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fallinfl0wers · 3 years

Text

love stories with some genshin boys i thought of while listening to my playlists

includes: aether (210 words), xiao (261 words), scaramouche (277 words) and albedo (307)

warnings (?): spoilers of ‘we will be reunited’, english is not my native language and uhh idk what else, idk really know what these are, headcanons ?? snippets ?? also not beta read and not edited.

it’s long so uhhh i’ll add a cut somewhere

anyway enjoy!! ...whatever this is i guess

Aether

Falling in love with Aether is like a fun adventure. He, being always the center of attention and the protagonist no matter where he goes, is a free spirited, kind and hardworking man.

Throughout your time travelling and being in a relationship together, you’ll find that your relationship with the Honorary Knight is one of sweet kisses under the sunlight; innocent handholding while thinking up of what to make for dinner tonight; of easily talked out arguments and finding ways to compromise; of softly pushing each other to become a better version of themselves and, most of all, of supporting and having each other’s backs no matter what.

And when Aether confronts the Abyss Princess face to face for the first time and his world comes crashing down on him, this trait of your relationship shines like no other, as you hold him in your arms after everything was over during the night, Paimon sleeping soundly next to the both of you inside your improvised campsite.

“Even though I’m not sure what -or who- I should believe anymore, I... I know I want to see this journey to the end, and I want you to be there with me for it. Let’s be together until the last moment and beyond.”

Songs:

Snow Fairy - Funkist

Snowing, be honest with yourself and smile When two people are getting closer, time overlaps Fairy, where are you going I will gather all the light and shine it on your tomorrow

Still Lonely - SEVENTEEN

This cursed popularity. Why won’t it leave me? But why am I getting lonelier The early morning chill makes me feel Even lonelier today I feel completely empty, as if I’m empty

Kanpeki Gu~ no ne - Watarirouka Hashiritai

I'm at a loss for words, with this and that, I'm totally in love with you Someday, I want do the same to you: Watch you flounder, At a loss for words right back to me!

Side by Side - The8 from SEVENTEEN

I want to hold hands with you but I don't know what to do what to do oh baby I want to give all my heart to you but You still don't know what's in my heart

Hope - Namie Amuro

At the end of this blue, wide world there's a place I want to aim at with you We chose this long ago for eternity

Xiao

Falling in love with Xiao is like living a bittersweet dream. The Vigilant Yaksha is far from human, or so he says, and thus is out of touch with the way we mortals experience feelings, both the negative and positive ones.

Your relationship with him is one of compassion, mutual understanding, appreciation and patience. So, so much patience. Of intertwined pinkies and soft stolen glances, of shy smiles and comfortable silence sometimes filled with your voice chatting time away and his short responses to your talks.

I mentioned patience. He knows you’re making an enormous effort to try and understand him and be patient with him and his slow learning process of how relationships work, so it’s only fair that he makes a true effort to understand you and your feelings.

Xiao is well aware that he could hurt you without wanting to, be it with his blunt phrasing of his thoughts or his Karmic Debt, as much as he is aware that you will eventually pass away and leave him behind to go somewhere he can’t follow, and that undeniable truth haunts him every second of every day he gets to spend with you. And still, he wishes and wants and does cherish each and every warm, kind feeling he gets every single second you’re together nonetheless.

“I might not know what to make of these new feelings you gave me. But I’ll learn. I promise I’ll learn, so please... don’t go, not yet. Let me treasure you and carve you into my memory for as long as I can.”

Songs:

Euphoria - BTS

I don't know what this emotion is Perhaps this is also the inside of a dream A dream is the blue mirage of the desert Deep inside of me, a priori I become happy to the point of being unable to breathe The surroundings, bit by bit, become clearer

Fallin’ Flower - SEVENTEEN

While flower blooms and falls, scars cure and buds shoot We are living our first and last moment So I won’t take you for granted Because you loved me as I am

Fear - SEVENTEEN

Get out my mind I can't handle it, I'm afraid of myself The truth has me tied up My heart is tainted I'm afraid it'll eventually change you too

The Truth Untold - BTS, Steve Aoki

It’s my fate Don’t smile to me Light on me Because I can’t get closer to you There’s no name you can call me

You know that I can’t Show you me Give you me I can’t show you a ruined part of myself Once again I put a mask on and go to see you But I still want you

Tiny Light - Akari Kitō

Because you colored my unchanging monochromatic days Even the blurred darkness gained meaning

Still, hidden in this heart, these feelings of preciousness so strong that they hurt I just want to convey these feelings to only you before they disappear someday

Scaramouche

Falling in love with Scaramouche is like constantly playing a game. He’s strict, demanding, disagreeable, and widely disliked by enemies and allies alike. Still, he has a heart too; and he holds desires and hopes deep inside of it, although most of them are fueled by the unchanging curiosity he has towards the world around him, curiosity to know what he can get out of whatever the world wants to throw at him.

You were no exception to that rule, at first.

When he met you he wanted to get something from you. And you knew it from the start, just as he knew that you knew. And that didn’t change anything, at first.

Your relationship with him is one of dangerously playful, yet still light-hearted games of seduction, teasing and deceit; of secret kisses exchanged in expensive private rooms in restaurants or the cozy warmth of your home, of an unspoken shared respect and, most of all, complete, mutual devotion.

You know Scaramouche is not a good man. He has done many, many unspeakable things in his life as one of the Eleven, and he knows he’s far from being the perfect charming prince you could aim for, but he will never let you go. Because behind those hardened walls of egocentrism and pride, you saw what no one else bothered to see. You saw him, not the role he was playing, you saw him and fell in love with him.

“To be honest, I don’t think I could find anyone else who understands me as much as you do. And no, I’m not saying this because I want something, give me some more credit, geez...”

Songs:

soldier game - µ’s

You'll come with me, yes? You've grown curious about my touch, yes? Then it's already love Since you're someone I must meet in battle someday, That might just be your reason It's soldier game Though we've met again, I'm soldier heart

Kowareyasuki - Guilty Kiss

Just stop it already and show your heart only to me I love your eyes that are about to cry And your defenseless, clumsy way of living too (...) The hesitation you convey makes my chest hurt Some people just don't know what such kindness is But then I discover the truth When we got together, you don't have to endure anymore Right now, show your grief only to me I like that you think too much The complete opposite of me

Shhh - SEVENTEEN

Don't think of all these as your mere illusion They're not lies that follow the moment No one can underestimate it, my feelings are an ignition 'Cause I'm always the same Me and you, we got hurt by the lies that we won't ever work But it's fate

(...)

So I can cover you from danger A consented dedication

(...)

It's as natural as breathing An everlasting dedication

Good to me - SEVENTEEN

Yeah, when you were making that sign in my heart It was a long time since my firewall broke down Pass with the password What in the world do you know about me? Are my deep feelings seen by you?

Hiraishin - Keyakizaka46

(To trust is to be betrayed, to open one’s heart is to get hurt So to avoid being struck by lightning-like sorrow…)

Which side am I picking? Ah, these values are hard to handle That’s why I won’t stop watching over you Positive positive positive You should just be yourself… I can forgive whatever absurdities you pull off I’ll support you without being noticed Even when you get nitpicked I’ll be your companion Let us now promise to live an unremarkable life hereafter What we have here is the lightning rod of love

Albedo

Falling in love with Albedo is a fairy tale-like experience for both of you. His attention had always been focused on his research, everything else fading into the background save for a few exceptions, until you came around. You, who stole all his attention by just existing.

As an alchemist, he’s naturally the curious type. He wanted to know what about it had caught his attention, what was so special about you that had him clinging to your every word and movement every time you interacted with him. Still, human relationships are hard for him, and he figured you might go away the second he started to feel burnt out from your interactions. But you didn’t. Instead, you stayed. You stayed and took interest on what he did, asked questions, gave your insight, and dragged him to sleep when he needed a break. In exchange, he did the same for you.

Your relationship with Albedo is like one of those awkwardly sweet first time crushes. Of carefully calculated movements, dates and compliments, of soft kisses on lips, hands and cheeks, of mutual support, understanding and mature compromising and commitment.

The Kreideprinz, like everyone else, has his own fears and insecurities, especially regarding his... nature, but he does his best not to let them affect the relationship he has with you. Each moment spent by your side, even when he’s not actively doing any research, is considered perfectly spent, meaningful time.

“A long time ago, I was tasked with finding out the meaning of this world. Though I have directed my efforts and resources to looking for the answer through alchemy, ever since we met I... think, I’ve found an unexpected conclusion to said issue. While it’s likely that this is not the answer expected from me, I’m positive that, at least personally, I finally have the answer.”

Songs:

Futari Saison - Keyakizaka46

In the wind blowing through the city’s streets, even though I caught whiff of something’s scent, I had no interest in looking back

In a 1m radius around me, I formed an invisible barrier to another world And yet, you took someone like me out of it

What made you do that?

Home - SEVENTEEN

What can I do? Without you I’m just an old robot, my heart stops and it’s always cold What can we do? Without me You’ll struggle just as much, so what can we do?

Baby, I want to cherish our warmth So no one can come between us

Flower - SEVENTEEN

You taught me, you showed me You’re my only reason If you can forever remember me I can get hurt, I can get hurt

My heart that’s engraved with your light Makes me stronger Give me your sharp thorns Cause you’re my flower

Oh my! - SEVENTEEN

Sorry for repeating the same thing But this is all I can try using hard words But my true feeling is this, every everything

(...)

How about you? Is it hard for you to sleep because of me too? If you keep making my heart flutter What do I do?

Naze koi wo shite konakattan darou? - Sakurazaka46

Why hadn't I fallen in love? I've been making fun of it all this time I mean everyone keeps saying 'I love you' just like cats in heat But after falling in love I realized what people live for To meet, to love, to the point of nothing but... I'm not myself, I want to find my true self.

#xiao x reader #aether x reader #scaramouche x reader #albedo x reader #genshin x reader #genshin x y/n #genshin impact headcanon #genshin imagines #genshin impact imagines #first post yay #why is albedo's so long tho he's not even my favorite out of them lol #melodywritings #fluff #genshin impact x reader #melwritesgenshin

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mochikeiji · 4 years

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My Darling // Mafia!Sugawara x Reader

Genre: Blood warning, angst

Pairing: Sugawara Koushi x Reader

Inspiration: Heathers “ψ(｀∇´)ψ

Relationships aren't called that way if love isn't present. You can't agree that both of you are boyfriend or girlfriend; husband or wife if you both didn't love or learn to love eachother. Like with Sugawara. You didn't really have any connections with him when you first met him during your first year in highschool. You've only been good companions like Daichi and Asahi were. But nothing special. You were sad to see that his eyes were on the new girl who joined in the crew, Shimizu Kiyoko was it? A little relief that she didn't have any little interest on him when you asked her one time. She even encouraged you to confess to him. You didn't want to rush things, and wanted to know Sugawara more so you waited until the two of you were third years. Pretty stupid to be confessing with your crush when graduation is nearing. You'll be in separate schools in a blink of an eye.

By sheer luck, out of the two years you've spent together, Sugawara had also began to develop feelings for you. Dream come true for everyone who has a crush on someone, am I right? It was a good call for you to wait, and know him more than rush into things without even knowing one bit of eachother. You and him had a lot in common coincidentally, which results to the two of you frequently talking or spending time with eachother in the school campus or after and during his practices. It was wonderful to be in a relationship you've been preparing for, and with the same person you've loved since day one.

If only you had known he wasn't all that sweet, and the man he was now? You would've had time to run away from hell.

"Koushi—"

The splatter of blood was everywhere on the floor. Some got onto your shoe, as you watched in horror the way your lover mercilessly tortures him with cutting his skin deep, but not enough to kill.

"I've always hated men who never keeps the end of their bargain." You covered your ears, another swift sound of the knife swishing in the air before hitting the victims stomach, "Luckily I happen to know how to deal with them. Given the experience I've had for so long, don't you think buddy?" screaming as more blood came out, you could only look away from the traumatizing scene as one of the most fearsome Mafia— your Koushi, ruin him. There were other two men left tied down, for hours they have been begging you to let them go, seeing as you were in your civilian clothes. How did you get here you say? You fell for your husband's traps. He had said he wanted to try something with you somewhere out of the city. You being oblivious thought it was one of his excuses to play volleyball with Daichi and Asahi. It turns out, he was letting you witness the lives everyone you have been closed with since highschool has hidden from you.

"Hey! Come on, lady. Let us out!"

"We'll get you to safety, we promise!"

They were on your side, unable to watch as their leader slowly gets murdered. You didn't know who was the bad guys. Debating whether to follow suit, or remain silence for your own safety. Even still if you tried, you wouldn't be able to move from your body being glued by fear. You were glad Sugawara was in a good distance away from the conversation, you fear for the lives of these men beside you. Imagining a worse case scenario for them if they were ever caught making a deal with his darling.

By now the leader Sugawara has been tormenting was long gone. Your eyes didn't dare look at him, and his sins, crying silently at what had went wrong from the beginning. Before having a chance to turn around, the of the remaining suspects had snuck their way out from their binds, only to be caught by the loud creaking of the warehouse doors. You paled when Sugawara stood by you, with a sadistic smirk plastered on his innocent features.

"It's a good thing I drugged their legs. Look at them, they can't even run far ahead."

The two figures were still on your eyes range. It was true that their movements have been slowed down. Wincing inside, it must've been painful for them at the moment.

"Here, darling. Let's begin our little fun."

You gasped loudly on what he had placed on your hands as you shakily stood up. A gun. His mouth curls down a bit, even in business he doesn't like the sight of you with a frown. It always makes him think you were sad. And he doesn't like it when his darling was sad. That's the only part that was genuine of his.

"Darling, I promise you. They're bad people. They've killed, raped, snuck drugs all of the country."

"W-why do I have to shoot them?"

You wanted to also ask why they deserved this. Why couldn't they be behind bars instead of taking their lives from here and then. But you know arguing with that at the middle of his business may put you at risk.

"I've been in business with the boys since highschool. Secretly, we've been all training, you know, for our protection."

So everyone in Karasuno you've known, even Kiyoko, Yachi. All of them were in some secret organization you never knew.

"And since you, my darling, have been with me for many years. It's time you learn how to deal with people like them for your own good."

He lets you grip on the gun, supporting your hand with his, letting his fingers place yours on the trigger. Putting it in position on one of the tallest men from the distance.

"You'll thank me for teaching you how to deal with monsters, darling."

Blocked by the memories that were all just an illusion. Something inside you clicked along with the trigger around your fingers. Two times. Your eyes widened as you dropped the gun. The man you had just shot two times falling on the ground, you hear his companion scream, "YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" as his drug wears off, and sprints faster.

"Ah, I hate a goose chase. Stay here, I'll go get him."

As Sugawara runs off deep in the woods, you walked towards the man you had shot. Kneeling beside him, trying to wake him up by gently shaking him.

"S-sir? Please wake up."

No, no. This can't be happening. You had not just killed a might've been "innocent" person. "Please, sir. Get up, please—" stopping, you had felt your hand touch warm substance from his stomach. Blood. Falling from your bottom, slowly raising you hands on your eye level, you chocked a sob. You did this. You've tainted yourself with another person's blood. Hyperventilating, you tried rubbing the blood on the clean sides of the victims black shirt. Shit, shit. The palms of yours was still stained. Your sweat was becoming colder, you were scared.

The Sugawara you once knew. The one who was always a blushing mess around girls. The one who cheered loudly during a volleyball match. The one who wore a smile, and said sweet nothing's and motivational words to you and many people. The one you loved.

He wasn't the person you were with now.

Or, was it all this time?

You heard a louder fire of a bullet in front of you. He had killed the last one remaining. Your brain told you to run, run and report what you had just witnessed. Run to safety. Run away from this hell.

But your instincts told you to stay. Your delusional instincts telling you to wait for the man you, "loved" and live a life that will never be the same as before.

Choking a sob, you let your head fall down to your lap. You didn't want to touch any part of your body with those hands. You could never look at yourself the same way as Sugawara does. You weren't lovely. You weren't a darling.

You had become of him.

A monster.

"Shhh, it's over." warm hands rubbing you back with soft circles, embracing you in a supposedly loving, and safe embrace of the arms of your protector. "You did so good, darling." giving you a small praise, he kisses your forehead affectionately, drawing in his body closer so that he was holding you— so that you wouldn't run and escape him.

"I love you, (Y/n)."

Gritting your teeth as you buried your face on his shoulder blades. He could only smile at your gesture, thinking your arms were moving up to embrace him back.

*bang*

His smile trickled blood from the corner of his lips.

The gun you had earlier was hidden im your jacket this whole time.

By your own quick thinking, you had no choice.

It was to protect yourself from a monster, right?

The gun fell down. Your arms quickly squeezing Sugawara, hugging him back as you sobbed uncontrollably. He was still shock— betrayed. But he finds himself smiling softly when you utter out his favorite words.

He accepted his fate. He had know he'll reach his time. Just didn't expect he'd die in the arms of his darling so soon.

The box that held a ring will forever remain unknown in his pocket.

All the memories you had with him. You didn't care if it was all lies or the truth. You still loved him. Your Koushi.

"I love you, Koushi. Sleep well..."

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thebladeblaster · 3 years

Text

Rebirth of A Samurai (Part 3)

Summary: This fic is a what if scenario to SMT4 Apocalypse. I would go into more detail, but I don’t want to spoil too much of what this fic entails. If this fic gains traction I may continue the story on from this one-shot. Warning: This is a long one.

This may be the last I write for awhile with college right around the corner. I won’t stop completely, but it will become a lot slower.

“Shhh...don’t say that Flynn is supposed to be having a nice dream.”, Flynn’s mother said.

“Who the fuck are you? Your not my mother she might have been controlling and overbearing, but she had a good heart. She was never a colossal bitch even to Issachar.”, Walter questioned.

“Your mother? Are you Flynn’s…? No he’s not he’s...we’re...I-I’m not Issachar!”, Issachar said.

“What are you saying of course your Issachar!”, Not-Flynn’s mother said.

“No, I’m not Issachar! And their not Jonathan, Walter, and Isabeau! We’re the fifth son, Flynn Alexander!”, Not-Issachar rebuked.

The prentices eyes widened.

“I’m not…? I’m not Jonathan?”, not-Jonathan questioned.

“Think! Do you know your parents' names? What’s the first thing that springs to your mind? How about where you live?”, not-Issachar questioned.

“I-I...Why am I imagining…? Wait, I don’t know where Jonathan lives. I've never been there. Not even before or after he became Merkabah I just never had time to.”, not-Jonathan said.

“Merkabah? Why does that…? That’s right Jonathan became Merkabah and Walter became Lucifer! I fought them!”, not-Isabeau said as her eyes widened.

“Hoy?! What are you guys...Wait I fought Merkabah too but I didn’t fight Lucifer I helped him!”, not-Walter said.

“That’s right, we're the fifth son. You who looks like Jonathan you chose preservation. You who looks like Walter you chose upheaval. You who looks like Isabeau you chose neutrality. And I who looks like Issachar...I chose to unmake the world. I chose nihilism.”, not-Issachar revealed, after he did there was an audible crack in seemingly reality.

“Hoy, that means there’s a version of me that chose law? Ah gross…”, Not-Walter said.

“The feeling is mutual.”, Not-Jonathan said with disgust in his eyes looking at not-Walter.

“No wonder I thought you guys really were Jonathan and Walter. You sure butt heads like they eventually did.”, Not-Isabeau responded with a light chuckle.

Not-Flynn’s mom’s eyes were shadowed as the world around them went silent. Everyone around them froze in place before turning on them.

“You shouldn’t be here, interlopers.”, Not-Flynn’s mom said.

“I know we shouldn’t normally. Our memories of the previous cycle’s are usually mostly dormant in our subconscious, but you’re tampering with the current Flynn’s mind has called us here, Krishina!”, Not-Issachar explained.

A demonic smile identical to the one on Flynn’s face when he was possessed appeared on not-Flynn’s mom’s face. He dropped the disguise revealing himself as Krishina.

“Get away from us! I mean Flynn! I mean stop!”, Not-Issachar said as he pulled a samurai said as he pulled out a samurai sword from thin air and the others drew theirs.

Flynn's past lives memories were normally kept in his subconscious to prevent them from driving him insane. They are basically the embodiment of his memories of those past lives. He remembers they awakened when Krishna started messing with the current Flynn’s mind. They were awakened to stop him from turning him into a mindless puppet. However, when then entered the illusion their minds were tampered with like the current Flynn’s made to believe they were other people so Flynn didn’t instantly realize something was wrong. He could tell by looking in Flynn’s eyes those times. He was slowly losing his own will. He could feel he was dangerously close to losing what’s left of it. That’s why Krishna had so much power in his mind now. He created this illusion after his fellow Divine Powers tortured him for days to break him.

“My kalki is almost ready for our fight with YHVH and I’m afraid I don’t have much time for you since I’m dealing with another interloper right now. Let’s see if you can defeat your own mind. Well I won’t but...well see you later kalkis.”, Krishna said before disappearing.

“Pfft! Is this the best you can do Krishna? You should know better than to underestimate the king of Tokyo! I can beat this entire village alone!”, Not-Walter boasted.

As if Krishna heard him, demons, angels , gods, and even humans appeared from all around them. Every single person or creature they had ever fought throughout the cycles was here, even the likes of Lucifer, Merkabah, Ancient of Days, Sanat, and Masakado.

“You just had to say that didn’t you?”, Not-Jonathan questioned, with a priceless look on his face.

“Aww man...this is gonna be awesome!”, Not-Walter said.

Not-Jonathan’s eyebrow twitched incredulously.

“How in YHVH’s name did I become you?”, Not-Jonathan questioned in complete disgust.

“You probably got sick of that pole up your ass and decided to actually live a little in your next life.”, Not-Walter replied.

“Simmer down guys, we gotta work together for now. Even if it’s just a temporary truce.”, Not-Isabeau said getting between the two.

“For now, after all it would be a tragedy if I was forced to fight my lord.”, Not-Jonathan replied.

“Your lord is the reason we’re in this freaky time loop. But, I guess I’ll tolerate your high strungness for a bit longer. I’d hate to lose my free will.”, Not-Walter replied.

“Just uh wow…”, Not-Issachar said, amazed to see how extreme some of his other selves were.

“I guess this is what we would have been like had we fallen into ‘monolithic extremes’ as Isabeau called it. But, now is not the time for that, the people need us.”, Not-Isabeau said.

“Uh yeah…!”, Not-Issachar replied, feeling awkward since he chose nihilism.

Even now not-Issachar regretted his cowardice in choosing that choice. Unlike the other Flynn’s he did fervently believe in the path he chose.

They called upon their own demons from their respective cycles. Not-Walter rushed into a horde of demons with reckless abandon, slicing them into bits. Not-Jonathan swiftly beheaded Hope without any emotion. He then stayed back observing their enemies and exploiting their weaknesses. Not-Isabeau used Antichthon which was effective against basically everything, vaporizing low to mid and even some lower high tier demons instantly. For those it didn’t it lowered their overall performance crippling their offense and defense. Not-Issachar rushed to Flynn now that Krishna was nowhere in sight. However as he did he was stopped by his dad.

Not-Issachar froze facing his father still remembering finding his mangled form on that fateful day.

“Sorry dad.”, Not-Issachar apologized, before instantly vaporizing him with Antichthon.

He looked all over for Flynn before finding him unconscious. He ran over to him, shaking him awake. Not-Issachar looked relieved as he started to stir.

“Issachar?”, Flynn questioned sleepily.

That relief faded when he felt a sword get thrust through his chest. He knew that was a bit too easy. What he did expect was for him to transform into a giant fiery snake.

“I-I don’t remember that happening?! It must have been Krishna. You're a decoy.”, Not-Issachar said.

“I am Shesha. I fooled you like I fooled your little dim witted Tokyo.”, Not-Flynn said.

“You did what…”, Shesha nearly flinched when he heard the low angered tone of Not-Isabeau.

He could practically feel the anger radiating off her umm...him? Well he was Isabeau right now kinda. Anyway, Not-Isabeau practically launched herself at Shesha. They flew through the building creating a massive hole in the house.

“Then where’s Flynn?”, Not-Issachar questioned.

He looked around the remains of the house and ran through the battlefield making sure to punch Tayama when he saw him. Throughout the carnage he noticed a calm spot like the eye of a storm. That was it he rush through to see an unconscious Flynn guarded by Odin, Maitreya, and Great Innana. They haven’t personally fought them like Shesha so this was more of Krishna’s manipulation. His demons came to his side Quetzalcoatl, Tiamat, and Orochi. He was having a tougher time than the others due to having weaker demons since his cycle ended prematurely. He was able to defeat Innanna and greatly wound Matrieya, but he was tiring and Odin killed off his demons.

“Heh, despite not being the first, you're definitely the weakest incarnation of our godslayer.”, Odin taunted as he prepared to finish him off.

He closed his eyes as Odin thrust his spear forward and a loud crackle of lightning rippled through the air.

“Odin! You bastard, you embarrassed my current self by knocking him out and kidnapping him! I’m going to tear your head off like I did to the Odin of my cycle!”, Not-Walter yelled as he jumped out from a horde of dead demons and launched himself at Odin like a madman.

Odin was too low to turn his attention to not-Walter as he was nailed in the gut by Deadly Wind. He gasped in pain, flinching and dropping his spear as not-Walter smiled devilishly. Matrieya tried to attack but not-Walter grabbed his face and vaporized him with Antichthon.

“Hoy, get up Flynn!”, Not-Walter said as he kicked the unconscious Flynn much to not-Issachar’s horror.

He cringed as he heard Flynn wince.

“Argh!!! Walter stop! Wait Walter? How do I know your name?”, Flynn questioned.

“Because none of this is real and you’ve gotta get your ass up and kick the shit out of that fedora wearing god!”, Not-Walter explained poorly.

“I-I what?!”, Flynn questioned, reasonably confused.

Not-Issachar tried to explain the situation to Flynn properly, leaving out anything about his past lives letting him believe they were just versions of his friends created by his mind. Reasonably Flynn looked shocked and skeptical, but he also saw Kiccigiori was now a massive battleground full of demons, angels, gods, and humans.

“T-there’s no way it c-can’t…”, Flynn mumbled, tears forming in his eyes looking around at the battle.

“Tough shit! That’s the truth Flynn! Our family is dead, Issachar’s dead, Jonathan’s dead, Walter’s dead and now Isabeau!”, Not-Walter said harshly.

Flynn stepped back looking incredibly shaken to his core.

“Have some tact!”, Not-Issachar yelled at not-Walter.

“We don’t have time for tact! He has to man up and wake the fuck up now or we’re done for good!”, Not-Walter yelled back angrily.

Flynn’s head hung low, covered by his bangs. Not-Issachar put a reassuring hand on Flynn’s shoulder.

“It may seem all dark now, but don’t give into despair like I did.”, Not-Issachar told him.

“You can’t go Flynn! You have to stay here with us! That’s what you want right Flynn? That’s what you always wanted! You never wanted to make the tough decisions! You just wanted to be a follower!”, another Not-Flynn’s mom said with another fake version of his dad by her side.

Tears fell from Flynn's face as he met his fake mom’s gaze. She opened up her arms to welcome him. Flynn shook, walking over to their side.

“You can’t be serious! You're even weaker than that quitter over there!”, Not-Walter roared in rage.

“I’m sorry…”, Flynn apologized quietly.

“Flynn…”, Not-Issachar murmured, sinking his head in defeat.

“...Mom...Dad...But there's nothing left for me here. You guys are dead, so is Issachar, and the village is in tatters. I let myself fall victim to this illusion because I wanted it to be real. I wanted your deaths to all be a horrible nightmare, but it’s not. It’s real and because I bought into this illusion more people...people I was supposed to protect are dead. I have to go back.”, Flynn said, with a steely resolve turning from his fake parents.

“No! Don’t abandon us again! I didn’t raise you to be heartless man who would walk out on his own family!”, his fake father yelled.

“Kiss our ass Krishna!”, Not-Walter yelled back smugly, flaunting Odin’s decapitated head as a trophy as Flynn walked towards them slowly picking up speed.

His clothes started to flicker out from his peasant garb to his samurai garb. Suddenly everything went white.

“Haha! He has spoken! You have now regained your right to create a world messiah Flynn! Let’s see if you fight to keep that right!”, the voice from his dream at the beginning of his adventure said.

When he reopened his eyes he saw a familiar teen with a half shaved head of brown hair and eerie glowing green eyes. He wore a green jumpsuit and had glowing green celtic tattoos, Nanashi. By his side were his own demons Anubis, Shiva, and his own Odin. It seemed he was in the middle of battle with him. He felt the weight of a pink lotus in his hands making him realize he was transformed like before. He was doubled over as Nanashi prepared to strike him down.

“Isabeau...what happened to Isabeau?”, he asked.

“Huh? Why are you asking, didn't I tell you, Krishna?”, Nanashi asked.

Vishnu-Flynn’s eyes were shadowed as he asked and Dadga’s eyes widened in realization.

“Wait there kid!”, Dadga tried to warn in his odd accent.

“I killed her like I did to the others before facing you. Heh, she called out Flynn’s name till the end. She was just another useless bitch like Asahi.”, Nanashi taunted, thinking he’d won.

He didn’t fully mean that he felt a bit bad about killing the others after everything, especially after actually carrying out their deaths, but it was far too late to turn back now.

“Heh, he’s shaking. Krishna must be scared now knowing I beat the others.”, Nanashi thought.

Honestly the whole point of telling him of his betrayal was meant to intimidate him. After all, he knew his former friends weren’t complete slouches. To be fair he died a few times fighting them. He killed them because he knew they would oppose the path he took.

However, Vishnu-Flynn was not shaking from fear...it was unbridled rage. The entire area around them was filled with a powerful aura of bloodlust. Nanashi was going to swing down at him with Masakado’s katana, but he couldn’t feel his arm. He looked over only to gaping in horror when he saw his hand had been severed without him even noticing. His hand still holding the katana stabbed into the ground behind him. Nanashi’s eyes widened in absolute shock.

“You fucked up there kid. That’s not Krishna.”, Dadga said.

Before he could even react his body his head was cut clean off by Vishnu-Flynn’s next strike. Nanashi tried to bite back the intense pain circulating throughout him. Normally no one would know the pain of their head being severed due to dying instantly, but since Nanashi was immortal he felt all of it and he howled in pain.

“You!!! How dare you! I saved you! I trusted you! And you killed one of the only people I had left!”, Vishnu-Flynn roared full of venom.

He stood up to his full towering height with two new detached arms and four new red laser swords.

“Ah, Flynn! He’s Flynn. Did he have to go for my head?”, Nanashi thought as his body started to regrow itself.

Nanashi gasped in pain as he was torn apart by Vishnu-Flynn’s blades again before he could regrow his body fully. A loud crackle of thunder slammed down at Vishnu-Flynn which he blocked with his swords. Which hummed only powered up by the lightning. He turned his attention to Nanashi’s demons. He dodged a Mamudoon launched by Anubis. He swiped his arms not releasing his full magical power which was dormant while under Krishna’s control and used Antichthon on Anubis nearly vaporizing him on the spot and severely crippling him. He finished off the god with a single strike to his blade. Shiva launched himself at him and the two were locked in a dangerous dance of blades. Shiva was skilled certainly, known as the destroyer in the polytheistic religion he was technically apart of right now as Vishnu-Flynn. However, Flynn was very very pissed off. When he was pissed off he didn’t slip up no...he became more skilled and more merciless in combat. Besides he’s already fought Shiva before and he knows the way he fights. Vishnu-Flynn turned the tide against Shiva putting him on the back burner as Odin tried to shoot lightning at him.

Dadga gaped genuinely impressed as Vishnu-Flynn danced around Odin’s lightning and fought Shiva at the same time. The difference between Flynn and Krishna fighting was like the difference between Heaven and Earth. Krishna certainly wasn’t a slouch, but he was primarily a schemer who used what most would consider more underhanded tactics and trickery to win fights. Flynn however was a godslayer in every meaning of the world. Dadga felt he truly understood what exactly made someone a godslayer when he saw Flynn fight. Flynn reacted to and attacked on pure instinct like a demon. However, he attacked with the skill and precision of a human. His skill in question was truly staggering on the level of no...even surpassing the best warrior gods as he was completely overpowering and nearly toying with Nanashi’s demons.

He finished healing up his godslayer who took a deep inhale as his body finally reformed after being mangled badly by Vishnu-Flynn. Nanashi tried to regain his bearings and prepared to attack Vishnu-Flynn. It took much longer and was much more draining for Dadga than usual because usually not as much of Nanashi had to be healed when he revived him. Usually the kid might get stabbed in the heart, decapitated, or even instant killed, but those weren’t as hard for him to fix.

“That man is a real monster.”, Dadga thought, feeling nervous for the first time he started his campaign to kill all the gods and recreate the universe.

This man didn’t have the ability to revive as he pleased and he was merely a human. Well...he wasn’t right now, but he usually was. At least Krishna had good taste that’s exactly why he planned to steal his godslayer from him.

Vishnu-Flynn dodged Odin’s spear strike causing him to pierce Shiva. With a swipe of his hands Vishu-Flynn obliterated the two with Shine More like Anubis not even leaving a trace behind for Nanashi to revive. Nanashi concentrated and launched a Deadly Wind at Vishnu-Flynn. More demons had replaced his fallen ones: Great Innanna, Isanami, and Xi Wangmu.

Vishnu-Flynn dodged his attack shot forward faster than Nanashi could comprehend and sliced him into bits again this time using Dark Nandaka on his bits. His demons turned to Vishnu-Flynn completely stunned at his speed. Before Great Innanna could even act she was decapitated. Xi Wangmu shot a Ziodyne at him which he easily dodged before cleaving both her and Izanami into bits. With a swipe on his hands he vaporized their remains with Shine More.

Fear grew within Dagda as Nanashi hadn’t even fully regrown himself before Flynn slashed him into bits mercilessly. He knew Nanashi didn’t have many demons left to use and Flynn was killing all of them permanently. His slashes grew so fast all Dagda saw was a storm of blades. Before that he could count about 10000 strikes per millisecond, but now all he saw was a blur. He was killing Nanashi faster than he could revive him. Dadga had a hard time keeping track of if Nanashi was dead or alive since he died so fast.

Krishna was extremely pleased. While his kalki had broken free of his contract he was now completely embarrassing Nanashi and his forces which gave him no small amount of satisfaction. As well as having a front row seat to the true magnificence of his kalki. He was content to sit back and let his godslayer do the work in killing Nanashi. Of course, there was the obvious problem that he was no longer in control of Flynn, but he could fix that in time. For all he knows Flynn can go ahead and kill YHVH while he’s at it, then he can swoop in at the right time, steal control, and achieve salvation. So, yeah Krishna was pretty content sitting back and munching on imaginary popcorn while his kalki went berserk.

Dadga was sweating now as he was greatly drained by how many times he had to revive Nanashi in this fight alone. When he told his godslayer he could die as many times as he wanted he was joking. He never thought he would actually have to revive him this much consecutively against anyone besides YHVH. Dagda was a god, but even he had his limits. A limit he was dangerously close to hitting. Even his reserves weren’t infinite.

Nanashi hardly had a second to think before he was continuously violently torn apart by the man his more naive self once idolized. He had time to feel though. Absolute horror and terror. He had honestly thought he was up to Flynn’s level by now after all he’s killed many gods, demons, and angels at this point. Confident he could beat him if Krishna happened to seduce him to his cause like Dadga to him. Defeating his former friends and beating down Vishnu-Flynn only further bolstered his confidence that he was truly unbeatable. However, he now realized how completely wrong he was. He had never been anywhere near Flynn’s level. He was beating down Vishnu-Flynn because that fop with a flute was in control, not the true Flynn. He had his power no...not even all of that he swore when he sensed his magic power earlier it had nearly doubled. Though, that may be because how enraged Flynn currently was. His intense rage may be boosting his magic to ridiculous heights. Finally, his skill...was absolutely monstrous. He thought Isabeau and Gaston were pretty good, but this man was on a completely different dimension of skill from the both of them. He wasn’t exactly educated in such things, honestly he relied more on magic than anything, but he understood that he was kicking his ass worse than anything has in his whole life with freaking swords alone. He shuttered from deep within his soul with unparalleled fear. He wasn’t sure he could get out of this especially since he didn’t look like he was tiring. Tiring was an easy thing for someone like him to exploit. He was basically a zombie so he never got exhausted and Dadga healed his wounds upon death. Stamina and his immortality was his overwhelming advantage against everyone he faced. However, now he was honestly cursing it. This is what he imagined hell was like continuously dying infinitely and instantly with absolutely nothing he could do to get out of it. For an immortal like him this is exactly what hell was like. This was one of the best arguments against having immortality, endless suffering.

A deeper part of him...Akira shuttered in horror at the sight...no the very idea of Flynn’s rampage. What had he done to Ryou? He wasn’t like this. Ryou was always a kind, gentle soul. He was skilled, yes, but not to this...to such an inhuman degree. He remembered how Ryou would feel bad about even killing demons. He was a complete wreck after killing Kiyoharu and Kenji to stop their insane plans. He most certainly wasn’t ever the type to anger. He was more often than not a mediator between the more hot-headed members of the Counter-Demon Force. For such a kind, loving soul to be reduced to this blind bloodlusted demonic rage...It broke Akira’s heart to see his dear friend like this. Any sense of mercy and kindness was gone from the eyes of his incarnation replaced with anger and bloodlust. He still remembered the day he lost him. The day he sacrificed himself not unlike his current incarnation did to save Asahi. He knew then that he was truly his old friend reborn. But now that was all gone...Because of his own actions he turned Ryou into this monster before him. He unsealed Krishna who stole him away and merged with him. He made him completely snap by killing that girl Isabeau. He felt the worst chill down his spine when he heard Vishnu-Flynn start to chuckle. He was enjoying this?! The pure hearted self sacrificing idiot Ryou was enjoying this?!

“What the fuck have I done?”, Akira thought in complete horror from deep within Nanashi.

“Ryou! Ryou! Stop, please! Snap out of this! This isn’t you!”, Akira begged his voice cracking as he did so, knowing full well he couldn’t hear his begging.

No no someone had to stop him before he completely lost his humanity.

Flynn was beyond being enraged that word hardly encapsulated the fire he felt from within his soul. Even before all of this he had lost so many people close to him, his parents and Issachar. He still remembered the deep horror he felt when he realized...he killed his own mother without even realizing it. Once that guy apologized about not being able to help his parents his mind went completely blank. He killed every demon in his way without an ounce of mercy as he desperately searched for them. He didn’t know that one of the camazotzs was his mother. He didn’t know any of the demons in the forest were his fellow villagers at that point. When he found out he completely broke down. It was difficult to hide from the others he had to put on his own iron mask so they didn’t see him completely break down. He realized it when he finally found his father. He was still human, a bit mangled and in serious need of medical attention, but he was alive. But, then his hopes were completely dashed…

Flashback

It was after their first encounter with the black samurai, Lilith. Extreme relief entered his eyes when he saw one of the medics had his father. His fellows were off to themselves right now. He practically ran over to him when he saw him hope that his mother may be alive too bubbled up inside him. He didn’t expect his father. His strong, loving father to look absolutely terrified when he saw him. He was extremely confused when his father jumped back squirming away from the doctor when he saw him. That’s when he knew something was horribly wrong. He looked over his uniform checking for blood which may have spooked him. He gasped when he realized he had quite a lot on him. How did he not notice? He was just so focused he completely blotted out everything else.

“W-wait dad I can explain-“, He stuttered.

“S-stay away from me! Y-you turned into a-a m-monster like your mother did didn’t y-you?! Y-you here to finish me off!”, his father accused completely hysterical.

“M-my mother?! Mom...she….”, He muttered before he completely froze.

He pulled out a wooden sword guard shaped not unlike a flower from his pocket. It was badly worn, cracked, and had blood spattered on it. He recognized it as the one from the toy sword his mother made from him which he used to use to spar with Issachar. His mother may have disliked his friend, but she acknowledged that Flynn as a kid needed a friend to play with. Despite her distaste she made that toy sword full of love hoping he’d have lots of fun with it. He found it after he killed a demon which at the time confused him. He remembered the demon rushing up to him, but it wasn’t attacking strangely. He was too out of it though...when he fought he entered this state where he completely lost control over himself...He was just fighting blindly not thinking of anything else. He had no idea how it happened...it just did. He remembers coldly cutting down the demon that approached him without remorse. Thinking about it now he felt deeply sickened and revulsed by himself. Especially after realizing only now he was covered in blood. This feeling only worsened when he put two and two together.

That demon was his mother. He killed his mother.

He felt extremely lightheaded and nauseous now. His breathing became extremely heavy. His eyes widened at the realization.

“Ah! Ah!”, he gasped in complete horror.

He felt like he was about to have a panic attack as he clutched chest. He shook uncontrollably, hardly able to form coherent words as he imagined his mother’s warm smile. The doctor looked alarmed hearing the incoherent distressed noises he was making. For the first time he felt his soul wail. He completely collapsed on the ground. His father was right, he was a monster. He killed his own mother!

Flashback end

His father was deemed to be under demonic possession and had an exorcism performed on him which killed him. He wasn’t possessed, he was driven insane by seeing the woman he loved turn into a demon and thought the same thing happened to his son when he came over to him covered in blood! He killed Issachar too; he begged him to do so, but he didn’t want to lead his best friend to only suffer more. Then, Jonathan and Walter he knew they were dead from his illusionary Walter’s words. He still wishes he could have done something like awaken them from inside the beings that stole their bodies. However, he couldn’t they died as Lucifer and Merkabah twisted embodiments of their ideals. Isabeau...He didn’t kill her directly, but it was his fault she died. If he had woken up sooner rather than letting himself fall prey to Krishna’s illusion he could have saved her. No he should have never let himself be captured by the Divine Powers! He should have found another way to save Asahi and escape...Everything that has happened over these past few days, everyone who died because of the Divine Powers and Nanashi, they were all on his hands. H-he felt like he was close to snapping a morbid chuckle was coming from his lips as he tore Nanashi apart. Surely he didn’t deserve this even with the horrible things he’s done. He was just a kid, for all he knew that being that made him like this manipulated him into doing all this.

A deep part of Flynn...Ryou didn’t want to believe Akira would do something so horrible. Surely not? It had to be a mistake. Akira would never do something so heartless…right? But...Kiyoharu and Kenji did. They were his best friends since childhood he knew them so well yet they changed into something unrecognizable from their former selves. Then, they committed horrible atrocities for what they believed in before he struck them down himself. He personally saw through Flynn’s eyes the horrible words he would have created if he sided with them. Even that deep part of him didn’t seem sure of anything anymore. Nothing seemed to work. He remembers more than Flynn does. He remembers his past lives where he followed four different paths. He despised most of them except the third path, the neutral path which for some odd reason was going very differently in this cycle. He chose that third path again, but it seems like everything has only gotten worse for some reason. If Flynn didn’t wake up sooner then everything...everything he had fought for, sacrificed himself for would be gone. He knew more than Flynn, he could see Krishna’s memories; he knew the depravity of Dadga’s selfish plan. It was...Childish. He understood defeating YHVH, but that’s where it ended. Destroying the entire world, the world people had out there heart and soul into bettering and protecting just because you wanted the world to be ‘your’ ideal it was...beyond selfish. That plan spat on all the hard work and sacrifices humanity has made to better their world. Krishna wasn’t a saint either; he was nearly just as bad with his forced salvation plan. At least he had some love for humanity...even if it was twisted. But, Dadga’s plan was undoubtedly worse. This foolish god seriously believed that all a person needed was themselves. That’s completely wrong for a god of knowledge he sure didn’t know much. Humans were social creatures by nature; they needed each other to survive. No one is perfect and his world would be undoubtedly polluted by his own biases and cruel beliefs. Besides how was Ryou supposed to honestly believe that someone willing to sacrifice their allies and even the whole universe was going to be a more benevolent ruler than YHVH? He already was like YHVH, manipulating and sacrificing people for his own ends. They were exactly the same...It would be the same cruel world YHVH created just with a new face in control. It completely tore him up that Akira was actually a part of this depraved plan. He wanted to cling onto the idea he was manipulated and controlled but...He remembers destroying Tokyo he sacrificed himself for with his own hands alongside the angels. He remembers filling the world with demons and ruling over the hell on Earth he created. He remembers unmaking the world in a moment of weakness. He made these same horrible mistakes and he did those same horrible atrocities as the others. He had become the same if not worse than them.

Ryou still wanted to forgive, but he could hardly forgive even himself anymore. He felt bad for his current self; he was just as distressed and confused as he was, except he didn’t fully understand why. Despite his past lives memories being locked up he still had feelings and echoes of those lives within himself. From his law cycle he had obtained the ability to completely shut everything else out and focus on a singular goal no matter how depraved. His magic power had carried over and growled continuously stronger with every cycle. His inhuman level of sword skill was also for that life mostly from strangely after his death. After his death he became an angel for a confusing amount of time not even he was sure how long. Something that still deeply revulsed him. He remembers having a divine sword then YHVH gave him. Honestly, he didn’t remember the name, but honestly he just wanted to forget any of that happened. He became YHVH’s sword, cutting down anything that opposed him, even fellow messiahs for other worlds. He understood it was a long time, but he wasn’t sure how long than his ‘forgiving’ god shoved him back into the cycle he decided on as his punishment for saving Tokyo from his wrath as soon as he was done with him. Unbelievable...If there’s one being he truly hated it was YHVH. From his chaos cycle he gained the ability to completely give into his instincts and battle using instinct alone. Along with that rage he didn’t remember having. That alone has caused many troubles for the current Flynn especially what’s...currently transpiring. It even affected him. Making him go completely berserk at times if he felt really angry or got too into a battle. Without that cycle he would have never...Not even in his law cycle enjoyed hurting others. The king of Tokyo enjoyed a lot of things he disagreed with because he didn’t care. His heart had been turned rotten by Lucifer and he stopped caring about anyone, but himself. Honestly, his nihilism cycle didn’t contribute much, but his revulsion with his previous cycles unknowingly affected Flynn’s decision in that cycle to unmake the world. From his neutral cycle he combined his law cycle’s skill with his chaos cycle’s instinct to create a deadly combination in battle. He didn’t have as much time to refine his combat as his law cycle, but he still did improve it in the lifetime he had along with his magic like his other cycles. That first time he chose neutral was the happiest one that he hoped would stick; however, that hope was dashed when after a long and fulfilled life he woke back up at Lake Mikado again. However , that life influenced this Flynn to choose neutral again. He guessed he was still trapped because YHVH wasn’t done with him yet. He suspects YHVH wasn’t happy with him having an enjoyable cycle even if it wasn’t perfect. So, this time things changed he was prevented from removing the firmament and he was captured by the Divine Powers. Now, Akira was trying to destroy the world he once defended like he did. He could practically imagine YHVH laughing in his face while they killed each other.

“Please stop this Akira! We shouldn’t be fighting each other! Please forgive him Flynn! I know you’re hurting I can feel your pain! Please!”, Ryou begged, sobbing uncontrollably.

A less forgiving part of him couldn’t help but take pleasure in tearing Nanashi to shreds. He is the one who killed Isabeau, the last of his original prentice group. His heart hurt more than he expected when she was killed. He was the one who released Krishna and put him into this whole mess. He...He!

“Kill him! Kill him! Make him regret ruining things for us!”, that angered voice in his mind said which reminded him of the illusionary Walter.

#shin megami tensei #smt4 #smt4 apocalypse #flynn smt #issachar #walter smt #isabeau smt #jonathan smt #my crappy writing #avoiding some tags to prevent spoilers

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uwua3 · 4 years

Text

a3! as seventeen songs + lyrics

🌸🌻🍁❄️ all troupes

author’s note: i love svt so much! they deserve all the success in the world, i promise they’re all a group of such talented and creative individuals ♡ they produce their own music, choreograph their own dances, and work together as a family! please check out seventeen :D

(this is an apology to all the non–kpop stans who still read these~ i love you! please go through their discography like i did today because i fell in love all over again TT) (yes, tsumugi and tasuku’s are meant for each other, once again)

🌸 SPRING 💗

1. SAKUMA SAKUYA

♡ SMILE FLOWER — going seventeen

“I can smile because we’re together / I can cry because it’s you / So, what can’t I do? / Whenever, wherever / Even if we’re not together, just like always / Our smile flowers bloom / I’ll be the spring to your smile”

2. USUI MASUMI

♡ THINKIN ABOUT YOU — director’s cut

“I want to give you my heart / Deep in our memories / We were so young, those days were so pretty / Each flower petal, each memory of ours / I haven’t forgotten any of them”

3. MINAGI TSUZURU

♡ THANKS — you made my dawn

“These typical words / I’m only saying them now / But, I hope these typical words will reach you / Thank you, thank you, that’s all I can say / Because they’re such common words / I was worried it wouldn’t sound sincere / I was looking for something better than just thank you / So, I couldn’t tell you thank you”

4. CHIGASAKI ITARU

♡ STILL LONELY — love&letter

“As time goes by, I’m feeling indifferent to everything / I’m sick of meaningless hangouts and conversations / It’s like living for other people’s expectations / And all of it piles up / All the numbers I don’t call / This cursed popularity. Why won’t it leave me alone? / But, why am I getting lonelier?”

5. CITRON

♡ LUCKY — an ode

“I don’t know everyday, I only think about tomorrow / Just have fun today, enjoy life / So, relax first / It’s easier than you thought it would be, just eat and have fun”

🌻 SUMMER 💛

6. SUMERAGI TENMA

♡ CRAZY IN LOVE — AI1

“What I thought only happened in moves or TV shows / Something like that is happening to me, too / It started as one strand and it sprouted into emotional fireworks / There’s a line in this movie that says love comes around / I didn’t understand before but, I understand now”

7. RURIKAWA YUKI

♡ SIMPLE — love&letter (repackaged)

“In this big world, I know I’m like a particle of dust / Nothing is easy in this exit–less, maze–like world / Happiness is only a word / It’s just a dream that everyone wants / But, that doesn’t make sense / I don’t even want to believe that / Yeah, I just want it simple”

8. MIYOSHI KAZUNARI

♡ OH MY! — you make my day

“You’re like the summer without the overbearing heat / You’re the boiling point to my loneliness / I can’t sleep because of you and it’s morning already / What do I do? / I like you more each day / I’m a bit careless and clumsy / Let’s hum together / Let’s share earphones / On the sketchbook of my brain, I draw you out everyday”

9. SAKISAKA MUKU

♡ WHEN I GROW UP — boys be

“I know, I’m still a child now / I can’t catch up to you yet / Only a little while more / As more time passes, when I grow up / I’ll understand you more”

10. IKARUGA MISUMI

♡ OUR DAWN IS HOTTER THAN DAY — you make my day

“Our night is countless / Between the stars and the sand / On the sound of a fireball that shoots firecrackers / Our laughing smile / When I am spreading from me to you / My tears are gone”

🍁 AUTUMN 🧡

11. SETTSU BANRI

♡ SHHH — you made my dawn

“I want to fight and worry, that’s all I want to do / I don’t think it’s all my own illusion / It’s not a lie inspired by the moment / I can’t desire anyone, my heart is burning / Because, I will never change / We are never gonna make it / It’s you and me who’s hurt by lies”

12. HYODO JUZA

♡ TRAUMA — teen, age

“I’m barely breathing / Like I forgot how / It’s too hard for me / To be lenient with myself / Feels like debt / All the light on me / The stage is getting bigger / But, the place in my heart is so small”

13. FUSHIMI OMI

♡ SNAP SHOOT — an ode

“Snap shoot! I want to capture this smile / Your image, this way / Click the shutter, rewind the film again / You try to show off your coolness in the picture / But, your smile in just one photo / My whole life is shot like that”

14. NANAO TAICHI

♡ SPACE — love&letter (repackaged)

“I ask myself again and again / If I can endure through these things / Then, as if it’s nothing, I say, ‘Why can’t I?’ / Actually, it’s been really hard / The fact there’s not a single person / Who will listen to my secrets that / I’ve been keeping makes me sad / This reality makes me cry”

15. FURUICHI SAKYO

♡ CALL! CALL! CALL! — we make you

“Even if the world turns against you / Until the very end, we’ll be together / I will protect you no matter what / Despite what anyone says, I’ll be right here / If it’s another bothersome request my way, I don’t want to be hasty or impatient anymore / I won’t be like that anymore / Even if I’m problematic, I’m always on your side”

❄️ WINTER 💙

16. TSUKIOKA TSUMUGI

♡ MY I — AI1

“When I meet you after time passes / I’ll know (you were my future) / I’ll know (I was your yesterday) / When I meet you after time passes / I’ll know (you protected me) / I’ll know (I desired you)”

17. TAKOTO TASUKU

♡ DON’T WANNA CRY — AI1

“I’m okay (I’m not okay) / I don’t want to see you (I really want to see you) / I have to say, say / These lies that / Don’t even come from my heart / Because my heart won’t listen to these words as I thought / Come back, come back, come back / When half of me is gone / How can I live as one?”

18. YUKISHIRO AZUMA

♡ MOONWALKER — you make my day

“Night dancing for you / Let’s call you in the moonlight / A little bit like that / I feel loved for the first time / The fragance and value of the first blooming flower / I want you more”

19. ARISUGAWA HOMARE

♡ LOVE LETTER — love&letter

“I awkwardly take out a pen & paper / And write down the words I had deeply swallowed / My handwriting isn’t pretty / Please, don’t be disappointed / Please let it go if I suck / Worrying all night about my bad handwriting / Which is about as bad as how I express my feelings / I try to sincerly express myself but I can’t get it out”

20. MIKAGE HISOKA

♡ RUN TO YOU — director’s cut

“Holding back my tears, hiding my fear / I will go to you, I was about to sleep / But, I woke up from thinking of you and went outside / I was walking, but I started running like my heart / Even though I don’t know where you are / I’m following the compass of my heart / Slowly looking through the map of my heart / Then, I can find you, who cares if it’s a bit far? I’ll follow the line that connects us two”

#spring troupe #summer troupe #autumn troupe #winter troupe #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! actor training game #svt #seventeen #svt songs #seventeen songs #mankai a3!#mankai company

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get-your-fics · 4 years

Text

Suburbia - Part Three

Playing Games

Summary: You have the seemingly perfect life, with the perfect house and the perfect husband. But the illusion threatens to be unraveled when you start to have strange but familiar nightmares.

Pairing: Albert Wesker x reader

Series warnings: Smut, dub-con/non-con, breeding kink, sex pollen, blood, violence

PART TWO

You were running again.

The undead creatures were hot on your trail, hissing and snarling and growling like animals. The same one lunged at you again, but you easily evaded its attack and threw it backwards as if it was second nature for you. You sprinted towards the bright light in front of you, glowing like the light at the end of the tunnel. You kept your focus straight ahead, your heartbeat pounding in your ears.

You expected the dream to end as you drew closer, but it continued on. You stepped into the light, and the doors slid closed behind you with a mechanical whoosh, locking the monsters out on the other side. You doubled over with your hands on your knees, desperately trying to catch your breath. When you stood up, you saw that you were in a completely white hallway that seemed to stretch on and on forever in front of you.

Next thing you knew, men in white lab coats were on you in a second, poking and prodding at you with advanced technological devices. “Sir, subject 107 has completed the test.”

You heard the thud of solid boots and looked up as another man entered your field of vision. His broad shoulders and large, well-built frame intimidated you. He stood out in the white hallway clad in all black. A pair of dark sunglasses concealed his eyes, but besides that, his face was a blur. Whoever he was, he exuded an air of smug confidence and authority.

“By running away like a coward,” the man said. His voice was low and gruff.

“I’m done playing your game.” You barely recognized the voice as your own, bitter with a hardened edge to it. It felt like the words weren’t coming from you at all.

The man laughed, sending chills down your spine that made you visibly shiver. “You’re not done until I say you are.” He turned his back on you. “Take her back to her holding cell.”

Two of the lab coats grabbed onto each of your arms and started dragging you away. You grit your teeth and jerked against their hands on you. You shook one of them off, sending him flying into the wall. He hit it with a resounding bang, his neck breaking with an audible snap. You kicked the other one in the chest, knocking him back against the wall. He slid down it and crumpled into a lifeless heap.

Once freed, you barred your teeth and ran at the man in black. You jumped on his back and started scratching at him with all your might. He reached behind him without looking, and you felt a sharp prick in your neck as he stabbed you with a needle. Almost immediately, all the strength left your limbs. You slipped off his back and landed onto the floor.

Your vision grew fuzzier, and the world swirled around you in a blur of black and white. The last thing you saw was the man in black leaning over you. “We’re going to have so much fun together, you and I,” he whispered before everything faded to black.

You gasped as you sat up straight in bed. You clutched your chest as you hyperventilated. Your hand absentmindedly fluttered to your neck where you had been injected in the nightmare. You felt like you could still feel the sharp sting as the needle entered your flesh.

There was a shift in weight on the bed beside you, and the covers rustled as they were drawn back. “Honey, what’s wrong?” Your husband’s arms wrapped around you and pulled you back against his chest. When you still didn’t respond, he cupped your face in his hands and forced you to look at him. “Sweetie, please, tell me what’s wrong.”

You stared into his eyes. They were so full of caring and concern. “I... I had another nightmare,” you stuttered. “But this time, it was different.”

He furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“After running away from the creatures, I was in this hallway.” You took a pause to suck in a breath. “There were these scientists, and this man. I couldn’t see his face, but he was dressed in all black.” You felt tears well in your eyes as the nightmare came back to you in full detail. “I think they were experimenting on me.”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” he spoke soothingly. He carded a hand through your hair and rocked you back and forth. “It was just a dream. It’s not real.”

“But it felt real.” You pushed away from him. “These aren’t nightmares. They’re real things that happened to me, I know it. I don’t know why I can’t remember, but I think talking to Alice and Rain yesterday unlocked something in my memory,” you urged. “I know how this sounds, but you have to believe me.”

“No, I don’t think you do know how this sounds,” Albert sneered at you. He stood up, towering over you. “Don’t you realize how crazy you’re acting? Undead monsters? Experimental tests?” he said incredulously. “You’re letting your imagination run rampant. They’re just dreams - nothing more, nothing less." He shook his head at you disapprovingly. "I don’t know who you are, but you’re not acting like the woman I married right now.”

You felt your heart sink in your chest. Hearing it all out loud did make you realize how absurd you sounded. “Albert, I’m sorry.”

“I have to get ready for work.” He turned his back on you and walked into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut, shrouding you in darkness.

You listened to him clomp around behind you, from the bedroom to his office to the bedroom again as you painted your nails red in the bathroom. Finally, he stopped his clomping and appeared behind you in the mirror wearing a wide grin.

“I’m heading off to work now.” He placed a hand on your shoulder and kissed the top of your head. “Be a good girl for me while I’m gone, okay?”

You smiled back at him. “I always am.”

His smile only grew. “I know.” He gave your shoulder a gentle pat before leaving, briefcase in hand. The smile slipped from your face the second he was out of sight.

You finished painting your nails and heard the muffled rev of a car engine starting up. The garage door opened and closed, and the noise of the engine faded down the street. You capped the nail polish and gripped the edge of the sink until your knuckles turned white.

You stared at your reflection so hard you thought you would burn a hole through your mirror image. You let your gaze rake over your hair, your facial features, the flimsy nightgown covering your body, the flawless skin of your collarbone where there should be puncture wounds. You looked back up at your eyes. They seemed dark and void of light. Was there even anything behind them? Did you have a soul? Or was none of these real? Was this all some illusion, some fantasy you concocted for yourself that you only woke from when you were sleeping? You swore the mirror would shatter under the heavy weight of your contemplative gaze.

You pushed off of the sink. You had made up your mind. You wanted answers.

You walked out into the hall to the mystery door. Without hesitation, you jiggled the doorknob. It was still locked. Growing frustrated, you cried out and kicked at it. You stared in shock as the force of your kick broke the lock, and the door swung open on its hinges with ease. You leaned inside the dark room and felt along the wall for a light switch. You found it and flicked it on. You winced and blinked rapidly as your eyes adjusted to light flooding the room.

You didn’t know what you were expecting. Something sinister, maybe. But definitely not whatever this was.

You stepped inside. The walls were painted a pale yellow, and the carpeted floor was plush under your bare feet. You walked over to the solid, white dresser with a mirror above it. You reached out for one of the many plushies lined atop it and squished its soft center. Continuing your perusal of the room, there was a hamper in the corner and a bookshelf stocked full of books. You picked one up and flipped through it. They were all children’s books. You put it back and moved on. On the other side of the room was a toy box and a rocking chair next to a crib, and a changing station...

It was a nursery.

You didn’t know how to react. There was nothing overtly nefarious about the room. It was rather normal, and yet there was something off and fake about it that sent chills down your spine. What was inside this room didn’t give you any answers. If anything, it only raised more questions.

You left the room and walked across the hall to the door of Albert’s office. You tried it, and it was locked. You kicked it like you did with the other one, and it caved in. You walked inside and switched on the light, the lamp by his desk flickering to life.

His office was ordinary. There was a long bookshelf along one wall, and a large, oak desk on the other side. You ran over to it and practically ransacked it. You pulled out the drawers and dumped them onto the ground. You sifted through the piles of papers on his desk top, searching for something, anything, that would give you some clue as to what was going on. But all you found were work reports, transcripts from meetings, bills, receipts, budgets, grocery lists. You looked through the files on his computer. Surprisingly, it didn’t require a password to access. It was more of the same, excel sheets and emails between employees.

You sat back in the middle of the room surrounded by the mess you had made. Maybe you really were losing it. You were so sure something larger was at play here, and yet all you had found was a nursery and an office. Albert had probably just finished renovating the former and planned to surprised you, which was why he had kept it behind closed doors - literally. You must have hallucinated cutting off your fingers. All this time inside wasn’t doing you any good. Maybe when Albert got back, you would ask him to take you on vacation somewhere, get away from the hum drum of day to day life. Or maybe he had the right idea, and a baby would eat up more of your free time.

You rose from the ground with a sigh and started putting everything back in its rightful place. You were finishing shuffling the papers on his desk when your hand accidentally knocked over a bronze statue of a doberman pincher. A rumbling came from behind you, and you turned around to see the bookcase split in the middle and slide apart to reveal a hidden part of the room.

You slowly stalked forward. When you stepped inside, the room illuminated with a garish and fluorescent glow. It looked to be some sort of lab, tubes filled with electric green and blue liquid lining the white walls. You padded across the cold, tiled floors to a desk. Above it were several televisions displaying surveillance footage from multiple places inside your house - the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, and even the nursery.

On the desk were various manila folders marked confidential in big, red letters. Each one had a red and white insignia with ‘Umbrella Corp’ printed underneath. You spotted one labeled ‘Subject 107’ and flipped it open. Your eyes scanned over the words in neat, black typewriting font:

”Subject 107, otherwise known as (Y/N) (Y/L/N), was successfully injected with the T-virus. Her cells bonded with the virus, granting her superhuman abilities such as advanced strength, speed, and regenerative healing. Unlike Project W, 107 does not require regulated doses of the anti-virus in order to keep her levels in check. Instead, her antibodies mutated of their own accord to balance out the amount of T-virus infecting her cells. It is not completely certain why this is, although test results show that her genetic DNA may be what makes her an ideal host for the T-virus.”

You reread the paragraph over and over before closing the folder. You picked up another one and searched through its contents. There was a calendar that looked normal enough, but upon closer inspection, appeared to be keeping track of your menstrual cycle. You moved to the next file; it was a list of every meal you ate throughout the day. You came across a stack of printed out reports that documented your time in the house. You skimmed through them, a sentence or a note catching your attention every now and then:

“Subject is responding well to the fertility treatment, however, still has not been able to conceive.”

“Subject has been describing reoccurring ‘nightmares’ that depict scenarios similar to tests she endured in the past. This could be a side effect of the memory erasure.”

And, the most recent, written and printed out mere hours ago:

“Subject’s nightmares have further developed. I believe this was caused by conversing with the Alice and Rain clones from yesterday. It seems her repressed memories are appearing in her dreams. If this continues and the subject becomes suspicious, we should consider enacting the contingency plan before the situation gets out of hand.”

You dropped the folder on the desk as if it had burned you. You turned your attention to the computer. Unfortunately, this one did need a password to access it. You tried several phrases you had read in the files, such as ‘subject107’ or ‘projectw’ or ‘umbrellacorp,’ but none of them worked. You chewed on your bottom lip in thought as you blinked at the bright screen. The keys clacked under your fingers as you typed in ‘(y/n)(y/l/n)’ and hit enter.

It took a second before the computer loaded to a plain, red background. There were several folders scattered all across the desktop containing what you were sure were varying levels of important information. But one folder in particular called ‘Project Eden’ caught your eye. You clicked on it, bringing up several video files. You scrolled through them and chose one titled ‘Trial 017.’

The window popped up. You made it full screen and pressed play. It looked like footage from a security camera high up in the corner of a room. It was all white, the only furniture in the room a bed with a metal frame bolted down to the floor. You squinted at the screen. You could barely make out a figure in the bed, and your eyes widened in shock when you realized the figure was in fact you.

You were wearing a hospital gown, and your wrists and ankles were strapped down to the bed. You hardly recognized yourself. Your hair was matted and mussed, dark circles hung under your eyes, and reddish-purple bruises decorated your skin. The door to the room swung open, and four men in lab coats followed by the man in black stormed into the room.

“Hold her down,” the man in black boomed. Your heart stopped beating when you took in his facial features for the first time. Even with his sunglasses on, you knew who it was.

It was Albert.

The men grabbed onto your arms and legs as you started to thrash. Albert produced a syringe full of a clear liquid and held it up threateningly, the sharp point of the needle glinting in the light. “Hold still. This will only hurt a little bit.”

You reared back and spat in his face. “Fuck you, Wesker!”

He didn’t even flinch. He merely lifted his gloved hand and wiped away your spit in one swipe. “Struggling will only make this more painful for you, (Y/N).” His voice sounded so unfamiliar, so unlike him. “We can either do this the easy way or the hard way.”

You sat up and bit into one of the men’s arm, ripping out a chunk of flesh with nothing but your teeth. He screamed and let go, clutching his wounded arm in horror as blood stained his white lab coat. You cried out in anguish as you broke free from your restraints. You leapt onto one of the men, snapping his neck with a twist of your hands. You released him, and his head hung limp at an unnatural angle.

Wesker sighed. “The hard way it is.”

He grabbed you by your collar and jerked you back against his chest. He snaked his arm around your waist as he injected you with the foreign substance. You grimaced and clawed at his grip on you helplessly. “Get out of here. Now,” he hissed at the men.

They instantly scurried away like rats towards the door, dragging the corpse of their colleague along with them. Once they were gone, he threw you on the ground and scrambled on top of you. “Get off of me!” you whined, but your defiance was weakening. “Get off...”

You tried to crawl away from him, but he pulled you back with ease. He flipped up your skirt, and you were disgusted to see that you were bare underneath the hospital gown. He unzipped his pants and took out his hardening cock. He held you in place as he gave himself a few strokes. He positioned himself at your entrance and pushed into you fully with one thrust.

You let out a high-pitched wail as he didn’t hold back, slamming into you at an inhuman pace. You fought back at first, but as time dragged on, you watched as your face contorted into an expression of pleasure. Your pained grunts morphed into moans, and you rocked your hips back against him desperately, beads of sweat dripping down your forehead.

Wesker chuckled darkly above you. “That’s right. Stop resisting and let go.” He wrapped his fingers around your neck. A strangled moan escaped your throat as he tightened his grip, your irises now mere rims around your blown out pupils. “I told you we would have fun together. We’re going to change the world.”

You hit pause on the video. You couldn’t handle seeing anymore. You inhaled a shaky breath. Memories came flooding back like a dam had broke in your brain, of you locked up in that room, no way of telling time, of scientists running experiments on you and treating you like a lab rat, of being subjected to tests with those horrid creatures, of Wesker torturing and abusing you relentlessly. You felt a drop hit your cheek, and you touched it with your finger. You hadn’t even comprehended the tears starting to leak from your eyes.

“So, you finally figured it out.”

You whirled around to see Wesker standing behind you. He looked exactly as he did in the video, as he had in your nightmare, dressed in all black leather with a pair of shades covering his eyes. You hadn’t even heard him pull into the garage or his usually heavy footsteps as he climbed the stairs.

“I have to say, I’m proud of you,” the corners of his lips curled into a sinister smirk, “but you just got yourself into a world of trouble.”

PART FOUR

#resident evil #resident evil fanfiction #resident evil fanfic #albert wesker #albert wesker x reader #albert wesker x you #albert wesker fanfic #albert wesker fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #dark!fic

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trashcanofhappiness · 5 years

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247 aka Lilili Yabbay pt 2/dark vers.

Welcome to another choreography appreciation post that’s going to be long AF - full of gifs and this time including song analysis because it’s just as important as their choreography choices. I would read the lyrics to this song before reading this post because I’ll be referencing them quite a bit in this appreciation/analysis post.

First things first - can we applaud the performance team for putting this piece of performance art together while/between prepping for their concert, comeback AND showcase?

Secondly - the true beauty this song/choreography is its impact in the story arc that is the performance units songs. For those who don’t know, Dance of Month 13/Lilili Yabbay, Moonwalker, Shhh and 247 all exist in the same story arc and I believe 247 to be the culmination of said story arc.

Lilili Yabbay introduces their lover - someone who “lives in their dreams” and from whom they “dance in the moonlight”. This is a lover they are separated from, a lover they have yet to meet but are constantly searching for. There is hope and faith that they will meet in month 13 and a belief that their lover won’t disappear. No matter what, they will still be there, searching and waiting.

We move to Moonwalker where deep in the night, while everyone else sleeps, their love grows to new heights. They continue to dance in the moonlight, calling out to their lover with the excitement and joy of a first love that makes them feel like moonwalkers. Despite whatever keeps them apart, this moonwalking love will enable them to cross over any rift and let them get to their lover.

Shhh is where the story starts to turn. This song is almost a plea to their lover to shut out the whispers that they were not meant to be. They try to quiet the lies that they’re just an illusion, that their feelings are merely an illusion.

And this leaves us at 247 - what I consider to be the end of the story. The main reasoning for this is how much it references LIlili Yabbay in its lyrics and choreography with a sprinkling of choreo from Moonwalker and Shhh as well. In a way, it’s the other bookend of the story. From the get go, the vibe of the song is very nostalgic with its melodic guitar and relaxed percussion. It evokes an introspective atmosphere that’s portrayed as they spend the first two verses wandering the stage, reflecting their circling thoughts. Lyrically we start the song in a very similar setting to Lilili Yabbay as well: in dreams filled with their lover. This time however, instead of the feelings of longing and anticipation being associated with these dreams, the boys are singing from a place of caution and apprehension. The lyrics parallel searching from Jan - Dec to only seeing lost footprints on top of the road on which they searched from Mon - Fri. The continuation of dancing for their lover in the moonlight, sung in the same falsetto as in Lilili Yabbay, but saying that maybe it was all in vain. The parallel themes of time but with 247, the ticking of the clock-like percussion makes you feel like the time is now limited, almost at its end. What they’ve been experiencing since the Dance of Month 13 are just a memory that’s being remembered twenty-four/seven - memories that won’t end until the end of the universe and their lives.

Now that we understand the story, let’s appreciate the choreo. As stated before, there are moves that are sampled from Moonwalker...

and Shhh...

(I can’t find a good reference video to gif but just look for fancams - the above choreo references the choreo during the Shhh lyrics “위험에서 가릴 수 있게허락된 dedication/숨 쉬듯 자연스러워영원한 dedication” (So I can cover you from danger, a consented dedication/It’s as natural as breathing, an everlasting dedication)

but the majority of the choreography references in this piece is pulled from Lilili Yabbay.

There’s the very obvious call to Lilili Yabbay with the signature clock choreo except in 247 the clock/time suddenly stops, reflecting the end of this relationship/story arc...

the 247 take on Dino manipulating the gears of a clock...

and the consuming hands thing (I have no idea what to call this move)...

The choreography of this song is actually pretty simple when compared to previous performance unit songs. Granted, part of it probably has to do with the short amount of time they had to prepare but, by being simple, the story of the songs is actually reflected a lot more clearly than if it was complicated (and to be honest, I’m a sucker for choreo that reflects the story of the performance). This doesn’t mean the moves aren’t intricate (I mean, just look at the above gifs) or thoughtful - In fact, the moves are specifically choreographed to reflect the lyrics and story of the song.

Like I mentioned earlier, the song reflects a person’s wandering thoughts as they sing about their fears as to where this relationship is going. It starts as a slow, wandering train of thought:

that slowly becoming more chaotic and confused:

only to come back to where they first started:

Below is a celebration of a few moments of choreography reflecting the lyrics in order of appearance:

“247 I look for you, wandering and wandering until I arrived here” - I am personally amazed at how many different ways they can portray clocks and time

“If I open my arms and hold you” - pretty self explanatory tbh...

“I don’t even get anything” - trying to catch something only to be left empty handed *tears*

“No matter how much I say I miss you, my heart that longs for you can’t be filled” - THIS MOVE IS SO SIMPLE YET IT HIT ME SO HARD THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED THIS

“The road that I look for you on every day, there’s only lost footprints on top of it.” - each member is an impression left behind as Chan keeps walking down the ‘road’

And for the final gif of this post that has nothing to do with choreo but because they are called the PERFORMANCE unit and not dance unit for a reason...

THEIR MOMENT TO SHINE AS SINGERS!!!!!

I know this post becomes a mess at the end (I’ve been working on this after work for the last 4 days when I should be sleeping so lol what is consistent coloring) but I love this song so much because it truly showcases the performance unit’s talents so well and I feel so proud of them and please oh please let them perform this during the world tour.

Honestly this was originally going to be a short post to compare the choreo from previous songs to their references in this song but then I read the lyrics from Lilili Yabbay through 247 because of what Hoshi said during the showcase and I just had to make a post about it. This is why we celebrate Seventeen as self-producing idols - not for some gimmick or selling point but because they create their own songs, choreos, etc. they are able to tell a story throughout their discography. As they grow as people, performers, choreographers, etc. their performances grow and change along with them.

I have no idea how to end this post that’s already too long but yeah. I hope those who read this post gain a little more appreciation for the beauty of this performance.

#seventeen #svt #choreography #performance unit #247 #jun #hoshi #the8 #dino #wen junhui #kwon soonyoung #xu minghao #lee chan #i spent entirely too long on this #appreciation post #analysis

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hopelessromanticspoonie · 5 years

Text

To Keep You Safe

Title: I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I’m meant to be

Chapter: 10/?

Author: hopeless_romantic_spoonie

Summary: Life as the assistant to Tony Stark was busy, but boring. All of that changed when I touched something I shouldn’t have and woke up with strange new abilities. If I thought that trying to figure out my new place in life as an Avenger was tough, I had no idea what was in store for me once I ran into the frustrating God of Mischief, Loki.

Rating: E (later on)

Notes: Friendly reminder that this is un-Beta’d, so please excuse any typos or grammatical errors I no doubt missed during revisions!

Also on Ao3 here :)

Warnings: Violence, blood, death, language

Loki had me pressed up against the brick wall of the alley where we’d just had dinner. His lips and hands roamed over my body, setting fire to my nerve endings. I writhed against him, delighting in his searing touch against my overheated skin.

“We need the girl!” A man appeared next to us, pushing a gun into Loki’s side.

Another appeared on the other side of our entangled bodies and held a knife to my throat. “No funny business, pal. You move and she dies.”

Loki’s eyes met mine, filled with fear. But I instinctively knew it was not for himself, but me. He reached out with impossible speed, breaking the hand of the man holding the knife to me, forcing him to drop it with a terrible scream.

A gunshot echoed throughout the night. I saw pain flood Loki’s face, his mouth open as he gasped in shock. He fell to the ground, blood pouring from his stomach. I slammed down to my knees by his side, my hands uselessly pushing on the wound to try to hold him to this Earth.

But it was too late. The spark had left his eyes and his lips were still, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. The man who had shot him grabbed me underneath my arms and hauled me away from Loki’s body.

“No!” I screamed, reaching out for him with hands wet and dark with his blood. I struggled and flailed, tears pouring down my face as I stared at the lifeless body of the man I held most dear.

“He’s dead, bitch.”

My heart stopped, and my body tensed. Heartbreaking despair switched to pure, unadulterated rage. I slammed my feet down into the ground, halting our progress and taking in my surroundings. I saw my dagger that the men had taken off my person at some point tossed aside by Loki.

With cold, calculating fury I summoned the knife to me. It flew into my hand, and I plunged it into the eye socket of the man restraining me. I stormed toward Loki, my hazel eyes and clenched fists flashing with green lightning as I saw more men approaching with guns drawn.

There was no hesitation as I wrenched a heavy limb from a nearby tree, my hands twisting in the air. I squeezed my fists in their direction, and the limb knocked them to the ground and crushed their upper bodies beneath its weight.

More men came, and I killed each of them brutally and without remorse until the alley was filled with corpses and stank with the overwhelming iron scent of the blood I had spilled. But when I looked at Loki, he was still cold and lifeless. Had I thought that killing everyone was going to change anything?

The nearest corpse to me opened his eyes and turned to me, cracking open his bloody lips with a terrifying moan, “Our deaths are on your hands, and we will still come.”

I wrenched up in bed, sobbing so loudly that it felt as if my throat was ripping apart. My hair was stuck to my sweaty neck and forehead. I clutched the sheets for dear life as my eyes darted around the dark room in search of the dead from my dreams.

My strangled sobs must have been louder than I realized; Loki materialized next to my bed almost instantly. His brow was furrowed as he looked at me in despair. “Let me in, love.”

I then registered the knocks on my door, soft enough to not wake the others while remaining barely audible. With the biometric scanners used to keep the bedrooms secure his handprint hadn’t been added to the database to allow him into my room.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., open the door.” My voice was so scratchy and raw that it didn’t even sound like me.

The door opened and Loki rushed inside, matching the illusion that disappeared, wearing only a pair of flannel pants and his hair disheveled from sleep. He climbed onto the bed beside me quickly but stopped just before he was going to pull me into his arms. He hesitated with his arms outstretched, searching my tear-soaked face to make sure that his touch wasn’t going to make me cry harder.

As soon as he sat down on the bed my hands flew to his stomach, needing to feel for myself that he was whole and unharmed. The dim moonlight practically glowed on his pale flesh, and I couldn’t see or feel any evidence of my dreams on his taut skin. With that fear alleviated, I threw myself into his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck. I wasn’t crying anymore, but I couldn’t silence the need that I had to hold him as close to me as humanly possible. I needed the reassurance that he was truly okay.

“Shhh, love. I promise you, it is all right. You are safe in my arms. I’ve got you,” he whispered, drawing me onto his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around my back. With only my shirt between us, he was so much colder than normal, but I appreciated the shocking temperature. It grounded me to reality, to him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, his quiet voice intimate in the stillness of the night.

I shook my head and pressed it into his neck, inhaling the comforting spice and musk of his skin. Saying it only made the dream more real. Besides, would he judge me for getting so worked up over a dream? It wasn’t like it had happened. Well, like some of it hadn’t happened. The most worrying part of the whole dream, besides him dying, had been the absolute madwoman I had turned into after he had died. I didn’t want to believe that that person was inside of me. But as he gently rocked me in his arms I knew deep down that I wouldn’t passively accept the circumstances if something happened to him.

“That’s fine, love. I’m here. I’m not leaving you,” he whispered. “I only offered because it may help you.”

I pulled away just enough to meet his eyes. He looked so concerned, so worried. It was a far cry from the smug arrogant look he normally wore. I hated to know that I was the cause of the pain twisting his features. “Look,” I whispered, my voice cracking on the short word. I grabbed one of his hands and put it on my forehead, permitting him to search my mind for the recurring nightmare that nagged at me.

“Are you sure? I don’t have to know.” He brushed my sweaty hair off my forehead, but I was too tired to feel embarrassed about it. His hand felt too good against my skin when he put it back where I had left it.

I nodded silently, pressing my forehead harder into his palm. Maybe he was right. Maybe it would help to not have to carry this burden alone anymore. Anything to get it to stop and to get a good night’s sleep.

Loki’s shining eyes closed, and then I was reliving the nightmare with a rush of warmth that flowed out from my head. It was over in the blink of an eye, but it felt like I was stuck back in that terrible dream for a lifetime. I dropped my face into his chest once his hand lifted from me, trying to focus solely on his body wrapped around mine and not the haunting images burned behind my closed eyelids. My ear pressed against the hard muscle over his heart, and I listened closely to his heartbeat to try to slow my own.

His breathing was ragged as he soothed me, and I detected the faintest tremor in his hands as he smoothed them over my arms, my back, my head. Something in my dreams had hit him just as hard as it had me. “I’m safe. You’re safe. We’ve got each other,” he whispered, letting go of me briefly to reach down and pull the twisted blankets up until they were pulled up over us.

“They’re still coming for me,” I whimpered, keeping my hold on him as he slowly lowered both of our bodies until we were laying down. I pulled my arms from around his neck and instead tucked one beneath my body, the other draping across his middle as he stretched out on his back.

Loki pulled on me gently until my whole torso was cushioned on his chest and my head buried into the hollow of his neck.

“We’ll be ready, love. Now quiet your mind and try to rest. I’m not leaving you,” he hushed me, tucking an arm around my back and resting his other hand on mine, holding it to his chest.

I didn’t fight him. It was late and I felt like I hadn’t slept in weeks. And for such a lean, muscled man, he was quite comfortable. It was easy to give in to his demands and drift off to sleep once more.

~~~

“She is still resting, F.R.I.D.A.Y.. I will not wake her, no matter how often he has you request it,” Loki’s deep voice rumbled against my cheek that rose and fell with each breath he took, rousing me from my deep sleep.

I groaned, tightening the arm that was currently wrapped across his chest and pulled myself up his body until I could bury my face into the crook of his neck. He smelled so distinctly Loki. Just a clean combination of earthy spice, leather, and something entirely male. It was quickly becoming a scent I craved, and I was becoming more and more okay with that.

“Good morning, little one,” he murmured, pressing his lips to my temple.

“Nope,” I grunted.

He chuckled warmly. “Did you sleep well for the remainder of the night?”

I pulled away from him and sat up in bed, facing him and rubbing my fists into my eyes. Letting my hands fall, I took stock of how I felt. I was surprisingly well-rested, and my muscles were loose and warm. “Yeah, I did.”

He sat up and leaned against the headboard of my bed, his eyes never leaving me. I wanted to take a picture of the soft fondness in his gaze and treasure it forever. I wanted to admire this little glimpse of him that no one else got to see. The genuine smile that he had for me even in my bed-rumpled state. The warmth of his eyes when he reached out to push some of my messy hair out of my eyes. It was a private version of the god, just for me.

“You haven’t had a proper sleep in weeks. I did my best to allow you to rest for as long as possible, but Stark can be impatient.” He rolled his eyes.

As if on cue, F.R.I.D.A.Y. came in over the speakers in my room, “Jen, Tony wants you to meet him in the gym as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I paused to stifle a huge yawn behind my hand. “Lemme get some clothes on and kick the devastatingly handsome Asgardian Prince out of my room.”

“I will let him know that you must get dressed and make Loki leave your bedroom.”

“No, wait! Shit.” I fell backward onto the bed, putting my hands over my face and groaning loudly into them.

“Devastatingly handsome, hmm?” Loki's voice was dripping with mirth. I watched him through the cracks in my fingers as he knelt on the bed next to me, trapping my shoulders between his hands as he leaned over me.

I moved my hands up to grasp his flexed biceps and rubbed them with my thumbs in appreciation. “You are a literal god, shirtless in my bed, with washboard abs and muscles that I didn’t know existed, looking at me like you want to eat me, and a voice that could make angels weep. Yes, your handsomeness is devastating.” As if he didn’t know the effect he had on me.

He moved to rest on his elbows so that he could grasp my hands in his, the length of his body firm against mine. “I don’t wish to eat you, darling. I wish to devour you,” he promised with a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth.

My breath hitched at the contradiction of his desire-laced voice and unbearably tender kiss. He smirked at my response, then rested his forehead against mine. I tried to tilt my face up to kiss him, but he pushed me further into the bed with his hold on my hands.

“Ah, ah,” he purred, his breath tickling my lips. He teased me, brushing tender kisses to my temples, eyelids, nose, cheeks, and forehead. Anywhere but where I truly wanted him.

“Do you have any idea how devastating you are?” he asked, parting his lips so he could lightly bite my earlobe. I arched my back against him, the molten lava flowing through my veins demanding more of his touch.

“Jen, Loki, F.R.I.D.A.Y. told me you are both in here. Gym. Now. Or I’m coming in there,” Tony’s voice interrupted us through said AI’s speakers.

I flushed, opening my eyes to see Loki still leaning over me with a toothy, mischevious smile.

“Oh no, I’m not going to hang around and see if he’s willing to go through with that. Not when we’re like this.” I pointedly looked up and down his shirtless body pinning me to the bed.

“If you insist,” Loki replied with a smirk, leaning down to capture my lips in a deep kiss, pulling away with a swipe of his cool tongue on my bottom lip. He got off of the bed, his hungry eyes following my body as I stood up as well.

Damn. “Can you not?” I muttered, rubbing my hand over my face as I tried to regain my composure.

“But it’s so nice to watch you squirm.” He stood there, chest heaving, looking like sin personified. “To feel your body against mine and listen to your quiet moans in my ear. It is entirely your fault that I long to feel your soft skin beneath my fingertips and-”

“Please stop. Telling you about the voice thing was a bad idea. I’m going to need you to go now so I can get dressed.” I blushed bright red and hid my face in my hands.

Loki prowled over to me, his hand clasping my hip as he stooped down to kiss the racing pulse point on my neck. “Until later, darling.”

And then he sauntered out of my room and I finally remembered how to breathe. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., tell Tony that I’ll be there in ten.”

Dressed ready to train in leggings, my holstered dagger that Loki had left on my bedside table, and a tank top and munching on an apple, I walked into the gym. Nat was already waiting for me in one corner, warming up with powerful punches and kicks to our practice dummy. Loki was in the corner across from hers, conjuring daggers and throwing them with graceful lethality into the center of a target halfway across the gym. And Tony was waiting for me in the middle of them, leaning against the padded wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You’re late, kid,” he called, looking at me over his blue-tinted glasses as I walked up to him.

“Sorry, Tony. Lost track of time. I didn’t sleep well last night.” I leaned onto the wall next to him, mimicking his pose. Maybe if I acted like everything was normal and didn’t say anything, we wouldn’t talk about F.R.I.D.A.Y. spilling the beans on Loki and I. He had to have known already considering how I reacted to him telling Loki to stay away, but that didn’t mean I wanted his suspicions confirmed. Maybe she didn’t say anything.

“Because of him?” he scowled, glancing at Loki, who continued as if he wasn’t listening to our conversation. I’d put money on the fact that he was, though. He was too nosy not to listen.

“No. Nightmares. He’s the only reason I slept at all,” I snapped, raising my brow in defiance.

Damn F.R.I.D.A.Y..

“You’re old enough that I can’t tell you what to do, or who to do, but there are some ground rules.” He got off of the wall, standing in front of me and holding his fingers out with each point, “One: No funny business in the common areas. I don’t need those mental images. Two: You have to keep up your work commitments. Hydra is still coming after you, and we gotta get you in tip-top shape.”

He pointed at Loki, his concerned eyes meeting mine. “Third, don’t take any shit from him. I know that’s his thing, but you’re too good for that. You got me?”

“I got you, Tony,” I smiled, stepping forward and clapping him on the shoulder with my free hand.

I left my hand there, squeezing harder and looking at him with thinly-veiled anger, my smile turning sinister. “And you do not say one hateful thing to him when it comes to me. He’s my choice, and I deserve the chance to figure this out solo. No telling the rest of the team, either. Just you and Nat know. You got me?”

He took a step back, his brow raised as he pulled himself from my grip. After straightening his black-zip up Stark Industries jacket, he nodded. “Deal.”

“Awesome.” I smiled more sweetly and crossed my arms over my chest. “Now, what’s up?”

Tony rolled his shoulders and waved over Nat and Loki. “I know you’re going to tell these two, so let’s just save us all some time. Nat, Loki, get over here!”

Nat paused mid-kick and jogged over to us, panting slightly as she stood by my side. I felt a hand on the small of my back, and Loki stepped up to my side without even a hair out of place for all of the rigorous training he had been doing.

“I know she’s training with you guys after this, and you need to know this anyway and she tends to ramble for ages. So it’s easier if I just tell you all now. We finally got some intel from Wanda.”

“What is it?” Nat asked, standing up straighter, her curious face hardening as she switched into Black Widow mode. It was like Steve’s Captain America persona, but much scarier and less condescending.

“Her and Vision should be back in a few hours. They figured out why Hydra wants Jen. They had planned to use the juju in that box that Jen absorbed to run some experiments on their guys. Make some super-soldiers like Cap but with what she has going on now. But now that all the good stuff is in her, the next best thing is to just take her and use her instead.”

“Use me for what?” I asked quietly. Loki’s hand pushed against me, making me take half a step closer to him so that my shoulder brushed against his chest. I unwound my crossed arms and mimicked his position, knowing he would probably need the comforting touch just as much as I did.

“What they always want: world domination. You aren’t nearly powerful enough for that yet, and you may never be. Especially to face off against us. So we don’t know what their game plan would be to get you there. But we won’t let it get to that, kid, I promise,” Tony tried to reassure me, but the concern he felt over the situation weighed on him, visible in the dark bags beneath his eyes and the droop in his shoulders. When Tony was worried I tended to worry, too.

I let out a heavy sigh of resignation. “Then they’re not going to stop.”

“No, they’re not. I’m thinking our best bet is going in and wiping these guys out for good. We know where a few different bases are, and we can take them out easily if we hit them with all we’ve got. We’re taking out the first one in three days. Try to hit them before they hit us. Any questions?” Tony asked, taking charge of the situation. He always did feel better with a plan.

“I’m coming on that mission,” I blurted out. It wasn’t a question. I hadn’t known that was what I wanted, not really, but saying it felt right. I wasn’t going to let them risk their lives to save me. Not when I could be beside them helping out.

“You are, Poison Ivy. You’re safest with all of us to back you up. Now, take these,” Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like smart watches for each of us, “and wear them at all times. They’re hooked up to F.R.I.D.A.Y. so we can use them to stay connected. Do not take them off.”

He set his stony gaze on Nat and Loki beside me, “Get her ready.”

“Come on, Jen. Let’s kick some ass,” Nat said, determination squaring up her shoulders.

I nodded to Loki and Tony before following her, feeling the nerves and anticipation roiling through my body. It was all very real now. I wasn’t training for some unforeseeable future where I would be called on a mission for the Avengers. Now there was a deadline. In three days I would be out in the real world, fighting people who wanted to kidnap me, and I didn’t feel anywhere close to being prepared.

“So, about last night…” Nat stretched her arms across her chest while she watched me with a smirk.

“We don’t want anybody finding out yet. Just, please, okay?” I begged, taking the last bite of my previously forgotten apple and tossing it into a nearby trash can.

“Just answer me one question: How amazing was it when he gave you that hickey?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows and glancing at the lanky Asgardian across the gym as he resumed his target practice.

“Oh my god! We are so not talking about this!” I exclaimed, feeling my cheeks heat up. I tugged on my braid as if that could cover the love mark marring my skin that I had forgotten about while I was rushing to get ready earlier. That only made her suggestive smirk bigger, so I dropped it and braced myself on the balls of my feet, preparing to get the daylights beaten out of me.

While I had improved from when we first started, I still wasn’t anywhere close to the skill level of my teammates. Every move I made required a split-second choice, which was an eternity when fists and legs were flying at you, while they had all worked so long and trained so hard that the reactions were second nature to them.

Spurred on by the very real future where I would be put in situations where I was the main target, Nat worked me harder than ever. No more holding her strikes back. No more breaks mid-fight to allow me to catch my breath. She was taking Tony’s directive to heart.

I chalked it up to dumb luck when my kick in the back of her knee sent her falling. I hastened her fall by shoving her shoulder and then threw myself on top of her. Straddling her hips, I trapped one of her hands beneath my knee and held the other by the wrist. Only once she was securely pinned did I pull out my dagger, holding it to her throat with a triumphant and exhausted smile.

“Finally!” I exclaimed, letting the tension seep out of my shoulders and pulling my hand away from her neck to rest on my thigh.

She just smiled in return, glancing behind me.

A hand tangled into my hair and my head was jerked back. I felt the cool bite of steel against my throat. Nat disarmed me without trouble now that I was effectively immobilized and touched the tip of my dagger to my chest, just enough to let one drop of blood well up beneath it.

“Don’t get cocky,” Loki hissed from behind me, releasing my hair and pulling his dagger away.

With him no longer holding me, Nat smoothly bucked me off of her hips and reversed our positions. All the air left my lungs from the force of her slamming me into the mat. And with my knife against my throat once more, I was dead for the third time in less than a minute.

“And don’t let your guard down,” she said, getting off of me and holding out her hand.

I took her hand and stood up, wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of my arm. I waited until I could gulp down a deep breath before bending my knees, nodding that I was ready. I felt like I had been pulverized by Thor’s hammer repeatedly, but fighting, while I was this beat up and exhausted, was good practice. I would take all the practice I could get.

“Good. Again.”

I only managed to pin her one more time during our sparring session, and there wasn’t a moment spared to celebrate my improvement. She just critiqued how I could have done it more efficiently, and we began again. By the time we finished, I was more bruise than person.

I was sweating and panting when I walked over to Loki, who had alternated between watching us spar and throwing his own magically conjured daggers. He leveled me with his hard, penetrating gaze for several moments, his brow furrowed in thought.

“You put too much thought into battle. I can see you thinking as you fight with Natasha. You have to let go and just react,” he stated, beginning to walk slowly around me.

I stood still, following him with my eyes and head as much as I could while keeping my feet planted firmly on the floor. I summoned my dagger into my hand from the holster, holding it at my side as I readied myself for his attack. He moved with all the surety of a predator, at ease and focused as he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

“My first instinct is to run. If I just reacted, I’d be out of here,” I said flatly.

“You cannot run when in battle. Your enemies will not hesitate to stab you in the back, and then they will take you from us. You must keep your eyes open and face them head-on. You are stronger than you realize,” he commanded, his voice coming from somewhere behind me. “I will be by your side in battle, but I must know that you are able to hold your own. Feel and hear what is going on around you as much as you see it.”

I took a deep breath, struggling against the fatigue that wanted to tremble in my limbs and weigh them down. I couldn’t hear anything he was doing over the pounding of my heart. A breeze stirred hairs that had fallen from my braid against my neck, and I whirled around as fast as I could, aiming my dagger high for his face. He grabbed my shoulder and knocked my dagger from my hand with the flat of his blade, then aimed his weapon at my stomach as he pulled me to him. I gasped, bracing for pain, clenching my eyes shut. I felt nothing but his lean body as I fell against his chest, where he let me rest for a split second before he pushed me away from him so roughly that I stumbled for a few steps before getting my bearings. He had made the blade disappear just before he would have stabbed me with it. Asshole.

“You’re dead.” He put his hands out beside him with a flourish, daggers appearing in them easily. “Again.”

“Can I take a second?” I asked, leaning forward with my hands on my knees. “Nat kicked my ass six ways to Sunday and I’m beat.”

“In three days you will not get a break. In three days, your team will be depending on you to have their backs. In three days, men will attack you with the sole purpose of taking you from me and using you in despicable ways. You must be faster. You must be more prepared. Stand up,” he said harshly.

“Let me breathe for a second!” I shouted.

He was on me in an instant, forcing me to stand with a hand at my throat. It wasn’t restricting; I could still breathe easily, but his point had been made. I looked up to him, ready to chew him out, but I was rendered mute by the look of fear and anger warring in his bright emerald eyes.

“They want you! They will stop at nothing to make you their weapon against us. They will not hold back or show you mercy. These men are killers, and your hesitation could mean the death of those you hold dear.”

The fury in his eyes gave way to fear, and he stroked my neck softly with his thumb even as he continued to hold me captive by the same hand. “They will take you from me. I will do everything in my power to protect you, but I need you capable,” he said, not unkindly.

“But you’re a thousand-year-old god who grew up training to be a warrior. I will never be as strong or as fast as you,” I groaned, taking his hand from my neck and dropping it by his side.

“You don’t have to be my equal in battle. You only have to be their better, and you already are. Prove it,” he challenged as he handed one of his daggers to me. “Do not hold back.”

He stood several feet away from me, crouching down and brandishing his weapons, and shot me a sinister grin. I burst into action, throwing his dagger at him as I charged toward him. He dodged it with a roll on the ground, coming up right next to me. I aimed an elbow into his face while swiping at his midsection with my dagger. My elbow barely connected with his mouth as he hit my arm, the strength of it knocking my knife from my hand. He threw his fist into my stomach, sending me stumbling back with a moan of pain. I called my knife back into my hand, sending a kick into his knee. It connected and he fell to one knee fluidly, as if my blow helped him rather than hindered.

With a shout, I sliced down to his neck. I felt his hand latch onto my ankle, and he yanked it upwards, throwing me heavily onto my back. His weight settled onto my hips, and he conjured a blade into his outstretched hand that pointed right at my throat. I scrambled, bucking my hips and twisting my leg up to throw it over his shoulder and force him onto his back. My knife went toward his face with all of my weight thrown behind it as I rolled into a sitting position with my momentum, and I was brought to a halt when I felt the bite of a knife digging into the tense skin on my stomach. I had lost track of one of his hands, and he had slipped it between us.

“Don’t lose sight of your opponent’s hands,” he instructed with a smirk, his eyes flashing impishly. Of course I only pinned him because he let me.

I dropped my dagger to the mat beside him, rolling off of his body to collapse onto my back. Breathing heavily, I threw my arm over my eyes. “Got it,” I huffed breathlessly.

“Let’s go again. Come,” Loki urged, grabbing my arm from my eyes and hauling me to my feet effortlessly.

He led me over to stand in front of the wooden target he was using earlier. It was at least forty feet away, but I could see the large holes chipped from the middle from his practice earlier. “Show me how you would hit that target.”

Rolling my head around to loosen my weary and throbbing neck and shoulders, I stared down at the target. Summoning my knife into my hand, I lined up and threw it as hard as I could. It hit the target, but only just, catching the edge of it. “Shit.”

“You are too forceful in your approach. Daggers are not hammers meant for hacking and brute strength. They are extensions of the body, and should be treated as such.”

“Okay, Yoda. What does that mean, exactly?” I grumbled.

Loki came over behind me until I could feel his breath upon my neck, wrapping one arm around my waist and the other hand on my dominant hand. “Just as you have worked with the Widow on working with your body’s limitations and abilities, that same thought applies for mastering throwing knives. Your body is built for agility and speed, not brute force. You are all momentum and grace.”

He called my weapon to his hand, placing it gently into my palm and closing my fingers around it, adjusting my grip until it was where he wanted it. Tightening his arm so that our hips were flush together, he spun around, pivoted on one foot, and followed the motion through by guiding my arm to relax and let go of the dagger with a flick of my wrist. It sailed through the air and hit the center of the target with a satisfying thunk!

“And if you cannot garner that momentum, you have other talents you may call upon.” He released me, tossing his dagger lazily toward the target. A green light surrounded it, increasing the speed, and it slammed into the target with so much force that it broke in half.

With a snap of his fingers the target was in one piece again. He looked at me and waved to the target with a flourish of his hand, his brow raised expectantly.

Taking mine into my hand, I focused on the energy that constantly thrummed inside of me. I opened my palm, willing it to levitate a few inches above my hand. I spun my hand around and flicked my wrist. The obsidian dagger lodged itself into the target just off-center.

“Not bad, darling. Once more.”

An hour later and I was spent. Loki had alternated my training with him between sparring and target practice. I hadn’t improved much in either discipline. I could feel the purple bruises blooming on my skin, and my muscles were tense and shaking from overexertion. I had several light cuts on neck, arms, stomach, and thighs from Loki nicking me to make a point and keep me on my toes. Sweat drenched my clothing, and I had never been so tired in my life.

But I was proud of myself. I had managed to open a small cut on Loki’s lip and give him a bruise on one of his high, sharp cheekbones. He wasn’t sweaty or exhausted like I was, but to have done a small amount of damage against someone so skilled was proof that I wasn’t completely terrible. Although one of them had been a cheap shot when he thought I was hurt and he had come to my aid, but I was still counting it.

“Come on, darling. You cannot sleep on this floor all night.” Loki stood above me, grinning as he held out his hand to hoist me up.

“I don’t know, I’m pretty comfortable,” I grumbled, accepting his hand and standing up with a grunt.

He squeezed my hand before dropping it and walking beside me. “You are improving,” he said encouragingly.

“If I didn’t I’m pretty sure you would’ve stabbed me at least ten different times back there,” I laughed.

He chuckled and steered me into the elevator with a light touch on the small of my back. “Not to wound your confidence, but I was holding back. You will never be close to besting me.”

“Arrogant ass. Someone needs to knock you down a peg,” I teased.

“And you think yourself up to the task?” he asked, arching his brow with a wide, sly smile.

“Bring it on, God of Mischief,” I smirked as we rounded the corner into the kitchen.

“Jennifer! How nice to see you again!’ Vision called as we walked in, standing next to Wanda who smiled brightly at me.

I ran over to Wanda and gave her a tight hug. “I’m so sweaty and gross and I’m sorry about that but it’s so good to see you guys again!”

I gave Vision a quick hug as well before stepping back to stand by Loki, who was watching the other couple with a blank expression. I nudged him with my hip, trying to get him to loosen up a little and look less like hated everything.

“We’re glad to be back. Did we miss much while we were gone?” she asked, brown eyes shifting between me and Loki and the lack of distance between us.

Loki, clearly not wanting to be a part of this conversation any longer, cleared his throat and nodded a farewell to us before walking quickly to his room.

I followed him with my eyes before looking back at the couple. Vision was watching me with a calculated expression on his now-permanently purple face. It was weird to see him without the stone in his forehead, but it meant that there was one less weapon for Thanos to get his hands on. Wanda was watching me expectantly, and I suddenly remembered that she had asked me a question.

“Oh! Uh, Nat has been kicking my ass to get ready for the mission in a couple days. And Loki did this,” I pointed to the cut on my cheekbone and lip, “working with me with daggers today. But I got him back for it. so I’m getting there! And I’ve been working on my powers while you were gone.”

I held out my hands in front of me. The dagger strapped to my thigh flew into one hand. I looked to a potted bamboo plant on the kitchen counter in front of them and caressed the air with my fingertips, willing the plant to grow several inches higher.

“So, I’m a bit better at that now, too,” I stated proudly, slipping my dagger back into its sheath at my hip. “But now what I really need is a shower, and then we can catch up on everything you both did while you were gone.”

I smiled and jogged off toward my room, excited to feel less like a swamp monster and to get all of the details I craved from Wanda and Vision about what happened while they were gone.

I walked into the living room after I resembled and smelled like a person again, refreshed and wearing clean dark jeans and a thin blue sweater. I was about to turn to go into the kitchen when I heard Vision’s matter-of-fact voice.

“I do not believe that your fraternizing with Miss Jennifer is a good idea.”

I froze, knowing immediately that he had to be talking to Loki, but I wasn’t sure of whether or not I should let him handle this himself or help him out.

“I do not believe that she is of your concern, machine,” Loki hissed. I could picture the anger distorting his face, matching the malice in his voice.

“She has returned from your training physically harmed,” Vision replied accusingly.

“And her body is also riddled with bruising and swelling from the Widow, but I do not see you having this conversation with her,” he said coldly.

“Natasha has proven herself loyal to these people. You have not. How are we to know your true motives when you are known for your cunning and deceit?” Vision asked, a hard edge to his tone.

I heard a chair screech against the floor. “How am I to prove myself unless I’m given the chance?” Loki sounded so upset and frustrated; I needed to go in there.

“I believe it is best that you leave her-”

I stormed into the room, ripping my dagger from my side and holding it out in front of me as I stood in front of Loki. “Enough, Vision!”

Vision’s calculating stare moved from Loki to me, and he tilted his head. “You would defend this man?”

“I will,” I replied, gripping the knife tighter to stop my hand from shaking.

“And you know of all he has done?”

“I do, especially to me. But if we are all judged just based on our past we never have a chance to grow or get better. He’s trying, and it would be a hell of a lot easier if all of the judgemental assholes in our lives would back the hell off about it,” I hissed, glaring at him.

“Darling, it’s all right,” Loki murmured into my ear from behind me, his hand reaching for my bicep to make me lower my weapon.

“No, it’s not!” I shouted and jerked my arm out of Loki’s grasp. “How did you even know, anyway?”

Vision crossed his arms over his chest. “I have access to everything F.R.I.D.A.Y. does. The cameras are part of her system.”

“So you spied on us? That’s fucked up,” I exclaimed, looking at Wanda as she walked in from the room she shared with Vision. “And I don’t think that Wanda would agree with you, Vision.”

Wanda’s hands and eyes flickered with red as she quickly took in the tense scene. “What wouldn’t I agree with?” she asked tersely.

“Vision jumped on the same Loki-is-a-terrible-person train that Tony was on. I get that you all are protective of me and that I’m the newbie who can barely control my powers. I get that Loki has done some really terrible stuff in the past. Trust me, I really do. But I also need you all to understand me and trust me when I say that he’s trying to make up for that and help me out. Your choices are to get over it, or... to get over it,” I spat, chest heaving with barely-contained anger. It felt like it was going to explode out of me, and Loki’s large hand splayed across my stomach to hold me back against him was the only thing keeping me from completely losing it.

“Vis, she can protect herself,” Wanda said, eyeing the knife that I held out at Vision warily.

“It isn’t only about her protection-”

A crack appeared in the blade of the knife as it shook in my hand, my powers warring to escape and finding a chink in my control. “Right now it is. I’m the reason why you were both gone for so long, and I’m the one that Hydra wants. If you think that this man who put stopped actual bullets for me with his body and has saved my life twice now isn’t one of the best people for the job, I don’t know what to tell you. Wanda was also feared and disliked by people who only saw her past, and look at her now! Because she was given a chance!” I shouted.

“We’re done with this conversation!” I laced my fingers through Loki’s hand on my stomach, leaving the stunned faces of my friends behind and dragging him into my bedroom.

“It isn’t fair!” I huffed, tossing my ruined blade onto the bed and whirling around to face Loki.

Loki stayed by the door, leaning against it with his hands in his pockets an unreadable expression on his stony face. “I do understand their concern.”

“What? You can’t possibly believe what he’s saying,” I said incredulously.

He walked over to me slowly. “What proof do you truly have that I am not deceiving you?”

“We’re not going to do this again. You’re not going to convince me to not have feelings for you, so just stop trying,” I snapped.

“What if I only saved you so that you could be taken by Hydra in the future? What if I am forcing you to care for me so that you will be distracted from your goals? Am I not the God of Lies and Trickery?” He brought a hand up to caress my cheek, “What if you are mistaking lies for affection?”

I subconsciously leaned into his cool touch, using it to calm the rage deep inside of me. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I’ll find out in three days, where I will either stand with you to destroy this Hydra base, get kidnapped, or die,” I replied smoothly.

Alarm flashed across his face and he lowered his hand to rest on my shoulder. “Why would you die?”

Unable to look at him, I stared down at the outline of his chest through his thin black shirt. “Because I’m about to ask you to do something that you aren’t going to want to agree to, and I need you to hear me out before you say yes...”

He visibly stiffened, the muscles I could see in his chest flexed and his hand followed suit to match their tension. “What?”

“Hydra wants to take me to turn me into some freaky killing machine like Bucky was before Steve got to him. But while Bucky was under their control, he tried to kill Steve and he did kill so many innocent people. They pumped him full of the same type of drugs that made Steve Captain America, and they gave Wanda her powers.”

I groaned, running my hands through my damp, scraggly hair. “I can’t let that happen. If they do to me what they did to them: increase my powers so I’m as strong as her, or fuck with my mind so I wouldn’t recognize Tony or Thor,” I paused to look up into his confused, haunting eyes sadly, “or you, and I end up hurting or killing any of you… I couldn’t live with myself. I can’t let them take me.”

I had been giving it a great deal of thought since Tony had told me their plans. I couldn’t imagine the torture I would have to go through to get to that position, and then if I lived through that, I would be a danger to so many people. So many people that I love and hold dear. If someone ever managed to undo what was done to me would I be able to live with myself after that? I didn’t want to find out. I didn’t want to know what I was capable of. It would be like my last nightmare, but in real life and never-ending. And it is what any of the other Avengers would do. Sacrifice for the greater good, right? That’s what a hero does, and I guess I was part of that group now with my new powers.

Realization dawned on him, and he shook his head and my shoulder fiercely. “No. No. I am not ending your life in some irrational attempt at heroism.”

“And I won’t let myself be turned into some brainwashed evil person who kills her friends and-and you, and innocent people. They want to take over the world, and they won’t be doing it to bring about world peace!”

Loki backed away from me, his eyes radiating pain and determination as he took in my stubborn expression. “I will not! If you are taken then myself and the bumbling idiots outside this room will stop at nothing get you back,” he said firmly.

I closed the distance between him until our chests touched with each breath, taking both of his hands in mine. I tried to stop the tears that gathered in my eyes from how much this was hurting him, from how scared I was at asking this, but a few betrayed me and slid down my face anyway. “Please, Loki. If it ever comes to it, to them taking me or my death, I am begging you to kill me. I know you will make it quick.”

His eyes blazed as they met mine. “So you wish to die, then?” he hissed, and he let go of my hands to press a dagger into my neck, the other hand tangling in my hair so that I couldn’t move.

“No, but I’ve accepted the reality that I’m not strong enough to fight off whatever they would do to me. Even if it means leaving behind this new family that I’ve made. If it means protecting them, and you, I’d do anything,” I whispered, my voice thick with tears.

“You are mine. I will not let them have you,” he vowed, tossing his dagger away carelessly. He pulled me into his arms, and I could feel him shaking slightly against me as he buried his face in my damp hair.

I sank into his embrace. I memorized the feeling of his lean, muscular body wrapped around me and the spicy, warm smell of his skin. I wouldn’t push him on the issue, not right now when he seemed so vulnerable. But when it came down to it, if it came down to it, I hoped that he would change his mind. I wasn’t going to allow myself to become a weapon for a terrible organization that wanted to ruin everything that I believed in and everyone that I cared for.

“Come. Sit with me,” he said softly after a time, letting go of me and leading me to sit on the bed with his fingers laced through mine.

I followed him wordlessly, plopping down beside him on the bed and wiping my tears away with the back of my hand so I could see through them. He wasn’t looking at me, though. He kicked off his shoes, leaving them on the floor, and ran his spindly fingers through his hair. He looked conflicted, his brow furrowed and his mouth pressed into a thin line as he stared down at my lap. It wasn’t my eyes, so I couldn’t try to figure out what he was thinking, but it was at least in my general direction. I slid my hand over the comforter to twine my fingers with his, trying to pull him back to me with my touch.

He finally looked up to me after a few more silent moments, his eyes wide and shining. “You defended me,” he whispered, sounding shocked.

I smiled sadly and scooted over on the bed until our sides were pressed together, moving our entwined hands to rest in my lap. “Of course I did, sweetheart,” I replied matter-of-factly.

“But these people are your family,” he insisted, searching my calm face.

I reached up and gently stroked his cheek, careful to avoid the light bruise I’d given him. He leaned into my touch and closed his eyes, breathing me in. My heart broke for him. For this man that was so lost that he didn’t expect anyone to stand up for him or with him. What had happened in his life that made him think that he was so unworthy of that? No one deserved to feel that unwanted or unloved.

“You would choose me over them?” His eyes flickered open and captured mine with their piercing stare.

I frowned and lowered my hand to linger on his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat thudding beneath my touch. If it came down to it, if I had to choose to stand with Loki or the Avengers, what would I do? There were too many variables to make a decision, and I couldn’t lie to him. “I… I don’t know.”

His face fell, and I quickly pressed on before he could pull away from me again. “No, that isn’t me saying no! I just… I don’t know why you would be on opposing sides. What would make have to choose. But…” I took a deep, shaky breath, “I will never go out of my way to hurt you. You have made yourself a very important part of my life. I’m not going to cast that aside.”

“It’s because I’m devilishly handsome,” he smirked, hiding his soft wonder behind levity. He brought our hands to his face so he could leave a light kiss on my knuckles.

“I adore you,” he said hoarsely, staring at me as if he could see straight into my soul. Like he could see how much of a spot in my heart he was making for himself and he rejoiced in it.

He leaned forward and kissed me. Just the barest brush of his soft lips against my own. I steadied myself with my hands on his shoulders and deepened the kiss, spurred on by the warmth that rushed through my body from the moan that rumbled through him. Despite our cut lips, we nipped and sucked and teased each other in a fury of lips and teeth and tongues until we were clinging desperately to the other. One of his hands trailed down my side and slipped beneath my shirt, pressing into the small of my back. I flinched at the pressure on a particularly bruised spot, breaking the kiss and resting my forehead against his to catch the breath that he had so willingly stolen.

“Have I hurt you?” He opened his heavy-lidded eyes to search my face for signs of pain.

“Well, kinda. You did slam me into the floor over and over again, and barely stab me a few times,” I teased, wiping my thumb across my tingling lower lip at the cut he had given me earlier. “And Nat didn’t hold back much either, so I think I’m just a walking bruise at this point. My muscles are killing me.”

“I am terribly sorry to have caused you pain.” He stroked a small slash beside my collar bone with the pad of his thumb. I shivered at the soft caress, my breath catching in my throat.

His eyes warmed at my reaction, and his usual mischievous grin made an appearance. “Will you allow me to make amends?” he asked hoarsely.

I flushed bright red and my throat ran dry. Was he asking what I think he was asking? Only one way to find out. Unable to find my voice, I nodded minutely.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., lights off,” he instructed hoarsely.

Oh my.

#to keep you safe #loki #loki odinson #loki laufeyson #loki friggason #loki fanfic #loki/ofc #fanfic #fanfiction #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel #violence tw #blood tw #death tw #language tw

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loki-fanfic-whore · 5 years

Text

Falling From Olympus ch.4

Warnings- none

@drakesfiance @kybaeza

Chapter 4 Bone

Loki read the book in a low suave tone using his seidr to give illusions of each scene. You laid in bed completely captivated by the entire story. Too into the plot to sleep. By the end Loki was chuckling at the grin on your face.

"Loki that was amazing! The way the prince swooped in to save the dragon and the princess! The lore behind it is completely different than my realms!" You felt your voice rise an octave excitedly. Loki chuckled and sat next to you on the bed.

"Princess, you must sleep...when dawn breaks you will be forced awake for long hours... I understand the time must be different on your realm but you must try to sleep." He sounded like he was chiding a child, but then again your excited giggle and the way your hair hung around your face made you look like a young teen.

"Loki I'm not sleepy at all. I-I think I love it here..." you whispered gently. Loki reached out and touched your hand gently. He noted how smooth your skin was and how your small slender fingers and fit into his long slender fingers so well.

"I'm going to help you fall asleep." He whispered gently as he kissed your hand. His seidr seeping into you flooding you with a euphoric sleepiness. You immediately yawned and removed your hand from his, laying back and falling into a soft snore of a sleep.

Loki sat on the bed for a while watching you sleep. The gentle rise and fall of your chest, your hair, your beautiful face with soft lips. He was infatuated with you and wanted nothing more than to pull you into his arms.

He watched over your sleeping form until light flitted through your curtains illuminating the room. A maid scurried in to begin your day and Loki glared at her.

"She just fell asleep. Tell whomever needs to know that she is not t ok be woken. If something persistent happens then I am to be alerted and I shall wake her. Understood? All meals are to be silently brought up and left. At the next meal take the previous meal away if untouched or finished etc. Also bring her some tunics. Green and black preferred. " The maid curtsied staring him in the eyes, it was the blatant opposition in her eyes that Loki then realized this was the same maid he had fucked yesterday.

"She is to be my wife. Remember your place." He hissed at her to drive the fact she was nothing compared to you home.

The maid bowed her head and kept her eyes trained to the floor. She curtsied again before leaving without a word.

You were plunged into dreams of screaming and tears.

Waking up in a cool sweat you whimpered as thunder and lightening cracked outside. You still thought it to be Zeus.

You stood from you bed to find a small tray of fruit next to you. You studied the fruit for a moment before you realized it was a bowl of pomegranates. You hadn't seen one in so long and missed how they tasted. You looked around finding dark green dress looking garments laid out. Smiling, because you knew they were from him, you stripped down to nothing and donned the garment, and trousers. You pulled your hair up into a messy bun atop your head and reached for a pomegranate.

"Ow!" You felt a stabbing like pain in your ribs and moved your hand to feel for it. You couldn't reach. Hoping it was just a hunger pain you reached again.

"Oww!" You groaned frustratedly.

Your door burst open to show a heaving Loki. His eyes wide.

"Thor was training. I came at the first crack of thunder. I didnt want you to worry." You giggled at his disheveled appearance then winced as you felt the stabbing again.

"Loki something is hurting me." You whimpered as you pointed to your back. Loki ran his hands over your back trying to find it. He stopped midway and with a calm tone gently demanded you strip.

You shakily removed your top crying out in pain.

"Oh dear gods...someone has put a bone pin in your tunic." Loki spoke as he touched your skin where it hurt.

"Oww a wh-what?" You asked wincing. A burning feeling was climbing up your back.

"It burns." You whimpered out. Loki frowned and gripped the pin gently. He wrenched it from your skin tearing your beautiful flesh. Blood oozed down your back as you cried from the pain.

"Shhh its okay... I've got you." Loki whispered as he cuddled you to his chest his hand rubbing over the wound to try to heal it. You felt a cooling touch against the burn and began to relax.

"Who would put a b-bone pin in my top?" You asked looking up to him.

"A bone pin is a barbed needle made to tip arrows. Think of a porcupine quill." Loki explained. So this had been put there on purpose. You sighed and stepped out of his arms covering yourself again. The blood down your back beginning to dry.

Loki glared at the floor.

"I know who did it. Rest assured princess. They will pay." His hands were trembling and his look was murderous.

"Loki...maybe it was a mistake... things happen often. You shouldn't be so livid, it isnt good for your health." You found yourself touching his chest gently trying to calm him. He sighed and wrapped you in his arms again kissing the top of your head.

"You do this to me princess. You make me want to give my life to protect you. You are so innocent and naive, that I want nothing more than to show you the real world." He whispered into your hair. You felt a shiver run down your spine and smiled.

"I may only be a teenager, but I am well seasoned. Just not for your realm, my prince." You teased him with the name and he groaned lowly.

"I have to go, princess, I have to give justice for what has happened. Until I return please do not leave this room nor let anyone in. Not even the maid staff." Loki spoke sternly and you smiled.

"Keeping me all to yourself? How selfish my pronce." You teased him again and giggled as he flustered for a second before leaving you.

He raced down the hall to Thor who was training in the sparring field.

"I have to punish a maid. She left this-" he handed the bone pin over to the sweaty panting Thor.

"In the princess's tunic. I had to RIP it from her back Thor." Loki snarled. Thor sighed and wiped his face with a small cloth.

"How are you sure it was the maid Loki?" Thor asked making sure the guilty party was infact guilty.

"Because I-...I just know...this maid was blatantly opposed to the princess and was brave enough to keep eye contact while bowing."

"Hardly a cause to think she left the bone pin." Thor retorted turning over the bone in his hands. It was dark with your blood.

"I rutted in her last night then left her like I do every one. She thinks that entitles her to better treatment. She forgets she is nothing more than a maid." Loki lowered his voice as he spoke and Thor sighed again.

"We will lock her away until she confesses without torture." It was the best Thor could do. Loki nodded.

"Why are you so obsessed with his princess Brother?" Thor asked putting a hand on lokis shoulder.

"Its hard to explain...she fascinated me and captivates me and..."

"You have fallen for her." Thor boomed, laughing. A crack of thunder rang out as training pelted the windows.

"Yes you oaf scream it out so the next realm over can hear." Loki hissed before turning to leave. His mind reeling at the fact Thor wasnt wrong. He had only been near you a day or two and yet it felt like eternity. He wanted to be with you in every way always. A feeling the God of mischief had never felt before.

#bad grammar #loki au #slow burn #loki x reader #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #thor odinson #loki x female #falling from olympus #persephone

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splendidlyimperfect · 4 years

Link

chapter 5 - is this the real life

Jaskier drifts in and out of dreams, and Geralt doesn't leave his side.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Fandom: The Witcher Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Geralt/Jaskier

@buttercuppedwitchers

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Jaskier is fairly certain he isn’t dead.

To be fair, he’s never been dead before, so he doesn’t have much to compare it to, but the tiny, intermittent sparks of pain that plague him don’t seem like they belong in the afterlife. He can’t see anything, and when he tries to move, it’s disorienting, like he doesn’t really have a body. There’s no sense of up or down, and all he can hear is a slow, rhythmic thump that he eventually realizes is his own heartbeat.

Well then. He can’t be dead if his heart is beating, so that settles it. Although, if he has a heartbeat, he should have a body, which doesn’t appear to be the case.

Continue reading on AO3

Jaskier starts to drift. He’s not sure exactly what’s happening, but it feels a little like floating. Swimming, maybe. Carried along by something warm and gentle that pulls him in and out of his sense of self. Time isn’t real. He’s not sure if he’s been here – wherever here is – for hours, or days, or perhaps years.

“…because you’re an idiot…”

A familiar voice floats through the darkness around him. It’s rough and low, and it makes Jaskier feel safe, but he has no idea who it belongs to.

“…told you not to follow me, but you never listen…”

The voice wavers and it’s like Jaskier’s listening through a door in a rainstorm, trying desperately to hear the words through the strange thickness surrounding him. He knows the voice – it’s someone important, but Jaskier can’t remember who. He’s not sure who he is, never mind some disembodied voice, but there are tiny pieces that he’s slowly starting to pull together.

White hair.

Gold eyes.

Rough, scarred hands.

“…scared the shit out of me. I yelled at you because I was scared, not because I was angry, but you make it hard to tell the difference.”

Each memory that makes its way through Jaskier is interwoven with a sharp thread of pain. The sparks come faster, and the harder he concentrates on the voice, the worse it becomes.

“Jaskier.”

He knows, the name is there, just out of reach, and Jaskier pushes harder, grabs at the pain and forces himself into it because he needs this.

“Jaskier, stop, you’re hurting yourself.”

Can’t stop, he thinks, and if he wasn’t convinced he was alive before he sure is now because there’s no way being dead could possibly hurt this much.

“…fucking idiot, you’re going to tear your stitches.” The voice is sharp, and there’s a pressure over the pain, something gentle but insistent. “You have to hold still, Jaskier. You’re making it worse.”

Making what worse?

“Shhh,” the voice murmurs as something soft and warm floods through him and pushes the pain away. “You’re safe.”

Geralt, Jaskier thinks, before he slips beneath the surface and sleeps again.

Geralt sighs, setting the empty vial of valerian on the side table and shifting his hand from where he’d been holding Jaskier’s uninjured shoulder. He runs his fingers through Jaskier’s hair instead – damp and sweaty, and dirty after four days without a bath. Stubble is starting to darken the edges of Jaskier’s jaw, and Geralt’s first thought is how horrified Jaskier would be to see himself so disheveled.

How in the world am I supposed to maintain my reputation if I look like... well, you?

Jaskier’s voice fills Geralt’s head, and he supposes that it’s a side effect of spending so much time together that he knows exactly how the conversation would go. He would roll his eyes, and Jaskier would smack his arm and then immediately dive into a rant about Geralt’s hair, and how it would be lovely if he would just let Jaskier brush it and perhaps braid it, and if he would wear something other than black once in a while it would do wonders for his complexion...

Geralt’s not sure what Jaskier would say after that, because by this point, he’s usually stopped listening. Not that he’s not paying attention to Jaskier, he just tunes out the words and hears nothing but the soft cadence of Jaskier’s voice.

“You’d better wake up soon,” Geralt grumbles. “Preferably lucid and not trying to hurt yourself.”

He yawns, rubbing his face and tipping his head back to look out the window. It’s early morning, and a soft, pink light spills across the fields around the farmhouse. Geralt rolls his shoulders, wincing at the ache that creeps up his neck from spending the last three nights sleeping in a chair.

There’s a soft knock at the door and Sayla peeks her head in again. “Everything all right?”

“Mm.” Geralt rubs his thumb across Jaskier’s cheek. “Seemed to be waking, but he had a fit again. Don’t think he tore anything.”

Sayla moves into the room, carrying a bowl of warm water that she hands to Geralt. He takes it, nodding his thanks and then wetting the cloth and starting to dab at the sweat on Jaskier’s forehead.

“That’s the last of the valerian,” Sayla says, picking up the empty vial and tucking it into her skirt pocket. “Next time he’ll wake for good.”

Geralt nods. Each dose of the drug has kept Jaskier under for about six hours, and every time he’s started to come out of it, he’s struggled and spasmed and nearly re-injured himself.

“Rohin and I are heading into town for the market,” Sayla says. “We can call for Lily to come change the bandages and check the sutures.”

“Thank you,” Geralt says softly, and Sayla squeezes his shoulder gently before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

This time when Jaskier wakes, he has a body to go along with his heartbeat. He opens his eyes to an unfamiliar room with dull ache in his shoulder, and a hand in his, fingers laced together. He blinks a few times, staring at the ceiling before attempting to look around. The small movement tugs at something in the side of his neck and he hisses in pain.

“Jaskier?”

The voice is low and filled with concern and is quickly followed by gentle fingertips on Jaskier’s cheek. Geralt’s face fills his field of vision, twisted into an expression that Jaskier’s never seen before.

“Stay still,” Geralt says, shifting until he’s sitting on the bed next to Jaskier. “The healer said the sutures are holding and you’re healing up, but you shouldn’t move too quickly.”

“W…” Jaskier makes a sound that’s not quite a word, gaze moving slowly across Geralt’s face. He looks dirty and exhausted – nothing out of the ordinary – but underneath all that he looks… afraid. Which is ridiculous, because Geralt is afraid of exactly nothing.

“I’m so sorry,” Geralt says softly, and when he brings their joined hands up to his lips and presses a kiss to Jaskier’s knuckles, Jaskier realizes he’s not actually awake. Geralt of Rivia, the Witcher, does not kiss Jaskier’s hands. He also has never apologized to Jaskier, so either Jaskier is still dreaming, or this is some sort of hallucination brought on by too little sleep or too much drink. Or both.

He tries to tell dream-Geralt this, but when he opens his mouth, nothing happens.

“Fuck,” Geralt says, running a hand over his face. Jaskier frowns at him. “Fucking hell.”

Oh, Jaskier thinks as his brain finally catches up to the pain in his shoulder and arm. This isn’t real.

Disappointment claws at him, digging its fingers into the hope he’d been holding onto and tearing it away. This isn’t Geralt – it’s the monster, and Jaskier’s lost in the mountains, bleeding to death while demon feeds off of his fear.

Jaskier exhales shakily, gritting his teeth and attempting to pull his wrist out of monster-Geralt’s grip. The hand around his arm tightens and he whimpers, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to figure out how to make the illusion go away. It’s only a matter of time before it’ll start to shift – skin melting, eyes turning red, fingers digging into Jaskier’s wounds until he tries to scream, but nothing will come out and instead he’ll choke on blood and inch closer and closer to death.

Part of him hopes it’s soon.

“Jaskier.” It sounds so much like Geralt but Jaskier knows because it’s been hours and every single time he starts to hope, he’s ripped from the dream and back to the pain. “Jaskier, look at me. It’s okay, you’re safe now.”

“Nnnn.” Jaskier tries to shake his head but it hurts, and he can’t help the tears that pool in the corners of his eyes and start to slip down his cheeks.

“This is real.”

It’s not. It can’t be.

Then Geralt’s hand is touching his face, thumb wiping the tears from his cheeks, fingers brushing gently through his hair. “Jaskier,” Geralt says again – no, it’s not Geralt, but Jaskier wants it to be so, so badly. “I’m trying not to hurt you, but if you keep moving, you’re going to open the wound again.”

Jaskier shudders, slowly opening his eyes as he realizes that there’s a bandage across his neck and shoulder, and another around his wrist, and everything doesn’t hurt quite as much as it should.

“There you are,” Geralt says, continuing to run his thumb across Jaskier’s temple. “I know you’re confused but I promise you’re safe.”

Jaskier takes a shaky breath, and another, and Geralt’s still Geralt.

“We met in Posada,” Geralt says, shifting closer to Jaskier and slowly easing the tight grip on his wrist. “Remember? You followed me around, almost died, and then wrote that stupid godsdamned song that I can never get out of my head.” He combs his fingers through Jaskier’s hair again and it feels so good, so safe and comforting.

Jaskier stops struggling – half because it hurts like hell, and half because this Geralt feels very, very different than the others. His eyes are softer. There are lines on his face that weren’t there before, and a crease in his forehead, and dark circles under his eyes, and his fingers never stop moving in Jaskier’s hair.

Geralt shifts his grip from Jaskier’s wrist to his hand and runs his thumb across Jaskier’s palm as he starts to hum. It’s horribly off-key – rough and unmelodic – but the tune is instantly familiar.

Toss a coin to your Witcher, oh valley of plenty…

There’s no way the monster could possibly know where they’d met, or how they’d been captured, and it certainly wouldn’t know the tune of the song that’s been stuck in Jaskier’s head since he wrote it.

“There you go,” Geralt says, and to Jaskier’s surprise, he leans forward and presses a soft kiss to Jaskier’s forehead. The gentle, intimate gesture feels at once wildly unfamiliar, and like the only thing that’s ever felt like home.

Jaskier closes his eyes and lets himself cry as he finally realizes that this is real, Geralt’s here, and he’s going to be okay.

#the witcher #geraskier #geralt x jaskier #jaskier x geralt #gerlion #geralt of rivia #jaskier #angst #fanfic #update #new chapter #my fic

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anorakofavalon · 5 years

Text

Another Way Chapter 3

If you haven’t, go check out Chapter 2 here.

Illusions and conjurations and restorations, healings of all the things that matter. That’s what Merlin had taught her in that time. That precious time. Months now, almost a year since that night they had made reparations over wine and whispered confessions. She had learned to make of things that were not there, or not wholly there, things that were more whole than ever before. Her heart being one such thing, in one way or another...

Morgana had learned in that time also what it meant to be struck in a perpetual wonder of things. To appreciate the glory of all that wasn’t within her grasp. She quickly came to realize, under Merlin’s instruction, that he was fond of not knowing things as much as her sister was fond of knowing everything. It was a tremendous dichotomy of truths and Morgana wasn’t sure which one to hold on to.

Despite all of her lessons with Merlin, despite helping him in the situations that came up every now and again, a large part of her did not fail to sympathize with her sister. That same side of her compelled her to attend every meeting Morgause arranged in the forest near Camelot, but the compulsion wasn’t nearly strong enough for Morgana to pay much attention to what Morgause planned or soliloquied about.

Morgana had come to notice, during the past year, that Morgause was partial to monologuing. It was an ironic little quirk, and she firmly believed she only noticed it at all because of Merlin’s influence. He was constantly making such quippy little observations. He’d make one about how much time she spends thinking of him, or some of the things he says, but he was clueless as could be in that regard. Thank the gods for small graces.

Morgana walked into the forest’s clearing. She passed the fifth tree with a notch carved into its trunk and turned right. Morgause was there, waiting.

“Hello, sister.”

“Morgause,” Morgana moved to hug her sister, and what she said as she held her close was true. “I’ve missed you.”

The sorceress agreed. “It’s been a long time.”

Morgana nodded warily, “Longer than usual. It’s been a month or two.” She pointed to the treescape around them. “Fall is rolling out now.”

Morgause offered a mysterious, mischievous smile. The sort that unsettled Morgana the most. Much as Morgana loved Morgause, her sister had a tendency to act a little erratically. Rashly, even. Her cool demeanor meant she had something up her sleeve. She did.

“I’ve been planning,” said Morgause. “And now all my time and effort will be brought to fruition, sister. Has anything changed in the castle?”

Morgana offered the truth. “Everything has been the same. Not many invasions or attacks or anything of the sort, just the dreadful routine.”

Morgause’s smile was wicked now. “Good, then they won’t be expecting the trouble that’s coming for them.”

“What trouble?”

“The type that will put us on the throne, sister. The type that will bring Uther to justice.”

The idea would have once thrilled her. Part of it did. The thought of putting Uther to justice was more appealing than anything in the entire world could have been. But being on the throne? That was trickier. But that’s what she wanted, ultimately, wasn’t it? If they were on the throne magic could be returned to Camelot.

Merlin wormed his little warlock words into her head. It’s never that simple, Morgana.

It had been one of the many discussions they shared throughout the past year on the topic. For the most part they left it aside in favor of nurturing friendship, but it was a major issue. Clearly ignoring it had led to nothing. Morgana would have to make some decisions.

Frankly, she didn’t want to.

She cleared her throat and pulled nervously at the bracelet her sister had gifted her. “What’s the plan, then? When will we be attacking?”

Morgause’s smiled widened, it was malicious now. “The plan is not the typical affair. I’ve decided it was time to innovate, sister. Don’t you think? I see it as a great way to begin our reign.”

“Innovate?”

“I think I’m spent on armies.” Morgause moved around the clearing, glancing about the trees. “It’s all so boring. Seducing kings, killing them. And then on top of that I have to manage their armies. Even the undead ones are a handful.” She stopped short. Shook her head. “No. Enough of that. We’re High Priestesses of Magic itself, Morgana. I don’t believe we’ve been using it enough.”

Morgana shook her head. “I can’t seem to follow.”

“A small force. They’ll be expecting armies and brute forces. But subversion? Sneaking? A small team for infiltration. We’ll kill the Pendragons and take down the citadel.”

Morgana’s heart beat much faster. “You have a team?”

“No, we have a team Morgana.”

Morgana offered a shaky smile. “Yes, of course… when will we be attacking?”

Morgause looked to the sky. “It’s a full moon tonight.”

It was. The moon was starting to peek through. Morgana had come to the clearing right after supper with the king. It was dusk, but not dark.

“Will we wait for the new moon?”

Morgause laughed. “A time of darkness? You always had a flair for the dramatic. We share that in common, you and I.”

She continued. “But no. We’re attacking tonight.”

Morgana’s heart dropped. She had run out of time. “Tonight?”

“I will see you at midnight, dear sister. By dawn we will be queens. We’ll be the saviors of every sorcerer in the land.”

“How will I know when to do my part? I’m not even sure what my part will be?”

“You’ll know when it’s time sister. I can’t share anything more.”

Morgana curled her fingers in frustration. She moved up to Morgause, imploring. “Don’t you trust me, Morgause?”

Morgause was astonished by the concept. She took Morgana’s fingers in her hand and said “Of course I do my darling. I trust you with my life. But the plan must succeed. It’s our only hope, you understand?”

Morgana nodded numbly. Morgause disappeared into the night with a curl of wind. The sun had set.

Morgana ran back to the castle.

~{(0)}~

“Merlin!”

She had burst right through the door to Gaius’ chambers. The old man startled from where he was, presumably pouring over a text on medicine. It was a gift Merlin had given him recently. She recalled its spine and binding. Merlin had talked to her about it for weeks.

“Ah, Lady Morgana. I did not expect you at this hour. You haven’t had a resurgence of your dreaming, have you?”

His eyebrows suggested something Morgana did very much not like him suggesting. She blushed anyways. “I came to see Merlin.”

“Now that’s a surprise.” The old bastard knew it wasn’t, and she did not appreciate being teased over it at all. “Unfortunately, it seems that Merlin is still with the Prince. He hasn’t come in yet.”

She said “I see” and left the room. Morgana was annoyed at the pace she walked at, but within the citadel she had to keep up appearances of grace. The walls had eyes.

It didn’t take too long to find Arthur and Merlin. She heard their bickering from two halls down from where she was, and they were approaching her.

“Arthur, it’s impossible to do.”

“Now, Merlin. That might be the case for your, but fortunately for me, I am not an idiot.”

“Actually, you know what your Highness? Please, by all means. I invite you to -- Morgana.”

She had basically run into them, her feet moving quicker and quicker as their half-hearted disagreement sounded around the corner. “Merlin!”

Arthur bristled at the lack of acknowledgement. “Morgana? What are you doing all the way over here?”

“I need Merlin.” Her tone was final. She had presumed Arthur’s protest at having his servant whisked away. She didn’t pay much mind at the way that Merlin flushed when she said that. She didn’t pay it much mind at all. Really.

Arthur began the slow process of forming a witty remark, but Merlin cut him off with a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. As your friend, I’m bound to express my complete confidence that you’ll live two minutes without me. Beyond that, though…”

The prince narrowed his eyes a little but broke into a grin not long after. “Don’t you know Merlin? I can live up to even a whole three hours without you by my side. As a matter of fact, I’m willing to put it to a test. You can clean the stables for a few hours tomorrow, all alone.”

Merlin groaned and began a remark that sounded suspiciously like “clotpole” before Morgana tugged at his sleeve and guided him away.

“All things considered, I think I won that one.”

She could hear the mild smile in his voice, but she couldn’t bring herself to share in the humor. Her heart trembled, uneasy.

An alcove a few corridors down proved to be a perfect spot for the sort of conversation they were going to have. Moonlight filtered in through an opening in the walls, and it illuminated Morgana’s face grimly. Light caught in the green in her eyes which were wrought with desperation.

“What’s going on Morgana? Have you had a dream?”

“It’s Morgause.”

Merlin tensed. “Did you meet with her again?”

She’d told him she hadn’t in other occasions, just to circumvent the very argument brewing in the alcove. “Yes.”

“I see.”

“Merlin…”

“You’re going to have to make a choice Morgana. You know this. I won’t force you either way, but there are forces out there that would have your choice removed.”

“Maybe they’re right?”

“You’ve never been the sort to believe in Destiny before.”

“And you’ve always been the first to believe in it.”

“Things changed over this last year Morgana.”

She looked out through the opening, staring down at the city that had adopted her with open arms. In a few hours, for better or worse it could belong to her.

“So what do you believe in Merlin?”

“I believe in you, Morgana.”

She spun around to look into his eyes, but the customary depths of blue were exchanged for flashes of gold. He had a finger to his mouth. “Shhh.” He pointed through the entrance of the alcove, beyond which stood two people. Arthur and Guinevere, exchanging soft words and chuckles. Shy and sweet. “And I believe in them,” Merlin whispered.

She looked to him once more, his eyes twinkled in the moonlight. Maybe it was hope. Whenever she was around him she could feel it too.

Morgana extinguished it. “Morgause is attacking. Tonight.”

His eyes stopped shining.

“I don’t know what to do Merlin,” she continued.

“We have to do the right thing Morgana.”

This. It was always this. “I think you and I have different definitions of what it means to do the right thing.”

“I can’t -- I won’t let you kill Uther.”

“So you’re still willing to let others suffer for--”

“You know for a fact Morgana that hasn’t happened here in a long time. We’ve been able to prevent instances like that. By working together . Don’t pretend this isn’t about something more.”

She bit at the inside of her cheek and looked away from him again. She moved on. “Morgause is attacking with a smaller force of powerful sorcerers. Their aim is to infiltrate the citadel and take control subtly.”

He nodded. Merlin looked calm, but in the small space of the alcove she could feel his legs tapping on the ground incessantly. He was itching to go plan something. He stayed. “And what is your role going to be in this, Morgana?”

“I.. I don’t know. She told me that I’d know when it was time.”

He sighed and slapped his hand against his forehead. “It never ends.” Merlin joined her in looking out the window, but only briefly. He clapped his hands together once, loudly, obnoxiously. “Right then, let’s get on with it.”

She didn’t move.

“Oh come on now. You can be dramatic later. Or actually, just it get it all out now. Deliver a monologue into the open night. I wouldn’t want you delivering any when we kick your sister’s arse.”

She glared at him, but a small smile played at her lips. “I think I’m starting to sympathize with Arthur.”

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s character growth on your part and I think you should thank me.”

She had grown to sympathize with Arthur more recently. And not just about Merlin’s infuriating remarks. She had come to see that he had the potential to be a great man.

Her smile faded into melancholy and her eyes shined, but not with any measure of hope. “I’m not sure what to do.”

Merlin took her hand. “Like I said, Morgana. I believe in you. And whatever happens... I’m grateful to have been your friend. Even if it was just for this year.”

She stared down at where their fingers touched, she felt Merlin’s magic thrumming just under the surface of his skin, pulsing like it had a heartbeat of its own. The connection was golden and sparkling and all too brief.

“She’s my sister, Merlin.”

He sighed. “I know. But I have a duty. My place is by Arthur’s side-”

Morgana grabbed his arm. “Can’t something be sorted out?”

“There’s nothing to be sorted out. You know that.”

Her eyes flickered with annoyance. “Now you’re an absolutist? Aren’t you always the one saying that we can find another way Merlin?”

“That’s not-”

“Or is it just that we can only find another way if it’s your way?”

“Morgana, please.”

She scoffed in disgust. “Forget it. You’re a self-righteous ass Merlin.”

He intoned once more, calmly, maddeningly “It’s the only way.”

Morgana looked right into his eyes. “Do you really believe that?”

A moment. “It must be.”

She stepped back, keeping her eyes on his. “I just want to keep us safe, Merlin. I want to give us a chance at happiness. At living a life unafraid.”

Morgana turned out into the corridor, but Merlin caught her arm. “What role will you be playing in this, Morgana?”

“I told you I don’t know, Morgause said-”

“What role do you want to play in this Morgana?”

She stared at him, tears collecting in her eyes. She swept away without answering.

~{(0)}~

There was fire and tremors and terror abound for the noble blood of Camelot. Morgause’s “silent and stealthy” attack on Camelot proved to involve a few more pyrotechnics that Merlin imagined. It was something about the citadel. Its white, tall, untarnished walls. Surely it begged for destruction from a vengeful witch. A castle so glorious surely couldn’t belong to a king with so much blood on his hands.

The attack was well-orchestrated. Arthur’s forces were stretched thin and Merlin was stretched even thinner. Despite the bountiful warning, it was a struggle to get Arthur to listen without asking too many questions, and it was even more of a struggle to assemble a group of knights as late as it was.

“Arthur!” Merlin said.

The prince heard his bellowing and ducked down without even thinking about it. He swiped at the feet of the would-be assassin.

A sorcerer turned up from around the corner, a ball of flame in his hands.

Arthur insisted “Merlin! We have to retreat into the throne room.”

Merlin’s heart dropped. “We can take him.”

The sorcerer, dressed entirely in black, let out a nasty grin and extinguished the fires that lit the corridor and darkness consumed their vision.

“Merlin?”

“I’m here!”

A fireball zoomed past him and flared out as it struck a body next to him. Merlin heard a pained scream and the sound of metal hitting the floor. “Arthur!”

He threw his hands forward and closed his eyes. He felt for a presence with his magic and felt the sorcerer approaching. Merlin was certain that he was doing something similar because he felt the figure stop short and prepare a spell.

Merlin lunged at him with a sword and struck his abdomen. His body broke the fall, but the blade was shattered by the weight and the hilt bruised one of Merlin’s ribs. Grunting in pain, he willed the torches to come alight.

“Arthur, where are you?”

Merlin stood up uneasily against a wall and made his way towards the prince. Arthur was standing up shakily. His armor was singed and his face was grimy. “My father, we have to…”

The warlock nodded and raised his friend’s arm over his shoulder, guiding him towards the throne room with the certainty that Morgause planned for them to do exactly that. He went anyways. The door was ajar, but only because Morgana and most of the remaining guards had just gone in. They were fortifying it against attacks as best they could. Merlin caught her eye from across the room.

“Arthur!” Uther said. “What happened to you?” He looked at Merlin and barked. “Explain!”

The prince answered for him. “We were defending the north corridor father. Merlin killed a sorcerer but there’s bound to be more.”

Uther swept his hand in the direction from where they came.“Close those doors! Barricade them as best you can and get in your formations.”

The room was busy with all sorts of people. It was nearly full to the brim with nobles and soldiers and the anxiety of an attack. Merlin didn’t see or hear Morgana come up by his side what with all the chatter.

“You can’t stop this alone.”

He looked at her intently. “I’m not alone.”

“I won’t stop her, Merlin. But…” Morgana busied herself helping one of the older nobles and a few servants find a place to sit. “I’ll try to minimize the damages.”

“Morgana...”

“It’s the best I can do.”

His head dropped. “I see.”

Merlin looked her in the eyes and she hurried off. He was alone for the first time in a long time.

The room shook with a tremor more ferocious than the previous one. Darkness crept in and nervous whispering ensued. Uther demanded silence and barked commands at his sorcerers. Merlin sensed for Morgana’s magic. It had become familiar now, and he did not struggle much in placing her in the room.

She stood by one of the arcades that lined the windows. Despite this, she was perfectly calm when they exploded into the room. Screaming ensued, but no sooner had it started than silence swallowed the chambers. It was a contrived quiet, the works of a sorcerer. Nobody had even heard the rest of them bombard their way through the chamber door. The only warning Merlin had was the glow of a growing flame in the distance. Morgause wanted to roast them all alive.

So much for subtle.

Merlin looked to Morgana in desperation and she gave him a slight nod. Tears had slipped down her cheek. She would only help him to an extent. He wasn’t willing to test the limits.

Dismantling the ball of fire ferociously flying its way towards the hall was an act of extreme will and Merlin struggled to make his efforts unnoticeable. The enchantment of quiet upon them served in his favor in this regard, but it was a bigger burden than it was a boon. Somebody would get hurt because the sorcerers were too quiet and too well hidden to be fought.

The flame was smothered in the air, and Merlin only just had time to cancel the silence charm before Morgause prepared another spell. Merlin kept low to the ground as the soldiers began shouting orders at each other. He couldn’t see Arthur, but he was sure the prince was somewhere in the front. Fighting, even blind.

Merlin fixed the lighting situation by summoning a floating orb into the air. It became bright enough to see that they were in a rather difficult situation. Twelve sorcerers in all, not including Morgause, had the chambers surrounded.

He would be revealing his magic today. There were very few ways for him to do anything even remotely useful without it being obvious. Part of him wanted to blame Morgana, but she was right. Despite proposing that she could choose her path, Merlin had been strong-arming her into his way of thinking. Before, he would have been comfortable with this. It was for the greater good, no? But these days Merlin respected Morgana’s autonomy more than the greater good. If this was her choice -- at least it was hers.

Now able to see where they were and who they were fighting, the knights moved into action in a flurry of yelling and the clinking of armor. He kept by Arthur’s side in the middle of things, discreetly trying to take down any sorcerers he could, or impede on their progress. Morgause was nowhere to be seen yet, but he expected her soon.

Merlin spotted a sorcerer preparing to attack the group of nobles and blasted him across the room with a flick of his wrist in his direction. Merlin did it with such vociferous conviction that the back wall was marred by a new opening into a hallway. The majority of the nobles scurried through the hole.

None of the knights saw him, but plenty of the sorcerers did. Seven remained of the original twelve, and they almost all began to converge on him. Across the room Morgana’s eyes widened and she began weaving an enchantment. Merlin abandoned the remains of his desire to hide his magic as he desperately battled against the onslaught of spells and curses.

Morgana’s enchantment proved to be among her greatests so far. Mist rolled in from nowhere and swept them up in grey. Only Merlin and the sorcerers could see one another. The knights were blinded and further immobilized by the sparking, crackling, and popping of sparks in the air. They took strange forms of creatures long since gone from the world.

This gave Merlin just enough breathing room to defend himself. He motioned at one of the sparks in the air and fanned flames into it from his hands. The spark-beast, potentially a hydra, came to life with vigor and began an assault on the assailants.

The fire beast was enough to paralyze some of the attackers, but it soon grew so large that it escaped Merlin’s control entirely. It raged across the room.

Morgana watched in horror as it moved towards the knights. She took the reins on the enchantment from across the room, guiding it towards sorcerers amassing in the corner to form a spell. She snuffed the oxygen out of the air around it. She gathered the clouds in the room and sent it their way, condensing it until it began to soak their efforts.

Merlin smiled at her, but she watched him warily. The knights began to converge on the remaining sorcerers in the corner, but one of the columns by the window toppled over Arthur and Uther’s path. They were isolated. That was no accident. That was the work of Morgana.

Rain barraged the interior of the throne room. It had begun to storm at some point, but Merlin was so caught up in himself he hadn’t noticed. He ran towards Arthur, jumping in front of him just as a bolt of lightning struck from outside. Morgause appeared in the room with a rush of wind.

The breeze of the rain was cold and sharp against his skin and his sides ached too much for him to bother breathing. He hadn’t died because a shield of shimmering energy had protected him, it had the texture, the fingerprint of Morgana’s magic -- and her indecision.

Merlin stumbled up as Morgause approached Arthur and the king and laughed with mad, almost drunken glee. Morgause was the sort to indulge herself with abandon, but Merlin had no doubts she would reserve any indulging until after Arthur and Uther’s heads were on sticks outside the castle walls. They had escaped her clutches too many times. No chances would be taken.

As he weakly leaned against a wall, Merlin wondered if he could let them escape just one more time. Arthur watched him with horror from where he stood as Merlin drew a sword, bloody at the hilt, from the ground.

“Merlin! Don’t!”

Merlin threw the sword, knowing it wouldn’t even make the halfway mark. It was more of a distraction than it was an attack. There was only one course of action now.

Merlin tapped deep into the roots of his being, reaching for a part of him that had been smothered and oppressed for as long as he could control it. He felt the heat under his skin flare up. He opened his eyes, which he was sure were blazing gold, only to find himself inside of an illusion. The world around him sounded distant and muddled, like he was listening from underwater.

Morgana was shaping the world around them to a two-fold image. In the right light, he caught glances of her fighting him with all her might. In another, he caught saw his prone figure on the ground as Morgana assaulted Morgause with a sword.

He understood one was for the benefit of Morgause, and the other was to hide his magic from Arthur and Uther.

The reality, however, was that Morgause stood five feet from him, looking down imperiously, a vision of Morgana standing by her side with an evil glint in her eye. Merlin caught his second wind and began attacking Morgause with more vigor than he had ever fought anyone. Fire and bolts of lightning struck out around the throne room, blazing energy was exchanged in flurries of blasts.

Morgause’s spells were all tremendously flashy affairs, but Merlin preferred the indirect approach mostly. He shifted the wooden floor around her, disbalancing her as best he could. The debris of glass and stone began to form into golems. Morgause’s eyes widened and her attention was shifted, momentarily, to the task of a fist of glass making its way towards her.

She let loose a scream and a radius of light emanated from her body instantly. The golems were pulverized completely and Morgana’s illusions fell apart. Merlin and Morgause stared at one another from across the throne room. Morgana stood by the window, wind blowing at her hair, darkness framing her figure.

She knew for certain that Merlin and Morgause’s confrontation was one of a final variety. There was little choice left to either of them now, and all the choices came down to her. Merlin or Morgause?

But despite Merlin’s newfound absolutism, Morgana’s thoughts tended back to his hopeful words in the Catacombs of Camelot, such a long time ago. And yet, not. The promise of another way. She fiddled with her sleeping charm in a brief flare of anxiety.

For a moment, she felt something akin to what Merlin had described as the sensation of time coming to a stop. This, she was sure, was not the work of magic.

The flickering sparks of magic Merlin had shown her that drunken winter night, the image of Freya he had conjured resounded within her. Not all magic was lethal. Not all spells need be.

Her eyes snapped towards Morgause as she toyed with her charm.

“Sister!” she shouted.

Morgause glanced at her in time to catch the sleeping bracelet she had crafted for Morgana. In a flash of light, the sleeping spell shattered itself free. Her sister’s body dropped to the ground, the bracelet nothing but pieces of charred metal.

Knights began to rush in as rain continued to pour through the opening where stained glass used to be. Uther and Arthur stared at her dumbly, but Uther was the first to begin making demands. Morgana ignored him as she made her way to her sister’s prone form. Morgause’s chest rose and fell in even breathes. Morgana sighed in relief and fell to the ground, spent.

“Sorcery!” Uther shouted. “M-”

“It was me” Merlin said, limping from his place. “I did it.”

Arthur stood up, made his way towards his friend. “Merlin. What are you doing? This is ridiculous.”

Merlin shook his head.“No Arthur. It was me.” His eyes flashed gold and the form of a dragon shimmered in front of Arthur, taking flight soon after. “I’m sorry,” he continued, “that I didn’t tell you. You’re my friend and I should have told you.”

“Guards!” Uther ordered.

Morgana’s heart dropped. Her throat constricted itself and she could barely whisper his name. “Merlin, no. Please.”

Nobody heard her, except for him.

I’m sorry, Morgana. I can’t let you live in fear of Uther. Not for my sake. His voice was clear and strong in her head.

Please she said.

Take care of the prat. Don’t let him hate me.

Merlin why are you doing this?

Because. He smiled at her from his place in the room as the guards began to converge on him and Arthur pleaded with his father to stop it. I trust you, Morgana.

Merlin stepped towards Morgause’s form, and kneeled down. He took her hand and they were gone in a flurry of wind.

Chaos broke out in the throne room as Morgana stared at the ground in disbelief. She stayed that way for some time. But Merlin spoke in her head once more, his voice soft and intimate. They faded as he went off into distances she knew not.

Talk to Gaius. He will know what you must do. In the meantime, I’ll keep your sister safe, Morgana. There’s a lesson, a hope that I gave you once. It was the most important one. I’m sorry I failed my end of it. There’s always another way.

#mergana #merlin #bbcmerlin #merlin x morgana

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autumnpawtribe · 5 years

Text

Just a moment in time - Vol'raka, Tiny, and Xiao Chun

Tiny had finally started to sleep long enough for her Papa and Ba to spend some more intimate time together. It was a time to relax, and love, come together as a couple after so long apart. Xiao laid against Vol, nuzzling into his neck in return to the trolls affections. "I love you so much, Vol... more than I ever thought I could." He whispered breathlessly still before giving a tiny chuckle. "I... did not hurt you, did I?" He finally asked, turning his head to kiss Vol's cheek and then gently press a kiss to his lips as he nuzzled their foreheads together. "No mah love." He looked a bit sad that he hadn't been hurt, but kissed his mate on the top of the head softly. "Ah be fine." A soft chuckle accompanied the troll picking his mate up and tossing him over his shoulder. "Ja gonna be crunchy furred. Showah fer Xiao..." Xiao smiled and nodded. "I was worried, I think you are uh... bleeding in a few places." He said with a blush as he glanced down to Vol's thoroughly scratched up thighs as well as the few marks on his back. Before he could speak again, he squeaked in surprise as he was scooped up, clinging to his mate now as he was hoisted over his shoulder. "I miss being crunchy if it is from you..." He said with a little giggle as he hugged Vol's shoulder as he was carted off. "Nothin' wrong wit pain, lovah. Ah crave et. Ah'd say we fall asleep like dat, but Ah know dat any minute dat lil time bomb we got gonna wake up. Ja take longah den me." He swatted the pandaren on the ass just as he put him down. "Get clean, ah gonna find pants. Ah need a showah, get da tangles out mah hair an at least two houahs sleep." Xiao blushed a bit more, nodding. "I... almost forgot about your penchant for pain. I guess some part of me remembered otherwise I wouldn't have scratched you up like that." He said with a smile before squeaking in surprise as his ass was smacked. He turned around to lean up and give Vol a long, loving kiss before he could leave. "I... have never been happier than I am when I am with you. Never forget that. I promise, I will be here this time." He said against Vol's lips, hugging him hard before sighing contently and pulling away to head off and do his oh so secret cleaning routine to keep his fur as wonderfully soft and plush as his mate had always known it to be. "Ja can scratch me up all ja evah want." He'd never really let Xiao know how deep his want of pain went, one day maybe. "Bettah be. Scoot." He busied himself with changing and reswaddling their daughter and sitting next to her hammock to watch her sleep, singing another lullaby. "Gotta sound proof ja room before we know et, hmm?" Xiao wandered off as his mate told him, the water running in the me functional but far less fancy shower since this wasn't the main home. Maybe an hour or so later, Xiao came back out, fur dry and wonderfully fluffy, grinning like a fool as he entered their daughter's room to find his mate. "Hey..." He nearly purred, love glowing in his eyes as he leaned against the doorframe. "Ja finally done... longah den usual." He sat in a chair, smiling as she ate and smirking. "Second bottle en an houah. Should warn ja. Troll babies eat like big orc mons. Bottomless pits mah ma'da once call em. Get used ta dis, hmm?" Xiao chuckled a little. "There was more to clean up than normal. I also let my fur grow out a little more than normal so it takes longer to dry over the vent." He moved to sit across from Vol on the bed. "Do we have enough milk for her? You said it is goat milk, right?" "Ja. Goats be outside at dis house, da Vale and Hillsbrad. Da Admiral say he can get a Tauren fer helpin' out. She get fed, Get ever'ting ah can be gettin' er. " He said a few words in Zandali, trying to teach her even at that age. "Yuutee Saakes, Zutopong. Skam m italaf deh'yo ackee..." "Good, the last thing we would want is our little girl to go hungry, though I know you would never let that happen." He smiled, patting the bed. "Here, you two should come over here. Let her Ba feed her?" He asked with a hopeful smile. "What was that you said in Zandali just now, anyway? I still know... well, next to none of it, unfortunately." "Shadowhuntah, Daughtah. Just a Hungry lil ting." He stood and let Xiao hold the girl who was none too pleased about moving, and not eating right then and there. "Ja get ta watch 'er a bit. Showah." Booping her daughter softly on the nose and doing the same to Xiao, he went to get himself clean, Xiao getting to deal with a whiny, amber eyed girl. If Xiao looked, he'd see Vol's features, no doubt who sired her. Amber eyes, the same green and gold hair, with the barest bright highlights of blue, and the same strong nose. She looked up toward him, too young to focus on anything or properly see him. Xiao happily took the little bundle, cradling her against his bare chest, having only put on some loose linen pants after his shower. "Do not worry, I have her." He said with a smile as Vol headed off to take his now. He stared down at her now, having some true quality time with his daughter. Seeing his mate in her eyes, her hair, so much of him in every part of her. It actually made a tear come to his eye. He whispered to her in Pandaren now, letting the girl hear him speak in something other than his stilted and heavily accented Orcish. "My dearest daughter.. I will give you anything and everything I can... your papa and I, we will give you the world. You are the gift we never saw coming, the missing piece we never knew we were missing. Some day, you will have a brother or a sister. Your life will be filled with happiness, adoration, praise... and above all, love. This I promise you." He kissed her forehead gently, a single tear dripping down onto her cheek and causing him to chuckle as he leaned up and noticed it. "A little salty rain never hurt, hm?" He continued to murmur, wiping off the tear with the fur of his thumb. "You have not seen it yet, but your home... our home, the place we will eventually be a family, forever... your room will be everything you have ever dreamed of. Everything for our baby girl." It was then he gasped. "Vol!" He called out in Orcish now. "I have an idea, we need to talk when you are done showering!" He sounded excited, but his smile faded as he cringed, the loud noise making the poor girl fuss and cry. "Sorry, my lovely." He cooed in Pandaren again. "Ba is sorry, little one, shhh, it is alright. Here." He shook her bottle a bit, jostling the milk and getting her attention with the warm sustenance, quickly quieting her as she went back to drinking happily. "Talk bout what, hmm?" He came out, clothed in a towel around his waist and one going at his hair. "Et wait until ah able ta find pants. Ever' tin' be down at da Vale or Hillsbrad." Green locks were flopped over on one side and he had freshly shaved the sides of his head down to the skin. "Gonna need ta clean tings up en 'ere." He looked around, the room his daughter was sleeping in for the time the same she was born in. "Ja gonna teach 'er Pandaren, ah gonna teach 'er Zandali. Gonna get REshka ta teach her Thalassian.. an ALL of us be teachin' orcish." Xiao practically wiggled in his spot on the bed. "Maybe I do not want you to find pants." He said with a little grin. "Remember that... illusion on the top of the canopy in our bed in the Vale? I was thinking for her room, I could have Kyl do the entire room as an illusion. Instead of just normal wallpaper, we could have... an entire scene. Maybe a waterfall, a beautiful view, stars on the ceiling. I am not sure exactly. Ooh, maybe we could do a view from stranglethorn! Something to remind her of where she came from? I wanted to ask because, well, you said you had investments. I was hoping you might have some excess laying around. It would not cost nearly as much as the house upgrades did, the illusions were fairly cheap, actually. The thing that did the most damage, gold wise, was the engineered magically contraptions like the shower, the self-cleaning bed, and all of the, well, everything in the stables. I just thought, you know, it would be calming and beautiful?" "No.". He dragged the towel over his head and looked to Xiao intently. "Not paying Kyl Dem prices. He gonna learn ta haggle like a troll. His price took ja away. Not happening again. Stranglethorn be where she concieved. Ja really tink ah wanna be reminded of dat?". He wasn't made just matter of fact. "We look into et, aftah ah surah day dat fuckin snakr not gonna slitha enta ouaj bed an kill me. She not gonna appreciate et fer a long while. Patience, lil love. When ettime, we talk more on et." Xiao blinked. "No?" Then he heard the rest and nodded. "Kyl may haggle, honestly I do not know. I... did not think to try." He blushed a bit, never having been one to haggle. Then he frowned a bit sadly at the mentions of Stranglethorn. "Sorry, I thought Stranglethorn might be good, I didn't know that was where it happened." He shook his head. "I just did not think it through I guess." He said as he peered down at Tiny now, biting his lower lip and feeling a bit silly for his idea now. "We gonna figuah out sumpin, lil love. Fer now, she not gonna care ef da walls be all white or just stone. She gonna be en ouah room till we can get sometin so we can hear when she need us.". With a small kiss on his love's nose and a smile, he whispered softly. "Ah not mean ta sound harsh. Ja not know where dis all happen. We both do thinking on et. Sides, where she come from be Pandaria. Dis da land of er birth, ja?"

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the-cookie-of-doom · 6 years

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"Keep him safe," Stiles said as he handed his pup over to Peter, his voice pleading. Peter held the boy close to his chest, one hand cupping the back of his head. There was something haunted in his eyes, a look Stiles had often seen mirrored in his own reflection. It was longing for something lost, and Stiles felt his throat tighten in sympathy; he was going to get what Peter never would.

"I'll guard him with my life," Peter said. Stiles believed him. In that one moment, he'd seen more of the real Peter than in the months he'd been with the Hales. He knew that even if they didn't always see eye to eye, Peter was a man he could trust to do everything to protect his pup; the way he wished he could have protected his own. "Spill some blood for me."

"I will." Stiles smiled, the expression strained. "If anything happens to me…"

"Go get your cub, Stiles."

Stiles pressed a kiss to his sleeping boy's head, gripped Peter's shoulder in silent gratitude, and finally left the house. The others were waiting for him outside. Ready to go to war.

Stiles was covered in blood, both his own and not—most of it was not—and his magic was drained. He was exhausted, surrounded by death. But he could feel his daughter's faint presence, his magic reaching out to her, searching, leading Stiles through the labyrinthine compound. All around him, he could hear wolves and hunters fighting, trying to keep Stiles and his pack away from his daughter; his precious pup that had been stolen from him at birth, before he'd had a chance to hold her, to even see her. Stiles had no idea what she would look like when he finally found her, having never once seen her in all the time they had been held captive, so close and yet worlds apart. He was relying solely on his magic to recognize her.

Stiles opened the door to a mostly empty room, and almost collapsed in relief. There was a small pallet of blankets to serve as a bed, a cage—the sight made him want to vomit, knowing they used it to lock his daughter up during the full moon, like she was some animal and not a baby girl—and a few scattered toys. And in the center of the room, sitting on the floor playing with a broken doll, was a filthy little girl.

As soon as Stiles had opened the door—the metal dampening the reach of his magic considerably—his magic reached out to her, a bond that should have been there long before now snapping into place.

The little girl looked up at him, watching him as he stood in the door just staring at her in disbelief. She looked at him with wide, brown eyes that mirrored his own—except she looked afraid of the sudden intruder. Like she wanted to run. Stiles' heart broke over the way she shook in fear; that alone made him want to burn this place to the ground, with every single one of the hunters trapped inside, and dance on the ashes.

Stiles couldn't bring himself to move, afraid this was all an illusion that would shatter if he crossed the threshold, until Derek appeared behind him. He was bloody and naked, smelling of battle, reaching out as if to ask what was wrong. Then his eyes found what had Stiles paralyzed, and his hand fell short. Still, he was a steady, familiar presence at Stiles' back, grounding him, reminding him that this was real, finally. It wasn't like his dreams where he finally found his daughter, only to have her ripped away from him again.

That little girl staring at him with fading fear and growing curiosity was his daughter, and he had wasted enough time already. Stiles walked forward, slow, not wanting to spook the girl, and kneeled down in front of her.

"What's your name?" Stiles asked, voice heavy with emotion. He shouldn't have to ask. He should know. He should have been a part of the decision.

"Subject 001," she whispered. Stiles realized she had the number embroidered on her shirt. These people—they had taken his daughter away from him, and hadn't even named her. Like she really was nothing more than an animal, a test subject in their sick experiments.

"No… your name is Morgan. And I'm Stiles." He swallowed thickly, past the lump in his throat, willing his voice to work. "Do you know who I am?"

"Are you my daddy?" she asked, hesitant and hopeful. Stiles nodded, not trusting himself to speak. His eyes brimmed with tears, overflowing when Morgan leapt at him a moment later, throwing herself into his arms.

"I knew I had a daddy. They always said I didn't, but I knew."

"Yeah, baby, you do. God, I'm so happy to finally meet you," Stiles said, his voice choked as he held her close for the first time. He'd been so afraid that the hunters would have poisoned her against him, ensuring that even if he found her eventually, she would never go with him.

"Are we gonna leave here now?"

"I'm gonna take you far away from here, sweetheart, somewhere safe, with your brother," he promised. God, she looked so much like her brother. Like him, and not at all like her other father. Then again, Stiles had never seen him in human form, so he had no real way to tell. Maybe they was a good thing.

"I have a brother?" in a timid, awed tone. It was taking everything in Stiles not to openly weep. He nodded instead, and she lit up in his arms, squealing excitedly, like all her wishes had come true. It was tragic that such a simple thing could bring her such joy. Stiles scrubbed at his face with his hand and stood, holding her in his arms. He didn't want to ever let her go, for fear of losing her again.

When he turned, Derek was still at the door, guarding them. He had acquired a pair of bloodstained pants, thankfully. He didn't look at Stiles until he left the room, and then his expression was unreadable, complicated as he looked at Stiles finally reunited with his pup, after years. Stiles squeezed his arm with a meaningful "Thank you", and let lead them to safety.

All around them the compound was silent, the victorious howls of the wolves having died down. The battle was finished.

Just as they finally walked out into the forest, the sun just beginning to rise over the horizon, Stiles saw Derek stiffen. Before he had a chance to react, the wolf was shift and moving to get behind Stiles, but he wasn't fast enough. Stiles didn't have a chance to blink before he felt bullets tearing through him, burying themselves all along his back. He managed to make it behind a tree before he collapsed to his knees, only his need to protect his pup keeping him from collapsing fully. He gnashed his teeth against the pain, breathing hard, trying to ignore it. Morgan was shaking as he wrapped himself around her, shielding her.

"Shhh, it's alright baby, I'm gonna be okay. Were all gonna be fine, sweetheart, I promise," he said, knowing he sounded less than reassuring. "Derek," he said, all but growled. He could hear the wolf snarling a few yards away, rebounding off the mountain ash that the hunter must be surrounded by, could hear the human reloading their gun for another round. "Derek!"

The wolf came to him the second time he called, growling, pacing. His hackles were raised, his teeth bared; he looked vicious. But that wasn't what Stiles needed right now. He needed his pup to be safe, and Derek couldn't get to that hunter, but he could.

"I need—you need to take her. Get her somewhere safe, and I'll find you." He could feel Derek's growl, the sound low and feral, resonating in his bones. Derek didn't want to leave him, but he didn't care. He could hear reinforcements coming, something that hadn't expected, and he needed Morgan out of there. The wolves had done all they could, it was his turn to step up. To gather what little magic he had left and finish this.

"I'll find you," he promised. Derek snarled at him one last time, then whined, high and heartbroken, before stilling. Stiles smiled, grateful, reached out to pet him. Then he stood, acutely feeling every one of the six bullets in him, and put Morgan on his back. "Derek will protect you, baby," he said, kissing away her tears. "He'll take you somewhere safe, and I'll meet you guys there, okay? But right now, I need you to be brave for me. Can you do that?"

"You're hurt, daddy."

"I'm okay, and you will be too. Just hold onto Derek's fur really tight, and don't look back."

"O-okay… I love you," she said, trying to be brave through her tears.

Stiles smiled at her, giving her one last hug. "I love you too, baby."

Derek didn't turn to go immediately. Instead he caught Stiles' wrist between his teeth, gently, his eyes blazing blue and boring into Stiles. "I need to do this, Derek. Now go, keep my baby girl safe." Derek released him and took off into the forest, Morgan's arms wrapped around his neck. Knowing his family would be safe, Stiles gathered what meagre strength and remnants of magic he had left, made his way back out into the clearing.

It had feel with hunters, all protected by a barrier of mountain ash, all with assault rifles trained on him.

Derek ran far and fast, trees soaring past. He could hear the gunshots ringing out through the forest, too many and too fast to know how many hunters he had left Stiles to face alone. He wanted to turn around, the run back, to protect him, but he knew he couldn't. He could feel Morgan shaking on his back, trembling, crying quietly into his fur.

If Derek could he would shift back, try to comfort her, but he wouldn't be able to run nearly as fast a human. And he wouldn't know what to do, either. So, he kept running, racing back to the rendezvous point, hoping the rest of the wolves were there as well. As soon as Morgan was safe, he would go back for Stiles.

Derek ran as fast as he could back to the clearing where he'd left Stiles. It took too long, miles away.

When he got there, it was silent. Not a single gunshot, no gasping breaths, no blood leaking out of wounds. Not a single heartbeat. Derek felt his own stop when he couldn't hear Stiles' hummingbird heart, fearing the worst. He searched through the bodies—what ones were identifiable, at least, but there was no trace of his human.

"Stiles!" Derek called, frantic, not caring if it drew more hunters to him. He had to find Stiles. He'd finally gotten his daughter back, he couldn't leave her now. Not when his cubs needed him. "Stiles!"

There. A groan. A faint heartbeat. Derek followed it out of the clearing. Stiles was laying on the ground, pale and bloody, a shield of mountain ash falling away from where it had covered his body, hiding him from Derek's senses. Derek ran to him, cupping Stiles face.

"Stiles? Stiles, wakeup, please wake up. Its over now, we can go home, you can finally be with your cubs. Come on baby, don't… don't leave them—don't leave us." He pleaded with Stiles, but the human wouldn't wake.

"I never thought I would get to see my baby girl," Stiles said on the drive back home. Morgan was asleep on his lap, head tucked up under his chin and face nestled against his collar bone. His scent soothed her, despite them being virtual strangers. Despite the blood covering him. It her to have her laying on his chest, but he didn’t care. The pain meant this was all real. It gave Stiles hope.

Derek looked over with that complicated expression, and Stiles smiled gratefully at him, reaching over to take his hand and lace their fingers together. For the first time since his pups had been born four and a half years ago, Stiles believed things were going to be okay.

#Sterek #Stiles Stilinski #Derek Hale #Peter Hale #cookie writes #ngl i wanted to change this to steter #i kept going back and retyping #cause i know you guys like my steter fics more #but i guess ill just wait and see how this does #maybe ill change it lter

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