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janeths · 9 months

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You aren’t real

I was listening to Vermilion by Slipknot, I know some people have their own interpretation of the lyrics but for me it’s about how they want to love her but are too shy and thinks she isn’t real because they never received such kind of feeling.

I think you can kinda tell by that summary for this fanfic. Except that Bowser is overthinking instead of being shy.

Warning: Angst to wholesome. Heartbreaks to lovers, mentions of blood as well, Bowser hurting Y/N. Crying Junior, good ending though.

I think I made Bowser a bit ooc, so sorry about that . Also I didn’t think this mini story would be long💀😭

Gender neutral pronouns, but Junior calls you mama on some parts

“Hah! I finally caught you again Princess Peach!” Bowser shakes the cage, to wake them up. Y/N rubs her eyes and look at him, pulling their “hair” down for him not to look into their eyes. “I will crush that Mario if he comes! And once I crush him, oh ho! We’ll be together.” Together? Wow…Even though he’s trying to act tough and scary, I can’t help but want to stare at him… “Trust me, Mario isn’t gonna come this time.” They awkwardly laugh and Bowser turns around confused. Walking towards their cage, “What do you mean, “Mario isn’t going to come and get you? Hold on… You have a different smell…” He immediately opens the cage, gently grabs them by the waist and pulls their wig off. Oh my! He’s quite strong… kinda hot- no wait- “And who exactly are you?! Where is she?!” “Hey! No need to yell! I’m right in front of you! And to to be exact, I have no idea where she is!” He huffs and points into her face. “She was sick and tired of your crap! And asked me to replace her for a while.” “So I’m stuck with you?!” He huffs, smelling smoke from his mouth.

“My lord, why don’t you just kill them?” Says his loyal adviser, Kamek. “Oh what’s the use of killing them without the fun of scaring those plumbers. They even aren’t going to come and save them.”

Y/N sighs sadly, rocking the cage back and fourth. “I guess I didn’t really think this through, did I? Well I did want an adventure so…Though… The thought of seeing him again… makes me kinda- No! Wait! He’s the villain..” “You there! Who are you?!” A young child voice yells, Y/N turns around to see a little kid in the shadows, his figure looking like Bowsers, only smaller. “When I ask you something, you answer me back!” “I uh- I’m Y/N!-” “See that wasn’t so hard was it!” The unknown child walks from the shadows and presents himself. “I am Prince Bowser Junior the second! But Prince Junior sounds more fitting. Why are you here? Shouldn’t it be Peach? Hm! I don’t know what papa sees in that princess.” “Bowser… is your papa?!” Y/N seems shock at the thought that Bowser has a child. “I didn’t know he had a child!” Wait so maybe he isn’t as bad as we all thought?

“Does that scare you? Are you afraid of us?” Junior shakes the cage. “If I’m being honest, you don’t scare me…” His eyes widen, and stop shaking, looking around the cage then to Y/N. “But… papa says humans are scared of Koopas... They don’t like us for the way we are… You are strange one.” “You looks so young Junior… this isn’t a place for you. You need to leave if your father finds out you’re here-” “Junior!” The beast swarms the doors open, seeing his son talking to the prisoner. “What are you doing here?! You are not supposed to be here!” He storms out towards them. “And you!” He opens the cage and grabs Y/N them by the waist tightly, feeling his claws in their skin. “Ow! You’re hurting me-!” Y/N yells. “Papa! Leave them alone! They done nothing wrong!” Junior hits his father on the leg, leading them to look down. “Junior! What has gotten into you?” “Please papa leave them alone! Please!” Bowser hesitates, why in the world was his son pleading? Why does he want them to live? Bowser turns to look at Y/N, all scared and bleeding, feeling a bit of guilt. My… claw.. I.. Y/N sniffles. I’ve hurt someone- I… What’s wrong with me? What’s this feeling? Shame? Guilt? What? I don’t understand!

Bringing himself back to reality, gently placing down Y/N and leaves without saying a word. Y/N sits and falls to the ground. “Y/N! Are you okay? Y/N? I’ll bring some band-aids! J-Just stay here!” He quickly runs to the doors. Looking around the place made Y/N head dizzy. Feeling the heat of the lava, looking to their left, sees other cages dangling with no floor. “Geez… whats wrong with him?” They sat up and pulls their shirt up, revealing claw marks, pouting a bit. I don’t think Peach has to go through this… does she?

On the other side of the kingdom, Junior was running to his room, fell, stood up again, and ran to the bathroom. “I know I had band-aids here… ”

The other room, in the bathroom was Bowser, looking down on his hands, bits of blood in his claws. Feeling that he was about to hyperventilate, he washed his hands quickly, and stared at himself in the mirror. “What is wrong with you? What.. is this feeling? Why do I feel so much shame of what I did? Why do I feel bad? Why do I want to help them? They didn’t do anything- WHAT IS THIS?!”

Junior runs past his fathers room and decides to look for him, maybe not the best time, opens the door quietly, and hears him in the bathroom. “I’m setting a terrible role model to him… I don’t want him to end up like this…” The young koopa frowns and thinks to himself, Papa wants to be a good papa, he doesn’t want to hurt anyone… A few seconds past and he turns around running towards the hallway.

I’m not losing that much blood am I? It was just a scratch… what am I gonna do? Does he have so much hatred? Anger? He feels alone? I wonder…

“I’m back Y/N!” He tries his best to patch the wounds, but Y/N also helps him. “There all done!”he smiles and draws a smiley face. “You’re gonna be okay alright? I don’t know what’s gotten into papa, but-” They both hear the doors open and got startled, Junior stands in front of Y/N, trying his best to protect them from the harm of his fathers burns. “Junior? Y/N…” For the sake of his reputation, he keeps a poker face. “Y/N come.” “What? Where are you-” “Do you want to sleep in the cage?” “No-” “Then let’s go.” Junior helps them stand up, and leads them to their father. What’s he’s gonna do to me? If it were something bad, he wouldn’t let Junior come.. “I’ll help Y/N, Junior, you can go to your room, it’s bedtime for you.” “Aww man, I uh mean right away! Goodnight Y/N.” He huffs and runs to his room locking it, leaving Bowser and Y/N alone together. “Right this way..” he broke the silence, and proceeded to walk the hallway. They were halfway when Y/N fell to the floor, “grh!” “Let me-” Bowser raises their hand. “I can do it on my own.” They hesitate struggling to stand up. Such a strange and awkward scene. Bowser did want to apologize, but didn’t know how. His heart was racing, feeling hopeless while they were trying to stand up, looking at his claws. They both begin walking again till they stopped at the front of a door. Opening it up, leading to a bedroom. “I uh… hope you like it here for the time being. Once you get healed, you can leave.” They both enter the room, feeling strange by the atmosphere they created. But Y/N breaks it, “Thank you.. for the hospitality.” “I uh… dinner will be served in 10 minutes, rest for a bit.” Y/N lays on the bed, Bowser looks at them in pity, or rather himself, as he exited the room he mutters, “I’m sorry Y/N..” and closes the door.

Does he feel bad about what happened? What a strange man… I guess I should go and eat with him. Hmm… I mean he somewhat apologized. He gave me a room, running water, even invited me to eat with him.

“So you didn’t kill this Y/N, why’s that my lord?” “Something about them… the way they looked at me, telling me to stop hurting them- it opened something in me I didn’t even know I had.” “Well have you hurt the Princess before?”

“I don’t think I have. Have I?” “Sire if I may add something, it sounds like a part of your heart opened.” “My heart? My heart?! That’s ridiculous.” Bowser scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Lord Bowser, sit down next to me. At least try to hold your anger. It’s part of why you got into this mess. Let me explain…” Like a little child waiting for them to read their favorite book, Bowser looks at him. “Then tell me, what am I feeling?” “You feel bad. You feel terrible about what happened. You’re scared that you may hurt them. Since it wasn’t Peach, your obsession with her has been broken by this person staying here. Though it did open my eyes a bit.”

Three months has passed, it was early spring but you couldn’t really tell much due to the lava around the kingdom. Junior asked Y/N to accompany him while doing his homework, since his father was away for a bit, to which they accepted. So now both sitting in a kids table. “Look Y/N! I drew me and you! See! Here’s me, you, and papa.” He hands you the drawing, the picture he drew was him and Y/N holding hands, smiling, along with his father, though he wasn’t smiling but… red? “Oh? Whys yours papa red?” “Hmm, I don’t remember if it was because he’s blushing, or ate too much red beetles or for the exercise.” “Oh I see.” What a funny a little prince. “I’m keeping the drawing though.” Y/N squishes his cheeks. “Hey! I’m not a baby!” “Well you’ll always be a baby in my eyes.” This makes Juniors eye twinkle, at the thought of being someone else’s baby. Mama… no… there not mama… Papa doesn’t like them anyways. Y/N takes notice of a frown face and says, “Hey let’s stop doing homework for now. We should go outside in the fields to refresh your memory for a bit. How does that sound?” “Alright! I wanna go to that one stream that’s close.”

Junior immediately jumps into the water and splashes all around, then splashes onto his face. “Oh!” He look towards Y/N then to their right some plants he adores. “Oh! It’s my favorite berry! They look like blueberries.” He bites into them and melts. “You want to try it? They are so delicious!” “Uh sure why not. Can’t be that bad.” Junior hands them a wannabe blueberry, doesn’t think much of it and eats it. “Every-time papa would go to fight Mario, he would always bring me these.” “That’s quite wholesome of him.” Oh boy, Y/N should have learned about these berries back in science class, because now they started coughing, feeling their tongue hot. Standing up they collapse on a tree. “Y/N! What’s wrong?!” Junior immediately runs to them, they start feeling their vision blurry, running around and falls to the floor, Junior trying to catch them. “Y/N!” He touches their forehead, it was burning hot. “Junior take me to Kamek… I think…” They feel their heart race in anxious. “Junior…! Help me get there…” Him in shock not knowing what to do, grabs their hand and starts pulling them towards the kingdom. “Come on Y/N!” They were halfway to the kingdom when Y/N fell again, “Junior.. I can’t..” They twist and turn on the dirt, feeling their fever get extremely high, their stomach in sharp pain. “I’ll call papa! Please don’t die! Papa! Papa!”

Y/N feels a stomp and made them jump into the air, while someone catches them. Y\N feels lightheaded and somewhat hallucinating. Feeling that they got picked up and saw a blurred vision of the man rescuing them. “Are you my Prince Charming?” They giggle. Bowser being confused, then remembering about the symptoms it creates of the poison berries. “Not quite my dear. King fits better.” He holds them gently, and jumping into the sky.

“Ow… My body hurts so much!” Kamek gestures his wand around their body detecting for any harm in them. “Just a fatal poison berry, nothing much. I’ll have it removed by hand.” “Hand?! Oh look, it’s Mario.” Just with that they plank to the bed, getting unconscious. “Kamek! Now!” He swifts his wand leading the dead berry out of their mouth. “Are they..?” “Fine. There good now. Now if you excuse me my sire, I’m going to write this…” He position his glasses to see better. “This BellaDonna… in the book ‘poisonous things to humans.’” He walks away, leaving them two alone. “That was very dumb of you to eat that.” Bowser says looking at them, while they wok up and stated coughing loudly. “Me? I just wanted to try it! Junior said they were delicious, so I wanted to try it.” He facepalms, “This is partly my fault. I wasn’t there to tell you.” Y/N looked confused. “‘To tell you?’ What? What do you mean? I mean it’s not entirely your fault, you didn’t know we were there. I should be the one to blame-”

“No. I should have been protecting you. But I wasn’t and you got hurt.” Bowser..? Showing some emotion? And sentimental ones too..? “Look Bowser...” They hold their hand for reassurance, Bowser eyes widen, and raises an eyebrow. “Huh?” “Bowser look. I’m completely fine. See, I’m here. I’m awake talking to you and I feel great thanks to you,Kamek and Junior.” But Bowser wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying, all he saw was they were talking with a beam of smile, looking down at his hand.

What is this? Why are they holding my hand? Are they reassure me, or do they feel some type of way? What… I feel warm. My chest feels warm. My face feels red, I feel… happy? No- it can’t- I can’t. He quickly removes his hand from them, Y/N face changes from having a warm smile to soft frown. “Yeah that’s good then. Well then… since you’re good, we both can go into our duties then. “Right…” “If you need anything, just holler or come by my office.” Bowser leaves the room, and sighs deeply. “What was that about…” He look at his hand. Why would they want to hold my own hideous hand?

I held his hand… I held his hand? I HELD HIS HAND?! I’m literally going to squeal. Should I now ask him? But… he did swipe his hands off of me… but that doesn’t mean anything right? Or maybe I scared him…

Throughout the months, Y/N has been trying to get close and closer to him, but he always rejects them, not because he doesn’t want to be with them but he’s scared to love them, not knowing what’s about come. But he does come around and get flustered everytime he sees them. Even Kamek teasing him telling him that Y/N behind them, scaring him. For Kamek and Y/M seem fun to tease him, Bowser keeps getting so confused about his feelings. He keeps asking himself, why do I feel a certain way every time I see them? Why does my heart bounce and my face get red? Is this love? But why haven’t they left the kingdom? Why are they still here? Is this a trick?

“Hey Bowser, I want to ask you something-“ Y/N runs and smiles at him “The king is busy. Go ask Kamek.” He immediately runs away from them, leaving a mark in their heart, again. They feel their eyes watery, feeling dull and numb. Why don’t you understand that I have feelings for you? If I’m making you uncomfortable just tell me so I can leave… You won’t have to deal with me. “Y/N are you alright?” Kamek wakes them up from their mind slumber. “Oh uh-?! I’ve never been better.” They force a smile. “Dear, you think I’m that stupid? I wasn’t born yesterday. Bowsers trying, he really is. But he wants to do it by himself.” Y/N thought for a second, he’s trying? “It’s obvious though. If I didn’t have any feelings for him, I would have left the kingdom ages ago, but no I didn’t. I chose to live here with all of you. But no matter what I do or say, he always ignores me or runs away. It’s been months Kamek. And… he knows.” “Well one things for sure, he adores when you play with Junior, he says ‘it brings me some type of peace.’ ” Kamek smiles and thumbs them up.

Their voice… their laughter, their smile, their name… brings me so much emotions I can’t quite figure out. Why Y/N? Why did it had to be them? Why can’t I stop thinking about them? What’s is that feeling? Every time I think about them, I want to hold them, I want to make beautiful memories with them. I want them to be a mother figure to my baby. I want to dance with them. Why is it that every time I call their name, I feel like my demons go silent, and make the angels come near us. Is this love? Have I fallen for someone, that I think their not real? They can’t be real. Y/N isn’t real.

Y/N walks towards his room, and stands ther, hesitating and thinking. Should I do this? I don’t know if I can anymore… maybe he doesn’t really have feelings for me, he’s just toying with me… but he really does seem to care. He’s been wanting to get close to me.. if this doesn’t work… maybe I’ll leave… Y/N knocks on the door, “Um Bowser, it’s me Y/N… I came here to talk about something…” “Go away, I’m not here.” They scoff. “Bowser please let me in. I need to talk to you.” They push the door in, and sees his room torn apart. “Bowser?! What’s wrong-”

“Get away from me.” He points at them in full anger, leading Y/N in shock and terrifying worried. “Bowser?! What’s gotten into you?” “You can’t be real. You’re not real. You’re just a cheap distraction. A robot. A mere magical spell. You were created to distract me from destroying the world. The princess forced you to stay here, to toy with my feelings!” “That’s not true! What you are saying is all wrong! I’m real! I have feelings for you! I wasn’t forced to come here! I wanted to come here and meet you!”

“Don’t lie to me-”

“I’m not lying Bowser! Why would I lie? If I was forced to come here, why haven’t I left? Why haven’t I tried to “escape?” Oh boy now he done it, Y/N felt tears coming out of their eyes, felt their heart go down into their stomach from the lie. Y/N was heartbroken. Now crying from the miserable lies, Bowser felt bad. “If I made you that uncomfortable, why didn’t you send me away, huh? If you want me to leave that badly I’ll just leave and never come back!” Y/N storms away from his bedroom, crying. So that’s it then?

“Mama whats-?” Y/N rushes quickly to the hallway, ignoring the question Junior made. He called me mama…

“Y/N what’s wrong? Mama?” He continues to call them, but completely ignoring them.

“Mama? Come back mama!”

Y/N heads towards the gates open, and walks away, heading the cries of the little Koopa.

“Mama!”

“Prince Junior, what is wrong?” Kamek appears and sees Junior laying down next to the wall, curled up into a ball, sobbing and weeping. “Grandpa Kamek…” He quickly hugs him, still weeping. “Mamas, gone. Y/Ns gone! I called to them and they ignored me, and ran out of the kingdom!” “Hey now, now, we’ll find them. I think your papa and them got into a small fight, no worries I’ll go see. You stay in your room, I’ll sort things out.” He cleans his snot and and wipes his tears away. “No I’m going with you!” “Junior…” “I don’t care what papa says, I’m going with you to find Y/N.” Kamek nods, they both went ahead to the King Koopas room. “Damnit damnit damnit… why did I do that?” “Sire!” Kamek opens the door and yells at him. “Language! Not in front of the boy!” Bowser turns around to see an angry father and a crying child. “Junior I…” Bowser begins to say but gets interrupted by the cries of the Prince. “Why you yell at mama?!” Junior squeezes Kameks hand in anger. “Ma..ma? You see Y/N as a mother figure..?” “Yes, my lord. What did you even say to that poor human?!”

“I’m going home!” Y/N says to themselves and walks on some path going onto the forest. “I think this is the way… Wait, is it? Or is it that path? Oh no… I can’t believe I lost my way.” They sit down next to a tree, hearing the birds sing, bringing some nostalgic memories. Y/N sighs sadly and closes their eyes. This reminds when Bowser and I would walk here, talking nonstop… then suddenly there would be silence between us, all we could hear is the birds, frogs insects sound. Such peace… oh well. Y/N keeps thinking of their memories, not knowing that they been getting tired up to a Piranha plant. They get pulled up, Y/N yelps, it wasn’t your typical Piranha Plant , it was a Naval Piranha! “Hey stop it!” Within seconds they cover them in spiny vines, all all around their legs and arms, gripping them, leading Y/N to bleed. They twist and turn but nothing works, only making them more bleed. They slowly pull Y/N towards their mouth. “Ah! Let me go you stupid plant!” They try kicking it but only makes the Piranha in anger, pulls them up to the air. About to get eaten, Y/N hears a roar, the Piranha plant looks up, and gets caught by a spitting fire. From the burns, they screeched, lost their balance and let’s go of Y/N, dropping them to the ground till he jumps up and caught them tightly onto a bridal style carrier. “Hey hey, I got you. You’re safe…” Y/N feels his big hands and arm, his entire body actually, knowing who it is. “Bowser?! Wh-what are you doing here?!” Y/N looks at him, tears in their eyes. He ignores their question, looking around their body for any marks, “Are you okay? Let me look at you…” Y/N hugs hugs him tightly not wanting to let go “B-Bowser…” “I got you…Y/N this is all my fault. I never should have yelled at you. I’m sorry I said those harsh words to you. I didn’t… mean it.” He said struggling to find the right words for them, not wanting to hurt them again. “Kamek and Junior would always tell me, but I didn’t listen… I was so worked up, overthinking I didn’t even think about you…I…” Bowser didn’t know if it was because they got scared of the plant or they scared them but Y/N completely fainted in their arms. “Oh Y/N…” He touches their cheek, rubbing it.

Returning to the kingdom, he thinks to himself, Why are comforting words so difficult to say?

The king places them in their room, bandaging up their scars, and waiting patiently till they woke up. “Bowser…” “Y/N are you okay? How do you feel?” “Why did you rescue me? Didn’t you want me to leave…? Didn’t-” He shushes them putting his index finger on their lips. “I was wrong. I was wrong about everything. I’m sorry. I really am. I want to set things right..” He holds their hands close to his chest, making them jump in happiness.

“Y/N please stay with me in our kingdom. You always made me feel like… warm, comfort, in peace. I never felt such things before. Everytime I hear your name, every time I would see you, my angels would run around, and your name would always silence my own demons. Every time I see you, I feel like I get blind for looking at a god(ess). If you left us, it would have been so much torture. I would do anything for you… You made me feel a certain way. I’m so ashamed that I kept rejecting you so much, even though we both knew we had a deep connection. I want us to have a healthy relationship.”

“Oh Bowser…”

Y/N face went red, blushing and feeling flustered, this man, the King, THE King of Koopa, the only man whose the biggest, also has a huge heart? Feeling flustered and embarrassed, revealing his feeling to them? He’s actually confessing his feelings?!

“So please…” He puts grabs their chin lifting it up, showing his crimson eyes staring at them, his pupils dilate in so much love. “Y/N….” He smile slyly. “Will you be my lover? And spend the years with me?” Y/N eyes beam and dilate. “Yes!” Their face get red hot and hugs him tightly.“I want to spend my life with you. Forever…” He bites his lip, smiling derpy, feeling a squeal wanting to come out. “Heck yeah baby! Now I can show you off around then! ” Kissing their cheek. “So you gonna turn your life around and not try to destroy the world?” “I’ll destroy this world if someone ever did harm to you, my love.”

Love?! Baby?! These words coming from his mouth?! I’m screaming

They were both leaning to each other, about to kiss till they got interrupted by the door slamming. “Y/N! You’re alive!!” Junior squeals and jumps into the bed, hugging them. “I say, sire, you do have a way with words.” Kamek grins and gives him a thumbs up. “Junior! Oh wait be careful! I’m still a bit hurt. Come here you! Papa want to tell you a secret.” “Secret?! Papa what is it?” Bowser grabs him, and let’s the secret be revealed. Juniors eyes widen, grinning, feeling so much happiness, feeling his eyes dilate to stars. “I have a mama! Papa! Mama! Both! This is amazing! Oh my stars!.” He kisses both on their cheek and snout. “I’ll be right back!” He runs off, outside the room. “I’ll chase after him. I’ll leave you two alone then.” My son, Kamek thought to himself, he finally has someone to love. Ah yes, so happy for them. He hears a loud explosion from Juniors room. “Young prince! What are you doing?! You better not be committing arson!”

“So where were we again?” Bowser smirks, holding their hand. “Hmm I have no idea-” Y/N grabs his shoulders, his eyes in shock and flustered. “come here my big man!” Y/N immediately without thought pulls him into a kiss. Bowser was so happy, he felt like this was a fairytale dream. He didn’t want to wake up, but boy he know it was real. He kisses them back passionately. Knowing they’ll always love each other.

BONUS: (cause I’m like that lololol)

“It’s been strangely quiet.” Peach sips her tea. “Too quiet actually. What’s Bowser planning?” Mario’s sips his tea as well. “Should we go and check?”

Bowser and Y/N have been sitting out the kingdom, giving each either kisses, like teenagers in high school.

“No stop!”

“No you stop!”

“Bowser!”

“Y/N!”

“What are you two doing?” Says a feminine voice, behind them, leading Bowser and Y/N in fear. “And who asked-” Y/N turns around to see Mario and Peach. “Oh! Princess!” Y/N slaps Bowser, eying that it’s the princess. “It’s very nice to meet you!” “Oh princess peach, Mario. I’m happy you sent Y/N. If I never met them I wouldn’t know what to do.” “Send who out?” Peach questions. AH CRAP! SECRETS OUT.

“This lovely person here.” “No… it was nice of you to pretend to be me- uh Y/N but… I have no idea who they are.” “Y/N?!” Oh boy…looks like this cat is out of the bag. Y/N will admit it, they didn’t know the princess, but really wanted to meet the King of Koopas so they decided to dress up as Peach. “Uh… I may have lied about one part..”

Yippie! I have never ever made entire small “short” story and completing it. I am quite surprised :3 so yeah 😎 me like it very epic 🧍‍♀️

#bowser x reader #bowser x y/n #bowser x you #angst to comfort #bowser junior #kamek koopa

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starlightshore · 4 months

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Howdy! I've got a handful of questions after watching the trailer for Angel's Lullaby and reading the write-up on Gamejolt:

Do you plan on the game being fully voice acted? Or were the VAs there just for the trailer?

I'm asking this in good faith, out of curiosity: where did you get "prin" as the gender-neutral form of prince/princess? Did you create the word yourself or did you find it somewhere? (If the latter, where? I reckon it could be a valuable resource)

Do I understand correctly that all this means the game will have multiple endings? And, if it's not a spoiler, will that include the possibility of saving Monsters from being trapped under Mt. Ebott?

Thanks in advance for the answers! And I can't believe that this White Human society from hundreds of years ago has better trans rights than modern times (or at least it seems to).

But also if I'm being honest I don't like the word "prin", it sounds incomplete somehow. I have come up with the word "princep" (PRIN-sepp) in my own projects as a different gender-neutral form, but maybe the only reason it sounds better to me is because I created it. Okay have a nice 2024 bye

Happy New Year! sorry I haven't gotten around to responding, my b!

let me try answering in order:

No voice acting in the game. I just wanted to connect the voice-acted animation segments and the gameplay, otherwise, the gameplay would feel a lot more "stiff" or "static" in comparison. This is a VERY text-heavy game so voice acting is completely unfeasible.

just from searching around for gender-neutral terms for a royal child. i personally like prin because it's simple and to the point. I expect people to have different opinions and preferences but I'll go with what I like haha

very much a spoiler. I'm actually doing a massive rethink on the game but what has been planned was that you'd get 2 main routes of the game: pacifist-monster and no-mercy-human. Not sure if that'll stay the same or not. 3A. Yeah, Mythosa Island is a lot more progressive but it's in part to not alienate the game for modern audiences and to un-ground the story a bit. Real History is dark and fucked up. I can critique it, but I want to keep it to a "video game" atmosphere. So we're not going to address things like Slavery, Racism, and Transphobia in an Undertale game. I'm not a historical expert and a lot of the history has been "gamified" by it being an isolated island originally ruled by monsters. A lot of stuff can be chalked up to: "This is a small portion of the human race (who are originally poor) and they've lived peacefully with monsters for 100 years. Their ideals are not going to reflect medieval Europe accurately."

very much so. I want to do commentary on museums and how art can be stolen/destroyed for the sake of the enjoyment of those who go to museums. like, I'm sure there's some good to museums, it's good to preserve history and teach it to others and seeing up and close can make a difference. but it needs to be ethically sourced. like we could do both, come on. How much of this is subtext vs. text will depend on how the team and I handle the tone. Like, I do want to talk on darker/serious topics but I don't want it to be too straightforward and break the video game immersion. ALL art is communication and thus has something to say -i just need to control how it says what I want it to say.

But thank you so much for the kind asks! Happy 2024 and beyond!

#personal stuff #sams replies #angels lullaby #angel's lullaby

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subwaysurf45 · 2 years

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The Time of the Prey (7)

Summary: The younger sister of the most talked about princess in the kingdoms really can’t do much except smile and nod. When Natasha, your sister, finally goes to moves all of you to Shieldshire to marry her beloved Prince Steve you are left with your art, all alone. But one Knight took it upon himself to keep you company, and that company was all you needed to get through wedding season. Will that company last or will it be ripped away from the both of you? A war is starting and it seems targets are being made.

Pairing: Knight!Bucky x Princess!Reader

Words: 5k

Warnings: swearing, yelling, descriptions of injury, we’re getting the gang back together!!!

Series Masterlist II Series Playlist

It was night when your eyes opened, the forest was silent, part of you thought you had entered the afterlife but when you looked at your hands and saw the dirt and grime you knew you were still alive.

The stories of death were very personal to many different people, you remembered your father getting one final burst of energy before passing, telling people he was fine but they knew he wasn’t. Other people began to smell lemons even if there were none present, and some hallucinated someone in front of them. There were journals of people seeing a bright light before them, the voice of their higher power, or even the voice of their lover who had passed before them.

The burst was fading and your eyes were falling heavy again, the sounds of movement were either a fragment of your imagination or the animals who lived on the forest floor.

But before you closed your eyes you saw a light, a light in the distance. You began to prepare yourself, making sure you left peacefully and not with a fight. Your vision began to double and you saw two, nodding to yourself, trying to make your seating position more comfortable.

But then you saw a triple, then quadruple.

Those were not gateways into the heavens, those were lanterns. The lights rapidly multiplied and began to illuminate the soldiers and the horses, through the trees you saw an eagle on a flag.

“James,” you whispered to yourself, the eagle was Shieldshire’s crest. “Bucky,” your voice had left you, not a single ounce of power was left to muster up a call. “Bucky please,” you tried again but your voice gave out mid way through, instead of talking you’d just make another sound.

Your hand swished around the fallen leaves and sticks, a collective halt came from the men in the distance. You did it again and earned a few murmured questions, people wondering what that was.

You smacked the forest floor three times quickly, then three times slowly, then three times quickly again. A couple people picked up on it, the lights began to flicker with movement, they were moving closer.

“This could be a trap, men,” you heard a voice say, “knock your bows.”

“No,” you whispered, your lips incredibly dry. A hand rested on your stomach, though it hurt to breathe in you did so anyway. “Bucky,” you tried as hard as you could and only managed a sound a little higher than normal speaking, the men stopped again.

Except for one.

“Y/N?” the voice brought a tired smile to your lips, “where are you, say that again!” he was over to your left, you tried to speak again but didn’t know if it worked, “keep talking, Y/N, I’l find you, keep-”

Your head rolled to the side, he was frozen in his stance. The amount of blood oozing from you caused his jaw to hang loose and his eyes to scan your body. The colour from his face drained for only a second before he jumped into action, he kneeled by your side but his hands hovered over your body, not sure where to start and if he’ll make it worse.

“Men!” he screamed while staring at you, “bring the nurse,” his voice was shaky, his hand moved to your forehead to pet back your hair, “it’s going to be okay,” he whispered, “bring her now!” to make sure he wasn’t screaming in your face he finally looked over to the crowd of lanterns.

As your breath became more shallow his shaken hands moved faster, still not knowing what to do because of the amount of blood dripping from you.

“Mhm-” you tried to speak but a groan was all that left your lips.

“It’s okay,” Bucky cupped your cheek, “you’re okay, don’t talk, alright?”

“My back,” you whispered, slowly closing your eyes, exhausted from the amount of effort it took to speak.

The nurse finally ran up and dropped her very small box beside her, “it’s her back,” Bucky said quickly, placing his hand on your shoulder and making you lean forward, “Great Hells,” he whispered, “it’s okay, sweet, it’s okay,” it seemed he was telling himself the reassurance rather than you.

“These are extremely infected,” mainly pus oozed rather than blood, “she’s burning up, we need to get her back and we need to do it fast,” your vision was blurry but you knew she was looking at Bucky.

“Men!” he called, “this does not end the war,” he stood, “you all must go and I must bring Princess Y/N back to our kingdom for medical attention.” The Knights began to argue, all of them wanted to go home, “I was charged by Lady Melina to bring her home and I’ll die before I let her stay here!” his voice shook as he screamed, not waiting another second he grabbed you and threw you over his shoulder, “I know…”

“Bucky…” you whispered, “just let me go…”

“No,” he grunted as he placed you on his horse, quickly getting on behind you and making you hold the reins, his large hands covering yours to keep them steady, “rest back on me, sweet, rest back on me there you go.”

“Bucky,” you whispered again but he was too busy giving orders, shouting at his men and then taking off. Your body shook as the horse sprinted down the trail, “I’m tired.”

“I know you are,” he spoke loudly over the sound of hooves hitting the ground, “but stay awake for me, alright?” his chin rested on your shoulder, “your family will kill me but I need you here for as long as I can, I missed you, I longed for you, I was about to slaughter every man in that kingdom for you, I-” he cut himself off and continued to ride, grunting as he tried to keep you upright.

“I’m going to sleep,” you muttered and let your eyes close.

********

When you woke up you were no longer on a horse or in the woods, your coreset was not on and you were shoeless. Under you was a comfy bed and not the back of a tree, your eyes took in the moment and found your room looking back at you.

“Was that a dream,” you muttered to yourself and tried to reach behind you to check the cuts, being greeted with terrible stinging, “it was real,” you groaned and laid back down. As you laid there by yourself you looked up to the ceiling, feeling your hands resting on your stomach, you could almost feel Bucky’s arms around you.

The door opened and your eyes flew to it, “sister!” Natasha ran up to you and hugged your head into her chest, “you’re alive!” she began sobbing, “I thought you had left us, thank the heavens, oh my…” she peppered kisses on your head, touching and feeling all around your face to reassure what she was seeing.

“How long was I asleep?” your speaking voice had been out of use, making it gravelly.

“Four days, sister, four terrible days,” she pulled you back in again, “you woke screaming the first night and we gave you tumble weed,” a hard medicine to kill pain but also knock you out so you wouldn’t have to feel anything anymore.

“Where’s Bucky?” you pushed her away, looking at her watery eyes.

“Who?”

“Ser James,” you balled up her dress, “I must see him now.”

“No,” she shook her head and stood up tall, “he was the one who caused you to be taken, he has been banished,” she squinted at your appalled expression, “you should be thanking me.”

“No,” you tried to stand but it was too painful, “get him back here now, I need him.” Natasha shook her head and began to walk away, “bring him back, he saved me from the woods, he cared about me so sweetly, he loves me-”

“I don’t care who he loves-”

“And I love him!” you screamed at sat up, immediately laying back down, “I love him and I have always loved him,” Natasha was disgusted, “you either banished neither or both, I will even marry that man to keep him here I do not care if I go back on years of my own ideals, I will be proper and a real princess just to keep him with me, get him back now!”

Natasha looked out of the doorway, “I… I hadn’t banished him yet…he’s-”

“Bring him to me,” you cut her off, “now!”

“Never,” she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

With the strength you had gathered during your rest you stood and walked towards the door, using the door as balance. You had gotten good at sneaking around guards, taking the winding hallways to Bucky’s chambers. No one had been in the halls, most likely still fighting the war. When you reached his chmaber you could hear movement but you waited for voices, seeing if Natasha had beat you there.

You were greeted with two people talking, neither were Natasha.

“Listen to me,” it was Prince Steve, “I do not want you to leave but I also want to make my wife happy, you must understand me.”

“You know I am a good person, and that I would never let her die on my hands,” Bucky bit back, “you know me better than her and yet you are making her choose where I should go, does that make sense to you?” he yelled.

“Ser,” Steve spoke softly, “I am prepared to let Princess Y/N go with you,” you could hear a pause, “she wouldn’t be banished like you are but she’d be allowed to leave with you.”

“Don’t put that choice on her,” you could hear him pacing, “she has been political bait her entire life and now you want her to make a choice that will cause uproar no matter what she chooses, making the all the kingdoms talk about her, do you really think we should add that to all the things shes been through?”

Your ear pressed up against the wooden door, you wanted to open it so badly but you just couldn’t. It hurt to hold back but you knew you had to, for yours and his sake.

“James,” Steve said sadly, “this is all I can offer you, truly, all I can do.”

“Is she awake?” Bucky asked.

“As far as I know, no,” you could hear Prince Steve get closer to the door, you quickly ran and his around the corner you knew he wasn’t walking towards. After hearing their goodyes you heard the door open and then shut, a loud sigh coming from the Prince. His footsteps got quieter and quieter as he walked in the other direction.

Your back didn’t hurt to move, just when you touched it. You could feel the layers of padding and bandaged used to keep the cuts from seeing the light of day, infections were teh elading cause of death because they were so unknown. You had read books about the history of medicine, something to do while Natasha learned how to sew, and there were things that seemed basic but were yet to be understood.

Slowly, you placed one foot in front of the other, seeing the wood on the door move closer. How would you greet him, knocking or walking right in, would you say anything? It would be hard to just spring this on him, probably cause him a heart attack. Once you reached the door you stood there, still as can be. If he heard your hearing he didn’t respond to you, then again, you were holding your breath.

All of the confidence you had left got you to a fist right in front of the door, not knocking or moving. You held still, thinking of the many out comes, maybe it was just easier to go back to bad and have him come to you. But when were you the hopeless princess who waited for her Knight in shining armor.

you had been chained and whipped; how was this harder?

When you heard a stop in his moment you knocked on the door, “no thank you,” was all he said. You laughed to yourself and slowly opened the door, “I said-” he froze in the middle of his room, only in his black trousers and nothing else, you weren’t expecting him to be without a tunic.

Shamelessly, your eyes raked his body as you both stood frozen for two different reasons, the box he was holding had slipped from his hands but neither of you broke the eye contact once you looked back up at him.

“Hello,” you whispered, staying in the hallway.

“Are you real?” he stepped forward and gently reaching his hand out, you let him cup your cheeks when he was close enough.

Tears gathered in your eyes as you felt his warmth, you leaned into his touch and brought your hand up as well to fully feel him. His skin was soft yet callused with battle, your eyes were closed as you felt him, his aurora, around you. His other hand slipped on your waist, pulling you closer and staying on your hip.

“You’re alive,” he had leaned down and wrapped both arms around you, “I can’t believe my eyes,” your tears had already started falling, his were beginning.

Both of you shook as you cried on one another, he stepped back and shut his door. Your hands stayed wrapped your his neck while his moved around, feeling you to make sure you were real. They were restless, his head was still like yours, pushed deep into your neck.

“I thought I lost you-u,” he sobbed, “I was so lost, I can n-not describe it,” his frantic hands stopped and he fully wrapped around you, holding you so tightly it was starting to hurt your scars, but you didn’t say a word.

“If you leave, I will follow,” you whispered and slowly pulled away, letting your forehead rest again his but your arms stayed looped around him.

“I can not ask that of you,” his head shook.

“You are not asking,” your fingers played with the hair on his neck, scratching his scalp, “I am telling you, I do not want to live a miserable life, I want you.”

“I want you too,” his hands squeezed your hips, “I want you so badly.”

You pulled away and looked deeply in his eyes, “then have me.”

It was an open invitation, he took it quiklcy. His lips caught yours before you could say something else, moving quickly with a purpose. You tried to catch up but he seemed to be one step ahead of you, kissing you hard enough your teeth were starting the clack against one another.

Hands felt up and down your back, causing a little irritation to your scars but you kept your mouth shut again. Bucky’s teeth had sunken into your bottom lip countless times when he felt you want ot pull away, making sure he could have you for a long as possible.

“Bucky,” you groaned, “wait…” after a few seconds what you said registered with him and he pulled away, out of breath and panting as he stared at you. “Slow down,” you said with a smile, “I am not going anywhere.”

“I know,” he cupped your cheek and pressed his thumb to your lips, “but I’ve always wanted to do that, truly, I have always wanted to know what your lips felt like.” once he caught his breath he walked to you to the corner of his bed, “Y/N, I do not want you to leave your life for me,” he started but waited for a moment, “but I also want you to know that I am deeply in love with you.”

“Bucky,” you whispered and took his hand, “I am fully captivated by you.”

“I know you are not interested in marrying, but if you’ll have me…” he took a deep breath, “I could make you so happy, putting up my helmet would grant me a lot of money, money that would keep up happy for the rest of our lives together.”

“I want to be with you,” you admitted, “but I do not see myself as a bride, it’s very confusing and I don’t understand it sometimes but-”

“You don’t need to explain yourself,” he shook his head quickly, “but I could retire now, especially after this war.”

“What happened?”

Bucky explained how when the men had shown up a revolution had already begun against the government, people were fighting the guards and losing because the Knights had much more combat experience. When Southlands’ army showed up most of the retreated back to thier homes and watched the real army battle it out, but some of them stayed to fight the fight. Eventually the royals surrenered and gave up their crown, no one took it. There were a few Knights who thought they were worthy but the people of Hydra’s Hill took the power for themselves, claiming the revolutionaries had a new idea about government.

“Voting,” Bucky said, “they want to have a democracy.”

You couldn’t help but smile, that old lady was right, she may have gone down with her ship but at least the people got what they deserved. No one had been elected yet, there were still people who didn’t like the idea or people coming up with campaigns about rebuilding the city the had been slightly broken from the attack.

The door swung open adn Natasha stood there with fire in her eyes, your mother stood behind her. “You must take me as a fool,” she walked forward, “my sister hasn’t been awake for an hour and you’re already having relations with her,” she gestured his lack of shirt, “you’re pig!”

“Natasha,” your mother said sternly, “this is what you wanted to show me, you took me out of a meeting for this?”

“But mother!” Natasha whined, “they should not be together, he let her get stolen, he should be stripped of all titles, he’s going to be kicked out of this castle!” her foot stoped to punctuate her sentence.

“You must take me as a fool, daughter,” your mother smacked Natasha’s arm, “I charged Ser James to retrieve my second born, and he did.” she looked at him, “put on a shirt, son.”

“Sorry,” he offered and stood.

“He should not be banished, it is not his fault there were spies, none of us knew!” her arms were thrown in the air, “I fully give my permission for the two of them to marry- if they choose to do so,” she quickly added and looked at you, taking a moment to register your puffy lips and slightly dilated pupils, her eyebrows raised and you looked away with a smile.

“This doesn’t make sense, I am the Princess and soon to be Queen, I should be making the decisions here,” Natasha threw her arms around.

“All I see right now is child throwing a tantrum,” you mother crossed her arms, “stop acting like one.” Natasha shut her mouth and cross her arms, “I say let them stay for the wedding, which is in a fortnight and then we can decide what to do, give people sometime to cool off a little before we make any banishing choice here, alright?”

Lady Meline and Natasha left soon after that, you stayed seated on the corner of his bed and watched as he slowly began unpacking things.

“You must be uncomfortable in that night gown,” he pointed out, it was tight and not lose like a dressing gown should be, “you must let your wounds breathe, my love,” he walked over to you and spun you around uniting the few staings on your back.

“Wait,” you quickly turned back towards him and took his hand, “I’ll be fine, I can get undressed on my own,” you thought of how ugly your scarring would be, “let me change on my own.”

“Let me undress you,” he whispered and held your gown, “I’ve been dreaming of this, let me underess you, take care of you for a while, huh?”

“We’ll have the rest of our lives to do so, Bucky,” you saw the way his eyes lit up when you said his name, “let me undress on my own, I don’t want you looking at my scars.”

He shook his head, “I’ll find you beautiful no matter what, I swear it.,” he spoke softly as you stood and found yourself tucked in a corner where he couldn’t see you.

“Thank you,” you said before you changed into a nightgown, he had called a handmaid to grab one for you.

Once you were finished you spent the rest the day in the gardens, painting by yourself. Though you were in front of that pond again it was not reflected on your canvas, it was too innocent now, you had other things on your mind. The face of the old women began to appear, strictly from memory you had gotten her nose and eyes right, small parts about her were added or taken away. Her warmth came through the painting even though she was cold to the touch when she took your hand, it was the inside coming out.

Without thinking you had given her a smile, the same one she offered when you tried to play off that you weren’t a Princess.

When the sun was beginning to fall you debated packing up your things for tomorrow but you just couldn’t stop, you had hit a good stride and didn’t wan too stop incase you lost it again. You didn’t hear him approach but you did feel the gentle brush of his fingers against your arm, causing you to turn around slowly; you knew Bucky’s touch.

“Are you coming inside soon?” he asked softly, looking at the painting, “who’s this?”

“The lady I met when I was escaping Hydra’s Hill,” the sound of the place caused Bucky to grow stiff, “she gave me some treatment on my back.” you looked down at his hands to see a light shall, making sur eyou weren’t getting too cold when the sun set.

“Come inside, love,” he got right up close to your ear, making you shiver, “see, you’re cold, let’s throw this on and head to my quarters, I got permission from your mother so I could watch over you.”

“You just can’t get away from me now can you?” you laughed as he covered his face, throwing the shall on and taking your arm in his, walking you to the doors and to his room.

“Now that I have you, I never want to let you go,” he admitted once he was in the comfort of his own room, “I can’t bare to think of you chained up, getting whipped, even seeking medical attention from a old lady in Flea Bottom, I just can't,” he stressed and took your hands into his own, bring them to his lips and placing gentle kisses on them.

“I’m here now,” you leaned forward, you could feel his lips brush against yours.

“Do you want to spend the night?” he asked, staying the same distance, tilting his head and asking the questions on your lips.

You didn’t respond verbally, your answer was given as you connected your lips and cupped his cheeks tightly. A groan came from James and he began walked forward which made you walk backwards, the backs of you legs hit the edge of the bed and you fell back, having him on top of you. A giggle left your lips as you pulled away for a second, feeling your noses still touching one another.

Bucky kissed the corner of you mouth and then your cheek, working his way to your jaw line and then your neck. The new feeling caused a pit to form in your stomach but you knew you weren’t nervous, desire was building.

Sex was never taught to you, the feelings of lust and desire were always frown upon in any royal family. You weren’t supposed to think about bedding someone until you were married, there was no way you could do it now; not with the sound of your father’s voice in the back of your head.

Shame began to build as Bucky felt around your body, moments from the dungeon also appeared in the forefront of your mind. His hands were starting to touch and feel as well, it didn’t make sense why all these emotions and memories were now starting to arise.

“Do you want me to stop?” Bucky looked up at you, “you’re frozen…” you didn’t respond, simply looking at the ceiling with wide eyes, “Y/N,” he scrambled off of you, “hey, come back to me, it’s Bucky, just me, love,” he took your hand, shaking it slightly.

“S-sorry,” you spat out, sitting up straight as you fixed your dress. Smile and nod, the sound of your father’s voice rung in your head. You looked at Bucky and smiled, the fake smile you did when you first arrived.

“What are you doing?” he asked, kneeling beside the bed.

Your mind raced for an answer, one you had given before, “I love the stained glass windows,” you smiled again, lacing your hands together.

Bucky’s eyebrows pulled together tightly, “Y/N,” he said and slowly placed his hand on your shoulder, “you are in my room, I’m the only one here, you may speak freely like you have been before - I am not mad you wish to stop, in all honestly, I should have-”

“Don’t be cross,” you giggled and stood up, “this is your space and your area, I over stepped and came in, I should take my leave back to my chambers,” your back was stiff and your chin was high, still smiling as if strings were pulling your lips back.

“Y/N,” Bucky didn’t know what else to say, “I-...” he walked to the door and blocked it, “you’re going back to some reserve, stop that and be here with me, we will fall asleep and nothing more…but you have to get out of this…trance.”

Flashes came before you, in the dungeon, your old castle, your father, the man who whipped you, the man who torued you, the old lady, the forest, the way Bucky looked at you as you were dying, the nurse who ran up with him, the black dog.

The world began to blurr, your hearing and vision became distorted, “let me grab a nurse,” he said before turning to the door.

“That will not be nessicary,” you shook your head.

“No,” he was stern, “I’m getting a nurse.”

“I said no,” you reached out the grab his arm but quickly braced for a slap, when nothing happened you looked up again to see the man just staring at you, an appalled look on his face, “I’m sorry,” you whispered.

“I’ll grab your mother,” he whispered and quickly ran out of the room.

“No,” your eyes welled with tears, “not my father,” you couldn’t chase after the man who was in the room with you, so you sat on the side of the bed and rubbed your arms, a sudden chill washing over you. You began to prepare what you were going to say to your father, how you would explain the situation you were in.

All of a sudden the door bursted open, Lady Melina walked in, she kneeled in front of you and took your hands in hers, “I do not need to know why you are in this room- nor do I care,” she started, “but I need to know what is going on.”

“Please don’t tell father,” you cried, hanging your head but keeping your posture perfect for your mother.

All you heard was a sigh, “you’re tired, you’re hallucinating, and you’re here right now - your father passed years ago, my sweet.” You slowly looked up to meet your mother’s gaze, “behind me is the man you are courting, Ser James Barnes, you call him Bucky, do you know that man?” all you could do was nod, “you just came back from Hydra’s Hill, you were taken, do you remember that?” more tears began to fill your eyes, “alright,” she quickly hushed, “you do, and do you remember who saved you and brought you home?”

“Him,” you pointed to the worried man standing behind your mother, “Ser James.”

“What do you call him?” she waved him over and he also kneeled.

“I call him Bucky,” when your eyes met him the facade began to crack, “he calls me love, he likes my paintings,” you reached out and grabbed his hand, “I-I am starting to remember…I think.”

“This happens to a lot of people,” your mother hushed, “I had it growing up all the time where I slipped into my royal persona when I couldn’t understand what was happening to me, people call it the ‘Princess Slip’, most women get it,” your mother cupped your cheek, “I’m surprised you’ve gone this long without it happening to you if I’m blunt.”

“I’m sorry,” you whispered and look at Bucky.

“It’s alright, love,” he moved closer and sat beside you on the bed, wrapping an arm around your shoulder, “you’re freezing,” he muttered and grabbed and blanket that at on his bed, wrapping it around you and then getting back to hugging your side.

“You will stay here with Bucky for one night,” she looked between the both of you, “but after that this will not continue, am I understood?”

“Of course,” Bucky nodded, watching Lady Melina leave.

Bucky gently moved you under his covers and got changed himself, joining you quickly. He laid on his back and watched as you curled away from him, hugging yourself under the sheets. His hand reached out and touched your shoulder, gently moving his thumb, then his hand moved and started to rub your back slowly. You knew he could feel the raised scars but he said nothing, just soothingly rubbing your back to try and lul you to sleep.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, rolling over and looking up at Bucky, “I don’t know what happened to me there, everything was a blur,” you placed your head on his chest and wrapped your arms around his torso, “that’s never happened to me before, I-”

“Just close your eyes,” Bucky whispered and placed a hand on your back again, “I want you to sleep right now, ou need your rest and all is forgiven, love,” he looked down at you with a sad smile, “just close your eyes.”

You did just that, lying still with your eyes closed. Having Bucky hold you made you feel so secure and safe, the tingles and warmth seeped through your entire body and soon enough you were on the verge of sleep. Right before you entered your dream you felt the man hold you tense, then slowly, you could hear sniffles coming from above you.

“I should be the sorry one,” he whispered to your sleeping body, “I should be the one paying for this.”

NEXT EPISODE

Thanks for all the love and reading, if you enjoyed don’t be afraid to reblog!

- Rambo <3

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sabraeal · 10 months

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All That Remains, Chapter 11: The Prince and the Princess [Part 1]

[Read on AO3]

Written for both Obiyuki Bingo and also a very, very overdue birthday gift for @lusakina, who has nearly waited a year for me to be able to sit down and write this. It’s a slightly shorter chapter than these typically are, but this one needed to be more of an interlude between parts...

With a flourish of the pen, the girl escapes.

That is how a story would tell of this, wouldn’t it? A grand climax racing into the gentle arms of a denouement. An exultant cry of victory followed by a blank page.

Our fingers straddle the border between two words; one in which there is the possibility of failure, and the other which brings us the relief of success. It is so easy for us to turn the page, to shift from those dire hours to the moment of safety. A girl escapes, and in the space of a breath, she is far away, only pale echo of that danger buried beneath the next step of her journey.

There is no time to dwell on the between; on the sleepless hours wondering whether you will awake to the sounds of stomps and shouts, of whether you can afford to stop to catch a breath or must chance a push onward, hoping your own legs won’t give out beneath you. On the page there is only room for failure or flight, and anything in between...

That is where the story abandons you. Escape is only a small sliver of survival, and the the rest, the rest--

Is living. And oh, that is by far the hardest part.

Lata taught her how to ride on one of the sparse spring days in Lilias; Shirayuki had been the one to ask, only a day or so before, and he had huffed, at least it might make you more useful. A tepid response, one she thought had been as polite a refusal as a man like him could come, until she bumped into him in the courtyard, mouth wrapped halfway around a good morning, before he hauled her off to the stable.

Unlike most of her studies, riding did not come easy. No, instead it came in fits and starts; months of taking two steps forward and ten steps back until one day her amiable little mare broke out into a canter, and Shirayuki kept her seat. Good, the professor had grunted, hunching his furs up around his ears. I thought I might just wash my hands of this and let that poor excuse for a knight cart you around like luggage.

Please, my lord, Obi had called from his perch on the fence, a gloved hand pressed courteously to his chest. She would be my precious cargo.

Whatever he chose to call it, it was baggage, and if there was one thing Shirayuki refused to be, it was a burden. Riding might not come easy, but she had kept with it until not even Zen could find a flaw with her seat, and yet--

And yet, beside Kiki she sits a graceful as a rock in a bucket; unlikely to tumble out but by no means proficient. At least, not the way she thought she was. That’s the difference between learning a good seat and being born to it, she supposes, which wouldn’t matter at all if the moment Kiki slowed them to a trot, she didn’t feel as if her own backside would fall off.

“Catch your breath,” Kiki tells her, voice raised no louder than the susurrus of leaves around them. “We’ll need to keep moving.”

A protest hones itself to a point at the tip of her tongue-- there’s no need to stop, it wants to say, I won’t slow you down-- but Kiki only stares at her, kindness leaving her no quarter. The fight sloughs off her like a skin-- no, like a gown, ill-fitting and heavy, made for someone else. Another Shirayuki, one more used to saddles and stirrups, who spent her days toiling in the gardens and summers riding across the North, who hadn’t been afraid to throw a blanket over dewy grass to stare up at the stars.

Not the one who had wasted two seasons trying to slip into a smile that pinched at the seams. Who hadn’t let her friend simply disappear while she chose which spoon to stir her tea.

Nails bite into the flesh of her palms, sharper than she ever kept them in Wirant. She’d needed them short, then; longer ones were liable to break, for dirt to get caked deep within the bed, but in the palace...

Ornamental, Haki had called them, hanging polished nails over the divan. The same as Shirayuki had been, when all the flounces settled. Nothing more but another face to decorate its halls.

Her breath steams in the air, a gasping specter that dissolves as soon as it appears, never quite solid enough to grasp. Glancing over her shoulder, the lights of Wistal still shimmering past the dark ribbon of the river, she feels much the same. Insubstantial. Hardly real. That if she just reached out she could touch those glittering lamps as if they were no more than shards of wunderocks, meant to settle in the palm of her hands and never burn.

The city’s so tame from so far away.

“We should go back.”

It’s barely more than a whisper, a toneless sigh into the night, but Kiki’s stare cuts to her, sharp as the blade at her waist. “Shirayuki. You have just fled the palace and its protections.” The night blurs the details of her expression into shadow, but the angle of her brows says sharp, skeptical. “Are you really so eager to return?”

“I-I didn’t say we should go back t-there.” She skips over her words like a stone on a still pond, hands clenched tight around her reins. “I just meant...the market. Or maybe one of the pubs. Somewhere...”

Somewhere there’s something left of him, she doesn’t say. There’s no point when Kiki is already shaking her head, gold shimmering silver in the moonlight. “You do understand, don’t you? We cannot go back. Not to the palace, not to the market...not to Wistal at all.”

“But that was the last place Obi was seen,” she insists, stomach as knotted as the leather strap in her hands. “If we’re going to find anything, it will be there. If we leave now--”

“Obi has made some...questionable decisions in the past” --the wrinkle between Kiki’s brows discourages further inquiry-- “but if he was trying to slip out of Wistal under the Watch’s nose, he wouldn’t stop for a drink.”

Her mouth works-- wasn’t he supposed to be a slither-outer? a man who abandoned his post to make a fool of himself in every tavern before he’d crawl back into our good graces?-- but that venom stings even her own lips, a set of lies too raw a wound in her to even scrape out a single sound. To pretend she could believe that of him for a moment, even just to win her way--

You do know that house plants don’t drink champagne, she informs him, poking her head around the improbable girth of this fiddle leaf fig. Even if it does reside in a manor house.

Gold flashes up from where he crouches, startled, flute hanging limply from his fingers. It’s only a moment before it smooths into an easy confidence, into a grin that’s right at home with all these silver platters and crystal glass. It’s either this or off one of these fancy little balconies, and I got to say, there aren’t ladies walking out from beneath these leaves. Well, except you, Miss.

His playfulness is contagious. You could just drink it, if you need to. I doubt this would give you anything more serious than a case of the hiccups. She leans in, conspiratorial. In my professional opinion.

You may be the granddaughter of a bar, Miss, but never on the streets I’ve visited. A corner of his mouth twists as he levers himself to his feet. Then you’d know that the only knife you carry with you is a sharp one.

--It would be a betrayal. Another way for her to turn her back on him, to forget the man he’d become over these past six years, the one who-- who--

So, it was worth having? Just asking makes her stomach lurch, like holding her foot over a precipice, trying to judge the distance down. It’s just a necklace, just Obi, and yet she’s tangled up in anticipation, breathless for that tilt of his head, that soft flicker of a smile.

Of course. Both fondness and confusion add an airiness to his laugh, as if his answer were as certain as the ground beneath their feet, or as necessary as the air between them. It would have been just for the fact that you lent it to me.

--It’s impossible.

Not that he loved her; of course he did, but in the way a key loved its lock, or a hand might miss its pair. The way she felt when she walked the streets in front of her grandparents’ old pub and heard laughing through the glass. She was a best-worn glove, a favorite meal, a half-remembered chorus to a lullaby.

She was home, the same way he was for her. And to think of it as the same as the knights in the palace tapestries, kneeling at the feet of their mistresses and longing, to think of it as desire...

They’re mistaken, is all. Of anyone, she knew him best. If his feelings had changed, then surely she would have noticed, she would have known--

You don’t know anything about me, Miss.

Her breath catches, painful in her chest. “But we don’t know where to look. If there’s a lead, then--”

“There’s nothing left to find of him there.” Each word hits her like a whip crack, a lash she’s not braced to take. “They will be looking for you, Shirayuki. Not now, but in the morning...”

In the morning, one of Haki’s maids would bustle into her chambers, throwing curtains wide and informing her of the gowns the consort had set out for her perusal. But today her hands would sink into the covers and find no flesh beneath it, no young lady to dress as her mistress pleased. No, there would only be a haphazard bundle of silk and velvet and down, and then, then--

Kiki’s eyes narrow as she gazes back, a hunter gauging the distance between her and her target. “It will take them time to search the grounds, to realize...”

That she was gone. No, that she, of her own volition, had left.

Kiki’s mare nickers as she leads her head around, back to the road ahead. “We should use what time we have wisely.”

It is simple to have purpose when there is trouble at your back, when there is the promise of menace nipping at your heels. One step yields to the next with such ease that it becomes nothing more than an instinct, heedless of fear and of good sense. Forward is so much more tenable as a directive than a decision.

Second thoughts are the luxury of those whose stories have an after.

Night passes into day, and what once seemed a steady, sustainable pace turns relentless. Kiki turns them off the main road at first light-- we can cover your hair, but two women riding hard is a rare enough sight still-- leading them first through fields of tall grass and wildflowers, so many Shirayuki is tempted to ask for a rest, if only to replenish her stocks--

But the grimness of Kiki’s jaw stills the words on her tongue.

It’s not long until fields give way to scrublands, and scrub gives way to the first stirrings of a forest, its canopy blotting out the sun’s heat as it climbs to its zenith. To her eyes, it seems untouched, a primordial kingdom of leaf and bramble and vine, but Kiki quickly picks out a hunter’s trail in the brush, leading them deep into its cool embrace.

It’s only then that Kiki lets their pace slow, that she lets her mare come to a panting halt. “We’ll stop here. The horses need to rest.”

There’s no block for her to dismount to, but Kiki provide a knee-- and then a net of arms in short measure, once Shirayuki’s leg fails to swing over and becomes a slow, terrifying slide.

“Sorry,” she gasps, clutching hard to her shoulders. “I didn’t realize that my, er, I mean...everything’s numb...?”

Her only consolation is that Kiki’s huff is at least amused when she finds her feet. “No need to apologize. We rode for a long time. Longer than we should have.”

Obi used to complain that too much time in the saddle made him bow-legged-- like some sort of hedge knight, Miss-- but it’s not until she hobbles across the clearing, too much space between her thighs, that she understands it.

“Oh, did we? That’s good. I mean--” there’s no comfortable way to rest; to stand means suffering her trembling legs, to sit only worsens the numbness “--I thought so, but if we were really riding for so long, then we would stop to switch out the horses...”

Kiki shakes her head, expert hands never slowing as she rubs down their mounts. “They’ll check the roads first, the post stations where it’s likely we’d need to stop. And any groom worth his pay will know these are from the royal stables, which means he’ll be the first to tell them what he knows.” Her mouth gives a wry twist. “Horse thieves always pay well.”

“But we’re not...” Kiki spares her a long, dubious look. They certainly hadn’t asked to borrow a pair of His Majesty’s finest mounts. “Are you so sure there will be anyone coming after us? Izana said that if I left, that I would be-- I’d--”

It should go without saying-- even now, the burden of his gaze weighs on her-- if you break this agreement, there will not be another offer.

She clears her throat. “I don’t think he’d be sending anyone for me.”

“Not Izana.” Kiki stretches out the words with care, the kind that warns of a ‘but’ before it can round the corner. “But Zen will turn over the whole city to find you.”

“Ah...” She hadn’t accounted for that, no. Not for Zen, who so often complained of tied hands, of how his brother’s wants ran roughshod over his own, using what little power he could bring to bear. “But Izana would never let him. Not when he was so clear...”

“Which is why this will all happen so quickly.” Kiki turns to her, as grim and serious as she had been in the stables. “Before Izana can hear of it.”

Her fingers tremble against the trunk, bark biting into flesh to keep her upright. “N-no. He can’t do that. When Obi disappeared it took him weeks to even get a single search party...”

Beneath the black of her jacket, Kiki’s shoulders tense. She does not speak but brace, and that is enough to draw Shirayuki up short, to remember--

A knife strapped to a belt. A seed pressed into her hand. Ah, she’d forgotten how easily a healed wound can run fresh, if she only pulls off the scab. “But he never sent anyone. Not for Obi.”

“Shirayuki...” A sigh soughs through her teeth. “We should go.”

But it cannot last forever. There always comes a time where fear banks, when tempers have cooled and the ceaseless war drum of the heart fades. And all that is left...

Is you.

Day fades into night again before Kiki allows them to truly rest, not just pause to catch a breath or let the horses drink. Their pace had been slow through the forest, careful as they picked their way along the knotted trails, but their mounts are exhausted, pulling at their leads as they plod into the clearing. Shirayuki can hardly blame them; she nearly balks until Kiki reaches for her, more falling from the saddle than dismounting it.

No matter how she might insist that she bore the mark of Tanbarun in her strong shoulders, or that heaving bags of soil from the cart to the greenhouse made her as capable as any of the male scholars, Shirayuki is hardly heavy. A girl her size might make Suzu stagger-- I can’t leave him on the walls by himself, Obi had confided once, grin peeking over his scarf, he’s got more in common with a sail than stone-- but even with the brunt of her weight slumping over her like a sack, Kiki is only driven back a step, solid when she plants her on the ground.

“You’ll have to forgive the accommodations,” she huffs, one half of her mouth hooking into a smirk. “I’m afraid it falls just short of royal.”

There’s no silk sheets or pillows of down, that’s for certain. But Kiki lays out her cloak to cover the soft sponge of the forest’s undergrowth, plumping her pack to make a kissing cousin to a pillow, and oh, what Shirayuki would have given for such luxuries during that breathless flight across the border, all those years ago. She stumbled upon that forgotten manor after a half dozen nights of only rocks and roots to lay her head on, with just that little hood to keep her warm.

“Ah, don’t worry about me,” she murmurs, unclasping her own cloak from around her neck. “I’ve slept on worse.”

Kiki’s smile stretches tight over her teeth. “Of course.”

Never one to need to fill the air with noise when silence would do, Kiki gathers their leads, nickering quietly at their mares as they tamp at the ground, impatient. Lata had taught her how to care for tack-- as any good horseman should, he sniffed, turning up his nose at the university’s groom-- but there’s a practiced efficiency to Kiki’s movements, almost meditative, that suggest any of her fumbling might only get in the way.

Still, Shirayuki isn’t about to stand idle. Not anymore.

“If you’re going to take care of the horses...” Her slippers shuffle, uncertain, beneath the hem of her skirt. “Should I gather some wood for--?”

“No fire.”

Shirayuki blinks. Wistal may be warm, even into its winters, but its nights still grow cold late in the season, enough that some mornings leave a lick of frost on the windowpanes. “But it will get cold soon. The sun’s already--”

Kiki shakes her head, sharp. “We can’t risk the smoke.”

She doesn’t so much snap as rasp, a dire note scraping her voice raw. Kiki has stood tall before kings and traitors both, and yet her whisper is nothing more than a live nerve that her desperation skins open. And it-- it seems so silly. They aren’t running from some first’s prince’s wounded pride, from four dozen of the kingdom’s most loyal knights and a half dozen dogs, but...

“But it’s only Zen.” It’s strange that she’s the one to say it, that in this twilight of her escape, she’s the one to speak sense. “He won’t hurt us. He’ll just...”

“Convince you.”

Her mouth falls slack. “I...?”

“Zen loves you.” It’s stunning how easily Kiki can say such a thing when Zen never had, when it had always been something hidden in the wrinkles of his smile or the longing in his eyes. “The fear has never been that he would hurt you. It is that you will listen.”

Shirayuki wants to protest, to say there would be nothing he could say to convince her to abandon Obi now that she’s set herself on his trail--

But even now her heart leaps to her throat not in dread but anticipation as she imagines Zen stepping into the light of their fire. Hope sears as he kneels before her, the fire casting his pale hair golden as he tells her, it’s all been a mistake. The anguish would turn itself to earnest apology in his eyes, and he would say that they can do this together, if only she would come back with him, if only she would stand by his side.

A breath shudders from her lungs, so full of wanting it burns.

It is so easy to say that she would not turn her back on Obi again, but three months ago, she would have sworn no one could get her to forsake him the first time.

“Right,” she rasps, chest tender beneath the hand she presses to it. “No fire.”

Oh, how easy it is for the doubts to set in, when it is only your tender heart to stand against them.

These are not Lilias’ nights, so cold that even a warm pan beneath the pallet and a heap of furs can’t keep the chill out, but they do have to press close beneath the weight of her cloak, tucking it tight around their shoulders and back, scrunching to keep their feet beneath it. It’s hardly the first time she’s had to huddle for warmth under the blankets, tucking deep into open arms to keep out the elements, but she’s used to a warmer body beside her, a furnace wrapped in flesh. And Kiki, well--

What do you expect? Obi lilts into her ear, as soft as he always spoke beneath the stars. Miss Kiki’s got a reputation to keep.

Her body is weary, bruised and battered from the ride, but even still-- her heart leaps when Kiki lays next to her, the sweet scent of lilac wafting from where her hair knots at the back of her neck. For a moment, it feels like that night so long ago, when snow had pressed at the inn’s windows, and her heart had raced from how close she had come to-- to something in that room. Not with Kiki, but with Zen, the pillows collapsing in among them and the urgency to see, to know had pressed her in for that next kiss. Her lips stung from it, tingled, and she had wanting nothing more than to say something, to ask if it was right that she felt so torn between her head and her heart.

But instead she had stared at the nape of Kiki’s neck, where her hair parts around skin like waves around a breaker, and worried. The same as she does tonight, as she does the next, and the night after. She is a font of concerns, an endless well of anxiety that burbles through the early morning hours, ceaseless until the sun rises.

You understand, don’t you? Even now, she feels Kiki’s fingers at her ankle, a single thoughtful tap on her boot. What all this might cost when it’s over?

If you break this agreement, Izana warns her, his tone implying fine print, there will not be another offer.

Think about what you might lose, the silence urges her, sounding more like Kiki than any words ever have. Think about what you might not get back.

Her fingers clench tight in the wool of Kiki’s tunic. But what about you? she wants to ask into the soft skin of her nape. What do you lose, coming with me?

Kiki is a royal knight, an aide to the second prince, the heir to Seiran. Soon to be married, too, after her father’s summit. One so important that it even peeled Zen’s aides from him, one Kiki herself is supposed to be handling the arrangements for.

And yet here she is, with her. Because a princess needs her knight. Except Shirayuki has never wanted to be a princess, and Kiki...

Must have her reasons. Good ones. The kind Shirayuki wants to know, to understand--

But instead her body betrays her one last time, and all its anxiety abandons her for sleep.

Oh, how stories never speak of this part, of that space between the wanting and the knowing. A woman wakes from her thousand year slumber in the arms of her true love. Children outsmart a witch and find their way home without a single wrong turn.

A girl escapes the garden of a sorceress, and stumbles straight onto the trail of her boy. No doubts, no second thoughts, no leads that have gone cold over the long months she spent, a prisoner in paradise.

How much easier it must be to suffer knowing that there is purpose to it in the end. How much easier it is to go forward, when every step will lead you true.

It’s impossible for her to say how many days it take for them to travel through the forest, or how many more there are before Kiki leads her back to a road. Obi had always been the one with the map in his head, unerringly leading them through hill and dale and drift; Shirayuki had only followed, putting her boot prints beside his own, a matched set.

It’s only the hangings above the inn’s door that give her pause when they pass it, that remind her that they’ve been here before. They’d run across this very courtyard with rain dogging their heels, standing in front of the desk soaked entirely to the skin. The five of them, traveling back from Tanbarun, breaths caught up in laughter as they skidded to a stop in the tile. It’s impossible, she thinks, that they could have been so young only such a short time ago.

“How about it then?” Kiki grunts, voice rough from disuse. “Would you like a bed tonight?”

Her back would certainly appreciate it. “They had baths here, too, didn’t they?”

For the first time in days, Kiki’s mouth curls toward a smirk. “You know, I think they did. Good ones, too.”

Strange, is it not, how we never know the precise moment the story finds us again?

Steam curls thick in the air, a palpable curtain between her and the bath. A welcome one; it’s been so long since Shirayuki last removed her dress that the cuffs stick to her wrists. It’s a miracle of the humidity-- and her own ingenuity-- that it peels away, leaving pink skin in its wake.

“Oh.” The warmth of the bath clings to her as thick as any cloak, coaxing out a sigh. “Where...?”

“Leave it,” Kiki urges her from farther in. “The maids will look after it. If there’s anything that can save those things.”

She hums, uncertain, letting the fabric hang from her fingers. This is her own sweat, her own mess; it hardly seems right to expect someone to clean it...

But she wants to deal with it even less. “All right.” The gown drops into the fog, lost. “I’m coming.”

When it is not just our own will that moves us forward, but the narrative, pushing us inexorably to the next turn of the page.

It’s a good, solid scrubbing that Shirayuki gives herself; she’s no stranger to the sort of dirt that a body can gather over a day’s work, but this, this is a week’s accumulation of grime and filth. It doesn’t wash away so much as flake, chipped off by the application of horsehair and grit until the only think left is pink, scoured skin beneath.

“We’re alone,” Kiki assures her through the partition, one pale foot sliding a sudsy bucket beneath. “If you want.”

Shirayuki blinks for a moment, staring down at the bubbles uncomprehending--

“Oh.” She reaches up, unwinding the towel from her head. It’d be generous to call what’s under it brown, let alone red, but with a good wash, well... “Thank you.”

Kiki hesitates. “I’ll meet you in the bath.”

Even in the most mundane of moments, the times in which we feel the most off the trodden path, lost and left with only our hopes to guide us, we can be so close that only a step would traverse the space between. That only a breath could speak it into being.

How many times must we come close to relief, and then never know it? How many doors must close while we hope for a mere window, all unknowing?

If Shirayuki had thought the steam thick before, it is nothing to how it rises from the actual bath. It might well be a curtain for how well it shields the edge from her; she risks a few toes at first to feel for it, and with a steeling breath, sinks a whole foot right down to the knee.

It’s hot, enough that the fresh skin these prickles with pain before the heat soothes it away. Her other leg follows, then the rest of her, sinking down into its warm embrace.

As much as it stings, it’s pleasant as well. As if she’s been made new again, the Shirayuki of the palace washed away, and leaving behind only her.

And then, when we least expect it--

“Caw, caw,” the crow says, swooping down to the little girl, “Good day, good day, little one, what brings you here?”

“Well, well, well.” A lithe body slides into the pool, tawny trailing after her like a comet’s tail. “Didn’t think I’d find a fine young miss like you here.”

--We are found once again.

For better or for worse.

#obiyukibingo23 #obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #fairy tale au #all that remains #snow queen au #my fic #ans #this took so long because i truly wanted to join back up with the story frame before it finished #and i tortured myself for SO LONG thinking this chapter wouldn't be long enough without it #and then like halfway through the first scene i was like #oh no the whole pacing of this chapter is literally like...an interlude #the point is that this is the part of the story where the narrative has abandoned shirayuki #because this isn't the INTERESTING part #and it can only come back in at the end #YES IT TOOK ME LIKE 7 MONTHS TO REALIZED THIS #I DUN WANNA TALK ABOUT IT

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lesbian-shadow · 1 month

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My Opinions and Interpretations of "The Tales Of Beedle The bard"

Introduction:

"The Tales Of Beedle The Bard", is a collection of stories written for young witches and wizards. They have been popular bedtime reading for centuries, with the result that the Hopping Pot and the Fountain of Fair Fortune are as familiar to many students at Hogwarts as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are to Muggle children. Beedle's stories resemble our fairy tales in many respects; for instance, virtue is usually rewarded, and wickedness punished. However, the is one very obvious difference. In Muggle fairy tales, magic tends to lie at the root of the hero's or heroin's troubles - the wicked witch has the poisoned apple, or put the princess into a hundred-year's sleep, or turned the prince into a hideous beast. I'm the takes of Beedle the bard, on the other hand, we met heros and heroins who can perform magic themselves, and yet find it just as hard to solve their problems as we do. Beedle's stories have helped generations of Wizarding parents this painful fact of life to their young children,that magic causes as much trouble as it cures.

Another notable difference between these games and their Muggle counterparts is that Beedle's witches are much more active in seeking their fortunes than our fairy-tale heroins. Asha, Altheda, Amata, and Babbitty Rabbity are all witches who take their fates into their own hands, Rather than taking a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return their list shoe. The exception to this rule, the unarmed maiden of The Warlock's Hairy Heart, acts more like our idea of a storybook princess, but there is no happily ever after at the end of her tale. Beedle the Bard lived in the fifteenth century, and much of his life remains shrouded in mystery. We know he was born in Yorkshire and the only surviving Woodcut shows that he had an exceptionally luxuriant beard. If his stories accurately reflect his opinions, me Rather liked Muggles, whom he regarded as ignorant rather than malevolent; he mistrusted Dark Magic, and he believed that the worst recess of Wizardkind sprang from the all-too-human traits of cruelty, apathy, it arrogant misapplication of their own talents. The heros and heroins who triumph in his stories are not this with the most power-full magic, but rather those who demonstrate the most kindness, common sense, and ingenuity. One modern-day wizard who held very similar views was, of course, Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin (first class), Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Winzengamot. The similarity of outlook notwithstanding, it was a surprise to discover a set of notes on The Tales of Beedle the Bard among the many papers that Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives. Whether this commentary was written for his own satisfaction or for future publication, we shall never know; however, we have been been graciously been given permission by Professor Minerva McGonagall, now Headmistress of Hogwarts, to print Professor Dumbledore's notes here, alongside a brand new translation of The Tales by Hermione Granger. We hope that that Professor Dumbledore's insights, which include observations on Wizarding history, personal reminisces, and information on key elements of each story, will help a new generation of both Wizarding and Muggle readers appreciate The Tales of Beedle the Bard. It the belief of ash who knew him personally that Professor Dumbledore would have been delighted to lend his his support to this project, given that all royalties are to be donated to the Children's High Level Group, which works to benefit children in desperate need of a voice. It seems only right to make one small, additional comment on Professor Dumbledore's note. As far as we can tell, the notes were completed around eighteen months before the tragic events at the top of Hogwarts's Astronomy Tower. Those familiar with the history of the most recent Wizarding war (everyone who has read all seven volumes on the life of Harry Potter for instance) will be aware that Professor Dumbledore reveals a little less than he knows - or suspects - about the final story on this book. The reason for any omission lies, perhaps, in what Dumbledore said about truth many years ago, to his favorite and most famous pupil; "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution." Weather we are with him or not, we can perhaps excuse Professor Dumbledore for wishing to protect future readers from the temptations to which he himself has taken prey, and for which he payed so terrible a price.

-J.K Rowling, 2008 (from the official Tales Of Beedle The Bard by J.K Rowling)

#The tales of Beedle the Bard #Harry potter #Harry potter lore #The wizard and the Hopping Pot #hp lore

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xoxardnekoxo · 8 months

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Movie Review: The Little Mermaid (2023)

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Ah, Ariel. My favorite Disney princess. She's "my" princess. Ariel is the princess who introduced me to Disney (I was two years old when the movie came out), and I had a Little Mermaid themed bedroom for years. Bedding, curtains, pillows, toys, you name it. When Disney began making live action versions of their classic cartoons, I was hoping they'd follow suit with my favorite princess. And they finally did!

But imagine my disappointment at the casting... it has nothing to do with race. Those of us who grew up with these classic cartoons have certain expectations for the live action remakes. At the top of that list is the appearance of the characters. They should at least somewhat resemble their animated counterparts. The only character that even halfway resembled the source material was... (stops to think) Ursula and Vanessa. Halle's hair wasn't even red! /facepalm

But this post isn't about the casting. It's about the movie as a whole. As is customary with these live action remakes, there are going to be some differences and more than likely some extras. Let's begin with the first scene - text over water that literally says "But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more."

Well dang, that started out on a depressing note. That note is quickly followed by a scene similar to the cartoon with Eric on a ship and dolphins swimming nearby... except the ship's crew is trying to kill the dolphins, thinking they're mermaids/sirens out to lure sailors to their deaths.

Yeah, we get more of the siren lore/backstory this time around. This is the coral moon, which is when mermaids are known to use their voices to lure men to their dooms. Eric doesn't believe this, and we're then told that he was adopted by the king and queen, so he's not actually the biological prince of the island. They totally did that to explain why the queen is Black and Eric is white.

Anyway, we're then introduced to Triton and his daughters... and no, their names no longer all start with "A." A minor point, yet another example of changing a classic just for the sake of changing it. There was nothing wrong with the girls' names before... why change them? And man, Triton be a playa - the girls are all different races!!! But besides that, I wasn't a fan of their tails/seashells. They honestly looked like dresses with fins. Take away the fins and I wouldn't have thought they were mermaids.

We do get to see the great shipwreck/shark scene, and then we're introduced to Scuttle... who is not only now a female, but also no longer a seagull. No, the self-proclaimed human expert is now some different breed of bird that is capable of diving underwater. The story this time around is that merpeople can't go to the surface at all (well, actually, that was also true in the cartoon), so I guess Disney felt compelled to change Scuttle's breed to make Ariel seem more obedient?

Now cue Ariel's iconic song, then she hears fireworks and swims up to the surface and we see Eric's ship for his birthday... then a storm comes up, the ship crashes, fire breaks out, yada yada yada... you know this part. Ariel saves the human, drags him up onto the beach, he wakes up to her singing but can only make out her silhouette against the sun, and then becomes obsessed with finding her. He uses practically every resource in the kingdom to find a girl he barely got a decent look at... much to the chagrin of the queen, who forbids him from going on any more voyages. And then we get to endure a completely unnecessary musical number by the prince about how he wants this mystery girl to find him and how he's basically being called to the sea.

Yeah, the song was completely pointless and I found it to be bland. But anyway, after that, we get the inevitable father/daughter argument that results in Ariel's grotto getting destroyed, and as she's (dry because of no tears) sobbing, Ursula uses her crystal ball to visit her and lure her to her cave. Yeah, her eel henchmen don't speak in this movie, but their eyes do their spy function.

We're then told that Ursula is Triton's younger sister. So I guess that's why, for 34 years, she's harbored a grudge against the Sea King. Sounds like a case of sibling rivalry/jealousy to me.

So yeah, obviously Ursula's grand plan is to use Ariel as bait to get to Triton in order to obtain the trident. She tells Ariel she'll give her legs and if she and Eric share a kiss before the sun sets in three days, she'll be a human forever... but at the cost of her voice. It's not just her voice anymore. It's her siren's song. Essentially, a mermaid without a voice is an empty shell, in Ursula's eyes. Okay then.

Now, a question that's plagued many for more than three decades - why did Ariel not just write down her story for Eric so he understood what was going on? Well, that part gets addressed now. Ursula sneaks a memory loss thing into her spell, so whenever Ariel is questioned about kissing Eric or anyone mentions it to her, she immediately forgets, so she has no idea that's what she needs to do.

So during Ariel's time on land, we do hear her singing - it's meant to be her subconscious. Because Disney had to warrant casting someone with such a great singing voice (according to them) being mute for a big chunk of the movie. Anyway, Ariel does eventually wander into Eric's "hobby room" in the castle where his maps, telescopes, and items from his adventures are. So really, the two are a lot alike - they both feel trapped in their own homes and desire more. So of course they're bonding.

So eventually we get to the "Kiss the Girl" scene, and it's been stated that some of the lyrics had been changed. Actually, some lyrics in "Poor Unfortunate Souls" were also changed, because apparently after 34 years, some of those lyrics don't hold up well.

So eventually Eric leans in for a kiss, but because of the memory loss thing, Ariel pulls away. I mean, she was leaning in at first, but then she's like

Yeah, the lyrics were changed because there was supposedly an implication that Eric was forcing himself on Ariel in the cartoon. Uh..... Ariel was 100% on board for that kiss, and it was the whole POINT! That's what was needed to break the spell and allow her to stay on land! He was hardly forcing himself on her!!!

This time around, if anyone was being forceful, it was Sebastian with all his coaxing Eric to kiss Ariel. Geez!

So then Vanessa makes her debut, and we then have to sit through an annoyingly pointless tune of Scuttle going on about the "scuttlebutt" of how Eric is going to propose... That was super annoying and absolutely unnecessary. Just say it!!!

Enter the engagement announcement party (no, not a wedding, just an announcement of one) at the castle (not on a ship), and of course Ariel's tail pops out, Ursula turns back into an octopus, and the queen is all OMG the sea creatures are gonna come back and kill us!!!

This time, instead of Eric getting on one of the ships brought up by Ursula, Ariel does it and uses the ship's wheel to steer the giant harpoon-like thing at the bow into Ursula. Eric wakes up and Ariel is gone, and the queen is like, "Our worlds weren't meant to be together." Or something like that. Talk about a mood killer.

But then Triton makes Ariel human (of course), and they get married, and set off for those "wild, unchartered waters." And now all the merpeople can come to the surface, so we get to see them and the humans being all harmonious.

And... end. Yeah, no rainbow in the sky created by Triton. What a missed opportunity that was.

So yeah, I didn't see this movie in theaters out of principle, and I didn't buy the DVD/Blu-Ray. I just watched it on Disney+. Some things were good, as I anticipated they would be, but honestly, they could have done so much better. Eric didn't need a song, and neither did Scuttle... and Ariel literally wore the same dress the entire time she was human. You can't tell me that huge palace didn't have more dresses she could wear. And no, we don't see her dinner dress (the pink one)... in fact, that dinner scene never happens. The "using the fork as a comb" thing happens when Eric is showing Ariel the market, when Jodie Benson (the original voice of Ariel) gives her something to eat with the fork.

I'm still not completely on board with all the race/gender changes. By doing this, it just tells Disney that it's okay to do that for every single remake. Snow White is going to be a train wreck... they can't even get the story right for the TITLE. These live action remakes are getting worse, honestly. Changing just for the sake of changing is a stupid reason to do so. There's a reason the classics are classics.

I'm not saying this movie was horrible. But I am saying it could have been better. Could have been worse, too, though, so... kind of a double-edged sword here. Out of principle I don't want to give the movie a high rating because of all the changes, most notably the casting of "my" princess... again, not because it's a race thing, but because it's a principle thing. But regardless, I'll go ahead and give it 7/10. My biggest gripes are the added songs that were more annoying than anything.

#xoxardnekoxo #movie review #spoiler alert #the little mermaid #ariel #disney #disney princess #prince eric #ursula #king triton #flounder #sebastian #scuttle

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thescarletwitchsapprentice · 2 years

Text

Imagine: You’re an orphan in a kingdom and Queen Maximoff decides to adopt you. (Platonic!Yandere!Parent!Queen!Wanda Maximoff x Child!Peasant!Reader)

*Not my GIF.

(CW: Yandere stuff, (as per usual) bullying, mind-breaking mention)

You’re all alone.

Okay, well, maybe not all alone.

But you have nowhere to call home.

Your parents died to disease and they had sent you away before you could catch it.

And now you live out on the streets with the other peasant children.

Unfortunately, while other peasant children have been able to grow up and fight for themselves, you’re a different story. You’re an easy target for children to steal your food, as your parents had always told you that kindness is a virtue. They never taught you how to stand up for yourself, though. In hindsight, that was kind of a bad move on their part.

One day you find yourself cornered by a gang of peasant children who want your breakfast; a single loaf of bread. You’re trying not to cry as usual, but you haven’t eaten in days.

“What do you children think you’re doing?!”

A regal voice calls out. The gang of crotch goblins turns to see Queen Maximoff in her scarlet cloak and crown. And she does not look happy. The goblin gang rush off, leaving you to cower against the wall, preparing for her to yell at you. Meanwhile Queen Maximoff sees just how fearful and helpless you are and her heart melts. She’s seen most of the peasant children become hardened and cruel, but you seem to be the exception. How sweet and quiet you are.

She kneels down and speaks to you gently.

“Hello sweetie. What’s your name?”

In a very quiet and timid voice, you tell her. She takes note of the bread in your hands.

“A single loaf of bread is no meal for a growing child. How would you like to come back to the palace and have breakfast?”

You try to tell her that you don’t deserve to, you’re a street rat after all, but she keeps insisting. Eventually you agree and she guides you to the carriage. On the way back, she shows you a bit of her magic, but through small tricks so as not to freak you out. Your eyes widen in amazement and it only makes her heart melt more.

At the palace, you’re given the best foods in the kingdom. You’re very timid to eat it because “what if the others don’t get their share?” Cue the queen’s heart melting even more. You’re such a thoughtful child; a sweet, adorable, thoughtful, innocent child, somehow untainted by the cruelties of this world. But she realizes that that might not be the case for much longer.

At least, not unless she does something about it.

At that moment, her resolve settles; you’re not leaving this castle, at least not without her. You’re going to be her darling little princess/prince/royal child, no matter what it takes. While you’re busy eating, she places a spell on you to keep you from leaving the castle without her.

As soon as you’re finished, you go over to her timidly and ask if you can have a hug. Those sweet little puppy-dog eyes of yours aren’t needed, as she immediately agrees and cuddles you. Her warm embrace and all of this new food makes you sleepy and you lay your head on her shoulder before nodding off. She rubs your back and brings you up to her room, quietly ordering the servants to begin working on your bedroom at once.

The two of you lay down on her bed and she watches you for a bit. She figures that you have to be some sort of miracle--a sort of angel--sent to her to bring joy back into her life. Should anyone try to take you away from her, that person will get themselves a one-way ticket to Mind-Brokenville.

As for you leaving, she’s not too concerned; the magic she’s placed on you is very strong, it would take several master magicians to undo it, and even then it’d be a very slim chance they could.

Wanda’s lost enough family already.

She refuses to let anymore go...

#platonic yandere #yandere #yandere wanda maximoff #queen!wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader imagine #yandere wanda maximoff x reader #avengers imagine #marvel imagine #yandere marvel #yandere avengers

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zackcrazyvalentine · 3 years

Note

I ONLY SENT YOU SIMPING AND BRAINROT SCENARIOS TILL NOW SO HERE I COME WITH AN ANGSTY ONE

what if ever since mc came into twisted wonderland they’ve been slowly absorbing magic ? like their body started to adapt themselves to the logic of these worlds and its just accumulate inside of them

so they’re absorbing magic but the problem is they also absorbs the blot and since they don’t have anything to clear it it just stays stagnant .

life goes on grim’s overblot is over , but then mc fainted .

well i mean who wouldn’t be tired after such battle ? multiple persons have been injured so that isn’t really that worrying right ?

well mc isn’t waking up

one day , one week , and still no sign of mc waking up .

everyone is desperate for them to wake up but nothing works . none of the potions crewel and vil worked , sam’s friends on the other side don’t have any solution , and no matter how many dark spells lilia knows it surely doesn’t help him in any ways. heck crowley even put aside his pride and asked help from rsa’s headmaster

but one day they did wake up , but something wrong . their once bright eyes were replaced by lifeless orbs , as if all the light had been sucked from them .

grim has never so guilty in his life but tried to look on the brighter side of things ! he tell them about how ace and deuce are still as stupid as ever , how riddle went off on floyd again or the way epel mocks vil behind his back when his lessons are too harsh !

but even as he looks so happy , he can’t help but feel this immense void in his heart

“hey henchmen ... when are you coming back ?”

they don’t respond when you talk to them , when you touch them , they just stare into the void .

Anon..... oh, anon..... WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO MY HEART ?!?!?! 😭💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

I can tolerate and soak up that good angst of the boys feeling guilty for something that happened to MC......BUT GRIM?!?!?! MY HEART, DID YOU HEAR IT SHATTER?!?!?! 😭💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

THIS IS ANGST SO MUCH ANGST

[Anon's explanation about MC's state]

-- -- --

MC is like doll now, only breathing and staring into the void. Sometimes, they follow a request or order given by someone.

Heartslabyul's tea parties aren't as merry as they used to be. MC just sits there, staring at their cup, occasionally taking sips when Riddle suggests them to try the warm drink. Ace and Deuce can't even crack a smile in the Prefect's presence, not when they're a hollow husk of their sassy self. Cater and Trey feel uncomfortable crossing stares with MC, they rarely look up from their cup or slice of tart. Deuce, more often than not, finds himself crying at night after the parties

Riddle is trying his best every night, searching through his mother's old books back home for a possible remedy... The pages are wrinkled from the many tears he's shed while reading, heart aching for their friend.

Ruggie feels his chores heavier than ever. It's because MC is no longer coming to lend a hand as they used to. The bags under his eyes became more prominent with how late he stays up, looking up at the ceiling as he keeps mourning for MC's lost soul.

Jack is seen more often in his wolf form, howling at the moon... Anything to shed his tears and scream his sorrow out in a less noticeable way. He often struts over to MC while they're sitting outside Ramshackle, and pushes his furry head into their lap and hands, wishing HOPING to one day feel their delicate hands pet him again.

Everyone can see how Leona secludes himself to his room, people have begun comparing him to Idia.... But, unlike what they think, he's not sleeping. On the contrary, he's staying awake, tearing through many books from his homeland about occult magic and resurrection. After all, only someone with enough money would be able to buy such forbidden knowledge.

He won't let his herbivore live on like this, not if his country knows a way to bring them back.

Azul could feel himself thread the edge of insanity. Would it kill him to go through a second overblot? ....would that be better than living on without MC's company?

He will search far and wide through all of Wonderland's oceans and lakes, lagoons and swamps, for a Unique Magic holder than can revert back the blot... or time.... He will give his everything away in a contract to have such magic as his

Jade and Floyd can see the deep cracks in Azul, he's turning into an unfit leader.... It would be best for them to take his role

But they don't want to, for their hearts are cracked like his

Floyd is easier to go on rampages, and Jade is so indifferent to the word outside of his hobbies. If it weren't for their collective love for MC, Floyd would have tried hurting them to see if that wakes MC up.

They never felt so empty and unamused

Kalim's heart physical aches whenever he sees Grim and MC. He's tried, tried all he could

Singing, dancing, playing music, throwing million parties, hugging them, whispering how much he loves them right on their ear... but nothing

He may not be the smartest, but the white haired boy is perseverant and eager to learn: he spends his days in the alchemy room along with Vil and Crewel, researching the poison that is a magician's blot

Jamil never felt so useless, mind clouded with many "if only" scenarios that make him blame himself for MC's situation

If only he hadn't overblotted, if only he hadn't sent them flying off to the ends of the earth, if only he had noticed the poison clinging to their soul sooner.... If only....

Why didn't he realize the blot developing in their body? It was only natural, after spending so much time in Twisted Wonderland without any buffer for the magical energy on this place

If only he could take their place...

Vil never left the alchemy room or Pomefiore's underground laboratory. He spent every day researching how to revert MC's ailments

He only ever left the labs to go into Ramshackle and help the Prefect prepare for the day. Whenever he got to putting on their makeup, Vil can't help but cry at how hollow and dull they look, when they used to be such a warm and radiant soul

Rook was on the same boat, taking his science club duties more serious than ever. He would search in every single ecosystem for any plant, mushroom, hunt down any animal, organ that was needed for even the slightest help for MC

And Epel.... All he could do was scream and punch his pillow, cursing fate and how sick the world is. What did an innocent, magicless person from another world do to deserve this?!

He will often go sit besides MC and carve apples for them, of their favorite flower, their zodiac sign, their favorite animal, and those carvings they loved most of his

...but the fruits will always rot, just like their once beautiful soul

Idia, who was already barely seen outside, hides deeper in his room

The internet is a place full of information, knowledge... Forbidden knowledge

The shut-in and his little brother are always monitoring EVERY SINGLE portal on the internet, be it on the surface or deep DEEP down in the depths

But what tortures him the most.... Is his very own room This is the place he mad many memories with MC in, every corner of his room echoes with their laughter and gentle voice Like a ghost haunting him from now until forever

Ortho is left to wonder how fickle a human's soul is, their body so fragile But was this really in their fate? Or was it an unexpected outcome not even destiny could foretell?

"I miss you... I want to play more. Wake up soon, [Name][Surname]-san" A strange wavering in his voice was heard, followed by a knot in his throat.

Diasomia dorm is always under a storm cloud, green lightning striking the ground surrounding it

Fae have magic beyond a simple human's comprehension, even more so dark fae There MUST be someone in Valley of Thorns that will heed the Prince's call for aid

"The story of old..." Malleus muttered one night, snapping even the sleep-prone knight into attention. "Calls... for True Love's kiss, after the princess was cursed."

Lilia can feel his heart ache for the young dragon. "These are very different situations, Malleus." Yet the bat utters no words

Sebek understands what his precious Lord is getting to. "I shall ask Grim to leave the door open tomorrow night."

Silver nodded along his fellow guard, "If there is anything we can procure, do not hesitate on asking for it, Malleus-sama"

Vanrouge sighed, "It doesn't hurt to try." "Steady heart, goal clear in mind. Do not waver in your actions, my Prince, hesitation never helps when working with curses."

The disheveled royal finally straightened up, eyes red and puffy from how long he's cried and how little he sleeps. "Sebek, go to Ramshackle. We must try it out... now"

Grim dealt with the worst blow

It unsettled him to live with such a different MC. Even the Ghosts were unsettled and hurting from what happened to their friend.

"But I will keep sleeping on your chest, ye hear?! As long as I keep hearing your heartbeat, I will guide you back with my warmth and my blue flames! Just.... just make sure to follow my path, yes?"

"[Name]... we miss you so much... don't leave yet, not yet, not like this..."

"Follow my flames, like I always followed your light... Please?"

-- -- --

My heart was shattered right as I was all happy and giggly about Disney savvy MC stuff.... B O Y, WAS I NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT

SO NOW YOU COME SUFFER WITH ME

#zask #twisted wonderland #heartslabyul #savanaclaw #octavinelle #scarabia #pomefiore #ignihyde #diasomnia #angst #sips tears

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atlabeth · 3 years

Text

everything happens for a reason part 5 - zuko x fem!reader

I can go anywhere I want, I can go anywhere just not home

part 4 | masterlist | part 6

a/n: this was hard to get going but once i got to the end the words just flowed. ive come to the conclusion that writing dialogue with katara is my favorite thing to do

warning(s): nightmare at the beginning, survivor's guilt from y/n, some internalized homophobia :-( but aside from that its mostly fluff

wc: 3.6k

chapter title comes from my tears ricochet by taylor swift!

She was trapped.

It was a prison of never ending hallways in some kind of infinite void, complete with the rank stench of death and an innate feeling of hopelessness.

Y/N knew this place. It had been the subject of her nightmares on countless occasions, because it was where she was supposed to be. She had no choice but to start down the pathway of cracked stone — she knew what awaited her, but it was the only way out. She had developed some sick sense of awareness in this nightmare and it didn’t do her any favors.

She began to walk hastily down the path, the itch of paranoia already plaguing the back of her mind. Countless times she had been here, and yet it never got better.

Before Y/N knew it, she had reached her unwanted destination. The first tangible thing in what felt like miles was a prison cell, and she pushed forward despite knowing what awaited her. It was the only way.

“It wasn’t the only way.”

She froze, inhaling sharply as the dreamscape seemed to pull her thoughts out of her mind, and she forced herself to take another step closer, the inhabitant of the cell now visible.

“You did this to me.”

It was her mother, but… not quite her. Her voice strained and stiff, a gaunt appearance with cruel eyes, hunched over in a prison cell. Any sign of the woman Y/N knew her as was gone, and it was her fault. She was the reason Kura was gone — a mother’s ultimate sacrifice because her daughter was too stuck in her head.

“How could you do this to me?” she asked. “How could you be so selfish?”

Y/N tried to respond, but she couldn’t. It was no use anyway — her words would’ve come out in broken, pleading rambles to someone who couldn’t hear a thing. She knew it was fake, she knew this was a nightmare, but it still hurt all the same.

She had imagined her mother saying those words to her so many times they had found their way into her nightmares despite knowing that Kura would never utter a single syllable true to her fears. She had all but killed her mother, and instead of remembering her for what she had done for Y/N, she appeared in her nightmares.

She was a horrible daughter.

She heard footsteps and whirled around, instinctively taking a step back and wincing as her back slammed into the bars. A tall, dark figure creeped towards her and her breath caught in her throat — as it came into the light, she recognized him as the Fire Lord.

He chuckled coldly as he neared ever closer, the path he walked turning to flames behind him. Her eyes darted around for an escape only to find that everything was on fire. It was suffocating, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, and when she turned to look for her mother she was gone. Everything was gone, her dark void now a prison of flames.

She turned around once more and Ozai was right in front of her, the fire in his hands glowing red hot and a cruel smile on his lips.

“Did you really think you could get away that easily?”

She shot up in her bed, a scream on the edge of her lips but just barely managing to hold it back. Ragged breaths were ripped from her chest, her eyes shooting around wildly as she attempted to find anything at all to ground her. It took a few minutes, but with repeated mantras of it was just a dream and you are safe, she was able to calm down.

She pulled her knees to her chest and exhaled long and deep before pulling herself out of bed. It seemed that her day was going to be starting much earlier than planned.

Four years had passed since her arrival at the Northern Water Tribe, but the nightmares never ceased. It didn’t matter how many times she told herself she had done the right thing, that it was what her mother wanted, that if she stayed she would’ve died — she was constantly haunted by her past actions and memories of the Fire Nation.

She hasn’t taken off the necklace since her mother gave it to her, no matter what she does. It’s almost become a part of her now — a memory of Kura and her selflessness that knew no bounds, as well as a grim reminder of what it cost to get her here.

The Northern Water Tribe itself held countless memories of her mother — after all, it was where she had spent the first eighteen years of her life. Her name was well known throughout the tribe with nobles and elders alike, and it amazed Y/N to no end the impact that her mother left everywhere she went. She loved hearing stories about her mother and what she was like as a child, but it was always bittersweet.

She always carried an inherent sense of guilt with her because of who she lived with — her mother hadn’t been lying when she said that the necklace would get them to help her. Kura’s parents still lived in the tribe, and they had taken Y/N in after she revealed who she was. They loved her unconditionally and never made her feel like a burden, but Y/N would be lying to herself if she didn’t think they blamed her for the fate that befell her mother.

After all, she did.

She had never told anyone the full story of why she ran though. It was one thing to leave her mother behind for certain death because of the Fire Lord’s rage, it was another thing to admit that it was wholly her fault because she had fallen for a prince.

Zuko.

Not a day went by where she didn’t think of him. She still held the hope that she would see him again someday, but in lieu of travel she turned to letters.

Y/N had a shelf full of unmailed letters addressed to both Zuko and her mother — it was a way to get out her emotions whenever she was feeling particularly homesick or hopeless, and it did help at first, but after four years it had become something born out of habit rather than necessity.

She still wrote them though — Y/N had learned to hold onto any form of hope she could muster up, no matter how small, and in this moment she needed some.

She opened her shelf and rifled through piles upon piles of letters, some finished, some hardly started, and some crumpled from fits of rage, and her breath caught in her throat when her fingers brushed something different. Y/N pulled the material out and nearly started crying right then and there.

It was an unbelievably simple patch of fabric, but it meant the world to her — something that she had bought during her last night with Zuko, and one of the only pieces of material to have survived her journey to the Northern Water Tribe. She was forced to sell the rest of the fabric she had brought with her in order to make some easy money while on the run, but she had kept this as a memento. She could almost be brought back to the final sunset they shared if she looked at it for long enough.

Y/N bit down hard on her lip to stop the tears and shoved it back into the drawer before closing it and leaving her room in a haste. Sometimes she wasn’t strong enough to handle the memories.

She made her way to the living room and let out a sigh of relief when she noticed the silence. Y/N had never told her grandparents about the nightmares, and right now she just needed some time to herself. Never before was she so thankful for her grandmother’s gossiping nature and her grandfather’s work than she was in the mornings where she just wanted to be alone.

She sat down on the floor, not even bothering to get a cushion, and stared at her hands. Once smooth and untouched by the world, they were now rough and calloused with wrapped bandages resting just below her wrist. Permanent memories of what it took to get here. The ever present reminder that nothing came without a cost.

This morning seemed to be one full of yearning for the past. Y/N tried to shake her feelings off and got up once more, contemplating some steamed sea prunes before deeming it fruitless. Her appetite was lacking after her trip down memory lane.

She walked back to her room and got dressed hastily then ran out the door, but not before plucking a gift from her shelf. Today marked the birthday of a certain princess, and Y/N had to go fast if she was going to get it to her before class.

She was immediately hit by the frigid air of the North, pulling her anorak tighter around her frame as she began to run to the canals — one could always find Princess Yue there in the mornings — doing her best to avoid anyone else walking.

Y/N saw Yue just about to board one of the boats and sped up, waving one of her arms as a signal. “Yue, wait!”

She turned and her face immediately brightened up at the sight of Y/N, raising her open palm so the boatman would hold up. “Y/N! Would you like to join me?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

Yue’s nod prompted a shrug as she dropped down carefully into the gondola, taking extra care not to drop her gift, and took a seat next to her friend.

“This is a nice surprise,” Yue smiled as the boatman began to waterbend, effectively moving their gondola through the canal. “But if I might ask, what brought you here so early?”

Y/N laughed, thinking her reason for coming here obvious. “It’s your birthday, princess! What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t come to wish you well in person?”

Her smile grew even brighter, the corners of her eyes creasing up in the way that made some kind of warmth blossom in Y/N’s chest. “Thank you! That’s so sweet — I’m especially honored that you woke up early just for me.”

“Of course.” Y/N brandished the gift she had been doing her best to hide, unable to do the same for her own smile. “And here’s your gift! I sewed it all myself.”

Yue gasped as she took the creation, giving it a slight squeeze and a thorough investigation before absolutely beaming. “You made me an otter penguin— oh, you know how much I love these!”

She wrapped Y/N in a tight hug before pulling away, but it was just long enough for the heat to rush to her cheeks. “Thank you so much, really. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Y/N beamed at the praise and nodded, shifting a little in her seat. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m glad you like it so much.”

The two girls grinned at each other then turned their gaze to the horizon, content to spend the rest of the ride together in comfortable silence.

Her friendship with the princess of the Northern Water Tribe was something that Y/N cherished with all her heart. She could confidently say that Princess Yue was her best friend, and she hoped it was a notion that Yue shared. As beautiful as she was kind, the princess always had a way of making her feel better on the hardest days — Yue was the only one who knew the whole truth of what happened in the Fire Nation, and she offered nothing but sympathy.

Y/N honestly didn’t know what she would do without Yue. She had been her rock during the whole process of getting situated in the tribe, always lending a helping hand when she stumbled in class or was completely oblivious to something in their culture, and she never made her feel stupid, or unwanted, or less-than for what she had come from.

The only thing that confused her about Yue was the feeling she got whenever Y/N was around her. The rushes of heat to her cheeks, the warmth blossoming in her chest, and the unusual happiness she felt anytime Yue smiled at her. The most peculiar of it all was the strange tug of jealousy any time a noble boy tried to flirt with the princess, and nothing but disinterest whenever they tried an angle on her instead.

She didn’t know what any of it meant, but she had the sneaking suspicion that it was wrong. So Y/N did the only thing she could and suppressed it.

Soon enough, though much to their chagrin, Y/N had to leave. After some exchanged hugs and one last wish of happy birthday, Y/N took off for her morning healing class. But as she hurried down the icy paths, she caught sight of the most peculiar thing.

A giant flying bison was being led through the canals with a team of waterbenders, three kids that couldn’t be any older than her on its back. One had an arrow on his head and sported orange and yellow robes, while the other two looked to be of Water Tribe descent.

Her interest was irrefutably piqued, but she didn’t have any more time to waste with gawking. So she began to run once again, apologies spilling from her lips as she maneuvered through the groups of people all just as awestruck by the strange arrival as she was. Y/N made a mental note to ask Yue about it later, but for now she was running very late to her healing class.

Sure enough, a few hours later, Y/N was able to get the answers she had been craving. She met up with Yue outside of the palace, and during a short walk, she learned that the boy was the Avatar. He had come to the Northern Water Tribe to master waterbending, and the two kids with him were his companions from the Southern Tribe — much to her excitement, the girl was a waterbender.

Needless to say, Y/N was even more enthusiastic than before, and Yue made her day by confirming that they would be coming to her birthday celebration that night as honored guests. She had already talked to her father about allowing Y/N to sit with her and he had said yes, which meant that she would get to meet him and his friends in person — it just served as a reminder that Y/N had no idea what she would do without Yue.

After what felt like hours of passing the time with lost games of Pai Sho against her grandfather and failed attempts at finishing her homework, it was finally time for the banquet. Once she arrived at the front of the palace she bid goodbye to her grandparents and went to find the seat that Yue had secured for her.

She settled down in the empty spot next to what she assumed was Yue’s — it was her birthday after all, so a dramatic entrance wasn’t out of the question — and nervously glanced at the three visitors, trying to figure out how to introduce herself.

Thankfully, she was saved when the girl met her eyes and waved, offering a friendly smile. “Hi! I’m Katara; this is my brother Sokka, and that’s Aang.” She gestured in their direction with her head when she said their names and they both smiled and gave her polite nods.

She returned the sentiment gratefully. “I’m Y/N— I’m one of Princess Yue’s friends. Welcome to the Northern Water Tribe!”

“Thanks!” Aang said. “We’re here to find a master so Katara and I can master waterbending.”

“Well, you’re in luck. Master Pakku is one of the best there is, and even though he’s a total jerk, he’ll be able to teach you everything you need to know. And Katara, we have some amazing healing teachers— I can bring you along to my class tomorrow if you’re interested!”

Katara’s eyes lit up. “You’re a waterbender too?” When Y/N nodded, her smile grew even bigger, though slightly wistful.

“I’d really appreciate that,” she admitted, though her brows knit together. “But I’d like to learn from Master Pakku as well.”

Y/N frowned, about to correct her, when the distinct sound of drums began to echo throughout the hall. Her displeasure immediately disappeared as she grinned at them all excitedly, gesturing with her head towards the action.

Chief Arnook stood up from his spot and their table, his low voice booming. “Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe. And they have brought with them someone very special, someone whom many of us believed disappeared from the world until now… the Avatar!”

Y/N’s own applause joined a symphony of others clapping and cheering as Aang waved bashfully, and once it died down, Arnook continued. “We also celebrate my daughter’s sixteenth birthday. Princess Yue is now of marrying age!”

She grinned as Yue walked out alongside her attendants — she would never get used to her beauty. Y/N noticed the way that Sokka’s eyes widened as he stared at her, and her stomach twisted at the act for some unknown reason.

“Thank you, Father,” she said. “May the great Ocean and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times!”

Arnook smiled at his daughter and directed his attention back to his people. “Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!”

She could tell that Katara and Aang were enraptured by the bending, while Sokka’s attention was already on Yue as she walked over to sit between Sokka and Y/N.

“I’m so glad you could make it!” Yue exclaimed, greeting her friend with a short embrace.

Y/N gave her a sideways smile. “If you think that I would miss your birthday and a banquet, then I’m afraid you’re out of practice on Y/N trivia.”

The princess laughed and nodded amiably then turned her attention to Sokka, ever the diplomat.

“Hi there,” he grinned. “Sokka, Southern Water Tribe.”

Yue returned the sentiment and gave him a slight bow. “Very nice to meet you.”

As their conversation went on, Y/N found herself tuning out a bit. For whatever reason, she had to actively stop herself from rolling her eyes at Sokka’s flirting, that same feeling in her stomach coming back. She made a mental note to see a healer about her issues.

“Hey, Y/N!” She snapped out of her self-imposed trance at the sound of Katara calling her name as she gestured for her to come over. It looked like Aang had gotten up to converse with Master Pakku and Chief Arnook, so she took the invitation and switched seats.

“I can’t tell you how nice it is to finally be here,” Katara said once Y/N had settled next to her. “Back home, I’m the only waterbender. Here… it’s like paradise. It almost feels too good to be true. I mean, even seeing you is crazy — I’ve never met a waterbender my age.”

Y/N smiled, though not without a hint of sadness. “I’m sorry that it’s taken so long for you to be able to experience this. How are you the only bender left down there?”

Katara was silent for a moment, a flurry of emotions warring on her face, before she answered. “The Southern Tribe hasn’t fared half as well as the Northern Tribe during the war. We don’t have one big, huge capital like this, we’re all split up into small villages. The Fire Nation has just been relentless with their raids, and without support from the North and a lack of communication between our sister tribes in the South, they were able to wipe us all out. Except for me.”

“Spirits, Katara…” Y/N set an amiable hand on her shoulder and squeezed, hoping that her softened expression could say what her words couldn’t. “My village was invaded when I was young, too. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.”

She nodded pensively but managed to meet her eyes with an appreciative smile. “Thank you. I’m sorry about your village as well.” Her gaze drifted off, once again taking in the view around them, and when Katara met her eyes again she seemed better. “But we’re here now, and I’m planning to take advantage of everything I can, starting with all this food. Which one of these is your favorite?”

Y/N grinned as Katara pointed at the platter of various dishes in front of them. “Oh, you’ve got to try this. See that giant crab up there? That’s what this is, and you have not lived until you have tried Northern crab.”

Conversation flowed just as easily through the rest of the night between the two girls, occasionally switching to include Sokka and Yue and eventually Aang once he returned. Between the swells of pride whenever they laughed at her jokes, getting to learn about all three of them, and the almost palpable euphoria in the air, Y/N was sure of one thing:

This was the happiest she had felt in a long time. She could only hope it would last.

perm tag list: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77

ehfar: @chandies-sideblog @persica27 @anzanity @randomthingssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895

atla: @marianne1806

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #zuko fic #zuko x reader fic #zuko #avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla fic #avatar fic #reader insert #avatar x reader #sadie writes #ehfar #y/n is having bi panic when she doesn't even know wtf the fuck bi is #she can't help it that her friend is the prettiest girl in the world

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screamingatanemptyroom · 3 years

Text

Please Fix the Story pt 26 - The Higher Realm

The Higher realm continues. So close to the end!

Master post linked here

Enjoy!

______________________________

Time passed, but it was difficult to tell how much. Time worked so differently in the different realms. How long did we really spend trying to save one lower realm? Minutes? Decades? It felt like no time and forever. Adonis and I traveled to lower realm after lower realm, fixing the stories, stabilizing the world before heading back to the higher realm.

Some lower realms were easy, if a bit annoying, such as the high school dramas. In those I would often play the “average” new girl at a school. I would meet new people, and was supposed to go on to have romance, betrayals and coming of age realizations. I quickly realized that befriending all my supposed romantic leads instead of dating them, reconciling with my rivals instead of humiliating them, and pushing towards success all together was a much more satisfying strategy. Fortunately, graduating valedictorian with a happy and psychologically healthy group of teenagers often stabilized worlds that had been torn apart by half-baked character design or infighting between rivals.

I took calculus so many times that I could recite lessons in my sleep, but at least the worlds were saved. Despite our success, however, Adonis was often frustrated. He had his own vision of how we were to save these realms. His plans almost always involved us dating, making the high school romance “successful”.

I refused.

He had been a lot more likable since our first meeting, and I was able to consider him a close friend and ally… but I felt uncomfortable at the idea of even pretending to have a romantic relationship. It was definitely a more difficult route to stabilize the world without a romance, but I chose it every time. Adonis pouted and complained, but couldn’t argue with success, and I was successful.

Some lower realms were more difficult. In particular, zombie apocalypse stories were my least favorites. The worlds often couldn’t be stabilized until a cure was found or humanity’s survival was assured. This meant that Adonis and I sometimes spent decades within these realms, working to build armies, or teams of scientists. There was hardly ever any running water, which meant showering was few and far between.

My unwashed self was made even filthier by my absolute failure at using anything with range. Bow and arrow, guns… anything that would keep me out of the gore, I couldn’t hit even the largest of monsters. Fortunately I picked up a sword with relative ease, which allowed me to fight… but this also meant I got covered in rotten blood and guts.

I hated zombie worlds the most.

Realm after realm. We worked constantly, spending very little time in between in the higher realms. Adonis would often try to use those moments to push his ideas regarding fate and the higher realm’s story, but as soon as I rejected him, which I did every time, he would simply scowl and pull us into the next lower realm to save.

It was getting old.

“How many lower realms are there?” I asked one evening as we recovered from our latest mission, rubbing my sore shoulder where I had taken a blow in the last sci-fi alien battle. The wounds disappeared with the realm traveling, but my mind still could feel the wound, projecting the pain long after I had left that form behind.

Adonis leaned back in his chair, his grin a little too bitter to be a natural expression. “How many unfinished stories are there? Infinite, Bel. There are infinite lower realms. We will never be able to save them all. Not like this.”

“It’s not like there’s a lot of options.”

“There are options. You just don’t want to hear them.”

“What, this fate you keep talking about?” I sighed, closing my eyes, tired. “ It sounds like a terrible idea.”

“It’s not.” His voice was quiet, but the intensity shown through all the same. “It’s our duty. Everyone’s survival depends on it.”

“But what you’re saying is: we follow along some sort of script…”

“Fate.”

“…fate… here, in the higher realm. And that is somehow supposed to fix the lower realms?”

He chuckled. “You’re oversimplifying it, but pretty much. We follow our fate, and the heroes of the lower realms will find their happiness tied to ours.”

“What if they don’t want that ending? What if they don’t want that happiness?”

“Of course they do! Everyone wants a happily ever after with their destined one.” He snapped. My eyes flickered open to study his enraged expression.

“I don’t.”

“You’re selfish!”

I shrugged. “Am I? If you’re right, we submit to fate here, everyone in the lower realms gets an automatic happy ending… but most of those worlds aren’t breaking because they don’t have a happy ending. They need a wider world, different ideas… and what about the side characters, even the villains… what about their happiness?”

“They don’t matter.”

“Why not?” I raised an eyebrow. “Just because they’re the villains?”

“They’re evil.” He stood up, trying to tower over me. An intimidation tactic, one that might have worked before we’d spent countless years fighting in life-or-death battles together.

“Have you met the heroes and heroines of some of these realms?” I laughed. “They’re not much better. I don’t think these roles are as clear as you would like them to be. And I don’t think you and I having a happy ending together, and forcing a simplistic ‘and they lived happily ever after’ on all the lower realms will actually fix them. In fact…” I stood up, and he stepped back slightly at the danger in my tone. “I bet we would break them all the more. Are you really so foolish as to think that saving a universe of worlds would be so simple?”

“…” Adonis was gritting his teeth, his hands clenched so tightly the knuckles were white. But I didn’t back down. Didn’t step back. I knew he wouldn’t hit me. He wouldn’t dare step out of the role he imagined himself to be in. Wouldn’t dare cross a line that might ruin his chances at the happy ending he seemed to crave so desperately.

“…” The silence stretched on between us. We were at an impasse. He wanted to follow fate. He wanted clearly defined roles and rules to follow. And I?

I wanted freedom.

*** Soul transfer 11% complete. ***

It’s been forever since I last saw those words… I thought it had disappeared. For some reason, I felt a deep sense of relief at the glowing blue sentence. Something within me had frozen during these many trips to the lower realms, but finally it was growing again.

“The next world is waiting.” Adonis spoke up, his tone flat. I noticed an odd shifting of his gaze, a reluctance to meet my own, and felt a sense of unease.

I won’t like this next world. I cracked my knuckles and gave him a thumbs up. Well, no sense running from a challenge.

We left.

______________________________

I woke up in a luxurious canopy bed. Staring up at the fabric , I raised my arms and have a cheer.

“YES! NOT A ZOMBIE WORLD!”

On the downside, the setting appeared to be a more primitive era, medieval at best, which meant no running water, but at least I appeared to be noble or wealthy.

At least if I suffer, I’ll be clean while I do it!

“Princess?” A young woman dressed as a servant entered the room, seeming very confused. “Are you all right? I heard you yelling.”

I smiled brightly at her. “No worries. It was just a nightmare.”

She visibly relaxed. “Even so, you seem in a much better mood, if I may say so.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you haven’t broken a single thing this morning.” She, unfortunately did not seem to be kidding. “I’m so glad you’ve accepted your father’s decision.

I didn’t have my character’s memories yet. I needed to accept the mission first. In the meantime, acting too out of character could destabilize an already poorly functional world.

“I’m still… thinking it over.” I spoke up cautiously.

“It’s not so bad, your highness.” She smiled at me. “Most young girls feel a little uneasy when their father arranges their husband. But you’ll be happy. I just know it.”

Arranged marriage?

“After all, Prince Harold is reported to be a true gentleman, a might warrior, and a handsome young man!” She sighed dreamily. “Any woman would be thrilled for a chance to be his bride.”

“I’m. Sure.” I spoke through gritted teeth, the satin sheets crumpling in my grip. Adonis, when I find you, I’m going to make you regret every life decision you’ve ever made… and the ones you’ve only considered making. What kind of lower realm did you land us in? As I plotted my revenge, the mission screen popped up.

**** NEW WORLD: A Divided Kingdom****

This is a romance fantasy story featuring a prince and a princess from different kingdoms, putting aside their differences to save the world.

“I already don’t like this.” I muttered.

The Princess Alaire of the Yenlar Kingdom was a clever, independent woman, horrified at the idea of an arranged marriage. Prince Harold of the Bestion Kingdom felt differently. He fell in love at first sight and vowed to woo the young maiden. The couple was different in almost every way, and seemed destined to bicker and fight.

“Then how about we don’t get married?”

But fate had other plans…

“Of course it did!”

A terrifying beast threatened to destroy both their kingdoms, and to survive, the political marriage had to go forward. Uniting the kingdoms, and therefore their armed forces, was the only way to save their people.

However, despite the happy ending, the first book was not well received by readers and the trilogy was abandoned due to poor sales. The reason given was that the romance was “forced” and unbelievable.

Your mission is to bring a satisfying end to the story, while making ensuring the survival of both kingdoms.

**** DO YOU ACCEPT THIS MISSION? ****

YES? NO?

“Quick question.” I spoke quietly to the glowing words in front of me. “Do I have to marry the prince to ensure an ending?”

The kingdoms will not unite without the political marriage.

“That wasn’t what I asked. I asked if I HAVE to marry the prince. What if I can save both kingdoms without a political marriage?”

The stability of the world is all that matters.

“No lecture on the necessity of fate?”

**** DO YOU ACCEPT THIS MISSION? ****

YES? NO?

I grinned. “Sure. Let’s do it.”

As the words faded away, I jumped out of bed. My head spun slightly as I accepted the memories from the poor princess of the original story.

She had not been happy.

She had dreams, ambitions. The Kingdom of Yenlar allowed for women to inherit the throne, and as the firstborn she was ready to take over from her father, to rule her nation. She had spent her entire life preparing. Studying law, economics, warfare…

And all of it had meant nothing in the end.

She had begged for a political treaty. One that did not involve marriage. The Kingdom of Bestion had refused to even discuss it. They stated that there was too much distrust between the kingdoms to move forward without some sort of permanent assurance. Even the threat of annihilation from the ancient beast of legend wasn’t enough to have them reconsider. That wasn’t the full story, though.

Later she discovered that Prince Harold had seen her at a party. He had supposedly fallen in love with her at first sight, and became determined to marry her. He had learned of her plans to marry a minor noble, one who would support her position on the throne without causing an imbalance of power within the nobility. He had no chance, as far as she was concerned. The threatened destruction of their people was just the perfect opportunity to force the matter.

She had lost all power. Becoming a figurehead, a beautiful statue beside the true king, Harold. He ruled over both nations with an iron fist, treating her own people more harshly, much to the approval of his staff. She slowly became bitter and deranged, watching the destruction of the people and the nation she loved so dearly.

Beyond the end of the first book, when the realm’s story ended, she had attempted to poison him and failed. Harold had been disappointed, but felt that she still had use as a figurehead. They faked a stroke, and kept her mute and weak with poisons. A lovely doll. A perfect figurehead.

…is this a fantasy or a horror? Sheesh, no wonder the trilogy wasn’t going to sell. I shuddered, still standing awkwardly next to the beautiful bed that had belonged to a lovely young woman.

I will change this story. I spoke silently to the memories, feeling a sense of relief that didn’t belong to me as I did so.

First, let’s try to reason with Adonis. He and I had worked together in multiple realms, side by side. We were friends. We may not see eye to eye when it came to our approach towards fate and the lower realms, but he had never forced me to do something I didn’t want. He had always respected me and backed off when I said no, even if it made him unhappy.

Hopefully this time will be the same. I thought uneasily. Hopefully he will listen.

______________________________

“No.” His tone was gleeful, but his face was calm, towing with a silver goblet rather than meeting my gaze.

“Are you joking?” I leaned forward, keeping a gentle smile on my face to fool the guards and our fathers who sat on the other end of the enormous dining table.

“I’m perfectly serious, Princess Alaire. Our kingdoms face certain doom at the hands of the ancient beast. The only way to survive is to work together. We can only work together if we trust each other. The only way the Kingdom of Bestion will trust the Kingdom of Yenlar is with a marriage alliance. It’s out of my hands.”

I reached forward and took the cup from his hands, forcing him to look at me. “Why are you forcing this, Adonis? You know it didn’t work out so well for the originals.”

“Careful Princess.” His eyes glanced over at the nearby guards. “You don’t want anything to destabilize the situation further, now do you? Better to act as a proper princess should.”

“Answer the question. This plan already failed. Why do you think it will work?”

“Simple.” He leaned forward and plucked the goblet back from my hands. “We’re different. You may not want to admit it, but we have spent lifetimes at each other’s side. Growing up, going to school, facing enemies, fighting together… we could make this work. It would be a wonderful ending.”

“You know what happened to Alaire after the first book.”

“I would never do that to you.”

“But you are.” I growled, wishing I could punch him. “You are trying to make me a beautiful figurehead, just like Harold did to Alaira.”

“We would rule side by side.”

“What use is that promise, if you are already ignoring my wishes and forcing me to do this in the first place?”

He shook his head. “You have to trust me. This is the only way we can defeat the monster, and stabilize this realm. We’ll save this world. Together.” He smiled. “It’s our fate.”

I threw a plate at him, forcing him to fling himself on the floor to avoid injury. Walking out, I ignored my father’s shouts of rage. Picking up a bag I had packed ahead of time, just in case, I changed into some light armor, grabbed a sword, and headed out into the forest.

If I couldn’t win by a political alliance, I was going to find another way to save the world.

I was going monster hunting.

I searched Princess Alaira’s memories of the legends and stories, going out in a northern direction towards the area known as Death Valley.

As I marched onward, my thoughts wandered over the time I had spent since I had woken up in the Higher Realm. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed with Adonis. He might truly think that he was saving the world by insisting on going through with the marriage, but his lack of willingness to even consider other options was frustrating. He was the only person consistently by my side through every one of these worlds, someone I considered a friend, and being unable to rely on him served to make me feel all the lonelier.

My mind briefly touched on the assassin of the first realm, Liam. I had thought with his comments and actions that he had known about my mission… that he might be from the higher realm too. But no matter how much I looked for him, no matter how much I hoped to see him again, I never did.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he was someone from the lower realm, and I’ll never have the chance to see him, to thank him.

I felt a sense of despair. How long can I keep doing this? Is this why Adonis preaches following our fate so much? Is he as tired of traveling, tired of the missions and the different lives? Is he just hoping to end all this?

I sighed, keeping moving. I’m not that tired, not tired enough to sacrifice my freedom. Not yet, anyways.

It took several days of traveling. Fortunately from my years of experience in zombie worlds, I was well prepared to survival in the wilderness. At least here the rivers were clean, allowing me to bathe occasionally. Finally I was at the entrance of the valley, staring up at the pillars on either side.

There were ominous words carved deeply into the stone.

Only death lies ahead.

I stared at the words silently for a few moments, and then shrugged.

“Still better than marrying Adonis.”

I moved forward.

______________________________

The valley was dark, a deep fog settled in permanently, apparently unaffected by the weather beyond its borders. Dark twisted purple trees rose all around me, their roots tearing through the earth desperate searching for nutrients. The valley was quiet, suffocating in an unsettling silence. My presence there felt like an intrusion, my instincts screaming at me to run away, to escape.

I kept moving.

There were no other signs of life. But I knew at least one other being lived here, the reason why nothing else dared to.

The Ancient beast.

There were no descriptions of it in the legends. Just that it was deadly, enough to take on entire armies. And that it was terrifying.

I feel like I should have seen something by now, if it was so large. I sighed, sitting on one of the trees, staring up at the mountain ahead of me. Shouldn’t it be easier to find an enormous beast that terrified an entire world?

…

Wait.

I looked up, struggling to see the top of the mountain in front of me.

I’m in a valley…

The mountain moved up and down, with regular motions.

There shouldn’t be a mountain here.

It was breathing.

I drew my sword, inwardly despairing. I had underestimated the sheer scale of the monster. I had thought it would be the size of a house, an elephant. Instead it towered stories above me, unimaginably large.

I was doomed.

There was a rumble as the beast in front of me shifted. I couldn’t tell the shape, just an impression of scales and spikes. Slowly, something lowered down in front of me, stretching forward in all directions, filling my vision. I saw teeth larger than my own body, the white of them contrasting with the dark fog around us. As I prepared myself for my death, an eye opened to stare at me.

It was a beautiful dark blue.

“…”

Suddenly, I felt relief. It was incomprehensible. I was standing in front of an ancient beast, enormous and terrifying, and instead of fear and dread… I felt safe.

I raised a hand, almost despite myself. “Hello there.”

The eye blinked. I comforted myself that it hadn’t eaten me yet.

“I think you look awesome. I’m Princess Alaira from the nearby kingdom of Yenlar. I actually came here to kill you, to protect my people… but now I realize that you could crush me like an ant, and that was a bad plan.”

The eye blinked twice. It seemed more confused than anything.

“I have a much better plan, if you would be willing to listen to me.” I let out a laugh, slightly startled at how… villainous it sounded.

*** Soul transfer 20% complete. ***

The creature let out a sound like thunder. I felt that it was laughing too.

______________________________

The wedding was this morning.

I was surprised as I drew near to see the party going. You would think that after I disappeared, they might have canceled or delayed it. I assumed that Adonis had felt sure that I would agree with him in the end. That I wouldn’t be able to let the world end just because I didn’t want to marry him.

Well too bad, buddy. This princess has a different plan in mind!

I could see him, standing on the elevated stage before two thrones, waiting. I couldn’t see his expression from this distance, but I imagine he was barely hiding his worry. Alaire’s father and Harold’s father were also waiting on the platform, their postures betraying their impatience.

“Let’s get this party started!” I yelled.

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAR!

The ancient beast let out a triumphant roar as he flew closer and lowered his head, letting me jump down onto the platform before landing behind me, a large, threatening mountain of a creature.

“Alaire?” The king called out, confused. “What are you doing?”

“Hello, Father.” I also nodded to Adonis, who stared back.

“What is this?”

“Your daughter is a witch!” The King of Bestion shouted, drawing his ceremonial sword. “She betrayed us!”

“Hold on, father.” Adonis held out his hand, stopping his attack. “I’m sure it’s not what it looks like.”

I grinned.

“Nope. It’s exactly what it looks like. I’ve teamed up with the Ancient being. We’re friends now.” I gestured at the monster high above us, who let out a grim chuckle, shaking the ground. “So now I make the rules, got it?”

“…”

“I’ll take everyone’s stunned silence as happy agreement! Now, first rule: Wedding canceled.”

“What?”

“You can’t do this!”

The three other royals on stage shouted simultaneously. I simply pointed again at the enormous creature.

“I can do whatever I want. The big scary monster behind me says so. Next, the kingdom of Bestion will surrender to me, as will the kingdom of Yenlar.”

“You want to rule the world?” Adonis’s gaze was… disappointed. I grinned shamelessly. “Nope. But here’s the thing: Our kingdoms face certain doom at the hands of the ancient beast. The only way to survive is to convince the monster not to kill us. The monster only trusts me. So I have to rule both kingdoms.” I shrugged. “It’s out of my hands.”

I threw his words from earlier back at him, and felt satisfied as he winced in recognition.

“We… surrender.” His words were quiet, defeated.

“You unruly child!” My father tried to shout, but a roar from the monster above us silenced him. He quickly surrendered too. I accepted both surrenders, quickly organizing the meetings to bring our governments together under one rule. Fortunately, the princess’s years of study served me well, guiding me smoothly through the process.

______________________________

I had one more confrontation with Adonis, the night before the coronation. He was escorted to my rooms by guards, saying he had a request. I hesitated briefly, but allowed him in, waving the guards behind the door so we could speak freely.

“What was that?” He shouted as soon as they had left.

I stayed sitting, forcing myself to be calm. “I fixed the story.”

“You ruined everything! Even if it stabilizes this world, it will ruin it in the long run.”

“Says you.”

“Trust me.” He threw up his hands as he paced back and forth. “Everything will go a lot smoother if you STOP CHANGING THE STORY.”

“I thought that was why we were here, though?” I sighed, leaning back in my chair and cleaning my nails with a blade. “To fix the lower realms, to save these worlds? That requires change, right?”

He paused in his movements, glaring at me. “Stop acting stupid. These worlds are broken because they didn’t follow the rules. We have to follow them perfectly.”

“I don’t want to though.” I shuddered. “No offense, but if the story is going to require us to have a romantic relationship, I’m finding an alternate solution.”

“That’s what the story requires, you have your role to play. You know the consequences of not playing the right part.”

I sighed. “No, there’s always different paths to take. You’re a good friend, and I’m glad to have you by my side, but that’s different than love.”

“…”

“You clearly don’t love me either, so why are you making such a fuss about this? As long as we complete what we came here to do, that’s all that matters, right?”

“…”

“Right?”

Adonis stepped closer to me, his atmosphere slightly threatening. “Why are you so different from what you are supposed to be?”

“What are you…?”

“Why can’t you just accept.”

His hand grabbed my wrist, the grip painful.

“your.”

He pulled me closer until our faces were inches apart. His bright blue eyes were blazing with anger as they stared into my own.

“fate.”

Letting me go, he walked away, putting some distance between us, before turning back to face me.

“This lower realm is stabilized. We should return.” His smile was cold. “The next mission is a little different from our previous ones. We’ll talk about it later.”

“…”

“And next time…?” He laughed, a bitter sound. “You’ll play your part whether you want to or not.”

THUD.

The blade in my hand threw through the air, stabbing into the wall inches from his face. I smiled cheerfully as he looked back at me, shocked.

“Try touching me again, and I’ll cut off something you’ll miss. We’ll discuss missions and roles again in the higher realm, but for now?” I rang a bell and guards came in, escorting him out. “I have a coronation to plan.”

______________________________

My coronation was held outside so that the Ancient beast could stand behind me. It seemed cheerful, letting out victorious roars and swaying from side to side. The people cheered as well, seeming a lot happier than I expected them to be. I guess they’re relieved that they won’t be eaten by the giant monster? I wondered idly how I was going to incorporate the creature into the day to day life of a monarch. For an odd reason I had very little doubt that the monster would stick around.

However, all my plans came to nothing. As the crown was placed on my head, bright blue words formed in the air in front of me:

100% complete.

**** You have finished the mission! ****

It was time to go.

At little sad, I looked up at the ancient monster above me. “Thank you, friend for your help. I wish I could stay with you longer.”

A mournful cry echoed through the world. It seemed to understand that I was leaving. Before I could say anything more to reassure it, the world around me shimmered and disappeared.

Only to reveal a furious Adonis standing in front of me.

“Happy now, Your Majesty?” He sneered.

“Oof, someone’s still a little angry that I used an ancient monster conquer the world. Believe it or not, I’m sorry that I’ve hurt you. But you know why I did what I did. Let’s talk about it in the morning.”

I walked away, feeling his glare on my back long after I was out of sight.

______________________________

When I woke up, I realized that I couldn't move.

I panicked, struggling to move my arms and legs, only managing to turn my head slightly. Enough to see Adonis’s smug expression as he sat by my bed.

“It’s time for our story to progress, Bel.” His smile was strange, twisted. I couldn’t talk back, I shook my head slightly side to side.

“I’m the hero, you are the heroine. If the relationship between us can’t be advanced by working together, than it must be forged in adversity." He reached down and picked me up, carrying me out of the small cottage I had arranged for myself and into the castle courtyard. Whatever drug he had injected me with was slowly wearing off, and I struggled in his arms, finally able to shout.

“Put me down!”

To my surprise he did, and although I struggled to stay upright, I kept my balance and glared at him.

“What are you planning?”

He sighed quietly. “I’m tired of always being the one to compromise. It’s time for you to make a sacrifice, Bel. I’ve avoided this so far, worried that progressing our story this way would kill you, but it seems that it is our fate that we take this risk. It’s… unfortunate. I do very much hope you don’t die.” He paused, trying to smile at me. “Don’t worry. It’s only temporary. I’ll come and rescue you soon.”

“A sacrifice?” I felt cold, even as I stood in the warm afternoon sun. My thoughts were slow to form, possibly a side effect of the medication. “Why?”

He shrugged. “There’s an order to everything. Rules. Law. They are all that stand between us and pure chaos. No one can ignore them. Not you. Not even me.”

“Then sacrifice yourself, asshole! Why send me?”

He shrugged. “It’s your role to play, not mine. Your fate.”

“Screw fate! I don’t care if you say it’s temporary or not! Friends don’t sacrifice friends!” I was furious, still weak and feeling helpless.

His hand reached out and brushed my cheek, the touch freezing my skin. I wanted to move away but I could still barely move, only managing to glare at him. “Don’t look at me with those eyes. It’s not my fault. If you want to blame anyone, blame the story.”

“Ad…”

“Sorry, you must accept your fate.” I felt a pinch in my arm, the stick of a needle as he injected something into the muscle. Immediately darkness overwhelmed me.

“We all do.”

Everything faded into darkness.

______________________________

When I woke up, I was in a strange world, surrounded by forest. I lay on my back, still feeling weak, fury coursing through my veins.

Adonis and I had worked well together, despite arguing multiple times in the past. But now… any goodwill I had towards him was gone. He had betrayed me. Knocked me out and sent me to somewhere dangerous, somewhere I could be killed, just to follow his precious fate. To get the story he wanted.

“Are you lost?

I looked over at the source of the voice. It was a tall young man with dark hair, wearing grey, non-descript clothing. He kneeled down next to me, and I found myself staring into dark blue eyes.

“Seems a good description for my current situation.” I smiled despite the dizziness. “Nice to meet you, Stranger.”

He grinned, reaching out a hand to help me up. “Call me Liam.”

Liam? Could he be…?

“…Nice to meet you, Liam.” I laughed. “Or should I say: nice to see you again?”

*** Soul transfer 25% complete. ***

#writing #please fix the story #fantasy #fate #next part will be fun #world hopping

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mrs-gucci · 3 years

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Rough Around the Edges {Prince Kylo Ren x Reader}

author’s notes: hello, hello! taking a quick break from all the fourth of july stuff to submit this piece for this week’s writer wednesday :) thanks @autumnleaves1991-blog and @clydesducktape for organizing this wonderful weekly event!

this story takes place in a medieval AU and is lightly inspired by certain elements in “Beauty and the Beast”.

warnings: angst with a hopeful ending. partially unreciprocated feelings. arranged courtship. time period-authentic sexism (women are meant to please men and that’s all). there’s a kiss.

(possible) tw’s: arranged relationship. implied age gap (not specified, but everyone’s above age).

word count: a touch over 2k

my taglist peeps: @frank-and-honey @shygirl268 @icarusinthesea @gildedstarlight @mrs-zimmerman @soldmysoulagain @roseepossee @pascalisfairyy (if you’d like to be added to or removed from my taglist, the link to the google form is HERE or on the top of my masterlist.)

You sit in front of the mirror while Anna pulls your hair into a flattering updo. Your eyes begin to tear up at the painful sting of your hair being manipulated in such a forceful way, scalp throbbing with each of Anna’s harsh, calculated movements.

"Must you be so rough?”

She offers little empathy in her expression as she looks at you through the mirror’s reflection. “The Prince insisted that you wear your hair up tonight, madame. He was absolutely furious when you wore it down the last time, and I’m the one who had to stand there while he threw a tantrum over it.”

Your eyes roll, knowing all too well of your betrothed’s legendary fits of anger. He’s much too old to be doing such childish things, but god forbid you ever say that to him.

Anna finishes up with your hair, much to your relief, but now the real pain begins. You look over at the corset waiting on the bed and already, your ribcage aches.

“What, are you trying to turn it to stone?” She asks, and you shake your head. “Well, you’re certainly staring at it long enough. Come on now, stand up, we don’t have all afternoon.”

You sigh, rising up out of the chair and walking over to the bed where Anna’s standing, corset in-hand. She wraps it around your torso, pulling the laces impossibly tight over your ribs and stomach, caging them both within the garment.

After the corset is very securely tied, Anna grabs your dress and helps you step into the golden yellow skirt. She ties the top part with just as much aggression as she tied the corset, making simply breathing a painful process.

“Try to at least look like you don’t want to jump out of the East tower’s window.” Anna remarks as you scowl at your reflection in the mirror. “Have you ever considered smiling?”

“I have absolutely nothing to smile about.” You reply curtly, unamused by this conversation or her suggestions.

She sighs in defeat. “I’m only trying to help, madame. You need to learn how to be a princess, or at least try and act the part.”

“I’m not interested in being a princess, Anna. But, if you ever asked my opinion on the matter, then you’d already know that. Now please, I wish to be alone.”

Anna’s surprised at the hostile tone of your words, but she keeps her lips pursed, knowing she’s in no place to press the issue any further. She simply nods, backing out of the room, leaving you alone.

Your bottom lip begins to tremble as your vision blurs with tears, abruptly turning away from the mirror so that you don’t have to look at what you’ve been forced to become.

There’s nothing that you wish for more than to be free from this life, free to live the way you want to live instead of the one that was chosen for you to live. You loathe the mask you must wear, the painted face that looks back at you through the mirror.

But, you have no choice...you’ve never had a choice.

The palace is aglow this evening, thousands of candles burning and casting a warmer shade across the normally-bland ivory color. Your shoes clink on the marble flooring as you make your way to the front steps, looking over the railing at the grand room below.

Lords and ladies, princes and princesses are all arm-in-arm, walking through to the ballroom. Some have stopped to converse with each other, fake smiles plastered on their painted faces.

You huff to yourself as you reach the top of the staircase, and at the bottom, stands your betrothed. He looks up as you make your way down the stairs, a pleased smirk tugging at the corners of his lips with each step you take.

Kylo holds his hand out to you when you reach the bottom, guiding you down the final stair before looping his arm through yours. The two of you walk towards the ballroom, smiling and nodding politely at the other guests.

“You look nice.” His voice is flat, emotionless.

You huff in false amusement, physically having to prevent your eyes from rolling. “Am I supposed to thank you for saying that?”

"Ah, you’re learning.” He says, stopping to look down at you, fingers holding your chin and forcing you to look up at him while his eyes linger over your face. “Perhaps there’s hope for you yet, little dove.”

You yank your chin from his grip, snarling softly. “Don’t touch me.”

His hand suddenly comes up to wrap around your throat, teeth bared. “I can touch you however I please, young one. You’re mine, and you ought to learn your place.”

Once he feels you relax, feels you surrender under his touch, he lets go of your neck and continues walking as if nothing’s happened, dragging you along with him.

He wears you on his arm the whole evening as he talks to various noblemen and you just stand there, silent with a small smile, pretending like you don’t exist.

Then, the two of you take a seat at the big table with King Han and Queen Leia, beginning to feast on the royal spread. You barely eat, partially due to the fact that you’re afraid to bust the ties on your corset if your abdomen expands even a little bit too far, and Kylo seems to take notice.

“I promise I didn’t poison it.”

You look over at him with widened eyes. He simply smirks, laughing softly to himself.

“I’m only joking, little dove.”

You’re incredibly surprised, stunned into utter silence at the fact that he’s just joked with you. You'd been convinced up until this point that humor wasn’t a part of his emotional capabilities, that he was only capable of anger, hatred, and inflicting fear.

His hand hesitantly rests on top of yours, which makes you flinch. He looks conflicted in the moment, as if he’s deciding whether or not to be upset that you react this way to his touch.

“Why aren’t you eating? You need to eat.”

You look away, jaw clenching. “I know you don’t actually care why I’m not eating, Kylo. Plus, none of my answers will be good enough to please you, anyway.”

He stiffens, pulling his hand away immediately.

“Perhaps you’re right.”

Your eyebrows furrow at the tone of his voice. He almost sounds...upset. Not upset at you, though, upset at himself.

The rest of the time he’s silent, only glancing over at you occasionally. Dessert comes around and you don’t even touch it, simply sitting up straight with your hands in your lap.

Couples rise from their tables as the musicians begin to play an upbeat tempo, gathering on the ballroom floor. Kylo stands up next to you, holding out his hand without a word.

You rise from your chair and take his extended hand, allowing him to lead you out to the ballroom floor. Dancing was customary in Alderaan and was a very popular practice at gathering’s like this.

Kylo’s large hands drop to your waist as soon as you reach the floor and you reach up to rest your hands on his broad shoulders. The two of you sway in unison and make your way around the dance floor skillfully, gracefully.

After the song comes to an end and another slower one begins, the Prince tilts his head down to look at you. His face is stoic, unchanging, but there’s something different about this look. It’s not as harsh or as emotionless as it normally is; there’s a certain gentleness to it.

Your eyes keep his gaze, looking back up at him with a curious glint in your eyes, drinking in his up-close appearance for truly the first time since you’ve arrived in Alderaan. He’s intoxicatingly handsome, there’s no getting around that, but his personality and temper leave a lot to be desired.

Yet, despite his hostility and distaste for you, you still find yourself temporarily entranced by his presence, melting under his gaze. It’s in this moment that you catch a glimpse into your own psyche, recognizing the true source of your vehement hate and closed-off behavior towards him.

All of it is done out of a desire to hide your attraction to the man that you’ve tried so, so hard to dislike. There’s always been a small part of you that’s known this, but you figured that if you pushed it down long enough and acted otherwise, perhaps you’d eventually convince yourself otherwise. But, alas, those feelings of attraction have only grown and festered beneath the facade of hatred.

It is true, Kylo Ren is a moody, closed-off, hostile and frankly childish being, but you’re somehow able to look past that and see the diamond-in-the-rough quality to the young Prince. You know that somewhere, behind the stone wall he’s so clearly built up around himself, there’s a goodness to him. You’ve seen glimpses of it throughout the time you’ve known him, but he almost immediately shuts it down instead of letting it show further, a fact you find incredibly perplexing.

“Y/N?” His voice pulls you from your thoughts.

You snap from your temporary trance and shake your head. “Sorry, I was deep in thought.”

“I gathered.” He chuckles softly. “If I asked what it is you were thinking about, would you tell me the truth?”

“Probably not.”

He nods. “I appreciate your honesty.”

The two of you continue to move around the floor before the handsome Prince clears his throat, cheeks flushing a delicate shade of pink.

“May I ask you a question, completely unrelated to my previous inquiry?”

You nod, and he swallows harshly.

“What is it about me that you loathe so much?”

Your stomach drops and you suddenly feel a touch of lightheadedness begin to pressurize within your skull. You’re frozen for a moment as you try to decide whether or not to tell him the truth.

“I don’t...why are you asking me such a thing? I know you don’t actually care about the answer.”

His jaw clenches and his grip suddenly tightens on your hips. “Why do you always insist that I don’t care?”

“Because I know you don’t, Kylo. At least, not truly.” You reply, squirming beneath his grip.

“W-Well, what if...” He huffs, looking away. “What if I do care? Or am at least trying to care?”

You’re genuinely surprised by his words, taken aback for a moment. This is a turn you certainly didn’t see coming...

“I find your ever-changing moods and stubbornness often makes you difficult to deal with. You never try, at least up until this point, to understand my feelings or show any sort of interest in getting to know me, which just makes me feel even more unwanted than I already do, and I--”

Before you can continue, you’re cut off by a sudden presence on your lips. It registers in your mind, then, that he’s kissing you. You stiffen, and he pulls away slowly, eyes staring into yours.

“You are not unwanted, Y/N.” He says, voice low. “Never...p-please never think that.”

Did he just say ‘please’? That’s almost the most shocking thing he’s said thus far.

“I don’t think you’re a bad person, Kylo. Just...a little rough around the edges.”

His entire demeanor shifts for a moment, and for a split second, you swear he looks happy; truly, genuinely happy. Perhaps a bit of relief was sprinkled in, too. He wears a small, barely-there smile as he continues to look down at you.

“I would like to try and change. We should at least try to get along, considering the fact that we’ll be wed soon. I know you don’t want to be here, but I’d like to at least try to make things a bit easier, h-however I can.”

You can’t stop the smile that quickly spreads across your face, delightfully pleased to hear these words. Your expression widens his smile ever so slightly.

“I think we can certainly give it a try.”

Kylo nods, a subtly optimistic expression etched on his features.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

#mrs-gucci #writer wednesday #mrs-gucci writes kylo ren #medieval au #medieval kylo #prince kylo ren #kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren x you #kylo ren angst #adcu #adcu community #adcu fanfiction #adcu fanfic #adam driver #adam driver character #adam driver angst #tw: implied age gap #arranged courtship

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septembercfawkes · 3 years

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Principles of the Steadfast, Flat-arc Protagonist

Last week I debunked six myths about the steadfast (also known as the flat-arc) character. Now, I would like to share 6 principles of writing a positive steadfast protagonist.

Steadfast/flat-arc characters are characters who don't drastically change their worldviews over the course of the story. In contrast, a change character will do largely a 180 flip in worldview from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

For example, in Wonder Woman, Diana begins the story with the perspective that we should fight for the world we believe in. At the end of the story, she proves that true by using it to defeat the antagonist (this helps make up the story's theme). But in Frozen, Elsa begins the story with the worldview that one must be closed off to be safe and authentic. Because of the story, she learns that, actually, we must be open to be loved authentically (that might mean we get hurt, but some love is worth the hurt). This enables her to set things right, which proves that perspective true (and helps make up the story's theme).

Both flat-arc characters and change characters have negative versions: a character who remains steadfast to an inaccurate worldview and suffers punishment for it, and a character who changes from a true worldview to an inaccurate one and suffers punishment for it. Negative versions of each type are harder to find, but not nonexistent.

Almost all protagonists are positive change-arc protagonists. This means that almost all writing resources help writers write positive change-arc protagonists. This also means there are very few resources to help writers write steadfast protagonists.

You often can't apply change-arc advice to steadfast characters. It doesn't work.

Luckily, whichever protagonist type you're writing, each story actually has pretty much the same structural pieces--they're just arranged differently. Some are reversed while others receive more emphasis.

Today I'm going to explain how these pieces are different for a positive steadfast protagonist story, in comparison to the common positive change protagonist story.

This is a little like being left-handed in a right-handed world. That's it--the steadfast protagonists are the lefties of the storytelling world.

First, I would like to acknowledge those in the industry who have helped me understand the flat-arc protagonist and therefore influenced this post. If you want to learn more about this protagonist, check out these resources:

K. M. Weiland's Character Arc Series (Katie is amazing and this is honestly the best resource I've found so far on flat-arc characters.)

Character Arcs by Jordan McCollum (This book has a brief section on the flat arc.)

"Character Arcs 102: Flat Arcs" at The Novel Smithy (Lewis succinctly breaks down the flat-arc protagonist's three-act structure.)

Dramatica Theory (I already mentioned last week how Dramatica uses the term "steadfast" instead of "flat arc")

Writing Characters Without Character Arcs by Just Write (Youtube video)

I'll also be doing more posts on this protagonist type in the future.

1. Reversing Orientation: Change <--> Steadfast

Despite being the "lefties," almost every story will feature a key flat-arc character, like I mentioned last week:

In stories that have a change protagonist, the steadfast character will be the Influence Character. The Influence Character is typically someone the protagonist has an important relationship with, especially through the middle of the story. This is usually a love interest, mentor, or sidekick, but it can be almost anything. Of course, there are variations to the Influence Character, and you can learn more about them in my article on them. The Influence Character also serves as a thematic opponent, to some degree.

Why is the change protagonist most commonly paired with a steadfast character?

Dramatica Theory argues that it's because in order for a story to feel "complete" or "whole"--to properly mimic the human experience--we need to witness each perspective. Otherwise, it feels like something is missing.

It's not impossible to have a change protagonist be paired up with another change character, it's just that when this happens, usually an outsider who is steadfast gets involved and becomes the real Influence Character for both of them. It's also not impossible for the "Influence Character" to be more than one person. A story may have multiple Influence Characters, or even have a group that functions as the Influence Character.

In a story that features a flat-arc protagonist, the types are reversed. The Influence Character becomes a change character:

Moana is steadfast while Maui is change.

In Arrival, Louise Banks is steadfast while Ian is change.

In Cinderella, Ella is steadfast while the prince is change.

In Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka is steadfast while San is change.

In Wonder Woman, Diana is steadfast while Steve is change. (Steve's change isn't as drastic, but if you watch, he moves from disbeleiving the world Diana talks about, to believing in it.)

Usually, this pairing is positive steadfast protagonist and positive change Influence Character. This means that the Influence Character will usually start on the inaccurate worldview--the opposing side of the thematic argument. They will at least voice or tap into it in some way. By the end, they will have an accurate worldview, adopting the steadfast protagonist's perspective.

Generally speaking, anyway, as there are of course exceptions and variations.

So in a sense, when working with a steadfast protagonist, you are reorienting the structure to focus on the steadfast character, instead of the change one.

2. Inaccurate Worldview: Within <--> Without

The positive change protagonist has an inaccurate worldview in the beginning--this is sometimes referred to as the "lie" (as K. M. Weiland says it), "misbelief" (as Lisa Cron says it), or "flaw." He will overcome this on his journey and embrace the accurate worldview--the "truth." The truth is also the thematic statement.

The positive steadfast protagonist has the "truth," the accurate worldview, the thematic statement, from the beginning. This means that the inaccurate worldview needs to come from outside them. They need to encounter it in the environment.

You need to have the inaccurate worldview present. Otherwise, there is no opposing argument, no moral conflict.

A theme is essentially an argument about how we live our lives. You can't win an argument if no one is disagreeing. Someone needs to oppose the truth--I like to think of this opposition as the anti-theme. It is essentially the "lie," "misbelief," or "flaw." It is the worldview that is proven wrong by the end of the story.

It's just that with the flat-arc protagonist, that will hit them more from the outside. They will either:

- Enter a society run by the inaccurate worldview

- Have the inaccurate worldview enter their society

- Already live in a society riddled with the inaccurate worldview

Remember, a "society" is simply a collective--it can be as small as a school club or as big as a global government.

I don't know for sure that it always has to be a collective, but even if it's primarily an individual, the inaccurate worldview will still be within the surrounding characters--so in a sense, still part of the environment and society.

In Arrival, Louise is quickly surrounded by people who don't value or understand communication, or how it can avoid confrontation. She does. But she has to put up with that opposition and convince others to share her perspective.

In Princess Mononoke, a demonic boar full of hate and rage enters Ashitaka's peaceful society. After killing it, Ashitaka must journey far away to a land ruled by hate--where he is the only person who stands for peace.

In Wonder Woman, Diana must leave her society behind and enter a world war where humankind doesn't simply fight for a better world, but actively kills the innocent.

Rather than the protagonist transforming within, the positive steadfast protagonist will transform those around them, making the environment a better place as they hold steadfast to the true, accurate, worldview.

3. Internal Journey: Changed vs. Challenged

There is sometimes this idea, this . . . inaccurate worldview 😉 in the writing community that steadfast protagonists can't have rich internal journeys. As someone who loves the internal journey the best out of the plotlines, and who loves many steadfast protagonists the best, I don't find this to be true. Some of the most emotional internal journeys I've experienced, have come from positive steadfast protagonists. And one doesn't have to look far to find examples: The story of Jesus in the New Testament has moved whole nations.

It's fair to say that some steadfast protagonists don't have much of an internal plotline, like classic Superman or 007, but that has more to do with structuring plotlines than it does with character arcs.

For the change protagonist, the internal journey will largely be about transformation--a change. It's a journey to become a better person, and that can be a rich journey indeed.

For the steadfast protagonist, the internal journey will be a test of their beliefs--a challenge. It's a journey about ultimately choosing to hold strong in what you believe in, even if it seems the whole world is against you, (and for a steadfast protagonist journey, that's probably a good idea).

In a strange way, though, these two internal journeys are two sides of the same coin. After all, the change protagonist believes his worldview is the accurate worldview--that's why he has it! He doesn't believe, or at least doesn't clearly see, that he needs to change. The obstacles of the plot will reveal to him he could be wrong, that he needs to fix something about himself. Similarly, the steadfast protagonist believes she's right, and the obstacles of the plot will challenge that by suggesting she could be wrong and needs to bend to the opposing force.

One might argue that the main difference, then, is that the positive change protagonist succeeds at the end by changing, and that the positive steadfast protagonist succeeds at the end by not changing. But I think most of us would agree it'd be more helpful if we differentiated them a little more.

Because the transformation aspect is missing from the steadfast character, it becomes arguably more important to nail the other features of the internal journey. It's not that those features don't exist in the change journey, it's just that without the change itself, they carry more weight and become more centre stage (generally speaking).

One of the aspects that becomes critical, is that the steadfast protagonist needs to pay a high cost. If having an accurate worldview and using it to change the world around them is about as difficult as a stroll in the park, it can become annoying fast. Real life just isn't like that. Even when we are doing good, we still experience hardship, suffering, and opposition. If the steadfast protagonist doesn't have to pay a cost, then they're not really having their beliefs tested.

While a change protagonist's pain may come more from being wrong and having to change--in a sense being "punished" for being wrong--a steadfast protagonist's pain will come from being right and suffering for it, and having to remain true despite that. Essentially they embody the adage, "No good deed goes unpunished."

For example, in Princess Mononoke, in Ashitaka's quest to bring peace to a world at war, Ashitaka must endure a bullet, stabbing, and face death. He's no one's enemy, but he sometimes gets treated as one. He would likely suffer less if he just joined the war efforts and embraced the inaccurate worldview, or if he simply left. Likewise, Jesus holding true to his beliefs in the New Testament, led to him being crucified.

As the obstacles of the plot mount, the steadfast protagonist will be asked to doubt their worldview. Some steadfast protagonists entertain doubt more than others. This may lead to the protagonist wavering in his or her beliefs. Ashitaka entertains doubt only a little, while in Wonder Woman, Diana is brought to her knees by doubt, nearly turning her back on her beliefs. Doubt will usually be strongest at the end of the middle--what some call "The Ordeal," which will lead into the “All is Lost” and "Dark Night of the Soul" moments.

Often, in order for this to work well, the opposing argument needs to appear valid. It needs to look as if the inaccurate worldview could actually be the accurate worldview. It needs to look like the anti-theme could actually be the theme. Like the "lie" could actually be the "truth." This means it becomes perhaps even more important, for you as the writer, to show the legitimate strength of the opposing perspective. If it's obvious the theme is the "truth," then there is no need for the protagonist to experience doubt. There isn't even a need to have a thematic argument. The protagonist may also (or sometimes, instead) doubt his ability or worthiness to live and spread the truth. For more on the power of doubt with flat-arc characters, check out K. M. Weiland's article "Why Doubt is the Key to Flat Character Arcs."

Like costs, stakes become more critical. Stakes are potential consequences. They put pressure on the protagonist and give their choices meaning. If sticking to their worldview means they must suffer steep consequences, their actions carry more weight. It's easy to do what is right when you have nothing to lose. If I found a lost dog, it would be easy for me to look at its tags and return it to its owner. If I found a mean dog trying to bite my hand the evening before my piano recital, wrangled it, saw it belonged to my worst enemy, and still chose to return it--that reveals just how committed I am to saving those lost.

The steadfast protagonist needs to be challenged and tested--one of the best ways to do that is to raise the stakes. Raise them high enough to get them to hesitate, to doubt, to pay a steep cost. In a rich internal journey, we want to push the steadfast protagonist to her limits. What is it going to take to get your protagonist to consider the opposing side? To tempt her to give up her beliefs? In a sense, through the middle, we are really throwing temptations at the protagonist, trying to get her to give in to the opposing argument. Sometimes the most powerful way to do this, is to give the protagonist conflicting wants.

In reality, the audience can't fully see just how steadfast the protagonist is, if she doesn't have to suffer costs, legitimate doubts, and high stakes. It's only in the face of adversity, can we measure true character.

That is the meat of the steadfast protagonist's inner journey.

* I would like to add just one warning, however. In your quest to make your steadfast protagonist struggle, it's important he or she still has some victories along the way. Just as it becomes annoying if the steadfast protagonist never has to struggle, it can also become annoying if the steadfast protagonist never has any success.

4. Ghost/Wound: Inaccurate Belief <--> Accurate Belief

(This is a repeat section from last week. I just thought it would be helpful to have all these elements on the same post.)

A "ghost" is a past, significant, often traumatic event that motivates the character to adopt an inaccurate worldview (the "anti-theme" or the "lie" or the "misbelief"--depending on your preferred terminology). In the industry, this is also sometimes called a "wound." You can learn all about ghosts/wounds in my article, "Giving Your Protagonist a Ghost."

But in a positive steadfast protagonist, this is often flipped. The ghost is often a past, significant, sometimes traumatic event that motivates the character to adopt the accurate worldview (the "theme" or the "truth" if you prefer).

For example, Cinderella's mother, while on her deathbed, tells Cinderella to always be kind. This motivates Cinderella to do just that.

Of course, not every character will have a ghost addressed in the story.

For the positive steadfast protagonist, the ghost may be largely resolved.

But not always. They may not have complete closure and peace. And it's possible they are still traumatized by the event.

Sometimes adhering to what is true can be nearly as haunting as having regrets. It's just that the haunting will come from either the cost of the truth, or, a lack of power--a lack of control--during the ghost. Generally speaking anyway.

In The X-Files, Fox Mulder, in the overall story and theme, is a positive steadfast character. The ongoing theme is an argument of belief vs. disbelief. (The motifs, "I want to believe" and "The truth is out there" speak to that.) However, Mulder has an unresolved, traumatizing ghost: his little sister was abducted by aliens.

This event cements him to the thematic truth of belief and motivates him to investigate anything unnatural. But this happened at the cost of his sister.

Sometimes the trauma comes from not being able to do anything, just as Mulder was powerless to stop the abduction.

Other times it may come from not being able to stop a loved one from choosing the inaccurate worldview--the "lie," "anti-theme," or "misbelief." The steadfast character may be haunted by the outcome of someone else choosing the lie.

5. Want vs. Need <--> I Want the Need

For all other character arcs, what the character wants and what the character needs will be two different things. You can learn about want vs. need in depth here.

In a positive change arc, the protagonist will want something that will manifest in concrete goals, which helps make up the plot of the story. Elsa wants to live in isolation to be herself, so she runs away and creates an ice castle (accidentally freezing the kingdom in the process). The need will be a realization that is thematic--it will be the thematic statement. Elsa needs to learn to be open to love to be authentic--that's what will actually solve her problems.

For the positive steadfast protagonist, the want and the need will be more closely aligned. The protagonist wants what is needed. In a sense, he starts the story with the need. However, the need still has to be applied to the concrete world, which isn't necessarily easy. In a sense, we are taking the need that is within, and trying to apply it to the "real world," which is without. For example, if I know I need to exercise to be healthy, then I probably also want to do that. But that means I still need to put in the work. It also doesn’t mean I know everything about the process--because I may not have full experience with it. I might need to learn a new skill, like how to swim properly.

In Moana, Moana already knows who she is on the inside (thematic statement)--she knows she and her people are meant to sail--but she still has to learn how to sail.

Ashitaka knows the world needs peace, but he doesn't know how to make peace happen within a war. He knows how to have an inner peace, but he doesn't know how to make the external world--the societies around him--peaceful. He's trying to figure it out along the way. He's trying to figure out how to apply a personal experience to the public environment.

The protagonist may still need a greater, more complete understanding of the need, the theme, and how to properly apply it to the real world. We all want to solve world hunger--but how do we actually do that?

On top of that, as the protagonist struggles to meet the need, you may want to tempt him with a conflicting want. In Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker both wants what is needed (to be a self-sacrificing hero) and wants a personal want (to live an ordinary life with Mary Jane Watson). This creates inner turmoil. (And also gives more meat to the internal journey.)

As tests and doubts get heavy, the other want may appear more "right" and enticing. It will almost certainly appear easier.

As tests and doubts get heavy, the flat-arc protagonist may lose sight of the need. In Wonder Woman's "All is Lost" moment, Diana doesn't want to fight for the world she believes in anymore. The world doesn't deserve it. She loses sight of the need, the theme.

In short, the struggle comes from trying to apply the need, being tempting with another want, and/or losing sight of the need.

6. Protagonist Changes <--> Cast Changes

I touched on this earlier, but it's worth giving its own section.

In many positive change protagonist stories, the protagonist will change to the worldview some of the cast members around him have. In Spider-verse, Miles Morales must learn to persevere like the other spider people around him.

In many flat-arc protagonist stories, the cast around the protagonist will change their worldviews to match hers. Moana's journey changes not only Maui's understanding of himself, but Te Fiti's, and everyone's on the island as well.

In some flat-arc stories, this can be critical at the "All is Lost" moment, because if the protagonist is suffering serious doubt, the supporting cast can bolster her by now acting on the accurate worldview, which is essentially what happens in Wonder Woman. As Diana crumbles under doubt, all of her team members enter the fray, prepared to die to make the world a better place. Their selfless sacrifices wake her up, and she recommits to the theme, finding the strength to take on Ares.

Some stories may emphasize these changes more than others, but pretty much always, the Influence Character will at least experience a noticeable change--usually demonstrated near the same place in structure that the change protagonist will change.

But applying the steadfast protagonist to story structure will be for another day (hopefully in the coming weeks). Stay tuned!

#writing tips #writing tips and tricks #writeblr #fanfic #nanowrimo #writing reference #writing advice #protagonist #steadfast protagonist #flat-arc protagonist #moana #arrival #princess mononoke #wonder woman #character #character arcs #writing help

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kiribaku-queen · 3 years

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The Blood King and his Queen [2]

Pairing: Bakugou x reader

Romance, Angst, Drama

Word count: 2.3K

Summary: From being a mere servant girl to marrying the scariest prince in existence, your world changed right before your eyes. Exchanging places with the princess, you knew, wasn’t going to be easy. But could you have found love on the way? Or was it never meant to be?

A/N: Welcome back! I’m trying to post every Monday again, but let’s see if I can keep that up! Honestly, I can’t wait for the next few chapters because I’m going to fangirl so harddd! Look at me... over my own story.

[previous] [next]

You came face to face with the prince’s cold, killer gaze. His blood, red eyes pierced your soul, making you unable to move a muscle. The rumors were true. Bakugou Katsuki was a very scary person. You’ve never felt more intimidated in your life like how you were right in this instant.

The prince only wore a red, fur cape with a lousy pair of pants and boots to match. His chest and stomach could be clearly shown off, battle scars raked his body. Although impressive, it proved to be even more intimidating for you.

You gulped in fear.

You had to say something. You were in the presence of your ‘fiancé’ and one of the most powerful people you’ve ever met. But you couldn’t act like yourself. Remember, you were a princess now. You’re still a servant at heart, but a princess now no less. What would the princess normally do?

Thinking back to when you would accompany her to her many visits with special guests, she was always so delicate with her movements and her words. The way she presented herself was so elegant, as a princess should be. A very different image than everyone else at the palace see her as. But you had the rare opportunity to see her in such light due to being one of the only people who attended to her everywhere. So when you were given those opportunities so see her different side, you watched her closely, mesmerized by the way she carried herself. All you had to do was imitate what you saw.

“Your highne-” you bow your head to greet him, but was rudely cut off by his deep, husky voice.

“Kirishima,” Bakugou’s voice boomed. His echoes bounced off the walls of the large throne room you were in. You jumped at just how loud his voice got. Not only were you not expecting him to be loud, but you weren’t expecting that deep of a voice.

A red-headed knight, big and scruffy with metal armor still on, stepped forward. His stance was very broad and strong, hands were crossed behind his back as his gaze was straight in front of him. He didn’t say anything but his presence was enough for Bakugou to continue.

“Show the princess to her room,” he demanded.

“Yes, Your Highness,” The one named Kirishima answered. The knight walked up to you and motioned for you to follow him. Although he was intimidating from far away, the moment you saw his face up close, you could tell from his aura that he wasn’t like his future king at all. You allowed him to take you away. But not before the prince himself had something else to say.

“Kirishima. He will be your personal guard starting today. If you need anything, go to him,” he said. You turned to face the cold prince, but his back was already turned to you. He was talking directly to you but not to you at the same time. The view of his back side was somewhat… sad. And lonely. Well talk about first impressions.

Prince Bakugou had completely disappeared from your sight. Kirishima cleared his throat and you turned your attention back on him.

“Please excuse his highness. He’s not exactly… in the mood,” the red-head enlightened you. The look he gave you was astonishingly unlike the character he first presented to you. When he stepped up, he looked just as intimidating as the Blood Prince. But now, he was all smiles. That intimidating personality vanished into thin air, like it was never present in the first place. His smile was bright and welcoming and his eyes were kind. A character that you weren’t expecting to serve under the cold killer prince.

“Shall we go?” Kirishima brought you back to reality. You hadn’t realized you were so deep in your thoughts. You must look like such a fool in that moment. You nodded your head and followed closely behind him.

On the way to your room, Kirishima showed you around the palace. Where the dining area was, the library, the study, the kitchen, the servants quarters, where Bakugou was staying and finally, where you would be residing for the time being. You knew you weren’t married yet, but you didn’t think Bakugou and the princess would be sleeping in two different places. Probably better for you, though. At least you won’t have to feel nervous at night now.

“So,” Kirishima, once again, interrupted your thoughts. You were standing outside your bedroom door when Kirishima decides for small talk. “What do you think about Bakugou so far?” His question came to as a surprise to you. Not because it was odd to be asking a princess such a personal question, but because that he was addressing his prince for informally. Kirishima noticed the hesitancy in your answer and gave off an awkward laugh.

“The prince and I are like brothers. We grew up and trained together, so I get a little too comfortable at times when addressing his highness. I apologize if it caught you off guard,” he apologized. You waved your hands in front of you, shaking your head.

“Oh, do not apologize. I didn’t realize how close you were to the prince,” you said nervously. You tried to make it subtle that you were a bit uncomfortable with this role that you were suddenly meant to take up. But Kirishima saw right through you, noticing every small change you made. The way you moved, the way you talked, the way your hands fidgeted, the way your eyes were always on something other than the person in front of you. He took in all these behaviors with his sharp eyes.

“I assume that you aren’t too fond of his highness,” he came to conclusion. His comment made you panic more than before.

“Ah, it’s not that! I guess I was expecting… someone different? He’s definitely scary in person, but he’s not as some people describe. He doesn’t have sharp teeth or killer eyes. I mean, his eyes are intimidating but I don’t think he looked like he wanted to kill me. But I guess the description of his scars were accurate. But always very manly at the same time!” you rambled on. You couldn’t have the Prince’s best friend think that you think badly of the Prince. You tried to be truthful but not fully truthful at the same time. How would the princess react? Would she have lied to save herself? You mentally knocked your forehead. You weren’t ready for such a task yet. Kirishima laughed at your response. But then his eyes turned a little sad, while a small still laid on his lips.

“So, you believe in the rumors? He asked. You paused to look at him. Rumors?

“I’m not sure anymore,” you say truthfully. Did everything you hear about the Blood Prince all rumors? People made up horrible things about him and you believed it? Without a second thought. Kirishima laughed one more time and continued to open your bedroom door for you.

“I guess you’ll find out for yourself soon,” he commented. “I’ll let you freshen up and get rested. Dinner should be served soon.” He said before stepping out. Now you were all alone. Left alone to bathe in your thoughts.

It wasn’t until you turned around did your jaw drop to the floor. Despite what the rest of the Blood Prince’s palace looked like, this room was fit for a princess. A gorgeous bed, beautiful view with an unbelievable tall window and balcony, exquisite fruits and snacks for you to munch on, a mini library and desk, a wardrobe filled with dresses. It was just… wow. You wanted to have the chance to collect your thoughts. But first.

A devilish smile slowly creeped its way to your lips as your eyes diverted to the massive bed in the middle of the room. You couldn’t suppress the urge to jump right onto that bed, so that’s exactly what you did. With full speed, you ran right up to that bed and landed on your back with wide arms. The instant you landed on that bed, you sank right in. The mattress and pillows engulfed your entire body. You’ve never laid in something so fluffy and soft. This was much nicer than your bed back in the servant’s quarters. The room was so extravagant that you didn’t even know where to look. Is this what it feels like to live like a princess? You even had your own servants ready to tend to you, waiting outside.

That used to be you. Right, back to reality. This was only a dream you were meant to wake up to. You shouldn’t be feeling so happy right now. Although you knew you could never experience this again after this is all over, you wanted to enjoy as much of it as you could. But you were on a mission, given to you specifically by the princess herself. You felt luxurious, but weird. Like you were in a body that didn’t belong to you.

Then your mind started wandering back to the Blood Prince, Bakugou Katsuki. You heard so many things about this so-called, ‘Blood Prince’. So much that you thought you were well versed in his behavior. Bakugou had ruled the battlefield despite his young age. He didn’t take shit from anybody. In fact, he beheaded anybody who dare to defy him. Once, you heard that multiple women went in and out of his chambers every single night. He didn’t sound like a likeable person at all. Were the things you heard really rumors? From what you heard, the descriptions of the prince weren’t far off. They couldn’t possibly have twisted the truth to make people fear him. Right? How much of what you heard was real?

Although you were feeling guilty about having thought of him that way, you had to remind yourself of the mission that you were on: get the prince to hate you and call of the engagement so you could return home and everything will go back to normal. You weren’t here to be on good terms with the prince. Whether the rumors were true or not, all you wanted to do was go home. The easiest way to do that? Get the prince to hate you. You should do everything a princess shouldn’t. You shouldn’t be elegant. You shouldn’t have to keep your mouth shut. You shouldn’t be respectful. Well, since you didn’t know anything about being a princess anyway, you decided it couldn’t hurt to act like yourself. If it gets you into too much trouble, then you might have to change your plan. But for now, you were going to see where it takes you.

As soon as you got changed into something more appropriate, Kirishima escorted you to the dining area where dinner was being served. The moment you entered the dining area, a plethora of food was presented on this long dining table, ranging from all sorts of dishes. You’ve seen your fair share of massive presentation due to being by the princess’s side, but this was on a whole ‘nother level. This amount of food could be enough to feed a whole village.

On one side of the table, an empty chair waiting for your arrival. But what you didn’t expect to see on the other side of the table was Bakugou Katsuki, already sitting. You looked down to see that he hadn’t even touched his food yet. Was he waiting for you?

“Your highness,” you greeted him with a slight bow. He did not greet you back. Only gave you a glance, let out a low gruff and adjusted himself in his seat. Hmph, rude. All politeness was thrown out the window now as your lips turned into a frown.

“Princess?” Kirishima interrupted your thoughts. He had moved to the empty chair and pulled it out for you. You gladly excepted his kind gesture and sat yourself at the table. Kirishima moved to the side and stood guard while you and Bakugou had your meal.

“Nice of you to show up,” Bakugou said. His comment caught you off guard.

“Pardon my tardiness. I couldn’t figure out which gown to wear for this evening as you gave me so many options to choose from. But I didn’t expect that to stop the great Blood Prince from starting his meal,” you gave a snarky remark back. You looked Bakugou straight in the eyes and gave him a smile, one that was challenging to Bakugou. Bakugou didn’t hesitate to meet your eyes, his crimson stare boar into yours as he drank from his cup. The look he gave you ran chills down your spine. Although a tint of amusement flickered in his eyes, the intimidation made you oversee that small detail. His eye contact was so strong that you couldn’t look away. But why wasn’t he looking away either? For a few moments, you two held eye contact with each other, both of you seemingly unable to look away. You were putting on a front, but how much longer could you do that. Until it was too much, you cleared your throat and looked down, picking up your utensils to start eating.

Bakugou smirked at your reaction, almost impressed that you could hold his stare for that long, and also began eating. Not until he glanced back up to get another look at you.

Kirishima saw that. He looked back and forth between you and his best friend during your stare down. It took everything in him to not chuckle, so he bit the inside of his cheek to refrain from showing any reaction. But he saw the second take Bakugou shot at you. Oh? Was something going on already?

A/N: Please let me know your thoughts and if it’s getting interesting! Hopefully I tagged everybody and if not, please let me know! Also let me know if you want to be tagged and I’ll gladly add you!

Tagged: @superblyspeedydragon @melasnchz-things @animexholic @bkgwrites @sam-i-am-1025 @apexqueenie

#bakugou x reader #katsuki bakugou #bakugou #bnha bakugou #bakugou imagine #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha imagines #bakugou angst #bnha art #bakugou romance #bakugou drama

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alice-angel12x · 3 years

Text

💔Bunny!Shouto x Bunny!Reader

Beastar/hybrid/ Fantasy AU

[In this story everyone is a hybrid with animal instincts, and major height difference depending on the animals like in beastars. And magic exists. And sorry if Shouto seems out of character for you.]

"Shouto where are you?!" Y/n called for her friend.

Sadly Shouto's mind was elsewhere, for he had fallen in love with the wolf princess Momo. Every day he would sit at the edge of cottonwood village and gaze upon The princess from afar.

"Shouto, there you are," Y/n said with a smile.

But that quickly turned into a sad frown as she saw Shouto eyeing the crescent castle. Kingdom of the wolves. Know most would wonder, why is there a rabbit village a hop skip, and a jump away from a wolf kingdom. Well, every time the village tries to move away rogue wolves would attack. Yet once they got close to the castle they would quickly run away. The king of the wolves claimed that as long as they stayed within the boundaries of the kingdom, they would protect them. Y/n never bought that. She noticed that once every year one rabbit from the village would disappear. Many believed it was from the rogue wolves, sneaking in and past the guards. So Y/n was worried about her friend falling in love with a wolf, a rabbit falling in love with a wolf.

"Oh Hi, Y/n," was all he said not even turning to look at her.

"How are you feeling, you know since spring is coming up?" Y/n asked him slowly.

"I'm fine," was all he said. "How about you,"

"I'm good still looking for my prince charming you know," Y/n said wistfully.

"You so childish," Shouto said as he finally turned to her.

"I'm 16 what's so childish about that?" Y/n asked as she turned to head back to the village.

Cottonwood Village is a quaint little town of Rabbits. In the middle of the village was a large cottage where the leader/mayor lived with his family, Shouto's family. The leader was endeavor Shouto's father, he was a part of the group of rabbits that believed the wolves were hiding something.

"Does your father know about your umm, dream girl?" Y/n asked.

"My father already has enough control of my life, I'm not about to let him control my love life," Shouto said coldly.

"You shouldn't get too close to the castle, it's dangerous," Y/n said in a worried tone.

"I know your thoughts on Wolves Y/n. But the wolves have shown use that they have other alternative foods. Like soy and bean-made meat," Shouto explained.

"It's easy to say that when it's not someone you care about goes missing," Y/n muttered bitterly, but Shouto sadly heard her.

"Y/n, it was the rogues that got your brother. And the Kingdom felt with them remember," Shouto sighed in annoyance.

"Shouto are you sure you love this wolf girl or is this just one of your I just wanna piss off my dad things?" Y/n asked bitterly.

"If You don't like it then you could always find someone else to hang out with, Y/n!" Shouto said as his left side lit up in flames.

Y/n quickly ran off, startled by Shouto's flame magic. Shouto sighed in frustration as he realized he used his father's Flames. After that Shouto avoided Y/n like the plague, and it didn't help that his father eventually found out Shouto was in love with a wolf. Endeavor did not like that, so he started setting updates for Shouto to try to take his mind off Momo.

Y/n tried to apologize and rekindle with him, but he would only give her the cold shoulder.

Y/n could see the sorrow and anger Shouto was in, so she barrier her feelings for him and braved the dark forest. She heard rumors that a powerful owl named All For One could perform miracles, even change species. She eventually found him a creepy old owl.

"E-excuse me, sir," Y/n stuttered as the owl turned his head 180° to look at her.

"I wanted to know if you had the power to change a person's species?"

"Yes indeed child, and what species would you like to be, but it will cost you," All for One chuckled.

"How much would it cost?" She asked.

"Half of your soul. Your life Will be cut in half. You'll live to about 25 for you," he answered as he towered over Y/n.

"I would like to pay for someone. If a red and white male rabbit comes and asks to change him, please take my soul," Y/n said in confidence.

"You young people always ready to throw your life away," he muttered as ripped out half of Y/n's soul.

And with that, she quickly ran back to the village, with Half of her soul in toe. She managed to track down Shouto and told him about All for One but left out the part of selling half of her soul.

Shouto did not waste time to find the owl and demand him to turn him into a wolf.

____________ [4 years later]

It has been 4 years since I changed into a wolf. When I changed, I found myself waking up in a large bed. I was found by Princess Momo herself. She helped was so sweet and kind, and was more than happy to explain wolf society. When I told her I was raised by Herbavoir animals. I was an Omega, while She was an Alpha.

Yet I enjoyed the times we spent together, I had never felt so free. She would help my heats or anything that confused me. It took a while to get used to eating soy meat, but I didn't mind all that much. All for One said he could change me and give me Wolf-like instincts, but he couldn't remove my Rabbit instincts. So it took a long time to suppress those instincts.

°° Today Momo had important meetings, so I was left to my own devices. So I decided to take a stroll through the forest. As I wandered through the forest I could hear humming coming from a nearby river. I peaked out from behind the tree, too see a rabbit bathing in the river. I recognized that rabbit, with her lovely H/c hair and beautiful snow-white rabbit ears and Tail.

"Y/n?" I called out to her.

Y/n quickly turned around to face me as she covered her chest with her arms. As my eyes took in all of her details I could feel the rest of the world fading away. It was just me and Y/n. In my new wolf body, Y/n looked so small compared to me now.

She matured a lot over these past 4 years. For some reason I couldn't see her as the childish dreamer 4 years ago, I couldn't figure out why.

"Umm hello Shouto, your taller," Y/n said as she started backing away.

"I-it's good to see you again Y/n," stuttered as I felt the heat rush to my face.

She smiled sweetly at me as she grabbed her robes as he made her way over to you. Seeing her standing In front of me was odd. I remember when I was still a rabbit I was just a few inches taller than her. But now she just barely reached my mid waist.

We sat under a tree and talked for hours about what had happened to me. And she sat there and listened very closely. Her robes v neck was very revealing and I started to feel hot.

She seemed to notice as she got and started to walk with a slight sway in her hips. A dormant instinct awakens within me as the rabbit inside me begged to go after her.

"It seems you're a bit too excited to see me. If I remember correctly I was too childish for you~," She said with a smooth seductive voice.

I had to hold back the Rabbit instincts as I watched cross to the other side of the river.

"I'm afraid I have to leave now, spring is just around the corner after all~," She cooed as she disappeared behind the trees.

I felt hot in a certain place as I felt my tail wag uncontrollably on the ground. That wasn't the last time I went out to see Y/n. Anytime Momo was busy I would meet Y/n by the river and we would talk.

One day it was a particularly hot day as I made my way to Y/n's meet site. Today she was wearing a large floppy sun hat and a cute spring dress.

"So what us Momo like?" Y/n asked curiously.

"She's wonderful, she's kind, smart, and gentle," I said to her as I started to talk about my fiance.

"Hey Shouto are you okay, you seem sluggish today and in pain?" Y/n asked worriedly.

"Oh don't worry, I'm going into heat soon. So I'll be sore for a while, the downsides to being an Omega wolf," I explained.

"That sucks, is there any way I can help you?" Y/n asked as she hugged my neck. She smelled like a field of wildflowers, I couldn't help but return her hug. ---

As The two old friends were talking they failed to notice two figures creeping behind them. Before Y/n could react, a large hand grabbed her by the ears and lifted her off the ground. She screamed and thrashed against her captors. Shouto quickly got up and tackled the man as he pulled Y/n into his arms and ran.

"It's the rogues, we need to head back to the castle," Shouto struggled to say as he ran.

But as he ran his body began to ache and became heavy. His vision started to blur and his steps became uncertain. Shouto tripped and tumbled down the hill with Y/n in toe. As he collapsed on the ground his eyes slowly closed as his body gave out.

"SHOUTO, PLEASE WAKE UP!!'' was the last thing he heard.

------

As my eyes opened up, I found myself in my room or my nest. suddenly Momo came in with her usual sweet smile.

" Good your fully awake, it's good to see you took well to the stew," she smiled as she picked up the empty bowl next to me.

"W-what happened to me," Shouto asked as he tried to sit up.

" You're in your heat, but it is taking a larger toll on you because your body lacks certain nutrients that soy meat can't provide. So our hunters found a rabbit near you and gave her to our chiefs and made you rabbit stew," Momo explained.

Shouto felt his whole world shatter as his stomach noted and squeezed.

"Oh, my maid is coming with more stew. Today's rabbit such a delicious flavor," Momo said as she rubbed her finger in the empty bowl and licked off the stew on her finger.

Shouto began to tremble as the truth sank into him. His stomach lurched in disgust as he sat up and leaned onto a nearby wall. Soon a maid came in with a fresh bowl of ... Rabbit... Soup. Shouto tried to back away only for his back to meet another wall. The maid scooped a spoon full of Stew with a generous amount of cooked meat chunks.

"Open your mouth," the maid said using her Alpha order.

Shouto's omega body slowly opened its mouth, despite Shouto's wishes. As the maid feeds him a spoonful of rabbit stew. The maid ordered him to chew and swallow, and he did. Heavy tears ran down Shouto's face as his body betrayed him. It felt like an eternity to finish the entire bowl of Stew.

____

Soon as the maid left Shouto pushed himself onto his feet and made his way down to the kitchen.

'It couldn't be Y/n right? She must have run away to safety,' he thought to himself.

As he entered he saw the chief with a cloth sack ready to be thrown out. Shouto quickly offered to take it out for them as a thank you for the meal. And the chief happily gave the sac to Shouto.

Once he was out he ran deep into the forest and opened the bag to see a fresh skeleton of a small rabbit. But inside he pulled out a familiar sun hat and spring dress. His stomach lurched and forced up the stew into a nearby bush.

"I... I ate her!! I ate Y/n', His mind screamed in shame, disgust, and sorrow as he began to sob.

Flashes of Y/n's beautiful smile and lively eyes appeared in his mind.

He held up Y/n's dress, it looked so small. The perfect size for a Pup maybe, but he knew this dress was the size for a fully grown rabbit, a young woman. He held the dress close to his chest like he was Hugging Y/n again.

Shouto with his head low he snuck back to his nest. Laying down he slowly pushed away most of the fabric Momo scented as he held Y/n's dress close to him. He could still smell the field of wildflowers on her dress.

"I can still smell you Y/n," He whimpered to himself.

#bnha x reader #mha x reader #todoroki shouto #shouto x reader #fantasy au #a/b/o #crossover #hybrid #todoroki x reader #Angst #slight horror #Maybe not really

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poppywrites41 · 3 years

Text

Captive Love Ch. 2

Prince! Yoongi x Maid! Reader

Here is chapter 2! This chapter will focus on Y/N’s first day of work…and maybe a little bit of a cliffhanger.

Warnings for this chapter: Swearing, violence, description of past deaths, mentions of smut

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“Rise and shine girls!” Lilith shouts through the halls of the servants’ quarters, her meaty fists pounding on each of the girl’s doors. Y/N swears she can feel her room shake every time that woman’s fist comes in contact with a door. “You all have 10 minutes to get dressed and come down to eat!” Lilith calls, her heels clacking away. Y/N raises her arms up to stretch. She looks out of her small window to see a garden with a path that leads to a small set of doors going into the back of the castle. She turns to her cupboard and takes out her servant’s outfit. She takes off her dress that she wore yesterday, neatly folded it like her mother taught her to, and placed it in the cupboard. She took a look at the outfit laid out on the bed. It was not elegant in the slightest, but it was sure prettier than any outfit she had worn in her life. It was a pretty beige with ¾ sleeves that were flexible enough to move the arms comfortably to perform the needed tasks. The skirt was neatly fitted on the waist and ran to the ankles. It was not puffy at all and had a comfortable feel to it. And to top it all off, pretty little white lace ruffles were added to the ends of the sleeves and around the top opening to give it some style, which Y/N really appreciated. When she got the dress on, Y/N took a look at herself in the small mirror hanging on her wall above her tiny sink. She spotted some dirt on her cheeks, probably from the wagon, so she splashed her face with water, rubbing at her skin. After her facewash, she noticed how messy her hair had gotten. She ran her fingers through the h/c locks and tied the hair in the front to the back, creating a half up-half down style. She made her way to her door, slipping on her shoes and head down the hall to the servants dining hall.

When she arrived, she found a seat at a table where some of the girls she arrived with yesterday were sitting at. They were not talking to each other as much as the other servants were, probably because they were new or nervous. Y/N sat down next to a young girl with dark brown hair. Once she sat down, an older woman brought her a tray with a piece of bread, some water and a small bowl of what looked like to be chicken broth. Y/N turned to the girl and offered a small smile, “Hi, I’m Y/N. We came together on the wagon yesterday. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier.” The girl’s hazel eyes met hers and she gave Y/N a small smile, “It’s okay. I’m Emily. I don’t really talk when I’m nervous. I have a lot of anxiety when I feel pressured.” She said in a quiet tone. “I get it. I am totally nervous. I mean, yesterday I was living my normal life and now suddenly, I’m a servant to the royal family. The people who I thought of as family, gave me away for money without a second thought.” Y/N said taking a bite of her bread and immediately chasing it down with some water. Emily frowned, “I’m sorry to hear that.” “So,” Y/N said after eating a spoonful of the bland broth, “How did you get here?” Emily looked down at her food and played with it with her spoon, “I’m actually a twin. My sister and I are daughters of bakers. My mom and dad worked so hard their entire life, baking for the royal family. My sister was a big help in the kitchen. She is so smart, kind, outgoing and beautiful. She is pretty much everything I am not. I would usually mess up tasks that would get me in trouble, but she would always defend me. My parents loved me, don’t get me wrong, they were just worried about me a lot. I wasn’t let out a lot. I could have been an embarrassment to them. Then, my sister met a man who came from a good family. They fell in love and are to be married. However, the guards came before the wedding and were trying to get my parents to give them my sister for a large sum of money. So that’s when I volunteered myself to go in her place. I didn’t want her to leave everything behind and to ruin her chance of a happily ever after, so I went in her place.” Y/N looked at the girl with awe, “You are such a good and brave sister to go in her place. I’m sure she is very thankful for you. I don’t think you are an embarrassment. Just stick with me and we will get through this together!” Emily smiles at her and nods in agreement. Before anything else could be said, Lilith’s voice was booming throughout the room, “Mealtime is over! Everyone sit down a listen. Tomorrow is the Grand Royal Gala so we will need to clean the castle extra today. Royal families from all over the country will be attending so I want that castle spotless. Here are the groups and their tasks for the day. Rosetta, you and your hall will clean the floors and windows of the ball room. Claire, take your girls and polish all of the utensils and dishware. Isabel, you and your hall are in charge of cleaning the dinning hall. I want that space especially clean.”

While scrubbing away the dirt on the floor of the halls, Y/N reflected on what Elizabeth informed them about the royal family:

First off, the king. He has his own personal servants who clean, dress and cook for him, so it was highly unlikely for her to be involved with him. He is a strict ruler and likes for everything to be perfect. He does not interfere much with his sons’ lives, but he is more attentive to his two eldest sons. He wants to make sure they are both well-educated and fit enough to rule the kingdom when his time is up.

Same goes for the queen. She is a more carefree person than her husband. She enjoys balls and festivities. She interacts more with her sons than her spouse, but definitely more with her youngest sons, since the older ones are with the king or in counsel or military meetings. She clearly loves her family but is not the most observant or caring mother. She lets them do as they please.

Now, the eldest prince, Prince Seokjin. He is the next in line for the throne. Elizabeth said that he is very serious about his role in the family. With his brothers, he can be a fun person who will crack jokes and enjoy the company of others. But when wronged, he can be a completely different person. He once chopped off a chef’s fingers for making a soup too spicy for his liking and fed those fingers to his dogs. Since he will most likely become king in the near future, more galas will be held to find the prince a suitable wife. Overall, Y/N believes that she will not be in contact with the prince very often either.

The second eldest is Prince Yoongi, the second in line for the throne. According to Elizabeth, he rarely shows his face in public. He is extremely introverted. He keeps to himself, usually in his room where he will write poems, or he will be sleeping. Even with his introverted nature, he is somewhat of a genius. Elizabeth said that when he was a teenager, the king went to war with a foreign land and was at a disadvantage. It was Prince Yoongi, at age 16, that stepped in and completely remodeled the military tactics, which won them the war. However, like his brother, when wronged, he turns into a beast. One day, he was asleep in his room when a servant came in to clean. The servant did not notice the prince asleep and continued his task. It was not until he accidentally knocked the prince’s favorite ink off of his table and spilled it on the ground. The prince woke up in a rage. The man tried to apologize to the prince, only to have himself sent to the dungeons for a week with no food or water. On the last day, Prince Yoongi went down to see the servant, only to behead him himself.

When Elizabeth told them that story, Y/N felt deep chills run down her spine. Hopefully she won’t have to interact with Yoongi during her time at the castle.

From what she heard about the third and fourth oldest princes, Hoseok and Namjoon, they are not as hot tempered as the two eldest. Hoseok is a kind person with a bubbly personality, but when he is pushed the wrong way, he can be a force to be reckoned with. Namjoon on the other hand has not publicly displayed any hostile actions. He is extremely smart and a good leader. From what Elizabeth said, Namjoon is somewhat of a leader to all the brothers. He is very considerate of all of their opinions and is able to settle any arguments between the brothers. Y/N does not suspect to have any issues with those two princes.

Now the last three. Jimin and Taehyung, the fraternal twins who like to cause mischief in the palace. They seem to like to pick on the staff and belittle anyone who is of lower status then themselves. Out of the two of them, Taehyung is more sadistic. He will keep harassing staff members until they leave, hurt themselves or commit suicide. Jimin on the other hand, likes to make people, especially the women he has accompany him in his chambers, feel like they cannot survive without him. Whenever he has wronged one of his girls and they try to talk to him about it, he uses his charming attitude and well-chosen words to turn the whole conversation around onto the girls. He would make them feel like they were the ones who wronged him, and they would apologize to him and swear that they will do better.

Last but not least, the youngest prince, Jungkook. He had everything handed to him on a diamond plate. Elizabeth noted that his beauty almost rivals that of his oldest brother and Jungkook knows it. She said that he excels in anything he does. However, he is probably the scariest out of all the brothers. Jungkook can get away with anything…ANYTHING. Apparently, he was in love with a princess once and planned on marrying her. One day before he planned on proposing to her, he caught her having sex with one of his guards in the library. Furious, he went to his room and waited for her to return. When she did, he asked her where she was, and she lied to him saying that she went for a walk in the palace garden. Jungkook then called the guard she was with into his room and had two guards block the doors out of his room. He tied the princess to a chair, ignoring her cries trying to convince him that she would never cheat on him. He then ordered the guard to remove all of his clothing, leaving him nude. Jungkook had the guard put on prison cuffs himself while the prince hammered a hook into the wall. He beckoned the naked guard to lift his cuffed hands onto the hook. Once everything was in place, he slowly began to castrate the guard, relishing in the man’s screams of agony and the princesses’ shrill screams of horror. After he castrated him, Jungkook swiftly sliced the man’s neck, causing blood to spew out from the slash and him to choke on his own blood, all the while Jungkook forced the princess to watch. Once the man’s body stopped twitching, he untied the frozen princess and took her to his balcony. The princess began apologizing to the prince promising that she will never be unfaithful to him ever again, swearing her loyalty to him and begging for his forgiveness. He gave her a warm smile and gave her a small kiss on the lips, telling her that she is forgiven. And Just as the princess began to relax, Jungkook shoved her over the balcony and watched her body fall to ground. When the prince’s parents found out, they sent word to the princesses’ father that she had run off with a man and that they cannot find them anywhere. The princesses’ father believed them and sent search parties all around the country, never to find out the truth about what happened to his daughter. It’s because of that incident that Jungkook ends the lives of those who betray him.

All of a sudden, she heard something being knocked over and water spilling. Then a sudden cry of pain. Worried that one of girls hurt themselves, Y/N immediately got up and ran down the hall towards the noise, ignoring Emily telling her not to involve herself.

Y/N could hear a males voice from down the hall, “You stupid whore!! Your spilled you water on my fucking new shoes!!”

Once she turned the corner to where she would find the girl, her eyes widened, and her heart stopped.

#poppywrites41 #yoongi x reader smut #yandere yoongi #bts yoongi #yoongi x reader #yoongi smut #prince yoongi #yandere bts #yandere bts x reader

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