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29-pieces · 4 years

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Whumptober day 27 - Good Omens

Day 27: Extreme Weather Fandom/setting: Good Omens, Pompeii ca 79 AD Read on AO3 Read on FF.net

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Crowley hacked and coughed, face covered with his arm in a pointless attempt to protect himself from the ash. Stones rained down all around him; it was the only sound now that most of the screams had gone silent. Tears dripped down Crowley's face, carving lines through the ash that had already settled on him. What was he even doing here? It was useless... any human still in Pompeii was dead by now, or long past his ability to heal. And he wasn't supposed to be healing anyone, anyway. In fact, Crowley didn't know what his assignment here even was, but the crippling horror he felt at the scene around him wouldn't have allowed for him to function anyway.

"Anybody!" Crowley croaked out, desperation driving his sandaled feet a little further into the city. "Hello! Is- is anyone left...?"

One person. One wretched person to save, that was all he asked, but he couldn't stay here much longer himself, not without succumbing to the volcano and discorporating. At this point, it didn't seem like a terrible idea. A huge rock glanced off his shoulder, knocking Crowley off balance so that he tripped into the rapidly growing layer of hot ash coating the streets. Even if fire wasn't likely to do much damage to a demon (did lava count? He'd never tested this and wasn't eager to) it still hurt. Another stone crashed down beside him, so Crowley growled and drew his wings out into the physical plane, hoping to shield his head.

It wasn't the best idea he'd ever had, the hot, cloying ash immediately starting to stick to his feathers. It weighed him down, cumbersome and unwieldy. Crowley tried to stand back up but this time a falling rock did knock him over the head. The demon toppled the rest of the way to the ground, almost totally immersing himself in a hot casing of the volcanic brume.

With a strangled cry, Crowley forced himself up onto one trembling arm and called again,

"H-hello! Anyone, is anyone left alive?"

Shouting made him cough and choke and there was no reply. It was time to go; he was doing no good- er, well, he never did good, but he wasn't any use here. Shuffling around in the ash, Crowley staggered to his feet and tried to point himself out of the city, away from the cruel fires of Vesuvius. He blinked, shielding his eyes, and glanced around. His heart pounded faster; which way was out? Everything was covered in a thick, dark cloud and he had no idea which direction he was pointed now...

Maybe he should just lay down and discorporate there after all, but it was a terrifying prospect to die there alone in the volcano's wrath.

Panic overcame him, making the demon start to hyperventilate, which—given the debris in the air—only made things worse. Crowley sat heavily back down, about to go into a full-blown panic attack when a sudden light permeated the gaseous cloud around him.

"Hello!" a voice shouted. "Is someone there?"

"Over here!" Crowley immediately choked back, forgetting for a second the point had been for him to find someone else to save, not to require rescuing himself. At the moment, he didn't even care, nor did it occur to him that his wings—which he couldn't put away now even if he wanted, thanks to the layer of ash and dust bogging them down—might be a bit of a shock to whoever it was.

But when the light got closer, Crowley nearly sagged with relief to see the someone was the angel Aziraphale. They hadn't crossed paths since that day at Golgotha, but so far all of their meetings had been more or less on friendly terms, or at least neutral ones. So even though now would be the ideal time for Aziraphale to finish him off if he wanted, Crowley didn't think twice before reaching out desperately for the angel.

He saw Aziraphale's eyes widen before he hurried forward to take Crowley's hand and haul him back up to his feet.

"Can you fly?" Aziraphale asked urgently.

Crowley, who could barely move his wings now, shook his head.

Without another word, Aziraphale turned them both in the direction he'd come from, starting to run, still gripping Crowley's hand tightly. As bogged down as Crowley was, he couldn't go quite as fast, gasping raggedly for breath.

"Hurry!" Aziraphale urged over his shoulder. "The flow is about to hit the city!"

Crowley didn't answer, saving his breath for running. He didn't know how long or far they ran, but finally they broke free of the heavy cloud. Ash still drifted down like snowflakes, but Aziraphale didn't stop or let go of his hand until they had outrun even that. Not until they had splashed across a stream and Pompeii was far behind them did the angel slow to a stop, leaning over and panting hard.

Crowley fell to his knees at the stream to greedily gulp the cool water. It mixed with the ash coating his mouth, making him hack and spit out gobs of gunk. Crowley had never felt so miserable.

"Took too long gloating, did you?" Aziraphale wheezed, shooting a glower at the demon.

The implication froze Crowley in his tracks. He stared at Aziraphale, the accusation burning into his heart. "You think- that wasn't me," he gasped. Crowley's frame shuddered as he slowly shook his head and looked back towards the volcano—hidden in the cloud of its own eruption—with pain filled eyes. "There- there were kids in there," he whispered, voice breaking. "I thought I could get them out, but... They're all dead. All of 'em. I- Just get out of here and leave me then, if that's what you think! Stupid angel! I didn't do this!" He crumpled again. "There were kids..."

Aziraphale didn't leave, kneeling down next to him with an expression of sorrow. "I'm sorry, Crowley," he said contritely. "That was foolish of me to assume- I'm sorry, dear boy, please forgive me."

Crowley hung his head and nodded wordlessly. The angel had saved his life, after all, even while assuming the whole thing had been Crowley's doing.

"Oh, your wings are in such a state," Aziraphale fussed then, looking over the normally black feathers that were now streaked grey and white from the ash. "Let me get you cleaned up a bit, alright? Penance for my ugly assumption. And because I don't believe you'd have much luck on your own."

Well, he was right about that. Too exhausted to refuse and wanting nothing more than to be clean, Crowley nodded again.

Permission given, Aziraphale miracled a clean cloth out of nowhere and wet it in the stream. Then he sat behind Crowley and started to gently wipe away the layer of grime. While he did that, Crowley tiredly splashed water over his face and neck, rinsing so much ash away between the two of them that the stream ran cloudy where they were sitting. He finished before Aziraphale did; Crowley closed his eyes and sank into the comfort of having his feathers carefully cleaned, all the way from the tip of his primaries to the joint where the wings met his back and then back down over the other one.

His hurt at Aziraphale's accusation melted away along with the debris on his wings. To Crowley's surprise, the angel didn't stop even once he'd gone through several rags and the feathers were pristine again.

"Close your eyes," Aziraphale warned him, miracling a bucket now and trickling the water over Crowley's head to rinse out his long hair. Somehow the water was soapy and warm as the angel massaged it diligently into Crowley's scalp. It nearly put the demon to sleep, his throat closing up a bit at the gentle touch. He couldn't remember the last time someone had washed his hair. Had anyone ever? He didn't say a word, not trusting himself to speak, as the angel continued his careful ministrations.

"There we are," Aziraphale murmured, tipping one last bucket of warm water through his hair to wash everything away. "Now one last miracle—I doubt anyone on my side will notice, after all there's plenty that needs doing here—and you should feel like a new demon."

With a snap of his fingers, Crowley's ashy, dirty tunic was suddenly clean and shining white. Apparently the angel forgot that Crowley wore black, but it had been nearly white from the ash so he could be forgiven the mistake. Crowley would fix it later. Maybe. At any rate, it left him fully clean and fresh at last. Aziraphale crouched down beside him, a warm hand on Crowley's shoulder and a worried light in his eyes.

"Are you alright?" the angel asked softly. "I imagine this has... not been a good day."

"To say the least," Crowley replied, trying for flippant but sounding more downtrodden than anything. He cleared his throat. "But, uh, I guess I should thank you."

"Nonsense, you would have done the same-" Aziraphale cut off, turning an interesting shade of pink as though he'd said something he shouldn't have and wanted to have not said it.

Crowley wanted to tease him for it, but honestly he was too tired, so he nodded instead with all seriousness. "Yeah. Still," he said, shrugging. "Thanks." It was true, of course, he would have saved the angel if necessary. Crowley hated to be in anyone's debt, so maybe they should just make some sort of standing Arrangement, when the other needed help, they'd give it. Then it wasn't a favor, it was just... what they did. He'd mention it to Aziraphale sometime, see what the angel made of it. An Arrangement could come in really handy, the more he thought about it.

But that, he decided, soaking in the feeling of being clean and safe at last, was a thought for another day.

#whumptober2020 #no.27 #extreme weather #good omens #crowley whump #fanfiction #volcano #pompeii #pre-arrangement #wing grooming #hair washing #basically i'm a sucker for soft boys ^_^#Aziraphale to the rescue

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ironwoman18 · 4 years

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The Worst Third Date Ever part 27

Chapter 27: The Eternal City

"Wow... 13 hours and 35 minutes from Washington DC to Detroit to Amsterdam and lastly Rome" said Spencer while they got their suitcases.

"It was a long flight" said Max wrapping her arms around him "but it was cool since we had some moments in Amsterdam and we got some souvenirs" she smiled "but finally we're in Rome"

"Yeah and I'm really happy to be here, did you know that Rome is call the Eternal City as a reference to its longevity and used first by the Roman poet Tibullus and a bit later, by Ovid?" She kissed his cheek.

"No I didn't know it, thank you for the information" she laughed. She loved when he ramble about historical facts.

He smiled and they walked out the airport and looked for a taxi. They found one and said the name of the hotel they will stay.

In the plane, Max found some brochures about other things to do in the city "do you know you can go to Pompeii for a day? Its not too far from Rome" she commented him on their way to the hotel "we can go by car or helicopter"

"Sounds pretty cool. I would love to see the Vesuvius volcano and all the fossilized people"

"It must be quite interesting huh?" She said looking at him.

"It is. The pyroclastic flow of the volcano, which is hot gas and volcanic matter, was so hot that the people got frozen in their position and of course die..."

"Ok I will stop you right there babe" she put a finger on his lips "I don't need more details, is it clear?" He nodded "good. Ok I will ask if they have a tour there"

"Ok perfect" he smiled and looked out the window they entered the city so he tapped her to look too.

Both were excited about this travel. Within minutes they arrived the hotel. It was almost six in the afternoon so after check in they decided to take a walk around the hotel's surrounding.

Max was in awe with the house's architecture and their colors. They found a place where they can buy gelato so they bought two and continue walking around for an hour then returned to the hotel, took a shower and ordered room service.

After finished their food both fell asleep for tiredness not matter the jetlag.

The next morning was their first tour to the Coliseum and other things close from there.

The tour had a good guide but when you have Spencer Reid by your side you got more details than others.

They walked through the tunnels, stand where gladiators stood and they enjoyed a panoramic view of that iconic place. Then they visit the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill to complete the tour of Rome’s top ancient sites.

Max brought her camera so she took a lot of pictures of the places they stopped by. She was having a blast while Spencer was enjoying being in such as historical places.

When the tour finished they went to take lunch at a restaurant close from the Coliseum.

"So where to next?" Asked him drinking some water as they waited for their food. She ordered the traditional pasta with tomato sauce and he decided to order a risotto.

"Well today I could just buy that one but we could visit the Fontana di Trevi and some stores around it, then we can go back to the hotel and do what a couple should at their honeymoon" the last part was a whispers just for him.

He laughs softly and held her hand "I love all your plan for today" he winked and she smirked.

Spencer never was the kind of man who would flirt like that, but with Max was different and I liked that.

Their food arrived and after they finished it, he paid then the couple left to continue their tour.

There was a shop where they have gorgeous toys made of wood. And Max and Spencer decided to but some for the Simmons kids, JJ sons, Hank and her students.

Then they walked into a bookstore and he found some books he liked and decided to buy them, they were in Italian and he bought a book for Rossi.

They got into a little museum close by and saw some gorgeous paintings from people who were not famous around the world but in the city.

"Sometimes art is so unfair..." she said looking a gorgeous picture of a woman with the Coliseum as her background "some rich person found your painting beautiful, they bought it and then boom you're famous around the world but if you don't have such luck... your painting, that is maybe as gorgeous as a Van Gogh, never see the light"

He hugged her and kissed her head "I understand what you meant, and you are right, some people deserve more recognition for their work"

They left a couple of hours later and it was getting dark so they went to their last touristic location of the day. The Fontana di Trevi.

Max took some pictures of it and asked some guy to take a picture of them at the fountain.

"Ok Spence now we need to throw this in the fountain and make a wish" she smiled at him as she held two coins in her hand. She handed him one and keep the other.

They both turned as they saw some other people do. Closed their eyes and threw their coins, making a wish. Both coins fell in the water and turned around hugging.

They watched the fountain for some more minutes and then returned to their hotel.

OOooOOooOO

Hope you liked it!

#criminal mind #spencer reid #maxine brenner #maxcer #fanfiction

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roseonhissleeve · 6 years

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Have A Little Faith: Chapter Ten

“Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.”

- J.K. Rowling

I woke up hours later with a gasp.

I’d slept like a rock—my mind had shut down and allowed me to get the rest that I needed, but as soon as I woke up my entire body was sore and I could tell that I had been tensed the entire time I slept. I could still FEEL the tension in my arms and thighs, and it was so bad that it hurt. I rolled over to glance at my phone screen and check the time.

11:34 PM.

I also noticed that I’d received a text from Harry.

I hope you’re doing okay. Thinking of you. I’m still here if you need me.

My heart sank as I read the message. I felt bad that he was completely in the dark, but this was my burden to bear.

I decided that I was going to go out for a run to loosen up my body, and as soon as I did I began moving on autopilot. I had never been a huge runner, but I needed something to do other than sit in bed and think about all my fucked up experiences, and running was the most mindless thing I could do. I was disassociating. I didn’t even notice when I changed into a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt, nor when I slipped on my running shoes and walked out of the door.

The night air was cool and there was a slight breeze that touched my cheek, the refreshing chill causing me to relax a bit for the first time in hours.

I ran aimlessly and without direction, uncaring of the fact that I was most likely going to get lost and not have a single clue as to how to get home. The pain in my body paired with adrenaline was exactly the distraction I’d been looking for all day, and if I had to get lost as a coping mechanism, I’d get lost.

I spent about twenty minutes of alternating between running and a slow jog before stopping to look up at the landscape in front of me.

Mount Vesuvius.

I was about to continue running, until something in my body told me to stay.

What’s something you want to do that you’ve never done?

I wanted to be content. I wanted to feel powerful. I wanted to kick Elijah’s ass.

I wanted to climb this fucking mountain.

I dug through my pockets and pulled out my phone, scrolling quickly through my contacts before pressing the “call” button.

“Rosie?” I heard Harry’s voice on the line, hopeful and worried all at once.

“I’m climbing a volcano tonight. Are you coming?”

***

Harry was there in half an hour. I watched as he got out of the car that he’d rented earlier that week, his face confused and worried as he lurched towards me.

“Are you okay, love?” He asked. I nodded my head and adjusted my ponytail as I flashed him a small smile, which was a lot easier to do currently than it was hours before. The endorphins from my run were kicking in.

“Never better. I’m sorry…” I started saying, but I really didn’t know how to finish. I still was a mess and I knew it. I then realized that I should probably be worried about Harry and what he’d think of me—we’d recently met and I was already falling apart in front of his eyes. This definitely wasn’t what he signed up for when he met me. “Listen, if you don’t wanna do this…”

“Are you kidding?” He interrupted, his features breaking out into a lopsided grin as he glanced up the mountain we were about to climb. “I wouldn’t miss it, Ro. I bet I can beat you to the top, even.”

I laughed shakily, and even though it wasn’t quite like my laughter normally, it was something.

Even riddled with worry, I was grateful to have Harry there.

We set out towards the top of the mountain side by side, and he didn’t try to force me to talk even though I could only assume he had tons of questions. The nighttime breeze sent chills up and down my sweaty limbs, and the smell or dirt filled the air as we made our way up the mountain. Harry walked right beside me even though he could probably go at a much faster pace, and every so often (every thirty seconds, really) he would look over to check on me and make sure I was okay.

The beginning wasn’t too bad. The dirt pathway up the mountain made it difficult sometimes to get a good step, but the cool breeze that now begun to tickle my cheek was refreshing, and there was something reassuring to how Harry put so much thought into making sure I was okay. I put one foot in front of the other, slowly travelling up the steep pathway, and I began to breathe deeply.

That’s where the pain kicked in.

I felt it in my shins first, a sharp twang in the back of my leg that struck every time I took a step, like the chord of a guitar being plucked and broken. It then spread like fire to my

thighs and the pit of my chest, making it harder to breathe steady. I began to struggle, and Harry could tell.

“You okay, love? Do you wanna take a break?” he asked, and I shook my head in response.

“I’m okay. It’ll hurt more if I stop,” I reasoned, growing slightly out of breath but still managing to offer him a slight smile. If he was feeling any sort of pain he wasn’t showing it at all.

“Alright, let me know if you need to. Don’t push yourself too hard, Ro,” he requested, and I simply replied with another nod as I took another step.

For the next five minutes I kept going, my pace steady but slow, and the pain grew exponentially. Even though it was only five minutes it felt like half an hour. The pain crept up my thighs, my entire legs sore with every inch I moved, and I had to bite my lower lip in order to keep from whimpering from the pain as I continued to scale up the winding path. I began to feel nauseous, and I knew it was quite possible that I could throw up at any second. I was beginning to regret asking Harry to come with me.

“How are you doing?” I asked almost breathlessly, glancing over at Harry. He was keeping up fine, but I could tell that his movements were slower and there were beads of sweat forming on his forehead and shoulders. Still, he looked at me and gave me a grin.

“Working through the pain,” he reassured, reaching to press the back of his hand to my clammy cheek for a moment before allowing it to drop. “Don’t you worry about me, beautiful.”

“Worry? I’ve gotta make sure you’re keeping up,” I teased halfheartedly, and he exhaled a soft snicker due to my words. We both knew that he could probably get there in twice the speed if it wasn’t for me, but he was polite enough not to say it.

We walked for what seemed like forever (but probably was only another five minutes).

And then the damn endorphins kicked in.

It was about fucking time.

It felt like flying. That’s the closest thing that I can compare it to; I took one step after the other, and with every step I felt myself getting stronger. I looked over the railings and out to the landscape that grew smaller and smaller; the twinkling houselights and the ocean became a portrait of all the pain that I’d experienced…a collage of all the tears I’d shed.

Harry must’ve noticed that I was picking up my pace because he began to speed up as well, and I could hear his breathing become more labored. We kept going for I don’t know how long – it could have been hours for all I knew, but all I was thinking about was that I

needed to get to the top. With every step that’s all I could think about, and eventually I felt nothing in my body—it was all in my mind, and I felt my heart pounding louder than it ever had before. This mountain killed thousands of people just by doing what it was designed to do. I was going to make it to the fucking top.

And then I turned the corner, and I saw it.

I saw the crater.

We’d made it.

***

I stood still for a long time.

“Ro? Rosie, are you okay?” His voice sounded faint, as if he was a world away, even though he was standing right behind me. Tears prickled in my eyes as I stared at the large crater in front of me—I’d climbed all that way and all of my problems were still very much alive. I didn’t know what I was expecting at the end of this workout, but it wasn’t this emptiness.

“I’m fine…” I replied, even though I knew that I was anything but and I knew that Harry would be able to tell. He circled around to stand right in front of me, and I could sense he was about to prod some more. “Harry…I’m fine, look I’m really s—”

I was interrupted by his arms wrapping around my frame, pulling me flush against his chest.

I stayed frozen for a moment, taking in the feeling of Harry’s embrace. I could feel the muscles in his arm press around my torso firmly, as well as the feeling of the sculpted curves of his chest against my front. Harry wasn’t usually so forward about his physical advances, because he knew I needed him not to be. But somehow in that moment this is just what I needed.

I eventually allowed myself to melt into his touch, slipping my own arms around his torso and hiding my face against his shoulder. It didn’t solve everything, and I could still feel the stress in my muscles, but the feeling of being tucked inside of Harry’s hug made me feel a little bit safer and maybe that’s really what I was looking for.

Harry allowed me to cry softly into his shoulder, staining his white t-shirt with my tears. He didn’t say a single word, he simply rubbed my back every once in a while and occasionally hummed a soft song in my ear. He let me be. He let me do whatever I needed to do to compose myself.

So there we stood, in the cool Italian night on the top of a volcano that had been dormant for centuries.

We stood as I fell apart, and somehow the physical bind that he kept me in allowed me to put my own pieces together again.

And as I erupted, maybe a gentler piece of me would be able to emerge from the ashes.

***

“What’s something you’re scared of?”

We’d been sitting by the railing at the edge of the mountain for half an hour, talking about nothing and everything all at once. He hadn’t mentioned my breakdown yet, which I appreciated because I didn’t think that I could handle being triggered like that again just yet. I sat with my head resting against his shoulder and he lay his hand on my knee, occasionally brushing the skin with the pad of his thumb.

“I’m scared of losing myself,” he answered quickly, which meant that he’d obviously thought about it before. I tilted my head up a little bit to look at his features, curious as to what he meant.

“It’s hard sometimes, when you’re surrounded by millions of people who claim to know who you are and what you want. When you’ve got girls throwing themselves at you left and right, or when there are grown adults tossing money at you trying to get you to work with them over the other. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, and I know it…it all just makes me feel like I’ve got a price tag on me sometimes…also, clowns. Clowns give me the creeps.”

I chortled softly when he finished speaking, thinking about his words for a long moment. I constantly forgot that he was Harry Styles, that everyone knew him, so when he spoke of things like this it brought perspective to my mind that I’d never considered before. It was one of the things I liked most about him.

“What about you, Rosie?” He asked. He sat up a little straighter which caused me to lift my head up off of his shoulder altogether, and I looked straight at him as I anticipated his question. “What’re you scared of?”

I pursed my lips lightly as I thought about his words, and I knew what he was getting at and what he wanted to know. What I didn’t know was if I was ready to tell him.

“I’m scared of my past,” I offered, looking out into the valley that was illuminated by the houses down below the mountaintop. “I’m scared that it’ll come back.”

“Are you running from something, love?” He wondered, looking at my features. I exhaled a soft sigh and looked back out at the landscape below us, wishing that I could freeze this moment and live in it, never having to move forward and face it all.

“I think that might be what brought me here,” I answered, hugging my knees up to my chest and tucking my chin in between them. I waited for a long moment for Harry to say something, but instead I felt his hand on my back. He ran his palm along the length of my muscles softly which caused me to shut my eyes, and he continued by tickling my skin with the pads of his fingers lightly, tracing patterns and drawings onto me as if I was a blank canvas. My eyes remained shut and I exhaled a soft sigh.

“Maybe you’re here because it’s exactly where you’re supposed to be,” he whispered.

I thought about that for a minute, and for some reason the possibility of it brought a smile to my lips. I settled back against Harry’s shoulder and he pressed a kiss against the top of my head, and we stayed there for a long time, neither one of us willing to climb down just yet.

***

Harry walked me back to my hotel. I tried to tell him that I would be fine, but he insisted on seeing me safely to my door. In all the days that we’d been travelling together he never asked to come in past my front door, even though most guys would. But I knew since the very first day that Harry Styles was not like most men.

He walked with me up to my room on the second floor and when we reached my door we stopped. I turned to look at him, nibbling on my lower lip nervously before speaking.

“I’m really sorry about today…”

“Hey, you’ve nothin’ to be—”

“No, listen, I want to say this,” I interrupted, looking into his eyes firmly. I think that I caught him a bit by surprise, but he simply nodded his head and waited for me to begin speaking again. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tucked my hands into my pockets before continuing.

“This…you have been amazing. You really have. You’re kind, and hilarious, and you make me laugh and smile and you’re just…God, you say these THINGS sometimes that take words out of my mouth and just make me wonder how someone like you can exist…What I’m trying to say is, you’re amazing, and you need to be with someone else who’s amazing, someone who isn’t running away.”

I immediately felt like an idiot for even speaking. Harry and I weren’t even DATING, I didn’t know what the hell we were doing but I knew that he couldn’t want anything to do with me after the shit I pulled today.

“I think it’d just be easier to stop now. It’s been amazing but now we can go our separate ways and you can find what you’re searching for and I can…I can try to get myself together,” I choked out, clenching my hands into fists. I didn’t realize how hard this would be.

“Ro…” He began, his brows furrowed tightly and his hands at his sides. There was a long pause and for a minute I thought he wasn’t going to say anything, but right when I was about to open my mouth to speak again his voice began to fill the air.

“You talk as if you’re broken. As if you were something in pieces on the ground that needs to be put back together. But the woman I’ve spent this week with…she’s whole, and amazing, and loving and she’s everything but broken,” he mused, taking a step towards me. My lower lip trembled slightly as I listened to him speak, and my heart was doing something it’d never done before but I had no intention of stopping it.

“If you don’t want to spend time with me anymore, if you really just don’t wanna see me, I’ll leave,” he stated, and there was a hardness in his gaze as he spoke. “But if you’re trying to push me away again because you’re scared of what’s gonna happen, I…Rosie, I’m not going anywhere.”

He said it simply, as if it was as easy as breathing, as if it was just a logical step for him to take. And it amazed me that after slamming the door on him earlier that day, after making him climb up a mountain, after falling apart in his arms when he definitely wasn’t asking for it, he still wanted to be around me.

It amazed me that someone so whole and so sure of who they were wanted to be beside me even after seeing how much of a mess I could be.

“Ro…” He said quietly, and he took another step towards me so that his face was about five inches away from mine. He lifted his hand to cup my cheek in his large palm, and I felt his lips press against my forehead for several seconds. It wasn’t until after he’d pulled away that I heard his voice again. “What’dya say?”

I looked straight ahead at the crease of his neck, my mind racing with endless thoughts and doubts, and it didn’t help that I was surrounded by Harry. Harry’s smell, his voice, his touch, his skin. I slid my hands out of my pockets to take his hands in mine and wind my fingers through his tightly, as if he could ground me. Except it only made me feel fuzzier, because Harry held my hands as if I were a butterfly, because he stroked my skin with his thumbs with such care that the delicacy of it alone could break me.

I released his hands only to run my fingertips up the length of his arm, occasionally stopping as I really focused in on a tattoo, paying special attention to the rose. It made me smile and I traced it with my index finger, declaring it my favorite for obvious reasons, and I knew he was thinking the same because I could sense him chuckling inaudibly as he watched me perform my actions. There were goosebumps on his skin where my fingers had touched, and it made my lips twitch with a hint of a smile.

Eventually I lifted my gaze to look at his features which were still hovering dangerously close to mine, and my hands made their way up his biceps and across the broadness of his shoulders to rest on either side of his face.

My gaze was attached to his lips—they were pink and perfect. The second he realized what I was looking at I heard his breathing become slightly more labored as his heartrate picked up, and I was glad that it wasn’t just me…I had to hold back a gasp when the tip of his tongue slid out from between his lips as he glided it across his lower brim.

I retaliated by lifting my own finger and running the pad of my thumb across his lip where his tongue had moistened it already, and I felt him suck in a breath of air as I did so. He stood perfectly still, his hands on my hips as he allowed me to become acquainted with bits of him. I used my own tongue to lick my lips softly in a subconscious effort to moisten them, before I croaked out.

“H-Harry…”

“Mm?” He responded, unable to form proper words.

“Can…Can I kiss you?” The question spilled from my lips clumsily and not at all seductively, and I was surprised that I was able to get them out to begin with.

There was a pause before he lifted his head in a slow nod, and it wasn’t until then that I looked up into his eyes and realized that he had been watching my lips as well. I exhaled inaudibly, standing up on my toes a little bit in order to close the distance between mine and Harry’s lips. I counted a total of two seconds before I brushed my lips against his softly.

Oh...

My lips trembled against his for a second, only stopping when I felt his hands squeeze my hips gently. After that I melted against him, the crease of his lower lip pressed in between mine. It was soft, and it was sweet, and his lips reminded me of a strawberry taste and it caused the butterflies in my stomach to flutter and my heartbeat to speed up to a degree I’d never before experienced.

So that’s how it’s supposed to feel…

It lasted about ten seconds before he pulled away, and the second he did I felt my heart drop.

I was about to open my eyes, but I was caught off guard by the feeling of his lips once again—this time they collided against mine, pressing firmly against my mouth and it ignited something inside of me that I had no recollection of feeling ever before.

Not only that, but his hands came to life, his arms slipping around my waist and picking me up off of the ground so that I didn’t have to stand on my toes anymore, bringing me up so that I was level with his features. My arms slid around his neck so that I could support myself against him. I swear, I could probably kiss Harry forever and never grow tired of it. His lips danced against mine with tenderness and care and desire and it made my head swim with thoughts of Harry and only Harry.

Eventually he pulled away, and I could sense the reluctance in the action. He set me down on the ground and I unconsciously whined a little bit, which caused a raspy laugh to escape from his throat, something I’d never heard before. He reassured me by pressing several soft pecks against my lips, as if he couldn’t get enough of them either.

When he finally pulled away properly he cupped my features in his hands, his piercing green eyes watching every inch of my blissed-out expression. There was a content smile on my lips and I couldn’t help but giggle softly at his moistened lips as well as the slight red tint in his cheeks.

It made me want to kiss him all over again, but I knew that if we started we might not ever stop.

“I’ll…I’ll see you tomorrow?” I croaked out softly, and the smile that he gifted me was enough to take my breath away if he hadn’t already.

He leaned in to press another soft kiss against my forehead this time, reluctantly releasing me from his hold as he prepared himself to leave for the night.

“I’ll be here, love.”

#have a little faith #half #chapter ten #ashes #harry styles #harry styles fiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles writing #harry styles story #harry styles blurb #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles x ofc #harry styles oneshot #harry styles reading

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veryangryhedgehog · 6 years

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"The Personal History of Lucius Marcell Part II: Fire on the Mountain, in both a Metaphorical and very Literal Sense", and Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

The Personal History of Lucius Marcell Part II

(Fire on the Mountain, in both a Metaphorical and very Literal Sense)

Cindy had been Marcell’s TA for a few weeks now, and the position was surprisingly less weird than she’d anticipated. She made copies for him, helped him grade quizzes, boring things mostly; she could see why he wanted to sluff them off onto a TA. But she didn’t mind all that much. The company made it worth it.

Marcell was quite unlike anyone Cindy had met. It was hard to put into words, the only way she could really think to put it was “honest.” He hid behind no walls and kept no deep secrets—barring the obvious, of course. This didn’t seem to be from any confidence or ego. More than anything, Marcell just seemed too tired to care.

It was a little funny, sometimes, when he complained like an old geezer. “I swear, kids these days and those new portable telephones,” he shook his head one day. “I had to confiscate three of them today. Three!”

“Is the ever-advancing march of technology leaving you in the dust, old man?” Cindy asked, glancing up from the quiz she was marking.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve kept up just fine for the last two-thousand years.” Marcell narrowed his eyes. “I am the epitome of current.”

“Uh huh. That sweater vest just screams ‘current’.”

Marcell plopped down behind his desk, pouting. “My sweater vest is cool,” he insisted. “And don’t forget, I came from a time when togas were the height of fashion, so cut me some slack.”

“Speaking of togas,” Cindy leaned forward, putting on her best resting bitch face, “are you ever going to continue your story? You promised me Pompeii, you know.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Marcell’s face dropped a little. “I was sort of hoping you’d forget. It’s not a very pleasant story.”

Shrugging, Cindy stared back at him. “Life isn’t pleasant. I’m not here for sunshine and rainbows.”

He laughed. “You’re a rather, strange person, you know that?”

“Speak for yourself,” she raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Most people your age aren’t so... objective.”

Cindy made a face. “I’m not like most people my age. Now: the story. Pompeii?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” he said, but he still examined her for a second longer before continuing. “Pompeii, Pompeii, where to start? Pompeii was... different from Rome. It was a pretty small town, actually, at least compared to Rome. There was plenty of hustle and bustle, of course, but it was a much... slower city. I liked that. The first time I visited I was studying the volcano, Vesuvius, as you should know, and I enjoyed the town so much that I eventually bought a house there.”

“So what was it like? The city?” Cindy specified.

“Most everything was made of stone,” Marcell continued, “from the buildings to the well-worn streets. But it was far from drab. Many people hung bright awnings from their facades, and the shops and taverns were all open out onto the streets. There was also a lot of very colorful graffiti all over the walls.”

Laughing, Cindy snorted. “Graffiti? In Ancient Rome?”

“Well, yes,” he chuckled along. “What, you thought it a modern invention? People have always been bored. Some of it was your basic ‘Titus was here,’ but I remember a specific case at the back of a tavern. Oh what was it?” Marcell glanced upwards. “Oh, yes: ‘Cicero does shit as the rest of us do.’”

They both began to laugh louder, Cindy almost falling off her chair. “Wow, that’s, I never imagined, but yeah I guess that makes sense.”

“What does?”

“Just that toilet humor isn’t a modern concept.” Cindy shrugged. “Like, it’s hard to imagine a guy in a toga farting, you know?”

“Time dulls knowledge,” Marcell said sagely. “I can imagine the smell of the city just thinking about it.”

“Was it that bad?”

"Worse," he grimaced. “Not only were most people tossing their waste into the street, but add in the horses and carts and other things and... ugh.” Marcell shuttered. “At the time is was just daily life, but looking back on it, I don’t know how I stood it.”

Cindy gasped dramatically. “Are you in danger of being Modernized, old man?”

Though he tried to look annoyed, Marcell couldn’t help grinning a little. “Shut up.”

“So, Pompeii,” Cindy redirected, “colorful, raunchy, and smelly.”

“For the most part. But it was just like any city,” Marcell continued. “It had its nice parts too. If you were rich, you could have a large house, an ocean view, the works.”

“And you were?”

“Somewhere in between.” Marcell confirmed. “I wasn’t knee deep in shit, yet those ocean views were still a mere dream. Not that it mattered much, of course. I still travelled most of the time, but it was nice to have a place to come back to.”

“So you lived alone, then?”

Marcell shook his head. “Hardly anyone in Rome lived alone. I had... no, they weren’t slaves. I never bought them, and I never exercised the type of control slave owners held. I guess servants is a better word, though it still doesn’t really fit. A mother and a daughter, they were—Aurelia and Julia were their names. Aurelia had broken her foot several years before I met them, and it hadn’t healed correctly, so she couldn’t work.

“I found the two of them on the street. Julia had been sick, and I decided to take them in. After Julia was better, we came to an arrangement: Aurelia and Julia would take care of the house, mostly while I was away, and I would provide a moderately comfortable life for the both of them.”

“Okay, I feel less weird now,” Cindy admitted. “But I have a question. Why those two? I mean, there have to have been thousands of beggars in Rome.”

Pausing, Marcell thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Just something about the sight of them in the gutter, it was... Julia’s eyes. She looked so scared, I think... I think she reminded me of myself I little. But, you wanted to hear about death and destruction, yes?”

“I want to hear about some other things,” Cindy shrugged. “But mostly death and destruction, yes. So, were you there? When Vesuvius went boom?” She gestured vaguely with her hands.

“Yes, I was,” Marcell nodded. “I had just returned from a trip to Gaul the night before. I mostly travelled when it was dark, for obvious reasons. But the city was far from dead. There was still the late crowd in the taverns, pinpricks of light and noise in the oceans of darkness that surrounded them, and of course carts with various goods and supplies trundled down the cobbled streets. They weren’t allowed in the city during the day for the most part, they never would have gotten anywhere with the amount of people in the streets anyway.

“I rode through the city quickly on horseback, weary from travel and eager to return home. I’ll admit that I... never really adjusted fully to sleeping during the day.”

“You don’t now.” Cindy scoffed. “Wait a minute: how do you get to school? Can’t the sun kill you?”

Marcell nodded. “When I’m lucky, it’s cloudy. When it’s not, I wear a very big hat. But we’re getting off track.” He shook himself. “My home was not the biggest or grandest house by any means, but it was in a quiet part of town and just fine enough for me.

“I rode around the back, and left the horse in the small stable before heading inside through the garden. Roman houses were built a little differently than their modern counterparts,” he stopped to explain. “The rooms weren’t quite so... differentiated, I guess you could say. I didn’t have a ‘living room’ or an ‘office.’ There was one big room called the atrium, and several smaller rooms off of that. And the atrium could be used for any number of things. You remember this from class, yes?”

“I think so.” Cindy nodded. “It always confused me, but go on.”

“The atrium was dark and empty; the lanterns had long since gone out, which was fine with me. It made sensing heat easier. Aurelia was in the kitchen, but my journey had been long. It would be safer for everyone if I... ate before seeing her. I had gained a reputation for having the most vermin free house in the city, and no one could quite figure out how I did it.” He laughed.

“Afterwards, I went to check on Aurelia in the kitchen. By the light of the coals still burning in the hearth, I could see that she had fallen asleep, her slender frame draped over a counter. She tended to wait up for me when she knew I was coming home. I’d told her many times that she should just go to sleep, but she kept the habit anyway.

“I pulled up a chair, and shook her gently.

“‘Oh sir, you’re home.’ She smiled as she blinked awake. She had a very lovely smile. ‘Welcome back. You’ll want dinner, I suppose.’ I don’t need to eat, of course, but she had clearly put effort into the chicken on the coals so I humored her.”

“She didn’t know you were a vampire?” Cindy asked.

Shaking his head, Marcell seemed a little regretful. “It was right about that time that I was trying to figure out how to tell them. They’d been with me for several years, and it was going to become apparent very soon that I wasn’t aging as they were. But I could never find the right way to tell them. Of course I... I never got the chance.”

He paused, and Cindy stayed quiet, giving him a moment. With a blink, he snapped himself out of whatever reverie he found himself in. “I asked her if Julia was asleep, and she nodded.

“‘Yes, upstairs.’”

“‘You should join her.’

“‘Thank you sir, I—‘

“But she didn’t finish, because just then the ground began to rumble beneath our feet. Dishes rattled, stones cracked. It only lasted for a minute, yet it felt like much longer.

“‘What was that?’ I asked once it had finished.

“Aurelia’s hand was to her chest. ‘Just another earthquake. Nothing to fear.’

“‘Another—?’

“‘Yes,’ she confirmed. ‘There have been several over the last few days. Not very large, but many people have been fleeing the city.’

“I shook my head. ‘Cowards.’”

Cindy tried not to chuckle at the irony, and found it a challenge.

“Then Julia popped her head through the kitchen door. She was about eight, and had long, curly brown hair, just like her mother. ‘Momma...’

“‘Yes, I’m coming. I think it’s time we all go to sleep.’

“I smiled when she glanced over at me. ‘I’ll be to bed in a few minutes. Go on.’

“She and Julia went up to bed, and after cleaning up from my supper, I retired to the library. Now, I was not the most affluent person in the city, as I’ve said, but I made space for all my books and scrolls. I was about, oh... a little over a hundred at that point, so most of them were my own notes from my travels, but some were from other scholars as well, many of whom I kept in contact with. I was particularly interested in the lost city of Atlantis.”

“You were?” Cindy interjected. “I never would have guessed. It’s not like you spent have a semester going on and on about it or anything.”

“Sarcasm is not becoming of a young lady,” he intoned.

“Aw, shove it up your butt. Anyway, you were saying?”

Marcell looked like he wanted to get the last word in, but let it go. “Right, Atlantis. I don’t know why it fascinated me so. Perhaps it was because contrary to popular belief, it was actually located off the coast of the British Isles. It made me feel a little closer to my old home, maybe.”

“You sound like... like you’ve actually seen it,” Cindy said.

Shrugging, Marcell smiled mysteriously. “Perhaps, but I think some secrets would do best to remain so for now.

“Regardless, that night, I fell asleep on the noted that I was writing.” He paused, looking off into the distance. “If only I’d had a little more warning, I could have probably saved some of them. That was the last peaceful night I would have for quite a while.”

“Because of the volcano...” Cindy added quietly.

Marcell nodded. “The next thing I remembered, it was light, and someone was shaking me. I blinked, and saw Aurelia, looking panicked. Behind her, Julia was crying.

“‘Wha’s wrong?’ I asked.

“‘Sir it’s... the mountain.’ She pointed to the small window on the far side of the room and I glanced towards it. Because it was so bright, I figured it was sunny out. But I was wrong. The sky was so filled with ash and dust that you couldn’t even see the sun. The light was coming from the fire that was falling from the sky, burning the buildings around us. Everywhere, everything was on fire. Vesuvius was erupting.

“It was suicide, but we had to move. If we stayed here, we would be burned or buried alive. I wasn’t sure if even I could survive that.

“‘Grab whatever you can.’ I commanded Aurelia. ‘Meet me by the back. We need to get to the water.’

“We were lucky. My house wasn’t too far away from the marine gate. I gathered up any papers I considered important, the hardest decision of my life. Many people had left most of their belongings, thinking to return once the tragedy had passed.” He shook his head. “But it was all lost. My library wasn’t the only one in Pompeii. So much knowledge that we’ll never get back. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the people.”

“Haven’t archaeologists found a way to make plaster casts out of the impressions peoples’ bodies left in the rock or something like that?” Cindy asked.

“Yes,” Marcell almost whispered. “But I haven’t dared look myself. I’m afraid I’ll... see someone I recognize.” He shook himself. “Anyway, Aurelia and I met in the atrium, and I hoisted Julia onto my back. The hardest part was leaving. We opened the door, and a wall of dust and fire awaited us.

“I blinked, trying to find a path through the smothering gloom. But while I may have been able to last awhile amidst the torrent, Aurelia and Julia could not. I shifted Julia from my back to my arms in order to shield her from the heat, and at that moment, my eyes caught a shaded doorway half a block down the direction we were headed.

“I grabbed Aurelia’s hand and we ran. The dust stung my face and throat, and my skin tingled from the light that breached the clouds. It took us longer than I would have liked, as Aurelia limped on her bad foot. But we made it. My chest burned from the dust I had taken in, and Aurelia heaved beside me. Julia was crying.

“Aurelia took the child’s face between her hands and pressed their foreheads together. ‘It’s going to be alright.’ She was almost crying herself.

“By this point, larger rocks had begun to fall as well. ‘We need to keep moving,’ I coughed out as the roof above us cracked ominously.

“So we ran. We kept running for a long time, jumping from safe spot to safe spot. Increasingly around us, the buildings were crumbling or already destroyed. We were going far too slowly. But Aurelia was having trouble keeping up. As we crouched under a fallen column laying on the ruin of a shop, she held up a hand.

“‘Wait! Please. I need a minute,’ she wheezed.

“We didn’t have the time, but there was nothing else to do. I set Julia down and she immediately buried her face in her mother’s skirt.

“For a minute, the only sounds were the crumbling city and Julia’s muffled sobs. I looked around, wondering briefly if this was all just some dream, or nightmare. It didn’t seem real. Just last night the city had been bustling, alive, and in twenty-four hours it had been transformed into a living hell.

“‘Alright,’ Aurelia said finally. ‘I’m ready.’

“But just as we were about to move again, the ground began to rumble under us. The column began to shake. I picked up Julia who had begun to wheeze from the dust, and grabbed Aurelia’s hand. I tried to pull us all forward, but before all of us were clear, the marble came down.

“For a moment I gripped Aurelia’s hand, so afraid to turn around. I could smell the blood, and my mouth watered, despite myself. Finally, I couldn’t stand there anymore. I turned back, and had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out. From the waist down, Aurelia had been completely crushed by the pillar. Julia screamed. All I could do was stare.

“‘Lucius!’ she coughed through the blood dripping from her mouth. ‘Get Julia to safety.’

“‘I—’

“Julia was squirming in my arms, crying and coughing as she tried to get to her mother. Her coughing had gotten bad, there was dust and smoke everywhere.

“‘Go. Don’t worry about me.’ There was fire in her eyes. She didn’t even seem to be in any pain. ‘Julia’s the only thing that matters.’”

There was silence in the classroom. Marcell stared off towards the window. Cindy stared a hole into her lap. She didn’t know how long they sat there, before she was finally able to break away and ask: “So, what did you do?”

“I ran,” he turned back to her. “She was right, of course. There was nothing I could do for her now, and Julia wasn’t going to last much longer in this dust. The child kicked and screamed, of course, begged me to turn around. ‘I’m sorry,’ was all I could say, over and over again.

"I didn't stop for a moment, shielding Julia from the debris as best I could. My back and arms were singed from the burning dust and ash, and everywhere we looked were bodies, some half crushed, some burned beyond recognition. All of their faces were frozen in the final moments of terror that had surely befallen them. But none of that mattered now. The gate was finally in sight, the bay just beyond it. Behind us, the city was collapsing bit by bit, consumed by the flames.

“There was a boat, a small, wooden one, tied to the docks. From the sheer number of bodies behind us, not many people had made it this far, so I took it. I doubted the owners were going to come for it anytime soon. Julia had long since stopped struggling, and didn’t do much more than moan as I lay her in the bottom of the boat and started rowing as the sky darkened to night around us. The only thing I could do now was get as far away from the city as possible.

“Taking stock, I seemed fine besides a few burns, but Julia didn’t look well. She seemed to be having great trouble breathing, her small chest heaving in and out far too rapidly.”

“What... happened to her?” Cindy asked quietly.

“I’m not exactly sure, but I believe it was the dust,” Marcell grimaced. “It had coated her lungs, and was so hot that it had probably burned them. I was alright because I was a full-grown man and it does take an awful lot to kill me anyway. But Julia was an eight-year-old girl.

“She lay there in the bottom of the boat, just trying to breathe. Her eyes were closed, yet I couldn’t tell if she was asleep or not. So I just kept rowing down the coast. It was the only thing I could do. Eventually the waters and the sky—from what I could see—calmed. I was so out of it that I didn’t even notice she was there until she had begun to speak.”

Cindy blinked. “She? You... you mean Death, don’t you?”

“‘Lovely night for a ride,’ she said, and I nearly jumped as I saw her milky, dead eyes just a few inches away from me. She sat calmly in the boat, as if it was a pleasant afternoon row.

“‘What are you doing here?’

“She shrugged. ‘Oh, you know, just harvesting the souls of thousands of these poor bastards. Haha, I am so tired.’

“‘So go back to the city then, there’s plenty of dead there.’

“‘Ah, but I’m here for a very special soul.’ She grinned cruelly. Sometimes I think she takes special joy in hanging over my head.

“I moved to shield Julia. I was untouchable now, of course, which left the child as the only thing in the vicinity that Death could take. ‘You stay away from her.’

“‘Too late,’ she shook her head. ‘That dust’s long since poisoned her lungs. I give her twenty-four hours at most. So tragic when the young ones are taken.’ Here smile did not make her seem wholly sincere.

“‘Then what are you doing here now?’

“‘Torturing you more,’ she cackled. ‘No, more than anything I’m curious about what you’ll do. You see, I’m going to give you a choice. That girl is going to die, so you could leave her agony for a whole day, or you could end her life right now.’

“‘What kind of choice is that?’

“‘There is a third option, of course,’ she wheedled. ‘You could always... make her as you are.’ I was silent, speechless. ‘Oh, don’t give me that look, it’s not that hard. You just drain her dry and give her some of your own blood and there you have it.’

“Clearly this was the option she wanted me to take.”

“So, did you do it?” Cindy asked hesitantly.

“Of course I didn’t,’ Marcell said, a bit of disdain present in his tone. “This isn’t some gothic romance. I wouldn’t wish my curse on anyone, let alone an eight-year-old girl. Can you imagine what it would be like to be eight for eternity?”

Cindy nodded thoughtfully. “Horrible, I’d imagine. But if you didn’t turn her, what did you do?”

“I stared Death in the face, shouted something very profane that does not translate well from its original Latin, and I killed Julia. I can’t drain most adults to the point of death under usual circumstances, but she was very small. Though I tried to make her death as painless as possible, I’m sure it was very terrifying. I saw her open her eyes for a moment and stare at me; I’m not sure if she even understood what was happening. And then she was gone, the light left her eyes, and she became limp in my arms.

“Death laughed as I wiped the blood from my chin. ‘So defiant, Marcellus. You’re more fun than I could have ever hoped for.’

“I blinked, and she was gone, her voice echoing across the water. ‘I’ll see you soon, I’m sure.’

“And that’s the story, mostly. Once the eruption had ceased I found my way back to the ruins of Pompeii briefly to salvage what I could, and make proper arrangements for Aurelia and Julia’s bodies. The house was completely buried, most of my manuscripts destroyed, and once again, I was all alone. I’ve never really had a home like that since.”

“So you just wandered? For two-thousand years?” Cindy asked.

Marcell nodded. “I’d settle down in one place or another occasionally, but never for long.”

“I can see why. Everyone you meet is just gonna die on you anyway.”

“When you’re as old as I am, you learn to appreciate things while you have them. That was what Pompeii taught me. Back then, every loss was a tragedy, now... maybe I’m just used to it.”

Cindy shifted in her chair. “So I suppose you’ll only stick around here for a few more years and then move on, huh?”

“Maybe. Who knows what the future holds?” He shrugged.

“I have a question,” Cindy raised her hand lazily. “Why here? I mean, you’ve been to Rome and Pompeii and may or may not have discovered Atlantis. This can’t be very interesting for you.”

He smiled. You’d be surprised. This town has a certain... strangeness about it. You could say that draws people like me.”

“Like what?” Cindy giggled. “Do the Outback Steak Houses form a pentagram or something?”

“I don’t know,” he laughed along. “Take the spiders for instance. They just seem a little too big and a little too hairy. Things like that. Look, there’s one over there.”

He pointed across the room and Cindy jumped as she turned to see a large, brown spider scuttling coyly across the tile. “I hate spiders,” she growled. Pointing her finger at the spider, Cindy muttered something unintelligible, and a burst of flame shot out from the appendage, straight towards the spider. It promptly burnt to a crisp, collapsing into a pile of ash. Cindy blew the smoke from her finger. “Now that’s what I call char-broiled.”

“Wha—“ Marcell blinked. “What was that?”

Cindy froze. “Oh, I probably shouldn’t have done that.” She sighed, turning back to him. “And here I was gonna let you think you were the weird one for a little longer.”

“As your teacher,” he tried to put on a serious face. “I think I have a right to demand an explanation.” It didn’t work.

“Would you believe that I made a deal with a demon for unholy powers?”

He blinked again. “That makes even less sense.”

“Would it help if that was the reason for my sudden and inexplicable change in personality?”

“I’m gonna need more than that.” Marcell frowned. “Tell me the whole story.”

“Okay,” Cindy grimaced. “But it’s not gonna be pretty.”

“Life isn’t pretty,” he said, smiling devilishly.

“Touché.” Cindy took a moment to gather her thoughts, staring out the classroom window while Marcell waited. “Alright then. It happened two years ago...”

#Ede Valley #Lucius Marcell #Cindy Miller #Cindy the Witch Bitch #writing

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maggiedsadventures-blog · 7 years

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5.24.17, Naples

I did it! I did Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius today! I'll admit, I got a bit overwhelmed last night as I was tried to plan my transportation. Getting from A to B and back again has been by far the most stressful part of traveling. It's one of those things that's a hell of a lot easier when you have someone else with you, but you don't realize that until you're traveling on your own. Because not only am I navigating by myself in a different country, but I'm also a woman traveling solo, which is a different and dangerous experience in itself. Luckily I haven't had bad interactions with people, or things happen that have made me feel that I could get hurt, but the danger is always there. That fact really hit me last night when I was considering taking the public transit to Pompeii and Vesuvius. Apparently it's a very easy subway, but I was warned by several people, including locals, that's it's dangerous for a woman traveling by herself. It's so frustrating to me that I have to be so highly concerned for my safety based on my gender. It's bullshit, really, but violence against women is a topic of discussion for a different time. So, in lieu of the advice I was given, and my own piece of mind, I hired a cab for the day and was able to drive directly to the Pompeii ruins, and then Vesuvius. The tour-cabbie guide in Capri had told me very specifically that "Pompeii is a city". And I remembering thinking, well, yeah, duh it's a city, but now I know what he meant. The ruins, Pompeii, is a city. The place is freaking HUGE. I know I've said that about a lot of things I've seen and done, but it's true. The Pompeii ruins are literally the excavated ruins of an ancient city. I saw houses, shops, plazas, temples, a cemetery, baths, theaters, and even a gladiator arena, just to name a few. It was like walking around Boston, or some other 'small' but large city, complete with intricate roads and horrible signs. I rented an audio guide and was given a map, and did a double-take when I saw the layout. How could a ruin site be so big?! And there's lots to see literally all over the city. But I knew there was no way I could navigate it correctly, all the time. Because not only are trying to get your bearings, but you're trying to get your bearings in the skeletons of an ancient city. More wisely than I realized, I decided to just go where my feet wanted to take me. I passed so many families and groups that were arguing with each other because they had gotten lost, or hadn't seen something that they thought was interesting, and I knew that my casual approach was the best one to take. I had an absolute blast just taking my time and walking and exploring whatever I felt like. The sun was bright, but since it's late May the weather wasn't too hot, so it was a perfect day for taking in sights. I was still pretty sick this morning, and had been so anxious about finding transportation, that when I got to the ruins I was still kind of bumming. But as I was walking around, still not in a great mood, I literally stopped and said out loud to myself: "Maggie. You're in freaking Pompeii. POMPEII! This has been your dream since you were a kid, so you had better freaking enjoy it." Sometimes, although it's so corny, I've found that saying things out loud to myself are the starkest reminders, or wake up calls. I was able to rally and appreciate everything that I was seeing, and had a great rest of the day! There was so much to see in the ruins of Pompeii, and I know I didn't see it all. I tried to imagine what the city would have been like in its prime. There are still bits of preserved murals and paintings, so you know that it was brightly decorated at one point. And in some ways it was nice to see so many tourists and people visiting, because in its prime Pompeii would have been bustling with people and life. It's just incredible to see the outlines and remaining stone structures of things that stood thousands of years ago. I tried to imagine the people, and what they did in their daily life, and maybe what they felt and were thinking or doing as they walked down the same roads I did. Mt. Vesuvius was always on the horizon. And everyone knows that it's not a matter of if it's going to erupt again, but when. And when I climbed up to the top and looked around at all the cities and towns and ports, I almost had to admire the Italian people's stubborness for settling, and staying settled in the shadow of a volcano. I had no idea Naples was so close to Mt. Vesuvius before I got here. Then someone explained to me that Naples and its neighbors simply got lucky when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, and Pompeii and its neighbors were buried instead. Apparently the direction of the volcanic ash literally depended on which way the wind was blowing, and that's why Naples survived. Because of the wind! That's just insane to me. I had never seen a volcano before today. I'm glad that I had some experience in hiking up a mountain earlier this trip, although the sandy and dusty road made Mt. Vesuvius a lot more difficult to tackle. One thing that I was amazed by, when I drove up Mt. Vesuvius, and then could see down its sides as I was walking up - and even in the crater of the volcano itself - was how much vegetation there was. There's trees and flowers and all sorts of plants. Life is flourishing on the side of the volcano. I don't know how many times its erupted, but it seems like a volcano is the epitome of the balance of life - things get bad and messy and destructive, but after everything settles and cools, things harden, and eventually, life finds a way. I think that's a vague quote from Jurassic Park, but it's true. Life does find a way, even in the crater of a volcano. Which, I'm glad I knew beforehand would not be full of lava, because I would have been sorely disappointed if I had been expecting otherwise. I did see some steam, though! All in all, it was a great day for historical sight-seeing. And, once again, my body is blissfully exhausted. Seriously, my legs are getting the workout of a lifetime. I had to stop and rest and let my heartbeat slow down when I was hiking up Vesuvius, after having walked around Pompeii in the sun for several hours. Then a bunch of old ladies with canes and sun-visors passed me, and my spirit of competition kicked in (thanks for that one, Dad :D). I can proudly say I beat those old ladies to the top, but just barely. I think their canes might have given them an unfair advantage, but hey, I'm completely unbiased and not bitter. Although I am pretty damn happy about accomplishing two goals I've had since I learned about ancient history: Walking Pompeii and experiencing the ruins of the city with my own two feet and own two eyes, and climbing up a freaking volcano! It's on to Florence tomorrow. It's the last leg of my trip, but at least I'll be there for six nights! Can't wait!

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