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lonely-lost-soul · 3 years

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Daddy's Little Girl Pt. III

Pt III: Revenge

Pt. I, Pt. II

(Technoblade x reader, and Wilbur x Reader)

(brother tubbo and sister reader)

~~~

Sam’s eyebrow twitched as he eyed The Blade wearily, who stood with his arms crossed completely void of any weaponry. So far the Blood God listened to Sam, he had disposed of all his weapons in the chest and complied with all the prison security procedures. It was rare to see, Technoblade having no weapons and Sam being completely decked out in armor. The only thing the creeper hybrid couldn’t pinpoint was the motive, why did Technoblade suddenly have an interest in visiting Dream, it just didn’t add up. To protect the sanctity of his prison he had to figure out just why Technoblade was visiting Pandora’s worst and only prisoner.

“Technoblade?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you here?”

“I already told you that, didn’t I? I’m here for a friendly chat with my good pal Dream.” Sam pressed his tongue to his teeth and frowned under his gas mask, “What? Don’t believe me? How rude. Are you this mean to all of the visitors who enter your prison?”

“You don’t exactly have the best reputation around,” Sam grunted, while Technoblade made a sound and adjusted the mask on his face.

“Who’s talking bad about me?”

“Tommy.”

“Tommy’s biased,” he scoffed watching the lava slowly descend in front of his eyes. Sam trained his green eyes on Dream across the way,

“Technoblade. Does this have anything to do with Wilbur’s revival? Cause whatever it is you’re thinking I can guarantee it’s not-”

“Sam has anyone ever taught you to mind your own fucking business?” Technoblade snarled baring his teeth at the warden. Sam blinked a few times his grip tightening on his trident, Technoblade stepped on the platform and it sent him forward. Dream’s head was tilted to the side, his dirty blonde hair fell across his shoulders. His bangs fell in front of his face as his head perked up seeing Technblade,

“Technoblade to what do I owe the pleasure?” Dream mused tapping his foot against the obsidian floor,

“Morning Dream.” Technoblade mused cracking his knuckles, “we have a lot to talk about, but I’m going to cut right to the chase. Give me the revive book.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dream mused innocently, “Does this have anything to do with Wilbur being revived? Or a certain lady goat hybrid?” Technoblade growled viciously, “Does the name (Y/n) ring any bells?”

“How the fuck do you know her name?”

“Oops did I hit a nerve?” Dream mused his lips curling up into a grotesque sneer, Technoblade’s fist balled at his sides trying to keep his composure and not listen to the roaring voices who demanded blood be spilled.

“Answer the question Dream,” Technoblade demanded through gritted teeth. Dream dared to laugh in his face, “I’m assuming Wilbur shared that information with you?” Dream hummed softly neither confirming nor denying The Blade’s statement but he got the picture. Dream kicked off the wall tilting his head to the side a coy smile on his lips,

“I met her, and not just her ghost.” Technoblade’s entire body froze and he pushed Dream against the wall, his fist was curled around his jumpsuit.

“How?”

“When I revived Wilbur. She was there in his limbo, what happened to her horns I wonder?” Technoblade snarled deep in his throat, “Wilbur left her there you know? Did he mention that to you?” Techno wasn’t a fool, he knew what Dream was trying to do but kept his composure, not letting the master manipulator get under his skin.

“That’s exactly why I’m here. You’re going to revive her or I’m revoking the favor I owe you. I don’t care about morals, I care about bringing her back to me.” Dream grit his teeth,

“Well, how do you expect me to do that without Ghost-(y/n)?”

“Who says I don’t have her?” Dream’s eyes bulged in his head, he saw no invisibility particles,

“SAM!” Dream tried to shout as Technoblade covered his mouth, Dream saw the wall rippled beside him as a very hesitant-looking ghost came through the wall. Not even Ghostbur was able to do something of that caliber, but she again was a ghost longer than he ever was, she must’ve picked up some fun little tricks. She floated over to Techno and hid behind his shoulder, her grey eyes looked up at him,

“You promise I’ll get to see Ghostbur again if I do this?”

“Of course sweet one,” Technoblade responded watching her nod gently. Technoblade loved the alive version of you, and when your ghost came to him sobbing about Ghostbur being gone and Alivebur not giving a single shit. She begged him for help and he answered her call, he failed to do so before, and he wasn’t going to let the same thing happen twice. You wanted to be with the sweet warmhearted version of Wilbur, who was he to stop you, plus he would have the alive you back.

When you came back Technoblade wouldn’t let Wilbur have you again, he wouldn’t let anyone else lay a hand on you. Well, other than your little brother of course, even if he was an ex-president Technoblade wasn’t evil.

“You still can’t make me do it!” Dream snarled as you hid deeper against Technoblade’s shoulder, “Sam won’t let you.”

“I think Sam’s going to have something else to worry about.”

A roaring sound of explosions went off nearby, Dream’s eyes widened in horror.

“That,” He smirked, “Is the power of the syndicate. Niki really knows how to come through in a pinch. I won’t ask again.”

Dream grumbled assessing his options, on one hand, he could revive you and he’d still have that favor over Technoblade. Yet, on the other hand, he couldn’t use your resurrection for more of those future favors. Dream clicked his tongue, although he could use that to his advantage if she was alive once more.

“Fine. Come here,” He held a hand out to the little ghost, she looked meekly at Technoblade. He nodded and motioned his head towards his outstretched hand, she took Dream’s hand, and he muttered some words in another tongue that even the great Technoblade couldn’t decipher. A bright light surrounded your ghost’s figure, and in a matter of moments you, the alive you stumbled forward. You gasped for breath as you fell against Technoblade’s chest, you had a bright white streak in your hair, and dried blood on your head and by your nubs. You were breathing heavily, pupils were blown wide, as you looked up at Technoblade. He felt his throat close up and he removed the mask on his face,

“Where am I? Who...Techo?” You gaped cupping his cheeks within your palms, he melted into your hands with a soft whine he tried to cover up. “Holy fuck you look so old!” Moment completely spoiled and ruined,

“Hey Dream I changed my mind.” You yelped hitting him softly on the arm, “kidding.” He spoke tenderly trying not to show his soft side around Dream, he was a tough killer, not someone who melted at the sight of his old childhood crush. Technoblade turned towards Dream and saluted, an arm wrapping around your waist, “sic semper tyrannis, Dream.” He mused disappearing with you, Dream should’ve known the Syndicate set up a stasis chamber for their leader.

Technoblade held you tight so you didn’t tumble over, you did look a little green in the face, “You alright?” He spoke softly as the fresh snow of the Tundra tickled your nose. You reached out your hand to touch the falling flakes, it was almost like you were mesmerized by the sight of them. “Sweet one?”

“I can feel them. I haven’t felt anything in so long,” You whispered brushing your hair out of your face. “Technoblade...Did you revive me?” He swallowed thickly, your eyes held a certain look to them, sharp but eager.

“I did.”

“Why?” You titled your head to the side, pursing your lips. He turned his head away from you to hide the flush to his cheeks, your frown seemed to deepen on your features. “Technoblade, why did you revive me? I’ve been dead for...god how long has it been for you?” You sighed heavily, “What use is there for you to bring me back?”

“Wilbur-”

“Don’t mention his fucking name!” You spat harshly, eyes flashing a dangerous shade of (e/c), “That son of a bitch!” Your hands clenched at your sides as Techno’s eyes widened, he wasn’t used to you cursing but it made sense. “He left me in his limbo after he promised me we’d leave together or not at all! I’m going to beat the shit out of the bastard!” You snarled as Technoblade reached out and put a hand on your shoulder, he squeezed it lightly.

“That’s why I revived you. You didn’t deserve to get left there, you deserved to be resurrected more than Wilbur did. I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were like Ghostbur sooner, I’m sorry I didn’t know about revivals. You would’ve been my priority, you should’ve been my priority.” Techno stared into your eyes as the rage swimming in them dissipated, instead, they were replaced with a fond look. “I don’t know what you and Wilbur had, but ever since I found out about your death all those years ago, I don’t live a single day without regret. I should’ve pushed for you to stay with us and Tubbo, I should’ve killed your dad the minute I set eyes on the bastard. I should’ve listened to the voices-” Technoblade grit his teeth and it was your turn to reach up and cup his cheek, he came back to you as soon as he felt your touch against his skin. “I’m so sorry.”

That was the first-ever apology you’ve ever gotten and you felt a tear roll down your cheek at his words. Technoblade looked at you hesitantly and pulled you into a hug, he made sure he was gentle as to not hurt you further, “Stay with me?”

“I promise.” You whispered burying your face in the crook of his neck, “Thank you Techno.”

Maybe things would be okay for you after all. Maybe this one was different, maybe Technoblade wouldn’t let you down like so many have done.

“What was it like? Coming back?” Technoblade asked as he leads you in the direction of his once retirement home. He watched you tilt your head to the side rolling your bottom lip between your teeth,

“A train came and picked me up.” You looked distant for a moment as you remembered your resurrection.

Ghostbur was peeking over his handful of cards to look over at you, “Go fish?”

“Ghostbur this is poker.” You sighed pinching the bridge of your nose, he made a soft ‘o’ with his mouth his brow furrowing. He shuffled in his spot eyes flicking down to his cards then back up at you, “You don’t remember how to play do you?” He shook his head no in response to your question. You sighed softly brushing away the annoyance that prickled against your skin, “That’s alright come here.” He shuffled next to you resting his chin on your shoulder, as you taught the ghost the rules of the game once more, it seemed no matter how often you taught the ghost the rules he’d always forget something.

“You’re a really good teacher.” He murmured against your shoulder, “I’m glad I’m not alone here.” He refused to meet your eyes, “but…”

“You’d rather it be ghost me huh?” You hummed looking at him out the corner of your eyes, he wilted under your gaze and you chuckled sadly. “Don’t look so upset I’m not insulted,” You waved him off carelessly, “you loved her?” He stiffened sitting up straight,

“I- I don’t- she’s my blue you know? She’s so kind and wonderful! I just- she doesn’t like to be left alone-!” You placed a palm over his mouth to shut him up, you eyed him before removing your hand slowly. The ghost swallowed thickly and nodded, “I love her a lot.” His voice cracked a little in embarrassment, you smiled sadly, your finger gently caressed his cheek.

“I know you do. Cause I know how much she loves you,” He turned redder as you sighed softly,

“Do you love Wilbur?”

You choked on your spit, your entire face turning a dark shade of red, “Do I WHAT?”

“Love Wilbur?” The ghost repeated curiously, “You were so upset when he left you here.” You grit your teeth and punched the ground of the train station, you thought about all the time the two of spent in limbo. You had grown so close to the man only to have him rip apart that connection in a matter of seconds boiled your blood.

“Yeah. I guess I did, but the motherfucker ruined that the moment he broke his promise.” You kissed your teeth in frustration running a hand through your hair, “Whatever love that was it is long gone I’m afraid. Especially since time moves so differently here, it’s been years since he left me behind.” Your eyes glazed over as Ghostbur gently wrapped you in a hug, he pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

“Alive me is kind of a douche.”

You burst into laughter, a bright smile spreading across your lips, “You’re not wrong Ghostbur, ya know you’re pretty alright.”

“You’re pretty alright too (Y/n).” A smile spread across his lips, in a matter of seconds that smile vanished as a train horn sounded in the distance. Your entire body froze as you whipped towards the sound, you felt the air around you grow hot and your mouth go dry. “Hey, Hey,” Ghostbur cupped your cheeks pulling you in his direction, “Focus on me. I won’t leave you.” The rumbling of the tracks grew louder as the both of you stood up, another horn blared causing you to flinch at the noise, ears twitching. The wind whipped both you and Ghostbur’s hair back, he held tightly to the beanie on his head not wanting it to fly away. The train screeched coming to a stop right in front of the both of you, immediately you recalled the same scenario, years prior only this time Ghostbur was by your side. The doors creaked open and fog poured into the station, inside was Dream, but by his side was a ghostly version of yourself. She was fiddling with her hands, almost anxiously,

“(Y/n)?” Ghostbur breathed his hand extending shakily towards the ghost version of yourself, her eyes lit up like stars.

“Bur?”

“This is your stop. Off.” Dream commanded, forcefully shoving her off of the vehicle, she landed gracefully in Ghostbur’s arms. He peppered her face with kisses, tears spilling down her cheeks,

“You’re okay. I’m here now.” He spoke softly running a pale hand through her hair, “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to be with you,” Ghostbur looked a little surprised, turning his head to look at your figure. You and Dream seemed to be having a staring contest with one another, “Plus…” The ghost of yourself murmured, “Someone really wants her alive.” That snapped your attention away from Dream, brows furrowing in confusion,

“Who would-”

“Tik Tok, you getting on the train or not?” Dream snapped impatiently, your stomach churned at the thought of riding with the masked demon. On top of that who would want you alive? Definitely not Wilbur, he seemed pretty content on leaving you behind, unless he felt bad. You cursed the way your heart hopefully fluttered at the thought, Tubbo probably doesn’t understand how to bring you back there wasn’t anyone else. You glanced over at Ghostbur who was still holding your ghost close to his chest, he gave you a gentle nod,

“I’ll be alright. You’re not breaking any promises, I swear. Go with Dream.” He reassured as you stepped onto the train in front of you, the doors shut on Ghostbur and your ghost they shared a tender kiss and you smiled sadly from behind the glass.

“Who wants me revived Dream?” You asked voice tense as the train pulled out of the station, he scoffed pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“You’ll see. Just keep quiet or this is going to be a long trip for the both of us,” Dream turned back to the front of the train. You clenched your hands into fists and sat down in one of the train seats, Dream was right about one thing this was going to be a long train ride.

Technoblade placed a hand atop your head careful of your injured horns, you sighed looking up at him. Technoblade was never the best at comforting people, let alone comforting the newly revived but he would try, maybe not with words but with actions. He watched a smile spread across your lips, pink appearing on your cheekbones,

“Thank you for doing this for me...” You smiled softly, “Why else did you decide to bring me back to life Techno. I know you...there’s more to just your original explanation.”

Technoblade blinked in surprise and for a few moments he was silent, he was trying to process the proper words to describe why he did what he did. Plus Technoblade wasn’t any good with words, in the first place.

“I revived you because you never got a chance at life. You could be so good for this server, you’ve been hurt and done wrong even in death. If you want a peaceful life I can give that to you, or if you want revenge I can help with that too.” He watched your eyebrow quirk up into your head,

“Revenge?”

“On Dream, on Wilbur. Whatever you seek I’ll help you get it.”

“What if it means killing Wilbur a second time?”

Technoblade tensed his entire body stiffing, “If it comes to that yes.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“I’d do anything for you.”

You reached up and brushed a finger across his cheek, he melted so easily into your hand, it was cold. “Lucky for you I’m not a murderer, but...revenge does sound very sweet,” You breathed eyes going half-lidded, “You’ll help me with that won’t you?”

“I’ve made a Syndicate,” Technoblade grunted, “Join it.”

“Yes. Thousand times yes.”

“You’ll need a greek alias,” Technoblade added as you both finally walked towards his house, smoke from the chimney curled in the distance and you smiled. You didn’t need another moment to think about it,

“Nemesis. What better than the Goddess of Revenge herself?” Technoblade hummed leading you inside, he seemed to deem that association representative of you and your goals. “Also, do you have any warm clothes?”

“None that will fit you,” He snorted and you huffed, blowing the white strand of hair out of your face. “Go upstairs see what you can throw together,” He motioned to the ladders "tea will be ready when you’re done.”

“Thank you Techno. For everything.” You whispered pecking him on the cheek before ascending the ladder in front of you. Technoblade stared at the spot you disappeared from for way longer than he should’ve, face a light pink. He was snapped out of his stupor by the teapot letting out a loud whistle signaling it was finished. Techno cleared his throat and poured both of you a cup, he remembered just how you liked it...or at least he thought he remembered. He heard the floorboards creak above him signaling you were moving around trying to find proper clothes for yourself, maybe he should’ve gotten more prepared.

Then again, that would have caused suspicion.

Once more he was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud knocking on his door. He grumbled under his breath and spotting a crow out his window, at least the guest was Phil. He opened the door and leaned against the frame, Phil stood there a nervous smile on his features,

“Uh hey mate.”

“What’s up Phil,” Technoblade’s ear twitched, “I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“Ah, no worries, we won’t bother you then.”

“We?”

“Hello, big brother,” Wilbur mused with jazz hands popping out from behind his father’s elegant wings. Technoblade’s entire body tensed and he bared his teeth,

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

“We’re living together-”

“He can’t stay on my land.”

“Techno, mate he’s you’re brother.”

“Yeah Techno don’t you care about your revived brother.” He mused pushing past the blade and walking into his house, looking at the decor. “Wow! Your house is shit!” Technoblade spun on his heel, absolutely livid, “Oh? Two cups of tea? Are you expecting someone? A date maybe?” Wilbur snickered holding up the tea that was going to be given to (Y/n), “Cinnamon?” His eyebrows furrowed, “but you hate cinnamon-” They all turned towards the ladder hearing the wood creak beneath it, you had fashioned one of Technoblade’s white button-ups into a shirt. One of his thicker belts was hanging on your waist, sinching it like a corset typically would, the bottom of the shirt flared out beneath the belt. You had a pair of his black pants, they were the smallest pair he owned and luckily fit you decently, his boots however did not fit you that way, they looked like they were swallowing your ankles. Wilbur’s eyes blew wide, his jaw-dropping to the floor, it took all of Technoblade’s strength not to rush over and shield you from his brother’s gaze.

You weren’t Wilbur’s anymore, you were his.

“(Y/n)? Who? How? Look at you…” He said tenderly, the cigarette he was smoking dropped out of his mouth and onto the floor.

“Wilbur.”

“You...You revived her?” Wilbur turned to face Technoblade, “How did you manage to convince Dream-”

“Easily.” You said stiff voice cutting through the air like a blade, “Cause he tried.”

“Darling that’s not fair,” Wilbur grabbed your forearms squeezing them tightly, “I didn’t want to leave you behind-”

“Bullshit!” You snarled ripping yourself away from him like he was made of fire, “You left me without a second look! The minute you saw a way out you didn’t hesitate to take it, you broke your promise!”

“Are you still hung up on that?” He asked groaning, seeing he wasn’t going to get his way the considerate way, “I had a plan.”

“No, you didn’t! If you did you would’ve revived me right away, as Technoblade did!” You argued motioning to Technoblade with a snarl, he smirked at his brother who glowered at him. “You’re a bastard Wilbur Soot, I loved you but you just needed someone convenient to you. I was a convenience.” Wilbur didn’t even deny your words and for some reason that hurt you the most, “You’re just as bad as my dad.” Wilbur saw red and before you knew it you were pinned up against the wall, his fist was reeled back ready to hit you, and before Technoblade could intervene Phil moved first.

He grabbed his son’s fist out of the air and held it tight, he gently pushed Wilbur away from you. Wilbur growled and ripped his fist out of Phil’s hand, and shoved them into his pockets. You stayed flushed against the wall, hands balled into fists at your side, Phil glared at his son,

“Step outside. I’ll join you momentarily,” He told Wilbur the man grumbled flicking the lighter in his pocket.

“Fine. I needed a smoke anyway.” Wilbur scoffed marching towards the door not before giving you one last look over his shoulder. Technoblade tensed fingers twitching at his sides, just begging for Wilbur to try something towards you. “I hope we can have a calmer conversation once you’re settled in my dear, sleep well.” Wilbur mused adjusting his glasses, “I know you don’t mean those harsh words, you’re just exhausted.” Technoblade watched you grit your teeth as Wilbur exited his home, as soon as the door clicked shut you were surrounded by an entourage of feathers. You made a frightened sound but the grip on your body only tightened, you calmed down the moment you realized it was Phil. You couldn’t process why the old man was hugging you, he barely knew you, and if he did he probably only thought you were Tubbo’s protective older sister.

“Phil…” You whispered quietly and you felt wetness on the skin of your neck, was he crying?

“I’m sorry, so, so sorry.” His voice quivered against your neck and your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. You couldn’t see Technoblade over Phil’s wings but you hesitantly tried to peak over them to find your safety net.

“Why exactly...are you apologizing?” You asked hesitantly, hands gently resting on Phil’s lower back. He pulled away from you now it was his turn to be confused,

“You...I didn’t do anything to help you back with your father.”

“Oh, there’s nothing you could’ve done. Really it’s alright-”

“Alright?! Alright! (Y/n) he let you die!” Phil exclaimed wings puffing up in shock, “I was the adult, I saw what was happening to you and I didn’t do anything to put a stop to it. I took Tubbo in because you pleaded with me too and because he was a child, but so were you- close your mouth don’t argue with me- I should have forced you to stay with us. You could’ve gone and visited your father but I should’ve taken care of you, if I did...maybe all of this wouldn’t have happened.”

“But that wasn’t what I wanted…”

“I shouldn’t have mattered what you wanted. I should’ve overruled you as the responsible adult...although.” He laughed wetly pulling away from you, “Back then I wasn’t a responsible adult, I’ve learned so much.” Phil shook his head, he reached out and cupped your cheek, “I’ll do better by you, we all will.” He pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead before fully pulling away from your body, he turned toward Technoblade with a weak smile. “You take good care of her alright mate? Don’t let her cause too much trouble.”

“I will.” Techno said with a stern nod, “I promise.” Phil nodded at him before smiling back over at you, he gave a little salute before heading out of the door. Your brows furrowed and Techno walked over to you, “You alright?” He watched you shake your head and he wrapped you in a tight hug, “It’s okay I got you.” You buried your head in his chest, your shoulders began to shake and Technoblade brushed his fingers through your hair. “I won’t leave you sweet thing,” he whispered more to himself, you were so emotionally fragile.

He wouldn’t let anyone lay a hand on you, if a single hair was out of place he’d paint the ground with their blood.

Frantic knocking startled him out of his stupor. Technoblade snarled against you and you felt his chest rumble, couldn’t he just be left alone for two seconds.

“You should answer,” You pulled away whipping your wet eyes on your sleeve “it might be important.”

“Nothings as important as you.” The knocking continued, just as loud and frantic and he pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

“It’s alright,” You smiled kissing his cheek, “open it.” Techno flushed and nodded opening the door so aggressively it was almost ripped off its hinges. Ranboo was outside and his brow furrowed. Ranboo wasn’t surprising but the government he was with sure was,

“I’m sorry! I couldn’t not tell him-”

Tubbo pushed past Technoblade releasing Ranboo’s claws from his hand. He lifted his bangs from his eyes to stare at you, oh my he’d gotten so big. The horns on his head curled around his ears mimicking your father’s, a golden ring fits snuggly on one of them. His hair was longer than you would’ve liked, it covered his beautiful eyes, but even so, it fits him well. The only thing that concerned you were the scars littering the left side of his face and body, and the nuclear symbol that seemed to replace his electric green eye on the same side. You saw his eyes grow glassy as he reached out to you, you couldn’t help but think he must be so disappointed in you. Your horns were nubs, ears were torn, your hair had a permanent streak of white, you probably looked so much older, so much weaker.

“(Y/n)?” His voice cracked stumbling forward to grasp your shoulders,

“Hey, bumblebee.” You spoke weakly holding up your hand, “You’ve gotten so big-” You were cut off by him engulfing you in a hug, you were taken aback, he should be screaming and yelling at you. Why wasn’t he angry?

“I missed you so much!” He sobbed against your chest, “Please, don’t ever leave me alone again.” He was trembling in your hold, his hands clutched at the back of Technoblade’s shirt, his breathing was shallow. “I love you,”

“I...I love you too Tubs…”

“Promise you won’t ever leave me again.”

“I promise.”

~~~ Wilbur "gaslight and gatekeep" Soot everybody Tag list:

@iamsuchasimp

@ignat1usaquar1us

@mack4676 @victory-is-here

@pastelmoonwitche

@boiled-onionrings

@mack4676

@woman-soot

@amibismexy

@jadynchronicle

@scarletrosesposts

@afifaj

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katsukavi · 3 years

Text

"OH SHIT!" part 2

"I WANT AN ABORTION." Sung Jin-Woo said abruptly, tapping his foot up and down from the agitation. "I'm afraid that's not possible. The baby is far too healthy and because of the amount of health potions you drank, it will be almost indestructible by our means. It even accelerated its growth.."

Sung Jin-Woo didn't think that far into it that night. He gave the baby's father an icy glare and took out his dagger from his inventory. "You can't abort it by your means huh..." he locked (M/n)'s hand onto the hilt and pointed it at his stomach.

"(M/n)! Stab me!"

"HELL NO!"

"Why not? We're already at the hospital, so you could just rush me to the emergency room when I start bleeding," Jin-Woo explained, but that still didn't make a drop of sense to (L/n) (M/n). "NOT IN A MILLION YEARS WILL I STAB YOU!"

"Fine. I'll stab myself."

"No!"

The doctor's face paled at the S-Rank hunter's lack of care for his unborn baby's life—even attempting to stab himself. Luckily, (L/n) (M/n) was there to stop him before the blade could touch his skin.

"Jin-Woo! Come on, you could just hold on to it until you give birth. We could set it up for adoption later.."

"I don't have time to wait 5 months. I could be leveling up using that time."

Scratch that. (L/n) (M/n) was also a horrible parent-to-be. The doctor forced a smile, wondering if all S-Rank Hunters were like this. He cleared his throat and stared back at them.

"How did you even conceive this child?"

"I have no idea. I drank too much. Hey, aren't you immune to alcohol?" (M/n) nudged Jin-Woo's shoulder, since he was the one that wanted to play video games all night. "I don't know. I can't remember much either. There was this scent.."

"I see. It must've been a heat."

"No? I wouldn't have left the house if that were the case."

"Then..." The doctor's eyes set on to (L/n) (M/n), making him feel a cold sweat. The man with red eyes smiled awkwardly, blinking repeatedly at the doctor. "Why are you looking at me?"

"It's incredibly rare but I assume you went through a rut, Sir. So I understand how you may perceive this as unbelievable since this situation is one in a billion or even more so." The doctor scratched the back of his head, trying to consider the rarity of the situation.

It was even more impossible if he considered the fact that male alpha and omegas were less likely to have a baby, then they were both S-Rank Hunters, both with their respective systems and (L/n) (M/n) had suffered from a rut that only one in five alphas experience.

[The Orion System is extremely happy!]

[☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆]

[The Orion System is wondering if it would be a girl or a boy??]

[The System is rejoicing for your offspring.]

"I hope it becomes a miscarriage. I'm too busy for this," Sung Jin-Woo said, glaring at his slightly bloated stomach. "Since you are a male omega, there is a 78% chance it would be a miscarriage if you're constantly stressed and you didn't receive professional help from us.."

"Good. I'm already stressed from this situation."

[The Orion System is ignoring your wife's statement.]

[Yay! Baby! ＼＼\\٩( ^ω^ )و //／／]

'He's not my wife, you stupid system. We're friends at best,' (M/n) thought at his system. He and Jin-Woo left the hospital with conflicted thoughts. (M/n) wasn't as extreme as Jin-Woo to forcibly kill it, but he was wondering what he should do next.

That's right. They were hunters. They didn't have time to raise a baby when they could be saving lives through dungeons. It's a simple choice of one life for one hundred.

[The Orion System is rejoicing for you.]

[The Orion System has contacted (totally didn't take over wink wink) the Player System for the child's sake. (*'ω｀*)]

[The Player System has agreed!! ٩( ᐛ )و yay! yay!]

'What are you celebrating for? Stupid Orion..' (M/n)'s mood turned sour, looking away from his system. Jin-Woo held his phone and pressed Jin-Ho's contact, making (M/n)'s eyebrow twitch. "Oi, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to contact Jin-Ho. He's the Vice Guild Master of Ah-Jin so he has to understand our circumstances."

"What? You know how weird that kid's imagination is. What if he thinks something weird?"

"I'll blame you for that then." Jin-Woo shrugged, his phone ringing for a few seconds before Yoo Jin-Ho picked up. "Hello Hyung-nim. Are you doing okay now?" Jin-Ho's voice made Jin-Woo smile, responding quickly.

"Yeah. I just visited the hospital."

"Ohh. Is (M/n) Hyung with you?"

"Yeah, he's right beside me. Turns out I have to lessen my work hours."

"I understand. You are the Guild Master, Hyung-nim. Everything is up to you. But why do you need to?"

"I'm pregnant."

Yoo Jin-Ho choked on his saliva, falling into a coughing fit as he doubted his ears. "Excuse me? What?"

"You didn't hear? I'm pregnant?"

"THAT'S BAD HYUNG-NIM! YOU NEED A FULL VACATION, NOT REDUCING YOUR HOURS!" The beta shouted, making everyone else in the office stare at him. What?! His Hyung-nim was pregnant? So he had a secret lover this entire time, and he didn't know?

"Then, could you decrease (M/n)'s work hours?"

"Yeah, sure. Why him though?"

(L/n) (M/n) hid his face in his hands, feeling so embarrassed that Jin-Woo just admitted that out loud. His own system was bombarding him with weird messages as well, it was creepy.

[There's no need to be embarrassed, Predator-nim~]

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). We all know what you did~~]

"He's the father of my child."

Jin-Ho choked yet again, throwing his fist at his desk as he fell silent. So (L/n) (M/n) and Sung Jin-Woo had been in that kind of relationship the entire time? Sure, he didn't know a lot about Sung Jin-Woo but even (L/n) (M/n)?

Is that the reason he joined Ah-Jin? So he could see his lover?

Then all those times they left together..

"Jin-Ho? Are you still there?"

"...If you need any help, you can call me Hyung-nim."

'Oh my God, so they were doing that so many times Hyung-nim got pregnant?!' Yoo Jin-Ho's face flushed as his imagination ran wild, smashing his forehead on his desk to cleanse his mind. 'I'M SO DENSE! I SHOULD'VE REMINDED THEM TO USE PROTECTION!'

"Yoo Jin-Ho-nim.. Is anything wrong with the Guild Master?"

"Ah nothing, he's just on maternity leave."

"What?"

"Huh, he hung up. He must've been shocked.." Jin-Woo said, looking up blankly as (L/n) (M/n) gritted his teeth. His face was red, mostly out of embarrassment than out of anger. "SHOCKED MY ASS! OF COURSE HE'D BE SHOCKED! AND WHY DID YOU TELL HIM IT WAS ME?"

"What else should I tell him? He politely asked who was the father."

[The Orion System agrees with your wife.]

[Calm down, host!! ＼＼\٩(๑'^'๑)۶//／／]

(L/n) (M/n) took a deep breath, rubbing his temples to soothe himself. "Okay, let's just call it a day and go home and sleep." (M/n) felt like it had sucked his life out of him, so he just wanted to sleep.

"I'll see you then."

Sung Jin-Ah was feeling suspicious for the past two weeks, noticing that her older brother's movements have become strange. At first she thought he got sick, but that would be strange for a sickness to last weeks, especially since he's an S-Rank Hunter.

"Hey, I ordered pizza. You feeling okay, bro?"

"Yeah. I visited the hospital earlier," Jin-Woo said, plopping down on the couch beside her. "Where's Mom?" he asked, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box. "She went out to get something. So she said she wouldn't be able to cook tonight," Jin-Ah answered him.

As soon as Jin-Woo took a bite from his pizza, his face turned sour. He swallowed it and bitterly gulped a glass of water. "Actually, I don't want any."

"Huh? What do you mean you don't want any? You practically inhale this stuff!"

"It doesn't taste good."

"It tastes just fine, get over here!"

Sung Jin-Woo completely ignored his beta sister and holed up in his room. Confusion crossed her face as she gobbled up a slice of pizza. 'Something weird is definitely going on with him.. He's sus...'

The next morning, Jin-Woo got up early to do his daily regimen. But his fatigue had raised twice the number it had before. He felt annoyed from it and tried even harder, exhausting himself in the process.

'I haven't even done half yet?'

[[The Player System has cancelled the 'Daily Quest: Preparation to be Powerful'.]]

[[The Orion System has requested it to be changed to 'Daily Quest: Meet up with your Husband<3']]

Sung Jin-Woo wanted to middle finger the systems and ignored the new Daily Quest, thinking it was an awful prank from Orion. (That Constellation liked to bug them a lot.) So he continued to do the old Daily Quest, but he unfortunately got sent to the Penalty Zone all the same.

["Since you lovers don't wanna meet up. I have no choice but to force you! Hmph!! ヽ('⌒'メ)ノ"]

"I— Jin-Woo?!" (L/n) (M/n) hollered, his eyes setting on his partner on top of a floating marble platform. Jin-Woo was behind a translucent wall, safely protected in a small room filled with comfortable pillows, blankets and cute stuffed animals. Just in front of him was a coffee table with a full set of snacks one could crave for.

[[You can sit back and watch the show~ Daddy is going to go on a little run!! ＼(٥⁀▽⁀ )／]]

FWOOSHHH!!

On (M/n)'s side of the wall was a scorching, fiery desert, his shoes sinking in white sand as an enormous monster rose from the ground. The gigantic lizard roared, sending a breath of flames towards (L/n) (M/n) as he tried to run for his life. He screamed and cursed at the system while Jin-Woo watched from above like his Alpha was a gladiator.

"FUCK! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?!"

"ORION! WHY THE HECK IS HE BEING CHASED BY LIZARDS?!?" Jin-Woo punched the orange wall, making it glitch for a few seconds before spitting his fist back inside the enclosed room. He could only look down at (M/n) with worry, slamming into the wall to attempt an escape to go help him.

[[HEY!! Don't help that idiot! He's a loser who doesn't even bother to look after his pregnant wife! (҂' ﾛ ')]]

[[You know what! Since he's so bad, let's go torture him more! Yay! Yay!!]]

Three more lizards surfaced from the sand, breathing fire like dragons. (M/n)'s face paled in shock as he retrieved his rapier from his inventory. A fifth lizard rose from where he stood, making him tumble down on the sand as it bellowed a menacing tune.

"UGH.. FIVE OF THESE THINGS?!" (M/n) shouted, burning his palms from the hot sand as he tried to get up and away from such a life-threatening situation. Sung Jin-Woo felt more anxiety for (M/n) and banged on the walls.

"DO YOU WANT HIM TO DIE!?"

[[Don't worry~ He won't die. He can handle it! (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b]]

[[He has to be at least this strong to be a wonderful Daddy of course. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]]

"We're not even keeping the baby!" Jin-Woo glared at the cute emoticon on his screen and gave it a middle finger. He took out his dagger from his inventory, slicing open the wall and using the slight gap to escape.

[[Wait! No! If you get hurt, the baby will die! ＼(º □ º l|l)/]]

"Good," Jin-Woo said with a smirk, landing on top of one of the lizard's heads. "Hey, you need a little help?" he shouted after (M/n), riding safely on the monster. It only seemed to be hostile towards (M/n) and not him.

[[NOO! IF IT ATTACKS MOMMY, ALL HOPE IS LOST! ＼(╥ _ ╥ l|l)/]]

"Nah, I got it!" (M/n) responded, sliding under one lizard's feet and stabbing it's heart from underneath. Its skin was thick, but (M/n)'s high strength stat could make up for it. The beast let out a small cry of pain as his blade pierced through like a needle. He soon coated the blade in a reddish orange hued mana, poisoning the lizard internally in just a few seconds.

"Jeez. I was a little panicked. But I'm fine," (M/n)'s skin was harder than steel, like an indestructible material. Just like in the myth of Orion, he was like the indomitable scorpion that the legendary Hunter could not beat.

"I was a little offended, you know."

[Noo!! Predator-nim, I hate you!! ((╬◣﹏◢))]

[Hmph! Hmph! You big IDIOT! ]

"Orion, shut up."

[FINE THEN! I'LL REMOVE ALL OF THESE LIZARDS! ヽ( 'д'*)ノ]

[I'll be nice to you just because wifey's pregnant okay! humph!]

[Go kiss kiss fall in love now! I don't wanna see you be stupid IDIOTS! (҂ òзó )]

The lizards evaporated quickly like Orion made them out of ice in the blistering sun, making Jin-Woo suspended into the air. (M/n) reached out his hands and ran under him, catching him quickly in his arms. Jin-Woo could've landed safely on his feet, he wasn't that fragile..

But in (M/n)'s princess carry, he felt some sense of relief. Jin-Woo hugged him, inhaling a breath of his friend's pheromones. (M/n) really enjoyed wearing Axe Body Spray (a pheromone masking agent in this world) because he always met up with an Alpha female named Cha Hae-In. It was because of that, Jin-Woo didn't notice any of his alpha pheromones.

But with a whiff, he preferred this version. It made him imagine the fragrance of lit scented candles. It was a very specific scent that calmed him down. "Hm, are you okay?" (M/n) asked, making Jin-Woo snap out his momentary trance. What was going with him?

"Yeah, uhm. Were you still sleeping?" Jin-Woo took notice of (M/n)'s disheveled hair and casual set of light blue pajamas. "Oh right, I haven't showered yet.. Fuck. My handsome complexion!" (M/n) said dramatically, looking down to his lovely rapier covered in sand.

As much as he wanted to get it and polish it until it was shiny, he didn't want to drop Jin-Woo yet. It seems like Jin-Woo was the same, wrapping his arms around his neck in a comfortable hug. Yeah, they should hug more often. It was very comfortable.

[Yes!! NOW KISS!! ٩(♡ε♡)۶]

"Ew gross, Orion is back from a tantrum.." (M/n) set Jin-Woo back down, making a look of disgust. Jin-Woo also didn't like the constellation. So he joined (M/n) in spiting it with all the malice he could.

[Ugh, you guys are so mean! (︶︹︶ ||| )]

[It's like you're perfect for each other. (You are btw (^ω~))]

[I'll bring you back home now. (╬ Ò﹏Ó)]

"Oh nice. This is your room?"

"It's a little messy, but don't mind it too much." Jin-Woo scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, not knowing what to do in such a situation. He and (M/n) had teleported back to his house together, convenient for him. But (M/n) was still in his pajamas.

"Damn, I haven't even combed yet. How do you expect me to walk home in this?" (M/n) sighed, fixing his bedhead with one hand as he scratched his stomach with the other. Even though he just went through a terrifying experience, he was still tired and planned to sleep until noon.

"I mean you could run like really really fast. You'd just be a blur to normal people."

"But.. I haven't been to your house before.." (M/n) looked around Jin-Woo's room. Despite him claiming that it was messy, no clothes or wrappers were on the floor and the only thing messy were his blankets. This guy's sense of "messy" was on a whole other level.

(M/n) just leaves his cans of energy drinks, chips and bowls on the floor and leaves the cleaners to go clean it up. His appearance was the only thing that was respectable.

"So I can't navigate on my own. You know."

"You can use Google Maps."

"I don't bring my phone everywhere."

"You don't? I thought you were an addict."

"Your perceptions of me are so warped. What even made you think I was a beta?" (M/n) sighed, glancing over to Jin-Woo's stomach before blushing. He wasn't that different. He thought Jin-Woo was an alpha precisely because he gave off those vibes.

"Ah, it was your Hunter Wikipedia page. I skimmed over it a while ago.."

"My Hunter Wiki what??" (M/n) got confused, watching Jin-Woo take out his cellphone and search something online. He peered over his shoulder, watching him scroll down to the gender option. It actually said [Beta Male].

"That's really stupid. What part of me is beta?"

Sung Jin-Woo looked over to (L/n) (M/n) for a few seconds, his appearance to his language. Yeah.. (M/n) was right. What part of him seemed Beta? (M/n) right then screamed 'I-AM-A- DOMINANT-ALPHA. STAY-5-METERS-AWAY-FROM-ME-BECAUSE-I-WILL-ATTACK-YOU'

Then, he saw his picture on the wiki. Jin-Woo held his phone up and looked to his left and right, comparing the one in person, to the picture. "Now that I've thought of it, this is the first time I've seen you in pajamas."

(L/n) (M/n) was someone that barely swore, kept calm and wore modest clothing. But it looked like stress took over him so much it affected his personality. His mouth was foul with curses.

"Yeah, I mean the last time you saw me, I was naked."

"Oh," Jin-Woo blurted out, his face heating with that in mind. (M/n) quickly shut his mouth and looked away shyly, fixing his hair to seem more like himself. "Now we're in this situation, huh?" (M/n) mumbled, staring down at Jin-Woo's belly. It wasn't noticeable, but it showed a bump if you touched it.

"Do you.. wanna hug?" (M/n) diverted his vision away from Jin-Woo, a light blush on his face. "What made you say that?" Jin-Woo asked calmly, avoiding looking at (M/n). The (h/c)-haired alpha cleared his throat, extending his arms in the air.

"I don't know. You seemed to like it earlier.."

[Definitely you right now: Σ>―(〃°ω°〃)♡→]

[(￢‿￢ )]

Sung Jin-Woo nodded, placing his chin on (M/n)'s shoulder as he wrapped his arms around his torso. The same fragrant pheromone relaxing him enough to close his eyes. He felt safe in those arms, like he was under an unbreakable set of armor. "I feel like I could fall asleep like this.."

(L/n) (M/n) didn't know why his heart was beating so quickly, making his skin feel like they were on fire just from touching this omega. "We should hug more often," he said, rubbing on Jin-Woo's back calmly. It was fine for friends to hug, right?

But could we could even consider them friends when one of them was pregnant?

"Oppa, I think we ran out of dish soap—" Sung Jin-Ah opened the door, letting out an 'Oh' sound as she gazed at her brother. Then, Sung Jin-Woo noticed how odd it was to have (L/n) (M/n) there. "Wait, Jin-Ah! It's not what you think—"

"MOOOMMM!! JIN-WOO HAS A SECRET ALPHA BOYFRIEND!!"

"Sung Jin-Ah!" Jin-Woo yelled, squeezing her cheeks with one hand as she struggled to run away. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT SO BAD WHEN I SMELLED ALPHA PHEROMONES ON YOU! IT'S VERY STRONG NOW!!" she screamed and kicked her feet in the air.

"Hold on. I'm not his boyfriend—"

"LET GO OF ME, OPPA! WHY ARE YOU SO STRONG?!"

(M/n)'s voice gradually got weaker as he pursed his lips awkwardly. There was no room to protest in the screaming girl in the room casually being battled to the death by her older brother. He just gave up.

It was that quick giving up that people thought he was a beta.

"Oh! You finally brought home your boyfriend. That's great," Park Kyung-He said as she stood on the doorframe. She smiled at (M/n), then stared at his sleepwear. "Jin-Woo! You even let him stay without telling us?"

"I didn't—"

"Shush! I know it could be embarrassing to reveal your first love. Come on, dear. What's your name?" she looked over to (M/n), waving her hand to call him over. "It's (L/n) (M/n), Maam.. Nice to meet you," he said shyly, not even refuting her words at all.

His cute demeanor made Kyung-He fall in love with him already. What a good future son-in-law. No wonder Jin-Woo liked him.

"Ah, come here now (M/n). I'll cook you breakfast too."

"If you don't mind me intruding. Thank you.." (M/n) said, following Kyung-He like he was an imprinted chick. "I'll be there too!" Jin-Ah said, wrestling with Jin-Woo's arm. "Let me go, you jerk! I wanna see what your boyfriend is like!"

"I already told you. He's not my boyfriend."

"Why are you even saying that at this point?" Jin-Ah made a face at him and slipped through his grasp, running out of his room in fear that he would catch her again. "I caught you red-handed! Hehe!!"

[[(¬‿¬ ) hehe..]]

"Orion.. What have you done to my system?" Jin-Woo grumbled, walking out of his room with a long sigh. He could explain to them later that he and (M/n) were just friends. But sadly, he would never get the opportunity to.

"So, when did you and Jin-Woo meet? Was it nice?"

"Oh! I met him at work. He was my partner for a while. And you know, when I saw him, he was so scary I thought he was an alpha!" (M/n) was suddenly very talkative, amusing the curious Kyung-He and Jin-Ah.

"Ohh.. So how did you fall in love?"

"We didn't!" Jin-Woo butted in, receiving sympathetic eyes from his family. "Oh, so it was Jin-Woo who fell first. I see," Kyung-He assumed. He asked (M/n) how he did, but it was her son that answered. Their romance was very cute.

"No.. That's not.."

"Wow, I didn't think Oppa would be the one to confess. He's being super shy about it right now. How could he even proclaim his love now..?" Jin-Ah exclaimed in shock, looking over to (L/n) (M/n). He did provide the juicy details she wanted in a romance novel. Jin-Ah approve!

But even though he was the one who confessed, why is he suddenly saying they weren't together? Was her Oppa too shy about it and only stayed sweet in front of his one true love? Isn't that.. too cute?!

"Huh? What are you all talking about? Jin-Woo didn't confess to me?"

Sung Jin-Ah's world was then flipped upside down. It all made sense. Jin-Woo was denser than the Earth itself. If (M/n) was he one who asked him out, it would make even more sense! Their trope was... Shy Omega x Outgoing Alpha! Jin-Ah prayed internally to her lord and savior, KatsuKavi. She was in a romance novel and she could watch the protagonists.

"Oppa, you're no fair! How did you get this lucky with KatsuKavi's pairing rituals?!"

"Who?!"

"The author!"

(A/N: ignore the fourth wall. There is no such thing.)

"Ah, we got too distracted! (M/n) could you clear the table?" Park Kyung-He stood up, moving towards the sink. (M/n) nodded obediently and helped her wash the dishes. Jin-Woo was dumbfounded at his goody good behavior.

He didn't even clean up at his own house. What was he doing being so good with his mother and sister?

"You're a good kid, (M/n). I approve of you."

"Thank you," (M/n) said, chatting a little bit with Kyung-He until he could call her 'Mom'. Sung Jin-Woo gritted his teeth as he watched (L/n) (M/n) be the new favorite.

"Oppa, (M/n) is so good to us. How dare you hog him for yourself," Jin-Ah glared at him from across the room, getting an angry look from Jin-Woo. "Wow, so possessive.." she murmured to herself, skipping happily to her new brother-in-law.

Possessive? No, Jin-Woo wasn't being possessive. He must've just been jealous (L/n) (M/n) was getting all the attention. But when did Jin-Woo start caring about being the center of attention?

He looked over to his best friend, biting his lip to ignore the tight feeling in his chest. He wanted to scream 'look at me!', but he was so dense he didn't know who he wanted to look at him.

"Ah, that's Jin-Woo?! He looks totally different!" (M/n) exclaimed, looking through Jin-Ah's older photos of Jin-Woo. He did look like an omega before, but he drastically changed after becoming a S-Rank Hunter. It was like he was a totally different person.

"Yeah, he used to be so cute and sunny. Now look at him! He's growling at me for taking you away from him."

"I am not growling at you!" Jin-Woo argued, knitting his eyebrows together. He didn't know why, but he felt so annoyed being so far away from Jin-Ah and (M/n). Normally, he wouldn't care but for some weird reason, he didn't like being treated like air.

(L/n) (M/n) soon changed out of his sleepwear and took a nice shower. He didn't wear any pheromone masking agent, so everyone could smell his masculine pheromones leaking out. As much as Jin-Woo liked it, he felt a little annoyed that his 'friend' was being used as incense.

"Mom, did you let him wear dad's clothes?"

"Mhm. It wasn't being used anyway," Kyung-He answered Jin-Woo. She put her hands together, making a sad smile as he looked over to (M/n). "I think it should go to good use, you think?"

"Yeah."

"He suits it well, right?"

"Yeah."

"He's more handsome now, isn't he?"

"I agree."

Sung Jin-Woo crossed his arms over his stomach. (L/n) (M/n) was very attractive in his eyes and a fuzzy feeling would come when thinking of him. "I can tell you really love him. So don't let him go." Kyung-He coaxed Jin-Woo. His mind was blank, only focusing on (M/n).

"Yeah."

"Oi, Jin-Woo! Why did you smile so weirdly in this photo!"

'Ah, I hate him so much,' Jin-Woo thought as (M/n) made fun of him. "Don't look at those!" he marched over, snatching the photo album from his hands while Jin-Ah and (M/n) laughed on the floor.

"Pfft! I don't want our child to look like that!"

"It'll be even worse if it looked like you!"

"I'm a handsome bastard and you know that!"

"I didn't know you wanted children. I hope they look beautiful in the future," Jin-Ah's eyes sparkled at the thought of cute children saying 'Aunt' at her. She wanted to squeeze their chubby cheeks immediately.

"Wait five months, then you decide if the baby will look good."

"Five months? So you're getting married in five months?"

"What? No, I mean Jin-Woo is giving birth in five months." (M/n)'s laughter soon ceased into silence as Jin-Woo walked closer to him menacingly. He then understood why (M/n) didn't want him to tell Jin-Ho about his circumstances. It was so embarrassing for them to know. Now they're never going to let him give it up.

In front of his family, his face became tomato red with both anger and embarrassment as he crouched down to strangle (L/n) (M/n). "Why did you tell them, you dumbass?!"

"Eh?? I thought they already knew from how you told Jin-Ho from the moment we left the hospital."

"Shut up." Jin-Woo balled his fist and set it in the air, his other hand on (M/n)'s chest to prevent him from moving. "Wait, wait! Don't actually—"

"Oppa, you're pregnant?" Sung Jin-Ah's shock had multiplied by 900, so did her happiness. "MOM! IM GOING TO BE AN AUNT! WOOHOO!" She stood up from her place and fetched her phone with a massive smile. She was going to brag to all her friends all about it, wasn't she?

"This is a pleasant surprise. Jin-Woo! You don't tell us about anything going on your life." Kyung-He also smiled, half scolding Jin-Woo. He was already 24, so he could decide as an adult. She had no problem with it. "First, you're a hunter, then your secret fiancee, now your child? Hoo, you.."

Wait, why did secret alpha boyfriend evolve into fiancee? They weren't getting married after the birth of the child!

(M/n)'s ears were about to bleed. He forgot about it! But because of their excessive happiness, he couldn't bring himself to disagree with what they were saying in fear they'd be disappointed. So he could only regrettably nod.

[Yay! Yay! Baby!!]

[We're getting a little hunter!! (☆ω☆)]

Jin-Woo's complexion became pale blue. They were doomed.

#solo leveling x reader #fanfics #sung jin woo x reader

245 notes · View notes

theladyismyshepard · 3 years

Note

2 of prompt hope? The brunette Cassandra has a maiden for a pet for now, But another maiden is in love with her?? inspired by robyn dancing on my own. Angst? Good ending or however you end it?

I love that song 😍 I totally got you, my friend, thank you for the prompt!

Warning: sex, blood, violence, honestly, 18+ only

So Far Away, But Still So Near

There were three things that were common knowledge to those who lasted more than a few weeks as a maid within Castle Dimitrescu (there weren’t many familiar faces however).

One was that the hallways of the castle echoed with the wails of the dying, and it was to be none of their business to be snooping into... There was a maid who panicked when she heard screaming for the first time, and it wasn’t moments later that hers mixed melodically with the next.

Second, a maid is not allowed to make a single mistake in their duties, or in the presence of the Dimitrescu family. The maid who made the mistake of opening up the curtains a mere peek was dragged down to the cellar, never to be seen again.

And lastly... you were the only maiden allowed to live a trapped life above the cellar where men and young women stuttered out their last breathes before becoming a constant drip that always sent you to your initial awakening inside a cage that was seeping blood from every corner.

When you had blinked slowly, allowing your eyes time to adjust to lantern light, you caught sight of a smile so twisted, you couldn’t say for sure it wasn’t a frown. There was blood that painted those lips, red and shining in the dancing light. Golden eyes glowed as they bore into you with such intensity, you thought for sure she would eat you alive.

Brown hair cascaded down to her chest, and it was wild and untamed. If she looked as unkempt as she was, you briefly wondered how bad your appearance must look, subconsciously reaching up to run your fingers through greasy locks of hair, grimacing when they snagged on a tangle.

You became acutely aware that your clothes had been changed for you. Gone were your regular clothes, and in their place was nothing more than a silk nightgown, even your underwear had been stolen right off your body. You felt exposed under her gaze.

“You smell irresistible,” she whispered, her fingers tight around the bars of your cage.

Fear plagued you, prompting your heart to stutter in your chest. It brought a laugh from the brunette, and a shiver went through you that you couldn’t fully comprehend. Her eyes narrowed as she slowly smirked, teeth on display. Some looked sharp enough to kill... the teeth of a predator.

“You’re quite a beauty, aren’t you?” she drawled lecherously, her eyes roaming your nearly exposed body.

“Have you seen yourself?” you went for flattery at this point, and you knew you chose the right route when her face went slack for a moment before bursting out into a laugh.

“And a charmer, too?”

The door to your cage opened, her eyes never leaving you. She slowly swayed her hips alluringly with every step she took towards you, her smirk unwavering. She had you cornered and fearful as she stood over you, a sickle in hand. What was she planning to do?

You felt a sharp stinging as you felt your flesh tear suddenly. The cool touch of metal pressed against the cut on your lower thigh, and you grimaced when you felt grime dig into your skin. Blood coated the blade of her sickle, and she withdrew before bringing it to her mouth. Her tongue flicked out, and she slowly dragged her tongue along the length of the blade, her eyes staring into yours.

“By far my favorite delicacy,” she moaned, her eyes darkening to nearly black.

You had felt something stirring in the pit of your stomach as warmth flooded your core at the sound that came from her mouth. She sniffed audibly, an eyebrow arched in interest at your reaction.

“My, oh my, you continue to intrigue me.” she turned her chin up, examining you in a way that felt as though she were looking down on you. “Here you are, trapped alone in blood and darkness and yet... I can smell your need.”

You felt a streak of defiance rush through your chest, but you bit your tongue, knowing you’d lose the war trying to win a battle. She had complimented you in a couple ways, but what she hasn’t shown appreciation for was your brain and wits.

“You intrigue me as well.” you admitted, confused by it.

The brunette chuckled wickedly, almost entertained, and you supposed it was in your favor to be capable of entertaining her. When her shoulders had stopped shaking and she ogled you once again, you hoped the gleam in her eye was a good thing.

“My name is Cassandra... I will give you time... and I will show you why that is a very bad idea.”

You blinked the memory away as you always did. That was nearly a year ago, and you would stride every day to prove your worth within the castle, knowing your virginity tethered you to a life of uncertainty as you lived among those who preyed on innocence.

To this day, you still didn’t know what kept you alive and working as a maid for the Dimitrescu family. You could tell Cassandra’s sisters weren’t overly thrilled with having something so tempting wandering within the walls, just within reach, and being unable to defile... What had you the most unsure was the tension between Cassandra and her gigantic mother.

Lady Dimitrescu would always inhale deeply when you leaned in to pour their wine during dinner. What keeps me alive? You couldn’t answer, and you weren’t sure who could. You had originally thought it was Cassandra’s influence and interest in you seeing as she had helped you out of the cellar, but she hardly looked at you when you waited on their every want and need.

The only thing you could say for her was that she didn’t snap at you like she violently did with the other maids, or even with her own sisters when one was pushed too far. She never said please or thank you, but her requests weren’t as sharp as they could be, which were few and far between.

What really had you thinking you were going crazy was the day you stood perfectly still by the far wall along with a couple other maids, unseen but at the ready should the family have a demand, and you heard Cassandra announce that she had a new pet in the cellar. The wild giggles from her sisters and the smirk from Alcina had a spring coiling tightly in your gut, and you could’ve sworn you were familiarized with the white-hot anger surging through your chest.

You couldn’t comprehend why you felt so flustered over Cassandra having someone else holding her attention. You could hardly call it “making you feel special”, but you could’ve sworn there was something about you that got you farther than most maidens who were unfortunate enough to find themselves trapped within the castle.

Your hand balled into a fist and you were subconsciously wearing a deep frown. You also didn’t catch the way multicolored eyes caught the look you were sporting or the triumphant smirk that followed. All you could do was stare at your feet and hope you didn’t bring attention to yourself, that’s all any of the maids did.

“Do not neglect your pet for too long, Cassandra.” said Alcina, dabbing her chin before she arose from the table.

“I’m going, mother,” promised Cassandra, bowing her head.

You watched as the Lady seemed to escort the entire room out of the dining area. Bela silently trailed behind her mother, hardly sparing any of the servants a glance on her way out. Daniela was still nibbling on a piece of something that you did not want to think about. Her eye met yours and she smiled toothily.

“Bye bye,” she said in a sing-song voice.

You shivered and she laughed as she walked out, and that only left Cassandra. She seemed to hypnotically sway her hips with each step she took as she followed her family. Your slight daze was broken by her throaty chuckle, and you already know you’ve been caught staring.

“Another time,” came her velvety voice, and you cursed your body for reacting before your brain could. Your eyes were glued to her ass the entire time she left.

It was quite pitiful really, how she could turn you to mush with words alone, all while her chin dribbled with blood from her fresh meal; and after she just spoke of her new plaything no less. What the fuck is wrong with me? What made it worse was that Cassandra was well aware of that fact.

What had you knowing you had gone crazy was when you couldn’t help the hatred you felt towards Cassandra’s new pet that seemed to be lingering around... since when did you start referring to living as lingering?

The pet always trailed after Cassandra, clinging to her side as if she were salvation. You remember a point in time where you thought she was your salvation. You passed them in the halls together, she was seated at Cassandra’s feet during “tea time” with the family, you could hear her moaning when you would passed by Cassandra’s room.

The wide, fearful eyes of the poor, young woman made you sick when they landed on you pleadingly. Oh how you wished to be in her place and yet here she was, afraid. You felt nothing over the tears that fell from her cheeks and landed on the bruises littering her bare thighs.

You felt like a monster.

Like what everything that could make you human had been burned away with hatred and negativity and darkness. It left you a hollow shell as you lost all sense of who you used to be. You felt chewed up and spit out and forced to work with what you had left.

Why were you still alive?

It was the same question bouncing in your head every day, yet you were no closer to finding the answer now, than you were the day before. At what point do you just give up? At what point do you just accept the desolate feeling gripping you until your final breath? Would death actually be a blessing over the lack of existence in Castle Dimitrescu?

That was the real question you had unfortunately began to live by. Your perfect touch to every duty assigned to you was slacking. It was imperceptible at first to all except Cassandra, but she bit her tongue, instead, choosing to keep her eyes glued to you every time you were in close proximity.

Your change in character went unnoticed until it became very obvious. Your rapid response became slower, almost outwardly showing how much you didn’t care to be there. Your attention to detail slipped as well as you started forgetting little things here and there during your duties.

Your steadiness shook when you served them, and wouldn’t you know it, your hand finally slipped one evening when you were pouring crimson tea into Daniela’s cup. The stream hit the lip of the cup and dripped onto her robe. You barely had time to register the shriek before something sharp slashed across your face, sending you to the floor.

All you could focus on was the stinging along your cheek and the bridge of your nose. You didn’t hear four different long inhales. You didn’t hear growling. You certainly didn’t hear Cassandra jerking Daniela’s arm until she faced her and the reverberating slap that followed.

“Never touch what isn’t yours!”

You did hear that shriek, and it had you finally looking up, taking in the scene. Blood was smeared all across your palm, and it was still flowing freely down your face, into your mouth, down your chin... You felt like you were served right on a platter for them.

You just felt a small sense of relief that Lady Dimitrescu’s narrowed eyes weren’t directed at you. They were mere slits and the frown lines showed her clear distaste. Her gaze was settled on Cassandra towering over Daniela’s shocked, still-seated form. Then the Lady’s gaze shifted to Cassandra’s pet, cowering away and watching the display with fright and confusion. It wasn’t long before her eyes were glued on you, leaving you glued to the floor.

“Cassandra,” her voice was eerily calm, but anyone with the sense of hearing could detect the cold fury hidden away. “You are only allowed one.”

Your eyes cut to Cassandra in time to see the dark rage swirling in hers, and you could see how feral she was becoming. You knew she was passed the point of rationality, there was no clear and coherent thought in her head... things were about to get sloppy and you were very afraid.

So afraid that it didn’t make a lick of sense when Cassandra took her silverware and lodged it straight into her pet’s chest. The sight of the young woman gurgling and choking on her own blood had you ensnared. You couldn’t look away, your eyes wide and unblinking in shock as she slumped and gasped and cried. You didn’t even feel the ones spilling down your cheeks.

“Do not ever touch my pet again.” warned Cassandra, hissing straight at her sister before turning to you. “Come... now!”

You scrambled, forcing your paralyzed joints to move. She was already stalking out of the room, dragging you by your wrist once you were on your feet. You apologized every time you tripped or stumbled, but silenced yourself when she snapped after the fifth time.

You weren’t sure what to feel after watching her kill her pet right in front of you. Cassandra was callous and a flat out sadist, she enjoyed working the screams from her victims, but she was acting purely deranged now. You wanted to ask where she was taking you, but common sense was telling you it was to her bedroom.

And you didn’t have time to catch up mentally before you were pulled through the doorway of her room and slammed against the door when she closed it. Cassandra’s tongue was immediately drawing a line from your chin all the way up to your forehead, cleaning a trail of blood and then some, leaving you a quivering mess.

She was moaning as she buried her face in your neck, her fangs piercing into your flesh. You yelped, your body jolting back against the door. She giggled madly, and it was your turn to moan out.

“Such a delicacy,” she whispered out before switching sides and biting into the other side.

You couldn’t help but shout again, even though you were prepared for it.

“Don’t worry, beautiful, I’m just making sure they all know who is allowed to touch you.”

She returned to suckling greedily at your blood, but her hand was trailing up your shirt until she roughly cupped your breast, her thumb rubbing small circles around your nipple. You squirmed against the door, but gasped when she scooped you up and dropped you onto her bed, her eyes alight.

“You are only allowed to follow my orders now, you will not tend to my sisters any further.” demanded Cassandra, straddling your thighs and literally tearing the maid’s uniform from your body.

“Command me, Mistress,” you moaned out, finally allowing yourself to get into what was happening, and you were rewarded for your comment by lips crashing into yours, a tongue immediately forcing its way into your mouth.

One hand returned to massaging your breast, and her mouth placed open mouthed kisses along your throat and collarbone before finally reaching your nipple, where she latched on.

You gasped, your head throwing back and your eyes slamming closed as her tongue swirled around the pink bud, sucking as roughly as she did when she fed from you. You’ve been deprived for so long that all you could do was squirm as warmth spread through your gut and dripped slickly down your thigh.

Her other hand grew tired of kneading your other nipple, and found itself teasing down your pubic bone before rubbing the same circles her tongue was drawing around your nipple with her fingers around your clit.

“Cassandra!” You groaned, your hands in her hair, keeping her where she was.

She bit down, and if she drew blood, it was licked away before you could tell. The fingers that were rubbing you were soon dipping inside, your wetness aiding her in sliding in. It was driving you crazy with sensory overload, and your hands flew to the bedsheets, gripping them tightly in your fists.

She hooked your leg around her hip to make it easier to thrust her fingers deeper inside of you. Your breath stuttered in your chest as pressure built inside of you. It started in the pit of your stomach, but warmth was spreading all throughout your body now, and she gave a few final pumps, you were coming around her, calling out her name as your body tightened and released.

She didn’t have time to let you recover before she was climbing up your body, settling herself comfortably on your face. You happily went to work on her, your tongue lashing out and licking along her clit. You didn’t give yourself time to relish in her moans before you buried your tongue deep inside of her, altering between flattening it and flicking it hard along her walls.

You felt her trembling around your tongue and it had you feeling deeply satisfied. Cassandra panted as one hand gripped the headboard, using it to help her ride your face, the other was woven into your hair, keeping you in place as well.

For all the moans you pulled from her, she came silently down your chin before sliding off, falling back onto her side beside you, head propped up on her hand, staring down at you. Now she was relishing in watching you recover from your activities. As you came down from your high, you couldn’t help but ask the burning question.

“Why am I still alive?”

She blinked down at you, clearly not expecting that question, but she wasn’t snapping at you so you were good. She took on a thoughtful look before she smirked down at you, crawling back on top of you.

“You are still intrigued by me and fortunately for you, I am still intrigued by you.” She said in between kisses down your body.

She paused when she hovered over where you needed her most.

“I’ll warn you though... I lose interest fast.”

And continued to show just how interested she was in the now. Lucky you.

#bela dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #lady alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu's daughters headcanons #lady dimitrescu's daughters #cassandra dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu’s daughters x reader #resident evil 8 #resident evil village #prompt fill

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pretoriafics · 3 years

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If I wasn't a goddamn werewolf - Pt. 3

You find out that Derek is your Alpha, and he will be the one who will teach you how to defend yourself. Word count: 2.676 Pairings: Reader x Derek Contain: Pure angst!!; Derek being a dick; Derek being a sad puppy Warnings: English is not my main language <3; Inappropriate language TEEN WOLF MASTERLIST PART 1 | PART 4 Gif credits here

Your world turned upside down. But, at least, you had Laura with you.

Both of you never were too close. Laura was always really nice to you when you saw her a few times at Derek's loft. Your conversations were superficial most of the time, but if you and Laura were doing nothing, both of you could talk for hours. Of course, you guys stand back from each other after that argument with Derek that made you so heartbroken.

But then, you were bitten.

Laura was the only Hale you were significantly close now. You only spoke with Cora sometimes, and you didn't meet Talia yet... You didn't meet Peter either, and even if you had, you surely will not stay close to him now. Well, you were pretty close to Derek, but now you don't want to see him even if he appears painted in gold in front of you. So, Laura was the one who was helping you to understand the world you are now part of.

She explained everything to you: Laura admits that her entire family was made of werewolves, but you didn't need to be afraid of it. Laura told you, even, that she needed to run away from Beacon Hills, and because of it, Derek thought she was killed by her own uncle. She was the best mentor you could ever ask for. During your first two weeks as a werewolf, Laura lent you a few books so you could read and learn more about your new world. It was only after reading a few books and learning a few things that you finally went on your first pack meeting.

You were driving your car to the new Hale house. You were pretty anxious about everything and with no idea of what to expect. You were trying to stay calm, focused, and trying so hard not to think about Derek and all the drama surrounding his name. Of course, Laura knew about your anxiety. Your hands were sweating, your heart was beating fast, and your body language was tense. There is just one thing Laura didn't tell you, and she would do it right now.

"Uhn, so (Y/N)..." She started, taking care to say the right words "I told you that everyone would help you with the knowledge about the supernatural and all... I told you about the hunters... But did I told you how could you defend yourself against them?"

"No." You said, looking at her for one second and already expecting the kind of news that would let you disconcerted. "But I can imagine. I mean, I just need to attack them, am I right?"

"Sometimes, but sometimes not... I mean, we train our betas to be able to defend themselves. We will do the same with you. That's why I requested you to wear your gym clothes."

"Oh, okay" Well, isn't seems that bad. Your body relaxed. "What do you will teach me?"

"Me? Nothing. Derek will do it. This is at his charge, he's the alpha. Your alpha."

You took a peek at Laura, with your body starting to get tense again and your heart running fast inside your chest. Derek would teach you self-defense? And he was your alpha? Oh, God. You didn't even reply to her.

"I mean" Laura continued, after some seconds of tense silence "Sometimes I help him with it. Yesterday I was helping Erica with it. She is each day better."

"But can't you help me with it instead of Derek?"

"No. I would love, but... The Hale Pack is not a matriarchy anymore."

You let out a long sigh, with your body tense and a bad mood dominating you. Without a sign of doubt, you're still so fallen by him... But things have happened between you both. And suddenly, the scenes of your argument with Derek invade your mind.

It was exactly one month since your first kiss with him. The sky was with a bright moon and full of stars. Oh, you remember that sky like it was yesterday! It would be a pretty romantic night: You would tell Derek that you were been in love with him even before the first time you felt the taste of his lips on yours. You were hoping that he felt the same. After all, Derek was so caring and so sweet to you...

You were wearing a red dress because you remembered the night he said to you how beautiful you were wearing red, and how much that color suits you. With shaking hands of anxiety, you were stopped in front of the loft door, with a low gaze and playing with your own fingers when Derek opens the door.

Your eyes meet his, and still anxious you gave him a sweet smile. You felt your cheeks burning when you noticed his green eyes running through your body, looking at you with your red dress.

"Hi." You said, hesitantly and low, with your sweet smile still on your lips. However, despite Derek's eyes run through your body, looking at you with that red dress, he didn't say anything. Actually, his face was pretty cold. That made you shrink, with your smile disappearing on your lips, thinking that maybe you didn't choose the right dress.

"Hi." Derek replied, forcing a smile on you. He gave a step left, letting you the space you needed to come into his loft. "Come in."

You know that there's something wrong now. After the first kiss of both of you, Derek always receives you at his loft with a soft kiss. What was happening?

You came into the loft and sit on the couch, looking at him. Derek closes the door and walks to the table, saving a few sheets into a briefcase. It was like you were invisible. Confused, you look at him and, hesitant, you had started to talk.

"Uhn... I was thinking that maybe we could eat pizza and watch a movie tonight. Alissa told me about a new movie on Netflix that-"

"I can't."

And he even looks at you when he replies to you so coldly. You felt as if cold water had been thrown at you. Flummoxed, you look at him, and he isn't looking at you, still fiddling with that stupid briefcase. A few seconds of uncomfortable silence fills the loft until you find the strength to talk.

"Why? Are you busy? I can return tomorrow, don't worry."

"I'll hang out with a girl soon. I'll pick her up at her house in a few minutes, and I really don't want to get late."

Your heart breaks into thousand pieces, and you already felt your eyes watering. What?

"...A girl?"

"Yeah." Derek closes the briefcase and lets it into the table. He crosses his arms and, with a cold face, looks at you. "A girl."

"I didn't know that you were hanging out with other women."

Derek arches his eyebrows and lets out a low and short chuckle of derision.

"Do you really thought I would stop seeing other women just because of you?"

You stare at him in shock. Your heartbroken threatened to be exposed in tears, but you tried to hold them. A little bit embarrassed and feeling foolish as never before, you shrink on the sofa, staring at your own hands. Your voice was low.

"I thought that we're having something special."

Derek rolled his eyes, grabbing his jacket on the chair and wearing it.

"I just wanted some fun, (Y/N). You can't blame me."

Derek was punching your heart word by word. Why was he treating you with such indifference? You look at him, with a tear escaping from your eyes and running through your face.

"So is that all I was for you? Just someone who you could have some fun with?"

Derek let out a long sigh, sitting on the chair and staring at you with his crossed arms.

"I can't understand. What did I do with you that made you thought you were so special?"

"Are you kidding with me, Derek?" Your voice gets louder in anger and shaky with your cry. You can't hold your tears anymore. In anger and hurt, you stood up from the couch. "Everything! You were just... playing with me during this time?"

"Oh, crap. Goddamn women and all of this silly sentimentalism. You are nothing to me, so stop acting like a..." He stares at you, with his eyes cutting you like blades "...Like a stupid teenager in love."

Derek spits those words with such disgust that you just felt another blade inside your chest, cutting what has left from your heart. You hadn't the strength to reply to him, and even if you had, the news tears that were running through your cheeks and that knot in cry on your throat would restrain you.

"Look." Derek stood up from the chair and touches your arms. You shrink yourself. His touch was the last thing you want now "Why don't we solve this soon, and you tell me why you came here?"

Disgusted by his touch, you grab his wrists and move his hands away from you.

"I just came here to say that I think I was falling for you, and I would like to know if you felt the same. But you clearly don't, and I'm the fool here. I'm going home. Good luck with your date."

You were sitting on the couch in the living room of the Hale house, just waiting your turn to start the training. Your fingers were sliding the screen of your phone. However, you can't pay attention to it because you were so anxious about interacting with Derek since the episode in the supermarket. You were feeling mixed feelings: You miss him so much, but at the same time, you were still hurt with the supermarket episode and with the arguing both of you had on his loft. You just want to run away from him, but he is your goddamn Alpha now. Things would be easier if Laura was your Alpha. However, with her time away from the city, Derek took her sister's place. It occurred when he killed his uncle and became the Alpha he is nowadays.

Oh damn, you were pretty sure everyone knew about your anxiety. Actually, you had noticed the older woman in the house looking at you from the kitchen sometimes. Yeah, Talia was looking at you and pretty curious about you as well. However, she knew you just needed some time. Then, at the right time, she could meet you.

You heard the door from the basement being opened, and you saw from the living room couch Erica walking in wide footsteps through the entrance hall, going out of the house. Damn, she seems so pissed off! Boyd was trying to reach her.

Laura appeared after Boyd, rolling her eyes while walking from the entrance hall to the living room.

"Goddamn teenagers." She fell onto the couch close to you, with her eyes looking at the ceiling "Your turn. Derek is waiting for your downside."

Oh, Gosh. Your heart began to run faster in anxiety, and the wanting of just run away from there arouse even stronger. Well, maybe if Laura went with you, all of that could be bearable.

"You come?"

"Not yet." She said, looking at you. "It will take time until I'll be able to watch your training."

"How much?" You questioned, standing up from the couch.

"Maybe I could watch your training next week."

You were so fucked up! Would you need to spend all that time alone with Derek? Oh, man...

"Uh... Okay."

You replied, letting out a long sigh and accepting your current situation. You compress your own lips and walk to the basement door. You gotta be strong now and needs to face it.

You open the basement door, gaining access to a small mezzanine that overlooks the entire basement below. Derek had his back to you, sending a message on his cell phone. When he felt your smell, he turned to see you.

He was so damn relieved to see you there, healthy and so beautiful. Lycanthropy suits you, and the bite made you more beautiful than ever. This time, Derek was not with a cold expression for you. Actually, you could saw a hint of sweetness inside of his green eyes. However, all Derek could see on yours was melancholy.

All he could think about is how much you probably hate him. Derek wanted so badly to ask you if you were okay and tell you that you weren't alone to deal with your new lycanthropy. He wanted so bad to tell you how worried he was about you and how he wasted both of your times staying away from you. Damn, Derek wants so much to recover all the time both of you were lost away from each other... Maybe you could recover those time in some vacations, or just staying in a cheap motel cuddling each other and laughing.

But he wasn't strong enough to be rejected by you. So, he conducts your training as distant as possible. His voice was stable all the time, and all you did was listen to his instructions and look at him just to see the movements you should do and nothing more.

When your training was over, he just looks at you while you drink the water from your bottle, with your back to him. Derek was reuniting all of his courage and strength to talk with you. At the same time, he was hiding all his fear of being rejected for you. Then, he finally gets to say something.

"During all this time, I was trying to keep you safe."

You took the water bottle out of your mouth and finally looks at him with a cold voice.

"Safe from what?"

"Safe from everyone who could hurt you to get to me. Hunters, other werewolves..."

You rolled your eyes. You didn't believe him.

"My boyfriend is waiting for me at his home, so I have to go."

You start to go upstairs. With his heart aching, and even a little bit desperate, Derek follows you.

"Wait, just let me talk with you. Please."

Your footsteps became faster and faster until you reach the door. You opened the door so angry that Cora, who was talking to Isaac in the entrance hall, jumped in fright.

You didn't reply to Derek. Hoping that you would listen to him and just forgive him, he starts to talk for a second time.

"I didn't want you to come to me again because it was dangerous. I really needed you to hate me. You would be safe that way."

Dominated by rage, you stop close to the front door and turn yourself to face him.

"Go fuck yourself, Derek!" You yell, with tears invading your eyes that were glowing yellow. However, you won't let them fall through your face this time. "Do you really think that I'll believe this bullshit? You will not make me a fool again!"

Your reaction made him just freeze, looking at you, not only surprised for your sudden rage and words. Derek was hitten for your rejection, just like he feared. Cora and Isaac were looking at the scene with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. Oh, man... The Pack was already doing tons of gossips about you and Derek, and that arguing would be the main one.

You walk out of the house, walking to your car, letting Derek behind. He did not follow you this time. He hasn't strengthed for it.

Suddenly, Derek noticed someone he hasn't seen before: Peter. His uncle was now stopped close to him, moving away from his mouth a bottle of Jack Daniels. He pushes the bottle to his nephew while letting out a long sigh. Derek just grabs the bottle and turns it in his mouth.

"I know, I know," Peter says, giving at his nephew a few pats on his shoulder. "Women's..."

TAG LIST: @teen-wolf-obsessed4life

#teen wolf imagine #teen wolf imagines #teen wolf fanfics #teen wolf fics #teen wolf fanfic #derek hale imagine #derek hale imagines #derek hale x reader #derek hale fanfics #derek hale x you #derek hale x y/n #derek hale angst

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limit-list · 4 years

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CONCEPT!! okay okay look but i wanna see a modern day zukka fic where zuko is a tattoo artist!! his uncle is a renowned tattoo artist, owns a parlor called the Jasmine Dragon, and zuko works for him there. his designs are absolutely killer, he studies a bunch of different styles (that i do not know the names of because i know nothing of tattoos and i’m too excited to do research), like the cool samoan ones and cartoon styles and he’s really good at photo realism, but his favorite is to just treat tattooing as any other art form and use his personal style.

zuko’s a growing name in the industry, and his uncle’s competitor shop is the Flying Bison (cause why not). the Flying Bison is just a couple streets over, and in it you can find aang (tattoo artist), katara (piercing person), suki (works the desk and manages everything for the owner, kyoshi), sokka (hangs out to bother katara when he isn’t in class at the law school), and toph (likes to hang out and make recommendations until people realize she’s blind and get really awkward. she works at the flower shop next door because we like tropes and flowers and tattoos just go together, okay??)

one day, suki is complaining about losing another customer to the Jasmine Dragon and katara is agreeing, and sokka is like “ehh they can’t be that great, the owner is some old guy!! i bet if i went and got a tattoo i could cause a big ol stink about it being awful and lose them some customers” and katara is like great idea you go do that and when it sucks aang can fix it!

sokka, who was joking in the first place, somehow ends up walking into the Jasmine Dragon and stopping just inside the door cause w o w that boy is hot. what the fuck why is he hiding in here when he should be a walking poster boy, those tattoos are nice.

(zuko has the burn on his face, long shaggy hair that he ties up in a bun when he’s working, a tattooed dragon that curls around his neck, a sleeve on his left arm that’s got some flames, some symbols, another dragon curled around his wrist, and on his right forearm he’s got a white lotus pai sho tile with writing around it)

(not relevant at the moment, but sokka has the moon between his shoulder blades, a boomerang on the side of his left wrist, the pattern from his mom’s betrothal necklace on his left shoulder, katara’s handwriting that says “hey loser” going up his right side, aang’s air symbol on his right shoulder, and appa on his lower back)

zuko catches sokka staring and blushes, obviously checking him out, before asking him if he needs any help. sokka’s like “yeah actually i’m here kinda as a representative of the Flying Bison, ya know, your rival. i’ve come to get a tattoo so that we can know that we’re better than you, but now that i’m here i’m kinda seeing that nothing could ever be better than you, oh fuck i just said that out loud”

...needless to say they’re both blushing now. that is, until zuko’s like “wait? you what?? what kind of guy wants to get a tattoo just to prove that you’re better than someone else???”

sokka’s like “uhhh actually i was joking when i suggested it but then my sister said i should do it and i can’t legally deny her anything so... here i am” and then they just kinda stand there in awkward silence. for a long while. somewhere between a minute and a century.

then zuko just kinda clears his throat and is like “so um where do you want it? what do you want?”

and sokka is like “???? i JUST told you i’m here to make you make me look bad and you’re just fine with it?”

and zuko just quirks his eyebrow and smirks and scoffs a bit and is like “i couldn’t make you look bad if i wanted to. and i wouldn’t let you make me look bad.”

which, the first part is CLEARLY flirting except the second part is so condescending and sokka has never been more attracted to someone since yue tattooed the moon on his back. sokka has never been known for his exceptional decision making skills. which might be why he decides to say “so about that tattoo. does me being attracted to you create a conflict of interest?”

and zuko blushes but the smirk turns into a grin and he goes “not unless you have an issue with me being interested in you too.” and sokka cannot believe he is LIVING THIS LIFE!!!!

they hammer out the details, set up an appointment for the next day. sokka goes home and refuses to tell katara anything except he’ll be getting a new tattoo tomorrow. zuko goes home and rants to his uncle about the boy from the Flying Bison that he definitely flirted the crap out of, is that a conflict and can i please tattoo this boy even tho he’s from our competitor shop? (iroh says yes of course, though he plans to send ty lee to check out the Flying Bison in retribution)

(unseen future: ty lee and suki start dating. iroh finds this hilarious)

sokka comes in the next day for his tattoo, asks zuko to do something like his dragons cause he thinks those look cool, but gives him free reign to do whatever else he wants. it takes forever, but when they’re done sokka has officially developed an actual crush on zuko beyond just his appearance. they’ve talked about their moms, hakoda and iroh, katara and the rest of the gaang, zuko’s development as a tattoo artist, and they’ve developed a comfortable silence as music plays lowly in the backround.

when sokka looks at the tattoo for the first time, he’s absolutely speechless. zuko’s added in koi fish around the moon, in a yin yang pattern, and between the moon and appa, he’s put the sun with a dragon curled around it, head resting on its tail at the bottom.

zuko’s watching him anxiously, terrified that he’ll hate it even though he’s tried to match the style that the moon was done in as much as possible. already he’s sputtering stuff like “it’s kind of too late if you don’t like it, you did tell me i could do whatever, did i overstep with the koi fish, oh my gosh here i’ll go get your money back—“ and sokka cuts him off by turning to look at him with affection just evident on his face and wtf who gave him permission to be that cute—

and then sokka is asking “hey, can i like kiss you or is that too much for the health guidelines?” and sokka’s honestly surprised that he could even ask that much, he loves these tattoos and if he doesn’t get to kiss this amazing boy soon—

and zuko is in shock apparently, but he snaps out of it with “okay let me get you wrapped up, oh god that sounds so bad, let me treat your tattoo and ring everything up and say all the precautionary health stuff that you already know so i can take my break and then we’ll see” and that’s what they do!!!

when zuko’s break is up, iroh exits into the back alley to find sokka has pushed zuko up against the wall and they’re making out, didn’t even notice iroh coming outside. of course, iroh is an embarrassing uncle and goes “ah zuko, i assume this is the competition?”

to which zuko draws back and thumps his head into sokka’s shoulder, not letting sokka back up more than an inch. “uncle go away i’m busy” “ah yes, i can see that. is this a new method of exchanging trade secrets?” “uncle.”

sokkas chuckling breathlessly as iroh hums and goes back inside. “trade secrets huh?”

(katara is infuriated that sokka loves his new tattoo, especially since it clearly shows that zuko’s an amazing tattoo artist. aang wants to meet him and learn from him like NOW, suki wants to recruit him, and toph thinks they’re dating. she isn’t wrong, but sokka bribes her to shut up so katara doesn’t find out)

#ellie writes #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla fanfic #avatar the last airbender fanfic #zukka #zukka fanfic #concept #zuko #sokka #zuko and sokka #ik this isnt great but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#i enjoy it #tattoo artist zuko!!#is it obvious that i dont do relationships in real life hahaha #i cant write flirting at all its a mess #oh well #enjoy hopefully!!#atla fanfic idea

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foxghost · 3 years

Text

Joyful Reunion, Chapter 109

Translator: foxghost @foxghost tumblr/ko-fi1 Beta: meet-me-in-oblivion @meet-me-in-oblivion tumblr Original by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang Masterpost | Characters, Maps & Other Reference Index

Book 3, Chapter 24 (Part 4)

Lang Junxia swings his leg over the horse’s back in the dark, and hurriedly leaves as the rest of them stare off after him.

Out of the four, Zheng Yan is the only one looking battered and exhausted. He’s plainly the least involved, yet he’s spent all night running around, swimming one moment and getting injured the next, even jumping into the river twice.

“Come over to my house and let’s get you bandaged,” Duan Ling says.

Zheng Yan hums an agreement absentmindedly, clearly still thinking about something. Duan Ling notices that all of them are out of sorts, though the one who really ought to be preoccupied has to be himself. Wu Du still seems pretty normal, but Chang Liujun and Zheng Yan look like they’re sleepwalking. Duan Ling gives Chang Liujun a pat on the back. “Hey, Chang Liujun? You alright?”

“Just leave me alone!” Chang Liujun flies off the handle.

Chang Liujun has clearly had one too many surprises, and he can’t even walk straight anymore. First it’s Mu Qing getting kidnapped, and him spending most of the night on edge over it, then it’s the crown prince being taken hostage, and finally right before Amga left, he threw them a bolt out of the blue. All this has left him in a state of extreme shock.

But he doesn’t ask any questions at all. As soon as he returns to the estate, he leaves them to report to Mu Kuangda. Duan Ling had been drunk earlier, and the situation changed too quickly; it took him almost an hour of getting windblown by the river before he sobered up and began to feel terrified about the evening well after the fact. He must sort out everything he has learned as soon as possible, for too much has happened this evening.

Once they step through the door, Duan Ling goes looking for an ointment while Zheng Yan ignores them and sits down. “Bring me some wine.”

Meanwhile, Duan Ling gives Wu Du’s chest a pat, and Wu Du nods back at him to let him know he still has the stuff. “I’ll head over to the estate and find him some wine to drink.”

Zheng Yan strips himself down to the waist, leaving his robe bundled up around his waist, revealing an expanse of pale muscle; he’s still deep in thought.

Duan Ling gets the ointment ready and kneels down at his side, planning to apply it to his wounds. “How did you get hurt?”

“Got hit with a sabre underwater,” Zheng Yan replies absentmindedly. He seems rather distracted.

Out of the four assassins, Wu Du held back and bided his time through the entire affair, Chang Liujun didn’t draw his sword, while Lang Junxia dallied over how Cai Yan was on one side and Duan Ling was on the other. Only Zheng Yan threw all his strength behind saving this “crown prince” as though his life depended on it. Why did you work so hard to save him? What did Cai Yan ever give you?

Of course he wasn’t given anything; Zheng Yan had merely fulfilled his duty. Duan Ling did think that the first to jump into the river when Cai Yan fell in would be Lang Junxia; he never thought Zheng Yan would be the one to jump in without any hesitation. As he thinks about this Duan Ling can’t help but feel a bit moved; it may have seemed like the one Zheng Yan saved was Cai Yan, but in reality the one he carried out of the water was actually Duan Ling himself.

Zheng Yan is immersed in his thoughts, a deep furrow forming between his brows. Duan Ling knows that he must have heard what Amga said before he left, and he’s meditating on it now. Has he had some inkling that something isn’t quite right? Duan Ling isn’t sure whether Zheng Yan knows his dad or not, and whose side he’s really on.

Before Duan Ling does anything else, he cleans Zheng Yan’s wound, swollen and pale from all the time it spent in the water. Then he grabs a plate and dissolves the medicinal powder in the ointment. Finally pulling himself back to the present, Zheng Yan turns and stares unblinkingly at Duan Ling.

“What did Amga say in the end?” Zheng Yan says suddenly, “When I came out of the water all I heard was splashing water and I didn’t quite catch it.”

Duan Ling falls silent for a moment before he says, “I didn’t quite catch it either. Let’s take off your glove.”

Zheng Yan puts his hand on the table, and Duan Ling slides his finger under the edge of the glove to take it off. It’s woven with thin silk-like strands of metal, presumably for catching concealed weapons and fighting hand-to-hand against a blade. There’s a black-inked white tiger tattoo in ancient script on the back of Zheng Yan’s hand.

It’s this tattoo again; Lang Junxia’s tattoo is on his arm, Wu Du’s tattoo is on his neck, while Chang Liujun’s tattoo is on his face.

Noticing that Duan Ling has caught sight of his tattoo, Zheng Yan gives him another look.

“It’s the same as Wu Du’s.” Duan Ling leaves the glove in a wooden basin to dry, and cleans Zheng Yan’s arm and palm with a dry cloth before applying ointment.

“Did Chang Liujun catch what he said?” As though he’s turned into someone else, Zheng Yan says coldly.

“I think … he may have caught it.”

And thus Zheng Yan stops talking, and they both fall silent for a bit. Duan Ling finishes applying ointment, wraps Zheng Yan’s arm in bandages, and Zheng Yan’s gaze turns to Duan Ling’s face again.

“You’re rather pretty,” Zheng Yan murmurs, then putting one hand against Duan Ling’s chin to make him look up a little, his eyes focused on Duan Ling’s lips. As he does so his expression changes as though he has a mind to try something. Duan Ling’s heart is drawn all the way to his throat in an instant.

It all happens in the blink of an eye; the corner of Duan Ling’s mouth curls into a half smile, and raising a hand against Zheng Yan’s, he moves it aside. Zheng Yan’s eyebrow draws together in a frown again.

“What are you trying to do?” Duan Ling backs away from him. He wonders if Zheng Yan has discovered anything in that brief moment earlier. He still remembers his father telling him before that the shape of his lips is hereditary. Zheng Yan is familiar with the Marquess of Yao’s family, so he must have met Duan Ling’s aunt as well — would he ever associate Duan Ling’s features to hers?

“Being with Wu Du is boring.” Zheng Yan is back to his usual self, smiling roguishly at him. “Why don’t you come have some fun with me? Let me take good care of you for three days and three nights and you’ll never be able to leave me, I guarantee.”

“Did you teach His Highness how to have fun? I noticed that you were quite ready to jump into the water earlier.”

“Now that’s not something you can just say. You think your head’s attached to your shoulder too securely, I’m afraid?”

Duan Ling wants to change the subject to Cai Yan to get a handle on Zheng Yan’s attitude towards him. “Who was the one that was with him today?”

“That guy’s name is Feng Duo. Treacherous as hell. Don’t get on his bad side.”

Wu Du has come back, and he puts a jar of wine on the table. “Drink it, then hurry up and go. We’re damn sleepy.” Then he starts stripping and changing into the casual clothes he wears at home as if Zheng Yan isn’t even there. As it occurs to him, he says to Duan Ling, “Get Zheng Yan a clean suit of clothes.”

Zheng Yan waves to tell him there’s no need. He picks up the jar, takes a mouthful, and promptly spits out the whole lot.

“What is this? Your piss?” Zheng Yan says with his face contorted.

Wu Du has finished changing his clothes, and folding up those sheets of paper, he puts it in his sword case. “Why do you talk so much? It’s the middle of the night. Where am I supposed to find you good wine? I got that from the kitchen.”

Duan Ling has a headache from the wind, and so he goes to lie down on the bed to listen to their conversation. Wu Du asks Duan Ling, “You asleep?”

“I’m awake.” Duan Ling turns over, facing Wu Du and Zheng Yan. “Who’s Feng Duo?”

“A criminal,” Zheng Yan replies. “He colluded with a foreign power. He was sentenced to death and scheduled to be executed after autumn, but the capital was relocated in autumn so he relocated along with us to Jiangzhou.”

“What was the crime he committed?” Wu Du isn’t really informed about stuff that happened at court either.

Zheng Yan replies languidly, “Thirteen years ago, Southern Chen set up a plan to sow dissension in Liao. Fei Hongde lobbied the Yelü family to accuse the Liao capital’s literati Cai clan of ‘awaiting an opportunity to commit treason’. Before he joined the Shadow Guard, Feng Duo’s older sister married a Cai, and in order to save his sister he leaked this information to Cai Ye. After that he was sold out by someone in the shadow guard and off to jail he went …”

Duan Ling and Wu Du exchange a look, communicating silently that they’re both aware of why Cai Yan chose Feng Duo now. And seemingly not paying any attention, Zheng Yan drinks another mouthful of wine.

At the same time, candle flames flicker in the darkened palace.

As though he’s scared out his wits, Cai Yan keeps gasping for breath. Even after he’s changed his clothes, there’s still nothing but fear in his eyes. His lips have gone pale; he couldn’t calm down.

Lang Junxia is sitting before the table, quietly pondering over his tea.

Cai Yan finally calms himself down, and with a few steps he’s already in front of Lang Junxia. The very moment he reaches out, it’s to slap Lang Junxia across the face in one ringing, clean smack.

“How … How dare you …”

Lang Junxia doesn’t say anything at all, and the next thing Cai Yan does is to kick with all his might, turning over the table in front of him, sending it crashing against the floor.

“Say something!” As though he’s gone mad, Cai Yan howls at Lang Junxia, “Say something —!”

“It’s gotten quite late,” Lang Junxia replies, “you should get some sleep, Your Highness.”

“You traitor!” Cai Yan howls. “You double-crossing turncoat! You scoundrel!”

In a flash, a sword shimmering with cold light is up against Cai Yan’s throat; he hasn’t even noticed when the sword actually left its sheath, and Lang Junxia is already gripping firmly onto the other end of the sword.

He realises then, that he’s dismissed all of his attendants, and Lang Junxia can at any given time run through his throat with a light touch of his blade.

Cai Yan takes a half step back, but the Qingfengjian follows him the same distance, as though it’s his shadow.

“Your Highness mustn’t make so much noise.” Lang Junxia lowers his voice and says solemnly, “Otherwise all that’s going to happen is get us both killed for no good reason.”

Cai Yan calms himself and backs away another half step. This time, the blade does not follow him.

“It’s too late … It’s too late.” Cai Yan says, trembling. “They all heard what he said. Especially Zheng Yan. He’ll definitely tell my uncle.”

“That’s not your uncle.” Lang Junxia sheathes his sword casually, and his tone is without emotion. “That’s someone else’s uncle.”

“You’ll kill him for me, won’t you?” Cai Yan says, gasping. “He got lucky and managed to escape, so you’ll help me kill him again, and then kill everyone who heard those words. Lang Junxia, just like what you promised me — as long as I’m in this position, no living person will ever know.”

“Humans can only do so much,” Lang Junxia says thus, “I’ll try my best. Drink some calming soup and get some sleep. Once you fall asleep you won’t be scared anymore.”

“Kill him. Go kill him now. I’m begging you! Lang Junxia!”

Cai Yan throws himself at him, but Lang Junxia spins around, grabs Cai Yan by the collar, and pushes him to the edge of the bed. He whispers in Cai Yan’s ear, “Your Highness, killing a random person who has nothing to do with you will only make Mu Kuangda suspicious. Don’t forget, Chang Liujun also heard what was said tonight.”

With some difficulty, Cai Yan swallows. Lang Junxia doesn’t say anything else, and he turns to leave the room.

Over and over again, Cai Yan is thinking about how Duan Ling is still alive one moment and the thought fills him with unimaginable fear, then the next moment he’s thinking about how Amga has yelled the truth at them, and how he’s going to have to answer if Li Yanqiu asks him about it. Amga is just trying to throw confusion into the mix! Slander! It’s clearly slander!

On his initial return to court the rumours had been flying as well, and ultimately it was Wu Du who made the final judgement and verified his identity. Yet how has Duan Ling made it to Wu Du’s side?! Wu Du called him “Wang Shan” … Is Wu Du aware of who he is?

Wu Du had never met him before, and Duan Ling also had no way of proving his own identity, so how on earth did he manage to survive?

Cai Yan sits up again, and says to the attendant standing outside, “Send for Feng. Hurry. Send him in.”

Feng comes in, and he’s come in such a hurry that he hasn’t even had a chance to change his clothes. He stands outside the bed curtains and asks, “What does Your Highness require?”

Cai Yan thinks it over for a long time. The words are at the tip of his tongue, but he doesn’t know where to begin. Finally he can only say with exhaustion, “Sit over there. Just sit down.”

And so Feng sits down nearby. Cai Yan heaves a long sigh, leaning against the pillow, pale and wan, staring weakly at the ceiling of the bed.

“Does Your Highness need to summon the imperial physician to take a look?”

“No.”

He’s already thinking about how he can escape from the palace and leave it all behind, but where can he ever go? Zheng Yan, Wu Du, Chang Liujun … every one of them are experts in the martial arts. Without Lang Junxia’s protection, chasing him down would be child’s play. He has violated the oath he made before Li Jianhong, and it torments him as though he will live in a raging fire for eternity, never shall he find peace.

And even so, he never once thinks about begging for Duan Ling’s forgiveness. He knows that Duan Ling won’t forgive him — even if Duan Ling acquiesces, Li Yanqiu would definitely make mincemeat out of him. Worst comes to worst, he can always poison Li Yanqiu … kill him too … kill everyone … An extremely hideous thought flashes across the recesses of Cai Yan’s mind, and the thought seems to drain him of all his strength, making him fall asleep in a daze.

I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎

#相見歡 #fei tian ye xiang #joyful reunion #xiang jian huan #fox translates things

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be-ready-when-i-say-go · 3 years

Text

The Hard Things

Doing the right thing is never easy. Calum and Freya have a lot going for them. But what happens when fear gets in the way.

Inspired by I Follow Rivers by Marika Hackman and Starting Line by Luke Hemmings.

Calum X Black Female OC.

I cried once writing this. 7.4k words. Angst. Just angst and sarcasm.

@notinthesameguey is personally responsible for this. So blame her.

The Hard Things--Alternative Ending

Masterlist (on semi hiatus)

___________________________________

If Freya were going to be honest, she would admit that the second she saw Calum and his friends walk into the building she knew things were going to be bad. But Freya’s not being honest. Because being honest would almost include admitting just how too easy it was that day. How if those particular sequences of events hadn’t happened that specifically, then she wouldn’t be here--trying not to watch the quiver in his chin or the way he blinks rapidly. Then she wouldn’t be trying to forget the way his voice quakes.

But they did happen in that particular order. On a Thursday afternoon, he and his friends walked through the door. And here, here at this part, it’s easy to be honest.

Honestly, she is staring--way too hard and way too long at the rag-tag gaggle of people, but especially the man pulling up the rear of the group with a bright red hat snug on his head and covering his eyes, though not even the brim can hide the plump full lips pulled up into a tiny grin at something that must’ve been said. Because another guy, this one fairer-skinned in a hat too and a baggy t-shirt is also laughing. And of course, this group would enter just as Tre stepped away to check on the lanes already throwing. Vanessa wasn’t too far from the desk, but she was trying to help some parents figure out when they could schedule an event for someone’s birthday in the coming weeks.

This only leaves Freya as the only person available right now until rounds were completed to handle any new patrons. With a glance down to the clock on the computer, she could see that a couple more folks would be coming back to the front at any point. But clearly, that point wouldn’t come quick enough.

“Hi,” Freya greets flicking her gaze back up to the group with a quick smile. It’s the training. The fact that more than once she’d been told that customers liked her, especially the way she gave instructions but she needed to smile more. And if this weren’t the job keeping her afloat during her time of getting her degree, in addition to the administrative desk work she did at the university, she would leave here in a heartbeat. Possibly even in the blink of an eye. Whichever was faster.

“Hey! We were hoping you had a couple of lanes for us.”

Freya counts the head. “Just you seven?”

The guy that spoke initially turns the man in the back with the bright red hat on. “Still no word from her?”

The guy shrugs. “Don’t sweat it.” And Freya clings to every syllable. The almost sleepy drawl to his voice lined with a twinge of an accent. She can’t place it at first. But all of them share slight variations in it. The man in the red hat’s voice is low but smooth.

“Yeah just the seven of us,” a taller man pipes in.

“Okay, we can only have two people throwing on a lane at a time. I can put you on neighboring ones but we’ve got very strict rules about how many people can throw at a time.”

There’s a murmur amongst the group but eventually, it comes back to Freya that they’re okay with it. She runs down the safety rules, the forms they have to form out, and checks their IDs. She notices the man with the red hat’s name is Calum and though she knows she shouldn’t, she tries to commit it to memory. It won’t last long. She forgets names all too fast, but she never forgets a face.

“Nessa, watch the desk for me!” Freya calls out as she collects the cases with the axes and directs the party to their lanes. There’s a table for convening and a separate for the axes to rest. “Alright,” she starts with a quick whistle to settle the group. They get chatty but are quick to turn their attention back to her. “I don’t want to kick anyone out, but I will. So one last recap of the rules.”

When Freya finishes, she has the entire group repeat the rules back to her. When they return it to her all correctly, she smiles. “I appreciate y’all already. There are several range officers. They monitor carefully from several posts,” and she points them out as she speaks. “The shift rotates out in an hour. Meaning you’ll have to pause let the old shift go and let the new shift jump in. You’ll hear beeps to signal you to stop and start. If you have any other questions or concerns, you can find me at the front or a range officer. And we’ll be happy to help. Let’s keep all fingers, toes, extremities, and eyeballs intact and we can have a great day together. Enjoy.”

Usually, in her safety spills and best way to throw, Freya makes sure to keep eye contact with everyone in the group. However, she places a purposeful gaze on Calum when she tells them to enjoy. It’s reckless--she knows that. A little flirting hasn’t hurt her. Besides, she knows the moment she walks away, he’ll forget about her. They always did and she likes it like that. Flirty enough to keep good reviews, but never too flirty to insinuate anything more.

In her departure, Freya feels eyes on her, lasting longer than usual. And maybe she put more emphasis behind the swish of her hips and maybe she hoped it was Calum watching her walk away. But she doesn’t dare turn around. No matter how much she hopes in a fleeting second that maybe she had flirted just a little too much, Freya does not turn around to confirm or deny anything.

Back at the front desk, Freya takes a look at the cameras. Anyone at the front can see the lanes too--it’s for safety when you have live blades. Her gaze travels over each one though just out of the corner of her eye she catches the bright red hat. A few guys clasp him on the back but she can’t hear whatever else is said. The rest of the afternoon goes by slowly. As people leave, few come in to replace them. The weekend will be busier--it always in. And Freya knows that soon too, once the afternoon becomes evening things will pick up just a little.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. Everything okay?”

Freya barely sees who it is talking before they’re out of the door. Calum, phone pressed to his ear. She watches him for a beat as he paces near the front windows of the establishment. Her gaze doesn’t linger long before something on the floor catches her eye. She sees it’s black and square. When she gets closer it looks like a wallet. Clearly used and loved by the creases in it. She glances back up to Calum to see him still on the phone and peeks at the ID just to make sure who it belongs to.

With the blank stare of Calum’s ID photo looking up at her, Freya takes it back behind the desk. She’ll wait until he gets off the phone. A minute or two later, the door chimes again with Calum reentering.

“Hey, you dropped this,” she calls out, stepping out from the desk to hold out the wallet.

Calum pats his pockets and a split second panic causes his eyes to go wide. “Oh shit, thanks. I-I didn’t even realize it fell out of my pocket.”

“No worries. Just glad to get it back to you.” Calum takes it and slips it into his pocket, hands patting the outside to make doubly sure it’s secure. “You guys doing okay back there?

“Yeah, we’re good. Though I think somehow the girls are kicking our asses.”

Freya smiles with a small tuft of laughter escaping her. “It’s power and finesse. You can tear down brick buildings but if you don’t get the release right so it’s not twirling over the axis too many times, you’ll come up with nothing.”

“So says the expert?”

Her cheeks heat for a second at the raised eyebrow Calum gives her. Running her tongue over her teeth to hide the smile, Freya nods. “Yeah, I’ve thrown an axe or two in my lifetime. So I guess that counts as me being an expert.”

Calum laughs. Whether it’s at her or not, Freya’s not sure. But she likes the sound of it. “Tell me what else the expert suggests.”

A moment passes where Freya’s watching his gaze. Wondering if an anime glint will twinkle over his brown eyes because it’s a smooth delivery. Smoother than some of the stuff she’s done. There’s no way he’s fucking real.

Freya takes a half step back, slipping through the threshold that separates the front desk from the main lobby and the hallway to the back where the lanes are set up. “This expert suggests that you try her advice and impress all your friends.”

“More finesse. In the wrist, right?”

“In the wrist.”

A shy smile is shared between the two of them. It borders telling everything and saying nothing at all, borders on giving away on how much Calum might’ve considered concocting a ruse just to get her attention and how much he did backtrack on his plan because it was his sister calling and that shocked him. The smile borders on Freya twirling the Havana twists around her finger and her rolling her eyes at Calum’s thinly veiled attempts at flirting.

Both of them are saved by the front door chiming and Freya gives a nod to Calum before turning her attention to the person now entering. But Calum watches the way she leans into the counter and smiles down at the small child standing next to their parent. “Oh my god, you’re getting so big,” Freya comments and then walks back around to settle next to them.

“No, Fre, I’m not bigger dan yesterday,” the kid responds.

“Huh, could’ve fooled me. Your dad will be out in just a second. Shift change had to wait for one more person. Anything cool happen at school today?”

Calum leaves then, though he can catch the small boy gush about the races he won at recess. It’s probably crazy of him to try and find some sort of way to come back here again soon, but Calum’s already trying to put together an excuse.

When Calum heads back to the front with the group, laughing at Michael’s utter disgust at the way the last few throws went, he does look for Freya. A girl with red hair is sitting at the desk instead. And though a little bit of disappoints settles into his stomach because he wanted to tell her how well her advice worked, he finds himself resolved and it wouldn’t be broken.

******

Calum told himself whatever Freya had to say during this talk wouldn’t break him. Hell, if he were honest, he didn’t think it would go like this. “You know, I used to say I was no good for people all the time,” Calum laughs. He sniffs hard and wipes his noses on the back of his nose. “It was a clean get-away line.”

“I’m not giving you a get-away line. I’m giving you the truth,” Freya returns.

“No, I’m-I’m not saying you’re giving me bullshit. You’re setting a boundary and a good one at that. I respect it. I’m just saying the irony. The same thing I used to tell others is coming back my way.”

“Karma’s a bitch.”

“I don’t regret it.” Calum shakes his head, not because he’s lying. But to emphasize his point.

*****

Calum doesn’t regret going to the Yelp, Facebook, or Instagram page of the business to see if she had liked it or appeared anywhere on their social media. And luck would have it, he manages to find her. The owners like to show off their employees. Their preferred form of employee appreciation appears, in Calum’s investigation, to be a quick bio of new employees along with a video of them throwing. He nearly misses Freya’s post because of his quick scrolls. The bottom of the page comes up quicker than the app could handle and just as the new page loads that he notices it. The thick twists and black lipstick sitting on her cool dark brown skin.

He doesn’t regret it when he followed the account that was tagged, or the message he sent her from his finsta, or the messages they exchanged for a few days. And he for damn sure can’t find himself to regret it when he came back to the place a couple of weeks later to see if Freya was working.

There’s no regret when she smiles at him and laughs. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to test your theory yet again. It worked last time. But I want to make sure that it wasn’t beginner’s luck.”

“You doubt me. You dare doubt me? I’m offended.”

Calum laughs briefly as he leans into the counter of the front desk. “It’s more like I’m testing a theory. Making sure the results can be recreated.”

“Oh, I promise you my results are valid.” She reaches out for his ID and every so gently their fingers brush. Calum can’t tell if that’s intentional or not, but it doesn’t the slight shiver that runs down his spine. “So just you today, huh?” Freya continues on, grabbing a clipboard, some forms, and a pen.

“Just me.”

“Rest of your friends scared.” Her gaze falls to the stack she’s gathering, checking something off on the top page and then sliding the ID back to Calum.

“They’d probably laugh at me if they knew I was here.”

“Laugh at you?”

“Tell me--why do you think I’m here?”

A moment passes between them. Though it takes up more like several seconds, time feels froze as Freya studies his face. Calum wants to reach up and readjust his hat out of a nervous habit. He wants to take it back. But more than anything, he wants to know if he has a shot. If it’s worth really pursuing.

“I think you’re here to test a theory. Maybe, just maybe you’re here because of Vanessa too,” she smiles as it says. Like she knows that isn’t the truth but she doesn’t want to give into Calum.

And while it’s not the answer he was hoping for, Calum takes it. She wants to play a game and he can be down for that.

*****

She wants to reach out for his hands. They sit next to each other in the lounge chairs Calum keeps lined around his pool. But Freya thinks twice about it. The bulbs dangle above them casting an amber hue onto the water, a stark contrast to the twilight pressing evening closer to night’s full darkness. Freya does regret it. She regrets not leaving her teasing response just to testing a theory. She knew what Calum was fishing for, what he was hoping to confirm when he came back by himself.

Maybe it was just where she was then. Then she thought she could give more. Now she realizes she can’t. She likes it when she’s dating someone and they can decide on a random Sunday for errand runs. She likes having them around. And not that Calum wouldn’t be around. Tours didn’t happen all the time. But they did run long. And who the hell knows where she’d be in eight months after she graduated. Her life wasn’t stable--she wasn’t tied to the West Coast like Calum was.

Her life was full of variables. Ones that she didn’t really plan on trying to solve until closer to Christmas in the spring right before graduation. And she didn’t want to give Calum any more false hope. It wasn’t set in stone that she’d be staying in LA and it wasn’t set in stone that she could handle the long departures. Calum deserved someone that was more sure of themselves.

“I think having regrets is no good anyway,” Freya says, finally breaking the long silence between them. “Having them doesn’t change what happened anyway.” But that doesn’t change the fact that you still regret this, Freya thinks to herself.

“I used to believe love could overcome any obstacle.”

Freya turns to look to Calum and catches thhe way the stubble on his chin from the few weeks he’s gone without shaving halos just a little in the lights. “Used to? The right person, the right love--”

Calum shakes his head. “Now I think people loving me means that they love themselves and they can tell me what they want or need. No guessing. No games.”

“Still sounds a lot of a hell lot like overcoming obstacles.”

“But it’s not a dream. It’s tangible. It’s not me daydreaming up in the clouds. It’s me--right here. Right now. Knowing seeing what it means more than anything else that all the shit I was thinking of as a kid really needed just to be put on the ground level for me.”

“What-what do you mean?”

“I mean as much as it fucking sucks that you’re telling me no, I know you’re doing it for the right reasons. I-there’s like this thing with me. I watch people. I don’t walk into a room of strangers and become the center of attention. I don’t like people all that much, but I care. You know? I care about the people I put into my life and I want them to do well and succeed. I want what’s best for them. It’s not always easy to want that, but innately, I do, I think. Deep down I want what’s good for people. And maybe love is doing the hard things, you know.”

He pauses. Freya watches the way he drops his head, fingers threading through the curls. She keeps quiet. There’s something more, something deeper to the words. “And you’re doing the hard thing. Whether it’s for me or not is debatable,” Calum continues. “But I think love is doing the hard things.”

“You said that having some space was important to you. And while I understand that, like you do need to be your own person in a relationship--”

“Your reasons or how you want to justify it to yourself for me isn’t something I need. You already said that you know what you expect and like out a relationship and that the touring would be too hard for you. Set boundaries for you. What good does it do to justify it to me?”

“So you know I’m not being an asshole, Calum. For fuck sake.”

“No, no, I-shit. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant--who are boundaries really for? What do they do?”

“I guess they do protect the person making them. But I’m not trying to be an asshole to you. I swear.”

Calum looks up from the cement of his background lining the pool to the glossy sheen coating Freya’s eyes. They’re black in the settling night. But Calum knows they’re more like a medium brown--dark enough to get lost in them, but when they catch the light just right, they can feel like an enchanting spell sucking him in.

“Freya, you are a sarcastic son of a bitch. But an asshole to those that don’t deserve it, never.”

She sucks on her teeth, swatting at his bicep. “Take that back.”

Calum leans onto his left elbow, closing the gap between them just a little. A smile lifts his lips gently. “Never.”

“We’ve both been burned. Is it bad I didn’t want that again?”

“No. I used to say love is a scam. So I don’t think I’m necessarily the poster boy for relationships.”

“But admit it, you hoped this was the one so you wouldn’t be the odd man out.” His brows furrow at her comment. Freya gives him a soft smile. “Two of the guys are engaged. But all three of them are in a relationship.”

He sighs, gazing dropping from her face. “Maybe I was hoping so. Is it bad of me to want to be in love?”

“No. I told some kids that my boyfriend was Shermar Moore,” Freya admits with a laugh. “I was working at a summer camp and one girl saw his picture on my phone. It was my lockscreen for the longest time. So I just went with it. Well, I was spurred in part because of Drew who was a fucking creep and wouldn’t leave me alone. But I did fantasize about it. Dream of being in love with some famous and the limelight. Shit at that point, I hadn’t even dated anyone either. So another part of it was a desire too.”

“Is that part of it too? Worried about what trolls and whatever will say?”

“Oh, no one who doesn’t know shit about it can make me get outside myself.” Freya laughs but reclines into the cushions of the chair. “But maybe it’s a little bit of it. That’s too many voices talking all about you. It’s a lot of noise and some of it has to bleed through you know. Even if you’re careful and you work not to take it in, some does, right?”

“I don’t think humans were created to be able to handle that much criticism or even love and adoration. Our brains can’t handle it. So yeah, a little bit seeps in. But you keep that door closed as much as you can. You talk to people that also get it. Fuck, you even get a therapist.”

“Or a dog,” Freya says before turning her head to watch Duke laying inside next to the back door.

“And a dog,” Calum corrects.

“Excuse me, you get a therapist and a dog.”

“Tell me something.”

“I’m listening,” Freya returns, looking back to Calum.

“Before you go tonight, tell me the thing you’re going to cherish between us.”

“Will you do the same?” Calum nods at the question but doesn’t respond verbally as he gazes at her.

“Do you want to answer now?”

“Are you leaving now?”

“I-I didn’t think you wanted me to stay.”

“I want you to stay as long as you feel comfortable. And then when you leave, the parting thing we have is the good, the best of us.”

“What if I stay until dawn?”

“Then you stay until dawn. Though, I think it’s safe to say both of us will pass out by 3 AM.”

“That was the most ridiculous thing I think I’ve ever done,” Freya laughs. Remembering the same she spent a Friday night after a shift at Calum’s place. He had a birthday party on Saturday along with a vet appointment with Duke. And then Sunday, Freya had we weekly lunch with her friends that she couldn’t miss. So Calum asked her if she wanted dinner Friday night at his place. Which she said yes to, but then it turned into them doing a movie marathon. Which then turned into Calum betting her that he could stay up longer than her. But they ultimately passed out around 3 in the morning on Calum’s couch.

“Thankfully, I did not miss Duke’s vet appointment that time,” Calum tacks on.

“Yeah, no thanks to me waking you up half an hour before it.”

“That darlin’ is what I call details.”

“No, I call that a very important fact,” Freya defends sitting up. “Duke would’ve been late twice if not for me.”

Calum giggles at her incredulous look. She always got heated fast, though she knew when it was serious things and when it wasn’t. “It wasn’t him paying for the visit.”

“So you ought to kiss the ground I’m standing on right now because you didn’t have to pay anything like a cancellation fee.”

“You’re not standing on any ground right-” the sentence doesn’t get the wind to complete itself when Calum watches her stand up. “Or maybe you are standing up.”

Freya hears him, but she gazes up to the sky. Trying to look past the twinkle of his backyard lights. There’s not much to see due to the light pollution. But the sounds capture her attention next. His neighborhood’s almost been mostly quiet. But with the twinge of the summer’s heat fading, Freya can hear the last bit of people outside. A dog barks into the night and there’s the crunch only tires on gravel and asphalt can give. There’s a hum in the night that Freya can feel in her bones.

It’s hard not to fall in love with the sounds of the night. It’s hard not to romanticize this, how possibly if things were different she could find herself at some point always standing in the middle of this backyard listening to the sounds of the night, having Calum beside her or maybe Duke when he’s gone and just letting herself go to the buzz. In all honesty, Freya craved stability. Always having something to come back was her dream. But in that dream it was a partner who would be there for every dinner. A shared space that was full with both of their presences.

“When you think about coming home what’s there?” Freya asks. “Like, in ten years, what’s in your home when you walk inside?”

Calum closes his eyes, bringing the picture to his mind’s eye. “Like, the truth of what I see?”

“The truth,” Freya confirms.

“Two kids, a dog for sure. Maybe two. A wife. A lot of laughs. Being knocked over with hugs. Maybe a movie that hasn’t quite been paused catches my ears. Maybe it’s summer and my mum’s over too. Because she wants to be around the kids as much as possible. And my sister--she comes over when she can too. So we have to figure out what to cook because it’s a family dinner night. I’m mostly likely in Australia. But I could be somewhere else. Just not LA. I don’t think I could have kids here.”

“That sounds lovely, Calum.”

“But I am scared. My parents divorced. What if it doesn’t work out?”

“That wasn’t your fault. And if we heal from our trauma before having kids then maybe some of our fears won’t come to reality.”

“And if it does.”

“Then we know the boogeyman is real and sometimes we can do our best but things that are meant to happen will still happen.”

“Your parents are divorced too, right?” Calum remembers her mentioning a distinction between her mother’s house and her father’s house. But she hadn’t outright stated that her parents were divorced, just alluded to it.

“Yeah. My dad remarried. He seems happy.”

“What about you? If you closed your eyes and thought about yourself in 10 years, where are you?”

“I technically asked what do you see in your home when you walk inside 10 years from now.”

“Oh, come off it,” Calum laughs, throwing a dismissive wave her way.

“But,” she giggles and then closes her eyes. The breeze blows across her face and she lifts her chin up to catch as much of it as she can. Then she speaks, “I don’t know. Home’s full of the people I love. And I feel stable. I’m not worried about what I’m going to do weeks from now when something inevitably has to change. Because nothing’s going to change. Or at least, I’m not anticipating change. I think that’s what I’m sick of. I’m sick of dealing with change and constantly moving around and not knowing what the next year is going to look like. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder and planning. I just want to be still.”

“You did the whole back and forth between houses, huh?”

“Yeah. I always felt like I was playing two versions of myself when I was younger. I had to be one way around my mother and one way around my father and according to my therapist, the constant games of charade fucked me up a little.”

“How often did you go between their houses?”

“Every weekend.”

Calum sucks in air through his teeth, “Yikes. Yeah, no wonder you want stability.”

“Oh, thank you Dr. Hood. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Well this is a question so it’s not something you don’t know, but is the thought of me being gone for months at a time remind you of that? Like, you’d have to be one way while I was here and then another way when I was gone?”

Freya shrugs. But it’s right on the nose. “I’d have to learn to be with you and then be without you. And all I have are switches. No dimmers. I’m either on or I’m off. And I-I’m working on it. But I’ve got a long way to go.”

Calum scoffs, whispering mostly to himself. “All I have are switches. No dimmers.” It’s not a taunt to her. It’s not him blowing her concern off. It’s recognition that colors his tone. It’s the sigh when hearing something that connects so deeply it takes all the oxygen from lungs with it.

“And I swear to Christ, Calum, if you make a Lowe’s or Home Depot joke, I will extract your ankles from you right here right now.”

“Extract? What the hell?” Calum laughs.

“Broken ankles heal,” Freya returns with a smirk. Her face is lit mostly from above due to continued standing position but Calum catches the way her lips move.

“Remind me to really never piss you off. Between your ability to throw axes and the time you told me about putting ham on a girl’s car, I don’t think I want that kind of trouble in my life.”

“I only put the ham on the car because my friend was heartbroken and she was a cunt for cheating.”

“Yeah, see that’s what I mean,” Calum points out, his index finger swirling in a circle in front of her.

“I could’ve slashed her tires too.”

“I think ruining her paint job was more than enough.”

Freya places her hands on her hips, looking down at Calum. “I’ve got some anger issues too. Did I mention that?”

They laugh but Calum recovers first to speak. “I hadn’t noticed it before. Thank you for telling me that. But in all seriousness, Freya, the boundaries you have make sense. I hope you continue with therapy as well,” he states with a giggle. “But it’s not easy to look back at yourself and realize ‘Oh shit, maybe I don’t want that thing again because that actually fucking hurt’. And do something about it. That takes a lot of strength.”

“Thanks, Calum. And I will continue with this therapist for the rest of the school year because it’s free. Shoutout to some universities for having really accessible mental health resources.”

Freya finally sits, facing Calum. He keeps his gaze averted. But it doesn’t bother her. “What’s the intention behind telling me I can stay as long as I want? Is it to get me to change my mind? Just earlier both of us were near tears and now we’re walking down memory lane. Sharing things we hadn’t shared yet.”

“I want as much of you as I can get before you’re gone. Selfish, right?” The tears are back, she can hear them in his voice.

“No. A bit of your masochism showing, certainly.”

“You ever know something’s bad for you, but you want it anyway? You want the pain anyway?”

“I mean considering both of us are littered tattoos, pain’s not something we’re too worried about.”

Calum wishes he didn’t laugh, not even the short burst of laughter. “Someone’s coping with humor.”

“Someone’s self flagellating.”

“Can I be honest?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t want you to go. But I don’t want you to hurt yourself either.”

“Maybe love is doing the hard things. You said that yourself.”

Calum swallows hard and his voice only comes out in a whisper. “I know I did.”

Freya blinks away the blur of tears. But as soon as they clear, more replace them. Her voice is tight as she speaks. “Doing the hard things suck though. Don’t think this is easy.”

“It’s because it’s the hard thing,” Calum returns. He wants to smile and manages to get a small one but he knows. Freya’s going to leave. She won’t stay.

“My favorite thing,” she starts and Calum exhales hard. There it is--the confirmation. The sentence gets caught in her throat so she pauses to clear it, work the tears down to at least speak. God, why couldn’t it have been easy. “My favorite thing between us, about us, whatever you want to label it as, is that we could also be honest. And even if it was burning waffles or ducking paps to watch a movie for an anime that you had no idea anything about because I wanted to go desperately and you had to Google a summary during the previews, we were always honest with each other.”

“I want to put it out there that you only told me that it was for an anime as I was buying the tickets. So I had zero time to prepare beforehand.”

“I told you the name of it the Monday before we saw it.”

“And admittedly, I forget it the second after you said it.”

“Fair enough, Calum. Fair enough.”

Calum spins in the chair and takes her hand. The first time they’ve touched today. Normally, Freya was more than happy to give out hugs but when Calum opened the front door, she have a half smile and stepped inside. If he could go back to earlier, he’d tell himself that was the first sign.

His thumb passes gently over the butterfly on her left hand. “The thing I’m going to cherish is that you made me feel sixteen again. My entire life changed at sixteen and I felt pretty invincible. I was also scared and excited. I was going to be in a band, like a one with lots of records and I don’t know--I only had that dream to believe in because I damn sure did not have a back up. It was before the downs. And I don’t regret the hard times either. But you’re the first person in a long time that gave me those butterflies. Assumed I was just never going to feel them again and I wasn’t a good person before, not as good as I could’ve been. But you gave me something to be good for again. Getting your text made my whole fucking day. And you-god, you cared about so many things. I bought books you recommended and couldn’t wait to talk about them with you. I remembered the kind of person I want to be. So thank you. For making me feel sixteen again in the cheesiest way possible but also in the best way possible too. That things are worth giving a shit for and that we can let people in and it won’t always burn.”

“Just a little sting.”

Calum nods. “Just a little sting.”

Freya brings his hands to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to the right one. Her sniffle is loud amongst the hum of the night. “If it weren’t for the fact that my eyeliner is tattooed to my face it would probably be running. I’m sorry it has to hurt at all. But-but I’m hopeful.”

“Hopeful?”

“Hopeful that we’ll get what we need out of life.”

He nods again, watching the tears track down her cheek. “We will.”

Her hands gently slip back out of his grasp and she uses the back of her wrist to press under her nose. The tremors shake her hands, so she shakes them before standing. Calum cranes his neck up, words about to fall from his lips. But she cups his cheek and smiles at him. “Don’t. There’s nothing else to say.”

It happens just as he blinks. He sighs, eyes closing to steel himself. Because there’s always so much else to say. And then her lips are pressing to his forehead. It last long enough for Calum to take hold of her thighs instinctively want to pull her in closer to him.

Then she’s gone. His hand slides down the rough denim and Freya’s walking to the edge of the backdoor. Duke picks up his head but doesn’t move much else. “Oh yeah, you don’t need to move. You know everyone comes to you, huh?” She gives him a few pats and scratches. “I’ll send you something for your adoption day, okay, love? And you might hate wearing it or you might love eating it. But be on the lookout for the mailman. He’ll have something from me.”

Calum doesn’t say anything as she says her goodbyes to Duke. She kisses the top of his head too and he thinks she might’ve whispered something else but he’s not certain from his spot on the chair. The swish of the tassels on Freya’s jeans signal her and the click of her heeled boots tell Calum she’s walking farther from him. The latch in the fence clicks and the wood around the hinges creak as she presses into the door. There’s a soft thud as the door shuts and then Calum can’t hear anything over the cough he uses to try and cover the tightness in his chest, can’t see anything in the blurry vision of his tears

She’s just gone.

******

When the front door bell sounds, Calum doesn’t think much of it. It could be a package or someone selling something. So he pushes up from the kitchen table and heads to the door. There on his porch is a light blue box with white bones on it. The subscription box that Calum gets already came. But then he notices an index card with a handwritten address on it. He picks it up. Right there in the return address is Freya’s name. He sucks in a breath and then looks to see who it’s addressed to: Duke Hood + Calum.

“Duke,” Calum calls out, stepping back inside to the house. He closes the door with his foot. The click of paws let him know the old man’s heard his call. “A little early birthday present has arrived just for you.”

He walks deeper into the living room and sets the box on the coffee table. Inside holds an olive green harness, treats, and a card. Calum laughs as Duke presses his snout against the bag of treats. “Alright, alright. I get it.”

Duke happily munches on one of the chews from the bag and Calum opens the card. A different letter slips out into his lap. He can see the ink and lettering pressing through to the other side. His heart hammers, but he forces himself to turn back to the card. “Dear Duke,” Calum pauses to see if Duke responds but his investigation continues on the treat. “I mean, fair enough.” Calum continues to read the card written by Freya, “Even though only the universe knows your true birthday, this card, harness, and bag of treats is meant to mark you sticking it out with your pops for yet another year. To spare you the grumps about a very cute hawaiin shirt I, instead, got a badass harness. Now you’ll be the coolest guy on the block. Happy Birthday/Adoption Day. With Love, Fre.”

Duke, done with the treat, looks to Calum and settles next in front of his folded legs. “Oh, so much work eating a treat.”

But Calum reaches down to gently pats at his tummy. The front of the car is cute, Calum finally recognizes. A cartoon white dog is drawn on it with large pink glasses against a yellow background. There’s no telling where she found it at. Calum looks down to the handwritten letter on printer paper. What would Freya possibly have to say?

Calum hadn’t had the guts to press send on any of the texts he drafted in the three months since they last talked. He wasn’t sure if he could. He is sure that if Freya hadn’t wanted anything to do with him, she would’ve said so, and she wouln’t have sent this box for Duke. His fingers tremble as he unfolds the letter.

Calum,

I figured you heard me tell Duke he was going to get a gift. And I knew I couldn’t not deliver on my promise to him. But I do apologize if it crosses any line. Please let me know too--if it crossed any boundaries.

I hope you’re well. Congrats on the latest album too.

With Love,

Freya.

P.S. I saw you a couple times drafting a text to me but never seeing one go through. And if you’re asking why I hadn’t sent a text either, know it was fear too. And me not being sure if keeping it open like that between us would only do more harm than good. So I’m sorry. But I am here, in the sense that to the best of my capacities, I can try to be here.

*****

Her bag’s slipping off her shoulders but she finally gets the key into the lock and gets her front door open. She sighs as she falls into the ugly blue apartment door and all but flings herself into her place. The stack of mail in her hands barely makes it to the edge of the kitchen counter too. It was just one of those days and Freya couldn’t be mad at herself. Everyone had days like this.

Putting her keys up and getting her backpack next to the couch, she settles into the stools at the kitchen counter to sort through the mail. One’s a bill from the dentist she visited a few weeks back. The one thing her student health insurance didn’t cover. But she couldn’t complain.

There are few junk flyers that she immediately tosses. And it’s her name scrawled in a almost all caps that catches her eyes before she even gets finished with the rest of the pile. In the top corner for the return address she catches the name: Calum Hood + Duke

“Mail from Duke, what a surprise.”

But the real surprise is Calum’s name. It’s just a plain white envelope with a stamp and the city mark it was mailed from. Freya pops it open and sees a sheet of legal pad paper folded up.

Freya,

Thank you for Duke’s gift. The chews are a hit. The harness is much appreciated for our walks. Though, I think they’re more like walks for me. And Duke gets a little exercise in before he tuckers out. But I don’t fault him. No lines were crossed. So no need to worry about that.

I think I like the idea of mailing letters more than I do like texting. But I understand. Doing the hard thing sucks. It always has and always will. Do what you need to for yourself.

Thank you. I wouldn’t normally do this. But there’s a couple songs--they’re about you. I wanted to give you a warning before you listen to it. If you listen to it, I guess I should say.

Best of luck with your last year of school. You’ll have that Master’s in no time and then maybe soon you can take over the Library of Congress like all your evil plans have laid out. (I know, I know. Not what your Library Studies degree does. But I still think you should.)

With Love,

Cal

Freya chuckles at the Library of Congress comment. She picks up her phone and finds Calum’s thread. It’s easy to want to tell him that she can’t take over the Library of Congress and that she’s glad the treats went over well and that the harness was really more of an accessory to make sure Duke looks like a badass.

But she knows--she knows the ease got her into a pickle before. It’s why she stopped things before they got more serious. But was fear going to always predict what she was going to do in her life? Maybe the ease of things was a sign to continue. But if what if things got too far? WOuld be able to handle Calum being gone? Would she inevitably get her heart broken? And sure no amount of contemplation can predict things like this, but she did want to play with that risk no matter how fucking easy it was in the moment.

With a frustrated sigh, Freya drops her face into the forearms. Her phone is still in her grip with the movement. “It’s never fucking easy is it!” she shouts into her apartment.

There’s silence that engulfs her but it gives no response.

#calum hood #calum hood fanfic #calum hood imagine #calum hood blurb #5sos #5sos fic #5sos imagine #5sos blurb #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer blurb #5 seconds of summer fic #5 seconds of summer fanfic #calum hood fic #calum hood x black oc #calum hood x oc #calum hood x fem oc #h writes

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my-socialdiary · 3 years

Text

Deep Water

Word Count: 2113

Here we go! Childe x Lumine fanfiction! This is my first time writing a story using english XD pardon my bad BAD grammar because english is not my first language. i tried to fix that :(

***

They’re different, inside and outside.

They have different purposes when approaching each other.

But strangely enough, they feel comfortable. They feel like they can rely on each other.

There is Lumine, and Childe.

There is a butterfly and its destroyer.

It is dark, still, yet beautiful at the same time. The full moon that reflected on the darkened blue sea in Yaoguang Shoal. The sound of waves is so calming and somehow has the ability to heal every ache, mentally. Lumine sits on one of the rocks, dipping her feet in the salt water, enjoying the coldness that it gives. She loves being near water even though she’s an anemo user.

Water; the stillness is giving it a mysterious sense. You will never know what’s deep inside the water if you don’t purposely dive into it. It may contain something dangerous, or it may contain something valuable, like that luxurious chest she finds at Dunyu Ruins after delivering some annoying seelies. For her, water by some means is magical and inexplicable.

Water is exactly just like Childe.

Mysterious.

Menacing.

Some people said that he’s ruthless. Merciless murderer, because of his affiliation with the Fatui, and also because he’s the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers. The youngest one but one of the most dangerous amongst their number.

But…

He’s the most bold, enchanting, and clever man she ever met in her life. Not to mention he also has the sweetest smile…

… and lots of Mora.

She smiled when remembering that moment when Childe approached her and Zhongli when they were about to buy some kites for The Rite of Parting from Granny Shan’s shop. Zhongli is… thinking about him makes her sigh. That man is surely a special case.

“… Lumine?” A small, sleepy voice brings her back in reality. “Paimon thinks that now we should camp somewhere else. It’s so cold in here and Paimon can catch a cold anytime!” Her emergency f—travelling companion now is awake and leans her body to Lumine’s head. “C’mon, Lumine! We can camp at Mingyun Village or get a room at Wangshu Inn, but not here, in the open field, near the water!”

Lumine chuckles. “Alright, alright,” she stands and reaches up her shoes. “Let’s go.”

Before they leave, Lumine glances over the sea once again and smiles.

***

He knows himself more than anyone in Liyue—or even in Teyvat. Or even his sister, Tonia. All the blessing and curse he has related to water. All those scars that he tried to bury, deep down in his mind. All those achievements mean nothing more than a boastful show off. He knows himself. Truly, inside and outside.

But, meeting her makes him doubt his knowledge about himself.

Their first meeting is quite unique. That time, when there’s announcement about Rex Lapis’ death at The Rite of Descension, he was just arrived at Liyue to do some works delegated by Fatui to the Northland Bank when he heard a bunch of Millelith shouting to each other, ordering their comrades to arrest someone.

“You have nowhere to run!”

That commotion is enough to get his interest. He looked up and saw the back of a blonde-haired girl that just drew her sword out to fight those trained Millelith. Before he could think twice, the water shifted from his hand, forming a water blade each in his hands and leap over, “Hey girlie, hold still!” The sound of water coming through his ears while his hands are now focusing to fight those Millelith. His position as one of the Harbingers was not given to him without reasons. Easily enough, he defeated all of the Millelith guard—he didn’t kill them, but enough to make them unconscious—then turn back to that girl just to see her golden-yellow eyes now staring at him.

He knew her. Friend of the Knights of Favonius.

“Come with me.” That time, he knew he shouldn’t do that. But he did it anyway. And from then until now, they’ve been together, side by side to fight monsters and sometimes treasure hoarders. It’s funny to realize that because he’s more like an independent fighter rather than a group fighter. But with Lumine, everything that he knows about himself seems to become different. Firstly, He already promises himself that he won’t do anything using his feelings anymore. And secondly, He promises himself that he won’t do anything stupid by helping other people because that’s not what Fatui do.

But yet, he failed.

Lumine is like a breath of fresh air for his breathless life. With Lumine, he feels like he can relax a little bit, smile a little bit, and importantly, see the beauty of life a little bit. A little bit is more than enough for life like his. But that little bit is not good for their relationship. Tsaritsa will find out about Lumine sooner or later. And that’s not good. That means Lumine will always be in danger near him. Thinking about that makes him shiver. I can’t let anything bad happen to her. Not until she reunites with her twin brother. Not until I can be assured that she’s safe. This time, he tries to keep his promise. He could no longer indulge himself in all this beauty which he didn’t deserve from the first time he knew her.

Because of that, now he found himself waiting at Liyue Harbor because he made a promise to Lumine that they would watch the sunrise before he went back to Snezhnaya. Lumine doesn’t know yet about his plan to go back to his hometown. She only knew that today they would be enjoying sunrise on the boat he rented from Linling. He tries so hard to distance himself from that bright-cheerful-and-lighthearted girl but he fails dozens of times. This is the only way he can do that. Even though it means that he probably will see that girl crying in front of him.

“Childe!” The euphonic voice that has become his favorite—since when? He doesn’t know—takes him back to the scenery of Liyue Harbor. “been waiting long?” Lumine asks while stabilizing her blue glider and then fixing her flower hair clip. Childe looked away to distract himself and pretend to be looking the other way.

“Not really,” he smiles. “You ready?”

“I was born ready,” she smiled back. The smile that has always been his favorite.

“Let’s go, then.” Childe walked first, followed by Lumine behind him. She can’t help but smile like an idiot while looking at Childe’s broad shoulder. She knows that she likes him more than friends, but how about him? He never made a real move towards her. Childe has been doing sweet things to her, but how can she be sure that it because he likes her in that way? Should she ask him first?

“Ouch!” Her thoughts make her unaware that Childe is now stopped walking and tries to untie the rope that ties the boat. “Oh my Archons, that hurts!” She cringed and rubbed her aching forehead. Childe turns back and chuckles. She’s so cute. He thinks. And the next second he tries to ignore that thought.

“What were you doing?”

Both of Lumine’s cheeks become warm. I was thinking about you! “N-no. Nothing. Nothing at all, s-seriously!”

“Whoa, okay-okay,” Childe lets out a small laugh. “Let’s go.” He reaches Lumine’s arms and helps her get on the boat. After everything has set, Childe rowed the boat, heading to the best place to see the sunrise in Liyue Harbor according to his experience. It was 4 in the morning when they set out their boat. Here in Liyue, the sun rises a little late.

“I always love midnight and dawn,” she looked at Childe while keeping her hair from covering her face. “It’s nice and calm.”

“Thought you were the rousing-type of girl,”

“Yeah, I’ll admit that, but sometimes,” she turns her head over the sea horizon. “Once in a lifetime, you need to escape from those ruckus and enjoy the beauty of stillness.”

“The beauty of stillness, huh?” he raised his eyebrow. “Never heard of that.”

Lumine smiles.

A few moments later, Childe stopped rowing. He is now looking at Lumine who is currently closing her eyes, enjoying the cool air. She won’t be bothered by the wind. She’s an anemo user, after all. Wind is her friend. Just like water is his friend. And enemy, at the same time.

He then looked down to his reflection on the water. That smile of his and all of the funny jokes he made so that people will like him is a lie. It was a deceitful move. But when he’s with Lumine, it all feels real. Or… maybe it’s just his delusion. Like the electro vision he has, given by Tsaritsa. He doesn’t know anymore what’s real in his life.

“Childe, look!” Lumine is now covering her mouth, feeling in awe because the sun starts to go up to its place in Liyue. “It’s so beautiful.”

Instead of looking at the sunrise, he looked at Lumine—never can get enough of her—and said, “it is.”

“Thank you for bringing me here, Childe.” She gives him a dazzling smile. “I really, really love it.”

“Well, now you know this place. You can come here every time you want to enjoy that ‘beauty of stillness’.” He quoted Lumine’s words and gave a playful smile.

“With you?”

“You can go here alone. That’s the point, right?”

“I mean, we can go here together again, right? I can teach you about the beauty of stillness that I mentioned earlier,” She said.

“No…” He looked down. Now is the time for you to tell her, Childe. “I-I will no longer come to Liyue.”

“W-what do you mean you will no longer come to Liyue? Are you leaving?”

He nodded. “I’m going back to Snezhnaya,” he didn’t dare to look at her. “My hometown.”

“...when?”

“Today.”

She swallowed her tears, “so this is why you suggest that we should go watch the sunrise,” her voice is now trembling. “You wanted to say goodbye?”

“Yes. Besides, there's nothing else I can do here anyway,” please don’t cry. Please don’t cry. Please. “And the Fatui is asking me to go back.” liar.

What about me? A tear tickled her cheek, and she started chewing on her lower lip while her eyes welled up with tears. “I—” she mumbled something through her mouth and choked on her sobs. “S-sorry. I didn’t know what happened to me.” She let out fake chuckles and looked away.

Meanwhile, Childe, his vision was blurry; it was difficult for him to see clearly, but he knew that it was a hurtful moment for them. He hears Lumine sniffing and sobbing even though she is trying to hold it. For some moment, both of them drown into their own thoughts and feelings.

“Will I be able to see you again, sometime in the future?” Lumine asks. She didn’t turn her head to see Childe. “Is there a possibility that we can sit in this boat, enjoying the sunrise together again? Is there any?”

Childe opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again. No. we can’t meet. You can’t meet me. It’s dangerous.

“No?” Lumine urged him.

“If…” Childe dared himself to stare at that girl. “If you want to be around to see it again with me, best you stay alive until we next meet… okay?” And again, he breaks his own promise to not see Lumine ever again.

They smiled at each other.

***

That blonde-haired girl is now sitting at one of the Mingyun Village’s rooftop. She looked at a blue shell with a somewhat star-shaped in the center. A starconch. She misses him already but she knows that sometime in the future, they will meet again. Because he needs to take back this precious starconch from her.

***

“Here, keep this,” Childe takes her right hand and places something in her palm.

“A starconch?”

He nodded. “Yes. It’s not just any starconch you can find, it is my precious starconch because it has memories in it.”

“What memories?” She asked him with a curious look.

“I’ll save that story for later, when we meet again,” he said, which made her frown. “Until then, you need to keep this. Because I’ll come and take this back.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, good.”

***

“I guess I just need to wait a little longer, don’t I?” Lumine glanced at her little fairy friend, stood then jumped off the roof. “In the meantime, let’s blow away some hilichurls, shall we?”

“Lumine, wait, Paimon thinks we should eat first!” Paimon tries to keep her distance near Lumine. But she keeps running with a big grin in her face. “Lumineeeeee!”

#genshin impact #genshin impact lumine #genshin impact liyue #liyue harbor #fanfiction #genshin impact fanfiction #childe x lumine #tartaglia genshin #genshin impact childe #genshin impact fanart #Fanart #starconch #chilumi

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uglymanchronicles · 3 years

Text

Ugly Man Chronicles Reignition Book 2 Chapter 2: My Breakfast With Evan

Just a couple dudes getting to know each other.

“If you must know,” Evan sighed, spearing a glistening sausage on the end of a flimsy plastic fork, “my jackass older sister thought it would be hilarious to give me a cupcake she'd baked with about a dozen powdered viagra for my fifteenth birthday. I wound up passing out eventually. Burst a lot of blood vessels. Damaged the erectile tissue beyond usefulness.”

Titus froze mid-coffee-sip. “Seriously? What a bitch!”

“Buddy, you don't know the half of it.”

“So... no signs of life down there?”

“Nothing for twelve years.”

“I think I would literally kill myself.”

“It's not so bad, I guess. At least I don't have to drain the blood out of it any more.”

“Eugh! Fuck! Did not need to hear that!”

“Well, maybe you shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answer to.”

“Do you get, like, blue balls all the time, then?”

“That's basically my ground state of being.”

Titus whistled flatly, avoiding looking Evan in the eye. He settled for staring at the table. There wasn't a lot of Evan's face that he felt comfortable looking at; every part seemed to at least be adjacent to some unpleasantry or another. About the only safe area was his right eye, which, as luck would have it, was directly opposite Titus's 'good' eye. Titus rallied and met Evan's gaze again. “Alright, your turn.”

They'd agreed on a sort of mutual interview process, taking turns asking questions to suss out what the other was capable or if he was worth having around. Evan took a bite out of the sausage and chewed thoughtfully for a moment.

“Who's Moreno?”

Titus hissed through his teeth. “A real piece of shit.”

“I'm going to need more than that.”

“I'm getting to it. He's basically, like... a freelance henchman? Like, sort of a mercenary criminal. Sells his services to the highest bidder.”

“And why's he matter?”

“That's another question.”

“No, it is not,” Evan said, quiet and serious. “Do not argue with me in bad faith, Titus. I have very little patience for it in the best of times.”

Titus regarded him for a long moment. The man across from him was wider than the table they sat at. His muscles were so pronounced in some points that Titus could tell when he was about to move by the way they bulged and contracted. Yet he gave the impression that he was constantly trying to pull himself inward, to make himself smaller. He spoke quietly and with a simple formality, but only hours before Titus had watched him single-handedly beat down some of the nastiest people he'd met in the past month.

Hmm.

“Fine. Moreno matters because I'm after the guy he's working for. You see, Moreno isn't just a normal scumbag. He works for people who need nasty things done. Not like regular nasty, either. How much do you actually know about magic?”

“I've got some... notes. So far I'm not able to find a lot of coherent rules. It mostly seems like it relies on things that nobody would normally do.”

Titus snapped his fingers and pointed at Evan. “Hit it right on the head. Rituals, reagents, that kind of thing... the reason—well, one of the reasons—magic doesn't just happen all the time by accident is that it's all weird little things. A lot of the more heavy magic relies on some pretty elaborate and obtuse shit to get it going.”

Evan momentarily thought back to the Book of Fate and his ritual in the woods. “So Moreno does these things for people?”

“Yeah. Thing is, though...” Titus stopped raising a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth and set it down again, as if he'd momentarily lost his appetite. “The people who use his services generally practice some pretty vile magic. Real depraved shit. And to empower depraved magic, you need depraved rituals. Moreno is the guy you go to when...”

“I think I get it,” Evan interjected, since Titus seemed to be struggling with deciding whether to continue. “Your turn.”

Titus tapped his fingers on the table for a moment, then looked Evan in the eye. “How smart are you?”

The scars on Evan's face squirmed around as he actually smirked. “What kind of question is that?”

“Hey, we agreed no 'whys'.”

“Alright, alright. Well, there's really no objective metric for it, but... I have Master's degrees in computer science and theoretical physics, Bachelor's in those in addition to mathematics and electrical engineering, and associate's degrees and certificates in everything from EMT training to ballet. I should have my doctorate in physics, but...” he said, with a bitterness that Titus made a note of, then changed gears. “Oh, and I also speak Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, French, and Arabic pretty fluently. I also know ASL. I can get by in German and Russian, too. I don't know if any of that is what you meant but--”

“Jesus, I get it,” Titus muttered, rubbing the side of his head. “How the fuck do you make money?”

“Software consulting, mostly. I specialize in security and processing efficiency. People pay me to break into their systems and then patch the holes, or to make their code run quicker or make their programs smaller. I've got a few patents I've licensed that bring in most of my income nowadays, though.”

“Anything I would have heard of?”

“If you've used a computer made in the last four years it probably has something I wrote integrated somewhere into it. I also helped develop a protein-sequencing program that helped develop a vaccine for this nasty SARS variant that broke out in China last year. They say if they hadn’t nipped it in the bud it could’ve spread worldwide and we’d be looking at millions of deaths by now.”

Titus scrunched up his face. “Oh yeah, just say that like it’s no big deal.”

“I’m just glad it turned out not to be one. What I'd really like to do is get my compression algorithm out there, but if I do that, somebody's going to try to hoard it all for themselves.”

“Are you talking to yourself or me?”

“Look, I... a few years ago I figured out a way to compress memory down by a exponential factor of six with zero loss. All it takes is a couple software plugins that don't take up much room themselves. Essentially, I could make a gigabyte fit in a kilobyte with very little trouble, now that the math's figured out.”

“Holy fuck, that's insane! Why haven't I heard anything about this?”

“Mainly because I don't tell people. If I put it up on the market, some ISP would buy it and bury it. If you make information smaller, you make it faster. Can you imagine what it'd do to internet access if dial-up and barebones cellular networks suddenly had the bandwidth of fiber optics? It would... maybe not revolutionize our society, but it would level a lot of playing fields. Bring a lot of underdeveloped areas of the world—hell, this country—up to modern levels with no extra cost. The telecomms would crash and burn so hard. But I don't have the means to get it out there without going through someone else. Yet,” Evan added. “So I basically work watered-down versions of the compressor into the software I make. Nothing that can be duplicated, and nowhere near its full potential, but enough to get me hailed as some kind of genius and pay the bills.”

“So why aren't you on your own private island or something somewhere instead of puttering around God's Ashtray in a shitty old Bug?”

“Hey, the Beetle is not shitty,” Evan said, defensively. “And I'm just waiting for the AC in my RV to get fixed or I'd be driving that.”

“Oh hot damn! Now that's the way to live!”

“Not the one I'd choose voluntarily, but it could be worse.”

“How come you're doing it, then?”

“I think it's my turn to ask,” Evan said, mildly.

“Fine,” Titus said grumpily, crossing his arms.

“How do you make money?”

“That's easy. I'm basically a freelance bailbondsman. I just roam around, drop my advertising around bars and courthouses.”

“You get many clients that way?” Evan asked, cocking his remaining eyebrow.

“Oh, you'd be amazed how desperate people can get,” Titus said, shrugging. “Of course, they're usually not the most responsible people, so when they bounce, I track 'em down myself, drag ‘em back to jail, get the money back. My eye usually makes it super easy. Sometimes they don't even see me before I get the cuffs on 'em.”

“Why did you feel the need to rob a bunch of drug dealers, then? The thrill of it?”

“I had a pressing need for a large amount of cash that my normal work doesn't bring in. That got me enough to hold it off for a while. My turn.”

Evan waved down a waitress for a refill of his coffee, trying not to take it personally when she gasped upon seeing his face. “Go ahead…”

“No, no, hang on.” Titus waved a hand dismissively. “I want to try something. Take your hair out of the ponytail.”

“What? Why?”

“Humor me.”

Evan groaned and reached back, removing his hair tie. After shaking his head, his hair fell over his face, obscuring everything but his nose and mouth. Titus pursed his lips and regarded him seriously for a moment.

“Can you see?”

“Yeah, I guess. Well enough to not walk into things, I think, and I could probably read if I had to.”

Titus snapped his fingers. “Good. Go with that from now on.”

“Why?”

“Because now you don’t look like God’s mistake. Now you look like a big, dumb-but-lovable goon. Like Jack Black would voice you in a cartoon.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“Do you like seeing people contemplating their own mortality and the general cruel absurdity of the tragic farce that is human existence when they get a glimpse of your face?”

Evan felt his cheeks burn and was actually grateful his hair was covering most of his face. “…not particularly, no.”

“Then there you go. You’re welcome. Okay, question time. Uh… how did you get your powers?”

“Which one?”

“Oh, now who’s arguing in bad faith? Fucking all of them, you thick-lipped gargoyle.”

Evan had the feeling he hit a sore spot. Titus's easy-going, jocular tone had bled away from him, leaving behind the hard-edged razor-blade of a man that had ambushed him the night before. He decided not to belabor the point.

“I don't know why I can rege—why I heal so quickly. No, I'm serious, as far as I know, it just started happening sometime in the past few months. I can't remember. Don't look at me like that, I'll get to that in a minute. When I was younger I recovered from a lot of injuries a lot quicker than the doctors thought I would, so maybe it's something I was born with and it just got stronger recently for some reason.”

Evan took a sip of coffee, mainly to buy a few seconds to think of how much to explain for the next part.

“The ability to shut off powers... that's part of, well, I guess you'd call it a magic ritual, because I don't know what else to call it. I found a weird old book that said it contained the key to making someone an instrument of universal justice, or something of the sort. Since then I can see... I guess they're souls? Maybe? I can sort of move mine and when I run it into someone else's it seems like I can shut off their powers. Or... take them entirely, if they're dying.”

“Horseshit!” Titus scoffed. “That's... that's like meta-magic. I don't even know if that's real.”

“No, seriously! I don't think it's just magic powers, I think it... 'normalizes' things.” He briefly recounted his encounter with the pain monster.

“Are you kidding me? That...” Titus took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair, exhaling slowly and loudly. “Look, I don't know much, but the fact that you even ran into something like that, let alone survived... those odds are astronomical. And you say you negated not just its powers, but its whole form?”

“Yeah. Once I... reached into it, like I did with you—oh don't make that face. Grow up—I kind of disrupted what made it... different, I guess? Like I cut it off from its special qualities. Like it was...”

“Disjuncted,” Titus cut in.

“Yeah, that's a good word for it. Like the old Mordenkainen spell?”

“Fucking nerd.”

“Eat my ass. Anyway, after I killed it, I was able to reach into its... soul? Animating force? Aura? I don't know what to call it. I was able to grab something and pull it out and it just got pulled into me.”

“Not aura.”

“What?”

“Aura's a different thing,” Titus said, dismissively. “So what did you get from doing that?”

“I.. I feel pain differently. I don't flinch or get adrenaline rushes from injuries that don't actually impede my ability to function. I think I have a better sense of what is actually dangerous to my body now. It still hurts, but I don't react to pain like people normally do. It's like...hmm.” Evan drummed his fingers on the table. “Do you know anything about video games? Fighting games, specifically?”

“I used to fuck around on an old Alpha 3rd Strike cabinet when I was a kid. Why?”

“Do you know what 'super armor' is?”

“Isn't that where a move can't get stopped by being hit when you're doing it?”

“Right. I'm kind of like that now. Pain doesn't interrupt me.”

“Fucking nerd.”

Evan's fist involuntarily clenched. “I'm trying to put this in terms you can understand, you stupid reprobate. My experience with your judgment thus far hasn't given me much faith in your intellect.”

Titus burst out laughing. “So he does know how to banter! I thought you might be one of those Rainman types.”

“Oh sure, call it 'banter' to try to excuse the fact that you've been insulting me for the past half hour. Do you say you're ‘just joking’ when people get mad at you for saying stupid shit, too?”

“C'mon, lighten up! We're partners now! Tell me more about this soul thing. I still think you're full of shit.”

Evan sighed through his nose, then held up his left hand, forming his fingers into a circle and peering through them.

“Yours is... a sort of cross between a sea green and an oil slick. The tendrils of it keep reaching out and snapping back, going all over the place. It seems to keep expanding and contracting. It's almost flickering, like... it's indecisive. Very chaotic. The tendrils that aren't snapping around seem to be kept pretty close to your body, wrapping around you like... I can't tell if it's protective or restrictive.”

Titus's expression slowly became serious. “What does that mean?”

“I don't know. I have a lot of theories, but nothing solid to go on. I'm not sure if it's allegorical or a literal representation of a person's... power, maybe? Yours definitely looks a lot different than most people's.”

“I don't believe this for a second. Let me see.”

“How would I do tha—hey!”

Titus grabbed Evan's wrist and held his hand up to his eye. “Ho-lee...”

He pulled back from Evan's hand, staring at him. Then he looked around the room, mouth slack as he took in the diner's other occupants.

“Huh. Did you know it keeps working until you blink?” He said after a moment, a faraway tone to his voice.

“I didn't even know other people could do it,” Evan said, awe in his voice. “Hey, wow, you're right!”

“Jesus, yours is, like, really blue. It looks like... a bunch of steel cables. It's weird, I felt like I both could and couldn't see the edges of it...”

“I can kind of move it, but I'm not sure if I can do anything with it beyond interfering with people's powers. It's like learning to use a muscle you didn't know you had.”

“Huh.” Titus was again silent for a long moment. “Your turn.”

“Can you do anything else supernatural? Besides your time-eye?”

“Don't call it that, it sounds stupid. And... sorta. I seem to have whatever innate talent you need to actually do magic, but it's not like it's easy to find instructions. Most of the people I know who can use it just dabble with half-broken magic items—wands, amulets, charms,” he pulled the silence charm out from under his coat and bounced it at the end of its chain. “I guess I'm sort of a dabbler. I know a few tricks, I can use a lot of magic tools, I can sense magic pretty well, I can dowse... Most of the time I really never have to use anything besides the eye, though.”

“Is the eye all-or-nothing?”

“Yeah. It's not nearly as useful as you'd think, but any edge is an edge.”

“When I turned off your power and it was coming back, though, you started speeding up—or, I guess, everything else was slowing down? You were moving faster, one way or the other. You were able to touch me, and those punches hurt.”

“Huh, yeah, you're right.”

“Do you think there's a way you could learn to only partially activate it?”

“That'd be great, wouldn't it? Thing is, just using it is a huge strain, and that time spend outside of time adds up. Going by normal calendar time I'm only 26.”

“Fuck, I'm 27!” Evan laughed.

“Yeah, well, I'd rather be prematurely gray than what you've got going on. My turn. Uh... huh, I can't really think of anything else. Uh... are you gay?”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“No, but the question still counts.”

“I'm bi,” Evan mumbled, crossing his arms across his prodigious chest. “Not that it matters. And before you ask, no, you are not my type. We're done talking about this.”

“Huh. You ever sucked--”

“We. Are. Done. Talking about this.”

“Fine, God. Go.”

Evan mentally circled back to an earlier question he felt hadn't been properly answered. “Why are you after Moreno?”

To Evan's surprise, Titus didn't hesitate. “I'm actually after his current boss. He's just the best lead I have to go on.” He took a deep breath, then started talking with a rushed, deadpan pace, as if he was eager to get the words out as quickly as possible so they wouldn't be in his mouth very long.

“Moreno is working for a guy only known as the Soultaker. He has an innate supernatural ability to pull a person's soul out of their body. When that happens, the person just... shuts down, usually. No motive force behind them. Eventually they just die of dehydration, usually. I've seen some people so set in routine that they keep going without a soul, but... it's not really life.

“It seems like the extraction process takes a while, so he can't just walk past you on the street and pickpocket your entire essence. So he needs people rounded up for him, held until he can do his nasty juju. So that's where a degenerate like Moreno comes in.

“So when he pulls out a soul, it, well, it looks like this.”

Titus pulled a battered, faded Crown Royale bag out of his jacket. It bulged strangely and made a quiet clacking when he set it on the table. He pulled out what looked like a large marble, or maybe a dull pearl, and handed it to Evan.

Evan brushed his hair out of his eyes and peered into the milky depths of the sphere. After a few moments of staring, the murky clouds inside the thing seemed to clear and a face floated to the surface. A black man, maybe in his late 40s, going thin on top. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be sleeping, but his expression had a look of discomfort to it, as if he was having a bad dream.

“Jesus Christ,” Evan whispered, “I've seen this guy... Martell Calloway? I saw some news article about how his family found him tied up in his apartment and completely comatose! But he didn't have any injuries beyond being a black eye... so he's dead?”

“Life support,” Titus said, taking Mr. Calloway's soul back from Evan's unresisting fingers, “technically, he's one of the lucky ones. They found his body before it wasted away to nothing, and I was able to intercept his soul before it got to a buyer.”

“Why would someone buy something like this? What use is it? Can you fix him?”

“A human soul is a damn near exhaustible arcane battery,” Titus said gravely. In the split second between sentences, Evan noticed something—after he'd put the bag back into his jacket, Titus surreptitiously touched a pocket on the other side of his jacket, as if he was making sure something was still there.

“If you know what you're doing, you can power a lot of magic using a soul. And you can reuse them as long as you don't overdo it. If you know what you're doing, you can wring all but the last drops of essence out of a soul and let it heal or recover or whatever, and it'll eventually be back to full strength. Very resilient things,” Titus continued. “I don't think they're conscious in there, but... anyway, it's supposed to be really hard to extract a soul. But this guy was born with or spontaneously developed or somehow figured out a shortcut to the whole process. So the market is getting flooded with torture-batteries and ECUs are getting flooded with vegetables. And families are winding up with loved ones who are as good as dead, without having any idea why this happened to them. Dozens of them have been taken off life support in the past few months. Half these souls have no body to return to. And no, I can't fix it. At least not yet,” he sighed again. “I was hoping once I found him, I could somehow get the secret out of him or force him to put them back, or... maybe I thought if I killed him it'd reverse the effect. He needs killing, either way.”

Titus's eye widened as a thought struck him and he looked Evan in the eye for the first time since he'd started the story. Evan realized what he was thinking and looked down at the tattoo on his left arm, flexing his fingers.

“If you can take people's powers after they die...”

“...then we can save these people.”

Titus put a hand over his mouth and for a moment Evan thought he saw his eye well up.

“I'm in,” Evan said, a sense of righteous purpose welling in his heart. “I don't really know what the universe wants, but I doubt... I know it's not this. We'll find him, we'll stop him, and we'll save as many of these people as we can.”

“...thanks,” Titus mumbled behind his hand. He swallowed hard, then seemed to come back to himself. “We're back to square one, though.”

“You said you could dowse? Like, for real?”

“Yes, for real. I can find things and people with the pendulum method. It's handy for tracking down bounties.”

“Why don't you dowse Moreno?”

“Why didn't I think of that?!” Titus said incredulously, smacking his forehead. “Because he's warded. He's not magic himself, but he's collected enough gear through his career that my normal methods don't work.”

Evan rubbed his chin. “What if we used an abnormal method?”

-------------------

An hour later, they were in the RV. Titus was poring over the collection of Evan's notes and the strange papers he'd bought from Delmann's shop. Evan was very carefully slicing a strip of skin from his own ankle up all the way up his leg. The Guiding Light—the Finder's Follysat on the table between them, filled with fresh blood.

“Even if this works, he's going to know we're coming,” Titus muttered, engrossed in the pages. “Remember what I said?”

“That's why we're not going to look for him,” Evan said, adjusting his grip on the potato peeler. “I don't know how we'd even write his name. Can you read that, by the way?”

“Kind of. This is... most of this is written in, like, arcane pidgin. Who compiled these notes?”

“I did, I think.”

“You think?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to clarify on that. Apparently a couple months ago, before the ritual, I drilled a hole in my own brain to erase some kind of very dangerous memory.”

“You what.”

“That's not a metaphor or anything. Really did it. I could show you the video.”

“I'll pass. So you don't remember where this came from?” Titus shook the Book of Fate at him.

“Nope.”

“Jesus shit, do you have any idea--”

“How reckless that was? Yeah, yeah, I'm still here and I'm the answer to your fuckin' prayers, aren't I?” Evan gave a whoop as the peeling skin reached his thigh. “Got it this time!” he said cheerfully, snipping the flesh-ribbon off with scissors.

“God, that's so fucking gross. Anyway, you haven't explained how we're going to use that thing to find Moreno.”

“We don't set it to look for him. We look for somewhere he's been. Maybe the last place he slept. Do you think you can describe him well enough in that language for it to work?”

Titus looked like he might actually be impressed, but he hid it well. “Yeah, probably.”

“Good. I've got a dictionary I've put together on that tablet next to you, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Maybe it'll help?”

---------------------

Two hours later, they had it.

Find where a man born between the 27th and 28th north parallels during a new moon under the sign of capricorn with black hair and green eyes who has killed at least 10 people slept in the past week.

They really had to squeeze the letters in, but when Evan put a flame to the wick, it sprung to life, wavered for a moment, and then pointed east. Both men cheered. Evan threw Titus the keys.

“Drive! Drive north until I tell you otherwise!”

While Titus started the engine, Evan spread a map of the United States on the table in front of the lamp, then produced a protractor and a notebook from a drawer. “Okay, you bastard... let's see where you've been hiding...”

It took three days—one spent driving north, one spent driving back to where they'd started, and one spent driving south. While Titus drove, Evan made meticulous notes of the flame's direction, marking angles on the map. Finally he threw the pencil down triumphantly.

“He's in Salt Lake City.”

“Well, that narrows it down a little, I guess. So what, do we just go there and hope this thing points us in the right direction?”

“Too slow,” Evan called, stepping back into what used to be his bedroom and sitting at his computer. “Now I work my magic.”

After parking, Titus walked back to look over Evan's shoulder. The half-dozen monitors on the wall were flickering between rapidly-changing pictures of faces and what appeared to be CCTV footage.

“What is this?”

“This,” Evan said with dramatic pride, “is Blaccat. Facial recognition algorithms that the CIA wishesit had. I actually started working on it years ago before I thought about the implications of it, but I shelved it. I figured since I may be needing to, uh...”

“Be Batman?”

“...yeah...that I should get back to work on it. Right now it's comparing faces to the description you gave me and cycling through every damn security camera in the city looking for it.”

“How illegal is this?”

“Soooooo illegal.”

“Oh, hey, can you get into police department records?”

“Does the Pope shit in the woods?”

“See if you can get into the Las Vegas mugshots from... February 2019. Run your face-recognition thingy there.”

“Alright.... and... is that our boy?”

A handsome Latino man in his early 30s with shoulder-length jet-black hair and piercing green eyes stared at them from over a booking clipboard.

“That's him,” Titus breathed.

“Perfect! Now I just have to feed that into... wow.” Evan made a gesture and a black and white video popped up on the biggest monitor. The man in the mugshot was walking along the street, flanked by a short stocky man in bandanna and a lanky man with the ugliest white-boy dreads Evan had ever seen.

“That's him! Where is that? When is that?”

Evan grinned up at Titus. “That's live. I can track him and put us at the nearest intersection.”

Titus smiled, eye overbright, and began breathing heavily through his nose. “We got him.”

Evan met his eye and nodded. “Let's get him.”

#my writing #urban fantasy #ugly man chronicles: reignition

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amethystroselilith · 3 years

Text

Please Help Aether (Chilumi Crack One Shot)

This dumb af fic is dedicated to @jojosbizarredepression and is inspired by our convo and their adorable hcs!

I know I said fluffy crack, but the fluff disappeared... Might make my usual fluff one shots with Lumi coddling Childe though not gonna lie cause it sounds cute af

SUMMARY: A crack one-shot featuring dumb Chilumi and a suffering Aether who just wanna watch sunsets and drink wine

Can also be read in ao3: here

Aether knows that time...

The time that scares every big brother…

The time where their sweet little sister falls in love with a questionable man.

Aether already had that small feeling when he and his sister woke up in this world that they now call home.

The feeling intensified when they met the Cavalry Captain, Kaeya. The man hadn’t even been shy for flirting with his sister in front of him, immediately kissing her hand after the twins landed from luring Dvalin away from the city.

Aether immediately dislikes him, fearing that this flamboyant captain will break his sister’s heart.

So like every respectable big brother in Aether’s book, he keeps ratting him out on Jean and Amber, to keep him away from his sister.

Then there comes Master Diluc, who fits the category of being one of the most wanted bachelors; handsome, rich, and mysterious. At least that’s what Aether thinks based on their travels to different worlds.

Aether does not like Diluc at first, he seems to be a bit too cold and distant, he doesn't want his beloved sister to feel unloved. Though as time went on, Aether sees that he’s worthy of his sister.

The way he protects her, coming by her side as enemies run up to her, tending to her wounds when she gets hit or falls, and not to mention he’s rich.

When they get married, he’s going to live in luxury too, right? He’s family after all.

Aether was ready to give his approval if the redhead would ask him for his sister’s hand.

It was all going so smoothly and Aether can already imagine life; on their day offs, he will be sitting in front of the winery, watching the sunset as he drinks Dandelion Wine and enjoying the breeze.

So how come he’s inside a cell right now, arguing with his sister while said sister is protecting a certain ginger-haired fucker that had them ended there.

“Lumi, I swear to god, he’s so dead,” Aether said as he tries to climb over the geo constructs Lumine had set to separate him from her dear lover.

Said dear lover just stuck his tongue out at him when Lumine knocked him off with her anemo powers.

“Leave him alone, Aeth! Childe’s a victim here!” Lumine protested, keeping a close eye on her brother.

“Victim?! He almost murdered someone! That’s why we’re here, inside a fucking cell!” Aether argued with a groan.

Going to Liyue was a mistake…

He just wanted a little bit of an adventure with his sister before her hypothetical marriage with Diluc, and now his sister is dating a psychopath.

“Almost.” Childe rolled his eyes, “He tried to rob me, I had to defend myself!”

“Of course, baby, we know this. Their justice system is fucked up.” Lumine cooed, stroking his cheeks softly, making him purr and lean on her touch.

Aether gave them a look of disbelief, “You summoned a fucking whale in the middle of the city!”

“Yeah, but no one died,” Childe argued.

“You destroyed a huge part of the city...”

“And no one died.”

“We’re in jail because of you.”

“Ningguang is a bit harsh don’t you think?” Lumine huffed, “He was being robbed, how could she allow that kind of scam stall here?”

Aether sighed, “Lumi, we both travelled a shit ton of worlds before, carnival-like games are scammy as fuck and yet you still fell for Shitou’s words.”

“He outsmarted us,” Childe argued.

“...Yeah, I guess it wasn’t hard to do…” he murmured to himself but the couple didn’t miss it.

“Are you saying my baby is stupid?” Lumine gasped as she pulled Childe close to her chest as if to comfort him.

“Well, I’m not saying he’s smart.” Aether deadpanned.

“I’ll have you know, my baby is a master of different kinds of weapons.” Lumine huffed, “Isn’t that right, love?”

“Yeah, I’m almost close to mastering the bow,” Childe said proudly as he nuzzles to the blonde’s chest.

“By using your hydro blades?” Aether rolled his eyes.

“I use the bow too when they’re not available!” Childe huffed.

“And using your hand to throw the last arrow,” Aether added.

“What can I say? I love to improvise.” Childe grinned proudly.

“I know, baby, I’m so proud of you.” Lumine praised as she hugged him closer.

Aether didn’t know stupidity was contagious, and now he has to deal with this all his life? Well, not really since he and Lumine were immortal and Childe isn’t.

Unless…

He grabbed Lumine’s wrist, horrified to find out the mark that symbolises Lumine had shared her immortality with someone.

“Lumine, my dear beloved sister,” Aether’s eye twitched, “...who did you share your immortality with?”

Lumine beamed, “Why with my precious baby of course!” she said as she hugged Childe tighter, the ginger getting suffocated by her chest, he wouldn’t mind dying there, but he wouldn’t thanks to the mark he has on his wrist given by his lover.

Aether stepped back, “Lumi, you’re supposed to talk to me about this!”

“Oh, really? I don’t remember being consulted when you shared your immortality with your stupid pet fish!”

“How dare you!” Aether gasped, offended with her bad mouthing his precious fish when they were toddlers, “You have some audacity to call Bubbles stupid when you’re dating this idiot!”

“He’s not the idiot who wasted his immortality with a fish though!” Lumine hissed, “At least I can bring my baby with me to different worlds!”

“That’s so rich coming from you when you were about to share yours with your pet cat!” Aether called out.

Childe tensed pulling away from Lumine, “You said you never thought of sharing your immortality until you met me?”

“Baby, we haven’t met that time,” Lumine frowned.

“Doesn’t matter! You should’ve known you were going to meet me, I can’t believe you loved someone before me!” he sulked in his corner, rejecting Lumine’s inviting arms.

Aether raised his eyebrow, this is the first time Childe refused her, usually, his face would dive right in between her cleavage like the perverted bastard he is.

“But Childe I think that was you!” Lumine suddenly announced.

It immediately caught Childe’s attention, while Aether had never been so confused.

“Me?” Childe tilted his head in confusion.

“Oh my god, I just realised it, the cat has orange fur, blue eyes, and he would also tilt his head in confusion!” Lumine gasped, eyes wide in realisation, “And guess what I used to call that cat?”

“What?”

“Ajax.”

“Oh my god.”

Aether loved his twin, he really does, but he wished he could turn back time, figure out what mistake he had done to deserve his sister falling for an idiot.

He bit back his tongue to avoid calling out Lumine’s bluff, the cat’s fur was black and white with greenish-yellow eyes, and his name was Mittens.

“We really are soulmates.” Childe sighed happily as he went back into Lumine’s arms, “I can’t believe I was a cat in my previous life.”

Aether sighed, he’s too tired to deal with them so he let them be and walked to the bars, hoping to see any guards that could take him to a different cell.

A door opened followed by footsteps.

“Zhongli!” Aether smiled in relief, “Oh my god, please tell me you can help us.” he begged.

Zhongli smiled revealing a key, “Don’t worry, you are no longer prisoners.”

The three gasped excitedly as Zhongli opened the cell.

“How’d you convince Ningguang? She was so pissed.” Aether asked curiously.

“Well…”

~~~

After taking a sip of her afternoon tea, Ningguang feels a little sleepy. It didn’t take long until she fell asleep on her desk.

“Ningguang, Tianquan of Liyue Qixing.”

“Who’s there?” She tried to shield the blinding light, trying to see the mysterious figure.

“It’s me, the Geo Archon.”

Ningguang gasped, “My Lord, you have appeared in my dreams again.”

“I would like-”

“Yes, I accept,” Ningguang said excitedly.

“...What…?”

“I accept to be the next Geo Archon.” she repeated, “That’s why you’re here, right?”

“Uh… no…”

“Oh… I was ready to produce my own money, that kinda sucks, but okay I guess...”

“Anyway, I heard you sent the travellers and the Fatui to jail...”

“Yes, they destroyed half of the city, My Lord.”

“Yeah, well about that, you should let them free.”

“...They destroyed half of the city…”

“Yeah, but like no one died.”

“...The reconstruction is going to be expensive, plus helping those merchants who lost their stalls…”

“Bad things will happen if they stay in that cell…”

“What will happen?”

“Just really bad things, believe me, you don’t want to deal with that. Trust me, I’m Morax.”

“I… Well, yeah seems legit, I’ll set them free by your words, My Lord.”

“Ah, also there’s this fine gentleman from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor that’s having some rumours surrounding him about his debt. That is totally not true and everyone who says so is a liar.”

“I shall dispel the issue.”

“Also give him the key to free the prisoners.”

“As you wish.”

“Okay, cool, cool. Thanks, bye now.”

~~~

“Damn, Zhongli, will you be my best man at my future wedding?” Childe said in awe after Zhongli tells his story.

“Remove seafood in the menu.”

“Eh, we can talk about it.”

“Will you also do the honours of being an uncle to our future children?” Lumine asked.

“I can babysit for a high pay rate.”

“Fair enough, we’re planning 20 or more children.”

Aether fainted, the thought of dealing with that amount of mini Childes far too overwhelming and scary.

Please send him help...

#chilumi #genshin impact

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siennahrobek · 3 years

Text

Future Past

10 BBY

“Children are not taken from their families, Luke,” Ben explained patiently. Luke didn’t exactly remember how the conversation came up, really, but he didn’t mind where it was going. He loved hearing about the Jedi. It just made him more determined to become one himself, or, at least, as much as he could with the absence of the Order. They were on a planet side of fields of grass and an abundance of flowers and hadn’t been attacked in weeks. Using that calm time to visit a place, to relax on a planet they had settled down to pick flowers, meditate and talk. Luke loved it when they could just sit and meditate and talk. “They are adopted. If a Finder or Seeker does happen to find a child, they may ask for custody, explaining why and the like. More often than not, however, there were plenty of children given to the Jedi.”

“Why would parents give their kids away?” Luke asked, curiously, looking up at him with his head shifted to the side as he plucked a few blades of grass. Ben’s smile was so warm and nice, and he always had good feelings to send towards Luke and Luke always caught them whole-heartedly. “Don’t they love them?”

“They do, I imagine,” he agreed with a small nod as he bunched up a few of the smaller flowers with longer stems into a bouquet. “But being a parent is a bit about doing what you think is right for your child, even if it hurts. Many times, force sensitives can have a hard time with control without the proper training. Children like this are better raised in an environment with other force sensitives. Especially as a child, they can lash out when having intense emotions, sometimes even accidently hurting those around them.”

“Oh,” Luke sat back and glanced at his hands, studying them closely. He wondered, passively, if couldn’t really be a good jedi or if he would lash out because he wasn’t around more like him. Maybe Ben was enough? He would be enough, Luke determined stubbornly. Luke wouldn’t lose control; he would grow up strong and kind and good. “What about…if they don’t have any parents? Or…or if their parents don’t want them?”

“If they do not have parents, the Jedi will try to find any remaining family for their permission,” Ben continued, wrapping a long strong blade of grass around the stems of the flowers he had taken. “If there is none, a petition can be made to adopt the child. Sometimes a jedi may technically take a child if they are being endangered or the parent tries to harm them. A jedi will do that in any case, even if the child is not force sensitive.”

“Like me, when Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were…gone,” Luke pointed out, fiddling with his fingers, unable to meet his teacher’s gaze. He picked up a few of the flowers that he himself had picked and put them in a pile, carefully placing the stems away from the petals. They were beautiful, he thought, with so many colors and so soft to touch. “And you took me away.”

Ben nodded, although a bit sad, like the prospect of having to take Luke away was sad. It was a little, Luke thought. He did miss Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, sometimes he wished they were with him. But he was also glad he was with Ben. Being with Ben was better in some ways, learning how to control his feelings and abilities. He didn’t have nearly as many accidents anymore. But he still missed his aunt and uncle. They were gone, though, and Luke would have to accept that. It was okay, because they were everywhere now. “Yes. To protect you, I had to take you away,” Ben agreed.

“I’m glad you did, Ben.”

***

“Children are raised in what we called the Creche,” Ben started, Luke curled up into his side in his room. Normally Ben stayed outside on a pullout cot, as he claimed to want to give Luke space and a bit of privacy, but Luke had just awoken from a nightmare and nearly begged Ben to stay with him. It hadn’t taken much. He asked about children of the Jedi, after they were adopted from their biological parents. It was a random question, Luke hadn’t even really understood where it came from.

“What happens there?” Luke murmured, messing with a little block toy Ben had gotten him a few days prior.

“Well, they are raised all together,” Ben started, trying not to let his voice crack with emotion. “Everyone becomes brothers and sisters. My crechemates and I were friends for our entire lives, long after we had parted ways and found masters, becoming padawans.”

“Was it nice, in the creche?” he asked.

“Yes. We had a few adults of course, to help teach us and protect us, to love and care for us. We found a lot of love within those walls. The creche was one of the places most imbued with so much innocence, love and light. You never think anything truly bad can happen there.”

Luke knew something bad must have happened, especially since all the Jedi were gone. If not, he imagined Ben would be there right now. Perhaps it would make him happier and less lonely. He doesn’t say it, Luke thought it would make him even more sad, but Luke believed he would have been rather happy in the creche.

6 BBY

“Can you tell me more about Master Windu?” Luke asked eagerly, leaning forward across the table and nearly knocking over Ben’s cup of tea. He snatched it away as it precariously set on the edge of the cup. He let out a chuckle which just seemed to make Luke even more eager, biting his lip with his eyes pleading.

They were in hyperspace, far away from their jaunt with the Empire and the stormtroopers trying to follow them. If they were lucky, they could hide for a week before they finally caught up. Ben talked about visiting a planet, one full of water and colorful plants. Luke had wondered if they had an underwater garden and if they did, he would love to see it. Ben had just laughed shortly.

“What do you want to know?”

“You said he used a different lightsaber form? And you said you pranked him once with Master Vos and he never knew, what happened and you said he was a theater person, did he actually act or did he just like going to plays, can you tell me about his padawan, Master Billaba was she pretty she sounds like she would be pretty, you were friends with her right was it weird to be friends with both Master Windu and Master Billaba since they were master and padawan at one point did Master Billaba take another padawan, did Master Windu, was his lightsaber really purple why was it purple is there a reason for that do the different colors mean different things why is your saber blue what do you think my color would be if I got a saber-.”

Ben laughed out loud which eventually led Luke to stop talking in such a rush and ended his ramble. “You must calm down, little beacon,” he said, waving his hands in a gesture for the boy to slow down. “I cannot answer any of your questions if you do not allow me time to hear them and answer.”

Luke sat back down, a bit sheepish. “Sorry, Ben.”

“Now, Master Windu was an incredible duelist and a great friend,” Ben started with a fond smile. “And both he and his former padawan, Depa, were my friends. For different reasons, I suppose, but they were both great people and amazing jedi.”

Luke settled down, leaning down with his chin and arms resting on the table below him, his eyes never leaving Ben as he told him about his old friends.

4 BBY

“Aurek 5,” Luke called out. They were on their ship, in the middle of hyperspace with an old children’s game between them. Ben had explained the rules – it was fairly simple, and they had just spent hours going back and forth, trying to take down each other’s ships.

“Miss. Leth 7,” Ben responded, easily.

Luke scowled. “Hit. Qek 2.” Despite Ben’s amused smile, Luke placed a marker on part of one of his ships to indicate the partial destruction. “Why are we doing this? This isn’t a strategy game; it’s just a game of chance. Wouldn’t it be better to do something that would help with strategy and tactics?”

“Miss,” Ben replied. “Sometimes, little beacon, in a situation you are blind and can only work with what you have and what you cannot see. Besides, it can be fun if you let it. What has caught your interest on strategy and tactics? Wesk 1.”

“Hit,” Luke grumbled, lowering his head to stare. He studied his board and glowered. “Last night, you told a story about Commander Cody and the 212th. I think I can find wisdom in knowing some of the things you know, some of the things you learned in the Clone Wars,” Luke explained, eyes flitting over the board as he tried to figure out his next move. “Osk 10.”

“Miss,” came Ben’s answer. “You have an interest in war? Is there something you aren’t telling me, Luke? Jenth 6.”

“Miss,” Luke said, a bit relieved that he hadn’t hit his ship. It was close and if he had, it would have been destroyed and taken out of the game. “It’s not so much an interest in war, but I know about the rebellion. Maybe…. maybe some time we could help. Osk 2.”

“Miss. That would be mighty dangerous,” Ben replied, calmly. “We both garner a lot of attention from Vader and the Empire, it would put a lot more danger and pressure on the rebels. Jenth 7.”

“Miss,” Luke said, shifting his arms. “They’re not at war yet, not quite. But when they are, I think we can be of help. At least even just to occupy Vader so they can do missions or retreat. Aurek 2.”

“Miss. Is this interest in the rebellion or is this interest in finding and seeing Boil again?” Ben questioned, raising an eyebrow at the teenager. Luke just sighed and rested his chin on his arms. “Wesk 3.”

“Hit,” Luke grumbled. “It’s not about Boil, not really. I just…I know you have been teaching me all you can, and I really appreciate it. I love it, more than you know, but I also know, without the Jedi Order, I can’t really be a Jedi.”

There was a brief silence. “What?”

“Krill 8,” Luke called.

“Luke, do you no longer wish to be a jedi?” Ben asked, masking his surprise. “It is alright if you no longer wish to continue your studies, I will not be offended. The way of life is not for everyone.”

“That’s not it,” Luke insisted, looking up. “I swear, I want to be a Jedi more than anything else. But… the Jedi Order is gone, there is nothing I can do, nothing I can be… a part of. I thought, maybe, if I can’t really be a jedi, I’m a decent pilot.”

“Your talents are not to be denied, for sure, young one. But being Jedi is not dependent on the survival or continuation of the Order,” Ben murmured, softly. He didn’t quite meet Luke’s eyes, but he didn’t mind. It was okay. Miss. “It is an attitude, a way of life, a philosophy and spirituality if you will.”

Ben has told him this before, Luke knew, but somehow, it did not always do a good job of convincing him.

“Am I any less of a Jedi because the Order no longer exists?”

The question had caught him off guard. “What? No, of course not. You are a jedi, that’s who you are.”

“And if you wish it, it can be you as well, but only if you want it,” Ben pointed out. “The Order is gone, yes, but the Jedi still remain. We are alive. There are not many of us left, but there are some.”

Luke nodded. “Okay, Ben. I believe you.”

“Krill 8 did you say?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow curiously at him.

The teenager nodded.

Ben’s smirk grew into a knowing smile. “Hit.”

4 BBY

Luke didn’t meet another Jedi until he was nearly sixteen. He wasn’t sure if Ahsoka Tano would have appreciated being called one when he did meet her, so just to be safe, he kept her off the list. And the person he met didn’t completely entertain his thoughts on what a Jedi was either, but, at least, the sight of him had made Ben quite happy, despite him bursting into tears.

They had been on a small, backwater plant that was mostly covered in thick forests, dotted with cities that stayed tight knit, possibly out of fear of what was in the forested areas. They had found a little place just outside of the domed areas, out of sight to practice lightsaber katas. Luke had learned the basics of the forms, the ones that he knew initiates had learned before they became padawans and then those learned in classes as padawans. He had excelled swiftly, and they found Luke was a rather quick learner, picking up movements when he had a good peace of mind. It had taken him some time to learn meditation, which in the end, had certainly helped his ability to learn and keep information as well as keep a sense of calm.

Picking up lightsaber forms was easier after learning meditation and learning to enjoy it. There wasn’t a lot to do on their little ship and Luke was determined. It wasn’t so much that learning it wasn’t hard, but in the end, Luke had realized what he had gained through it. His patience had grown exponentially. He had a sturdy sense of self, of empathy and self-reflection. Something that helped him with going over intense feelings, being able to think and work through those feelings before acting.

He wasn’t perfect at it, but he was a lot better than before.

Luke was strong and fierce, often having a bit of force behind his blows and leaning towards Shien and Djem So, his father’s style. His blows often ended up being choppy and powerful, but he could never match Ben’s steady and impenetrable defense of Soresu. Luke tried to have a focus on that too. Aside from Vader, there wasn’t anyone they really tended to fight with sabers and Luke knew he could never really overpower Vader – the man was practically a force of nature. Most of the people they fought against were stormtroopers and pirates and although their aim was rarely great, they used blasters rather than sabers. Soresu was an excellent defense and Luke was determined to make Ben proud, no matter how many times the man told him he need not follow his style.

Aratu was something Luke found some fun in, and Ben had been surprisingly good at it. The flourishes and jumps got Luke moving and kept him in shape. He often found himself laughing too hard when he and Ben sparred, and the youngster decided to work on this style. It was entertaining and enjoyable.

The training in hand-to-hand combat had been most helpful as well. Ben had taught him plenty, which often ended up helping him with his lightsaber sparring, but Boil had also taught him some things (as well as blaster care) and Luke found it handy. He wasn’t to bring out a saber, if he had his fathers on hand, unless it was absolutely necessary, instead having to lean on the blasters Ben could get alongside fighting with his hands.

Luke had nearly fell over the first time he had flipped Ben over.

The “good job” however just made Luke nearly scream inside.

They had been through several hours of steady katas which made Luke’s muscles certainly burn. Technically he knew that Ben’s favored form, that of defense and endurance, had helped Ben’s ability to go on for hours and hours, but sometimes Luke had no idea how he could just keep going and going and going.

Luke did actually fall over when Ben finally told him they could stop. He just barely had enough time to clip his father’s saber to his belt before literally flopping over in the grass of the clearing they were working in.

Ben had just stood over him with a chuckle. “Are you alright?”

“Totally,” Luke grinned, giving the older man two thumbs up. “I know how you do that, but I just don’t know how you do that.”

He laughed a little more. “I have had plenty of practice and experience, dear boy. How about some dinner, yes?”

Luke sat up in a scramble. “Really? Like, on planet? Sit down with plates and forks and napkins?”

This really got the amusement out of him as Ben helped him stand and continued to laugh. “Absolutely. My treat.”

The boy snickered. “It’s always your treat, old man,” he grinned. Grabbing their cloaks, Luke slipped his on and put his father’s saber in the bag Ben carried on him. Ben would let him carry it plenty and probably would have let him then, but it was more habit, to just put it away. Besides, the crystal didn’t really resonate with him.

He wished someday he would be able to find his own.

The two of them packed up what little they had and headed back into the domed city, going through a checkpoint once they got to the border to make sure they hadn’t picked up anything. The security teams didn’t reach into Ben’s bag enough to find the lightsaber and the examination was mostly for diseases or bugs. It was a bit slow, but they got through it with flying colors.

Cities on the planet weren’t particularly tall and didn’t reach into the sky as Luke had noticed on some other planets, but what it lacked in height, it made up in surface area. Miles upon miles were shops and homes, parks, schools and churches. Anything anyone could want under their white sun.

Luke and Ben didn’t have a lot of money, but they did a little window shopping on their way to find a good place to eat. Luke nearly spent an entire half hour browsing in a droid parts store.

“I’d like one someday,” Luke muttered to himself as he admired an old astromech. It was charging and powered down, but it was painted in a brilliant gold, tints of little blue stripes alongside. “Just a little one,” he murmured.

Ben was at his side, although Luke hadn’t noticed at first. “Nearly enough.”

Luke nearly jumped and glanced over at his guardian. “Huh?”

“I have nearly saved enough,” Ben replied, evenly, giving the boy an entertained side eye. “It isn’t much, you won’t be able to get a large droid, not even an astromech, as I don’t have enough and it probably wouldn’t fit well in our ship but, Luke, soon, I think we might be able to start looking for a droid for you. If that is something you would still like.”

A grin grew on the blonde’s face as he grinned wildly. “Are you serious?”

Ben nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh! OH! Yes! Thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Luke cheered, practically bowling the older man over in a hug. Ben nearly didn’t have time to brace himself, but he somehow caught Luke anyways. He always caught Luke. “I can’t believe it!”

“We will have to talk about what kind,” Ben started prudently. “And we will have to go over proper care, not only for the droid’s sake but to make sure that if it is ever captured or lost, it cannot be traced back to us.”

“Of course, of course,” Luke nodded impatient and eager. “I don’t want anything big anyways. Maybe a little BD unit? They’re really fun and kind of cute, have you seen them run? And they are explorer class so they would be alright with any terrain we come with, tiny little things. I know they aren’t very common, but I think it would be a good choice,” he rambled. “I think we could find one.”

Ben smiled gently and took his hand, leading him out of the shop. “That does seem like a good choice. I think, if we research well enough and keep our ears and eyes open, we will be able to find one. But, for now, let’s get something to eat, shall we?”

His nod was enthusiastic as the teenager practically hopped a long. A droid! Finally! It was something that Luke really wanted for quite some time. He found them fascinating and some of them really adorable. It was another to talk to other than just Ben. He loved Ben, he didn’t want anyone to think otherwise, but it would be nice not to talk to someone like him sometimes, about some of the dumb and teenager stuff. Ben was a great listener but he was also a lot older than Luke; he didn’t actually want to listen to Luke’s dumb teenager stuff. Droids may not be like humans, but they could, generally, carry on with a conversation with their programming.

The droid talk ceased as the two of them finally got into the part of town that held more of the bars, pubs and restaurants. They had peeked into a few but eventually found one that wasn’t too expensive but wasn’t a palace of dirt either. The table they had gotten was out of the way and outside, something that was fine with the both of them. If something was to happen, they could easily cut and run.

Luke had never really sat down at a restaurant. They were on the run a lot and even if they got food from a restaurant, it was always take-out. Since they were always on the move. Ben would talk about his favorite diner back on Coruscant, before the downfall of the jedi and the republic. His friend, Dexter Jettster owned it, a former arms dealer and criminal he had befriended who had acted as his informant in multiple missions throughout his career as a jedi, as a knight and a general in the war.

Whenever Ben would have a nerfburger, Luke would ask how it held up to Dex’s.

Ben would just laugh and say no burger held up to Dex’s.

Luke didn’t remember precisely what they were talking about, but something happened, something shifted around them. A presence. Luke hadn’t known what it was but by the stiffness Ben quickly displayed and the look in his eye, he did.

“Impossible,” Ben whispered and glanced around.

“Hey there,” a low voice chuckled, near humorlessly.

The two of them swiveled around. Luke narrowed his eyes at the man before them. He was a Kiffar, if he wasn’t mistaken, with a yellow stripe over his nose and dreadlocks hanging around his shoulders, dark eyes staring at Ben as if he couldn’t believe it either. Luke glanced between the two.

“Quinlan,” Ben mumbled, shocked.

“Just…Vos for now,” the kiffar shrugged. “Can I sit down?”

Ben was practically in tears already and just stared at the man.

“Go ahead,” Luke answered for him.

The man sat down between them and studied Ben for a moment. “You did not age as well as I thought you would.”

“I…I…I spent almost ten years under the twin suns of Tatooine,” Ben confessed, his voice thick and barely coming out audibly with a hint of some kind of amusement. Luke was a little surprised how open and honest he was being. Rarely was Ben this straightforward, much less so entertained by a slight.

The kiffar – Vos – nodded. “That would do it. I can’t believe you’re alive. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, you’ve always been pretty good at the whole surviving against all odds thing,” he chuckled but it was with very little actual humor. “Didn’t think you would take on a padawan, though,” he added, glancing at Luke, curiously. His smirk contained more humor than his chortle had a moment prior.

“He’s not…” Ben shook his head as his denial started, trying to get a hold of himself. Luke glanced away; he did not need to be reminded of what he was not. He knew all too well. “He’s not that. This is Luke. I am his guardian. I go by Ben these days.”

Vos glanced at Luke and looked him up and down and gave him a lopsided smile. “Nice to meet ya, kid.”

Luke gave him one in return. “You too, Master Vos!”

The kiffar just smiled at him before glancing curiously at Ben. “Not your padawan, huh?” Ben shot him a scowl, but Luke could feel the overwhelming happinessrelieflovethankyouin the air, directed towards the newcomer. Master Vos’s expression softened into something of an entertained and pleased smirk.

Those two had been friends, Luke knew it.

The realization kind of hit him like a sandstorm because if this person, Ben’s friend, named Vos, probably a jedi.... Luke’s eyes became saucers as he whipped around to stare at the newcomer. “Wait…are you…you’re Quinlan Vos?”

Master Vos laughed out loud and tried not to attract any attention. “Gotta be careful with the name, kiddo. That stuff can be dangerous in this galaxy. But, uh, you know of me?” “Of course!” Luke nearly cried, grinning madly. “Ben has told me all about his friends. We have a lot of time to spare so we have to fill that with something to do and Ben tells all the greatest stories! He can even get your voice down pretty good.”

The bust of laughter than came out of Master Vos made Luke’s heart swell and Ben look rather thoroughly embarrassed. “Oh man, I think I might love this kid. This…this is a good one, Obes, oh wow.”

Luke felt himself shine up brightly. This was amazing. This was -. “Luke,” Ben warned, putting a hand on his shoulder gently, ushering Luke out of his thoughts. “Be mindful of your feelings and your surroundings.”

Blushing with a bit of mortification, Luke wrapped his shields, trying to button them up tighter. “Sorry, Ben.”

Ben just nodded. “Why don’t you grab some desert for yourself and Vos,” he suggested, calmly, patting his shoulder lightly. “I think he could use a…pick me up.”

The blonde perked and nodded, eagerly. Dinner and desert? And they had gotten through with a long lightsaber practice and Ben was really ready to talk about getting a droid? And he got to meet another jedi?

This had to be the best day ever, even with his mistake.

Luke was off like a shot once Ben had handed over some money, leaving the two alone. It hadn’t taken long, although Luke tried to find an amazing place with some of the best deserts. He didn’t have a lot of experience when it came to the sweet things, especially choosing them, as they often didn’t have enough for such treats. But Luke had long heard of the incredible feel and flavor of ice cream. Ben had explained where it came from once, which Luke found only a bit odd but then again, it wasn’t that much different from Bantha milk, just kind of frozen. After finding a place that sold it, he got as much as he could, and the owner was kind enough to put it in a cooler for his travels. Luke couldn’t imagine he had gotten too far from where Ben and Master Vos were, but Ben always told him it was best to be prepared.

He slowed down as he neared their table again. They had moved even further from the other patrons, virtually out of sight. Luke hadn’t known what possessed him, perhaps it was the words he had caught before they could notice him, but he had stopped and hid behind the corner, listening in. He felt bad, he knew it was rude, but he didn’t really want to interrupt such an intense conversation either.

“This is Dooku’s assassination all over again,” Ben hissed under his breath. “You remember what happened last time? You tried to go after him, and you ended up falling to the dark side.”

“I know, I know,” Master Vos shook his head. “It’s a stupid idea. I just…I know what they say about what happened at the Temple. What really happened. Not that bull the propaganda and the government, and the Empire are spewing.”

“You’ve talked with Dex,” Ben murmured.

“Of course, I talked with Dex,” Master Vos replied, spinning one of his dreadlocks in his fingers. “He’s a friend to the Jedi, always has been. He helped a couple escape Coruscant. He knows Vader led the clones on the Temple.”

“The clones were brainwashed,” Ben muttered, near absentmindedly. “Luke and I came across a couple. Kix, almost seven years ago in a stasis pod on a droid ship. Cody and Boil, just a few years ago on Vader’s ship. We…we helped them. Or tried to.”

Quinlan’s shoulders sagged. “The Jedi dead and the clones brainwashed. It seems sometimes like we were the only ones who gave a damn about the galaxy and what did we all get? Genocide and slavery,” he shook his head and Luke could feel the anger seeping off of him. “I just…I thought if I could at least get Darth Vader out of the way, that would help just a bit. One less powerful force user for the galaxy.”

Ben frowned and shook his head. “That isn’t a good idea, Quin. He is much too powerful for you, much too powerful for either of us.”

Master Vos eyed Ben, carefully. “You know who he is,” he realized.

Luke’s breath caught in his throat. Ben didn’t say anything.

“Obes, who is he?” Master Vos quietly demanded. “If I know who he is, I can at least-.”

“At least what?” Ben snapped, just as hushed. “You’ll only get yourself killed or worse, Quin. There are barely any of us left, why would you want to throw yourself away like that?”

“Obi-Wan,” Quinlan assured, putting his gloved hand over Ben’s. Ben looked at it, a little startled. “He massacred the Temple, he brainwashed the clones, the clones that we loved and trusted, the ones that… the ones Aalya loved and trusted. Don’t you think we deserve to know at least who was behind it?”

Ben just looked pained. “You will only find anger and fury, Quin. The Emperor is the one behind this, Palpatine. He is the one to blame. He is the one who created the war, who created and brainwashed the clones. Blame him.”

“Yeah, I know that,” Vos even looked like he believed it. “Palpatine is top dog, he is the one to blame for everything,” Master Vos agreed, sincerely. “And…I know what it is like to be tortured and manipulated into the dark side. I’m not…disputing that. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Vader had been manipulated into it,” he offered. “I’m sorry, I just…I need to know.”

Neither Ben nor Luke realized what Master Vos was doing until it was too late. Master Vos’s other hand, the one that was suddenly not gloved had reached towards Ben’s lightsaber on his waist, just barely brushing against it with his skin.

A lot of things had happened at once.

Master Vos had frozen, his eyes glazed over and after an incredibly long moment, he fell over from the table with a small thud. They were out of the way from the other patrons, but Ben cursed under his breath – Mando’a maybe? – and dragged Master Vos further out of sight.

He let out another string of curses Luke didn’t recognize and laid Master Vos out on the ground “You idiot,” he hissed. “You know better than that. A lightsaber, of all things.”

Time and space seemed to stop and go completely silent. Luke was frozen in his spot, staring wide-eyed as Ben checked Master Vos’s pulse. He apparently hadn’t found what he was looking for and Ben started chest compressions, talking to the kiffar in a language Luke didn’t understand. Or maybe Luke just couldn’t hear it right, he couldn’t be sure. Nothing felt right.

It seemed like forever before Ben stopped completely and sat back. Luke didn’t hear anything at first but then the sound of Master Vos’s coughs reached his ears. Time started to move again. Space and sounded started to be able to be heard once more. Whatever had happened, Luke didn’t know what to make of it.

“You idiot,” Ben growled again but he helped Master Vos up to a sitting position and leaned him against the wall. Master Vos learned to breathe again.

He looked straight at Ben. Luke couldn’t see his eyes, but his posture was stiff and some terrible and sad feelings were emanating off of him. “Does Luke know his father turned into one of the galaxy’s worst genocidal maniacs?”

Luke forgot to breathe, and his brain just didn’t understand.

Ben swallowed. “What am I supposed to tell him Quin? That his father, my brother, is acting as a monster and has become a killer? That Anakin Skywalker – Darth Vader – is trying to kill him, that someday, we might have to kill him instead?”

Luke doesn’t hear anything after that. His hand indistinctively clutches the case of ice cream, and his mind goes blank. There is only thing he understands.

Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader.

Anakin Skywalker is Luke’s father.

Darth Vader is Luke’s father.

Luke’s father is trying to kill him and Ben.

He can’t breathe and suddenly, he found himself moving. He couldn’t stay there; he didn’t know what to do, what to say. His mind went so blank, and his feet were moving. They kept moving and moving, objects and places became blurs. Buildings meshed together; people became little blobs. The city became a mix of browns and greens, and things were crunching under his feet. He was in the woods, his brain barely realized.

Luke didn’t know where he stopped or how much time had passed since he had started running. All he knew was that his entire body was burning, his legs felt like they were going to just vaporize at any moment and his lungs just could not get any oxygen at all. They just burned.

Gasping for air, the teenager felt to the ground, his palms scrapping on fallen twigs and pebbles, his knees hitting hard. He had no idea where he was, and it didn’t really matter at the moment. Mind racing with everything and nothing at all, Luke leaned against a large tree in front of him, his hair tangling in parts of the bark and lightly sticky with sap. How…. how…

After some time, Luke finally managed to turn himself around, sitting against the trunk of the tree, trying so desperately to get control of his breathing. He just… he just couldn’t seem to get in air. Why couldn’t he breathe? Why couldn’t he breathe?

Anakin Skywalker is his father.

Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader.

Darth Vader…. Darth Vader is his father.

Oh Force, Darth Vader is his father.

One of the worst people in the entire galaxy was his father. The father than Ben told fond stories of. The father that was Ben’s brother, his best friend. The father who was a jedi, the ancient enemy of the Sith.

Which meant Ben lied.

Ben had never lied to him before.

Had he?

Luke had finally got a hold of his breathing, but it was still shallow and quick. He reached up, his fingers dashing against the skin on his face. They came back more than damp. He was crying. His whole face was quickly becoming blotchy and red, tears in a constant stream down his cheeks.

Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader was his father.

Luke let out a loud, choking sob, trying to swallow down any breath he could. Ben lied to him. His father wasn’t dead. It was worse, it was so much worse. Why had he lied? Did he not think he could handle it? Did Ben think that Luke would just gooff on his own? Did he think that Luke would leave him just because his father was alive? His father may be alive, but he was a monster and tried to kill the bothof them several times. He just…didn’t understand.

“Luke?” a voice echoed through the trees. The boy couldn’t see a thing through the tears and the choking sobs coupled with the whistle of the wind through the leaves and trees made it hard to hear, made everything muffled.

“Ben?” It was a shot in the dark, it could have been anyone and honestly Luke didn’t know if he really wanted to talk with Ben right now, he didn’t think he wanted Ben to see him like this but yet he still…he wanted Ben.

“Luke?” the voice shouted louder. “Luke? Luke?!”

The teenager just let out another choked sob, but a presence brushed up against his mind. And then, soon after, against his side.

“Goodness, Luke!” the voice was close now, right next to him. It sounded like Ben. Oh, he hoped it was Ben.

“It’s me, beacon,” the voice whispered, like an answered prayer. “It’s me, it’s Ben.” Relief flooded him and everything around him like nothing before and Luke blindly threw himself towards the voice. He hit something firm but soft and arms snaked around his torso tightly. “Goodness, Luke. You’ve been gone for hours. What happened?”

Luke just sobbed into his chest. How could he possibly explain to Ben what was happening? How did one tell their guardian that they knew they have been lying to them for years about something so prominent? Ben had told Luke all of the bestthings about his father. He told him that he was actually like his father. Did that mean Ben thought Luke was like Vader? Did he think that Luke would turn into a Sith, like his father before him?

He never would.

“I was just…” the words tumbled out of his mouth before Luke could really think about what to say and process them. “I was just feeling so much. I couldn’t…. I’m so sorry.”

“Ssshhhh,” Ben hushed, tucking his nose into Luke’s hair. “It’s alright. But if you are feeling too much, you need to find me. I can help you; I promise.”

He didn’t think that Ben could help with this, but he just nodded against the old soft robes that Ben had on, even trying to burrow within them like he used when he was small and a child. “I know, I’m sorry Ben. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, it’s alright, hope,” Ben murmured. “It’s alright.”

Present past

“Master Vos.”

Anakin’s greeting was mostly out of necessity and perceived respected than anything else. Quinlan knew this. Generally, the two of them got along fairly fine, at least for the most part. They used to get along better, when the young man was younger. Anakin tolerated Obi-Wan having friends, as long as he made it appear he would prefer Anakin’s company over theirs. Anakin liked to fancy himself as Obi-Wan’s family and to Hell with everyone else. Quinlan did admire the boy’s protectiveness, to an extent, as people had a habit of not being like that with Obi-Wan. But everyone had at least some idea that Anakin’s possessiveness was rather unhealthy.

It was difficult for anyone to try and make Anakin get help during a war.

Anakin thought he knew Obi-Wan best. It was a joke, really but vaguely amusing. Compared to a few others, Anakin barely knew Obi-Wan at all.

“Anakin Skywalker,” Quinlan plastered on a grin. He almost missed the days where Anakin’s protectiveness was cute and innocent, when he was a kid and he thought Obi-Wan was just amazing. He was, of course, but sometimes it seemed Anakin did a one-eighty on how he thought of his old master. Although still protective, it was far too much, and he often seemed to accuse the older man of all sorts of things. Quinlan wondered if Anakin was ever truly happy with his former master. Sometimes, it was not easy to tell. “Good to see you, wish it was under better circumstances,” he snickered.

The knight just hummed, uncharacteristically quiet. Things must be really dire if Skywalker didn’t have some kind of snarky comeback, especially for Quinlan. Instead, he turned briefly towards the crew. “Admiral, please bring us back to hyperspace. We need to assist General Tiin and General Krell.”

“Of course, General Skywalker.”

Anakin turned back towards Quinlan, but the latter was the one to speak up. “How bout we head down to the Medical Bay,” he suggested vaguely. “We have a moment before we get to the Umbara system.”

Mutely, the young General nodded and turned on his heel, off the bridge. Quinlan quickly followed. It was silence for several moments before Quinlan just couldn’t take it anymore and started a conversation. They should have probably talked anyways. “Alright, I know the bare basics,” Quinlan started, numbering things off on his fingers. “Obes is in a coma, not entirely sure why and he’s being stalked by a teenager?” Anakin nearly rolled his eyes and Quinlan couldn’t quite tell if he was amused or not. “Luke,” he answered. “Interesting kid, I guess. Won’t leave Obi-Wan’s side. He’s…claiming to be a time traveler.”

Quinlan paused and blinked, right, he forgot about that. Or did he? Did Master Windu mention that? Sometimes it seemed difficult to keep track of all the weird things that were happening during the course of this war. “Ah…that is a new one. Thought this would be more of an easier thing, like uh, drugs or psychosis or ghosts.”

“Helix looked him over and tested for drugs, nothing.”

“Crazy?”

“No unusual brain activity.”

“Ghosts then, perhaps,” Quinlan suggested. Ghosts were easy.

Anakin just shot him an unimpressed stare.

Okay so probably no ghosts then. “Alright, alright. Geez. Someone is serious today.”

“My master is in an unexplainable coma,” Anakin replied, pointedly, frustration leaking into his tone like sieve.

“Anakin,” Quinlan’s voice turned oddly soft as he stopped in the hall, turning to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Sometimes it was hard to see just how young Anakin was. He really should still be a padawan. Obi-Wan had always been so proud of Anakin as the day was long but even, he agreed the boy wasn’t really ready to be a knight. He lacked a lot of control and patience something that, if the boy just listened once in a while, he could learn. Obi-Wan was a good teacher with that. He was a good teacher in general, Quinlan thought. But it is hard to teach someone who thinks they already know everything best and doesn’t want to learn. Quinlan had been so incredibly lucky with Aalya. “Obi-Wan is going to be just fine. He has been through far worse.”

Anakin sighed, a little tension seeping from his shoulders as he looked away, Quinlan’s hand fell from his shoulder. “I’m dead in the future, Obi-Wan isn’t with the Jedi and on the run and apparently his grief is so bad it-,” he drifted off from his miniature ramble, shaking his head and the thought. He talked about it like it was unbelievable. “I’m…worried the Obi-Wan that wakes up won’t be the same one that I know.”

“He might not be,” it was a confession Quinlan didn’t like making. But people didn’t stay the same over time. Obi-Wan of this time wasn’t the same Obi-Wan Quinlan had grown up with. They were still friends, of course, but it was different. People changed. Kids changed. Times changed. Quinlan knew for sure that Anakin’s death would certainly change Obi-Wan drastically. They didn’t talk about it, Quinlan and Obi-Wan didn’t particularly care to talk about death with one another, especially their own, unless it was a quick, morbid joke, but Quinlan knew that Obi-Wan always thought he would die first. He wanted to die first, and he didn’t want to die alone. It was something that had scared Obi-Wan for a long time, probably still did. He would have nightmares – or visions, Quinlan thought – of being alone in a wasteland. It was a horrible thing to see, he imagined. “But one thing is for sure,” Quinlan continued, confidently. “He is going to be happy to see you. Obi-Wan loves you so much and if what this Luke said is true, he is going to be so grateful you are alive again,” he pointed out.

Anakin shifted uncomfortably. He was letting more feelings out, getting a little more comfortable with Quinlan’s presence. Quinlan didn’t know if the boy had even realized what was happening. Had it been so long since Anakin had been comfortable in others’ presences? Obi-Wan had always been so worried about Anakin, perhaps…. perhaps Quinlan could do something to help. “I…just want him to wake up,” Anakin confessed.

“He will,” Quinlan promised. He didn’t like make promises, especially not like that, but even he had to believe it. “And then he’s going to get so many hugs he will literally get sick off of them.”

Anakin laughed.

They walked again, this time in more comfortable silence. Apparently, it didn’t sit well with Anakin, as he continued to ask another question. “Do you…think you can tell if he is telling the truth? Luke? About the time travel?” Anakin inquired.

“Probably,” Quinlan shrugged as he passed a couple of troopers. They barely gave him a glance before quickly moving out of the way.

“Do you think you can help Obi-Wan? Wake him up?”

Quinlan caught his eyes. He hated how he kept being reminded of how young he is. He’s terrified, although Anakin had gotten pretty good at not showing it. To an extent, Quinlan can understand. He and Obi-Wan hadn’t been around each other in a while, especially with the differences in careers but they couldn’t stop being friends. It reminded him of their teenage years, getting into trouble, talking about the future and what they would do in service of the galaxy and the Order. He missed that.

Obi-Wan would do almost anything to help Quinlan’s former padawan, Quinlan could at least attempt to return the favor.

“Uh…less probably,” he confessed. He continued, trying to make things sound a bit less depressing. “It hasn’t even been a day, Skywalker,” he pointed out. “He’s been in a bacta tank longer than that.”

“At least when he was in a bacta tank, we knew what was wrong with him and how to fix it,” Anakin scowled, looking away.

“If nothing else, he could use a break, do you disagree?”

“Of course, not but…ugh…. this is really messed up. I just want him to wake up.”

“We all do, Skywalker. I’m sure even the kid wants him too.”

Anakin’s expression turned a little dark but in a way that was confused. Quinlan could imagine; this whole situation was rather confusing, most of all the kid.

“Something on your mind?” Quinlan inquired slowly.

“Just…something Luke said,” Anakin finally professed, his eyebrows furrowing in thought. “He claims to know Obi-Wan really well, know him for years in fact. We…we had this conversation about love.”

Okay, this was not really where Quinlan expected the discussion to be going. “What about love?” he asked, cautiously.

“He said Obi-Wan shows that he loves people with…acts, rather than just saying it,” Anakin pointed out, just was wary. Oh, that was a lot easier.

Quinlan nodded in agreement. “That’s true.”

Anakin glanced at him, surprised. “It is?”

Okay so maybe not that easy. Did Anakin not really know this? “Oh yeah, for sure,” Quinlan continued to nod. “When it comes to caring about people, Obes’ communicative skills have differed over the years. Pretty sure he got it from Jinn, really.”

“He did?”

“Right,” Quinlan shook his head, his dreadlocks falling over his shoulders. “I keep forgetting you didn’t know Qui-Gon.” Anakin made a bit of an offended noise, but Quinlan didn’t give him time to respond. “Jinn didn’t really tell anyone that he cared,” Quinlan started carefully. It was an understatement really, he rarely explained everything, rather just kind of throwing it all out into situations to figure things out. “It drove Obi-Wan crazy for a while. He never seemed to know if Jinn was happy with what he did or proud or loved him. Jinn and verbal communication just…did go hand in hand,” Quinlan shrugged. It had bugged him for years, sometimes it still did. It was easier to see, looking back on it, that at least Jinn cared some. “So, Obi-Wan just tried to be, well, perfect. He eventually did learn to speak Jinn’s not-really-communicative language and then, I think things were easier.”

“I never knew that,” Anakin murmured.

“Jinn is a bit of a tough subject sometimes,” Quinlan shrugged. “Not just with you, with most people really. I only know because he was practically my best friend during our padawanship. We spent a lot of time together.”

“So, was Qui-Gon like Obi-Wan? Luke said Obi-Wan shows love through acts of service, like doing small things for the people he cares about, like somehow those types of actions tell others that he…cares about them. Was Qui-Gon like that too?”

“Ah, not so much, I don’t think,” Quinlan winced. He never completely understood how Obi-Wan figured out that Jinn cared about him. “Honestly, I’m not really the best person to talk about the specifics. If Obes won’t say specifically, you’ll more likely to find out from Siri or Bant, he talked about those types of things with them,” he shrugged.

Anakin looked a little disappointed.

“People…express love in different ways,” Quinlan tried. This was not his wheelhouse, his chest told him to abort. “Like, uh… do you remember kitchen duties when you were a padawan?”

The wrinkles that appeared around Anakin’s nose were a good indication he did. “Yeah.”

“Well, I always volunteered for dishwashing duty,” Quinlan started. Please let this work.

“Why would you do that?”

“I liked feeling the plates and bowls, feeling what the person who used them was feeling, what they had gone through, the imprints they left behind,” he explained, steadily. It was a warm memory he didn’t mind sharing.

“Psychometry, yeah, okay.”

“The others hated it, Garen detested it with a passion, the entitled brat, and Luminara would just wrinkle her nose all funny-like at the hot water, she didn’t like her hands getting all pruny,” Quinlan explained with a bit of a smile, a fond expression at the memory. “But Obi-Wan…Obi-Wan was always there for dishwashing duty with me. I would volunteer, he would come, and we would stand side by side, washing dishes without gloves and he would listen to the stories I would tell, gathered from the silverware and bowls. It was a small thing, but Obi-Wan didn’t have to tell me that he cared, he showed it. That’s just how he does things. I’ve never really doubted how much he cared.”

This seemed to really make Anakin think harder. Quinlan just hoped he got his point across, that it was understandable. How Obi-Wan had actually taught this kid, he wasn’t entirely sure.

“I can’t say that I completely understand,” Anakin finally replied, a bit hesitant but not entirely closed off and stubborn. “I don’t really understand why he can’t just sayit,” he admitted. “But I guess, people do learn things and pick habits up from their teachers, it makes a little sense that he would do things similar to Qui-Gon.”

That…wasn’t really what Quinlan’s point was but it was a step in the right direction, he supposed. It was better than Anakin thinking Obi-Wan didn’t much love him just because he didn’t wear his heart out in the open.

Thankfully, they got to the medical bay hall and quickly up to the door that led to the room Obi-Wan was staying in. Anakin stopped. “Aren’t you coming in?” he asked, vaguely curious.

“The boy, Luke, doesn’t trust me much…” Anakin said with a bit of a lip curl. “As much as I am loathed to admit it, he might open up to you more if I’m not around. Besides, someone has to lead the reinforcements and try to help Cody with a plan for Umbara. It won’t be long until we reach the system and it…would be better to have a plan immediately.”

“Good thinking,” Quinlan replied, trying to sound easy.

When Quinlan entered the room, it was empty. He didn’t see any child lounging around or standing near Obi-Wan, but he did see Obi-Wan himself. He laid on the cot in front of him, a machine beeping slowly to indicate that he was alive and breathing decently. He was quiet and still, and Quinlan fell back on horrible moments in the years before, when he had seen his friend like this. He wasn’t half dead, Quinlan reminded himself.

Quinlan reached out, ready to brush his hand over the saber on the table. He wasn’t sure if he was brave enough to go to the source, perhaps the light saber would reveal enough. So many questions could be answered.

“I would be careful about doing that,” a young voice called out warily.

Quinlan jumped nearly feet in the air and twirled around, trying not to appear too ruffled. “Sneaky little kid, aren’t you?” he tried to joke. The boy was blonde, the kind of bright sunshiny color that Obi-Wan’s padawan used to have when he had just come to the Temple. His eyes were blue, narrowed a little in a mix of vague amusement and suspicion. It was an odd look. He had on some dark pants and a jacket where the collar sprung up around his neck. It reminded Quinlan a bit of how high Obi-Wan would make his robes, all neat around his neck and shoulders.

Luke maintained that peculiar amusement and wary expression. “I just used the lavatory.”

“Obes and his fancy words,” Quinlan muttered to himself, with a small smile. Obi-Wan, being such a diplomat and negotiator, had picked up more than a few phrases Quinlan had always thought of as fancy. If what was believed was true, that his friend had raised this boy, it wasn’t completely out of the question certain words would be picked up. Louder, he continued, trying to keep an easy smile, but it was rather broken. “Why not?”

“I’m not saying don’t,” Luke replied, with certain emphasis. “You obviously need to be convinced but be careful,” He looked like someone who knew exactly what he was talking about, specifically with Quinlan himself. Quinlan knew he hadn’t met him before but then again, if Luke was right and he was from the future, perhaps it just hadn’t happened yet. “You barely touched Ben’s lightsaber last time and your heart stopped,” he explained, calmly.

Quinlan swallowed. He hadn’t had a reaction like that in a long time, since before he mastered his psychometry. Even with the war going on, nothing he had done or touched had nearly killed him. Things must be pretty bad in the future for that to happen.

Did he believe him?

“You must be Luke,” he said instead.

“That’s me, Master Vos,” Luke nodded with a polite smile. “I would act really excited to see you again but your suspicion is rather poignant and so I will leave that until we can get better…reacquainted.”

Quinlan nearly wanted to laugh or cry or something. This sounded hilarious and ridiculous at the same time. This entire situation was certainly something else. He couldn’t wait for Obi-Wan to wake up, only to ask where had he found this boy? “Do you want to tell me who you are or would you rather me guess?” he asked.

“You did pretty well the first time I met you,” Luke paused with an amused smile but then shrugged, as if it didn’t matter than much. Quinlan had a feeling it mattered more than he was letting on. “Skywalker.”

That…both made a lot of sense and no sense at all. “You do look like him when he was very young,” Quinlan confessed, nearly choking on air. Another Skywalker, of course it was another Skywalker. Poor Obi-Wan couldn’t get away from them, could he? Quinlan was rather unsurprised. If Anakin was dead and had a child, it would make sense that Obi-Wan would look over and protect the boy, if nothing else. Even if it was out of obligation. Obi-Wan knew plenty about that. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. Hopefully Quinlan could get some responses. “You give Obi-Wan a lot of Hell too?”

“I try not to, he’s had enough,” Luke replied, softening his voice.

“We can agree on that.”

“Touching me for psychometry won’t yield as many answers, I think,” Luke continued, calmly. “But I have a lot less baggage.” That did not fill Quinlan with any confidence.

“You’re still young.”

Luke’s nose wrinkled as he studied the older master. “I thought you were funnier.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Ben talked about you, he made you out to be funny.”

Quinlan’s heart stuttered a little bit. Did they continue to be friends? They had been a bit distant as of late. Quinlan had been meaning to rectify that, but everyone was so busy during the war, most of all Obi-Wan. He always tried to justify things that his friend was much too busy to be bothered by Quinlan trying to reconnect more. Was he dead in the future? But then again, Luke had said they had met before. He really needed some answers if he was going to be able to make choices moving forward. “Oh, I’m hilarious. A tad surprised, however, that Obi-Wan would tell you that,” he chuckled lightly. “He likes to act as if I’m not comical at all. Let’s just say I’m a bit suspicious… and worried about my friend.”

Luke’s gaze tempered into something Quinlan felt a little less concerned about. “I’m worried too,” he admitted, jumping up to sit on a nearby cot. “That he’ll wake up of this time and not know of me or the future. Or that he will have come back from the future, only to watch everything get destroyed again because I karked up.”

“Did you kark up?” Quinlan asked. He found that unlikely, as Luke had only been here for several hours, not even a full day.

“Not yet,” he tried but didn’t look completely certain. “I don’t think so. I hope I didn’t. Hope I won’t.”

“Well,” Quinlan shrugged and sat next to him. “I’m here to help. Whatever happens, whether Obi-Wan wakes up and remembers you or not, I will help you.”

Luke’s glance at him looked both slightly skeptical but mostly relieved and reassured. “I didn’t think you believed me yet.”

Quinlan didn’t realize he had believed him either. He shrugged, trying to play it off. “I don’t think you are crazy. I don’t get that feeling from you.”

With a brief pause, Luke hopped down from the cot and picked up Obi-Wan’s robe, which was lying over some unused medical equipment. He brought it over and got back up on the cot before holding it out. “You might want to start with this. The last time you touched Ben’s lightsaber, your heart stopped. I think…this might be better to begin with.”

He tugged off one of his gloves. “You said you have less baggage; would you mind me starting with you?”

The surprised look on the boy’s face smoothed into something calm and content. “Sure. I don’t mind. Just…maybe try not to kill anyone afterwards?”

Quinlan didn’t know what that meant but put a hand on Luke’s bare arm. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he came back.

“Oh,” he muttered flatly. “Now I understand why you told me to try not and kill anyone,” he grumbled as he pulled back. “Skywalker…he…wow.”

Luke glanced away. “Yeah, I didn’t take it too well the first time either. And I don’t know if we can save him or anything, but he hasn’t done it yet, at least not for you or the others. I would like to save him or try too at least. I’d like to know if the person Ben told him, he was existed or if Ben was just trying to conjure happy memories.”

“That beast…he’s Skywalker,” Quinlan shook his head. “Anakin told me that Obi-Wan’s grief was apparently great, but I didn’t realize… it probably would have been better if Skywalker had died.”

“Ben told me that,” Luke replied. “He told me that my father had died. I found out by accident, but I’m not sure if he was still in Vader somewhere or if Vader actually had killed Anakin Skywalker and just became someone else.”

Quinlan nodded. “I won’t kill him, for now. But one wrong move… I won’t let Obi-Wan go through that again.”

“It gets worse,” Luke confessed, clearly not wanting to admit what he was about to say. “I didn’t know it at the time, as when Ben talked about Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, he talked about them like they were two different people. Vader had marched on the Jedi Temple.”

He didn’t know his heart could sink any further than this. Luke didn’t explain his statement, but the implication was pretty easy to interpret. Obi-Wan and Luke had been on the run, not with the Jedi. It was hard to be with the Jedi when there was no more Jedi.

The string of curses that came out of his mouth were impressive, Luke clearly didn’t understand all of them. Out of all the things Quinlan had guessed, this had not even sort of made the list. It was unimaginable. He couldn’t even wrap his head around such a thing. But Luke’s next question caught Quinlan so off guard, he nearly fell off the cot he was sitting on.

“Have you gone on your mission to assassinate Dooku yet?” Luke asked, abruptly.

Quinlan twisted his head around and stared at him, more confused than he had been in a long time. Assassination? “What?” he scoffed. “No! What? Why…no! No, I haven’t been sent to assassinate the leader of the Separatists. I don’t even know if I could.”

Luke sighed in relief and took Quinlan’s hands, careful not to make skin contact. He stared straight into his eyes, wholly and completely serious. “Do not to do it,” he ordered. If nothing else, Quinlan felt the need to listen to him. The Force whispered nonsensical things in his ear, not quite distracting, but rather highlighting what Luke was telling him. “Do not go anywhere near him, no matter how close you think you can get. It does not end well. Do you understand?”

Quinlan didn’t even realize words came out at first. “Does he kill me?”

Luke shook his head vehemently. “No. Worse.”

There was really only one thing that could be worse, and Quinlan felt nearly sick. “Oh,” he exhaled out. “That is…not good. Did…did you see that? Or did Obi-Wan tell you? Do you know what happened?”

“You and Ben talked about it when I first met you,” he said. “I didn’t understand a lot of it, but you clearly didn’t stay in the Dark Side-.”

“I came back?” his voice sounded more like an echo.

“I think so,” Luke shrugged. “He was really happy to see you before. I think you liked me too, but it was hard to tell, we didn’t get a lot of time together.”

Before Quinlan could continue the conversation, his commlink beeped. As he answered, a communications officer spoke up through. “General, sir. We will be approaching the Umbara System within minutes. Your presence is requested on the bridge.”

“Copy that,” Quinlan responded before turning it off. “I probably will have a lot more questions but right now, that will have to wait.”

Luke nodded. “A battle?”

“Uh yes…we got detoured. We are hoping it won’t be too long. They just need a little backup. Look,” Quinlan pressed. “We are about go into battle,” he started slowly. “And I need to help Commander Cody. So, I need you to stay with Obi-Wan. If something happens and we need to evacuate, either I will send someone or come myself to get you.”

“I won’t be a problem,” Luke promised innocently.

Quinlan shot him a wary stare. “Stay. Here. Yeah.”

Luke just smiled and nodded.

***

Luke waited less than ten minutes before he moved. He tightened up his clothes so nothing would be flapping in the wind, retied up his boots and took off the cloak, setting it near Ben’s bed. “I’m really sorry, Ben. I know I said I wouldn’t leave you…but I’m pretty sure they’re going to need me out there and I think it would be best for me to help. I will make you proud,” he insisted, curling his hands over Ben’s saber. “You aren’t here and awake to protect your men this time around so it is up to me. Hope you don’t mind me borrowing this. Please, please wake up soon.”

He didn’t wait any longer and ran out of the medical bay, for the first time, leaving Ben behind.

Finding a hiding spot on the gunship was…. not easy. And Luke was quickly discovered. He had gathered a few things, a set of armor, a blaster and tried to blend in. Luckily for him, they were in a hurry and already making their way down to the surface and so by the time he was noticed, it was far too late.

“And just what do you think you’re doing?”

Even though every one of the clones technically sounded the same, Luke just knew it was Waxer who had discovered him. Luke had thought he was doing a fairly good job hiding. But then again, Waxer probably knew his men pretty well. He didn’t ask how he knew but Luke took off the helmet, his eyes darkening into something gleaning with determination and confidence. “I’m coming with you,” he declared.

“You’re a little short for a clone trooper, kid,” Waxer answered his unasked question. Luke could completely see Waxer and Boil as friends, even if it wasn’t completely obvious to a lot of others. “And you are not doing anything.”

“Yes, I am,” he insisted.

“I know for a fact you are supposed to be in the medical bay by General Kenobi’s side,” Waxer pointed out, shaking his head. “Look, kiddo. We love you but you have no idea what you are getting yourself into.”

Luke’s unimpressed look ended up being, well, rather impressive. “I’ve been on the run since I was eight,” he shot back, emphatically. “Chased by an Empire with tons of soldiers trying to kill me. In droves. You know what they say about experience.”

Even Luke knew he was being cheeky.

“You have nothing to prove, kid,” Waxer offered, his voice suddenly serious and quiet. It was a bit of whiplash for Luke but his shoulders hardened and he abruptly became unable to meet Waxer’s eyes.

“Contrary,” Luke’s voice was even quieter, to the point that Waxer was probably the only one who could currently hear him. “I have everything to prove.”

Waxer just sighed and shook his head.

Before he could speak, Luke looked up at him, eyes narrowed and determined. This was a bit more personal, he supposed. “Boil won’t lose you again, not if I can help it.”

Waxer’s eyes tempered into something sympathetic and kind once he had gotten over his brief glance of surprise. He realized that he must have been dead in the future, especially if he wasn’t with Boil. Luke seemed to know him pretty well, which meant his brother talked about him. Waxer had no idea how he would work without Boil, it seemed unimaginable. He always thought they would die together. He did even have an inkling on how Boil would act if Waxer had gone marching on without him. “Kid, soldiers die in war. It’s a fact,” Waxer said, calmly. “You can’t stop me from dying.”

“No,” he agreed, but his fists curled up into one another. “But I can lessen the odds and help protect you. Please, Waxer, let me do this. I won’t slow you down. I won’t get in your war. Nothing has to change with your plans. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Waxer sighed and ruffled his hair, affectionately, shaking his head. He obviously didn’t like this, and he certainly thought there would be consequences but there was little he could do now. “Too late, kiddo.”

“Do you have a weapon?”

Luke brandished the hilt of Ben’s lightsaber with a smirk. “I know how to use this.”

“I have no doubt,” Waxer replied. “General Kenobi does this style called Soresu. It’s apparently-.”

“The ultimate defense form,” Luke finished with a smirk. Waxer must talk about Jedi things with Ben. It was nice that some of the men were interested in that sort of thing. Ben loved to teach. “I’m aware. And quite adequate. I will try to keep with that style as much as I can. I promise I won’t get in the way.”

“Sir!” one of the other soldiers called out, apprehensively. “This is…highly against protocol,” he choked out.

Waxer just shook his head. He wasn’t going to get rid of Luke. Even if he physically could, the boy would never leave them alone. And now they were well on their way down to the surface. “As far as I’m concerned, Luke here is General Kenobi’s new padawan which makes him your commander,” he pointed out.

“I won’t make any choices,” he vowed, looking around at the whole squad. “I’m just here to help, an extra body. You don’t have to protect me or anything.”

The clones glanced at each other, uncertainly.

“I’m just here to make sure as many of you come out of this alive as I can. Ben isn’t awake this time around to help so it is up to me.”

He didn’t tell him the other reason. Boil had never told him specifically what planet or campaign that Waxer had been on when he had died but Luke had a few clues. One. It was a dark and gloomy planet. Check. Luke had looked it up on a terminal. There were few planets darker or gloomier or grosser. Two. There was a traitor general. Possibly, General Krell was the only general on the ground as of currently, so he would be the main suspect if this was it. Luke hadn’t been able to do much research about him but he definitely got an uneasy feeling about this. Three. There was an act of friendly fire. Part of the 501stwas down there and part of the 212th as well. They were coming from different directions. With the natural darkness of the planet and no large amount of deception or confusion necessary, it could easily turn into a case of friendly fire.

Luke didn’t know if this was the planet where Waxer died the first time. But he knew somethingbad was going to happen here. The Force was practically blaring like a megaphone. Luke would do his part.

“Do you mind if I keep some of the armor?” Luke asked.

They all just stared at him.

“Uh yeah,” Waxer choked out. “Of course.” Then he paused and realized what Luke had said. “Wait. Some?”

Immediately, Luke took off a few of the pieces. He hadn’t planned on keeping all of them, they would hinder his movements significantly, but he kept the greaves, vambraces and pauldrons. They could only watch as he set the extra pieces in the corners.

“Not gonna wear all of it?” one of the troopers asked.

“Can’t move easy,” Luke shrugged. “It was a disguise.”

Waxer just shook his head with a vaguely amused smile. “You Jedi.”

The gunship rocked as an explosion went off near enough that the pilot had to swerve, and the sound blasted through his ears. Waxer and another trooper tried to shelter him as best they could, protectiveness and care emanating from them in strong waves.

“Please wake up,” Luke whispered quietly into the air, as they got closer and closer to the planet’s surface. He was nearly inaudible, no one could hear him, but he wasn’t talking to the troopers. It was some kind of prayer to the Force, something, anything, to beg it for assistance. For him. For Ben. “Please wake up, Ben. I could really use you soon. I can’t do this alone.”

#revolving suns art #revolving suns au #obi wan kenobi #obi-wan kenobi #quinlan vos #anakin skywalker #waxer #clone trooper waxer #luke skywalker #protective luke skywalker #obi-wan kenobi raises luke skywalker #planet umbara #umbara arc #time travel #fix it #it's coming okay

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abluescarfonwaston · 4 years

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Did someone ask for a quick and angsty immortal jaskier prompt? "It was supposed to be the music," he whispered, voice breaking. Heart breaking. "The songs. I wanted my songs to be remembered forever. I never wanted this."

Why would you do this to me anon. i’m already crying over the fact dandelion outlives everyone he loves. Major Character Death Warning. Obviously. Literally everyone dies. Uuuh also this kinda turns into Lambert/Jaskier at the end but like. They’re both Centuries old so nothing Happens.

When the wasting sickness swept through Lettenhove it killed his Mother and his Father and his Sisters and left him untouched.

He was ten and the world was over. Except he kept waking up in the morning.

At thirteen a girl at Oxenfurt, Essi Daven, played her Lute in the commons and sang and had the most beautiful cornflower blue eyes. And for the first time in years he sang a duet with her and suddenly he was a bard and he had a little sister again.

Maybe the world hadn’t ended. Maybe it finally restart.

At seventeen he met a man with white hair and seemly as many scars on his body as his heart and fell in love. Because Bards fell in love easily and he was impossibly easy to love.

The witcher plead for his life. Plead for them to let the bard go.

“No. Both of us or neither.” He was done outliving those he loved. At seventeen he was already done with that. “You kill him and let me go and i’ll destroy your mountain. Kill every last one of you in revenge.”

He’d leave behind a song. The one he’d written as a child and had swept the town more devastating than even the scarlet fever had been. It would live on past him. He would be remembered. The people he loved would be too. Toss a coin to your Witcher. The people he loved immortalized in song.

It wasn’t supposed to make him immortal.

“Give it a rest Jaskier.” Danity snapped. “It’s not you that has to be afraid of anything. No one ever touches a troubadour. For unfathomable reasons you’re inviolable.”

He’d still feared then. Chappelle could have had him killed. He was pretty sure he could die. Mostly he feared the pain. Or dying alone.

“When an old woman gets tired of life she walks into the woods without a weapon. The results are guaranteed.” He’d told Geralt when he’d moaned about how the world was changing and -more importantly- that he had no work.

Remember how I don’t even carry a knife when I follow you out on an adventure? No weapons at all. Ever. Just me and my lute.

He’d brushed death. A thousand times he’d almost met her. He followed Geralt- who was prophesied to always have death follow after him. You’d think at some point they’d meet.

Essi and Geralt fell in love on the coast. He wrote a ballad for them. About how their love was so powerful not even death could come between them.

He never played it. Not to anyone. He didn’t think it was actually about Essi and Geralt.

When rash appeared on Essi’s face in Vizima during the quarantine his hands shook.

“Not her.” He’d screamed at the gods. They didn’t exist of course. If they had then they’d abandoned them all long ago. “Not her.”

“Jaskier?” She shivered violently. “I don’t want to be burned.”

“You won’t be. You’re going to be fine.” He promised. Clutching her hand. “Promise Poppet. You’re going to be fine.”

The cremation fires blazed outside.

“I want to be buried in the woods. With my lute and-” She hurled mostly into the bucket. “My necklace. Please Jaskier.”

“Course Poppet. When you’re old and grey I will bury you out in the forest.”

“Thank you.” She clutched the little pearl. “For giving me him. I love him.”

“I never saw him happier than when he was with you Poppet.”

“What about when he was with you?”

“Oh come now.” He shifted her in his arms and moved the bucket a little further away. “You know me. I’m insufferable.”

“I love you Jaskier.” She cried as she shivered with less and less energy.

“I love you too Poppet.”

He carried her from the city. Into the forest. Her heart stopped beating before they arrived. He dug her grave and buried her with her lute and her pearl necklace.

With the pearl he’d given to her as a birthday gift. From him and Geralt.

When Regis passed it felt absurd. Humans weren’t supposed to outlive goddamn vampires in their fifth fucking century.

And then there was Geralt. Died in Yennefer’s arms along with her.

“It was supposed to be me.” He told no one as Ciri led their bodies out to the lake. “I was supposed to die with him.” Love so great not even death can part us.

But the story was never really about him was it?

Nenneke had a garden full of plants that grew under a crystal skylight. They didn’t grow anywhere else in the world anymore.

He’d asked Geralt about it. She’d said something about the sun and how it was changing. Apparently Geralt had asked why they all didn’t live under crystal skylights then, if it was so deadly.

“It’s already too late for us.” She’d said.

She talked liked the world was ending but the world ended all the time. And he still woke up in the morning.

Zoltan’s beard turned grey. He supposed he should have been thankful that Zoltan got to turn grey. It was better than most of the people he’d loved.

“How’s your fucking hair still Gold. You’re supposed to be getting old too!”

“I dye it.” He lied with a roll of the eyes. He’d stopped dying it years ago.

That winter he buried Zoltan too.

Golden eyes stared at him in confusion. “You look just like.” He started. His thin hair was grey. His wolf medallion gleamed in the sunlight that streaked into the bar.

“You’re one of the last Witchers i think.” He told him as the waves crashed outside. “Might even be the last.”

“Fucking hope so.” He sat down across from him and stole his beer. “Shitty job and a shitty life.” He squinted at him- which Jaskier knew was entirely unnecessary. He just forgotten to adjust his eyes. “What’s your name bard?”

“Dandelion.” He answered. It had been for the last century. “Yours?”

“Lambert.” He downed the drink. “You really think i’m the last? That worth a song? One of my brothers had a lot of songs.”

“Yes I suppose he did.” He waved for another drink. “And look what it got him.”

“Died surrounded by people who loved him.”

“Are you sure you know what a pogrom is?”

That got him a sharp toothy grin.

“I could write you a song but-” He was tired of burying people he loved.

“But?”

“I’m cursed you see.” It was definitely a curse these days. “I’ll live until the last of my songs is forgotten. I really don’t need anymore material.”

Lambert leaned forward curiously. “Doesn’t sound like a curse.”

“You don’t think it sounds like a curse?” He sneered. Lambert’s face faltered. “To outlive everyone you love?”

Lambert paused. Thinking. “Write me a song then. Play it just for me. So if my song’s the last we’ll go together.”

“And what’s my payment for this song?”

“Company.” Lambert’s grey eyes glittered. “You look like you need it.”

“Not as much as you. I bet you talk to your horse.”

“Well i know you do pretty boy. Heard you in the stable.”

He leaned back on the bench. “So what’s a Witcher do in a world without monsters?”

He shrugged. “Fish mostly.”

“I can do that. Once almost snagged a catfish the size of you. Got a djinn instead. Very bad deal honestly.”

“You expect me to believe that? I know about Bards and Ballads and how you’re all rotten liars.”

“Don’t forget about fisherman and their tales.”

The boat leaked worse than an old drunkard but it was small enough and the lake calm enough that it didn’t make him sick.

“I could just kill you. Curse probably can’t fix decapitation.” Lambert offered with his stick in the water. He claimed were bombs they could use instead if they got desperate. Or bored.

He smiled and shook his head. “Give it a try.”

Lambert raised an eyebrow but pulled a silver blade from it’s sheath.

His pole reeled and the boat tilted to the side, plunging him and the sword into the water.

He laughed as the attempted to drag the monstrous fish to the boat. Lambert cursed and climbed in. Yanking at the rod until the line snapped and they fell back into the boat in a painful pile. Laughing.

He didn’t remember the last time he’d laughed.

“Sing me a song bard.” Lambert would request from under his floppy sun brimmed hat. “No else up here but me.”

“There’s an entire stone keep on the hill.”

“No ones lived there in centuries. No one can hear you up here but me.”

He frowned at the ruins on the hill. Lambert kicked him.

He grinned and for the first time in decades - sang.

Maybe. Maybe the world hadn’t ended. Maybe it had finally restart.

“What was this place called?” He asked as they wandered through the crumbled ruin, covered in moss and ivy.

“Kaer Morhen.” He said like the words hurt him.

They hurt him too. He laughed.

He laughed some more.

He couldn’t stop laughing until Lambert smacked him hard enough to see stars.

“I never got to come here. Geralt.” He caught the flinch but moved past it. “Never trusted me enough to even let me know which country it was in.”

“So you were his bard.”

He nodded as Lambert kicked a stone apart. “He was right not to tell me of course. But.” It still hurt that his best friend hadn’t trusted him with his home. He’d taken Yennefer here. But not him. Never him.

He didn’t deserve Geralt’s trust. A thief, a liar, a spy, a bard. It still hurt.

“Well a wolf finally took you here. Is it everything you fucking dreamed?”

He took it in. “Nah. It’s rubbish.”

Lambert smirked. “Yeah. At least that hasn’t changed.”

“You’re hairs getting grey bard.”

“What?” He nearly leaped into the water in his haste to look.

Grey strands streaked his beard.

“Thank you.” He cried. “Thank you.”

“Still owe me that song Dandy.”

He wrote Lambert a lot of songs. Performed for an audience of one.

“Are you really okay with the fact no one will ever hear them? I mean what’s the point in being immortalized in song if-”

“Yeah. Didn’t give a shit about the songs.”

“Hey!” He protested. Kicking him where he lounged in front of the fire. “They’re good songs!”

He grunted in fake pain. Wiggled out of range. “Did Geralt ever tell you why he liked having you around?”

“My charming personality I assume.”

Lambert snorted.

He sat down on the floor and poke him. “Don’t fall asleep. Tell me why you think he did.”

“No one tells Witchers bedtime stories.”

“Oh.” Lambert was halfway to sleep already. “Would you like one?”

“Yeah.”

“What you think happens after?” They were huddled together. Old and grey as a storm raged outside. “We die.”

“I gave up on gods when i was a child.”

“So did i.”

“Then.” He paused. Listened to the howl. “Whatever’s next at least neither of us is going alone.”

Lambert squeezed his bony hand. “What’s the chance we see them again?”

“Hm.” He pretended to consider. “Well we’re definitely going to hell so-”

“Like anyone we gave a shit about wouldn’t be.”

“Point.”

He closed his golden eyes. “Hey Dandy.”

“Yeah?”

“Sing me out.”

“It’d be my pleasure.”

And quite singing filled the drafty cabin until the song stopped.

The world ended.

And at long last no one woke up in the morning.

#geraskier #Jaskier x Lambert #Immortal Jaskier #jaskier #Essi Daven #canon deaths #play me out Dandelion #Let's go together #also Anon I specifically Requested NO IMMORTAL JASKIER CAUSE IT NOW BREAKS MY HEART #damnit #hope this breaks your heart you bastard #thanks for the prompt #someone send me fluff #writing

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botw-oneshots-and-other-bs · 3 years

Text

The Divine Beast

Chapter 2 - Vah Ruta

A/N: Chapter 1 is right here. I highly suggest you read it before this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy! <3

A full season had passed since Alyss decided to follow Robbie and Purah to the Ancient Tech lab and Alyss had to admit, she was having a lot of fun. The training that Robbie put her through was exhilarating and reminded her just how much she enjoyed fighting enemies. So far, she has only fought Moblins, Bokoblins, and Lizalfos, and her need for larger enemies grew by the training session. After every fighting session and at least once a month, Purah gave her a physical check up to make sure that nothing was changing drastically, or not going back to normal, which weirded her out at first but as their friendship grew she started to not mind them.

Alyss had become great friends with Purah over the months and often they would sit down and chat with one another over a nice cup of tea. Today was no different. As Alyss sat giggling with Purah over the latest bit of gossip they had heard about two Sheikah scientists hooking up the other night, Robbie came bursting in through the door to the study.

“It’s been found,” he all but shouted as he jumped up and down on his tippy toes. He looked like a gigantic toddler to Alyss and honestly it made her giggle a little at how insanely cute it was. Over the past season she had found herself lowkey crushing on the eccentric scientist. She would have told Purah but she wasn’t ready to face her emotions, and to be quite frank she wasn’t even sure if her feelings were romantic or platonic. In order to keep them under wraps Alyss would make sure she didn’t look at or spend too much time with him, but that didn’t stop the sideways glances she would give him or the double entendres she would catch him saying to someone while glancing at her.

Purah jumped up, almost knocking over her plate of honeyed fruit and ran to him, “oh snap no way,” she pointed a small finger into his face. “If you’re lying to me I will end you.”

Robbie laughed and threw his hands up in defence to the small woman’s playful aggression. “Purah, why would I lie to you about this?” He looked behind her to Alyss who he playfully raised his eyebrows at a couple of times. His goggles blocked most of his silly gesture, but he did notice the way her face lit up in a small pink blush and how she tried to hide it by taking another sip of her tea while pretending not to notice.

Purah jumped back and waved her hands happily as she turned to Alyss and grabbed her hand to roughly pull her up from her chair. “Well then we shouldn’t waste any time! Where are we going?”

“The Zora’s Domain,” he responded, leading the two women out of the study to prepare for the long trip.

After a long night of packing, Alyss, Robbie, Purah, and two Hylian Guards were packed and ready with their horses to head for the Zora’s Domain. Everyone was excited and ready to head out and get the field work under way. According to the letter Robbie received along with the news of Vah Ruta’s finding, they were to meet with the Princess, her knight, and her consort when they passed through Castle Town. Alyss wasn’t super excited about meeting with the Princess but not for any reason she had given her. Alyss knew it was selfish and unfair of her to treat the Princess of this time as though she was the one who sealed her away, but it was hard for Alyss to dis-associate her with her ancestor.

The small group of scientists rode in a comfortable silence the entire way from the Royal Tech Lab to the walls of castle town, but when they got to the town Alyss was the first to break the silence. “Do we have to go to the Castle?”

Robbie looked over from his beige stallion at her question. He studied her stoic face and heard the dread in her voice at her question. He moved his horse closer to hers while avoiding villagers who were going about their lives on the streets so that he could talk to her respectfully. “I do believe we are meeting them at the gates but you don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.”

Alyss sighed heavily and shook her head at the mere thought of entering the castle once again. She had too many memories there. “No, if everyone else is going it would be rude of me not to…” she grumbled.

Silence passed for a second as they rode closer to the entrance of the Castle, but it was quickly broken as Robbie held his hand out to her. “I’ll wait with you. How does that sound,” he asked with a warm smile.

Alyss could tell that his crimson eyes were smiling with the rest of his face even through his brown goggles he was always wearing. Looking from the sincerity on his face to the hand held out in between their horses, Alyss smiled thankfully and placed her smaller hand in his. “Thank you Robbie,” she whispered, truly touched at his gesture of comfort. Little did she know that a certain eccentric scientist was listening to their conversation in front of them and smiling to herself. She knew that there was something going on with Alyss as she would catch her little glances here and there and how she would blush when he spoke to her directly, but she was starting to think maybe there was something there with Robbie as well. Making a mental note to herself, Purah continued to the Castle leaving the other Sheikah behind.

Alyss slid off of the saddle that was positioned on her teal horse’s back and searched through her bag to find a bright red, juicy apple for the horse. Walking to the front of her horse, Alyss rubbed her horse’s mane and face as she fed her the fruit. “Good girl Sea Foam, eat up. You need your strength.” Sea Foam gave a small nudge to Alyss’s hand happily as thanks for the apple before she walked to a nice patch of shade to lie down and cool off. The Summer sun shining over Hyrule had reached just past it’s peak, but that didn’t make the heat dissipate any.

“So, enlighten me,” Robbie started as he sat down in some shade and placed his hand behind his back to keep himself up right. He watched as she turned back to him from where she stood watching her horse. “Why do you not like the Castle? You said it yourself, it’s completely different from what you remember, so why avoid it?”

Alyss sighed and joined him in the shade. Pulling her knees to her chest, she rested her chin on them and picked at a small blade of grass at her feet. “I have some pretty bad memories here. That’s all.”

“Oh come on there has to be more to it,” he laughed, “but you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Alyss looked over to Robbie for a minute and laid her cheek on her knees. “Well… I actually grew to call this place, er, the Castle I knew, home when I left Kakariko Village to train. All I wanted was to be a knight in service to the Princess, but when I offered myself to the King he turned me away. Princess Zelda interjected and said I could be of some use. That I could help defeat the Calamity.” She looked over to see Robbie looking right at her, egging her to continue.

“I was taken to a laboratory and undressed. The scientists took my blood - which hurt a lot - and laid me down on a gigantic slab of stone over a blue furnace. All I remember is being told that I was going to be their greatest invention yet and that Ganon didn’t stand a chance before everything went dark.

“When I woke up I felt normal, a little sore, but normal. The Princess stood next to my bed and treated me like royalty, and it wasn’t long until I grew to love her as I imagine I would have loved my sister. She was my best friend, my confidant,” Alyss smiled happily in fond remembrance as she continued, “I trained day in and day out here at the castle against all kinds of people. Great warriors from across Hyrule came to test my strength before they started pitting me against all kinds of monsters. I loved it as much as I love when you send me into battle, but it didn’t last long.”

Alyss took a deep breath and buried her head in between her knees. This was still hard for her to think about but she figured talking about it with someone she trusted might help take the burden off of her shoulders. With a shaky breath and clenched fists she continued her story, “I lost myself. The beast inside of me took over. All I heard was a sickening voice taunting me, telling me my friends and family would die, and I couldn’t save them. It drove me crazy, I couldn’t escape, and I almost killed someone,” she whispered. She could feel the familiar tightening sensation in her chest as her anxiety started to skyrocket. She felt her nails starting to dig into her legs and her skin started to bristle as it did before it turned scaly. “I tried to get away, to make it stop, but I almost killed the King,” she whispered, horrified at herself as tears started to form in her eyes again. “It was a mistake, I would have never done it on purpose, but the voice. That voice, it-” She was broken out of her trance when she felt a strong hand lay itself on her arm and pulled her sideways.

She didn’t register that Robbie had gripped her arm and pulled her into a warm and comforting hug until her face was pressed flush against his bare chest and the scent of his robes were gracing her nose. “R-Robbie,” she said in astonishment as her face blushed a bright red.

“Is this what was bothering you all those months ago?” he asked, trying to piece together how long she had been dealing with this information alone. He felt his heart break for her, he saw her skin turning and how tightly she held herself. This was not the first time he had seen her like this, but he couldn’t imagine the memories she held inside were that bad. Robbie got no vocal answer to his question, but he took the way she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to pull her into a tighter hug as his answer.

Resting his forehead against the top of her head he tried to provide the most comforting hug he possibly could. “You have been alive a very long time according to the scroll we found, and Alyss from what I have personally seen in the past season is nothing short of someone who is an amazing and a wonderful person. Please don’t beat yourself up over something you did ten thousand years ago, especially if it was an accident.”

Robbie received no answer, but he was ok with that. He cared about this woman and he wasn’t sure just how much yet, but what he did know was how bad his heart hurt for her in this moment. It didn’t take long before he heard the voices of his colleague, the Princess, and Impa heading closer to them from the Palace. He watched as Alyss removed herself from his embrace before anyone could see and went to attend to her horse, picking herself up emotionally the best she could.

As they left Castle Town’s protective outer wall, Alyss listened to the Princess and her Consort, Impa, talk to the rest of the group about the newly found Divine Beast. She rode Sea Foam beside Link, who made sure he stayed in front of the Princess at all times, and stiffly stared ahead.

"Vah Ruta is an amazing Divine Beast," Zelda continued as she filled in Purah and Robbie. "It is absolutely breathtaking and I wonder what secrets it hides within it’s walls.” She was practically jumping out of her saddle with excitement, like a toddler presented with her favorite toy, at the discovery of this beast that it was impossible to not share her enjoyment.

“However,” Impa interjected, “when we used the Sheikah Slate to try and activate it, nothing happened. We tried everything we possibly could to get it up and running, but eventually we decided that you might have better luck.”

Purah touched her hand to her chin and snapped as though she had a eureka moment, “I wonder if Alyss would be able to activate it.” She looked back to Alyss who had perked up at the mention of her name in curiosity. “After all, she has ancient Sheikah technology residing within her. Maybe this is the reason she woke up at the start of our journey?”

Alyss shrugged, “I guess I could give it a try, but I don’t really know what I would do.”

“Oh don’t be so hard on yourself,” Purah cooed from in front of Alyss, completely missing the way her face deadpanned. “I’m sure you could think of something the rest of us haven’t. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to try.”

Alyss sighed and threw her hands up in defeat. “Ok, ok, I will do my best.” This seemed to satisfy the others as they all murmured different ideas and ways of going about activating this newly found ray of hope.

The moon was high in the sky by the time the company rode up to the gigantic horse head that resembled peace and restoration. The horse stables had come to be a welcoming sight as Alyss got more and more accustomed to this land and their ways. Dismounting her horse and giving Sea Foam a light pat to her silver mane she headed into the inn with the rest of the group. The mere thought of food was on nobody’s mind as the Princess paid happily for everyone to have the comfiest beds. Alyss stood next to Link and let out a yawn that turned into a smile as she watched Purah happily run to a bed and jump on it.

“Hey be careful,” her sister called out claiming the bed to the right of Purah. “These beds will break, you know!”

Robbie chuckled as he walked up to the group and wrapped each arm around Alyss and Link’s necks. “Oh I’m sure these beds have been through much more than Purah jumping on them. I bet they’re really sturdy, right Alyss?”

Alyss furrowed her brows as she tried to piece together his off handed attempt at flirting in her sleep deprived mind, but her thoughts were interrupted by a loud thud. Looking over at Purah laying on the floor, Alyss let out a hearty laugh as the eccentric scientist tried to pull herself back onto her bed. She barely noticed Link choking back his laughter and the light punch to the side he gave to Robbie as he removed his arm and took his bed closest to the entrance to the inn. It took her a moment to process his flirting, but by the time she had got it, Robbie had already moved to his bed on the other side of Purah. He was letting his hair down to it’s natural length and removing his backpack and goggles that would be uncomfortable to lay down on. Alyss blushed when he looked back to her and winked before laying down on his back with his arms behind his head.

The only bed left was beside Robbie and as Alyss moved towards it she could feel his eyes following her body. Alyss felt her hands and legs start shaking as though she was wet from head to toe and stuck in a cold breeze. What was this feeling? She was nervous, her hands were clammy, and the mere thought of what could possibly be going through his mind made her shiver harder. Why was she feeling this way? Turning her back to him she let her hair down and shakily placed the clips and rods on the bedside table.

“Are you ok?” she heard him ask in a taunting tone. It was almost as though he knew exactly what was on her mind. She felt as though she was as transparent as water and he could read every single emotion that ran through her body, every thought that passed her mind, as easily as he could see the rocks sitting at the bottom of a creek. Alyss turned and locked eyes with his. Opening her mouth she racked her mind for any possible retort, but she was exhausted and the only thing on her mind right now was confusion and him. Sighing, she shed her robe, leaving her in her blue tunic. She couldn’t sleep in her entire outfit like everyone else in the group could, but she knew she couldn’t get one-hundred percent comfortable like she could at the Royal Tech Lab as these were open inns and privacy wasn’t exactly a thing.

Alyss sat down on her bed and pulled her leg up to take off her stocking, ignoring the look Robbie was giving her the best she could and trying to not be so obviously affected. Mustering up some sort of courage, Alyss gave him a side-eyed look and lifted her chin in the air slightly. “Enjoying the show?” She asked to which she received a low hum in response. Alyss laughed softly at him and moved on to her other leg, exposing the soft skin she kept hidden day in and day out.

“You’ve got nice legs,” Robbie murmured lowly, trying to not wake any of the others on the other side of him.

“Thank you,” Alyss responded as she discarded the other stocking to sit next to the white one on the table. Laying down, Alyss turned onto her side and faced Robbie. The sleep she so desperately needed was quickly calling out her name, but she was determined to stay awake just a bit longer. She had finally gathered up the courage to ask her question that had taken over her mind. “What is this?”

Robbie raised an eyebrow and sat up intrigued by her sudden question. He could tell she was quickly falling asleep but if he could get some clarification he would. “What is what?”

“What is this feeling...” Alyss sighed as she slowly blinked. Her eyes barely registered his gaze upon hers, but still she continued her sleep induced thoughts. “I feel so weird around you Robbie. Are we friends or…” Opening her eyes she looked into his intense gaze and giggled happily, letting the intense wave of sleep she felt drag her further down. Little did she know that her words impacted Robbie deeply.

Once he was sure she was completely asleep, he quietly slid off his bed and grabbed the folded blanket by her feet, unfurling it, and placing it over her body. He took his time to allow himself to really study her features from the way her legs curled closer to her body when she slept, to the pieces of hair that fell down over her closed eyes. He gently kneeled down to be face to face with the Sheikah woman and traced her jaw down to her neck. “Good night Alyss,” he whispered before placing a gentle kiss upon her cheek and heading back to his own bed to sleep.

The next morning came bright and early for the company. Link made a delicious breakfast of Crepes and simmered fruit for them all as they got themselves and their horses ready for the rest of the trip up to the Zora’s Domain. As they walked, Alyss did her best to keep her distance from Robbie as the memories of last night came to her in bits and pieces. She was embarrassed at how easily he had affected her with nothing but his look and it did nothing to ease the frustration and fear she felt growing within her mind. This is why she found it best to just push herself away from the rebellious scientist and stick closer to Impa and Purah. This put her a little closer to the Princess but she was easy to ignore as well.

She noticed the confused glances he gave her the few times they had to look at each other as they stopped for breaks throughout the day, but she did her best to shrug them off and pretend as though nothing was wrong. By the time the sun had started its descent and the moon was rising into the sky, the Company could see the Zora Domain which was welcomed like a fresh cup of tea after a long day of hard work. Alyss was watching the full moon rise when the Company stopped halfway across the Luto Crossing. She almost ran her horse into the others but thankfully Sea Foam stopped and whinied.

“Goddess look at that,” Purah whispered in awe as she stared over the bridge down into the lake below. “It’s even more magnificent than I could have imagined.”

“I bet there’s loads of information and data on that Divine Beast that I’m dying to get my hands on,” Robbie commented as he rubbed his hands together like a starving man about to tear into the flesh of a perfectly roasted turkey. “Alyss, come take a look at this,” he called out as he looked over his shoulder at her.

Dismounting, she walked between Purah and Impa, not really paying attention to what was down below them, but when she saw it she gasped. Memories flooded her mind as she once again gazed upon the magnificence of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. She remembered her mother and father helping make the layouts for the beasts. She remembered when her and Princess Zelda would sneak out late at night to mess around with the prototypes of the Divine Beasts. She remembered talking to the spirit of the Beast as though it was her sibling and the memories they shared as Vah Ruta would shower her with water from it’s trunk. “Ruta,” she whispered softly. Looking down at the water below, her stomach twisted, but she wanted to get to Ruta. She needed to touch her again, but before she could climb over the railing and jump down into the water below, Link had grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

She quickly turned around to snap at him and tell him to let her go, but when she saw his expression of warning she shut her mouth. Pulling her hand from his calloused touch she held it close and turned back to the Divine Beast giving it one last look.

“That water is treacherous if you aren’t a Zora or gifted Zora’s armor,” Princess Zelda started with a small smile towards Alyss. She knew how frustrating Link could be, but at the same time she also understood why he pulled her back from the railing. “Do you know Vah Ruta? Do you have any information you can give us?” She asked, trying to be friendly, but she was met with an annoyed expression from Alyss.

“I don’t remember much that would be useful,” the Sheikah said curtly and very obviously lying. Her expression said otherwise, but it was late and the Princess didn’t want to push just yet. They still had time and the questions could wait until they were safely near Vah Ruta. Alyss climbed onto her horse and squeezed her with her legs to tell her to move forward. The rest of the group followed not too far behind her, but Purah was quick to catch up with her.

“Alyss, you were there when they were built right?”

Alyss nodded her head. “My parents helped create their insides.”

Purah laughed and clapped her hands together once. Even though it was nighttime and everyone was starting to get tired from the long journey, the excitement of the Divine Beast provided a nice adrenaline boost for Purah and Robbie. “Insides,” she practically shouted out looking at Alyss and not where she was going anymore.

Alyss smiled at her and nodded. “I vaguely remember that the insides were extremely complex, but I was just a child when they were being built. Zelda and I would frequent the Divine Beasts as we got older and while she made sure they were holding up well and their pilots were adjusting well, I would talk to them.” Alyss had a far away look as they came upon the main bridge leading into the Zora’s Domain, but the current Princess Zelda’s voice broke her thoughts.

“Talk? They can talk?” She asked, expressing everyone’s question at this new found information.

“Well, not exactly,” Alyss continued. “It’s been so long I bet they’ve forgotten me. I had most of a connection with Vah Medoh to be honest, but it’s Champion didn’t really like anyone going up to his Divine Beast without his permission,” Alyss scoffed at the annoying memories of the Rito Champion, “What a frustrating man…”

“What about Vah Abyss?” Zelda asked which caused Alyss to slow down tremendously deep in thought. They had come upon the Zora’s Domain which was practically silent since most of the Zora were sound asleep in their beds, but as Alyss reiterated Zelda’s question as a question of her own, a Zora warrior approached them and bowed deeply to the Princess.

“King Dorephan has been awaiting your return, your Highness, Lady Impa,” the warrior stood back up and held her spear close to her body. “Shall I escort you to him?”

“Yes, thank you,” Zelda answered politely as the Princess of Hyrule was expected to do. Dismounting her horse and handing it off to another Zora to take care of while they did their work. Motioning to everyone else to do the same, she nodded to the Zora Warrior to lead the way. With this the Zora warrior seemed satisfied, turned, and started to lead the group of people into the Zora’s Domain.

Alyss looked around at the beautiful architecture of the Zora’s Domain. Everything from the dark blue foundation that had not changed one bit from the Zora’s Domain Alyss remembered, to the ginormous fish on the top of the King’s Throne room was beautiful. The waterfalls that cascaded down the sides of the main level of the domain added a soothing ambience that made the entire Domain feel at peace and untouchable by evil and wrong. Alyss followed the group as they climbed the light blue staircase that glowed under her feet. They were almost to the top of the stairwell when a small puddle of water caught Alyss off guard and sent her falling backwards. Alyss let out a small cry as she felt herself falling backwards, but was caught by a pair of strong arms.

“Careful my Lady, these floors are wet and can be dangerous.”

Alyss looked back and smiled kindly at the forest green Zora that had caught her fall. “Th-Thank you, um,”

“Councilman Muzu,” the stingray Zora responded with a warm smile. “I am the Royal Advisor to the King and teacher to the Princess and young Prince. It’s nice to make your acquaintance.”

Alyss smiled and thanked him as he helped her stand back up right. “Thank you, Councilman, it’s very nice to meet you.” Alyss watched as Muzu bowed and walked up the rest of the stairs to the group who stood with the King watching the two interact. Alyss joined as well but failed to see the frown that darkened Robbie’s face at the sight of Alyss in another man’s arms. He had no reason to feel this way, there was nothing between them except gratitude at him saving her from pain, but that didn’t make the annoyance any less. Was he angry that she should have watched where she was going or was he angry that he should have been there to catch him? Perhaps he was just annoyed she was ignoring him for some reason. No matter the reason, Robbie pushed it deep down to deal with at another, more appropriate time.

King Dorephan commanded the room with the clearing of his throat and spoke to the Company in his deep, time-worn voice, “Princess Zelda and friends, I assume you are here to research Vah Ruta am I correct?”

Zelda bowed slightly in respect to the King of the Zora, “Yes, King Dorephan. I have brought two of our royal scientists who have logged countless hours into their research to try and reawaken the Divine Beasts powers. I believe that we will be able to mount Vah Ruta and acquire some sort of knowledge that will help us, as long as we have the permission of the Zora people to do so of course.”

When King Dorephan chuckled, the floor underneath the group of Hylians and Sheikah rumbled. He leaned over and smiled down at the Princess. “Do as you need, Princess. We all have our part to play in defeating the Calamity. If you need anything from me or my people we will do all we can to aid you in your research.”

“Thank you King Dorephan,” Princess Zelda bowed. Shortly after their interaction with King Dorephan, the group was led down to the inn that resided in the Zora’s Domain. They were given beds free on orders of the King but the Princess insisted she give the innkeeper something for their trouble. The innkeeper thanked her for her generosity and led the group to their finest water beds. While everyone was preparing to head to bed, Alyss quickly found a bed near Purah and closed her eyes.

Robbie was confused by this. The entire time he watched Alyss head to bed, not even disrobe and get comfortable just lay down, he couldn’t help but entertain the feeling that she was avoiding him for some reason. What had he done to warrant her avoiding him he wondered as he laid himself down a few friends down from the girl in question. Robbie recounted everything that had taken place the last few days trying to find any reason she would be ignoring him until his eyes eventually closed from exhaustion.

“You wish Mipha to be the Zora chosen to pilot the Divine Beast?” King Dorephan asked Princess Zelda who stood before him.

“Yes, if you would allow it,” the Princess continued in her polite request.

“I’m sorry, Princess. The Divine Beast isn’t up and running and all efforts until now have failed to get it to work. Knowing this, coupled with the information that the Knight who will seal the darkness has not yet appeared, I cannot put my only daughter up against the Calamity. It is too dangerous.”

Princess Zelda turned to Impa who was behind her in a silent plea for any sort of help to which Impa could only shake her head and offer none. Turning back to the gigantic whale, the Princess nodded solemnly, “I understand your majesty. Thank you for allowing us your time.” With that, the Princess and her consort left the throne room of the King of Zora’s Domain and regrouped with Robbie and Purah in the middle of the common area.

“I take it he said no,” Purah asked, placing her hands on her hips to which Zelda could only nod. “Well… What do we do now?”

“I guess we do the only thing we can do,” Robbie continued. “Let’s go see if we can find out anything about the Divine Beast, but…” he looked around, “... has anyone seen Alyss?” When everyone shook their heads no, Robbie nodded and headed back towards the inn where he found Alyss sound asleep on the water bed she chose the previous night. He laid a strong hand on her shoulder and shook her gently so as to not spook her awake. The last time he did that he got smog to the face and it took him a good bit to recover from that blow. “Alyss.”

Alyss groaned and buried her face into the soft pillow clearly signifying she did not want to wake up.

Robbie pursed his lips and furrowed his brows as he decided how he should approach this situation. Apparently he wasn’t thinking straight as he gripped the bottom of her blanket and ripped it right off of her body. He watched as Alyss sat up and glared daggers at him, her eyes were purple but her pupils were slits. The area around her eyes was that of reptilian skin, but there was surprisingly no smog this time. Crossing his arms as though he was a stern father of a teenager, he tapped his foot and raised an eyebrow over his goggles. “Morning sunshine,” he spat a little more harshly than he meant it to come out as he was still a little sore over the events of last night.

“You have three seconds to tell me why you woke me up so early or you’re getting smog to the face Robbie,” she groggily groaned, rubbing her eyes to relieve them of their reptilian skin and slits.

“We need to go examine the Divine Beast, and for your information-” he began as he tossed her blanket back at her forcing her to remove it from her face and glare at him. “-it’s a little after noon.” He walked out of the inn leaving behind a very confused and very frustrated Sheikah.

It didn’t take long for Alyss to join the rest of the group excluding Lady Mipha and Link who were off doing their own thing together. That made Alyss wonder, did Link and Mipha have some sort of connection he never mentioned? Her thoughts were cut short as they arrived at the edge of a large cliff to the South of the Zora’s Domain and facing the Divine Beast Vah Ruta.

“Now, Alyss,” Impa started as they broke themselves out of their astonished stupors. The Divine Beast was much bigger than the scientists had anticipated it to be as it easily met their gazes on the top of the cliff. “All you have to do is take the Sheikah Slate and try to activate the Divine Beast, but the only problem is that you have to be able to board it and none of us have succeeded at that yet.”

Nodding Alyss took the Sheikah Slate into her hands and stared down at the inactive screen. With one tap the screen burst to life but so did Divine Beast Vah Ruta. Alyss’s head snapped up to look at the Divine Beast that had now turned blue and let out a loud trumpeting sound. This forced the company to cover their ears to not be deafened by the noise, but they didn’t expect it to be accompanied by a violent Earthquake that lasted only a few seconds and was forceful enough to throw everyone to the ground. A stunned silence befell the company as they watched Alyss stand up cautiously and walk as close as she could without falling off the cliff. “Vah Ruta,” Alyss whispered, receiving another loud trumpet from the magnificent elephant shaped machine. “It’s been a long time my friend,” Alyss said, smiling happily. Her infectious laughter rang throughout the air as Vah Ruta raised it’s trunk and proceeded to shoot water straight into the air causing it to rain freezing cold water down onto the group as a whole.

“Ruta, that’s cold,” she exclaimed as the elephant moved it’s trunk back down into the water and let out another loud trumpet. Water dripped off of her body as she held out her hand to touch the curve of Ruta’s trunk that was moved closer to the edge of the cliff. Once her hand made contact she felt a surge of sadness that Vah Ruta must have been feeling being buried for ten thousand years. “I’ve felt your pain,” Alyss started in a lower tone. She was trying to sympathize with the divine beast as she petted it’s trunk the way she used to do all those years ago. “They locked me away as well, but I’m here now and you’ll never be alone again.”

Zelda finished wringing out her hair and took a small step forward, astonished at the conversation that was taking place. “So this is what you meant when you said that you could talk to them. Alyss, can you ask it about a pilot?”

Alyss looked at the Princess and tried her best to not just straight up say no, but she knew this was important so turning to Vah Ruta, she asked, “Ruta, do you have a pilot?” She waited for a second but got no trumpet or response of any kind. Furrowing her brows, Alyss stroked Ruta’s trunk and turned to Zelda shaking her head. She turned back to the Divine Beast and asked it if they could board it to which Vah Ruta responded by moving closer to the edge of the cliff. Alyss looked back at Purah and Robbie and motioned with her head for them to follow her into Vah Ruta to which they gladly obliged.

Once stepping foot inside Alyss looked around in shock. “This is what they built,” she asked in awe. There were pools of water, there were podiums, she had come to recognize through Purah as terminals, placed in many awkward places. The number of spinning cogs that were of numerous sizes was outstanding to Alyss as she reveled in the work that her family did to create these beasts.

Purah raised the Sheikah Slate she had taken back from Alyss when they boarded and placed it against the terminal directly outside of Ruta’s body where they had entered. The light underneath her feet turned a bright blue she had come to associate with ancient Sheikah technology and with a glance at Robbie, she walked inside to join Alyss. “Holy crap,” she muttered in awe as she looked around with Alyss. “This thing is ginormous!”

Robbie walked in as well and furrowed his brows making a mental note of multiple pieces of technology he saw. Before he could say anything, Purah was trying out the Cryonisis feature on the Sheikah Slate to open the gate sitting in water. This caught the attention of the rebellious scientist and Alyss as they turned to follow her under the gate and to the terminal.

“I think we should activate as many of these as we find,” she spoke her thoughts as she placed the Sheikah Slate face down onto the terminal. It’s activation made the three Sheikah’s gasp as a detailed diagram of the inside of Vah Ruta was pulled up on the Sheikah Slate’s screen.

“This is aMAZING,” Robbie hollered out in excitement as he took one half of the Sheikah Slate in his hand and stared at the screen next to Purah. “What are we waiting for, let's get to it!”

Hours passed as the trio of scientists worked through Vah Ruta to activate the six terminals, but when it came down to activating the main control unit none of the scientists were able to. “I think we have to call it a day,” Alyss muttered as she placed the Sheikah Slate on the main terminal unit again making sure nothing would happen. Sighing, she walked back to Purah and Robbie with a dejected face.

“Hey, don’t look so down! We made great progress today and I bet we will make much more when we get a pilot for Vah Ruta. It’ll be a SNAP,” Purah shouted, throwing her hand to her face in a rock and roll hand sign. This made Alyss smile and laugh as she agreed with the progress they had made.

“Let me go tell Ruta goodbye and we can go give the Princess our findings,” Alyss said as she turned to walk towards Vah Ruta’s head.

Robbie tore his gaze away from Alyss and started walking back to the entrance of Vah Ruta where they entered earlier without a single word to either of the females, but he was quickly stopped by Purah who skipped to catch up to him. “Hey, hey, where are you going?” She had asked when she caught up to his side. Not sparing her a glance since it wasn’t her fault he was feeling this way, Robbie opened his mouth to speak until he was cut off by a loud trumpeting. This made him a little frustrated, but he continued talking, “Well, there’s nothing else I can do here.”

Purah furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and stepped in front of him only to be sidestepped, “Yeah, but our friend is still up here,” Purah said motioning to Alyss who was walking back towards them and taking her time. She turned back to see Robbie stepping out to the cliff from the entrance to the Divine Beast without saying another word to her. Purah scoffed in shock as she had never seen Robbie act this way before, however when Alyss joined her and asked what was wrong, Purah decided to drop the issue as it was none of her business. Shaking her head and smiling, she and Alyss left the Divine Beast.

As the sun rose again on their second day in the Zora’s Domain, Alyss had made her way back to the Divine Beast to sit and keep it company. As she reached the cliff they were at the day before, Alyss dropped to the ground with a sigh and put her chin on her knees. “Ruta, can I talk for a bit?” She waited for a brief second to see how Ruta would react, but when she got nothing out of the Divine Beast she continued, “I have all these memories from a long time ago, and I’m afraid to move on with my life. What if the Princess decides to follow in her predecessor’s footsteps and shut me back in that wet cavern? Ruta, they buried all of us under the ground and forgot about us, and now we are here to defeat Ganon yet again. How am I supposed to ignore the thoughts I have and do what’s expected of me?”

“Well, I think Vah Ruta feels the same way,” a sweet, quiet voice answered her rhetorical questions from behind her. When Alyss turned around she saw two red Zora walking her way, they both had silver headpieces adorning their heads, but one was much smaller than the other. “I’m sorry, not to be rude, but this is kind of a private conversation,” Alyss murmured as she turned back to Vah Ruta who still hadn’t made any attempt at responding to her. The red Zora stopped a little behind her, “ah, yes, I’m sorry to intrude. I came to introduce myself. My name is Mipha, I am the Princess of the Zora, and this here is my little brother Sidon.”

Alyss turned and stood up bowing slightly as she had seen was the custom of this land, “I am Alyss. It’s a pleasure. Pardon me for my previous rude attitude Princess. I have a lot on my mind.” Alyss looked down to the ground where she saw Sidon smiling back up at her sweetly. The sight made her heart warm and a smile grace her face as she has always had a soft spot for children.

“Well, I wish to not intrude. I will leave you to your conversation,” Mipha said as she turned and started to walk back the way she came, but Alyss stopped her.

“Wait,” Before Alyss could continue her thought Vah Ruta let out a loud, harsh trumpet making Alyss turn around. A large group of enemies were charging towards Zora's Domain from a distance which made Alyss’s eyes widen. Vah Ruta was not only warning them of the danger, but it said Mipha’s name. This gave Alyss an idea. Running to her and grabbing her hand, Alyss shoved the Sheikah Slate into her grasp. “Princess, take this. Board Ruta and make your way to it's inner chamber. There you will find a large terminal that resembles a flower bud. Use this Sheikah Slate and activate Vah Ruta. You can defend your people and defeat these enemies!”

Mipha turned her head to the side where she heard a loud growl. A large group of electric Lizalfos were charging the area where they stood.

“I will protect Sidon, you must go and Pilot the Divine Beast,” Letting go of Mipha’s hand, Alyss ran to Sidon and formed a ring of poisonous smog to surround the two of them. “Go!” Alyss shouted as she started taking out the Lizalfos.

The rest of the group stood in the throne room of the Domain going over the information they had gathered from the Divine Beast the previous day with each other, when a Zora warrior ran in shouting about a large group of enemies. Before anyone could move into action, a loud trumpet was heard from the side accompanied by loud shaking steps that everyone soon recognized was a result of the Divine Beast. Thinking it was Alyss they ran outside to check, but what they saw shocked everyone.

“Mipha,” King Dorephan cried out, but all he could do was watch as his daughter moved Ruta towards the enemies, shooting rays out of it’s tusks destroying multiple enemies at once. It didn’t take long at all for Mipha to wipe out every enemy attacking the domain, and everyone had to admit they were completely shocked.

“Where’s Alyss and Sidon,” Princess Zelda asked looking around. She didn’t see her anywhere and she knew that Mipha went to talk to her and introduce themselves.

Before Zelda could ask anything else, Link, Robbie and Purah were off to try and find the scientist and the young Prince. They ran into a good number of lizalfos and moblins that had come down from the mountains during the onslaught. With Link leading them, they were dead within seconds, but this didn’t do anything for Robbie’s nerves. Sure he was jealous and a little hurt, but she was important to their research and a good friend. When they arrived closer to the area, they could see a large ring of smog and a bunch of dead Lizalfos surrounding the two, but as Alyss’s main concern was the Prince and not hurting him, she was quickly becoming overwhelmed.

“Sidon,” she spoke as she kicked back a Lizalfos into the smog, “leave me!”

“What, no, I can’t!” He shouted back to her.

“Listen, you’re small enough to break through unnoticed! I will draw their attention, but you have to run and get help,” she tried to encourage him without scaring him. A moment passed as she knocked a Lizalfos back, it’s weapon grazing her arm resulting in a pained hiss. The moment, however, was enough for Alyss to let down the ring of smog. She growled, drawing all of the ugly bastard’s attention to her. She watched as Sidon escaped out of the corner of her eye but while knocking Lizalfos down she noticed Sidon had stopped. “Sidon, run! What are you doing!?”

“Alyss!” She heard someone shout out before another yell drowned them out. As this shout sounded out, multiple Lizalfos fell at her feet. She looked up to see Purah waving her towards them while Robbie and Link ran towards the young Prince to scoop him up and take him to safety. Smiling, Alyss ran with the rest of the group back towards the Zora's Domain. When they were far enough away from the ugly lizards, she stopped and turned to wrap the rest of the enemies in a large cloud of poisonous smog quickly choking them out.

After they started to fall, she turned and caught up with the rest of the group. The entire fight took an hour or so at most, but it was a big turn of events for almost everyone. When Mipha brought the Divine Beast back to a cliff easier for her to access and entered the Zora’s Domain once again to join everyone the first thing she did was hug her brother. “Sidon, I’m so glad you’re alright.” Sidon smiled a bright smile and brought his fist up to his face in an “alright” motion. Mipha turned to face the rest of the group and her father who had been quiet through the entire exchange. Bowing, she spoke, “Father, I’m so sorry, I-”

King Dorephan held up his hand and chuckled, “Mipha, it seems that I have been proven wrong. I’m certain you will make a fine pilot for the Divine Beast as long as you make one promise,” he finished looking at the Princess. “Keep my daughter safe.”

Princess Zelda smiled and bowed deeply to the King of the Zora’s Domain. “You have my word.”

#BOTW #breath of the wild #legend of zelda #robbie x oc #robbie aoc #robbie botw #revali x oc #revali botw #robbie x oc x revali

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beclynn-herondale · 3 years

Text

In Another Universe Chapter: 11 - Retrieving the Mortal Cup

It was still slightly raining when Simone pulled up at the corner and honked at them twice. Clar's heart took a leap, a part of him was worried she wouldn't come. Jayce squinted through the rain and said something about how the van looked like a rotting banana, which wasn't wrong.

Simone honked again. Clar saw her through the blurry wet windows. with a sigh he pulled his hood up over his head. "Come on, let's go."

They splashed through the filthy puddles on the pavement.

Simone crawled into the back to open the door for them, revealing the torn and beaten up seats, that had springs sticking out.

Isidore's nose wrinkled. "Are these safe to sit on?" "It's safer than riding on the roof," said Simone in a pleasant tone. "Which is your other option." She nodded a greeting at Jayce and Alec, ignoring Clar entirely. "Hi." "Hi indeed," said Jayce, and lifted a bag that held their weapons. "Where can we put these?" Simone pointed to the back, where the girls usually kept their instruments, while Alec and Isidore climbed into the van and sat on the seats.

"Shotgun!" Clar announced as Jayce made her back around the side of the van. Alec grabbed for her bow strapped across her back. "Where?" "He means he wants to sit in the front seat," said Jayce, pushing wet hair behind her ear. "It's something mundanes say."

"That's a very nice bow," said Simone, with a nod towards Alec. Alec blinked water off her eyelashes. "Do you know anything about archery?" she asked, in a tone of doubt. "I did archery camp," said Simone. "Six years of it." The response for this was three blank stares and Clar giving a supportive smile, which Simone ignored as well. She looked up at the sky.

"We should get going before it starts raining again." The front seat was covered in chip wrappers and food crumbs. Clar brushed as much as he could off. Simone put her foot to the pedal before he'd finished, and flung him back against the seat. "Ow," he said. "Sorry." She still didn't look at him.

Clar heard the soft talking of the others in the back, probably discussing battle plans and the best way to cut off a demons head with getting ichor on your new leather boots. There was nothing separating the others from the front of the van, Clar still felt the awkwardness between him and Simone.

"So what's up with the 'hi' thing?" he asked as Simone turned the car. "What 'hi' thing?" she replied. "The 'hi' thing that people do. How when you saw Jayce and Alec, you said 'hi' and they replied 'hi' back. Why not 'hello'?" "Hello is not badass," she informed him. "Real badasses are laconic."

"So you're saying the more badass you are, the less you say?" "Exactly." She nodded past him, he could see the east river. "That's why in the movies the badasses don't say a word, just nod. The nod means 'i am a badass, and I recognize that you are a badass as well,' but they don't say anything cause they are Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain it."

"I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about," said Jayce, from the back.

"Good," Clary said, and Simone gave him a small smile.

——————

When they got to Clar's house, the rain had stopped. Jayce, Alec, and Isidore, went to check the "demon activity levels" while they had Clar and Simone wait by the van.

Simone watched them as they went around the house. "Demon activity levels? Do demons like do workouts inside the house or something?" "No," Clar said and pushed his hood back. "The sensor tells them how powerful the demons are and if there are any demons around." Simone had an impressed look. "That's actually very helpful."

He looked at her. "About last night—" She held her hand up. "Don't. We don't need to talk about it. In fact I don't want to talk about it." "Let me say one thing," he spoke quickly. "I know when you said you loved me, my reply was not what you wanted." "True. I had always thought when I finally told someone 'I love you' they'd say 'I know' back, like in Starwars." "You're so geeky," said Clar, not able to help himself.

She gave him a glare. "Sorry," he said. "Look, Simone i—" "No," she said. "You look, Clar. Really look at me. Do you think you can do that?"

He looked at her. Looked at her brown eyes, her uneven eyebrows, her dark brown hair and shy smile and her hands graceful like a musician's that was all part of Simone, who was part of him. If he told the truth, could he really say that he'd never known she had loved him? Or that he had just never thought what he'd do about it if she did?

He sighed. "Seeing through glamour is easy. It's people that are difficult." "We see what we want to see," she said quietly. "Not Jayce," he said, thinking about those clear and emotionless eyes of her's. "Her more than anyone."

He gave a frown. "What—" "Okay," called Jayce's voice, interrupting their conversation. He turned to her. "We have checked it all, nothing. Very low activity. Most likely just Forsaken, and they probably won't bother us unless we bother them." "And if they do bother us," said Isidore, with a grin. "We'll take them down."

Alec pulled the bag out of the back of the van, dropping it onto the sidewalk. "You ready to kick some demon butt!" she announced. Jayce gave her a odd look. "Alec, are you ok?" "Fine." Not looking at her, Alec put her bow and arrows down in the back seat of the van and grabbed a wooden staff with two blades on the end. "This is much better." Isidore gave his sister a look of concern. "But your bow. . ." Alec cut him off. "I know what I am doing, Isidore."

The bow kay in the backseat, Simone reached a hand out to touch it, then drew back when she saw a group of young women pushing strollers down the street. They didn't notice the armed the three teenagers, standing by the van. "Why can I see you guys?" asked Simone. "What happened to your invincibility glamour?" "You can see us," said Jayce. "Because you know the truth of what you are looking at now." "Yeh," said Simone. "I suppose I do."

She fought a little when they insisted she stay back and wait with the van, Jayce told her the importance of needing getaway car by the curb and ready. "The sunlight is fatal for demons, but not to Forsaken. What if they come after us? What if the car were to get towed?"

The last Clar saw of Simone was her feet on the dash and going through Erica's CDs.

The moment they walked into the house the smell hit Clar, he couldn't quite describe it. it smelled like rotten eggs, bad meat and seaweed rotting in the hot sun. Isidore's nose wrinkled and Alec looked sick, but Jayce looked as if they were in a field of flowers and smelling the perfume of them. "There were demons here recently," she announced with a cold delight.

Clar with an anxious look, asked. "They aren't still here—" "Nope," she shook her head. "We would have picked it up on the sensor. Still." She jerked her chin towards Dorothea's door. "She may have questions to answer if the Clave finds out she has been dealing with demons." "I doubt the Clave will be happy to hear any of this," said Isidore. "Although, she'll probably fair better than us with this." "If we get the Cup they won't care," said Alec, looking around, her blue eyes taking in the foyer. "Especially if we take down a few Forsaken while we're at it." Jayce shook her head. "They are in the upper apartment. I guess that unless we try to get into the upper apartment, they won't bother us."

Isidore blew a strand of hair out of his face and frowned at Clar. "What you waiting for?" Involuntarily Clar glanced at Jayce, who gave him a sideways grin. Go on, her eyes said.

He walked across the foyer to Dorothea's door, gently stepping. The skylight was blackened with dirt and the entryway lightbulb was out, the only light came from Jayce's witchlight. He reached the door and knocked lightly, and then again with more force.

The door swung open, light spilling out into the foyer. There stood Dorothea.

"Clar!" she exclaimed, and swept him into a hug. "Good God, boy," she said, shaking her head. "The last I saw of you, you disappeared through my portal. Where did you end up?" "Williamsburg," he said. Her eyebrows went up. "And yet they say there is no convenient pubic transportation here in Brooklyn."

She swung the door open all the way and gestured them inside. The place looked to be unchanged, everything the same as it was when Clar was here last: The same tarot cards and crystal ball on the table. He had the urge to grab the cards. Dorothea sat down in a armchair and stared at the Shadowhunters with Beady eyes. Scented candles burned on the table, which didn't do much for the smell that was in the entire house.

"I am assuming you still haven't found your mother and sister?" she asked Clar. He shook his head. "No. But I know who took them, now."

Dorothea darted her eyes towards Alec and Isidore, who were looking closely at the Hand of Fate on the wall. Jayce, looking unconcerned in the slightest in her role as bodyguard was lounging against a chair arm.

Satisfied that the none of her stuff was being destroyed, Dorothea looked back to Clar. "Was it by chance—" "Valentine," Clar confirmed. "Yes." She sighed. "I feared that," she sat back in her chair. "Do you know what he wants from her?" "I know that she was married to him—" "Love gone terribly wrong. The worst."

Jayce made a soft, almost inaudible noise at that—a chuckle. Dorothea pricked her ears at that. "What is so funny, girl?" "What do you know about it?" she said. "Love, I mean." "More than you may think," she said. "I read your tea leaves, little Shadowhunter, remember? Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?"

Clar thought back to that day, when Jayce seemed to not be paying much attention to Dorothea reading their tea leaves and him drawing the ace of cups, in fact he was almost sure Jayce was probably only half there until the name Valentine came up. But he remembered Madame Dorothea saying something about her falling in love with the wrong person, and he wondered if she even cared.

Jayce said. "Unfortunately, my one and only true love remains to be myself." Dorothea roared. "Well, at least," she said. "You don't need to worry about rejection, Jayce Wayland." "Not necessarily, I do turn myself down occasionally, to keep things interesting."

Dorothea roared again. Clar interrupted her. "You are probably wondering why we are here, Madame Dorothea." "I figured," said Dorothea, "That you enjoyed the pleasure of my company. Am I wrong?" "I don't have time for the pleasure of someone's company. I need to help my mom and sister, and to do that there is something I need."

"And that is?". "It is something called the Mortal Cup," Clar said. "Valentine thought that my mother had it. That is why he took her." Dorothea looked astonished. "The Cup of the Angel?" she said in disbelief. "Raziel's Cup, in which he mixed the blood of angels and of men and gave it to man to drink, and created the first Nephilim?" "That's the one," said Jayce with dryness in her voice.

"Why would he think she had it?" Dorothea demanded. "Why Jocelyn, of all people?" Realization started to dawn on he before Clar could say anything. "Because she was not Jocelyn Fray at all, yes of course," she said. "Back then she was Jocelyn Fairchild, his wife. Who everyone thought was dead. She took the Cup and fled, didn't she?"

Clar thought he saw something flick in her eyes but it was gone so fast that he thought he Imagined it.

"So," said Dorothea, "have you any idea what you're going to do now? Wherever she has hidden it, t can't be easy to find—that is if you even want to find it. Valentine could do horrible things with it." "I want to find it," said Clar. "We want—" Smoothly Jayce cut him off. "We know where it is," she said. "It is simply a matter of retrieving it."

Dorothea widened her eyes. "Then where is it?". "It's here," said Jayce, in such a smug tone that Alec and Isidore came over from the bookcase they were looking at to see what was happening. "Here? As in you have it on you?"

"Not exactly," said Jayce, who, Clar felt was enjoying herself in an appalling manner. "I mean you have it." "That isn't funny in the least," she said with such a sharp tone that Clar was worried everything had gone terribly wrong. Why does Jayce always have to antagonize everyone? "You do have it," said Clar quickly. "But you—"

Dorothea sat up from her chair to her full height and Looked down at them angrily. "You are mistaken," she said with ice in her voice. "In Imagining I have the Cup and in daring coming here and call me a liar."

Alec put her hand to the staff. "Uh, oh," she said under her breath.

Bafflely, Clar shook his head. "No," he said very quickly, "I am not saying you're a liar, I swear. What I am saying is the Cup is here, just you never realized it." Madame Dorothea still looking at him coldly. "Explain," she said. "What I am saying is my mother hid it here," said Clar. "Years ago. But she never told you because it had nothing to do with you." "she gave it to you disguised," Jayce explained, "In the form of a gift."

Blanky Dorothea looked at her. Doesn't she realize? Clar thought, he was puzzled. "The tarot cards," he said. "The card deck she painted for you."

Dorothea's gaze went to the cards on the table. "The cards?" Clar walked to the table and picked the deck up. He found the Ace of Cups and pulled it out, setting the rest of the cards back down. "Here," he said.

They all were looking at him, perfectly still. He slowly turned the card over and looked at his mother's artwork: the hand wrapped around the golden stem of the Mortal Cup.

"Jayce," he said. "I need your stele." She pressed it into his palm. He turned the card over and traced the runes that were painted on it— a twist there and line here, they meant something entirely different. When he turned the card back over, the picture had changed:;the fingers had released their grasp on the Cup, the hand seemed to be almost offering it to Clar as if saying, take it. He slid the stele into his pocket. And reached into the small square of the card. His hand wrapped around it and he pulled it out, and thought he heard small sighs before, the card that was now blank disappeared into ashes.

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