#i blacked out and woke up four days later with this comic in front of me. i love making comics. but i am so slow. it's tragic truly. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wthelvetica21 · 3 years

Text

🔗💀Linked Souls

in the Digital Cabaret’s lobby

All four of the Mystery Skulls investigators found themselves in a calmly lit room with skull decor. It was quaint to say the least. There were also musical instruments like guitars and old fashion keyboards on the walls as well like it was a recording studio. All of them were laying on the same large circular sofa with two tables.

Lewis: What… The hell… just happened…? Guys?

Vivi: Just a few more minutes okay Lew. I swear… mar

Vivi rolled back sleeping with her plush turtle that she kept in her backpack before they headed out.

Arthur: (yawn) Can you keep it down… Whoa OH HOLY SHIT! Where are we guys? This can’t get any weirder man.

Mystery: *soft barking* (I must keep a low profile for now. I have a feeling that we’re not… in our world anymore. I sense four none hostile souls and least one that’s harbors some justifiable apprehension towards us.)

Lewis is the only one who could hear Mystery via supernatural telepathy.

Lewis: Huh? I hear voices from outside…

Lewis along with Mystery and Arthur put their heads on the double doors to listen in.

Teenage Male Voice: I don’t know if this is a good Idea Doc. They seem sketchy as hell if you ask me. Especially the ghost rider reject in particular.

Calm Female Voice: I’m sure hun, my tombsona can since people’s intentions right away. They seem to be looking for someone or something whom was involved with the murder of the young man in the suit who has become a ghost. It’s all I could glean however. But the dog though.. is odd… He’s not a threat to us but that might not be his true form.

Suave German Voice: He could be a lycan… What? It’s possible since that ghost is particularly one that still has his body.

Mystery: *tilts his head* (A lycan? As in a werewolf? He also knows that Lewis is a special case as well.)

Softer Male Voice: …

Strangely Familiar Voice: What’s that Armstrong? You think that we should meet them one by one? Maybe 2 by 2 would work better. I would rather meet them later… I’m still having a hard time processing this whole situation. I just woke up after all.

Lewis: Wait?… Is that the? (Is that the guy singing in that weird dream from earlier? Could it be that comatose guy who was begging for help? It’s modulated a bit but it’s that voice I heard. I just know it.)

Mystery: whimper (Lewis? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You know that voice?)

Lewis: Uhh… I could’ve sworn I heard his voice before. (he said softly)

Calm Female Voice: Don’t worry cher. We’ll go first. Come on Rust since you’ve been itching to meet them.

All three backed up from the door so they wouldn’t get hit.

Teenage Male Voice: WHAT!? Why the hell me? Why not Tesla, Armstrong, or even your… Hey don’t give me that look. Dammit okay fine… let’s meet them already. (mumbles in Spanish)

Lewis: Tch… (Yeah you’re already gonna be a pain in the ass from the get go. Must be a high schooler or somethin’.)

Strangely Familiar Voice: Wait! I changed my mind. I’m very curious about these people from another universe.

The double doors open and two individuals come out. One was a woman who had discolored blue skin with glowing neon blue paint. And she had flowing hair that acted like willow wisps. She also had the attire of a stage magician with some witch doctor elements. The most noteworthy thing about her was the navy blue mask with glowing cyan eyes and outlines that took up most of the top portion of her face. She could even be mistaken for a ghost like Lewis.

Vivi: OMG, she’s… so… cool! Oh man I wish I had that classy outfit she’s wearing. I could match with Lewis for once.

Mystery: *tilting his head groaning* (She’s certainly someone Vivi and Lewis could get along with very well. Maybe she patched us up from that elevator.)

Doc: My name is Doc or you could call me Ms. Doc for convenience. I’m the drummer for The Living Tombstone. Next to me is zero_one. He’s our keyboardist and composer. He also does the vocals as well.

The other individual was a tall svelte man who was shorter than Lewis but slightly taller than Arthur. He looked like he was wearing a skin tight jump suit with yellow circuit lines with an orange fade to them. In the center of his torso is a rectangle that looks like a microchip with a heart beat indicator. He also was wearing a helmet that had a plume of golden orange hair made out of plasma and a pair of headphones. But what really caught Lewis’s attention was the LED skull with a bolt shaped crack on the right. He recognizes him as that guy from that dream he while he was passed out on that mining elevator. Almost immediately both of them blurted out…

Lewis & zero_one in unison : Do I know you from somewhere? But how?

Lewis : Hold up… Um Hey… (Aw man this shit just got weird already.)

zero_one : Uh… Hi there… (Oh… awkward.)

Arthur: Welp… This just got awkward and weird fast. What is going on here man? You recognize the dude with the mohawk?

Lewis : It’s a…

Rust: Oh that does it… I’m going in. What flying fu…. oh… This is already got a weird vibe. Who the hell are you people anyway? AND You… yes you the ghost rider reject how do you recognize our front man hah?

Lewis : growls (Great another asshole with a green motif. But he’s some kind of punk who’s just got outta high school).

sigh (trying to contain his anger) I’m not sure, I just seen someone like him that’s all…

Stoping the young man in biker attire with the green skull mask from lunging at Lewis was a slightly older gentleman who’s color scheme was similar to Lewis’s. He had the attire of a mad scientist with a winter hat.

Tesla: Can you not be hasty Rust for just a moment. They are not a threat to us remember. Herr Geist (german : Mr. Ghost) I still have so many questions. How did you find the elevator to this universe?

Lewis : Umm… (Who the hell is this guy? He looks like he just stepped out of an anime or a game or something.)

Long story short but it may sound batshit crazy ; we were chasin’ a dismembered gang green arm with a single black eye. Did ya’ll see him.

Rust: uhh… what? What kinda story is that? You must be tripping on something really strong to come up with that.

Behind the slightly befuddled young man in the green was a larger skull faced man with a burnt space suit who’s glowing red. He looks like he’s trying to calm things down before a fight breaks out between Lewis and Rust.

Armstrong : … signing (I believe we all need to calm down first before we get our stories out there. I’m Armstrong gentlemen, lady, and… dog. You hail from another universe?)

Lewis : Huh… good point sir. (Why do I know what he’s saying even though I don’t know sign language. This shit really couldn’t get any weirder.)

Lewis then gives a paraphrased version of what Armstrong was saying to rest of the Mystery Skulls gang. Doc explained that Armstrong has tinnitus but can still play the guitar very well despite that. His tomesona can also give some form of synesthesia to compensate for his hearing loss.

Rust: (shakes his head in disbelief) Fine whatever. Names Rust, don’t ya’ll forget it. I do the vocals and rap.

Tesla: Guten Tag, my name is Tesla Herr Geist, Chicken with Mechanical Arm, Mysterious Dog, and Liebshen.

Lewis : *groan of frustration* (Oh that’s effing lovely. He better be usin’ that word as a term of endearment and not trying to flirt with her. But at least he isn’t an annoying little punk like the green one.)

Vivi: Oh how rude of us not to introduce ourselves. We are the Mystery Skulls ; we’re paranormal investigators. I’m Vivi Yukino, I’m the researcher of the group. But my day job is at a used comic book shop called TomeTomb. Oh I also know how to play electric guitar.

Tesla: Oh is that right Liebshen? Very nice indeed.

Armstrong : … (puts both of his thumbs up for approval and nodding)

Doc: Huh, TomeTomb(soft chuckle) what an interesting name. And you are young man?

Arthur: I’m Arthur Kingsmen, I’m just the mechanic of the group and I’m not as interested with this paranormal crap as much as Lewis and Vivi. And I work with my uncle Lance at his auto repair shop called Kingsmen repair. Also I play keyboard and actually own three keytars as well (he said proudly). Ha they almost costed me an arm… and a… (nervous chuckle). Yeah, the arm is a different story though. (he said sheepishly scratching his head.)

Rust: Well it must have… literately. Holy shit man, three of them? Talk about overkill.

Lewis could see zero_one light up like a kid in a candy store as soon as Arthur mentioned his keytars. He could feel this feeling radiating in the core of his locket ; its joy. He then sees zero_one approach Arthur like someone who was reunited with a long lost sibling.

zero_one : Three keytars? (in rapid secession) What brand are they? How did you get them? What year were they made? Do you have any pictures of them?

Arthur: (he had a smile that the rest of the Mystery Skulls gang haven’t seen in months) Really? I have a 1980s Casio, a late 90s Korg, and an early 2000s Yamaha. I had some connections back then and I usually find them used online even though they were still…kinda expensive. And yeah I have pictures of them on my phone, you can come and look if you want.

The Orange-Yellow color coded duo sat next to each other like they just got a new hand held game and rambled on and on about mods and midi plug ins for keytars for a good 20 minutes. Lewis wished that he didn’t go into that cave in the first place. The relationship between Arthur and zero_one was not just like two long lost brothers but it was like his friendship with Arthur before this whole third wheel and ghost thing ever came about. Lewis felt a small pang of guilt before getting interrupted with a question.

Lewis : sigh… (At least Arthur is feelin’ better already after all the shit I put him through. Maybe comin’ here isn’t going to be that bad after all. Just Maybe…)

Rust: Who’s the dog though? Gotta say though he kinda looks badass with the red and black.

Mystery: *shrugs in embarrassment* (Yabai. (Japanese: Oh Crap.) Maybe I shouldn’t show my true form now, maybe wait til they are ready or Vivi or Lewis mention it.)

Vivi: Oh his name is Mystery. He’s our mascot, sorta. I know he isn’t a ghost like my boyfriend over here.

Tesla: Boyfriend ha… Oh well, but you could do so much better then…

Doc: Tesla stop. Lewis is Vivi’s beau, just leave it be. There are other women you know…

Tesla: Uhh. Gut, I’m a man of honor.

Lewis : (Oh sure you are hat guy.)

Okay then, I’m Lewis Pepper and I’m more the guy who handles the heavy equipment in our paranormal investigations. My day job is waiter and chef at my adopted family’s restaurant “Pepper Paradiso”. I also play violin and I am a train vocalist.

Rust: Oh… really? Come on zero_one, me and you, let’s nock this amateur down a peg or two.

zero_one : You’re kind of putting me on the spot here Rust. Lewis did say he was trained, maybe you should’ve not called him that.

Lewis : (narrows his eyes) (Oh, I’ll knock this Rust punk down a peg or two.)

Oh really Rust. Alright I’m game but just you and me. Mono a mono. Let the best vocalist wi…. huh?

Then a feeling comes over both Lewis and zero_one that made both of them and harmonize a beautiful arpeggio that brings all the room in awe. Rust was drowned out by both of them because he was just as shocked as everyone else in the lobby.

Doc: Oh honey, both of ya’ll voices are like two angels. And you thought he was an amateur Rust?

Rust: Well, damn I’ll admit it, you and zero_one won on this one. For now.

Armstrong : … signing

zero_one : interpreting for Armstrong : Well since the introductions are out of the way, I believe you said something about a dismembered arm earlier. Is that the reason why you stumbled into our universe?

Lewis : Well yeah, it said it lead us into a trap or some shit like that. It was also working with someone or something else that wanted to do all of us in.

* Loud Alarm *

A I Voice: Warning security breach detected. / Subject identified as a green dismembered arm that has already made entry into timeline v. / prerecorded transmission from the multi-universal edge by Helvetica.

Helvetica: Something has just breached the reality layline. Sending distress signal to prime universe about Null’s escape. Butterfly effect radiating towards other divergent TLT timelines. Three inter-universal ones from the prime timeline. At least three no… it’s five from the universe MSA (Mystery Skulls universe). I’m making my way to timeline v as soon as possible. End of Transmission.

Lewis : Welp… I can see things have gone to shit already. At least we know where it is now. Might as well go looking for it but we’re do we even freakin’ start huh?

Tesla: I’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise you. My prime self told me about this Null character but… what is it doing at this time period I wonder? Poor fraulein Helvetica sounds like she can’t handle this on her own. She might be proto_type’s student but even a student needs some extra help. We should worry about the four ones from our universe first before the one’s from our visitor’s universe.

zero_one : Wait? There are people from Lewis’s universe that crossed over to this universe too? What’s going on here?

Tesla: It’s most likely a butterfly effect like the distress called mentioned. Oh I believe we already have a lead or two, that’s gut. Really gut.

A I Voice: First sightings found downtown at High May’s Junior, Le Macabre Dance club, and Toriyama’s School for the Arts.

They decide to split up into teams to not only look for the possessed arm but for at least three people from the prime timeline in TLT’s universe.

Mystery, Tesla, and Vivi are going to that Toriyama Art school in Japan since Vivi is fluent in Japanese. Lewis is thankful that Mystery is with her if Tesla tries anything.

Arthur, Rust, and Doc decide head to that Le Macabre Dance club which is in Puerto Rico. Rust apparently knows his way around there.

While Armstrong, Lewis and zero_one head towards a popular hot spot on San Francisco’s Yvette district; more specifically a hole in the wall bar known as High May’s Jr. Lewis decides to go there alone since he can change his form at will unlike Armstrong or zero_one but has agreed to meet up with them later once they found whom ever they are looking for. Armstrong thinks he’s way too conspicuous to be seen in public and decides to rendezvous with this Helvetica woman who made that distress call earlier along with zero_one.

End of Transmission

Lewis : Well. I still have my ID and all. But I don’t think it’ll matter all that much. I swear this whole thing with timelines , butterfly effect and shit makes me feel like I’m in a very anime video game. Was something like Blaze blue or whatever? Or someone’s fanfic… Umm… Nah, that’s fu_king bonkers.

#mystery skulls animated #the living tombstone #au crossover #fanfic #linkedsoulsau

14 notes · View notes

ilooklikeaburntchickenugget · 4 years

Text

Summer Love: Chapter One

A/N: I’m pretty sure I just woke up this morning with this idea of ‘what if I did a high school AU Gerard x Reader at an artsy summer camp?’ so yeah, here you go. Pairing: Gerard Way x F!Reader (High school AU) Word count: 2687

After a long and harsh school year you were finally able to go and experience your favorite part of summer: sleep away camp.

Having just wrapped up your sophomore year filled with honors and AP classes amongst electives and extracurriculars which were all art, you were ready as ever to get a break from the hectic schedule of school. And sleep away camp meant just that.

Camp Peterson was one of the elite camps in Jersey. It specialized in students who excelled in art, and helped them expand their skills greatly. This was perfect for you with your love of painting and sketching.

“Y/N?” You heard a familiar voice behind you.

“Mel?” You asked, whipping around despite the bags you were holding. There was your purple haired, nose pierces, best sleep away camp friend who you had known since sixth grade. She squealed, running up to you and giving you an anxious hug.

“Ugh, I missed you!” She smiled.

“I missed you too.” You hugged back.

“Damn,” She said, looking you up and down and pulling away, “You glew up.” “I did?” You asked. Sure, you had lost a few pounds, and cut and dyed your hair (bleached it just because), but you didn’t think it was a whole glow up situation.

“Are you kidding? I could barely recognize you!” You smiled.

“Thanks.” You said. She helped your carry your bags to cabin 17, the one you had been staying in for all your years. Setting your bags down on your side of the room by your twin bed, you looked around. It hadn’t changed a bit.

Because you and she were frequent campers who came every year the dean let you two keep your cabin and decorate it, promising that after your senior year you would come back and take it all down.

“C’mon, let’s go see the boys.” Mel said, looking at you.

“But I haven’t put my stuff away-” “So, we have another like hour to do that.” You sighed, going along with her to Cabin 18, your next door neighbors. You two ran up the small wooden steps and knocked on the door. Immediately, Mikey answered.

“Y/N? Mel?” He asked, looking at you two, “It’s been so long!” He smiled, giving you each a hug.

“Hey Mikes.” Mel said, “How are you?” “A lot better now that my best friends are here.” “Hey! I though I was your best friend!” You heard Frank walk up to the door, “Oh, hey fuckers.” He smiled at you two.

“Shut up Frank.” Mel fired back, “You’re a bitch.” “Well you’re a whore.” He said, looking at you right after, “Seems like nothing has changed.” But then he looked at you, “Oh, wait, Y/N got hot.” You lightly blushed. “But you’re still so shy and innocent. We’ll fix that, don’t you worry.” The boys let you into their cabin where you each sat down on a bean bag. There room was filled with posters of bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and The Misfits, and included Mikey’s old CD player which you guys would use almost every night.

“Nothing’s changed around here, huh?” You asked.

“You ask that every year and the answer is always no.” Frank responded. You shrugged. “Wait, actually something has changed.” He looked to Mikey to continue. Both you and Mel furrowed your brows.

“Oh yeah, my brother Gerard?” You both nodded knowing Mikey had talked about him before, “He’s here this year. He sobered up and so Mom let him come.” “Oh, cool.” Mel said.

“He’s in Ray’s cabin.” Frank added.

“I thought Bob was in Ray’s cabin?” “He couldn’t come this year.” Mikey explained, “Some sort of family vacation.” “For six weeks?” “Dunno,” Mikey concluded, “That’s what he told me.”

“We should probably go check on them.” Frank added. You all nodded.

The four of you walked out of the cabin and to number 9, Ray’s and now Gerard’s. Frank knocked on the door, no answer. He knocked again, this time harder. “Just a minute!” You heard Ray yell before coming a few seconds later and greeting you all with a smile.

“If you two were fucking in there already-” Frank said and Ray rolled his eyes.

“Grow up.” He told Frank, letting you guys in. You noticed a black haired boy sitting on one of the beds, what looked to be a comic book in hand. He was focused on the pages, while you were focused on his ruffled hair and strong jawline that shaped into a U. His hair went right above his shoulder, ruffled all over the place.

“Hey, Gee.” You heard Mikey greet. So this was Gerard.

“Oh, hey.” He smiled, looking up.

“These are the people we hang out with.” Ray began, going down the line, “Frank, Melanie, or Mel, and Y/N, or Y/N/N.” You nodded and smiled as he looked over all of you. You noticed how his hazel eyes grazed over you a little longer, or maybe you were just hallucinating.

“Wait, Y/N/N.” Ray took your out of your trance.

“Hm?” You asked, looking up at him. “You got-” He couldn’t find the right word.

“Hot?” Frank finished, “Yeah, we all know.” Ray rolled his eyes.

“That wasn’t exactly the word but you look more mature.” Ray concluded.

“Thanks.” You said, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Also you’re hair, it looks awesome.”

“Thanks.” You replied to that too.

“Hi, I’m Gerard.” He reached his hand out which you shook, “But you can call me Gee.” “I’m Y/N,” You smiled, “But you can call me Y/N/N.”

He went around and introduced himself before Mel and you headed back to put your stuff away. You placed all your clothes neatly into the drawers, hanging up some of your Christmas lights around the room. Right as you were finishing up and putting your duffel bag under your bed, you heard a knock at the door before Frank came barging in and ran to your freshly made bed, crashing on it. “Really?” You asked. “I just made that.” “So?” He asked, “I’m just making it more comfy.” “Sure you are.” The other three came in too, Mikey sitting on the edge of Mel’s bed and the Ray sitting on one of the beanbags. You noticed Gerard looking at your filled bookshelf, which was a mixture of classics and comic books. Everyone began talking but you decided to go and greet him.

“Hey, Gee.” You smiled and stood next to him, he looked up at you and smiled.

“Hey, Y/N/N.” He replied.

“What’re you looking at?” You lightly laughed, knowing he was obviously looking at your books.

“The amount of books you have.” He said, “And comics too.” “I do have quite the collection.” He smiled at you.

“You have Watchmen?” He looked at your complete collection on the top shelf. You nodded.

“Yeah, I do.” You said, “You seem surprised.” “No it’s just I um, I-” “You wouldn’t think a girl would read Watchmen?” “Well um,” He said, “I mean, yeah um- that makes me sound like a sexist asshole.” “No, it’s alright.” You assured him. “I don’t know that many girls who read it either.”

“It’s my favorite series. Alan Moore is just so good.” “It is a really good series,” You smiled. “I’ve always preferred V for Vendetta, by him at least. But I have a real soft spot for Black Widow comics.” He nodded. “She’s just a badass, ya know?” “She is.” He smiled.

“Awwww, look at you two.” You heard Frank. Both of you looked back to see everyone in the room smirking and looking at you guys. “If that isn’t love then I don’t know what is.” “Oh, shut up Iero.” You snapped. You wouldn’t consider yourself in love with Gerard considering you two hadn’t spent more than five minutes together, but you had to admit he was pretty attractive. “What time is it?” You asked out loud. Ray looked at his watch.

“5:56.” He replied.

“So dinner starts in four minutes.” Mel said, “We should probably go.” The six of you headed out of your cabin and down a few trails to the cafeteria.

“What’s usually for dinner?” Gerard asked you, walking beside you.

“First night’s usually pizza. It’s halfway decent. The rest of the food is shit but we live.” He nodded.

“But Y/N’s rich parents always ship us snacks.” Frank interrupted. You tensed feeling extremely uncomfortable at the topic that was brought up. Your parents were wealthy and you were extremely lucky and grateful, but you hated being associated with your family’s wealth and everyone in the group knew that.

“C’mon Frank.” Mel stuck up for you, “Just be grateful.”

You all made your way to the crowded hall, which was filled with primarily people who you had seen before, with a few new faces here and there. You all stood in line, grabbing the paper plates you had and grabbing your choice between Coke and water, you went with water. One by one you got two slivers of pizza on your plate, and sat at your traditional table in the corner. “So, let’s go over the groups.” Mel told Gerard. “This is probably the best time to do so.” “Most people here are nice. As long as you’re nice to them they’ll be nice back. The only people you don’t want to be near are the one’s in the center table.” She pointed, “They don’t have a group name because those are stupid, but-” “They’re a group of bitches.” Frank interrupted and Mel shot him a look, “Tell me I’m wrong.” She rolled her eyes.

“They’re just privileged white kids who are absolute pricks.” She sighed, “Just try to stay away from them. If you stay near us there’s a good chance we can help you if they decide to pick on you.”

“But they probably won’t,” Mikey began, “Because last year Y/N exposed their ring leader, Lacey, of getting a boob job in front of the entire camp.” Everyone snickered as I smirked.

“That was worth getting a three day detention.”

“Hell yeah it was.” Frank added on.

“Hello everyone!” You heard Jasper, the camp director shouted. You all sighed.

“Who’s that?” Gerard whispered.

“The director, Jasper. He’s gonna do his stupid yearly speech.” He nodded. You all sat back ready to endure his ongoing words about how great camp was, and all the fun, and responsibilities. Basically the bullshit.

“Basic rules,” He finished up, “No fighting. No drugs or alcohol,” Jasper looked at Frank, “That includes any tobacco products. And no bullying.” He finished up. “Now have fun!” Everyone clapped. The six of you got up, throwing out your plates and heading back to your cabins.

“The spot?” Mikey asked and you all nodded. You and Mel went in, Mel grabbing her backpack.

“Rose all day baby.” She smiled, slipping a few bottles and cups in. You rolled your eyes, “Oh c’mon, ease up a bit.” “I’m just not big on alcohol.” You said. You two got up and walked through the various patches of forest and trails, a flashlight in hand before you reached the spot, a little hangout area you found under an old bridge on the camp ground. You saw the four boys were already there.

“And here comes the ladies.” Frank sighed, lighting a cigarette, “Late as always.” You flipped him off. You took a seat on one of the wood benches next to Gerard, after climbing over a few rocks in the water to get to the area.

“Who wants a drink?” Mel asked. Everyone said yes, besides you and Gerard.

“Buzzkills.” Frank said.

“Hey.” You snapped, “Some people choose not to break rules. It’s a personal choice.” You looked at Gerard who nodded. Everyone began talking about some topic which you didn’t get invested in. You looked at Gerard who you could tell was not into it either. “Here,” You told him, grabbing his hand. He looked up at you. “Follow me.” He got up as you led him hand in hand to the other side of the bridge where you took your shoes off putting them in the water. Gerard followed. “It’s really beautiful here.” You said, looking up at the clear night sky.

“Yeah it is.” He agreed.

“So, why did you decide to come here?” You asked him.

“Well, Mikey would talk about it all the time. He just loves it here. I wanted to go for so long.” He explained, “But I was an alcoholic. So my parents eventually got me sober.” He finished.

“I don’t think your parents did.” You said, “You got yourself sober.” “Well, kinda.” He replied, “They just really pressured me to.” You nodded.

“Are you happier now?” You asked him, “Sorry if that was too much of a personal question.”

“No it’s alright.” He said, “Not too many people talk to me about it, they think it’s kinda weird. But yeah, I am happier now.” “That’s good, right?” He nodded.

“Yeah, it’s nice to be able to remember things.” He lightly laughed. “What about you?” He asked.

“What?” “What’s so fucked up about you?” He said, “And don’t lie and tell me nothing, because we’re all a little fucked up.”

“I don’t know.” You said, “I’m depressed. Which I guess in the grand scheme of things it isn’t the worst thing ever. Everyone in the group knows it, but I’ve been doing pretty alright for a while. Art’s helped me a lot.” “That’s good.” He said, “I’ve suffered with depression, art’s helped me too.”

“So what are you most excited for here?” You changed the subject. “I guess just meeting new people, like you.” He smiled, “So far that’s worked.” You nodded. “What’s something you always look forward to?”

“Basically hanging out.” You smiled, “We do this most nights, and when it rains we all go into Mel’s and my cabin and share stupid scary stories.” “Sounds fun.” “It is.” You said, “You’re obligated to come though, so you should see.” “I’m obligated?” He teased, “And how am I obligated.” “Well you’re apart of the group now,” You began, “And where else do you think you would fit in here?” “Ouch, that kinda hurt.” You both lightly laughed. “But you make a fair point.” “Oh I know I do.” You playfully nudged him.

“C’mon you two, we need to head back before it gets too dark.” Ray turned a corner of one of the pillars. You both got up walking over to where everyone else was.

The crew and you two walked back, you and Gerard trailing behind a bit to start up some small conversation. “What’s your first class tomorrow?” You asked.

“Sketching, I think. 10 am.” “Same.” You smiled. “What’s after that?” “I think I have writing and then cartooning.” “Oh cool,” You said, “I have photography and then painting.”

“That’s cool.” He replied. You two had made your way back to main camp, you and Melanie said bye to everyone and went back to your room.

“So, you and Gerard seem pretty cozy.” Mel smiled, as you crashed on your bed. You rolled your eyes.

“Oh fuck off.” “So you like him?” She smirked.

“I’m fond of him.” You corrected, “But he is attractive.”

“So are you gonna go after him?” “Probably not,” You sighed, “I mean he’s what, going into his senior year? He’s a year older and I’m sure he has a girlfriend.” “Have you asked him?” “No.” You replied honestly.

“Then ask him.” “That would make it so obvious.” “Then ask Mikey.” “Maybe.” You said, “But then Mikey would know.” “I think all of us already know.”

“Plus he’s way out of my league.” “Did you forget that you got hot?” She asked you, “Like really hot?” You huffed.

“I just don’t see it working.” “You haven’t even known him for 24 hours, and now you don’t think a relationship with him would work?” She asked, “You have six weeks to make something work with him and start a summer romance. Might as well do it early on.” “Shut up.” You sighed, “I’m going to bed.”

#gerard way x reader #gerard way #mcr gerard #my chemical gee #my chemical gerard #mcr #mcr fanfiction #mcr x reader #my chem #my chemical romance #my chemical romance x reader

36 notes · View notes

al-in-the-air · 4 years

Text

Not Now, But Soon - Chapter One

Harry woke with a start, in a blur of a hammering heart and clammy limbs and shaking fingers. Grasping for his wand in panic, he looked around the room with blurry vision for the threat that woke him, desperately patting his bedsheets as he searched for his glasses.

It was a dream, he thought as his vision cleared, just a really fucking accurate and horrifying dream. In the cruel reminder that even unconscious he couldn't escape this, his dream had been filed with flashes of green light skimming orange hair and dead bodies almost holding hands and the ghost of a laugh he could still hear. Fucking great. The flashbacks have already started. Yay. Fun. Exactly what I need.

He must have slept then, he supposed, for at least a couple of hours as when he had staggered up to bed - all but held up by Ron and Hermione - the sun had just about risen casting a dull light over the wreck of the castle. Yet, the sun was streaming through the hangings of his four poster now, blinding him as, with tremendous effort, Harry managed to convince his body to stop quaking and his mind to stop racing.

He hadn't even managed to undress himself last night before passing out on top of his covers. He wished he had. The clothes he was wearing were gross and old and almost definitely covered in blood, most of which he wasn’t even sure belonged to him. He desperately needed a shower, to change out of these clothes, and eat. He was hungry, starving even and yet the thought of doing any of those things filled his body with dread.

The events of the last few days still hasn't fully sunk in but the weight in his chest and the effort it took to reluctantly move one foot in front of the other towards the bathroom felt like indicators of what was to come. He’d been through this before, loads of times, with Sirius and Dumbledore and Dobby, yet something felt different this time, he’d never grieved so many people at once before. Remus and Tonks and Fred and Colin, names that permeated his thoughts with every movement and made his heart skip as if falling down a trick step. He would be okay eventually, happiness would come, it had to, it would feel like hell but it would be okay in the end. One foot in front of the other, one step at a time and before he knew it he’d feel warmth again. Not now, but soon. He hoped at least. “A lot more people died this time” the voice in his head goaded, between naming the dead “and it’s all your fault.” Harry just shook his head as if the action itself could dispel the thoughts. Absolutely not, I’m not dealing with this right now,because right now he needed a shower, and that was that.

As he crossed the room, his gaze roamed to Ron’s bed where he slept, wrapped around Hermione, a mess of entangled limbs and hair. They’d at least managed to change before bed, Harry might have wondered where they got their pyjamas from, if it wasn't so much effort. The sight did however have the corners of Harry’s mouth twitching and a loving thought of fucking finally to cross his mind, he was glad this had happened, but that didn’t stop the feeling of sudden, painful loneliness and jealousy that hit him like a punch in the gut; because fuck, he wanted Ginny like that. Now more than ever he needed her comfort, her guiding hand, her floral scent, everything was just better with her around.

That wasn’t a possibility now though, because there was no way Ginny would want to start things up again, not after he had broken it off with her, not after he had left her for months, not after Fred. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that she hated him even, that she blamed him for her brother’s death and anyway he wouldn't blame her if she did. It was his fault. If only he had given himself up sooner maybe.... He shook his head again. Shower. He just needed a shower.

The hot water hurt as it ran over his body, he was more bruised than he had realised, the remaining burns from Gringotts had blistered with some even busting under the flow, there were gashes on his skin, he’d done something to his leg, there was dried blood everywhere and every muscle ached. Yet nothing compared to the pain in his chest. Having caught sight of himself in the mirror as he undressed, Harry had finally seen the effects of the curse that should have killed him. His chest was a mess; a sharp, jagged lightning scar sat right above his heart this time and the skin around it was black, he was pretty sure he had a cracked rib and the whole area hurt, badly.

Harry cried out as the water continued to fall, forever thankful for the permanent silencing charm on the bathroom door. He found this made it easier as the water continued to clean his wounds and ran, murky down the drain. At least while he was under the shower spray the physical pain seemed to push any other thoughts to the back of his mind, he didn’t have to think about anything else except the stinging and the pain and the water running red as it washed the previous night away. He could handle this, it was tangible at least.

Leaning against the wall for support and placing his face under the water, an odd thought crossed his mind. In any other context, it might have been comical, the drastic change in the scene he was in now compared to that of a year ago, when he was interrupting his revision sessions and quidditch practises in a stance just like this, spending blissful fifteen minute bursts immersed in fantasies of a girl he thought was unattainable. Even, just once, in their few weeks together, he had gotten the real thing in the quidditch changing rooms, she’d even- stop that. Stop thinking about that.

He screamed again, because it was the only thing he could do.

It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that the water finally ran clear and Harry could will himself to move again. He still ached, maybe even more than before, but at least he’d cleaned the dried blood and dirt and sweat off himself.

He thought of Kreacher after redressing himself, and though sure the house elf would bring him something to eat if he asked, but was also sure that the crack associated with summoning him would most definitely wake his friends from their well deserved slumber. He’d have to venture into the common room; and so he did, adorned in his invisibility cloak for fear of bumping into anyone.

He needed to eat, that’s all. He’d feel better after he’d eaten.

#harry potter #Harry Potter fanfiction #Harry Potter fic #Harry Potter fanfic #hinny fanfic #hinny #post-war hinny #post war hinny #nnbs

64 notes · View notes

daedriclorde · 4 years

Text

A Thief in Wolf’s Clothing, Part III: Chapter 6, “Till The End”

Summary: Kjolti, Aela, Farkas, and Vilkas make their way to Ysgramor's Tomb to attempt to free Kodlak's spirit. With some of Kjolti's secrets now revealed, the journey is an uncomfortable one.

Read it here on Ao3

Chapter 6, “Till The End”

It took most of the day for the four of them to ride north to the tomb. They rode in an uncomfortable silence. Farkas rode ahead, not wanting to speak to any of them. Kjolti rode behind, wallowing in her shame. Vilkas and Aela rode in the middle. They tried for a while to make conversation, but any attempts at drawing Farkas or Kjolti into their chatter failed monosyllabically. Vilkas even tried singing, but he only got a few notes into “99 bottles of mead in the hall” before Kjolti, Aela, and Farkas buried him in curses and vulgarities.

Silence overtook the party.

Kjolti held Wuthraad in her hands as she rode. She looked down at it, examining the legendary weapon closely. Eorland had done an exquisite job reforging the blade; she couldn’t even find seams along the reassembled shards. There was a certain power emanating from the blade, though it didn’t feel like an enchantment to her.

Her eyes drifted up from the shaft to the double edged blade. She ran her fingers over the ornate engravings, trying to make sense of them. She gasped when she realized what they were.

Tucked between two harbingers of death, the visage of an elf was engraved in the very center of the blade. Its eyes were wide and fearful, its mouth agape. Not only was this clearly a depiction of an elf about to die, slaughtered at the hands of Ysgramor, but it was a caricature, its features exaggerated to comical effect.

Sickened, Kjolti sheathed Wuthraad. She did not want to wield this blade.

She closed her eyes and trusted her horse to follow those in front.

Vilkas told Farkas everything.

Kjolti wanted to be filled with rage. She wanted to scream and shout and rip into Vilkas.

But she didn’t have the fire for it.

Instead, she just felt that same consuming emptiness that she had felt after Brynjolf died.

They reached the northern coast as darkness fell. Rather than try to cross the deadly waters at night, they decided to make camp and enter the tomb in the morning. All four set about making a safe camp. Farkas found them an alcove against the icy cliff side, easily defendable.

A meal was eaten in deafening silence.

As the fire dwindled down, Vilkas stood and stretched exaggeratedly. “Well, I’m calling it a night,” he said too loudly. “I’ll just be in my tent…over there…” Kjolti felt him looking at her, and she glared at the snow under her boots even harder.

Vilkas stood there for a moment, and when it became clear that no one was going to join him, he turned and left.

Aela looked at Kjolti, then at Farkas. Both were staring at the ice like their gaze could melt it. She threw the scraps of her meal into the fire, and muttered that she was going to bed too. Kjolti glanced up. Aela jerked her head toward where Farkas was sitting. He had volunteered for first watch. Kjolti nodded, and Aela padded off to her tent.

Silence fell once more.

“Farkas,” Kjolti started.

He glared at her across the fire.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I really am.”

Farkas straightened and intensified his glare. “Tell me what?”

Kjolti shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. “That I’m the Dragonborn.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I…” she trailed off. The truth was she wasn’t sure herself. “I just…” She sighed. “I’m not ready to be the Dragonborn. I can’t bear it. I’m not ready to, not worthy to. And when I’m with you, I don’t have to be anyone or anything. I can just…be. And I liked it that way. I didn’t want it to change. I am sorry, Farkas.”

He looked away as he processed her words. “But you told him.”

“Only because we were attacked by a dragon when we were sent to Dawnstar. I didn’t so much tell him, as he found out.”

“I see.” he stared off into the dying fire. “But you could have told me then.”

“I didn’t want anything to change.”

“Why would anything have to change? You’re still Kjolti. Just with some extra responsibilities. I could even help.”

She stared at him. “But things have changed, haven’t they, Farkas?”

His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?” he sputtered defensively.

“Why did you want to know if Vilkas and I had kissed? Why would you care?”

Before he could open his mouth to respond, an awful screech cut through the air.

Kjolti sucked in her breath and reached for her blade. Farkas jumped up and did the same.

Will I ever fight one of these damned things in the daylight?

The ground shook in an all too familiar way, and a blinding flash of fire broke the darkness nearby.

“Companions! Rise, and fight!”

***

Truly, a dragon had little chance facing off against four Companions with fire in their veins and a collective patience that could fit in a thimble. Vilkas and Aela were out of their tents in a flash, weapons at the ready. Farkas and Aela, who had not seen a dragon in the flesh before, only took a moment of shock and fear before attacking the beast.

Vilkas, Farkas, and Kjolti all fell upon the dragon with their behemoth blades while Aela showered it with arrows. Kjolti cursed with disgust as she found she had drawn Wuthraad, instead of her own sword. Already upon the dragon, she had no time to change weapons, and swung viciously with the famed axe.

Faced with four foes, who had fanned themselves out, the dragon had trouble picking its targets. If it began to breathe fire at one, the others began to hack at it from all sides, and the two legs were surprisingly fast for ones with no wings. Plus, small piercing projectiles kept raining down on its scales, and often punched through its wings. It roared in anger and frustration.

Blades sliced through the air and sunk into scale. The dragon’s club-like tail bludgeoned those that wandered too close to its rear. Aela released arrow after arrow with uncanny accuracy.

In the darkness, the snow and ice appeared black as it became saturated with blood. One of the twins cried out. Kjolti saw Aela in the distance by the light of the fire that singed her. The fierce huntress grimaced and gritted her teeth, but did not relent in her attack. Kjolti found herself knocked on the ground several paces back from the dragon, sent there from the force of a deadly claw. She gasped and strained to get the wind back in her lungs, her ribs screaming in pain. They had not recovered from the beating they took the day before from Farkas.

Kjolti rose to her feet. The dragon had that desperate, wild look in its eye. The kind of look a beast has when it knows it is dying, but will not stop fighting. Kjolti knew it well.

Raising Wuthraad and unleashing a primal cry, Kjolti charged forward and dropped the axe into the neck of the dragon. It was enough.

The life drained from the monstrous form before her. It screamed out its last breath, a challenge even in the face of death, and grew still at her feet.

Kjolti felt her blood pulse, heard it rush in her ears. The dragon in her chest was thrashing about, craving the dragon soul like an addict craves skooma. Her body seemed to fall in with an ancient beat heard only by her.

She stood in front of the fallen dragon, eyes closed. Its soul began to rise from its body, swirling with unspent energy. The night was ignited with hues of purple and orange. Kjolti’s eyes burst open as she breathed in the spirit.

Farkas, who was watching this wide-eyed as a child would, thought for just a moment he saw Kjolti’s eyes flash blood red against her shadowed silhouette. But they returned to normal not a heartbeat later, and he knew it must have been a trick of the light.

The soul settled within her and darkness once again fell upon the northern shore. Kjolti blinked for a few moments, and then she looked around.

“Is anyone hurt?”

Vilkas was leaning against the icy cliff, favoring his left leg. Farkas had blood smeared across his face, and Kjolti didn’t know if it was his or the dragon’s. Aela’s skin was pink where the fire had nearly scorched her skin. She felt her own ribs burning from the abuse they had taken.

“Nothing we can’t handle, Dragonborn,” Vilkas said softly.

“I said don’t call me that!” Kjolti snapped. She looked back to Aela, the only member of their party who had not known. “Aela, I—“

Aela waved her hand. “I figured it out a long time ago, Kjolti.”

Kjolti was taken aback. “Does everyone know??”

“Just us. We’re with you, Kjolti. Till the end,” Aela said in her steady voice.

Kjolti looked around at her battered friends. “Right.” Fighting back tears, she gingerly walked to her tent. “I’m going to sleep.”

When she finally fell asleep, she was tormented with nightmares of her friends falling in battle with Alduin, torn asunder by his claws and words. She woke with a start, gasping and panting. She crawled out of her tent.

Farkas was sitting alone in front of the rekindled fire, keeping watch just as he had promised before the attack.

Kjolti walked over and sat next to him. He turned and looked at her. They locked eyes for just a moment, before Kjolti collapsed onto his shoulder and wept. Farkas placed a comforting arm around her and held her close.

#skyrim fanfic #tes v #oc: aerisif/kjolti #ATIWC #nerd shit #The Companions #Aela #Farkas #Vilkas

1 note · View note

shesawriter39049 · 5 years

Text

CV SQUAD PT.1 (M)

Podcast host/Youtuber/Influencer BTS & OC

CV SQUAD TAKE: MIAMI,NEW YORK, LONDON, LA

CV SQUAD TAKE MIAMI- PART 1 OF 2

WARNINGS:(There’s both some M/F & M/M smuttyness in here so I’ll let you find out which warnings apply to who) Some hand fun,Hella dirty talk, cum play, spit play, light choking, public sex, light mirror kink ,a ton of teasing between all 8 “Characters” All the boy’s are Bi in this BTW . Tatted and Pierced BTS (Not all but most)

JIMIN/OC MAIN FOCUS OT7 SUBFOCUS (MXM/MXF)

In this part Hoseok/Yoongi have a bigger roll in my opinion but again there all in it a ton

There is a lot of dialog in this one but it’s needed…I’m introducing 8 people sooooo lol

9.7 K

AU SUMMARY : The “CV SQUAD” is made up of Jimin,YN, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Kookie a group of friends who run a podcast called “Candid Vibes” . That was created initially for a media arts project,in college which is actually how they all met! Now fast forward a good 4 years, a YT channel and millions of listeners later..and we have the CVSQUADTOUR. A four city tour spanning over 16 days, with guest appearances from some of their good friends over at “TEAMJTH” AKA Jin, Taehyung,and Hoseok. Follow along to get the full candid behind the scenes access to everything that takes place over the next 2 weeks, including the moments there definitely going to edit out of the tour vlogs!!! P.S the full backstory will be linked at the end!

***This is happening in real time, so in some scenes if there’s a [C] in front of the person dialog that means there talking into the camera. Or if it says [FILMING] that means there in shot but not talking directly to the camera***

****Wednesday July 4th, 5:45 AM,Valencia, CA -CV SQUAD HOUSE (Tour starts on the 5th in Miami) ***

“Ah fuck!!” A loud grumbled leaves Yoongi's chest as he sets the camera on the kitchen counter, ruffling his hands through his faded ice blue locks, readjusting his oversized cat eye glasses on his face before pushing the record button.

[C] “Aye, goodmorning guys, it’s ughhh fuck, 5:45 which is why the lighting probaly sucks in addition to the fact that I’m not Jungkook! Sooo as you guys know we all went out last night with the guys over at TEAMJTH, for a pre-tour dinner thing, which started at 7:30 but Y/N and Jimin didint get there till like 8 which, what the fuck else is new.” Letting out a slow exhale as his body just slouched along the back counter, taking a sip of coffee before continuing his thought.

[C] “ Well, Jin and I were the first to leave around, like 11:30 ish and I had the displeasure of spending the night here, because that’s the only way I’d ensure these asshats woke up on time. And when I got up this morning my phone said the last time the alarm went off was a little after 3AM..and again it’s 5:45 and I’m about to go wake them up because come look at this shit!“ Turning the camera away from his face to let it lead the way down the hallway and into the PR room, or “Hell” as Yoongi called it .

There was a room on the first floor that was originally meant to be a “parlor” but obviously that's not anything the 4 of you would need or want! So it was turned into the PR closet, as you guys were always being sent items to review, or even paid to post about it. It only took one of you missing an ad that couldve made you an easy 3k to realize this shit needed to be kept out of your bedrooms until the job was done. So inteased you have a room filled with numerous clothing racks and boxes, separated by CV member! But it was also where all of your luggage was sitting and it barely looked liked you guys were packed, or at least not 16 days worth!

Letting the camera pan the room as he let out an exasperated sigh, even in the dim lighting only fueled by the numerous neon signs along the walls it was still clear this room was a hot ass mess.

[C] “Can we all take a moment to appreciate the site in front of us, that is without a doubt bullshit!” Panning the camera over to the right, zooming in slightly, on all of your half-assed excuse for packing. “Yeah, so on that note, were gonna walk down the hall and wake up Jimin first, and then make our way upstairs to get everyone else.”

Making his way down a long dark hallway before making a right to head to Jimin’s room, until he hears an almost animalistic noise coming from the opposite direction. Heading to the laundry room instead only to find Jungkook, snoring,with his mouth open, on a bean bag chair..with a bag of chocolate covered lays to his right.

There was a very long pause, as the camera pans between Kookie and Yoongi, before his eyes flutter shut, holding the bridge of his nose between his index and thumb.

[C] “Ya know, sometimes...I just really don’t know what my life is….I really, really don't….” reaching down to shake Jungkook “Hey, hey,HEY! Kookie! Dude whyyyyyyy !? What are you doin on the floor in here of all places?” Pausing momentarily honestly hoping for an answer than even made a fragment of sense. Instead he was greeted with a displeased grumble as kookie attempted to readjust on the oversized bean bag chair .

[C] “Nooo no, no up! Get up, go shower, and finish packing NOW! You got like an hour and 7 minutes. And then your taking this damn camera back because I hate this thing! ”

The tone alone has the younger abiding Yoongi’s orders, far too tired to argue anyway slowly rolling off the floor, grabbing his chips in the process. Managing to get chocolate all over the collar of the white “OFF white” Jacket he slept in. While Kookie slugged his way out of the laundry room, still whining like a bart in the process.

Quickly whipping out his phone to check Jungkooks IG, letting out a relieved sigh at his last 3 posts which all had well over 600k likes. But more importantly Jungkook posted the sponsored post, prior to ruining the jacket...and that’s all that mattered!

[C] “One down..two to go….”

What he actually meant was Yoongi didn't need to wake up was Namjoon, well aware that he was already up and well…..that’s because that's whose room he started and woke up in himself….

Finally heading back to his initial mission, Jimin, turning in the opposite direction, making a right, then walking down four very random stairs that lead to his bedroom . Two black framed french doors sat cracked, the room initially was a sunroom converted to a bedroom because Jimin wanted to be on the first floor and the guest room “wouldn’t even hold my shoes “. So this was the alternative...

Upon opening it he finds the both of you in bed together, but there's nothing even remotely sexual about this if anything it’s comical. Both fully dressed, like shoes and all, how you managed to sleep in that skin tight hot pink body con dress, that barely looked like you had room to breathe is besides me. The upper half of your body was almost hanging half off his california king while Jimin’s foot was damn near in a ballerina point. Evident even through his leather dress boots, neck stretched so far to the side it was almost on his night stand. One hand draped over your hip while the other hung off the bed.

[C] “Why am I not even remotely surprised at this point!?.” A combination of frustration and amusement laced within his voice as he slumped to the ground. Letting a low cackle rupture through his throat, as he still tried to keep his voice at a whisper. Only standing in the door frame at this point. “ I swear I don’t get paid enough for this…..” Walking over to turn on the lights, but unfortunately Jimin only had mood lighting so the dim aesthetic really did nothing to stir the two of you.

Flipping the angle so the camera was facing him again before speaking into it at a hushed tone [C]“Offf course this boy has strip club hoe lighting to go with his damn silk curtains because why wouldn't he! Alright guys’ Imma set this camera on the nightstand, because these two are damn near comatose, and I need two hands for this! I’m not sure how much footage you will or won't get but I really need to get them up so blame Kookie for also being hungover if this parts shitty!”

At this point because of where the camera was sitting you could only see the bottom of the bed , but it was picking up the conversation taking place above it.

Yoongi reached over readjusting your body on the bed only causing you drape your arms around him in attempts to pull him in “No, no, no..Y/n get up..” Shaking your body until your eyes fluttered, making your roll over closer to Jimin, who welcomed you with no hesitation even in his sleep, always a cuddler even in the platonic sense.

“Alright fuck this..” Hopping on the bed between the two of you, shaking you both until your eyes fluttered open. Jimin’s even puffer than usual from lack of sleep, slipping into complete slits in his face. You weren't doing any better, suddenly your lash extensions felt like bricks hanging on your lids, as you struggled to keep your eyes ajar. A loud screech comparable to banche left your throat as you stretched,managing to crack a few bones in the process… “Yo, it’s like 5 to 6...you two need to shower and finish packing,private or not we still gotta go through TSA, and you know how LAX is...we need to be outta here by 8! Let’s get movin!!” He was far from yelling but there was no room for debate within the leverage he held as he spoke.

Rolling over to your side, resting your hand on your temple, eyes zoning in on a very faint mark behind Yoongi’s ear making your smirk slightly. “Where did you sleep last night?” Brow quirked at the sudden implied question, the devilish grin on your face transferring to jimins as he ruffled his fingers through his long dark locks. Currently almost jet black, parted messily down the middle with a couple pieces falling in his face framing that lethal jawline of his! Kicking off his shoes and unbuttoning his white dress shirt, leaving his toned caramelized abdomen on display. Giving you a sneak peek at the roses that danced along his ribcage, as he readjusted next to you on the bed.

“Yeah Yoongi where did you sleep last night hmm? Needed a little stress reliever before tour even starts aye?” The playful yet taunting tenor in Jimin's voice eared an eye roll and middle finger from Yoongi.

“Fuck you both, I slept in the guest room thank you very much!” Snapping back with a snarl, while the two of you instantly exchanged glances, eyes meeting and rolling in the same direction simultaneously.

“Really!?” The word left both of your lips in unison, dry as all hell, as you tried to ease off the bed, your hangover knocking you right on your ass. Literally, plopping back down next to jimin, causing him to smile over at you fondly, stroking the side of your jaw. The contrast of the metal from his rings soothing your skin, nuzzling your face slightly into his palm.

The tone in both of your voices screamed “BULLSHIT”! There were things that happened every once in a while that were kept on the DL, even within the squad ,typically never confirmed or denied, just forever the butt of every, inside joke.

“How the fuck would either of you know different? Your drunk ass couldn't even make it upstairs!” The words slipped from his lips so effortlessly it was like he was already prepared for the two of you to give him that reaction.

“Bitch” Bringing your hand down to meet his ass, as he rolled off the bed smaking it so hard your palm burned from the impact. Earning a low hiss to leave his throat, a noise that was secretly pleasing to both Jimin and yourself if were being honest.

“No, but I’m serious, you two up! Up!” Shoeing his hands in your direction .

Jimin hopped off the bed first, throwing his shirt on the floor “For once, the little grimiln over there actually has a method to his madness, we need to get moving princess..” Abruptly grabbing you off the bed and throwing you over his shoulder before walking towards the door.

“Hey I heard that! You little shit!” Yoongi aimed a pillow at Jimin but considering he’s not even remotely athletic it landed on your ass instead! Earning a loud squeal from the sudden change of, well shit everything as now you're literally staring at the ground and his ass, in these skin tight leather pants.

The minute the two of you made it into the hallway and he walked up those 4 steps it was game over. All Yoongi could hear from inside Jimin’s bedroom was you literally screaming “Park, down,now put me down I’m literally going to throw up put me down!!”

Picking the camera off the nightstand as he plopped back down on Jimin’s bed , head jerking suddenly from the feeling of something rolling out of the pillowcase. Only to find it’s a bottle of lube, quickly looking at the brand before giving what appeared to be an approving nod, throwing it to the side before bringing the camera up to his face.

[C] “Well ladies and gentlemen..this is gonna be...interesting..to say the least..I’mma go make my rounds, make sure everyone is actually up. Make sure Y/N didn't puke in the damn hallway, I also need to check in with our boys over at TEAMJTH. I’m sure Jin’s the only coherent one, I know they were all over here at some point and I have no idea what time they left!” Pausing to pull his phone out of his pocket, letting his thumb hover over Jin’s contact.

[C] “ Maybe I’ll be somewhat nice and make a starbucks run….meh will see how I feel.But yeah, will check in once Kook’s sober so he can film because I’m sure this was a shit show! So on that note..I’m out! Peace!!”

~~~~~~

“How you wanna do this ?” Voice sitting barley above a whisper as he stroked your cheek, while you sat on the ground of the 1st floor guest bathroom. Hair all tousled to the right as your head rested on your arm, which was still braced along the toilet seat. A warm rag coming up to grace the back of your neck “You wanna shower here or go upstair-” cutting him off with a nod before he could even finish his thought. Needing to sit in the humidity before you even tried to walk upstairs. Nodding quickly before walking behind you to turn the shower up, stepping out into the hallway to grab a towel.

“Someone slept in her makeup…” Tisking lowly as he placed the towel on the counter, before walking back out into the wall.

“Fuck, yeah I know thank god my skin is damn near bullet proof or else I’d be fucked, remind me to never drink on a stomach fuled by soley the dessert menu! “ Rolling your eyes in frustration at no one but yourself as you slowly got off the ground.Feeling slightly light headed in the process, pulling your dress over your head. Only revealing a nude g-string, the dress was so tight you almost considered not wearing panties at all. As you stepped into the shower you heard the door open again, apparently he went to also grab you makeup wipes, only catching the tail end of your naked body as you disappeared behind the steamed glass.

Not even bothering to apologize because it wasn't the first time he’d seen you like that, sticking your head out the glass, extending your arms for the wipes, as you smiled over in his direction. “Thank you for taking care of my hungover ass…” Shooting him a lazy smile as you rested your head against the tile.

Returning the gesture with a slight bow of the head as he edged towards the door, “No need to thank me, I’mma go hop in the shower myself, I also sat some tylenol on the counter, but come find me if you need me okay?” The genuine care and concern in his voice forced you to give him a legit smile no matter how dead your body felt, Jimin was good people, you don’t meet a lot of them in this industry that’s for damn sure! Nodding in response, another thank you left your lips lightly before letting your body reunite with the steam.

“How’s she feelin?” Jimin heard Namjoon’s voice echo throughout the empty hallway , changing his direction from his bedroom over to the kitchen. Joon was standing behind the island shirtless, mixing together a protein drink, Jimin noticed the tripbod to his right that was holding his phone. Figuring he probably just filmed something, more than likely an instagram video. Shamelessly taking in Namajon’s honey dipped complexion, offset by his dark brows and ice blonde hair.

Joon went through phases were he choose to tone his body, always someone with a strong build so it didn't take much for him to build up muscle mass. In Jimin eyes he was the perfect combination of muscular yet soft all at the same time! A couple small tattoo’s dancing along his body, all quotes written in an old fashioned script. From various books, or artist that caught his attention, not one for random spur or the moment pieces they all held a lot of meaning!

A dimply smile pulled on Joon’s face as he observed the way the younger was damn near drooling “Thanks Chim, I’m glad your enjoying the progress I’m making at the gym” The smile quickly turned into a full blown smirk once he took in how red Jimin got, even though his tanned complexion.

Shaking his head lightly as he chuckled, slightly embarrassed, letting his eyes meet their freshly polished hardwood floors, before brining his gaze back to his elder. Raking his fingers through his hair before slowly letting them slide down his neck “What can I say, I appreciate the hard work that’s all...I know it’s not easy to stay committed!”Ending with a slight nod , that held equal amounts of sass and arrogance.

Strutting over to grab a seat in front of Namjoon “Are these any good, or are they just payin you well?”

A playful tenor rang through his voice as he recognized the very popular protein brand to his right. Finally putting two and two together, as far as his appearance and the tripod, he was clearly filming an AD for the company. Namjoon quirked his brow clearly not as amused as Jimin, while taking a sip, “Don”t try me, last I checked none of us were hungry enough to take a deal just because. We either actually like it or we don’t post about it..or did I miss something?”

Dropping his posture slightly, resting his chin on his knuckles as he locked his eyes with the younger Namjoon’s rebuttal had jimin throwing his hands up, waving his white flag immediately. “Touche, your right, your right! Lemme taste it..” He actually wasn’t asking more so demanding as he grabbed the cup, lacing his tongue around the straw before wrapping his lips around it.

Namjoon’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits at the sight, well aware of what this little shit was doing, making sure the diamond , from his piercing caught the end of the straw “Really? Is that what it is Park?” Cocking his head to the side slightly, there was an air of amusement that danced along his face while Jimin faked innocence, earning an eye roll from namjoon while he stepped back relaxing against counter. Putting his full abdomen, V line and all on display, while his joggers sat dangerously low...I swear the two of them secretly got off on constantly tempting each other! Though in all honesty it was USUALLY always harmless and just playful, the four of you flirts by nature.

“So what time did you go to bed last night?” Jimin tried to play it cool but Namjon knew he was digging..trying to see if anything happened between him and Yoongi.

“Ugh, around 1, a little after Hoe-seok made an apperance….fuck, you two missed A LOT!”

“What? OH the lapdance!? Fuckkkk I know! That’s the last thing I remember looking at one my phone, just wait until drama channels get a hold of it, Next thing you know there engaged to be married! “ Jimin rolled his eyes annoyed at just the thought of how everything suddenly became an internet headline.Not that it’s ever stopped any of them from doing whatever they want, when they want!

There was suddenly a mischievous glint in Namjoon’s eyes before he shook his head “Nah, there was another lap dance, that hopefully isn't on anybody's snap chat…” .

Jimin’s brows furrowed in slight confusion, and annoyance at the way Namjoon was dragging this out “Just fuckin send it Joonie I don’t have all damn day!”

A snort left namjoon’s body as he dropped his head on the island before continuing “ Alright ,alright, so when I got home, Kookie, Tae, Ryland, And morgan were chillin’ listening to The Weeknd doing jell-o shots. He was originally giving Morgan a lap dance,and like stripping and shit. Then I come in, we all know Hoseok can’t hold his liquor, I make a comment about his ass in those jeans he was wearing and the next thing I know he’s on my lap…and ugh, yeah...”

The hesitation as his jaw closed, let Jimin known there was more he wanted to say he just choose not too, now how much more is the question.

Jimin gazed back at him completely wide eyed, jaw damn near hanging to the floor, fuck what he would’ve given to be there for that! “Careful you might catch something…” Joon teased as he took his phone off the tripod…”Fuck, it’s almsot 6:30 you need to get your ass in the shower before Yoongi cut’s your balls off , he just left, and he spent all morning bitching!”

“Ughhh, fine but were texting about this whole ..”dance” situation later because I got questions! Also when is Yoongi NOT bitching, you just love being his little helper huh? Such a good little boy for him aren't you Joonie!!” The taunting almost demeaning tone in Jimin’s voice had his blood boiling, brow quirked, jaw extremely tight. His lethal gaze was daring the younger to even think about saying another word!

Jimin was well aware if they did have sex theres no way in hell Namjoon was bottoming. So he was hoping if he struck a nerve Joon would correct him which would at least confirm if his suspicion of them hooking up in the past was right. But clearly Namjoon was a little too smart for that one…

“Nah, more like I just know how to keep my shit together so I don’t get bitched out, now how about you be a good little boy for your hyung and go take a shower yeah!?” Now it was Joon’s turn to taunt Jimin , his tone alone had jimin shifting in his seat, low, calm yet authoritative all at the same time. All of the boys were Korean-American, so there were obviously some cultural things that just weren’t done as often in america, and referring to your male elder as “Hyung” constantly was one of them. But considering Jimin can find a way to turn anything into a kink he already knew Jimin’s underwear we soaked on command!

Jimin exhaled deeply it was clear as day he was soooo damn annoyed “Sure, anything for you hyung…” Tone dry and snarky as all hell, adding a very condescending enfaces on the honorary as he hopped out the chair, making sure to sway in his skin tight leather pants as he exited the kitchen.

“That’s it, such a good boy for me Jiminie, such a good boy..” Namjoon coaxed with almost cynical smile, earning a very deserved dual middle finger from the younger as he fully exited the space.

~~~~~~

“Can you arch for me a little, a little more, a little..yesss just like that...just lean into it a little...perfect now stay like that for me…” If Yoongi didn't know any, he’d probably second guess himself before walking into this room. Actually he’s still second guessing himself, but to his pleasant surprise, it’s a photoshoot not an orgy! . As Jimin, Namjoon, and yourself, laid across your fluffy white couch in an obscene amount of Clavin Klein while Jungkook took pics for an IG post. With all the traveling you guys were about to be doing you just didn't trust yourself to get some of these AD’s up on time so you were trying to cram as much as you could! Forcing yourself to do your infamous “5 minute beat” but begging Kookie to edit the fuck outta these pic’s because you still felt like literal death!

Jimin, opting to go shirtless with the briefs peeked out from under the joggers, namjoon kept on a hoodie leaving it completely unzipped, while you went for the short’s teasing a red and white thong above the waist band along with the matching bra. All of you going for variations of red, white, and blue due to the day at hand.

Rolling his eyes instantly at the sight in front of him “For your safety I really hope this means your all done packing and when the uber comes in 15 minues you’ll be ready to go!” Setting down a tray of drinks and bagels, face hidden behind a pair of oversized designer shades. The low rasp in his voice let you know he was just exhausted as the rest of you, but you still had shit to do regardless!

“You reallllly have no faith in us!” You could literally hear the pout in Jimin’s voice without even looking.

“The outfits were sorted on racks, when our stylist and Sara were here yesterday we just ran out of time between that conference call and getting ready for dinner to pack it all. There really wasn't shit to do!” You perked up, with a shrug reaching up to grab the Lavender tea, typically a coffee person but you knew since you were sick this morning, and still felt a little off this one was for you! Reclining your back into Namjoon’s chest slightly, while to stole your drink out of your hand, inviting himself to taste it. Brining one hand over to soothe up and down your arm before having the nerve to pass your drink over to Jimin instead of returning it to you.

“Alright, and were sure?! Kookie, all your equipment, is packed, labeled, secured!?” Raising his glasses up to look the youngest in the eyes, that infamous chipmunk smile, meeting Yoongi’s glare.

“Yesss Yoongi, that stuff’s been backed, and double checked, it’s good, were good!!”

Stepping back slowly with a nod of approval, clearing his throat before speaking “Even though the four of you are going to be the cause of my premature aging, wrinkles and receding hairline...I just ugh, want you to know I’m honestly really proud of you guys!This was just some little bullshit project we did to pass trade school, in hopes of one day working in our field. And you guys managed to turn it into a career, we were just hoping to be able to do what we love without struggling now look …” Pausing suddenly, you could hear his voice wavering, making you all equally teary eyed as this was NOT like Min Yoongi at all.

“For the record it’s the five of us, always has been, always will be, we wouldn’t have made it this far without you, hell we wouldn't have graduated without you honestly!” Jimin pipped in first, feeling the need to stroke his ego a little, even though he was speaking straight facts.

Yoongi was technically the eldest, and was wayyy better at managing the combination of partying and studying while living in LA! When you guys met originally 4 years ago , Yoongi was 21, Joon was turning 21, you were 20, Jimin was 19, and Kookie just turned 18. All at different walks in life, as you enrolled in this program for media arts just trying to turn your hopes into something feasible.

“Don’t ever forget that, Candid Vibes wouldn’t be what it is without you, and we love you too by the way, I think you were dancing around that phrase!” Smiling over fondly in Yoongi’s direction, as he tried to hide the smile moving up his face.

The three of you shared a quick glance before getting up to tackle Yoongi who gave a displeased grumped but you all knew he secretly loved it! Squeezing until his legs gave out and he was rolling around on the floor trying to break free.

“Alrigh, alright get the fuck off me!!!” Swatting in your direction. Face contorted in aggravation while the three of you cackled aimlessly honestly not even phased by him anymore. This was just the way he showed his love and you wouldn’t want it any other way!

“ While I go double check on the Ubers, quickly film your update for the CVSQUADTOUR IG account, and please just do another one over on your bags!” There was a plea to his tone this time as opposed to the normal hints of anger!

Jungkook mounted his phone on the tripod so you guys could film and the video could be uploaded directly after. Just a standard update, wishing them a happy and safe 4th of July,letting them know how excited you all were, and to keep following all of your socials for updates, and pop-up events blah blah blah!

2 UberXL pulled up, one solely for your luggage alone, the cars were also sponsored, the four of you used Uber on a weekly basis! The drive to the airport was damn near 40 minutes in traffic thank god you were flying private and the plane wasn't leaving until you got there. The 3 of you almost falling asleep the minute your bodies hit the seats, last night's festivities hitting all at once. While Yoongi made business calls making sure your house and other things were looked over while the four of you traveled. The only other girl on the team was Sara, who had the toughest job in your opinion, being your shared assistant. She left for Miami yesterday,since that’s where her girlfriend is for college, wanting a little personal time before you guys ran her ragged!

Amongst arriving at LAX a couple fans noticed you guys and of course you stopped taking pics outside and in the meantime the guys over at TEAMJTH pulled up!

[FILMING-THIS ENTIRE SECTION IS BEING FILMED CASUALLY PANNING BETWEEN ALL 10 MEMBERS WITH NO MAIN FOCUS]

Clearly they had a brand deal of their own, all of them in Tommy Hilfiger loungewear from head to toe, and they all looked damn good! Hoseok’s long burgundy locs messy pushed out of his face, while pitch black ray bans covered his eyes. His joggers were so damn tight you could damn near see the muscles flex as he walked. If you didn't know any better you’d think you were drooling, his toned arms fully exposed in his loose fitting white tank top, making his tan look even stronger.

“Jung fucking -Hoseok…” A low growl left Jimin’s throat he was standing right next to you as he said it, not even bothering to whisper, the two of you sharing a glance that read the same damn thing..this man was fine as all hell!

While Taehyung trugged behind him, pulling a Jimin, as his hoodie sat slightly unzipped exposing his chiseled chest and the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt, a couple thin chains dancing along his collarbone. His dark locks falling in his face from under his hood, this man had on looser fitting sweats, they were gray and he had on, no TYPE of underwear..none in site. Everything just slinging around as you walked.

“Oh fuck off…” You heard Junkgook whisper out to himself from behind the camera in a low almost aggravated tone at the site of Taehyung and you couldn't even blame him!

Last you had Jin in all black, fitted joggers and a pretty tight black tank top, and for the first time you realized how broad Jins shoulders were, and how nice this man’s arms were. His freshly touched up lavender locks bounced in the wind, offsetting the all balck outfit.

“Fuck..” left Nmajoon’s lips almost as if he was winded, at the sight of TEAMJTH approaching...yeah this was gonna ugh, be a fun little trip!!

All of the boys were openly Bi,as were you, there was no preference for any of you, you just liked who you liked. But something you‘ve noticed over the years is the 7 of them were a lot picker when it comes to their male counterparts. Yet they seemed to fit each others criteria effortlessly

Hug’s and hello’s were exchanged, but it was clear all of you needed a damn nap, the energy level was at a negative 2 right now!

Hoseok draped his arm around your shoulder as you guys made your way through the airport, keeping your body close to his as he made casual conversation. Voice sitting exceptionally husky due to lack of sleep but fuck if it didint sound good.

[JK IS STILL FILMING JUST NOT THE TWO OF THEM]

The two of you waited while the others went into the gift shop for snacks neither of you could be bothered to move. Leisurely laying his arm around your waist pulling you in to snuggle into his chest amongst hearing you yawn, repeatedly. As they say yawns are contagious, the moment his neck reclined, and that sinfully chiseled jawline went ajar, the light reflected on a piece of metal that you‘ve never seen before.

“Holy shit….” Glancing up at him, almost wanting to die as those words physically left your throat instead of staying in your head! Bringing his gaze down to meet yours, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Oh I ugh-I just noticed your tong-” A smirk moved up his face cutting you off mid sentence as he licked his lips before slowly letting the long wet muscle fall from his lips, letting you get a full view. But you couldn’t help notice the shape of it seemed a little..different.

“I got it done almost 3 weeks ago, we've just been video conferencing for all these meetings so you haven’t noticed. This one vibrates when you push it..that’s why it’s a little bigger…” His voice dropped to an octave that made your pussy do the tightest kegal imaginable. The look on his face proved that was kinda what he was aiming for, loving the way your body shuddered against his own.

Your throat felt uncomfortably dry as you gazed up at him, his eyes were locked on yours...dead set on making you fall apart in his arms and it wasn’t taking much. Clearly the universe decide to help you out, as the rest of the group slowly trampled out of the store. Jungkook leading the way from behind the lense. An almost arrogant smile curled up his face as he pulled back from you, easing back into casual conversation with the rest of the group.

~~~

[C] “Were walking through the airport….well fuck clearly you can see that, but were heading twoards the termal and I’m reallyyyy exicted!!” A squeak ruptured through your throat as you smiled over in Jungkook's direction. Jimin and Hoseok walking by in unison, fosseying there way towards the terminal Jazz hands, goofy ass expressions and all!

[C] “Kookie make sure you edit in some really dope Casey Neistat , type music, and editing on this part like I wanna look badd assss, slow - mos and all!” Namjoon hopped into frame out of nowhere earning a snort from kookie.

[C] “All right, let's go give it to me...I'll run ahead, and all of you give me your most badass strut and I’ll slow mo and edit that shit to the gods!!!” Kookie did as he said. Running to the end of the termal, counting down from 5 giving you all the signal to walk, and to be honest it was looking great. Until jimin had to end it with a casual almost “modest” if you will...slut drop upon reaching the end, and of course you couldn't be out done so you joined. Jimin just stayed in the position for a moment almost as if he were gracing the world with the view of his ass, before sticking out his tongue playfully at the camera to his right!

“Buss it down thotiana buss it downnnn” Hoseok cheered from the side at the site of the two of you, forever the hype man, encouraging you to live you best life. An obnoxiously loud cackle left both him and jin’s throat as they no doubt had that on their snap within seconds!

You can hear Jin and Hoseok in the background jokingly making comments about making it rain on both of you asses or something along those lines as you two strutted down the hall.

[C] I’ve never in my life seen Casey do anything like that…EVER” Yoongi’s tone came through the side stale as hell!!

“I mean, I support it, both the left and the right side of it…” Namjoon smirked back in Yoongi’s direction taking in the site of both asses swaying in front of him!

~~~

Jungkook, and Brendan TEAMJTH’s videographer lead the way into the plane first, and it was gorgeous, seating 14 comfortably had a mixture of chairs, couches, and a work space, one bedroom, and bath. In addition to an array of food, drinks and desserts, a special card sitting on the table next to an edible arrangement. Taking a couple pics to quickly upload to your IG account before getting settled .

There was someone from JETTLY waiting as you guys bored, showing you the amenities, introducing you to the pilot and such but there wasn’t a flight attendant present for the trip which was probably in their best interest!

“Strawberry or pineapple?” Taehyung brought his gaze over to Jungkook as he sat the camera on the table..shrugging nonchalantly, trying to hide the smile moving up his face.

“I don’t know surprise me..”

A smirk moving up Tae’s face at that “Close your eyes..” Dropping his voice slightly, as if it didn't already set at a sinful tenor naturally. Walking over to grab a piece of pineapple, biting into it partially to make sure it’s sweet. Flicking his index finger at the youngers bottom lip letting him know to open up, sliding the fruit into his mouth, while letting his finger lingers over his tongue. Making the younger smile slightly taking the hint, and lapping his tongue gently, fluttering his eyes open with a meek smile.

“You said surprise you…” Taehyung countered letting his lips hover over Jungkook’s before pulling back smugly making his way back over to the edible arrangement. Leaving the younger more than flustered….

“Alright guys, it’s gonna be a minute before we take off, since you're all finally in one place I need you guys to do one more update about tomorrow’s popup shop. Oh and we were able to get some of your merch there as well!! guys” Jackson, TEAMJTH’S manager spoke up, technically Jin,Hoseok, and Tae were just coming for shits and giggles. The plan originally wasn't a shared tour that’s why there only doing two shows.

But since it’s typical for you guys to have an alternating guest host at least once a month and your audience loves the threesum it just made sense. Of course since they were coming , pay was worked out, they will be compensated accordingly for the New York and LA shows as well as any of there merch that’s sold. Besides them being your friend’s the five of you just didn't do shady business!

The popup shop would be from 5-10 on the 5th, selling merch and a limited supply of brand collabs the 8 of you have done over the years!

~~~~~~

It was a little after 10 once the jet actually took off, the video was uploaded and your lives got to go on airplane mode! All of you forever grateful for the extremely dim lighting and the fact there were blinds draping the windows. The flight to Miami was about 5 hours and with the time difference by the time you landed it would be rolling on 8pm, you all had a 9:30 dinner meeting with your sponsors so sleeping was crucial.

All of you bundled up in different areas of the plane, the hum of music buzzed through the speakers, while your head laid alone on the couch kiddie-corner at the very back of the room. To be honest it seemed like you were the only one up, the light from your phone catching Jimin’s attention as he invited himself to snuggle up behind you. Sliding your phone out of your hand , placing it on the floor “You need to get some sleep…” the whisper hummed though your ear, as his hand found its home draping over your hip you knew he was right. Eyes burning like hell yet you couldn’t fall asleep…

Head covered under an oversized Calvin Klein hoodie, hiding his face in the crook of your neck, while his palm massaged your hip. A slow exhale left your body as you relaxed into his touch, “Fuck, I know..I just hate sleeping on flights!” A humm left his lips at that and you swore you could feel him smirking into your skin, as his hand slipped under the blanket, past the band of your shorts, toying with the hem of your calvins...A low chuckle left your throat, already well aware of were this was going, you kinda expected it just not this soon.

It’s been 4 months since anything sexually has happened between the two of you, and for some reason it only happens when your traveling. Maybe there’s just something in the air , it was in the bathroom at a brand event, in Bora Bora you found yourself on your knees in Moschino and he found himself shamelessly on his in Gucci. It was a great night, needless to say, the two of you ended up buying the outfits afterwards because there was no way in hell they could be returned!

“I’m surprised your over here with me actually…” Your words coming out slightly muffled as you tried to be respectful of the current atmosphere around you.

“And why’s that..” Bringing his hand down to soothe under your ass, while his lips left faint airy kisses down the side of your neck. Teeth grazing the thin chain around your neck, toying it between his teeth.

“Well, with the way you've been eyeing Hoseok the past two days I figured you’d jump on the opportunity to cuddle up under him...”. Turning your head slightly with a playful smirk waiting for him to bring his lips up to meet yours.

“Coming from the woman who almost creamed her panties when she realized he had his tongue pierced today?” Even though he phrased it as a question his tone came off very “matter of factly” leaving no room for debate. Tugging your bottom lip between his teeth, before lapping over it with his tongue,letting the tiny diamond ball of his own dance along your flesh. “How didn't you notice that last night?” Sucking your lip between his teeth, not even really expecting a response as he dug his nails into your ass, rolling his hips into you until your knead out slightly. Eyes fluttering shut, as you arched back into his touch, grinds your ass into him until you ripped a stifled moan from his throat!

Sinking his teeth into the side of your neck in response until you dug your nails in his thigh “We have a meeting behave….” A deep sigh left his lips but he abided anyway, using his tongue to assault your neck instead.

“I saw the way you were looking at him all night,I don't blame you, I was starting just as hard as you were baby.” Bringing his hand up to grab your neck, applying just the right amount of pressure, as his lips teased up your ear. Tugging your hoops between his teeth before sucking a nice little reminder right beneath your ear.

Sliding his hands past your panties to swipe of your clit, a low moan leaving both of your lips “Fuck, Hobi really did get your little pussy wet didint he? Can you imagine how good it would feel to have both of us smothered between your thighs? Telling you how sweet you taste and how good you look while you come.” His lips were literally buried into your ear as he spoke, trying to keep is voice as low as possible, the feeling of his breathe teasing your skin alone had your body shuddering. “God your always so sweet too, you know Hoseok has his cock pierced in 2 places right?”

That alone ripped another moan from your throat as he eased to two fingers in until the rings on his fingers were submerged with you heat. Walls flexing on command as he molded himself around you, curling his fingers upwards to tease at the roof of your pussy. Biting down on your lip so hard you thought you’d draw blood. Thrusting his fingers in and out at an agonizing pace, the girth between the two of them had you arching within seconds , sliding a third finger in and your walls welcomed the stretch effortlessly, as you coated him in your juices. “God your so fuckin’ tight, I bet I got you thinkin about him bending you over -”

“While I have your dick in my mouth? yeah that’s exactly what I’m thinking about. Me wrapping my lips around you until you come down my throat.” The words hissed from your throat as your heat pulsed around him you could almost hear your juices slushing around as he pumped his fingers in and out. “You always look so good when your begging, you turn into such a little slut it’s so sexy.” Now it’s your turn to tease, grabbing his face in your hands pulling his lips down to meet yours. Sliding your tongue into his mouth when you hear him let out an involuntary cry as you start grinding your hips back even harder. Allowing his tongue to map every area in your mouth, the cool sensation from the diamond ball in contrast to the warmth of his tongue has your biting back moans every second. Both of you kissing each other with the same amount of fever , tongues melding against each other, as he exchanged your hole for your clit. Placing the pad of his fingers against it before adding steady pressure, as he moved in swift circles.

“Or how about you fucking me, while Hoseok works you open with his fingers, god his hands are so sexy.Until your just begging for him to fuck you, you know how much you love to beg.” A low whine left his throat as he pulled back to lay his tongue flat against your neck, licking a long slow stride before sucking down lightly beneath your chin. Just enough to make you want more, even though you knew he couldn’t...

“Jiminnnn...” You whined slightly reclining your neck even more humming out against your skin in response, lips vibrating against your pulse as if he was actually curious as to why you were calling his name.

“god yes, making you fall apart up under him while you make me cum for you...making a mess all over you cock before he fucks you open with his.” Bringing his lips back over to yours with a slight growl, panting out against his tongue, not allowing yourself to pull away because your afraid of how loud you’ll become, needing his lips and tongue to muffle your cries, as you feel the heat growing in your stomach.

Sliding his oppiste had into your panites, gliding three fingers in knuckle deep, just keeping them stationary, only adding to the immense pressure building in your stomach.

“Your soo good, your fingers are soo good..” Moaning out against his tongue, as low as possible before sucking it into your mouth, his fingers always filled you perfectly, it never took much for him to get you off. Hoping the fact that his hoodie was draping over both of your faces muted out some of the noise.

The neediness dripping from his tongue aren't helping either as you grind your hips into his hand, helping chase your own orgasm. “Fuck I forget much of a promblem this mouth of yours is, your gonna fuck around and make me come from that alone, god your so fuckin sexy…” You could feel him start to build up momentum his fingers started working even faster, needing to feel you come just as bad as you “Your dripping down my hand right now, fuck I just wanna taste you, make you come all over my face.”

Burying your face in the crook of his neck, sinking your teeth into the base merissily, edging you towards your release. “That’s it, fuck yourself on my fingers baby, I can feel how tight your clit is, come for me, come nice and hard for me….” Panting out gainst his your hair as your muscles started to seeze biting down on his neck disgustly hard as you came…… body shuddaring in his embrase as he contiuned working your clit, easing you through your orgasm “Fuck yes, just like that...keep comming for me baby” No matter how sensetive you were you still kept rocking abck agaisnt him, his dick impposibly hard in his pants until you heard a low growl leave his chest. You knew Jimin well enough to know there was a 99% chance he just came….

A low chuckle left your throat at that ...reaching down in his pants as he swirled his fingers in yours. It was like the two of you worked off of one brain cell, brinings your fingers up to each others mouths, lapping your tongues around the digits effortlessly before bringing your lips together. Moaning out simultaneously the two of you tasted each other, the kiss was slow and lazy, letting his tongue have it’s way you as you were spent at this point. Eyes so heavy you almost couldn't open them once he pulled away “Get some sleep…” the words brushed against your lips with a lazy smile before kissing the tip of your nose. The scent of you rolling off his tongue as he spoke. “My entire bodies pliant right now...I don't have a choice, I’m not moving and neither are you!”

Placing one more kiss along your lips before readjusting the two of you under the blankets, before well needed sleep effortlessly washed over your bodies.

~~~~~

The feeling of someone’s hand roaming through your hair is what had your eyes breaking apart. It wasn’t Jimin though you knew what he felt like. These hands were longer, but equally delicate, eyes flutter up to see it was Taehyung. With a camera. Dead in your face.

[C] “Were hereeeee..” The words left his lips sing song like, back to his normal playful self, clearly sleep did him well. Soothing his palm over you back as you grumbled in dismay burying your face back in the blanket...until you remember the discomfort sitting in your panties from earlier, and you instantly felt the desire to hop up and run to the bathroom!

Stepping into the bathroom too quickly wipe down with a towel swamping out your underwear, putting a soiled ones in a bag and sliding them in your cosmetic bag. Upon walking out of course Hoseok would be the one waiting to use the bathroom.

Resting against the wall, shirt long gone, as his hands sat casually in his pockets, the look on his face just felt like he knew something. Or maybe you just felt awkward because you and Jimin got off to the idea of having a threesom with the man in front of you!

“Did you sleep well?”

“I ugh, yeah, yeah I did ..you?” Hoping to god your voice didn't come out as shaky as it felt.

Another all knowing smirk moved up his face, with a slight shrug “Meh, I mean...it couldve been better….” Easing his back off the wall to talk past you, body dusting against yours slightly as he entered the bathroom. Allowing you to get a full view of beautifully done back piece, Hosoek had one tattoo, and the thing was HUGE...taking up a good 70 percent of his extremely muscular back. It was an extremely detailed leopard, with a tone of tropical themed flowers around it. He got it done in Thailand..about 2 years ago over the span of 3 day!

The minute you returned to the main area Jimin’s eyes met yours exchanging the same look before randomly bursting out into a fit of laughter causing everyone else to glare in your direction. THIS is why the two of you were able to have sex every once on and while, because once it was over..it was over, the two of you were able to just revert back as if nothing ever happened! Walking over to investigate your damage, yanking his hoodie to the side, thankfully the brutal mark was low enough on his shoulder that any shirt with sleeves would cover it! But fuck if it wasn;t the deepest shade of purple imagiabele, a hiss left your lips at the site of it.

“Don’t worry about it, you know how much I get off on pain..” The words were barely audible as whispered out into your hair. Pulling back from you with a smirk, walking over to pack his blankets and such back in his luggage.

~~~

Once the plane officially settled and the 10 of you made your way to the airbnb it was pushing 8:30, and luckily the sponsors had a feeling this would happen and pushed dinner back to 10. But that still didn't leave MUCH time for getting ready.

Upon pulling up you all recognized the house, it was the “Santorini” very popular amongst influencers as it had 5 bedoroms 4 baths, nine bed all together, a hot tub, pool the full nine. Unfortunately you lot were far too rushed to explore or even pick out rooms, recognizing the car that was waiting outside thankful it was the hair and makeup duo you reached out to weeks ago through IG to do your glam while in Miami.

The house was a mess within seconds, all of you running around throwing clothes everywhere trying to find what you needed, the ten of you had never gotten ready so fast in your lives.

Jungkook and Brenden were ready first, within 20 minutes tops, the least high maintenance of the group, whipping out there cameras as they watched all the casos unfold. Even Though 80% would have to be cut as there were a lot of naked and or half naked bodies running through this house!

It was only a matter of time before Jackson and Yoongi were screaming that the car was outside and you all needed to leave ..NOW!

[FILMING]

“Fuck where are my shoes!?

“Who has hairspray, that won’t make my hair look flakey on my hair!?”

“Kim-Tae-fucking-hyung are you wearing my Saint Laurent boots!?”

“NO! My feet are bigger than yours ya dick!”

Everything and everyone was a damn mess, yelling from all ends of the house, no one really sure who the other was actually speaking too!

“Ahhh shit I gotta go I gotta gooo..” You found yourself running away from your glam team as they chased behind you with hairspray and fix plus,trying to spray you down in the process “Someone zip this pleaseee…” The first person you ran by was Namjoon, his silk paisley shirt sitting slightly unbuttoned giving you a sneak peek at his toned chest while reaching behind to zip up your dress.

[FILMING] ‘Shit I don't know if I like thissss..” You knew that whine anywhere it was Jimin giving himself a one over in the mirror.

[FILMING] “Your ass looks delectable Jiminie we gotta gooooo!!!” The praise came from Namjoon making the younger blush slightly as he licked his cherry stained lips, not hesitating to look at his ass in the frame one more time before abiding. Confidence instantly back on a hundred as he smirked, swaying away from the mirror while running his fingers through his hair.

~~~~

The 10 of you pilled into 3 luxury Ubers arriving to the “Lobster Bar Sea Grille” About 10 minutes late but hey, you tried, Jimin and yourself strutted together, the last two to hop out of the car. Hoseok came over casually draping his hand over Jimin’s shoulder. “I like these pants on you Jimine…” tone calm as ever as his hand gently brushed up Jimin’s thigh, making the older chuckle upon feeling his muscles tense under his hold.

Turning his head upwards slightly to meet Hoseok’s gaze, letting his tongue play at the corner of his mouth “Yea, I can say the same about you,they make your thighs look really good” Jimin’s voice dropped a little, adding that slightly whiny twang that never failed to get him his way! Eye’s shamelessly trailing up Hoseok’s body

A humm leaving Hosoek’s lips in response as his hand coily trailed down Jimin’s back, the slight whimper that left Jimin’s throat the lower he got didn't go unnoticed. Once Hoseok's hand reached his ass he didn't hesitate to squeeze it firmly in his palm until the younger knead out slightly. Pulling back with a smirk “Let’s ugh..go knock this meeting out so yeah?” Lips hovering over Jimin’s ear as he whispered into his skin. A low rumble ruptured through his chest at the way the younger was just putty in his hands. Typically Jimin had this effect on everyone else, he’s not used to being knocked on his ass, Hoseok’s a completely different type of creature that’s for damn sure. This time giving his ass a couple playful smacks before jogging over to Jin and Taehyung as the walked through the restaurant's doors.

“What. The. Fuck. Was. That.” Glancing over at Jimin with a smile, honestly you were kinda rooting for this, lord knowns he’s wanted to fuck Hoseok since they met.

“I have no idea, but if that mans dick isn't in my mouth by the end of the night..I’mma lose my shitt!!”

Upon walking in and exchanging hugs there appeared to only be seating left on either side of Hoseok..Jimin and yourself couldn't help but laugh as you took your seats, something tells me this was not a quisedence.

While Tae was next to jungkook Yoongi was sandwiched between Jin and Namjoon, and Jackson, and brenden were sitting in between the two Mike, and Jordan. They were behind the company sponsoring the actual aesthetic of the tour. Meaning they were the ones transforming these venues into the atmosphere all of your fans were walking into. Everything from lighting,seating, the podcast “set” the full nine. Each city was set to have it’s on vibe so none of the ‘set’s would look the same!

The night went well, not that you were surprised, you all knew time and place, and sitting in front of two men who were putting a shit ton of money into your tour was a place to act like professionals. But then midnight rolled around, and that’s when everyone started to get a little laxed Jimin and yourself were one in the same. The familiar smirk that tugged on his pouty lips as he sat in deep conversation with Hoseok told you to look under the table.

Only to find his fingers gently teasing over Hoseok’s cock through his pants, trickling up and down his zipper. Casually bringing his hand down to soothe up his inner thigh, fingers getting dangerously close to his length. Admiring the way Jimin kept gazing at him, the glint in his eyes were the perfect combination of innocent and sin all at the same time. You couldn't even help the smirk that tugged on your cheeks, feeling somewhat proud of you friend for finally going after what he’s wanted.

The sponsors left and graciously covering the bill, while the rest of you shifted outside towards the bar which set right off the water. But you couldn't help but notice Jimin get up to go to the bathroom, only for Hosoek to follow seconds later.

~~~~~~~

Walking in to find the younger pressed against the counter raking his fingers through his hair, not forgetting to arch slightly with a cheeky grin once his eyes zooned in on Hoseok.

Tsking lowly as he shook his head, one hand in his pocket as he strolled over causally “Such a little cock tease huh?” Smacking his ass so hard, even Hoseok moaned out at the sting, pulling a sharp gasp from Jimin’s body. Making him fall forward chuckling lightly as he braced his weight on his elbows, grinding back into Hoseok. Turning his head slightly as his tongue flicked the roof of his mouth, locking his eyes with the elder as he felt him, digg his thumbs into his hips before grinding his clothed cock into Jimin ass.

Making Jimin moan out shamelessly sucking his plum bottom lip into his mouth as he zoned in on his own reflection.

“Ohhh, you like watching yourself get fucked? You like seeing how pretty you look while your bent over like a little slut getting fucked into the counter?” Rolling his hips a little deeper with a growl, bringing his hand up to take a firm hold on Jimin’s sinfully thick neck.

Brining Jimin’s body flesh to his, Hoseok’s blunt teeth sunk deep into a pulse point, making the younger strangle out a high breathy moan that bounced off every surface of marble in this bathroom.

“Fuck”. Hosek bit his lip, snaking his tongue down the side of Jimin’s neck to ease the sting, his body shuddering at the feeling of the metal brushing against his skin. “You sound so fuckin good and I haven’t even touched you yet…I wonder what you’ll sound like if IIII…..”

Finally bringing his hand down to cup Jimin’s throbbing cock as he rolled his hips into him electing another needy whine from his throat bringing something almost primal out of Hoseok’s body! “Jiminnnn, baby fuck...” The tone in his voice reflected as if he was in pain, which he was, his dick was ready to fucking explode.

The pet name and sudden hint of neediness in Hoseok’s voice had Jimin turning into complete mush in his hold.

Taking Jimin’s hand in his own, pulling back just enough to let Jimin squeeze his cock in his hands through the almost painfully tight fabric, making it twitch a couple times, and he swore Jimin’s knees went limp.

“You want it…” Phrasing the question more as a statement , as he turned Jimin’s head waving his tongue into his mouth, making the younger respond instantly swirling it around the muscle. Hoseok’s hand made its way back to the front of Jimin’s body , soothing it down his chest,before palming his length again. “Soo sexy…” slurred out against Jimin’s mouth, as he sucked his plum bottom lip between his teeth.

Jimin was the one to break away from the kiss “I’m over having your tongue in my mouth , I need your cock” Tone exceptionally bratty, nipping at the elders chiseled jawline,rolling his hips back even deeper “You want me on my knees here or at home?”

THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE FOR NOW! LOL

(Since this is the first chapter I kinda forgot that this one would be the longest for obvious reasons! So I decided I didn't wanna make this like 16 k...cut it off at 9.5 and if this is received well, Miami will be done in 2 parts. So if you enjoyed this and want more...show some love and hit up my ask.

BACKSTORY

107 notes · View notes

isidar-mithrim · 5 years

Text

Beyond the Veil

[Also on Ao3]

“No fewer than four Stunners had shot from the figures around the cabin toward Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams col- lided with her. For a moment she looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, then was lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more.” [Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]

What if Minerva, in a coma at St.Mungo, had the chance to choose between staying or coming back – between living and dying – as Harry did in King’s Cross? ___________________________________

Minerva opened her eyes.

The sun was high above her head, but oddly enough she could look at it without being blinded by the dazzling light.

She was lying on a cold, flat surface, like a stone pavement of some sort. Determined to look around, she sat up cautiously, expecting to feel sore, but her body reacted smoothly at the command.

Only when she stretched her arms in front of her she realised what she was wearing. It had been ages since the last time she had put on her Gryffindor Quidditch uniform, and she couldn’t hold back a smile remembering her past as Chaser. Oh, how she had missed those youthful days...

Eventually, after what could have been a moment or an hour or a day, she lifted her gaze from her robes and looked around her.

Despite the sky above her head, she was in a closed space. Massive stone walls surrounded her from afar, delineating a huge hall that rang familiar, but had a surreal vibe in it. The colors were dimmed and the outlines shadowy, like immersed in some sort of cloudy mist – like made of some sort of cloudy mist – and Minerva went to check if her lenses were clean, only to realise she wasn’t wearing her reading glasses.

She stood up to explore the place, and after a couple of steps she saw that the hall hosted four long tables – yet, she could swear they weren’t there an instant ago.

Red gold banners were hanging from the walls, and Minerva was squinting her eyes to figure out the animal woven on them when she heard a wheezing in the air.

She turned on the spot and saw the Quaffle right in time to seize it.

“Nice catch, professor!” exclaimed the familiar voice of a young boy with messy black hair. He was smirking at her, and that smirk...

Was he...? But no, no, that wasn’t possible... He must have been...

“Harry?”

The boy chuckled.

“He looks like me, doesn’t he? But he has Lily’s eyes,” the boy said with a warm smile, his hazelnut eyes sparkling with fondness.

Minerva hadn’t seen that gaze in almost fifteen years, but she had missed it dearly.

“James…” she whispered, bewildered.

“In the flesh! At least I think so,” he chuckled.

“Is this... is this a dream?”

“Something like that, yeah. Nice decor, by the way,” he said with a wink, gesturing at the walls.

Finally, Minerva recognized the griffins on the banners, and she finally understood where she was – or seemed to be. In hindsight, she had probably known since the beginning, but for some inexplicable reasons she hadn’t grabbed the concept until then.

“Why are we at Hogwarts?” she asked, still looking around. The tables seemed more defined now, more real.

“How am I supposed to know?” said James, amused. “It’s your dream, professor. Not that I mind the choice, though… I kinda missed it here, you know?”

She thought Hogwarts had missed him as well, but she didn’t voice the sentiment, afraid of getting too emotional.

James was walking around, now, and Minerva let her gaze wander again, spotting an old, worn hat upon a three-legged stool. How many eleven years olds she had let sit on it...

“We are here because Hogwarts is my home,” she whispered in understanding.

James nodded, his warm smile not leaving his lips. “I woke up at home too, when I died.”

Minerva winced, dreadful realisation coming to her. So, that was what had happened... that was the reason she was there. Those Stunning spells had killed her.

Well, her father would have been thrilled to know that even witches deserved a spot in Heaven, or whatever that was – it didn’t seem like Hell, at least.

“Shouldn’t the drapes be black in mourning, since I’m gone?” she joked.

It was a lame attempt, she knew that – she had just found she was dead, in her defence – but she still hadn’t expected James’ eyes widening in horror.

“Oh, Godric, no, no, I’m so sorry, you haven’t died yet, professor!” he clarified hastily, clutching her shoulders as to better convey the message.

She was astonished for an instant, before breathing a long sigh of relief. It took her another long second to grasp the full meaning of his words.

“Not yet?”

“Well...” mumbled James, running a hand through his messy hair – for heaven’s sake, she had forgotten that annoying habit of his. Even if they were discussing her own death, she couldn’t help smiling at the gesture.

“You can still choose to go back. Truly back.”

There was a soft, melancholic longing in his words, and Minerva didn’t need much time to guess why. “Are you saying that... you couldn’t choose?”

James sighed deeply, his features serious for the first time. “I got a different offer... One not as appealing.”

Minerva wasn’t sure she understood what he meant, and probably that showed on her face.

“They gave me the chance every wizard gets: becoming a ghost,” explained James with a shrug. “I wasn’t interested.”

Minerva wondered how hard it must have been for such a young, vibrant boy to turn out eternity.

“Why?” she asked.

“I thought it was better to wait few years to be forever with the people I love, rather than watch them live and die only to spend an eternity without them. And... I wanted to be there to welcome Lily and Harry, if… if they couldn’t flee.”

Minerva felt a lump swelling in her throat, sadly aware that eventually Lily had to die too, to let Harry live.

“But why are we talking about me!” exclaimed James with forced cheerfulness, diverting her mind from those angst thoughts. “This is your moment, professor. Your choice.”

He was staring at her with intensity, and she felt oddly exposed under his gaze. It should have been a simple pick, she knew that, but it was so peaceful there, so beautifully calm...

She took a deep breath. “What would you do, in my place?”

“I’d go back.”

He had spoken without hesitation, and Minerva was taken aback by his conviction. “You’d leave Lily?”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “Yeah... I would. For the same reason you’re going to, if I know you well. Our kids.”

Of course, she realised. Even if Lily was there, Harry was not. Lily herself would have wanted James to go back to their son. That made sense for James, but she couldn’t see how it applied to her as well.

“I don’t have kids,” she said, even if James certainly knew.

“Are you sure?” he retorted, gesturing at the long tables with a knowing smile.

Minerva brought a hand to her heart when she saw the benches crowded with faceless teens wearing their Hogwarts uniform. The lovely scent of the feast treats and the joyful noise of the students rose in the air, filling her nostrils and hears, and warming her heart. Minerva hadn’t even realised of how unusually quite the Great Hall had been until then.

“I’m sure they still need their Transfiguration teacher, don’t you think?”

At those words, Minerva began recognising the happy features of her students.

She instinctively knew they would disappear if she got too close, so she watched them from afar, walking back and forth along the spot usually occupied by the teachers’ table.

They all sat randomly mixed together: the youngest with the oldest, fathers with sons, present students with past ones, alive and dead, Gryffindors and Slytherins. They all looked like teens, even those that by now had kids at Hogwarts of their own.

“That’s me!” grinned James, pointing at his other self. “And that beauty beside me... is she Ginny Weasley?” he asked uncertain, and Minerva smiled fondly when she recognised the girl.

“No, that’s Molly Prewett, her mother.”

James stilled, and Minerva could see his eyes getting misty. “And what a wonderful mother she is.”

Minerva laid a hand on his shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “The best one Harry could have hoped for,” she murmured against the lump in her throat. “Beside her own, of course.”

James rub two fingers on his eyes, pushing his glasses upwards, and to give him a moment to recollect Minerva resumed looking at the students. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Cedric Diggory setting with his father Amos.

This time it was James to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and Minerva realised she had been staring at them for too long. She took a deep breath and let her gaze wander to another table, and a moment later her eyes fell upon a lighting shaped scar.

“Look at that boy,” she said to James with amusement, pointing at Harry. “I bet you can recognise him.”

“Well, he does have something familiar, now that you point that out,” joked James, but she could see his eyes gleaming. “Never seen those hideous hair before, though,” he added with a smirk, and she chuckled despite herself.

Her smile suddenly faded when she saw the guy in front of him.

“Regulus Black,” she murmured, shaking her head. “Poor, silly boy... I always wondered if I could have done more...”

James took a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess we all wondered. But at the end, he made his own choices, as everybody else.”

“He was just a kid...”

“We all were,” said James. “They all are,” he added, his gaze fixed on Harry.

She looked at the two boys again, and she noticed that they were sitting alone, now. To her surprise, they were chatting animatedly, but despite the renewed quite in the hall, they were too far to be heard.

“I wonder what they’re talking about…”

“I bet they’re saying that Seeking is the best thing in the world, but as incredibly skilled Chasers we both know that’s only a mere illusion,” said James with a smirk.

Minerva smiled. “Well, I’m afraid I must agree. Harry’s still a better flyer than you, though,” she teased fondly.

“No way!” exclaimed James, comically widening his eyes and mouth in pretended shock. “He’s only got a better broom!”

“Sure, if that’s what you want to believe,” she played along, knowing perfectly well how proud James must have been for his son talent.

“For the record, Sirius has never bought me a broom, the tosser. Nor you/, for that matter,” he added with a fake pout, and Minerva felt slightly embarrassed. Of course James hadn’t missed that she had personally paid for that Nimbus, probably breaking several unwritten Hogwarts ethical rules in the process – not that Albus had minded.

She would do it again in a heart beat, anyway, and according to James amused expression, he was perfectly aware.

“Well, what can I say?” she shrugged. “It would have been a pity to waste all that talent on a school broom.”

“Indeed,” nodded James. He was apparently serious, but she could see his lips twitching, and finally he let go the pretense and grinned. “I’m sure that had nothing to do with Harry being the son of your favorite and most talented student ever.”

“Lily was indeed exceptional,” she said, trying to keep her expression stern as well – and failing spectacularly.

“Oh, please. We both know she is too rubbish at Quidditch to be your favorite. And she clearly isn’t the most talented, or should I remind you that I was younger than you when I became an Animagus? And I didn’t even need Dumbledore holding my hand to do it,” teased James. “Pretty sure that seals the deal.”

She shook her head in amusement, recalling her stunned shock the day Albus told her what the so called ‘Marauders’ had illegally accomplished. Looking at James smugness, though, a way older memory popped in her head.

“I can’t believe I’m saying it, but –”

“Merlin, are you really about to admit I was your favorite student? All those years trying to make you say it, and strict logic plus a near-death experience was all you needed?”

“Oh, no, that’s nowhere near enough,” she smiled. “I was simply admitting that becoming an Animagus at fifteen without a proper guidance is a rather impressive achievement, after all.” She almost added that she had no idea how they managed to teach Peter Pettigrew as well, but she cut her tongue right in time. “I will also admit I was quite upset when you so flippantly refused my offer to help you becoming an Animagus yourself. I believe you said something as Unlike you, professor, I don’t need a tacky pretext to show myself off in my birthday suit during random Transfiguration lessons. But if that what’s work for you, who am I to judge?”

James laughed with mirth, clearly delighted. “Godric, that’s pretty accurate, you know? I had to make sure you weren’t going to pressure on the matter ever again. Worth all the night of detention, if you ask me.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” she said with a fond smile. “So, would have you accepted my offer, if you hadn’t learnt it already?”

“Of course I would have! I’d never refuse such an interesting learning experience offered by my favorite teacher. See, not that hard to say,” he winked, and Minerva shook her head in amused disbelief. Oh, she had really forgotten what this boy could do to her…

She was about to admit that he was indeed the most talented Transfiguration student she had ever taught when the sky turned darker, the sun setting on the West.

James put his hand on her shoulder yet again. “I guess it’s time to make your choice, professor,” he said kindly.

“I guess it is,” she agreed. “So, how is this going to work?”

“You just have to choose, I think.”

“You think?”

“It’s my first time doing this welcoming thing! And nobody bothered to told me the technicalities, for the record; the good news is, I’m definitely smart enough to figure it out,” he winked.

But this time his mirth didn’t reach her. It had been lovely staying here with James, and the time spent together wasn’t nearly long enough, but she finally knew what she had to do, and that meant she had to say goodbye.

She looked at him with sadness, and she gasped when he hugged her tightly, almost lifting her from the floor.

He let her go too soon, and fixed his gaze on hers.

“Harry is a fine young man, isn’t he?” he asked with longing.

“The finest.”

“And you’ll take care of him, right?”

“I’ve always had, James.”

“I kno –”

“Merlin, I bet this is one of those scenes you can only see as dead,” said a wry voice in the distance.

Minerva and James turned towards it to find a young boy of breath-taking beauty looking at them in amusement.

“You know, I didn’t expect the world beyond the Veil to look like Hogwarts,” he said matter-of-factly. “And I definitely didn’t expect you to be there, professor. Killer outfit, by the way,” he added with a wink, and she felt her eyes watering.

“Padfoot…” whispered James, his voice cracking with grief.

“I did expect a warmer welcome, though,” he playfully scolded James. “And there’s no need to look so gloomy, you’d think somebody died.”

Sirius was the only one to find the joke amusing.

“What happened?” asked Minerva with a lump in her throat.

“I could ask the same about you, professor.”

“She’s not here to stay,” said James.

“Well, I am. A courtesy of my dearest cousin.”

Sirius was grinning, but Minerva felt her chest heavy, suddenly aware that she had another tough goodbye to attend, now. She wished she could switch places, but she was sure it didn’t work like that.

“Anyway, esteemed professor,” added Sirius with pompous humor, bowing slightly at her, “it’s rather obvious I happened across your missed demise, and I humbly beg forgiveness for the inconvenient intrusion.”

A tiny smile finally twitched her lips. “Forgiveness granted,” she conceded with a nod.

“But since I’m here,” said Sirius, “it would be an honor to run with you one last time.”

A second later he turned in a huge, black dog, who barked playfully and wagged his tail. Minerva understood, and soon beside the dog appeared a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes. It was dark, now, and their pupils gleamed brightly into the night.

When a majestic stag joined them, they moved forward between the central tables, the stone under their paws and hoofs turning in damp grass, the walls of the castle fading away like mist.

On the distance stood the Whomping Willow, its branches motionless, its leaves gently blowing in the wind. The dog barked cheerfully and raced towards it, urging the others to join him, and while the cat was supposed to be the slower and the stag the faster, somehow they all kept running side by side, and nobody was left behind.

When they got close to the Willow, the branches began fidgeting fiercely, but the tabby leapt easily among them and pushed the knot at the base of the trunk.

The tree went still, and stag and dog lied down near the cat, who brushed their fur with her paw and glanced at them one last time, before vanishing in the secret passage.

***

“Can you squeeze my hand, professor?”

Minerva somehow sensed that remote request and made an effort to oblige it, managing to clench her fingers with fair strength.

“Good, very good! Now, can you try opening your eyes for me?” asked the feminine voice.

Minerva painfully lifted her eyelids, and then blinked a few times before adjusting to the light. She was in an aseptic hospital room, and against the white walls and furniture the bright spot of color of a Quaffle easily caught her gaze. Minerva recalled holding one at the beginning of her odd dream, but she couldn’t remember ever dropping it.

“A gift from Gwenog Jones, professor,” said the Healer with a warm smile. Minerva was almost moved when she recognised her as a former Ravenclaw student. “And a lot of people sent you flowers, but since a patient was strangled by a Devil’s Snare few months ago we have to send them back. Hospital policy, I’m afraid, but we put the notes in your drawer.”

Minerva nodded politely, but she really couldn’t care about the flowers, nor the notes.

“Can I hold it?” she asked, looking longingly at the ball. Any other day she would have been thrilled to receive a gift from her favorite team’s captain – another former student of her – but all Minerva could think about right now was that James Potter had given her that Quaffle.

Minerva had been conscious for less than an hour when a silver phoenix appeared in her room and Dumbledore’s voice filled the air, to rejoice for her awakening and update her on the last developments.

Only at the end he announced the terrible news of Sirius’s death.

Only then she finally realised it wasn’t just a dream.

***

The dog and the stag ran and played in the grass until exhaustion, the full moon lightening their steps. Eventually, they collapsed under the usual beech near the shores of the Black Lake, turning in their human forms.

They stayed silent for a while, catching their breath and enjoying the chill of the night.

Sirius was the first to break the quiet.

“I’m a shitty godfather,” he blurted out.

“Harry adores you” said James softly, nonplussed.

Sirius took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the ground. “How wrong it is that I’m happy to see you, rather than miserable because I can’t be at his side?”

James shook his head. “It’s ok, Padfoot. I missed you too.”

Sirius was silent for a while, before gathering the courage to speak again. “I’m sorry I made you doubt Moony,” he whispered.

“I know.”

“If I hadn’t suggested the exchange…”

“Voldemort wouldn’t have fallen, and the war wouldn’t have ended. Who knows how many innocents would have died because of it.”

They got quite again, and their gaze wandered to the stars.

“Sirius is particularly bright, tonight,” said James, pointing at it.

Sirius snorted.

“Ow!” exclaimed James, playfully shoving him in the shoulder. “Why are you laughing at me, you sod? Have a bit of respect for the older dead!”

“Sirius is particularly bright, tonight,” mimicked Sirius with a high-pitched tone. “Did you kill time taking lessons from the centaurs?”

“I tried, but they sadly refused my entry in the herd. I had to be content with snogging Lily.”

Sirius laughed out loud. “Too bad, eh?”

“Yeah, what a shame,” grinned James. “I bet the centaurs were too envy of my stunning legs to accept me, anyway. They’re quite sensitive, you know?”

“It’s their loss, mate.”

“I guess they also felt threatened by my stunning antlers.”

“Speaking of antlers – or lack thereof – where’s Lily?”

“She’ll be here soon.”

“How soon? I’m kinda offended that she hasn’t shown up yet, if you ask me.”

“You got Minnie, though.”

“She has wrinkles.”

“Well, she hadn’t this afternoon.”

“But she does. And don’t think I didn’t notice you changing the subject. Where’s Lily?”

“I told you, she’ll come.”

“Not if you’re not shagging her,” smirked Sirius. “Or did she dump you for a centaur?”

“I thought we’d already settled that having antlers is definitely cooler?”

“Maybe. Now, where is she?”

James sighed. “She went looking for someone.”

“You really want to make this hard, don’t you?”

James raised his hands, defeated. “Ok, ok, I’ll tell you… but only if you promise you’ll listen to everything he’s got to say.”

“It’s a he, then. Any other clue?”

“Padfoot,” scolded James.

Sirius looked at him with suspicious, but he nodded eventually. “Yeah, ok, whatever. I promise. Now, who is it?”

James smiled enigmatically. “Regulus is particularly bright too.”

82 notes · View notes

girlactionfigure · 4 years

Photo

He was drafted into the Army in 1943. His fellow recruits remembered him as "simple, bland, unassuming." He described himself as a "nothing, a nobody." No one, including the young man, knew what life had in store for him.

In the Army, he served as a staff sergeant in the 20th Armored Division. Elements of his division participated in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp - Although his unit was near, they did not actually enter the camp.

Although he was proud of his service, he remembered that time as very painful for him - he not only witnessed the horrors of war, but it was also the same time his mother passed away.

His father, a barber, was born in Germany, and his mother was of Norwegian heritage.

He was born on this day, November 26, 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Being the only child, he was very shy. His uncle gave him the nickname, "Sparky" after the horse "Spark Plug" from the Barney Google comic strip.

His mother was bedridden during his high school years, and the young man often heard her cries of pain. Her illness was identified as cancer in November 1942, the same month he was drafted. On February 28, 1943, he used a day pass to visit his mother one last time. He got to say goodbye to her that day, but he said, "I'll never get over that scene as long as I live."

He would also regret the fact that his mother would never see what he would become.

After returning from the war in the fall of 1945, he sold his first cartoons to his local newspaper.

"The first Peanuts strip appeared on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers nationwide. Although being a professional cartoonist was [Charles] Schulz’s life-long dream, at 27-years old, he never could have foreseen the longevity and global impact of his seemingly-simple four-panel creation," according to the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

In the summer of 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and after corresponding with teacher Harriet Glickman, Schulz made a bold decision, introducing a character named "Franklin" to his Peanuts comic strip. As told in the July post on the Peace Page celebrating Franklin's 50th birthday, Schulz by that time was already a very popular comic strip artist and did not have to acknowledge the school teacher's request to introduce a black character in order to bring the country together and show people of color that they are not excluded from American society.

Schulz carefully thought about it, knowing that his career could be in jeopardy, as other cartoonists had politely declined Glickman's request. But, he corresponded with Glickman's black friends to ensure that he would present Franklin in the best light, smart as Linus and not condescending, even to the point where some would joke that Franklin was too boring and "normal" compared to the other Peanuts characters.

He also received backlash as some newspapers threatened to cut his strip if he showed Franklin in the same classroom as other Peanut characters. He courageously ignored the threats, sitting Franklin in front of Peppermint Patty at school and playing center field on her baseball team. He even told the president of the comic's distribution company that "Either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit."

According to The New Yorker, Schulz always worried about the portrayl of Franklin. "He needn’t have worried, though, because Franklin felt real — or at least felt respected — as a kind kid on the beach with whom Charlie Brown plays in the sand. (“Whites Only” pools were not uncommon in 1968.) Though Schulz may have lived a quiet, remote life in his California studio, he was woke enough to realize that all one had to do was care enough about a character for he or she to 'work,' even if the shell of the character wasn’t his own."

Schulz later introduced another black character, Milo, as well as semi-Latino Jose Peterson, one of the first characters of Hispanic descent in U.S. comics. He also gave voice to women in sports in the strip after he became friends with tennis star Billie Jean King, leading to a lifelong interest in the fair treatment of women athletes and a seat on the board of the Women’s Sports Foundation that King founded.

Today, the work of Charles Schulz is still very popular, even though recently the Peanuts' animated Thanksgiving special is embroiled in some undeserved social media controversy designed to divide fans who may not be aware of how Franklin was originally introduced.

In an article in Snopes, Nat Gertler, author of a book about Peanuts, wrote:

That even though the animated cartoon was in a completely different media than Schulz' newspapers, there is an "assumption that Charles Schulz himself planned the admittedly awkward shot being referenced [of Franklin sitting alone on one side of the picnic table]. While Schulz definitely kept a hand in the animated work, by 1973 when the Thanksgiving special aired, the Peanuts characters were starring in not only a steady stream of TV specials, but also a series of animated feature films. Schulz certainly wasn’t laying out every shot himself — he had a day job to take care of, writing and drawing the most popular comic strip going, as well as creating original books, handling licensing materials, and so on. A talented team of animation folks were doing their job on this."

Schulz critics also like to ask why Franklin was drawn to look "dirty" in the first early panels, not realizing that back then every newspaper comic strip was printed in black and white with no option for shading other than drawing lines to depict shades.

Gertler would conclude, "Schulz stuck his neck out introducing Franklin." Others have pointed out that the network which produced the original Peanuts Thanksgiving special is also responsible for cancelling The Smothers Brothers show for being critical of the Vietnam War and the political mainstream. It should also be noted that it was only recently in 2015 that the television academy recognized a black woman, Viola Davis, for best actress in a drama, the first time that award has gone to a black woman in nearly 70 years of award-giving, shedding some light on how ground-breaking the introduction of Franklin was in 1968.

"Despite the over-all racial imbalance of the “Peanuts” cast, this caring is really the secret, mysterious power of Schulz’s entire strip. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Schroeder, Franklin, and everyone else came alive on that page because of Charles Schulz’s ability to make you care about and feel for — and, in Charlie Brown’s case, at least, feel through — nearly every one of them," according to The New Yorker.

Schulz died on February 12, 2000. By the time he retired in "December 1999, the Peanuts comic strip was syndicated in over 2,600 newspapers worldwide, with book collections translated in over 25 languages," according to the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

The Museum also says of Schulz, "The continuing popular appeal of Peanuts stems, in large part, from Schulz’s ability to portray his observations and connect to his audience in ways that many other strips cannot."

"The thoughtful pacing in 'Peanuts' is reminiscent of that of 'Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.' The two also share a rejection of the violence and manic energy that characterize other children’s media of the time", according to the New Yorker.

“Schulz wasn’t an artist because he suffered. He suffered because he was an artist," said writer Jonathan Franzen in the Press Democrat. "To keep choosing art over the comforts of life — to grind out a strip every day for 50 years, to pay the very deep psychic price for this — is the opposite of damaged. It’s sort of choice only a tower and strength and sanity can make.”

Bruce Handy in The Atlantic wrote:

"So if I were asked to pick the character most likely to find happiness if he or she ever grew up . . . I wouldn’t hesitate to pick Charlie Brown. Maybe he does find a form of redemption in his suffering? He feels his failures deeply, he suffers profoundly, and yet he remains ever willing to take another run at kicking the football or trying to get his kite aloft or pitching the next game or hoping this year, finally, to receive a valentine. If he is a blockhead, it is in part because he cares so much; diffidence doesn’t merit the insult. Like his creator, he has passion and persistence. If he were real, I like to tell myself, Charlie Brown would be fine."

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

10 notes · View notes

harveywritings92 · 5 years

Text

One sided friendship Batboys series:Dick Grayson X Reader. p 1/2

The following is a non profit fan based story Batman, Red hood, Nightwing etc. belongs to DC Comics please support the official release.

I gain no profit from this nor do I own anything other then OCs and whatever sprouts from my imagination. Thanks for reading!

Your POV:

"Ah...what happened last night?..." My voice croaked God my mouth tasted awfu, my whole body feels like it went through the spin-cycle...I gotta hurl! I groaned as my joints pop and body protested from standing up, I sigh wincing in pain as sunlight shined my eyes in from the tiny cracks from the curtain, Wait my window isn't that big?

I swallowed and got up from the bed walked over to the window and drew back the curtain to reveal...Niagara Falls?! that seem snapped me awake faster than a hamster on coffee!

*When...How did I get to Canada?!* then I noticed what I was wearing a gray button up shirt...a man's button up shirt...My heart was rattling in my rib-cage as I finally got a good look around the room. it was obviously at the Casino...

And I wasn't alone I saw a passed out redheaded man passed out on the floor..in my dress! I'd be laughing right now if I wasn't freaking out! I went to run a hand through my hair and I saw a tiny glint in the corner of my eye...It was ring a wedding ring...my stomach churned as I looked over to Whats-his name and saw a similar ring on his finger too...

"What the shit?" I croaked sobbingly before I was harshly interrupted by the contents of my stomach decided to remind me what I had for dinner the other night, and ran to the bathroom. While making friends with the porcelain throne...I tried to piece together how I got here...

It was all because of Richard 'Effin' Grayson! we used to be thick as thieves, but then he started noticing girls! every time he would go out meet some girl and he'd fall for her, shower her with attention and gifts and then she'd get fed up with him ditching their dates, due to his nightly activities and he go crying to me..the stupid girl who was dumb enough to hold on what little hope I had, that he'd notice me and my feelings. But no, every time I had the courage to speak to him about it...

I'd run into him while he was on a date or introduce me to his new girlfriend and the cycle would start all over again! Which was totally unfair! He can date around and ignore me, but if a guy ever shows a sliver of interest in me. He gets all pissy and tells them to back off or sabotage my dates! and recently he started obsessing over some girl he'd seen at one Bruce's gala...

As Dick described her: she had e/c, glossy [long/short] hair and nice [full/petite.] figure for a small fleeting moment I though he was talking about me...only to be introduced to [similar sounding name] at an old classmate's wedding that the two of us were kind of friends with, and the crazy thing is?

SS/n looked exactly like me only with a nicer figure,perfect height darker/lighter hair and eyes and dressed more provocatively then me...that was the worst fucking blow to my heart.

Dick was pretty much telling me that he's wants someone like me...but not Me. After that I remember getting into my car and just drove off, I didn't care where... I just had leave! I had to get away from Gotham, from Bludhaven from Dick, everything...

I vaguely remember checking my phone for flights and came across an ad for Niagara falls...Well I did have vacation days, And Bruce has been badgering me to take some time off. taking a risk I submitted my vacation time and list of temps to cover for me while I'm gone and booked the first available flight which was in four hours and just drove to the airport.

I must've looked very odd a girl dressed like a nerdy princess walking around the airport a 12 am, a few little girls actually looked a me in awe and asked for a selfies *they must be on their way to Disney world or just got back from Disney world...* I though and happily obliged to their request their parent were grateful and apologetic at the same time,

When my flight was boarding I got a text from the bride asking if I was alright? and what shitty move Grayson pulled... I snorted a girl I barely talked to in school was more worried about me then Dick! he saw my face he knew I was upset! but, he ignored me in favor of his new girlfriend who was just going to dump him once he starts bailing on her for Nightwing duties. I texted back saying I was fine and shut my phone off...

That was...what was the date? When I was finally done with throwing up...I looked around the room for my phone and some clue as to who and how I supposedly married the redheaded stranger! I eventually I found my phone I've seriously been gone two weeks?! But, I could've sworn I just left! then I noticed the camera...

It was pink and had a cheesy logo on it Reverend Al's 10 min weddings! taking a leap I hooked the camera to the TV...And my face immediately turned bright red..."Oh god kill me now..." I moaned into my hands mortified as the guy next to me woke up and looked around disoriented before barfing on to my dress...Mental note burn that dress...And learn supposed husband's name....

A few days later..

"Something's wrong, I know it father!" Damian huffed as he followed Bruce downstairs the older Wayne sighed he explained to his son that Y/n was just on vacation and should be back any day now...But his son wasn't having it he knew Y/n would at least call them how her trip was! or how long she was gonna be or a least to see how Damian himself was doing...she pretty much the big sister/mother he never had growing up.

So, of course he freaking out...Someone has to! Grayson was too clouded with infatuation to even noticed Y/n was gone and her cheap plastic knock-off was had overstayed her welcome the second she step foot in this manor, She would act all sweet and nice, but the second Grayson left she would become obnoxiously rude had pig manners.

[like chewing loudly,going days without bathing,eating like a donkey raised her etc.] and was possibly cheating on Grayson judging how quickly Ss/n would openly flirt and throw herself at his father, Drake or Todd and when they rejected her advances she make a scene causing Dick to come and rescue her.

Everyone hated her and couldn't understand why Dick would date someone like her who was obviously dating him for money and attention, when he first hinted that he liked a girl with [y/hc] and [y/ec] they assumed he was talking about Y/n...even Todd boasted that.

"it was about Effin' Time!" But when he showed up with [ss/n] it was slap to the face to everyone...Damian went to go find Y/n and check on her, but found her apartment empty he asked Bruce about it and his father explained that she had just clocked in her vacation days and would be gone for a while...

They got to kitchen and immediately Bruce and Damian's mood soured seeing [ss/n] drinking orange juice straight from the carton and her mouth stained with what appeared to be oatmeal...heaven forbid what was floating around in that juice carton! Damian grimaced as she noticed them She swallowed loudly and put the juice back.

"Oh, good morning Mr. Wayne.~" the girl purred shamelessly showing her exposed bra to the older man who decided that he'd grab breakfast at the office and left then she noticed Damian and her mood soured. "What are you looking at brat?!"

she sneered before Damian could snark out a reply her phone started ringing and she quickly escaped bumping into Jason who grimaced at her as she passed him.

"What's miss Piggy's problem?" He asked taking the orange juice out the fridge, his younger brother just blanched as Jason brought the carton up to his lips, but noticed Damian's face and immediately back pedaled.

"The bicycle drank this, didn't she?" he seethed this was his juice! it had his name on it, no one touches Jason's shit! He dumped the carton a looked ready spew when he saw the oatmeal chunks floating down the drain. "And she ate my fucking Oatmeal! Goddammit! Grayson!" Jason bellowed sprinting up the stairs looking for the acrobat.

Damian rolled his eyes already how this song and dance will go...Drake, Todd or his father will confront Grayson about Ss/n's behavior she'd make scene causing him to make excuses or be defensive and would all end with everyone on both sides the silent treatment...the green eyed boy sighed in annoyance and went to go train in the cave when he saw a taxi coming up the drive.

Strange, they weren't expecting any visitors...."Ummi?" He said heart pounding in his chest as he sprinted to the main foyer just in time to see his father opening the door to Y/n!...and some redhead man who was younger then his father by few years.

the h/c smiled at Bruce sheepishly as Damian noted her attire black jeans, f/c t-shirt that said I <3 Niagara Falls and a worn out Letterman's jacket that obviously didn't belong to her..

"Hi Bruce...Damian sorry I took longer then I sai-" She cut off by the boy running up and hugging her waist "Don't leave again.." he mumbled into her stomach before turning to mystery man who was awkwardly observing them. "Don't you have a route or fares to collect?" the boy hissed at the gray eyed man who stared bug eyed at the kid before rubbing the back of his head.

"o-oh boy, um... I'm not a cabbie I'm Y/n's-" Y/n nervously intervened.

"Say, where's uncle Alfred I need to tell him something..."

"You didn't tell them yet?"

"It didn't feel right doing it over the phone, sue me!"

The redheaded man winced as Bruce looked between the two and noticed their hands...or rather their ring fingers and shit it the fan. "BOYS! ALFRED! FAMILY MEETING!! NOW!?"Damian gawked at his father stunned he has never been this angry in front of company before!

"What's going on Ummi?" He asked Y/n who just smiled sadly and readjusted her large framed glasses the photochromic lenses were dark and hid her eyes, as Alfred and the other boys showed up along with Ss/n who sneered when she saw Y/n..."Den. Now.." Bruce said calmly as his sons swallowed wondering what they did?

They, Alfred, Y/n, mystery guy went into the den Ss/n went to follow only for Bruce to blocked her from entering "I said family meeting, you're not family.." he hissed at her the Darker/lighter H/c gaped at him like a fish and pointed at Y/n in disgust "She's allowed!" She shrieked in his face.

"Y/n is Alfred's niece that makes her family.." Bruce huffed before slamming the door in Ss/n's face they heard her screech stomp her foot like a child before hearing her footsteps hurry away...

"Wait, how come this guy can stay, but not my girlfriend?" Dick demanded eyeing the redheaded man suspiciously and annoyed that he was sitting so damn close to Y/n. who was trying to avoid everyone's stares as she found her voice.

"I really think this is a little extreme?" Bruce shot her a look that could melt paint steel, the e/c girl swallowed hard "S-so, you guys know that I went on vacation.." Dick cut her off "When did you go on vacation?" he sounded bemused and offended that she hadn't said anything to him, his brother's just looked at him like Seriously?

"I've been gone for almost three weeks, Richard..." she said ignoring pain in her chest that he hadn't noticed she was gone. while Jason pitched in

"I seriously thought you would've at least noticed the gremlin whining 'Ummi...where's my ummi?' non-stop for the last two weeks!" Damian turned red and snapped at Jason to shut up as he kept his arms around Y/n's waist glaring at the streaked haired man.

whilst everyone gave Dick shit for not noticing his so-called best friend was missing for almost half a month, Tim commented about how she could've been kidnapped or murdered and he would've been too busy with his "hairpin Cinderella" to notice "That's over the lin-" the oldest brother was about ready to tear into Tim for that, They were cut off by their foster father slamming his hand on the table.

"Could we please talk about the fact she came back married!?" Bruce bellowed a pregnant silence filled the air as the boys slowly turned to Y/n in disbelief who sighed bringing a hand to her forehead showing the gold glint of her wedding band.

"Hayden say hello to the boys..." she mumbled quickly as Hayden awkwardly waved "Hi boys." he cleared his throat as everyone gawked at the 'couple' stunned then Dick burst out laughing after a few minutes of this he sighed wiping a tear from his eye. "heheh..Good Joke Y/n! you and Bruce almost had us...Right?" he saw no one else was laughing..."Right?" Y/n bit her lip took out the USB from the camera and plugged it into with the den's TV...

[[A faded pink banner read out Reverend Al's Ten minute weddings! is hung haphazardly over what appeared to be a lounge that hasn't been decorated since 1970 lit up by a broken disco ball and fairy lights...

at a graying podium a priest in a sequin jacket and bell bottoms, boredly reads wedding rights to an obvious shotgun marriage as both sets of parents were glaring at the pregnant bride and the groom in disappointment as they walked out of the lounge in annoyance...

Just as the good reverend was about to put bible away he looked up and rolled his eyes muttering "God..are you kidding?" under his breath and sighed as Y/n still in the dress she wore at their classmate's wedding was practically dragged down the aisle by a drunk Hayden who giggling as he tried to hold the possibly more inebriated Y/n up as she kept trying to sit or lay down. The priest huffed looked at his watch "Alright my kid's got a thing in ten and my wife's gonna flip on me...let's make this quick!"

"Do you?"

"Y...Y/n *hic*"

"Take..

"Hey-Dan!"

To be yer husband and wife?"

"I g-got Neerds in my bra!" Pulls out candy box and pours some in Hayden's hand.

"Aces! Sugar Tits!" pops them in his mouth and smiles at the priest.

The priest gives them a blank stare, but goes with it..."Right then, by the power vested in me by the province of Ontario I pronounce you man and wife, here's coupon book for Cliffton Hill...Kiss n' get out!" the priest sneered handing them the marriage license his assistant was filling out for them,

He stamped it and and put it in Y/n's purse as she and Hayden gave each other a small peck on the lips and wandered out of the church completely oblivious to what they just did...then came back a few seconds later to steal the camera..]]

Y/n stopped the recording blushing bright freaking red "Trust you don't want to see what's on rest of this..." she mumbled as everyone was staring at the screen stunned, well everyone except Dick who kept his eyes on Y/n who was fiddle with her glasses waiting for someone to say something, he noticed a mark on her neck...

a hickey? this was real? she let that stranger..., the scent coming off her wasn't her perfume it was to rich and musky, the ring on her finger...it...a weird feeling curdled into Dick's stomach it felt tight and his heart felt like it had taken a bath in acid...

He couldn't place the feeling, but knew he couldn't stay anywhere near Y/n's husband out of fear of what he may do to Hayden. "I'm going for a walk..." was all Dick said before calmly leaving the den... Y/n and Hayden both flinched hearing the front doors slam whilst everyone stood stock still.

Till Alfred snapped out of his stupor and punch Hayden in the face "You, disgusting scoundrel! womanizing git!" the old man snarled as Jason pulled the old man away from the ginger who was stunned knocked out of his shoes by an old man,

"And this is why I wanted to speak to Alfred privately!" Y/n sighed as Damian looked very conflicted, half was angry that Grayson had finally driven Y/n too far... while the other was horrified that they'll never get rid of Ss/n now that Y/n been wedded!

Alfred's angry voice cut in "Young lady we are going to city hall this instant for an annulment!" her uncle seethed pointing at the door, but Y/n stood her ground "Well, maybe I don't want an annulment." Alfred and the boys gawked at her.

"I know you're all hoping that Dick will pull the damn wool off hie eyes...But, considering the girl he wants will never be me, I think it's for the best I move on..." She said meekly as Alfred huffed "No, A thousand times no! I listen dear, I know how men like Hayden work, and this?" he holds up her hand showing her ring to herself. "Is just a phase to distract him from whatever void he thinks is plaguing his life." Y/n blinked at her uncle bemused then looked at Tim who cleared his throat.

"Alfred saying Hayden only married you because of a mid-life crisis..." the teen explained as said ginger awkwardly raised his hand. "Y'know I'm sitting right here?" he said then all the males in the room slowly turned and glared at him "Shut-up." they snapped Hayden blanched "Ok.." he squeaked and averted his eyes to the floor, and Y/n calmly pulled away from her uncle.

"Look, I understand your all just trying look out for me, But I'm not going to sit around and wait...it's time look at a new chapter in my life and that's just Dick's loss." Alfred still begged that she and Hayden get an annulment but, Bruce stop him.

"Alfred, Y/n is a grown woman this is her choice and we have to respect that, even if it hurts someone in the end." The billionaire said gently as the butler looked down sullenly and with that the meeting was over.

Y/n and Hayden went back to her apartment to well clean up any expired food. and just get over the jet-lag they were feeling, As they settled in for the night neither noticed Nightwing watching them from the tree outside Y/n’s bedroom gritting his teeth in anger...

#Richard Grayson #nightwing x reader #Jason Todd #Tim drake #Damian Wayne #Bruce Wayne #alfred pennyworth #Batfam #batboys #batbros #dc comics #Reader insert #Dick Grayson fanfiction

73 notes · View notes

we-are-only-halfway-home93 · 5 years

Text

Beautiful Trauma 1- We Burned So Bright- [Billy Hargrove x OC]

Summary: The worst way to miss someone is for them to be right beside you and you know you can’t have them.

Characters: Billy Hargrove x OC, Steve Harrington x Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers x Nancy Wheeler, Max Mayfield, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, Eleven, Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper

Warnings: Child abuse, underage sex, underage drinking, implied cheating, step-sibling incest, secret relationship, violence, language

Word Count: 2162

Author’s Note: I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for a while and after the ending of season 3 I felt like I had to get it written. I wanted Billy to have someone who understood him and I felt like the best way to represent that was to have a character who knew him before Hawkins. I gave Max and older sister, Valerie, who loves Billy in spite of who he is and what he does.

“I believe I am in hell therefore I am.”

~Arthur Rimbaud

Valerie jerked suddenly when the Camaro came to an abrupt halt. She lifted her head and glanced at Billy but he didn’t look at her. He got out of the car and slammed the door so hard that the glass in the frame rattled. She sighed and looked out the window up at the house in front of her.

It was October and her mother had just moved her and her sister to Bumfuck Egypt in the middle of Nowheresville America following her wedding to Valerie’s new step-dad, Neil Hargrove. Neil had an infuriating son, Billy, who had gone to school with Valerie in California. They had been close before the wedding. To say the marriage changed things was a bit of an understatement.

The marriage had been a bit of a surprise. One minute Billy and Valerie are enjoying their time together, their respective parents ignorant of their after-school activities when Susan asked her and Max to dress nice because they were having dinner guests.

Valerie was surprised when her boyfriend and his dad showed up with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine. Billy’s face betrayed very little but Valerie had gotten good at reading him in their time together. He was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

Susan had ushered them in and they sat down for a lovely, if somewhat tense, dinner. During dessert, Susan had stopped eating and reached over to hold Neil’s hand. Valerie felt her heart rate pick up at that and could hear her blood pumping in her ears. She felt the hairs on her arms stand on end. She tried to keep the apprehension off her face but she didn’t think she did a good job.

Susan announced that she and Neil had been seeing each other for several months and were ready to announce their relationship to their children. Max was the only one who expressed herself verbally. She told her mother she was happy for her when her face expressed pretty much the opposite.

The rest of the night had been tense and Neil and Billy left soon after. Several hours later, Billy was knocking on her bedroom door, ranting about his father and his sudden desire to date again. Billy’s mother had been gone for nearly seven years and in all that time Neil Hargrove hadn’t dated a single woman. Not one woman until now and it was Valerie’s mom. The universe must’ve been playing a dirty trick if this was their lot.

Valerie had shushed him and held his face in her hands. He had a new black eye and hers started to burn. Billy brushed her off was tender hands and settled them on her bed. He held her until she was asleep and he was gone when she woke up that morning.

Six months after they announced their relationship, they announced their engagement. Valerie cried every night after that. Billy would come to see her sometimes but he never stayed long. They spent most of their time together at school but even then it was few and far between. It was like the engagement created a rift in their relationship.

Susan and Neil made quick work of a wedding. Four months after they announced their engagement they were wed in front of their closest friends and family. Less than one hundred people. The reception was held in the basement of Neil’s country club with even fewer people.

Life moved pretty fast after that. Neil and Billy moved into their house and within two months they announced their move nearly halfway across the country. Some podunk town in Indiana.

Valerie had never been angrier at her mom.

They sold their house and backed their things in record time. The new school year had been in session for almost two months and Valerie just knew that she would be treated like some rare oddity, some hidden treasure newly discovered to be gawked at and observed. She was from California, after all, and, if she had to guess, she bet that no one in this tiny town had ever left.

She heaved the last of her boxes into her room. Neil and Susan had at least had the decency to purchase a four-bedroom house so that she and Max wouldn’t be forced to share. That had been a nightmare for the few months they did it in California.

She turned to the door and watched Billy stalk by with his own box, a set of headphones draped over his neck blaring Metallica. He ignored her.

She took a deep breath and swung herself outside her room, heading towards the end of the hall to Max’s. She leaned her shoulder against the door frame and watched her sister toss various comic books and cassettes on the dresser. All her boxes labeled ‘clothes’ were stacked in the far corner and all her personal possessions were currently being rifled through.

Max looked up and met Valerie’s eyes. Neither of them said anything, content in the shared displeasure that arose from their situation.

Valerie shoved off the door frame and ventured back to her room. She glanced in Billy’s room as she did and ripped her eyes away quickly.

Life was already painful enough.

~*~

Valerie hated Billy’s music.

She didn’t mind it when they were dating but now it was next to insufferable. It might have had something to do with the fact that he listened to it at near-deafening levels but she wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

It was Monday morning at hers and Billy’s first official day at Hawkins High School. Max was attending Hawkins Middle School just down the street and brought her skateboard along to ride down the block.

The engine rumbled as Billy pulled into the high school parking lot. It cut off with a stutter when Billy killed the engine. Valerie turned to him but he was already out of the car before she could speak. She huffed and glared at his back.

She turned then to Max and gave her a forced smile. Max rolled her eyes and pushed at the back of her seat. Valerie stayed put and turned in her seat.

“Do you have everything you need?” Max rolled her eyes again and nodded. “I’ll get whatever books I need today. Mom got it all set up with the counselor.” Max’s tone was exasperated.

Valerie nodded and pushed out of the car. She pulled her seat forward and Max leaped out, dropped her skateboard and pushing away down the broken pavement. Valerie watched her go and slammed the car door shut.

She shuffled around the front of the car and eyed the girls oogling Billy’s ass.

Admittedly he had a nice ass but she felt a certain possessiveness. He hadn’t been hers for a while what with their parents' marriage but they hadn’t exactly broken up either. Mutually, they came to an understanding that being together while living under the same roof was not a good idea, especially with Neil’s temperament. They agreed that it was best for them to ignore their feelings for each other.

To call what she felt for Billy ‘feelings’ was a gross understatement. What she and Billy had was beyond basic teenage emotions. They understood each other. They complimented each other. He brought out the best in her and she in him. For life to come and rudely rip it away from them was cruelty in its truest form.

There were lots of tears shed during their agreement. She had cried for days and Billy had started multiple fights at school.

Neither one of them had been happy since before the wedding. Hell, really since before Susan and Neil announced they were dating.

Valerie pulled up alongside Billy and tried not to be hurt by his refusal to acknowledge her. She knew that this was hard on him but it was hard on her, too. He wasn’t making it easier.

They stopped in the office first thing and got their schedules, locker assignments and combinations. As soon as they were done in the office Billy walked in the opposite direction as her even though their lockers were in the same hallway. She watched him go and felt tears rush to her eyes. She turned with sharp precision down the hall and headed towards her locker.

She twisted the dial with shaking hands and stuffed her back inside, pulling out only a notebook and a pen. She jumped when a load shriek echoed four lockers down from her.

A petite brunette had a tall boy pressed against the lockers. His dark hair was styled in neat swirls across his forehead and along the sides. He was clean-shaven with broad shoulders and long legs. He held himself with an ease and a confidence that was foreign to most high school students.

Billy had it and it was largely what attracted her to him. His confidence with his surroundings and the general high school drama. Both acted as if nothing could touch them. Everything just slid right off their backs like oil in water.

She knew that with Billy it was largely an act, a front he put on to protect himself. She wondered if this boy was the same.

The girl glanced over and saw her looking. Valerie blushed and looked away, into the depths of her locker. She closed her eyes when she felt a presence come up beside her.

“Hi! I’m Nancy. You’re new, right?” Valerie turned her flushed face to Nancy and nodded, taking her offered hand. “Yeah, I’m Valerie.” They shook hands and Nancy turned slightly to gesture to the tall boy she was swapping spit with earlier. “This is my boyfriend Steve.” Valerie shook his hand as well and continued to admire him.

He had an angular face and the shadows dipped in all the right placed. He had a long sloping nose that accented the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones. His forehead was strong and framed his eyes in a way that made him look older. He had deep-set brown eyes that looked like they’d seen a lot in their short time. Valerie wondered if he and Billy were so different.

Physically so, yes, quite a bit. Billy’s hair was light were Steve’s was dark. Billy had hard eyes and Steve’s were soft. Billy was shorter but broader, compacted with muscle. Steve was taller and leaner.

She could appreciate Steve’s beauty but he wasn’t Billy.

She sighed and shut her locker. “So, maybe you can help me find something to do in this town.” Nancy smiled and glanced up at Steve. “Actually, I might have something that’ll interest you.” She watched Nancy pull a bright orange sheet of paper from her binder.

~*~

The car ride home was tense. Valerie could count on one hand the number of times Billy had spoken to her since the move

Once. One time and it was to tell her to “Get in the fucking car or you can walk home!” She felt a rage so potent simmer beneath her skin that she was sure he could feel it.

Max hadn’t said anything when she got in the car and Billy peeled out of the parking lot, speeding down the road to their house.

Valerie glared at the side of his head until he looked over at her. “What?” She snorted and shook her head. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “Goddamnit! What? Why are you staring at me?”

She scoffed. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re being such an asshole.” He glared over at her and intentionally jerked the car to the side. She gasped and had to grab the Jesus handle to keep herself from hitting her head. Max cussed.

Valerie shoved his arm and he gave a malicious laugh. “Baby, I’ve always been an asshole.”

Her nostrils flared and she reared back.

It was true. He hadn’t been particularly nice in California but it was familiar anger. Something that was seen often at their old school in their old town.

Here, in this place, his rage was unfamiliar. It was new. There were new reasons for it.

She shook her head. “Not like this. We used to be,” He gave her a sharp look when she started that sentence. Valerie glanced briefly to Max in the back seat but she was focusing too much on trying to stay still from his dangerous driving habits to pay attention to their conversation. Valerie amended her statement anyway.

“We were friends. At least then I could tell why you were angry. Now you’re just cruel.”

Billy smirked at her and gave her a mocking kissy-face before speeding up and flying over the hills. Valerie shook her head and turned away from him. If he saw her tears he would laugh.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove x OC #nancy wheeler x jonathan byers #nancy wheeler x steve harrington #stranger things #eleven #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #dustin henderson #will byers #step sibling relationship #jim hopper #joyce byers #beautiful trauma

14 notes · View notes

thruheavenandhighwater · 6 years

Text

Fight This Disconnection

Pairing: Luke Hemmings/ Reader

Requested By: Anon

Word Count: 2,452

It’s been weeks since Luke came home from tour, but it still felt as if he were across the world from you. You couldn't get two words out of him when you tried to talk, which more often than not led to fights. You had no idea why he was acting this way. Before he left the two of you were happier than you'd ever been. You couldn't push the thought from your mind that he had to have done something, or something had to have happened to him while on tour to change his entire attitude like this. But what? What could possibly have turned your loving, giggly, smart ass boyfriend into this silent, angry man that you barely knew?

“He's probably cheating.” Gina threw the comment out like it meant nothing. You'd gone out to lunch with your best friend and when the topic of Luke had come up, that was her immediate response.

“What? Gina, that's crazy. Luke wouldn't do that.” You said, trying to sound confident, but in the back of your mind you knew that you'd had the same suspicion.

“Why's it so crazy? He was gone for how long? Six months?”

“Eight… And a half.”

“Look, Y/N, I don't want to be the one to break it to you, but Luke would not be the first rockstar to cheat on tour.”

You dropped your eyes to the plate in front of you. You knew there was at least a chance that she was right. But just the idea that he could do something like that was enough to have you almost in tears in the restaurant. Gina reached across the table and grabbed your hand gently.

“I'm sorry, babe. For what it's worth, I genuinely hope I'm wrong about this.” You smiled at her weakly as you tried to blink away the hot tears that pricked the backs of your eyes painfully.

Later that night, you sat across the table from Luke while the two of you ate dinner in silence. He barely looked up from his plate, watching his own hands as he pushed his food from side to side with his fork. You watched him from across the table, your eyes never leaving his face. His brows were furrowed and his mouth was drawn into a tight frown. You reached your hand towards him, the tips of your fingers landing on the back of his hand.

“Luke? Baby?”

His expression softened slightly as he looked up at you. “Yeah?”

You bit the inside of your cheek as you chose your next words carefully. “I just…” You started, taking a deep breath before continuing. “Is everything okay?”

He looked back down to his plate and pulled his hand away from yours. “Yeah.” He said as he pushed his chair back to stand from the table. “Everything’s fine.” He walked around the table to stand next to you. He placed one hand on your shoulder as he leaned down to kiss the top if your head. “I'm going to bed. Night.”

“Night.” You whispered back to him as you watched him exit the kitchen.

After cleaning up the kitchen and loading the dishwasher you made your way to your bedroom. You expected to open the door to see Luke on his side of the bed, shirtless and curled up with Petunia lying in the bend of his knees. But instead you saw nothing. No Luke. No Petunia. Nothing. Just a dark bedroom and an empty bed.

You walked to his side of the bed and it was clear that it hadn't been touched since he woke up this morning. The tears that had almost gotten the better of you at lunch came back with a vengeance as you placed your hand on his pillow. You walked around the bed to your own side and fell on top of the comforter, curling your body into itself as you sobbed.

Why had he not come to bed? Even with things as bad as they'd ever been, he always came to bed. He always wrapped his arms around you while you slept. He always kissed you and told he loved you after you turned out the light next to the bed.

Your sobs caught sharply in your throat when you realized that Luke hadn't told you he loves you since the day after he got home. That was over a month ago. How did you not realize that every time you told him you loved him, he wasn't saying it back? You swear you could actually feel your heart physically shatter inside your chest. The sobs continued, louder this time as you accepted that your relationship might actually be over.

You woke up the next morning to Petunia jumping into bed with you. “Morning, princess.” You smiled at her as reached over to scratch behind her ears. Luke was standing in front of the dresser, rummaging around for something. When he turned around you noticed a pair of black shorts and a t shirt in his hands.

“Going to the gym.” He said quickly before leaving the room, his long legs taking him across the room swiftly. You listened to his footsteps as he walked down the stairs, across the living room, and out the front door of your home.

The tears from the night before returned once again, but this time Petunia curled her body into yours as you cried. You wrapped your arms around her and nuzzled your face into her short fur. “Oh, what would I do without you, baby girl?” You asked out loud when your tears let up enough for you to speak. Almost as if she knew what was going on, she started to lick your face after you spoke. Her tongue leaving thick trails of slobber across your face.

You pushed her away from you gently as you sat up and started to wipe your face. “Petunia! That's so gross!” You giggled before standing up. You walked to the bathroom across the hall and began to get ready for your day, your thoughts still heavy as you did so.

A few hours passed as you waited for Luke to come home. You had walked Petunia, organized your DVD collection, and were just about to start folding laundry when you heard the front door open. You listened as Luke set his keys on the table by the front door, and put his gym bag down next to it. His footsteps made their way up the stairs and to the door of your bedroom. He looked almost surprised to see you sitting in bed, a laundry basket next to you.

“Oh, hi.” He said as he walked to his side of the bed. He leaned over and unplugged his phone charger from the wall before turning to leave again.

“Luke, stop!” You called to him, your voice much louder than you had meant for it to be. He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around to face you. His eyebrows were raised in a way that you would probably think was funny if you weren't about to potentially end your four year relationship with the man you swore you would marry. You took a deep breath and tried to settle your nerves before speaking again.

“Luke… Are you cheating on me?”

“What the fuck? No, of course not!” He all but yelled his response, throwing his hands up in front of him.

“Don't act like it's such a crazy question.”

“Well, it kind of is, Y/N.”

“Is it though?” You asked him. You moved the basket of laundry to the floor and sat up on your knees so that you were eye level with him. “You've been distant since you got home, you haven't told me you love me in over a month, you haven't kissed me in weeks, you didn't even come to bed last night.” You counted off your reasons on your fingers as you spoke.

Luke crossed his arms in front of his chest. “So that means I'm cheating?”

“Gina thinks…”

“Fuck Gina!” Luke yelled, taking a step closer to the bed. “If you've got a problem with our relationship, you need to talk to me. Gina isn't a part of this, believe it or not.”

“I've tried talking to you, Luke!” You sat back on your feet, your eyes falling to your hands in your lap. “I've tried for weeks, but I can't ever get you to tell me what's wrong. Why are you acting like this all of the sudden? What did I do wrong?” Your voice broke on your last question, you didn't even try to fight the tears that came this time.

You didn't look up at Luke as you heard him let out a heavy sigh. You didn't want to see his face right now, too afraid of what emotions would be written across it.

“Y/N, I'm not cheating on you. I would think that after four years, I wouldn't have to say that.”

“Then what is it, Luke?” You snapped your head up to look at him. He had one hand tangled into his hair, the other still holding his phone charger at his side. He let out another equally heavy sigh as he rubbed his hand from his hair down his jaw, avoiding eye contact with you.

“Okay. You want the truth?” He asked. You nodded silently, but deep down you weren't sure if you really did.

“Ash and I looked at rings while we were in Germany. Engagement rings.” You felt your heart stop. You hadn't even seriously discussed getting married before he left, so it caught you completely off guard. “But as I was looking at them, you texted me and said that you hated when I was gone.”

“I remember that. You said that you hated it, too.” You responded in an almost inaudible voice.

“Yeah, I do hate it. But it's never going to stop, Y/N. I'm never going to stop making music. I'm never going to stop having to leave for months on end. This is my life.” He told you, his voice was softer than you'd heard it in weeks. He took another small step closer to the bed. Everything in you wanted to reach out and take him into your arms, but you didn't move from where you sat. “So, we left the jewelry store and I decided that this,” he waved one hand between the two of you. “Has to end.”

You felt a very real pain in your chest as he finished. You brought your hands to your face in a weak attempt to quiet the sobs that had your entire body shaking as you sat on your bed. “I don't want this any more than you do, but this is how it's got to be. It isn't fair for me to ask you to deal with my lifestyle.”

You stopped crying and looked up at him. You knew the expression on your face had to be almost comical, because you actually could not believe what you were hearing. “Did it ever occur to you to ask me how I feel about it?” Luke didn't answer you. “Yeah, Luke, it fucking sucks when you're gone. I don't love falling asleep and waking up without you. But I do it, and will continue doing it, because I fucking love you, you idiot. Seeing you living your dreams with the guys makes every second that you're gone worth it a hundred times over.” You ran both hands through your hair before you continued. “But, if you want me out, I'll leave.”

You started to sit up in bed, ready to begin packing an overnight bag to take to Ginas until you were able to fully move out. Before you could even make a move to get off the bed, Luke crossed the room in two long strides and grabbed your cheeks. He crashed his lips to yours forcefully, causing you to gasp into the kiss. He pulled back from the kiss and dropped his chin to his chest. When he looked back up at you, you could see that he had shed a few tears of his own.

“Please, don't.” He whispered, his voice breaking. You brought your hands to your face, resting them on top of his and gave him a small half smile in response. “I thought that's what I wanted, but now that I've said it out loud I can't let you walk out the door, baby. I thought I was being selfish by asking you to wait here for me, and fuck, maybe I am. But I don't know what I would do if I knew that I didn't have you here waiting for me every time I come home.”

A few tears started to fall to his cheeks. “I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry, Y/N. I know that I can't even begin to make up for how I've acted, but I was just… I don't know. I was confused, and scared.”

“You should have talked to me. You could have called me that day and we could have talked this out together instead of you sitting on it alone for months.”

He sniffled and nodded as you spoke. “I know that. I don't know why I didn't. I think I was too afraid that you would agree with me. I kept thinking that this would be the tour that I'd come home and you'd be moved out because you decided it wasn't worth waiting any more.”

You rubbed your thumbs over his hands that were still on your cheeks. “You're the one that decided that, Luke. Three years ago, you went on tour for the first time after we got together and you were nervous to leave then, too. Do you remember what I told you at the airport?”

“You said that you would always be there to pick me up, with a coffee and a kiss.” He smiled at you as he recalled the memory.

“Yeah,” You grinned at him. “I meant it then, and I mean it now.”

He removed his hands from your cheeks and laced your fingers with his, dropping them to your sides. “I'm sorry that I keep letting my emotions get the best of me.”

“You don't have to apologize for that. Just promise me that from here on out, you will talk to me instead of pushing me away.”

He nodded and removed his hands from yours, wrapping them tightly around your waist. “I promise. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” You answered, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Can I come back to bed tonight?”

“Please do.”

~~~

This is, without a doubt, the quickest I’ve ever written a fic. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it last night. If you have any requests, or would like to be tagged in future 5sos fics please let me know!

Tag List: @crownedbyluke @sweetcherrycal @blue-skies-are-alright @lmao5sosimagines @therainydays4 @rosecth @thesoundsyoumake @kinglyhemmings @a-little-international @harryandthelesbians @thesupremefurbee @lukescherrypie

#luke hemmings fanfic #luke hemmings angst fanfic #luke hemmings angst #5sos fanfic #5sos angst fanfic #5sos angst #my words

241 notes · View notes

all-hail-the-witcher · 6 years

Text

questionable government spies: chapter 8

all previous chapters are under # spy boys

alright so I’m going against all of my rules literally ever posting this cause I only have like a chapter and a few sentences written after this one and I’m usually two ahead but like school and y’all need comic relief in the form of race being a freaking idiot

also this is a link you might wanna play when you get to /the part/

https://youtu.be/F16O5OAK2K8

___________

ship: platonic ralbert, eventual sprace

warnings: Race is a little shit

word count: not very long

editing: I’m actually not sure ignoring I finished editing this one

___________

Race threw off his covers and bolted into the shower. Two weeks had passed since the day they had met with Spot. He had gotten a call very late the previous night saying that he was going to be going through gang initiation today - whatever that meant - and he was supposed to report to a coffee shop in Brooklyn at 8 am sharp.

Race didn’t really know why he was being sent to a coffee shop, or why he had to be out through initiation, but if it gave him a chance to flex in front of Spot he wasn’t complaining.

He dressed in a pair of black adidas track pants and a fitted black long sleeve shirt and fluffed his blonde hair before walking into the kitchen.

It was barely 7 and Albert was probably still asleep - he had managed to sleep the entire night in his own room last night without nightmares so Race had yet to see him - which meant Race couldn’t have coffee, because Albert made the best coffee ever and his tasted like dirt. So, Race did what any caffeine deprived person would: woke up Albert to make him coffee.

He paired his phone to the Bluetooth speaker and sifted through his Disney Spotify playlist until he found the song he was looking for. Then, while the intro played, he banged around rather loudly as he prepared his lucky charms.

The chorus of the song began and Race put down the cereal he had been puring to scream along, well, sort of.

“No one's nerd as Gaston! No one catches birds like Gaston! No one says WHAT THE FUCK RICHARD like Gaston!” Race screamed at the top of his lungs. This wasn’t how he usually woke Albert up, but hey, he was going to be a gang member today, he needed to get in the villain spirit - Race style.

“For there’s no man in town half as memelyyy! Perfect, a pure meme god! You can ask any Tom, Dick, or Stanley. And they'll tell you whose team they'd prefer to be onnnnnnnnnnnnnn…”

Race cranked up the music louder and grabbed his spoon to use as a microphone as he pranced around the kitchen dramatically. “Whoooooo’s aaaaas meme as Gaston? Who can scream like Gaston? Who can do Krispy Kreme flips like Gaston? As a memelord, yes, I'm intiiiiiiimidaaaating! My, what a boi, that Gaston!”

From Albert’s room, Race heard a loud groan and he smiled. He hoped Albert was appreciating this. True art such as this was only created once in a lifetime.

“I needed encouragement, thank you, LeFou. Well, there's no one as easy to bolster as yoooooooooou! Too much? ...Yuuup.”

Race paused dramatically before leaping into the livingroom to continue his performance.

“No one bakes like Gaston! Has a face like Gaston! In a vine comp no one says they were roommates like Gaston!”

“When I flirt I sneak up with wii music,” Race tip toed awkwardly into Albert’s room. “And all of my friends say a praaayer. First, I hope what I say is not too sick, then I flirt from behind- Is that fair? I don't care!”

Albert rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head as Race jumped up onto his bead and began to sing dramatically. “No one tickles like Gaston! Eats pickles like Gaston! No one says look at all those chickens like Gaston! I'm especially good at quoting lazzzzzzzytown!”

Albert let out another loud groan, which Race ignored, and pulled his blanket over his head. “TEN POINTS FOR GASTON!” Race yelled as he did a straddle jump off the the bed and ran back toward the kitchen.

“When I was a lad, I ate four despasitos every morning to help me get large! And now that I'm grown, I eat five despasitos,” Race climbed up onto the counter and tried to flex, “So I'm roughly the size of a goooooOOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!”

Race grabbed two pots off the counter and began slapping them together on the beat of the song. Then he jumped down off the counter and began parading around the apartment - first the living room, then the hallway and then into Alberts room, all the while banging his pots together and improv tap dancing. If Albert didn't wake up after this he was going to have to break out the airhorn.

Race danced back into the kitchen, executing perfect leaps and turns while still banging his pots. He heard a loud clunk, which sounded suspiciously like Albert falling off his bed, and he smiled before climbing back up on the counter to finish off his performance.

“Who has a bed like Gaston? Drinks mead like Gaston? Who can say roadworrrrrrrk ahead like Gastoooooooon? I use yeeting in my everyyyyyyyyyyyyday liiiiiife!” he paused, looking at the pots in his hands. “YEET!” he screamed, throwing them across the kitchen with a fantastic clatter.

“RACETRACK HIGGINS!” Ah, yes. That was Albert, definitely awake and definitely pissed that he was awake. Race could hear him stomping down the hall angrily but that didn't stop him.

“Say it again! Who's a meme among men? Who's the super success? Don't you know? Can't you guess? Ask his fans and his five hangers-on! There's just one boi in town who's got all of it dowwwwwwwwwwwn…”

Albert arrived in the doorway wearing only a pair of sweatpants, his hair rumped from sleep and glaring fantastically at Race who was still standing on the counter. Race gave him a wink and a smirk to which Albert rolled his eyes before he began the final verse of his performance.

“And his name's R-A-C-EEEEEEEEEE.... I believe there's another EEEEEEEEE…… It just occurred to me that I'm illiterate and I've never actually had to spell it out loud beforeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee… Gastoooooooooooooooon!” Race jumped down from the counter and bowed graciously as the song ended.

“Are you trying to start a cult?” Albert said in disbelief, his voice raspy from sleep.

Race looked up at his friend sheepishly. “No…?”

“Then why are you screaming Beauty and the Beast before 7am?” Albert groaned.

Race leaned against the counter, cocked his head, and put on his best pleading face. “Make me coffee?”

Albert muttered several curse words under his breath before moping into the kitchen. “Sure, fine, whatever.”

“Oh, thank you, Albie!” Race exclaimed, clapping his hands. “You’re my favorite person in the whole wide world!”

“Yeah well,” Alber muttered, reaching into the cabinet to pull out the bag of Hazelnut Coffee. “You’re not my favorite person today.”

“I’m not your favorite person any day, am I?” Race sniffled.

“That’s not true,” Albert sighed. “I just don’t like it when you wake me up by screaming incorrect Disney lyrics.”

“Mmmmm so any day that ends in y then,” Race mused and Albert threw a coffee filter at him.

“I don't have time for your bad jokes,” Albert stressed. “You have to be at initiation in like an hour. Let’s go over your cover one more time.”

“Fiiiiine,” Race groaned, hopping up on the counter.

“Alright so, what’s your name?”

“Philip Marx.”

Albert sighed and rolled his eyes. “Tell me why you picked that again?”

“Welllllll,” Race began, “Philip like Philip Carlyle form the Greatest Showman cause he’s a badass and goes from one lifestyle to a complete other, ya know, becomes an outcast and stuff? Isn’t that kinda what it’s like to be in a gang?”

“I don't know,” Albert said rather annoyed as he measured out the coffee grinds. “Also I doubt that people choose their gang names based on a movie about joining the circus.”

“It’s not about joining the circus Albert!” Race smacked his friend with a dishtowel. “It’s about love and loss and finding yourself and realizing who you really are and telling social norms to screw themself and Zack Efron’s just really hot, okay?”

“Alright, fine, whatever,” Albert sighed. Race was beginning to regret waking him up, he was acting far more grumpy than usual. “Do I even want to know why you picked that last name?”

“Because Karl Marx is a badass.”

Race laughed as Albert turned to him, sputtering incoherently. “Ra- wha- why- ugh.” He buried his face in his hands. “First of all, Karl Marx is dead. Second of all, he’s not a badass he invented communism and basically started the downfall of Russia and a crapload of other problems. Third of all-” Albert was interrupted by the timer going off signaling that Race’s coffee was done brewing.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Race smirked. “He’s problematic, like me. Also we both have really great hair.”

Albert wordlessly handed Race his cup of coffee. “Remind me why I thought it was a good idea for you to do this job again?”

Race pondered. He couldn't exactly say that it was because he didn't want Albert to get in harm’s way. “Because I’m a good agent and you love me?” He hopped off the counter to pour some coffee creamer in his coffee.

“Close enough,” Albert sighed. “Now hurry up and eat your cereal. I gotta get you to initiation.”

•••

Initiation, as it turned out, was a gruff looking man inside the coffee shop handing him a folded piece of paper with a strange code on it. Race solved the code quickly, it was a simple number scramble that said: down three blocks, back parking lot.

He walked out of the coffee shop, down the street three blocks, as per the instructions.

“Rapunzel, where are you going,” Albert asked through the comms unit in his ear.

“Down three blocks to some back parking lot,” Race responded.

“Alright, Vincent just pulled up a street camera. Looks like there’s a guy in his late 20s there and that's it.”

“Okay,” Race responded, a little disappointed that Spot wasn't there. “I’ll talk to you guys when I’m done.”

“Be safe, Rapunzel.”

•••

Two hours later, Race climbed into the back of Jack’s van, tired and very much in need of a shower.

“How was it?” Albert asked, turning around and laughing at Race’s flopped position on the floor of the van.

“Tiring,” Race sighed. “I had to break into a store and steal a cd without setting anything off.”

“An actual store?” Jack asked from the driver’s seat.

“Yes, an actual store,” Race said pulling himself up.

“Ah, yes,” Albert said, “my best friend, a petty thief.”

“I’ve been a petty thief my whole life, Albie, remember when we-”

“Ah ah ah” Albert cut him off, gesturing to Jack. “We have children present.”

Race laughed and rolled his eyes as Jack protested. “Anyway, the guy had me also do all this fancy parkour junk and self defense stuff. Haven’t worked that hard since training with Jacobs.”

Albert made a sympathetic face. FBI training camp had been the most strenuous thing either of them had ever done to date. “What was the guys name, again?”

“Oscar Delancey,” Race said, wrinkling his nose. “He was nasty. He kept pushing me unnecessarily hard. And he said something weird. He told me ‘oh, you’re him’ which didn't make any sense.”

“Yeah, that's kinda weird,” Albert agreed. “Maybe he expected you to be someone else.”

“Maybe,” Race brushed it off. “Anyway, I got my first mission tomorrow. Gotta report to the used car place at 9 am sharp.”

Albert and Jack let out a cheer. “That’s fantastic, Race!” Albert said, shooting him a smile. “Pretty soon we’re gonna crack this case right open.”

Race couldn't agree more.

___________

ah yes that song took me three days to write and it’s probablt the best thing I’ve ever written

did anyone catch the jace quote ?

also pay close attention to the greatest showman references....

also shits about to get real yo it’s going the hell down

feedback is always appreciated hmu to be on the tag list

tag list @fairly-awkward-trashcan @well-the-kids-do-too @racetrackcook @bouncyscreamingnewsboys @ughwaitwhat @aw-jus-let-em-try @ben-cook-can-cook @the-woild-is-my-what-now @elmer-s-s0cks @voice-foundshoe-lost @galaxy-trees13 @stopthe-presses @ridin-in-style @pinecovewoods @imjusttheoutgoingsidekick @i-got-no-clue-what-im-doing @bencookisagod @be-more-chill-evan-hansen @hellasoulless @stellar-alpaca @saxoph-ella @smolcanadiankid @disney-princess-sized @the-newsies-justice-for-zas-blog @insane-tomato @so-up-rolls-a-riot-van @spot-conlon-king-of-brooklyn @have-we-got-news-for-you @thatfancyclam @myidkwhatmynameisblog @legoflambwrites

#saphie scribbles #spy boys #ralbert #sprace #race is a meme loving fuck #i don’t feel like adding more tags #newsies #newsies fic

65 notes · View notes

circle-of-six-mages · 5 years

Text

Prologue: 1000 Years Ago

The carriage bumped along, carrying six happily chatting girls and one miserable driver. It was no wonder that his mood was like this; it had been raining for over an hour now; since about five minutes after the girls reboarded the carriage.

They had been on a mission delivered straight from the High King of Rashiviio, and he was their transportation. When they climbed in the carriage, as if by magic, it began pouring.

He sighed and decided to take a nap. The horses knew their way back to Ranseed Palace. He could only sleep for a few minutes, but he couldn't stay awake, either; his eyes were drooping down.

He woke to startled whinnying. He noticed with dismay that it was no longer raining. He must've slept longer than he wanted to.

One of the horses whinnied again, snapping him out of his thoughts. He wasn't worried; they spooked at everything. A rabbit had probably ran across their path. He opened his eyes, preparing to calm the horses down.

And immediately let out the scream of a five-year-old girl.

Standing in front of him was a 10 foot tall A-Class Scorpion Type Demon.

“Hello.” The Demon said as if it were trying to appear amiable. However, evil leaked through its voice, and its true intentions were crystal clear to the driver.

They were in a clearing in the woods. He recognized this part of the woods; it was about a mile away from the bridge over the Great Divide, which separated the town where the High King’s palace stood and the Kingdom of Earth, from which all Earth Mages hailed.

“Mr. Driver?” Came another voice. They had probably sensed the Demon’s presence, and were trying to make sure he was alright.

He finally found his voice. “HELP!” He screamed. “PLEASE HELP ME!”

The Demon pouted. At least, that's what it looked like to the driver. It was really just a giant black blob in the shape of a scorpion.

“Here I was gonna tell you why I didn't kill you while you slept. You still wanna know?” It asked.

Inside the carriage, there was rustling. Probably the girls grabbing their swords and usual fighting staffs.

The driver could only stare at the Demon with an almost comically scared face and skin paler than that of a ghost. It was all he could do not to pee his pants.

The Demon cocked his head. “If you don't answer, I'm gonna kill you.” He said impatiently.

Then came a series of knocks on the wood behind him. He recognized it as Hemres Code, a phonetic code invented thousands of years ago that most humans still knew and used. He realized they were relying on him being one of the many who did.

Keep him distracted. They said. We’ve got a plan.

How am I supposed to do that?!

He took a deep breath. If these girls can face death fearlessly almost every day, I can distract it, right? It can't be that hard. I mean, this one seems to like talking.

He looked up at the Demon, “Sure. Why didn't you kill me?”

The Demon seemed to smile. “Well, first of all, may I say that you look adorable when you’re sleeping?! And second of all-” here, the Demon’s smile became malicious- “I never make my kill while their eyes are closed. If I do that, I can't watch the light leave their eyes! And that’s the best part about killing.” He looked at the driver. “Speaking of which-” he poised his tail to kill the driver-

And a blue blur whizzed by the tail, taking the tail with it. A blue-haired girl appeared about five feet away from the Demon, crouching, her sword poised at her side from the follow-through of her swing. The Demon’s tail thumped in the grass next to her.

Two crimson daggers flew out of the woods to the driver’s left, bouncing off of the Demon’s tough armor.

Seconds later, five mages jumped down in a circle around him, with the blue-haired girl completing it. Red, brown, purple, white, and black haired fluttered in the air as the girls landed and straightened.

The Demon seemed to smirk. “Nice try, for girls anyway. However, only Element Blades can pierce my armor. And you can only receive them from the Gods and Goddesses of your respective element.” He whirled around to face the girl with blue hair. “Which this one seems to have, meaning…

I have to kill you first.”

In response, the girls each drew a blade that matched their hair. The Demon stopped short. If he could have, he would've paled.

They all had Element Blades.

Element Blades were swords made purely from a Mage’s Element. One had to receive them from the patron God or Goddess of their Element. For example, a Fire Mage had to prove herself to the Fire Goddess, Meeria, in order to receive such a sword.

The girl with white hair smiled sunnily. “Yes, of course we do!” She frowned innocently. “You do know who we are, right?”

The Demon just about died of a heart attack. These were not just any Mages. These were not just a random group of six Mages. This was the group of six Mages. The Circle of Six Mages.

A quiet voice spoke behind him. “We have these, too.” It said. He whirled to ask what she meant and was met by a purple Element Dagger in his chest. He began to crumble and fade, turning into a pile of black rocks, at the top of which a glittering black stone rested, glittering in the setting sun.

The girl with black hair stepped forward and grabbed it. She smiled softly. “Another Onyx, almost as good as the one from that SSS class monstrosity.” She said, slipping it in her cloak pocket before drawing the hood.

The driver just sat, clutching the reins, appearing as though he were in a permanent state of shock. The horses had long since run off.

A very demonic screech sounded in the direction of the Divide. Then another, and another. Screeches came every few seconds.

The Circle looked at each other warily. It sounded like there were a lot of Demons.

The purple haired girl stepped up shyly. She waved her hand. “Here.” She said, and a ball of wind surrounded the carriage, picking up dust and leaves and other debris. “This'll take you home. You can use the reins to control it, just like the horses. Go ahead, we’ll be back at the palace soon, and stop by the stables to tell you we’re alright.”

Her voice was quiet, and very, very shy.

The driver merely nodded, and snapped the reins as if there really were horses in front of it. Soon he was riding away at top speed.

The girls gave each other a grim look, and took off through the woods. There couldn't be that many, or they would've been seen by people traveling by. It was a busy road, after all. Even if they'd hidden in the divide, they would've been seen by people crossing it barely a mile away.

The Mages raced through the woods, combing the area for any trace of demonic energy.

About ten minutes later, they came to the Divide. They looked around. Nothing.

We must've imagined it. Thought the blue-haired girl, tucking a shoulder length strand of hair behind her ear.

“There are no demons here, and it sounds like one is no more than fifty yards away.” The black-haired girl said, deep in thought.

As if to answer her, another screech sounded, this one even closer. And suddenly, at the bottom of the canyon, a cat type demon shimmered into sight. It looked straight at them and yowled again.

The blue-haired girl’s face contorted in confusion.”But how did it conceal itself from us? I've never seen this!”

“If you can shut up from your no-knowledge-breakdown, four eyes, she has an idea.” Said the redhead, pointing to the girl with white hair. She was chewing on her lip thoughtfully.

The girl with blue hair glared at the redhead, shoved her glasses up her nose, and nodded for the white- haired girl to continue.

“Well,” she began, smiling, “back in the Kingdom of Light, we would use a type of barrier to keep the smaller villages that were more prone to attack hidden. It was a Dome-Type that kept everything under it invisible. The only catch was it didn't have any sort of repulsion, so if you stumbled under the Dome, you could see everything.”

The blue-haired girl, still looking a little wary, scrunched her eyebrows again. “Well, how do we hear that cat like it’s almost within arm’s reach? This canyon is over one thousand miles deep!”

The white-haired girl nodded. “My many-times great grandmother enchanted it, back during the reign of the Second High King. Basically, she made it so that sound in this area is all on a flat plain. Meaning, even though the demons are technically over a thousand miles away from us, on the magic plain, they're not even five feet away. That's also why we can see them so clearly from so far away. The King requested it as an early-warning system.”

The redhead sighed impatiently. “Great, that's great, we know why shit happens. Amazing. I don't care. Let's go kill it.”

“No!” The white-haired girl said. “There’s probably a reason the barrier was erected. We should scout it out from up here first.”

The girl with blue hair nodded,rubbing invisible dirt off of her glasses. “I agree. If someone was smart enough to erect the barrier-” she paused, breathed hot air on her glasses, and continued wiping and speaking- “they were trying to hide something.” She put her glasses back on. “We should find out what it is.”

The redhead looked like she wanted to jump down and clash head-on with the Cat Demon (which was giving itself a cat bath), but the girl with glasses merely glared at her and said sternly, “from up here.”

The redhead growled frustratedly, but the blue haired girl just rolled her eyes. “We need a plan.”

The whited haired girl, deep in thought again, said,”what if we picked them off from up here? The canyon is very deep; not even a SSS Class Demon could jump it. They'd have to climb, and we can kill them before they reach us.”

As she had talked, a smile had grown across the strategist's face. Pushing her glasses up her nose, she asked,”Can you do the invisibility dome spell?”

A smile equivalent to the strategist’s grew on her face. “Yup.”

“Let's do this then.”

And suddenly, all the Mage's eyes lit up, as if there had been some form of invisible communication. All of their eyes gleamed with determination as they began to execute their silently communicated plan.

The Water Mage raised her arms and drew one back, as if knocking an invisible arrow on an invisible bow. And then one shimmered into existence, quite literally because it was made of aquamarines that could've passed as water. The arrow she was knocking was made of wickedly pointed tip. She aimed it at the Cat Demon.

The Light Mage drew her arm back, mimicking poising a spear for throwing. She opened her palm ard a light appeared over it, extending until it became one, made of a white, almost transparent quartz.

The Dark Mage held her arms by her side, extended about a foot. In each hand, spheres materialized which appeared to devour the very air around it. From that darkness, a boomerang formed in each hand, its wickedly sharp blade glinting in the sun.

The Wind Mage held her arms in an X in front of her. She opened her hands, and winds began gathering around her, beginning to glow violet. The winds died down, leaving her holding two amethyst chakrams, one in each hand.

The Earth Mage held her hand out in front of her, her fingers spread yet flat, but her index finger curled. A glowing boulder almost a foot wide fell out of nowhere. It landed in her palm and shattered so profoundly that all was left was dust and a dark brown slingshot in her palm, the ring around her finger, already loaded.

The Fire Mage, not seeming very happy about not being in blade-to-blade combat, held her arm behind her in a similar fashion to the Light Mage. Flames roared and sparked, but instead of a spear, she was left with a ruby-red atlatl.

This happened in perfect unison. Immediately after summoning her weapon, the Light Mage began glowing. A dome began to spring from her, resisting like an elastic band. Finally, it practically exploded, shooting out as far as they could see. What was left was an invisibility dome about ten feet high and ten feet in diameter. They could see through it as if nothing was there.

This all happened in less than ten seconds, for the girls knew they had to act quickly. And act quickly they did. As soon as the dome was in place, they simultaneously began their attack.

The Water Mage released her arrow, piercing the Cat Demon right in the butt, as it was chasing its tail. It gave a pained yowl and crumbled into a pile of red rocks, a ruby perching at the top. The blue haired girl pulled back the arrow string again, another arrow springing into existence with a small pop. She did this again and again, sometimes releasing the string so early that the arrows came into existence flying through the air as if they'd been on the bow since the beginning.

The Light Mage threw her spear. It crashed through five demons before burying itself halfway up the shaft on the opposite canyon wall. She drew her left hand back and threw nothing, but a spear sparked into existence about two feet from her. She repeated this process over and over, each spear killing five or six demons.

The Dark Mage threw one of the boomerangs. It spun, arcing around as it spun. It sliced through several Demons before disappearing completely. She set up to spin another, releasing one after the other.

The Wind Mage threw one of the chakrams like a frisbee, and one replaced it in her hand immediately. It cut through quite a few Demons before slicing through a canyon wall and disappearing. She threw the chakram in the other hand and continued this alternating pattern.

The Earth Mage spun the slingshot a couple times and released the rock. About three feet from the sling, it grew into a boulder almost five feet in diameter. It landed with a huge thunk and crushed a few Demons, tossing still others to the side.

The Fire Mage swung the atlatl with one hand like a whip. However, instead of a powerful string coming around, a dart whizzed from the long shaft. She raised and swung again and again, darts automatically reloading themselves.

As the projectiles began to exit the shield, most of them teleported to different parts of the canyon, so they rained down equally and randomly. This way, no Demon could follow the volleys and figure out where the Six were.

Stones of red, orange yellow, green, blue, violet, black and even brown crumbled from fallen Demons, perched with stones that matched the color of the stones: rubies, topazes, citrines, emeralds, sapphires, amethysts, onyxes, and pretty brown larkrakrovs. However, no white stones or gems appeared.

“You know, attacking from a place where no one can see you is rather rude. Shall we even go to the playing field a bit?”said an unfamiliar voice. Before the girls could even turn to see the speaker, they all had the sensation of being kicked in the stomach, but from behind, like something had gone through their spine to attack the lining of it. They all fell into the Divide.

The Wind Mage, thinking quickly, created an air bubble around the Six to slow their descent. Five minutes later, they landed softly and safely on the ground.

A huge black cloud appeared immediately in front of them, radiating huge amounts of demonic energy. The girls knew this amount of power could only mean one thing.

A SSSS Class Demon.

There had only been one other SSSS Class Demon in the Circle’s three hundred years. When it had appeared, it took the help of fourteen other Mages to defeat it. Even then, they'd lost six to the Demon.

The difference between a SSS Class and a SSSS Class Demon was incredible. SSS Class Demons had a blind spot and three Weak Points that could be targeted to kill it. This was always true, no matter what animal form it appeared in. As far as they knew, SSSS Class Demons had no blind spot and only one Weak Point. Its sense of smell was off the charts, and so was its magic sensitivity and resistance. It could conceal its magical and demonic presence in the snap of a finger.

And now one stood before them, ready to fight, appearing ominously in a swirling black cloud of smoke and dust.

They wondered what form it would take. Fox? Rabbit? Tiger? Maybe it would be able to shapeshift.

“I'm glad you didn't die of the fall.” Came the Demon’s voice. It chuckled. “That would be no fun.” It began laughing hysterically. “You may want to draw your weapons, ladies. I'll give you time.”

As much as they hated to listen to a Demon, they knew they had to draw their close-range weapons, and they would not get another chance later on.

The Water Mage held her hands by her left side, the left one clutching an invisible sheath and the right one wrapping around a nonexistent blade handle. Water came out of nowhere, swirling around her, then focusing on between her hands and forming a glowing blue dussack. It stopped glowing and turned into a gleaming citrine blade. With a practiced hand, she drew it from its sheath so quickly her arm blurred. Water flew at a deadly speed in the direction her arm waved.

Simultaneously, the Fire Mage held her hands on her waist, her left hand on her right side and vice versa. Flames wrapped around her, turning into six flaming belts with handles. The flames cooled and died, leaving two triple bladed urumis. She expertly unwrapped the whip blades from her waist, leaving not even a single scratch despite their lethal sharpness. As they flew free from their belt disguise, flames swirled around the Mage.

Taking her cue from the Demon at the same time as the other two, the Earth Mage jumped, slamming her fists into the ground. It swallowed her hands up to her wrists. She lifted them from it ten seconds later, coated in a thick sort of glove made of glowing earth. The glow ceased and formed two cestuses made of gleaming amber. She punched them together, knuckle to knuckle, and stood ready to fight. As her knuckles connected, the earth around them rumbled and split in a few places.

Chewing her lip uncertainly but going along with it, the Wind Mage stood in an elegant pose, the kind one might see a Sky Dancer finish a dance in. In her hands the winds gathered, glowing violet and forming what looked like fans. The winds died and the glowing ceased, leaving her holding two tourmaline tourmaline tessens. She flicked them and wind surged powerfully around her.

The Dark Mage raised her arms, reaching the peak at the same time as the Earth Mage began coming down from her jump. She clenched her fists and swiped them downward, taking all the light out of the path of invisible claw-like blades. When she stopped, she had tekko-kagi blades mounted on her hands.

The Light Mage, with a sunny smile, held her arms out straight and rigid, as if mimicking a gliding bird. Her hands closed in fists, and a bright light shone from inside them. The light grew and expanded, forming a sort of sword with thin rods coming up about halfway up her forearm. The light dimmed, leaving two diamond katars with gold handles and guards, finishing her summon after the Water Mage even though they'd started at the same time. Her smile grew impossibly wider as she slashed them while preparing her body to fight. The blades left a trail of blinding light, and it expanded until it reached the Demon’s bubble. It exploded violently.

To the Circle’s shock, a very human-looking man in a classy blue suit flew backwards out of the explosion.

The Demon was thrown back at least ten feet, but did a graceful backflip and landed in a crouch, his fingertips touching the ground. He was gone in a flash, leaving only a blurry black after-image. He laughed as he moved. “Shocked, girls? You should be.” He cackled like a malicious madman.

The Light Mage moved swiftly and gracefully, spinning and slashing her katar in her left hand and cutting his shoulder, before delivering a hard kick to his face. “It's not very nice to kick the very first Human Type Demon.” He said poutily.

The Demon moved his body with the energy from the kick, attacking the Fire Mage next. “Yeah, well, it's not nice to throw people off cliffs, either.” She the Fire Mage responded, bracing herself for the attack.

However, before he could even close half the distance toward her, the ground rumbled. An enormous disc of earth fifty feet wide and only about three feet thick flew free from the ground so quickly that the Demon was thrown almost thirty feet into the air.

All of the Mages seemed to be prepared for this, however. Not only had they braced their bodies against the flying disc, but they all had earthen boots attaching them to it. As soon as the disc stopped flying, the boots disappeared.

The Earth Mage had created an arena suitable to their fighting range.

By now, the remaining Demons had noticed the fight and were gathering to watch.

The Demon the six were fighting had begun to fall from being thrown into the air. He twisted so he would fall in a more optimal position, but the Fire Mage sent a huge blast of flames toward him while the Water Mage sent a disc of ice flying at him to throw him off balance. At the same time, the Earth Mage had begun skating across the ground as if it were ice instead of stone. She leapt when she was under the Demon and used the Earth to give her leap a boost. In the air, she twisted, kicked him where the sun didn’t shine, punched his cheek, and smashed her feet into his stomach, slamming him into the ground.

He gritted his teeth and sent out a wave of demonic energy. It threw all of the Mages off balance. He rose to his feet, a little unsteadily. “You think you've won?” He chuckled darkly. “I haven't even drawn my weapon yet.”

His left arm clutched his bleeding left shoulder, the black stuff oozing from between his fingers. However, his right fingers extended, an elegant black rapier appearing about an inch away from his palm. It finished forming and began to fall. He clasped the handle quickly, and the previously missing blade guards appeared snugly on either side of his hand. He slashed it, and somehow this healed his wound. He grinned maniacally.

The Dark Mage glared at the Demon as she regained her senses. Stomping her foot to steady her balance, she sprang off the ground into a graceful flip. Her tekko-kagi claws raked the ground, a long, high pitched screech resounding because of it. Darkness and stone flew up from her slash, forming five black bubble-like objects. They hit the remaining disoriented Mages, and their eyes cleared and they regained their balance.

A flash went through all their eyes: an idea, a plan. The Fire Mage and the Wind Mage twisted and spun together, urumi and tessen swinging and flying in a graceful dance. Wind and fire erupted in their wake, the winds strengthening the blasts of flame and then surges slicing through them like they were nothing more than butter.

The Demon smirked and stood his ground, standing in a leisurely way, as if waiting on a street for a friend. With a single slash of his sword, the assault was gone.

And so were the girls.

He felt an unusual uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't even feel their presence, no magical trace despite their enormous mana capacity, nothing. Yet he somehow knew they were still there.

Suddenly, he couldn't move. His muscles froze in place, and no amount of struggling, magical or physical, could get him out of his predicament.

Suddenly, a huge column of fire erupted from the ground directly in front of him. Most of the mana was sucked out of the air, not quite that big a feat since there wasn't much mana in the Divide. He was surprised that hadn't happened earlier.

Then he remembered something. The Circle had trained to the point where they used almost no mana on every spell. Rumor had it that for the simplest of spells, they literally used none. So if they were using this much mana…

Terror struck him to his very core. They were using an extremely powerful spell.

And he could do nothing to stop or avoid it.

The Fire Mage stepped out of the flames, her hair flying wildly around her to the point where it looked like her whole head was on fire. She smirked as the mana in the air quickly recharged. “Not fun being the helpless one, is it, Demon?” As she spoke, the mana recharge finished, leaving more mana than had been there at first. The Fire Mage pointed the guard of her urumi at him. “Prepare to die.”

And then, without warning, a geyser came out of nowhere and shot skyward. It took about half of the mana with it. The Demon tried to figure out where it was coming from; the three-foot-thick stone was not big enough for that large a reservoir.

And then the Water Mage emerged, completely dry, yet meticulously wiping moisture off her glasses. “She has a point, for once.” She said, examining the lenses for any trace of fog or water. The Fire Mage shot her a dirty look. “We had a plan, and you fell for it.” The blue haired girl smirked and put her glasses back on, drawing her dussack. “Hook, line, and sinker.”

By now, the mana in the air had recharged, once again leaving more than was there before. The Demon continued struggling, trying to do something as slight as even twitching a finger.

A harsh wind ripped through the canyon, taking roughly a third of the mana with it. Even the Demon, glued to the ground, didn't know how he managed to remain on his feet.

The wind collected debris as it went to its place next to the water chute. At its base, it went up to the sky, sort of like a reverse funnel cloud. It then evened out so that the debris-laden wind column was perpendicular to the makeshift arena. The three sky-high elemental columns formed a perfect half circle around the edge of the arena.

The Wind Mage stepped out of her wind funnel, looking like her hair had just been brushed and styled, not a single strand out of place. “What, no snarky remark?” She said quietly. Her confident face turned worried as she looked across the semi circle at the Water Mage. “Was that alright?” The blue-haired girl rolled her eyes and looked pointedly at the Demon.

The Demon’s frozen face must have looked confused and panicked, because the Wind Mage gave him a knowing smile. “It's a mana duplication spell. You'll understand why momentarily.” As she finished speaking, the mana finished regenerating, and true to her word, left more in the air once again.

And as soon as the mana finished generating, a wall of earth shot up from the arena, wiping out around a quarter of the mana. The Earth Mage stepped out as if she were walking through air instead of a solid stone wall. Her face revealed nothing, and she said nothing, but the Demon could hear her voice in his head all the same. He had a funny feeling he was communicating through the stone.

You will die, Demon. She said. And after that, so will every Demon in this godsforsaken canyon.

The eerie voice chilled him deeper than the fear running through his veins, and planted more fear there, if that was even possible. He frantically ran idea after idea through his head, trying to come up with a survival plan, but they all ended with him dying.

Plan A- burned to ashes by the Fire Mage. Nope.

Plan B- drowned by the Water Mage. Definitely not.

Plan C- cut to shreds by the Wind Mage’s air blades. He cringed internally. Ouch. No.

Plan D- suffocated at least 30 feet underground by the Earth Mage. He tried to move his hand to his throat. Again, no.

As he continued his frantic planning, a huge column of pure darkness shot to the sky. He couldn't even tell how much mana it used, or how much it brought back with it. The Demon was actually beginning to feel quite suffocated by the sheer amount of mana in the air. The girls, however, appeared unaffected.

The Dark Mage emerged from her void, her hair the only thing darker than the spell. She said nothing, though her dark and brooding eyes were the embodiment of the saying if looks could kill.

And finally, completing the circle, a ball of light floated up from the ground. It was no bigger than a foot in diameter, but it exploded so it was just as large as the others. It exploded like a bolt of lightning and travelled even faster. It sucked a little bit of the mana out of the air, just like the others, and once again brought back more. The Light Mage emerged, her smile somehow brighter than the mass of light behind her.

“Do you like it? It’s really pretty, right! It's our signature spell! The-” she was about to continue, but the Water Mage cut her off with a look. She pouted, and took a step back.

The Demon knew only what the others knew about the Circle- only rumors and hearsay. Unfortunately, that did not include their signature spell.

And suddenly, all the mana was sucked from the air, and all the Mages pointed their weapons at them. The sudden release of mana made him feel like he was floating.

The Mages released their spell suddenly and swiftly. The water wall fell and multiplied, and stayed on the arena as if it were a giant glass, filling it up a good ten feet. The other spells sliced through it as if it were merely air. The Water Mage took off her glasses, scowled at them, and used the surrounding water to wipe microscopic dirt off of them.

The fire wall broke up into thousands and thousands of fire sprites, targeting the Demon mercilessly. The water seemed to not affect them at all. As they did, the Fire Mage smiled almost sadistically.

The wind wall turned into countless blades of wind and sliced at the Demon, cutting through the Fire Sprites without harming them, then looping around to attack again. The Wind Mage stood with a worried look on her face.

Parts of the earthen wall crumbled away or fused to others to solidify them further. What was left was several hundred golems, stacked one on top of another. The leapt down onto the arena and made not even a splash in the water. They made their way to the Demon, and reached him surprisingly quickly. Along with the fire sprites, they began wailing on the Demon. The Earth Mage held her ground, her face telling nothing.

The dark wall overtook everything; there was so little light that even the Dark Mage had trouble seeing. She could only imagine how much trouble the Demon was having.

The light wall, literally a white block in the spell of darkness, began practically spitting out great balls of light like comets. Even in normal lighting, they were blinding. They were brighter than the Light Mage’s smile, brighter than the Fire Mage’s flames, even brighter than the third and brightest sun, Rhysha. It didn't help the Demon that they were in near total darkness, amplifying the comets’ light. The Light Mage stood in front of her wall, her comets whizzing by her on either side of her, causing a slight breeze that made her hair dance.

And then all at once, everything cleared. The water ran off the stone island in great torrents, drowning more than a few Demons. The golems collapsed into piles of rubble, which were absorbed into the ground. The fire sprites disappeared, as if they were mere fire that had run out of fuel. The wind blades slowed and dulled, becoming one with the light breeze. The comets stopped coming out of the light wall, and the wall exploded, sending light even further than the horizon.

Only the darkness remained, but all of the Mage's irises, which had previously matched their hair, had begun to absorb the little light around them, giving a black color. It looked quite eerie, but it allowed each of them to see in the black. Only the Dark Mage's eyes remained the same.

As the last of the dust and water cleared, they looked anxiously upon the spot where the Demon had stood, all wondering the same thing: had the spell worked?

They all had a horrible queasiness in the pit of their stomachs, the kind one gets when something bad is about to happen.

And when the area finally cleared, the girls nearly screamed in alarm.

Nothing was there.

No rocks, no gems, no nothing.

And then suddenly, a huge amount of mana disappeared from the air. It came back like mist, creeping and expanding. The stuff was black, though, and made of pure darkness. It expanded, filling the whole arena but nothing beyond.

As soon as it touched her, the Light Mage's knees buckled and she fell. The Dark Mage rushed over and put the former’s hand over her shoulder, standing so that the Dark Mage supported the Light Mage.

The Demon smirked. The Dark Mist was weakening her. And none of the Mages could see in it, only he could see perfectly well.

At their confused and frightened looks, he smirked, and that got a chuckle darker than the mist out of him when he thought of how they couldn't see it.

“Oh, my lost little lambs.” He began haughtily.

“We are no lambs, and you are no shepard, you mangy mutt.” The redhead snarled harshly.

After a glaring chuckle, he continued, walking at a leisurely pace toward the Light and Dark Mages. “You see, when you released that pitiful attempt to kill me, you used aaaaaaaaaaall the mana. That left nothing to bind me. And I escaped.

He was no more than three feet away from the pair when the Dark Mage released the Light Mage and made a mad dash for the Demon. The Light Mage swayed but remained standing.

The Demon, not expecting this, was caught off guard. She swiped at him once, twice, three times, but he managed to dodge all of them. Regaining his senses, he kicked her in the side and she flew through the air, landing in a crumpled heap.

The Demon felt something drip down his face. He put his hands to it and looked at them. Black blood gleamed in the light that the Light Mage always seemed to give off. He made a noise that sounded like a fifty foot wolf was growling. He decided to kill her first for marring his face.

However, before he could even whirl toward her, two feet landed squarely on his chest. He flailed his arms in surprise, accidentally tossing his sword. He landed with a thunk on the ground, and was very surprised to find the Light Mage straddling his rib cage, smiling in an almost crazed way that still managed to be sunny. She began a thrust with her katar at his face, going in for the kill.

Just in time, he reached out, and his sword slid to him as if both his hand and it were magnets. As soon as it touched his hand, he swung it, parrying the blow.

He shoved her off of him, and while she was off balance, made a swipe at her feet. However, she had already regained her footing. She dropped her katar and did a back handspring to avoid the low swipe. And, instead of just avoiding it, she grasped the Demon’s blade between her feet and used the momentum from her handspring to toss it out of the arena.

The Demons had remained watching even when the Dark Mist fell, hoping to catch a glimpse of the intense fight.

However, when the Light Mage tossed the Human Type’s sword, it sailed into the sea of onlookers and stabbed a Mouse Type in the eye. It gave a high pitched squeak and crumble into amber rocks, a topaz gleaming on top.

The other Demons looked at the pile, took a step away from it, and continued watching the mist.

Back inside the arena, the Demon and the Light Mage fought intensely. Punches, kicks, swipes, and even slaps were exchanged. Once or twice the Demon reached for the Light Mage’s katar, but a huge flash of light followed by a resounding ZAP!! kept him from grasping the hilt.

Now. He thought. He drew a new rapier from thin air, swinging it as he drew it.

The Light Mage's head flew clean off her neck.

As it did, a huge explosion of light ensued, ridding the arena of the dark mist.

The other Mages had been holding hands and chanting, preparing a new assault as the Light and Dark Mages bought them time. The Dark Mage had just been pulling herself up, preparing to join the Light Mage. But as they watched the fight out the corners of their eyes, looks of horror came upon their faces. Several seconds passed as the Mages stared in shock and the Demon kicked her head away, purely to anger the girls.

“NOOOOO!” One screamed, and glancing in that direction he discovered it was the Dark Mage.

Crying silently, each only shed one tear. A huge explosion sounded, and a huge Phoenix appeared.

Its huge body was red, but black markings made strange symbols all along its feathers. Its violet beak was the size of small house, its wide, intelligent eyes the color of the Summer Ocean.

The Mages had disappeared. No, not disappeared. Thought the Demon. They are the bird. This is gonna be too easy. He smirked as he thought the last part.

He knew that spell. Great as the bird was, it wasn't very easy to move. And its weak spot was the eye. If he stabbed that eye, it was goodbye Mage number two.

The violet beak opened, and a huge blast of fire and wind came out. He dodged and threw his sword like a javelin. It turned into one halfway there, but the bird dodged and fired again. The Demon merely gave a dark chuckle and deflected it with a shield.

With a wave of his hand, a dozen replicas of himself appeared around the arena. The spun and avoided fiery blasts until the bird could no longer tell them apart.

They all abruptly halted and threw an invisible javelin, which manifested just as their hands left it. The bird tried to dodge. It couldn't dodge all of them, though. One slashed its side, and another cut its head. It gave a screech of pain and anger, blurring the replicas until they dissolved. Its wounds healed, and it shot a boiling geyser of water at the real Demon.

The Demon took the blast. He seemed to melt, and the enormous bird stopped short. Its eyes were not the best, so the Mages decided to release the spell and check the rocks.

The Demon had been waiting for this. It wouldn’t be able to move in the middle of deactivation. The arena rained with the black blood of Demons, turning into various weapons; swords, daggers, javelins, every weapon imaginable. It injured the great bird with slashes that bled like rivers, and one weapon lodged firmly in its eye. It screamed in pain, and then dissolved. Four girls stood, panting. The Water Mage lay dead, a javelin protruding from her chest. Water gushed from her body, filling the bottom of the arena in the slippery stuff. It seemed to affect the Demon, but not the Mages. He did his best to ignore it.

Wasting no time, the Demon drew another blade and sped for the Fire Mage.

“YOU WILL PAY!” She screamed, raising her leg and attempting to bring her foot down on his head. With most fighters, strong emotions would make fighting sloppy. However, to most Fire Wielders, their element represented passion, and passion made them stronger. Her anger oozed out of her, her grief making her cry as she rushed the Demon.

She leapt, reaching her foot up. The Demon tried to cut her leg off or dodge, whichever came first, but neither worked. He crumpled as her foot came down with so much force it would have cracked any human’s skull.

The Wind Mage rushed him, and the Fire Mage got out of the way. She slashed at his torso, his legs, his face, everywhere with her razor sharp fans, trying to find his weak spot. The Dark Mage used a complex spell, even for the Circle, which took his sight away. She couldn’t do much else besides meditate sweatily on the ground, trying to keep her spell up. The Water Mage guarded her, nearly crying. Normally, this was the Light Mage’s job.

The Fire and Wind Mages went to switch out so the former could take a turn trying to find its weak point. The Demon, having pinpointed the Wind Mage, made a stab at her stomach, nearly slipping in the water. However, the Fire Mage was in her place by now, and she received the sword through the stomach instead. She crumpled, splashing in the water. Flames exploded from her body, burning the Demon before becoming a hovering disc over the arena, taking over the role of light source from the setting suns.

Suddenly, the Light Mage's eyes began glowing. The Wind, Earth, and Dark Mages looked at her decapitated head in wonder.

She had a prophesy to deliver.

The distraction nearly cost the Wind Mage her life. Huge spikes of pure darkness erupted from under her, and she jumped, the air supporting her as if she were walking on solid ground. The Earth Mage, sensing something on her turf and being within arm’s reach of the Dark Mage, the former grabbed the latter and leapt.

The Dark Mage made them each a hovering disc. They circled the Demon on there, floating safely above the spikes.

The Earth Mage catapulted a rock the size of a horse at the Demon. He merely held out his hand against it, and it exploded when it touched his palm. The Wind Mage was ready, right behind him, swinging her razor- sharp tourmaline fans at him. Although she didn’t hit him, wind came off the fans, blowing him back a bit.

The Dark Mage ran forward, kicking him in the side, and he flew in the direction of the Earth Mage. The plan was to have her incapacitate him, and they could behead him to at least down him for a while, on the off but substantial chance he would recover from it.

He moved with the momentum of the kick, but disguised it as an uncontrollable beeline to the Earth Mage. She prepared moved her stance to one more more optimal to strike him down. In midair he spun, and too late, the Earth Mage realized that he had a blade- like strip of darkness extending from his arm. He slashed it, and it sliced her in half at the waist.

The Wind Mage watched her crumple onto the watery spikes in horror. As she touched the ground, an earthquake shook the arena. It shook off the spikes, and threw the Demon off balance. She could do nothing but stand in shock.

The Dark Mage, however, took advantage of his lack of balance. She shot at him on her disc, slashing at him. He managed to parry her claws with his sword, slightly off balance.She tried to get around him. Something in the way he always defended his back… she knew that if she struck it just right, it would be over.

He pushed her back and tried to make it over to the shell-shocked violet haired girl. He barely made it a foot before the black haired girl kicked him in the back. He flew forward several feet, but was otherwise unharmed. Not there. She thought. If that was his Weak Spot, it would have frozen him in pain.

With a growl, he whirled on her. She sped back enough that she wouldn’t be a threat anymore, and he would continue to the now thawed Wind Mage, who was in on her plan.

She hung back for a minute, and when the Demon got close to the Wind Mage and tried to strike, she flung herself forward as the Wind Mage blew him back. The Dark Mage sped at his back on her disc, tekko kagi claws at the ready. He merely turned at a leisurely pace. She tried to stop, but it was too late. He swung what looked like a giant club at her head. It connected with a sickening crack. She fell immediately, no breath escaping her lips.

“Damn.” The Demon said as the spikes retracted. “I was hoping candy would come out.”

The Wind Mage continued their plan through her tears. The next part of the plan didn’t involve her. She could do this. She came at the Demon from above, slashing at his back with her tessens.

He predicted it from a mile away. He sent out tendrils of darkness that wrapped around the air bubble which encapsulated her. It passed the wall of wind, wrapping around her lithe body instead. He squeezed tighter, tighter, until her body could no longer take the pressure. He didn’t even look at her; it would just be gross.

He turned to leave, masking his presence as he prepared to overtake the capital city, when a giant blue bird landed.

In her subconscious state, the Light Mage recognised only the safe presence of the bird, which was the King’s familiar. She did not sense the Demon and therefore felt it safe to relinquish the prophecy.

“Guard this prophecy, oh trusted one.” She said in an old, wise voice that was not her own. “It is out world’s last hope.”

The demon froze in his tracks to listen.

“Find the spirits of Yin and Yang,

For only then can you hear the creature's song.

Raised in a village of black and white,

Both with desire to do what's right.

Then find the spirit of flame and fire,

And take down its blood- red empire.

In city that is always aflame,

Gain their help by knowing their name.

Glittering blue is what you must find,

This spirit is the last of its once-great kind.

In a long lost city under the waves,

The way to the surface it must pave.

Find the spirit of wind in a city high above the ground,

Where terror and confusion run unbound.

In a city that cannot be found by a hunt,

This disorder you must help to confront.

This spirit communicates only through stone,

Paying no heed to to grave nor bone.

The hideaway miles below the earth,

Was the only thing that saw her birth.

Fear the storms

Fear the sky

A long dormant power now is nigh.

Not even I yet know its goal,

Nor what role

This power shall play.”

And with that, the Light Mage's eyes died. The bird flew away just as the Demon whirled around to kill it, hoping no one would know the prophecy. But as he watched it fly away, he decided to let it. He even smirked.

He'd already won. He'd won for Rhieashinn.

And the Circle of Six Mages would never come again.

Hello, all! Yeah, It’s been a while :T Sorry

Anyway, I revised this again, and I have quite a few chapters sitting in my docs, so I think I’m gonna try my hand at weekly Saturday updates!

If you have questions about the story, the characters, or the world, please send them to my main blog, @fabnamessuggestedbytumbler !

First- Prologue- You are here!

Last

Next- Chapter One- Aplla Village

#prologue #fantasy #original story #gods #goddesses #gods and goddesses #demons #mages #magic #fantasy story

2 notes · View notes

aimmyarrowshigh · 6 years

Link

Four years ago I married my high school sweetheart. We gathered under a chuppah of cherry blossoms, twinkle lights, and kente cloth in our adopted home of Washington, D.C., and became a family. We were madly in love and full of hope for our future. When we consecrated ourselves to each other, we also became a symbol of America. A type of America you either fight for or fight against: a black Jewish family.

We are the most American family I know. What could be more American than a Thanksgiving table laden with jollof rice and kosher turkey? We are a mixed-race melting pot, a Jewish African Norman Rockwell painting, boating on Cape Cod and drinking beer in Milwaukee and road tripping the California coast. We are a happy story of children and grandchildren of immigrants flourishing. We are the American dream, the cover of the brochure. There are people who make a point of vigorously shaking our hands, of knocking over other people to greet us at synagogues, of welcoming us with comical cheerfulness. We are a stock photo, a campaign ad. Sometimes, I literally catch myself posing. We make them happy and they want to be our friends. We are the America they want to believe in. I don’t mind, because I want to believe in it too.

That was the picture we had at the time. To some, we were a dream. To others, a nightmare. But we would soon discover that some people thought what makes America great is white people.

When I got pregnant, I cried tears of joy. I told my family I was three weeks along at Passover and they screamed. I passed on wine and chopped liver and my cousins whispered and smiled knowingly. I was glowing. My belly grew and something strange happened. I started writing. With every kick and every ultrasound I lost the ability to be quiet. To be a stock photo of smiling American multiculturalism. I lost my capacity to stomach inequity when I learned I was having a daughter. I wanted her to have more than me and to demand more for herself. I began to demand things for her I never would have asked for myself. It was my first act of motherhood. I kicked up trouble, demanding movements for justice make way for my kid. My husband worried and made blueberry pancakes—the only thing I was willing to eat at the time.

At a work event, a favorite colleague saw me and ran over to rub my belly and squeal. She cooed over ultrasounds and asked my due date and showed me pictures of her grandkids. Then she asked me if I understood what it means to have a black child in America. Was I prepared? I nodded yes. I had read bell hooks and Ta-Nehisi Coates and Kimberlé Crenshaw and Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care and the Curly Hair Bible. I had watched all 14 episodes of Eyes on the Prize. I had studied for the exam and expected a good grade. She nodded with approval and said, “You’ll have to be her advocate. You’ll have to fight for her every day. But you’ll be good at it, I think. Just don’t ever forget, you are not a mama to a white child.”

On Election Day, 2016, I was eight months pregnant. Boxes of paintings and books sat at our feet, as we were still settling into our first house. I was too pregnant and exhausted to get up the stairs, so we watched election results from the sofa bed. I fell asleep and woke up to each new state being called for one side or the other. My husband was afraid I would get so upset at the results that I would go into labor. I breathed deeply and steeled myself. The baby kicked happily.

The next day, I went to work at 6:00 a.m. and started making plans. I listened to Hamilton. “I am ready to fight,” I told myself. “Breathe deep—don’t go into labor.” I stopped in the coffee shop next to my office. People were crying. It was pouring in Washington and it was hard to see where people’s tears ended and the rain began. I rubbed my belly and told my daughter it would be OK. It had to be.

A few weeks later, nine months pregnant, I was informed I was listed on a neo-Nazi website as one of many “Jews who someone should shut up.” My husband was terrified. He insisted we take a day off work to determine if there was any credible physical threat to me or his child. I was mostly amused, as George Soros and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were also on the list. Thanks for the career boost, Nazis! But my husband did not laugh. We had a long talk with the Southern Poverty Law Center and they assured us there is no immediate danger. My husband installed an alarm system anyway.

Not long after, our daughter was born happy and healthy. She slept through Inauguration Day as I paced anxiously around the house. Our neighbors were braced for riots that never came and one advised me to get off the streets with my daughter. It felt just like it did when MLK died, she warned. When my husband finally got home from work, I cried and buried my face in his chest. “It’s hormones,” I lied. In the morning I dressed my daughter up in pink footie pajamas and a pink hat and posted a picture of her on Facebook with the caption Nasty Woman in Training. I wondered if one day she’d be disappointed to find out I didn’t go to the Women’s March. But I also wondered why the march leadership refused to include families like mine in their anti-oppression statement. Now that I could look my baby in the eye, I found that my inability to be quiet only grew.

Then, that August, we changed from being a happy multicultural family to being a terrified one. It happened slowly and then all at once. The anti-Semitic graffiti by our synagogue, the nooses hung on D.C. campuses, our friends running from their JCCs clutching their pregnant bellies and their babies. Then the rally in Charlottesville changed everything. I watched people march against our existence as my baby slept in my lap. They were young people. I stared at her little face, all tuckered out from crawling through the yard in the August heat. Who could hate her? I realized that who we are had become something to worry over, an issue to be handled, no longer something to celebrate.

People called me up to tell me they planned on confronting Nazis at a rally in Boston. They wanted to stand up for families like mine. They wanted to be good friends. I begged them to stay home, and open their wallets or their laptops instead. I said, “Stay away from the Nazis with the guns.”

What did it all mean? When your personal life is political, and your family identity makes people angry, you never know who will push you in front of a train and who will drive the train. So I never shut up. My colleagues call me brave. The truth is, it’s not bravery that drives me, it’s the terror of first-time parenthood coupled with the terror of raising a black child in America and the lingering taste of the Holocaust on my Jewish tongue. I am not brave, just very loud. The loudness makes me feel safe because I know evil grows in silence.

Every day there are new questions: What does it mean to raise a black Jewish daughter in the age of Trump? How do we keep her safe? Am I making her less safe or more safe by raising my voice? How do we give her a Judaism that will embrace and love her? What if all the Jewish summer camps have no black girls? What if American feminism continues to betray her? Where should we live, and how will it inform her identity and self-esteem? How will I teach her about slavery, about the Holocaust, about the Klan? I used to think I’d tell her a story with a happy ending—an imperfect country on the right path. A black president Mama campaigned for. Baby pictures on Hillary Clinton’s inauguration day in a Run Like a Girl onesie.

Now I am losing faith that it’s still possible. I threw the onesie in the trash. We scour the internet for books with black Jewish kids. We read to her all the time.

Whether you see us as a brochure for American multiculturalism or as a threat, we inspire opinions. People have takes on us. We are something to be celebrated or something to be afraid of or something to be angry about. We are never just a family, until we are alone, in our own home, surrounded by stuffed animals and trucks and pink hair bows and books and so much love. My baby is loud, just like her mother.

The day neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, was the day I stopped recognizing the path America was on. We were never a perfect place: I’d been in a driving-while-black incident with my husband and I had had a swastika drawn on my synagogue as a child. But before Charlottesville I believed we were on the path to justice and I believed in the American dream and I naively dove into a life more perilous than the one I was born into by becoming the sole inhabitant of white privilege in my home. Despite it all, I would dive all over again. I love my family.

This coming Aug. 12, white supremacists will march again. As plans currently stand, they will march just a few miles from our home in Washington, D.C. They will celebrate their macabre anniversary. They will march against our lives. They will march for death. We will not walk beside them. We won’t dignify them with our presence. We will take our daughter swimming in our neighborhood pool and feed her extra treats and hold her so close. We will have an escape route planned and a go-bag in our car. We will be a family.

#social justice

90 notes · View notes

bendy-dreamland · 6 years

Photo

“Ahoy-hoy.”

“Hey, it’s me! Yer favorite ink de-”

“Nope. Good bye.”

“DON’T YOU DARE HANG UP!”

“Fine, fine! Uhg, da least you can do is call me more than… oh, I dunno, never! What do ya want anyway?”

“I need a favor.”

“As I expected, what is it dis time? You still owe me for da last one, and it was a doozy. We almost got caught.”

“I-I know, don’t remind me. But dis isn’t a bad one. I just need you to meet me an’ a friend of mine at a portal, possibly da one over on main, near da ol’ oak tree? It comes outta da statue.”

“It’s public.”

“I’ll be in human form, an’ I’m bringin’ my friend Henry wit’ me. You’ll be playin’ escort.”

“Hhhh… fine, but you’re buyin’ me dinner!”

“I’ll even buy ya dessert, baby~! See you tomorrow mornin’, nine o’clock sharp! Bye!”

“W-wait, Bendy! Don’t you hang up on m-! Oh, come on!”

Henry wasn’t sure how this happened, but Bendy somehow wormed his way into spending the night at his place tonight. He couldn’t even remember how it happened, damn toon logic. Well, now he’s stuck with a roommate for tonight in his small apartment. Luckily for him, Bendy was fine with taking his old couch.

As Henry worked on stirring a pot of bacon potato soup, he heard Bendy humming a song to himself as he looked around the living room. “Not much here, big guy. Ya live alone?”

“Yes, I do.” Henry replied, keeping his attention on the food.

“Hmm… wait, I thought you were datin’ someone. Or did dat end since we last chatted.” Bendy commented as he looked at some books on a shelf. Uhg, no comics or picture books, how boring.

With a heavy sigh, Henry looked over at him. “We broke up ten years ago, shortly after I left. How did you even know I was datin’ someone beforehand? You don’t like romance.”

“Oh, I don’t, but the office was gossipy.” The imp chuckled as he approached his creator. “You overhear stuff if everyone talks about it. People knew you were sweet on someone! But, uh, sorry about da break up.”

“It’s fine, it was mutual and necessary, something came up. This is done. You’re lucky this stuff is easy to make. Also, learn to peel potatoes better, you’re gonna be tastin’ some skin.”

Bendy blew a raspberry at him. “I ain’t a cook! I’m a dancer!”

“That reminds me.” Henry reached for two bowls, moving to dish up their dinner. “What exactly were you doin’ to get by here in Over World? You weren’t… stealin’, right? Never designed you to be a straight up thief.”

He scoffed, shaking his floating head. “No, no! I did a song an’ dance act at a really nice club, owned by a lovely couple. Sweetest people, took me in, thought I was an orphan, heh. I’d go out, perform stuff from the show as a human, wit’ out da toon stuff, an’ people loved it. Lived with the couple, da Andersons, but they moved to New York, an’ I stayed here, livin’ in da abandoned club fer six months now.”

He took the bowl when it was offered to it, he was already drooling over his favorite dish. “Fed mahself on donations I’d get from dancin’ in da streets. Collected cans an’ metal for da war effort, they’d give me change, it helped. Sometimes… I sneak into Toon World an’ take what I could get, pretendin’ to be some bum toon.” He followed Henry to the small dinner table in the kitchen, taking a seat. “Now, I got a question fer you, one ya didn’t answer earlier.”

Henry sat down, looking up at him. “Ask away.”

“Why do ya only got nine fingers? What happened to yer hand?”

The detective looked at his right hand. He only had four fingers, his pinky was completely missing, there was a huge amount of scar tissue where it was supposed to be, traveling down the front and back of his hand. He glanced over at the toon, seeing the curious look in those big, black eyes. “The war.”

Bendy shuddered visibly, his black outline wiggled as he did this. “I heard nothin’ but bad things about dat mess. Humans an’ toons, sent overseas. Lotta… lotta bad stuff, my contacts in Toon World have told me dat some toons come back pretty messed up.”

He looked at the bowl before looking back up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, wasn’t there long enough for shellshock to really get me.” Henry replied as he put a spoonful of stew into his mouth. “Sometimes, loud noises get me. Makes me think of the grenade that sent me flyin’ about ten feet in the air. Woke up four days later in a hospital, cute British nurse told me that I had a concussion, damage to my right leg, hip, and… lost my finger.”

A small smile came to his lips. “Some of my buddies from my troop visited me, they gave me my finger. One of them found it. Knew it was mine cause it still had the blistered finger nail from when I closed a jeep door on it a few days before. Nice gift, we put it into a jar of beer we found and threw it into a river. As a little… screw you, I guess.”

Bendy let out a nervous chuckle. “Heh, dat’s funny. Sorry dat ya, ya know, got sent over to fight.”

Henry just waved it off, shaking his head. “Nah, it’s fine. It happened, my dad fought in the previous one, and he came back fine. I’m fine, I lived to tell the tale, I’m here. With a small limp in my step, but I’m alive and kickin’. Gonna take more than an explosive to send me to the pearly gates.”

The demon laughed more, an honest laugh. Yet there was a small sense of dread with those words, what was it that could cut Henry’s life short? He looked at his creator, who returned to eating his soup, his attention on the newspaper he had set on the table earlier.

It’s been ten years since he last saw him, had watched the man leave Joey Drew Studios with a sad good bye, and a promise that they’d meet again. When Henry left, Bendy was banned from seeing him, with a threat from Joey. He had missed the animator, they were great friends, heck, Bendy saw him as his best friend!

And then Henry was fired, banned from the studio, because something happened between him and Joey.

After Henry left… well… Bendy noticed changes in the studio. Things took a strange turn, and he can’t… he can’t really figure out what to make of it all. And it wasn’t just at Joey Drew Studios, there was The Studio, in Toon World.

He had only visited once, and he knew there was something not right about it at all.

Bendy remembered the unsettling, unnatural air of Da Studio, of how everyone seemed to be almost in a trance-like state, that many of them had left the studio in Over World. And ink, it was everywhere, it was constantly flowing in the pipes. He didn’t get far, he just remembered seeing where the Ink Machine was located, and he never wanted to see it again.

It was so much bigger and more powerful than the original one in Joey Drew Studios…

Bendy shook his head and shoved a spoonful of soup into his mouth, deciding to just ignore those thoughts and forget about the Studio for the rest of the evening. He was gonna catch up with his creator, that was a much more enjoyable plan!

As the ate, Bendy asked Henry questions, like what he had gotten up to in the past ten years, how some of his cases went, if he was really as good of a P.I. as some of the humans and toons claimed him to be. Henry answered his questions and tried to ask his own of the demon, but Bendy only answered questions he wanted to answer. He was vague on the stuff that involved him getting into trouble, or how he got Henry back to his office. He also avoided questions about the studios.

Henry was suspicious, but figured that those were sore topics, or things Bendy couldn’t tell him just yet. Yet, that was a word he knew would be common with Bendy. The demon was always a mystery, Henry hadn’t been there when the toon first came into this world, not like the others, but Joey had. Joey said he appeared just like all the others one had and would, something had just… delayed the little guy.

Toons don’t get delayed in coming into creation unless if editing occurs at the same time of the creation, but that is rare. Then again, Bendy went through a lot of rough drafts from Henry’s original designs.

The mouth was a huge change, same with him losing and then gaining a tail, he even use to have a set of wings at one point. And the human appearance… Henry had made notes that he wanted Bendy to take on a human form for pranks, since demons could shape shift, but Joey never liked that idea.

But seeing Bendy with a tail now, and the ability to become a real human, not a toonish one, is mysterious.

Joey, what were you doing these past ten years?

After the meal and talking, Henry set up a makeshift bed on the couch for his unexpected guest. “We gotta get up early, I want to get to work on this case as soon as possible. And didn’t you say we’re meetin’ with your friend at nine?”

“Yep! He an’ his brother better be there, or they’re cruisin’ fer a bruisin’.” Bendy moved to begin removing his vest.

“What are you doin’?” Henry asked as he unfolded an old blanket for Bendy to use.

“Gettin’ undressed! Normally, if I ain’t in Over World, I’m as naked as da day ya created me, but here? Gotta wear clothes, only really got da one set and I don’t like sleepin’ in it. Besides, you’ve seen me in mah normal attire, so don’t make a fuss.”

“Hm. I just thought it was a redesign to spruce you up before the show got cancelled.” That happened sometimes, when series try to continue after having low ratings, they do redesigns of characters to get more attention. It doesn’t always work.

Bendy shrugged. “Nah, it’s my own work. Got some clothes from mah friends, fixed up da left sleeve cause I can’t really use it.” He tossed the shirt aside. “Even gave it mah li’l patch, ol’ dish face thought it was a good idea.”

Henry raised an eyebrow but didn’t question it. “Alright, whatever you say. Time for bed, don’t stay up and get into anythin’. If you need anythin’, I’m in the other room. Good night.”

The imp grinned, giving a nod. “Night Henry!” He waved, watching the human head to a different room before seeing the door clothes. He let out a small sigh, rubbing at the back of his head as he looked around the apartment from where he stood. He hoped they could figure out what’s up with Joey and where he went soon, he didn’t want anything to happen to Henry. Joey would do something to the guy, he just knew it…

“Okay, this is da spot.” Bendy pointed to a small area, where a man stood in dark clothes. He was clearly a toon, though he appeared to look somewhat like a dog. He stood before a fenced off brick wall, watching Bendy and Henry with careful eyes.

“Reason for business?” The dog asked, his voice as stern as his face.

“Detective Henry Ross.” Henry approached, showing his verification to enter Toon World. “I am investigatin’ the disappearance of Joseph Drew. We have permission to enter to continue the investigation to find any clues to his whereabouts.”

The dog looked over the verification, seeing that it was certified between the mayor of this town and the one in Toon Town. “Alright, you can go. But what about this guy?” He pointed at Bendy, who put on a plastic grin.

“I am his assistant in da case!” Bendy continued to smile. “Benjamin Daemon, I knew Joey Drew an’ am a friend of Mr. Ross here. I’m also in contact wit’ da people waitin’ fer us on da other side of da portal.”

He got a hard glare from the dog who turned and approached a phone attached to the brick wall. It was cartoony in nature and after he dialed a number, the mouth piece began to move as a voice came through. “Yeah, what is it?”

“Got a couple of guys wanting to come over, are there people waiting for a Benjamin Daemon and a Henry Ross?”

The phone was quiet for a moment before the mouth piece began to speak again. “Yeah, two guys are waiting on this side. Let ‘em through.”

The dog hung up and opened the gate of the fence with a key from his pocket. “Just walk through the wall. Watch out, it’ll try to pull you back in.”

“Don’t worry, I know mah way around a portal.” Bendy chuckled and grabbed Henry’s hand, making his grab at the back of his vest. “Do not let go of me until we pass through. Dis one is a doozy.”

Henry didn’t like the sound of that, he didn’t usually use this portal, he often used the one near his office. But Bendy insisted on this one and his contacts knew it, so he was stuck with it. He followed after him, holding onto the golden vest tightly as he watched his creation push his hand against the bricks. He watched as Bendy’s hand morphed through the brick, as if he was pushing his hand into gelatin, before his upper body went in.

Soon enough, Henry was being pulled in, the sensation was cold and weird. He never did like traveling through wall portals, they always felt so weird. He closed his eyes, it was always blindingly bright going through these, and he knew that it would be too colorful on the other side.

Bendy had no trouble though, he was so use to this sort of travel that he was immune to the blinding white and then the sudden surge of colors that was right ahead of him. He could hear the corny, upbeat, happy singing of something as he approached before a cartoonish hand shoved through the swirling portal of colors in front of him.

“Here we go!” Bendy grinned, grabbing at the hand as he was tugged forward. He felt the familiar chill of the portal as he was pulled through the colors. It stuck to his body as he was pulled towards a very familiar figure.

“Hey there, short stack.” The figure smirked, seeing Bendy come through with someone. “And you did bring yerself a friend.”

“Yep!” Bendy laughed, stumbling forward after Henry smacked into his back. “Sorry about dat, ol’ man, I forget about da landin’.”

Henry huffed, straightening himself out before he looked at the other toon. He was taller than Bendy, an object head, a cup. He wore red pants with a black shirt, a red and white striped bandana was around his throat, though Henry knew there was nothing under it. Like Bendy, his cup head floated over his shoulders.

“Cuphead!” The imp laughed again as he hugged onto the toon. “Mmmm~! Did ya miss mah sweet face, baby?” He planted a big, wet, cartoony kiss on Cuphead, who shouted and shoved the other off. Bendy just landed on the ground, laughing even harder than before.

“Hehehe, been a while, eh Bendy?” Another toon approached, dressed similar to Cuphead, though in a blue color scheme. He turned his attention to Henry, smiling. “Ah, good morning, Henry!”

Bendy stopped laughing abruptly and looked up at his creator. “You know Mugman?” He asked as he got to his feet.

“Yeah, I know him and his twin brother. We worked a case together last year, and Mugman here helps develop my photos for me when I can get into contact with him.”

Mugman chuckled. “I do it more as a hobby, but I’m happy to be of help.”

Cuphead and Mugman, former stars from Studio MDHR’s biggest hit, Cuphead: Don’t Deal With the Devil. They were two kids who made a deal with the Devil himself at his casino and had many adventures fighting baddies to get their soul contracts in order to save their own skins from the prince of darkness.

It had ran for a while and did well, but after the big fight with the Devil and a bonus set of episodes, the studio lost funding and didn’t do well against other competition. So, the two cup brothers and their cast of colorful characters moved on to Palomino City, a place known for housing lost toons.

When a studio goes under or decides to remove characters from their casts, the Toons move to Palomino City to live. They can find work in Toon World and Over World, but they no longer have studios to return to in order to continue their shows. Sometimes, rarely, do they find work in other studios, but most just get simple work.

They are, however, not treated well.

Many humans, specifically the higher class and those of a certain heritage and standing see them as being on the same level as those of lower classes, the poor, and those of different races and cultures. In other words, toons are a minority group and are treated as such.

It actually surprised Henry that Bendy was able to find stage work in Over World as a performer, most usually work behind the scenes, or as staff members of clubs. It wasn’t often they got to perform unless if the business was owned by toons.

The cup brothers got lucky, they were able to become bounty hunters of sorts. Just like in the show, they tracked down cartoon characters, only this time it wasn’t for their contracts, it was for people skipping out on payments and such. They still worked for the Devil himself sometimes, who lived in Toon World, somewhere.

Henry wasn’t sure where the Devil was, he was a strange toon, one that the animator didn’t understand. He knew people at Studio MDHR and had asked about that character and how he came to be. No one could ever give him a straight answer. How… peculiar. But that isn’t his business of other animator’s work and choices, he wasn’t going to dwell too much on a cartoon demon that isn’t his own.

“Hey.” A voice spoke up, catching the group’s attention. A human stood near the portal, glaring at them. “Alright, you’re all here, now get! No loitering around the portal!”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get yer britches in a knot.” Cuphead snorted, turning away with the others following after him. “So, Henry, what brings you here and how is Bendy involved? Must be pretty big to have him using a public portal like that.”

That last comment caught Henry’s attention, Bendy doesn’t use public portals? Are there hidden ones? Probably, most likely in seedy areas. He probably uses those since he’s on Toon World’s most wanted. “I’m here on a case, Bendy is here to help me. We’re lookin’ for any information on the disappeance of Joey Drew.”

Mugman frowned at this. “Joey Drew? Must be a big deal for you to bother with that, no one here cares that he’s gone. In fact, when people found out, I swear there was cheerin’. Newspaper said a great evil was missin’ and that we don’t have to deal with it.”

“I was hired to find him, I think there is somethin’ big happenin’ behind the scenes. Bendy’s filled me in on what little he knows, and I even went back to Joey Drew Studios to see for myself what happened.”

“And whatcha found wasn’t enough?” Cuphead asked as he put his hands behind his head.

Henry shrugged. “I found a strange machine before the place flooded, called the Ink Machine.”

This got the cup brothers’ attention as the looked at one another, before looking at Bendy. “He knows?” They both asked.

“He knows just as much as I do an’ what I’ve told you two about.” Bendy snipped, glaring. “I don’t want him gettin’ anywhere near dat screamin’, metal death trap! He almost got himself killed in da place cause of da machine.”

“You two know about it?” Henry asked, ignoring Bendy’s shouts.

Mugman waved his hand a little. “As Bendy said, just what he knows. We only really know that Joey Drew created it to speed up production for shorts, but that’s about it. But Bendy doesn’t seem to like it all that much.”

Henry glanced at his creation. “Clearly. Anyway, Mugman, I’m gonna need you to develop the pictures I took. Sorry, it’s got some ink on it, hopefully the film is still good.” He held out the camera he had used in the studio, which Mugman carefully took.

The mug toon looked it over, giving a little nod. “It’ll be a small challenge, but I’m sure I can clean up anythin’ that needs it. Still seems to be in good condition.” He shifted it a bit in his hold, but almost dropped it. Quickly, he caught it, but hit a button, blinding the four with a flash of light.

“Ow! Mugs, what was dat fer?!” Cuphead rubbed his eyes, uhg, he was seeing spots.

“Sorry, butterfingers today, it seems! I think I took a picture, terribly sorry, Henry. I’ll get rid of it when I develop the film.”

“It’s alright.” Henry replied, blinking a few times. “So, we need to sit down and plan things out, figure out how to go about gatherin’ up information here.”

Cuphead nodded, smirking. “Well, we can go to Tizzy’s Diner, since a certain someone owes me dinner like he promised.”

Bendy rolled his eyes. “You said dinner, it’s too early fer dat!”

“Nope, I want breakfast, didn’t get a chance to eat it this mornin’!”

“Cause you woke up late.” Mugman rolled his eyes, ignoring the stammered defense from his twin. “Let’s just go, I’m gonna need a coffee to get through a conversation with those two.”

Henry chuckled, following after the taller twin. “No kiddin’, didn’t realize that those two liked to argue.”

“They’re good friends, but they are always at each other’s throats. Come on, I’ll buy us breakfast, my treat.”

The four arrived to a small diner, called Tizzy’s. Henry had been here once before with someone from his past, they shared coffee and the best peach cobbler he ever had. Tizzy herself was there, a bat toon who always had her curly locks pushed out of her face by a polka dot bandana. She had a stern look on her face when she saw Cuphead, crossing her arms as she tapped her foot.

“You gonna finally pay off that tab, Cuppy?” She narrowed her eyes at him as he sheepishly laughed.

“Y-yeah, don’t worry…! I’ll get da money real soon, just got hired fer a new job, dontcha worry dat pretty head of yours, Tiz!”

“Ha!” She smirked, hands on her hips now. “I’ve heard that song and dance before. Mugs, at least I can trust you. So, you ordering?”

Mugman chuckled a little, saying that they would be as he ushered the other three to a quiet booth off to the side, away from most of the other customers of the greasy spoon. Once they were seated and given menus, along with everyone ordering themselves some drinks, Henry got right down to business.

“I’m gonna need as much information on Joey Drew and Joey Drew Studios as you two can get. Everythin’ from the past ten years.”

Cuphead gave a nod as he leaned forwards, resting his arms on the table. “Gotcha, we’ll ask around, keep it on the downlow. There’s a lotta people here who won’t give up what they know without a price, but Mugs an’ I got our way of gettin’ info.”

“And if it becomes too much trouble, I’m sure our boss will help.”

Bendy shook his head. “No, we ain’t gettin’ dat guy involved, too much trouble wit him, and I already owe him enough as it is… don’t even let him know I’m back here.”

“We’ll keep our mouths shut then.” Mugman frowned, but smiled when Tizzy walked over with a tray, giving them their drinks before taking their orders. Once she was gone, he turned back to the group. “I know a guy, we often use him to find out if a bounty has been seen or if they’re in hidin’. We can probably get a few things out of him, but he’s really stubborn.”

“You mean Mike?” Cuphead asked, getting a nod. “Great, don’t like askin’ him fer information, gets real snippy about it. Won’t even tell us his source! But he’s a man with connections.”

“Mike?” Henry asked, taking out his little notebook and a pen.

“Sarsaparilla Mike, he owns Candy Corners. We know him through Baroness von Bonbon, use to work under her, a background character from our show.” Mugman replied as he took a drink of his coffee, seeing Henry taking notes. “He’s a man who is tight lipped, but can get information from just about anyone, he’s a man who knows what he’s doin’. Really scary how well he is at that.”

“I think he’s got good connections, but like hell he’s gonna tell us who or what they are.” Cuphead huffed.

Henry nodded, making note of this. “Bendy, is there anyone you know who can help?”

“Ehh… not really, tried to keep myself on da downlow these past few years, lost a lotta connections, but I still talk to these two. I told ya, I’ve been in hidin’, can’t have anyone know I’m Bendy da Dancin’ Demon. So call me Benjamin here.” Bendy whispered.

“Right.” Henry frowned. “Well, maybe we can give Mike a visit after we’re done here, could make things a little easier. Or we could check out The Studio, see what we find there.”

“No!” Bendy hissed, slapping his hand down on the table. “We ain’t goin’ there just yet! Only as a last resort!”

“But what if he’s hidin-!” Mugman started but the look he got from the human-toon made him clamp his mouth shut. “R-right, we’ll… leave it for last…”

Cuphead got up from the table and grabbed Bendy by the back of the shirt, much to his protest, and dragged him outside. He pushed the demon into a small alley next to the building and shoved him against the wall. “What the hell, man? You looked ready to jump an’ slaughter my brother!”

“I did not!”

“Your tail is out!”

Bendy glanced, seeing that, yes, his tail was out and looked sharp as a knife. He hissed through his teeth before returning his attention to the cup. “Listen, brat. I don’t want either of you or Henry goin’ to Da Studio. Not until we have a better idea of what happened to Drew. If he’s there, fine, we’ll leave him there to rot in da hell he made, but I don’t want any of you guys goin’ there. Who knows what horrors are inside.”

“Horrors?”

“Believe me when I say dis, but Da Studio is nothin’ like the one in Over World. I only went back once since da show ended, an’ it ended up wit’ me losin’ an arm an’ gainin’ you-know-what. I don’t remember what happened in there, but I’ve got nightmares I never recall later, just phantom sensations of fear an’ pain. Bet you don’t want yer li’l brother bein’ in a similar situation. Or worse.”

Cuphead stepped back, looking about ready to argue, but he bowed his head. “I don’t want anythin’ happenin’ to Mugman.”

“Then trust me, Cups. We stay as far away from Da Studio until its our only option, or things get a lot worse.”

END OF ACT ONE SCENE THREE

#batim #henry batim #bendy the dancing demon #Cuphead #mugman #dreamland story #dreamland art

13 notes · View notes