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thefanficmonster · 3 years

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Just thought about this as a story or headcanons, maybe the lords in re8 have a child, which is the reader and they are somewhere around 7 in the beginning. You can do them all separately, like first part would be Heisenberg, then Dimitrescu, Beneviento, and then Moreau, so the reader would accidentally do something and they are scared that the lord that is their parent would be super mad and they run away and the lords reactions to their child being gone and maybe the reader goes back to the village older, maybe 14 or 15 and the lords are emotional when they finally reunite with the reader. Maybe at first they don't recognize the reader at first, thinking they are just an outsider until they see something that they gave the reader as a birthday present and they recognize them. And it's just full fluff in the end? This has also been bugging my mind for a while 🤣 sorry if this ask was complicated to read

Heyy ~ lovely idea as always hun! I changed it up a bit, hope you don't mind and still enjoy reading it nonetheless 💗

Alcina Dimitrescu

- Being the youngest Dimitrescu, you were expected to be a bit of a spoiled brat since our mother and sisters looked after you like the most precious and rarest gem in this world - Surprisingly though, you were a very well behaved child - A shy, quiet, well-mannered kid that followed their mother's rules like they were the law - But even you weren't immune to that childish curiosity that every kid possesses - So you had to go on and break a rule or two eventually - However, the biggest one you broke, the one that had you sweating nervously, was sneaking down into the basement where the wine your mother and sisters were so proud of was kept - With trembling hands you picked up one of the bottles, the one with the most interesting pattern on the bottle, and began to expect it - That’s when a noise suddenly echoed throughout the basement, causing you to drop the bottle which broke as soon as it the ground, sending the red liquid splashing everywhere - You were mortified - You were only six at the time, you couldn’t think of a strategy to fix the mess you had made - So instead, you chose to run and hide, convinced you’d get in A LOT of trouble when your mother would find out - The place you chose to hide in was a run down part of the courtyard where you were least likely to be spotted by anyone or anything - Your plan started backfiring only about an hour after you settled in your hiding spot - The cold was starting to be painful on your skin but you refused to go back in - Before you knew it you had passed out, deleting any memory of what was to happen afterwards - Upon waking up, you found yourself in your room, changed in a new set of clothes and void of the chill you were suffering from before you lost consciousness - It didn’t take you long to notice your mother sitting in a chair next to the bed, struggling not to drift of to sleep, her face looking like she had aged about ten years in the span of a few hours out of worry - “Mom?” You spoke up weakly, startling the woman who was on her feet and crouching down closer to you within a second - “Y/N, darling, why’d you do that? You had me worried sick.” Alcina said, her hand gently caressing your hair, none of that sternness she was known for left in her - “I’m sorry, mama. For scaring you and for the wine bottle. I didn’t mean to...” You tried saying but got choked up by your tears - “The wine be damned. Nothing is as important to me as you are sweetie.” She said, planting a soft kiss on your forehead before climbing in bed with you and wrapping her arms around you, her embrace so warm and comforting - You never doubted your mother’s love for you, but that moment only made you more sure in it and made you love her triple the amount you already loved her

Donna Beneviento

- Donna had always been generous with the amount of dolls she allowed you to have and play with - Although, the ones she gave you were not infected with her Cadou and couldn’t move or speak on their own as to not scare you - However, you were still allowed to play and talk with Angie who you were raised to see as a sister - And just like sisters, you and Angie also fought every now and then - But, this one time, she really angered you and with all the strength of a six year old that you possessed you threw her across the room - She hit a wall hard enough to loosen one of her arms and it fell off - That’s when you knew you were practically dead in trouble and ran to hide under your bed - As you were climbing up the stairs though, you could still hear Angie’s screaming and crying from downstairs and Donna could no doubt hear it as well - So as to avoid running into her, instead of hiding upstairs, you went into the basement - Where you had never been in, by the way - Meaning you had no idea what horrors awaited you there - Mannequins, doll parts, terrifying dolls which moved on their own - In your eyes it was a pure nightmare - Seeing the dolls turning their heads to follow your movement, some even raising an arm as if to greet you almost made you scream several times but you didn’t want to give away your hiding spot - And that’s when the laid out mannequin on the table, one you were already terrified of, turned it’s head to look at you, opened its eyes and mouth - The radio on the other table turned on simultaneously, all of it being too much of a scare for you to be able to suppress the scream you let out - That’s when you felt a hand on your shoulder and screamed even louder, even beginning to cry - The hand turned you around and you were suddenly facing your mom who looked scared and concerned, a little paler than usual too - You took no notice of that though, seeing as how you ran right into her, hiding your face in her hip - “I’m sorry mommy! I didn’t mean to hurt Angie! Just please don’t let them scare me anymore!” You cried, your tiny hands balled up in fists, clutching to Donna’s dress as if for dear life - The woman was relieved to see you were safe although still a little confused as to why you had even run down to the basement in the first place - And then she thought a bit more about what you had said - “Oh dear, you thought you were in trouble? Angie’s perfectly fine, Y/N. Her limbs come off loosely all the time. You didn’t even actually hurt her.“ - Seeing that your distress was showing no sign of decreasing, Donna picked you up and proceeded to carry you up to where Angie was so she could apologize for making you feel guilty in the first place

Salvatore Moreau

- Being a young kid, the Reservoir was a rather dangerous place for you to wander around in unsupervised - Usually you’d stick to the safest area, aka the one furthest away from the water, and would only be allowed to see the rest of your dad’s property with him by your side, holding your hand to make sure you wouldn’t fall - But one day, as you were sitting in at the entrance of the Reservoir, in the small body of water by your feet you saw a golden fish - Mesmerized, you foolishly ducked down to try and touch it but it, of course, swam away - Oh but you were far from prepared to let it go - So you chased after it, watching its glimmering skin rush under the surface of the water, going further into the dangerous parts of the property - You were mindless to the fact you were entering a territory that was originally forbidden to you - That is until a wooden board on the dock broke under you, causing you to fall in the water - And being only barely six years old, you didn’t know how to swim so before the panic had even worn off completely, you started screaming for help, praying your father would hear you - And boy were you in luck - A giant fish emerged from the water from underneath you, carrying you on its back to the dock you had fallen from - You scrambled to get to the safe half of it and sat on the ledge - By the time you were able to look around with clear vision instead of the blurred with tears one you had been struggling with seconds prior, the monster fish was gone - And your dad was standing on the dock next to you - “You see no why you aren’t allowed here, child?” - You nod, sniffling and running to hug him, relieved to be in your dad’s safe embrace - Despite the efforts to be stern, Moreau crumbles back to his usual loving and caring self, being the best father in the world in your eyes - He carried you, piggy-back style back to the safe space of the Reservoir

Karl Heisenberg

- It goes without say that, growing up in a factory as dangerous as Heisenberg’s, there’s certain amount of rules you have to respect for yours and your father’s safety as well as the successfulness of his experiments - But there was no force that was able to keep you away from this one machine that looked far too interesting for you to overlook - You couldn’t help but go up to it every now and then to look at the blinking lights and the tempting colorful buttons - And then there was one day when just looking didn’t satisfy you - So you went on to press a few buttons, in the order of your favorite colors - It didn’t take long for you to realize how poor that decision was - When sparks started flying from the machine was when you finally decided to back away and that satisfying your curiosity wasn’t worth it - But it was already too late - The whole process had stopped, the conveyer belt of murder machines pausing mid-movement suggesting the whole operation was hindered - “Y/N? What on Earth are you doing?” - Your dad’s voice had never terrified you so much - All excuses and apologies you wanted to say died down in your throat at the sight of your mildly agitated father standing behind you with an unimpressed look on his face - He wasn’t angry by any means but your vision was too blurred by tears for you to be able to see that - “Dad, I’m so sorry!” You cried, running to hug him, back turned to the malfunctioning machine you believed you damaged beyond repair - Wrapping his arms around you, he gave you a quick hug before stepping around you and approaching the machine, fixing it with the press of a few buttons - “Hope that teaches you a valuable lesson not to break the rules kid.” He said with a crooked smile, ruffling your hair while you still stared at machine in disbelief

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jimines · 3 years

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Whats actually happened between you and taemaknae? I read about it on the tea blog and still confused

This is an insanely long story so I'm going to put it below the cut so for anyone interested in this absolute shit show, continue on.

Essentially, I posted these headers about a month ago:

It was a set of like 8 colours and it was the first time I had ever posted any headers or anything. The issue nic had with these, was the ripped paper bottom. Because apparently you can trademark that. I had asked a (now ex) “friend” of mine if she knew where I could find the ripped paper effect because I had seen the effect on the header of her network blog and I had been trying to find a similar thing for months and google images never gave me anything good. She ended up referring me to google images anyways and after like an hour of dedicated searching, I found this ripped paper effect and used it. This ex “friend” went on to tell another friend of mine that I had "asked where nicole gets her resources for her headers" and then screenshotted my dm as "proof", which still confuses me because I never mentioned nicole there lmao. I've seen the screenshot.

Tell me where I said nicole. It was literally just a question born from seeing the header they had on their network lmao. I feel it’s important to mention I didn’t know this person ran said network at that time, which is why i said “these people”.

This other friend then came to me and just said my headers "may be seen as similar to nic's” and said she noticed it on her own and never mentioned my other “friend” approaching her. I was confused because other than that ripped paper effect that I know many people on tumblr use, I saw no similarities. Nic's headers are usually more complex and more than just a coloured background with a little effect in it. I just wanted to make some simple headers for fun because I was bored. But, regardless, I messaged nic about it to make sure she didn't feel the same way. I told her a friend of mine was worried nic might think my headers are similar to her's and I assured her that if she found them similar I would take them down, no questions asked. Nic told me she was surprised this friend brought it up and told me that it was entirely up to me if I found the headers similar. She never once told me she felt they were the same, never mentioned anything about them, she insisted it was up to me to do as I pleased. So, since I genuinely found no similarities, I left them up.

About a week went by and things between nic and I were fine, or so I thought, based off the fact that she was interacting with my posts, sending me cute asks and replying to a lot of my comments and stuff being kind and whatnot. Then, I decided to post a small list of my creations and the series I had running at the time.

After that, all of a sudden I got an influx of rude hate anons:

To anyone I mentioned the anons to, they agreed with me, you cannot trademark circular icons. This anon also accused me saying “just the fact that you had an anxiety attack about it proves you copied them” Like no sweetie, it’s called three strangers walked into my house and I got anxious.

Despite me not seeing the issue, I messaged nic, assuming she wouldn't care about the icons (it wasn't like I was taking her exact work and copying and pasting them as my own) and that made her very upset. When she responded to me, she was incredibly heated and gave off the vibe she was waiting for me to message her about it.

She said things like "this has actually been bothering me for a while", "i expected you to be able to read between the lines and delete the headers", "i don't know who that anon was but clearly they recognize my style". For starters, she never told me that she was annoyed with me, she was being very kind to me publicly. And I have no idea how I was meant to “read between the lines” of what she said especially considering how kind she was to me the following days. I also never accused her of knowing this anon, she just insisted it wasn't her and she didn't know them right off the bat. She also insinuated that I copied my gifs from others as well, which ticked me off because I made my 100+ layer psd myself thank you very much. But I kept my cool, and I told her I had no idea she felt the way she did, and I told her I would delete the headers (which i did as the conversation was going on), and that I would stop posting my icons and bringing attention to them because no one ever paid it any mind before that point. And I asked her “please tell me straight up the next time you have an issue with me because I am generally pretty dumb with social cues”, I have my adhd to thank for that. And instead of replying, she just blocked me. And conveniently, the hate anons stopped dead right after we blocked each other and I haven't received any since.

Also, these are the kinds of icons I posted:

Looks pretty generic and idk, universal, right?

Then, as I've recently found out today, she was in an "anti-loverjimin" groupchat with at least 2 other bloggers.

Which explains why this all went and fell into place. I know who the two other bloggers are because of what happened two days later but I won't name them just yet, but these two people had been "friends" with me for several months. So, a day or two after nic blocked me, all of a sudden some good friends of mine were blocking me and not talking to me when I asked what was going on. I found out soon after it was because nicole and those two now ex “friends” of mine had taken old dms I sent them and were showing them to people. And I will go into detail about them but I won't name the people they are about for privacy reasons.

Before I move on, to clarify some lies nic has been spreading about me, I never once shit talked nicole to my friends. One of these ex friends also said I was trying to get people on my side. I would have reacted to this all very very differently if that were the case. I would be dragging everyone through the fucking dirt but I don't get off on drama or micromanaging what my mutuals do. My issues are with these people, if you're still friends with them that's your decision i could not care less. So, back to it, the only thing I said about nic was that she and I had a stupid small fight over icons and that she was spreading lies about me, based off of what nic said to jordan.

That exact message, or slight variations of it, was sent to anyone I interacted with because I didn't know if nic was going to stop at jordan or try and get to everyone I fucking knew lmao. Some of the people I messaged this to told ME nic had done this kind of thing before, that she has sent hate anons, launched hate campaigns, cancelled people, etc. Over stupid shit like icons lmao.

Here are some responses I received after I mentioned nicole:

And nic or one of her friends also took it upon themselves to send anons to that tea blog to blow shit up and named everyone and made it an even bigger mess when they saw no one was actively trying to fight me after the dms got out.

I also love that in this following ask, they named my two “friends” that were behind the whole dm drama and backstabbed me, as well as two other people I never badmouthed, that story was twisted. But we’ll get into those details shortly.

And she also told people I clout chased big blogs and only cared about notes. At one point, yes, I did care a lot about my statistics. However, never once did I think clout chasing was worth my fucking time or energy, Nic is the biggest clout chaser on this damn site and there are receipts of that, ask jordan lmao. And I couldn’t give two shits about my statistics anymore lmao, much less anxiety that way. Do I still crave validation sometimes? Sure. But it's not a driving force of my tumblr experience like it used to be.

But, moving on to the dms, the first one was sent when I first came back to tumblr full-time and didn't understand why people self reblogged things, I found the pretence of self reblogging annoying and greedy and I complained about it and it was a comment fuelled by two bloggers that i would see sr a lot on my dash. But I never thought THEY were annoying, as these people are saying I did, it was self reblogging I found annoying and as you can see I have come to understand why people sr and I do it myself too. I didn't even know these two bloggers at this time either. That dm was cropped to hide the fact that this "friend" agreed with me and hid the date as well so it seemed recent, and was sent to one of the bloggers I mentioned as an example, someone I had since become good friends with.

I didn’t befriend one of the people I mentioned there until mid to late June. That friendship is now over thanks to this drama and all the lies. The second friend of mine they went after was never spoken about in dms, they went and turned her against me through lies and manipulation so that friendship has ended too. And while those two were doing that, nic went off to try and turn jordan against me.

There was a particular user on here that I did say some nasty things about but we weren't friends, as many people have been made to believe. I was particularly mad at this person in those dms and was hurtful, I admit, and I have since apologized and owned up to all of it to these people. I did call them fake and/or two-faced.

And what in the gassing me up bullshit was their response though lmao. I also sent this following dm before I even talked about the issue with this person. They urged me to continue and to name drop the person, and I stupidly thought they were trustworthy.

My reasoning for what I said wasn't unwarranted though, I don't make a habit of going around shit-talking people, unless they do something to me first. I vent when I am upset and this person had sent me a passive aggressive ask and then denied sending it when I asked and I thought that was just very fake, especially since she was so kind to me in dms before the ask came in. But all of these dms were cropped too to hide timestamps and responses, and in most cases, like those screenshots prove, these "friends" either gassed me up or egged me on to continue ranting or to name the people i was mad at and they had agreed with me on several, several occasions. Turns out they were trying to get dirt on me to use in their cancel campaign. But the point is, nic has made me out to be this horrible person that befriends "big blogs" (an overrated statement) and then shit talks them behind their back without remorse. Yet it was one person I said rude things about and I, again, owned up to it all and apologized to them the first day. I would've done it sooner had I a) remembered feeling the way I did all those months ago or remembered the dms themselves or b) felt that way still after meeting them. But neither is the case.

I find it really amusing though that these people wanted things to be kept quiet and didn’t want anyone they spoke to to talk to me about it because I was going to “out them on my blog” and “make a big scene”, then they three went and made it a big fucking scene and ruined my friendships. I’m familiar with this pattern of manipulation as it has happened to me in real life before and it’s the most childish bullshit to witness.

Before this callout day for nic, I had never once been directly rude to or about her, same goes for those ex “friends” that betrayed my trust and friendship. The fact that they plotted against me in a group chat while still actively talking to me and being all buddy buddy is just disgusting. Both of them were talking to me that day at the same time they were sharing the dms and shit-talking me to my friends. But yeah, that's my side, the untwisted side, of the whole story. I tried to be mature and talk to nic and when I didn't do what she wanted me to do, she blocked me and launched the hate campaign with dms and the power of photoshop. I’ve been hesitant to make any of this public because it was meant to be a silent ordeal but I’ve grown tired of her constantly publicizing everything without consequence while I remain silent like I promised.

#anon #replied💌#tw:negativity #drama #long post #read at your own risk aha #its a shit show #idc if you rb it #pinning temporarily for the next day(sih)#ish*#edited with screenshots and whatnot that i forgot i had on my phone lmao

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marshmallow-phd · 3 years

Text

Book of the Dead

Genre: The Mummy AU

Pairing: Junmyeon x Reader

Summary: After traveling to the fabled city of Hamunaptra, you read from the Book of the Dead and accidentally resurrect an ancient mummy with extraordinary powers and quest for revenge. The only thing to do now is try and convince your less-than-traditional guide to help you save the world.

Part 1 I Part 2

You ran up the smooth stone steps as quickly as your night dress would allow. If only you had had the time to change into something a bit more practical. Unfortunately, the immortal, god-like mummy that was currently lighting the city of Cairo up with the ten plagues of Egypt was exactly willing to pause for you to put on a different outfit.

“Run this by me one more time?” Baekhyun huffed a few stairs behind.

Rolling your eyes, you said again, “We’re going to read the stone with the inscription of the location of the book of the living. Once I translate its location, we’ll head back to Hamunaptra, retrieve it, and send Mr. Bones back to the underworld.”

“You really need to work on the nicknames,” Junmyeon grumbled as he placed a hand on your lower back to urge you upwards at a faster pace.

“Sorry that my sarcastic wit doesn’t work best under pressure.”

“Trust me, it hasn’t been working with or without the pressure.”

You shot the soldier a dirty look, which only led to you tripping over your own feet. Junmyeon caught you before your knees could meet the edge of the last step. Looking up at him, you opened your mouth, whether to say thank you or to release another sharp remark, you weren’t sure. Those stupid brown eyes were scrambling the thought pathways in your brain. But thankfully, one thing was able to connect and bring back your focus.

“The stone!”

A large black stone taller than you and wider than your forearm sat to the right of the staircase, a block of polished wood at the base keeping it upright and away from the wall. You ripped out of Junmyeon’s grasp and scrambled for the stone. Your eyes scanned the hieroglyphics. A few feet away, Baekhyun was half bent over in an effort to regulate his breathing.

“Can you do that a little quieter?” you gritted between your teeth as your fingers slid over the etched surface of the stone.

“It wasn’t that many stairs,” Sehun said.

“Sorry, not all of us are as athletic as the muscled up soldiers over here.” Baekhyun hooked a thumb towards Junmyeon, who was hardly paying attention as he stared out the open balcony. Baekhyun and Sehun joined him, the former then gulped. “You might want to hurry up over there.”

“Patience is a virtue,” you sang.

“Not right now it isn’t,” Junmyeon mumbled grimly.

That was when you heard it.

Hundreds of voices chanting in unison.

“Imhotep. Imhotep. Imhotep. Imhotep.” Over and over in monotone sounds, growing closer and louder.

Oh, shit.

“I hate to agree, but yes, faster would be better,” Professor Bey urged.

His power was growing. Fast. You buckled down, translating the pictures into the ancient language and then again into your own tongue.

“They’ve become his slaves,” Ardeth said with more morbidness than you previously thought possible.

“A side effect of the boils and sores, I’m sure,” Baekhyun said, not helping. Another plague down. The final one, if your counting was correct.

Block them out. You needed to block all of them out. “Alright, so according to the Bembridge scholars, the gold book of Amun-Ra is located in the statue of Anubis.”

“But we found the black book there instead,” said one of the Americans.

Baekhyun moved to your side. “So, they were wrong?”

“Obviously.” Arrogant men who thought you didn’t have enough experience to join their society. “They mixed up where they were buried. So if that was where the black book was located….”

A crash. The front doors of the museum must have been breached.

“I got it! The golden book is located inside the statue of Horus!” You slapped the rock with your hand in victory. “Take that, Bembridge bastards!”

“Alright then, let’s run!” Baekhyun took your hand and hurried you down the hall while the others stayed close at your heels. Down the stairs and through a back corridor, you were able to make it to the car while avoiding the mind controlled citizens. Safety be damned, you all piled on one another into the topless car as Baekhyun turned over the engine and gunned it. Hordes of the poor men chasing you poured out of the doors of the museum and managed to keep up with the four wheeled vehicle that now raced through the dirt streets in the dark. Junmyeon remained on the trunk of the car, reloading his gun and punching anyone who was able to get close enough.

“Those are innocent people!” you yelled over all the noise.

“Yeah, well, right now, it’s us or them!” Junmyeon kicked one off but lost his balance in the meantime. He nearly fell into the crowd before you were able to grab his arm and yank him down. “Thanks,” he muttered mere inches from your face before clearing his throat and righting himself. On his other side, Sehun was fighting along with Ardeth to keep you all from being overrun. Imhotep must have been able to give the controlled men advanced abilities. An unfortunate event.

But right when you thought that you might be able to get away, several men climbed onto one of the Americans and they all fell from the car, lost in the crowd. Without thinking, the other yelled and then jumped after his friend. And then he was gone, too.

“Crap.”

“Rest in peace, old chaps,” Baekhyun murmured, looking over his shoulder. And then crashed the car.

“Baekhyun!” you shouted angrily. Junmyeon hoisted you out of the car, not wasting a moment, but the six of you were trapped. The mind controlled men were coming at you from all three streets. You were blocked in against one of the walls of the city.

“It's the creature,” Professor Bey whispered. You frowned, unable to see past the ones that surrounded the group. Then you saw him.

Imhotep.

“He’s fully regenerated.”

Not a single spec of mummified skin remained. He’d gotten to the Americans.

Stepping closer as the crowd pushed in, he started speaking in the ancient language, lapdog Beni right behind.

“Come with me, my princess,” Beni translated with a false sense of superiority. “It is time to make you mine. Forever.”

You scoffed. “For all eternity. Idiot.”

Imhotep spoke again, this time with his hand outstretched.

“Take my hand and I shall spare your friends.”

You looked around for any chance of escape. There was none. “Just wonderful.” You turned to Junmyeon, who was slowly putting himself between you and the mummy. “Any good ideas?”

His face was twisted and his eyes darted from left to right. “I’m thinking. I’m thinking.”

“Good. Keep thinking and think of something fast. Because if he turns me into a mummy, you’re the first one I’m coming after.”

Junmyeon’s eyes snapped to you, wide with shock. “No!” But you were out of arm’s reach before he could stop you. He pulled a gun and pointed it at Imhotep, ready to fire. Sehun and Ardeth both managed to stop him.

“He has to take me to Hamunaptra,” you explained. “In order to perform the ritual.” With your eyes, you tried to add in the rest. Follow us there, get the book, and I’ll read it.

“She’s got a point,” Sehun said. “If we live today, we can fight tomorrow.”

Junmyeon hesitated, then lowered his gun. You held his gaze, trying to let him know silently what you were feeling in this moment. That you were glad to have met him. And you wished the two of you had more time.

“We’ll see each other again,” he promised.

With an arm around your shoulders, Imhotep led you away. The sound of Junmyeon saying your name reached your ears and you almost ran back to him.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Baekhyun yelled. Running up next to you, Beni tossed the octagonal key to the books in the air. Well, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Gripping your arm tighter, Imhotep gave out one final order. “Kill them all!”

“No!” You fought and kicked and tugged to get away. “Let go of me! Junmyeon! Baekhyun!” It was no use. As you looked back behind you, all you could see was the crowd closing in on them.

You traveled for what felt like hours in the sandstorm of Imhotep. When you were finally deposited onto the sand, rolling in it from the momentum and getting it everywhere, you managed to open your eyes and see where he had decided to stop. You were right outside of the city of the dead. You were back.

A loud buzzing noise caught your attention. Looking up into the sky, you saw an old fashioned pedal plane carrying more people than it was built for. You smile. “Mr. Kim.”

After walking a few paces ahead, Imhotep raised his arms and called up a sandstorm so large, it blocked out the sky. Forming into a face, it ruched at the tiny plane. And then the storm swallowed it whole.

“No!”

The sandstorm dissipated and the plane was no longer visible. Imhotep smirked then walked towards the city. You had no choice but to follow.

You were going to die.

That didn’t stop you from following the mummy down into the depths of the temple, your glare switching from Imhotep’s back to Beni, who walked beside you.

“Your face will stay like that,” Beni warned. How childish.

“And nasty little boys like yourself always get their comeuppance,” you shot back.

Beni stopped in his tracks. “They do?”

You smirked. How stupid. You did believe that he would get his own form of punishment for helping the ancient priest - you just hoped that it was sooner rather than later.

Down in the main chamber of the temple, a loud noise stopped Imhotep mid chant. Taking one of the sacred jars, he emptied the ash-like substance into his hand and then blew on it, letting the particles drift through the air. Then he spoke out a spell and mummified bodies ripped themselves free from their walled-in prisons, leaving behind deep human-shaped impressions among the hieroglyphics.

“Kill them and wake the others,” Imhotep ordered. Turning back to you and Beni, he nodded at the latter, who then forced you down onto the stone slab next to a pit that at first you thought was water, but the liquid was too thick and too black, like ink. You were too focused on the substance to notice Imhotep’s hand coming near your face. He spoke a single word and your vision went black.

It could have only been a minute that you were out, but it was enough time for your wrists and ankles to be tied down and the sacred jars to be lined up against your side. Seeing a strange lump out of the corner of your left eye, you turned.

Then screamed.

The mummified body of who could only have been Anck-Su-Namun was lying right next to you, ready to be revived. You fought and tugged at your restraints, desperate to get away, to put distance between you and the woman who killed the pharaoh. One by one, the resurrected priests circled the slab, fell to their knees, and began chanting as they bowed. Imhotep stepped up, the black book in his hands. He caressed the side of the mummy’s face lovingly. Despite the reality of the situation, a small part of you couldn’t help but be in awe of his devotion. All of this, for his love.

That didn’t mean you wanted to help.

“Junmyeon! Baekhyun! Sehun!” One of them. Any of them! Please, just let one of them get in here with the book!

From the pit, the inky substance rose, formless, shapeless as it drifted through the air, over you and settled into the body. Imhotep finished the enchantment and the mummy came to life with a shrieking gasp. It turned and looked at you with knowing eyes. The scream of pure terror was ripped from your throat.

No, no, no, no!

Appearing on the other side of you, Imhotep said one last time that with your death, Anck-Su-Namun would live. He raised a dagger with both hands and let it hover over your heart for just a beat.

“I found the book of Amun-Ra! I found it, cousin!”

Standing at the top of the large stone staircase, Baekhyun waved a giant book of gold over his head, the proudest grin shining from his face, visible even from this distance.

Imhotep hesitated, lowering the dagger.

“Fantastic, now shut up and help me off of here!” you shouted back. “You have to open the book! Open it!”

Like in a trance, Imhotep walked around the slab, placing the dagger down next to Anck-Su-Namun, and continued towards the stairs.

“I can’t open it! It needs the key!”

“His robes!” You motioned towards Imhotep with your head. “It’s in his robes!”

With Imhotep coming closer, Baekhyun took off down the hallway that had led him here. Out of the shadows the opposite way, Junmyeon jumped out, swinging a large golden sword at the priests. Sehun wasn’t far behind with a sword of his own. Toegher, the two of them cut the mummies into pieces. With everyone distracted, you worked at the ropes around your wrists that had loosened in your many struggles, freeing the right one first and then moving onto your ankles. Only the left wrist was left to be freed, but this one was choosing to be difficult.

“Are you alright?” Junmyeon asked as he took down another priest.

“For the most part,” you answered, jangling your hand. Junmyeon lifted the sword to cut it free but suddenly fell from view. The upper bodies of the priests had grabbed hold of him and were holding him down so another could get close enough to drop the giant rock it was carrying onto his head. “Junmyeon!”

Junmyeon struggled to reach the sword he had dropped. Sehun was too busy with his own fight to notice his cousin needed help. You tried for the weapon yourself but it was too far out of reach. A disembodied hand was crawling with its fingers across the floor. When it wrapped its palm around the hilt of the sword, Junmyeon managed to grab the arm and swing at the mummy holding the stone, taking its legs out from under it. It fell backwards, squishing itself comically. He took care of the others and freed himself. He cut the bindings from your wrist and helped you off the slab. “Better late than never, right?”

“We’ll reevaluate that later.”

Baekhyun emerged from a side corridor. Oh, thank goodness. As if he were reading the Sunday paper, he studied the front of the book. “Cousin, I found an inscription here. Rash- Rasheem oola… kashka!”

A pair of doors burst open and out marched mummified soldiers with shields and spears.

“Oh, wonderful.” At least you weren’t the only one who mucked up by reading out loud.

Two by two, they came out until there were ten now facing you, Junmyeon, and Sehun.

“This just keeps getting better and better,” Sehun muttered angrily.

“Baekhyun, do something,” you begged.

“Me?” Baekhyun squeaked as he backed up against a pillar.

“Yes, you! You raised them! You can control them!”

“You’re joking, right?”

The soldiers marched on, coming in closer. You weren’t armed and you doubted Junmyeon and Sehun could hold all of them off. “Finish the inscription on the cover, you idiot!”

“Oh! Right!” Baekhyun scrambled to hide behind the pillar.

Focused on the enemy in front of you, the one that had just been resurrected had been left forgotten.

Anck-Su-Namun snatched you away from behind just as the mummified soldiers pounced. You managed to get out of her grip and were now playing a rather unfun game of tag while she chased you with the ceremonial dagger, keen on killing you herself so she could be fully revived.

“Baekhyun, hurry up, please!”

“I can’t figure out this last symbol!”

“What does it look like!” You ran around the pillars and figures, lucky that you still had all of your ligaments to move quickly with. But Anck-Su-Namun had caught on and cut you off from around a corner, clutching your neck as you fought to keep the dagger away from your heart.

“Its… its, uh… a bird!” Baekhyun started flapping an arm in a wing-like motion. “No! A stork!”

You pushed the air past your throat to give him the answer. “Ahmenophus!”

“Ah! That makes sense!” He read over the sentence again before yelling, “Hootash im ahmenophus!”

With a kick to her brittle rips, you managed to break free from Anck-Su-Namun right as the mummy soldiers froze. Right on time, too, as it seemed both Junmyeon and Sehun were about to be impaled. You ran to Baekhyuun and ripped the book out of his hands. “Give that to me!” Turning back to the one who had tried to kill you, you said, “Fa-kooshka, Anck-Su-Namum!”

The soldiers didn’t move as Anck-Su-Namun stalked closer.

“Oh, fine!” You motioned for Baekhyun, who very smugly repeated the order. The soldiers backed off Junmyeon and Sehun, going for their new prey as Imhotep tried to stop them with his own shouting. It didn’t work. He watched in horror as, for the second time, his love was taken from him. All you saw was the soldiers surrounding her, then stabbing. She shrieked in pain and then was once again… silent

Imhotep roared in anger. He swept up sand as he turned on you and Baekhyun, vowing death to you both. Junmyeon ran up from behind and cut off one of his arms, getting his attention instead. The robes slipped from Imhotep’s body as he picked up the severed arm and reattached it, stepping determinedly in Junmyeon’s direction.

The robes.

The key!

You hurried forward, eyes never leaving Imhotep in case he remembered what he had left behind. It took a moment of searching the folds of black, tattered fabric, but eventually you found the key. “Keep him busy!” you told Junmyeon.

“Yeah, no problem,” was grunted back to you.

Inserting the key, you twisted it three times until the claws clicked open. You flipped through the heavy slabs, eyes constantly on the search for the right inscription. There was so much here. So much knowledge, so much history, you were getting distracted.

Save Junmyeon! You told yourself. Stay focused and save Junmyeon!

“Hurry!” Baekhyun urged.

You growled back, “You’re not helping!”

Imhotep now had Junmyeon by the throat, feet off the ground and face turning purple. You were running out of time!

There! “I have it! Kadeesh mal! Kadeesh mal! Pared oos! Pared oos!”

A wind from nowhere kicked up through the air. From the top of the staircase, a ghostly horse-drawn carriage came sailing in, down the stairs and straight for him.

Horrified and knowing exactly what was headed his way, Imhotep dropped Junmyeon and tried to run. But the carriage was faster.

It barreled through him, taking with it a translucent outline of himself, rounding the room before trotting back up the staircase and through the purplish wormhole that it had come from. Imhotep chased after it as if he could steal what was stolen from him back. But that was impossible.

Junmyeon picked up his dropped sword and scrambled to you, weapon high for the next round of the fight. “I thought you said that would kill him.”

Imhotep stomped forward, eyes fixed on your group. So focused on his target that he never saw Sehun come in from behind and stab his own sword through Imhotep’s back.

You smirked. “He’s mortal now.”

He stared down at the blade that was protruding from his stomach. Staggering, his eyes were round from shock, little by little the light of life fading. His feet shuffled closer to the pit’s edge until he finally fell in and sunk beneath the surface. As he faded from view, his skin disintegrated until he was back in the form that you first found him. Words echoed around as he gave one last message. Handing the book back to Baekhyun, you translated it for the others.

“Death… is only the beginning.”

“Thank god that’s over,” Baekhyun sighed.

You squeezed his shoulder, thankful to whomever that he was alive. That you all were. “We should get out of here.”

“Where’s Beni?” Sehun asked as he surveyed the room. Oh, right. You’d nearly forgotten about him.

“Probably halfway back to Cairo with a bag full of gold,” Junmyeon said bitterly.

Then, suddenly, the walls began to tremble, sand fell in falls from the ceiling

“Time to go!” Junmyeon grabbed your hand and headed for the exit. Baekhyun, who was leading in front, slipped on a pile of sand as he crossed one of the bridges. You watched in horror as the book flew from his hands and into the water, sinking beyond retrieval.

“You lost the book! How could you lose the book!”

“Oh, come on!” All three yelled at you. Nothing could be done. The Book of Amun-Ra was lost. You’d cry about it later.

Navigating the halls, sand and walls were falling all around you, seeking to trap you in. Junmyeon led the group through a giant room filled with gold. Baekhyun whimpered at all the treasure he was able to take with him, but at least he kept running.

“Wait for me! Wait for me!”

As you left the hall of gold, you turned to see Beni running after you. The ceiling above was slowly lowering. If he didn’t pick it up, he’d be trapped forever. A small opening barely big enough for a human was starting to sink beneath the floor. Baekhyun made it through. Sehun made it through. You made it through.

Junmyeon came in last, sliding across the sand and then flipping over, his hand reaching out towards Beni, who was still a good ten or fifteen feet away. “Come on, come on, come on!” Hate him or not, Junmyeon would try to help. But Beni didn’t make it and the opening disappeared. Junmyeon sighed. Then shrugged. “Bye-bye, Beni.”

He jumped up to his feet and rejoined the group.

Finally outside, the columns and temples were also falling, causing you all to zig-zag all around the city as it crumbled to the ground. The sand beneath your feet shook. You made it out of the city’s boundary. When you were far enough out of the blast zone, you stopped and watched as what was once a great archeological find sink into the sand, never to be seen again.

Baekhyun screamed out of nowhere. You panicked, thinking Imhotep wasn’t truly dead. But then you saw the shadow. And then the camel. And then the man riding it.

“Ardeth!” You were so happy to see him alive! You had been so worried about getting out yourself, you hadn’t been able to ask the others what had happened to him.

“Thank you for that heart attack,” Baekhyun scolded as he rubbed his chest. He would be fine. If the wine and women hadn’t killed him yet, you were sure he would live through this.

Ardeth bowed his head. “From me and my people, you have earned our respect and gratitude.”

Baekhyun chuckled, waving it off with false modesty. “Well… it was nothing.”

“Speak for yourself,” Sehun muttered as he spat dirt from his mouth.

Ardeth grinned then clicked his tongue to urge the camel on.

Shaking his head, Baekhyun turned back to the flat surface that used to be Hamunaptra. “Wonderful. We go home empty-handed. Again.”

Junmyeon looked down at you and with the softest expression, disagreed. “I wouldn’t say that.”

Heat bloomed on your cheeks as his meaning sunk in. Sehun understood as well, rolling his eyes and turning away. Cupping your jaw with his fingers, Junmyeon leaned in and kissed you deeply, pulling you in closer.

Yes, he was right. You were truly walking away with the adventure of a lifetime.

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sidespart · 3 years

Text

The Fall of King Romulus Part 8

Summary: Twin Princes Remus and Romulus are cursed at birth with Honesty and Obedience. When Romulus, who cannot disobey any order, is told to kill his brother the next time he lays eyes on him, he changes his name to Roman and runs away. Roman joins up with a misfit group of adventures and plans to never return to his homeland. But the fae have other plans for him…

Warnings (for whole fic not necessarily individual chapters): Violence, mind whammying/memory altering, curse of obedience related consent issues, references to sex, references to war related injuries/PTSD, references to child abuse/neglect (YMMV on that one but just in case), antagonstic-but-not-exactly villian!Janus, Extremly-moraly-dubious-but-not-exacty-unsympathetic-Remus

Feedback appreciated.

NOW ON AO3 :D

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7

“From today, you shall have your own rooms.”

“But why?” Remus wails “it’s not fair!” Remus looks up at him, his small faced scrunched and red, tears threatening to fall, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“I-“ Roman frowns. He feels too big. Shouldn’t he be the same size as Remus?

“You’re the future king, Remus” their father rumbles, “Your training needs to begin - without distractions.”

“Don’t cry.” Their mother tells him as Remus’ tantrum echoes through the room. She runs a cool hand over Roman’s forehead soothingly.

“I wasn’t.” Roman murmurs.

His mother’s hand turns cruel, pushing his head back, another hand gripping his chin.

“You need to drink, c’mon Roman drink this down for me, please?”

Roman chokes, twisting away. Hot liquid scalds his throat and drips down his chin. There’s a hand in his hair again, stroking gently until it grips tight, forcing his head back “He doesn’t look much like the Prince.” Marcus grunts.

“The mad Prince – Remus of Notaleveale!”

“But.” Roman whimpers, “that’s not-“

“Is he awake?”

“Your father is sick.” Julius tells him. The practice room is high in the north tower, always just too cool to be comfortable, but Roman feels hot. For some reason, water is rushing down the walls. Droplets splash onto his skin and sizzle where they land.

“We’re going to find a way to fix this my Prince, I promise.” Julius smiles at him, his eyes kind and unlined by age.

“What if you can’t.” Romulus whispers, voice breaking. He is the right size now he thinks. He had to tilt his head to look up at Julius who hesitantly pulls him close, letting the boy muffle his dry sobs on his shoulder.

“Then…we will find a way to help you live with it – and I’ll always be here to help you.”

He pulls back to smile at him again, but it’s not kind anymore. The skin flaking away reveals the rictus grin of the skull beneath, and Roman howls, trying to twist away whilst large hands hold him down -

“It’s okay! Roman, it’s okay!”

- he feels something cool on his eyelids, a strong scent of mint mingling with the rot of Julius body-

“Sleep.” a voice murmurs.

When Roman wakes, it’s somewhere he doesn’t recognise. Scratchy sheets pin him down to a bed as effectively as chains. A pale man with violet eyes is pulling at his arm, his arm which hurts. Roman whines, trying to tug the limb out of the pale man’s grip, but his body feels too heavy to obey.

The pale man is trying to talk to him but nothing he says makes sense to Romulus, it’s like listening to a foreign language.

“<My dad’s dead.>” he tells the pale man, because that seems important.

“Roman? Are you awake?”

There’s a hand on his forehead, the voice is saying something about water but Roman ignores it, trying to chase the thought.

If their father was dead, then why was he still Prince Remus?

The next time Roman woke up it was dark. The pale man had disappeared, but there was another figure lying in the bed next to him. The man’s bulk caused the mattress to dip towards him and his snores were so loud they made the whole bedframe vibrate with each exhale.

Turning his head carefully, Roman found himself looking at a face full of scars and freckles. A pale shaft of moonlight from the open window illuminated the man’s ripped ear and a nose that had obviously been broken at some point in the past. Even in sleep, he looked fearsome.

‘Patton’ Roman’s tired mind supplied, and he felt a relieved smile twitch over his face. It pulled at the cut Niki left him, making him bite back a whimper of pain.

He let his head fall back against the pillow. Everything felt heavy, even the air. The room seemed to melt at the edges. But if Patton was sleeping then they must be somewhere safe.

He dozed for a time, listening to the comforting rumble of Patton’s snores, until a withered pair of hands reached for him. The lady of the house began to gently wipe the sweat from his face with a cool cloth.

“<Am I dying>?” he asked her in their own language.

“<You can try.>” She told him dryly, “<Those three will probably end up chasing you down to the underworld too.>”

The lady brought some extra cushions and stacked them behind him, helping him to sit up. From his new vantage point he could see Logan on the floor, one giant book open on his lap and three more stacked beside him. He looked like he had fallen asleep mid study session, his head tilted back against the wall with a thin string of drool hanging from his open mouth.

Roman thought of the last time he had seen him, pinned to Lucius' chest, his eyes wide and frightened behind his glasses, and had to close his eyes. He breathed deeply through his nose until his panic subsided and glanced at Logan again.

He was so relieved to see him whole that might even forgo teasing him about the drool.

The lady brought him a pewter mug filled with something warm that smelt pleasantly of honey and helped him to lift it to his lips when his hands began to shake.

“<When I invited you for tea, this isn’t what I pictured.>” she teased him with a smile.

Roman didn’t smile back, eyes still roaming the room.

“<Where->“

“<Your elf is fine>” she told him, sounding amused “<I sent him on an errand. He would have worn a hole in my best rug if he stood here pacing much longer.>”

Roman did smile then, grip loosening on the mug which she deftly caught before it hit the blankets.

“<I lost my brother.>” he told her, eyes growing heavy again.

“<That was careless of you.>” she said, “<What are you going to do about it?>”

Roman didn’t answer, falling back asleep with the honey still coating his tongue.

The next time Roman woke up, daylight was streaming trough the open window and the last tendrils of fever seemed to have left him. Whilst he still felt tired, the unnatural heaviness was less and his mind was clear.

Unfortunately, his clear mind immediately occupied itself by cataloguing every single way his body was in pain.

His cheek throbbed, the small cut from Niki having been split wider by the force of the hit from Julius’s walking stick. His back and shoulders we’re equally bruised, and protested every tiny movement he made as he tried to resettle himself against the pillows. By far the worst was his hand, which felt like it was still burning.

Choking down any whimpers of pain he focused instead on the strange pressure on his chest.

Opening his eyes revealed the culprit. A grey cat with snow white paws was sitting primly on his sternum. Mittens looked deeply put out by Roman’s attempt to get comfortable and gave him an unsatisfied meow of protest when he continued to move.

“Good morning” Roman whispered, giving him a conciliatory head rub with his good hand, “Did you happen to count how many horses ran me over?”

“Roman!” The bard looked beyond Mittens to see Patton perched on the end of the bed, beaming so wide it almost distracted from the redness of his nose.

“You’re -ah-achoo – you’re awake!”

“Yeah.” He smiled, attempting to rearrange the pillows one handed. “Hey Pat’.”

“Guys!” Patton called, “Ro – achoo – Ro -acHOO – he’s awake!”

There was a thundering of footsteps on stairs and then Virgil all but exploded into the room, eyes wide “How awake is he? – does he recognise you? Patton I told you to put the damm cat outside!”

“Aww but it’s his hou -ah -ah -house,” Patton pouted.

“He recognises you.” Roman added, giving Virgil a half-hearted wave “Also his voice works.”

“Shame.” Virgil snarked but the grin on his face was too wide to hide his relief.

“You. Go bother the pigeons’” he shooed the cat as he came to sit on the edge of Romans bed. Mittens gave him a pointed meow before slinking out of the room, pausing only to rub against Logan’s ankles as it passed him in the doorway.

“How’s your head?” Virgil asked - he reached over to a small beside table and picked up a glass of water, holding it up for Roman to sip.

“Fine.” Roman whispered hoarsely, taking the water from him and drinking greedily.

“What about your hand?” Patton asked, kneeling on his other side, “I’ll ask Mama Tay to brew you some more willow tea, for the pain.”

“Great.”- Roman handed the glass back to Virgil shrank against the pillows as they both peered at him – “but I’m fine, honestly don’t worry yourselves-“

“Fine?” Virgil rolled his eyes, “You look like you went three rounds with a centaur and lost. Badly.”

“Okay, well, that’s rude.” Roman rolled his eyes right back, lifting one arm to try and bat Virgil’s hands away as they reached for him “Get off, Virge I’m fi-“

“Roman.” Logan was the only one who hadn’t come forward to paw at him. He stood in the doorway, most of his face obscured by the shadow. “Let Virgil check your injuries.”

Roman sighed, the fight going out of him. Obediently, he dropped his arms and tilted his head towards the half-elf.

“Oh sure,” Virgil murmured, running skilful fingers over the cut on Romans cheek and the surrounding swelling “you’ll listen when Logan tells you.”

“It’s the glasses,” Roman joked, his voice tired, “gives him authority.”

Once Virgil had finished his inspection of Roman’s face, he insisted at poking and prodding at every inch of him see how his other injuries were healing. Roman sighed but put up with his fussing with as much grace as he could. Virgil removed the bandages on his hand, packing fresh herbs next to the skin and rewrapping it gently with new cloth. The bruises and welts on his back and shoulders had begun to heal, turning from purple and blue to a sickly looking yellow. Virgil smeared something that smelt horrendous on the few welts that hadn’t scabbed over before stepping back, declaring the injuries extensive but, for the most part, superficial.

“Like your lyrics.” he added slyly, which got a squawk of protest from Roman and a giggle from Patton.

His hand was the most concerning. Virgil had him gently flex his fingers -causing Roman to hiss with pain despite his best efforts – before helping him into a sling and giving him strict instructions to hold it still until the herbs had done their work.

As Virgil worked, Patton kept up a running dialogue; happily filling Roman in on the day to day running’s of Mama Tay’s house. How she’d let him use her kitchen to cook for all of them and let Logan take over her small library (although the scholar was still only permitted to call her Mother Octavia). He giggled his way through a story about Mittens’ on going attempt to court the tabby cat who lived across the street – apparently he had attempted to show off by taking on street rat twice his size and spent the rest of the day sulking in the pantry after being summarily chased off.

Between Virgil’s gentle ministrations and the soothing sound of Patton’s voice, Roman found himself slowly relaxing.

Remus wasn’t in the city. His friends had come for him. They’d beaten the bad guy and got away.

He knew he couldn’t just ignore everything that had happened. His friends were eventually going to want some sort of explanation. The thing that had worn Julius face had been able to find him once – he didn’t know how, or how to stop I happening again.

Most importantly, he was no longer sure that Remus was safe.

But for a little while at least, he was with his family. He was safe. Things could start to go back to normal.

“Roman.” Logan said. He was leaning back against the closed door, a look on his face Roman couldn’t quite decipher. “Stand up.”

“Slowly,” Virgil added as Roman rose to his feet. The healer cast a glance back at Logan, confused, “what’re you-“

“Roman.” Logan cut him off. “Stand on one foot.”

Romans whole world seemed to narrow down to the glint of light reflecting off Logan’s glasses.

The rush of blood in his ears sounded very much like the rush of water in the pipe room.

Julius looked at him coldly, ready to categorise each whimper of pain as his leg began to shake, muscles cramping -

Patton’s hand suddenly griped his elbow as he wobbled, breaking the illusion.

Mama Tay’s bedroom was far more cluttered with blankets and knickknacks than Julius practice room. Logan was the one in front of him – face full of gleeful satisfaction as his theory was confirmed.

“I’m right aren’t I.” he breathed, looking dazed – “You can’t diso-“

Remove yourself from anyone who might ask you about your curse. Put as much distance between you as you can.

Roman attempted to fling himself towards the door- immediately realised that this was a bad decision as he still only had one foot on the ground – and pitched forward towards the floor, free arm pinwheeling crazily.

Patton dived to catch him, one big hand grabbing his injured shoulder casing Roman to yell out in pain, which in turn caused Patton to instinctively release him. He found himself falling again, this time crashing into Virgil, who had come running to help. His injured arm exploded in pain as he fell against the other man’s chest.

“Roman! What the hell- Logan?”

“I’m sorry!” Logan’s delight at being proved right had quickly turned into alarm “Stand properly – I mean, stand however you think you should. Um-“

“Roman are you okay?” That was Patton, gently easing him off Virgil “Oh gosh I think you’ve opened your stitches again!”

Roman groaned.

A few moments later Roman was, once again, propped up on the bed. Patton sat next to him, holding his good hand loosely whilst Virgil smeared more of the horrifying smelling salve over the reopened cut on his cheek.

Logan, hands firmly clasped in front of him like a guilty school boy, was filling them in on what he thought he knew.

“Roman cannot disobey a direct order – when Lucius Amata met us on the stairs he was able to compel him not to move.”

“Who?”

“The Marquis of Orenlla!” Logan huffed, exasperated – “The kidnapper!”

“De.” Roman muttered.

“What?”

“Marquis de Orenlla.”

“Hmm,” rather than start an argument of etymology, Logan simply pulled a square slip of card from his waistcoat pocket and started crossing something out with his quill.

“Seriously?” Virgil asked, exasperated “Flashcards?” He twisted the lid back onto the salve pot with rather more force than was necessary “Logan, you didn’t even believe in magic until yesterday and now you’re saying – what exactly are you saying?”

He glanced at Roman, almost fearfully ‘That he’s -that he’s under a spell or cursed or- what?”

“Roman,” Patton’s voice was gentle. “Is that true?”

Roman met his eyes. Patton’s face was as kind as ever. For now.

Never tell anyone about your curse.

But they’d never set rules stopping him discussing what people already knew.

Even so, he braced himself for pain before he nodded.

Patton looked like he might cry.

“So –what?” Demanded Virgil, who had started pacing back and forth down the short length of the bed. “He did that? This Lucius guy?”

“How do we stop it? Do we….kill him?”

“Patton!”

“Well I don’t know!”

“It wasn’t Lucius.” Roman muttered.

He risked a glance at Virgil who was nodding fervently, shaking both hands out in front of himself as he tried to process everything, “No. He – you had it before right? That’s how he was able to get you to go with him.”

Slowly, Roman nodded.

“Was it before we got to the city?” Logan asked. He hadn’t moved from his spot by the door, a thoughtful frown on his face as he gently rotated the flashcards in his hands.

“The forest!” Vigil yelped before Roman had a chance to respond. “When you disappeared right? I knew you were out of it that night! That’s when it happened?”

“Oh, Roman.” Patton gasped, “You poor thing. Has this has been going on for days?”

Roman couldn’t help it; he started to laugh. Drawing his knees to his chest he hunched over them, his shoulders shaking. “No.” he managed to gasp out. “No, not the forest.”

“So…when did it happen?” Patton asked uncertainty. Roman could easily picture the three of them glancing at each other, trying to put the pieces together. He kept his eyes firmly on his knees. He didn’t want to see the moment of realisation.

“Before the forest?” Virgil asked hesitantly. Roman nodded without looking up.

“When I met you…” Virgil continued after a moments silence, “you wouldn’t come back into the tavern with me – you said you didn’t want the innkeeper to tell you to play another night.”

“I remember that.” Logan said “You met us on the road. I thought that was odd at the time. I assumed you were going to lie in wait to rob us.”

Roman could hear the understanding seeping into their voices. He’d been cursed since they met him. He’d been a liability since they met him – they’d hired someone to protect them who could be ordered to throw his sword down by any foe who happened to try. They were going to feel so betrayed. They were going to be so angry with him.

How could he have not told them?

“Oh, Roman – how could we have not noticed?”

Romans head shot up. “What?” he croaked.

Now Patton really did look like he was going to cry, his eyes suspiciously watery. “You’ve been dealing with this all by yourself for – for years?”

“So- “ now Virgil was the one shaking – “So any time I’ve told you to ‘shut up’ you-“

“If you don’t give a timeframe it doesn’t matter much.” Roman blurted quickly, wanting to remove the look of horror from Virgil’s face – “I mean when I was younger it maybe would have but, but I’ve learned work around it so –“

“Younger?” his rambling did not seem to be soothing Virgil’s panic. “How young?”

“Er. Well.” He glanced between the two of them “From when I was a baby. I mean, I don’t remember not being like this.” Patton and Virgil were staring at him with identical slack jawed expressions. Roman wished the bed would swallow him up and spit him out onto he street. “But hey – I was apparently a very agreeable baby – stopped crying so soon as you asked!” he grinned awkwardly, give them a thumbs up with his undamaged hand.

They did not look reassured.

“So, have we ever –“ Patton started,”-have we ever made you do something you didn’t want to-“

“NO! No, Pat - you’re always so polite and if, if it’s not an order it doesn’t count so-“

“I’m not polite.” Virgil muttered.

“You don’t order though.” Roman said quickly, “You’re too-“ he tried to find a nice way to say ‘too riddled with anxiety to give directives’ – “awkward.” he finished sheepishly.

Virgil bristled. “I told you to get lost.” He snarled. “In the forest.”

There was a silence. Roman found himself staring at his knees again and forced his head up to meet Vigils gaze.

“Well. That was unfortunate. But it was fine – you’re both good trackers, you found me easily enough so-“

“But what if we hadn’t!?” Virgil all but yelled, “What if you’d just been lost in the woods till you starved to death or-“

“Virgil.” Patton soothed, “Calm down, he’s fine.”

“He’s not! He’s not safe with us! How many times have we done something to, to-”

“It’s fine.” Roman announced calmly, cutting Virgil off before he could work himself up any further. “You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“What doe that mean?”

“It means – I won’t travel with you anymore. You don’t have to worry about protecting me I’ll just-“

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Roman no!”

“Are you going to order me to stay?” He snapped.

That shut everyone up.

He glared at the pair of them. “Well?”

“No.” Patton said calmly “Of course not. It’s just that-”

“What happens if you disobey an order?” Logan interrupted, causing the other three to jump.

The scholar had been standing so still, gazing off into the distance whilst the argument went on around him, that Roman had almost forgotten he was there.

“I cant.” He answered eventually, trying not to feel resentful of Logan for causing this whole mess.

“But what if you try?” Logan said, “If I told you to raise your hand and you tried to keep it down – “

“It would hurt.” Roman gritted out.

“Hurt how? Can you describe it?” Logan tucked his flashcards away and pulled out a notebook, quill at the ready. Roman gaped at him.

“Logan.” Patton interrupted, “I think maybe Roman needs a break from questions right now-“

“But if we don’t know the parameters of his condition then how are we supposed to fix it?” Logan argued.

“I’ve tried. To fix it.” Roman growled out.

“But you were by yourself before.” Logan said dismissively “Now you have me, well, all of us, working on the problem. I’m sure we will be able to –“

“I wasn’t by myself.” Roman said coldly.

Logan really did remind him of Julius sometimes. They had the same stubborn determination to get the answers they were seeking. But Roman was not going to be anyone’s pet experiment again.

“I am Prince Romulus of Notaleveale.” he announced grandly, as If he was reclining on a throne instead of uncomfortable bed. “I have had the finest minds of the fae and human worlds look into my curse, I hardly think a failed apprentice and a couple of backwater deserters are going to have more success.”

He swept an imperious gaze over all three of them, amused to find they had finally been shocked into silence.

“I will be returning to my kingdom. Your services will no longer be required.”

Part 9

#Roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #ts lamp #creativitwins #sanders sides fic #THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THEYVE ALL BEEN IN ONE ROOM AND OH MY GOD #THEY TALK SO MUCH #NEW SYMPATHY FOR WHY THE VIDEOS GET SO FRIGGIN LONG #anyway this was so much fun #the big reveal #enjoy #if i update this again before next weekend please punch me in the face i need to work on my flipping essay #sidespart writes #ts: fall of Romulus

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fific7 · 3 years

Text

There May Be Trouble Ahead - Part 1

John Whittaker x Reader

A/N: This does not follow canon, it’s all lemon zest 🍋 because the world deserves more of the over-eager puppy that is the handsome Johnny Whittaker. And puppies need discipline.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content including oral between consenting adults*. Some drinking.

*Irl, please don’t go wild in the country without protection.

(Not my GIF, credit to owner)

The tennis ball whizzed past your ear, missing it by a whisper. Several strands of hair were pulled from underneath your cloche hat by the force of the resulting breeze it created as it travelled past your head.

“Sorry!” you heard a male voice calling and looked round to see a tall, lean figure bounding towards you, tennis racquet in hand. “So very sorry! That was my absolutely pitiful serve.”

You tucked the errant strands of hair back under the brim of your hat, and bestowed a small frosty smile on him. “Are you being taught?”

A pair of sparkling dark eyes looked back at you, a confused look in them. He ran his fingers through his equally dark hair, pushing it back off his forehead where it had flopped during his gallop over to you.

“Tennis,” you clarified, “Are you being taught how to play?” “Ummm...no?” he replied, confusion still reigning on his face.

Smirking, you looked up at him and intoned in a serious voice, “Well, you should be. Because you’re atrocious at it.”

“Ha...yes... I do believe you have a point,” he said, an embarrassed look on his face. “Can you ever forgive me? Would a glass of champagne help to restore my standing with you, Miss.. er...?”

You gave him your name, before saying, “You didn’t have any standing with me before this incident so how can you restore it?” He gave you a big grin, “Another good point! How about I create a standing with you, then? I have a feeling we could become really good friends!”

He ignored your sceptical look and stuck his hand out towards you, “John Whittaker, very much at your service!” As you reached - out of politeness - to shake his hand, he grasped your hand and brought it to his lips instead, ghosting a kiss over your knuckles and gazing at you through his long lashes as he did so.

You felt the barest fluttering of butterflies in your stomach. This gentleman was going to problematic, you could tell.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Reaching the art gallery where you worked as a conservator, your thoughts wandered back to the young man you’d encountered earlier. He reminded you very much of an over-sized, over-enthusiastic puppy. But a very good-looking one. And well-presented too, despite his slightly dishevelled appearance following his tennis match.

You were still slightly surprised at yourself, having accepted his invitation to partake of some champagne at one of the large hotels in the area later that evening. Your usual type of chap was more bookish, less flighty than your new acquaintance seemed to be.

Oh well, variety is the spice of life.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

John Whittaker came hurtling down the staircase in his large and stately home, swinging himself right round the large carved pineapple at the bottom of the banister rail, landing on his feet with a thump right in front of his not so large and stately mother.

“John!” exclaimed Veronica in an annoyed voice, “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times…!” He landed a kiss on his mother’s cheek, “Sorry, mater - but it’s the only way I know how to come downstairs.” Planting an additional kiss on her other cheek, he continued, “I have a date in town, darling mama, so don’t wait up!” He headed for the imposing front door while his mother asked him hurriedly with whom he was meeting. He ignored her but his sister Marion, having heard the commotion and appearing suddenly from the sitting room, smugly supplied the answer.

“Some woman he met only this afternoon, Mama, I overheard him telling Hilda.”

“Traitor!” yelled John over his shoulder as the front door slammed behind him.

“That boy!” said his mother, “He will be the death of me!”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

John jumped athletically into his open-topped sports car and started it up. The girl he was meeting had really piqued his interest. She was beautiful but enigmatic.

He’d attempted to get some personal information from her after his tennis ball had nearly brained her as she’d been passing by, but apart from agreeing to meet him later at The Grand (which had put a huge smile on his face) she’d fobbed him off and hurried away. He didn’t think it would be seemly to chase after her.

He stopped at a junction and as he turned the car towards town, he sighed. He hadn’t had too much luck with the ladies so far in his life. What with the divorce from Larita - he shuddered at the thought, what a mistake that marriage had been! - and the train wreck of a relationship with Sarah… well.

He thought to himself that he was due a bit of luck in that area, surely?

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You arrived ten minutes after the time you’d agreed to meet, not wishing to appear too keen. Well, you shouldn’t, should you?

Walking into the gilded elegance of The Grand, you felt slightly underdressed as you hadn’t had time to go home and change. But at least you didn’t smell of paint and white spirit, your afternoon having been spent reviewing canvases for restoration. Asking the concierge where the bar was situated, he pointed you in the general direction with a slightly disdainful look.

Smiling to yourself as you headed towards it, you wondered if he thought you were perhaps a working girl, so to speak, although how you were dressed could hardly be classed as being provocative in any way. You wore a plain white blouse and a mid-calf black pencil skirt with low heels and your trusty grey day coat, which was uplifted by its discreet darker grey faux fur collar.

Reaching the bar, you spotted your new acquaintance sitting at a table, dressed in smart dark beige trousers and a white shirt with a burnt orange V-neck jumper over it. A wine cooler was sitting in a stand next to his table, an uncorked bottle of champagne nestling in it. He was looking rather forlorn, and you realised he probably thought you’d stood him up.

“Hello again,” you said, seeing his face light up as you spoke. “Hello again!” he echoed, leaping up and rushing round the table to pull your chair out, asking at the same time if you wished to check your coat in. You smiled and shook your head, but you did remove it and place it over the back of your chair. If the evening disappointed, you wished to be able to make a speedy exit.

Settling yourself at the table as John pushed your chair in for you, you watched him wave off a hovering waiter and then reach for the bottle of champagne himself and expertly open it, with a fairly small ‘pop’ and no spillage. He filled two flutes, waiting for the drink to quieten down before topping them up and handing one to you. He finally sat back down, holding up his own glass and you clinked yours against his, as he said “Chin-chin!” with you repeating the toast.

He lounged back in his seat, smiling at you, “You look very businesslike. Businesslike… and beautiful.” You felt a blush rising in your cheeks although you willed it not to. “Thank you. I think,” you replied. “Oh it was definitely a compliment,” he grinned, “…I’ve been avidly thinking about you the whole afternoon.” You gave him an amused look, “Oh, really? And what thoughts were you thinking about me?”

He leant in towards you, dark eyes gazing into yours, “Ah. They were very specific thoughts. About how I want to learn everything there is to know about you.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

He was a silver-tongued charmer, you decided as you heard his answer. “What would you like to know?” “Everything.” You laughed, “I don’t think it’s possible to ever know everything about someone.” He looked pensive, “I think you’re very possibly correct.” “I’ll tell you something about me in return for the same information about you.” He laughed, “Perfect! That’s an admirable solution. You go first.”

So you both began with the basics, age (he was three years older than you), place of birth, education. You then informed him of what your chosen career was, and his eyes widened with interest. “Tell me more!” he said, “It sounds fascinating.” “You need to tell me what you do for a living first.” He looked embarrassed, picking up his glass and sipping from it. “I… umm.. don’t really do anything much.” Your eyebrows raised themselves, and he hurried on, “I look after our family estate. Trying to save it from sinking like the Titanic.”

“Oh,” you said, a little amazed, “I see.” He leant forward, “Has that put you off me?” he asked, anxiously. You smiled, “Not yet.”

“Well, thank the lord for that,” he exhaled, “I thought it might.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

John listened eagerly as she described her job, disagreeing with her when she said it wasn’t terribly interesting at all. He was still feeling relieved that she hadn’t run out of the room when he said he was the heir to a crumbling estate. She’d mentioned that she didn’t need to work, but she’d chosen to work. He thought that was astonishing and admirable.

He had a bright idea. He’d invite her for tea. Then he’d see what she really thought about him. And after the absolute car crash of the first meeting with Larita, this new lady friend of his would be seen by his family as a huge improvement.

He felt a slight sinking feeling in his stomach. He hadn’t yet mentioned that he was divorced. Oh. Well, no time like the present.

“I’m divorced,” he blurted out while she was still speaking to him about her work.

He watched her eyes widen and thought, “Damn! That’s blown it, for sure.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You stopped speaking as he made his admission of divorce, absolutely astounded. For some reason, you couldn’t imagine him as having been married, never mind divorced.

“Divorced?” you repeated, feeling like a parrot. He nodded, eyes wide and fearful. “That’s.. unexpected.” He nodded once more, “Dreadfully scandalous, I’m afraid. I met an American woman in the South of France and, well, we got married almost on the spot.”

He looked down, before meeting your eyes again, “That was a horrible, awful decision on my part. We should never have got married. Had a fling, maybe - then moved on. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He smiled sadly, “I hope I’m slightly less of a fool these days.”

You wondered what to do. Maybe you should just run screaming from the room. But you liked him, he seemed like a genuinely nice man. So instead you heard yourself saying, “I hope so too.”

He smiled, covering your hand with his, “Can I entice you to come to tea? See the old pile? Meet the family?”

“It seems very quick to be meeting your family… however I’ll say yes, John, you can.”

Silently you were praying you wouldn’t regret agreeing to this.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@paracosmenthusiast

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

#john whittaker x reader #john whittaker #easy virtue #john whittaker fanfic #john whittaker imagine #ben barnes #john whittaker fanfiction

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anthemxix · 3 years

Text

whumpay day 29: lies / terrible truth

request from @gintrinsic: I would LOVE for you to write something in the LU verse for the “lies” category…. Mostly because I stumbled across that ShadowEvil!Twilight picture a couple weeks ago and I’ve been excited about it ever since lol.

what i ended up writing doesn't really correspond to it, but for context, i believe you were referencing this gorgeous art by @lemonlurkrr, yeah? <3 <3

this will be the last whumpay prompt i'll have time to write, although i do have one last thing to share, so stay tuned for that~ thank you to everyone who's stuck with me, and special thanks to the folks who gave me requests! we're wrapping this challenge up with a bang...

warnings: major character death

Loosening their chokeholds, the shadows uncoiled from around the throats and limbs and chests of the battered heroes scattered, prone, across the battlefield. Shadows slipped over the blood-spattered grass, dark tentacles retracting into a central point like a reverse starburst. Coalesced, they congealed and convulsed, slowly transitioning into something solid, something three-dimensional.

Wild gaped, arrested by the strange transformation, as he squatted at the side of the eldest hero. Blood dribbled over Wild’s eyebrow, filling in the grooves and divots of his scarred skin. His hands, previously pressed to a weeping wound on Time’s shoulder where his armor had been sundered, now inadvertently withdrew as he gazed, mesmerized, at the pulsing shadows.

He startled when something brushed his ankle, but looking down, he realized it was only Time’s fingers feebly hooking around him. Wild leaned over and reapplied pressure to the horrendous gash, watching with dismay as Time coughed up speckles of blood.

“Wild…”

“I’m here,” the Champion said, ducking down further, hoping to fall into Time’s line of sight. “Don’t speak.”

Time shook his head, dismissive, and tried to focus his half-lidded eye on Wild’s face. “Wild. Run.”

A jolt of icy lightning shot down Wild’s spine. “What? No, I ca—”

“Find Twilight,” Time murmured, “and run.”

“And leave all of you?” Wild whispered hoarsely. His eyes darted to the now-solidified shadows, sculpting themselves into a humanoid shape, and back down to Time, who met his gaze with a clear and stalwart, albeit pain-filled, expression.

“We can’t all die here.”

Said clinically, pragmatically, without emotion, the statement caused Wild to shudder.

Yet he knew Time was right. If he stayed, Wild would be fighting alone, for everyone else was sorely out-of-commission. If he stayed, he’d be killed, and Twilight would be the only survivor of their band of heroes. His mentor had disappeared a half hour prior to the fight, off to scout ahead, and had yet to return.

But…

“I can’t abandon you,” Wild said, voice shaking.

Time inhaled a wet, rattling breath. “Not abandoning. Surviving, to fight again.”

In the middle of the battlefield, ruby eyes with a dangerous glint blinked to life above a wicked, jagged grin. Dark Link took one step forward, and Wild, throat burning with withheld tears, made the most difficult decision of his life.

He ran.

Wild sprinted through the forest without grace or subtlety, slashing down branches that blocked his path, gripping his sword so tightly that his hands chafed. He dodged around trees and leapt over insubordinate roots. Dark Link was not pursuing him, he was sure. No, that creature was back there with his friends…

But he couldn’t think of that. Instead, he forced himself to concentrate on his mission: Find Twilight. Survive.

Repeating this mantra to himself—find Twilight, survive; find Twilight, survive; survive; survive; survive—he wondered how the hell he was supposed to track down his mentor in the middle of an uncharted forest.

Then he abruptly burst into a clearing and slammed directly into the person in question.

Wild bounced off the Ordonian, who seemed unaffected by the impact, and crashed hard onto his backside. Dazed, he blinked for a moment, marveling at what surely was divine intervention, before scrambling upright and latching onto Twilight’s arms.

“Twi!” he gasped. “We have to go!”

“Go?” Twilight asked. He sounded odd, faraway and quiet, but Wild didn’t have time to dwell on that.

“Yes! I’ll explain later. We just have to get out of here.”

He released Twilight’s arms and began to dash forward again, only to be yanked backwards by his hair. Yipping in pain, Wild felt a spike of panic—had Dark Link chased him after all?—but when he was thrown back to the ground, he saw no shadowy, menacing figures, no piercing ruby eyes.

The only other person in the clearing was Twilight.

“Twi?” Wild barked, wiping at a renewed trickle of blood from his forehead as he tottered to his feet. “What the hell?”

“Wild…” Twilight sighed, raked a hand through his hair. His face morphed from unfeeling to sorrowful to resigned in a matter of seconds. “Why did you have to run?”

The Champion couldn’t restrain a strangled whimper and averted his eyes in shame. “I… Time told me to go… He told me to run because—”

“I don’t mean it like that,” Twilight interrupted. “I just wish, of anyone, it hadn’t been you. Even the Old Man would have been preferable. Hell, even the Sailor, young as he is.” His mouth twisted into a bitter imitation of a smile. “That makes me feel like a terrible person, but I think it’s too late for remorse.”

Dark Link and his mass destruction were nearly forgotten as Wild struggled to comprehend the bizarre situation unfolding in front of him. He felt as if he and Twilight were having different conversations. “What…? What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense, Twi.”

Twilight retained the humorless smile, and Wild felt another icy jolt. Something was very wrong. Instinctively, he stepped a pace back.

“I wish I could explain this, Cub.” He paused, frowning. “No, I… I shouldn’t call you that anymore.”

Nervousness gnawed on Wild’s gut. In his left hand, his sword dangled limply, and he re-tightened his hold on it, willing his voice to stay steady and firm. “What are you talking about, Twilight?”

“I meant it, you know.” Twilight finally looked away, stared wistfully off into the trees. “I… I loved you. But it doesn’t matter now.”

Loved. Past tense.

“He did something to you, didn’t he?” Wild accused, raising his sword and shifting into a defensive stance. “Dark Link. He’s done something to you.”

His mentor smiled mournfully as he drew his own sword. “…Let’s get this over with.”

The quiet declaration seemed out-of-place juxtaposed with Twilight’s formidable strength, which he threw into every thrust and slash. Wild dodged and parried, refusing to attack. Their blades clashed between them, momentarily locked in a stalemate.

“Come on, Twilight,” entreated Wild. “You don’t want to do this. He’s done something to you. This isn’t you.”

A modicum of sympathy flickered in Twilight’s otherwise steely eyes, but Wild’s plea, it appeared, was insufficient, as his brother pulled back and went for a low strike.

Twilight was strong, but Wild was quick. He managed to block every blow, even as their impressive force sent seismic waves through his bones.

Deciding at last that he needed to go on the offensive, Wild lashed out at his first opportunity—but mid-swing, his arm froze, muscles seizing up. Startled, he glanced down at his disobedient limb.

Coiled snake-like around Wild’s arm, trapping it in place, was a shadow.

Wild snapped his head around so quickly that his hair whiplashed his face. He expected to see Dark Link looming behind him, bloodlusty grin glimmering, but there was no one. Another shadow wound like ivy around Wild’s other arm, curled around his legs to immobilize him.

When he turned back to Twilight, Wild felt his heart stumble to a halt. The shadowy tentacles stretched from Twilight’s own shadow. Wild swore the man’s eyes glinted red for a second.

“Twi?” Wild choked. Tears slicked his cheeks. His mentor, his brother, approached him slowly, lifting his sword. “Wh-what are you—? What are you—?”

“I really did love you, Wild,” Twilight said. “That was genuine.”

“Th-then why? Why are you doing this?”

The shadows dragged Wild to his knees, collaring him and pulling his head down so he was looking at Twilight’s boots. He felt a cold blade graze the back of his neck, scoring its target.

“I’ll make this quick,” Twilight promised softly. Then, in a pained whisper, maybe not meant for Wild to hear: “Goodbye, Cub.”

“Wait—”

Twilight’s sword fell with such speed and intensity that in his final moments, Wild felt no pain, save for his broken heart.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu #lu wild #wild #lu twilight #twilight #fanfiction #fanfic #whumpay2021 #my writing #death

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years

Text

Out Of Time ~ 11

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 1,700ish

Summary: Y/N joins Steve on his mission to stop HYDRA.

Howard also supplied Y/N with her own motorcycle. Her and Steve rode up to the HYDRA base together. As they grew closer, HYDRA agents on their own motorcycles began following them and shooting at them. Steve and Y/N nodded to each other before pressing a button on their motorcycles, causing roped arrows to shoot out and attach to the trees. Then, after pressing another button, the two motorcycles, began trailing fire behind them. Getting closer to the gates, the twins noticed a tank, aiming for them.

“Line up behind me!” Steve shouted, moving his shield to the front of his motorcycle.

“Aye, Aye, Captain!” Y/N teased, causing Steve to roll his eyes.

The two ducked and dodged while they were being fired at. Steve carefully steadied his motorcycle and aimed it at the tank. He pressed a button, firing at the tank, causing it to explode. The two rode up the the ramp like walls, launching onto the grounds of the HYDRA base, firing also immediately at the HYDRA soldiers, who were also firing. Steve and Y/N set their motorcycles to destruct on impact and leapt off them. They immediately began fighting, with Steve throwing his shield around and Y/N shooting and using hand to hand combat. The motorcycles successfully blew threw the base door as the twins fought. Before the could get through the doors of the base, they were surrounded. The HYDRA soldiers cuffed the Rogers twins and brought them to Schmidt’s weapon lab.

“Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say you do it better than anyone,” Schmidt stated, coming to stand face to face with Captain America. “But there are limits to what even you can do, Captain. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?”

“He told me you were insane,” Steve responded.

“Ah… He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine, but he gave you everything. So, what made you so special?”

Steve scoffed. “Nothin’. I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.” Schmidt threw a punch to both sides of his face before hitting him in the gut. The hit to the gut sent Steve to his knees, coughing. “I can do this all day.”

“He’s right, ya know?” Y/N spoke up. “It’s actually really annoying.”

“Oh, of course you can. Of course.” Schmidt walked up to Y/N, putting a hand to her chin to force her to look at him. “Who are you? His sister?”

“Wow. You got it on the first go,” Y/N snarked.

“Y/N—“ Steve tried to warn.

“Now, why, Captain, would you bring your sister to war?” Schmidt asked, still inspecting Y/N.

“He didn’t have much of a choice,” Y/N answered for Steve.

“Hmm… I’m afraid you won’t have much of a choice either.” Schmidt nodded to the men behind Y/N. “Take her to the ship. She’ll be of use to us.”

“No!” Steve screamed, beginning to fight off the soldiers.

Y/N began to do the same, though was struggling with her hands behind her back. They successfully dragged her out of the room and towards the ship. Schmidt took out a gun, in the midst of this struggle, and pointed it at Steve.

“Unfortunately, Captain, I’m on a tight schedule,” Schmidt said.

“So am I!” Steve shouted just before his team crashed through the windows of the weapons lab.

Steve quickly got unbound as he began to fight, trying to hurry in order to get to his sister, who was actually putting up a good fight of her own. But the soldiers keep coming up from out of no where. Schmidt quickly ran out of the room, trying to get to the ship before anyone could stop him.

“Rogers!” One of his men shouted. “You might need this!” And threw the shield at him.

“Thanks!”

Steve then fought his way through the HYDRA base, which had fallen into chaos with the arrival of more Allied soldiers. Along the way, he ran into a HYDRA soldier with flame throwers. As Steve tried to shield himself from him, the soldier went down. Peggy was standing there holding a gun. Steve rushed up to Peggy.

“You’re late,” Steve said to her. For a moment, they got lost in each other’s eyes. He can almost hear Y/N and Bucky teasing him for not taking the chance to kiss her. And he almost does.

“Weren’t you about to…” Peggy spoke up.

“Right.”

Steve quickly continued his chase, running after the leaving ship, fighting along the way. But he was not fast enough to catch up to Schmidt’s ship. From behind, Peggy and Colonel Phillips drove up in a car.

“Get in!” Phillips ordered.

Steve got in and they raced after the ship. “Keep it steady!” Steve shouted as they drove underneath the ship so that he could jump onto it.

“Wait!” Peggy stopped Steve just as he was about to jump. She pulled him in, kissing him softly.

“Go get him.” Steve, surprised by the kiss, looked at Phillips.

“I’m not kissin’ you!” Phillips said.

Steve quickly jumped and pulled himself into the plane. On the plane, Y/N was taken to the cockpit. She had stopped fighting to save her strength. She realized that she needed it, so that she could take down the ship.

“Leave us,” Schmidt ordered his guards. They quickly did as they were commanded. “Do you have the serum running through you as well?” Schmidt asked, inspecting her.

“No. I wasn’t so lucky. But I was born healthier, so I don’t necessarily need it.”

“Really? It might have helped you get out of here already.”

“Who says I want to get out of here?”

“You think you’re so clever.”

“Clearly, I’m not the only one in the room who does.”

The glowing cube in the center of the room, caught her eye. It was beautiful, yet somehow terrifying at the same time. She knew she needed to get a hold of it somehow. That taking that cube would help end the war. A beeping coming from the controls pulled her thoughts away from the cube. Schmidt rushed over to see what was happening.

“Damn it!” He hit against the consul. “It seems that your brother has commandeered one of our fighter planes.”

Schmidt sat down in the pilot’s chair to start firing at the plane. Y/N held her breath as she watched, hoping that Steve would stay safe. The plane got away but, not long after, a crash was felt from the back of the ship. Steve had crash landed back into the ship. Schmidt quickly stood up, grabbing Y/N by the hair and pulling her into the shadows. Her and Schmidt heard the door squeak open and Steve come down the stairs, clearly very alert.

Schmidt put an arm around Y/N’s throat, making sure that his hand was covering her mouth. When Steve reached the front of the cockpit, Schmidt powered up his gun and stepped out of the shadows, with Y/N still in his hold. Steve turned around, shielding himself from Schmidts fires.

“You don’t give up, do you?” The man taunted.

“Nope!” Steve stated before he charged towards Schmidt and Y/N.

Y/N began fighting back, easily getting out of Schmidt’s hold as he shot at Steve. Steve and Schmidt kept themselves busy while Y/N went straight for where the cube was being held. She just knew it was important and needed to get out of here. As Steve and Schmidt fought, they ended up hitting some things on the control panel, causing the ship to dramatically angel down. The men flew up to the ceiling as Y/N tried to hold onto the handle that was on top of where the cube was being held.

“Y/N!” Steve shouted as he continued to fight Schmidt. “You need to get to the controls!”

“Okay!” She yelled back. But before she could get there, Schmidt had already gotten there, fixing the ship and causing them to drop to the floor.

“You could have the power of the gods!” Schmidt shouted, taking a weapon out of his jacket and firing it at the twins. They both ducked down, with Y/N still trying to get to the cube. “Yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations!”

Schmidt shot at Steve once again, missing. “I have seen the future, Captain! There are no flags!”

“Not my future!” Steve yelled as he jumped and rolled to reach his shield that he had lost in the fight before.

He threw the shield directly at Schmidt, who had moved to the front of where the cube was being kept. Schmidt flew back, hitting the container and causing it to malfunction and open, the cube falling out. A blue power crackled around the cube. Schmidt stood, unsteadily.

“What have you done?” Schmidt questioned and he reached for the cube.

He grabbed it, staring at it as it seemed to began to act up. The cube lit up the ceiling, showing the three the stars. Steve watched from the other head of the cockpit while Y/N stood right next to Schmidt, who began to be taken over by the cube. Before they knew it, he was beamed up.

The cube was left in mid air. But not for too long. Y/N grabbed it. She screamed as it burned her hand. Steve tried to rush over to her, but he wasn’t fast enough. The moment Y/N dropped the cube, it burned a hole in the flooring, causing both it and Y/N to fall through.

Y/N cried all the way down, flailing about as she did so. The cube was in her reach. Her left hand was burned but she had watched it transport Schmidt somewhere, maybe it could save her too. So she took it in her left hand, causing it to burn her more, and prayed to God that it would safe her as she hit the frozen water of the Atlantic.

next chapter >

#tony stark x reader #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #iron man x reader #captain america x reader #winter soldier x reader #tony stark imagine #steve rogers imagine #bucky barnes imagine #the avengers x reader #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #marvel imagine #marvel fanfiction

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thefinalcinderella · 3 years

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Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Chapter 7 - The Qualifiers (Part 3)

After this chapter I have officially finished 50% of this book...yeah that’s right after 2 years I have finished half of this book...

Next chapter is pretty long, we might be staying there for a while folks

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

1. A “one-two finish” refers to members of the same team winning first and second place

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When Kakeru reached the finish line, he was handed a water bottle by a staff member and ordered to move; if he stayed near the finish line, he would become an obstacle to the later runners.

He wondered how the others were doing. He was worried, so he lingered under the trees next to the finish line to check on the situation. There was another cheer, and he caught a glimpse of a Kansei uniform on the other side of the crowd—it was Kiyose.

“Haiji-san!” Kakeru shouted and leapt out onto the pathway that the runners who finished passed through to get to the lawn. Kiyose was crouching. Startled, Kakeru ran over to him.

“Are you okay?”

He didn’t seem to be breathing too much. The runners who finished in the top rankings had that ability; they were able to run the race at their own pace and with ease. There was no way they would be gasping for breath and unable to move after reaching the finish line. “It’s your leg, right?” Kakeru judged after checking Kiyose’s breathing.

In order to lessen the burden on his muscles even just a little bit, Kakeru poured water from the bottle onto Kiyose’s shin. After Kakeru lent him a hand, Kiyose stood up and started walking with a slight limp in his right leg.

“Kakeru, good work.”

Kiyose’s first words were words of appreciation towards Kakeru. Is this really the right time for that? Kakeru felt like crying.

“Yes.”

When he hung his head, Kiyose laughed and ruffled his hair.

“Let’s go cheer on the others.”

“But, we should cool your leg imme—”

“It’s not a problem. Let’s go.”

Kiyose slipped into a gap between the spectators. Kakeru followed him, saying, “Excuse me.”

At the finish line, there was a close race for eightieth place. Since the results were decided by the combined times of ten people, everyone was desperate.

“It’s the twins, it’s the twins!”

Kakeru spotted Kansei uniforms in the tight group. On the other side of the course, Hanako was jumping up and down.

Jouta and Jouji both gritted their teeth and crossed the finish line. After them, Yuki, Musa, Nico-chan and Shindou finished in the eightieth to ninetieth places. King fought bravely and finished in one hundred and twenty-third place.

“Good. That’s a good pace,” Kiyose murmured. Prince, however, was nowhere to be seen. Among the regular schools, there were more and more that had all ten people finish the race.

“It’s not looking good for us at this rate.”

Kakeru stamped his foot. He almost wanted to run one more time himself. Is he here yet? Is he here yet? Then, from behind the trees, where Kakeru had been staring as if in prayer, Prince appeared.

“He’s staggering…” Kiyose furrowed his brow. Prince had already passed his limits, and his eyes were unfocused.

“Prince-san, run! The finish line is right in front of you!” Kakeru shouted, trying to at least guide him by ear.

“I know that.” Prince struggled forward, fighting the nausea that was rising up. Sweat was flowing from him and his fingers were unpleasantly cold. Where did the blood go? Prince vaguely wondered. My face is probably pale as a sheet of paper right now.

He was clearly anemic, but he couldn’t collapse here. There were twenty meters until the finish line. If Prince stopped running, Kansei, which only had ten people, would be eliminated from the qualifiers. If Hakone was a no-go for them because of him, his collection of books would surely be burned. He had to avoid that.

Prince summoned up all of his willpower. As soon as he did that, his stomach squeezed, and he finally felt an unendurable nausea.

He no longer cared about the several hundred people watching him. As Prince ran, he threw up with all his might. He could hear the female spectators along the route letting out cries of “Kyaa!”

“This is no time for throwing up! Run!” Kiyose’s angry voice rang out.

Are you a demon or something? This is why I hate sports clubs. Prince cursed at him in his head, wiping his dirty mouth with his hand. Of course, he had no intention of stopping his feet. He wondered why he was doing sports, something he wasn’t good at. He wondered why he had been doing all this running practice like an idiot.

It was to participate in the Hakone Ekiden.

Because I thought it would be nice to share in you guys’ muscle-headed dream for once…!

Prince crossed the finish line in one hundred and seventy-sixth place and lost consciousness on the spot.

Everyone in Chikusei-sou had fallen flat in their encampment on the lawn. Less than half of them had the energy to even check their wristwatches for their times after finishing. Yuki had given up on the attempt to clearly grasp the ten’s combined times.

The tallying and calculation of intercollegiate points took up more time than expected, so the results were to be announced at around eleven o’clock. They had to wait at least another hour after all the competitors had finished running.

“We’re in a delicate position.” Kiyose calmly calculated while icing his shin. “When averaging our positions, we’re probably in the mid-eighties. That’s borderline.”

“Depending on the intercollegiate points of the schools that are also borderline…”

Nico-chan glared at the sky with a difficult look on his face.

“It’s possible we won’t qualify,” Yuki said.

Oh no, the twins moaned. Shindou and Musa were quiet, looking like they were praying to their respective ancestors and patron gods. King was plucking at the grass. Prince didn’t so much as twitch, still lying facedown on the grass. Hanako and the shopping district people, who were surrounding them, were unable to give any careless encouragement, and could only wait for the results.

Kakeru suddenly looked at Kiyose’s hands; the ice they had brought in the cooler box was melting in the plastic bag.

“I’ll go get some ice. Maybe they’ll give us some at that store over there.” Wanting to escape from this oppressive atmosphere, Kakeru stood up. Musa seemed to feel the same way.

“I shall go as well,” he said and followed him.

They cut across the lawn and headed for the store with the red roof. It was easy to tell which schools were confident that they would qualify by the expressions on the runners’ faces; it was the borderline schools, like Kansei, that were exuding a sense of high tension, but the schools that had clearly ranked lower were generally calmly waiting for the results to be announced. Among them, there were teams that were happily picking at the multi-tiered bento boxes made by their female managers.

There are all sorts of people, Kakeru thought. For those people, their goal was to make it to the qualifiers. They knew the outcome from the beginning, so when they were finished running, they made it into a picnic-like event and enjoyed themselves. There’s nothing wrong with that, but we’re different, he felt.

I don’t want it to end the qualifiers. I want to see even greater heights. I want to be an even faster and stronger team and compete in the Hakone Ekiden. That’s what I’ve been training for, and that’s what I’m going to keep training for.

“I wonder what will happen, Kakeru,” Musa spoke to him worriedly.

“We can get to Hakone,” Kakeru assured him. Burning magma was gushing up from the pit of his stomach. Everyone had run the qualifiers with all their might today; there was no way they could lose.

Musa’s eyes widened at his forceful words.

“Kakeru, you seem to have gotten stronger somehow.”

“That’s not true.” Kakeru shook his head. “We ran pretty hard, didn’t we? So I just think we’ll be okay.”

Musa nodded. “You are correct. We are going to Hakone. All together.”

When Musa said it, it sounded like the happy ending of a fairy tale, or a reliable prophecy.

When Kakeru and Musa asked for some ice, the shopkeeper readily gave them some. Since they came empty-handed, the shopkeeper put the ice into a paper cup. “We were careless,” Musa said. A group of spectators walked by behind him.

“Another black runner. It’s pretty unfair to bring in foreign students.”

“With a bunch of guys like that, then Japanese runners won’t be able to compete.”

Musa’s face stiffened at the whispered comments that they intentionally let him hear, and Kakeru was about to turn around and object.

“It’s fine, Kakeru,” Musa stopped him. “I have heard a lot of comments like that today alone.”

“We can’t let them say something so one-sided!” Kakeru still tried to chase after the spectators that were getting further away, but Musa seized his arm.

“We must not get into quarrels. They are talking about foreign students who came here because of their talent in athletics. I am embarrassed. I am embarrassed of myself. They don’t seem to be able to tell the difference, but my legs are not fast. I am just a foreign student with no talent to be envious of.”

“That has nothing to do with this!” Kakeru was indignant. “You, me, the people who took first and second place today, we all ran the same course. And yet…”

He didn’t know how to say it, but Kakeru was frustrated. He felt like Musa, who he lived with, Kakeru himself, and the international students from other schools he had never exchanged a word with were all being insulted. That’s right, I can’t express it well, but it’s an insult to everyone who’s taking running seriously. Kakeru squared his shoulders.

“It’s just as Kurahara said,” someone said. When he turned around, he saw a lanky man with a shiny and round head. “But let it go. They’re amateurs who don’t know what running is.”

Kakeru and Musa watched as the man bought oolong tea at the store. Kakeru had seen him before. Without letting his guard down, he searched his memory in a panic. I recognize this shiny head.

“Rokudou’s Fujioka! …san,” Kakeru deduced the answer.

Rokudou University had won the Hakone Ekiden several years in a row. This was their captain, Fujioka Kazuma. Kakeru had only met him at the TSU meet in the spring, but he wondered why someone like him would come to the qualifiers.

“I’m here to observe our opponents,” Fujioka said, perhaps reading Kakeru’s question. “Kansei has become quite strong. It looks like you’re going to make it to Hakone.”

Fujioka had the complacency and presence of a champion.

“Thanks to everyone’s hard work.” Kakeru’s natural competitive spirit reared its head, and he answered back proudly. Fujioka let his gaze collide with Kakeru’s, not taking a step back, and then looked at Musa.

“You shouldn’t care about people like that. It’s a ridiculous opinion.”

“Which part of it is ridiculous?”

Kakeru stopped Fujioka, who was about to leave while drinking his tea. The way the spectators talked about Musa made him angry. However, he couldn’t figure out exactly why he was angry, but Fujioka seemed to know what was causing this annoyance.

“Please tell me,” Kakeru pleaded.

Fujioka stopped and stared at Kakeru with interest. “Alright then,” he said and turned to Kakeru and Musa again.

“There are at least two ridiculous parts. One is the reasoning that it is unfair to include foreign students in the team because Japanese runners can’t compete with them. So what about the Olympics then? What we’re doing is a competition, not a kindergarten field day where we all hold hands and one-two finish. (1) It is natural that there would be individual differences in physical ability. But on top of that, sports are about equality and fairness. They have no idea what it means to compete on the same field in the same sport.”

Musa was silent, attentively listening to Fujioka’s words. Kakeru was just simply overwhelmed by Fujioka’s quiet analysis.

“Their other misunderstanding is thinking that winning is good,” Fujioka continued. “If a Japanese athlete takes first place, if they get a gold medal, is that all that matters? I firmly believe that isn’t true. That shouldn’t be the essence of competition. Even if I win first place, it isn’t a victory if I felt that I lost to myself. Things like times and rankings change rapidly from competition to competition. Who decides who’s the best in the world? It isn’t because of that, but because we have unchanging goals and ideals within us that we continue to run.”

That’s right. Kakeru felt his hazy, pent-up feelings clear up. I got stuck on these things and they made me angry. Fujioka’s amazing. What Kakeru felt and wanted to say were extremely easily untangled and put into words.

“You haven’t changed at all, Fujioka.”

Before they knew it, Kiyose was standing behind Kakeru and Musa.

“An outsider said something unnecessary.” Fujioka bowed to Kiyose in a stoic manner and left this time.

“No, you were helpful.” When Kiyose said that, Fujioka turned his head over his shoulder and a corner of his mouth lifted into a smile.

“Looks like you’ve got quite the lineup.”

“Well, I suppose.”

“I’ll be waiting at Hakone.”

With a resolute attitude befitting a champion until the end, Fujioka disappeared between the trees. It’s like he said “I’ll be waiting in nirvana,” or something. I wonder if he’s not going to wait to see the results announced even though he came all the way here, Kakeru thought, but he hurriedly bowed towards Fujioka’s back.

Musa also said, “Thank you very much,” and bowed deeply. Fujioka’s words had energized Kakeru and Musa, like dispelling thunderclouds.

“I came after you guys because you left without taking the bag.” Kiyose lifted the plastic bag.

“Sorry,” Kakeru said and accepted the bag, then transferred the ice he got from the shopkeeper to it. Kiyose was already walking without dragging his leg.

“Is he called Fujioka-san? He is an amazing person.” Musa seemed deeply impressed.

“I guess that means you need emotional strength and wisdom in the true sense to continue winning Hakone,” Kiyose laughed a little. “Well, he’s always been strangely calm; as a high school student his nickname was ‘Trainee Monk’. It's a bit unpleasant, isn’t it?”

Kakeru and Musa looked at each other and nodded, saying, “That’s true.”

Spectators and runners were beginning to gather at the large display board near the finish line.

“It’s almost time for the announcement.”

“Let’s go.”

Musa jogged back to Kansei’s encampment. Kakeru matched Kiyose’s pace as they made their way across the lawn. He was curious to see what the results would be, but they had come this far and there was nothing they could do about it now. What occupied Kakeru’s mind at the moment was Fujioka’s figure.

The power to change thoughts into words. An eye that calmly analyzed the hesitation, anger, and fear within you.

Fujioka was strong. His running speed was extraordinary, but the mental strength that supported it was incredible. When I was just running recklessly, Fujioka must have been analyzing himself in his fast-moving head and pursuing running on a deeper and higher level.

Kakeru felt both battered and inspired with a strange kind of excitement.

What I’m lacking are words. All I do is let my hazy feelings stay hazy. But I can’t do that from now on. I’ll be as fast as, no, even faster than Fujioka. In order to do that, I need to know my running self.

That was definitely the “strength” Kiyose had spoken of.

“I feel like I’m starting to get it,” Kakeru murmured.

“Is that so.” Kiyose seemed satisfied.

A student in a gakuran carrying a megaphone climbed onto the stage. He reverently opened the memo with the results of the qualifiers. He was a student member of the administration committee from the Inter-University Athletic Union of Kanto, which organized the Hakone Ekiden. His assistant, a female student, stood by the display board while the gathered people listened attentively with anticipation and anxiety.

“We will now announce the qualifying schools for the Tokyo-Hakone Round Trip University Ekiden Race. First place, Tokyo Sport University.”

The TSU crowd gave a loud cheer. Kakeru saw Sakaki being given a spank of joy by his senior. The TSU runners hadn’t come apart, reaching the finish line in a good position together; it was a victory of total strength that displayed the depth and closeness of the runners.

The female student pulled out the first place card on the display board. The name “Tokyo Sport University” and the total time of ten people were written in the first place column: ten hours nine minutes and twelve seconds. The average place for the ten runners was forty-ninth place.

“As I thought, it was a pretty fast-paced race,” Kiyose groaned in a low voice. The expression on his face showed that they were in a difficult situation to qualify. Kakeru curled his hands into fists.

“Second place,” the announcer dispassionately read the memo aloud. “Koufu Academy University.”

Cheers erupted from another corner. “Hmph,” King sniffed.

“That announcer is putting the perfect pause between ranking and the school name.”

“Don’t act all important, get on with it,” Prince, who had finally come back to life, immediately complained.

“Aah crap, my heart feels like it’s gonna explode.” The twins and Hanako were huddled together, quivering like young birds that had fallen from their nest.

The announcement had proceeded to fifth place, but Kansei’s name was not called. Up to this point, all the schools had been Hakone regulars; if they couldn’t get into sixth place, the seventh to ninth places were likely to be different from the total time order of the qualifiers because of the intercollegiate points involved.

“Sixth place.”

“Please please please!”

“Kansei, Kansei!”

Their desperate prayers were in vain, and the announcer said, “Saikyo University.”

“Aah!”

“Are we done? Are we done?”

Nico-chan and Yuki looked up at the sky. Kiyose was staring at the display board in silence. The glint in his eyes suggested that he was looking through the white cards that still hid the seventh to ninth place columns.

“In accordance with the rules, seventh place and below are determined by subtracting each school’s intercollegiate points from their total times. Seventh place, Jonan Cultural University.”

Kakeru felt like he was losing the strength in his legs, but he managed to hold on. They still had a chance. There were two more participation slots to be filled. He felt a pain in his right shoulder, and he looked to see Shindou’s fingers digging into it. Musa’s face was half-buried in Shindou’s arms, and he was mumbling something in his mother tongue.

It’ll be okay. It’s going to be okay. Kakeru stretched out his arm and gently patted Shindou and Musa’s backs.

“Eighth place, Kansei University.”

He thought he misheard. King leapt upon them. Kiyose raised his arms to the sky with a rare full-faced smile. Shindou and Musa weakly sat down on the grass. Nico-chan and Yuki high-fived each other, and Hanako and the twins screamed as they slapped Kakeru all over his body.

While being mobbed, Kakeru looked. At the display board, where the words “Kansei University” shined brilliantly. At Prince, who shed a single tear outside the circle.

We did it. The truth finally reached his brain. We are going to be in the Hakone Ekiden.

The next thing Kakeru knew, he was bellowing from the pit of his stomach.

Kansei University��s total time was ten hours sixteen minutes and forty-three seconds. The ten’s average place was eighty-sixth place.

Jonan Cultural University, in seventh place, had the actual time of ten hours seventeen minutes and three seconds. The intercollegiate points put them ahead of Kansei. The school that just barely passed in ninth place was Shinsei University.

Their time was ten hours seventeen minutes and eighteen seconds. Kakeru looked up at the time written on the display board and exhaled with relief and joy. Kansei University had successfully obtained their ticket to Hakone on their first attempt. And they even finished in ten hours and sixteen minutes, which was good enough for seventh place.

There were cries of surprise everywhere.

“Kansei actually did it.”

“And I heard they only have ten people on their team.”

“That’s the school where the third place and sixth place guys came from, right? I already learned their uniforms.”

“Me too. It’s black with silver lines. It’s kind of cool.”

As they were cleaning up their encampment on the lawn, they were asked to give a few words to the close coverage cameras, but Kakeru’s mind was dizzy and lacking oxygen. He was more tired than when he was running and his feet were unsteady.

We've only passed the qualifiers; the actual race is next January. The Hakone Ekiden is in approximately seventy-five days. Even though he told himself that, happiness filled his chest.

Kiyose once said this: “Hakone isn’t a mountain in a mirage.” That really was true. The residents of Chikusei-sou had finally reached the point where they could see the mountain as a real entity.

While feeling excited, Kakeru swiftly folded the plastic sheet. Jouta and Jouji were sitting on the grass. They were frowning for some reason as they peered at the notes of the results they had copied from the display board.

“What’s wrong?” Kakeru called to them. The twins looked up at him.

“Haiji-san said we’re going to the top,” Jouta muttered.

“Mm? Did he?” Kakeru responded lightly, but Jouta wasn’t convinced.

“He did say that. But, this time…”

“What about it?” Kakeru put down the plastic sheet and crouched down next to the twins. “Let’s clean this up quickly and go home. I’m sure we’ll have a party tonight.”

“Kakeru, doesn’t ‘top’ mean winning?” Jouji asked with a grim face. “Our total time is ten hours sixteen minutes and forty-three seconds. TSU, who qualified in first place, has a time of ten hours nine minutes and twelve seconds; that’s a difference of seven and a half minutes. And yet, this is still the qualifiers, right? So, how fast do the runners of the schools that win Hakone run twenty kilometers?”

“If we practice, can we get to that level by New Year’s?” Jouta asked him seriously. “Hey, what do you think, Kakeru?”

Kakeru couldn’t answer anything.

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#Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru #kazetsuyo #kazetsuyo translations #run with the wind

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

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Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch18 Battle Gym Leader Melony

It wasn't too surprising all of you fell asleep on the train again that night, seeing how late it was getting when you all hurried onto it like an army of onix was chasing after you all. Thank goodness you managed to catch it and settled down into a couple empty seats to sleep for the night. Come morning the lot of you were already digging into your rations for breakfast to comfort your hungry stomachs that growled for food. And made small talk as the world went flying by outside the windows.

"So how long until we reach Circhester?," you asked biting into come kind of breakfast bar that tasted like bacon bits and oatmeal.

"It's the farthest town from all the others in Galar except for the town in the Crown Tundra Valley but that's farther in the mountains than we need to go," Victor explained after he had pulled out his own phone and pulled up his regional maps to look through them, "It's also deep within the Galarian Mountain Reign so it'll take us about three weeks to get there by train."

"Oh really?"

He nodded again. "The stop we want is Steamdrift Station. From there it's about an hour walk down Steamdrift Way until we get to Circhester and it's gyms."

You paused before blinking and looking at him. Drizzilie taking this chance to pull the rest of your food away from you to eat itself. "Gyms? As in plural?...Like more than one gym?"

"Oh yeah! Guess we haven't told ye!," Gloria cut in leaning into her hand. "The Ice and Rock Type Gyms are located up there and are handled by the gym leader Melony n' 'er son Gordie!"

You paused...eyes blinking wide at them for a moment before pointing. "Hey! Wait a minute! I remember those guys!" YEAH! You did remember them! Ironic since you couldn't remember much of anything else in game. Melony according to in game info was supposed to have a harsh battle style and supposedly be an incredible coach. She ran the Ice type Gym while her son Gordie was in charge of the nieghboring Rock Type Gym also in Circhester. He's supposed to be really popular in a similar way to Raihan and have his own fan base as well that he treats respectfully. ..But the mother and son had a fight over Gordie not wanting to take over his mother's gym and instead but somehow she still became the very first member of his fan club. ...Also he was supposed to have younger siblings as well but you didn't think they were ever shown in the game. You remembered!! That's great! Maybe now you'd start remembering things much more now!! ....You blinked upon noticing the three staring at you. "Uh!...I m-mean I remembering some people talking about them before. Apparently Gordie's pretty popular in Galar."

Hop nodded. "Yeah he is! Last year he was voted Galar's third most eligable bachelor behind Raihan and Lee himself. But unlike Raihan he actually throws a lot of his own events and showings. Lee mentioned once he trained under the old Rock Type Gym Leader before he retired and took over the gym after."

You sighed. Bullet dodged! "Oh. Sounds like he's really nice then." And hopefully won't flirt with you like Raihan did.

Thus began your group's long, LONG trip to the Galarian Mountain Range. Just like your trip back to Motostoke, you all slept on the emptied seats at night but being more prepared Victor had set up his Rotom phone's gps to set off an alarm once the lot of you reached the likes of the station you wanted so you all wouldn't have to take turns staying up all night again to keep an eye out for the right station you wanted. Which was a great idea! Over the next few days you all fell into that repeated pattern minus taking turns staying up at night and during the day just talking about random things while eating food from your rations or looking at whatever the teens pulled up from the internet to show you. Gloria at one point even pulled out her dex books again to finish putting the rest of her pictures into them and showed you the new addtions courtesy of her twin before passing the books over towards the two boys for them to flip through themselves and admire Gloria's handy work. A few more days went by this way until one day Victor all of a sudden said you all should stop at the next town to restock up on food again since it wasn't as much as he thought it was. To which everyone agreed too and at the next town, got off the train and went into one of the random stops which turned out to be a small town like Postwick. From there the four of you gathered supplies and did everything else to prepare to travel again by the time the next train came around before getting back on it and back on your way to Circhester. Day in and night out you four traveled and traveled and traveled. You were starting to get train sick with how much this was going on and found yourself walking up and down the walkways in turns with the others to keep up the exercise and not let yourselves turn your legs to jelly. Until one particular night when you woke up with a shiver. There was a chilly atmosphere inside the metal train from when you were last awake and it was enough for you to make yourself get up groggily. Only to find your drizzilie was lightly shivering as well curled up against your warmer body and stayed clung to you as it groaned in protest at the cold.

"What the-"

"Hey you." You rubbed your eyes turning tiredly to Hop who had his own coat thrown over his shoulders and smiled. "So you're finally awake huh?"

You yawned. "What time is it?"

"About ten in the morning. We're getting closer to the mountains," Victor said and you turned to him next as he rechecked the map on his phone, "We'll be at Steamdrift Station within 'bout three days but you might want to throw on a coat. It's gonna get a wee bit more colder from 'ere on out."

That wasn't a too bad idea actually. You were quick to pull on the coat you had bought and with a bit of a tussle you somehow with Gloria's help managed to pry Drizzilie off of you and put him inside your bag's main opening with Gloria holding it open before you pulled both him and the bag into your lap to make room. And to help keep the lil guy warm. Your pokemon gave a bored expression as he settled down into using the bag as his personal sleeping bag.

"Hey. Don't get too comfy," you reminded him, "Cuz when we leave Circhester you're going back to walking with us again Mr. I-Refuse-To-Get-In-My-Pokeball." Other than rolling his eyes with a sigh, Drizzilie didn't say anything against what you said. "You heard me. This is just to make sure you don't go from a water type to a frozen-water type."

The rest of the three days there was pretty much the same, only now it was hard for any of you all to get to sleep now curled up in the seats because of the cold. Why you even dug out a scarf and wrapped it around your neck and half your face. Didn't these trains have darn heating!? The landscape outside the windows changed too. Going from looking like fall-ish time of the year to mid way between fall and winter, until the last day when you all woke up to have found yourselves so, so...SO!! Cold, and you shivered yanking the hood over your f/c hair more as you looked around and noticed white snow was being blown against the windows like some snow storm. And for all you knew there could actually be one out there.

"ZZZTT. Attention Passengers!," the conductor announced over the speakers to anyone left on bourd. "We'll be arriving at SteamDrift Station within ten minutes. That is all."

"That's our stop!," Victor confirmed, "Make sure you all grab everythin' before we get off."

You all made sure to gather your things, you especially making sure to pull the small hoodie over your Drizzilie's head before pushing him into your bag and telling him to stay in there until you said it was safe for him to come out before zipping your bag up but leaving enough of an opening to allow fresh air to him. Slowly after a few minutes the train finally came to a stop and you all followed Victor out towards the door, you grunting as you stuggled to sling the bag over your shoulders. You had forgotten how heavy this lil guy actually was when carried. You were extremely thankful for the guys getting you the thick coat and scarf too because the familiar full force of Winter hit you as soon as the you all stepped out the door and you shivered from the frosty cold greeting you all. The entire sky was painted in grey snow clouds that made the day look a little dull while snow gently fell from them and down towards the earth below. Around you was a plain looking station that looked more deserted since no one not even a station master was there, and surrounding you all was cliffsides and hills like in Stow-on-Side except unlike Stow-on-Side these were absolutely COVERED in snow and ice as far as the eyes could see as the four of you stood there taking in the sights. The only living things besides you all being pine trees scattered across the snowy land with a cobblestone road leading away from the station that Victor after a moment pointed at.

"That's Steamdrift Way," He explained holding up his phone with a gloved hand to the lot of you showing a map with a red blinking dot that signalled where you all were. "It's connected to Route E-E-Eight. If we go this way we should be at Circhester w-within an hour after crossing Circhester Bridge."

"T-T-Then w-what are we waiting f-f-for?!," Hop stuttered in the cold before pointing a hand forward. "L-Let's get there before we become on thin ice!"

There wasn't any arguments with him as you all headed off. Snow and ice crunched under your all's feet making your group sound like a couple of wooly mammoths trudging through the snow. You all (even you through your scarf covered mouth) could see your breath as snowflakes stuck to your bodies like someone glued white confetti to your clothes as you all followed Victor and his map through the snow. Thank goodness it didn't cover the road up, or else you all might've gotten lost. As you all trudged alone keeping your hands in your pockets after pulling the ends of the sleeves over them to help keep them warm, you all FINALLY came to the stone bridge Victor mentioned before. A cold river running with cold water ran under it as you all crossed and as you walked over it you prayed your drizzilie didn't decided to pop out wanting to swim or see what was going on.

"W-W-We should be there in t-t-ten m-m-more minutes!," Victor shouted back pulling his beanie further over his head.

"B-B-Bloody heck, V-Vick! 'M freezin' my t-tail off 'ere n' I-I ain't even got one!," Gloria yelled back complaining.

"The sooner we git there the sooner ya can rest! So take the energy from ya yappin' mouth and put it to your feet!," He yelled back and Gloria mumbled under her breath.

So you all continued to walk and walk, until you finally reached the end of the road that lead into a metal fenced entrance to Circhester. And you all had a collected sigh of relief once you all got there. It was decently big with it's many story stone buildings you could make out in the snow with cobblestone roads leading everywhere and the figures of two large stadiums on either side of the town as you all got to walking into it. You all passed the pink pokemon center near the entrance of the town and turned right heading towards what you guessed was the town square. A hot spring like fountain was dead set in the middle and there was people walking all around in winter wear with some ice type pokemon or pokemon who could stand this cold weather. Two men had stands selling food in the square as you walked past, one selling some kind of hot wraps and the other......ice..cream??

"D-Dang nabit, V-Vick! W-W-Where's the b-b-bloody hotel a-around here?," Gloria asked rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm herself.

"I-I'm with G-Glory on this," Hop added looking around, "I d-don't feel like camping out here at all."

"I'm WORKIN' on it!," Victor spat scowling at his phone hand lightly shaking.....before he pointed ahead of him at a BIG building in front of you all. "H-Hotel is there! L-Let's go!"

You all didn't hesitate to RUN your way to the building he pointed out jack frost biting at your ankles as you did. You all didn't even care if the door was flung open with a loud noise. The rush of warm air greeting your skins was enough to make up for it in your minds as you sighed. Turning your head up to the ceiling in the bliss of getting out of the cold. After a moment or two you finally opened your eyes and blinked them wide open at what you were all looking at. If you thought the Budew Drop Inn in Motostoke was Fancy this place was absolutely F A N C Y with a capitol F!!! It was like one of those luxery hotels in Paris you'd sometimes see in movies or on tv. Complete with marble floors and chandeliers lighting the place up. It was also HUGE!! And this was just the lobby as you gawked around. The other three were busy shaking snow off themselves as Victor walked up to the man at the lobby counter most likely to book your rooms. You hope they weren't too expensive by the looks around here. A moment later he returned with two keys handing one to Gloria before he gestured to the elevator.

"Let's go get settled in and rest for a bit. I'm too cold to think straight. You guys got room fifthteen on the first floor." Whelp! You couldn't argue with that as you all headed towards the elevator and got inside. The trip to the first floor wasn't a very long one as you all piled out and Victor motioned for Hop to follow him to one of the very first rooms closest to the elevator. "I say we all get warmed up and meet up in the lobby to talk 'bout what's the game plan for us 'ere."

"Alright," you agreed with a nod before following Gloria, "We'll see you two in a bit."

Both boys nodded as well before they turned back, Victor unlocking the door with his key before opening it and they disappeared inside. You sped walked to catch up to Gloria who was already standing in front of a door and turning the knob and throwing it open-

"So that means the culprit must be among us!" Gloria paused in the doorway. Eyes wide and hand still out from throwing the door open. "....Wait....Who are you!?" ..You wanted to facepalm. Oh NO!! Don't tell me Gloria opened the wrong door and walked in on someone. You sped up your walking pace as she blinked again. "After all the trouble of deducing things don't go messing it up now!"

By the time you got to Gloria she was already scowling before pointing her frozen hand at him. "N' who might the likes o' you be!?"

You blinked when you looked inside the room....There was a man there along with an older man, a 'hipster' looking girl, a young boy, and some kind of squirrel looking pokemon chewing something as you all stared at one another...Until the middle aged looking man coughed.

"*cough* I suppose I should introduce myself," he proudly put a hand to his chest, "The name's Howses. Yes. THAT Howses. The great detective. I've been hired by the hotel. At present I have corner the culprit of a most heinous crime!"

"What happened?," you asked. Did someone get robbed? Did something go missing? Something worse?!

"I'm glad you asked," Mr. Howses stated, " And that crime is!..The strange case of who ate the large quantity of berries in the lobby!" He shouted pointing to a random basket of apple cores....You and Gloria both gave each other a look. "I've gathered the three people who were present in the lobby at the time of the crime but because of the noise my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present."...The hotel...Hired a private detective ..to investigate missing fruit.....What a waste of time! He suddenly pointed at Gloria. "That's it! You interfering child! You will be my assistant!"

Gloria gave him a blank look. "...What?"

"Listen to the stories of each suspect and find the culprit," he said as if what he had just said wasn't crazy or unprofessional at all.

"....Yeah. I ain't doin' that." Gloria dead panned before pointing at the obvious pokemon in the room. "'Sides. I already know who it was-"

Instead of listening the man waved her off and laughed in her face. "Heh heh heh. After listening to everyone's accounts deduced the culprit!"....NO ONE SPOKE!! He pointed at the young hipster looking gal who looked just as deadpanned and done with this as Gloria. "Dancer! You are the culprit!"

"WHAT!?," she demanded angrily, "Why me?!"

"Because you're a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you needed all that food for extra energy! That's evidence as clear and sharp as the leek of a farfetch'd!"

"WHAT!? What does that even mean!? You're no detective! You're a fraud!" Your thoughts exactly!

The man gave a nervous look all of a sudden. "W-Who are you calling a fraud!? You can't be referring to me! The great detective!"

"I can't deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the real culprit-"

"*AHEM!!*" Everyone looked back to Gloria who scowled and pointed to the small pokemon chittering at everyone around them. "IT. WAS. THAT!! They ate the darned fruit ya ninnies can't seem ta take a hint of."

The 'detective' blinked before turning to the pokemon. "What? That skwovet is the one responsible?" He looked closer at the small pokemon who looked at him curiously covered in food. "A-.....As expected of my assistant!" He loudly proclaimed all of a sudden proudly and crossing his arms looking pleased with himself. "Splendid! Just splendid! I'm overjoyed!"....He peeked an eye out at all of you annoyed and angry at him before coughing. "Well now that's taken care of...I must be off now." He suddenly sped walked towards you and Gloria and you both scrambled to move aside as he took off down the hall. "Take care, Everyone!"

"Hey you! Just wait a minute!," the girl yelled before running right after the 'detective'.

"Hahaha! I guess I'm supposed to chase after him too," the old man said before also jogging after the two as you and Gloria squished against the sides of the doorway to give them room...before looking after them....and blinking to one another.

"What the world was THAT about?," she asked.

"Honestly I have no idea and I'm too tired to really care," you mumbled gesturing her towards your actual room. "Let's go set up our room and take a break before we have to meet back up with the others."

Fast forward about an hour after finding the right room and getting yourself settled, you all made it down to the lobby to meet up with Victor and Hop. After you had let your Drizzilie out, thankful that he didn't seem to be hurt or even bothered as she walked out and stretched out like a cat before you all left. Promising you'd bring him back some food. Finding the boys already waiting for the both of you with their winter wear and waved the two of you over.

"There you guys are," Victor greeted seeing the two of you walk over, "We've been waiting for ten minutes and I wanted to try and get things as done here as soon as possible."

"We've only just got here this morning," you calmly reasoned raising a questioning brow at him. Yeah you wanted to leave as soon as you all could too since it was freezing and obviously the weather probably wasn't good for your pokemon, but you didn't think you've ever seen Victor this insistant on leaving somewhere so quickly. "What's gotten you into wanting to leave so soon?"

"Vick here hates the cold," Hop explained before humming, "Scratch that. He absolutely despises it."

"Well it's not MY fault that ice is so dangerous and you have a great chance of freezin' ta death," Victor snapped back pouting.

"Nevermind that! Did you guys figure out what you wanted to do yet?," you asked changing the subject to avoid more fighting.

Surprisingly both boys nodded and Hop spoke again. "I wanted to try my hand at beating the Rock Type Gym since I think I've come up with a strategy to beat him."

"I was actually thinking about taking on the other Gym 'n town, "Gloria pondered thoughtfully, "I got a good idea 'bout how to defeat Melony after watchin' a lot of her battles on the train ride 'ere. But first I need ta stop by the center and switch out some of me pokemon in order to make it work."

"Well I wanted to stop by around town and get some pictures of the famous Circhester hot springs," Victor explained holding up his camera, "The legends say that the great Hero of Galar rested in the springs and it healed all his wounds. ..Plus I wanted to try the famous Bob's Your Uncle cafe here too. They're supposed to have THE best curry in all of Galar, and who knows when I'll come back here again." He then looked at you. "What about you Y/n?"

You looked at him interested. "Well if I'm being completely honest I think I'll come with you. It's been a while since I've been able to walk around and go sight seeing."

"Then it's settled! Let's meet back 'ere in the lobby when we're all finished."

You all agreed and after tightening your coats around you more, all made off your own ways. Gloria heading in the direction of the pokemon center on the other side of town before going off to battle with you and the boys heading in the opposite direction towards the rock gym since the famous Hero Springs Victor wanted to look at. Eventually parting with him too as soon as the both of you got there. Wishing him luck against Gordie before he left and you followed Victor to what you could only describe as a bath house modeled closely to the buildings of the ancient roman times back on your world. You followed Victor around marveling the sights and old looking structure as he smiled despite his hate for the cold and snapped plenty of pictures of everything as he did back at the Hammerlocke Castle Ruins. You walked up to the steaming water that almost looked boiling hot that was roped off from the public just touching it and watched the warm steam rise from it. Sighing as the warm steam was welcomed against the biting cold you couldn't get away from right now. Victor having getting his share of the old historical sight mentioned there was a few other places that the spring water came through, like the fountain in the town square and mentioned wanting to check out the extended parts of the underground spring as well and offered for you to come if you were interested in coming with him. Of course you agreed since you really had nothing else to do at that moment while waiting for the other two to complete their Gym battles, which by now you were sure they were doing or at least finishing up any gym challenge they were doing at the moment, before going back to the meet up spot anyways. So together you two traveled from the front of the rock type gym to the center of town so he could document more of the springs, before following him again as he moved somewhere else and you followed him down a small flight of stairs to another but much more smaller part of the springs that wasn't so visible or visited by the public. And then another small spot just like a little farther aways on the other side of town. It was...Pretty peaceful despite the chilling cold and snow lightly still falling around you, Victor, and everyone else walking around. It was quiet except for your footsteps crunching through the snow and anyone else walking around or talking. Walking around the decently big town with Victor you noticed there was also a few businesses besides the pokemon center. Your resident barber shoppe, an antique store, a few small little thift shops that sold merchandise of what looked like the two gyms and their gym leaders at the brief glances through the windows you gave, a grocery store, a clothes store, of course the hotel, and a strange looking cafe with the Logo of a man out in front. A sign above the door told you the name of said establishment. Bob's Your Uncle. Hey. Wasn't that the cafe Victor mentioned back at the hotel he mentioned wanting to see? You pointed it out to him and he seemed to light up! Mentioning how you two should drop by and seeing it even if you didn't eat anything. You agreed since by all the walking around and sight seeing you did, you two must've been out here for nearly two hours by this point. So it'd be nice to warm up for a bit. So you two happily walked up to said store and pushed the door open before walking right in. The warm air of the cafe combined with the mouth watering smells of the food made you sigh in relief. Another bigger picture of the logo man was inside on one of the walls, with the place being a color scheme of yellow and red, and a few people sitting around eating already. Including one particular boy who looked up from his seat in the back when Victor pointed him out.

"Hey Hop!," Victor called over to him and Hop looked up from where he was sat phone in one hand and hot coco in the other but smiled when he saw you two approuching. "What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet back at the hotel."

Hop shrugged. "Yeah, but I thought it'd be fine to stop by for some hot chocolate. Who doesn't like hot coco?"

"I know I do!," You agreed with a smile, "How did your battle go?"

"Arghhh." He slumped back turning his head up to the ceiling with a groan. ""I lost. It all went to pot. There must've been something wrong with my strategy but I just did what I've seen Lee do in battles!"

"Huh..Well maybe that's the problem."

He paused before blinking back to you as you looked at him. "....Huh? Whaddya mean?''

"Well, everyone has different fighting styles. Including you and Gloria, and if these guys are a part of the league and you're trying to fight like Leon, they'll probably be able to beat you because they've seen how Leon fights and knows how best to counteract his style."

"But he's the unbeatable champion! If I use his method I should be able to be unbeatable too! I've studied his style for years!"

"It may seem like that," You explained, "But it IS Leon's style and he's perfected it. If someone tries to copy him they won't be as perfect as it compared to someone who's mastered his own style to a degree that makes him such a powerful trainer. And everyone's style is constantly changing. Think about it. If Lee kept his style the EXACT same then eventually someone would've found a flaw in it by now and taken the title from him. Leon doesn't have 'just one style' either. Like everyone else they train and adapt to better themselves that's how he's unbeatable. It's ok to use things you learnt other people do, but you said yourself you were thinking of new strategies. Instead of trying to apply what you think Leon would do, ask yourself what would YOU do."

Hop paused seeming to stare at you for a while before humming and looking back to his phone. "...You actually might have a point. I'll have to rethink a few things then."

You smiled. "Glad I could help. Speaking of which Where's Gloria? If you're finished with your battle then that must mean Gloria is too right?"

"Maybe she's waiting for us back at the hotel."

"Oh hey!" You yelped and jumped around at the lady's voice that suddenly came up behind you, and found yourself face to face with none other than said brunette Girl and Sonia who chuckled at your reaction. "There you are."

....You sighed before giving her a frown. "First Leon and now you too Sonia?" You crossed your arms. "Seriously. Give a girl a warning you're gonna do that first...Wait. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Got that Gym badge, Glory?," Hop asked politely.

Gloria nodded with a proud hum. "I jus' had ta switch out for some fire n' steel types I caught. Wasn't easy tho."

"Nice one!," Hop complimented before holding something out to her, "That reminds me. Here. Take this. It's the rock leader's league card. You should check out the gym leader you'll have to face too. And me. I've gotta figure out what to put on my team once and for all and no more of this doubting! Especially when I have to defeat at least one of the gyms here for their badge."

"Gee thanks!" She eagerly took the card from him.

"I've been trying to found out more about the Darkest Day and the sword and shield pokemon, but still no luck." She sighed before shaking her head. "I was hoping to investigate the Heroes Bath after studying the tapestries and castle ruins in Hammerlocke." Oh. So she had been there before. "And I haven't been able to get more intel on the strange discovery in Stow-on-Side since the Chairman's team is still researching and the area's become off limits to anyone who isn't the League or authorized. But I just ran into Gloria here and figured the rest of you couldn't be far behind her."

You chuckled. "Well you aren't wrong. I'm really sorry about all the dead ends stopping your work Sonia. I'm sure you'll get a break through somewhere." And you DID know since according to the game she does.

She smiled. "Well thank you, Y/n. It's much appreciated." Her blue eyes glanced behind you. "It's really nice ...." She paused staring right over your shoulder. "...to..see you...Wait."

You rose a brow. "What?" Your f/c eyes blinked in confusion when Sonia all of a sudden grabbed you and pushed you aside a bit as she moved behind you. Unintentionally making you bump into the table Hop was sitting at making him scramble to hold his hot coco out of harm's way as you gave her a look. "Sonia!?"

"Hold on!" She exclaimed back looking at a wall. But more importantly what was ON the wall. Which looked like half a tapestry. And in the very SAME art style and people on them from the Hammerlocke Vault!! "No way! What's this!?"

"Uh...A fifth tapestry??"

"The heroes!" She exclaimed pointing to both of the same men from the first tapestries. "Look..sad. And where are the sword and shield?" She hummed before scanning it more. "What was the meaning of this picture?" Ever the fast thinker wasn't she?

You pushed yourself from the table dusting your still slightly snow covered self off before shrugging. "Well those behind them look kinda like grave stones or some kind of sealed tomb." You pointed out pointing at the tapestry and Sonia squinted harder at where you were pointing. "This probably just means the end of the legend. Y'know. Where the hero finally gets to have peace after his long battle? It happens all the time in fairytales."

"You think so?," she asked giving you a glance. As you shrugged she looked back to the tapesry, or what seemed to remain of it, with her hand to her chin blankly staring at it. "....Didn't think I'd see something like this in Bob's Your Uncle. I guess it could be they passed on or that they were sealed away. Or maybe they've gone into some kind of sleep?"

"Well...I mean they call it 'rest in peace' for a reason."

"Well.." You flinched when Hop spoke, not expecting the boy to be studying the tapestry too. "Based on those statues we saw at Stow-on-Side, the sword and shield were actually two pokemon right?"

You rose a brow. "Since when did you see those statues back in Stow-on-Side?? You and Victor left before Bede's stunt."

"Gloria showed me pictures she took of it before you left. But it kinda dawned of me seeing those sword and shield symbols on them. Couldn't they have been pokemon?"

"That's right! That's my take on it at least."

"......Hey." She suddenly turned to Hopand blinked as he pointed to Gloria. "You remember the pokemon we met that day?" ...Gloria rose a confused brow as he spoke. "You remember. That weird giant blurry pokemon we met in the Slumbering Weald."

"Oh yeah! I've completely forgottin' 'bout that by now." She shivered. "Still gives me the heeby jeebies."

Hop chuckled a bit. "Do you think...it could've been one of them?" he gestured the hand holding his phone to her. "Either the sword or shield pokemon? The blurry fog monster we saw kinda looked like those pokemon statues in Stow-on-Side you showed us."

"You..." Sonia was slow to blink and look at Both the kids wide eyed as she talked. The only one who looked super confused was Victor who you guessed hadn't heard of the 'mysterious fog pokemon' bit. "Met them?! Like...Really REALLY met them!?"

"Come on. You know what I'm talking about right, Glory?"

She nodded, "Yep. Right before Lee bailed us out o' the Slumberin' Weald."

"Exactly! We told you too Sonia remember. The mad pokemon we ran into in the fog! Although..I can't remember seeing it too well. Don't you think that could've been it?", Hop pondered.

"Oh right! You lot have been in the Slumbering Weald!"

"Duh."

You gave Gloria a small tap to her shoulder as if to say 'Don't be rude.' "As much as I agree this is all strange, don't you all think you're jumping the gun here a bit? That could've been any big pokemon in the fog, and you said it yourself. You don't remember much of what it looked like. We shouldn't just make assumptions without proof."

Hop hummed. "I guess you're right. It'd be too much of a coincidence anyhow. But it's not an assumption, just a guess. Doesn't hurt to theorize ideas."

Sonia on the other hand smiled happily and held up her hands excitedly. "I only started on this journey because my gran told me to, but this is turning out to be so much fun! You've got to tell me more! How about we discuss this over a meal? Go on. What do you want to eat? Let's get our orders in!"

"Whoa! Hey there buckaroo!" She blinked when you grabbed her shoulder and she blinked. "As much as I love the food as much as the next person, maybe you should slow down there a bit. Didn't you just get here or something?"

...She gave a bashful face. "Oh yeah. R-Right. Sorry I must've gotten caught up in the moment. But hey! How about I treat you all to a nice curry and hot chocolate anyways? It'd be the least I could do for all the kindness you've shown me."

"I dunno. I don't wanna leave my Drizzilie in the hotel room for too long. I'm afraid he's gonna come looking for us if we're gone for too long and I don't want him outside in this weather."

"How about the sweet instant noodle curry they serve here?," Victor suggested as a compromise pointing to the counter the two men were currently cleaning, and the stack of supplies, food, and other things lining the wall behind them. "All they would have to do is poor hot water in it and it's the cheapest curry on the menu. Plus I don't like the spicy ones too much. I may hate the cold but I'm not up for burning my tongue."

Sonia nodded. "Quick and simple. Sounds like a good match to me!" She turned towards the two men and waved a hand gaining one's attention. "Yoo hoo. Sir! Five instant noodle curries and hot cocos please! Uh. Sweet wise." The man nodded before putting down the cloth he was wiping the counter with and turning to grab a few things from the shelf as Sonia gestured for the five of you to sit with Hop at the big table he was currently at. "While we wait, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the Slumbering Weald again. Maybe it'll help me piece together something."

"Sure!"

So the five of you at around the table as you all patiently heard Hop recount the entire events of the Slumbering Weald incident starting from the wooloo banging against the gate to the Slumbering Weald to when you all left it. In the middle of him retelling his your food was delivered by one of the men behind the bar and you gladly took it wanting something warm in your stomach before having to go back out in the cold, Gloria taking a quick picture of it before you all began eating it. It looked and smelt a lot like those instant ramen cups you'd sometimes had to resort to have for lunch back at home since money was tight with your mother working hard as a single mother now and you having to work summer, weekend, and afterschool jobs in your spare time to help with bills. If you didn't then she'd say you were being lazy with your music and games again...Anyways. It looked like instant ramen and was sprinkled with curry sauce. You were a bit doubtful of how it'd taste but when you ate it it wasn't that bad. It had a bittersweet kinda taste that wasn't too sweet or sour thanks to the sauce covering the noodles when you ate it, and it was a bit more like pasta than a curry. But you weren't going to complain about free curry and hot coco in this cold weather and neither was anyone else as they ate and listened to Hop, and then Gloria as she recounted her own point of view on the events which was pretty much Hop's as well but you all let her speak her mind. By the time she finished everyone had already finished eating and drinking their food even Hop who had gotten a second hot coco thanks to Sonia's generiousity.

"-and then Lee found us and marched us both back home where we met up with Y/n," Gloria finished pointing at you. "Mum was...not very happy about it all."

"Fascinating," Sonia commented thinking again, "All right." She suddenly stood up making all of you blink. "The next thing to do now that we're done eating is to have a look around Circhestester! Let's inspect the Hero's Bath."

"Huh? But we were just there. Wasn't anything that could be tied to your research," Victor said.

You shrugged as you stood up. "Well we were going to leave to go back to the hotel soon anyways. Let's go have a look since we'll have to go that way anyways."

Victor looked like he wanted to protest but sighed as his Best friend and twin also stood up to follow Sonia out the door. The cold outside nipped back at all of you as you tightened your scarf around your nose and mouth. Following Sonia back to the steaming waters of the spring under the town as you all entered back under the historical sight. Hop and Gloria looking out in awe at the place.

"The Hero's Bath, "Sonia commented looking around the place, "They say this is where the two heroes came to soothe their wounds after the battle to bring down that evil presence long ago. Nowadays only pokemon really use the Hero's bath though. Hmm. Who exactly were the heroes that bathed here? I think I'll have to look into that...Gloria! Hop!" She turned her head to shout at the two and both looked up from one of the carvings in the stone at her. "You two met a mysterious pokemon back in the Slumbering Weald. Perhaps...you two can become new heroes."

You blinked at her. Where did that come from?

Even Hop looked at her confused and skeptical. "What? Like some hero waving around a sword and shield? Psh. Pull the other one."....But he hummed. "Though...I guess I'd fancy a shield if I had to take my pick."

"Hm. What kind of battle do you think the heroes had back then?"

You shrugged and went to say something- "Why don't we show her, Glory?" Hop asked giving his friend a playful shove, "Think we can pull off a real heroic battle?"

Gloria giggled back before giving him her signiture determined look. "Oh I think that'd be just the thing ta warm up me bones!"

"Sonia treated us to a great meal. After all that curry I feel like I've got the energy to wrestle a bewear!"

Sonia returned her hands to her hips amused. " A battle now? I don't entirely understand your reasoning but I might as well see what you can do."

"FORG-G-GET IT!!", Victor yelled as you all looked at his shivering form turn on his heel and stomp off towards the hotel, "Y-Ya'll can battle if ye want! 'M headed inside the warm hotel!"

"..Hm. I'd hate to say this, but I think I getting get back too." You gave Sonia a look. "Thanks for the food. It was really good seeing you again, but I REALLY wanna go back and check on my drizzilie."

She nodded understanding. "Of course. I'd feel the same thing about Yamper if I was in your position."

You nodded before turning to the other two. "And you guys don't stay out here for too long. Come back when you're all done battling."

"We will!," Hop quickly agreed before pointing away from the Springs, "Time for a little exhibition match starring the future champion!"

With a wave to them all you all turned and jogged to catch up to Victor who was rubbing his arms and muttering to himself as he stomped his way back towards the hotel. And you didn't blame him, you wanted to get out of the cold too and see how your Drizzilie was doing. You two made your way across the town and into the familiar fancy hotel, through the elevator and immediately headed onto your own seperate rooms. You were kinda worried your pokemon might've wodnered out of the room but when you entered you found him in the same spot you left him in. Curled up on one of the beds and barely even opened an eye at you as you came back in gave giving a small thrum before curling back onto it's side away from you and going back to napping. Hmm...Maybe Hop was right about your drizzilie developing a new lazy habit. Or maybe it was because he was cold blooded or something like a snake and had a hibernation thing?? You shrugged it off and instead sighed as you finally had a moment to shed your winter coat and relax for a little bit, flopping onto the bed next to the napping pokemon who again barely moved as you did so. And you remained there eve when Gloria returned and you gave a small wave as a greeting.

"Hey. How was the battle?"

"Fine! Although I won Hop seems to finally have gotten out of the lil funk he was in thanks ta Bede!," she answered happily, " 'E's with Victor right now."

"Hey that's great to hear! It's good he's getting back into a healthier mindset."

"Yeah! I still can't wait ta see him compete in the champion finals this year! It's gonna be so much fun! I-....." She stopped talking for a second and then you heard frantic shuffling about and footsteps. With a sigh you turned your head up from the spot you were laying down at and was met with the sight of her shaking her coat upside down frantically over he bed as she looked worried. When nothing dropped from the coat she unceremoniously dropped it and whipped her head around back to you. "Y/N! My camera's gone!"

"..What?," you asked pushing yourself up as she patted herself down searching her pockets.

"Victor's camera he's lettin' me borrow!," she yelled sounding more concerned,"I was supposed ta give it back ta him once I finished fillin' me dex books!! He's gonna kill me!"

"Whoa! Hey!" You were quick to push yourself up into a sitting pose as you watched her start to likely panic. "Gloria!" She paused blinked wide eyed worried at you as you groaned standing off the bed and stretching out your back. "First you need to calm down." You held up a hand rubbing your back. "You probably just accidentally dropped it somewhere."

"WHERE!?"

"I have no idea." She looked worried again. That was probably the wrong thing to say apparently. "Whoa. Don't freak out on me here. Look. There's still plenty of daylight left. I'm sure if we just retrace your steps then we'll find it for sure. When's the last time you remembered having it?"

.....She blinked. "Uh! A-At the cafe! Then we went to the hero's bath."

You nodded. "Ok. Then let's go look over there and see if we can't find it ok?"

Gloria nodded and you sighed again. Looks like you all were going out yet again. You both quickly put your winter wear back on and out you went again. The winter weather nipping at you even colder now that it must've been about near sun down by how limited light there was too. There was still enough to clearly see the snow and all the surroundings but it was noticably colder as night drew nearer as you both stopped in front of the warm springs in the town square.

"A-Alright! 'Eere's the plan!," Gloria said pointing at you, "I'll go check the cafe you go check the bath. We'll cover more ground like that!"

You nodded wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. "Alright. But hurry, and keep an eye out in case you dropped it on the ground somewhere. Meet me back here as soon as you can."

She nodded and before you could get another word in she turned and scurried off towards the cafe area. After a moment to relax you sighed shaking your head and started walking off towards the Hero's Bath, making sure to scan the road and ground around you for any signs of a camera dropped in the snow. But you saw nothing as you looked around. Your footsteps crunched in the snow once again and you shivered rubbing your arms as you made your way towards the hero's bath still looking for it. Just when you thought you'd be able to rest for the rest of the day. You just wanted to find the darn thing and return back to the warm hotel. As you circled the large building needed to get to the Hero's Bath you paused blinking at the sight in front of you. Oh great what was it now? In front of the Hero's Bath was a small crowd of anywhere from fifthteen to about twenty people mostly women huddled around...something? Sure the Hero's Bath must've been a really cool historical sight to see but you didn't think such a crowd would gather here all of a sudden especially when it wasn't like this the other times you passed by it. Oh well. Right now you could care less and just wanted to find that darn camera and return to the hotel as soon as possible. Besides you could easily just walk around the happily chattering crowd without having to bother anyone. Get in, look around for a camera, get out, and then meet up back with Gloria. Easy enough. Or so you thought. With a sigh behind your scarf, you braced yourself and began walking your way over towards the crowd, and like you had suspected there was plenty of room to walk passed them, or so you thought again when a woman dressed in all while and with white hair suddenly appeared and you both ran right into each other. With the speed walk you were going it was impossible to stop on time before you collided with the white blur with a yelp. Stumbling back your foot slipped on some snow and down you went arms flailing landing on your bottom on the hard stone ground. Luckily you weren't hurt but you hissed and mumbled something under your breath at the feeling of the cold seeping into the back of your pants now.

"Oh my goodness gracious!," an older woman's voice exclaimed above you and when you looked up you were met with a woman who looked about the same age as your mom as she held her face in an 'Oh no' kinda pose as she looked at you. All decked out in white winter wear. "I'm so sorry, Young Lady. I didn't see you there."

You waved her off as more people turned their heads at the commotion. "Nah. It's ok. It's my fault I wasn't looking where I was going-," you had begun to say before another's voice much more louder and angrier sounding made you both look over.

"MOM!! What are you doin'!?," A man's voice shouted out as people parted and a guy who looked vaugely familiar marched his way forward. The man wore...Shades of all things in this not so sunny weather with a tan-ish coat thrown over himself and blonde-white hair that draped to just above his shoulders as he pushed his way through the small crowd of people until he stopped right in front of you and the woman. He looked right at your confused self still sitting on the ground for a moment before looking over at the woman with a deep frown. "Seriously!? Ya knocked one of my fans over?"

"I'm so sorry, Honey. Really I am," she said calmly as if she had all the patience of an ancient monk. "But it was an accident." Oh. So this must've been his mom. But what does he mean by fan?? You didn't even know this guy.

"Tch!," he scoffed before crossing his arms, "Yeah right. You crash all my events especially after I win against a gym challenger." Your eyes widened. ....Gym chall-..OH!! Now you remember! You looked between the two who had a resemblance now that you looked at them. Gym Leaders Melony and Gordie! So that's why he looked semi familiar to you. These were some of the few characters you actually remembered from your time playing the game! ..Oh. And they were known for fighting of course. "You're lucky you didn't cause her to hit her head during the fall!" You looked back up blinking wide eyed at him as he scowled at his mother. "Did you even apologise to her or were you just gonna forget that too?"

You stared wide eyed at him. Who says that to their own mother!? Through all this Melony just calmly and sadly watched him as he angrily spewed out. You WISH your mom was like Melony- "HEY!!" You were quick to try and rise to your feet stumbling a bit on the snow as you did. Rising up with your own frown behind the scarf covering your face and quickly dusting yourself off.

"Ah man. Are you alright there?," he asked holding his hand out. "Sorry about my mom-"

"Oh be quiet!" You bluntly said as you snapped your face to him, which combined with your sharp tone seemed to make him pause in the moment. "I know exactly who you are!! What is WRONG with you man!?" You couldn't help but shout at him. Well considering Gordie's only a side character who you wouldn't probably see again after Gloria defeated him, it would be ok to shout at him. Especially since you weren't in the game's storyline at the moment. So you jabbed him in the chest which made him blinked and take a couple steps back. "Of course your mother apologized to me but that's NOT the point! It was an accident and I happened to run into HER! Not the other way around!! Are you kidding me with your behavior right now, Gordie!? Don't you see what you're doing!?" You gestured towards Melony who looked shocked herself seeing you jab at her son. "You're yelling at your own mother who didn't do anything wrong in front of a bunch of your fans in public!? Are you trying to embarrass her or something!? Your mom's so much nicer than you!! Geez! What were those guys thinking!?"

"I-...W-Wha-" He sputtered but you shut him down real quick.

"NO! You're not allowed to talk to me! You know why? Because your mom's one of the nicest people in all of Galar!! DUDE GET OVER YOUR STUPID EGO!! You both had a fight like..years ago!? So WHAT?! You're running your own stadium you wanted and you have like loads of fans! Don't you think that bashing her in front of your fans would make her look bad!?....No. Scratch that." He blinked as you took a step forward and he stepped back. "It makes YOU look bad! SO I am NOT a fan of yours! I'm just here looking for a missing camera but even if I didn't I'd still feel bad for your mother! Don't you think the reason Melony makes an effort to be in your fan club and trying so hard to support you is her way of showing she cares about you and is actually sorry about the fight you two had!?" You shook your head. "Gosh. Your head must be thicker than a onix if you missed that!!"

There was silence all around as the once crowd of chattering people were all shocked and staring at you, Gordie, or Melony or looking between the three of you as Gordie just stared jaw dropped and making noises like a fish out of water as you scoffed and turned around. Melony watching with equal reaction to her son and even passing people who weren't a part of the crowd was staring right at you as you turned your back to him.

"So don't apologize to me. Because the only one you should be apologizing to is your poor mother." You gave him one last very SERIOUS look over your shoulder. "As someone who wished for a parent like her, you need to get a reality check man." You turned back to his shocked mother before sighing. "I'm really sorry about all this, Ma'am. But I gotta go. I have to meet up back with my friends."

With a new sour feeling that combined with your annoyance with the cold and falling down, without looking behind you, you turned on your heels and stomped off back towards where Gloria was headed when you both split up. You didn't feel like staying at the Hero's Bath any longer now with the eerie silent you left behind. Everyone watched after you as you disappeared....until a single THUNK sound broke the silence as Gordie's shades fell off his shocked face to the cold ground below.

#pokemon sword #pokemon shield #pokemon piers #pokemonswsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon piers x reader #Pokemon reader x piers #reader #piers x reader #reader x piers

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cryptidvoidwritings · 3 years

Text

So if you were to read this as a prologue to, say, a 40-page tornado of Tuggerstrap nonsense, would this be a satisfying opening?

*yeets into the void*

The day dawned cold and grey and it had not improved all morning, the sun little more than weak light filtering through the thick clouds. The air was heavy with the threat of more early spring snow and a hush had settled over the usually bustling London streets. A cat with any sense would have stayed curled up in their den to sleep the day away in a pile of warm fur— preferably with another cat or two for extra insulation. Munkustrap would have very much liked to be among them.

Unfortunately, duty called.

He yawned, picking his way through the piles of junk and puddles of slush with Alonzo at his side. At least their patrol was almost over; strays and rival clans weren’t much in the business of picking territory fights during the cold months.

Even news of Macavity’s doings had a tendency to grind to a halt over the winter.

“Don’t let Cafalle see you yawning on patrol,” Alonzo said around a yawn of his own.

Munkustrp snorted. “Cafalle relinquished her position specifically so she wouldn’t have to worry about patrols anymore, let alone what I do on them.”

Alonzo laughed. “How do you think she’s taking to retirement?”

“Bossing around her humans, I imagine. It probably suits her fine.”

They squeezed out of the junkyard’s front gate and started down the route. Munkustrap dipped his head every so often, testing the scent markers and making mental notes about which ones would need to be refreshed first. Alonzo brushed over the most degraded of them. Everything else would hold. They just needed to complete this lap of their street trails and then Munkustrap could nap until the afternoon.

This time Alonzo yawned. “Any chance of breakfast?”

Munkustrap considered. They were making good time to the theater and there were very few humans out.

“How about coffee takeaway?”

“How about waffles?”

“We’re not making good enough time to sit down. But we could go to that place with Belgian waffles?”

Alonzo perked up. “We could.”

It would take them off their route, but it shouldn’t delay them too much in getting back. They chatted idly as they turned off the big road and took the small side streets. Munkustrap was half-listening to a story about Cassandra when he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Munkustrap?”

That scent.

“Munkus, you okay?”

He’d forgotten it— at least, he’d told himself he had. It was easy enough to pretend; it had been months since he’d first scented honeyed cardamom. Munkustrap shook himself. He turned to see Alonzo’s worried green eyes and offered an automatic smile to reassure him.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“What is it? What’s there?”

“Nothing. I just smelled something familiar. Ish.”

“Another cat?” Alonzo asked, pointing his ears forward and looking where Munkustrap did.

“Likely.”

“You don’t know?”

Munkustrap shrugged. “Sort of? It was just a scent. Father and I were late to meet Gus. It wasn’t like I had a chance to introduce myself.”

“Well... We’re not late to meet Gus now.”

That was true. Munkustrap pawed at the ground as he looked around. They had time, but... There were a number of bars and restaurants and shops all along Tottenham Court road. The scent could be coming from any of them.

“No. No, we shouldn’t,” he said at last. “I’m not going to have you come on a wild chase with me for a cat I don’t know. Cass would have my head. Let’s get those waffles.”

Alonzo shrugged his acquiescence and they started on their way again. They’d traversed the next block and were waiting for the light to change when honey teased his nose. Munksutrap pushed his whiskers forward.

“Who’s that?” Alonzo asked in the sort of voice that was usually reserved for Cassandra doing... well, anything.

Munkustrap turned to see where he was looking. On the opposite corner, a Maine Coon stood brazenly on two legs, lounging against the base of a streetlamp. In the weak light of mid-morning, his head fur and well-combed mane shone gold.

“It’s... It’s him.”

“Oh.” Alonzo breathed in deeply. “Oh. That’s quite nice, actually.”

Munkustrap gave a startled laugh.

As if he knew he was under scrutiny, the tom across the way looked directly at them. Munkustrap’s mouth felt increasingly dry. The tom turned his body in one long, smooth movement that involved an absolutely unnecessary, but very pleasing, gyration of a hip.

“I guess we don’t have to go on a chase, then, eh?” Alonzo said.

“Uh. Right.”

Munkustrap had the distinct feeling they were being sized up; the tom wasn’t even trying to hide how he was staring. They would have to cross the street in order to be on their way to the waffle place. He cleared his throat and ran his claws absently through his unruly shoulder fur, which had not had the decency to grow into a proper mane.

“Okay,” he said, “Let’s go.”

Alonzo fell back a couple of paces as he followed Munkustrap across the street. The tom lounged against the street lamp, paws resting casually on studded belts that crossed at his hips. He smiled languidly as they drew near.

When they were within a few inches of each other, Munkustrap stood on two legs.

“Good morning to you,” the Maine Coon purred.

His eyes were dichroic: Bright blue and warm gold bisected neatly by his pupils. He had a beauty spot on one perfect, high cheekbone. Munkustrap’s insides flipped.

He’s gorgeous.

“Good morning.”

The thought occurred that Munkustrap had no idea what he would smell like to another cat. He’d never bothered to ask anyone. What if he smelled like... like old rubber and rusting metal from the junkyard? What would the tom think of him? Though he wasn’t turning away in disgust, so it couldn’t be that bad. Right?

“And what brings you out here in such appalling weather?”

“D’you know there are humans around?”

There was a beat of silence. Munkustrap’s cheeks grew hot. He could feel Alonzo rolling his eyes at his back. The tom attempted to stifle a laugh, which Munkustrap was grateful for because Alonzo didn’t even bother. Any effort from the tom was wasted seconds later.

“Aren't you a smooth talker!” the tom gasped around his laughter. “Did you practice that one?”

“Should I have?” Munkustrap grumbled. He stopped himself from scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment and straightened to his full height. “It’s a legitimate question. Any human might see you like this.”

“Might, but won’t,” the Maine Coon said airily. “They never look down to see what’s in front of them.”

“… Fair point.”

Humans were basically blind their entire lives, after all, and cats rarely got caught when they didn’t want to be seen.

“So what brings you out at this time of the morning other than worrying about cats on two legs?”

“Waffles, mostly.”

“Waffles? Did your kitten wake you at the crack of dawn begging, or something?”

Munkustrap looked askance at Alonzo. Even on four legs, he didn’t look young enough to be a true kitten. The Maine Coon didn’t even look older than Alonzo— and Alonzo had insisted on very loudly celebrated turning 16 months old only a couple of weeks ago. He decided the tom was trying to get a rise out of them.

“Waffles seemed like an easy treat for being out in this weather.”

“Anything to keep the kids happy, hmm?”

There was something in the tom’s tone that Munkustrap thought might be envy, though the inviting smile never slipped from his lips. He could feel Alonzo starting to shift restlessly behind him. Munkustrap waved him back.

“What’s your excuse for being out, if you don’t like ours?”

The tom smiled slowly. “Never was in, unless you count hotels. Spent a good portion at Wiscus’s.”

Hote— oh. Munkustrap flushed as the implication landed.

Wiscus’s had a reputation for a reason. With any luck, Alonzo was too busy getting in a huff to have paid much attention. The Maine Coon pushed off the street lamp and let his tail— a fluffy confection of black and gold— drag up Munkustrap’s leg. Munkustrap swallowed harshly.

“Maybe come find me there, if your kitten hasn’t worn you out,” the tom purred. “Anyway, that’s my ride. Enjoy your day and don’t lose the baby. It can be rough out here.”

“I am not—” Alonzo finally snarled.

Munkustrap turned to catch his best friend mid-leap. By the time he had Alonzo calmed, the tom had disappeared. Only his fading laughter and scent remained.

“Ugh, what a smug jerk,” Alonzo grumbled.

The silver tabby chuckled distractedly, shaking his head fondly. “You let him get to you.”

“You need better taste.”

Munkustrap took four legs again, rolling his eyes at Alonzo’s grumbling. “You need to stop letting yourself get riled up so easily.”

He nudged the patch tom with increasing force until Alonzo rolled onto the ground. It distracted him beautifully.

“Do you see how I’m treated?” Alonzo asked nobody.

Munkustrap rolled him onto his other side.

“I would like it known that I’m being abused by an abnormally small battle horse!”

“I’ll show you abnormally small,” Munkustrap play-growled.

He took a swipe that went very carefully wide and thus began the chase, which lasted all the way to the waffle place.

In case either of you might still be interested in these: @falasta, @namethat-i-oughttohavetoldyou

#cats the musical #cats the musical fanfiction #munkustrap #alonzo #the rum tum tugger #prologue i guess?#is there a flag for writers of fanfic nobody asked for with pairings nobody asked for?#i need that flag #please see the tuggerstrap club charter 3a.1 allows for at least one fic a quarter in which they are not related and may instead be shipped #nope i still have no idea what i'm doing send help #hal: it’s about cat(boy)s

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sgtbradfords · 3 years

Note

LOVE YOUR WRITING!♥️♥️♥️

I would love if you could write something with this phrase “I don’t want this.” but in a cute beautiful way maybe?🥺♥️ anyways, whatever you write will be perfect!

I hope you’re good with undercover!Chenford anon because that’s what you got! Enjoy my anonymous friend and thank you for the prompt!

Lucy Chen was going to be honest, she hated undercover operations. But, when Sergeant Grey had assigned her and Tim Bradford to go undercover, together, she bit her tongue and began mentally getting ready for the op. Lucy, now an official P2, and Tim officially the Sergeant for nightshift, had not worked together in months, only seeing each other coming and going, and the few times everyone was off at the same time.

Turns out Angela Lopez had specifically requested the two officers to assist, stating “They’re the only ones that will work.” And what six month pregnant Angela wanted she normally got. The operation was simple really, go to the park and people watch. Specifically, people watch for a major drug deal going down and not get caught. The meeting ended and both were redirected to their respective locker rooms, their undercover outfits already chosen for them.

“I don’t want this.” Lucy said, wrinkling her nose as she was handed a bag, pulling out the outfit Angela had likely chosen for her. The leggings were a soft dark blue tie-dye, reaching mid-calf, the sports bra she pulled out afterwards matching the leggings. “How do you even know my size?”

Angela shrugged. “I asked Jackson.”

Lucy changed, gesturing to the outfit that clung to her body. “And where am I supposed to hide a gun or cuffs in this?”

A small metal canister came flying at her. “Put this and your badge in your bra, your cuffs should fit in the key pocket in the back.”

Lucy grumbled as she began storing things in the places she could, lacing her tennis shoes before walking out the locker door.

Standing outside of the door was Tim, wearing a black muscle tee and navy athletic shorts.

“Not a word boot.” He glared. “Let’s go.”

They stepped out of the surveillance van thirty minutes later, five blocks from the park.

“I’ll move closer once you two get far enough away. Chase and Jones are on the basketball court, they’ll catch the person making the pick up, you two catch the drop. The deal is supposed to take place near the pavilion in an hour.” Angela told them as she pulled the door shut.

“So, what are we supposed to do, pretend like we’re exercising for the next hour?”

“Not today Chen, think of it as one of our morning runs with Kojo.” He told her as he stretched.

“But it’s already over 80 degrees out.” She complained, beginning to stretch.

“Would you rather it be over 100?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

She huffed. “No. I just don’t see why they couldn’t have chosen an earlier time.”

Tim chortled. “Maybe because they’re criminals? Besides, crime goes up the first week the heat goes up.”

Lucy began doing sprints down the sidewalk, her hair falling out of its ponytail, bouncing in her face as she ran back and forth, becoming irritated she threw the long strands up in a high pony. “So what, we’re supposed to look like a couple out for their afternoon jog?”

“Pretty much.” Tim said as he jogged past her, waiting for her to catch up. “We wait until both parties have exchanged everything then we move in.”

They kept their strides even, though Lucy knew Tim could easily out pace her. Soon the park came into view, grass and trees vast and plenty, a large pond in the middle spewing water with a few children standing near, feeding the ducks, a basketball court and playground on the other side was just barely visible.

They entered the park, keeping a steady pace as they ran, making one and then two laps. On the third lap, Lucy found herself getting bored.

“Last one to that tree, has to buy beers.” She said pointing to a large tree near the pavilion before taking off in a run.

“Hey! Chen! Come on!” Tim yelled as he increased his speed, quickly catching up to her.

Lucy laughed manically as she thought she had the jump on her former training officer. Tim caught her easily, both tagging the tree at the same time.

“I won Bradford!” she gloated, her hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath.

“Not so fast Chen.” He glared, lifting the hem of his shirt, wiping away the sweat from his face. “We got here together.”

Lucy opened her mouth to argue when a soccer ball came flying at them, Tim stopping the ball with his foot.

“Sorry!” a girl, no more than eight years old apologized, stopping a few feet away.

“No problem.” Tim said as he kicked it back.

“Thank you!” she yelled, running back towards a group of other children.

Tim and Lucy began doing a series of cool down stretches under the shade of the tree before Tim sat down on the grass, his back against the bark as he stretched his feet out in front of him. Lucy moved next to him, changing her mind at the last second and resting her head on his thighs.

“Lucy…” he warned.

Lucy turned her head, looking up at him as she feigned innocence. “What?”

“What are you doing?”

“We’re supposed to be a couple so, I’m doing the coupley thing and resting my head in your lap.” She told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, turning her head back to look at the leaves and branches above them

“And how do you expect to see our suspect?”

Lucy sighed, sitting up. “Fine. Are you happy now?”

Tim grunted, as Lucy moved next to him, her back against the bark as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Wanna play I-Spy?”

Tim rolled his eyes. “This is a stakeout boot, not Where’s Waldo.”

“Cop eyes Bradford. I’ll go first. I spy with my little eye something… green!”

Tim decided to humor her, looking around before guessing. “The grass?”

“Nope.”

“That tree?” he asked pointing.

“Nope.”

“That tree?” he asked pointing to a different one.

“Tim…” she whined.

“Fine, that kid in the green shirt?”

“Which one?”

“Lime green?”

“Yes. Now, your turn.”

“I spy something… orange.”

“That basketball?”

“No.”

“That lady’s shirt?”

“Yes.”

“Really!”

“No. Give up yet?”

“Never. Ok, what about… that orange traffic cone.”

“Yes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, it’s the orange traffic cone.”

“Ok, I spy… wait, your three o’clock, isn’t that our suspect?” Lucy asked, turning her head, smiling at Tim flirtatiously.

Tim glanced out of the corner of his eye before turning his head to Lucy, pretending to smile at something she said. “Looks like he’s heading towards the picnic table to our left.”

“Shit.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked, propping his right elbow on his bent right leg.

“Always.”

Tim leaned in, “Then please forgive me.” He whispered as his eyes glanced at her lips, his right hand softly caressing her cheek. Lucy gave him a questioning look as his calloused hand touched her, his body leaning in as his lips brushed against hers. Her eyes fluttered closed, her body leaning in towards his as her left hand came up, fisting the shirt beneath her hand, pulling him closer. Lucy opened her mouth, his tongue taking advantage as it swept over hers, the hand on her cheek moving, finding it’s way to wrap itself around her brown locks, pulling. Her toes curled at the sensation, a low moan finding its way out of her as he pulled back, the lack of his rough lips on hers slowly bringing her back to her senses.

“Holy fuck.” She whispered, opening her eyes, her hand still fisting his shirt as she fought to catch her breath.

Tim smirked, his own breathing heavy as he forced his fingers to untangle themselves from her hair, looking over Lucy’s shoulder, clearing his throat. “He’s dropped the bag. Let’s go.”

Tim stood, extending his right hand for her to take, pulling her up to her feet before intertwining their fingers together as they followed behind their suspect.

“Stop acting so stiff.” Tim mumbled, faking a laugh.

“Sorry.” She grimaced, mentally chastising herself to loosen up as she plastered a giddy smile on her face. “You just… took me by surprise.”

“I gave you a heads up.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Asking if I trust you then asking me to forgive you, are very contradictory Bradford. I don’t by the way.”

Tim frowned, glancing over at her. “You don’t what?”

“Forgive you. You can’t just kiss me like that and and-“

“I’m sorry Lucy.”

“Yeah well, I’m not Tim.”

Their suspect stopped, his tail doing the same, looking around at his surroundings.

“We’ve been made.” Lucy said, turning her body towards his, her free hand landing on his shoulder.

“I don’t think so. Ten o’clock.” Tim told her, nodding his head to the shop on the curb.

“That ours?”

“I don’t think so, check the bike rack on the back.”

“Great, now he’s spooked.” She sighed, as their suspect began walking away again. “He’s going to run.”

“He’s not going to run.” Tim said as the man picked up speed.

“He’s going to-“ No sooner had the words began leaving her lips did he take off in a run.

Lucy yanked her hand out of Tim’s, taking off in a sprint, her small stature and lack of duty belt allowing her to gain speed as Tim quickly passed her, his long legs carrying him further.

“LAPD! Stop!” Lucy yelled reaching for the pepper spray in her bra, her voice echoing off the passing buildings and cars.

It might have been the criminals footing or just pure luck when their suspect tripped, falling to the ground, scrambling to get to his feet as Tim took the man out at his legs, tackling him to the ground as he quickly sat down on the man’s back.

“You got a gun?” breathed Lucy, jealously in her tone as looked at the gun in Tim’s right hand that was pressed into their suspects back. “All I got was pepper spray.”

“Cover me.” He said as he pulled the right leg of his shorts up, exposing the thigh holster as he re-secured his weapon. With her free hand Lucy reached around, digging for the cuffs in the back of her leggings, pulling them out and handing them over to her partner. Tim leaned over, reciting the suspects Miranda warning as he latched the cuff on the man’s left hand before pulling it around back, his other hand reaching for their suspects right, pulling it back to latch the other piece of metal on.

Tim pulled his bodyweight off the man. “Roll onto your back and sit up, we’ll help you to your feet.”

The man grunted, doing as instructed as another person joined them. “I didn’t do anything! It’s not my drugs.”

Tim raised an eyebrow as Lucy helped the man up. “Who said anything about drugs?”

“Well done Sergeant Bradford, Officer Chen.” Angela told the two as they walked the hundred feet towards the surveillance van. “It feels good to get out from behind the desk, right?”

“Better than staring at the mountain of paperwork sitting on my desk.”

“Tell me about it.” She agreed, rolling her eyes.

A shop pulled in, Jackson West smiling from behind the wheel. “Nice tackle their sir.”

“I’ll be paying for it later.” Grumbled Tim.

The suspect turned his head back, looking between the two officers that had followed his foot chase. “So, do you two get paid to make out like that or what?”

Lucy blushed as Tim coughed. “We didn’t- It’s not like that.”

Angela and Jackson gave each other a knowing look as they loaded the arrest into the shop.

Lucy cleared her throat. “What about the other guy, they get him?”

The other two officers decided to let it go, for now. “Yeah, Chase and Jones were able to apprehend our other suspect and get almost a million in drugs off the street.”

Tim let out a low whistle. “That’s way more than we anticipated.”

“It is. Thanks again for your assistance today by the way. You two go load up and we’ll get back to the station.”

The rest of the day passed by in the form of reports for Tim and a lone domestic dispute for Lucy. Not that either was complaining, still feeling the burn and stretch in their muscles from their workout earlier.

Lucy had just finished pouring herself a glass of wine when a knock sounded at her front door. She abandoned the glass, not expecting company as she opened the spare drawer next to the fridge, pulling the gun out as the knocking began again, her finger undoing the safety before moving onto the barrel as she looked through the peephole.

Lucy sighed, her shoulders dropping as she undone the locks on the door.

“Tim.” She acknowledged as she opened the door, leaving it open for him to come in as she flipped the safety back on and placed the weapon back in the drawer.

Her company walked in, shutting the door behind him as he watched her move about the kitchen.

“You turn the safety back on?” he asked her as he kicked his shoes off.

She raised an eyebrow at his actions. “Of course.” She said, taking the glass from the countertop, lifting it to her mouth, taking a sip. “You staying?”

Tim hesitantly nodded. “Please?”

Lucy shrugged, stirring what was cooking in the pan on the stove. “Sure. Jackson’s not in tonight so they’ll be leftovers. Red wine and honey baked chicken in the oven with risotto and broccoli.”

“Smells good.”

“Drink?” she offered.

He shook his head. “Anything I can help do?”

“Nope.” She said pulling the chicken out.

“About today…”

“Is that what this is about? You coming here, just so you can spare me my feelings? I’m just going to stop you right there-“

“Lucy, wait.”

“Let me finish. I’m a big girl Tim Bradford. No, scratch that, I’m a woman. And I will damn kiss who I want to, even under other pretenses. I don’t regret what happened today and if we’re being honest with each other, today was a long time coming. I’m not meaning you and me undercover we’ve done that numerous times, I’m meaning you apologizing before you kiss the ever-loving shit out of me which I happened to enjoy more than I probably should have considering you’re here to-“

She found her rant cut short, the feeling of a hand on her cheek turning her head in the blink of an eye as those same chapped lips that were assaulting hers less than twelve hours ago, began attacking hers once more. It all happened too fast for her liking, him pulling back before she got to get acquainted.

“You don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to do that Luce.” He whispered as he pulled back.

Lucy smiled, loosely wrapping her arms around his neck. “Then why did you stop.”

“You were on a roll.” He told her, shrugging, his hands finding her waist.

Lucy rolled her eyes as her nails began to scrape over the hairs at the base of his neck. “What was I saying again?”

Tim let out a low laugh. “Hell if I know.”

Lucy slapped him on the shoulder before pulling back, his hands staying on her waist. “Let’s eat and then we can talk, I’m starving.”

“Me too.” He said, smirking as he let go. “But not for food.”

“Sustenance first Tim,” she said fixing a plate of food. “some of us haven’t had anything to eat besides an old protein bar - which I found at the bottom of my duffle mind you - since this morning and my stomach is about to eat itself. I require food Tim.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged handing him the now full plate of food. “But do I need to remind you what happened last time you had to face a hangry Lucy Chen.”

A look of horror came over his face. “N-no.”

“Good.” She said fixing her own plate. “Now, sit and enjoy because I’ve had this chicken on my mind the entire day-“

“The entire day?”

“Ok fine, I was momentarily distracted by a lapse in judgement but most of the day then.” She said as a matter of fact, cutting the meat into pieces.

“Lapse of Judgement?”

Lucy glared, pointing at him with her fork. “Stop or I’ll start psychoanalyzing you. So, it wasn’t a lapse in judgement more like a really really really good idea that I am completely onboard with.”

Tim laughed “You are so weird.” He told her, sticking a bite of food in his mouth.

“You like it.”

Tim swallowed, staring his last rookie in the eye. “Yeah, I do. And just so you know, I am onboard for this too.”

Lucy could not help the smile that overtook her face. Neither knew, in that moment where this new road would take them, the only thing they did know? Was that it was going to be one hell of a ride.

#the rookie fic #tim bradford x lucy chen #chenford fic #chenford fanfic #chenford #fanfic

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apiratewhopines · 3 years

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Look at the mesmerizing artwork by @teamhook. Can you spot the villain of this little story?

In the Offing

Chapter 18 — The Stable Boy

Summary: In which our heroine misplaces something

Chapter 18 on AO3

“A guilty conscience means at least you’ve got one

Who will forgive you when I’m gone?”

-Here He Comes, The Wallflowers

“That went further than I intended,” Killian whispered against her throat. She could feel his smile against the sensitive skin and knew that while his words sounded like the beginning of an apology, it was really more of an observation on their current status. Their completely unclothed, totally sated status.

“Hmm, there is something about the motion of the water,” Emma said by way of agreement. She was lazily running her fingers through his mussed hair, appreciating the way the thick, short locks felt silky in her hands. His laughter rumbled through his chest and she gave in to the temptation to run her fingers through the hair there as well.

“I’ll make a pirate out of you yet, Swan.”

“Well, I need to do something special for a man who would trade a secluded afternoon with the most famous actress in the world to spend time with his unknown, magnet-for-trouble house guest.”

She should get up. Lord only knew if there were locks on the door or if they could be interrupted. However, she wasn’t lying about the sensation of being lulled to sleep by the waves. Although sleep was the furthest thing from her mind a few minutes ago.

“House guest? Is that the label we’re going with? How about girlfriend? Lover? Angel? Magnificent creature?” He punctuated each question with a nuzzle against a different section of exposed flesh. “Besides, I am a seafaring man and all sailors know that it’s bad luck to have a redhead on board. Thank goodness I didn’t have to take her out on the open seas. You may never have seen me again.”

“That would have been a shame. I do enjoy seeing you. The more of you, the better.” She allowed her hands to wander over the expanse of skin on display, thankful that the afternoon was warm since there was only one sheet and their picnic blanket from the other day to cover up with. Her eyes had drifted closed during their idle exchange but she cracked open her left to look at him as she felt the bed shift under his movements. He had propped himself up on his elbow and was resting on his side. She was surprised to see his expression had turned serious. “What’s on your mind?”

“I think it’s time we talk. I like the odds of you staying put since you’re naked,” he added with some of his usual swagger.

“If you’re ready,” she told him. Reaching up to cradle his face in her hands, she knew that nothing he said would make any difference to her. She was too far gone already. The only possible outcome was she would fall deeper under his spell. “No matter what, I’m not going anywhere.”

“You don’t know what those words mean to me, love.” He pressed a forceful kiss to her lips and returned to his earlier position. His eyes focused out the window and glazed over as he became lost in his memories. When he spoke, his voice had deepened with emotion. “Liam and I moved here a decade ago with one purpose and one purpose only: To find Frederick’s bloody treasure trove. There was nothing for us in England, hadn’t been in years really. I was graduating and Liam was finishing up his enlistment with the Navy. To my surprise, he didn’t doubt for a moment my claims that I could find our fortune on the rocky beaches of Maine. So off we went without a backward glance at the shores of our ancestors.”

She could imagine a younger Killian, full of life and confidence, pulling along his older, more seasoned brother. After all, no one was more jaded than her and she was already prepared to follow him to the ends of the earth.

“It took us more time to find the pub in Storybrooke than it did to find the first treasure hoard. Oh, Emma, I wish you could have been there.” His grin was something that belonged on a schoolboy’s face, not a man in his mid-thirties. Unable to help herself, she reached up and traced it with her fingertips. He captured her wayward digits and pressed a heartfelt kiss to the tips. “Most pirate treasure was in the form of goods like timber, cotton, sugar, or tobacco. But good old Frederick didn’t disappoint. There was enough silver to make us wealthy even by today’s standards. There were some interesting historical bits as well that will one day find their way into a museum but I won’t bore you with those details.”

“Such a gentleman,” she murmured with a chuckle. “What did you do with it? Aren’t you supposed to alert the authorities when you find stuff like that?”

“I want to be a better man for you, Swan, but I will never be a saint. We haven’t disclosed any of our findings. We simply dip in when we need something extra. Some day we’ll let it see the light of day but for now it rests in Davy Jones’ locker.”

“Wait, I know that one. You mean it’s hidden under the sea?”

“No, we put it in my grandfather’s old locker and buried it under the cottage. It’s the only thing my father left behind when he abandoned us all those years ago.” When she rolled her eyes at him, he simply chuckled. “But to answer your question, the laws vary by state and country. Maine is actually quite lenient with their buried treasure as long as it isn’t found on state property. Luckily, two of the piles we found were on my land at the cottage. Technically, I didn’t own the land when I found the first one but it was under contract. I quickly remedied that and it was all above board when I found the second stash a few days later. That one had more coins and a few loose gemstones.”

“Gemstones?” Visions of The Goonies filled Emma’s mind and she had to stop herself from asking about One-Eyed Willy. Because, as fantastical as it seemed, the man who held her heart in his hands also had a knack for finding buried treasure. A gift she hoped he would survive considering someone out there desperately wanted to get their hands on it.

“Yes, darling,” he answered. “I think several have your name on them.”

“No way,” she argued. “I don’t want any of it. What if it’s cursed?”

“Cursed, you say?” He looked thoughtful as the sunlight was momentarily blocked by an errant storm cloud outside. “Yes, I suppose that may be true. Shortly after I uncovered the third pile, I went to the Rabbit Hole to celebrate my victory. Liam had just met Elsa so I was on my own for the most part those days. Not that it mattered, you know how this town takes to new people so I never lacked companionship for a drink or...whatever.”

“Whatever, indeed,” Emma teased in her best impression of his accent. She sensed he was coming to the part of his story that was the most difficult to relay and tried to infuse some humor into the conversation.

With a rueful grin that acknowledged her effort, both with the accent and the humor, he continued. “I met Milah that night. She was a sight to behold in the dim light of the bar, vibrant in a way that seemed too much for this little town.” He narrowed his eyes as they made contact with hers. “I didn’t know at first that she was married. Lads of twenty-four aren’t known for pumping the brakes when a beautiful woman gives them nothing but green lights and I was no different. Honestly, I was probably worse. I was a rash young man far from home and high on my own cleverness. It never occurred to me to question my good fortune or wonder why no one else was vying for her attention.”

“How far gone were you when you found out the truth?”

“Completely,” he confessed with a shaky breath. “The fight we had when I found out, well, it would have melted paint off the walls. I was a dirty little secret, the younger man who captured her attention but not her affections. It was always like that with her. She was so restless. Always moving, always searching. Nothing was ever enough. It took me a long time to realize that I wasn’t enough either. She wanted someone to rescue her from a life of boredom, someone who would carry her away and show her the world and fill her days with adventures. I couldn’t be that for her but I nearly destroyed myself trying to be.”

He was lost in the past, his eyes distant and filled with pain. Reliving the end of the most meaningful relationship of your life wasn’t easy, Emma definitely understood that. Especially when you gave all you had to it and it still collapsed in pieces around you.

“Her husband came to visit me one night toward the end. Offered me money to break it off,” he scoffed as if the idea still insulted him. “I refused of course, convinced he was the villain in our little drama and that I would win the heart of the fair maiden in the end. At it turned out, I was wrong on both counts. The villain was the fair maiden. Mr. Gold and I were both pawns in her scheme to escape a life she hated. When she had the opportunity, she took the money and ran. In my kinder moments, I feel sorry for her knowing she must have felt trapped. But then I remember the way the whole town thought I killed her and any kindness I’m able to scare up disappears. Just like she did.”

“You’ve never heard from her? You have no idea what happened to her?”

“No. When it ended, it ended badly. She wanted me to take her husband’s money so we could leave town together, was angry when I refused to be chased off into the night. It was then that I realized she didn’t care who she was with, as long as she wasn’t in Storybrooke. It was a tough blow to stomach. I only saw her one time after that, a couple of nights before she disappeared. She showed up at the cottage to apologize. Told me she would never regret our relationship but it was time to move on. She left the map as a parting gift. I knew then that she meant to leave. Make no mistake, Emma, Milah is alive and well somewhere on this globe, living her life to the fullest and not sparing a thought for anyone in this town.”

“Then her absence is no great loss,” she observed.

He shook his head slowly as if he wasn’t sure he agreed with her assessment. “The day after she stopped by for the last time was when I pulled my idiotic stunt. I got drunk and tried to sail directly into a Nor’easter. Liam caught me at the docks and insisted on coming with me when he couldn’t talk me out of leaving. Our boat capsized about a mile up the coast. I’m only glad I was able to pull him to shore.”

“You saved his life? One-handed in a gale?”

With a bitter twist of his lips, he bit out, “Not sure you’ll allowed to claim such a thing when the only reason a person was in danger in the first place is because of you. He was trapped under the broken mast. I’m still not sure how I got him out but I crushed my hand in the process. Got a pretty nasty infection and the doctors told me the hand couldn’t be saved and if I wasn’t lucky, I’d lose the arm too. Seemed like a no-brainer.”

She felt the tension gripping him and trailed her hands down his left arm, running her fingers over the smooth scars she felt there. He didn’t pull away but he didn’t relax either. “We’re all scarred in one way or another, Killian. Yours are a bit more on display than the average person but this shows that you are a survivor. I’m beginning to think it might be a bad idea for me to find Milah. She has a lot to answer for.”

“You know, I’ve tried to track her down but I’m afraid I don’t have your abilities at finding those who don’t wish to be found. I thought I had tracked her to Paris a few years ago, there was a new artist there that had her style of sketching but I could never be sure and they disappeared before I could make contact. I still have a file on my desktop with the various artwork I found in the gallery catalogues. I always thought I’d pick up the search again later.”

A little afraid to hear his answer, she nevertheless asked, “Why do you want to find her?”

“At first, I missed her. I wanted to hear her voice. Pathetic, right?” When Emma simply gave him a look that clearly disagreed, he smiled at her. “Hmm, my secretly romantic Swan. You have a tender heart that I adore but don’t worry, I won’t let anyone know.” He looked at her with such fondness that she was tempted to go for round two right then. However, on some level, she knew this conversation was more important than their physical connection.

Unaware of her thoughts, he admitted, “Lately I’ve wanted closure. Not for the relationship. It’s been dead and gone for years. For the case, in order to clear my name. I’ve done a lot of things that I’m not particularly proud of since I arrived here but I would like any doubt removed about this crime.”

“If you don’t mind sharing, perhaps we can find her together,” she offered shyly.

“Emma, everything I have is yours,” Killian told her. With a laugh he added, “Including the gold bars I found in the third treasure hoard I uncovered.” Taking her in his arms, he held her as they laid in the Captain’s Quarters in peaceful silence.

—

The rain that had threatened in the afternoon made good on its promise by the time they arrived back at the cottage with carryout from the pizza place. Fortunately, it was the kind of summer rain that moved through quickly and left the air feeling crisp and clean.

After her third slice of pepperoni, Emma leaned back in the patio chair and sighed. “I’m supposed to meet Graham tonight to search the woods. I guess I should head back to Mary Margaret’s place eventually anyway.”

With a quizzical look, Killian took a sip of his iced tea. “A date with another man and moving out? Have I done something to offend you?”

“Very funny,” she retorted. “I think we’ve gotten things a little out of order but there’s no reason to rush into this.”

“Darling, we have already fallen headfirst into the fast lane. There’s no reason to get scared now. Besides, I happen to know that David and Mary Margaret have reached the toothbrush phase of their relationship. You will be taking your sanity into your own hands if you head back there tonight. David is a loud...sleeper.”

“I don’t even want to know how you know that,” Emma said with a shiver of disgust. “Fine, I guess I’ll have to stay with you for the foreseeable future. If you don’t have any other plans, you can also join me on my date. We’re looking for bodies in the woods.”

With a grimace, Killian studied her profile. “Okay but only if I get to plan our next outing. A man likes some mystery in a relationship but dead bodies are a little overboard.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Dr. Jones.”

Forewarned about the activities for the evening consisting mainly of traversing hilly, overgrown terrain, Emma did a better job of dressing the part. Outfitted with flashlights from Killian’s emergency kit, she knew if the search lasted beyond the light of the midsummer sun they wouldn’t injure themselves in the dark at least.

Arriving at the Sheriff’s station shortly thereafter, Emma was surprised to find it empty and unlocked. Since another brief summer rain was moving through town, she texted Graham and they decided to wait it out at the station. Twenty minutes later, the rain was over but she still hadn’t heard from the sheriff. “That’s weird. He’s usually better about replying.”

“Text him a lot, do you?”

With a amused shake of her head, she admonished him. “Now is not the time to be jealous, Killian. He’s a friend and, unless I’m mistaken, he’s your friend too.”

“He’s not an enemy,” Killian conceded grudgingly. With a hint of teasing, he said, “But perhaps he is competition.” He moved around the station nonchalantly as if he might find the sheriff under a pile of papers or resting in one of the cells at the back of the open room.

With a deep breath, she walked over to him and linked her arms around his neck. “Not in my eyes. I’m not sure how to convince you that you’ve ruined me for other men.”

“I can think of some persuasive methods that will get your point across.” His roguish eyebrow was cocked in a way that she always found so endearing and sexy. “Why don’t we postpone this search party and you can give it your best shot? I promise to keep an open mind.”

“Keeping an open mind has never been your problem,” she laughed, playfully punching him in the arm. “I have a job to do so stop trying to distract me. We’ll have to go without Graham. We’re losing daylight and I’m running out of time before Henry comes home.”

What she didn’t add was the crossroads his arrival would bring. As much as she had fought against this thing with Killian, now that she was in, she was all in. While the four hour drive to Boston was not an insurmountable distance, she found the idea of being separated distasteful. She knew it was a conversation they needed to have and she wasn’t avoiding it exactly. Her rational mind kept reminding her that they had only met a month ago and people didn’t fall in love and move to different states after a few weeks of knowing someone. Especially single mothers who had children to think about.

Having officially given up on the sheriff, they headed toward the town line. Minutes later, they arrived to find the cruiser already parked on the narrow shoulder, driver side door open and cabin lights on. Jumping out of the truck, Emma exchanged a worried look with Killian and observed, “This looks like trouble.”

He followed her to the cruiser and placed his hand on the front seat. “It’s dry so he probably didn’t get here until after the rain moved through.”

“Graham!” Shouting his name repeatedly probably wasn’t an effective strategy but damn if she could think of anything else to do. Settling in the driver’s seat she found the keys still in the ignition and his walkie on the dashboard. Picking it up, she paged David. Within a minute, he answered, confusion evident in his tone.

“Emma? Why do you have Graham’s walkie?”

“We found his cruiser at the town line. No sign of him. We’re going out to the woods to search but you probably want to get here as quickly as possible. I’ve got a bad feeling about this whole scene.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Wait for me.”

True to his word, David’s battered old Ford pick-up pulled behind their truck in record time. Mary Margaret had made the journey with him and as soon as the car was in park, she rushed to Emma’s side. “Still no sign of him?”

“No,” Killian answered with his eyes scanning the thick woods.

“He headed this direction and he was in a hurry,” the brunette observed, her finger pointing toward an invisible trail as if it were obvious. At Emma’s silent question, she explained, “All-State Orienteering champion and the best tracker in town besides Ruby. Knowing your way around the forest is still a skill set that’s valued in Maine.”

“Sure. I mean, why not?” Emma said sarcastically. “Why don’t you lead the way then? We’ve already wasted time waiting around the station.”

Grabbing the flashlight that David handed her, Mary Margaret stepped off the shoulder and moved noiselessly into the woods. She would occasionally murmur an observation regarding a broken twig or boot print in the soft ground. Emma made a point to try to locate whatever signs the other woman noted on their pursuit but was only able to see the tracks occasionally. In no time at all, they had circled back up the hill to come out at the road not even a quarter of a mile from the cruiser. “Great. Back were we started.”

“No,” Mary Margaret disagreed. “Look here.” She squatted down and shined a beam of light on the asphalt.

Sure enough, Emma saw some kind of liquid that had dripped on the road. “What is that? Motor oil?” Reaching down, she lightly pressed her finger in one of the droplets and smeared it against her thumb. Looking at the bright red color, a chill ran through her. “Blood.”

“And tire tracks from an SUV if I had to guess,” David added, his light illuminating the wide tracks partially visible on the wet dirt of the shoulder. “Someone took him.” He immediately started back toward his truck, getting on his radio and calling the other deputy to round up some volunteers and meet them out at the woods.

—

Entering the cottage at four the following morning, Emma dropped on the couch in exhaustion. They hadn’t found any other clues as to the whereabouts of the sheriff or who grabbed him off the deserted road. Had he been followed out to the town line? Is that why he hadn’t responded to her text? Why would he have not reached out to her or David if he thought he was in trouble?

Settling next to her, Killian pushed her hair back behind her ear. “We won’t find him by staying up and worrying. You need to rest.”

“I can’t shake the feeling that this has to do with me.”

“With you? Why do you think so? Didn’t you say he found something in the woods? Something related to a disappearance that happened when you were a baby.”

“I know it’s crazy...”

“I didn’t say that, love. If you think this has something to do with you, I wouldn’t bet against your instincts.” Smiling at her with an expression of full support, he added, “You’ll figure it out. But it doesn’t have to be tonight.”

“He could be out there hurt, Killian, or worse. I think we need to regroup. Go through everything again. I must have missed something. And we’re going to need all hands on deck. The situation is escalating. When are Liam and Elsa supposed to come back?”

“Day after tomorrow.”

“Perhaps you should convince him to come back sooner.”

“That will be a pleasant conversation,” Killian muttered with a roll of his eyes. “Perhaps I’ll call Elsa instead. She’s the more reasonable one.”

“Coward,” she whispered against his lips as she kissed him softly. She would never get tired of this, having him within arm’s reach. His very presence made all her worries melt into the background.

“You have more than enough bravery for the both of us,” he complimented her. “But I’ll do as you ask. After all, he’s the one who brought you into this mess. Not that I’m complaining.”

“See that you don’t. I have ways of dealing with complainers,” she ordered tartly, forcing herself to get lost in this moment with him. As she got up to walk away, his fingers hooked into the pocket of her jeans and tugged her back into his lap.

“Saucy. I like that.”

“Behave, Dr. Jones.”

There weren’t any coherent words spoken as the early morning light started to break over the horizon. He had decided to disobey, misbehaving in the most delightful ways.

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arsonanddahlias · 3 years

Text

Concealer

This is one I wrote a little while ago about Reggies home life, which he tries to hdie from the boys. It does mention explicitly Child Ab*se and Implied s*lf harm so if those are triggering topics please be wary and skip this fic :)

Reggie stood in front of the bathroom mirror, and took a glance at his disheveled form. He certainly couldn't go to band practice looking like *that*.

Luckily, and perhaps concerningly, he was fully equipped for this situation, he didn't want to have to lie about bruises on his face and arms to his friends again, they'd barely believed him last time when he told them he'd fallen down the stairs.

To be fair, he thought, it was only half a lie. He had gone down the stairs, only less fallen and more pushed.

He'd gone out the next day and bought some tgrifted flannels for when it was too hot to wear his leather and some concealer which was probably the wrong shade.

Today wasn't the first time he had used them.

It's not that he wanted to lie to his friends, but the concern on their faces was too much to bear and he knew that it would eat them up that they couldn't intervene.

Really, he was helping them.

He heard another crash downstairs and flinched, hard. He'd almost been hit by another plate today, and the sound hit too close to home.

He gave himself a long look, trying to pinpoint different things he needed to do. He put on the flannel he kept clenching his fists around, which worked to hid the bruises and scars that his...... Dad...... Mostly..... Had left there. He grabbed the cheap concealer from his shelf and coated his face and neck. He put on a thick layer but it was barely enough, he couldn't afford the good stuff. He rubbed it in with his fingers and stepped back to check that he looked fine. His eyes were a little red but it'd probably be fine.

He snuck through the kitchen, trying to avoid the living room where he could still hear yelling. The air was humid, he should probably have grabbed a coat but it was way too warm outside. Grabbing his bike from their porch, he made his way towards their studio.

He was a little late and definitely stiffer in his performance, but if the boys noticed they didn't say anything. Other than some little mess ups that earned him jabs from the band, the rehearsal ran smoothly.

For once it was Alex who suggested they go to the pier, and all 4 boys readily agreed. Leaving their instruments scattered around the studio, they linked arms and headed towards the beach.

Maybe one of them should have checked the forecast before hand, though, because by the time they were there, torrential rain was bombarding them.

The boys laughed and huddled under a nearby bike shelter. It was late, so the streets were completely empty.

Suddenly, Luke stopped completely mid sentence, and stared at Reggie. Alex and Bobby, confused, followed his eye line to Reggie's face.

"Hmm? What. Have I got something on my face?" Reggie questioned.

He brought his hand up and touched his face, bringing it in front of his eyes.

"Shit"

Maybe he should have bought better concealer, or brought a coat, or thought even for a second that makeup does tend to melt in the rain.

At that point, none of those things were going through his mind.

They're going to find out. They found out. He's going to be so mad. Oh my god. Maybe they didn't.........

He ran.

He didn't care that it was raining anymore, he ran. He knew the boys would be chasing after him, and he didn't care at all.

He couldn't go home in this state. He couldn't go to any of their houses either, they're parents would call. Maybe he could hide in the studio? It was his best shot right now.

Maybe it was luck, maybe it was adrenaline, but he made it to the studio without any of the boys seeing him. Without much thought, he ran up the stairs to the loft and curled up into a ball.

They.... Cared about him.... Right? Or were they going to leave him, just like everyone else. Oh god, they were. They couldn't deal with his shit, it wasn't their problem. It wasn't their job to look after his broken self. He should leave, they wouldn't want him in their studio. They wouldn't want him in their band. They wouldn-

"Reg! Reggie are you in here". It was Alex. Reggie glanced over the railing at him. Maybe his luck wasn't the best, because that's when Alex decided to look up.

"Reggie thank god, I thought we'd lost you" He said softly as he climber the stairs

Reggie just looked up at the taller boy with big, brown eyes as Alex pulled him into a tight hug, sitting down next to him.

"Look, Reg, I'm not gonna force you to tell me anything, but we care about you. We want to know when things are getting bad again"

"I-" Reggies voice cracked and he shut his mouth. He didn't want to sound so broken. He silently wiped some of the concealer off of his face, and then took off his flannel and chucked it on the floor, revealing his bruised arms.

"Reg" Alex said with a softness that was reserved for him "I'm not letting you go back there"

"I- I have to"

"No" Alex said in a way that Reggie knew was useless to argue against.

Reggie sat, letting himself be pulled in to Alex's side. He ran his thumb over some of the too clean scars.

Alex glanced down, then have him a knowing look. "That wasn't.. That wasn't your dad was it"

Reggie shook his head, letting more tears spill out onto his wrists.

Suddenly Luke and Bobby were yelling from below them. They didn't have the... Softer touch that Alex had, but he could hear the concern in their voices.

"Up here!" Alex said, just loudly enough. He knew how much shouting affected the boy tucked beneath his arm.

Luke ran up the stairs quickly, and shoved himself on Reggies other side.

"You know we love you, right" He said, muffled by Reggies arm, which he was hugging tightly.

Reggie stayed silent. In truth, he didn't want to believe him. He didn't want to let them love him. He didn't want to hurt them.

"Yeah" maybe the first honest thing he'd said all night.

Bobby was never very affectionate, but he joined into their group hug, half to comfort Reggie, and half to make sure he didn't try to go back to his house.

Not home.

This was home.

The next day, when Reggie snuck into his house to get clothes, he chucked away his concealer.

#Jatp #julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #Luke Patterson #Alex Jatp #Reggie Jatp #abuse tw #Fanfic #Jatp fanfic #Arson writes

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nxrdist · 3 years

Text

𝕺𝖆𝖙𝖍𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝕷𝖔𝖞𝖆𝖑𝖙𝖞||TLK Fic|| FinanxOC||Eight

AN: Aye! Here I am again after a ridiculously long and random hiatus. So sorry about that by the way, but here we are with the next chapter :) I hope ya'll enjoy!

Story Summary: Tove chose to surrender rather than be killed, after Sigfried was defeated at Beamfleot, giving herself up to the mercy of the Saxons. Thanks to Finan’s intervention, her life is indeed spared and she is brought into Uhtred’s service. With the sting of defeat fresh on her tongue and her new life fighting for the Saxons secured; Tove is left wondering what tricks the Gods have in store for her next.

Words:5229

Rypere and Kenward loitered near the horses while they waited for Uhtred’s command to move out. Only one of the two would be leaving with the soldiers. Kenward had been pulled from his regular duties to serve as a part of the forces heading to aid Alfred against Bloodhair. Rypere had not been chosen for that mission. He would instead be left under the command of Cerdic in Lundene, protecting Uhtred’s family.

“Lady Tove’s horse is still in his stall.” Observed Kenward tacitly.

Fixing Kenward with a bored look, Rypere sighed. He didn’t bother to correct Kenward’s use of the word Lady as there was no point. The comment was more than the simple statement of fact and the young Saxon knew it. Since Kenward had overheard Tove would also be staying behind as part of the guard, he had been probing his friend continuously, and it was starting to grate on Rypere.

“I imagine you’ll be spending quite a bit of time together. Has Cerdic assigned shifts?”

“You are the least subtle person I have ever met,” Rypere stated.

Kenward shrugged, hardly able to argue the observation. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Rypere considered his answer. “He did.”

“Well?” Kenward pressed. “Are you on shift with her?”

“Does it even matter?”

“Does it even matter?” Kenward gaped. “Of course, it does. God has done you a favor, and you would squander it?”

Rypere snorted incredulously. “I would not call bringing the Danes to bear against Wessex a favor.”

Kenward went to smack Rypere’s arm, but he dodged. “You know what I mean! Everyone will be away -Finan will be away. There are only six in the guard. Is it just chance you were both picked?”

“Finan offered to put in a word for me,” Rypere deflected.

“But has he? That was before Uhtred met with Jarl Haesten. It’s been weeks.” Kenward looked unimpressed.

“I don’t know.” Admitted Rypere.

Expression unchanging, Kenward said. “Then, I should think not.”

Rypere knew he had more to say, so simply waited for him to have out with it; prompting him would only make Kenward more circuitous in getting to his point, which Rypere hadn’t the patients for just then.

“I was on guard at the wall a few days ago when I saw Finan ride out toward the wood.” Kenward paused, glancing at something out of Rypere’s line of vision, and only continued after Rypere had cleared his throat. “Anyway, he was gone for hours. And when he came back, who do you think was with him?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Rypere closed his eyes for a moment. “Must I ask?”

“Well if you don’t want to know.” Kenward retorted indignantly.

“You gossip worse than a woman. Fine, who was with him?” Rypere asked finally, though he felt he knew the answer.

“Tove. If I had to guess, they arranged to meet out in the woods…” Kenward trailed off.

The implication of Kenward’s tale hung heavily between them, stoking the flicker of doubt Rypere had about the Irishman’s intent. He did not like how the story made him feel because he admired Finan -respected him deeply as a warrior- but it brought him back to the night he’d asked Tove to have a drink with him. When he’d asked Finan to put in a word with Tove for him, Rypere had thought for just a moment the man might say no.

“No,” Rypere said, his tone halting.

Kenward’s brows rose. “Yes…I heard them laughing together as they came to the gate.”

“It doesn’t mean anything.” Rypere’s tone was snappish now.

Kenward held up a hand. “All I am saying is, the two have been close ever since she joined us.”

“She is close to Sihtric, Uhtred, and Osferth as well.” It was a feeble defense all but defeated by the incredulous look Rypere received in reply.

“As I said, this is an opportunity for you to become close too,” Kenward said encouragingly. “Do you not love her?”

Rypere did not know what to say. His friend had an excellent point. Whatever had or had not occurred in the woods between Finan and Tove, aside who could say how long it would take to defeat Bloodhair? It was a perfect chance for him to make a move. And perhaps despite his prior fumbles, Tove may even be more receptive to it without a distraction.

Villages dotted the West Saxon countryside interspersed with farmland and pastures that went on for miles. Galloping on horseback across that vast rolling country had a freeing nature to it that set Kåre grinning with anticipation of coming adventure. For him, it almost rivaled the spark of joy that came with pushing a ship off to head for the open ocean. It was chasing that feeling that drew him to raid, not wealth or reputation though those were positive consequences of successful raids.

Wessex, if they could conquer it, would be a jewel. Kåre even allowed himself to entertain the idea of bringing Igna, Ama, and his younger sister there when it was all over. They would love it. He smiled at the thought that by then, Tove would be with him and the elation his family would feel at seeing her alive again.

They reached the crest of a hill leading down into a small valley where a village came into view; there was a fair-sized hall, a few fine houses, and two sturdy barns. Their band came to a halt at the sight of it as Harald pulled his horse up alongside Kåre with Skade at his flank on her mare. Kåre found himself studying the witch instead of their leader just then. She gazed into the valley with bright, somewhat wild eyes and her hair seemed to stir in a breeze that blew entirely for her as he felt no wind. Skade was striking in her looks, but she was also brash and imprudent. He could see in her eyes that Skade wanted the village.

“Do we move on?” Kåre asked Harald.

Harald considered him as he looked out at the valley. The day’s first light was only just beginning to break over the horizon, so they could not be seen by the inhabitants down below. It was an opportune time to attack. There had been word though of a larger settlement not far where they may find more plunder than this small collection of houses might offer.

It was not Harald who spoke though it was Skade. “We must attack.”

Kåre turned to fix her with an incredulous stare, but Skade wasn’t looking at him. She stared at Harald with a rapt intensity as she urged him to attack. He kept his gaze on the valley for a beat more before focusing on Skade.

“They’ll never see us coming. Bloodhair, we must.”

“And why must we? Have we not a greater goal?” Kåre questioned evenly when Harald said nothing.

Skade’s eyes snapped to him in an instant, flickering with undisguised spite.

“Do you fear Saxons, Ødgerson?” She hissed.

Kåre resisted the urge to rise to her goading, keeping a neutral expression. Skade did not do much to evoke the Jarl’s logical mind, but he trusted Harald could be persuaded to see reason so long as he kept a cool head. She narrowed her eyes at him as if she knew what he was doing, but then Harald finally spoke.

“You may take your guard and two crews. It is a small village that should be enough?”

“You will not join me, my Lord?” Skade asked, sounding somewhat irritated.

Harald’s look was mollifying. “I will send for you before any battle is fought.”

His words seemed to calm her some, but Skade still eyed Kåre from her periphery. “You will.”

Bloodhair raised a hand to call for her guard. Her guard and the selected crews formed up and were off before the sun fully rose over the horizon, thundering down into the valley at speed. Harald dawdled on the hill for a short time to observe as Skade and her forces reached the village and began the raid. The witch’s howling war cry could be heard if faintly even from their position. When he was satisfied, Harald turned to Kåre and gave a nod indicating they should move out without further delay.

Early afternoon of the following day, they came upon the larger town a ways north of where Skade had decided to raid. After riding hard for days without much rest, their supplies were beginning to run low, and they needed whatever fresh horses they could find. So upon sighting it, Harald ordered the attack and they descended on the settlement blades drawn.

They hadn’t even reached the town when people started running from their houses. Some ran directly for the woods or straight across fields, but many young and old men appeared carrying iron clubs, axes, or other farm equipment. They were not experienced warriors, though, like the Danes who were flooding the town. Most of them were slaughtered.

A man not much older than sixteen came from his house with a scream of rage going directly for Kåre as he rode up. He might have felt a sliver of remorse for killing the boy who had such a fire in his eyes except for the fact he did not attack Kåre himself, but his horse. The youth carried a scythe which he swung wildly at Kåre’s mount as he approached, catching the beast in its hindquarter. It faltered mid-step, leaving Kåre no choice but to leap from the horse’s back to avoid being crushed when it fell. Then the boy charged him, flecks of spittle flying as he screamed. Protecting himself with his sturdy Lindenwood shield, Kåre braced as the scythe crashed against its boards.

Unfortunately for the boy, the scythe’s blade stuck in the wood, allowing Kåre to swing the shield hard to the side, tearing the weapon from his hands. Kåre dropped the shield having no further use for it in its current state. When he rounded on the boy, there was fear in his eyes as they darted around searching for an escape, but there was none. Mercifully, Kåre ended his life with a single stroke of his sword that sprayed him with blood. The boy hit the ground with a thud and was dead shortly after.

By that time, Harald stormed the hall dragging an elegantly dressed man from inside by his hair. He was whimpering unintelligibly. Kåre’s lip curled with distaste as he approached the scene. The man who could only be the Lord of the town had stopped sniveling when he reached them, but Kåre did not understand the English words. He was spluttering at Harald.

“Please. P-please don’t kill me. I have silver. I.. I’ll give it to you. J-just don’t kill me.”

“Who are you?” Harald asked, speaking in the language of his captive.

“I am Dreogan.” The man said.

Harald nodded, looking quite bored with the man. “Dreogan. Do you have much silver?”

“I-I am the thegn in this town.” Dreogan stuttered. “Though we are richer in grain than silver.”

“Where is the silver?” Demanded Harald.

Tears were running down the thegn’s face. “It is buried, Lord. I-in the barn. Please. There is no need to kill anyone else.”

Ignoring the latter half of Dreogan’s words, Harald turned to a few of those who had gathered to watch and addressed them in Danish. “He says the silver is buried in the barn. Fetch it.”

With that, he dragged Dreogan back inside the hall, Kåre and some others followed behind. The fighting was over. All the town’s inhabitants having either fled or been killed by the raiders, leaving them with free reign.

While they waited for the silver to be found, Harald and his men helped themselves to Dreogan’s stores. It turned out he had been telling the truth about his town being rich in grain as there was plenty of bread and ale to go around. However, after several hours of digging in the barn, no silver was recovered. Harald had questioned the thegn again less calmly than he had at first, but when he gave no answer save sobbing for his life, the Dane had enough. Men were then instructed to search the village for whatever they could find; Dreogan’s throat was slit, and his body tossed from the hall.

Soon after, Harald summoned Kåre to his side at the head of the table. The blonde Dane pulled up a chair next to Harald, who offered him a cup nearly overflowing with ale. Kåre took it graciously before querying what it was Harald required.

“Will you take some men to fetch Skade?” Harald asked. “She has had enough time in that backwater. I want her at my side.”

“And I suppose we are to return here,” Kåre replied.

“Yes, we’ll move on from here. You’ve heard the reports -the Saxon army has retreated to one of their walled towns.”

“Winchester?” Kåre asked.

Harald shook his head. “No. I do not know the name of the place. It does not matter. Scouts have sighted them heading east. We raid until they have starved.”

Kåre felt a little dubious of the plan. If the Saxons’ had their army at this other town, why should they not simply attack Winchester? He had heard of its substantial stone walls, but if the army was not there, that would mean fewer men to defend those walls. It was possible that they might breach the walls and raid the city before Alfred could send reinforcements. They did not need to hold the city; just use it to draw out the King to where he could be killed in battle and Wessex would fall.

Perhaps either plan could work, though, so Kåre did not argue the point. Instead, he requested a few hours rest for his men before they set out, which Harald agreed to. Their business concluded, Kåre informed his crews of their mission before taking some rest himself. With their smaller force, he might be able to reach Skade’s town by mid-afternoon if they rode hard through the night.

It was several hours past noon when Kåre reached the hillcrest where they first spied the village, but he halted his men at the sight of it. Something was wrong. Horses grazed in a paddock, charred-out buildings no longer smoldered, but the place appeared deserted. It might not have been cause for alarm to find the site so abandoned if it were not for the great banner of a wolf’s head blowing in the wind.

They proceeded a little further down the hill with more caution. He felt reasonably sure none who rode with Harald bore such a banner. His assumption proved correct when he called for a man in their company who knew those lands better. The man told him it was the banner of Uhtred, the Dane-slayer. Kåre tightened the grip of his reigns reflexively at the name and his blood ran hot. He could not help wondering if Tove was with him or whether she was being kept prisoner somewhere. Kåre spat on the ground in his anger as if doing so could rid him of the offending emotion. It would do him no good here because from what he’d heard, Uhtred was smart.

When they had almost reached the town, a cry called out from the vanguard, alerting them to a presence at the other end of the valley. Abandoning the ruins, they advanced towards the emerging line of warriors. Even at a distance, Kåre was able to spot Skade standing barefoot with a rope around her neck beside a Lord dressed in Danish style who sat astride a large warhorse. His heart sank.

“Lord,” whispered the man to his left. “It is the Lady Skade…”

Kåre threw the man a dark look and he said nothing further. No one moved as Uhtred and a bearded man brought their stallions down a portion of the way down the hill, with Skade between them being led by the rope. Upon closer inspection, she had been stripped not only of her boots but her mail coat, leather jerkin, and all she possessed. The only things Skade wore were a pair of linen breeches and a thin tunic. When they stopped, Uhtred passed the rope to the bearded man before continuing the descent until he was within earshot of them.

“Tell me who leads you?” He called.

Kåre did not react. Uhtred had the high ground, their forces were near evenly matched in numbers, and there had been no recent rain that might have caused them to slide or trip. If he were to act impulsively and attack, it was a near certainty he and his men would be slaughtered. That aside, Kåre did not think Uhtred wanted a fight. The Saxon was showing them he had Skade, that he had stripped her of her armor and that she was at his mercy. The Dane-slayer wanted to insult them.

A voice in the back of his mind spoke unbidden as he looked at Skade’s state of vulnerability. Had Tove been treated in such a manner? Paraded about on a leash for the amusement of Uhtred’s men? Righteous anger rose in his chest at the thought of it. He did his best to push it down, knowing there was nothing he could do for Tove at that moment; Kåre kicked his horse a few paces forward.

“I do.” He spat.

“And who are you?”

“Kåre Ødgerson.”

The distance such that it was difficult to tell, but Kåre imagined by the silence following his declaration Uhtred was surprised though if he was, his response did not betray it.

“You will go. Go and tell Harald Bloodhair that Uhtred of Bebbanburg made a great slaughter of his men. You will tell him Uhtred has his whore. Tell him I have her, and I’ll use her for my amusement. Go!”

He had no time to make a response before Uhtred turned his horse and rode back to where Skade and his man waited. Kåre watched Uhtred take the rope and exchange a few words with her. A few of his men broke their line to ride just close enough to see Skade clearly, but Kåre did not need a closer look. The defiant lift of her chin before Uhtred maneuvered his stallion in front of her blocking his view, was enough to confirm it -even as a prisoner, she was brash. Kåre waited until Uhtred’s men disappeared from the hill crest to leave on the chance he changed his mind about attacking, but once they had gone, he called for a scout to follow them at a distance. Then they rode.

Finan looked at Uhtred quizzically. Debasing Skade as he had was not in Uhtred’s character. So long as they’d known each other, Finan had never known his Lord to be unkind toward women. He couldn’t help glancing back at the woman now appropriately dressed in her boots and jerkin to cover the near sheer tunic underneath.

“Why did ya do it, Lord?” Finan asked.

Uhtred also looked over his shoulder briefly at Skade. “I wanted him angry.”

“Angry enough to do something stupid,” Finan said.

Uhtred nodded. “Haesten says he is impulsive.”

Uhtred and the rest of the fighters had only been gone a week, and already Tove was starting to feel useless. She spent the days guarding Gisela and her three children. Cerdic and Rypere were usually on shift with her during that time while three others stood outside the house at night. In the evening, she would retreat to the training yard to practice what drills she could by herself before returning. Gisela had made good on her promise to have Tove stay with them at the house, and she slept in Stiorra's room while the girl stayed with her mother. It was an informal arrangement, but Tove longed to go on patrol because then she would feel like she was doing something though she did not voice her complaint. Gisela was her dearest friend, aside from Finan, and being in her company was no chore, but the guilt at being stagnant was there. At the time of her friends' departure, she'd told herself it would be okay, that she would be plenty distracted. But it was not always so.

One reprieve Tove quickly came to count on was the children who'd become fond of her over the years. Stiorra especially enjoyed toting her along on her childish adventures. Meanwhile, Obsert, the youngest, was especially keen to follow Tove wherever she went. So both were overjoyed to find her only duty at present was to guard them and therefore took full advantage of the situation.

It was not long after the afternoon meal that Tove found herself sitting on the dusty ground out front of Lord Uhtred's house. Stiorra was practicing braids in her hair while she played a simple game of marbles with Osbert. The child was about three summers in age then and had recently taken a fascination with the game. While his two elder siblings were worn out with the game, Tove did not mind it. Nor did she mind allowing the boy to win on occasion as his squeals of joy at having beaten her were reward enough.

"Father says we shouldn't let him win," said Stiorra seriously as she watched Tove purposefully miss with her marble for the third time in a row.

Quirking a brow, the blond Dane turned slightly, her expression a picture of innocence. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're referring to, my Lady. Young Osbert is simply talented." Tove turned back to smile at the boy. "Aren't you?"

Osbert giggled as he shot his marble.

Stiorra frowned. "And I don't like it when you call me Lady."

"You're a Lady, aren't you?" Tove asked; her tone was light as she pretended to focus on her next move in their game.

Sighing dramatically, the girl tugged at Tove's braid. "So are you."

Tove scoffed. "I am no such thing."

"Your family own land!" Stiorra argued. "Back in Denmark."

Suppressing a sigh of exasperation, Tove gave a slight shake of her head. The girl was a sneaky one, often listening in on the adults when nobody was looking. There was little doubt in her mind Stiorra must have been doing precisely that when she'd spoken to Gisela of her family. Still, she wished the girl was a little more sly with her knowledge, but she would learn.

"Tell me about Denmark?" Stiorra pressed, causing Tove to actually miss when it was her turn with the marble.

"Denmark? Hasn't your mother told you of Denmark?" Tove asked.

Stiorra snorted. "Only that it is cold and wet and not at all like here."

"Well...that is all true. And this land is beautiful. That is why-"

Stiorra cut her off. "-The Danes covet it so very much.

A deep masculine laugh followed Stiorra's proclamation, which caused all three to look for its owner. Tove was the first to spy Rypere sauntering toward them at a leisurely pace. He looked tired, almost as if he hadn't slept since he'd come off shift when the sun rose that morning. Puzzled, Tove furrowed her brow.

"But we know they will never take it," Rypere joked as he knelt down next to them, ruffling Obsert's hair.

"Rypere, shouldn't you be resting?" Tove asked.

Stiorra looked between the two of them thoughtfully but said nothing, suddenly very interested in braiding Tove's hair once more.

Rypere smiled hopefully at her, and Tove felt a strange tug at her heart at the sight of it.

"I'd hoped I could borrow you for a short while? If the Lord and Lady are agreeable?" The latter half of his question was directed at Stiorra and Osbert.

Osbert gave a cry of dismay at the idea of his time with Tove being interrupted. The boy quickly scrambled over to wrap his arms around her neck and snuggle against her chest. Over her shoulder, Tove glanced at Stiorra, who dutifully pretended she was not paying attention until she'd been addressed. At that moment, Tove was unsure of whether she hoped Stiorra too would throw a fit despite knowing the girl was not often prone to them. She and Rypere had not spoken privately since her rejection to join them at the tavern. So it was tricky to say what he might wish to talk with her about.

"It is Osbert's nap time. I'm sure mother won't mind Miss Tove," Stiorra said.

"That's great," Rypere said with a slight exhale of relief.

Tove cleared her throat slightly as Stiorra let go of Tove's hair and held her arms out for her brother. The Dane thought she spied a hidden smile on the girl's lips as she detached her brother. Osbert was sniffling loudly and whining that he was not tired, which of course, did not help his case.

"Tell your mother I won't be gone too long."

Stiorra nodded, taking Osbert's hand and they disappeared into the house shortly, leaving Tove alone with Rypere. His sudden appearance confused her. After that night, the Saxon had kept his distance for the most part, but she hadn't deluded herself into thinking he didn't still watch her from afar. However, with his distance, Tove figured he might have moved on or accepted their friendly acquaintanceship as it was. The way he looked at her now, though, told Tove that was not the case at all.

"Is something wrong, Rypere?" Tove asked. "Did something happen on the night watch?"

His eyebrows shot up briefly, seemingly without his permission, but he recovered himself. "No. No, of course not. I just-" He paused, fiddling with something in his pocket. "Well, I noticed that um, you wear those-" Rypere gestured to the rune hanging about her neck. "And I saw this in the market. I thought you might like it."

Tove said nothing as he hesitantly pulled a small stone from his pocket, extending it tentatively toward her. Momentarily shocked, Tove stared at the rune in bewilderment.

"Do you know what it means?"

Rypere hesitated again, awkwardly still holding the rune out for Tove to take. Suddenly he looked quite concerned. "No...I don't. It's not bad, is it?"

After a moment of further inspection, Tove chuckled. "No, it is not. Though, I would argue it may do you more good than I."

Mercifully, Tove took the rune from his hand and ran her thumb over the carving.

"What's it mean?" he asked.

"Svefnthorn, sleep thorn," she said; still half smiling. "You put it under your pillow for a restful night's sleep. It appears the merchant who sold you this thought you looked rather tired."

The smile appeared to melt off Rypere's lips at her words. He'd asked for something romantic when he'd gone to the market that morning. And the bastard had given him this? Anger shot through him, but it only showed in the form of a downward turn of his lips. Just as he was considering going back to have a few words with the merchant, Tove interrupted.

"Not that..." She paused, collecting her thoughts before starting again. "Not that I am not grateful for the thought. But why would you buy me this? A gift, I mean."

Tove feared she had sounded rather unkind in her questioning for the few moments that passed following her words, but then Rypere spoke.

"Well, I had thought..." He inhaled sharply as if steeling himself. "With the others away -with him away- that we might get to know each other better?"

She furrowed her brow. "With who away?"

Rypere's slight frown deepened. For a second he doubted, Kenward's assumptions about the nature of her and Finan's relationship, but then his friend's words echoed again in his mind. But has he? It's been weeks.

"Finan," Rypere said.

"Finan?" Tove was startled.

Mollified, Rypere murmured, "Well, I had thought..."

She frowned.

"I just mean you're close."

The words caused a hitch in Tove's stomach reminiscent of what she'd felt earlier at the sight of Rypere's hopeful smile. It wasn't him that was causing it, though. Finan, she'd immediately thought of him when she'd seen that smile, but why? And why was Rypere so concerned about her relationship with him. It made her irrationally irritated.

"Yes, we are. And you and I are not." Tove stated flatly.

Rypere opened his mouth as if to speak but quickly shut it. After a few seconds, he attempted again before again sealing his lips but this time in a frown. She felt a pang of regret. It hadn't been her intent to be harsh with him, but the strange feeling in her gut was becoming familiar, and it bothered her. The same feeling she'd had when she realized Finan was not alone in his room the morning of his departure, her subconscious noted.

"I need to go," Tove blurted out.

And she took off before Rypere could even attempt to reply.

The last time she'd sprinted away from a problem like in this manner flashed before Tove's eyes as she ran. With each pounding beat of her feet against the packed Earth, a new image appeared, causing tears to form in her eyes that she struggled to hold back.

Her father's broken expression -step. Kåre's wail of despair -step. The novel sensation of fat wet tears rolling down her cheeks -step. The odd inability to hear -step. Turning without thought -step. Running toward to beach, desperate to reach what, she didn't know -step. A rush of icy water soaking through her boots -step. Wading into that water chest deep and sliding beneath -step. Screaming beneath the water so no one would hear -step. And the incredible crushing pain of grief, knowing her mother wouldn't be coming home.

Except, now there was no pain. Reaching the Thames banks, Tove finally felt a sense of calm as she came to a halt. The pressing tug somewhere inside coming from her stomach or her heart, she couldn't be sure, was still present. Inhaling deeply, Tove bent down to tug off her boots and roll up her trousers before wading calf-deep into the rushing waters. It was an immediate balm for the tumult of emotions raging inside.

Irritation at Rypere for being so persistent. Worry for her friends, who she had no way of aiding. Anger at herself for doubting their skills. Guilt for the hope that her countrymen would be swiftly dispatched. Fear that one of her friends might not make it back to Lundene and that fear was tainted by a shame that while she feared for them all, there was one that crossed her mind more than the others -Finan.

That was something Tove kept pushed down only to be thought of in the late hours of the night when sleep alluded her. It was easier to distract herself from it during the day, but Rypere's questions had disturbed the balance. Yet, with the imminent danger they all still face, she couldn't bring herself to properly examine those feelings -not until she knew he was safe. So, Tove allowed herself that moment of peace there on the murky bank, not having realized until then how much she'd needed it.

Also, I've been thinking. Would you rather, I write up a few chapters at a time so that they can be posted more regularly? The alternative, is sort of the way I've been doing it which is cranking out several chapters at a time when I have inspiration. Thanks for your input as well as for your readership Also what did you think of Uhtred and Kåre's brief meeting??

taglist: @obipoelover, @iwillboilyourteeth, @lauwrite1225, @queen-manning, @for-bebbanburg, @bells3333, @othermoony, @emily456 , @red-roses-are-gonna-shine

#finan #the last kindgom #finan fic #the last kingdom fic #tlk #tlk fic #ool fic

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depressedhatakekakashi · 3 years

Text

Let's Save the Day

Word Count: 1809

Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, Maito Gai, Nohara Rin

Warnings: None

Summary: It's the middle of a world-ending war, everything is going wrong, and Obito can't help but think that things might work a bit better in their favour if an old friend showed up

All eyes were on him. Everyone was expecting him to save the day. To put a stop to Madara and Sasuke’s plans and prevent the world from being put into an infinite dream. He could feel the weight of all those expectations on his shoulder, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure out what to do.

There was no plan forming in his mind, and brute strength wasn’t helping him win the fight. He was outmatched, even with the entire shinobi army standing behind him ready to fight by his side. After everything he had done to protect all of his friends, it was starting to feel like a lost cause.

“We can’t give up,” Gai’s hand came down on his shoulder, pulling his attention to his side where his friend was now standing by his side. “We have to keep fighting.”

“I know that,” of course he did. It was just starting to feel like a hopeless fight. Like they were doomed to loss, no matter how hard they fought. “We need a plan. Throwing punches at them without one isn’t working.”

“That is true,” Gai sighed. “If only Kakashi we’re here-”

“Well, he’s not here!” Obito snapped. For years he had wished for Kakashi to come back and fight alongside them. To prove the village wrong about him by their side, but he refused. No matter how many times Obito tried to get through to him, or how many times he told him the villagers' opinions didn’t matter. Kakashi always turned his back to him.

“Don’t give up so fast, Obito,” Throwing his signature thumbs up pose out towards Obito, Gai beamed. “Kakashi will be here, I just know it. Until then I’ll keep These two weirdos back while you recharge.”

“Rich words, coming from someone looking like you,” If he wasn’t in the middle of a battlefield, Obito might be tempted to laugh when Uchiha Madara, one of the strongest shinobi known in history, stomped his feet and yelled at Gai. “I might just have to teach you a lesson before I deal with Hashirama, you little brat!”

“Just rest,” Gai continued, completely ignoring the angry god-like shinobi yelling at him. “By the time I’m done, Kakashi will arrive.”

Obito’s eyes widened when he realized just what Gai was saying. “Gai, Wait!” But it was too late. With a calm breath, Gai suddenly burst with chakra. The sixth gate bursting open and his power multiplying exponentially.

Obito had only seen the gates in action once before when Gai opened the fourth gate during the fight against The Akatsuki in Konoha. It was nothing compared to this. So brilliant and bright, Obito found it difficult to look at his friend as the sheer power of his chakra surrounded his body.

“Gai, wait!” Rin ran past Obito, but it was too late. In a burst of incredible speed, Gai was gone. Headed directly towards Madara, determined to hold him off. “Damn it! He’s going to get himself killed!”

She wasn’t wrong. There was no way that Gai would be able to beat Madara on his own, but at the same time, they didn’t have much other hope. They had tried everything. Fought with all of their energy, and they weren’t any closer to winning.

At least Gai was trying something new.

He hadn’t given up, which was more than Obito could say for others. Just looking around the field he could see all of the hopeless, broken expressions. Looks that wrote a story of doubt and fear.

“He has to try,” he whispered, smiling up at Rin when she looked his way. “He’ll be fine. It’s Gai after all.”

Nothing could take Gai down, no matter how hard it tried.

“Well, I hope you have a plan forming in that head of yours,” Turning her attention back towards the fight, she watched as Gai threw a punch towards Madara’s head, just barely missing as the man ducked under his hand and struck a blow to his stomach. “And fast. I don’t know how long he’ll last.”

Unfortunately, he was all out of plans. No matter what he had come up with, it didn’t work. Madara and Sasuke were always one step ahead of him, and Naruto-Sensei hadn’t been able to pull himself out of his slump since finding out who was behind that ugly blue mask.

They were doomed.

“Gai!” Looking up, he watched as Gai took a kick to the chest and was sent flying off to the side at top speed. Apparently, their time was already up.

Digging his heel into the ground, he prepared to run after his friend. To at least be there by his side when he came to a stop if he couldn’t catch him. Before he could though, a burst of orange went flying past him. Brilliant and hot, he watched as it ran between everyone until finally reaching Gai.

Only then did Obito finally see who it was.

The person surrounded by such a brilliant, bright chakra.

“Kakashi…”

Watching as his old friend caught Gai mid-flight, he couldn’t help but smile. After giving up hope and setting his goals on saving the world by himself, Kakashi had finally shown up. He’d made it to the battlefield, and Obito couldn’t be happier.

Together, there was no doubt in his mind that they could beat Madara and put a stop to a war that had already taken so many lives.

“I can’t believe it,” Rin’s voice was soft when she spoke, her eyes glued on the scene in front of her just like Obito’s. Watching as Kakashi pulled Gai close to his body and dug his feet into the ground to slow down their movements until finally coming to a stop. “He actually came.”

Kicking himself for doubting his friend, Obito forgot about Madara and Sasuke for the moment and rushed towards him while Rin followed close behind. For three years he had been chasing Kakashi. Trying to get him to come back home to Konoha and find his peace with his friends once again, and finally, he was here.

He was back.

“You’re late!” Coming to a stop beside Kakashi, Obito threw a punch into his shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt him, but enough that it forced him to take a small step back. “Of all the times to be late! And to think you’d always give me a hard time about being late to training, just to pull this?”

He’s not sure what he expects. Maybe a scolding for ‘wasting time’, or a sharp reminder that it was more than just training he had been late for. What he’s not expecting, though, is to see the way Kakashi looks at him with eyes full of sadness and regret.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, fingers curling into Gai’s shoulder as he stands there. “I...Got lost on the path of life.”

For a moment Obito’s stunned. Unsure of how to respond to Kakashi’s words, but it passes quickly and laughter starts to bubble up in his chest. Slowly, he lets it spill out. Small chuckles at first, and then bright and happy laughter that fills the air around him.

“You’re so…” closing his eyes, he gave his head a shake. “Please tell me you have a plan.”

“Wait, seriously!?” Rin grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around to face her. “After everything he has done, we’re just going to trust him!?”

“He’s our teammate,” Obito reminded her with a soft smile. “Isn’t that right, Bakashi?”

Returning Obito’s enthusiasm with an unimpressed look, Kakashi sighed when the Uchiha didn’t budge an inch. “I guess,” he whispered before turning his attention back to Gai. “That was dumb of you. I expect dumb things of Obito, but you Gai?”

“H-hey!”

“Sorry,” The shocked look that had made its home on Gai’s face as soon as he saw Kakashi disappeared suddenly and was quickly replaced by that signature blinding smile of his. “But it worked. I knew you’d show up if I help him off a little longer, and here you are.”

The logic was flawed, but the results had worked. He was willing to give Gai that.

“Just don’t do something stupid like that again,” Kakashi continued to scold Gai, his hand lingering on his shoulder for a moment longer while that brilliant orange chakra slowly transferred over and started to surround Gai’s body as well. “If we’re going to beat these idiots, we’re going to need all of us.”

A plan. That meant that Kakashi had a plan!

“Before we start,” he cut Obito off before he even had a chance to ask him what his plan was, his hand reaching out towards him. “I need to make sure everyone’s safe.”

Safe.

“You mean…” looking down at the hound hovering in front of him, Obito thought about it for a moment. Kakashi wanted to share his Chakra. To make sure everyone was safe.

What had gotten through to him after all of this time? Why was he suddenly changing his mind about being here with them? Protecting them.

“We can talk about it later,” Meeting Kakashi’s eyes, Obito searched for any sign of ill intent. Something that would tell him that Kakashi wasn’t here for them. That he’d turn against them as soon as Madara and Sasuke were dealt with.

No matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find anything.

“Alright,” grabbing his friend’s hand, he inhaled sharply as a comfortable warmth spread over him while Kakashi’s chakra engulfed him. Covering every part of his body in a protective body of chakra. “What is…”

“Kurama’s chakra will help keep you going,” Kakashi assured him. “He’ll also protect you, even when I can’t.” Once he was done sharing the chakra with Obito, he turned to Rin and held out his hand towards her. “You don’t have to trust me. You don’t even have to like me, but right now I need everyone or this plan isn’t going to work.”

Watching as Rin glared at Kakashi, Obito waited patiently to see what she would do. Out of the three of them, she had the least reason to trust Kakashi. She had been the one to give up on him first, and the one who had tried to attack him when Iwagakure put his name in the Bingo book believing that he had killed their Jinchuriki.

“I trust you,” She whispered, reaching out to grab his hand and gasping when the chakra started to surround her. “But I hope you know that If you betray us-”

“You’ll find a way to bury me six feet under the ground?” Kakashi cut her off, a playful look visible in his eyes. “I don’t doubt it. For now, though, let’s focus on saving the world from the worst plan I have ever heard of.”

#Uchiha Obito #Hatake Kakashi #Nohara Rin #Maito Gai #taryn's birthday fics #taryn's birthday celebration 2021 #Age Swap Au

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