to squelch his deep seeded insecurity. Pondering for a moment, Harald finally spoke.

“Well, when I first spotted him when they brought him aboard the ship, I was not surprised.”

“How so?” Ivar asked.

“Well, he seems to be the type that could make some women weak. Especially Christian women. He possesses a boyish appearance…. you know….soft face and all.”Harald said as he took a bite of roasted meat. “Typical weakness brought about through their odd breeding practices….I assume.”

“So he appears a weaker man than I?” Ivar asked as blue eyes got larger.

“By Gods yes! Our shield-maidens would utterly reject him on site.” Harald chuckled as a thrall poured him mead.

Ivar smiled upon hearing that his ‘rival’ was not as masculine or powerful in appearance as he was. To know that you had chosen a weak specimen of a man actually made him laugh. Especially, since your husband prided himself on being imposing and intimidating. As you passed by them with four thralls in tow, Ivar glanced at you. Though your eyes met, you ignored him and turned your head.

“Wife!” He barked. “Do you not see that our friend Harald has returned?”

You stopped walking, almost ready to burst from rage. His happy countenance as of late was frustrating to endure. Turning sharply towards your husband, you exhaled before you spoke.

“I have had the pleasure of welcoming dear Harald home already.” You said. “He arrived hours ago whilst you were away at the meeting after all. Or have you forgotten that you instructed me to care for him prior to your departure?” You asked with some annoyance.

“I truly suggest that you watch your tone Y/N.” Ivar said as he gazed at you. “I merely asked you one simple question. I am in no need of a speech. Am I understood?”

“You are understood.” You replied.

With that you turned on your heels and walked away with the four thralls scurrying behind you. Harald and Halfdan exchanged glances before they continued to eat and drink. Ivar on the other hand, continued to watch you as you walked away. What he was thinking about or planning, only he knew.

_______________

“Mistress, can you please follow me to the courtyard?” A thrall said as she nervously looked at you.

“But this is my alone time.” You replied. “I shall go for fresh air later.”

You continued to sew gold and sliver embellishments into the light blue over-tunic you were making for Sigurd. Since you were an amazing seamstress, you often found yourself making clothes for your brothers-in-law. The thrall swallowed hard before approaching you timidly.

“My Mistress, I do not mean to be so forward but I must insist. I was instructed to take you there by the Master.”

You stopped sewing and looked up at the thrall. She seemed tense as she waited for you to do as she asked.

“Fine.” You said as you put your things down. “Let us see what this is all about.”

__________________

Since the winter was lifting, the weather was pretty decent so you only donned  your light cloak over your dress and skirts as you followed the thrall. You were unaware that your every move was being watched. In the high-tower, Ivar sat with Ubbe and Hvitserk, observing you as he had planned.

“Are you certain you want to do this?” Ubbe asked as he poured himself some ale.

“Of course I am.” Ivar replied as he kept his eyes trained upon you. “I never do anything I am not certain of. Besides………..I have to see it for myself.”

What he wanted to ‘see for himself’ was the depth of your affection for Herry. Ivar had decided against meeting his prisoner face-to-face for the meantime. Instead, he wanted to lay eyes upon him from a distance. That was his reason for having you brought to the courtyard. To not only gaze upon his nemesis for the first time, but to witness your reaction to seeing him again. Most men would not have wanted to put themselves in that type of situation, but Ivar was an oddity. He was tormenting himself so that the execution would be far worse.

“This is absurd.” Hvisterk said as he watched you cross the courtyard. “Do you not realize that this will make her melancholy worse?”

“Melancholy?” Ivar scoffed. “Do not allow Y/N to fool you, brother. She is no wilting flower or tender-hearted woman. She is only upset that her plans to disgrace me did no come to fruition.

As he finished speaking, Ivar noted that some of his men were approaching you from the east-side of the estate. He waved Ubbe and Hvitserk forward so they could also witness what he was seeing.

_____________

The attractive Herry Forester walked between five guards as they led him towards where you and your thralls were sat. As he took notice of your form, your lover walked ahead of the men with a smile upon his face.

Since you had your back to them, he admired you a while before he finally called out to you. Upon hearing the voice you knew all too well, you froze. Slowly, you turned to see the man you loved and adored standing before you. You stood up and looked him over, still in shock at the sight. Surprisingly, Herry appeared to be in good spirits despite everything as he gazed into your eyes with deep affection.

You were utterly beside yourself with love and grief.

_______________

As he sat next to Ivar, Hvitserk watched with bated breath - his ears growing hot with jealously. Though he knew he should not be feeling so. You had been perfectly honest with him about your love for the man after all. Even when you had divulged the reason behind Ivar ordering you to be interrogated, you never held back about your devotion to Herry. So, like his little brother, all Hvitserk could do was watch the reunion unfold below him.

Ubbe, for his part, thought Ivar was insane for allowing you to be put in such a position. He knew that nothing good could come of it for either you nor Ivar. As much as the youngest Ragnarsson liked to make others believe that he was always in control of his emotions, Ubbe knew better. He knew that his little brother was underestimating the situation. Dark heart or not, watching the person you loved reunite with whom they really desired, would be a painful experience for anyone.

________________

“Herry!” You said as you finally ran to him.

Amazingly, the guards did not stop you. Since they had been instructed to allow you freedom of movement, they merely stood and watched. You embraced Herry tightly as he picked you up off your feet. You buried your face in his shoulder, inhaling the scent of his flesh while running your fingers through his wavy hair. The two of you stayed that way for a good long while, pretending that the world had melted away.

As he set you down, you looked up at your lover with eyes that began welling with tears.

“I have missed you something fierce Y/N.” He said - his own eyes glistening with tears as well.

“Your beautiful hair.” You exclaimed with a weak smile upon your face. “It is flaxen now?”

Herry chuckled as you brushed his locks with your fingers. He stated that there was an older woman who had bleached it with ash and lye soap to help further his disguise.

“That worked out quite well, did it not love?” He said in jest as he laughed.

You hit him on his shoulder for his attempt at humor at such a serious time. Knowing your hatred of jesting during grave moments, Herry laughed at you even harder.

“Well, I see you have not changed.” He added.

“Oh, be quiet.” You playfully commanded as you gazed at him.

Placing your hands on each of his cheeks, you caressed his face as if you were touching him for the first time. He gazed down at you with adoration as you took in every little detail of his person. From the tiny light brown mole on his chin, to the stubble along his jawline.

“I am so, so very sorry, my love” You said as tears escaped your eyes. “I did not wish for you to ever be here again. If–”

"Well, I for one cannot say that I am entirely saddened to be back here.” He smiled weakly. “At least I have laid eyes upon you again. I was so miserable without you. Every day, I wondered if it was the day your ship would arrive.

You pulled his face to yours - touching foreheads as you began to cry. The two of you stood that way for at least two minutes before Herry perked your chin up with his finger.

“Y/N, you know that I love you.” He said tapping your chin gently. “Though things are quite dire, you are forgetting what we have always said. No regrets. Remember?”

“No regrets.” You echoed as the tears kept streaming down your face.

Herry took a kerchief from his leather vest and began wiping your face as if you were a child. He smiled at you while doing so, knowing that your love for him was as deep as his love for you.

_______

Ivar’s jaws were so tense that Ubbe feared he would erupt in a blind rage at any moment. He was in no mood for his brother to escalate things more than they already were. Before he could say a word to his little brother, Ivar spoke.

“Look how she dotes upon him with no shame.” He said both in envy and anger.

“You are the one who insisted on witnessing it.” An annoyed Ubbe replied. “What did you think was going to occur?”

“It is of no consequence now.” Ivar snapped. “I am finally ready to meet this so-called Herry face to face. I want him to hear of his impending death from my own lips.”

Hvitserk and Ubbe glanced at one another in silence. They knew Ivar’s desire to see you reunite with your lover had only added to his madness. And they also knew that it would lead to things become worse for everyone for the foreseeable future.

__________________

Herry was sat in his prison cell reading the Psalms from his family bible when he heard numerous people approaching. For some odd reason, Ivar had allowed his prisoner to keep his religious books. Not as a show of kindness, but as a display of his great power. He wanted you and Herry to know that despite all your bibles, prayers and crosses, none were a match for Ivar the Boneless!

As the cell door was unlocked by a guard, Herry looked up to see who was coming to pay him a visit.

“So, I finally get to meet the man and legend himself. Herry Forester!” Ivar smirked as he walked into the cell. “The thrall who seduced my wife and then absconded to Wessex with my coin.”

Herry looked at Ivar a moment, not shaken by his words. He knew your husband was a cruel man who prided himself in tormenting others. So, despite being a prisoner of a man feared by both Heathen and Christian alike, your lover was unmoved.

“I cannot seduce a woman who is mine freely.”

Ivar glared at Herry as he walked around him slowly. He did not like the composed manner in which your Christian lover spoke. Not only did he look Ivar straight in his eyes, he did not show an ounce of fear, despite his situation.

“Do you think I am a fool?” Ivar asked.

“No. Why would I think that?” A serene Herry replied.

Ivar’s jaw tensed. His anger was rising quickly as he looked upon the young man before him. Whether he cared to admit it or not, he envied Herry. Though he had no great family name, war accolades or wealth, he had something that Ivar had yet to capture. Your heart.

“If you do not think me a fool, why did you sleep with my wife and think there would be no punishment?” Ivar hissed. “

“I will be honest with you Prince Ivar. In my wildest dreams, I would have never thought that I would ever bed a married woman.” Herry said. “However, Y/N should have never been your wife to begin with.”

Ivar’s blue eyes widened at the young man’s bluntness.

“We were in love and intended to marry long before you took her by force.” Herry continued. “I have broken a commandment, that I know. My Lord and God will have to judge me for that. But I do not regret being with the woman I love. Neither you nor anyone else can ever make me feel different.”

Ivar’s nostrils flared and his brow furrowed as he got in Herry’s face. He had heard enough from the unapologetic Christian. He expected the young man to be begging for his life by now, not reaffirming his love for you.

“I am going to enjoy killing you.” Ivar hissed.

“Do what you must.” Herry replied never looking away from Ivar’s intense glare.

“You have done nothing but torment Y/N from the day you walked into her life. At least this time, I am the focus of your rage. You can kill me. But what she and I share is beyond this mortal world. She will always love me.” Herry added.

“Good. Then you can expect her to love you whilst you lay in your Christian grave.” Ivar said between gritted teeth.

“The Bible tells us that it is appointed for man to live once and then die to face judgment. I do not fear death.”

“We’ll see.” Ivar replied.

“Despite what you believe, you are not God! I will neither beg nor fear you Ivar. Believer or not, you shall also die one day and receive your own judgment.” Herry said as he clasped his hands in front of him.

Ivar began shaking with rage. So much so that his guards thought for certain he would kill the prisoner at that very moment. Before he lost control, your husband calmed himself. He backed out of the cell and had it locked again. As he stood in front of the bars looking at Herry, Ivar spit on the ground before he finally departed.

__________________

Ivar barged into your chamber nearly in the middle of the night after drinking with his brothers and friends. The only brother to make excuses that evening was Hvitserk; who did not think he could be around Ivar without it resulting in violence. As soon as your husband sat upon the bed to be undressed by the thralls, you spoke up.

“Please Ivar! I cannot live if you follow through.” You said holding in your tears. If there is anything you want me to do, I beg that you tell me. Please!” You added as you practically crawled to him. "With everything in me as a woman….I ask for mercy.”

You held onto one of his legs - covered by his metal brace. The coldness of the steel that helped your husband walk was as cold as his heart. Ivar looked down at you as if you were a madwoman that had wondered in off the streets.

“Let go of me Y/N.” He snapped. “I am tired and in need of rest.”

“Punish me instead!” You said as you began to weep.

Your heart began to feel as if it would stop beating from the pain. The thought of your sweet Herry dying in front of you was worse than anything you could imagine. How could you watch the life leave your lover’s body? It was just too much for your Christian sensibilities to handle. Still looking down at you, Ivar drew his face into a familiar scowl as his jaw tightened. His blue eyes became dark and full of a malice you had never seen before. It was the angriest you had seen your husband in a long while.

“Have you gone mad Y/N?” He shouted at you with his face turning red. “You are MY wife and you gave yourself to another. Now you beg upon your knees?” He seethed. “Do you know that you are making it worse for him? I shall give him a death that will make even the Gods tremble if you do not leave me be!”

“Ivar.” You said - tears falling uncontrollably. “I implore you not to kill him. Just imprison him for life. If anyone should suffer, let it be me.” Your voice shook with brokenness. “Kill me instead. I am the one who deceived you not–.”

“Shut up Y/N! Do you hear yourself right now?” Ivar shouted.

He could not believe what you were saying. Why were you so dedicated to a man who was nothing and owned nothing compared to him? He was a Ragnarsson and a Prince, not to mention a feared warrior. Herry was merely a former thrall that had made good use of the coin you gave him.

“So, you are willing to offer me your life for his without a second thought?” Ivar asked as he looked at you with disgust. “Listen and listen to me well Y/N, for I shall not repeat myself. You fucked this thrall while I was off raiding, never giving thought of praying for my safe return. Then, you had the gall to use my coin to hide him! Do you really suppose tears will suffice for all that?” He shook his head as if you had lost your senses. “Of course I’m going to kill him!”

______________

It was the night before Herry’s appointed death and you paced the floor of the Great Hall beside yourself with grief. Ivar had gone off somewhere with Halfdan, Harald and Ubbe leaving you to your own devices. You wanted desperately to see your lover one last time but you knew your husband’s men would never allow it. As you took a seat, utterly dejected, you heard footsteps approach.

“Come quickly Y/N.” Hvitserk beckoned.

When you looked at him, he knelt by you - dressed finely as if he had just returned from a feast or event.

“Where are we–.”

“There is no time for questions. Just trust me.”

Taking his hand, you allowed the Ragnarsson you had grown to trust and depend on, to lead you without question. It didn’t take long before your realized exactly where he was taking you. The tower where your dear Herry was being held. The two guards stopped you both when you arrived at the massive doors, however, Hvitserk took charge.

“You will allow us to pass, do I make myself clear? And if you repeat anything that you saw tonight, I will kill you both.” He said very calmly.

The men glanced at each other and then back at the Prince that stood before them. Shrugging, one stepped aside as the other opened up the large wood and metal door. Upon opening it, the one guard led the two of you to the cell where you found your lover awake looking out of the window into the night sky. The guard unlocked the metal cell door with a clank, which finally drew Herry’s attention. His face lit up upon seeing you.

Despite pain in his chest that felt worse than anything, Hvitserk stepped back.

“Go to him.” He said to you.

You looked back at the elder Ragnarsson and noted the forced smile upon his face. Touching his shoulder, you smiled with tears welling in your eyes.

“Thank you Hvitty.” You whispered.

___________

In the cell, you ran into Herry’s arms. He hugged you tightly as you both attempted to savor the moment. Without a second thought you broke the embrace and crashed your lips to his for the first time in months. The kiss was gentle, sweet and pure. His lips claimed yours as he practically swept you off your feet.

A solemn Hvitserk turned his back to the two of you and took a seat on a nearby stool. Everything in him hurt. It wasn’t a feeling he had ever felt before. He had his share of lovers but he never felt any pain when he lost them or saw them with another. But with you, it felt as if he was falling ill. Hvitserk gritted his teeth to keep from thinking about how only a few paces behind him, you were utterly happy in another man’s arms.

“I love you so much Herry.” You said. “Please forgive me for everything I have done to you to bring you to this wretched moment.”

He smiled as he brushed his lips against yours a moment before kissing you again. After breaking the kiss, Herry rubbed his thumb against your bottom lip and smiled.

“What is there for me to forgive my silly one? You have done nothing to me but love me unconditionally. Everything else is as God has allowed it.” He said before giving you a soft peck.

“I will always love you Herry.” You replied with a shaking voice. “I…..I shall kill myself so I can be with you.”

Hvitserk’s heart sank when he heard you state that you wanted to end your life.

“Do not say such things Y/N. You know that people who take their own life end up in purgatory and can never enter eternal rest. Do you wish to damn your soul and separate us for eternity?” Herry asked with a smile.

“No.” You hesitated. “I suppose not. It is just….I cannot live without you. You are my heart.”

“As you are mine.” He said as he pulled you closer. “That is why you must be a fighter. You dying as well will not solve anything. Remember, things will not always be so dire, you must believe that.”

Herry took your hand and kissed your fingertips and then playfully bit them as he had habit of doing. In spite of your sadness, you giggled in response. The two of you touched foreheads tenderly as you caressed his face - you fingers lightly dancing against his skin.

“I have prayed and committed my soul to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” He said. “I feel an odd sense peace now.”

“I have been praying for you as well. Perhaps, we can still hold out for a miracle.”

“Let us not speak of miracles my sweet Y/N.” Herry said as he wrapped his arms around you and rested your head upon his shoulder. “Just let me hold you.”

_______________

In the courtyard of your husbands estate, you sat where the Viking priests had instructed. It was late in the afternoon and time for the Herry Forester to meet his maker. Numerous friends and acquaintances of your husband were sat around at tables, eating and drinking. As you sat numb to the world, you nervously twisted your black over-skirt - the entire outfit selected by Ivar. As for your husband, he was also donned in all black standing near a large table full of all manner of weaponry.

You winced as you saw how many instruments of torture were on display. Especially the large war axe that you knew Berserkers loved for it’s ability to mutilate the human body quickly. You overheard Ivar speaking to the priest who was sharpening a large dagger in a language you did not recognize. When he had finished, the priest unraveled his braids and allowed Ivar’s dark hair to cascade down his back and shoulders. The man then rubbed some dark-reddish powder throughout your husband’s locks. When he was done, the priest handed the dagger to Ivar. Walking to you upon his crutch, your husband stopped directly in front of you.

“Stand up, wife.” He commanded.

When you did as he asked, Ivar pressed his forehead to yours - his hair tickling your cheeks as the wind picked up. You then realized that he wasn’t merely pressing his head to yours for no reason, he was saying some words in the dialect you did not recognize. From the cadence of how he spoke, you surmised that he was likely offering a prayer to his Gods.

Hvitserk, who sat a few yards away with Ubbe and Sigurd, eyed Ivar with disdain. When your husband had finished the prayer, he suddenly held the curved dagger by it’s handle. The weapon was as pretty as it was deadly looking. It was engraved with runes so you assumed it was a ceremonial weapon of sorts. As his hair blew in the wind, Ivar’s blue eyes stared into yours a moment before he leaned to your ear.

“If you kill him, I shall not have the need to prolong his death.” He said. See, I have given you a choice.

Your eyes widened and your mouth fell open but no words escaped. Ivar gave you a pleased look as you stood in utter shock. Your husband then managed to unravel one of your thick braids and used the dagger to cut a lock of your hair. He handed the strands to a priest and then cut a lock of his own hair in the same manner. When the priest had both of your hairs in his hand, he nodded and walked away. After that was complete, two thralls rushed over and rubbed some aromatic oils in Ivar’s hair before they quickly braided it.

The same scented oils were run along your already style hair as you stood motionless. Satisfied, one of the priests applied black ash on both of your foreheads in the form of a symbol - what it stood for, you did not know.

Ivar held on to the ceremonial dagger as he wrapped his arm around your waist. You began to shake as you felt your knees go weak. How could he expect you to kill the man you loved? The three priests walked to you and Ivar and began chanting in the unfamiliar dialect again while walking around you both in a circle. Your heart began to pound in your ears as you looked around and searched for where they were holding Herry.

You had not seen him since Hvitserk had taken you to him the night before. The nausea hit you as the priests continued walking around you and Ivar. For a brief moment, you looked at the dagger in your husband’s hand and contemplated using it on him. The man who had tormented you for nearly two years was within striking distance. Ivar’s guard was down as he stood beside you holding it loosely, focused on what the priests were saying.

But your husband was a perceptive man. Noticing the manner in which you were staring at the dagger and clenching your jaw, Ivar’s grip upon your waist tightened. He then leaned his mouth to your ear.

“What are you thinking, hmm?” He asked in a very calm tone. “I will not try to stop you. But know this Y/N, if you strike, you best kill me.”

You looked up into Ivar’s blue eyes that met yours with odd resolve. He stared at you as if he was challenging you to try to kill him. The intense, unwavering nature of his gaze finally made you look away. How did he know you so well that he could tell what you were thinking by merely by looking at you? It was as strange as it was unnerving.

Suddenly, some horns sounded and Herry was led past the gathered people towards the center of the courtyard. As soon as you saw your lover, you tried to go to him but Ivar pulled you back.

“Hold him there a moment.” A pleased Ivar commanded. “Behold everyone! Here is our Christian hero returned to us from Wessex. All in the name of love.” He shouted to the laughter of the Vikings around him.

Ivar laughed as he gazed at his rival for the last time. Indeed, Herry would no longer cause him any more grief.

Hvitserk shifted in his seat as he held his sword on his lap, quite tired of his brother’s show.

“What was it you said to me in the cell, Herry?” Ivar asked before he leaned over and placed a kiss upon your cheek. “Oh, I remember. You said that you appreciated that my rage was focused on you instead of Y/N.”

Herry glared at him but stood with his head held high.

“So what would you do if I was to decide to punish her instead?” Ivar said as he grabbed the back of your neck and raised the dagger.

Exposing the length of your neck by drawing you head backward, he placed the jagged blade against your throat as he glared into the eyes of the man he hated. Harald and Halfdan both looked at each other with some confusion before turning their attention back to Ivar’s display. Though he had a weapon at your neck, neither of them believed he would actually do anything.

However, the brothers were unsure of what their friend was trying to prove and did not care for it. Fortunately, they were not the only ones. The other Ragnarssons eyed Ivar cautiously in case his display was not merely for shock value. As for Hvitserk, he was thoroughly prepared to kill Ivar if need be.

“Do not harm her please.” Herry said with brokenness.

“Then get on your knees and beg me for her life!” Ivar hissed. “You told me that you would never beg me nor fear me. I want to see you do both.”

Without hesitation, Herry got on his knees.

“I beg you Prince Ivar, do not hurt Y/N. She does not deserve it.” He said. “You have me to do with as you see fit. Please, I ask you for mercy.”

Ivar chuckled, quite pleased with the manner in which his threat had caused distress to Herry. He glanced at you a moment before slowly pulling the dagger away. With a smug smile, your husband looked down at his prisoner.

“Well that was easy.” He said with satisfaction. “Now, it is time for you to meet your Christian God.”

You pulled yourself from Ivar’s grip and ran to Herry - kneeling on the ground before him. Sigurd, being perhaps the most sensitive of the Ragnarssons, watched with a heavy heart. He could not imagine how you were feeling. Hvitserk also felt bad, however, he wavered between jealousy and pity.

“Herry, do not worry about me. I should be the one begging for your life despite the fact that Ivar has a heart of stone.”

“As I have told you already, I have made my peace. Just promise me that you will always love me.” Herry said as he caressed your cheek.

Ivar frowned as he watched you behave as if the world was coming to an end.

“Y/N, you best kill him now or I will began dismembering him while alive and spread his parts all over Kattegat!” Your husband yelled at you.

Your heart raced as you looked into Herry’s eyes. He appeared to pity you instead of concerning himself with his impending death.

“Do not allow him to force you to kill me. I will take his punishment as it comes.”

“No!” You said as you grasped his tunic. “Are you mad? Do you want me to think about your last moments being that of gore and violence?”

“But…you cannot do it my love. It would be too much for you to live with. I know your kind heart too well.” Herry said as he gave you a faint smile.

“I cannot allow you to suffer but I also do not want to use my own hands to hurt you.”You said placing your forehead against his.

“Either say you will do it or I shall begin carving!” Ivar growled.

“I…I shall do it!” You said loudly as tears fell.

Ivar was inwardly happy with your decision. All along, he had wanted you to be the one to destroy your lover. He felt it was what you deserved for hurting him. A surprised Bjorn put his head down as he tapped the side of horn of mead. There was an uneasy silence as the guards grabbed Herry and began to lead him towards the table used for human sacrifice.

You did your best to hold onto his hand as long as possible until one of the guards finally had to pull you off. As he was being taken to his area of execution, Herry broke away from the guards suddenly. He rushed over to you with his eyes fixed upon yours and pulled you into one last kiss.

Ivar was livid and he shouted at his men to break up the scene before his eyes. The guards all hesitated a moment, seemingly astounded by the depth of the love between you. Once Herry was pulled away from you, Ivar walked over and placed the ceremonial dagger into your hand.

“If you hesitate Y/N, I will not give you a second attempt.” He said.

As you slowly walked over to your lover, who was laid on his back on the ceremonial table, Bjorn suddenly sauntered over to your side. Grabbing your wrist, your former Master and now brother-in-law whispered.

“Stick him between his jaw and earlobe. He will go rather quickly.” The elder Ragnarsson said and then pointed to the spot he spoke of.

You nodded slowly, in a bit of a daze as you held the dagger close to your chest. When you approached the table where Herry laid awaiting you, you legs went weak and you stumbled. Bjorn, who was still close by, caught you and rested you against himself. Being a caring person, he walked you over to the ceremonial table and stood beside you still allowing you to place your weight against him. In his heart, Bjorn felt as if everything occurring was his own fault. If he had only stuck to his initial denials to his little brother, you would have had a much happier life.

Your body trembled violently as you leaned over Herry and laid your head upon his chest. Your tears would not stop as you listened to his heart beating underneath your ear. A heart, that in moments, would beat no more. Bringing his hand to your head, Herry turned you to face him.

“Do not do it Y/N. It will break you.” He said as he peered into your eyes.

“I would do anything for you Herry. Even this.” You said. “I will be strong for both of us so that your death will not be painful.”

He smiled at you weakly as you caressed his face. Your heart felt utterly broken beyond comfort.

“I love you so much Herry.” You said as you studied his features.

“I love you too Y/N. More than you could ever comprehend.” He said with his beautiful smile beaming at you. “No regrets my love.”

“No regrets.” You replied.

Taking the ceremonial dagger, you glanced back at Bjorn who pointed to his neck again to show you the spot to hit. You exhaled deeply and looked down at Herry’s neck to find the right area as instructed by the eldest Ragnarsson. Once you spotted it, you leaned down and gave Herry once last kiss.

“That is enough! I–.”

Before Ivar could finish his words, you thrust the dagger swiftly into your lover’s neck, severing the artery just as Bjorn had instructed. Herry’s green eyes went wide as he looked into Y/C eyes with shock. You dropped the bloody dagger on the ground as you took his hand in yours and placed you face close to his.

“I am so, very sorry. Please do not hate me Herry.” You sobbed as you tried to comfort him the best you could. “It is all my fault.”

Hvitserk looked away. He could not bear to see you so distraught, even if it was over another man.

Sigurd and Ubbe both drank their mead by the mouthfuls as they attempted to drown out your sorrowful wails. As for the other Vikings, they seemed pleased with the death of a Christian. Especially at the hand of another supposed Christian. The irony of your ‘thou shalt not kill’ commandment made them laugh the more.

Herry did not make any painful noises as you expected. He kept looking into your eyes as the blood pooled underneath him and slowly slid down into a large wooden bowl located by the table. His breathing became shallow as he kept staring into your eyes. The light in his once bright green eyes, seemingly fading by the second.

“I see it. It is so very beautiful Y/N.” He muttered.

“I love you Herry. I will always love you.” You whimpered with your face against his.

Within seconds, your sweet Herry was no more. His body stilled and his eyes stared into yours but with no life behind them. You collapsed on top of him, kissing his lips and caressing his face as you wailed unlike anything the Vikings around you had seen before. You were utterly broken.

You could not recall what else had occurred between you collapsing on top of Herry’s body and when you awakened to find yourself being carried by Sigurd. He was relieved to see you open your eyes, as was Hvitserk who was walking alongside him. As your brother-in-law carried you away from the now festive atmosphere of your lover’s execution, you saw Ivar with the bowl that contained Herry’s blood. He was the first to dip his hands and taste of it before the rest of the Vikings would have their turn.

It was then you swore to one day leave Ivar no matter what the cost. If the two of you killed one another in the attempt, so be it.

____________

It had been nearly four months since Herry’s death and you had made certain that Ivar knew you would not lay with him. No matter what he said or did, you kept your word. To say your husband was sexually frustrated would have been an understatement. He became even more short tempered than he was already. However, you knew you had to come up with a plan since Ivar had begun ranting about his right to force himself upon you. Thinking long and hard, you came up with a solution you hoped would work. Taking great care to invite your little sister over for suppers and long walks, you slowly began introducing the subject of Ivar and your inability to ‘please’ him in the bed.

Despite Elizabeth’s good Christian girl persona, she was a woman first and foremost. Since having her son, you knew that she and Jonah’s sex life was not that great, according to her own words. You also knew that she found Ivar quite attractive and had seen her harmlessly flirt with him on many occasion. At one such supper, as you and your little sister ate alone, you finally decided to get to the point.

“You should perhaps try to relax more, or even try new positions in the bed. The man on top is wonderful but there is so much more, sister.” She suggested. “Please, do not think me naughty for saying it” She added with a giggle.

“No, that will not help the problem.” You replied. “What we are in need of is a…a convenient woman. Someone to lay with him since I am unable to at the present time.” You said as you eyed your sister.

Despite her shifting uncomfortably in her seat and sipping her wine quickly, Elizabeth did not interrupt you.

“Ivar is far too much man for me. I know we need another woman to please him but I just do not wish for it to be a stranger.” You paused. “That is why…..I want you, as my sister, to lay with him in my place.”

Elizabeth eyes shot to you. She could barely register what you had suggested.

“Now remember Lizzy, in the bible there are numerous mentions of women laying with married men at the behest of their wives.” You said as you tried to convince her. “It would not be deceitful since I am asking you to do it.”

To your utter relief, she did not throw her fork down and leave the table as you had thought. Instead, Elizabeth looked around and leaned closer over the table.

“But what of Jonah?” She asked. “Would I not be breaking my vows with him?”

“Oh heavens no. We are both married couples and you are not leaving him or philandering about. You are helping me to keep my marriage a happy one by fulfilling what I cannot in the bedchamber.” You replied. “There is no need to involve Jonah. Bedsides, Ivar is a man of privacy, he would want only the three of us to be in the know.”

Your sister was more excited than she wanted to let on. After mulling it over only a few minutes, she suddenly glanced up at you with a shy smile.

“I will do it.” She said.

_________________

After his return from visiting a nearby Kingdom with Halfdan, Bjorn and Harald, Ivar began drinking heavily again. Every night, he accused you of all manner of things, including being the reason he was being denied a baby. One such evening; when you had reminded him that he could father one with any woman in Kattegat; Ivar attempted to throw a large vessel of mead at your head. The only reason he was unable to do so was due to three thralls grabbing his arms. Indeed, Ivar had been on a rampage, the likes you had not seen.

Even Harald’s council did not soothe his inner beast. Due to his behavior, you tried to avoid him when he was at the estate. However, this only made things worse. He would go on tangents until frightened thralls searched you out and informed him of your whereabouts.

Regardless of what you were doing, whether it was merely sewing or watching the sunset over the waters of Kattegat, he would demand to be taken to your side. Despite you ignoring him, Ivar would seem content enough just being around you and eventually calm down. Your husband was behaving like a child afraid of their parent abandoning them and it was wearing on your nerves.

_____________

“You were too content with the idea of sleeping alone when I traveled with Bjorn.” He said in a drunken stupor one night. “Even if you cannot lay with me because of your issue, I am your husband; you should miss me!”

“What would you have me do Ivar? Go around mourning because you are not beside me every waking moment?”

“I no longer have patience for your sharp tongue Y/N! I do not know how many times I have to tell you this. One day, I shall cut it out and feed it to the dogs of Kattegat.” Ivar said.

He then produced his favorite knife from his side and placed the tip upon your cheek. You stared at him but said nothing.

The blade he held was quite sharp and you had seen him cut numerous thralls with it with little effort. Now, he had it pressed to your flesh as his drunken eyes glared at you.

“That is better.” He said with a frown upon his face. “I want you to speak to me as if love me as much as I love you.” He said as he blue eyes bore into yours. “Am I understood?”

“Of course.”

“Of course what?” Ivar hissed.

“Of course, my husband.”

Ivar smiled as he took the knife away from you flesh. He flurried it in his fingers a moment before returning it to his waist.

“I want you now.” He commanded as he drunkenly shoved you onto your back.

“Ivar, I have told you I have been suffering some women problems.” You protested with your lie.

Despite wanting to lay with you badly, Ivar scowled and rolled onto his back.

“I do have a solution though. Take this and I shall return.”

Ivar took the mead from your hand and began to drink as you stepped out of the bedchamber.

___________

You went straight off to the guest room your little sister always slept in when she visited and knocked. The way the two of you had figured things, it was only a matter of time before Ivar would demand sex and Elizabeth would be there to provide it. As you sister exited her chamber, she looked quite nervous. She was already wearing a red silk slip and over-slip in anticipation of you calling for her.

“It is time.” You said. “Do not be be so frightened Lizzy. He is merely a man.”

“I understand but I am still nervous.” She confessed. “What if he gets mad at the two of us for no reason and does something terrible?”

“Do not worry so much. Ivar is very drunk and very much in the mood for a woman’s touch.” You reassured her. “You will be fine.”

As you took your little sister’s hand in yours, you used the candle in your grasp to guide her back to your chambers.

__________

Ivar looked up when the two of you entered the chamber and gazed between you both for a moment. Immediately, he became perplexed.

“What is the meaning of this?” He asked with his anger rising. “What is she doing here?”

“Ivar, my sweet husband. I have brought sweet Lizzy here to offer you release. She is willingly doing it to help us in our–.”

“You are pushing me to another woman? He asked with anger. “Is that how much you detest my touch?”

Comforting him, you caressed his cheek and kissed his lips sweetly.

“Of course not. It’s just that I know that Vikings do this all the time–”

“Stop comparing me to other men!” He hissed.

“I am sorry.” You soothed. “I merely meant that Lizzy wants to help you find some pleasure until I can give you what you need.”

Ivar looked into your eyes with mistrust as he gulped down more ale. He then looked over at Elizabeth who kept her eyes to the floor.

“Just for tonight.” He said as he glared at you. “I will not be pushed away Y/N. You are my wife, not Elizabeth!”

“Of course Ivar.” You replied as you kissed his cheek.

With that, you stood up and departed the chamber, quite pleased with yourself.

________

To say Elizabeth was excited to get in bed with Ivar the Boneless would have been an understatement. Ivar’s odd charms had managed to work their way into your little sister’s heart long ago. Aside from his good looks, she found his temperament exciting to be around especially since she was never on the receiving end of his cruelty. He seemed to treat her better than most people and even spoke with her more gently than he even spoke to you.

As the last of his clothes were removed by the thralls, Ivar barked at them to get out. As she stood looking at him, Elizabeth slowly began removing her garments as Ivar watched her from the bed. Instead of looking delighted however, Ivar’s expression changed to one of sad apprehension.

A nude Elizabeth slowly walked over to the bed and sat close to Ivar as he shifted on the furs. She was excited by toned frame as well as his manliness, which was overwhelming when compared to Jonah. Though she loved Jonah, your sister lusted after Ivar. You asking her to lay with him was not only a dream come true but something she had fantasied about numerous times. As she got on top of him, Elizabeth slowly rocked her mound against his semi erect cock. Unsure what to do at first, Ivar  finally held her waist as he watched her move.

“I hope I am not hurting you.” She said as she felt herself become even more aroused - her whole body running hot.

She looked down at your husband who still seemed hesitant as his eyes darted around the room.

“Do not be so tense. I am a woman Ivar. No different than my sister.”

“Do not mention Y/N.” Ivar said as his eyes went dark.

Nodding, Elizabeth kept rotating her hips against him until he began to groan as his excitement grew. Then abruptly, Ivar tossed your sister off him. Stunned, she sat up in the bed and looked at your husband who seemed to be battling his emotions.

“Did I do something wrong?” Elizabeth asked. “Please let me know so I can make it better.”

A frustrated Ivar rolled his eyes as he threw himself onto his back.

“What is the matter?” You sister asked nervously. “Did I offend with my words?”

Ivar looked up at the ceiling a while before he finally spoke.

“You did not offend me so stop apologizing.” He said. “It is just that…I do not want you.”

Elizabeth was stunned. How could he reject her while she sat in front of him  naked and ready to please him?

“But Ivar, I am here to give you anything you desire. Let me do what is required to make you feel good.” Elizabeth said as she kissed Ivar’s cheek. “You can just lay there while I—”

“No!” An increasingly upset Ivar said. “I just want to rest.”

With that Ivar rolled onto his side and covered himself with some furs. Though she felt quite rejected, Elizabeth cuddled up close to him as he tried to get comfortable.

“Ivar…..do you find me unattractive?” She asked.

Her pride was greatly wounded and she supposed that his rejection could have something to do with the few stretch marks from her pregnancy.

“You are not unattractive.” Ivar sighed as he closed his eyes. “I just want to be with my wife.”

________________

Two days later at your mother’s home, you sat in the main room embelishing a dress for her when she took a seat in front of you.

“I will help you do inventory when I am done with this, mother.”

“There will be no need for that dear. I have a girl that now does it for me on a regular basis.”

Your heart nearly stopped. You had purposely come to get your supply of herbs that had run out.

“But mother. Who knows the use of herbs like our family?” You said. “Besides, we have such a methodical way of arranging them.”

“My thrall has picked up on it quite nicely. You need not worry.” Your mother replied as she eyed you.

You were becoming agitated as you continued to sew. You had to figure out a way to get into her shop. To gather the herbs she had was both difficult and time consuming. Especially since they were spread all over Kattegat. With how Ivar had you under lock and key, there was no way you could ever gather them yourself even if you wanted to.

“Mother if—.”

“Why have you been lying to me Y/N?”

“Pardon?”

Your mother exhaled as she put her cup of honeyed water down.

“I know you have been stealing herbs from me.” She said. “Why did you feel the need to do such a thing?”

You stopped sewing and sighed as you put the dress to the side. It was time to come clean to your mother now that you had been caught.

“Mother, I am truly sorry but I thought you would not understand. I know how you feel about such herbs for Christian women.”

“That may be true but does that give you the right to commit the sin of stealing? She asked. “From your own mother of all people. Do you know how long it takes me and the thralls I’ve trained to find these specimens?”

“I am so–”

“Of course you do not know because you simply come here, pretend that you want to keep me company and steal what you need.”

You felt like a wicked person when you actually heard your mother speak of your actions. It was a bit cruel to visit her for the sole purpose of stealing herbs for your own use - never taking into account her time and effort to attain them.

“Mother forgive me but I was desperate.”

“But I am your mother. You should be able to tell me these things.” She sighed. “What do you suppose your violent husband would do to me if his servants were to ever find those herbs in your possession?”

“I never thought about–.”

“Do you realize that most females can recognize these herbs by looking at them?” She asked. “Do you think we are the only women on earth to have knowledge of ‘how not to hold seed’?”

You thought about all your mother had put to you and realized that you had been selfish with both her herbs as well as her well-being. It was true that if any thralls saw the herbs and reported back to Ivar, your mother would not necessarily be safe. Ivar was capable of anything and her being your mother didn’t mean he would not harm her.

“Look dear. I will not allow you anymore access to the shop.”

You looked around the room in a panic, wondering what to say to change her mind.

“However….” She continued. “I will make small batches for you and send them with one of my trusted thralls.” Your mother said holding up a little silver vial. “She’s very old and keeps to herself. The tinctures will come in something similar to this….easy to hide and appears to be jewelry to the untrained eye.”

“You mean….you will still help me?” You asked.

“Of course.” Your mother said. “After all, you are my daughter.”

__________________

“I do not understand.” You said as you began to pace. “Why must Ivar set you and your men in the center of the battle?”

Hvitserk smiled at you knowing you were worried about him losing his life on the battlefield.

A Viking King named Kol Oddsson had turned on some of Bjorn and Ivar’s men after they had helped in raiding a newly discovered settlement. Upon hearing the news, the other Viking leaders asked that swift justice be meted out. After all, they could not allow leaders to think that the breaking alliances would ever be tolerated.

With great planning by Ivar, Bjorn and the rest of the Ragnarssons, the tactics had been drawn-up to take war to the wayward King. They were all to depart in three days much to your concern.

“Do not worry Y/N. I believe that the Gods are on my side……at least for now.” Hvitserk said as he pulled you by your skirts towards him. “At any rate, if I fall in battle, I shall go to Valhalla to be with my father and the other great warriors.”

“Hvitserk!” You sharply looked at him with fire in your eyes. “If you speak of dying to me again, I shall leave you in this room by yourself! I do not wish to lose you regardless of what your beliefs are.”

Very touched at how much you cared, he pulled you to his lap and kissed you. His soft lips grazed yours as he pulled away.

“I have been mulling over some plans to get us away from Ivar. I know it will take time to thoroughly come up with a good enough one for him to not find us…but I am confidant.” Hvitserk said as he held your hand.

Your eyes twinkled as you looked at him. It was one of the best pieces of news you had received in a long time. You wanted nothing more than to be with Hvitserk as your husband. That was the closest to an ideal life you could dream up especially now that Herry was gone.

“I trust your mind Hvitty.” You said as you placed a gentle kiss upon his lips. “I will wait patiently. You know how much I have grown to care for you”

Hvitserk bit his lip at your words. He wanted desperately for you to say you loved him not merely ‘cared’ for him. However, he knew that you had lost Herry not long ago and you would not be so quick to confess such a thing. Since he loved you already, he was willing to wait to hear the three words whenever you were able to utter them.

“I love you Y/N.” He sighed. “And the time will come when I will have you all to myself. We will no longer have to tiptoe around Ivar’s madness.” He said before he kissed your cheek.

“That sounds wonderful.”

“Do not get comfortable with the idea so quickly. After all, I am a demanding man myself. You will earn your keep.” He teased. “As you promised, you will cook at least five meals a week yourself, despite us having servants. Oh, and of course you shall give me three children I can dote on.”

“Three?” You smiled with curiosity. “Why the odd number?

“I suppose I want one less than my mother had. Ivar was the fourth born, and well…….you see how that turned out.” He smirked.

You gave Hvitserk a passionate kiss as you wrapped your arms around his neck. The two of you were stolen away in a new portion of the estate that had been built. The rooms were not yet fully decorated so no one really came there with the exception of decorators during the daytime. Hvitserk looked into your eyes with a passion that made your heart race. He was very much like Herry in how he cared for you. Because of this, you cared for the older Ragnarsson despite never even laying with him once.

“You better return to me in one piece.” You said as you caressed his hands that were intertwined with yours.

“I know why you are so desperate for me to survive.”

“Because I care for you of course.”

“That is not your only reason. I know for a fact that you lust after me.” He teased. “Do not think I have not noticed how you eye me at all times. If you do not control yourself, I will begin thinking that you are using me solely for my body, Y/N.”

You laughed at his remark as you stood so the two of you could return to the main portion of the estate. However, Hvitserk stopped you. Instead, he brought you back to his lap and tickled you mercilessly.

_________________

Despite what Hvitserk had said, you knew he was being put in a very dangerous position. Out of all his brothers and close friends, Ivar had Hvitserk in the center of the greatest amount of fighting. You could not understand how your husband could risk his brother’s life in such a fashion but not that of Halfdan and Harald. You knew telling Hvitserk to make Ivar change the battle plans would be fruitless. He did not care to ask for his little brother’s mercy and had already thrown his life into the hands of his Gods.

You, on the other hand, had the ability to get Ivar to do things for you. That was, if you actually took your time to be ‘nice’ to him. You cared for Hvitserk and if seducing Ivar meant saving his life, you would do so in a heartbeat. After all, you could do nothing to save Herry but Hvtiserk would not be put in an early grave due to Ivar’s whims. Not if you could help it!

“Ivar.” You said as you finally found him still seated in the empty Great Hall.

He looked at you with annoyance but other than that, he beckoned you forward. When you sat upon his lap, he was surprised and shifted in his seat. As you placed your arms around his neck, your husband looked at your with a grain of mistrust.

“What is it Y/N?” He said as he coldly eyed you. “You have never liked sitting on my lap before. Even when I try to pull you to me, you resist, but now you do so willingly?” He furrowed his brow as he finished speaking.

“I…I suppose you are correct. It is just that…..well…” You tried to find the best words as not to raise his suspicion. “I feel……the need to be touched now that my womanly issue is getting better.”

Ivar smirked at your revelation. But just as quickly, his face went serious.

“You toy with me.” He said as his nostrils flared and eyes became large. “I am in no mood for your games.”

Seeing you were losing control of him, you kept your voice serene and calm as you stroked the back of his neck with your fingers.

“I did not come to taunt you Ivar.” You said. “It has been a long while since I have felt….well….pleasure. Though I have given you permission to find comfort with Elizabeth, I myself grow anxious for comfort.”

Ivar’s eyes perked up as he brought his face closer to yours. He looked up at you in the same manner he did when he spotted you at Bjorn’s Great Hall.

You had to admit, when he wasn’t raging, Ivar could look at you with great devotion and love. Perhaps Bjorn was correct when he had told you that Ivar loved you more than anything in the entire world.

You pressed your lips to your husband’s own very gently as you cupped his face. As you pulled away, you looked into his blue eyes that were nearly wet with tears. Just like that, Ivar had melted in your hands.

“You know that I love you.” He whispered as he searched your Y/C eyes. “If you really mean it, I wish to come back to lay with you not just for tonight. He paused. “I have not found release elsewhere and you insisting that your sister comfort me is unfair.”

Ivar pulled you closer as he continued to look at you as if he was on the verge of crying.

“I understand and am sorry to have made you feel so.” You replied. “I thought that since other men–.”

“Stop that. How many time must I tell you that I am not like other men!” Ivar snapped. “I want to lay with you, my wife.” He paused. “I want you always with me, do you understand Y/N?”

“Yes.” You soothed him as you gently caressed the prickly hairs of his sideburns.

Ivar leaned forward and gave you a soft peck on your lips.

“Remember, I chose you.” He said. “When you constantly push me away, it wounds me.”

You leaned down and parted Ivar’s lips with yours. It didn’t take him long to become enthralled as he passionately kissed you back. His hands traveled from your waist to your breasts as he gently groped them a little roughly. He then slowly took his lips from yours and slid his tongue down your jawline to your neck. When he found your sensitive spot, on the crook of your neck, he began to give the flesh open mouth kisses and bites. Stopping abruptly, he stood you up from his lap.

“Come, let us go to our chamber.” Ivar said as he tapped you hip.

_____________

In your bed chamber, Ivar was undressed by thralls while you went to your jewelry box. You grabbed one of the small vials your mother had been sending to you with the tincture. Uncorking the tiny silver bottle, you swallowed the contents down quickly.  By you the time got to the side of the bed, Ivar had already tossed all the thralls out of the room. You stood in front of him utterly naked with the exception of tiny silver waist chain that you often wore for vanity purposes.

After looking at you a while, Ivar took your hand and kissed it before pulling you down gently onto the bed. He laid you on your back slowly before rolling on top of you. When he was over you, your husband hovered a moment as he brushed your cheek with the back of his hand.

“I am so happy right now.” He said.

Ivar then leaned down and parted your lips sensually as he took you into a kiss. It was a needy and erotic one as he possessed your lips and tongue with his own. Moving from you lips, he went to your neck as he bit and sucked at the sensitive flesh leaving love bites from your neck to your shoulder. You fought the urge to moan as he positioned his nude body between your legs. As you laid there and allowed him to give you more open mouthed kisses on your neck, he cupped your right breast roughly. Immediately you sensed his excitement was increasing. The manner in which he groped your breast and the way his grinding increased in pace, you knew he would not be doing foreplay much longer.

You could feel Ivar’s erection pressed tightly against your mound as he began to breathe erratically. As you caressed his back, you could practically feel his excitement as heart thumped against you bare breasts. Crashing his lips to yours again, he slipped his hand in-between your bodies and grabbed his member. As his lips devoured yours, he slowly dragged his cock against your opening that was very ready for him. Despite how you felt about Ivar, the things he did always made your body betray you. It was as if your body had a mind of it’s own when it came to responding to your husband’s touch.

“Y/N.” Ivar whispered as his face was hovering over yours. “Open your eyes for me.

As you slowly opened your eyes despite not wanting to, Ivar continued to rub himself against your entrance - you tried your best to think of Hvitserk.

“That is better.” He said as he bit his lip to contain a moan. “Do not take your eyes off me. Alright?”

He gave you another quick kiss on your forehead as he pushed the tip of his member into your hot and slick entrance.

“Gods! I have missed you being in my arms.” He moaned as he gave you another long kiss.

As he was kissing you, Ivar took advantage of that moment to push himself inside you fully. In the midst of kissing him, you moaned into his mouth as the pain and pleasure overtook you. He broke the kiss and looked into your eyes before pressing his forehead to yours.

“That is it Y/N. Keep looking at me.” He said in a hushed tone. “I am going to give you a baby tonight.” He added before planting a kiss to your neck.

Ivar picked up the pace of his thrusting as he rested against your body fully. As he erotically thrust his cock deeply into you, he kissed you passionately. You both became covered in sweat within seconds. Though you tried your best to turn you head from him, your husband was relentless. His deep pounding of your womanhood and his breathless kisses quickly brought the familiar tingling to your pelvis. Intense heat rushed to your walls and clit and your orgasm began to build with sweet aching.

“Hvitserk.” You said in your mind - picturing the golden haired Ragnarsson on top of you.

“Y/N, I’m going to cum for you.” Ivar grunted against you ear.  

As his hips began to move faster, he gripped your waist and placed is face against your cheek. He whimpered things in his native tongue as his orgasm took over his movements. You felt his cock twitch and then felt his hips stutter their pace as he groaned in your ear again. Ivar began pumping his hips frantically as his cock finally erupted within you - sending months of pent up seed deep within you.

The pace and the friction of his thrusts made your orgasm meet his. As you felt yourself go and your weak legs began to shake, you screamed out in ecstasy. It was one of your most intense orgasms ever as you envisioned Hvitserk on top of you instead of Ivar. Your husband’s orgasm lasted longer than yours as he kept thrusting long after your high had washed over you. He finally stopped moving and collapsed on top of you - hair and body wet as if someone had doused him with water.

“I love you Y/N.” He whispered breathlessly before drifting off to sleep.

__________

You were able to convince Ivar to move Hvitserk to his side prior to them leaving for the battle against King Kol Oddsson. Not only did your husband do as you asked willingly, he never questioned your reasoning or your inquisitiveness. He also informed you that after the battle, they were to head immediately into their raiding of the new lands, so you knew you would not see them again for a long while.

During their absence, you fell very ill. At first you ignored it and did your duties as always, hoping it would clear on it’s own. However, a few months later, it was still there and worse than before. You soon became too sick and weak to leave the estate so a healer had to be summoned by a servant to examine you in your chamber.

“You are not ill my dear woman, you are with child.” The excited old healer said as she finished examining you in your chamber. “At least three months along from the looks of it.”

“Tell no one of this!” You angrily demanded.

“Yes, Mistress.” The healer replied with a hint of fear

‘With Child’! The two words echoed in your mind as you began to feel a state of panic you had not felt in a long time. Hvitserk would leave you when he found out that you were carrying Ivar’s child.

How could it be? You had taken your tinctures everyday without fail. The concoction had never failed any woman in your homeland before. In fact, it was so strong that at higher concentrations, it even rendered women permanently infertile. The fact that Ivar had managed to seed you despite this time tested method made your heart sink. You felt as if your God had finally abandoned you for good. To allow you to be seeded by a man such as Ivar was a punishment only God could deliver. Perhaps, you deserved it for getting Herry killed.

Then another thought came to your mind. Your escape! If Ivar was a overly attentive to you now, the addition of a child would make things even worse. How would you be able to sneak out of Kattegat then? You sighed as your laid in your bed with your thoughts racing. How ironic. Despite all your actions, in the end, your husband had gotten his hearts desire. The fact that the men would be returning also crossed your mind. You wondered if you should risk killing the baby in the womb despite the danger to your person.  

There were herbs that could accomplish the task but they were hard to find in Kattegat. The one person you knew that could get them, was your mother. However, she only gave them to Heathen women. She did not assist Christian women in destroying their babies in the womb due to God’s command. Since she was your only option and would never give them willingly,  you had to be stealthy when you went to her home next.

“I will just steal them.” You affirmed to yourself as you yawned.

As your hand traced your stomach, you had an overwhelming desire to runaway with Hvitserk. How much more could you take of being around Ivar, the man who forced you to kill your first love? A man who also seemed intent on reducing your freedom of movement with each passing month. Your husband was controlling and possessive and it had not improved with time. Perhaps the plans that Hvisterk was making could be rushed somehow…you thought  

“I will not be a mother to Ivar’s seed. He is wicked to the core and his children will be no different.” You said to yourself.

________________

“What do you mean?” You shouted at your mother in her living room.

You didn’t know what to do at her revelation. What was a person to do when they had been so betrayed? How could your own mother have put you in such a bad position? As you paced the floor, she watched you with a serene expression. When you had arrived at her home, she knew immediately that you were with child. She stated that it was noticeable due to your face and breasts rounding out. Then she also confessed that she had not been giving you the tincture as you thought.

“Think of it Y/N, you have not been fair to any of us. Every one of your actions results in other people getting hurt. These games you play with your insane husband had to come to an end eventually. I do not like him anymore than you do but we are stuck. The sooner you learn to adjust and accept it, the better it will be for everyone.”

“You lied to me mother!” You screamed. “You told me you were giving me what I asked for and now look at me. Nearly four months along with a evil man’s child!”

“I’m sorry I tricked dear you but it was the only way. Your decision making is getting people hurt. Look at what happened to poor Herry.”

“Don’t you dare bring up his name you……you witch!” You seethed as tears fell. “He was my heart and I would have done anything to prevent what happened if I could have. How dare you? You are a cruel woman and I do not ever wish to see you again. Do you hear me? Never!”

With that you stormed out of your mother’s home determined to cut her out of your life. She had only pretended to understand your need for the contraceptive tinctures. Every last one of the vials she had been sending her thrall to deliver merely contained a wellness concoction. It was her fault you were now with child for a man you wanted to kill half the time. No matter, you would figure things out on your own.

_______________

Over the next few weeks you tried everything to get the child out of your body. Since you could not gain help from your mother nor go to any healers, you tried your own remedies. You first tried to throw yourself down some stairs - which only resulted in a very bruised body and a sprained wrist. The next thing you attempted was to find Pennyroyal leaves on Ivar’s massive property. Though you lucked out and found some, it was a highly dangerous and toxic plant. The wrong dosage and you would die right along with the baby in your womb.

Still, you risked it. Unfortunately, all you earned for your careful dosing was two weeks in bed with a fever, cramps, fatigue and light bleeding from your private area. When the bleeding had occurred, you were initially very happy because you thought for certain that the baby would pass out of your body. However, the bleeding lasted only three days and stopped without anything else occurring.

While you were you were still recovering in bed, Ivar and the other men all returned to Kattegat. When he did not see you come to greet him at the docks, he was beyond livid. Despite his servants and thralls trying to speak to him, he shut them all down. Your husband returned to the estate in a violent mood as he set off looking for you. Finally, the eldest of his servants was able to calm him and finally get him to listen to what was occurring. All anyone knew was that you were sick and being cared for by healers, so that is what she told Ivar.

You had made sure that the healers kept their mouths shut and the two thralls who attended you in the chamber were threatened to keep quiet as well. A very concerned Ivar burst through the doors of your chambers without first taking his bath or eating.

“What is the matter with my wife?” He demanded

The healer that had been asleep by your side, rubbed his eyes and asked your husband to calm himself.

“Prince Ivar welcome. I have been caring for your wife due to her having severe symptoms. She is with child you see and it seems–”

Ivar’s blue eyes widened. He grabbed hold of the man’s tunic tightly as he tried to absorb the words.

“Say that again.” Ivar demanded.

“Your wife, she is with child. She has been suffering great maladies and other symptoms but other than that, she is well.”

Ivar rushed to your side as you slept and gazed at you with overwhelming happiness washing over him. He gently lifted the furs that were on you to get a better look at your form. As his eyes beheld your belly, that was quite rounded since you were nearing five months, Ivar’s eyes welled with tears. He then glanced at your face, which appeared peaceful in your slumbering state, before he got on the bed beside you. Your husband cuddled close to you and remained there a while, caressing you while you slept.

_____________

Three weeks later, you found yourself trying to not lose yet another good man. Hvitserk was enraged as you expected and not willing to be around you any longer.

“I will not come around you again and I want you to avoid me as well.” An angry Hvitserk said as the two of you stood in the courtyard

He had packed all his things from Ivar’s estate and was planning to spend his time in Ubbe and Torvi’s home. Since his home was being renovated, he would be at his elder brother’s place a good while.

“Please believe me when I say it is not wanted nor was it intentional.” You said with desperation.

Hvitserk glanced at you with fury in his eyes for a short moment before throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

No matter how much you asked him to calm down and look at you, he would not. He shook his head and refused to stand still. Even when you begged, he would not look you in the eyes again as he clenched his teeth and paced.

“I do not wish to listen to your stories any further. Why I am even here right now…I do not even know.”

“Hvitty, please.” You said on the verge of tears. “I did not mean for any of this to happen. My mother she–”

“I do not care for your excuses Y/N.” He interrupted. “You have hurt me more than I even care to say. Just stay with your husband! It is where you belong now. I must move on with my life and find a woman who can make me happy. You are surely not that person from what I can see.”

The words cut like a knife as you stood in front of the man you cared for whilst with child for his brother that you hated. It was a pathetic situation and you wished you had powers to change it all.

“Goodbye Y/N.” Hvisterk said without looking at you. “I will try to avoid you at all cost. Please do not make a scene by attempting to speak to me anytime we meet at events. When we gather as a family, I will keep my words short and curteous.”

With that, Hvitserk left you alone in the courtyard without a formal goodbye or even a second glance.

_____________

Ivar’s child would not be contained any longer. As you laid on your back trying to find comfort in your prayer, you could feel the tension in your hips and pelvic region as your contractions got closer together. Your heart raced as if you had just finished sprinting from one side of Kattegat to the other. Truly the pain was making it quite difficult to catch your breath as the midwives kept ordering you to breathe better.

“Breathe better? How the hell am I supposed to do that when I am in so much pain?”You thought as you cursed the women in your mind.

As sweat drenched your body, you realized that it was going to be a very difficult delivery, despite never birthing a child before. Ivar burst into the room upon his crutch and stood by one of the midwives for a moment. He felt guilt as he looked at you and realized how much discomfort you were in - your white gown practically see through from all your sweating.

Without hesitating further, he sat beside you on the bed and placed down his crutch. As you sat up with your legs wide open, you grunted as a wave of pain took over you for what seemed like an eternity. You turned and glanced at Ivar. If you had been yourself, you would have told him to sit in the chair but you were in too much pain to fuss with anyone. You could not believe that some women went through such pain ten or more times. This was your first and you wanted to rip the skin off your own thighs just to take your attention of the pain coming form between your legs. Even your back hurt as if someone had kicked you ferociously.

Ivar positioned you in front of him with no resistance from coming from you. You just wanted the baby to come out so you could have some relief. Finally, one of the midwives took a look under the linen sheet they had placed over your lower body for modesty.

“It looks like you will be ready to push soon.” She said as she smiled at you.

With that, she spread your legs apart, as wide as she could get them and placed a hand at the bottom of your opening. Feeling around, she looked up at you and smiled.

“The head has crowned. With three to five good pushed, you ought to work it out in no time.”

Ivar smiled at the news and kissed your sweat soaked cheek. However, you were too engrossed in your pain to even notice. You felt the worst amount of pain and burning coming from your private area as the baby’s head stretched your entrance to it’s limits. It was as if someone was holding both sides of your vagina and attempting to pull it in opposite directions.

“It hurts too much!” You shouted.

But you were in too much pain. No one heard a thing except a string of jumbled words that made no sense. Ivar held you close as you leaned against his chest, tossing your head from one side to the next as the pain became worse. The midwives would not allow you to push until they were ready and it was taking all your willpower to listen to them. Your mother suddenly entered with Elizabeth in tow. Grabbing a clean cloth, your mother took a seat beside you on the bed and began wiping your face. As she did so, you made sure to shoot her a glare, pain or not.

After all, it was her fault you were in the position you were in in first place. Her tricking you was wicked enough but to refuse to help you terminate the baby was even worse. She had forced your hand and you did not appreciate it at all.

“Why are you here?” You angrily snapped in-between the bouts of pain. “Get out!”

“She is your mother Y/N.” Ivar said as he tried to calm you.

“Mother, I want you to get out before I–.”

A massive sharp pain hit you and your words caught in your throat. Just then, someone you never expected to see again entered. Hvitserk walked in despite two female thralls attempting to stop him. His eyes went wide when he saw you and the state you were in. Without a word to anyone, he knelt at your bedside and took your hand in his. You could not believe that he was there in the flesh. After what he had said when you last saw him in the courtyard, you were certain that he hated you.

“What is the matter with her?” A worried Hvitserk asked Ivar. “She appears too weak.”

Your husband, who was scared despite giving the appearance of being calm, looked at his brother with helplessness.

“They will not let her push yet.” He replied.

“May I sit there?” Hvitserk motioned to your mother.

Your mother reluctantly gave up her position beside you in the bed to the worried Ragnarsson. Hvitserk sat beside you straightaway - not caring what Ivar would say or think. Luckily, the stress of the moment actually made your husband more open to having his elder brother around. He feared that you were dying based on your groans and weakening physical state.

“When will you let her push it out?” Ivar asked with concern. “She grows weaker by the minute.” He added nervously.

Hvitserk’s mind raced. If you were to die childbirth, he would never be able to forgive his brother. He knew that you never wanted to have children with Ivar and this was most likely the worst moment of your life. Soothing your head against his shoulder, Hvitserk whispered to you.

“Forgive me.” He said. “Please survive this so we can leave.”

“Okay Mistress, let us try to push this eager baby out.” One of the midwives finally announced loudly as she took her place in-between your legs.

Lifting the sheet, she spread your weak legs wider as you grabbed onto Hvitserk’s hand tightly. Ivar glanced at you and took your other hand. He knew you two were still not close despite you being with child, but he believed that once you saw the baby, things would change.

“Would you look at that. The head is nearly out on it’s own. It should take only a few pushes to get this little one free.” Another midwife said as she looked over the other’s shoulder.  

“Why is there so much blood?” A worried Hvitserk asked as he saw some thralls taking away red stained cloths. “Hey! I am asking you question!” He seethed at the women.

“Calm yourself young Master.” The midwife between your legs said. “It is normal for some women to bleed excessively. She will be fine.”

Hvtiserk did not like her response but relented. He focused on comforting you instead. As he brushed your sweaty forehead with his hand, the elder Ragnarsson gazed at your pained expression. Ivar, who was also sat at your other side pressed his face to yours.

“Come on Y/N.” He said with his lips against your cheek. “You are stronger than even some of the men I know. You cannot not die on me. Please.”

At that moment, Ivar cared more about you leaving him alone in the world than he cared about becoming a father. The thought of you dying was more than he could handle. It frightened him so much that he was relieved that Hvitserk had arrived to share the burden. If not, he would have lost it in front of everyone long ago.

When the midwives finally told you to push, you thought you would not be able to do so, however, your body seemed to work on instinct. The moment you bared down, your muscles and nerves kept the rhythmic contractions going. After the third push, the baby’s head finally hung from your opening.

“Hey! There we are.” The midwife exclaimed. “What a great deal of hair this one has. And as black as a raven’s wing to boot.” The woman added with a laugh.

She then made sure the cord was not around the baby’s neck while you rested. The pain in your body eased a little now that the head had come out. Still you were eager to get it over with. You hated your mother for putting you in the situation and glared at her while she watched nervously over the midwife’s shoulders. As for Elizabeth, she appeared happy, however, she kept stealing glances at Ivar. Despite him rejecting her, your sister still harbored feelings towards him which made the moment that more difficult for her to witness.

After allowing you to rest a while longer, the women instructed you to push again. With five good pushes and Hvitserk practically taking over in encouraging and comforting you the entire time,….everyone finally heard it. Ivar’s child came into the world with a powerful cry that filled the room. He pulled your body to him and held you close as his eyes welled with tears. He could not believe it. The baby that boasted powerful lungs and seemed to please the midwives, was his. All his life the Gods had denied him so much but in that moment, he felt as if he could fight a thousand wars for them on his own.

“Be careful of how you take hold of Y/N. She is in a weakened state and still has more to do.” Hvisterk said as he took you from Ivar and rested your head against his chest.

“Of course.” Ivar replied with his eyes still beholding you with admiration.

“It’s a Princess for your two.” One of the midwives announced.

Ivar was elated as he looked at his brother with his excitement building. Hvitserk smiled and then looked down at you. He wasn’t sure if you had heard the woman but in that moment, he resolved to stick by your side. True, he had been furious with you, but now, none of it mattered. Hvisterk just wanted Ivar out of the picture so that the two of you could be happy. Surprisingly, when the flaxen haired Ragnarsson kissed your forehead, Ivar didn’t get upset. He actually smiled at his elder brother assuming that he was happy for the both of you.

The newborn was set upon a table so the midwives could look it over for any defects.

Ivar suddenly became afraid. His expression changed as he nervously held your hand and glanced to the floor. ‘I’m a cripple. Why did I not think about that fact all this while? He thought to himself. The thing he feared most was punishing a child to go through what he had. Ivar did not want his daughter to be like him and prayed that the Gods did not curse her with his affliction. As for your mother, despite your anger towards her, she put her hand to her mouth as she shed tears of joy at seeing her new grandchild. Utterly soaked in sweat, you were nearly asleep as you rested against Hvitserk, who rocked you gently. Ivar leaned over and kissed your cheek - excitement literately emanating from his very being. The midwife was headed towards him and he could barely contain himself. Ivar was apprehensive at first, but the woman reassured him before she carefully placed the newborn into his trembling hands.

“Meet your newborn daughter.” The old midwife said. “She is a beauty, if I have ever seen one. Strong like an ox too.”

“So she….she is healthy?” He asked with great concern upon his face.

“Not only is she healthy…..she is practically perfect.” The midwife assured him with a wink.

Ivar was relieved and awestruck as he stared at the tiny baby in his arms.

“I cannot believe how small she is.” He exclaimed as he admired her.

Ivar truly felt as if he was dreaming as he glanced over at your weakened frame for a moment. Taking the cord that still connected you and the crying little bundle in his arms, he bit through, severing it. Your husband then spit the blood onto the floor, as was Viking practice. He held his daughter close to his chest and ensured that the swaddling sheets were keeping her warm.

“Look at our daughter Y/N.” He beamed as he leaned closer to you. “She is so beautiful and amazing…like you.” Ivar said before planting a kiss upon your cheek.

You looked at the baby with eyes that were heavy with sleep. You could not believe that the child in Ivar’s arms was yours. It made the moment bittersweet as you tried your best to feel something for the innocent life. But as you glanced at Ivar, you knew the child could never grow into anything good. As you drifted off to sleep, Hvitserk glared at Ivar as he caressed your sweaty forehead. No matter what, he was determined more than ever to take you far away from Kattegat so you two could finally be free of his brother.

______________

People stopped and stared when they spotted Ivar the Boneless riding his horse drawn chariot swiftly through Kattegat. Utterly beside himself with joy, he had left you and his newborn daughter sleeping peacefully back home. Much too happy with his life to sit still, he guided his white horse at top speed while he screamed at the top of his lungs in celebration. He finally had what he had longed for - a happy family of his own.

[emospritelet]

Empty Corridors - chapter 32

I know, I know, it’s been 84 years...

Last time, Neal turned up in Storybrooke just in time to catch Gold beating the crap out of Moe.  He reluctantly agreed to go to dinner at Gold and Lacey’s house.  Here’s what happened next. (please ignore the wonky formatting that is the latest tumblr glitch - it disappears when you click the Read More)

AO3 link

Gold watched Neal as he stepped into the lounge, his eyes flicking from left to right as he tried to take everything in.  He had laid a fire that morning, and Lacey must have lit it when she returned home, because there was a cheerful blaze in the hearth, warming the room.  Hagrid and Minerva were curled on the couch, and Gold lifted the cushion next to them, smirking as a pair of green eyes looked up at him from a soft dome of black fur.  Severus blinked, purring briefly before breaking off to yawn, and Gold grinned, leaning his cane against the arm of the couch.

“There’s my boy,” he said, and picked up the kitten, letting him nestle against his chest and butt his head against Gold’s chin.  Gold smiled at Neal, who was watching him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“This is Severus,” said Gold, and nodded to the two cats curled on the sofa.  “The black and white one is Hagrid, and the calico is Minerva.  Careful of her, she’s a minx.  Has a tendency to chew shoelaces and she’ll take a bite out of your sandwich if you give her the chance.  But she’s adorable.”

Neal reached over to scratch Hagrid’s ears, glancing back at Gold.

“Never imagined you’d be a Harry Potter fan,” he remarked.

“Lacey named them,” said Gold.  “They’re hers, really.  But since she’s moved in - well, I guess I’ve sort of adopted them.  It’s nice to have some company in the house, if one of us is home alone.”

“They’re cute,” admitted Neal, fingers tickling beneath Hagrid’s chin.  “We can’t really have pets at the moment.  Emma’s more of a dog person, anyway, and that’s never gonna happen as long as we’re renting the apartment.  Landlord’s not a fan of animals.”

“Hmm.”  Gold’s smile was wry.  “Yes, I didn’t exactly agree to Lacey bringing them into the apartment she rented from me.  It was more a case of her getting my permission after the event.”

“You were her landlord?”

“I own most of this town,” he said.  “But I’m more than happy to be losing out on that particular monthly rental payment, I assure you.”

He gave Severus a final petting, and lifted the kitten off his shoulder, handing him over to Neal.

“Here,” he said.  “Put him next to his brother and sister.  I’ll get us those drinks.”

He picked up his cane, walking off to the kitchen, and feeling Neal’s eyes on his back.  Lacey looked around when he entered, her eyes sending him a silent message of love and support, and he couldn’t help smiling, despite his nerves.  His son had agreed to come to dinner.  It was a new and fragile thing that they had, but every step in the right direction was to be treasured.

“Do you need help?” he asked, and she bent to open the oven door.

“Nah, I’m good,” she said, lifting out a casserole dish and setting it on the stovetop.  “Pour the wine, and I’ll serve up.”

He reached for a bottle from the rack, and she put a hand on his arm, giving him a brief, reassuring squeeze.

“Just take it slow,” she said softly.  “It’ll be fine.”

He nodded, and she leaned in to kiss his cheek before carrying the casserole dish to the table.  There was a pan of potatoes already cooked, and he watched her mash them with milk and butter as he uncorked the wine.

“I’m nervous,” he whispered, and Lacey looked up, chewing her lip.

“I know,” she said, and reached out to touch his arm.  “But he seems like a good guy.”

“Yes,” he said softly.  “He does.  I’m - I’m proud.”

“Yeah, I think it says a lot about him,” she went on.  “I know you never wanted this for him, but from his perspective…”

She broke off, shrugging, but he could understand what she was trying to say.

“I - I think he’s hurting,” she said, “and he thinks you’re a different person to the man I know, but he’ll come around.  It might not be instant, you have to be prepared for that.”

“I know.”  He pulled the cork from the bottle with a pop.  “Shall I bring him through?”

“We’re all ready.”  She held up the bowl of mashed potatoes.  “Is this okay?”

Gold set down the wine bottle and dipped a finger into the mash, transferring a large blob to his mouth.  It was savoury and delicious, rich with butter and creamy milk and seasoned with fresh-ground salt and black pepper.  He grinned at her, and she almost blushed as she returned the smile.

“That’s delicious,” he said.  “Don’t ever tell me you can’t cook again, alright?”

Lacey sniffed.

“If you think you’re getting out of making me awesome food, think again,” she said.  “Just because I haven’t poisoned us yet doesn’t mean I should be let loose in this place.”

Gold grinned, and swept her a tiny bow before heading back to the lounge.  Lacey bobbed up and down on her toes for a moment, nervous on his behalf.  She decided to sit down to hide her restlessness, and took a seat just as the two men walked in.

“Sit down and help yourselves,” she said with an air of carelessness she didn’t feel.  “There’s plenty, so don’t hold back.  You know, unless it’s inedible.”

“It smells great,” said Neal, and took a seat across from her, leaving Gold to sit at the end.

There was silence for a moment as food was spooned onto plates and wine poured.  Lacey was pleased to hear noises of enjoyment from her fellow diners.  Pride in her cooking was a new feeling for her.

“That’s excellent, sweetheart,” said Gold, lifting his wineglass.

“Really good,” agreed Neal, and she wanted to wriggle in pleasure.  She decided to try to coax Neal into speaking instead.

“So,” she said.  “How are Emma and Henry?”

Gold shot her a look at that, and she sighed inwardly.  Yeah, okay, I never told you about visiting your son, or the fact that I met his family.  Guess I’ll be hearing about that later, huh?

“They’re good,” said Neal.  “Really good.  Emma’s thinking about going back to work when Henry turns one, so that’ll be an adjustment.”

“What does she do?” asked Lacey.

“She’s a bail-bondsperson,” he said.  “Not the easiest job when you’re pregnant, so she’s thinking about re-training.  Police, maybe.”

“I guess at least then you don’t work alone,” offered Lacey, picking up her wineglass, and he nodded.

“Yeah, she’s got a few friends in the police force that have been pushing her to apply, so it’s something to consider,” he said.  “We’ve been kind of getting by on my wage since we found out Henry was on his way.”

“And - and what do you do?” asked Gold tentatively, and Neal eyed him for a moment, spearing a piece of chicken on his fork.

“Web design and helpdesk assistance,” he said.  “Not the area I thought I’d end up in, but the money’s not bad, I guess.  Enough for us to get by.”

Gold opened his mouth, and Lacey kicked him under the table, giving her head a tiny shake when he shot her a look.  Offering money at this early stage would be counterproductive.

“Will you get a sitter when Emma goes to work?” she asked, and he nodded.

“I guess.  If we have to.  She’ll probably work a lot of nights, so I can look after him then.”

Gold shifted in his seat, and Lacey was convinced that given an opportunity to speak he would be offering to move to New York just to babysit.  She squeezed his thigh under the table, making him start.

“Ah - Lacey is going to college this year,” he said.  “Boston University.”

“Really?”  Neal’s face brightened.  “Hey, well done!  What are you studying?”

“Business, I guess,” she said.  “Might as well make myself useful, huh?”

“There’ll always be a job for you here, as long as you want it,” said Gold gently.  “I wouldn’t be able to run the place without you.”

“Well, that’s true,” she agreed, winking at him.  “Did you get a replacement for me yet?”

“Who could ever replace you?” he asked dryly, and she grinned.

“I meant to take over running the website sales, you smooth-talking bastard.”

Neal bit back a laugh, and shoved a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth to cover it.  Gold was giving her a very level look, which only made her want to grin more.

“No replacement as such,” he admitted.  “But there’s plenty of time.”

“So - does this mean you’re moving to Boston?” asked Neal, and Lacey wrinkled her nose.

“Not sure,” she admitted.  “We’re still talking about it.  Deciding what to do for the best.  We have the business here, and I want to work when I’m not in college.  I need to think about the cats, too.”

“I can look after the cats,” said Gold patiently.  “I’ve told you that.  If you want to go and - and have the full student experience, that’s fine.  We’ll get you a dorm room, or a shared house.”

“And have a bunch of teenagers throwing up in my bathroom when I’m trying to study?”  She rolled her eyes.  “Been there, done that.  By which I mean I’ve been the teenager throwing up when I should have been studying.  Kinda want to leave that behind.”

“So what are you thinking of doing?” asked Neal, and she shrugged.

“Maybe getting a room with some sweet old lady who’s in bed by nine,” she said.  “Staying there during the week and coming back at weekends.”

“Not your average student life,” said Neal, and she shrugged again, taking a drink.

“Not like I’d be going if a certain person hadn’t convinced me to try,” she said.  “Can’t exactly leave him on his own with only the cats for company.”

Neal shot a look at Gold, and Lacey sipped at her wine again.  Gold was paying attention to his food, but she noticed that he glanced at Neal whenever he thought his son wasn’t looking.  It was a glance full of longing, and it made her want to hug him.

“So,” she said, speaking to fill the silence between the two of them.  “New York, huh?  How’s that working out for you?”

The dinner had been awkward, the conversation that wasn’t initiated by Lacey broken and stilted, but Gold came out of it feeling a little less anxious.  It was a start, at least.  Neal insisted on helping to clean up, and so Gold washed the dishes while he dried.  Lacey watched them, sitting on one of the chairs with her glass of wine, and afterwards they went into the lounge, sliding onto the couch next to the cats.

“I should probably get going soon,” said Neal.  “I’ll stay at that inn tonight, head back tomorrow.”

“Right,” said Gold, turning his wineglass around between his fingers.  “Uh - perhaps we could have lunch?”

“Take him to Granny’s and get him a burger,” suggested Lacey, curling her legs underneath her.  “They’re awesome, Neal, seriously.”

Neal glanced between the two of them, scratching Minerva’s ears as she crawled into his lap.

“Okay,” he said.  “We’ll do lunch.”

Gold had been quiet after Neal had left, and Lacey decided not to push him to talk about how he was feeling.  She was aware that he was already somewhat nervous about her going away to college, although of course he hadn’t said anything, and she didn’t want to add to his feelings of potential isolation by bringing up his fragile relationship with his son.  She got up early the next morning and went to meet Ruby for a run, the spring air cold in her throat as they jogged along the forest trails.

“A son, hmm?” said Ruby, when Lacey had finished explaining.  “Estranged for all those years, and then you show up out of the blue.  Not sure whether I feel more sorry for him or for Gold.”

“Yeah, I hear you,” sighed Lacey, tucking a curl behind her ear.  “I’m glad he came, though.  I didn’t think he would.  Connor has a grandson, you know.”

“So I just get my head around the fact that you think he’s a DILF, and then you go and drop GILF on me too,” said Ruby, and squawked as Lacey shoved her.  “Come on!  It’s pretty funny.”

“Well, he is a fucking GILF, I guess, if you want to get technical,” said Lacey dryly.  “Maybe even a GIFOARB.”

Ruby stumbled.

“What the hell is that?”

“Grandpa I Fuck On A Regular Basis, obviously,” said Lacey, and Ruby burst out laughing.

“Okay,” she said, when she had stopped giggling.  “So, do you think the reunion’s going well?”

Lacey wrinkled her nose.

“Not sure,” she admitted.  “It’s sort of - fragile - you get me?  Could go either way.  We’re going for lunch at Granny’s later.  Kinda hoping they’ll talk to each other a bit more.  Most of the conversation last night was shit I was saying.”

“I guess they’ll have to take it slow,” said Ruby.  “Not gonna be the sort of thing that you fix over a plate of ribs and a beer, is it?”

“Yeah.”

Lacey fell silent as the trail turned uphill, puffing air out through her mouth as her legs pumped.  They crested the hill, breathing hard, their pace quickening as they went downhill before settling into a steady pace.

“What about you?” asked Ruby, and Lacey gave her a quizzical look.

“Me?”

“Yeah.  College.  You decided what you’re doing yet?”

Lacey wrinkled her nose.

“Not really,” she said.  “Gold says he’d get me a dorm room or a shared house if I wanted one, but I’d rather rent a place that isn’t gonna be full of drunk teens whining about their love lives, you know?”

“So get a private rental,” suggested Ruby.  “You could stay there Monday through Friday and come back at weekends.”

“I guess,” said Lacey.  “Maybe find a roomie who likes cooking for other people and who goes to bed at a reasonable hour.”

“Weirder things have happened.”

Lacey snorted.

“What, like me wanting to go to bed at a reasonable hour?”

“Never thought I’d see the day.”

Lacey chuckled, and they started up another hill, the climb making them breathless.

They ran for half an hour before turning back, jogging down the hiking trail on the approach to town just as it turned eight o’clock.  Lacey was flushed and gasping, but she felt better for the exercise.  A familiar figure appeared on the trail in front of them, hands shoved in his pockets, and she slowed to a stop as Neal drew close.

“That’s him,” she whispered to Ruby.  “Hey, Neal!”

He looked up at the sound of her voice, and waved, grinning at her.

“Hey!” he said.  “You’re up early.”

“It’s Ruby’s fault,” said Lacy, jerking a thumb at her.  “Given the choice I’d still be in bed.”

“Pleased to meet you,”said Ruby, and he nodded.

“Likewise.  I’m guessing it’s your grandmother that owns the diner, then?  She said I might bump into you.”

“Guilty as charged,” said Ruby, with a grin, and glanced at Lacey.  “Speaking of, I should head back.  If you guys want to drop by, coffee and donuts are on the house.”

Lacey gave her a grateful look, and Ruby set off at a sprint towards the town.  She glanced at Neal.

“You want to walk a little?” she asked, and he shrugged.

“Sure.”

They settled into an easy stroll, and Lacey hugged herself, trying to keep warm now she had slowed her pace.

“How are things at Granny’s?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s a nice place,” said Neal.  “She does great waffles, and the coffee’s strong enough to make your eyes water.  Emma would love it.  Plus everyone’s real friendly.”

“Yeah, I used to work there, before your dad gave me a job,” said Lacey.  “Pros of living in a small town, I guess.  Everyone knows your business.”

“Even when you don’t want ‘em to,” he remarked.

“Especially when you don’t want ‘em to.”

There was silence for a moment as they walked on, and Lacey chewed her lip.

“He’s happy you’re here, you know,” she said.  “But he’s nervous.  I don’t think he really knows what to say, and he’s scared whatever he does say will chase you away again.”

“Yeah.”  Neal drew up his shoulders, pushing his chin into the scarf wound around his neck.  “Look, I can’t promise that this is gonna end how he wants.  How you want.”

“I know,” she sighed.  “At least you came.  I didn’t think you would.”

They walked on a little way, birds chirping in the trees around them, and Lacey glanced across at him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“When you came to the house, you seemed - I don’t know - surprised, maybe?  By me and him, and - and the kittens.”

Neal huffed in amusement.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“So…”  Lacey chewed her lip.  “So I guess my question is, what did your mother tell you about him that would cause that?”

Neal was silent for awhile, hands shoved in his pockets, and she thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he looked across at her.

“She told me he was an abusive bastard,” he said.  “That he smacked her around. That he’d smacked me around, too.  That he was controlling.”

“Oh,” said Lacey, in a small voice.  “Do you - do you remember any of that?”

He shook his head.

“Nah,” he said.  “Oh, sure, I remember them fighting.  She told me that’s why she left.  Of course, she left after he went to jail, but it took me awhile to work that out.  Timelines get kinda wonky when you’re six, so when you get older, you think maybe you’re remembering it wrong when your mother insists on it.”

“And - and the violence?” she asked, and he shook his head again.

“Talking about it with Emma - well, I think it kind of opened the floodgates,” he said.  “I can remember her screaming at him, words I didn’t understand back then.  I remember he’d just turn his back and walk out.  I think maybe that made her madder, but - ah, I don’t know!  You can block stuff out, right?  Maybe she told the truth.  I mean, the first time I saw him here, he was beating the crap out of your dad.”

“I - what?”

Lacey stopped, staring at him, and Neal winced.

“Shit, he didn’t tell you?”

“Must have slipped his mind in all the excitement,” she said dryly, and he gave her an awkward shrug.

“He said it was self-defence, if it makes a difference.”

She ran a hand over her face.

“Look, my dad’s an abusive piece of shit, so I’m guessing he probably deserved it,” she sighed.  “Seems we all have fucked-up families.”

“Got that right.”

They walked on a little further, and Lacey watched him out of the corner of her eye.

“Will you tell him?” she asked.  “What your mother said?”

Neal’s mouth twisted.

“Maybe,” he said.  “We’ll see how things go.  I think - I think since I’m here, maybe I need to find out what really happened, you know?  I only had my mother’s side of things, and she left whenever she found a new boyfriend.  Which meant foster care.  If ‘care’ is the right word.”

Lacey winced.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up in the system,” she admitted.  “I know Connor told me that was what he hated, what scared him the most.  Not knowing what you had gone through, and being powerless to change it.”

“Yeah.”

Neal didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t want to push it.  He shrugged, huffing air out over his teeth, a plume of white in the cold air.

“Maybe Emma’s right,” he said eventually.  “Maybe I should give him a chance.  From what he says, he came looking for me as soon as he could, so I think I need to hear things from his side, too.”

“That makes sense.”

“But I can’t promise we’ll be family again,” he added.  “I got my own family to think of.”

“I get that.”

They walked on a little further, and Lacey looked over at him.

“Will you guys have more kids?” she asked, and he grinned.

“Maybe when Henry’s a couple of years older,” he said.  “I know Emma wants to get her career back on track first.”  His grin turned wicked as he looked at her.  “What about you guys?”

Lacey stumbled, eyes wide.

“Me, have a kid?” she said disbelievingly.  “I can barely take care of myself!”

Neal burst out laughing.

“Yeah, that’s how we felt,” he said.  “I think you’d surprise yourself.”

“Yeah, well, I’m definitely doing college first,” she said firmly.  “And don’t put ideas in Gold’s head, I don’t think I could take the yearning looks and puppy eyes.”

Neal chuckled at that, and she nudged him.

“Come on, let’s get to Granny’s,” she said.  “Ruby said coffee and donuts on the house, right?”

"I'm in."

They quickened the pace, heading back into town along the forest path at a brisk walk.  As the trail wound around a large maple, a familiar figure came into view, clad in black with a cane in one hand, picking his way along the path.  Lacey pulled up, surprised.

"Hey," she said.  "What are you doing out here?"

Gold smiled briefly, shrugging a little.

"I needed to walk," he said, and met her eyes.  She felt a rush of understanding, and gave him the tiniest nod.

"I'll - um - go grab us a table," she said, and jogged off towards the town.

Gold looked at his son, standing with his hands in his pockets and his chin pushed down into his scarf.  The pose was so reminiscent of him as a boy that it made tears prick his eyes.  So many years lost.

"I know you're still mad at me, that you feel abandoned and betrayed," he said quietly.  "I don't blame you for that.  But please, son, if you're gonna be angry, at least be angry about something I actually did.  God knows there's enough of that."

Neal was silent, and Gold sighed.

"What did your mother tell you about me?" he said.  "That I was a crook first and a lawyer second?  That I was stupid enough to get involved in someone else's scheme and wound up in jail because of it?  That because of that, you grew up without a father?  It's all true."

"Didn't find out about the jail thing until I was old enough to do my own research," Neal said stiffly.  "She told me you were violent.  That you'd hit me, and that if she tried to protect me, you'd hurt her.  That you'd left, and you were never coming back."

The words were like shards of ice piercing his chest, cold and painful enough to make him clutch at himself as he shook his head fervently.

"I'd never hurt you like that," he whispered.  "Never!  I swear it!  I never once laid a finger on you, or on her.  God, son, please tell me you know that!"

"How can I know that?" demanded Neal.  "How can I know what the hell happened between you?  The only thing I know is that you left!  Both of you, you just - you just left!"

"I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter!"

Neal threw up his hands.

"Yeah, yeah you did!" he said.  "You could have done the right thing!  You could have told whoever it was that asked you to be a part of their fraud to go screw themselves!  You could have been a good man!"

Gold was silent, hands opening and closing on the handle of his cane.

"You're right," he said quietly.  "I was a coward, and I made a terrible mistake.  There's no taking it back, I know that."

"No."  Neal scuffed his boots on the forest floor.  "No, there's no going back."

Gold swallowed, blinking hard.

"You were all I thought about, all the time I was in there," he said gently.  "When Milah didn't visit - well, that wasn't a surprise, not really, but I thought she might at least let me see you.  I - I tried to find out why no answer came to my letters, but they wouldn't tell me anything."

"I didn't get any letters," said Neal.  "I told you.  Not a thing."

"The moment I got out I went looking," he went on.  "You know that.  And when I found you - I - I wanted so much to make it work, son.  For us to be a family again.  I understand why you're so angry, believe me, I do.  So - so I backed off, but I never gave up, I promise.  I hoped - I hoped one day you might come around."

Neal was silent, shoulders a little hunched as he studied the earth beneath his feet, leaf mulch and pine needles stirred up by the toes of his boots.

"You can't change the past," he whispered.  "Not mine, not yours."

"I know that," said Gold, his voice cracking a little.  "I know.  All I can say is that I'm sorry.  For not being there for you, for not making the right choices.  If I could go back and do it over, I would, believe me, because there's nothing more important to me than you."

Neal glanced up at him then, pain and uncertainty in his eyes, and Gold wanted to pull him into his arms.

"You're the best thing I ever did with my life," he said softly, and Neal shrugged, but stepped a little closer.

"I'm still angry," he muttered.

"I know," said Gold, his voice a broken whisper.  "I know, and I'm so sorry, son!  I'm so, so sorry!"

Tears welled in his eyes, and Neal took the final step towards him, pulling him into a fierce hug.  Gold wept as he held his son for the first time in twenty-two years, tears pouring down his face, and Neal let out a sob as he tightened his grip.  It felt like a release, as though years of pain and hurt were leaking away with their tears, and he let himself weep, let himself feel.  He felt drained afterwards, Neal's coat damp from his tears, but he smiled a little as he drew back, as he reached up to touch his son's face.

"I love you, son," he said.  ""I've always loved you.  And I want us to be a family, if - if you're willing."

Neal wiped his eyes, dashing away tears with the heels of his hands, and nodded.

"I'm willing to try," he said.  "How about we start with coffee at Granny's, and take it from there?"

Gold smiled, trying not to cry again.

"I would like that."

#fic: empty corridors #golden lace fic #my fic #golden lace #rumbelle