#soon as i saw that shot in the show i screamed about this panel

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Hey, Marvel,

Does this panel mean NOTHING to you?? 😭😭

#loki #loki tv show #loki season 2 #loki comics #loki season 2 spoilers #loki 2x06 spoilers #loki 2x06 #defenders: beyond spoilers #defenders: beyond #soon as i saw that shot in the show i screamed about this panel

[redqueenphoenix]

Comic-Con (A TWD One Shot)

Comic-Con

(A TWD Fan Fiction)

I do not own any of the rights to The Walking Dead, nor do I own any of the characters mentioned from here on in, other than Veronica Strauss. Some situations have been changed and some people may have been switched in this alternate universe. 

Jeffrey Dean Morgan x Female OC

Word Count: 2416

~*~

Veronica looked down at her cell phone as she put her earrings on. She knew that she had to be getting out the door in a hurry. She was scheduled at a comic-con panel for The Walking Dead and time was running out for her to get ready. 

There was a knock on the door of her hotel room door as a security team member called into her. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.” She grabbed her bag and headed for the door. Veronica was dressed in a form fitting maroon colored dress that struck her mid thigh with a little glitz and glam. Wearing the earring and necklace that was left in her hotel room by a co-star. One last look in the mirror she adjusted her ponytail that held her long, red curls back. Pulling open the door she was met by her security team. To her they were a bit much, but she quickly became a fan favorite upon her debut in the show.

Benny, her main security guard that drove her to most of her events, smiled at her. “I can’t believe this is the last season. Are you excited about this panel?”

“Yeah, but I am also a bit sad. I will miss all my co-stars. They have become like family.”

Benny nodded as he brought his radio up to his face, “Miss. Strauss is on the move. Heading to the car now.”

The radio popped back, “Morgan is on the move too.”

“Alright see you there.” Benny said as he motioned for Veronica to walk with him. They made their way down a private elevator into the basement garage of the motel. Her eyes looked around the parking garage and smiled as she saw Jeffrey Dean Morgan heading to his car with his security team. 

Benny nodded to her as he held the door open for Veronica, allowing her to settle into the back of the car. 

As she settled in her phone gently vibrated, spreading a mile wide smile across her lips.

“You seem pretty composed after last night, Kitten.”

Blush crept onto her face as she looked down at her screen, “I may have had one too many drinks, but I assure you, Jeffrey, I’m fine.”

“I’ll take that as you had fun.”

Veronica laughed as she closed the text message thread. She leaned back in the car as Benny drove down the street to the Civic Center. 

“We’re about to pull in with Team Saviors.” He said over his radio.

“Are you referring to us as ‘Team Saviors?’ Lord, I would hate to hear everyone else's codes.” She laughed as they pulled to a stop right behind the car that was bringing Jeffrey Dean Morgan to the event. 

Benny got out of the driver's seat and came around the car to help her out as the fans screamed and took photos. 

Veronica moved to the other side of the car to get out as Benny opened the door. Her eyes went up as soon as she noticed that it wasn’t Benny’s hand that reached in for her. The very familiar tattoos of Jeffrey’s hand sent blush straight to her cheeks as he helped her out of the car. 

A shit eating grin played on his face at her reaction. “That’s quite a lovely color. And you wear my jewelry wonderfully.” He chuckled as he placed a hand on her back as they walked between the ropes that kept the fans at bay. Stopping to take photos, mingle and sign autographs. 

As soon as they entered the Civic center they were met with a few of their fellow co-stars lined up to head out to the panel.

She could hear the crowd cheering as the announcer, Chad Hardwick, began introducing the cast to walk out to the panel seating.

“You know them as Rick and Carl. Please welcome to the stage: Andrew Lincoln and Chandler Riggs.” The crowd roared to life as they stepped out onto the stage.

“The unexpected friends of the group, Euguene and Princess: Josh McDermitt and Paola Lázaro.”

 “The couple that’s not a couple but should be, Daryl and Carol: Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride.” The pair walked out smiling as they waved to the group. 

“The unstoppable force known as Maggie: Lauren Cohan.” She smiled as she stepped out waving back at Veronica and Jeffrey.

Jeffrey smiled as he placed his baseball bat, Lucille, on his shoulder and motioned for a microphone before they could be announced. 

“You ready, darlin?” Jeffrey smiled at her as he prepared to walk with her out the doors. 

“Yeah.” She smiled back as she kissed his cheek. No one on the cast knew that they had been secretly seeing each other since their debut together. Which made for some interesting encounters for both of them.

“Please welcome the duo you love to hate. Negan and Victoria: Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Veronica Strauss.” The crowd went wild. So loud that it was almost deafening as they opened the doors for them to walk out.

“Are we pissin’ our pants yet?” Jeffrey said into the microphone as they began to walk out. He hooked his arm around the end of Lucille so he could balance her on his shoulder while he still held the microphone. Placing his free hand on the small of Veronica’s back. 

“You can breathe, you can blink, you can fuckin’ cry. Oh hell you’re all going to be doing that!” He laughed as he switched hands with the microphone and pointed Lucille over the crowd. “Vicky, darlin’ any one of these shits stand out to you?” 

Veronica walked behind the panel and stopped behind Melissa McBride and raised her hands, causing the crowd to cheer. Then she moved down the line to Norman Reedus. Before she could raise her hands for the cheer, Norman turned around and wrapped her into a tight hug. 

After the crowd settled down the pair made their way to their seats. Sitting at the end, Veronica was smack dab between Jeffrey Dean Morgan and her best friend Paola Lázaro.

She laughed as Norman came down to them with his cell phone taking pictures of himself with everyone like he was one of the fan girls in the crowd.

Finally Norman sat down and Chad Hardwick started talking, Veronica’s mind started to drift to the night before. Noticing, Jeffrey smiled as his foot nudged over to her. 

He leaned over to whisper in Veronica’s ear as Paola’s eyes went wide next to her. “I know last night was fun, but focus, Kitten. There’ll be time for that later.”

Blush stained her cheeks as she turned back to the crowd. Attempting to bring her focus back to the panel.

“...and the dinner scene, even though we were all laughing it was really emotional.” Paola spoke into her microphone beside her.

“The amount of takes we had to do because we all started tearing up was starting to annoy the camera men.” Josh McDermitt added with a laugh. 

Chad Hardwick looked down the panel table as he spoke, “So were Carol and Daryl’s ending scenes scripted or did you guys actually cry?”

Melissa McBride chuckled as she looked at Norman, “Do we have to answer this one?”

The whole panel laughed along with the crowd at her answer.

“She started crying and that made me emotional. Thank god the camera switched to the back of us cuz by the end of it she had me in tears too.” Norman smiled as he grabbed his water bottle.

“Admit it, we all cried at least once in the last days of shooting.” Lauren Cohan spoke with nostalgia.

“Well, that brings me to my next question. Some of you will be seen in new spin offs of the show. I know that Lauren, Jeffrey and Veronica will be reunited in The Walking Dead: Dead City here soon. Are you all excited about that?”

Veronica smiled as she moved towards her microphone, “I’m personally excited to see how this one pans out. Victoria Hawkins meant a lot to me to play and I can’t wait to step back into her shoes.”

“The three of us coming together in character is more of a need than a fear between them now. They each have a reason for why they are in this.” Lauren looked down to Veronica and Jeffrey. 

“I like that. It’s more of a need than a fear. We’re getting those made into bumper stickers guys!” Jeffrey laughed as his hand went to go over the top of Veronica’s.

“I can’t wait to see how that show plays out with you three. It’s sure to be explosive!” Chad laughed as he turned back to his cards. “So we have time for a few fan questions.”

A young man dressed as a walker came up to the microphone with a nervous smile, “So my question is for Lauren, Jeffrey and Veronica. Since your characters have a shaky past with each other on The Walking Dead, does that impact your friendship in real life?”

Lauren laughed as Jeffrey looked at the two women with a shocked look.

“No, we are really good friends outside of the Walking Dead Universe.” Veronica chuckled as she smiled.

“All I can say is watch the bloopers reel on the DVD’s, you can see how many times we all broke character cuz we are all such good friends.” Jeffrey laughed as his arm snaked around the back of Veronica’s chair.

“I broke character because you two are so darn funny.” Lauren laughed as she looked down at the two, “You made it hard to work sometimes.”

Paola chimed in, “they really do.” The crowd started laughing.

Chad pointed out another fan to come to the microphone, this woman had blonde hair with red tips and dressed like she was at a funeral. “My question is for Jeffrey. Would I be able to take you out?”

His eyebrows furrowed together with a smirk crossing his lips, “like to dinner? On a date? With a sniper rifle?”

“Well since you offered it, maybe a date?” The girl dared to ask.

Jeffrey felt Veronica tense up a bit at her question and he glanced at her with a grin. “I have to politely decline. I’m already seeing someone.”

The room exploded in gasps including the panel. His response rocked the room in shock.

“What the hell?!” Norman Reedus blurted out, “Now's not the time to talk about us.”

Jeffrey laughed and smiled widely as the room all started buzzing about his comment. “Sorry, Norman, your cuddles just ain't cutting it anymore. I’m breaking up the bromance.”

Norman gasped and acted like he was heartbroken as the crowd hung on their every word.

The goth girl went back to her seat as an older guy stepped to the microphone. “Hey there, my name is Matt and my question is for Veronica. First off I want to say your dynamic and chemistry with Jeffrey on set was phenomenal. Was the intimate scenes with Jeffrey awkward? Like I bet they are now knowing he’s seeing someone.” The guy chuckled.

Veronica blushed deep red as he finished his question while Jeffrey chuckled looking over at her and leaning into the microphone.

“Well, Veronica, was it awkward?” His tone was playful as he smirked at her remembering the night before.

Veronica took a deep breath and smiled, “I didn't think they were. I actually enjoyed them a lot.”

The crowd cheered, making ohh and ahh sounds as they watched the pair. Paola even joined the group next to her. 

“Hey now! This panel is getting a little spicy!” Melissa McBride moved up to her microphone. 

“Now is that why you two were late to a couple shootings, because you were practicing?” Chandler Riggs chimed in with a chuckle.

This time Jeffrey turned a shade of red alongside Veronica. 

“And I wasn’t Invited!” Norman called from down the table.

Andrew Lincoln laughed as he blurted out, “Don’t feel bad I wasn't invited either!”

Veronica began giggling in embarrassment as the group joked with them. 

Jeffrey’s face suddenly went serious as he turned to Veronica, leaning in and whispering into her ear, “follow me.” He extended his hand to her as he stood up. 

Her eyes went wide as she took his hand, helping her out of the seat. Leading her towards the front of the panel table while holding a microphone in his other hand. Getting to the middle of the table, so that their co-stars could see along with the crowd.

Brining the microphone to his lips he smiled, “I think it’s time to blow it out the water. Four years of working with you and you are just as beautiful as the day I first met you. Veronica. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner for Negan than you.” His hand dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box causing the room to roar with cheers. He dropped down to his knee, “four years of seeing you in secret, but now I want the world to know. Will you be my wife?”

Veronica blinked a few times as she stared at the ring in the box.

“Well, if you’re not gonna answer…” Norman laughed as he started to act like he was gonna climb over the table.

“Yes.” Her answer was not heard due to her not having a microphone. 

Norman wasn’t having it not be heard as he sat down on the table and yanked his microphone from the table. Holding it to her lips and motioning his hand for her to say it again.

“Yes, Jeffrey, a million times yes.” She exclaimed as he slipped the ring onto her finger and embraced her.

Out in the crowd two younger guys dressed as Sam and Dean Winchester yelled over the crowd, “GO DAD!” 

Jeffrey kissed Veronica with a chuckle, then turned to the crowd. Squinting looking for the boys who called out. “Sam, Dean. I told you both to wait at the hotel!” 

The crowd erupted in cheers and laughter as the panel came around the table to congratulate them.

#fan fiction #ao3 #negan #the walking dead #writer #twd negan #twd fanfiction #negan fanfiction #negan smith #Walking Dead Cast #jeffrey dean morgan #Jeffrey Dean Morgan Fanfic

[age-of-moonknight]

Of courseee bestie! I am not doubting the man himself but I fear… you know… fandom and I am a fighty tiny little beast and I have chosen Marlene as my one and only which means that I want what’s best for her in comics and irl (when it comes to other’s opinions)

Mr. MacKay woke up one day and said “I will give those two dummies what they want” and he truly delivered. ((((alsoooo, the ex-husband got a mention but he is dead af dang)))) I really do hope that she appears again though. She does bring that new (old) feeling of Moon Knight comics, you know, the ones that are filled with absolutely brilliant nonsense and all that.

And agreed, there is a lot of *unsaid* going on between Marc and Marlene, and she has this very structured way in which she talks to him, like she fears that she will say too much or hesitate and go back to living close to him or with him because she still loves him. BUT Marlene and Jake feels different, did you see that panel with her completely softening her whole face the moment Jake appeared, this woman was looking like she saw love in its purest form and I need to see more of them, because while I believe that MacKay can turn whatever Bemis did into gold, I also want to see it in motion and Jake and Marlene are such a good combination, like, if this Jake is the most adorable version of him that we have had then Marlene will go completely bonkers for him, like she will protect and attack for him, like that time when she shot a man for Steven, she is so cool!!!!

(((Jake took that mask off so fast!! Mr. Knight truly is a mask and nothing else, eh? Like a safety blanket made by Marc for himself. I admit that him putting it back on as quickly and keeping it on and going as far as to give Marlene the “welcome” speech was quite heart wrenching)))

I do wonder about Steven and what was going through his mind when Marlene showed up… there is so much more to explore, she has to come back some time in the future… which reminds me!!! Do you remember when Marc was all like “why would people like me when there is Jake and Steven” and MacKay had Marlene mention all of them when saying that they were ALL likeable and that she had loved ALL of them???? Hello??? dying, crying, screaming and running around in circles my friend!!!

You disliking Marlene? Nah. Couldn’t be us bestie.

And she is a different creature, she always has been and I also caught that part when she said that she wanted to be in MK’s corner but that ultimately affected her, I wonder if in this timeline Marlene also suffered the loss of her brother to the same conditions, or if she had the same thoughts she used to feel when Huston was on the run, that she craved that violence. Maybe that’s why she pulled away… because she was feeling like that but this time around Di was in the picture and that changed everything for her.

And like you said, there is more than one thing going on for Marlene, and her going the distance to keep her daughter safe is just one of the things that I am glad has been included. When it comes to Marc and how she treats him, I agree, but I am always putting my defences up either way. Marc can surely handle it and he knows that she is to a certain degree right, but the “die trying” was still a bit too much for me, like it didn’t completely match her vibe (but that doesn’t make me dislike her, not at all, that just makes me want to fight for her)

ALSO now that you mention Frenchie… Marlene was in France… you know? Oui oui baguette and all that… Frenchie reference in disguise??? You know me though, if Frenchie appears he better do so with Rob and they better be married!!! I am also hopeful to see Frenchie have the same *edge* with Marc as he has always had too… You know? Just to show that it is not only Marlene that acts that way.

(Gena, honey, I am sure MacKay will have Jake visiting you soon enough, I wonder where they are at though)

Honestly, friend, there's so much good stuff here, I frankly don't have much to add beyond, like, "hear hear" or "from your lips to Mr. MacKay's ears." We can only hope that Mr. MacKay continues this awesome trend of his of weaving the old with the new Moon Knight and making some great comics all the while. Fingers crossed.

Also, doubly hoping that Rob makes comeback because he (and Frenchie for that matter) *deserves* it.

#Knight Mail #Looks like today is a day for asks hahaha #definitely can't complain; I'm always interested to see what people have to say

[bloodcoveredwithwalls]

Content

Tags: Soft, soft, fluff, INSIDE era, gender neutral (any can read)!

Word Count: 2.7k 

You walk out of the kitchen with a glass of coffee. A spoon of sugar and enough milk. Just the way Bo likes it. Today though, he wanted it made for the evening, instead of his usual morning routine.

“Bo! Your coffee’s ready!” You scream up through the stairway.

“Coming!”

Running down the stairs was Bo, with a stack of clothes, some his, some yours. You recognize one of your favorite clothing on the pile in his hands.

“Excuse you, is that my flannel?” You ask, tugging on the cloth.

“Excuse me, and yes. Yes it is, honey.” He answers with his eyebrows raised and an awkward smile.

“Aaand, what is it for?”

“That, I may not be able to tell you now. But, come with me to the guesthouse today, will you? I’ll give you a sneak peak.” He says, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. No struggle of course, he was way taller than you.

You nodded, “Okie. Very exciting.” noticing your wool beanie in between the stack.

Bo’s been working on a new project. For at least a year now, he’s been planning on everything. The songs that’ll be in it, how it’ll be played out. Your living room, bedroom and even the kitchen has Bo’s notes and his notebooks scattered around. You’ve promised him long ago that you wouldn’t open or look into any of them. Of course, you didn’t, respecting and giving him his privacy.  

He stays in the guesthouse for hours a day. From morning to night, some days he would even sleep in the guesthouse. You’ve never been in there since he first went in to start his project. Never stepped close at all. Sometimes though, whenever you lay in bed at night, you swore you could hear him slamming the keys of his keyboard from afar, or maybe even him yelling at things.

You know he struggles with his own content. You’ve been through this quite often. He would sometimes come back to the house frustrated, unable to create something that he would like. Some days, he would come back crying, walking straight into your open arms and sobbing into your shoulder. And although you’ve offered to help, he shrugged it off and reassured you that he wants to try his best and work on it alone.

“You need anything else?” You asked as you follow behind him.

“At the moment, no. Oh, wait actually yes. You know my favorite pair of socks?”

“The one with the yellow bit at the end?”

“That’s the one. Thank you Y/N, honey.”

You place the coffee mug on the kitchen table and walked to your front door, where right next to it, is a little cabinet. You pull the top drawer open and looked for the socks, pulling pair after pair, until you found them.

“Found them!” You happily beamed. But as you look back to where Bo was last, he wasn’t there. You saw the sliding door leading to the backyard open , the gentle breeze greeting the kitchen and living room.

You closed the drawer and briskly walked to the kitchen to grab Bo’s coffee mug before stepping out through the door. You tiptoe through the cold grass, quickly making your way to the guesthouse.

Just as you were about to step into the room, Bo came out, quickly closing the door and stopping you in your tracks. He spread his arms out to cover the door. You looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“Okay. Just a fair warning before you go in.  There’s a lot of random shit scattered around literally everywhere. So, don’t be too surprised. Or worried.” He smiles.

“Got it. Oh, and here are the socks. And coffee.” You throw back a smile at him. Managing a thumbs up with the pair of socks in your grip.

“Perfect. Thank you so much.”

He turns around and slowly pushing the door handle down his his left elbow, turning his head slightly to you with a shy smile on his face as you both enter into the guesthouse.

The lights were off, the room only illuminated by the sun peaking through the blinds. As you look around, you realize he wasn’t kidding at all. The floor was covered in different wires coming out from different directions. A camera on a tripod was set in the middle of the room, facing towards where you first entered. One of his keyboards was placed on its stand near the camera to a certain angle, while the other that Bo owns was on the floor, awkwardly propped up against the wall.

The desk and cabinet had different books and pieces of paper scattered on top, camera

“Alright, if you don’t mind, the sofa we have is where you can sit on for now. I know the room’s an absolute mess right now.”

He puts his hand out for you, and you grab onto him, slowly making your way to the sofa in the corner of the room with your eyes to the floor, making sure you aren’t stepping on any of the cables.

Bo sat down on the sofa, and pats on the empty space next to him, signaling you to sit. As you did so, you couldn’t leave your eyes off every corner of the room.

“So, this is it so far.”  He sighed.

“I don’t even know what most of all the stuff on the floor is for.” You said, waving your hands from the left to the right, framing what you’re seeing.

“Here, let me show you.” He stands up, walking towards on of the devices on the floor. As he stepped on one of the buttons on it, a bright purple light   projected from a panel near you and onto the right side of the wall.

He stepped on a different button, and this time the light projected to another direction from a different panel.

“Woah…” You muttered.

“Pretty cool right?”

“Very cool…” You said with your lips parted in awe.

He takes a sip of the warm coffee.  “And, tonight, I want you to be here as I record my very first step to my project.”

God, his smile could sweep you off your feet every, single, time. You were so proud of him, so happy to see him step out of his nest and finally work on something once again.  

You frantically nodded, not able to contain your excitement.

He took a sip of his coffee, “But. We might have to wait a bit, because I’ve gotta record this first bit in complete darkness.”

“You sure you want me to stay? I mean, I can wait back in the house.”

He placed his mug on the desk beside him and walked towards you. He reached his hand out and you placed yours in his.

“I haven’t been at home much for some time now. I only ever come back to sleep or to have dinner with you. And you’ve been the only person there for me throughout my process of making this.”

His blue eyes stay on yours. His voice is soft, very gentle, making sure you’re getting what he’s trying to say.

“And Y/N, it’s only fair that you get to be a part of it.”

Once again that smile of his is back. You can’t help but to jump up from your seat and hug him, landing your head on his chest. He froze for a second, hands spread apart with you in between. But in a second, he enveloped you in his warm embrace.

“I am so, so, so proud of you.” You said to him in a muffled voice, “I really am.”

He slowly releases you, and holds you by your shoulders. You notice he was a little teary eyed, his face softening from usual. You place a hand on his cheek and he rests on your hand, soon his left hand follows and holds your hand against his cheek.

“Let’s get ready shall we? I’ll help out with anything you need.” You said to him.

For the next two hours, you helped Bo get ready to record. He vaguely tells you what goes where, and you follow as instructed, moving his cameras around, testing it to see if it’s the way he wants it. Lights were moved around to different areas of the room, testing the way it shines onto him from different angles. You listened and watched as he tests his mic, adjusting how loud the audio output was gonna be, making different tracks to separate the instrumental track from his vocals. This was all a fascinating process for you.

Occasionally, you would have to leave the guesthouse to wait outside as Bo tests something out. He’d told you prior to getting ready that he wanted a few things to be a surprise to you when he starts recording. You were a sucker for his surprises. Anything that Bo’s ever made is a masterpiece to you, so, you’d be happy to wait outside to see what he’s done eventually.

It wasn’t long that you had to wait outside until finally, he opens the door to the guesthouse and tells you to come in. Even then, he covers your eyes to avoid you from looking around too much and spoiling the fun. He guides you back to the sofa, and after you’ve settled on your seat, he tells you to close your eyes.

“Keep them closed! No peeking!”

You hear his voice moving further away from you as he said so. Your curiosity grew, wanting to know where he’s going and what he was up to now.

“Okay, okay! Promise they’re closed!”

You covered your eyes with both hands, unable to hide your smile. You’ve never felt this excited for anything ever since the pandemic started.

“Okay, once I tell you to have them opened, I’ll have started recording by then. So, try your best to be as silent as possible.”

“Got it.” You manage a thumbs up with one hand, while the other now covers both your eyes.

You hear him shuffle around the room, a little “ow” coming out from him as he slaps something on. You didn’t recognize what it was. Then, you heard what you thought was the light switch being flicked. After hearing him shuffle around a for a bit more, he finally tells you to open your eyes from a distance.

“Okay, you can open them now, honey.”

You put your hands down and slowly opened your eyes, blinking a couple of times to adjust to the suddenly dark room. Bo was sat on the chair you both set up, with the light shining to his right side. You guessed what he slapped on was the headlamp stretched around his head. You had a million ideas of what it might be for, but knowing Bo, it’s probably an idea you wouldn’t have thought of.

You pressed your bottom and top lip together and did a zipping motion from the left to the right. He smiled, holding his laugh in as to not mess up the shot. You shoot him a thumbs up and he returned it by blowing you kiss.

And he started. He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard of his laptop then sat back against his chair, relaxed and a little slouched. A catchy beat came from the speaker you helped him set up. Soon after, a few synths came in, making a tune. You sat, frozen to the sofa, only able to take in what's happening in front of you.

Bo was looking away from the camera before he slowly starts lifting the mic closer to his mouth, before starting to sing on cue.

“If you’d have told me, a year ago that I’d be locked inside of my home.” In between, a pre recorded audio of him singing came up before he continued singing live again.

“I would’ve told you, a year ago, “Interesting, now leave me alone.””

You were in awe. You love his deep voice. Finally hearing him sing to these new lyrics that he’d wrote over the past year felt so surreal. You smiled seeing how Bo bounces his leg to the beat of the song.

“Robert’s been a little depressed. No~”

You felt your heart sank at the line, but you kept your cool, not wanting to distract him. Although you were quickly able to calm down a little after hearing the bridge of the song come up. You couldn’t lie, it’s a catchy song.

Once you heard the build up to the chorus, you saw Bo reach his hand up to press a button on his headlamp.

“I’m sorry I was gone, but look I made you some content.”

Bo looked up and so did you, and your jaw dropped as the disco ball hung on the ceiling appeared to be spinning around, reflecting the light shining from his headlamp. The disco ball projected all the lights against the walls of the room, making it look so bright and interactive. You looked around the walls, seeing the lights dance on every single item in the room. You couldn’t hide the smile growing on your face, forgetting if Bo might get distracted by you.

“Daddy made you your favorite, open wide.”

You snap your gaze back at Bo after hearing that, loving how he added in that line to the song. He was concentrated as ever, maintaining a leveled eye contact to one point as not to move the light shining on the disco ball. He continues on, and you stare at him, smiling as you enjoyed the catchy tune.

“It’s a beautiful day to stay inside.”

He lowers the mic with the last line, and looks down into the camera, shining it with the headlamp. You squint your eyes, to try and look at him. The room went dark as he turns his headlamp off, leaving the room pitch black. He walked over to the light switch and flicked it on.

He catches your eyes, smiling wide at you.

You stand from the sofa, making happy little hops towards him.

“How did I not see the disco ball?” You ask in complete awe.

“That’s a bit of Bo’s magic.” He jokes, grinning at you as he takes of his headlamp, throwing it to the chair.

You hug him again, tight and proud. Happy that you were able to linger in the guesthouse and watch him take his first step into the project.

“So. What do you think?” He said, throwing a glance around the room then to you.

You cling on to him, a hand around his waist while you lean on his side.

“Absolutely incredible. Loved the song, loved the lighting, and definitely loved seeing you sing.”

“I need you to know this song’s for you. You’re the reason I’m able to start making content again. So, thank you so much.”

You place other hand on his chest, still leaning onto him.

“Thank you for starting again.”

He reached around for your hand, holding both of them in his before leaning down to kiss you. So gentle, so loving. He places his hand on your cheek, letting his fingers fall to your jaw and neck, the perfect fit. He pulls away, giving you one last quick peck on the lips.

You sigh happily.

“Well, we can leave everything here for now. Give me a sec, I’ll just quickly turn everything off.”

You watch as he leaps to his laptop, then to his speaker, making sure everything’s been saved and turned off properly.

“Alright. All good.”

“Pasta for dinner?” You ask him, intertwining your hands with his.

“Anything you make, really.” Nodding in approval.

You both step out of the guesthouse, knowing that for a few months or maybe more, you won’t be able to see him in there anymore. Before he closes the door, you take a last look at the slowly spinning disco ball. You were left to imagine what’s Bo going to create next. Only surprises.

You walked back to the house hand in hand, watching Bruce wait in front of the sliding door.

“Anyways, Daddy huh?” You teased him.

“Oh hush, I know you love it.” He laughed, patting the top of your head.

- 

Boy, was this fun to write. Thank you so much to @pharlapcartoonist​ for the request and idea behind this, I hope you liked it! I’m open to more requests! Hope everyone has a great day! Please stay happy and stay safe. <3

#bo burhnam #bo burnam inside #bo burnham fanfic #bo burnham fluff #bo burnham x reader #bo burnham x y/n

[stelladjarin]

lover

It's a complicated series.

A plane crash. Dead friends. Wandering through the Amazon with little to keep me alive. A man named Druig. His face was stern. I remembered thinking it would be the last face I ever saw, death looming over my shoulder just before I collapsed.

Here, let me start from the beginning.

********

OR, alternatively, a skeptic scientist crash lands in the Amazon and pushes Druig buttons until they fall in love.

This is part one | 2.6k words | on going

It’s a complicated series. 

A plane crash. Dead friends. Wandering through the Amazon with little to keep me alive. A man named Druig. His face was stern. I remembered thinking it would be the last face I ever saw, death looming over my shoulder just before I collapsed. 

Here, let me start from the beginning. 

*

“You know,” I leaned forward, my head peeking into the cockpit, “I hate flying.”

The pilot laughed, he was kind, a local from Tarapoto that would take me and my team into the Amazon for our voyage to research cultures within its depths. “Señorita, no need to panic,” he chastised. “Why don’t you take a nap? It’ll be some time until we reach the drop-off location.”

I nodded and settled back into my seat, glancing out at the airport baking under the intense sun. A shoulder beside me nudged mine, and I looked over at Mark, an archaeologist from Harvard. He grinned, “I didn’t know you were scared of heights, doc.”

“It’s not the height,” I sighed. “These small planes make more noise than commercial flights.”

“Well, unluckily for us, I don’t think American Airlines has any direct flights into the Amazon.” His joke played and replayed in my head, a moment of reprieve in my anxiety. “Come on,” he said, coaxing my head to rest on his shoulder. “Like the man said, it won’t be a short flight. You’ve got time to relax.”

Relax. Easier said than done. I fiddled with my carry-on bag, pulling my camera out and reviewing the images I had taken on previous trips. Mark had been with me for ages, our partnership in the academic field was highly respected, and we produced several works together. I huffed and showed him a photograph of us posing in front of a large redwood tree. He chuckled and pulled me impossibly closed to his side. 

The engines roared to life, our luggage and equipment rattling against the metal walls of our future tomb. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, turning off my camera and letting it settle back into my bag. Sleep was a wiser choice than wallowing in panic at every bump in turbulence or creak in a panel. Mark was comfortably warm beside me, so I drifted off as we began cruising amongst the clouds. 

My dreams weren’t really dreams. I was so riddled with anxiety that I spent my sleep reviewing our mission to the Amazon. Land, hike, rest, hike some more, arrive at a dig site some of our colleagues had discovered weeks ago. 

It certainly wasn’t a restful sleep, but those thoughts were more welcome than what happened. One moment, I was thinking about the pottery I hoped to find. The photographs I needed to take and examine later. Trying to remember which bag held our bug spray.

Then, suddenly, we weren’t flying. I wasn’t sleeping. Someone was shouting. I blinked open, and the sensation of falling made my heart leap. A scream ripped up my throat, and I was clinging to Mark with such intensity, I momentarily thought I would hurt him. Not that it would soon matter. Our plane was free falling. 

Alarms blared in my ears, and everyone was yelling. It was horrifying. The bright sun blinded me as the nose of our plane faced upwards as if to greet it. Black smoke filled the blue skies, and I knew horror would be the last thing I felt before the crash. Before the inevitability of my death. 

Mark held me close and fastened my seatbelt over my waist. I watched his green eyes pinch shut, and trees began rocking our plane, slowing our descent but only marginally. We braced for impact. 

A heartbeat passed, and pain shot up every nerve in my body before numbness took over me. My ears were ringing, white hot fire licked at my skin, and I blinked away the dark fog that had gripped my vision. I spoke Mark’s name, but no sound hit my ears. Just the singing of my own disorientation. 

I felt for him, felt the wetness of blood pouring from his head. No. My useless fingers could do nothing but shake and tremble as I pulled at his restraints. My own vision was clouded still with tears and bleary blotches from a concussion. Smoke from the fire was beginning to burn my lungs, and it took all of my strength to pull myself from the wreckage and leave Mark behind. 

My body landed in the dirt and leaves that littered the forest floor. Mud caked my skin and ruined my clothing, and the sun beat upon my back. A few moments passed before I was able to move again, the pain beginning to settle in again as my adrenaline wore off. I turned to see the plane I had just been in; it was destroyed and in several pieces, strung between skyscraper-like trees. 

The once white panels of the plane’s exterior were now burnt black and charred. The kind pilot was half-hanging out of a broken window, mangled and dead. I looked away, not even able to process the events that had just happened. It’s a dream. I’ll wake up soon. Mark will be next to me, sleeping too. No. It was not a dream. Not according to the only other survivor of the crash.

She fell near me, wailing when she hit the forest floor. Her name was Martha, and she was cradling her left arm which was bent in a way I did not know was possible. 

Some sense was knocked into me, and I managed to pull myself up, hobbling towards her with new-found determination. “Martha,” I said softly, collapsing beside her. “Martha.”

Her eyes were brimmed with tears, her cheeks stained red, and cuts adorned her features. She was breathless, just staring at me as I spoke her name. 

“Martha, we need to get away from the fire,” I said, robotic and unlike myself. “The smoke isn’t good for us.” Shock. I was in shock.

Blankly, she nodded and moved to stand, but the weight of her own body was too much for her feet to carry. I caught her before she fell again, but I was in no position to hold her either. “Where are you hurt?” I asked gently. 

“Arm,” she said. 

“Yes, I know that. Where else?”

Her head shook, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “I don’t know. I can’t feel anything.”

Paralyzed. She was paralyzed from the waist down. She screamed as realization sunk in. My tests for reflexes produced no positive results. She screamed again. Birds scattered from the tree at each desperate cry to wake up from this nightmare.

But reality had dawned on me as well. Two women stranded in the Amazon. One paralyzed archaeologist unable to move. The other, an anthropologist from Oxford with no survival skills. Our friends, dead. Our supplies, burnt. Our chances of survival, zero. 

The sun was dropping in the sky, and I knew being without shelter during the night would guarantee a quicker death. “Martha,” I said firmly, crouching beside her as she sobbed. “One way or another, we need to move. We can figure something out together, but I need you to calm down and work with me. Please.” 

She recoiled from me as if I had struck her, but I watched as her jaw tensed, and her chest rose and fell with each deep breath she took. “The panels,” she finally mumbled. “Break one off and let me sit on it. Find some rope or tough vines and pull me along. Like a sled.”

I nodded. That, I could do. 

It took some digging, but I was happy to have the distraction. My hands went to work yanking a panel from a pile of debris. I averted my gaze at the sight of blood. The remembrance of today’s events were too much to process right then. Instead, I cut vines from those towering trees and fastened them around the charred piece of metal. 

Martha and I managed to fit her into the center of the sled, but then came the tough work of actually pulling her around. I sighed, clicking my tongue. “I need to leave you here for a minute,” I said with as much delicacy as I could. 

Her face shifted through a thousand emotions, and I understood them all. If I were in her shoes, I couldn’t bear the thought of being left, abandoned at sunset in the middle of a wreckage. 

“It’ll be easier for me to find a place to go without you. I’ll come back with a plan. I won’t be gone long,” I reassured her. 

“Okay,” she said softly. “Hurry, please.”

Trust me, I didn’t want to be out there alone any more than she did. So I moved with purpose, ducking beneath branches and avoiding the thick brush that promised to hold some sort of poisonous insect or an array of spiders. Birds screeched overhead, and monkeys howled in the distance. Every moment, I felt as if I were being watched. Of course, I was. There were millions of creatures hiding in plain sight, some more dangerous than others. 

I tried to stick to a route that would be easy to carry Martha’s sled over, but as I ventured further and further away from her, it became less possible. There were thick roots sticking up from the earth, and in some areas, the trees were so closely packed that there would be no way to fit her between them. 

“Fuck,” I mumbled to nobody but myself. I had come to a deadend. A cliff was in front of me with a view of the Amazon stretching as far as my eyes could see. It was then that I realized we weren’t leaving this place alive. Perhaps it was better to turn back and sleep amongst the ruins of our plane. Stop exerting energy you don’t have. Give up. 

The sun was kissing the horizon. Even if I had found somewhere for us to go, it was too late to start a journey like that. Predators would be stalking the forest floors within the hour. We were sitting ducks regardless of where we were. 

I took a last look out to the golden world before me. Birds soared over the canopy. Light danced between green leaves. And I turned back the way I had come, gathering sticks and leaves for a fire. 

Humans are remarkable creatures. Some scientists claim we can survive up to a month without food. But water. That is the key to life. Once we survived the first night, then came the thoughts for our long-term stay.

Martha and I were simultaneously lucky and unlucky with our position. There was a stream nearby, but it had become polluted with oil that leaked from our plane. So while Martha wove palms into loose shelter, I walked each day to a smaller creak and gathered water for us to drink. 

It was beyond exhausting, and hunger began to gnaw at the deepest recesses of my mind. We did not know what was edible around us. Berries grew from bushes, but Martha warned me against eating them. She said they resembled something she had read about in her studies for this trip.

Beyond that, most of the plants smelled like death itself. The sort of death I felt following my every step. The sort of death that had begun to fill the air around our makeshift campsite. 

So each day, I carried on to that pitiful stream of water while my whole body screamed for something more. It was blisteringly hot. Every sound of the forest set my anxiety off. My vision was blurry. I was at my wits end. 

I knelt beside the stream, cupping my hands and bringing the warm water to my lips. Breathing didn’t come so easy when the air was as humid as it was. I struggled to muster the strength to stand again, to fill the flask my trembling hands held. Visions of dancing light filled my eyes, too strong to wipe away, and I was too weak to even process what was happening before they filled everything I could see. 

My ears rang.

I thought I heard someone shout in the distance. Not Martha. It was a man. He was saying something. I thought I was going crazy. In the days we had been here, we had not encountered a single other soul, but at the moment my body succumbed to the forest, someone happened to find me. 

No, I’m starving to death. I’m going crazy, I thought. 

But there that voice was in my ears shouting, “Druig.”

Druig. 

Druig. 

It didn’t matter. My head hit the wet mud of the creak’s bank, and I was gone. 

*

Fitful nightmares plagued me, and even now, thinking back on it, I feel as if I could say that was what hell felt like. Horrid memories flying past my eyes, replaying in my head over and over again. Mark’s kind eyes, green like the forest, sparkling in the bright afternoon sun. Then, his fear. His bloodied face. Fire kissing my skin. 

Then it would start again. 

The same scene again and again and again and again.

What sounded like a door slamming hit my ears, and I jolted awake. A scream tried to escape my lips, but my throat was too raw, and all I could muster was a squeak as I turned to face the sound. 

A group of men hovered at the entrance of this small room. It was dimly lit with deep blue, evening light seeping in from behind linen curtains. The small crowd shuffled against the wall, revealing a man with a stern face and unkind eyes. 

Just one fucking thing after another. 

From a plane crash to starving in the jungle to a fucking cult? Yeah, sounds about right. 

Our eyes were locked together, but my strength was deteriorating quickly. My skin was riddled with goosebumps, and I was sure the trembling of every limb in my body was nearly audible. 

“Where am I?” I whispered. 

The man who had stepped forward quirked his head to the side, his eyes glancing over my face. 

“Who are you?” I breathed, hot tears building in my eyes. “Where’s Martha?”

“You should relax, miss,” he said in response. He had a thick accent, a deep voice that settled over me with a sort of command that made me uneasy. “It’s not good for you to get so worked up.”

I swallowed down my fear and forced myself to sit up more. Dizziness gripped me roughly, but I maintained his intense gaze. “Who are you?” I asked again.

A crooked smile pulled at his lips. “Druig.”

Druig. 

So I had heard that name being called just before I collapsed. But where was I? Where was Martha? Who even was this man? Who were those men behind him? And why did they appear so absent? 

They were ghosts of people. Their eyes stared unblinkingly at the wall behind my head. 

Definitely a fucking cult. 

“Why did you save me?” 

Druig hummed and took a few steps closer. “Centuries in the jungle, and someone falls from the sky. Consider yourself our entertainment for the week,” he grinned. 

I felt sick. 

Suddenly, I wished I was still starving in that shitty camp Martha had woven. 

Black dots appeared in my vision, and I knew all my energy had gone. The weight and fear of this new situation sent me over the edge. 

My breaths came in ragged gasps, tears fell across my face as Druig watched me. I winced, my head lulling to the side, and I collapsed again.

#druig x y/n #druig imagine #druig #eternals #mcu #marvel

[actorfrustration]

Superstar

Title: Superstar Chapter: One-Shot Pairing: Pedro/OC Rating: T Fic Summary: This is Ella's first year at Comic Con and it doesn't quite go the way she expects.

[A/N - Inspired by "Superstar (Taylor's Version). I couldn't find the Comic Con gif of Pedro winking, so I chose this picture instead because he looks so adorable.]

Ella had never been to Comic Con before, but she had been invited by her friend.

Unfortunately for her, two panels were taking place at the same time. The one her friend wanted to go to and the Game of Thrones one.

Ella wasn’t that big of fan of Game of Thrones, but she watched the show enough to understand the pop culture references.

Ella entered the hall and sat down in a chair near the front row. While she waited, she scrolled through her phone looking at the rest of the panels. Everyone chatted around her in a way that made Ella feel quite lonely.

The actors came on stage as they were announced and Pedro Pascal sat down in the chair almost in front of her. He was wearing a white Henley that was way too unbuttoned to be appropriate, but it made his olive skin and dark brown eyes stand out.

As they started the discussion, Ella found out that Pedro played a character named Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne, the father of eight daughters, brother of the murdered former princess Elia Martell, who tragically lost his life in a fight to the death for revenge for his sister and her children's death.

Oberyn sounded like a hothead, but Pedro was anything but. He was witty and funny. He gave a particularly smart-ass answer that made her giggle. Pedro glanced at her and gave her a wink before hiding his smile in his shirt.

Ella blushed as the girls around her screamed his name. She didn’t want to sound big-headed, but she was pretty sure that wink was meant for her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When the panel was over, Ella met back up with her friend and they went to the Game of Thrones signing. They got up to the table and Ella stopped in front of Pedro.

He looked up at her and smiled. “Hey. Saw you at the panel. Did you enjoy it?” he asked.

“Yeah, although I have to admit I didn’t watch this past season.”

Pedro pouted.

Ella laughed. “I promise to as soon as I get home. Sounds like it’s pretty good.”

Pedro signed her poster and said, “We’re having a beer tasting later. You should come hang out.”

Ella blushed. “I’ll…I’ll think about it.”

“Okay. See you later then.”

They walked off and Ella’s friend started squealing. “Pedro Pascal invited you to a beer tasting!”

“He didn’t invite me. He just mentioned it.”

“Yeah, but it sounds like he really wants you there.”

“Me? I’m nobody and he’s an international superstar.”

“What do you mean you’re nobody? You’re gorgeous and you’re smart. Any guy would be lucky to have you.”

Ella finally sighed. “Fine. I’ll go.”

Her friend squealed again and said, “Tell me all about it when you get back!”

Ella rolled her eyes and checked her phone again for the panels. She decided she’d go to one more and then head to the beer tasting so she wouldn’t seem desperate.

Before she headed to beer tasting, she touched up her makeup in the bathroom. It didn’t take her long to find the booth because people were crowded around it. Ella walked up and found Pedro was the one pouring the drinks.

“Hey, you made it!” Pedro said, giving her a megawatt smile that made Ella’s heart beat fast. Pedro put his arms on the bar and leaned in towards her. “What can I get you?”

Ella didn’t care for beer, but she wasn’t going to tell him that, so she picked a random flavor. “That one.”

Pedro gave her another wink. “Comin’ right up.” He pushed off the bar and poured her drink with a flourish, clearly trying to impress her. He slid it across the bar.

Ella picked it up and took a sip. “Wow.”

“It’s good, right?”

Ella nodded. She pulled out her wallet. “How much do I owe you?” Ella asked.

Pedro waved his hand. “On the house.”

“Please let me pay for it somehow.”

Pedro tapped his chin, pretending to think. “Your number.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your phone number. I’d love to take you out.”

Ella blushed. She wasn’t used to men being so forward with her. Ella grabbed a napkin and pulled out a pen, scribbling her phone number down. She handed the napkin to Pedro and picked up her beer. “Thanks for the drink.”

“I’ll call you later, cariño.”

Ella just laughed and shook her head before walking off.

He wasn’t going to call. He’d be in another city by tomorrow and she’d never hear from him again.

For now, she was going to finish her beer and go home and hang up her signed poster.

Taglist: @littlepadika @rav3n-pascal22

#pedro pascal #pedro/oc #pedro pascal imagine #sdcc 2014

[boop-le-snoot]

If life gives you melons...

Ship: Loki x F!alt! reader

Rating: Explicit / word count 5,5k

Summary: You've heard about meet-cute, how about meet-ugly? Reader has tattoos and a tongue split. There's this joke that "bisexual alt girls go looking for a girlfriend and end up with sad, tall and skinny white bois" and boy did that hit home. Inspired by this cringy video of Hiddles [youtube link].

During a panel at a comic con, Loki notices reader and they go on a date, reader gets railed: top!Loki, choking, rough sex, unprotected sex, all the good stuff. Open ending, with a bonus of reader and Loki pranking Clint.

x. I usually fancy they/them pronouns for Loki but seeing as it's a smut-shot, I decided to go along with he/him for the sake of simplicity. Loki's at least 6'4 tall and you can fight me on that. Also, I write like a Tony stan - I feel the need to apologize to Loki stans for that. I love you guys! 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

The long line of people appeared to be neverending. Loki was an enhanced, as the government recently had adopted a politically correct term for Earth's non-human inhabitants, but even his enhanced endurance had begun waning due to sheer amount of people wanting a piece of memorabilia signed by The God of Mischief. Loki had gained a considerable amount of fans after doing his part in killing the mad titan Thanos and by extension, saving the world. It turned out, humankind was a sucker for a good redemption arc.

Loki's hands ached where they wrapped around the pen that he'd been using for nearly 4 hours to neatly place his name, written in neat runescript, on various pieces of merchandise that his fans (and wasn't that a strange thing!) presented to him. He used to think that he would have actually succeeded conquering the earth if he had a grasp on how to use social media and his charm; now, he just wanted the torture to end. An involuntary sigh left his mouth when he saw another print of himself in full battle gear being placed in front of him by a reasonably attractive young woman.

"Um, thank you," She stammered, giggling softly, and Loki spared her a painstaking smile, scribbling his name once again. The woman briefly caught his eyes. "Um, you're the reason- the inspiration for me. I became a stripper."

Loki blanked, feeling his eyes widen and blink on their own accord a few times. He wasn't sure if he heard the woman correctly, as the unusual statement made his brain freeze.

Loud snickering from behind the blushing woman interrupted the system error that he was experiencing in his head. It wasn't often that somebody managed to render him speechless. It looked like whoever was in line behind the stripper woman had taken advantage of that. Loki's eyes snapped to the short-haired person, who looked torn between cringing and breaking into embarrassed laughter.

The stripper left without a word, and as Loki picked up the cursed writing instrument once again, the short-haired person smiled at him kindly. "That was a little weird," They snorted, "And thanks, have a nice day Mr. Loki."

"When life gives you melons, you might be dyslexic," Another woman, that appeared to be the short haired person's friend, deadpanned and gave a cynical side-eye to the departing stripper. Loki heard snickering coming from the short-haired person and quietly joined himself. The woman noticed it, winking at him as she collected the newly signed t-shirt. "Bye," She smiled kindly.

It was a split second decision, really. Something about the cheeky way she addressed the situation sparked Loki's interest. "Wait, you forgot something, darling," His baritone called out to the departing woman. She turned around, confused, and hastily grabbed the standard issue photo that he was holding out to her. With a final grateful nod, she smiled and left.

If Loki's smile had returned for the time being, none of his teammates made any remarks on it. Only his brother, Thor, gave a couple of knowing looks to the Asgardian sorcerer.

The woman in question didn't think twice about the photo that she stashed in her backpack along with the signed t-shirt. The Comic-Con had been full of people and the lines were unfairly long. The sheer exhaustion after attending a 3-day long convention had set in and she was eager to simply come home back to her apartment and crash on the nearest soft flat surface. Upon arrival, she did exactly that, flopping down gracelessly on the couch, her backpack landing next to her with a careless thud.

Unloading her trophies was a short time affair: a single white tee with a dozen signatures on it, written in what she hoped was waterproof Sharpie; one mug, shaped like an Iron Man helmet; one poster, showing Spider-Man on a picturesque NYC horizon and a signed photo of one Loki. Strangely enough, she did not remember requesting it - not that she was complaining. Free merch was free merch.

The front side wasn't signed whatsoever. Overcome by curiousity, she turned it around. A phone number was written on the back of it, the handwriting neat and the letters obviously being inked out by a thinner, more sophisticated pen than the one Loki had used for scribbling on the tee. The woman gaped silently, not believing her eyes. Did Loki himself had given her his phone number?

One margarita and a hefty helping of Chinese takeout later, the numbers persisted staring back at her mutely, the neat cursive being almost mocking in its quiet. The woman's smartphone had found a comfortable place right next to the photo, equally mum regarding the unusual situation.

An additional margarita was needed to gather the courage required to actually type out the number in the receiver box. Fruity alcoholic concoction in one hand and phone clutched in the other, the woman's eyes squeezed shut tightly as soon as the dreaded "Hey, got your number today! :)" read delivered. She'd typed and erased the message several times, groaning in embarrassment. How the hell does one approach an alien god?

"Hello! May I ask your name?" The response came after a brief moment - a moment the woman had suffered through by taking too haste sips of her drink, her common since screaming her to not overdo it and wait at least a full minute before replying. Everything felt awkward and misplaced.

In no time, she was sending the screenshots of the conversation to her girl-advice group chat that consisted of her closest friends. Chatting with Loki turned out to be surprisingly easy and he was great at upholding conversation, something that couldn't be said about all those Tinder matches she had had back in the day.

Even if using proper grammar during a text message conversation was something she had to reacquaint herself with, she was glad he wasn't just another boring, shalllow, condescending-ass white boy. Despite the cultural differences and his lack of knowledge of things like pop culture and music - something he said he was working on since New Asgard became a sovereign state on Earth - they bonded over music and tattoos and generally being rebellious against society's standarts.

The invitation to dinner didn't come as a surprise for the woman. She agreed happily, looking forward to continue their conversation outside of the internet - if Loki's part of the chat was anything to go by, not only was he charming, but also quite intelligent. And easy on the the eyes, too. They had traded selfies at some point and the Asgardian didn't look any worse in a hoodie and sweatpants than he did in his battle leathers. Loki had appeared to truly have had integrated into Earth's society.

The night of the date, the continuous text exchange did very little to calm her nerves. Loki texted as much as an overeager teenage boy: every now and then he would double-text and grossly overreact to her sending a simple meme. In fact, he smugly conveyed the fact he'd single-handedly started a meme war between the Avengers and even Steve was forced to participate; something that was, allegedly, out of character for the blonde man.

She didn't mind. Not like she had many friends to have so much fun with. Even if it took her twice the time to do her favourite eyeliner style, it was worth it. She hoped Loki would appreciate the bold, but classy make-up and the dress and shoes combo that accentuated her assets. Her date expressed curiousity about her tattoos and the difference between her preferred style and the humans he spent most time with. She guessed secret agents were not particularly fond of anything that made them memorable so she held out quite the hope for... Showing off some of her tattoos in a more private setting.

In other, simpler words, the woman came in prepared for both a friendly, leisurely stroll and a quality night. Either way, it would be a time well spent.

Loki's shiny, raven hair was impossible to miss as he towered over the rest of the people waiting by the restaurant's entrance. He wore tailored black trousers and a simple cashmere sweater, perfect for the evening's damp, cool air. Tall and lithe, Loki was mouthwateringly handsome.

"Come here often?" She wormed her way through the crowd, causing the man to smirk down at her. Her cheeks flared from the tiny gesture alone.

"Just waiting for a friend," Loki uttered lowly, extending an arm towards the woman, which she gracefully accepted as they made way towards the entrance. "Reservation for Loki," The Asgardian stated to the hostess, who, after a rapid doube-take, led them to a private, secluded area in the back of the restaurant.

Loki shouldered the slightly awkward interaction with grace, paying no mind to the girl. His focus was solely on his date and he was nothing but gallant as he took the woman's purse and held out the chair for her to comfortably sit down. As a prince, he was taught well, she mused.

"Usually I would ask 'what brings you to our little ball of water and dirt?' but I think we can skip that part," The woman stated with a sheepish grin, idly flicking through the menu and curiously eyeing the items that were unfamiliar. The desire to try something new fought with the possibility of accidentally ordering something too far out - like snails or other things that rich people fancied, for some reason.

Loki's greens briefly appeared over the top of his menu, grateful and sparkling. "I think it's best if we do just that," For a second, he looked away, before returning to the menu. "I can think of better things to discuss. I recall you didn't finish telling me about that college friend of yours, who was an anarchist... I'm dying to know..."

The waiter came and went, barely noticed by the pair, as they both poked at something that sounded the most familiar for both of them. Stoically, Loki admitted that Tony Stark did the booking for him and the woman reluctantly acquitted she wasn't very familiar with upscale establishments, being of middle-class background and working a middle-class job.

Interrupting the story she began telling hours ago, the woman took the time to point out the things she was familiar with on the menu and advised Loki to stay away from - like the aforementioned snails, and other things, slimy and salty things that she considered to be 'disgusting but rich people liked it for some reason'. The conversation slowly progressed into Loki telling her the mischief he got up to at the feasts Odin threw. The Asgardian shared the woman's disregard for influential people doing gross things to show off.

The food was good - it was really hard to miss with a traditional Italian lasagna - and seeing Loki shovel an obscene amount of food was an experience, but she didn't comment on it, tactful enough to consider his alien biology might have different dietary requirements that her human one. It was great, really, that she could order dessert and not feel guilty about it.

The gelato melted in her mouth like sweet ecstasy and she moaned with her next bite, only partly aware of how obscene really was the noise.

Loki's hand stuttered on it's way to his mouth. Wide-eyed, he stared at her lips, at her mouth, where her tongue lapped up the small drops of dessert from the spoon. "Why the split tongue?" The Asgardian finally gathered his wits, having had a good look of what he was sure was a trick of the eye at first.

She grinned, acutely aware of the effect that particular body modification had on men. "I like being different. I embrace the weird." She giggled, not at all ashamed, sticking out her tongue and wiggling both parts of it teasingly.

Loki's Adam's apple bobbed; "Weird?" He raised his eyebrow, fighting to maintain his previous cool composure.

She nodded. "Weird," She retorted coyly. "I usually don't divulge the details at least until the third date. Wouldn't want to scare my potential suitors off," The playful wink was the proverbial cherry on top. He was hooked, his eyes darkened, following the plump arch of her lips as she took another spoonful of the treat and savoured it, closing her eyes for a brief moment.

It was pornographic.

"Obviously, Midgardians don't know what's good for them," Loki scoffed in his usual bored monotone, fully aware of how fitful his attempt to conceal his excitement was. He sounded needy even to his own ears.

"And you do?" She pushed away the empty plate, chastely patting her mouth with a napkin. The raised eyebrow and the little smirk spoke volumes.

The grin he wore was hardly anything but feral; he asked for the waiter's assistance by flicking his wrist in an impatient fashion. Once the bill was paid and the woman's cardigan found its rightful place on her shoulders, Loki once again took hold of her arm, this time holding her smaller body against his larger one, taking care to slow down and keep his strides shorter.

She found the coolness of his presence refreshing in the moist, heavy air of the New York city.

"Where to, milady?" Loki asked her, looking down at the woman fondly.

"My place is a block away. Walk me, good sir?" She gave a delightfully easy smile in return.

He nodded, letting her lead the way, allowing himself to get a little bit lost in their shared presence, a little bubble of them in the middle of a busy city. It was as if someone had quickly turned down the volume of the honking cars and noisy pedestrians around them, leaving the soft breeze and the sun slowly descending below the skyscrapers. It felt far too short, partaking in the comfortable silence together, skin tingling under the thin layers of cloth where they were touching.

The sun was trapped in the strands of her hair as she smiled at him from her doorway, worrying her lip between her teeth. It was a bittersweet moment.

"A kiss good night for the good sir?" She asked hopefully, eyes darting between his face and his mouth.

Loki obliged, resting his palm flat on the door frame, towering over the woman as he gently slotted his thin, cool lips against her warm ones. The woman stood on her tippy toes, eager, placing a hand on his chest. The pair melted into the kiss - it had no business being this mind-blowing, brain-freezing for two people that have not met until that very day. The woman didn't refuse when Loki probed with his tongue, requesting entrance to her mouth; she licked into his own with fervor, fisting her hands in the soft fabric of his sweater.

With the hand that was free, Loki pulled the woman flush with himself, feeling the heat of her start a fire of its own inside of him. Her breathing rapid, the gesture only served to tighten her hold on his sweater, until a soft, barely audible moan slipped into his mouth, causing his brain to quickly reassess the situation.

Regretfully, Loki pulled away, clearing his throat. "Perhaps we should take this elsewhere," He meaningfully looked at the array of doors around them.

"I thought you'd never ask," She retorted with a fond eyeroll, tightening the grip on his sweater once more, to pull him inside her apartment and shut the door behind her. The awkward moments were few and in between; neither knew who reached for the other first, mashing their mouths with less grace than before, clutching at the other's arms and hips with hunger.

This time, Loki didn't hold back his own muted groans of satisfaction, shivering when the woman's hands snuck under his sweater and the simple tank top he wore underneath. Blunt nails scraped along his abs.

Step by step, she pushed him further inside her apartment, determined in her small quick strides. There was no mistake of their destination; no mistake in her desire: she was as hungry and as impatient as him. The crease between his eyebrows deepened, long arms extending to unzip the top of her dress to reveal a simple but tasteful black lacy bra covering her breasts. The woman barely noticed the action, stepping out of her dress as soon as it hit the floor.

He admired her. Inches of soft skin covered by intricate ink, some patterns bizarre and complicated, some beautiful in their simplicity. Loki couldn't wait to find out about the meaning behind every one of them, to trace the lines with his tongue and sink his teeth into the heated flesh.

The hands that were holding onto him for dear life tugged on his sweater and he chose to simply vanish it, too preoccupied with looking at the view in front of him. She gasped and her eyes met his: uncanny, magnetic emeralds shone with magic and power and desire.

"Fuck," She more mouthed than said, walking backwards in a trance until her shins hit the bed.

Loki grinned, advancing on the panting woman with the grace of a predator. "Darling?" His tone was innocent; his expression was anything but. His large hand encompassesed the side of her face, thumb running over her bottom lip in a possessive gesture that had her squirming in her place. He loved the way she just melted into his touch.

Their lips met again, slower this time. The kiss was once again graceful and unrushed, allowing them to explore the softness of each other's skin, mapping the arches and valleys with gentle strokes of their palms. The broad expanse of Loki's back was uneven, riddled with scars and blemishes, and she mapped every single one, blunt nails raking down it as she pressed into him, arching into his hands where he held her.

The soft flesh of her ass, barely covered by a scrap of black lace, was shamelessly grabbed - the woman didn't doubt there would be marks left - letting her feel his arousal pressed against her belly, hard and twitching. She didn't resist her desire to ge handsy and palmed it, taking note of the gasp and the twitch coming from the man occupied with the clasp of her bra. In no time, it flew away, forgotten somwhere the very moment Loki's palms took over her breasts, running a careful thumb over each nipple.

"Fuck," She parroted her previous statement, equally breathy and considerably more aroused.

"That's the plan," Loki's chuckle was hoarse.

She huffed, biting her bottom lip before reaching out to swiftly pop the button of his trousers, smirking at the hiss the friction of her palm produced against his cock. It shouldn't have surprised her that Loki was a commando kind of guy, but still, she gasped, partially from the ministrations of his clever fingers, partially from the mouthwatering sight in front of her. The thick, flushed length made saliva gather in the corners of her mouth.

He must've heard the audible swallow. "Not so haste, darling," He tutted, giving her relaxed body a gentle push, causing her to land on her back, heated skin against the soft duvet of her bed. "Let me taste you," A thud; Loki had dropped to his knees, using his large palms to spread her legs, opening her up to his eyes.

If his previous work hadn't made her so pliant, so aroused, she'd have been rendered speechless; instead, the woman arched her back, presenting herself and the desire that had pooled down below. The Asgardian chuckled, fingertips soft against the scratchy lace.

"Tease," The woman moaned, outstretching her arm to guide him but quite unable to reach him. She had to settle for squirming in her place, receiving a fraction of the desired traction against her swollen lips.

"Am I, love?" Loki asked her sweetly, caving enough to dip a single finger to run along the outside of her slit. It glided easily thanks to all the moisture gathered there, lips parting easily before his touch. The panties were vanished away promptly, another finger joining in immediately to rub slow, precise circles around her clit.

She keened low and long, fisting the fabric in her hand until her knuckles turned white. Loki knew what he was doing. It didn't take him very long to slide his long digits to the welcoming heat of her opening, dipping them inside until she began to make the noises he so craved. His mouth followed after that, long agile tongue drawing senseless shapes on the inside of her labia and dipping deeper, where her clit stood out engorged and slick.

He could smell the bittersweet of her arousal, mouthwatering and hot.

"Loki, fuck," She moaned, only half-coherent and partially aware of her own hips following his every stroke, every flick. He only advanced, hitting that sweet spot inside her with every stroke; the sparks traveling up her spine quickened with each time she changed his name like a prayer. "Loki, Loki, Loki..."

He growled, attaching his mouth firmly to her clit, and she arched for the final time, coming undone, squeezing around his fingers and gushing in his mouth, the obscene sounds covered by her own scream of delight and his impatient growling. The growling that sent shivers of aftershocks throughout her body.

"Darling, you taste so sweet," Loki groaned, still panting.

She took the time to open her eyes: Loki looked comically out of place in her bedroom, he dwarfed her bed and made her feel small, but it didn't matter at all at that very moment. His erection stood out hard and proud; despite the leg-shaking orgasm just moments ago, she wanted more, she wanted to taste him, she wanted to feel him inside-

With unsurprising agility, one swift motion was all it took for her to rest comfortably against the pillows, his throbbing member resting against the juncture of her thigh. She tasted her own release on his lips, however brief, whispering a weak, "Please," aching to feel the emptiness.

"As my lady wishes," Loki's cool breath ghosted over her cheek. She waited with baited breath until the tip of his manhood breached her, exhaling a moan into his neck and immediately wrapping her lips around a patch of skin as he stretched her so sweet.

Loki's arms shook slightly as he waited for her to adjust. He kissed her, soft and sweet; there was something vulnerable in him, something as sweet as the ache he'd taken away. Once he began to move, slow and fluid, all there was left was an all-consuming need to feel. As graceful as dancer and with a deadly precision, Loki pounded gasps, moans and screams out of the woman's slack mouth, kisses turning hungrier and sloppier by the second.

"So sweet," He cooed, relishing in the snug grip of her cunt around him.

She only keened in approval, too far gone and unused to the intensity of the feelings from a man with centuries of practice and the power of a god.

His thrusts slowed gradually until he was rutting into her, grinding his pelvic bone into her clit. The gasps and screams turned into drawn-out, longing moans; her hips followed his, meeting in a slow, sensual motion.

Loki was not a patient man. He withdrew - she gasped in protest - flipping the woman over on her fours with ease, taking but a split second to admire the curve of her body presented on display for him. Just for him.

With that thought burning in his mind, Loki sheathed his cock deeply inside her spasming cunt. It was nearly unbearably stimulating and only his own desire to prolong the bliss held back his own impending orgasm. That, and his own ego; he was naught if not a generous lover.

She slurred something, quiet and incorrigible, fucking back onto his cock as eagerly as he was plunging into her heat. The hand he'd placed on her shoulder promptly wrapped around her throat in hopes of lifting her close enough for him to hear the words but instead, it sent a full-bodied shiver throughout her. Loki grinned, tugging her that much closer.

The arch in her back looked quite uncomfortable yet she didn't mind; it was the exact opposite, in fact, her cunt tightened around him, drenching his shaft down to his balls. Her fingernails dug into the flesh of his thigh, the sting of pain going straight to his cock-

"Loki, I'm gonna, I'm gonna-" She slurred, gasping for air.

He weakened his hold on her throat enough to let her gulp the so-needed oxygen. It was her undoing: was it the rapid pace of oxygenated blood traveling to her brain or was it his cock, mercilessly pounding against her g-spot - she was violently spasming around his cock, much like she did around his fingers not too long ago.

It felt like ages, her crescendo coming in waves with no signs of stopping any time soon. Loki's continuous thrusts, his hips slamming into hers, her skin feeling like molten lava.

"Gonna fill your sweet cunt with my seed," Loki moaned lowly, holding her up by the throat, the other hand leaving fingertip-shaped bruises on the outside of her hips. "Mark you from the inside out," His voice had gone into primal territory, growling filling up the room.

"Please..." The woman rasped, oversensitive.

And he pleased, with a series of sharp thrusts, he buried himself to the hilt in her, the force of his release making her shudder and moan once against, going limp in his arms. Loki kept her in her place until every drop was inside of her cunt. Nothing was sweeter than that.

The Asgardian didn't bother with getting under the covers to hold her, conjuring a soft, comfortable throw in modest green, to cover their nudity. He didn't need the extra warmth but his companion was by far more fragile and sensitive to these things- Loki's fingertips traced the array of bruises he'd left in the wake of their passion, expression surprised as he found the woman smiling.

"Feels nice," She supplied meekly, eyes half-lidded, face trusting and open towards him.

He gave a small grin in return, placing a chaste kiss atop her head. "Yes, it does, darling."

Time after time, she didn't expect much out if their date. The sex was nice, nice enough for both of them to want seconds and thirds after their rushed first time - but it wasn't like she expected him to hand around. It was a pleasant change from the usual mutual ghosting she'd done with her previous partners, but Loki had texted again and they had resumed their conversation via text like nothing had happened.

No, that would be incorrect. Now, she had a wonderful friend who was a great conversationalist and an even better lover. There was no pressure to put a label on their relationship so the woman didn't bother with it; it didn't seem like Loki cared about the label, either, so she left the topic alone and enjoyed things the way they were. It wasn't like she had a line of suitors anyway.

She couldn't help the smile that creeped onto her face when she unlocked her phone and saw a video call request from other than Loki himself. She still had thirty minutes worth of lunch break to waste and this was a wonderful time to chat with a friend.

"Stark, hand it back or I swear to Norns-" Loki's voice sounded agitated and far away, accompanied by sounds of a struggle; the bearded, smug face on the screen was not who she expected at all. Only years of customer service and low bullshit tolerance combined stopped her from freaking out seeing none other than Tony Stark smirking at her from the screen of her phone.

"Yes?" She arched an eyebrow, taking note of the anger of Loki's tone.

"Hi, I don't think I need to introduce myself," Stark babbled, eyeing her - disheveled and with a wall full of sticky notes and miscellaneous items acting as the background to her video. "Reindeer games refused to show you to us so we decided to persuade him," Tony's grin grew wider, muted whispers being rapidly exchanged in the background all the while Loki screeched "BROTHER!" and various expletives at the top of his lungs.

"You could've, I dunno," She paused, unimpressed. "Asked me to dinner, like a normal person. Instead of stealing, you know, like a thief," The eyeroll that she performed had the team worried her eyes would fall out of their sockets.

"I merely borrowed his phone, don't be dramatic," Stark huffed, and for a moment, she could see various other people trying to look at the screen and by extension, at her. "So, what is it that you do? Because Smurf over there wouldn't..."

"Oops, bad signal. Sorry, can't hear you properly," Her side of the call suddenly shook and in a moment, she ended the call, not at all willing to deal with people that lacked boundaries. Sure, it might have been Iron Man, but if he was planning on being a snooping asshole, she wasn't gonna go down with that easily.

Exactly five minutes after she had clocked out, an incoming call from Loki had her equal parts excited and mortified. What if..? But he was apologetic. And very angry, swearing in his native language - something that he'd promised to teach her at some point.

"So, Clint did it?" She sipped her beverage, strolling home with the phone pressed snugly against her ear.

"Most of it was his fault, yes," Loki grouched on the other end of the call.

"I vote we get back at him. Invite me over, if he's so inclined to see me, and watch him get humiliated in front of everybody," It wasn't a secret she had her own mischievous tendencies.

"As much as I appreciate your vigour, darling, I doubt the Widow will appreciate you verbally castrating the Hawk in public," He replied sourly, his voice still betraying the faint notes of interest.

"I have a backup plan!" She stated without a hitch. "He'll embarrass himself and I'll be your alibi."

"I'm listening," Loki perked up immediately.

They decided to not to stall and schedule the 'family dinner', as Thor himself dubbed it, for the next available weekend. Loki had made sure Tony's AI had been made aware the trickster would be gone all day, and it took him very little magic and effort to pop in and out of the tower for the five minutes that were needed to execute their prank.

His friend barely managed to keep the snickering at bay as they ascended the elevator to the common floor where the dinner was being held. Not only that, but the woman spouted an area of dark purple love marks, barely obscured by the low turtleneck of her blouse.

She made her introductions and they made theirs. "This affair could use some background noise," She remarked off-handedly, casting a meaningful glance at the TV.

Tony Stark was known for being a great host so he entertained her wishes, flicking on the huge flat screen with a flick of his wrist.

The team froze.

"I... -" The woman stared at the screen, mouth hanging wide open at the scenes that played out. "... am not going to kinkshame, but please turn it off," She stated in a small voice, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away from the mass of tentacles commencing erotic assault on a woman's body.

Wordlessly, the TV shut down, immersing the room in stunned silence. Loki face-palmed, the slap of his palm against his face echoing in the eerily quiet room.

"Loki!" Captain America, red as a tomato, instantly accused the most obvious person.

Except, he had forgotten one thing. "Loki was with me all day," The woman replied, unkindly. "Do you need more proof?" She tugged on the hem of her turtleneck, exposing an inch of skin marked blue.

The good Captain's face changed the shade once again, venturing very well into beetroot territory. "Who was the last one to use the TV?" Rogers asked, now with a hint of anger, as he stared at a guffawing Bucky.

"I believe it was Mr. Barton," The AI piped up, mechanical voice sounding almost insinuating. Or, perhaps, it just appeared that way.

#loki x reader #Loki smut #loki x you #loki x y/n #loki fanfiction #loki fanfic #tom hiddleston #it's 4am y'all #we be THIRSTY

[crab-instruments]

Dust in the Wind Part 5 (tbb)

Master <Part 4 Part 6>

Pairing: Hunter x Secret Jedi! Reader (GN)

Rating and warning: General audience, fighting, injury, panic/stress

Words: 2.2k

a/n: Action! We fight some people. Notes at the end. I hope the action is somewhat easy to follow and interesting.

My writing process involves me thinking of fight scenes as I listen to music while I walk, this one is choreographed to Rat A Tat by Fall Out Boy. This is unimportant and uninteresting but is how I get a lot of my ideas.

Surprisingly, this is the longest part of written and I cut it short. Thanks for all the likes and reblogs, y'all. Keeps me going.

Cid had given the Batch a mission to the Outer Rim. Tech had told the squad what planet but you had zoned out. Restarting your life every time something goes south was taking a toll on you and while your new crew was accommodating, it didn’t stop the stress of existing. You had gotten closer with the Batch on the trip to the next mission since it was a bit further out and you had time to get to comfortable. Wrecker and Omega seemed to enjoy your company the most, wanting to play games and share stories with you. Otherwise you helped Tech and Echo around the ship and chatted with them. Down times were spent with Hunter in the cockpit, watching hyperspace.

“Maxis… do you know how to sew?” Wrecker had caught you outside the armory, holding something behind his back.

You blinked, not used to seeing Wrecker so timid. “Uh yeah, I can sew. What do you need?” With a swift movement, he brought a red and black tooka doll between you. One of the arms had a rip in it, showing the stuffing inside.

His eyes looked sad as he said, “Lula got caught on a hook.”

“Ah, that should be easy. I can patch Lula up while you’re on your mission, so she’ll be ready when you get back.”

Wrecker smiled wide and pulled you into a hug. When you separated, he then held Lula out for you to take. As your hand touched the doll, your senses were overwhelmed with a rush of emotions and your head filled with memories that the doll contained. It stunned you for a moment and you had to close your eyes, not having experienced a force echo in a while. Luckily none of the memories were traumatic, just loud since Wrecker had strong emotions.

“Are you okay, Maxis?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. I was just thinking how cute Lula was,” you said with a smile.

The time between taking Lula from Wrecker and entering the planet’s atmosphere was fuzzy. Your mind was still on experiencing the force echo. Psychometry was a force ability that few Jedi had but most of the time it was a pain. You had to train a lot to get it under control when you were younger and when people found out about it, they wanted to do study you and learn everything about it they could. Since you had left the Jedi life and mostly disconnected with the Force, the echoes had dissipated. Having one suddenly didn’t sit well.

Tech’s voice grounded you back to the present as he alerted everyone he was landing the ship soon. Hunter appeared in the seat across from you, something in his hand. “This mission shouldn’t take very long, just a few hours. Here’s a comm, we will let you know when we are on our way back or if something goes wrong. I know you can’t fly but it would be useful if you could get the ship ready in case we need to leave in a hurry.” You nodded and took the comm. “Will you be okay, Maxis? I did say this would be dangerous. Although it’s unlikely, they could come to scout the Marauder.”

“Oh yeah. I’ll be fine. If anything goes wrong on my end I can let you know as well, though I bet the worst thing is I prick my finger sewing Lula together or shock myself with a live wire.” Hunter’s face softened and he seemed to relax a bit. Your eyes held his until the ship shook when it landed. When he got up, he put his hand on your shoulder for a moment before getting ready to head out.

You watched as they shuffled out of the ship, saying a quiet “be safe, please,” as they disappeared from your view.

The reality of being by yourself seemed to set in, making the Marauder daunting. There was Gonky, at least. Shaking that off, you settled in and got to work fixing up Lula’s arm. You made quick work, almost wishing you had more to work on. Taking apart the ship to make repairs was risky if they needed to leave quickly.

Slumping back in your chair, you held Lula in front of you. “What do you think I should do, Lula? I could go clean the air filter or organize the wires in one of the control panels, even though Tech does a pretty good job at color coding them. A few of the sensors could be looked at but… I’m still a little stumped on… why I got a force echo from you. You are special, I’m sure, but… I guess I could meditate for a bit, see if that helps clear things up.”

You crossed your legs in the chair and put Lula in your lap. Meditating was supposed to be relaxing, but it was harder to find a calm now. It felt empty, in a way. You tried hard though, seeking an answer as to why now.

After a few moments, your eyes shot open. Something was wrong. You gasped for breath the feeling of overwhelming apprehension. Someone was heading toward the ship. Three, maybe four, people and they didn’t feel like your crew. Hunter did say he would alert you when they came back and it hasn’t been that long.

Swiftly, you got to your feet and headed towards the cockpit where the comm was still sitting on a chair. However, you stopped dead in your tracks when you saw a white bucket helmet walk around the front of the ship through the windshield. Troopers. Your heart pounded in your ears and you sank quickly to the floor. The fear of being caught by the Empire was arguably your biggest fear, they hunted Jedi ruthlessly, even hearing about troopers trained to fight Jedi specifically.

A noise came from where the entrance ramp was, they were trying to get on the ship. You remembered that Tech had told you about an escape hatch in the cockpit, so you quietly crawled to it and lifted it up. You did your best to make sure that you were in the clear and dropped down.

“Dank farrik! It’ll be another minute to open the hatch,” one of the troopers exclaimed. It seemed the others were spread out around the area, so making a run for it wasn’t necessarily the smartest decision but taking on four troopers by yourself wasn’t wise either. Close quarters combat was a strength of yours, training to not depend on your lightsaber was a priority for your Master. Long range combat would be more of a struggle, as your shooting accuracy left something to be desired. One of the reasons you ended up leaving the Order was it became less about peace keeping and more about being a soldier, and the senseless death had caught up to you.

You did your best to keep calm. Everything in your body told you to run, escape, survive, but… what about the ship? This was your home now. Hunter… the squad… depended on this ship. If you didn’t do something to protect it, what would happen?

Unfortunately for you, the choice to run or fight was taken from you, when the trooper noticed you crouching by the front of the ship.

“Hey! Foun—” before he could finish his sentence, you rushed him. The trooper had his blaster pulled out when he saw you. You used the element of surprise to go for a disarm, checking his blaster arm with your left, getting your right hand on the opposite side to redirect his hand. The blaster clearing your stomach as you brought your right arm across your body. While sweeping with your right, you used your left to get a grip of his wrist. With this, you were able to free your right hand to strip the blaster from him, squeezing his wrist to force his hand lose and you were able to swipe it out of his grasp. Once the blaster was out of his hand, you pulled his left arm back, hooked your foot behind his right to destabilize him, and then gripped the front of his armor tightly to put as much power as you could into pushing him into the ground, you kneeling next to him. While not quiet strong enough to knock him out, it was enough to stun him for a moment since you used his and your weight against him.

You heard a movement behind the ship, the other troopers had been alerted. Scrambling for the blaster, you switched it to stun and shot twice, knocking out one trooper. The third trooper came from around the front of the ship and shot. You had just enough time to twist your body and dodge a majority of the shot, but it still skinned your left arm, leaving a nice wound for later. Two more shots from you to knock him out.

While your arm screamed in pain, you had one last trooper to deal with. Keeping crouched, you rounded the front of the ship.

“Freeze!” The trooper was right in front of you and you were staring down the barrel. Kark! Slowly, you put your hands up in a half surrender, but in that moment you thought of a plan.

“Catch!” You tossed the blaster towards him and the trooper, confused, went to catch it. You pulled your knife out of your thigh holster and rushed him. Using his now bent knee, you jumped and wrapped your legs around his mid-section, using the boost of the jump to shove him to the ground. You pressed the blade to his neck, ready, but hesitated. You couldn’t follow through, even when your life seemed to depend on it.

No good deed goes unpunished. The trooper pushed you off but you land within arms reach of your fallen blaster and you made quick work of stunning him.

For a moment, you sat there, breathing heavily and you hands shaking. Your pulse raged in your ears and adrenaline rushed through your veins.

Achievement Unlocked: You protected the Havoc Marauder! But now what? And what if… the squad finds out? Something about them knowing you took down the troopers didn’t sit right. The odds were stacked against you, what if they start getting suspicious? What if… What if Hunter gets mad?

Checking the trooper in front of you, you found a pair of handcuffs. More than likely they would all have handcuffs and you could move their bodies away from the ship, effectively disposing of them.

One by one, you dragged the troopers bodies away, putting them in some foliage after handcuffing one arm and the opposite ankle behind their back. Hopefully this would keep them relatively immobilized when they woke up. After moving the last one, you could no longer handle the pain of the blaster shot and headed to the ship.

You looked for the med kit and handled it with shaky hands. After applying the bacta and patching it up, you did your best to hide the wound with your sleeve. You then went to your backpack and grabbed the small notebook and pencil. Something about writing felt better than using a holopad, so this is where you kept your notes for supplies and such. Though it was difficult, you wrote ‘bacta and bandages’ to your supplies list. Hopefully they wouldn’t get mad at you using their supplies but just in case, you would just silently replace it. No one would know.

As everything seemed to wear off, all you wanted to do was crawl into a small area and hide. You found an area between some crates and sank down, willing yourself to melt into the floor. In an effort to calm yourself, you muttered a few bars of the song that had stuck with you.

“♪ Same old song

Just a drop of water in an endless sea

All we do

Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind ♪”

A beep cut into your thoughts. “Maxis, come in, do you read me?” Hearing his voice, you became renewed with a sort of energy. You stood up, walked over to the cockpit once more, and grabbed the comm. “Loud and clear, Hunter.”

“Great, we’re done and on our way back, we had a small set back but no other problems.”

“I’ll start up the ship for you.”

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

When Hunter and the squad got close, Hunter sense something was off. He signaled for the group to halt as he went to go investigate. Hearing some slow breathing from a few sources, he approached the bush carefully and paused when he noticed four knocked out troopers tied up chaotically. Tech noticed Hunter’s hesitation and walked forward.

“What did you fin—Oh. How did four Imperial Troopers end up here? You don’t supposed they went for the Marauder and Maxis took them out?”

“Who else would have? Four troopers… they have the strength to take out four troopers by themselves?” Hunter sounded bewildered. He finally looked at Tech, “Maxis didn’t attempt to alert us and I missed it, did they?”

“No, but it could have been inconvenient at the time. However, there wouldn’t be a reason why they wouldn’t have contacted us after dealing with the situation. Perhaps something else went wrong.”

With that, Hunter signaled the rest of the crew to board the ship with caution.

Part 6 _______________________________________________________

Notes:

Psychometry/Force Echo: This is the next Jedi Fallen Order reference, also seen in 1 or 2 episodes of TCW. I based the reader's ability from the game. Fight scene choreo: Warning, video contains fighting scenes. I love MGS and specifically the CQC in MGSV. For this scene, the first disarm is a combo of the moves described in 1:08 (beginning) and 4:01 (ending). It was mainly supposed to be the second one but the arms are switched so as an artist of my craft, I must adapt. The last move is mostly just the Peter Pan jump from 5:23. I tried to describe the action as best as I could without being like "left right must left right" but here is the visual aspect of it.

#tbb x reader #tbb x you #hunter x you #hunter x reader #the bad batch x reader #bad batch x reader #dust in the wind #I was really excited to write this and now im scared to post it lol #crab fics

[lstories]

Felix and Olivia (First Meeting)

I'm auctly making lore for my worlds? Weird. (Thanks for jinxing me, past me. I've been working on this since before I posted the Gaudi and Emma story)

(Safe, Soft, Unwilling then Willing vore)

Word Count: 3646

Olivia woke up to the sound of steel hitting stone. It wasn't unusual but it wasn't a good sound. She jumped out of bed and ran to her wall before she leaned out of her window, like magic her head and upper torso started to freeze in the snowy storm raging outside but her legs were still warm. She saw three men outside climbing the stone wall, each with clothes and masks covering their entire body's and face. "He holds a child hostage!" One of the men shouted, they were in more modern clothing than Olivia was used to so she would have to show her father once they were 'dealt with'. She ran to her bed, jumping onto it and grabbing the perfectly pink plushie on her smaller pillow. They climbed threw the window one by one, the one that shouted that she was being held captive tried to reassure her that she was being saved. Once they got close enough she leaned over and pressed a button on the side of her bedframe. The ceiling started to open as gun no bigger than a soda can was lowered down. After a second, a laser shot out to the forehead to each of the heroes. One pulled out a sword, the second drew his bow, and the last held out his hand as a small ball of fire started to swirl in his palm. "3 INTRUDERS DETECTED. 52% THREAT LEVEL. DETAINING." the robotic voice called out. Olivia covered her eyes, still seeing a flash threw her eye lids and the cracks of her fingers. She heard the mechanical wiring of the gun being brought back into the ceiling and opened her eyes, the three men were still standing there. Olivia started to count down "3... 2... 1..." and all the clothes they were wearing and items the had fell to the ground at the same time, their bodies gone and only their belongings remained.

Olivia slightly chucked at the clattering of the potions and sword. She grabbed the potions and put them on a shelf full of others with different colors and different shaped bottles. She didnt know what they did but they looked cool and the liquid inside constantly swirled which was mesmerizing. Olivia put all the weapons and books in her closet to sort out later. She started folding the clothes, slowly stacking them into a pile and putting all of their hats onto another rack almost full of hats from all over time. She finished folding the clothes, putting the plushie on top and ran out of her room with a grin. She ran down the hallways and corridors of the castle, light being created by an unknown source above her. She eventually slowed down while passing a room, she heard pleading to be released and threats on whoever locked them away. Threw the crack in the door she only saw darkness soon lit by a ball of fire and as it slowly moved and grew lightning cracked around them as the fire was snuffed out. Olivia ran off, her dad didn't want her to talk to people that came from other worlds or times. She ran down some more doors and hallways until she reached her dad's lab. Once she walked in everything changed from a medieval stone castle to a sterial white futuristic laboratory. She was able to slip by the cleaning robot, instead grabbing a small disk she put on her back. She ran into the lab and put the clothes on an empty desk which she also jumped onto and began to play with her plushie while she waited for her dad to finish what he was doing.

Olivia didn't know what her dad was working on immediately but she knew it was usually to help her, her mom, or her brother. Her dad walked out of a side room, a few barrels floating behind him. His eyes settled on Oliva, she looked at the ground as her dad walked over.

"What are you doing, you know your not allowed to come into the workshop."

"We have visitors and they had new stuff and I wanted to see what you were making"

"You could have told me threw the intercom, it reaches threw my entire workspace"

"The guy in the front scares me"

"Well... (sigh) I'll make something else soon. Please leave the clothes with him and go back to bed"

"But I'm not tired, and I want to help"

"You know you can't help. Not yet at least"

He started to guide the barrels to the top of the machine in the center of the room. A green, thin liquid flowed out of the barrel's and into the large vat on top. They could see it filling threw the glass in the middle of the machine.

"I remember this, it makes new life in an instant right, or it's supposed to"

"You... remember? What do you remember seeing it from"

"Oh, umm. I uh, saw it while reading from... your... private... collection.

His face shifted in anger slowly settling on disappointment. He grabbed her plushie and walked over to the control panel, shoving it into the small glass tube. "If words won't stop you from going into my library, maybe action will" he said while pushing a button, sending the plushie into the vat. Olivia ran over to her dad to try and stop him as she started to cry, his frantic button pushing wasn't even trying to experiment on it, just destroy. She tried to form words threw a blur of tears, just wanting her dad to stop. "Mom made that for me" she finally blurted out. Her dad stoped, remembering walking past the room of her mom stitching it together. He hit a release valve, a green steam shot into a containment vault above them. The plushie fell onto the ground, a thin white mist flowing from it. Her dad walked away, the plushie floating to follow him until he threw it into a chemical cleaner. The machine shook for a few seconds before the plushie was released. Olivia immediately ran over and picked it up to check what the damage was. An intricate design of thin green vines covered the pink plushie as if it was re-dyed. She was relieved that it wasn't damaged but she was sad it had changed color's. As she was thinking how she could dye it back to pink, she thought she could feel it move a bit. She looked down to see its front paws trying to climb her shirt like a puppy. She hugged it tighter, trying not to let it move. It made a small squeak as her dad sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry for my outburst, but you know why I can't let you read threw my collection"

"Beacuse if I read the wrong book I could die on the spot, I know. I just want to help you bring mom back"

"I would love if you could help, but what kind of father would I be if I knew the risks and let you take that chance. I want you to live your childhood which is why I'm making you a protector if I can't help you"

"Wait... this isn't to help mom"

"I will never stop trying to bring your mother and your brother back, but I still have to protect you. Please, stay out of my studies, I can't risk you getting hurt. Now, let's get you to bed"

He got up, carrying Olivia in his arm's. They walked out of his lab and her dad took the disk off her back and threw it onto a nearby table. As they walked threw the doors a disinfect mist sprayed out of the walls but hit an invisible bubble around them. Her dad walked threw the castle slowly so he wouldn't disrupt her. Olivia almost fell asleep, barely staying awake from the tiny movement of her plushie. They passed by the dark room, a red light started to grow as her dad walked closer, she heard screaming from the three people in the room and the door slammed shut just as he walked neer the red light shinning from the crack. She looked back just as her dad was walking away, she saw the red light die down threw the windows on the top as the screaming stopped. Olivia slipped in and out of sleep, her dad lulling and rocking her to sleep and the small plush keeping her just barely awake. As they walked threw the castle her dad was regal in his movements, though no one else lived in this castle to see it. They walked down the hallway to her room, the pictures on the walls shifted and seemed more picturesque than usual and the light that illuminated the halls started to dim.

The doors to her room opened as her dad walked down the hall, the light that illuminated it was completely gone by this point. He placed Olivia on her bed and tucked her in, the weather outside changed to a light rain and the tapping of the raindrops on her windowless windows finally rocked her to sleep, she didn't even hear her dad close the door.

After a few minutes Olivia woke up to the sound of squeaking and the feeling of her shirt being pulled. She looked down to see her plushie biting at the collar of her pj's, squeaking as it tried to stand but feel down. She picked up the plushie, holding it in her arms as it tried to bite at her sleeves. "It's never eaten before, it has to be hungry." She thought. "I've never needed to give you a name before... how about Felix." She said while grabbing the biggest pillow on her bed. It looked up at her for a few seconds when she said that before going back to gnawing on her sleeve. The biggest pillow she had was almost 6 feet long that she would sometimes hide in. She put Felix on the pillow while looking for something to feed him, he started to gnaw at the soft fabric before collapsing onto it. The pink fabric of his body started to break apart and the green fabric started to stretch over the pillow. As the green fabric touched the pillow the surrounding fabric formed into a fluffier pink fabric. Certain parts of the pillow started to constrict into limbs and in a matter of seconds her plushie had taken over her pillow. Felix started to move slightly, the fabric on his face shifted and his eyelids opened. His eyes were pure black as Olivia had seen before but there was small blue speckles she'd never noticed. His mouth showed a row of translucent rainbow teeth. He sat up, rubbing his head before looking over at Olivia, a confused expression showed over his face. She pushed the button oh her bed and stumbled over to Felix, picking him up and throwing him onto the floor. He may have been two feet taller than her but he was still the weight of a pillow. His face was stained with confusion and shifted to fear as the small gun lowered from the top of the room and shot out a thin laser that settled on his forehead. He looked around the room for somewhere to hide, eventually settling on the curtains and running over to hide behind them. They automatically closed to an impossibly thin line and he ran to the closest, then over to the hat rack, each hiding space stoped being usable as he got to them. Olivia was confused to what he was doing, it wasn't like any intruder that had come neer the castle or any of her dads monster she had found lurking outside whatever room he was in. She let out a small giggle, it was funny seeing him run around the room but she stopped when she heard the AI's voice.

"1 OCCUPANT DETECTED. -82% THREAT LEVEL. NO DETAINMENT NEEDED" the voice said before the gun retracted into the ceiling. The gun has never not gone off, even the most minor threat would be sent away. If he wasn't a threat then maybe he was a friend. Olivia sat on her bed staring at Felix while he tried to process what had happened. He knew the gun was dangerous but he didn't know why, he unfolded himself from the ball that he scrunched into and stood up while checking his surroundings. He questioned what he was doing out loud, surprised that he could talk when he did, he didn't sound any older than Olivia. She got a better look at him while he was mostly still, he was just a bigger version of the plush he was, though a few features were bigger. He looked over to Olivia, neither of them knew what to do. They sat in silence, studying each other and thinking of what to say. Both of them spoke at the same time and both apologizing as they interrupted each other, Felix lightly laughed to himself about it. "Who are you" Olivia asked as she scooted closer to the edge of the bed. "Oh, I'm Felix. That's what you called me before I-" Felix said as he tried to sit on the floor, he put his hand on the ground as his wrist and forearm sunk into each other and he fell onto the ground. He hit the side of his head, it sunk halfway into itself and lightly bounced back up. He took a second to figure out what happened as Olivia giggled at it. Felix sat up, pushing his arm into the floor and letting it crumble into itself. "Before I became this. Whatever this is?" Felix said as he looked over his body.

"Were you something else before my dad made you?" Olivia said scooting closer while her knees were dangling off the side of her bed.

"I dont think so. I remember wakeing up but I dont remember going to sleep, auctly I dont remember anything before walking up" Felix said while pushing his fingers into the ground, watching as they buckled and bent with a lack of joints then letting them extend and bend them like they did.

"So why are you he-" Olivia scooted too close to the edge of the bed and fell. She braced herself for the impending thud, but it never came. She opend her eyes the see the pink and green fabric under her.

Felix instinctively jumped under her. "I think I'm here to protect you" Felix tried to say with his face still pressed into the ground.

"Is that all, or do you also want to play"

"play what?"

"My dad talked about this old game he used to play when he was a kid called hide and seek. I'll count down from 30 and you go hide"

"oh, ok" Felix found a place to hide pretty quickly. Olivia was surprisingly ok with what was happening.

They played for a while, Felix never found any good hiding spots while the room seemed to help Olivia. Felix only found her when she started laughing. He didn't see the humor in it or why he did what she said but he was starting to have fun, and he was also getting hungry. Olivia was hiding in a new closet that opend up in front of her. The door looked like it was made out of the same stone as the wall which is why she probably hadn't noticed it before. Her eyes were getting heavy as she sat in the darkness. Her mind started to drift as she heard the rain taping on the windows outside. She could barely keep her head up for more than a second at this point. She heard the light shuffling of Felix looking for her while she finally fell asleep. After a while she woke up to Felix yelling her name, he sounded horrified. Olivia opened the wall door and rubbed her eyes. "Felix?" He looked over, he couldn't cry but he deffenetly would be. He ran over and hugged Oliva, pressing her into his body.

"Dont scare me like that, I thought you died. I need to protect you and you need to stay in my... line..." he trailed off and kept mumbling as Olivia talked

"In your line of sight? You sound like one of my dad's robots, I thought you were going to be fun to be around" she started to get sad as she tried to get away from Felix, she was just going to go to bed and be silently upset with her dad in the morning. "Hey, let go of me"

Felix stared at her, the blue specks defused into his eyes. "My- my li... my line of..." he couldn't keep a single thought strait besides his want for food. He needed food.

Felix slightly opend his mouth, his yellowish tounge gently licked across her face. She was the best and only thing he's ever tasted, he wanted more. He gently placed her whole head into his mouth, slowly licking at her face. Olivia was thrashing around just trying to get away from the thing that was currently eating her. Her movements started to slow as she felt what was happening, his tongue was super soft and weirdly warm. Her movements almost came to a stop, it was so soft and comfy. Felix worked her shoulders into her maw as he pushed her head into his throat. Olivia started to flail again, she was still being eaten, she couldn't just stop struggling. Felix worked her further and further down and she would occasionally stop and let the warmth and fluffiness surround her. Soon her head reached his stomach and small grey tendrils slightly rubbed at her face. She would have thought they would tickle but they pressed down almost like a massage. As more of her body found it's way into Felix's stomach, she could feel herself drifting off to sleep from the feeling, the gentle sound of his heartbeat and the muffled sound of the rain helping.

Felix finished swallowing her legs, he leaned against the wall to his side as the rest of her entered his stomach. Olivia studied the stomach walls a bit closer, she could see through them. She could see the light being broken by thin strands of various fabrics. It wasn't much thicker than a few dryer sheets, if she wanted she could tear her way out. A small strand of fabric moved through her line of sight and she looked back to her clothes. The grey stands were slowly tearing her pajamas to shreds and the cotton strands were being moved to find a place along Felix's stomach like they were always there. She held a hand to one of the grey tendrils, it gently pressed at her hand like it was waiting for something. She pressed back at the stomach walls, a muffed rumbling grew above her. He was purring, Olivia would've never guessed that he could purr but he was. She had to stifle a yawn, this wasn't so bad. Felix rubbed back at the light pressure in his stomach. He could feel every strand that was on the verge of snapping. He had done it, he ate the only thing he was made to protect... he ate...... oh no.

"Olivia, are you ok in there? I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just got so hungry and I needed to eat and you were just-"

"Felix, please be quiet. I'm trying to sleep"

"WH- your in my stomach! How are you so calm!"

"Your warm, comfy, and your stomach gives a really good massage. Also, your not hurting me, its probably safer in here"

"But a stomach isn't safe. Your-"

"Can we just go to sleep. If you want you can sleep on my bed"

"I..." Felix looked over to the bed, he was deffenetly getting tired. He slowly stood up, having to carry his huge stomach until he collapsed onto the bed. Olivia kneaded into the stomach walls causing Felix to purr up a storm. He had to admit, everything about this felt amazing. The gentle pushes, prods, and rubs from inside his stomach along with the feeling of being overly full while protecting Olivia was heavenly to him. The gentle patter of rain, Felix's soft heartbeat and purring, and the massage his stomach gave started to lull her back to sleep. "Goodnight Felix" "Oh, goodnight Olivia" It didn't take long for them to both drift off to sleep.

:timeskip to morning:

"Goodmorning Olivia. I'd like to apologize for last night, and if you'd like you could help with-" Olivia's dad walked into her room. His eyes settled on the plush monster with an enormous stomach lying on her bed. Felix groggily opend his eyes as he moved to see around his stomach. His eyes widened as he saw Olivia's dad in the room. "Oh no- give me a minute and I can explain" Felix struggled to get up and Olivia started to wake from the movement. Felix was lifted by his arms and legs by an invisible force. "What... Did you do... with my daughter" Olivia's dad yelled as he started to tear Felix's arms and legs. Olivia fully woke to the sound of tearing fabric and her dad yelling. She tried to stand up and her hand sunk back into the fluffy fabric. She started to remember what happened last night and pieced two and two together. "Dad, stop hurting Felix" It took a while to sort out what happend and why she was inside what was previously her plushie. After a bit of explaining and pleading Olivia convinced her dad to let Felix stay.

#safe vore #protective vore #extreme cuddling #soft vore #Felix and Olivia

[kassies-take]

Super Shadowed (Finale)

Summary: Kasa finds herself and shows her true colors in the face of death, unafraid of the monster in front of her.

Warning: cunning, lies

A/n: I have nothing else better to do than to continue one shots that I actually have ideas for. Also I will probably not be writing any other parts to this. 

Tag list for Pt.2 @becka107 @bluerey8a 

Kara Danvers x sister!reader, Alex Danvers x sister!reader, Baby Danvers

Word Count: 2144 

Part 1 || Finale  

For Kasa, hiding her powers came easily. However since the Nazi’s arrived she held herself back from smashing her sister’s doppelgänger’s head into the metal of the Waverider, their version at least. 

The younger Zor-El rolls her eyes at the handcuffs power dampeners that are placed on her wrists. She follows this tyrant closely.

“I know you know that Kryptonian promises are not meant to be broken, so these handcuffs are unnecessary.” Kasa spoke to Earth X Kara.

“It’s a safety precaution.” Führer growled.

The walk is long and cold. Kasa knew this wasn’t her sister. Her sister, her Kara, had hope and compassion for all. But a part of her couldn’t help but feel like this Kara was a mirror image of her.

Broken, alone, no place to call home. So she takes it out on power, to make herself a home where everyone loves her.

“Kara.”

Führer stopped and turned towards Kasa. He breathed down on your face, unbothered by the rotten smell coming from his mouth. “You don’t get to call her that.”

“And as you know I’m the one saving your wife. I don’t know about your Kasa.” Kara-X stopped. “But I was training for the Warrior’s Guild.” You lied.

“Just remember that we need your heart not you.”

Führer moved out of the way. In a blink of an eye the older blond marched towards Kasa.

“Leave us!” Kara-X commanded and pushed you into the MedBay.

Führer and Kara-X shared a kiss and the MedBay doors closed behind him. The room turned red after. Kara-X rids Kasa’s handcuffs off. Kasa took her place on one of the MedBay beds.

“We’re going to be in here for a while, before your skin is soft enough to cut into. Why don’t you tell me about what my sister has been up to.” Kara-X crossed and gestured for her sister to speak.

“Well that depends, do I call you Kara? General? Sister? Ooh better yet can I call you ie (sister)?”

“General, is preferred.”

“I have a question, General.” Kasa continued without Kara-X’s approval. “You were shocked to see me protecting Kara earlier,no? You aren’t 100% sure that my heart can save yours. Thawne doesn’t know that.” Kasa hopped off the bed and paced around the room.

“Yet you agreed to a Kryptonian promise. I have to say it doesn’t make sense to me, the Girl of Steel, SS General to the New Reich, ruling over with an iron fist! Submits to an outdated Kryptonian promise.”

“I DONT SUBMIT TO ANYONE OR ANYTHING!” Kara-X stood abruptly.

“Your actions say otherwise,” You smirked and winked. “You still need my heart and you can’t kill me right now knowing my heart would not be useful if I was dead and my skin not soft enough. Plus no powers for either of us.”

Kara-X huffed and glared back towards you.

“See I think you were so quick on accepting a Kryptonian practice after growing in the Fatherland because it reminds you of a home you once had. And seeing that neither of us wears our family’s crest, easily tells me you didn’t feel at home with Uki (dad) and Jeju (mom). The only one you felt at home with was Kasa.”

“She was weak! She stayed behind like a coward. She wanted to stay with Jeju and Uki, when they were the ones who brought our planet to it’s destruction! They favored her! Loved her! Even Aunt Astra loved her! Love is for the weak!” Kara-X was triggered.

“And yet you are married? Or do you only love him because he chooses you? Do you only rule this world because they value you and see you? The all powerful said, normally anyone who surrenders is weak but anyone who faces their death with no fear is honorable.” You mocked.

Kasa stalked closer to Kara-X. The almighty clutches her fists. She shakes violently replicating an earthquake that roars in pain.

“You only honor it because not only did my promise save my dear sister’s life but it saves yours. And for a split second, you remembered how it felt to be truly loved.”

Kara-X headbutts Kasa causing her to stumble backwards. “ENOUGH! I am the most powerful being on Earth! I am a god! And I will not be bullied by WEAKNESS!”

“You are no god! Just meat with bones!” Kasa ducked under a punch. “Under a red sun, you are nothing!”

Kasa smacked aside one of Kara-X’s arms and lowered the other by heading into a squat. Quickly twirling her around and pushing Kara-X onto the ground with a heavy growl.

The younger El ran to the control panel on the wall, smashed it with her elbow pulling the wires out so the door locked in place. Kryptonian technology and the futuristic ship were very similar. A hiss and white smoke erupted from the ceiling, pressurizing the door.

Kara-X charged towards her sister. To counter Kasa threw a punch. Kara-X smacked the punch downwards, snatched Kasa’s punching arm with her left, and turned counterclockwise into her sister to wrap her arm around Kasa’s neck and threw her onto the metal ground.

Kasa tripped Kara-X and locked her in a painful bone crushing hold. A crack echoed in the room. She didn’t hesitate to throw a few punches at the blond.

With a heavy breath Kasa raced towards the prism.

“There’s a difference between you and me Kara. We have a very similar background. Everyone loved Kara. But where you stand in love as a weakness, I see now that it is my strength. And where you a not yet ready for death, I am.” Kasa raised her the prism over her head.

“no,” Kara-X whispered. “No, NO!” She cried.

Kasa smashed it into the ground.

“For as long I live I will make sure you don’t get another heart, and I assure you I would not let you get another prism to finish the procedure either.”

“You promised!”

“That’s another difference between you and me dear sister,” Kasa moved the hair away from Kara-X’s face. “Krypton is dead! And so are it’s customs! It has been dead to me the moment I saw it’s debris floating in the phantom zone! But there is one thing I keep from the dead planet. And it’s a blood bond you no longer understand.” Kasa whispered emphasized each syllable of the last word.

“Open the door!” Führer urged. You both turned towards the shut door.

Kara-X pushed Kasa onto her side and twisted her knee. The agonizing scream echoed around the ship once the door opened.

Führer pulled an arrow at Kasa.

“No, we leave her to torture when we get Kara. I want her to see her little sister die before I RIP OUT HER HEART!”

“The prism.” Führer checked on his wife.

“Don’t worry about that, well use Kryptonite! Ready the troops to attack!”

“What do we do with her?” Führer nodded toward you.

“You strap me to the bow,” Kasa laughed.

Kara-X stepped on Kasa’s broken knee and earned a groan.

“She gets a front row seat to a new mausoleum.”

Kara-X and Führer shared another kiss. An arrow pierced through your hand.

“Son of a bitch!” Kasa yelped her veins glowing green.

Führer and many other soldiers walked off the ship as Kara-X dragged her sister by her hair.

The yellow sun began to regain your powers, unfortunately that included Kara-X. She broke Kasa’s left arm to prevent her from pulling the Kryptonite out faster.

“You’re as weak as they come.”

“I came into this knowing I’d die. But your clock is running out too.” Kasa’s whole body glowed sickly green. “No one hurts my family and lives. No one.” Kasa weakly chuckled. “You’ll get what’s coming to you Kara. Jeju would be so disappointed.”

Kara-X hovered over the control panel.

“KILL ME YOU COWARD! PROVE TO ME YOU’RE THE GOD YOU SAY YOU ARE!” Kasa taunted.

Kara-X only turned her head towards her sister, a flash of longing left as fast as it came. She marched towards Kasa and squeezed her throat. She stared into the eyes of her sister, released her grip and harshly pushed Kasa onto her side.

Kasa chuckled to herself. “So you do have mercy left... too bad you’re dying soon. You’re right though, this planet makes people soft, and that includes you.”

“General,” a soldier caught Kara-X attention.

“Any word of this I will rip your tongue out and feed it to you!”

“We’ve got inbound.” The soldier placed his hand behind his back.

“Then fire countermeasures!”

“We can’t it’s hovering directly off our bow.”

Kara was here. Kara’s here to save the day.

“General, care to step outside.”

Kara-X flew out towards Kara.

The ship vibrated and whined, splitting out deadly seeds to the city below. Seeds that took the nutrients from human beings and drove them into the ground. The screams and multiple tiny explosions amplified like wildfire.

It became hard to distinguish the hell fire and the thumping of her own heart. The smell of gunfire burned her nose. The red and orange flashes transported her back to Krypton.

Holding Jeju’s hand Kara and I ran onto the platform. Explosions came from the right, Kal-El’s pod had already launched. Tears threaten to fall from my eyes.

“Your pod’s coordinates are interlocked with Kal-El’s. You will follow him to Earth.” Uki addressed Kara.

“I’m not afraid, father.” I heard Kara say.

Me. I was so afraid. What if this new world was not so accepting as Jeju says.

“The trip is long, but you both will sleep most of the way and we will be with both of you in your dreams. You’ll journey to Earth to look after your baby cousin and your little sister. Because of the Earth’s yellow sun you both will have great powers on this planet. You both will do extraordinary things.” Jeju explained.

“I won’t fail Kal-El, Kasa or you.” Kara smiled.

Jeju kissed Kara’s forehead. I hugged onto Jeju’s leg. An explosion went off in the distance.

“Will I ever see you again?” I asked quietly.

“Rao will let us meet again, but not for a long time. Promise you’ll have great stories okay.” Jeju kissed my temple and carried me into the foot of the pod.

Kara and Jeju hugged a long while as Uki turned away with tears in his eyes. When Kara got in the pod doors materialized. The pod picked up speed and launched into space.

Jeju had taken Kara and I to other planets before but the launch was so much  scarier than any before. The planet flashed an orange and yellow.

Anger grew inside of me since that day. Kara had it all. But on the brink of death I knew that Family is Power and Kara was the hero everyone needed.

I was ready to share my story with Jeju with the new realizations from telling them. To see the things I couldn’t see before.

“Amaya! It’s Kara’s sister, Kasa” A girl in dark leather and a red necklace came to Kasa’s side.

“Ladies the ship is going to explode!” Cisco shouted.

Kasa was consumed by the blue portal. Her eyes hazed and tried to adjust to the difference of lighting.

Frosty pulled out the arrow and froze over the wound.

“You’ll be okay.” Frosty smiled.

“I’m detecting dangerously high radiation levels.” A robotic voice spoke over the speakers.

“Computer voice lady’s right Supergirl-X is about to go supernova.” Cisco warned.

“Supergirl you doppelgänger is about to have a meltdown.” The man piloting the ship said.

“Kara?” Kasa managed to pull herself off the gurney.

“Wait hey, you are in terrible form to even stand.” The brunette with the yellow suit guided the kryptonian back towards the gurney.

“Nate caught your sister, she’s gonna be fine, kid. We don’t need another death on the ship.”

“Zari...” The yellow suit lady scolded.

“(Y/n)!” Your D.E.O sister ran towards you with Kara behind her.

“Is she gone?”

Kara nodded and caressed your cheek. “(Y/n)! I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I’m okay with Kasa too. I feel really tired.”

“We found your sister on their Waverider. Broken arm, leg, kryptonite arrow in her hand.” Caitlyn said.

“That was so dumb of you! We don’t trade lives!” Kara scolded.

“Liar, you were willing to put your life aside to save everyone on this Earth. Earth needs their hero, and I need my sister alive. El Mayarah.” You smiled up to both your sisters.

“Hey you stole my line.” Alex kissed your forehead.

“I’ll tell you all about it after my nap.” Your eyes shuttered.

“Heal up, we will get you home.” Kara kissed your forehead. “Jeju would be so proud. I’m proud of you too!”

“Home is where you and Alex are.”

#supergirl x reader #supergirl #supergirl imagines #supergirl imagine #kara danvers x b!danvers #kara danvers imagines #kara danvers imagine #kara danvers x reader #kara danvers #alex danvers #alex danvers imagines #alex danvers x b!danvers #alex danvers imagine #alex danvers x reader #baby danvers #house of el #overgirl #dark arrow #crisis on earth x #dc legends of tomorrow

[wendystales]

Memories - lrh (Chapter Thirteen)

Memories (also on Wattpad)

Chapter Twelve ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ Chapter Fourteen

I position myself in the center of the panel, making the 104th pose that morning. Brandon guides me from one shot to the next, making everything easier.

Six makeups. Six hairstyles. Six changes of clothes, even though the focus was on my face. Why did I get into this?

The photo shoot was for a cosmetics brand, for which I was the cover girl. It wasn't a 7-headed bug, as I had been thinking all night, which resulted in an irritating insomnia. And even though I arrived shy and lost, when I saw my look all produced, I felt like a great hottie, which gave me the confidence to go to that studio and rock.

I was having fun, as Leah advised me. I threw my hair, made faces and danced. I shifted my attention between Brandon's camera and my cell phone, where Nico, one of the helpers, was filming behind the scenes and stirring up my social medias.

It's fun, but after the fourth change of clothes, I was exhausted. After all, that spotlight doesn't leave me and the light gets too hot.

“For you.” Nico hands me a pink lilies bouquet. I open a smile, confused.

The team that was with me today, the agency, the brand and my parents had already sent me some bouquets earlier today, congratulating me and celebrating my return to the fashion world. So whose would it be?

I hunt for the card, opening it in a rush. Nico rested his head on my shoulder, wanting to read along with me. The handwriting didn't make me doubt, they were Luke's.

“To make your day more beautiful.

Congratulations on your return.

Love, Hemmo.”

I open a smile completely shaken by that. I burst out laughing when I see under his name “and the rest of 5sos” written in a different hand.

I ask Nico to take a picture of me with the flowers and send it to him, who quickly responds with a Petunia figure with heart eyes. I know I need to drop the bouquet and go back to the photos, but it feels so difficult.

Finally, I leave the flowers to the dressing room and I focus myself. Brandon praises my goofy smile and begs me to keep it up.

I knew everyone wanted to come today and watch the photo shoot, but I begged so hard not to. If without anyone I was already terrified of, seeing everyone there, staring at me, I wouldn't leave the dressing room.

[...]

Leah and Kiki were at my house, getting ready for Ashton's birthday, and of course, to gossip. They were both super curious to know how my first shoot was and how I was feeling.

besides telling about work, I comment about Luke's flowers and, finally, I tell about yesterday's dreams that still haven't left my head, taking root in my mind, blooming when I least expect it and leaving me out of breath.

“Oh, you naughty one!” Hastings tosses me the pillow. "Are you going to tell him?" she sits up in bed.

“No! How do I tell this?” I question, not understanding.

“Luke, I remembered when we were like two pervert rabbits and we were always having sex in the corners. Simple.” Kiki shrugs, going back to making up her eyes.

“Kiki!" I reprimand her. I hide my face, laughing embarrassed. "We weren't like that…I think…were we?" I look quickly at both of them.

Kiki looks at Leah, holding back her laughter. The brunette stares at me in disbelief. Oh my God, we were! It takes time to sink in, because with Stephen, I avoided sex at all costs. It was so cold and awkward, that most of the time I was bruised and, in all cases, unfulfilled.

I remember the touch of the dream and how it felt so soft and intense, and so good. However, I still find it hard for me to have been so turned on that I started having sex everywhere.

“Are you sure?” I ask suspiciously.

"Oh, honey! I will have to tell you about my dad's birthday, have I?" Leah hugs me, making Kiki laugh.

"What about your father's birthday?" the same way I was feared of Luke when he started telling me about the day I threw up at his feet, I get with Leah.

“Well, it was my dad's 50th birthday. A big, big party and of course I invited all of you. We had just got back from Milan, you were away from Luke for a couple of weeks, so you’re kinda getting crazy by missing him.

"Make it crazy." Kiki comments.

“The plan was for us to arrive in the morning, you'd have time to see each other, and then in the evening we would go to the party. But our flight was delayed and you didn't have that time. So you decided to open the bathroom.” Leah gives a fake smile.

I took a few seconds to understand, and then I widen my eyes, wanting to sink into the ground. I can't believe we did this.

“Calm down! She didn’t told the best part”. Kiki leaves the bathroom, joining us.

“Oh, that's cool, is there a better part?” I look at them both desperately.

"Of course, there is a best part. Leah escorting you guys out of the bathroom" Kiki throws herself on the bed, laughing. “Oh God! Your faces were the best.”

“Was after that our friendship beat all the limits and you know, we got really close.” Leah smiles to me.

What was my problem? Oh Lord, I never, ever, in my all life, thought I'd give one of those. If anyone asked me, who would be most likely to do this, I would definitely say Leah, Kiki, and even Bethany, but I would never say my name.

What did Luke do to me?!

I look at my friends, shocked. They both start laughing, amused by my reaction. A few seconds later, I give up, starting to laugh too.

"Is there any other similar situation that I should know about?" I inquire with fear.

"Yes, but we don't have time right now." Kiki gets up from the bed, slapping my foot, asking me to get ready.

We turned on the music and continued to get ready. Leah goes down to the kitchen, returning with three beers. The subject changes and we start to gossip.

After hours of producing us, I come down wearing my silver sequin jacket, finding Leah with another beer in her hand.

“Well? Good? Great?” I take a stroll, showing off the leather pants and black tank top that valued my tattoo.

"I definitely would ask for your number!" she replies, making me smile.

"Do you think people will like it? I mean, isn’t that much?” I stop in a few poses while she watches me.

“Rephrase the question.” she leans against the table. I stare at her without understanding. “What you want to know is whether Luke will like it." I open my mouth a few times.

“Perhaps.” I answer softly. Hastings snorts, hiding her face.

“You two should pay for my therapy. Because it's not easy to take it.” she takes a deep breath.

I give a guilty smile. I head to the bar, grabbing a shot of tequila and flipping it quickly. I would find Luke in a few minutes and I still don't know how to face him. I close my eyes, letting the alcohol burn my throat and warm my body, along with the memories. The flashes come back to my mind, clear as water. I can hear the girls' voices again, telling them about Mr. Hastings' 50th birthday.

“Let's go?” Kiki's scream brings me back. Standing near the door, they wait for me to down another shot of tequila before we go.

Along the way, we took several photos, already moving our social medias. At the door of the restaurant, the swarm of paparazzi was already in place and as soon as we got off the car, they surrounded us. Hands and arms linked, the three of us entered, being saved by the huge walls that didn't let them see anything that happened inside.

We went to the back of the restaurant, in a more reserved space, where a long table took up half the back wall. Right away I spot Luke, laughing as he chats with Jack and another guy I don't recognize. I analyze your look, social pants and a black t-shirt.

How can someone look so beautiful, so simple?

I swallow hard when he notices our approach and looks directly at me. I look away, unable to hold on; the images screamed in my mind.

Irwin approaches, already quite excited, trying to hug the three of us at the same time. When Leah and Kiki go to greet the other guests, I calmly hug my best friend, congratulating him once more.

“Make yourself comfortable and behave” he leaves a kiss on my forehead, going to welcome other guests who have just arrived.

I turn in time to see Hemmings approaching, one glass in his hand and the other in his pants pocket. How? I hold my breath, giving a terrified smile. He opens his smile even more.

“Hey!” he says excitedly, close enough for me to hear. Those lips… what have they done… I close my eyes quickly, shutting my mind.

“Hey!” I answer awkwardly.

“How are you doing?” he hugged me, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth. I close my eyes again, feeling it radiate with amazing speed throughout my body. I let out a breath in a sigh. I manage to catch his eyes as he walks away, hiding a more mischievous smile.

“Well!” my cheeks catch fire and the jacket starts to bother me. "Thanks for the flowers earlier today." I thank, while Luke leads me to the bar. His hand firmly on my waist reminds me of that hotel room. I bite my lip, holding back the urge to bang my head on the counter. "A shot of tequila." I ask desperately.

Luke raises his eyebrows in surprise but says nothing. I turn it over without a single thought, asking for another one, just in case. The heat that spreads through my body is the result of three doses ingested. I take off my jacket and, through the bar mirrors, I see Luke shamelessly sweep my body.

“It was nothing!” he says after clearing his throat. "I'm glad you liked it. So, how was your first shoot?” he leans his elbow on the counter, propping his head on his hand, visually interested.

The effect of the alcohol starts to kick in, and so I feel lighter in his presence, not bothering with the memories between the two of us, nor the fanciful situations that my mind starts to create. I tell about the rehearsal and how fun it really was to do it. In the middle of the answer, I get enthusiastic, telling everything in minute detail. Luke looks at me smiling and interested, without interrupting me.

“I’m sorry!” I cover my eyes, laughing. “I'm talking too much.”

A few more people had already arrived, but the two of us were still there, sitting at the bar. The most interesting thing was, everyone who arrived didn't dare come here and interrupt us.

“No! I love hearing you talk.” he smiles before taking another sip of gin. I lower my gaze, totally ashamed.

"I think we'd better go sit down." I comment, seeing everyone settling into their chairs.

“Let's go?” he offers his hand, helping me off the stool. I hold into his arm, walking to the table. "Should I keep an eye on you today?" he laughs. I repress the urge to say yes, but that's not the answer to his question.

“No! I won't drink that much.” I press my lips together in a thin line, embarrassed by Ash's party.

We sat next to each other, with Calum and Noah in front of us. Luke leans his arm on the back of my chair and I'm not shy about getting close to him, even with everyone in our group staring at us curiously. We embarked on a lively conversation with everyone around us.

Michael rushes in and apologizes for being late, taking his seat next to Hemmings.

"Was she with her?" I hear Luke ask, taking my full attention.

“Yep!” Mike gives a shy smile.

“Who she?” I almost walk through the body of the australian beside me, wanting to get close to Mike.

“Nobody special.” he shrugs.

“Yeah! Go for it.” Hemmo lets go, laughing. Michael slaps him on the head.

“It's nobody special. Just a friend. I swear!" he closes the matter, but he doesn't convince me.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about it." I whisper, complaining to the blonde at my side.

“Sorry, there was no time. Also, I didn't even know it could lead to anything.” he shrugs. I stare Luke, waiting him to continue, but he is easily distracted by the napkin holder. I slap his head like Mike. “Ouch! What was it?” he looks at me shocked.

“Tell me!” Luke turns to face me, rolling his eyes.

“Her name is Sophie. They met at a Fortnite stream. She beat him and he went to congratulate her on the match, so they started talking and apparently it’s hitting something.” Luke shrugs, finishing the story.

“This is so cute. I hope it works!” I see Michael laughing over Luke's shoulder. “Is she pretty?” I question.

“This is a dangerous question.” I look back at him, confused. "Is there a chance you slap me?" I laugh.

"No." I don't get why I would hit him for finding someone pretty.

“She is pretty!" I hit him. “Hey! You said I wouldn't be hitten.” he accuses me.

“Sorry, it's just funny.” I defend myself by laughing. Luke turns forward, annoyed. I wrap my arm around his, which were on the table and come closer, placing a kiss on his cheek. "Are you going to be mad at me?" I question laughing.

"And I can do it?" he turns to me. His eyes drop to my lips and mine to yours. It would be a perfect time for a kiss, but I don't feel comfortable with all these looks on us.

Hemmo seems to understand my internal battle and just leaves a kiss on my forehead. I open a grateful smile and once again guide my attention to the conversation between Noah and Brian.

After a couple of hours of eating and drinking. We started to spread out through space, forming several conversation circles. I was having a blast with everyone. We sing, dance and record videos that we'll definitely regret later.

After starting to eat, I stopped drinking alcohol, after all, trauma still reigns inside me. So I wouldn't feel like the only sober one at the party, Hemmings decided to join me, stopping drinking too.

Relieved, of course, is the word to describe this night with him. I thought it would be hard to look at it with everything I remembered, but it was so light and fun, I admit I freaked out over nothing. As usual!

All through dinner, I try not to pay too much attention to everyone's eyes on us. We simply could not do anything that someone just needed to die of love. Luke was amused, while I just wanted to sink into the ground.

Yes, I may have had a clue as to how much I feel about Luke, but I still want to take it easy. I want to be sure, and for that, I need to stop being afraid. I know he's been realizing how I've changed and I'm letting him get closer and closer.

Our kisses, touches and smiles. Everything is falling into place and the fact that he doesn't put pressure on me helps me a lot. I already totally trust him, it just makes stronger.

Considering it was easy to stay close to him, without letting the shame take me, I didn't pull him away for a second, because most of the time he pulled me along and I liked that. I like being close to him.

“One round. Just one round.” Jack pleads, hands clasped under his chest.

“No! I've had too much today.” Luke denies it again, making his friend fake a dramatic cry.

"You drank when you arrived. A beer and a shot of gin. That's nothing.”

“I'll drive later and I'm keeping Marnie company.” he squeezes me tighter to his chest.

"Can't you drink?" Jack looks at me confused.

“Of course I can, I just don't want to, you know, make a scene. Or something like that.” I shrug. Jack rolls his eyes, turning back to Luke.

“One round.” he begs, making me laugh.

The boys were preparing a round of Answer or Drink with 10 different types of drink. So, they played and still got drunk.

“No!” Luke responds with a laugh.

For a few seconds, I leave the two of them arguing and go to the table to get my coat. With the lack of alcohol, I start to feel the cold of the air conditioning. On my way to the table, a voice stops me.

“Look what a wonderful surprise.” I turn quickly, feeling all the blood freeze through my body. "What a coincidence, isn't it?" I watch his smirk, knowing what his presence there would do.

“What are you doing here, Stephen?” I take a breath deep, controlling the urge to fly at him. Just like I did with Pam.

It's the first time we've seen each other since the diary report and I couldn't feel more disgust and loathing.

“It's a public place, Lizzie, and don't worry, I didn't come chasing you. I'm with friends.” he points to a table. “I just came to say hello.”

“Don't call me Lizzie, you know I hate it and why don't you take your fake education and stick it in your…”

“What are you doing here?” Luke walks past me, coming face to face with Stephen. "I already told you to stay away from her."

Soon, all the boys approach, ready to intervene. I grab his arm, trying to keep him close to me.

“Let him.” I beg, not wanting it to explode in the middle of the restaurant.

“Calm down, Hemmings.” the name comes out acid and full of poison. “I just came to say hello to Lizzie.” he laughs, hands in his pockets. "Don't worry, I'm not kissing her."

I close my eyes, feeling that hit both of us. That's low, very low. Luke steps forward, taking me with him. Noah and Jack are already starting to put their hands between them. Ash, Mike and Calum begin to put their hands on their friend's shoulders, pulling him along.

“Do not worry. I'm not going to spend my time punching him. But I'll just say one thing, Stephen.” he uses the same acid tone to say his name. "In case you're still dumb enough not to understand. It’s over! What you and Marnie had is over! So stop coming after her, because she doesn't want anything to do with you. She is with me.”

His tone of voice and body postureme impress. I've never seen Luke like this, so nervous, holding back so he doesn't explode, the veins in his neck bulging, proving how much he's controlling himself. I tighten your arm more tightly around my body. I bring my hand down until it's entwined with his, deceptively hoping that it will calm him down and bring him back to me.

“Funny. Cause from what I heard, you guys broke up, didn't you? What? You couldn’t stood the cheat?” he laughs, like he's made a great joke.

I don't know if he intended to hit Luke again, but without realizing it the words hit me. My blood boils and the words written in my diary take shape in my mind. Damn imagination.

I let go of my hand, putting myself in front of Stephen, who takes a step back. His gaze, full of curiosity and mockery, fixes on me.

“That’s enough, Stephen! I don't care about you. Pretend I never called you, just like I was before the accident and disappear from my life. I know you cheated on me and I don't want this torment in my life anymore. Go away.” I let go of everything contained, trying not to fly off his neck.

"Are you really going to believe their bullshit?" Stephen crosses his arms.

“Nobody had to tell me. I remembered." I see his eyes lose their mocking sparkle and he lose confidence. It's a lie, but he don't need to know. “There are at least twenty people here and they all want to hit you, including me, who wouldn't mind breaking my cast on your head. So if you don't want to get out of here on a stretcher, get out!”

I take a step back, feeling my heart pound and trying my best to keep myself from crying. Luke's agitated breath pulses against my spine. I lean against him, feeling his hand intertwine with mine, squeezing it delicately. Amazing how I feel safer, just with that touch.

Stephen passes his eyes around everyone and walks away without saying anything else. When his body pulls away, I release all the air I didn't even know I was holding. The boys start telling us to go back to the table.

I turn, pulling Luke, who is still standing there, facing my ex, who is sitting at the table with a group of friends. He turns around, pulling me easily into his arms. His hands tighten around my waist and I feel him exhale against my neck, giving me goose bumps. I stroke the back of his neck, trying to calm him down and show him that everything is fine.

We walked back to the table, striving for the mood from before. Ashton orders his birthday cake and we ourselves lull into the music, excited, mocking Irwin. While we devoured the cake, no one broaches the subject and I thanks for that. I know Hemmings and I will probably talk about it, but I don't want to involve the guys in this.

Gossip reigns at the table again. The entire group is engaged in conversation about the most disastrous trips ever made, minus the blonde and me. I watch him with his jaw still set and his gaze filled with rage, fixed directly on Stephen, who is across the room, staring at me.

It's a cycle: Luke stares at Stephen, who stares at me, while I stare at Luke.

I feel terrible for making him go through all of this. My amnesia, our breakup, my ex's return. Lucas doesn't deserve any of this. I need to reward him, but how?

“Hey!” I whisper, resting my chin on his bicep, but he doesn't hear me. "I want to leave, will you take me?" I question, hoping to gain any sign of him.

He looks at me nonchalantly, then blinks back to reality. Luke stares at the bleached on the other side, wanting to see if he's still trying something. I drop a small kiss on his shoulder, gaining his attention again.

“Of course! Let's go?” I nod, getting up.

Nobody is opposed to our leaving, I believe as much because of what happened as because it was the two of us. We walked across the room hand in hand, and with me clutching his arm, just to make sure he didn't fly into someone.

But I need to remember that Luke is just as classy as I am. Not just for the fame or the spectacle it would be, but because he was brought up that way. Educated not to go into violence, even if there was someone on the other side who deserved to be slapped.

I'm scared by the frantic flashes that start to pop when they notice the two of us. I cling closer to Luke, who makes room for his car. The delay for the questions to start is just for them to reason that it was the two of us there, together, after announcing our break up.

I keep my head down, focused on his thumb moving up and down, stroking my skin. Luke opens the car door and I settle in, still feeling the flashbulbs burst above us.

With great difficulty, we got out of that sea of ​​people. We remained silent until we reached the intersection of the main lane that led to my house.

“Do you want to go home?” he asks, softly.

I can't identify any feelings in your voice. He is neutral, indifferent. Apart from the isolated fact, this night has been amazing and I don't want it to end, not in this mood.

“No!” I turn in the seat, facing him. "Isn't there anywhere I'd love to go? Or that we both went a lot?” for the first time, I see a glint run through his eyes.

“Yeah! In fact, there are two.” he cracks a smile, causing me to smile too.

Luke takes the other path, heading to some place I couldn't even imagine. The subject comes up between us and so the mood softens. As we talk, I list a number of places I've always liked in Los Angeles, wanting to guess where it would take me.

We turn onto Wilshire Boulevard and I guess where we're going. Hemmo parks his car near the Urban Light and I look forward to getting out of the car.

Before we exit the vehicle, he pulls two caps from the glove compartment, giving me a dark gray one. I look at that accessory, wondering if it was always mine, if we always wore it when we went out.

“Why am I not impressed that this would be the first place?” I question, holding his hand.

By the time, the sculpture was a little empty, with only a few couples taking pictures. Luke and I went unnoticed, walking between those huge poles.

We walked around, with me admiring those lighted poles. I've always liked this sculpture, I've always found it romantic because so many people are proposed here, and I love the lighting.

“Oh no!” I push Luke, finding your phone pointed at me.

"This one got blurry." he laments, pointing again.

“Luke!” I exclaim laughing. I try not to scream so as not to draw attention to both of us.

“Sorry about my behavior at the restaurant.” Hemmings says after a while, surprising me. I lean against a pole, watching him.

“Why are you apologizing?” I frown. Luke leans against the same post, shrugging.

"I didn't mean to spoil your night." he answers.

“You didn't! If there is one responsible, it is him! Stephen knows he shouldn't have shown up there.” I comfort him.

His blue eyes meet mine. I take a step toward him, standing on tiptoe, reaching for his lips, leaving a simple kiss there. Without pulling away completely, I see a goofy smile appear on his face, which also appears on mine.

"What's our second place?" I whisper, next to him.

“My bed.” he lets go.

“Lucas!” I push him away, laughing again. His laugh is contagious. If he knew about the memories…

“Just kidding." Uh-hm… "Ready to get full of sand?" he asks, holding out his hand.

“Always!” I grabbed, leaning my head on his arm as we made our way to the car.

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[blackicewave]

hot take on the recent chapters

I came up with this while I was on too little sleep & after a friend caught up to the manga, it’s really long and I hope it makes sense - so, enjoy! 

I think what is happening right now, might be Ymir trying to re-establish her former form.

Because Eren has three out of nine titans right now - Attack, Founding, Warhammer. The Founding Titan was the very first of all titans before Ymir started gathering/creating all those other abilities. 

We currently have this written/known about it specifically on the official wiki page:

Its Scream can create and control other Titans, and modify the memories and body compositions of the Subjects of Ymir, but this power can only be used by the royal family under normal circumstances.

According to Marley's Titan Biology Research Society, the Founding Titan is the point where the paths that connect all Subjects of Ymir and Titans cross.

We have been known that only the royal family can properly use it, which is why Eren only managed to use the Founding when touching Dina Fritz's titan (the one that ate his mother) to protect Mikasa after Hannes was devoured and then when coming in contact with Zeke, seeing as he is from royal blood as well. However, the royal family is bound by a vow and the ideology of Karl Fritz - basically, he wanted the Eldians to be locked up and separated from the world because they had been too involved in wars before. So he wanted to protect them, essentially.

The vow is renouncing war to stop Eldia from using the Founding Titan to devastate the world ever again and it possesses the individual to follow the idea. That is why Frieda, even though she viewed the Eldians as sinners, still followed that protocol.

Now, with Grisha devouring Frieda and gaining the Founding Titan and passing it on to Eren, the chain of royal blood inheritors was broken. Which is why, paired with Erens own ideology to go behind the walls and see the world, Ymir zeroed her interest in him as it's seen in the recent chapters.

She herself wasn't of royal blood and being used to fight wars for that king in the backstory most likely built a hatred for humanity in her view - she was viewed as that slave, of which Eren broke her free. He's the only inheritor that hasn't been shaped and controlled by that ideology of King Fritz that she could get her hands on, so she can twist his views or add her own to it in having to destroy the world and humanity in it.

I think that she's using Eren as a vessel to collect all titans. He already has three, and with every other shifter present right now - Armin (colossal), Reiner (armored), Annie (female), Falco (jaw), Pieck (cart) and Zeke (Beast) - she can take them prisoner and force them to join with Eren. 

She basically already has Zeke in her control, having lured him into paths with Eren, and she just took Armin prisoner with another previous titan. Why else would she take him prisoner and bring him to "Eren's ass" as Levi said and separate them by a hoard of powerful, controlled titan shifters if not to ensure they don't get him back until she has taken all of them captive? She knows how powerful Levi and Mikasa are - most likely through Eren's memories. She most likely wants to create a vessel with all nine titans again to merge with Eren fully, maybe even devour him herself, to use her full former strength to get back on humanity and make them pay.

In the first chapter about her backstory it's shown that she was being punished and chased to her "death" because she let the pigs escape - in the last chapter 135, however, in the very first panel, it's shown that she willingly opened the gate to let them escape. She wanted them to run away. Whether or not it was planned that she'd be chased like that and would tumble into the tree trunk is questionable, but I think it has to do with it.

To add to my suspicion of not killing the current inheritors of the nine titans because she needs them later on, look at chapters 114-115 specifically.

Zeke blew himself up in the scene with Levi, and that entirely. He was torn in half. His spine was destroyed and therefore the titan in him "lost" because he had no one to pass it on to. He accepted that he'd die, told himself that. He did die.

But Ymir brought him back. She rebuilt his body and brought him back to life - if she really did that out of pure selflessness and devotion to her people, why didn't she do it with Levi? He's Eldian, too, technically, even if he's an Ackermann.

But Ackermanns are a byproduct and made to protect the royal family, and if we follow my thing right here, then she hated the royal family - she was forced to marry the king and give him offspring, after all. And she was nothing but a child. And she knew how dangerous Levi was - so she planned for him to die while rescuing Zeke, because she had a plan for him while Levi would have only endangered that.

In chapter 110, Zacharias refuses Mikasa and Armin to go see Eren - and promptly dies in an explosion. This might be a hot take, but I think Eren might have ordered someone to do so (because Ymir made him?) - because she needed to split the bond between them. And afterward, Eren escaped. Maybe it was used as a maneuver to get the attention off of him.

In chapter 112 he returns to meet Mikasa and Armin in the table scene - already threatening to transform if they make any move. "I am free. Whatever I do, whatever I choose. I do it out of my own free will."

That's what he says, entirely unprompted really. He proceeds to tell Armin that he's the one being controlled by Bertholt, and I think that mirrors the situation properly. Because it could serve as a parallel that it's not Armin but Eren controlled by "the enemy".

In that chapter, Eren effectively cuts all of the bonds to his friends even though in a few chapters before (when discussing who will inherit his titan once his time is over) he claims to care about them more than anything. And he does. He cares incredibly, he's a very emotional person - but suddenly, all of his emotions are gone. Seems fishy. ‘

He cuts Mikasa off by telling her he's hated her for his whole life, knowing it's her weak spot. He beats Armin up, knowing it's his weak spot because Eren was always there to take hits for him when he got beaten up as a child.

Once again, I think that's Ymir taking control of his memories and using them against him. That, or Eren used those purposefully to get them away from him and out of the danger zone, knowing that he's a time bomb.

In that chapter, it is thickly laid on that Eren "hates" slaves. "Do you know what I hate most in this world? Anyone who isn't free. That, or cattle. Just looking at them made me so angry, now I finally understand why. I couldn't stand to look at an undoubting slave who only ever followed orders."

Maybe, once again, that is Ymir speaking - she was reduced to a slave, and her creation of a titan made to fight was broken down by a vow the Eldian King created. The following inheritors only ever accepted that fate and didn't do anything to break free from it. 

In chapter 130 when Eren tells Historia his plan, he says the following: 

"The only way to put a final end to the cycle of revenge born from hate is to remove that history of hate from this world and bury it in the ground, civilisation and all." - he knows it's a repeating process, possibly because of previous memories handed down to him through the Attack Titan and looking through the royal bloodline with the Founding Titan (first seen when he kissed Historia's hand).

The cycle of revenge born from hate - gotta keep that in mind, cause I think it's very important looking at all of his actions. 

There's this constant reference with his friends. In so many flashbacks, it tells us that Eren wants his friends to have happy lives. To be free. To live long. He adores his friends and loves them with all of his heart. So why tell them he hates them? Why beat them? Why get them involved in all of this? 

Because it isn't him saying those things, and if it is there's more behind it.

In chapter 131 he apologizes to a child for everything he is about to do before it even happens. Maybe because he saw the outcome of it all?

He knows how much he will hurt the world and people, but he does it anyway because he needs this cycle to end.

 I'm not fully sure what the rest of his apology means, talking about how he was disappointed learning that people lived in the outside world. But what I do think is important is the last panel in that chapter, this one:

It views Eren with his eyes shut. Just his head. Usually, whenever he controls his titan, his eyes are open. His own body moves to control the titan. Here it isn't, though. I feel like that symbolizes how it's not him.

We established that he's a very emotion bound person that often rejects logic to follow his heart - he doesn't have his heart here. He can't listen to it. If you are manipulated the source of that manipulation always tries to break your mind first. Rob you of your beliefs and make you follow others. 

The contrast is right then and there - why would he apologies in tears to a child he doesn't know at all and explain his intentions and beliefs when once it happens, and once the child is murdered, he doesn't show any reaction?

Sure, one could argue that he's not conscious after his head was shot off, but who caused the jump and transformation into the titan if not Eren? Possibly Ymir. 

It is shown that the user has to focus on that goal to transform, as in season one with Eren and the well, so either Eren was conscious enough - somewhat doubtful - or Ymir had full control of him then and there already as soon as he stepped into paths.

In chapter 133 Reiner says something important; "If it was me, I'd probably.. want someone else to handle the power of the founder by now. And if I couldn't, I'd want it to be stopped by someone."

There's pretty much a direct contrast once again - are Eren and the Rumbling controlled by someone else? In my opinion, yes. 

Does he want someone else to stop it? He most likely does, why else would Mikasa, Armin, and co be able to move freely? Ymir not so much. 

I feel like he's putting up a resistance to them, which is why she can't control them properly despite them being Eldians. 

They get thrown into paths then, and when they see Eren it's him but his younger version. Around nine or ten, probably.

What I think happened here is that Ymir is keeping him trapped in a younger version of himself - similar to that one time he was wrapped up in blankets in his home and Armin was knocking on the window behind him, trying to shake him awake and conscious again.

She's keeping his conscience reminded of good memories to hold him there and be able to move freely with his body - like I said, she's using him as a vessel to push her actions, her dream, her ideal world and outcome into his hands.

"In order to gain my own freedom, I will take freedom away from the world." Sounds a lot like something Ymir could have been saying, in my opinion. But then again, who knows.

This panel is also important:

Eren, in his young form, is simply standing next to Ymir. And he doesn't do anything. He doesn't react or recognize his friends, and most importantly, he mirrors how Ymir is standing in the exact same way.

She's mirroring herself onto him, projecting her conscience onto his body. It proceeds with "If you want to stop me, then try to stop me from ever taking another breath" -  once again, and I cannot stress this enough, Ymir uses Eren's memories against him.

She knows his friends won't risk him dying. She knows they would do anything to protect him. This is her playing it safe; they won't kill him, ergo they won't stop her from continuing her plan by using him. 

Now in the recent chapter, she's standing on top of his spine and it becomes very clear that she's controlling it all. She's building former titan shifters from his spine, and controlling them to separate the team from Eren's location - and Armin's, most likely even Zeke's. 

She figured out that they won't give up until they found Eren and can talk to him, so she creates that barrier that she's sure they won't manage to surpass. Not with limited supplies. 

When Pieck becomes a danger, she eliminates her by impaling her on that trident - but she doesn't injure her beyond conscience or in a threatening state. She specifically uses Galliard and Berthold against Reiner, and throws those two on him to damage him in his abilities and trick his mind, to manipulate him.

Armin says it himself: "If Eren is only attacking onward like he said he would then this resistance is coming from Ymir." If Eren is attacking onward to follow the goal to end the cycle, then Ymir is the one bringing all the complications. They might work hand in hand, but I do strongly believe that all of the complications are solely on Ymir. Eren never wanted to risk hurting his friends.

In fact, and this is if he is conscious enough to pull any strings right now, I think he might be setting things up to ensure that his friends are the ones that kill him. 

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyoujin #aot season 4 #aot spoilers #snk spoilers #aot 135 #snk manga #aot manga #eren jaeger #first post lets see how this goes #did i crack a code? maybe. #i did say hot take

[the-delta-42]

The Return

The Return

Cody and Frankie froze when they heard the klaxon, the Citywide comm crackled to life, as Prowl spoke; “Autobots, Mobilise! Get all the Humans to the safe zones, The Decepticons are attacking!”

Rewind climbed up the fire pole, “Blaster sent me up to get you two, the rescue team is already heading to the safe zones.”

Frankie jumped to her feet and head towards Rewind.

“I’ll come in a minute,” Said Cody, inputting commands into his console, “I need to seal up the tunnels.”

Frankie paused and looked at Cody, who looked up, “I’ll be right behind you, I promise.”

Rewind guided Frankie to the pole and sent her down, “I’ll be watching for you.”

Cody nodded and continued closing the tunnels. Rewind headed down to Frankie and Blaster, the Autobot already having deployed Steeljaw, Ramhorn, Eject and Blockrock. The five mini-cons prepared to leave with Frankie, as the building started to seal up.

“We have five minutes to leave before we’re stuck in here,” Said Blaster, picking Frankie up and walking out the door, “Cody’s still got the exit tunnels to seal up before he can leave.”

“Will he be, okay?” Asked Frankie, looking behind Blaster as he moved away from the Firehouse.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Prowl’s nearby.” Dismissed Blaster, as the mini-cons scattered out to guide the humans to the safe zones.

TR

Drift looked up from Russell and Hank’s game when he heard a siren sound.

“That sounds like…” Sideswipe trailed as Bumblebee jumped into action.

“Autobots, Rev up and Roll Out!” Without waiting for the other, Bumblebee transformed and drove off, Grimlock and Strongarm following him, Drift summoned his mini-cons, transformed and followed them, leaving Sideswipe to bring up the rear. Fixit quickly guided the humans towards the remains of the Alchemor, activating the defence systems.

TR

Kade froze at the siren, before turning to all the humans around him, “Alright, everyone heard the warning, get to the safe zones!”

Soon enough, a sea of humans was being guided to the safe zones, while the Autobots took up positions around the City, waiting for the Decepticons to show themselves. Prowl watched as Brawn helped a group of humans to the ground.

The ground a few feet away from them exploded, with Skywarp landed not far from the group. The Decepticon sneered at the human, before levelling his cannon at them. Brawn saw him, before charging at the Decepticon, a single shot entering his shoulder. Brawn grunted, as more Decepticons landed and started shooting at the Autobots and the fleeing humans, the Autobot snarled and punched Skywarp in the face.

Jazz grabbed the barrel of a tank and yanked it upwards, Brawl transformed and threw the Autobot to the ground. A shot hit Brawl’s side, as Bumblebee transformed and skidded under the Decepticon. Prowl’s head rocked to the side, as Barricade punched him, Blaster fired his sonic cannon and sent Barricade into a fountain.

The Autobots held their defence, as the Decepticons started surrounding the city. Quickshadow jumped onto Blitzwing’s back and kicked him in the back of the head. Starscream watched as his loyalists attacked, Megatronus stood behind him and smirked.

“Soon, we will have our revenge.” Said The Fallen, as he dispatched Fracture to the makeshift prison the Autobot’s constructed, “My brothers couldn’t stop this.”

Back in the battle, Prowl, yelled as his door wings were shot off. Bumblebee rolled out of the way of Blitzwing’s rocket, before hooking his hands around the Triple Changers arm and launching himself into the air, grabbing a rocket as he did so. Bumblebee landed on Blitzwing’s shoulder and ripped panels and wires out of the Decepticon. As Blitzwing screamed, Bumblebee jammed the rocket into the hole he made and jumped away, shooting the rocket.

Blitzwing’s death silence the battlefield, the headless Decepticon toppled to the ground. Everyone was silence, before Brawn hefted Skywarp up and slammed him into the ground, allowing Grimlock to knock a vehicon into Astrotrain. Skyward managed to free himself of Brawn, before shooting into the air and firing a series of shots into Brawn’s back. The Autobot collapsed to his knees, before his spark flickered out and fell dead where he once stood.

A space bridge opened, granting Arcee, Bulkhead, Ultra Magnus, Smokescreen and Wheeljack access to the battle.

“What’s happening?” Asked Arcee, shooting at the Decepticons.

“Decepticon’s attacked, Blitzwing’s dead and Skywarp killed Brawn.” Reported Prowl, as Bulkhead charged Skywarp.

TR

Cody skidded to a halt as he reached the safe zone, “Kade, have you seen Frankie?”

Kade shook his head, before he could ask why, Cody ran off and started asking around for Frankie. Every person he asked, he received a negative answer. Cody worried his bottom lip, before steeling his nerves and running back out the entrance.

“CODY!” Yelled Kade, going to follow but being stopped by Hayley.

“Kade, it’s too dangerous.” Said his fiancé, desperately trying to get him to stay.

“Cody’s out there.” Protested Kade, as Dani contacted Blades.

“Blades, Cody’s just ran out the door, I think he’s looking for Frankie.” Said Dani, getting a grunt from Blades.

“I’ll send him your way if I see him, right now I have Vortex on my aft.” Said Blades.

“Stay safe, partner.” Said Dani, before shutting her comm off.

Cody ducked under an upturned car, avoiding a Decepticon chasing a stray family. The mother tripped and tried to scramble away. Cody spotted some of Wheeljack’s inventions in the middle of the road, the Wrecker must’ve come back when the Decepticons attacked. Cody grabbed the boomsticks, ran out and jammed one of the explosives into the Decepticons foot. When the Decepticon fell, Cody pulled the hunting knife Dani got him and stabbed the Decepticon’s eyes. Once he was certain the Decepticon was blinded, Cody shoved the second one of the boomsticks into the crater where the Decepticon’s eye was. Cody quickly helped the mother to her feet and pulled her and her family away from the Decepticon as it’s head exploded.

“They’re a safe zone a block away, head there.” Said Cody, already heading in the opposite direction.

“What about you?” Asked the mother, as her husband started to lead the children to the safe zone.

“I’m looking for someone,” Called Cody, as the ground shook and dust fell, “don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

The woman watched Cody get further away, before following after her family.

TR

Miko and Raf helped triage the injured, as Jack helped the medical staff. Jack just finished dressing a wound, when Frankie came up behind him, “We need some more gauze.”

“There should be some in supply closet 12.” Said Jack, helping his patient up, “It’s down the hall and numbered.”

Frankie nodded and raced off, Doc Greene and Professor Baranova were helping with moving the patient to a seating area. Jack winced as a loud explosion shook the ground. Frankie was coming back from the supply closet with the gauze, when her phone went off.

“Kade?” Answered Frankie, handing Dr McSwaine the gauze, “What’s wrong?”

Frankie stiffened, “He what? I…I’ll called Quickshadow, she’ll find him.”

“Frankie, what wrong?” Asked Miko, looking at the younger girl.

“Cody’s out in the battle zone,” Choked Frankie, trying to keep calm, “Kade said he’s looking for me.”

Miko froze, before glancing over at Jack, “Cody’s going to be fine, he’s a fighter, Frankie. I’m sure Cody will be bringing people through the doors soon.”

TR

Cody’s left hand ached as he kept it close to his side, his right hand held a blaster he’d taken off a Decepticon Mini-Con. He aimed his blaster at the nearest Decepticon’s ankle and fired. The ‘Con collapsed to the ground, allowing Cody to shove a boomstick into it’s eye. Cody had killed seven Decepticon this way and he’d just used the last boomstick he’d come across. Cody quickly sent the other humans toward the safe zones and looked up. Cody spotted Prowl fighting Barricade, before he pointed the blaster up at the Decepticon’s head and pulled the trigger.

Barricade’s head rocked to the side; his left optic completely destroyed. Prowl took his change and fired several shots into Barricade’s spark. Barricade fell to the ground, dead. Prowl looked at the origin of the shot and did a double take at Cody.

“Cody, what are you doing here?” Demanded Prowl, crouching in front of Cody.

“I can’t find Frankie, she’s not in the safe zone.” Said Cody, shooting at Brawl’s ankle.

Prowl frowned and looked at Cody, before he looked up again. Prowl saw Thundercracker aiming at Cody, a sick grin on his face. Thundercracker fired and Prowl jumped in front of the shot. Cody looked up as his guardian jerked and stepped backwards over him. Prowl had a hole in his midsection, before another shot made a second hole in his shoulder and another into his chest. Cody saw Prowl’s optics flicker orange, before smoke started to pour out of the Autobot’s mouth. There was a splintering sound as Prowl’s optics shattered. The autobot took a few steps forwards, before Thundercracker sent a final shot into his spark. Prowl fell backwards, Cody scrambled out of the way, but got his leg crushed by Prowl’s head, a shard of metal piercing Cody’s leg and crushed the limb. Prowl’s body suddenly jerked as his chest exploded. Cody stared at Prowl’s remains, unable to look away from them.

Thundercracker took a step forwards, but was knocked back from a tank shell.

“Autobots! Attack!” Yelled Warpath, as Quickshadow, lifted Prowl’s head and pulled Cody out from under the spike.

“What?” Asked Cody, looking up at Quickshadow, tears streaming down his cheeks, “Where are we going? We can’t leave him! Please, Prowl needs help.”

“Prowl’s dead, Cody!” Said Quickshadow, forcefully, “And if we don’t get you out of here, you’ll be too.”

Quickshadow started running towards the Medical safe zone, Cody resting in her hands. The boy watched as Beachcomber was shot in the neck and fell dead over his lifeless guardian. Ironhide shot at Thundercrack, but the Decepticon flew away. Quickshadow passed the smouldering remains of Windcharger, while Hound provided covering fire.

Quickshadow came to a halt and knocked on the door, Raf poked his head out and saw Cody, “Jesus! Thanks, Quickshadow.”

Quickshadow nodded, before standing up. The femme turned around and was immediately hit in the face with a rocket. Quickshadow’s remains fell, with her head rolling off as soon as she hit the ground.

Cody and Raf stared at the dead Autobot.

“We need to get you inside.” Said Raf, helping Cody through the doors, “Guys, we have one who’s legs been crushed!”

Miko looked up and saw Cody, looking much paler than when she’d last seen him. June spotted them and walked over, she frowned and looked at the leg, “That’s got energon poisoning, we need to amputate.”

“There’s a room down the hall where we can remove it.” Said a nurse, taking Cody from Raf.

June nodded, before heading over to a box that held surgical tools. June immediately found the surgeon and informed her of the situation.

No one noticed Frankie’s frozen form as she watched Cody come in and be taken to have his leg taken off.

TR

Skywarp’s dead body hit the ground, Huffer fired a shot at Starscream, as received a shot to the face. Bumblebee and Arcee didn’t glance at Huffer’s corpse, while Strongarm stared at it. Hound came crashing down, with Starscream knocking the top of his helm off and shooting him in the back of the head.

Arcee transformed and sped towards Starscream, before transforming again and jamming her fist into his head. She activated her blaster and fired round after round into Starscream’s head, all that was left was a smoking hole where his helm used to be. Starscream’s body fell, just as the Fallen dropped down from the sky. The Prime landed on his back and started to scramble to his feet, when the most unexpected Bot stood on his chest. Optimus Prime glared down at his brother, before activating his weapons and fired a single shot into Megatronus’s chest.

Optimus watched at the life left his brothers eyes. Silence reigned the battlefield, The Autobots looked around, seeing that all the Decepticons, who weren’t dead, had fled.

“It can’t be.” Uttered Ultra Magnus, stepping forwards, “Optimus.”

“Hello, old friend.” Said Optimus, as he spotted the remains of Hound and Huffer, “How many did we lose?”

“Seven in total, sir,” Said Ultra Magnus, looking up at Optimus, “but they died defending the humans.”

“Some were wounded as they were evacuated.” Reported Ultra Magnus, as Arcee walked towards Optimus.

“We lost Prowl, Brawn, Beachcomber, Quickshadow, Windcharger, Hound and Huffer,” Listed Arcee, “Blaster and Ironhide received minor wounds, while Jazz, Sideswipe and the Rescue Bots are going to require some new limbs.”

“And what of the humans that were wounded?” Asked Optimus, making Arcee tense.

“Some were wounded heading to the safe zones…” Arcee sighed, “Optimus, some of the humans were saved by Cody Burns.”

“While that is pleasing to hear, I fail to see how that correlates to the wounded.” Stated Optimus, raising an eyebrow.

“Cody was wounded when Prowl died.” Said Arcee, glancing up at Optimus, “He also took out a few Decepticons.”

Optimus frowned, before stepping forwards, “Take me to him.”

TR

Frankie sat beside Cody, her eyes resting on the point just above his left knee where his lower leg was missing. The energon that had infected his wound had literally started cooking the leg while Cody was still alive. Her parents were out looking around the city for any more wounded, Jack was locating the dead and Raf was off with Ratchet working on the Autobots that’d survived. Miko sat in the corner, watching Cody and Frankie.

“He’s going to be okay, you know?” Asked Miko, carefully watching Frankie.

“You don’t know that.” Responded Frankie, not looking at the woman.

“I do know,” Assured Miko, getting up and walking towards her, “I may not have been maimed helping the Autobots, but he’s going to be okay.”

“How?!” Demanded Frankie, whipping around to glare at her, “How can you know if he’ll be okay if you’ve never gone through what he has?!”

“Because he’s got us, and Jack and Raf, and the Bots.” Said Miko, simply, “We’ll be there for him, it may take some time, weeks, months or even years, but we’ll be there to help him and, one day, he’ll be okay.”

“An excellent observation, Miko.” Said a deep baritone that made the woman freeze.

Miko turned and came face-to-chest with a man, that was undoubtedly a holoform.

“Optimus?” Asked Miko, dumbstruck.

The holoform, Optimus, nodded, “Arcee informed me of Cody’s situation, especially after the loss of Prowl.”

Frankie wiped her eyes and got up to leave, “I’ll go help with the search.”

“I do not think Cody would want his spark mate to leave.” Said Optimus, evenly.

“Spark mate?” Questioned Frankie, looking at Miko.

“Cybertron’s equivalent for significant other.” Explained Miko, folding her arms, “And Optimus is right, Cody wouldn’t want you to leave and worry. I’m sure he’d want you to be here when he wakes up.”

Frankie wiped her eyes, before nodding and sitting back down, “What if he doesn’t want to see me?”

“Francine,” Said Optimus, getting her attention, “Cody cares enough for you to head out into a war zone to ensure you were safe.”

“But Prowl…” Frankie trailed off.

“Prowl would’ve died either way,” Said Optimus, placing his hands behind his back, “you cannot hold yourself accountable for actions out of your control.”

Frankie was silent, only moving to hold Cody’s hand.

TR

Word spread of Optimus’s return and the defeat of the Decepticons. Cody woke up a week after the battle, after the socket for his leg had been attached. A couple days after, Cody was walking with a cane out of the hospital. Cody paused at the sight of the rescue team.

Boulder now sported massive wheels and Chase’s headlights were now on his chest. Heatwave’s ladder was split into two parts and Blades sported a face plate over his mouth and four rotor blades opposed to two.

“Cody!” Gasped Blades, crouching down in front of the boy, “We were so worried.”

“I’ll be okay, guy.” Said Cody, trying not to look at Prowl’s former space.

“I mean, it’s not everyday you survive Thundercracker.” Continued Blades, rambling, “There are rumours that he’s somewhere nearby, waiting to get revenge.”

“Blades, intelligence reported that they picked up his signal several miles out.” Said Heatwave, looking at the helicopter.

“It’s good to have you back, Cody.” Said Boulder, as Frankie embraced the boy, “We all missed you.”

“Some more than others, huh?” Joked Cody, as Frankie buried her face in his neck.

“We also heard about your actions in the battle, Mr Decepticon Killer.” Jested Heatwave, making Cody laugh.

“I only did what someone else would’ve.” Dismissed Cody, resting his cheek against Frankie’s head, “I’m going to head up, I’m pretty tired.”

Cody detangled himself from Frankie and heading to the lift, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Once the lift doors closed, Cody sighed and slumped against the wall, he’d wait until everyone was asleep and then go. He managed to take a bag of Wheeljack’s weapons without anyone noticing, of course, they’d probably be wondering why he left his school stuff at the base. Cody sighed through his nose, he saw where Thundercracker had been hanging around, he knew where he was. Thundercracker was going to pay.

#transformers #Transformers Prime #transformers rescue bots #transformers rid2015 #Delta Writes #Autobot City #optimus prime #Arcee #ratchet #bulkhead #smokescreen #wheeljack #ultra magnus #bumblebee #strongarm #drift #grimlock #sideswipe #fixit #jazz #prowl #heatwave #quickshadow #blades #boulder #chase #jack darby #miko nakadai #rafael esquivel #june darby

[emospritelet]

Twisted Fate - chapter 24

Last time, Gold went to Storybrooke, and Belle’s waters broke

[AO3]

x

“Mr Gold, thank you so much for dealing with this so quickly.”

Mary Margaret Blanchard both looked and sounded relieved, and Gold could understand why. The leak in her bathroom had been fixed, but not before water had soaked through the ceiling and fused the kitchen lights.

“I don’t even know how it happened,” she went on. “I could have sworn everything was turned off.”

“One of the pipes was damaged,” he said. “Took a knock somehow, cracked it in two places. I’ve had the plumber replace it. Good as new.”

He ran his eyes over the ceiling, where damp patches still showed, and made a note in the little book he kept for repairs and tenant complaints.

“Minimal damage, it seems,” he said. “I’ll have someone come out and repaint as soon as it’s dry. We may need to replace one of the panels, but I’m sure it won’t require any major works.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” She smoothed the skirt of her dress with her hands. “Uh - may I offer you some tea?”

Gold eyed her curiously before clicking the end of his pen and slipping it into the inside pocket of his coat with the notebook. Miss Blanchard was a good tenant, but even she had never offered him tea before.

“No, thank you,” he said. “I need to head back to Boston.”

“Oh yes, Mr Dove mentioned that you’d only be in Storybrooke today,” she said, and hesitated. “Um - I hope you don’t mind my asking, but Granny said that you and Belle are expecting a baby.”

Gold felt himself smile.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I think pretty much everyone in town was in a state of shock,” she said, with a tiny laugh, pressing a hand to her heart. “We had no idea you were even seeing each other!”

“Well, that’s the unavoidable consequence of not telling anyone, I suspect,” he remarked.

“Moe didn’t say a word!”

“I think he preferred to pretend it wasn’t happening,” he said coolly.

“Right.” She looked as though she was about to burst from curiosity. “Could you give me Belle’s number? I’d love to catch up with her, give her my best wishes.”

Gold had a vision of every woman in Storybrooke suddenly clamouring to get in touch with Belle, and he gave Miss Blanchard a tiny smile.

“Why don’t I give her your number, and a message that you’d like to speak to her?” he suggested. “The baby is due next week, you see. She’s somewhat preoccupied with that at the moment.”

“Oh, of course!”

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he fished it out, smiling slightly as he saw Belle’s name flashing on the screen.

“Excuse me,” he said, turning away from Miss Blanchard a little and swiping the screen to answer.

“Hey,” he said gently. “I’m just about ready to head back.”

“Yeah, you might want to step on it.” Emma’s voice floated out of the phone. “Belle’s waters broke.”

Gold felt as though a fist was closing around his heart, squeezing the life from him.

“What?” he whispered.

“Is that Belle?” asked Miss Blanchard. “Say hi from me.”

“She’s in labour,” said Emma patiently, as Gold reminded himself to breathe. “Probably got a while to wait before there’s any real action, but I’m gonna call the midwife after I get off the phone to you. If she tells us to go to hospital, I’ll let you know, okay?”

“Tell him to get his arse back here right now!”

Gold could hear Belle in the background, her voice strained, and Emma chuckled a little.

“You heard her, big guy,” she said. “Drive safe, okay? We’ll take care of her.”

“Thank you,” he said numbly, and the call cut off.

Gold slipped the phone back into his pocket, his heart thumping hard. The baby. The baby is coming. I have to get there. I have to be with her.

“Is she okay?”

Miss Blanchard’s voice cut through his inner terror, and he started.

“Yes, thank you,” he managed. “I’ll - uh - I’ll get Mr Dove to arrange the painting. Please let him know if you have any other issues.”

“Thank you, Mr Gold. Are you sure you won’t have that tea?”

Gold was already on his way out, letting the door close behind him, and barely heard her. He walked as swiftly as his limp would allow, heading back to the shop to grab the few things he had boxed up to take with him, and locking the doors behind him. Within five minutes he was on the road, senses heightened by anxiety as he headed back down to Boston. The baby’s coming. I’m gonna be a father.

x

“Is he coming?” Belle could hear the low-level panic in her voice, and told herself to calm down. “What did he say?”

“He’s leaving now,” Emma assured her, looking through her phone contacts. “What’s your midwife’s name?”

“Oh - Dorothy. Dorothy Gale.”

“Okay.”

Emma put the phone to her ear again, and Belle began to pace back and forth. She was dimly aware of Emma talking, but paid little attention, rubbing at her aching back as she traversed the lounge.

“How long until the baby gets here?” asked Henry excitedly. “Does Belle have to go to hospital?”

“That’s what Mom’s asking about,” said Neal, ruffling his hair. “Why don’t you go sit down and read until we know what’s happening, okay?”

“Okay, thanks a lot.” Emma looked up, handing the phone to Belle. “She says come on in. You have everything you need?”

“In the hall,” said Belle anxiously. “But - Alex! Will he get here in time?”

“Of course he will,” said Emma soothingly. “He’s on his way right now. We’ll call him when you get to the hospital, let him know where you are, okay?”

“I should never have told him to go to Maine!” She was fretful, her pace quickening. “He wanted to stay with me and I told him to go! What was I thinking?”

“He’ll be back in plenty of time,” said Neal easily. “You’re gonna be yelling at him before you know it.”

Belle burst into a laugh that sounded a little hysterical, and Emma put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Come on, get your coat,” she said. “Neal, can you pick up the bag in the hallway?”

“Got it.”

Neal headed for the hallway, and Belle slipped the phone into her pocket, glancing around worriedly. Have I forgotten anything? Oh God, it’s really coming! Where the hell is Alex?

“Will the baby come tonight?” asked Henry.

“Probably not,” said Emma. “Probably tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“April thirtieth.”

“Oh,” said Henry. “Dad’s birthday is the day after.”

“Yeah, it sure is. Come on, get your coat.”

“Hey Dad!” called Henry. “If the baby doesn’t come for another day you could have the same birthday!”

“I don’t want to be in labour for two days, thanks Henry,” said Belle, in a dry tone.

“Okay, do we have everything?” Neal put his head around the door. “I’ve got your bag.”

“Thanks,” said Belle, wincing again. “Oh! The casserole!”

“I turned the oven off already,” said Neal. “Figured you’d be a little too busy to make dinner.”

“Right.” Belle chewed at her lip, suddenly frozen with indecision.

“Coat,” said Emma firmly, steering her towards the hallway.

“Right.”

x

Gold had never made the journey from Storybrooke to Boston as quickly in his life. There was a tailback on the way into the city which made him want to scream in frustration, but eventually he reached the hospital. Emma had called him when he was leaving Maine to say that Belle had been advised to go in, and that the midwife was attending her, and he had been running on anxiety and adrenaline ever since. He found himself brimming over with gratitude for Belle’s friends being with her when he couldn’t. Striding through the hospital, he cursed his limp, wishing he could run to Belle, praying she was alright, his inner voice calling out his inadequacies, his failures. He reached the maternity unit stressed, breathless and thirsty, and found Neal sitting in the waiting area cradling a cup of coffee.

“Hey,” said Neal, getting to his feet. “The midwife’s with her. You can probably go on through.”

“How is she?” asked Gold, and he grinned.

“Not long now, I guess,” he said. “Look, if you don’t mind I’ll leave you to it. Emma took Henry home, and I should really get back to them.”

“Yes, of course.” Gold hesitated, putting out a hand for Neal to shake. “Thank you. You’ve been good friends to Belle. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”

“Well, she’s easy to be friends with,” he said, with a lopsided grin. “Tell her we’re looking forward to seeing the new addition to the family, okay? Let us know how things go.”

“I will.”

Neal shook Gold’s hand briefly, drained his coffee and tossed the empty cup into the trash before sauntering off, and Gold took a deep breath before heading to the desk to ask which room Belle was in before setting off as fast as he could. His leg was hurting, the pain enough to make his teeth ache, and he grimaced as he reached room 609, pushing open the door. Belle was in a hospital gown, an open bathrobe over the top, pacing back and forth with a hand pressed to her back and an agonised look on her face.

“Where the hell have you been!” she demanded.

“I’m sorry, I got here as fast as I could without being arrested,” he said, hurrying to her side. “How are you? How is she?”

This last was said to Dorothy Gale, who gave him a smile and a soothing pat on the arm as she passed.

“She’s doing fine,” she said. “Everything’s proceeding as we’d expected. I need to check her dilation again, but we’ve got a while to go before it’s time to start pushing, right Belle?”

Belle groaned, clutching at her midriff, and Gold rubbed her back soothingly.

“There, love, just hang on,” he said gently. “You’re gonna be okay. Keep breathing.”

“Oh, thank God you’re here, I would have forgotten!” she snapped.

“Right,” he said, sharing a glance with Dorothy, who looked amused. “Well, I remember the breathing exercises we did together. Shall we try those?”

“Oh, shut up, Gold!” She pushed him off, pacing faster. “This is all your fault!”

“Yes, it undoubtedly is,” he agreed. “Blame me all you like. Uh - is there anything I can do to help? A foot rub? Perhaps set myself on fire for your amusement?”

Belle burst out laughing at that, and shot him a fond look that became a twisted grimace of pain.

“I’m sorry,” she said, through her teeth. “This is - every bit as painful as they said it would be. And I was worried you wouldn’t get here on time so I kind of freaked out. I might yell some more.”

“Oh, you’ll definitely yell more,” said Dorothy cheerfully. “I’m sure he can stand it. How about we check your dilation now? Hop up on the bed.”

Belle took Gold’s hand, sending him a strained smile, and he helped her towards the bed, wishing he could bear the pain for her.

x

Their baby was born at six-fifteen on the morning of April thirtieth. By the time her labour was over, Belle was exhausted, drenched with sweat and almost hoarse. Gold didn’t leave her side, running through breathing exercises with her, speaking words of encouragement until his voice almost gave out, and feeling helpless as she suffered. On the final push, Belle squeezed his hand so hard he felt the bones grind together, a hoarse cry coming from her throat.

“There we are!” Dorothy cried. “Well done, Belle!”

Belle fell back against the pillows, gasping for breath, and Gold stroked damp strands of hair back from her forehead. A cry went up, a stuttering, fractious sound, and Gold felt his heart thump hard as Dorothy straightened up, grinning at him.

“It’s a baby boy!” she announced.

Gold glanced up, eyes wide. His son was being held up, red-faced and squalling, tiny arms flailing in outrage at being born into the world. He could see the cord leading from his belly, strands of dark hair covering his tiny head, and he felt tears well in his eyes as love burst through him.

“Oh God, he’s beautiful!” he wept. “Belle, he’s so beautiful! He’s perfect!”

He turned to her, bending to kiss her full on the mouth, not caring that tears were streaming down his cheeks. As he pulled back he could see that she was crying too, lower lip wobbling as she sent him a tired, but beautiful smile.

“Is he okay?” she asked tremulously.

“He looks absolutely fine,” said Dorothy. “Responding well, plenty of movement, good pulse… Here, why don’t you hold him?”

She placed the baby carefully on Belle’s chest, the tiny body streaked with blood and birthing fluids, and Belle burst into tears, bending to kiss the top of his head. The baby grizzled a little, tiny fists waving before he settled. Gold felt his heart swell with love for them, and reached out to stroke his son’s head with a gentle finger.

“He’s perfect,” he breathed. “Thank you! Thank you, my darling.”

Belle sniffed, lip still wobbling, and turned to kiss him. She was still trying to catch her breath, and Gold brushed damp strands of hair back from her face.

“You did so well,” he whispered. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Had to come out somehow,” she said wearily.

Gold smiled, and leaned in to press his brow to hers before turning back to gaze at the child they had made. He’s beautiful. As beautiful as his mother. He could hear Dorothy and the nurses clattering around as they cleared things away, but he couldn’t take his eyes off his family. I have a son. I have a beautiful son and a beautiful woman who loves me. I’m the luckiest bastard on this entire earth.

“Okay, looks like the cord’s ready to be cut.” Dorothy’s voice made him look around. “It may take a little while for the placenta to come out. Alex, you can go get yourself a coffee if you like. We’ve got some measurements to take and we need to get Belle and Baby all cleaned up.”

“Oh.” Belle smiled at her, letting her head fall back against the pillows. “Yes please, that sounds great.” 

“You sure you want me to go?” Gold asked, and Belle smiled, squeezing his arm.

“Go get a coffee,” she said. “You look as exhausted as I feel, and I’m sure you don’t want to see me getting stitches. Would you call Emma, let her know?”

“Of course.” He hesitated. “What about your father?”

Belle pulled a face.

“I’ll call him later,” she said. “He won’t be awake yet, anyway. Maybe when the baby’s had his first feed. Maybe when we’ve decided on a name.”

She was looking a little hesitant, and Gold smiled.

“Does that mean you’ve thought of one?” he asked, and she inclined her head.

“What do you think of Gideon?” she asked. “I thought - I thought maybe Gideon Alexander Gold. How - how would you feel about that?”

Gold mouthed the name, then whispered it as he stroked his son’s head. The baby snuffled, his tiny fist shifting against Belle’s skin, and Gold nodded. It sounds good. It sounds right.

“Gideon Alexander Gold,” he said aloud. “It’s perfect, sweetheart.”

She beamed at him, her eyes shining, and he bent to kiss her gently before kissing the top of his son’s head.

“I’ll be back soon,” he whispered. “I can’t wait to hold him.”

When he left the room he slumped against the wall for a moment, feeling drained. His jacket and tie had been discarded some hours ago, his shirtsleeves rolled up, and he headed for the bathroom to freshen up. Stubble scraped his palms as splashed water on his face, his eyes stinging with tears and weariness. A son. I have a son. I’m going to give him the best life I can.

After he had washed up as best he could, he headed for the cafeteria. It was quiet in the early morning; the only people in there apart from the serving staff were a man doing a crossword at the corner table, and an orderly mopping the floor. Gold watched the mop move in circles, leaving gleaming wet streaks like petals. The lights seemed too bright for his tired eyes, but he bought himself a large coffee and a toasted bagel and sat at one of the tables, staring into space and thinking about the future he wanted to build with Belle and Gideon. Belle had mentioned the possibility of raising him in Storybrooke when she had finished her studies, and the thought was a pleasant one. If she could get a librarian position, even better. He sipped his coffee, cogs turning in his head as he thought it through. Perhaps there was a way to make it work. He had favours to call in. 

He called Emma at seven-thirty, letting her know the news and agreeing to pass on her best wishes and a promise to visit later. After that he called his lawyer and left a message on her voicemail. The formal agreement with Belle might have been torn up, but there were still things to sort out in order to ensure she and his son were provided for.

By the time he returned to Belle’s room, she was dressed in clean nightwear and tucked up in clean sheets, with Gideon swaddled and feeding at her breast. There was a plastic bracelet on Gideon’s wrist, and another around Belle’s. She was smiling down at the baby as he fed, tiny head pushed into her breast and a clenched fist jerking against it. Gold took a moment in the doorway to savour the scene, smiling as he watched mother and son. My family. My perfect family. God, I love them so much!

“You know, you could always take a picture.” 

Belle’s voice made his smile widen, and he went to sit by her side, reaching out to gently stroke Gideon’s head.

“Have you seen the doctor yet?” he asked.

“Dorothy says Jekyll will be around in half an hour or so,” she said. “She says everything’s fine, though. Gideon’s responding well to all the tests, he’s feeding well. He peed on her when she weighed him.”

Gold chuckled.

“How much does he weigh?”

“Six pounds two ounces,” she said. “I can’t remember if that was before or after the pee.”

Gideon coughed, a dribble of milk coming from his mouth, and Belle wiped it away with a cloth. He grumbled a little, and she smiled, lifting him up and kissing his cheek.

“Here, why don’t you hold him?” 

Gold took the tiny bundle from her, feeling love surge within him as he held his son in his arms. Gideon opened his eyes, and Gold smiled broadly.

“Hey there,” he said gently. “I’m your Papa. It’s wonderful to meet you, Gideon.”

He stroked a fist with his finger, his smile widening as Gideon grabbed it.

“Well, that’s quite a grip you’ve got,” he said.

“He’s a strong little thing,” said Belle. “I think he’s gonna be a handful when he gets mobile.”

“Hazel eyes,” said Gold. “Although they change colour, don’t they?”

“Yeah, apparently they don’t settle on the final colour for a while,” she said, yawning. “I think they’ll be brown, like yours.”

“As long as he doesn’t get my nose.”

Belle giggled.

“There’s nothing wrong with your nose.”

Gideon wriggled, beginning to grizzle, and Belle held out her arms.

“Here. Let me see if he’s still hungry.”

Gold handed him back, watching avidly as he latched onto a breast again.

“I could watch him all day,” he said, and Belle shot him a fond look.

“I know. I keep thinking I’ve dreamed it and I’ll wake up. But he’s really here. A whole little person that we made.”

He leaned in to kiss her forehead tenderly.

“I think you did almost all the building,” he said. “I provided the equivalent of a shovel full of rubble in the foundations of a skyscraper.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate the importance of good rubble.”

She was smiling, her eyes gleaming, and he kissed her again.

“You look tired,” he said, and she groaned, letting her head fall back against the pillows.

“God, I’m exhausted!”

“In that case, you should sleep,” he said. “I’m going to go home and get showered and changed. I feel as though I’ve been hit by a truck, so I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.”

“Tired, happy and bloody sore,” she said, with a smile. “You should get some sleep too.”

“Emma said she’d visit later,” he said. “She sends her love.”

“Well, if I’m going to have visitors, I definitely need sleep,” she said, and kissed him. “Go on, get home and have a nap, at least.”

“Okay.” He kissed her again, and kissed Gideon. “I’ll be back later.”

x

By the time he got home, Ella had called him twice, so he called her back, received effusive congratulations and gave her some instructions on making provision for Gideon’s future. He wasn’t expecting to sleep, but after showering and shaving he lay down on the bed anyway, and woke up as it was approaching five in the evening. He dressed quickly, cramming a sandwich into his mouth and downing some coffee before hurrying out of the door.

The hospital was far busier than it had been when he left, and he moved as quickly as he could past parents and children and rushing nurses. He reached Belle’s room just as Dr Jekyll was closing the door quietly, and the doctor gave one of his nervous smiles, snatching his glasses off his face and cleaning them.

“Ah, Mr Gold.” Jekyll put a hand on his arm, steering him away from the door. “Perhaps you could give her half an hour? They’re both sleeping. The poor thing hasn’t had a chance to get much rest today what with all the comings and goings.”

“Of course.” Gold hesitated. “How are they?”

“Oh, doing very well. I imagine you can take them both home tomorrow.” Jekyll smiled again. “I expect you’ll all be relieved to hear that. You’ll have a busy house from now on.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Jekyll walked off, and Gold headed to the cafeteria again. He was surprised to see Neal sitting at one of the tables, nursing a cup of coffee and flicking through a magazine. Gold got his own coffee, carrying it over, and Neal looked up with a grin.

“Hey, congratulations,” he said. “How’s it feel to be a dad?”

“Pretty amazing, actually,” said Gold, and gestured at the chair across from him. “Do you mind?”

“Take a seat. I told Emma I’d meet her here. She was taking Henry to get some new sneakers but she shouldn’t be too much longer.”

Gold sat down, pushing the coffee cup towards the centre of the table. His leg was hurting, and he cursed himself for forgetting his painkillers.

“Belle’s still asleep, I take it,” added Neal, and he nodded.

“The doctor said to give her half an hour.”

“Yeah, you never get much rest in hospitals,” said Neal. “Emma said when she had Henry she couldn’t wait to get home.”

“The doctor says I can take them home tomorrow,” he said. “She should be able to get some proper rest then.”

“Which I guess means you getting up with the baby, huh?” Neal grinned at him, and Gold smiled.

“I don’t mind. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time looking after both of them.”

There was silence. Gold sipped at his coffee, wincing as it burned his lips, and looked across at Neal. He was turning the cup between his fingers, just as Gold himself did when he was thinking. Gold cleared his throat, making Neal glance up.

“Thank you for being here for Belle,” he said. “Especially for all those months I wasn’t.”

Guilt stabbed at him, a painful reminder of his self-destructive decisions, his terrible behaviour towards the woman he loved.

“You’re here now, right?” said Neal.

“Doesn’t make up for it,” said Gold quietly.

“Maybe not, but it means something.” Neal leaned forwards, resting his elbows on the table. “You didn’t know she was pregnant, and as soon as you did, you tried to make it right.”

Gold let out a hollow laugh.

“Believe me, the way I’ve acted in this past year should in no way be praised,” he said dryly. “I behaved appallingly, and I wish I could take it back.”

“Hindsight’s a great thing,” said Neal. “Doesn’t stop you making dumbass decisions in the here and now, though.”

“That’s certainly true.”

“I never knew my dad,” he added. “Told myself that I’d always be there for my kids, and then because of my own stupidity, I missed eighteen months of my son’s life. Time we won’t get back, you know?”

“I don’t suppose Henry remembers much about it, if it’s any consolation,” said Gold.

“True,” agreed Neal. “But I remember. And so does Emma. If I had my time over, I’d make different choices. I guess that’s all you can do. Decide you won’t screw up that way again.”

Gold nodded slowly. He was right. There was no getting that time back, he just had to concentrate on being a good partner and father in the future.

“Belle said that you and Emma were in the system together,” he said, and Neal pulled a face.

“Not exactly,” he said. “We met on the streets. We were both in kids’ homes when we were younger, but we didn’t meet until we were teens. That was after we’d both run away.”

“That must have been dangerous for you both.”

“I don’t think either of us realised how dangerous until we found our way off the streets,” agreed Neal. “There again, there were reasons we ran away in the first place. Excellent reasons, you know?”

“I’m fairly sure I don’t want to imagine,” said Gold, and Neal nodded.

“I guess there are good and bad people involved in Social Services,” he said. “Can’t say I ever met any of the good ones, though.”

“I’m sorry you both had to go through that,” said Gold sincerely, and he shrugged.

“It was a long time ago.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with,” said Gold dryly. “As my therapist helpfully informs me.”

Neal chuckled.

“How’s the therapy going?”

“Slow,” he admitted. “But I’m told any progress is good. I’m also told there may be times when it feels as though I’m going backwards.”

Neal wrinkled his nose and hunched his shoulders a little. The gesture reminded Gold of how he himself reacted to his therapy sessions at times.

“Yeah, I hear you,” said Neal. “Emma and I went to therapy after I got out of jail. Thought it would be good for us. Fresh start, all of that.”

“Did it help?”

“Absolutely,” he said sincerely. “Sometimes you don’t realise how much you’re bottling up, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” said Gold quietly. 

“Emma was abandoned when she was just a baby,” Neal went on. “Never knew her parents. Sometimes I think it’s harder on her because of that. She’s spent a lot of time thinking about who they might have been, why they had to give her up.”

“And you?” asked Gold, and Neal grimaced.

“Well, I never knew my dad, but I remember my mom,” he said. “I especially remember the day she dropped me off with Social Services and never came back.”

“Really?” Gold shook his head. “I can’t imagine ever wanting to abandon my child. Not ever.”

“Yeah…” Neal hunched his shoulders a little more, shuffling his feet. “Guess not everyone’s meant to be a parent.”

“Have you seen your mother since?” asked Gold, and he shook his head.

“Nah. She never left a forwarding address, and I decided a long time ago that I never wanted to look for her.”

“What about your father?”

“Don’t even know his name,” said Neal. “I know he was boring and didn’t like to have fun. That’s according to my flighty, absentee mother, of course.”

He shared a smile with Gold.

“Families, huh?” he said.

“Indeed.”

They fell into silence again. Gold sipped his coffee. It was cool enough to drink, and he took a gulp. Neal drank the last of his own, setting down his cup.

“Belle said that you had a kid,” he said. “I mean other than Gideon.”

“Oh.” Gold felt his jaw tighten. “Yes. I did. I do.”

“Yeah, she didn’t really go into what happened.” added Neal hastily. “She said you probably wouldn’t want her to talk about it.”

“No, it’s okay.” Gold scratched the back of his neck. “I’m told I need to learn to open up more.”

“Yeah, well.” Neal sent him a slanted grin. “Easier said than done, right?”

“Speaking as someone who’s had a lifetime of keeping things to myself, I concur.”

“Gets easier,” said Neal. “Emma was like that when we met. Hell, so was I. Hard to trust people when all you know is being let down by those who are supposed to care for you.”

“Yes,” said Gold quietly. “Well. I promised myself I’d give Gideon everything he needs. Everything I didn’t have.”

“Like me with Henry,” said Neal. “See? Like I said, all you can do is learn from your shitty past and decide you’re not gonna pass the crap down to the next generation.”

“True enough.” Gold glanced up as two familiar faces appeared in the corridor leading to the cafeteria. “Here’s Emma and Henry now.”

“Hey,” said Emma, tossing blonde curls back off her shoulders as Neal turned around. “How are the new parents?”

“Excellent,” said Gold, with a grin. “Belle was sleeping, so we were just having a coffee while we waited.”

“What’s the baby like?” asked Henry excitedly. “Is he big?”

“You can see him yourself very soon,” said Gold, and pushed to his feet. “I should go and see if they’re ready for visitors.”

“What colour’s his hair?” asked Henry. “Does he cry a lot?”

“Just hang on for like forty seconds and you can see him for yourself,” said Neal, looking amused. “But keep it calm, okay? Belle doesn’t want you climbing all over the bed when she’s just given birth.”

“Okay. Is there gonna be a party?”

“A party?” said Emma, confused.

“It’s Dad’s birthday tomorrow,” said Henry, and she ruffled his hair.

“Yeah, I hadn’t forgotten.”

“Maybe he and Gideon can have a party together.”

“I think Gideon has some growing to do before he can enjoy a birthday party, kiddo.”

Something in what Henry had said tickled at the back of Gold’s mind, and he frowned.

“Your birthday is the first of May?” he asked, and Neal nodded.

“Yep.”

“Right.” He drummed his fingers on the handle of his cane, skin prickling with what felt like anxiety. “Uh - let me just go and see if Belle’s awake.”

He took a step away, then hesitated, swivelling on the toes of his shoes as he turned back.

“Do you mind if I ask how old you are?” he asked, and Neal pulled a face.

“Twenty-nine tomorrow,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Oh nothing,” he said quickly. “Nothing. Excuse me.”

He bowed his head, turning away and heading for Belle’s room at a fast pace. Coincidence. It has to be.

#fic: twisted fate #rumbelle fic #rumbelle #my fic

[the-13th-rose]

Whumptober 2021 Day 5 - Misunderstanding

Universe: Currently unnamed horror crossover

Characters: Annie (oc), The Miner (My Bloody Valentine)

Content warnings: Broken bones, vomit (character is briefly said to have thrown up, but it isn’t addressed again)

All of my writing is intended for a teen audience or older, unless otherwise stated! My writing often contains violence, strong language, and/or horror, so please use your head and don’t read my work if you think you might be triggered by it.

Summary: Annie is a young woman cursed to be eternally pursued by Hunters, various fictional slashers that come from the media Annie has seen in the past. She’s sick of the cycle, and unbeknownst to her, so is one of the Hunters, who she’s led to an abandoned factory. The Hunter, however, doesn’t speak, and Annie isn’t willing to pay attention to his attempts at forming a truce, still fully convinced he’s trying to kill her.

Word count: 2,261

Oh, Annie. Unfortunate Annie, whose mother unwittingly crossed a witch in her youth. Yes, a witch who saw fit to curse not the “crosser” herself, but her future firstborn instead. It was a wicked curse, designed not to go into effect until the firstborn reached her 18th year, so that she could become fully accustomed to a fear-free existence before having it ripped away from her. And the effects of the curse? To spend eternity pursued by monstrous Hunters. Annie found herself unable to die at all unless by the hand of a Hunter, and upon meeting her end at the hands of one, she would awaken in the morning of that same day, forced to re-do the events of the day. On days when a Hunter pursues her, Annie would have to survive its attempts to kill her until the break of the next day, or be forced to continue repeating the day until she managed to survive the encounter. This was Annie’s fate. To never truly know peace, for death to never be a release.

So, understandably, Annie had no patience for these Hunters anymore. She’d taken to a more proactive approach to survival, opting to fight back against the Hunters instead of simply running away or hiding. She wasn’t always successful in besting the Hunters, but her infinite re-dos allowed her to train and improve. By now, she’d become quite adept at fighting off and defeating the Hunters that pursued her. In fact, it had resulted in them leaving her alone for longer periods of time than before. Unfortunately, it had also forced them to get craftier. Annie and the Hunters were locked in a seemingly infinite arms race.

When one of the Hunters decided he’d had enough of the endless cycle as well, he saw befriending the cursed girl as his best option for a chance to break it, and finally stop being tethered to the curse. Unfortunately, he just so happened to be selectively mute, which would no doubt make explaining himself to Annie quite difficult.

Fleeing a pursuing Hunter Annie had designated “The Miner”, she soon found herself in the middle of an abandoned factory. As strange as it might seem, Annie had deliberately fled to this location, in the hopes of having an advantage over the Miner. Since he typically attacked with wide swings of his pickaxe, narrow corridors and paths surrounded by broken-down machinery would surely impede his attempts to attack her.

Panting, Annie paused in the middle of the old work floor. “Man, don’t you guys ever get tired?” She called out to the approaching Miner. “Seriously, though, how do you manage to make keeping up with someone for multiple city blocks look so effortless?”

The Miner stopped in the middle of the floor, mere feet away from Annie. Now that she looked closer, Annie noticed that he actually did appear somewhat winded, slouching a bit and breathing a little heavily through his gas mask.

“Guess you’re only as immortal as me, huh?” Annie quipped. She placed her hands on her hips and tried to make herself appear dangerous. “Well come on, take your best shot! I’m fucking tired, man. I want to go home and sleep, already!”

The Miner shook his head, which confused Annie a little. “...No?” Annie huffed. “What do you mean, ‘no’? Why would you follow me this far if you’re not trying to kill me?”

The Miner took a few steps closer to Annie, which she responded to by backing away and reaching for her survival knife, concealed in her pants pocket. Against a pickaxe, it wouldn’t do much good, but that’s what the tight corridors were for. She just had to make sure she led him into them. It didn’t really register to Annie that the Miner had his signature weapon still upon his belt, rather than holding it out, ready to attack.

What is your deal? Annie wondered, squinting angrily at the Hunter. Oh well. Doesn’t matter. I just have to keep you from giving me a re-do. “Hey, if you’re not going to leave me alone, then keep following me. I want to show you something,” she said to the Hunter, as she walked backwards towards the stairs leading up to an overhead walkway.

The Miner was no fool. At this point, he could tell Annie was trying to trick him. All the same, he had a goal in mind, and whatever half-baked trick Annie had up her sleeve wasn’t going to make him give up and turn away. So, still keeping his hands free of his weapon, a gesture he hoped she’d notice, he followed Annie as she slowly led him onto the walkway.

“That’s right…,” Annie encouraged the Hunter. “Right this way…”

The Miner followed her to the overhead walkway. They were both quite a distance from the factory floor now, surely far enough to cause serious injury if either of them were to fall.

“Miner, I brought paper, so you can talk to me for once,” Annie spoke up at last, rummaging in her pockets. “Get closer so I can give it to you. I can’t just throw it at you, that’d be rude. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to get close if I didn’t trust you, right? That just doesn’t make sense.”

The Miner tilted his head at her words, but admittedly, the idea of being able to actually explain himself to her was too enticing. Sure, it could be a trick, but if need be, he could defend himself. Surely against someone like Annie. And so the Miner walked forward, closer and closer to Annie, until he was right in front of her. He held out one hand, waiting for the paper to be placed into his hand.

Annie rifled through her pocket for a moment, and then, when she thought his guard was at its lowest, she swung outward towards him with her survival knife.

The Miner lunged back, stumbling backwards at first, but quickly catching his footing. As he backed away from her rather reckless knife-swinging, he reached for his pickaxe and held it out in front of Annie to block her knife strikes.

“Come on, you’re just gonna play defense this time?!” Annie snapped, fury burning in her eyes. “What happened to swinging your pick through my face? Into my chest? You could knock me off this walkway, easy! Why won’t you try?! You’re being so weird!!!”

The Miner didn’t change his strategy, merely continuing to step backwards as Annie advanced towards him.

“Come on! I don’t want to be the only one on offense, here! It feels weird!”

Lunging towards him, Annie got in a lucky strike and her knife scraped across the Miner’s fingers. In reacting to this, he dropped his pickaxe onto the floor of the walkway. The weight of the impact must have knocked something loose in the rusted, worn metal, because in the next moment, the panel he stood on fell out from underneath him.

Annie had a split-second of expecting him to hang there in the air for a moment like they do in cartoons. Instead, he fell through instantly. The impact noise his body made against the factory floor made her wince, despite her intentions of harming him.

Annie peered over the walkway’s railing to the floor below.

The Miner was crumpled against the floor, splayed out on his back. His legs were bent horribly out of their proper positions. Even from 20 feet above, she could tell they were totally wrecked. This Hunter wasn’t going anywhere now. At least, not any faster than he could drag himself.

Annie looked behind her, knowing she couldn’t leave the walkway the same way the Miner had. She didn’t want to stay up there, either, considering that the rest of the walkway could easily be just as fragile. So she slowly turned around and gingerly, yet quickly, made her way towards the stairs at the other end of the walkway.

The Miner came back to his senses, having been momentarily dazed by the fall. He tried to sit up, propping his body up with his arms. The pickaxe that had sent him plummeting in the first place was lying a good few feet away. When he tried to move towards it, however, he was met with a wave of sharp agony shooting through his legs. Out of impulse, he let out a scream. He turned to inspect the state of his legs, and...was met with disgustingly wrong angles and a small spot of white through a new hole in his pant leg. Recognizing this as bone, he cried out in shock and frantically lifted his mask just enough to expose his mouth.

Annie heard him retch as she reached the bottom of the steps without incident. She lingered by the bottom of the steps for a moment, unsure if she should get near him to finish him off, despite him not looking like he could possibly put up a fight at this point. She walked over to him as he replaced the gas mask and the noise-amplified breaths resumed, heavy and fast.

“...” Annie kept the hilt of the knife gripped tightly in her hand. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” She called out to him. “Maybe that’ll finally teach you to leave me alone, next time you come back. Why don’t you tell your Hunter buddies about this, get them off my back too, huh?”

Annie raised her knife as she stood beside him, poised for the perfect final stab. But as she looked over him, noticed his body language, and watched him flinch away from her final blow, shutting his eyes, which she was only just now seeing underneath the lenses of his mask. And her grip faltered, until she wound up dropping the knife altogether. “Dammit,” she swore, stamping her foot against the floor in frustration. “I really thought I’d be able to do it this time….I’m not really a killer, am I?”

The Miner shook his head, before slouching over and trying to pull his legs along with him. Merely touching them caused him to throw his head back in pain.

“...I guess this would be more of a mercy thing than self-defense at this point, huh?” Annie muttered, mostly thinking out loud. “...Yeah, so I led you here with the intention of killing you as a way to send a message. But I guess I’m kind of pathetic. At least when you’re pathetic, too. Now I can’t do it.”

“...I also didn’t really have paper.”

At this, the Miner shot her a glare, but quickly returned to flinching over his wounds.

“...I can’t believe I’m saying this but...sorry.” Annie muttered, running her hand through her hair. “...You really were just defending. You totally could have killed me back there, but you didn’t, so...dammit, maybe I misjudged you. At least this time, anyway. Because, like, you have killed me before.”

The Miner shrugged half-heartedly, leaning back on his arms and staring at the ceiling, every now and then squeezing his eyes shut and hissing through his mask.

Annie pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. “...11:30 pm?” She slipped it back into her pocket. “Didn’t feel that late…” She shrugged. “Well, at least I’ve only got to survive for 30 more minutes. She eyed the knife at her feet, and the pickaxe lying a little ways away. “...Do you need a weapon to...reset?” It felt incredibly awkward to ask, but he did seem to be in horrible pain.

The Miner shook his head, gesturing first to his legs, and then to Annie’s phone. The answer seemed clear.

“...You guys reset at midnight?” Annie guessed, to which the Miner weakly nodded. “...Still, 30 minutes is a long time with something that bad. Are you sure--?”

The Miner shook his head, and started pulling at his clothes, trying to tear off a strip of fabric.

“...Oh. I guess I can try to patch you up for now.” Annie replied, turning around to search for a first aid kit or some kind of fabric to turn into makeshift bandages. “...My clothes are cleaner,” she muttered, picking up the knife and carefully cutting strips from the hem of her shirt. “There’s not much, it probably won’t really help, but…” She started gingerly wrapping the strips around his legs.

He gave a loud, sudden cry when she touched his legs, and screamed at her attempts to set the bones. It was horribly amateur. Annie clearly didn’t really know what she was doing, but it was better than her trying to kill him again, he figured.

“Um…” Annie would have to admit it didn’t look very good at all. “Well...it’s only 20-something more minutes,” she tried to reassure him.

The Miner groaned, leaning back on his arms again.

“...Sorry, again, for being too dense to realize you weren’t trying to kill me this time…,” Annie sighed. “I’m just so sick of all this. Was...was that what you were trying to tell me? That you’re sick of this, too, and you want to form a truce?”

He threw his hands down against the floor in frustration, then nodded.

“...Guess I’m not as good at reading people as I thought. Well, at least you get to reset after all this. If you really mean it, I’m willing to forget about all the times you killed me...you gonna forget about the whole ‘breaking your legs’ thing?”

The Miner sighed, but nodded slowly and held out a hand for Annie to take.

“Alright. We’ll shake on it.”

#whumptober2021 #no.5 #misunderstanding #my bloody valentine #fic #broken bones tw #vomit tw #oc annie #the miner

[fluffykitty1999-blog]

Dog of the Military- Chapter 4

Poppa Roy is a' comin'! And don't worry- daddy bear will be plenty angry!

"Wakey wakey, Fullmetal prodigy."

Ed peeled his eyes open from where he laid on the dirt floor. Colonel Banks stood before him, grinning like the cheshire cat.

"You've been asleep for far too long. You have that information- I know you do. I'm only going to ask this once- where is it?"

Ed was silent.

All that earned him was a kick to the ribs. And another. And another. All Ed managed was a pained groan as he tried to curl into himself, trying to protect his abdomen from the savage blows.

"You're such a runt. I think I'm finally starting to get through to you, kid." Banks beamed as Ed struggled to catch his breath.

"I like your spirit, Fullmetal. And I know you have that information somewhere- so I'm going to ask for it one more time before I start to take your body apart and look for it."

Ed looked up, suddenly feeling wide awake.

Colonel Banks laughed. "I know people are mules, Ed. I might be a strict disciplinarian, but I'm not a pervert. I don't want to violate you if I don't have to. Tell me where the information is, and I won't have to bother with checking you... all of you- for information."

Ed swallowed. Was... was he threatening to rape him? Or just... invade him? He was too tired to think. But he needed to lie. And fast.

"T-there is no physical information." he managed hoarsely. "I-it's too important to be kept as physical documents. I memorized it and burned it in the woods."

He couldn't let the man start to search him- violate his body or person otherwise. He wasn't sure how much Banks knew about automail, but if he were to start taking it apart, he'd have to practically dismantle Ed's automail arm to find the compartment, which was behind two panels and deep within his automail. Still, he didn't want to man to bother to look.

"You're a bad liar, Edward. I know your orders. You have a copy of the information."

Ed frowned. His head was so foggy, it took too long to think... but in his gut, he felt the man was lying. The only one who knew his orders was him and Mustang, and the superior who gave the orders... So Banks was bluffing.

"You're the liar." he managed hoarsely. "You don't know what my orders are. If you kill me, the information dies with me- I memorized it." best to double down.

Banks nodded, seeming to take this into consideration.

"So- if I were to give you paper and a pen, you'd transcribe the information from memory?"

"I could. But I wouldn't. Not for you."

"And we're back to the same problem, Eddy."

The toe of Bank's boot made contact with Ed's eye. Ed saw white and was unable to hear a thing for a moment.

When his hearing faded back in, Banks was rambling something about obedience, and he'd rolled Edward onto his stomach and was tugging at the boy's shirt, which was still slightly damp from his ice water treatment earlier, before Ed felt a blade biting into his flesh.

"What the hell are you doing you jerk!?" Ed started to struggle

The knife cut deeper, and Ed fell still, gasping in pain. The blade trailed another two inches down his back before it was withdrawn. But all too soon, he was feeling the bite again as another slice was made down his back, this one four inches long, and another, this one six inches long...

"Oh Fullmetal, don't pass out on me now..."

Ed groaned.

Instead of going slow, the next cut- on the bicep of his flesh arm- was lightening fast. One moment he was catching his breath, and the next his arm was on fire, flesh suddenly split open and blood leaking out...

He grabbed for the wound with his automail arm, pressing the metal fingers to the cut- which was deep enough it might need stitches- and hissed in pain.

"Think about what you want to do, Edward. Because the next time I come down here, I'm gonna start cutting off fingers."

And he was left alone in the cell again.

Ed grit his teeth and closed his eyes, which were stinging with unshed tears. Maybe Banks was right. Maybe no one was coming for him.

LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK LINEBREAK

At noon, Roy Mustang got off the train at the city of Goldenfield. Part of him was annoyed to have to come all this way- to a backwater mining town in the middle of nowhere- but the majority of him was angry. Angry at Fullmetal, for not reporting in, and angry at whatever was keeping him.

Angry at the higher ups, for giving such a sensitive mission to a child.

And worried that whatever it was Ed had gotten himself into- it'd been too much, too hard- and that Roy might've been too late.

He started for Fort Goldenfield. That was the first place he knew to go. They'd said Ed returned yesterday, but then said he hadn't this morning, and every moment counted.

He stormed into the building, ignoring the wide-eyed look the secretary- Lieutenant Margaret Shaw, he assumed- who looked up from her desk at his entrance.

"I need to speak to Colonel Banks immediately."

The secretary was on her feet instantly. "Do you have an appointment, Sir?"

"No, I don't have a damn appointment. Do you know who I am?" Roy stepped forward. He might've been being unnecessarily harsh- but at the moment, he was too incensed to care.

"I'm afraid I don't know you, Sir." the lieutenant, ever respectful, conceded.

"I am Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist."

Her eyes widened.

"I've come here looking for my alchemist- Major Edward Elric. Yesterday morning, you told me he checked in here for the rendezvous, with highly sensitive information. This morning, Colonel Banks said he never reported in. Someone is full of shit here and a state alchemist is missing. I want you to get your commanding officer out here in two minutes or I will burn this entire damn building to the ground, stone or not. Are we clear Lieutenant?"

"Crystal, Sir." Still, Margaret hesitated before moving.

"What are you waiting for?" Roy asked, annoyed.

Margaret swallowed. "I... I can show you where he is..."

Roy's expression instantly changed. "You've seen him?"

Margaret nodded. "Just.. please... make sure Colonel Banks doesn't know I was the one who did. That boy needs a doctor..."

She led Roy quickly down the hall, looking around anxiously as she did so. She opened a door leading to a stone stairwell, towards some sort of basement. "He's down there."

Roy frowned. "Is this a trap?"

"No. I... I heard him down there last night... I never wanted this to happen, believe me. I have children myself. I couldn't stand it- I tried to help him... but Colonel Banks needs that intel. He said it was of the utmost importance."

Roy wanted to ask more questions- but there was a scuffling sound, a muffled noise from downstairs, and Roy forgot about Margaret entirely, heading down into the darkness of the basement apprehensively.

All the cells were empty- until he got to the last cell. Through the dim metal bars, a small form was huddled on the floor.

Roy's heart jumped to his throat. He was already wearing his gloves, and he snapped- lighting the torches on the wall of the basement. The light did little to ease his fears.

Fullmetal laid on the floor, huddled into a ball- he was so small.

"Fullmetal...?" he didn't recognize his own voice, it was so soft.

Slowly, the figure raised it's head. Messy, dirty blond hair fell over the boy's face, and golden eyes focused in on him slowly.

"Colonel Mustang?" Ed's voice was painfully hoarse. "Is that really you?"

Roy stepped forward, grabbing the bars and crouching down so he was more at eye level with the boy. "Yes, it's me, Edward. Are you alright?"

It was a stupid question. The back of Ed's white shirt was bloody, he sported a black eye and a split lip, and he'd made no move to stand.

"I... I want to go home..." Ed's voice shook slightly.

"I've come to take you home, Ed. But I need to know- who did this to you?"

"Colonel Banks. He... he's crazy. He wanted the information I got. He wanted to take it and take all the credit for it. I wouldn't give it to him. He... he tried to make me talk. But it's okay. I didn't tell him anything, I swear..."

"I believe you, Fullmetal. It's okay. You've done well. I'll be back in a moment- I need to get the keys to this cell and then we'll leave here immediately."

"Okay. I'll wait here." it would've been comical, as Ed laid his head back down in his little heap and made no move to get up. Roy couldn't help but wonder how badly injured the boy was.

He climbed the stairs two at a time, fist clenching and unclenching at the thought of confronting the bastard who'd done this to the Fullmetal Alchemist- to his Alchemist. He never took kindly to someone messing with his subordinates, but somehow, this injury was more flagrant, more egregious, because it hadn't been just anyone they'd attacked- it'd been Ed, Roy's youngest charge, the prodigy he'd been responsible for for these past few months.

Once he'd reached the top of the stairs, a man burst into the room.

"You!" Brown eyes blazing, the man pointed at Mustang angrily. "You break into my military office, violate the chain of command and force my Lieutenant to take you into a classified operation of national security..."

"Are you Colonel Banks?" Roy growled at the shouting man.

"You bet your ass I am! Who the hell are you!?"

Roy punched that bastard in the jaw so hard he was pretty sure he broke one of his fingers.

The man staggered back, surprised, as he pressed his fingers to his mouth and they came back bloody.

He charged Roy, swinging- Roy ducked the blow, pushing the man against the wall and kneeing him in the midsection, delivering another punch to the face.

Colonel Banks landed a lucky shot on Roy's jaw that sent him stumbling back, then shoved Mustang away. Mustang stumbled back several steps, and Colonel Banks drew his pistol and pointed it at Roy.

Roy still had his gloves on. It took one small snap of his fingers for the gun to be engulfed in a small burst of flame- even though the gun went off from the flame, the barrel was instantaneously melted shut, and the barrel exploded.

Colonel Banks screamed, dropping the destroyed weapon and clutching his injured hand, staring at Roy in shock and horror.

"What the fuck did you just do!? Who are you?"

Roy hadn't had someone fear him like that in a long time. And yet somehow, he enjoyed hearing the terror in the man's voice as he looked at him. He wondered if Ed had looked at the man like that when he'd been beaten.

"Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. You just tortured Edward Elric, a state alchemist; a crime you will pay for in court."

"That's bullshit! I outrank the kid, he disobeyed my direct order to hand over the intel! It was a matter of national security!"

"You'd best pray the court martial sees it that way. I don't take very kindly to people hurting my subordinates." Roy said gruffly, narrowing his eyes. "Give me the keys to the cell, now, or I burn you alive and take them anyways."

Banks frowned, fumbling with his one good hand to free a set of keys from his belt. He tossed it to Mustang.

"You trained the brat pretty damn well. I didn't think you'd care enough to come for him. But you'd have been so proud of him- I've broken men three times his age in half the time. It took forever to even make the brat scream. But he'd just repeat his name and rank over and over again. Such a well-trained little dog. 'I report to Roy Mustang, General Gruman, and the Furher himself.'. That's all the runt would say. Wish I could've had him under my thumb. Brat's stupidly loyal."

Roy frowned. All of this pain could've been avoided if Ed had just given his report to Colonel Banks instead of him. Ed ahd said the man wanted information. And Roy had a sinking feeling that Ed- loyal to a fault had taken the brunt of his injuries on Mustang's behalf.

Either way, Roy didn't have the time to question it. He looked at the keys in his hand and headed for the stairs. "If you're still in this room when I come back with Ed, I'll burn you alive." he said over his shoulder.

He heard hurried footsteps as Colonel Banks, coward that he was, retreated.

Roy exhaled through his nose, heading downstairs, keys in hand.

As Roy strode back to the makeshift prison of sorts, he was surprised to find Ed on his feet, hanging onto the bars.

"You can walk?"

"Yeah." Ed grunted.

Roy unlocked the door and Ed stepped out- he was moving rather gingerly, but he was walking under his own power. That was something.

They left the Fort, stepping into the sunlight. It was in the afternoon, and Roy headed towards the town inn, Ed falling into step beside him.

"This isn't the train station." Ed groused, looking over at Roy as they came to the front door of the inn.

"Perceptive, aren't we." Roy teased.

Ed frowned. "You said we were going home."

"We are. First train in the morning. I have some calls to make tonight." Honestly, Roy didn't think Ed would be comfortable sitting on a train for four hours back to Central City tonight anyways. The boy looked as though he could use a rest. And he wanted to ascertain how serious the boy's injuries were before he decided his next move.

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#fma #fma fanfiction #Fullmetal Alchemist #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #Roy Mustang #edward elric #Parental Roy #parentalroy #whumph #whump #hurt/comfort #hurt #comfort #dogofthemilitary #injury