#hellsbellssinclub | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

summerwritesfics · 2 months

Text

🏮I’m A Prayer For Your Loneliness, Chapter 1 - And Death Climbs Up The Steps One By One

Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang Length: 4835 Words Rating: Mature Warnings: Vampire AU, Vampire!Kuai Liang, Vampire!Hanzo Hasashi, Vampire Hunter!Bi-Han, Vampire!Shang Tsung, Vampire!Quan Chi, Mugging, Assault, Vampire Bites, Vampire Turning, Violence, Blood And Injury, Attempted Biting, Hurt/Comfort, Stabbing, Stabbing Through A Hand, Someone Needs To Give Both Kuai Liang And Bi-Han A Hug TBH

I’m A Prayer For Your Loneliness Masterlist

Notes: It feels like it’s been ages since I posted, but it’s only been like a month tf lmao. Anyway, first fic from the giveaway I did on tumblr, this one for @hellsbellssinclub who asked for a vampire au. You can probably tell from the fact this is chaptered that I plan to continue this haha. Fic title is from “Nymphetamine (Fix)” by Cradle Of Filth, and the chapter title is from “Dig Up Her Bones” by The Misfits.

Kuai Liang groaned, pushing himself off the floor. His arms gave out under him and he fell face down into a puddle. Spitting out a mouthful of disgusting dirty water, he chose instead to shove himself hard enough to flip over onto his back. He gave a pained moan, and stared up at the night sky and edges of the rooftops, trying to remember what happened.

He had an exam coming up in about a week, and had decided a late night study session at the college library would be a good idea. It was about 1am when he finally left, or rather, the tired librarian who just wanted to go home for the night kicked him out. Given how late it was, he wanted to get home as quickly as possible, so had taken a shortcut down the alley he was currently lying in. And then?

Then someone grabbed him from behind. He must have hit his head or something, because he didn’t really remember much after that. Someone attacked him, then he woke up in pain on the floor.

I was mugged.

He slipped his hand down his jacket, reaching into his pocket in the hopes of checking for his wallet and keys, the only things he’d had with him other than a notebook in his bag. To his surprise, both items were still in place. He pulled out his wallet, even more shocked to find the $10 cash and his debit card were still inside. Oh great, I got mugged by the world’s worst mugger.

Curiously, he grabbed his book bag, pulling it up to him and flicking it open. His notebook was thankfully still in place, and weirdly he was more relieved at that than he was about his money. His money and bank card could be replaced, those notes had taken him all fucking night, and he was not about to redo them.

He pushed himself to at the very least sit up. His body protested the action at every turn, but Kuai finally managed to get himself up straight. What now? He hadn’t brought his phone with him, so he couldn’t call anyone, not that he knew who to call. Not the police, they were infamously awful in this part of town. Certainly not Bi-Han, big brother would absolutely lose his mind and never let Kuai Liang leave his sight again.

His only real option was to limp home, clean himself up and hope the damage wasn’t too bad.

He supposed the good thing about getting jumped in this particular alley was he wasn’t too far from the apartment. He struggled to stand, but after crawling towards a large dumpster and using it to haul himself off the floor with a lot of effort, he managed to get onto his feet. He was unsteady, but remained upright. He chanced a step, still holding onto the bin, and when that went okay, he tried a second, and another. Eventually he was limping down the alley, clinging to the walls for stability, and making it back onto the sidewalk.

He went as quickly as he could manage, which wasn’t very fast. Every so often he would need to stop and lean against a wall or fence when the pain got too bad or he felt out of breath. Managing to finally get to the apartment building’s front door and slipping inside, he was confronted with the knowledge he had a couple of flights of stairs to get up now. The thought made him want to cry, but he had no other choice. He struggled, holding onto the railings like his life depended on them, but eventually he got to the 2nd floor. As he finally reached his apartment, a wave of relief washed over him.

The second he shut the door behind him, he threw his bag to the floor, followed by his jacket. He didn’t bother turning the light on, and stumbled through the dark towards the bathroom. He wasn’t exactly quiet, but that didn’t matter too much. Bi-Han would still be at work, so he had no fear of his brother finding him like this.

When he entered the bathroom, he finally turned the light on, shutting the door behind himself. He began slipping his clothes off, and went over to their full size mirror in the corner to assess the damage.

He looked a mess, but thankfully it was mostly bruising across his torso and a few scrapes. All easy enough to hide from Bi-Han. The only real problem was a few bruises on his neck and a nasty gash on the side of his forehead. He gingerly reached the gash, it looked like it had bled quite a bit, but hopefully once he’d gotten rid of the blood, it wouldn’t look that bad. He could always bullshit that he accidentally walked into a door or something. Bi-Han would probably believe that. Maybe?

As for the neck bruises? Well, he could possibly wear a scarf or turtle neck for a couple of days. The more he looked at it however, the more he realised one side of the bruising was darker than the others, and it looked like there was blood. He stepped a little closer to the mirror and moved himself to one side to get a clearer view. He gasped when he realised what he was looking at.

A bite mark.

A fucking bite mark!

Someone had just fucking assaulted him, and then bitten him!

“Oh god! Gross!” He loudly complained, grimacing both at the sight and the thought at a stranger deciding to have a nibble on his neck. Looking even closer, he realised it seemed to get worse the more he looked at it. The teeth had clearly dug in deep, the wound raw and still bleeding slightly. “Shit, am I going to have to go to the doctors about this?”

He really didn’t want to. He was on Bi-Han’s insurance and he would flip his shit when he got his bill for the month. At the same time, this could be really bad right? With how deep the wound was, it could potentially get infected if he wasn’t careful. Not to mention he was fairly sure there were more than a few diseases that could be transferred via saliva.

“Okay, okay. Calm down.” He rubbed his forehead. “I’ll take a shower, get cleaned up, and sleep on it. If I feel bad tomorrow, I’ll go to the doctors. Otherwise I’ll just keep it clean and hope it clears up on its own.”

That seemed like the best plan. He was sure it was probably just some weirdo, and he didn’t have to worry too much. When he managed to get to the shower, he didn’t really do much more than clean himself up, and let the warm water soothe his aching body. It felt good, but he didn’t want to stay standing up longer than he had to at this point. Soon he was out, drying himself off and making his way to his bedroom. He didn’t even bother turning the light on again, just threw on some sweatpants and a tank top, and let himself flop down onto his bed.

His sleep was anything but restful, nightmares of the attack plaguing his mind.

Things had mostly been fine after he got up in the morning.

He managed to hide the majority of his injuries from Bi-Han, the only one he couldn’t was the gash on his forehead. Surprisingly Bi-Han had accepted his excuse of walking into a door fairly easily, even calling him an idiot for it. Aside from that, he hadn’t really had any issues, except a few aches and pains.

Well. There were two other things, but he was certain they were unrelated.

For some reason, he’d felt extremely itchy all day. Initially he thought it was just his injuries healing, but when he examined the area, there were red rashes over his skin. Even stranger the itching seemed to go away when he kept out of the sun. So… Some sort of weird skin rash? An atypical presentation of Sunburn? He wasn’t sure but he tried to stay in the shade as much as possible after putting the connection together.

The other issue was he was hungry. Which didn’t sound too unusual, but it was impossibly so. He had eaten, and eaten, and eaten, but nothing seemed to fill him up. He’d eaten so much he almost threw up, and even then, he still wanted to eat more. It was really strange. He wasn’t experiencing lightheadedness or any other symptoms, so clearly he wasn’t actually as hungry as he felt.

He’d mostly managed to put it to the back of his mind for the majority of the day. He’d been to college, attended his lectures and even ran a few errands that Bi-Han had texted him about. He felt fine, considering how brutal the night before was.

Now, he was sitting at the breakfast bar in their kitchen, partially watching Bi-Han cook dinner for the both of them on the other side. He had some homework to do, but it wasn’t anything too hard. He could probably get it done before Bi-Han was finished with cooking.

“So, how was college?” Bi-Han absentmindedly asked while cutting up a carrot.

“It was alright,” Kuai replied with a shrug, not really sure what to talk about. “I have an exam coming up next week, so it’s just a lot of cramming at the moment.”

Bi-Han hummed, and then seconds later sucked his breath between his teeth like he was hurt. When Kuai looked up, he could see him holding his hand and grimacing.

“Are you okay?” Kuai put his homework down and clambered over the bar toward his brother.

“Yeah, I just nicked my finger with the knife.” That sounded about right. Bi-Han might have been older, but he was a bit of a disaster when he was in the kitchen.

Bi-Han held up his finger, and there was a small trickle of blood seeping out of the cut. A minor injury at worst. Yet Kuai couldn’t stop staring at it. Something about the crimson red hypnotised him, his breath hitching and mouth watering and all that was going through his mind was how hungry he was.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Bi-Han asked, but Kuai didn’t really comprehend it. Bi-Han reached a hand forward to try and place it on Kuai’s shoulder.

Kuai grabbed Bi-Han’s wrist before he could touch him, and he lurched forward. His mind was blank aside from some fucked up chant of hungry. Aiming for Bi-Han’s jugular, his jaw unhinged as he attempted to sink his teeth into his brother's neck.

Bi-Han’s movements were swift, grabbing the back of Kuai’s neck and wrestling him away. Nothing would stop Kuai however, he was ravenous, and Bi-Han’s blood looked so tasty. He attempted to attack again, only for Bi-han to side step, sweeping his leg and kicking at the back of Kuai’s knees as he did. Kuai fell backwards, groaning as his head collided with the wooden floor. Suddenly, there was a pressure on his chest, and he began to claw at his brother, who was using his entire weight to keep Kuai pinned to the floor.

A hand grabbed his wrist, and seconds later there was a sharp pain in his palm.

His head snapped over, finding the same knife Bi-Han had been using minutes ago, stabbed straight through his hand and into the floor below, keeping it trapped.

Kuai hiccuped. Bi-Han stabbed me!

It was like all control suddenly returned to him after being controlled by an outside force. He looked towards his brother, still sitting over Kuai’s chest and panting to catch his breath. Bi-Han had stabbed him, but only because Kuai had attacked him first. But why? Why did I attack Bi-Han? All he remembered was seeing the blood and that hunger he’d felt all day took over.

He sobbed, “what’s happening to me?”

Bi-Han stared at him, before reaching for the neckline of Kuai’s sweater. He pulled it down, revealing the bite mark from the day before. Hissing loudly, Bi-Han’s heavy breathing only worsened, baring his teeth in anger.

“When did this happen?” He demanded, and Kuai whimpered at the harsh tone. “Kuai Liang, when did this happen?”

“Last night,” he admitted quietly, wanting nothing more than to curl up into a ball. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

Bi-Han made a frustrated sound, screwing his face up. He took hold of the knife, before roughly yanking it out of Kuai’s hand, causing him to howl at the action. Before he could ask what was going on, he felt Bi-Han grab his shirt and pull him to his feet. He quickly realised he was being dragged across the room, towards the door.

“Wh-Where are we going?” Kuai held his bleeding hand to his chest. Most likely the hospital right? Clearly something was wrong with Kuai, and maybe a doctor could help.

“We’re going to cash in a favour,” Bi-Han mumbled miserably, before opening the door and pushing Kuai out of the apartment.

There was no other explanation, just Bi-Han silently and firmly guiding Kuai down to his car.

The silence was suffocating.

Bi-Han had not spoken a word since they’d left the apartment, and Kuai had lost track of how long they’d been in the car. Kuai’s mind was reeling. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened to lead them to this point. Attacking his own brother? Why had he even done that? He looked down at his bleeding hand. He was lucky Bi-Han had only done that, rather than outright slit his throat.

“Bi-han,” he whispered, screwing his eyes shut and not wanting to see his brother’s face right now. He couldn’t handle the disappointment Bi-Han no doubt felt. “I’m sorry.”

“This isn’t your fault,” Bi-han muttered, sounding like he was trying his best to be reassuring but falling just a bit flat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kuai was silent, but eventually replied “I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“Have you noticed anything else since it happened?” Bi-Han sounded like he knew something Kuai didn’t. Opening his eyes again, he could see his brother had a focused look on his face, his hands gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly.

“I- I don’t know?” Kuai thought back to the rash and hunger. Could they be related? “I’ve had a rash since it happened. And I feel so hungry, but nothing I eat seems to help.”

“Does the rash come when you’ve been in direct sunlight?” Bi-Han asked, and it cemented in Kuai’s mind that he knew what was happening.

“Yes.” He tried to gauge his brother’s reaction, but there was none. “What-“

“We’re here.” Bi-Han slammed his foot on the brake and Kuai was thankful he’d put his seatbelt on as it stopped him from being thrown forward and into the dashboard.

Before Kuai could question anything, Bi-Han was throwing open the door and getting out of the car. Kuai scrambled to the door handle, pushing it open and following suit. When he looked around, he found they were in front of a very ornate looking mansion in the middle of the forest. Kuai had seen it from a distance before when he explored as a teenager, but he’d never been close enough to realise just how big it was.

He felt Bi-Han grab his arm, pulling him along to the front door. Slamming down the large knocker, Kuai flinched at the bangs. Seconds later, the door opened, and a man peered out at them, narrowing his eyes at Bi-Han.

“I need to talk to Lord Hasashi,” Bi-Han announced, actually pushing his way past the man.

Kuai was dragged into the house, even as the man tried to object to the intrusion. Bi-Han didn’t care however, and strangely seemed to know where he was going. Eventually they walked into a room, where a tall man wearing a yellow waistcoat was standing and talking to another man.

The man in the waist coat looked displeased by the interruption as he questioned “what do you want Bi-Han?”

“I need your help,” Bi-Han replied, stopping a short gap from the man. Kuai could feel the grip on his arm tighten.

“I don’t see why I should, if you’re going to be rude about it,” the man dismissed, waving a hand as he did. “You know I don’t appreciate surprise visits. Especially surprise visits where you barge in like you own the place.”

“You owe me, remember?” Bi-Han’s fingers dug into Kuai’s arm painfully, pushing down exactly on one of the bruises. “I turn a blind eye to your little operation here, and you assist me as I request.”

The man regarded this for a couple of seconds, before rolling his eyes. “Fine. What do you require help with?”

“This is my brother, Kuai Liang.” Bi-Han pushed Kuai forward ever so slightly. “This is Lord Hanzo Hasashi,” Bi-Han told Kuai, finally letting go of him. “Show him your neck.”

Kuai didn’t understand what was happening, and Hanzo’s gaze was suffocating. Still, with his non-injured hand, he reached for the neckline of his sweater and pulled it down slightly. Somehow, Hanzo’s face immediately softened.

“Sit down,” he gently instructed, gesturing to a couch behind him. Kuai went and perched on the edge, as Hanzo sat beside him, hands immediately going to Kuai’s neck to examine the bite. “When and how did this happen?”

Kuai’s eyes flicked to Bi-Han, who nodded to encourage him to speak.

“Last night.” Kuai winced as a finger pressed down against the wound. “I don’t… really remember how. Someone attacked me from behind, and I think I passed out.”

Hanzo’s eyes flicked over to Bi-Han, “has he fed?”

“He tried to, but was not successful.” Bi-Han rubbed the front of his neck, where Kuai had attempted to bite into him.

“Go get a blood pack,” Hanzo ordered to the man he’d previously been talking to, who bowed at the request and walked away. Hanzo returned his attention towards Kuai again, eyes looking down at his bloody hand. “Did that happen last night too?”

“No. Before we came.” Kuai lowered his head in shame, he still couldn’t believe what had happened. “I tried to hurt Bi-Han, and he stabbed me.”

“What happened before you attacked him?” Hanzo asked, now reaching to bring Kuai’s hand to have a closer look. “Was he bleeding, by any chance?”

“He cut his finger.” Pain blossomed through his hand as Hanzo’s fingers explored the wound. Kuai jumped and pulled his hand away. “I- I don’t know what happened, all I could think when I saw the blood was how hungry I was.”

Hanzo looked at him sympathetically, but before he could say anything the other man had returned, a blood pack in his hand. Kuai wasn’t sure what they were going to do with it. Hanzo took it off him, cracking it open before holding it out to Kuai Liang. His mouth salivated at the thought of it, but he didn’t go to take it.

Hanzo sighed, shuffling forward slightly. He placed the opening of the pack into Kuai’s open mouth, before squeezing it. Blood surged into Kuai’s mouth, causing him to gasp. While some part of his mind screamed that this was wrong, he could not deny how good the blood tasted as it coated his tongue. He began to suck at the pack, eager to get more of that sweet liquid into his mouth. The more he swallowed, the more he realised that hunger he’d felt all day was beginning to fade.

Eventually, there was no blood left, Kuai having drank every drop he was offered. As the pack was pulled out of his mouth, the horror at what he’d done hit him. He threw his hands over his mouth, nausea bubbling in his stomach.

“W-What is wrong with me?” He cried, looking between Bi-Han and Hanzo, desperate for some sort of answer to why this was happening to him. “Am I diseased? Am I going to die?”

Hanzo made a pained sound, reaching to grab Kuai’s hands.

“Oh, Kuai Liang. I’m so sorry, but… You are already dead.”

A cold washed over Kuai. “What do you mean?”

“The person who attacked you was a vampire,” Hanzo explained and Kuai almost did a double take. He was far too old to believe things like vampires existed. And yet, somehow, that would explain so much of what was happening to him. “And during their attack, they killed and turned you.”

“You mean I’m a-“ Kuai trailed off, remembering Bi-Han’s reaction to everything. He turned to look at his brother. “D-Did you know?”

“Father tried to keep this life away from you.” Bi-Han cleared his throat, looking down at the floor to avoid eye contact. “We come from a long line of vampire hunters, but neither Father or I wanted that life for you.” Bi-Han gestured to Hanzo. “Lord Hasashi is a vampire lord, but as he tries to be ethical about his feeding, using blood donors rather than hunting, we allowed him and his brood to stay in the area.”

Kuai’s head was spinning, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“What was it you wanted from me, Bi-Han?” Hanzo suddenly asked, squeezing Kuai’s hands slightly. “Because I doubt you came all this way just to feed him.”

“I need you to keep him safe.” Bi-Han stepped forward, taking Kuai’s face in his hands. “I know how dangerous this world is for vampires. I don’t want him to live in fear.” He pushed their foreheads together. “He did not deserve this.”

“We rarely do,” Hanzo agreed, thumb stroking along Kuai’s knuckles. Kuai felt his heart race at such an intimate gesture from a stranger.

“And… I need to find out who did this.” Bi-Han pulled away, but did not let go of Kuai’s face. “I need your help to find the son of a bitch who sired him.”

“The thought occurs that this could have been a targeted attack.” Hanzo placed a hand on his chin, looking deep in thought. “You have likely made enough enemies in your time as a hunter. Ones who would not hesitate to use your brother as leverage against you.”

“That does not narrow it down by much,” Bi-Han mumbled, letting go of Kuai and walking away. “But until I can figure it out, I need you to keep an eye on him.”

“Wait,” Kuai finally chimed in. He still couldn’t believe what was going on, and maybe he was focusing on the wrong things but he couldn’t help but see a problem. “What about college? If I suddenly stop going, it’s going to seem suspicious. And I have exams coming up!”

The last part likely seemed petty to both of the other men in the room, but it was important to Kuai. He’d been studying so hard, he didn’t want that work to go to waste.

“We’ll help you call in for an extension based on ill health,” Hanzo assured him. “Just until we find your sire. But even when you return, you will have to take night classes.”

“That rash you mentioned,” Bi-Han took over, turning back to Kuai Liang. “That is how the sun sensitivity starts. Eventually it’ll get to a point where being in the sun will outright burn your skin. It won’t kill you, but it will be extremely painful.”

“I will also need to teach you how to curb your hunger.” Hanzo pushed himself to stand and went to join Bi-Han’s side. “Otherwise whenever you see even so much as the smallest amount of blood, you will go into attack mode.”

Kuai grimaced at that. He was very lucky he hadn’t hurt Bi-Han earlier, he hated the idea that he could hurt anyone else, even accidentally. He looked between the two men, feeling guilty and pathetic regarding his situation.

“I’m never going to live a normal life again, am I?”

The question lingered in the air, causing Kuai to bow his head in shame. He should have never gone to the library. He definitely should not have gone down the alley. He’d ruined his own life in seconds with a few stupid decisions.

“Kuai Liang, listen to me,” Bi-Han’s voice called to him. A pair of hands brought his face up again. “This was not your fault. I should have known that eventually you’d have been in danger. Father should have taught you how to defend yourself. I should have taught you to defend yourself.” Bi-Han’s face screwed up like he was in pain. “We failed you.”

“Don’t say that,” Kuai whispered, hating how devastated his voice sounded. “You didn’t…”

“I will find who did this to you,” Bi-Han firmly declared. “I will find them, and I will make them pay. They will never harm you again. No one will.”

“Bi-Han…” His brother pulled away once again.

“You should look into your recent jobs,” Hanzo told Bi-Han, patting his shoulder a couple of times. “It might help us thin out the suspect list.” He then turned to Kuai and held out a hand. “Let’s fix up your hand, and then I can make up a room for you, Kuai Liang.”

Kuai nodded, taking Hanzo’s hand and allowing himself to be pulled until he was standing.

He made eye contact with Bi-Han one last time as his brother said, “I will be back soon.”

“Bye big brother.” Kuai waved him goodbye, before turning to follow Hanzo further into the house.

“Well, this is a frustrating turn of events.”

Shang Tsung watched in the vision as Lord Hasashi sat Kuai Liang down on a bed, cleaning and tending to the wound in his hand. He was being so gentle with the younger vampire. Shang Tsung scowled like there was poison in his mouth. That should have been him tending to Kuai Liang, not Hasashi. He didn’t like to think he was a jealous person, but something about this situation was proving him wrong.

“I suppose we know how Hasashi has avoided being hunted for so long now,” Quan Chi chimed up, waving his hand and making the vision disappear. “And I did say we should have accounted for Bi-Han potentially having allies.”

Shang Tsung shot him a glare. Given how ruthless Bi-Han was, how much of a lone wolf he was even amongst other hunters, he had no reason to think he’d have anyone to turn to. He’d hoped that desperation would have led Bi-Han to seek out assistance, at which point the deadly alliance would have swooped in to assist. To help poor confused Kuai Liang acclimate to being a vampire.

If he’d known this would be the result, he’d have never left the brat in the alley.

He needed a new plan, one that would swing things back around to their favour. The search for Kuai Liang’s sire would no doubt eventually lead back to them. He needed to find a way to intercept before the connection could be made. Misdirect the investigation in a way that would bring both brothers to heel. Preferably one that would eliminate the threat Hanzo Hasashi presented also.

An idea came to his mind.

He chuckled to himself, the plan forming might be difficult to pull off, but if they were successful? Then he’d have both brothers exactly where he wanted them.

“What’s so funny?” Quan Chi questioned, raising an eyebrow as Shang Tsung’s laughter got louder.

“Oh, just a thought that it’d be such a shame if after putting so much trust in Hanzo, that it turned out that he was Kuai Liang’s sire.” He intently watched Quan Chi’s face, hoping he’d understand his meaning. Thankfully, it did not take long for the other vampire to begin smirking back.

“Ah. Well. If that were the case…” Quan Chi waved his hand again, conjuring a new vision. One that showed Kuai Liang being attacked in the alley by none other than Lord Hasashi himself. “It would surely be our duty as concerned bystanders to inform Bi-Han of such a betrayal?”

Shang Tsung lent forward, watching as the vision of Hasashi sunk his teeth into Kuai Liang’s neck. He licked his fangs, memories of blood rushing into his mouth surfacing, how cold Kuai’s skin got as the life was drained from his body. In the vision, Kuai’s eyes rolled back, body going limp before Hasashi threw him to the floor.

Even knowing it was nothing but a lie, it was a very convincing deception indeed.

“And with a vision such as this, who is he to deny it as truth?”

Both men burst into triumphant laughter. Actually, this worked out better than it would have otherwise. They’d get both Kuai Liang and Bi-Han’s trust, just as initially intended, while taking out the region's most powerful vampire lord in the process.

Shang Tsung loved when a plan came together.

#mortal kombat #subscorp #kuai liang #sub zero #scorpion #hanzo hasashi #bi han #noob saibot #🏮i’m a prayer for your loneliness

14 notes · View notes

ao3feed-moonknight · 2 months

Text

Hush

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/DYd6TGq by HellsBellsSinClub What is a god when it is not a god? A monster. Steven Grant was once a figment of Marc Spector's mind. Was once a man who was scared and frighten. Who had decided that the only way that they could be free from the being they had bound themselves to, was to be dead. For it is better to be dead in the afterlife together, than alive and in servitude. But he doesn't stay dead. And freedom comes with a cost. Words: 13550, Chapters: 1/2, Language: English Series: Part 1 of Phantoms of you are burning inside me Fandoms: Moon Knight (TV 2022), Moon Knight (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Categories: Multi Characters: Steven Grant (Marvel), Marc Spector, Jake Lockley, Layla El-Faouly, Jean-Paul DuChamp, Khonshu (Moon Knight), Anubis (ENNEAD) Relationships: Steven Grant & Jake Lockley & Marc Spector, Layla El-Faouly/Steven Grant/Jake Lockley/Marc Spector Additional Tags: Hurt No Comfort, Monster!Khonshu, Suicide, description of suicide, weighing of scales, Manipulative Khonshu (Moon Knight), inaccurate DID, Duat trip for one, Alternate universe where Khonshu is not a god but something much worse, Taking hold of the comics Khonshu who pretty much groomed ten year old Marc and running with that, Poor steven has a very bad time, Dark read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/DYd6TGq

#ao3feed #fanfic #moon knight #moon knight fanfic #marvel fanfic

0 notes

feriowind · 3 years

Note

It’s 7:20am and I have online class on half an hour but I just had a thought! What if Feral!Luffy accidentally got mistaken as Forest God! Luffy? So like, Feral!Luffy is a weird boy/young man who is actually pretty good with nature and animals these day after his rescue right? He is good with animals, knows how to tame them (thanks weird magical power that is rare even in the new world) and is good at surviving in forests that are really dangerous to humans.

These skills and Luffy’s “eh why would I care about something like that?” Care free nature ends up eventually, though a series of unfortunate and accidental death events, the gets him a cult following of people who actually believe he is a forest god pretending to be a human to see the world and put right the wrongs the Celestial Dragons have done.

The fact that he is said to be Grap’s grandson actually does not matter because clearly Garp is blessed by the forest god, after all how else would he be that strong and lucky to have never been fired for everything he does?

And Monkey D Dragon must be doing the forest gods bidding! Why else would he be fighting against the CD? It couldn’t be the slavery, torture and destruction of entire islands could it?

Even more funny, eventually the other straw hats are eventually “revealed~” to be gods too.

I mean clearly the swords man has up to three heads and can do things that can’t be done with his swords

That cook can create fire from nothing and can kick down anything in his way (his food is supposed to give you the strength of a god)

That navigator can call upon storms and move through water like it’s nothing

The doctor takes a cute form but when angered because a demonic being that can destroy everything

The long nose one can see all around him and sees into other worlds, how else can those stories he tell be real?

The metal man is a newer god of metal and will, able to create and destroy anything

The former devil child must have been the true tree of knowledge that the people of her island were hiding

And no one wants to talk about death itself in the form of the skeleton that stalks the ship

Meanwhile Luffy and the others are confused and annoyed when they come across these rumours because what? Why? No. And then laugh and enjoy the “tokens” that are left at shrines that keep appearing on island for them.

After all who would turn down free food and booze?

Awww this is a really cute idea!! The Strawhats are strange and mysterious enough that I could see this happening hahaha!

#feral luffy AU #forest god luffy au #kinda #one piece #hellsbellssinclub

394 notes · View notes

littleredhatter · 3 years

Note

Everyday I wake up to new fuckery in the supernatural continuous universe and the only way I know about is because of your posts because I left the supernatural fandom after there was a legit episode called Rise of Dick and I am howling right now at all this drama because I am no way invested in the show anymore and the actors but the shit show that has come from the final and now this “he didn’t tell me 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭” bs on Twitter is so fucking funny. I’m having a blast seeing all the posts you reboot about this because this is the funniest thing of the week so far 😂

being in this fandom is literally just like

#spn #hellsbellssinclub #insane shit keeps happening the bar could not be lower

8 notes · View notes

stereden · 3 years

Note

Hey there! Just wanted to pop in and say hi you are an amazing writer and I love your fics! The way you write once piece characters is so cool and invigorating and I love how you bring them to life!

That being said I have a quick question, do you mind if people use some of your head cannons and characters/characterisation? Like having Rouge be Blackjack Rouge and her crew or that Crocodile was apart of that crew etc? I wanna get back into writing fics myself and I love these little plot points and was wondering if you mind people using them with credit? If not all good but I’d thought I’d ask!

Also thank you again for your awesome fics! They are the light of my day whenever I get to read them!

Hello! Thank you so much for your kind words! I don’t mind you using some of the headcanons such as Rouge being a pirate and stuff - the Blackjacks aren’t mine in the first place, I stole them from Bleach and Naruto because they deserved better damn it , and Crocodile being part of her crew is actually from @mydetheturk awesome fics, she kindly lets me play around in that sandbox, so as long as proper credit is given I don’t mind :) Just please not the exact rituals and traditions, as I’m also developping them for original writing ;)

(And I would prefer if my original characters aren’t used either, such as Speed, though please feel free to have fun with Klabautermänner because they deserve all the love)

As a general rule, I don't mind if any of you want to use some elements of my works in your writing - as long as you ask me first, either here on Tumblr or on my Discord, since, as mentionned above, there are some elements I do not want to share, including specific wordings of pirate lore as well as some of the events and characters I came up with specifically for my fics - when it comes to the main Watashitachi wa Roger kaizoku desu (we still stand proud) series/verse and cast (AKA anything to do with Shanks and Buggy, or original events/characters mentionned in my fics that aren't in canon) I'm currently not giving anyone permission to write in that part of the verse because i have plans

And also because it’s my baby and I have a lot of plans for it and a lot of feels about all those plans

Outtakes focusing on other characters reactions to the mess that is marineford are more than fine (and i'm super flattered and honored!), again as long as you ask me first and give credit/tag me/add an ‘inspired by’ in AO3, but expanding on things like Depa or Buggy's capture by Shiki are things i'm planning on doing in the future so please leave those to me

And please let me know when you post those stories so I can enjoy them :D

Thank you again! I’m really glad you’re enjoying my fics!

#stereden talks #stereden writes #hellsbellssinclub #one piece

8 notes · View notes

yukipri · 4 years

Note

OKAY! So I saw your very pretty picture of that Thatch guy and read the tags and was wondering how a dark version of him would work in mer au? Because I have only just gotten up to water 7 I have no idea who he is other than what i have read in fics and your tags sparked my interest. Who is this man and what devil fruit is that and why would him being dark! Be a bad thing? Or an interesting thing? Idk. Long ask short who the fuck is that pretty man called Thatch? I like him already

OhhhhHH man, I guess the question here is, how okay are you with being spoiled? Bc in order to answer your question, I’d need to put some MAJOR, MAJOR spoilers.

Actually, if you’re already at Water 7 (and gosh damn are Water 7-Enies Lobby AMAZING arcs ;A;), you’ll understand a lot better if you can get through that first!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you first finish the Water 7/Enies Lobby arc first before reading the following part beneath the cut, because this power shows up in action for the first time after that. If you want exact numbers, that’s anime episode 325 and manga chapter 441.

Explanation of Thatch and Yami Yami Fruit under cut!

＊This explanation assumes that the reader doesn’t know who Thatch is, and isn’t familiar with events in OP canon beyond the Banaro Island duel.

Unfortunately, we see very little of Thatch in canon (I don’t think he even has any spoken lines?), so you’ll be a bit disappointed in that regard, but explanation on that below.

But the devil fruit power. The Yami Yami (Darkness) Fruit is probably going to be the endgame last boss power that Luffy will have to fight at the end of the series.

You may recall, but when Ace met up with Luffy in Alabasta, he mentioned that he’s been tracking someone called “Blackbeard,” who used to be a member of the Whitebeard pirates, before he murdered one of their crew and left.

The crew member who was murdered? That was the Fourth Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates: Thatch.

We don’t know too much about Thatch in canon, unfortunately. He was a cook. He was a Division Commander, which means he was strong, and had a position of leadership and responsibility. He’s been with the Whitebeards for a LONG time (a kid who might be him shows up in the Oden flashback in more recent manga chapters). He was the first Whitebeard pirate to befriend Ace (we get to see more of this in the Ace spin-off novel), and we can assume that they were close though we don’t get to see too much of their interactions.

The reason why Thatch was murdered? He found the Yami Yami fruit. And in the Whitebeard pirates, there’s a rule that whoever finds a devil fruit has the right to eat it; that fruit belongs to them. Which means, while we’ll unfortunately never know whether Thatch ever planned on eating the fruit, it was his right to do so, which was why a dark!Thatch AU makes sense; it’s a spin off from this point, a what-if he had eaten it instead of getting killed scenario.

But alas. Thatch is murdered the night he finds the fruit, because Blackbeard recognized the fruit as the one he’s been looking for, and was willing to kill a former crew mate for it. Blackbeard eats the fruit, making him one of the most (if not THE most) powerful person in the OP universe.

The Yami Yami Fruit is still a fruit that’s shrouded in mystery, and we certainly don’t know everything about it yet (and probably won’t know till closer to the end of the series bc again, I personally feel that he’s been set up to be the final last boss).

But we see its powers in action for the first time in the Ace vs Blackbeard duel on Banaro island after the Enies Lobby arc. You don’t need me to spell out everything the power does, there’s a wikia page for that, but it’s WEIRD, and interacts weirdly with other devil fruits. WARNING, that if you read said wikia page you’ll likely get MAJOR SPOILERS for the Summit War arc, so again if you care about spoilers, I wouldn’t read it until you’re done with that ^ ^;

So that’s on Thatch and the Devil Fruit in canon. The following is Thatch in the Mermaid AU specifically.

This is kinda just re-hashing things from other posts, but in this AU, the canon-divergence for Thatch occurs when he temporarily leaves the Whitebeard pirates. Which again, is a result of Ace not joining the Whitebeard pirates at all in this AU, since he’s going to head back to Dawn Island so he can form a crew with Luffy. Thatch decides to tag along for a lot of reasons, including because he wants to meet Luffy, but certainly not limited to that. You can read more of Thatch and the Whitebeard pirates’ reasoning for letting him go in this story post. As mentioned in the canon stuff about him, it makes sense to me that Thatch is the one who accompanies Ace out of any of the other Whitebeards bc they’re close, and he doesn’t have first mate duties like Marco.

In canon, Thatch finds the Yami Yami fruit and brings it back to the Moby Dick, where Blackbeard hears about it, which triggers all the events leading not just to Thatch’s death, but much, MUCH more. I don’t know how much of the Summit War you know, but I personally feel that Blackbeard never getting the chance to eat the Yami Yami fruit kinda skews that whole arc too, and pretty much everything else. Despite having such a minor role in canon, Thatch actually plays a massive role as a trigger in the over-arching plot of the OP story (Thatch deserves to be a D for that LMAO).

ANYWAY, in the Mermaid AU, Thatch finds the Yami Yami Fruit AFTER leaving the Whitebeards, on their journey backwards through the Grandline back to Dawn Island. The only people there with him when he finds it are Ace and Deuce. Blackbeard doesn’t even find out about Thatch finding it until looooong after it’s already been eaten.

So that’s how we get “Dark!Thatch” in this AU. As for whether the devil fruit actually can affect his personality? It’s all just me imagining what it might be like for a guy like Thatch to have eaten the fruit, and is not at all based on canon, bc Blackbeard’s already a pretty twisted guy long before he had the fruit. And again, we don’t know everything about the fruit even in canon, so a lot is just me guessing as well.

I hope this sorta explained Thatch and the devil fruit better!

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

#hellsbellssinclub #YukiPri replies #One Piece #Thatch #Whitebeard pirates #Yami Yami fruit #Blackbeard #Marshal D. Teach #longpost #long post

36 notes · View notes

markwatnae · 6 years

Text

@hellsbellssinclub replied to your post: WHY IS THIS HAPPENING??????? â€œWhat are you...

???????????????????? how did that happen?

I DON’T KNOW. I pasted a fic into the tumblr post box and all of the quotations/apostrophes turned into that and I’ve seen other posts of fics with those too and it’s so fucking annoying.

#hellsbellssinclub

9 notes · View notes

sanerontheinside · 6 years

Note

Fic title meme: As the sets behind the moon

*As the Sun Sets Behind the Moon

—and here I said I wasn’t going to be writing short stories. Dammit, saner, where’s your impulse control when you need it?

It is evening. The sun is sinking towards the horizon, and everyone has locked themselves into their homes to wait out the Long Night.

Now, to tell the truth: the Long Night isn’t that much longer than most other nights, and nether is it truly dark. But there are tales of arrogant Wise Men gone blind staring into the ring of fire in the sky. There are whispers, notions, legends: that when the great Eye of the Fire God looks away all things of Night walk the Earth freely, and can be seen.

And they do not, exactly, like being seen. But on this Night they do not hide.

So it is safer for the mortals to take to their homes and shelters. It is safer to lock the doors, lock the windows and paper them over. Even duels and battles break apart for fear of the Old Ones—as well they should, for mere mortal folk have no right to the land they fight over.

On nights like this, Ada sits, and watches.

Not, you understand, because she wishes for the Ones to take her. Not really.

Once, when she was very young, she ran out into the woods with her friends. They were young and reckless, and they didn’t know about the Long Nights then. They thought it was just silly stories, and what was the harm, anyway, if all the wanted was to pick a few baskets of mushrooms.

They didn’t know much about mushroom-picking either, but that wasn’t really the point.

Quite apart from the fact that they went in the day and got themselves hopelessly lost for hours, by the time it was dark they all knew they’d made a mistake. They’d all been in the forest at night before, on a dare or by accident, or with their elders. It had never seemed so alive, then. Now, every shadow stirred and made odd noises, and it seemed as though trees had eyes. Ada didn’t know where to look, only that it was best not to look anywhere, but walking with her eyes closed was asking to trip and fall, and perhaps fall into a trap.

Of course, you could walk right into a trap with eyes open anyway, but there was no help for that. They’d stumbled onto a lit clearing completely by accident, that way. There was a pool in it, still and calm, black surface littered with silver points of infinite stars. Too still, too calm, and the clearing itself seemed filled with some glow of its own.

They didn’t wait to find out what would happen, but turned to run. It seemed, though, that they hadn’t turned fast enough, because next thing she knew, Ada found herself entirely alone. For a second she thought she might be in the same clearing, but she felt like she’d run for hours. Her lungs burned, her feet ached, and she’d tripped over something and stumbled headlong into another clear patch of ground.

So she sat, panting, wondering if this was where she might as well spend the night, when a tall figure seemed to melt right out of stars, shadow, and sky.

Ada stared at them. She couldn’t help it—they’d come upon her so suddenly she hadn’t had the time to think past her surprise and turn her eyes away. They were tall, and rather pretty in their own way, thin-boned and frail-looking, but there was a strength in them like there was in her grandmother. Ada thought of her grandfather, whom she’d only know for an awfully short time. He’d been a silent sort—rather unlike her grandmother—with an eye on the Forest and the quiet, heavy weight of a blanket of thoughts on his face.

“Are you lost, Child?“ they said.

Ada thought they might have repeated the question already, she’d been so taken with their appearance. “I think I might be,” she whispered.

They looked at her for a long moment, then—”Come inside,” they said, with a sound that might have been a sigh.

They had a voice like a light wind in the forest, whisper-soft and soothing. It felt safe, like the rest of the forest did not, in this moment. Ada opened her mouth to ask—Inside where?— then realised the clearing wasn’t quite empty. There was a cabin in front of her, one she hadn’t seen when she’d burst headlong out of the trees.

So she followed them inside.

And stopped dead in the doorway, gaping in awe.

Ada’s grandmother used to say, her grandfather had gone out into the wood one Long Night, and come back changed. He used to tell stories, she’d said—fantastical stories, about the One who knew the movements of the sky, the One who said there was no Fire God, the one who insisted that the stars were brilliant jewels, the way they were worked into the fabric of Forever, the way they moved, neat and even and perfect like wheels, like gears of a clocks.

She stood… in a house of clocks. And books, of parchment bound in soft leather; and wheels and gears and quiet slow clicks; and frameworks in which dull but beautiful carved spheres of stones circled around glittering faceted gems. Candles everywhere. Glass jars of water to bend light. A workspace for a lapidary. It was all so familiar, as though she’d actually stood here herself, breathed this warm, smoke-filled air—not just heard all of it in her grandfather’s words.

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Looked around the cabin again.

Her host only shrugged and let her keep looking, turning back to their books and clocks. Ada took it as tacit permission to look at whatever books she saw, so she did. She read until the words seemed to dance on the page in front of her, read until the light seemed less candlelight-golden than cool morning grey.

It was fascinating, though most of it she did not understand at all. The diagrams littered across pages everywhere were beautiful, and she could almost understand what they meant. Some told of jewel-cutting, of the way the light fell into the faces carved into the stone. Some told of spheres and light, and of the wheels that moved in the sky.

Ada couldn’t help it. “I thought the skies were held together by gods,” she blurted.

Her host looked up and stared at her for a moment, face still. Ada stared back, wide-eyed and unnerved, and trying not to show it overmuch. She didn’t want to offend. She wanted to, maybe, see these books again, and the clocks. She wanted to know what this being was doing, what the machines meant, what the ground glasses were for.

At last her host spoke, quiet as they had been, “Why cannot not be both?”

And that was a question unlike any she’d ever heard asked before.

Was this what her grandfather had seen? One eye on the forest and mind in the skies, her grandmother had said of him, and no wonder.

“Can you teach me?“ she asked, finally.

The being finally looked at her, really looked at her, let her see the black eyes with stars in their depths, the odd, insubstantial look of their form. “Go home, Child. I teach no one.”

“But you did. My grandfather, you taught him.”

They hissed faintly. “He has not come back.”

Ada frowned. “He can’t.” He’d died last summer.

“I know.“ The being looked, suddenly, very uncomfortable; their appearance seemed to flicker and dim. “There is so much to learn, and so little time to learn it for you. I have had as long as these stars have moved, to learn from them.”

Ada stared. “How old are you?”

The being shrugged. “I do not know Time as you do.”

“So,” Ada said, “you do not die.”

The being sighed again, long and low, an especially heavy puff of wind in the forest’s leaves. “Go home, Child. If you still want this, come find me on the next Long Night.”

Ada thought that was as good a bargain as she was likely to get. “How will I find you?“

The being ticked impatiently. “Silly thing, can you not simply forget—! Here,” they pressed a smooth round stone in her hands, and shoved her—gently—towards the door and over the threshold.

Her feet touched grass, and she stopped to breathe in the cool air. Ada stopped and closed her eyes, feeling not nearly as tired as she should have. She breathed deep, turning the smooth, cold stone over in her hands.

When she turned around, there wasn’t a cabin behind her. The clearing wasn’t even large enough to hold such a one. But she was close to the forest’s edge, a short walk away from her home.

Now, Ada sits, half-listening to the silence in the house behind her, turning a smooth stone over and over in her hand. Her grandchildren are sleeping, still, and her grandmother’s ghost is ever so softly snoring in the chair between their beds, where she sits every night reading them stories.

Ada sits on the steps and wonders, was the offer for only the next Long Night, or will she find her mystery teacher this Night at last?

#idk what this is #idk what this is going to be #if it is #hellsbellssinclub #wild ficcage and au spawn #some weird supernatural beings and ghosts and shit #filed under: humans are all about missing/putting off opportunities #and Weird Immortal Beings who hate getting attached to mortals and watching them die Do Not Like #but also tbh they were sort of expecting her not to come back #I mean _really_#grandmother's ghost hanging around #filed under: HINT she's a bit of a big influence and it's not always for the best #Ada should've stayed with Weird Being #from a certain point of view #hey at least she was too young to be scared of them at the time #afterwards.... not so much #shit gets scarier in retrospect

13 notes · View notes

jahaliel · 6 years

Note

Oc ask game with Thorn and no7?

7: Describe your OC's fashion sense.Thorn is Commander of the 258th - he’s quite fond of purple and all its shades. Getting him out of his armour is a difficult proposition and requires a grand amount of bribery.His armour is covered with twining vines that have red-purple thorns. The thorns glitter slightly thanks to his Commander.After the war he enjoys wearing soft, warm home-made sweaters and learns to knit so that he can make his own. His favourite is the one that has streaking silver through it in imitation of hyperspace.

#jah's OCs #Commander Thorn #Clone OC #thanks for the ask lovely <3 #jah does an ask thing #hellsbellssinclub

9 notes · View notes

phosphorescent-naidheachd · 7 years

Text

@hellsbellssinclub replied to your post:falls the shadow

Oh this is heart breaking and amazing! I love it!

Thank you!!

#phos replies #hellsbellssinclub

1 note · View note

hellsbellssinclub · 8 months

Link

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Mortal Kombat - All Media Types Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Characters: Kuai Liang | Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Takahashi Kenshi, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana (Mortal Kombat), Noob Saibot | Bi-Han, Smoke (Mortal Kombat), Tomas Vrbada, Cyrax (Mortal Kombat), Sektor (Mortal Kombat) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Slasher/horror movie style, Survival Horror, Kuai Liang is a final girl and he don't like that, Starting off the spooky season with a good old slasher style fic, Graphic Description of Corpses, Non-Graphic Violence, Supernatural Elements, Uni friends going out to a small cottage in the woods ends in a bad time for everyone Summary:

Kuai Liang survives what should have been a weekend of fun with his friends in a small rented cottage in the woods.

He wishes he hadn't. He knows they are coming for him. They won't leave him alive.

After all, no one leaves the Lin Kuei and lives to tell the tale.

Getting into spooky season early and having fun before I play MK1. Enjoy yo.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat fic #kuai liang #johnny cage #sonya blade #jax briggs #kenshi takahashi #liu kang #kung lao #kitana #bi-han #mk smoke #mk cyrax #sektor #read my fic plz and enjoy #I havent written anything in such a long time #it is good to get back into it

9 notes · View notes

summerwritesfics · 3 months

Text

Thank you everyone who entered the giveaway! You can watch the wheel spin here if you are interested, otherwise let’s announce the winners

Winners!

4000+ fic - @hellsbellssinclub

2000+ fics - @cryomancer-linkuai & @laismoura-art

1000+ fics - @scorpionsmyb & @avi17

Congrats to all 5 winners, I will be contacting you shortly to discuss your prize :)

Once again, if you didn’t win this time don’t worry, there will be more chances! I do really enjoy doing these giveaways so >:) Hope to see you all next time 💕

#🌸giveaways🌸

5 notes · View notes

fireflyfish · 7 years

Note

Quiobi, no.1 with Qui-Gon as a Sith and Obi-Wan as a Jedi?

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s world is black and white.

There is good and there is evil.

He is a Jedi and therefore he is good.

Raised as the last Padawan Learner to the venerable Grand Master of the Order, Obi-Wan has strived all his life to be the perfect Jedi, the epitome of the light. He has ruthlessly chased out fear and anger from his heart, has excised all that would tempt him down a darker path shaded in charcoal, ebony, and onyx. He knows the shades of ivory that mark the path of the truly righteous like the back of his hand.

He is an example to the Order, to those initiates who feel they will never be chosen, encouragement to those Knights who fear that perfection is out of their grasp, and a subtle reminder to masters to think twice about their preconceived notions.

If Obi-Wan Kenobi can become a paragon of light, the finest of his generation, Master Yoda’s true heir, then anything is possible.

Through the light all things are possible.

Except… that is all Obi-Wan can see.

There is no color in his world, no vibrant blues, no ruddy crimson or a delicate yellow. The world around him is as black and white as the lessons handed down to him from a grandmaster who has evolved beyond caring about the color of a flower or the particular shade of the sunset.

After 800 years of shades of grey, Yoda needs no gaudy, saturated rainbow to tell him that sunlight dappled through the leaves of a sweet oak in the Room of a Thousand Fountains is beautiful. He simply accepts the world that he sees as it is. He does not need color nor does he want it.

“A Jedi craves not these things, Obi-Wan,” Yoda tells him and Obi-Wan does his best to listen to his master’s wisdom, to tell himself that there is beauty in the shift from radiant white to ecru to charcoal and the inky wash of night time.

It works for the most part.

There are stories on the holonet, simple minded vapid tales of nonsense about soulmates and the gift of colors and Obi-Wan would pay them no mind if his friends didn't find them so hilarious. Luminara giggles at the florid language, while Quinlan cackles and makes bad jokes about rutting.

Even Padme, a younger Padawan Obi-Wan mentored in his final years as a Senior Padawan, enjoys watching them, her eyes lighting up as the soulmates, now united, take their first view of the world around them. They are exported to another plane and the show inevitably ends on a long and lingering kiss.

Obi-Wan thinks that's all a bunch of nonsense and would tell his friends so if he didn't know it would hurt their feelings.

“There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel loved,” Quinlan explains to Obi-Wan one night on a mission assigned to the two of them. “I know that old troll has your brains scrambled so that all you can do is eat, sleep and breathe the Code but I think he's wrong. We all want to feel loved, to feel like we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves.”

“What is bigger than the Order?” Obi-Wan asks gazing up at the distant stars, sparkling bits of light in the depth of a black void. “What is bigger than the Force?”

Quinlan shrugs. “I don't know. Love? Maybe that's all the Force is. Love. And when you meet the right person it can help you experience the Force in a whole new way.”

“I do not need a romantic partner to be complete, Quinlan,” Obi-Wan sniffs and Quinlan lets the subject drop and when Quinlan’s world explodes in color six months later, he does not mention it to Obi-Wan. But he does mourn the fact that his friend will never know that his eyes are blue, with hints of grey, that his hair has strands of copper mixed with honeyed wheat.

Time passes and the light becomes harder to find and Obi-Wan tries to shine brighter, to be better, to hold up a candle against the encroaching darkness. There is more now than ever before. Ink washes of ash and soot where there should only be pure, pristine white. The fog of war rises with rumors of darksiders, of actual Sith, drifting through the gauzy, hazy peace of the Jedi Temple.

Obi-Wan has never met them but his world is black and white, good and evil.

They are Sith and so they are evil.

The first hints are missions that go awry, ones where knights don’t come back, or come back grievously injured, their blood staining dove-grey robes black. There are reports of beings dressed in black with gleaming, horrible stars for eyes. Two of them, they say, a master and an apprentice.

The galaxy teeters on the edge of something, struggling to stay upright, to stay in the light, to resist the pull of the dark.

And then something snaps: an assassination attempt, an illegal seizure of territory, a starship blown up in “neutral” territory. It doesn’t matter what the exact act is.

It never does.

War sweeps through the galaxy and the Jedi are called to defend civilization, to defend democracy and to defend the light, and Obi-Wan Kenobi is on the front line.

His men tell him their color is yellow, like a life-giving sun. The other brigades and legions are a rainbow of colors that are lost on him.

What do the colors matter if those brave souls all end up the same, dead on the battlefield?

It doesn’t matter that fire is red-gold and white hot or that Padme’s 501st is painted blue like the Naboo sky at high noon.

What does any of it matter when there are Sith out there and the darkness is growing stronger?

And then one day, Padme finds Obi-Wan meditating in his room, and she is crying.

“I saw him! I saw him on the field!” she sobs into Obi-Wan, into the safe haven of her brother Jedi’s arms. “I saw him and… and… his eyes… I couldn’t look away.”

Obi-Wan nods, quiet, caring and listening. He has heard the Sith have arresting eyes, that it is like looking into the heart of a dying star. He has heard they are conventionally attractive but he has yet to meet either Master or Apprentice.

“Which one? The older or the younger?” he asks, his voice soft in the pale grey of the early morning light. Padme hurried to him as soon as her ship docked back in the orbital shipyards.

She manages to stammer out that she saw the younger, that he was tall and wild and that he looked straight at her.

“And… Obi-Wan, I… I… Oh I don’t know how to say it!” Padme curses, tears spilling anew. “His eyes! I saw them! And they… they… they were gold.”

For a moment, Obi-Wan is struck dumb, his mouth works but his mind reels, trying to make sense of this, trying to fit this very dark shade of grey into his black-and-white world.

Padme is good. Padme is a Jedi.

Padme is made of pure light.

She would never have a Sith for a soulmate.

And yet, she does.

“His hair is brown and their robes are black, like soot or scoring, and his blade is red and I know what red is and I don’t know what to do!” Padme sobs and Obi-Wan holds her in place, promises her it will all be alright and that they will find a way through this. He is her elder brother, her friend and confidant. He won’t tell a soul.

Who would believe him?

But as worried as he is for Padme, there is a part of him that is jealous, that silently burns with spite. She now knows that her eyes are brown, her lips are pink and her robe is the soft fawn of spring trees. Padme knows that there is another out there, one whose existence gives her life meaning and fills up an empty hole within her.

She finds out later that his name is Vader, well, Anakin and he loves her, has become obsessed with her. Padme loves him too, is just as obsessed, and they chase each other across the galaxy, fighting to win, to capture and to tame the other.

But the hole in Obi-Wan stays empty and his world stays black and white.

“Proud of you, am I,” Yoda confesses to Obi-Wan, late one night. “Difficult this war is, but shine like a beacon you do. The best of us, you have become, my Padawan.”

“Thank you, Master,” Obi-Wan replies but the words feel like ash in his mouth.

The world grows darker with each engagement, with battles lost and won. Padme vows that next time she will catch Vader and bring him to justice and Vader gives him messages for Padme that next time he won’t let her go.

Obi-Wan wonders if the two are incapable of working a comm but he dutifully delivers the messages.

He tells himself he is not jealous, that he is not lonely.

He is a Jedi and he is good.

He is wreathed in light.

Then comes Geonosis and battle to destroy the droid-making abilities of the Geonosians. Obi-Wan leads his 212th attack battalion from the ground, supported by the 501st and others. They make their way through seemingly endless waves of droids to come upon the target, a tall, organic spire carved from sandstone by the insect creatures. It is a hive and a bunker.

And they will hit it with everything they’ve got.

Obi-Wan leads a company in with him, Luminara leads the artillery bombardment from behind and Padme and her squads try to out-fly Vader in the sky. It is a dangerous battle, pitched between the light and the dark.

Obi-Wan can feel the galaxy hold its breath.

And then he sees him, the Master, the tall imposing figure he has somehow not seen until this day.

At first Obi-Wan thinks there’s something wrong with his eyes because the man cutting through Master Mundi’s troops is not dark so much as his aura is tinged with red. Obi-Wan shakes his head and scrubs at his eyes, assuming that his mind is playing tricks on him, that he cannot possibly be seeing red.

He doesn’t know what red is.

But the Sith moves with surprising speed and grace through the battle, mowing down clones and droids alike as they get in his path. His skin is flushed and his hair is warmer than grey but not black, what Obi-Wan suddenly realizes is brown.

And his eyes.

His eyes are gold rimmed in red.

Obi-Wan’s mind whirls as the world around him explodes in color, as blue practically assaults his senses from above and the sudden onslaught of yellow demands to be noticed, to be seen. The sandstone hive-bunker is a rusty, ruddy umber and the blade of his saber is azure.

And the Sith’s eyes are golden and his hair is brown with streaks of grey and he is looking straight at Obi-Wan.

There are only a few meters between them and in the chaos of battle, no one stops the Sith who storms over to Obi-Wan, his predator eyes narrowed and the line of his jaw hard in spite of the beard that fails to soften it.

“And who are you, Jedi?” the taller man asks, looking over Obi-Wan’s face as if looking for a key to unlock the mystery that has just been presented to him. “I’ve not seen you before.”

And to his credit, Obi-Wan attacks because he is a Jedi and he is good.

But his soulmate is a Sith.

One day Obi-Wan will learn his true name, whisper it in a moment of abandon and passion when he cannot fight it any longer, when their colors are too much, too much gold and blue, the red of soft lips and warmth of an indigo-edged night.

His name is Qui-Gon Jinn, and now Obi-Wan Kenobi’s world is full of color.

#Obi-Wan Kenobi #Qui-Gon Jinn #Quibi #fic prompt #Fishy Writing #Someone you don't want to mess with #The Most Problematic Glacier in the Galaxy #Ta da! I have written a thing!#A Quibi thing no less #please enjoy!#Anidala #hellsbellssinclub

103 notes · View notes