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tweedlydumbtweedlydoo · 4 years

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Off Limits (Spencer Reid) #11

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Tag List: @on-my-way-to-erebor , @haileymorelikestupid , @angryknightstatesmantrash

NOT MY GIF

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It took Morgan and Hotch to pull Spencer away from Ava when the ambulance arrived. He hadn’t wanted to leave her side, but they needed to do their job. He helplessly watched the medics work on her. One of the paramedics tried CPR but they couldn’t revive her. The two paramedics exchanged looks before one of them shook his head.

This couldn’t be happening. Spencer felt his world crumble at his feet. His heart shattering into a million pieces. He’d lost her and it was all his fault. He cried out and fell to his knees, looking at her lifeless body lying there on the cold concrete.

This was how he would remember her. This was where her and Spencer’s life would end. He wouldn’t be able to ask her to be his wife. He wouldn’t be able to watch her walk down the aisle in a white dress or see her round and pregnant carrying their child. He wouldn’t be able to raise a family with her or grow old with her.

Seeing her lifeless body, lying on the cold concrete, covered in blood… This would be how he would remember her from now on. He wouldn’t see the beautiful woman he saw that day at his desk. Any time she crossed his mind, he would see this. It was a memory that would haunt him forever.

“Spencer...” Someone was shaking him. He jolted awake and was met with Morgan, “The surgeon is here to speak with us.” He tirelessly rubbed his eyes and sat up in the chair. It had only been a dream.

Spencer road in the ambulance with Ava and when they arrived, they rushed her in, making him stay in the waiting room, which he was not a fan of. She had been alive when the ambulance arrived at the scene. She only had a faint pulse, but she was alive. Shortly after Spencer and Ava arrived at the hospital, so did the team.

“Spencer how about we go to the bathroom and clean up?” Emily said softly. Spencer was in shock. The events playing over and over in his head. He glanced down at himself. His hands were shaking as he turned them over. His hands, along with his shirt and jeans were red, covered in Ava’s blood.

“I’ll run to the police station to grab our things. Get Reid some extra clothes.” Morgan says quietly.

Hotch agrees, “I’ll ride with you.”

Emily and JJ slowly lead Spencer to the bathroom. Emily closes the lid on the toilet and sits him down while JJ wets some paper towels. The two of them start working at cleaning him up. JJ watches as his bottom lip quivers when she starts to clean the blood off his face.

“It’s okay Spencer..” He looks at her with sad eyes, a few tears slipping down his cheek. “She’s a strong girl. She’s going to be fine.” He gives a small nod.

“Did someone call Ava’s parents?” Spencer whispers.

Emily nods, “JJ did on the way here.”

Around him were Ava’s parents, Morgan, and Penelope. Penelope had flown in as soon as she heard Ava was shot. The rest of the team went to their hotel room to rest.

The surgeon sat down in front of Ava’s parents. “It was touch and go for a while. She lost a lot of blood and the bullet did a great deal of damage. She flat lined on the table, but she came back strong. She’s in ICU right now. She’s stable, but we’re keeping a close eye on her. I’m confident she’ll make a full recovery.”

Ava’s dad squeezes his wife’s hand, “When can we see her?”

“We’re going to keep her overnight in the ICU, depending on how she does through the night we will move her out of ICU. You’ll be able to visit her then. I’ll have my nurse contact you in the morning to let you know if we’ve moved her or not. For now, go home and get some rest. We’ll call if anything else happens.”

“Thank you so much.” Ava’s mom says, wiping her eyes.

The surgeon nods, before walking away. Spencer didn’t even notice he was gripping the arms of the chair until Morgan patted him on the back, “She’s going to be okay, kid.”

The next morning when Ava’s parents arrived, they walked into the waiting room to find Spencer right where they left him. He was asleep on one of the couches, a blanket laid over him and he was using his bag as a pillow. Everyone else had gone home last night but Spencer insisted on staying. He didn’t want to leave in case something happened.

“I’ll go wake him up. Go speak with the nurse about going to see Ava.” Ava’s mom pats her husband’s arm and walks over to Spencer, gently shaking him, “Spencer,”

Spencer awoke in a stir, seeing Ava’s mom his heart thought the worst, “Is she ok?” He quickly sat up. She smiled softly, “We’re going to see her now. You can come as well.”

He ran his hands through his hair, trying to tame it and quickly grabbed his things, following her parents and the nurse to Ava’s room.

When they walked in, Ava was asleep on the bed. She looked so peaceful. “She may be asleep for a while. Her body needs time to recover and heal. She is on pain meds so if she wakes up, she may be very out of it.” The nurse says before walking out.

It had been a few days and Ava still hadn’t woken up. Her family and Spencer took turns sitting with her. They didn’t want to leave her alone incase she did wake up. Spencer had stayed behind while the rest of the BAU team headed back to Quantico.

Ava’s eyes fluttered open and she glanced around at her surroundings. There were flowers and balloons along with window seal. Her eyes found Spencer in the chair next to her bed, his head propped up on his hand. An open book sat in his lap. He’d fell asleep reading. She smiled at the sight of him. She liked this look better. Last time she saw him he was hunched over her in tears and he was covered in her blood. She had been shot and she remembers falling asleep but that’s the last thing she remembered.

She pulled the covers down to her hips and pulled her hospital gown up, gently touching the wrapped bandage around her stomach, wincing. Her thigh had been wrapped too. She fixed her hospital gown and blankets back where they were. She pressed the button to fix the hospital bed up to a more seated position which caused Spencer to stir. She hadn’t wanted to wake him, she winced when his eyes opened and landed on her.

“I was trying not to wake you up...” She whispered, her voice hoarse.

He quickly stood up and rushed to her side, the book flying off his lap, “You’re awake. Oh my god.” He took her hand in his, kissing it.

She ran her thumb along his cheek, smiling at him, “I am.”

He bit his lip, his eyes swelling with tears, “I thought I had lost you.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” She started to laugh but winced in pain, “ouch. Okay no laughing.”

It caused him to chuckle and he pushed a piece of hair behind her ear, “Let me go get the doctor.”

She nodded, “Can you get me some water too?” She puts her hand up to her throat, rubbing it.

He nods, “of course,” He kisses her forehead before walking out to find the doctor and get her some water.

It had been a few weeks since Ava woke up from the hospital. A few days after she woke up, she was clear to go home. She wasn’t cleared to fly home just yet so she stayed with her parents for a couple days and Spencer stayed behind to help take care of her. However, she was ready to head back to her house in VA, so after a check-up with the doctor, she gave Ava the clear to fly home. When Spencer and Ava arrived back to her house, he helped her climb into bed for some much needed rest.

“You okay? Do you need another pillow?” Spencer asked, pulling the bed spread over her. “Nope, I’m good.” She patted next to her, “Now lay down with me. Please.”

“Just let me go get your medicine and some water to put next to your bed.” He had waited on her hand and foot since she’d woken up in the hospital. He hadn’t left her side either. Honestly, he was scared to leave her. And he felt he should take care of her. It was all his fault this happened to her in the first place. It was not only that, but he loved her too, so of course he’s going to take care of her.

He placed the cup of water and medicine bottles on her bedside, “I made sure Smokie had food and water in her bowl, as well as a clean litter box.”

“Thank you.”

He slips off his shirt and strips to just his underwear before slipping into bed next to her. He sighs, “feels good to finally lay down.” She fixes herself so she’s laying on her back. It was the only position she could sleep in for now and she hated it. She always slept on her side.

“I want to go see the team tomorrow.” She looks over at him.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. You need your rest.” He grabs her hand, “Plus I’m staying here with you tomorrow. I’m not going in to work.”

She sighs, “I’ve been resting for what feels like forever. And you need to get back to work. I’m sure the team misses you. This is the most you’ve ever missed at one time.”

“I’ll think about it ok?” He leans up on his arm and kisses her, “Now let’s get some rest.”

Spencer didn’t let her go into the BAU to see everyone the next day but decided to bring the BAU team to them. So, he made some calls and invited the team over for dinner to surprise Ava.

While she was napping in her room, he cleaned up the place a bit. Did some laundry. Washed and put away the dishes. Then went out and bought groceries to cook dinner. He decided on something easy to fix for everyone and that was a big pot of spaghetti.

She slowly walked out and into the kitchen, “Something smells good.” Spencer was standing over the oven. He had an apron on and was stirring something in the pot.

“I’m fixing spaghetti for dinner.” He got out a spoon and dipped it into the pot, “Here come taste this and tell me if it needs anything.” He blows on it to cool it off and holds his other hand under the spoon, so it doesn’t drip.

He slips the spoon into her mouth where she hums in satisfaction, “Delicious.”

He wipes the sauce off the corner of her mouth with his thumb and slips it into his mouth, “It still needs something.”

She nods, “I need to kiss the chef is what it needs.” She grabs him by the apron and pulls him to her.

He chuckles and puts the spoon down before gently slipping his hands around her waist and planting a kiss on her lips. He hums into the kiss, “it needs more salt.” He starts to pull away before she tries to deepen the kiss.

“and I think I need you.” She started to put her hands under the apron, but he stops her, causing her to whimper.

“Doctor said you can’t do any strenuous activities. I promise I’ll make it up to you when you can.” He pecked her lips again before letting go of her hands and facing the stove.

She groaned, “fine.” She looked around at the kitchen, “This is a lot of spaghetti for two people.”

He smirked at her, “Well I made a few calls. I know you’re pissed at me for not letting you go in to the BAU to see the team, so I’m bringing the team to you.”

She smiled, “You mean I get to talk and see someone besides you?” She teased.

“Hey!”

“I’m just messing with you.” She poked at his side, “What time will they be here?”

He checked the watch on his wrist, “I told everyone 6 since they would be coming from work. So, you’ve got an hour and half to get ready.”

She nods in response and goes to say something about him helping her shower. Since she’d been shot, she’d found it difficult to do simple things like take a shower and wash her hair. She hated asking for help with such simple things. It made her feel weak and vulnerable.

As if he read her mind, “Give me 5 more minutes and I’ll come help you shower.” He put a little more salt in the sauce and stirred, “Go ahead and get your clothes and towels laid out.” She nods before kissing his cheek and heading back into her room to pick out an outfit. She went with a pair of black leggings and a cute t shirt and laid it on the bed then set her towels and wash cloths on the sink. Soon after Spencer came in and helped her wash her hair and wash her body off.

After she showered and dried off, she went and sat down on the bed, where he helped her get dressed. She felt so powerless. “I like this shirt.” He smiled, holding it up. It was a simple grey shirt with a black outline of a cat. He carefully slipped it over her arms and her head. She felt her eyes fill with tears.

“Hey… what’s wrong?” He bends down to her level, “Why are you crying?”

She sniffs, “I can’t even do the simple things. You’re having to wash me and dress me.”

“Aw baby.” He chuckled softly, “I don’t mind.” He wipes her cheeks and lifts her chin up to look at him, going serious. He looked at her with loving eyes. This was it. This was the moment he’d been waiting for,

“I love you.”

She looked at him for a moment, kind of shocked. She didn’t say anything but then leaned in to kiss him, whispering “I love you too” against his lips. It caused him to smile and kiss her again.

This wasn’t the first time a I love you had been spoken. However, it was the first time Spencer had said it. Ava confessed her love when she was dying but she didn’t remember. So right now, it seemed like he said it first and that’s what he wanted all along.

******************************************************************************************* You guys were right, I wouldn’t kill off the main character. I have too many ideas for Spencer and Ava’s story. I did have to trick you at the beginning. I couldn’t help myself.

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anotheronechicagobog · 4 years

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Back In Chicago Part 5 Jay Halstead x Choi!reader

written by @anotheronechicagobog

warnings: mention on canon violence, Choi can be an ass sometimes so he isn’t OOC in this, mention of death

A/N: Sorry it’s so short

Also, Caskata is a Brazillian name that means like a waterfall- strong and persistent. I like unique names with deep meanings (probably biased cause my name is unique with a deep meaning lol)

Heated sunrays irritated you awake. You hated closing the curtains before you went to bed, but hated waking up to the sun blasting you in the face, making you all hot and sweaty before the day had even begun. Your pillow vibrated and shook underneath your head, you noted that you probably fell asleep on your boyfriend’s chest instead of your pillow again, but couldn’t bring yourself to care. You knew how much he loved it. “Good morning gorgeous.”

“Flattery will not get me out of bed.”

“No, but the reminder that the sun is about to make it even hotter in here might.”

“... Fine. I’m getting up. You shower first, I’ll start breakfast.”

“Okay. Hey, I love you.” You smiled as he gave you a quick kiss. “I love you too.”

Once both of you were showered and sitting down to eat, you noticed that Jay really looked like he wanted to say something. And you had an inkling as to what it was about. “I’m not going to talk to my dad, Jay. I know that you think you’re what came between us, but that’s not true. He pulls this traditionalist sexist stuff on me all the time. I am always the one to apologize and mend our relationship, but not this time. I want to be on good terms with him so, so badly, but it will do nothing coddle and enable him to keep up his behaviour. And I have gained too much self-respect to let that happen. I want Caskata to have it better than I did, and I’m going to do what I can to make it happen.”

“I know, I just don’t want you to regret it if something happens.”

“I appreciate that you’re thinking about me, and I get where you’re coming from, but I am really proud of myself. I have never stood up to him like this before, and I feel... Strong. Powerful. And it feels good.”

“It looks good too.”

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Work kept you busy, a steady stream of patients flittering into your schedule all day. Some needed to see you, some just needed you to do the pre-doctor questions and measurements. It was a nice change of pace, compared with what you were used to. Imagine working at the ED but in underdeveloped, overcrowded, underfunded, and understaffed hospitals and clinics. It was nice to get a doctor because they had a patient waiting for them, alive, as opposed to needing them to declare death. Still, you tensed and prepared for the worst when you were asked “Choi, get the doctor.” It didn’t have the same implications as it had at your previous jobs but you couldn’t just drop a reaction that had been ingrained in you. In the way you perceived your work. “Y/L/N, someone’s on the phone for you.”

“What? Who would call me here instead of my cell?”

“I don’t know, but can you make it quick and ask them not to do it again?”

“Sure thing. Hello?”

“Am I speaking to Y/N Choi?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“I am nurse Gertrude Marsh, I’m calling from the Gaffney medical centre, you are the emergency contact for detective Jay Halstead, correct?”

“Yes, oh my god, is he okay?”

“I cannot give out his condition over the phone, how long will it take you to get to the emergency department?”

“Twenty-five minutes.” You didn’t wait for a response, hung up, and ran to find your boss.

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You weren’t sure how you did it, but you got to the ED in fifteen minutes rather than twenty-five. “My name is Y/N Choi, I’m here for Jay Halstead, I’m his girlfriend and emergency contact.”

“Doctor Bekker? She’s here.”

“I am doctor Ava Bekker, please come with me. Jay is in dire need of surgery but we need you to approve it.”

“What’s his condition?”

“Minor concussion, stab wound in his lower right abdomen, nicked his large intestine. The bleeding was expected to stop on its own and then we’d just stitch him up but it hasn’t, we suspect there’s more damage-”

“But you won’t be able to find the other source, or sources, of bleeding unless you operate. Do it. You have my consent.”

Then suddenly it was like Dr. Bekker had never been beside you in the first place, as she turned into a blonde blur giving orders and running to the OR. You managed to kiss Jay on the forehead before they took him away.

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Will was also, understandably and visibly, distraught. You sat in the surgical waiting room, side by side. Natalie had come by with deli sandwiches and coffee when it became apparent that it would take a small army, or Maggie, to move either of you. The surgery wasn’t done. It was running longer than it should. Both you and Will knew it. You hadn’t gotten an update in a while, and you were trying not to think about the implications of that.

Ava exited the surgical room and entered the waiting room, no longer in her surgical scrubs. “Y/N, Will. There were some complications, but Jay pulled through. We repaired all the damage. You both will be able to see him in two hours in post-op. I would recommend getting something to eat. I have it on good authority that you haven’t eaten since yesterday and if you don’t take care of yourselves now I’ll sick Maggie on you.” And with that she turned on her heel and left the waiting room.

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You’d gone home quickly to shower and change before coming back, only killing half an hour. You sat in the waiting room again, alone this time, when your dad approached you. “Here. I know it’s junk food, but you need to eat something and nothing else was open this late.” He handed you a pizza box which undoubtedly contained a small deep-dish pizza. You took the box gingerly and placed it on the tray table next to you. “Y/N, I am sorry. You were right, I had no right to treat you, or any woman, that way. I was wrong. The way I have been behaving and acting just as wrong. I didn’t realize it until recently, but I felt entitled to your decisions, which isn’t okay. I shouldn’t have done that and I know that just saying ‘I’m sorry’ won’t fix everything. So I would like to earn your trust and affection back. If that’s okay with you, of course.”

“I would really like that dad. Though I wish I’d had a camera to record you saying you're wrong...”

“Haha, very funny.”

“Seriously? I had to get stabbed for you apologize to Y/N?”

“Jay! I’m so glad that you’re okay. How are you feeling?”

He chuckled and held your cheek gently “Like I just got stabbed and pushed down a flight of stairs.”

“Isn’t that what Sergeant Voight said what happened to you?”

“Yes dad, it is. He was trying to make a joke.”

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alice-grace-and-ava · 3 years

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Chapter 2:Rage You Damn Nerd

Three American transfer students join your favorite characters at UA high. Come see as they face the challenges that come with training to be a hero while battling their demons from their past. It’s time for them to push past their boundaries and go plus ultra!!!!!(sorry I’m terrible at descriptions)

English Thoughts Japanese

HI! This is Alice, and I wanted to go ahead and post this! Grace wouldn't let me stop doing the tags until it maxed out.................I would rather drink unsweet tea than do that ever again. Anyway enjoy!

Alice

“ Listen Alice” I nod my head and my eyes lower back to his chiseled abs “ look here” Vlad king snapped his fingers in my face to bring my attention back to him.I'm currently sitting in his office, which is all of the teachers, and we are the only ones in the room. His cubicle is littered with fanart, a coffee cup, a mysterious bowl of some type of food, and a computer with a cat on the home screen.Why would a very well-behaved girl like me be in the teacher’s office? He wanted to make a deal with me but from how this is going so far I’m not sure I’m going to like it.“ If you behave, and I mean no hitting on me or other students- don't give me that look!” I feel myself deflate in the chair.“ You don't understand!” I flap my arms in defiance. “ And how do I not understand the fact that you won't stop calling me names, and quite frankly poor Shiozaki cant handle it any more” he challenges. I cross my arms and huff “ It's not my fault that everyone in the class is whiny babies” Vlad leans his head on his desk and is visibly exhausted.

“ Oh, Alice!” I jump from my seat as Present Mic appears, he holds a cup of jasmine tea in one hand and a stack of papers in the other.

“ Mic!” I excitedly respond, he smiles then notices Vlad King's exhaustion.

“ Hey, Hey, Hey my guy what’s wrong?” The other loud blonde in the room questions.

I slap the dying man on the back trying to show that he's okay, but he completely collapses onto the desk with an oof

“ Oh, that's not good” I quickly retract my hand and jump back.

“ What happened Alice?” Present mic sets his stuff on the desk and crouches down closer to the nearly dead man. I look away shyly “ He wants me to make a deal with him” I complain, and with a look from Mic I whine out the rest “but he wants me to stop flirting and making inappropriate comments!”

“ Man Sekkijro you can't make Alice change her style like that, we try to help the students stay true to themselves and that's who she is so let her be herself”

What the hell Mic, I stand still and look away, I hate it when people try to act like this.

“ Listen Vlad king,” I say boredly, my morning now ruined by sympathetic people, and he jumps up to attention at my change. “ Let me come and go as I please, I'll do the bookwork, don't worry, and then I'll stop interrupting your lessons with my comments.” The look of relief on his face is laughable.

“ Yes! As long as you do your schoolwork you can skip class as much as you want!”

I smile widely “ Deal!” I step closer to him and pat his chest “ but that won't stop me from acting up outside of class hours'' His skin drained of all color, Present Mic doubled over laughing. I took this chance to snatch his tea and skip out of the class, yes I skipped out of the room.

I shut the door and stand in the hallway

It’s cold like always……….

*RUMBLE*

I feel a light shake and immediately felt around for the girls, relaxing more once their presence was stable. Grace seems to be in class while Ava on the other hand…

I smile, she’s by herself on the west wing- The wing known for its amazing vending machine- wanting my mood to lighten I reach out for her more.

I hone onto her sunflower energy and a twinge of power flows within myself

Grace

To say that the school day so far has been boring would be an understatement. The only interesting part of the day was when I got to repeatedly correct the present mic about slang terms in English class. I don't understand why I have to take that class anyway. It's an easy A, or it would be if the slang that Present Mic was trying to teach wasn't from the 80s.

After English with the present mic, it was time for lunch. The entire school seems like it’s on the same lunch schedule so the lunchroom was packed. I was having trouble finding a seat when I heard someone yell out my name. When I looked around to find the owner of the voice I saw a group of kids from my class looking in my direction. Kirishima was holding his hand in the air and waving it around excitedly.

I made my way over only to find that the only available seat was next to Bakuhoe. Reluctantly I placed my tray down and moved my chair as far away from his as possible before I sat down and began to eat my food. I could practically feel the entire group’s eyes staring into the side of my head. I glanced up from my food and was met with four curious faces looking at me. The first one to speak was the pink girl. “Hi, I don’t believe we’ve formally met. I’m-” “You’re Mina Ashido, the boy with the blond hair with the lightning bolt is Denki Kaminari, black hair is Sero Hanta, the redhead is Eijiro Kirishima, and the punk next to me is Katsuki Bakugou.” They all stare at me with various looks of surprise on their faces. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was supposed to put the last name first wasn’t I?” The one to speak up was Sero. “No- well yes, but I guess we weren’t expecting to know all of our names.” I glance around and see them all nodding in agreement except for Bakugou. “Let’s just say that where I’m from you learn names and faces pretty quickly for safety reasons.” Kaminari was the one to speak up next. “Why do you need to-” The sound of Into the Unknown resounds from the pocket of the shorts that were under my skirt. When I finally can get the phone out I see I have a text from Ava asking me to meet her in her classroom and to bring my backpack. “Sorry to cut this lunch short but I have to go meet my sister.” Mina excitedly jumps out of her seat and scurries or to me before stopping directly in front of me.”You have a sister that goes here?!” I place my hands on her shoulder and push her back slightly. “Yea I have two. Technically we’re not blood-related but in the words of Supernatural “family doesn’t end in blood.”

Alice

“Oh hello Alice, I just ate my last bag of cookies sorry. If I knew you were coming I would've given it to that cute kid…..”

I am sitting on the bench in front of a vending machine Ava is sitting cross-legged to my right surrounded by food.

“Cute kid?” I smirk and poke her shoulder, she grabs my shoulder and leans in close.

“You have no idea how adorable he is, fluffy hair! Big ground eyes! And freckles, he has freckles!!”

I burst out laughing and reach up to pat her head, glad that I chose to visit her because she can entertain me.

“Why are you laughing?” she wines out

“Because you’re amusing”

She huffs and opens up a honey bun to eat it, I stare at the cup of tea in my hand,

“Alice, what’s wrong?”

Ava leans her head on my shoulder.

I glance down at a snickers bar, and a certain pomeranian pops into my head.

“Alice?”

“It's nothing Ava, nothing at all, in fact, can you hold this cup please”

I smile innocently and watch as she takes the cup without hesitation

We stare at each other

I grab a snickers bar and get the fuck out of there.

“ALICCCCEEEE!!! THAT’S MINE”

I hear her scream, then a crash of the coffee cup smashing into the ground.

Sorry Mic

I start running through the halls, fear creeps into me as I hear her running up behind me.

I hear her footsteps quickly closing in on me.

Dang, it! I should’ve rethought this, I know how fast she is, and yet I thought this was a bright Idea. A CHILD!

I reach out and grab the small purple-haired kid by the collar and yeeted him over my shoulder.

“Oh hello there goddess”

Glancing over and see the purple kid stuck to Ava, she tries to pry him off but he only continues to stick on her.

I laugh at my victory, knowing whatever Ava will try to do to get back at me Grace will stop.

I keep my walk at a fast pace, noticing how I can hear the voices of students grow louder. I open silver double doors and look around the room. A very nice cafeteria is filled with students, they sit at nice comfortable booths and chat. Scanning the room looking for my next victim

“ WHAT DID YOU SAY YA NERD!”

I smile as I hear a dog bark out annoyingly, the students sitting in the booth close to me quickly got up sensing my intentions. I calmed myself and plastered a smile on my face, I turn to see the Pomeranian sitting with 4 other people ( even happier when one of those is my dear Pikachu). I sneak towards the group, closing in behind the cute static brain, Mid rant the mutt stops and looks at me confused causing the others to look. Denki of course doesn’t notice as he is concentrating on his food, I wink at the group.

“ Pikachu I choose you!”

I yell and throw my arms around his neck. He lets out a scream and then goes into a coughing fit.

Everyone starts laughing, I slap my fellow blonde harshly on the back to assist him in not dying.

“ So who’s your friend?” the redhead asks as he wipes his eyes.

I climb over the booth and slip in between Denki and the redhead, right across from the mutt, I throw him a smirk.

“ Ah, this is-”

“ Wait a damn minute you’re the annoying brat that-”

“ I’m Alice, I just transferred from America- Also I’m Pikachu’s friend!”

I interrupt the mutt and throw my arm around my now proclaimed friend.

“ What’s your last name?” the pink girl questioned.

I remove my arm and clap my hands together to rest my chin on them.

“ I don’t have one, and who are you Pinkie Pie?”

Sensing my tone the redhead jumped in.

“ Sorry, it’s just our friend said she has two sisters that go to school here, so we just wanted to know.”

The mutt aggressively set his juice box down on the table and they stared at him.

“ Didn’t you hear her, they’re not blood-related so of course the last name isn’t the same.”

Ahh he gets bonus points

I laugh trying to change the mood.

“ Well, I’ll introduce everyone-” I interrupt Denki

“The first name only, I’ll only remember it”

He grins and points at the kid with weird elbows

“ Sero”

“Flextape”

“Mina”

“Pinkie Pie”

“Eijiro”

“ Shark - and or Shark bait ooh ah ah”

They stared at me, the mutt chokes on his juice.

“Should I even try if you’re going to give us nicknames”

Denki lets a breath out as I continue to smile, he points at himself

“Pikachu?”

I nod my head, he hesitantly then points across from him

“Mutt”

I don’t miss a beat.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!!”

“Mutt” I respond with a smile and seeing how he’s at the perfect level I slip the Snickers bar towards him on the table.

“It’s okay your not you when you’re hungry”

He turns to stone, then as if he was a newly awakened volcano he exploded. Everyone at the table jumps up as he starts to produce explosions.

“Welp gotta blast” I grin out and holding my hand out to give Pikachu a high-five, then leaping across the table and now on the run for the second time today.

I weave in between students standing in the cafeteria, standing in shock as they watch 3 people try to restrain a rabid dog.

I slip through the doors and a laugh escapes me as my daily entertainment has been fulfilled.

“ Oh it’s you”

I look to my left and my biggest smile of the day creeps on my face.

“Best Boi!” I jump to hug him, he stops me by placing a hand on my head, I let out a whine as I struggle to touch him.

“You’re very loud today” he states boredly.

“Yes of course I am! I was playing with the dog and also stole some candy, which I tried to give to the dog but he didn’t want it” I pout, Shinsou doesn't even look surprised at my confession.

“ Did you at least have lunch?”

I stop trying to hug him and stood up straight, dread fills me “ Grace is going to murder me”

I whisper to him, he chuckles and reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a slice of lemon bread.

“ Can’t have the problem child dying”

My eyes widen as I stare at his outstretched hand.

“You’re stalking me”

“what - You know what I’m not even going to try to argue with you, but why would you assume that”

I swipe the package from his hand and beam at him, “because it’s my favorite snack”

He stands there, head empty no brain,

“Oh, Alice there you are! I was wondering if I could have my cup back, its a limited edition DJ Khaled cup”

I look at shinshou with a guilty look, Present Mic appears down the hall strutting my way

“Gotta blast again! By best boi”

I salute him and put the bread in my mouth, like a true anime girl, and hop out the window escaping.

Grace

When I met up with Ava there was a weird purple ball stuck to her skirt and she needed to get her spare skirt out of her locker. As it turns out Ava needed my backpack because she accidentally put the slip of paper with her locker combination in one of my folders, but the one folder she needed was at home. We ended up spending a good 10-15 minutes looking for it before we finally went to her teacher. Who was nice enough to give me a pass to class because I was running late. I made it to class five minutes after the bell rang but luckily the teacher wasn’t there yet. Just as I placed my pencil pouch on my desk the door to the classroom slams open to reveal All Might, the number one hero standing on his toes with his hands on the door frame. He leans forward so that his weight is supported by his hands, and he’s standing in what seems to be a pose imitating flying. His cape flows into the classroom, and if I look closely I can see the fan positioned in the hallway behind him that he’s using to provide the breeze for his cape.

“I am here!”

The sound of excited murmuring begins to resonate around the classroom. All might does a weird march as he makes his way behind the teacher’s desk

Sir why are you walking like you have something stuck up your butt.

“Welcome to the most important class at U.A high! Think of it as heroing 101! Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight in the name of good!”

All might places one of his feet on the chair and turns so that his back is faced to us while he flexes to make his muscles even larger than they already are.

“Let’s get into it! Today’s lesson: pull no punches!” All might holds up a card that just says BATTLE. The class begins to talk in an uproar of excitement. “Hell yea finally some action!” Bakugou’s loud voice in my ear sends a sharp pain through my skull. I turn in my seat so that I am face to face with him. “Bitch! Do that again! Yell in my ear again and see what happens to you! I know how to hide a body. They’ll never find you.” Bakugou slams his hands on his desk and gets closer to my face “ Are you threatening me!” A small smirk works its way onto my face. “It's not a threat. It’s a promise. Now if you don’t get out of my face I promise that I will punch you in yours.”

Before he can say anything else several slots in the wall open and shelves of number cases slide out. “ Part of being a hero is looking good so in each case is a costume based on the information that each of you provided before school started” the class once again starts to murmur in excitement. “ Young Grace, your hero costume just arrived this morning from your old school, so it is not with the rest of the classes. You will have to stop by the office to grab yours, so you are excused to go and collect that.”

It didn’t take me long to get my costume and by the time I got back to the class the last person was grabbing their assigned case number and I was being ushered in the direction of the changing rooms.

After everyone was changed we made our way to the training ground beta. I couldn’t help but look around at everyone’s costumes. A green figure caught my attention. Is that midoriya? What the hell is he wearing? His costume was interesting, to say the least. It looked sort of like a mutant bunny. Wait a damn minute. Why does his costume look familiar? I try to figure out what or who his costume reminds me of until I feel a presence next to me when I look I see no one until I glance down to see Mineta standing way too close for comfort and staring at the exposed skin of my thigh. “Man, I love this school.” My face scrunches in disgust, but before I can do anything All Might begins talking again. All Might! My eyes dart back and forth between Midoriya’s costume and All Might. The more that I look the more the similarities stick out. Did he base his costume on All Might?

“Alright, newbies each of you will step up and choose a letter from this box. This will determine what team you will be on. Since we have an uneven number of students one team will have three people instead of two.” One by one my classmates found their teams until it was my turn. I reached in and felt around until I finally was able to grasp a sheet of paper. Please not the same team as that pomeranian.Please not the same team as that pomeranian. I opened the slip and low and behold I’m on the same team as Katsuki Bakugou. Begrudgingly I walked over to Bakugou and Iida to wait for the rest of the class to finish drawing for their teams.

Once everyone was paired up for teams, All Might reached into the two boxes that had been sitting to the side labeled hero and villain. He raises his hands into the air in an extravagant manner while holding two balls. One with the letter A and the other with the letter D. “Team A will be the heroes and Team D you three will be the villains. Now go to your starting positions. The rest of the class and I will be watching. If things go too far I will stop the fight.” I follow Iida to where we need to go, but we each stop at All Might to get an earpiece so that we can talk to each other.

Iida, Bakugou, and I were placed in a large room to guard a weapon. As we wait for All Might to announce the start I hear Bakugou grumbling to himself. “Yo hedgehog. What’s got your panties in a twist?” He doesn’t even spare me a glance. “Do you think that damn nerd has a quirk?” Iida speaks up before I have the opportunity to. “ Do you mean Midoriya? Of course, he has a quirk. How else would he have gotten into U.A. otherwise, and you saw him at the entrance exam.” Bakugou clenches his fist and the smell of caramel floods my nostrils. The static of the earpieces being activated sounds in our ears. “Let the battle begin!” Bakugou is the first to move, heading for the door right away. Iida starts to wave his hands around in a wild but robotic manner. “Bakugou where are you going? We need to stay-”“ You two just stay here and guard the weapon.” With that, he disappears into the hallway. “ Don’t worry Iida I’m still here.” He turns and looks down at me before his face turns a bright red color and he swiftly turns his head to look away from me. I glance down to try to figure out what has him so flustered, but I don't see the problem. When I look back at him he still refuses to look at me. “th-tha-. Let’s-um- let’s move everything out of the floor so that when Uraraka and Midoriya come Uraraka can’t use her quirk.” After he gives instructions he just begins to move things around, while still avoiding looking in my direction. “Iida?” He hums while still moving things around. “Are you okay?” I start to move things around and off the floor. “I am fine Jackson, but thank you for your concern.” “Are you sure? Because you were really red.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see his back stiffen. “I am fine, I assure you.” I don’t believe you but I’ll leave it alone.

It takes us about ten minutes or so to move everything out of the floor and put them where Uraraka can’t use them. As we wait Iida starts to mumble to himself about how to be a good pretend villain. Slowly he starts to get louder until he’s taking in a boisterous voice in a stiff or of tone. I can’t help but to chuckle at his antics, and he turns and looks at me wide-eyed as if he had forgotten that I was here. He goes to speak, but I raise my hand to silence him when I hear something. It’s quiet for a moment before the faint sound of shuffling can be heard. “Did you hear that?” Iida looks at me with confusion written all over his face. “No, I did not hear anything.” The shuffling sound happens again. “There it is again.” Iida looks around. “Maybe it was Bakugou.” I continue to look around to try to find the source of the noise when a faint scent hits my nose. “ It’s not Bakugou. It doesn’t smell like caramel. It’s like a softer smell like flowers.” Iida looks around smelling the air. “Are you sure I don’t smell anything” I continue to observe the area before I spot a pink shoe peeking out from behind a pillar. “Trust me Iida if there is anything I am confident with it’s my sense of smell. And I'm also confident that Uraraka is currently hiding behind that pillar over there by the door.” A small squeak comes from the girl.

As I go to take a step forward the building begins to shake and I end up on the floor. “Dammit, Bakugou! What the hell are you doing.” the earphone stays silent. “Bakugou I know that you can hear me!” A growl can be heard from his end of the line. “Shut the hell up. I’m handling my job. You handle yours.” The sound of static fills my ears, and I turn around to look at Iida. “Did-did he just turn his earpiece off?” All that he offers is a blank expression. The building shakes again this time a few pieces of the ceiling fall and we have to cover our heads. Once the building settles and debris no longer rains I wait a moment before I stand just to make sure that the building won’t start shaking again.

I start to dust off my pants when I notice movement out of the side of my eye. I look over to see Uraraka moving from her place behind the pillar and start running towards the weapon. “Iida!” The sound of his engines fills the room as I charge forward towards the brunette. “Got it!” I throw myself forward and tackle Uraraka before she can get any further. It becomes a mess of hands flying between the two of us. Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! You are not pennywise and we don’t all float here! The building shaking again distracts me for a moment, but it gives her an opening and she places a hand on my arm while activating her quirk. Slowly the floor starts to get further away, and I try to reach out to grab anything that can steady me without success. Instead of floating straight up like I had expected, I can feel myself start to float in the direction that Iida and I had been standing. Suddenly I feel my stomach sink and my body is no longer weightless as I slam down into the floor knocking all of the air out of me. I’m gonna remember that.

It takes a moment for me to regain my breath, but when I finally do Iida reaches his hand out to help me up. The sound of Urarka talking into her comm reaches my ears and I look over to see her grabbing onto a pillar. What are you- the building begins to shake again, but this time stronger than before. “Iida I would grab onto something if I were you.” Before either of us could move a giant explosion blasted up through the floor. To keep my balance I grabbed onto Iida. When the explosion stopped a cloud of dust remained. Something seemed to be moving within the dust and I squinted to try to make out what it was. The shape of rocks moving towards us became more apparent and the two of us ducked to cover our heads. From behind us, we heard the sound of Uraraka cheering as she came in contact with the weapon.

“The hero team wins!” It is what it is. The three of us walk down to the ground level where a medical bed is taking Midoriya away to Recovery Girl through the giant hole in the side of the building. All Might stands there amongst the rubble watching as the bed carries away one of his students. He turns to look at the remaining four of us and leads us in the direction of the observation room. The class is silent as we walk in. All Might walks to his chair and turns to look at the four of us. “While the heroes may have won this fight the true MVPs were Iida and Grace.” Mummers fill the room as our classmates talk amongst themselves. “Does anyone know why?” Momo steps forward. “The two of them discussed a plan to ensure that their opponent was at a disadvantage. They were aware of their opponent’s skill and prepared for it. They were aware of their surroundings, Grace especially. While it is okay to separate sometimes on a mission it is best to stay together, and that is what they did.” I glance over at Bakugou, but he’s looking down with his hands clenched into a fist and his teeth clenched. All Might called for the next group to go, but I didn’t pay attention to who was next, instead I chose to sit in the corner of the room and take a nap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After everyone completed the training exercise All Might excused us to go change and head back to the class. I was the first back in the classroom. Rather than sit at my desk, I perched myself on the windowsill to watch the world outside. Slowly everyone began to trickle back into the classroom, all except Bakugou, and the classroom began to bustle with noise once again. The door to the classroom opens and I turn to see who it is. Midoriya stands in the doorway with his arm lightly wrapped up. Everybody crowds around Midoriya, but I remain where I am staring out the window.

A familiar head of blond hair emerges from the school. I move to grab my bag, but before I leave the window I notice a head of green hair that can only be midoriya chasing after Bakugou. The two of them seem to talk, well Midoriya seems to be talking, Bakugou seems to be yelling. Bakugou turns to walk away again, but All Might appears practically out of thin air. Bakugou keeps his back to the two of them as All Might talks to him. The interaction doesn’t last long before Bakugou starts to walk away again. All Might and Deku stand there for a moment before All Might places a hand on his shoulder and leads him back into the building. While Bakugou is still in sight I grab my backpack off of the ground and throw the window open. I jump out Alice style and a familiar tingling sensation radiates between my shoulder blades as a pair of blue and purple butterfly wings sprout. I flutter over just behind the angry blonde and will my wings away. I walk a little faster to stand beside him and then slow down so that I can walk beside him as he stomps away like a little gremlin. He doesn’t look over at me, but I can tell that he knows that it’s me. “What the hell do you want?” What do I want? Why am I even here? He's not my friend. He's not even an acquaintance. I step in front of him and stop causing him to stop as well. For the first time, I offer him a small smile. “Let’s go grab frozen yogurt. My treat.” I don’t give him time, I just grab his wrist and drag him to the shop that I saw on the walk to school this morning.

When we get there the young man at the front counter greets us in a bubbly tone as he hands us our cups to go fill up. I filled my cup with coconut froyo topped with strawberry boba, coconut shavings, and three cherries. when I walk to the register bakugou is already standing there with his cup half full of chocolate with some granola and a single cherry.” you sure that’s all you want? I don’t mind, Ava usually gets two full cups when I pay so if you're concerned about the price being too high don’t worry about it.” He scowls at me a growl bubbling up from the back of his throat.” Shut the hell up and weigh your cup.” I place my cup on the scale and raise my hands in mock surrender.” All alright, alright I was just being nice.” I reach behind me to grab my wallet out of my bag. When I finally find it and turn around to pay I see the clerk handing Bakugou money.” What are you doing? I was gonna pay for your stuff.”Bakugou shoves his money angrily back into his pocket and yanks his froyo off of the scale.” I don’t need some damn extra paying for my food when I am perfectly capable of doing it myself. Now grab you shit so we can go.” Bakugou doesn’t even wait for me before he walks out of the shop. I turn and thank the guy behind the counter before I grab my froyo and follow after Bakugou. We walk in silence as we eat until in the distance I spot a park and dash toward it.” Hey, where the hell are you going!” I spot a trashcan and as I dash past it I throw away my cup but continue my path to my destination. When I reach the object behind my excitement I throw down my backpack and practically throw myself into the seat of the swing. By the time Bakugou reaches me I've obtained a pretty good height.” What the hell was that!” I close my eyes as the wind whips past me.” I haven’t been on a swing since I was a kid! My mom used to bring my sisters and me to the park all the time before-.” A memory flashes behind my eyelids and I snap my eyes open. I stop kicking my legs and my swing slowly loses momentum until it just slightly sways. Bakugou looks at me with the same scowl on his face but a gleam of curiosity sparks in his eyes.” Why don’t you sit with me. Not on the same swing of course, but it’s a nice day out today. the fresh air will do you some good.” he looked down at me like I was stupid for a moment. To be honest, at this moment I feel stupid. In the end, he sits down on the swing.his swing slightly sways as he rocks back and forth on the heels of his feet.

A nice silence settles between the two of us that lasts for maybe ten to fifteen minutes before Bakugou breaks the silence.” Why did you invite me to get frozen yogurt with you?” I look over at him, but he’s looking straight ahead. “First of all, just say froyo dude. And I guess you just seemed like you needed a pick me up.” He looks over at me, his signature scowl plastered on his face. “So what is this out of pity or something! I don’t need pity from some damn extra! I don’t need pity from anyone!” In his tangent, he stood from his swing and moved in front to stand in front of me. “ Woah, Woah, Woah. who said anything about pity. Because I know damn well that word never left my mouth. Did you hear me say ‘oh poor Bakugou’? No cause those words never left my lips. I tried to be nice because even though I don't know what it is that made you mad, frustrated, or whatever emotion you're feeling I know what it’s like to be suffering by yourself. When you're so blinded by whatever you're feeling that it feels like you're drowning in it, but I also know what it’s like to have someone with you even if it’s just sitting in silence together. I was trying to be nice, but you wanted to be an bitch. Do me a favor and get your head out of your ass because it ain’t a hat. Now if you excuse me I’m going home.” I push past him and grab my bag as I begin the journey home.

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fairie-gothmother · 4 years

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In The Shadow of Starlight, Part 6: Gut Instincts

First part: The Fall

Previous: The Sheep Will Flock

How long had it been? Days, weeks? Troy lost track of time while he’d been slowly starving to death. Since his excommunication, each moment blurred into the next as whatever he possessed of the leech power fed off of his own body. Finally, he had some relief. He couldn’t help but be grateful for the scientist’s carelessness during the lab experiments. That was the first time he’d taken from any siren apart from his twin. It felt very different. This energy was more restless than he was used to. Maybe this what Ty meant by saying she could taste what she leeched.

Now that Troy had some extra juice, he felt incredible. Even after Lilith dumped him in Sanctuary’s garage on the bottom deck, he was amped. And what did Troy do when he was hyped up and left to his own devices? He beatboxed. The Calypso bobbed his head and swayed to the groove, bustling around the room and inspecting the equipment. He had to admit, it wasn’t a bad setup. He knew everyone was talking about him, probably deciding where to eject him into space, but he wished they’d hurry it up already.

He paused when a noise from nearby threw off his rhythm. A beep came again from a cluttered desk. With no regard to the desk owner’s privacy, he opened one of the drawers to find an Echo device inside. It was an older model, but obviously still in working condition. Troy glanced over his shoulder and scanned the room for cameras before putting the Echo on silent mode and slipping it into his pocket.

“Hey.”

Troy reeled around, startled from the voice and saw the blue haired siren descending the stairs into the workshop.

“Relax,” the sapphire siren said. She wiped the dust off a tool box and casually leaned against it. “Don't look so guilty. I, uh… Sorry for phase-chucking you across Tannis’s lab. You alright?”

Oh. He wasn't busted after all. Still, Troy couldn’t help but be suspicious. No way she cared to chat. Probably cared even less about hurting him. A golden canine glinted through his lopsided smile. “I did ask for it, didn’t I? But yeah, I’m good. No hard feelings, Meg.”

“It’s Maya,” she said, obviously annoyed. “Get it right next time. Okay, Trent?”

Excuse me? Troy furrowed his brow and glared at her. She wore a playful smirk and raised her eyebrows as if daring him to correct her. Interesting. She was messing with him.

“Alright then, Maya. Let’s hear it already,” he folded his arms across his chest. “Are you guys gonna launch me into the nearest sun? Or does the scientist want me as a lab rat for unethical tests? Whatever it is, please don’t tell me it’s life in prison. That’s boring. I deserve something creative.”

Maya shook her head. “Oh, no. You don’t get off that easy. You’re still helping us fight the COV.”

Troy cocked his to one side, analyzing the siren in a skeptical stare. As hard he looked for the smallest hint that she was full of shit, her body language suggested she was telling the truth. He huffed, “So what, no punishment then? I figured the Firehawk would want this handsome mug served on a silver platter.”

Maya gave a one shouldered shrug. “You said you didn’t leech Tannis on purpose. Sometimes powers are weird like that. With some training, you might be able to control it.”

Easy for her to say. If only it was as simple as meditating on a mountain to master his broken siren powers. “Ah, right. You’re from Athenas. I’m sure those monks taught you all about control and restraint, great power is great responsibility, blah-blah-blah. But it’s pretty safe to say that I’m a special case. Clearing my chakras isn’t gonna do it for me.”

“It would at least help with that attitude of yours.”

Troy began pacing and brought his flesh hand to his chin. “I don’t know. It wouldn’t be considered very zen if I accidentally ended up leeching you. Then again, you might taste like chamomile tea.” He cast a half-hearted sideways glance in Maya’s direction.

Maya rapidly drummed her fingernails on the tool box and said, “I take it back. I’m not sorry to phaselocking you.”

“That’s what I thought,” Troy snickered. “Be honest. How many times a day do you phaselock stuff just because you can?”

Maya closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her, mimicking a monk’s prayer pose. “I take a great amount of pride in my self discipline so if you must know-” She raised her left hand, and her fingers sparked. A ball peen hammer levitated from a workbench and hovered across the room into Maya’s hand. “I do it all the time.”

Troy scoffed. “Show off.”

The two were locked in a stare down. It wasn’t clear who cracked first, but neither of them could keep a straight face for long. A gentle blue glow emitted from Maya’s siren marks. Troy’s smile dropped as he looked down to his left hand, noting the harsh red light of his own marks.

“You really didn’t know that would happen to Tannis, did you?” the blue haired woman asked softly.

“No,” he answered honestly. “I’m still trying to get a grip on everything myself.” All his life he’d been broken. His parents treated him as a burden, although they never said it outright. He was constantly sick and needed extra help when he struggled with the use of only one arm. And Tyreen never considered him an equal. Even as one of the twin gods, he wasn’t seen in the same light as the God Queen. And now that he knew he possessed siren power without knowing it, his whole outlook was in question. What did it mean? What other parts of himself remained untapped?

Maya said, “Even if it’s only half, you’re still a siren. It’s not an easy life. Sirens have always been feared, hunted, extorted… worshipped.” Troy met her blue-gray eyes for a moment, then redirected his gaze to the wall. “We’re just trying to find our place.”

Troy’s heart skipped a beat. We?

“Yeah,” he said in a voice just above a whisper. He snapped out of it and quipped, “But, you gotta admit. Life would sure be a lot easier if I could phaselock grapes into my mouth all day.”

Maya scrunched up her face and flung an empty can at Troy, who reflexively caught it in his mechanical hand with a metallic clang. He waved it, shook his head, and grinned at her.

“Nice catch, wise-ass. Now, get in the drop pod,” Maya teased.

That tiny thing? Troy had used porta-potties with more legroom than that. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Troy groaned. The siren smiled wickedly as she held the hatch open and ushered him inside. He sighed knowing the ride back to Pandora would not be a comfortable one.

~~~

On a normal day, Ellie was a delight. Today was not a normal day considering her garage was used as solitary confinement for one of the most hated influencers in the galaxy. Maya recalled her saying, “He’s about as welcome as an outhouse breeze.” It took a while to convince the mechanic that her garage was just as she left it. Eventually, she cooled her boiling blood down to a simmer.

If Maya was being honest, she didn’t actually believe that Troy hadn’t messed with something. Call it a gut feeling. The same gut feeling that knew Ava would be a siren someday. The same gut feeling that told her to go talk to Troy just now. Her gut hadn’t lied to her yet so she didn’t question it. The ex-God King was absolutely still on thin ice, but she was willing to give him a chance. Maybe he just needed some guidance. Either that or he was a hopeless, cocky little shit.

Hydraulics hissed from the rising door as Maya entered the ship’s bridge. The orbital view of Pandora loomed outside the windows of Sanctuary’s observation deck. Crew members clacked away on keyboards at their posts. Lilith and Tannis stopped mid-conversation when they noticed Maya approaching.

“Troy’s on his way back to base,” Maya announced, slightly out of breath from rushing up three flights of stairs. “Cramer should be waiting for him when he lands. What did I miss?” she asked when she noticed neither of them would look her in the eye.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you about Tannis sooner. I decided the fewer people that knew about it, the better. These days, being a siren puts a target on your back,” Lilith apologized.

The revelation that the two of them were keeping Tannis’s siren powers a secret was shocking to say the least, but Maya wasn’t upset. She understood. Her own siren powers had been used by others to threaten an entire planet’s population. “I get it. I’m glad to have another siren on our side.” Maya smiled at the scientist, who awkwardly returned the gesture. It was cute when she made an effort.

“How are you, Tannis?” Maya asked.

“I'm fine. No need to fuss,” Tannis said. “It was actually interesting to experience the leech power first hand.”

Lilith knitted her brows. “Troy could have killed you. We still don’t know his intentions. Who knows what other abilities he’s hiding.”

Maya recalled the look of shock on Troy’s face while he held Tannis’s wrist, and the way he kept his distance from the two sirens afterwards as they processed what the hell just happened. After the conversation she’d just had with the Calypso, Maya felt the need to voice her opinion. “It seems like he doesn't understand his abilities either. I really don’t think he leeched Tannis on purpose.”

The commander was unconvinced. “Even if that’s true, we can’t underestimate what he’s capable of. This is still Troy Calypso.” Lilith stared out of the window at Pandora below. “For now, he’s useful to us. We’re going to need all the power we can get. It’s about time to make our move on the Holy Broadcast Center. There’s been a lot of activity lately. I’ve got a feeling something big is about to go down.”

Claptrap’s eardrum piercing voice called from the command console, “Incoming transmission!”

Speak of the devil. Maya’s heart sank as Tyreen’s smug face appeared on the overhead monitors. She was beginning to wonder if the COV had tapped their coms. Their timing was unusually coincidental.

“Hey, Lil!” the cult leader said in a singsong voice. “How’s life been as a non-siren normie human? Does it suck? I bet it sucks. Not gonna lie, these powers of yours are pretty sweet.” Lilith was seething. Tyreen had a knack for getting under her skin. The Calypso continued, “But hey, you don’t have to take my word for it. You know someone who knows all about my Firehawk upgrade. Just ask my brother.”

Damn. Word had finally reached her. Now Tyreen knew the Crimson Raiders were harboring her disowned twin.

“By the way, did that traitorous freak happen to mention the fact that he stole something from me? Can you believe it? Yoinked it right out from under me. I don’t want your grubby normie fingerprints on my stuff so if he shared it with you, I’m gonna need it back.”

Lilith calmly replied, “I assumed you’d know better since you were the one who dumped him in the middle of nowhere. He wasn’t exactly in any condition to exchange gifts when we found him. He’d been stripped and unarmed.”

Tyreen paused before shrieking with laughter. “She said unarmed! Please tell me you meant to make that pun.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I needed that. No big deal. It’s a matter of time until I find it anyway. Well, I’ve got places to be. Big milestone event coming up. You’re gonna love it. Oh, and tell Troy I said hi before he runs outta juice and shrivels up. 'Kay? Laterz!” The Calypso winked before the feed was cut.

Maya’s fists tingled with the urge to meet that punchable face. She hollered back at the empty screen, “Troy will be the one kicking your door in, you cocky bitch!”

Claptrap said something about the video transmission’s crappy production value, but no one was listening. Lilith grit her teeth. “Using Troy was the plan, but that’s only if we can keep him alive long enough to get there.”

Maya squeezed her fists tighter, causing her fingernails to dig into her palms. Tyreen was always one step ahead of them. She couldn’t care less that her brother was in the Raider’s custody. Because of Troy’s dependence on her, she never even saw him as a threat.

Tannis chimed, “I have a theory, but you aren’t going to like it, Lilith.” All eyes turned to the scientist. “It is apparent that Troy cannot absorb the life force from living things through touch alone, with the exception of sirens. According to my experiments, it’s highly plausible that he can gain the same effect by ingesting it directly via anthropophagy or hematophagy.”

The room was silent apart from the humming of the spaceship. Maya blinked and said, “Tannis, no one understands you when you talk like that. In layman’s terms, please?”

Tannis sighed in disappointment but explained, “Troy should be able to regain energy from cannibalism or drinking blood.”

~~~

Sorry it took so long for an update. I’ve been working through a serious creative block. Showing my girl Maya some love in this part. This was a little shorter than usual, but I hope it was still entertaining. As always, thanks for reading my garbage! <3

#troy calypso #borderlands 3 #redemption #fanfic #fanfiction #Troy #calypso #au #in the shadow of starlight

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finnofamerica · 4 years

Text

Awful Heart - Dwalin X Reader || Part Three ||

Summary: Being a live engineer for Poor Impulse Control, you usually don’t get a lot of attention. However, playing at seedy bars and the growing popularity of the band has caught the attention of some man - a stalker. With no idea who he is and his notes coming more frequently your production manager thought it’d be safer to hire a bodyguard. (Modern AU)

Word Count: 1,788

Date Posted: 05.01.2020

Note: Y’all I’ve been on a roll with this series that nobody wanted. I am rolling. Rolling. Guys. I can’t.

|| Masterlist || Part Two ||

Dwalin was up early the next morning to make sure that the contract would make its way back to Erebor. Since the tour officially started last night in the Band’s hometown, Dwalin thought it’d be best if he made sure you got home safely last night followed up with a promise to meet you back at your apartment in the morning.

“So you’ve worked at this bar before?” Dwalin asked as he prepared to ride with you to your apartment.

“Yeah, all the time. The owner is an old friend of Aaron’s so he lets us play for a discounted price.” You shrugged.

“So it’d make sense if your stalker was a regular patron then.”

“I really don’t want to talk about that.”

Dwalin shook his head. He could understand why you didn’t want to talk about it, but not talking about it wasn’t going to fix the problem.

As early in the morning as it was, you were awake when he arrived. In fact, you had already packed by the time Dwalin knocked on your door.

“Morning,” Was all you said when you opened the door.

“Morning.” Was all that was returned.

“The bus will be here in fifteen minutes. It’s good that we had the sense to pack everything in last night.” You set your bag down and stretched. Dwalin had to restrain himself from eyeing the sliver of skin that showed just above your pants. Be professional, he chastised himself. He wasn’t a blind man, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t control himself better than a teenage boy.

It was quiet for a long time while you waited for the van to arrive. Your neighbor passed by quietly with his dog, bidding you a good morning.

“You’re sure there’ll be enough room for me?” Dwalin asked, interrupting the quiet of the morning.

“There’s gonna have to be. Aaron hired you along.” You shrugged, then noticing his frown you continued, “We have a big van. You’ll be fine.”

The van in question was actually Josh’s old van. She was sturdy and she’d get you where you wanted to go, but after all these years, she needed a little TLC. You settled into the van with ease, ending up in the middle row while Everett, that ass, laid across the entire back seat. Up in the front passenger seat with the same fluffy blond curls and boyish smile as ever, was Dix.

“Hi, Dwalin right?” He reached a hand out. “I’m James Dixion, though most everyone around here calls me Dix. You can too if you’re cool. I’m the lighting tech. I see you’re already well acquainted with our lovely little Y/n/n.”

Dwalin nodded, letting Dix do most of the talking.

“Driving is Joshua Vaughn, he is our drum tech. This sack of shit van is his.”

Josh reached over and smacked Dix across the head with the back of his hand.

“Ignore him,” Josh said, flicking some of his shoulder-length brown hair over his shoulder, glancing at Dwalin in the rearview mirror. “He’s jealous that his tiny dinky car couldn’t make the cut.”

“My dinky car is perfectly fine!”

“We are not putting six people in that tiny car.”

“Six people?” Dwalin asked.

“Oh yeah,” Dix continued. “Aaron will be joining us whenever he gets too annoyed at Ryker. Whom you’ve already met, and the girls Magdalyn Rose, Ava Reyes, and Juniper Drake.”

“Why would he be getting annoyed at Ryker?”

“They’re siblings,” You explained, “Ryker and Aaron Jones. When the band started getting big, Ryker turned to her brother to help her manage gigs and now he’s the production manager.”

“Can you guys quiet down, I’m trying to sleep.” Piped up the voice from the back seat.

“And that lazy lump back there is Everett Reed. He’s our guitar tech.” Dix finished off the introductions. Everett lifted a hand over the back seat, flipping off Dix.

It was at that moment that Dwalin realized he’d be spending a lot of time in this van and he wondered if signing up for this was really worth the paycheck. Then he saw your smile, and how much you loved these boys. So he settled in and dug a book out of the bag that he’d brought.

It was quiet for a long time, Josh and Dix talking amongst themselves in the front while Everett’s light snores served as ambiance. You studied Dwalin for a moment, growing bored of staring out the window or giving Josh and Dix a reason to argue.

Dwalin was leaning back against the bench reading The Art of War. As big of a man as he was the book looked small in his hands. His beard was long and rough, but well kept at the same time.

“You’re staring again.” He said, barely taking his eyes off his book.

“You remind me of a bear.” You commented. It wasn’t a big deal to you, lots of people reminded you of animals. He just rose a brow at you, huffed, and went back to reading.

. . .

Several days went on like this, long days in the van driving to the next location for the next gig. Then it was up again in the morning and off to the next show. Switching up whoever was driving whenever the person in the driver's seat got too fatigued. Days felt like years in the van, everyone getting a little stir crazy, knowing that their only breaks were stops for meals and the restroom.

“Y/n/n,” Dix whined from the middle seat. You were in the back by yourself stretching out your legs while Everett drove. “I’m bored.”

“You’re kinda S.O.L then, aren’t you?” You rose a brow at him.

“Play something.” He pouted, turning his brown puppy eyes on you, “Please?”

You sighed, leaning over the back seat and opening up the guitar case you had stashed back there. Pulling out a beautiful electric guitar that looked like the night sky, and a small battery-operated amp that you could plug directly into your guitar.

“What then?” You asked, strumming a few chords to check the tuning.

“You can play the guitar?” Dwalin asked. He wasn’t much for talking, but a few things he wanted answers to.

“Yeah,” Dix grinned, “She taught Ry everything that she knows. Though, Ry did always have the voice for this. Y/n/n should be in the band in my opinion.”

“You know that that’s not happening, Dix.” You shook your head. “I don’t like attention.”

“Which is kinda ironic when you think about it.” The blond mused.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

. . .

The more Dwalin learned about you, the more he wanted to know more. You didn’t like talking about your stalker or why Dwalin’s services were needed in the first place. You would simply refuse to talk about it. He’d thought long and hard on the situation at night while you slept, leaned against his side.

“We’re here, everyone,” Aaron pulled to a stop alongside another bar. A light sleeper yourself, you woke at his words, but Josh and Everett took stronger efforts.

“The Royal Growler?” Dix snorted incredulously. You sat up in your seat, taming your hair before climbing out of the van, happy to stretch your legs after a fourteen-hour drive.

“I’m gonna go introduce myself to the house guy.” You told Aaron, knowing that he’d be following close behind, along with your mountain of muscle that he hired.

“You too, Big Bear,” You didn’t need to say it, but you wanted to see if you could get Dwalin to squirm. He didn’t outwardly squirm, but squirm he did. Big Bear? What the hell did that mean? He hated it but at the same time, it didn’t sound so bad coming from you. So he followed, he was going to regardless, but he followed in shock.

However, soon enough your crew was cleared to set up. Each one of them was happy to have the chance to actually use their muscles, including you.

Dwalin was beginning to love watching you work, watching you carry and move all of these heavy boxes, upwards of seventy pounds apiece. It didn’t help that today your muscled legs were exposed due to your shorts, and suddenly Dwalin felt like a teenager again. You were under his charge, he shouldn’t be looking at you like you were available to him. You weren’t available to him. You’d never be. It wasn’t appropriate.

Everett brought back Mexican food.

“I wasn’t sure what to get you, big guy, so I got you the biggest thing I could think of.” He handed a bag to Dwalin, “Tonight’s not gonna be much fun on an empty stomach.”

Dwalin watched on as Everett turned his attention to you, handing you a styrofoam box of your own. “For you, Little Mamma.”

You did a little dance in your spot, excited at the prospect of digging into your duo beef and cheese enchiladas. Now that wouldn’t have impressed Dwalin in the slightest if it weren’t for the fact that it also came with rice and beans. It seems that Dwalin wasn’t the only one who could pack away food. Is it bad that he found that attractive about you?

And soon enough the lights were down, the alcohol was flowing, and the crowd was beginning to thicken. Dwalin stood close to you, on one hand, to keep the drunks away, on the other because he wanted to be close to you.

You didn’t mind really, he gave you enough space not to crowd your work, and you knew he was watching out for you. When the bar got hot, he’d shrug off his leather jacket, and when you weren’t admiring the muscle in his arms you were admiring his sleeves of tattoos that ran down his arms.

The tattoos weren’t as hardcore as you expected. One arm was a mountain range and a forest, beautifully done. You almost couldn’t believe that it was ink on skin. The other, clockwork and skulls and flowers. Edgy but soft, and you had a sneaking suspicion that this grouchy mountain next to you was just like that.

Then the crowd was gone, like a whirlwind, and things were being packed up. You could hear some party song playing loudly at the other end of the bar, but that didn’t matter because it was the end of the night and you were ready to pass out from exhaustion.

Then the bar owner arrived and handed you a note.

Just a small scrap of paper.

Did you miss me these past few days? I missed you, beautiful.

I’ll see you at the next show

- N

tags: open || Part Four ||

#dwalin x reader #the hobbit x reader #finn writes #full length fic

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myinnerdemons-inverted · 4 years

Note

Can you post a short story of where the purge happens once a year, how does inverted Ava and her crew deal with this. Assuming that It lasts for a full day and that it only lasts within a certain cities boundaries and that this year its ava's city

(Before I start I want t say I’M SO SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I’VE BARELY HAD MOTIVATION TO WRITE RECENTLY AND THIS HAS BEEN HAUNTING ME IN MY ASK BOX FOR MONTHS NOW I PROMISE I DIDN’T FORGET ABOUT IT! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!) (Also, I’ve never seen any of the Purge movies so I’m sorry if I get anything wrong, I’m just going off of what I know, which is that everything is legal)

At first, the boys were confused, mainly on why Ava was covering all of her windows and boarding up her door. The moment the sirens sounder was when fear set in.

“Ava, what’s happening?” Asch asked, he seemed calm but the panic in his voice gave away his thoughts.

“Make that fucking blaring stop!” Rhys shouted, covering his ears.

“I forgot to tell you!?” Ava asked. Like the others, she was panicked. “It’s the Purge!”

“The what?” Rhys asked, he was more annoyed than anything.

“It’s in my city this year!” Ava said, still hammering away at the wooden board that’s blocking her door, “Basically, there are no laws for a full day! Which means there will be people running around, breaking into places and maybe killing people and I’m too young to die!”

“Wait,” Rhys said, “So we can go out and cause as much damage as possible and have no consiquences?” His grin was manic, and he reached for his gauntlets that held their place on his belt.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Ava said, “None of us are! We’re staying here until it’s all over!”

“Hell no I’m not!” Rhys shoved his way past Ava and pried the door open. “I’m off to level this city! Don’t try and stop me!” With that, he equiped his gauntlets and ran down the hall, smashing through the nearest window and jumping out. There were already sounds of gunshots in the distance.

Asch bit his bottom lip, “I’m going after him,” he announced, “You three, protect Ava.”

“Right!” Pierce saluted.

“O-of course,” Leif said, still shaken up.

Noi only nodded.

“I’m counting on you,” Asch smiled before running out the window after Rhys.

“Stay safe!” Ava called out. She closed the door once more.

Pierce then came up with Ava’s couch hoisted above his head, she didn’t even notice that he went back to get it. He placed it up against the door. “That’s should do! Humans aren’t strong enough to move couches, right? Maybe if there were enough of them? But what if—“

Leif placed a hand on Pierce’s shoulder to silence him.

“Sorry,” Pierce said. The questions would still bug him, but he could keep those thoughts to himself for now.

Leif then walked over to Ava, placing a hand on her shoulder as well, “It’ll be alright, Ava,” he assured, though he was more talking to himself.

“I know I’ll be fine with you guys here but... what about everyone else? My friends? The seniors who live here? They’ll be okay, right?”

Ava leaned her head into his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing circles on her back, “They’ll be fine, okay? Everything will be alright. You said this would only last a day, right? It will be okay?”

Leif was always the go-to when you seaked some kind of comfort.

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Leif said, though in all honesty he wasn’t sure. He just hoped that no one would be killed.

~~~

Rhys wasn’t hard to spot out, all Asch had to do was follow the large explosions and manic laughter and he would find he knight in no time, right?

Oh, how wrong he was. Those types of things were going on everywhere. How could such a place devolve into such chaos so quickly? And in broad daylight nonetheless? Why? Why would such an event as this exist.

It would be bad to call out to Rhys directly, it would give himself away soo easily, and if Rhys heard him he would just run in the other direction.

The cocking on guns caught him off guard for a second. He turned around and saw maybe five or six people with weapons pointed at him.

“A pretty boy like yourself shouldn’t be out here,” one of them said. Asch had hidden his horns already, so that wasn’t why he was being targeted.

Asch sighed before swiping his hand in a horizontal motion, sending a wave of water crashing into the group before they could respond, sending them flying into a nearby building and letting the crumple to the ground. They were only unconscious, thankfully, but they might need to check for head injuries later. “My apologies,” Asch muttered before setting back out to find his knight.

Asch normally wasn’t one to get annoyed, but this, such as finding a needle in a haystack, would be a pain.

~~~

Sounds of gunshots and other noises of destruction echoed thoughout the city and made it to Ava’s appartment. She sat on the floor, knees huddled close to her chest. Noi sat next to her as well, but he didn’t do much else to comfort her.

The three knights had their weapons at the ready, Pierce with his longsword, Leif with his rapier, and Noi with his dagger.

So far, nothing had happened. The appartment was earily silent, no one even dared to breathe too loud.

A bang at the door broke the silence. Then another. And another. They were loud crashes, the wood threatening to splinter under the weight, like the person was ramming their while body at the door

The knights took a fighting stance. The door then splintered, a man tumbling through the top half of the door and over the couch.

The knights stood in front of Ava, ready to guard her.

The man looked up at them, his eyes were dialated and red, sunken into his skull, definitely due to some drug.

“Pretty lady,” he slurred, getting to his feet.

Pierce was the first to spring into action. He reared his sword back over his shoulder, but instead of slashing the man he struck him with the butt of the sword’s handle, knocking him out.

Suddenly, another man came from seemingly nowhere, with the same drugged out look in his eyes. He raised what looked like a machete and tried to swing at Pierce, only for Leif to step in and parry the attack.

They all looked back over to the hole in the door, where more of these drugged up maniacs crawled through the opening.

Great, a bunch of idiots decided to go through this mess while high.

Noi was still with Ava.

There were now at least five men drugged up out of their minds in her appartment.

Pierce quickly took out another one, using the same technique he used to take out the first.

Leif disarmed another by swiping the pistol out of his hands with the tip of his blade and using a similar move as Pierce to knock him out.

One had charged at Noi, swiping a metal baseball bat at his head. Noi ducked, dodging the feeble attack easily before sinking his dagger into the man’s gut.

While this was happening, one of them had made their way to Ava, knocking her on her back and straddling her waist as he held a butcher knife above his head.

Before he can strike, however, a blade pierced deep through his neck from behind.

The blade was pulled out and the man’s knife clattered beside her. Noi caught the man as he fell forward before he fell onto Ava and tossed him aside. He helped a stunned Ava back up to a sitting position.

Leif stood in front of her, tears flowing down his face, blood coating the tip of his blade. He let out a shaky, “I’m so sorry...” before dropping to his knees.

When Pierce finished dealing with the rest of them he ran over to the others, joining them on the floor before wrapping his arms around the three of them. Ava and Leif were crying and Noi was as blank as ever, though he did wrap his arm around Pierce’s back.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Pierce repeated over and over.

~~~

Asch had finally found Rhys. How long had it been? Five hours? He knows it’s definitely been way too long.

“Rhys!” Asch called out to him.

Rhys, who was standing on a pile of rubble, rolled his eyes, “What do you want?” His hands were still smoldering.

“I want to take you back to Ava’s appartment. Haven’t you done enough?”

Rhys laughed, “What? I’m just getting started! I’m not stopping now!”

“You are, Rhys. This is an order.”

An order? Asch never ordered them to do anything unless it was important.

“Why should I?” Rhys crossed his arms, his gauntlets clanking against each other.

“Someone has to clean this all up, right?” Asch gestured to the destruction around them, “if you destroy everything it will never look the same again. We’ve walked down this street so many times, remember? The mall is right down there.” Asch pointed down the road. “You want to walk down this road with Ava again, right?”

Rhys clenched his fists, “I hate it when you’re right.” He leaped down fro the pile to Asch.

“Let’s get home, alright?”

Rhys rolled his eyes. “I’m only listening to you because you’re still my prince or whatever.”

Asch smiled, of course.”

~~~

The rest of the day was uneventful. Noi had tossed those men’s bodies out the window and onto the street. A bunch of dead bodies was enough to ward off anyone with a braincell from entering.

During the night everything had gotten louder, preventing any of them from resting, like they would eve dare to during this time.

Eventually, the announcement was made.

The Purge was over.

#the ending is so bad but this was already too long #again I’m sorry for how late this is #Miammey has no idea how to write the purge #enjoy your burrito #aphmau #inverted my inner demons #aphmau my inner demons #my inner demons inverted #my inner demons #my inner demons aphmau #my writing

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return-of-a-space-cowboy · 5 years

Note

Can I ask for bruno with promp#5? I just want to know what my boy would do (´つω・)

Sure thing, we gotta give our love to best boi

If you ever left me

(yandere Bruno Bucciallati X reader)

Warning: a bit of a toxic relationship going on.

You felt the sweat drip down your face as you felt the ravenette's scrutinising gaze as you both sat at the dinning table. You two had been together for a year but you wanted to cut it off.

It's not like he did anything to hurt you, he spoilt you rotten whenever he could. It's just that his role as a gangster forced you two to be apart for long periods of time and you felt that was the cause of loss of heat in your relationship.

"Bruno I wanted to tell you something..." you began.

"I have something to tell you as well amore" he said in a soft tone as his expression lightened.

"I know that sometimes I'm not always the best of boyfriends, I mean I still wonder how I ever managed to meet someone as beautiful..." He continued as he held your hand lightly. Did he really have to start a long speech, it's like he was telling you not to break up with you before you even mentioned it.

"But I promise that I am purely dedicated to you" he said as he stood up. You didn't like where this was going. He then he got down on one knee and revealed a small box in his hand. He was proposing to you.

"No!" You yelled as you slapped the box away before he even had the chance. He looked at you with a shocked expression that turned grim.

"Maybe I'm going a bit too fast" he said.

"No Bruno" you said to him before letting out a large sigh.

"Bruno, your a great man but with such a labouring job that requires you to be away for so long... I can't see us working" you explained.

"What are you saying?" He said in a horrified tone as he stood up, he knew exactly what you meant.

"Bruno.... I think we should-" you tried to say but he cut you off by him literally zipping you mouth shut.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" he growled as he grabbed you by the hand.

"Why, why would you even consider such a thing?" He asked.

"What ever you want I'll give it to you just say the word and it's all yours! Just don't leave me!" He plead as he tried to embrace you.

"Let go, let go of me!" you attempted to scream though your forcibly shut mouth.

"Shh, (Y/n) everything will be fine. Just stay right here..." He hushed you as he stroked your hair.

"I want the absolute best for us (Y/n), don't you see how much I love you" he said as he pulled your waist closer to his. You tried to push him away but it was no use as your body began to fall apart.

"I can't bare the pain of not having you..." he said as he picked up the box and your detached hand. He then pulled out the large extravagant ring from the box and slid it onto the remaining section of your ring finger.

"As you are the one that brings me so much joy"

💍💍💍

You woke up in the large bed that you had shared with Bruno so many times. The aromas of breakfast being cooked wafted into the room. he must already be up, moment like this would of made you happy but you were scared.

You looked at your hand and inspected your engagement ring and tried to pull it off but you couldn't, it was way too tight. You couldn't even get it past your knuckle, you quickly ran into your bathroom and lathered your finger in soap but it still wouldn't come off.

"(Y/n), are you alright?" He called out to you.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine" you lied as you washed off the soap.

"Ok, just letting you know breakfast will be ready in a couple of minutes" he continued.

You decided to hop in the shower and get dressed before walking into the dinning room. the gravity in the room felt dense as you remembered what had happened.

"(Y/n) I'm so sorry for my outburst last night, it's just I couldn't let our relationship end just like that..." he said as he walking to the dinning room with two plates of breakfast in hand, noticing the way your eyes glazed over.

"I want us to work forward in our relationship and I promise you I'll never do such a thing like what I did last night happen again" he said as he placed the plates at the table before walking to you and placing his hands on your hips.

"I hate it when you look all gloomy, come on, give your future husband a smile" he said before bringing his hands to your face pushing the corners of your lips up to form a smile. He then kissed you on the forehead before sitting at the table. You followed suit and looked down at pieces of crisp bacon, softly poached eggs and the mashed avocado on-top of a slice of toast.

You picked up your fork and knife and began to eat.

"I've been called in for work" Bruno said as he watched you.

"But I promise that when it's done we'll go out and do something nice" he continued before placing another fork full of food in his mouth.

The rest of the morning was like usual, he did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen before getting ready to leave.

"I hope you have a great day dear" he said as he gave you a quick kiss before leaving. You walked into the bathroom. You just couldn't believe what had happened last night, and he just decided that you were both engaged after what he did.

'maybe my mind will clear if I go to work' you thought as you got ready for work.

💍💍💍

"Hey (Y/n), nice day isn't it?" Gabrielle said as you walked into the office. You slightly winced at her unusually sickeningly sweet tone. She wasn't the meanest of people but she was quite a bitch towards you.

"Yes..." You replied

"The boss wants to speak to you" she said with a abnormal and obviously forced grin, that kind of grin that people that are trying to look happy use while a gun is pointed to their head.

"Thanks..." You said as you made your way to his office.

You knocked on the door and you boss opened it. He gingerly greeted you as he let you in and offered you a seat.

"So... What did you want me for?" You asked.

"I've been considering this for awhile but I think you've proven yourself to be worthy of a raise" he replied.

You couldn't believe what he was saying. You didn't mind the fact that he chose you but you wouldn't consider yourself an outstanding employee.

"Really?" You asked.

"Really" he said.

"Thank you sir" was the only other thing that came out of your mouth.

Today just seemed to good to be true...

💍💍💍

You sat at your desk typing up the last section of the monthly inventory management report, occasionally looking at the clock. It was 4:15pm right now. That last painful 45 minutes that seemed to last hours.

Despite that the whole day had been almost perfect. Gabrielle had kept her loud mouth shut the whole day and the work you had gotten wasn't too time consuming, however you couldn't help but feel that in the tranquility was something sinister.

You sipped some water and typed up the last part of the summary when your boss walked in.

"(Y/n) you've done enough today, you can go home" he said.

"Are you sure?" You asked.

"Yes, of course" he replied.

"O...ok" you said as you saved your work and signed out of you computer.

"Thank you sir, see you tomorrow" you thanked him as you grabbed your things.

"Yes see you tomorrow" he said as he had that same smile that Gabrielle had earlier today. Something was definitely off.

You unlocked you car and entered. You threw your bag on the passenger seat and started the car. However just as you began to push down on the acceleration, the small beeping began and a little light flickered telling you that a passenger wasn't wearing their seatbelt. Your bag couldn't have set it Off so you looked in back and let out a small scream as you saw Bruno.

"How did you get in my car?!" You asked as you tried to calm down.

"I have my ways mio Amore" he chuckled as he grabbed your bag and put it in the back before stepping over the console and sitting in the passenger seat.

"So anyway how was your day?" He asked you with a beautiful smile as he buckled his seatbelt.

"It was good..." You replied as you gave him look through the corner of your eye as you exited the car park.

"What's with that tone and look?" He asked.

"It's nothing" you said.

"Are you sure? You can tell me if there is" he said, it's like was prying into you.

"I'm still not comfortable around you, not after what you did to me!" You responded.

"I'm sorry... It's just that I'm to afraid to have you leave me" he responded. You didn't respond to what he said and kept your eyes on the road.

"Oh come on, please just understand me" he plead.

"Or at least be happy on the date I've planned for us" he continued.

💍💍💍

"Where is the danm phone?" you mumbled to yourself as you searched for your mobile phone. You then heard its faint vibrations coming from the kitchen you looked through the utensil draws and found it before picking it up. It was an unfamiliar number but you answered it anyway.

"(Y/n) what the fuck's going on with you?" Your friend Michael asked.

"What are you talking about?" You asked.

"You sent a lot of hateful texts to all me, Jesse, Tom, Evan, Ava, Margret and Rose and then blocked all our numbers" he explained.

"Wait what?" You exclaimed.

"Yeah, I thought it wasn't you..." He stated.

"Let me look on my phone real quick" you said as you pulled out the small keyboard section and looked through your contacts to see that you contact list had been shortened dramatically, the only numbers left were family members, your work and Bruno. That's when you knew who did it.

"He's trying to isolate me..." You hissed under your breath.

"Who?" Michael asked.

"Bruno... I tried to break up with him a few days ago, he's been acting weird ever since" You explained, keeping out those unexplainable details out.

"You only just noticed!" He nearly yelled.

"What do you mean?" You asked.

"Come over to my house and I'll explain" he said before you heard his phone ring in the background.

"Could you hold on for a sec" he said as he anwserd his phone. You could only make out a little of what he said but you heard Bruno's name mentioned.

"Actually pack all your things you can live with me for a while" he continued.

"What? What did he do?" You asked.

"Just get over here ASAP!" He yelled before hanging up.

💍💍💍

You sighed as you looked at the train timetable, it was going to be another half an hour till the next one arrived, well at least you could grab a quick bite to eat before the next train arrived. You turned around an instantly froze with fear as you saw a familiar teen approaching.

His name was Narancia and he was part of Bruno's gang. You had only met the members of Bruno's gang a few times but you knew that there was a deep sense of trust between each of them, and Narancia was very dedicated to Bruno.

"Hey (Y/n)" he called out as if nothing was wrong.

"Oh... H... Hi Narancia" you responded as he got closer.

"I thought Bruno said you were working today" he said as he tilted his head.

"Well my boss called this morning and said I could have the day off. So I'm meeting up with a cousin" you lied to the scruffy ravenette.

"Pretty large suitcase to bring for a day trip, don't ya think?" He replied. Was he trying to interrogate you?

"Well I got them a large gift" you chuckled to throw him off but he had that gut feeling that what you were saying was a lie. He grabbed you arm and pulled you close.

"I know that's a load of bullshit" he hissed.

"What?!" You said as you tried to push him away.

"You're a real bitch ya know that? Bruno loves you more then anything in the world and you're just going to run away from him!" He tried his hardest not to yell.

"Narancia... He's not been acting right lately... Surely you must understand that he may need help" you explained to the teen but he just wouldn't listen.

"And you the only one that can help him!" He said as he started to pull you behind.

"Hey, let me go" you said as you.

"Don't make a scene, or I'll have no choice but to shoot your leg" he murmured as he continued too pull you along, practically dragging you out of the train station.

"Please don't do this Narancia... I know you're a nice person, just let me go... I promise I'll go back to Bruno soon it's just he's become extremely possessive" you plead to him."No, you're lying! I'm not going to let you betray his heart!" He yelled as he brought you to a car.

Before you could even say another word the door opened and you were forcibly pulled in, your body was pulled close to their own.

"Thank you very much Narancia" a familiar voice said. His voice as filled with gratitude but had an underling tone of anger.

"No problem boss" Narancia replied with a smile on his face before closing the door.

You looked up to see Bruno and a chill went down your spine as you saw his angered expression.

"Why would you do such a thing to me?" He asked in a cold tone.

"Bruno... Please-" you plead.

I don't want to hear a word from you right now" he hissed.

"Besides if loyalty isn't enough to keep you by my my side, then seven different locks should do the trick"

#yandere jjba #yandere x reader #yandere #bruno buccerati #bruno #bruno x reader #spacy works

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ava-jones · 4 years

Text

Practice Challenge. Part 1

“Fuck him! Fuck his shitty new album! Fuck his ‘playboy’ reputation! I’m not going to lie about my life to fix a shitty situation he put himself in!” Ava screamed in the hallway a few feet down from her agents office.

“Babe it’s not like I’m asking you to get married. Just go on a few photo-opt dates, then after Ethan’s album has been out for a few months you can quietly call it off.” Carolyn, the publicist being berated, argued.

“That’s exactly the problem! It’s not like he’s some dude I’m actually interested in long term. I. don’t. Like. lying.” Ava huffed and leaned against the wall crossing her arms and glaring at Carolyn.

“Don’t think of it as lying just as acting.” She tried to purswade.

Ava just glared and chewed on the inside of her cheek as she tried to find some way to get out of this.

“Common Ava, remember what I said to you when you were a kid, ‘sometimes you have to bend a little.’” She pressured.

“Bend a little! I moved to Angeles! I changed my name! I rewrote Heart Full of Scars! I did your playboy magazine! I’ve done every single thing that you’ve told me too!” She screamed now getting some looks from other agents. One of them would likely let this outburst slip out soon, another ‘snobby two throwing a tantrum’ she could already see the headlines “Has Ava Jones gotten too used to the rich life? Illeans sweetheart has rotted.’ Probably something shorter but that was why Ava was not a journalist.

“You absolutely have not! You turned down the chance to speak with Scooter Burnt on his show! You barely got to the playboy thing and I had to convince you for days before you’d go! You’ve refused modeling opportunities and went against me and released ‘Do You’!”

“And it fucking slaps! It got us 65.2 million views within 24 hours! Sometimes you’re wrong!” She yelled and turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Carolyn asked, running after her.

“Home.” She huffed and put her hands in her pockets turning to take the stairs out.

“Angeles or Sumner?”

“Sumner!” She yelled back as Carolyn started falling behind.

“For how long?”

“Till you get me out of this mess!” She yelled back, turning the corner to the front door of her agents studio. Suddenly he bombarded her.

“Please wait! Ava!” Ethan yelled chasing after her before grabbing her arm.

She spun on him, “What! You tricked me into thinking we were friends then told the press I slept with you, why do you think I should give you another second of my time?”

“Don’t you want to?” He asked with a raised eyebrow more than a little to calm for Ava’s anger.

“To what?” She asked, genuinely confused.

“Sleep with me?”

Suddenly, Ethan wasn’t smiling anymore, in fact he was on the ground, a red slap mark across his face, security moving to stop Ava but hesitating, they wouldn't want to hurt Illea’s darling.

“You whore!” Ethan yelled and lunged at her, the guards were much less hesitant with him. After all he was a has-been lunging at a will-always-be. Suddenly the door to the building swung open, the guards stopped, Ethan stood quickly and wrapped a hand around Ava’s waist. As much as she wanted to shove him off and make the sides of his face symmetrical she didn’t want to deal with even more bad press.

He leaned down to her ear, “behave or I will fucking destroy you.” he whispered.

“Yeah right, like you can.” She grumbled back through gritted teeth as a paparazzi tried to act hidden, wandering around like he was looking for a room as he held a camera close to his body, attempting to keep it under his bag.

“Calm down, sweetheart. You’re the one escalating this.” He whispered as they shuffled together to the door trying to make their way out to their private parking deck. Ava quickly scanned her ID for the building and they slipped out of sight.

As soon as the door closed behind them she shoved him off and down to the ground, “Never touch me again. I’m not the one escalating this, you’re the one who told the press I was ‘cute’ in bed, what the hell does that even mean? I am reacting. I am allowed to react to you being the shittiest person alive,” She rushed to her car and pulled away.

She was never supposed to drive herself, just like she wasn’t supposed to hit other celebrities, or yell in hallways, or put up a fight. But lately she was feeling so tired.

She pulled into an empty church parking lot and sat there for a moment, the air conditioning on as cold as possible, and she almost let it out. She almost let her lips quiver, she almost felt her tears pouring over, she almost called her Carolyn and pleaded for ‘out’. Out of singing, out of performances, out of autographs, out of stalkers, out of lies, out of men thinking that because she is a she in a position of power they can take it from her. Out of letting them.

But, she didn't. She held onto her steering wheel, she popped open her glove compartment and took out a small cigarette box. Of course she would never risk hurting her voice. Instead inside was a picture of herself as a young girl with a boy. The two of them were about thirteen, they were having a picnic on a farm, drinking sparkling apple juice out of two champagne flutes, feeling so adult. Inside there was a small swatch of fabric. She held it closed and breathed it in, and the warmth took over and she was okay.

She picked up her phone and called one of her top numbers, “Hey Ms. Rosado! I’m coming home for a while tonight. Do you mind if I swing by the house?”

“Of course not! You know you’re welcome any time, baby.” The now elderly woman eased.

****************************************************************

Sumner was always Ava’s heaven. It’s where she wasn’t Ava Jones at all. She was Avery Jacoby. Her family was from very rural Sumner. There were about 800 people in her town, mostly fours and lower. Her family had been fours for years until she bought their way into the two castes. The Rosado’s were a family of sevens who worked on their poultry farm. Angeles was loud, full of screaming cars, and people. All she had to hear at home was the chickens and cows. She pulled up on the dirt road which led not to her house, but to the Rosados. It had been un-lived in for the last six years.

Untouched, Ms. Rosado couldn’t be in it anymore so she had moved in with Ava’s family. She couldn’t stand the silence, where her little boy had once run around with Ava, playing monsters vs heroes. Hearing Michael play guitar along with Ava’s singing. It made her think of his body, falling to the ground, the final seizure taking him at fifteen, it lasted for eight minutes before he passed on.

Ava laid down in his childhood bed. Her best friend, her soul mate's bed. His smell surrounded her as she looked up at the stars painted on his ceiling, “Mike.” She called out softly covering her eyes with her arm. She knew he couldn't see her. She didn’t believe in all that “they’re watching from above shit. Why would he waste his time in heaven on that.

“I don’t want this anymore.” She breathed out.

“But I’m not giving up on us. We said it, we were gonna make it one day, you’re the asshole who made me promise I wouldn’t give up no matter what. Well now what? I’ve made it I think, but there always seems to be more to do. When is it enough? I need you to tell me. Why were you so shitty with your deathbed wishes. What does it even mean? Make it to your debut album? Check. Make it to your first sold out concert? Check! Have billions of fans worldwide? Done and done. But now what do you want me to become a triple threat take on acting and modeling? Do you want me to keep performing? I did all this for you after all! Pretty rude of you to leave me hanging here!”

“Well do you still like singing?” She shot up at the response. Not from some magical ghost but from her younger sister, Katy.

“What are you doing here?” She asked defensively about her sister's eavesdropping.

“Aitana said you were stopping by. I figured you needed saving before you turned into-” she paused and gestured to her sister, a crying mess in a child’s bed, “-that.”

She paused for a moment and sat down next to her, “you know, we’d never want for money again. You’ve made enough for us and ms. Rosado to live like kings for the rest of our lives. Probably your kids too and grandkids. You don’t have to keep doing this, that is, if you don’t like it.”

Ava sighed looking back up to the painted night sky, “I love singing, I’ll always love singing.” She mumbled.

“But?”

“But, I hate the performing, I hate being watched, I hate being told who to date, who to talk to, what to wear, what I’m permitted to eat, how much to work out, scripted for in interviews.”

Katy made a dramatic gasp, “Scripted? You? I thought you just really loved Nike shoes all the sudden.” she joked.

Ava couldn’t help but laugh and lightly hit her arm. “You bitch, I worked hard to deliver those lines.” She grinned ear to ear. Being apart from Katy was one of the worst things about being in Angeles.

“Seriously though, you look like shit. You don’t seem happy anymore. You know he wouldn’t want this. He didn’t care about fame he just thought it was what you wanted and wanted you to be happy. Clearly, you’re not, so quit.” She sighed before standing up. “It’s simple, just stop working.” She stood up.

“You didn’t know him like I did.” Ava mumbled looking down at her hands, knowing her sister was right, but also remembering his eyes and how they lit up dreaming about their future together.

“Whatever, I’m not going to argue with you about that. Mama’s making stew for dinner, we have to get back before she gives it to the pigs.”

*******************************************************************************************

A few weeks passed on missed calls, then a few months of avoided visits. The press panicked for a moment that Ava hadn’t been literally seen in awhile, but Carolyn released a statement that she was taking a vacation, fortunately for them the present is planned in the past so Carolyn had plenty of unreleased photos to put out, and even a few unreleased songs which she had previously called, “garbage” but was turning to in desperation.

Ava felt clean. She felt safe in the hills of Sumner, the sun healed her, her family was close, and the world was quiet. Until the letter came, then Katy was screaming.

“Our selection letters came!”

“Our what came?” I asked munching on my bowl of corn flakes.

“Selection, duh- oh right you’re doing that “off the grid or social media cleanse.’” She said doing air quotes.

“How very Angeles of you.” My mom chimed in.

“I’m not trying to be hip, I'm just taking a break!” I defended myself.

“Well- to fill you in, Prince Arin is holding a selection! I thought he never would since he and that chick seemed so close to getting married. They were even engaged three months ago.” She gushed. The cereal fell off my spoon,

“Months?”

Katy looked confused for a moment, “Yeah months, not every mourns for years.”

“Yeah no. No way in hell is he over that. He’s looking for a royal rebound.” I chuckled and went back to my food.

“So you’re not going to apply?”

“No I’m not going to apply, and you shouldn’t either. You’ll get your heart broken joining that.”

“Well maybe I’m not going in it for my heart.” She replied.

“What? Have I not been giving you enough money?”

“More like there aren’t enough men in this town. I’m itching to have some fun.” She complained.

“And I’m out!” Our mom said rushing off as Katy began to complain about how dry her sex life had been lately.

“Well, I’m taking the drive to the post office this afternoon. Decide if you want to join by then.”

“I’ve decided, no thanks.”

A few hours later Ava sat in bed reading one of her old favorite books, she was enjoying some peace until her phone was buzzing over and over again in her drawer. She would shut it off but it was a burner phone that Carolyn had given her. It was an ‘when you want to get off the grid but I still need to reach you for an emergency phone.’ She groaned and pulled it out,

“You better be dying.”

“No but I’m going to put you in your grave if you don’t come back here and participate in the selection.”

“Nope sorry I told you, I’m home until I say so. If that’s all I’ll see you someda-”

“I’ll let you out of your contract with Rainbow Companion Records!” Ava bit her bottom lip. RCR had signed her when she was just fifteen. She didn’t know better so she agreed to a 10 year lease with them. Getting out would really help her quit.

“Why would you do that?” She asked, there would be no advantage for Carolyn. Everyone was playing a game with each other at this level and she needed to know her angle.

“You’re not going to quit. I’ve known you for years, you’ll take a break but ultimately come back. People like yo- like us are simple, we need the attention. After a while you’ll ask them to take you back. I know you’re too stubborn to accept that that’s what will happen, so you’ll agree to this because you want to ‘quit’ right now. It’s happened to so many of my clients.” She explained being shockingly transparent.

“You really don’t know me at all.” She mumbled and thought for a moment. She was afraid, afraid that what Carolyn said was true. That she’d miss all that noise. But if it wasn’t she’d finally be free.”

“What if I don’t get in?” Ava asked, needing to know the details.

“Sweetheart, if you want it you’re as good as already in. I know people.”

“Okay I’ll do it.”

“Great! I’ll send someone over in three days to fill out your appli-” She shut the phone. ‘No way in hell someone is doing that for me.’

“Katy! Do you have my letter?” She yelled in the hallway.

*******************************************************

Just like that, Angeles flew in and popped my bubble. "We've hired some good photographers and journalists to wait at the airport. Just smile and say you're excited. I've also got some new sponsors for you, RCR really fucked me over on those negotiations so we need a bit more big billion bucks." Carolyn said as Aileen, my makeup artist, worked on lining my lips.

Carolyn pulled a paper out of her purse and handed it over to her, mostly it was a list of brands with a few lines they wanted her to say, nothing unusual. She normally put up a fight over promotional work but if it was her ticket to a life without lying and screaming, she’d take it.

“Now I set up the studio for that song that you sent me. It’s going to be a hit! We’ll release it a few hours before the selected announcements come out so the popularity boost from being announced on national television will bring everyone, even people who aren’t your fans, to your new video.” She explained.

As soon as Ava’s jet landed in Angeles it was back to her old life. Back to the quick interview, “I was taking a break to be with family but I’m back now better than ever.” with a few ads thrown in there for the money.

The night of the announcement she laid in the bath. She normally hated how alone she was in her Angeles apartment, but being able to bathe in peace was a nice perk. She pulled up the count down for her own video and waited. She didn’t like to watch them until they were released. In the past she had tried to help with the editing process but she was apparently too much of a backseat driver. She just had to trust that Jack knew her vision and would stick to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyFiWkmkexI

She had decided to write this mostly due to her pure rage at Ethan, her director went a little off though making it into a whole scheming theme but overall she was satisfied. Next she switched to the channel with the selected announcement and waited. One named caught her eye ‘Emily Rose White’. She groaned and pulled up her phone,

“You told her I was joining?”

“No that must have been actual luck, or she just wants to compete.” Carolyn responded.

**************************************************

#practice challenge 1 #Selectionoc #Selectionoc6

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avaslore · 5 years

Text

Sea-Shells [GilOdin]

Heyho! Time for another Ava’s Demon gift exchange! This one is for @lielking! I went with a sweet GilOdin beach fic! Enjoy! (also I’m horrible at writing Odin’s sttuter, please don’t hate me)

Gil bit his lip as he looked at the small pool of seawater.

There were many shells of various colors, but none of them were of the color he wanted: purple. He saw red, green, a familiar blue, pink and yellow and oh, is that the one?

......

Nope. Just a black shell. Weird.

He shook his head, sighed and walked towards yet another little pool. Nevy wouldn't lie to him. She did say that that was the perfect spot to find all sorts of shells and stones, especially since she did find a purple shell right there. Gil was getting anxious. He planned to give a bracelet with shells for Odin as their one-year anniversary but the more he searched, the less excited he felt. It was possible that Odin didn't even remember the anniversary but Gil still wanted to surprise him and give him a little gift.

"Hey honey, any luck?"

Gil jumped and turned around to face Nevy. She approached him so silently! Even with the slippery rocks and wet sand, she couldn't have been that quiet. But well, it was Nevy. The same Nevy that talked about studying dreams and cards reading with him, and who also dated Wrathia. So yeah, maybe she just could be that silent. Her green eyes had a little shine in them that meant good for Gil, so he just went on and placed his head on her shoulder.

"I can't find it anywhere! I've looked all over the water and on the sand too! There are no purple shells here."

She pouted a little and craned her head to look at the various pools of water. Maybe they weren't on the right season, maybe the shells were already taken by others. But Nevy did hate to see Gil sad so she took off her own bracelet and took one of the purple little shells that she had.

"Here, you can have one of mine! Pedri's not even going to notice anyway, he barely looks that my stuff."

"Ah, no!" he said while shaking his head, "I can't! I want to find one myself!"

He made Nevy put the shell back and started to make his way to the open beach. She knew that the gift was special but really, it was just a shell! Nevy pulled her phone from her back pocket and quickly sent a message.

-----

Gil watched as Ava and Maggie buried Tuls in the sand while he stared at the horizon. At some point, he had asked for Tuls' advice but Maggie dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

"You're really asking king virgin here for love advice? Look for your godmother, Gilbert." she told him while Tuls grumbled ('I can hear you, Magnolia' were his last words before getting a handful of sand on his red hair)

"Y-yeah! Nevy should know about this sort of stuff, right?" Ava smiled at him.

He rolled his eyes. Not in annoyance but as he felt his option list get cut shorter. No one could really give him a piece of solid advice at this point and Gil needed the perfect gift for Odin.

"I mean, it's Odin, right? I'm pretty sure you could throw a rock at him and he would thank you."

"Maggie!" Ava chirped.

There was only one last thing to do: give up. Gil fell back on the sand and cringed as he felt the soft sand. Great, now he had nothing to give Odin. An unfinished bracelet wouldn't do, after all.

Gil flinched when he heard the high pitched voice of Magpie calling for Ava. So the Arrows finally arrived, always the last ones. Gil got up but was soon tackled by a happy Magpie as she quickly greeted him before jumping to hug Maggie. He looked back and saw the rest of the family coming down: the girls already on a conversation, Olai (why the hell was he wearing black on the beach, you know what Gil doesn't want to know) and Odin, who was staring right at him and coming towards him.

The faint feeling of anxiety started to grow on Gil as he took two steps forward. When Odin finally stood right in front of him, Gil opened his mouth to explain but was cut short as Odin shoved a small box on his hands.

"What is this?" he asked.

"J-just open i-i-it, okay?" Odin said.

Carefully, Gil lifted the box's top and frowned at its content: a bunch of different shells. Of all sorts, they looked out of place together but all of them looked strangely familiar to him.

"I don't think I understand."

Odin blushed before taking one of the shells out of the box.

"See t-this one?" it was white and small. "You g-gave me this one when we we came here after that date at y-y-your house. And t-there's also this one from when we came here last-t month, and this one fr-from...."

Gil could hardly believe it. He didn't think Odin would really treasure all the shells he received from him. Gil really thought that Odin had either forgotten about them somewhere or that he simply didn't care. That's why the bracelet was so important for the gift, Gil wanted Odin to wear it and always remember him.

Then Odin pulled a purple shell from the box and Gil's eyes widened.

"This one was the first. You gave it to m-me after we started to date, remember? Cause I didn’t forget."

Oh no, he was going to cry!

Gil jumped on Odin and hugged him tightly. While Gil was busy, Odin caught Nevy's gaze towards them and blushed when she winked at him. God, this woman had a solution for everything. Just a quick message and Odin not only remembered the anniversary but also got the best idea for a gift. Well, now he had to think of something better for next year.

While the two boyfriends talked, Nevy turned to look at Maggie. The girl was going to be a challenge but Eiros asked for Nevy's help.

Well, one couple happy, three more to go.

#ava's demon #ava's demon summer exchange 2019 #summer exchange #lielking #Gil Marverde #odin arrow #maggie lacivi #gilodin #ava ire #Nevy Nervine

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foreverwayward · 5 years

Text

“Wayward Hearts” Season 2 Chapter 12: All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1

Summary: After the sudden death of John, Sam and Dean, along with Riley, continue their quest for vengeance. As Sam and Riley’s powers continue to grow, the three young hunters find themselves closer to the Yellow-Eyed demon than ever before. The strength within themselves and their loyalty to each other will be tested as they are left to fight their families’ lifelong war alone, unaware that unimaginable evil will lead them to face darkness itself as they carry the weight of their fathers’ legacies.

Masterlist

Word Count: 9,748

Content Warning: language violence

DISCLAIMER: any words or phrases in bold in the story are not my own and are credited to the writers of Supernatural.

**GIFS ARE NOT MY OWN**

The sun had set a few hours before Dean rolled the Impala down a side dirt road. Boston’s ‘Long Time’ blared through Baby as he pulled her to a stop in front of a small diner seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was tiny, and definitely only frequented by the locals. Freshly made mud and large, deep puddles from the recent rain surrounded it. Still, soft droplets fell from the darkened clouds.

“Hey, don’t forget the extra onions this time,” Dean told Sam over his shoulder as his brother sat in the backseat before handing him some money.

Sam sighed with frustration. “Dude, we’re the ones who’re gonna have to ride in the car with your extra onions.” He got out of the car and closed his door.

As Riley scooted in her seat, she told Dean, “he’s getting a butt-load of food. I’m gonna go help.”

“Uh--would you...would you actually just stay here with me for a second?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Dean chuckled nervously. “Man, I’m so bad at this stuff.” He leaned across the seat and opened the glovebox before pulling out a small, square box. Dean smirked and handed it to Riley.

“Wait...this is for me?” she asked in surprise.

“Well, I realized I don’t really do enough for you...and your birthday’s next week. I just--I didn’t wanna wait that long to give it to you.” Dean smiled with a shrug. “Open it.”

Riley lifted the top of the box to reveal a silver cuff bracelet. She grinned as she picked it up and inspected it. It was smooth all around and when she looked at the under side of the bracelet, there was an engraving. ‘Forever Yours.’ Riley couldn’t find the words to say as she sat quietly, just holding it in her hands.

But Dean was getting antsy in his seat waiting for a response. When she didn’t say anything, he let out a soft sigh of disappointment. “Shit. You hate it don’t you? Man, I knew it was lame. I just never--”

Her lips crashed into his with a smile still on her face. As Riley pulled away her eyes glistened up at him, making him weak in the knees. “I love it.” She slid it on and admired it on her wrist. “It’s perfect, Dean. Thank you.”

“Happy early birthday, sweetheart.” Dean gave her one last quick kiss, still trying to stop beaming with excitement that she approved of his gift. “I love you--you know that, right?”

“I know…” Riley replied dramatically as she quoted Han Solo and Dean chuckled. “Alright, I’m gonna go help Sam,” she started. “Be right back.”

Riley got out and closed the door behind her as Dean called out to her.

“Hey! See if they got any--”

“Pie!” she laughed. “I know. I know. I’m in the mood for some too. Be right back.” Riley jogged across the small, wooden makeshift bridge over the large ditch that had been filled with rainwater.

Dean nibbled on his bottom lip as he watched her scurry inside.

Through the window, he could see her meet up with Sam at the counter as they placed their orders. The older Winchester would never get tired of that girl or the way she made him feel.

He chortled to himself softly. Dean couldn’t help how genuinely happy Riley made him.

The stereo began to go staticky and he tapped the gauge trying to bring back the music. Lights that surrounded the small café began to flicker and Dean instantly began to worry.

Looking up into the diner, he saw that Sam and Riley were no longer there.

Dean got out of the car in a hurry and raced to the door. He swung it open only to see one of the restaurant’s patrons dead at his booth, covered in blood. The jukebox played through the deafening silence inside.

Dean drew his gun and slowly went inside. “Sam?” he called. “Riley?” As he came around the corner of the counter, there on the floor laid the cook and waitress; both with their throats slit open and drenched in warm pools of blood.

The backdoor was only a few more steps away and the hunter opened it to look outside. All he could see where the bare trees from the cold weather, soaked in rain.

“Guys?”

As he went to close the door, he could feel his hand had touched something. He turned his palm to look and noticed yellow dust. “Sulfur…”

The demon had been there. Dean’s eyes widened at the realization and his heart pounded in his chest.

Hurrying back to the front, he called for them both again and again. “Rye!...Sammy!” Dean began to shake with fear as he stared out into the quiet and empty darkness. “Riley!” he shouted at the top of his lungs in terror. “Sam!”

------

Sam laid still and unconscious on a small, worn wooden bridge that had collapsed into the mud.

As his eyes opened, he shot up in shock, realizing he wasn’t in the diner anymore and that the sun had already risen.

He warily stood as he surveyed all around him. Sam was in the middle of an old and abandoned town. There was no sign of anyone anywhere and it looked like something out of an old western movie; just like the ones Dean always watched.

Sam rubbed the mud off his hands and onto his pants before grabbing his phone from his pocket. The cell beeped letting him know there was no reception and he huffed in disbelief.

The mud slushed beneath his boots as Sam walked through the strip of the forgotten buildings. Most were broken down or boarded up with clearly no one being inside for quite some time.

Suddenly, Sam heard a creaking noise nearby and grabbed a plank of wood nearby to arm himself. Ready to fight, he neared the corner around the building and jumped out, brandishing the plank.

Andy, the psychic they had all met before, jumped and yelled out at the hunter’s near attack.

“...Andy?” Sam asked, in disbelief.

“Sam? What--what are you doing here?” he stumbled over his words with panic. “What am I doing here?”

“I don’t know…”

“Where are we?!”

“Andy, look--calm down.”

“Calm down?! I can’t calm down! I just woke up in fucking Frontierland!” Andy’s hands ran over his hair nervously as his head shot back and forth looking around.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Honestly? My fourth bong load,” he feigned a laugh, still scared. “It was weird. All of a sudden, there was this really intense smell. Like, uh…”

“Like sulfur?”

“How did you know that?”

Sam’s attention shifted as his mind went back to his family. “Dean...oh, man. Riley…”

“Your--your brother and sister?” Andy asked hopefully. “Are they here?”

“I don’t know if they are. I don’t even know if they’re…” Sam didn’t dare finish that thought.

The loud sound of a woman crying for help came from further down the stretch. The two looked at each other, acknowledging they would check it out as they jogged in the direction of the pleas.

As they reach a small abandoned structure, pounding came from the door that had been locked shut with a padlock.

“Hello?” Sam hesitated.

“Help me! Please, help me!” the woman begged.

“Okay, we’re gonna get you out. Hold on.” Grabbing a large rock nearby, Sam bashed the lock until it broke. He opened the door and out came Ava; yet another psychic he had met and who had gone missing months before. “Ava?”

She nearly collapsed into his arms as she wept. “Oh, my god. Sam!”

“So, I guess you know each other,” Andy added awkwardly from the side.

“How--how did you find me?”

Sam shook his head, confused. “Wait. Ava, have you been here this whole time?”

“What whole time? I just woke up in there, like, a half an hour ago.”

“Well, you’ve been gone for five months. My brother, Riley, and I have been looking for you everywhere.”

Ava smiled with discomfort thinking he had to have been joking. “Okay, that’s impossible, because I saw you two days ago.”

“You didn’t. I’m sorry,” Sam replied.

“But...that makes no sense. That’s not--oh, my god! My fiancée, Brady! If I’ve been missing for that long, he must be freaking out!” Tears streamed down her dirty face and she jumped finally noticing Andy.

With an uncomfortable wave, he met her gaze. “Hey...Andy--also freaking out.”

“Okay,” Ava turned to Sam. “What’s happening?”

A familiar voice called out from the other end of the town. “Sam!”

Sam’s heart leaped as he spun around to see Riley in a full sprint in his direction.

He caught her as she nearly jumped into his arms and Sam pulled her up close. Riley’s feet dangled for a second as they embraced. Putting her down, he looked her over for any injuries. “Are you hurt?”

“No, no. I’m okay.” Riley sighed. “Ugh. I’m just so glad I found you. Where’s Dean?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. But I do know one thing, I know what the four of us have in common.”

Again, another voice called from the distance; this time, a deep, male voice. “Hello? Anybody there?”

“...maybe more than four,” he added.

Riley, Sam, Andy, and Ava ran across the way, following the voice. Around the corner of the final building of the stretch was a tall, dark-skinned man in a military combat uniform. Beside him was a girl with long blonde hair.

“Hey...are you guys okay?” Sam panted.

“I think so,” the strange man replied.

“I’m Sam. This is my sister, Riley.”

“I’m Jake.”

“Lily…” the scared blonde answered.

Riley looked them over and was overwhelmed by the amount of static that she could hear around her. There were too many psychic kids together in one place. It was almost ear-piercing.

Then the overwhelming anxiety, fear, and shock from all of them rolled in all at once, making her almost gasp for air. Riley groaned and tried to focus it away.

Sam noticed her reaction and reached out to touch her with concern.

“I’m good. I’m good.” Riley looked back up at the others. “Are there any more of us?”

Lily shook her head softly. “How did we even get here? A minute ago, I was in San Diego.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Jake started, “last night, I went to sleep in Afghanistan.”

Taking a step closer, Riley’s eyes squinted with all she was battling in her mind, though she remained unmoved. “Let me guess. Everyone here is 23 and has some kind of ability.” Lily and Jake looked at her perplexed. “Started over a year ago. All of a sudden, you could do things that you never would have even imagined were possible.” They both nodded.

Sam jumped in, “I have visions. I see things before they happen.”

“Yeah, me too,” Ava told them.

Andy, being the quirky guy that he was, was more than happy to share his story. “Yeah, and I can put thoughts into people’s heads. Like, make them do stuff. But don’t worry, it--I don’t think it works on you guys.” He stopped and chuckled to himself. “Oh, but get this--I’ve been practicing; training my brain, like meditation. So now, it’s not just thoughts I can beam out, but images, too. Like, anything I want. Bam! People, they see it. This one guy I know--total dick, right? I used it on him: gay porn--all hours of the day,” Andy laughed, so pleased with himself. “It was just like--you should have seen the look on his face.” The other five seemed unamused while some even appeared to be disgusted by him. Andy stopped laughing and cleared his throat. “Uh...okay, then.”

Lily nearly shook with rage. “So, you go, ‘Simon says give me your wallet’, and they do?” Her eyes darted to Sam and Ava. “You have visions? That’s great! I’d kill for something like that. I touch people? Their hearts stop,” Lily yelled. “I can barely leave my house. My life’s not exactly improved. So, fuck you all. I just wanna go home.”

“We all do,” Sam replied calmly. “Look, we’re here whether we like it or not. So, we better figure out a way to deal.”

“Who brought us here?” Andy demanded.

“It’s less of a who--and more of a what.” Sam paused and bit his lip knowing what he was about to tell them, probably wasn’t going to be received well. “...it’s a demon.”

------

On the side of some highway, Bobby’s truck sat in front of the Impala as he and Dean both poured over maps on Baby’s hood. The sounds of distant traffic going by and the loud winds swirled around them.

“Bobby, you gotta be joking,” Dean huffed. “There’s nothing on the map. Seriously? No demonic signs, anywhere?”

“That’s what I’m sayin’. Nothin’. Not even low-level shit like exorcisms. It’s gone totally quiet.”

Dean nearly rolled his eyes, but still raised his voice in frustration. “Well, how the fuck are we supposed to find them, huh? Just close our eyes and point?” His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket as he flipped it open, seeing the caller ID. “Ash, that you?”

“Yeah,” the drunken hick replied. “Listen, it’s a big negatory on Sam and Riley--”

“Oh, come on, man!” the hunter barked. “You gotta give us something. We’re looking at a three-thousand-mile haystack here!”

“Look, Dean--I did find something but,” he paused and spoke more quietly. “I can’t talk about it on this line.”

“No, no, no, Ash. I don’t have time for this shit.”

“Well, make time,” Ash nearly yelled. Again, his voice hushed. “Not only does this almost definitely help you find your brother and your girlfriend, this is--it’s huge. So get here. Now.” The line went dead as he hung up.

Dean closed his phone and looked up at Bobby. “I guess we’re going to the Roadhouse. Come on.”

------

Back in the abandoned town, the others tried to absorb what Sam had just told them.

Jake crossed back over to the two hunters, his voice full of disbelief and anger. “So, we’re soldiers in a demon war to bring on the Apocalypse and for some reason, we’ve been picked? I mean...why? Why us?”

“He’s right,” Ava agreed. “I mean spoon-bending and psychics is one thing but...demons?”

“You know you sound absolutely bat-shit, right?”

Riley jumped in, no longer having the patience to argue. “Hey! Look, we don’t really care what you think. But if we’re all here...together, that means it’s starting.”

“No,” Jake shook his head. “No way. I’m not dealing with a bunch of whack-jobs. I’ve heard enough. I’m outta here.”

“Jake!” Riley called, as the soldier ignored her and disappeared out of sight. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Sam, we can’t make them believe us. But if we don’t follow that dumbass, he’s gonna get himself killed.”

Sam nodded in agreement and they all chased after him with the hunters leading the way.

They stopped at the center of town, waiting for a signal of where he had gone. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw movement and turned in its direction. He pointed at the old schoolhouse, “there.”

Everyone rushed over and as they went inside, there was Jake. His eyes wide with fear as an evil looking little girl growled at him. Her face contorted and her nails grew into claws as she stood ready to charge him.

There was an old metal fireplace near the entrance with an iron poker leaning against it. Riley grabbed it and swung it like a baseball bat through the creature.

It turned a large cloud of dark smoke and darted past the others through the doorway.

“Don’t know how easy you catch on, Jake...but that was a demon.” She looked at her brother. “Sam? ...Acheri, you think?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.” Sam gave his attention to the others. “Acheri are, uh--demons that disguise themselves as a little girl. But that still doesn’t tell us where the fuck we are.” Sam’s gaze went to Andy, who looked rattled and his eyes were locked on the ground. “Andy? You still with us?”

Andy stood dazed and slowly put up a finger. “Gimme a minute. I’m still working through...‘demons are real’.”

The group walked on as they followed Sam and Riley. Clearly, the two were going to be their best bet to get out of there alive.

In front of one of the abandoned buildings stood a wooden structure holding a rusty bell. The shape of a large tree with spread out branches was etched onto its front.

Sam looked more closely at the old bell as their breaths formed clouds with their every exhale. “I know that bell. I think I know where we are, Rye,” Sam told his sister. “Cold Oak, South Dakota. A town so haunted, every single resident fled.”

“Oh, good. Gotta love a surprise field trip,” she replied in sarcasm. “Why the hell would the demon bring us here?”

“I was wondering the same thing.”

Lily stood, fidgeting with her long, chain necklace. Her feet shuffled beneath her as her anxiety grew and Riley could feel it becoming too much for her. “You know what? I don’t give a damn why. Clearly, the only sane thing is to get the hell outta Dodge.” Blowing off the rest of the group, Lily began to stride away.

“Lily, wait!” Riley called out. “There’s nothing around us but miles of woods--no way you’ll find your way out.”

“I don’t care. Beats hanging out here with demons.”

“We don’t even know what’s going on or have any clue how many of them are out there.”

The blonde woman spun around trying to hide her shaking hands and nearly yelled back. “We? There is no we. I have nothing in common with any of you! You don’t know anything about me!” Lily paused and struggled not to cry as she choked on her words. “I--I accidentally touched my girlfriend.”

All five of the others were stunned and at a loss for words.

Riley took a few steps toward Lily, hoping to connect with her. “I’m so sorry.”

“Whatever,” she sniffled. “I feel like I’m in a nightmare, and it just keeps getting worse and worse.”

Looking at Lily, Riley waited for her to meet her gaze. When Lily’s eyes found, hers, she walked towards her. “Sam and I--we’ve lost people too. His brother--my boyfriend? He’s out there somewhere right now and…” her voice trailed off and she looked over at Sam. “The truth is, we don’t even know if he’s okay. I know this is bad. But, please, we’ve gotta stick together.” Riley was nearly pleading with the woman she had only just met, afraid for her safety.

“Fine,” Lily replied softly and with no expression.

Riley nodded and feigned a tight lip smile as she went to Sam’s side. They lead the others on, back into the town as the hunters searched for answers.

“We’re looking for iron, salt, silver--any kind of weapon,” Sam told them all.

“Salt is a weapon?” Jake asked.

“It’s a brave new world, Jake.”

Andy’s shorter legs worked double-time to keep up with the two large men. “Well, I hope there’s food in this world of yours ‘cause I’m fuckin starving.”

As they all entered one of the structures, Lily stayed behind. She waited for them all to file inside before she briskly wandered off on her own toward the outskirts of town.

------

Dean and Bobby had made their long drive to the Roadhouse. They pulled into the familiar dirt lot only to find the saloon completely scorched. It had been burned to the ground. Only small parts of the building still stood as the smoke wafted from the recent fire.

“...what the fuck?” Dean almost prayed.

The two looked at each other in shock as the Impala parked.

Slowly, with hesitation and fear, they got out and walked toward what remained of the Roadhouse. The hunters walked carefully through the debris and rubble, looking for what had possibly happened. Everything had been destroyed. Burned body parts jutted out from under the fallen roof and the smell of death lingered in the air.

Bobby’s hand drug down his mouth. “...my god.”

“You see Ellen?”

“No. No Ash either.”

Dean crouched down at the sight of something he had seen before. On the wrist of a charred arm, was a watch. One that he knew belonged to Ash. “Oh, Ash...dammit!” he nearly growled.

------

Inside one of the buildings in Cold Oak, Riley and Sam rifled through all the could find, looking for something to arm themselves with.

Ava sat nearby rubbing her head, trying to soothe herself. Slight groans of discomfort came from her as clattering noises continued from the search.

“Hey, you alright?” Sam questioned with concern.

Ava kept her eyes shut. “Yeah, I just--I don’t know. I got dizzy.”

“You sure it’s not some kind of--”

“What?” she interrupted looking at him. “Some kind of ‘freaky vision thing’?” Ava sighed. “No, more like ‘I’d kill for a sandwich’. I haven’t eaten since...well, who knows? Don’t worry though. Except for everything that’s happening, I’m totally fine.”

Riley’s boots lightly stomped on the floor as she came from the other room. “Here, this is all I could find so far,” she handed a hunting knife to Sam.

He waited, unsure if he should take it from her and she gestured for him to. Sam relented and took it before putting it into his waistband as he handed Riley the iron poker.

“You guys!” Andy yelled from nearby. “I found something!”

The hunters, Ava, and Jake went to answer his call. Andy was holding up two large sacks labeled ‘SALT’ as he giggled goofily, thrilled with what he had found.

All their attention went to the sound of a loud, distant thud and they all froze.

Riley looked up at Sam with a realization. “Lily’s gone.”

Before Sam could respond, the sound of an evil childish giggle came from around them. It was as if was in the room with them and outside all at once.

“Lily!” they took turns shouting. “Lily!”

They all walked out the front door and down the steps to the dirt road. Their eyes caught a glimpse of movement as they honed in on the water tower down the way. Hanging from it, was a rope; and at the bottom, Lily swung from a noose by her neck. She was already dead with her feet dangling and her body slightly moving in the cool breeze. The group stood still in horror.

“Oh, my God!” Ava cried out as she covered her mouth in shock. “Okay, that’s officially--Sam, she’s dead! She’s dead! You said we were chosen for a reason. That is not chosen! That’s...killed!” She shook her head rapidly and turned with certainty to leave. “Okay, we have to get out of here.”

Never looking away from Lily’s hanging corpse, Andy swallowed hard. “Yeah, I second that emotion.”

“I’m not sure that’s an option,” Jake said plainly.

Sam took Ava’s shoulders to stop her and for her look at him. She needed to see how serious he was. “Lily was trying to leave. The demon’s not gonna let us get away that easy. We’ve gotta gear up for the next attack.”

“Gear up?!” Ava barked through her tears. “I’m not a soldier. I can’t do that!”

“Well, if you wanna stay alive, you’re gonna have to.” Sam’s stare went back to the body that spoke loudly as a warning to them all. “Let’s go.”

Jake’s military protocol kicked in and was very matter of face as he told them, “I’ll go get her down.”

Ava disappeared back inside, the heels of her boots clicking on the worn wood as she cried. Riley anxiously fiddled with her useless phone before tucking it back into her jacket. “What I would give for cell reception. I wish Dean was here.”

Suddenly, Andy was struck with a thought. “You know, you may not need one. I’ve never tried long-distance before, but do you have anything of Dean’s on you? Like--something he touched?”

Looking down at the silver cuff on her wrist, Riley fiddled with it briefly before taking it off. That beautiful moment they shared in the Impala the night before was all too fleeting. At least she still had a piece of him with her.

“Here,” she uttered softly.

Andy took it from her and noticed the inscription inside before glancing up at her. He realized in that instant how much the two meant to each other. He cleared his throat and refocused.

“Alright…”

------

Still in shock over their find at the destroyed Roadhouse, Bobby and Dean went through the wreckage. They searched for clues on whatever Ash had been trying to tell them, but with no luck.

The hunters were finally ready to get back into the Chevy, their hearts heavy with sorrow and worry.

“What the hell did Ash know? We’ve got no way of knowing where Ellen is, or if she’s even alive. We’ve got no clue what Ash was gonna tell us. Now, how the fuck are we gonna find Sam and Riley?

“We’ll find them, Dean.” Bobby was determined to be as unmoved as possible in front of the boy he helped raise. Dean needed a father figure at that moment and Bobby would be damned if he didn’t give him that comfort. Not a second passed before Dean clutched at his head in pain. “Dean?”

The young hunter doubled over and groaned as a flickering image quickly flashed through his mind. It was the same bell in the abandoned town the psychics were trapped in.

“What was that?” Bobby questioned with concern.

“I don’t know,” Dean panted. “A headache?”

“You get headaches like that a lot?”

“No. Must be the stress.” Dean let out a breathy and uncomfortable chuckle. “I could have sworn I saw something.”

“What do you mean? Like a vision? Like what Sam gets?”

“What? No!” he snapped. “Come on, I’m not some fucking psychic.” Abruptly, Dean was hit with another vision and he fell against the car in agony as he cried out. There was another image. Only that time...it was of Sam and Riley.

“Dean? Dean!” Bobby rushed to him and took his shoulder. “Dean? Are you with me?”

Dean laid on the hood, trying to catch his breath. “Yeah, I think so. I saw them. I saw them, Bobby.”

“...It was a vision.”

“Yeah. I don’t know how, but yeah,” Dean stood up and squinted his eyes. “...whew. That was about as fun as getting kicked in the jewels.”

“What else did you see?”

“Uh… there was a bell…”

“What kind of bell?”

“Li--like a big--a big bell,” Dean fumbled over his words, still feeling drained. “...with some kind of engraving on it, I don’t know.

“Engraving?” Bobby’s face flattened as he asked, “was it a tree? Like, an oak tree?”

“Yeah...exactly.”

“I know where they are.”

------

The air in the town of Cold Oak stood still with a biting cold. It was enough to nip at their noses and make the tip of their fingers slightly ache.

Jake, Riley, and Sam were in the aged and forgotten barn, searching for pieces of iron to arm themselves with. Old machinery filled the open space and they were pulling off weak and worn pieces that would meet their needs.

As Sam and Riley struggled, Jake yanked off a bar with his bare hands as if it was nothing. They stopped their efforts and looked up at him in awe.

Realizing he had just revealed his abilities, Jake paused and looked at his new found weapon. “I’m not Superman or anything. It’s no big deal.”

“You were in Afghanistan when this started?” Sam asked, realizing how little they knew about the soldier.

“Yeah, I started getting headaches, and then there was this accident. This guy flipped his vehicle on a bad road. He got pinned underneath. I lifted it off him like it was nothing. Everybody said it was a fluke adrenaline thing.”

“But then you did it again, right?”

“Bench-pressed 800 pounds, stone-cold calm. I never told anybody, of course. It was just too crazy.”

Sam chuckled. “Yeah. Crazy’s relative.”

“I’m starting to get that.” Jake looked over at Riley and tilted up his head as if letting her know he was talking to her. “I really appreciate what you both are doing, by the way.”

She looked at the tall man across the large, rusted tractor between them with curiosity. “What are we doing exactly?”

“Keeping calm--keeping them calm. Especially considering how freaked to hell you both really are. I’ve been in some deep shit before, myself. I know the look.”

After a long pause, Sam leaned against the tractor and sighed. “You wanna know the truth? I got this brother, right? And he’s always telling me how he’s gonna watch out for me, how everything’s gonna be okay. That’s how he’s been with Riley from day one too. You know, kind of like we’ve been telling the others.”

“Sam,” Riley’s voice was soft and solemn. “I don’t wanna admit it. But I don’t know if Dean’s right this time. I don’t think it will be okay. I’ve felt that way for so long now because something big is coming--bigger than any of us have ever seen. It’s gonna get bad, Sam.” She felt almost guilty for admitting that in front of Jake, but he seemed to understand more than the rest of the group. “I don’t know if we’re gonna make it out of this.”

Her brother wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his side, lovingly. “Me neither, Rye. But all that matters is that we make sure they believe it.”

Jake nodded at what Sam had said. The three soldiers stood in mutual silence, knowing that night might very well be one of their last.

------

Back inside with Ava and Andy, they all split up to line the building’s doors and windows with salt. Lit candles they had stumbled upon were their only light except for the full moon that cast down over them and bled through the windows.

“My horoscope said I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed,” Ava joked with a scoff. Dried tears stained her face as she stared off. “How you guys doing? Holding up?” she asked the hunters.

Sam glanced to Riley who just shrugged. “Yeah, I guess we’re alright. You?”

“Not so alright.” She paused and then studied the other woman in the room. “So, Riley...what’s your story?”

“Rye...she uh--she’s not exactly like us,” Sam answered, turning to his partner with a quirky smirk.

“I’m an empath and a telepath. I have a weird connection to people’s souls and pulled a demon out of someone once. I think I killed it.” Riley folded her arms as she leaned against the wooden walls. “But it was crazy; there was a glow and something else I can barely remember...it was like I went ‘Jedi’ or ‘X-Men’ all of a sudden.”

“That’s friggin’ awesome,” Andy chuckled as he re-entered the room.

Ava looked at her with curiosity. “Wait. Why is yours so different?”

“Honestly?” Riley asked. “I don’t know.”

“Why us? What did we do to deserve this?”

With no real answer to her question, Sam tossed out the first thought that came to mind. “Just lucky, I guess.”

“If it wasn’t for bad luck, we’d have no luck at all. I just can’t wait for this all to be over so I can just pretend it never happened. I just wanna curl up with Brady and watch bad TV.” Ava noticed Riley and Sam shift uncomfortably at what she had said. “What is it? Do you know something that I don’t?”

Riley sucked in her lips, gaining the strength to tell her the truth as she took slow strides towards Ava. “I wish so badly that I didn’t have to tell you this, Ava...”

“Tell me what?”

“When the demon came for you in your house that night, your--” Riley felt sick as she paused. “Your fiancé--I’m so sorry, but he didn’t make it.”

Ava seemed to buckle under the weight of what Riley had just told her. “No, that’s…no!”

As she began to sob, Riley took Ava in her arms to comfort her. Her tears soaked the hunter’s shoulder as she shook.

Still, there was a strange feeling in the air. Ava’s emotions poured from her like a broken faucet, and yet...Riley couldn’t feel any of them.

------

Later that night, the entire group sat silently in the main room. Fear, anxiety, and dread hung over them like a dark cloud and engulfed them all. Some had fallen asleep, while others were too scared to. Both Sam and Riley sat at the base of the wall, leaning against each other. Their eyes fluttered as they struggled to stay awake.

In an instant, in the corner of the room, stood the yellow-eyed demon. Riley and Sa grabbed the other’s hand as their breaths hitched in fear.

“Jake! Behind you!” Sam pointed and shouted.

But Jake stood completely composed, not hearing a single word.

“Howdy, kiddos,” the demon smirked.

Riley’s eyebrows scrunched. “We’re--we’re dreaming.”

“What do you say we all take a little walk?” The creature stared down at them both as its eyes glowed through the darkness.

Reluctantly, the two stood, still holding onto their sibling. As the demon walked outside, they followed close behind. Their eyes filled with hate and a desire to destroy the thing that had ruined their lives.

“You two are awfully quiet. You’re not mad at me, are you?”

Sam’s jaw clenched as he got closer to the demon. He bared his teeth as he seethed, “I’m gonna fucking tear you to shreds, I swear to--”

It chuckled. “When you wake up, tiger, you give it your best shot.”

“Where’s Dean?” Riley bit.

“Quit worrying about Dean. I’d worry more about yourselves.”

“Why? You gonna kill us?”

“I’m trying to help you,” Yellow-eyes said turning toward them. “That’s why we’re talking. You’re the ones I’m rooting for.” It continued to walk on.

Sam looked down at Riley quickly before questioning, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Welcome to the Miss America pageant. Why do you think you’re here? This is a competition. Only one of you crazy kids is gonna make it out of here alive.”

“I thought we were supposed to be--?”

“Soldiers in a coming war? That’s true--you are. But, here’s the thing: I don’t need soldiers. I need a soldier. I just need the one. But when it comes to you two, I’m willing to make an exception.”

Riley shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

Stopping again, the demon spun around to smile malevolently. “Well, I couldn’t just come out and say that, could I? I had to let everyone think they had a fighting chance.” Its yellow eyes fell on Riley, “but you, my dear. As I’ve told you, are my diamond in the rough.”

“And again, you still haven’t told me what that means, you sick fuck.”

The demon laughed to itself. “I always loved how feisty you are. So, fiery.” It took steps to close the space between them and though Riley shook, she stood her ground. The creature inhaled deeply as if it was taking in her scent. “Never, have I met someone like you. Someone... so special.” With another smirk, pleased with itself, it went on. “I know you wonder why you’re different from the rest. Why your abilities have gone into overdrive, so to speak.” Riley’s face twitched with rage. “Your blood--your family’s blood...it’s special.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Dear old daddy, he was special himself, wasn’t he? More entuned with others, especially you--always knowing what you needed and understanding you. My girl, he was an empath--the most powerful one I’d ever met actually...until you that is.”

Riley’s eyes grew. “...what?”

Sam took her hand and it seemed to amuse the demon.

“When you died so brutally on that dirty motel floor,” it sneered. “--poor Jackson was so heartbroken. Not just at your death, but that he could no longer feel his ‘baby girl’. The bond you shared--he couldn’t live without it.”

Her eyes welled at the thought of how close she and her father were; how it did always feel like he could almost read her mind.

Jackson was a unique man with one of the most compassionate hearts she had ever known. After living as an empath herself, it finally made sense; Jack lived with the burden of carrying the pain of others.

No words came from her as Riley choked on the lump in her throat.

“But, back to tonight’s million dollar answer--what I need...is a leader.”

Sam could feel his blood boiling beneath his skin. “To lead who?”

“Oh, I’ve already got my army. Or...I will soon, anyway.”

“You son of a bitch”

“Honestly, I’m surprised you hadn’t guessed. I mean, why do you think so many children flamed out already? Max Miller and Andy’s brother, what’s-his-name? They weren’t strong enough. I’m looking for the best and brightest of your generation.”

The soft drizzle of rain slowly had frizzed and dampened their hair as they continued their conversation. Sam had more questions than he knew what to do with. “Our generation?”

“Well, there’s other generations, but let’s just worry about yours. That’s why I’m here. I wanna give you both the inside track. You’re tough. You’re smart. You’re well-trained, thanks to your daddies. Sammy,” the demon’s voice poisoned his nickname. “Little Riley...you’re my favorites,” it whispered almost seductively. “Only one of you all are supposed to make it out, but I’ll make you a deal.”

Riley scoffed as she felt her teeth grind. “I don’t make deals.”

Yellow-eyes chortled through its nose. “Not that kind of deal, sweetheart.”

She loathed hearing it call her what Dean always did in love.

“If you can both survive, then we’ll call it a day. Sam, you--you will be my soldier; the leader of my forces. And Riley,” he hissed. “You--you my dear are worthy of so much more. I want you at my side. We would rule together over a new world. I can teach you to use your abilities in ways you never imagined. You could be more powerful than anything the world has ever known. I don’t know what made you what you are, but--” the demon licked it’s bottom lip as it sized her up. “--I’m itching to find out. You and I--we could be immortal...together.”

“I would rather die,” Riley snapped through her teeth.

“Well, that’s not something I want to happen. So...make sure it doesn’t,” it winked with a hooked eyebrow.

“You ruined our lives,” Sam’s wrath dripped from his words. “You killed everyone we loved.”

“The cost of doing business, I’m afraid. I mean, sweet little Jessica--she just had to die. You were all set to marry that little blonde thing, become a tax lawyer with two kids, a beer gut, and a little McMansion in the suburbs.”

“And Deb?” Riley’s lip trembled, afraid of the answer.

An evil grin crept up the demon’s face that sent chills up the hunter’s spine. “Auntie hated your hunting gig, didn’t she? Hated that she couldn’t keep you safe. Sweet Debbie was gonna make you a partner at the diner. She knew you wouldn’t be able to turn down her offer. You would have been stuck in Lawrence, and you would never have partnered up with Sammy here.”

Riley could hear a serpent-like hissing coming from inside the creature.

“Why do you think you can hear his thoughts and not the others? You were meant to be together. I had to ensure that--ensure that you had that bond. And I needed you both sharp, on the road, honing your skills--your gifts.”

Sam’s hand clenched in Riley’s. “What about our moms?”

“That was bad luck. They walked in on us. Wrong place, wrong time. It was never about them. It was always about you two.” There was a long pause as the hunters stood frozen in shock of all they had just been told. The demon snickered. “I’m feeling like you’ve caught me in a charitable mood. I’ll show you what I mean.”

The demon snapped its fingers and suddenly, Riley and Sam stood in a nursery with the evil creature at their side. They were both dumbfounded as their eyes scanned over the room. Soft blue walls surrounded them with the windows adorned in printed curtains. Stuffed animals were nearly on every shelf and a glowing nightlight moon cast it’s soft glow onto a wooden crib in the middle of the room. Inside, laid a baby boy in a blue onesie, his eyes filled with tears as he cooed and cried quietly. Next to the crib, stood a tall, dark shadow that hovered over the infant.

They were in Sam’s nursery on that fateful night over 23 years ago.

“Look familiar?” Yellow-eyes asked, teasingly. “It should.”

“Oh, my god…” Sam uttered under his breath.

Riley looked up at him with silent questions, but could see from the tears in his eyes exactly where they were.

Sam and Riley both went to charge over towards the crib, but the demon put out an arm to stop them. “Relax, kids. This is just a high-def instant replay. Enjoy the show.”

A young Mary Winchester walked into the room to answer baby Sam’s cries, shuffling her feet in exhaustion. She noticed the dark figure and assumed it was John. “Is he hungry?”

The creature just replied with a silent, “Shh.”

As she turned to leave, Sam panicked and yelled for her. “Mom! Mom!”

“What did I just tell you? She can’t hear you. This isn’t real.”

Riley and Sam watched in horror as the memory played out.

Yellow-eyes had slowly cut his wrist with his long and claw-like nails. With that slit open, drops of blood fell onto the lips and in the mouth of baby Sam.

“What the fuck are you doing to him?” Riley demanded.

“You mean, what did I do for you both?” The demon’s eyes met hers as she trembled. “Oh yes, consider this a snippet into my visit to your bedside as well.” Yellow-eyes gave his attention back to the flashback. “Better than mother’s milk.”

“Does this mean that we have--demon blood in us?” Sam’s fury grew, but Riley could feel disgust with himself growing alongside it. “Answer me!” he shouted.

At that moment, Mary rushed back into the room. She came to a quick halt as she grasped the door frame and looked inside. The demon turned at her return and glared its yellow eyes.

“It’s you,” she uttered.

“She knew you!” Sam reacted in shock.

Mary began to walk closer to the crib as an unseen force thrust her back against the wall. She was stuck, with her arms almost above her head, completely at the demon’s mercy.

They all watched as Mary slowly moved up the wall until she is pinned on the ceiling above them.

Riley covered her mouth and gasped in terror.

“No! No!” Sam screamed.

“I don’t think you wanna see the rest of this.” Yellow-eyes snapped his fingers once again and they were all back in Cold Oak.

Both Sam and Riley were still leaning against the same wall they had been when their dream began.

“Guys, wake up!” Andy pleaded.

Sam and Riley panted heavily as they caught their bearings and looked up at Andy and Jake.

“Ava’s gone.”

------

Riley, Sam, and Jake rushed outside, their shoes squishing in the fresh mud. Andy had stayed inside to wait in case she would come back.

“Sam, you go check the hotel. Jake--the houses.” Riley ordered. “I’ll take the barn.”

Sam nodded. “Meet back here in ten minutes.”

They all headed off towards their designated searches, alone and into the dark.

Meanwhile, Andy had been watching them from the window. He turned to walk into the next open space and his feet creaked on the wood as he carefully stepped over the salt.

When he looked up, Ava was in the room with him. Little did he know she was dragging a finger across the windowsill, breaking the salt line.

“Ava! Where’d you go? Didn’t you hear us yelling?”

She turned around with no expression on her face. “Yeah, I heard you.” Ava’s face was cold and vacant as she put her fingers to her temples in concentration.

A cloud of black demon smoke appeared outside the window. With the line broken, it slithered under the crack and inside.

Andy stood motionless, confused and scared. “What are you doing?”

The smoke quickly materialized into the demon girl they had seen before. It bared its claws and snarled at Andy before wasting no time to attack. He was forced to the floor and screamed in pain as his chest was ripped open. Andy’s blood splattered all around and shot onto the window pane. It poured into the cracks of the wooden paneled floor as Andy choked on his own blood before meeting an agonizing end.

Studying his corpse, Ava grew more and more amused with a sinister smile on her face for a brief second. She then suddenly let out a deafening scream.

After hearing her blood-curdling cries, the hunters outside sprinted back to the house. They saw her crying and quaking with fear as she pointed to Andy’s body on the floor.

Sam and Riley stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of their friend’s mangled body. Riley gasped.

“Oh, my god. You guys,” Ava’s words were almost unintelligible as she sobbed. “I just found him like this!”

“Jesus Christ,” Sam almost gagged staring at the scene. “What happened?”

Riley shook her head adamantly. “No. No way that thing got in here.” She went to the window and checked the salt lines to see one broken and turned to back to Ava sternly. “Who did that, Ava?”

“I don’t know--maybe Andy…”

With a serious voice, Sam interrupted her. “Andy wouldn’t do that. That line wasn’t broken when we left.” There was silence between them before he grew angry for an answer. “Ava!”

“What? You don’t think that I--?” she blubbered.

Stepping closer, Riley’s face grew stone cold and challenging. “I’ll tell you what I think, Ava. You’re the only one of us with time that was unaccounted for; five months of time. And you got a headache right before the demon got to Lily, didn’t you?”

Sam put the pieces together at the same time his sister did and they shared a knowing look. They both stared her down, demanding answers.

Ava dropped her act as her fake tears ran down her face. She sniffled and laughed a little. “Had you going though, didn’t I?” Ava wiped her eyes as if it was nothing. “Yeah. I’ve been here a long time, and not alone either. People just keep showing up--children, like us. Batches of three or four at a time.”

“Oh my god,” Riley almost whispered. “You killed them all.”

“I’m the undefeated heavyweight champ. And I don’t think ‘god’ had much to do with this, Riley.”

“How could you?” Sam scoffed with a look of disgust.

“I had no choice,” she replied, all too matter-of-fact about it. “It's me or them. After a while, it was easy. It was even kind of fun. I just stopped fighting it.”

“Fighting what?”

“Who we are, Sam. If you'd just quit your hand-wringing and open yourself up, you have no idea what you can do. The learning curve is so fast, it’s crazy--the switches that just flip in your brain.” Ava chuckled. “I can’t believe I started out just having dreams. Do you know what I can do now?”

“Control demons.”

“Ah, you are quick on the draw. You know, Riley, when you told me about your abilities, I was sure you’d already decided to play for the other team. But...doesn’t really matter now.” Putting her hands to her head, Ava focused once more. “Yeah, I’m sorry, guys. But it’s over.”

That same cloud of black smoke returned to the window.

Just as it was about to enter, Jake came from behind Ava and wrapped his arms around her throat. In one swift motion, he twisted her neck, killing her instantly.

As Ava’s body thumped to the ground, the demonic smoke turned in the other direction, disappearing once again.

------

“I think we can make it out of here now,” Sam told Riley and Jake as they left the building.

Riley nodded. “I think you’re right. She was the one summoning the Acheri. Now that she’s dead, it shouldn’t come back.”

“Yeah, we gotta go.”

As Riley and Sam walked slightly ahead, Jake shook his head. “Not ‘we’.”

The hunters turned to him, stunned.

“Only one of us is getting out of here. I--I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I had a vision. That Yellow-Eyed demon or whatever it was--he talked to me. He told me how it was.”

Riley’s breath quickened as she pleaded with Jake. “No, no, you can’t listen to it, okay?”

“He’s not letting us go--” Jake told them sternly. “Only one. Now, if we don’t play along, he’ll kill all three of us. Now, I--I like you both--I do, but do the math here. What good’s it do for all of us to die? Now, I can get out of here. I get close to the demon--I can kill the bastard.”

“Come with us and we will kill it together, Jake.”

“There’s no way for me to know you won’t turn on me.”

“Okay, look,” Sam slowly took out his knife and showed it to Jake before placing it on the ground. Both he and Riley slightly put their hands up in surrender to offer peace. “Just come with us, Jake. Don’t do this. Don’t play into what it wants.”

After a tense pause, Jake moved to place his piece of metal onto the ground and the hunters sighed with relief.

“Okay,” Sam exhaled.

Suddenly, Jake punched Sam. The soldier’s super-strength sent him flying across the field, thudding to the ground.

Riley went to dive for a weapon. Though before she could even bend down, she too was struck. She went into the air and crashed through the nearby wooden fence. It broke on impact as Riley went unconscious.

Sam was on the ground, winded and groaning in pain. When he looked up all he could do was watch as Jake strode over to him quickly and with purpose.

The soldier reared his foot back, ready to punt Sam in the head, the hunter kicked back at him. The two exchanged hit after hit with Sam still on the ground before he leveraged himself up.

Each landed multiple punches, but one powerful blow hit Sam’s right shoulder with a bone-crunching sound. The pain knocked him back to the ground. Sam forced himself up swiftly, moaning through the pain of his broken bones.

Jake approached again and swung at Sam as the hunter ducked out of the way. The soldier’s punch went through a wooden railing, temporarily holding him in place.

Taking his opportunity, Sam kneed Jake several times before kicking him down. The soldier laid there for a moment, out of breath, before fumbling to stand.

It was then that Sam picked up the iron bar that Jake had surrendered earlier and struck him with it, knocking him out.

As Sam got closer to Jake, he stood over him, looking at him with ragged breaths and anger. Sam lifted the bar, ready to strike, but hesitated.

At that moment, Sam decided not to be the monster he feared becoming. He would choose his own destiny just as Riley and Dean told him he could.

So, tossing the bar to the ground, Sam reluctantly showed Jake mercy and stumbled away.

With her eyes struggling to open, Riley grabbed at her throbbing head. Her body felt limp and heavy as she tried to get up. When it was too difficult, her face collapsed back into the small patch of grass.

Suddenly, a feeling Riley had never experienced before consumed her. It was as if the clock had stopped and she was frozen in time.

A flashing image flickered through her mind. She watched as Sam collapsed to his knees into the mud. His eyes rolled back before his lids shut, never to open again.

Riley and Dean held his lifeless body and sobbed, begging for their brother to come back to them. Dean cried out for Sam with his hands covered in his little brother’s blood.

Riley could feel every emotion as though it was actually happening. The loss of Sam tore at her in a way she hadn’t felt since the death of her father. Air left her lungs as her walls fell. Dean’s grief, toppled with her own, was enough to make Riley wonder if dying alongside Sam would be less painful than a life without him.

As the vision ended, Riley’s eyes were flooded with tears. Her body trembled in agony, still reeling from the premonition. Riley’s vision didn’t show her what exactly would happen to Sam, but she had to stop it. If she didn’t, her brother would die in that field that night.

Across the way, Riley could see Sam, holding onto his shoulder making his way over to her.

“Riley…” he cried.

Jake was nowhere in sight, so Riley used all the strength she had left to pull herself to her feet. She groaned as every muscle hurt from the collision into the fence. Blood dripped down the side of her head as she began to hobble across the field to Sam.

They nearly collapsed into each other’s arms, both staggering from sheer exhaustion after the beatings they had taken.

“Sam! Riley!”

Turning to the sound of Dean calling their names, the two saw him and Bobby in the distance. Their flashlights bounced around as they began their approach to the wounded hunters.

Riley and Sam started to trudge through the wet ground beneath them with smiles on their faces.

“Dean!” Sam called with a grin and heavy breath.

Dean’s voice turned to one of panic as he screamed, “guys, look out!” He and Bobby immediately began to run towards them.

In that instant, Riley heard static coming from behind them growing louder and louder. She knew, Jake was back and coming for them both. Riley’s vision wouldn’t come true because she would make sure that it didn’t.

Without hesitation, Riley shoved Sam’s weak body away, hard into the ground before spinning on her heel.

As if in slow motion, Riley looked up as she turned to see herself face to face with the soldier. A pain she had never known hit her with force and she gasped out. Riley’s mouth fell slightly agape as she looked down at the handle of the blade that had been thrust under her ribcage. Her eyes went back to Jake’s as he twisted the knife, hard, briefly picking her up off her feet by the hilt.

“No!!!” Dean screamed at the top of his lungs. He sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him, his terrified voice echoing through the quiet night.

The blade squelched as Jake pulled it from her body. He knew he couldn’t stay and took off in a desperate attempt to escape from the wrath of the others.

Sam could barely move as he cried her name deep from his gut in agony, “Riley!” He stumbled to his feet, hunched and weak.

Riley’s hands clutched at her fresh wound while warm blood poured over them. She was in a state of shock, only releasing small groans of pain, her feet fumbling to turn back toward the brothers.

Her eyes glistened with tears as she realized what had just happened. Riley’s knees gave way and she collapsed to the ground just as Sam had in her vision.

Dean slid across the mud to grasp her by the jacket and hold her up as Sam fell beside them. His large hands grabbed at her along with his brother’s. Bobby never stopped running as he charged in Jake’s direction with his shotgun in hand.

Riley looked at Dean as blood found its way to the corner of her mouth. A small gurgle came from her throat and she slightly twitched in his hands.

“Rye,” he pleaded. “Lemme look at you.” Dean glanced down at her blood covered hands and put one of his on top of them.

Both Winchesters kept saying her name, desperately trying to keep her alert.

“Baby, stay with me, okay?” Dean told her.

Riley’s head wobbled weakly as she began to go limp.

Sam’s eyes filled up as he brushed the hair away from her face and choked on his words. “Riley…? Rye--please…”

“We got you,” Dean said lovingly as his voice broke. “We got you. We’re here. We’re gonna patch you up, okay? I’m gonna take care of you. I promised--I would always take care of you.” His hands held the sides of her face trying to get her to look at him.

The blue eyes that brought Dean to life and gave him purpose began to flutter shut. “Rye. Rye. Riley, look at me, sweetheart.”

Her body slumped forward into his arms while both brothers begged for her to hold on.

“No, no, no, no, no...baby, not like this…” Dean cried. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her as her blood soaked through his shirt. The warmth of it dripped down his chest and Riley’s face crashed into the crook of his neck.

With his hand in her hair, Dean held her close to him. Tears streamed down his face as he buried himself into Riley’s shoulder.

Sam nearly threw himself helplessly against her back and rubbed down one of her arms. The brothers held her together in the rain and rocked her in their arms as she died. They openly wept and howled in pain at their loss as they drowned in grief.

Riley was gone.

Dean shook her one more time as tears dripped over his mouth and down his neck. Suffering more than he could bear, he released an earth-shattering scream into the heavens.

“Riley!”

------

To be continued...

S2 Chapter 12: All Hell Breaks Loose Part 2

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mendesho · 5 years

Text

Play Like You’re The Good Guy- Part 3 (finale)

A/N: Well, here it is. The final part of this fic that wasn’t supposed to happen. It was a joy writing it and thank you all for the support.

She sat on the floor, both little white sticks next to her leg as she stared in disbelief. How could this have happened? Did he even come? She doesn't remember him doing so.

This can't be right. It can't be.

It had to be.

She'd been feeling sick the past few weeks. Constant vomiting, nausea, headaches. She felt more tired. More so than she normally did these days. She felt more bloated and achy. Like moving even slightly was a chore.

The final sign was when her period didn't show. She was always consistent, tracking it like clockwork to make sure no slips ups occurred. She started getting suspicious when it was 3 weeks late.

How did she let this happen?

She was always so careful. Making sure every guy she'd been with was protected. Except one. The one who didn't even finish.

She let out a slight chuckle at how shitty her luck was. It would happen to her that she'd get pregnant from a guy who didn’t even finish. The guy who got her pregnant from pre-cum alone.

Fuck.

What was she going to do?

The doctor's words sounded like static in her ears, her brain only repeating like a scratched record.

“6 and a half weeks”

That would make sense. She hadn't seen Shawn since that night, almost a month and a half ago. She hadn't spoken with him at all, not for a lack of his trying. She had been determined to push him out of her mind. To finally move on with her life.

That seemed impossible now. She'd never be able to be rid of him.

Just her luck.

It’d been a week since she went to the doctor. Her mind was constantly in a haze, contemplating her next move.

She should tell him

But does he need to know?

Does she owe it to him? After everything he did to her?

She weighed out the benefits. She could do this on her own. Her mom would help. Her sister. Camilla. She had a support system. She didn't need him. He didn't deserve to know.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that she was in the wrong

She still had this loyalty to him. Like she was obligated to tell him, even though she knew it wouldn't matter. She didn't want him around. She didn't need him anymore. She could go on and raise her child on her own.

Her mom did it for years. She raised her and her sibling alone on a job that barely paid the bills but she made it work. Why should Ava be any different?

But she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe, she did need him. At least in some capacity.

Her fingers tapped the screen as she bit her lip, struggling with what to say. It wasn't every day you have to tell your ex you're pregnant with his child.

She thought about just saying it. Just typing it out and letting the chips fall. It would be simple.

She couldn't do that. No matter how pissed off she was at him, at the situation, she still owed him the respect to tell him this in person. Even if he didn't have enough respect for her.

She took a deep breath, letting it out and began typing.

“Hey”

She sat nervously, biting her nail.

Read 12:41 PM

…

The bubble popping up, indicating he was typing, sent a massive wave of nausea and anxiety to pool over her.

“Hey… how are you?”

‘I'm um... I'm good... how are you?”

She hated making small talk, but she couldn't bring herself to just jump into it.

“Been better, ha... what's up?”

She sighed, heart still racing.

“We... need to talk”

“What's wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah everything is fine I just… I need to tell you something... can you come over later?”

“I'll be there in an hour, honey”

She fought the smile that pulled against her lips at the pet name. She wasn't his anymore and she had to remember that.

Even if this thing growing inside her was.

She let out a breath, placing a hand on her belly. The place where her baby was growing. Her baby with Shawn. The man she was supposed to marry.

It was cruel irony, really.

She thought about the wedding she planned but never had. The dress she had pre ordered that she had to cancel. The torn up sheet of vows she had written to make sure she got them just right.

It truly was cruel.

The light tapping at her door exactly one hour later, startled her from her thoughts.

It was time. She sucked in a breath and she stood up, letting out the breath as she opened the door.

He stood there in front of her, a beautiful as ever with a shy smile on his face.

“Hi” he breathed, stepping inside.

She put in a nervous smile, stepping aside so he could get fully inside, closing the door behind him.

You can do this

“You wanted to talk?” He asked, gazing at her.

His eyes were still full of affection and sadness when he looked at her. She almost felt guilty for the way their last encounter ended.

She had to remind herself that he brought this on himself.

Her mind snapped back to the reality of the situation. The reason she called him here.

“Sit. Please” She said, pointing towards the couch.

He nodded, taking his jacket off and sitting down. She took the spot next to him and ran through the rehearsed words in her head one more time.

“Ava? You're staring at me. Are you okay, honey”

Her mind came back into focus and she finally mustered up the courage to start her speech.

“So I wanted to talk about... before. The last time we spoke. And what I'm about to tell you is going to make no sense and trust me, I didn't want to believe it but doctors and Google confirmed it’s possible and...” She took a deep breath, eyes darting to her hands.

“Babe, you're scaring me” He said, his hand immediately placed over hers, his thumb stroking the top. She tried to ignore the feeling of warmth that brought her.

You can do this

You can do this...

You can-

“I'm pregnant”

She did it.

She felt relief wash over her, like she had been buried and took her first breath of fresh air. Like the world had been lifted from her shoulders and she could walk upright again.

Shawn's face froze in surprise. His eyes darting rapidly, looking for any sign this was a joke. A cruel prank. His mouth agape, opening and closing like a fish out of water.

“Well… are you going to say something?” She asked

“You're joking. You're joking right?” He said, his voice sounded desperate.

“I'm not. Took 2 tests and doctor confirmed”

His brow furrowed, his hand leaving hers to fall back on his lap. Her hand felt cold with the absence, but she ignored it. Other, more pressing matter, were occurring at the moment.

“How do you know it's even mine?”

Her eyes widened as she leaned back. She felt the anger at boil in her at his statement. She knew she didn't have a right to be angry. She had been with at least 2 other people since their break up and spotted with at least 6 others, so he was fair in his statement. However, the way he said it. The implication behind his words.

It pissed her off.

“Because you're the only one I fucked without protection, asshole.” She spat

“But how?! I didn't even finish” He said, the suspicion subsided ever so slightly.

“You didn't need to. It can happen even if there's precum. Which I guess I was unlucky enough to come in contact with”

She still wasn't over his comment. How fucking dare he make a statement like that? After everything he did.

He sighed, head in his hands. She could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

“What are we going to do?” He asked, staring up at her

“We aren't going to do anything. I'm letting you know so you’re aware. I'm going to raise my baby”

“You can't do this alone”

“Says who?” She snipped, her arms crossed and brow furrowed.

“Ava, you know this isn't fair”

“Life isn't fair. But this is the hand I've been dealt and I'm going to step up and deal with it. The only reason I even said anything is because I couldn't bring myself to not tell you. I felt that you at least deserved to know, even if I owe you nothing after what you did”

“Can you let that go? We have more pressing matter to deal with”

Her eyes widened at his words. The look on his face showed that he regretted them the moment they left his lips.

“Let it go? You want me to let go of the fact that you fucked someone in my bed on our anniversary and then blamed me for our breakup. You want me to let go of the fact that I'm now pregnant by the person who was supposed to be my husband by the end of the year. You want me to let that go? Just let go of every ounce of sorrow and misery and depression and self-loathing I felt? Or would you like me to let go of the suicide attempts because I felt like I was worthless because you chose someone else? How about I let all that go. That's fucking so easy to do, Shawn”

His eyes bulged at her words, them hitting like a brick “suicide...” his voice broke.

“Baby, I'm so sorry I didn't-”

“No, you didn't. Because you didn't care. You were too busy making me the bad guy and now you want to act like you give a shit about me or this baby. Well guess what? I don't need you, my baby doesn't need you and I sure as hell don't need your help. You can leave now”

She stood up, walking towards the door.

“Ava-”

“Goodbye, Shawn” she said, not letting him get a word in.

He sighed, standing up and heading towards the door and standing in the hallways

“Ava, just”

“I said goodbye” and with that, she slammed the door in his face

Maybe it was the hormones, or maybe she was tired of being miserable all the time. Bottom line was, she want going to let him get to her. She was going to raise her baby and show them the love they deserved. Without him.

She didn't need him. From now on, all she needed was her baby.

She walked up to her door, the sight of another brown box blocking her way. She rolled her eyes, placing her hand on her ever growing belly as she braced herself to pick it up.

Shawn had been texting her every day, asking how she was feeling. If she needed anything. How the baby was doing. He'd send presents every week as well. A variety if toys, clothes, books, shoes, blankets.

She donated all of them, wanting no part of this. She had to admit, part of her loved it. That he was trying so hard for her. For their baby. But she also hated herself for feeling that way.

“Don't let him back in, no matter what” She would tell herself.

But she couldn't help the tug at her heart at the thought of raising their little bundle together. The way it should have been.

She walked inside, setting the package down on her table and tossing her keys on the end table.

She grabbed the letter opener, slicing the brown masking tape that kept the box sealed.

Inside were more toys and onesies. She smiled slightly at one that had a mustache pun on it.

She shook her head, her heart feeling warm. She picked up the card at the bottom of the box, looking at the familiar handwriting.

“Making sure my babies are taken care of. Text me when you can... please”

She sighed, grabbing her phone from her pocket, a text from Shawn already flashing on her screen

“It said the package was delivered today. I hope you like it”

She smiled, opting to finally respond.

“You're going to spoil this kid”

She didn't want to let him back in, but there was something pulling her to him. Something that made her miss the way things were. The way they were.

Probably the hormones.

“Lol well they deserve it. So do you”

She felt warm reading his texts. Like nothing had changed between them, like she didn't spend the last 7 months practically hating him.

Now here she was, 3 months pregnant, acting like things were the same, even though she knew they weren't. Not even a little bit.

She finally let him come to an appointment with her, even though she had doubts. She had told herself she’d do this alone. That she didn't need him or want him to have any part of this.

She did have to admit, though, it was nice having him by her side.

“There's your baby!” The nurse said, pointing out the tiny human on the monitor.

The rapid heartbeat of the tiny being filled the room, filling her heart with love.

“Wow... it's so small” He said, staring at the screen in awe.

He looked at her, tears forming in his eyes, his hand placed on top of hers

“We made this”

She bit her lip, eyes scanning his face without him knowing. He looked... happy. His face was full of love for their child and for a moment, she felt guilty for his she acted. She knew he deserved it, after all she went through. But their baby didn't. They deserved a father. Something she never had.

“Shawn... I”

“It's a girl!” The nurse said, interrupting her statement.

Shawn smiled wide, his hand moving from her hand to belly.

“A girl. My baby girl”

She wanted to cry. This was everything she ever wanted and yet... she still felt sadness. Sadness that things wouldn't ever be the way they were supposed to.

Something was wrong. She could feel it. She felt way more nauseous than normal and the vast amount of pain that was coursing through her body was concerning.

The most worrying part was the blood.

“No” She panicked

“No no no no no no” She winced in pain as more blood was on her hand.

“No no no please God no”

She didn't know what to do. The pain was blinding and she barely felt like she could move. She reached for her phone, dialing the first number that came to mind.

“Hey babe!” Camilla said, her voice cheerful

“H-help” Ava cried out, the shooting pain causing her vision to blur white

“Ava? Honey what's wrong?”

“P-pain... blood... my baby”

“Ava, stay with me. I'm grabbing my coat and calling you an ambulance. I'll be there before they do and I'll get Shawn”

“No!” She shouted, groaning in pain as her vision became blurry. “I d-don't...”

“Now is not the time to be stubborn, Ava.”

She wasn't sure why she was being so stubborn. If what she believed was happening was true, she couldn't face him. Couldn't face the reality of having lost both things she loved.

She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, the phone dropping from her hand, the faint sounds of her name being yelled from the phone.

“Please save my baby” was the last thing she muttered before everything went dark.

The incessant beeping and the smell of ammonia filled assaulted her senses. She scrunched her eyes closed, fighting off the pounding headache, finally fluttering her eyes open, white light blinding her.

She counted to 3, attempting to open them again.

She tried to move, a dull ache in her body and the tugging of cords stopped her.

She felt her belly instinctively, praying that it was she could still feel her. Her baby girl.

She did. She was still there. She wanted to cry tears of joy.

“Baby! Oh my God, you're awake” She heard a voice say. Shawn.

Her eyes fluttered up, staring at his face. He looked like a literal angel under the white lights of what she assumed was the hospital.

“You scared me, I thought I lost you.” He said, his hand on hers, as his lips met her forehead. His voice was shaky and he had tear tracks down his cheek.

“My baby..” Was all she could get out.

“She's fine. We're waiting for the test results now to see what happened. God, I'm so glad you're okay. I don't know what I would have done.”

She nodded slowly, her eyes fluttering as she struggled to keep them open.

“Get some rest, baby. I'm right here”

She nodded again, allowing her eyes to shut, letting the exhaustion overtake her.

Placenta abruption is what they called it, meaning her placenta detached from the uterus. The words sounded foreign to her, like they were made up.

They said they baby was fine, she just was at risk for premature birth. The thought scared her. More than the pain of childbirth itself.

She was always careful, sure not to stress herself too much or do too much activity that would cause any complications. She felt like she failed.

They insisted she be left in the care of someone. Someone who could watch her and make sure she was taking it easy.

She was sure she could get the time off work. That wasn't the issue. The issue was she needed to stay with someone.

Her sister just got married, so she wasn't an option. Her mother was far too old and lived in Florida, which the doctor said would be too risky to fly all the way there.

Camilla could work, but she had her own tour starting in a week, meaning she would still end up alone. The only other option was the one she didn't even want to consider.

Sure, she and Shawn were getting along. They were even back to being what could be called friends.

But the idea of living with him again, even if it was just for 2 and a half more months, in the house that held all the memories, good and bad, was far too much to process.

“It's not an option” she told him. “I'd rather stay on my own”

“Ava, stop being so stubborn. I know what I did and I know you haven't forgiven me but this isn't about us. It's about your health and our baby.” He pleaded “just… please.”

She sighed, too exhausted to keep fighting a fight she knew she was going to lose. He was her only option.

“Fine. But I don't have to be happy about it”

She walked through the door of the familiar condo, the memories flooding back to her like a tidal wave. The laughter, the joy, the kisses, the heartbreak. All of it crushing her.

Shawn placed her bags down in the foyer, turning to stare at her.

“Well um. You know where everything is.” He stated, scratching the back of his neck “You can take the bed”

“No, I'll take the couch.” She stated firmly.

She couldn't sleep in that bed. Not after everything.

“Why?”

“You know why, Shawn.”

His eyes went soft, the realization hitting him.

“I'm sorry.. I didn't think about that..But I won't let you sleep on the floor”

“I'll take the couch” She said, making her way to sit down, hoping to take the pressure off her legs.

“That's even worse” He pouted. If things were different, would have kissed him.

“I'll be fine. Plus, I'm not going to take your bed from you”

“It was our bed at one point..” He mumbled. She chose to ignore the statement, not wanting to get into another battle. Right now, all that mattered was that her baby was safe. No stress.

“Ava, please take the bed. I'm supposed to be taking care of you”

“No, you're supposed to be making sure I don't overwork myself. I can take care of myself”

“Still the most stubborn girl in the world” He said, shaking his head, a soft smile on his face.

She couldn't help but smile back. “But also the cutest”

He chuckled, his eyes scanning her face. “Yes. Yes you are”

Things were easy with Shawn. The month and a half had blown by and she barely felt like time had moved at all. It was like they were back in sync.

The constant laughter. Staying up till all hours of the morning just talking about life and their child and all the things they wanted for her. It was like a dream.

He’d even set up a little bed next to the couch, pillows and blankets lining the floor, just so he could be close to her.

She was annoyed at first, feeling like her privacy was compromised, but soon it felt natural. It felt right. She felt like she was home again. Like the events of the past were completely erased and they began to relearn each other.

They would cook together, having mini food fights and laughing, her with flour in her hair and him with eggs in his. It was just like before. Like nothing had changed. Like their relationship hadn't fell apart.

It was terrifying.

The idea of letting him back in seemed less foreign and more welcome. Something she originally shut down without question now seemed like a strong possibility.

She always loved Shawn. She always would love Shawn. What he did will always eat at her heart, but somehow, she found herself ready to forgive him.

And there she was, laying her head on his shoulder as the stared at the movie on the screen. His thumb stroked he knee gently as his head rested on hers. Her body felt warm. Like she was finally back to where she needed to be.

She was finally home.

She felt his head lift from hers, turning to look at her. She lifted her head as well, eyes meeting his.

“Ava” He said, voice barely above a whisper.

“Hm” she hummed, bracing herself for his words.

“I'm sorry I hurt you the way I did.. I regret it every single day. But I wanted to say thank you.. For allowing me back in. For letting me part of our daughter's life. Just.. Thank you. I love you so much. More than words can begin to say”

She wanted to cry. She knew she was falling for him again, as much as she resisted. She knew what this could mean. After everything.

But she finally stopped fighting it. And so she kissed him. A soft kiss, no longer than a few seconds, but it said everything she needed it to say.

She loved him. And she was ready to take the leap. She wanted him with her. With their baby. And she was scared like hell, but she was willing to give it a shot.

“SHAWN, IT'S HAPPENING” She cried out, wincing from the extreme pain she felt.

Her water broke as she was attempting to stand up, feeling the urge to pee. She was both excited and petrified at the same time. This was really it. She was going to meet her baby in person.

“What?! Now?! Fuck, okay, where's the bag? Shit where are my keys? Fuck fuck fuck okay, do you have everything?” He panicked, racing around like a mad person

“Honey, I'm already freaking out, I need you to not freak out” she laughed, wincing in pain as another contraction hit.

“Sorry, sorry. Okay, let's go” He said, holding her hand, placing the other on the small of her back. “It's baby time!”

Arya Marie Mendes.

Born February 12th, 2019

7 Lbs., 4 oz.

19 inches long.

She was perfect. Her button nose and head full of brown hair already. Her sparkling brown eyes, just like her father.

Ava stared at her in awe as she held her, her heart full of love for her daughter.

“You did it, baby. You did it” Shawn cooed at the bedside next to her, his finger gently stroking the baby girl’s cheek.

She cooed at him, eyes closed and a tiny yawn escaped the little baby.

“She's so perfect. We made her. She's ours” Shawn said, his voice full if wonder.

Ava nodded, eyes fixated on the little girl. She looked up at Shawn. “Do you want to hold her?”

He nodded, taking the baby from her arms. She stirred at first, looking like she was going to cry but settled immediately, cooing again as her eyes fluttered closed.

“It’s okay, baby girl. Daddy's got you. Daddy will always protect you.”

Ava smiled, her heart full of love for the family she always wanted.

His eyes looked at Ava, full of love and adoration. “I love you, so much.” He said, a smile on his face.

“I love you.” She said, smiling at the two of them.

They may not be perfect. He may have ruined them at first, but she knew he meant it when he said sorry. That he loved her. And she trusted that. He swore it wouldn't happen again.

It may take a while to fully trust him again, but none of that mattered right now. Right now she had him, and their beautiful baby girl. And, for right now, that was enough.

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fanfics #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes imagine #shawn #shawn peter raul mendes #my work #wow im so happy this is done lol #feedback appreciated

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