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hoodoo12 · 3 years

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The Ties That Bind (And How to Follow Them) 4/?

@bunnys-beetlejuice-blog @werwulfy @turtlepated @strange-n-unbluusual @mel-time @fireflower1015 @go-whovian-universe @sweetcat-666 @genderless-cryptid @monsterlovinghours @heresathreebee @rainingpaint @infptarius

Pate was at a loss. She’d never seen Beetlejuice like this. His hair, already lightened to a pale green shot through with red and yellow and purple in his distress, blanched even further when she mentioned going to Lillian. That alone was enough to convince her that her mentor had somehow trapped him in this mirror-verse where he could see and hear but not be heard.

His increasing upset hurt her deeply, and when he suddenly disappeared from view her heart plummeted and she pressed herself to the glass, hoping to see what he was doing but without him in front of her her own reflection blocked her view. She wished she could reach him, hold him, soothe him, hating her own helplessness.

At length he came back, his pale face even more pale than normal, his ash colored hair still streaked to show his frustration and fear. He looked close to tears, and Pate wasn’t even sure he was capable of tears. His lips moved softly and though she couldn’t hear him the message was clear.

Pate offered him a thin smile and shook her head, pressing her palm to the glass again.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she assured him. “Just give me one second to get my phone and I’m gonna call Lillian. She has to fix this. We’ll make her fix this.”

Keeping her eyes locked on his until the doorway and bedroom wall came between them, Pate dashed to the living room to retrieve her phone, hurrying back to the bathroom where Beetlejuice looked visibly relieved to see her return.

She thumbed through her contacts and smashed Lillian’s name, raising the phone to her ear. It was late, but Pate didn’t care if she woke Lillian up. The phone rang several times before it picked up.

“Hello? Pate? What are you doing calling this time of night?” Lillian asked.

“What did you do to him?” Pate demanded without preamble.

Lillian didn’t answer at first, and Pate heard what sounded like bedclothes being swept aside and a lamp being flicked on.

“I take it you mean the creature that invaded my kitchen,” Lillian finally drawled distastefully. “I did what you should have done, I sent him where he can’t harm anybody.”

“Beetlejuice wouldn’t hurt anybody anyway!” Pate insisted hotly. “He’s my . . . ” she trailed off, glancing at him in the mirror, knowing he could hear what she said. “He’s special. He’s important to me and I care about him,” she said. “You have to let him out. Or at least tell me how to and I’ll do it myself.”

Lillian sighed tiredly, as if she were dealing with a particularly exhausting situation. “Pate, whatever you think he means to you, the bottom line is he’s not human. He’s a demon, a wraith, a trickster. You’re better off without him.”

“I don’t care, tell me what to do to let him out.”

“No.”

The blunt refusal startled her. “You have to! You can’t leave him like this, stuck in my bathroom mirror!”

Speaking mostly to herself, Lillian said, “I should’ve figured he’d worm his way out. Should’ve sealed the mirror, too. Pate, nothing good can come of you having a live-in demon, I don’t care what feelings you might have about it. I’m going back to bed and that entity is staying right where he is. Good night.”

The line went dead. Angry, frustrated and panicked Pate immediately dialed again but it went straight to voicemail. Lillian had turned off her phone.

With a huff she slung her phone onto the counter, fixing Beetlejuice with a desperate expression.

“We’re gonna figure this out,” she said. “We’re gonna go over there and make her let you out.”

An idea struck her, and Pate crossed the room to the cabinets set into the wall, rifling through for what she was looking for. She turned back to Beetlejuice with a hand mirror.

“Do you think you can crawl into this mirror?” she asked. “Then I can take you with me.”

⁂

Out of all the crazy things they'd done together, crawling into a mirror that his lover held was barely a blip on the radar, even if she held it out in front of her or to her side as she walked. He wasn't incredibly excited about being shoved in a purse--or to see Ms. Lillian Borden again, truthfully--but he had no idea what else to do.

Beej heard the one-sided conversation Pate had had, had seen the quick look she’d sent his way before saying he was "special", and could only imagine what her mentor's response to that had been. He doubted anything Pate was going to tell her would make a difference. Still, it would be worth a shot to try and talk reason to the woman. He lifted his shoulder in a shrug as Pate displayed the mirror. He had no clue if her suggestion would work but was willing to try. Motioning her closer, she read what he meant and brought the mirror in her hand up to press against the glass of the bathroom counterpart. For a moment, all he could see was his own reflection. With deeper shadows under his eyes than normal and hair that was washed out more than colored, he looked worse than he thought.

Raising a hand as if to touch the mirror image, the interior surface of the mirror was tacky instead of smooth. It took a bit of effort to actually pull his hand back, and threads of what looked like spun glass, growing thinner the further away he pulled his hand, trailed from his fingertips. It seemed reluctant to let him go. If he was ruining Pate’s bathroom mirror, well, she mentioned in passing updating it anyway. Beej heard her asking what he was doing, if it was working, and decided it was better to just go for it and deal with consequences as they fell. With that determined spirit, he shoved his hand back through the glass. It felt as though he was pushing into molten, but cold, lava, all thick and clinging. Good thing he didn’t need to breathe, because it was going to take a moment to get through it and then get clean of it. Tentacles had to assist carrying him through the two layers of glass. Beetlejuice could only imagine what Lillian would think of those, chuckling to himself, then liquidish glass got in his mouth. There was nothing to do about it at the moment; trying to wipe it away would result in an arm moving backwards and that was not what he wanted right now! Finally, after more effort than he put into a lot of things, he managed to push himself into another endless white space. It didn’t look any smaller than the previous ones, and now he wondered how many compacts or other small mirrors he’d crawled through. The second his feet hit the ground and were free of the glass he found it was gone. There was no residue of any sort. Were all mirrors magic and just needed the right person to activate them? A question for Lillian, if she was willing to take questions from a pupil she seemed to like and a ghost she most definitely did not. Beetlejuice went to pound on the glass to alert Pate he’d moved, but the thought of getting snared by the inside of the new mirror gave him pause. He had to wait until she grew impatient and looked for herself.

⁂

Pate couldn’t help feeling a little foolish, standing with the small, round makeup mirror pressed against her medicine cabinet. Whatever Beetlejuice was doing, his reflection disappeared from the cabinet mirror to be replaced with her own.

Turning the smaller mirror around to face her, Pate beamed to see that the idea had worked, Beetlejuice looked out at her from the handheld mirror.

Wasting no more time she went back through into the bedroom, grabbed her wallet with her license inside from her purse, as well as her car keys.

“Let’s go see Ms. I-Know-What’s-Best-For-You Borden and get you back in the flesh,” she said, addressing Beetlejuice in the mirror as she locked her apartment door behind her.

What would it look like, she wondered, if someone saw her talking to the mirror?

Simple, she told herself. They’ll think you’re crazy. And maybe you are.

This time of night traffic was minimal and it didn’t take long to drive straight to Lillian’s downtown shop/apartment. Pate parked in a spot on the street, closing her door with perhaps a little more force than necessary, locking the car and cradling Beetlejuice’s mirror in her other hand.

There were internal steps up to Lillian’s apartment, but the shop was locked up at this hour. Pate rounded the building, heading for the fire escape. She had to set Beetlejuice down and climb up on a dumpster to reach the ladder, but after a few failed attempts she managed to pull it down with an earsplitting creak of protesting metal.

Retrieving the mirror that held her demon lover, Pate raced up the rickety steel steps as quickly as she dared, finding herself at Lillian’s sitting room window. She tried to open the window, finding it thankfully unlocked. She wouldn’t put it past Lillian to have some otherworldly impediments in place, designed to keep out apparitions but not people. Sliding the window open, Pate swung herself in one leg at a time.

“Lillian?” she called into the apartment, making no pretense at stealth. “Lillian, come out here and undo this.”

Pate didn’t hear that?! Maybe it was just spectral, maybe it was just something only people snared in tiny mirrors could hear, but the cries from inside the antique store from the various beings on the first floor were unnerving. Even the shriek of rusty metal joints on the fire escape moving after years of neglect was melodious compared to them. Something had happened. He didn’t know what, but Beej didn’t like it one tiny bit. He yelled at Pate to stop. Even at the top of his lungs she couldn’t hear him. Dredging up the deepest, most demonic voice he could had no effect. He was mute and helpless.

The television was on, I Love Lucy reruns flickering black and white with the volume low. Pate could see the top of Lillian’s head over the back of her recliner, facing away towards the TV. Angered by being ignored, Pate strode across the room, repeating her demand.

“Lillian, you tell me how to fix this. I don’t want Beetlejuice locked away, he’s -”

Pate cut off abruptly as she rounded the chair and saw the figure seated there.

Lillian Borden’s face was almost blue in the light from her TV, her eyes opened but staring unseeing at the ceiling, hands resting peacefully on the arms of her chair.

She was dead.

⁂ The scene inside the old woman’s apartment was nothing short of a horror movie set up. The lights were off, the room lit only by flickering from the television. Pate was demanding an answer and then a response. She stepped around the chair, and her hand dropped to her side as she choked her own sentence off, and her hand mirror slipped from her fingers, giving Beej a roller coaster ride as it fell, then a great view of the ceiling of the room when it hit the floor. If it was good or bad the glass didn’t break he’d never know, because Pate scooped him up almost as quickly as he’d fallen. Her apology he waved away as no worries, and she turned him towards her mentor in the chair. “Oh,” Beej said quietly at the sight of the dead woman. Now that posed something interesting. Never mind there was no way for her to undo the spell that trapped him in his current state, he didn’t sense her spirit or any evidence she drew a door and left the earthly plane. Of course, his view was limited to wherever Pate pointed his mirror. Or he’d been restricted by Lillian’s hasty capture of him somehow. Whatever it was, it warranted looking into once he was free again.

That was low on the priority list, however. He still needed out, and the woman who’d put him here was well past helping.

tbc . . .

#writing #fanfiction #Beetlejuice #Ties that Bind

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jarienn972 · 4 years

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La Sirena - Chapter Five

Captain Swan Supernatural Summer

Apologies for the delay in getting out the latest chapter of my @cssns story. With my kids back to school, I'm finding a bit less time to write so updates are running a little behind. I am still working diligently to keep the updates coming though! Thank you @kmomof4 for helping me fix a couple of minor roadblocks that I had with this chapter! And thanks again to @courtorderedcake for her incredible artwork!

After leaving off with the major turning point of Killian learning the secret that Emma had been concealing, this chapter will pick up in the aftermath. Will cooler heads prevail once Killian awakens or will their budding relationship be tarnished? And of course, there's still no where else for him to go...

Read from the beginning: One Two Three Four Also on AO3 and FF.net

Putting the Pieces Back Together

A faint tickle of a breeze caught the torch flame behind Emma's back casting uneven shadows across the cavern walls and sending delicate tendrils of smoke into the already heavy air. She was kneeling in the sand with Killian's head resting atop her thighs, not daring to stray from his side as her slender fingers combed idly through his tousled dark hair. She watched the rise and fall of his chest as she patiently awaited his awakening.

She'd frightened him. That hadn't been her intent but that damage was done and she was dealing with a relatively new emotion: guilt. Perhaps she truly was little more than a monster at her core. All of these decades of trying to suppress her innate urges and desires may have been for naught. All of her years of self-isolation hadn't changed who - or what - she was. She was still a siren. Still a threat to mankind.

Perhaps Regina was right. She'd never be able to change her nature.

But if she really was nothing more than a coquettish, evil siren, why did she have such a strong desire to protect this human? It went against every element of her being, every native instinct she'd trained and developed before turning her back on her kind. She scarcely comprehended these feelings.

Siren emotions were already complicated enough. She knew anger and indignation. She also knew emptiness. She'd been living here in solitude for nearly two centuries, give or take a decade, yet she'd never really experienced loneliness. She'd just felt that something was missing from her meager existence. She'd just never allowed herself time to think about what that void might entail.

All of that had changed the moment she confessed her true nature to Killian and he'd rejected her. Now she was overwhelmed with a barrage of new emotions - guilt, fear and something else that she couldn't yet name. For a nanosecond, she contemplated leaving him there in the subterranean cavern, doubting that he'd ever be able to accept what she was. But then she heard it again - the same tiny voice inside her head that had compelled her to save him from drowning now also compelled her to stay.

He was an intelligent being. Her revelation had been too much of a shock for someone recovering from the trauma he'd suffered. When he'd had time to process the news, he would hear her out, wouldn't he? She took a glance back over her bare shoulder at the beam of light streaming through the crack in the earth above the spring. The midday sun would soon be directly overhead and the ambient light would fade quickly within the lava tube once the sun's rays crested over the ridge.

Regina's arrival had backed her into a corner. She didn't feel as though she could adequately protect him if he wasn't aware of the scope of the threat, but now she worried he wouldn't trust her. In hindsight, she knew she hadn't handled her reveal well. Even though he didn't really have anywhere to go, she feared he'd run and the thought of that stung worse than even the most toxic jellyfish she'd ever encountered.

When at last he stirred, her siren heart nearly leapt with anticipation - another entirely new sensation for her. With a deep inhale, he raised his right hand to massage his aching skull, making incidental contact with her knee in the process. He yanked his hand away as if he'd touched a flame, his eyelids popping open in surprise as he struggled to regain coherency.

At first, he saw nothing more than darting shadows cast by the flickering torches but as his sight adjusted to the relative darkness, images gradually came into focus, becoming clearer and familiar. And then his peripheral vision captured the contour of a woman's soft, rounded ivory-skinned thigh and instantly, he was fully awake, recoiling in terror as he pushed away from the woman he no longer believed was real.

"What manner of demon are you?" he demanded, his voice pitching higher as he scrambled to take cover behind one of the aging sea chests, squeezing his eyes closed for a moment as he dared not stare at this unknown creature's naked, feminine form. "Are you some malevolent trick of my mind? Here to drag me to the depths of hell?" He couldn't fight this monster if he couldn't see her though so he reluctantly opened his eyes, focusing intently on her lovely beguiling face. Was this how a siren killed a man?

"Killian, please… Do not be afraid. I have no intent to harm you." She made an attempt to shift closer to him, to try to assure him that she wasn't a threat, but she feared she may have already done too much damage. The terror and betrayal she saw reflected in his eyes cut straight to whatever soul she had left as he continued to shy away from her.

"Don't come near me, demon!" he cried as he fumbled for the sword at his hip, sliding the blade free of the scabbard and brandishing it with an instinctive flick of his wrist. "Stay back… or I'll…" Both his voice and hand trembled at the same timbre while he held the weapon directed at her throat.

This scared human wasn't even the slightest threat to her. She could overpower him barely lifting a pinky finger, yet she was awash with that lonely emotion and it took control, leading to an unplanned action.

"Do it," she dared him, leaning into the blade. "I am a monster. End me!"

A glint of torchlight flashed off of the polished steel, illuminating her face which was etched with determination and his resolve began to waver.

"Wait… What…?" He shook his head in disbelief at her unexpected demand. His gaze locked with hers as she pleaded for death and his tenuous grip on the cutlass' pommel loosened. "No… no…" He may have been bewildered and perhaps a tad angered, but he couldn't take her life. She'd saved him.

"I am a siren, Killian. I have lured countless men like you to their demise, but while this is what I was created to be, it is not what I desire to be. I deserve to die for what I have done in my past…"

"But you saved me…," he stated as he allowed the sword to slip from his hand onto the dark, sandy cavern floor. His tone was softer as he relaxed and exhaled a deep sigh. "Whatever you are, I owe you my life…" He plopped his weary body down to the ground and drew his knees to his chest while lowering his chin in defeat. "I've no expectation of what will become of me, but I'll not harm you. If you intend to leave me here to perish, then that shall be my fate…"

"I don't wish for anyone to perish," she replied. "That is what brought me here all those ages ago. I had no desire to harm those seafarers any longer."

"But if you are a siren as you say, are the myths not true? Does your song not lure men like me to certain death? How did I arrive here still breathing?"

"At one time, I did use my voice in that way. I watched many a human plunge into the sea, transfixed and bewitched by the hypnotic spell of my siren song, at least until I could bear it no longer. Until you arrived, I'd not even used my voice in eons."

"So a siren can have a conscience?" he asked quizzically, raising one eyebrow as he awaited her answer.

"Apparently some can - at least this one, as I've been told," she said with a faint smile curling the corners of her lips, although it didn't last long as she switched the direction of their exchange. "But Killian, if we are to survive, there is much you need to know. You need to hear more of my story just as I must learn more of yours."

"How so?" His eyes narrowed as he sought to make sense of the statement. Part of his brain still questioned the veracity of any of this nonsense, but the adventurer within him remained intrigued.

"Do you recall, before you struck your head, how I had mentioned that my sister came here because I had used magic?" The memory was vague and somewhat clouded by his own skepticism but he nodded anyway and allowed her to continue. "In using my powers, I unwittingly drew the scrutiny of the council, the governing band of the most powerful sirens - of which I used to be a part. I hadn't used magic in quite a long time so I never imagined that something so innocent would have far-reaching consequences."

"What magic do you possess?"

"Aside from the ability to change form, I have other powers. Those chests you're sitting amongst, they didn't wash up on these shores as I told you. I conjured them and their contents so that you would have the objects you desired. I wanted to give you those things that the cove could not provide. I had seen many similar chests float in and out with the tides over the years, but I never kept them. I used magic to create them and I didn't think about the potential ramifications."

Killian's jaw fell agape as he listened to her confession. No one - not even Liam - had ever offered such a generous gesture meant for him alone and he was at a loss for how to respond.

"Emma… you didn't need to do such a thing…"

"I wanted to," she grinned. "I had been alone for so long and after these past few days with you, I found myself desiring to do something good with my magic. I wanted to provide for you and now, that act of goodness has put you in far greater danger…" He quickly averted his sight as she pushed herself back to stand up before starting to pace nervously along the precipice of the hot spring. "I must ask this - when I found you, you were clinging to a slab of splintered timber. Were you in a shipwreck?"

Still concentrating on focusing his gaze on the bounce of her golden locks rather than her feminine physique, Killian was taken aback. Of course, he'd been in a shipwreck…

"Aye," he replied. "Not my own ship though. I'd been taken prisoner aboard a pirated vessel that inexplicably ran aground. By the time I was able to crawl out of the flooding brig and reach the safety of the top deck, those rapscallions had all debarked, likely to an island off the distant horizon. No one was left in sight and I scarcely escaped with my life as the vessel broke apart and sank into the depths."

"You saw no one at all? Was the vessel sinking that slowly?" Emma asked curiously, pausing her pacing as she awaited his answer.

"It seemed to be taking on water quite rapidly to me so I assumed they'd taken off in the skiffs, but to answer your question - no. I saw no other men, not even my fellow crew who'd also been imprisoned, although if I'm to be honest with myself, they were likely already dead by the time the ship went down. I was the ranking officer, thereby the most valuable prisoner."

"So that's it…," she mumbled as she hovered to his right, fixated on the sparkling surface of the spring. "That's how Regina knew they may have left a survivor… Killian, don't you see? You didn't see any others aboard the ship because they'd already succumbed to the song of the sirens. The ship ran aground because no one was helming it."

"How is that possible?" he queried as he raised his head in renewed curiosity. "I heard no singing, only the cracking of aging wood and the slap of the waves on the hull."

"You heard nothing? No song?" She spun around to face him, bewildered by his statement. "If the sirens attacked the ship, you would have heard their song."

"I swear to you, I heard nothing out of the ordinary, at least not until the vessel struck the rocks and began her unraveling. Are you certain that your kind assailed that vessel? It's highly likely that the pirates merely strayed off-course."

"No," she insisted, shaking her head. "Regina specifically mentioned that a ship had sailed into siren waters… In the condition I found you in, you could not have traveled far from the wreck so it must be the same vessel she spoke of. None of the sirens would have waited around to watch the vessel disintegrate but some of our ne'er do well fellow sea-dwellers reported rumors of a survivor in the wreck and those rumors reached the council. That's the reason they became suspicious of me when I utilized my magic… You must be that survivor."

Killian's head was suddenly spinning again and this time, it wasn't from the concussion. Sirens were a part of maritime history and mythology that he'd been educated in. He'd entertained countless yarns about ships that strayed into uncharted waters, never to be seen again. All manner of sea monsters had been attributed to these vanishing vessels but tales of sirens had always been particularly beguiling. Demons taking the form of beautiful women were said to lure unsuspecting sailors into the sea where they'd devour their unfaithful hearts.

But they were all only mythical… Until now…

"According to the legends I grew up hearing, sirens preyed upon lonely sailors far from home and family. The siren song was said to enchant the unfaithful amongst them, luring them into the depths of the sea where they'd be devoured. Is that how it really happens?"

"That isn't entirely true, but it is very close," Emma explained. "The song does lure the unsuspecting sailors, but only those deemed unworthy of passage through our realm by the gods. The unworthy are not allowed to travel through our seas and the song puts them into a trance. The men will then leap from their ships into the sea and sink to Triton's lair. I honestly do not know what becomes of them after they drown, what Triton desires of them. It never mattered to me, not then and I certainly did not dwell upon it after I departed the council."

"Until you found me?" he offered, shivering at the fate he'd narrowly avoided. "This may be a pointless query, but has any man ever been found worthy?"

"Well, long before my creation, there was a single human whom Poseidon deemed to be worthy to pass. That man went on to become a great leader of his land and for a while, there was peace between the realm of man and that of the gods. Unfortunately, that man's successors were nothing like him and the years of peace ended. Triton ordered all of the creatures in his command to defend our realm from the evil of mankind. Poseidon unleashed innumerable monsters including dozens more sirens, including myself and for many years, I followed the orders of the gods…"

"I've heard many tales of these legendary gods of the sea. Never in all my dreams did I imagine they were real and that they alone determined the worth of a man."

"I broke away from the council when I began to suspect that the gods harbored more of a vindictive grudge against these men of the sea. I could no longer be convinced that there weren't good men among those we had deceived. Not every man could be so evil."

"Indeed, there are men with good hearts out there but I shan't deny that there is evil in the world. I've encountered those who might barely be described as human, yet most folk are just going about their lives and wish no harm. It would seem that the same might be said of the legendary siren as there is at least one who possesses a good heart… But if we are to circle back to the pirate ship I escaped from, how did I come to survive? Was it because I was secreted away in a cranny of the cargo hold? Was I too far below deck to hear the songs?"

"No, it doesn't work like that. The siren song resonates through every inch of a vessel and carries for several leagues out to sea. It is intended to be heard by every human ear that ventures into our realm."

"That makes little sense to me then," Killian countered. "Why didn't I hear the siren voices? I hear you speaking to me just fine as I am not deaf and despite my injury when you rescued me from the water, I had been fully conscious just prior to the ship's grounding."

"I… I do not know," she stammered. This was another first for her and she had no response. She honestly did not have any inkling as to how he'd resisted.

"Do you still possess the ability to sing?" he asked her bluntly and she found herself ill-prepared to answer.

"I am not entirely certain…," she told him, her voice trembling at the possible implications of the question. "It has been centuries… I believe I am still able to sing, but I cannot predict the outcome. There may be ramifications that you aren't ready for and it may hasten Regina and the council's return…"

He tried to avoid the darkening of her olivine eyes as she pleaded wordlessly for him to reconsider, but it was the only way he might discover how he'd managed to remain alive.

"Emma, you must," he pressed. "It's the only way I'll know… That we'll know. You would be able to tell right away if the song has the desired effect, correct?"

"Of course, I would know. I just cannot promise that I can stop it as I've never tried…"

"Then consider this your chance to find out," Killian stated bravely, although inside, his stomach was churning at the huge risk he was taking. "I must learn why I was spared, Love. Please, indulge my curiosity and desire to solve this one mystery…"

"Killian…" She didn't want to do this. She'd vowed to never sing again and she certainly didn't want to endanger this man she'd become so fond of. Could she deny him the answers he so desperately wanted? She'd know within a few notes but even if the song ended abruptly, would she be able to reverse its effects if he wasn't immune?

#cssns #cssns20 #captain swan supernatural summer #cs ff #cs au ff #siren emma #la sirena #buckle up now #there's a lot hanging on a song

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theliterateape · 3 years

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Why Can't We Just Share the Last Slice of Pizza?

by Don Hall

I had the first TV dinner in possibly forty-years a few weeks ago and it was kind of incredible.

Sure, it was a Hungry Man® chicken and mashed potatoes concoction and had more sodium than a bucket of sea water but it was still oddly delicious and covered in a gravy comprised of nostalgia and gluten. I didn't buy the frozen tray in a cardboard box. No, my wife has, in the pandemic, taken to rebranding her self as a 'resource locator' otherwise known as a 'dumpster diver.'

It sounds odd but I'm convinced that when the Second Great Depression takes hold, I'm married to the most resourceful and extraordinary partner on the planet. She finds brand new shoes, genuine Shriner fez's, and food. Cans of food thrown away. Expired bags of pretzels. And still-frozen TV dinners.

The nostalgia of consuming this marvel of the fifties, the fully-prepared dinner, ready to heat and eat in front of the television comes from my youth. In terms of economic status there were times in my earliest days when we were 'poor'. Now, mom wouldn't let us use that word to describe our situation. She preferred to say we were 'broke'. That distinction was my first lesson in reframing your perspective to fuel optimism.

Whichever it was called it was common practice growing up to eat TV dinners and mom would cut each portion in half (even the weird lava-like brownie or apple-crunch) so we had a meal the next day as well.

When we couldn't afford a Swanson-manufactured meal, she'd make what she called 'Spanish Rice'—Minute rice, a green pepper, tomato sauce, and Tabasco—another rebranding that certainly made this odd and rough cultural appropriation seem both unsavory and about as white as it could be.

Mom worked hard. My recollection was that she was often working several jobs and doing the best she could to keep us in clothing and food with a roof over our heads despite the fact that the minimum wage at the time was $1.60. She also had a way of reframing things so that, at no point, did we feel like we were missing out on much.

On top of that raising me could not have been easy.

We moved around a lot so I was always the new kid in school. Even with teachers and administrators, there is a tribal imperative to put the new members in their place, establishing the rules of behavior and assigning the slot for the newest members. I was never much of a conformist so this dance of going along to get along didn't take. All of which made my struggling mother's life one of battling the powers that be to protect her less than socialized monkey-son.

There are stories. The time I was forbidden to speak in class so I drew pictures of a butt and a butt pooping to silently curse some kids out. The incident of my failing to stay put during classes and finding escape routes during lunch that caused an epic battle as the Vice Principal decided to ban me from the Free Lunch program out of pique and spite. The summer when I was caught beating up Cub Scouts because they wouldn't let me join due to my mother's financial inability to buy me the requisite uniform.

There's an image I have in my head of my tiny mother almost coming to blows with a much larger woman because the woman called us "poor white trash." We were white but my mother wouldn't abide her children embracing the twin ideas of us being poor or being trash.

“No, Donald. You cannot just eat the last piece of pizza. You need to learn to share.”

In Chicago there's a thing called 'dibs.'

Sometimes it snows big and the streets are plowed but the parking spots are all but obliterated by small mountains of snow. The diligent among residents get their shovels out of the garage and clear out the snow from in front of their homes so that they will then have a place to park. They have done the work, so they feel entitled to the benefits of that labor.

The problem lies with those who do not shoulder in and remove the snow yet still feel entitled to park on public streets that they, after all is said and done, have paid for with their tax dollars.

Thus 'dibs.' The shoveler decides to put a lawn chair or card table or statue of the Virgin Mary in the spot they have labored over so when they come home from work, the spot has been saved for them and them alone.

It all sounds silly until you look at from an economic perspective. There are more cars in Chicago than there are legal places to park. It's a fact. The demand for spaces is greater than the supply. Parking tickets cost drivers thousands of dollars a year and the 'ticket dicks' are as numerous as the homeless. When it snows and the plows come through there are suddenly even less spaces than there were the night before.

Given the city will clear the roads but not the curbs the solution for half the population is to carve out their own space and the other half parks wherever they can. Those who take the spots but do not shovel are capitalizing on the labor of those who do and it pisses them off.

“No, Donald. You cannot just eat the last piece of pizza. You need to learn to share.”

I was thirteen. I was growing. I ate like a fucking locust with the table manners of the Cookie Monster. There it was—the last piece. I wanted it. My sister was small and weak. What was she gonna do?

“Offer your sister the last piece.”

“…do you want the last…”

“YES!” she barked and shoved the whole piece in her mouth.

“That’s NOT FAIR! We coulda split it! That’s not sharing, that’s theft!”

That’s Capitalism. Cut throat. Haves and Have Nots. It is simply not in human nature to share. In all of recorded history there has always been, in every society and civilization, when approached with abundance, a small percentage of those at the top and a much larger percentage at the bottom. Call it what you want—winners and losers, the One Percent and the Ninety-Nine (great name for a prog rock band), Bourgeoisie and Proletariat—it all amounts to the same dynamic.

It occurs to me that in the fight to get people fired from their jobs for tweeting arguably terrible things the double standard in place is exceptionally capitalist. On the ‘cancel culture’ side is the idea that people should be held accountable for their words in the world and, if they cross the line, then employers should fire them. On the other side, these same people will scream that an employer who decides that a kid wearing the costume of his culture or using grammatically incorrect language cannot be fired.

Both are individuals putting themselves and their ability to express themselves at the center of a business that has little to do with the individual. Everyone should have the right to their own specific identity as they see fit but no one should have the right to exert themselves above a business that pays them a salary in order to center things on them.

It’s frustrating. Economic class is the true great divider in the world. Because it is so ingrained in the human experience to live with those who have the cash and many who do not, economic class seems an unassailable unfairness. It’s an immovable and undeniable trait in societies of every stripe.

The landlord who leverages herself to get loans to buy an apartment building, fix it up to be livable, and rents it out to people has shoveled the snow. The tenant who claims it is unfair to be evicted from that apartment building because they cannot pay the rent is parking wherever there is a spot.

And it pisses everybody off.

No, it is neither race nor gender that is the engine of inequity. It’s almost entirely economic class.

Since the existence of class is so ever-present and unmoving, we focus on other things to change society. The battle to curb billionaires has never really taken hold despite the obvious problems they present. So we focus on race, we focus on gender. We spend our energy ignoring that most of inequity that exists between humans is about economics and find as many differences between those of us on the Have Not side as we can.

Why is it so hard to get rid of billionaires and that pernicious One Percent? Because we all want what they have. We all want the last piece of pizza and the parking space. We all want the luxury of luxurious things. We resent the things we'd have to do to get that luxury so instead we tear at anyone and everyone to gain whatever slice we can.

No one wants to shovel out that goddamned parking space. Trust me. In thirty years of living in Chicago, I shoveled tons and tons of snow to get that coveted spot. I never did the 'dibs' thing but I empathize with the fury at someone taking that spot I've labored over.

Study after study indicates that it is economic class that holds us back far more than race or gender but the road to power is through a perception of grievance these days and the only evil when presenting poverty as the problem is human nature. Men and women can be demonized. That game has been around for-freaking-ever. African Americans can demonize whites (but not black Americans because African immigrants in America do, on average, far better economically than whites). We can go the People of Color vs White People but, in order to make that case, Asians have to be ignored or made white-adjacent.

No, it is neither race nor gender that is the engine of inequity. It’s almost entirely economic class. Not that acknowledging that will change anything.

The utopian ideals of Socialism and even Communism sound better than Capitalism. The problem is the humans are built from the DNA to compete. Compete for resources, for sexual partners, for jobs, for shelter. Competition is as instinctual as our desire to procreate and Capitalism is a competitive sport. Throughout history, progress toward learning to truly share that slice of pizza is slow because it goes against our very nature. Not impossible and thus worth the effort but fucking S-L-O-W.

A friend recently posited that maybe I have gained some wisdom in my aging. He then switched and decided that maybe what we think is wisdom is just age plus exhaustion. Whichever it is, I have learned to share. I've also learned that in order to share, I have to assume my offer of the last piece of pie is going to be taken and stuffed into my sister's mouth. I can be wounded by the gesture, I can even be annoyed by it. I have to let it go.

I'm comfortable with the concept of enough. Meaning, if I have enough to share, I have enough to survive. Even if it's only enough of my mom's Spanish Rice.

There will be those, always those, who are so imbued with the need to compete that there is never enough. There will be those, perpetually those, who have not had enough and are willing to tear it out of the mouths of those who have.

And there will always be those, unendingly those, who are fine parking in the open spot knowing that someone else put in the work and not caring enough about anyone else that they take up the space and benefit from the labor without contributing.

On the best days, I don't run into them.

#Class

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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 5 years

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The wrong girl, pt.3 (E.D.)

Summary: Ethan is shocked to find Y/N is back with Jack the very next day.

Warnings: ANGST, swearing, fluff

The Wrong Girl - Masterlist

Ethan wanted to call. Hell, he wanted to go straight to her place, but he didn't even know if she lived there anymore considering a week ago she moved in with Jack.

Frustrated, he grumbled under his breath all the way to the kitchen, watching the photos of Jack and Madison kissing all over his Twitter feed.

Snorting in disbelief, he poured himself a cup of coffee and went through his Snapchat.

"What the fuck?!" He couldn't hold his anger back, watching the newest snap of Jack and Y/N cuddling on the beach, each with a bowl of ice cream in their hands while he had his lips on her cheek.

"Bro, it's too early for you to be cussing the house down." Grayson complained, taking a bite out of his avocado toast.

"Why do they look like a picture perfect couple when he was making out with his ex just a day ago?!" Ethan pushed his phone in Grayson's face, his hand shaking in utter rage. He couldn't understand why would she be with him right now, especially after last night. She isn't someone who just forgives and forgets, he knows that because he's felt it on his skin and in every painful beat of his heart.

"He did?!" Grayson frowned, his forehead creasing as he grabbed Ethan's phone out of his hand, now fuming as well. It takes a hell of a lot to make Grayson drop his avocado toast in the morning and this definitely qualified.

"Something isn't right there." Grayson jumped to his feet, grabbing his keys and Ethan froze, confused about his brother’s sudden change of heart on the matter.

"Are you coming or not?" Grayson growled at Ethan and more than ever, Ethan wanted to hug his brother. He finally turned back into not only Y/N's protector which Ethan greatly appreciated, but his twin and partner in crime.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

They drove back to Jack's apartment, finding an empty place but it didn't derail the twins as they waited outside for the next two hours, their anger growing proportionally with their worry.

"There she is!" Ethan exclaims, his face darkening when he sees she's not alone.

"I got him, you talk to our girl." Grayson says, already heading out and pulling Jack away for a word or two.

"What's happening right now?" Ethan instantly grabs her hand, encasing it in his.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." She lifts her chin up, proudly staring back at him with defiance in every line of her beautiful face.

"You. Him. Why are you back with him? He gets a pardon but I don't?" Ethan's jaw clenched, his eyebrows knitting together as his brooding features gave way for his jealousy filled fit mixed with confusion to shine through.

"Ethan, don't." She sighs, ripping her hand out of his just as he did when she grabbed his hand the day he left for the 4th of July weekend away without her.

She walked around him, sitting on the steps, her face hidden in her hands. Ethan didn't hesitate, moving toward her and crouching so he can be in her line of sight once she stops hiding from him.

"Can you just answer me one question?" His plea doesn't go unanswered for she looks up the moment his words reach her and she couldn't help but get lost in his brown, stony eyes.

"That day we met...did you want me to kiss you when we said goodbye?"

Ethan felt good for the first time in weeks, deciding to just go out for a walk and let life bring him more good vibes because you attract what you put out into the world. It's always been his policy.

And it worked like a charm when he stumbled into a short girl who seemed to be in need of a warm jacket and someone to talk to.

"Hey. I don't mean to sound weird, but do you need me to walk you home? It's getting kind of late and you seem cold and I might be able to help with both." He offers, surprised he's so calm with a girl as beautiful as she is, honestly impressed with himself.

"Only if you promise me you're not a serial killer who'd break into my apartment, tie me up and then eat me for dinner." She responds with a straight face, quirking an eyebrow at him and that's when he finds himself ready to play.

"If I ever do tie you up and eat you for dinner it will be much different than what you just had in mind." Leaning in, Ethan couldn't help but smirk. "And I'm a slow, thorough eater too. After all, if you don't take pleasure in what you eat, why bother unwrapping the meal at all?" Winking, he couldn't help but be proud of the flabbergasted look on her face as she not only blushed so deeply he was worried she might faint if she doesn't draw in a breath soon, but her eyes widened as well that he could see the innocent little demons hiding in her eyes and they recklessly played with matches. The same fire within her spread throughout his body.

"Well, in that case, I can't say no." She replied, biting her lower lip shyly as he shrugged his jacket off and put it around her before pulling her into his side, surprised she didn’t pull away.

"I'm Ethan by the way."

They walked for hours, talking about the theory of everything - from the universe, to social media to fashion and movies and places they wanted to visit and why. They shared so much with one another, more than they shared with anyone else before and if magic was real, Ethan could have sworn she's the inventor.

"Where did you say you live again?" Ethan chuckled, his arm around her still so casually laid on her shoulder, holding her close like she's his snowflake in a sunny day even though it was Los Angeles in the middle of a summer night. He felt so protective over her, so desperate to keep her safe...to keep her near.

"Here, actually. We've passed it five times now." She replied coyly, smiling at her feet as she avoided his piercing gaze. She couldn't bear the heat in his eyes no longer than he could bear the longing smile she had to offer.

"Guess it really is time we say goodnight?" Ethan hesitated, not wanting the night to end because she felt like rain and he felt like he's been stuck in a desert for his whole life.

"Yeah. It's past one." She nodded reluctantly, swallowing thickly as she slowly leaned forth, hoping he'd catch on. And Ethan did, leaning as well, his face so close now she could feel his breath on her own.

"Sweet dream, snowflake." He whispered, painfully aware of her lips being only inches away, deciding a kiss so early on might kill their fire in case she isn't ready. Hell, he wasn't sure she wanted to kiss him even if she wasn't pushing him away.

Ethan hoped their moment is yet to come and not kissing her tonight would ensure it happens. After all, he knew where she lives now and he'd be damned if he's not at her door in the next few days.

"Snowflake?" She giggled, still glancing at his soft, plush, kissable lips like they held all the secrets of the world.

"I'll explain one day." He smiled, kissing her forehead before stepping back, watching her nod, giving him a tiny wave as she went into her building, looking back at least three times.

Years have passed and Ethan never got his chance again. The moment passed and he lost her in the meantime as well.

"Did I want you to kiss me?" She chuckled dryly, looking ahead instead of him as she contemplated what she could say.

"Fuck yeah. I did. I wanted you to kiss me so bad! But you walked away...and you never told me what's the deal with calling me Snowflake that night either." She opted for the truth and she expected the same.

"You were small, gentle, innocent, a little cold to the rest of the world but the attention you gave me by being on my arm made me feel like I'm the most important person in the world. A snowflake seems so simple to humans, but it's built with such complexity that no one can quite understand and I wanted to understand so badly." Ethan noticed her stop breathing, the way her cheeks turned a brighter shade under the sun as he felt his heart clench at just how favorable sunlight is on her face.

"Can we just go?" Jack stepped in, ending their moment effectively.

"Or you can back the fuck off and let her breathe." Ethan stood up, stepping in front of Y/N with his shoulders wide and his back straight to seem himself appear bigger and stronger, not that he needed it because he looks fucking terrifying and intimidating even when he doesn't try.

"I think it's her choice." Jack remarks, looking at Y/N over Ethan's shoulder as she stood up rather quickly when Ethan raised the temperature with his threat.

"Ethan, Grayson. I am very grateful you're here for me, but this is something I need to handle on my own." Y/N nodded Jack over, walking away from the dumbfounded twins who had lava instead of blood in their veins. She dropped her gaze to the steps she sat on before and only he knew she was in trouble, maybe not in the way he thinks, but she once told him the signs.

“If you ever look at me in the eye and I drop my gaze in that moment, you can be damn sure I’m at war with my heart.”

And even though he ruined everything and he hurt her so badly, he knew she was back to square one, with two guys who didn’t deserve her.

"What the fuck? Bro, I'm about to lose my shit and no amount of talking will stop me from knocking someone into the ground." Ethan says through gritted teeth, aware of his brothers hand on his shoulder.

"Not today. I have a feeling this won't be an issue for much longer. You two are endgame. I see it now."

Tags: @accalialionheart @fallinginlove-16 @xalayx @heyits-claire @dolandolll @godlydolans @dolanstwintuesday @ethanhes

#ethan dolan x reader #ethan dolan #dolan twins #ethan dolan fanfiction #ethan dolan fic #ethan dolan fanfic #ethan dolan angst

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ciestessde · 4 years

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Prologue

Author's Note

Well, after over a year of “helping” her -- after hiring professional editors and everything… Tess has decided to post our story FOR FREE.

… And I can’t even really blame her. Not with everything going on. She’s always had a soft heart, despite what she may think, and something on this scale… It was only a matter of time before she tried to do something to ease other peoples’ pain.

*sigh* Welp. I should probably introduce myself officially. I’m Noctu, Ciestess’s… “sibling” I guess you could call me. I’m an energy being that shares her physical form and travels with her through dimensions. I’m also one of the narrators of the story posted below.

“Crossroad of Infinity: Origins” is our way of introducing ourselves to you: Ciestess, the owner of this blog; Noctu, me; and Xihrae, a lovably annoying bastard you haven’t had the (dis)pleasure of meeting yet. Part 1, “Alone” focuses mostly on Ciestess herself. Part 2, “Family,” focusing on yours truly, will be the next in the series. Then Part 3, “Friends” will wrap things up with the story of how Xihrae came to join our group.

One chapter of Part 1 will be posted each week, most likely until all 28 chapters are available (unless Ciestess changes her mind, but I doubt I’ll be able to convince her). If you do wish to show your support through money, you can buy the book on Google (or through Amazon, but, for reasons explained in a previous post, Google is preferred). You can also donate directly to us through Tess’s Patreon or Ko-fi.

With all that out of the way, Pleasant Reading

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Prologue

Ok, let me admit something right off the bat: I’ve wondered more than a few times whether I actually remember anything about my early childhood at all.

Yeah, see, I might’ve just made it all up from pieces of different lives I’ve lived in other worlds. And since I can’t go back and check, I’ll probably never have an answer, either.

But the early childhood I’ve “imagined” is real enough to me. And it was pretty good. I think my parents both cared about me, that I never went hungry or was abused, and that I got to do a lot of things I loved. Sure, my parents were a little over-protective, and they didn’t understand me, like… at all.

But it’s not like they could have, anyway.

I dunno. Maybe it’s just the rose-tinted glasses, since I can’t actually remember things like what their jobs were, what their names were, what they looked like… But what’s the point in questioning it?

I just… I can’t see the point in fighting or fearing what I can’t change. I never have.

And if it makes me happy, then I REALLY don’t see the point!

And remembering the good parts of my homeworld? THAT makes me happy! So I’m going to start off this tale by indulging myself.

Now, I only have the memories stored in the First Memory Crystal to go by. Which, yes, is vastly better than my “memories” of my early childhood, but I wasn’t exactly expecting to continue living after dying in my homeworld. So, while admittedly better (and I’ll give a brief “thank you” to Noctu, that loveable pseudo-demon, for showing me I remembered more than I realized), my memories of my homeworld still aren’t all that detailed. Also, my homeworld was ruled by vastly different laws of physics compared to this world, so, while I’m going to do my best to explain and translate, please keep those things in mind, haha!

First off, we didn’t have a name for our world, per-say -- at least, not one I can translate beyond “our world.” So I’ve chosen to call it “Illunira.” After how it glowed.

It was cold. There was no sun to warm it -- in fact, there was no outer space at all! Instead, the heat from the center of the planet spread to the surface through lava, and our sky looked out upon a different dimension. Plants grew in that lava, and our sky- that dimension? … It looked like a prism.

There were no seasons. No day or night. Instead, we told time by the changing of the crops: the Planting, Growing, Harvest, and Rest. We sowed our crops in spots where large amounts of life-sustaining, silver-colored lava came to the surface. I’m going to call these “volcanoes,” but they didn’t erupt like the ones here do. They only spilled out and bubbled with lava. Our cities and towns formed around these volcanoes. However, never too close. Too close and we burned.

Well… some of us.

There were three species of intelligent beings: the Anima, the Florus, and the Symbi; and the Florus were able to live closest to the volcanoes, as they were plant-like beings (though, of course, sentient and mobile).

I say they were “plant-like,” but… Illunira’s “plants” more resembled flexible crystals than any vegetation from this world. But, unlike crystals, they glowed with energy siphoned directly from the lava. They were what transformed that energy into something that could sustain life -- much like how plants here do with sunlight. And this was how the Florus “ate” -- directly from the lava. However, since they lost the energy they siphoned rather quickly, they could never stray far from a source of their “food.” (In this way, perhaps they were more like reptiles that couldn’t let themselves get too “cold”?)

In contrast, the Symbi, clusters of single-celled beings that worked together to form larger “communities,” stayed far away from the blustering warmth of the lava. It would easily kill some of their members. Far from being crystalline, the Symbi were more like living, coordinated plasma; they only had a solid form or shape when they wanted to. And, as I understood it, it took quite a bit of effort to do so. So they rarely did.

The Symbi gained energy from… … Huh. Y’know, I don’t think I ever saw them feed -- but then, how could I? They were far too small. They almost seemed self-sustaining, in that way. Although I know they couldn’t have been.

The Anima, essentially humanoid beings, were something between the two. We were beings that couldn’t feed from the lava, nor get too close to it, like the Symbi. We held a more solid, crystal-like structure like the Florus, yet we also flowed with formless plasma internally, allowing us greater freedom of movement and separation from our energy-sources than them. We seemed able to feed off of almost anything that wasn’t the lava itself: smaller creatures, the “plants,” and even some… I’m honestly not sure what they were, but there were these floating, excess energy… things that we could absorb.

… Perhaps that’s what the Symbi ate…?

Regardless -- All of us glowed. All of us lived together, fed one another. Ruled over and under each other. All of us had souls. And, when our bodies inevitably died, all of us became the Dead Ones.

The Dead Ones... those whose physical bodies had died, lived on as beings of pure energy in the outer atmosphere -- inside the divide between Illunira and the dimension surrounding it. Though, only for a limited time. Only until their energy ran out.

This dimension I call “Prizmal” because it looked -- and still looks -- like a prism from a distance. Some believed Prizmal to be the afterlife, while others insisted it was what fed the planet’s core with energy. Either way, only the Dead Ones -- who had solely prizmal bodies, without any material elements -- were allowed to travel there. Anyone else would die so far from the planet’s heat.

I know because they tried, once. How could they do that, you may wonder?

Because we floated.

We weren’t tied down to the land. All of us: Anima, Symbi, Florus -- anything that wasn’t a plant -- floated and flew.

Because everything that lived there was only ever half-made of matter. And the other half was energy. So we floated.

I said everything glowed, but it wasn’t a bright place. On the contrary, it was quite dark! But that darkness just made every light seem to shine that much brighter!

Small animals would skitter across pools of silvery lava, sparkling against it and any other reflective surface. Sometimes you’d see a light come up from under the non-glowing, pitch-black ground to reveal a tiny nose. Or you’d see a mass of similar-shaped flames rushing in one direction and, on closer inspection, realize it was a herd or pack of some larger creatures traveling together. Sparks would flicker in the sky, alone or in droves, looking for smaller sparks to swallow.

All of it against the empty darkness of the ground below, or the shattered, diffused light of Prizmal and the Dead Ones above.

Darkness and light extending in every direction, like a sea of living and moving neon signs on a starless night. Everything glowed. All so many different colors.

… I miss how colorful it was there.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Cover Page] - [Next Chapter]

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[This work is Copyleft. You may use, copy, share, and modify this work -- with the condition that the same rights be preserved in any derivative work created from it.]

#Crossroad Of Infinity #crossroadofinfinity #sci-fi #fantasy #dracula #copyleft

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meowingjasper · 4 years

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Lost Souls Ch 1 Anastasia- I Didn’t Sign Up for This

Stop. You’re reading this because you enjoy stories. So did I. But this isn’t a work of fiction, no matter how much I wish it was. You’re reading this because you had a desire to take my place. So did I, once. But don’t make my mistake. Don’t wish for this, I wish I never did. You wanna know what changed my mind? You haven’t been paying attention. Very well, learn your lesson. My name is Anastasia Roma, learn my story. Learn my lesson.

The morning had begun like any other, I woke up and was forced to drag my feet to my tiny school and my average sophomore classes. Yeah, my life wasn’t the most exciting. Yet, that all changed that day.

I was trudging along the halls, dodging and weaving through ignorant rich kids on their phones. I was so caught up in my own thoughts, I failed to notice the foot being stuck out in front of me. Tumbling to the cool ground, I watched helplessly as my notebook slid across the tile floor and bounced against the same foot that put me in this situation. Great. Begrudgingly, I glanced up to a trio of girls. Why must mean girls always come in threes? Brushing away the thought, I stumbled to my feet.

The center girl, with a color palette like a demon, picked up the notebook and snickered like a dying hyena, “Oh? What’s this, Ana? I didn’t know you write! Why didn’t you tell us? We are your closest friends, after all! Let’s see…” She started to flip through my notebook like a predator hunting prey.

Taking a deep breath, I asked calmly, “Alex, can you just please give my notebook back? Please? You said we were friends, right?”

The girl next to Alex, who looked like an 80s rip-off, snatched the book and squealed like a helium balloon, “What messy handwriting! Jeez Ana, take some lessons, would you? Oh! And this piece looks interesting!”

The third girl that looked like she came from rolling in the mud peered over to look at the book, “Really? I’m lost. Lost in a sea of smoke and storms. Drifting aimlessly with no one beside me and nowhere to go. Rising and sinking. Helplessly steered by the flow. I’m fading. Fading, like a star setting in the horizon. Flickering. Flickering like a fire in the rain. Someone, look my way before I flicker out and fade away.” I could feel my hair stand on end, something inside me burned, screamed at the girls. I opened my mouth, aiming to give them a piece of my mind. Yet, nothing came out. The three girls looked up from the book to shoot me looks born straight from nightmares, killing the fire back down to its normal, pitiful sparks. My hands shook, ignoring the screams from my brain to stand my ground.

Alex sneered, “What’s this? Looks like little writer girl wants to say something.”

The mud girl mocked, “What’s she gonna do? Tell us a pretty poem?”

The 80s knock-off laughed, “Yeah right, it’ll just sound like a kindergartner said it. Ana, dear, stop trying to pretend you’re good and do the world a favor by giving up.” The sparks reignited inside me, leading my fists to clench.

Finding my voice, I stepped towards the girls, my voice surprisingly stern, “Can you please just give me my notebook back?”

“Hmm…” Alex mockingly pretended to think about her answer, but I already knew what it was. What it always was. “Nah, I don’t think so.” I felt a low growl slip past my lips, but it came out so pathetically that the trio of mortal devils just laughed in my face.

Another voice called out from behind the trio, “Come on Alex. Just drop it.” Like a light in the darkness, coming up to us from the other end of the hall was a girl with dyed blue hair and white clothes. She towered over us, even if she was shorter than the three girls. Without hesitation, even I shivered with fear as she approached Alex. Despite the look of murder in her eyes and standing on her tiptoes to look the other girl in the eyes, the girl’s voice was steady and calm, “Let’s think about this, Alex. This is your third act of trouble this week, right? Doesn’t the volleyball team have a competition this weekend? It would be a shame if the coach had to deal with even more stress with their best player causing trouble and risking her ability to come to practices and the game, right? We wouldn’t want that for our loving coach, now would we?”

Alex growled, her face scrunching up in thought, “Fine.” With a flick of her mop of hair, she strutted off, her lackeys tailing behind like the sheep they always were.

The blue haired girl called out, “Alex. I believe you forgot something.”

Alex turned back and forced a smile, “Oh, of course. How could I forget something so… important.” Like a dagger, the book shot back towards my face. I flinched back, preparing for the inevitable impact. Yet, it never came. Slowly, I reopened my eyes to see the spine of my notebook an inch away from my face. Like a ninja, the girl managed to catch it without ever breaking her gaze on the retreating figures of the three girls. She smirked down at me. I rolled my eyes, hiding my awe, as I picked the book from her fingers. I expected that, at least, I should’ve. After all, I knew this girl. Everyone did. Nadia Nyx, daughter of miss principal, karate black belt, valedictorian and all around bad-ass. Aka, not someone to piss off nor to try and live up to.

She’s also my cousin.

I turned my back to her, “Thanks, Nadia. We should get to class.” I started walking down the hall when I heard laughter behind me.

Turning back, I saw Nadia holding back her loud snickers, “It’s the end of the day, idiot. The buses already pulled out and the teachers already started leaving.” The rush of heat flowed to my cheeks like lava and I spilled out a series of incoherent sputters, attempting to find a reply. Laughing, Nadia caught up to me and patted my shoulder, “Don’t worry. I’ll walk you home, dork.” She ruffled my hair, much to my distaste may I add, and the two of us walked down the halls and out of the building.

We had gotten down the sidewalk when we heard it. A low growling and snarling noise. Like a wolf, but deeper. I felt a chill sprint up my spine, causing me to turn on my heel towards the source. Concerned, Nadia asked, “What’s up?” But I didn’t answer. I just stared down the alleyway, lost in the seemingly unnatural darkness.

Just then, a pair of blood red eyes began to glow through the black. Then another. And another. Every cell in my body screamed to run, yet my feet were cement. Even Nadia, though I couldn’t see her, was taken aback by the sight. As the eyes loomed into the light, I felt my stomach plummet. They were snarling wolves that looked to be made of shadows save the eyes that haunted nightmares and foam of death spilling out of their mouths.

Before I could move, I felt myself being pushed back onto the cement. Standing over me was Nadia, once again trying to protect me. She was holding a bronze umbrella as if it was a sword. Her scowl was back again, but there was a look in her eyes. One that I’ve rarely ever seen on her. One that told me how severe the situation was. One of pure and utter terror. Panic took control and I cried out, “Nadia! What’s going on?”

Not breaking her gaze with the creatures, Nadia ordered, “Anastasia! Stay back! Those are hell hounds!” What? My mind couldn’t think well enough to process her words. All I can take in was the scene between my cousin and the creatures slowly crawling towards us, who seemed to soak in our fear with joy. The leading dog crouched, aiming itself for Nadia. I called out, but I realized too late. The monster leapt towards the short girl, who just desperately opened her umbrella and held it like a shield.

But the hit never landed. Instead, time seemed to slow as an arrow came out of nowhere and pierced the eye of the dog. It crumpled to the ground as two more bronze arrows pierced its body. It disintegrated to gold dust that blew away in the wind. From one of the roofs, a figure flipped onto the back of a dog, piercing it with a bronze blade. A third hellhound tried to pounce at the girl, but she spun the staff of her weapon, the blades cutting the monster in two like butter. Getting to her feet, she gave a glare that would make generals shake in their boots. The remaining monsters took one look and made the smart move of retreating back into the shadows to which they came.

The girl turned to face us, her face emotionless, “Come with me if you want to live.”

Nadia looked down at me and shrugged, “Can’t argue with that.” I hesitated, my voice lost in the panic. Part of me felt comfort at the sight of the girl in black, yet the other part told me to run, just the same way the monsters made me want to. Snapping back to attention, I nodded back to Nadia and stumbled to my feet.

Together, the three of us hurried down the small town streets. The mystery girl led the way as we weaved around corners and away from crowds. After a minute, my voice was finally rediscovered and I dared to ask, “I’m sorry, who are you? Where are you taking us? What were those things?”

Nadia repeated, “They were hell hounds.”

That only fueled the fire inside me. “Which are myths! Not monsters casually appearing by nobody schools in a nowhere town! Just what is going on?”

Something seemed to set the girl off, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn back to us, “You want answers? Take my hands.” I glanced down to see that the girl stretched out her two open hands, one to me and the other to Nadia.

Nadia started to reach for it, but hesitated, “Why?”

The girl sighed, “I can’t talk about it here.”

This time I was the one who felt suspicion at that comment. Well, it was a feeling of uneasiness growing in my gut. My voice was sharpened by that uneasiness as I spoke up, “Why not? Why would taking your hands change that?”

The girl glared at me, her face the most deadpanned one I’ve ever seen, “If I wanted to kill the two of you, wouldn’t it have been much easier to leave you to the dogs? I mean, it’s not like you would’ve had a chance with them.” That… was fair. Hesitant, I looked to Nadia for her reply. She shrugged and took the girl’s hand. Though I still had my concerns, I took my cousin’s lead and did the same. Like a flash, my view was overwhelmed by blackness. What I felt wasn't pleasant. It felt like I was being dragged through a sea of ice water and a burning inferno at the same time. It lasted a split second and an eternity. The light came back all at once. The three of us were in a field of grass that looked like no one cut it in a century. Spots in the grass had ruins of, were those arrowheads? Nearby was a tall hill with a pine tree that watched over the area. It almost looked like something gold was hanging off its branches, but another glance made it vanish as quickly as I saw it.

The girl walked past us and towards the tree on the hill. I shouted, snapping out of my awe, “Wait! Can you tell us yet?”

She turned back, a small smile on her face and an eager sparkle in her eye, “Not yet.” She reached the tree and… vanished. Stricken with surprise, I stumbled back into a calloused hand. Nadia came up next to me and shot me a look that calmed my shivers and fear. Together, we approached the spot where the mystery girl vanished. Each step felt like I was pushing further through a plastic wrap. Closer and closer until finally, we were through. To our surprise, the other side was packed. In the center, rows upon rows of cabins, each being a different style to the others around them. They were centered around a fire. To one side, a large home, a cave, and a coastline. Towards the other, a stables, a field of plaques and statues, and seemingly endless forest.

Nadia spoke up, once again yanking me out of my awestruck daze, “Hey, where did that girl go?” Looking around, I thought the same thing. There were dozens of people of all ages, most in orange t-shirts that read ‘Camp Half-Blood’, but the girl in black was nowhere among them. Instead, a man who’s lower half was… a horse and a boy that looked our age ran up towards us. The man was clearly on the other side of adulthood. He towered over the boy, donning a t-shirt of his own and dark brown hair that flowed down his face in waves. What caught my eye most was the quiver and bow over his shoulders. Oh and that he was a horse. Did I mention that? Nadia, seeing the same guy, whispered to me, “He’s a centaur. A half man, half horse.” I nodded and forced my eyes to move to the boy that was running ahead of him. The boy was blond with pale blue eyes with a fire behind them like a roaring flame. He had bronze goggles and the same orange t-shirt I saw the others in, but his was covered in several types of stains. Even as he approached us, he seemed to be fiddling with something in his hands.

The boy waved and called out to us, “Yo! Probably new kids!”

I was too slow at finding the words to describe my thoughts, so, like the savior she always was, Nadia swooped in, “Who are you? Where is this place? I’m not waiting anymore for answers, centaur.”

The centaur paused, clearly caught off guard, “Did no one tell you?”

Confusion filling my thoughts, I shook my head, “No, the girl who brought us just asked us to grab her hands and then… we were here.”

The boy looked like he saw a ghost as he blurted out, his voice even cracking, “You met Silena?”

The centaur turned to the boy, “Keith? Who is that?”

Even I could tell the boy was in panic mode as he looked up to the man, “Another half-blood, Chiron.”

Chiron glared down to him, a slight sharpness to his words, “Then how does she know about this camp but I do not know her?” If this were a show, the Keith boy would have the red warning siren blaring around him.

His eyes met mine and he yelled, gesturing to me, “W-Wait, you guys aren’t claimed yet, right? Or w-who’s your godly parent, then? Mine’s Hephaestus, god of weapon-smithing and fire, as well as the best god.”

Seeming to set aside her suspicion, Nadia crossed her arms and smirked, “Oh? The best god’s a pretty bold claim. Where’s your evidence to back it up?”

Keith glanced to her and smirked back, “Didn’t you hear me? God of weapon-smithing and literal fire. Fight me.” How could they talk like that? Be so casual about gods and weapons and all these other things.

Frustration finally took over my mind and control and I snapped, “Wait! What’s this about gods? And are you actually a real centaur? How? Will someone please just explain what’s happening? This better not be some sort of complex joke. Because between the murderous shadow dogs and vanishing girls in black, I am at my limits.”

Chiron took a deep breath and explained calmly, “Of course you have questions, miss…”

“Anastasia. Anastasia Roma.”

“Anastasia, you and your friend.”

“Cousin,” I corrected colder than I intended.

“Cousin, are half-bloods. Also known as demigods. That means that one of your parents is a, assuming greek, god or goddess. Your cases are abnormal, for normally demigods are guided and claimed by 13.”

I overheard Keith mumble to himself, “So that’s why she said she was traveling.” But I couldn’t question his words. God? Demigod? My mind could barely process any of what the centaur said, but I also felt a huge burden being lifted off my shoulders. I got so caught up in my confusion, Keith noticed my staring and offered, “Oh! Chiron, I can show them around!”

Nadia stepped forward and interrupted, “When will we be claimed?” Almost on cue, I felt something explode in heat on my back. It was warm, but not burning. No, it was comforting. The other three did look at me as if I was on fire, though. Keith opened his mouth when a beam of light passed over my shoulder and hit him straight in the eye.

He stumbled back, crying out, “Oh gods! Why? Why is it always me?” That made everyone, including myself, giggle. After a second, the warmth faded back to a small tingle.

Chiron just smiled at me, “Apollo’s kid. That explains it.”

Nadia guessed, “That’s the egotistical one, right?”

Keith groaned, back to his stable state, “Unfortunately.”

Chiron turned to the blond, “Mr. Volace, could you show Ms. Roma around and introduce her to her new camp counselor? I would like to stay behind and talk to miss…” He glanced to Nadia, hoping for her to catch on.

Nadia did, “Nadia Nyx, sir.”

Chiron gave a thankful smile, “Just Chiron, Ms. Nyx. I’d rather not be reminded of my age.”

Keith snorted, “With all due respect, Chiron, we all know the truth. Formalities won’t make much of a difference.”

Panicking, I started to push Keith down towards the camp, “Hey… let’s just get to that tour before we accidentally piss off the man who can easily trample us to death, okay?” I waved to Nadia as we started the tour.

He explained the food system and schedules as we passed by the food pavilion and stables. He told me tales of demigod adventures while passing by the archers and fighters. He showed me the testing areas and hiding spots for capture the flag in the woods. As we passed by an open clearing I noticed a stray target peeking out among the wall of trees. I looked in front of me, to the blond who was still running his mouth.

What happened next was over a single second. If you blinked, you missed it. A single streak sped like a bullet from above the treeline and targeted my face. The arrow reached so close, I could see the metallic streaks that made up the head. Keith’s voice spoke up, “Well, that could’ve been bad. We wouldn’t want you dying on us on day one, would we?” The rim of my vision cleared to show the cause of the arrow stopping before hitting me. Keith had managed to reach over and catch it between his fingers.

I whined under my breath, “Is everyone more bad-ass than me?”

Unfazed, he looked towards the source of the attack. Smiling, he called out, “Hey, Silena! How about you watch where you’re shooting?”

“How about you don’t lead people past a firing range?” The voice belonged to none other than the mystery girl in black. The girl hopped down from the tree branch she appeared on and approached me. Despite the fact that she was smiling, there was still a shadowy aura of intimidation around her. Noticing my staring, Silena raised a brow, “What? Do I have something on my face?”

Once again, I felt the scorching heat of embarrassment rush to my cheeks, causing my words to stutter, “N-No! I-I just, want to thank you… f-for taking us to camp, I-I mean!” Silena stepped back, her face signaling her being caught off guard.

Keith teased, “I knew it was you. I told you there was a heart in that sea of cold emoness somewhere.”

Silena protested, “I am not emo!” Keith just smirked in reply.

Curious, I asked, “Are the two of you dating?”

Silena scoffed, “Him? Please, in his dreams.”

Keith stomped his foot, “Hey! I’ve had a girlfriend before!”

Silena teased, “Oh really? Your imaginary friends don’t count, you know.”

Keith crossed his arms, “Sarah, remember? The Canadian mortal I met that one year I tried public school? You met her.”

Something clicked in my mind, causing me to speak up, “A mortal? But, what happened?”

Keith’s breath caught as he struggled to reply, “Well… dating a mortal without telling her about your demigod situation is… difficult. She’s an artist, so she bought into my reasons easier than most. Just thought I had a flare for the dramatics, you know? But I guess you can only tell a girl you’re late because you were caught up running for your life so many times before she has questions. And since I couldn’t tell her, duh, she cut things off.” He bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet, not meeting my gaze.

Hesitant, I asked, my voice soft and cautious, “And you’re okay with that?” He met my eyes, and for a second, I could see his were distant, the fire I once saw brought down to simple sparks.

But those sparks relit as he assured, “Oh yeah, totally!”

Silena corrected, “He sobbed and whined to me for a month.”

Keith declared, “I’ve moved on since then!”

Silena crossed her arms, skepticism behind her words, “Have you?”

“Yes!”

She quirked a brow again, “Then why did you spend all of dinner yesterday whining about how much you miss her?” Keith opened his mouth to protest, but his words seemed to fail him as his cheeks turned a bright pink. Seeing their interactions, I couldn't help but giggle.

Not breaking her gaze on the blond, Silena pointed to me, “Don’t you have something to take care of?” Startled, Keith nodded and the two of us left Silena behind and made our way to the cabins.

We reached a gold cabin that seemed permanently stuck in max blinding brightness mode. It was one of the more crowded cabins, with kids surrounding it on the outside. On the roof was a girl with gold hair in a braid that hung over her shoulder and bounced as her arms wrote in a notebook. Against one of the side walls was a boy with dirty blond hair messing with a saxophone. In the front was an older boy who had paler blond hair and a guitar along with a little girl, her gold hair tied up in pigtails, humming a cheery tune along with the notes he was strumming. The girl on the roof noticed us and set down her notebook. She leapt down in front of us and sang, “Keith! It is so good to see you! And… who’s this?” She pouted and did a whisper voice to Keith, but didn’t get the volume aspect of whispering, “She’s not a new girlfriend, is she? You know how the Aphrodite cabin is firm on their ship between you and that ghost girl. Besides, with all the mess with Sarah, is dragging another girl in the best move?”

Keith threw up his hands, “Oh my gods, is today remind Keith of his failures with love day? Jeez. Anyways, no Emilie, this is actually your newest camper, Anastasia.”

Emilie squealed, turning to me, “Oh! My! Gods! You’re a sunshine child? But, I’m guessing you need a proper shirt. Come. Come! I’ll show you your bed and give you your new, heh, uniform.”

Keith turned to me and smiled, “Fine by me. I’m gonna be in my cabin, okay? Cool. Have fun with your sunny siblings.” He ran off before I could even reply. Sighing, I let Emilie show me around the cabin and she gave me a pair of blue jeans and an orange t-shirt in my size. I went to the bathroom to change. After crunching up my clothes in a manageable ball, I looked up in the mirror. For once in a long time, I was actually concerned about my appearance. After all, these were my new family. I have long silvery blond hair a similar length to Nadia’s, despite hers being wavy and kept up in a ponytail while mine is much straighter and loose. My deep blue eyes seemed dim after all the events that happened today. At least, I do have my skinniness in my favor. Maybe to an unhealthy state. The shirt hung loosely off by bony arms and ribs. The pants were so long and loose I had to curl up the bottoms.

Stepping outside to face her, Emilie pushed off the wall and took note of my appearance, “Wow, sis! We’ve got to get some meat on those bones, huh? Well, that’s what dinner’s meant for. For now, we should go get you a weapon.” She started to pull my arm and guide me off as she spoke, but the last sentence made me yank my arm free and stop in my tracks.

I asked, my voice a mix of anger and concern, “What? Why would I need a weapon?”

She turned back around and giggled, “You have to learn how to fight too, silly. You won’t always have a satyr to save you.”

I corrected, “But a satyr didn’t save us.”

She laughed, “Of course they did! The only way a demigod can survive their first monster attack is when a satyr comes and takes them to camp.”

“But, it wasn’t a satyr who did that.”

“But-”

She was cut off by a voice calling out, “Hey Emilie! They need your help in the apothecary!”

She shouted back, “I’m on it!” Without another word, she ran off in a new direction and vanished behind a building.

From the shadows, the voice was revealed to be Silena, who scoffed, “Way to abandon your duties so easily, airhead.”

Feeling a simmering anger at hearing my supposed sister being insulted, I snapped, “Why did you do that?”

But that just made the other girl smile and tease, “Oh? So there is some semblance of a spine in there. Good. Spineless demigods tend to not make it far. I hope you can guess why. Here, I’ll get you a weapon. Trust me, I’ll be a better help than miss ‘You have to use a bow and arrow because it was what you were born to wield’ or whatever.”

As she started walking, I asked, “Wait, I never asked this, but who’s your demigod parent? And why did you save us? Not that I’m not grateful. I am! It’s just, Emilie said only satyrs save demigods at first.”

Silena stopped and rolled her eyes, explaining, “Of course she did. Look Ana, can I call you that? Emilie may be the counselor of the sunshine children, but she’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the box, if you know what I mean. She was saved by a satyr, so she naturally assumes that being saved by one is the norm and the only way to be introduced to camp. It’s not. At least, not anymore. In your case, you and Nadia were saved by a demigod. Me. As for my godly parent, it’s Hades, the god of death and shadows and the whole emo shabang. He’s also one of the Big Three, the most powerful gods. Just don’t go bragging about that to your siblings, alright? It should be pretty obvious that sunshine and darkness aren’t the best of friends. Why did I save you? It was just luck that I did. I was in the area when I saw your wimpy states and took pity on you. That’s all.” I could tell, I didn’t know how, but part of me could tell she was lying about her answer to the last question. But another part of me knew that pushing for an answer would also have an opposite effect than I wanted. So, as we finally reached the weapon shed, I decided to drop the whole subject entirely.

We entered the shed, which appeared much larger on the inside than the outside, a common theme here it seems. Silena walked over to a stray bow and picked it up. She turned back to me, a slight chuckle in her words, “Look, I know what I said earlier, but you can’t deny that your dad is the god of archery.”

Without a beat of hesitation, I replied, “No.”

She cringed slightly, setting the bow back in its spot, “Oof. Bad memories?”

Visions, ones I tried to bury sirfaced, leading me to answer, “Just… I may be gifted in archery, but fellow mortal fifth graders? Not so much.”

Silena caught on, curling back slightly, “I can only imagine, sorry.” With a new air of awkwardness, I turned to look around the shed. There were several swords, spears, and shields spread across different sections of the walls. Across the center was a table with several knives, bows, and quivers filled with arrows. I lingered by the shields, running my hand over the soft fabrics and cool metals. I felt something guide my feet towards a box on the sword section. There was a mechanical pencil leaning up against the inner wall of the box. I reached in and snatched it. I noticed that not only did the eraser have the ability to be pushed in, but there was a button on the side of the pencil as well. Pushing the button, I nearly dropped the blade in surprise as the pencil grew into a bronze blade with a white and gold handle and a symbol of the sun in the center.

Silena spoke up from behind me, snapping myself back to reality and out of my awed daze, “Ah, I remember that. A Hephaestus girl made that for an Apollo boy in an attempt to ask him out.”

Turning around to face her, I asked, “What happened? How did it end up here?”

I noticed Silena’s expression darkened, as if she knew both like family, “He died the morning she was going to ask him. She fell into such a deep depression that she went out of the camp and was killed.” Hearing these words, the blade became heavier in my hand. Studying it, I saw that there wasn’t a single dent or stain, but I could smell the blood of the people lost with this blade. Taking a deep breath, I pressed the button on the handle and put the pencil in my pocket. Silena asked, “You’re going to use it? You know weapons with that kind of story behind them don’t exactly bode well with demigod souls.”

Smiling softly, I looked up to her surprised expression and replied, “I know. But using this weapon may mean that their sacrifices won’t actually be forgotten.”

Silena smirked, crossing her arms, “Oh? Aren’t you just a little miss poet? That has got to be the cheesiest thing I have ever heard.” But, despite the cocky smile in her voice, I could see a different story in her eyes. They had cleared away the dark storm clouds and a sunlight came in, thankful.

Just then, Emilie’s voice shook the building, “GHOST GIRL! I SWEAR TO THE GODS WHEN I FIND YOU!”

And… panic. Silena winked and declared, giving me a salute, “And that’s my cue. Talk to you later!” She stepped into the darkness and vanished. Glancing at where she left, I smiled with an unfamiliar warm feeling blooming in my chest.

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smolstrawberrychara · 5 years

Text

Klance Au Month - Day 6 - Supernatural

I’m not sure how I got to writing a fluffy kid fic when my initial idea was an estate agent trying to sell a haunted house lmao, but here we go!

Tiny Little Ghost Hunters

Some kids collect bugs. Keith collects ghosts!

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17683712

Lance swung his legs on the large wooden chair, gulping down the last of his burger. It was warm. And the sun was bright. He’d abandoned his cap ages ago – it made his forehead wet – but that meant his eyes were suffering now. The plates shone like mirrors and he squinted at the picnic table. Didn’t mum say there would be another kid? So why was he stuck here eating with boring adults who talked non-stop about how nice the neighbourhood was and kept asking whether the Kogane’s needed anymore help moving in?

“Lance.” Came a commanding voice beside him. “Eat your tomato.”

“No.” Lance mumbled, folding his arms and frowning down at his knees. Tomatoes were gross. And Veronica was being bossy.

“Lance.” His sister repeated, sending him a glare. “You're being impolite.”

“Don't care.” He said, throwing his head to the side. Who was Veronica to tell him what to do? She was still a kid like him. Five years meant nothing. He hated being the youngest.

There was a growl and then Lance’s arm was yanked violently upwards.

“OW!” He yelped, ripping it back.

“That hurt.” He spat into her face. Then he shuffled to the edge of his seat and pouted down at the grass. “Moronica.”

Veronica let out a harsh gasp. “What did you just say?”

Lance sneered up at her, “I said, Moronica.”

Hah. His sister hated that name. Her nose wrinkled in disgust, anger bright in her eyes. Lance gave a smug wiggle. That’ll show her.

“MOM!”

Argh, she was such a tattle tale.

“Lance is calling me names!”

“Hey! She-!” Lance cried but was quickly interrupted.

“Lance.” His mother snapped, piercing him to the spot with a glare. “Be nice to your sister.”

Lance sank into his shoulders as he waited for the woman to turn back to her conversation. As soon as she did, he shot back to Moronica, tongue out in the universal sign of defiance. Veronica seethed. Before Lance could even flinch, her arm flew out like a whip and his skin screamed as it got caught in a pinch. Lance squeaked, wriggling to the edge of his chair and away from the demon. Sisters were the worst. He hated family barbecues.

Rubbing his arm, Lance looked around the foreign garden. The grass was yellowed, dandelions popping out in random places and there were those sharp weeds that attacked Lance’s feet like bear traps everywhere. He frowned. It was like this whole place was designed to offend him. Lance leaned out further, peering behind him. There were dark green bushes sat around in patches, masking the exposed soil surrounding an apple tree. And underneath it was a boy. He had plasters on his knees, a cut on his face and a red jumper tied around his shoulders like a cape. He was sneaking. Lance could tell by the way his knees were bent close to the ground as he crept forward.

Lance hopped down from his chair.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, peering over his shoulder.

The boy jumped. Whipping around, he threw dark wide eyes at Lance before shoving a sticky palm over his mouth.

“SHUSH!” He half shouted before turning back, leaving his hand there. Lance craned his neck to follow the gaze but the boy didn’t let up. “You’ll scare it away.”

A mess of black hair was blocking Lance’s view and he shook his legs impatiently. What would he scare away? He wanted to push the kid down to see. But if he was telling the truth then Lance might miss whatever the thing was. He decided it best to play along and nodded against the palm. The boy finally released his face and began unscrewing the lid of a large jam jar Lance hadn’t noticed he’d been clutching. Then he turned around, bent his knees, tightened his face in concentration and, like a cat, he leapt forward.

“A-ha!” He yelled, throwing the jar to the dirt. He scooped the lid against the soil, lifting it up to the sound of gravel scattering. Then he turned around, grinning widely. “LOOK!”

Lance gasped. Inside the glass was an orb. A large white circle with a wispy tail – like smoke from a birthday candle. It hit the edges of the jar with sharp clinks and seemed to have shiny black eyes like pebbles freshly born from the sea. Lance pressed his face to the window.

“Woah.” He breathed, steaming up the glass. “What is it?”

“Ghos!” The boy announced proudly, “think it was a moth.”

The ghost of a moth? Lance stared in awe, squishing his nose against the surface. Then the jar pushed hard against him and he found the other boy’s eyes on his, warped like a fish’s. “Wanna see more?”

More? Excitement rushed through Lance like a tidal wave. “Yeah!”

The boy sprang back. Then the coolness was ripped from Lance’s face and the jar getting tucked carefully under a chubby arm. Lance’s hand was caught by another and he was grinning again. “COME ON!”

Then he was running. Cutting straight across the grass, he fell after the boy, arm straining against its socket.

“Keith, honey-”

“Sorry mom, can’t talk. Busy.”

Lance felt his cheeks tighten as the boy, Keith, refused to stop. He tucked his face into his collar, trying to hide the giggles. His heart was racing by the time they hit the back door. Keith let him go to tug at the thick plastic handle and heave it aside. Then his hand was smothered in heat once again and Lance being pulled inside.

The two ran past the looming kitchen counters, ducked under the wooden dining table and whooshed past the cardboard boxes piled high in the lounge. Keith pulled open another door at the end of the hall and suddenly they were plunged into darkness. Lance found himself clattering down hollow steps that creaked with every foot. He clung to Keith’s arm, slowing suddenly. He didn’t like the dark. Or stairs. He held Keith’s arm for support as he carefully began climbing down, scared his foot would fall between the wooden slats. Keith fidgeted ahead of him, jumping down the steps one at a time and bouncing on his toes whilst he waited for Lance to join him. It threw him a little off balance, but Lance refused to let go. He didn’t want to lose his chance at seeing more ghosts. When they eventually got to the bottom, Keith rushed them around the corner. Lance’s breath left his lungs as he caught sight of why. He dropped his arms, jaw falling slack.

In front of him, was a glowing wall full of ghosts. Haphazard shelfs made from broken slices of wood and large pointed nails held up hundreds of jars and bottles filled with the same tadpole-like creatures as they’d found in the garden. Some spun like tornadoes, whipping silver against their tops, whereas others were like fish bobbing in their tanks, softly glowing like lava lamps.

Keith crawled up on the stool in front of the desk, carefully placing his latest find on the table top. Then he tugged over a thick book and flipped over the heavy cover with a thud. Lance wrapped his fingers around the table ledge and pulled himself up, tiptoeing to see the pages. The corners were wrinkled, tears and creases lining the paper. But Lance was too distracted by the content to mind. He let out a gasp as he found each page covered in sketches of the creatures on the shelves, all painted in delicate watercolours. Thick inked writing titled each page and little notes surrounded the pictures like diagrams in a science book.

“Classification.” Keith explained, sliding a smaller notebook out from under a mess of rustling papers. He grabbed a crayon from a pot and stuck a finger to the page.

“This one. Moth.” He said, flicking through the jotter. “Can tell by the genie tail.”

Lance nodded, peering between the book and the rooms latest addition. It did bounce off the glass like how a moth bounced off a lampshade. Keith’s crayon began earnestly scraping against paper, and Lance scooted over to watch. His tongue slipped out of his mouth as he drew letters, writing the date, location and type. Then he looked at Lance.

“What d’ya wanna call it?”

Lance blinked, pointing to his chest. “Me? Name it?”

The boy nodded and Lance sucked in a breath. He got to name the ghost? That was a big responsibility. And a great honour. Pride swelled in Lance’s lungs as he accepted. Wracking his brain for a suitable candidate, he chewed on his thumb, brows furrowing to the point he was sure he could see them. He needed to get this right. And after a moment of painful deliberation, Lance reached an answer.

“Lance two!” He cried. “Because I’m Lance too!”

Keith grinned, eagerly adding the information to his log book. “Perfect.”

Then he looked back up at the shelves above. “You wanna choose a spot for Lance two?”

He got to choose a place for him to live too? Lance couldn’t contain his excitement, bouncing eagerly on the spot. Keith shuffled over on the stool and helped him up. Then they both crawled onto the table to stare up at the jars. There were so many. Some contained single clouds, others multiple dandelion clocks that spun around each other in a game of chase. Keith must have been collecting for years. Lance breathed in awe as he tried to find space. Then his eyes landed on the perfect spot. Three shelves up, there was a blue plastic bottle, containing a long spindly ghost that resembled an eel. A couple of dried flowers fell on the wood next to it and there was a decent gap between it and the next jar which contained a pearly coloured, jelly-fish type.

“Got it.” He announced, pointing to the space. Keith gave him a nod of approval before passing the jar containing Lance two over. Lance took it in both hands, taking a steadying breath. Okay Lance Two, he thought, time to meet your new home. Then he reached up. The jar clattered against the shelf below. Lance wasn’t quite tall enough. He stepped back with a huff, glaring at the wood. It was not going to win today. So, he stretched up to his limit once again, grabbing onto the shelf for balance. Attempting to haul himself up, he didn’t quite get the boost he’d hoped for. Instead, the wood flipped upwards.

Lance stumbled back with a yelp. The world tumbled around him, shining objects flying. The sound of shattering glass filled the room as white wisps tore through the air above him like shooting stars. He let out a screech. The ghosts! They were escaping!

Lance scrambled to sit back up. Above him, the shelf was empty. The desk around him was covered in tiny shards like diamonds. And most importantly, there were no whooshy wisps. Lance felt his eyes turn into pools. He looked to Keith who stared back open mouthed. Lance’s eyes overflowed. His throat felt tight and he let out a sob, burying himself in his hands. He’d let the ghosts escape.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked, carefully tiptoeing closer. “You want me to get my dad? He’s a firefighter ya know.”

Lance shook his head, scraping at his cheeks.

“m’not hurt.” He said, hiccupping as the emotion jumped up his throat. “It’s just- all your hard work.”

The tears spilled once again, and he was sobbing hard into his palms. Keith’s beautiful collection. He’d ruined it.

“It’s okay.” Keith said, landing at his side. He reached out to pat Lance’s arm and Lance finally looked up.

“It’s okay?” He asked, shoving his sleeve against his nose and staring up at the boy’s dark features.

“Mmhmm.” Keith hummed, giving him an encouraging smile. “We can just start again.”

Lance blinked against the tears, watching as Keith reached his hand out. “Together.”

Lance felt is cheeks pinch near painfully. Together. They could collect them together. He rubbed his knuckle against his eye one last time, relief flushing out the tears. Then he took Keith’s hand, squeezing the warmth as he got to his feet.

“Together.”

#klance au month #klance #klance fluff #klance fic #klance kids #supernatural #my writing #my post

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poorvioletdraws · 5 years

Text

Tom vs. The Underworld

Chapter 2: Santeria, Part 1

I had been moping at home in our kingdom for two days before I decided to leave. No matter how many video games, or ping-pong matches, or the numerous times I hurled pear grenades at Petey as we played dodgeball, I just couldn’t stop thinking about how I left Star on the day we should’ve left for our trip together. My parents were away discussing business matters with the Pigeon Kingdom so that ruled out me talking to anyone about my problems. Brian’s expertise was anger management, and I wasn’t particularly angry over anything that counting backwards from ten would resolve. And Petey is loyal and all, but he doesn’t quite get it. So I decided to just go wherever the road led me and my skeleton horse-drawn carriage.

I picked up my “Alphonse the Worthy’s Atlas of the Multiverse” and started turning its pages. The titular sea captain had documented many dimensions throughout the universe that I thought would be a great starting point for Star and I to choose where to visit on our first getaway. All she had to do was pick one--any one. But she didn’t circle anything. And there were SO many dimensions we could have seen together. There’s the Underwater Dimension, Pixtopia, and even the Plains of Time where Father Time literally maintains time! There’s the Desert Dimension, home of the universe’s best hot dog, the Goblin Dog—I’ve always wanted to try one. There is even the Crystal Dimension where all the renowned, most evilest of beings are imprisoned; sounds pretty metal if you ask me!

I let out a sigh and closed the book. I sat it down on the table next to the throne chair I had been slumped in and rubbed my fingers to my temple irritated. Was none of those worlds just not interesting to her, or was she hiding the fact that she already had been there before… with Marco?

I pulled myself up and decided to brood over by the window of my carriage for a change. My skeleton horse trotted along a mountainous volcanic region of the Underworld, towing my caravan behind it. I had been travelling for two days now and I didn’t really know where I was headed, I just knew I wanted to get away and go anywhere at this point. I wanted to clear my mind and give Star space. I wanted to see something new. Star and I both would be seeing something new right now if it all worked out. But now I’m travelling through my homeland, the same old Underworld where I have lived all my life.

Granted, this was a region I had barely been in. My family would travel by portals to get to Lava Lake so we wouldn’t have to waste time travelling the hard way. This area was a divider between the lake and Prickly Plains, where the demon city of my common people resided. I don’t know why I decided to take the long trek through, it just felt like something I had to do. Plus, the change of scenery was not too bad. There were mountains of all sizes and volcanoes oozing out its molten rock like blood from a wound. The path I was on was decorated with charred skulls and skeletons, probably of tourists who foolishly came to the Underworld without a firesuit or any other form of protection from the burst of flames that would emit from the earth spontaneously. But no matter how cool the sight was, I couldn’t stop thinking about Star.

I wanted Star to be with me right now. I wanted her to finally start having fun and enjoy being a teenager for once. She no longer had any obligations to the Butterfly throne. She was done with being a princess and wanted to be free. But I can’t help to think that maybe she wanted to be free from everything that pertained to that aspiration. And since I am a prince, that included me being apart of what held her back as well.

“Ugh! What does she want me to do? It may be easy for her to just give it all up, but not for me.” I groaned as I rested my chin in the palm of my hand and leaned on the windowsill with my elbow. The Lucitor throne is what I’ve always known to be mine one day. I was proud of it--being a prince. It is my path and something I accept for myself. But I should accept what she wants for herself too. I finally got a second chance for Star and I to be together and I don’t want it to end over me being upset or letting my emotions get in the way again.

Without warning, my skeleton horse halted its pace abruptly and I shifted about on my feet. “Why have we stopped?” I said aloud.

I opened the door of my carriage and stepped out to see where I had ended up. I first noticed a humongous mountain a mile or so before me with bats and vultures dotting the sky around it. It was the tallest point in the Underworld--The Mountain of Boom. And seated within the mountain’s col was what looked to be a small town. There were a few buildings and residences built in to the mountain range as other structures came to the center of its valley. A crowd of demons bustling around a busy marketplace was the forefront of the town that lay ahead. It actually was a wicked sight to behold. The perfect place to get distracted.

I looked up to read the large entrance sign in the shape of a traditional Japanese shrine gateway that I was standing under. “Yomi Town”. Never heard of it. There were a lot of civilians around for it being in a remote location so it must have some interesting secrets behind it.

“Guess I’ll have a look around, not much else to do.” I said while placing my hands in my pockets and walking through the torii. “Get comfortable, skeleton horse.”

“Yes, Master Tom.” My horse uttered from behind me.

I strolled through the town’s marketplace engrossed in fascination. Not only was it loud, but it was crazy busy. Demons and monsters littered the streets haggling over shop items or enjoying the many varieties of food selections to be had. There were handcrafted weapons laid out on embroidered mats and decorative wares such as plates, bowls, clothes, and jewelry all being presented by its sellers to their intrigued buyers. I saw street performers dancing with basilisk boas while others blew fire from their mighty jaws to create authentic glass art. Customers were entering and exiting restaurants, ordering at side carts, or walking around eating their delicacies in order to not miss anything the market had to offer. There was even cute little cerberus puppies on display in the window of a pet store. I just had to check those out!

The little monstrous pups with three heads were tumbling and pawing at each other without a care in the world. I pressed my hands up against the window to admire their adorableness further. There were five of them altogether and they were practically identical. Their jet black fur was smooth and their red eyes shone brightly as they tussled with their siblings. One of the multi-headed canines finally noticed me and came up to the window. It looked up at me with its six big eyes and gave me a tiny fanged smile, wagging its tail playfully. It was so cute!

However, despite all of the excitement, my hand idly returned to its previous location in my pocket and held on to my compact phone. I began to wonder what Star was up to right now. Not being able to text her nonstop was one of the hardest things about this time away. She hadn’t called me since I left, come to think of it. Did she even care where I went? I wonder where she ended up going to… Probably Earth, I bet… Who am I kidding, I know she did…

I closed my eyes and pulled my other hand away from the glass and back into the adjacent pocket of my leather jacket. I sighed as I felt the depression returning. Even though I’m far away from her, I still can’t forget about Star...

“P-Prince Tom?” I heard a feathery voice float through the noise of the multitude of monsters and rest upon my ears. Her voice was familiar and inviting, I knew I heard it some time before. And although it was soft, it was as if everything around us seemed to hush for the female demon that stood a few feet from me.

She was a teenager like me, an assumption I gathered from her appearance. She had gray skin with patches of what resembled small rocklike fragments dotting portions of the parts of her body that was shown. Her golden eyes mirrored the sunlight and her somewhat disheveled scarlet hair spread out like a bird’s wing. But only the right side of her tresses were visible as the left side was concealed by the hood of her black sleeveless sweatshirt she had on under her shoulderless jean jacket. Her dark blue denim shorts were high-waisted and her white knee-high combat-style boots were scuffed from extensive use perhaps.

I remembered her. She was the delivery girl for that store on Lava Lake that would bring our order every few weeks. I answered the door for her once. She was clumsy and a bit high-strung, but she seemed friendly. Her name was…

… nice to meet you, Raya. Well, see-ya around …

That’s right. It came back to me.

“Hey there, Raya.” I greeted her by taking my hands out of my pockets and waved at her, my phone being forgotten at the moment.

She looked surprised and said, “You remembered… someone like me?” She began to blush and smiled to herself. “Thank you, Prince Tom…”

“Hey, I told you last time. No need for the formalities. Just Tom is fine.” I told her.

“Oh, no I couldn’t.” Raya tightened her grip on the bag she was holding. “My parents would be very upset if they knew I spoke to you in such a casual way... I’m sorry, Prince Tom.” She sounded very sorrowful over the thought of the idea.

“Well it’s fine, I guess…” Feeling defeated, I rubbed the back of my head not knowing what to say next. I fixated on the bag in her hands and became interested by its contents being a rather large flat square. “Hey, what’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, just a vinyl record.” Raya reached in and pulled it out. I recognized the band on the front and got a little excited.

“Are you for real?! Love Sentence! I love them! I’m like their number one fan.” I didn’t notice I had grabbed on to it during my fit of fangirling. I continued to gush over them, “What the!! This album is hard to find and contains all of their songs from when they first started out, like before they even were famous! There’s even a lot of never before released stuff on here! So you’re a huge fan too?!”

She said without hesitation. “No, never heard of them.”

If this were a cartoon, this is the part where I would face fault.

“What?! Then why did you buy such a widely-sought-after-by-fans album such as that?” I exclaimed dumbfounded.

“Oh is it that rare?” Raya looked it over perplexed.

“Yes, of course, have you not been listening to what I’ve been saying!” I was astonished by her naivety over such a remarkable boy band such as Love Sentence.

“... So that’s why it was the last one.” She said nonchalantly.

“WHAT?!” I felt fire explode from me as I yelled in disbelief. Keep it together now, keep it together.

I quickly calmed myself down and pleaded with Raya, “You have to let me buy that from you.”

Raya put the record back in the back and looked at me worriedly. “Oh… I’m sorry, Prince Tom, I can’t do that…”

“Why not? I’ll pay double what you paid, anything actually! Please!” I had grabbed on to her shoulders and begged for the album.

“I can’t because it’s a gift…” Raya said meekly, the gray on her cheeks were turning pink.

“Oh.” I squeaked out. Well that was a definite open mouth insert foot moment. I dropped down from 10 to 0 on the freak-out scale and could now think with a clear head again. I quickly released my grasp on her shoulders and it was my turn to blush due to the awkwardness that I had caused. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have touched you like that. And I shouldn’t have tried to pay for something that is a gift of yours…”

Raya smiled at me and said happily, “Actually, Prince Tom, it’s kind of nice seeing how passionate you are about music. I’m the same way really.”

“Yea… Still that was a jerk move on my part. I still have a lot to learn about boundaries obviously… So I’m sorry.” I apologized as I was still kicking myself for how I acted.

“Thank you.” She gave me another sincere smile and accepted my apology.

I didn’t want to pry but I still wanted to know why she bought that record. So I asked, “So… you buying that for a brother, or a sister, or a boyfriend maybe?”

Raya shook her head and said, “Every year my family comes here on vacation and there is always some one-of-a-kind finds out here. I try to buy one souvenir for each of my friends back home since they don’t get the opportunity to leave our hometown very often…My friend Blair loves this band so I had to get it.”

“Wow… that’s pretty cool of you.” I praised her kindness. There is also more to this place than I thought and since her and her family come here enough to know about it, I had a great idea come to mind. “Hey, how about I help you shop for your friends as a way to make up for how I acted?”

Raya grew nervous again and said, “Oh no, I don’t want to take up your own time here that you could be spending with your family or… your girlfriend?”

Upon hearing her rebuttal, my heart skipped a beat. I started thinking about Star again. If only you knew, Raya. You won’t be taking up any time that I would have been spending with her because she didn’t even want to come with me anywhere…

I shook the thought away and tried keeping my composure as I told her, “Nah, it’s cool. I’m travelling alone actually. This is my first time here...” I began itching the back of my head, unsure of how she would handle such a proposal, but I continued anyway. “I was thinking… Since your family comes here more than I ever have, do you think you could also show me around?”

Raya put her hand to her chin and was actually considering what I had asked of her. “Well, if Your Highness… I mean, If you insist, Prince Tom. It would be rude if I turned down your request.” She began fiddling with her fingers.

“Awesome, let’s go then!” I was ecstatic. This was a great chance to get distracted. I started strutting forward but then froze in my steps. I looked back at her and said, “Uh… Where to first?”

She giggled and we walked down the main street together.

There was so much to see and so many novelty stores that I never would have expected from a town so deep in the mountains. This section of Yomi Town containing the marketplace and shopping center was known as the Tsukiyomi District. It was the social hub for practically everything. Raya showed me the music store where she had bought the vinyl record. What made it stand out from many others was the signed instruments it had from popular bands and infamous singers--I even saw one of Eclipsa’s skeleton guitars on display. While there earlier, Raya was debating on whether she should buy “The Box of Applause” for one of her friends and after a second opinion by me, she did (seemed different, but cool). Raya scored some gourmet coffee beans from an espresso stand as a gift and I pointed out a seller closeby with all sorts of exotic crystals she bought as another one. We finally picked out chocolate scorpions from a dessert store for the last friend on her mental list--it being a banned delicacy back in Prickly Plains--and we tried a few for ourselves.

In between our search for souvenirs we were also able to do some of the recreational activities Yomi Town had to offer--we went ziplining through the fiery caverns, played a few games of flamethrower tag at an arcade, and we caught a local band performing at Yomi Town’s cemetery event center while passing by. I even tried extreme hot air balloon racing with the speed being controlled by miniature dragon flames; now how sweet is that! I let Raya beat me though, I swear. I was actually quite impressed with how this day was turning out.

Raya knew a lot about Yomi Town too. She told me about the Mountain of Boom being the largest volcano in the Underworld and that when it erupts its vibration is felt throughout all of Mewni. It’s lava empties into crevasses around the mountain, kind of like a fondue fountain. There’s a hot spring at its base where her family is staying that has water with temperatures reaching up to 1,000 degrees due to the lava flowing underneath.

It was towards the end of our adventurous day where I slipped up. We had made it to a clothing store where we were trying on outrageous fashion styles and having so much fun laughing over the choices we showcased in front of a set of full-length mirrors.

Raya and I both were making vogue faces while wearing matching spider hats and spiderweb shades when I mindlessly said, “Haha! Oh wait, let me take a selfie so I can send it to--”

I stopped myself before I could finish but I was already holding my compact phone up as a reflex to snap a photo. Send it to Star? What was I thinking. Why would I say that? Would Star even care anyway?

Raya didn’t notice I had cut my sentence short and she agreed with a simple “Sure.”

I went ahead and took the picture for the sake of not alerting the demon girl of my sudden switch in emotion; but I didn’t send it. I was somewhat happy, from what my forced expression on the photo suggested, but deep down I was still bothered by my situation with Star. After all this, still?!

I removed the hat and shades and sat them back on the display rack. I’m sure it was written all over my face how I was feeling right now. I didn’t want to bother Raya with my problems so it would probably be best if I stepped aside for a moment.

“Hey, I’m going to get some fresh air, ‘kay?” I mumbled. Without waiting for a response from her, I walked out of the store and wandered over to a courtyard that was in proximity to the marketplace but away from all of the hustle and bustle. I stood under a large black tree with bare branches and frowned wistfully at it.

I can’t believe myself sometimes. After everything I’ve done today I still can’t get Star out of my head. She was probably having her own fun right now, with Marco. Not giving me a second thought… Seriously, what is wrong with me, why am I not good enough...

“Is everything alright, Prince Tom.” I heard Raya’s amiable voice as she carefully stepped up from behind me. So she did follow me outside...

I didn’t want to lie to her and I didn’t want to hide the reason for me ending up in this town. But these were my own problems and after she dedicated her time to me (to keep me distracted) she didn’t deserve my drama or baggage. She could’ve been doing anything she wanted, but she hung out with me. She wasted her time for me to show me around a place that she has been coming to for years. Yet I was the one being a downer? It seemed she had fun today, but did she really?

“Prince Tom?” She repeated with some worry in her tone after I forgot to answer her the first time.

“Sorry, I just… started thinking about my girlfriend…” I confessed with my back still turned on her.

“Oh! Is she okay?” Raya inquired concerned.

“Yea… I think she is. I’m just… We’re having a…” I was struggling with what to say. This was my business and I needed to handle it on my own. “Hey, t-thanks for today.” I choked out trying to deflect from my growing depression. Why did I feel I were on the verge of tears.

“Prince Tom?”

I heard her lightly step forward as my eyes welled up further. I croaked out, “You know, I don’t have a lot of friends… And it seems the ones I do have, the ones who are supposed to be my best friends, would rather spend time together than with me. And you have been SO kind to me today for me to just start acting like this. All I wanted was to relax and have a great time while I’m away. I just wish it were always like this when I’m with her... I’m sorry you had to put up with me and do things you’ve probably done a million times. You probably had more important stuff to do and I selfishly took you away from that. I can be such a buzzkill so I understand if you’re ready to just go--”

“Prince Tom, don’t say something like that.” Raya objected. Although her voice was still very sweet-sounding, it had invoked a formidable presence that rendered me speechless to what she had to say next. I turned to face her to see she too appeared to be holding back tears. She walked closer to me and put both of my hands in hers and said, “There will never be anything more important than showing you, our Prince, around a place that has been apart of me for years. You even helped me immensely with gift shopping, which I am so grateful to you for. I’m glad I was able to share with you the fun things I like doing. And for you to be happy, well, it makes me happy witnessing that…”

I still couldn’t find my words, “Raya… I…”

Within an instant, she had released her grasp and stepped back from me. Her voice became genial once again as she coaxed me further, “When you’re ready to talk, I’ll listen. Your friends are probably just occupied with issues of their own, so it may seem like they don’t have time for you. Just try not to take it too personally, and most of all, try not to let it ruin your time away from what is upsetting you.”

I felt my anxiety beginning to fade from what she said. Over the past few days I felt so empty. I felt that no one understood or even cared. I was trying to feel that void of not being acknowledged or not being wanted. But then I came here. This place and Raya was starting to help me feel whole again. And for only knowing her for a short time, I was glad I had found a friend like her.

“Raya, thank you so much for that.” I expressed my gratitude toward the demon girl.

As if on cue with my words, an ominous bell began to toll in the distance.

“What’s that?” I asked as I scanned the area for the origin of the ringing.

“Oh, that’s just the temple where they do all the rituals and sacrifices and tortures, you know, stuff like that.” Raya spoke as if it was just some ordinary, everyday occurrence.

“Okay I gotta see that.” I said. Well, for the Underworld, it is kind of the norm.

“Alright, I’ll show you.” Raya went to pick up the bags of gifts that had been sitting on the ground by her feet.

“Here, let me get that.” I volunteered.

Raya became flustered and said, “Oh, you don’t have to do that, Prince Tom. I don’t want to burden you with having to carry my gifts.”

“Nah, it’s cool.” I held my hand up and the bags began to effortlessly float into the air the same way the packages did when Raya came to our lake house. “‘Kay, ready?”

Raya was amazed by my telekinesis. “That’s amazing you can do something like that. Thank you!”

“Yea, I guess it is.” I couldn’t help but grin over her compliment.

The two of us began to walk away from the courtyard, not noticing two gray figures that had been crouching behind some bushes hop up and take off in the opposite direction.

Raya and I rounded the corner as the gigantic bell recessed in its tower ceased its powerful resonance. I was expecting to see an ancient temple erected with stone pillars or something basic along those lines, but instead, what my eyes discovered was truly magnificent. It was an enormous cathedral designed in the style of perfect Gothic architecture. It was made of black stone that glimmered from the surrounding fire that spewed from the ground steadily. And the craftsmanship was superior. There was a significant amount of excruciating detail no matter where your eyes wandered, right down to the last arch. I was mesmerized.

“It’s… It’s…” I stuttered as I couldn’t quite think of a word to describe it.

“Wicked, isn’t it?” Raya stared proudly at the building. She asked if I wanted to go inside but I think she already knew the answer from how bewitched I was already in the temple’s beauty.

We walked under a series of flying buttresses that outlined the foyer of the temple. And I just couldn’t stop gawking at the sight of the art on the walls. There was depictions of torture and agony brought on by fire-breathing demonic figures and satanic language etched in its borders. Any Mewman would cower and flee but to us demons, it was glorious.

I stopped marveling long enough to declare to her that this is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen all day but she had started walking through a great passageway. I quickly followed behind her to enter a room even more darkly majestic. We walked into the grand hall that was dimly lit by floor-length candelabras positioned systematically near the walls and toward the center. There were rows of benches facing an altar made of a numerous amount of skulls with what appeared to be blood dripping down from it.

“Darn, seems like we missed them harvest the blood from the unicorn.” Raya mumbled to herself.

“Hey what’s that?” I pointed over to two large statues that faced away from each other behind the altar. We walked over to them and I saw a table with small wooden boxes filled with beads and rope used for making what seemed to be necklaces. I stepped up and started examining each one. There were beads shaped like eyes, fangs, bats, teeth, and skulls. Upon further investigation, I could see that in the hands of the statues were finished necklaces hanging from them.

“These are the founders of Yomi Town, Izanami and Izanagi.” Raya explained as she came to my side. “They were demon lords from long ago that originated from this region and became known as the Underworld’s greatest fighters of that time. My mother always told me stories about them during bedtime when I was little. I’m sure your own mother did the same…”

I intently watched Raya as she spoke. She really did know a lot about this town--No, the Underworld’s history. More than I did, that’s for sure. My parents and advisors focused my rearing on what my duties as a prince are and what they will be as a king. Although I may be the prince, I have never been to Yomi Town; a place of great importance to my people and home to two legends. I’ve never even been to Prickly Plains either, come to think of it. And that’s the home of my subjects. Raya’s home... My people don’t even know who I am or what I’m like. I mean, when I first met Raya she was afraid I would harm her. Am I really that out of touch with my own people and their lives? Have I been too preoccupied with what has been going on in Star’s life that I’ve neglected my own? If I’m to rule this world one day, I need to understand it and be more involved in it than I have been.

“Please, tell me more.” I implored her.

Raya continued, “Alright, Prince Tom... Well, Izanami and Izanagi were close companions and fought alongside each other during many battles. Their most famous--and final legacy--was what had transpired from the war against the demons and Mewmans. Izanami was captured during an ambush on the battlefield and held prisoner by the Mewman army. When Izanagi tried to save her, he was too late. They burned her as a show of force to the demon army, her necklace being the only thing he could recover from her ashes. And although he fought fiercely for her revenge, he wasn’t the same without her by his side. When his army retreated, he kept fighting until he died in battle… alone.”

“Tragic…” I murmured as I studied the statues.

“So as a tribute to them, this temple was built. Other events and activities take place here but this ceremony is the main highlight of the temple. The giving of the necklace.” Raya pointed at the hands of the statues. “Because Izanami and Izanagi were separated, tragedy ensued and created the key factor for our species losing the war. And even after the treaty was signed between the Mewmans and demons, many still do not trust them and fear they will try to separate us from those close to us again. Izanami and Izanagi were strong because of their unity. The necklaces solidifies a union by two people who come before the statues--which are the sacred presence of the demon lords--and seek their blessing to never have their own companionship separated.”

Upon hearing the end of Raya’s retelling of the two demon lords’ story, an idea popped into my head.

“Hey, you know what? We should make one together.” I suggested.

“W-h-what?!” Raya stammered.

“Yea.” I responded unabashedly as I started picking through the boxes of beads. “To symbolize our friendship.”

“Oh. Okay…” Raya said with flushed cheeks as she started helping me choose what should go on our necklace.

Within a few short minutes, it was complete and I held it up to show it to her. “Look, it’s finished! Do you like it?” I said exultantly.

“Y-yes.” she mumbled while still blushing nervously.

I turned toward the statue and said, “Now, let's hang it on--”

“EEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

A blood curdling shriek came from the hallway and caused the necklace to drop from my hands in an instant. The frightening screech carried on as the commencement of chanting voices were now heard as well.

“Oh! They’re about to torture someone!” Raya exclaimed.

“What?! We have to see this!” I said excitedly. “Come on!”

I ran out of the room toward the screaming. It took Raya a moment to follow me as she looked back at the altar once more.

After spending some time in the temple, we finally headed on our way. We had been walking down by some of the shops again while talking about our favorite torture devices and how it would feel to be the victim in a situation like that.

I was on a jovial high as I told her, “That was the best part about today for sure!”

“Well I hope just not the torture.” She remarked.

“No way! The whole temple itself was freakin’ awesome! I’m so glad you showed it to me!” I clarified punched my fists up into the air triumphantly .

Raya halted in her tracks and fixated on me as a smile began to tug , “I’m glad you liked it, Prince Tom… It is my favorite place about this town…”

“Really?”

Raya nodded as her cheeks reddened once again. “Every year that’s usually where I spend most of my time… Something about it is just so calming to me. When you walk in everything that troubles you seems to go away, at least for a little while. So I hope it had the same effect on you…”

I gazed over at Raya and felt something I couldn't really explain. This whole time I was too busy thinking of being distracted when I failed to recognize something else. Raya wanted me to enjoy myself. She didn’t really know me but genuinely she wanted me to still experience what this town could do for me. Had she known all along that I came here for this sort of retreat? Or could she just sense that I needed this? It was true that I felt some relief but once she had put it back in perspective, I tried my hardest not to think of what I was trying to forget. Fortunately for me, there was something, or should I say someone, lying in wait for the opportunity to help me further.

“Raya!” A powerful and intimidating bellow came from behind me, causing me to almost jump out of my skin.

I turned around hesitantly to see a tall looming figure with a muscular build and dark gray skin. He wasn’t anywhere near the height of my Mom, maybe half her size at least. He had long, sharp horns like a springbok and wild crimson hair. His glowing yellow eyes were in a glare as his fangs shown. Although he was very menacing-looking, he was wearing a baby pink tank that read “Gneiss Guy”.

“Hi Dad…” Raya darted her head down as she greeted him.

Oh it’s her Dad. I relaxed a bit.

“So who’s your friend? This BOY!” He growled as he placed emphasis on the gender portion of his statement, the ground beneath him cracking.

I tightened up a bit and could feel the sweat break out over my face.

“Oh!” She perked up and held her right hand out toward me as if she were presenting me. “This is Prince Tom Lucitor.”

“H-Hi…” I replied shakily.

Raya’s father’s eyes shot towards me as they sparked even more, I felt my heart stop. He was silent and still snarling. But then all of a sudden, the killing intent that was emitting from the great Stone Demon did a complete 180. His face grew soft as he gave me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. “Ah, Your Highness. It’s been some time since I’ve seen you. You were barely able to peek over your crib if my memory serves me correctly. My apologies for not recognizing you, our Young Prince. I am Albion, head of the Belmonte Family.”

He bowed. I sighed in relief.

“Raya!” His loud roar was directed at his daughter now but still caused me to jump again. “It was Piers and Peter who alerted me of your whereabouts and that you were hanging out with a BOY, only to come and find that it is His Majesty’s son! Why didn’t you come get the rest of your family to greet the Young Prince? Unforgivable!”

It was Raya’s turn to stiffen up in nervousness.

“No, no, It’s alright. We just met. Well actually, we met before. But--” I pleaded for her.

“Your Highness, will you please do our family, the Belmontes, the honor of courting you!” He proclaimed, though it seemed to be more like a demand than a request as he knelt to the ground with his head touching it. I faintly remembered that Raya put her body in the same position when she first met me.

“... C-courting? I do--” I stuttered, a bit confused by his word choice.

“Thank you, Your Highness!” He cried out happily as he scooped me up and took me away with Raya trailing behind us.

#svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #fanfic #tom lucitor #oc fanfiction #oc #starvstheforcesofevil #The Underworld #TomVSTheUnderworldFanfic #TVTU

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cassandra-rp · 5 years

Text

50. Precious Treasure

"Salem... Get down from there!" The young demon woman placed her hands on her hips as she glared up at the young man who walked along a half burnt beam of a building, the fire damage reeked of and Inferno to the young woman but she kept it to herself. A sly smirk on his lips as he dropped, hanging by his legs upside down as he glared at his babysitter. "What are you going to do about it, Clover?"

"I swear your father does not pay me enough for this..." She replied as she stared up at him. He finally swung his legs a bit, getting upright before dropping down to his feet. "Worrywart." He stated, flinching as the beam cracked and fell - missing him by a couple inches.

"You may be able to withstand most damage, Salem... But, you aren't indestructible and your father seems to have a habit of getting himself into trouble...He has more enemies then the ones with human pets. I personally don't see why he doesn't make nice. Paimon's on his way out and your father could easily take his place, He'd probably be a perfect replacement; Brash, Strong, Clever... All he's missing is the fire."

Salem listened even if he acted like he was disinterested as the dark haired green eyed woman spoke. Clover had been his 'nanny' for as long as he'd existed. She took care of him and his father as if she was his mother; a succubus. It wasn't a relationship that was meant to last purely from genetics... He personally loved Clover as his mother though and didn't understand why his father didn't see her the same way. Perhaps it was her power; A demon with the passive power of good luck seemed like and odd combination so most people didn't believe she was a true demon.

"Salem..." Clover's voice was soft as they walked and her eyes glanced down at him. "Promise me you'll think before you leap...When it really matters; don't be like your father...Don't make enemies out of potential allies." The concern in her voice didn't make a lot of sense but he let out a faint sigh as he nodded. "I promise."

---

The waves of the ocean caught the teenager's heart instantly; Salem's eyes staring into the deep dark water as it moved and he wondered how far it went... It was so different than hell as the blue ocean and sky seemed to be one for miles and miles and instead of the heat of lava and death there was a cool and refreshing breeze. A man on the dock glancing over a little and laughing a little.

"Oh, I've seen that look before, Boy."

Salem stiffened as he glared at the man and became defensive; Clover's promise however lingered in his ears as he softened a little...It was hard. They had just; disappeared. He assumed death if only from the blood but there wasn't much he could do with Hell in such uproar... He never really belonged there anyways. He was good at stealing; what demon wasn't? so he was doing fine on the surface but he still was naive to the human way of things and had gotten into trouble a few times because of it.

The man might be a way...out. After all; The sea seemed...easier.

"What..Look?" He finally asked as the man leaned against the post. Tall, A little heavy set but not overly with a scruffy beard and large hat and trench coat on. A gun on his waist...

"The look of adventure, Boy!" He stated as he pointed out to the water. "The water is my home and I can assure you that all those thoughts swimming around in that head of yours would be answered; It's vast. It's quiet - It's exciting; And I could use another young man like yourself; It's hard work but it's worth it and as long as you're part of my crew you'll be part of my family... We take care of one another." He stated as he motioned towards a few people around the boat working to get ready to set off...

The man was a pretty good salesperson because Salem found himself saying yes within a few minutes... ---

It was hard work all right. It was dirty and messy, extremely wet. Salem, however excelled due to his advantage as a demon. He could lift higher, climb faster. And once he learned his way around a gun he had no fear of the object he held; after all. He couldn't be hurt by it. He was second in command in only a few years. And captain as the man who'd invited him on board fell ill; it was all to common at the time... The only person who knew he cried that night was the mermaid who was leading them past the 'dead zone'

"You know... You're not like the other pirates who come through here. They'd sooner sell me then speak with me." she stated softly as she swam along side the boat, they were going slow... They had to here.

Salem rubbed his sore red eyes as he leaned over the side of the boat and glanced down at her. "Capt' said that what they don't know won't hurt em. It's not like I'm anymore human than you..." He admitted, closing his eyes. His family; the crew. They suspected he wasn't human but they hardly cared...

"I see... So you're the one in charge now? It seems...odd. you haven't been with them in the past. Why do you get to be in charge now..?"

"They put it to a vote before he died. Capt' voted for me so practically everyone did..."

"Oh...Well I suppose that makes sense." She smiled a little bit. Her voice was quite soft but weirdly soothing as she spoke. It reminded him of how the one Angel he met spoke; the odd echo that layered her voice hovering in the air even once her sentence ended.

Salem let out a breath as he pressed the flask to his lips, taking a shot. "...It's funny, I ran away from responsibility only to end up with it weighing on my shoulders again."

"Perhaps it's your destiny... Do you intend to bare it this time?" She inquired.

"Yes." He replied, smiling. ---

He'd done quite well despite the sudden responsibility and they'd ended up with several bounties of treasure. Salem followed his mentor's teachings although most pirates began to steal from anyone he stayed true to the course. He'd steal from the rich and unkind like the Lyn's and Jenova's. He'd find treasures lost to the sea or places most couldn't roam and sell them for profit but him and his crew never harmed those who couldn't protect themselves and they helped anyone who needed it.

Port Lyndon, needed it. A lot of people needed a way out during the wars going on nearby to protect there families so he did just that. He couldn't take as many as he wished simply due to supplies but he settled on allowing fourtey five to board; free of charge if they were willing to work. Although a lot of people had missed that memo since most ships didn't go by those rules. "Aye; Nice to see you again, Salem." The cowgirl stepped onboard and tipped her hat.

"How did you get all the way out here..? And where's Death?" Salem kept passing this woman; she was something else... There was a reason nobody tried to mess with her. Her shadow, Death. A man with blonde hair and supposedly red eyes. Nobody knew much about him aside from being Angeline's shadow... It wasn't common to see one without the other.

She snorted, rolling her shoulders. "Chasing a man." She stated calmly with a smirk tugging her lips but she dropped the second answer; he wouldn't be getting it. His eyes darted over as he spotted a few of his men pulling a crate up onto the boat as they talked. He glanced back to Angeline and tilted his head. "A mark?"

The laugh that let her lips was hardy as she spun her pistol around. "A husband." She stated with a wink as she walked past him. "I'm helping myself to some beer then I'll..swab the deck or whatever crappy job you can't hire anyone to do~!" She said walking on the ship as if she owned it - knowing right where to go and who to talk to. He didn't mind; If she ever wanted to be a Pirate rather than a Cowboy he'd invite her in a minute... She survived on pure moxie.

---

A few people claimed they were convinced that someone or something was in the storage; Salem sighed; It was probably just a cat or something that slipped in but the stories of Port Lyndon had everyone except him and Angeline spooked; He opted to check since it'd give him a break for a moment... He felt confident with his crew and the addition of Angeline if the weather acted up; Port Lyndon was always a disaster for about 200 miles from the land. He'd seen the weirdest weather changes in his entire career in this city.

He knocked on the wall a few times since sometimes animals would jump out of wherever they were hiding but he didn't hear much aside from a small tiny creaking sound. One of the crates...not the ship.

He walked along, kicking a couple of the crates with his boot - It seemed like he was just trying to spook whatever it was but he was listening; The sound would let him know if it was full or hollow. after all. A human took up a lot of space...

The story that followed had several different versions told but the girl he found was the most precious treasure he'd ever discovered; even if he didn't know it yet.

#50 Challenge #50 #Salem #Angeline #Gina #CassieWrites #<- Taggy thinggy #stop yelling at me #okay #kristie #there's a tag now #I will attempt to ad it #neyh #Also Idk #I probably could've done the end better.#but #eh #I'm pretty sure you already wrote about Gina stowingaway

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jess-the-vampire · 6 years

Text

Bedtime Stories

Tom snuggled in his covers, tossing and turning inside his dark bedroom. The child held his stuffed rabbit close to his chest and rolled around some more, which proved to be a mistake at the tiny horns poking out hurt a little and forced him back onto his back and to stare at the ceiling. Tom begged his parents to give him his own bedroom, his own bed. he could handle it, he told them, but here he was a few days in and he couldn't sleep. He already missed his crib and sleeping next to his parents, the last few nights he had nightmares. Imagine, a demon, having nightmares! The Lava fountain served as a nice nightlight, but it wasn't enough to make him feel better. He shouldn't be scared, he was the boogeyman, everything was supposed to be scared of him, not vice versa. But tales of Evil Stumps, and monsters that came in the night to eat little demon children always made him nervous, and so did all the people out there that his father told him were bad and wanted to hurt him. Tom was sure his father had something in the room to make sure nothing could attack Tom, but that didn't seem to make Tom feel safe regardless. His father said it was ok if he wasn't ready for his own room yet, but Tom insisted. He wanted his own place to keep his toys, he wanted a place for himself, he wanted a soft bed like his parents had, he wanted a place so he didn't feel like a baby anymore.

He pulled the covers over him mouth and winced, was it took late to back out? He hadn't slept well the last few nights and he took naps in the daytime as a result, could he just live the rest of his life surviving on naps? Tom held his bunny tighter and decided he had to make a choice. Either hold tight and make it through the night, or chicken out. Tom chickened out. Using his fire to leap himself off the bed so nothing under it could grab him, he practically darted up the steps and out of his room to enter his parent's nearby. They were both fast asleep as the tiny boy opened the large door and closed it behind him. Tom felt tears coming on and his ears sagged, but he still quietly used his fire powers to lift himself weakly onto the top of the bed and crawled over to his father. "Dad..Dad?",Tom shook his sleeping father until the man grumpily woke up and yawned, "What...Tom? Why are you still up? You're supposed to be in bed.". Tom cuddled his stuffed animal, he almost looked as if he were about to cry , "I can't sleep in there, It scares me...can I stay with you and Mommy?". Dave sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Ok, just for tonight Thomas.....". He opened his arms and let Tom crawl inside them and cling to him before lying himself back down, "We'll talk more about this tomorrow, ok?". Tom nodded, smiling, and snuggled himself to sleep. - It was only supposed to be for one night, but it became a routine, Tom always wandering into his parent's room to sleep next to them. Tom stopped even waking his father up since he already knew his father would be fine with it and he was expecting to see Tom next to him in the mornings anyway. It had been lasting for almost a month, Tom's new room, untouched. Dave didn't mind, Tom would grow into his room when he was ready, but part of him felt like he should help Tom feel safe sleeping in his own room. As much as he, and even Wrathmelior, liked having Tom next to them, they needed to help fix the problem instead of continuing to let it happen. Tom had his tantrums, and his powers could destroy anything in their wake if Tom got out of control, the boy was enough of a handle for his parents. Tom's been dreaming of his own room for ages and now he was too scared to even enter anymore, they couldn't just ignore that. Dave bit his lip, watching his son eat his food at the dinner table, it was almost bittersweet to him. He loved holding his son in his arms, it made him feel safe and reassured his own anxieties about Tom being out of his sight, but Tom couldn't be his little boy forever....he needed to grow without them sometime. "Tom? Is it ok if we ask you why your room is scaring you?", he said quickly, making the small boy look up from his creamed corn with a surprised expression. His ears dropped and he grumbled to himself, "It's just...dark, and creepy...and I have nightmares...". "But Tom, you live in the underworld, dark and creepy stuff never used to freak you out before. Are you worried something is going to hurt you?", Tom didn't say much, playing with his fingers, "Thomas, we promise we won't ever let anyone hurt you as long as we live...". "But what if a monster pops in?!", Tom argued, "What if they pop in a-and you can't hear them and stuff!". Even the queen looked worried as Dave tried to reassure Tom, "Tom, it's ok to be scared, this is a whole new experience for you. You can sleep next to us as long as you need, but you can't stay there forever and if there's anything we can do to make sleeping in your own room easier....". Tom shrugged, "I don't want to go back in there...I-I can't sleep, I have nightmares......nightmares where you guys get hurt and I get hurt..a-an....". Dave reached over the table and held Tom's shoulder, "How long have you been having them?". The small boy shrugged, "I haven't slept good once since I got a room....". His parents exchanged looks and Dave thought for a moment, "Tom do you really want to have your own room?". Tom seemed to ponder over his question for a while, "I dunno.....", Dave got out of his chair to get down to Tom's height right next to him, "What If me and your mom could make your room less scary and help you stop having nightmares? Would you like that?". Tom didn't say anything for a little while before nodding and his father smiled, "We love having you sleep next us Tom, but we're concerned at seeing you be so scared of being hurt in your new bedroom, especially when it's something we know you really wanted. You should be able to have your own room and feel safe...". Tom mumbled, "But you always tell me how people and monsters are dangerous, that people will hurt me, what about the Stump?" Dave ruffled the boy's hair, "Ok, tonight we'll figure out a way to help you sleep, and then we'll find out something that will keep the bad people out. Is that ok?". Tom played with his fingers and nodded, Dave kissed his son's forehead, "We want to help Tom, you should be allowed to feel safe at your home and in your own room." Tom mumbled, "If you can't....can I still stay with you?". Dave though for a moment, and stood up, "Yeah, of course you can Tom.....We're gonna do anything we can, but if all fails you are perfectly allowed to stay with us until you're ready..". Tom smiled, "Ok....". - I took alot to convince Tom to at least sit on his bed again, but Dave managed, letting Tom hold his hand tightly so he felt more comfortable. Wrathmelior had just barely managed to squeeze herself in after she teleported and she was sure the likelihood of coming back in was reduced. Dave and her weren't exactly the best parents, so where to start was still across their mind. Wrathmelior never had been afraid of her room as a kid but Dave could faintly remember times he'd feared monster attacks in the past, although granted his parents didn't do much to help the paranoia. Tom seemed to feel a little more eased with their presence, the king himself scanned around to see if there was anything that might be making Tom nervous. The open closet or under the bed felt like solid options, "Tom, where are you worried the monsters will come from?". "Everywhere..", Tom replied, clinging onto the man for dear life. The older man bit his lip, he needed to figure this out, he could easily put a locked door on the closet yes, but that would only reduce one place Tom was nervous about. Under the bed would be trickier, but then again, the existence of scissors wasn't something he could prevent unless he enchanted the room to be inaccessible by magical objects. Man, this was going to take awhile. Dave helped pick up his small son, "C'mon, i'll tuck you in, and we'll keep guard for any monsters....ok?". He was intending to wait till Tom went to sleep under their watch, then head to bed himself, it was probably a lame plan but it was the only one he had in order to at least get Tom to spend one night here. He tucked Tom in, and Tom pulled the blankets up to his chin, "I don't know If i can sleep daddy....". "We won't make you sleep Thomas, but first and foremost we want you to feel comfortable enough to sleep, so for now just relax ok?", Mel attempted to reach out to her son herself, patting his head with a finger. Tom laid there for a few minutes, then spoke up, "Can you read me a story?". Dave looked up, "a story?", Tom nodded from his spot and snuggled further into the covers. "Some kids sleep better when their parents tell them stories...maybe....that might help?", Dave yawned and smiled, "Ok, we'll tell you a story....what kinda story do you want to hear?". "Well....not a scary story...", The boy said, "Just....something nice....?". The king twiddled his thumbs for a bit to think of what to say, "How about a story about Mommy and Daddy? Is that ok?". Tom nodded, "Ok, just don't make it weird..". Wrathmelior snorted, and Dave snickered, "Ok, how about the story where we first met?". Tom's eyes glistened and his head popped a little more out of the covers, it seemed to have sparked his interest. His parents both yawned again. at this rate they'd pass out before Tom did. "Well, When i was about 17, I was kinda forced to attend one of the Balls the Butterfly Kingdom was hosting. I wasn't too about parties, but my mother insisted I go since It would give me an opportunity to meet new people....", Then he rolled his eyes, "Or what she actually meant, which was getting a date....". Tom giggled, "Well you DID get a date, right?". Dave bit hard on his teeth, "Well, I really didn't want to do so. The thing is.....the party was Queen Moon's official coronation, and considering what happened to Queen Comet....I didn't find it customary to go around flirting with people since it was still fresh in everyone's mind.....". Mel huffed and growled, "Yeah yeah, I know it was a few weeks after but it was still uncomfortable. Anyways, so the other royals families attended, and personally I really wasn't having much fun so I kinda wandered off and went outside to get some air, only to find your mom out there as well, in the gardens..". "What happened?", Tom asked in his small voice, Dave lifted his legs up onto the bed and got into a more comfortable position before continuing. "Well, I was kind've startled at first, but after calming I realized she was the Lucitor Princess and she looked kinda down so...I sorta asked her if something was wrong...". Then he sheepishy rubbed the back of his head, "Unfortunately, I didn't know demonspeak at the time, So when she saw me and growled at me.....I wasn't sure whether she was answering my question or warning me that she'd eat my flesh. I backed off and.....I bumped into Princes- er....Queen Moon, who was still rather distraught but she kept her posture and I asked about Mel being in the gardens....Apparently Mel wasn't much of a people person and just wanted to enjoy being outside and get a good view of the stars...". He blushed heavily, "I-I uh....well since I wasn't enjoying the party much myself, I went out to watch the stars myself. Your mom spotted me and growled to me, and although I couldn't tell what she was saying, she knew what I was saying. Told her I didn't understand, but that didn't matter, We uh....well I started talking and she was interested in what I had to say...which wasn't something I was used to back home. I guess....I guess I just kinda liked that....The party ended, I told her that maybe sometime we could meet up again? She nodded and we met again the next night somewhere I picked out...". He smiled at the large demoness in the room who was feeling a little less annoyed being trapped in an enclosed space. "Yeah, and uh....I brought a demonspeak translator book that time, and started teaching myself....which took forever, but It was worth it!", Tom smiled wide, " That's so coooll! I hope I get to meet my future queen at a ball like that!!. Dave snicked and petted his hair, "That's adorable Thomas, but we'll see, you never know what the future holds in store. ". "Well, I wanna be a cool king! I don't wanna be scared of anything, and i'll fight off all the bad guys.", Dave brushed hair out of his son's third eye, "Aww, but Thomas, first we need to rid you of your fear of this room before you can ever not be sacred on anything!". Tom yawned, "Well, i'm less scared with you and mommy here, you guys are funny, and I liked your story daddy...". Dave smiled sweetly, "Thanks tom, so are you saying Daddy and Mommy's stories make you less scared?". Tom nodded silently. "Can I hear another story?", Tom asked, snuggling up into his covers, "PleASE!!!??". The Queen yawned, but Dave continued, "Alright, But just one more ok?". Tom laid back and giggled, Dave finished one story, only to end up telling another, and then another, and Dave kept telling him story after story until Tom's eyes drifted closed and his breathing slowed. It was almost midnight by the time Tom fell asleep, smile upon his face and pillow protecting him from sleeping on his small horns. Dave carefully woke his wife who feel asleep during Dave's stories, and they both made sure to give their prince kisses before exciting his room to their own. The queen growled, and then plopped in the bed, finally happy to be out of that tight room and into her large bed. Dave yawned, "Yeah, I know, But it worked! We actually got Tom to fall asleep without feeling scared of his room. I guess hearing pleasant stories before bedtime really do help." Dave made his way on the top and plopped onto the bed, closing his eyes for some shut eye himself. Finally, after weeks of worrying about tom and his fears, they could sleep in peace, he made himself comfortable and tried to rest up. Only to find himself tossing and turning throughout the night, he tried different positions, removing the blankets, putting back on the blankets, but no matter what he did he couldn't seem to make himself feel comfortable or feel sleepy. That was weird, he had no problems sleeping before now, what was different? Then he looked between his arms to see the absence of his little boy between them. Tom's been sleeping in his arms for a whole month, snuggling close to his father for safety, and now he was back in his room, sleeping without it. He sighed, Now he was the one having trouble sleeping. He thought for a moment and stood up, making his way off the bed, out of the room, and over to his son's room nearby. Tom was still fast asleep, still having pleasant dreams. Tomorrow Dave was sure he'd be making some changes for the room to make Tom feel safe, perhaps implant a goat skull messenger to scare off intruders? But for now this was a good start to helping Tom through his anxieties. The king smiled and once again sat on the bed, admiring his son before yawning. They spent the whole night helping Tom with his fears, only to feed a little more into Dave's. His biggest fear was losing his son after all, he wasn't too fond of Tom being out of his sight in fear of him being hurt. Maybe he could stay here, just for tonight, just to keep an eye on him....to make sure nothing happened to him. He grabbed a chair and sat it next to Tom's bed before taking a seat in it and closing his eyes. Tom was continuing to grow up but- He'd always still be his little boy.

#star vs the forces of evil #svstfoe #svtfoe #tom the demon #tom lucitor #queen lucitor #King Lucitor #Dave Lucitor #Wrathmelior Lucitor #moon butterfly #fanfiction #fanfic #my art

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mollymauk-teafleak · 6 years

Note

psssst...if you're accepting prompts then you should totally write something for demon!alex *backflips out window*

CAREFUL, PLEASE DON’T HURT YOURSELF

Being a demon, ahunting animal in every sense of the world, Alex’s fight or flight response wasone of his strongest instincts. And right now, as he sat on the bed watchinghis girlfriend pace back and forth across their small bedroom with the phonepressed to her ear, her expression tense and shaky as she said those words- I’mpregnant…again- every nerve in his body was screaming at him to run and runand not stop.

But he’d promised.He’d promised on bended knee, with too many emotions to count bubbling in hischest as he kissed her stomach again and again, he’d promised to be here forher whatever she needed.

Even if it might endwith him being killed slowly and painfully.

Eliza’s expressiongave nothing away, he could only imagine what was happening with the other halfof her conversation as he watched his Betsey nod and make vague noises ofagreement and mumble half replies.

“No, we didn’t…itwasn’t exactly, no…of course…I know, Dosia, I’ve thought about it carefully…yeah…thanksso much, we’ll be there soon…I love you too.”

After an agonisinglylong wait which Alex spend trying to calculate how much damage his demonic bodywould realistically take on if he jumped out of the window right now, Eliza gavea nervous sigh and held the phone out to him.

“She wants to talk toyou,” she murmured apologetically, trying not to look like she was handing hima grenade ticking its way gradually and inescapably down towards exploding,though that was how it felt.

Alex accepted thephone hesitantly, taking a deep breath and trying to remind himself forcefully anything for Eliza, anything for mychildren, anything for my family.

“Your majesty?” hetried carefully, thinking it was best to start out very formally and politely,seeing as he was dealing with his boss’ wife, the Queen of the Crossroads andone of the most powerful demons in history.

And his Betsey’s bestfriend.

“So,” he tried andfailed to keep the nervous tremor out of his voice, “Eliza told you the goodnews, huh? New little bundle of- “

“Alexander Hamilton,”Dosia cut across him, her tone so cold and flat it left Alex feeling like he’dbeen dumped alone and naked on an Arctic ice floe, “Are you a complete andutter moron?”

Alex bit his lip,eyes silently begging Eliza for help but even his beloved couldn’t save himnow, “I like to think I’ve at least got street smarts- “

“Don’t interrupt, “Dosia snapped, no louder but there was a force behind it, an echo that turnedhis guts to lava, “Because I see no other way someone could watch the personthey loved, the very delicate and breakablehuman, whose already been through literal Hell for them, struggle to carryand give birth to one of their half demonic babies…and then accidentally knockthem up again!”

Alex trembled, “Um…Iknow and I’m sorry but I talked to Betsey and she says she s-still wants to gothrough with it…”

“Is that so?” thephone felt like it was getting hotter in his hand, uncomfortably hot in fact asDosia’s voice climbed and grew more fiery, trembling with the depth of Legion, “After500 years of existence, is something as simple as putting on a condom really thehardest thing you’ve ever had to do? Would you like me to explain it to you,for crying out loud? Here, so don’t open the damn thing with your teeth andthen take it between your thumb and forefinger…”

Even Eliza could hearit as her poor Alex received a sex ed lesson from a demon queen at fullstrength and volume, perching on the bed and watching with a fond, helplessexpression as he winced and held the phone at arm’s length, Dosia’s voice stillringing clear and powerful.

She did her best notto laugh at his misfortune, her hand resting soothingly on her belly where thenewest addition to their family was tucked up safe, the surprisingly tinylittle thing who was causing all this trouble. Usually telling your friends yourfamily was growing by one wasn’t a life-threatening task but their situationwas a pretty rare one, she had to admit.

Maybe rare was evenbeing too generous, unheard of was closer to the mark. Humans and demons didn’treproduce as a rule, let alone two times in as many years. Nor did they worktogether or date or live together or genuinely love each other the way Alex andEliza did, especially after facing everything that stood in the way of theirrelationship, so maybe all in all, having a baby wasn’t actually the weirdestthing they’d ever done?

Either way, a littleuncertainty was something Eliza was well used to.

She wasn’t all thatworried, Dosia had promised she’d just chew her Alex out for a while, leavinghim untouched. And as Eliza thought back to the twenty-six hours it had takento bring their son into the world, she couldn’t help but feel like he deservedto be strung up just a little bit?

She promised himselfshe’d put him back together with hugs and kisses as soon as he was done, gettingto her feet and wandering out of the bedroom, leaving Alex’s very angryeducation to be muffled by the door closing behind her. Shaking her headfondly, she wandered down the hall towards the nursery, the one where littlePhilip slept but would soon be turned around and redone for the new baby.

Philip had taken thenews that he was going to be a big brother very well, better than Alex andEliza could have hoped, especially when they told him that they’d be moving inwith the Burrs (so Eliza could be under their protection while she was in hervulnerable condition) which of course meant being even closer to his bestfriend in the whole world, little Theo.

He swallowed all thatchange and disruption with nothing but enthusiasm and yet the prospect ofgiving up his room for the new baby was what had shaken him to his little three-year-oldcore. So, Eliza wasn’t all that surprised when she found him sat ratherforlornly on the nursery carpet, like he was making the most of every secondthe room was still his, idly hugging his toy giraffe.

“Hello there, littleman,” she smiled, sinking onto the floor next to him, wondering how much longerit would be before her pregnancy made such simple movements impossible, “Youlook thoughtful.”

“Thinkin’,” Pipconfirmed, nodding so hard his mop of curls bounced.

Eliza stroked herlong fingers through his hair. Looking at little Pip as he was now, you’d neverbe able to tell what he was or, rather, what half of him was. Sometimes shefound herself unconsciously studying him, how he interacted with the othertoddlers they encountered at the park, looking for any signs or little ticsthat might put her precious baby in danger. Most of her nightmares these daysplayed out the things she couldn’t let herself even consider in daylight,namely what might happen if people knew the truth about her son. People meaningjust about anyone, more vitriolic hunters, demons looking to get one over onher boyfriend, even just ignorant humans doing their usual hideous thing withthings they didn’t understand. From her world, from Alex’s world, Eliza strivedto make sure her little lion cub had no idea of the myriad of dangersurrounding him from all sides.

She didn’t think thenightmares were going to get any easier, though, as her second baby grew.

“What are youthinking about, love?” she murmured, trying to shake those thoughts out of hermind.

Pip wrinkled hisnose, scrunching up his smattering of freckles, “Um…dunno?”

Eliza chuckledgently, “That’s okay…are you maybe thinking about what Pops told you yesterday?About the new baby?”

His sweet little heartshaped face flushed a bright pink as he admitted, “Maybe.”

She’d expected asmuch, gently lifting her son into her lap, holding him as close as she couldwhich never really seemed to be enough. As she did, she guided his pudgy littlestarfish hands down to her lower stomach, not for any particular reason, justthinking that the action seemed to soothe Alex and maybe it would work forPhilip too? But it turned out to be a very good unconsciously made decision.

As soon as his palmstouched down on his mother’s skin, Pip’s already large eyes widened even more,his mouth opening in a little O of surprise.

“Mama!” he whisperedreverently, “There they are!”

“Oh?” Eliza blinked,charmed by the expression of bewildered excitement on his face.

“Can feel them!” Pipwas practically vibrating with excitement, the demon side of his genes showingthrough in the restless energy that visibly buzzed through him, “Can feel them glowing!”

Of course. Alex couldpick up on the baby’s energy as they grew in her womb, from the way it wasentangled with his own, a part of him as much as it was a part of her. Whycouldn’t Pip do the same?

“Can you really?” Elizagrinned, with only a little touch of jealously. Why did she have to wait untilthat first kick when it was her body the baby was inside? Stupid demon powers…

“Uh huh!” Pip beamedback at her, the gaps showing in his teeth, “They’re green! Nice green, greenlike grass and flowers and…and frogs!”

Eliza snorted withlaughter at that, cupping Philip’s face lovingly in her hands, running herthumbs over his soft cheeks, “That sounds very lovely, little man.”

“I swear, if you puther life on the line just because you can’t keep it in your pants one more time, Hamilton, you lose yourdick privileges, do I make myself clear?” Dosia snarled down the line, probablycausing some of the wires and transistors along the way to burst into flames.

“I wouldn’t go thatfar!” Alex yelped defensively, his nature getting the better of him, “She’llhave you and Maria like last time, I don’t think her life’s in dangernecessarily…”

He realised immediatelythat this was the wrong thing to say as a horrible silence, somehow worse thanher words, filled the space between them, stretching out until he was beggingfor her to start yelling at him again.

“Uh…Dosia?” heventured in a mouse-small voice, wondering if she actually had fried theconnection.

“Alexander,” came theicy reply, “Have you ever had to carry a ten-pound weight in your stomach andthen push it out of, in your case, your ass? Because if you have a burningdesire to do so, I do have that power you realise and am perfectly happy tooblige you from this distance…”

The rumble in Alex’sstomach at that point was most likely a complete coincidence, the effect of thesoda he drank earlier (he wasn’t one for moderation) or something elsecompletely unrelated to Dosia’s threat but it still struck terror into him.

“No, no, no!” he gavea little scream, gripping the side table, “No thank you, your majesty, allpowerful and merciful queen of the underworld, I feel like I can empathise withmy girlfriend sufficiently without that, thank you and also I kind of want toactually live to meet my child?”

Dosia made a derisivenoise but thankfully, nothing happened to Alex.

“Listen, I’m nothappy about the fact that Eliza has to go through that mess again,” he groaned,running his hand through his hair, “But she wants to do this and I respectthat. For the whole nine months, I swear, I’ll be right by her side and doevery single thing I possibly can to make it even a little bit easier on her.And, for your information, I’d be saying that even if you hadn’t yelled at meso…so, yeah.”

Realising he didn’thave a good end to his argument, Alex just kind of trailed off, his hand fallinglimp by his side.

There was anotherharrowing pause before Dosia spat out, “Congratulations,” and slammed the phonedown on him.

That was when Alexdecided to run.

Philip and Eliza werestill sat in wonder as Alex sped into the nursery, skidding to a halt as allhis fear fled and expression softened at the scene in front of him.

“Can feel the baby,Pops!” Pip shrieked delightedly before his father could even open his mouth, “They’rein there!”

Alex chuckled, comingand taking a place by his Betsey so she could lean her head on his shoulder,taking the opportunity to wipe away a few emotional tears as she did. He’dreally hoped his little one would get that particular power of his, the onethat brought him so much peace, to know for sure that his loved ones were closeand safe.

“He’s been telling meall about them,” Eliza explained, smiling tenderly, wrapping her arms aroundAlex’s, “How they’re feeling, what mood they’re in, he can sense all of it.”

“No way!” Alexgrinned, it sounded as if he was even more perceptive than his father, “That’sso cool, you go little buddy!”

Pip flushed withpleasure, demonstrating his power proudly as he carefully examined his mother’sstomach, her shirt pushed up for his hands, “Very green, green and happy. Kindahungry. Lotsa love.”

Eliza gave a gentle,happy little sob into her palm, snuggling close to Alex, “Oh…”

Alex found his girlfriend’shand and squeezed tight, his own voice thick with emotion, “And can you feelhow much they love you, mijo? How much they love their big brother?”

Pip puffed his littlechest out, eyes as bright and human as you could hope, “Yes! Love for me, too.”

Alex smiled, rufflinghis son’s hair. Maybe they didn’t fit into one category or another, maybe theywere breaking a few rules. But it sure as hell felt worth it.

#I love this #demon!alex au #its the best au #thanks for the prompt!#spn au #hamliza #alexander x eliza

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lawchan89 · 7 years

Note

5 with ship of choice!

5. “You’re burning up”

Hope ya like Jantom, sis, ‘cause I couldn’t resist the pun ;)

“You’re burning up.”

He let out a low sound almost like a purr, tracing his finger along her chest as she lay sprawled across his lap, staring up at his stupid charming three-eyed face. He smiled, “That’s just the smolder.”

“No Tom really, you’re burning up–OW!”

“Sorry!” he cried out, jerking backwards as Janna rolled out of his lap, clasping the back of her neck where a shining red mark appeared. “I’m so sorry Janna, I didn’t mean it!”

“What the hell?!” she cried, not exactly angry but more dumbfounded. “You mad about somethin’?”

“No, I’m–I’m not, seriously.” Far from it, Tom Lucitor was happy. Happier than he’d been in a long time, to be honest. “It’s not just when I’m mad. S-sometimes I flare up a little when I’m…nervous. Or worried.”

“What’re you worried about?” Janna asked, swiping her long raven bangs to one side so she could see him clearly. They’d been seeing each other off and on for over four years now, steadily “on” for about two of them. How this total arrogant hotheaded demon had captivated her, she had no idea. Well, he was a demon for starters. Janna had always dreamed of being swept off her feet by a dark supernatural being ever since she was a little girl, while most girls were waiting for prince charming. By a coincidental twist of fate, she got both. A demon and a prince.

But he was a fixer upper, no doubt about it. And what struck her was that Tom wasn’t doing it for her, but for himself. He’d stated that repeatedly, and Janna was blown away. The fact that he’d grabbed the bull (in this case, his controlling anger issues) by the horns, looked it dead in the eye and said “You don’t own me” was so empowering that Janna couldn’t help but fall totally head over heels. So much so that it got harder for her to play it cool like she usually did. And soon her heart, black and shriveled as it was, was more open than it had ever been with anyone else before. Like his own resolve had brought out the best in her as well.

“Is this about me moving?” she asked more quietly, sliding closer to him as he breathed heavily, trying to cool down his scalding lilac skin. “Tom, that’s not gonna affect us. I’ll still ring every time I wanna see you.” The little silver bell that packed so much sound when she tolled it had become one of her most prized possessions. The prince of the Underworld didn’t hand that out to just anyone.

“Nah, I get that. And I know you’ve been trying to get into that coven for years. I just…” He sighed. She knew everything about him, stuff he’d never told anyone, not even Star or Marco. The human girl claimed she was darker than any of his darkest thoughts in an effort to console him, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. She was his light. He clung to the image of her sultry amber eyes, glowing tan skin and smooth blue-black hair on the really bad days, when he wanted to give up completely. She made him laugh, she’d seen him cry, he was entranced by how dedicated she was to her witchcraft, and how well-versed in demonology she was. How there was this gentler side to her that loved the color pink and ice cream sundaes and putting on a pretty dress once in awhile because why not.

He knew everything about her, and she him. Except about the little velvet ring box he had concealed under his pillow.

“Dad summoned me the other day,” Tom finally said, lowered his gaze. “He’s stepping down.”

“Really?” Janna’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, in a year or so. He’s getting old.”

“Coulda fooled me.” He didn’t look like he’d aged at all since Janna met him when she was fourteen. She shook her head a little, feeling like she’d been bowled over by a truck. “So you’re, uh…you’re gonna be king then.”

“Yup,” Tom nodded expressionlessly.

“Oh…oh geez.” She brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her head. This was it. They were over. Between her move and his ascension to the throne, there was no way they could keep this up. They weren’t like Star and Marco; eternally bound together, willing to sacrifice everything to maintain that bond, even compromising royal duty. Those two were so in love they were freaks. She and Tom didn’t have that, and the Underworld was way stricter about their traditions than the Butterflys were.

Tears soaked into her sleeves. Janna Ordonia, crying over a guy? The fates had to be having a good laugh over that one. “Okay j-just get it over with.”

“Um–uh, okay,” he spluttered, taken aback. His hand fumbled under the sheets until he closed his long-nailed fingers around the box. “I mean, this isn’t required or anything, but it’s definitely recommended–”

“Faster, Tom. Like rippin’ off a band-aid.”

“Will you be my queen?”

Janna’s head snapped up so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. “Your what?!”

“My dad said it’s time for me to get serious, and ‘quit fooling around with that Earth girl’. So I said ‘Fine, I will.’” He shrugged with a little half smile that exposed a fang, his eyes solely on his girlfriend’s stunned face as he produced the ring box. “I’m not fooling around here. I’m dead serious.”

“You want me to marry you to get back at your dad?”

“No! Well y– okay, that’s a tiny part of it, I’m not gonna lie,” Tom deflated, his hands shaking a bit. “Listen, I…I know you have all these aspirations and wanna hone your craft, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m getting in your way.”

“Why would I…geez Tom, don’t say stupid stuff like that,” Janna muttered dazedly, still not daring to believe this was happening.

“Janna, babe I-I can offer you a lot. A crown, status, security, more power than you’ve ever had. But you probably don’t care about that–”

“Are you fucking kidding me?! Of course I care about that!” Janna cried, springing up and diving towards him, pressing her forehead to his with her arms latched around his neck. “I love you, Tom, I really do, and that’s important to me. But you’re literally asking me to be Queen of the Underworld, surrounded by demons, lava, torture dungeons and dead people for the rest of my life.”

“And?”

Her face broke into the widest smile he had ever seen on her, her eyes sparkling with ecstasy. “That’s everything I’ve ever wanted since I was a kid.”

A relieved laugh escaped Tom’s throat before her lips captured his in a sloppy wet kiss. Falling backwards onto the mattress, he kept the box gripped tightly in his hand until she pulled back enough for him to present the ring to her: Black gold, the most valuable in the Underworld, encrusted with rubies of all sizes from tiny as a speck of sand to large as an almond nut. Janna held out her left hand, and Tom slipped it on her finger before reaching up to dash away the tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Hey Tom.”

“Yeah?”

“If you’re not gonna be king for awhile, why’d you propose to me now?”

The demon grinned mischievously. “’Cause Marco told me he’s gonna propose to Star and it sounded like a good idea. It’s gonna take that nervous wreck forever to work up the guts. Wanted to make sure I beat him to it.”

“You little shit, I love you so much,” Janna growled like a tiger, seizing him by the front of his shirt to kiss him forcefully again. Still snickering to herself, she pulled out her phone.

“What’re you doing?”

“Pissing Marco off more than I ever have before,” Janna chortled, holding her ring hand out in front of her as she tapped the phone screen, the camera shutter going off. “And…send.”

#pottyprismpower #lawchan writes #jantom #it got LONG #hope you like it!

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spookysummersmores · 7 years

Text

Mind Heist - Chapter 5

Word count: 2,791

Author's note: What's this? Two chapters posted within the span of a week? I'm on a roll! xD

It's time for an epic dreamscape battle, boys and girls! I had a total BLAST writing this chapter because my portions of the dreamscape battle gave me the chance to just let my imagination run WILD! :D

A HUGE thank you to @ichipine for their ADORABLE contributions to the whole chapter, ESPECIALLY the combat tactic ideas for the battle scene! ❤

Also, @choc-chip-pancakes! There's one part of this chapter that I think you'll REALLY enjoy...heehee...

Thanks again for all your support, and I hope you enjoy! Chapter 6 coming soon! ^-^

Bill suddenly appeared above the puppet arachnid, looking very pleased with himself. "Well! What do we have here? I see you've met my friend!" he said gleefully, petting the horrid creature as if it were a dog.

Mabel continued to cling onto Dipper, unsure of what to say or do, but silently attempting to come up with a plan. Dipper, terrified as he was, mustered up the courage to say something.

"A-alright, Bill...this is getting old. Just get out of my head! There's no way I'm giving you whatever it is you want! I'll...I'll..."

His voice trailed off as he tried his best to come up with a plan of his own. A million thoughts were running through his head, but nothing was coherent. Though he didn't FEEL sick inside his dreamscape, the sickness coursing through him was corrupting and scrambling his thought process.

The woods continued to grow darker. The flashlights no longer seemed to be doing any good. Even Bill's eerie golden glow seemed to have dimmed, but Bill paid no mind. He was too busy enjoying himself.

"Not so easy facing me when your own body temperature is betraying you, huh, Pine Tree? Whaddya got? I DARE you to try something," Bill taunted, sounding awfully smug.

"Aw, shut up and leave Dipper alone! YOU...dare YOURSELF to do something!" Mabel shot back. She wasn't particularly good at crafting insults, but she had at least tried. Her own mind had gone blank, and she, too, was starting to panic. She worriedly looked over at Dipper and whispered to him. "Any ideas? There has to be SOMETHING we can use against him..."

"Nnngh, I'm trying...I know there's something we've never tried, but...I don't remember..." He silently tried to get his thoughts in order, but of course, every anxious musing was echoed back to him by the environment he stood in, and Bill heard it all.

'What the heck? Since when can't I think of a plan?! What are we gonna do, THINK, you've got to think of SOMETHING before-'

Bill was thoroughly enjoying every second. "You know, Pine Tree, you've made ME realize something. NOW I remember why you were the first body I'd invaded in 30 years...because immortals HAVE no weaknesses!" he said, laughing evilly to himself.

Even though she knew it wouldn't do any good, the normally pacifistic Mabel was ready to punch Bill's lights out.

Just as she raised her little fists and prepared to try, Dipper reached his limit.

"Aaaaah...get OUT of my THOUGHTS!" he cried out.

The shout echoed through the nightmarish woods, bringing everything to a halt and clearing the encroaching black mist from the area. At the same time, a golden cage appeared around Bill, trapping him inside. The hideous puppet creature grew apprehensive and darted off to parts unknown.

"WHAT the-? Are you KIDDING me?! THIS again?" Bill cried out angrily.

Dipper gasped. "Wha...what did I just do? All I did was think of..."

"Wait...Dipper, that's it!" A huge smile returned to Mabel's face. "Just think of anything and it'll happen! Just like we did in Grunkle Stan's head!"

Dipper gasps. "YES! We'll have more time to formulate a plan that way! How...how did I forget that?" he said, pretty annoyed with himself. The fight to save Stan's mind from Bill's clutches had been one of the most memorable experiences of the whole summer. Mabel patted his shoulder.

"LOOK. AT. THAT..."

Before either twin could do anything else, Bill shapeshifted into a stick and floated right between the bars.

"The mortal children still think they can beat me with kitten fists and laser eyes!" Bill said. "Look, if it's a fight you want, by all means - step up and fight! That way, I'll just get to DESTROY YOU FASTER!"

"You'll never destroy us, you weirdo!" As Mabel spoke, she thought up paper lanterns in a variety of colors, and they appeared in the air all around the three of them, illuminating the gloomy area with a soft, almost angelic glow. "Not when we've got MINDSCAPE MAGIC!"

"Awwwww, isn't that cute!" Bill retorted in the most condescending tone possible. "Thanks for making things easier on ME, Shooting Star!" He snapped his fingers, and hundreds of knives and blades materialized. With a flick of his wrist, they went hurtling toward the twins.

The twins both dodged in unison, and custom shields decorated to each twin's liking appeared in their hands simultaneously, affectively deflecting the spears. They popped up from behind their shields and looked at each other in amazement, then gave each other finger guns and said, "NICE!"

Suddenly, FORKS, of all things - selected as a weapon by Bill because of their significance during the Bipper incident - came shooting at the young twins like bullets, and they had just a second to dodge them.

"Forks? REALLY?" Dipper said in frustration. Bill cackled in response.

Dipper emerged from behind his shield. A proton pack, not unlike the ones he'd seen in ghost-hunting flicks he'd loved since he was a small fry, materialized in his hand, and the laser beams that he shot from it not only disintegrated the fork missiles, but also punched holes directly through Bill's body, leaving him looking more like a piece of Swiss cheese than the evil nacho he usually was.

The Mystery Twins stifled their laughter. "Huh...what do you know? Works on DEMONS just as well as it does on ghosts," Dipper cracked.

Bill shrieked with anger as the gaping holes in his form filled back in. Then, his ribbon-like arm morphed into a lasso, and he hurled it straight at Dipper.

"AAH!" the twins yelped in unison. Within a split second, Mabel pushed Dipper behind her, rolled them both out of the reach of the arm rope, and jumped to her feet in order to shield him. "Oh, NO, you don't!" she cried as she thought up a stuffed animal cannon and started rapid-firing teddy bear bombs at the demon.

Bill didn't even have a chance to resist before he was buried underneath an explosion of pastel-colored fluff. "UGH! The POLYESTER CUTENESS! How don't humans consider this TORTURE?" was the muffled cry that rose up from underneath the pile.

Mabel's only response was a raspberry.

Meanwhile, as Bill struggled to escape from the plush bullets being fired at him, Dipper conjured up his most prized 'Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons' creation - a weapon that had the powers of a standard sword, a mace, and a lightsaber combined. While Bill's back was turned, he went in for what he was sure would be the perfect sneak attack.

At that moment, the plushies surrounding Bill turned to ash, and he rose from the pile to deflect Dipper's sword with his own arm just as it was about to strike him.

The two engaged in a brief sword fight. On and on it seemed to go, the clanking of metal ringing through the forest like a school bell. Dipper lasted a lot longer than Bill had expected him to, but soon, Dipper found himself struggling to keep up with Bill. It was strange; he'd never felt so drained inside of his DREAMSCAPE before...

It was clear to Mabel that Dipper was beginning to lose, and so she quickly came up with a plan. She ditched the plushie cannon and conjured up a small, crystalline, star-shaped compact. It was fortunate that she did, for just as it appeared in her hand, she saw Bill knock Dipper's prized sword out of his hand.

Dipper ran to retrieve it, but quick as lightning, Bill snatched it up and held it to Dipper's throat, to Mabel's horror.

"NO!"

In an instant, Mabel clapped the center button twice as if the compact were a castanet, placed it around her neck, and let the device do its work. This caught Bill's attention before he could harm the boy in his grasp, and so he and Dipper both watched as Mabel was instantly consumed by clouds of galaxy-print magic. In just a second, her clothes transformed into the fluffy, lace-trimmed, multicolored uniform of a witch apprentice straight out of a Saturday morning magical-girl anime.

"Alright, Bill...no more games!" she cried out as she stood bravely before the deranged demon. She summoned her wand, a handle resembling a pink-and-white peppermint stick with a rainbow-beaded star topper that matched her compact. "In the name of the stars above...prepare to be punished!" she cried out in true magical-girl fashion. Then, she couldn't help but grin. "YES! I've ALWAYS WANTED to say that!"

Bill dropped Dipper and laughed in response. "What is this, Halloween?! What's that eyestrain-inducing piece of plastic going to do?"

"Ohhh, just...THIS." Mabel twirled around and thrust her arms into the air as she cried out, "Valentine Conversation Heart...ATTACK!"

Her magic wand produced a pink stream of glitter and light, filled with tiny pastel candy hearts, that smacked Bill right in the face.

"Whoa!" Dipper stood watching in awe, laughing a bit, as he pulled himself to his feet. There was Bill, being beaten up by what looked like a giant stream of cotton candy.

But it didn't last long.

Bill soon retaliated with a stream of hellish-red liquid fire.

Mabel stood her ground and pushed back against the dark magic for as long as she could, but to her dismay, her magical beam of candy hearts began to melt under the heat of Bill's lava blast. She struggled to keep the magic from fizzling out, but Bill's blast was starting to push her backward, and she was beginning to lose her footing.

"MABEL!" Dipper cried out in fear.

"DIPPER! How are we gonna lose him?!" Mabel responded, sounding rather frightened herself.

Dipper thought for a second. Then...lightbulb!

(No, a lightbulb actually appeared.)

He couldn't help but laugh. "I always thought that only happened in cartoons. Cool!" Then he yelled to Bill in order to get his attention. "Hey, BILL! Try THIS on for size!" He pulled what appeared to be a simple red and white ball out of his pocket.

"HA! If your SISTER'S toys aren't stopping me, what makes you think an oversized fishing bobber is gonna help?" Bill scoffed as he effortlessly continued blasting at Mabel's wand without even looking.

"Well... I think the friend IN this oversized fishing bobber juuust might..."

Suddenly, Dipper's normal hat and vest transformed into that of a decorated Monstermon master. He held the shiny little plastic capsule out in front of him...and...

"Torkomon, I choose YOU!"

He tossed the ball out in front of him as far as he could. As it hit the ground, out of the strange ball came a shiny turtle creature whose shell seemed to be made out of volcanic rock.

"Torkomon...use Smoke and Mirrors!"

Suddenly, Bill was blindsided - literally - by a giant cloud of thick white smoke.

Bill instantly ceased fire and screamed. "AAAAAAH! COME ON! I JUST got laser correction done on this eye!"

Mabel, too, ceased fire and cheered. "Alright, Dipper! Let's get out of here while he's distracted!" She took Dipper's hand, and with Bill caught in smoke, the two of them made their escape. As they ran, Dipper scooped up the little tortoise creature and perched it atop his shoulder as if it were a parrot.

As the twins exited the forest, they gasped at the sight that laid before them. The overgrown nightmare roots were completely out of control. There were at least 50 of them now, and several had inched so far out that they were merely 20 or so feet from the mind library.

"Ohhhh, jeez...now I see what you were talking about..." Dipper said, shuddering at the sight. "This...can't be good...Bill must be trying to make my own nightmares consume my mind!"

"Then there's definitely no time to waste. Come on!" Mabel used her wand and summoned a 'rainbow sugar bomb' to clear a path before them as they ran.

"That...is pretty awesome," Dipper admitted with a laugh. "I underestimated those weird anime things Candy got you into."

"Toldja they were just as good as comic book superheroes!" Mabel teased, just slightly. Then it was her turn to admit something. "Guess I underestimated Monstermon, too! You are one CRAZY POWERFUL little cutie!" she cooed as she cupped the turtle's little head in her hands. "You ready to come up with a plan, bro-bro?"

"Oh, yeah, I-" Dipper pulled her to a stop, just briefly. "Wait. That smoke's...probably not gonna last long enough for us to get back and...put a plan into motion. Maybe I should-"

"Nah, nah, it's okay! Leave it to Mabel," Mabel responded, taking notice of how oddly out-of-breath Dipper seemed to be. (She had to wonder how it was even possible to BE out of breath in a DREAM.) She quickly thought up another diversion. "Done!"

"What'd you do?" Dipper questioned. He hadn't seen anything appear.

"Ohhhh, let's just say Bill's gonna find himself in a pretty...STICKY situation!" Mabel joked, giggling afterward.

"Pffff, you're such a dork..." Dipper said, playfully punching her in the arm as they picked up their pace.

The twins hastily made it back to the now-well-illuminated mind library and headed to the top floor as quickly as they could. They soon arrived in front of the top-secret Journal 3 section of the library - a small room with an ornate door covered in encrypted messages and adorned with one giant combination lock.

"Okay...this one I keep under lock and key...for obvious reasons." He spun the letter slots to the correct combination - S-U-R-W-R-Q-S-D-F-N - and the twins worked together to push the door open before quickly relocking it behind them. Inside the tiny room was a set of file cabinets containing all of the journal pages Dipper had managed to memorize - archives.

"Alright...now let's see...there's a spell I happened to see in the journal once, but it was only visible under a blacklight. A crystal demon trap that'll incapacitate and banish an evil entity for an extended period of time. It's a quick fix, but at least it's something, and we won't have to worry about him for a while...hopefully..." He sighed. "Hoping I even HAVE the whole thing in here...I don't have the whole journal memorized verbatim. Yet." He cleared his throat nervously. 'One of my, uh...summer goals."

Mabel couldn't help but giggle, just a little, at how nerdy that sounded, but she shut up when Dipper shot her a tired look that seemed to say, "Really?"

"Right. Well, if it's in here somewhere, we should probably start looking for it," Mabel said with a smile. "Let's get searching!"

The twins conjured up blacklights and began rummaging through the archives, trying to find it. At first, neither of them have much luck, but soon...

"Oh, oh, look! I think I found it!" Mabel skipped back over to Dipper, a frayed journal entry in her hand containing text written in a strange symbol cipher. "When you put the light on it, the top of the page says it's about a demon trap, but almost the whole rest looks kinda...Latin-ish...I think...?"

Dipper clicked his blacklight on over it and grinned. "Haha, YES! This is it! And from the looks of it, it's all here!" he whisper-yelled. He highfived her. "Nice!"

Wasting no time, they sneakily left and relocked the journal room, then hid themselves behind a bookcase in the "creature encounters" section of the next floor down so they could read over the spell and plan their attack.

Dipper was relieved to be able to sit down. "Okay...so...according to this...in order to create the trap, we first need...crystals. Three of them. Like the ones drawn here."

"Got it!" Mabel thought them up, and they manifested in her hands. "Daaaang...if we didn't need these, they would SO be perfect for earrings..." she said dreamily.

Dipper just shook his head and tried not to laugh. "Only you. Now...we need to arrange them in a...triangular trinity pattern. Huh, that's...actually a pretty fitting design for a Bill trap. So then if we could just find something to attach them-"

Before he could finish his sentence...two arms phased THROUGH THE WALL behind them without them knowing, and one hand was clapped over each twin's eyes.

Mabel giggled. "Nice try, Dipper, but..." Her smile faded once she realized it was most definitely not Dipper.

"M-Mabel?" he stammered, not knowing she'd already figured out that something wasn't right. "That's not-"

"Who's up for a game of GUESS WHO?" boomed a third voice, the last two words being spoken in a sinister bass tone.

The sound of despicably evil laughter soon filled the small chambers as the twins found themselves being pulled through the wall and into the main hall of the mind library.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #gf fanfiction #dipper pines #mabel pines #mystery twins #pines family #family love #bill cipher #('may he rest in...pieces')#update #mind heist #chapter 5 #ichipine #collaboration #Danni's drabbles

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jess-the-vampire · 6 years

Text

Pillow From Pain

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Dave's eyes shot open quickly as the screaming got louder, finally getting his attention and allowing him to wake up from his rest. Part of him was angry at himself for not noticing it sooner, but then again what did he expect when Tom's crib was practically a dozen feet below him? Just getting off the bed itself was a feet, Dave had his own royal lift to make it to the top and after getting off the pillow and running to the edge he got aboard. Wrathmelior stirred in her sleep, looks like Tom was finally starting to wake her up as well, that or maybe she could sense the raising fire Tom was most definitely producing in their room. She was the heavier sleeper, so if Tom was waking her up he must've been making quite the ruckus. The lift stopped and Dave hopped out and make his way to the crib where a 10 month old baby was, crying through all three of his eyes, and hands moving around like crazy. Babies cry, this was expected when they found out there were having a kid, but Thomas was far from a normal baby. Tom, was half demon, and a prince no less. Only last month, it was clear Tom's powers were finally coming in, and for a half-demon he was quite powerful, or at least more power then what either of his parents were expecting. For now it seemed to just be pyrokinesis, but there was no telling what else he'd be able to do by the time he turned 1.

Dave avoided the flames surrounding him and carefully picked the crying baby up, holding him close to his chest and trying to calm him down before he woke up the entire underworld. Judging by the loud and almost earth shaking movement, Wrathmelior was awake and Dave turned around to fine the sleepy demon queen staring at them and yawning. Frankly, they were getting used to this because it had practically been happening almost every night, but it was still saddening they couldn't all have a peaceful night of rest. Dave petted Tom and rubbed his back, humming to him and helping him calm down, Tom seemed to really like music, it soothed his temper. Dave looked his little boy over and for what felt like the 50th time this month, and acknowledged the source of Tom's fits. Those little bumps on the side of his head, which both parents immediately knew at first glance, that he was growing horns. Wrathmelior of course said they constantly grew for years, and would continue to grow till Tom was a teenager, so this was just a step in the earliest part of Tom's growth. But that sure didn't make Tom any less uncomfortable trying to sleep on his side and finding pointy parts of him separating his head from comfortably lying down in the soft carriage. He was only a baby after all, a baby with no control of his emotions or abilities, he couldn't exactly help that his fits in turn affected the world around him. He was just reacting to the obvious pain he was dealing with in the only way babies knew how. Dave just wished there was an easier solution to fixing this for Tom. His horns haven't even broke the skin yet, and they're already a pain for him and everyone else. Tom's sobs died down bit by bit as his father calmed him down, and the fire was slowly descending till Tom's breathing slowed down and he fell back asleep. Dave sighed in relief, before carefully placing the small boy back in his crib, only after kissing his forehead and tucking him in. "Get some sleep Tommy, we'll see you in the morning ok? We love you.." A faint smile appeared on the small baby's lips as his father finished putting him to sleep. Dave sighed in relief, and yawned, Tom wasn't the only one who desperately needed some rest tonight. He watched Tom sleep peacefully and felt the strong urge to get back into some sleep himself. The demon queen exchanged a smile with him before he returned to the lift and back to bed. - The next night was the same as always, and the next night, and the next. Dave was used to it, it became a routine, but it turn it was taking a tool on his sleep schedule and he knew it. He found himself almost dozing off during meetings and dinners, and being tired was the last thing he needed while being in charge of a land surrounded by demons and lava. Moon was no help, then again, she wasn't a mother yet and wouldn't be for a few months so he couldn't be surprised. It's not like she's the one with the baby whose screams can cause the entire room to become an oven in seconds. But he loved Tom, no matter what. There had to be a better way of keeping Tom's horns from setting him off in the middle of the night. It was another long day, and Dave was sitting down and currently watching Tom as it was his turn , the little half-demon was chewing on his father's arm. His sharp teeth were still developing, so at least it didn't hurt as badly as it could've been, and at least Tom seemed to be getting some joy out of it. He giggled, drool dripping on his father's arm, but Dave didn't mind. In ways he was prepared to raise a child that was half-demon, ready for the sharp teeth, and claws, and powers, but in another he wasn't sure what to expect. Tom was unique, for all Dave knew he could miraculously combust, or grow another head, ok unlikely he'd be able to do that, but last month he did turn his head 180 degrees which freaked Dave out just as much as growing another head would. Before, or rather last month, Tom had a few demon babysitters help take care of him when his parents were unable to. But that turned out to be a mistake fast, next to how ignorant a lot of them were to taking care of a "Half-breed", there were also those that couldn't even make it to the end of the day because Tom got so out of control when he threw fits. Dave didn't miss them at all frankly, even thought he knew how bad Tom could be with fits. No more babysitters, clearly it was up to them to adjust and find time for at least one of them to watch him. Dave looked at his son, sometimes it was hard to believe what he was capable of at such a young age, he just looked so harmless and innocent sometimes. Tom gnawed more on Dave's arm, and Dave couldn't help but smile as if this was the purest thing he'd ever seen. "You're a handful....", Dave scratched Tom's head and in response the little one made some happy baby noises, "I wish I could find a way for you to sleep easier....". Tom turned his attention towards his father, and curiously reached out to touch his face, then he took hold of his father's nose. "Ow, tom...tom...no...", the king carefully removed Tom's hands from his, "Don't pull on daddy's nose...". Tom didn't seem to like that though, and he started to cry, and soon after there came the fire. Dave was used to Tom's fits, and he was used to dealing with them whenever the little demon was upset. What was wasn't used to, was being accidentally set on fire. Dave panicked so hard that if he weren't careful Tom might've fallen off his lap, he thought fast and sat Tom down on a nearby couch so he could quickly put himself out, slapping the flames off him. He was cautious about fire, he lived in a world surrounded by it, he just wasn't used to being this close with it. He breathed quickly, trying to calm himself down, to see Tom laughing and enjoying the show, lying down on a pillow and clapping his hands together. Dave shook his head and sighed, "I know you think it's funny, but fire hurts daddy too Tom, let's not do that again...". Tom continued to laugh though, and Dave was about to pick him up when he noticed something. Tom was happy, while lying down, his horns weren't bothering him. "Hmmm..." Dave picked his son back up and held him close, then took a look at the pillow he'd been lying on. Tom playfully starting biting his shoulder, and Dave picked up the pillow and called for a servant, who quickly made his way over to him. "King Lucitor! How may I be of service?" Dave handed him the pillow, "I'd like to know If I can get a special one of these made...". - Wrathmelior's growls of concern as she watched Dave put Tom to bed were taken note of by the king, who only gave her a comforting smile. "Mel, he's going to be fine, see with this pillow it props his head up so he doesn't turn it and therefore won't let his horns wake him up..". She looked skeptical, but he didn't. "Mel, we gotta try something, waking up in the middle of the night to put Thomas back to bed is not only hurting us, but him. I don't have horns but I kinda don't need any to figure out that they're hurting him and we need a better strategy if we're going to make it easier for all of us..", he placed a nice new custom pillow for Tom in his crib, and handed Tom one of his favorite plushes that looked as though Tom had been teething a lot with it. She made some more growing noises and Dave sighed, "I know, I know he'll grow out of it.....but...I just want to worry about him now, I-I just...I hate seeing him cry and be in pain and not being able to do anything about it...he's already gonna grow up in a kingdom that we both know is iffy about him not being a full demon...I just...want him to be a happy kid for a little while before that happens...". He thought back to all the babysitters who called Tom a half-breed and refused to accept him as their prince and sighed, "It's worth a shot, and he at least deserves having one less problem in his life if we can fix it..". Wrathmelior nodded, understanding, and gave him an ok without words. Tom looked up at his father, making giggly noises, but also looking tired after a long day. He looked so tiny, and small, and fragile, and Dave felt a few tears coming on, "Hey Tom, Daddy's ok, he just wants to make sure you get some sleep tonight ok?" Dave held Tom close and petted his pink hair, soothing him, he rocked him and hummed for a little bit. Tom yawned, exposing all his little teeth, and closing all three of his eyes. Dave carefully laid Tom down on the pillow and tucked him in with his covers, before carefully and quietly making his way to bed. The demon queen looked at him with curiosity as he proudly found his spot on their larger then life bed, "Get some sleep, if all goes well, more nights from now on will be more quiet...". She complied and lied down on the bed, face staring at the ceiling like per usual. Tom didn't cry at all that night. He never looked so peaceful as he did the next morning, his soft snores and his little smile made both his parents exchange happy looks. This was the start of a new tradition. - "Hey Tom, what is this old thing?", Marco said, pulling out an old pillow from one of the boxes in Tom's closet. A 14 year old Tom turned around from playing video games to stare at the old pillow, before pausing and getting up to check it out, and taking it from Marco. Marco had been looking for some new video games for them to play, only to pull out a very smelly old pillow. Tom looked at the old thing, a warm smile spreading upon his face, the memories flooded back to him quickly and he felt himself tear up just a little bit. "Oh man, I Haven't seen this old thing in forever...", Tom carefully held it in his hands, he could see all the familiar spots he chewed up and drooled on. Marco still looked very confused and Tom replied with a laugh, his face a bit red, "It's uh....it's my old baby pillow, I've had it since I was little, to help with my horn development...". He reached up to feel one of his said horns, still red-faced from showing his old pillow to Marco. "Horn development?", Marco asked, Tom smiled, "It's hard to sleep and such when your body keeps forcing you on your horns. M-my dad sorta found out propping my head up with one of these kept me from hurting myself when they were still growing, and the underworld after that adapted and made bedtime pillows for whatever horns you have as a demon....it's uh...it's silly..". "Silly? No that...sounds kind've cool.", Marco commented, " I guess I never really thought much about your horns making sleep harder for you....". Tom smiled, "Yeah, it's the worst, but I loved this old thing, I used this thing for years and it meant a lot to me...". "Why'd you stop?", Marco asked. "I grew up, kids picked on me...I felt embarrassed for having it....", Tom looked at it, trying to shove away the painful memories away. "It was stupid...I just...it was so easy to make me cry back then, to push my buttons and hurt me....". Marco placed a hand on his back, "Your dad created a new trend to help other demons from taking care of you? That's not silly at all, That's actually really cool...". Tom looked over the pillow again and held the pillow close to him, now smiling and humming to himself. "Yeah....Dad is pretty cool..."

#star vs the forces of evil #svstfoe #svtfoe #Dave lucitor #tom the demon #tom lucitor #King Lucitor #fanfiction #fanfic #my art #Wrathmelior Lucitor #queen lucitor

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