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emily-the-fae · 3 years

Text

Sound of a Heartbeat

Part 2. Edge of the Water

Part 1 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

Okay so apparently this piece has formed some more or less coherent storyline and I just had to write it down...well at least try to. So if anyone enjoyed part one and is in to hear the further turn of events, here we go.

Pairing: Dracula x OC

Warnings: um, none again, suicidal mood a little bit if that counts

Watch out for the side effects of slowly dying by vampire bites (and no, it's surprisingly NOT turning into vampire)

***

Shari woke up in a strangely lit place. Woke up - big word, rather jumped into consciousness with total clarity as to what she is and what happened to her and total frustration as to where she may be located. It was definitely not the place she left. The forest around her seemed to glow light blue, fireflies dancing in the air with their bluish sparks. She didn't feel cold nor warm, all the pain seemed to leave her body together with most of her senses - Shari felt light, almost weightless and when she looked upon herself, she saw that her own body was glowing the same bluish color as everything around her.

She stood up hesitantly. She had no idea what the place was - the campfire was gone and the forest around was nothing like the spot she stayed at before. What was this? A magic trick? A hallucination? Was she dead? Shari saw particularly bright light behind the trees and decided to walk in its direction - perhaps it was a trap, perhaps she's dead and in purgatory and there are punishing beasts waiting to see her. Shari could never be sure, but felt surprisingly at peace even in her current state, strangely at peace.

The source of light turned out to be a lake. A long and seemingly deep lake that ripped its way through the forest, no end of it seen any near, it might also be seashore, although she doubted that due to abscence of waves - there were fireflies dancing above it and the water seemed crystal clear, even though she couldn't see far below the surface because of the light emanating from it. Shari felt the urge to go closer - to dip her feet in the shiny water, almost felt the need for it, but something restricted her from doing so. She could hear whispers too - as if there were hushed voices coming from the depth of water and that scared her off quite a lot: whatever that thing was, it was definitely not as simple as it tried to look. Her witching life has taught her - if something looks nice and calls out to you, but is also magical: in most cases it wants you to be its lunch. A rule that definitely worked in practice.

The healer stopped still, then sat down on the ground abruptly, feeling awkward in her position; but she needed time to think. This all seemed unexplainably odd - the water, the indecisiveness, the whole place - it seemed like a vague dream even though she felt completely awake. Dracula said it was going to be like sleeping. But by Dracula's deeds she should already be dead. This did not look like afterlife.

Suddenly Shari sensed, rather than saw a movement behind her, ready to jump to her feet and defend herself the best she could, she turned her head to face the source of it. It was a woman. Shari could swear she wasn't there before - a young woman stared at her, standing some distance away. Her beautiful, intelligent face looked somewhat concerned, her long blonde hair thrown over her shoulder, she was glowing the same bluish light as everything else around them. Shari recognised her, very vaguely, but she did remember: Adrian had shown her portraits before.

- Lisa? You're Lisa, right? Lisa Tepes, I know you! - Shari wanted to jump up, but the woman held her back with a gentle gesture of her hand. Lisa - or whoever it was that looked like her - floated rather than walked closer, then sat down next to a very confused and excited Shari, giving her a reassuring smile. There were a few moments of silence, while her guest studied her face intently.

- You are beautiful, you know, - Lisa smiled warmly.

- Wh-What? I mean thanks, but why? I mean... Umm what kind of a conversation starter is that? Are you?... Are we?... Am I not dead or...? - Shari was startled to say the least.

- Yes, you are... Heading in the direction of death, though your friends and specifically my son are very insistent upon the opposite. I believe, you'll have to live up to their expectations and survive now... although it all depends on you, really.

A pause. Shari nodded slowly, taking in her words.

- But-but hasn't your husband killed me? I thought he was definitely going to finish me off...

- He was going to, I'm sure. But he didn't have enough time to do so... or will, for that matter, - the woman turned somewhat remorseful. - I hope he didn't hurt you too much.

- He... tried not to, at least in the end. That's a pity he didn't succeed. I almost felt grateful to him for doing so, - Shari turned away to look at the lake. - It wasn't going to end well anyway...I wasn't going to end well.

- Don't. It's probaly his poison wearing off on your mind, but stilll.Just don't say that. Value what you have while it's still in you. You have to live. Trust me, it's not as pleasant as it seems to be when you get to the other side.

- Why excatly? - a chuckle. - You know, I'm not far from death anyway, it is going to be pain and waiting for me. To go like that is the best way now, I am afraid. Going to be there soon, why not strip myself of needless agony, - she hesitated for a moment. - You are actually dead by the way. If you say I'm still alive, how are we even talking?

- I am not quite sure I can explain this properly, - Lisa frowned, her gaze drifting off to the lake. - The simplest way to place it is: sometimes the people who die are not yet ready to leave this world - and then they stay between life and death, like...

- Essentially, you're telling me that you're a ghost, - Shari felt a bit sceptical.

- Essentially, yes.

- And why am I seeing you out of all people?

- Because I wanted so?

- Why? To tell me to survive?

- Yes.

Shari arched an eyebrow, looking at Lisa with mistrust.

- I don't like this simple tone.

- You are not going to like it, - she hesitated, then continued. - You have to save Wallachia, - the words left her mouth so easy and obvious, that Shari burst out laughing.

- Oh no-no-no, now I'm definitely hallucinating. Is this some fairy tale for children or something? Listen here, you ghost of Christmas past, I'm no kind of warrior-saviour person. I'm not going or willing to catch up to the pathos of "you are the chosen one" or whatever it is that they say in those situations. I believe you confuse me with your son, madam, - Lisa listened silently to her monologue with an amused smile on her face; it was obvious that the reaction was quite expected. When Shari finished, the ghost carried on:

- That is exactly why you have to do it. You are no chosen one. But you are one who has at least a chance. Adrain doesn't. He thinks he does, everybody thinks he does, but in reality it will only go worse if he works out his plan. I know... I don't need you to save all of Wallachia after all, - Lisa paused after that sentence and Shari looked up confused, trying to catch her meaning. - Just one person - and that will do the rest, - the woman was very serious, and Shari suddenly understood this conversation was somehow real, even if happening in a dream realm.

- And who might that be? - she asked carefully, in a hushed voice.

- Dracula.

Shari actually laughed. Loudly. Not quite rolling on the ground, but close to doing so. Lisa looked at her, with a raised eyebrow and calmly waited for the small hysteric to finish.

- Done yet? - were her only words, when Shari seemed to calm down a little bit.

- Listen, ok, I get it, you want to protect your husband, but...

- You don't understand! It's not only about protecting him - it's about stopping this war. Peacefully. It's about stopping Adrian from killing his own father - you need to persuade Dracula to call back his army, - Lisa was looking at her earnestly, determination in her stare. Shari only huffed.

- You... How do you imagine me do it? Persuade him? Are you insane? He would tear me apart and finish what he started, he didn't listen to Adrian, he actually almost killed Adrian, his own son. Why would he listen to me now?

- That is quite the point. He would listen, because it's you, - Lisa leaned back, smiling at the confusion on the girl's face.

- Oh yes, and what's so special about me? - Shari replied sarcastically.

- Nothing.

- Ouch.

- Apart from the fact that he pities you, - sensing that she was about to be interrupted, she quickly added. - I've watched both him and Adrian, thinking of a way to figure this out and stop them from tearing at each other's throats, and you suddenly came as the most valid solution I can think of for the time being.

- He... "pities" me? - Shari rubbed her neck, raising her eyebrow. Sure. He pities her so much; she flinched slightly at the memory of their encounter.

- Don't go witty. He does. He was merciful to you, he almost didn't want to kill you, that's why he didn't succeed. You're the first human after my death that he feels this way to... You are a person he did not know before all of this, you evoke his pity and you seem to have the skill to negotiate your way into people's good side and out of conflicts. You may actually have something in you to change his mind.

- That's not how it works, he...!

- You remind him of me. You may persuade him that there are people worth fighting for... That there is a life worth fighting for, - her tone was growing louder with each word, getting more insistent.

- Wait a minute, so you want me what? To replace you? Remind him of you and tell him you wouldn't want it? Tell him your final will, you think that'll stop him? - Shari jumped to her feet, backing away.

- I want you to go to find him. To reassure him, show him pity, show empathy. You will remind him of me. And he will come back to understanding that humanity is not all bad, that some people are still worth keeping alive. And that awar against them is not worth his own or our son's lives, - Lisa stood up too, sensing the tension rise and stepped closer once again. Shari did not like it. She didn't just die heroically to come back and search for yet another heroic and probably much more painful death.

- No, Lisa, I-I see what you want me to... But I'm not you! You see, I'm not you! I can't just go and drag - who? Dracula-the-vampire-king-that-just-killed-me - out of his murderous depression! - she backed away.

- If you had a choice: you can surrender or you can come back to fighting with a new way...

- Yes, I think if I had any kind of choice and if I survived, I would keep away from trouble and try to hold onto my final bits of life for as long as possible, thank you very much! - Shari argued loudly.

- You have to do it, if you live, Shari. It is the only way to protect you and... - Lisa made another step towards her.

- And die a much more painful death, yeah, thanks, great, - Shari almost hissed. Her attention suddenly turned to the pool of water behind her. So that was the whole trick, why Lisa appeared to hold her back from dying. - Oh. I know how this works. The lake is the entrance. My decision if I do or don't die, right?

- Precisely, though it's not really you, who decides. You touch the water - you either leave or wake up. Can't be sure until you do... - Lisa answered. - But before you decide and step in I want you to think. Shari, you have to fight for it, for yourself annd for Adrian, for all the people out there you've been trying to help!

- I am not your son, - she answered barely audible, but firm.

- Shari! - Lisa stepped yet again closer.

- No! I've had my bunch of suffering. I'm not going back in just because you believe I am good for the fight, I'm not! I'm selfish, okay? I did not ask for this, - she paused, glancing at the water. - Whatever it is, let it be. If I die - I die, right? - Shari turned away decisively and with a moment of hesitation made a small step forward, into the water, not looking back at the ghost.

She awaited darkness or light, hell or heaven or emptiness and quiet. Whatever escape was about to come, she threw herself at its mercy.

#castlevania #dracula #alucard #sypha belnades #trevor belmont #lisa tepes #fanfiction #writing #dracula x oc #dracula x reader #adrian tepes

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topherfoxtrot · 3 years

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Resilience

Here's the third part of my thunderbolts au. Emil Blonsky scaped his long imprisonment but he didn't went after the Hulk. Where did he go? The answer is bellow the cut. There's an original character here too. I'm not kin of OCs but I didn't find any character who would fit the role I wanted. Said oc will only be a part of this episode so consider it a special guest appearance. I've realized I've been writing more and more with each installment. Sorry about that, I'm getting more comfortable with the whole precess and I like to challenge myself. Continuing the trend, this chapter has a widely different vibe from the previous ones. As usual if you enjoyed please like, share or comment something.

Episode one

Episode two

Emil woke up from a nightmare. It was a fight. From as long as he could remember all Emil did was fight. Now even when he's not awake he's still fighting. He sat on the bed breathing heavily. Wait, where am I? He thought.

"You must be confused." A female voice was heard nearby.

Emil looked around looking for it. The cabin was small. The bedroom, the living room and the kitchen were all occupying the same space. There were two doors, one of them was probably for the bathroom. The woman was sitting at the kitchen table. She dressed a knitted sweater and rabbit slippers.

"My name is Charlie Reznik." She pointed at the soup, "Are you hungry?"

"Where am I?"

"Alaska. Three hours driving from Barrow."

Emil sat on the bed. He was naked. He covered himself with the blankets not for modesty but because they were warm.

"You weren't using any clothes when I found you and you don't seem like the kind of person who would wear my clothes. I hope the blankets kept you warm."

"Found me?"

"Yeah. You were screaming a lot. And throwing trees around." Charlie chuckled, "Eventually you got tired and just fell asleep right where you were. I was thinking about calling the police or something but when you started to shrink I decided to bring you here."

Suddenly Emil looked at himself realizing he did indeed shrink. He didn't look like that anymore. Still, the bones in his hands and abdomen were more prominent than they should be. He took his hands to his back to feel his spine was also prominent. That made him think of the super soldier serum, of the Hulk and of the prison he just scaped.

"I need to contact someone." Emil got up only to fall on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Charlie approached him with caution.

"I think I'll have the soap first actually." Emil muttered realizing how weak his body was.

***

The soup made with vegetables reminded Emil of his childhood in Russia. He had almost no recollection of those few years before he moved to England. He mostly remembered the cold and his mother's soap.

"I need to ask you but.. it's gonna sound weird." Emil was at the table tangled with the blankets, "What year is this?"

Charlie looked him in the eyes to decide if he was being serious or not. Emil didn't flinch so nor did Charlie, "It's 2023."

Emil pressed his lips and started to breath heavily. He was sleeping this whole time. They kept him asleep without ever giving him a chance to explain himself. No consent and no agency.

"No one has heard anything about you since 2008 Mr Blonsky and now you show up in the middle of the forest not knowing the year?" Charlie seemed genuinely curious.

"You know me?"

"I didn't recognize you at first. There isn't much footage from big you. But the sketch from witnesses matched pretty well. They call you the Abomination."

"Abomination?" Emil suddenly smashed the wooden table with enough strength to crack it. Charlie quickly moved her left hard to somewhere under the table. They locked eyes. For the first time Charlie didn't seem warm and inviting but rather fierce and absolutely ready to react. Emil closed his eyes a bit before recomposing himself.

"I'm sorry."

"I also think the name is impolite." Charlie brought her hand back, "But no one knew anything about you except you were military assigned to find Bruce Banner. I had to make some phone calls and turns out my guess was right! You are indeed in the accords database. Quite high level threat.

"What accords?"

"Alright." Charlie put her hair behind her ears, "I need you to be honest with me Mr Blonsky. What's the last thing you remember?"

So he said. He fought the hulk on Harlem, fell unconscious and woke up in Alaska. Charlie brought a computer from a big bag under the bed and put it on the table in a way that both of them could see it.

"The world changed a lot since 2008 Mr Blonsky. Put on your seatbelts."

Charlie then gave him a contemporary history class the best way she could while showing videos and pictures whenever she felt necessary. She talked about the avengers assembling in 2012 to stop an alien invasion caused by a norse god. She talked about the genocidal robot destroying a whole country in 2015. She talked about Wanda Maximoff killing those people back in 2016. She talked about the Sokovia accords and how that made the avengers disassemble. She talked about Wakanda opening up to the rest of the world. She talked about the avengers coming together again to fight yet another alien invasion. She talked about the snap and the chaotic years that followed. She talked about the blip and the even more chaotic year that followed it. Emil listened to everything in silence. It was a lot but he was smart.

"They put me to sleep for fifteen years." He whispered.

"I'm so sorry about that. It's unfair."

Emil had finished his soup but he stayed exactly where he was. Thinking about everything.

"I became strong. I became as strong as I could and still... they defeated me with bed time."

"You're being unfair."

"How come?"

"I don't think strength is really what you think it is."

"How would you know?"

Emil looked at Charlie's small stature with unconscious disdain. She picked on that and wore her fierce eyes again.

"With all due the respect Mr Blonsky..." It was possibly to hear the rage under her words, "You have no idea how strong I am. Thanos snapped my whole family! I wasn't even at home when it happened. Do you have any idea how much strength I needed to gather to simply get up every morning? I may not have big muscles like you -in fact no one does Mr Blonsky - but guess what? You could not have went through what I did. I'm sure of it!"

Emil got up aggressively and so did Charlie.

"You're really pulling the trauma card?"

"Wanna compete?"

"I think I do." He showed his teeth.

Charlie walked across the cabin stepping heavely. She sat on the bed. "Enlighten me."

The challenge got Emil off guard. He hesitated.

"I don't need to tell you anything."

"Of course you don't. If you tell me how traumatized you are, I'll tell you how traumatized I am. Then you will have to admit that none of it gives you permission to do the shitty things you did!"

The cabin merged in silence. Outside there was nothing but the cold wind running through the trees.

"I know your type." Charlie continued, a little calmer now, "Though childhood huh? No perspective of a future so you joined the military. Felt good to explode some heads didn't it? It felt powerful."

Emil remained in silence. He still looked mad, but remained in silence. Charlie went to the kitchen and grabbed a photograph from one of the drawers. She gave it to Emil.

"You're military." Emil studied the photo of Charlie and other soldiers smiling inside a tent.

"Used to be. Came back in 2019. The welcoming party wasn't exactly a party as you can imagine. My house was empty. As I said both my parents and my little brother got snapped. That's when I found this cabin."

"It's not yours?"

"Nah. I don't know who it belongs to actually. It was a cold night and I was just driving aimless. I don't know why exactly. Everything just seemed so meaningless back then. I felt weak."

Emil put the photograph on the table and they both locked eyes again. Not with anger this time though.

"It's cold but it's isolated enough. I could cry and scream as much as I wanted without anyone knowing. And did I need to scream! Scream at Thanos, scream at my parents, scream at myself. A part of me wish it could've been me, y'know? Trust me I would give my life for theirs in the blink of an eye! Yet, here I was."

Charlie sat at the table again. The temperature of the cabin went from 20°C to 40°C and then to 20°C again. Emil felt sorry about the table but most importantly he felt sorry for making Charlie mad.

"There's no much to say." He started, "Though childhood. No perspective. Joined the military. After everything I've seen, being strong is honestly the only option. It's survival."

"I get it. I really do. But strength is not on your muscles."

"Don't come with this heartfelt bullshit."

"It's not." Charlie chuckled, "Trust me I won't fall for that bullshit either. It's something else."

She got up and grabbed an old book from the shelf near the bed.

"All those things were already here when I got here for the first time. There was water, gas, energy, the bed, the blankets. It's like whoever lived here had just left. I've known this place for couple more than three years now. No one is ever here except me, yet the feeling never goes away."

The old book was covered with leather.

"Self help book?" Emil asked.

"In a way." Charlie tilted her head, "This book is about the universe. But not like a scientific encyclopedia. This book is about the whole universe, about the energy that comes from different parts of the multiverse and how to harvest and manipulate them. Essencially, magic!"

"Alright it's a self help book. Magic is not real."

"I was honestly hoping you would say that." Charlie smiled, "Check this out!"

Charlie put her hands in front of her and took a deep breath in order to focus. She moved her hands vertically and a orange string appeared from thin air. Charlie's hands drew a circle in the air and the string curved itself in a circumference. Charlie closed her hands as if grabbing something and with another gesture polygonal forms started to draw themselves in the magic circle. Charlie snapped her fingers with both hands and the whole thing started to spin like a magical ferris wheel.

"You discovered magic!" Emil whispered.

"Of course I didn't! People have been studying that for a long time. I just happened to find a weird book." The magical strings disappeared as Charlie stopped focusing so much on them, "You know when you are depressed so you set a simple goal just to give yourself a little achievement?"

"No, actually. But that's seems like solid advice."

"It is!" Charlie chuckled, "Anyways I read this whole book in like two days and I didn't understand shit. But I was super interested and started to dig the internet and beyond for anything related to all the weird concepts I found. I read the book more two of three times after that. Each time I learned something different and gained a new perspective over myself and the universe around me."

"So it is a self help book!" Emil laughed.

"As I said, it is but in a weird way. I mean look around. There's aliens and gods and the multiverse. When you think of all of it don't your problems seem way smaller?"

"I'm not sure."

"Here's how it's gonna be. I go to Barrow buy you some clothes and you think about everything I just said." She grabbed a jacket and wore boots, "But you have to pay me back alright? Otherwise I'm gonna hunt you and I'll find you. Remember: I know magic!"

"Okay, that's fair!"

Charlie grabbed a ring with slot for two fingers in a kitchen drawer. "That was one of the things I found here. Magic becomes weirdly intuitive once you learn some basics."

She made that focused face again and started to draw circles in the air with her right hand. The air in the middle of the cabin heated up and started to sparkle. An orange circle (much like the one she conjured with the hand gestures) appeared but in the middle of it was possible to see an alley.

"What is this?" Emil was shocked.

"Fast travel!" Charlie winked before passing through. The portal was gone as soon as she was gone and Emil found himself alone in the cabin.

***

There was a small mirror in the bathroom. Alone, he could check his own body for the first time. His face looked pretty much the same, he hadn't aged one day in the past fifteen years. Besides his hands and shoulders and spine, his elbows were also abnormally prominent. Was he the Abomination after all?

The power felt good, he remembered. Felt god-like. But the cost was too high. Emil became too dangerous and lost control over his own life for more than a decade. He wanted to blame Ross and Banner but would it be even fair? Emil was the one who accepted to take the serum in the first place. He actually pointed a gun at that scientist. He begged to become as strong as the Hulk is.

Emil left the house still covered in blankets. The cold snow made his feet burn but no enough to bother him. He was strong after all. Or maybe he enjoyed the pain in a sick way of reinforcing his own superiority belief. An orange portal opened nearby after a while.

"Aren't you feeling cold?" Charlie asked coming with a bag of clothes.

"A little."

"Come. See if any of those fit you. They're from the local thrift shop by the way."

"I've wore worse."

Charlie bought a simple jeans, two shirts, a flannel and boots. Really simple stuff just to protect Emil from the cold. It fit well.

"Thank you." He said.

"You're in debt, Mr Blonsky. Don't you forget that."

"You know magic." He chuckled, "I can't allow myself to have you as an enemy Ms Reznik."

They both laughed. Charlie sat at the table and started to type something on the computer.

"The feds are all over town." Charlie commented, "They're looking for you."

"Listen," he said, "I need to ask you a favor but first can I go for a walk?

***

Emil took a deep breath before jumping as high as he could. He could not see above the tall trees so he jumped again but grabbed one of the trees this time. Even with his bare hards, the wood bowed to his will. He kept climbing until he got to the highest part of the tree. From up there he could see the whole forest, including the trees he threw around the day before.

He jumped to the ground again. The snow splattered around him. His hands and knees started to bleed but he didn't care because he would break soon enough. He felt powerful and smiled without realizing it. Not a happy smile, bur rather a challenging one. Hey jumped a little before running in the direction of the destruction he caused. He started slow (more like jogging actually) but quickly escalated to marathon running and super human running. The cold wind cut his face like knifes but he didn't care. He just kept going faster.

When he finally reached the glade he jumped again. Even higher this time. When he landed his feet felt bigger. Breathing heavily he looked at his own hands and realized they were indeed getting bigger and muscled. Without wasting any breath he took off all his clothes and started running again. The cold started to bother him less and less as his body grew in size.

He started to scream so he could liberate his anger. He jumped high and landed with his fists causing the ground to crack bellow him. Emil grabbed a fallen tree and threw it to the air. He picked big boulders and threw them around at will. In the middle of the chaos he also started laughing. He was strong. He could destroy anything he wanted. He was as strong as he could be.

When Emil finally felt satisfied with his own display of power, he grabbed the trees and rearranged them back into the ground as best as he could. He picked the boulders and put them back where they were. So when the glade resembled the glade it once was, Emil sat on the ground next to his new clothes.

He started to think about everything Charlie said. Yes, he was big and could destroy everything is his way. But there were gods and aliens and robots and uncontable planets and entities across the universe. He was big and strong but he was also small and weak.

His strength though wasn't on his muscles but on his ability to survive. He survived his childhood, he survived the military and he survived the Hulk. Just like Charlie survived the snap and the aftermath. Like Charlie found new meaning in magic so could Emil find new paths to follow.

"I'm big and I'm small. I'm strong and I'm weak. I'm still here." Emil whispered to himself.

His body started to shrink calmly. Once he achieved regular size he wore his clothes and walked towards the cabin. Charlie smiled when he entered.

"Had fun?" She heard the screams obviously.

"Yeah actually. Thanks for everything."

"No problem. Remember, you're still in debt! So what favor do you need?"

"I need a portal but I also need an address. I believe you can find the person I'm looking for in the Sokovia accords database."

"Hm alright. What's the name?"

"Ava Starr."

#emil blonsky #thunderbolts #FoxtrotFanfic

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