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#imagine seeing the toys of your dead little brother in which you accidentally killed on display
soupmanspeaks · 5 months
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Soup's ramble about small details because im going insane lmao
rockstar row is just such a cruel place for GlamFreddy, Like, first of all, are the FNAF 4 toys on display in the RR museum,
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These are literally just CC's toys, idk if they're replica's or the real ones, but like why would they even put that on display lmao??? It may just be a fun easter egg but like this just comes across as if saying "yeah, here's the toys of the child that one of out animatronic killed lol" And that's not even starting to how they even PROCURED these???
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At the far end of RR is the Ennard cardboard cutout, which may just be a piece of decor that i'm looking into too much but like if its not, then this implies that Fazbear Entertainment KNOWS about Ennard. As to how, I'm not sure, maybe since the games are cannon because of the "rogue indie developer", they came to know of Ennard's existence, does that mean they know what he did to Michael? and if so, they STILL made a cut out of him???? Is this one of those instances where a company "pokes fun" at itself in order to seem hip and cool?? because that's so messed up lmao 😭😭😭 do you think when Glamfreddy sees the cutout he has a visceral flashback to…something....and suddenly he's on the floor, just unable to move because he's reliving that something, and then he's just panicking for what ever reason and just shuts down windows XP style and has to manually be transferred back into his green room.
Its almost cruel in a way how Rockstar Row is basically just a MUSEUM for all of Michael's trauma and failures, and he probably can't even ignore it because he probably has to keep his greenroom curtains open 24/7 to ensure that guests can see GlamFreddy, and the fact that the Foxy cutout is directly parallel to his greenroom AND THATS NOT EVEN TO *BEGIN* WITH THE PLUSH BABY'S, IMAGINE IF GLAMFREDDY WAS FACED WITH A SITUATION WHERE HE HAD TO SIGN HIS AUTOGRAPH ONTO A PLUSHIE THAT IS OF THE ROBOT THAT KILLED HIS SISTER ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, Its so crazy how FazEnt just....makes merch of all the tragedy?? And profits from it, and GlamFreddy/Glammike just has to....endure that??? Like just constantly having your trauma being put on full display all around you is so so messed up 😭
I'm not okay 😭😭😭😭😭😭
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animeyanderelover · 3 years
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Hi! First of all I want to thank everyone for the support you have given me so far🥰. I really, really appreciate it! Here is my next post. Hopefully you like it.
Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, manipulation, bipolar behavior, violence, guilt-tripping, manipulation, sabotage, blackmailing, threatening, bribing, mentions of kidnapping, mentions of killing
Yandere Trancy Manor Hc’s
Alois Trancy
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👅This one’s really a handful to take in. He’s pretty bipolar and that effects his Yandere behavior as well. Depending on his mood he can have less worse traits or worse ones. Let’s start with the “better” traits which are delusional, clingy, lovestruck, obsessive and desperate. In his mind the both of you were made for each other so it’s only natural that he wants to know everything about you. Extremely clingy, wherever his s/o is he’ll be there as well and he wants, no, he NEEDS your attention and love even more than Claude’s! This boy cherishes you so much. Extremely touchstarved.
👅The worse traits from him are possessive, manipulative, cruel and some tendencies to the sadistic type. He lost his little brother and won’t lose his darling too, no matter what he has to do! Manipulative as fuck, he fooled everyone with his acts when his “father” died and will use his horrific past on the s/o as well. The thing is, I think he would be more than hesitant to hurt his darling. He doesn’t care about hurting other people, but with the s/o he’s more careful. But when he’s angered enough he might loose it and hurt the s/o and insult them without really realizing what he does until he snaps out of it and as soon as he realized what he’s done he’s heartbroken. Also a very cruel type, but mostly only with the people who are in his relationships’s way with the s/o.
👅Possessive and clingy is a frightening mix. Do everyone the favor and don’t look at anybody else except him. He already punishes his servants when they take your attention away from him, but if it’s another person they’re dead. If someone even takes his darling’s attention away from him for one second he’ll throw a tantrum right then and there. After this he’ll act like the brat he is, even towards you, but one simple hug or a gentle kiss on the cheek from you and he’ll melt and goes back to treating you like a queen/king.
👅Alois is ready to kill everyone who comes in his way. Most of the time he orders Claude to do it, but if someone made you cry, harmed you or confessed to you is when the boy shows his true cruelty. First of all he’ll order Claude to take that person to a secure place where only he has access to. Then he’ll tell them in detail what is going to happen to them with a crazed look in his eyes, which is already enough to make someone never go near the s/o again. After that the torture starts and I can guarantee that everyone begs him to just kill them after merely 30 minutes, but days or even weeks might pass before that guy kills the person. Even hell will seem harmless compared to this.
👅Alois will kidnap his darling really quickly given his paranoia. But he makes sure that everything is towards their liking, there’s nothing he doesn’t know about them. If they try to escape him he’ll chain them up to the bed, but will still spoil them.
👅Uff...This is hard to say. If we go by his worse traits and by how he treats the s/o sometimes and the people around his darling he’s one of the really dangerous ones. But if we go with the better traits and how he treats you most of the time he’s in a dark dark green zone. He spoils you to the rotten and if he accidentally hurts you this boy starts crying, going on his knees and begging you for forgiveness. For the next few days he’ll smoother you in even more affection, hugs and kisses than he already does. I think it’s up to you to judge if he’s a better or worse one.
Claude Faustus
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🕷He’s a demon so naturally possessive over the s/o, never letting them leave his side for more than a few seconds. Also the aware type, just like Sebastian he might not know human feelings that well, but he is sure that they aren’t supposed to be so passionate. He’s a manipulative one, using lies to slowly trap his darling in his web without them noticing.
🕷Also a clingy one, I already mentioned it in Sebastian’s Hc, it’s rare for demons to find true love and he never knew what joy he could feel from simply being near his darling. Also an obsessive one he loves everything about you what makes him a touchy one as well.
🕷Possessive and clingy ones are always easily jealous, same goes for Claude. He just found his mate, do you seriously expect to just watch when they’re having fun with someone else?! Na-ah, not happening. His reaction would be similar to Sebastian he would most likely let some part of his demon form appear for a few seconds to scare the other person away.
🕷If someone even dares to touch his s/o’s skin he makes sure to make their death as agonizing as possible. He won’t let anyone take his darling away from him and is willing to crush everyone who tries it. But just like Sebastian he is careful with his killing because the last thing he wants to happen is that this little brat called Alois finds out about you.
🕷Claude will kidnap his darling very quickly given his possessiveness. He doesn’t even think about asking them to work as a maid because Alois is already really cruel to the demon servants so thinking about what harm he might cause a human servant...Yeah, no chance that he’ll let his s/o anywhere near that brat. He’ll search for a nice and cozy cottage somewhere isolated and makes sure that his darling can’t escape from there.
🕷Compared to his master he’s a better Yandere. He just wishes to spoil the s/o and he’ll bring you everyday a new gift. Books, sweets, dresses/suits, whatever you wish for. This guy helps you with everything and will insist on dressing you. He wants you to rely on him and if you act up he’ll be more strict with you, but overall such a gentleman.
Hannah Annafellows
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🟣She’s a demon so she’s a possessive one. She’s also obsessed with her darling, loving their hair, scent, skin, laughter, everything about them is addicting to her. She’s a manipulative one and will ensure that everyone the s/o is close to will somehow end up leaving them. And who’s during such times your shoulder to cry on? Hannah! She makes sure that her s/o relies on her and only trusts her.
🟣Hannah is also the lovestruck and overprotective Yandere. She always makes sure that her darling is being watched by her or the triplets so nothing bad happens to them. No words can describe how much she adores and loves her darling. And just for you she’s a really soft one. But don’t get too comfy with her because if you anger her enough she’ll punish you.
🟣Hannah has different from the other demons here just a bit more patience with people, mostly because she knows that they’ll leave the s/o very soon for some “unknown” reasons and that her darling will then run crying to her, needing her hugs and comforts. With these thoughts in her mind, you in her arms and clinging onto her for dear life, she can hold out for some time.
🟣She won’t kill unless given a good reason to. If someone for example takes a liking towards her darling and ignores Hannah’s warning that person is dead. Same goes for people who made you cry and hurt you, even if it’s just a small scratch, that person will be dead within the same day.
🟣She won’t kidnap her s/o unless something bad happens. Most likely scenarios are if she confesses to them and they reject her, they find out about her behavior towards others around them, you distance yourself from her or you’re getting seriously harmed. But as soon as she does her s/o has no chance to escape her with not only her, but the triplets watching over her as well.
🟣I believe that Hannah can be a better Yandere, but only if you behave well. She has some kind of reward system which means the better you behave the more she’s willing to let you out and grand you your wishes. If you don’t behave or try to escape she’ll punish you, but I believe that her punishments are more mentally than physically. That doesn’t really make it better since she’s a demon. She’ll probably let you imagine your worst nightmares and then you’ll run like a frightened bunny to her and beg and cry for her help which she’ll gladly give you, making you see her as your hero and savior which is exactly what she wants. But overall a soft and caring woman.
Timber, Thompson & Canterbury
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🤫Since they’re really discreet they prove a little challenge, but I really like them and want to give it a try. All demons are possessive, no exception with these guys. Since they’re so quiet I think they are stalkers as well. At least one of them is ALWAYS observing you from the distance.
🤫Obsessed with their darling in every sense possible. They’re the types to steal things from the s/o and since they are 3 of them they steal a looot of things from their darling. Books, toothbrushes, clothes, underwear... Also the lovestruck types, always imagining how wonderful it would be to have their darling near them. When they are near the s/o then they are incredibly touchy with them.
🤫They know who you meet during the day since they’re always watching! The one who watched you that day will report everything to his brothers and they’ll decide together if that person should be killed or not. Nearly 97% of the time they go with the first option since they can’t stand the thought of someone else being near their darling.
🤫As mentioned above, they hate the thought of someone else near the s/o. It’s already bad enough to have one demon wanting to kill you, but 3?! That’s the worst situation someone could ever ask for. They’re the quiet but deadly types, but I can imagine that the triplets will toy with the victim at first, making fun of them before cornering that person and killing them.
🤫The brothers make sure to kidnap you very soon because at one point just watching didn’t satisfy them anymore. They’ll most likely have a fight about who gets to kidnap you before deciding that they’ll all go together. Isn’t just the thought of having 3 lovesick demons hunting you down wonderful? You’re never going to see anything except the small house in which they keep you again. Escaping isn’t an option too because one of them is always with the darling. Now they only need to find out how to share the s/o.
🤫They’re in the middle, meaning they’re not the worst and not the best. They always argue about who gets to take you on a short walk outside, who gets to help you dress up, who gets to help you with a bath, honestly it’s more frustrating. Punishments are only given when you try to escape or resist their affection towards you and consist of locking you in a dark room with only one meal per day. Probably doesn’t sound that bad, but when you’re about to sleep they silently hide somewhere in the dark and use their demonic powers to give you terrible nightmares and at some point you’re going to be too scared to sleep. That’s when they let you out again and the next few weeks or even months, depending on how far they went, you won’t be able to sleep without at least one of them with you in the bed, cuddling you satisfied and happily in his arms. But most of the time they’re your loyal servants, you won’t have to lift a finger just let them do anything. ( The triplets turned out longer than wanted, but as mentioned above I really like them and just the fact that they’re 3 makes the whole situation even more interesting. From the whole Trancy household they’re definitely my favorites.)
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hardygalwrites · 3 years
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Anime/Manga: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Part 1: Phantom Blood)
Characters: Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando
Synopsis: During a visit to London, Jonathan and Dio are confronted by some less than savoury characters.
Note: Originally written for Whumptober of 2020 - Day 16: A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day | Forced to Beg
Set during the seven year gap in Phantom Blood. TW for mugging and violence
“Seen enough of London yet?”
“You do not have to accompany me,” Jonathan said, perhaps a little more shortly than he should have. “You are welcome to go back.”
“I’ve already told you, Father insisted I accompany you,” Dio retorted. “He seems to think you will get yourself lost. I am more inclined to believe you will get yourself killed.”
“That’s not funny, Dio.”
“Good thing I am not joking then.”
Jonathan glanced at his adoptive brother strolling alongside him. Dio’s golden eyes appeared to sharpen as he walked, staring down the crowded path ahead of them.
“Here in London, there are plenty of streets and alleyways that would better be described as deathtraps for the unsuspecting. One misstep, one wrong turn, and you could end up dead in the gutter, shoes gone and pockets empty.” Dio glanced, in turn, at Jonathan. “And we would not want that, would we, JoJo?”
It was hard to tell if Dio was toying with him - something that Jonathan would definitely not put past him, especially after their recent argument - but the severity of Dio’s words and eyes still took Jonathan aback. He frowned, turning his gaze back towards the path ahead.
“No, I suppose not…”
George Joestar had come to London on business. As his sons were both fifteen years old, practically men now, he had seen it prudent for the two of them to accompany him, if for no other reason than to acquaint them with the responsibilities of his occupation.
If Jonathan was being entirely honest with himself, he considered his father’s occupation just a bit beyond what his own mind could grasp. All talk of enterprise, investment, and trade meant very little to Jonathan, no matter how hard he tried to make sense of it all. He never did have much of a head for numbers. All that said, Jonathan still made an earnest attempt to listen to and understand his father’s business meetings.
Dio did not seem to have a problem understanding the trade, which honestly did impress Jonathan. When Dio’s accomplishments were not being compared to his own, Jonathan found that there was a lot to admire about his adopted brother, and it made Jonathan want to improve himself in turn. In the case of their father’s trade, however, Jonathan wondered if this was one of those cases where certain people were just more suited to certain tasks than others.
No, Jonathan’s frustrations with Dio concerned something else. One of the men that George Joestar had met with had recently invited the Joestar family to his place for dinner. While there, the man introduced them all to his own family, including one of his daughters - a lovely young lady around Jonathan and Dio’s age.
While conversing with her had certainly been a genuine delight, and Jonathan found her to be rather charming and remarkably intelligent, much of the young woman’s attention had been stolen primarily by a certain blond headed young man. Dio’s behaviour towards her seemed to go just a little beyond that of a gentleman speaking to a lady, and she, in turn,was clearly infatuated.
Dio had been dismissive when Jonathan brought it up that morning. That had shocked Jonathan, who thought that Dio had been making an honest attempt to pursue the young woman. When Jonathan pointed out that the woman was clearly taken in by Dio’s behaviour, and Dio remained dismissive, an argument started. Jonathan was obviously appalled at the thought of toying with a young woman’s feelings, while Dio claimed that none of it was Jonathan’s business and that Jonathan was overreacting.
Their father ended up stepping in before Jonathan’s agitation rose to the point of shouting. After hearing what the argument was about, George lightly admonished Dio for being cavalier with the young woman’s emotions, whether intentionally or not. Dio, who had remained cool and aloof throughout the whole argument, accepted the admonishment and apologized.
Grateful that his father had taken his side, but still irked by Dio’s insincerity, Jonathan left with the declaration that he would be taking a walk about the city. The hope that he would be able to clear his head through a long stroll did not last, as Dio joined him shortly after.
Now though, as the walk dragged on, and Jonathan turned everything over in his mind, he wondered if he was being unfair. Perhaps Dio had not realised he was being callous.
(Memories of his early life with Dio sprang to mind in protest, as they often did whenever Jonathan tried to move past Dio’s more objectionable moments in the present day. This one was of a despondent, blond haired girl. Though his heart stung, Jonathan pushed it back like all the others).
“Listen, Dio,” Jonathan said slowly. “I suppose I may have… overreacted earlier. Or rather, I assumed the worst of you when you said you had no interest in Miss Langford. I’m sorry.”
Dio glanced at him. “...You apologise too much, JoJo. Keep it up and I may stop believing you.”
“We’re brothers now, Dio,” Jonathan pressed. “I know we have our disagreements, but I do want us to get along regardless of them. Don’t you?”
Dio did not respond, seemingly distracted by one of the surrounding shops.
The street that the two of them were on now was rather cramped. It left no room for carriages or horses, instead bustling with throngs of people looking to get from one place to another. Jonathan had pardoned himself many times now trying to navigate his way through the crowd without accidentally bumping into or against someone. He could not even begin to imagine what it would be like to grow up in such a place. Even on its busiest days, the town at home seemed less crowded than the widest streets in London.
Jonathan felt a pang of disappointment when Dio did not immediately answer his question, only for Dio to say lightly, casually, “I believe we’re being followed.”
“Oh?” Instinctively, Jonathan went to look over his shoulder.
“Don’t look, you fool,” Dio bit out. “They will know we’re on to them if you do that.”
“Who are they?” Jonathan asked, turning his glance into an offhand observation of one of the nearby apartments.
“Pickpockets, more than likely. A pair of men looking to take advantage of the two rich boys who have wandered carelessly into a less than savoury part of town.”
Dio sounded amused, but Jonathan did not find the situation all that funny.
“How do we avoid them?” he murmured.
“Simply keep a tight hold on your wallet, JoJo,” Dio said carelessly.
“Perhaps we should make our way back towards the main streets…”
“Also a viable course of action.”
Jonathan began to look around, earnestly taking in his surroundings for the first time since he had started his impromptu walk. “Where exactly are we, anyway?”
“What makes you think I know? I’ve been following in your footsteps this entire time, JoJo.”
Dio was definitely toying with him now. Holding back a sigh, Jonathan looked down a right turn in the narrow street. It led down a largely empty pathway, through which the afternoon sun shone through, unfiltered by any surrounding buildings.
"I thought Father sent you after me to make sure I didn’t get lost,” Jonathan stated, turning in to the pathway.
“And I decided that you were more likely to get killed,” Dio said in lieu of a retort.
Jonathan actually did sigh this time as the two of them turned one last corner. “Dio, if you’re still angry at me or–”
Three figures suddenly stepped into the alley in front of Jonathan and Dio, cutting off their path to the open street. Trepidation set in, and Jonathan glanced behind to see another two figures turning the corner.
Dio scoffed. “Recall what I said earlier about deathtraps, JoJo...?”
“Dio, please, not now...”
The tallest of the three men in front of them spoke up, a wide and disconcerting smile on his face. “Now what’s a pair of fancy lookin’ young men such as yourselves doin’ around here?”
“As if our business is of any concern to you,” Dio said snidely.
In spite of his aloof attitude, Jonathan could tell that Dio was just as tense as he was. His shoulders were rolled back and his hands were clenched. Jonathan, for his part, tried to remain calm.
The tall man’s smile took on a more obviously dangerous edge. “Fair enough, and I suppose it’s clear what we’re really after, anyway.”
The rustle of clothing had Jonathan turning around completely. The two men who had approached from behind now each had a fist decorated with a set of well worn brass knuckles. At the same time, Dio shifted into a defensive position beside Jonathan, focus fixed on the three men ahead of them.
Jonathan’s heart thudded in his chest, and he fought the urge to wipe away the sweat forming in his palms. “There is no need for violence…”
“Ha ha! Well, aren’t you a smart one?” the tall man exclaimed. “All right then, hand over those wallets.”
“One more step,” Dio snarled, “and I will ram your own weapons down your throat.”
Jonathan gripped his adoptive brother by the shoulder. “We have nothing on us.”
He was telling the truth, at least as far as he himself was concerned. Jonathan did not have any money on his person.
“Don’t make me laugh again, boy…! Young men as well groomed as you two are bound to have a pound or two tucked away in those fancy clothes of yours…! An’ me an’ the lads are more than willin’ to tear you apart t’ find out.”
The two men in front of Jonathan inched forward, cracking their knuckles, leering at him. He was nothing but prey in their predatory gaze, and Jonathan felt like it too. He hoped they could not see him swallow as he fought to keep his fear at bay.
“Just try it then…!” Dio snapped, wrenching his shoulder from Jonathan’s grasp.
“I said we have nothing on us,” Jonathan said pointedly. “Even if we did, I do not respond favourably to threats and violence.”
“Oh…” The tall man’s voice dropped, sending a chill down Jonathan’s spine. “I am willin’ t’ bet you don’t.”
Dio lunged forward.
“Dio–!” Jonathan’s protest was immediately cut off by a blow to the face, knocking his cap off and sending the Joestar heir staggering back. He recovered quickly and faced the two men in front of him.
“Oi, the lad can take a hit…!” one of the men laughed.
“No need t’ hold back then,” the other said. “Not like we was plannin’ on it anyway.”
Jonathan assumed a boxing stance, teeth grit, worry and fear forcibly cast aside. He really had hoped to avoid any violence, but it looked as though he would not be given much of a choice.
The fight was difficult. His opponents were older than him, more experienced, and just as strong, if not stronger. Both Jonathan and Dio largely matched their opponents equally in height, the tallest man being the exception, but Jonathan was not so naive to assume that gave him much of an advantage. The men still outnumbered him and Dio more than two to one. The odds were not in their favour.
Jonathan knew better than to dwell on his disadvantages, though. He had been working hard to improve himself over the past two years, and while he was not yet quite as fast or agile as Dio, Jonathan liked to think that he had become a lot harder to knock down. Indeed, in spite of every strike that the two men managed to land on the young Joestar, in spite of every moment that Jonathan was staggered, not once did he fall. Jonathan held his ground.
In the end, after withstanding many painful blows himself, Jonathan managed to knock both his opponents down. They were not unconscious, merely stunned, but it gave Jonathan the chance he needed to step back, to breathe–
Someone screamed. Jonathan spun around to see Dio on his knees, arm being twisted viciously behind his back by the tall man.
“Dio!” Jonathan rushed forward.
At Jonathan’s cry, the tall man’s focus turned immediately on the young man charging towards him. The tall man yanked Dio to his feet, wrapping his other arm around Dio’s throat and pressing a knife just below Dio’s eye. Jonathan stopped in his tracks, his drive extinguished by a cold horror.
The man laughed, showing off a blood stained smile. “You really are a smart one…!”
Laying sprawled out on the ground, the other two men who had accompanied the tall man groaned as they slowly regained whatever senses Dio had knocked out of them. Jonathan only noticed them peripherally. All his attention was on the man currently holding a knife to his brother’s face.
“I haf’ta admit,” the tall man said, sounding just a little breathless, “you two put up a far greater fight than I expected from a couple rich boys. But that don’t matter.”
The knife pressed deeper into Dio’s skin, drawing a trickle of blood.
“No, don’t!” Jonathan shouted frantically.
“You bastard…!” Dio struggled fruitlessly in the tall man’s grasp. His teeth were bared in a snarl, and there was a slightly wild glint in his eyes.
Jonathan recognized that look. DIo felt cornered.
“Hand over your wallet, and I’ll consider not carvin’ off your friend’s face,” the tall man hissed.
“I told you, I don’t have it on me…!” Jonathan cried, a pleading desperation colouring his voice.
“Don’t lie t’ me, boy!”
“I’m not, I–!”
The tall man flipped the knife around in his hand and stabbed it into the top of Dio’s shoulder. Dio screamed.
“Stop ! Wait, please, stop!” Jonathan’s voice peaked. To his utter relief, the tall man stopped, the knife no more than halfway into Dio’s shoulder. “I- I don’t have any money, but I do have something else…!”
Slowly, so the tall man would not think he was doing anything rash, Jonathan reached into his waistcoat pocket.
“This pocketwatch…” He held up said item by its silver chain. “It is bound to be of some significant worth to you.”
The pocketwatch had been a gift for Jonathan’s most recent birthday, given to him by his father. It was a fine piece, and Jonathan was fond of it, but...
“You can have it, it’s yours. Now please let my brother go.”
“JoJo, what are you doing?” Dio growled, whatever anger or frustration he was trying to convey ultimately blunted by the pain in his voice.
The tall man pulled the knife from Dio’s shoulder, drawing a tight groan from the young blond, and laughed again. “Well, now…! An’ here I thought you said you didn’t respond favourably to violence.”
Jonathan opted not to respond. Someone snatched the pocketwatch from his hand. It looked as though the tall man’s compatriots had recovered, including the two men that Jonathan had faced.
“Still,” the tall man said carelessly, “after all the trouble you boys have put us through, I think we’re deservin’ of a little more.”
Jonathan’s heart sank. “That is all I have on me, I swear…!”
“Well ain’t that a shame?” The tall man returned the knife blade to Dio’s face. “Guess we’ll just have to take this one’s life as compensation.”
“No–!”
“Stop it, JoJo!” Dio glared up at the tall man, pure hatred flashing in his eyes. “These pieces of trash wouldn’t dare.”
The tall man’s face morphed into a glare of his own. “You willin’ t’ bet your life on that, boy...?”
The knife cut into the base of Dio’s neck, instantly drawing blood and a stifled gasp.
“Stop, please!” Jonathan shouted.
“You had best give us somethin’ then!” the tall man shouted back.
“I have nothing left to give!” Jonathan watched as the knife cut deeper, and he could not keep his voice from peaking a second time as he pleaded, “Please, I’m telling the truth…!”
“Well, if you really have nothin’ left t’ give us…” The glare faded into a sly smile, and the tall man removed the knife from Dio’s neck. “...then how about you give us a show?”
“A… show?” Jonathan echoed, confusion overtaking his panic.
“The way you say ‘please,’ all polite an’ sincere-like. I think we’d like t’ hear more of that, right, lads?”
The other four men responded affirmatively with grinning and laughter.
“Basically,” the tall man continued, “we want t’ hear you beg.”
They wanted him to… beg?
“Well? Get on with it, then!” The tall man traced the knife blade down Dio’s temple. “Beg for this one’s life and maybe I’ll consider lettin’ the both of you go.”
“Do not listen to them, JoJo…!” Dio hissed. “They’re bluffing!”
Were they though? The cruelty in the tall man’s smile, in his eyes, was undeniable. Even if Dio was right, and these men had no intention of taking their lives, the tall man had already stabbed Dio - Jonathan had no guarantee that they would not do worse.
“Killing either of us right here, right now, would pose too great a risk! They would not dare do something so stupid– Ghk…!” Dio choked as the tall man tightened his arm around Dio’s throat.
“Shut up, boy,” the tall man growled, before returning his sights back to Jonathan. “What’s the hold up? Too high and mighty to give us a bit of a beg?”
For a moment, a deeply shameful moment, Jonathan hesitated.
The tall man shrugged. “Suit yourself then.” And began to carve the knife down Dio’s temple.
“Wait, no, please! Please, I…!” Jonathan swallowed. His panic or his pride, he did not know, but they were either way irrelevant in the face of the fear he felt for Dio’s wellbeing.
“I beg you,” Jonathan said hoarsely. “Please, spare his life.”
“Jo...Jo…” Dio had turned his glare on Jonathan now even as he clawed at the tall man’s arm with his free hand, disbelief flashing amongst the wild anger. “What the hell are you doing…?!”
“Ha!” The tall man scoffed. “Come on, is that the best you can do? Show some respect to your elders, boy! You can do better than that!”
Jonathan clenched his fists at his sides, and bowed as he had been taught to do. “Please, sir, I beg you, spare his life…”
“JoJo…!” Dio snapped, his voice still tight and breathless, but no less frustrated.
“Hmm, better,” Jonathan heard the tall man say. “But not good enough. I know you’ve been livin’ the high life an’ all, but even a rich boy ought’a know how t’ beg. On your knees, boy, an’ let us know you mean it!”
“Don’t you dare!” Dio veritably screamed. “JoJo, I swear to god, if you don’t stop this…! JoJo!”
Jonathan could only apologise mentally to Dio as he dropped down to his knees. Whether Dio actually cared about Jonathan’s dignity, or if he simply did not want Jonathan to do something like this for his sake - Dio always did seem to despise being in what he perceived as debt to others - Jonathan was still resolved to do anything within his power to save him. And if that meant humiliating himself, well…
What kind of gentleman could really say he had held on to his pride when, in trying to preserve it, he caused others to suffer?
On his knees, palms turned up, Jonathan said, “Please, please, let him go. Please, I beg of you…”
“JoJ–!” The repetitive cry was cut off as the tall man clamped his hand over Dio’s mouth, allowing the knife blade to rest against Dio’s cheek. Dio began screaming in earnest, sheer fury clear in every squirm and struggle.
“Keep at it, boy!” the tall man bellowed over Dio’s muffled yells.
Jonathan clenched his fists and slammed his palms onto the moist cobblestones in front of him. “Please, I’m begging you…! Let him go! I don’t know what he thinks, but he is a brother, my brother…! We don’t always get along, and I often have trouble understanding him, but I want to keep trying–!”
Jonathan’s voice peaked and wavered dangerously. His eyesight blurred.  No, don’t cry, Jonathan told himself, he was far too old to cry.
“Please…! Spare my brother’s life, I’m begging you, spare his life…”
One of the other men in the group laughed. “Sounds like the lad’s ‘bout t’ cry!”
Something struck against the back of Jonathan’s head, and he fell to the ground completely, face pressed against the cobblestones. Before he could even attempt to get back up, Jonathan felt a shoe slam itself down on his head with enough force to make his vision go white.
Dazed, Jonathan could not even hear what was being said around him. By the time his senses dragged themselves back to awareness, someone kicked him in the side, forcing a scream from Jonathan’s lips as the shoe connected with an injury he had received during the fight.
“Fockin’ ‘ell, ‘e is soft,” one of the men scoffed.
The shoe returned to Jonathan’s head, the subsequent increasing weight drawing another cry of pain.
“Best continue your snivellin’, boy–”
Someone screamed. Through the fog in his mind, Jonathan registered that it was not Dio who had done so.
The weight on his head suddenly disappeared, and Jonathan could hear shouts of alarm and panic, alongside a familiar voice snarling threats, and more screaming. As Jonathan pushed himself upright, someone stumbled into his blurring field of vision. It was the tall man, cursing and screaming as he lurched down the alleyway from which he had come, clutching at his face with blood covered hands. The tall man quickly disappeared around some corner, just as Dio entered Jonathan’s line of sight.
“Damned coward…!” Dio shouted into the alley. “Get back here so I can make you eat your own blade!”
“Dio…?” Jonathan tried to get to his feet, only for the pain in his head to force him back down to his knees with a groan, clutching his head.
“JoJo…”
The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps acted as Jonathan’s only warning before Dio grabbed the lapel of his jacket.
“What the hell were you thinking?!” Dio shouted furiously. “I told you it was all a bluff, and yet you went and submitted to them anyway! You damned fool, why the hell would you do that–?!”
Dio suddenly pulled back with a cry, grabbing at his shoulder.
“Dio…!” Jonathan gasped.
“I’m fine!” Dio snapped. He threw the tall man’s knife - which Jonathan only now realized that Dio had been holding - to the ground, before again covering his wounded shoulder.
Jonathan watched him, not yet daring to speak. When Dio did not continue his rant, all his glares and attention focused on his injury, Jonathan let out a breath.
“Dio.” Jonathan received a glare in response, but he met it readily. “Even if you were right, I could not risk even the slightest chance that those men would kill you...”
Dio growled and turned his glare towards a nearby wall. “So you chose to submit,” he said through grit teeth. “Damn you, JoJo, how the hell could you throw away your pride so easily?”
“We’re brothers now, Dio, I’ve told you this before.” Jonathan tilted his head, trying to get Dio to look at him again, see that he meant what he was saying. “There is a lot I have yet to understand about you, and a lot I... have to move past… but regardless, I value the bond we have. If I must humiliate myself to save your life, then so be it. I will not apologise for that.”
Finally returning Jonathan’s gaze, Dio regarded him with a dark scowl. “Such selflessness is liable to get you killed one day, JoJo...”
“So be it,” Jonathan replied decisively.
Dio scoffed. A stretch of silence followed. Then, Dio approached Jonathan and held out a hand.
“How is your head?”
Jonathan tried to hold back as smile as he grasped Dio’s offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Another stab of pain had Jonathan clutching his head again, but he managed to remain standing.
“Still aching,” he admitted. “But nothing a bit of rest won’t mend. How is your shoulder?”
Dio pressed his hand back over his most severe wound. “It isn’t serious. The knife blade did not cut too deeply.”
“Oh, good,” Jonathan said with some relief. “We should head back, then. Father is probably wondering about us by now, anyway.”
Dio ‘hmph’d in response, and the two young men soon finally made their way out of the alley and onto the main streets.
After some time spent simply walking, trying to ignore the looks both he and Dio were receiving, Jonathan thought to ask, “Ah, Dio, I am wondering: how were you able to escape that man’s grasp?”
“I bit him.”
“You… What?”
“I bit him,” Dio repeated nonchalantly. “And I would have done far worse if he hadn’t run off.”
“Dio…!” Jonathan exclaimed. He knew (from firsthand experience) that Dio was not above using underhanded tactics, but still, biting someone?
“It was disgusting,” Dio admitted with a grimace, “but my options were limited, and with you submitting to getting your head kicked in, would you rather I had just done nothing?”
“...I see.” It certainly would not have been the first tactic Jonathan would have resorted to, or even thought of, but he could not deny that Dio had saved both of them as a result. “Thank you, Dio.”
Dio waved his hand. “Yes, well… I doubt it would have been as effective if they all had not been distracted by you.”
Jonathan could not hold back the smile this time.
“You look like an oaf when you smile like that,” Dio scoffed. “Especially with all those cuts and bruises.”
“Ha, sorry,” Jonathan chuckled.
Dio simply rolled his eyes and continued to lead the way onward.
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Whumptober 2020 Day 16: A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day | Forced to Beg
@whumptober2020
Anime/Manga: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Part 1: Phantom Blood)
Characters: Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando
Rating: T
Genre: Suspense and Family
Synopsis: During a visit to London, Jonathan and Dio are confronted by some less than savoury characters.
Author’s Notes: Wow, this is spectacularly late. This oneshot really did just spiral out of my control until I finally reigned it back in. Enjoy some fifteen year old Jonathan and Dio whump, with a side of Jonathan trying to be a good brother.
“Seen enough of London yet?”
“You do not have to accompany me,” Jonathan said, perhaps a little more shortly than he should have. “You are welcome to go back.”
“I’ve already told you, Father insisted I accompany you,” Dio retorted. “He seems to think you will get yourself lost. I am more inclined to believe you will get yourself killed.”
“That’s not funny, Dio.”
“Good thing I am not joking then.”
Jonathan glanced at his adoptive brother strolling alongside him. Dio’s golden eyes appeared to sharpen as he walked, staring down the crowded path ahead of them.
“Here in London, there are plenty of streets and alleyways that would better be described as deathtraps for the unsuspecting. One misstep, one wrong turn, and you could end up dead in the gutter, shoes gone and pockets empty.” Dio glanced, in turn, at Jonathan. “And we would not want that, would we, JoJo?”
It was hard to tell if Dio was toying with him - something that Jonathan would definitely not put past him, especially after their recent argument - but the severity of Dio’s words and eyes still took Jonathan aback. He frowned, turning his gaze back towards the path ahead.
“No, I suppose not…”
George Joestar had come to London on business. As his sons were both fifteen years old, practically men now, he had seen it prudent for the two of them to accompany him, if for no other reason than to acquaint them with the responsibilities of his occupation.
If Jonathan was being entirely honest with himself, he considered his father’s occupation just a bit beyond what his own mind could grasp. All talk of enterprise, investment, and trade meant very little to Jonathan, no matter how hard he tried to make sense of it all. He never did have much of a head for numbers. All that said, Jonathan still made an earnest attempt to listen to and understand his father’s business meetings.
Dio did not seem to have a problem understanding the trade, which honestly did impress Jonathan. When Dio’s accomplishments were not being compared to his own, Jonathan found that there was a lot to admire about his adopted brother, and it made Jonathan want to improve himself in turn. In the case of their father’s trade, however, Jonathan wondered if this was one of those cases where certain people were just more suited to certain tasks than others.
No, Jonathan’s frustrations with Dio concerned something else. One of the men that George Joestar had met with had recently invited the Joestar family to his place for dinner. While there, the man introduced them all to his own family, including one of his daughters - a lovely young lady around Jonathan and Dio’s age.
While conversing with her had certainly been a genuine delight, and Jonathan found her to be rather charming and remarkably intelligent, much of the young woman’s attention had been stolen primarily by a certain blond headed young man. Dio’s behaviour towards her seemed to go just a little beyond that of a gentleman speaking to a lady, and she, in turn,was clearly infatuated.
Dio had been dismissive when Jonathan brought it up that morning. That had shocked Jonathan, who thought that Dio had been making an honest attempt to pursue the young woman. When Jonathan pointed out that the woman was clearly taken in by Dio’s behaviour, and Dio remained dismissive, an argument started. Jonathan was obviously appalled at the thought of toying with a young woman’s feelings, while Dio claimed that none of it was Jonathan’s business and that Jonathan was overreacting.
Their father ended up stepping in before Jonathan’s agitation rose to the point of shouting. After hearing what the argument was about, George lightly admonished Dio for being cavalier with the young woman’s emotions, whether intentionally or not. Dio, who had remained cool and aloof throughout the whole argument, accepted the admonishment and apologized.
Grateful that his father had taken his side, but still irked by Dio’s insincerity, Jonathan left with the declaration that he would be taking a walk about the city. The hope that he would be able to clear his head through a long stroll did not last, as Dio joined him shortly after.
Now though, as the walk dragged on, and Jonathan turned everything over in his mind, he wondered if he was being unfair. Perhaps Dio had not realised he was being callous.
(Memories of his early life with Dio sprang to mind in protest, as they often did whenever Jonathan tried to move past Dio’s more objectionable moments in the present day. This one was of a despondent, blond haired girl. Though his heart stung, Jonathan pushed it back like all the others).
“Listen, Dio,” Jonathan said slowly. “I suppose I may have… overreacted earlier. Or rather, I assumed the worst of you when you said you had no interest in Miss Langford. I’m sorry.”
Dio glanced at him. “...You apologise too much, JoJo. Keep it up and I may stop believing you.”
“We’re brothers now, Dio,” Jonathan pressed. “I know we have our disagreements, but I do want us to get along regardless of them. Don’t you?”
Dio did not respond, seemingly distracted by one of the surrounding shops.
The street that the two of them were on now was rather cramped. It left no room for carriages or horses, instead bustling with throngs of people looking to get from one place to another. Jonathan had pardoned himself many times now trying to navigate his way through the crowd without accidentally bumping into or against someone. He could not even begin to imagine what it would be like to grow up in such a place. Even on its busiest days, the town at home seemed less crowded than the widest streets in London.
Jonathan felt a pang of disappointment when Dio did not immediately answer his question, only for Dio to say lightly, casually, “I believe we’re being followed.”
“Oh?” Instinctively, Jonathan went to look over his shoulder.
“Don’t look, you fool,” Dio bit out. “They will know we’re on to them if you do that.”
“Who are they?” Jonathan asked, turning his glance into an offhand observation of one of the nearby apartments.
“Pickpockets, more than likely. A pair of men looking to take advantage of the two rich boys who have wandered carelessly into a less than savoury part of town.”
Dio sounded amused, but Jonathan did not find the situation all that funny.
“How do we avoid them?” he murmured.
“Simply keep a tight hold on your wallet, JoJo,” Dio said carelessly.
“Perhaps we should make our way back towards the main streets…”
“Also a viable course of action.”
Jonathan began to look around, earnestly taking in his surroundings for the first time since he had started his impromptu walk. “Where exactly are we, anyway?”
“What makes you think I know? I’ve been following in your footsteps this entire time, JoJo.”
Dio was definitely toying with him now. Holding back a sigh, Jonathan looked down a right turn in the narrow street. It led down a largely empty pathway, through which the afternoon sun shone through, unfiltered by any surrounding buildings.
"I thought Father sent you after me to make sure I didn’t get lost,” Jonathan stated, turning in to the pathway.
“And I decided that you were more likely to get killed,” Dio said in lieu of a retort.
Jonathan actually did sigh this time as the two of them turned one last corner. “Dio, if you’re still angry at me or–”
Three figures suddenly stepped into the alley in front of Jonathan and Dio, cutting off their path to the open street. Trepidation set in, and Jonathan glanced behind to see another two figures turning the corner.
Dio scoffed. “Recall what I said earlier about deathtraps, JoJo...?”
“Dio, please, not now...”
The tallest of the three men in front of them spoke up, a wide and disconcerting smile on his face. “Now what’s a pair of fancy lookin’ young men such as yourselves doin’ around here?”
“As if our business is of any concern to you,” Dio said snidely.
In spite of his aloof attitude, Jonathan could tell that Dio was just as tense as he was. His shoulders were rolled back and his hands were clenched. Jonathan, for his part, tried to remain calm.
The tall man’s smile took on a more obviously dangerous edge. “Fair enough, and I suppose it’s clear what we’re really after, anyway.”
The rustle of clothing had Jonathan turning around completely. The two men who had approached from behind now each had a fist decorated with a set of well worn brass knuckles. At the same time, Dio shifted into a defensive position beside Jonathan, focus fixed on the three men ahead of them.
Jonathan’s heart thudded in his chest, and he fought the urge to wipe away the sweat forming in his palms. “There is no need for violence…”
“Ha ha! Well, aren’t you a smart one?” the tall man exclaimed. “All right then, hand over those wallets.”
“One more step,” Dio snarled, “and I will ram your own weapons down your throat.”
Jonathan gripped his adoptive brother by the shoulder. “We have nothing on us.”
He was telling the truth, at least as far as he himself was concerned. Jonathan did not have any money on his person.
“Don’t make me laugh again, boy…! Young men as well groomed as you two are bound to have a pound or two tucked away in those fancy clothes of yours…! An’ me an’ the lads are more than willin’ to tear you apart t’ find out.”
The two men in front of Jonathan inched forward, cracking their knuckles, leering at him. He was nothing but prey in their predatory gaze, and Jonathan felt like it too. He hoped they could not see him swallow as he fought to keep his fear at bay.
“Just try it then…!” Dio snapped, wrenching his shoulder from Jonathan’s grasp.
“I said we have nothing on us,” Jonathan said pointedly. “Even if we did, I do not respond favourably to threats and violence.”
“Oh…” The tall man’s voice dropped, sending a chill down Jonathan’s spine. “I am willin’ t’ bet you don’t.”
Dio lunged forward.
“Dio–!” Jonathan’s protest was immediately cut off by a blow to the face, knocking his cap off and sending the Joestar heir staggering back. He recovered quickly and faced the two men in front of him.
“Oi, the lad can take a hit…!” one of the men laughed.
“No need t’ hold back then,” the other said. “Not like we was plannin’ on it anyway.”
Jonathan assumed a boxing stance, teeth grit, worry and fear forcibly cast aside. He really had hoped to avoid any violence, but it looked as though he would not be given much of a choice.
The fight was difficult. His opponents were older than him, more experienced, and just as strong, if not stronger. Both Jonathan and Dio largely matched their opponents equally in height, the tallest man being the exception, but Jonathan was not so naive to assume that gave him much of an advantage. The men still outnumbered him and Dio more than two to one. The odds were not in their favour.
Jonathan knew better than to dwell on his disadvantages, though. He had been working hard to improve himself over the past two years, and while he was not yet quite as fast or agile as Dio, Jonathan liked to think that he had become a lot harder to knock down. Indeed, in spite of every strike that the two men managed to land on the young Joestar, in spite of every moment that Jonathan was staggered, not once did he fall. Jonathan held his ground.
In the end, after withstanding many painful blows himself, Jonathan managed to knock both his opponents down. They were not unconscious, merely stunned, but it gave Jonathan the chance he needed to step back, to breathe–
Someone screamed. Jonathan spun around to see Dio on his knees, arm being twisted viciously behind his back by the tall man.
“Dio!” Jonathan rushed forward.
At Jonathan’s cry, the tall man’s focus turned immediately on the young man charging towards him. The tall man yanked Dio to his feet, wrapping his other arm around Dio’s throat and pressing a knife just below Dio’s eye. Jonathan stopped in his tracks, his drive extinguished by a cold horror.
The man laughed, showing off a blood stained smile. “You really are a smart one…!”
Laying sprawled out on the ground, the other two men who had accompanied the tall man groaned as they slowly regained whatever senses Dio had knocked out of them. Jonathan only noticed them peripherally. All his attention was on the man currently holding a knife to his brother’s face.
“I haf’ta admit,” the tall man said, sounding just a little breathless, “you two put up a far greater fight than I expected from a couple rich boys. But that don’t matter.”
The knife pressed deeper into Dio’s skin, drawing a trickle of blood.
“No, don’t!” Jonathan shouted frantically.
“You bastard…!” Dio struggled fruitlessly in the tall man’s grasp. His teeth were bared in a snarl, and there was a slightly wild glint in his eyes.
Jonathan recognized that look. DIo felt cornered.
“Hand over your wallet, and I’ll consider not carvin’ off your friend’s face,” the tall man hissed.
“I told you, I don’t have it on me…!” Jonathan cried, a pleading desperation colouring his voice.
“Don’t lie t’ me, boy!”
“I’m not, I–!”
The tall man flipped the knife around in his hand and stabbed it into the top of Dio’s shoulder. Dio screamed.
“Stop ! Wait, please, stop!” Jonathan’s voice peaked. To his utter relief, the tall man stopped, the knife no more than halfway into Dio’s shoulder. “I- I don’t have any money, but I do have something else…!”
Slowly, so the tall man would not think he was doing anything rash, Jonathan reached into his waistcoat pocket.
“This pocketwatch…” He held up said item by its silver chain. “It is bound to be of some significant worth to you.”
The pocketwatch had been a gift for Jonathan’s most recent birthday, given to him by his father. It was a fine piece, and Jonathan was fond of it, but...
“You can have it, it’s yours. Now please let my brother go.”
“JoJo, what are you doing?” Dio growled, whatever anger or frustration he was trying to convey ultimately blunted by the pain in his voice.
The tall man pulled the knife from Dio’s shoulder, drawing a tight groan from the young blond, and laughed again. “Well, now…! An’ here I thought you said you didn’t respond favourably to violence.”
Jonathan opted not to respond. Someone snatched the pocketwatch from his hand. It looked as though the tall man’s compatriots had recovered, including the two men that Jonathan had faced.
“Still,” the tall man said carelessly, “after all the trouble you boys have put us through, I think we’re deservin’ of a little more.”
Jonathan’s heart sank. “That is all I have on me, I swear…!”
“Well ain’t that a shame?” The tall man returned the knife blade to Dio’s face. “Guess we’ll just have to take this one’s life as compensation.”
“No–!”
“Stop it, JoJo!” Dio glared up at the tall man, pure hatred flashing in his eyes. “These pieces of trash wouldn’t dare.”
The tall man’s face morphed into a glare of his own. “You willin’ t’ bet your life on that, boy...?”
The knife cut into the base of Dio’s neck, instantly drawing blood and a stifled gasp.
“Stop, please!” Jonathan shouted.
“You had best give us somethin’ then!” the tall man shouted back.
“I have nothing left to give!” Jonathan watched as the knife cut deeper, and he could not keep his voice from peaking a second time as he pleaded, “Please, I’m telling the truth…!”
“Well, if you really have nothin’ left t’ give us…” The glare faded into a sly smile, and the tall man removed the knife from Dio’s neck. “...then how about you give us a show?”
“A… show?” Jonathan echoed, confusion overtaking his panic.
“The way you say ‘please,’ all polite an’ sincere-like. I think we’d like t’ hear more of that, right, lads?”
The other four men responded affirmatively with grinning and laughter.
“Basically,” the tall man continued, “we want t’ hear you beg.”
They wanted him to… beg?
“Well? Get on with it, then!” The tall man traced the knife blade down Dio’s temple. “Beg for this one’s life and maybe I’ll consider lettin’ the both of you go.”
“Do not listen to them, JoJo…!” Dio hissed. “They’re bluffing!”
Were they though? The cruelty in the tall man’s smile, in his eyes, was undeniable. Even if Dio was right, and these men had no intention of taking their lives, the tall man had already stabbed Dio - Jonathan had no guarantee that they would not do worse.
“Killing either of us right here, right now, would pose too great a risk! They would not dare do something so stupid – Ghk…!” Dio choked as the tall man tightened his arm around Dio’s throat.
“Shut up, boy,” the tall man growled, before returning his sights back to Jonathan. “What’s the hold up? Too high and mighty to give us a bit of a beg?”
For a moment, a deeply shameful moment, Jonathan hesitated.
The tall man shrugged. “Suit yourself then.” And began to carve the knife down Dio’s temple.
“Wait, no, please! Please, I…!” Jonathan swallowed. His panic or his pride, he did not know, but they were either way irrelevant in the face of the fear he felt for Dio’s wellbeing.
“I beg you,” Jonathan said hoarsely. “Please, spare his life.”
“Jo...Jo…” Dio had turned his glare on Jonathan now even as he clawed at the tall man’s arm with his free hand, disbelief flashing amongst the wild anger. “What the hell are you doing…?!”
“Ha!” The tall man scoffed. “Come on, is that the best you can do? Show some respect to your elders, boy! You can do better than that!”
Jonathan clenched his fists at his sides, and bowed as he had been taught to do. “Please, sir, I beg you, spare his life…”
“JoJo…!” Dio snapped, his voice still tight and breathless, but no less frustrated.
“Hmm, better,” Jonathan heard the tall man say. “But not good enough. I know you’ve been livin’ the high life an’ all, but even a rich boy ought’a know how t’ beg. On your knees, boy, an’ let us know you mean it!”
“Don’t you dare!” Dio veritably screamed. “JoJo, I swear to god, if you don’t stop this…! JoJo!”
Jonathan could only apologise mentally to Dio as he dropped down to his knees. Whether Dio actually cared about Jonathan’s dignity, or if he simply did not want Jonathan to do something like this for his sake - Dio always did seem to despise being in what he perceived as debt to others - Jonathan was still resolved to do anything within his power to save him. And if that meant humiliating himself, well…
What kind of gentleman could really say he had held on to his pride when, in trying to preserve it, he caused others to suffer?
On his knees, palms turned up, Jonathan said, “Please, please, let him go. Please, I beg of you…”
“JoJ–!” The repetitive cry was cut off as the tall man clamped his hand over Dio’s mouth, allowing the knife blade to rest against Dio’s cheek. Dio began screaming in earnest, sheer fury clear in every squirm and struggle.
“Keep at it, boy!” the tall man bellowed over Dio’s muffled yells.
Jonathan clenched his fists and slammed his palms onto the moist cobblestones in front of him. “Please, I’m begging you…! Let him go! I don’t know what he thinks, but he is a brother, my brother…! We don’t always get along, and I often have trouble understanding him, but I want to keep trying–!”
Jonathan’s voice peaked and wavered dangerously. His eyesight blurred.  No, don’t cry, Jonathan told himself, he was far too old to cry.
“Please…! Spare my brother’s life, I’m begging you, spare his life…”
One of the other men in the group laughed. “Sounds like the lad’s ‘bout t’ cry!”
Something struck against the back of Jonathan’s head, and he fell to the ground completely, face pressed against the cobblestones. Before he could even attempt to get back up, Jonathan felt a shoe slam itself down on his head with enough force to make his vision go white.
Dazed, Jonathan could not even hear what was being said around him. By the time his senses dragged themselves back to awareness, someone kicked him in the side, forcing a scream from Jonathan’s lips as the shoe connected with an injury he had received during the fight.
“Fockin’ ‘ell, ‘e is soft,” one of the men scoffed.
The shoe returned to Jonathan’s head, the subsequent increasing weight drawing another cry of pain.
“Best continue your snivellin’, boy–”
Someone screamed. Through the fog in his mind, Jonathan registered that it was not Dio who had done so.
The weight on his head suddenly disappeared, and Jonathan could hear shouts of alarm and panic, alongside a familiar voice snarling threats, and more screaming. As Jonathan pushed himself upright, someone stumbled into his blurring field of vision. It was the tall man, cursing and screaming as he lurched down the alleyway from which he had come, clutching at his face with blood covered hands. The tall man quickly disappeared around some corner, just as Dio entered Jonathan’s line of sight.
“Damned coward…!” Dio shouted into the alley. “Get back here so I can make you eat your own blade!”
“Dio…?” Jonathan tried to get to his feet, only for the pain in his head to force him back down to his knees with a groan, clutching his head.
“JoJo…”
The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps acted as Jonathan’s only warning before Dio grabbed the lapel of his jacket.
“What the hell were you thinking?!” Dio shouted furiously. “I told you it was all a bluff, and yet you went and submitted to them anyway! You damned fool, why the hell would you do that–?!”
Dio suddenly pulled back with a cry, grabbing at his shoulder.
“Dio…!” Jonathan gasped.
“I’m fine!” Dio snapped. He threw the tall man’s knife - which Jonathan only now realized that Dio had been holding - to the ground, before again covering his wounded shoulder.
Jonathan watched him, not yet daring to speak. When Dio did not continue his rant, all his glares and attention focused on his injury, Jonathan let out a breath.
“Dio.” Jonathan received a glare in response, but he met it readily. “Even if you were right, I could not risk even the slightest chance that those men would kill you...”
Dio growled and turned his glare towards a nearby wall. “So you chose to submit,” he said through grit teeth. “Damn you, JoJo, how the hell could you throw away your pride so easily?”
“We’re brothers now, Dio, I’ve told you this before.” Jonathan tilted his head, trying to get Dio to look at him again, see that he meant what he was saying. “There is a lot I have yet to understand about you, and a lot I... have to move past… but regardless, I value the bond we have. If I must humiliate myself to save your life, then so be it. I will not apologise for that.”
Finally returning Jonathan’s gaze, Dio regarded him with a dark scowl. “Such selflessness is liable to get you killed one day, JoJo...”
“So be it,” Jonathan replied decisively.
Dio scoffed. A stretch of silence followed. Then, Dio approached Jonathan and held out a hand.
“How is your head?”
Jonathan tried to hold back as smile as he grasped Dio’s offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Another stab of pain had Jonathan clutching his head again, but he managed to remain standing.
“Still aching,” he admitted. “But nothing a bit of rest won’t mend. How is your shoulder?”
Dio pressed his hand back over his most severe wound. “It isn’t serious. The knife blade did not cut too deeply.”
“Oh, good,” Jonathan said with some relief. “We should head back, then. Father is probably wondering about us by now, anyway.”
Dio ‘hmph’d in response, and the two young men soon finally made their way out of the alley and onto the main streets.
After some time spent simply walking, trying to ignore the looks both he and Dio were receiving, Jonathan thought to ask, “Ah, Dio, I am wondering: how were you able to escape that man’s grasp?”
“I bit him.”
“You… What?”
“I bit him,” Dio repeated nonchalantly. “And I would have done far worse if he hadn’t run off.”
“Dio…!” Jonathan exclaimed. He knew (from firsthand experience) that Dio was not above using underhanded tactics, but still, biting someone?
“It was disgusting,” Dio admitted with a grimace, “but my options were limited, and with you submitting to getting your head kicked in, would you rather I had just done nothing?”
“...I see.” It certainly would not have been the first tactic Jonathan would have resorted to, or even thought of, but he could not deny that Dio had saved both of them as a result. “Thank you, Dio.”
Dio waved his hand. “Yes, well… I doubt it would have been as effective if they all had not been distracted by you.”
Jonathan could not hold back the smile this time.
“You look like an oaf when you smile like that,” Dio scoffed. “Especially with all those cuts and bruises.”
“Ha, sorry,” Jonathan chuckled.
Dio simply rolled his eyes and continued to lead the way onward.
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blackcatanna · 4 years
Text
LET THE ORGY OF SADNESS CONTINUE: Okita's Route Part 3: Edo Blossoms
I'm very interested to see how this plays out. Tbh, I don't really get this relationship yet but that seems consistent with how I felt before Edo Blossoms in the other routes so, yes, I am excited! :D I hope that Kaoru doesn't die X_X I want at least one route with Kaoru redemption but I am not at all optimistic...
Chapter 1:
"Something else entirely had me preoccupied..." Could it be... one spicy, stabby boi?
Wait, are we... LIVING TOGETHER? 👀
Quick question: do silver bullets affect demons or just furies?
BWWWWAAAARRRP!!! PHYSICAL CONTACT ALARM! "I held his soft, trembling fingers in my hands," Whoa there. Please calm down. I cannot allow this level of unbridled eroticism in my Good Christian Suburb.
In all seriousness, though, I GUESS this is SOMEWHAT sweet and romantic but I want everyone to know that I'm saying this under duress. >:( If I fancied him, this would wring the fuck out of my heart.
"Are you sure? You aren't just saying that?" Glad to see that Doctor Chizuru studied under Doctor Gregory "Everybody Lies" House.
"Why is it that you're always here when I wake up?" If you can't figure it out, I sure as hell am not going to tell you!
"Okita seemed to take pleasure from my surprise, and he stared into my eyes." X_X Of course he did... Because he loves to provoke reactions.
"Answer me." MAKE ME >_<
"looking off to the side in a fit of feigned indifference." < Okita in a nutshell
Is he upset because I said that I was here because of worry and guilt? Because, tbh, fair enough. Those were pretty dumb things to say, making out like it's a burden instead of admitting that I actually like being around him >:(
"Well, I guess that's fine then." X_X Oh, come on! Don't use the f-word on me like that! D:
"She's lying." YAMAZAKI!!! >_<
"Look, I know you can't stop thinking about me, but this whole doting-all-day-and-night thing is tiring." Called. The fuck. Out. X_X
Tbf, it seems kind of hypocritical to be fussing over someone while refusing to let them even inquire about your own health. Plus, it's a very one sided arrangement, which is not healthy X_X
"stop throwing a bitch fit" XD Okita is my new hero :')
"I didn't know that my behaviour became a cause for concern for them, too." Then, perhaps, you are foolish and inconsiderate -_-
O: Okita!?? Did he faint?! O_O
Woo! Going on an adventure with YAM! :)
There had better not be any creepy bald fuckers waiting in mah house! >:(
Are all doctors bald in 1860s Japan????
I'm so happy that Yamazaki's still alive in this route :) TOUCH WOOD.
"*Grunt* *Cough*..." Ah, I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught tb -_- (jk)
No, never split the party! D:
"However the price to pay is life itself." DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUUN!!! So much for it granting "immortality"
"the poisonous Water of Life" uh... Isn't that kind of an oxymoron X_X
"Retaining your sanity is impossible without feasting on blood." Ah, so all along, the Shinsengumi were just feeding the furies a poor diet.
O: ):< WHO DARES THUMP MY YAMAZAKI?
Of course. It's fucking Kaoru -_-
Blah blah, sadistic fuckery, blah blah. I'm starting to get real tired of your shit, BROTHER.
"Was he trying to play a trick on me?" -_- probably, yeah.
Wow, that's... Actually pretty helpful? Thanks!?
Okay, the doctor folk have gone! I give Okita delicious blood now? :)
Oh. HE GAWN!!! O:
WHY ARE YOU UP AND DRESSED? >_<
"Sleeping all day is such a drag." True, so DRINK MY BLOOD AND GET BETTER >:(
Bloodlust time :O Good thing I'm a walking blood pack! :D
"How long have you been doing this?" Uh, haven't you been watching over him night and day?
"I wrapped my arms around Okita and held him tight " BWAAAA- Okay, yes, physical contact. Hug = gud >:(
"Pease, drink this " DRINK THE BLOOD >:(
"I could feel his breath brushing across my skin..." o_o Saucy...
Why are the blood drinking descriptions so erotic XD I mean, I'm not complaining but-
Who is this strange, apologetic man?
Blood > Porridge
Heh heh, apparently, Hijikata acts "all hoighty-toighty"
Oooh! Looks like Okita's trying to break free of his diligent YAM nursing...
"I am calm" Okita, last time you said that, you went on a killing spree...
Ooh, I wonder why Yamazaki and Okita don't get along... I remember seeing a picture somewhere with casual Yamazaki abuse in the background...
"Okita was acting like a petulant child, throwing his toys out of the pram..." X_X Sexy...
"Do you think the Shinsengumi still needs me?" HONEY, the Shinsengumi needs all the help it can GET!! O_O
Omg, Yamazaki's threatening to tell on Okita! XD He's playing a dangerous (and childish) game!
Side note: the painting in Okita's room is distracting me because it kind of reminds me of the dead mice my cats bring in on a regular basis.
WAIT, IT'S A FISH!!! X_X A NICE, INNOCENT LITTLE KOI FISHY X_X I need to stop spending so much time with my cats...
"What, already? Can't I stay up just a little longer?" Hakuoki: Mum simulator!
"I'll turn in on one condition..." Oo-er :O
"Okita grinned mischievously, and he peered directly into my eyes." O_O OO-ER!
"My palms became sweaty, and my heart skipped a beat." IT MUST BE LOVE O_O
"Since you're here, mind laying down next to me?" DUN DADA DUN! *fanfare plays* We got there in the end, folks! :D
DON'T YOU DARE SAY NO XD
"That's not a funny joke." True. And the only way to teach him a lesson is to PRETEND to take him seriously by DOING AS HE SAYS >:)
"You're so dense." FACTS.
WELL DONE, CHIZURU, YOU DONE COCK-BLOCKED YERSELF, I said, berating the fictional character as if that's not totally something that I would do in real life ..
"Okita blushed, turning away in embarrassment." O: CTRL+Z CTRL+Z CTRL+Z ):<
"I want to, erm, talk to you for a little bit longer..." Oh, we can "talk" all night long ;)
"Talk...? With me?" But I'm only a stupid woman, huh dur, with naught to say but um and er! Actually, Chizuru does say ""um..." I couldn't think of anything to say" in this route A LOT so maybe FAIR PLAY.
Just realised that I accidentally made a rhyme.
"Okita sighed, frustrated" HONESTLY, ME TOO.
"How clearly do I have to spell this out for you." I'm beginning to wonder that myself. He just wants some company, Chizuru! Is that SO HARD to imagine? X_X
"He began to run his fingers through my hair." Oooh! Physical contact :3 Chizuru = pet cat!
"as the tip of his finger touched my skin, my heart skipped." Yeeeesssss... Feel the thirst flow through you... 3:)
Are we gonna get a thirsty Western uniform pan, now? :P
"I tried facing him directly, but for some reason my heart was thudding in my chest..." :O Oh my! I cannot think of a possible explanation! You should get that checked out! >:P
"you find me sexy right now, don't you?" AH-HAH! >:D Caught red handed!
Ugh, can't believe he tricked me into saying he looks good. >:(
UGH. Doctor Matsumoto still needs to perform a final exam on Okita?! Just let him go already X_X
Wow, has Okita been seething against Hijikata this whole time? That... Can't be healthy -_-
"Okita had the tendency to act rashly and avoid looking at the bigger picture, particularly when Hijikata was involved." No shit. He's going to be such a handful X_X
"You're coming, right?" Of course. I'm not just going to sit around here while everyone I care about gets killed O_O besides, you need my nutritious and delicious blood to keep you nice and healthy ^_^
"she can't keep her eyes off me for long enough, to the point where she'll follow me wherever I go" Yeah, because that's how you win at this game >:P
"Aw, is that some blushing I see? It's the truth." Yup.
"Well, yeah," SHE ADMITTED IT!!! 8D
"So, Yukimura. It appears you have some feelings for Okita, is this true?" OH, FRICKING GREAT!!! NOW I'M BEING INTERROGATED BY MY DAD'S EX- COLLEAGUE ABOUT MY LOVE LIFE X_X IF THE GROUND COULD SWALLOW ME NOW, THAT'D BE GREAT! OKITA IS SUCH A DICK XD
OKITA. STOP.
Doctor, why you gotta be so serious? O:
"Criminy..." Uh... Is that a real word?...
Omg, it is a real word! I have never heard anyone use it but, tbf, this is the 1860s :P
Okita needs to stop saying that every decision that Kondou makes that he doesn't like is because Hijikata "coerced" him. He's a grown man. He can think for himself. Please respect his autonomy X_X This is not healthy.
Uuuuuugh. Kaoru >_< Seriously, get a life!
"I'm here to watch the Shinsengumi flail around like pathetic losers as they watch their friends die." ... KAORU, THAT DOES NOT COUNT AS A HOBBY >_<
"Looks like you made it in time for the show, though. You'll be able to witness the glorious execution of the Shinsengumi's idiot chief." Or, in other words, we arrived in time to try and rescue him >:)
"You look nice. All your little boo-boos patched up?" Uhh... There's a lot to unpack here...
"Okita reveled in the vicious display, allowing Kaoru's blood to shower him as he swung repeatedly at the Demon." O_O Umm... Okita? Maybe CHILL THE FUCK OUT. O_O HE IS MY BROTHER, YOU KNOW?!
Aaaand, seemingly Kaoru's going to milk that fact... -_-
Did he... Stab me in the mouth?!?? What am I looking at here? X_X
Also, why doesn't he just activate his demon form!?!
Wait, is he feeding me the Ochimizu?!
Kaoru says that the water of life will eat away at Okita's body faster than if he'd just succumbed to TB but that's clearly not true if he's living long enough to see the end of the Shinsengumi. Plus, a short life of action is better than spending the rest of your days fading away in a sickbed.
"Okita comforted me with the soft tickle of his hands as they wiped away each tear with a warm touch." :3 Pretty darn wholesome! I will concede this point!
"you're a sweetheart." :3 Thank.
"You're a good girl" And am I supposed to wag my tail at that? X_X
"I... I am in love with Okita." O: Damn, that'll go straight to his head X_X
"more than anything or anyone" not that that's saying much :P Sorry, romantic moment, must resist shit talking urges!
"I believed that if I died, no one would give a shit." </3 O: )': DX Neveeeeeerrrrr!!!!
I prescribe HUG INJECTION >:(
"You look like shit" -_- Way to kill the mood.
"Here, come closer." :D Okay, I forgive you! <3
Oh, he played the uno reverse card on my hug plan :O
"How could I keep myself calm when the man I loved held me delicately in his arms?" BIG. MOOD.
Awe, he didn't kill Kaoru because "my heart knew it didn't want you to hate me..." <3 <3 <3 >.<
"My heart melted." SAME.
Chapter 2:
Damn, we're only on Chapter 2 and things are already getting pretty fluffy...
"Do you want me to sleep next to you?" DO IT. XD I dare you :P
"I wonder if Okita thought of me as nothing more than a silk kimono and a warming stone, as if that was all I could offer..." Girl, come on! Don't sell him short like this! Oh, and tell me more about what you want to offer him 3:)
Well, it looks like blood is the answer, for now O_O
"Y-You're not gonna offer me a-any blood today? Trying to play hard to get?" -_-
"his warm mouth drew my blood into his full, tender lips." X_X Sounds like someone needs a cold shower...
"I'm a diseased freak with no hope for the future." D: Don't say that! Everybody dies eventually! You still have strength to achieve the things you want and we can still be happy together! :'(
"I will be by your side, Okita... No matter what." YUS >:)
SEN!!! <3
"Would it have killed you to at least write us a letter?" O: I'm sorry! X_X
Ha. Bold of you to assume that Kodo's continued research might be in your favour.
"Kondou has surrendered to the Imperial Army." O_O OH FUCK.
And of course Okita is blaming Hijikata X_X
"You are making assumptions, most of which are uninformed" Yeah, you tell him, Sen-bae!
I still don't see why we can't at least try to rescue Kondou >:( Are we just supposed to sit tight and wait for him to be executed?!??
" I'm sure that Kondou would be very unhappy to hear his life was saved at the cost of Okita's." >:( And I'm sure that he would be even more unhappy to hear that Okita spent the rest of his days confined to his bed, in misery and anguish. >:(
The dream was pretty wholesome :'o
I guess protecting the things that are important to Kondou, like his legacy, is more important than protecting Kondou himself. Kondou entrusted his legacy to Okita, and so his efforts might be better spent elsewhere, rather than on rescuing Kondou. :'( That's up to him, though.
HUG ALERT!!! 8D
"No matter how many times he touched me, I couldn't have imagined ever tiring of the sensation..." XD The thirst is real!
"Y'know, ever since you came into my life, I've always given you a hard time..." WHERE IS THE LIE?
These two assholes in each other's arms, like "Welp, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of telling you that I love you so we're just going to continue this totally not heterosexual hug right now and stfu."
:D I am happy to see Hijikata! However, I know someone who may feel differently -_-
"Would you like me to wake him." O_O Nooooot a good idea, Chizuru!
"Without me to blame, I doubt he'll have anything to motivate him, and I'm worried he'll lose the will to live." :O Hijikata, that's kind of sweet in a fucked up kind of way but you underestimate the power of LOVE >:)
THIS HAD BETTER NOT BE FUCKING KAORU AGAIN!!!
:O Kazama and Amagiri?! I was beginning to think that Kazama had lost interest in me. Or, at least, hoped he had.
"This evening... Isami Kondou was beheaded." I just gasped out loud! Kondou, no! D':
OMG, IS CHIZURU TRANSFORMING INTO A BADASS DEMON?! 8D 8D 8D
"A woman who has sullied herself with the water of life is unworthy of my love. Consider this over." ... IF I KNEW THAT THAT WAS ALL IT TOOK, I WOULD HAVE DRANK THAT FUCKING CONCOCTION YEARS AGO >_<
"You are dead to me." GOOD.
Awe, Okita! :'(
NOW I'M CRYING, TOO D'X Damn this game DX
Chapter 3:
Chasing down the Shinsengumi >:) ... Again! If this is anything like Kazama's route, this is going to be depressing af...
We're like two fuzzy wood creatures, going from cozy spot to cozy spot to snooze in during the day :')
"Be a good girl," >_< Staaaaaahhhp!!!
"They went thattaway!" XD I know that this situation is pretty dire but that sentence makes me chuckle!
"Fight...? You?" Ye bitch! >:) I got me my ochimizu powers now!
"How dare you, you bastard!" UM. YOU ATTACKED US!!! WE WERE TRYING TO HAVE A NAP!
*Slash, slash, squelch, splat* X_X
"Ahahaha! You're just helpless pigs!" -_- Uh, Okita? Calm the fuck down, k? You're starting to sound like Kazama!
"his sadistic display of sword mastery." Yup, they be the right words -_-
Ugh, I got shot. Probably shouldn't have been standing around doing NOTHING X_X
D: I killed a guy! GUYS, CHIZURU JUST STABBED SOMEONE IN THE HEART, COME AND SEE!!! :')
"Chizuru, you're trying to hard." *Hides guide* I don't know what you could possibly mean :) :) :)
:O a kunai?! Could it be... my boy YAM?!
YAM!!! :'D
"I just assumed you died or something." Okita is the queen of tact, as always :')
Wait, Yamazaki, don't stay behind on your own O':
NOOOOOOOOO O_O
YAMAZAKIIIIIIII!!!!
OMG HE'S OKAY!!! 8'D 8'D
"I... Cannot afford to die yet..." Doesn't stop you in most routes, though, does it? X_X
"This doesn't look good..." Oh no! Is he going to succumb to his injuries off screen?! D': Classic Yamazaki D,X
"You've been spying on us for days, and I didn't even notice." :') That's our Yam boy!
Aw, Okita gave Yamazaki the thank you!
I reeeeeaaally don't think that Kondou would want Okita to murder Hijikata X_X
"I am going to be late, but I promise to return." YOU HAD BETTER. >:( DON'T DIE, YAMAZAKI!
Owl <3 Hoot hoot to you too, my friend!
Don't kill Hijikata, you dumbass. -_-
"A penchant for violence" X_X That's Okita all right!
It would be funny if he were drinking from Chizuru's foot, instead... Just, something about the way he's holding her hand invites that image XD
FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!! WHY DOES A BATTLE HAVE TO ERUPT EVERYWHERE WE GO!?!
"Okita grabbed my hand" 8D < Happy Chizuru!
Wait... I'M GETTING BLOODLUST?!? MONSTER CHIZURU IS UNLEASHED >:)
Oh, I guess not. Kinda disappointed, tbh XD
Ugh, can we just catch up to Hijikata already? Let's get this over with.
Wait, his sister was "wedded off to some deadbeat"!?! I wonder how old she was... :/
"I was bullied and given shit all the time." :'(
The CG of Okita giving Hijikata the evils is BEAUTIFUL! X'D
"He was a rich snob" somehow, I doubt that...
Wow, Okita really is seething with passionate jealousy for Hijikata... Even though Kondou gave him the sword X_X
I feel like Kondou's relationship with Hijikata is different enough than Okita and Kondou's that Okita's intense jealousy seems a bit much...
It sort of feels kind of like a kid being jealous of their dad's new girlfriend X_X
MORE HUGS >:D
"Before I knew it, you slithered your way into my heart..." That's a pretty weird but also adorable thing to say X'D SLITHER SLITHER
"And you know just what to say," I KNOW, UNCANNY, RIGHT :) :) :) *hides guide*
"We couldn't help but succumb to the hypnotic lull of our passionate embrace." XD Does this mean a fade-to-black is coming :P
I love that their following Hijikata tracks like they're hunting the wild Hijikata beast XD
Is he all alone?
Oh, he has a bodyguard XD
Really inappropriate time to mention this but this route makes Hijikata seem more attractive to me than before XD Maybe it's because of the contrast with Okita's sadistic, violent, volatile side... Maybe it's because he seems more vulnerable when being berated by Okita, idk XD Leave Hijikata alone, Okita!
"You could have saved him!" But Hijikata has RESPONSIBILITIES. He can't just abandon his men and their cause to save Kondou, even if he wanted to :'(
"I COULDN'T!!!" Yeah, you tell him, Hijikata >:(
OKITA, DON'T PUNCH HIS BEAUTIFUL FACE!!! I mean, uh... XD
Wait, we're not going with the Shinsengumi?! O_e
"Hijikata's a real dumbass, don't you think?" -_- .......NO!
Kondou reading to tiny Okita = mega cuteness!
"If I never met Kondou, there's no doubt in my mind that I'd be waaaaay more cuckoo than I am now." And nobody, NOBODY WANTS TO SEE THAT O_O
"You and Kondou are pretty similar" Obviously, that's a compliment and I'm super flattered but I reeeeeaaally hope that this relationship isn't just because Chizuru reminds him of Kondou XP
"My heart suddenly melted in my chest." What, again!?! Chizuru's heart had been through A LOT during this route -_-
"To be fair, it was a little strange of Okita to compare a woman he loved to a man he viewed as a father..." <<< See?! :P
Skipping off, hand in hand :')
Chapter 4:
Aw, tiny Chizuru sadness flashback </3
It's unthinkably awful, what happened to the village, but revenge =/= genocide.
Chizuru, y u lie? -_-
"There were men who took pleasure from their evil deeds." And demons, too... And Okita, to an extent XD
Ugh, I bet Kaoru's gonna sneak up on me while Okita's gone and be all, "Yeeeeesssss.... Give in to your anger... Feel the hate flow through you..." Fucking annoying hate goblin child.
OH, LOOK WHO IT IS!!!
"You're a real bitch, you know that?" Oh, I'M A BITCH??!! Sure thing, tiny asshole. -_-
"At long last, we can come together. We can be the siblings were born to be." ... Happy and free from the burdens of hate and bitterness? O_O
"We are going to massacre the evil forces conspiring within this country, for the good of our people." ... What people? The dead ones? Yeah, I'm sure they'll be reeeeeeaaal grateful from their graves. Sounds like you just want an excuse to torment some humans, you sadistic piece of shit -_-
"Suddenly, I craved blood..." OH HO!
"I... I craved Okita's blood..." 'Sonly fair >:P
"my entire body screamed to tear Okita limb from limb." 8O Yikes.
I... Kinda want to know what happens if I give in to the bloodlust... 😏
Buuuuut I gotta endure it. Damn.
Oh, it's cold up North, is it? ;P What can we possibly do to stay warm in bed?
PENGUIN HUDDLE is hopefully the answer.
<3 :D Looking up at the stars together!
"I want to make your wishes come true. All of them..." :D Okita is every girl's dream sexy murder genie :)
""If you still plan on walking away from me and everything you have..." Okita reached his hand to me kindly." :) :) :)
"Then, I will kill you " FFS XD THIS BITCH!!!
I bet we're gonna kiss now or something. Damn that sexy murder genie X_X
Oh, no kissing, just crying XD That's... Actually more appropriate, even if they are happy tears :')
O WAIT, "I grabbed ahold of him madly" ...
SMOOCHY SMOOCHY >:)
"For once in my life, I felt whole," Awe </3 "the thought of which nearly brought my tears." BITCH, UR ALREADY CRYING XD
"each breath between our zealous smacking grew more strained and sensuous." O_e ... Uh, what did I just read? XD XD XD
"now that Kondou's gone... I only have one reason to fight." Uh... I have a feeling that it's a Chizuru reason... He really needs to find his own motivations, instead of just attaching himself to the causes of people who give him attention. Okay, that was a bit harsh. X_X I'm sorry, Okita!
"How about another kiss, huh?" "B-but, um... W-we just kissed..." ... SO!?! GIRL, YOU KNOW YOU'RE HOT FOR HIM!
"I'm askin' you if you'll have me or not." ... When he says "have", does he mean . . .
"Well, I think there's a time and place for everything." ... Damn. Is this game suggesting that if I say yes, I'm a slut and he'll think less of me? XP BOOOOOOO!
"Watching you squirm like that makes me want to play with you even more." XD As I predicted: Big Dom Energy!
"As long as I will live, I will crave your touch..." *Munches popcorn* Just screw, damn it!
"Our plump lips smeared against one another, and he pulled at a fistful of my hair, drawing me deeper into him as he bit forcefully into my lower lip." :O ... Kinky! >:P I totally called it XD
"I do not mind putting up with anything you might do to me, Okita." How... Romantic?? O_e Just admit that you're horny, Chizuru! There's no shame, I swear!
"I bet when I'm gone, you'll sob like a baby." :'O YES. OBVIOUSLY. >:'(
"Okita spooned me," Classic XD
Ew, Kodo.
"You look pale. Please do not tell me that you have been refusing to drink blood." XD Thanks for your concern...
Bless Okita for offering himself as an all-you-can-eat buffet X_X
"If I were to commit to this relationship, then it meant I needed to separate myself from my family." DRAMAAAA! :D *Pulls out another bag of popcorn*
"I have no desire to carve a life that comes at the expense of hurting others." PREACH B)
13 notes · View notes
yoonglegurt · 6 years
Text
Yandere BTS Sugar Daddy AU - Our Kitten~
Anon asked - Hello can you do a bts yandere sugar daddy au??
Details-
2.2. If it's an imagine, can I do all of them in one plot, as in they're all your sugar daddies but they've decided to share you? Or would you prefer it to be sort of like an reaction template with the members separate, or something else?
Where they all decide to share
The gender can be female and the scenario type can be up to you. Thank you again. Your blog is a goldmine and I just love you soo much.
I hope you enjoy, my sweet anonnie~ I love you way more~
You, were a lucky woman.
It's great luck to get a sugar daddy, even better luck to get a hot sugar daddy, but you had reached the peak with seven hot sugar daddies, plus ones that seemed to like you for who you are, not just your body.
Seven rich billionaires, CEO's, apparently held large enough interest in what you thought was your measly body, ready to fight with all they had to have it as theirs. You had grown to be interested in them as well, and honestly, which broke college student would say no to one, or several, sugar daddies, so you just begged them to get along and share, which they weren't used to but were ready to try to have you at least partly as theirs.
After eight, long and detailed contracts, you officially belonged to the seven as their baby girl, kitten, doll and any pet name they wished to use and were sure you'd like (an actual point in the contracts). The seven men had decided to purchase a fucking castle, feeling like a measly mansion wouldn't be extravagant enough, and all eight of you fit comfortably in it.
The only two problems you all had in your relationship were you and them.
The problem (well, you didn't see it as a problem, *insert huffing emoticon*) with you, and partially with the boys was that they refused to actually use you for what the contract stated you'd mostly be used for, sex. You had sex, yes, but it was extremely rare and they preferred to just spoil you, and you were not okay with that. You did your best to repay them, and that meant cleaning and cooking, and they weren't on board, stating your precious body was only meant to be worshipped, not to work, and the only people who could introduce it to possible harm were the boys themselves when punishing you. Eventually, everything that could be used to clean or cook was hidden away, and only the maids who came over had access to them.
The problem with the boys was that, even if the contract strictly stated when which man would have you all to themselves, they still wanted you when their time had ended. This often resulted in fights and arguments that you'd have to split apart, usually by a kiss to both of the arguing members, which then ended in the others being jealous of not getting kisses and the day would end with a long cuddle session.
This was one of those days.
You sat in the humongous living room, lounging around on the couch lazily. Well, you didn't have anything to do. You didn't feel like shopping, it seemed like everything you could do on any of your many electronics was already done, you weren't allowed to cook or clean. It was boring as hell.
Yoongi walked downstairs. Today was technically Jungkook's day, but he had several meetings and a lot of work in general, so it meant it was a first come, first served type of day, the catch being that all of the other boys were swallowed in work as well. Yoongi was often the one to be most often stressed about work, his obsession with you not lightening no matter how many hours he worked, meaning he got more restless and restless the more he had to be away from you, resulting in anger and a ton of breaks. This, was obviously, one of his breaks, no matter how possessive Kook was with his days.
"Kitten, come cuddle daddy, will you?" Yoongi smirked. They had actually trained you very well. You were all obedient now, the result of a lot of punishments you had received, as evidenced by your form immediately shooting up from the couch and speeding to Yoongi, the man's smirk widening when he was enveloped in your warm hug. "Hi Yoon. Tired?"
"Always, when I'm not with you." Yoongi smiled at you, pecking your nose. Usually, a sugar daddy - baby relationship was more business like, money in exchange sex and company, but you were basically in a poly relationship with the seven, just getting way more gifts and care than normal relationships.
"Awh, d'you love me that much?" The eight had already established the seven harboured romantic feelings for you, and even if you still weren't sure you wanted an actual relationship with them, or returned the feelings completely, you were up to letting them shower you with love and affection.
"Of course. Now come on, I want cuddles." Yoongi picked you up with no trouble at all, walking back upstairs, but passing his office, instead choosing to enter his large and spacious bedroom, throwing you down on the bed, then closing the door, pulling off his shirt and jumping in next to you, immediately collecting you back in his strong arms.
You had learnt about how spontaneous the boys were, liking to cuddle literally wherever, so you had just turned to wearing night dresses and pyjamas everywhere around the house. The boys never allowed anyone over either way, and you weren't allowed outside the premises of the castle anyway, only being allowed to enter the yard and garden with the supervision of a staff or preferably one of the boys themselves, so there was no point in dressing up all nice and fancy, except on the days where you wanted to spoil yourself a little or give the boys a treat.
You just smiled, wrapping around the short, but still taller than you boy tightly. "Missed you. Was all bored without you all." Your small voice echoed in the quiet room, the only other sounds being Yoongi suckling on your neck lightly. "Our lil baby missed her daddies, huh? Must've missed me especially, right?" Yoongi smirked again, teasing.
"Yoon, you know I'm not allowed to say I have a favourite, even if I have one. You'd end up teaming up and killing my favourite, just like how you did with Bobby. " You pouted.
"Don't mention that scummy butlers name. He was idiotic for trying to flirt with our baby. Plus, he might not be dead." Yoongi shrugged, but his voice was much more cold now.
"Sorry for mentioning him, Yoon. I know you didn't like him, but I had fun talking with him when all of you were busy like today." Your voice had turned much more quiet and soft now that you had heard the decrease of warmth in Yoongi's voice.
Yoongi sighed, but before he could calm you, the door burst open, a seething Jungkook appearing. "Mine." He growled lowly, storming over and ripping you out of Yoongi's arms, a cold glare being sent at Yoongi. The rest of the boys, gasping for air, stopped at the door to Yoongi's bedroom.
"We'd protect you so Jungkook doesn't accidentally pummel you to death, but you broke the rules, again, so can't save you now. This is a third payback to when you stole princess when it was my turn." Namjoon shrugged.
"Don't worry, pumpkin," Seokjin warmly smiled at you. "Gukkie won't harm Yoon, at least not today and with you present. He's got you in his arms now, he's currently not sane enough to comprehend anything else but you." He calmed you when he saw the panic you were in at Namjoon's words, still in Jungkook's muscular arms, the overgrown muscle pig sniffing and nipping at your neck, trying to get Yoongi's scent off and his on.
You calmed down slowly, Jungkook letting out a content sigh when he noted the fact, the boy still being a little bit out of it. "G-gukkie?" Your soft voice calmed Jungkook even more. "Mh? Want cuddles? Kissies? Gifts? You must want gifts, right? Taehyung, get baby everything on the future gift list this instant." Jungkook brightened at the attention you gave him, even if it was tiny.
"Baby girl, Kookie had a hard day at work today, he will be a little crazed all day. We'll lock you both up in Gukkies room, okay? Just in case you make a lil mistake and he goes psycho." Hoseok smiled, wanting to pet your hair, but refraining himself at the murderous glare Jungkook sent him.
"O-okay..." You mumbled quietly. "Gukkie, can we go to your room? I want comfy cuddles."
Needless to say, you got very comfy cuddles that day.
And this happened on the daily, really. Wether it be Jimin stealing you on Namjoons turn or Taehyung taking you out when it was Seokjins day, the boys couldn't control themselves when thirsting for you and your sweet attention all on them. It wasn't often all seven shared you at the same day, it usually only happened on the Most Special Day Of The Year Number One or Number Two, your birthday or the day where you signed all eight of the contracts.
On your birthday, they accompanied you outside of the premises of the castle to let you meet your friends and family for a whole day. You were allowed to hug your brother and kiss your mother and father. Everyone thought you were just a very lucky girl who was in a lovely relationship with seven, rich men, and although you were, the relationship was also abusive, but the boys didn't let anyone know that. For all they had to know, you were their obedient, small girlfriend, and they could wander for eternity why you immediately jumped to sit in their lap when one of them leaned back and gave the lightest tap to your thigh, or why you shivered and had a look of fear when they whispered words similar to 'room, whip, blood, never meet' in your ear when you hugged your brother just a little bit too hard.
On the Most Special Day Of The Year Number Two, you were pulled inside the Bed Room, a room in the castle which had nothing but a huge bed which covered almost the entire room, and a wardrobe which contained pyjamas, water, and three boxes full of sex toys. All seven of them took turns absolutely wrecking  your tiny body, usually ganging up in teams of three or four and taking you at the same time. All eight of you loved the event, but the boys had too much trouble containing their jealousy on other days to comprehend the idea of sharing your body.
There were, of course, also days where they decided to share. It usually consisted of all seven teaming up to spoil you with expensive clothing and made you model it for them, taking pictures and posting them to the instagram account they made just to make everyone jealous of the woman they worshipped, or ordering food from the most luxurious restaurants, feeding you with 79$ worth dekopon and 1.4 million dollars worth Strawberries Arnaud. Of course, you never knew the cost of the food you were fed, even if the pizza cost a thousand dollars, but you could guess from the gold leaves covering it. You just sighed and allowed yourself to be coddled and fed. If that was what they wanted, you weren't going to refuse.
And that was how you spent your days. When you finished college and had literally no reason at all to stay in the contract, the boys proceeded to put the castle into lock down and refused to terminate the contract which stated it would exist as long as a ending contract wasn't signed by your contract. If you had decided to give yourself to them at your worst, they would deserve to have you for themselves forever, no matter if you wish to stay or not.
Maybe, just maybe, you weren't so lucky to have seven sugar daddies who seemed to have real feelings for you. Maybe.
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all-about-wannaone · 6 years
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Wanna One as Mafia members (1/3)
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Hello everyone! As mentioned before in the previous post, I have actually received a ton of requests to do an AU like this; where the Wanna One members are involved in their very own mafia gang. ^^;; Hence, without further ado, I have finally began the AU! I’m sorry to keep so many of you guys waiting, even though I cannot tag the requesters in the first place because they were all anons, but I did actually have quite a good time writing this out for you guys. :) Part 2 and Part 3 will be out very soon, and for those still waiting for your written ships, I promise, they would be done soon! Thank you for all your support and just some good news, but I am 25 followers away from 1000 followers? I swear, you guys are too nice. ;-; Also, I hope all of y’all have had a blessed Christmas and may the ending of 2017 be a good one for all of you too! ^^ 
Also, just a note that the voting for the Wanna One Fanfiction Awards ends today at midnight GMT so be sure to vote HERE for your favourite fanfictions! “When Two Worlds Collide” has been nominated for Best Angst so do head down and vote for that as well! ^^ Thank you everyone for your support once again and I just wanted to say that I love all of you! <3
Yoon Jisung:
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The leader of the gang
Was probably made the leader as a strategy rather than an actual thing when the syndicate was passed on to the 4th generation and he was coincidentally the oldest.
Seriously though, no one suspects that he’s the leader, especially with the fact that he seems to take nothing seriously.
Everyone probably expects him to be someone with a decent life and have his entire life in order with a decent job, and being in a mafia gang is probably the last thing they would expect (or it is simply impossible to imagine)
Nobody really knows how he got dragged into such a line of work, but it is rumoured that even though he is someone who never fails to have a bright smile on his face, he did have a pretty difficult past and was left with no choice if he wanted to survive.
Also, it did not help that his father had some link to the mafia as well, especially when his father was a well-known man in the law community, and his success was probably determined by the generation before Jisung.
Truth be told, the gang has a bigger history of making society a safer place to be, even if the handling of matters might not be the most lawful and just.
So enough introduction and back to the AU
Jisung is known for his fun-loving personality and probably prefers to be eating good food at hidden cafes, enjoying indie music and just being way too comfortable in the environment which is littered with constant danger.
Has a smile that literally fools everyone, which also explains why he is never caught by the rival gangs, because no one believes that he’s the leader, whatever the description the rival gang’s leader might have given to his lackeys. 
Despite his love to go out and have a little bit of fun, the rest of his gang prefer he stay at home and would probably go so far as to buy whatever he wants for him; from cold brew coffee from arguably the best cafe in town to brand new albums from his favourite indie band.
Sometimes, he wishes that he could escape from such a life, but knows better than to do so.
He might have a lot of money at his disposal, given his position, but would probably settle for a simple (but secure) loft apartment.
Decorations pretty much scream his personality, especially in terms of having miniature sized real looking animal stuff toys in his house and ensuring that he only has happy colours in his apartment.
He might seem like a real jokester by now, and should probably better be off being removed from the mafia, but there is good reason why he is their leader.
When his fellow members are in danger (captured, held at gunpoint etc.), he would go so far as to meet the rival gang for himself and reveal his shocking true identity, even if it might cost him his life in the future.
However, he’s not stupid either and probably made use of Woojin’s tooth mic (which is so discrete and no one will notice it) as a signal to when he is in real danger and in need of aid.
Nevertheless, Minhyun would ensure that all of his whereabouts are accounted for, and when Jisung really needs the members, he would make sure that they would always be on standby and ready to save their leader.
Jisung is actually smart, alert and careful, even though it might not seem like it, and oversees all operations together with Minhyun, ensuring that his own members stay safe and would act as Minhyun’s 6th sense if need be.
Almost never blames anyone if they failed a mission, and would only give a mini speech to get them back up on their feet again.
All in all, he ensures the safety and well-being of all of them and is serious in missions, but also makes sure that he keeps a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood, provides an A-star support system and the occasional fun to lighten the burden of being in a gang.
Ha Sungwoon:
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The one who deals with anything related to drugs; buying, selling (not for consumption though) and even ceasing operations.
He might be small in stature, but it would truly be a grave mistake to think that one can fool around during the drug trades.
Even though he does know the workings of the complex system of drug trading at the back of his hand, he was also the accidental strategy anyway.
No one suspects him anyway and even if they do, they’d probably shrug their shoulders and let him do what he wants to do without bothering him at all.
With regards to his entry into the gang, it all started when he was very young, and even though he came from a pretty dysfunctional family, he still wanted to take revenge on those who gave his mother the wrong drug, which ended up killing her in the process.
Don’t get him wrong, his mother was a kind woman, but she needed a remedy to relieve her emotional turmoil, and her last form of consumption rendered her dead.
He still can remember how he simply came home from school and was all ready to show his mother what he had achieved, only to find her cold body with white foam at her mouth and splatters of blood when she tried to cough out the supposed poison.
From then on, he became a totally different person and joined a gang willingly just to study the drug trade and its possible scams, before moving onto Jisung’s gang because they seemed to give him better prospects and better treatment (even though it led them to constant raids from Sungwoon’s previous gang).
Could probably tell the difference between heroin and cocaine with his naked eye, and could even differentiate grades from the same family of drugs.
His job is pretty dangerous though, which explains why he is skilled with weapons such as the throwing knives, because he admits that he is small and stature and would need an upperhand apart from hand-to-hand combat.
If someone does dare to fool him, one can easily be prepared for the wrath of Ha Sungwoon, and truth be told, no one wants to see the side of him and that is because one could easily end up not seeing the light of day anyway.
Goes out pretty often to do fieldwork and research of the area (i.e. taking note of all the CCTVs and possible ambush spots) that he will be trading in and Jisung always ensures that their strongest bodyguard aka Kang Daniel goes with him should anything happen, especially when no one seems to mess around when the latter’s around.
Ensures that the members of the gang is passed on of the knowledge of the drug trade as well, or at least the gist of it, just in case he himself forgets in the heat of the moment.
Sure, he might seem like a serious man who is still determined to find the culprit who killed his mother, but he is also another surprising softie at heart.
He might not be the best with words, unlike Minhyun or Jisung, but he is a brother that all of them can count on just for company. If you needed someone to simply listen to all your laments and stresses, Sungwoon will be ready with soju for the legal ones and cider for those who are not.
He might be fierce and hot-headed in the field, but out of the job, that’s when the man with the warm heart comes out.
Probably likes to live in a penthouse in the middle of town.
Might be dangerous but then again, it will always ensure that he will be ready whenever the gang requires his aid.
Hwang Minhyun:
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The gang’s second-in-command and main strategist.
He is a certified genius and is able to solve riddles from rival gangs to ransom notes to morse code in mere seconds.
Has an apparent IQ of 150 and for some reason, nobody questions it.
Always mistaken as the leader by rival gangs from everywhere and anywhere, and always gets caught and chased after, but never seems to mind.
In fact, he’d probably prefer he be used as the decoy rather than risking Jisung’s life, no matter how “well”  Jisung (or so he claims) can act.
Too good looking for his own good that he’s always the one who catches everyone’s attention, together with his same-aged friend, Ong Seongwoo.
Doesn’t look like he knows any ways of defending himself because of his tall and lanky physique, but he does know some self defense as taught by Kang Daniel, and probably handles ranged weapons better with a hell of deadly accuracy.
Trust me, he never misses.
Level-headed, way too calm to actually be comfortable around him (because he’s also that confident in his abilities) and always serious when it comes to anything work-related.
Count on him on being willing to burn the midnight oil if it means that he will find those causing trouble for the gang before the sun rises or the cock crows.
Again, he is also another one whom nobody knows how he got roped into such a line.
Could easily pass off as a celebrity, professor or simply a young and handsome CEO of a huge company.
He doesn’t like to talk about it though and prefers to keep silent about it, but it is rumoured that his reason was probably similar to Sungwoon’s, especially since he is always so determined to work on those cases that involve the use of arms.
Despite the facade of seriousness and calm, he actually does have an innate motherly nature, contradictory to what most would tend to see.
He cleans their working area, gets rid of the rubbish, cooks for the members together with Daehwi and basically enquires about the day at school for the younger ones.
Babies the young ones (from Jihoon onwards) to no end so DO NOT mess with the kids.
“Obsessed” with cleanliness (even though he does not admit it) and would nag his fellow members while cleaning up their area, lecturing them on the possible germs and rodents they might attract to the area.
Explains why his desk is spotless (you can wear a white glove, run your finger through the surface and find no dust on it whatsoever) and everything is put in neat stacks or in drawers and even more folders.
Things to take note about Hwang Minhyun? Don’t touch his table. Just don’t. Ask and it shall be given.
Similarly, he lives in a relatively huge private service apartment with minimalistic decorations, and is called “boring” for it, but honestly, as long as he’s happy, opinions don’t really matter.
All in all, he’s super reliable and is always ready for whatever the team needs him for, even if it’s to unclog a weirdly choked toilet at 3am.
Ong Seongwoo:
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The gang’s smooth talker/ scammer to trick rival gangs into falling for all the traps that Jaehwan has set up.
Always manages to get all forms of information, from the superficial to the actual details, almost like the whole story.
Gets 95% of the story from all the ladies that he meets (even those who are pretty up there in the hierarchy of rival gangs) and 5% from the bosses themselves, regardless of their character types.
It’s either he’s an amazing flirt to the ladies or just plain intimidating to the bosses with his intense gaze that would easily make any “strong” man crumble under it.
Always gets caught for his smart mouth or being mistaken for the leader of the gang together with Minhyun, but gives his all to psychologically confuse the culprit, and steps out usually unharmed.
When he does come out with a bruise on his eye, he probably underestimated his opponent, but somehow still has the fighting spirit and confidence within him.
Which is also the reason why he’s also their interrogator, simply because he gets information out in a mere 15 minutes.
Not ashamed of his background and he spills it as if it’s a matter-of-fact.
Used to be an actual police officer who had a uniform decorated in all sorts of iron-on badges and was subsequently pretty high in the rankings.
Hence, he knows the law at the back of his hand, keeping the group out of trouble even if they’re doing all these in the name of justice.
Unfortunately, he did not know his father had caused trouble for the previous generation of the gang and volunteered himself to owe the gang whatever his father has done wrong, especially after they threatened his mother and younger brother.
No one else in the police force knows his true story, thinking that he left for personal reasons, which is not entirely wrong, but Seongwoo’s superior knows better.
Still meets up with his superior on his off days anyway, who continues to look out for him, and will always be behind Seongwoo’s back, whenever Seongwoo needs him.
Sometimes, the members themselves are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that Seongwoo was actually a police officer with such a high rank, even though it’s kinda expected.
He just doesn’t look the part, simply because he was  probably recruited by modelling and entertainment agencies like crazy back then. (which was actually true)
With all the training that he has gone through, he’s skilled in all sorts of defence, both in combat and ranged weapons, and is probably one of the best.
Skills well hidden behind the handsome face = perfect for the mafia investigator.
Serious and tenacious with his work, and is almost like Minhyun’s assistant since they are the same age, but he does have a little bit of a jokester in him too.
When the team’s going through tough times, he would be the most effective moodmaker, and would make the atmosphere less dull than before.
Probably the one to initiate having a monthly day off for all of them to relax (because Jisung does forget sometimes as their leader) and settle any underlying currents of tension, if any.
He might have a sharp tongue with his thoughts and opinions, but they are truly for the best intentions.
Take his words to heart, but take the tone with a pinch of salt, because he hates to sugarcoating situations and real life. If it was meant to be a certain way, he would say it as it is.
Of course, there are days when he would joke around endlessly and craft the most sarcastic of remarks, but be a little patient and one would probably realise how he’s actually a key person in the gang.
Might seem to love luxury and all forms of riches, but would much rather stay in a quiet house along a quiet lane.
Don’t forget, he does have regular police patrols in the area, as suggested by his superior.
In the end, Ong Seongwoo is probably one of the best scammers out there, and also the best actors, so as much as he loves fun and games, he likes to play dangerous games too.
So don’t risk it.
Part 2: Kim Jaehwan, Kang Daniel, Park Jihoon, Park Woojin [coming soon]
Request a scenario here! 
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ink-splotch · 7 years
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I wonder what would happen if Dudley grew up in the wizarding world but still as a muggle? like kind of reverse AU where his parents are dead and he has to go to Lily for whatever reason? do you think he would become bitter like Petunia about magic?
Lily remembered her sister, how there had been a time she was curious and delighted about magic, before it slowly sank in that she could look and not touch.
The last thing Petunia had said to Lily before she died was a chilly goodbye, ending a holiday dinner where they’d had a shrieking row in the entryway. Petunia had said freak and Lily had hissed better than this, better than this being my whole fucking world, Tune, do you even see yourself, are you happy–
And now here was Dudley Vernon Dursley fussing himself to sleep as Lily walked the halls of the Godric’s Hollow house. His tiny soft hands with their tiny soft fingernails curled under her chin, the same way Harry always had.
She passed James, who was gently bouncing his way up the hall the opposite way. “I think he’s asleep,” James mouthed over Harry’s tousled head. His hair was the same mess, bent down to peer at his sleeping son.
Lily stopped where she stood, her nephew heavy on her chest, her husband smiling, her sister buried. “James,” she said. “How are we going to do this?”
“Oh,” he said. “Hey. Don’t you cry, you’ll start them off– unless you need to cry, I mean, you go ahead, hey, sweetheart, hey, it’s alright, you just let it out.” He stepped forward, shifting Harry gently to his other shoulder, and pressed his forehead to hers. “We tuck them in, okay, that’s what we do next. Then we go to our own bed, okay, and go to sleep, and when we wake up it’ll be a new day.”
“A new day,” she said. “Another day– James, that’s the– I’m so tired.”
“So let’s sleep. It’ll look better in the morning,” he said. “And if it doesn’t look better this morning, it’ll look better in the next one.”
“You promise?”
“Better than that. I’ll show you. Every day,” he said and kissed her cold forehead.
Dudley had not shown up on the Potters’ doorstep with the milk bottles. Lily had gotten a phone call from the landline she still had installed in Godric’s Hollow, about an accident, and she had gone down to the Muggle police station to identify the bodies.
The cupboard under the stairs was filled with spiders, broomsticks, and the sewing machine Lily’s mother had given her when she married James– that’s all. Dudley slept downstairs. Uncle Remus taught Dudley and Harry to knock out coded messages through the wall their rooms shared.
In the backyard, beside a rickety porch and an ambitious hedge, James taught them to fly– first on little tot brooms where their toes brushed the grass the whole time, then out of the barrels of practice brooms James used for lessons and coaching Little League Quidditch.
When the boys turned ten, five weeks apart, they both got shiny new Nimbuses on Dudley’s birthday (which came first), and a set of enchanted Quidditch balls on Harry’s, to share. The Bludgers were enchanted to be very kind but Dudley spent long afternoons whacking them far afield while Harry chased the Snitch at his back.
Harry had a scar on his forehead, like a jagged bit of lightning. Dudley had no scars– the car crash that had killed his parents hadn’t touched him where he sat strapped into a car seat in the back, chewing on a stuffed dinosaur toy.
Lily did not believe in lying to the children. She was bare years off being a child herself, and spare moments on the far side of a war. When Dudley asked about his parents, she told him there had been an accident. She pulled pictures off the shelf and wrote Petunia’s old university friends for more.
Photographs came by mailman, the images still and unnatural to Dudley’s eye. Every day he’d gone out to play, for years, he’d been waving at the picture near the back door of his aunt and uncle on their wedding day, and they waved back every time.
“She was very clever,” Lily said. “Your mom liked to know everything.”
“And my dad?”
“Vernon liked… cars?” James offered. “That’s the word, right, Lily?”
“I didn’t know him very well,” Lily said. “He liked drills, I think; he worked for a firm that made them, and he talked about that a lot.”
Dudley brushed his thumbs over the dull edges of the photos. When Lily went off to Auror headquarters the next morning for work, James bundled the boys up and took them on an impromptu invisible tour of Grunnings Drill Manufacturing Inc.
They tiptoed down halls and past water coolers and ringing fellytones. They held hands under the Cloak as they dodged around the machines on the manufacturing floor, thumping and pounding and whirring away loudly enough that Harry and Dudley could whisper to each other under the noise. An elevator took them all the way up to the top floor. Harry whistled cheerily and eerily along with the elevator music while the Muggles slowly edged toward the doors and pressed floor buttons lower than they’d originally wanted.
There were boxes and cabinets and folders and desks and staticky monitor screens full of numbers strewn in endless grids. “Merlin’s knuckles,” said Harry, who was seven and a half and rather proud of this expletive. “People can look at this all day, their whole lives, and not die?”
“Work is hard work,” said James.
“At least mum gets to curse things.”
“But my dad liked it?” Dudley said, peering at a white board that was bleeding enthusiastic marker. “There’s a lot of things, here. Maybe he liked knowing things, too.”
When the boys asked about the scar on Harry’s forehead, Lily and James looked at each other. “You know how sometimes we sit with Uncle Remus and talk about a war?” James said. “Or with Ms. Amelia or Mr. Mundungus.”
“Mr. Mundungus is kinda smelly,” Harry said helpfully.
“It’s not nice to say so though,” said James, and Lily made a face.
“Are we raising them to be nice?” Lily said.
“I’m trying,” said James.
“You talk about a war,” said Harry and shrugged. Dudley nodded.
“There was a very bad man, in those days,” said James.
“Voldemort,” said Lily, and James made a face.
“He was so scary a lot of people don’t like to say his name, even now,” said James. “And he was coming after us because we had been fighting against him, in the war. He came to the house and he tried to hurt you, Harry. But it didn’t work. It hurt him instead, and gave you that scar.”
“Is he going to come back?” said Dudley, who was paler than his normal pink.
“No one’s heard of him since then,” said Lily.
“Where were you?” said Harry, because all his life they had been right there.
“Oh,” said Lily, but her throat closed up.
“We were at Dudley’s mum and dad’s funeral,” said James. “Our friend– our friend Sirius was watching you two. The bad man, he came to the house. He. Well. I.”
“Sirius died,” said Lily, one hand squeezing James’s knee and the other reaching down to brush hair off Dudley’s forehead. “You lived, Harry, and Voldemort vanished. And that’s why sometimes people stare in the streets, baby.” James tweaked Harry’s collar absently.
Two days after they had buried Lily’s sister, the Potters had stood together in the first chills of November and buried James’s brother.
Sirius had been burned off the Black family tree years before. Lily and James had talked to his cousin Andromeda, to Remus, and then they had laid him to rest in the Potter family plot. At the wake, they’d told old jokes about squirrel breath, shedding, and man’s best friend. Remus had fallen asleep on their couch and stayed for a month.
It took a two hour row with HR for Lily to get two passes to the Ministry’s Bring Your Kid To Work Day.
“He’s a Muggle.”
“He’s not,” Lily snapped. “He’s family.”
She had to get permission, sign a million forms, and she also had to take the boys in early so that Dudley could get smothered in the spells that would keep the Anti-Muggle wards around the Ministry from activating on him. “If a Muggle stumbles in somehow, they just see a funny-smelling supply cabinet and turn back around,” Lily told Dudley. He nodded and dragged Harry off by the wrist to go look at the fountain.
The windows were pouring sunlight into the underground room– the maintenance workers had just gotten a win on their contract negotiations and had banished the grimy rain-spattered windows of the previous weeks. The light hit the falling water, the golden statues, and the small excitable crowd of Ministry dependents who were gathering in the atrium. Dudley was fishing about in the fountain for Knuts to toss back out again, elbow-deep, and Harry was laughing and coming up with weird wishes to make on them.
Lily hadn’t said son. She’d said family, and that was true enough, wasn’t it? She didn’t say son– she had a son, and she had a nephew, a ward, another child who came to her after nightmares and scraped knees. It was not less, it was just words.
Lily worried about stealing more things from Petunia. Tuney had shrieked at her, in ladies’ restrooms and suburban foyers, had hissed at her in grocery store aisles and family dinners, because Lily got everything. And now Lily had her son.
Lily could just imagine it– could just see Petunia’s face twisting and chin stabbing at the air. You could have anything, and you took my son– my son!
“You left him to me,” Lily whispered, but that wasn’t quite right. “You left,” she whispered, and that wasn’t quite right either, so she strode off toward the fountain to ask the boys if they wanted to go see the Auror spellwork ranges. Dudley’s sodden shirt sleeves dripped all over the Ministry floors. Harry’s hair fell down into his eyes and they both grinned bright enough to rival the spelled sunlight.
Keep Reading (Ao3)
When Harry was eleven years old, his Hogwarts letter came by owl. He’d been accidentally blowing windows open and lighting cauliflower on fire for years. James took Harry to go get his wand at Ollivanders, and Lily took Dudley to the Owl Emporium where he tried to convince her they should build an aviary in the backyard. They came home with a fat black cat who hissed at everyone. Dudley named him Spooks, and Lily called him Monster.
“Did you have to?” said James. “That is the meanest beast I’ve ever met, and I’ve known Remus unmedicated on full moons and a pubescent Sirius thwarted in love.”
Lily, who had ink on her cheek and a ballpoint pen stuck behind her ear, waved vaguely at the living room without looking up from her arrest report. Dudley was asleep in an armchair. The cat sprawled across his lap. Both its front paws were wrapped around Dudley’s arm as it cleaned his wrist with aggressive fondness.
“Alright,” said James. “Yeah, you had to.”
When Ginny Weasley ran shouting after the train carrying her littlest big brother away to his first year of school, her arms waving madly, her heart desperate to go along, there was a pudgy, pink-cheeked boy racing next to her. Ginny’s arms were little twigs compared to Dudley’s and they waved and waved, bumping elbows and giggling as their shouts grew competitively louder.
“Send me letters!”
“Send me a real Snitch!”
“Send me a hippogriff!”
“We’ll send you a toilet seat!” Fred hollered back over the rumble and shriek of the train, and Dudley giggled so hard he had to sit down.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m Ginny Weasley.”
“Dudley Dursley,” he said and took the hand she offered.
Every visible speck of her was freckly, her hair in a bushy red tail down her back. Dudley liked her immediately. “I’m so mad,” Ginny said cheerfully, while Dudley dusted off his backside. “I want on that train.”
Dudley didn’t say “me, too,” but he did bounce back to where their parents–his guardians–had clustered together to see if they could all get some ice cream.
It was the first year the boys wouldn’t be home together, getting homeschooled by James and taken on educational adventures. Harry wrote home about the Gryffindor Quidditch team, about trolls, feasts, and a Professor Snape. For the first, they shipped him his broom. For the last, Lily charged down to the school to yell at someone named Severus.
Dudley and James did homeschool most mornings, scribbling at the kitchen table or with James conjuring presentations and scrawling light into the air of the backyard. Dudley’s afternoons he split between Little League Quidditch practice or frowning over his homework either on the grass sidelines near one of James’s flying lessons or some spare spot in the Ministry. Sometimes he went on field trips with Uncle Remus, who tried very hard to get Dudley to call Harry’s dad Uncle Jimmy.
Lily had a bit of extra desk space in her cubicle, but her papers tended to spread everywhere, even when they weren’t flying enchanted memos. Dudley would sit in the cafe in the atrium (where people chewed on soggy sandwiches and burnt coffee), or in the spare keys room when Miss Higgins was on shift (her daughter was off at Hogwarts now, and she said she missed the company), or down in the dark quiet of the archives (on days when the noises felt noisier and the lights felt harsher and every time someone slurped a coffee just wrong Dudley wanted to hit something, but instead he had to read limericks).
On weekends (or particularly glorious weekdays), the Weasley’s battered family owl would swoop through the Potters’ open kitchen window because Ginny required a playmate.
She’d gone shy for a week after figuring out Dudley’s cousin was The Harry Potter, but his uncle’s spare brooms and Harry and Dudley’s set of Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch was really too much to resist. James would bring Dudley and their trunk of Quidditch supplies over and sit with Mrs. Weasley until their kids stumbled in, sweaty and beaming, looking for sweets and soft surfaces to collapse on.
If Dudley finished his homework early when he was at work with Lily, he’d help the cafe staff count the sacks of coffee beans in the pantry, or run spare keys places for Miss Higgins, or go down and lug file boxes around for Ms. Gorbachek, who ruled the archives with a steely squint and gravelly voice.
The day Mrs. Gorbachek let him do some sorting not just carrying he skipped all the way up the stairs to Lily’s desk to tell her. Lily wrapped her scarf around her neck, shaking her head. “Got your pop’s eye for boring detail, I guess,” Lily said.
But she smiled and kissed him on top of the head, so Dudley pushed out his chest proudly and said, “Yep.”
Harry came home that summer with stories of a third floor corridor, a magic stone, a man with two faces. Lily and James had worried little discussions in the kitchen and some talks with Harry about Common Sense and Not Dying Young.
They spent a good half the summer at the Burrow, or with redheads filling the Godric’s Hollow house with noise. Harry and Ron bumped elbows while Dudley circled and nibbled on his thumbnails, considering this new Best Friend of his cousin’s. “He’s alright?” he asked Ginny and Ginny shrugged.
“For a big brother,” she said. But then Harry turned their way so she went bright red and vanished to help her mother with the dishes.
Fred and George were loud, but alright. They taught Dudley some tricks with the Bludger that he absorbed with a furrowed brow. Percy seemed like he might be fun to talk about boring detail things with, but he didn’t seem to care about the Ministry archiving system when Dudley tried to bring it up.
Dudley also met Hermione Granger that summer, when she came to visit. She talked too fast and had more impressive hair than Lily even. “We fought off a mountain troll together,” said Harry. “And a three-headed dog!”
“What,” said Dudley. “Can we get one? Harry, ask your mum. AUNT LILY CAN WE GET A THREE HEADED DOG PLEASE.”
“I don’t think Monster would approve,” Lily said without looking up from her paperwork. James flipped pancakes on the stove while Hermione chattered happily at him about the culinary anthropology of the dish.
“Oh, yeah,” said Dudley, and went to go give Monster some head scritches in apology. The cat purred loud enough shake the walls and hissed when Harry came over to say hello.
It was a full moon, and with a bellyful of potion Remus was sleeping harmless on their hearth. Dudley had his head pillowed on Remus’s shaggy belly and Lily could hear her sister whispering freak.
Lily got a blanket to cover them, and then she sat in the crackling firelight and spoke to her ghosts.
I don’t know what you would have wanted, Petunia.  I don’t know if you would’ve hated me for this, but you’re not here and we are.
Dudley has got me and James and Harry and Remus. He’s got a terrible monster cat that loves him to pieces. He can fly– and maybe you would have hated that I gave him a broomstick, but I saw you break your own heart, once, and I think it was my fault.
I would’ve made you flowers from leaves every morning, Tuney. I would’ve walked you up and down Diagon Alley every Sunday, looked in the windows, taught you how to feed the owls out of the palm of your hand. James would have snuck you into Hogwarts and we could have sat out by the lake and watched the water.  
Would that have helped?
Ginny went off to Hogwarts, too, the next year. Dudley moped around for months, even though Mrs. Weasley had him and James over for tea on the regular. Ginny’s letters grew weird, and then stopped coming. Dudley figured it was probably something he had written. The government testers who came by now and then to check on his homeschooling said he was below grade level average for writing, but he was trying.
The homeschooled wizards on his youth Quidditch team said they had magical school authorities coming to test them (Dudley had Muggle ones), but James had registered Dudley with the Ministry as a squib (lacking other useful options) so they didn’t bother. Dudley was grateful about not having to go through two rounds of testing, but something still sat weird on his stomach about it all. The homeschooled squibs on Dudley’s team shrugged and said no one bothered to come grade them at all.
That year, they made it to the semi-finals before they got kicked out. Lily took afternoons out of office to see them play. She sat in the stands and thought look, Tuney.
Dudley noticed the Bludgers were getting cleverer, so he spent more time in the backyard after James helped him change the settings on his practice Bludger. The youth Cup that year went to a fierce little team from a cottage schoolhouse in one of the wizarding villages. James and Dudley watched the final match and talked smugly about how Harry was a better Seeker, and scornfully about their Beaters’ lacks of good form.
Harry came home for Christmas as always, with little packets for each of them. “There’s a Muggleborn photographer at school,” Harry said, as Dudley scrabbled with his gift’s wrapping paper. “This first-year. He’s been turning his Muggle photos into moving ones all year, so I asked him how. He made me sign some stuff.
The gift ripped open in Dudley’s lap and a book of photos fells open in his lap– moving pictures, like every picture he knew except (until now) the ones that held these two faces. Petunia and Vernon squinted up at their son and Dudley stared. Harry smiled.
At the end of the school year, Dudley learned why Ginny had gone quiet. Harry came home with stories again (Lily and James had more stressed conferences in the kitchen), and with a sinking stomach Dudley listened to him talk about basilisks and diaries and blood-red writing on the wall. There was a lot of stomach to sink. Even with weekly Quidditch and file boxes to lug about, Dudley was growing up and out. He had big meaty hands and a few spare hairs coming in on his chin, while Harry was still small and bony, grinning and shoving his hair out of his eyes.
Dudley tugged on James’s sleeve, after Harry’s welcome home dinner. "Can we go visit the Burrow tomorrow?”
“If they’re up for company,” James said.
Dudley brought all their Quidditch equipment– the balls, the bats, the brooms. Mrs. Weasley fussed around the kitchen, seeming unable to keep still. Ginny didn’t touch her tea but she could be tempted out by a good broom and a blue sky.
“You wanna talk about it?” said Dudley, when they were getting the Quaffle out of a tree it had gotten stuck in.
Ginny shifted laterally through the air, thighs clamped tight around the broom. The brisk breeze tossed the tree’s heavy limbs and threw her hair about. “No,” she said.
“I’m not very good at talking anyway,” he said.
“You’re fine, Duds.”
He came back all that summer, sometimes with Harry and sometimes without. They played Quidditch out in the orchard, or walked out to the edges of the fields, swordfighting with long stalks of grass, or Dudley studied at the Weasley kitchen table, trying to wrap his mind around subordinate clauses and bezoars.
There were no dementors at Hogwarts in Harry’s third year, but on a visit to his mother’s office he and Dudley got lost in the lowest courtroom levels– well, Dudley let Harry lead and grinningly watched him get lost. A pair of dementors were part of the escort of an Azkaban prisoner there for a deposition, and when Harry passed them by he dropped limp onto the floor. Cold sank ugly fingers into Dudley’s stomach, but he hauled his skinny cousin up by the armpits and ran for the stairs.
“I heard Uncle Sirius,” Harry said on the couch later, wrapped in blankets. Lily broke off another chocolate square for him and Dudley hovered. “When the dementors were– I heard the night he died, I think. Dudley crying, and Sirius cursing. He curses just like Mum.”
“He ought to,” Lily said. “I taught him everything he knew.”
She broke off a few more chocolate squares; one went to James. “I’ll go start dinner,” James said, but when Dudley went to follow, Lily wrapped a warm hand around his wrist.
“Sit with Harry, okay? Thank you, sweetheart.”
James went out flying that night, so late that Lily couldn’t wait up. When he came back to bed, his skin was cold from high, thin air but she wrapped herself all around him anyway. They slept in a tangle of long limbs and when they woke in the morning they were both warm.
Harry told his Uncle Remus the same story, leading up to asking about Patronus lessons at school. Remus said, “Yes, he did. Curse, you know,” and then asked Harry to come back later. He had to find a boggart for their lessons. He had to sit, quiet, and watch the trees shake outside the window.
Thirteen was the year when Lily gave Dudley his own sack of Floo powder and taught him how to use it. “It’s magical all by itself,” said Lily. “So you don’t have to be.”
Dudley nodded seriously. “Uncle James taught me about it’s occultochemical properties last year.”
“Leaving me to teach you the useful bits, of course,” Lily said (James, in the next room, laughed).
Even with Ginny at school, Dudley used his newfound Floo freedoms to go visit the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley patted his cheeks (survivable), offered him whatever food they had on hand (ideal), and showed him the photographs of dragons, tombs, and baklava that Charlie and Bill sent with their letters (excellent).
“Uncle James says my dad liked cars,” said Dudley around a mouthful of treacle. “Harry says you have one?”
“Oh, yes,” Molly said blackly, but Arthur beamed at Dudley as though unaware of the look his wife was giving him.
“Here, yes,” said Arthur. “Out in the shed, up, c'mon.”
“Finish your tea first!”
He and Harry coordinated to meet up in Hogsmeade during Hogwarts’s day trips there. They sampled their way through Honeydukes, poked through the joke shop, and threw snow balls in the streets. Harry went up the hill to roll his eyes at the Shrieking Shack with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, but Dudley ducked out and waited for him in the Three Broomsticks instead, nursing a butterbeer and glaring at his homework.
Everyone always recognized Harry– when the kid knocked the doors open and stamped snow off his boots, Dudley could see strangers watching his cousin. The only people who recognized Dudley were the ones who sometimes brought signs to his Quidditch games that made James go tight around his mouth. Dudley spun his mug slowly on the wood, trying to watch it and not to watch Harry make his way through a sea of stares and smiles.
“Field trip,” said James. “Up, up, up and at ‘em, kiddo.”
Dudley pulled himself up to sitting, among his heavy blankets and soft comforter. “Wha?”
“There’s some friends of mine I’d like you to meet,” James said, stretching his grin and waggling his eyebrows in a way the boys had tried to mimic back as children. Harry could almost do it. Dudley wiggled his eyebrows now in pale approximation and James said, “Misters Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs.”
They went out to Hogsmeade, which Dudley knew rather well now. While James gave distracted storytelling and explanation Dudley gathered up all the fragments he was going to have to tell Harry later– “They came up with fancy nicknames for themselves, Harry, like dweebs,” he scripted in his head. “Also Uncle James can turn into a giant deer.”
They went down into the cellar of Honeydukes under the Invisibility Cloak and then down the long hidden passage to the school. “Are we supposed to be here?” said Dudley. The stones in the walls were getting bigger, like the castle knew it was important and wanted to let you know as you approached. He could feel the Anti-Anti-Muggle-ward-wards Aunt Lily had gotten for him shifting under new weight.
“What’s supposed to?” said James. “C'mon, pop quiz time. Let’s be responsible members of an educational system. When was Hogwarts founded?”
“Um, around 990 C.E. The castle was conjured and created, rather than built, and maintains a degree of personality and,” Dudley gulped, eyeing the shadows, “life.”
Every moment of life Dudley could remember had been lived in a magical world. He’d scrubbed at Molly Weasley’s kitchen counter while dishes washed themselves in the sink. He’d napped in the great black belly of the Ministry, where sometimes the walls whispered, where memos flew and wizards carried sparking boxes that were bigger on the inside and also full of dragons.
But he stepped out into Hogwarts and his heart almost stopped under the heavy velvet of the Cloak.
“I’ll show you how to break into the kitchens,” James said. “We can say hi to the House Elves, and then we’ll go surprise Harry on his free period.”
Dudley followed him silently down the hallways, past paintings and ghosts and suits of armor. He thought about Ginny on the train platform saying, “I’m so mad.” He thought about Ginny sleeping warm and high in the Gryffindor Tower now, which he had only read about. He wasn’t mad–he didn’t think he was mad–but his stomach rolled and rolled. He tried to swallow it down. He tried to smile when Harry startled out of his seat when they found him. He went home and practiced with his bat and the Bludger until it got dark.
In the late fall of Harry’s third year at Hogwarts, Auror Lily Potter came across a report of a sighting of a unregistered rat Animagus in Scotland. Between rookie trainings and other cases, she pored over the reports and Apparated out to conduct interviews. Ignoring proper protocol, she told her husband about it over Christmas dinner, when her son and that year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had come home to visit.
Peter had stood behind Sirius and Remus, the day Lily married James. He’d given a speech. She’d seen him tagging at James’s heels, always– back in the days when she’d hated them all; during the war when they’d all gotten quieter and quieter except for Sirius, who had started bursting and burning at the seams; and all those days between.
In the early spring, she found him. Peter was laid out in a meadow behind a little stone church, his eyes open to the sky. The body was unmarked. Lily stood in the cold morning air, breathing out curls of mist, and thought about what it meant to do the unforgivable.
When they came home from Petunia’s funeral, the doors of their house had been open to the night. Muggle children had been playing trick or treat at the unhidden houses on the street. They had come home, Lily tucked under James’s arm, to that door, to two twin wails pouring down the stairs. They were supposed to be hidden, supposed to be safe, supposed to be a secret kept in a friend’s pocket. They had hit the stairs at a run, wands out. Sirius had been laid out on the polka dot rug of the nursery, eyes open. The body had been unmarked. Two days after Lily buried her sister, James had buried his brother.
Lily called the scene in from the little meadow while the morning dew sank into the hems of her robes.
A few days later, she heard from Harry’s letters that Remus had been out sick for a week, locked up in his rooms, quiet, quiet, quiet, too sick to open the door to anyone. “Tell him to rest up,” she wrote, and let the Pettigrew case report slip beneath the other papers on her desk.
The Quidditch World Cup was a massive deal. Dudley’s Quidditch team kept nearly falling off their brooms from excitement at summer practice. Several of the kids showed up with their faces painted green all week long. Their Seeker and Seeker sub both showed up with red-painted faces soon after and when asked why just took turns repeating “Krum, Krum. Krum.”
The Weasleys and the Potters got nosebleed seats together, sharing a massive tent between themselves and Hermione. Either she had learned to speak slower, or Dudley was able to catch more of it. When she heard he’d been helping the Ministry archivists on odd afternoons, she dragged him off for an interrogation that turned gleeful on both sides.
But in the night, the Death Eaters came. James had been taking Dudley through wizarding history lessons for years, both modern and ancient. He recognized the sign that lit up the sky. He recognized the masks and hoods. They sent a family of unconscious Muggles spiraling through the air and Dudley stared up at them even as James dragged him through the crowd.
Dudley had been seeing Charlie’s postcards for ages at Mrs. Weasley’s table. He had heard about Norbert the illegal dragon baby from Harry, squashed under a blanket on the sofa during a summer rainstorm. So while his guardians had stressed conferences in the kitchen about the Triwizard tournament Harry was nominally too young to have even entered, Dudley sat petting Monster’s fur excitedly in the wrong direction because Mr. Weasley had said Charlie was coming to help with the first task.
When they met Charlie after the first task (Harry had outflown a dragon, Aunt Lily had cursed the air around her blue in the spectator stands, etc), he didn’t disappoint. “You’re Ginny’s friend!” he said and shook Dudley’s hand enthusiastically. “Want to meet some dragons?” He did, in fact.
I wish you could see how he’s grown up, Tune, Lily said while Dudley burned bacon at breakfast with Monster wailing distressed counterpoint at his feet.
I wish you were here, Lily said, watching Dudley wobble through the archive stacks with his arms piled high with file boxes, muttering shelving shorthand to himself. She passed Mrs. Gorbachek a set of returned files across the polished wood of her desk. I wish you had gotten to know him.
Lily oversaw autopsies and Quidditch matches, planned birthday parties and stings, stood in line at the butcher’s shop and at the stand in the courts on the lowest floor of the Ministry.
I wish you weren’t dead, Tune.
Dudley turned fourteen, and Harry did the same five weeks later. They baked him a big squishy molasses cake and sent it up to Hogwarts by stasis spell and owl. For Dudley they made a big chocolate cake and had it for breakfast for a week.
I wish, I wish, I wish.
That year, Dudley’s Quidditch team took second in the national league. Harry got third in the second Triwizard task, while Dudley and the Potters and the Weasleys all watched from shore. Dudley watched Lily and James hug Harry, ruffle his hair, call him brave– he tried not to, but he watched, and the hugs looked just the same as when he had landed on the green field, gripping his bat, knowing he’d fought his hardest. He punched Harry lightly in the arm and said, “Who knew you could swim.”
Dudley dreamed of the World Cup, the green light twisting in the sky, a Muggle woman’s floral print dress and her slack face a lethal distance from the ground
When he woke sweaty and wheezing under the blanket Ms. Gorbachek had quilted for him, he padded out to make himself some warm milk. He told himself Aunt Lily didn’t wear floral dresses, and she wasn’t a Muggle anyway. Monster circled his ankles and he told himself that Uncle James was asleep upstairs, and he’d been right at Dudley’s elbow all through that panicked, crushed rush back to the Portkey. He sipped his hot milk and thought about those circling, limp bodies, and the hate marching and singing below. He thought it wasn’t them, it couldn’t have been them. He thought but it could’ve been me, and then he went back to bed with Monster grumbling at his heels.
When Harry came back that summer, he was quieter. Dudley found him in the kitchen some nights, when he padded out to make hot milk. Harry nibbled at the giant pile of chocolate Uncle Remus had carted over at the start of June, and Dudley made two mugs of milk. Dudley asked who Cedric was, because the wall between their rooms was thin. If they sat long enough and quiet enough, Monster would even come out and rub up against Harry’s shins.
With the next year came Dolores Umbridge.
Lily went up the the school to shout, and James went to give Harry some chocolate and also the Invisibility Cloak and the Map. And then they both went up to the Ministry to shout some more, and Dudley went down to the archive level to read about eighty years of educational policies. Ginny wrote him scathing letters about Professor Toadface and gave vague indifferent mentions to the detentions and punishments. Harry wrote about Quidditch, no matter what questions Dudley sent his way. Dudley sent back first aid kits that Miss Higgins at the spare keys room helped him put together, and gingersnaps Remus helped him bake. Lily had already gotten a restraining order from Rita Skeeter during the Tournament the previous year, or she’d have camped outside her office. As it was, she just sent weekly Howlers.
The night Harry dreamed of Uncle Remus writhing in the Department of Mysteries, the night they left Umbridge to the centaurs and Grawp, the night the beating heart of the DA flew thestrals over London, the night one of the last two Marauders died, Dudley slept well.
The hedge outside the window tapped familiarly on the glass. He didn’t wake when Kingsley Shacklebolt’s Patronus woke Lily and James, when they activated the wards over the house, or when their Apparations cracked the silence of the night. He rolled over in his heavy blankets and Monster paced the boundaries of his room, glaring at shadows.
Lily and James brought Harry home. He’d go back to Hogwarts in a week to finish out the remains of the year, but when Dudley woke up sandy-eyed in the morning his cousin was out on the sofa, wrapped up in a quilt, with Monster purring uproariously in his skinny lap. James and Lily were in the kitchen, bent over the empty table. Silence sat heavy in the air. They were all still in pajamas, but James had dirt on his knees as though he’d fallen.
“What happened?” said Dudley. The syllables dropped off his tongue like pebbles and he wished he was better at this, whatever this was.
They buried Remus in the same dirt as Sirius, the Potter family plot. It was an empty casket, but it was the thought that counted, surely.
You horrendous, angry boys, thought Lily to her ghosts. Sirius, you loved James too much to like me, until I fought my way in. You selfish, arrogant prick, that was never your call, but you figured it out eventually.
We don’t laugh as much, with you gone. We try, but you’re not here. You lost boy, you brave, brave man, you died for my children, thank you. But that had been so long ago.
Remus, she thought, and squeezed James’s hand so hard it must hurt. Remus, I don’t know how we’re going to do this without you.
James squeezed back and they ached there, in the cold, until the sun had almost gone. Then they went home. Harry and Dudley knocked out good nights on their shared bedroom wall in a way they hadn’t in years. Lily and James slept in a tangled pile, once they got to sleep at all. They woke up warm but it didn’t mean much. They stayed wrapped up in each other until they heard their children banging about downstairs.
Harry burnt the bacon, and Dudley burnt the toast, and James tasted the tea with exaggerated trepidation. “Even we can’t burn water,” Harry said.
“But I have so much faith in you, my son,” James said.
Harry had been quiet the previous summer, but this summer he was angry. It was less quiet. James turned the settings on the Bludger up as high as they would go and sent Harry out back with Dudley’s bat to work things out.
When Dudley went with Lily to the Ministry next, he didn’t head straight down to the archives after he left her at her desk, which was creaking under the weight of documents. He took the stairs slowly, past the squawking and smells of the magical creatures division, the Quidditch posters on the next floor, the flying memos and the swelling roll of workplace chatter.
The fountain in the atrium was flowing clean, over the gilded statues of witch, wizard, and creature. Dudley walked by it and got a doughy brownie from the dinky little cafe. Over midnights and warm milk, Harry had told him about Remus, about cold intent crawling in through his veins, about a voice behind his eyes that had twisted him all over this floor.
Chewing on his brownie, Dudley climbed down further, to the Department of Mysteries. Its operatives came down to the archives, sometimes, to pick up old dusty fileboxes and only sometimes to bring them back. He stood outside their unobtrusive doors and thought about sleeping sound in his bed. He thought about his family in dirty pajamas on a morning that should have been unremarkable. He thought about pebbles falling from his tongue, the ripples they made, and then he took the elevator to the archive room and buried the rest of his day into something that made sense.
James broke down crying over a bowl of Remus’s gingersnap dough. Dudley broke his nose in Quidditch practice and Harry healed it up with a spell he’d learned from his mother. Lily got a commendation from the Auror’s Office and Harry went back to school.
James had tea with Molly while Arthur and Dudley fiddled with the Ford Angola. Dudley fell asleep at the table, narrowly missing a plateful of spaghetti, and Lily heard her sister whisper you got everything.
Lily got up and took the dishes to the sink. She turned on the hot water and watched the steam rise. There were spells for this, but she had grown up burying her hands in scalding water and suds.
I buried you, she told her ghosts. I loved you and I screamed at you and I buried you and I raised your child. I took him in, and I buried you.
She woke Dudley gently and pointed him toward bed. James wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her temple.
Go away, Petunia, she thought. Go to sleep. Leave me be. I’m not strong enough to think of all the ways you might have hated me for this.
I buried my sister. I buried my brothers. My sons are here, and that is where I need to live.
She pressed her cheek into James’s sleeping shoulder that night and told herself, you’re alive, you’re alive, you’re alive.
Harry wrote home about Horcruxes and Lily marched down to Hogwarts to have some Words with Dumbledore. Severus Snape, now the DADA teacher, tried to catch her attention in the hallways, but she snapped, “I hear you made Neville Longbottom cry in class again, Sev. Bad form,” and kept walking.
She came home with balled fists and told James, “We’ve got some extracurriculars. Dudley, baby, you might have to do some more independent study this year.”
“Mrs. Gorbachek wants to re-do the east archives into a new organizational scheme,” Dudley said. “It’s gonna be a lot of my time anyway.”
Lily and James had a quiet conference in the kitchen, talking about snakes and cups and lockets. Dudley spent the next afternoon with Miss Higgins, putting together new first aid kits. Lily worked the very barest number of hours for the Aurors– “Grief,” she told them, batting damp eyelashes, when they asked after her performance– and Dudley spent a lot of nights alone in the house. The ward spells buzzed at the windows and he and Monster sat up late, waiting for a pair of cracks to sound in the back yard.
They got the news of Harry and Ginny’s new joint romantic adventure by owl post– several owls. Ron wrote, and Hermione, and Fred and George though they weren’t even in Hogwarts anymore, and a weird little snide note from Snape that Lily threw away. Harry and Ginny wrote, too, of course, and Dudley sat and chewed his cereal and thought. He was pretty sure someone was owed a protective older-brother-style speech here, but he wasn’t sure who.
Dudley had never met the Hogwarts headmaster, but Harry came home gaunt after Dumbledore died. Dudley pried the story out of him over warm milk and excess chocolate, in the quiet before noisy dawns. “Hm,” said Dudley finally. “I think you’ve seen enough people die in front of you, goodness gracious,” Dudley said, and Harry choked on a laugh.
Dudley pushed some more chocolate at him. “I always wanted to go to Hogwarts,” he said. “I wanted to be– like you. Not just,” he hesitated, “looking in, I guess.”
“Duds, I’m sorry,” said Harry. “I–”
Dudley crinkled the candy wrapper. “Not your fault. I figured that one out– I’m not dumb.”
“I know you’re not.”
“And anyway,” said Dudley. “Your life kind of sucks. So I’m okay being me, I guess.”
Lily sent in her resignation before the fading Ministry could fire her, or fall. They boarded up Godric’s Hollow and went to Grimmauld Place, which Sirius had left to Remus, and which Remus had left to them.
The Weasleys came, and some of James’s fellow homeschooling families, the remains of the Order of the Phoenix and half the DA.
Lily and Harry had a terrible row in a dusty sitting room, shaking cobwebs from the rafters, when Harry told her he was going after the last Horcruxes. Molly straightened couch cushions and made little approving noises whenever Lily said something effective. Dudley bumped elbows with James, and they all listened to the shouting.
“I’m seventeen–”
“I’m a trained fucking Auror, and I am scared of what may come to us, and you are a schoolkid. I’m not sending you out to–”
“How old were you?” Harry demanded. Lily threw her hands up in the air.
“There’s only so much loss I can take,” said James, very softly, and that shut them both up for a short moment.
“I’m sorry, dad,” said Harry, sounding like he might need to catch his breath. “But I’m in this fight, whether you can take it or not.”
“Harry–”
“We’re all in this,” said Dudley and the room went quiet again.
“Dudley,” Molly said, wringing her skirts. “But you’re a– well, dear–”
“I’m a Potter,” he said. “Or close enough,” he said and Lily’s face crumpled briefly. “I can’t sit this out.”
“Yes, you can, baby,” said Lily.
Dudley shook his head. All his words felt like stones and he didn’t know how to spit them out without bruising someone. “I won’t,” he said.
“Me, either,” said Ginny, and that set off a whole other round of shouting.
When Bill and Fleur’s wedding was broken up by bad news, Harry grabbed Hermione who grabbed Ron. Fred grabbed George who grabbed Ginny who grabbed Dudley, and the world puckered around them.
Dudley threw up in the bushes beside the little road they’d Apparated onto. Fred pat his back and said, “Us Beaters better stick together, eh?” George conjured him a wet cloth to clean his face and Ginny stood ready for a fight.
“Oh calm down, tiny,” Fred said, flicking at a strand of her hair. “Like we’re going to try to stop you. C'mon, Lee’s got a scheme.”
Lily and James had gotten the sword and the cup from Bellatrix’s vault the previous year. Dumbledore had destroyed the ring, and Harry had unknowingly gotten to the diary when he was twelve years old (When Lily had heard more details of that night and that fight, from Dumbledore, she had nearly lit his old beard on fire).
While Dudley flew secrets, objects, and personnel among the operative of Lee Jordan’s radio, Harry, Hermione, and Ron broke into Dolores Umbridge’s office in the Ministry. Miss Higgins from the spare key desk got them in, and out, a tarnished locket tight in Hermione’s fist.
Ron listened for Fred and George’s voices on the radio, during those long cold days. Harry listened for Dudley, who brought reports and news back from his flights. He went out armed with a Beater’s bat, normally paired up with Viktor Krum, who’d come over from the continent, and Ginny.
When they discovered the diadem was in Hogwarts, Hermione sent out the call. Dudley grabbed Krum and Ginny, Fred and George and Lee, and went for the passage in Honeydukes’s cellar that James had shown him once.
Ron and Hermione got the basilisk fangs from the Chamber. Dudley swung his bat while Ginny sniped from over his shoulder, like they’d been doing all year. Neville reached into a Hat, and pulled out a sword, and killed a snake.
When the fighting died down there were bodies, and Dudley knew them mostly from letters– Lavender, who Ginny had penned so many jokes about during the Ron Debacle. Colin, who had showed Harry how to make Muggle photos move.
But as they stepped back into the Great Hall, where the living gathered, where the injured were laid out, where the bodies were laid out– Dudley felt Ginny go still.
Molly Weasley was crying, and Dudley thought he would have liked to go his whole life without having to see her face crumple and break like that. “Fred,” said Ginny, and she had been still like this all summer after her first year and Dudley hadn’t known what to do then either. Ginny moved across the floor to her brother’s body and Dudley stood by the edge of the milling room, trying to remember how to breathe.
He tried to guess the names that went to the faces around him. He looked at the long tables that had been shoved up against the walls– Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw. Harry had gotten his letters and packages here in this room, eaten his eggs, and studied last minutes for tests, written Dudley exasperated notes about Ron and Hermione fighting again– and there Harry was now, in the battered street clothes he’d arrived in, slipping out a side door.
Dudley gathered up all he could of his breath, his wits, and followed. He caught him a few turns down a small corridor, following his cousin’s hunched shoulders and quick steps as they moved away from the light.
“Where are you going?” said Dudley, too loud, and Harry stopped. When he turned around he shrugged, a little helpless with it.
“Just because you go doesn’t mean they’ll let us be,” Dudley said. “Do you really think you can kill him alone?”
“I know I can’t,” said Harry.
“Then why,” said Dudley, but he didn’t know how to finish the sentence.
Harry told him about Horcruxes, and Snape dying, and the ugly things that lived in him–that would die in him. “Remember how you said my life kind of sucks?”
Dudley thought about being nine years old in the back yard with a brand new set of Quidditch equipment. Harry had taken off after the Snitch, and Dudley had wrapped his plump fingers around a Beater’s bat and guarded his back.
“I have to, Duds.”
Dudley wanted to put milk on the stove to heat. He wanted to get the quilt from the back of the chair and put Monster in Harry’s lap. He wanted to be home with the hedge tapping at the window.
He wanted this to be just another midnight talk, Harry telling stories he’d already won, enemies he’d already escaped, his cousin woken up from nightmares that haunted him but left him breathing– Harry could gasp, or cry, or break out some of Lily’s curses, be a smug brat, be cagey and stare out windows, make Dudley worry like hell, that was alright, but he needed to be breathing. He needed to wake up and pad out to the kitchen so Dudley could give him warm milk and find the chocolate in the cabinet.
“I could go with you,” said Dudley.
“No, you can’t,” said Harry.
Dudley dug his thick fingers into his thicker arms.
Harry took a shaky breath and said, “Tell Ginny I’m sorry, okay? Take care of mum and dad.”
Dudley nodded. Harry hugged him tight around the neck for just one moment and then he was gone.
Dudley went back through the corridors, their fallen rubble and askew doorways. He had his bat, and his eyes open, but no one was there.
He had come here at thirteen, though back passages, invisible. When he had stepped out onto this stone, his heart had almost stopped beating. It was massive and magical, big and beautiful and brave, and not for him. He had known that at thirteen, and he knew it now. He thought maybe that made him angry. He didn’t want to be angry. He wanted to be home.
He wasn’t supposed to be here, but he was here. He was here, and Harry was walking out to die, and that wasn’t supposed to be, either. Ginny wasn’t supposed to be holding onto her mother’s elbow, every freckle stark on her pale face. Fred wasn’t supposed to be lying on the cold floor at their feet, sightless eyes looking up, but he was.
He wondered if he should wait, to tell Ginny that Harry was sorry. He wondered if he should have gone after him anyway. A beater’s bat. A meat shield. A distraction.
Lily looked up from where she’d been bent to speak with Percy. He didn’t know what she saw, but she said, “Where’s your cousin? Dudley? Where’s Harry?”
James heard the tone in her voice and turned toward them, straightening.
“He’s a Horcrux,” said Dudley. “He had to.”
“That’s not a where,” said Lily but her breath was stopping in her chest. “Dudley. I– did he leave? Did you see him leave?”
Dudley nodded. “He went,” he managed. He thought he might be crying.
James sat down where he stood. Lily went for the doors of the Great Hall but by the time she hit the courtyard they were already coming. Dudley stumbled in her wake, feeling too big, feeling so very small in his skin.
Hagrid carried Harry’s body in his arms and Voldemort was smiling.
You-Know-Who might have been sneering something about chosen, about thrice-defied, but no one heard him over Lily’s shriek. Later Dudley would realize she’d said, “Not my son,” but in the moment all he saw was the green streak out of her wand.
What is unforgivable?
Voldemort slumped to the ground, a heap of dead flesh, and Lily clung to Dudley’s arm to stay standing.
The rest of the gathered crowd broke free of the silence, then. Curses flew, multi-hued and shouted, and Dudley stood in the middle of it with his aunt weeping on his shoulder. He twisted his hands in the back of her robe. Around them, light flew and people fell and cried out, and Dudley pressed his face into the top of Lily’s head. “It’s done,” he wanted to say, but he was choking on it. It was done. A man was dead, but so was Harry. They’d bury him with Remus, with Sirius, and they’d go back to a quieter house.
“Mum!”
Dudley lifted his head. His cousin stood, swimming in his blurred vision. The fight was dying down beyond him, the Death Eaters fleeing. James was striding towards them.
“Hey,” said Harry. “It’s okay. Mum.”
James thudded into Harry without even quite stopping, lifting him up and wrapping his arms around him. Lily had lifted her head. Dudley wasn’t sure which of them was holding the other one up, so he took a stumbling step forward, dragging her with him. Harry reached out–James wasn’t letting go any time soon–and pulled them in, and the Potters stood there for a long time, holding on, holding tight.
After they let go, after the cleanup, after Harry kissed Ginny but before he washed all the dirt off his face, they went out to the Lake.
“Is there really a giant squid in it?” said Dudley.
“Almost ate James once,” said Lily, and patted the grass next to her for Dudley to sit.
Harry sat down slowly, like he’d forgotten what grass felt like, like he hadn’t expected to get this again– to sit with his family and to look out at dark water. Dudley tried to watch the lake, but mostly he just watched Harry.
He’d tell Dudley, later, over hot milk long after midnight, about talking to the faded conjurings of Remus and Sirius in the forest. He’d tell him about a train station and Dudley would say, “I would have been so angry if you didn’t come back.”
But for that moment, no one said anything. James wrapped his arms around Lily’s shoulders and kissed her gently on the temple. The trees shook in a quiet wind. The grass was soft under them. They sat, and watched the light on the water.
And Lily heard her sister whisper you got everything.
A breeze blew down, through the castle, over the grass, out across the Lake and past the four figures sitting at its shore.
Maybe I did, thought Lily, because she could still feel James’s arm warm around her, could hear Dudley breathing and Harry picking strands of grass to fiddle with. But I won’t apologize for it. Not to you.
You’re dead, Petunia, and he’s here. He needs a mother and you’re not here. I am. I will be here for them, as long as I can.
Did you hate magic for all the reasons you said, Tune? Because it was weird and gross and ugly and freakish. Or did you hate it because you couldn’t touch it? Because if you had let yourself love it, you’d have hurt forever.
You were bitter and angry and I missed you so much. Why couldn’t you listen? Why didn’t you try– try harder? Didn’t you love me enough not to hate me? Why did you lock this all away, and was it enough, what you had left? Were you happy– He’s happy, Tune.
Lily opened her eyes. There was light on the water, and ripples from a quiet wind, and her heart was aching. Her hands were warm, and held.
I gave him everything I could. Your son. He will always be yours, Tuney, but he has grown in my house. And maybe it wasn’t enough, what we tried to do, what we tried to be, but we love him,  and he loves us, Tuney.
I didn’t steal anything from you. I gave it. I would’ve given you everything I had, if you had just let me. I gave him everything I had. That is what you do, when a little boy comes into your life with nothing but himself. You give him a home.
I didn’t steal anything. He gave it, because he’s got a heart big enough to level mountains. I like to think you would’ve known that, if you’d lived, if you’d known him. This isn’t a fight, it’s a family.
What would you think of me, now, Tune? What would you have done, if it was my son?
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soldierwinterthe · 7 years
Text
Hell (Chapter One: Fair Exchange.)
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Summary: Y/n Singer decides to sell her soul to save Sam Winchester, not saying anything to Dean and his dad.
Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader
Word Count: 1755
Warnings: None. For now.
A/N: Here is my first chapter of this new fanfiction! I wrote it a long time ago when I started to see the third season of Supernatural. And I've always imagined Bobby having a son, or a daughter (besides Sam and Dean, of course.) Enjoy it!
It spent half an hour. Thirty minutes, staring at Sam's body, helpless, lying on the mat in the corner of the cottage where Dean and Bobby carried him. Dean looks like a statue while watching the cold body of his younger brother's lifeless; if I couldn’t feel his weak breathing, I would think that perhaps he’s also dead. Inside him, that's how he is probably feeling. My father is at his side, with one hand resting on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. I know that he would say something, but remains silent; the words are useless at this time. I heard many times Dean to promise to his brother Sam to protect it at any cost; when they started to hunt together again to look for their father, when Sam’s girl died, and even when John died. Dean was sick for days, but he knows well cover his feelings, and was strong both for him and for Sam. And after discovering that his father John had sold his soul to the same demon to which hunted because he had killed his wife Mary, Dean began to feel guilt, who tried to calm with all the anger he could have. “I can’t lose him, Bobby. I have no choice.” “Don’t say shit kid. You can’t make a deal with a demon. He would bring to life Sam, but how long you would remain?” “I can’t live without my brother.” I take a deep breath. They don’t know that I'm listening to them. They don’t know that I suffer for Sam's death, which I considered like a brother. And they don’t even know the other room, leaning against a chair, there is the Dean's jacket, where until a few minutes ago there were the Impala’s keys. Dean had such a crazy idea, but he can’t bring back his brother, only to die a few years later. But it doesn’t have to do that he; a crazy idea..
I walk slowly out of the front door, hoping that Dean and my dad don’t hear me going away. They will hear the car go, but at that point it will be too late. I open the door of the Impala and sit in the driver's side, insert the key in the ignition, and I remain there, still. Silently, as I head to the side mirror. I turn on the car and stay there for a few seconds. What am I waiting for, exactly? Does anyone stop me? I'm scared? Heck, I'm afraid. But this is for Sam; it's for Dean "Hey, Y/n!" Dean. I look again at once in the side mirror of the Impala, and he is there, on the edge of the door. He looks at me as if he doesn’t understand what I'm going to do, but in his heart knows. He tries to run to me, but I push my foot on the accelerator and whip it away. I hear Dean again, screaming, but now his voice has dissolved in the air, moving away more and more. He is getting farther and farther away, and I'm getting closer to condemn my soul to hell.
10:59 p.m.
Two minutes. It's the time I spent in the Impala since I parked it on one side of the road, the crossroads in front of me. Even silence seems deafening at this time, but I can’t pull back. I've come up here, and I'm not pulling it back. "For Sam." I leave the car and head toward the hood; inside there are weapons of all types: from guns, to knives, to holy water. What I gather is a simple metal box, containing everything I need for the invocation. After closing the hood, I head toward the center of the crossroad. I kneel and make a small hole in the ground with my hands, and I insert inside the box; I cover it with other soil, and I get up. Waiting. "C’mon." I whisper to myself, in the silence of the night; suddenly, I feel the steps behind me. I turn around, and there she was: a woman in a black dress, that sticks all over his body. The woman in front of me is minute and pale skin. If it weren’t for those completely red eyes, I would also think that she is a beautiful woman. She takes a few steps to me, but she stops when sees my gun pointing at her face. “You know it, that doesn’t make me anything that toy?” she says with her gentle voice. "It doesn’t kill you, but it causes you pain, and it gives me so much joy to see you suffer." I say with some anger in the voice. The demons and their convinced superiority; I would like to slap her. She smiles, and approaching me, puts her hand on the barrel of the gun, and lowers it gently. “I want to make a deal.” "Oh, I know it. The soul of the little Winchester, in exchange for yours.” She turns around to me, as if she should look at my head to foot; I stay there firmly, impassive. I just want this to end. "Demons call you "The Hunter", and in hell there are several of them for your fault. They're waiting anxiously. But if I didn’t want it?” I turn to her, furious. “You will! You're a demon to the crossroads, and this is your job. I don’t care how much time you give me, ten years or a month. Bring back Sam!” She stays silent, staring at me. More the silence increases, and more I think it will not be enough to bring Sam back to life. Suddenly, I find her a few centimeters from my face. "Could it be for me, I would stay that little worm in hell, and I would carry you with me right now. But at low levels they say you're special. More than you think.” Having her face a few inches from me puts me in a slight agitation, but she confuses me with her words. Me, special? I can’t ask her explanation that she starts talking again. “One year. It's all I can give you." says the demon, observing carefully my reaction. One year. Three hundred and sixty-five exact days. Do all I wanted to do in a lifetime in such a short time. For Sam. I nod, and I approach the demon. I hold my lips on her; a simple kiss, and the deal is sealed. And the demon as it appeared, so it disappears. And so I stay alone, in the middle of a crossroad, the Impala parked on one side. And the year of my life, which hangs in the air, and it begins to weigh increasingly on my shoulders.
11:27 p.m.
They say that when you're about to die, your whole life passes you in seconds. I still have a year, but a memory begins to creep into my mind.
I see my adoptive mother, run to me. I'm in the garden, and while I was playing, I accidentally stumbled, dropping weight on a branch of roses full of thorns. Some of those spines stick to my skin, arm, and legs. I start to cry like a crazy while my mother runs to me; she takes me in, and brings me home quickly. She puts me on the kitchen counter, taking a pinch and water. She treats the wounds as only a mother can do, and to calm me she sings my favorite song, what she sings before I fall asleep.
It seems that the world begins to shrink around me. Everything looks darker, smaller, more insignificant. The Impala is just a car, memories are just memories, and I'm just a person who will die. Much before I imagine.
12:12 PM
Midnight has passed by a while; at first I had thought not to go back, to leave forever, without looking back. Perhaps it would be easier: no goodbye, no tears, no guilty feelings. But then Dean how would he do without his beloved car? He would hate me even more. I could not leave it... or maybe I didn't want to leave either him or Sam. And then there was my dad. How could I spend my last year without him? The truth is that I couldn't live my life without my family, lasting a year or forever. I park the Impala in the driveway, turn off the engine and get out of the car. I close the door slowly, hoping they will not hear me. I still need another minute alone, before I see the others. I wish this year would pass in a second, probably I would suffer less. I close my eyes and breathe the air around me. And I exhale. The air is pungent, but not annoying. I laugh at myself: is this how am I going to do now? Will I notice any particular detail of my short life? "Y/n?" His voice brings me back to reality. I would like to turn to him, look at his beautiful green eyes, but I can't. I can imagine his angry face, indeed not, furious, about what I did. I already imagine the words that he will say to me. "How's Sam?" are the only words that come out of my mouth; I know Dean would like to know what happened exactly in the last couple of hours, and he wants to know it now, but I don't want to talk about it. "He's okay." I smile; despite the demons are obliged to follow the conditions of the deal, I was afraid that the demon with red eyes had lied to me. But Sam is fine. He is fine. I move away from the car and move to the house to go to the smallest of Winchester, when Dean grabs my arm, turning sharply toward him. "How much?" I look into his eyes, I try to implore him with the gaze, but I know he's unmovable. "Dean, leave me." "I asked you a question." I pull my arm off, and finally I get rid of; I lower my head, trying to stay as calm as possible. "A question I don't want to answer now." I say before turning the heels and proceeding fast to the front door. I open it, and after I had slammed it, I lean my back, taking a deep breath. I just notice that my left cheek is wet; I rub my hand over my face, and I watch my hand and my tears for a while. "Y/n!" I look up, and he is there, in front of me. I run to Sam, with the best smile I can interpret it, and I sling in his arms.
Sam is dead. I made a deal with the devil. I sold my soul. Sam is alive. Another tear.
Chapter Two: What Will We Do Without Her?
If you want to be tagged in my stories, just ask me! Feedback is always appreciated!
Forever Tag: @hotwinchester @cirunia @iamthenewthor @doro7winchester @frickin-bats @giftofdreams @ria132love @riddikulusly-demigods
Supernatural Tag: @jensen-jarpad @27bmm @mogaruke @supernatural-jackles @just-another-busy-fangirl @notnaturalanahi @nervousmemzie
Dean Tag: @love-charmer-sketch
Hell Series Tag: @jayankles @rosegoldquintis @band-and-sadness @lizwinchester16
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tigerlilynoh · 7 years
Text
Job & Family DS: Aftermath - Playdate 2.0
Words: 2,954  Spoiler warning:  Contains spoilers for the end of Job & Family.
3/2/12
“Do you ever wonder what they say about us?”  Dean asked after he took a hit from his vaporizer.  
Sam gave his brother a sidelong glance, then turned his attention back to Kaylee, Anansi, & Malek.  Sam had asked Dean to help him watch the children since Malek was spending the day topside.  Two infants was a handful, three was an accident waiting to happen.  The brothers had settled on clearing the living room floor and piling some toy in the middle, creating a play area that they could flank.
Kaylee was a very curious & hands on two year old.  Whether it was everyone's imagination or not, the general impression was that she emulated Kay & Ruby’s leadership traits.  She liked to oversee random household procedures and helped enable Anansi & Malek as much as possible.  Her generosity toward the two younger relatives was shaping up to make her the leader of a very adorable gang- once all its members could walk.
At seven & six months old respectively, Anansi & Malek spent their time diligently learning through playing.  They could both crawl well enough to get around and babbled what might become first words before too long.  Despite not being able to talk, Anansi seemed to understand a few words & phrases beyond his own name and Malek could understand a speaker’s tone of voice.
“Kaylee can't put a whole sentence together and the others aren't even a year old.  I think you need to talk to your dealer.”  Sam teased.
“Not them.”  Dean gestured to the kids.
“Do I ever wondered what who says about us?”
“The people who know about us.”
“That's not making it any clearer.”  Sam extended his hand.  “Give me your vape.  You're way too high to be babysitting.”
“I'm not that high.”  Dean argued, but he tossed over the vaporizer.  “I mean- the angels, the demons, even nutjobs with their ear to the ground.  Weren't we supposed to destroy the world and instead nothing.  You disappeared.  I all but disappeared.”
“I don't like to think about it too much.”  Sam admitted.  “I wish more people thought I was dead.”
“You need a new persona, get you back in the world.  You might need a disguise spell or something- those things gotta exist, right?”
“I have no idea.”  Sam said as he leaned forward and repositioned Anansi’s leg so that he wasn't sitting on it awkwardly.  “I don't have time to sneak back into the world yet.”
“I guess you don't have to go very far to get a grateful mob.”  Dean acknowledged.
“You miss the glory days?”  Sam peeked over at Dean for signs that he might be growing restless in his newly quiet life.
“Do I miss the dislocated joints, having to pop two Vicodin just to survive sitting in the car for a few hours, watching you get beat up, worrying that someday-”  Dean stopped himself, then shook his head.  “I don't miss that at all, but helping people…”
“You help people.”
“I guess.”  Dean sighed.  “I haven't gone hunting in… well, since before Ani was born.  It's weird, like- I used to get this feeling from hunting, not the adrenaline, but the accomplishment.  I thought I'd lose that if I didn't hunt, and maybe I don't feel exactly proud of the mundane stuff, not in the same way… I don't know... maybe I don't need to do the big important things anymore.”
“We've still got important things, they're just small and lack fine motor skills.”  Sam smiled at his kids, then looked to Dean.  “You think you might ever have a kid?”
“Dyl would love that.”  Dean commented, then shrugged.  “Eh, maybe not- what's Michael's line matter with the asshole in prison and the apocalypse out of the way?”
“Putting aside the whole grace-vessel thing…”  Sam prodded.
Dean watched as Kaylee diligently dug through the toys trying to find the best ones to give Anansi & Malek.  After delivering the toys, she hugged Malek, carefully avoiding his horns & spikes in order to convey the affection.  Then she sat down to play with the toy tiger Dean had given her for her first birthday.  The fact that she played with it so much warmed his heart and somehow, in that moment, pained him a bit at the same time.
“I'm sure I'd like having a kid.  The other me- I could see how much Dyl meant to him.”  Dean rubbed the back of his neck.  “I don't really know if that's in the cards right now.  I'm guessing Jeremy doesn't have a female vessel he can just slip into.”
“Sounds like you two are getting pretty serious?”  
Sam decided not to pressed the kid angle and instead jumped at the opening to talk about Dean's boyfriend, who no one in the family had actually met.  As far as Sam knew, he was the only person in the family that hadn't done some sort of background check on the guy- granted that was partially because the results of everyone's efforts ended up finding their way to Sam over a few beers.  The consensus was that Jeremy was a diabetic, classic film nerd, who overwithheld on his taxes, and probably would've own a cat if not for Dean being allergic.  A pleasant, but not exciting man.
“We're slow moving.”  Dean answered ambiguously.  “But yeah, things seem pretty stable.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
“I'm not sure how to.”  Dean confessed.  “We’ve been dating for almost two years.  At first I wasn't telling him because I didn't know him.  Now I'm just like how do you tell someone you've been lying to them for two years?”
“Just start with the less crazy stuff and feel it out.”  Sam suggested.  “Maybe put the time travel at the end.  He knows what a hunter is-”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”  Sam stared at Dean in disbelief.  “How could he not know about hunters?”
“He's somewhere between skeptical & agnostic about a lot of this stuff.  He’s never seen any of it firsthand or had it effect him.  People like simple- it's easier to think it's all nutjob cults and horror movie publicity stunts.”  Dean's face dimmed subtly.  “He likes simple.”
“You think it'd be too much for him?”
“To believe or to put up with?”  Dean groaned.  “I'm not neck deep in the action anymore, but I've got a lot of strings attached.”
“All relationships have their issues.”  Sam offered.  “Anyway, I want to meet him, so get over your anxiety already.”
“Are you gonna ‘What are your intentions?’ him?”  Dean smiled at the mental image.
“If I don't who will?”  Sam joked.
“Dyl, 100% Dyl.”  Dean answered confidently.
“Oh God,”  Sam nodded.  “Dyl really might interrogate the guy.”
“Full on waterboarding.”
Malek very carefully picked up a soft plastic toy in the shape of a lion, then waved it around a little.  Sam & Dean both watched him nervously and Sam held up his hand, ready to telekinetically grab any potential projectile.  Instead of throwing the toy, Malek squeezed it.  There was a loud pop as the back of the lion’s head burst.  Kaylee & Anansi both stared in mild alarm, but Malek started whimpering.
“Shit, I thought we’d poked holes in all the hollow toys.”  Sam muttered as he scooped up Malek.  He started bouncing the infant on his knee as a distraction, then spoke to him in a soft reassuring voice.  “It’s okay, Mal.  Just try to be gentle.”
“Let me get that.”  Dean offered.  He picked up a turtle plushie and shook it in front of Malek.  “Come on, Mal.  Check out this awesome fuzzy turtle.”
Malek stared at the turtle for a few seconds before dropping the lion and accepting the replacement.  Dean picked up the lion, then ran his thumb over the broken edge of the rupture.
“Is it sharp?”
“Not really.”  Dean shrugged.  “Mark another one for his toy kill count.”
“Do you think you’d ever babysit Mal alone?”  Sam asked Dean while patting Malek’s head in reassurance.
Over the last few months, the family had noticed that Malek’s physical strength had increased beyond that of a normal baby- or even just a human.  The discovery was alarming, but not wholly unexpected considering who his father was.  They all strived to teach Malek finesse, which had had mixed results.  Sam & Kay had the easiest time handling him since they could use telekinesis to prevent him from breaking any of their bones.  Ruby didn't have a great way of preventing the damage, but she didn't have as much attachment to her meatsuit.  Similarly, Dylaniel had received several accidentally hits that he healed before they could start bruising.  Luckily, so far Malek had not manifested the Knight’s trait of inflicting damage that was immune to angelic healing, though they were all vigilant.  
Then there was Dean.  Despite genuinely adoring Malek, Dean had trouble getting hands on with him.  He didn't have a way of preventing or healing any injuries the kid might cause.  Whenever he held Malek, he tried to make sure the infant was clutching a toy and aimed away from him.  Everyone understood Dean's caution, though Malek was beginning to get to the age when he'd start internalizing subtle things like the fact that his uncle Dean was visibly uncomfortable interacting with him.
“Kaylee or Ani I could probably handle, but…”  Dean hesitated.  “I'm not sure how to stop a baby that can break all the bones in my hand.”
“He's actually getting pretty good about not hurting people.”  Sam assured as he released Malek back into the play area.  “It's just that objects don't say ‘ow’ before they snap.”
Malek crawled back over to Anansi & Kaylee.  Anansi picked up a fuzzy pink bunny toy and held it to the slightly younger Malek.  Malek looked between his turtle & the pink bunny, then dropped the turtle for the bunny.  He cooed a little as he hugged the bunny.
“Hell’s gonna be so pissed to find out their future king is such a softy.  You're a bad influence on him.”  Dean told Sam as he got up, then walked to the kitchen.  “You want a beer?”
“Sure.”  
“Dammit.”  Dean called from the kitchen a few seconds later.  “One foamed over.  Do you have a towel or something?”
“Check on the counter by the dishrack.”  Sam spared a glance at the kitchen to make sure Dean was on the right track.  “Yeah, those.”
When Sam looked back to the kids he saw that they were all still seated where they'd been, but Anansi was playing with Dean's cell phone.  With Malek being capable of snapping the metal & glass device in half, the phone was potentially dangerous in their hands.
“Sorry Ani, but that's not a toy.”  Sam said as he took the phone from his son, then moved it back to where Dean had been sitting, out of the baby's reach.
“Here's what's left of your beer.”  Dean said as he returned.
Sam turned to collect the bottle from Dean, but Dean was too distracted by something to complete the handoff.  Sam looked to what had caught his brother's attention.  The cell phone was slowly sliding across the floor in diminutive jerks toward Anansi, who had his arms extended, trying to grab it.  
“Ani?  Stop.”  Sam instructed.  Anansi looked up at his dad and the phone stopped moving.
“No fucking way.”  Dean exhaled.
“The kids aren't supposed to get powers like this until they're four or five years old.”  Sam muttered in disbelief.
“I think you need to invest in some heavier duty baby proofing.”
“Jesus Christ.  Hey, Tommy.”  Sam shouted to Tom, who was studying in his bedroom.
“What?”  The eight year old asked, while coming down the hall to see what was going on.
“Get your sister, take her to Belda’s.”
“What's wrong?”
“I'll explain later, just go.”
Tom shrugged, took Kaylee's hand and started walking her out the door.  Kaylee waved goodbye to her little brother & cousin as she was escorted out of the cabin.  With the infants no longer outnumbering him & Dean, Sam took out his phone and called Ruby.  He put the call on speaker phone, then watched Anansi like a hawk for the twenty seconds or so that it took for the call to go through to Hell.  
“Nobody's hurt, but Ani just used telekinesis.”  Sam said as soon as the line clicked over.
“But he’s a baby.”  Ruby replied uncertainly.
“I just saw it.”
“I don't understand… it just…”  Ruby almost growled.  “I'm gonna fucking kill Morrison.  One of the prenatal supplements I took was to reduce fatigue with powers.  It must've just made it easier for him in general.”
“Is there…”  Sam hesitated.  “is there a way to undo it?  Just temporarily make it so he can't pull everything off the walls?”
“That'd take impairing parts of his brain.”  Ruby warned.  “He could get serious developmental damage.”
Sam picked up Anansi, who hugged his dad back.  He wasn't sure how to handle a situation like this.  Malek had abilities that made him potentially dangerous, but at least the implications of physical strength were predictable.  With something like telekinesis, Anansi could do any number of things, including getting access to hazardous objects.  And that wasn't even counting the possibility that the infant could accidentally use the First Light.
“What about an anti-magic spell on the house?”  Sam suggested.
“Tommy’ll riot and we’ll end up with three kids under the age of five.”  Ruby replied.  “But it's a backup plan.”
Malek crawled toward Sam, trying to get to his playmate, but Dean picked him up before he could start climbing up Sam.  Dean held Malek in such a way as to keep the babies from looking at each other, lest they try to interact.  
“We need to figure out a way to deal with this before he hurts himself or someone else.”  Sam said while moving to prevent Anansi from seeing Dean & Malek.  He didn't know how well Anansi understood object permanence yet, but he hoped that out of sight still meant out of mind.
“Can you overpower him?”  Ruby asked.
“I haven't tried, but probably.  He was struggling to move Dean's cell.”
“Just keep an eye on him and I'll see what R&D comes up with.”
“Try to hurry, the number of infants capable of destroying the house just doubled.”
Sam hung up the phone, then simply held Anansi close for a long while.  He shared a silent, worried glance with Dean- neither of them knew what to say.  Anansi made a little sigh of contentment as he hugged Sam back.  Sam's stomach knotted at the juxtaposition of such an innocent child & such a problematic power.  He rocked his son gently while making soothing noises and patting Anansi’s back.
“Mal, gentle.”  Dean warned when Malek gripped his thumb & index finger.  “That's good.”
“You want to switch?”
“No, we’re okay.  Right, Mal?”  Malek looked up at him and smiled.  Dean stared at Sam with visible concern.  “You okay?”
“No.”
The brothers sat quietly for several seconds before Dean huffed a small laugh, causing Sam to raise an eyebrow.
“Just imagine when they start roughhousing.”  Dean explained what had amused him.
“You sure you don't want in on this parenthood thing?”  Sam smiled halfheartedly.
“Baby battle royale.”  Dean shook his head, then muttered.  “My baby would win.”
“Seriously?”  Sam’s voice was a bit lighter, pulling from the worried thoughts by the absurd distraction.  “Against telekinesis & super strength?”
“My baby could bless weapons.”
“You were a thirty year old man and you couldn't bless weapons.”
“Just think about Dyl, but tiny- a tiny, rosy cheeked killing machine.”
“I hate to break this to you, but I’m guessing Dyl gets a good amount of his gusto from being a nephilim.”  Sam countered.  “Unless you're planning on making some pretty big lifestyle changes, your baby's going to be human.”
“Batman’s human.”
“Yes, batman is human.”  Sam conceded the point.
Ruby & Kay appeared by the front door.  Both Sam & Dean let out sighs of relief at the sight of reinforcements.  Kay quickly took Malek off Dean's hands as Ruby rushed over to Sam & Anansi.
“Please tell me you've got something.”  Sam greeted her.
“Warded wristbands.”  Ruby held up two little strips of black fabric.  “These should work until he figures out how to undo buttons.”
“I guess they don't make handcuffs in infant sizes.”  Dean joked, earning a less than delighted expression from Sam.
Sam held Anansi while Ruby started putting the first wristband on their son.  As soon as both buttons on the inch wide strip of cloth had been buttoned Anansi started fidgeting & huffing.  He flailed his other arm, causing a pile of books several feet away to tip off the edge of a side table.
“You're okay, Ani.”  Sam reassured as Ruby finished putting on the second band.  Once it was on Anansi looked around the room, stretched his arms at various objects, then began crying.  Ruby picked him up and held him to her chest.
“Don't cry, sweetie.”  She said in a delicate voice while rocking gently from side to side.  “It's just for a little bit.  We just want you to be safe.”
“Alex would get uncomfortable if there was anti-magic warding.”  Kay suggested as a comparison.  “He said it made the colors dull & the Earth didn't hum- things like that.  He seemed less energetic, but I don't think it was actually painful- Whether this is like that, I don't know.”
“Does it feel weird, Ani?”  Ruby whispered, then kissed the top of his head.  After a minute his crying faded into huffing & pouting.  Before too long he started to blink slower & slower until he fell asleep in Ruby's arms.
“You two,”  Kay nodded to Sam & Ruby.  “are completely fucked.”
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Must Reads Part 4
Sorry for the late posting. This week has been fairly crazy for me. And I’ve been addicted to Horizon Zero Dawn lately.  This week contains the everyday life of a super girl, music that can summon monsters, cloning, toys that come alive, and much more.
--A Song for Quiet (Persons No Grata #2) by Cassandra Khaw (8/29/17) Deacon James, a rambling bluesman with a saxophone that now refuses to call up his audiences. It summons monstrosities from across different dimensions. According to a stranger named John Persons, Deacon has a seed in his head that could destroy the world if it grows. The music in Deacon’s head is growing stronger and he won’t be able to hold it back for much longer. This is actually the second book in this series but as far as I can tell you do not need to read the first book before reading this one. The first book; Hammers on Bone, follows John Persons which we’ll get into more a bit further down the list. He will make an appearance in this book but I am not sure how much of a role he’ll play. What made this one a must read for me was the description makes it sound really good and I like reading books where music is some form of magic.
--The Adventures of Super Girl by Faith Erin Hicks (6/27/17) “What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores and have a weakness for kittens?” The everyday tales of a super girl as she saves people, as she updates her family on how she is doing, and as she tries to keep a part-time job but forgets to remove her mask before work. With an arch-nemesis who’s only superpower is letting our hero know she is doing the superhero thing wrong. This particular version of this graphic novel is a expanded edition. It was originally printed in 2013 but has been reprinted a few times since. This edition will include two new stories and new art. I have never read it before but I really wanna give it a try. 
--The Alchemist of Loom (Loom Saga #1) by Elise Kova A society oppressed by the Dragon King when the Five Guild’s resistance fell. Ari lost everything when the Dragon King took over. Now she uses her gift for clockwork machinery to oppose the Dragon oppressors to the highest bidders of the underground organ market. Dragon Cvareh would prefer to see his sister take the throne from the Dragon King. To overthrow the King he seeks aid from the Alchemist Guild and Ari will be the one to take him there. For a price. A wish of her greatest desire. Particularly drawn to this title because dragons. Not sure yet if they are people just called dragons or if they can turn into them. And it sounds a little steampunk. I’m curious as to what kind of clockwork machinery Ari can do.
--Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire Children always disappear. They slip through shadows under the bed, fall down rabbit holes, and into old wells into magical lands. At least until the magical land no longer needs you. Nancy disappeared once. And now she is back at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. Every child there longs to find a way back into their fantasy world. But with Nancy’s return things start to change. There’s more darkness than before and it is up to Nancy and her friends to find out is going on and to stop it. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of what happens to the hero after the battle is over. When the world no longer needs saving. It has become a trend lately among anime, manga, graphic novels, and books lately. But it remains an interesting idea to pursue. I haven’t read very many books that follow this idea but I have found that it feels a little lacking in some areas. I get the feeling that I’ve missed something along the way. Like jumping into the middle of a long running series. But this children’s (?) novel sounds like it will do a better job since there is a new problem to handle after the fact.
--The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1) by N.K. Jemisin “This is the way the worlds ends...for the last time. A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no return.” It was the description. Pure and simple. I’m really intrigued and would like to see what happens.
--Hammers on Bone (Persons Non Grata #1) by Cassandra Khaw Private investigator John Persons is a being ancient and magical being. He has been hired by a ten-year-old boy to murder the boys stepdad. The stepdad in question is an abusive and abominable monster. No problem for a monster killer like Persons. Except it isn’t just social evils the stepdad is carrying. He hosts an alien presence and is spreading it everywhere he goes. Persons has to stop him without releasing his own horrifying potential. I heard about the sequel (A Song for Quiet) before I heard about this one. I do like the sound of this one but I think I am more excited for the second book. 
--The Management Style of the Supreme Being by Tom Holt (6/20/17) The Supreme Being and his son decide that they no longer wish to be supreme. So they decide to sell. Our new owners; the Venturi Brothers, have a few ideas how the world should really run. They don’t care for Good and Evil and decide to rid the world of right and wrong. But one of the old gods didn’t want to move out and he needs to know if you’ve been naughty or nice. I was first drawn to the title and I like the idea behind it. That our universe is more or less run like a company and can be sold. Not really sure how Santa will play into or why. Especially considering that this comes out in June. Unless this is for the paperback edition. Which I forgot to check when I looked this book up. But it still sounds good.
--Mechanica (Mechanica #1) by Betsy Cornwell Nicolette’s stepsisters have nicknamed her ‘Mechanica’. But a name chosen to insult her, fits Nicolette quite well. Her mother was an inventor until she passed away. One day Nicolette finds a secret workshop in her house and starts to imagine that she might be able to build herself a better life with the help of a mechanical menagerie and a tiny metal horse. The upcoming royal ball may just be the place to make her escape. She may even find her prince there but what if she doesn’t want a fairy tale happy ending after all? A retelling of Cinderella. What sold me here was that Nicolette might not have a traditional fairy tale ending. That you don’t always need a prince to make it happen. Whether or not that will be the case, we’ll just have to wait and see.
--More of Me by Kathryn Evans To the world Teva appears to be a normal teenage. But she holds a secret. Because of a genetic abnormality, Teva unwillingly clones herself every year on her birthday. The former Teva is then stuck at home, forced to give up her life. Forced to lose friends and boyfriends. And each year home becomes more and more like a battleground. Soon this Teva will be forced to give up her life as well. Desperate to hang on to her life, Teva starts to find out more about her past in order to set herself free. What really drew me to this book is each time I read the description I am reminded of Doctor Who. Of the line, “I can still die. If I’m killed before regeneration, then I’m dead. Even then, if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away...and I’m dead.” Except for in More of Me, Teva gets to watch as a new; slightly older, version of herself takes over.
--Ollie’s Odyssey by William Joyce To become a child’s favorite is the highest honor a toy can achieve. Billy’s favorite is a bear with rabbit ears named Ollie who was made by Billy’s mother. But not all is happy within the world of toys. Zozo, a toy clown who was never chosen by a child seeks to capture all the favorite toys until they are forgotten by their children. Ollie is taken by Zozo when he was accidentally left under a table by Billy. It is up to Billy to sneak into Zozo’s lair to rescue Ollie and all the other favorites. I first picked this up because I thought it was a children’s graphic novel; it is not. But the story sounded really good so I bought it. I haven’t read it yet. 
--The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente Six interconnected stories about female superheroes, wives of superhero’s, and girlfriends of superhero’s. How they have been abused, killed, brainwashed, and generally used to progress a male superheroes story.
--Renegades by Marissa Meyer (11/7/17) The Renegades are a group of super powered prodigies who helped establish peach and order to a crumbled society. They are a symbol of hope and justice. Except to those that they overthrew. Nova hates the Renegades and wants vengeance for what they’ve done. I really enjoyed Marissa Meyer’s Cinder Chronicles and am interested in trying out something new by her. 
--The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson A linguistic helps translate some mysterious documents for a shadowy government agent. The documents provide clues that magic once existed on Earth but the scientific revolution and Age of Enlightenment weakened it; if not wiped it out completely. Now they will try to bring it back into the modern world. When I first read the description I immediately thought of Arrival (which is a really good movie). I’m curious to read just how scientific advancement affect the flow of magic and how they might be able to be used in tandem together.
--Strange Attractors by Charles Soule and illustrated by Greg Scott (6/20/17) Dr. Spencer Drownfield claims to have saved New York City from itself in 1978. Ever since he has been tinkering with the people of New York to keep the city afloat. A young mathematician is chosen as his successor. Is there truth to Dr. Spencer’s claims about how the Butterfly Affect and his complexity math applies to the city’s patterns. Or is it simply the raving of a broken man as he tries to make sense of the world around him. I like the idea of a person secretly ‘tinkering’ with people in order to save his city. And at first I thought it would be done on a real power but now I am not so sure. It may end up being more on a reflection of how we interact with the world and try to understand our place in it. Either way, the story sounds good.
--Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein “Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social morals and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love. I’m not sure on the setup here. If it’s a human who grew up on a Mars inhabited by Martians or if he grew up on a Mars populated by humans. My guess is going to go more toward the first option. I really like the idea of this kind of culture crash.
--That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston (10/3/17)  Set in a world where the United States never existed. Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess and direct descendant of Victoria I. Margaret will soon be married due to an genetically arranged matchmaking due to imperial law. Before her marriage, she will have one summer to spend incognito in the far reaches of her empire. There she will meet Helena Marcus, daughter of the empire’s greatest placement geneticists. And August Callaghan, the heir of a powerful shipping firm currently being attacked by American pirates. Together they share an usually bond and will find a way to change the world and get what they want.
--The Waking Land by Callie Bates (6/27/17) Lady Elanna Valtai is fiercely devoted to her King who raised her like a daughter. But when he mysteriously dies, Elanna is accused of murdering him and must flee to her homeland full of magical legends. And to her birth father who was branded a traitor. Now she must confront the powers that have stirred within her and seem to grow as she connects to the natural world. Now Elanna must stop the threat that has chased her to her homeland and rebel against the kingdom she once called home. It reminds me of Uprooted by Naomi Novik and I really enjoyed that book. 
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